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 .
DETAILED ACTION
1. This action is response to application filed on 09/24/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending.
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.
2. Claims 1-2, 8-9, 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakao et al. (JP 2004336617 A) in view of Hassan et al. (US 20220158663)
Regarding claim 1:
A method comprising:
determining, via a virtual private network (VPN) server, one or more client devices are currently sharing content data during a conference comprising a plurality of active client devices: (Nakao teaches a VPN server performs control for establishing network sessions between network terminal devices. Each of the network terminal devices could share services with others: Nakao, [0012]; [0014] [0131]; [0164]).
However, Nakao does not explicitly teach determining one or more communication session parameters associated with the one or more of the client devices is outside one or more communication session parameter thresholds.
In similar art, Hassan teaches a method for improved communication between a software-defined radio front-end device and a network-based computing device. Quality of Service (QoS) metric of the network connection between the software-defined radio front-end device and the network-based computing device is determined whether it drops below a threshold (abstract, figure 9, item 940; 950).
prioritizing the shared content data and modifying the one or more communication session parameters of the one or more client devices which are forwarding the shared content to the VPN server during the conference: (if the quality of service (QoS) metric of the network connection between the RF front-end device and the network-based processing calculation falls below a threshold. The RF front-end device may preferentially send a packet having a higher significant bit than a packet having a lower significant bit. For examples, the RF front-end device may prioritize samples corresponding to a particular data type over other data types. In real-time communication applications, audio data may be more important than video or screen shared data. In the face of network problems, packets that include ADC samples corresponding to the most important data type are prioritized over other packets that have samples corresponding to less important data types, which will improve performance. A prioritization scheme that specifies one or more data types and the priority of each data type. The prioritization scheme may be specific to a wireless protocol, an upper layer protocol, an end user device, an application, or the like: Hassan abstract; figure 9, items 940, 950; figure 10, item 1030; [0040]; [0049]-[0052]; [0054]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Hassan’s ideas into Nakao’s system in order to provide an efficient network-based Software-defined-radios system (see Hassan, [0019]).
Regarding claim 2:
In addition to the rejection claim 1, Nakao-Hassan further teaches monitoring the one or more communication session parameters to determine that the one or more client devices are operating below the one or more communication session parameter thresholds: (checking whether the metric of the network connection between the computing device and the server computing device indicates a quality of service (QoS) of the network connection that is below a threshold: Hassan abstract).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Hassan’s ideas into Nakao’s system in order to provide an efficient network-based Software-defined-radios system (see Hassan, [0019]).
Regarding claim 8:
A virtual private network (VPN) server comprising a processor configured to:
determine one or more client devices are currently sharing content data during a conference comprising a plurality of active client devices: (Nakao teaches a VPN server performs control for establishing network sessions between network terminal devices. Each of the network terminal devices could share services with others: Nakao, [0012]; [0014] [0131]; [0164]).
However, Nakao does not explicitly teach determine one or more communication session parameters associated with the one or more of the client devices is outside one or more communication session parameter thresholds.
In similar art, Hassan teaches a method for improved communication between a software-defined radio front-end device and a network-based computing device. Quality of Service (QoS) metric of the network connection between the software-defined radio front-end device and the network-based computing device is determined whether it drops below a threshold (abstract, figure 9, item 940; 950).
prioritize the shared content data and modifying the one or more communication session parameters of the one or more client devices which are forwarding the shared content to the VPN server during the conference: (if the quality of service (QoS) metric of the network connection between the RF front-end device and the network-based processing calculation falls below a threshold. The RF front-end device may preferentially send a packet having a higher significant bit than a packet having a lower significant bit. For examples, the RF front-end device may prioritize samples corresponding to a particular data type over other data types. In real-time communication applications, audio data may be more important than video or screen shared data. In the face of network problems, packets that include ADC samples corresponding to the most important data type are prioritized over other packets that have samples corresponding to less important data types, which will improve performance. A prioritization scheme that specifies one or more data types and the priority of each data type. The prioritization scheme may be specific to a wireless protocol, an upper layer protocol, an end user device, an application, or the like: Hassan abstract; figure 9, items 940, 950; figure 10, item 1030; [0040]; [0049]-[0052]; [0054]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Hassan’s ideas into Nakao’s system in order to provide an efficient network-based Software-defined-radios system (see Hassan, [0019]).
Regarding claim 9:
In addition to the rejection claim 8, Nakao-Hassan further teaches monitor the one or more communication session parameters to determine that the one or more client devices are operating below the one or more communication session parameter thresholds: (checking whether the metric of the network connection between the computing device and the server computing device indicates a quality of service (QoS) of the network connection that is below a threshold: Hassan abstract).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Hassan’s ideas into Nakao’s system in order to provide an efficient network-based Software-defined-radios system (see Hassan, [0019]).
Regarding claim 15:
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to store instructions that when executed causes a processor to perform:
determining, via a virtual private network (VPN) server, one or more client devices are currently sharing content data during a conference comprising a plurality of active client devices: (Nakao teaches a VPN server performs control for establishing network sessions between network terminal devices. Each of the network terminal devices could share services with others: Nakao, [0012]; [0014] [0131]; [0164]).
However, Nakao does not explicitly teach determining one or more communication session parameters associated with the one or more of the client devices is outside one or more communication session parameter thresholds.
In similar art, Hassan teaches a method for improved communication between a software-defined radio front-end device and a network-based computing device. Quality of Service (QoS) metric of the network connection between the software-defined radio front-end device and the network-based computing device is determined whether it drops below a threshold (abstract, figure 9, item 940; 950).
prioritizing the shared content data and modifying the one or more communication session parameters of the one or more client devices which are forwarding the shared content to the VPN server during the conference: (if the quality of service (QoS) metric of the network connection between the RF front-end device and the network-based processing calculation falls below a threshold. The RF front-end device may preferentially send a packet having a higher significant bit than a packet having a lower significant bit. For examples, the RF front-end device may prioritize samples corresponding to a particular data type over other data types. In real-time communication applications, audio data may be more important than video or screen shared data. In the face of network problems, packets that include ADC samples corresponding to the most important data type are prioritized over other packets that have samples corresponding to less important data types, which will improve performance. A prioritization scheme that specifies one or more data types and the priority of each data type. The prioritization scheme may be specific to a wireless protocol, an upper layer protocol, an end user device, an application, or the like: (Hassan abstract; figure 9, items 940, 950; figure 10, item 1030; [0040]; [0049]-[0052]; [0054]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Hassan’s ideas into Nakao’s system in order to provide an efficient network-based Software-defined-radios system (see Hassan, [0019]).
Regarding claim 16:
In addition to the rejection claim 15, Nakao-Hassan further teaches monitoring the one or more communication session parameters to determine that the one or more client devices are operating below the one or more communication session parameter thresholds: (checking whether the metric of the network connection between the computing device and the server computing device indicates a quality of service (QoS) of the network connection that is below a threshold: Hassan abstract).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Hassan’s ideas into Nakao’s system in order to provide an efficient network-based Software-defined-radios system (see Hassan, [0019]).
3. Claims 3, 10 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakao-Hassan in view of Marzorati et al. (US 20230236871).
Regarding claim 3:
Nakao-Hassan discloses the invention substantially as disclosed in claim 2, but does not explicitly teach the one or more communication session parameter thresholds comprise one or more of a data rate, a packet loss rate, an audio data rate, a video data rate, a jitter value, and a latency value.
In similar art, Marzorati teaches network utilization parameters can include, e.g., throughput parameter values expressed, e.g., in terms of bits per second (BPS), response time parameter values, latency parameter values, and packet loss (error rate) parameter values, concurrent users parameter values (see Marzorati [0037]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Marzorati’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system in order to save resources and development time by implying Marzorati’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system.
Regarding claim 10:
Nakao-Hassan discloses the invention substantially as disclosed in claim 9, but does not explicitly teach the one or more communication session parameter thresholds comprise one or more of a data rate, a packet loss rate, an audio data rate, a video data rate, a jitter value, and a latency value.
In similar art, Marzorati teaches network utilization parameters can include, e.g., throughput parameter values expressed, e.g., in terms of bits per second (BPS), response time parameter values, latency parameter values, and packet loss (error rate) parameter values, concurrent users parameter values (see Marzorati [0037]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Marzorati’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system in order to save resources and development time by implying Marzorati’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system.
Regarding claim 17:
Nakao-Hassan discloses the invention substantially as disclosed in claim 9, but does not explicitly teach the one or more communication session parameter thresholds comprise one or more of a data rate, a packet loss rate, an audio data rate, a video data rate, a jitter value, and a latency value.
In similar art, Marzorati teaches network utilization parameters can include, e.g., throughput parameter values expressed, e.g., in terms of bits per second (BPS), response time parameter values, latency parameter values, and packet loss (error rate) parameter values, concurrent users parameter values (see Marzorati [0037]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Marzorati’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system in order to save resources and development time by implying Marzorati’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system.
4. Claims 4, 7, 11, 14, 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakao-Hassan in view of Colenbrader (US 20210146240).
Regarding claim 4:
Nakao-Hassan discloses the invention substantially as disclosed in claim 1, but does not explicitly teach modifying the one or more of the communication session parameters comprises modifying one or more of an audio data rate and a video data rate of one client device.
In similar art, Colenbrader teaches adjusting the rendering of the gameplay video responding to detected a change in the connection quality on streaming process, (Colenbrader abstract).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Colenbrader’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system in order to save resources and development time by implying Colenbrader’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system.
Regarding claim 7:
Nakao-Hassan discloses the invention substantially as disclosed in claim 1, but does not explicitly teach determining whether the modified one or more communication session parameters have increased a performance of the one or more other client devices.
In similar art, Colenbrader teaches the change in the connection quality is defined by an improvement in the connection quality; wherein adjusting the rendering of the gameplay video by the cloud game machine is configured to increase a bit rate of the streaming of the gameplay video over the network (see, Colenbrader [0015]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Colenbrader’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system in order to save resources and development time by implying Colenbrader’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system.
Regarding claim 11:
Nakao-Hassan discloses the invention substantially as disclosed in claim 8, but does not explicitly teach modifying the one or more of the communication session parameters comprises modifying one or more of an audio data rate and a video data rate of one client device.
In similar art, Colenbrader teaches adjusting the rendering of the gameplay video responding to detected a change in the connection quality on streaming process, (Colenbrader abstract).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Colenbrader’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system in order to save resources and development time by implying Colenbrader’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system.
Regarding claim 14:
Nakao-Hassan discloses the invention substantially as disclosed in claim 8, but does not explicitly teach determining whether the modified one or more communication session parameters have increased a performance of the one or more other client devices.
In similar art, Colenbrader teaches the change in the connection quality is defined by an improvement in the connection quality; wherein adjusting the rendering of the gameplay video by the cloud game machine is configured to increase a bit rate of the streaming of the gameplay video over the network (see, Colenbrader [0015]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Colenbrader’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system in order to save resources and development
Regarding claim 18:
Nakao-Hassan discloses the invention substantially as disclosed in claim 15, but does not explicitly teach modifying the one or more of the communication session parameters comprises modifying one or more of an audio data rate and a video data rate of one client device.
In similar art, Colenbrader teaches adjusting the rendering of the gameplay video responding to detected a change in the connection quality on streaming process, (Colenbrader abstract).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Colenbrader’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system in order to save resources and development time by implying Colenbrader’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system.
5. Claims 5, 12, 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakao-Hassan in view of Lee et al. (US 20180227734)
Regarding claim 5:
Nakao-Hassan discloses the invention substantially as disclosed in claim 1, but does not explicitly teach modifying the one or more of the communication session parameters comprises bonding a single channel with one or more additional channels used by one client device during a time period of a detected increase in one or more of an audio data rate and a video data rate.
In similar art, Lee teaches bonding channel with other channel(s) when the data rate increases (Lee [0011]-[0013]; [0162]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Lee’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system in order to save resources and development time by implying Lee’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system.
Regarding claim 12:
Nakao-Hassan discloses the invention substantially as disclosed in claim 8, but does not explicitly teach modifying the one or more of the communication session parameters comprises bonding a single channel with one or more additional channels used by one client device during a time period of a detected increase in one or more of an audio data rate and a video data rate.
In similar art, Lee teaches bonding channel with other channel(s) when the data rate increases (Lee [0011]-[0013]; [0162]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Lee’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system in order to save resources and development time by implying Lee’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system.
Regarding claim 19:
Nakao-Hassan discloses the invention substantially as disclosed in claim 15, but does not explicitly teach modifying the one or more of the communication session parameters comprises bonding a single channel with one or more additional channels used by one client device during a time period of a detected increase in one or more of an audio data rate and a video data rate.
In similar art, Lee teaches bonding channel with other channel(s) when the data rate increases (Lee [0011]-[0013]; [0162]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Lee’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system in order to save resources and development time by implying Lee’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system.
6. Claims 6, 13, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakao-Hassan in view Vivekanandan et al. (US 8,830,296)
Regarding claim 6:
Nakao-Hassan discloses the invention substantially as disclosed in claim 1, but does not explicitly teach decreasing one or more of an audio data rate and a video data rate of one or more of the active conference devices which are not currently sharing content.
In similar art, Vivekanandan teaches the hosting device may decrease the quality of the audio and/or video streams of participant devices in the multimedia conference that are not presently communicating, such as by decreasing the bit rate of the audio and/or video streams (see Vivekanandan column 4, lines 12-37).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Vivekanandan’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system in order to save resources and development time by implying Vivekanandan’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system.
Regarding claim 13:
Nakao-Hassan discloses the invention substantially as disclosed in claim 8, but does not explicitly teach decreasing one or more of an audio data rate and a video data rate of one or more of the active conference devices which are not currently sharing content.
In similar art, Vivekanandan teaches the hosting device may decrease the quality of the audio and/or video streams of participant devices in the multimedia conference that are not presently communicating, such as by decreasing the bit rate of the audio and/or video streams (see Vivekanandan column 4, lines 12-37).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Vivekanandan’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system in order to save resources and development time by implying Vivekanandan’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system.
Regarding claim 20:
Nakao-Hassan discloses the invention substantially as disclosed in claim 1, but does not explicitly teach decreasing one or more of an audio data rate and a video data rate of one or more of the active conference devices which are not currently sharing content.
In similar art, Vivekanandan teaches the hosting device may decrease the quality of the audio and/or video streams of participant devices in the multimedia conference that are not presently communicating, such as by decreasing the bit rate of the audio and/or video streams (see Vivekanandan column 4, lines 12-37).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Vivekanandan’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system in order to save resources and development time by implying Vivekanandan’s ideas into Nakao-Hassan’s system.
Conclusions
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAN DAI T TRUONG whose telephone number is (571)272-7959. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00 Am to 3:00 PM.
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, Follansbee John A can be reached on 571-272-3964. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/LAN DAI T TRUONG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2444