Obviousness

Obviousness Analysis of US11849337 under 35 U.S.C. § 103

To establish obviousness under 35 U.S.C. § 103, it must be shown that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (POSITA) at the time of the invention, based on the prior art. This often involves identifying a primary reference and then demonstrating a motivation to combine it with one or more secondary references, or showing that the combination would have been obvious to try.

The priority date for US11849337 is October 30, 2013. Therefore, all prior art considered must have a publication date before this date.

Primary References for Obviousness

The patent itself references U.S. Pat. No. 9,788,305, titled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING BANDWIDTH INTENSIVE DATA STREAMS USING VIRTUAL MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL AND PHYSICAL LAYERS," filed Oct. 29, 2014, and expressly incorporated by reference. This patent, though filed after the priority date of US11849337, is a continuation of earlier applications, including U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/897,219, filed Oct. 30, 2013, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/897,216, filed Oct. 30, 2013. These provisional applications share the same priority date as US11849337, suggesting significant overlap in the disclosed subject matter. The fact that US9788305 is incorporated by reference in US11849337 means it forms part of the disclosure and is pertinent prior art for a similar family.

Specifically, the description of US11849337 states: "Further details of the management system for a variety of applications are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,788,305, titled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING BANDWIDTH INTENSIVE DATA STREAMS USING VIRTUAL MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL AND PHYSICAL LAYERS, filed Oct. 29, 2014, and expressly incorporated herein by reference." This explicit incorporation makes US9788305 and its underlying priority documents key prior art.

Given the substantial overlap in title and explicit incorporation by reference, it is highly likely that US9788305 (and its parent applications) discloses the core concepts of virtual MAC and PHY layers for managing bandwidth-intensive data streams, dynamic resource allocation, and adaptive transceiver management.

Analysis of Claim 1 Against US9788305 (and its priority documents)

Claim 1 of US11849337 details a method for improving wireless networking device performance through the use of virtual MAC/PHY layers to manage multiple transceivers and adaptively allocate bandwidth. It emphasizes the transparent nature of this management to higher layers and the ability to switch transceivers without disassociating the recipient.

If US9788305 (or its priority applications with the same priority date) already discloses:

• Virtual MAC and Virtual PHY layers: The title "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING BANDWIDTH INTENSIVE DATA STREAMS USING VIRTUAL MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL AND PHYSICAL LAYERS" strongly suggests this.
• Application layer and actual MAC/PHY layers: This is a fundamental networking concept and would likely be present.
• Multiple wireless transceivers: The concept of "processing bandwidth intensive data streams" and "virtual media access control and physical layers" for such implies managing multiple physical resources.
• Bandwidth allocation based on application requirements: The abstract of US11849337 explicitly mentions this, and given the common subject matter, it would likely be detailed in US9788305.
• Transparent operation to higher layers: This is a key benefit of virtualization at lower layers.
• Dynamic selection of transceivers based on bandwidth availability: This is a natural extension of efficient bandwidth allocation.
• Switching transceivers without recipient disassociation: This is a desirable feature for seamless high-bandwidth communication and would be an obvious goal for a system designed for "bandwidth intensive data streams."
• Simultaneous bandwidth utilization by other devices: This points to efficient spectrum usage, a common objective in wireless network design.

If US9788305 (or its priority documents) encompasses these elements, particularly the virtualized management of multiple physical transceivers for dynamic bandwidth allocation and seamless switching as described in the abstract and claim 1, then claim 1 of US11849337 would likely be rendered obvious by US9788305 alone.

Motivation to Combine/Modify (if needed):

Even if US9788305 did not explicitly state every single detail of Claim 1, a POSITA would be motivated to implement these features based on the core concept of using virtual MAC/PHY layers for bandwidth management.

• Motivation to monitor and react to bandwidth changes: In a system designed for "bandwidth intensive data streams," a POSITA would naturally be motivated to constantly monitor available resources and adapt to changes to maintain performance. This directly leads to the dynamic selection and switching of transceivers as described in claim 1.
• Motivation for seamless switching: For "bandwidth intensive data streams" and user experience, avoiding recipient disassociation during transceiver switching is a highly desirable and obvious goal for a POSITA designing such a system.
• Motivation for concurrent spectrum usage: Designing a wireless system that efficiently uses spectrum, allowing other devices to use unused bandwidth, is a standard objective in wireless communication to maximize overall network capacity.

Secondary References (if US9788305 is not fully anticipating)

If US9788305 were found not to fully anticipate all aspects of Claim 1, then other prior art references could be considered for combination. For instance, common knowledge in the art regarding wireless communication principles (e.g., IEEE 802.11 standards, MIMO, Wi-Fi physical and MAC layers, IP protocols) as mentioned in US11849337's detailed description, would provide the foundational understanding.

Specific prior art documents cited in US11849337's "Citations" section could also be relevant if their publication dates precede October 30, 2013. For example:

• US20090034460A1 (Moratt, filed 2007-07-31, published 2009-02-05): "Dynamic bandwidth allocation for multiple virtual MACs." This reference appears highly relevant, as it explicitly discusses "dynamic bandwidth allocation" and "multiple virtual MACs," which are central to claim 1. If Moratt describes using multiple virtual MACs to manage bandwidth across different physical interfaces, it could directly address several aspects of claim 1.
• US5818830A (Lsi Logic Corporation, filed 1995-12-29, published 1998-10-06): "Method and apparatus for increasing the effective bandwidth of a digital wireless network." This could provide motivation for increasing bandwidth through various means, and a POSITA might combine this general goal with the virtualization techniques.
• US20060140123A1 (Intel Corporation, filed 2004-12-29, published 2006-06-29): "Methods and apparatus for distributing link-state information associated with a wireless mesh network." This reference highlights the importance of sharing link-state information (like bandwidth availability) in wireless networks, which is crucial for the adaptive resource allocation in claim 1.
• US7664072B1 (At&T Corp., filed 2000-07-14, published 2010-02-16): "Virtual streams for QoS-driven wireless LANs." This reference discusses "virtual streams" and "QoS-driven wireless LANs," implying a focus on managing and prioritizing data flows, which aligns with the application-specific bandwidth requirements in claim 1.

Hypothetical Combination Example (Moratt + US9788305):

A POSITA, aware of Moratt's "Dynamic bandwidth allocation for multiple virtual MACs" (US20090034460A1), and then presented with the broader system architecture of US9788305 (describing virtual MAC and PHY layers for bandwidth-intensive data streams), would be motivated to combine these concepts. Moratt would provide the specific mechanism for dynamically allocating bandwidth using virtual MACs, while US9788305 would offer the overall framework of using virtualized layers to abstract and manage physical transceivers. The further steps in claim 1, such as selecting the transceiver with the most bandwidth, preparing data for transmission on a specific frequency subset, and switching transparently without disassociation, would be considered obvious implementations to a POSITA seeking to build an efficient and robust high-bandwidth wireless system based on the combined teachings.

The general goal of efficiently managing wireless resources for high-bandwidth applications, minimizing service interruption, and maximizing spectrum utilization would provide the overarching motivation for a POSITA to combine these prior art elements to arrive at the claimed invention.

Conclusion on Obviousness:

Given the explicit incorporation by reference of US9788305 (and its underlying priority documents, which share the same priority date as US11849337) and the highly relevant prior art like US20090034460A1, there is a strong basis to argue that Claim 1 of US11849337 would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention (October 30, 2013). The concepts of virtualized network layers for resource management, dynamic bandwidth allocation, and adaptive transceiver switching for improved performance in wireless networks were known or would have been obvious advancements in the field.