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 Arguments
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
Applicant's arguments filed 04/06/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With regard to independent claims 1, 12, and 14, the applicant alleges that the disclosure of Li et al. (US 2023/0064880 A1) and/or Noh et al. (US 2022/0030604 A1) do not disclose:
“wherein the information on the available frequency unit is included in a single control subfield in an aggregated-control (A-control) field of the frame, and
wherein, based on the A-control field including the single control subfield and no additional control subfield related to the information on the available frequency unit, and based on the single control subfield including information indicating a second channel among a primary and the secondary channel of an operating channel width, the information on the available frequency unit is related to the secondary channel”.
The office respectfully disagrees. With regard to Li, the applicant alleges that the disclosure of Li teaches that two BQR control are sent and cannot send a single BQR directed to a single specific channel, see:
“Li describes, in paragraphs 0094-0095, two BQR control subfields are required to indicate channel states of two channel segments (e.g. a primary channel and secondary channel),”. The office agrees. That each BQR is directed to a specific channel. However, this does not teach away from the applicants specification. For example, the applicants specification teaches this as well. When reviewing par.[0202] of the PG Pub (US 2024/0334411 A1) recites, in part:
“Since one BQR control subfield may not represent the availability of subchannels of the entire bandwidth for an extended channel width (e.g., 320 MHz), utilizing two BQR control subfields in an A-control subfield may be considered. A first BQR control subfield may represent an available channel bitmap for primary 160 MHz and a second BQR control subfield may represent an available channel bitmap for secondary 160 MHz.”.
As can be seen, the use of two BQRs is considered in the applicants specification as well as a single BQR can only represent a specific channel in the applicants specification.
Additionally, the disclosure of Li teaches that a single BQR representing a single channel is sent as discussed in fig.8 and par.[0139 – 0144] wherein the BQR of the A-Control subfield indicates a specific channel, the 8-bits of the available channel bitmap represent a 20Mhz spectrum resource up to 160 Mhz of spectrum resource for a specific channel. Additionally, the bit labeled “Channel Segment” can indicate a primary or secondary channel up to 160 MHz. As can be seen, the disclosure of Li substantially discloses the claimed invention and does not, as asserted by the applicant teach away from the applicants disclosure. Thus, the claims are rejected in view of Li.
Dependent claims 2-12 are rejected for their dependency on the above claims, and for failing to cure the deficiencies therein.
With regard to Noh, the arguments are moot as Noh is no longer used as basis to reject the claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 7-12, and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Li et al. (US 2023/0064880 A1).
Regarding claim(s) 1 and 12, Li discloses:
a station (STA) (fig.1 depicts wireless devices) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system (fig.1 depicts a wireless LAN system), the device comprising:
at least one transceiver (fig.11 element 1020); and
at least one processor (fig.11 element 1010) connected to the at least one transceiver (fig.11 transceiver which is communicatively coupled with the processor), wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
perform a method performed by the station (STA) (fig.1 a plurality of Stations) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system (fig.1 depicts a wireless LAN system), the method comprising:
generating, by a station (STA), a frame (par.[0022] which recites, in part, “a first device sends a bandwidth query report BQR to a second device, where the BQR includes channel state information of a basic service set BSS operating channel bandwidth; and after receiving a first request to send frame, the first device sends the BQR to the second device” and par.[0003] “The station may report a busy/available channel state of the station to the AP”) including information on an available frequency unit (par.[0022] the aforecited BQR, which is a bandwidth query report. The BQR comprises a bitmap or listing of available RUs which are available, par.[0079]); and
transmitting, by the STA (fig.3 depicts a first device, which could be a station transmitting first control information, such as control information depicted in fig(s).6-9,), a physical protocol data unit (PPDU), including the frame (par.[0024] which recites, in part, “ the first device sends the BQR to the second device, where the BQR is carried in a non-high throughput physical layer protocol data unit PPDU or a non-high throughput duplicate physical layer protocol data unit PPDU.”), wherein the information on the available frequency unit is included in a single control subfield (fig.4 depicts a BQR control 1 and BQR control 2 which may be sent together, wherein the BQR control 1 concerns an available frequency unit in either of BQR 1 or BQR 2. That is, BQR 1 and/or BQR 2 are directed each to an available frequency unit. Additionally, the fig.8 depicts a BQR, see par.[0130] which recites, in part, “It is assumed that an A-control subfield includes only one BQR control subfield.”, wherein the fig.8 channel segment can indicate information on which channel segment is being reported on. Additionally, the BQR of Li can report on a first channel segment see “Available Channel Bitmap” but also provide in the same BQR an indication or information on an additionally channel segment. The BQR of fig.8 is in line with claimed single control subfield) an aggregated-control (A-Control) field of the frame (par.[0079] which recites, in part, “BQR control is a control type of the A-control subfield. A length of control information subfield corresponding to the BQR control is 10 bits. The first 8 bits in the 10 bits are an available channel bitmap (available channel bitmap) subfield.”),
wherein, based on the A-control field the single control subfield and no additional control subfield related to the information on the available frequency unit (see discussion above regarding the BQR wherein the BQR is directed to the available frequency unit in a subchannel, or channel segment. Par.[0139] which recites, in part, “It is assumed that the A-control subfield includes only one BQR control subfield. As shown in FIG. 8, in 10 bits included in the BQR control subfield, the first 8 bits are an available channel bitmap, and are used to indicate the busy/available state information of the first channel segment. In addition, the last 2 bits in the 10 bits are originally reserved bits, where one reserved bit (the second bit) is used to indicate the first channel segment, and the other reserved bit is used as a reserved bit or for another purpose.”), and based on the single control subfield including information indicating a secondary channel among a primary channel and the secondary channel of an operating channel width (par.[0139] which describes the single BQR with the available channel bitmap with 8 bits each bit concerning a 20Mhz unit of resource up to 160 MHz for a particular channel segment. The additional bits in the BQR which is a control subfield, see “Channel Segment” may indicate a primary channel segment or a secondary channel segment as discussed in par.[0140 - 0141] see upper and lower channel segment, which is interpreted as a primary or secondary channel), the information on the available frequency unit is related to the secondary channel (par.[0140 – 0141] which describes the upper or lower as discussed correspond to distinct 160 MHz channel segments corresponding to first and/or second channel segments).
Regarding claim 2, Li discloses:
wherein, based on the A-control field including the single control subfield and no additional control subfield related to the information on the available frequency unit, and based on the single control subfield including information indicating the primary channel of the operating channel width, the information on the available frequency unit is related to the primary channel(fig.8 wherein the single BQR as discussed above, the bit related to “Channel Segment” can indicate a primary or secondary channel segment).
Regarding claim 3, Li discloses:
additional information indicating that the information on the available frequency unit is related to the primary channel or the secondary channel other than 160MHz is further included in the single control subfield (fig(s).8which describes the additional information (par.[0142 - 0146] which describes the channel segment bit which indicates the primary or secondary channel which can be more or less than 160 MHz).
Regarding claim 7, Li discloses:
wherein:
the information on the available frequency unit indicates an available frequency unit within an operation channel width of up to 320MHz (par.[0080] which recites, “A larger bandwidth in this embodiment of this application is a bandwidth greater than 160 MHz, for example, a 240 MHz bandwidth or a 320 MHz bandwidth”).
Regarding claim 8, Li discloses:
the information on the available frequency unit indicates an available frequency unit within a primary 160MHz channel or a secondary 160MHz channel (fig.2 and par.[0130] as it relates to fig.6).
Regarding claim 9, Li discloses:
The STA is an access point (AP) STA or a non-AP STA (fig.1 and par.[0003] which depict the AP, and non-AP STA, par.[0089]).
Regarding claim 10, Li discloses:
The available frequency unit is related to an uplink transmission or a downlink transmission (fig.2 depicts the frequency units which are available for uplink and/or downlink transmissions, par.[0003], which recites, in part, “the AP is associated with a plurality of stations, and uplink and downlink communication is performed between the AP and the associated stations by using the IEEE 802.11 protocol.”).
Regarding claim 11, Li discloses:
The frequency unit is defined in a 20 MHz unit or in a unit other than 20 MHz (fig.2 depicts the 20Mhz frequency units or combination of the 20 MHz frequency unit up to 160 MHz in multiples of the 20 MHz frequency unit).
Regarding claim(s) 14, Li discloses:
a station (STA) (fig.1 depicts wireless devices or AP) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system (fig.1 depicts a wireless LAN system), the device comprising:
at least one transceiver (fig.11 element 1020); and
at least one processor (fig.11 element 1010) connected to the at least one transceiver (fig.11 transceiver which is communicatively coupled with the processor), wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
perform a method performed by the station (STA) (fig.1 depicts wireless devices element) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system (fig.1 depicts a wireless LAN system), the method comprising:
receive through a physical protocol data unit (PPDU), including the frame (par.[0024] which recites, in part, “ the first device sends the BQR to the second device, where the BQR is carried in a non-high throughput physical layer protocol data unit PPDU or a non-high throughput duplicate physical layer protocol data unit PPDU.”), wherein the information on the available frequency unit is included in a single control subfield (fig.4 depicts a BQR control 1 and BQR control 2 which may be sent together, wherein the BQR control 1 concerns an available frequency unit in either of BQR 1 or BQR 2. That is, BQR 1 and/or BQR 2 are directed each to an available frequency unit. Additionally, the fig.8 depicts a BQR, see par.[0130] which recites, in part, “It is assumed that an A-control subfield includes only one BQR control subfield.”, wherein the fig.8 channel segment can indicate information on which channel segment is being reported on. Additionally, the BQR of Li can report on a first channel segment see “Available Channel Bitmap” but also provide in the same BQR an indication or information on an additionally channel segment. The BQR of fig.8 is in line with claimed single control subfield) an aggregated-control (A-Control) field of the frame (par.[0079] which recites, in part, “BQR control is a control type of the A-control subfield. A length of control information subfield corresponding to the BQR control is 10 bits. The first 8 bits in the 10 bits are an available channel bitmap (available channel bitmap) subfield.”),
wherein, based on the A-control field the single control subfield and no additional control subfield related to the information on the available frequency unit (see discussion above regarding the BQR wherein the BQR is directed to the available frequency unit in a subchannel, or channel segment. Par.[0139] which recites, in part, “It is assumed that the A-control subfield includes only one BQR control subfield. As shown in FIG. 8, in 10 bits included in the BQR control subfield, the first 8 bits are an available channel bitmap, and are used to indicate the busy/available state information of the first channel segment. In addition, the last 2 bits in the 10 bits are originally reserved bits, where one reserved bit (the second bit) is used to indicate the first channel segment, and the other reserved bit is used as a reserved bit or for another purpose.”), and
based on the single control subfield including information indicating a secondary channel among a primary channel and the secondary channel of an operating channel width (par.[0139] which describes the single BQR with the available channel bitmap with 8 bits each bit concerning a 20Mhz unit of resource up to 160 MHz for a particular channel segment. The additional bits in the BQR which is a control subfield, see “Channel Segment” may indicate a primary channel segment or a secondary channel segment as discussed in par.[0140 - 0141] see upper and lower channel segment, which is interpreted as a primary or secondary channel), the information on the available frequency unit is related to the secondary channel (par.[0140 – 0141] which describes the upper or lower as discussed correspond to distinct 160 MHz channel segments corresponding to first and/or second channel segments).
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim(s) 4-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li as applied to claim 1, 12, and 12, in view of Lou et al. (US 2024/0333465 A1) with priority to 63/215,167 06/25/2021.
Regarding claim 4, the disclosure of Li teaches the aggregated control subfield, but does not disclose:
additional information indicating that the information on the available frequency unit is related to a region to which a subchannel selective transmission (SST) operation is applied is further included in the single control subfield.
In an analogous art, the disclosure of Lou teaches:
additional information indicating that the information on the available frequency unit is related to a region to which a subchannel selective transmission (SST) operation is applied is further included in the single control subfield (par.[0151 – 0152] which describes the SST in the aggregated control subfield).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to combine the teachings Li with the disclosure of Lou. The motivation/suggestion would have been to provide more efficient SST which allows for better use of the bandwidth.
Regarding claim 5, the disclosure of Lou teaches:
wherein: based on a SST operation-related indication being transmitted or received before the information on the available frequency unit is transmitted, the information on the available frequency unit indicates an available frequency unit related to a region to which the SST operation is applied (par.[0004] which recites, in part, “The trigger frame may indicate a range of association identifiers (AIDs) and/or subchannel information. The subchannel information may identify one or more secondary subchannels for an SST. The STA may determine that the AID of the STA is within the range of AIDs indicted in the trigger frame. The STA may send feedback to the AP that indicates that the STA will monitor one or more of the secondary subchannels. The STA may receive the SST from the AP on a secondary subchannel of the one or more secondary subchannels. The STA may send an acknowledgment (ACK) to the AP on the secondary subchannel in response to receipt of the SST.” This provides an indication of which band the available resources reside on).
Regarding claim 6, Lou discloses:
wherein: based on the information on the available frequency unit being transmitted within a predetermined time period related to a SST operation, the information on the available frequency unit indicates an available frequency unit related to a region to which the SST operation is applied (par.[0103] which describes the SST with the Target Wake Time, and par.[0152] which recites, in part, “Individual SST negotiation using the A-Control field are described herein. A non-AP STA may transmit an SST request in an A-Control field in a data frame or management frame. On reception of the SST request in an A-Control field, an AP may respond with a full TWT element as SST response.”).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Asterjadhi et al. (US 2018/0205441 A1) “Short Uplink Feedback Related Methods and Apparatus”
Cariou et al. (US 2019/0349232 A1) “Control Fields for Null Data Packet Feedback Reports”
Min et al. (US 2020/0214036 A1) “Multi-Band Bandwidth Query Report (MB-BQR) Signaling in Extremely High Throughput (EHT) Systems”
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 JAMAAL HENSON whose telephone number is (571)272-5339. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thu: 7:30 am - 6:30 pm.
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JAMAAL HENSON
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2411
/JAMAAL HENSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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