DETAILED ACTION
Applicant's submission filed on 26 January 2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 3-5, 8-10, 12, 16-18, 20, 22-25, 27, and 29 are currently amended; claims 2, 21, 26, and 30 are cancelled; claims 6, 7, 11, 13-15, 19, and 28 are previously presented; claims 31 and 32 have been added. Claims 1, 3-20, 22-25, 27-29, 31, and 32 are pending and ready for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Claim 22 states that it depends on “The first wireless AP of claim 21”, however claim 21 is cancelled. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
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, 4, 6-14 and 25, and 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Silverman et al. (US 2024/0334225 A1), hereafter referred Silverman, in view of Li et al. (US 2020/0403680 A1), hereafter referred Li, further in view of Choi et al. (US 2021/0410089 A1), hereafter referred Choi.
Regarding claim 1, Silverman teaches a first wireless access point (AP), comprising:
a processing system that includes processor circuitry and memory circuitry that stores code (Silverman, Fig. 2, [0025]; AP 200 includes Processor 202 and Memory 210), the processing system configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
transmit a set of sounding packets in accordance with a channel sounding operation to one or more wireless stations (STAs) of a second basic service set (BSS) associated with a second wireless AP different than a first BSS associated with the first wireless AP (Silverman, Fig. 5, [0051]-[0053]; AP sounding service identifies STA across BSSs for sounding, where an AP can initiate sounding for both STAs in the BSS and STAs in another BSS), each sounding packet of the set of sounding packets including an indication that the sounding packet is an in-BSS packet from the perspective of the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS (Silverman, Fig. 4C, [0018] and [0049]-[0050]; as illustrated in Fig. 1, the AP 102A could transmit a broadcast frame with AIDS for the STAs 104D and 104E in the BSS 110B associated with a different AP 102B where association identifiers (AIDS) can be used by a transmitting AP to trigger sounding for STAs outside of the AP’s BSS);
receive, in association with transmitting the set of sounding packets, sounding matrix information from the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS, respectively (Silverman, Fig. 5, [0051]-[0053]; after AP transmit a sounding trigger with a list of AIDs for the STAs across multiple BSSs, sounding of all STAs would be initiated to the AP so that each of these STAs would transmit sounding matrix information back to the AP).
Silverman does not expressly teach the sounding matrix information can be made into a measurement report and each measurement report including respective channel state information associated with a respective channel between the respective wireless STA associated with the measurement report and the first wireless AP.
However, Li teaches the sounding matrix information can be made into a measurement report and each measurement report including respective channel state information associated with a respective channel between the respective wireless STA associated with the measurement report and the first wireless AP (Li, Fig. 12, [0116]-[0120]; for CSI reporting in multi-AP channel sounding, the master AP transmit a BFRP trigger frame that solicits the CSI reports from both BSS STAs and OBSS STAs where all the STAs are configured to respond to the master AP with the CSI report and the master AP shares the CSI reports with the slave APs, where the BFRP trigger frame may have identifying information the STAs use to determine to transmit the trigger frame and the CSI reports are based on the NDP1, NDP2, and NDP3, each associated with a different AP/BSS).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform coordinated beamforming (Li, [0116]).
Silverman in view of Li does not expressly teach transmit, in accordance with the channel state information, a data packet to at least one wireless STA of the first BSS.
However, Choi teaches transmit, in accordance with the channel state information, a data packet to at least one wireless STA of the first BSS (Choi, Fig. 10, [0188]-[0193]; the second electronic device applies weight vectors to the antenna based on the first channel information and may transmit the communication signal in a state in which the first weight vector is applied during a DL service period).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li to include the above recited limitations as taught by Choi in order to alleviate the signal interference (Choi, [0193]).
Regarding claim 25, Silverman teaches a method for wireless communication by a first wireless access point (AP), comprising:
transmitting a set of sounding packets in accordance with a channel sounding operation to one or more wireless stations (STAs) of a second basic service set (BSS) associated with a second wireless AP different than a first BSS associated with the first wireless AP, the set of sounding packets being associated with one or more parameters indicative of the second BSS (Silverman, Fig. 5, [0051]-[0053]; AP sounding service identifies STA across BSSs for sounding, where an AP can initiate sounding for both STAs in the BSS and STAs in another BSS), each sounding packet of the set of sounding packets including an indication that the sounding packet is an in-BSS packet from the perspective of the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS (Silverman, Fig. 4C, [0018] and [0049]-[0050]; as illustrated in Fig. 1, the AP 102A could transmit a broadcast frame with AIDS for the STAs 104D and 104E in the BSS 110B associated with a different AP 102B where association identifiers (AIDS) can be used by a transmitting AP to trigger sounding for STAs outside of the AP’s BSS);
receiving, in association with transmitting the set of sounding packets, sounding matrix information from the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS, respectively (Silverman, Fig. 5, [0051]-[0053]; after AP transmit a sounding trigger with a list of AIDs for the STAs across multiple BSSs, sounding of all STAs would be initiated to the AP so that each of these STAs would transmit sounding matrix information back to the AP).
Silverman does not expressly teach the sounding matrix information can be made into a measurement report and each measurement report including respective channel state information associated with a respective channel between the respective wireless STA associated with the measurement report and the first wireless AP.
However, Li teaches the sounding matrix information can be made into a measurement report and each measurement report including respective channel state information associated with a respective channel between the respective wireless STA associated with the measurement report and the first wireless AP (Li, Fig. 12, [0116]-[0120]; for CSI reporting in multi-AP channel sounding, the master AP transmit a BFRP trigger frame that solicits the CSI reports from both BSS STAs and OBSS STAs where all the STAs are configured to respond to the master AP with the CSI report and the master AP shares the CSI reports with the slave APs, where the BFRP trigger frame may have identifying information the STAs use to determine to transmit the trigger frame and the CSI reports are based on the NDP1, NDP2, and NDP3, each associated with a different AP/BSS).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform coordinated beamforming (Li, [0116]).
Silverman in view of Li does not expressly teach transmitting, in accordance with the channel state information, a data packet to at least one wireless STA of the first BSS.
However, Choi teaches transmitting, in accordance with the channel state information, a data packet to at least one wireless STA of the first BSS (Choi, Fig. 10, [0188]-[0193]; the second electronic device applies weight vectors to the antenna based on the first channel information and may transmit the communication signal in a state in which the first weight vector is applied during a DL service period).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li to include the above recited limitations as taught by Choi in order to alleviate the signal interference (Choi, [0193]).
Regarding claims 3 and 31, Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi teaches the first wireless AP of claim 1 and the method of claim 25 above. Silverman does not expressly teach wherein the indication that the sounding packet is an in-BSS packet from the perspective of the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS includes a value of a BSS color subfield, the value of the BSS color subfield being indicative of the second BSS.
However, Li teaches wherein the indication that the sounding packet is an in-BSS packet from the perspective of the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS includes a value of a BSS color subfield, the value of the BSS color subfield being indicative of the second BSS (Li, [0116]-[0120]; the NDP frames can be identified by the corresponding AP’s BSSID, BSS color, or other ID info).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform coordinated beamforming (Li, [0116]).
Regarding claim 4, Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi teaches the first wireless AP of claim 1 and the method of claim 25 above. Further, Silverman teaches wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
transmit a sounding announcement frame prior to transmitting the set of sounding packets, the sounding announcement frame informing the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS that the set of sounding packets are to be transmitted (Silverman, [0015]; an AP transmits an NDPA to associated STAs to announce the sounding is starting and then the AP transmits NDPs to STAs to sound available paths), the sounding announcement frame including the indication that the sounding packet is an in-BSS packet from the perspective of the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS (Silverman, Fig. 4C, [0018] and [0049]-[0050]; as illustrated in Fig. 1, the AP 102A could transmit a broadcast frame with AIDS for the STAs 104D and 104E in the BSS 110B associated with a different AP 102B where association identifiers (AIDS) can be used by a transmitting AP to trigger sounding for STAs outside of the AP’s BSS).
Regarding claim 6, Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi teaches the first wireless AP of claim 1 above. Silverman does not expressly teach wherein, to receive the one or more measurement reports, the processing system is further configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
monitor one or more second channels between the one or more wireless STAs, respectively, and the second wireless AP associated with the second BSS, wherein the one or more measurement reports are received via the one or more second channels, respectively.
However, Li teaches wherein, to receive the one or more measurement reports, the processing system is further configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
monitor one or more second channels between the one or more wireless STAs, respectively, and the second wireless AP associated with the second BSS, wherein the one or more measurement reports are received via the one or more second channels, respectively (Li, [0122]-[0125]; the master AP may indicate 20 MHz channels for the slave APs to use to allocate to stations to transmit CSI reports).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform coordinated beamforming (Li, [0116]).
Regarding claim 7, Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi teaches the first wireless AP of claim 1 above. Silverman does not expressly teach wherein the processing system is configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
receive the one or more measurement reports from the second wireless AP associated with the second BSS via a backhaul wireless communication link between the first wireless AP and the second wireless AP.
However, Li teaches wherein the processing system is configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
receive the one or more measurement reports from the second wireless AP associated with the second BSS via a backhaul wireless communication link between the first wireless AP and the second wireless AP (Li, [0119]-[0122]; the master AP may receive all the CSI reports and communicate with the slave APs via a backhaul network).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform coordinated beamforming (Li, [0116]).
Regarding claim 8, Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi teaches the first wireless AP of claim 1 above. Silverman does not expressly teach wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
exchange one or more coordination messages with the second wireless AP associated with the second BSS, wherein at least one of the one or more coordination messages is indicative of a time at which the second wireless AP is to transmit one or both of a sounding announcement frame or a beamforming report poll frame associated with the channel sounding operation, and wherein the set of sounding packets are transmitted by the first wireless AP subsequent to the time at which the second wireless AP is to transmit the sounding announcement frame, and
wherein the set of sounding packets are transmitted by the first wireless AP prior to the time at which the second wireless AP is to transmit the beamforming report poll frame.
However, Li teaches wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
exchange one or more coordination messages with the second wireless AP associated with the second BSS, wherein at least one of the one or more coordination messages is indicative of a time at which the second wireless AP is to transmit one or both of a sounding announcement frame or a beamforming report poll frame associated with the channel sounding operation, and wherein the set of sounding packets are transmitted by the first wireless AP subsequent to the time at which the second wireless AP is to transmit the sounding announcement frame (Li, [0126]-[0128]; the master AP sends a NDPA frame that comprises an indication that a slave AP is to transmit NDP simultaneously with the master AP transmitting a NDP), and
wherein the set of sounding packets are transmitted by the first wireless AP prior to the time at which the second wireless AP is to transmit the beamforming report poll frame (Li, [0117]; the master AP sends poll frame to poll each slave AP’s BSSID and then the slave AP transmits the BFRP trigger frame to solicit CSI reports from its own BSS).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform coordinated beamforming (Li, [0116]).
Regarding claim 9, Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi teaches the first wireless AP of claim 1 above. Silverman does not expressly teach wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
transmit one or both of a sounding announcement frame or a beamforming report poll frame associated with the channel sounding operation, wherein the sounding announcement frame and the beamforming report poll frame are associated with one or more second parameters indicative of the second BSS, and
wherein transmitting the set of sounding packets is in association with transmitting one or both of the sounding announcement frame and the beamforming report poll frame.
However, Li teaches wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
transmit one or both of a sounding announcement frame or a beamforming report poll frame associated with the channel sounding operation, wherein the sounding announcement frame and the beamforming report poll frame are associated with one or more second parameters indicative of the second BSS (Li, [0126]-[0128]; the master AP sends a NDPA frame that comprises an indication that a slave AP is to transmit NDP simultaneously with the master AP transmitting a NDP), and
wherein transmitting the set of sounding packets is in association with transmitting one or both of the sounding announcement frame and the beamforming report poll frame (Li, [0117]; the master AP sends poll frame to poll each slave AP’s BSSID and then the slave AP transmits the BFRP trigger frame to solicit CSI reports from its own BSS based on the channel obtained by NDP1, NDP2, and NDP3).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform coordinated beamforming (Li, [0116]).
Regarding claim 10, Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi teaches the first wireless AP of claim 9 above. Silverman does not expressly teach wherein the one or more second parameters include a transmitter address associated with one or both of the sounding announcement frame or the beamforming report poll frame, the transmitter address being indicative of the second wireless AP associated with the second BSS.
However, Li teaches wherein the one or more second parameters include a transmitter address associated with one or both of the sounding announcement frame or the beamforming report poll frame, the transmitter address being indicative of the second wireless AP associated with the second BSS (Li, [0117]; the master AP sends poll frame to poll each slave AP’s BSSID and then the slave AP transmits the BFRP trigger frame to solicit CSI reports from its own BSS).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform coordinated beamforming (Li, [0116]).
Regarding claim 11, Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi teaches the first wireless AP of claim 9 above. Silverman does not expressly teach wherein the transmission of the set of sounding packets is in association with the transmission of the sounding announcement frame, and the reception of the one or more measurement reports is in association with the transmission of the beamforming report poll frame.
However, Li teaches wherein the transmission of the set of sounding packets is in association with the transmission of the sounding announcement frame, and the reception of the one or more measurement reports is in association with the transmission of the beamforming report poll frame (Li, [0126]-[0128]; the master AP sends a NDPA frame may include ID info for OBSS APs that comprises an indication that a slave AP is to transmit NDP simultaneously with the master AP transmitting a NDP and the BFRP trigger frame may include ID info for OBSS stations).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform coordinated beamforming (Li, [0116]).
Regarding claim 12 Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi teaches the first wireless AP of claim 9 above. Silverman does not expressly teach wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
receive information indicative of one or more association identifier (AID) values corresponding to the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS; and
transmit one or both of the sounding announcement frame or the beamforming report poll frame in association with setting a transmitter address of one or both of the sounding announcement frame or the beamforming report poll frame to be indicative of the second wireless AP and including, in one or both of the sounding announcement frame or the beamforming report poll frame, the one or more AID values corresponding to the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS, wherein the one or more second parameters that are indicative of the second BSS include the transmitter address indicative of the second wireless AP and the one or more AID values corresponding to the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS.
However, Li teaches wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
receive information indicative of one or more association identifier (AID) values corresponding to the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS (Li, [0117] and [0126]-[0128]; the master AP sends poll frame to poll each slave AP’s BSSID and then the slave AP transmits the BFRP trigger frame that may include ID info for OBSS APs that can include AID11 field for the OBSS stations); and
transmit one or both of the sounding announcement frame or the beamforming report poll frame in association with setting a transmitter address of one or both of the sounding announcement frame or the beamforming report poll frame to be indicative of the second wireless AP and including, in one or both of the sounding announcement frame or the beamforming report poll frame, the one or more AID values corresponding to the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS, wherein the one or more second parameters that are indicative of the second BSS include the transmitter address indicative of the second wireless AP and the one or more AID values corresponding to the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS (Li, [0126]-[0128]; the master AP sends a NDPA frame may include ID info for OBSS APs that can include AID11 field for the OBSS stations).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform coordinated beamforming (Li, [0116]).
Regarding claim 13, Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi teaches the first wireless AP of claim 12 above. Silverman does not expressly teach wherein the processing system is configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
receive an indication of each of the one or more AID values from the second wireless AP via a backhaul wireless communication link between the first wireless AP and the second wireless AP.
However, Li teaches wherein the processing system is configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
receive an indication of each of the one or more AID values from the second wireless AP via a backhaul wireless communication link between the first wireless AP and the second wireless AP (Li, [0117] and [0126]-[0128]; the master AP sends poll frame to poll each slave AP’s BSSID and then the slave AP transmits the BFRP trigger frame that may include ID info for OBSS APs that can include AID11 field for the OBSS stations and the master AP may communicate with the slave AP via a backhaul network).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform coordinated beamforming (Li, [0116]).
Regarding claim 14, Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi teaches the first wireless AP of claim 12 above. Silverman does not expressly teach wherein the processing system is configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
receive the information indicative of the one or more AID values via one or more sounding announcement frames transmitted by the second wireless AP in association with monitoring respective second channels between each of the one or more wireless STAs and the second wireless AP.
However, Li teaches wherein the processing system is configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
receive the information indicative of the one or more AID values via one or more sounding announcement frames transmitted by the second wireless AP in association with monitoring respective second channels between each of the one or more wireless STAs and the second wireless AP (Li, [0117] and [0126]-[0128]; the master AP sends poll frame to poll each slave AP’s BSSID and then the slave AP transmits the BFRP trigger frame that may include ID info for OBSS APs that can include AID11 field for the OBSS stations, and the poll frame is in accordance with the NDPA frame the master AP sends to the slave AP).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform coordinated beamforming (Li, [0116]).
Claims 5 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi as applied to claims 4 and 25 above, and further in view of Cariou et al. (US 2025/0323710 A1), hereafter referred Cariou.
Regarding claims 5 and 27, Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi teaches the first wireless AP of claim 4 and the method of claim 25 above. Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi does not expressly teach wherein the indication that the sounding packet is an in-BSS packet from the perspective of the one or more wireless STAs includes a transmitter address associated with the sounding announcement frame, the transmitter address being indicative of the second wireless AP associated with the second BSS.
However, Cariou teaches wherein the indication that the sounding packet is an in-BSS packet from the perspective of the one or more wireless STAs includes a transmitter address associated with the sounding announcement frame, the transmitter address being indicative of the second wireless AP associated with the second BSS (Cariou, [0023]-[0027]; the basic beamforming training trigger/announcement that starts or triggers the sequence includes signaling for beamforming training, such as Transmitter ID, Tx sector ID).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi to include the above recited limitations as taught by Cariou in order to allow antenna training (Cariou, [0022]).
Claims 15, 17, 18, 23, and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Zhao et al. (US 2016/0013878 A1), hereafter referred Zhao.
Regarding claim 15, Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi teaches the first wireless AP of claim 1 above. Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi does not expressly teach wherein the processing system is configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
transmit the data packet in association with applying an interference reduction scheme to the respective channels between each of the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS and the first wireless AP, wherein applying the interference reduction scheme to the respective channels is associated with the respective channel state information and a medium access control (MAC) address of each of the one or more wireless STAs.
However, Zhao teaches wherein the processing system is configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
transmit the data packet in association with applying an interference reduction scheme to the respective channels between each of the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS and the first wireless AP, wherein applying the interference reduction scheme to the respective channels is associated with the respective channel state information and a medium access control (MAC) address of each of the one or more wireless STAs (Zhao, [0070]-[0078]; the various types of resource elements are transmitted on the downlink radio channel using different transmission powers, which may result in different levels of interference where a second transmission power may be larger than a first transmission power and result in a second level of interference that is larger than a first level of interference, and may depend on a temporal alignment between the resource schemes of the resource elements).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi to include the above recited limitations as taught by Zhao in order to provide transmission on a radio channel with reduced impairment from interference from other radio channels (Zhao, [0011]).
Regarding claim 17, Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi teaches the first wireless AP of claim 1 above. Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi does not expressly teach wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
transmit, using a first transmission power, a first portion of the data packet with or without applying an interference reduction scheme to each respective channel between each of at least a subset of the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS and the first wireless AP in accordance with the respective channel state information associated with the respective channel; and
transmit, using a second transmission power, a second portion of the data packet in association with applying the interference reduction scheme to each respective channel between each of at least the subset of the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS and the first wireless AP in accordance with the respective channel state information associated with the respective channel, the second transmission power being associated with an amount of time synchronization between first transmissions by the first wireless AP and second transmissions by the second wireless AP.
However, Zhao teaches wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
transmit, using a first transmission power, a first portion of the data packet with or without applying an interference reduction scheme to each respective channel between each of at least a subset of the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS and the first wireless AP in accordance with the respective channel state information associated with the respective channel (Zhao, [0070]-[0078]; the various types of resource elements are transmitted on the downlink radio channel using different transmission powers, which may result in different levels of interference where a second transmission power may be larger than a first transmission power and result in a second level of interference that is larger than a first level of interference); and
transmit, using a second transmission power, a second portion of the data packet in association with applying the interference reduction scheme to each respective channel between each of at least the subset of the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS and the first wireless AP in accordance with the respective channel state information associated with the respective channel, the second transmission power being associated with an amount of time synchronization between first transmissions by the first wireless AP and second transmissions by the second wireless AP (Zhao, [0070]-[0078]; the various types of resource elements are transmitted on the downlink radio channel using different transmission powers, which may result in different levels of interference where a second transmission power may be larger than a first transmission power and result in a second level of interference that is larger than a first level of interference, and may depend on a temporal alignment between the resource schemes of the resource elements).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi to include the above recited limitations as taught by Zhao in order to provide transmission on a radio channel with reduced impairment from interference from other radio channels (Zhao, [0011]).
Regarding claim 18, Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi further in view of Zhao teaches the first wireless AP of claim 17 above. Silverman in view of Li does not expressly teach wherein the first portion of the data packet is a non-beamformed portion of the data packet and the second portion of the data packet is a beamformed portion of the data packet, and wherein the second portion is beamformed in accordance with the respective channel state information associated with each respective channel between each of at least the subset of the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS and the first wireless AP.
However, Choi teaches wherein the first portion of the data packet is a non-beamformed portion of the data packet and the second portion of the data packet is a beamformed portion of the data packet, and wherein the second portion is beamformed in accordance with the respective channel state information associated with each respective channel between each of at least the subset of the one or more wireless STAs and the first wireless AP (Choi, [0130]-[0131]; beamforming weights may be applied to the antenna for addressing when the DL service period is affected by signal interference based on the channel information and is not needed to be applied if there is not signal interference).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li to include the above recited limitations as taught by Choi in order to alleviate the signal interference (Choi, [0193]).
Regarding claim 23, Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi in view of Zhao further in view of Guthmann teaches the first wireless AP of claim 20 above. Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi does not expressly teach wherein the second transmission power is higher than the first transmission power in accordance with the interference reduction scheme being applied to the data payload portion of the data packet and not being applied to the preamble portion of the data packet.
However, Zhao teaches wherein the second transmission power is higher than the first transmission power in accordance with the interference reduction scheme being applied to the data payload portion of the data packet and not being applied to the preamble portion of the data packet (Zhao, [0070]-[0078]; the various types of resource elements are transmitted on the downlink radio channel using different transmission powers, which may result in different levels of interference where a second transmission power may be larger than a first transmission power and result in a second level of interference that is larger than a first level of interference, and may depend on a temporal alignment between the resource schemes of the resource elements).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi to include the above recited limitations as taught by Zhao in order to provide transmission on a radio channel with reduced impairment from interference from other radio channels (Zhao, [0011]).
Regarding claim 24, Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi in view of Zhao further in view of Guthmann teaches the first wireless AP of claim 20 above. Silverman in view of Li does not expressly teach wherein the preamble portion of the data packet is a non-beamformed portion of the data packet and the data payload portion of the data packet is a beamformed portion of the data packet, and wherein the second portion is beamformed in accordance with the channel state information.
However, Choi teaches wherein the preamble portion of the data packet is a non-beamformed portion of the data packet and the data payload portion of the data packet is a beamformed portion of the data packet, and wherein the second portion is beamformed in accordance with the channel state information (Choi, [0130]-[0131]; beamforming weights may be applied to the antenna for addressing when the DL service period is affected by signal interference based on the channel information and is not needed to be applied if there is not signal interference).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li to include the above recited limitations as taught by Choi in order to alleviate the signal interference (Choi, [0193]).
Claims 19, 20, 22, 29, and 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi further in view of Zhao as applied to claims 17, 20, and 29 above, and further in view of Guthmann et al. (US 2024/0388349 A1), hereafter referred Guthmann.
Regarding claim 19, Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi further in view of Zhao teaches the first wireless AP of claim 17 above. Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi further in view of Zhao does not expressly teach wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
receive an indication of a guard interval duration used by the second wireless AP; and
transmit the second portion of the data packet using a relatively lower transmission power or a relatively higher transmission power in accordance with whether the guard interval duration used by the second wireless AP is greater than or equal to a threshold time duration, wherein the second transmission power is one of the relatively lower transmission power and the relatively higher transmission power.
However, Guthmann teaches wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
receive an indication of a guard interval duration used by the second wireless AP (Guthmann, [0036]; the signalling is separated in time domain by a guard interval where the presence of a guard interval may be sent with the reference signaling); and
transmit the second portion of the data packet using a relatively lower transmission power or a relatively higher transmission power in accordance with whether the guard interval duration used by the second wireless AP is greater than or equal to a threshold time duration, wherein the second transmission power is one of the relatively lower transmission power and the relatively higher transmission power (Guthmann, [0025]-[0036]; a transmission beam may adapt transmission power according to the beam using lower power due to beamforming gains where the transmission beamforming schemes can be separated by a guard interval that is based on a threshold time and interference conditions).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi further in view of Zhao to include the above recited limitations as taught by Guthmann in order to optimize use of time resources (Guthmann, [0036]).
Regarding claim 20, Silverman teaches a first wireless access point (AP), comprising:
a processing system that includes processor circuitry and memory circuitry that stores code (Silverman, Fig. 2, [0025]; AP 200 includes Processor 202 and Memory 210), the processing system configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
receive one or more measurement reports from one or more wireless STAs, respectively, of a second basic service set (BSS) associated with a second wireless AP different than a first BSS associated with the first wireless AP (Silverman, Fig. 5, [0051]-[0053]; after AP transmit a sounding trigger with a list of AIDs for the STAs across multiple BSSs, sounding of all STAs would be initiated to the AP so that each of these STAs would transmit sounding matrix information back to the AP).
Silverman does not expressly teach the sounding matrix information can be sent in a measurement report and each measurement report including respective channel state information.
However, Li teaches the sounding matrix information can be sent in a measurement report and each measurement report including respective channel state information (Li, Fig. 12, [0116]-[0120]; for CSI reporting in multi-AP channel sounding, the master AP transmit a BFRP trigger frame that solicits the CSI reports from both BSS STAs and OBSS STAs where all the STAs are configured to respond to the master AP with the CSI report and the master AP shares the CSI reports with the slave APs, where the BFRP trigger frame may have identifying information the STAs use to determine to transmit the trigger frame and the CSI reports are based on the NDP1, NDP2, and NDP3, each associated with a different AP/BSS).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform coordinated beamforming (Li, [0116]).
Silverman in view of Li does not expressly teach transmit, in accordance with the channel state information, a data packet to at least one wireless STA of the first BSS.
However, Choi teaches transmit, in accordance with the channel state information, a data packet to at least one wireless STA of the first BSS (Choi, Fig. 10, [0188]-[0193]; the second electronic device applies weight vectors to the antenna based on the first channel information and may transmit the communication signal in a state in which the first weight vector is applied during a DL service period).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li to include the above recited limitations as taught by Choi in order to alleviate the signal interference (Choi, [0193]).
Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi does not expressly teach the processing system being configured to cause the first wireless AP to: transmit, using a first transmission power, a preamble portion of the data packet with or without applying an interference reduction scheme; and
transmit, using a second transmission power, a data payload portion of the data packet in association with applying the interference reduction scheme.
However, Zhao teaches the processing system being configured to cause the first wireless AP to: transmit, using a first transmission power, a preamble portion of the data packet with or without applying an interference reduction scheme (Zhao, [0070]-[0078]; the various types of resource elements are transmitted on the downlink radio channel using different transmission powers, which may result in different levels of interference where a second transmission power may be larger than a first transmission power and result in a second level of interference that is larger than a first level of interference); and
transmit, using a second transmission power, a data payload portion of the data packet in association with applying the interference reduction scheme (Zhao, [0070]-[0078]; the various types of resource elements are transmitted on the downlink radio channel using different transmission powers, which may result in different levels of interference where a second transmission power may be larger than a first transmission power and result in a second level of interference that is larger than a first level of interference, and may depend on a temporal alignment between the resource schemes of the resource elements).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi to include the above recited limitations as taught by Zhao in order to provide transmission on a radio channel with reduced impairment from interference from other radio channels (Zhao, [0011]).
Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi further in view of Zhao does not expressly teach receive, from the second wireless AP, an identification of a value of a guard interval duration used by the second wireless AP; and
the second transmission power being in accordance with whether the value of the guard interval duration used by the second wireless AP is greater than or equal to a threshold time duration.
However, Guthmann teaches receive, from the second wireless AP, an identification of a value of a guard interval duration used by the second wireless AP (Guthmann, [0036]; the signalling is separated in time domain by a guard interval where the presence of a guard interval may be sent with the reference signaling); and
the second transmission power being in accordance with whether the value of the guard interval duration used by the second wireless AP is greater than or equal to a threshold time duration (Guthmann, [0025]-[0036]; a transmission beam may adapt transmission power according to the beam using lower power due to beamforming gains where the transmission beamforming schemes can be separated by a guard interval that is based on a threshold time and interference conditions).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi further in view of Zhao to include the above recited limitations as taught by Guthmann in order to optimize use of time resources (Guthmann, [0036]).
Regarding claim 29, Silverman teaches a method for wireless communication by a first wireless access point (AP), comprising:
receiving one or more measurement reports from one or more wireless STAs, respectively, of a second basic service set (BSS) associated with a second wireless AP different than a first BSS associated with the first wireless AP (Silverman, Fig. 5, [0051]-[0053]; after AP transmit a sounding trigger with a list of AIDs for the STAs across multiple BSSs, sounding of all STAs would be initiated to the AP so that each of these STAs would transmit sounding matrix information back to the AP).
Silverman does not expressly teach the sounding matrix information can be sent in a measurement report and each measurement report including respective channel state information.
However, Li teaches the sounding matrix information can be sent in a measurement report and each measurement report including respective channel state information (Li, Fig. 12, [0116]-[0120]; for CSI reporting in multi-AP channel sounding, the master AP transmit a BFRP trigger frame that solicits the CSI reports from both BSS STAs and OBSS STAs where all the STAs are configured to respond to the master AP with the CSI report and the master AP shares the CSI reports with the slave APs, where the BFRP trigger frame may have identifying information the STAs use to determine to transmit the trigger frame and the CSI reports are based on the NDP1, NDP2, and NDP3, each associated with a different AP/BSS).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform coordinated beamforming (Li, [0116]).
Silverman in view of Li does not expressly teach transmitting, in accordance with the channel state information, a data packet to at least one wireless STA of the first BSS.
However, Choi teaches transmitting, in accordance with the channel state information, a data packet to at least one wireless STA of the first BSS (Choi, Fig. 10, [0188]-[0193]; the second electronic device applies weight vectors to the antenna based on the first channel information and may transmit the communication signal in a state in which the first weight vector is applied during a DL service period).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li to include the above recited limitations as taught by Choi in order to alleviate the signal interference (Choi, [0193]).
Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi does not expressly teach the transmission comprising:
transmitting, using a first transmission power, a preamble portion of the data packet with or without applying an interference reduction scheme; and
transmitting, using a second transmission power, a data payload portion of the data packet in association with applying the interference reduction scheme.
However, Zhao teaches the transmission comprising:
transmitting, using a first transmission power, a preamble portion of the data packet with or without applying an interference reduction scheme (Zhao, [0070]-[0078]; the various types of resource elements are transmitted on the downlink radio channel using different transmission powers, which may result in different levels of interference where a second transmission power may be larger than a first transmission power and result in a second level of interference that is larger than a first level of interference); and
transmitting, using a second transmission power, a data payload portion of the data packet in association with applying the interference reduction scheme (Zhao, [0070]-[0078]; the various types of resource elements are transmitted on the downlink radio channel using different transmission powers, which may result in different levels of interference where a second transmission power may be larger than a first transmission power and result in a second level of interference that is larger than a first level of interference, and may depend on a temporal alignment between the resource schemes of the resource elements).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li further in view of Choi to include the above recited limitations as taught by Zhao in order to provide transmission on a radio channel with reduced impairment from interference from other radio channels (Zhao, [0011]).
Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi further in view of Zhao does not expressly teach receiving, from the second wireless AP, an identification of a value of a guard interval duration used by the second wireless AP; and
the second transmission power being in accordance with whether the value of the guard interval duration used by the second wireless AP is greater than or equal to a threshold time duration.
However, Guthmann teaches receiving, from the second wireless AP, an identification of a value of a guard interval duration used by the second wireless AP (Guthmann, [0036]; the signalling is separated in time domain by a guard interval where the presence of a guard interval may be sent with the reference signaling); and
the second transmission power being in accordance with whether the value of the guard interval duration used by the second wireless AP is greater than or equal to a threshold time duration (Guthmann, [0025]-[0036]; a transmission beam may adapt transmission power according to the beam using lower power due to beamforming gains where the transmission beamforming schemes can be separated by a guard interval that is based on a threshold time and interference conditions).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi further in view of Zhao to include the above recited limitations as taught by Guthmann in order to optimize use of time resources (Guthmann, [0036]).
Regarding claims 22 and 32, Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi in view of Zhao further in view of Guthmann teaches the first wireless AP of claim 21 and the method of claim 29 above. Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi further in view of Zhao does not expressly teach wherein the second transmission power is lower than the first transmission power in accordance with the value of the guard interval duration being less than the threshold time duration and wherein the second transmission power is higher than the first transmission power in accordance with the value of the guard interval duration being greater than or equal to the threshold time duration.
However, Guthmann teaches wherein the second transmission power is lower than the first transmission power in accordance with the value of the guard interval duration being less than the threshold time duration and wherein the second transmission power is higher than the first transmission power in accordance with the value of the guard interval duration being greater than or equal to the threshold time duration (Guthmann, [0025]-[0036]; a transmission beam may adapt transmission power according to the beam using lower power due to beamforming gains where the transmission beamforming schemes can be separated by a guard interval that is based on a threshold time and interference conditions).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi further in view of Zhao to include the above recited limitations as taught by Guthmann in order to optimize use of time resources (Guthmann, [0036]).
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi further in view of Zhao as applied to claim 15 above, and further in view of CN 106464406 B. A machine language translation of CN 106464406 B is provided, hereafter referred Guo.
Regarding claim 16, Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi further in view of Zhao teaches the first wireless AP of claim 15 above. Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi further in view of Zhao does not expressly teach wherein the processing system is configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
set a precoder of the first wireless AP in accordance with the respective channel state information associated with the respective channels between each of the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS and the first wireless AP, wherein the application of the interference reduction scheme is in association with the setting of the precoder.
However, Guo teaches wherein the processing system is configured to cause the first wireless AP to:
set a precoder of the first wireless AP in accordance with the respective channel state information associated with the respective channels between each of the one or more wireless STAs of the second BSS and the first wireless AP, wherein the application of the interference reduction scheme is in association with the setting of the precoder (Guo, p. 33; the eNB and UE can be a set of precoder set the precoder set for the process specified in the RRC or L1 signaling exchange to correspond to the interference transmission power based on the CSI-RS interference sequence checking report from the UE).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi further in view of Zhao to include the above recited limitations as taught by Guo in order to schedule interference (Guo, p. 32).
Claim 28 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi as applied to claim 25 above, and further in view of Palally (US 2021/0314880 A1).
Regarding claim 28, Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi teaches the method of claim 25 above. Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi does not expressly teach receiving an indication of one or more received signal strengths at each of the one or more wireless STAs associated with one or more transmissions by the first wireless AP; and
transmitting the data packet using a transmission power that is selected in accordance with whether the one or more received signal strengths satisfy a threshold received signal strength.
However, Palally teaches receiving an indication of one or more received signal strengths at each of the one or more wireless STAs associated with one or more transmissions by the first wireless AP; and transmitting the data packet using a transmission power that is selected in accordance with whether the one or more received signal strengths satisfy a threshold received signal strength (Palally, [0006]; computing a RSSI of each allocation and measurements upon receiving channel allocation and TPC commands including factors that compare the results to a threshold).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Silverman in view of Li in view of Choi to include the above recited limitations as taught by Palally in order to choose MCS schemes optimal over all throughput (Palally, [0005]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
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).
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/R.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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