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 1-6, 9-11, 13 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP2023527730 (JP 2023527730 A) in view of MONTEIRO (US 20240260065 A1).
For claim 1, JP2023527730 discloses a method, comprising:
determining, for each device of one or more devices, connection quality indicators (CQIs) for one or more available network connection paths (FIGs. 1-7 and associated text, such as p34, 4th para, “A WTRU may select a route based on one or more sidelink measurements; … The measurements may include, for example, RSRP, CQI, or similar measurements that may be received from peer WTRUs on the path. …”); and
connecting each device to a communication device via a respective network connection path with a highest CQI of the one or more available network connection paths (FIGs. 1-7 and associated text, such as p34, 4th para “… A WTRU may, for example, select the path with the highest reported CQI. …” and p35, 3rd para “there are specific criteria for direct paths (eg, Otherwise, certain values, measurements, and/or properties for the direct path may be determined.”).
JP2023527730 is silent on that the communication device is a server. In the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, MONTEIRO discloses the communication device may be a server that performs the method (“[0177] … In some embodiments, the method can be embodied as computer readable code that can be executed by a suitable computer, server, processor or processing circuitry to cause the described method to be performed.”). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of the communication device by JP2023527730 with the server by MONTEIRO to yield a predictable result of perform the method of selecting a suitable path.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine JP2023527730 and MONTEIRO for the benefit of selecting suitable path between the device and a server (p34, 4th para of JP2023527730).
Independent claim 9, JP2023527730 discloses a system (FIG. 1A), comprising:
a server (FIGs. 1-7 and associated text, such as p16, 2nd para “… Uu coverage reachability may allow a WTRU to reach a server in the PDN network or a corresponding WTRU outside the proximity area. …” or p15, 2nd para “CN 115 may include or communicate with an IP gateway (eg, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server)”);
a plurality of devices, wherein each given device of the plurality of devices comprises one or more processors configured to execute instructions stored in non-transitory memory that when executed cause the one or more processors (FIGs. 1-7 and associated text, such as a plurality of communication devices in FIGs. 1A-1D) to:
determine, for each of one or more available network connection paths, a connection quality metric (FIGs. 1-7 and associated text, such as p34, 4th para, “A WTRU may select a route based on one or more sidelink measurements; … The measurements may include, for example, RSRP, CQI, or similar measurements that may be received from peer WTRUs on the path. …” and p35 3rd para “there are specific criteria for direct paths (eg, Otherwise, certain values, measurements, and/or properties for the direct path may be determined. …”); and
connect to the server via one of the one or more available network connection paths selected based on connection quality metric (FIGs. 1-7 and associated text, such as p34, 4th para, “A WTRU may select a route based on one or more sidelink measurements; … The measurements may include, for example, RSRP, CQI, or similar measurements that may be received from peer WTRUs on the path. …” and “there are specific criteria for direct paths (eg, Otherwise, certain values, measurements, and/or properties for the direct path may be determined.” And p35 3rd para “there are specific criteria for direct paths (eg, Otherwise, certain values, measurements, and/or properties for the direct path may be determined. …” and p34, 4th para “… A WTRU may, for example, select the path with the highest reported CQI. …”; note CQI is a connection quality metric).
JP2023527730 is silent but MONTEIRO, In the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses determining a path order based on the connection quality metric of each of the one or more available network connection paths (“[0163] … descending order of the CQI of the link …”).” and “[0164] … ascending order of the CQI of the link …”). OOSA would have been motivated to replace the communication device by JP2023527730 with the server by MONTEIRO to yield a predictable result of determining a path order.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine JP2023527730 and MONTEIRO for the benefit of determining a path order ([0163] of MONTEIRO).
For claim 16, JP2023527730 discloses a method, comprising:
determining one or more network connection paths for a device (FIGs. 1-7 and associated text, such as p34, 4th para, “A WTRU may select a route based on one or more sidelink measurements; … The measurements may include, for example, RSRP, CQI, or similar measurements that may be received from peer WTRUs on the path. …”);
determining a connection quality indicator (CQI) value for each of the one or more network connection paths (FIGs. 1-7 and associated text, such as p34, 4th para, “A WTRU may select a route based on one or more sidelink measurements; … The measurements may include, for example, RSRP, CQI, or similar measurements that may be received from peer WTRUs on the path. …” and p35, 3rd para “there are specific criteria for direct paths (eg, Otherwise, certain values, measurements, and/or properties for the direct path may be determined.”);
JP2023527730 is silent but MONTEIRO, In the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses determining, based on the CQI value of each of the one or more network connection paths, a path order (“[0163]… descending order of the CQI of the link …” and “[0164]… ascending order of the CQI of the link …”; note that a link is considered as a path). OOSA would have been motivated to replace the communication device by JP2023527730 with the server by MONTEIRO to yield a predictable result of determining a path order.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine JP2023527730 and MONTEIRO for the benefit of determining a path order ([0163] of MONTEIRO).
As to claim 2, JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO discloses claim 1, JP2023527730 further discloses: wherein the one or more available network connection paths include one or more of a local area network (LAN) path, a wireless local area network (WLAN) path, and a wide area network (WAN) path (FIGs 1-7 and the associated text, such as p5, 1st para “In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement wireless technologies such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement wireless technologies such as IEEE 802.15 to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yet another embodiment, the base station 114b and WTRUs 102c, 102d utilize cellular-based RATs (eg, WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR, etc.) to establish picocell or establish femtocells. …”).
As to claim 3, JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO discloses claim 1, JP2023527730 further discloses: wherein the CQI for each of the one or more available network connection paths of each device of the one or more devices is calculated using one or more quality metrics including reliability, latency, throughput, jitter, errors and delivery order (FIGs 1-7 and the associated text, such as p39, 3rd para “The transmission of the measurement request message on the first link may, for example, cause one or more measurements (e.g., reported by the WTRU) on the second link to e.g. , may be based on being above/below a threshold (eg, QoS dependent threshold). The measurements may include, for example, one or more of CBR, CR, CQI, RSRP …” and p5, para “Data may have different quality of service (QoS) requirements, eg, different throughput requirements, latency requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, mobility requirements, and the like”).
As to claim 4, JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO discloses claim 1, JP2023527730 further discloses: wherein determining CQIs for the one or more available network connection paths includes polling the server periodically (FIGs. 1-7 and associated text, such as p39, 3rd para “The measurements requested by the WTRU to the peer WTRU on the first link are periodic …” in view of the parent claim).
As to claim 5, JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO discloses claim 1, JP2023527730 further discloses: iteratively determining CQIs for the one or more available network connection paths of each device (FIGs. 1-7 and associated text, such as p39, 3rd para “The measurements requested by the WTRU to the peer WTRU on the first link are periodic …” in view of the parent claim).
MONTEIRO discloses: updating connection to the server for each device based on resultant path orders (FIGs. 1-7 and associated text, such as “[0163]… descending order of the CQI of the link …”).” and “[0164]… ascending order of the CQI of the link …” in view of the parent claim). OOSA would have been motivated to replace the communication device by JP2023527730 with the server by MONTEIRO to yield a predictable result of determining a path order.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine JP2023527730 and MONTEIRO for the benefit of determining a path order ([0163] of MONTEIRO).
As to claim 6, JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO discloses claim 1, JP2023527730 further discloses: wherein connecting to the server for a given device via the respective network connection path with the highest CQI comprises updating network connection from a first network connection path to a second network connection path when the second network connection path is the network connection path with the highest CQI (FIGs. 1-7 and associated text, such as p34, 4th para “… A WTRU may, for example, select the path with the highest reported CQI. …” in view of the parent claim).
As to claim 10, JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO discloses claim 9, JP2023527730 further discloses: wherein the connection quality metric is a connection quality indicator (CQI) determined based on one or more data transmission characteristics, including reliability, latency, throughput, jitter, errors and delivery order, between the given device and the server (FIGs 1-7 and the associated text, such as p39, 3rd para “The transmission of the measurement request message on the first link may, for example, cause one or more measurements (e.g., reported by the WTRU) on the second link to e.g. , may be based on being above/below a threshold (eg, QoS dependent threshold). The measurements may include, for example, one or more of CBR, CR, CQI, RSRP …” and p5, para “Data may have different quality of service (QoS) requirements, eg, different throughput requirements, latency requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, mobility requirements, and the like”).
As to claim 11, JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO discloses claim 9, JP2023527730 further discloses: wherein each device of the plurality of devices is configured to iteratively update the path order based on iteratively determined connection quality metrics for each available network connection path of the one or more available network connection paths (FIGs. 1-7 and associated text, such as p39, 3rd para “The measurements requested by the WTRU to the peer WTRU on the first link are periodic …” in view of the parent claim).
As to claim 13, JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO discloses claim 9, JP2023527730 further discloses: wherein, to connect to the server via one of the one or more available network connection paths based on the path order, the one or more processors are configured to switch connection to the server via a first path to a second path, when the second path is the one of the one or more available network connection paths (FIGs. 1-7 and associated text, such as p34, 4th para, “A WTRU may select a route based on one or more sidelink measurements; … The measurements may include, for example, RSRP, CQI, or similar measurements that may be received from peer WTRUs on the path. …” and “there are specific criteria for direct paths (eg, Otherwise, certain values, measurements, and/or properties for the direct path may be determined.” And p35 3rd para “there are specific criteria for direct paths (eg, Otherwise, certain values, measurements, and/or properties for the direct path may be determined. …” and p34, 4th para “… A WTRU may, for example, select the path with the highest reported CQI. …”).
As to claim 17, JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO discloses claim 16, JP2023527730 further discloses: wherein updating connection of the device to the server based on the new path order comprises changing connection to the server from via a first path to via a second path, wherein the second path has a higher CQI value than the first path in the new path order (FIGs. 1-7 and associated text, such as p34, 4th para, “A WTRU may select a route based on one or more sidelink measurements; … The measurements may include, for example, RSRP, CQI, or similar measurements that may be received from peer WTRUs on the path. …” and “there are specific criteria for direct paths (eg, Otherwise, certain values, measurements, and/or properties for the direct path may be determined.” And p35 3rd para “there are specific criteria for direct paths (eg, Otherwise, certain values, measurements, and/or properties for the direct path may be determined. …” and p34, 4th para “… A WTRU may, for example, select the path with the highest reported CQI. …”).
Claims 7-8, 14 and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP2023527730 (JP 2023527730 A) in view of MONTEI (US 20240260065 A1), further in view of Hauser (US 20240097727 A1).
As to claim 7, JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO discloses claim 1, and is silent on but Hauser , in the same field of wireless communications, discloses: waiting until a hysteresis period is elapsed prior to updating the network connection from the first network connection path to the second network connection path (“[0044] … The hysteresis periods are durations of time that help to prevent excessive changes in bit width over time (e.g., to help avoid unnecessary updates to the bit width when radio conditions only change for a short period of time).”). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Hauser above on using hysteresis period for updating the network connection information by JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO to yield a predictable result of avoiding unnecessary information updates for network connection status.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine Hauser with JP2023527730 and MONTEIRO for the benefit of avoiding unnecessary information updates ([0044] of Hauser).
As to claim 8, JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO and Hauser discloses claim 7, Hauser further discloses: following lapse of the period, determining if a difference is greater than a hysteresis offset of the first network connection path (FIG. 5 and the associated text, such as [0052]-[0055] and claim 17).
As to claim 14, JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO discloses claim 13, and is silent on but Hauser, in the same field of wireless communications, discloses: wherein, to switch connection to the server via the first path to the second path, the one or more processors are configured to determine that a hysteresis lag period has elapsed (“[0044] … The hysteresis periods are durations of time that help to prevent excessive changes in bit width over time (e.g., to help avoid unnecessary updates to the bit width when radio conditions only change for a short period of time)” in view of the parent claim). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Hauser above for updating the network connection information by JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO to yield a predictable result of avoiding unnecessary path switching.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine Hauser with JP2023527730 and MONTEIRO for the benefit of avoiding unnecessary path switching updates ([0044] of Hauser).
As to claim 18, JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO discloses claim 17, and is silent on but Hauser, in the same field of wireless communications, discloses: in response to determination that the new path order is different from the current path order, determining that a hysteresis lag period has elapsed (“[0044] … The hysteresis periods are durations of time that help to prevent excessive changes in bit width over time (e.g., to help avoid unnecessary updates to the bit width when radio conditions only change for a short period of time)” in view of the parent claim). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Hauser above for updating the network connection information by JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO to yield a predictable result of avoiding unnecessary information updates for network connection status.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine Hauser with JP2023527730 and MONTEIRO for the benefit of avoiding unnecessary information updates ([0044] of Hauser).
As to claim 19, JP2023527730 in view of MONTEIRO and Hauser discloses claim 18, Hauser further discloses: in response to determining that the hysteresis lag period has elapsed, determining if a difference is greater than a hysteresis offset of the first path (FIG. 5 and the associated text, such as [0052]-[0055] and claim 17).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIANYE WU whose telephone number is (571)270-1665. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 8am-6pm.
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/JIANYE WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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