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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Applicants' communication filed on 12/1/2023. In virtue of this communication, claims 1-17 are currently presented in the instant application.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 10, 11 are objected to because of the following informalities: because claims cited “U-SIG”, “AID12” and “PS160” these labels used without prior defined. Appropriate correction is required.
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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Application Publication 20250048428 (hereinafter referred to as Lou) in view of US Patent Application Publication 20210288768 (hereinafter referred to as Yang).
Consider claim 1, Lou discloses a method in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system (see at least ¶ [0028], “…the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN)…”), the method comprising:
receiving, by a receiving station (STA), a trigger frame from a transmitting STA (see at least ¶ [0047], “…triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c…” and see at least ¶ [0077], “…A trigger frame may be used to allocate resources and trigger single or multi-user access…”); and
receiving, by the receiving STA, a Downlink Aggregated-Physical Protocol Data Unit (DL A-PPDU) triggered based on the trigger frame from the transmitting STA (see at least ¶ [0047], “…triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c…” and see at least ¶ [0089], “…trigger frame design may need to be modified to signal the allocation from the AP for these enhanced features and to signal the new fields of U-SIG of the TB-PPDU. EHT-TB-PPDU may be used for the RU allocation in a trigger frame. Furthermore, EHT may define frequency domain aggregation of aggregated PPDUs…”) and,
wherein the DL A-PPDU includes a High Efficiency (HE) PPDU for a primary 160 MHz channel and an Extreme High Throughput (EHT) PPDU for a secondary 160 MHz channel (see at least ¶ [0055], “…Very High Throughput (VHT) STAs may support …160 MHz wide channels…” and see at least ¶ [0078], “…control information subfield in a triggered response scheduling (TRS) control subfield in A-control subfield of the HE variant HT control field may contain triggered response scheduling (TRS) information for soliciting an EHT TB PPDU that follows an EHT MU PPDU carrying the control subfield…” and see at least ¶ [0089], “…EHT may define frequency domain aggregation of aggregated PPDUs. Aggregated PPDU may comprise multiple PPDUs. The PPDU format combination may limit to EHT and HE. Other combinations may be possible. For the PPDU using HE format, the PPDU BW may be determined. The number of PPDUs may be determined…”),
wherein the trigger frame may include a common information field, a HE variant user information field, and an EHT variant user information field (see at least ¶ [0078], “…the control information subfield in a triggered response scheduling (TRS) control subfield in A-control subfield of the HE variant HT control field may contain triggered response scheduling (TRS) information for soliciting an EHT TB PPDU that follows an EHT MU PPDU carrying the control subfield…” and see at least ¶ [0089], “…EHT may define frequency domain aggregation of aggregated PPDUs. Aggregated PPDU may comprise multiple PPDUs. The PPDU format combination may limit to EHT and HE. Other combinations may be possible. For the PPDU using HE format, the PPDU BW may be determined. The number of PPDUs may be determined…”),
wherein the common information field includes a trigger type subfield, a Downlink Bandwidth (DL BW) subfield, a DL BW Extension subfield, and a first reserved subfield (see at least ¶ [0089], “…EHT supports greater BW, multiple RU allocation, enhanced MCS and greater number of spatial streams. trigger frame design may need to be modified to signal the allocation from the AP for these enhanced features and to signal the new fields of U-SIG of the TB-PPDU. EHT-TB-PPDU may be used for the RU allocation in a trigger frame…” and see at least ¶ [0156], “…the effective bandwidth may refer to the effective bandwidth used by a type of TB PPDU. For example, the AP may acquire 320 MHz channel, and allocate the primary 160 MHz for HE TB PPDU transmissions and the secondary 160 MHz for EHT TB PPDU transmissions…”),
wherein the second U-SIG field includes a Validate field (see at least ¶ [0159], “…the U-SIG field of EHT TB PPDU for R1 and R2 may carry different subfields…”), and
wherein the HE variant user information field includes a first AID12 subfield, a first Resource Unit (RU) allocation subfield, and a second reserved subfield (see at least ¶ [0081], “…The user information field may include an AID12 subfield 402, RU allocation subfield 404…”),
wherein the EHT variant user information field includes a second AID12 subfield, a second RU allocation subfield, and a PS160 subfield (see at least ¶ [0159], “…the intended receivers of the Trigger frame may need to know the TB PPDU format to respond. Together with existing HE/EHT P160 subfield in common information field and PS160 subfield in User information field of Trigger frame…”), and
wherein a bit position of the second reserved subfield in the HE variant user information field is the same as a bit position of the PS160 subfield in the EHT variant user information field (see at least ¶ [0086], “…The user information field may include a starting AID subfield 602, reserved subfield 604, feedback type subfield 606, reserved subfield 608, UL target receive power subfield 610, and multiplexing flag subfield 612. The starting AID subfield may be 12 bits. The reserved subfield 604 may be 9 bits. The feedback type subfield 606 may be 4 bits. The reserved subfield 608 may be 7 bits. The UL target receive power subfield may be 7 bits. The multiplexing flag subfield 612 may be 1 bit…” and see at least ¶ [0159], “…An AP may need to know the capability of each intended STA before it transmits Trigger frame to the STA. Base on the STA capability, the AP may set the HE/EHT P160 subfield, PS160 subfield and R1/R2 subfield…”).
Lou disclose all the subject matters of the claimed invention concept and U-SIG field. However, Lou does not particularly disclose includes a Validate field. In an analogous field of endeavor, attention is directed to Yang, which teaches includes a Validate field (see Yang, at least ¶ [0080], “…EHT-SIG 368 may further include a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) (for example, four bits) and a tail (for example, 6 bits) that may be used for binary convolutional code (BCC). In some implementations, EHT-SIG 368 may include one or more code blocks that each include a CRC and a tail…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious a finding that one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention could have combined the elements as claimed by the know method, and that in combination. Each element merely performs the same function as it does separately; Lou disclosed invention, and have a Validate field, as taught by Yang, thereby, to provide a wireless local area network (WLAN) may be formed by one or more access points (APs) that provide a shared wireless communication medium for use by a number of client devices also referred to as stations (STAs), as discussed by Yang, (see at least ¶ [0003]).
Consider claim 10, Lou discloses a receiving station (STA) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system (see at least ¶ [0028], “…the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN)…”), the receiving STA comprising:
a memory (see at least ¶ [0032], “…non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132…”);
a transceiver (see at least ¶ [0032], “…transceiver 120…”); and
a processor being operatively connected to the memory and the transceiver (see at least ¶ [0033], “…The processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120, which may be coupled to the transmit/receive element 122…”), wherein the processor is configured to:
receive a trigger frame from a transmitting STA (see at least ¶ [0047], “…triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c…” and see at least ¶ [0077], “…A trigger frame may be used to allocate resources and trigger single or multi-user access…”); and
receive a Downlink Aggregated-Physical Protocol Data Unit (DL A-PPDU) triggered based on the trigger frame from the transmitting STA (see at least ¶ [0047], “…triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c…” and see at least ¶ [0089], “…trigger frame design may need to be modified to signal the allocation from the AP for these enhanced features and to signal the new fields of U-SIG of the TB-PPDU. EHT-TB-PPDU may be used for the RU allocation in a trigger frame. Furthermore, EHT may define frequency domain aggregation of aggregated PPDUs…”),
wherein the DL A-PPDU includes a High Efficiency (HE) PPDU for a primary 160 MHz channel and an Extreme High Throughput (EHT) PPDU for a secondary 160 MHz channel (see at least ¶ [0055], “…Very High Throughput (VHT) STAs may support …160 MHz wide channels…” and see at least ¶ [0078], “…control information subfield in a triggered response scheduling (TRS) control subfield in A-control subfield of the HE variant HT control field may contain triggered response scheduling (TRS) information for soliciting an EHT TB PPDU that follows an EHT MU PPDU carrying the control subfield…” and see at least ¶ [0089], “…EHT may define frequency domain aggregation of aggregated PPDUs. Aggregated PPDU may comprise multiple PPDUs. The PPDU format combination may limit to EHT and HE. Other combinations may be possible. For the PPDU using HE format, the PPDU BW may be determined. The number of PPDUs may be determined…”),
wherein the trigger frame may include a common information field, a HE variant user information field, and an EHT variant user information field (see at least ¶ [0078], “…the control information subfield in a triggered response scheduling (TRS) control subfield in A-control subfield of the HE variant HT control field may contain triggered response scheduling (TRS) information for soliciting an EHT TB PPDU that follows an EHT MU PPDU carrying the control subfield…” and see at least ¶ [0089], “…EHT may define frequency domain aggregation of aggregated PPDUs. Aggregated PPDU may comprise multiple PPDUs. The PPDU format combination may limit to EHT and HE. Other combinations may be possible. For the PPDU using HE format, the PPDU BW may be determined. The number of PPDUs may be determined…”),
wherein the common information field includes a trigger type subfield, a Downlink Bandwidth (DL BW) subfield, a DL BW Extension subfield, and a first reserved subfield (see at least ¶ [0089], “…EHT supports greater BW, multiple RU allocation, enhanced MCS and greater number of spatial streams. trigger frame design may need to be modified to signal the allocation from the AP for these enhanced features and to signal the new fields of U-SIG of the TB-PPDU. EHT-TB-PPDU may be used for the RU allocation in a trigger frame…” and see at least ¶ [0156], “…the effective bandwidth may refer to the effective bandwidth used by a type of TB PPDU. For example, the AP may acquire 320 MHz channel, and allocate the primary 160 MHz for HE TB PPDU transmissions and the secondary 160 MHz for EHT TB PPDU transmissions…”),
wherein the second U-SIG field includes a Validate field (see at least ¶ [0159], “…the U-SIG field of EHT TB PPDU for R1 and R2 may carry different subfields…”), and
wherein the HE variant user information field includes a first AID12 subfield, a first Resource Unit (RU) allocation subfield, and a second reserved subfield (see at least ¶ [0081], “…The user information field may include an AID12 subfield 402, RU allocation subfield 404…”),
wherein the EHT variant user information field includes a second AID12 subfield, a second RU allocation subfield, and a PS160 subfield (see at least ¶ [0159], “…the intended receivers of the Trigger frame may need to know the TB PPDU format to respond. Together with existing HE/EHT P160 subfield in common information field and PS160 subfield in User information field of Trigger frame…”), and
wherein a bit position of the second reserved subfield in the HE variant user information field is the same as a bit position of the PS160 subfield in the EHT variant user information field (see at least ¶ [0086], “…The user information field may include a starting AID subfield 602, reserved subfield 604, feedback type subfield 606, reserved subfield 608, UL target receive power subfield 610, and multiplexing flag subfield 612. The starting AID subfield may be 12 bits. The reserved subfield 604 may be 9 bits. The feedback type subfield 606 may be 4 bits. The reserved subfield 608 may be 7 bits. The UL target receive power subfield may be 7 bits. The multiplexing flag subfield 612 may be 1 bit…” and see at least ¶ [0159], “…An AP may need to know the capability of each intended STA before it transmits Trigger frame to the STA. Base on the STA capability, the AP may set the HE/EHT P160 subfield, PS160 subfield and R1/R2 subfield…”).
Lou disclose all the subject matters of the claimed invention concept and U-SIG field. However, Lou does not particularly disclose includes a Validate field. In an analogous field of endeavor, attention is directed to Yang, which teaches includes a Validate field (see Yang, at least ¶ [0080], “…EHT-SIG 368 may further include a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) (for example, four bits) and a tail (for example, 6 bits) that may be used for binary convolutional code (BCC). In some implementations, EHT-SIG 368 may include one or more code blocks that each include a CRC and a tail…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious a finding that one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention could have combined the elements as claimed by the know method, and that in combination. Each element merely performs the same function as it does separately; Lou disclosed invention, and have a Validate field, as taught by Yang, thereby, to provide a wireless local area network (WLAN) may be formed by one or more access points (APs) that provide a shared wireless communication medium for use by a number of client devices also referred to as stations (STAs), as discussed by Yang, (see at least ¶ [0003]).
Consider claim 11, Lou discloses a method in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system (see at least ¶ [0028], “…the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN)…”), the method comprising:
transmitting, by a transmitting station (STA), a trigger frame to a receiving STA (see at least ¶ [0047], “…triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c…” and see at least ¶ [0077], “…A trigger frame may be used to allocate resources and trigger single or multi-user access…”); and
transmitting, by the transmitting STA, a Downlink Aggregated-Physical Protocol Data Unit (DL A-PPDU) triggered based on the trigger frame to the receiving STA (see at least ¶ [0047], “…triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c…” and see at least ¶ [0089], “…trigger frame design may need to be modified to signal the allocation from the AP for these enhanced features and to signal the new fields of U-SIG of the TB-PPDU. EHT-TB-PPDU may be used for the RU allocation in a trigger frame. Furthermore, EHT may define frequency domain aggregation of aggregated PPDUs…”),,
wherein the DL A-PPDU includes a High Efficiency (HE) PPDU for a primary 160 MHz channel and an Extreme High Throughput (EHT) PPDU for a secondary 160 MHz channel (see at least ¶ [0055], “…Very High Throughput (VHT) STAs may support …160 MHz wide channels…” and see at least ¶ [0078], “…control information subfield in a triggered response scheduling (TRS) control subfield in A-control subfield of the HE variant HT control field may contain triggered response scheduling (TRS) information for soliciting an EHT TB PPDU that follows an EHT MU PPDU carrying the control subfield…” and see at least ¶ [0089], “…EHT may define frequency domain aggregation of aggregated PPDUs. Aggregated PPDU may comprise multiple PPDUs. The PPDU format combination may limit to EHT and HE. Other combinations may be possible. For the PPDU using HE format, the PPDU BW may be determined. The number of PPDUs may be determined…”),
wherein the trigger frame may include a common information field, a HE variant user information field, and an EHT variant user information field (see at least ¶ [0078], “…the control information subfield in a triggered response scheduling (TRS) control subfield in A-control subfield of the HE variant HT control field may contain triggered response scheduling (TRS) information for soliciting an EHT TB PPDU that follows an EHT MU PPDU carrying the control subfield…” and see at least ¶ [0089], “…EHT may define frequency domain aggregation of aggregated PPDUs. Aggregated PPDU may comprise multiple PPDUs. The PPDU format combination may limit to EHT and HE. Other combinations may be possible. For the PPDU using HE format, the PPDU BW may be determined. The number of PPDUs may be determined…”),
wherein the common information field includes a trigger type subfield, a Downlink Bandwidth (DL BW) subfield, a DL BW Extension subfield, and a first reserved subfield (see at least ¶ [0089], “…EHT supports greater BW, multiple RU allocation, enhanced MCS and greater number of spatial streams. trigger frame design may need to be modified to signal the allocation from the AP for these enhanced features and to signal the new fields of U-SIG of the TB-PPDU. EHT-TB-PPDU may be used for the RU allocation in a trigger frame…” and see at least ¶ [0156], “…the effective bandwidth may refer to the effective bandwidth used by a type of TB PPDU. For example, the AP may acquire 320 MHz channel, and allocate the primary 160 MHz for HE TB PPDU transmissions and the secondary 160 MHz for EHT TB PPDU transmissions…”),
wherein the second U-SIG field includes a Validate field (see at least ¶ [0159], “…the U-SIG field of EHT TB PPDU for R1 and R2 may carry different subfields…”), and
wherein the HE variant user information field includes a first AID12 subfield, a first Resource Unit (RU) allocation subfield, and a second reserved subfield (see at least ¶ [0081], “…The user information field may include an AID12 subfield 402, RU allocation subfield 404…”),
wherein the EHT variant user information field includes a second AID12 subfield, a second RU allocation subfield, and a PS160 subfield (see at least ¶ [0159], “…the intended receivers of the Trigger frame may need to know the TB PPDU format to respond. Together with existing HE/EHT P160 subfield in common information field and PS160 subfield in User information field of Trigger frame…”), and
wherein a bit position of the second reserved subfield in the HE variant user information field is the same as a bit position of the PS160 subfield in the EHT variant user information field (see at least ¶ [0086], “…The user information field may include a starting AID subfield 602, reserved subfield 604, feedback type subfield 606, reserved subfield 608, UL target receive power subfield 610, and multiplexing flag subfield 612. The starting AID subfield may be 12 bits. The reserved subfield 604 may be 9 bits. The feedback type subfield 606 may be 4 bits. The reserved subfield 608 may be 7 bits. The UL target receive power subfield may be 7 bits. The multiplexing flag subfield 612 may be 1 bit…” and see at least ¶ [0159], “…An AP may need to know the capability of each intended STA before it transmits Trigger frame to the STA. Base on the STA capability, the AP may set the HE/EHT P160 subfield, PS160 subfield and R1/R2 subfield…”).
Lou disclose all the subject matters of the claimed invention concept and U-SIG field. However, Lou does not particularly disclose includes a Validate field. In an analogous field of endeavor, attention is directed to Yang, which teaches includes a Validate field (see Yang, at least ¶ [0080], “…EHT-SIG 368 may further include a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) (for example, four bits) and a tail (for example, 6 bits) that may be used for binary convolutional code (BCC). In some implementations, EHT-SIG 368 may include one or more code blocks that each include a CRC and a tail…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious a finding that one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention could have combined the elements as claimed by the know method, and that in combination. Each element merely performs the same function as it does separately; Lou disclosed invention, and have a Validate field, as taught by Yang, thereby, to provide a wireless local area network (WLAN) may be formed by one or more access points (APs) that provide a shared wireless communication medium for use by a number of client devices also referred to as stations (STAs), as discussed by Yang, (see at least ¶ [0003]).
Consider claims 2, 12 (depends on at least claims 1, 11), Lou in view of Yang discloses the limitations of claims 1, 11 as applied to claim rejection 1, 11 above and further discloses:
Lou teaches wherein the trigger type subfield may include information on a type of the trigger frame, wherein when a value of the trigger type subfield is 8, the trigger frame is set to a type that triggers the DL A-PPDU (see at least ¶ [0060], “…the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement carrier aggregation technology. For example, the gNB 180a may transmit multiple component carriers to the WTRU 102a…” and see at least ¶ [0081], “…The RU allocation subfield 404 may be 8…” and see at least ¶ [0090], “…trigger frame for aggregated-physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (A-PPDU) …”).
Consider claims 3, 13 (depends on at least claims 1, 11), Lou in view of Yang discloses the limitations of claims 1, 11 as applied to claim rejection 1, 11 above and further discloses:
Lou teaches wherein values of the first and second AID12 subfields are set to 0, 2007, 2045, or 2046 or are reserved (see at least ¶ [0160], “…R1/R2 subfield may be set to a non-reserved value, a 11be R2 capable STA may expect the presence of the R2 related special User information field, and/or reserved bits in R1 may have meaning in R2. In one embodiment, the R1/R2 bit may be carried in the first special User information field with AID=2007…”).
Consider claims 4, 14 (depends on at least claims 1, 11), Lou in view of Yang discloses the limitations of claims 1, 11 as applied to claim rejection 1, 11 above and further discloses:
Lou teaches wherein the DL BW subfield includes information on a bandwidth of the HE PPDU, wherein the DL BW Extension subfield includes information on a bandwidth of the EHT PPDU (see at least ¶ [0047], “…triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, managing…” and see at least ¶ [0066], “…controlling policy enforcement and QoS, providing DL data notifications, and the like. A PDU session type may be IP-based, non-IP based, Ethernet-based, and the like…” and see at least ¶ [0089], “…EHT supports greater BW, multiple RU allocation, enhanced MCS and greater number of spatial streams. trigger frame design may need to be modified to signal the allocation from the AP for these enhanced features and to signal the new fields of U-SIG of the TB-PPDU. EHT-TB-PPDU may be used for the RU allocation in a trigger frame. Furthermore, EHT may define frequency domain aggregation of aggregated PPDUs. Aggregated PPDU may comprise multiple PPDUs. The PPDU format combination may limit to EHT and HE. Other combinations may be possible. For the PPDU using HE format, the PPDU BW may be determined. The number of PPDUs may be determined. A-PPDU may be an R2 feature…”).
Consider claims 5, 15 (depends on at least claims 1, 11), Lou in view of Yang discloses the limitations of claims 1, 11 as applied to claim rejection 1, 11 above and further discloses:
Lou teaches wherein the first RU allocation subfield includes allocation information for a first RU defined in the HE wireless LAN system in the primary 160 MHz channel based on the DL BW subfield, wherein the first RU allocation subfield consists of first to eighth bits, wherein the primary 160 MHz channel includes a primary 80 MHz channel and a secondary 80 MHz channel, wherein the first bit indicates whether the first RU allocation subfield is allocation information for the first RU in the primary 80 MHz channel or allocation information for the first RU in the secondary 80 MHz channel, wherein the second to eighth bits indicate a size and location of the first RU in the primary 80 MHz channel or the secondary 80 MHz channel (see at least ¶ [0083], “…A resource unit (RU) allocation subfield in a user information field may indicate whether the CTS frame is transmitted on the primary…160 MHz channel, or 80+80 MHz channel…” and see at least ¶ [0113], “…the RU allocation subfield may be modified to support CTS transmissions on primary 160 MHz …the primary 80 MHz channel is the second lowest frequency 80 MHz channel in the primary 160 MHz channel…”).
Consider claims 6, 16 (depends on at least claims 1, 11), Lou in view of Yang discloses the limitations of claims 1, 11 as applied to claim rejection 1, 11 above and further discloses:
Lou teaches wherein when the bandwidth of the HE PPDU is 20 MHz, 40 MHz, or 80 MHz, the first bit is always set to 0, wherein when the bandwidth of the HE PPDU is 80+80 MHz or 160 MHz and the first RU allocation subfield is the allocation information for the first RU in the primary 80 MHz channel, the first bit is set to 0, wherein when the bandwidth of the HE PPDU is 80+80 MHz or 160 MHz and the first RU allocation subfield is the allocation information for the first RU in the secondary 80 MHz channel, the first bit is set to 1 (see at least ¶ [0112], “…an RU allocation subfield in user information field of Trigger frame may indicate …primary 80 MHz channel, 160 MHz channel, or 80+80 MHz channel.…” and see at least ¶ [0174], “…the effective bandwidth of each 80 MHz subblock BWj may be read from the table by mapping the 2-bits to the corresponding effective bandwidth…” and see Table 10 where bitmap 11, 80Mhz).
Consider claims 7, 17 (depends on at least claims 1, 11), Lou in view of Yang discloses the limitations of claims 1, 11 as applied to claim rejection 1, 11 above and further discloses:
Lou teaches wherein the second RU allocation subfield includes allocation information for the second RU defined in the EHT wireless LAN system in the secondary 160 MHz channel based on the DL BW subfield, the DL BW Extension subfield (see at least ¶ [0089], “…EHT supports greater BW, multiple RU allocation, enhanced MCS and greater number of spatial streams. trigger frame design may need to be modified to signal the allocation from the AP for these enhanced features and to signal the new fields of U-SIG of the TB-PPDU. EHT-TB-PPDU may be used for the RU allocation in a trigger frame…” and see at least ¶ [0156], “…the effective bandwidth may refer to the effective bandwidth used by a type of TB PPDU. For example, the AP may acquire 320 MHz channel, and allocate the primary 160 MHz for HE TB PPDU transmissions and the secondary 160 MHz for EHT TB PPDU transmissions…”), and the PS160 subfield, wherein the second RU allocation field consists of the ninth to sixteenth bits, wherein the secondary 160 MHz channel includes a first 80 MHz channel with a low frequency and a second 80 MHz channel with a high frequency, wherein the ninth bit indicates whether the second RU allocation subfield is allocation information for the second RU in the first 80 MHz channel or allocation information for the second RU in the second 80 MHz channel, wherein the tenth to sixteenth bits indicate a size and location of the second RU in the first 80 MHz channel or the second 80 MHz channel (see at least ¶ [0106], “…12 bits from the MAP AID may be used in the AID12 subfield in a User information field (e.g., EHT variant User information field) of enhanced trigger frame…” and see at least ¶ [0159], “…HE/EHT P160 subfield in common information field and PS160 subfield in User information field of Trigger frame, a STA may determine the TB PPDU format using Table 5…”).
Consider claim 8 (depends on at least claim 1), Lou in view of Yang discloses the limitations of claim 1 as applied to claim rejection 1 above and further discloses:
Lou disclose all the subject matters of the claimed invention concept. However, Lou does not particularly disclose wherein the second RU in the first 80 MHz channel or the second 80 MHz channel includes a 26-tone RU, a 52-tone RU, a 106-tone RU, a 242-tone RU, a 484-tone RU, a 996-tone RU, a 52+26-tone Multi Resource Unit (MRU), a 106+26-tone MRU and a 484+242-tone MRU, wherein the second RU in the secondary 160 MHz channel includes a 2×996-tone RU, a 996+484-tone MRU, and a 996+484+242-tone MRU. In an analogous field of endeavor, attention is directed to Yang, which teaches wherein the second RU in the first 80 MHz channel or the second 80 MHz channel includes a 26-tone RU, a 52-tone RU, a 106-tone RU, a 242-tone RU, a 484-tone RU, a 996-tone RU, a 52+26-tone Multi Resource Unit (MRU), a 106+26-tone MRU and a 484+242-tone MRU, wherein the second RU in the secondary 160 MHz channel includes a 2×996-tone RU, a 996+484-tone MRU, and a 996+484+242-tone MRU (see Yang, at least ¶ [0097], “…The 80 MHz bandwidth may be divided into different numbers of RUs based on the size of the RUs. As shown, the tone map 520 includes six tone plans: a first tone plan 521 includes RUs that span 26 tones, a second tone plan 522 includes RUs that span 52 tones, a third plan 523 includes RUs that span 106 tones, a fourth tone plan 524 includes RUs that span 242 tones, a fifth tone plan 525 includes RUs that span 484 tones, and a sixth tone plan 526 includes an RU that spans 996 tones…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious a finding that one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention could have combined the elements as claimed by the know method, and that in combination. Each element merely performs the same function as it does separately; Lou disclosed invention, and have wherein the second RU in the first 80 MHz channel or the second 80 MHz channel includes a 26-tone RU, a 52-tone RU, a 106-tone RU, a 242-tone RU, a 484-tone RU, a 996-tone RU, a 52+26-tone Multi Resource Unit (MRU), a 106+26-tone MRU and a 484+242-tone MRU, wherein the second RU in the secondary 160 MHz channel includes a 2×996-tone RU, a 996+484-tone MRU, and a 996+484+242-tone MRU, as taught by Yang, thereby, to provide a wireless local area network (WLAN) may be formed by one or more access points (APs) that provide a shared wireless communication medium for use by a number of client devices also referred to as stations (STAs), as discussed by Yang, (see at least ¶ [0003]).
Consider claim 9 (depends on at least claim 1), Lou in view of Yang discloses the limitations of claim 1 as applied to claim rejection 1 above and further discloses:
Lou teaches wherein a value of the second reserved subfield is 0, and a value of the PS160 subfield is 1 (see at least ¶ [0159], “…HE/EHT P160 subfield in common information field and PS160 subfield in User information field of Trigger frame, a STA may determine the TB PPDU format using Table 5…” see table 5).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUONG A NGO whose telephone number is (571)270-7264. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday from 5:30AM-3:30PM.
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/CHUONG A NGO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645