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 .
This office action is in response to communication filed on 10/17/2024.
Claims 1-20 present for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
It is hereby acknowledged that the following papers have been received and placed of record in the file:
Information Disclosure Statement(s) as received on 01/15/2025 is/are considered by the Examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 8 and 9 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 8, line 3, “(b) and a second indication” should read “(b) a second indication”;
Claim 9, line 3, “(b) and a second indication” should read “(b) a second indication”;
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 6, claim limitation recites “the data” in line 1, which renders the claim vague and indefinite. It is unclear whether “the data” is referring to “data in claim 1, line 3, or to “data” in claim 5, line 1, or to a different/distinct data.
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, 2, 5, 6, and 10-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wan et al. (US 9,477,814 B2), hereinafter Wan.
Regarding claim 1, Wan discloses
A method of cross layer rate selection, the method comprising:
selecting, by a media access control (MAC) scheduler (ABR client 102/gateway unit 101), a rate (source stream profile/source data rate/data rate profile) for transmitting data for a wireless terminal based on (1) a queue stability metric (one or more network conditions) and (2) a predicted transmission rate associated with the wireless terminal (the desired transmission data rate of the converted digital multimedia content) (Col. 4, lines 35-45: ABR client 102 operably connects to source ABR server 105 (e.g., at an ABR access point of the associated network) and identifies source stream profiles advertised by source ABR server 105 for the channel, for example, by downloading and reading source manifest file 106; ABR client 102 selects a source stream profile for receiving a source media stream for the channel (e.g., including audio and/or video) from ABR server 105; & Col. 5, lines 3-15: ABR client 102 may select a source stream profile provided by source ABR server 105 based on one or more network conditions; ABR client 102 may select a stream profile having the highest advertised bit rate available over an existing DOCSIS infrastructure and, if data-traffic congestion between ABR client 102 and source ABR server 105 is detected, ABR proxy 102 may select a new profile (advertised by manifest file 106) having a lower bit rate; & Col. 6, lines 6-9: gateway unit 101 is configured to select a source data rate (e.g., from manifest file 106) based on the desired transmission data rate of the converted digital multimedia content; & Col. 6, lines 20-24: gateway unit 101 may select a data rate profile for receiving a source media stream based network conditions between gateway unit 101 and ABR server 105, or between gateway unit 101 and the locally connected devices; & Col. 8, lines 24-30: gateway unit 101 may select a source data rate from each of a respective set of data rates advertised by ABR server 105); and
sending information identifying the rate to an application server (Col. 4, lines 46-48: ABR client 102 sends client HTTP uniform resource locator (URL) requests to ABR server 105 to receive corresponding local data segments from ABR server 105; & Col. 8, lines 30-33: each of the first and second pluralities of content segments may then be received at their respective data rates selected by gateway unit 101).
Regarding claim 2, Wan discloses the method as described in claim 1. Wan further discloses
an access point controller includes the MAC scheduler (FIG. 1: an ABR access point of the associated network).
Regarding claim 5, Wan discloses the method as described in claim 2. Wan further discloses
receiving data for the wireless terminal from the application server at the rate at the access point controller (Col. 4, lines 41-45: ABR client 102 selects a source stream profile for receiving a source media stream for the channel (e.g., including audio and/or video) from ABR server 105, and receives the source media stream as a plurality of data segments according to the selected profile; & Col. 8, lines 30-33: each of the first and second pluralities of content segments may then be received at their respective data rates selected by gateway unit 101).
Regarding claim 6, Wan discloses the method as described in claim 5. Wan further discloses
wirelessly transmitting the data to the wireless terminal from an access point that is in communication with the access point controller, wherein the wireless terminal is associated with a head-mounted display (Col. 3, line 62 – Col. 4, line 3: gateway unit 101 generally includes a tuner for receiving traditional digital content (e.g., over QAM), and an ABR client 102 (e.g., embedded within gateway unit 101) for receiving IP streams from a content delivery network (CDN) 103; gateway unit 101 may be implemented as, or include, a computing device (e.g., desktop, server, laptop, notebook, tablet computer) or other device connected to a network (e.g., a LAN, WAN, or the Internet) and configured to receive streaming media from an external source).
Regarding claim 10, Wan discloses the method as described in claim 1. Wan further discloses
receiving, by the MAC scheduler, a set of supported transmission rates from the application server, wherein the rate is included in the set of supported transmission rates (Col. 8, lines 24-30: gateway unit 101 may select a source data rate from each of a respective set of data rates advertised by ABR server 105).
Regarding claim 11, Wan discloses the method as described in claim 1. Wan further discloses
reducing the rate based on the queue stability metric being greater than a threshold, wherein a higher value of the queue stability metric indicates more congestion than a lower value of the queue stability metric (Col. 5, lines 5-11: if data-traffic congestion between ABR client 102 and source ABR server 105 is detected, ABR proxy 102 may select a new profile (advertised by manifest file 106) having a lower bit rate).
Regarding claim 12, Wan discloses the method as described in claim 1. Wan further discloses
reducing the rate based on the predicted transmission rate being less than the rate (Col. 6, lines 9-15: if a source data rate cannot be identified that is equal to or faster than the data rate for providing the converted digital content then gateway unit 101 may decrease the data rate for providing the digital multimedia content to locally connected devices to a data rate congruent with the speed at which the source stream may be received; & Col. 7, lines 25-30: the data rate may increase or decrease in response to the total available bandwidth; & Col. 7, lines 63-65: if the available bandwidth decreases then gateway unit 101 may decrease the data rate for providing one or more multimedia channels).
Regarding claim 13, Wan discloses the method as described in claim 1. Wan further discloses
increasing the rate based on the queue stability metric being less than a threshold for a predefined period of time, wherein a higher value of the queue stability metric indicates more congestion than a lower value of the queue stability metric (Col. 6, lines 31-36: given the number of channels already being provided to locally connected channel viewing devices 104 and the bandwidth available from ABR server 105, gateway unit 101 may increase or decrease transmission data rates (and resolution) of digital content provided to those devices; & Col. 7, lines 24-30: the data rate may increase or decrease in response to the total available bandwidth (e.g., between gateway unit 101 and source ABR server 105, or between gateway unit and the locally connected devices 104) and the bandwidth required to deliver all channels being requested by locally connected devices).
Regarding claim 14, Wan discloses the method as described in claim 1. Wan further discloses
selecting, by the MAC scheduler, a second rate for transmitting data for a second wireless terminal based on (1) a queue stability metric associated with the second wireless terminal and (2) a predicted transmission rate associated with the second wireless terminal (Col. 4, lines 35-45: ABR client 102 operably connects to source ABR server 105 (e.g., at an ABR access point of the associated network) and identifies source stream profiles advertised by source ABR server 105 for the channel, for example, by downloading and reading source manifest file 106; ABR client 102 selects a source stream profile for receiving a source media stream for the channel (e.g., including audio and/or video) from ABR server 105; & Col. 5, lines 3-15: ABR client 102 may select a source stream profile provided by source ABR server 105 based on one or more network conditions; ABR client 102 may select a stream profile having the highest advertised bit rate available over an existing DOCSIS infrastructure and, if data-traffic congestion between ABR client 102 and source ABR server 105 is detected, ABR proxy 102 may select a new profile (advertised by manifest file 106) having a lower bit rate; & Col. 6, lines 6-9: gateway unit 101 is configured to select a source data rate (e.g., from manifest file 106) based on the desired transmission data rate of the converted digital multimedia content; & Col. 6, lines 20-24: gateway unit 101 may select a data rate profile for receiving a source media stream based network conditions between gateway unit 101 and ABR server 105, or between gateway unit 101 and the locally connected devices; & Col. 8, lines 24-30: gateway unit 101 may select a source data rate from each of a respective set of data rates advertised by ABR server 105); and
sending information identifying the second rate to a second application server (Col. 4, lines 46-48: ABR client 102 sends client HTTP uniform resource locator (URL) requests to ABR server 105 to receive corresponding local data segments from ABR server 105; & Col. 8, lines 30-33: each of the first and second pluralities of content segments may then be received at their respective data rates selected by gateway unit 101).
Regarding claim 15, Wan discloses
A controller with cross layer rate selection, the controller comprising:
a one or more interfaces configured to communicate with a network node and to communicate with an application server (FIG. 4: input device interface 414, output device interface 406, and network interface 416); and
a media access control (MAC) scheduler (ABR client 102/gateway unit 101) configured to:
select a rate (source stream profile/source data rate/data rate profile) for transmitting data for a wireless terminal based on (1) a queue stability metric (one or more network conditions) and (2) a predicted transmission rate associated with the wireless terminal (the desired transmission data rate of the converted digital multimedia content) (Col. 4, lines 35-45: ABR client 102 operably connects to source ABR server 105 (e.g., at an ABR access point of the associated network) and identifies source stream profiles advertised by source ABR server 105 for the channel, for example, by downloading and reading source manifest file 106; ABR client 102 selects a source stream profile for receiving a source media stream for the channel (e.g., including audio and/or video) from ABR server 105; & Col. 5, lines 3-15: ABR client 102 may select a source stream profile provided by source ABR server 105 based on one or more network conditions; ABR client 102 may select a stream profile having the highest advertised bit rate available over an existing DOCSIS infrastructure and, if data-traffic congestion between ABR client 102 and source ABR server 105 is detected, ABR proxy 102 may select a new profile (advertised by manifest file 106) having a lower bit rate; & Col. 6, lines 6-9: gateway unit 101 is configured to select a source data rate (e.g., from manifest file 106) based on the desired transmission data rate of the converted digital multimedia content; & Col. 6, lines 20-24: gateway unit 101 may select a data rate profile for receiving a source media stream based network conditions between gateway unit 101 and ABR server 105, or between gateway unit 101 and the locally connected devices; & Col. 8, lines 24-30: gateway unit 101 may select a source data rate from each of a respective set of data rates advertised by ABR server 105);
cause the controller to send information identifying the rate to the application server (Col. 4, lines 46-48: ABR client 102 sends client HTTP uniform resource locator (URL) requests to ABR server 105 to receive corresponding local data segments from ABR server 105; & Col. 8, lines 30-33: each of the first and second pluralities of content segments may then be received at their respective data rates selected by gateway unit 101); and
cause the controller to send data from the application server that is associated with the wireless terminal to the network node at the rate (Col. 4, lines 41-45: ABR client 102 selects a source stream profile for receiving a source media stream for the channel (e.g., including audio and/or video) from ABR server 105, and receives the source media stream as a plurality of data segments according to the selected profile; & Col. 8, lines 30-33: each of the first and second pluralities of content segments may then be received at their respective data rates selected by gateway unit 101).
Regarding claim 16, Wan discloses the controller as described in claim 15. Wan further discloses
a first interface configured to send the data from the application server to the network node (FIG. 4: input device interface 414, output device interface 406, and network interface 416; & Col. 4, lines 41-45: ABR client 102 selects a source stream profile for receiving a source media stream for the channel (e.g., including audio and/or video) from ABR server 105, and receives the source media stream as a plurality of data segments according to the selected profile; & Col. 8, lines 30-33: each of the first and second pluralities of content segments may then be received at their respective data rates selected by gateway unit 101); and
a second interface configured to send the information identifying the rate to the application server (FIG. 4: input device interface 414, output device interface 406, and network interface 416; & Col. 4, lines 46-48: ABR client 102 sends client HTTP uniform resource locator (URL) requests to ABR server 105 to receive corresponding local data segments from ABR server 105; & Col. 8, lines 30-33: each of the first and second pluralities of content segments may then be received at their respective data rates selected by gateway unit 101).
Regarding claim 17, Wan discloses the controller as described in claim 15. Wan further discloses
the network node is an access point, and the controller is an access point controller (FIG. 1, ABR access point; & Col. 4, lines 35-45: ABR client 102 operably connects to source ABR server 105 (e.g., at an ABR access point of the associated network) and identifies source stream profiles advertised by source ABR server 105 for the channel, for example, by downloading and reading source manifest file 106;).
Regarding claim 18, the limitations of claim 18 are rejected in the analysis of claim 15 above and this claim is rejected on that basis.
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.
Claim(s) 3 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wan in view of Poletto et al. (US 2003/0145231 A1), hereinafter Poletto.
Regarding claim 3, Wan discloses the method as described in claim 2. Wan does not explicitly disclose
measuring, by an access point serving the wireless terminal, a first number of packets arriving in a wireless terminal data queue and a second number of packets from the wireless terminal data queue that are wirelessly transmitted from the access point to the wireless terminal; and
determining the queue stability metric based on the first number of packets and the second number of packets.
However, Poletto discloses
measuring, by an access point serving the wireless terminal, a first number of packets arriving in a wireless terminal data queue and a second number of packets from the wireless terminal data queue that are wirelessly transmitted from the access point to the wireless terminal ([0051]: the monitoring process in the gateway 26 can examine a ratio of incoming to outgoing TCP packets for a particular set of machines); and
determining the queue stability metric based on the first number of packets and the second number of packets ([0051]: the monitoring process in the gateway 26 can examine a ratio of incoming to outgoing TCP packets for a particular set of machines).
It would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the feature of Poletto in Wan because Wan discloses monitor available bandwidth and adjust determined data rate (Col. 2, lines 28-33) and Poletto further suggests examine a ratio of incoming to outgoing TCP packets ([0051]).
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Poletto in the Wan system in order to optimize network performance and monitor service health.
Regarding claim 19, the limitations of claim 19 are rejected in the analysis of claim 3 above and this claim is rejected on that basis.
Claim(s) 4 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wan in view of Koo et al. (US 2011/0122786 A1), hereinafter Koo.
Regarding claim 4, Wan discloses the method as described in claim 2. Wan does not explicitly disclose
determining, by the access point controller, the predicted transmission rate from the wireless terminal based on information associated with a wireless channel between an access point and the wireless terminal.
However, Koo discloses
determining, by the access point controller, the predicted transmission rate from the wireless terminal based on information associated with a wireless channel between an access point and the wireless terminal ([0053]: calculates channel capacity occupied by the wireless terminals and the AP based on the collected channel state information, and calculates the channel occupancy rate of the wireless terminals and the AP with respect to the total channel capacity assigned to the BSS to which the AP belongs; the bit-rate calculator 510 controls the codec bit rate of each of the wires terminals based on the channel occupancy rate).
It would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the feature of Koo in Wan because Wan discloses monitor available bandwidth and adjust determined data rate (Col. 2, lines 28-33) and Koo further suggests control bit rate based on channel occupancy rate ([0053]).
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Koo in the Wan system in order to assure QoS.
Regarding claim 20, the limitations of claim 20 are rejected in the analysis of claim 4 above and this claim is rejected on that basis.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wan in view of Devadas et al. (US 2004/0163084 A1), hereinafter Devadas.
Regarding claim 7, Wan discloses the method as described in claim 2. Wan does not explicitly disclose
determining, an access point serving the wireless terminal, the queue stability metric at a first time interval; and
computing, by the access point controller, the predicted transmission rate at a second time interval, wherein the first time interval is different than the second time interval.
However, Devadas discloses
determining, an access point serving the wireless terminal, the queue stability metric at a first time interval ([0060]: the guaranteed rates are calculated according to a number of methods using some queue metric information received from the queue length module 162 or the queue manager 112); and
computing, by the access point controller, the predicted transmission rate at a second time interval, wherein the first time interval is different than the second time interval ([0060]: the queue metric information used to calculate the guaranteed rates is information about the queue).
It would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the feature of Devadas in Wan because Wan discloses monitor available bandwidth and adjust determined data rate (Col. 2, lines 28-33) and Devadas further suggests calculate rates based on queue metric information ([0060]).
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Devadas in the Wan system in order to ensure QoS guarantees as suggested by Devadas ([0006]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8 and 9 are 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Han et al. (US 2023/0208771 A1). The congestion control module is specifically configured to adjust a sending rate of the first network device based on the congestion degree, where there is a correspondence between the congestion degree and the sending rate ([0052]); the congestion degree is calculated by using a queue length and a queue occupancy rate ([0044]).
Grembler et al. (US 2013/0215956 A1). As soon as a bit rate is selected on the client, it is transmitted to the server as a command and the coder device subsequently codes the video data to fit the selected bit rate ([0044]).
Gouache et al. (US 2014/0250231 A1). A bandwidth manager for selecting a data rate among the more than one data rate, a scheduler for transmitting at the second interface the at least one streaming content to the at least one client device at a data rate above said selected data rate but below any higher data rate available for said streaming content.
Adil et al. (US 2021/0209680 A1). Select a preferred rate and send the selection information to the server.
Ma et al. (US 2024/0267421 A1). Client device selects one of the supported frame rates and send an index corresponding to the selected frame rate to server device ([0047]).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAYLEE J HUANG whose telephone number is (571)272-0080. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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, Joon H Hwang can be reached at 571-272-4036. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Kaylee Huang
04/04/2026
/KAYLEE J HUANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2447
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