Patents in suit

US 9,596,648 Unified beacon format

5 defendants · 5 suits · updated September 14, 2026

Also cited as U.S. Patent No. 9,596,648 · US9596648B2 · US 9,596,648 B2 · 9596648 · the '648 patent

Velocity Communication Technologies, LLC has filed 5 patent-infringement suits on US 9,596,648, "Unified beacon format" since July 30, 2026, 3 of them in the E.D. Tex., against 5 distinct defendants including Arcadyan Technology Corporation, Calix, Inc. and Sercomm Corporation. The patent was granted March 14, 2017 on a priority date of June 29, 2012. Its abstract opens: "A beacon frame corresponding to a unified beacon format is generated." The examiner cited 3 references during prosecution.

Assignee
Velocity Communication Technologies LLC
Priority date
June 29, 2012
Granted
March 14, 2017
Expires
June 29, 2032
Status
Active
Claims
12 (4 independent)
Inventors
Yong Liu
Full text
Google Patents

The suits

5 cases · E.D. Tex. (3) · D. Del. (2)

Filed Defendant Plaintiff Court Docket
2026-07-30 Arcadyan Technology Corporation Velocity Communication Technologies, LLC E.D. Tex. 5:26-cv-00102
2026-07-30 Calix, Inc. Velocity Communication Technologies, LLC D. Del. 1:26-cv-00937
2026-07-30 Sercomm Corporation Velocity Communication Technologies, LLC E.D. Tex. 5:26-cv-00101
2026-07-30 TCL Electronics Holdings Limited Velocity Communication Technologies, LLC E.D. Tex. 5:26-cv-00103
2026-07-30 Vistance Networks, Inc. Velocity Communication Technologies, LLC D. Del. 1:26-cv-00944

Docket links open the public record on CourtListener. Filing dates are the complaint's.

Independent claims

What is actually asserted, verbatim.

Claim 1

1. A method for transmitting network information for a wireless network, the method comprising: determining whether (i) a short beacon is to be transmitted, or (ii) a full beacon is to be transmitted; generating, at a network interface device, a beacon frame corresponding to a unified beacon format, including generating a first portion of the beacon frame, wherein the first portion has the same format whether (i) it is determined to transmit the short beacon frame or, (ii) it is determined to transmit the full beacon frame, wherein the first portion comprises (i) a frame control field, (ii) a duration field that follows the frame control field, (iii) a source address field that follows the duration field, and (iv) a timestamp field that follows the source address field; generating a second portion of the beacon frame, wherein the second portion corresponds to a first subformat when it is determined to transmit the short beacon frame, the second portion corresponds to a second subformat when it is determined to transmit the full beacon frame, and the first subformat is different than the second subformat, and including, (i) in the beacon frame or (ii) in a physical layer (PHY) header associated with the beacon frame, an indication of whether the beacon frame corresponds to the first subformat or the second subformat; and transmitting, using the network interface device, the beacon frame.

Claim 4

4. An apparatus, comprising: a network interface device configured to determine whether (i) a short beacon is to be transmitted, or (ii) a full beacon is to be transmitted, generate a beacon frame corresponding to a unified beacon format, including generating a first portion of the beacon frame, wherein the first portion has the same format whether (i) it is determined to transmit the short beacon frame or, (ii) it is determined to transmit the full beacon frame, wherein the first portion comprises (i) a frame control field, (ii) a duration field that follows the frame control field, (iii) a source address field that follows the duration field, and (iv) a timestamp field that follows the source address field, generating a second portion of the beacon frame, wherein the second portion corresponds to a first subformat when it is determined to transmit the short beacon frame, the second portion corresponds to a second subformat when it is determined to transmit the full beacon frame, and the first subformat is different than the second subformat, and include, (i) in the beacon frame or (ii) in a physical layer (PHY) header associated with the beacon frame, an indication of whether the beacon frame corresponds to the first subformat or the second subformat, and cause the beacon frame to be transmitted.

Claim 7

7. A method for receiving network information for a wireless network, the method comprising: receiving, at a communication device, a beacon frame transmitted by an access point, wherein a physical layer (PHY) header is associated with the beacon frame, wherein the beacon frame has a unified format; determining, based on an indicator (i) in the beacon frame or (ii) in the PHY header, whether the beacon frame has a short beacon subformat or a full beacon subformat; processing a first portion of the beacon frame, wherein the first portion has the same format whether the beacon frame has (i) the short beacon subformat or, (ii) the full beacon subformat, wherein the first portion comprises (i) a frame control field, (ii) a duration field that follows the frame control field, (iii) a source address field that follows the duration field, and (iv) a timestamp field that follows the source address field; when it is determined that the beacon frame has the short beacon subformat, processing a second portion of the beacon frame according to the short beacon subformat; when it is determined that the beacon frame as the full beacon subformat, processing the second portion of the beacon frame according to the full beacon subformat; and determining network information communicated by the access point based on (i) the processing of the first portion, and (ii) the processing of the second portion.

Claim 10

10. An apparatus, comprising: a network interface device configured to receive a beacon frame that was transmitted by an access point, wherein a physical layer (PHY) header is associated with the beacon frame, and wherein the beacon frame has a unified format, determine, based on an indicator (i) in the beacon frame or (ii) in the PHY header, whether the beacon frame has a short beacon subformat or a full beacon subformat, process a first portion of the beacon frame, wherein the first portion has the same format whether the beacon frame has (i) the short beacon subformat or, (ii) the full beacon subformat, wherein the first portion comprises (i) a frame control field, (ii) a duration field that follows the frame control field, (iii) a source address field that follows the duration field, and (iv) a timestamp field that follows the source address field, when it is determined that the beacon frame has the short beacon subformat, process a second portion of the beacon frame according to the short beacon subformat, when it is determined that the beacon frame as the full beacon subformat, process the second portion of the beacon frame according to the full beacon subformat, and determine network information communicated by the access point based on (i) the processing of the first portion, and (ii) the processing of the second portion.

Art before the examiner

44 references of record, 3 cited by the examiner.

Everything listed here was before the Office and is what a challenge must go beyond. Art the examiner never saw is where an invalidity search starts.

Examiner-cited

  • US20050243782A1 — Wireless communication system, wireless communication apparatus, wireless communication method and computer program (Sony Corporation)
  • US20090274094A1 — Advertising support for a plurality of service networks by a wireless access point (Nortel Networks Limited)
  • US20100157955A1 — Efficient Formats of Beacon, Announcement, and Beamforming Training Frames (Yong Liu)
Applicant-cited and other (41)
  • WO2002017043A2 — Method and apparatus for a distributed data transfer over multiple independent wireless networks
  • EP1315355A2 — Translator apparatus for two communication networks
  • WO2003051077A1 — Method and apparatus for paging a mobile terminal in a wireless lan
  • US20030133427A1 — Packet shaping for mixed rate 802.11 wireless networks
  • US20040218555A1 — Method and apparatus for enhancing air-interface information exchange during a dormant packet data session
  • US20060092888A1 — Proxy active scan for wireless networks
  • US20060203833A1 — Communication apparatus and method
  • US20080144586A1 — Techniques for rts/cts usage for wireless networks
  • US20080205340A1 — Neighbor discovery in a wireless system
  • US20080225768A1 — Systems and Methods for Indicating Buffered Data at an Access Point Using a Traffic Indication Map Broadcast
  • WO2008115018A1 — Method for transmitting and receiving paging information in wireless communication system
  • US20090196163A1 — Bandwidth asymmetric communication system based on ofdm and tdma
  • US20090233549A1 — Techniques for MMWAVE WPAN communications with high-directional steerable antennas combining omni-directional transmissions with beamforming training
  • US20090232106A1 — Beaconing and superframe structure for millimeter wave wireless technologies
  • US7599332B2 — Modified preamble structure for IEEE 802.11a extensions to allow for coexistence and interoperability between 802.11a devices and higher data rate, MIMO or otherwise extended devices
  • US20090323650A1 — Method and apparatus performing express forwarding frames having multiple fragments
  • EP2144409A1 — Delivery of email messages in multiple parts
  • US20100027519A1 — Method and system for scanning in wlan
  • US20100056062A1 — Beamforming by Sector Sweeping
  • US7742390B2 — Method and apparatus for improved long preamble formats in a multiple antenna communication system
  • US20100265864A1 — Method and apparatus for power management in communication system
  • US20110002219A1 — Group identification and definition within multiple user, multiple access, and/or mimo wireless communications
  • US8144647B2 — Access point with simultaneous downlink transmission of independent data for multiple client stations
  • US8155138B2 — Training sequences for very high throughput wireless communication
  • US20120201316A1 — Control Mode PHY for WLAN
  • WO2012122119A1 — Systems and methods for wireless communication in sub gigahertz bands
  • US8289869B2 — Wireless communication system, wireless communication device and wireless communication method, and computer program
  • US20120263084A1 — Reducing power consumption in a wireless communication system
  • US20120294294A1 — Preamble Designs for Sub-1GHz Frequency Bands
  • US20120314695A1 — Efficient Transmission for Low Data Rate WLAN
  • US20130044687A1 — Long range wlan data unit format
  • US20130202001A1 — Pilot sequence design for long range wlan
  • US8526351B2 — Channel characterization and training within multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communications
  • US20130268654A1 — Devices and methods for communication in ad-hoc networks
  • US20130301569A1 — Method and apparatus for transmitting acknowledgements in response to received frames
  • US20130329620A1 — Method for communication based on identifying information assignment and apparatus for the same
  • US8619907B2 — Method and apparatus for preamble training in a multiple antenna communication system
  • US20140003323A1 — Group-based beacons
  • US8724720B2 — Methods and apparatus for WLAN transmission
  • US8867653B2 — Physical layer frame format for long range WLAN
  • US8948283B2 — Sounding packet format for long range WLAN

Classification

  • H04W52/02primary — Power saving arrangements
  • H04W4/08 — User group management
  • H04W72/0446 — Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
  • H04W74/002 — Transmission of channel access control information
  • Y02D30/70 — Reducing energy consumption in communication networks in wireless communication networks

Family

  • US9596648B2 — B2 (2017)
  • US20140003323A1 — A1 (2014)
  • US9386516B2 — B2 (2016)
  • US9226227B2 — B2 (2015)
  • US20140003315A1 — A1 (2014)
  • US20140003399A1 — A1 (2014)
  • 2 foreign family members: WO2014005054A3, WO2014005054A2

Abstract

A beacon frame corresponding to a unified beacon format is generated. Generating the beacon frame comprises generating a first portion of the beacon frame, wherein the first portion has the same format whether (i) it is determined to transmit a short beacon frame or, (ii) it is determined to transmit a full beacon frame. A second portion of the beacon frame is generated. The second portion corresponds to a first subformat when it is determined to transmit the short beacon frame, and the second portion corresponds to a first subformat when it is determined to transmit the full beacon frame. The first subformat is different than the second subformat. An indication of whether the beacon frame corresponds to the first subformat or the second subformat is included (i) in the beacon frame or (ii) in a physical layer (PHY) header associated with the beacon frame.

Also asserted by Velocity Communication Technologies, LLC

  • US 10,200,096 — Beamforming using predefined spatial mapping matrices (5 defendants)
  • US 8,213,870 — Beamforming using predefined spatial mapping matrices (5 defendants)
  • US 8,238,832 — Antenna optimum beam forming for multiple protocol coexistence on a wireless device (5 defendants)
  • US 8,260,213 — Method and apparatus to adjust a tunable reactive element (5 defendants)
  • US 8,265,573 — Wireless subscriber communication unit and method of power control with back-off therefore (5 defendants)
  • US 8,270,343 — Broadcasting of textual and multimedia information (5 defendants)
  • US 8,644,765 — Beamforming using predefined spatial mapping matrices (5 defendants)
  • US 8,675,570 — Scalable OFDM and OFDMA bandwidth allocation in communication systems (5 defendants)
  • US 9,083,401 — Beamforming using predefined spatial mapping matrices (5 defendants)
  • US 9,444,577 — Calibration correction for implicit beamformer using an explicit beamforming technique in a wireless MIMO communication system (5 defendants)

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This page is assembled from public records — federal court dockets and the patent's own file — and is updated as the case list changes. It states what the record shows and is not an opinion on the validity or infringement of any claim. Patent data via Google Patents; docket data via CourtListener.