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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 5/11/2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 1-3, 5-10, 14-20 under 35 USC § 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new grounds of rejection is made in view of 35 USC § 103.
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.
Claims 1-3, 5-10, 13-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dash et al. (US 20200314872 A1) in view of Pakrooh et al. (US 20260142688 A1) and in further view of Luo et al. (US 20250227756 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Dash et al. teaches a method comprising: monitoring, by a wireless local area network (WLAN) sub-system of a wireless device, a frequency band for wireless personal area network (WPAN) activity (Paragraph 32, 55, 79, The WLAN subsystem monitors shared frequency bands by detecting and monitoring WPAN communications and parameters on overlapping channels to determine WPAN activity); identifying, from the WPAN activity, a first WPAN packet transmitted during a first time slot (Paragraph 57, 61, 86, WPAN packet transmissions are explicitly identified in time by extracting packet preambles and determining packet position and timing within defined transmission slots).
Dash et al. does not explicitly teach obtaining, from a header of the first WPAN packet, a payload length of the first WPAN packet, wherein the header includes at least an indication of the payload length.
However, Pakrooh et al. teaches obtaining, from a header of the first WPAN packet, a payload length of the first WPAN packet, wherein the header includes at least an indication of the payload length (Paragraph 28-33, 41, 96, 104, The passage expressly teaches obtaining payload length or frame length information from a PHY header that includes an indication of payload length, allowing determination of the payload information for the transmitted packet).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide obtaining, from a header of the first WPAN packet, a payload length of the first WPAN packet, wherein the header includes at least an indication of the payload length, as taught by Pakrooh et al. in the system of Dash et al., so that it would enable the WLAN subsystem to accurately determine the duration and characteristics of detected WPAN transmissions from header information, thereby improving coexistence decisions and coordination of shared wireless medium access.
Neither Dash et al. nor Pakrooh et al. explicitly teach interrupting, by the WLAN sub-system, the WPAN activity to transmit at least a portion of a first WLAN packet within a remainder of the first time slot.
However, Luo et al. teaches interrupting, by the WLAN sub-system, the WPAN activity to transmit at least a portion of a first WLAN packet within a remainder of the first time slot (Paragraph 81, 84, 129, 134, 155, 158, 162, The passage teaches suspending ongoing activity on a busy primary channel (tracked via NAV from CTS/RTS/CTS) and, while that occupancy persists, transmitting data on an idle secondary channel for a duration constrained to the remaining busy period, thereby inserting a WLAN transmission within the remainder of the time window occupied by the other technology).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide interrupting, by the WLAN sub-system, the WPAN activity to transmit at least a portion of a first WLAN packet within a remainder of the first time slot as taught by Luo et al. in the combined system of Dash et al. and Pakrooh et al., so that it would allow the WLAN sub-system to opportunistically utilize otherwise unused residual airtime of an ongoing WPAN transmission to improve spectrum efficiency and coexistence performance without extending or disrupting the WPAN communication.
Regarding claim 2, Dash et al. does not explicitly teach transmitting, based on the payload length of the first WPAN packet, a first clear to send to self (CTS-2-Self) frame with an expiration time that includes an amount of time substantially equal to a time it takes for a receiver of the first WPAN packet to receive the first WPAN packet based on the payload length.
However, Luo et al. teaches transmitting, based on the payload length of the first WPAN packet, a first clear to send to self (CTS-2-Self) frame with an expiration time that includes an amount of time substantially equal to a time it takes for a receiver of the first WPAN packet to receive the first WPAN packet based on the payload length (Paragraph 199, 204, 229, 233, The CTS-to-self frame explicitly carries a Duration/NAV value that reserves channel occupancy for the PPDU transmission (plus SIFS and ACK), and since PPDU transmission time is determined by the packet size, the CTS-to-self expiration time inherently includes an amount of time substantially equal to the time required for the receiver to receive the packet based on its payload length).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide transmitting, based on the payload length of the first WPAN packet, a first clear to send to self (CTS-2-Self) frame with an expiration time that includes an amount of time substantially equal to a time it takes for a receiver of the first WPAN packet to receive the first WPAN packet based on the payload length as taught by Luo et al. in the system of Dash et al., so that it would accurately reserve the wireless medium for the full PPDU transmission time determined by the payload length, thereby preventing interference and ensuring reliable reception of the WPAN packet.
Regarding claim 3, Dash et al. does not explicitly teach obtaining, from a retransmission of the first WPAN packet during a second time slot, an identifier indicating whether a second WPAN packet is expected from a first transmitter-receiver pair (Tx-Rx pair) of a multiple Tx-Rx pairs of the WLAN sub-system; and in response to determining that the second WPAN packet is expected, transmitting, during the second time slot after the first CTS-2-Self frame, a second CTS-2-Self frame with an expiration time that includes an amount of time substantially equal to a time it takes for a receiver of the first WPAN packet to receive the first WPAN packet based on the payload length.
However, Luo et al. teaches obtaining, from a retransmission of the first WPAN packet during a second time slot, an identifier indicating whether a second WPAN packet is expected from a first transmitter-receiver pair (Tx-Rx pair) of a multiple Tx-Rx pairs of the WLAN sub-system (Paragraph 30, 129, 134, 135, 167, The retransmitted control signaling (CTS-to-self/RTS/CTS) carries a Duration/NAV field that functions as an identifier derived from a repeated transmission indicating whether further packet exchange from a given transmitter-receiver pair is expected within the reserved time window); and in response to determining that the second WPAN packet is expected, transmitting, during the second time slot after the first CTS-2-Self frame, a second CTS-2-Self frame with an expiration time that includes an amount of time substantially equal to a time it takes for a receiver of the first WPAN packet to receive the first WPAN packet based on the payload length (Paragraph 51, 52, 54, 55, 167, Upon determining continued packet exchange, the transmitting station sends a subsequent CTS-to-self whose Duration field reserves the medium for a time corresponding to the data transmission length, which scales with the payload length of the packet being received).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide obtaining, from a retransmission of the first WPAN packet during a second time slot, an identifier indicating whether a second WPAN packet is expected from a first transmitter-receiver pair (Tx-Rx pair) of a multiple Tx-Rx pairs of the WLAN sub-system; and in response to determining that the second WPAN packet is expected, transmitting, during the second time slot after the first CTS-2-Self frame, a second CTS-2-Self frame with an expiration time that includes an amount of time substantially equal to a time it takes for a receiver of the first WPAN packet to receive the first WPAN packet based on the payload length as taught by Luo et al. in the system of Dash et al., so that it would enable more accurate medium reservation and coordination of overlapping WPAN/WLAN transmissions by dynamically extending protection based on expected continued packet exchanges.
Regarding claim 5, Dash et al. teaches wherein during a remainder of the second time slot the WLAN sub-system transmits at least a portion of a second WLAN packet (Paragraph 32, 34, These passages teach that when a transmission opportunity (time slot) is only partially used, the WLAN radio transmits one or more packets during the remaining portion of that time slot, which corresponds to transmitting at least a portion of a second WLAN packet during the remainder of the second time slot).
Regarding claim 6, Dash et al. teaches wherein obtaining the payload length of the first WPAN packet comprises: identifying, from a header of the first WPAN packet, a first set of bits containing payload length; and obtaining, from the first set of bits containing payload length, the payload length (Paragraph 22, 56, 57, 61, The passage teaches extracting packet length–related information from packet headers/preambles of WPAN packets, which necessarily involves identifying header bits conveying payload/packet length and obtaining the payload length from those bits for use in scheduling and coexistence decisions).
Regarding claim 7, Dash et al. teaches wherein identifying, from the header of the first WPAN packet, the first set of bits includes performing data de-whitening (Paragraph 56, 57, 59, 62, The passages describe extracting and deriving information from the preamble of WPAN packets by the CMC to identify information such as packet type or traffic rate).
Regarding claim 8, Dash et al. teaches wherein obtaining the identifier indicating whether the second WPAN packet is expected from the Tx-Rx pair of the multiple Tx-Rx pairs of the WLAN sub-system comprises: obtaining, from a header of retransmission of the first WPAN packet, a second set of bits containing the identifier indicating whether an additional WPAN packet is expected within a current time slot (Paragraph 61, 69, 73, The passage teaches obtaining, from packet header-related signaling (preamble or request/trigger information associated with WPAN transmissions and retransmissions), specific bits or fields that indicate whether the current WPAN packet is a first, middle, last, response, or part of a multi-packet sequence).
Regarding claim 9, Dash et al. teaches a wireless local area network (WLAN) sub-system, comprising: a processor; and a memory comprising a coexistence management component, wherein the coexistence management component when executed by the processor is to perform operations comprising: monitoring, by the WLAN sub-system, a frequency band for WPAN activity (Paragraph 32, 55, 79, The WLAN subsystem monitors shared frequency bands by detecting and monitoring WPAN communications and parameters on overlapping channels to determine WPAN activity); identifying, from the WPAN activity, a first WPAN packet transmitted during a first time slot (Paragraph 57, 61, 86, WPAN packet transmissions are explicitly identified in time by extracting packet preambles and determining packet position and timing within defined transmission slots).
Dash et al. does not explicitly teach obtaining, from a header of the first WPAN packet, a payload length of the first WPAN packet, wherein the header includes at least an indication of the payload length.
However, Pakrooh et al. teaches obtaining, from a header of the first WPAN packet, a payload length of the first WPAN packet, wherein the header includes at least an indication of the payload length (Paragraph 28-33, 41, 96, 104, The passage expressly teaches obtaining payload length or frame length information from a PHY header that includes an indication of payload length, allowing determination of the payload information for the transmitted packet).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide obtaining, from a header of the first WPAN packet, a payload length of the first WPAN packet, wherein the header includes at least an indication of the payload length, as taught by Pakrooh et al. in the system of Dash et al., so that it would enable the WLAN subsystem to accurately determine the duration and characteristics of detected WPAN transmissions from header information, thereby improving coexistence decisions and coordination of shared wireless medium access.
Neither Dash et al. nor Pakrooh et al. explicitly teach interrupting, by the WLAN sub-system, the WPAN activity to transmit at least a portion of a first WLAN packet within a remainder of the first time slot.
However, Luo et al. teaches interrupting, by the WLAN sub-system, the WPAN activity to transmit at least a portion of a first WLAN packet within a remainder of the first time slot (Paragraph 81, 84, 129, 134, 155, 158, 162, The passage teaches suspending ongoing activity on a busy primary channel (tracked via NAV from CTS/RTS/CTS) and, while that occupancy persists, transmitting data on an idle secondary channel for a duration constrained to the remaining busy period, thereby inserting a WLAN transmission within the remainder of the time window occupied by the other technology).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide interrupting, by the WLAN sub-system, the WPAN activity to transmit at least a portion of a first WLAN packet within a remainder of the first time slot as taught by Luo et al. in the combined system of Dash et al. and Pakrooh et al., so that it would allow the WLAN sub-system to opportunistically utilize otherwise unused residual airtime of an ongoing WPAN transmission to improve spectrum efficiency and coexistence performance without extending or disrupting the WPAN communication.
Regarding claim 10, Dash et al. does not explicitly teach transmitting, based on the payload length of the first WPAN packet, a first clear to send to self (CTS-2-Self) frame with an expiration time that includes an amount of time substantially equal to a time it takes for a receiver of the first WPAN packet to receive the first WPAN packet based on the payload length.
However, Luo et al. teaches transmitting, based on the payload length of the first WPAN packet, a first clear to send to self (CTS-2-Self) frame with an expiration time that includes an amount of time substantially equal to a time it takes for a receiver of the first WPAN packet to receive the first WPAN packet based on the payload length (Paragraph 199, 204, 229, 233, The CTS-to-self frame explicitly carries a Duration/NAV value that reserves channel occupancy for the PPDU transmission (plus SIFS and ACK), and since PPDU transmission time is determined by the packet size, the CTS-to-self expiration time inherently includes an amount of time substantially equal to the time required for the receiver to receive the packet based on its payload length).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide transmitting, based on the payload length of the first WPAN packet, a first clear to send to self (CTS-2-Self) frame with an expiration time that includes an amount of time substantially equal to a time it takes for a receiver of the first WPAN packet to receive the first WPAN packet based on the payload length as taught by Luo et al. in the system of Dash et al., so that it would accurately reserve the wireless medium for the full PPDU transmission time determined by the payload length, thereby preventing interference and ensuring reliable reception of the WPAN packet.
Regarding claim 13, Dash et al. teaches during a remainder of the second time slot the WLAN sub-system transmits at least a portion of a second WLAN packet (Paragraph 34, the unused remainder of a reserved transmission interval (TXOP) corresponds to the remainder of the time slot and transmitting one or more packets during that remainder teaches transmitting at least a portion of a packet during the remainder of the time slot).
Regarding claim 14, Dash et al. teaches wherein obtaining the payload length of the first WPAN packet comprises: identifying, from a header of the first WPAN packet, a first set of bits containing payload length; and obtaining, from the first set of bits containing payload length, the payload length (Paragraph 22, 56, 57, 61, The passage teaches extracting packet length–related information from packet headers/preambles of WPAN packets, which necessarily involves identifying header bits conveying payload/packet length and obtaining the payload length from those bits for use in scheduling and coexistence decisions).
Regarding claim 15, Dash et al. teaches wherein identifying, from the header of the first WPAN packet, the first set of bits includes performing data de-whitening (Paragraph 56, 57, 59, 62, The passages describe extracting and deriving information from the preamble of WPAN packets by the CMC to identify information such as packet type or traffic rate).
Regarding claim 16, Dash et al. teaches wherein obtaining the identifier indicating whether the second WPAN packet is expected from the Tx-Rx pair of the multiple Tx-Rx pairs of the WLAN sub-system comprises: obtaining, from a header of retransmission of the first WPAN packet, a second set of bits containing the identifier indicating whether an additional WPAN packet is expected within a current time slot (Paragraph 61, 69, 73, The passage teaches obtaining, from packet header-related signaling (preamble or request/trigger information associated with WPAN transmissions and retransmissions), specific bits or fields that indicate whether the current WPAN packet is a first, middle, last, response, or part of a multi-packet sequence).
Regarding claim 17, Dash et al. teaches a wireless device comprising: a wireless local area network (WLAN) sub-system comprising a processor, and a wireless personal area network (WPAN) sub-system operating on a frequency band with the WLAN sub-system (Paragraph 17, 51, 52, The device explicitly includes co-located WLAN and WPAN subsystems operating on shared frequency bands within a single wireless communication device), wherein the processor of the WLAN sub-system is to perform operations comprising: monitoring the frequency band for a connection event of a WLAN sub-system during a first time slot, wherein the connection event includes transmission of a plurality of WPAN packets (Paragraph 32, 61, 79, The system monitors shared-channel activity over defined time intervals (TXOPs / transmission slots), detecting ongoing multi-packet transmissions and their temporal boundaries).
Dash et al. does not explicitly teach obtaining, from a first WPAN packet of the connection event, a payload length of the first WPAN packet.
However, Pakrooh et al. teaches obtaining, from a first WPAN packet of the connection event, a payload length of the first WPAN packet (Paragraph 28-33, 41, 96, 104, The passage expressly teaches obtaining payload length or frame length information from a PHY header that includes an indication of payload length, allowing determination of the payload information for the transmitted packet).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide obtaining, from a first WPAN packet of the connection event, a payload length of the first WPAN packet, as taught by Pakrooh et al. in the system of Dash et al., so that it would enable the WLAN subsystem to accurately determine the duration and characteristics of detected WPAN transmissions from header information, thereby improving coexistence decisions and coordination of shared wireless medium access.
Neither Dash et al. nor Pakrooh et al. explicitly teach interrupting the connection event to utilize the frequency band for a remainder of the first time slot.
However, Luo et al. teaches interrupting the connection event to utilize the frequency band for a remainder of the first time slot (Paragraph 81, 84, 90, 93, 119, 155, The passage teaches halting or deferring ongoing primary-channel activity and instead transmitting on idle secondary frequency resources for a duration bounded by, and ending with, the ongoing primary-channel occupancy, thereby using the remaining available time of the slot rather than waiting for the connection event to complete).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide interrupting the connection event to utilize the frequency band for a remainder of the first time slot as taught by Luo et al. in the combined system of Dash et al. and Pakrooh et al., so that it would allow the WLAN sub-system to opportunistically utilize otherwise unused residual airtime of an ongoing WPAN transmission to improve spectrum efficiency and coexistence performance without extending or disrupting the WPAN communication.
Regarding claim 18, Dash et al. does not explicitly teach transmitting, during re-transmission of the connection event within a second time slot, a clear to send to self (CTS-2-Self) frame for each WPAN packet of the connection event, each CTS-2-Self frame having a duration substantially equal to a time it takes for a receiver of the first WPAN packet to receive the first WPAN packet based on the payload length.
However, Luo et al. teaches transmitting, during re-transmission of the connection event within a second time slot, a clear to send to self (CTS-2-Self) frame for each WPAN packet of the connection event, each CTS-2-Self frame having a duration substantially equal to a time it takes for a receiver of the first WPAN packet to receive the first WPAN packet based on the payload length (Paragraph 199, 204, 229, 233, The CTS-to-self frame explicitly carries a Duration/NAV value that reserves channel occupancy for the PPDU transmission (plus SIFS and ACK), and since PPDU transmission time is determined by the packet size, the CTS-to-self expiration time inherently includes an amount of time substantially equal to the time required for the receiver to receive the packet based on its payload length).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide transmitting, during re-transmission of the connection event within a second time slot, a clear to send to self (CTS-2-Self) frame for each WPAN packet of the connection event, each CTS-2-Self frame having a duration substantially equal to a time it takes for a receiver of the first WPAN packet to receive the first WPAN packet based on the payload length as taught by Luo et al. in the system of Dash et al., so that it would accurately reserve the wireless medium for the full PPDU transmission time determined by the payload length, thereby preventing interference and ensuring reliable reception of the WPAN packet.
Regarding claim 19, Dash et al. teaches obtaining the payload length of the first WPAN packet comprises: identifying, from a header of the first WPAN packet, a set of bits containing payload length; and obtaining, from the set of bits containing payload length, the payload length (Paragraph 22, 56, 57, The passage teaches extracting packet length information from packet signaling (preamble/header information) of WPAN packets, which necessarily involves identifying specific bits conveying payload/packet length and obtaining the payload length value from those bits for further processing).
Regarding claim 20, Dash et al. teaches wherein interrupting the connection event to utilize the frequency band for the remainder of the first time slot comprises: determining, based on a parameter of the WLAN sub-system, whether a predetermined number of connection intervals may be skipped; and in response to determining that at least one number of connection intervals may be skipped, interrupting the connection event (Paragraph 34, 55, 59, 61, parameter-based determination of whether remaining communication intervals can be skipped and responsive interruption of an ongoing connection event to reclaim time in the shared band).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 11-12 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Gudumasu et al. (US 20250373849 A1)
Camarillo et al. (US 20250150376 A1)
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW SHAJI KURIAN whose telephone number is (703)756-1878. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-4pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricky Ngo can be reached at (571) 272-3139. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ANDREW SHAJI KURIAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2464
/RICKY Q NGO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2464
Prosecution Insights