Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed on 07/09/2026 has been entered. Independent claims 1 and 15 have been amended. Dependent claims 2-4 have been amended. Claims 5-14 have been cancelled. No claims are new. Claims 1-4 and 15 are still pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to objections of the disclosure have been considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the objections are withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 10, and 15, under 35 USC § 103, 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 specified challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baron (Pub. No.: US 20210273768 A1, hereafter “Baron”) in view of Seok (Pub. No.: US 20160212246 A1, hereafter “Seok”).
Regarding Claim 1 and Claim 15
Baron teaches an Apparatus and Method Comprising
communication apparatus comprising: circuitry (Baron Fig. 10a: 1001), which, in operation, generates a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) (Baron Fig. 3b: 350) including a signal field (Baron Fig. 2c: 250, PHY preamble) having one or more resource unit (RU) allocation subfields (Baron ¶0083: PPDUs, in accordance to the 802.ax standard, split the channel into RUs), each RU allocation subfield (Baron ¶0083: PPDUs) includes a value indicating an RU combination (Baron Fig. 2c: 250, PHY preamble) comprising a plurality of RUs (Baron ¶0083: resource units 201-204; Baron teaches a PDU signal field layer with a plurality of RUs within a communication network, see Fig. 2c, Fig. 3b, Fig. 10a, and ¶0083);
Baron does not explicitly teach
a transmitter, which, in operation, transmits the PPDU to a plurality of other communication apparatuses in two or more 80 MHz frequency subblocks, wherein a first communication apparatus of the other communication apparatuses parks in a first 80 MHz frequency subblock of the two or more 80 MHz frequency subblocks and supports a frequency bandwidth greater than 80 MHz, a second communication apparatuses parks in a second 80 MHz frequency subblock different from the first 80 MHz subblock and supports a maximum frequency of 80 MHz, and multiplexed multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) transmission is enabled based on the MU-MIMO reception capabilities of the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus.
However, Seok teaches
a transmitter (Seok ¶0256: transmitting device), which, in operation, transmits the PPDU (Seok ¶0256: PPDU transmission) to a plurality of other communication apparatuses (Seok ¶0256: a plurality of STAs) in two or more 80 MHz frequency subblocks (Seok ¶0256: plurality of subchannels, e.g. an 80+80-MHz channel), wherein a first communication apparatus (Seok ¶0256: transmitting device) of the other communication apparatuses parks (Seok ¶0256: full band channel is divided into a plurality of subchannels and the subchannels are allocated to a plurality of STAs) in a first 80 MHz frequency subblock of the two or more 80 MHz frequency subblocks (Seok ¶0256: an 80+80-MHz channel) and supports a frequency bandwidth greater than 80 MHz (Seok ¶0256: or a 160-MHz channel, e.g. an example of a channel that is larger than 80 MHz), a second communication apparatuses (Seok ¶0256: plurality of STAs) parks (Seok ¶0256: allocated to a plurality of STAs) in a second 80 MHz frequency subblock different from the first 80 MHz subblock (Seok ¶0256: an 80+80-MHz channel, e.g. a second non-contiguous 80 MHz channel) and supports a maximum frequency of 80 MHz (Seok ¶0256: an 80+80-MHz channel), and multiplexed multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) transmission is enabled (Seok ¶0256: for MU-MIMO) based on the MU-MIMO reception capabilities of the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus (Seok ¶0257: process the plurality of segment-parsed subblocks, inclusive of constellation mapping; Seok teaches a transmitting device transmitting a PPDU to a plurality of STAs for a plurality of 80 MHz channels, with the option for it being a 160 MHz channel to be allocated to the plurality of STAs, with MU-MIMO transmissions for the STAs to be allocated towards, see ¶0256-¶0257).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Baron by way of Seok, to include an element that teaches a transmitting device transmitting a PPDU to a plurality of STAs for a plurality of 80 MHz channels, with the option for it being a 160 MHz channel to be allocated to the plurality of STAs, with MU-MIMO transmissions for the STAs to be allocated towards, as taught by Seok in ¶0256-¶0257, to better improve communication techniques by combining a known process with another known process for a known result, to better improve allocation systems by allowing more dynamic systems and improve spatial efficiency.
Claim(s) 2-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baron (Pub. No.: US 20210273768 A1, hereafter “Baron”) in view of Seok (Pub. No.: US 20160212246 A1, hereafter “Seok”), further in view of Chen (Pub. No.: US 20160330715 A1, hereafter “Chen”).
Regarding Claim 2
Baron in view of Seok teaches the apparatus and method as explained above in Claim 1.
Baron in view of Seok does not explicitly teach
wherein an RU allocation subfield for the second communication apparatus indicates an RU located within the second 80 MHz frequency subblocks.
However, Chen teaches
wherein an RU allocation subfield (Chen Fig. 5: 400) for the second communication apparatus (Chen Fig. 1: 124, e.g. an STA, see ¶0078) indicates an RU located within the second 80 MHz frequency subblocks (Chen ¶0078: 80MHz channels; Chen teaches an STA within the RU allocation possibilities with an 80MHZ subchannel for a location, see Fig. 1, Fig. 5, and ¶0078).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Baron in view of Seok by way of Chen, to include an element that teaches an STA within the RU allocation possibilities with an 80MHZ subchannel for a location, as taught by Chen in Fig. 1, Fig. 5, and ¶0078, to better improve communication techniques by combining a known process with another known process for a known result, to improve communication systems by allowing higher bandwidth transmissions through the RU allocation systems.
Regarding Claim 3
Baron in view of Seok teaches the apparatus and method as explained above in Claim 1. Chen teaches
wherein an RU allocation subfield (Chen Fig. 5: 500) for the first communication apparatus (Chen Fig. 1: 128, e.g. an STA, see ¶0078) indicates an RU located outside (Chen ¶0079: individual STA 140 RU allocation indexes may be referenced to the allocation map of the RU pattern (e.g., one of the 26 feasible allocation patterns)) the second 80 MHz frequency subblock (Chen ¶0077: For the purposes of illustration, various RU spectral blocks are labeled in FIG. 5 for the 20 MHz case, e.g. an 80MHz channel; Chen teaches the RU allocation field containing an 80MHz case wherein it includes an RU allocation index that has multiple RUs within an allocated methodology and outside of the RU pattern, see Fig. 1, Fig. 5, and ¶0077-¶0078).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Baron in view of Seok by way of Chen, to include an element that teaches the RU allocation field containing an 80MHz case wherein it includes an RU allocation index that has multiple RUs within an allocated methodology and outside of the RU pattern, as taught by Chen in Fig. 1, Fig. 5, and ¶0077-¶0078, to better improve communication techniques by combining a known process with another known process for a known result, to improve communication systems by allowing higher bandwidth transmissions through the RU allocation systems.
Regarding Claim 4
Baron in view of Seok teaches the apparatus and method as explained above in Claim 1. Chen teaches
wherein an RU allocation subfield (Chen Fig. 5: 500) for the second communication apparatus (Chen Fig. 1: 124, e.g. an STA, see ¶0078) indicates an RU located within the second 80 MHz frequency subblock (Chen ¶0078: 80MHz channels) in which the second communication apparatus of the other communication apparatuses parks (Chen ¶0078: mapped RU pattern), and an RU allocation subfield for the first communication apparatus indicates an RU located outside the first 80 MHz frequency subblock (Chen ¶0077: For the purposes of illustration, various RU spectral blocks are labeled in FIG. 5 for the 20 MHz case, e.g. an 80MHz channel) in which the first communication apparatus parks (Chen Fig. 1: 128, e.g. an STA, see ¶0078; Chen teaches an RU allocation possibility for a plurality of STAs with multiple 80 MHz channels which has a first set of blocks for a second 80 MHz channel, see Fig. 1, Fig. 5, and ¶0077-¶0078).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Baron in view of Seok by way of Chen, to include an element that teaches an RU allocation possibility for a plurality of STAs with multiple 80 MHz channels which has a first set of blocks for a second 80 MHz channel, as taught by Chen in Fig. 1, Fig. 5, and ¶0077-¶0078, to better improve communication techniques by combining a known process with another known process for a known result, to improve communication systems by allowing higher bandwidth transmissions through the RU allocation systems.
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN MICHAEL WHITAKER whose telephone number is (703)756-4763. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7:30am - 4:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached on (571) 270-1215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JUSTIN MICHAEL WHITAKER/Examiner, Art Unit 2415
/Sudesh M. Patidar/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
Prosecution Insights