DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
In response to amendment filed on 1/21/2026, claims 1, 5- 6, 9, 11, 15 and 18 are amended, claim 4, 7, 12 are cancelled. Claims 1- 3, 5- 6, 8- 11 and 13- 20 are pending for examinations. Further previously given rejection based on 35 USC 112 second paragraph is withdrawn in lights of amendments.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) filed in the remarks on1/21/2026 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 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.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 5, 9- 10, 15, 17- 18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US Pub. No. 2019/0260531 A1) in view of Cao et al. (US Pat. No. 11937230 B2) and further in view of Gan et al. (US Pub. No. 2024/0057091 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Chen teaches a method, comprising:
receiving a trigger frame (see [0026]....non-continuous resource unit allocation in HEW communications may define a RU size for multi-user (MU) PPDUs (e.g., PPDUs sent to multiple STAs) and trigger-based (TB) PPDUs (e.g., PPDUs sent by STAs in response to trigger frames sent by an AP)…; further see [0102].. the RU allocation device 619 may use the options defined above for HE MU PPDUs when using uplink TB PPDUs, but with some adjustments….see options 1/2/3 regarding trigger frame); and
transmitting a physical-layer protocol data unit (PPDU) with a distributed-tone resource unit (RU) responsive to the trigger frame signaling an indication of a RU type and that a distributed-tone RU (dRU) operation is enabled (in context with above discussed pls refer to [0021].. For example, the IEEE 802.11 technical standards define RUs of different sizes and provide tone maps (e.g., physical tone indices corresponding to frequency domain locations for different types of subcarriers) for RUs of different sizes in different frequency band size….Therefore, to allow puncturing, new RUs may be defined and signaled (e.g., communicated to STAs); further again in context with [0026] refer to [0098]….. MU non-continuous resource unit allocation using the RU allocation device 619 may update RU allocation signaling. For example, the high efficiency signal-B (HE-SIG-B) field of a HEW MU PPDU may need to be updated. To enable the non-continuous RU allocation in HEW communications, an STA may expect to identify more than one user information field in downlink HEW MU PPDU sent by an AP and having an STA identifier matching the receiving STA's identifier (e.g., a receiving STA may identify multiple user information fields addressed to the STA). The STA may parse any RU allocation signaling addressed to the STA in a HEW MU PPDU; now refer to [0109].. the RU allocation device 619 may use the options defined above for HE MU PPDUs when using uplink TB PPDUs, but with some adjustments…option (option 3) may use a single information field in the trigger frame, but the table for the RU allocation may be modified to include non-continuous RUs).
But Chen is silent about wherein the indication is signaled by using one or more bits in a common information field of a trigger frame and
Wherein the indication comprises at least one of:
One or more bits in the common field indicating a RU type, and
One or more bits in a user information field of the trigger frame indicating one or more 800 MHz segments or frequency subblocks on which the dRU is transmitted, and
Wherein a number of bits used for indicating a RU operation is varied based on an uplink (UL) bandwidth, and wherein in an event that the UL bandwidth is 160 MHz, two bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode, and in an event that the UL bandwidth is 320 MHz, four bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode.
However Cao states regarding indication comprises One or more bits in the common field indicating a RU type, and
One or more bits in a user information field of the trigger frame indicating one or more 800 MHz segments or frequency subblocks on which the dRU is transmitted; Wherein a number of bits used for indicating a RU operation is varied based on an uplink (UL) bandwidth, and wherein in an event that the UL bandwidth is 160 MHz, two bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode, and in an event that the UL bandwidth is 320 MHz, four bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode; however Cai teaches in
col. 21 lines 30- 61 about … the RU type bit may be one bit that indicates whether each RU is a regular RU or a distributed RU. In an embodiment, the RU type bit may be N bits added to the Common Info field 700 to indicate each frequency unit's RU type (e.g., regular RU or distributed RU). In some embodiments, N bits may be a bitmap, such that each bit in the bitmap may indicate the RU type of a corresponding frequency unit. In some embodiments, N bits may be signaled in bits included in the HE-SIGA2 Reserved field 732 or the Special Aid User Info field 738 included in the Common Info field 700. As an example, when N=16-bits, N may signal each 20 MHz frequency unit's RU type (up to a signal bandwidth of 320 MHz). As another example, when N=4-bits, N may signal each 80 MHz frequency unit's RU type (up to a signal bandwidth of 320 MHz). As another example, when N=4-bits, N may signal the RU type of each one fourth of a signal bandwidth. In such an example, for a signal bandwidth of 320 MHz or 80 MHz, N signals each 80 MHz or 20 MHz frequency unit's RU type, respectively. As another example, when N=8-bits, N may signal the RU type of each one eighth of a signal bandwidth. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Cao with the teachings of Chen to make system more standardized. Having a mechanism wherein an indication comprises One or more bits in the common field indicating a RU type, and One or more bits in a user information field of the trigger frame indicating one or more 800 MHz segments or frequency subblocks on which the dRU is transmitted; Wherein a number of bits used for indicating a RU operation is varied based on an uplink (UL) bandwidth and in an event that the UL bandwidth is 320 MHz, four bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode; greater way more standardized approach can be carried out in the communication system.
But Chen is silent about wherein in an event that the UL bandwidth is 160 MHz, two bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode; however Gan teaches in [0018] about In a possible design, if the first subfield occupies two bits, that the first subfield indicates the uplink bandwidth in combination with the uplink bandwidth subfield in the common information field of the trigger frame includes the following cases: when a value of the uplink bandwidth subfield is 3 and a value of the first subfield is a sixth value, the uplink bandwidth is 160 MHz; further see [0249] the following further describes advantages of using a primary-secondary location indication method: Two bits in the primary-secondary location indication method are represented by BS and B0 herein (or may be represented by other letters, for example, B0 and B1 in the foregoing embodiment, which are merely examples herein), where B may be understood as a bit, and S may be understood as a 160 MHz segment….…further see [0325] regarding If the entire 320 MHz channel can be used to hybridly transmit the HE PPDU and the EHT PPDU, and a bandwidth granularity for transmitting an uplink sub-PPDU is 160 MHz, the third subfield may occupy two bits. The two bits one-to-one correspond to two 160 MHz channels in the 320 MHz bandwidth….; further see [0324].. The four bits one-to-one correspond to four 80 MHz channels in the 320 MHz bandwidth. A value of each bit indicates whether the first station transmits the HE PPDU or the EHT PPDU on an 80 MHz channel corresponding to the bit. It may be understood that if the uplink bandwidth is less than 320 MHz, a bit corresponding to an 80 MHz channel that is not in the uplink bandwidth may be ignored or not used.
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Gan with the teachings of Chen in view of Cao to make system more standardized. Having a mechanism wherein in an event that the UL bandwidth is 160 MHz, two bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode; greater way more standardized approach can be carried out in the communication system.
Regarding claim 3, Chen in view of Cao and Gan teaches as per claim 1, wherein the indication comprises an indication of each of:
the RU type as a regular RU (rRU) or a distributed-tone RU (dRU),
a dRU distribution bandwidth, and
a dRU allocation comprising a dRU size and a dRU index; Chen see [0098- 0103].
Regarding claim 5, Chen in view of Cao and Gan teaches as per claim 1, wherein the indication comprises a bitmap of up to 4 bits, with 1 bit per 80 MHz subblock, indicating a RU type per 80 MHz segment or frequency subblock as being dRU or regular resource unit (rRU); Chen see [0021 and 0100].
Regarding claim 9, Chen in view of Cao and Gan teaches as per claim 1, wherein the indication is also signaled in the User Information field of the trigger frame; Chen in context with [0026] refer to [0098, 0109].
Regarding claim 10, Chen in view of Cao and Gan teaches as per claim 9, wherein the indication comprises at least one of:
a reserved bit indicating the RU type or whether the dRU operation is enabled or disabled,
one or more bits in a spatial stream (SS) allocation subfield indicating a distribution bandwidth or distribution window size for tones of the dRU in an event that the RU type indicates dRU; Chen see [0021, 0026, 0098, 0109].
Regarding claim 15, Chen teaches a method, comprising:
transmitting a trigger frame (see [0026]....non-continuous resource unit allocation in HEW communications may define a RU size for multi-user (MU) PPDUs (e.g., PPDUs sent to multiple STAs) and trigger-based (TB) PPDUs (e.g., PPDUs sent by STAs in response to trigger frames sent by an AP)…; further see [0102].. the RU allocation device 619 may use the options defined above for HE MU PPDUs when using uplink TB PPDUs, but with some adjustments….see options 1/2/3 regarding trigger frame); and
receiving a physical-layer protocol data unit (PPDU) with a distributed-tone resource unit (RU) responsive to the trigger frame signaling an indication of a RU type and that a distributed-tone RU (dRU) operation is enabled (in context with above discussed pls refer to [0021].. For example, the IEEE 802.11 technical standards define RUs of different sizes and provide tone maps (e.g., physical tone indices corresponding to frequency domain locations for different types of subcarriers) for RUs of different sizes in different frequency band size….Therefore, to allow puncturing, new RUs may be defined and signaled (e.g., communicated to STAs); further again in context with [0026] refer to [0098]….. MU non-continuous resource unit allocation using the RU allocation device 619 may update RU allocation signaling. For example, the high efficiency signal-B (HE-SIG-B) field of a HEW MU PPDU may need to be updated. To enable the non-continuous RU allocation in HEW communications, an STA may expect to identify more than one user information field in downlink HEW MU PPDU sent by an AP and having an STA identifier matching the receiving STA's identifier (e.g., a receiving STA may identify multiple user information fields addressed to the STA). The STA may parse any RU allocation signaling addressed to the STA in a HEW MU PPDU; now refer to [0109].. the RU allocation device 619 may use the options defined above for HE MU PPDUs when using uplink TB PPDUs, but with some adjustments…option (option 3) may use a single information field in the trigger frame, but the table for the RU allocation may be modified to include non-continuous RUs.).
But Chen is silent about wherein the indication is signaled by using one or more bits in a common information field of a trigger frame and
Wherein the indication comprises at least one of:
One or more bits in the common field indicating a RU type, and
One or more bits in a user information field of the trigger frame indicating one or more 800 MHz segments or frequency subblocks on which the dRU is transmitted, and
Wherein a number of bits used for indicating a RU operation is varied based on an uplink (UL) bandwidth, and wherein in an event that the UL bandwidth is 160 MHz, two bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode, and in an event that the UL bandwidth is 320 MHz, four bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode.
However Cao states regarding indication comprises One or more bits in the common field indicating a RU type, and
One or more bits in a user information field of the trigger frame indicating one or more 800 MHz segments or frequency subblocks on which the dRU is transmitted; Wherein a number of bits used for indicating a RU operation is varied based on an uplink (UL) bandwidth, and wherein in an event that the UL bandwidth is 160 MHz, two bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode, and in an event that the UL bandwidth is 320 MHz, four bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode; however Cai teaches in
col. 21 lines 30- 61 about … the RU type bit may be one bit that indicates whether each RU is a regular RU or a distributed RU. In an embodiment, the RU type bit may be N bits added to the Common Info field 700 to indicate each frequency unit's RU type (e.g., regular RU or distributed RU). In some embodiments, N bits may be a bitmap, such that each bit in the bitmap may indicate the RU type of a corresponding frequency unit. In some embodiments, N bits may be signaled in bits included in the HE-SIGA2 Reserved field 732 or the Special Aid User Info field 738 included in the Common Info field 700. As an example, when N=16-bits, N may signal each 20 MHz frequency unit's RU type (up to a signal bandwidth of 320 MHz). As another example, when N=4-bits, N may signal each 80 MHz frequency unit's RU type (up to a signal bandwidth of 320 MHz). As another example, when N=4-bits, N may signal the RU type of each one fourth of a signal bandwidth. In such an example, for a signal bandwidth of 320 MHz or 80 MHz, N signals each 80 MHz or 20 MHz frequency unit's RU type, respectively. As another example, when N=8-bits, N may signal the RU type of each one eighth of a signal bandwidth. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Cao with the teachings of Chen to make system more standardized. Having a mechanism wherein an indication comprises One or more bits in the common field indicating a RU type, and One or more bits in a user information field of the trigger frame indicating one or more 800 MHz segments or frequency subblocks on which the dRU is transmitted; Wherein a number of bits used for indicating a RU operation is varied based on an uplink (UL) bandwidth and in an event that the UL bandwidth is 320 MHz, four bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode; greater way more standardized approach can be carried out in the communication system.
But Chen is silent about wherein in an event that the UL bandwidth is 160 MHz, two bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode; however Gan teaches in [0018] about In a possible design, if the first subfield occupies two bits, that the first subfield indicates the uplink bandwidth in combination with the uplink bandwidth subfield in the common information field of the trigger frame includes the following cases: when a value of the uplink bandwidth subfield is 3 and a value of the first subfield is a sixth value, the uplink bandwidth is 160 MHz; further see [0249] the following further describes advantages of using a primary-secondary location indication method: Two bits in the primary-secondary location indication method are represented by BS and B0 herein (or may be represented by other letters, for example, B0 and B1 in the foregoing embodiment, which are merely examples herein), where B may be understood as a bit, and S may be understood as a 160 MHz segment….…further see [0325] regarding If the entire 320 MHz channel can be used to hybridly transmit the HE PPDU and the EHT PPDU, and a bandwidth granularity for transmitting an uplink sub-PPDU is 160 MHz, the third subfield may occupy two bits. The two bits one-to-one correspond to two 160 MHz channels in the 320 MHz bandwidth….; further see [0324].. The four bits one-to-one correspond to four 80 MHz channels in the 320 MHz bandwidth. A value of each bit indicates whether the first station transmits the HE PPDU or the EHT PPDU on an 80 MHz channel corresponding to the bit. It may be understood that if the uplink bandwidth is less than 320 MHz, a bit corresponding to an 80 MHz channel that is not in the uplink bandwidth may be ignored or not used.
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Gan with the teachings of Chen in view of Cao to make system more standardized. Having a mechanism wherein in an event that the UL bandwidth is 160 MHz, two bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode; greater way more standardized approach can be carried out in the communication system.
Regarding claim 17, Chen in view Cao and Gan teaches as per claim 15, wherein the indication comprises an indication of each of:
the RU type as a regular RU (rRU) or a distributed-tone RU (dRU),
a dRU distribution bandwidth, and
a dRU allocation comprising a dRU size and a dRU index; Chen see [0098- 0103].
Regarding claim 18, Chen teaches an apparatus, comprising: a transceiver configured to communicate wirelessly; and a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform operations comprising:
receiving, via the transceiver, a trigger frame (see [0026]....non-continuous resource unit allocation in HEW communications may define a RU size for multi-user (MU) PPDUs (e.g., PPDUs sent to multiple STAs) and trigger-based (TB) PPDUs (e.g., PPDUs sent by STAs in response to trigger frames sent by an AP)…; further see [0102].. the RU allocation device 619 may use the options defined above for HE MU PPDUs when using uplink TB PPDUs, but with some adjustments….see options 1/2/3 regarding trigger frame); and
transmitting, via the transceiver, a physical-layer protocol data unit (PPDU) with a distributed-tone resource unit (RU) responsive to the trigger frame signaling an indication of a RU type and that a distributed-tone RU (dRU) operation is enabled (in context with above discussed pls refer to [0021].. For example, the IEEE 802.11 technical standards define RUs of different sizes and provide tone maps (e.g., physical tone indices corresponding to frequency domain locations for different types of subcarriers) for RUs of different sizes in different frequency band size….Therefore, to allow puncturing, new RUs may be defined and signaled (e.g., communicated to STAs); further again in context with [0026] refer to [0098]….. MU non-continuous resource unit allocation using the RU allocation device 619 may update RU allocation signaling. For example, the high efficiency signal-B (HE-SIG-B) field of a HEW MU PPDU may need to be updated. To enable the non-continuous RU allocation in HEW communications, an STA may expect to identify more than one user information field in downlink HEW MU PPDU sent by an AP and having an STA identifier matching the receiving STA's identifier (e.g., a receiving STA may identify multiple user information fields addressed to the STA). The STA may parse any RU allocation signaling addressed to the STA in a HEW MU PPDU; now refer to [0109].. the RU allocation device 619 may use the options defined above for HE MU PPDUs when using uplink TB PPDUs, but with some adjustments…option (option 3) may use a single information field in the trigger frame, but the table for the RU allocation may be modified to include non-continuous RUs.). But Chen is silent about indication comprises at least one of: one or more bits in a combination of an RU allocation subfield and a primary/secondary 160 (P/S160) subfield indicating one or more 80 MHz segments or frequency subblocks on which the dRU is transmitted.
But Chen is silent about wherein the indication is signaled by using one or more bits in a common information field of a trigger frame and
Wherein the indication comprises at least one of:
One or more bits in the common field indicating a RU type, and
One or more bits in a user information field of the trigger frame indicating one or more 800 MHz segments or frequency subblocks on which the dRU is transmitted, and
Wherein a number of bits used for indicating a RU operation is varied based on an uplink (UL) bandwidth, and wherein in an event that the UL bandwidth is 160 MHz, two bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode, and in an event that the UL bandwidth is 320 MHz, four bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode.
However Cao states regarding indication comprises One or more bits in the common field indicating a RU type, and
One or more bits in a user information field of the trigger frame indicating one or more 800 MHz segments or frequency subblocks on which the dRU is transmitted; Wherein a number of bits used for indicating a RU operation is varied based on an uplink (UL) bandwidth, and wherein in an event that the UL bandwidth is 160 MHz, two bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode, and in an event that the UL bandwidth is 320 MHz, four bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode; however Cai teaches in
col. 21 lines 30- 61 about … the RU type bit may be one bit that indicates whether each RU is a regular RU or a distributed RU. In an embodiment, the RU type bit may be N bits added to the Common Info field 700 to indicate each frequency unit's RU type (e.g., regular RU or distributed RU). In some embodiments, N bits may be a bitmap, such that each bit in the bitmap may indicate the RU type of a corresponding frequency unit. In some embodiments, N bits may be signaled in bits included in the HE-SIGA2 Reserved field 732 or the Special Aid User Info field 738 included in the Common Info field 700. As an example, when N=16-bits, N may signal each 20 MHz frequency unit's RU type (up to a signal bandwidth of 320 MHz). As another example, when N=4-bits, N may signal each 80 MHz frequency unit's RU type (up to a signal bandwidth of 320 MHz). As another example, when N=4-bits, N may signal the RU type of each one fourth of a signal bandwidth. In such an example, for a signal bandwidth of 320 MHz or 80 MHz, N signals each 80 MHz or 20 MHz frequency unit's RU type, respectively. As another example, when N=8-bits, N may signal the RU type of each one eighth of a signal bandwidth. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Cao with the teachings of Chen to make system more standardized. Having a mechanism wherein an indication comprises One or more bits in the common field indicating a RU type, and One or more bits in a user information field of the trigger frame indicating one or more 800 MHz segments or frequency subblocks on which the dRU is transmitted; Wherein a number of bits used for indicating a RU operation is varied based on an uplink (UL) bandwidth and in an event that the UL bandwidth is 320 MHz, four bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode; greater way more standardized approach can be carried out in the communication system.
But Chen is silent about wherein in an event that the UL bandwidth is 160 MHz, two bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode; however Gan teaches in [0018] about In a possible design, if the first subfield occupies two bits, that the first subfield indicates the uplink bandwidth in combination with the uplink bandwidth subfield in the common information field of the trigger frame includes the following cases: when a value of the uplink bandwidth subfield is 3 and a value of the first subfield is a sixth value, the uplink bandwidth is 160 MHz; further see [0249] the following further describes advantages of using a primary-secondary location indication method: Two bits in the primary-secondary location indication method are represented by BS and B0 herein (or may be represented by other letters, for example, B0 and B1 in the foregoing embodiment, which are merely examples herein), where B may be understood as a bit, and S may be understood as a 160 MHz segment….…further see [0325] regarding If the entire 320 MHz channel can be used to hybridly transmit the HE PPDU and the EHT PPDU, and a bandwidth granularity for transmitting an uplink sub-PPDU is 160 MHz, the third subfield may occupy two bits. The two bits one-to-one correspond to two 160 MHz channels in the 320 MHz bandwidth….; further see [0324].. The four bits one-to-one correspond to four 80 MHz channels in the 320 MHz bandwidth. A value of each bit indicates whether the first station transmits the HE PPDU or the EHT PPDU on an 80 MHz channel corresponding to the bit. It may be understood that if the uplink bandwidth is less than 320 MHz, a bit corresponding to an 80 MHz channel that is not in the uplink bandwidth may be ignored or not used.
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Gan with the teachings of Chen in view of Cao to make system more standardized. Having a mechanism wherein in an event that the UL bandwidth is 160 MHz, two bits in the trigger frame are used to indicate a selected RU operation mode; greater way more standardized approach can be carried out in the communication system.
Regarding claim 20, Chen in view Cao and Gan teaches as per claim 18, wherein the indication comprises an indication of each of:
the RU type as a regular RU (rRU) or a distributed-tone RU (dRU),
a dRU distribution bandwidth, and
a dRU allocation comprising a dRU size and a dRU index; Chen see [0098- 0103].
Claim(s) 2, 6, 8, 11, 16 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US Pub. No. 2019/0260531 A1) in view of Cao et al. (US Pat. No. 11937230 B2) and further in view of Gan et al. (US Pub. No. 2024/0057091 A1) and further in view of Hu et al. “multi-RU indication in trigger frame”; see IDS filed on 11/29/2022 under NPL documents.
Regarding claim 2, Chen in view Cao and Gan teaches as per claim 1, but Chen fails to state about wherein the trigger frame signals that the dRU operation is enabled by using an RU allocation subfield table designed for regular resource units (rRUs) with continuous tones that are not interleaved, interlaced or distributed to indicate one or more aspects of the dRU operation, and wherein the transmitting of the PPDU with the dRU comprises generating the PPDU by interpreting the RU allocation subfield table designed for rRUs to determine allocation of tones of the dRU; however Hu states in slide 9 about indicating different multi-RU combinations, new entries can be added to the RU allocation subfield. An example of mapping of B8-B2 in RU allocation subfield is shown in the following table, some newly added entries are added in this table to show the MRU combinations related to this 80 MHz segment. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Hu with the teachings of Chen in view Cao and Gan to make system more standardized.
Regarding claim 6, Chen in view Cao and Gan teaches as per claim 1, but Chen fails to state about wherein the indication comprises:
in an event that an uplink (UL) bandwidth is 80 MHz or less, one bit in a reserved field indicating whether the dRU operation is enabled or disabled over an entire bandwidth, or
in an event that the UL bandwidth is 160 MHz or 320 MHz, two bits or four bits in the reserved field indicating one of:
a transmission of a regular resource unit (rRU),
a transmission of the rRU and the dRU,
a transmission of per-80 MHz segment dRU, and
a transmission of the dRU with a duplication; however Hu states in slides 6- 9 wherein different combinations of rRU and/or dRUs are signalled via resereved bits of the user info field. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Hu with the teachings of Chen in view Cao and Gan to make system more standardized.
Regarding claim 8, Chen in view Cao and Gan and Hu teaches as per claim 1, wherein the indication comprises a bitmap of up to 4 bits, with 1 bit per 80 MHz subblock, indicating a RU type per 80 MHz segment or frequency subblock as being dRU or regular resource unit (rRU); Chen see [0021 and 0100].
Regarding claim 11, Chen in view Cao and Gan teaches as per claim 1, but Chen fails to state about wherein the indication is also signaled in the User Information field of the trigger frame and either or both of a Common Information field and a Special User Information field of the trigger frame; however Hu states in slides 6- 9 about common and user info field. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Hu with the teachings of Chen in view Cao and Gan to make system more standardized.
Regarding claim 16, Chen in view Cao and Gan teaches as per claim 15, but Chen fails to state about wherein the trigger frame signals that the dRU operation is enabled by using an RU allocation subfield table designed for regular resource units (rRUs) with continuous tones that are not interleaved, interlaced or distributed to indicate one or more aspects of the dRU operation; however Hu states in slide 9 about indicating different multi-RU combinations, new entries can be added to the RU allocation subfield. An example of mapping of B8-B2 in RU allocation subfield is shown in the following table, some newly added entries are added in this table to show the MRU combinations related to this 80 MHz segment. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Hu with the teachings of Chen in view Cao and Gan to make system more standardized.
Regarding claim 19, Chen in view Cao and Gan teaches as per claim 18, but Chen fails to state wherein the trigger frame signals that the dRU operation is enabled by using an RU allocation subfield table designed for regular resource units (rRUs) with continuous tones that are not interleaved, interlaced or distributed to indicate one or more aspects of the dRU operation, and wherein, in transmitting of the PPDU with the dRU, the processor generates the PPDU by interpreting the RU allocation subfield table designed for rRUs to determine allocation of tones of the dRU; however Hu states in slide 9 about indicating different multi-RU combinations, new entries can be added to the RU allocation subfield. An example of mapping of B8-B2 in RU allocation subfield is shown in the following table, some newly added entries are added in this table to show the MRU combinations related to this 80 MHz segment. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Hu with the teachings of Chen in view Cao and Gan to make system more standardized.
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US Pub. No. 2019/0260531 A1) in view of Cao et al. (US Pat. No. 11937230 B2) and further in view of Gan et al. (US Pub. No. 2024/0057091 A1) and further in view of Yang et al. (US Pub. No. 2021/0143955 A1).
Regarding claim 13, Chen in view Cao and Gan teaches as per claim 1, but Chen is silent about wherein the dRU operation comprises one of:
a tone distribution operation of the dRU over an entire PPDU bandwidth of 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz,
a per-80 MHz segment or frequency subblock tone distribution operation of the dRU over a wide bandwidth of 160 MHz or 320 MHz,
a first hybrid mode operation of the dRU and a regular resource unit (rRU) on different 80 MHz subblocks in the wide bandwidth of 160 MHz or 320 MHz,
a puncture mode operation of the dRU on 20 MHz and 40 MHz subblocks in a bandwidth of 80 MHz or in 80 MHz frequency subblocks in the wide bandwidth of 160 MHz or 320 MHz,
a second hybrid mode operation of the dRU and the rRU with the dRU being in the puncture mode,
a first multi-dRU operation with one of multiple dRUs on each of multiple 80 MHz subblocks and with one of the multiple 80 MHz subblocks being in the puncture mode, and
a second multi-dRU operation with one of the multiple dRUs on each of the multiple 80 MHz subblocks and with each of the multiple 80 MHz subblocks being in the puncture mode; however Yang teaches in [0053] about .. The wireless communication network 100 may support different RU and bandwidth sizes. For example, the wireless communication network 100 may support distributed RUs for RUs including 26 tones, 52 tones, 106 tones, among other examples, and may support channel bandwidths spanning 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, or 320 MHz, among other examples… It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Yang with the teachings of Chen in view Cao and Gan to make system more standardized.
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US Pub. No. 2019/0260531 A1) in view of Cao et al. (US Pat. No. 11937230 B2) and further in view of Gan et al. (US Pub. No. 2024/0057091 A1) and further in view of Lim et al. (US Pub. No. 2023/0283421 A1).
Regarding claim 14, Chen in view Cao and Gan teaches as per claim 1, but Chen fails to state about wherein the transmitting of the PPDU comprises transmitting an uplink (UL) trigger-based (TB) PPDU in a 6 GHz low-power indoor (LPI) system; however Lim in context with [0097, 0126] teaches in [0246] about … when transmitting and receiving a signal in an indoor environment through the 6 GHz band, low power transmission may have to be performed. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Lim with the teachings of Chen in view Cao and Gan to make system more standardized.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please see PTO-892 form for considered prior arts for record.
Reference Park et al. (US Pat No. 11902022 B2) teaches in lines 65 of col. 39 to lines 1- 55 of col. 50 regarding …In 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz VHT PPDU transmission, the output bits of the stream parser are treated as N.sub.CBPS bit groups. Each group is divided into N.sub.SS blocks of N.sub.CBPSS bits, and each block must be interleaved by the interleaver based on the interleaver. In 160 MHz or 80+80 MHz VHT PPDU transmission, each frequency subblock of the N.sub.CBPSS/2 output bit of the segment parser is interleaved by the interleaver for 80 MHz as defined herein. This interleaver, which inputs data into rows and reads them into columns, has different N.sub.COL columns and N.sub.ROW rows depending on the bandwidth. The values of N.sub.COL and N.sub.ROW are shown in Table 5 above. …
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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PARTH PATEL
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2479
/PARTH PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2479