DETAILED ACTION
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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 filed July 22, 2026 have been considered but 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 specifically 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 9-12, 18 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cherian et al. (US 2021/0168712) in view of Shafin et al. (US 2023/0254790).
Regarding claims 1 and 18, Cherian et al. disclose an apparatus of an access point (AP) device (Figure 10 and paragraph 125, first wireless access point; Figure 5 and paragraph 83, he wireless communication device 500 can be an example of a device for use in an AP such as the AP 102 described above with reference to FIG. 1) and a method for scheduling asynchronous transmissions by other AP devices (Figure 10 and paragraph 125), the AP device comprising processing circuitry coupled to storage (Figure 5, processor 502 coupled to memory 508), the processing circuitry configured to and the method comprising:
identify a first time for a first coordinated AP device to send a first physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) using a first frequency segment (Figure 10 step 1004, selection of other wireless access points to participate in transmission opportunity; Step 1006, allocate time and frequency resources to each of the first wireless access point and the selected wireless access points; Paragraph 123, the winning access point may assign, grant or allocate (hereinafter used interchangeably) itself one or more of the time segments and bandwidth segments and also allocate each of one or more remaining time or frequency segments to one or more other ones of the coordinated access points; Figure 11 and paragraph 133, …received from the candidate access points in respective trigger-based PPDUs in response to the CTI frame 1110 using the frequency or spatial resources allocated by the CTI frame 1110);
identify a second time different than the first time for a second coordinated AP device to send a second PPDU using a second frequency segment (Figure 10 step 1004, selection of other wireless access points to participate in transmission opportunity; Step 1006, allocate time and frequency resources to each of the first wireless access point and the selected wireless access points; Paragraph 123, the winning access point may assign, grant or allocate (hereinafter used interchangeably) itself one or more of the time segments and bandwidth segments and also allocate each of one or more remaining time or frequency segments to one or more other ones of the coordinated access points; Figure 11 and paragraph 133, …received from the candidate access points in respective trigger-based PPDUs in response to the CTI frame 1110 using the frequency or spatial resources allocated by the CTI frame 1110);
generate one or more frames comprising indications that the first coordinated AP device is to send the first PPDU using the first frequency segment and that the second coordinated AP device is to send the second PPDU using the second frequency segment (Figure 10 and paragraph 125, the first wireless access point transmits a first wireless packet [one or more frames] to the one or more selected wireless access points that includes, for each of the selected wireless access points, an indication of the set of time and frequency resources allocated to the respective wireless access point; Paragraph 226, … generate and…transmit a first wireless packet…; Figure 11 and paragraph 133, …received from the candidate access points in respective trigger-based PPDUs in response to the CTI frame 1110 using the frequency or spatial resources allocated by the CTI frame 1110); and
cause to send the one or more frames to the first coordinated AP device and the second coordinated AP device (Figure 10 and paragraph 125, the first wireless access point transmits a first wireless packet [one or more frames] to the one or more selected wireless access points [includes first and second coordinated AP devices] that includes, for each of the selected wireless access points, an indication of the set of time and frequency resources allocated to the respective wireless access point).
Cherian et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Shafin et al.: wherein the first and second coordinated AP devices are to operate without PPDU alignment (Shafin et al., Abstract, determining whether a second AP operating on a non-primary link forms an NSTR link pair with a first AP operating on a primary link; determining whether a second STA operating on the non-primary link forms an NSTR pair with a first STA operating on the primary link; transmitting frames on the non-primary link without synchronizing PPDUs [without PPDU alignment] with a frame transmission on the primary link when: the second AP does not form the NSTR link pair with the first AP, and the second STA does not form the NSTR pair with the first STA; Paragraph 55, the AP affiliated with the Mobile AP MLD and operating on the non-primary link or the associated STA affiliated with a non-AP MLD and operating on the non-primary link can transmit frames on the non-primary link without the requirement of synchronizing PPDUs with the frame transmission on the primary link unless the STA affiliated with the non-AP MLD and operating on the non-primary link is also part of an NSTR link pair with other STA affiliated with the same non-AP MLD).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Cherian et al. with the cited disclosure from Shafin et al. for the purpose of transmission efficiency (Shafin et al., Paragraph 2).
Regarding claims 2 and 19, Cherian et al. disclose wherein the first PPDU partially overlaps the second PPDU in time (Figure 10 and paragraph 160, As described above, in block 1006 of the process 1000 described with reference to FIG. 10, the first wireless access point may allocate a respective set of time and frequency resources of the TXOP 1202 to itself and to each of the selected access points. In some implementations, the time resources in each set of time and frequency resources overlap entirely throughout the duration of the TXOP 1202 while the frequency resources do not overlap over at least a portion of the bandwidth. In some other implementations or instances, the time resources may also not overlap for at least some portions of the duration [partial overlapping time resources for first and second PPDUs]. As such, in some implementations, the first wireless access point may further allocate different time resources in addition to different frequency resources).
Regarding claim 9, Cherian et al. disclose a transceiver configured to transmit and receive wireless signals comprising the one or more frames (Figure 5 and paragraph 87, radio 506 generally includes at least one radio frequency (RF) transmitter (or “transmitter chain”) and at least one RF receiver (or “receiver chain”), which may be combined into one or more transceivers).
Regarding claim 10, Cherian et al. disclose an antenna coupled to the transceiver to cause to send the wireless signals (Paragraph 87, The RF transmitters and receivers may, in turn, be coupled to one or more antennas).
Regarding claim 11, Cherian et al. a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions which when executed by one or more processors of an access point (AP) device for scheduling asynchronous transmissions by other AP devices (Figure 10 and paragraph 125; Figure 5, processor 502 coupled to memory 508) result in performing operations comprising:
identifying a first time for a first coordinated AP device to send a first physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) using a first frequency segment (Figure 10 step 1004, selection of other wireless access points to participate in transmission opportunity; Step 1006, allocate time and frequency resources to each of the first wireless access point and the selected wireless access points; Paragraph 123, the winning access point may assign, grant or allocate (hereinafter used interchangeably) itself one or more of the time segments and bandwidth segments and also allocate each of one or more remaining time or frequency segments to one or more other ones of the coordinated access points; Figure 11 and paragraph 133, …received from the candidate access points in respective trigger-based PPDUs in response to the CTI frame 1110 using the frequency or spatial resources allocated by the CTI frame 1110);
identifying a second time different than the first time for a second coordinated AP device to send a second PPDU using a second frequency segment (Figure 10 step 1004, selection of other wireless access points to participate in transmission opportunity; Step 1006, allocate time and frequency resources to each of the first wireless access point and the selected wireless access points; Paragraph 123, the winning access point may assign, grant or allocate (hereinafter used interchangeably) itself one or more of the time segments and bandwidth segments and also allocate each of one or more remaining time or frequency segments to one or more other ones of the coordinated access points; Figure 11 and paragraph 133, …received from the candidate access points in respective trigger-based PPDUs in response to the CTI frame 1110 using the frequency or spatial resources allocated by the CTI frame 1110);
generating one or more frames comprising indications that the first coordinated AP device is to send the first PPDU using the first frequency segment and that the second coordinated AP device is to send the second PPDU using the second frequency segment (Figure 10 and paragraph 125, the first wireless access point transmits a first wireless packet [one or more frames] to the one or more selected wireless access points that includes, for each of the selected wireless access points, an indication of the set of time and frequency resources allocated to the respective wireless access point; Paragraph 226, … generate and…transmit a first wireless packet…; Figure 11 and paragraph 133, …received from the candidate access points in respective trigger-based PPDUs in response to the CTI frame 1110 using the frequency or spatial resources allocated by the CTI frame 1110); and
causing to send the one or more frames to the first coordinated AP device and the second coordinated AP device (Figure 10 and paragraph 125, the first wireless access point transmits a first wireless packet [one or more frames] to the one or more selected wireless access points [includes first and second coordinated AP devices] that includes, for each of the selected wireless access points, an indication of the set of time and frequency resources allocated to the respective wireless access point).
Cherian et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Shafin et al.: wherein the first and second coordinated AP devices are to operate without PPDU alignment (Shafin et al., Abstract, determining whether a second AP operating on a non-primary link forms an NSTR link pair with a first AP operating on a primary link; determining whether a second STA operating on the non-primary link forms an NSTR pair with a first STA operating on the primary link; transmitting frames on the non-primary link without synchronizing PPDUs [without PPDU alignment] with a frame transmission on the primary link when: the second AP does not form the NSTR link pair with the first AP, and the second STA does not form the NSTR pair with the first STA; Paragraph 55, the AP affiliated with the Mobile AP MLD and operating on the non-primary link or the associated STA affiliated with a non-AP MLD and operating on the non-primary link can transmit frames on the non-primary link without the requirement of synchronizing PPDUs with the frame transmission on the primary link unless the STA affiliated with the non-AP MLD and operating on the non-primary link is also part of an NSTR link pair with other STA affiliated with the same non-AP MLD).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Cherian et al. with the cited disclosure from Shafin et al. for the purpose of transmission efficiency (Shafin et al., Paragraph 2).
Regarding claim 12, Cherian et al. disclose wherein the first PPDU partially overlaps the second PPDU in time (Figure 10 and paragraph 160, As described above, in block 1006 of the process 1000 described with reference to FIG. 10, the first wireless access point may allocate a respective set of time and frequency resources of the TXOP 1202 to itself and to each of the selected access points. In some implementations, the time resources in each set of time and frequency resources overlap entirely throughout the duration of the TXOP 1202 while the frequency resources do not overlap over at least a portion of the bandwidth. In some other implementations or instances, the time resources may also not overlap for at least some portions of the duration [partial overlapping time resources for first and second PPDUs]. As such, in some implementations, the first wireless access point may further allocate different time resources in addition to different frequency resources).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 3 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cherian et al. in view of Shafin et al. as applied to claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Sampath et al. (US 2014/0126471).
Regarding claim 3 and 13, Cherian et al. in view of Shafin et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Sampath et al.: wherein the one or more frames further comprise an indication of an energy detection threshold for use in a channel recovery process (Sampath et al., Figure 5, access points coordinate to select a value of one of a carrier sense threshold and an energy detection threshold).
Therefore, 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 system of Cherian et al. and Shafin et al. with the cited disclosure from Sampath et al. in order to tune media access parameters (Sampath et al., Abstract).
Claim(s) 4, 14 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cherian et al. in view of Shafin et al. as applied to claims 1, 11 and 18 above, and further in view of Handte et al. (US 2023/0171762).
Regarding claims 4, 14 and 20, Cherian et al. in view of Shafin et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Handte et al.: wherein the one or more frames further comprise an indication of a third frequency segment, in between the first frequency segment and the third frequency segment, to be unused (Handte et al., Abstract, first access point generates AP schedule information that schedules assignment of resources to one or more second access points, and the first access sends AP trigger information to the second access points indicating the AP schedule; Paragraph 3, In coordinated multi-AP, it is envisioned that multiple APs align their resources such that mutual interference is suppressed or minimized, and communication is spectrally efficient by use of small guard bands [unused third frequency segment]).
Therefore, 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 system of Cherian et al. and Shafin et al. with the cited disclosure from Handte et al. in order to perform spectrally efficient communication in the coordinated multi-AP system (Handte et al., Paragraph 3).
Claim(s) 5 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cherian et al. in view of Shafin et al. in view of Handte et al. as applied to claims 4 and 14 above, and further in view of Pathak et al. (US 2018/0310279).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Cherian et al. in view of Shafin et al. in view of Handte et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Pathak et al.: wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: identify a first indication, received from at least one of the first coordinated AP device or the second coordinated AP device, of a minimum frequency of separation needed between the first coordinated AP device and the second coordinated AP device (Pathak et al., Figure 4 and paragraph 81, at 450, first AP 110 [first coordinated AP] determines first list of channels, the first list of channels including a channel being used by other APs [second coordinated AP]; Figure 4 and paragraph 83, at 455, first AP 110 determines operating constraints for a channel in the list, possibly the channel being used by other APs; Figure 7 and paragraph 102, operating constraints include channel separation parameters [Abstract, minimum channel separation] indicated a bandwidth/frequency distance; Figure 4 and paragraph 84, at 460, first AP 110 transmits channel selection message to root AP 150 including first list of channels and operating constraints associated with a channel in the list, the constraints including channel separation parameters); and set the third frequency segment based on the first indication (Pathak et al., Figure 4 and paragraph 88, At 480, the root AP 150 transmits a channel selection request message that includes an indication of the first selected channel to the first AP 110 based on the constraints).
Therefore, 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 system of Cherian et al., Shafin et al. and Handte et al. with the cited disclosure from Pathak et al. in order to implement an enhanced channel selection technique that improves overall network performance for the network using multiple APs (Pathak et al., Paragraph 4).
Claim(s) 6-8, 16 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cherian et al. in view of Shafin et al. as applied to claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Lou et al. (US 2023/0163808).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Cherian et al. in view of Shafin et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Lou et al.: wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: identify a first indication, received from at least one of the first coordinated AP device or the second coordinated AP device, of a minimum transmission power that the first coordinated AP device or the second coordinated AP device can use (Lou et al., Paragraph 160, In one method, each potential shared AP [coordinated AP device] may transmit its suggested AP transmit power to the sharing AP), wherein the indications are based on the minimum transmission power (Lou et al., Paragraph 160, Sharing AP may determine the AP transmit power and set it to each shared AP in a later control frame (e.g., CTAS frame or trigger frame)). Although not specifically stated, the suggested AP transmit power from the shared AP in Lou et al. encompasses a range of transmit power options, including minimum transmission power and maximum transmission power.
Therefore, 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 system of Cherian et al. and Shafin et al. with the cited disclosure from Lou et al. in order to further enhance the AP coordination functionality of Cherian et al. by including power indications for participating APs from Lou et al.
Regarding claim 7, Cherian et al. in view of Shafin et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Lou et al.: wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: identify a first indication, received from at least one of the first coordinated AP device or the second coordinated AP device, of a maximum transmission power that the first coordinated AP device or the second coordinated AP device can use (Lou et al., Paragraph 160, In one method, each potential shared AP [coordinated AP device] may transmit its suggested AP transmit power to the sharing AP), wherein the indications are based on the maximum transmission power (Lou et al., Paragraph 160, Sharing AP may determine the AP transmit power and set it to each shared AP in a later control frame (e.g., CTAS frame or trigger frame)). Although not specifically stated, the suggested AP transmit power from the shared AP in Lou et al. encompasses a range of transmit power options, including minimum transmission power and maximum transmission power.
Therefore, 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 system of Cherian et al. and Shafin et al. with the cited disclosure from Lou et al. in order to further enhance the AP coordination functionality of Cherian et al. by including power indications for participating APs from Lou et al.
Regarding claims 8 and 17, Lou et al. disclose wherein the indications further comprise the maximum transmission power (Paragraph 160, In one method, each potential shared AP [coordinated AP device] may transmit its suggested AP transmit power to the sharing AP. Sharing AP may determine the AP transmit power and set it to each shared AP in a later control frame (e.g., CTAS frame or trigger frame)).
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 OTIS L THOMPSON, JR whose telephone number is (571)270-1953. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 6:30am - 7:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chirag G. Shah can be reached at (571)272-3144. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/OTIS L THOMPSON, JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
August 3, 2026
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