Details
Claims 1-9 and 20 are canceled.
Claims 10-19 and 21-30 are pending.
Claims 10-13, 15-19, 21-24 and 26-30 are rejected.
Claims 14 and 25 is objected.
Claim Objections
Claim 15 objected to because of the following informalities: claim 15 was amended to state:“select the priority communication link the plurality of communication links based at least one of”. The word “from” was mistakenly crossed out. 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.
Claims 11 and 22 are 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "move the priority client to the priority communication link". However, claim 11 does not state from where the priority client is moved. Thus, the limitation is vague and confusing.
Claim 22 recites similar language and is rejected under the same rationale.
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 10-13, 15-19, 21-24 and 26-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over John et al (Pub. No.: US 2021/0185738 A1) in view of Sun et al (Pub. No.: US 2023/0308938 A1).
As per claim 10, John discloses An apparatus for wireless communication (John, Fig 2A, Fig 7), comprising: - at least one transceiver (John, Fig 7 item 725, paragraph 0075 wherein “For example, communication interface 725 may include one or multiple transmitters and receivers, or transceivers”); and - a processing system that includes processor circuitry and memory circuitry that stores code, executable by the processor circuitry (John, Fig 7 item 710, 720, paragraph 0068, 0071-0072, wherein “As illustrated in FIG. 7, device 700 includes a bus 705, a processor 710, a memory/storage 715 that stores software 720, a communication interface 725, an input 730, and an output 735. According to other embodiments, device 700 may include fewer components, additional components, different components, and/or a different arrangement of components than those illustrated in FIG. 7 and described herein”) to cause the apparatus to:- associate a priority client with a (John, paragraph 0034, wherein “For example, an ACC elemental file (EF) may include bits corresponding to access classes ranging from 0-15. Access classes 0-9 correspond to standard access class users (e.g., non-priority users), access control class 10 corresponds to emergency call users, and access control classes 11-15 correspond to special access class or high priority access users. For example, access control class 11 may be for public land mobile network (PLMN) use, access control class 12 may be for security services, access control class 13 may be for public utilities, access control class 14 may be for national security services, and access control class 15 may be for PLMN staff. The term “priority user” or “priority users” may refer to a user, end device 199, or both”paragraph 0036, wherein “According to an exemplary embodiment, the Wi-Fi admission control and prioritization service may include priority or access level information corresponding to the access control class categories in a signaling procedure, as described herein. According to an exemplary embodiment, the Wi-Fi admission control and prioritization service may reserve a number of connections to be used for priority users. For example, a Wi-Fi access device may be configured with a reserved connection value that indicates a maximum number of Wi-Fi connections available for priority users”),- move a non-priority client from a priority communication link to the one or more non-priority communication links based at least in part on the priority client failing to satisfy one or more performance guarantees on any of the (John, paragraph 0038, wherein “According to an exemplary embodiment, when the reserved connection value is dynamic, the Wi-Fi admission control and prioritization service may release a session of a non-priority user (e.g., a normal user) to allow a priority user to establish a Wi-Fi connection.”;Fig 8A steps 810-825, paragraph 0082-0085, wherein “In block 810, the Wi-Fi access device may determine that it is in a congested state or predicted congested state … When the current number of reserved Wi-Fi connections is equal to the reserved connection value (block 820-NO), the Wi-Fi access device may release a Wi-Fi connection (block 825). For example, based on the comparison, Wi-Fi access device 205 may determine that the current number of reserved Wi-Fi connections is equal to the reserved connection value. Wi-Fi access device 205 may release one of the Wi-Fi connections being used by a priority user. For example, Wi-Fi access device 205 may select the Wi-Fi connection to be released based on one or multiple factors, such as the state of the session, the priority of the priority user, and/or other session-related and/or user-related information, as described herein” wherein the releasing of the session of a non-priority user (e.g., a normal user) from the reserved connections can be the moving of non-priority client from a priority communication link (reserved connection) to the one or more non-priority communication links (non-reserved connection)), and- communicate, via the at least one transceiver, via (John, paragraph 0075, wherein “Communication interface 725 permits device 700 to communicate with other devices, networks, systems, and/or the like. Communication interface 725 includes one or multiple wireless interfaces and/or wired interfaces. For example, communication interface 725 may include one or multiple transmitters and receivers, or transceivers. Communication interface 725 may operate according to a protocol stack and a communication standard. Communication interface 725 may include an antenna. Communication interface 725 may include various processing logic or circuitry (e.g., multiplexing/de-multiplexing, filtering, amplifying, converting, error correction, application programming interface (API), etc.). Communication interface 725 may be implemented as a point-to-point interface, a service based interface, etc. Communication interface 725 may be implemented to include logic that supports the Wi-Fi admission control and prioritization service, such as the transmission and reception of messages, the inclusion of priority information, and so forth, as described herein”). John is focused on connections to a single access point and thus it does not explicitly disclose a plurality of communication links. However, Sun discloses a plurality of communication links (Sun, paragraph 0003, wherein “Methods and apparatus for multi-link (ML) steering and control in wireless local area network (WLAN) are disclosed. A station (STA) multi-link device (MLD) may communicate over a plurality of links”).
Therefore, it would have it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate John with Sun to achieve the claimed limitations because a user would be able to extend priority connection reservation from a single-radio context to a multi-context to provide improved QoS for priority clients over multiple links.
As per claim 11, claim 10 is incorporated and John further discloses wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the apparatus to: move the priority client to the priority communication link of the plurality of communication links based at least in part on the priority client failing to satisfy the one or more performance guarantees on any of the plurality of communication links, wherein moving the non-priority client is based on moving the priority client to the priority communication link (John, paragraph 0038, wherein “According to an exemplary embodiment, when the reserved connection value is dynamic, the Wi-Fi admission control and prioritization service may release a session of a non-priority user (e.g., a normal user) to allow a priority user to establish a Wi-Fi connection.”;Fig 8A steps 810-825, paragraph 0082-0085, wherein “In block 810, the Wi-Fi access device may determine that it is in a congested state or predicted congested state … When the current number of reserved Wi-Fi connections is equal to the reserved connection value (block 820-NO), the Wi-Fi access device may release a Wi-Fi connection (block 825). For example, based on the comparison, Wi-Fi access device 205 may determine that the current number of reserved Wi-Fi connections is equal to the reserved connection value. Wi-Fi access device 205 may release one of the Wi-Fi connections being used by a priority user. For example, Wi-Fi access device 205 may select the Wi-Fi connection to be released based on one or multiple factors, such as the state of the session, the priority of the priority user, and/or other session-related and/or user-related information, as described herein” wherein the releasing of the session of a non-priority user (e.g., a normal user) from the reserved connections can be the moving of non-priority client from a priority communication link (reserved connection) to the one or more non-priority communication links (non-reserved connection));
As per claim 12, claim 10 is incorporated and John further discloses wherein movement of the non-priority client is based at least in part on the priority client failing to satisfy the one or more performance guarantees on the priority communication link or the one or more non-priority communication links (John, paragraph 0038, wherein “According to an exemplary embodiment, when the reserved connection value is dynamic, the Wi-Fi admission control and prioritization service may release a session of a non-priority user (e.g., a normal user) to allow a priority user to establish a Wi-Fi connection.”;Fig 8A steps 810-825, paragraph 0082-0085, wherein “In block 810, the Wi-Fi access device may determine that it is in a congested state or predicted congested state … When the current number of reserved Wi-Fi connections is equal to the reserved connection value (block 820-NO), the Wi-Fi access device may release a Wi-Fi connection (block 825). For example, based on the comparison, Wi-Fi access device 205 may determine that the current number of reserved Wi-Fi connections is equal to the reserved connection value. Wi-Fi access device 205 may release one of the Wi-Fi connections being used by a priority user. For example, Wi-Fi access device 205 may select the Wi-Fi connection to be released based on one or multiple factors, such as the state of the session, the priority of the priority user, and/or other session-related and/or user-related information, as described herein”);
As per claim 13, claim 10 is incorporated and John further discloses wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the apparatus to: maintain one or more non-priority clients at the priority communication link based at least in part on a traffic load of the priority communication link being less than or equal to a total residual link capacity of the priority communication link, wherein movement of the non-priority client is based on maintaining the one or more non-priority clients at the priority communication link (John, paragraph 0038, wherein “According to an exemplary embodiment, when the reserved connection value is dynamic, the Wi-Fi admission control and prioritization service may release a session of a non-priority user (e.g., a normal user) to allow a priority user to establish a Wi-Fi connection.”; Fig 8A steps 810-825, paragraph 0082-0085, wherein “In block 810, the Wi-Fi access device may determine that it is in a congested state or predicted congested state … When the current number of reserved Wi-Fi connections is equal to the reserved connection value (block 820-NO), the Wi-Fi access device may release a Wi-Fi connection (block 825). For example, based on the comparison, Wi-Fi access device 205 may determine that the current number of reserved Wi-Fi connections is equal to the reserved connection value. Wi-Fi access device 205 may release one of the Wi-Fi connections being used by a priority user. For example, Wi-Fi access device 205 may select the Wi-Fi connection to be released based on one or multiple factors, such as the state of the session, the priority of the priority user, and/or other session-related and/or user-related information, as described herein”);
As per claim 15, claim 10 is incorporated and John further discloses wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the apparatus to: select the priority communication link from the plurality of communication links based at least one of: a link capacity of the priority communication link relative to link capacities of the plurality of communication links; a congestion level of the priority communication link relative to congestion levels of the plurality of communication links; an interference level of the priority communication link relative to interference levels of the plurality of communication links; or a channel access latency level of the priority communication link relative to channel access latency levels of the plurality of communication links (John, paragraph 0038, wherein “According to an exemplary embodiment, when the reserved connection value is dynamic, the Wi-Fi admission control and prioritization service may release a session of a non-priority user (e.g., a normal user) to allow a priority user to establish a Wi-Fi connection.”; Fig 8A steps 810-825, paragraph 0082-0085, wherein “In block 810, the Wi-Fi access device may determine that it is in a congested state or predicted congested state … When the current number of reserved Wi-Fi connections is equal to the reserved connection value (block 820-NO), the Wi-Fi access device may release a Wi-Fi connection (block 825). For example, based on the comparison, Wi-Fi access device 205 may determine that the current number of reserved Wi-Fi connections is equal to the reserved connection value. Wi-Fi access device 205 may release one of the Wi-Fi connections being used by a priority user. For example, Wi-Fi access device 205 may select the Wi-Fi connection to be released based on one or multiple factors, such as the state of the session, the priority of the priority user, and/or other session-related and/or user-related information, as described herein”);
As per claim 16, claim 10 is incorporated and John further discloses wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the apparatus to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, one or more stream classification service (SCS) messages to establish a quality of service (QoS) context for a communication flow associated with the priority client, wherein, to communicate via the plurality of communication links, the processing system is configured to cause the apparatus to communicate via the one or more priority communication links in accordance with the QoS context (John, paragraph 0063, wherein “he QoS, prioritization, scheduling, queuing, and other processes may include various parameters, such as back-off times, transmit opportunity times, contention window values, arbitration interframe space values, and other parameters or configurations. In view of the Wi-Fi admission control and prioritization service, an additional one or more queues and configurations may be used to support the priority users, as described herein. For example, in addition to queues 505-1 through 505-4 that may be configured to support background, best effort, video, and voice traffic, the Wi-Fi access point may further include one or multiple queues 505-5 that support the priority users (e.g., access control class 10-15 or 11-15). Additionally, the components of the system that may support various QoS, scheduling (back off values, etc.), etc., as illustrated by background 510-1, best effort 510-2, video 510-3, and voice 510-4, the system may further support such configurations for the priority users via highest priority 510-5. As such, application data 500 received by the Wi-Fi access point that includes the Wi-Fi admission control and prioritization service may provide QoS and prioritization associated with the priority users”);
As per claim 17, claim 10 is incorporated and John further discloses wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the apparatus to: establish a quality of service (QoS) context for a communication flow associated with the priority client in accordance with a classification associated with the communication flow, the classification being in accordance with one or more data packets communicated via the communication flow (John, paragraph 0063, wherein “he QoS, prioritization, scheduling, queuing, and other processes may include various parameters, such as back-off times, transmit opportunity times, contention window values, arbitration interframe space values, and other parameters or configurations. In view of the Wi-Fi admission control and prioritization service, an additional one or more queues and configurations may be used to support the priority users, as described herein. For example, in addition to queues 505-1 through 505-4 that may be configured to support background, best effort, video, and voice traffic, the Wi-Fi access point may further include one or multiple queues 505-5 that support the priority users (e.g., access control class 10-15 or 11-15). Additionally, the components of the system that may support various QoS, scheduling (back off values, etc.), etc., as illustrated by background 510-1, best effort 510-2, video 510-3, and voice 510-4, the system may further support such configurations for the priority users via highest priority 510-5. As such, application data 500 received by the Wi-Fi access point that includes the Wi-Fi admission control and prioritization service may provide QoS and prioritization associated with the priority users”);
As per claim 18, claim 10 is incorporated and John further discloses wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the apparatus to: establish a quality of service (QoS) context for a communication flow associated with the priority client in accordance with the one or more performance guarantees associated with an administration configuration (John, paragraph 0063, wherein “he QoS, prioritization, scheduling, queuing, and other processes may include various parameters, such as back-off times, transmit opportunity times, contention window values, arbitration interframe space values, and other parameters or configurations. In view of the Wi-Fi admission control and prioritization service, an additional one or more queues and configurations may be used to support the priority users, as described herein. For example, in addition to queues 505-1 through 505-4 that may be configured to support background, best effort, video, and voice traffic, the Wi-Fi access point may further include one or multiple queues 505-5 that support the priority users (e.g., access control class 10-15 or 11-15). Additionally, the components of the system that may support various QoS, scheduling (back off values, etc.), etc., as illustrated by background 510-1, best effort 510-2, video 510-3, and voice 510-4, the system may further support such configurations for the priority users via highest priority 510-5. As such, application data 500 received by the Wi-Fi access point that includes the Wi-Fi admission control and prioritization service may provide QoS and prioritization associated with the priority users”);
As per claim 19, claim 10 is incorporated and John further discloses wherein the apparatus is configured to operate as an access point (AP) (John, paragraph 0015, wherein “According to exemplary embodiments, a Wi-Fi admission control and prioritization service is described. According to an exemplary embodiment, the Wi-Fi admission control and prioritization service may provide priority users with admission control and quality of service (QoS) priority to Wi-Fi access points over other types of users. According to an exemplary embodiment, the Wi-Fi access point may be a device that operates according to an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard (also known as 802.11x) (e.g., 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11n, 802.11ac, etc.)”);
Claims 21-24 and 26-30 are rejected under the same rationale as claims 10-13 and 15-19.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14 and 25 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/HAMZA N ALGIBHAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2457
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