`
`In re application of:
`Jacob W. JORGENSEN
`
`Appl. No. 09f349,477
`Confirmation No.
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`Art Unit: 215 5
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`Examiner:
`Philip B. Tran
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`Filed: July 9, 1999
`
`Atty. Docket No. 36792-162236
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`(formerly A-21505)
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`Customer No.
`
`For:
`
`TRANSMISSION CONTROL
`PROTOCOL/INTERNET
`PROTOCOL (TCP/IP)
`PACKET—CENTRIC WIRELESS
`
`POINT TO MULTI-POINT
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`(PTMP) TRANSMISSION
`SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
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`Ii
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`IJ"
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`ii
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`"iii “iii
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`26694
`PATENT TRADEMARK OFFICE
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`Amendment and Reply Under 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.111 and 1.121
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`Honorable Assistant Commissioner for Patents
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`Washington, DC. 20231
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`Sir:
`
`In reply to the Non-final Office Action (Office Action) dated April 24, 2001, (PTO
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`Prosecution File Wrapper Paper No. 6), Applicant submits the following Amendment and Reply.
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`It is not believed that extensions of time or fees for net addition of claims are required
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`beyond those that may otherwise be provided for in documents accompanying this paper.
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`However, if additional extensions of time are needed to prevent abandonment of this application,
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`then such extensions of time are hereby petitioned under 37 CPR. § 1.136(a), and any fees
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`intellectual Ventures I LLC
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`Exhibit 2012
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`ERICSSON V. IVi
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`IPR2018-00727
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`required therefor (including fees for net addition of claims), and any other fee deficiency are
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`hereby authorized to be charged, and any overpayments credited to, our Deposit Account No. 22—
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`JORGENSEN
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`Appl. No. 09/349,477
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`026 1 .
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`In the Claims:
`
`Please add the following new claims:
`
`Amendments
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`13.
`
`A packet—centric wireless point to multi-point telecommunications system
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`comprising:
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`a wireless base station communicating via a packet-centric protocol to a first data
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`network, wherein said packet-centric protocol comprises at least one of a transmission control
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`protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), and a user datagram protocol/intemet protocol (UDP/IP);
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`one or more host workstations communicating via said packetrcentric protocol to
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`said first data network;
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`one or more subscriber customer premise equipment (CPE) stations coupled with
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`said wireless base station over a shared wireless bandwidth via said packet—centric protocol over
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`a wireless communication medium; and
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`one or more subscriber workstations coupled via said packet-centric protocol to
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`each of said subscriber CPE stations over a second network.
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`14.
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`The system of claim 13, further comprising:
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`resource allocation means for allocating shared bandwidth among said subscriber
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`CPE stations and wherein said resource allocation means comprises means for performing
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`bandwidth allocation to ensure optimal end-user quality of service ((208).
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`15.
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`The system of claim 13, wherein said wireless communication medium comprises
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`a radio frequency (RF) communications medium.
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`16.
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`The system of claim 13, wherein said wireless communication medium comprises
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`a cable communications medium.
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`17.
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`The system of claim 13, wherein said wireless 00mmunjcation medium further
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`comprises, a telecommunications access method including a time division multiple access I time
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`division duplex (TDMA/TDD) access method.
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`18.
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`The system of claim 13, wherein said first data network comprises a wireline wide
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`area network (WAN) and said second network comprises a wireline local area network (LAN).
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`19.
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`The system of claim 13, further comprising:
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`a resource allocator that allocates shared bandwidth among said subscriber CPE
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`stations, wherein said resource allocator optimizes end—user quality of service (QoS), and
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`wherein said resource allocator is application aware.
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`20.
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`The system of claim 13, wherein said packet-centric protocol is not an
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`asynchronous transfer mode protocol.
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`Remarks
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`Reconsideration of this Application is respectfully requested.
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`Upon entry of the foregoing amendment, claims 1—20 will be pending in the application,
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`with claims land 13 being the independent claims. New claims 13—20 are sought to be added.
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`These changes are believed to introduce no new matter, and their entry is respectfully requested.
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`If any portion of the specification or claims were sought to be amended in the foregoing,
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`attached hereto is a marked-up version of the changes made to the specification and claims by the
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`current amendment. The attached page is captioned “Version with markings to show changes
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`made.”
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`Based on the above Amendment and the following Remarks, Applicant respectfiilly
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`requests that the Examiner reconsider all outstanding objections and rejections and that they be
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`withdrawn.
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`Objection to the Claims
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`Regarding claim 12, the Examiner at 111 objects to “application aware” for informalities,
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`stating the Applicant should replace the term with “application software” or other suitable terms.
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`Applicant respectfully disagrees. The expression “application aware” is clear as defined in the
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`specification. Applicant refers the Examiner to the following selections fiom the specification
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`that make the expression clear:
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`. the [media access control (MACH link layer of the present invention is in
`.
`.
`communication with the higher protocol layers, it is application aware, transport
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`aware and network aware. .
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`. IP header fields 702 can include, e.g., source and
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`destination IP addresses, helpful in providing application aware preferential
`resource allocation.
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`Thus Applicant requests that the objection be withdrawn as no correction is required.
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`The Examiner at 113 objects to claim 6 under 35 U.S.C. 112, 2‘1d paragraph as being
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`indefinite. Applicant respectfully disagrees. The Examiner asserts that “[it] is not clear how a
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`wireless communication comprises a cable communication medium.” Applicant refers the
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`Examiner to following quoted passages from the Specification that should clarify for the
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`Examiner what is meant by the claim. It would be clear to a person of ordinary skill in the art
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`that broadband communication over a coaxial cable waveguide is a form of radio frequency (RF)
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`communication which for the purposes of this specification is described as a wireless
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`communication method. Applicant can of course “be his own lexicographer.”
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`. Prior to the present invention, per-flow differentiation has not been used in a
`.
`.
`wireless environment (including radio frequencies transmitted over coaxial cables
`and satellite communications). .
`. FIG. 1C illustrates a conventional video network
`150 such as, e.g., a cable television (CATV) network. Video network 150 can
`include video network 160 coupled to various video capture, distribution links and
`video output monitors. Video input devices can include, e.g., conference cameras
`154 and 158. Video output devices can include, e.g., televisions 152 and 156. Video
`network 160 can include a variety of head end (i.e. the serving end of the cable) and
`distribution link equipment such as, e.g., coaxial cable television (CATV) and
`national television standard code (NTSC) tuner equipment for multiplexing various
`video signals. Standard cable systems have an immense amount of bandwidth
`available to them.
`
`It is important to note that CATV is a wireless communication method. The
`frequencies of many video signals are distributed along the cable at the same time.
`A television tuner selects a particular channel by tuning into a specific frequency or
`a “frequency band.”
`'
`Although a cable television CATV video network often includes only one
`physical cable, a number of channels can simultaneously be present on the cable.
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`This accomplished by sharing the frequency spectrum of the cable and assigning
`different
`frequency ranges
`to different channels using frequency division
`multiplexing (FDM). A broadband cable communications system can operate
`exactly like a CATV system. A counter to this FDM technique is division of the
`cable not divided into frequency bands but into time slots using time—division
`multiplexing (TDM). With TDM, each transmitting video station can grab the entire
`bandwidth of the cable, but only for a very short period of time. The cable is
`currently capable of carrying up to 750 MHZ. FDM techniques can be used to divide
`the channels into a number of dedicated logical channels. Innovations have allowed
`a time division multiple access (TDMA) within an FDM channel.
`A cable system can allow multiplexing on two separate dimensions to achieve
`data channels over a cable. The channels can be separated by FDM, and in a
`frequency band the channel can then be shared via TDMA among multiple users.
`The most common of the TDMA access methods on broadband cable is CSMA/CD
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`developed by XEROX for Ethernet.
`Using a single cable, a midsplit arrangement can accommodate two—way
`simultaneous transmission. Another way to accomodate this is to use a dual cable
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`system.
`Broadband is inherently an analog signaling method. Because video cameras,
`e.g., are also analog devices, a signal from a video camera (or video recorder) can be
`directly transmitted onto a broadband cable channel in red/green/blue (RGB) format.
`.
`. In an alternative embodiment, RF communication is accomplished over cable
`television (CATV) coaxial cable. As those skilled in the relevant art will understand,
`a coaxial cable functions as a waveguide over which RF waves propagate.
`Accordingly, it is possible for the communications link between RF transceiver
`subscriber antenna 292d and WAP 290d to be a coaxial cable. Therefore, a coaxial
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`cable connection is analogous to a wireless connection, and is referred to as an
`alternative form of wireless connection in the present invention.
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`(See Specification at page 58, lines 13-23, page 59, lines 1-19, and page 74, lines 8-13, emphasis
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`added). Thus, Applicant asserts that the claim is definite. Further, Applicant requests that the
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`Examiner withdraw his objection.
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`Rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103
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`The Examiner at 115 rejects claims 1-3, 6, and 8-9 under 35 U.S.C. §103(a) as being
`
`unpatentable over Smith, US. Patent No. 5,930,472 (hereafter “Smith”) in view of Focsaneanu et
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`al. US. Patent No. 5,610,910 (hereafter “Focsaneanu”). Applicant traverses the rejection. The
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`present invention differs in several important ways from the Smith and Focsaneanu references,
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`alone or in combination.
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`Smith apparently teaches a wireless messaging system including a plurality of Motorola
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`Pagewn'ter 2000 two—way paging portable subscriber units (PSU) 122 in wireless communication
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`with a base station 116. The Smith patent illustrates a method for proxying and caching
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`hypertext transfer protocol information at the base station 116 for sending to the PSU 122. Smith
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`teaches a browser whose functionality is Split between a wireless client and an infrastructure
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`portion of a wireless communication system. The infrastructure portions sends to the wireless
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`client a response from a server to an earlier request originated by the wireless client, the response
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`modified by the infrastructure portion to comprise a placeholder for an additional data element
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`needed to complete the response. Without a need for a further request from the wireless client,
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`the infrastructure portion then originates a request to the server for the additional data element
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`and forwards the additional data element to the wireless client when received from the server.
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`Smith abstract and FIG. 1.
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`Focsaneanu appears to disclose a system for providing adaptable multiservice access to
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`networks. The system monitors traffic on a local access at a connection request and/or during the
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`established connection, and the local access is configured according to the transmission
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`requirements.
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`Smith and Focsaneanu, alone or in combination, do not teach or suggest a packet-centric
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`point to multi-point telecommunications system including one or more CPE stations having one
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`or more subscriber workstations coupled to the CPE stations, where the CPE stations are coupled
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`to a wireless base station over a shared bandwidth via a packet-centric protocol over a wireless
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`medium according to the present invention.
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`The Examiner rejects claim 1 by asserting that Smith teaches a packet—centric wireless
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`point to multi-point telecommunications system according to the present invention. Applicant
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`disagrees. The present invention includes various technical differences from the Smith system.
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`For at least the following reasons, Applicant respectfully asserts that the present invention is
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`patentable over Smith and Focsaneanu, alone or in combination, and requests that the Examiner
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`withdraw the rejection and let the present application pass to issue.
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`The Examiner, with reference to claim 1, asserts that FIG. 1 of Smith teaches or suggests
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`a wireless base station coupled to a first data network, and one or more host workstations
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`coupled to said first data network. The Applicant agrees with the Examiner.
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`The Examiner filrther asserts that Smith teaches or suggests one or more subscriber
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`customer premise equipment (CPE) stations in wireless communication with said wireless base
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`station over a shared bandwidth using a packet-centric protocol. The Applicant respectfully
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`disagrees. Smith does not teach or suggest a subscriber customer premise equipment (CPE)
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`station according to the present invention. Smith, alone or in combination with Focsaneanu, also
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`does not teach or suggest a subscriber CPE station according to the present invention. Smith
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`and Focsaneanu, alone or in combination, also do not teach or suggest wireless communication
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`over a shared bandwidth using a packet—centric protocol according to the present invention.
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`Referring to FIGS. 2D and 3B of the present invention, Smith does not teach or suggest a
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`subscriber CPE station 294d according to the present invention. The antenna 118 of Smith is
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`analogous to antenna 202 shown in FIG. 2A of the present invention. The subscriber CPE
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`station is an important aspect of the present invention. The subscriber CPE station allows one or
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`more subscriber workstations to gain access to the shared wireless bandwidth between the
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`wireless base station and the subscriber CPE station.
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`The Examiner further asserts that Smith teaches and one or more subscriber workstations.
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`Applicant respectfully disagrees. Smith does not teach or suggest coupling the PSU subscriber
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`devices of Smith to a subscriber CPE station according to the present invention. The Examiner
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`also concedes that Smith does not teach one or more subscriber workstations coupled to a
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`subscriber CPE stations. Applicant respectfully agrees. Since Smith does not teach or suggest a
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`subscriber CPE station, Smith also does not teach or suggest coupling the PSU subscriber
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`devices to the subscriber CPE station. Also, Smith does not show in any way a second network
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`of the present invention. The Examiner relies upon Focsaneanu to teach or suggest coupling
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`subscriber workstations tOgether. Applicant respectfully disagrees. FIG. 7 of Focsaneanu relied
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`upon by the Examiner depicts multiple workstations coupled in wired communication by a CPE
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`connector 206, further coupled in wired communication with an access module 208. Smith and
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`Focsaneanu, alone or in combination, do not teach or suggest all the features of claim 1.
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`Regarding claim 2, the Examiner correctly concedes that Smith does not teach the use of
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`TCP/IP as a packet-centric protocol. The Examiner then appears to assert that it would have
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`been obvious in light of Focsaneanu to use TCP/IP. The Examiner has not shown, and Smith
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`and Focsaneanu, alone or in combination, do not teach or suggest a packet-centric point to multi-
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`point telecommunications system including one or more CPE stations having one or more
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`subscriber workstations coupled to the CPE stations, where the CPE stations are coupled to a
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`wireless base station over a shared bandwidth via a packet-centric protocol, where the packet-
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`centric protocol is TCP/IP, over a wireless medium according to the present invention. Thus, for
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`at least these reasons claim 2 is also patentable over the applied references.
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`Regarding claim 3, the Examiner correctly concedes that Smith and Focsaneanu, alone or
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`in combination, do not teach the use of UDP/TP as a packet-centric protocol. Applicant agrees.
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`The Examiner then appears to assert that it would have been obvious in light of Internet to use
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`UDP/IP. Applicant disagrees. The Examiner has not shown, and Smith and Focsaneanu, alone
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`or in combination, do not teach or suggest a packet-centric point to multi-point
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`telecommunications system including one or more CPE stations having one or more subscriber
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`workstations coupled to the CPE stations, where the CPE stations are coupled to a_wireless base
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`station over a shared bandwidth via a packet—centric protocol, where the packet-centric protocol
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`is UDP/IP, over a wireless medium according to the present invention. Thus, for at least these
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`reasons claim 3 is also patentable over the applied references.
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`For at least the reasons above, claims 6, and 8-9 are also patentable over Smith alone or
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`in combination with Focsaneanu.
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`Regarding claim 9, Applicant disagrees with the Examiner’s assertion that Smit teaches
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`the second data network. Smith does not teach a second network coupling one or more
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`subscriber workstations to each of said subscriber CPE stations.
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`For at least the reasons described above, with reference to independent claim 1, it follows
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`that dependent claims 7, and 10—12 are also patentable over Smith and Focsaneanu, alone or in
`
`combination.
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`The Examiner at 1[6 rejects claims 4-5, 7, and 10-12 under 35 U.S.C. §103(a) as being
`
`unpatentable over Smith, US. Patent No. 5,930,472 (Smith) in view of Focsaneanu et al. US.
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`Patent No. 5,610,910 (Focsaneanu), and further in view of Cheng et a1. “Wireless Intelligent
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`ATM Network and Protocol Design for Future Personal Communication Systems,” IEEE 1997
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`(hereafter “Cheng”). Applicant traverses the rejection. The present invention differs in several
`
`important ways from the applied references.
`
`For at least the reasons described above, with reference to independent claim 1, Applicant
`
`asserts that dependent claims 7, and 10-12 are also patentable over Smith and Focsaneanu, alone
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`or in combination.
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`Regarding claims 4—5, as the Examiner concedes, Smith and Facsaneanu do not teach or
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`suggest a resource allocation means for allocating shared bandwidth according to claim 4, or
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`performing resource allocation so as to optimize end-user quality of service (QoS). Applicant
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`agrees. The Examiner further asserts that it would have been obvious to combine Cheng with
`
`the other two applied references to obtain the claimed invention. Applicant disagrees.
`
`Cheng apparently teaches the use of elements like forward error correction (FEC),
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`convolutional coding, and acknowledgement requests (ARQs) to meet a bit error rate (BER).
`
`See page 1289, right column, line 21. Cheng is using BER as a measure of QoS. This would be
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`appropriate if measuring QoS with the traditional telecommunications industry. However, the
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`BER is an 081 stande layer 1 or physical layer characteristic. However, the QoS referred to in
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`claims 5 and 11 are “enduser” QoS, or an internet protocol (IP) QoS, as Opposed to a BER
`
`interpretation of QoS. BER QoS and IP QoS are completely different types of quality of service.
`
`IP QoS is concerned with scheduling and packet prioritization, not telephony signal
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`characteristics, the realm of BER QoS. The IP protocol assumes that the underlying network
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`provides best effort delivery services. A system with certain IP QoS characteristics such as, e.g.,
`
`prioritized packet queuing, can behave in a specific manner regardless of the BER.
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`[P QoS at
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`081 layer 3 is above the BER level 031 layer 1. The Examiner sites the concept of spectral
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`efficiency as an optimization of QoS. Spectral efficiency is possible in the world of radio
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`spectrum utilization. However, what provides high spectral utilization may produce poor latency
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`and jitter (i.e., two well known data networking QoS parameters) for packets. Again, spectral
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`efficiency and IP QoS are not related.
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`Furthermore, Cheng deals with asynchronous transfer mode (ATM). ATM is a cell
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`centric, circuit centric protocol, unlike the packet centric protocol of the present invention. An
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`ATM segmentation and resequencing algorithm (SAR) cuts a packet into fragments called cells,
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`prior to transmission over a link. No application based QoS support decisions can be made using
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`ATM because no one element has the packet per se. Intervening network elements only see the
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`fragments (cells) and not the whole packet as in the present invention. The best that ATM can do
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`is to classify packets and place the cells of such packets into a permanent virtual circuit (PVC)
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`having a certain QoS quality. In the case of ATM, QoS is provided quite differently than the
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`present invention, by creating virtual circuits having particular QoS characteristics. In ATM, no
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`active resource allocation or reconfiguration occurs to support the QoS of an application. Thus,
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`claims 4 and 5 are also patentable over the applied references.
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`Regarding claim 7, the Examiner concedes that Smith and Focsaneanu do not teach or
`
`suggest a telecommunications access method. Applicant agrees. For at least the reasons above
`
`with reference to claim 1, claim 7 is also patentable.
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`Regarding claim 10, Smith, Focsaneanu and Cheng, alone or in combination, do not teach
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`or suggest all the features of the present invention. For at least the reasons discussed with
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`reference to claim 4, claim 10 is also patentable over the applied references.
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`Regarding claim 11, Smith, Focsaneanu and Cheng, alone or in combination, do not teach
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`or suggest all the features of the present invention. For at least the reasons discussed with
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`reference to claim 5, claim 11 is also patentable over the applied references.
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`Regarding claim 12, Smith, Focsaneanu and Cheng, alone or in combination, do not teach
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`or suggest the feature of a network element that supports the application layer of the 081 model,
`
`i.e., layer 7, by modifying the behavior of protocol stack layers one through four. Conventional
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`network elements are aware of some network protocols. The awareness of traffic flowing
`
`through a network element normally only encompasses layers 1 (physical), 2 (data link), through
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`3 (network), and perhaps 4 (transport). Advantageously, the present invention is “application
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`aware.” A network element performing the functions described in the present invention has
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`knowledge of layers 1 through 7. The application aware network element can obtain this
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`awareness via, e.g., configuration files, the classification mechanism of the present invention,
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`and the application Operational profiles. Conventional classifiers perform classification using
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`pack components from layer 1 through 3 and the lower half of layer 4 (i.e., distinguish UDP from
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`TCP). The present invention performs additional analysis on layers 4 through 7 to identify (e.g.,
`
`from source or destination information) the application in use. The present invention then can
`
`use the knowledge identified to provide further improved QoS network resources. The present
`
`invention not only can identify the application, but also can continuously reconfigure resource
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`allocations based on the application. By doing so, the present invention can provide an optimal
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`QoS for the application. Thus claim 12 is patentable over the applied references.
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`Thus all previously pending claims 1—12 are patentable over the applied references. For
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`at least the above reasons, new claims 13—20 are also patentable over the applied references.
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`Improper Combination ofReferences
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`Applicant further respectfully points out that the Examiner has not proven his prima facie
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`case of obviousness. The Smith, Focsaneanu and Cheng references, alone or in any combination
`
`with one another, do not teach or suggest all of the features of the claimed invention. Further,
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`the Examiner has improperly combined the references. The Examiner has not shown a proper
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`motivation to combine the references to allegedly obtain the present invention. The Examiner is
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`using hindsight to combine the references based on the Applicant’s Specification. The Examiner
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`must teach a motivation to combine the references.
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`Conclusion
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`All of the stated grounds of objection and rejection have been properly traversed,
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`accommodated, or rendered moot. Applicant therefore respectfully requests that the Examiner
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`reconsider all presently outstanding objections and rejections and that they be withdrawn.
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`Applicant believes that a full and complete reply has been made to the outstanding Office Action
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`and, as such, the present application is in condition for allowance. If the Examiner believes, for
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`any reason, that personal communication will expedite prosecution of this application, the
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`Examiner is hereby invited to telephone the undersigned at the number provided.
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`Prompt and favorable consideration of this Amendment is respectfully requested.
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`Respectfully submitted,
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`JORGENSEN
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`Appl. No. 09/349,477
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`Date: May 14, 2001
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`(
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`QM'1 1.1.4..
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`Laurenc J. Marhoef r
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`Registration No. 21,091
`For
`
`Ralph P. Albrecht
`Attorney for Applicant
`Registration No. 43,466
`VENABLE
`
`PO. Box 34385
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`Washington, DC. 20043-9998
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`Telephone: (202) 962-4800
`Telefax: (202) 962—8300
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`This space intentionally left blank since no claims were amended in this reply.
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