Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 18/201,252

FREQUENCY DOMAIN AGGREGATED PPDU (FA-PPDU) COMPRISING MULTIPLE PHY TYPES

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
May 24, 2023
Examiner
O CONNOR, BRIAN T
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Intel Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
85%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
94%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 85% — above average
85%
Career Allowance Rate
774 granted / 906 resolved
+25.4% vs TC avg
Moderate +8% lift
Without
With
+8.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 10m
Avg Prosecution
21 currently pending
Career history
931
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
7.9%
-32.1% vs TC avg
§103
48.5%
+8.5% vs TC avg
§102
29.3%
-10.7% vs TC avg
§112
9.4%
-30.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 906 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 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. 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, 11, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang (US 2023/0309070 A1; hereafter HUANG) in view of ZHOU et al. (US 2025/0393066 A1; hereafter ZHOU). With respect to claim 1, HUANG discloses an apparatus (101, 101a, 101b in Figure 5A) of an access point (AP) (101 in Figure 1A; 101 in Figure 5A), the AP comprising: processing circuitry (101b in Figure 5A); and memory (101a in Figure 5A), wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: generate a trigger frame (TF) (301, 302 in Figure 3; paragraph [0049], see trigger frame generated by the AP) for transmission to two or more non-AP stations (STAs) (102, 103, 104 in FIGURE 1A), the trigger frame to allocate resource units (RUs) for a trigger-based (TB) transmission (paragraphs [0055] and [0057], see the third type of transmission is for TB PPDU transmission), the processing circuitry to encode the trigger frame to include a Common Info field followed by one or more Special User Info fields (paragraphs [0058] and [0059], see the common field indicates 80 MHz channel and the special user information field indicates 160 MHz BW), wherein the Common Info field and the one or more Special User Info fields are encoded to solicit a trigger-based (TB) Frequency Aggregated Physical layer Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) (FA-PPDU) (paragraphs [0058] and [0059], see the command and special fields are used when there is a FD-A-PPDU transmission) that includes more than one PPDU of at least two different physical layer (PHY) types from the two or more STAs (paragraph [0003], see the different types of PPDU transmission from HE STAs, R1 EHT STAs and R2 EHT STAs: and paragraphs [0052], [0053], and [0055] showing three different types of Physical transmissions), the different PHY types including high-efficiency (HE), Extremely High Throughput (EHT) (paragraph [0003], see the different types of PPDU transmission from HE STAs, R1 EHT STAs and R2 EHT STAs); and decode the FA-PPDU received (paragraph [0082], see the transmission from the STA that must be decoded by the Access Point) from the two or more STAs (102, 103, 104 in FIGURE 1A). HUANG does not disclose the different PHY types including Ultra-High Rate (UHR), and UHR+. ZHOU discloses the different PHY types including Ultra-High Rate (UHR), and UHR+ (paragraphs [0044], [0045], and [0134]). ZHOU recognizes the benefit of supported next generation standard with wireless communications (paragraph [0043] and [0044]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the UHR and next-generation Wi-FI or UHR+ as taught by ZHOU with the network and method of HUANG to produce an expected result. With respect to claim 11, HUANG discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (101a in Figure 5A) that stores instructions for execution by processing circuitry (101b in Figure 5A) of an access point (AP) (101 in Figure 1A; 101 in Figure 5A), wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: generate a trigger frame (TF) (301, 302 in Figure 3; paragraph [0049], see trigger frame generated by the AP) for transmission to two or more non-AP stations (STAs) (102, 103, 104 in FIGURE 1A), the trigger frame to allocate resource units (RUs) for a trigger-based (TB) transmission (paragraphs [0055] and [0057], see the third type of transmission is for TB PPDU transmission), the processing circuitry to encode the trigger frame to include a Common Info field followed by one or more Special User Info fields (paragraphs [0058] and [0059], see the common field indicates 80 MHz channel and the special user information field indicates 160 MHz BW), wherein the Common Info field and the one or more Special User Info fields are encoded to solicit a trigger-based (TB) Frequency Aggregated Physical layer Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) (FA-PPDU) (paragraphs [0058] and [0059], see the command and special fields are used when there is a FD-A-PPDU transmission) that includes more than one PPDU of at least two different physical layer (PHY) types from the two or more STAs (paragraph [0003], see the different types of PPDU transmission from HE STAs, R1 EHT STAs and R2 EHT STAs: and paragraphs [0052], [0053], and [0055] showing three different types of Physical transmissions), the different PHY types including high-efficiency (HE), Extremely High Throughput (EHT) (paragraph [0003], see the different types of PPDU transmission from HE STAs, R1 EHT STAs and R2 EHT STAs); and decode the FA-PPDU received (paragraph [0082], see the transmission from the STA that must be decoded by the Access Point) from the two or more STAs. HUANG does not disclose the different PHY types including Ultra-High Rate (UHR), and UHR+. ZHOU discloses the different PHY types including Ultra-High Rate (UHR), and UHR+ (paragraphs [0044], [0045], and [0134]). ZHOU recognizes the benefit of supported next generation standard with wireless communications (paragraph [0043] and [0044]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the UHR and next-generation Wi-FI or UHR+ as taught by ZHOU with the network and method of HUANG to produce an expected result. With respect to claim 19, HUANG discloses an apparatus (800A, 801a, 802a in Figure 8A) of a non-access point station (STA) (102, 103, 104 in FIGURE 1A), the apparatus comprising: processing circuitry (802a in Figure 8A); and memory (801a in Figure 8A), wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: decode a trigger frame (TF) received (601, 602 in FIGURE 6) from an access point station (AP), the trigger frame (701, 702, 703, 704, 705, 706, 707, 708 in FIGURE 7) to allocate resource units (RUs) for a trigger-based (TB) transmission (paragraphs [0055] and [0057], see the third type of transmission is for TB PPDU transmission) by two or more non-AP stations (STAs), the trigger frame including a Common Info field followed by one or more Special User Info fields (paragraphs [0058] and [0059], see the common field indicates 80 MHz channel and the special user information field indicates 160 MHz BW), wherein the Common Info field and the one or more Special User Info fields are encoded to solicit a trigger-based (TB) Frequency Aggregated Physical layer Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) (FA-PPDU) (paragraphs [0058] and [0059], see the command and special fields are used when there is a FD-A-PPDU transmission) that includes more than one PPDU of at least two different physical layer (PHY) types from the two or more STAs (paragraph [0003], see the different types of PPDU transmission from HE STAs, R1 EHT STAs and R2 EHT STAs: and paragraphs [0052], [0053], and [0055] showing three different types of Physical transmissions), the different PHY types including high-efficiency (HE), Extremely High Throughput (EHT) (paragraph [0003], see the different types of PPDU transmission from HE STAs, R1 EHT STAs and R2 EHT STAs); and encode a trigger-based PPDU for transmission to the AP (paragraph [0082], see the transmission from the STA that must be decoded by the Access Point), the trigger-based PPDU being part of the FA-PPDU received from the two or more STAs. HUANG does not disclose the different PHY types including Ultra-High Rate (UHR), and UHR+. ZHOU discloses the different PHY types including Ultra-High Rate (UHR), and UHR+ (paragraphs [0044], [0045], and [0134]). ZHOU recognizes the benefit of supported next generation standard with wireless communications (paragraph [0043] and [0044]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the UHR and next-generation Wi-FI or UHR+ as taught by ZHOU with the network and method of HUANG to produce an expected result. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 2-10, 12-18, and 20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Brian T O'Connor whose telephone number is (571)270-1081. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri Flex 10am-6:30pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gary Mui can be reached at 571-270-1420. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /BRIAN T O CONNOR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465 July 22, 2026
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

May 24, 2023
Application Filed
Jul 21, 2023
Response after Non-Final Action
Jul 27, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
85%
Grant Probability
94%
With Interview (+8.2%)
2y 10m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 906 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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