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 § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4, 7-11, 14 and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhang et al. (US PG Publ. 2013/0208822 A1).
In regards to claims 1 and 11, Zhang et al. (US PG Publ. 2013/0208822 A1) teaches, a method, comprising: generating, by a processor (see figure 1) of an apparatus, a resource unit (RU) or multi-RU (MRU) (see figures 4, 5 and 6); and performing, by the processor, a wireless communication using the RU or MRU with either or both of a RU duplication and a tone repetition such that a peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) is reduced (see paragraph 42; a different phase rotation is applied to each duplicate in order to reduce the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of the transmitted signal), wherein the performing of the wireless communication using the RU or MRU with the RU duplication comprises applying a mask sequence (see paragraph 46; where a 1 MHz low bandwidth mode data unit is duplicated within each 1 MHz sub-band of a 2 MHz or wider BSS channel, one or more data tones of one or more duplicates of the tone map 90 are zeroed out or scaled down in order to meet the spectral mask of the long range communication protocol) on data tones of each duplicated RU or MRU, wherein each duplicated RU or MRU is split into two or more sections (see figure 6 and paragraph 42; The example transmission 200A corresponds to an embodiment and scenario in which the low bandwidth mode data unit is duplicated in every 1 MHz sub-band of a 4 MHz BSS channel, similar to the embodiment and scenario shown in FIG. 4. Specifically, each tone of the first duplicate 210-1 is multiplied by a phase rotation multiplier c1, each tone of the second duplicate 210-2 is multiplied by a phase rotation multiplier c2, each tone of the third duplicate 210-3 is multiplied by a phase rotation multiplier c3, and each tone of the fourth duplicate 210-4 is multiplied by a phase rotation multiplier c4, in an embodiment. In an embodiment, each of c1 through c4 has the format exp(j*.theta..sub.n), where .theta..sub.n is the phase shift for the nth 1 MHz repetition/duplicate. In various embodiments, for example, .theta..sub.n is equal to n*pi, n*pi/2, or n times a different suitable phase rotation), and wherein the applying of the mask sequence on each duplicated RU or MRU comprises applying a same rotation value on all data tones in a respective section of the two or more sections of each duplicated RU or MRU (see paragraph 46 and figures 7 and 8; FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 show example transmissions for one such embodiment, corresponding to scenarios in which a 1 MHz low bandwidth mode data unit with a tone map similar to tone map 90 is replicated within a 2 MHz BSS channel and a 4 MHz BSS channel, respectively, and where the long range communication protocol specifies guard tones for normal mode data units according to Table 1).
In regards to claims 4 and 14, Zhang teaches, wherein the applying of the mask sequence on each duplicated RU or MRU further comprises applying a respective mask sequence corresponding to a number of duplications of the RU or MRU (see paragraph 46; a 1 MHz low bandwidth mode data unit is duplicated within each 1 MHz sub-band of a 2 MHz or wider BSS channel, one or more data tones of one or more duplicates of the tone map 90 are zeroed out or scaled down in order to meet the spectral mask of the long range communication protocol. FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 show example transmissions for one such embodiment, corresponding to scenarios in which a 1 MHz low bandwidth mode data unit with a tone map similar to tone map 90 is replicated within a 2 MHz BSS channel and a 4 MHz BSS channel, respectively, and where the long range communication protocol specifies guard tones for normal mode data units according to Table 1).
In regards to claims 7 and 17, Zhang teaches wherein the performing of the wireless communication using the RU or MRU with the tone repetition further comprises applying a mask sequence on data tones of the RU or MRU (see paragraph 46; a 1 MHz low bandwidth mode data unit is duplicated within each 1 MHz sub-band of a 2 MHz or wider BSS channel, one or more data tones of one or more duplicates of the tone map 90 are zeroed out or scaled down in order to meet the spectral mask of the long range communication protocol. FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 show example transmissions for one such embodiment, corresponding to scenarios in which a 1 MHz low bandwidth mode data unit with a tone map similar to tone map 90 is replicated within a 2 MHz BSS channel and a 4 MHz BSS channel).
In regards to claims 8 and 18, Zhang teaches, wherein the performing of the wireless communication using the RU or MRU with the tone repetition further comprises repeating a group of the data tones by multiple times into multiple repeated groups, and wherein a number of tones in each repeated group depends on a size of the RU or MRU and a number of repetitions (see paragraph 46; a 1 MHz low bandwidth mode data unit is duplicated within each 1 MHz sub-band of a 2 MHz or wider BSS channel, one or more data tones of one or more duplicates of the tone map 90 are zeroed out or scaled down in order to meet the spectral mask of the long range communication protocol. FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 show example transmissions for one such embodiment, corresponding to scenarios in which a 1 MHz low bandwidth mode data unit with a tone map similar to tone map 90 is replicated within a 2 MHz BSS channel and a 4 MHz BSS channel).
In regards to claims 9 and 19, Zhang teaches, wherein each repeated group is split into two or more mask sections, and wherein the applying of the mask sequence comprises applying a same rotation value on all data tones in a respective mask section of the two or more mask sections of each repeated group (see figures 7 & 8, see paragraph 49; in an embodiment where the long range communication protocol specifies a tighter spectral mask, and/or specifies more guard tones for normal mode data units than the numbers shown in Table 1, additional tones are modified (scaled down or zeroed out) at the edge(s) of the transmission 300 of FIG. 7, and/or at the edge(s) of the transmission 350 of FIG. 8).
In regards to claims 10 and 20, Zhang teaches, wherein the mask sequence depends on a size of the RU or MRU and a number of tone repetitions (see paragraph 46; 1 MHz low bandwidth mode data unit is duplicated within each 1 MHz sub-band of a 2 MHz or wider BSS channel, one or more data tones of one or more duplicates of the tone map 90 are zeroed out or scaled down in order to meet the spectral mask of the long range communication protocol).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6 and 15-16 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 JAY P PATEL whose telephone number is (571)272-3086. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6.
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/JAY P PATEL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466