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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the original application filed on 2/14/2023.
Claims 1-6 and 8-18 are rejected.
Claim 7 is objected.
Double Patenting
U.S. Patents 10,992,359 and 10,158,413 belong to the same Patent Family and teach information that is relevant to the current Application, because it presents an invention that is similar to the current Application, and the inventive entity is the same as the current Application. However, a double patenting rejection does not need to be applied, because the claims are sufficiently distinct.
Amongst other reasons, independent claim 1 of the current application recites an interframe space period which is not recited in the parent patent claims, and independent claim 8 recites a sounding sequence and a multi-user downlink transmission which is not recited in the parent patent claims:
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-6, 8-9, 11, and 13-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chu (US 2021/0360646) (hereinafter as Chu’0646).
Regarding Claim 1, Chun teaches an access point operating in a wireless network, the access point comprising (Chun, Fig 32, paragraph 633, apparatus 3210 may be an AP or STA):
one or more memories (Chun, Fig 32, paragraph 633, apparatus 3210 may be an AP or STA, and includes a processor 3211 and memory 3212); and
a processor coupled to the one or more memories, wherein the one or more memories include instructions, which when executed by the processor cause the access point to (Chun, Fig 32, paragraph 633, apparatus 3210 may be an AP or STA, and includes a processor 3211 and memory 3212, inherently the memory would hold instructions to be executed by the processor):
transmit a first frame to a plurality of stations in the wireless network, wherein the first frame indicates to the plurality of stations to each transmit a null data packet frame to the access point (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 544, the AP transmits NDPA (null data packet announcement) frame to each STA, paragraph 554-5, first STA (STA1) that receives the NDPA frame 2810 transmits the NDP 2820 to the AP);
receive the null data packet frames from the plurality of stations (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 544, the AP transmits NDPA (null data packet announcement) frame to each STA, paragraph 554-5, first STA (STA1) that receives the NDPA frame 2810 transmits the NDP 2820 to the AP);
after an interframe space period following the first frame, generate beamforming information based on the null data packet frames (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 559, the AP may receive the NDP from STA1 and transmit the beamforming report poll frame 2830 to STA2 after the SIFS, paragraphs 562-563, STA2 transmits NDP 2840 to AP, and then AP transmits beamforming report poll frame 2850 to STA3); and
transmit the beamforming information to the plurality of stations (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 559, the AP may receive the NDP from STA1 and transmit the beamforming report poll frame 2830 to STA2 after the SIFS, paragraphs 562-563, STA2 transmits NDP 2840 to AP, and then AP transmits beamforming report poll frame 2850 to STA3).
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Regarding Claim 2, Chun further teaches wherein the first frame includes resource allocation information for the plurality of stations that participate in an UL OFDMA transmission (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 548, NDPA frame 2810 may include the resource allocation field for the UL MU transmission, paragraph 549, the resource allocation field indicates area, such as a frequency / subcarrier information for each STA to report the channel state in the case of the UL MU OFDMA transmission).
Regarding Claim 3, Chun further teaches wherein the first frame is a trigger frame (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 544, the AP transmits NDPA (null data packet announcement) frame, paragraph 553, each of the STAs transmits NDPs 2820, 2840, and 2860 through the resource area indicated by NDPA frame 2810, hence the NDPA is considered a trigger frame because it triggers the sounding sequence of NDP frames from each of the stations, similarly see Fig 29 paragraphs 569 and 575, the AP transmits buffer status request (BSR)/sounding request frame 2910 and then each STA transmits buffer status (BS)/sounding frames 2920, 2940, and 2960 to the AP).
Regarding Claim 4, Chun further teaches wherein the beamforming information describes a wireless channel between the access point and the plurality of stations (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 559, the AP may receive the NDP from STA1 and transmit the beamforming report poll frame 2830 to STA 2 after the SIFs, Fig 15, paragraphs 337 and 339, Beamforming Report Poll frame is configured to include the a Tracking Area (TA) which represents a bandwidth for signaling the address of the STA which transmits the Beamforming Report Poll or the TA).
Regarding Claim 5, Chun further teaches wherein subsequent multi-user downlink transmissions use the beamforming information (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 559, the AP may receive the NDP from STA1 and transmit the beamforming report poll frame 2830 to STA2 after the SIFS, paragraphs 562-563, STA2 transmits NDP 2840 to AP, and then AP transmits beamforming report poll frame 2850 to STA3).
Regarding Claim 6, Chun further teaches wherein the first frame indicates a number of long-training symbols to be included in the plurality of the null data packet frames (Chun, paragraph 26, the sounding request frame may include information indicating the number of streams in which the STA needs to transmit the sounding frame, and the sounding frame may include long training fields (LTFs) as many as the number of streams).
Regarding Claim 8, Chun teaches a first station operating in a wireless network, the first station comprising (Chun, Fig 32, paragraph 633, apparatus 3210 may be an AP or STA):
one or more memories (Chun, Fig 32, paragraph 633, apparatus 3210 may be an AP or STA, and includes a processor 3211 and memory 3212); and
a processor coupled to the one or more memories, wherein the one or more memories include instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the first station to (Chun, Fig 32, paragraph 633, apparatus 3210 may be an AP or STA, and includes a processor 3211 and memory 3212, inherently the memory would hold instructions to be executed by the processor):
receive a trigger frame from an access point that triggers a sounding sequence from a set of stations in the wireless network (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 544, the AP transmits NDPA (null data packet announcement) frame, paragraph 553, each of the STAs transmits NDPs 2820, 2840, and 2860 through the resource area indicated by NDPA frame 2810, hence the NDPA is considered a trigger frame because it triggers the sounding sequence of NDP frames from each of the stations, similarly see Fig 29 paragraphs 569 and 575, the AP transmits buffer status request (BSR)/sounding request frame 2910 and then each STA transmits buffer status (BS)/sounding frames 2920, 2940, and 2960 to the AP);
transmit a first null data packet frame to the access point as part of a first multi-user uplink transmission, wherein the first multi-user uplink transmission involves the first station and the other stations within the set or stations (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 544, the AP transmits NDPA (null data packet announcement) frame to each station, paragraph 553, each of the STAs transmits NDPs 2820, 2840, and 2860 through the resource area indicated by NDPA frame 2810);
receive a multi-user downlink transmission from the access point based on the first multi-user uplink transmission (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 559, the AP may receive the NDP from STA1 and transmit the beamforming report poll frame 2830 to STA2 after the SIFS, paragraphs 562-563, STA2 transmits NDP 2840 to AP, and then AP transmits beamforming report poll frame 2850 to STA3).
Regarding Claim 9, Chun further teaches wherein the multi-user downlink transmission includes first beamforming information describing a channel between the first station and the access point and second beamforming information describing the channels between the remaining stations of the set of stations and the access point (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 559, the AP may receive the NDP from STA1 and transmit the beamforming report poll frame 2830 to STA 2 after the SIFs, Fig 15, paragraphs 337 and 339, Beamforming Report Poll frame is configured to include the a Tracking Area (TA) which represents a bandwidth for signaling the address of the STA which transmits the Beamforming Report Poll or the TA)
Regarding Claim 11, Chun further teaches wherein the trigger frame indicates a number of long training symbols to include in null data packet frames included in the first multi-user uplink transmission (Chun, paragraph 556, the NDPs transmitted by each STA are configured by similarly using the NDP format transmitted by the AP, however, the VHT-LTF field (alternatively, the HE-LTF field) of the NDPs transmitted by each STA may be included as large as the resource area (as large as the number of frequencies/streams) indicated by the NDPA frame 2810).
Regarding Claim 13, Chun further teaches wherein the multi-user downlink transmission is a beamformed transmission that is configured according to beamforming information generated by the access point using the first null data packet frame and each of null data packet frames transmitted by other stations within the set of wireless stations (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 559, the AP may receive the NDP from STA1 and transmit the beamforming report poll frame 2830 to STA2 after the SIFS, paragraphs 562-563, STA2 transmits NDP 2840 to AP, and then AP transmits beamforming report poll frame 2850 to STA3).
Regarding Claim 14, Chun further teaches wherein the trigger frame includes an indication that wireless stations within the set of stations are to transmit a null data packet frame to the access point (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 544, the AP transmits NDPA (null data packet announcement) frame, paragraph 553, each of the STAs transmits NDPs 2820, 2840, and 2860 through the resource area indicated by NDPA frame 2810, hence the NDPA is considered a trigger frame because it triggers the sounding sequence of NDP frames from each of the stations).
Regarding Claim 15, Chun further teaches wherein the trigger frame indicates a length of the first multi-user uplink transmission and the length of the first multi-user uplink transmission is set to indicate that the first station is to transmit a null data packet frame to the access point (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 544, the AP transmits NDPA (null data packet announcement) frame to each station, paragraph 553, each of the STAs transmits NDPs 2820, 2840, and 2860 through the resource area indicated by NDPA frame 2810).
Regarding Claim 16, Chun further teaches wherein the trigger frame includes first station specific information that indicates information for the first station to perform sounding (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 547, NDPA includes a STA Info field including information on a target STA which participates in the UL MU, one STA Info field may be included for each sounding target STA); and
wherein the trigger frame includes second station specific information and common information that further includes information that indicates information for both the first station and other stations within the set of stations to perform sounding (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 547, NDPA includes a STA Info field including information on a target STA which participates in the UL MU, one STA Info field may be included for each sounding target STA).
Regarding Claim 17, Chun further teaches wherein the first station specific information includes an identifier of the first station and indicates a number of spatial streams for the first station in the first multi-user uplink transmission (Chun, Fig 25, paragraph 479, STA 1 to STA3 may be allocated with the spatial streams for transmitting the uplink data frame based on the STA ID/address information and the resource allocation information included in the UL MU scheduling frame 2510, Fig 28, paragraph 550, the spatial stream allocated to each STA may be indicated based on n AID12 subfields and resource allocation fields);
wherein the second station specific information includes identifiers of the other stations within the set of wireless stations and indicates a number of spatial streams for the other stations within the set of wireless stations in the first multi-user uplink transmission (Chun, Fig 25, paragraph 479, STA 1 to STA3 may be allocated with the spatial streams for transmitting the uplink data frame based on the STA ID/address information and the resource allocation information included in the UL MU scheduling frame 2510, Fig 28, paragraph 550, the spatial stream allocated to each STA may be indicated based on n AID12 subfields and resource allocation fields); and
wherein the common information includes frequency allocation information for the first station and the other stations within the set of wireless stations in the first multi-user uplink transmission (Chun, Fig 25, paragraph 479, STA 1 to STA3 may be allocated with the spatial streams for transmitting the uplink data frame based on the STA ID/address information and the resource allocation information included in the UL MU scheduling frame 2510, Fig 28, paragraph 550, the spatial stream allocated to each STA may be indicated based on n AID12 subfields and resource allocation fields).
Regarding Claim 18, Chun further teaches wherein the multi-user downlink transmission includes beamforming information used by the first station for performing beamforming operations with the access point (Chun, Fig 28, paragraph 559, the AP may receive the NDP from STA1 and transmit the beamforming report poll frame 2830 to STA 2 after the SIFs, Fig 15, paragraphs 337 and 339, Beamforming Report Poll frame is configured to include the a Tracking Area (TA) which represents a bandwidth for signaling the address of the STA which transmits the Beamforming Report Poll or the TA).
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 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Chun (US 2017/0170937) in view of Ghosh (US 2017/0294953).
Regarding Claim 10, Chun further teaches wherein the one or more memories include further instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the first station to (Chun, Fig 32, paragraph 633, apparatus 3210 may be an AP or STA, and includes a processor 3211 and memory 3212, inherently the memory would hold instructions to be executed by the processor):
Chun does not explicitly teach the below limitation:
transmit data to the access point as part of a second multi-user uplink transmission, wherein the second multi-user uplink transmission is a beamformed transmission that is configured according to the first beamforming information.
However Ghosh teaches the below limitation:
transmit data to the access point as part of a second multi-user uplink transmission, wherein the second multi-user uplink transmission is a beamformed transmission that is configured according to the first beamforming information (Ghosh, Fig 19 and 20, paragraph 175, WTRUs 102 may readjust their frequency offset based on the information in the UMM frame 1906 before performing UL MU-MIMO in step 1908, UMM frame 1906 of Ghosh would correspond to the beamforming report poll frame of Chun).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Chun by adding uplink transmission based on received beamforming information as taught by Ghosh. Because Chun and Ghosh teach beamforming, and specifically Ghosh teaches uplink transmission based on received beamforming information for the benefit of the analogous art of determining a group for multiple WTRUs based on a received beamformer capability element (Ghosh, abstract).
Claim 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Chun (US 2017/0170937) in view of Zhang (US 2015/0117433).
Regarding Claim 12, Chun teaches all the limitations of parent claim 11, but does not explicitly teach wherein a long-training sequence is used for the long training symbols and is spread across tones of the long training symbols, including pilot tones; and
wherein the first beamforming information and second beamforming information is generated based on the long training symbols and indicates which tones of the long training symbols were used for generating the first beamforming information and the second beamforming information.
However Zhang teaches wherein a long-training sequence is used for the long training symbols and is spread across tones of the long training symbols, including pilot tones (Zhang, paragraph 186, the predetermined sequence and the modified long training sequence each have a length that is greater than or equal to the sum of the number of data tones and the number of pilot tones); and
wherein the first beamforming information and second beamforming information is generated based on the long training symbols and indicates which tones of the long training symbols were used for generating the first beamforming information and the second beamforming information (Zhang, paragraph 186, the predetermined sequence and the modified long training sequence each have a length that is greater than or equal to the sum of the number of data tones and the number of pilot tones).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Chun by adding beamforming information generated based on long training symbols spread across pilot tones as taught by Zhang. Because Chun and Zhang teach beamforming, and specifically Zhang teaches beamforming information generated based on long training symbols spread across pilot tones for the benefit of the analogous art of generating a physical layer (PHY) data unit for transmission via a communication channel (Zhang, abstract).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 10 is objected to as being dependent upon rejected base claims, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for objected the claim(s):
In interpreting the claim(s), in light of the specification, the examiner finds the claimed invention to be patentably distinct from the prior art(s) of record.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reason(s) for objecting to the claim(s) to be allowed:
Chun teaches in paragraph 556 that the VHT-LTF field (alternatively, the HE-LTF field) of the NDPs transmitted by each STA may be included as large as the resource area (as large as the number of frequencies/streams) indicated by the NDPA frame, however Chun does not teach wherein the number of long-training symbols is equal for all null data packet frames and is set to a maximum rank value. Zhang teaches in paragraph 186 that the predetermined sequence and the modified long training sequence each have a length that is greater than or equal to the sum of the number of data tones and the number of pilot tones, but does not teach wherein the number of long-training symbols is equal for all null data packet frames and is set to a maximum rank value. Suh (US 2014/0056204) teaches in paragraph 41 that the number of Long Training Field (LTF) is dependent on the number of TX streams (Rank of TX Transmissions) per AP, but this is not the same as wherein the number of long-training symbols is equal for all null data packet frames and is set to a maximum rank value.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAD N DEFAUW whose telephone number is (571)272-6905. The examiner can normally be reached on the first Wednesday and Thursday of the bi-week 9 am – 5 pm, and the second Monday and Tuesday of the bi-week 9 am – 5 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Jiang can be reached on (571) 270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/T.N.D/ Examiner, Art Unit 2412
/CHARLES C JIANG/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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