DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
This action is responsive to the Remark filed on 2/6/26.
Claim(s) 1-3,11-13 & 19-20 was/were amended.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-13, 15-20 is/are presented for examination.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-13, 15-20 is/are unclear to the examiner; what does it mean by stating “an indication of allocation parameters for use during the time-slots of the associated S- TXOP, the indication comprising one of a new allocation indication and a prior allocation indication, the prior allocation indication indicating that the semi-static allocation parameters signaled during the initial management frame exchange are to be used, the new allocation indicating that the semi-static allocation parameters signaled during the initial management frame exchange are not to be used”? The claim limitations are not clear at what is it the Applicant trying to accomplished for the “prior allocation”? The claim limitations only discloses the condition of “new allocation”, not “prior allocation”. Please clarify
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 of this title, 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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6-14, 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chu, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 2015/0319747 A1, in view of Lee, US 2015/0163043 A1.
As to claim 1, Chu teaches an apparatus of an access point station (AP), the apparatus comprising:
processing circuitry; and
memory, wherein to configure the AP to communicate with a plurality of non-AP stations (STAs) within synchronized transmission opportunities (S-TXOPs) (Chu, page 11, paragraph 89; i.e., [0089] frame exchange 1000 between an AP and a plurality of client stations during a transmit opportunity (TxOP) obtained or scheduled for uplink OFDMA transmission by a plurality of client stations 1004 to an AP 1002), the processing circuitry is configured to:
perform an initial management frame exchange with the STAs, wherein during the initial management frame exchange, one or more sets of semi-static allocation parameters are signalling to the STAs, each set associated with an allocation index (IDx) (Chu, page 12, paragraph 91-92; page 13, paragraph 99-100; i.e., [0091] static or semi-dynamic allocation is utilized to allocate respective sub-channel blocks to the client stations 1004, the SYNC frame is transmitted subsequent to transmission of a group management frame that includes a group management field such the group management field; [0092] the SYNC frame 1002 includes a sub-channel allocation field, such as the sub-channel allocation field 650 of FIG. 6B or the sub-channel allocation
field 750 of FIG. 7B, wherein the group ID subfield includes the group ID indicated to the client stations; [0100] a frame exchange 1200 between an AP and a plurality of client stations during a transmit opportunity (TxOP)); and
communicate with the STAs during a plurality of S-TXOPs that follow the initial management frame exchange (Chu, page 11, paragraph 89; page 12, paragraph 90; i.e., [0089] FIG. 10 is diagram illustrating a frame exchange 1000 between an AP and a plurality of client stations during a transmit opportunity (TxOP) obtained or scheduled for uplink OFDMA transmission by a plurality of client stations 1004 to an AP 1002. In particular, during the schedule or obtained TxOP; [0090] the TXoP, the AP 1002 transmits a synchronization (SYNC) frame 1006 to the plurality of client stations 1004),
wherein each S-TXOP trigger is encoded to include:
a synchronization field for synchronizing (Chu, page 19, paragraph 135-136; i.e., [0135] transmitting a synchronization frame to the particular second communication device, wherein the synchronization frame is transmitted in a smallest bandwidth channel of the wireless local area network);
start slot and periodicity information of the plurality of time-slots of the associated S-TXOP (Chu, figure 3); and
an indication of allocation parameters for use during the time-slots of the associated S- TXOP, the indication comprising one of a new allocation indication and a prior allocation indication (Chu, page 8, paragraph 70; i.e., [0070] allocation fields such as the OFDMA sub-channel allocation field 650 are included in a management frame and channel allocation information to the client stations 25. (e.g., a group management frame) that includes the OFDMA subchannel allocation field 650, one or more new members are added to the OFDMA group. In an embodiment, the AP 14 additionally or alternatively transmits a management frame ( e.g., a sub-channel allocation management frame)), the prior allocation indication indicating that the semi-static allocation parameters signaled during the initial management frame exchange are to be used (Chu, page 12, paragraph 92; page 13, paragraph 99; i.e., [0092] the SYNC frame 1002 includes a sub-channel allocation field, such as the sub-channel allocation field 650 of FIG. 6B or the sub-channel allocation field; [0099] the initial SYNC frame 1106 includes a an indication of a number (e.g., 2) of OFDMA transmissions that can follow the SYNC frame 1106 during the TXoP corresponding to the SYNC frame 1106, and transmission of the second SYNC frame 1112 is omitted from the frame exchange 1100);
wherein when the indication comprises the new allocation indication, the S-TXOP trigger is further encoded to include full allocation information for use by the STAs during the time-slots of the associated S-TXOP (Chu, page 11, paragraph 89; page 13, paragraph 100; page 14, paragraph 104; i.e., [0089] FIG. 10 is diagram illustrating a frame exchange 1000 between an AP and a plurality of client stations during a transmit opportunity (TxOP); [0100] a frame exchange 1200 between an AP and a plurality of client stations during a transmit opportunity (TxOP) obtained or scheduled for downlink OFDMA; [0104] at the beginning of a scheduled period for uplink OFDMA transmission by members of the group or downlink OFDMA transmission to the members of the group,).
However, Lee teaches the limitation wherein the new allocation indicating that the semi-static allocation parameters signaled during the initial management frame exchange are not to be used (Lee, page 5, paragraph 95; page 7, paragraph 115; i.e., [0095] the terminal itself without exchanging the frame request frame/frame response frame ( or, the beacon request frame/beacon response frame); [0115] The allocated period field may indicate a period to which information included in the allocated resource field of a corresponding resource allocation frame ( or, the beacon frame) is applied. Accordingly, a new resource allocation frame ( or, the beacon frame) may not be transmitted during a period which is indicated by the allocated period field).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Chu to substitute overlapping basic service set (OBSS) from Lee for service data unit from Chu to supports a maximum channel bandwidth (Lee, page 1, paragraph 7).
As to claim 2, Chu-Lee teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein in response to changing network conditions including changing associations of the STAs, the processing circuitry is configured to:
perform a subsequent management frame exchange to signal one or more new sets of semi-static allocation parameters to one or more of the STAs (Chu, page 8, paragraph 70; page 12, paragraph 91; i.e., [0070] In an embodiment, the AP 14 transmits a management frame (e.g., a group management frame) that includes the OFDMA subchannel allocation field 650 and/or one or more new members are added to the OFDMA group; [0091] static or semi-dynamic allocation is utilized to allocate respective sub-channel blocks to the client stations 1004, the SYNC frame is transmitted subsequent to transmission of a group management frame that includes a group management field such the group management field)
communicate with the STAs during one or more of the S-TXOPs that follow 27 the subsequent management frame exchange by including an allocation index of an 28 allocation determined during the subsequent management frame exchange in an S- 29 TXOP trigger of the one or more of the S-TXOPs that follow the subsequent management frame exchange (Chu, figure 1B).
As to claim 3, Chu-Lee teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein each set of the semi-static allocation parameters comprise complete allocation information for use in a subsequent one or more of the S-TXOPs (Chu, page 12, paragraph 91 & 93; i.e., [0091] static or semi-dynamic allocation is utilized to allocate respective sub-channel blocks to the client stations 1004, the SYNC frame is transmitted subsequent to transmission of a group management frame that includes a group management field such the group management field; [0093] an indication of a
number of OFDMA transmissions that can follow the SYNC frame 1006 during the TXoP corresponding to the SYNC frame 1006).
As to claim 6, Chu-Lee teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 3, wherein to dynamically vary one or more allocation parameters across a set of S-TXOPs in which the semi-static allocation parameters are signaled by an allocation index, the processing circuitry is configured to encode the S-TXOP trigger to indicate which of the one or more allocation parameters vary (Chu, page 12, paragraph 92-93; i.e., [0099] the initial SYNC frame 1106 includes a an indication of a number (e.g., 2) of OFDMA transmissions that can follow the SYNC frame 1106 during the TXoP corresponding to the SYNC frame 1106, and transmission of the second SYNC frame 1112 is omitted from the frame exchange 1100; [0093] an indication of a number of OFDMA transmissions that can follow the SYNC frame 1006 during the TXoP corresponding to the SYNC frame 1006).
As to claim 7, Chu-Lee teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 6, wherein to dynamically vary one or more downlink multi-user (DL-MU) allocation parameters for one or more downlink slots of an S-TXOP, the processing circuitry is configured to encode an S-TXOP trigger of the S-TXOP to indicate one or more allocation parameters for each downlink allocation including one or more of: padding, LDPC extra symbol segments, and PE Disambiguate (Chu, page 6, paragraph 62; i.e., [0062] In an embodiment, padding (e.g., zero-padding)).
As to claim 8, Chu-Lee teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 6, wherein to dynamically vary one or more uplink multi-user (UL-MU) allocation parameters for one or more uplink slots of an S-TXOP, the processing circuitry is configured to encode an S-TXOP trigger of the S-TXOP to indicate one or more allocation parameters for each uplink allocation including one or more of: padding, AP Tx power, UL Target Receive Power, RU Allocation, and a MU-MIMO Spatial Stream ID (Chu, page 6, paragraph 62; i.e., [0062] In an embodiment, padding (e.g., zero-padding)).
As to claim 9, Chu-Lee teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 3, wherein the allocation index signaled in the S-TXOP trigger is associated with a group of STAs of the plurality of STAs, and wherein during the initial management frame exchange, one or more group IDs are determined, wherein each of the one or more group IDs are configurable to correspond to a different set of the STAs to indicate a resource allocation within one or more of the time-slots of the S-TXOP (Chu, page 12, paragraph 91; i.e., [0091] transmission of the SYNC frame 1006 is subsequent to transmission of a group management frame and/or a sub-channel allocation frame, such as one of the group management frames and/or one of the sub-channel allocation frames described above. the SYNC frame is transmitted subsequent to transmission of a group management frame that includes a group management field such the group management field).
As to claim 10, Chu-Lee teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 3, wherein when the processing circuitry encodes an S-TXOP Trigger of an S-TXOP to signal full allocation information, the processing circuitry is further configured to indicate, with a bit in an S-TXOP trigger of a following S-TXOP, whether the full allocation information is to be used for the following S-TXOP (Chu, figure 11; page 13, paragraph 100; i.e., [0100] a frame exchange 1200 between an AP and a plurality of client stations during a transmit opportunity (TxOP) obtained or scheduled for downlink OFDMA transmission to a plurality of client stations 1204 from an AP 1202. In particular, during the schedule or obtained TxOP, the AP 1202 transmits one or more OFDMA data units, each including OFDM data unit simultaneously transmitted to a plurality of client stations 1104, including a first client station STAI 1204-1 and a second client station STA2 1204-2, in the illustrated embodiment).
Claim(s) 11-13, 16-18 is/are directed to a non-transitory computer readable claims and they do not teach or further define over the limitations recited in claim(s) 1-3, 6-10. Therefore, claim(s) 11-13, 16-18 is/are also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim(s) 1-3, 6-10.
Claim(s) 19-20 is/are directed to a non-transitory computer readable claims and they do not teach or further define over the limitations recited in claim(s) 1-2. Therefore, claim(s) 19-20 is/are also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim(s) 1-2.
Claim(s) 5 & 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chu, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 2015/0319747 A1, in view of Lee, US 2015/0163043 A1, and further in view of Cherian, US 2016/0330757 A1.
As to claim 5, Chu-Lee teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 3, wherein the allocation index that is included in the S-TXOP trigger is signaled within a pre-configured table, the allocation index signalling:
a slot pattern of the time-slots within the S-TXOP (Chu, figure 13);
the one or more STAs that are participating in the S-TXOP (Chu, figure 13; page 13, paragraph 100; i.e., [0100] frame exchange 1200 between an AP and a plurality of client stations during a transmit opportunity (TxOP) or obtained TxOP, a first client station STA1 1204-1 and a second client station STA2 1204-2).
But Chu failed to teach the claim limitation wherein individual resource unit (RU) allocations within the time-slots that are assigned to the one or more STAs.
However, Cherian teaches the limitation wherein individual resource unit (RU) allocations within the time-slots that are assigned to the one or more STAs (Cherian, page 6, paragraph 58-59; i.e., [0058] Another orthogonalization technique may include
sending an uplink resource unit index. For instance, the AP 105 may transmit a trigger frame 305 including an uplink resource unit index. The STAs 110 that receive the uplink resource unit index may each determine an uplink resource allocation).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Chu-Lee to substitute RTS frame from Cherian for group management frame from Chu-Lee to reduce the overall throughput and reliability of the wireless network (Cherian, page 1, paragraph 7).
Claim(s) 15 is/are directed to a non-transitory computer readable claims and they do not teach or further define over the limitations recited in claim(s) 5. Therefore, claim(s) 15 is/are also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim(s) 2, 5.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-3, 5-13, 15-20 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Listing of Relevant Arts
Kim, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 20240397551 A1 discloses LDP, AP Tx Power, RU allocation.
Park, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 20230239900 A1 discloses new resource allocation; AP & non-AP.
Contact Information
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
THUONG NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3864. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9:00-6:00.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Noel Beharry can be reached on 571-270-5630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THUONG NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416
Prosecution Insights