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
Applicant’s amendments with respect to the specification have been fully considered. The
objection of the specification has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s amendments with respect to claim 20 have been fully considered. The objection of claim 20 has been withdrawn
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 14 and 20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Claims 1, 14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 (See 103 rejection of claims 14 and 20 below).
Claim Objections
Claim 1, 14 and 20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 1, line 7, “SIFS” should read “short interframe space (SIFS)”.
In claim 1, line 13, “SIFS” should read “the SIFS”.
In claim 14, line 10, “SIFS” should read “short interframe space (SIFS)”.
In claim 14, line 16, “SIFS” should read “the SIFS”.
In claim 20, line 10, “SIFS” should read “short interframe space (SIFS)”.
In claim 20, line 17, “SIFS” should read “the SIFS”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1, 2, 15, 14, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20210194659 A1 (hereinafter Sevin), in view of US20220021418 (hereinafter Chu).
Regarding claim 14, Sevin teaches An access point (AP), comprising (Sevin AP 100 (coordinator
AP) in Fig. 1, [0051] The illustrated network environment comprises an enhanced multiple EHT AP coordination system 100. The system contains three neighbouring APs 110, 130 and 150 implementing the multi-AP technology.
[0054] AP 100 has taken a role of coordinator for initiating a multi-AP transmission. APs 130
and 150 are referred to as coordinated APs.):
a memory (Sevin [0179] FIG. 17 schematically illustrates a communication device 1700 of the radio network 100, configured to implement at least one embodiment of the present invention.
[0181] a read only memory 1707, denoted ROM, for storing computer programs for implementing the invention; The communication device 1700 comprises: [0182] a random-access memory 1712, denoted RAM, for storing the executable code of methods according to embodiments of the invention.);
a transceiver (Sevin [0183] at least one communication interface 1702 connected to the radio communication network 100 over which digital data packets or frames or control frames are transmitted, for example a wireless communication network according to the 802.11ax/be protocols. The frames are written from a FIFO sending memory in RAM 1712 to the network interface for transmission or are read from the network interface for reception and writing into a FIFO receiving memory in RAM 1712); and
a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver; wherein the processor is configured to (Sevin [0180] a central processing unit 1711, such as a microprocessor, denoted CPU. [0183] The frames are written from a FIFO sending memory in RAM 1712 to the network interface for transmission or are read from the network interface for reception and writing into a FIFO receiving memory in RAM 1712 under the control of a software application running in the CPU 1711.):
transmit, by the AP as a sharing AP to a shared AP, a trigger frame to solicit an extremely high throughput (EHT) multi-user (MU) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) transmission from the shared AP in a multi-AP coordinated downlink (DL) transmission (Sevin title: METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COORDINATING MULTI-USER MULTI-ACCESS POINT TRNSMISSIONS
[0005] Typically, a Multi-AP coordination scheme is based on a coordinated OFDMA scheme/sharing wherein coordinated EHT APs synchronise their data transmissions, and use orthogonal time/frequency resources. The set of the collaborating EHT APs is referred to as Multi-AP group and a notion of coordinator/coordinated AP is introduced in order to operate a Multi-AP transmission. Basically, the coordinator AP is the EHT AP of the Multi-AP group that gains the medium access right for a given time (TXOP) on a given channel. The coordinator AP may then share time/frequency resources within the given time period between coordinated APs of the Multi-AP group. A coordinated AP schedules then downlink (DL) and/or uplink (UL) transmissions.
[0095] MU PPDU transmission.
[0067] FIG. 4 illustrates the coordinated APs sharing initialization phase 400 which can be operated in an enhanced multiple AP coordination system, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0068] First, the coordinator AP indicates/signals to coordinated APs that it gained the medium over the channel COORD_CHANNELS for a duration COORD_TXOP and is ready to initiate a multi-AP transmission. It is performed by the sending of a frame 410 referred to as COORD_AP_SETUP_REQ.
[0147] FIG. 13 illustrates the general steps performed by a coordinated AP at a reception of COORD_AP_SETUP_REQ soliciting a response, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0148] At the reception of a COORD_AP_SETUP_REQ soliciting a response (step 1300), an EHT decides or not whether it has the intention to participate or not.
[0074] the frame COORD_AP_SETUP_REQ 410 is a non-HT DUP Trigger frame with a dedicated subfield indicating that it is a frame sent by an AP coordinator for initiating a multi-AP transmission. A frame format according to one implementation is described with reference to FIG. 6.
[0087] FIG. 6 illustrates a frame format relative to the frame COORD_AP_SETUP_REQ based on a non-HT DUP Trigger frame, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0088] A trigger frame contains several fields and in particular it includes a single Common Info field and a plurality of User Info fields.
Note: coordinator AP is the sharing AP; coordinated AP is the shared AP.),
Sevin does not explicitly teach wherein the shared AP transmits an EHT MU PPDU to at least one station (STA) within SIFS of receipt of the trigger frame; and transmit, by the AP as the sharing AP, another EHT MU PPDU within SIFS of transmission of the trigger frame.
Chu in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches wherein the shared AP transmits an EHT MU PPDU to at least one station (STA) within SIFS of receipt of the trigger frame (Chu title COORDINATED MULTI-USER TRANSMISSIONS WITH MULTIPLE ACCESS POINTS
[0031] FIG. 1A is a diagram of an example communication system 10 that includes multiple WLANs, including a WLAN 20 and a WLAN 30.
[0032] The WLAN 20 comprises an AP 34 and a plurality of client stations 38. The AP 34 acts as a master AP that coordinates synchronized transmissions in respective WLANs, as will be described in more detail below. For example, the master AP 34 transmits instructions, information, etc., regarding a C-OFDMA transmission to one or more slave APs, according to some embodiments.
[0033] The WLAN 30 comprises an AP 44 and a plurality of client stations 48. The AP 44 acts as a slave AP that participates in a C-OFDMA transmission coordinated by the master AP 34.
[0041] In various embodiments, the MAC processor 126 and/or the PHY processor 130 of the AP 114 are configured to generate data units, and process received data units, that conform to a WLAN communication protocol. The PHY processor 130 is configured to receive MAC layer data units from the MAC processor 126 and encapsulate the MAC layer data units to generate PHY data units such as PHY protocol data units (PPDUs) for transmission via the antennas 138, according to some embodiments.
[0169] The C-OFDMA-A frame is transmitted in a PPDU that conforms to the IEEE 802.11be Standard now under development.
[0003] a new iteration of the IEEE 802.11 Standard, which is referred to as the IEEE 802.11be Standard, or Extremely High Throughput (EHT) WLAN.
Fig. 4; [0014] FIG. 4 is a diagram of another example coordinated MU DL transmission.
[0089] the master AP transmits a C-OFDMA trigger frame 420 to prompt the slave AP(s) 44 to transmit as part of the C-OFDMA transmission 208.
[0092] A defined time period after an end of transmission of the C-OFDMA trigger frame 420 (or after an end of transmission of the packet that includes the C-OFDMA trigger frame 420), the master AP and one or more slave APs transmit as part of the DL C-OFDMA transmission 208. In an embodiment, the defined time period is SIFS as defined by the IEEE 802.11 Standard. In other embodiments, the defined time period is a suitable time period different than SIFS.
Note: master AP is the sharing AP; slave AP is the shared AP.
As shown in Fig. 4, DL C-OFDMA transmission 208 includes DL OFDMA transmission 212 (to client stations of slave AP).
When the defined time period is a suitable time period different than SIFS, for example less than SIFS, DL C-OFDMA transmission 212 to a client station from slave AP is within SIFS of receipt of the trigger frame.
DL C-OFDMA transmission 212 is an EHT MU PPDU per [0014], [0041], [0003] and [0169] cited above.); and
transmit, by the AP as the sharing AP, another EHT MU PPDU within SIFS of transmission of the trigger frame (Chu [0089] the master AP transmits a C-OFDMA trigger frame 420 to prompt the slave AP(s) 44 to transmit as part of the C-OFDMA transmission 208.
[0092] A defined time period after an end of transmission of the C-OFDMA trigger frame 420 (or after an end of transmission of the packet that includes the C-OFDMA trigger frame 420), the master AP and one or more slave APs transmit as part of the DL C-OFDMA transmission 208. In an embodiment, the defined time period is SIFS as defined by the IEEE 802.11 Standard. In other embodiments, the defined time period is a suitable time period different than SIFS.
Note: master AP is the sharing AP; slave AP is the shared AP.
As shown in Fig. 4, DL C-OFDMA transmission 208 includes DL OFDMA transmission 216 (to client stations of master AP).
When the defined time period is a suitable time period different than SIFS, for example less than SIFS, DL C-OFDMA transmission 216 to a client station from master AP is within SIFS of transmission of the trigger frame.
DL C-OFDMA transmission 216 is an EHT MU PPDU per [0014], [0041], [0003] and [0169] cited above).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Sevin with Chu’s above teachings. The motivation is supporting coordination of multiple access points in multiple wireless local area networks (Chu [0002]).
Claim 1 recites similar limitations of claim 14, is thus rejected under similar rational.
Regarding claim 20, Sevin teaches An access point (AP), comprising (Sevin AP 130 (coordinated
AP) in Fig. 1, [0051] The illustrated network environment comprises an enhanced multiple EHT AP coordination system 100. The system contains three neighbouring APs 110, 130 and 150 implementing the multi-AP technology.
[0054] AP 100 has taken a role of coordinator for initiating a multi-AP transmission. APs 130
and 150 are referred to as coordinated APs.):
a memory (Sevin [0179] FIG. 17 schematically illustrates a communication device 1700 of the radio network 100, configured to implement at least one embodiment of the present invention.
[0181] a read only memory 1707, denoted ROM, for storing computer programs for
implementing the invention; The communication device 1700 comprises: [0182] a random-access memory 1712, denoted RAM, for storing the executable code of methods according to embodiments of the invention);
a transceiver (Sevin [0183] at least one communication interface 1702 connected to the radio
communication network 100 over which digital data packets or frames or control frames are transmitted, for example a wireless communication network according to the 802.11ax/be protocols. The frames are written from a FIFO sending memory in RAM 1712 to the network interface for transmission or are read from the network interface for reception and writing into a FIFO receiving memory in RAM 1712.); and
a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver; wherein the processor is configured to
(Sevin [0180] a central processing unit 1711, such as a microprocessor, denoted CPU. [0183] The frames are written from a FIFO sending memory in RAM 1712 to the network interface for transmission or are read from the network interface for reception and writing into a FIFO receiving memory in RAM 1712 under the control of a software application running in the CPU 1711.):
receive, by the AP as a shared AP, from another AP as a sharing AP, a trigger frame which is used to solicit an extremely high throughput (EHT) multi-user (MU) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) transmission from one or more shared APs including the AP in a multi-AP coordinated downlink (DL) transmission (Sevin title: METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COORDINATING MULTI-USER MULTI-ACCESS POINT TRNSMISSIONS
[0005] Typically, a Multi-AP coordination scheme is based on a coordinated OFDMA scheme/sharing wherein coordinated EHT APs synchronise their data transmissions, and use orthogonal time/frequency resources. The set of the collaborating EHT APs is referred to as Multi-AP group and a notion of coordinator/coordinated AP is introduced in order to operate a Multi-AP transmission. Basically, the coordinator AP is the EHT AP of the Multi-AP group that gains the medium access right for a given time (TXOP) on a given channel. The coordinator AP may then share time/frequency resources within the given time period between coordinated APs of the Multi-AP group. A coordinated AP schedules then downlink (DL) and/or uplink (UL) transmissions.
[0095] MU PPDU transmission.
[0067] FIG. 4 illustrates the coordinated APs sharing initialization phase 400 which can be operated in an enhanced multiple AP coordination system, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0068] First, the coordinator AP indicates/signals to coordinated APs that it gained the medium over the channel COORD_CHANNELS for a duration COORD_TXOP and is ready to initiate a multi-AP transmission. It is performed by the sending of a frame 410 referred to as COORD_AP_SETUP_REQ.
[0147] FIG. 13 illustrates the general steps performed by a coordinated AP at a reception of COORD_AP_SETUP_REQ soliciting a response, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0148] At the reception of a COORD_AP_SETUP_REQ soliciting a response (step 1300), an EHT decides or not whether it has the intention to participate or not.
[0074] the frame COORD_AP_SETUP_REQ 410 is a non-HT DUP Trigger frame with a dedicated subfield indicating that it is a frame sent by an AP coordinator for initiating a multi-AP transmission. A frame format according to one implementation is described with reference to FIG. 6.
[0087] FIG. 6 illustrates a frame format relative to the frame COORD_AP_SETUP_REQ based on a non-HT DUP Trigger frame, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0088] A trigger frame contains several fields and in particular it includes a single Common Info field and a plurality of User Info fields.
Note: coordinator AP is the sharing AP; coordinated AP is the shared AP.),
Sevin does not explicitly teach wherein the sharing AP transmits an EHT MU PPDU within SIFS of transmission of the trigger frame; and transmit, by the AP as the shared AP, another EHT MU PPDU to at least one station (STA) within SIFS of receipt of the trigger frame.
Chu in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches wherein the sharing AP transmits an EHT MU PPDU within SIFS of transmission of the trigger frame (Chu title COORDINATED MULTI-USER TRANSMISSIONS WITH MULTIPLE ACCESS POINTS
[0031] FIG. 1A is a diagram of an example communication system 10 that includes multiple WLANs, including a WLAN 20 and a WLAN 30.
[0032] The WLAN 20 comprises an AP 34 and a plurality of client stations 38. The AP 34 acts as a master AP that coordinates synchronized transmissions in respective WLANs, as will be described in more detail below. For example, the master AP 34 transmits instructions, information, etc., regarding a C-OFDMA transmission to one or more slave APs, according to some embodiments.
[0033] The WLAN 30 comprises an AP 44 and a plurality of client stations 48. The AP 44 acts as a slave AP that participates in a C-OFDMA transmission coordinated by the master AP 34.
[0041] In various embodiments, the MAC processor 126 and/or the PHY processor 130 of the AP 114 are configured to generate data units, and process received data units, that conform to a WLAN communication protocol. The PHY processor 130 is configured to receive MAC layer data units from the MAC processor 126 and encapsulate the MAC layer data units to generate PHY data units such as PHY protocol data units (PPDUs) for transmission via the antennas 138, according to some embodiments.
[0169] The C-OFDMA-A frame is transmitted in a PPDU that conforms to the IEEE 802.11be Standard now under development.
[0003] a new iteration of the IEEE 802.11 Standard, which is referred to as the IEEE 802.11be Standard, or Extremely High Throughput (EHT) WLAN.
Fig. 4; [0014] FIG. 4 is a diagram of another example coordinated MU DL transmission.
[0089] the master AP transmits a C-OFDMA trigger frame 420 to prompt the slave AP(s) 44 to transmit as part of the C-OFDMA transmission 208.
[0092] A defined time period after an end of transmission of the C-OFDMA trigger frame 420 (or after an end of transmission of the packet that includes the C-OFDMA trigger frame 420), the master AP and one or more slave APs transmit as part of the DL C-OFDMA transmission 208. In an embodiment, the defined time period is SIFS as defined by the IEEE 802.11 Standard. In other embodiments, the defined time period is a suitable time period different than SIFS.
Note: master AP is the sharing AP; slave AP is the shared AP.
As shown in Fig. 4, DL C-OFDMA transmission 208 includes DL OFDMA transmission 216 (to client stations of master AP).
When the defined time period is a suitable time period different than SIFS, for example less than SIFS, DL C-OFDMA transmission 216 to a client station from master AP is within SIFS of transmission of the trigger frame.
DL C-OFDMA transmission 216 is an EHT MU PPDU per [0014], [0041], [0003] and [0169] cited above.); and
transmit, by the AP as the shared AP, another EHT MU PPDU to at least one station (STA) within SIFS of receipt of the trigger frame (Chu
[0089] the master AP transmits a C-OFDMA trigger frame 420 to prompt the slave AP(s) 44 to transmit as part of the C-OFDMA transmission 208.
[0092] A defined time period after an end of transmission of the C-OFDMA trigger frame 420 (or after an end of transmission of the packet that includes the C-OFDMA trigger frame 420), the master AP and one or more slave APs transmit as part of the DL C-OFDMA transmission 208. In an embodiment, the defined time period is SIFS as defined by the IEEE 802.11 Standard. In other embodiments, the defined time period is a suitable time period different than SIFS.
Note: master AP is the sharing AP; slave AP is the shared AP.
As shown in Fig. 4, DL C-OFDMA transmission 208 includes DL OFDMA transmission 212 (to client stations of slave AP).
When the defined time period is a suitable time period different than SIFS, for example less than SIFS, DL C-OFDMA transmission 212 to a client station from slave AP is within SIFS of receipt of the trigger frame.
DL C-OFDMA transmission 212 is an EHT MU PPDU per [0014], [0041], [0003] and [0169] cited above.).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Sevin with Chu’s above teachings. The motivation is supporting coordination of multiple access points in multiple wireless local area networks (Chu [0002]).
Regarding claim 2, Sevin in view of Chu (hereinafter combination) teaches The wireless communication method according to claim 1.
Sevin teaches further comprising:
transmitting, by the AP as the sharing AP, a first frame to at least one shared AP to initiate a multi-AP coordination and inquire about respective intention to participate in the multi-AP coordination (Sevin [0068] First, the coordinator AP indicates/signals to coordinated APs that it gained the medium over the channel COORD_CHANNELS for a duration COORD_TXOP and is ready to initiate a multi-AP transmission. It is performed by the sending of a frame 410 referred to as COORD_AP_SETUP_REQ.
[0074] the coordinator AP1 110 requests APs of the multi-AP group which have the intention to participate to the Multi-AP transmission to send a response. In such a case, a frame COORD_AP_SETUP_RESP 420 is sent by AP2 130 to AP1 110 and a frame COORD_AP_SETUP_RESP 421 is sent by AP3 150 to AP1 110.);
receiving, by the AP as the sharing AP, a second frame from the at least one shared AP; wherein the second frame indicates whether the shared AP transmitting the second frame intends to participate in the multi-AP coordination (Sevin [0147] FIG. 13 illustrates the general steps performed by a coordinated AP at a reception of COORD_AP_SETUP_REQ soliciting a response, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0148] At the reception of a COORD_AP_SETUP_REQ soliciting a response (step 1300), an EHT decides or not whether it has the intention to participate or not.
[0154] At step 1390, the frame COORD_AP_RESP is sent to coordinator AP.).
Claim 15 recites similar limitations of claim 2, is thus rejected under similar rational.
Claim(s) 3 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sevin in view of Chu as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of US 20240259242 A1 (hereinafter Park).
Regarding claim 3, the combination teaches The wireless communication method according to
claim 1.
Although Sevin teaches wherein the trigger frame comprises a common information field, one or more user information fields (Sevin [0088] A trigger frame contains several fields and in particular it includes a single Common Info field and a plurality of User Info fields.
[0089] The single Common Info field contains in particular a 4-bit Trigger Type subfield (the first 4 bits in the Common Info field). The Trigger Type subfield identifies the Trigger frame variant and several Trigger Type subfield values have been defined in the 802.11ax standard. In the version D6.0 of the standard, values between 8 and 15 are reserved and may be used for defining new trigger frame variant.
[0095] the plurality of User Info fields 630 may be used in order to allocate resources for the response of the coordinated APs.); and
a field that indicates a coordinated transmission BW for the multi-AP coordinated DL transmission (Sevin Fig. 2a, [0056] FIG. 2a illustrates a coordinated OFDMA scheme/sharing 200. The coordinator AP shares frequency resource chunks over the channels COORD_CHANNELS with coordinated APs for the entire duration COORD_TXOP. Preferably, a frequency resource chunk is equal to 20 MHz so that an AP may reproduce legacy operations with its associated stations. In the illustrated example, coordinator AP1 (110) allocates for itself resources corresponding to a frequency band 201 (referred to as AP1_COORD_CHANNELS) during a duration (referred to as AP1_COORD_TXOP) equal to COORD_TXOP. Coordinator AP1 (110) also allocates for coordinated AP2 (130) resources corresponding to a frequency band 202 (referred to as AP2_COORD_CHANNELS) during a duration (referred to as AP2_COORD_TXOP) equal to COORD_TXOP, and allocates for coordinated AP3 (150) resources corresponding to a frequency band 203 (referred to as AP3_COORD_CHANNELS) during a duration (referred to as AP3_COORD_TXOP) equal to COORD_TXOP.
[0068] the coordinator AP indicates/signals to coordinated APs that it gained the medium over the channel COORD_CHANNELS for a duration COORD_TXOP and is ready to initiate a multi-AP transmission. It is performed by the sending of a frame 410 referred to as COORD_AP_SETUP_REQ.
[0005] A coordinated AP schedules then downlink (DL) transmissions.).
Sevin does not explicitly teach wherein the trigger frame comprises a special user information field; the common information field is an EHT variant common information field, the one or more user information fields is one or more EHT variant user information fields; and the field is a DL bandwidth (BW) subfield of the EHT variant common information field along with a DL BW extension subfield of the special user information field.
Park in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches wherein the trigger frame comprises a special user information field; the common information field is an EHT variant common information field, the one or more user information fields is one or more EHT variant user information fields (Park [0199] FIG. 14 shows the structure of a trigger frame.
[0200] Referring to FIG. 14, the trigger frame includes a MAC header, a Common Info field, a User Info List field, etc.
[0202] The Common Info field contains common information for each STA and consists of an EHT variant field for triggering an EHT PPDU, as shown in 16.
[0204] FIG. 16 shows the format of an EHT variant Common Info field.
[0231] A Special User Info field, which is a Common Info field for an EHT STA allocated to an EHT PPDU, can always be located after the Common Info field (or in the Trigger Dependent Common Info subfield of the Common Info field), and FIG. 17 shows the format of the Special User Info field.
[0241] The EHT variant User Info field may be located after the Special User Info field.
[0257] The EHT Variant User Info field is a field containing information for the EHT STA allocated to the EHT PPDU among DL A-PPDUs, and FIG. 19 shows the format of the field.);
the field is a DL bandwidth (BW) subfield of the EHT variant common information field along with a DL BW extension subfield of the special user information field (Park [0204] FIG. 16 shows the format of an EHT variant Common Info field.
[0207] Below, each subfield in FIGS. 15 and 16 will be described.
[0213] In the case of a trigger frame indicating information about DL A-PPDU, the UL BW subfield can be reinterpreted as a DL BW subfield.
[0232] FIG. 17 shows an example of a Special User Info field format.
[0235] The UL BW extension subfield can be used as a DL BW extension subfield. When using a new trigger frame variant, the UL BW extension subfield may be changed to the DL BW subfield. Additionally, the Reserved value can be redefined as follows to indicate the BW of the HE PPDU and EHT PPDU of the DL A-PPDU.
PNG
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232
298
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Greyscale
[0236] For example, if the UL BW subfield is 3 and the UL BW Extension subfield is set to 0, the BW of the HE PPDU transmitted within the Primary 160 MHz in the DL APPDU may be 160 MHz, and the BW of the EHT PPDU transmitted within the Secondary 160 MHz may be 80 MHz.
Note: UL BW and UL BW Extension subfields in the Table are reinterpreted as a DL BW and DL BW Extension subfields per [0213] and [0235].).
By modifying Sevin’s teachings of wherein the trigger frame comprises a common information
field, one or more user information fields; and a field that indicates a coordinated transmission BW for the multi-AP coordinated DL transmission
with Park’s teachings of wherein the trigger frame comprises a special user information field; the common information field is an EHT variant common information field, the one or more user information fields is one or more EHT variant user information fields; and the field is a DL bandwidth (BW) subfield of the EHT variant common information field along with a DL BW extension subfield of the special user information field,
the modification results in
wherein the trigger frame comprises an EHT variant common information field, a special user information field, and one or more EHT variant user information fields; wherein a DL bandwidth (BW) subfield of the EHT variant common information field along with a DL BW extension subfield of the special user information field indicates a coordinated transmission BW for the multi-AP coordinated DL transmission.
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Sevin as modified by Chu with Park’s above teachings. The motivation is supporting extreme high throughput with increased bandwidth (Park [0004]).
Claim 16 recites similar limitations of claim 3, is thus rejected under similar rational.
Claim(s) 4, 6 and 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sevin in view of Chu as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of Park and “Draft Standard for Information technology- Telecommunications and information exchange between systems Local and metropolitan area networks Specific requirements; Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications; Amendment 8: Enhancements for extremely high throughput (EHT)”, IEEE Computer Society, IEEE P802.11 be/D1.0, May 2021 (hereinafter P802.11be).
Regarding claim 4, the combination teaches The wireless communication method according
to claim 1.
Sevin does not explicitly teach wherein the trigger frame comprises an EHT variant common information field, a special user information field, and one or more EHT variant user information fields, wherein the EHT variant common information field comprises a DL length subfield which indicates a value of a non-HT signal field (L-SIG) length field of a solicited EHT MU PPDU.
Park in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches wherein the trigger frame comprises an EHT variant common information field, a special user information field, and one or more EHT variant user information fields (Park [0199] FIG. 14 shows the structure of a trigger frame.
[0200] Referring to FIG. 14, the trigger frame includes a MAC header, a Common Info field, a User Info List field, etc.
[0202] The Common Info field contains common information for each STA and consists of an EHT variant field for triggering an EHT PPDU, as shown in 16.
[0204] FIG. 16 shows the format of an EHT variant Common Info field.
[0231] A Special User Info field, which is a Common Info field for an EHT STA allocated to an EHT PPDU, can always be located after the Common Info field (or in the Trigger Dependent Common Info subfield of the Common Info field), and FIG. 17 shows the format of the Special User Info field.
[0241] The EHT variant User Info field may be located after the Special User Info field.
[0257] The EHT Variant User Info field is a field containing information for the EHT STA allocated to the EHT PPDU among DL A-PPDUs, and FIG. 19 shows the format of the field.),
wherein the EHT variant common information field comprises a UL length subfield and the UL length subfield can be used as DL length subfield (Park [0204] FIG. 16 shows the format of an EHT variant Common Info field.
[0210] UL Length subfield can be reinterpreted as the length of DL A-PPDU, basically, it can be set to a value corresponding to the length of the HE PPDU in the DL A-PPDU (that is, the remainder 1 or 2 when divided by 3). Alternatively, it can be set to a value corresponding to the length of the EHT PPDU within the DL A-PPDU (i.e., the remainder is 0 when divided by 3). When using a new Trigger frame variant, the UL Length subfield may be changed to the DL Length subfield.).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination with Park’s above teachings. The motivation is supporting extreme high throughput with increased bandwidth (Park [0004]).
Park does not explicitly teach a UL length subfield which indicates a value of a non-HT signal field (L-SIG) length field of a solicited EHT MU PPDU.
P802.11be in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches a UL length subfield which indicates a value of a non-HT signal field (L-SIG) length field of a solicited EHT MU PPDU (P802.11be page 84, The EHT variant of the Common Info field is defined in Figure 9-64b1 (Common Info field format, EHT variant).
Page 86, The UL Length subfield of the Common Info field indicates the value of the L-SIG LENGTH field of the solicited-HE TB PPDU. The UL Length subfield is set:
As defined in 35.4.2.2.1 (Allowed settings of the Trigger frame fields and TRS Control subfield) if the solicited PPDU is an EHT TB PPDU.).
By modifying the combination
with Park’s teachings of wherein the trigger frame comprises an EHT variant common information field, a special user information field, and one or more EHT variant user information fields,
wherein the EHT variant common information field comprises a UL length subfield and the UL length subfield can be used as DL length subfield
and with P802.11be ’s teachings of a UL length subfield which indicates a value of a non-HT signal field (L-SIG) length field of a solicited EHT MU PPDU
the modification results in
wherein the trigger frame comprises an EHT variant common information field, a special user information field, and one or more EHT variant user information fields, wherein the EHT variant common information field comprises a DL length subfield which indicates a value of a non-HT signal field (L-SIG) length field of a solicited EHT MU PPDU.
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination as modified by Park with P802.11be’s above teachings. The motivation is supporting extreme high throughput (P802.11be page 2).
Claim 18 recites similar limitations of claim 4, is thus rejected under similar rational.
Regarding claim 6, the combination teaches The wireless communication method according to claim 1.
Sevin does not explicitly teach wherein the trigger frame comprises an EHT variant common information field, a special user information field, and one or more EHT variant user information fields, wherein the EHT variant common information field comprises a guard interval (GI) and EHT long training field (EHT-LTF) type subfield, the GI and EHT-LTF type subfield indicating a value of a GI+LTF size subfield of an EHT-SIG field of a solicited EHT MU PPDU; wherein the GI and EHT-LTF type subfield is set to a first value to indicate 2x EHT-LTF + 0.8 ps GI; or the GI and EHT-LTF type subfield is set to a second value to indicate 2x EHT-LTF + 1.6 ps GI; or the GI and EHT-LTF type subfield is set to a third value to indicate 4x EHT-LTF + 3.2 ps GI.
Park in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches wherein the trigger frame comprises an EHT variant common information field, a special user information field, and one or more EHT variant user information fields (Park [0199] FIG. 14 shows the structure of a trigger frame.
[0200] Referring to FIG. 14, the trigger frame includes a MAC header, a Common Info field, a User Info List field, etc.
[0202] The Common Info field contains common information for each STA and consists of an EHT variant field for triggering an EHT PPDU, as shown in 16.
[0204] FIG. 16 shows the format of an EHT variant Common Info field.
[0231] A Special User Info field, which is a Common Info field for an EHT STA allocated to an EHT PPDU, can always be located after the Common Info field (or in the Trigger Dependent Common Info subfield of the Common Info field), and FIG. 17 shows the format of the Special User Info field.
[0241] The EHT variant User Info field may be located after the Special User Info field.
[0257] The EHT Variant User Info field is a field containing information for the EHT STA allocated to the EHT PPDU among DL A-PPDUs, and FIG. 19 shows the format of the field.),
wherein the EHT variant common information field comprises a guard interval (GI) and EHT long training field (EHT-LTF) type subfield, the GI and EHT-LTF type subfield indicating a value of the GI and EHT-LTF type in a PPDU (Park [0204] FIG. 16 shows the format of an EHT variant Common Info field.
[0214] The GI And HE/EHT-LTF Type subfield can indicate the HE/EHT-LTF type and Guard Interval (GI) used in DL A-PPDU transmission.),
wherein the GI and EHT-LTF type subfield is set to a first value to indicate 2x EHT-LTF + 0.8 ps GI; or the GI and EHT-LTF type subfield is set to a second value to indicate 2x EHT-LTF + 1.6 ps GI; or the GI and EHT-LTF type subfield is set to a third value to indicate 4x EHT-LTF + 3.2 ps GI (Park [0214] the value of the GI And HE/EHT-LTF Type subfield can be redefined as follows. [0215] 0: 2×HE/EHT-LTF+0.8 us [0216] 1: 2×HE/EHT-LTF+1.6 us [0217] 2: 4×HE/EHT-LTF+0.8 us [0218] 3: 4×HE/EHT-LTF+3.2 us ).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination with Park’s above teachings. The motivation is supporting extreme high throughput with increased bandwidth (Park [0004]).
Park does not explicitly teach the GI and EHT-LTF type in a PPDU is a GI+LTF size subfield of an EHT-SIG field of a solicited EHT MU PPDU.
P802.11be in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches the GI and EHT-LTF type in a PPDU is a GI+LTF size subfield of an EHT-SIG field of a solicited EHT MU PPDU (P802.11be page 460 36.3.12.8.2 EHT-SIG content channels
The EHT-SIG field of a 20 MHz EHT MU PPDU contains one EHT-SIG
content channel. The For OFDMA transmission and for non-OFDMA transmission to multiple users, the EHT-SIG field of an EHT MU PPDU that is 40 MHz or 80 MHz contains two EHT-SIG content channels.
For OFDMA transmission and for -OEDMA transmission to multiple users, the EHT-SIG field of an MU PPDU that is 160 MHz or wider contains two EHT-SIG content channels per 80 MHz.
The EHT-SIG content channel format are shown in Figure 36-52 to Fig. 36-57 for OFDMA transmission with various bandwidth.
Page 467 36.3.12.8.3 Common field for OFDMA transmission
Table 36-36 Common field for OFDMA transmission
Bit Subfield Description
B4-B5 GI+LTF size Indicates the GI duration and EHT-LTF size.
Set to 0 to indicate 2x LTF + 0.8 μs GL
Set to 1 to indicate 2x LTF + 1.6 us GI.
Set to 2 to indicate 4x LTF + 0.8 us GI.
Set to 3 to indicate 4x LTF + 3.2 μs GL.
Note: EHT MU PPDU contains EHT-SIG field, EHT-SIG field contains EHT-SIG content channel, a EHT-SIG content channel contains a Common field, a Common field contains GI+LTF size subfield.).
By modifying the combination
with Park’s teachings of
wherein the trigger frame comprises an EHT variant common information field, a special user information field, and one or more EHT variant user information fields,
wherein the EHT variant common information field comprises a guard interval (GI) and EHT long training field (EHT-LTF) type subfield, the GI and EHT-LTF type subfield indicating a value of the GI and EHT-LTF type in a PPDU;
wherein the GI and EHT-LTF type subfield is set to a first value to indicate 2x EHT-LTF + 0.8 ps GI; or the GI and EHT-LTF type subfield is set to a second value to indicate 2x EHT-LTF + 1.6 ps GI; or the GI and EHT-LTF type subfield is set to a third value to indicate 4x EHT-LTF + 3.2 ps GI
and P802.11be’s teachings of
the GI and EHT-LTF type in a PPDU is a GI+LTF size subfield of an EHT-SIG field of a solicited EHT MU PPDU
the modification results in
wherein the trigger frame comprises an EHT variant common information field, a special user information field, and one or more EHT variant user information fields, wherein the EHT variant common information field comprises a guard interval (GI) and EHT long training field (EHT-LTF) type subfield, the GI and EHT-LTF type subfield indicating a value of a GI+LTF size subfield of an EHT-SIG field of a solicited EHT MU PPDU; wherein the GI and EHT-LTF type subfield is set to a first value to indicate 2x EHT-LTF + 0.8 ps GI; or the GI and EHT-LTF type subfield is set to a second value to indicate 2x EHT-LTF + 1.6 ps GI; or the GI and EHT-LTF type subfield is set to a third value to indicate 4x EHT-LTF + 3.2 ps GI.
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination as modified by Park with P802.11be’s above teachings. The motivation is supporting extreme high throughput (P802.11be page 2).
Claim 19 recites similar limitations of claim 6, is thus rejected under similar rational.
Claim(s) 5 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sevin in view of Chu and Park as applied to claims 3 and 16 above, and further in view of US 20230163808 A1 (hereinafter Lou).
Regarding claim 5, Sevin in view of Chu and Park teaches The wireless communication method
according to claim 3.
Sevin teaches wherein the coordinated transmission BW is the same as or within operating channel width of the shared APs and the sharing AP (Sevin Fig. 2a; [0056] In the illustrated example, coordinator AP1 (110) allocates for itself resources corresponding to a frequency band 201 (referred to as AP1_COORD_CHANNELS) during a duration (referred to as AP1_COORD_TXOP) equal to COORD_TXOP. Coordinator AP1 (110) also allocates for coordinated AP2 (130) resources corresponding to a frequency band 202 (referred to as AP2_COORD_CHANNELS) during a duration (referred to as AP2_COORD_TXOP) equal to COORD_TXOP, and allocates for coordinated AP3 (150) resources corresponding to a frequency band 203 (referred to as AP3_COORD_CHANNELS) during a duration (referred to as AP3_COORD_TXOP) equal to COORD_TXOP.).
Sevin does not explicitly teach the shared APs are part of a basic service set (BSS) of the sharing AP.
Lou in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches the shared APs are part of a basic service set (BSS) of the sharing AP (Lou [0105] Coordinated multi-AP (C-MAP) transmissions will be supported in IEEE 802.11be.
[0120] a. Sharing AP: A sharing AP is an AP which acquires a channel to start a TXOP and shares the time/frequency resource of the TXOP with other APs. [0121] b. Shared AP: A shared AP is an AP which joins a sharing AP with an TXOP and shares the time/frequency resources of the TXOP. A shared AP may also be termed a joined AP. [0122] c. AP Candidate set: APs may form an AP candidate set for some C-MAP transmissions. The AP candidate set may be identified by an AP candidate set ID. APs in C-MAP transmissions may belong to a subset of an AP candidate set.
[0123] An exemplary C-MAP procedure is shown in FIG. 8. In this example, AP1 may be the sharing AP and start an TXOP. AP1 may ask AP2, AP3 and AP4, which are from an AP candidate set. AP1 may transmit a trigger frame, such as is defined in IEEE 802.11ax, for example, to trigger concurrent DL transmission.
[0134] AP1 and APs in the candidate set may agree to use one value as their candidate set group BSSID when they form the candidate set.).
By modifying Sevin’s teachings of wherein the coordinated transmission BW is the same as or within operating channel width of the shared APs and the sharing AP
with Lou’s teachings of the shared APs are part of a basic service set (BSS) of the sharing AP,
the modification results in
wherein the coordinated transmission BW is the same as or within a basic service set (BSS) operating channel width of the sharing AP.
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Sevin as modified by Chu and Park with Lou’s above teachings. The motivation is improving the efficiency of C-MAP transmission (Lou [0176]).
Claim 17 recites similar limitations of claim 5, is thus rejected under similar rational.
Claim(s) 7 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sevin in view of Chu as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of US 20210127291 A1 (hereinafter Chen).
Regarding claim 7, the combination teaches The wireless communication method according to
claim 1.
Sevin does not explicitly teach wherein U-SIG fields of transmitted EHT MU PPDUs have a same content; and EHT-SIG fields of the transmitted EHT MU PPDUs have a same content.
Chen in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches wherein U-SIG fields of transmitted EHT MU PPDUs have a same content; and EHT-SIG fields of the transmitted EHT MU PPDUs have a same content (Chen [0099] FIG. 10 shows an example PPDU 1000 usable for wireless communication between an AP and a number of STAs according to some implementations. The PPDU 1000 may be used for SU, MU-OFDMA or MU-MIMO transmissions. The PPDU 1000 includes a PHY preamble including a legacy portion 1002 and a non-legacy portion 1004. The PPDU 1000 may further include a PHY payload 1006 after the preamble, for example, in the form of a PSDU including DATA field 1026. The legacy portion 1002 includes L-STF 1008, L-LTF 1010, and L-SIG 1012. The non-legacy portion 1004 of the preamble and DATA field 1026 may be formatted as an Extreme High Throughput (EHT) WLAN preamble and frame, respectively, in accordance with the IEEE 802.11be amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard.
[0153] FIG. 15A shows an example C-OFDMA PPDU configuration 1500 usable for DL communications between APs and STAs in a multi-AP group according to some implementations. The C-OFDMA PPDU configuration 1500 includes two C-OFDMA PPDUs transmitted over different subchannels of an 80 MHz channel. In the example of FIG. 15A, a first AP may transmit a first C-OFDMA PPDU (shown with lighter shading) on the 1.sup.st and 2.sup.nd 20 MHz subchannels of the 80 MHz channel and a second AP may transmit a second C-OFDMA PPDU (shown with darker shading) on the 3.sup.rd and 4.sup.th 20 MHz subchannels of the 80 MHz channel. Each C-OFDMA PPDU may be an example implementation of the PPDU 1000 of FIG. 10.
[0128] In some implementations, U-SIG may be duplicated or repeated in each 20 Mhz subchannel of a respective one of four groupings of four consecutive 20 MHz subchannels. For example, the first four subchannels (1.sup.st through 4.sup.th) may share the same U-SIG fields and values.
[0129] In some implementations, EHT-SIG may be signaled on a number of content channels. Each content channel may be defined by a particular grouping of subchannels. For example, a first content channel may carry the signaling information for all odd-numbered subchannels (such as the 1.sup.st, 3.sup.rd 20 MHz subchannels) and a second content channel may carry the signaling information for all even-numbered subchannels (such as the 2.sup.nd, 4.sup.th 20 MHz subchannels). In some implementations, EHT-SIG may be duplicated or repeated per content channel. For example, the (odd-numbered) subchannels associated with the first content channel may share the same EHT-SIG fields and values. The (even-numbered) subchannels associated with the second content channel may share the same EHT-SIG fields and values, which may be different than the EHT-SIG fields or values of the first content channel.
Note: the first C-OFDMA PPDU contains the 1.sup.st and 2.sup.nd 20 MHz subchannels; the second C-OFDMA PPDU contains the 3.sup.rd and 4.sup.th 20 MHz subchannels. The 1.sup.st and 3.sup.rd 20 MHz subchannels share the same EHT-SIG fields and values. The 2.sup.nd and 4.sup.th 20 MHz subchannels share the same EHT-SIG fields and values. Therefore the first C-OFDMA PPDU and the second C-OFDMA PPDU share the same EHT-SIG fields and values.).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination with Chen’s above teachings. The motivation is supporting multi-AP coordination (Chen [0060]).
Claim 21 recites similar limitations of claim 7, is thus rejected under similar rational.
Claim(s) 10 and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sevin in view of Chu as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of Park, US 20220150025 A1 (hereinafter Tian) and US 20220322215A1 (hereinafter Kim) (priority document us-provisional-application US 63170079 20210402 hereinafter prov0079).
Regarding Claim 10, the combination teaches The wireless communication method according to
claim 1.
Sevin does not explicitly teach wherein the trigger frame comprises an EHT variant common information field, a special user information field, and one or more EHT variant user information fields,
wherein the special user information field or the EHT variant common information field
comprises a number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield, wherein the number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield indicates a value of a number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield of a U-SIG field of a solicited EHT MU PPDU, and the number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield is set to a value that is a number of EHT-SIG symbols minus 1.
Park in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches wherein the trigger frame comprises an EHT variant common information field, a special user information field, and one or more EHT variant user information fields (Park [0199] FIG. 14 shows the structure of a trigger frame.
[0200] Referring to FIG. 14, the trigger frame includes a MAC header, a Common Info field, a User Info List field, etc.
[0202] The Common Info field contains common information for each STA and consists of an EHT variant field for triggering an EHT PPDU, as shown in 16.
[0204] FIG. 16 shows the format of an EHT variant Common Info field.
[0231] A Special User Info field, which is a Common Info field for an EHT STA allocated to an EHT PPDU, can always be located after the Common Info field (or in the Trigger Dependent Common Info subfield of the Common Info field), and FIG. 17 shows the format of the Special User Info field.
[0241] The EHT variant User Info field may be located after the Special User Info field.
[0257] The EHT Variant User Info field is a field containing information for the EHT STA allocated to the EHT PPDU among DL A-PPDUs, and FIG. 19 shows the format of the field.),
By modifying the combination with Park’s teachings of
wherein the trigger frame comprises an EHT variant common information field, a special user
information field, and one or more EHT variant user information fields,
the modification results in
wherein the trigger frame comprises an EHT variant common information field, a special user
information field, and one or more EHT variant user information fields,
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination with Park’s above teachings. The motivation is supporting extreme high throughput with increased bandwidth (Park [0004]).
Park does not explicitly teach wherein the special user information field or the EHT variant common information field comprises a number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield, wherein the number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield indicates a value of a number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield of a U-SIG field of a solicited EHT MU PPDU, and the number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield is set to a value that is a number of EHT-SIG symbols minus 1.
Tian in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches wherein the special user information field or the EHT variant common information field comprises content of U-SIG field, the content indicates values of subfields of U-SIG field of a solicited EHT MU PPDU (Tian Fig. 9; [0083] FIG. 9 shows an example trigger frame 900 usable for communications between an AP and a number of STAs according to some implementations. In some implementations, the trigger frame 900 may be used to solicit TB PPDUs (such as legacy and non-legacy TB PPDUs).
[0084] The trigger frame 900 includes a MAC header 910, a common information field 920, a user information list 930.
[0085] the user information list 930 may include a special user information field 932. The special user information field 932 may carry preamble information to be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU. More specifically, a receiving device may determine how to generate or configure the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU based on the preamble information carried in the special user information field 932. In some implementations, the preamble information may include U-SIG content 938. For example, the U-SIG content 938 may indicate values for one or more subfields of U-SIG in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU.).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Sevin as modified by Chu and Park with Tian’s above teachings. The motivation is reducing the processing overhead of the receiving device (Tian [0113]).
Tian does not explicitly teach U-SIG field comprises a number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield, the number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield is set to a value that is a number of EHT-SIG symbols minus 1.
Kim in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches U-SIG field comprises a number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield, the number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield is set to a value that is a number of EHT-SIG symbols minus 1 (Kim [0060] Referring to FIG. 4, the U-SIG field may include U-SIG-1 and U-SIG-2.
[0061] Among the fields included in the U-SIG-2, the EHT-SIG symbol number field may have a value indicating the number of symbols in the EHT-SIG field after the U-SIG field (prov0079 page 3-5).
[0104] The EHT-SIG symbol number field included in the U-SIG field may be defined as shown in Table 1 below.
PNG
media_image2.png
200
400
media_image2.png
Greyscale
(prov0079 page 21) ).
By modifying Tian’s teachings of
wherein the special user information field or the EHT variant common information field
comprises content of U-SIG field, the content indicates values of subfields of U-SIG field of a solicited EHT MU PPDU,
with Kim’s teachings of
U-SIG field comprises a number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield, the number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield is set to a value that is a number of EHT-SIG symbols minus 1
the modification results in
wherein the special user information field or the EHT variant common information field
comprises a number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield, wherein the number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield indicates a value of a number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield of a U-SIG field of a solicited EHT MU PPDU, and the number of EHT-SIG symbols subfield is set to a value that is a number of EHT-SIG symbols minus 1.
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Sevin as modified by Chu and Park and Tian with Kim’s above teachings. The motivation is improving efficiency of a wireless communication system (Kim [0047]).
Claim 22 recites similar limitations of claim 10, is thus rejected under similar rational.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 David Z Sun whose telephone number is (571)270-0750. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 0800am-0500pm.
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/D.Z.S./Examiner, Art Unit 2418 /DADY CHERY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2418
Prosecution Insights