DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
Priority
2. The Claims filed on 03/21/2023 and Claims Priority from Provisional Application 63362736 , filed 04/08/2022 18187615 Claims Priority from Provisional Application 63370909 , filed 08/09/2022 18187615 Claims Priority from Provisional Application 63476215 , filed 12/20/2022. Claim foreign priority 202310179082X, filed 02/27/2023.
Continued Examination (RCE)
3. 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has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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
12/29/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
4. The amendment filed 12/29/2025 has been entered. Claims 1, 6-10, and 15-19 remain pending in the application. Claims 1, 10, and 19 were amended. No new claims were added and Claims 2-5, 11-14 and 20 were cancelled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
5. 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.
5. 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or
in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention.
(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.
6. Claims 1, 8-10 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being
anticipated by CAO et al. (US-12160395-B2) hereinafter “CAO”.
Regarding Claim 1,
CAO discloses, ‘An access point (AP) device for facilitating wireless communication, the AP device comprising: a processor configured to generate a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) including a first short training field (STF), a first long training field (LTF), a first signal (SIG) field, a repeated first signal (R-SIG) field, a second SIG field, a second STF, one or more second LTFs, and a data field, the data field including a plurality of pilot tones in a plurality of symbols, wherein a group of pilot tones is shifted from symbol to symbol within a group of subcarriers during the data field’ (Fig. 1 illustrates access point and non-access point communication. The processor is configured to generate the PPDU to include a resource unit (RU)) Col. 36 [0039-0042]. Disclosure includes pilot tone planning, the pilots of different distributed units (dRU).
The PPDU includes four fields that are duplicated for each 20 MHz channel of the signal bandwidth and two fields that may be loaded onto a dRU (distributed RUs). Disclosure, the data/pilot tone mapping plan distributes a plurality of logical RUs over a spreading frequency block such that data and pilot tones from each logical RU are distributed across the spreading frequency block, by using the travelling or shifting pilot tone indices to reduce interference in adjacent or contiguous physical tones Col. 4 [0003, 0019].
First Claim element:
Generate PPDU [Wingdings font/0xE0] STF, LTF, first SIG field, R-SIG, second SIG field, RL-SIG, second STF, on or more second LTFs,
Disclosures:
Generate PPDU disclosure Claim 1, 12, 15 to 18 and Fig. 3 illustrates a signal bandwidth includes field specifications.
As an example, a dRU may be defined as a set of distributed subcarriers within a certain frequency unit, such that data corresponding to the dRU may be encoded and modulated as one RU. The PPDU as illustrated in Fig. 3 includes (L-Preamble) i.e. L-SIG, a RL-SIG, i.e. Repeated L-SIG, a U-SIG, a EHT-SIG, a EHT-STF and a EHT-LTF. Also, EHT-DATA as data symbol/field. The EHT data (EHT-DATA) that may be loaded onto a dRU. The PPDU distribute data/pilot tones corresponding to the RU onto the disjoint set of subcarriers across a signal bandwidth of 80 MHz, 160 MHz, 320 MHz, or more than 320 MHz Col. 11[0054], [0062-0063].
Fig. 3, the data portion 304, may include the payload that occupies the data symbol with nine 26-subcarrier RUs Col. 12 [0019]. The pilots may be loaded in a pilot location of the corresponding 26-subcarrier RU Col. 12 [0036].
First Claim element (continued):
Data field [Wingdings font/0xE0] plurality of pilot tones [Wingdings font/0xE0] plurality of symbols
Disclosure:
data portion in Fig. 3, PPDU loaded in dRU and distributed data/pilot tones corresponding RU onto disjoint set of subcarriers across signal bandwidth. In addition, enable STA to generate PPDU in data/pilot tones of a RU are distributed onto a disjoint set of subcarriers accommodate wider bandwidth and multiple RUs in accordance of PSD limits provided OFDM modulated symbols Col. 3 [0057-0061].
First Claim element (continued):
Group of pilot tones [Wingdings font/0xE0] shift [Wingdings font/0xE0] symbol to symbol within a group of subcarriers
during the data field
Disclosures:
A multiple-RU (MRU) portion in a OFDMA transmission uses full bandwidth and change/shift the RUs locations/positions across multiple symbols dispersedly Col. 12 [0045, 0057-0058, 0065]. As an example: 242 size RU divided into sub-RUs (e.g., nine 26 RUs where subcarriers in sub-RUs are adjacent). Symbols may be generated with a 26-subcarrier RU and the subcarriers may be spread across the entire bandwidth, i.e., a first symbol may have loaded subcarriers on a first data tone, a tenth data tone, a nineteenth data tone and so on. Similarly, symbol x may have loaded tones on a (mod(x-1, 9)+1)th data tone (i.e., S1 data tone), a (S1+9) data tone, and so on. This example not limited to 26-subcarrier RU and 20 MHz (242 sized RU) bandwidth portion. And the RU shifting across entire bandwidth. Disclosure, pilot tone map plan includes effectively distribute pilot tones from individual RUs over a wider spreading or distribution frequency block having a signal bandwidth larger than the logical RUs bandwidth Col. 13 [0001-0005, 0020].
Based on pilot tone map plan defines set of pilot locations (e.g., a first set, a second set; these are logical locations or absolute locations within a spread frequency blcok) for a plurality of dRUs includes RU size by shifting a first logical pilot location by a different shift value corresponding to the RU index, Col. 35 [0043-0047].
The pilot tones for each dRU size keep the same logical index position starting tone index of each logical RU, resulting contiguous pilot tone sequences corresponding to the logical RU sequence;
Pilot mapping plan, each dRU size may compute distributed pilot tones and each dRU of the same size will have the logical pilot location with a predetermined shift. Disclosure includes a group of pilot tones as a set of pilot tones where a first set of pilot location shift values may be applied to a first half of the dRUs of a given size to generate the distributed pilot tones for the first half of the dRUs, and then a uniform shift may be applied to the first set of pilot location shift values to generate a second set of pilot location shift values that are applied to a second half of the dRUs of the given size to generate the distributed pilot tones for the second half of the dRUs Col. 22 [0014-0020].
Second Claim element:
And, discloses, ‘and a transceiver coupled to the processor, the transceiver configured to transmit the PPDU to a non-AP device,
wherein the group of subcarriers is a multiple resource unit (MRU),
wherein the MRU comprises a plurality of RUs and the group of pilot tones is shifted from symbol to symbol within the entire MRU during the data field,
the plurality of RUs comprising a plurality of different sizes associated with the plurality of RUs,
wherein the group of pilot tones is shifted based on the entire MRU regardless of
an individual size of any of the plurality of RUs, where at least one first RU of the plurality of RUs has a first size and at least one second RU of the plurality of RUs has a second size, the first size being different than the second size.
Second Claim element (continued):
transceiver configured to transmit the PPDU to a non-AP device (Fig. 1),
group of subcarriers [Wingdings font/0xE0] multiple RU (MRU)
Fig. 6, includes dRU tone mapper, MRU [Wingdings font/0xE0] first RUs, second RUs, third RUs etc.
first logical RU [Wingdings font/0xE0] first set of data tone subcarriers;
second logical RU [Wingdings font/0xE0] second set of data tone subcarriers
…
Nth logical RU [Wingdings font/0xE0] nth set of data tone subcarriers
Disclosure Col. 16 [0015-0016, 0021];
Fig. 7 illustrates multiple RU as example RU-52, RU-106, RU-242, and RU-484. A multi-RU (MRU) portion in an OFDMA transmission. Further, initial RU sizes may be a 26-subcarrier RU or a size other than the 26-subcarrier RU, e.g., 52/106/52 + 26/106 + 26/242/484/484 + 242/996 Col. 12 [0048]. Fig. 5 illustrates RU tone mapper of RU1, RU2, … N as multiple RUs, encodes a data portion of a PPDU into a disjoint set of subcarriers. And, Fig. 6 multiple RUs and map each RU into a set of subcarrier.
MRU [Wingdings font/0xE0] plurality of RUs
Group of pilot tones shifted from symbol to symbol within entire MRU
during the data field
Disclosure though uses dRUs that is distributed/scattered RUs and spread across entire bandwidth yet the dRU [Wingdings font/0xE0] MRUs as these are multiple-RUs.
Fig. 2A, uses mod operation includes:
Eencoder[Wingdings font/0xE0]stream parser[Wingdings font/0xE0] modulator[Wingdings font/0xE0] dRU tone mapper[Wingdings font/0xE0]spatial mapper [Wingdings font/0xE0] IFFT
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Disclosed above, Fig. 6, pilot tone map includes dRU tone mapper to encode or map RU pilot tones from each logical RU onto disjoint or distributed or scattered set of subcarriers. Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 illustrates pilot tone design plan with a table listing of pilot tone indices and shifts for different RUs distributed over a signal bandwidth of 80/40 MHz.
Based on pilot tone map plan defines set of pilot locations or positions (e.g., a first set, a second set; these are logical locations or absolute locations within a spread frequency block) for a plurality of dRUs includes RU size by shifting a first logical pilot location by a different shift value corresponding to the RU index.
Regarding the MU[Wingdings font/0xE0] the plurality of RU [Wingdings font/0xE0] plurality of different sizes
Regardless of individual size of the plurality of RUs
Tone-map-plan[Wingdings font/0xE0] disclosure claim 4-6 and 8 summarized here,
i as k=mod(i-1:RU size)+1, where pilot tone map plan defines index of a plurality of dRUs having a size (RU size), a corresponding plurality of i distributed RUs which each have j pilot tones spread across frequency block. Col. 35 [0043-0047].
Pilot tone map plan [Wingdings font/0xE0] first set of pilot locations for a plurality of i dRUs smallest size by shifting and uses a different shift value for each of plurality of i dRUs
Pilot tone map plan [Wingdings font/0xE0] predefined offset to the first logical pilot locations to define a second set of pilot locations for a plurality of j dRUs larger size than the plurality of i dRUs Col. 37 [0001-0006].
Equation k=mod(i-1:RU size)+1 includes a variable “RU size” that is not a specific value size rather this can be a variable sizes as disclosure Claims 4-6 and 8 distinctly specifies union of a first set smallest size to a second set of larger size.
Group of pilot tones on entire MRU regardless of sizes associated with plurality of RUs
Disclosure includes Pilot tone plan include shifted pilot location/ position uses for smallest dRU size and union pilot selection for larger dRUs. And, tone plan specifies that each dRU of a larger size, the pilots are defined as the union/ combination of the corresponding smaller dRU component. Example: a dRU-106 pilots defined union/ combination of the pilot two dRU-52 components Col. 18 [0019-0021, 0047-0048].
A multiple-RU (MRU) portion in a OFDMA transmission uses full bandwidth and change/shift the RUs locations/positions across multiple symbols dispersedly; Symbols may be generated with a 26-subcarrier RU and the subcarriers may be spread across the entire bandwidth, disclosed above.
To further explain regarding the shifting the pilot tones, the dRU tone mapper 604 computes the pilot tone indices for each dRU size as “travelling” pilot tone indices which shift relative to a starting tone index of each logical RU, where the amount of shift for each dRU can be implemented by computing a pilot logical index shift value that shifts for each dRU of a given size. The computed pilot logical index shift value may be computed as a function of the dRU index value, i. For example, if a specified dRU size (e.g., a 26-tone dRU) has a plurality of pilot tones (e.g., at the 6th and 20th tones within the RU), then for the ith dRU, the dRU tone mapper 604 may compute a pilot logical index shift by k as a function of i, where k=f(i) effectively shifts the plurality of pilot tones for each dRU. In a simple example, the pilot logical index shift value k may be computed as k=mod(i-1:RU size)+1, where the modulo values increment across a range from i-1 to RU size before returning to i-1. With this example, the first 26-tone dRU has pilots on the 6th and 20th tones, the second 26-tone dRU has pilots on the 7th and 21th tones, and the third 26-tone dRU has pilots on the 8th and 22st tones Col. [0009-0022].
Regarding Claim 8,
‘The AP device of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
CAO discloses, ‘wherein the one or more second LTFs include a plurality of pilot tones which have fixed positions.’ (Fig. 3 shows the one or more second LTFs as EHT-LTF load on dRU or set of distributed subcarrier. Pilot tones corresponding to RU distributed onto set of subcarriers Col. 8 [0021]. Fig. 6 illustrates first tone mapping plan that includes multiple RUs tone planning map to a set of subcarrier. each logical RU (e.g., RU1 602-1) may include one or more pilot tones (not shown) which are located at predetermined pilot tone positions of the logical RU. Tone mapper maps to first, second, and nth set of tone subcarriers Col. 16 [0008-0010, 0034]. Due to narrow band interference the first tone plan further modified to Second Pilot Tone Mapping Plan: Travelling Pilot Index Across Logical RUs shifting between remapped pilot tone plans Col. 16 [0066] and Col. 17 [0003-0004].)
Regarding Claim 9,
‘The AP device of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
CAO discloses, ‘wherein the group of subcarriers has a same number of pilot tones in each of the plurality of symbols during the data field.’ (Fig. 8 illustrates dRU-26, dRU-52, dRU-106 and dRU-242 transmitted over 40 MHz bandwidth. Smallest dRU dRU-26 includes logical pilot location (6,20) i.e. same number of pilot locations Col. 20 [0042-0043]. And, a larger dRU sizes (dRU-52 and dRU-242) as the union or combination of the pilots from the two component dRUs. A first distributed pilot for dRU-52 (denoted dP52_1) and combination of the distributed pilots from the component dRU-26 components (e.g., dP26_1 and dP26_2)) Col. 20 [0065], Col. 21 [0001]. Further, the payload may be generated for a 26-subcarrier RU, and pilot loaded as first, second and nth symbol resulting performance gain, dB gain considering 20 MHz and 26-subcarrier as part of pilot tone signaling Col. 12 [0026, 0041-0042].
Regarding Claim 10,
Identical to Claim 1 disclosed above only changes of non-access point instead access point, ‘A non-access point (AP) device for facilitating wireless communication, the non-AP device comprising:
a transceiver configured to receive, from an AP device, a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) including a first short training field (STF), a first long training field (LTF), a first signal (SIG) field, a repeated first signal (R-SIG) field, a second SIG field, a second STF, one or more second LTFs, and a data field, the data field including a plurality of pilot tones in a plurality symbols,
wherein a group of pilot tones is shifted from symbol to symbol within a group of subcarriers during the data field;
and a processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to perform channel estimation using the plurality of pilot tones in the data field.
wherein the group of subcarriers is a multiple resource unit [[RU]] (MRU),wherein the MRU comprises a plurality of RUs and the group of pilot tones is shifted from symbol to symbol within the entire MRU during the data field, the plurality of RUs comprising a plurality of different sizes associated with the plurality of RUs,
wherein the group of pilot tones is shifted based on the entire MRU regardless of an individual size of any of the plurality of RUs, wherein at least one first RU of the plurality of RUs has a first size and at least one second RU of the plurality of RUs has a second size, the first size being different than the second size’ (CAO discloses Fig. 1 illustrates multi-link communication includes both access point and non-access point. Each STA includes controller configured to control transceiver and implemented with a processor Col. 7 [0003-0004]).
Regarding Claim 17,
‘The non-AP device of claim 10’ (disclosed above),
Identical to Claim 8 disclosed above, ‘wherein: the one or more second LTFs include a plurality of pilot tones which have fixed positions, and the processor is further configured to perform channel estimation using the plurality of pilot tones in the one or more second LTFs.’ (to perform channel estimation using the plurality of pilot tones in the one or more second LTFs).
Regarding Claim 18,
‘The non-AP device of claim 10’ (disclosed above),
Identical to Claim 9 disclosed above, ‘wherein the group of subcarriers has a same number of pilot tones in each of the plurality of symbols during the data field.’
Regarding Claim 19,
Identical to Claim 10 (a method claim) disclosed above, ‘A method for a wireless device for facilitating a communication, the method comprising: receiving a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) including a first short training field (STF), a first long training field (LTF), a first signal (SIG) field, a repeated first signal (R-SIG) field, a second SIG field, a second STF, one or more second LTFs, and a data field, the data field including a plurality of pilot tones in a plurality symbols,
wherein a group of pilot tones is shifted from symbol to symbol within a group of subcarriers during the data field;
and performing channel estimation using the plurality of pilot tones in the data field,
wherein the group of subcarriers is a multiple resource unit [[RU]] (MRU),wherein the MRU comprises a plurality of RUs and the group of pilot tones is shifted from symbol to symbol within the entire MRU during the data field, the plurality of RUs comprising a plurality of different sizes associated with the plurality of RUs,
wherein the group of pilot tones is shifted based on the entire MRU regardless of an individual size of any of the plurality of RUs, wherein at least one first RU of the plurality of RUs has a first size and at least one second RU of the plurality of RUs has a second size, the first size being different than the second size’
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
8. 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
he claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner
in which the invention was made.
9. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness
under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
• Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
• Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
• Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
• Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating
• obviousness or nonobviousness.
10. 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.
11. Claims 6, 7, 15, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable
over CAO et al. in view of Park et al. (US-12206613-B2) hereinafter “Park”.
Regarding Claim 6,
‘The AP device of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Regarding the claim element, ‘wherein the second SIG field includes a control information indicating whether the plurality of pilot tones are shifted during the data field.’
CAO though discloses ‘wherein the second SIG field indicating whether the plurality of pilot tones are shifted during the data field.’ (disclosed above in Claim 1, the second SIG field either U-SIG and EHT-SIG Col. 11[0033-0034]). And, whether the plurality of pilot tones are shifted during the data field similar to claim 4 and claim 5 disclosed above. In claim 4 disclosed above, a plurality of RUs and the pilot tones are shifted during the data field.
And didn’t disclose, ‘SIG field includes a control information’,
Park in the same field of endeavor discloses, the PPDU includes a control field and a data field. Further, the second control field may include Universal-Signal (U-SIG) or Extremely High Throughput-Signal (EHT-SIG). The second control field may include allocation information on an RU to which the data field is to be transmitted Col. 43 [0024-26, 0028]. The transmitting STA inform the tone plan through the EHT-SIG Col. 44 [0050].
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of
the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of CAO and to modify
with that of Park to come up with the claim invention,
Disclosure of CAO, the PPDU includes different fields as control fields and the data field. Fig. 3 includes L-SIG, a RL-SIG, i.e. Repeated L-SIG, a U-SIG, a EHT-SIG, a EHT-STF and a EHT-LTF. Also, EHT-DATA as data symbol/field though explicitly didn’t mention SIG-field includes control information. The pilot tone plan is applied to control each pilot tone from the RU is distributed onto a disjoint set of pilot subcarriers in accordance to power spectral density.
Someone would be motivated to small modification to explicitly specify these fields as the control filed or control information as control field carry allocation information on an RU to which the data field are transmitted. And, a plurality of RU are aggregated to form multi-RU or MRU.
CAO motive to use combination dRU pilots as part of pilot design plan Col. 20 [0001, 0029-0030]. Uses encoding scheme to generate PPDUs specified by IEEE 802.11ax/11be, disclosure CAO, Col. 15 [0006]. To transmit data control field information includes: modulation scheme and bandwidth. Park Fig. 8 and Fig. 9 includes SIG-field [Wingdings font/0xE0] user field [Wingdings font/0xE0] bandwidth and schemes (MCS, dual subcarrier modulation (DCM)). This would provide more specific control information to generate PPDUs.
Park includes the aggregation similar to combination of dRUs to form multiple RUs to enhance the capability: the data field may be received through a multiple RU aggregated as 484RU+242RU+3×996RU, disclosed by Park Col. 2 [0060]. Inclusion of control field and specifying in the PPDU to allocate resources while aggregating multiple RUs is very important and further aggregation to form multi-RU would enhance capability of broadband transmission.
Regarding Claim 7,
‘The AP device of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Park discloses, ‘wherein the second SIG field includes a control information of a puncturing pattern indicating a punctured subchannel of operating bandwidth.’
Regarding the second SIG field includes a control information, disclosed above in Claim 6 above. The control information related to the RU (or control information related to a tone plan) may include a size and a location of RU and may be included in a SIG field. A 80 MHz PPDU, a 484+242-tone multiple resource unit (MRU) is only defined based on a 20 MHz subchannel being punctured, disclosure Claim 1.
Disclosure include a 240 MHz/320 MHz tone plan puncturing performed in 20 MHz/80 MHz. When the first band is an 80 MHz band in which puncturing is performed in units of 20 MHz, the first band includes a first RU in which 484 RU and 242 RU are aggregated. Here, puncturing in units of 20 MHz means that at least one of all other 20 MHz channels (secondary 20 MHz channels) except for the primary 20 MHz channel (or band) is punctured Col. 2 [0015-0022].
Disclosure claim 1, 80 MHz PPDU includes, a 484+242-tone multiple resource unit (MRU) is only defined based on a 20 MHz subchannel being punctured.
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of
the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of CAO and to include
with that of Park to come up with the claim invention,
Disclosure of CAO specifically includes motive of binary convolution encoder, a forward correction encoder and puncturing block in Fig. 2D. Discloses, a multiple 20 MHz operated channel to transmit PPDUs and may be a punctured 20 MHz channel or an unpunctured 20 MHz channel. the 20 MHz channels may be aggregated to form a segment (e.g., an 80 MHz segment or a 160 MHz segment). Disclosure also include U-SIG and EHT-SIG field. And, a 20 MHz channels may be a punctured 20 MHz channel or an unpunctured 20 MHz channel and be aggregated to form a segment (e.g., an 80 MHz segment or a 160 MHz segment).
Someone would include feature of puncturing the RUs busy-sensed null tone as part of wide band transmission. This would increase the efficiency and throughput of the used subcarrier maximized the bandwidth, disclosed by Park Col. 36 [0042].
Regarding Claim 15,
‘The non-AP device of claim 10’ (disclosed above),
Identical to Claim 6 disclosed above, ‘wherein the second SIG field includes a control information indicating whether the plurality of pilot tones are shifted in the data field.’
Regarding Claim 16,
‘The non-AP device of claim 10’ (disclosed above),
Identical to Claim 7 disclosed above, ‘wherein the second SIG field includes a control information of a puncturing pattern indicating a punctured subchannel of operating bandwidth.’
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/29/2025 have been fully considered but they are
not persuasive. Applicant’s arguments do not comply with 37 CFR 1.111(c) because they do not clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. Further, they do not show how the amendments avoid such references or objections.
Arguments:
Examiner Interview
Applicant thanks the Examiner for holding a telephone interview on December 22, 2025. The Applicant and the Examiner discussed an amendment to claim 1 reflected above in view of the art and the § 102 rejection. No official agreement was reached
Response to Rejections under 35 U.S.C. §102
Claims 1, 8-10, and 17-19 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102 as allegedly being
anticipated by Cao. "A claim is anticipated only if each and every element set forth in the claim is found, either expressly or inherently described, in a single prior art reference." Verdegaal Bros. v Union Oil Co. of California, 814 F.2d at 628. Applicant respectfully submits that independent claim 1 is patentable over the cited references because Cao does not teach or suggest all of the features of the claims. For example, Cao fails to teach or suggest at least the emphasized portions of claim 1 including:
“An access point (AP) device for facilitating wireless communication, the AP device comprising:
a processor configured to generate a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) including a first short training field (STF), a first long training field (LTF), a first signal (SIG) field, a repeated first signal (R-SIG) field, a second SIG field, a second STF, one or more second LTFs, and a data field, the data field including a plurality of pilot tones in a plurality of symbols, wherein a group of pilot tones is shifted from symbol to symbol within a group of subcarriers during the data field; and a transceiver coupled to the processor, the transceiver configured to transmit the PPDU to a non-AP device,
wherein the group of subcarriers is a multiple resource unit [[RU]] (MRU),wherein the MRU comprises a plurality of RUs and the group of pilot tones is shifted from symbol to symbol within the entire MRU during the data field, the plurality of RUs comprising a plurality of different sizes associated with the plurality of RUs,
wherein the group of pilot tones is shifted based on the entire MRU regardless of an individual size of any of the plurality of RUs, wherein at least one first RU of the plurality of RUs has a first size and at least one second RU of the plurality of RUs has a second size, the first size being different than the second size”.
Cao is generally directed to generating "a Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) that includes a resource unit (RU) having a size that is less than a spreading frequency block by using one or more predetermined pilot and/or data tone mapping plans." Cao, Abstract. Cao goes on to discuss four pilot tone mapping plans. However, in Cao, each tone mapping plan is based on an individual RU size-e.g., the tone mapping plan considers the size of each individual RU unit when generating the pilot tone shifts. For example, Cao discusses a first pilot tone mapping plan where "with the first pilot tone mapping plan, the pilots of different dRUs of one size are defined at the same logical location within each dRU ...For example, the first pilot tone is in the 6th tone of the starting tonefor all dRU26." Cao, col. 16 1n. 39-44. Accordingly, the first scheme defines the shift as the same for each dRU size. Cao then goes on to discuss a second pilot tone mapping plan, where in "accordance with the second pilot tone mapping plan, the pilots of different dRUs of one size are mapped or distributed following the similar spreading rule as used to map or distribute the data tones, but the logical location of pilots varies from dRU to dRU." Id., col. 17 1n. 5-15. That is, the second plan varies the logical positions, but the pilots of one size are otherwise mapped the same. Cao further discusses a third pilot mapping plan where "the pilot subcarrier and resource allocation plan inserts pilot tones for transmission by distributing pilot tones for different dRUs of one size following the same mapping rule as for distributing data tones, but with a different offset for each of the different dRUs of the same size." Id. col 18, ln. 10-18. Finally, Cao goes on to discuss a fourth pilot tone mapping scheme which describes a "Shifted Logical Pilot Location for Smallest dRU size and Union Pilot Selection for Larger dRUs." Id., col. 18 ln. 19-21. That is, the final pilot tone mapping scheme involves determining the shift for the smallest dRU size and applying union rules for larger sizes. Even in the portions cited by the Office Action, Cao discusses an example where "the first set of pilot location shift values may be applied to a first half of the dRUs of a given size to generate the distributed pilot tones for the first half of the dRUs, and then a uniform shift may be applied to a second half of the dRUs of the given size to generate the distributed pilot tones for the second half of the dRUs." Id., Col. 22, ln. 14-23.
Additionally, during the Examiner Interview, Applicant was directed to Col. 36 and Col. 37 of Cao. However, even in these columns, Cao is discussing a pilot mapping tone based on a RU size. For example, the bottom of Col 36 summarizes one of the four pilot tone mapping plans by describing determining a shift for an RU having the smallest size and then using a union of a set of those smallest sizes to determine the shift for larger sizes (e.g., where the smallest size is "i" and a larger size is "j").
However, the pilot tone mapping plans in Cao are all based on individual RU sizes.
Utilizing such plans would not result in the features of claim 1. Specifically, Cao fails to teach or discuss at least "wherein the group of pilot tones is shifted based on the entire MRU regardless of an individual size of any of the plurality of RUs, wherein at least one first RU of the plurality of RUs has a first size and at least one second RU of the plurality of RUs has a second size, the first size being different than the second size," as recited in amended independent claim 1.
For example, Applicant's amendment to claim 1 is supported by paragraph [0077] of
Applicant's Specification as filed. The Specification recites that in "an embodiment, the modulo operation given in Equation 1 may be differently applied to MRU. For example, the modulo operation may be applied based on the entire MRU (small or large size MRU) which includes two or more RUs." Specifically, referring to FIG. 8A and paragraph [0077], "the modulo operation may be applied to the entire 52+26-tone MRU regardless of the size of each RU included within the 52+26-tone MRU." Applicant would like to contrast this embodiment with the alternative embodiment in the following paragraph (e.g. Paragraph [0078]). Applicant's Specification in paragraph [0078] recites that in "another embodiment, the modulo operation given in Equation 1 may be applied to each RU of the MRU (small or large size MRU) ...the modulo operation given in Equation 1 may be applied to each RU (i.e., 26-tone RU and 52-tone RU) of the MRU." Critically, Applicant Specification goes on to recite that in this embodiment
(e.g., described in paragraph [0078]), "the same modulo operation as described above using Equation 1 and Table 2 may be applied in this embodiment."
Applicant notes that during the Examiner interview, the Office stated that Equation 1 and Table 2 of Applicant's specification was the same as the idea presented in Cao. Without conceding the merits of the comparison, Applicant notes that the embodiment targeted in the claims (e.g., paragraph [0077]) is different than the embodiment the Office alleges is similar to Cao (e.g., that of Equation 1 and Table 2). To highlight the distinction between the two, Applicant also refers to paragraph [0071] of the Specification. This portion of the Specification recites that in "Table 2, each of the 52+26-tone MRU and the 106+26-tone MRU have the same number of pilot subcarriers (i.e., six) within its MRU. Considering that the 106+26-tone MRU is larger than the 52+26-tone MRU, the 52+26-tone MRU may have more pilot subcarriers than it is necessary. To increase data throughput for 52+26-tone MRU, fewer pilot tones such as only
4 pilot tones could be used for traveling pilot patterns." That is, looking at a "52+26-tone MRU" individually, as done in Cao, would always result in 6 pilot tones being used (e.g., Cao would always assign two pilot tones to the 26-tone MRU and 4 pilot tones to the 52-tone MRU based on the numbers provided in Table 2).
However, when the scheme claimed in independent claim 1 is applied (e.g., looking at the 52+26-tone MRU as a whole rather than as individual RU sizes),fewer pilot tones can be used (e.g., 4). Therefore, the embodiments in paragraphs [0077] and [0078] result in a different number of pilot tones used. As mentioned earlier, the Office contended that Equation 1 and Table 2 corresponded to the features of Cao. However, because claim 1 is directed to a different embodiment, Cao fails to teach or suggest at least "wherein the group of pilot tones is shifted based on the entire MRU regardless of an individual size of any of the plurality of RUs, wherein at least one first RU of the plurality of RUs has a first size and at least one second RU of the plurality of RUs has a second size, the first size being different than the second size."
Therefore, amended independent claim 1 is allowable over Cao.
Because independent claims 10 and 19 recite features similar to claim 1, independent
claims 10 and 19 are allowed for at least the same reasons. Additionally, because claims 8, 9, 17, 18 depend from independent claims 1 and 10, Cao fails to also teach or suggest all of the features of dependent claims 8, 9, 17, and 18. Therefore, Applicant respectfully requests that the rejection of claims 1, 8-10, and 17-19 under 35 U.S.C. §102 be withdrawn.
Response to Rejections under 35 U.S.C. X103
Dependent claims 6, 7, 15 and 16 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 for allegedly
being obvious over Cao in view of Park. Obviousness requires that all of the claim features are taught or suggested by the combination of cited references. Applicant respectfully submits that the combination of Cao in view of Park fails to teach or suggest the features of dependent claims 6, 7, 15, and 16.
Specifically, dependent claims 6, 7, 15, and 16 depend from one of independent
claims 1 and 10. Independent claims 1 and 10 are allowable over Cao for at least the reasons mentioned above. Park does not cure the deficiencies of Cao, nor does the Office Action assert otherwise. That is, Park also fails to teach or suggest at least "wherein the group of pilot tones is shifted based on the entire MRU regardless of an individual size of any of the plurality of RUs, wherein at least one first RU of the plurality of RUs has a first size and at least one second RU of the plurality of RUs has a second size, the first size being different than the second size." Accordingly, the combination of Cao and Park fails to teach or suggest the limitations of dependent claims 6, 7, 15, and 16.
Therefore, Applicant respectfully requests that the rejection of claims 4, 7, 15, and 16 under 35 U.S.C. §103 be withdrawn.
Examiners response:
With respect to applicant’s arguments/remarks, examiner responses are:
Examiner reviewed the applicant’s arguments/remarks and further amended claims and
provided relevant disclosure in the office actions from the closest and relevant prior
art that covers the subject matters. Addressed all the claims and applicant’s
argument/remarks disclosed from the presented prior arts “CAO”, and “Park”.
Regarding the amended claim 1, 10 and 19,
‘wherein the group of subcarriers is a multiple RUs that is MRU, wherein the MRU comprises a plurality of RUs and the group of pilot tones is shifted from symbol to symbol within the entire MRU during the data field, the plurality of RUs comprising a plurality of different sizes associated with the plurality of RUs,
wherein the group of pilot tones is shifted based on the entire MRU regardless of an individual size of any of the plurality of RUs, wherein at least one first RU of the plurality of RUs has a first size and at least one second RU of the plurality of RUs has a second size, the first size being different than the second size’
Examiner provided relevant disclosure in this OA of CAO.
Disclosure though, CAO includes dRUs that is distributed/scattered RUs and spread across entire bandwidth yet the dRU [Wingdings font/0xE0] MRUs as these are multiple-RUs.
Fig. 2A, uses mod operation includes:
Encoder[Wingdings font/0xE0]stream parser[Wingdings font/0xE0] modulator[Wingdings font/0xE0] dRU tone mapper[Wingdings font/0xE0]spatial mapper [Wingdings font/0xE0] IFFT
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CAO Tone-map-plan design [Wingdings font/0xE0] disclosure claim 4-6 and 8 summarized here,
Includes equation to perform of mod operation,
i as k=mod(i-1:RU size)+1, pilot tone map plan defines index of a plurality of dRUs having a size (RU size), a plurality of i distributed RUs which each have j pilot tones spread across frequency block. Col. 35 [0043-0047].
Pilot tone map plan [Wingdings font/0xE0] first set of pilot locations for a plurality of i dRUs smallest size by shifting and uses a different shift value for each of plurality of i dRUs
Pilot tone map plan [Wingdings font/0xE0] predefined offset to the first logical pilot locations to define a second set of pilot locations for a plurality of j dRUs larger size than the plurality of i dRUs Col. 37 [0001-0006].
Equation k=mod(i-1:RU size)+1 includes a variable “RU size” that is not a specific size rather this can be a variable sizes as disclosure, Claims 4-6 and 8 distinctly specifies union of a first set smallest size to a second set of larger size.
Examiner respectfully thanks to attorney and applicant for their time and effort.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to
applicant's disclosure:
S. Kim and J. -H. Yun, "Wider-Bandwidth Operation of IEEE 802.11 for Extremely High Throughput: Challenges and Solutions for Flexible Puncturing," in IEEE Access, vol. 8, pp. 213840-213853, 2020 (Year: 2020); Disclosure important subject matters: puncturing was first introduced in IEEE 802.11ax to relive the restriction of contiguous channel bonding and is also expected to play a key role in wider-bandwidth operations in future generations, including EHT. Within the OFDMA framework, puncturing enables the use of a set of sparsely available bandwidths in diverse patterns. A transmitting station null the RUs of the channels sensed busy and selectively transmit in idle channels; thus, there is less interference in the bandwidth regions that are already occupied by other signals, page 2. PPDU format Fig. 5 and Puncturing modes in IEEE 802.11ax. The related work of this paper, analyzed the relationships between the transmission, carrier sense, and interference ranges for channel bonding, and proposed a dynamic bandwidth selection protocol. Channel selection for channel bonding was considered for higher bandwidth utilization. Main contribution of this paper, the signaling structure adapt to the channel loads (or bandwidth patterns), two different levels of adaptation. And, the wideband operation of conventional IEEE 802.11 with the contiguous channel bonding rule and described how the new puncturing mechanism of IEEE 802.11ax facilitates higher bandwidth utilization. IEEE 802.11ax is designed to overcome the limitations of contiguous channel bonding to support non-contiguous channel bonding to maximize bandwidth for RUs allocation. This research works presents and introduce adaptive RU allocation signaling structure either a statistical or opportunistic that signaling of full RU allocation is guaranteed with minimal overhead. Increases bandwidth utilization and throughput. Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 illustration of wideband operation and compare/contrast between the contiguous and the non-contiguous channel bonding. Fig. 4 illustrates wideband operation puncture the RUs busy-sensed channel within the non-contiguous channel patterns.
E. Khorov, A. Kiryanov, A. Lyakhov and G. Bianchi, "A Tutorial on IEEE 802.11ax High Efficiency WLANs," in IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 197-216, Firstquarter 2019 (Year: 2019). Channel bonding and preamble puncturing.
Park, Minyoung. "Specification framework for TGah." IEEE802 (2013): 11-11. (Year: 2013). Important aspects: Spatial mapping matrix, Traveling Pilots Design include Pilot index and Pattern index.
Park, Eunsung, (US12034533B2), “Method by which multi-RU receives LDPC-tone-mapped PPDU in wireless LAN system, and apparatus”; Disclosure claim 1 to 4, A method of receive PPDU, a data field is received through a Multiple-Resource Unit (Multi-RU), and multi-RU is an RU in which a 242-tone RU and a 484-tone RU are aggregated. An index of the data tone is determined as t(k)=DTM(k mod NSD/DTM)+floor(k*DTM/NDS), where t(k) is the index of the data tone, DTM is the first parameter, k is the index of a tone to which the bitstream has been mapped, NSD is the number of data tones in the Multi-RU.
Chen et al (US-20190253296-A1), “Systems and methods of communicating via sub-bands in wireless communication networks”.
Choi et al. (US-10264554-B2), “Method and device for allocating wireless resources in bandwidths of different sizes in wireless LAN”, Fig 4 and Fig. 5 illustrates tone shift .
Yang et al (US20240259243A1), “Tone plan for wireless communication”;
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/S.A./Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/CHRISTOPHER M CRUTCHFIELD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466