Response to Amendment
This Office Action is in response to a communication received on July 5, 2026.
This application has been reassigned to a new examiner, please see the end of action for contact information.
Claims 1-20 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
The replacement drawing, filed July 5, 2026, has been received. The objection to the drawings is hereby withdrawn.
The arguments received July 5, 2026 has been considered and are persuasive. However a new grounds of rejection has been provided below based upon a previously presented reference.
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.
Claims 1-7, 9-11, 13-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al (WO 2022111632 A1, hereinafter "Huang"), in view of Chen et al (Y. Chen, B. Xu, E. Lu and O. Shanaa, "An Integrated True Zero-Wait-Time Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) Look-Ahead Scheme for WiFi-Radar System co-Existence," 2020 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium (RFIC), Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2020, pp. 211-214; hereinafter "Chen") , and in further view of Tsai et al (US 2017/0142728, hereinafter “Tsai”).
Regarding claims 1 and 13, Huang teaches a control method of an electronic device (FIG. 2, Access Point (AP) 10 [p. 12, ¶ 3]), wherein the electronic device comprises a first antenna group (FIG. 2, at least one first antenna/group of antennas 13 [p 12, ¶¶ 3, 6]) and a second antenna (FIG. 2, at least one second antenna 14 [p. 12, ¶3]), and the control method comprises:
using a first channel to communicate with other electronic device(s) via the first antenna group (the first antenna group 13 supports transmitting and receiving signals with other devices, including signals such as Wi-Fi signals, where the processor 11 transmits across the first antenna group 13 via the first DFS channel selected from the sub-band of the first antenna group 13 [p 12, ¶ 6; p 14, ¶ 2]);
performing a channel availability check (CAC) process (the device can perform CAC on the DFS channel of the first sub-band of the DFS channel and the second sub-band of the DFS channel at the same time, e.g. shared CAC performance time [p 17, ¶ 3]) to detect if any radar signal appears in dynamic frequency selection (DFS) channels in a 5GHz band (5Ghz frequency band is 5150MHz-5825MHz), and DFS channel bands are defined as 5250MHz-5350MHz and the 5470MHz-5725MHz [p 2, ¶ 5; p 11, ¶ 2]) during a CAC period (shared CAC performance time) by using at least the second antenna, to generate a radar detection result (The first DFS receiving unit (which is coupled to a first antenna/group of antennas 13 in FIG. 5) may scan the DFS channel of the first sub-band to detect whether there is a radar signal in the DFS channel of the first sub-band (radar detection result). The second DFS transceiver unit (which is coupled to the second antenna) may scan the DFS channel of the second sub-band to detect whether there is radar signal on the DFS channel of the second sub-band (radar detection result). The first sub-band may be the 5470MHz-5850MHz band (which contains the 5470MHz-5725MHz DFS sub-band) and the second sub-band may be the 5150MHz-5350MHz band (which contains the 5250MHz-5350MHz DFS sub-band). Therefore, the first and second sub-channel of each antenna/antenna group cover all the DFS channel bands in a 5GHz band [p 12, ¶6, p 16, ¶ 8; p 17, ¶ 3; p 18, ¶ 2]);
Huang does not teach determining a second channel according to the radar detection result, and using the second channel to communicate with the other electronic device(s) via the first antenna group nor does Huang teach that the DFS radar detection should perform the CAC process for ALL DFS channels during a single CAC period.
In analogous art, Chen teaches determining a second channel according to the radar detection result, and using the second channel to communicate with the other electronic device(s) via the first antenna group (the system selects a channel (second channel) from available channels, which are based on radar detection outcomes/results. Wi-Fi is able to jump to an available channel instantly when detecting any type of radar presence, resuming communication with client devices using the nxn MIMO transceiver. The nxn MIMO transceiver includes an nxn array of antennas (where n is an integer no less than 2), which maps to the first antenna group [§ III-A; § IV]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the second channel selection and usage (as taught by Chen) into wireless multi-antenna device (as taught by Huang) in order to reduce manufacturing cost, minimize wait time for CAC, and avoid reduction in MIMO throughput (Chen, [§1, ¶ 3; §II-A, ¶2; § III-A]).
Tsai teaches a CAC process for detecting radar signals on DFS channels (¶42 and ¶53), wherein the AP can perform a continuous CAC process to check ALL DFS channels in a single CAC period (see Fig 11, element 1101, ¶76).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the application to sue Tsai’s suggestion of continuous CAC of all DFS channels to improve Huang’s Access Point, the combination would allow the access point in Huang to maintain a blacklist/whitelist of all available channels for possible communication which will allow the network to make full use of all available DFS channels while maintain the most up to date information on the channels in terms of radar interference.
Regarding claim 9, Huang teaches a control method of an electronic device (FIG. 2, Access Point (AP) 10 [p. 12, ¶3]), wherein the electronic device comprises a first antenna group (FIG. 2, at least one first antenna/group of antennas 13 [p. 12, ¶¶3,6]) and a second antenna (FIG. 2, at least one second antenna 14 [p. 12, ¶3]), and the control method comprises:
using a first channel to communicate with other electronic device(s) via the first antenna group (the first antenna group 13 supports transmitting and receiving signals with other devices, including signals such as Wi-Fi signals, where the processor 11 transmits across the first antenna group 13 via the first DFS channel selected from the sub-band of the first antenna group 13 [p. 12, ¶6; p. 14, ¶2]);
performing a channel availability check (CAC) process (the device can perform CAC on the DFS channel of the first sub-band of the DFS channel and the second sub-band of the DFS channel at the same time, e.g. shared CAC performance time [p. 17, ¶3]) to detect if any radar signal appears in at least a portion of dynamic frequency selection (DFS) channels in a 5GHz band (5Ghz frequency band is 5150MHz-5825MHz), and DFS channel bands are defined as 5250MHz-5350MHz and the 5470MHz-5725MHz [p. 2, ¶ 5;p 11, ¶2]) during a CAC period (shared CAC performance time) by using at least the second antenna, to generate a radar detection result, wherein at least the portion of DFS channels in the 5GHz band has at least 240 MHz bandwidth (The first DFS receiving unit (which is coupled to a first antenna/group of antennas 13 in FIG. 5) may scan the DFS channel of the first sub-band to detect whether there is a radar signal in the DFS channel of the first sub-band (radar detection result). The second DFS transceiver unit (which is coupled to the second antenna) may scan the DFS channel of the second sub-band to detect whether there is radar signal on the DFS channel of the second sub-band (radar detection result). The first sub-band may be the 5470MHz-5850MHz band (which contains the 5470MHz-5725MHz DFS sub-band, and has a bandwidth of 255MHz) and the second sub-band may be the 5150MHz-5350MHz band (which contains the 5250MHz-5350MHz DFS sub-band, and has a bandwidth of 100MHz). Therefore, the first and second sub-channel of each antenna cover all the DFS channel bands in a 5GHz band [p. 12, ¶6; p. 16, ¶8; p. 17, ¶3; p. 18, ¶2]);
Huang does not teach determining a second channel according to the radar detection result, and using the second channel to communicate with the other electronic device(s) via the first antenna group nor does Huang teach that the DFS radar detection should perform the CAC process for at least 240 MHZ of DFS channels during a single CAC period.
In analogous art, Chen teaches determining a second channel according to the radar detection result, and using the second channel to communicate with the other electronic device(s) via the first antenna group (the system selects a channel (second channel) from available channels, which are based on radar detection outcomes/results. Wi-Fi is able to jump to an available channel instantly when detecting any type of radar presence, resuming communication with client devices using the nxn MIMO transceiver (which encompasses the first antenna group) [§ III-A; § IV]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the second channel selection and usage (as taught by Chen) into wireless multi-antenna device (as taught by Huang) in order to reduce manufacturing cost, minimize wait time for CAC, and avoid reduction in MIMO throughput (Chen, [§1,¶3; §II-A, ¶2; §III-A]).
Tsai teaches a CAC process for detecting radar signals on DFS channels (¶42 and ¶53), wherein the AP can perform a continuous CAC process to check ALL DFS channels in a single CAC period (see Fig 11, element 1101, ¶76), wherein all DFS channels accumulate to more than 240 MHZ (see Fig 6A, elements 606 and 607).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the application to sue Tsai’s suggestion of continuous CAC of all DFS channels to improve Huang’s Access Point, the combination would allow the access point in Huang to maintain a blacklist/whitelist of all available channels for possible communication which will allow the network to make full use of all available DFS channels while maintain the most up to date information on the channels in terms of radar interference.
Regarding claims 2 and 14, Huang, as improved by Chen and Tsai, specifically Huang, teaches the control method of claims 1 and 13, wherein the step of performing the CAC process to detect if any radar signal appears in all the DFS channels in the 5GHz band during the CAC period by using at least the second antenna, to generate the radar detection result comprises:
performing the CAC process to detect if any radar signal appears in all the DFS channels during the CAC period by using both the first antenna group and the second antenna, to generate the radar detection result (the device can perform CAC on the DFS channel of the first sub-band of the DFS channel and the second sub-band of the DFS channel at the same time. The first DFS receiving unit (which is coupled to a first antenna/group of antennas 13 in FIG. 5) may scan the DFS channel of the first sub-band to detect whether there is a radar signal in the DFS channel of the first sub-band (radar detection result). The second DFS transceiver unit (which is coupled to the second antenna) may scan the DFS channel of the second sub-band to detect whether there is radar signal on the DFS channel of the second sub-band (radar detection result). The 5250MHz-5350MHz and the 5470MHz-5725MHz bands are defined as DFS channel bands. The first sub-band may be the 5470MHz-5850MHz band (which contains the 5470MHz-5725MHz DFS sub-band) and the second sub-band may be the 5150MHz-5350MHz band (which contains the 5250MHz-5350MHz DFS sub-band). Therefore, the first and second sub-channel of each antenna/antenna group cover all the DFS channel bands in a 5GHz band [p 11, ¶2; o. 12, ¶6; p. 16, ¶8; p. 17, ¶3; p. 18, ¶2]).
Regarding claim 3 and 15, Huang, as improved by Chen and Tsai, specifically Huang, teaches the control method of claims 2 and 14 wherein the step of performing the CAC process to detect if any radar signal appears in all the DFS channels in the 5GHz band during the CAC period by using both the first antenna group and the second antenna, to generate the radar detection result comprises:
performing the CAC process to detect if any radar signal appears in a first portion of the DFS channels during the CAC period (shared CAC performance time) by using the first antenna group (the first processor of the device can perform CAC on the DFS channel of the first sub-band and the DFS channel of the second sub-band at the same time, e.g. shared CAC performance time. The first DFS receiving unit (which is coupled to a first antenna/group of antennas 13 in FIG. 5) may scan the DFS channel of the first sub-band to detect whether there is a radar signal in the DFS channel of the first sub-band [p. 12, ¶6; p. 17, ¶3; p. 18, ¶2]); and
performing the CAC process to detect if any radar signal appears in a second portion of the DFS channels during the CAC period (shared CAC performance time) by using the second antenna (the first processor of the device can perform CAC on the DFS channel of the first sub-band and the DFS channel of the second sub-band at the same time. The second DFS transceiver unit may scan the DFS channel of the second sub-band to detect whether there is radar signal on the DFS channel of the second sub-band [p. 17, ¶3; p. 18, ¶2]),
wherein the first portion of the DFS channels is different from the second portion of the DFS channels, and a combination of the first portion of the DFS channels and the second portion of the DFS channels is all the DFS channels in the 5GHz band (the 5250MHz-5350MHz and the 5470MHz-5725MHz bands are defined as DFS channel bands. The first sub-band may be the 5470MHz-5850MHz band (which contains the 5470MHz-5725MHz DFS sub-band) and the second sub-band may be the 5150MHz-5350MHz band (which contains the 5250MHz-5350MHz DFS sub-band). Therefore, the first and second sub-channel of each antenna/antenna group cover separate (non-overlapping) DFS sub-bands that total all the DFS channel bands [p. 11, ¶2; p. 16, ¶6]).
Regarding claims 4 and 16, Huang, as improved by Chen and Tsai, teaches the control method of claims 3 and 15 wherein the second portion of the DFS channels has a 240 MHz bandwidth (See Chen, Fig 1 shows an upper and lower DFS required channels in the 5GHz frequency band, where the upper channel has a bandwidth of 240 MHz [§ I]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further define the upper and lower groups of the 5GHz band DFS channels (as taught by Chen) for the splitting of the 5GHz band DFS channels between the first and second antennas (as taught by Huang) in the multi-antenna wireless control device for communicating with other devices (as taught by Huang and Chen) in order to reduce manufacturing cost, minimize wait time for CAC, and avoid reduction in MIMO throughput (Chen, [§ I, ¶3; § II-A, ¶2; § III-A]).
Regarding claims 5 and 17, Huang, as improved by Chen and Tsai, teaches the control method of claims 4 and 16 wherein the first portion of the DFS channels has an 80 MHz bandwidth (See Chen, Fig 1 shows an upper and lower DFS required channels in the 5GHz frequency band, where the lower channel has a bandwidth of 80 MHz [Sec. I]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further define the upper and lower groups of the 5GHz band DFS channels (as taught by Chen) for the splitting of the 5GHz band DFS channels between the first and second antennas (as taught by Huang) in the multi-antenna wireless control device for communicating with other devices (as taught by Huang and Chen) in order to reduce manufacturing cost, minimize wait time for CAC, and avoid reduction in MIMO throughput (Chen, [Sec. 1, paragraph 3; Sec. II-A, paragraph 2; Sec. III-A]).
Regarding claims 6 and 18, Huang, as improved by Chen and Tsai, specifically Chen, teaches the control method of claims 3 and 15 wherein the second portion of the DFS channels comprises 20 MHz Wi-Fi sub-channels #100 - #144 (See Chen, Fig 1 shows an upper and lower DFS required channels in the 5GHz frequency band, where the upper channel comprises 20 MHz channels #100-#144 [§ I]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further define the upper and lower groups of the 5GHz band DFS channels (as taught by Chen) for the splitting of the 5GHz band DFS channels between the first and second antennas (as taught by Huang) in the multi-antenna wireless control device for communicating with other devices (as taught by Huang and Chen) in order to reduce manufacturing cost, minimize wait time for CAC, and avoid reduction in MIMO throughput (Chen, [§ I, ¶3; § II-A, ¶ 2; § III-A]).
Regarding claims 7 and 19, Huang, as improved by Chen and Tsai, specifically Chen, teaches the control method of claims 3 and 15, wherein the first portion of the DFS channels comprises 20 MHz Wi-Fi sub-channels #52 - #64 (Fig 1 shows an upper and lower DFS required channels in the 5GHz frequency band, where the lower channel comprises 20 MHz channels #52-#64 see § I).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further define the upper and lower groups of the 5GHz band DFS channels (as taught by Chen) for the splitting of the 5GHz band DFS channels between the first and second antennas (as taught by Huang) in the multi-antenna wireless control device for communicating with other devices (as taught by Huang and Chen) in order to reduce manufacturing cost, minimize wait time for CAC, and avoid reduction in MIMO throughput (Chen, [§ I, ¶ 3; § II-A, ¶ 2; § III-A]).
Regarding claim 10, Huang, as improved by Chen and Tsai, specifically Chen, teaches the control method of claim 9, wherein at least the portion of DFS channels in the 5GHz band comprises 20 MHz Wi-Fi sub-channels #100 - #144 (Fig 1 shows upper and lower DFS required channels of the 5HGz frequency band, where the upper channel comprises 20 MHz channels #100-#144 [§ I], see also Tsai, Figure 1, 107).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further define the upper and lower groups of the 5GHz band DFS channels (as taught by Chen) for the splitting of the 5GHz band DFS channels between the first and second antennas (as taught by Huang) in the multi-antenna wireless control device for communicating with other devices (as taught by Huang and Chen) in order to reduce manufacturing cost, minimize wait time for CAC, and avoid reduction in MIMO throughput (Chen, [§ 1, ¶3; § II-A, ¶ 2; § III-A]).
Regarding claim 11, Huang, as improved by Chen and Tsai, specifically Chen, teaches the control method of claim 9, wherein the at least the portion of DFS channels in the 5GHz band comprises 20 MHz Wi-Fi sub-channels #52 - #144 (Fig 1 shows upper and lower DFS required channels of the 5GHz frequency band, where the full DFS band of channels encompasses the range of 20 MHz Wi-Fi sub-channels #52-#64 and #100-#144 [§ I]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to temporarily or partially use the first antenna group for CAC in combination with the dedicated DFS receiver to reduce scan time in cases where speed of DFS scanning is more important than potential decrease in MIMO throughput. It is already stated by Chen that the conventional DFS scheme is beneficial as it can prevent significant wait time before re-establishing the wi-fi link, which is also a benefit of the LA-DFS scheme. It is expected that combining the two of these ideas taught by Chen can further shorten the time it takes to perform CAC scanning by enabling parallelization (see Chen, § I, ¶ 3; § III).
Claims 8, 12, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang, in view of Chen and Tsai, and in further view of Kadiyala et al (US 20150249990 A1, hereinafter "Kadiyala").
Regarding claims 8 and 20, Huang, as improved by Chen and Tsai, specifically Chen, teaches the control method of claims 1 and 13, wherein the step of determining the second channel according to the radar detection result, and using the second channel to communicate with the other electronic device(s) via the first antenna group comprises:
determining a plurality of available channels with different bandwidths according to the radar detection result (a list of available DFS channels populated by radar detection results of both antennas (first antenna group and second antenna) [§ III-A]);
using the second channel to communicate with the other electronic device(s) via the first antenna group (Wi-Fi is able to jump to an available channel (second channel), resuming communication with client devices using the nxn MIMO transceiver (which encompasses the first antenna group) [§ III-A; § IV]) .
The combination of Huang and Chen does not teach selecting the second channel (best channel to switch to) having a maximum bandwidth from the plurality of available channels;
In analogous art, Kadiyala teaches selecting the second channel having a maximum bandwidth from the plurality of available channels (teaches that available channels have different bandwidths, such as 20 MHz, 40 MHz, and so on, and that channel selection prioritizes channels with higher bandwidth to improve throughput and efficiency. Once an access point has determined to switch to another channel, it can estimate the best channel to switch to (second channel), prioritizing maximum bandwidth (¶¶40, 44, and 51);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate determining the second channel for transmission at from the AP based off bandwidth size (as taught by Kadiyala) into the multiantenna transceiver that can utilize DFS channels (as taught by the combination of Huang and Chen) in order to achieve better available channels with higher efficiency and throughput while continuing to follow restrictions applied for FDS channels of the 5 GHz band (Kadiyala, ¶11).
Regarding claim 12, it is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 8.
Conclusion
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/KEVIN T BATES/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2472
