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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 11-14-2024 and 12-19 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 3-4, 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being clearly anticipated by Wu (US-20230379911-A1, EFD: 2022-05-20).
For examination purposes, claims 1-7 referring to a method, claims 8-14 referring to a system and claims 15-20 referring to a non-transitory computer readable medium are henceforth grouped together for claims mirroring the same limitations or which disclose analogous art to the invention as claimed.
Regarding Claims 1, 8, 15, Wu discloses a method, system and non-transitory computer readable medium for a location integrity system to detect a change in a location of an access point device comprising: determining one or more baseline location integrity parameters associated with the access point device; determining that a power allowance event associated with the access point device has occurred; determining one or more current location integrity parameters associated with the access point device based on the power allowance event; (Wu, fig. 3, par. 47; At step 310, responsive to a hard reset (e.g., power cycle), soft reset, initialization, expiration of a channel assignment timer, or registration revocation message, the AFC module 210 is operative to: determine the location of the gateway 200, specifically the AP 110) detecting the change in the location of the access point device based on a comparison of the one or more current location integrity parameters to the one or more baseline location integrity parameters (Wu, fig. 3, par. 51; At step 340, if the registration response indicates that the AP location is incorrect, then AP location is updated at the gateway or AP and the method is restarted at step 310.) see also par. 55 and fig. 1. Par. 23; sending an AFC request message to an AFC management system based on the change in the location (Wu, fig. 3, par. 54; proceeding to step 330, the AFC module 210 is operative to: select one or more of the highest QoS channels for use by the AP, and to transmit a registration request including AP location and selected channel identifier towards network manager) see also par. 55; receiving an AFC response message from the AFC management system, wherein the AFC response message comprises the power allowance for the access point device; and configuring the access point device based on the AFC response message (Wu, fig. 3, par. 55; at step 380, in response to the NMS 150 (e.g., provisioning and configuration server 152) receiving the registration request transmitted by the AFC 210 at step 340, the NMS 150 is operative to: verify the gateway/AP location (e.g., using the customer database 154, AP geolocation database 156, neighbor node reports, and/or other means), verify that the selected channels in the request are unallocated and unused, generate a registration response as appropriate, transmit the registration response toward the requesting AFC, and updated the NMS database(s) as appropriate. The registration response indicates whether the AP locations is accurate, and whether any channels/frequencies have been assigned by the NMS 150 to the requesting AP 110. The response may further include proposed alternate/available frequencies for consideration by the AP) see also par. 52.
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Regarding Claims 2, 9, 16, Wu discloses a method, system and non-transitory computer readable medium according to claims 1, 8 and 15 further comprising: updating the one or more baseline location integrity parameters with the one or more current location integrity parameters; and storing the one or more baseline location integrity parameters (Wu, fig. 3, par. 55; at step 340, the NMS 150 is operative to: verify the gateway/AP location (e.g., using the customer database 154, AP geolocation database 156, neighbor node reports, and/or other means), verify that the selected channels in the request are unallocated and unused, generate a registration response as appropriate, transmit the registration response toward the requesting AFC, and updated the NMS database(s) as appropriate) see also, par. 44.
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claims 3-7, 10-14 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu (US-20230379911-A1, EFD: 2022-05-20) in view of Chitrakar (US-20220272544 -A1, Published: 2022-08-25).
For examination purposes, claims 1-7 referring to a method, claims 8-14 referring to a system and claims 15-20 referring to a non-transitory computer readable medium are henceforth grouped together for claims mirroring the same limitations or which disclose analogous art to the invention as claimed.
Regarding Claims 3, 10, 17, Wu discloses a method, system and non-transitory computer readable medium for a location integrity system according to claims 2, 9 and 16, further comprising: wherein the updating the one or more baseline location integrity parameters is based on a timestamp associated with the one or more current location integrity parameters (WU, fig. 3, par. 47; At step 310, responsive to a hard reset (e.g., power cycle), soft reset, initialization, expiration of a channel assignment timer, or registration revocation message, the AFC module 210 is operative to: determine the location of the gateway 200, specifically the AP 110 associated with the gateway 200).
Wu discloses the AFC module is operative to a timer and does not explicitly disclose the assignments include a time stamp. However, in analogous art Chitrakar discloses a communication method for 6Ghz band frequency coordination wherein the access point reports its position information (Chitrakar, fig. 17, par. 106; The circuitry 1802 may further include a location determination module 1708 which is responsible for determining the location of the AP device which may include the Latitude, Longitude information of the AP's geo-location position as well as the AP's attitude from the ground. The location information may be used by the AFC system to decide the frequency channels that may be used by the AP and the STAs associated with the AP) see also fig. 2 and performs access point discovery search in accordance to IEEE 802.11ax standards wherein the IFLS discovery frame includes a timestamp (Chitrakar, fig. 10, par. 80; The FILS Discovery frame 1000 may include (or consist of) a FILS Discovery Frame Control field, a Timestamp field, a Beacon Interval field, a SSID/Short SSIID field, a Length field, a FD Capability field, an Operating Class field, a Primary Channel field and a Mobility Domain field).
Therefore, a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention looking to enhance access point positioning determination would have been motivated to combine Wu’s methods for automatic frequency coordination using access point positioning information with Chitrakar’s methods for band frequency coordination using FILS discovery frame information to comply with IEEE 802.11ax standards.
Regarding Claims 4, 11, 18, the combination of Wu and Chitrakar teaches a method, system and non-transitory computer readable medium according to claims 1, 8, and 15 wherein at least one of: the power allowance event comprises any of a reboot, a power sequence, a location change, or any combination thereof (WU, fig. 3, par. 47; At step 310, responsive to a hard reset (e.g., power cycle), soft reset, initialization, expiration of a channel assignment timer, or registration revocation message, the AFC module 210 is operative to: determine the location of the gateway 200, specifically the AP 110 associated with the gateway 200); and the one or more location integrity parameters comprise one or more inter-site parameters, one or more intra-site parameters, and a timestamp (Wu, par. 28; The AFC 210 may include a global positioning system (GPS) receiver to provide accurate location information to ensure that the correct location of an AP 110 is known and used when identifying potential 6 GHz sub-band portions to be used by the AP. Automated registration of gateway location for indoor use may simply include the use of a customer address. Automated registration of gateway location for outdoor use may include the use of a customer address and/or coordinates) see also par. 23 and Chitrakar par. 80 and figs. 8-9.
Regarding Claims 5 and 12, the combination of Wu and Chitrakar teaches a method and system according to claims 4 and 11, wherein the one or more inter-site parameters comprise any of a network node address, a visible neighbor reporting (Chitrakar, par. 75, The information about the Active Scan may also be used by neighboring APs to compile their in-band or out of band Neighbor Report element or Reduced Neighbor Report element etc.) see also fig. 9, a wide area network (WAN) (Chitrakar, fig. 2, par. 55; a method that an access point (AP) may use to start a wireless network (may also be called a Basic Service Set (BSS) or in general a Radio Local Area Network (RLAN)) in a regulated sub-band of the 6 GHz band (such as U-NII-5 and U-NII-7 sub-bands)) see also pars. 38-39 dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server response information, a network server traceroute, a global positioning system information (Wu, par. 28; The AFC 210 may include a global positioning system (GPS) receiver to provide accurate location information to ensure that the correct location of an AP 110 is known and used when identifying potential 6 GHz sub-band portions to be used by the AP, a user information, a user input information, or any combination thereof (Chitrakar, fig. 5, par. 65; a Trigger frame 500 for use as an AFC Inband Enabling Signal according to various embodiments. The Trigger frame 500 may include (or consist of) a Frame Control field, a Duration field, a RA field, a TA field, a Common Info field, one or more User Info fields, a Padding field and a FCS field. The Frame Control field may include (or consist of) a Protocol Version field, a Type (Control) field, a Subtype field, a TO DS (0) field, a From DS (0) field, a More Frag (0) field, a Retry (0) field, an AFC Inband Enabling Signal field, a More Data field, a Protected Frame (0) field and a +HTC (0) field. All Trigger frames transmitted in the U-NII-5 and U-NII-7 sub-bands may be considered an AFC Enabling signal for the addressed STAs or the Trigger frames may explicitly carry the “AFC Inband Enabling Signal”, as shown with the AFC Inband Enabling Signal field in the Trigger frame 500) see also Wu par. 35, examiner notes, applicant is reminded the broadest reasonable interpretation of a method (or process) claim having contingent limitations requires only those steps that must be performed and does not include steps that are not required to be performed because the condition(s) precedent are not met, see MPEP 2111.04 for additional information.
Regarding Claims 6 and 13, the combination of Wu and Chitrakar teaches a method and system according to claims 4 and 11, wherein the one or more intra-site parameters comprise any of one or more performance indicators, a signal strength visible neighbor reporting, one or more wireless fidelity sensing return variation parameters(Wu, par. 56; In this case the quality or quantity of the selected channels or portions thereof may be based on a required bandwidth, as well as indicators such as signal quality (signal strength), SINR or I/N (signal vs noise)) see also par. 55, a fixed client device information, or any combination thereof (Chitrakar, par. 61; After an AP starts a BSS on a channel in the U-NII-5 and U-NII-7 sub-bands, the AP may need to periodically transmit a signal on the operating channel of the BSS to inform its associated client devices (STAs) or potential client devices that it is safe to use the channel for wireless communication with the AP. The signal may be known as an enabling signal or an authorization signal and so on) see also par. 54, examiner notes, applicant is reminded the broadest reasonable interpretation of a method (or process) claim having contingent limitations requires only those steps that must be performed and does not include steps that are not required to be performed because the condition(s) precedent are not met, see MPEP 2111.04 for additional information.
Regarding Claims 19, the combination of Wu and Chitrakar teaches a non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 18, wherein at least one of: the one or more inter-site parameters comprise any of a network node address, a visible neighbor reporting, (Chitrakar, par. 75, The information about the Active Scan may also be used by neighboring APs to compile their in-band or out of band Neighbor Report element or Reduced Neighbor Report element etc.) see also fig. 9, a wide area network (WAN) (Chitrakar, fig. 2, par. 55; a method that an access point (AP) may use to start a wireless network (may also be called a Basic Service Set (BSS) or in general a Radio Local Area Network (RLAN)) in a regulated sub-band of the 6 GHz band (such as U-NII-5 and U-NII-7 sub-bands)) see also pars. 38-39 dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server response information, a network server traceroute, a global positioning system information (Wu, par. 28; The AFC 210 may include a global positioning system (GPS) receiver to provide accurate location information to ensure that the correct location of an AP 110 is known and used when identifying potential 6 GHz sub-band portions to be used by the AP, a user information, a user input information, or any combination thereof (Chitrakar, fig. 5, par. 65; a Trigger frame 500 for use as an AFC Inband Enabling Signal according to various embodiments. The Trigger frame 500 may include (or consist of) a Frame Control field, a Duration field, a RA field, a TA field, a Common Info field, one or more User Info fields, a Padding field and a FCS field. The Frame Control field may include (or consist of) a Protocol Version field, a Type (Control) field, a Subtype field, a TO DS (0) field, a From DS (0) field, a More Frag (0) field, a Retry (0) field, an AFC Inband Enabling Signal field, a More Data field, a Protected Frame (0) field and a +HTC (0) field. All Trigger frames transmitted in the U-NII-5 and U-NII-7 sub-bands may be considered an AFC Enabling signal for the addressed STAs or the Trigger frames may explicitly carry the “AFC Inband Enabling Signal”, as shown with the AFC Inband Enabling Signal field in the Trigger frame 500) see also Wu par. 35; and the one or more intra-site parameters comprise any of one or more performance indicators, a signal strength visible neighbor reporting, one or more wireless fidelity sensing return variation parameters (Wu, par. 56; In this case the quality or quantity of the selected channels or portions thereof may be based on a required bandwidth, as well as indicators such as signal quality (signal strength), SINR or I/N (signal vs noise)) see also par. 55, a fixed client device information, or any combination thereof (Chitrakar, par. 61; After an AP starts a BSS on a channel in the U-NII-5 and U-NII-7 sub-bands, the AP may need to periodically transmit a signal on the operating channel of the BSS to inform its associated client devices (STAs) or potential client devices that it is safe to use the channel for wireless communication with the AP. The signal may be known as an enabling signal or an authorization signal and so on) see also par. 54 and WU par. 23, examiner notes, applicant is reminded the broadest reasonable interpretation of a method (or process) claim having contingent limitations requires only those steps that must be performed and does not include steps that are not required to be performed because the condition(s) precedent are not met, see MPEP 2111.04 for additional information.
Regarding Claims 7, 14 and 20, the combination of Wu and Chitrakar teaches a method, system and non-transitory computer readable medium according to claims 1, 8, and 15 wherein the comparison indicates that a difference of at least one of the one or more location integrity parameters (Wu, par. 51; At step 340, if the registration response indicates that the AP location is incorrect, then AP location is updated at the gateway or AP and the method is restarted at step 310.) and a corresponding at least one of the one or more current location integrity parameters is at or above an associated threshold (Wu, fig. 3, par. 53; At step 360, in response to an expiration of the channel assignment timer, an evaluation is made of the various channel qualities so as to select an unallocated channel exhibiting the “best” channel quality, alternatively to select a next best channel when a “best” channel has been allocated elsewhere locally. Further, while sequentially presented in FIG. 3, it is noted that steps 310-350 may be performed in parallel with step 360 to provide thereby an available channel list) see also pars. 35, 50 and 56 and Chitrakar par. 74 and fig. 11.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Nagaraju et al. (US-20230300884-A1), Method And Apparatus For Identifying Location Information With Automatic Frequency Control, 2023. An unlicensed access point is configured to identify its location and to determine licensed 6 GHz users near that location. The access point periodically generates a beacon frame including a request for location information. Client devices within range of the beacon frame provide their location information to the access point. The access point access point uses the location information gathered from client devices to determine its own location. The access point communicates with a central database containing information on registered licenses within the 6 GHz communication band at the location determined from the client devices. The access point then selects a communication channel within the 6 GHz band that does not conflict with any licensed users in the area, and provides Wi-Fi communication over the selected channel.
Wang (US-20230379840-A1), Enhanced Beacon And Probe Responses For Low Power Transmitter Configuration, 2023. Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, methods and apparatus to configure low power transmitters that operate in unlicensed 6 GHz spectrum in an effort to reduce the likelihood that the low power transmitters will cause interference to incumbent operators of fixed microwave links in the same 6 GHz spectrum. The low power transmitters may be any transmitter in the unlicensed spectrum, including for example, low power indoor access points, 5G small cells, and the like. Other embodiments are disclosed.
Ansley et al. (US-20200367020-A1), Automated Frequency Coordination And Device Location Awareness, 2020. Methods, systems, and computer readable media described herein can be operable to facilitate location determination, communications with an AFC system, configuring operational parameters in response to an identification of active 6 GHz paths, and timing distribution and low-latency services. Methods, systems, and computer readable media are described herein for implementing and improving use of automated frequency coordination (AFC), operational deployment of the 6 GHz band for unlicensed devices, and use of the 6 GHz band for low-latency services, timing distribution, and QoS.
Wang (US-20230413189-A1), Cloud Assisted Low Power Transmitter Configuration, 2023. Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, methods and apparatus to configure low power transmitters that operate in unlicensed 6 GHz spectrum in an effort to reduce the likelihood that the low power transmitters will cause interference to incumbent operators of fixed microwave links in the same 6 GHz spectrum. The low power transmitters may be any transmitter in the unlicensed spectrum, including for example, low power indoor access points, 5G small cells, and the like. Other embodiments are disclosed.
Beyer (US-20220217719-A1), Dynamically Capturing Location At Networks In Motion, 2022. Systems and methods of controlling a mobile network include processors and memory storing instructions that cause the processors to perform receiving, from an external source or receiver, dynamically updated location data of a controller of the mobile network; determining, based on the dynamically updated location data, one or more permitted radiofrequency (RF) channels through which RF signals are transmitted from a mobile access point associated with the mobile network and traffic data corresponding to the permitted radiofrequency channels; and adjusting a frequency behavior of the mobile access point based on the permitted RF channels and the traffic data.
Razavi et al. (US-12273849-B2), Network Assistance Positioning Integrity Reporting, 2025. Systems and methods for generating and configuring integrity parameters associated with positioning measurements and calculations are provided herein. Integrity KPIs can be defined by a network node for positioning assistance information and location information reporting, and can be provided to a wireless device to assist in assessing the integrity level associated with a positioning estimation.
Oerton et al. (US-9420396-B2), System And Method For Determining A Location For A Device In A Communication Network, 2016. The disclosure recites a system and method of identifying location data for a server device managing communications for a wireless network. The method comprises: obtaining location data for the server device; identifying a location for the server device by analyzing at least the location data; updating data in the server device with the location; identifying a communication transmission range for the location for the server device; and configuring communications generated by the server device to conform to the communication transmission range.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARIO R CAMPERO MIRAMONTES whose telephone number is (571)272-5792. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Thursday 0600 - 1600.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yuwen (Kevin) Pan can be reached at (571) 272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MRCM/ Examiner, Art Unit 2649
/YUWEN PAN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2649
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