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 Amendment
The Amendment filed 03/15/2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16 and 18 have been amended. Claims 1-20 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 03/15/2026, have been fully considered and entered but they are
not persuasive.
Main Argument:
… The Office Action looks to the following section at paragraph [0164] of Lou for disclosing "the RPL at the granularity of the bandwidth is determined based on a bandwidth of a non- punctured subband in the one or more subbands that are in the first frequency band and that are occupied by the portion or all of the PSRR PPDU received by the first spatial reuse device," as recited in claim 1:
where RPL20MHz is the received signal power at the receive antenna connector in dBm/20 MHz, the average of the power received in non-punctured 20 MHz subchannels within the overlapping bandwidth of the PSRR PPDU and the PSRT PPDU(Office Action, page 4). However, the Office Action does not establish that these specific disclosures were effectively filed before Applicant's Apr. 1, 2021 priority date. Applicant has not been able to find support for the above-identified element in Lou's provisional application (63/168,035), either. Without showing written-description support for the relied-upon subject matter in Lou's Mar. 30, 2021 provisional, Lou cannot qualify as § 102(a)(2) prior art to claim 1…
Reply, Examiner respectfully disagree.
Please at least refer to [0181][0182] and tables 5 and 6 of in Lou's provisional application (63/168,035).
Claim Objections
Claims 1-20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 1; “…wherein the second frequency band comprises one or more subbands with the bandwidth…” should read as “…wherein the second frequency band comprises one or more subbands with the same bandwidth…”.
In claim 9; “…the first frequency band comprises one or more subbands with the bandwidth,…” should read as “…the first frequency band comprises one or more subbands with the same bandwidth,…”.
In claim 13; “…wherein the second frequency band comprises one or more subbands with the bandwidth…” should read as “…wherein the second frequency band comprises one or more subbands with the same bandwidth…”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 3, 10 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
In claim 3, “a bandwidth of a non-punctured subband in an overlapping subband between the second frequency band and the one or more subbands that are in the first frequency. Examiner is indefinite whether this is the same bandwidth of the same non-punctured subband or different from those in independent claim 1.
In claim 10, “a bandwidth of a non-punctured subband in an overlapping subband between the second frequency band and the one or more subbands that are in the first frequency. Examiner is indefinite whether this is the same bandwidth of the same non-punctured subband or different from those in independent claim 9.
In claim 15, “a bandwidth of a non-punctured subband in an overlapping subband between the second frequency band and the one or more subbands that are in the first frequency. Examiner is indefinite whether this is the same bandwidth of the same non-punctured subband or different from those in independent claim 13.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(2) as being anticipated by Lou et al. (US 20250048428 A1) hereinafter Lou.
Regarding claim 1,
Lou teaches a spatial reuse method (method for Parametrized Spatial Reuse [0163]-[0176]), comprising:
receiving, by a first spatial reuse device, a portion or all of a Parameterized Spatial Reuse Reception (PSRR) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) from a second spatial reuse device on a first frequency band (station at the Overlapping Basic Service Set, OBSS, receiving PSRR PPDU over a bandwidth [0164]),
wherein the first frequency band comprises one or more subbands with a same bandwidth (where the PSRR PPDU falls within one or more subchannel [0164]); and determining, by the first spatial reuse device based on a value of a spatial reuse parameter (SRP) at a granularity of the bandwidth (calculating based on the constant at the 20 MHz granularity [0164]-[0171]) and a received power level (RPL) of the PSRR PPDU at a granularity of the bandwidth (and based on the RPL at the 20MHz subchannels [0164]), a reference transmit power for sending a Parameterized Spatial Reuse Transmission (PSRT) PPDU on a second frequency band (calculating the power of transmission of the extremely high throughput, EHT, PSRT PPDU, which may be transmitted over overlapping and non-overlapping subchannels [0164]), wherein the second frequency band comprises one or more subbands with the bandwidth, and the second frequency band and the first frequency band at least partially overlap (where the PSRT PPDU channel and the PSRR PPDU channel overlap [0164]).
wherein the RPL at the granularity of the bandwidth is determined based on a bandwidth of a non-punctured subband in the one or more subbands that are in the first frequency band and that are occupied by the portion or all of the PSRR PPDU received by the first spatial reuse device (
R
P
L
20
M
H
z
determined based on non-punctured 20 MHz subchannels within the overlapping bandwidth of the PSRR PPDU and the PSRT PPDU channels [0164]).
Regarding claim 2,
Lou teaches all features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Lou further teaches the RPL at the granularity of the bandwidth is determined based on an overlapping subband between the second frequency band and the one or more subbands that are in the first frequency band and that are occupied by the portion or all of the PSRR PPDU received by the first spatial reuse device (
R
P
L
20
M
H
z
determined based on 20 MHz subchannels within the overlapping bandwidth of the PSRR PPDU and the PSRT PPDU channels [0164]).
Regarding claim 3 (as best understood by the examiner),
Lou teaches all features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Lou further teaches wherein the RPL at the granularity of the bandwidth is determined based on a bandwidth of a non-punctured subband in an overlapping subband between the second frequency band and the one or more subbands that are in the first frequency band and that are occupied by the portion or all of the PSRR PPDU received by the first spatial reuse device (
R
P
L
20
M
H
z
determined based on non-punctured 20 MHz subchannels within the overlapping bandwidth of the PSRR PPDU and the PSRT PPDU channels [0164]).
Regarding claim 4,
Lou teaches all features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Lou further teaches the reference transmit power is determined based on a bandwidth of a non-punctured subband in the second frequency band (the
R
P
L
20
M
H
z
, which is used in determining the upper bound of the transmission power, is determined based on non-punctured 20 MHz subchannels within the bandwidth of the PSRT PPDU channel [0164]).
Regarding claim 5,
Lou teaches all features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Lou further teaches the reference transmit power is further determined based on a bandwidth of a non-punctured subband in an overlapping subband between the second frequency band and the one or more subbands that are in the first frequency band and that are occupied by the portion or all of the PSRR PPDU received by the first spatial reuse device (the
R
P
L
20
M
H
z
, which is used in determining the upper bound of the transmission power, is determined based on non-punctured 20 MHz subchannels within the overlapping bandwidth of the PSRR PPDU and the PSRT PPDU channels [0164]).
Regarding claim 6,
Lou teaches all features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Lou further teaches determining, by the first spatial reuse device, a non-punctured subband in the first frequency band (STA interpreting puncturing indication for the PSRR PPDU bandwidth [0165]) based on at least one of the following: puncturing indication information comprised in a preamble in the received PSRR PPDU (the indication being contained in the trigger frame portion of the PSRR PPDU [0164]-[0165]), puncturing indication information comprised in the PSRR PPDU, wherein the PSRR PPDU is a non-high throughput duplicate PPDU, or puncturing indication information comprised in a management frame of a basic service set BSS in which the second spatial reuse device is located, wherein the management frame comprises at least one of the following frames: a beacon frame, an association response frame, a probe response frame, a neighbor report frame, or a reduced neighbor report frame.
Regarding claim 7,
Lou teaches all features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Lou further teaches the first spatial reuse device determines to puncture the PSRT PPDU (STA may determine to puncture the preamble of the PSRT PPDU according to the punctured channels specified [0100] and [0164]-[0165]), and the method further comprises: adjusting, by the first spatial reuse device, the reference transmit power based on an offset (STA modifying the transmission power based on a formula including multiple offset values [0164]-[0171]).
Regarding claim 8,
Lou teaches all features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Lou further teaches the first frequency band comprises a plurality of subbands (the PSRR PPDU bandwidth having multiple subchannels [0164]-[0165]), and the value of the SRP at the granularity of the bandwidth is a smallest value in a plurality of values of the SRP for the plurality of subbands (the constant at the granularity of 20 MHz may be defined to be the minimum value for the multiple subchannels [0164]-[0171]).
Claims [9-12] “communication device method” are rejected under the same reasoning as claims [1, 3, 5 and 6] “first spatial reuse device method”.
Claim [13-20] “communication apparatus” are rejected under the same reasoning as claims [1-8] “first spatial reuse device method”, where Lou teaches a Wireless Transmit/ Receive Unit, WTRU, comprising a processor, a removable and a non-removable memory (WTRU [0032]; Fig. 1B).
Conclusion
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 AYMAN A ABAZA whose telephone number is (571)270-0422. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8-5. 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, Deborah Reynolds can be reached at 571-272-0734. 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.
/AYMAN A ABAZA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
Prosecution Insights