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
This communication is considered fully responsive to the Arguments/Remarks filed on 3/31/2026.
Claims 4, 12 and 18 have been amended.
Claims 4, 12 and 18 objections have been withdrawn.
Double patenting rejections for claims 1, 2, 3, 6 and 8 have been withdrawn as a terminal disclaimer has been filed and approved.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/31/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argued in its Remarks for claims 1, 9, and 16, that “In Ghosh, the BT communication drives the identification of the punctured sub- channels. The agency of the present claims is with the WLAN side… In Ghosh, the agency is with the WPAN side; the WLAN side in Ghosh merely does what is required by the WPAN side. Second, the Examiner alleges that Ghosh discloses "instructing the WPAN side over which of the number of punctured sub-channels to transmit using the WPAN radio." …As explained above, Ghosh is directed to an solution wherein the WPAN radio defines the sub-channels to be punctured based on its requirement. As the WPAN radio is defining the puncturing, there is no need for the WLAN side to instruct the WPAN side. To put it another way, the event schedule is provided by the WPAN. The WLAN punctures in compliance with that event schedule. There is therefore no need for instructions from the WLAN. Applicant submits that Ghosh and the present claims are solving a similar
problem from two distinct starting points”.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Gosh par. 0055 recites “In some embodiments, alternatively or additionally, when the Wi-Fi module sends schedule information to the Bluetooth module, the Bluetooth module may look to update hopping sequence of its existing connections.” This discloses that the WLAN module can alternatively or additionally instruct the WPAN module on puncturing details.
Applicant argued in its Remarks that for claims 2, 8 and 10, “Applicant submits that Aldana was filed (and has a priority date of ) April 2, 2024. The present application was filed December 7, 2023, almost four months earlier. Aldana is therefore not available as prior art against the present claims.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Aldana et al. (US 2025/0081179) has a filing date of 4/2/2024 however it has a priority date with Provisional application No. 63/536,307 filed on Sept. 1, 2023 which is earlier than the application filing date of 12/07/2023. Therefore Aldana is a correct prior art.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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, 2, 8-10 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ghosh et al. (US 2021/0204140, hereinafter “Ghosh”) in view of Gupta et al. (US 2024/0397399, hereinafter “Gupta”).
For claim 1, Ghosh discloses A method for operating a co-located device including a wireless local area network (WLAN) side with a WLAN radio and a wireless personal area network (WPAN) side with a WPAN radio (FIG. 7 illustrates a mechanism of coexistence between Wi-Fi communication and Bluetooth communication; see Ghosh par. 0052 and Figs. 7-10), the method comprising:
using the WPAN side notifying WLAN side of latency sensitive traffic (LST) pending for the WPAN radio (As shown in FIG. 7, the coexistence mechanism may involve a real time interface and a non-real time interface. A real time arbiter may processes the near-term scheduling of RF traffic from both of the Wi-Fi module and the Bluetooth module…It may be advantageous to inform the collocated Wi-Fi module a little ahead in time about the traffic schedule of the Bluetooth module using the non-real time interface, so that the collocated Wi-Fi module can make use of the non-real time scheduling information to reserve or adjust usage of frequency and time resources with link layer or MAC protocol messaging; see Ghosh par. 0053-0054, 0062);
using the WLAN side identifying a number of punctured sub-channels in a plurality of channels used in a basic service set (BSS) for WLAN communications with the WLAN radio (The Wi-Fi module may use event schedule information obtained from the Bluetooth module to use puncturing to facilitate the Bluetooth communication in the punctured channel to complete successfully. The event schedule information is to indicate information about a schedule of the Bluetooth communication. In some embodiments, the event schedule information may include information about a bandwidth of the sub-channel required by the Bluetooth communication, a start time instance of the Bluetooth communication, or a duration of the Bluetooth communication…. Based on the event schedule information, the Wi-Fi module of the device may puncture corresponding channel for the Bluetooth communication. For example, the Wi-Fi module of the device may puncture the secondary channel for the Wi-Fi transmission to reserve a sub-channel with the bandwidth indicated in the event schedule information starting from the start time instance indicated in event schedule information for the duration indicated in the event schedule information; see Ghosh par. 0057-0059, 0063-0064);
instructing the WPAN side over which of the number of punctured sub-channels to transmit using the WPAN radio (In some embodiments, alternatively or additionally, when the Wi-Fi module sends schedule information to the Bluetooth module, the Bluetooth module may look to update hopping sequence of its existing connections. Thus, the ahead time period may be determined, alternatively or additionally, based on the time required for updating hopping sequence; see Ghosh par. 0055, 0063-0064); and
using the WPAN radio communicating the LST over at least some of the number of punctured sub-channels to reduce interference between the WPAN radio and WLAN communications in the BSS (At 1020, the Bluetooth communication is performed via a sub-channel after a time period since the transmission of the event schedule information to the Wi-Fi module. The sub-channel is punctured from a secondary channel for the Wi-Fi communication by the Wi-Fi module based on the event schedule information. In some embodiments, the event schedule information is to indicate a bandwidth of the sub-channel, start time of the Bluetooth communication, or a duration of the Bluetooth communication; see Ghosh par. 0072-0073, 0087-0088).
Ghosh does not explicitly disclose latency sensitive traffic (LST). Gupta discloses latency sensitive traffic (LST) (although the ability to transmit Bluetooth- encoded data, particularly latency-sensitive traffic, over a WLAN channel or link may reduce latencies and increase throughput relative to similar transmissions over a Bluetooth connection, changes in the link quality of the WLAN channel and/or the Bluetooth connection may cause handover operations between the Bluetooth connection and the WLAN channel to inadvertently increase latencies and decrease throughput. In some instances, the wireless device may establish a Bluetooth connection with the peripheral device, and may transmit one or more Bluetooth-encoded data frames to the peripheral device over the Bluetooth connection. The wireless device may obtain an indication of one or more changes in the link metric of the Bluetooth connection, and may selectively initiate a handover operation based on the changes in the Bluetooth link metric. When the Bluetooth link metric is less than a first link metric threshold, the wireless device may initiate the handover operation, switch the communications with the peripheral device from the Bluetooth connection to the WLAN channel, and transmit additional Bluetooth-encoded data frames to the peripheral device over the WLAN channel; see Gupta par. 0113-0114, 0123). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Gupta's arrangement in Ghosh's invention so that the ability to transmit Bluetooth-encoded data, particularly latency-sensitive traffic, over a WLAN channel or link may reduce latencies and increase throughput relative to similar transmissions over a Bluetooth connection (see Gupta par. 0053).
For claim 8, Ghosh discloses The method of claim 1 wherein each of the number of punctured sub-channels have a minimum bandwidth of 20MHz (The disclosure involves the use of preamble puncturing in 40 MHz or in resource units smaller or equal to 20 MHz channel bandwidth. In the mechanisms of coexistence between Wi-Fi communication and Bluetooth communication, the Bluetooth module may share its event schedule (bandwidth in granularity of 1 MHz or 2 MHz, start times, and transmission duration) with Wi-Fi module, so as to as puncturing in the overlapping secondary 20 MHz channel bandwidth (for example in 2.4 GHz channel) by a Wi-Fi 6 or future Wi-Fi device, when a Bluetooth transmission is expected in any 1 MHz or 2 MHz channel bandwidth within the secondary 20 MHz bandwidth; see Ghosh par 0088), the each of the number of channels have a bandwidth of 80, 160 or 320 MHz (FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a punctured 20 MHz channel in different configurations of 80 MHz channel bandwidth. As shown in FIG. 6, preamble puncturing in 80 MHz is depicted with secondary 20 MHz channel (S20), lower (left) secondary 40 MHz channel (S40-L) and upper (right) secondary 40 MHz channel (S40-R) punctured respectively; see Ghosh par. 0047), and wherein the number of punctured sub-channels includes adjacent sub-channels to provide concurrently punctured sub-channels having bandwidths of 40, 80 or 120 MHz (In some IEEE 802.11 embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured for communication over various channel bandwidths including bandwidths having center frequencies of about 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and bandwidths of about 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, 5.5 MHz, 6 MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz (with contiguous bandwidths) or 80+80 MHz (160 MHz) (with non-contiguous bandwidths). In some embodiments, a 920 MHz channel bandwidth may be used; see Ghosh par. 0057, 0123).
For claim 9, Ghosh discloses A co-located device (Referring still to FIG. 14, according to the shown embodiment, WLAN-BT coexistence circuitry 1413 may include logic providing an interface between the WLAN baseband circuitry 1408a and the BT baseband circuitry 1408b to enable use cases requiring WLAN and BT coexistence; see Ghosh par. 0115 and Fig. 14) comprising:
a wireless local area network (WLAN) side including a WLAN radio (the wireless radio card 1402 may include a WLAN radio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications; see Ghosh par. 0117 and Fig. 14);
a wireless personal area network (WPAN) side including a WPAN radio (In some embodiments, as further shown in FIG. 6, the BT baseband circuitry 1408b may be compliant with a Bluetooth (BT) connectivity standard such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth 8.0 or Bluetooth 6.0, or any other iteration of the Bluetooth Standard; see Ghosh par. 0123 and Fig. 14); and
a microcontroller (The machine 1300 may include an output controller 1334; see Ghosh par. 0102 and Fig. 13) operable to execute machine readable instructions that (This software and/or firmware may take the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by one or more processors to enable performance of the operations described herein; see Ghosh par. 0107 and Fig. 13), when executed by the microcontroller:
cause WPAN side to notify the WLAN side of latency sensitive traffic (LST) for the WPAN radio (As shown in FIG. 7, the coexistence mechanism may involve a real time interface and a non-real time interface. A real time arbiter may processes the near-term scheduling of RF traffic from both of the Wi-Fi module and the Bluetooth module…It may be advantageous to inform the collocated Wi-Fi module a little ahead in time about the traffic schedule of the Bluetooth module using the non-real time interface, so that the collocated Wi-Fi module can make use of the non-real time scheduling information to reserve or adjust usage of frequency and time resources with link layer or MAC protocol messaging; see Ghosh par. 0053-0054, 0062);
cause the WLAN side to identify and communicate to the WPAN side a number of punctured sub-channels in a plurality of channels used in a basic service set (BSS) to communicate with the WLAN radio (The Wi-Fi module may use event schedule information obtained from the Bluetooth module to use puncturing to facilitate the Bluetooth communication in the punctured channel to complete successfully. The event schedule information is to indicate information about a schedule of the Bluetooth communication. In some embodiments, the event schedule information may include information about a bandwidth of the sub-channel required by the Bluetooth communication, a start time instance of the Bluetooth communication, or a duration of the Bluetooth communication…. Based on the event schedule information, the Wi-Fi module of the device may puncture corresponding channel for the Bluetooth communication. For example, the Wi-Fi module of the device may puncture the secondary channel for the Wi-Fi transmission to reserve a sub-channel with the bandwidth indicated in the event schedule information starting from the start time instance indicated in event schedule information for the duration indicated in the event schedule information; see Ghosh par. 0057-0059, 0063-0064); and
cause the WPAN radio to transmit and receive using adaptive frequency hopping (AFH) over the number of punctured sub-channels to eliminate interference between the WPAN radio and concurrent communications with the WLAN radio in the BSS (In a scenario where Bluetooth Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH) is applicable for data or audio connections, Bluetooth uses adaptive frequency hopping to select usable channels, e.g., in the 2.4 GHz band. Bluetooth BR/EDR is widely used by a large amount of audio devices. BR/EDR based connections requires a minimum of 15 usable channels, for example. When there is heavy presence of Wi-Fi (both collocated and non-collocated) in the environment, it gets difficult to find the usable set of 15 channels. Though BLE based connections require only a m1mmum of 2 channels, BLE based audio applications could benefit by using a protected set of usable channels so as to minimize interference; see Ghosh par. 0040; In the case of applications using BLE or BR/EDR connections (like audio, data, or location), by using puncturing scheme discussed in this disclosure, the transmission and reception on AFH channels in densely used Wi-Fi environments can be protected, the robustness of the Bluetooth links can be improved, and the user experience can be enhanced; see Ghosh par. 0087-0088).
Ghosh does not explicitly disclose latency sensitive traffic (LST). discloses latency sensitive traffic (LST) (although the ability to transmit Bluetooth- encoded data, particularly latency-sensitive traffic, over a WLAN channel or link may reduce latencies and increase throughput relative to similar transmissions over a Bluetooth connection, changes in the link quality of the WLAN channel and/or the Bluetooth connection may cause handover operations between the Bluetooth connection and the WLAN channel to inadvertently increase latencies and decrease throughput. In some instances, the wireless device may establish a Bluetooth connection with the peripheral device, and may transmit one or more Bluetooth-encoded data frames to the peripheral device over the Bluetooth connection. The wireless device may obtain an indication of one or more changes in the link metric of the Bluetooth connection, and may selectively initiate a handover operation based on the changes in the Bluetooth link metric. When the Bluetooth link metric is less than a first link metric threshold, the wireless device may initiate the handover operation, switch the communications with the peripheral device from the Bluetooth connection to the WLAN channel, and transmit additional Bluetooth-encoded data frames to the peripheral device over the WLAN channel; see Gupta par. 0113-0114, 0123). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Gupta's arrangement in Ghosh's invention so that the ability to transmit Bluetooth-encoded data, particularly latency-sensitive traffic, over a WLAN channel or link may reduce latencies and increase throughput relative to similar transmissions over a Bluetooth connection (see Gupta par. 0053).traffic (LST) ().
For claim 10, Ghosh discloses The co-located device of claim 9 wherein the WLAN radio is a Wi-Fi radio operable to use an IEEE 802.11 packet-based protocol supporting preamble puncturing (Preamble puncturing is proposed in IEEE P802. 11ax™/D6.0 where an OFDMA frame avoids transmissions in certain subcarriers, thereby occupying non-contiguous sets of sub-carriers within a given channel bandwidth. Currently, preamble puncturing is proposed to be used only in PPDU transmissions over 80 MHz and 160 MHz channel BW in 5 GHz band; see Ghosh par. 0046, 0049), and wherein the WPAN radio is an unlicensed, short-range Bluetooth (BT) or Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) radio (For a UE (e.g., user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 of FIG. 1) where both of Bluetooth communication and Wi-Fi communication are supported, Bluetooth Basic Rate/Enhanced Data Rate (BR/EDR) and/or Low Energy (BLE) traffic might be interfered with Wi-Fi operation, e.g., in 40 MHz within 2.4 GHz band; see Ghosh par. 0035), operable to communicate using adaptive frequency hopping (AFH) in the punctured sub-channels (In a scenario where Bluetooth Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH) is applicable for data or audio connections, Bluetooth uses adaptive frequency hopping to select usable channels, e.g., in the 2.4 GHz band…; see Ghosh par. 0040; In the case of applications using BLE or BR/EDR connections (like audio, data, or location), by using puncturing scheme discussed in this disclosure, the transmission and reception on AFH channels in densely used Wi-Fi environments can be protected, the robustness of the Bluetooth links can be improved, and the user experience can be enhanced; see Ghosh par. 0087-0088).
For claim 16, Ghosh discloses A method for operating a co-located device including a Wi-Fi side with a Wi-Fi radio and a Bluetooth (BT) side with a BT radio (FIG. 7 illustrates a mechanism of coexistence between Wi-Fi communication and Bluetooth communication; see Ghosh par. 0052 and Figs. 7-10), the method comprising:
using the BT side notifying Wi-Fi side of latency sensitive traffic (LST) for the BT radio (As shown in FIG. 7, the coexistence mechanism may involve a real time interface and a non-real time interface. A real time arbiter may processes the near-term scheduling of RF traffic from both of the Wi-Fi module and the Bluetooth module…It may be advantageous to inform the collocated Wi-Fi module a little ahead in time about the traffic schedule of the Bluetooth module using the non-real time interface, so that the collocated Wi-Fi module can make use of the non-real time scheduling information to reserve or adjust usage of frequency and time resources with link layer or MAC protocol messaging; see Ghosh par. 0053-0054, 0062);
using the WI-FI side identifying a number of punctured sub-channels in a plurality of channels used in a basic service set (BSS) to communicate with the WI-FI radio (The Wi-Fi module may use event schedule information obtained from the Bluetooth module to use puncturing to facilitate the Bluetooth communication in the punctured channel to complete successfully. The event schedule information is to indicate information about a schedule of the Bluetooth communication. In some embodiments, the event schedule information may include information about a bandwidth of the sub-channel required by the Bluetooth communication, a start time instance of the Bluetooth communication, or a duration of the Bluetooth communication…. Based on the event schedule information, the Wi-Fi module of the device may puncture corresponding channel for the Bluetooth communication. For example, the Wi-Fi module of the device may puncture the secondary channel for the Wi-Fi transmission to reserve a sub-channel with the bandwidth indicated in the event schedule information starting from the start time instance indicated in event schedule information for the duration indicated in the event schedule information; see Ghosh par. 0057-0059, 0063-0064);
instructing the BT side over which of the number of punctured sub-channels to transmit using the BT radio (In some embodiments, alternatively or additionally, when the Wi-Fi module sends schedule information to the Bluetooth module, the Bluetooth module may look to update hopping sequence of its existing connections. Thus, the ahead time period may be determined, alternatively or additionally, based on the time required for updating hopping sequence; see Ghosh par. 0055, 0063-0064); and
using the BT radio transmitting the LST over the number of punctured sub-channels using adaptive frequency hopping (AFH) to eliminate interference between the BT radio and concurrent communications between the WI-FI radio and an access point (AP) in the BSS (At 1020, the Bluetooth communication is performed via a sub-channel after a time period since the transmission of the event schedule information to the Wi-Fi module. The sub-channel is punctured from a secondary channel for the Wi-Fi communication by the Wi-Fi module based on the event schedule information. In some embodiments, the event schedule information is to indicate a bandwidth of the sub-channel, start time of the Bluetooth communication, or a duration of the Bluetooth communication; see Ghosh par. 0072-0073, 0087-0088).
Ghosh does not explicitly disclose latency sensitive traffic (LST). discloses latency sensitive traffic (LST) (although the ability to transmit Bluetooth- encoded data, particularly latency-sensitive traffic, over a WLAN channel or link may reduce latencies and increase throughput relative to similar transmissions over a Bluetooth connection, changes in the link quality of the WLAN channel and/or the Bluetooth connection may cause handover operations between the Bluetooth connection and the WLAN channel to inadvertently increase latencies and decrease throughput. In some instances, the wireless device may establish a Bluetooth connection with the peripheral device, and may transmit one or more Bluetooth-encoded data frames to the peripheral device over the Bluetooth connection. The wireless device may obtain an indication of one or more changes in the link metric of the Bluetooth connection, and may selectively initiate a handover operation based on the changes in the Bluetooth link metric. When the Bluetooth link metric is less than a first link metric threshold, the wireless device may initiate the handover operation, switch the communications with the peripheral device from the Bluetooth connection to the WLAN channel, and transmit additional Bluetooth-encoded data frames to the peripheral device over the WLAN channel; see Gupta par. 0113-0114, 0123). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Gupta's arrangement in Ghosh's invention so that the ability to transmit Bluetooth-encoded data, particularly latency-sensitive traffic, over a WLAN channel or link may reduce latencies and increase throughput relative to similar transmissions over a Bluetooth connection (see Gupta par. 0053).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ghosh and Gupta and further in view of Aldana et al. (US 2025/0081179, hereinafter “Aldana”).
For claim 2, Ghosh discloses The method of claim 1 wherein the WLAN radio is a Wi-Fi radio operable to use an IEEE 802.11 packet-based protocol supporting preamble puncturing (Preamble puncturing is proposed in IEEE P802. 11ax™/D6.0 where an OFDMA frame avoids transmissions in certain subcarriers, thereby occupying non-contiguous sets of sub-carriers within a given channel bandwidth. Currently, preamble puncturing is proposed to be used only in PPDU transmissions over 80 MHz and 160 MHz channel BW in 5 GHz band; see Ghosh par. 0046, 0049), and wherein the WPAN radio is an unlicensed, short-range Bluetooth (BT), Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) (For a UE (e.g., user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 of FIG. 1) where both of Bluetooth communication and Wi-Fi communication are supported, Bluetooth Basic Rate/Enhanced Data Rate (BR/EDR) and/or Low Energy (BLE) traffic might be interfered with Wi-Fi operation, e.g., in 40 MHz within 2.4 GHz band; see Ghosh par. 0035), narrow-band (NB) or ultra-wideband (UWB) radio, operable to communicate by adaptive frequency hopping in the punctured sub-channels (In a scenario where Bluetooth Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH) is applicable for data or audio connections, Bluetooth uses adaptive frequency hopping to select usable channels, e.g., in the 2.4 GHz band…; see Ghosh par. 0040; In the case of applications using BLE or BR/EDR connections (like audio, data, or location), by using puncturing scheme discussed in this disclosure, the transmission and reception on AFH channels in densely used Wi-Fi environments can be protected, the robustness of the Bluetooth links can be improved, and the user experience can be enhanced; see Ghosh par. 0087-0088). The combination of Ghosh and Gupta does not explicitly disclose narrow-band (NB) or ultra-wideband (UWB) radio. Aldana discloses narrow-band (NB) or ultra-wideband (UWB) radio (Referring generally to FIG. 7-FIG. 13, this disclosure is directed to systems and methods of facilitating coexistence. As some wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth and ultra-wideband (UWB), migrate towards 5 GHz and 6 GHz frequency band usages, there may be coexistence with other wireless technologies (such as wireless local area networks (WLAN), such as Wi-Fi). Thus, it may be advantageous for WLAN and high-powered narrow band (NB) devices to share the wireless medium efficiency. Some WLAN devices may support puncturing of frequency band channels (such as 20 MHz sub-band channels), but may not be aware of which sub-band to puncture. Thus, the systems and methods described herein may provide a mechanism by which WLAN and other devices are made aware of which sub-bands to puncture and when to perform puncturing of the corresponding sub-bands. According to the systems and methods described herein, the different wireless devices can share their planned medium usage by sharing frequencies and/or time blocks over which usage is planned for the respective devices; see Aldana par. 0057, 0060). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Aldana's arrangement in Ghosh's invention to share information so that wireless communication devices may transmit around (or puncture) the narrow-band transmissions that would otherwise cause large throughput and latency degradations (see Aldana par. 0057).
Claim(s) 3-5, 7, 11-13, 15, 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ghosh Gupta and Aldana, and further in view of Verma et al. (US 2019/0141570, hereinafter “Verma”).
For claim 3, the combination of Ghosh, Gupta and Aldana does not explicitly disclose The method of claim 2 wherein identifying the number of punctured sub-channels comprises using the Wi-Fi radio, negotiating with an access point (AP) in the BSS to identify the number of punctured sub-channels using a Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap in a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) used in the BSS. Verma discloses The method of claim 2 wherein identifying the number of punctured sub-channels comprises using the Wi-Fi radio (An STA 115 in FIG. 1, or in a similar WLAN deployment, can include a modem (not shown) with a preamble puncturing component 2250 as described in more detail below in FIG. 22. The modem of the STA 115 may support preamble puncturing operations described in this disclosure; see Verma par. 0064, 0069), negotiating with an access point (AP) in the BSS to identify the number of punctured sub-channels using a Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap in a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) used in the BSS (the one or more management frames include a bitmap indicating the preamble puncture pattern. The bitmap may be included in an information element. In another aspect of the method 600, the method 600 further includes transmitting a packet based on the preamble puncture pattern, the packet having an HE SU PPDU format or an HE MU PPDU format. In another aspect of the method 600, the one or more management frames indicate an operating bandwidth of the BSS. In another aspect of the method 600, the method 600 further includes identifying a change in the one or more bandwidth regions associated with incumbent technologies; and broadcasting, to the BSS initiated by the access point, a different preamble puncture pattern in one or more additional management frames, the different preamble puncture pattern being based on the change in the one or more bandwidth regions associated with incumbent technologies; see Verma par. 0096-0103). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Verma's arrangement in Ghosh's invention to provide techniques that allow for more flexibility in the implementation of preamble puncturing and avoid interference (see Verma par. 0003-0004).
For claim 4, the combination of Ghosh, Gupta and Aldana does not explicitly disclose The method of claim 3 wherein the negotiation with the AP includes one or more of a number sub-channels to be punctured, a bandwidth for the LST or identifies one or more specific sub-channels to be punctured. Verma discloses The method of claim 3 wherein the negotiation with the AP includes one or more of a number sub-channels to be punctured, a bandwidth for the LST or identifies one or more specific sub-channels to be punctured (At 610, the method 600 includes broadcasting, to a BSS initiated by the access point, a preamble puncture pattern in one or more management frames, the preamble puncture pattern being based on the one or more bandwidth regions associated with incumbent technologies. For example, one or more components (e.g., preamble puncture pattern broadcast component 1864) of the AP 105 may broadcast, to a BSS, a preamble puncture pattern in a management frame. In another aspect of the method 600, the method 600 further includes setting, for a packet to be transmitted, a bandwidth in an HE-SIG-A field of a preamble of the packet. In another aspect of the method 600, the method 600 further includes zeroing out one or more channels for transmission of the packet based on the preamble puncture pattern; see Verma par. 0096-0098). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Verma's arrangement in Ghosh's invention to provide techniques that allow for more flexibility in the implementation of preamble puncturing and avoid interference (see Verma par. 0003-0004).
For claim 5, the combination of Ghosh, Gupta and Aldana does not explicitly disclose The method of claim 3 wherein the Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap is included in an association response, re-association response or probe response sent by the AP to the co-located device in response to the negotiation. Verma discloses The method of claim 3 wherein the Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap is included in an association response, re-association response or probe response sent by the AP to the co-located device in response to the negotiation (In another aspect of the method 600, the one or more management frames include a beacon, an association response frame, or a management action frame. In another aspect of the method 600, the one or more management frames include a bitmap indicating the preamble puncture pattern. The bitmap may be included in an information element. In another aspect of the method 600, the method 600 further includes transmitting a packet based on the preamble puncture pattern, the packet having an HE SU PPDU format or an HE MU PPDU format; see Verma par. 0099-0101, 0082, 0092). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Verma's arrangement in Ghosh's invention to provide techniques that allow for more flexibility in the implementation of preamble puncturing and avoid interference (see Verma par. 0003-0004).
For claim 7, the combination of Ghosh, Gupta and Aldana does not explicitly disclose The method of claim 2 wherein identifying the number of punctured sub-channels comprises using the Wi-Fi radio to observe a Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap in a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) transmitted from an access point (AP) in the BSS to a station (STA) in the BSS. Verma discloses The method of claim 2 wherein identifying the number of punctured sub-channels comprises using the Wi-Fi radio to observe a Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap in a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) transmitted from an access point (AP) in the BSS to a station (STA) in the BSS (The AP 105 may also announce through management frames the preamble puncture pattern. For example, the puncture pattern can be indicated as a bitmap of 7 bits, indicating the puncture status of each of the 7 non-primary 20 MHz channels in 160 MHz (note that the primary 20 MHz channel is not punctured so it need not be included in the bitmap). In another example, the puncture pattern granularity can be finer (e.g., 10 MHz), in which case one way of signaling is through a 14 bit bitmap. Finer granularity of puncture pattern provides flexibility in puncturing bandwidth efficiency. FIG. 5 shows the management frame 500, which may be a beacon, an association response frame, or a management action frame, for example. The management frame 500 may include a field or information element (IE) 505 in which the bitmap described above providing the puncture pattern information can be included. Other aspects associated with the approach of using management frames (e.g., management frame 500) to signal preamble puncturing include the behavior of a transmitter and a receiver in the signaling operation and the implication of clear channel assessment rules. The transmitter (e.g., AP 105) may use HE SU PPDU or HE MU PPDU format for transmission; see Verma par. 0085-0088). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Verma's arrangement in Ghosh's invention to provide techniques that allow for more flexibility in the implementation of preamble puncturing and avoid interference (see Verma par. 0003-0004).
For claim 11, the combination of Ghosh, Gupta and Aldana does not explicitly disclose The co-located device of claim 10 wherein the machine readable instructions comprise instructions that cause the WLAN side to identify the number of punctured sub-channels by using the Wi-Fi radio, transmitting a request to an access point (AP) in the BSS to identify the number of punctured sub-channels using a Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap in a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) used in the BSS. Verma discloses The co-located device of claim 10 wherein the machine readable instructions comprise instructions that cause the WLAN side to identify the number of punctured sub-channels by using the Wi-Fi radio (An STA 115 in FIG. 1, or in a similar WLAN deployment, can include a modem (not shown) with a preamble puncturing component 2250 as described in more detail below in FIG. 22. The modem of the STA 115 may support preamble puncturing operations described in this disclosure; see Verma par. 0064, 0069), transmitting a request to an access point (AP) in the BSS to identify the number of punctured sub-channels using a Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap in a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) used in the BSS (the one or more management frames include a bitmap indicating the preamble puncture pattern. The bitmap may be included in an information element. In another aspect of the method 600, the method 600 further includes transmitting a packet based on the preamble puncture pattern, the packet having an HE SU PPDU format or an HE MU PPDU format. In another aspect of the method 600, the one or more management frames indicate an operating bandwidth of the BSS. In another aspect of the method 600, the method 600 further includes identifying a change in the one or more bandwidth regions associated with incumbent technologies; and broadcasting, to the BSS initiated by the access point, a different preamble puncture pattern in one or more additional management frames, the different preamble puncture pattern being based on the change in the one or more bandwidth regions associated with incumbent technologies; see Verma par. 0096-0103). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Verma's arrangement in Ghosh's invention to provide techniques that allow for more flexibility in the implementation of preamble puncturing and avoid interference (see Verma par. 0003-0004).
For claim 12, the combination of Ghosh, Gupta and Aldana does not explicitly disclose The wireless device of claim 11 wherein the request to the AP specifies one or more of a number sub-channels to be punctured, or a bandwidth for the LST. Verma discloses The wireless device of claim 11 wherein the request to the AP specifies one or more of a number sub-channels to be punctured, or a bandwidth for the LST (At 610, the method 600 includes broadcasting, to a BSS initiated by the access point, a preamble puncture pattern in one or more management frames, the preamble puncture pattern being based on the one or more bandwidth regions associated with incumbent technologies. For example, one or more components (e.g., preamble puncture pattern broadcast component 1864) of the AP 105 may broadcast, to a BSS, a preamble puncture pattern in a management frame. In another aspect of the method 600, the method 600 further includes setting, for a packet to be transmitted, a bandwidth in an HE-SIG-A field of a preamble of the packet. In another aspect of the method 600, the method 600 further includes zeroing out one or more channels for transmission of the packet based on the preamble puncture pattern; see Verma par. 0096-0098). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Verma's arrangement in Ghosh's invention to provide techniques that allow for more flexibility in the implementation of preamble puncturing and avoid interference (see Verma par. 0003-0004).
For claim 13, the combination of Ghosh, Gupta and Aldana does not explicitly disclose The co-located device of claim 11 wherein the Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap is included in an association response, re-association response or probe response sent by the AP to the co-located device in response to the request. Verma discloses The co-located device of claim 11 wherein the Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap is included in an association response, re-association response or probe response sent by the AP to the co-located device in response to the request (In another aspect of the method 600, the one or more management frames include a beacon, an association response frame, or a management action frame. In another aspect of the method 600, the one or more management frames include a bitmap indicating the preamble puncture pattern. The bitmap may be included in an information element. In another aspect of the method 600, the method 600 further includes transmitting a packet based on the preamble puncture pattern, the packet having an HE SU PPDU format or an HE MU PPDU format; see Verma par. 0099-0101, 0082, 0092). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Verma's arrangement in Ghosh's invention to provide techniques that allow for more flexibility in the implementation of preamble puncturing and avoid interference (see Verma par. 0003-0004).
For claim 15, the combination of Ghosh, Gupta and Aldana does not explicitly disclose The co-located device of claim 11 wherein the Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap is included in a PPDU transmitted from the AP to a station (STA) in the BSS and observed using the Wi-Fi radio. Verma discloses The co-located device of claim 11 wherein the Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap is included in a PPDU transmitted from the AP to a station (STA) in the BSS and observed using the Wi-Fi radio (The AP 105 may also announce through management frames the preamble puncture pattern. For example, the puncture pattern can be indicated as a bitmap of 7 bits, indicating the puncture status of each of the 7 non-primary 20 MHz channels in 160 MHz (note that the primary 20 MHz channel is not punctured so it need not be included in the bitmap). In another example, the puncture pattern granularity can be finer (e.g., 10 MHz), in which case one way of signaling is through a 14 bit bitmap. Finer granularity of puncture pattern provides flexibility in puncturing bandwidth efficiency. FIG. 5 shows the management frame 500, which may be a beacon, an association response frame, or a management action frame, for example. The management frame 500 may include a field or information element (IE) 505 in which the bitmap described above providing the puncture pattern information can be included. Other aspects associated with the approach of using management frames (e.g., management frame 500) to signal preamble puncturing include the behavior of a transmitter and a receiver in the signaling operation and the implication of clear channel assessment rules. The transmitter (e.g., AP 105) may use HE SU PPDU or HE MU PPDU format for transmission; see Verma par. 0085-0088). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Verma's arrangement in Ghosh's invention to provide techniques that allow for more flexibility in the implementation of preamble puncturing and avoid interference (see Verma par. 0003-0004).
For claim 17, Ghosh discloses The method of claim 16 wherein the Wi-Fi radio is operable to use an IEEE 802.11 packet-based protocol supporting preamble puncturing (Preamble puncturing is proposed in IEEE P802. 11ax™/D6.0 where an OFDMA frame avoids transmissions in certain subcarriers, thereby occupying non-contiguous sets of sub-carriers within a given channel bandwidth. Currently, preamble puncturing is proposed to be used only in PPDU transmissions over 80 MHz and 160 MHz channel BW in 5 GHz band; see Ghosh par. 0046, 0049), and
Ghosh does not explicitly disclose identifying the number of punctured sub-channels comprises using the Wi-Fi radio, transmitting a request to the AP to identify the number of punctured sub-channels using a Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap in a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) used in the BSS. Verma discloses identifying the number of punctured sub-channels comprises using the Wi-Fi radio, transmitting a request to the AP to identify the number of punctured sub-channels using a Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap in a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) used in the BSS (the one or more management frames include a bitmap indicating the preamble puncture pattern. The bitmap may be included in an information element. In another aspect of the method 600, the method 600 further includes transmitting a packet based on the preamble puncture pattern, the packet having an HE SU PPDU format or an HE MU PPDU format. In another aspect of the method 600, the one or more management frames indicate an operating bandwidth of the BSS. In another aspect of the method 600, the method 600 further includes identifying a change in the one or more bandwidth regions associated with incumbent technologies; and broadcasting, to the BSS initiated by the access point, a different preamble puncture pattern in one or more additional management frames, the different preamble puncture pattern being based on the change in the one or more bandwidth regions associated with incumbent technologies; see Verma par. 0096-0103). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Verma's arrangement in Ghosh's invention to provide techniques that allow for more flexibility in the implementation of preamble puncturing and avoid interference (see Verma par. 0003-0004).
For claim 18, the combination of Ghosh, Gupta and Aldana does not explicitly disclose The method of claim 17 wherein the request to the AP specifies one or more of a number sub-channels to be punctured, or a bandwidth for the LST. Verma discloses The method of claim 17 wherein the request to the AP specifies one or more of a number sub-channels to be punctured, or a bandwidth for the LST (At 610, the method 600 includes broadcasting, to a BSS initiated by the access point, a preamble puncture pattern in one or more management frames, the preamble puncture pattern being based on the one or more bandwidth regions associated with incumbent technologies. For example, one or more components (e.g., preamble puncture pattern broadcast component 1864) of the AP 105 may broadcast, to a BSS, a preamble puncture pattern in a management frame. In another aspect of the method 600, the method 600 further includes setting, for a packet to be transmitted, a bandwidth in an HE-SIG-A field of a preamble of the packet. In another aspect of the method 600, the method 600 further includes zeroing out one or more channels for transmission of the packet based on the preamble puncture pattern; see Verma par. 0096-0098). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Verma's arrangement in Ghosh's invention to provide techniques that allow for more flexibility in the implementation of preamble puncturing and avoid interference (see Verma par. 0003-0004).
For claim 19, the combination of Ghosh, Gupta and Aldana does not explicitly disclose The method of claim 17 wherein the Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap is included in an association response, re-association response or probe response sent by the AP to the co-located device in response to the request. Verma discloses The method of claim 17 wherein the Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap is included in an association response, re-association response or probe response sent by the AP to the co-located device in response to the request (In another aspect of the method 600, the one or more management frames include a beacon, an association response frame, or a management action frame. In another aspect of the method 600, the one or more management frames include a bitmap indicating the preamble puncture pattern. The bitmap may be included in an information element. In another aspect of the method 600, the method 600 further includes transmitting a packet based on the preamble puncture pattern, the packet having an HE SU PPDU format or an HE MU PPDU format; see Verma par. 0099-0101, 0082, 0092). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Verma's arrangement in Ghosh's invention to provide techniques that allow for more flexibility in the implementation of preamble puncturing and avoid interference (see Verma par. 0003-0004).
For claim 20, the combination of Ghosh, Gupta and Aldana does not explicitly disclose The method of claim 17 wherein identifying the number of punctured sub-channels comprises using the Wi-Fi radio to observe the Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap in a PPDU transmitted from the AP to a station (STA) in the BSS. Verma discloses The method of claim 17 wherein identifying the number of punctured sub-channels comprises using the Wi-Fi radio to observe the Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap in a PPDU transmitted from the AP to a station (STA) in the BSS (The AP 105 may also announce through management frames the preamble puncture pattern. For example, the puncture pattern can be indicated as a bitmap of 7 bits, indicating the puncture status of each of the 7 non-primary 20 MHz channels in 160 MHz (note that the primary 20 MHz channel is not punctured so it need not be included in the bitmap). In another example, the puncture pattern granularity can be finer (e.g., 10 MHz), in which case one way of signaling is through a 14 bit bitmap. Finer granularity of puncture pattern provides flexibility in puncturing bandwidth efficiency. FIG. 5 shows the management frame 500, which may be a beacon, an association response frame, or a management action frame, for example. The management frame 500 may include a field or information element (IE) 505 in which the bitmap described above providing the puncture pattern information can be included. Other aspects associated with the approach of using management frames (e.g., management frame 500) to signal preamble puncturing include the behavior of a transmitter and a receiver in the signaling operation and the implication of clear channel assessment rules. The transmitter (e.g., AP 105) may use HE SU PPDU or HE MU PPDU format for transmission; see Verma par. 0085-0088). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Verma's arrangement in Ghosh's invention to provide techniques that allow for more flexibility in the implementation of preamble puncturing and avoid interference (see Verma par. 0003-0004).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6 and 14 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: claims 6 and 14 would be allowable because the closest prior arts listed above either alone or in combination, fail to anticipate or render obvious, the claimed invention of “wherein identifying the number of punctured sub-channels comprises using the Wi-Fi radio to receive a beacon transmitted from an access point (AP) in the BSS to the co-located device, the beacon including a Punctured Sub-channel Bitmap in a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU)”, in combination with all other limitations in the claim(s) above as defined by applicant.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 CHAE S LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-8236. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30AM - 5:00PM.
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/CHAE S LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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