DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
2. Claims 1-2, 8, 17-19, and 21-22 are pending wherein claims 1 and 17 are in independent form.
3. Claims 1, 8, and 17-19 have been amended. In view of amendments, rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph have been withdrawn.
4. Claims 3 and 20 have been cancelled. Claims 4-7 and 9-16 have been withdrawn.
5. Claims 21-22 have been added newly.
Response to Arguments
6. Applicant's arguments filed on 03/16/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The reasons set forth below.
7. On page 7 of the remarks, applicant argues, “The Examiner points to Figure 15, and paragraphs [0161] and [0178-0183] of Oteri. While Oteri may disclose an indication of synchronous transmission, Oteri does not appear to discuss asynchronous transmissions at all, and thus does not disclose information indicating whether a type of a subsequent transmission is asynchronous or synchronous, or how frequency resources are controlled for asynchronous transmissions.”
In response, examiner respectfully disagrees because:
Oteri discloses that AP1 transmits a first trigger frame indicating synchronized transmission from multiple access points (AP1, AP2). The first trigger frame includes transmission frequency information that regulates the frequency used by multiple APs for data transmission to the STA (Fig. 15, Par 0173, Par 0177-0179, Par 0182-0183). Claim further defines asynchronous transmission in which the communication apparatus does not control the frequency resource used by another communication apparatus for the subsequent transmission. Based on the definition of claimed asynchronous transmission, Oteri teaches asynchronous transmission when AP2 selects the frequency resource (selecting channel 3, desired frequency, Par 0198, Par 0202) for subsequent transmission (data 2) to the STA.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
8. 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.
9. Claims 1-2, 17, and 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Oteri et al (US 20220030611, hereinafter referred to as Oteri).
Re claim 1, Oteri teaches a communication apparatus (AP1, Fig. 15), comprising:
(i) circuitry (processor, Par 0274), which in operation, generates a frame (first trigger frame, Fig. 15) comprising information (transmission frequency information/absence of transmission frequency information) indicating whether a type of a subsequent transmission (multi-AP data transmission of Data1, Data2, Fig. 15) is asynchronous (absence of transmission frequency information in the first trigger frame indicating AP2/other AP selects the desired transmission frequency, Par 0173, Par 0178-0179, Par 0202) or synchronous (first trigger frame including transmission frequency information indicating synchronized transmission, Par 0173, Par 0177-0179, Par 0182-0183); and
(ii) a transmitter (radio frequency transceiver, Par 0274), which in operation, transmits the frame (first trigger frame, Fig. 15) to another communication apparatus (AP2, STA) (Fig. 15, Par 0160-0162, Par 0181-0183, Par 0186, Par 0208), wherein
(iii) when the type of subsequent transmission is asynchronous (absence of transmission frequency information in the first trigger frame), the communication apparatus does not control a frequency resource on which the another communication apparatus performs the subsequent transmission (AP2 selects the desired transmission frequency) (Fig. 15, Par 0198, Par 0202); and
(iv) when the type of subsequent transmission is synchronous (first trigger frame including transmission frequency information indicating synchronized transmission), the communication apparatus (AP1) controls the frequency resource (AP1 regulates the transmission frequency) (Fig. 15, Par 0173, Par 0177-0179, Par 0182-0183).
Claim 17 recites a method performing the functions recited in claim 1 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 1.
Re claim 2, Oteri teaches that the communication apparatus (AP1) and the another communication apparatus (AP2) are access points (APs) (Fig. 15, Par 0181-0183, Par 0186, Par 0190, Par 0197, Par 0199).
Re claim 21, Oteri teaches that the communication apparatus and the another communication apparatus perform coordinated transmission (AP1 and AP2 perform coordinated transmission) (Fig. 15, Par 0155-0157, Par 0161-0164, Par 0173, Par 0177-0179, Par 0182-0183, Par 0186, Par 0194-0202).
Re claim 22, Oteri teaches that the communication apparatus and the another communication apparatus perform orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (C-OFDMA) transmission (Fig. 2, Par 0100-0103, Par 0169, Par 0225).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
10. 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.
11. Claims 8 and 18-19, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oteri as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Viger et al (US 20230217491, hereinafter referred to as Viger).
Re claims 8, 18, 19, Oteri teaches that the frame is a multiple access point (MAP) trigger frame (first trigger frame) (Fig. 15, Par 0160-0162).
Oteri does not explicitly disclose that when a block-acknowledgement (BA) Soliciting Manner subfield in the MAP trigger frame is indicated as ‘triggered response scheduling (TRS) Control field or Trigger frame’, the transmitter may be configured to transmit a frame carrying a TRS Control subfield or a MAP BlockAck Scheduling (MBS) Control subfield to indicate parameters of BlockAck frame to an associated STA.
Viger teaches that when a block-acknowledgement (BA) Soliciting Manner subfield in the MAP trigger frame is indicated as ‘triggered response scheduling (TRS) Control field or Trigger frame (TRS field triggering a response), the transmitter may be configured to transmit a frame carrying a TRS Control subfield or a MAP BlockAck Scheduling (MBS) Control subfield to indicate parameters of BlockAck frame to an associated STA (DL frame including TRS subfield is sent to non-AP station) (Fig. 11, Par 0247-0250).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Oteri by including the step that when a block-acknowledgement (BA) Soliciting Manner subfield in the MAP trigger frame is indicated as ‘triggered response scheduling (TRS) Control field or Trigger frame’, the transmitter may be configured to transmit a frame carrying a TRS Control subfield or a MAP BlockAck Scheduling (MBS) Control subfield to indicate parameters of BlockAck frame to an associated STA, as taught by Viger for the purpose of providing “efficient mechanisms to perform synchronized multi-AP operation”, as taught by Viger (Par 0015).
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 HARUN UR R CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)270-3895. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang B Yao can be reached at 5712723182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HARUN CHOWDHURY/ Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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