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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
1. 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 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.
2. 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.
Claims 1-17 and 20-22 is/are rejected as being unpatentable over U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No US 2024/0137813 (Provisional Application 63/155,757) to Kim et al. (hereinafter Kim) in view of U.S. Publication No. US 2024/0049135 (Provisional Application 63/124,100) to Lim et al. (hereinafter Lim)
As to claims 1, 10, 20, 21 and 22, Kim discloses a communication method, performed by an initiator, comprising:
sending a target radio frame, wherein the target radio frame comprises a target identification, and the target identification comprises polling information for the initiator to perform wireless local area network (WLAN) sensing (Kim; Abstract; [0058]; [0085]; Fig. 13-15; Provisional Application: General description and Method 3/XX to 12/XX shows and discloses WLAN sensing wherein an initiator sends and receives receive a trigger frame or sensing polling frame (=a target radio frame).
Kim discloses the sending of trigger frame, but Kim fails to disclose wherein the target identification comprises a variable element: and the variable element comprises sensing poll sub-element. However, Lim discloses
wherein the target identification comprises a variable element (Lim; Provisional Application Page 22; Fig.1 sounding procedure shows and discloses target indication comprises variable element (i.e. station ID; ss allocation; sensing BW etc.) The initiator transmits a sensing poll frame to the sensing STAs that have the sensing capability identified through negation to determine whether they can perform sensing. The trigger subtype field can be set to 9 to indicate that the trigger frame is a sensing trigger); and
the variable element comprises a sensing poll sub-element (Lim; Provisional Application Page 22; Fig.1 sounding procedure shows and discloses target indication comprises variable element (i.e. station ID; ss allocation; sensing BW etc.) The initiator transmits a sensing poll frame to the sensing STAs that have the sensing capability identified through negation to determine whether they can perform sensing. The trigger subtype field can be set to 9 to indicate that the trigger frame is a sensing trigger)
It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings so that the receiver can make a decision based on the information received in a particular sub-field.
As to claims 2 and 11, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim-Lim discloses wherein the variable element further comprises a null data packet (NDP) sub-element (Lim; Provisional Application Page 22; Fig.1 sounding procedure shows and discloses NDPA)
As to claims 3 and 12, the rejection of claim 2 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim-Lim discloses wherein the variable element is carried in a common information field of the target radio frame (Lim; Provisional Application Page 22; Fig.1 sounding procedure)
As to claims 4 and 13, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim-Lim discloses wherein the target identification comprises a control element (Lim; Provisional Application Page 22; Fig.1 sounding procedure); and
the control element comprises at least one of a presentation bit sub-element, a station identification sub-element, a poll sequence sub-element, a feedback mode sub-element, and a session identification sub-element (Lim; Provisional Application Page 22; Fig.1 sounding procedure shows and discloses STA-ID. Here Lim is applied for the 2nd alternative “a station identification sub-element”)
As to claims 5 and 14, the rejection of claim 4 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim-Lim discloses wherein the presentation bit sub- element comprises at least one of an uplink (UL) NDP presentation bit, a downlink (DL) NDP presentation bit, a secure UL NDP presentation bit, a secure DL NDP presentation bit (Claims 5 and 14 that are dependent on the 1st alternative (i.e. a presentation bit sub-element) of claims 4 and 13. Claims 4 and 13 are rejected based on the 2nd alternative (i.e. a station identification sub-element) and therefore this limitation is not considered here).
As to claims 6 and 15, the rejection of claim 4 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim-Lim discloses wherein the control element is carried in a user information list field of the target radio frame (Lim; Provisional Application Page 22; Fig.1 sounding procedure shows and discloses target indication comprises variable element (i.e. station ID; ss allocation; sensing BW etc.) The initiator transmits a sensing poll frame to the sensing STAs that have the sensing capability identified through negation to determine whether they can perform sensing. The trigger subtype field can be set to 9 to indicate that the trigger frame is a sensing trigger)).
As to claims 7 and 16, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim-Lim discloses wherein the target radio frame comprises a trigger frame (Kim; Fig. 13; Provisional Application: Method 10/XX shows and discloses Trigger frame sensing polling)
As to claims 8 and 17, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim-Lim discloses wherein the trigger frame comprises a field of a receiving address (RA) (Lim; Provisional Application Page 22; Fig.1 sounding procedure shows and discloses target indication comprises variable element (i.e. station ID; ss allocation; sensing BW etc.) The initiator transmits a sensing poll frame to the sensing STAs that have the sensing capability identified through negation to determine whether they can perform sensing. The trigger subtype field can be set to 9 to indicate that the trigger frame is a sensing trigger)); and
a frame format of the RA comprises a broadcast frame format or a multicast frame format (Lim; Provisional Application Page 22; Fig.1 sounding procedure shows and discloses target indication comprises variable element (i.e. station ID; ss allocation; sensing BW etc.) The initiator transmits a sensing poll frame to the sensing STAs that have the sensing capability identified through negation to determine whether they can perform sensing. The trigger subtype field can be set to 9 to indicate that the trigger frame is a sensing trigger)).
As to claim 9, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim-Lim discloses wherein before sending the target radio frame, the method comprises:
determining the target radio frame (Kim; Abstract; [0058]; [0085]; Fig. 13-15; Provisional Application: General description and Method 3/XX to 12/XX shows and discloses an initiator determines and send Trigger frame sensing polling)
Conclusion
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/FAISAL CHOUDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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