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 .
Applicant Response filed 7/10/2026 is acknowledged.
No claims have been amended, cancelled or added.
Claims 1-20 as filed 3/30/2023 remain pending.
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.
Claims 1, 5, 6, and 9-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chu et al. (US20200107393A1), hereafter Chu, in view of Zhang et al. (US20210219315A1; cited in IDS filed 7/25/2024), hereafter Zhang.
Regarding claims 1 and 16-18,
Chu discloses an apparatus (Fig. 1, client station 154-1) comprising logic and circuitry (PHY 170, MAC 166, Host 158), at least one radio to transmit the PPDU (Fig. 1, Tx/Rx 174; Fig. 3A-B, Radio-1/-2 328/336) and one or more antennas (Fig. 1, antennas 178) connected to the radio, and a processor to execute instructions of an operating systemand product comprising one or more tangible computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising instructions operable to, when executed by at least one processor, enable the at least one processor to cause the wireless communication station (paragraph 177; Fig. 1, client station 154-1) to generate a plurality of encoded-modulated data streams (Abstract; paragraph 47; PPDU of multiple data streams) based on a data field of a PPDU (Fig. 2A, PHY data portion 208) to be transmitted over a channel BW, the plurality of encoded-modulated data streams configured based on a plurality of channel BW segments in the channel BW (Fig. 4-6; paragraphs 50-51, 60-63, 67-69, 72-84; channel segments/bands corresponding to multi-channel for the plurality of data streams of the PPDU), wherein the plurality of encoded-modulated data streams comprises a first encoded-modulated data stream according to a first MCS corresponding to a first channel BW segment, and a second encoded-modulated data stream according to a second MCS corresponding to a second channel BW segment, wherein the second MCS is different from the first MCS (paragraph 98, 108; different MCS values of different segments corresponding to the plurality of data streams).
Chu further discloses to transmit a plurality of transmissions based on the plurality of encoded-modulated data streams over the plurality of channel BW segments, wherein the plurality of transmissions comprises a first transmission over the first channel BW segment based on the first encoded-modulated data stream, and a second transmission over the second channel BW segment based on the first encoded-modulated data stream (paragraph 98, 108; different MCS values of different channel segments corresponding to the plurality of data streams; different MCS values for transmission are related between main/subsidiary bands/segments).
To the extent that Chu does not expressly disclose a plurality of encoded data streams based on the same PPDU, the streams having different first/second MCS, further analogous prior art to Zhang (Title: Multi-Band Communication) discloses a plurality of encoded data streams based on the same PPDU, the streams having different first/second MCS (Fig. 5; paragraph 89-90; PHY data portions 524 and 532 of a single PPDU using different first/second MCS).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to modify Chu by providing a plurality of encoded data streams based on the same PPDU, the streams having different first/second MCS, as shown by Zhang, thereby enabling a single PPDU to convey multiple data streams having different MCS values.
Regarding claims 5 and 6,
The combination of Chu and Zhang discloses to transmit channel BW segment configuration information to indicate a configuration of the plurality of channel BW segments, wherein the channel BW segment configuration information comprises at least one of channel BW segment size information, channel BW segment count information, or channel BW segment allocation information (paragraphs 23, 45, 50-54, 98-101, 106-109; signaling PHY communication parameters, i.e. MCS/number of streams/contiguous/non-contiguous and/or synchronous/asynchronous frequency bands configurations of the plurality of channel segments provided to the client stations by the network).
Regarding claim 9,
The combination of Chu and Zhang discloses a segment size of the plurality of channel BW segments to be equal to or greater than a predefined minimal channel BW segment size (Fig. 4-6; paragraph 17; suitable bandwidth in increments of 20 MHz).
Regarding claim 10,
The combination of Chu and Zhang discloses to transmit the first transmission according to a first transmit power, and to transmit the second transmission according to a second transmit power different from the first transmit power (paragraph 93-96, 128-131; Fig. 8, step 806; enter power save mode on only some of the component channels/segments).
Regarding claims 11 and 15,
The combination of Chu and Zhang discloses a channel BW segment of the plurality of channel BW segments comprises a frequency sub-channel having a sub-channel width of at least 20 MHz and the channel BW is at least 80 MHz (Fig. 5-6; paragraph 17, 43).
Regarding claim 12,
The combination of Chu and Zhang discloses a channel BW segment of the plurality of channel BW segments comprises a frequency Resource Unit (RU) (paragraph 47).
Regarding claim 13,
The combination of Chu and Zhang discloses the plurality of channel BW segments covers an entirety of channel BW (Fig. 5-6; main + subsidiary bands covers the entire BSS operating channel).
Regarding claim 14,
The combination of Chu and Zhang discloses the first channel BW segment covers at least 50% of the channel BW (Fig. 5-6; main band covers half of the BSS operating channel).
Claims 2-4 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chu and Zhang in view of Sawahashi et al. (US20090217120A1), hereafter Sawahashi.
Regarding claims 2-4 and 19,
The combination of Chu and Zhang discloses utilizing different MCS values for more efficient use of the channel segments including priority, quality of service, data rate vs. decodability (paragraph 85, 90, 98, 101) but fails to expressly disclose to determine the first MCS to be higher than the second MCS based on a determination that an interference level over the second channel BW segment is higher than an interference level over the first channel BW segment, or to set the first channel BW segment to include a channel BW segment having an interference level below an interference threshold while setting the second channel BW segment to include a channel BW segment having an interference level above the interference threshold.
Sawahashi discloses analogous art including determining the first MCS to be higher than the second MCS based on a determination that an interference level over the second channel BW segment is higher than an interference level over the first channel BW segment (Fig. 2; paragraph 57-65; appropriate MCS is employed based on signal-to-interference ratio/SIR being less than or greater than various predetermined thresholds S1, S2….SS) and setting the first channel BW segment to include a channel BW segment having an interference level below an interference threshold while setting the second channel BW segment to include a channel BW segment having an interference level above the interference threshold (paragraphs 58-63 describes example relation of modulation/MCS employed based on SIR less than threshold S3 but greater than threshold S2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing to modify Chu and Zhang by determining the first MCS to be higher than the second MCS based on a determination that an interference level over the second channel BW segment is higher than an interference level over the first channel BW segment, and setting the first channel BW segment to include a channel BW segment having an interference level below an interference threshold while setting the second channel BW segment to include a channel BW segment having an interference level above the interference threshold, as shown by Sawahashi, thereby enabling frequency diversity and higher error correction capability while reducing fluctuations in received SIR.
Claims 7, 8, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chu and Zhang in view of Veerashetty et al. (US20220216937A1), hereafter Veerashetty.
Regarding claims 7, 8, and 20,
The combination of Chu and Zhang discloses dynamically indicating changes to operating mode and bandwidth of a client station (paragraph 96) but fails to expressly disclose to negotiate a configuration of one or more of the plurality of channel BW segments with another STA based on a capability indication to indicate a capability of the STA to communicate PPDUs according to a multi-MCS channel BW segmentation.
Veerashetty discloses analogous art for communicating PPDU via a number of streams with different MCS (Background paragraphs 7-24) including negotiating a configuration of one or more of the plurality of channel BW segments with another STA based on a capability indication to indicate a capability of the STA to communicate PPDUs according to a multi-MCS channel BW segmentation (paragraphs 71-81, 132; negotiation of steams and different MCS support and signaling of capabilities between stations).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to modify Chu and Zhang by negotiating a configuration of one or more of the plurality of channel BW segments with another STA based on a capability indication to indicate a capability of the STA to communicate PPDUs according to a multi-MCS channel BW segmentation, as shown by Veerashetty, thereby enabling an informed decision on MCS to employ for optimal performance.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection relies on the newly-cited Zhang reference for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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/GREGORY B SEFCHECK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
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