DETAILED ACTION
1. This Office Action is in response to application 19/066723 filed on 02/28/2025. Claims 1-18 are pending.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Interpretation
3. Claim 1 recites a “wireless communication module…” which would normally be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f). However, the claim further recites that the “wireless communication module” includes “wireless communication circuitry” which is considered sufficient structure, materials, or acts to entirely perform the recited function. Therefore, this claim limitation is not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph and it is not being interpreted to cover only the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant intends to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to remove the structure, materials, or acts that performs the claimed function; or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) does/do not recite sufficient structure, materials, or acts to perform the claimed function.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: On line 10, the acronym P2P should be spelled out at the first instance in the claims, so it should be “peer to peer (P2P)”.
Claims 4 and 5 are objected to because of the following informalities: On line 2, the acronym GC should be spelled out at the first instance in the claims, so it should be “group client (GC)”.
Claim 14 is objected to because of the following informalities: On line 5 of the claim, “circuity” should be amended as –circuitry--.
Claim 16 is objected to because of the following informalities: On line 3 of the claim, “the second electronic device” should be amended as --the second external electronic device--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
4. Claims 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Geirhofer et al. (US 2012/0044815) in view of Camps-Mur et al. (Device to device Communications with WiFi Direct: Overview and Experimentation, NPL).
Regarding claim 1, Geirhofer disclosed:
An electronic device (Figure 1, device 120a) comprising:
at least one wireless communication module (Figure 7A, communication modules 724, 726. Figure 7 being a more detailed view of device 120a), including wireless communication circuitry, configured to transmit and receive a wireless signal (Figure 7A, receiver 712, transmitter 714);
at least one processor (Figure 7A, processor 728) operatively connected with the wireless communication module; and a memory (Figure 7A, memory 730) electrically connected to the processor and configured to store instructions executable by the processor, wherein, when the instructions are executed by the processor, the processor is configured to:
establish a first Wi-Fi P2P connection with a first external electronic device (Figure 1, device 120b) as part of a first P2P group (Paragraph 27, P2P group) such that the electronic device (Figure 1, 120a) is set as a group client in the first P2P group (Paragraphs 26-27, a P2P group includes two devices 120a and 120b that are interested in or engaged in P2P communication. A P2P group includes a group owner (or P2P server) and one or more P2P clients served by the P2P group owner. A P2P client may belong to more than one P2P group and may communicate with a P2P device in any P2P group at any given moment. Paragraph 51, P2P device A may be designated as the group owner and P2P device B designated as the client);
obtain information (Paragraph 79, interference) for a second wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) (Paragraph 20-21) peer to peer (P2P) connection (Figure 4, P2P group 420a connecting to P2P group 424d) to a second external electronic device (Figure 4, P2P client of P2P group 424d) while the first P2P group with the first external electronic device is maintained through the first Wi-Fi P2P connection (Paragraph 69, interference conditions are reported by P2P devices. Paragraph 79, a P2P device in a given P2P group may receive interference information from P2P devices in other P2P groups); and
generate a second P2P group (Figure 4, P2P group 424d).
While Geirhofer disclosed P2P clients belonging to more than one P2P group and being able to communicate with any P2P group at any time (see above), Geirhofer did not explicitly disclose generate a second P2P group with the second external electronic device by obtaining a group owner (GO) permission while maintaining the first P2P group.
However, in an analogous art, Camps-Mur disclosed generate a second P2P group with the second external electronic device by obtaining a group owner (GO) permission while maintaining the first P2P group (Page 97, Figure 1, Architecture paragraph 2, in order to extend the network, one of the laptops (which is a P2P client in group 1) establishes a second P2P group with a printer (P2P client) and for this second group, the laptop acts as a P2P group owner. Figure 1 shows the laptop being both a P2P client and P2P GO simultaneously).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teachings of Geirhofer with Camps-Mur because the references involve establishing P2P groups, and as such, are within the same environment.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the GO owner while maintaining a first P2P group of Camps-Mur with the teachings of Geirhofer in order to allow for extending a network (Camps-Mur, Page 97, Architecture paragraph 2).
Regarding claims 7, 14, the claims are substantially similar to claim 1. Claim 14 differs in that the electronic device is set as a GO and connects to a second P2P group (Camps-Mur, WiFi Direct: A Technical Overview, Pages 96-97, paragraph 1, states that the roles are dynamic and a WiFi Direct device has to implement both the role of a client and an AP (or GO). The roles are logical roles that can be executed by the same device simultaneously. Figure 1 shows the P2P client printer forming a group with the laptop, where the laptop is a GO of the P2P group 2. The laptop connects to P2P group 1 as a client). Therefore, the claims are rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claims 2, 9, the limitations of claims 1, 7, have been addressed. Geirhofer and Camps-Mur disclosed:
wherein the processor is further configured to: generate the second P2P group when a role of the electronic device in the first P2P group is a GO and both of the electronic device and the second external electronic device support a second frequency band that is higher than a first frequency band of a channel of the first P2P group (Camps-Mur, WiFi Direct: A Technical Overview, Pages 96-97, paragraph 1, the device executing GO and client roles simultaneously by using different frequencies (i.e., one higher than the other)).
For motivation, please refer to claim 1.
Regarding claims 3, 10, the limitations of claims 1, 7, have been addressed. Geirhofer and Camps-Mur disclosed:
wherein the processor is further configured to: when the second external electronic device forms a third P2P group (Geirhofer, Figure 4, P2P group 420b), generate the second P2P group (Geirhofer, Figure 4, P2P group 424d) based on a first role of the electronic device in the first P2P group and a second role of the second external electronic device in the third P2P group (Camps-Mur, WiFi Direct: A Technical Overview, Pages 96-97, paragraph 1, the device executing GO and client roles simultaneously).
For motivation, please refer to claim 1.
Regarding claims 4, 11, the limitations of claims 3, 10, have been addressed. Geirhofer and Camps-Mur disclosed:
wherein the processor is further configured to: when the first role is a GC and the second role is a GC, generate the second P2P group (Geirhofer, Paragraphs 26-27, a P2P group includes two devices 120a and 120b that are interested in or engaged in P2P communication. A P2P client may belong to more than one P2P group and may communicate with a P2P device in any P2P group at any given moment. As the P2P client can belong to more than one group, this encompasses that the P2P client remains a client in another group).
Regarding claims 5, 12, the limitations of claims 3, 10, have been addressed. Geirhofer and Camps-Mur disclosed:
wherein the processor is further configured to: when the first role is a GO and the second role is a GO or a GC (Camps-Mur, Figure 1 shows the laptop being both a P2P client and P2P GO simultaneously), generate the second P2P group based on a frequency band of a channel of the first P2P group, a frequency band of a channel of the third P2P group, and a frequency band supported by both of the electronic device and the second external electronic device (Camps-Mur, WiFi Direct: A Technical Overview, Pages 96-97, paragraph 1, roles are executed by the same device simultaneously on different frequencies).
For motivation, please refer to claim 1.
Regarding claims 6, 13, the limitations of claims 1, 7, have been addressed. Geirhofer and Camps-Mur disclosed:
wherein the processor is further configured to: when the electronic device is connected to a Wi-Fi access point (AP) (Geirhofer, Paragraph 21, a base station is considered an access point. Paragraph 24, a device can communicate with other devices or with the base station), generate the second P2P group based on an operation channel of the first P2P group and a connection channel between the electronic device and the Wi-Fi AP (Geirhofer, Paragraph 30, P2P communication can be supported on the same spectrum in a co-channel P2P deployment. Spectrum refers to different frequencies that correspond to a frequency channel, a frequency band, a subband, or a carrier).
Regarding claim 8, the limitations of claim 7 have been addressed. Geirhofer and Camps-Mur disclosed:
wherein the generating comprises: generating the second P2P group when the role of the electronic device is a group client (GC) in the first P2P group (Camps-Mur, Page 97, Figure 1, Architecture paragraph 2, in order to extend the network, one of the laptops (which is a P2P client in group 1) establishes a second P2P group with a printer (P2P client) and for this second group, the laptop acts as a P2P group owner).
For motivation, please refer to claim 1.
Regarding claim 15, the limitations of claim 14 have been addressed. Geirhofer and Camps-Mur disclosed:
wherein the processor is configured to: perform the connecting of the electronic device with the second external electronic device such that the electronic device is set as a group client (GC) of the second P2P group (Camps-Mur, WiFi Direct: A Technical Overview, Pages 96-97, paragraph 1, states that the roles are dynamic and a WiFi Direct device has to implement both the role of a client and an AP (or GO). The roles are logical roles that can be executed by the same device simultaneously).
For motivation, please refer to claim 1.
Regarding claim 16, the limitations of claim 15 have been addressed. Geirhofer and Camps-Mur disclosed:
wherein the processor is configured to: perform the setting of the electronic device as the GC of the second P2P group based at least in part on the second electronic device being set as a second GO of the second P2P group (Geirhofer, Figure 4, showing that each P2P group has one GO and one client. Therefore, if a device joins a P2P group that already has a GO, it will be assigned as a client).
Regarding claim 17, the limitations of claim 14 have been addressed. Geirhofer and Camps-Mur disclosed:
wherein the processor is configured to, receive the information related to the second P2P group from the second external electronic device after the second P2P group is generated based on the request by the second external electronic device (Geirhofer, Paragraph 51, a trigger (i.e., request) initiates formation of a P2P group for P2P devices A and B. The trigger is provided by a discovery mechanism. Paragraph 59, a proximity detection signal is generated that includes discovery ID of the transmitting P2P device, a network address of the transmitting P2P device, a service being offered or requested by the transmitting P2P device and other information. Paragraph 60, P2P device A transmits a proximity detection signal and P2P device B may detect the signal).
Regarding claim 18, the limitations of claim 17 have been addressed. Geirhofer and Camps-Mur disclosed:
wherein the second P2P group is generated based on the second external electronic device obtaining a GO permission for the second P2P group via autonomous GO (Camps-Mur, Group Formation, Pages 98-99, Autonomous paragraph, a P2P device may autonomously create a P2P group where it immediately becomes the GO. No GO negotiation phase is required).
Conclusion
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/S.C.N/Examiner, Art Unit 2451
/Chris Parry/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2451
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