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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on January 3, 2025 and November 15, 2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on December 14, 2023. These drawings are acceptable.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 10-13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on April 17, 2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 4, and 17 recites the limitation “the information related to the at least the part of the data” in line 1.
Claims 5, and 18 recites the limitation “sending the information related to the at least the part of the data” in line 4.
Claims 6, and 19 recites the limitation “sending the information related to the at least the part of the data” in line 2.
There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-9, and 14-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ryu et al. (hereinafter “Ryu”, US 2016/0380727).
Regarding claims 1 and 14, Ryu discloses a data retransmission method for a first electronic device, and a first electronic device (i.e., Source or AP as shown in Fig. 10 and as described in paragraph 0118), comprising:
sending a data frame to a second electronic device (i.e., the Source/AP transmits data frame 1020 to Destination/STA as shown in Fig. 10 and as described in paragraph 0120) and receiving an acknowledgement frame from the second electronic device within a transmission opportunity (TXOP) duration (i.e., the AP receives the block ACK frame 1030 from the STA within the TXOP as described in paragraphs 0065, and 0122-0123. The TXOP for the A-MPDU format retransmission data frame 1040 and a block ACK 1050 for the A-MPDU format retransmission data frame is acquired based on the duration field of the retransmission request block ACK 1030 as described in paragraphs 0131-0132), wherein the acknowledgement frame comprises first acknowledgement information (i.e., the block ACK frame 1030 indicating some MPDUs which are unsuccessfully decoded as described in paragraphs 0122-0123); and
when the first acknowledgement information indicates that at least a part of the data in the data frame needs to be retransmitted (i.e., the block ACK 1030 indicates a retransmission request frame as described in paragraphs 0124-0125) and indicates a retransmission period required to complete the retransmission (i.e., the retransmission request block ACK 1030 includes a duration field for the retransmission of data frame 1020 as described in paragraphs 0131-0132), retransmitting information related to the at least the part of the data to the second electronic device in the retransmission period (i.e., the block ACK 1030 is used to indicate a retransmission request for the unsuccessfully decoded as described in paragraphs 0123-0126).
With further regard to claim 14, the first electronic device (i.e., Source/AP 1400 as shown in Fig. 14), comprising: a memory (i.e., memory 1420) and one or more processors (i.e., processor 1410), wherein the memory is configured to store instruction for execution by the one or more processors (i.e., software stored in memory as described in paragraph 0180).
Regarding claims 2 and 15, Ryu discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Ryu also discloses wherein the transmission opportunity duration is adjacent to the retransmission period (i.e., a block ACK mechanism is introduced to simultaneously make a response to a plurality of frames at the receiving side at the time of transmitting the plurality of frames during a TXOP period by obtaining a transmission opportunity in IEEE 802.11e as described in paragraph 0065. In other words, the TXOP (i.e., transmission of data frame 1020 and the block ACK 1030) is adjacent to the retransmission data frame 1040 as shown in Fig. 10).
Regarding claims 3 and 16, Ryu discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Ryu also discloses wherein the transmission opportunity duration ends when the first electronic device completes receiving the first acknowledgement information from the second electronic device (i.e., when the retransmission request block ACK 1030 is received at the Source/AP as shown in Fig. 10), and the retransmission period starts when the first electronic device receives the first acknowledgement information from the second electronic device (i.e., when the retransmission request block ACK 1030 is received at the Source/AP as shown in Fig. 10 and as described in paragraph 0065).
Regarding claims 4 and 17, Ryu discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Ryu also discloses wherein the information related to the at least the part of the data comprises at least the at least the part of the data or a redundancy version of the at least the part of the data (i.e., the block ACK 1030 is used to indicate the retransmission of MPDU#2 and MPDU#4 as described in paragraphs 0122-0124, and 0131-0132).
Regarding claims 5 and 18, Ryu discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Ryu also discloses wherein the retransmitting information related to the at least the part of the data to the second electronic device in the retransmission period comprises:
sending the information related to the at least the part of the data to the second electronic device following a start moment of the retransmission period and after at least one interframe space (i.e., the retransmission data frame 1040, and the SIFS as shown in Fig. 10).
Regarding claims 6 and 19, Ryu discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Ryu also discloses wherein the retransmission period comprises:
a duration required for the first electronic device to send information related to the at least the part of the data to the second electronic device (i.e., a time resource for the data frame 1020 to be transmitted from the Source/AP to the Destination/STA as shown in Fig. 10, and as described in paragraphs 0119-0122);
a duration required for the second electronic device to send second acknowledgement information to the first electronic device based on the information that is related to the at least the part of the data from the first electronic device (i.e., a duration for the block ACK 1030 to be transmitted to the AP acknowledging of the received message as described in paragraphs 0124-0126); and
at least two interframe spaces (i.e., 2 SIFS periods before and after the block ACK 1030 as shown in Fig. 10).
Regarding claims 7 and 20, Ryu discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Ryu also discloses wherein the first acknowledgement information is comprised in a first block acknowledgement (BA) frame that complies with the IEEE 802.11 standard (i.e., the block ACK 1030 as shown in Fig. 10).
Regarding claim 8, Ryu discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Ryu also discloses wherein the retransmission period is comprised in a duration field of the first block acknowledgement frame (i.e., a duration field is part of the block ACK 1030 as described in paragraphs 0131-0132).
Regarding claim 9, Ryu discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Ryu also discloses wherein the first block acknowledgement frame comprises indication information used to specify the at least the part of the data, or indication information used to specify the redundancy version (RV) of the at least the part of the data (i.e. the block ACK 1030 is used to indicate the retransmission of MPDU#2 and MPDU#4 as described in paragraphs 0122-0124, and 0131-0132).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WAYNE CAI whose telephone number is (571)272-7798. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday, 7:00 AM-5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, KATHY WANG-HURST can be reached on (571)270-5371. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Wayne H Cai/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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