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 .
Claims 1-19 are pending.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDS statements filed to date have been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-6, 8-15, and 17-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al., US 2021/0266805, (“Lee”), in view of Xu et al., US 2024/0430914, (“Xu”).
Independent Claims
Regarding claim 1, Lee teaches “A Bluetooth access point (AP) apparatus (Fig. 2), comprising:
a first access point apparatus configured to perform a periodic broadcast communication (Fig. 2, first AP device 230; paragraph no. 0047, “When the first AP device and the second AP device transmit the BLE advertising packets to the terminal”); and
a second access point apparatus configured to, together with first access point apparatus, perform a connection procedure such that the second access point apparatus performs a connection communication with a to-be-communicated wireless apparatus of the plurality of wireless apparatuses (Fig. 2, second AP device 240; paragraph nos. 0051 and 0055 disclose that the first and second AP devices transmit a BLE advertising packet to the terminal as part of a connection procedure), the connection procedure comprising:
generating connection information related to the to-be-communicated wireless apparatus by the first access point apparatus (paragraph no. 0049, “In operation 330, the first AP device may transmit a setting message including information about the set transmission period of the second BLE advertising packet and information about the determined transmission timing of the second BLE advertising packet to the second AP device”; the claimed “connection information” reads on the setting message and its contents);
receiving the connection information from the first access point apparatus by the second access point apparatus (paragraph no. 0049, “In operation 330, the first AP device may transmit a setting message including information about the set transmission period of the second BLE advertising packet and information about the determined transmission timing of the second BLE advertising packet to the second AP device”);
broadcasting a connection request signal according to the connection information by a first one of the first access point apparatus and the second access point apparatus to be identified and received by the to-be-communicated wireless apparatus (paragraph no. 0051, “In operation 340, the first AP device may transmit the first BLE advertising packet to the terminal”; the BLE advertising packet functions as a “connection request signal”);
receiving a connection response signal from the to-be-communicated wireless apparatus by a second one of the first access point apparatus and the second access point apparatus, wherein the second one of the first access point apparatus and the second access point apparatus is either the same as the first one of the first access point apparatus and the second access point apparatus or different from the first one of the first access point apparatus and the second access point apparatus (paragraph no. 0057, “when the terminal determines to perform WiFi connection with the first AP device, the first AP device may transmit and receive information needed for a WiFi handoff to and from the terminal … The first AP device may perform WiFi connection with the terminal based on the information needed for the WiFi handoff, received from the terminal”; the information received from the terminal functions as a “connection response signal”); and
establishing connection with the to-be-communicated wireless apparatus by the second access point apparatus” (paragraph nos. 0056, 0057 disclose that the first AP device may perform WiFi connection with the terminal based on a determination by the terminal – however, it is implicit that the terminal may determine to establish a connection with the second AP device (“second access point apparatus”) based on its throughput; see also, paragraph no. 0107 which discloses that the terminal may perform a handoff (i.e., connection) with the second AP device based on the throughput of the second AP device).
Lee does not teach but Xu teaches “with a plurality of wireless apparatuses according to a periodic advertising with response (PAwR) technology” (see paragraph no. 0005 which discloses the BT specification version 5.4 which includes a Periodic Advertising with Response (PAWR) protocol and an access point/master device which transmits the PAWR to a plurality of slave devices) as recited in claim 1.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of this claimed invention to modify Lee by incorporating the teachings of Xu to improve the Bluetooth access point system by adding the newly added PAWR protocol of the Bluetooth specification, thereby enabling the Bluetooth access point system to support a point-to-multipoint bidirectional communication link, as suggested by Xu in paragraph no. 0005.
Regarding independent claims 10 and 19, these independent claims are corresponding method and system claims of the apparatus claim 1 and recite similar subject matter. As such, the rationale behind the above rejection of claim 1 applies with equal force to these independent claims.
Dependent Claims
Regarding claims 2 and 11, Lee teaches “wherein the first access point apparatus is configured to broadcast the connection request signal and the first access point apparatus is configured to receive the connection response signal” (see paragraph nos. 0051 and 0057).
Regarding claims 3 and 12, Lee teaches “wherein the first access point apparatus is configured to broadcast the connection request signal and the second access point apparatus is configured to receive the connection response signal” (paragraph no. 0051 discloses that the first AP device transmits/broadcasts the first BLE advertising packet (“connection request signal”) and paragraph nos. 0057, 0107 disclose that the second AP device may receive the information from the terminal to establish a Wifi connection).
Regarding claims 4 and 13, Lee teaches “wherein the second access point apparatus is configured to broadcast the connection request signal and the second access point apparatus is configured to receive the connection response signal” (paragraph nos. 0055, 0057, 0107 disclose that the second AP device transmits the BLE advertising packet (“connection request signal”) and receives the information from the terminal to establish a Wifi connection).
Regarding claims 5 and 14, Lee teaches “wherein the connection information comprises at least one piece of information of address information, connection time information, connection channel information, connection verification information of the first access point apparatus and the to-be-communicated wireless apparatus” (see paragraph no. 0049 for the claimed “connection time information” (i.e., the set transmission period or determined transmission timing)).
Regarding claims 6 and 15, Lee teaches “wherein the first access point apparatus and the second access point apparatus actively perform the connection procedure” (paragraph no. 0047, “When the first AP device and the second AP device transmit the BLE advertising packets to the terminal”).
Regarding claims 8 and 17, Lee teaches “wherein the first access point apparatus and the second access point apparatus are connected through a wired network or a wireless network” (Fig. 2 and paragraph no. 0049 disclose that the first and second AP devices are connected via a wireless network).
Regarding claims 9 and 18, Lee teaches “wherein the second access point apparatus receives the connection information at a first time point (paragraph no. 0049 discloses that the second AP device receives the setting message (“connection information”) at a first time point), the first one of the first access point apparatus and the second access point apparatus broadcasts the connection request signal at a second time point (paragraph no. 0051 discloses that the first AP device transmits the first BLE advertising packet to the terminal at a second time point), the second one of the first access point apparatus and the second access point apparatus receives the connection response signal at a third time point (paragraph no. 0057 discloses that the first AP device receives the information (“connection response signal”) needed for the WiFi connection at a third time point);
wherein either one of the first time point and the second time point is earlier than the other one of the first time point and the second time point or the first time point and the second time point are the same, and both of the first time point and the second time point are earlier than the third time point” (see paragraph no. 0049 which discloses a “first time point”, paragraph no. 0051 discloses a “second time point”, and paragraph no. 0057 discloses a “third time point”, all in the sequence required by the last wherein clause).
Claim(s) 7 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee and Xu as applied to claims 1, 10 above, and further in view of Hayashi et al., US 7,818,363, (“Hayashi”).
Regarding claims 7 and 16, Lee does not teach but Hayashi teaches “wherein the to-be-communicated wireless apparatus actively transmits a data transmission request signal to the first access point apparatus such that the first access point apparatus and the second access point apparatus perform the connection procedure” (see col. 9, lines 50-56, “the first terminal 52 transmits data (including a data transmission request) … to the first transfer device 301” and col. 6, lines 47-51 which discloses that the first transfer device 301 is an access point; see also, Fig. 5 which shows that the first transfer device 301 and a second transfer device 201 are involved in a connection procedure for the terminal 52).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of this claimed invention to modify Lee and Xu by incorporating the teachings of Hayashi to enable the terminal to initiate a data transfer connection with the network (e.g., a handoff from one AP to another).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WON TAE C. KIM whose telephone number is (571)270-1812. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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/WON TAE C KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414
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