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
Applicant’s amendment filed on 01/28/2026 has been entered. Independent Claims 1, 10, and 11 have been amended. Dependent claims 2-9 and 12-17 have been amended. No claims have been cancelled. No claims are new and have been entered. Claims 1-17 are still pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments/amendments with respect to Claim Objections have been considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the Objections are withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed 01/28/2026 on pages 9 to 11, with respect to the rejection of Claims 1-17 under 35 USC § 112(b), have been fully considered and are persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-8 and 10-17, under 35 USC § 103, 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 specified challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 1-8 and 10-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chu (Pub. No.: US 20210227529 A1, hereafter “Chu”) in view of Chen (Pub. No.: US 20190289612 A1, hereafter “Chen”), further in view of Verma (Pub. No.: US 20190238301 A1, hereafter “Verma”).
Regarding Claim 1, Claim 10, and Claim 11
Chu teaches a method and station comprising
transmitting (Chu ¶0095: solicit the TB A-PPDU), by the receiving non-AP STA (Chu Fig. 1: 108), a Trigger Based Aggregated-Physical Protocol Data Unit (TB A-PPDU) (Chu ¶0095: TB A-PPDU) to the AP (Chu Fig. 1: 104; Cho teaches responding to a trigger frame a TB-A-PPDU in a 320 MHz mixed UL OFDMA), wherein the trigger frame (Chu Fig. 2: trigger frame) includes a common information field (Chu Fig. 2: 210, COMMON INFO), a special user information field (Chu Fig. 2: 212, USER INFO LIST, Chu ¶0057 further describes the specific User Info field can include a single Traffic Identifier), and first (Chu Fig. 2: 8 or more) and second bits (Chu Fig. 2: variable; Chu teaches a trigger frame containing a common info field and specific user information), wherein the common information field includes a first bandwidth field (Chu ¶0057: length and fields included in the Common Info field 210; Chu teaches the length of the field being variable), wherein the special user information field includes a second bandwidth field (Chu ¶0057: User Info List field 212 may be flexibly defined; Chu teaches the user information field can be a variable length), wherein the TB A-PPDU (Chu ¶0053: one trigger frame can be used to solicit multiple TB PPDUs) includes a High Efficiency (HE) TB PPDU (Chu ¶0053: HE TB PPDU) for a primary 160 MHz channel (Chu ¶0053: another requirement may be to solicit a TB PPDU whose bandwidth is more than 160 MHz) and an Extreme High Throughput (EHT) TB PPDU (Chu ¶0053: EHT TB PPDU) for a secondary 160 MHz channel (Chu ¶0075: RU allocation subfield option can indicate a primary 160 MHz channel and a secondary 160 MHz channel; Chu teaches that a trigger frame can be used to solicit multiple TB PPDUs including a HE TB PPDU, an EHT TB PPDU, and wherein the RU allocation option can indicate a primary 160 MHz channel and a secondary 160 MHz channel),
Chu does not explicitly teach
A method in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, the method comprising: receiving, by a non-access point station (non-AP STA), a trigger frame from an AP,
and wherein based on a value of the first bandwidth field being 2 and a value of the second bandwidth field being 0, the HE TB PPDU is transmitted through a primary 80 MHz channel within the primary 160 MHz channel, and the EHT TB PPDU is transmitted through a first 80 MHz channel within the secondary 160 MHz channel,
and wherein the second bit includes information on a location of the first 80 MHz channel
However, Chen teaches
A method in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system (Chen Fig. 1: 100), the method comprising: receiving (Chen ¶0195: HE TB feedback report), by a non-access point station (non-AP STA) (Chen Fig. 1: 106), a trigger frame (Chen ¶0195: non-AP STA sends the HE TB feedback response) from a transmitting STA (Chen ¶0073: functions of the AP, e.g., Fig. 1: 104, can be performed by one or more STAs; Chen teaches an STA receiving a HE TB feedback report, and generating a response from a device that could be an STA),
and wherein based on a value (Chen ¶0199: STF sequence for each) of the first bandwidth field being 2 (Chen ¶0199: RU_TONE_SET_INDEX values defined from 1 to 288, examiners note, selecting a value of 2 is a design choice) and a value of the second bandwidth field being 0 (Chen ¶0199: RU_TONE_SET_INDEX values defined from 1 to 288, examiners note, selecting a value of 0 is a design choice), the HE TB PPDU (Chen ¶0199: HE TB feedback sequences) is transmitted (Chen ¶0199: corresponding tone index range) through a primary 80 MHz channel (Chen ¶0199: 80+80 MHz) within the primary 160 MHz channel (Chen ¶0199: existing bandwidths, e.g. 160 MHz), and the EHT TB PPDU (Chen ¶0199: EHT TB feedback sequences) is transmitted through a first 80 MHz channel (Chen ¶0199: 80+80 MHz) within the secondary 160 MHz channel (Chen ¶0199: existing bandwidths, e.g. 160 MHz; Chen teaches a field containing a value for a plurality of TB PPDU sequences for defining a channel for communication for a broader 160 MHz channel and a multitude of smaller 80 MHz channels), and wherein the second bit (Chen ¶0198: RU_TONE_SET_INDEX) includes information on a location of the first 80 MHz channel (Chen ¶0198: corresponding tone index range; Chen teaches a variable showing the tone range).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Chu by way of Chen, to include an element that teaches an STA receiving a HE TB feedback report, and generating a response from a device that could be an STA, a field containing a value for a plurality of TB PPDU sequences for defining a channel for communication for a broader 160 MHz channel and a multitude of smaller 80 MHz channels, and a variable showing the tone range as taught by Chen in Fig. 1, ¶0073, ¶0198-¶0199, to improve communication systems in the event of an electrically noisy environment using a large bandwidth channel and requiring a need to restrict communication to reduced noise frequency environments.
Chu in view of Chen does not explicitly teach
wherein the first bit includes information indicating whether the TB A-PPDU is transmitted through a 320-1 MHz band or a 320-2 MHz band
wherein the first bit includes information indicating whether the TB A-PPDU is transmitted through is a 320-1 MHz band or a 320-2 MHz band, wherein the 320-1 MHz band relates to a 320 MHz band in which a primary 20 MHz channel is located within a lower 160MHz portion of the 320-1 MHz band is the primary 160 MHz channel, wherein the 320-2 MHz band relates to a 320 MHz band in which the primary 20 MHz channel is located within an upper 160 MHz portion of the 320-2 MHz band, and the upper 160 MHz portion of the 320-2 MHz band is the primary 160 MHz channel
However, Verma teaches
wherein the first bit includes information (Verma ¶0124: toggling bits that are unused, such as HE-SIG-B field) indicating whether the TB A-PPDU (Verma ¶0122-¶0124: HE MU PPDU) is transmitted through is a 320-1 MHz band (Verma ¶0122-¶0124: 320 MHz bandwidth) or a 320-2 MHz band (Verma ¶0122: a second high efficiency WLAN signaling field, e.g. a second mode of the default 320 MHz bandwidth; Verma teaches a bit being used to in a PPDU to show that a 320 MHz communication system have two different modes), wherein the 320-1 MHz band (Verma ¶0124: 320 MHz bandwidth availability) relates to a 320 MHz band (Verma ¶0122-¶0124: 320 MHz bandwidth) in which a primary 20 MHz channel (Verma ¶0123: 20MHz sub-channels) is located within (Verma ¶0123: bandwidth of 160 MHz including eight 20 MHz channels) a lower 160MHz portion (Verma ¶0124: primary 160 MHz) of the 320-1 MHz band (Verma ¶0122-¶0124: 320 MHz bandwidth), and the lower 160 MHz portion (Verma ¶0124: primary 160 MHz) of the 320-1 MHz band is the primary 160 MHz channel (Verma ¶0124: primary 160 MHz; Verma teaches the first mode for the 320 MHz containing a primary 160 MHz band and at least one20 MHz sub-channel), wherein the 320-2 MHz band (Verma ¶0122: a second high efficiency WLAN signaling field, e.g. a second mode of the default 320 MHz bandwidth) relates to a 320 MHz band (Verma ¶0122-¶0124: 320 MHz bandwidth) in which the primary 20 MHz channel (Verma ¶0123: secondary 160 MHz bandwidth may include eight additional 20 MHz channel) is located within an upper 160 MHz portion (Verma ¶0124: secondary 160 MHz) of the 320-2 MHz band (Verma ¶0122: a second high efficiency WLAN signaling field, e.g. a second mode of the default 320 MHz bandwidth), and the upper 160 MHz portion (Verma ¶0124: secondary 160 MHz) of the 320-2 MHz band is the primary 160 MHz channel (Verma ¶0124: may include scheduling information for the secondary 160 MHz; Verma teaches the second mode for the 320 MHz bandwidth containing a secondary 160 MHz bandwidth which includes 20 MHz sub-channels)
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Chu in view of Chen by way of Verma, to include an element that teaches a bit being used to in a PPDU to show that a 320 MHz communication system have two different modes, the first mode for the 320 MHz containing a primary 160 MHz band and at least one20 MHz sub-channel, and the second mode for the 320 MHz bandwidth containing a secondary 160 MHz bandwidth which includes 20 MHz sub-channels, as taught by Verma in ¶0122-¶0124, to improve communication systems by allowing more bursts of communication across a higher frequency across multiple different bandwidths with the added tolerance of additional sub-channels.
Claim 10 differs by the following limitation, which is also taught by the prior art, Chu teaches
A receiving station (STA) (Chu ¶0051: non-AP STA) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system (Chu ¶0051: at least one WLAN communications protocol), the receiving STA comprising: a memory (Chu ¶0098: methods may be stored on a computer usable storage medium); a transceiver (Chu ¶0051: transceiver); and a processor being operatively connected to the memory and the transceiver (Chu ¶0051: at least one controller connected to the transceiver; Chu teaches an STA using a WLAN protocol with memory, and a transceiver and processor coupled)
Regarding Claim 2 and Claim 12
Chu in view of Chen, further in view of Verma teaches the method and station as explained above in Claim 1. Chu further teaches
wherein based on the value of the first bandwidth field (Chu ¶0061: common info field) being 2 (Chu ¶0061: B55 to B62 value, examiners note, selecting a value of 2 is a design choice) and the value of the second bandwidth field (Chu ¶0061: common info field) being 0 (Chu ¶0061: B55 to B62 value, examiners note, selecting a value of 0 is a design choice), a secondary 80 MHz channel (Chu ¶0075: B1 to B8 may indicate a primary 80 MHz) within the primary 160 MHz channel is punctured (Chu ¶0061: punctured channel), a second 80 MHz channel excluding the first 80 MHz channel within the secondary 160 MHz channel is punctured, and the second 80 MHz channel is an 80 MHz channel excluding the first 80 MHz channel within the secondary 160 MHz channel (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim).
Regarding Claim 3 and Claim 13
Chu in view of Chen, further in view of Verma teaches the method and station as explained above in Claim 1. Chu further teaches
wherein based on the value of the first bandwidth field (Chu ¶0061: common info field) being 2 (Chu ¶0061: B55 to B62 value, examiners note, selecting a value of 2 is a design choice) and the value of the second bandwidth field (Chu ¶0061: common info field) being 1 (Chu ¶0061: B55 to B62 value, examiners note, selecting a value of 1 is a design choice), the HE TB PPDU (Chu ¶0061: common info subfield can indicate a TB PPDU type) is transmitted through the primary 80 MHz channel (Chu ¶0075: RU allocation subfield 80 MHz channel) within the primary 160 MHz channel (Chu ¶0075: primary 160 MHz channel), the EHT TB PPDU (Chu ¶0061: common info field can be used to solicit an EHT TB PPDU) is transmitted through the secondary 160 MHz channel (Chu ¶0075: secondary 160 MHz channel), and a secondary 80 MHz channel within the primary 160 MHz channel is punctured (Chu ¶0061: can solicit a dedicated PPDU for a punctured channel; Chu teaches a solicitation system including defining a primary and secondary 160 MHZ channel with a primary and secondary 80 MHz sub-channel including the ability to puncture a channel).
Regarding Claim 4 and Claim 14
Chu in view of Chen, further in view of Verma teaches the method and station as explained above in Claim 1. Chu further teaches
wherein based on the value of the first bandwidth field (Chu ¶0061: common info field) being 3 (Chu ¶0061: B55 to B62 value, examiners note, selecting a value of 2 is a design choice) and the value of the second bandwidth field being 0 (Chu ¶0061: B55 to B62 value, examiners note, selecting a value of 0 is a design choice), the HE TB PPDU is transmitted through the primary 160 MHz channel (Chu ¶0075: RU allocation subfield bit B0 can be used to indicate a primary 160 MHz channel), the EHT TB PPDU (Chu ¶0061: common info field can be used to solicit an EHT TB PPDU) is transmitted through the first 80 MHz channel (Chu ¶0075: RU allocation subfield bits B1-B8 can be used to indicate a primary 80 MHz channel) within the secondary 160 MHz channel (Chu ¶0075: RU allocation subfield can also indicate a secondary 160 MHz channel), a second 80 MHz channel (Chu ¶0075: secondary 80 MHz channel) within the secondary 160 MHz channel is punctured (Chu ¶0075: RU allocation to support a punctured RU; Chu teaches a common information field with different values, and an RU allocation subfield teaching a primary and secondary subchannel with the ability to puncture a subfield),
Chu does not explicitly teach
and the second 80 MHz channel is an 80 MHz channel excluding the first 80 MHz channel within the secondary 160 MHz channel.
However, Verma teaches
and the second 80 MHz channel (Verma ¶0123: primary 80 MHz channel) is an 80 MHz channel excluding the first 80 MHz channel (Verma ¶0123: secondary 80 MHz channel) within the secondary 160 MHz channel (Verma ¶0123: secondary 160 MHz channel; Verma teaches the secondary 160 MHz channel can contain an 80+80 MHz bandwidth operation mode).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Chu in view of Chen by way of Verma, to include an element that teaches the secondary 160 MHz channel can contain an 80+80 MHz bandwidth operation mode, as taught by Verma in ¶0123, to improve communication systems by allowing more bursts of communication across a higher frequency across multiple different bandwidths with the added tolerance of additional sub-channels.
Regarding Claim 5 and Claim 15
Chu in view of Chen, further in view of Verma teaches the method and station as explained above in Claim 1. Chu further teaches
wherein based on the value of the first bandwidth field (Chu ¶0061: common info field) being 3 (Chu ¶0061: B55 to B62 value, examiners note, selecting a value of 3 is a design choice) and the value of the second bandwidth field (Chu ¶0061: common info field) being 1 (Chu ¶0061: B55 to B62 value, examiners note, selecting a value of 1 is a design choice), the HE TB PPDU (Chu ¶0061: common info field can be used to solicit an EHT TB PPDU) is transmitted through the primary 160 MHz channel (Chu ¶0061: Chu ¶0053: another requirement may be to solicit a TB PPDU whose bandwidth is more than 160 MHz), and the EHT TB PPDU (Chu ¶0061: common info field can be used to solicit an EHT TB PPDU) is transmitted through the secondary 160 MHz channel (Chu ¶0061: Chu ¶0075: RU allocation subfield option can indicate a primary 160 MHz channel and a secondary 160 MHz channel; Chu teaches a common information field with different values, and using that EHT TB PPDU to transmit information for the primary and secondary 160 MHz channels).
Regarding Claim 6 and Claim 16
Chu in view of Chen, further in view of Verma teaches the method and station as explained above in Claim 1. Chu further teaches
wherein based on the value of the first bandwidth field (Chu ¶0061: common info field) being 3 (Chu ¶0061: B55 to B62 value, examiners note, selecting a value of 3 is a design choice) and the value of the second bandwidth field (Chu ¶0061: common info field) being 2 (Chu ¶0061: B55 to B62 value, examiners note, selecting a value of 2 is a design choice), the HE TB PPDU (Chu ¶0061: common info field can indicate the TB PPDU) is transmitted through the primary 160 MHz channel (Chu ¶0061: additional bandwidth indication, e.g. 160 MHz channels), the EHT TB PPDU (Chu ¶0061: common info field can be used to solicit an EHT TB PPDU) is transmitted through the secondary 160 MHz channel (Chu ¶0061: additional bandwidth indication, e.g. 160 MHz channels; Chu teaches a field used to determine a HE TB PPDU location and a bandwidth indication, and an EHT TB PPDU location and a bandwidth indication),
However, Verma teaches
and the TB A-PPDU is transmitted through the 320-1 MHz band (Verma ¶0122-¶0124: HE MU PPDU; Verma teaches transmitting a PPDU through the band).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Chu in view of Chen by way of Verma, to include an element that teaches transmitting a PPDU through the band, as taught by Verma in ¶0122-¶0124, to improve communication systems by allowing more bursts of communication across a higher frequency across multiple different bandwidths with the added tolerance of additional sub-channels.
Regarding Claim 7 and Claim 17
Chu in view of Chen, further in view of Verma teaches the method and station as explained above in Claim 1. Chu further teaches
wherein based on the value of the first bandwidth field (Chu ¶0061: common info field) being 3 (Chu ¶0061: B55 to B62 value, examiners note, selecting a value of 3 is a design choice) and the value of the second bandwidth field (Chu ¶0061: common info field) being 3 (Chu ¶0061: B55 to B62 value, examiners note, selecting a value of 3 is a design choice), the HE TB PPDU is transmitted through the primary 160 MHz channel, the EHT TB PPDU (Chu ¶0061: common info field can be used to solicit an EHT TB PPDU) is transmitted through the secondary 160 MHz channel (Chu ¶0061: additional bandwidth indication, e.g. 160 MHz channels; Chu teaches a field used to determine a HE TB PPDU location and a bandwidth indication, and an EHT TB PPDU location and a bandwidth indication),
However, Verma teaches
and the TB A-PPDU is transmitted through the 320-2 MHz band (Verma ¶0122-¶0124: HE MU PPDU; Verma teaches transmitting a PPDU through the band).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Chu in view of Chen by way of Verma, to include an element that teaches transmitting a PPDU through the band, as taught by Verma in ¶0122-¶0124, to improve communication systems by allowing more bursts of communication across a higher frequency across multiple different bandwidths with the added tolerance of additional sub-channels.
Regarding Claim 8
Chu in view of Chen, further in view of Verma teaches the method and station as explained above in Claim 1. Chu further teaches
wherein the common information field (Chu ¶0068: User Info Field includes an RU Allocation subfield) includes a HE/EHT P160 subfield (Chu ¶0075: RU allocation includes a P160 subfield) and a Special User Info Field Present subfield (Chu ¶0068: User Info Field), wherein a value of the HE/EHT P160 subfield is set to 1 (Chu ¶0075: B0 bit value, examiners note, selecting a value of 1 is a design choice), and a value of the Special User Information Field Presence subfield is set to 0 (Chu ¶0075: reserved bit B39, examiners note, selecting a value of 1 is a design choice; Chu teaches a user information field containing an RU allocation subfield that has a P160 subfield, and a User Info Field wherein they have two values).
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chu (Pub. No.: US 20210227529 A1, hereafter “Chu”) in view of Chen (Pub. No.: US 20190289612 A1, hereafter “Chen”), further in view of Verma (Pub. No.: US 20190238301 A1, hereafter “Verma”), and even further in view of Asterjadhi (Pub. No.: US 20160242070 A1, hereafter “Asterjadhi”).
Regarding Claim 9
Chu in view of Chen, further in view of Verma teaches the method and station as explained above in Claim 1. Chu in view of Chen, further in view of Verma does not explicitly teach
wherein the first and second bits are included in bits in an UpLink (UL) HE-SIG-A Reserved subfield in the common information field or reserved bits in the special user information field.
However, Asterjadhi teaches
wherein the first and second bits are included in bits (Asterjadhi ¶0096: bits) in an UpLink (UL) HE-SIG-A Reserved subfield (Asterjadhi ¶0096: HE-SIG-A Info field) in the common information field (Asterjadhi ¶0096: Common Info Field) or reserved bits in the special user information field (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim; Asterjadhi teaches a HE-SIG-A info field with multiple bits in the Common Info Field).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Chu in view of Chen, further in view of Verma, by way of Asterjadhi, to include an element that teaches a HE-SIG-A info field with multiple bits in the Common Info Field, as taught by Asterjadhi in ¶0096, to reduce the number of collisions in dense network environments by improving the reliability of devices in the dense environments and reducing the cost of switching from uplink to downlink communication for multiple communication bursts and improve communication by combining more elements together.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/JUSTIN MICHAEL WHITAKER/Examiner, Art Unit 2415
/Sudesh M. Patidar/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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