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 .
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.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 3/26/26 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/26/26 have been fully considered.
Applicant’s arguments, on page 8, with respect to the objection to the claim 7 have been fully considered and in light of amendment are persuasive. The objection to claim 7 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, starting on page 8, with respect to the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection(s) have been fully considered and in light of amendment are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Chen (US 20220150962 A1).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-8, 10-15, and 17-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chu (US 20200256975 A1) in view of Yang (US 20210288769 A1, wherein all cited portions are supported by provisional 63115021) and Chen (US 20220150962 A1, wherein all cited portions are supported by provisional 63112934)
Regarding claim 1, Chu discloses:
“A method comprising: sending, by a first wireless device, a trigger frame,” ([para 0063]: “In an embodiment, the AP 114 transmits a DL PPDU 260 a defined time period after an end of the UL MU transmission 250…The PPDU 260 includes a trigger frame to cause the group of client stations 154 to simultaneously transmit, as part of an UL MU transmission 264, uplink PPDUs 268 that include ranging measurement feedback.”)
“wherein the trigger frame is used to trigger a plurality of second wireless devices to send measurement packets in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) manner, the trigger frame comprises first indication information, and the first indication information indicates a group of tones with … discontinuous frequencies that is occupied by the measurement packet; and receiving, by the first wireless device, the measurement packets sent by the plurality of second wireless devices in the OFDMA manner.” ([para 0143]: “During a first frame exchange 1004, a first communication device (e.g., the AP 114) transmits a DL PPDU 1008 having a trigger frame to prompt multiple second communication devices (e.g., client stations 154) to simultaneously transmit NDP feedbacks 1012 as part of an UL OFDMA NDP transmission 1016, where each client station uses several different tones in the UL OFDMA NDP transmission 1016 to send a respective request indication.” ; [para 0073]: “For example, the trigger frame 216 includes a plurality of user information fields (user info fields) corresponding to client stations 154 that are to participate in the UL MU transmission 220… Additionally, the user info field that includes the pre-AID also indicates on which one or more spatial streams the unassociated client station 154 is to transmit an NDP as part of the UL MU transmission 220, according to an embodiment.”)
Chu does not explicitly disclose the tones are “totally” discontinuous nor “wherein the measurement packets indicate an action status of human body.”
However, Yang discloses the missing feature “totally” discontinuous tones ([para 0076]: “The STA may map the set of contiguous tones occupying the first frequency bandwidth of the first RU to a set of non-contiguous tones distributed across the second frequency bandwidth based on a tone mapping vector and a tone mapping offset associated with the first RU.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, having the teachings of Chu and Yang, to modify the tones as disclosed by Chu, to be totally discontinuous as disclosed by Yang. The motivation for doing so is that it reduces spectral density limits, thus improving packet detection and channel estimation, as discussed in paragraph 76 of Yang. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Chu with Yang to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim.
Yang also does not disclose “wherein the measurement packets indicate an action status of human body.”
However, Chen discloses the missing feature “wherein the measurement packets indicate an action status of human body.” ([¶ 0020]: “A CSI amplitude and phase may be affected by movements of transmitter and/or receiver devices, objects, and people. As such, when a CSI (e.g., a CFR) varies over time, such may indicate the presence and motion of people or objects. In this manner, the variance of CSI channel measurements for a communication link over time may indicate the presence of motion.” Also see Fig. 3 for further similarities to the instant invention.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, having the teachings of Chu, Yang, and Chen for the measurement packets as disclosed by Chu, to indicate motion of humans as disclosed by Yang. The motivation for doing so is that it results in increased information, thus allowing for better optimization. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Chu with Yang and Chen to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim.
Regarding claim 3, Chu in view of Yang and Chen discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Chu does not explicitly disclose “the first indication information indicates both an offset value of a non-zero tone and a spacing between adjacent non-zero tones, and the non-zero tone is a tone occupied by the measurement packet.”
However, Yang discloses “the first indication information indicates both an offset value of a non-zero tone and a spacing between adjacent non-zero tones, and the non-zero tone is a tone occupied by the measurement packet.” ([para 0076]: “The STA may map the set of contiguous tones occupying the first frequency bandwidth of the first RU to a set of non-contiguous tones distributed across the second frequency bandwidth based on a tone mapping vector and a tone mapping offset associated with the first RU.” ; [para 0251]: “The tone mapping vector indicates a starting tone index, an ending tone index, and a tone spacing for the selected base group.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, having the teachings of Chu and Yang, to modify the first indication information as disclosed by Chu, to include an offset and spacing as disclosed by Yang. The motivation for doing so is that it is an efficient means of implementing discontinuous tones. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Chu with Yang to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim.
Regarding claim 4, Chu in view of Yang and Chen discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Chu further discloses “wherein the first indication information is located in a user information field in the trigger frame.” ([para 0073]: “For example, the trigger frame 216 includes a plurality of user information fields (user info fields) corresponding to client stations 154 that are to participate in the UL MU transmission 220.”)
Regarding claim 5, Chu in view of Yang and Chen discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Chu further discloses “wherein the trigger frame further comprises second indication information, and the second indication information indicates a type of the measurement packet;” ([para 0105]: “In another embodiment, the trigger frame in the DL PPDU 604 includes a common information field, with a subfield having information that indicates the trigger frame in the DL PPDU 604 is soliciting requests to participate in a ranging measurement procedure.”)
Chu does not explicitly disclose “the type of the measurement packet is the measurement packet that occupies the group of tones with discontinuous frequencies”
However, Yang discloses “the type of the measurement packet is the measurement packet that occupies the group of tones with discontinuous frequencies” ([para 0076]: “The STA may map the set of contiguous tones occupying the first frequency bandwidth of the first RU to a set of non-contiguous tones distributed across the second frequency bandwidth based on a tone mapping vector and a tone mapping offset associated with the first RU.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, having the teachings of Chu and Yang, to modify the second indication information as disclosed by Chu, to include tone information as disclosed by Yang. The motivation for doing so is that it is an efficient means of implementing discontinuous tones. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Chu with Yang to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim.
Regarding claim 6, Chu in view of Yang and Chen discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Chu further discloses “wherein the trigger frame comprises a common information field and the second indication information is located in the common information field.” ([para 0105]: “In another embodiment, the trigger frame in the DL PPDU 604 includes a common information field, with a subfield having information that indicates the trigger frame in the DL PPDU 604 is soliciting requests to participate in a ranging measurement procedure.”)
Regarding claim 7, Chu in view of Yang and Chen discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Chu further discloses “wherein the trigger frame further comprises third indication information indicating that a type of the trigger frame is a wireless sensing type.” ([para 0104]: “In an embodiment, the trigger frame includes a trigger type subfield having information indicating that the trigger frame 604 is a type of trigger frame specifically for soliciting requests to participate in a ranging measurement procedure, such as the MU ranging measurement exchange 200, and/or the ranging measurement procedure 300. In an embodiment, the value of the trigger type subfield is selected from among a plurality of values corresponding to a plurality of trigger variants defined by a communication protocol (e.g., the IEEE 802.11 Standard).”)
Claims 8 and 10-14 are substantially similar to claims 1 and 3-7 with the differences amounting to that claims 8 and 10-14 are simply from a different perspective as 1 and 3-7. Thus, claims 8 and 10-14 are rejected for similar reasons to claims 1 and 3-7.
Claims 15 and 17-19 are substantially similar to claims 1 and 3-5 with the differences amounting to that claims 1-5 are directed towards a method while claims 15-19 are directed towards an apparatus containing generic hardware. Such hardware is taught by Chu in paragraph 29. Thus, claims 15-19 are rejected for similar reasons to claims 1 and 3-5.
Regarding claim 20, Chu in view of Yang and Chen discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Chu further discloses “wherein the user information field comprises an association identifier subfield…” ([para 0075]: “Similarly, as another example, the PPDU 240 includes an HE-SIGB field with a plurality of user info fields corresponding to a plurality of client stations 154 that are to participate in the MU UL transmission 250, and where each user info field includes a respective AID or pre-AID, according to an embodiment.”)
Chu does not explicitly disclose “a number of grouping subfield, and a tone offset subfield”
However, Yang discloses “a number of grouping subfield, and a tone offset subfield” ([para 0076]: “The STA may map the set of contiguous tones occupying the first frequency bandwidth of the first RU to a set of non-contiguous tones distributed across the second frequency bandwidth based on a tone mapping vector and a tone mapping offset associated with the first RU.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, having the teachings of Chu and Yang, to modify the user information as disclosed by Chu, to include grouping and tone offset subfields Yang. The motivation for doing so is that it is an efficient means of implementing discontinuous tones. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Chu with Yang to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim.
Regarding claim 21, Chu in view of Yang and Chen discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Chu further discloses “wherein the common information field includes a trigger type subfield and a trigger dependent common information subfield;” ([para 0104]: “In an embodiment, the trigger frame includes a trigger type subfield having information indicating that the trigger frame 604 is a type of trigger frame specifically for soliciting requests to participate in a ranging measurement procedure, such as the MU ranging measurement exchange 200, and/or the ranging measurement procedure 300.”)
Regarding claim 22, Chu in view of Yang and Chen discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Chu further discloses “wherein the third indication information is located in a trigger type subfield of the common information field.” ([para 0104]: “In an embodiment, the trigger frame includes a trigger type subfield having information indicating that the trigger frame 604 is a type of trigger frame specifically for soliciting requests to participate in a ranging measurement procedure, such as the MU ranging measurement exchange 200, and/or the ranging measurement procedure 300. In an embodiment, the value of the trigger type subfield is selected from among a plurality of values corresponding to a plurality of trigger variants defined by a communication protocol (e.g., the IEEE 802.11 Standard).”)
Conclusion
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/SAAD KHAWAR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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