Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-7, 15-16, 18-28 received on 4/11/2024 have been examined, of which claims 1, 15, 16 are independent.
Claim Objections
Claims 3-5, 18 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 3-5, 18 recite “the network”, preceded by “current network”. For consistent claim language, the examiner suggests to amend “the current network” or “
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 2-7, 15-16, 18-28 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 2, 6 recites “the current network” preceded by two recitations of “a current network”. It is unclear, which recitation is further limited. Dependent claim 7, 18 are rejected for same reason.
Claim 3, 18, 20, 21, 26, 27, each recites “the condition” and “the current keep-alive probing period initial value”, which have lack of antecedent basis in the claim. Dependent claims 4-5, 22-23 are rejected for same reasons.
Claim 4 and 5, recite “the current keep-alive probing period” preceded by two recitation of “a current keep-alive probing period”; and “an idle state” preceded by “an idle state” in independent claim. It is unclear if the recitations refer to the same or different limitations.
Claim 5 recites “the operating state of the current network”, which has lack of antecedent basis and preceded by “running state of the current network”. It is unclear if the limitations are same or different.
Claim 15 recites “the sleep state”, “the persistent connection”, which has lack of antecedent basis in claim. Dependent claims 19-24 are rejected for same reasons.
Claim 16 recites “the persistent connection”, “the method” (first recitation in preamble) which has lack of antecedent basis in claim. Dependent claims 25-28 are rejected for same reasons.
Claims 20-22, 24, 26-28, recite “the counter-party communication device”, which has lack of antecedent basis in claim. Dependent claim 23 is rejected for same reasons.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims, the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2, 6-7, 15-16, 19, 24-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao et al. (CN-102223257, IDS 4/11/2024, Foreign patent document # B2, refer to the attached English translation for reference in office action) in view of Yun et al. (US 2021/0058309)
Regarding claim 1, Zhao teaches a method for reducing power consumption of a communication device in a sleep state (abstract: heartbeat interval adjustment method, to reduce the power consumption of the client terminal), carried out by the communication device (abstract: client terminal), wherein a persistent connection used for transmitting data is established between the communication device and a counter-party communication device (abstract: the connection server and the client end after finishing the establishment, the client sends heartbeat negotiation message), and the method comprises:
setting a next keep-alive probing period of the persistent connection according to the running state of the current network such that the next keep-alive probing period of the persistent connection is at least extended on the basis of a current keep-alive probing period when the running state of the current network is an idle state (para 100-101: when the network is good, can improve the heartbeat interval value, when the network is bad, can reduce the heartbeat interval value; para 74-75; para 37: said server is used for receiving the client end sending the heartbeat negotiation message, when determining upper first connection because dead or abnormal network link is disconnected, according to said reason value the heartbeat interval value after decreased by negotiation response message sent to the client terminal, and when determining upper first connection because dialing telephone according to said cause value, application or application pause switch is disconnected, the heartbeat interval value is increased through the negotiation response message to the client end).
Zhao teaches the heartbeat interval adjustment negotiated by client terminal based on network condition being good (considered as idle) or bad (considered as busy). The reference teaches the network condition (running state of current network), but does not teach detection process of network state. Yun is directed to latency measurement in communication system.
Yun further teaches detecting a running state of a current network when the communication device is in the sleep state (abstract: determining a latency of the communication link (considered as running state of network) when the second communication device is in the power-management state (considered as sleep state) based on the one or more packets and the one or more response packets). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine heartbeat interval adjustment based on network condition as taught by Zhao with detection of network latency (state) as taught by Yun for the benefit of improving latency and/or connectivity as taught by Yun in para 83.
Regarding claim 15, Zhao teaches a communication device (abstract: client terminal, heartbeat interval adjustment method, to reduce the power consumption of the client terminal), configured to:
set a next keep-alive probing period of the persistent connection according to the running state of the current network such that the next keep-alive probing period of the persistent connection is at least extended on the basis of a current keep-alive probing period when the running state of the current network is an idle state (para 100-101: when the network is good, can improve the heartbeat interval value, when the network is bad, can reduce the heartbeat interval value; para 74-75; para 37: said server is used for receiving the client end sending the heartbeat negotiation message, when determining upper first connection because dead or abnormal network link is disconnected, according to said reason value the heartbeat interval value after decreased by negotiation response message sent to the client terminal, and when determining upper first connection because dialing telephone according to said cause value, application or application pause switch is disconnected, the heartbeat interval value is increased through the negotiation response message to the client end).
Zhao teaches the heartbeat interval adjustment negotiated by client terminal based on network condition being good (considered as idle) or bad (considered as busy). The reference teaches the network condition (running state of current network), but does not teach detection process of network state or the structural element of the device. Yun is directed to latency measurement in communication system.
Yun further teaches a communication device (system 600, fig 6), comprising: a processor (processor 601, fig 6); a memory connected to the processor (machine readable storage medium 604, fig 6), wherein machine-readable instructions are stored in the memory (instruction 606, fig 6); the processor when executing the machine-readable instructions (para 106: the computer-machine-readable/executable instructions 606 are executed by a processor 601); to detect a running state of a current network when the communication device is in the sleep state (abstract: determining a latency of the communication link (considered as running state of network) when the second communication device is in the power-management state (considered as sleep state) based on the one or more packets and the one or more response packets). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine heartbeat interval adjustment based on network condition as taught by Zhao with detection of network latency (state) as taught by Yun for the benefit of improving latency and/or connectivity as taught by Yun in para 83.
Regarding claim 16, Zhao teaches the method for reducing power consumption of a communication device in a sleep state (abstract: heartbeat interval adjustment method, to reduce the power consumption of the client terminal), the method comprising:
setting a next keep-alive probing period of the persistent connection according to the running state of the current network such that the next keep-alive probing period of the persistent connection is at least extended on the basis of a current keep-alive probing period when the running state of the current network is an idle state (para 100-101: when the network is good, can improve the heartbeat interval value, when the network is bad, can reduce the heartbeat interval value; para 74-75; para 37: said server is used for receiving the client end sending the heartbeat negotiation message, when determining upper first connection because dead or abnormal network link is disconnected, according to said reason value the heartbeat interval value after decreased by negotiation response message sent to the client terminal, and when determining upper first connection because dialing telephone according to said cause value, application or application pause switch is disconnected, the heartbeat interval value is increased through the negotiation response message to the client end).
Zhao teaches the heartbeat interval adjustment negotiated by client terminal based on network condition being good (considered as idle) or bad (considered as busy). The reference teaches the network condition (running state of current network), but does not teach detection process of network state. The reference teaches client terminal, but does not specify non-transitory storage medium. Yun is directed to latency measurement in communication system.
Yun further teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (machine readable storage medium 604, fig 6) having stored therein a computer program (instructions 606, fig 6) that, when executed by a processor (processor 601, fig 6), implements the method for reducing power consumption (fig 6; para 106: the storage medium 604 and associated computer executable instructions 606 may be in any of the communication devices and/or servers discussed herein. The computer-machine-readable/executable instructions 606 are executed by a processor 601); detecting a running state of a current network when the communication device is in the sleep state (abstract: determining a latency of the communication link (considered as running state of network) when the second communication device is in the power-management state (considered as sleep state) based on the one or more packets and the one or more response packets). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine heartbeat interval adjustment based on network condition as taught by Zhao with detection of network latency (state) as taught by Yun for the benefit of improving latency and/or connectivity as taught by Yun in para 83.
Regarding claim 2, 19 and 25, Zhao fails to teach, but Yun further teaches wherein the detecting the running state of a current network comprises: detecting the running state of the current network in response to the timing of the current keep-alive probing period of the persistent connection ends (para 70: if the second communication device 104 was connected at both the first time and second time, and if the operational parameter at the second time is inside a range of threshold values, the agent can determine that a disconnection event occurred. For example, the agent determines the second communication device 104 disconnected from the first communication device based on detecting the second communication device was connected to the first communication device 102 at both the first time and the second time, and detecting the value of the operational parameter at the second time is inside a range of threshold values based on the operational parameter at the first time). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine heartbeat interval adjustment based on network condition as taught by Zhao with detection of network latency (state) as taught by Yun for the benefit of improving latency and/or connectivity as taught by Yun in para 83.
Regarding claim 6, 24, Zhao fails to teach, but Yun further teaches wherein the detecting the running state of a current network (abstract: determining a latency of the communication link (considered as running state of network) when the second communication device is in the power-management state (considered as sleep state) based on the one or more packets and the one or more response packets) comprises:
sending at least one of a probing packet or a paging message to the counter-party communication device (302, fig 3; para 93: at block 302, the first communication device transmits one or more packets to the second communication device, the one or more packets to be received by the second communication device while in the power-management state);
receiving at least one of a probing response packet or a paging response message from the counter-party communication device (para 94: at block 303, the first communication device receives, from the second communication device over the communication link, one or more response packets in response to the one or more packets); and
if at least one of a time interval between sending time of the probing packet and receiving time of the probing response packet, or a time interval between sending time of the paging message and receiving time of the paging response message (para 95: at block 304, the first communication device determines a latency of the communication link when the second communication device is in the power-management state based on the one or more packets and the one or more response packets) are/is greater than a set time threshold value (para 31: latency can be measured at time moments that are chosen relative to the traffic pattern; here, relative traffic pattern is the threshold), determining that the current network is busy, otherwise, determining that the current network is idle (para 32: if the latency is large even after accounting for the power-management state of a target communication device, it indicates that the link may not be healthy (e.g., due to frequent packet losses, packet re-sends, transmission back-off because of the nature of wireless system where the common medium air is shared, or other causes of large latency)). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine heartbeat interval adjustment based on network condition as taught by Zhao with detection of network latency (state) as taught by Yun for the benefit of improving latency and/or connectivity as taught by Yun in para 83.
Regarding claim 7, Zhao fails to teach, but Yun further teaches wherein the probing packet is at least one of a ping data packet or a probing heartbeat packet (para 26: the agent issues latency measuring commands (e.g., ping commands, TCP synch/reset commands, and/or other latency measuring commands) after and/or during the injected traffic). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine heartbeat interval adjustment based on network condition as taught by Zhao with detection of network latency (state) as taught by Yun for the benefit of improving latency and/or connectivity as taught by Yun in para 83.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 18, 20-23, 26-28 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RINA C PANCHOLI whose telephone number is (571)272-2679. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30am-4pm.
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/RINA C PANCHOLI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477 5/30/2026
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