Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang US 20230354377 in view of OKAMOTO US 20250081270.
Regarding claim 1, Yang teaches a method comprising:
receiving, by an access point (AP) from a first station (STA), a first frame comprising a buffer status report (BSR) associated with a peer-to-peer (P2P) connection between the first STA and a second STA (fig. 2, Thereafter, the terminal device transmits the buffer status report to the access node in step 204, The buffer status report indicating the direct wireless link, e.g. with the association identifier of the direct wireless link, may serve as a request for allocating a resource unit to the direct wireless link. The request may be called a request to send a trigger-based peer-to-peer PPDU to the terminal device 102 specified with the association identifier, [0070]); and
sending, by the AP and based on the BSR, a second frame, wherein the second frame indicates:
a first frequency allocation associated with a transmission by the first STA and during an allocated time of a transmission opportunity (TXOP) (fig. 2, 3, block 206, The access node may acknowledge (ACK) the reception of the message carrying the buffer status report in step 400. Thereafter, the access node may perform the allocation of the resource unit to the direct wireless link (block 304) and transmit the trigger frame indicating the allocated resource unit in block 304, [0071], trigger frame indicating resource unit, [0054], In an embodiment, the resource unit comprises a time-frequency transmission resource, [0010]); and
a first identifier of the second STA, wherein the second STA is a target STA of the transmission by the first STA via the first frequency allocation (The access node may acknowledge (ACK) the reception of the message carrying the buffer status report in step 400. Thereafter, the access node may perform the allocation of the resource unit to the direct wireless link (block 304) and transmit the trigger frame indicating the allocated resource unit in block 304, [0071], in response to the message, a trigger frame indicating a resource unit allocated to the direct wireless link, [0054]). Note, the direct wireless link identifies the target STA.
Although Yang teaches the AP sending, by the AP and based on the BSR, a second frame, wherein the second frame indicates:
a first frequency allocation associated with a transmission by the first STA and during an allocated time of a transmission opportunity, the reference is silent the the resource is obtained by the AP.
OKAMOTO teaches base stations obtaining / sharing resources ([0002]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of Yang by the resource is obtained by the AP, as shown by OKAMOTO. This modification would benefit the system by allowing the access points to optimally share resources.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang as applied to claims 1, 14 above, and further in view of Xia US 20240008081.
Yang is silent on the second frame further indicates a Triggered TXOP sharing (TXS) mode related to the TXOP, and wherein the method further comprises:
based on the TXS mode, sending, during the allocated time of the TXOP and by the first SPA, a Clear to Send (OTS) frame, to the AP or the second STA.
Xia teaches the first STA sending a frame to the AP indicating a Triggered TXOP sharing (TXS) mode related to the TXOP, and wherein the method further comprises:
based on the TXS mode, sending, during the allocated time of the TXOP and by the first SPA, a Clear to Send (OTS) frame, to the AP (fig. 8, [0017]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of Yang by the first STA sending a frame to the AP indicating a Triggered TXOP sharing (TXS) mode related to the TXOP, and wherein the method further comprises:
based on the TXS mode, sending, during the allocated time of the TXOP and by the first SPA, a Clear to Send (OTS) frame, to the AP, as shown by Xia. This modification would benefit the system by avoiding collisions in the data transmissions.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang as applied to claims 1, 14 above, and further in view of Shirali US 20170332385.
Yang is silent on sending a Buffer Status Report Poll (BSRP} trigger frame to the first STA: and receiving, based on the BSERP trigger frame, the first frame from the first STA.
Shirali teaches sending a Buffer Status Report Poll (BSRP} trigger frame to the first STA: and receiving, based on the BSERP trigger frame, the first frame from the first STA (An AP may solicit one or more HE STAs for their BSR(s) by sending a BSRP variant Trigger frame. A STA that receives a BSRP variant Trigger frame may generate the trigger-based PPDU, [0137]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of Yang by sending a Buffer Status Report Poll (BSRP} trigger frame to the first STA: and receiving, based on the BSERP trigger frame, the first frame from the first STA, as shown by Shirali. This modification would benefit the system by enabling the AP to request information from the first STA.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang as applied to claims 1, 14 above, and further in view of Cheridan US 20220078844.
Yang is silent on the second frame further indicates: a second frequency allocation to be used by a third STA during the allocated time of the TXOP; and
a second identifier of a fourth STA as a target STA associated with a transmission from the third STA and during the allocated time of the TAOP via the second frequency allocation.
Cheridan teaches a frame indicating a second frequency allocation to be used by a third STA during the allocated time of the TXOP; and
an identifier of a STA as a target STA associated with a transmission from the STA receiving the transmission and during the allocated time of the TXOP via the second frequency allocation (claim 3). Note, Cheridan teaches multiple STAs (more than 2) receiving different frequency resource assignments during a portion of the TXOP.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of Yang by the second frame further indicates: a second frequency allocation to be used by a third STA during the allocated time of the TXOP; and
a second identifier of a fourth STA as a target STA associated with a transmission from the third STA and during the allocated time of the TAOP via the second frequency allocation, as suggested by Cheridan. This modification would benefit the system by enabling multiple STAs to concurrently receive frequency allocation assignments.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang as applied to claims 1, 14 above, and further in view of Lou US 20220330344.
Yang teaches sending a trigger frame to the first STA (fig. 2 block 206, trigger frame indicating resource unit, [0054]); and
receiving a frame comprising the first identifier of the second / target STA (message indicating the direct wireless link, trigger frame, [0006]). Although Yang teaches receiving a frame comprising the first identifier of the second / target STA before receiving the trigger frame as opposed to after, this is not essential to the invention. What is relevant is the AP is informed by the STA of the target STA.
Yang is silent on the third frame further comprises at least one of: a Quality of Service (QoS) data frame, a QoS null frame, or an action frame.
Lou teaches the AP receiving a frame comprising the Quality of Service (QoS) data frame ([0088]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of Yang by the AP receiving a frame comprising the Quality of Service (QoS) data frame, as shown by Lou. This modification would benefit the system by informing the AP of the desired QoS of the STA.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang as applied to claims 1, 14 above, and further in view of Haider US 20230345300.
Yang is silent on the BSR associated with the P2P connection of the first STA with the second STA is indicated in at least one of: a Quality of Service (QoS) Control field, or a High Throughput (AT) Control field of the first frame.
Haider teaches the BSR associated with the P2P connection of the first STA with the second STA is indicated in at least one of: a Quality of Service (QoS) Control field, or a High Throughput (AT) Control field of the first frame (fig. 4, 5A-D, QoS, p2p traffic 474, [0066], [0107]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of Yang by the BSR associated with the P2P connection of the first STA with the second STA is indicated in a Quality of Service (QoS) Control field, as shown by Haider. This modification would benefit the system by enabling the STAs to report the status of their P2P traffic to the AP.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang as applied to claims 1, 14 above, and further in view of Verma US 20200404549.
Yang is silent on determining the first frequency allocation, from: among a plurality of frequency allocations, associated with use by the first STA and during the allocated time of the TXOP.
Verma teaches determining the first frequency allocation, from: among a plurality of frequency allocations, associated with use by the first STA and during the allocated time of the TXOP (In some implementations, the first AP may allocate a unique portion of the frequency bandwidth to each of the selected APs for concurrent UL transmissions or concurrent DL transmissions during the TXOP obtained by the first AP, [0053, 0100]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of Yang by determining the first frequency allocation, from: among a plurality of frequency allocations, associated with use by the first STA and during the allocated time of the TXOP, as shown by Verma. This modification would benefit the system by providing an optimal frequency allocation to the STA.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-20 are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/5/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant contends, “Yang is silent on whether Yang's TXOP is obtained by the AP or not” (pg. 8 2nd to last paragraph). Examiner has included the OKAMOTO reference that explicitly teaches base stations sharing resources.
Applicant further contends, “the second frame comprises an identifier of the second station (pg. 8 last paragraph). As shown above, Yang teaches, Thereafter, the access node may perform the allocation of the resource unit to the direct wireless link (block 304) and transmit the trigger frame indicating the allocated resource unit in block 304, [0071]. As shown in Yang fig. 1, the base station is connected to multiple mobiles simultaneously wherein the mobiles are connected to each other. Therefore, the Examiner maintains the transmitted trigger frame contains an identifier of the second station.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RONALD B ABELSON whose telephone number is (571)272-3165. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:30.
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/RONALD B ABELSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476