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 .
In the response to Election/Restriction requirement filed 3/31/2026: Applicant elects without traverse invention I, claims 1-8 and 15-17, and withdraws claims 9-14 and 18-20 of invention II.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/14/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Referring to the argument of independent claims 1 and 15: Attorney argues on page 7 line 20 to page 8 line 7 wherein Kang et al do not disclose the claimed “… a Tpcs interval during which other wireless devices are allowed to preempt transmission of the first wireless device”. Attorney argues that the PCS in Kang et al is not a time interval or a time range, but rather a signal size. Kang et al disclose in Figure 3 and Section 0053 wherein “If the shared channel is in an idle state, a random value is selected between 0 and cw_ (current contention window size), and then a backoff timer is started (Started state). The time taken while the backoff timer operates refers to a backoff period. During the backoff period, data transmission of the sender node may be delayed due to a large number of contention nodes in the wireless network. That is, the state of the shared channel is changed to a backoff busy (paused) state if another contention node in the PCS range transmits data during the backoff period, i.e., if the state of a wireless medium is not in an idle state.”. During the backoff busy/paused state, another contention node in the PCS range transmits data and preempts the sender node from transmitting data. The backoff busy/paused state is an interval of time in the backoff period that depends on the PCS range (claimed “Tpcs interval”). Although the PCS range is a PCS threshold used for determining whether a channel is in use (Section 0031: “If the size of a received signal is greater than a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the wireless channel is in use, and thus, another transmission between nodes is inhibited.”), the PCS threshold determines when the state of the shared channel is changed to a backoff busy/paused state for another contention node in the PCS range to transmit data during the backoff period. So, the PCS range of the backoff busy/paused state reads on the claimed “Tpcs interval”). If the size of a received signal is greater than the PCS threshold, it is determined that the channel is in use and enters a backoff busy/paused state for an interval of time, during which another contention node in the PCS range transmits data and preempts the sender node from transmitting data.
Referring to the argument of independent claims 1 and 15: Attorney argues on page 8 lines 8-17 that Kang et al disclose a contention mechanism wherein wireless devices contend with each other to start transmitting, and not a preemption mechanism of interrupting an already-started transmission, as claimed. However, the claim does not claim a preemption mechanism of interrupting an already-started transmission. Claims 1 and 15 claim “… a Tpcs interval during which other wireless devices are allowed to preempt transmission of the first wireless device”. The claim does not claim that the other wireless devices preempt an already-started transmission of the first wireless device. “Preempt” means taking an action to prevent an event from occurring, which reads on the other wireless devices preventing the first wireless device from starting to transmit data, as claimed by Kang et al.
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, 8, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No. 20100008226 to Kang et al in view of U.S. Publication No. 20240340950 to Hwang et al.
Referring to claim 1, Kang et al disclose in Figure 1-8 a method performed by a first wireless device (sender node) in a wireless network to transmit differential packets to allow … transmission, the method comprising:
Wirelessly transmitting a plurality of packets to a second wireless device (receiver node) using a xIFS interval (DIFS), wherein the xIFS interval comprises a sIFS (DIFS) interval that is used in the wireless network and a Tpcs (pcs) interval during which other wireless devices are allowed to preempt transmission of the first wireless device. Figure 3 and Section 0053: a sender node having packets to be sent to a receiver monitors a shared channel to determine whether data may be transmitted during a DIFS (claimed “a sIFS interval”). If the shared channel is in an idle state, a backoff timer with a backoff period is started. During the backoff period, data transmission of the sender node may be delayed because of other contention nodes. The state of the shared channel is changed to a backoff busy/paused state if another contention node in the PCS range (claimed “Tpcs interval”) transmits data during the backoff period, i.e., if the state of a wireless medium is not in an idle state. If the shared channel is in an idle state, as a result of monitoring the shared channel during the DIFS, the state of the shared channel is changed to a backoff resumed state. The PCS range reads on the claimed “Tpcs interval” since during the PCS range, other contention nodes can transmit data instead of the sender node, thereby preempting data transmission of the sender node since the data transmission of the sender node is delayed because of the other contention nodes. If contention nodes have no data transmission during the DIFS, the sender node can perform data transmission during the DIFS (claimed “wirelessly transmitting a plurality of packets to a second wireless device using a xIFS interval”). Refer to Sections 0027-0085.
Kang et al do not disclose a method performed by a first wireless device in a wireless network to transmit differential PPDUs to allow low latency transmission, the method comprising: wirelessly transmitting a plurality of PPDUs to a second wireless device using a xIFS interval …
Hwang et al disclose in Figures 1-14 wherein nodes transmit and receive PPDUs with other nodes (Sections 0095-0100, 0105-0114, 0123-0124, 0132-0134, 0142-0143, and 0152), which can include low latency PPDU transmissions (Sections 0004 and 0028), and wherein PPDCH transmissions occurs using a SIFS (Sections 0084, 0106, 0112, 0122-0124, 0132-0134, and 0141-0143) or RIFS (Section 0106). Refer to Sections 0043-0169. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a method performed by a first wireless device in a wireless network to transmit differential PPDUs to allow low latency transmission, the method comprising: wirelessly transmitting a plurality of PPDUs to a second wireless device using a xIFS interval … One would have been motivated to do so since nodes transmit and receive PPDUs which are basic units of data transmission, including low latency PPDUs to accommodate low latency, high priority data.
Referring to claim 8, Kang et al do not disclose wherein the sIFS interval is a SIFS interval or a RIFS interval.
Hwang et al disclose in Figures 1-14 wherein nodes transmit and receive PPDUs with other nodes, wherein PPDCH transmissions occurs using a SIFS (Sections 0084, 0106, 0112, 0122-0124, 0132-0134, and 0141-0143) or RIFS (Section 0106). Refer to Sections 0043-0169. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the sIFS interval is a SIFS interval or a RIFS interval. One would have been motivated to do since a SIFS is the time required for a node to process a received frame and to respond with a response frame, thereby improving frame acknowledgement, and RIFS reduces the interframe space between consecutive frames, thereby allowing for faster transmission.
Referring to claim 15, Kang et al disclose in Figures 1-8 a first wireless device (sender node) to operate in a wireless network, the first wireless device comprising:
A radio frequency transceiver (data transmitting unit 240 for wirelessly transmitting and receiving data).
A memory device (memory of Section 0028) storing a set of instructions.
A processor (processor of Section 0028) coupled to the memory device, wherein the set of instructions when executed by the processor causes the wireless device to (processor executes instructions stored in memory to perform sender node functions):
Wirelessly transmit, using the radio frequency transceiver, a plurality of packets to a second wireless device (receiver node) using a xIFS interval (DIFS), wherein the xIFS interval comprises a sIFS (DIFS) interval that is used in the wireless network and a Tpcs interval during which other wireless devices are allowed to preempt transmission of the first wireless device. Figure 3 and Section 0053: a sender node having packets to be sent to a receiver monitors a shared channel to determine whether data may be transmitted during a DIFS (claimed “a sIFS interval”). If the shared channel is in an idle state, a backoff timer with a backoff period is started. During the backoff period, data transmission of the sender node may be delayed because of other contention nodes. The state of the shared channel is changed to a backoff busy/paused state if another contention node in the PCS range (claimed “Tpcs interval”) transmits data during the backoff period, i.e., if the state of a wireless medium is not in an idle state. If the shared channel is in an idle state, as a result of monitoring the shared channel during the DIFS, the state of the shared channel is changed to a backoff resumed state. The PCS range reads on the claimed “Tpcs interval” since during the PCS range, other contention nodes can transmit data instead of the sender node, thereby preempting data transmission of the sender node since the data transmission of the sender node is delayed because of the other contention nodes. If contention nodes have no data transmission during the DIFS, the sender node can perform data transmission during the DIFS (claimed “wirelessly transmitting a plurality of packets to a second wireless device using a xIFS interval”). Refer to Sections 0027-0085.
Kang et al do not disclose … wirelessly transmit, using the radio frequency transceiver, a plurality of PPDUs to a second wireless device using a xIFS interval …
Hwang et al disclose in Figures 1-14 wherein nodes transmit and receive PPDUs with other nodes (Sections 0095-0100, 0105-0114, 0123-0124, 0132-0134, 0142-0143, and 0152), which can include low latency PPDU transmissions (Sections 0004 and 0028), and wherein PPDCH transmissions occurs using a SIFS (Sections 0084, 0106, 0112, 0122-0124, 0132-0134, and 0141-0143) or RIFS (Section 0106). Refer to Sections 0043-0169. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include … wirelessly transmit, using the radio frequency transceiver, a plurality of PPDUs to a second wireless device using a xIFS interval … One would have been motivated to do so since nodes transmit and receive PPDUs which are basic units of data transmission, including low latency PPDUs to accommodate low latency, high priority data.
Claims 2 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No. 20100008226 to Kang et al in view of U.S. Publication No. 20240340950 to Hwang et al, and in further view of U.S. Publication No. 20250358685 to Dong et al.
Referring to claim 2, Kang et al and Hwang et al do not disclose further comprising: responsive to determining that the first wireless device has low latency data to transmit to a third wireless device, wirelessly transmitting a preempting PPDU that includes the low latency data to the third wireless device between transmission of two of the plurality of PPDUs.
Dong et al disclose in Figures 1-8 and Sections 0027, 0036, 0063, 0080, 0075, 0086, 0107, 0118, 0127, 0134, and 0143 wherein a low-latency packet is transmitted between two non-low-latency packets, thereby allowing the low-latency packet to preempt the non-low-latency packets. Refer to Sections 0017-0164. Although Dong et al do not disclose “PPDUs”, Hwang et al disclose wherein nodes transmit and receive PPDUs with other nodes (Sections 0095-0100, 0105-0114, 0123-0124, 0132-0134, 0142-0143, and 0152), which can include low latency PPDU transmissions (Sections 0004 and 0028). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include further comprising: responsive to determining that the first wireless device has low latency data to transmit to a third wireless device, wirelessly transmitting a preempting PPDU that includes the low latency data to the third wireless device between transmission of two of the plurality of PPDUs. One would have been motivated to do so to ensure that the low latency data is transmitted and preempts other lower priority data by transmitting the low latency data in between lower priority data.
Referring to claim 16, refer to the rejection of claim 2.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No. 20100008226 to Kang et al in view of U.S. Publication No. 20240340950 to Hwang et al in view of U.S. Publication No. 20070291702 to Nanba et al, and in further view of U.S. Patent No. 10944447 to Kerselaers et al.
Kang et al and Hwang et al do not disclose further comprising: identifying a first subchannel of a plurality of subchannels that has a lowest … among the plurality of subchannels, wherein the plurality of PPDUs is transmitted in the first subchannel.
Nanba et al disclose in Figures 1-51 and Sections 0235, 0259, 0268, 0270, 0271, 0273, and 0274 wherein when there are two or more sub-channels that can be used for data allocation for data transmission, allocation is carried out in the order from the sub-channel with the lowest SINR. Data is then transmitted in the allocated slots of the sub-channel with the lowest SINR. SIR is also another channel quality parameter. Refer to Sections 0123-0276. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include further comprising: identifying a first subchannel of a plurality of subchannels that has a lowest … among the plurality of subchannels, wherein the plurality of PPDUs is transmitted in the first subchannel. One would have been motivated to do so allow use of the subchannel with the lowest SINR to utilize all bandwidth including subchannels with poor SINR.
Kang et al, Hwang et al, and Nanba et al do not disclose further comprising: identifying a first subchannel of a plurality of subchannels that has a lowest SNR among the plurality of subchannels, wherein the plurality of PPDUs is transmitted in the first subchannel.
Kerselaers et al disclose in Figures 1-6 and Column 8 lines 10-21 wherein there are a plurality of subchannels, including a subchannel with the highest SNR and a subchannel with the lowest SNR. Refer to Column 3 line 43 and Column 10 line 35. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include further comprising: identifying a first subchannel of a plurality of subchannels that has a lowest SNR among the plurality of subchannels, wherein the plurality of PPDUs is transmitted in the first subchannel. One would have been motivated to do so allow use of the subchannel with the lowest SNR to utilize all bandwidth including subchannels with poor SNR.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No. 20100008226 to Kang et al in view of U.S. Publication No. 20240340950 to Hwang et al in view of U.S. Publication No. 20070217352 to Kwon et al, and in further view of U.S. Publication No. 20080225799 to Lee et al.
Kang et al and Hwang et al do not disclose wherein each of the plurality of PPDUs includes a
PPDU end indication … to allow other wireless devices to preempt transmission of the first wireless device without waiting for the xIFS interval.
Kwon et al do not disclose in Figures 1-9 and Sections 0006, 0008, and 0014 wherein a PPDU includes a CF-End frame that indicates that the medium is available; the node which receives the CF-End frame immediately participates in the contention for medium access without having to wait until the EIFS time elapses. Refer to Sections 0004-0015 and 0035-0050. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein each of the plurality of PPDUs includes a PPDU end indication … to allow other wireless devices to preempt transmission of the first wireless device without waiting for the xIFS interval. One would have been motivated to do so that a node can preempt the resources upon receiving an end indication without waiting for the EIFS interval, thereby saving time.
Kang et al, Hwang et al, and Kwon et al do not disclose wherein each of the plurality of PPDUs includes a PPDU end indication and padding following the PPDU end indication to allow other wireless
devices to preempt transmission of the first wireless device without waiting for the xIFS interval.
Lee et al disclose in Figures 1-7 and Sections 0006-0007 wherein a packet comprises an end indicator 113 followed by padding. Refer to Sections 0006-0026 and 0046-0083. Although Lee et al do not disclose “PPDUs”, Hwang et al disclose wherein nodes transmit and receive PPDUs with other nodes (Sections 0095-0100, 0105-0114, 0123-0124, 0132-0134, 0142-0143, and 0152). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein each of the plurality of PPDUs includes a PPDU end indication and padding following the PPDU end indication to allow other wireless devices to preempt transmission of the first wireless device without waiting for the xIFS interval. One would have been motivated to do so to including padding at the end of a packet, thereby providing for error detection and correction and ensuring minimum frame size.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No. 20100008226 to Kang et al in view of U.S. Publication No. 20240340950 to Hwang et al in view of U.S. Publication No. 20070217352 to Kwon et al in view of U.S. Publication No. 20080225799 to Lee et al in view of U.S. Publication No. 20160119046 to Trainin et al, and in further view of U.S. Publication No. 20110310811 to Yamada.
Kang et al, Hwang et al, Kwon et al, and Lee et al do not disclose wherein the PPDU end indication includes information regarding which wireless device is allowed to preempt the transmission of the first wireless device.
Trainin et al disclose in Figures 1-6 and Sections 0172, 0203, and 0228 wherein sender device transmits a CF-End frame to a receiver device. A receiver device receiving the CF-End frame is allowed contend for the wireless media to preempt data transmission. So, the CF-End frame includes information indicating that the receiver node is allowed to preempt data transmission. Refer to Sections 0012-0241. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the PPDU end indication includes information regarding which wireless device is allowed to preempt the transmission of the first wireless device. One would have been motivated to do so to indicate to receiver node that it is allowed to perform preemption, thereby facilitating preemption and ensuring higher priority data is communicated.
Kang et al, Hwang et al, Kwon et al, and Lee et al, and Trainin et al do not disclose wherein the PPDU end indication includes information regarding which wireless devices are allowed to preempt the transmission of the first wireless device.
Yamada et al disclose in Figures 1-9 and Section 0030 wherein BS sends a contention based grant to one or more UEs; the contention based grant indicates that the one or more UEs are permitted to attempt a contention based transmission on the shared channel. Refer to Sections 0013-0092. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the PPDU end indication includes information regarding which wireless devices are allowed to preempt the transmission of the first wireless device. One would have been motivated to do so to indicate which receiver nodes are allowed to perform preemption, thereby facilitating preemption and ensuring higher priority data is communicated.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5, and 17 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Publication No. 20140307658 to Vedantham et al disclose in Figures 1-10 and Sections 0045, 0048, 0052, and 0059 wherein a PCS operation determines whether a given communication channel is idle and if so, the node may transmit a packet; and wherein intervals between frames on the channel are IFS, a CIFS occurs after the end of the previous transmission, and RIFS is the time between the end of a transmission and the start of its associated response. Refer to Sections 0023-0082.
U.S. Publication No. 20030103521 to Raphaeli et al disclose in Figures 1-38 and Sections 0039-0040, 0144, 0167, 0193-0196, 0203-0214, and 0261-0264 wherein medium sharing is performed using PCS and IFS; where CIFS is the space between the end of the previous session and the start of the new contention period, RIFS is the time between the end of a frame transmission and the start of its associated response, and EIFS is for conditions when the station does not have complete knowledge of the state of the medium. Refer to Sections 0092-0264.
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 CHRISTINE Y NG whose telephone number is (571)272-3124. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 12pm-9pm.
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/Christine Ng/
Examiner, AU 2464
July 21, 2026
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