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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements submitted on October 12, 2023, December 13, 2023, January 31, 2024, April 17, 2024, May 7, 2024, August 14, 2024, September 9, 2024, September 19, 2024, March 17, 2025, July 31, 2025, and June 25, 2026 have been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application.
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 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 1-3 and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liu et al. (hereinafter Liu) (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2019/0238195 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 19, Liu teaches and discloses a product comprising one or more tangible computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising instructions ([0056]; [0062]) and an apparatus (AP, figures 3A and 5) comprising logic and circuitry (processor/transceiver/memory, figure 5) configured to cause an Access Point (AP) to:
set Resource Unit (RU) allocation information for a user station (STA) in a user information (info) field for the user STA, the RU allocation information for the user STA configured to indicate an RU allocation for a Trigger-Based (TB) Uplink (UL) transmission from the user STA ([0010]; “…For an uplink MIMO transmission, the AP transmits a trigger frame to initiate an STA to transmit a trigger based (TB) PPDU in MIMO to the AP, In the trigger frame, multiple spatial streams and multiple MCSs are specified in the user information field…”; [0042]; teaches setting RU allocation information for user STA);
determine Unequal Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) (UEM) information for the user STA, the UEM information for the user STA configured to indicate an assignment of a plurality of MCSs to a plurality of UL resources in the RU allocation for the user STA, respectively, wherein the plurality of UL resources comprises at least one of a plurality of frequency sub-channels or a plurality of spatial streams ([0041]; [0042]; “…For a conventional MU transmission, each user information field 220 contains the IDs of the multiple STAs to be triggered (e.g., “AID12”), allocated RUs (“RU Allocation”), allocated. spatial streams (“SS Allocation Random Access RU Information”) as well as other information required for the uplink MU transmission, such as coding type, modulation and coding scheme (“MCS”), dual carrier modulation (“DCM”), target received signal strength indicator (“Target RSSI”), and trigger dependent user information…”; [0043]; [0044]; [0049]; teaches determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams); and
transmit a trigger frame (trigger frame, figure 2A) comprising the user info field for the user STA, and the UEM information for the user STA ([0010]; “…For an uplink MIMO transmission, the AP transmits a trigger frame to initiate an STA to transmit a trigger based (TB) PPDU in MIMO to the AP, In the trigger frame, multiple spatial streams and multiple MCSs are specified in the user information field…”; [0041]; teaches the AP transmits the trigger frame comprising the user information and UEM information).
Regarding claims 2 and 20, Liu further teaches and discloses cause the AP to set the UEM information for the user STA in at least one UEM field for the user STA, wherein the at least one UEM field for the user STA is after the user info field for the user STA (figure 2A; [0041]; [0042]; “…For a conventional MU transmission, each user information field 220 contains the IDs of the multiple STAs to be triggered (e.g., “AID12”), allocated RUs (“RU Allocation”), allocated. spatial streams (“SS Allocation Random Access RU Information”) as well as other information required for the uplink MU transmission, such as coding type, modulation and coding scheme (“MCS”), dual carrier modulation (“DCM”), target received signal strength indicator (“Target RSSI”), and trigger dependent user information…”; [0043]; [0044]; [0049]; teaches determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams in the field of the trigger frame after the user information field).
Regarding claim 3, Liu further teaches and discloses cause the AP to set a subfield in the user info field for the user STA to indicate that the user STA has a UEM assignment (figure 2A; [0041]; [0042]; “…For a conventional MU transmission, each user information field 220 contains the IDs of the multiple STAs to be triggered (e.g., “AID12”), allocated RUs (“RU Allocation”), allocated. spatial streams (“SS Allocation Random Access RU Information”) as well as other information required for the uplink MU transmission, such as coding type, modulation and coding scheme (“MCS”), dual carrier modulation (“DCM”), target received signal strength indicator (“Target RSSI”), and trigger dependent user information…”; [0043]; [0044]; [0049]; teaches determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams in the field of the trigger frame).
Regarding claim 15, Liu further teaches and discloses cause the AP to set a spatial configuration subfield in the user info field for the user STA to indicate an assignment of the plurality of spatial streams for the user STA, wherein the UEM information for the user STA is configured to indicate an assignment of the plurality of MCSs to the plurality of spatial streams (figure 2A; [0041]; [0042]; “…For a conventional MU transmission, each user information field 220 contains the IDs of the multiple STAs to be triggered (e.g., “AID12”), allocated RUs (“RU Allocation”), allocated. spatial streams (“SS Allocation Random Access RU Information”) as well as other information required for the uplink MU transmission, such as coding type, modulation and coding scheme (“MCS”), dual carrier modulation (“DCM”), target received signal strength indicator (“Target RSSI”), and trigger dependent user information…”; [0043]; [0044]; [0049]; teaches determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams in the field of the trigger frame).
Regarding claim 16, Liu further teaches and discloses cause the AP to process an UL Physical layer (PHY) Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) from the user STA according to the assignment of the plurality of MCSs to the plurality of UL resources ([0010]; “…For an uplink MIMO transmission, the AP transmits a trigger frame to initiate an STA to transmit a trigger based (TB) PPDU in MIMO to the AP, In the trigger frame, multiple spatial streams and multiple MCSs are specified in the user information field…”; [0040]; [0041]; teaches an PPDU for the user STA according to assignment of MCSs).
Regarding claim 17, Liu further teaches and discloses at least one radio to transmit the trigger frame (transceiver/antenna, figure 5) (figure 5; [0057]; [0058]; teaches an antenna and transceiver for transmitting a trigger frame).
Regarding claim 18, Liu further teaches and discloses one or more antennas connected to the radio, and a processor to execute instructions of an operating system (processor/transceiver/antenna, figure 5) (figure 5; [0057]; [0058]; [0062]; teaches a processor, an antenna and transceiver for executing an operating system).
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 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 of this title, 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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 4-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (hereinafter Liu) (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2019/0238195 A1) in view of Yu et al. (hereinafter Yu) (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2026/0135636 A1).
Regarding claim 4, Liu teaches and disclose determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams, and the AP transmits the trigger frame comprising the user information and UEM information, but may not explicitly disclose to cause the AP to set a predefined MCS index in an MCS subfield in the user info field for the user STA, wherein the predefined MCS index is configured to indicate that the user STA has a UEM assignment.
Nonetheless, in the same field of endeavor, Yu teaches and suggests to cause the AP to set a predefined MCS index in an MCS subfield in the user info field for the user STA, wherein the predefined MCS index is configured to indicate that the user STA has a UEM assignment ([0010]; [0165]; [0200]; [0209]; teaches the AP sets a predefined MCS index in an MCS subfield of the trigger fame to indicate UEQM assignment).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the AP sets a predefined MCS index in an MCS subfield of the trigger fame to indicate UEQM assignment as taught by Yu with the method and apparatus for determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams, and the AP transmits the trigger frame comprising the user information and UEM information as disclosed by Liu for the purpose of in order to reduce bit overhead, as suggested by Yu.
Regarding claim 5, Liu teaches and disclose determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams, and the AP transmits the trigger frame comprising the user information and UEM information, but may not explicitly disclose wherein the predefined MCS index is 14.
Nonetheless, in the same field of endeavor, Yu teaches and suggests wherein the predefined MCS index is 14 ([0225]; teaches the a predefined MCS index is index 14).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate a predefined MCS index is index 14 as taught by Yu with the method and apparatus for determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams, and the AP transmits the trigger frame comprising the user information and UEM information as disclosed by Liu, as modified by Yu, for the purpose of in order to reduce bit overhead, as suggested by Yu.
Regarding claim 6, Liu, as modified Yu, further teaches and suggests wherein the at least one UEM field for the user STA is configured according to a UEM field format comprising a station (STA) identifier (ID) (STA-ID) field to identify the user STA, and a plurality of MCS subfields after the STA-ID field ([0008]; [0010]; “…For an uplink MIMO transmission, the AP transmits a trigger frame to initiate an STA to transmit a trigger based (TB) PPDU in MIMO to the AP, In the trigger frame, multiple spatial streams and multiple MCSs are specified in the user information field…”; [0037]; [0042]; [0043]; teaches unequal MCS field of the trigger frame including station ID and MCS field).
Regarding claim 7, Liu teaches and disclose determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams, and the AP transmits the trigger frame comprising the user information and UEM information, but may not explicitly disclose wherein a first-in-order UEM field of the at least one UEM field for the user STA comprises a frequency segment subfield configured to indicate a segmentation of the RU allocation for the user STA into the plurality of frequency sub-channels.
Nonetheless, in the same field of endeavor, Yu teaches and suggests wherein a first-in-order UEM field of the at least one UEM field for the user STA comprises a frequency segment subfield configured to indicate a segmentation of the RU allocation for the user STA into the plurality of frequency sub-channels ([0246]; “…in addition to UEQM for different spatial streams, the foregoing manner may be further used for UEQM modulation of more than one RU or MRU allocated to one user, and each spatial stream may be replaced with a different RU or MRU. Because the RU or the MRU has a predetermined frequency domain order, entries in the table may be separately designed for different QAM orders…”; teaches RU has a predetermined frequency domain order).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate RU has a predetermined frequency domain order as taught by Yu with the method and apparatus for determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams, and the AP transmits the trigger frame comprising the user information and UEM information as disclosed by Liu, as modified by Yu, for the purpose of in order to reduce bit overhead, as suggested by Yu.
Regarding claim 8, Liu teaches and disclose determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams, and the AP transmits the trigger frame comprising the user information and UEM information, but may not explicitly disclose wherein a bit-length of each UEM field for the user STA is equal to a bit-length of the user info field for the user STA.
Nonetheless, in the same field of endeavor, Yu teaches and suggests wherein a bit-length of each UEM field for the user STA is equal to a bit-length of the user info field for the user STA ([0138]; [0146]; teaches the bit length of the UEQM field is equal to the user information field).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the bit length of the UEQM field is equal to the user information field as taught by Yu with the method and apparatus for determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams, and the AP transmits the trigger frame comprising the user information and UEM information as disclosed by Liu, as modified by Yu, for the purpose of in order to reduce bit overhead, as suggested by Yu.
Regarding claim 9, Liu, as modified Yu, further teaches and suggests wherein the at least one UEM field for the user STA is after all user info fields in the trigger frame (figure 2A; [0041]; [0042]; “…For a conventional MU transmission, each user information field 220 contains the IDs of the multiple STAs to be triggered (e.g., “AID12”), allocated RUs (“RU Allocation”), allocated. spatial streams (“SS Allocation Random Access RU Information”) as well as other information required for the uplink MU transmission, such as coding type, modulation and coding scheme (“MCS”), dual carrier modulation (“DCM”), target received signal strength indicator (“Target RSSI”), and trigger dependent user information…”; [0043]; [0044]; [0049]; teaches determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams in the field of the trigger frame after the user information field).
Regarding claim 10, Liu, as modified Yu, further teaches and suggests wherein the at least one UEM field for the user STA is immediately after the user info field for the user STA (figure 2A; [0041]; [0042]; “…For a conventional MU transmission, each user information field 220 contains the IDs of the multiple STAs to be triggered (e.g., “AID12”), allocated RUs (“RU Allocation”), allocated. spatial streams (“SS Allocation Random Access RU Information”) as well as other information required for the uplink MU transmission, such as coding type, modulation and coding scheme (“MCS”), dual carrier modulation (“DCM”), target received signal strength indicator (“Target RSSI”), and trigger dependent user information…”; [0043]; [0044]; [0049]; teaches determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams in the field of the trigger frame after the user information field).
Regarding claim 11, Liu, as modified Yu, further teaches and suggests wherein the trigger frame comprises one or more other user info fields after the at least one UEM field for the user STA (figure 2A; [0041]; [0042]; “…For a conventional MU transmission, each user information field 220 contains the IDs of the multiple STAs to be triggered (e.g., “AID12”), allocated RUs (“RU Allocation”), allocated. spatial streams (“SS Allocation Random Access RU Information”) as well as other information required for the uplink MU transmission, such as coding type, modulation and coding scheme (“MCS”), dual carrier modulation (“DCM”), target received signal strength indicator (“Target RSSI”), and trigger dependent user information…”; [0043]; [0044]; [0049]; teaches a trigger frame comprising user information after the UEM field).
Regarding claim 12, Liu teaches and disclose determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams, and the AP transmits the trigger frame comprising the user information and UEM information, but may not explicitly disclose cause the AP to set a predefined MCS type value in an MCS type subfield in the user info field for the user STA, the predefined MCS type value to indicate that the user STA has a UEM assignment.
Nonetheless, in the same field of endeavor, Yu teaches and suggests cause the AP to set a predefined MCS type value in an MCS type subfield in the user info field for the user STA, the predefined MCS type value to indicate that the user STA has a UEM assignment ([0137]; [0138]; [0142]; teaches the trigger fame comprising a MCS type field for station and indicating the station has a UEQM assignment).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the trigger fame comprising a MCS type field for station and indicating the station has a UEQM assignment as taught by Yu with the method and apparatus for determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams, and the AP transmits the trigger frame comprising the user information and UEM information as disclosed by Liu, as modified by Yu, for the purpose of in order to reduce bit overhead, as suggested by Yu.
Regarding claim 13, Liu teaches and disclose determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams, and the AP transmits the trigger frame comprising the user information and UEM information, but may not explicitly disclose cause the AP to set a UEM field indicator subfield in the user info field for the user STA, wherein the UEM field indicator subfield is configured to indicate a position of a first UEM field of the at least one UEM field for the user STA in the trigger frame.
Nonetheless, in the same field of endeavor, Yu teaches and suggests cause the AP to set a UEM field indicator subfield in the user info field for the user STA, wherein the UEM field indicator subfield is configured to indicate a position of a first UEM field of the at least one UEM field for the user STA in the trigger frame ([0137]; [0138]; [0142]; [0147]; teaches the trigger fame comprising a UEQM sub-field indicating a position of the UEQM field).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the trigger fame comprising a UEQM sub-field indicating a position of the UEQM field as taught by Yu with the method and apparatus for determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams, and the AP transmits the trigger frame comprising the user information and UEM information as disclosed by Liu, as modified by Yu, for the purpose of in order to reduce bit overhead, as suggested by Yu.
Regarding claim 14, Liu, as modified Yu, further teaches and suggests wherein the at least one UEM field for the user STA is after all user info fields in the trigger frame (figure 2A; [0041]; [0042]; “…For a conventional MU transmission, each user information field 220 contains the IDs of the multiple STAs to be triggered (e.g., “AID12”), allocated RUs (“RU Allocation”), allocated. spatial streams (“SS Allocation Random Access RU Information”) as well as other information required for the uplink MU transmission, such as coding type, modulation and coding scheme (“MCS”), dual carrier modulation (“DCM”), target received signal strength indicator (“Target RSSI”), and trigger dependent user information…”; [0043]; [0044]; [0049]; teaches determining unequal MCS information for user STA and information indicating UL resources associated with a plurality of spatial streams in the field of the trigger frame after the user information field).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure.
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/Suk Jin Kang/
Examiner, Art Unit 2477
August 21, 2026
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