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 .
This office action is in response to Applicant’s amendment filed on 04/07/2026.
Claims 1-30 are currently pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(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.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 5, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 26, 27, and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lee et al. (US 2018/0049180 A1; hereafter LEE).
With respect to claim 1, LEE discloses a transmitter (231 in FIG. 2) for wireless communication, comprising:
one or more memories (paragraphs [0141], [0142], and [0144]); and
one or more processors (paragraphs [0141], [0142], and [0144]) operatively coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more memories and the one or more processors (paragraphs [0141], [0142], and [0144]) configured to:
detect at least one distance between the transmitter and a receiver (811, 813, 815, 817, 819 of FIG. 8; paragraphs [0075], [0076], [0077], and [0078]); and
transmit, to the receiver, information using a selected band of a wide band or a narrow band (811, 813, 815, 817, 819, 821, 823 of FIG. 8; paragraphs [0075], [0076], [0077], and [0078]),
wherein the selected band is based at least in part on whether the at least one distance satisfies a threshold (811, 813, 815, 817, 819 of FIG. 8; paragraphs [0075], [0076], [0077], and [0078], see the distance checked for being a large value or an intermediate value).
With respect to claim 2, LEE further discloses the transmitter of claim 1, wherein the transmitter comprises a drone, a user equipment (MTC, 231 of FIG. 2), an independent basic service set node, a peer-to-peer node, a neighbor aware network node, a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point, a WLAN station, or a controller device.
With respect to claim 4, LEE further discloses the transmitter of claim 1, wherein the information includes at least one of
low-traffic data or high-traffic data, the low-traffic data includes control data (paragraphs [0010] and [0011], see low data rate), event information, status information, or text information, and the high-traffic data includes a video stream or a large file.
With respect to claim 5, LEE further discloses the transmitter of claim 1, wherein the narrow band includes at least one frequency that is included in the wide band (301, 303 of FIG. 3; 711, 713 of FIG. 7).
With respect to claim 12, LEE further discloses the transmitter of claim 1, wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to:
transmit, to the receiver, at least one frame indicating the selected band (821, 823 of FIG. 8); or
receive, from the receiver, the at least one frame indicating the selected band.
With respect to claim 13, LEE discloses a receiver (231 in FIG. 2) for wireless communication, comprising:
one or more memories (paragraphs [0141], [0142], and [0144]); and
one or more processors (paragraphs [0141], [0142], and [0144]) operatively coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more memories and the one or more processors (paragraphs [0141], [0142], and [0144]) configured to:
detect at least one distance between the receiver and a transmitter (811, 813, 815, 817, 819 of FIG. 8; paragraphs [0075], [0076], [0077], and [0078]); and
receive, from the transmitter, information using a selected band of a wide band or a narrow band (811, 813, 815, 817, 819 of FIG. 8; paragraphs [0075], [0076], [0077], and [0078]),
wherein the selected band is based at least in part on whether the at least one distance satisfies a threshold (811, 813, 815, 817, 819 of FIG. 8; paragraphs [0075], [0076], [0077], and [0078], see the distance checked for being a large value or an intermediate value).
With respect to claim 14, LEE further discloses the receiver of claim 13, wherein the receiver comprises a drone, a user equipment (MTC, 231 of FIG. 2), an independent basic service set node, a peer-to-peer node, a neighbor aware network node, a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point, a WLAN station, or a controller device.
With respect to claim 16, LEE further discloses the receiver of claim 13, wherein the information includes at least one of
low-traffic data or high-traffic data, the low-traffic data includes control data (paragraphs [0010] and [0011], see low data rate), event information, status information, or text information, and the high-traffic data includes a video stream or a large file.
With respect to claim 17, LEE further discloses the receiver of claim 13, wherein the narrow band includes at least one frequency that is included in the wide band (301, 303 of FIG. 3; 711, 713 of FIG. 7).
With respect to claim 26, LEE further discloses the receiver of claim 13, wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to:
transmit, to the transmitter, at least one frame indicating the selected band (821, 823 of FIG. 8); or
receive, from the transmitter, the at least one frame indicating the selected band.
With respect to claim 27, LEE discloses a method of wireless communication (Abstract; Title) performed by a transmitter (231 in FIG. 2), comprising:
detecting at least one distance between the transmitter and a receiver (811, 813, 815, 817, 819 of FIG. 8; paragraphs [0075], [0076], [0077], and [0078]); and
transmitting, to the receiver, information using a selected band of a wide band or a narrow band (811, 813, 815, 817, 819, 821, 823 of FIG. 8; paragraphs [0075], [0076], [0077], and [0078]),
wherein the selected band is based at least in part on whether the at least one distance satisfies a threshold (811, 813, 815, 817, 819 of FIG. 8; paragraphs [0075], [0076], [0077], and [0078], see the distance checked for being a large value or an intermediate value).
With respect to claim 29, LEE discloses a method of wireless communication (Abstract; Title) performed by a receiver (231 in FIG. 2), comprising:
detecting at least one distance between the receiver and a transmitter (811, 813, 815, 817, 819 of FIG. 8; paragraphs [0075], [0076], [0077], and [0078]); and
receiving, from the transmitter, information using a selected band of a wide band or a narrow band (811, 813, 815, 817, 819, 821, 823 of FIG. 8; paragraphs [0075], [0076], [0077], and [0078]),
wherein the selected band is based at least in part on whether the at least one distance satisfies a threshold (811, 813, 815, 817, 819 of FIG. 8; paragraphs [0075], [0076], [0077], and [0078], see the distance checked for being a large value or an intermediate value).
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 3 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LEE in view of VIGER et al. (US 2026/0020013 A1; hereafter VIGER).
With respect to claim 3, LEE does not disclose the transmitter of claim 1, wherein the narrow band has a bandwidth less than 20 MHz, and the wide band has a bandwidth greater than or equal to 20 MHz.
VIGER discloses wherein the narrow band has a bandwidth less than 20 MHz, and the wide band has a bandwidth greater than or equal to 20 MHz (20 MHz primary and 20 MHz secondary of Figure 7; paragraph [0069]).
VIGER teaches the benefit of more efficient wireless operations (paragraphs [0015], [0016] and [0017]). 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 20 MHz channel bandwidths as taught by VIGER with the transmitter and receiver of LEE to produce an expected result.
With respect to claim 15, LEE does not disclose the receiver of claim 13, the narrow band has a bandwidth less than 20 MHz, and the wide band has a bandwidth greater than or equal to 20 MHz.
VIGER discloses the narrow band has a bandwidth less than 20 MHz, and the wide band has a bandwidth greater than or equal to 20 MHz (20 MHz primary and 20 MHz secondary of Figure 7; paragraph [0069]).
VIGER teaches the benefit of more efficient wireless operations (paragraphs [0015], [0016] and [0017]). 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 20 MHz channel bandwidths as taught by VIGER with the transmitter and receiver of LEE to produce an expected result.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-11, 18-25, 28, and 30 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 13, 27, and 29 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely solely on the MOURAD reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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 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.
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/BRIAN T O CONNOR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465 June 17, 2026
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