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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 3/3/2026 has been entered.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4, 5, 13, 16, 17, 25, 28-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lim et al. “Lim” US 2025/0184092.
Regarding claims 1 and 25, Lim teaches a method and a wireless communications device, comprising: a processing system that includes processor circuitry and memory circuitry that stores code, the processing system configured to cause the wireless communications device to:
receive a null data packet announcement frame comprising a partial bandwidth information field, the partial bandwidth information field including a first set of bits indicating a frequency resolution and a second set of bits including a feedback bitmap, the feedback bitmap indicating one or more portions of a channel bandwidth over which to provide feedback in accordance with the frequency resolution, wherein a value of the first set of bits and a quantity of bits in the second set of bits are based at least in part on the channel bandwidth being one of 480MHz or 640MHz and wherein the quantity of bits in the second set of bits is variable based on frequency resolution and channel bandwidth (Figures 18 and 19, see paragraphs 294-297 and 320-327 teaches a station receives a NDPA frame which includes partial BW info. The partial bandwidth information includes frequency resolutions and an 8-bit bitmap which indicates whether channels are available or punctured based on the resolution. Further the feedback indication indicates puncturing with respect to 480/560/640MHz and the partial BW info indicates requested feedback for the bandwidth for the indicated feedback. The bitmaps are with respect to the 480/640 MHz and thus there would be a first and second set of bits as claimed. Further there can be 8-bit bitmaps and 16-bit bitmaps (showing variable quantity of bits); Paragraphs 350-352);
receive, in accordance with the null data packet announcement frame, a null data packet (paragraphs 11-12 teach sending a NDP frame after the NDPA; see also step s2320 of Figure 23); and
transmit a feedback report based at least in part on the null data packet and the partial bandwidth information field (s2330 of Figure 23. Paragraphs 294-297 teach sending FB information based on NDPA and bandwidth information field).
Regarding claims 4 and 28, Lim teaches the channel bandwidth is 640 MHz, the first set of bits comprises one bit and indicates that the frequency resolution is 40 MHz, and the feedback bitmap comprises 16 bits (Paragraphs 348-350 teaches 40MHz resolution for 640MHz and there is 1-bit resolution information and 16 bits for the bitmap).
Regarding claims 5 and 29, Lim teaches the channel bandwidth is 640 MHz, the first set of bits comprises 2 bits and indicates that the frequency resolution is 80 MHz, and the feedback bitmap comprises 8 bits (Paragraphs 238 teaches 80MHz resolution and Paragraph 239 teaches an 8-bit feedback bitmap. This is with respect to 640MHz. Further, the partial BW field includes 2bits with respect to 80MHz resolution; Paragraph 246. See also paragraphs 320-325 and 340).
Regarding claims 13 and 30, Lim teaches a method and a wireless communications device, comprising: a processing system that includes processor circuitry and memory circuitry that stores code, the processing system configured to cause the wireless communications device to:
transmit a null data packet announcement frame comprising a partial bandwidth information field, the partial bandwidth information field including a first set of bits indicating a frequency resolution and a second set of bits including a feedback bitmap, the feedback bitmap indicating one or more portions of a channel bandwidth over which to provide feedback in accordance with the frequency resolution, wherein a value of the first set of bits and a quantity of bits in the second set of bits are based at least in part on the channel bandwidth being one of 480MHz or 640MHz wherein the quantity of bits in the second set of bits is variable based on frequency resolution and channel bandwidth (Figures 18 and 19, see paragraphs 294-297 and 320-327 teaches a station receives a NDPA frame which includes partial BW info. The partial bandwidth information includes frequency resolutions and an 8-bit bitmap which indicates whether channels are available or punctured based on the resolution. Further the feedback indication indicates puncturing with respect to 480/560/640MHz and the partial BW info indicates requested feedback for the bandwidth for the indicated feedback. The bitmaps are with respect to the 480/640 MHz and thus there would be a first and second set of bits as claimed. Further there can be 8-bit bitmaps and 16-bit bitmaps (showing variable quantity of bits); Paragraphs 350-352);
transmit, in accordance with the null data packet announcement frame, a null data packet (paragraphs 11-12 teach sending a NDP frame after the NDPA; see also step s2320 of Figure 23); and
receive a feedback report based at least in part on the null data packet and the partial bandwidth information field (s2330 of Figure 23. Paragraphs 294-297 teach sending FB information based on NDPA and bandwidth information field).
Regarding claim 16, Lim teaches the channel bandwidth is 640 MHz, the first set of bits comprises one bit and indicates that the frequency resolution is 40 MHz, and the feedback bitmap comprises 16 bits (Paragraphs 348-350 teaches 40MHz resolution for 640MHz and there is 1-bit resolution information and 16 bits for the bitmap).
Regarding claim 17, Lim teaches the channel bandwidth is 640 MHz, the first set of bits comprises 2 bits and indicates that the frequency resolution is 80 MHz, and the feedback bitmap comprises 8 bits (Paragraphs 238 teaches 80MHz resolution and Paragraph 239 teaches an 8-bit feedback bitmap. This is with respect to 640MHz. Further, the partial BW field includes 2bits with respect to 80MHz resolution; Paragraph 246. See also paragraphs 320-325 and 340).
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.
Claim(s) 2, 14, 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim in view of Gupta et al. “Gupta” US 2018/0368113.
Regarding claims 2 and 26, Lim teaches the bandwidth is 480 MHz and the first set of bits includes one bit and indicates the frequency resolution is 40MHz (Paragraph 304 teaches 1 bit to indicate the resolution. Further, the partial BW info is for 40MHz with respect to 480/560/640MHz; Paragraph 301. Lim teaches an 8 or 9-bit bitmap but does not teach the feedback bitmap comprises 12 bits; however, Gupta teaches that feedback bitmaps can be 12 bits; Paragraph 84.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Lim to include a 12-bit feedback bitmap as taught by Gupta.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that the UE can properly send ACK/NACK as taught by Gupta; Paragraph 84.
Regarding claim 14, Lim teaches the bandwidth is 480 MHz and the first set of bits includes one bit and indicates the frequency resolution is 40MHz (Paragraph 304 teaches 1 bit to indicate the resolution. Further, the partial BW info is for 40MHz with respect to 480/560/640MHz; Paragraph 301. Lim teaches an 8 or 9-bit bitmap but does not teach the feedback bitmap comprises 12 bits; however, Gupta teaches that feedback bitmaps can be 12 bits; Paragraph 84.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Lim to include a 12-bit feedback bitmap as taught by Gupta.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that the UE can properly send ACK/NACK as taught by Gupta; Paragraph 84
Claim(s) 3, 15, 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim in view of Li et al. “Li” US 2022/0150030.
Regarding claims 3 and 27, Lim teaches the channel bandwidth is 480MHz, the first set of bits includes two bits and indicates the frequency resolution is 80MHz (Paragraph 340 teaches 80MHz is tied to 2 bits with respect to 480MHz). Lim does not disclose the feedback bitmap includes 6 bits; however, Lim teaches acknowledgement feedback bitmaps which can be 6-bits; Paragraph 64.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Lim to include a 6-bit feedback bitmap as taught by Li.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that the UE can properly send ACK/NACK as taught by Li; Paragraph 64, see also Figure 7.
Regarding claim 15, Lim teaches the channel bandwidth is 480MHz, the first set of bits includes two bits and indicates the frequency resolution is 80MHz (Paragraph 340 teaches 80MHz is tied to 2 bits with respect to 480MHz). Lim does not disclose the feedback bitmap includes 6 bits; however, Lim teaches acknowledgement feedback bitmaps which can be 6-bits; Paragraph 64.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Lim to include a 6-bit feedback bitmap as taught by Li.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that the UE can properly send ACK/NACK as taught by Li; Paragraph 64, see also Figure 7.
Claim(s) 6 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim in view of Park et al. “Park” US 2025/0132869.
Regarding claim 6, Lim teaches the NDPA frame includes subcarrier information (Paragraph 13). Lim does not teach the indices ranges for 480/640MHz; however, Park teaches transmit feedback indexed by a set of subcarrier indices, wherein the set of subcarrier indices ranges from -3060 to 3060 for a 480MHz channel bandwidth and -4084 to 4048 for a 640MHz channel bandwidth, wherein subcarrier indices included in the set of subcarrier indices are based on a grouping value, wherein the null data packet announcement frame comprises a grouping field that indicates the grouping value (for 480MHz, -3060 to 3060 is the indices range; Paragraphs 229-234; and for 640MHz, -4084 to 4084 is the indices range; Paragraphs 238-243.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Lim to include -3060 to 3060 and -4084 to 4048 for 480/640MHz respectively as taught by Park.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that a new type of 480/640MHz RU can be defined as taught by Park; Paragraphs 229 and 238.
Regarding claim 18, Lim teaches the NDPA frame includes subcarrier information (Paragraph 13). Lim does not teach the indices ranges for 480/640MHz; however, Park teaches transmit feedback indexed by a set of subcarrier indices, wherein the set of subcarrier indices ranges from -3060 to 3060 for a 480MHz channel bandwidth and -4084 to 4048 for a 640MHz channel bandwidth, wherein subcarrier indices included in the set of subcarrier indices are based on a grouping value, wherein the null data packet announcement frame comprises a grouping field that indicates the grouping value (for 480MHz, -3060 to 3060 is the indices range; Paragraphs 229-234; and for 640MHz, -4084 to 4084 is the indices range; Paragraphs 238-243.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Lim to include -3060 to 3060 and -4084 to 4048 for 480/640MHz respectively as taught by Park.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that a new type of 480/640MHz RU can be defined as taught by Park; Paragraphs 229 and 238.
Claim(s) 7-12 and 19-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim in view of Park et al. “Park” US 2025/0132869 in view of Park et al. “Park-1” US 2024/0322965.
Regarding claims 7 and 19, the prior art does not expressly disclose the indices of claims 7 and 19; however, Park-1 teaches for 242 resource tones the 5th through 20th subsets of subcarrier indices (See Tables 4-5). It would be readily apparent to a person of skill in the art, given the teachings of Park-1, that by utilizing 480 MHz, the additional subsets (1-4 and 21-24) would be realized.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of the prior art to include the subcarrier indexes taught by Park-1.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that based on the feedback request, particular subcarriers can be allocated as taught by Park-1, Paragraphs 226-227.
Regarding claims 8 and 20, the prior art does not expressly disclose the indices of claims 8 and 20; however, Park-1 teaches for 242 resource tones the 9th through 24th subsets of subcarrier indices (See Tables 4-5). It would be readily apparent to a person of skill in the art, given the teachings of Park-1, that by utilizing 640 MHz, the additional subsets (1-8 and 25-32) would be realized.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of the prior art to include the subcarrier indexes taught by Park-1.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that based on the feedback request, particular subcarriers can be allocated as taught by Park-1, Paragraphs 226-227.
Regarding claims 9 and 21, the prior art does not expressly disclose the indices of claims 9 and 21; however, Park-1 teaches for 996 resource tones the 2nd through 4th subsets of subcarrier indices with a grouping of 4 (See Table 6). It would be readily apparent to a person of skill in the art, given the teachings of Park-1, that by utilizing 480 MHz, the additional subsets (1 and 6) would be realized.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of the prior art to include the subcarrier indexes taught by Park-1.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that based on the feedback request, particular subcarriers can be allocated as taught by Park-1, Paragraphs 226-227.
Regarding claims 10 and 22, the prior art does not expressly disclose the indices of claims 10 and 22; however, Park-1 teaches for 996 resource tones the 3rd through 6th subsets of subcarrier indices with a grouping of 4 (See Table 6). It would be readily apparent to a person of skill in the art, given the teachings of Park-1, that by utilizing 640 MHz, the additional subsets (1-2 and 7-8) would be realized.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of the prior art to include the subcarrier indexes taught by Park-1.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that based on the feedback request, particular subcarriers can be allocated as taught by Park-1, Paragraphs 226-227.
Regarding claims 11 and 23, the prior art does not expressly disclose the indices of claims 11 and 23; however, Park-1 teaches for 996 resource tones the 2nd through 4th subsets of subcarrier indices with a grouping of 16 (See Table 6). It would be readily apparent to a person of skill in the art, given the teachings of Park-1, that by utilizing 480 MHz, the additional subsets (1 and 6) would be realized.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of the prior art to include the subcarrier indexes taught by Park-1.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that based on the feedback request, particular subcarriers can be allocated as taught by Park-1, Paragraphs 226-227.
Regarding claims 12 and 24, the prior art does not expressly disclose the indices of claims 12 and 24; however, Park-1 teaches for 996 resource tones the 3rd through 6th subsets of subcarrier indices with a grouping of 16 (See Table 6). It would be readily apparent to a person of skill in the art, given the teachings of Park-1, that by utilizing 640 MHz, the additional subsets (1-2 and 7-8) would be realized.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of the prior art to include the subcarrier indexes taught by Park-1.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that based on the feedback request, particular subcarriers can be allocated as taught by Park-1, Paragraphs 226-227.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2/3/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding claim 1, Applicant argues Lim does not teach or suggest the second quantity of bits is variable because Lim teaches a static 8-bit bitmap.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. As shown in the newly formed rejection, Lim teaches there can be 8-bit bitmaps and 16-bit bitmaps (showing variable quantity of bits); Paragraphs 350-352. Thus, Lim does not only include static 8-bit bitmaps and reads on the variable quantity of bits as claimed.
Conclusion
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/BRANDON M RENNER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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