Obviousness

A Person Having Ordinary Skill in the Art (PHOSITA) at the time of the invention (priority date October 30, 2013) would have found Claim 1 of US Patent 11818591B2 obvious based on a combination of existing prior art references. Specifically, a compelling combination includes:

1. US20140003449A1 to Broadcom (hereinafter "Broadcom '449"): Titled "Bandwidth Virtualization," this patent application, filed June 28, 2012, describes a network interface device that includes multiple physical interfaces and a virtual interface coupled to these physical interfaces. The device is configured to aggregate the bandwidths of the multiple physical interfaces and provide this aggregated bandwidth to a host via the virtual interface, with the ability to dynamically reconfigure the aggregation.
2. US8837454B2 to Broadcom (hereinafter "Broadcom '754"): Titled "Simultaneous multiband operation of a MIMO communication device," this patent, issued September 16, 2014 (priority date May 8, 2012), discloses a communication device with a host interface, multiple baseband processors, and multiple radio frequency (RF) interfaces. A control module assigns transmit data to at least two baseband processors for simultaneous transmission over respective RF interfaces via different frequency bands.
3. US20090034460A1 to Moratt (hereinafter "Moratt"): Titled "Dynamic bandwidth allocation for multiple virtual MACs," this patent application, filed July 31, 2007, describes a system and method for dynamic bandwidth allocation for multiple virtual MACs. A dynamic bandwidth allocation engine determines pending data transmissions, allocates bandwidth based on a priority queue, and schedules data transmissions from each virtual MAC to a physical medium.

Obviousness Analysis of Claim 1

Claim 1 describes a wireless networking device with an application interface connected to a processing interface, handling a first application with a bandwidth requirement. It features first, second, and third actual MAC/PHY interfaces and associated wireless transceivers. These transceivers operate in different frequency bands, with the second and third being higher than the first. The processing interface contains at least one virtual MAC interface and first, second, and third virtual PHY interfaces that feed bandwidth availability information back to the virtual MAC. The processing interface transparently manages associations and identifies/evaluates bandwidths. If the bandwidth requirement is met by selected two transceivers, data is prepared for simultaneous transmission from these transceivers using specific frequency subsets. Crucially, the device's utilization does not prevent other devices from using the remaining available bandwidth.

Here's how the elements of Claim 1 are found in, or rendered obvious by, the combination of these prior art references:

• [1.1] Application interface connected to a processing interface... first application... first data stream and first wireless bandwidth requirement: Broadcom '449 describes a "host interface configured to receive transmit data from a host" and a "virtual interface coupled to the multiple physical interfaces" that provides "aggregated bandwidth to a host" to satisfy bandwidth needs. This directly corresponds to an application interface (host) providing data streams with bandwidth requirements to a processing interface (virtual interface). Moratt further supports the concept of applications demanding bandwidth, with a dynamic bandwidth allocation engine considering pending data transmission from virtual MACs, which would be associated with applications.
• [1.2] first, second, and third actual MAC interfaces... [1.3] first, second, and third actual PHY interfaces... [1.4] first, second, and third wireless transceivers... suitable for WLAN... bandwidth availability... emit radio waves in first, second, and third different bands of frequencies, the second, and third frequency bands both being higher in frequency than the first frequency band: Broadcom '449 teaches "multiple physical interfaces," which inherently include actual MAC and PHY layers and associated wireless transceivers. "Multiple" easily encompasses "three." Broadcom '754 explicitly describes "a plurality of radio frequency (RF) interfaces" (transceivers) and "simultaneous transmission over respective RF interfaces via different frequency bands." The choice of three different frequency bands, with two being higher than the first (e.g., 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 60 GHz), is a conventional and obvious design choice in wireless networking to leverage diverse spectral characteristics for increased bandwidth and throughput. Each transceiver inherently has a bandwidth availability up to an actual bandwidth.
• [1.5] wherein the processing interface comprises (i) at least one virtual MAC interface and (ii) first, second, and third virtual PHY interfaces that... feed information regarding the bandwidth availabilities... back to the at least one virtual MAC interface: Broadcom '449 describes a "virtual interface" that couples to the physical interfaces and dynamically reconfigures bandwidth aggregation, performing the functions of a processing layer. Moratt explicitly teaches "multiple virtual MACs" and a "dynamic bandwidth allocation engine" that determines pending data transmissions and allocates bandwidth. This clearly defines the virtual MAC layer. The concept of virtual PHYs feeding bandwidth availability information back to a virtual MAC is a necessary aspect for "dynamic bandwidth allocation" and "dynamically reconfigur[ing] the aggregation of the bandwidths" to effectively manage resources, making it an obvious implementation detail for a PHOSITA.
• [1.6] wherein the processing interface is configured to, when the wireless network device is being used, in a manner transparent to any layer of the wireless networking device above the processing interface, (a) request or create... associations... and (b) (i) identify at least one portion of each one of the first, second, and third bandwidths... and (ii) evaluate the identified bandwidth availabilities... with respect to the first bandwidth requirement: Broadcom '449's "virtual interface" operates transparently to the "host" (application layer). Its function of "aggregat[ing] bandwidths" and "dynamically reconfigur[ing] the aggregation" explicitly involves identifying and evaluating available bandwidths from the physical interfaces to satisfy host requirements. Creating associations between a recipient and the actual MAC/PHY interfaces is an implicit function of the virtual interface's management of the underlying physical resources to route data.
• [1.7] wherein, if the first bandwidth requirement is at least partially satisfied by the bandwidth availabilities of a selected two transceivers... preparing the first data stream for simultaneous transmission... using a specific subset of frequencies... and causing the prepared first data to be transmitted from the selected two transceivers... to thereby at least partially satisfy the first wireless bandwidth requirement: Broadcom '449 teaches aggregating bandwidths of "multiple physical interfaces" to satisfy requirements, implying simultaneous transmission. Broadcom '754 explicitly teaches "simultaneous transmission over respective RF interfaces via different frequency bands" using a "control module" that assigns transmit data. The selection of "two" transceivers out of "multiple" is a straightforward design choice based on the bandwidth required by the application, which the processing interface (virtual MAC/PHY) would determine during its evaluation.
• [1.8] wherein the wireless networking device's utilization of the available bandwidth... does not prevent other wireless networking devices from utilizing a range of frequencies corresponding to the remaining portion of the bandwidth availability... at the same time: This is an inherent characteristic of efficient spectrum utilization and bandwidth allocation, which is the objective of the prior art references. By identifying and allocating portions of available bandwidth (as taught by Broadcom '449 and Moratt), any unused portions are, by definition, available to other devices. This is a natural consequence of the disclosed bandwidth management techniques and would have been obvious to a PHOSITA.

Motivation to Combine

A PHOSITA in wireless networking, constantly seeking to improve efficiency and meet the increasing demand for high-bandwidth data streams, would have been motivated to combine the teachings of these references:

1. Motivation to combine Broadcom '449 with Broadcom '754: Broadcom '449 provides the foundational concept of bandwidth virtualization and aggregation across multiple physical interfaces. A PHOSITA would recognize the benefit of implementing this aggregation using transceivers capable of simultaneous operation across different frequency bands, as taught by Broadcom '754, to maximize available bandwidth and throughput. The combination would create a system that intelligently aggregates diverse spectral resources.
2. Motivation to integrate Moratt with Broadcom '449 and Broadcom '754: While Broadcom '449 establishes the general "virtual interface" for aggregation, Moratt provides a clear architectural component in the "virtual MAC" and explicit "dynamic bandwidth allocation" logic. A PHOSITA would readily understand that incorporating Moratt's detailed virtual MAC management and allocation engine would significantly enhance the "processing interface" described in Broadcom '449, making the management of aggregated, multiband resources (from Broadcom '754) more dynamic, efficient, and responsive to application-specific demands and priorities.

Therefore, the combination of Broadcom '449, Broadcom '754, and Moratt would have rendered Claim 1 of US11818591B2 obvious to a PHOSITA, as it addresses the known problem of efficiently managing and aggregating wireless bandwidth for intensive data streams using readily available technologies and well-understood networking principles.