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 01/28/2025, 03/12/2025, and 01/07/2026 ware in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable with respect to claims 1-20 of pending application 18/916,547. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because all the claimed limitations recited in the present application are transparently found in pending application 18/916,547 with obvious wording variations. Take an example of comparing claim 1 of pending application and claims 1 and 7 of pending application 18/916,547:
Pending Application 17/097,944
Pending Application 18/916,547
A station (STA) in a wireless network, the STA comprising
A station (STA) in a wireless network, the STA comprising
a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to
a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to
receive, from an origin STA, a first discovery frame that includes one or more services intended for proxy transmission and one or more service identifiers each associated with a respective one of the one or more services
Claim 1: receive, from an origin STA, a first discovery frame that includes one or more attributes intended for proxied transmission
Claim 7: wherein an attribute in the one or more attributes is associated with a service that the origin STA offers to the one or more other STAs or a service that the origin STA seeks from the one or more other STAs
identify the one or more services based on the one or more service identifiers;
generate a second discovery frame based on the first discovery frame, wherein the second discovery frame includes the one or more services intended for proxy transmission included in the first discovery frame
generate a second discovery frame that includes the one or more attributes (services) intended for proxied transmission based on the first discovery frame and appends additional information, wherein the additional information includes an indication that the one or more attributes are associated with the origin STA and that the one or more attributes are being transmitted by proxy transmission (includes the one or more services), and wherein the additional information includes address information for the origin STA
transmit, to one or more other STAs on behalf of the origin STA, the second discovery frame
transmit, to one or more other STAs, the second discovery frame (here, forwarding a discovery message by a proxy device would be analogous to transmitting on behalf of the origin STA)
However, Pending Application 18/916,547 does not explicitly claim identifying the one or more services based on the one or more service identifiers.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Li et al. (EP 3,528,465 B1; “Li (‘465)”; cited in Applicant’s IDS submitted 03/12/2025) teaches identifying the one or more services based on the one or more service identifiers [Li (‘465) ¶ 0167: the second NAN device may match, based on the first service identifier information, the service that is subscribed to or published by the first NAN device by using the first service discovery message to perform the service discovery with a service requirement of the second NAN device].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine a device that received service advertisement frames containing service identifiers as taught by Pending Application 18/916,547, with the method of identifying a service based on a service identifier in a service discovery frame as taught by Li (‘465). The motivation to combine these references would be to facilitate multi-hop service discovery while reducing power consumption at a NAN device [Li (‘465) ¶ 0004].
Take an example of comparing claim 14 of pending application and claims 14 and 20 of Pending Application 18/916,547:
Pending Application 17/097,944
Pending Application 18/916,547
A computer-implemented method for wireless communication by a station (STA) in a wireless network, comprising
A computer-implemented method for communicating by a station (STA) in a wireless network, comprising
receiving, from an origin STA, a first discovery frame that includes one or more services intended for proxy transmission and one or more service identifiers each associated with a respective one of the one or more services
Claim 14: receiving, from an origin STA, a first discovery frame that includes one or more attributes intended for proxied transmission
Claim 20: wherein an attribute in the one or more attributes is associated with a service that the origin STA offers to the one or more other STAs or a service that the origin STA seeks from the one or more other STAs
identifying the one or more services based on the one or more service identifiers
generating a second discovery frame based on the first discovery frame, wherein the second discovery frame includes the one or more services intended for proxy transmission included in the first discovery frame transmitting, to one or more other STAs on behalf of the origin STA, the second discovery frame
generating a second discovery frame that includes the one or more attributes (services) intended for proxied transmission based on the first discovery frame and appends additional information, wherein the additional information includes an indication that the one or more attributes (one or more services) are associated with the origin STA and that the one or more attributes (services) are being transmitted by proxy transmission, and wherein the additional information includes address information for the origin STA
transmitting, to one or more other STAs on behalf of the origin STA, the second discovery frame
transmit, to one or more other STAs, the second discovery frame (here, forwarding a discovery message by a proxy device would be analogous to transmitting on behalf of the origin STA)
However, Pending Application 18/916,547 does not explicitly claim identifying the one or more services based on the one or more service identifiers.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Li teaches identifying the one or more services based on the one or more service identifiers [Li (‘465) ¶ 0167: the second NAN device may match, based on the first service identifier information, the service that is subscribed to or published by the first NAN device by using the first service discovery message to perform the service discovery with a service requirement of the second NAN device].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine a device that received service advertisement frames containing service identifiers as taught by Pending Application 18/916,547, with the method of identifying a service based on a service identifier in a service discovery frame as taught by Li (‘465). The motivation to combine these references would be to facilitate multi-hop service discovery while reducing power consumption at a NAN device [Li (‘465) ¶ 0004].
This is a provisional obviousness-type double patenting rejection because the conflicting claims have not in fact been patented.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7, 14-17, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Li et al. (EP 3,528,465 B1; “Li (‘465)”; cited in Applicant’s IDS submitted 03/12/2025).
Regarding claim 1, Li (‘465) teaches a station (STA) in a wireless network, the STA comprising:
a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory [Li (‘465) ¶ 0371, Fig. 13C: service discovery apparatus 921 (i.e. second NAN device/STA) includes a processor 922 and a memory 924 connected through bus 925], the processor configured to:
receive, from an origin STA, a first discovery frame that includes one or more services intended for proxy transmission and one or more service identifiers each associated with a respective one of the one or more services [Li (‘465) ¶ 0158, Fig. 7: second NAN device (i.e. STA) receives a first service discovery message that is sent by a first NAN device (i.e. origin STA) and that is used for a service discovery, where the first service discovery message includes first service identifier information (see also ¶ 0167: service identifiers associated with a service, e.g., a published by/subscribed to service) and first service relay indication information];
identify the one or more services based on the one or more service identifiers [Li (‘465) ¶ 0167: the second NAN device may match, based on the first service identifier information, the service that is subscribed to or published by the first NAN device by using the first service discovery message to perform the service discovery with a service requirement of the second NAN device];
generate a second discovery frame based on the first discovery frame, wherein the second discovery frame includes the one or more services intended for proxy transmission included in the first discovery frame [Li (‘465) ¶ 0170, Fig. 7: second NAN device generates, based on the first service discovery message, a second service discovery message used for the service discovery; see also ¶ 0174: a service that may be obtained by the third NAN device based on the second service identifier information and the second service relay indication information is the same as a service obtained by the third NAN device based on the first service identifier information and the first service relay indication information (i.e. the second discovery frame identifies a same service as identified in the first discovery frame/first service identifier)]; and
transmit, to one or more other STAs on behalf of the origin STA, the second discovery frame [Li (‘465) ¶ 0170, Fig. 7: second NAN device (i.e. STA) sends the second service discovery message, to third NAN device (see Fig. 7; one or more other STA), where the second NAN device serves as a service relay device that relays the service discovery initiated by the first NAN device].
Regarding claim 2, Li (‘465) teaches the STA of claim 1, wherein the one or more services include a publish service that is a service that the origin STA offers to the one or more other STAs or a subscribe service that is a service that the origin STA seeks from the one or more other STAs [Li (‘465) ¶ 0167: the first service identifier information indicated a service that is subscribed to or published by the first NAN device].
Regarding claim 3, Li (‘465) teaches the STA of claim 1, wherein the first discovery frame solicits that the STA transmits the second discovery frame [Li (‘465) ¶ 170: second NAN device generates, based on the first service discovery message (i.e. solicited by), a second service discovery message used for the service discovery].
Regarding claim 4, Li (‘465) teaches the STA of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: receive a trigger frame soliciting that the STA transmits the second discovery frame; and transmit, to the one or more other STAs, the second discovery frame in response to the trigger frame [Li (‘465) ¶ 170: second NAN device generates, based on the first service discovery message (i.e. solicited by), a second service discovery message used for the service discovery (here, the discovery frame received from first NAN device acts as a trigger frame to solicit relaying of the discovery frame, therefore, receiving a discovery frame is analogous to receiving a trigger frame)].
Regarding claim 7, Li (‘465) teaches the STA of claim 1, wherein the first discovery frame is received during a discovery window [Li (‘465) ¶ 0127: device wakes up only when a discovery window (DW) arrives, and performs a service discovery a on the discovery channel].
Regarding claim 14, Li (‘465) teaches a computer-implemented method for wireless communication by a station (STA) in a wireless network, comprising:
receiving, from an origin STA, a first discovery frame that includes one or more services intended for proxy transmission and one or more service identifiers each associated with a respective one of the one or more services [Li (‘465) ¶ 0158, Fig. 7: second NAN device (i.e. STA) receives a first service discovery message that is sent by a first NAN device (i.e. origin STA) and that is used for a service discovery, where the first service discovery message includes first service identifier information (see also ¶ 0167: service identifiers associated with a service, e.g., a published by/subscribed to service) and first service relay indication information];
identifying the one or more services based on the one or more service identifiers [Li (‘465) ¶ 0167: the second NAN device may match, based on the first service identifier information, the service that is subscribed to or published by the first NAN device by using the first service discovery message to perform the service discovery with a service requirement of the second NAN device];
generating a second discovery frame based on the first discovery frame, wherein the second discovery frame includes the one or more services intended for proxy transmission included in the first discovery frame [Li (‘465) ¶ 0170, Fig. 7: second NAN device generates, based on the first service discovery message, a second service discovery message used for the service discovery; see also ¶ 0174: a service that may be obtained by the third NAN device based on the second service identifier information and the second service relay indication information is the same as a service obtained by the third NAN device based on the first service identifier information and the first service relay indication information (i.e. the second discovery frame identifies a same service as identified in the first discovery frame/first service identifier)]; and
transmitting, to one or more other STAs on behalf of the origin STA, the second discovery frame [Li (‘465) ¶ 0170, Fig. 7: second NAN device (i.e. STA) sends the second service discovery message, to third NAN device (see Fig. 7; one or more other STA), where the second NAN device serves as a service relay device that relays the service discovery initiated by the first NAN device].
Regarding claim 15, Li (‘465) teaches the computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the one or more services include a publish service that is a service that the origin STA offers to the one or more other STAs or a subscribe service that is a service that the origin STA seeks from the one or more other STAs [Li (‘465) ¶ 0167: the first service identifier information indicated a service that is subscribed to or published by the first NAN device].
Regarding claim 16, Li (‘465) teaches the computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the first discovery frame solicits that the STA transmits the second discovery frame [Li (‘465) ¶ 170: second NAN device generates, based on the first service discovery message (i.e. solicited by), a second service discovery message used for the service discovery].
Regarding claim 17, Li (‘465) teaches the computer-implemented method of claim 14, further comprising: receiving a trigger frame soliciting that the STA transmits the second discovery frame; and transmitting, to the one or more other STAs, the second discovery frame in response to the trigger frame [Li (‘465) ¶ 170: second NAN device generates, based on the first service discovery message (i.e. solicited by), a second service discovery message used for the service discovery (here, the discovery frame received from first NAN device acts as a trigger frame to solicit relaying of the discovery frame, therefore, receiving a discovery frame is analogous to receiving a trigger frame)].
Regarding claim 20, Li (‘465) teaches the computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the first discovery frame is received during a discovery window [Li (‘465) ¶ 0127: device wakes up only when a discovery window (DW) arrives, and performs a service discovery a on the discovery channel].
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.
Claim(s) 5 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (‘465) in view of Park et al. (US 2016/0226928 A1; Park).
Regarding claim 5, Li (‘465) teaches the STA of claim 1, however, does not explicitly disclose wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the second discovery frame after a time offset after receiving the first discovery frame from the origin STA.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Park teaches wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the second discovery frame after a time offset after receiving the first discovery frame from the origin STA [Park ¶ 0031: NAN device 104 may receive a service availability message from the NAN proxy device 106 during one or more reception periods, which may be based at least partly on timing information included in the SDF].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the method of receiving a service discovery request message that is to be relayed to another NAN device, generating a second service discovery request message, and transmitting the generated message to another NAN device as taught by Li (‘465), with the method of transmitting a second service discovery message after a time offset as taught by Park. The motivation to combine these references would be to reduce power consumption of a NAN device through implementation of proxy services [Park ¶ 0004].
Regarding claim 18, Li (‘465) teaches the computer-implemented method of claim 14, however, does not explicitly disclose wherein the second discovery frame is transmitted after a time offset after receiving the first discovery frame from the origin STA.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Park teaches wherein the second discovery frame is transmitted after a time offset after receiving the first discovery frame from the origin STA [Park ¶ 0031: NAN device 104 may receive a service availability message from the NAN proxy device 106 during one or more reception periods, which may be based at least partly on timing information included in the SDF].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the method of receiving a service discovery request message that is to be relayed to another NAN device, generating a second service discovery request message, and transmitting the generated message to another NAN device as taught by Li (‘465), with the method of transmitting a second service discovery message after a time offset as taught by Park. The motivation to combine these references would be to reduce power consumption of a NAN device through implementation of proxy services [Park ¶ 0004].
Claim(s) 6, 9, 11-13, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (‘645).
Regarding claim 6, Li (‘465) teaches the STA of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive, from the origin STA, a discovery frame that includes one or more services intended for proxy transmission and updated one or more service identifiers each associated with a respective one of the one or more services [Li (‘465) ¶ 0158, Fig. 7: second NAN device (i.e. STA) receives a first service discovery message that is sent by a first NAN device (i.e. origin STA) and that is used for a service discovery, where the first service discovery message includes first service identifier information (see also ¶ 0167: service identifiers associated with a service, e.g., a published by/subscribed to service) and first service relay indication information];
generate a discovery frame based on the received discovery frame, wherein the generated discovery frame includes the one or more services intended for proxy transmission included in the third discovery frame [Li (‘465) ¶ 0170, Fig. 7: second NAN device generates, based on the first service discovery message, a second service discovery message used for the service discovery; see also ¶ 0174: a service that may be obtained by the third NAN device based on the second service identifier information and the second service relay indication information is the same as a service obtained by the third NAN device based on the first service identifier information and the first service relay indication information (i.e. the second discovery frame identifies a same service as identified in the first discovery frame/first service identifier)]; and
transmit, to the one or more other STAs, the generated discovery frame [Li (‘465) ¶ 0170, Fig. 7: second NAN device (i.e. STA) sends the second service discovery message, to third NAN device (see Fig. 7; one or more other STA), where the second NAN device serves as a service relay device that relays the service discovery initiated by the first NAN device].
However, Li (‘465) does not explicitly disclose the received frame is a third discovery frame that includes updated one or more services, the generated frame is a fourth frame and includes updated one or more services, and the transmitted frame is the fourth frame.
However, Li (‘465) implicitly teaches the received frame is a third discovery frame that includes updated one or more services, the generated frame is a fourth frame and includes updated one or more services, and the transmitted frame is the fourth frame [Li (‘465) ¶ 0128: device in the NAN network may notify, by sending a discovery service message in a DW, another device in the NAN network of a status change of the device, that is, notify the another NAN device in the NAN network in which the device is located of a service that needs to be subscribed to or published by the device (here, a status change of subscribed to/published by services would implicitly use the same proxy relay operations as disclosed above)].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to perform the same service discovery relay method for subsequent updates to a service published by or subscribed to the first NAN device. The motivation to do so would be to facilitate multi-hop service discovery while reducing power consumption at a NAN device [Li (‘465) ¶ 0004].
Regarding claim 9, Li (‘465) teaches a station (STA) in a wireless network, the STA comprising:
a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory [Li (‘465) ¶ 0371, Fig. 13C: service discovery apparatus 921 (i.e. second NAN device/STA) includes a processor 922 and a memory 924 connected through bus 925], the processor configured to:
transmit, to a proxy STA, a first discovery frame that includes the one or more services intended for proxy transmission and one or more service identifiers each associated with a respective one of the one or more services [Li (‘465) ¶ 0158, Fig. 7: second NAN device (i.e. STA) receives a first service discovery message that is sent by a first NAN device (i.e. origin STA) and that is used for a service discovery, where the first service discovery message includes first service identifier information (see also ¶ 0167: service identifiers associated with a service, e.g., a published by/subscribed to service) and first service relay indication information];
However, Li (‘465) does not explicitly disclose listening for a transmission to one or more other STAs of a second discovery frame derived from the first discovery frame during one or more expected discovery windows during which the proxy STA is expected to perform proxied transmission of the second discovery frame.
However, Li (‘465) implicitly teaches listening for a transmission to one or more other STAs of a second discovery frame derived from the first discovery frame during one or more expected discovery windows during which the proxy STA is expected to perform proxied transmission of the second discovery frame [Li (‘465) ¶ 0180: second NAN device may send the second service discovery message through broadcasting in a NAN network in which the second NAN device is located; ¶ 0126: NAN technology allows all devices participating in NAN to be synchronized without a central node, wherein service discovery is performed in a NAN-agreed discovery window allowing a Wi-Fi device to continuously discover nearby devices (here, a second NAN device forwards the service discovery message in a discovery window, while the first NAN device will monitor for discovery signals in the same discovery window, therefore, the first NAN listens for discovery transmissions from other NAN devices, which would include the repeated discovery message)].
It would It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to perform listening for a broadcast discovery frame forwarded from a second NAN device. The motivation to do so would be to reduce signal overhead by performing discovery continuously prior to the establishment of a connection [Li (‘465) ¶ 0126].
Regarding claim 11, Li (‘465) teaches the STA of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configure to: transmit, to the proxy STA, a trigger frame that solicits that the proxy STA transmits the second discovery frame [Li (‘465) ¶ 170: second NAN device generates, based on the first service discovery message (i.e. solicited by), a second service discovery message used for the service discovery (here, the discovery frame received from first NAN device acts as a trigger frame to solicit relaying of the discovery frame, therefore, receiving a discovery frame is analogous to receiving a trigger frame)].
Regarding claim 12, Li (‘465) teaches the STA of claim 9, wherein the first discovery frame is transmitted during a discovery window [Li (‘465) ¶ 0127: device wakes up only when a discovery window (DW) arrives, and performs a service discovery a on the discovery channel].
Regarding claim 13, Li (‘465) teaches the STA of claim 9, however, does not explicitly disclose wherein the first discovery frame is transmitted in a first frequency band and the second discovery frame is transmitted on a second frequency band.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Li (‘631) teaches wherein the first discovery frame is transmitted in a first frequency band and the second discovery frame is transmitted on a second frequency band [Li (‘631) ¶ 0011: establishing, by the first NAN device (i.e. relay STA) with the second NAN device (i.e. originator STA), a first NDL that uses the first time-frequency resource information (i.e. first frequency band), and establishing, with the third NAN device (i.e. other STA), a second NDL that uses the second time-frequency resource information (i.e. second frequency band)].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the method of receiving a service discovery request message that is to be relayed to another NAN device, generating a second service discovery request message, and transmitting the generated message to another NAN device as taught by Li (‘465), with the method of performing relay operations on a first frequency resource with a first device and relay operation with a second device on a second frequency resource as taught by Li (‘631). The motivation to combine these references would be improve resource utilization of a NAN device [Li (‘631) ¶ 0146].
Regarding claim 19, Li (‘465) teaches the computer-implemented method of claim 14, further comprising:
receiving, from the origin STA, a discovery frame that includes one or more services intended for proxy transmission and updated one or more service identifiers each associated with a respective one of the one or more services [Li (‘465) ¶ 0158, Fig. 7: second NAN device (i.e. STA) receives a first service discovery message that is sent by a first NAN device (i.e. origin STA) and that is used for a service discovery, where the first service discovery message includes first service identifier information (see also ¶ 0167: service identifiers associated with a service, e.g., a published by/subscribed to service) and first service relay indication information];
generating a discovery frame based on the received discovery frame, wherein the generated discovery frame includes the one or more services intended for proxy transmission included in the third discovery frame [Li (‘465) ¶ 0170, Fig. 7: second NAN device generates, based on the first service discovery message, a second service discovery message used for the service discovery; see also ¶ 0174: a service that may be obtained by the third NAN device based on the second service identifier information and the second service relay indication information is the same as a service obtained by the third NAN device based on the first service identifier information and the first service relay indication information (i.e. the second discovery frame identifies a same service as identified in the first discovery frame/first service identifier)]; and
transmitting, to the one or more other STAs, the generated discovery frame [Li (‘465) ¶ 0170, Fig. 7: second NAN device (i.e. STA) sends the second service discovery message, to third NAN device (see Fig. 7; one or more other STA), where the second NAN device serves as a service relay device that relays the service discovery initiated by the first NAN device].
However, Li (‘465) does not explicitly disclose the received frame is a third discovery frame that includes updated one or more services, the generated frame is a fourth frame and includes updated one or more services, and the transmitted frame is the fourth frame.
However, Li (‘465) implicitly teaches the received frame is a third discovery frame that includes updated one or more services, the generated frame is a fourth frame and includes updated one or more services, and the transmitted frame is the fourth frame [Li (‘465) ¶ 0128: device in the NAN network may notify, by sending a discovery service message in a DW, another device in the NAN network of a status change of the device, that is, notify the another NAN device in the NAN network in which the device is located of a service that needs to be subscribed to or published by the device (here, a status change of subscribed to/published by services would implicitly use the same proxy relay operations as disclosed above)].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to perform the same service discovery relay method for subsequent updates to a service published by or subscribed to the first NAN device. The motivation to do so would be to facilitate multi-hop service discovery while reducing power consumption at a NAN device [Li (‘465) ¶ 0004].
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (‘645) in view of Li et al. (US 2018/0332631 A1; “Li (‘631)).
Regarding claim 8, Li (‘465) teaches the STA of claim 1, however, does not explicitly disclose wherein the first discovery frame is received in a first frequency band and the second discovery frame is transmitted on a second frequency band.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Li (‘631) teaches wherein the first discovery frame is received in a first frequency band and the second discovery frame is transmitted on a second frequency band [Li (‘631) ¶ 0011: establishing, by the first NAN device (i.e. relay STA) with the second NAN device (i.e. originator STA), a first NDL that uses the first time-frequency resource information (i.e. first frequency band), and establishing, with the third NAN device (i.e. other STA), a second NDL that uses the second time-frequency resource information (i.e. second frequency band)].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the method of receiving a service discovery request message that is to be relayed to another NAN device, generating a second service discovery request message, and transmitting the generated message to another NAN device as taught by Li (‘465), with the method of performing relay operations on a first frequency resource with a first device and relay operation with a second device on a second frequency resource as taught by Li (‘631). The motivation to combine these references would be improve resource utilization of a NAN device [Li (‘631) ¶ 0146].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 10 is 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN P COX whose telephone number is (571)272-2728. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00AM-4PM EST.
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/BRIAN P COX/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474
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