Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed August 4, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant asserts that claim 1 and 11 are patentable because Seok does not disclose one control frame containing a plurality of user-information fields corresponding to a plurality of stations. However, Seok discloses, for example in paragraph [0066], that CTS includes list of subchannels used by STA1 and list of subchannels used by STA2.
Applicant further asserts that claim 1 and 11 are patentable because Seok does not disclose one control frame containing user information fields containing both MCS assignment and random access allocation. However, as discussed in the claim rejections, the Examiner looks to the combination of Seok, Liu, Park and Dahlby to disclose that limitation. Specifically, Park discloses wherein the OFDMA control frame further includes a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) field indicating an MCS assigned to the STA (Park, paragraph [0081], OFDM; paragraph [0098], MCS information and AID); and Dahlby discloses receive, from an access point (AP), a control frame that includes wherein the plurality of user information fields includes a first allocation field indicating at least one random access resource assigned to the first STA, wherein the at least one random access resource has a bandwidth that is a portion of the bandwidth for uplink transmission (Dahlby, Fig. 1, BCH 304 and configuration message 326; column 1, lines 60-62, dynamically allocates communication streams to provide flexible bandwidth to terminals; column 6, lines 17-30, terminal receives a Configuration Message (CM), CM contains basic configuration parameters; columns 9-10, Table 5, identity, carrierMask, racarrierMask, raslotMask, raDec, hopping; column 10, lines 25-27, racarrierMask: bitmap of carriers containing random access channels; column 10, lines 37-42, terminal has information that includes an assigned random access channel or set of assigned random access channels).
Applicant further asserts that claim 1 and 11 are patentable because Park’s MCS information is disclosed in VHT-SIG fields, which allegedly cannot be combined with other STA information fields in an NDPA frame (“different” frame), and because Park does not disclose random-access-resource allocation. However, as discussed in the rejections below, the Examiner looks to Park to disclose only the claimed MCS information (Park, paragraph [0098], MCS information and AID) and not any other STA information which are allegedly in “different” frames. Accordingly, the Examiner has not combined any “different” frames from Park. Further, as discussed in the claim rejections below and in the paragraph above, the Examiner looks to the Dahlby reference to disclose random-access-resource allocation.
Applicant further asserts that claim 1 and 11 are patentable because the Examiner allegedly has not explained by a skilled artisan would place them different frames from Park in the same CTS frame. However, as discussed above, the Examiner has not combined any “different” frames from Park.
Applicant further asserts that claim 1 and 11 are patentable because Dahlby allegedly does not disclose an “OFDMA data PPDU containing the claimed two-bandwidth preamble and data portion, nor does Dahlby disclose the claimed plurality of user information fields carrying both MCS and random-access allocations.” However, as discussed in the claim rejections, the Examiner looks to the combination of Seok, Liu, Park and Dahlby to disclose those limitations; and as discussed in the claim rejections below and the paragraphs above, the Examiner looks to Dahlby only to disclose the “random-access resource” aspect of the claims.
Applicant further asserts that claim 1 and 11 are patentable because the Examiner allegedly has not explained why a person of ordinary skill would have combined the teachings of the references in the claimed manner, because the Examiner’s rejections allegedly do not provide known techniques for several “functional transformations” required for the Examiner’s combination. However, in response to applicant’s argument that there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to combine the references, the examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007). However, in the rejections below, the techniques for the Examiner’s combinations (re-ordering of fields in wireless communications; including a MCS information field in a control frame; including a random access resource information field in a control frame) are all within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Applicant further asserts that the Examiner’s rejections do not provide known techniques for several “functional transformations” required for the Examiner’s combination. However, Applicant has not provided any detailed explanation as to why any of the Examiner’s combinations would be outside of the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. Rather, Applicant has merely asserted that various phrases within the cited disclosures in the cited references (MCS & uplink scheduling grant; random-access request and WLAN OFDMA data-PPDU allocation; downlink spatial stream arrangement and uplink frequency bandwidth arrangement; re-ordering of fields in wireless communications) are not combinable within knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art, without any explanation as to why any of the combinations would be problematic. However, techniques for the Examiner’s combinations (re-ordering of fields in wireless communications; including a MCS information field in a control frame; including a random access resource information field in a control frame) do not require any “transformations,” and are all within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Applicant further asserts that claim 1 and 11 are patentable because the Examiner has not established the Park’s disclosures are supported by Park’s provisional application. However, Park provisional application 61/556,185, filed on 11/05/2011, supports the cited disclosures in Park et al. (US 2014/0204891). Park provisional application 61/556,185that the VHT-SIG-A fields include bandwidth of a used channel and MCS information, for example, in the paragraph on pages 13-14 and in the Fig. 2-6 and page 14.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a), the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned at the time any inventions covered therein were made absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and invention dates of each claim that was not commonly owned at the time a later invention was made in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(c) and potential pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(e), (f) or (g) prior art under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a).
Claim(s) 1, 7, 11, 17, 22-23 and 25-26 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Seok et al. (2012/0014336) in view of Liu et al. (US 2011/0038332), and further in view of Park et al. (US 2014/0204891) (and Park provisional application 61/556,185, filed on 11/05/2011), and further in view of Dahlby et al. (USPN 7,027,415).
Regarding claim 1, Seok discloses a station (STA) (Seok, Fig. 2, STA; paragraph [0001], station) comprising:
a transceiver; and a processor, wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured (Seok, Fig. 2, STA; paragraph [0001], STA for wireless communication includes a processor and a transceiver) to:
receive, from an access point (AP) (Seok, Fig. 2, AP; paragraph [0031], AP which are STAs), a control frame that includes a bandwidth field indicating a bandwidth for uplink physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) transmission (Seok, Fig. 6; paragraph [0046], RTS frame and CTS frame may include a list of subchannels to be used; paragraph [0066], CTS includes list of subchannels used by STA1 and list of subchannels used by STA2; paragraph [0072], PLCP frame format; paragraph [0074], STA1 and STA2 transmit L-SIG, L-STF, L-LTF, VHT-SIG using subchannels; paragraph [0075], VHT-SIGs include a training bandwidth value) and a plurality of user information fields corresponding to a plurality of STAs including the first STA, wherein the plurality of user information fields includes a first allocation field indicating resource assigned to the first STA (Seok, Figs. 5, 6; paragraph [0046], RTS frame and CTS frame may include a list of subchannels to be used; paragraph [0066], CTS includes list of subchannels used by STA1 and list of subchannels used by STA2; paragraph [0074], STA1 and STA2 transmit L-SIG, L-STF, L-LTF, VHT-SIG using subchannels), wherein the resource has a bandwidth that is a portion of the bandwidth for uplink PPDU transmission (Seok, Fig. 6; paragraph [0046], RTS frame and CTS frame may include a list of subchannels to be used for the transmission of subsequent data; paragraph [0074], STA1 and STA2 transmit L-SIG, L-STF, L-LTF, VHT-SIG using subchannels); and
transmit, to the access point (AP), a first orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) uplink frame according to a PPDU format, wherein the first uplink OFDMA frame includes a first part of a preamble (Seok, Figs. 4, 5, PLCP Preamble; paragraph [0003], OFDM; paragraph [0031], AP which are STAs; paragraph [0044], STA transmits PLCP preamble) that is transmitted on a full bandwidth of the bandwidth for uplink PPDU transmission (Seok, Figs. 4, 5, PLCP Preamble; paragraph [0044], STA transmits PLCP preamble; Fig. 6; paragraph [0076], STA1 and STA2 transmit VHT-STFs and VHT-LTFs 640, 645, 650, 655 using an entire bonding channel instead of a subchannel) and a second part of the preamble that is transmitted on the resource, wherein one part of the preamble precedes another part of the preamble (Seok, Figs. 5, PLCP Preamble; paragraph [0044], STA transmits PLCP preamble through subchannels; paragraph [0046], RTS frame and CTS frame may include a list of subchannels to be used; Fig. 6; paragraph [0074], STA1 and STA2 transmit L-SIG, L-STF, L-LTF, VHT-SIG using subchannels).
Seok does not explicitly disclose that first part of the preamble precedes the second part of the preamble, and
wherein the OFDMA control frame further includes a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) field indicating an MCS assigned to the STA, and
wherein the plurality of user information fields includes a first allocation field indicating at least one random access resource assigned to the first STA, wherein the at least one random access resource has a bandwidth that is a portion of the bandwidth for uplink transmission, and transmitting a preamble on the random access resource.
Lui discloses that first part of the preamble precedes the second part of the preamble (Lui, Figs 7A, 7B, 8A-K, 9A-E, 10; L-LTF and L-SIG transmitted using spatial resources preceding VHT-SIG and VHT-TFs and Data transmitted using subset of spatial resources).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Lui into the system of Seok in order to improve the channel estimation and reception for legacy stations.
The combination of Seok and Lui does not explicitly disclose wherein the OFDMA control frame further includes a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) field indicating an MCS assigned to the STA, and
wherein the plurality of user information fields includes a first allocation field indicating at least one random access resource assigned to the first STA, wherein the at least one random access resource has a bandwidth that is a portion of the bandwidth for uplink transmission, and transmitting a preamble on the random access resource.
Park discloses wherein the OFDMA control frame further includes a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) field indicating an MCS assigned to the STA (Park, paragraph [0081], OFDM; paragraph [0098], MCS information and AID)(Park provisional application 61/556,185, paragraph on pages 13-14 and in the Fig. 2-6 and page 14, VHT-SIG-A fields include bandwidth of a used channel and MCS information).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Park into the system of the combination of Seok and Lui in order to reduce interference (Park; [0005]).
The combination of Seok, Lui, and Park, does not explicitly disclose wherein the plurality of user information fields includes a first allocation field indicating at least one random access resource assigned to the first STA, wherein the at least one random access resource has a bandwidth that is a portion of the bandwidth for uplink transmission, and transmitting a preamble on the random access resource.
Dahlby discloses receive, from an access point (AP), a control frame that includes wherein the plurality of user information fields includes a first allocation field indicating at least one random access resource assigned to the first STA, wherein the at least one random access resource has a bandwidth that is a portion of the bandwidth for uplink transmission (Dahlby, Fig. 1, BCH 304 and configuration message 326; column 1, lines 60-62, dynamically allocates communication streams to provide flexible bandwidth to terminals; column 6, lines 17-30, terminal receives a Configuration Message (CM), CM contains basic configuration parameters; columns 9-10, Table 5, identity, carrierMask, racarrierMask, raslotMask, raDec, hopping; column 10, lines 25-27, racarrierMask: bitmap of carriers containing random access channels; column 10, lines 37-42, terminal has information that includes an assigned random access channel or set of assigned random access channels); and
transmit, to the access point (AP), a RA-RTS that is transmitted on the at least one random access resource (Dahlby, Fig. 1; column 7, lines 23-36, based on the CM, the user terminal transmits an RA-rreq, RA-rts and base station sends an AA reg-ack and AA-cts; column 12, user terminal transmits and random access message on the uplink side of the random access channel and the base station uses the downlink portion of the random access channel to assign resources).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Dahlby into the system of the combination of Seok and Lui and Park in order to efficiently utilize system resources (Dahlby; column 5, lines 21-24).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Seok, Park, Lui, and Dahlby, particularly Seok discloses the first STA of claim 1, wherein the full bandwidth of the bandwidth for uplink PPDU transmission is one of 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz (Seok, Fig. 6; paragraph [0074], STA1 and STA2 transmit L-SIG, L-STF, L-LTF, VHT-SIG using subchannels).
Claim 11 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 1.
Claim 17 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 7.
Regarding claim 22, the combination of Seok, Park, Lui, and Dahlby, particularly Seok discloses the first STA of claim 1, wherein the first part of the preamble includes a legacy short training field, a legacy long training field, and a legacy signal field that are backwards compatible with legacy devices (Seok, Figs. 4, PLCP Preamble; paragraph [0044], STA transmits PLCP preamble; paragraph [0068], legacy STA can transmit using an entire bonding channel; paragraph [0073], L-SIG, L-STF, L-LTF).
Regarding claim 23, the combination of Seok, Park, Lui, and Dahlby, particularly Seok discloses the first STA of claim 1, wherein the second part of the preamble includes a short training field (STF), and a plurality of long training field (LTF) (Seok, Figs. 5, PLCP Preamble; paragraph [0044], STA transmits PLCP preamble through subchannels; paragraph [0073], VHT-SIG, VHT-STF, VHT-LTF).
Claim 25 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 22.
Claim 26 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 23.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Fischer et al. (US 20110222490) discloses the preamble includes a legacy short training field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF), a legacy signal field (L-SIG), at least one (e.g., a first) very high throughput signal field (VHT-SIGA), a very high throughput short training field (VHT-STF), at least one very high throughput long training field (VHT-LTF), a second very high throughput signal field (VHT-SIGB), followed by a data field (VHT DATA). As mentioned elsewhere with respect to at least one other embodiment, filters and reception of wireless communication device may be adjusted for a different bandwidth (subset of channels) as indicated in the VHT-SIG field of a packet. Filter adjustment and reception may be performed during the VHT-STF right after the VHT-SIG field (e.g., such as within FIG. 19).
Petrus et al. (US 20030169722) discloses the user terminal transmits any random access message such as RA-rts on the uplink side of the random access channel. The base station uses the downlink portion of the random access channel to grant random access requests and to assign resources to the requested data stream using an AA (Access Assignment) message. The AA message can have different formats.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALAN LOUIS LINDENBAUM whose telephone number is (571)270-3858. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Un Cho can be reached on (571) 272-7919. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/A.L.L/ Examiner, Art Unit 2413
/UN C CHO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2413
