DETAILED ACTION
The office action is a response to an application filed on July 19, 2023, wherein claims 1-20 are pending and ready for examination.
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 § 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 1, 3, 10, 12, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Valliappan et al. (Valliappan hereafter) (US 20160095040 A1) in view of Seok (Seok hereafter) (US 20210051714 A1), and in further view of Furuichi (Furuichi hereafter) (US 20250212006 A1).
Regarding claim 1 Valliappan teaches, an apparatus, the apparatus comprising processing circuitry coupled to storage, the processing circuitry configured to:
enable utilization (Energy Detection (ED) mechanism) of a secondary channel within a Wi-Fi network (Wi-Fi implementations) when a primary channel is engaged (mechanism defines at least one-way independence between primary and secondary channels) (Valliappan; [0056] a Clear
Channel Assessment (CCA) Energy Detection (ED) mechanism and corresponding CCA-ED threshold for assessing the state of a communication medium prior to attempting transmission and this mechanism defines at least one-way independence between primary and secondary
channels, such that a busy secondary channel will not by itself impede primary channel
operation these Wi-Fi implementations... in which signaling energy detected above the CCA-ED threshold anywhere over an operating bandwidth leads to a busy indication for all channels
including the primary channel).
monitor a status of the primary channel while it is busy (Valliappan; [0056], [0036] ...an access point implementing a Discontinuous Transmission (DTX) communication scheme of active and inactive periods may puncture transmission on one or more of the active periods to introduce additional transmission gaps...[0058] the access point 110 may monitor signaling of the competing RAT system 202 (e.g., via the secondary RAT transceiver 142) on the communication medium 142 and puncture transmission in accordance with the primary RAT on one or more of the active periods 304 of the DTX communication pattern 300 based on the monitoring);
assess a presence of energy (energy detected) in the primary channel using Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) during a receiving mode (Valliappan; [0056] ...signaling energy detected above the CCA-ED threshold anywhere over an operating bandwidth leads to a busy indication for all channels including the primary channel);
Valliappan fails to explicitly teach, provide the status of the primary channel via a block acknowledgment during frame exchanges on the secondary channel when the primary channel is determined to be idle.
instruct a switch back to the primary channel through a broadcast frame or a unicast frame.
However, in the same field of endeavor Seok teaches, provide the status of the primary channel via a block acknowledgment during frame exchanges on the secondary channel when the primary channel is determined to be idle (Seok; [0154] The STA2 which receives a request for performing the PIFS Recovery from the STA1 may determine whether a channel state is an idle/busy state by performing a CCA process during a PIFS time with respect to a primary channel and secondary channels. [0155] If the STA1 has a right of the TXOP owner (e.g., the STA1 is a RD responder in reverse direction protocol), the STA1 may perform the CCA process during a PIFS time with respect to a primary channel and secondary channels. It means that a STA operating in the OFDMA mode performs the PIFS Recovery for the purpose of re-allocating a channel during a TXOP); and
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Valliappan to include the above recited limitations as taught by Seok in order to re-allocating to another STA (Seok; [0154]).
Valliappan-Seok fails to explicitly teach, instruct a switch back to the primary channel through a broadcast frame or a unicast frame.
However, in the same field of endeavor Furuichi teaches, instruct a switch back (makes it possible to switch channels) to the primary channel (return to the primary channels) through a broadcast frame or a unicast frame (Furuichi; [0209] The generic operational parameters can be provided by unicast or broadcast from the communication apparatus 110 that has already received permission of radio wave transmission from the communication control apparatus 130. [0271] The processing unit 32 sets the channel type of the secondary channel
from before the return to the second type, sets the channel type of the primary channel for after the return to the first type, and transmits information including the changed channel type settings to the CBSDs in the CBSD group, e.g., in a heartbeat procedure response. For CBSDs in the CBSD group that have not transitioned to the secondary channel, the processing unit 32 may allow the use of the primary channel again. This makes it possible to switch channels (return to the primary
channels) at high speeds.) ([0259], [0270-0271]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Valliappan-Seok to include the above recited limitations as taught by Furuichi in order to switch channels at high speeds (Furuichi; [0270]).
Regarding claim 10 Valliappan teaches, A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising:
enabling utilization (Energy Detection (ED) mechanism) of a secondary channel within a Wi-Fi network (Wi-Fi implementations) when a primary channel is engaged (mechanism defines at least one-way independence between primary and secondary channels) (Valliappan; [0056] a Clear
Channel Assessment (CCA) Energy Detection (ED) mechanism and corresponding CCA-ED threshold for assessing the state of a communication medium prior to attempting transmission and this mechanism defines at least one-way independence between primary and secondary
channels, such that a busy secondary channel will not by itself impede primary channel
operation these Wi-Fi implementations... in which signaling energy detected above the CCA-ED threshold anywhere over an operating bandwidth leads to a busy indication for all channels
including the primary channel).
monitoring a status of the primary channel while it is busy (Valliappan; [0056], [0036] ...an access point implementing a Discontinuous Transmission (DTX) communication scheme of active and inactive periods may puncture transmission on one or more of the active periods to introduce additional transmission gaps...[0058] the access point 110 may monitor signaling of the competing RAT system 202 (e.g., via the secondary RAT transceiver 142) on the communication medium 142 and puncture transmission in accordance with the primary RAT on one or more of the active periods 304 of the DTX communication pattern 300 based on the monitoring);
assessing a presence of energy (energy detected) in the primary channel using Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) during a receiving mode (Valliappan; [0056] ...signaling energy detected above the CCA-ED threshold anywhere over an operating bandwidth leads to a busy indication for all channels including the primary channel);
Valliappan fails to explicitly teach, providing the status of the primary channel via a block acknowledgment during frame exchanges on the secondary channel when the primary channel is determined to be idle.
Instructing a switch back to the primary channel through a broadcast frame or a unicast frame.
However, in the same field of endeavor Seok teaches, providing the status of the primary channel via a block acknowledgment during frame exchanges on the secondary channel when the primary channel is determined to be idle (Seok; [0154] The STA2 which receives a request for performing the PIFS Recovery from the STA1 may determine whether a channel state is an idle/busy state by performing a CCA process during a PIFS time with respect to a
primary channel and secondary channels. [0155] If the STA1 has a right of the TXOP owner (e.g., the STA1 is a RD responder in reverse direction protocol), the STA1 may perform the CCA process during a PIFS time with respect to a primary channel and secondary channels. It means that a STA operating in the OFDMA mode performs the PIFS Recovery for the purpose of re-allocating a channel during a TXOP); and
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Valliappan to include the above recited limitations as taught by Seok in order to re-allocating to another STA (Seok; [0154]).
Valliappan-Seok fails to explicitly teach, instructing a switch back to the primary channel through a broadcast frame or a unicast frame.
However, in the same field of endeavor Furuichi teaches, Instructing a switch back (makes it possible to switch channels) to the primary channel (return to the primary channels) through a broadcast frame or a unicast frame (Furuichi; [0209] The generic operational parameters can be provided by unicast or broadcast from the communication apparatus 110 that has already received permission of radio wave transmission from the communication control apparatus 130. [0271] The processing unit 32 sets the channel type of the secondary channel
from before the return to the second type, sets the channel type of the primary channel for after the return to the first type, and transmits information including the changed channel type settings to the CBSDs in the CBSD group, e.g., in a heartbeat procedure response. For CBSDs in the CBSD group that have not transitioned to the secondary channel, the processing unit 32 may allow the use of the primary channel again. This makes it possible to switch channels (return to the primary
channels) at high speeds).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Valliappan-Seok to include the above recited limitations as taught by Furuichi in order to switch channels at high speeds (Furuichi; [0270]).
Regarding claim 19 Valliappan teaches, A method comprising:
enabling utilization (Energy Detection (ED) mechanism) of a secondary channel within a Wi-Fi network (Wi-Fi implementations) when a primary channel is engaged (mechanism defines at least one-way independence between primary and secondary channels) (Valliappan; [0056] a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) Energy Detection (ED) mechanism and corresponding CCA-ED threshold for assessing the state of a communication medium prior to attempting transmission and this mechanism defines at least one-way independence between primary and secondary channels, such that a busy secondary channel will not by itself impede primary
channel operation these Wi-Fi implementations... in which signaling energy detected above the CCA-ED threshold anywhere over an operating bandwidth leads to a busy indication for all channels including the primary channel).
monitoring a status of the primary channel while it is busy (Valliappan; [0056], [0036] ...an access point implementing a Discontinuous Transmission (DTX) communication scheme of active and inactive periods may puncture transmission on one or more of the active periods to introduce additional transmission gaps...[0058] the access point 110 may monitor signaling of the competing RAT system 202 (e.g., via the secondary RAT transceiver 142) on the communication medium 142 and puncture transmission in accordance with the primary RAT on one or more of the active periods 304 of the DTX communication pattern 300 based on the monitoring);
assessing a presence of energy (energy detected) in the primary channel using Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) during a receiving mode (Valliappan; [0056] ...signaling energy detected above the CCA-ED threshold anywhere over an operating bandwidth leads to a busy indication for all channels including the primary channel);
Valliappan fails to explicitly teach, providing the status of the primary channel via a block acknowledgment during frame exchanges on the secondary channel when the primary channel is determined to be idle.
Instructing a switch back to the primary channel through a broadcast frame or a unicast frame.
However, in the same field of endeavor Seok teaches, providing the status of the primary channel via a block acknowledgment during frame exchanges on the secondary channel when the primary channel is determined to be idle (Seok; [0154] The STA2 which receives a request for performing the PIFS Recovery from the STA1 may determine whether a channel state is an idle/busy state by performing a CCA process during a PIFS time with respect to a primary channel and secondary channels. [0155] If the STA1 has a right of the TXOP owner (e.g., the STA1 is a RD responder in reverse direction protocol), the STA1 may perform the CCA process during a PIFS time with respect to a primary channel and secondary channels. It means that a STA operating in the OFDMA mode performs the PIFS Recovery for the purpose of re-allocating a channel during a TXOP); and
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Valliappan to include the above recited limitations as taught by Seok in order to re-allocating to another STA (Seok; [0154]).
Valliappan-Seok fails to explicitly teach, Instructing a switch back to the primary channel through a broadcast frame or a unicast frame
However, in the same field of endeavor Furuichi teaches, Instructing a switch back (makes it possible to switch channels) to the primary channel (return to the primary channels) through a broadcast frame or a unicast frame (Furuichi; [0209] The generic operational parameters can be provided by unicast or broadcast from the communication apparatus 110 that has already received permission of radio wave transmission from the communication control apparatus
130. [0271] The processing unit 32 sets the channel type of the secondary channel from
before the return to the second type, sets the channel type of the primary channel for after the return to the first type, and transmits information including the changed channel type settings to the CBSDs in the CBSD group, e.g., in a heartbeat procedure response. For CBSDs in the CBSD group that have not transitioned to the secondary channel, the processing unit 32 may allow the use of the primary channel again. This makes it possible to switch channels (return to the primary
channels) at high speeds) ([0259], [0270-0271]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Valliappan-Seok to include the above recited limitations as taught by Furuichi in order to switch channels at high speeds (Furuichi; [0270]).
Regarding claims 3 and 12 Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi teaches, the claims 1 and 10
Valliappan further teaches, wherein the apparatus is an access point (AP) or a non-AP (Valliappan; [0040] an access point may operate according to one or several RATs in communicating with access terminals depending on the network in which the access point is deployed, and may be alternatively referred to as a Base Station (BS), a Network Node, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB), etc.).
Claims 9 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi as applied to claim 1 and 10 above, and further in view of Zhang et al. (Zhang hereafter) (US 10104693 B1).
Regarding claims 9 and 18 Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi teaches, the claims 1 and 10
Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi fails to explicitly teach, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to utilize a secondary channel from an available bandwidth even when a primary channel within the same bandwidth is occupied
However, in the same field of endeavor Zhang teaches, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to utilize a secondary channel from an available bandwidth even when a primary channel within the same bandwidth is occupied (Zhang; [Col 9 lines 62-64] If the S20 is clear, the AP uses both P20 and S20 for a 40 MHz transmission. Then the AP will assess the S40 channel adjacent to the combination of P20 and S20).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi to include the above recited limitations as taught by Zhang in order to transmit data transmission (Zhang; [Col 9, Lines 57-58]).
Claims 2, 11, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi as applied to claim 1 and 10 above, and further in view of Iwai et al. (Iwai hereafter) (US 20250310987 A1).
Regarding claims 2, 11, and 20 Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi teaches, the claims 1 and 10
Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi fails to explicitly teach, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to initiate the use of the secondary channel if the primary channel is determined to be busy.
However, in the same field of endeavor Iwai teaches, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to initiate the use of the secondary channel if the primary channel is determined to be busy (Iwai; [0201] Primary channel is in use by terminal 1, the carrier sense result at AP 100 becomes Busy, and thus, there is a possibility that AP 100 cannot transmit a signal with a resource corresponding to the Secondary channel despite that the radio resource (allocated band) in 20-MHz channel #2 (Secondary channel) is an available resource [0210] in a case where TXOP Sharing for a plurality of terminals 200 is applied in an MU-RTS TXS Trigger frame, PPDU transmission to the Secondary channel that includes no Primary channel may be allowed in the TXOP period acquired by AP 100 (See fig. 23)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi to include the above recited limitations as taught by Iwai in order to perform communication via the Secondary channel that includes no Primary channel in a time period (Iwai; [0211]).
Claims 4 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi as applied to claim 1 and 10 above, and further in view of Asterjadhi et al. (Asterjadhi hereafter) (US 20240196457 A1).
Regarding claims 4 and 13 Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi teaches, the claims 1 and 10
Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi fails to explicitly teach, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to deliver status of the primary channel as part of a block acknowledgment
However, in the same field of endeavor Asterjadhi teaches, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to deliver status of the primary channel as part of a block acknowledgment (Asterjadhi; [0074] the associated AP may maintain information regarding buffer unit (BU) availability for the STA 404, block ACK scoreboard states, buffer statuses, current schedules... information regarding the STA's 404 communication capabilities, association status with the MLE, the STA's credentials, etc.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi to include the above recited limitations as taught by Asterjadhi in order to maintain status information of the STA (Asterjadhi; [0074]).
Claims 5 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi as applied to claim 1 and 10 above, and further in view of Shellhammer et al. (Shellhammer hereafter) (US 20210194629 A1).
Regarding claims 5 and 14 Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi teaches, the claims 1 and 10
Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi fails to explicitly teach, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to piggyback the status onto the block acknowledgment
However, in the same field of endeavor Shellhammer teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to piggyback the status onto the block acknowledgment (Shellhammer; [0149] the link adaptation test packet is part of a link adaptation message sequence that includes transmitting the link adaptation test packet as a piggybacked link adaptation portion of a data carrying packet from the first WLAN device to the second WLAN device and receiving the link quality metrics as part of a block acknowledgement (BA) feedback message from the second
WLAN device).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi to include the above recited limitations as taught by Shellhammer in order to provide the link quality metrics regarding the link adaptation test packet
(Shellhammer; [0148]).
Claims 6, 7, 15, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi as applied to claim 1 and 10 above, and further in view of Li et al. (Li hereafter) (US 20230232452 A1).
Regarding claims 6 and 15 Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi teaches, the claims 1 and 10
Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi fails to explicitly teach, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to instruct a switch back to the primary channel before a Network Allocation Vector (NAV) in the primary channel ends.
However, in the same field of endeavor Li teaches, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to instruct a switch back to the primary channel before a Network Allocation Vector (NAV) in the primary channel ends (Li; [0214] when the channel state of the primary channel is the busy state after the switching back to the primary channel or the time of the switching back to the primary channel is later than the time at which the NAV on the primary channel decreases to 0).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform channel protection (Li; [0213]).
Regarding claims 7 and 16 Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi teaches, the claims 1 and 10
Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi fails to explicitly teach, wherein the primary channel is busy with overlapping basic service set (OBSS) traffic
Li further teaches, wherein the primary channel is busy with overlapping basic service set (OBSS) traffic (Li; [0119] channel contention may be performed on a temporary primary channel when a primary channel is occupied by OBSS frame transmission).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform channel protection (Li; [0213]).
Claims 8 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi as applied to claim 1 and 10 above, and further in view of Hwang et al. (Hwang hereafter) (US 20260214706 A1).
Regarding claims 7 and 16 Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi teaches, the claims 1 and 10
Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi fails to explicitly teach, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to deliver status information of the primary channel during a receiving mode, and if the primary channel is found to be idle, convey this information as part of a block acknowledgment during frame exchanges on the secondary channel
However, in the same field of endeavor Hwang teaches, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to deliver status information of the primary channel during a receiving mode, and if the primary channel is found to be idle, convey this information as part of a block acknowledgment during frame exchanges on the secondary channel (Hwang; [0082] FIG. 5, a communication node desiring to transmit a control frame (or a management frame) may perform a channel state monitoring operation (e.g., carrier sensing operation) during a predetermined period (e.g., short interframe space (SIFS) or PCF IFS (PIFS)), and when the channel state is determined to be idle during the predetermined period (e.g., SIFS or PIFS), the communication node may transmit the control frame (or the management frame). For example, the communication node may transmit an ACK frame, a BA frame, a CTS frame, or the like when the channel state is determined to be idle during SIFS. Also, the communication node may transmit a beacon frame or the like when the channel state is determined to be idle during the PIFS.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Valliappan-Seok-Furuichi to include the above recited limitations as taught by Hwang in order to perform a channel state monitoring operation (Hwang; [0082]).
Conclusion
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/W. T/Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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