DETAILED ACTION
Notice relating to Pre-AIA or AIA Status
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 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 present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of the Claims
Applicant’s preliminary amendment (dated 11 FEBRUARY 2026), has been entered. The status of the claims is as follows: Claims 2-21 are currently pending in the application.
Examiner’s Note
It is noted to Applicant that Allowable subject matter has been indicated in related Application 18/200,784. Applicant is suggested to try and incorporate similar Allowable content into the current Application’s claims to try and move prosecution forward to an Allowance. Applicant is also cautioned not to repeat allowable subject matter in a manner that could lead to a double patenting rejection. This is just a note and suggestion by the Examiner, any amendments made by Applicant will be searched thoroughly before a final indication on Allowability is made.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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.
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.
Claims 2-3, 11-13, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ye et al., US 2018/0359189 in view of Cismas et al., US 2021/0274200.
Regarding claim 2, Ye discloses a method comprising:
receiving, at a retransmission device configured to retransmit data streams toward a display device, from an upstream source, packets of a plurality of data streams for output at the display device (receiving/retrieving VR content; page 6, paragraph 68, and wherein with video page 2, paragraph 30, and with retransmission device receiving the content/streams; page 3, paragraph 35, and pages 6-7, paragraph 73), the plurality of data streams including a high priority data stream and a low priority data stream (content/streams include those with different transmission priorities; page 3, paragraph 35, and wherein high priority is indication of FOV area and lower priority indication of adjacent/invisible areas; page 4, paragraph 46, and page 6, paragraph 69, and see page 6, "TABLE 2");
receiving, at the retransmission device, information that distinguishes the high priority data stream from the low priority data stream (can determine what priorities are needed based on received rule(s); page 3, paragraphs 33 and 36, and page 6, paragraphs 63-64, and wherein the content priorities can be determined based on assigned values; page 3, paragraphs 35 and 37);
based at least in part on the received information, identifying, by the retransmission device, the high priority data stream and the low priority data stream (can determine priority for particular packets for delivery; page 3, paragraph 38-39 and pages 6-7, paragraphs 72-75, and wherein high priority is indication of FOV area and lower priority indication of adjacent/invisible areas; page 4, paragraph 46, and page 6, paragraph 69, and see page 6, "TABLE 2"); and
retransmitting, by the retransmission device toward the display device, packets of the high priority data stream and packets of the low priority data stream while differentiating between the high priority data stream and the low priority data stream (retransmission of the packets based on the priorities, wherein the transmission is differentiated in that high priority is sent first, medium next, and then low; page 3, paragraphs 38-39, and page 7, paragraph 78, and Fig. 8, element 809, and page 8, paragraph 89).
Ye does not explicitly disclose applying differentiated transmission behavior.
In a related art, Cismas does disclose transmission while applying differentiated transmission behavior (transmission of the content/data; Fig. 9, element 930, and page 11, paragraph 111, and wherein assigning a modulation coding scheme based on the priority; page 2, paragraph 12, and page 10, paragraph 101, and with at least high and low priorities; page 2, paragraph 13, and page 7, paragraphs 68, and page 8, paragraph 78, and page 9, paragraph 90).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the prior art of Ye and Cismas by allowing different coding schemes to be utilized with the prioritized transmissions already present in Ye, in order to provide an improved system and method for encoding high-resolution video sources at low latencies for transmission over a communication link, while also providing graceful degradation of the encoded video when varying communication conditions are present (Cismas; page 3, paragraph 34).
Regarding claim 3, Ye in view of Cismas discloses the differentiated transmission behavior between the high priority data stream and the low priority data stream comprises applying a modulation coding scheme (MCS) to the high priority data stream (Ye; high priority is indication of FOV area and lower priority indication of adjacent/invisible areas; page 4, paragraph 46, and page 6, paragraph 69, and see page 6, "TABLE 2", and Cismas; assigning a modulation coding scheme based on the priority; page 2, paragraph 12, and page 10, paragraph 101, and with at least high and low priorities; page 2, paragraph 13, and page 7, paragraphs 68, and page 8, paragraph 78, and page 9, paragraph 90).
Regarding claim 11, Ye in view of Cismas discloses the differentiated transmission behavior between the high priority data stream and the low priority data stream comprises tagging at least one header of at least one packet of the high priority data stream with at least one of a Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) precedence field or an Internet Protocol (IP) precedence field (Ye; can utilize DSCP and/or IP header field for setting transmission priorities; page 7, paragraph 75).
Claim 12, which discloses a system, is analyzed with respect to the citations and/or rationale provided in the rejection of similar claim 2. The following additional limitations are also disclosed:
one or more processors (Ye; execution via at least a processor; page 2, paragraph 29, and page 9, paragraph 104).
Claim 13, which discloses a system, is analyzed with respect to the citations and/or rationale provided in the rejection of similar claim 3.
Claim 21, which discloses a system, is analyzed with respect to the citations and/or rationale provided in the rejection of similar claim 11.
Claims 4-5 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ye et al., US 2018/0359189 in view of Cismas et al., US 2021/0274200 and further in view of Dallal et al., US 2024/0320785.
Regarding claim 4, Ye in view of Cismas discloses all the claimed limitations of claim 2, as well as the differentiated transmission behavior between the high priority data stream and the low priority data stream (Ye; high priority is indication of FOV area and lower priority indication of adjacent/invisible areas; page 4, paragraph 46, and page 6, paragraph 69, and see page 6, "TABLE 2", and Cismas; assigning a modulation coding scheme based on the priority; page 2, paragraph 12, and page 10, paragraph 101, and with at least high and low priorities; page 2, paragraph 13, and page 7, paragraphs 68, and page 8, paragraph 78, and page 9, paragraph 90), and the high priority data stream (Ye; high priority is indication of FOV area; page 4, paragraph 46, and page 6, paragraph 69, and see page 6, "TABLE 2", and Cismas; data/streams with at least high priorities; page 2, paragraph 13, and page 7, paragraphs 68, and page 8, paragraph 78, and page 9, paragraph 90).
Ye in view of Cismas does not explicitly disclose transmission behavior comprises reducing a coding rate of a data stream.
In a related art, Dallal does disclose transmission behavior comprises reducing a coding rate of a data stream (high priority data can be modulated with a lower modulation, QPSK, i.e. reduced code rate based lower modulation ordering and QPSK; page 9, paragraphs 76 and 78-79).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the prior art of Ye, Cismas, and Dallal by allowing different coding rate adaptations to be utilized with the already present prioritization and coding of Ye in view of Cismas, in order to provide an improved system and method for XR communication which reduces power consumed by the devices and makes them more viable to wireless communication (Dallal; page 1, paragraph 5).
Regarding claim 5, Ye in view of Cismas and Dallal discloses the differentiated transmission behavior between the high priority data stream and the low priority data stream comprises sending the high priority data stream with quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulation (Ye; high priority is indication of FOV area and lower priority indication of adjacent/invisible areas; page 4, paragraph 46, and page 6, paragraph 69, and see page 6, "TABLE 2", and Cismas; assigning a modulation coding scheme based on the priority; page 2, paragraph 12, and page 10, paragraph 101, and with at least high and low priorities; page 2, paragraph 13, and page 7, paragraphs 68, and page 8, paragraph 78, and page 9, paragraph 90, and Dallal; high priority data can be modulated using QPSK; page 9, paragraphs 76 and 78-79).
Claim 14, which discloses a system, is analyzed with respect to the citations and/or rationale provided in the rejection of similar claim 4.
Claim 15, which discloses a system, is analyzed with respect to the citations and/or rationale provided in the rejection of similar claim 5.
Claims 6, 9, 16, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ye et al., US 2018/0359189 in view of Cismas et al., US 2021/0274200 and further in view of Elshafie et al., US 2024/0172194.
Regarding claim 6, Ye in view of Cismas discloses all the claimed limitations of claim 2, as well as the differentiated transmission behavior between the high priority data stream and the low priority data stream (Ye; high priority is indication of FOV area and lower priority indication of adjacent/invisible areas; page 4, paragraph 46, and page 6, paragraph 69, and see page 6, "TABLE 2", and Cismas; assigning a modulation coding scheme based on the priority; page 2, paragraph 12, and page 10, paragraph 101, and with at least high and low priorities; page 2, paragraph 13, and page 7, paragraphs 68, and page 8, paragraph 78, and page 9, paragraph 90), and the high priority data stream (Ye; high priority is indication of FOV area; page 4, paragraph 46, and page 6, paragraph 69, and see page 6, "TABLE 2", and Cismas; data/streams with at least high priorities; page 2, paragraph 13, and page 7, paragraphs 68, and page 8, paragraph 78, and page 9, paragraph 90).
Ye in view of Cismas does not explicitly disclose transmission behavior comprises reducing a number of retransmission attempts for a data stream.
In a related art, Elshafie does disclose transmission behavior comprises reducing a number of retransmission attempts for a data stream (based on priority and/or other information, certain data/streams can have their repetition factor reduced; page 11, paragraphs 124, 128, and 130, and wherein the repetition factor is related to repeated transmissions; page 2, paragraph 29).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the prior art of Ye, Cismas, and Elshafie by allowing transmissions, such as the ones already disclosed in Ye in view of Cismas, to be adapted based on certain factors, in order to provide an improved system and method for adapting a transmission type used for transmission of data in wireless communications (Elshafie; see abstract, and page 1, paragraph 4).
Regarding claim 9, Ye in view of Cismas discloses all the claimed limitations of claim 2, as well as the differentiated transmission behavior between the high priority data stream and the low priority data stream (Ye; high priority is indication of FOV area and lower priority indication of adjacent/invisible areas; page 4, paragraph 46, and page 6, paragraph 69, and see page 6, "TABLE 2", and Cismas; assigning a modulation coding scheme based on the priority; page 2, paragraph 12, and page 10, paragraph 101, and with at least high and low priorities; page 2, paragraph 13, and page 7, paragraphs 68, and page 8, paragraph 78, and page 9, paragraph 90), and the low priority data stream (Ye; lower priority indication of adjacent/invisible areas; page 4, paragraph 46, and page 6, paragraph 69, and see page 6, "TABLE 2", and Cismas; data/streams with at least low priorities; page 2, paragraph 13, and page 7, paragraphs 68, and page 8, paragraph 78, and page 9, paragraph 90).
Ye in view of Cismas does not explicitly disclose transmission behavior comprises reducing a block error rate (BLER) of a data stream.
In a related art, Elshafie does disclose transmission behavior comprises reducing a block error rate (BLER) of a data stream (based on priority and/or other information, certain data/streams can have their BLER reduced; page 11, paragraphs 124, 128, and 130).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the prior art of Ye, Cismas, and Elshafie by allowing transmissions, such as the ones already disclosed in Ye in view of Cismas, to be adapted based on certain factors, in order to provide an improved system and method for adapting a transmission type used for transmission of data in wireless communications (Elshafie; see abstract, and page 1, paragraph 4).
Claim 16, which discloses a system, is analyzed with respect to the citations and/or rationale provided in the rejection of similar claim 6.
Claim 19, which discloses a system, is analyzed with respect to the citations and/or rationale provided in the rejection of similar claim 9.
Claims 7 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ye et al., US 2018/0359189 in view of Cismas et al., US 2021/0274200 and further in view of QU et al., US 2020/0344754.
Regarding claim 7, Ye in view of Cismas discloses all the claimed limitations of claim 2, as well as the differentiated transmission behavior between the high priority data stream and the low priority data stream (Ye; high priority is indication of FOV area and lower priority indication of adjacent/invisible areas; page 4, paragraph 46, and page 6, paragraph 69, and see page 6, "TABLE 2", and Cismas; assigning a modulation coding scheme based on the priority; page 2, paragraph 12, and page 10, paragraph 101, and with at least high and low priorities; page 2, paragraph 13, and page 7, paragraphs 68, and page 8, paragraph 78, and page 9, paragraph 90), and the high priority data stream (Ye; high priority is indication of FOV area; page 4, paragraph 46, and page 6, paragraph 69, and see page 6, "TABLE 2", and Cismas; data/streams with at least high priorities; page 2, paragraph 13, and page 7, paragraphs 68, and page 8, paragraph 78, and page 9, paragraph 90).
Ye in view of Cismas does not explicitly disclose transmission behavior comprises allocating additional airtime for a priority data.
In a related art, QU does disclose transmission behavior comprises allocating additional airtime for a priority data (can extend transmission session, i.e. added airtime, for transmission of certain/priority data, such as the additional data; page 7, paragraph 48, and pages 7-8, paragraph 53, and wherein can be related to priorities of the data; page 3, paragraph 27, and page 8, paragraph 53, and page 9, paragraph 61).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the prior art of Ye, Cismas, and QU by allowing transmission/airtime durations for communication of certain content as described in QU to be utilized with the prioritized content already disclosed in Ye in view of Cismas, in order to provide an improved system and method for rendering artificial reality, including but not limited to reducing latency in communication for artificial reality (QU; page 1, paragraph 2).
Claim 17, which discloses a system, is analyzed with respect to the citations and/or rationale provided in the rejection of similar claim 7.
Claims 8, 10, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ye et al., US 2018/0359189 in view of Cismas et al., US 2021/0274200 and further in view of Liu et al., US 10,187,810.
Regarding claim 8, Ye in view of Cismas discloses all the claimed limitations of claim 2, as well as the differentiated transmission behavior between the high priority data stream and the low priority data stream (Ye; high priority is indication of FOV area and lower priority indication of adjacent/invisible areas; page 4, paragraph 46, and page 6, paragraph 69, and see page 6, "TABLE 2", and Cismas; assigning a modulation coding scheme based on the priority; page 2, paragraph 12, and page 10, paragraph 101, and with at least high and low priorities; page 2, paragraph 13, and page 7, paragraphs 68, and page 8, paragraph 78, and page 9, paragraph 90), and the high priority data stream (Ye; high priority is indication of FOV area; page 4, paragraph 46, and page 6, paragraph 69, and see page 6, "TABLE 2", and Cismas; data/streams with at least high priorities; page 2, paragraph 13, and page 7, paragraphs 68, and page 8, paragraph 78, and page 9, paragraph 90).
Ye in view of Cismas does not explicitly disclose transmission behavior comprises allocating an additional resource for a data stream.
In a related art, Liu does disclose transmission behavior comprises allocating an additional resource for a data stream (based on certain priorities of traffic and access elements, system can allocation/assign various resources such as additional resource blocks, power, bandwidth, etc.; col. 7, lines 12-15, and col. 7, line 66 – col. 8, line 7, and col. 9, line 61 – col. 10, line 3, and wherein can be related to a priority; col. 6, lines 24-25, and col. 8, lines 31-32, and wherein with data streams, which can include data and video; col. 4, lines 11-14).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the prior art of Ye, Cismas, and Liu by allowing transmission resources, such as the ones already disclosed in Ye in view of Cismas, to be varied/adjusted, in order to provide an improved system and method for dynamically prioritizing network traffic (Liu; col. 1, lines 25-27).
Regarding claim 10, Ye in view of Cismas discloses all the claimed limitations of claim 2, as well as the differentiated transmission behavior between the high priority data stream and the low priority data stream (Ye; high priority is indication of FOV area and lower priority indication of adjacent/invisible areas; page 4, paragraph 46, and page 6, paragraph 69, and see page 6, "TABLE 2", and Cismas; assigning a modulation coding scheme based on the priority; page 2, paragraph 12, and page 10, paragraph 101, and with at least high and low priorities; page 2, paragraph 13, and page 7, paragraphs 68, and page 8, paragraph 78, and page 9, paragraph 90), and the low priority data stream (Ye; lower priority indication of adjacent/invisible areas; page 4, paragraph 46, and page 6, paragraph 69, and see page 6, "TABLE 2", and Cismas; data/streams with at least low priorities; page 2, paragraph 13, and page 7, paragraphs 68, and page 8, paragraph 78, and page 9, paragraph 90).
Ye in view of Cismas does not explicitly disclose transmission behavior comprises adding a resource block for a data stream.
In a related art, Liu does disclose transmission behavior comprises adding a resource block for a data stream (based on certain priorities of traffic and access elements, system can allocation/assign various resources such as additional resource blocks, power, bandwidth, etc.; col. 7, lines 12-15, and col. 7, line 66 – col. 8, line 7, and col. 9, line 61 – col. 10, line 3, and wherein can be related to a priority; col. 6, lines 24-25, and col. 8, lines 31-32, and wherein with data streams, which can include data and video; col. 4, lines 11-14).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the prior art of Ye, Cismas, and Liu by allowing transmission resources, such as the ones already disclosed in Ye in view of Cismas, to be varied/adjusted, in order to provide an improved system and method for dynamically prioritizing network traffic (Liu; col. 1, lines 25-27).
Claim 18, which discloses a system, is analyzed with respect to the citations and/or rationale provided in the rejection of similar claim 8.
Claim 20, which discloses a system, is analyzed with respect to the citations and/or rationale provided in the rejection of similar claim 10.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RANDY A FLYNN whose telephone number is (571)270-5680. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday, 6:00am - 3:00pm ET.
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, BENJAMIN BRUCKART can be reached at 571-272-3982. 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.
/RANDY A FLYNN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2424