DETAILED ACTION
1. Claims 1-20 have been examined and are pending.
Response to Amendment
2. In response to the amendments received in the Office on 2/02/2026, the Office acknowledges the current status of the claims: claims 1, 10, and 19 have been amended, and no new matter appears to be included.
3. In response to the amendments received in the Office on 2/02/2026, the objection to the title has been withdrawn. The new title is accepted.
Response to Arguments
4. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 10, and 19 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
6. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over United States Patent Application Publication 2023/0379760 A1 to Huang (hereinafter “Huang”), in view of United States Patent Application Publication 2023/0388055 A1 to Chun et al. (hereinafter “Chun”).
Regarding Claim 1, Huang discloses a communication method, comprising:
generating, by a first communication apparatus, a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) (Huang: Figure 2A with corresponding description in [0087-0089], wherein a first station (STA1, described as an access point station, or AP STA throughout Huang) transmits a PPDU to a second STA2.), wherein:
the PPDU comprises a first field with 26 bits (Corresponds to a link adaptation (LA) Control Field, as described by Huang in at least [0014], Figure 3A with [0099] – the length of the LA Control (sub)field is 26 bits.) and the first field comprises a…unsolicited modulation and coding scheme (MCS) feedback (MFB) subfield and a one-bit first indication information (Huang: Figures 3B and 3C with [0100] – the Unsolicited MFB field is one bit and the first indication information corresponds to the MRQ field of Figures 3B and 3C of Huang, also a one-bit field. This information bit may also correspond to a MRQ sequence identifier (MSI), as described Huang in at least [0014], [0026], and [0100].); and
when a value of the…unsolicited MFB subfield is a first value, the…first indication information indicates an MCS request (MRQ) (Huang: Figures 6D and 6I with [0110] and [0115], respectively – “For example, the Unsolicited MFB subfield may be set to 1 to indicate the unsolicited MFB and set to 0 to indicate the solicited MFB. When the Unsolicited MFB subfield is set to 0, the MSI subfield may include a sequence number in the range 0 to 6 that is set to identify a specific solicited MFB request.”); or
when a value of the…unsolicited MFB subfield is a second value, the…first indication information indicates an uplink extremely high throughput trigger-based PPDU MFB (UL EHT TB PPDU MFB) (Huang: Figures 6D and 6I with [0110] and [0115], respectively – “When the Unsolicited MFB subfield is set to 1, the UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield is set to indicate whether the recommended transmission parameters indicated in the Recommended Parameters subfield are applied for transmission of an EHT TB PPDU from STA2. For example, the UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield is set to 0 to indicate the recommended transmission parameters indicated in the Recommended Parameters subfield are applied for transmission of an EHT MU PPDU to STA2; and set to 1 to indicate the recommended transmission parameters indicated in the Recommended Parameters subfield are applied for transmission of an EHT TB PPDU from STA2.” Here, the first indication information is the UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield, particular to the signal included in the unsolicited MFB subfield.); and
sending, by the first communication apparatus, the PPDU to a second communication apparatus (Huang: Figure 2A with corresponding description in [0087-0089], wherein a first station (STA1, described as an access point station, or AP STA throughout Huang) transmits a PPDU to a second STA1.).
Although Huang does not expressly disclose “generating” the PPDU before sending to another device for reception, this feature would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, since STA1 is not a relay or forwarding device, and thus would necessarily require the STA1 to not only transmit the PPDU, but also to generate the PPDU. One would be motivated to do so in order to allow for soliciting a response PPDU.
Although Huang discloses an unsolicited MFB subfield, Huang does not expressly disclose a one-bit unsolicited MFB subfield.
This feature is not new or novel in the presence of Chun. Chun is similarly concerned with link adaptation (Chun: [0004-0006]). Chun discloses a one-bit unsolicited modulation and coding scheme (MCS) feedback (MFB) subfield (Chun: [0236], and a one-bit MRQ field (Chun: [0236-0237]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify the link adaptation fields of Huang in view of the link adaptation fields of Chun to indicate one-bit fields for unsolicited MFB and MRQ for the reasons of defining appropriate fields within the extremely high throughput specification within IEEE 802.11 standards (Chun: [0005-0007]).
Regarding Claim 2, the combination of Huang and Chung discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein Huang further discloses:
when the value of the unsolicited MFB subfield is 0, the first indication information indicates whether a solicited feedback is used (Huang: Figures 6D and 6I with [0110] and [0115], respectively – “When the Unsolicited MFB subfield is set to 0, the MSI subfield may include a sequence number in the range 0 to 6 that is set to identify a specific solicited MFB request.”); and
when the value of the unsolicited MFB subfield is 1, the first indication information indicates whether information provided in the first field is used for an UL TB PPDU (Huang: Figures 6D and 6I with [0110] and [0115], respectively – “When the Unsolicited MFB subfield is set to 1, the UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield is set to indicate whether the recommended transmission parameters indicated in the Recommended Parameters subfield are applied for transmission of an EHT TB PPDU from STA2. For example, the UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield is set to 0 to indicate the recommended transmission parameters indicated in the Recommended Parameters subfield are applied for transmission of an EHT MU PPDU to STA2; and set to 1 to indicate the recommended transmission parameters indicated in the Recommended Parameters subfield are applied for transmission of an EHT TB PPDU from STA2.”).
Regarding Claim 3, the combination of Huang and Chung discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein Huang further discloses the first field further comprises a number of spatial streams (NSS) subfield with a quantity of bits greater than or equal to 3 (Huang: Figure 6F with [0112] – a subfield of the MFB subfield includes an NSS subfield, comprising at least four bits.).
Regarding Claim 4, the combination of Huang and Chung discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein Huang further discloses the first field further comprises an extremely high throughput MCS (EHT-MCS) subfield with a quantity of bits equal to 4 (Huang: Figure 6F with [0112] - a subfield of the MFB subfield includes an EHT-MCS subfield which is four bits.).
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of Huang and Chung discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein Huang further discloses the first field further comprises a resource unit allocation subfield with a quantity of bits equal to 8 (Huang: Figure 6F with [0112] – a subfield of the MFB subfield includes an RU allocation field comprising at least nine bits.).
Regarding Claim 6, the combination of Huang and Chung discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein Huang further discloses the first field further comprises a bandwidth (BW) subfield with a quantity of bits equal to 3 ((Huang: Figure 6F with [0112] – a subfield of the MFB subfield includes a BW subfield equal to three bits.).
Regarding Claim 7, the combination of Huang and Chung discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein Huang further discloses the first field further comprises a one-bit fourth indication information, and wherein the fourth indication information indicates that the first field is an extremely high throughput link adaptation (EHT LA) control subfield (Huang: Figure 3B with [0100] – corresponds to the HE/EHT Indication subfield of the control subfield of the PPDU, indicating at least the type as being EHT LA.), or the fourth indication information indicates that the first field is a high efficient link adaptation (HE LA) control subfield (Huang: Figure 3B with [0100] – corresponds to the HE/EHT Indication subfield of the control subfield of the PPDU, indicating at least the type as being HE LA.).
Regarding Claim 8, the combination of Huang and Chung discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein Huang further discloses the first field further comprises a one-bit Tx beamforming subfield (Huang: Figure 6E with [0111] – corresponds to Tx beamforming subfield equal to one bit.).
Regarding Claim 9, the combination of Huang and Chung discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein Huang further discloses the PPDU further comprises a control identifier field corresponding to the first field, and a value of the control identifier field is 2 (Huang: Figures 4A and 4C with [0102] and [0104], respectively – corresponds to the Control Identifier (ID) field comprising at least 4 bits.).
Although Huang discloses the control identifier field comprises 4 bits, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have this field equal to 2 bits, since the field allows for up to 4 bits, thus allowing a reduction in signaling overhead.
Claims 10-18, directed to an apparatus embodiment of claims 1-9, recite similar features as claims 1-9 and are therefore rejected upon the same grounds as claim 1-9. Please see above rejection of claims 1-9. Huang further discloses the apparatus as an access point station (AP-STA) comprising at least a processor and memory to store programming instructions in at least [0030].
Claims 19-20, directed to an article of manufacturing embodiment of claims 1 and 2, recite similar features as claims 1 and 2, respectively, and are therefore rejected upon the same grounds as claims 1 and 2. Please see above rejections of claims 1 and 2. Huang discloses the article of manufacture is disclosed by Huang in at least [0180] and [0182].
Conclusion
7. 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.
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN H ELLIOTT IV whose telephone number is (571)270-7163. The examiner can normally be reached M, T, R, F 5:00 AM-5:00 PM, W 5:00 AM-3:00 PM (EDT).
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BENJAMIN H. ELLIOTT IV
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2474
/BENJAMIN H ELLIOTT IV/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474 April 3, 2026
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