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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 10/24/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments regarding the 103 rejection have been considered and are moot because they do not apply to the new references used in the current office action.
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) 1-2, 11-12, 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kwon (Singles STA trigger, IEEE 802.11-20/0689r1, April, 2020, cited in IDS) in view of Patil (US 20190191451) further in view of Dong (US 20230262801).
Regarding claim 20, Kwon discloses a communication apparatus, wherein the communication apparatus (AP MLD through D1, STA) comprises a processor and a non-transitory memory, the memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory, to enable the communication apparatus to perform steps comprising:
generating a first frame, wherein the first frame comprises a first field and a second field, the first field indicates a duration of a first time resource, the second field is used to determine a purpose of the first time resource (slide 7, figure, transmitting data and TR, trigger frame, generating first before transmitting, one field indicates PPDU duration, one field indicates the purpose of the duration, not to use HE TB PPDU)) and the purpose of the first time resource comprises one of: the first time resource is used to transmit a single-user physical layer protocol data unit PPDU (slide 6-8, the use of SU PPDU, indicate that SU type PPDU is solicited), or the first time resource is used to perform frame exchange (slide 6, allowing an acknowledgement frame transmission indicates that there are frame exchanges); wherein the second field enables determination of a plurality of purposes for the first time resource comprising at least single-user PPDU transmission (slide 6-8, the use of SU PPDU, indicate that SU type PPDU is solicited), cooperation device frame exchange slide 6, allowing an acknowledgement frame transmission indicates that there are frame exchanges), and peer-to-peer station frame exchange,
wherein the first frame further comprises a triggered response scheduling (TRS) A-control control field (Kwon, slide 8), and
sending the first frame to a second device (slide 7, figure, sending Tr to another node or STA).
Kwon discloses an AP, which normally or implicitly comprises a processor and a non-transitory memory, the memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory. Known does not explicitly disclose the A-control field comprises a TRS control field, the TRS control field comprises the first field and the second field, and a reserved bit in the TRS control field is set to 1.
Patil discloses the communication apparatus comprises a processor and a non-transitory memory, the memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory (Patil, figs. 3-4).
Patil discloses the first frame further comprises a triggered response scheduling (TRS) A-control control field, and the A-control field comprises a TRS control field, the TRS control field comprises the first field and the second field, and a reserved bit in the TRS control field is set to 1 (Patil, [0068][0081], figs. 16-17, the control field 1618 may include an A-Control subfield that includes the TRS control field 1700 shown in FIG. 17. In some implementations, the TRS control field 1700 may include a high efficiency (HE) trigger-based (TB) PPDU length field 1702, an RU allocation field 1704, a DL Tx power field 1706, an UL target received signal strength indicator (RSSI) 1708, an UL modulation coding scheme (MCS) field 1710, and reserved field(s) 1712. Here, the reserved bit can be 0 or 1),
Patil also discloses the trigger frame comprises a field for duration (Patil, fig. 16).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of a method for generating trigger frame as given by Kwon with the teachings of implementation using processor and memory to carry the method as given by Patil. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve WiFi technology in terms of throughput and efficiency.
Kwon and Patil do not explicitly disclose the second field enables determination of a plurality of purposes for the first time resource comprising peer-to-peer station frame exchange.
Dong discloses the second field enables determination of a plurality of purposes for the first time resource comprising peer-to-peer station frame exchange (Dong, [0058], specific identifier field contains an identifier assigned by a peer-to-peer application to identify specific peer-to-peer frame exchange).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of a method for generating trigger frame as given by Kwon with the teachings of identifying peer-to-peer communication given by Dong. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve the system throughput and spectrum efficiency (Dong, [0007]). It is noted that the applicant uses selective language in this claim and the examiner is only showing one of the claimed options.
Claims 1 and 11 are rejected similarly as claim 20, noting Patil discloses parsing a trigger frame ([0034], receive a first frame, from a first wireless communication device, that includes at least a first A-MPDU). It is noted that the applicant uses selective language in this claim and the examiner is only showing one of the claimed options.
Regarding claims 2, 12, 21, Kwon and Patil disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein when the first time resource is used to transmit the single-user PPDU, a duration of the single-user PPDU is equal to the duration of the first time resource (Kwon, slides 5, 7, 10, a SU PPDU with indicated PPDU length).
Claim(s) 5-7, 10, 15-17, 22-24, 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kwon, Patil and Dong further in view of Hedayat (US 20210345339).
Regarding claim 5, 15, 22, Kwon, Patil and Dong disclose the method according to claim 1,
Kwon, Patil and Dong do not explicitly disclose wherein the first frame further comprises a trigger type field, and a value of the trigger type field is any one of 8 to 15.
Hedayat discloses wherein the first frame further comprises a trigger type field, and a value of the trigger type field is any one of 8 to 15 (Hedayat, [0067], fig. 9, the value of the type of the trigger frame is set at 8).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of a method for generating trigger frame as given by Kwon with the teachings of defining the A-control frame by Hedayat. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve WiFi technology in terms of throughput and efficiency (Hedayat, [0003]).
Regarding claim 6, 16, 23, Kwon, Patil and Dong disclose the method according to claim 1,
Kwon, Patil and Dong do not explicitly disclose wherein the first frame is a basic trigger frame, and a B63 bit in the basic trigger frame is set to 1.
Hedayat disclose wherein the first frame is a basic trigger frame (Hedayat, trigger type is basic, fig. 9, [0070]), and a B63 bit in the basic trigger frame is set to 1 (Hedayat, [0019], B63 is one bit, which can be set at 0 or 1, a finite number).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of a method for generating trigger frame as given by Kwon with the teachings of defining the A-control frame by Hedayat. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve WiFi technology in terms of throughput and efficiency (Hedayat, [0003]).
Regarding claim 7, 17, 24, Kwon, Patil and Dong disclose the method according to claim 1,
Kwon, Patil and Dong do not explicitly disclose wherein the first field and the second field are located in a common information field.
Hedayat discloses wherein the first field and the second field are located in a common information field (Hedayat, fig. 4, common information field comprises many fields including the first field and the second field ) or a user information field of the first frame (Hedayat, fig. 5, user information field comprises many fields including the first field and the second field).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of a method for generating trigger frame as given by Kwon with the teachings of defining the A-control frame by Hedayat. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve WiFi technology in terms of throughput and efficiency (Hedayat, [0003]).
It is noted that the applicant uses selective language in this claim and the examiner is only showing one of the claimed options.
Regarding claims 10, 26, Kwon, Patil and Dong disclose the method according to claim 1,
Kwon, Patil and Dong do not explicitly disclose wherein the method further comprises: receiving, by the first device, a response frame sent by the second device, wherein the response frame comprises a third field, and the third field indicates whether the second device accepts the first time resource.
Hedayat discloses wherein the method further comprises: receiving, by the first device, a response frame sent by the second device, wherein the response frame comprises a third field, and the third field indicates whether the second device accepts the first time resource (Hedayat, [0110], AP receives trigger frame, uses/accepts the attributes in the trigger frame and sends an ACK or response to acknowledge the trigger frame).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of a method for generating trigger frame as given by Kwon with the teachings of defining the A-control frame by Hedayat. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve WiFi technology in terms of throughput and efficiency (Hedayat, [0003]).
Claim(s) 8, 18, 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Kwon, Patil and Dong further in view of Asterjadh (US 20200280975).
Regarding claim 8, 18, 25, Kwon, Patil and Dong disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein the first frame further comprises an A-control control field (Kwon, slide 8).
the A-control field comprises a control identifier field and a control information field (Kwon, slide 8, define a new Control ID to indicate that SU type PPDU or reuse current TRS control variant A-control field; Patil, fig. 16, 17).
Kwon, Patil and Dong do not explicitly disclose a value of the control identifier field is any one of 7 to 14, and the first field and the second field are located in the control information field.
Asterjadh discloses the A-control field comprises a control identifier field and a control information field, a value of the control identifier field is any one of 7 to 14, and the first field and the second field are located in the control information field (Asterjadh, [0061][0081-83], an A-Control field 362 has a series of control parameters (Control 1, Control 2, and so on); following the Control ID 374, the control information 378 may have a different length depending on the control ID 374 value; it is also possible to use one of the reserved values (control ID 7 to 14) to indicate the length of the A-Control Field).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of defining method for generating trigger frame as given by Kwon with the teachings of A-control field given by Asterjadh. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide efficient control information in wireless LAN (Asterjadh, [0003-4]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHENSHENG ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1985. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8:00am-6:00pm.
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/ZHENSHENG ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474