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 .
About the Invention & Official Notice Teachings
Claims 1-14 have been presented for an examination, and pending in the application.
After careful consideration and/or search of the present claimed invention, the examiner finds one of main functional/operational recitation(s) of buffering data while in a certain power mode (e.g., low power mode) for power savings were well-known and commonly practiced in the art of modem communication (i.e., the art of the claimed invention & prior art of record). Therefore, the examiner gives official notice on such well-known functional/operational recitations in the art, as evidenced by the following prior art of record:
Ling et al. (US 2013/0094551), see paragraph 70 & thereafter for the support of the official notice; &
SHIRE (EP 4 290 783 A1), see paragraph 34 & thereafter for the support of the official notice.
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) 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YU et al. (US 2015/0237580 A1).
The examiner relies on the entire teachings of the YU reference & the official notice teachings (i.e., the official notice teachings support the examiner’s position on well-known and/or common practices teachings) for this rejection; the applicant should carefully consider the entire teachings of the above discussed references to better understand the examiner position & the interpretations applied to the claimed invention.
The YU reference teaches functional equivalent teachings of the claimed invention, when the examiner applies Broadest Reasonable Interpretation to the claimed invention/recitation, as follows:
CLAIMS 1-14
YU REF. TEACHINGS
1.A data transmission method, comprising: receiving or transmitting, by a modem of an apparatus, data packets from or to a host device of the apparatus through a host interface in an event that the modem is in a first mode during a period; and storing, by the modem, data packets in a buffer in an event that the modem is in a second mode during the period, wherein the host interface is in an active mode in an event that the modem is in the first mode, and the host interface is in a low-power mode in an event that the modem is in the second mode.
The teachings of the claim 8 are similarly applied
2. The data transmission method of claim 1, further comprising: in event the modem enters a next period, switching, by the modem, from the second mode to the first mode to receive or transmit new packets from or to the host interface, and to transmit the data packet stored in the buffer to the host interface.
The teachings of the claim 9 are similarly applied
3. The data transmission method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the modem, the period according to a timer.
The teachings of the claim 10 are similarly applied
4. The data transmission method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, by the modem, a synchronization timer to the host device to align a start time of transmitting the data packets to the host device through the host interface with a start time of receiving the data packets from the host device through the host interface.
The teachings of the claim 11 are similarly applied
5. The data transmission method of claim 4, wherein the start time of receiving the data packets from the host device through the host interface is aligned with at least one modem wake-up event.
The teachings of the claim 12 are similarly applied
6. The data transmission method of claim 5, wherein the at least one modem wake-up event comprises a connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) associated with the apparatus.
The teachings of the claim 13 are similarly applied
7. The data transmission method of claim 1, wherein the host interface comprises a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) interface, a secure digital input/output (SDIO) interface, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, or a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) interface.
The teachings of the claim 14 are similarly applied
8. An apparatus, comprising: a modem, configured to perform wireless transmission and reception to and from a network node; and
Fig 1 with accompanying description, see also par 22 & 20, “a wireless modem” & “E-UTRAN 120”/” MME 126”
a host device, coupled to the modem through a host interface,
Figs 5-6 with accompanying description, “SERVER PROCESSING SYSTEM” teaches the modem or host device & “CLIENT PROCESSING SYSTEM” teaches the host device or the modem, see par 55, “the roles of the first and second processing systems may be reversed”
wherein the modem receives or transmits data packets from or to the host device of the apparatus through a host interface in an event that the modem is in a first mode during a period,
Figs 5-6 with accompanying description, “ACCESS SHARED MEMORY” of the SERVER PROCESSING SYSTEM; par 63, “server system may write the generated data to shared memory and read any data that a client system may have previously written”
wherein the modem stores data packets in a buffer in an event that the modem is in a second mode during the period,
Figs 5-6 with accompanying description, “ACCESS SHARED MEMORY” of the CLIETN PROCESSING SYSTEM; par 63, “server system may write the generated data to shared memory and read any data that a client system may have previously written”
wherein the host interface is in an active mode in an event that the modem is in the first mode, and the host interface is in a low-power mode in an event that the modem is in the second mode.
Figs 5-6 with accompanying description, “ACCESS SHARED MEMORY” of the CLIETN PROCESSING SYSTEM; par 63, “server and client may be active…inactive when the server and client devices are waiting to write to or read from shared memory” & par 64, “the client and server may program their respective local timers to wake up and deliver data …”; the examiner notes that the respective wake up timer are independently flexibly set to wake up or sleep; therefore, the client can sleep while the server writes data to the buffer
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein in event the modem enters a next period, the modem switches from the second mode to the first mode to receive or transmit new packets from or to the host interface, and to transmit the data packet stored in the buffer to the host interface.
Figs 5-6 with accompanying description, “ACCESS SHARED MEMORY” of the CLIETN PROCESSING SYSTEM; par 63, “server and client may be active…inactive when the server and client devices are waiting to write to or read from shared memory” & par 64, “the client and server may program their respective local timers to wake up and deliver data …”; the examiner notes that the respective wake up timer are independently flexibly set to wake up or sleep; therefore, the client can sleep while the server writes data to the buffer
10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the modem determines the period according to a timer.
Figs 5-6 with accompanying description, par 51, “action to exit a low power state may comprise programming a timer local to a processing entity…have its own timer, and each timer may be programmed to cause the processing entities to independently wake up and read message from or write messages to a shared memory space at an appropriate time”
11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the modem transmits a synchronization timer to the host device to align a start time of transmitting the data packets to the host device through the host interface with a start time of receiving the data packets from the host device through the host interface.
Figs 5-6 with accompanying description, par 34, “To effect power savings for wireless devices, synchronizing data exchange between subsystems…modem and voice subsystems…entail synchronizing data exchange without one system causing another to wake up at the wronging time”
12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the start time of receiving the data packets from the host device through the host interface is aligned with at least one modem wake-up event.
Figs 5-6 with accompanying description, par 34, “To effect power savings for wireless devices, synchronizing data exchange between subsystems…modem and voice subsystems…entail synchronizing data exchange without one system causing another to wake up at the wronging time”
13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one modem wake-up event comprises a connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) associated with the apparatus.2
Figs 5-6 with accompanying description, par 33, “power savings may be realized using Connected Mode Discontinuous Reception (CDRX), in which a device turns off a radio and places a modem into a low-power state (e.g., sleep state) for different durations depending on…”
14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the host interface comprises a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) interface, a secure digital input/output (SDIO) interface, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, or a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) interface.3
Obvious from par 22 UE 110 may be …a laptop computer”; the examiner notes that the laptop computer commonly consists of the claimed interfaces.
The examiner notes that the YU reference does not expressly or identically discloses/labels a modem device (i.e., in figures 5-6 where (504)/” SERVER PROCESSING SYSTEM” are not labeled as a “modem”); however, as can be seen from the figure 5-6, the (504)/” SERVER PROCESSING SYSTEM” does perform the functional equivalent function of a modem (i.e., “MODEM 502”/ “CLIENT PROCESSING SYSTEM”) or the not expressly disclosed /labeled claimed modem. In addition, the YU reference further supports and teaches, in paragraph 55, “[t]he roles of the first and second processing system may be reversed”; furthermore, as can be seen from the figure 6, the “CLIENT PROCESSING SYSTEM” & “SERVER PROCESSING SYSTEM” both perform the identical functions with respect to buffering operations; consequently, the teachings of the YU reference does support the functionally equivalent teachings of the claimed invention. Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date claimed invention to one having ordinary skill in the art to come up with the claimed invention from the functionally equivalent teachings of the YU reference for the reasons and the detailed teachings discussed above.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER B SHIN whose telephone number is (571)272-4159. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00-4:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, IDRISS N ALROBAYE can be reached at 571-270-1023. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER B SHIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2181