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
This action is in response to the amendment filed April 14, 2026 (4/14/2026).
Claims 1-21 are currently pending.
Claims 1 and 16 are amended.
No claims were canceled.
No new claims were added.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed April 14, 2026 (4/14/2026) have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding Claim 1, Applicant argues “The claim amendments, taken as a whole, render the rejections moot. Applicant notes that portions of the claims, other than those specifically amended and/or mentioned above, may contribute to patentability.” Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Applicant's arguments fail to comply with 37 CFR 1.111(b) because they amount to a general allegation that the claims define a patentable invention without specifically pointing out how the language of the claims patentably distinguishes them from the references. The Applicant’s argument is a mere allegation of patentability of the amended limitations without any real explanation, technical or otherwise, as to how the newly amended limitations distinguish over the references.
Furthermore, ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue requires interpreting the claim language, and considering both the invention and the prior art references as a whole. See MPEP 2141.02.
Guo discloses in “In the prior art, inter-cell interference may be reduced by using a coordinated beamforming (coordinated beamforming, co-BF) technology… Therefore, in a scenario in which co-BF (coordinated beamforming) is used, concurrent transmission of two APs can be implemented, and interference between the transmission of the two APs can be avoided; and an overall network throughput can be effectively increased” (Par. [0004]) in reference to the benefits of a prior art. Guo then states “Embodiments of this application provide a method for coordinated multi-access point AP transmission and a related apparatus, to resolve a prior-art problem” (Par. [0006]). This means that Guo in its entirety takes into consideration concurrent transmission by two APs as mentioned in its prior art and teaches the amended limitation “the first/second predicted SINR being a predicted SINR for concurrent transmission by the first AP and the second AP”.
Regarding Claim 9, Applicant argues “However, the cited Zhou passages do not teach or suggest the specifically claimed training transmission time during which both APs transmit training transmissions, nor do they teach or suggest the subsequent bilateral SINR exchange and reciprocal transmit-power-back-off exchange. At most, the cited combination suggests generic synchronization or signaling concepts and generalized motivations to improve SINR-related determinations. That is insufficient to teach or suggest the specific claimed bilateral workflow. Accordingly, the cited combination does not render claim 9 obvious. Because the Office Action neither shows that the references teach or suggest each and every claim element of claims 9-15 nor explains why the differences between the prior art and the claimed invention would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art, the Office Action fails to present a prima facie case that claims 9-15 are obvious and the rejections are thus improper” Examiner respectfully disagrees.
In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
Prior art is not limited just to the references being applied, but includes the understanding of one of ordinary skill in the art. The prior art reference (or references when combined) need not teach or suggest all the claim limitations. However, Office personnel must explain why the difference(s) between the prior art and the claimed invention would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2141.
Examiner notes it is understood from the MPEP that Zhou does not need to teach the exact element of the claimed invention, specifically identifying and transmitting training transmission times, but rather what Zhou would suggest to one of ordinary skill in the art through its teachings to arrive at the claimed invention. Examiner also notes that Zhou is not relied upon to specifically teach bilateral SINR exchange and reciprocal transmit-power-back-off exchange, as Guo teaches the elements of note. Furthermore, as seen in the prior argument regarding Claim 1, Guo teaches concurrent transmissions between two APs.
Zhou discloses “The beacon signal may help the other nodes (STAs) synchronize their timing with the AP 104. Alternatively or additionally, the beacon signal may provide other information or functionality. Such beacons may be transmitted periodically. In one aspect, the period between successive transmissions of a beacon may be referred to as a superframe. Transmission of a beacon may be divided into a number of groups or intervals. In one aspect, the beacon may include, but is not limited to, such information as timestamp information to set a common clock, a peer-to-peer network identifier, a device identifier, capability information, a superframe duration, transmission direction information, reception direction information, a neighbor list, and/or an extended neighbor list, some of which are described in additional detail below. Thus, a beacon may include information that is common (e.g., shared) amongst several devices and information specific to a given device” (Par. [0049]). Zhou teaches a common clock to assist in synchronization efforts between devices. Zhou then discloses “In some examples, the AP 104 may include an MCS component 124 configured to perform any processing (e.g., functions, steps, or the like) described herein with respect to transmit power related information. For example, the MCS component 124 may be configured to estimate an MCS supported by the transmitter from which transmit power related information was received based on the received transmit power related information” (Par. [0052]). Zhou teaches an AP that performs processing with respect to transmit power related information. Taken in its entirety, Zhou teaches a common clock to assist in synchronization efforts to perform processing with respect to transmit power related information. This common clock used to synchronize timings involved in transmit power related information combined with Guo’s teaching of bilateral SINR exchange and reciprocal transmit-power-back-off exchange, would suggest to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine each reference’s elements and arrive at the claimed invention.
This action is made FINAL.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-3, 5, 7-8, and 16-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Guo et al. (US 2020/0374870).
Regarding Claim 1, Guo teaches a system for wireless communications, the system comprising data processing hardware; memory hardware in communication with the data processing hardware, the memory hardware storing instructions that when executed on the data processing hardware cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising (Par. [0042] “A thirteenth aspect of the embodiments of this application provides a communications apparatus. The communications apparatus has functions of implementing behavior of the first access point AP or behavior of the second access point AP in the foregoing method design. The functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or the software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions. The modules may be software and/or hardware”),
receiving, at a second access point (AP) from a first AP, an identity of a first receiving station (STA) and a first predicted signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) at the first STA, wherein the first STA is operable to receive a transmission from the first AP and the first predicted SINR is computed when the second AP begins transmitting, the first predicted SINR being a predicted SINR for concurrent transmission by the first AP and the second AP; (Fig. 2a, Par. [0125] “204. The second AP receives the first radio frame sent by the first AP” and Par. [0012] “In a possible implementation, the first radio frame further carries one or more of the following: transmit power information of the second access point AP; information about a maximum tolerable interference threshold for the first access point AP; identifier information of the first station STA; transmit power information of the first station STA; and transmit power information of the first access point AP. In this implementation, the first radio frame may further carry a plurality of other types of indication information, to add a multi-AP joint resource management function. Transmit power of the second access point AP and the transmit power information of the first access point may be coordinated, to effectively control interference of the first access point AP to the second station STA and interference of the second access point AP to the first station STA”),
computing, at the second AP, a second predicted SINR at a second STA when the first AP begins transmitting, the second predicted SINR being a predicted SINR for concurrent transmission by the first AP and the second AP; (Par. [0012] “The identifier information of the first station STA and the transmit power information of the first station STA are indicated to the second access point AP, so that the second access point AP can predict a value of interference of the first station STA to the second access point AP, and the interference of the first station STA to the second access point AP can be effectively controlled”),
computing, at the second AP, a first transmit power back-off based on the first predicted SINR and the second predicted SINR; (Par. [0111]“ Optionally, to reduce interference of the second STA to the first AP, the first radio frame may carry sixth indication information, and the sixth indication information is used to indicate information about a maximum tolerable interference threshold for the first AP, so that the second AP determines power indication information of each associated second STA based on the sixth indication information”),
and determining, at the second AP, one or more transmission parameters based on the first transmit power back-off (Par. [0111]“ The power indication information may be used by each second STA to determine maximum transmit power. In addition, the power indication information may be included in the second radio frame sent by the second AP to the second STA. In a possible implementation, the information about the maximum tolerable interference threshold may be a value of a spatial reuse parameter (spatial reuse parameter, SRP). The SRP may be used by the second AP to adjust transmit power during spatial reuse transmission”).
Regarding Claim 2, Guo teaches the invention of Claim 1, further comprising instructions that cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising: initializing at the second AP, a spatial reuse transmission opportunity (SR TXOP) (Par. [0111] “In addition, the power indication information may be included in the second radio frame sent by the second AP to the second STA. In a possible implementation, the information about the maximum tolerable interference threshold may be a value of a spatial reuse parameter (spatial reuse parameter, SRP)”), and generating at the second AP, a spatial reuse (SR) transmission for transmission to the second STA (Par. [0111]” The SRP may be used by the second AP to adjust transmit power during spatial reuse transmission. Therefore, the second AP may set a transmission parameter of the associated second STA based on the value of the SRP”).
Regarding Claim 3, Guo teaches the invention of Claim 1, further comprising instructions that cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising: identifying at the second AP, an identity of a second STA and a second predicted SINR at the second STA wherein the second STA is operable to receive a transmission from the second AP and; (Par. [0135], ”Optionally, when the first radio frame includes the seventh indication information and the eighth indication information, the second AP determines a value of interference of each first STA to the second AP based on the identifier information of the first STA in the seventh indication information and transmit power of the first STA in the eighth indication information.”), sending from the second AP to the first AP the identity of the second STA and the second predicted SINR (Par. [0113], “The resource scheduling information may include but is not limited to one or a combination of a plurality of the following information; resource block (resource unit, RU) allocation information of each second AP, identifier information (namely, identifier information of the second STA) of a station scheduled by the second AP, a modulation and coding scheme (modulation and coding scheme, MCS) used by each station, or a spatial stream used by each station” Par. [0134], “Optionally, when the first radio frame includes the sixth indication information, the second AP obtains the information about the maximum tolerable interference threshold for the first AP according to the sixth indication information, and determines power indication information of each second STA based on the information about the maximum interference threshold, so that each second STA determines the maximum transmit power of the second STA according to the power indication information, to be specific, transmit power of each second STA is controlled, so that the value of the interference of the second STA to the first AP is within a fourth value range”).
Regarding Claim 5, Guo teaches the invention of Claim 1, further comprising instructions that cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising: terminating, at the second AP, a spatial reuse transmission to match a transmission end of the transmission from the first AP (Par. [0009]” In a possible implementation, a sending time of the third radio frame is the same as the sending time of the second radio frame. In this implementation, the third radio frame and the second radio frame are sent at the same sending time, thereby reducing interference between the first access point AP and the second access point AP”).
Regarding Claim 7, Guo teaches the invention of Claim 1, further comprising instructions that cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising: determining, at the second AP, the first transmit power back-off based on one or more of background noise or a maximum receive error vector magnitude (EVM) (Par. [0111] ”Optionally, to reduce interference of the second STA to the first AP, the first radio frame may carry sixth indication information, and the sixth indication information is used to indicate information about a maximum tolerable interference threshold for the first AP, so that the second AP determines power indication information of each associated second STA based on the sixth indication information”).
Regarding Claim 8, Guo teaches the invention of Claim 1, further comprising wherein the one or more transmission parameters include one or more of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a transmission (Tx) power, or bandwidth (Par. [0113]” Optionally, to better perform radio resource management, the first AP may further perform centralized scheduling, to determine a transmission parameter of the second AP, to be specific, the first AP allocates and indicates resource scheduling information to the second AP. Therefore, the first radio frame may further carry tenth indication information, and the tenth indication information is used to indicate the resource scheduling information, so that the second AP determines, based on the resource scheduling information, a channel resource used to send the second radio frame. The resource scheduling information may include but is not limited to one or a combination of a plurality of the following information; resource block (resource unit, RU) allocation information of each second AP, identifier information (namely, identifier information of the second STA) of a station scheduled by the second AP, a modulation and coding scheme (modulation and coding scheme, MCS) used by each station, or a spatial stream used by each station”).
Regarding Claim 16, Guo teaches a system for wireless communication, the system comprising: data processing hardware; and memory hardware in communication with the data processing hardware, the memory hardware storing instructions that when executed on the data processing hardware cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising: (Par. [0042] “A thirteenth aspect of the embodiments of this application provides a communications apparatus. The communications apparatus has functions of implementing behavior of the first access point AP or behavior of the second access point AP in the foregoing method design. The functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or the software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions. The modules may be software and/or hardware”),
receiving, at a second access point (AP) from a first AP, an identity of a first receiving station (STA) operable to receive a transmission from the first AP and a predicted signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the first STA, the first predicted SINR being a predicted SINR for concurrent transmission by the first AP and the second AP; (Fig. 2a, Par. [0125] “204. The second AP receives the first radio frame sent by the first AP” and Par. [0012] “In a possible implementation, the first radio frame further carries one or more of the following: transmit power information of the second access point AP; information about a maximum tolerable interference threshold for the first access point AP; identifier information of the first station STA; transmit power information of the first station STA; and transmit power information of the first access point AP. In this implementation, the first radio frame may further carry a plurality of other types of indication information, to add a multi-AP joint resource management function. Transmit power of the second access point AP and the transmit power information of the first access point may be coordinated, to effectively control interference of the first access point AP to the second station STA and interference of the second access point AP to the first station STA”),
computing, at the second AP, a first predicted signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) at the first STA when the second AP begins transmitting, the second predicted SINR being a predicted SINR for concurrent transmission by the first AP and the second AP; (Par. [0012] “The identifier information of the first station STA and the transmit power information of the first station STA are indicated to the second access point AP, so that the second access point AP can predict a value of interference of the first station STA to the second access point AP, and the interference of the first station STA to the second access point AP can be effectively controlled”),
and computing, at the second AP, a transmit power back-off based on the predicted SNR and the first predicted SINR (Par. [0111]“ Optionally, to reduce interference of the second STA to the first AP, the first radio frame may carry sixth indication information, and the sixth indication information is used to indicate information about a maximum tolerable interference threshold for the first AP, so that the second AP determines power indication information of each associated second STA based on the sixth indication information”).
Regarding Claim 17, Guo teaches the invention of Claim 16, further comprising instructions that cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising: initializing, at the second AP, a spatial reuse transmission opportunity (SR TXOP); (Par. [0111] “In addition, the power indication information may be included in the second radio frame sent by the second AP to the second STA. In a possible implementation, the information about the maximum tolerable interference threshold may be a value of a spatial reuse parameter (spatial reuse parameter, SRP)”), and generating, at the second AP, a spatial reuse (SR) transmission for transmission to a second STA (Par. [0111]” The SRP may be used by the second AP to adjust transmit power during spatial reuse transmission. Therefore, the second AP may set a transmission parameter of the associated second STA based on the value of the SRP”).
Regarding Claim 18, Guo teaches the invention of Claim 16, further comprising
instructions that cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising: determining, at the second AP, one or more transmission parameters to match a
second predicted SINR at a second STA when the first AP is transmitting (Par. [0133]
“Optionally, when the first radio frame includes the fifth indication information, the second
AP obtains the transmit power information of the first AP according to the fifth indication information, so that the second AP predicts the value of the interference of the first AP to the
associated second STA based on the transmit power information of the first AP”).
Regarding Claim 19, Guo teaches the invention of Claim 18, further comprising wherein the one or more transmission parameters include one or more of a modulation and coding scheme, a transmission (Tx) power, or a bandwidth (Par. [0134] ”In another optional manner, the second AP may indicate, to the second STA, the power indication information, for example, a maximum value of the interference of the second STA to the first AP, so that the second STA determines the maximum transmit power of the second STA according to the
power indication information. To be specific, the second STA may directly obtain the
maximum transmit power of the second STA by using the power indication information sent
by the second AP, or may further calculate the maximum transmit power of the second STA
according to the power indication information”).
Regarding Claim 20, Guo teaches the invention of Claim 16, further comprising instructions that cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising: computing, at the second AP, a path loss between the second AP and the first STA; (Par. [0291] ”Therefore, the channel quality information of the target channel that is determined by the first STA may be the RSSI of the target AP, or may be the transmit power of the target AP, or may be a path loss (path loss) between the target AP and the first STA. Therefore, in this embodiment, the channel quality information of the target channel may include a plurality of types of content”),
and computing, at the second AP, the transmit power back-off based on the path loss (Par. [0291] “Therefore, after receiving the radio frame sent by the target AP, the first STA determines the channel quality information of the target channel (namely, the channel between the first STA and the target AP) based on the radio frame. Specifically, the first STA may obtain a received signal strength indication (received signal strength indication, RSSI) of the target AP or transmit power of the target AP based on a measurement report of the target AP that is carried in the radio frame. Therefore, the channel quality information of the target channel that is determined by the first STA may be the RSSI of the target AP, or may be the transmit power of the target AP, or may be a path loss (path loss) between the
target AP and the first STA”).
Regarding Claim 21, Guo teaches the invention of Claim 16, further comprising
instructions that cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising:
computing, at the second AP, a transmit power back-off based on a ratio between the predicted
SNR and the first predicted SINR (Par. [0021] ”Transmit power of the second access point AP
and the transmit power information of the first access point may be coordinated, to
effectively control interference of the first access point AP to the second station STA and
interference of the second access point AP to the first station STA. The information about the
maximum tolerable interference threshold for the first access point AP is indicated to the
second access point AP, so that the second access point AP controls transmit power of the
second station STA, to prevent a value of interference of the second station STA to the first
access point AP from exceeding the information about the maximum tolerable interference
threshold for the first access point AP”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 4 and 9-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guo et al. (US 2020/0374870) in view of Zhou et al. (2018/0103438).
Regarding Claim 4, Guo teaches the invention of Claim 1, further teaching receiving, at the second AP from the second STA, the second predicted SINR, (Par. [0012]” The identifier information of the first station STA and the transmit power information of the first station STA are indicated to the second access point AP, so that the second access point AP can predict a value of interference of the first station STA to the second access point AP, and the interference of the first station STA to the second access point AP can be effectively controlled,” and Par. [0111] “Optionally, to reduce interference of the second STA to the first AP, the first radio frame may carry sixth indication information, and the sixth indication information is used to indicate information about a maximum tolerable interference threshold for the first AP, so that the second AP determines power indication information of each associated second STA based on the sixth indication information. The power indication information may be used by each second STA to determine maximum transmit power. In addition, the power indication information may be included in the second radio frame sent by the second AP to the second STA. In a possible implementation, the information about the maximum tolerable interference threshold may be a value of a spatial reuse parameter (spatial reuse parameter, SRP”).
Guo, however, does not explicitly teach sending, from the second AP to the first AP, a joint training transmission time and sending, from the second AP to the second STA, the joint training transmission time to compute the second predicted SINR. In the same field of endeavor, Zhou teaches sending, from the second AP to the first AP, a joint training transmission time and sending, from the second AP to the second STA, the joint training transmission time to compute the second predicted SINR (Par. [0049] ”The AP 104 may transmit on one or more channels (e.g., multiple narrowband channels, each channel including a frequency bandwidth) a beacon signal (or simply a “beacon”), via a communication link such as the downlink 108, to other nodes (STAs) of the wireless communication system 100. The beacon signal may help the other nodes (STAs) synchronize their timing with the AP 104. Alternatively or additionally, the beacon signal may provide other information or functionality. Such beacons may be transmitted periodically. In one aspect, the period between successive transmissions of a beacon may be referred to as a superframe. Transmission of a beacon may be divided into a number of groups or intervals. In one aspect, the beacon may include, but is not limited to, such information as timestamp information to set a common clock, a peer-to-peer network identifier, a device identifier, capability information, a superframe duration, transmission direction information, reception direction information, a neighbor list, and/or an extended neighbor list, some of which are described in additional detail below”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Zhou’s timeframe transmission used for synchronization with Guo’s APs and STAs to improve power backoff determinations.
Regarding Claim 9, Guo teaches computing, at a first AP, a first signal-to-interference-plus noise ratio (SINR) between the first AP and a first receiving station (STA); (Par. [0012] “The identifier information of the first station STA and the transmit power information of the first station STA are indicated to the second access point AP, so that the second access point AP can predict a value of interference of the first station STA to the second access point AP, and the interference of the first station STA to the second access point AP can be effectively controlled”),
receiving, at a first AP from the second AP, a second SINR between the second AP and a second receiving STA; (Fig. 2a, Par. [0125] “204. The second AP receives the first radio frame sent by the first AP” and Par. [0012] “In a possible implementation, the first radio frame further carries one or more of the following: transmit power information of the second access point AP; information about a maximum tolerable interference threshold for the first access point AP; identifier information of the first station STA; transmit power information of the first station STA; and transmit power information of the first access point AP),
and computing, at the first AP, a first transmit power back-off; (Par. [0132] “Optionally, when the first radio frame includes the fourth indication information, the second AP determines the transmit power information of the second AP according to the fourth indication information”),
receiving, at the first AP from the second AP, a second transmit power back-off; (Par. [0196] ”Optionally, when the first radio frame includes the fifth indication information for indicating the transmit power information of the second AP, and the transmit power information may be maximum transmit power or transmit power configured by the first AP, when the second AP sends the third acknowledgement frame, used power cannot exceed the maximum transmit power of the second AP, or used power is the transmit power configured by the first AP”),
and computing, at the first AP, one or more first transmission parameters based on the first transmit power back-off and the second transmit power back-off (Par. [0111]“ The power indication information may be used by each second STA to determine maximum transmit power. In addition, the power indication information may be included in the second radio frame sent by the second AP to the second STA. In a possible implementation, the information about the maximum tolerable interference threshold may be a value of a spatial reuse parameter (spatial reuse parameter, SRP). The SRP may be used by the second AP to adjust transmit power during spatial reuse transmission”).
Guo, however, does not explicitly teach identifying, at a first access point (AP), a training transmission time, wherein the first AP is operable to transmit a first training transmission during the training transmission time and a second AP is operable to transmit a second training transmission during the training transmission time.
In the same field of endeavor, Zhou teaches identifying, at a first access point (AP), a training transmission time, wherein the first AP is operable to transmit a first training transmission during the training transmission time and a second AP is operable to transmit a second training transmission during the training transmission time (Par. [0049] ” The AP 104 may transmit on one or more channels (e.g., multiple narrowband channels, each channel including a frequency bandwidth) a beacon signal (or simply a “beacon”), via a communication link such as the downlink 108, to other nodes (STAs) of the wireless communication system 100. The beacon signal may help the other nodes (STAs) synchronize their timing with the AP 104. Alternatively or additionally, the beacon signal may provide other information or functionality. Such beacons may be transmitted periodically. In one aspect, the period between successive transmissions of a beacon may be referred to as a superframe. Transmission of a beacon may be divided into a number of groups or intervals. In one aspect, the beacon may include, but is not limited to, such information as timestamp information to set a common clock, a peer-to-peer network identifier, a device identifier, capability information, a superframe duration, transmission direction information, reception direction information, a neighbor list, and/or an extended neighbor list, some of which are described in additional detail below”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Zhou’s timeframe transmission used for synchronization with Guo’s APs and STAs to improve power backoff determinations.
Regarding Claim 10, Guo combined with Zhou teaches the invention of Claim 9 where Guo further teaches comprising: receiving, at the first AP from the second AP, one or more second transmission parameters based on the first transmit power back-off and the second transmit power back-off (Par. [0134], ”Optionally, when the first radio frame includes the sixth indication information, the second AP obtains the information about the maximum tolerable interference threshold for the first AP according to the sixth indication information, and determines power indication information of each second STA based on the information about the maximum interference threshold, so that each second STA determines the maximum transmit power of the second STA according to the power indication information, to be specific, transmit power of each second STA is controlled, so that the value of the interference of the second STA to the first AP is within a fourth value range. Therefore, in this embodiment, transmit power used when the second STA sends a BA in response to the second radio frame cannot exceed the maximum transmit power of the second STA”).
Regarding Claim 11, Guo combined with Zhou teaches the invention of Claim 9 where Guo further teaches initializing, at the first AP, a transmission opportunity (TXOP); (Par. [0111]” In addition, the power indication information may be included in the second radio frame sent by the second AP to the second STA. In a possible implementation, the information about the maximum tolerable interference threshold may be a value of a spatial reuse parameter (spatial reuse parameter, SRP)”), and generating, at the first AP, a transmission to the first STA (Figs. 1A, 1B, Par. [0148]” After sending the first radio frame to the second AP, the first AP sends, in the sending period of the second radio frame, the third radio frame to the first STA associated with the first AP”).
Regarding Claim 12, Guo combined with Zhou teaches the invention of Claim 9 where Guo further teaches determining, at the first AP, the one or more first transmission parameters based on a weighted average of the first SINR and the second SINR (Par. [0111]” Optionally, to reduce interference of the second STA to the first AP, the first radio frame may carry sixth indication information, and the sixth indication information is used to indicate information about a maximum tolerable interference threshold for the first AP, so that the second AP determines power indication information of each associated second STA based on the sixth indication information. The power indication information may be used by each second STA to determine maximum transmit power. In addition, the power indication information may be included in the second radio frame sent by the second AP to the second STA. In a possible implementation, the information about the maximum tolerable interference threshold may be a value of a spatial reuse parameter (spatial reuse parameter, SRP). The SRP may be used by the second AP to adjust transmit power during spatial reuse transmission. Therefore, the second AP may set a transmission parameter of the associated second STA based on the value of the SRP. Correspondingly, to enable the second AP to predict, before sending the second radio frame, a value of interference of the first STA to the second AP when the second AP receives the radio frame sent by the second STA, the first radio frame may carry seventh indication information and eighth indication information, the seventh indication information is used to indicate identifier information of the first STA, and the eighth indication information is used to indicate transmit power information of the first STA”).
Regarding Claim 13, Guo combined with Zhou teaches the invention of Claim 9 where Guo further teaches terminating, at the second AP, a spatial reuse transmission to match a transmission end of a transmission from the first AP (Par. [0009]” In a possible implementation, a sending time of the third radio frame is the same as the sending time of the second radio frame. In this implementation, the third radio frame and the second radio frame are sent at the same sending time, thereby reducing interference between the first access point AP and the second access point AP”).
Regarding Claim 14, Guo combined with Zhou teaches the invention of Claim 9 where Guo further teaches determining, at the first AP, the first transmit power back-off based on one or more of background noise or a maximum receive error vector magnitude (EVM) (Par. [0111]” Optionally, to reduce interference of the second STA to the first AP, the first radio frame may carry sixth indication information, and the sixth indication information is used to indicate information about a maximum tolerable interference threshold for the first AP, so that the second AP determines power indication information of each associated second STA based on the sixth indication information”).
Regarding Claim 15, Guo combined with Zhou teaches the invention of Claim 9 where Guo further teaches wherein the one or more first transmission parameters include one or more of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a transmission (Tx) power, or a bandwidth. (Par. [0113]” Optionally, to better perform radio resource management, the first AP may further perform centralized scheduling, to determine a transmission parameter of the second AP, to be specific, the first AP allocates and indicates resource scheduling information to the second AP. Therefore, the first radio frame may further carry tenth indication information, and the tenth indication information is used to indicate the resource scheduling information, so that the second AP determines, based on the resource scheduling information, a channel resource used to send the second radio frame. The resource scheduling information may include but is not limited to one or a combination of a plurality of the following information; resource block (resource unit, RU) allocation information of each second AP, identifier information (namely, identifier information of the second STA) of a station scheduled by the second AP, a modulation and coding scheme (modulation and coding scheme, MCS) used by each station, or a spatial stream used by each station”).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guo et al. (US 2020/0374870) in view of Haider et al. (US 2021/0360691).
Regarding Claim 6, Guo teaches the invention of Claim 1, but does not explicitly teach the system further comprising instructions that cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising: identify, at the second AP, a spatial reuse transmission failure and perform, at the second AP: a subsequent channel access without using spatial reuse, or adapt a spatial reuse rate to avoid interference with the first AP.
In the same field of endeavor, Haider teaches the system further comprising instructions that cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising: identify, at the second AP, a spatial reuse transmission failure, (Par. [0041],” In some embodiments, the process then provides for dynamic adaptation of the CCS threshold for the OBSS based at least in part on the success or failure of the SR transmission 448”),
and perform, at the second AP: a subsequent channel access without using spatial reuse, or adapt a spatial reuse rate to avoid interference with the first AP (Par. [0061], ”In some embodiments, a method includes providing service by an access point to a plurality of client devices in a basic service set within a network environment; receiving a packet at the access point; determining a source of the packet based on a BSS color or BSS identification obtained from the packet; upon determining that the source of the packet is within the BSS, utilizing a default clear channel assessment (CCA) value in in an operation for transmission to a client device of the plurality of client devices; and upon determining that the source of the packet is with a first overlapping BSS (OBSS), utilizing a current value of CCA threshold value for the first OBSS in a spatial reuse operation for transmission to a first client device, the first client device having a highest estimated signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) value of the plurality of client devices, wherein the CCA threshold value for the first OBSS is a dynamically adjusted value based at least in part on success or failure of data transmission between the access point and the first client device”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Haider’s embodiments of spatial reuse with the system of Guo, in order to enhance spatial reuse of radio spectrum in WLAN operation.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Jeon et al. (US 2020/0221307) discloses a method to determine potential interference and intended transmission power between neighboring network entities through coordination request messages.
Kim et al. (US 2019/0215776) discloses determining transmit power for a base station based on SINR information from a neighboring base station.
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/J.N.D./ Examiner, Art Unit 2641
/JINSONG HU/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2643
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