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 .
Responsive to amendments filed 03/06/2026.
Claims 1, and 19-20 are amended. Claims 1-7,9-10,13, and 15-23 remain pending.
Response to Arguments
The FOR reference used in the rejection had been misnumbered by mistake in the prior office action, and has been corrected hereby.
Applicant’s amendments and remarks have been fully considered and they are not persuasive.
Regarding Applicant’s arguments under the “Feature 1” premise, the Examiner respectfully disagrees. For ease the claim language is replicated here:
“wherein in an uplink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) based random access (UORA) procedure performed by an STA, when the trigger frame is received by the STA from the AP, the trigger frame is used by the STA to determine whether a OFDMA random access backoff (OBO) counter is greater than a number of RA-RUs in a first RA-RU set indicated in the received trigger frame; in response to determining that the OBO counter is greater than the number of RA-RUs in the first RA-RU set, decrement the OBO counter by the number of RA-RUs in the first RA-RU set and stop the UORA procedure; and, in response to determining that the OBO counter is not greater than the number of RA-RUs in the first RA-RU set, randomly select one of RA-RUs in a second RA-RU set indicated in the received trigger frame and transmit a TB PPDU at the selected RA-RU, wherein the second RA-RU set is different from the first RA-RU set”
Firstly, Applicant’s argument that the cited reference does not disclose two different RA-RU sets used as a “decrement benchmark set” and a “transmission pool set”, this is not language included or implied in the claims. The claims as they stand recite:
a user information field, in a trigger frame, that allocates one or more contiguous RA-RUs to either one of associated STAs or to unassociated STAs,
using the trigger frame, and the user information field, by the STA to determine whether OBO counter is or is not greater than a number of RA-RUs in a first RA-RU set,
if the OBO > than the number, the counter is decremented by the number of RA-RUs, if the OBO ≤ than the number, randomly selecting one RA-RU in a second set.
As can be seen from the above, there is no clear link between the contiguous RA-RUs allocated in the trigger frame by the user information field, and a first set of RA-RUs or a second set of RA-RUs. If these sets are somehow distinct to the RA-RUs allocated by the trigger frame, how are they distinct, or how are they specified as distinct? Are the sets allocated to associated STAs considered a first set, and the ones allocated to unassociated STAs considered a second set? The “and/or” language in the claims does not require both contiguous sets to be allocated; thus, with the claims as they stand, only a contiguous set is allocated, either for associated STAs or for unassociated STAs. Moreover, with the claims as they stand, the first and second RA-RU sets can only be derived from the contiguous RA-RUs allocated by the user information field. In light of this, the teachings of the reference are believed to meet the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claims. Namely, Chitrakar discloses a trigger frame that allocates RA-RUs to stations (page 2, lines 8-9; page 6, lines 4-15, amongst others); the stations determining whether an OBO counter is greater than (or not greater than) a number of RA-RUs in a set indicated by the trigger frame (page 7, lines 1-7; page 11, lines 20-28, amongst others); and if the OBO > than the number, the counter is decremented by the number of RA-RUs, if the OBO ≤ than the number, randomly selecting one RA-RU in a second set (page 7, lines 1-7; page 8, lines 6-25; page 9, lines 8-18; page 11, lines 20-28, amongst others). Since stations can be allocate with RA-RUs in both 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands, these are interpreted as a first and a second set, and they are believed to meet the language of the first and second sets being different. The reference is believed to meet the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claims as they stand.
With regards to “Feature 2” in the remarks, the Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant’s arguments. Firstly, the claim language recites “wherein the set of STAs comprises high efficiency (HE) STAs and/or extremely high throughput (EHT) STAs”; thus, the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claims does not require the set of STAs to comprise both HE STAs and EHT STAs, but only one of the HE STAs or EHT STAs, and only that set of STAs to decrement the OBO at a same pace. Secondly, barring any clarification as to what exactly decrementing the OBO “at a same pace” represent or how that links to the rest of the claim language, all STAs using the same parameters or process when decrementing the OBO, as the STAs in the Chitrakar reference do, is believed to meet the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claims.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-7, 9-10, 13, and 15-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwai et al. (US Patent Application Publication 2023/0403722; hereinafter Iwai) in view of Chitrakar et al. (WO 2020/112021; hereinafter Chitrakar).
Regarding claim 1 Iwai discloses a wireless communication method, comprising:
configuring, by an access point (AP), a trigger based (TB) aggregated physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (A-PPDU) to a set of stations (STAs) (paragraphs 0057, 0063, 0168; configuring a single trigger frame indicating a trigger for HE, EHT, and EHT+ stations), wherein:
in a trigger frame,
when an association identifier (AID) subfield of a user information field is set to a first value and a value range of the first value is [2008, 2044] or [2047, 4094], the user information field allocates one or more contiguous random access resource units (RA-RUs) with a same size for associated STAs in the set of STAs (paragraphs 0177-0179, 0191-0193; figs. 22 and 26; wherein with an AID value of 2009 or 2012 the user information field allocates RA-Rus for associated stations, with both 2009 and 2012 falling in the range [2008, 2044] and with the or language only one of the ranges is required to be met), and/or
when the AID subfield is set to a second value different from the first value and a value range of the second value is [2008, 2044] or [2047, 4094], the user information field allocates one or more contiguous RA-RUs with a same size for unassociated STAs in the set of STAs (please note that the “and/or” in the claim requires only one of the “when” statements to be met for the claim, and the reference meets the above statement),
Iwai further discloses an uplink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) based random access (UORA) procedure performed by the STA (paragraph 0170; UORA), when the trigger frame is received by the STA from the AP, the STA decrements a OFDMA random access backoff (OBO) counter according to a first RA-RU set indicated in the received trigger frame (paragraph 0165; backoff counter decrements until becoming zero).
Iwai does not explicitly disclose but Chitrakar, in the same field of endeavor related to random access resources in a TB A-PDDU, discloses wherein in an uplink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) based random access (UORA) procedure performed by an STA (page 6, lines 16-31; UORA procedure), when the trigger frame is received by the STA from the AP, the trigger frame is used by the STA to determine whether a OFDMA random access backoff (OBO) counter is greater than a number of RA-RUs in a first RA-RU set indicated in the received trigger frame (page 7, lines 1-7; wherein the STA decrements its OBO counter by the number of eligible RA-RU in the TF when the counter is greater than a number of eligible RA-RUs (as indicated by the otherwise)); in response to determining that the OBO counter is greater than the number of RA-RUs in the first RA-RU set, decrement the OBO counter by the number of RA-RUs in the first RA-RU set (page 7, lines 1-7; wherein the STA decrements its OBO counter by the number of eligible RA-RU in the TF when the counter is greater than a number of eligible RA-RUs (as indicated by the otherwise)) and stop the UORA procedure (page 9, lines 8-16; if OBO is not smaller or equal to (i.e. greater than) the number of eligible RA-RUs, counter is decremented and the UORA process stops, reverting to waiting for a TF); and, in response to determining that the OBO counter is not greater than the number of RA-RUs in the first RA-RU set, randomly select one of RA-RUs in a second RA-RU set indicated in the received trigger frame and transmit a TB PPDU at the selected RA-RU (page 9, lines 15-23; when the OBO is smaller or equal to the number of eligible RA-RU, the STA can randomly select one of the RA-RU), wherein the second RA-RU set is different from the first RA-RU set (page 7, lines 1-7; page 8, lines 6-25; page 9, lines 8-18; page 11, lines 20-28, amongst others. Since stations can be allocate with RA-RUs in both 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands, these are interpreted as a first and a second set, and they are believed to meet the language of the first and second sets being different); and wherein the set of STAs comprises high efficiency (HE) STAs and/or extremely high throughput (EHT) STAs, when the trigger frame is received by the set of STAs, associated HE STAs decrement their respective OBO counters at a same pace as associated EHT STAs (figures 5-6, 8-9; all STAs decrement their counters equally, regardless of which band(s) they are operating in). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teachings of Iwai with the teachings of Chitrakar, in order to improve network performance by increasing transmissions probability (Chitrakar: page 7, lines 26-27).
Regarding claim 2 the modified Iwai discloses the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the AID subfield comprises an AID12 subfield (paragraph 0053; AID12 subfield of the User Info field is used for indication of an Association ID (AID)).
Regarding claim 3 the modified Iwai discloses the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame is used to solicit a TB A-PPDU transmission from the HE STAs and/or the EHT STAs (paragraphs 0013, 0213; a trigger frame that requests a trigger-based (TB) physical-layer protocol data unit (PPDU)).
Regarding claim 4 the modified Iwai discloses the wireless communication method of claim 3, wherein: if the AID subfield is set to the first value, the associated STAs comprises associated EHT STAs (see figure 22, AID=2009 for EHT stations), and/or the trigger frame further comprises a user information field with an AID subfield set to 0 (see figure 22, AID=0 for associated stations); and/or if the AID subfield is set to the second value, the unassociated STAs comprises unassociated EHT STAs (with the or language only one of the limitations are required to be met), and/or the trigger frame further comprises a user information field with an AID subfield set to 2045 (figure 22, AID=2045 for unassociated stations).
Regarding claim 5 the modified Iwai discloses the wireless communication method of claim 3, wherein the first value of the AID subfield comprises 2043, and/or the second value of the AID subfield comprises 2044 (paragraphs 0124, 0127-0129 (i.e., new AID=2044 or 2043)).
Regarding claim 6 the modified Iwai discloses the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame comprises a user information list field, and the user information field with the AID subfield set to the first value or the second value is placed at an end of the user information list field of the trigger frame (paragraph 0112; all the bits for the information in and after the subfield are one till the end).
Regarding claim 7 the modified Iwai discloses the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the user information field with the AID subfield set to the first value or the second value and the user information field with the AID subfield set to 0 or 2045 are placed at an end of a user information list field of the trigger frame (paragraphs 0098, 0111-0112; all the bits for the information in and after the subfield are one till the end).
Regarding claim 9 the modified Iwai discloses the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the first RA-RU set comprises eligible RA-RUs for the STAs indicated in the received trigger frame (paragraphs 0164-0165; allocation occasion of an RA-RU is acquired).
Regarding claim 10 the modified Iwai discloses the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the first RA-RU set comprises eligible RA-RUs for extremely high throughput (EHT) STAs or for high efficiency (HE) STAs indicated in the received trigger frame (paragraphs 0164-0168; acquire an access occasion by the RA-RUs in the HE and EHT formats, and EHT+).
Regarding claim 13 the modified Iwai discloses the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein if the STA determines the OBO counter is not greater than the number of RA-RUs in the first RA-RU set, the STA decrements the OBO counter to zero (paragraph 0165; backoff counter decrements until becoming zero).
Regarding claim 15 the modified Iwai discloses the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the second RA-RU set comprises eligible RA-RUs for the STAs indicated in the received trigger frame (paragraphs 0164-0165; allocation occasion of an RA-RU is acquired).
Regarding claim 16 the modified Iwai discloses the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the second RA-RU set comprises eligible RA-RUs for the EHT STAs, especially for the EHT STAs, or for the HE STAs indicated in the received trigger frame (paragraphs 0164-0165; allocation occasion of an RA-RU is acquired).
Regarding claim 17 the modified Iwai discloses the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein a format of the transmitted TB PPDU depends on whether the selected RA-RU is a RA-RU for the HE STAs or a RA-RU especially for the EHT STAs (paragraph 0213; a PPDU format of an uplink signal indicated by a Trigger frame, a PPDU format corresponding to the format of the User Info field of the Trigger frame may be applied. In other words, the uplink signal indicated in the User Info field in an HE format may be transmitted in an HE TB PPDU format. Alternatively, the uplink signal indicated in the User Info field in an EHT format may be transmitted in an EHT TB PPDU format).
Regarding claim 18 the modified Iwai discloses the wireless communication method of claim 17, wherein if the selected RA-RU is the RA- RU for the HE STAs, the transmitted TB PPDU is a HE TB PPDU (paragraph 0213; a PPDU format of an uplink signal indicated by a Trigger frame, a PPDU format corresponding to the format of the User Info field of the Trigger frame may be applied. In other words, the uplink signal indicated in the User Info field in an HE format may be transmitted in an HE TB PPDU format. Alternatively, the uplink signal indicated in the User Info field in an EHT format may be transmitted in an EHT TB PPDU format).
Regarding claim 19 Iwai discloses an access point (AP) (fig. 7), comprising:
a memory (controller 11 in figure 7);
a transceiver (transceiver 109 in figure 7); and
a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver (controller 11 in figure 7);
wherein the processor is configured to configure a trigger based (TB) aggregated physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (A-PPDU) to a set of stations (STAs) (paragraphs 0057, 0063, 0168; configuring a single trigger frame indicating a trigger for HE, EHT, and EHT+ stations),
wherein in a trigger frame,
when an association identifier (AID) subfield of a user information field is set to a first value and a value range of the first value is [2008, 2044] or [2047, 4094], the user information field allocates one or more contiguous random access resource units (RA-RUs) with a same size for associated STAs in the set of STAs (paragraphs 0177-0179, 0191-0193; figs. 22 and 26; wherein with an AID value of 2009 or 2012 the user information field allocates RA-Rus for associated stations, with both 2009 and 2012 falling in the range [2008, 2044] and with the or language only one of the ranges is required to be met), and/or when the AID subfield is set to a second value different from the first value and a value range of the second value is [2008, 2044] or [2047, 4094], the user information field allocates one or more contiguous RA-RUs with a same size for unassociated STAs in the set of STAs (please note that the “and/or” in the claim requires only one of the “when” statements to be met for the claim, and the reference meets the above statement).
Iwai further discloses an uplink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) based random access (UORA) procedure performed by the STA (paragraph 0170; UORA), when the trigger frame is received by the STA from the AP, the STA decrements a OFDMA random access backoff (OBO) counter according to a first RA-RU set indicated in the received trigger frame (paragraph 0165; backoff counter decrements until becoming zero).
Iwai does not explicitly disclose but Chitrakar, in the same field of endeavor related to random access resources in a TB A-PDDU, discloses wherein in an uplink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) based random access (UORA) procedure performed by an STA (page 6, lines 16-31; UORA procedure), when the trigger frame is received by the STA from the AP, the trigger frame is used by the STA to determine whether a OFDMA random access backoff (OBO) counter is greater than a number of RA-RUs in a first RA-RU set indicated in the received trigger frame (page 7, lines 1-7; wherein the STA decrements its OBO counter by the number of eligible RA-RU in the TF when the counter is greater than a number of eligible RA-RUs (as indicated by the otherwise)); in response to determining that the OBO counter is greater than the number of RA-RUs in the first RA-RU set, decrement the OBO counter by the number of RA-RUs in the first RA-RU set (page 7, lines 1-7; wherein the STA decrements its OBO counter by the number of eligible RA-RU in the TF when the counter is greater than a number of eligible RA-RUs (as indicated by the otherwise)) and stop the UORA procedure (page 9, lines 8-16; if OBO is not smaller or equal to (i.e. greater than) the number of eligible RA-RUs, counter is decremented and the UORA process stops, reverting to waiting for a TF); and, in response to determining that the OBO counter is not greater than the number of RA-RUs in the first RA-RU set, randomly select one of RA-RUs in a second RA-RU set indicated in the received trigger frame and transmit a TB PPDU at the selected RA-RU (page 9, lines 15-23; when the OBO is smaller or equal to the number of eligible RA-RU, the STA can randomly select one of the RA-RU), wherein the second RA-RU set is different from the first RA-RU set (page 7, lines 1-7; page 8, lines 6-25; page 9, lines 8-18; page 11, lines 20-28, amongst others. Since stations can be allocate with RA-RUs in both 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands, these are interpreted as a first and a second set, and they are believed to meet the language of the first and second sets being different); and wherein the set of STAs comprises high efficiency (HE) STAs and/or extremely high throughput (EHT) STAs, when the trigger frame is received by the set of STAs, associated HE STAs decrement their respective OBO counters at a same pace as associated EHT STAs (figures 5-6, 8-9; all STAs decrement their counters equally, regardless of which band(s) they are operating in). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teachings of Iwai with the teachings of Chitrakar, in order to improve network performance by increasing transmissions probability (Chitrakar: page 7, lines 26-27).
Regarding claim 20 Iwai discloses a station (STA) (fig. 8), comprising:
a memory (controller 22);
a transceiver (transceiver 201); and
a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver (controller 22);
wherein the processor is configured to determine a trigger based (TB) aggregated physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (A-PPDU) from an access point (AP) (paragraphs 0057, 0063, 0168; configuring a single trigger frame indicating a trigger for HE, EHT, and EHT+ stations),
wherein in a trigger frame,
when an association identifier (AID) subfield of a user information field is set to a first value and a value range of the first value is [2008, 2044] or [2047, 4094], the user information field allocates one or more contiguous random access resource units (RA-RUs) with a same size for associated STAs in the set of STAs (paragraphs 0177-0179, 0191-0193; figs. 22 and 26; wherein with an AID value of 2009 or 2012 the user information field allocates RA-Rus for associated stations, with both 2009 and 2012 falling in the range [2008, 2044] and with the or language only one of the ranges is required to be met), and/or when the AID subfield is set to a second value different from the first value and a value range of the second value is [2008, 2044] or [2047, 4094], the user information field allocates one or more contiguous RA-RUs with a same size for unassociated STAs in the set of STAs (please note that the “and/or” in the claim requires only one of the “when” statements to be met for the claim, and the reference meets the above statement).
Iwai further discloses an uplink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) based random access (UORA) procedure performed by the STA (paragraph 0170; UORA), when the trigger frame is received by the STA from the AP, the STA decrements a OFDMA random access backoff (OBO) counter according to a first RA-RU set indicated in the received trigger frame (paragraph 0165; backoff counter decrements until becoming zero).
Iwai does not explicitly disclose but Chitrakar, in the same field of endeavor related to random access resources in a TB A-PDDU, discloses wherein in an uplink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) based random access (UORA) procedure performed by an STA (page 6, lines 16-31; UORA procedure), when the trigger frame is received by the STA from the AP, the trigger frame is used by the STA to determine whether a OFDMA random access backoff (OBO) counter is greater than a number of RA-RUs in a first RA-RU set indicated in the received trigger frame (page 7, lines 1-7; wherein the STA decrements its OBO counter by the number of eligible RA-RU in the TF when the counter is greater than a number of eligible RA-RUs (as indicated by the otherwise)); in response to determining that the OBO counter is greater than the number of RA-RUs in the first RA-RU set, decrement the OBO counter by the number of RA-RUs in the first RA-RU set (page 7, lines 1-7; wherein the STA decrements its OBO counter by the number of eligible RA-RU in the TF when the counter is greater than a number of eligible RA-RUs (as indicated by the otherwise)) and stop the UORA procedure (page 9, lines 8-16; if OBO is not smaller or equal to (i.e. greater than) the number of eligible RA-RUs, counter is decremented and the UORA process stops, reverting to waiting for a TF); and, in response to determining that the OBO counter is not greater than the number of RA-RUs in the first RA-RU set, randomly select one of RA-RUs in a second RA-RU set indicated in the received trigger frame and transmit a TB PPDU at the selected RA-RU (page 9, lines 15-23; when the OBO is smaller or equal to the number of eligible RA-RU, the STA can randomly select one of the RA-RU), wherein the second RA-RU set is different from the first RA-RU set (page 7, lines 1-7; page 8, lines 6-25; page 9, lines 8-18; page 11, lines 20-28, amongst others. Since stations can be allocate with RA-RUs in both 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands, these are interpreted as a first and a second set, and they are believed to meet the language of the first and second sets being different); and wherein the set of STAs comprises high efficiency (HE) STAs and/or extremely high throughput (EHT) STAs, when the trigger frame is received by the set of STAs, associated HE STAs decrement their respective OBO counters at a same pace as associated EHT STAs (figures 5-6, 8-9; all STAs decrement their counters equally, regardless of which band(s) they are operating in). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teachings of Iwai with the teachings of Chitrakar, in order to improve network performance by increasing transmissions probability (Chitrakar: page 7, lines 26-27).
Regarding claim 21 the modified Iwai discloses the wireless communication method of claim 1. Iwai fails to explicitly disclose but Chitrakar, in the same field of endeavor related to random access resources in a TB A-PDDU, discloses the TB A-PPDU comprises a TB frequency-domain (FD) A-PPDU (TB FD-A-PPDU) (page 5, lines 1-9; which carries one or more identical Trigger frames in aggregated channels across multiple frequency bands to trigger EHT TB PPDU transmission in an inter-band aggregated channel). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teachings of Iwai with the teachings of Chitrakar, in order to improve network performance by increasing transmissions probability (Chitrakar: page 7, lines 26-27).
Regarding claim 22 the modified Iwai discloses the wireless communication method of claim 21. Iwai fails to explicitly disclose but Chitrakar, in the same field of endeavor related to random access resources in a TB A-PDDU, discloses wherein the TB A-PPDU comprises at least one first TB PPDU and at least one second TB PPDU, the at least one first TB PPDU comprises one or more HE TB PPDUs, and the at least one second TB PPDU comprises one or more EHT TB PPDUs for uplink multi-user (MU) transmission (page 5, lines 1-9, page 18, lines 21-30; MU-PPDU; which carries one or more identical Trigger frames in aggregated channels across multiple frequency bands to trigger EHT TB PPDU transmission in an inter-band aggregated channel). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teachings of Iwai with the teachings of Chitrakar, in order to improve network performance by increasing transmissions probability (Chitrakar: page 7, lines 26-27).
Regarding claim 23 the modified Iwai discloses the wireless communication method of claim 21. Iwai fails to explicitly disclose but Chitrakar, in the same field of endeavor related to random access resources in a TB A-PDDU, discloses wherein the TB A-PPDU comprises at least one first TB PPDU and at least one second TB PPDU, the at least one first TB PPDU comprises one or more HE TB PPDUs, and the at least one second TB PPDU comprises one or more EHT TB PPDUs and/or one or more post-EHT TB PPDUs for uplink MU transmission (page 5, lines 1-9, page 18, lines 21-30; MU-PPDU; which carries one or more identical Trigger frames in aggregated channels across multiple frequency bands to trigger EHT TB PPDU transmission in an inter-band aggregated channel). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teachings of Iwai with the teachings of Chitrakar, in order to improve network performance by increasing transmissions probability (Chitrakar: page 7, lines 26-27).
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US PGPUB 2023/0308938 to Sun et al. – that discloses an aggregated MAC Protocol Data Unit (A-MPDU) or in a BA or multi-STA BA (M-BA) or other type of response frames to inform the receiving STAs.
Han, “Trigger Frame for Frequency-domain A-PPDU Support” – which discloses several options for trigger frame to support FD-A-PPDU.
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.
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/Aixa Guadalupe-Cruz/
Examiner
Art Unit 2466
/FARUK HAMZA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2466
Prosecution Insights