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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. Claim 11 depends on claim 9. Claim 11 fails to point out what claimed feature in claim 9 corresponds to comprising one or more of a fixed set of modulation and coding schemes for the second packet, a fixed error checking scheme for the second packet, a fixed number of data symbols in the second packet, or a fixed resource unit size for transmission of the second packet.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 – 5, 9 – 15 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chun et al. (Pub. No.: US 2017/0279864; hereinafter Chun).
Regarding claim 1, Chun discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a wireless station, comprising: a processing system that includes one or more processors and one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors, the processing system configured to cause the apparatus (see Fig. 44, para. 0731 – 0737, STA device includes a processor 4411 coupled to a memory 4412) to: receive a first packet, the first packet triggering transmission of feedback information from the wireless station according to a defined feedback packet format (see para. 0016, where the DL MU PPDU includes a trigger frame including trigger information for an uplink (UL) MU transmission and a DL MU frame, Fig. 38(b) shows the UL MU packet format with BA frame with UL data); and transmit a second packet according to the defined feedback packet format in response to receiving the first packet, the second packet including the feedback information within a data portion of the second packet (see para. 0024, 0653, …may perform the UL MU transmission by piggybacking an ACK frame (or BA frame) in response to the received DL MU frame in the UL MU frame generated based on the received trigger information, Fig. 38(b) shows the UL MU packet format with BA frame with UL data), the data portion being free of a medium access control (MAC) address fields, a packet control field, a duration field, an identification field, MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) delimiters, or any combination thereof (see para. 0024, 0653, it is noted that UL MU frame does not contain a medium access control (MAC) address fields, a packet control field, a duration field, an identification field, MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) delimiters, or any combination thereof).
Regarding claim 2, Chun discloses wherein the second packet is transmitted according to a fixed transmission mode associated with the defined feedback packet format (see Table 1, CRC field includes CRS for detecting an error (ex: fixed transmission mode) of an PPDU on the receiver side, Fig. 38(b) shows the UL MU packet format with BA frame with UL data).
Regarding claim 3, Chun discloses wherein the fixed transmission mode includes one or more of: a fixed set of modulation and coding schemes for the second packet, a fixed error checking scheme for the second packet (see Table 1, CRC field includes CRS for detecting an error of an PPDU on the receiver side), a fixed number of data symbols in the second packet, or a fixed resource unit size for transmission of the second packet.
Regarding claim 4, Chun discloses wherein the data portion is one or more of unscrambled (see para. 0653, the ACK frame (or BA frame) is piggybacked in the UL MU frame with UL data is not scrambled), scrambled using a same scrambling seed associated with the first packet, or scrambled using a scrambling seed indicated by the first packet.
Regarding claim 5, Chun discloses wherein the feedback information includes one or more of an acknowledgement, a block acknowledgement (see para. 0411, block acknowledgement), a negative acknowledgement, a clear-to-send indication, a link adaptation report, an operating mode parameter, a coexistence parameter, a cross link signal, a buffer status report, a bandwidth query report, a transmit power report, a set of available subchannels, a compressed beamforming report, a contention free termination, a quantity of available spatial streams, a request for preemption, a request to transmit low latency traffic with high priority, an indication of an end of service period, an indication of a start of service period, an indication of a transition at the wireless station from a first operational mode to a second operational mode, or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 9, Chun discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a wireless station, comprising: a processing system that includes one or more processors and one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors, the processing system configured to cause the apparatus (see Fig. 44, para. 0731 – 0737, STA device includes a processor 4411 coupled to a memory 4412) to: receive a first packet, the first packet triggering transmission of feedback information from the wireless station according to a defined feedback packet format (see para. 0016, where the DL MU PPDU includes a trigger frame including trigger information for an uplink (UL) MU transmission and a DL MU frame, Fig. 38(b) shows the UL MU packet format with BA frame with UL data); and transmit a second packet according to the defined feedback packet format in response to receiving the first packet, the second packet beginning with a short training field and a long training field, the second packet including the feedback information within a data portion that is directly subsequent to the short training field and the long training field and occupies a same set of frequency domain tones as the short training field and the long training field (see para. 0024, 0653, …may perform the UL MU transmission by piggybacking an ACK frame (or BA frame) in response to the received DL MU frame in the UL MU frame generated based on the received trigger information, Fig. 38(b) shows the BA frame (ex: feedback information) with UL data is directly subsequent to the short training field (STF) and the long training field (LTF) and they occupied the 20 MHz frequency domain).
Regarding claim 10, Chun discloses wherein the second packet is transmitted according to a fixed transmission mode associated with the defined feedback packet format (see Table 1, CRC field includes CRS for detecting an error (ex: fixed transmission mode) of an PPDU on the receiver side, Fig. 38(b) shows the UL MU packet format with BA frame with UL data).
Regarding claim 11, Chun discloses comprising one or more of a fixed set of modulation and coding schemes for the second packet, a fixed error checking scheme for the second packet (see Table 1, CRC field includes CRS for detecting an error of an PPDU on the receiver side), a fixed number of data symbols in the second packet, or a fixed resource unit size for transmission of the second packet.
Regarding claim 12, Chun discloses wherein the data portion is one or more of unscrambled (see para. 0653, the ACK frame (or BA frame) is piggybacked in the UL MU frame with UL data is not scrambled), scrambled using a same scrambling seed associated with the first packet, or scrambled using a scrambling seed indicated by the first packet.
Regarding claim 13, Chun discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a wireless access point (AP), comprising: a processing system that includes one or more processors and one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors, the processing system configured to cause the apparatus (see Fig. 1, para. 0026, an access point (AP) includes an RF unit, a processor…and it is well known in this art an AP has memories coupled to the processor) to: transmit a first packet, the first packet triggering transmission of feedback information from at least a first wireless station according to a defined feedback packet format (see para. 0016, where the DL MU PPDU includes a trigger frame including trigger information for an uplink (UL) MU transmission and a DL MU frame, Fig. 38(b) shows the UL MU packet format with BA frame with UL data); and receive a second packet according to the defined feedback packet format in response to transmitting the first packet, the second packet beginning with a short training field and a long training field, the second packet including the feedback information within a data portion that is directly subsequent to the short training field and the long training field and occupies a same set of frequency domain tones as the short training field and the long training field (see para. 0024, 0653, …may perform the UL MU transmission by piggybacking an ACK frame (or BA frame) in response to the received DL MU frame in the UL MU frame generated based on the received trigger information, Fig. 38(b) shows the BA frame (ex: feedback information) with UL data is directly subsequent to the short training field (STF) and the long training field (LTF) and they occupied the 20 MHz frequency domain).
Regarding claim 14, Chun discloses wherein the second packet is received according to a fixed transmission mode associated with the defined feedback packet format (see Table 1, CRC field includes CRS for detecting an error (ex: fixed transmission mode) of an PPDU on the receiver side, Fig. 38(b) shows the UL MU packet format with BA frame with UL data).
Regarding claim 15, Chun discloses wherein the fixed transmission mode includes one or more of: a fixed set of modulation and coding schemes for the second packet, a fixed error checking scheme for the second packet (see Table 1, CRC field includes CRS for detecting an error of an PPDU on the receiver side), a fixed number of data symbols in the second packet, or a fixed resource unit size for transmission of the second packet.
Regarding claim 20, Chun discloses wherein the first packet is of a trigger packet format dedicated to requesting feedback via packets comprising the defined feedback packet format (see para. 0016, where the DL MU PPDU includes a trigger frame including trigger information (ex: request feedback) for an uplink (UL) MU transmission and a DL MU frame, Fig. 38(b) shows the UL MU packet format with BA frame with UL data in response to the trigger frame request).
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.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chun et al. (Pub. No.: US 2017/0279864; hereinafter Chun) in view of Cariou et al. (Pub. No.: US 2018/0054240; hereinafter Cariou).
Chun does not disclose the claimed features as recited in claim 8.
Regarding claim 8, Cariou discloses wherein the processing system is configured to cause the apparatus to receive, via the first packet, a user information field, the second packet being transmitted according to the defined feedback packet format in accordance with the user information field indicating the wireless station (see para. 0084, 0087, a new type of trigger frame for soliciting short feedback from STAs with UL MU NDPs…The common info field and per user info fields of a trigger frame for short feedback with UL MU NDP (referred to as a short feedback trigger frame) may include information relating to: 1) the types of feedbacks that will be requested, 2) the identification of the STAs that can answer).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Chun, and have the features, as taught by Cariou, in order to provide full flexibility for the different types of feedbacks that may be transmitted by the STAs, as discussed by Cariou (para. 0087).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 7 and 16 – 19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Anh Ngoc M Nguyen whose telephone number is (571) 270-5139. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday, from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang Bin Yao can be reached on ((571) 272-3182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANH NGOC M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473