Obviousness

To determine the obviousness of US patent 12015933 under 35 U.S.C. § 103, we must follow the framework established in Graham v. John Deere Co. and reaffirmed in KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc.. This involves four factual inquiries:

1. Determining the scope and content of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Evaluating objective evidence of nonobviousness (secondary considerations).

A rejection based on obviousness requires a clear articulation of the reasons why the claimed invention would have been obvious, with a rational underpinning, rather than mere conclusory statements. The analysis should consider whether a person having ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA) would have been motivated to combine the prior art references and would have had a reasonable expectation of success in doing so. The PHOSITA is a hypothetical person with normal skills and knowledge in the relevant technical field, possessing ordinary creativity, and capable of understanding applicable scientific and engineering principles.

For the current task, we will focus on the scope and content of the prior art and potential motivations to combine them, as detailed information on the differences and objective evidence of nonobviousness is not yet available in the provided materials.

Level of Ordinary Skill in the Art (POSITA)

Given that US12015933 relates to wireless networking systems, including MAC and PHY layers, and involves concepts like bandwidth allocation, virtualization, and multi-transceiver management, a Person of Ordinary Skill in the Art (POSITA) in this field would likely possess:

• A strong understanding of wireless communication protocols, including IEEE 802.11 standards.
• Knowledge of network architecture, including application, MAC, and PHY layers.
• Familiarity with concepts like bandwidth management, signal processing, and transceiver operation.
• An understanding of virtualization concepts in computing and networking.
• Potentially a graduate degree in computer science, electrical engineering, or a related field, along with several years of experience in designing or developing wireless networking products or systems. They would also be a person of ordinary creativity, not an automaton, able to fit the teachings of multiple patents together.

Scope and Content of Prior Art

The patent document for US12015933 lists several prior art documents that are related applications claiming priority to the same priority date of October 30, 2013. These include:

• U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/897,219, filed Oct. 30, 2013.
• U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/897,216, filed Oct. 30, 2013.
• U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/526,799, filed Oct. 29, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,034,179.
• U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/039,660, filed Jul. 19, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,115,834.
• U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/468,509, filed Sep. 7, 2021, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,818,591.
• U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/448,281, filed Aug. 11, 2023, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,849,337.
• U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/532,175 filed Dec. 7, 2023, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,950,105.

These patents and applications share a common priority date and often describe related or overlapping subject matter, particularly regarding "Method and apparatus for processing bandwidth intensive data streams using virtual media access control and physical layers" and "System and Method For Extending Range and Coverage of Bandwidth Intensive Wireless Data Streams."

Specifically, the description of US12015933 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." Similarly, for variable duplex links, it references the same patent: "Further detail of such a variable duplex wireless link may be found 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." While the patent number 9,788,305 is explicitly mentioned, the Google Patents information for US12015933 does not directly list 9,788,305 as a "priority application" or "other version." However, its express incorporation by reference means its contents are considered part of the disclosure of US12015933.

For a thorough obviousness analysis, we would need to access the full text of these cited prior art documents, particularly US Patent No. 9,788,305, and any non-patent literature references considered during prosecution (which would be found in the patent's file wrapper, but this is not currently available). Without the full content of these documents, a detailed obviousness analysis with specific claim charts and motivations to combine is not possible.

However, based on the titles and the abstract of US12015933, which discusses virtual MAC and PHY layers for bandwidth management, and the explicit incorporation of US 9,788,305 (which has the same title and was filed earlier), it is highly likely that US 9,788,305 discloses many of the core inventive concepts of US12015933.

Potential Obviousness Combinations (Preliminary Assessment)

Assuming US 9,788,305 (or its underlying application 14/526,799) discloses a system for processing bandwidth-intensive data streams using virtual MAC and PHY layers to allocate multiple wireless transceiver resources, a preliminary assessment suggests that independent Claim 1 of US12015933 might be considered obvious in light of US 9,788,305 alone, or in combination with other general knowledge in the art of wireless networking.

Hypothetical Combination: US 9,788,305 (or 14/526,799) in view of general knowledge in the art.

Reasoning:

1. Shared Core Concepts: The titles and express incorporation by reference strongly suggest that US 9,788,305 already teaches the fundamental architecture of using virtual MAC and PHY layers to manage actual MAC and PHY layers and allocate transceiver resources to satisfy application bandwidth requirements. This includes the "processing interface," "application interface," "actual MAC and PHY interfaces," "virtual MAC interface," and "virtual PHY interfaces" as recited in Claim 1. The abstract of US12015933 itself describes a "processing layer" with a "bandwidth allocator to allocate at least a portion of each of the first and second actual bandwidths to virtual MAC and virtual PHY layers, and to satisfy the application layer wireless bandwidth requirement," which aligns very closely with the claimed subject matter.
2. Specific Elements of Claim 1:
   • "first and second wireless transceivers is suitable for use in a wireless local area network, and the first and second wireless transceivers, respectively, (i) have a first and second bandwidth availability up to first and second actual bandwidths, and (ii) are adapted to emit radio signals in first and second different bands of frequencies": It would be a routine design choice for a POSITA in 2013 (the priority date of US12015933) to implement a wireless networking device, such as a wireless access point, with multiple transceivers operating in different frequency bands (e.g., 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi bands) to increase overall bandwidth availability and manage network traffic. This was common practice in the wireless networking industry by the priority date of October 30, 2013.
   • "feeding information regarding the bandwidth availabilities of the first and second wireless transceivers back to the at least one virtual MAC interface": The description of US12015933 explains that the "ultra-streaming block carries out a monitoring function... that feeds back wireless resource availability to the decision block 106" within the virtual MAC layer (FIG. 1, FIG. 3). This monitoring and feedback mechanism for resource availability is inherent to any adaptive resource allocation system and would have been an obvious design choice for a POSITA seeking to efficiently manage bandwidth.
   • "transparent to any layer of the wireless networking device above the processing interface": This transparency is a direct benefit and design goal of a virtualization layer. A POSITA would understand that the purpose of abstracting physical resources (actual MAC/PHY) through virtual layers is to present a simplified and unified interface to higher-level applications, making the underlying resource management transparent.
   • "request or create (i) a first association between a recipient and the first actual MAC and PHY interfaces and (ii) a second association between the recipient and the second actual MAC and PHY interfaces": Establishing associations between recipients (users/devices) and transceivers is a fundamental aspect of wireless network operation. The ability to create multiple associations for a single recipient across different transceivers or bands for aggregated bandwidth would be a natural extension for a POSITA aiming to meet high bandwidth requirements.
   • "identify at least one first portion of the first actual bandwidth... evaluate whether any of the given resources... are unavailable... use the first wireless transceiver to transmit... without requiring disassociation... using a subset of frequencies corresponding to only the given resources... that are not unavailable...": This describes dynamic bandwidth allocation and resource management, where specific frequency resources are identified, their availability checked, and then used. The ability to utilize a subset of frequencies and avoid disassociation indicates a flexible and efficient resource management scheme, which a POSITA would be motivated to implement to optimize network performance and user experience, especially for bandwidth-intensive applications.
   • "utilization of the first available bandwidth portion... does not prevent any wireless networking device devices from utilizing a range of frequencies corresponding to the remaining portion of the bandwidth availability... for data transmission or reception purposes at the same time": This describes spectrum sharing or spatial multiplexing, which are well-known techniques in wireless communication to maximize the use of available spectrum. A POSITA would be motivated to ensure that resource allocation for one application or recipient does not unduly hinder others, and simultaneous utilization of different frequency ranges within a transceiver's capabilities is a standard approach to achieve this.

Motivation to Combine/Implement:

A POSITA in the field of wireless networking at the priority date would have been highly motivated to develop solutions for efficiently processing bandwidth-intensive data streams and extending wireless network range, as explicitly stated in the "BACKGROUND" section of US12015933. The background acknowledges the "insatiable demand for more bandwidth over the networks" and the failure of "conventional wireless networking architectures to provide adequate resources to efficiently provide optimum range and coverage for wireless network users". This problem statement itself provides a strong motivation for a POSITA to seek improved methods for bandwidth allocation and resource management.

The motivation to combine elements, or to implement existing concepts in the context of virtualized MAC and PHY layers, would stem from the desire to:

• Increase efficiency and performance: By virtualizing and dynamically allocating resources across multiple transceivers, the system can better adapt to varying application demands and environmental conditions.
• Maximize resource utilization: Avoid underutilization of available wireless spectrum and transceiver capabilities.
• Support high-bandwidth applications: Cater to the growing demand from applications like streaming video, VoIP, and other multimedia content.
• Provide transparency and flexibility: Offer a simplified interface to applications while managing complex underlying hardware resources.

In essence, if US 9,788,305 broadly describes the virtualization of MAC and PHY layers for bandwidth management, then the specific implementations detailed in Claim 1 of US12015933, such as using multiple transceivers in different frequency bands, monitoring resource availability, dynamically allocating portions of bandwidth, and enabling simultaneous use of remaining bandwidth, would likely be considered obvious design choices or improvements that a POSITA would naturally incorporate to solve the acknowledged problems in wireless networking.

Disclaimer: This is a preliminary assessment based on the provided patent abstract, description snippets, and information about related prior art. A definitive obviousness determination requires a full review of the cited prior art documents and potentially a prosecution history (file wrapper) to understand the examiner's arguments and any amendments or declarations made during prosecution.