DETAILED ACTION
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 .
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.
Claims 1, 9, 18, 20 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Laroia et al (US 2006/0083267, hereinafter Laroia) and in view of Ina (US 2021/0219236, hereinafter Ina).
Regarding claim 1, Laroia discloses a beacon receiving method, comprising: determining, by a first receive node, one or more subcarriers that are in a first frequency band, wherein the first frequency band is one of N frequency bands comprised in a first beacon resource of a first send node, and wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 1 (beacon can be on a single tone at certain frequency within the available bandwidth, where the terminal can identify and detect the beacon, Para [0030], beacon is single tone within the frequency band, Para [0031], terminal observes peak frequency of the beacon signal, Para [0028]); receiving, by the first receive node, a beacon signal on the one or more subcarriers (narrowband beacon signal is transmitted, Para [0018], beacon can be transmitted on single tone, Para [0004], the terminal can measure the energy of the beacon signal and obtain received beacon, Para [0028]); and parsing, by the first receive node, the beacon signal (detecting and identifying beacon signals, Para [0040], beacon processed by the mobile node, Para [0034]); but does not disclose wherein each of the N frequency bands is or lies within a data transmission frequency band for data transmission communication. Ina discloses determining whether the frequency band of the received beacon is the same frequency band that is used for data frame transmission, Para [0041] and there is a case where the frequency band of the beacon is the same frequency band used for data frame transmission, Para [0043]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Ina in the system of Laroia in order to allow propagation characteristics, interference measurements derived from the beacon frame to apply to subsequent data transmission thereby improving communication reliability and reduce signaling overhead.
Regarding claim 9, Laroia discloses a beacon sending method, comprising: determining, by a first send node, one or more subcarriers in a first frequency band, wherein the first frequency band is one of N frequency bands comprised in a first beacon resource of the first send node, and wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 1 (beacon can be on a single tone at certain frequency within the available bandwidth, where the terminal can identify and detect the beacon, Para [0030], beacon is single tone within the frequency band, Para [0031]); and sending, by the first send node, a beacon signal on the one or more subcarriers (narrowband beacon signal is transmitted, Para [0018], beacon can be transmitted on single tone, Para [0004], the terminal can measure the energy of the beacon signal and obtain received beacon, Para [0028]); but does not disclose wherein each of the N frequency bands is or lies within a data transmission frequency band for data transmission communication. Ina discloses determining whether the frequency band of the received beacon is the same frequency band that is used for data frame transmission, Para [0041] and there is a case where the frequency band of the beacon is the same frequency band used for data frame transmission, Para [0043]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Ina in the system of Laroia in order to allow propagation characteristics, interference measurements derived from the beacon frame to apply to subsequent data transmission thereby improving communication reliability and reduce signaling overhead.
Regarding claim 18, Laroia discloses a communication apparatus (terminal, Fig. 10), comprising: at least one non-transitory memory configured to store instructions and at least one processor (memory and processor, Fig. 10) configured to: execute the instructions to enable the communication apparatus to: determine one or more subcarriers in a first frequency band, wherein the first frequency band is one of N frequency bands comprised in a first beacon resource of a first send node, and wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 1 (beacon can be on a single tone at certain frequency within the available bandwidth, where the terminal can identify and detect the beacon, Para [0030], beacon is single tone within the frequency band, Para [0031], terminal observes peak frequency of the beacon signal, Para [0028]); receive a beacon signal on the one or more subcarriers (narrowband beacon signal is transmitted, Para [0018], beacon can be transmitted on single tone, Para [0004], the terminal can measure the energy of the beacon signal and obtain received beacon, Para [0028]); and parse the beacon signal (detecting and identifying beacon signals, Para [0040], beacon processed by the mobile node, Para [0034]); but does not disclose wherein each of the N frequency bands is or lies within a data transmission frequency band for data transmission communication. Ina discloses determining whether the frequency band of the received beacon is the same frequency band that is used for data frame transmission, Para [0041] and there is a case where the frequency band of the beacon is the same frequency band used for data frame transmission, Para [0043]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Ina in the system of Laroia in order to allow propagation characteristics, interference measurements derived from the beacon frame to apply to subsequent data transmission thereby improving communication reliability and reduce signaling overhead.
Regarding claim 20, Laroia discloses a communication apparatus (BS, Fig. 9), comprising: at least one non-transitory memory configured to store instructions and at least one processor (memory and processor, Fig. 9) configured to: execute the instructions to enable the communication apparatus to: determine one or more subcarriers in a first frequency band, wherein the first frequency band is one of N frequency bands comprised in a first beacon resource of the communication apparatus, and wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 1 (beacon can be on a single tone at certain frequency within the available bandwidth, where the terminal can identify and detect the beacon, Para [0030], beacon is single tone within the frequency band, Para [0031]); and send a beacon signal on the one or more subcarriers (narrowband beacon signal is transmitted, Para [0018], beacon can be transmitted on single tone, Para [0004], the terminal can measure the energy of the beacon signal and obtain received beacon, Para [0028]); but does not disclose wherein each of the N frequency bands is or lies within a data transmission frequency band for data transmission communication. Ina discloses determining whether the frequency band of the received beacon is the same frequency band that is used for data frame transmission, Para [0041] and there is a case where the frequency band of the beacon is the same frequency band used for data frame transmission, Para [0043]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Ina in the system of Laroia in order to allow propagation characteristics, interference measurements derived from the beacon frame to apply to subsequent data transmission thereby improving communication reliability and reduce signaling overhead.
Regarding claim 21, Laroia discloses the beacon sending method of claim 9, wherein the first send node is an air base station, and wherein the beacon signal is sent by a transceiver used for the data transmission communication (well known in the art a satellite with transceiver can transmit a beacon signal).
Claims 2-6, 10-16 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Laroia, in view of Ina and in view of Patil et al (US 2018/0110046, hereinafter Patil).
Regarding claim 5, Laroia discloses the method according to claim 1, but not further comprising: receiving, by the first receive node, first signaling from the first send node, wherein the first signaling indicates an update of the first beacon resource to a third beacon resource; and updating, by the first receive node, the first beacon resource of the first send node to the third beacon resource. Patil discloses the station can detect a beacon collision and notify the AP of said beacon collision, Para [0048], the station can detect concurrent beacon broadcasts and send event report to the AP with overlapping BSSs, Para [0095], the AP can transmit an announcement message indicating adjustment operation, Para [0173], obvious that the beacon location can be updated. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Patil in the system of Laroia in view of Ina in order to prevent collisions with overlapping BSSs.
Regarding claims 2, 10 and 19, Laroia discloses the method/apparatus according to claim 1/9/18, wherein the beacon signal comprises at least one of: a preset level signal, a preset modulation symbol, a reference signal used for navigation and/or measurement and control, and/or measurement and control information (beacon signal can be transmitted at a per tone transmission power of 3 db, Para [0018], obvious to one of ordinary skill beacon signal can have a preset level).
Regarding claims 3 and 11, Laroia discloses the method according to claim 2/10, wherein a quantity of subcarriers receiving the preset level signal or the preset modulation symbol is less than or equal to a preset threshold (obvious variation to one of ordinary skill in the art, beacon transmitted over 1 tone would be less than a threshold).
Regarding claims 4 and 12, Laroia discloses the method according to claim 2/10, wherein a non-cyclic prefix (CP) mode is used to receive the preset level signal or the preset modulation symbol (obvious to one of ordinary skill to skill a beacon can be transmitted and received without cyclic prefix to avoid wasting bandwidth and reduce interference to neighboring data traffic in adjacent subcarriers).
Regarding claim 6, Laroia discloses the method according to claim 5, but not wherein before the receiving, by the first receive node, the first signaling from the first send node, the method further comprises: determining, by the first receive node, that the first send node and a second send node cover the first receive node, and that the first beacon resource and a second beacon resource of the second send node overlap in a frequency domain; and sending, by the first receive node, second signaling to the first send node, wherein the second signaling indicates that the beacon resources of the first send node and the second send node overlap in frequency domain. Patil discloses the station can detect a beacon collision and notify the AP of said beacon collision, Para [0048], the station can detect concurrent beacon broadcasts and send event report to the AP with overlapping BSSs, Para [0095], obvious the beacons can be on overlapping frequencies.
Regarding claim 13, Laroia discloses the method according to claim 9, but not further comprising: updating, by the first send node, the first beacon resource to a third beacon resource based on coverage of the first send node, coverage of a second send node, and a second beacon resource. Patil discloses the AP can detect an overlapping BSS and beacon collision, Para [0048], the AP can transmit an announcement message indicating adjustment operation, Para [0173], obvious that the beacon location can be updated.
Regarding claim 14, Laroia discloses the method according to claim 13, but not wherein before the updating the first beacon resource to the third beacon resource, the method further comprises: determining, by the first send node, that the first send node and the second send node cover a first receive node, and that the first beacon resource and the second beacon resource overlap in a frequency domain. Patil discloses the AP can detect an overlapping BSS and beacon collision, Para [0048], the AP can transmit an announcement message indicating adjustment operation, Para [0173], obvious the beacon can be overlapped in frequency domain.
Regarding claim 15, Laroia discloses the method according to claim 13, but not wherein before the updating the first beacon resource to the third beacon resource, the method further comprises: receiving, by the first send node, second signaling from a first receive node, wherein the second signaling indicates that the beacon resources of the first send node and the second send node overlap in a frequency domain. Patil discloses the station can detect a beacon collision and notify the AP of said beacon collision, Para [0048], the station can detect concurrent beacon broadcasts and send event report to the AP with overlapping BSSs, Para [0095], obvious the beacons can be on overlapping frequencies.
Regarding claim 16, Laroia discloses the method according to claim 13, but not further comprising: sending, by the first send node, first signaling to a first receive node, wherein the first signaling indicates an update of the first beacon resource to the third beacon resource. Patil discloses the AP can detect an overlapping BSS and beacon collision, Para [0048], the AP can transmit an announcement message indicating adjustment operation, Para [0173].
Claims 7, 8 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Laroia, in view of Ina, in view of Patil and in view of Park et al (US 10,536,903, hereinafter Park).
Regarding claim 7, Laroia discloses the method according to claim 1, but not further comprising: determining, by the first receive node, that the first send node and a second send node cover the first receive node, and that the first beacon resource and a second beacon resource of the second send node overlap in a frequency domain; and sending, by the first receive node, third signaling to the first send node, wherein the third signaling indicates an update of the first beacon resource to a third beacon resource. Patil discloses the station can detect a beacon collision and notify the AP of said beacon collision, Para [0048], the station can detect concurrent beacon broadcasts and send event report to the AP with overlapping BSSs, Para [0095], obvious the beacons can be on overlapping frequencies. Park discloses receiving device can transmit selection of a sub-channel to the AP, C: 13 R: 45-47 and AP transmits beacons on the sub-channel, C: 9 R:25-26. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Park in the system of Laroia in view of Ina and Patil in order to improve coordination of selection of narrow channel bandwidths.
Regarding claim 8, Laroia discloses the method according to claim 7, but not further comprising: updating, by the first receive node, the first beacon resource of the first send node to the third beacon resource. Park discloses the communication devices communicate on the selected sub-channel, C: 5 R: 23-25.
Regarding claim 17, Laroia discloses the method according to claim 9, but not further comprising: receiving, by the first send node, third signaling from a first receive node, wherein the third signaling indicates an update of the first beacon resource to a third beacon resource; and updating, by the first send node, the first beacon resource to the third beacon resource. Park discloses receiving device can transmit selection of a sub-channel to the AP, C: 13 R: 45-47 and AP transmits beacons on the sub-channel, C: 9 R:25-26, the communication devices communicate on the selected sub-channel, C: 5 R: 23-25.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/24/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant amends the limitations in the claim and argues the references do not disclose the amended limitations. Applicant argues Laroia does not disclose the bandwidth for beacon signals is or lies within a data transmission frequency band. In response, arguments are moot in view of a new reference being used in the current office action.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN CUNNINGHAM whose telephone number is (571) 272-1765. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday 7:30-18:00 (EST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Huy Vu can be reached on (571) 272-3155. The fax number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KEVIN M CUNNINGHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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