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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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)(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 1-3, 14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yang et al. (Patent No: US 2020/0112350 A1), hereinafter, Yang.
Regarding Claim 1, Yang teaches,
A method of performing a sensing procedure by a first station (STA) in a wireless LAN system, the method comprising: receiving, from a second STA, first information related to a number of repeated long training field (LTF) symbols for each spatial stream; -Paragraph [0144, 0236] ([0144] recites, “The AP 105-b may configure the transmit power mismatch control information to include an indication to transmit additional LTF symbols in the header for transmissions of the uplink NDP transmissions 510 or downlink channel feedback reports 550. For example, the power mismatch control information may include one or more of an LTF symbol repetition factor, a total number of spatial streams that may be implemented by the one or more STAs 115…”)
and receiving, from the second STA, at least one null data physical layer protocol data unit (NDP) based on the first information, wherein a total number of LTF symbols included in each of the at least one NDP is based on a number of spatial streams and the first information. -Fig. 20; Paragraph [0277-0278] ([[0277-0278] recites, “At 2005, the AP may transmit a downlink message directed to a plurality of STAs that includes an uplink NDP announcement frame, the uplink NDP announcement frame prompting each STA of the plurality of STAs to transmit an uplink NDP…..At 2010, the AP may receive a set of uplink NDPs from the plurality of STAs based on the uplink NDP announcement frame.”)
wherein a total number of LTF symbols included in each of the at least one NDP is based on a number of spatial streams and the first information. -Paragraph [0193, 0268]([0268] recites, “In some examples, the power control component 1830 may receive from the AP power mismatch control information based on a power imbalance at the STA, the power mismatch control information indicating a number of additional LTF symbols to be included in a headers of the uplink NDP…. In some cases, an LTF symbol repetition factor, a total number of spatial streams to transmit the uplink NDP, or a number of LTF symbols in excess of a number of spatial streams to include in the header of the uplink NDP.” [0193] recites, “In some cases, the power mismatch control information may include an LTF symbol repetition factor (such as, K) for the total number of signal streams (described as, N.sub.SS_total) for uplink NDP transmission by each of the participating STAs 115 “ As recited above, the total number of LTF symbol depends on the total number of streams)
Regarding Claim 2, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 1.
Yang further teaches,
The method of claim 1, wherein: the first information is transmitted to the first STA through at least one of an NDP announcement frame, a polling frame, or a trigger frame. -Fig. 20, Paragraph [0277] ([0277] recites, “At 2005, the AP may transmit a downlink message directed to a plurality of STAs that includes an uplink NDP announcement frame, the uplink NDP announcement frame prompting each STA of the plurality of STAs to transmit an uplink NDP..”)
Regarding Claim 3, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 2.
Yang further teaches,
The method of claim 2, wherein: the first information is indicated by a number of repeated LTF symbols subfield included in a user information field of at least one of the NDP announcement frame, the polling frame, or the trigger frame. -Paragraph [0144, 0210]([0144] recites, “The AP 105-b may configure the transmit power mismatch control information to include an indication to transmit additional LTF symbols in the header for transmissions of the uplink NDP transmissions 510…” [0210] recites,” The communications manager 1215 may transmit a downlink message directed to a set of STAs that includes an uplink NDP announcement frame, the uplink NDP announcement frame prompting each STA of the set of STAs to transmit an uplink NDP, receive a set of uplink NDPs from the set of STAs based on the uplink NDP announcement frame, and perform an implicit sounding procedure or an implicit sounding calibration procedure based on the received set of uplink NDPs…”)
Claim 14 is apparatus claim corresponding to the method Claim 1. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 1 above which is rejected. Claim 14 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 1.
Yang further teaches,
A first station (STA) for performing sensing procedure in a wireless LAN system, the first STA comprising: at least one transceiver; and at least one processor connected to the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: -Fig. 3; Paragraph [0117] ([0117] recites, “FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an example STA 300 that supports NDP based implicit sounding and calibration for a WLAN…. The STA 300 includes a processor 310, a memory 320, at least one transceiver 330 and at least one antenna 340…”)
Claim 16 is essentially the same as Claim 14, except for Claim 16 is viewed from transmit STA side while Claim 14 is viewed from receive STA side. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 14 above which is rejected. Claim 16 rejected under the same rational as Claim 14.
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 4-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang
in view of Chen et al. (Patent No: US 2021/0314732 A1), hereinafter, Chen.
Regarding Claim 4, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 1.
Although implicit, Yang does not explicitly teach,
The method of claim 1, wherein: the first information is transmitted to the first STA through a sensing measurement frame or a sensing request frame.
However, in an analogous invention Chen teaches,
The method of claim 1, wherein: the first information is transmitted to the first STA through a sensing measurement frame or a sensing request frame. -Paragraph [0128] ([0128] recites, “The sensing initiator and/or the sensing responder transmit the sensing parameters element 1800, e.g., the sensing parameters element 1800 is included in an initial fine timing measurement request frame or initial sensing request frame during an initial negotiation phase. The sensing parameters 1810 include a configuration hold 1812 field that indicates whether the transmit configuration should remain the same for transmitting sensing PPDUs. In some embodiments, the configuration hold 1812 field indicates that the transmit configuration for the sensing packets, e.g., NDP PPDUs, should remain unchanged throughout a sensing session, which may improve the accuracy of the sensing measurements.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “NULL DATA PACKET-BASED IMPLICIT SOUNDING AND CALIBRATION IN A WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK” proposed by Yang to include the concept of “the first information is transmitted to the first STA through a sensing measurement frame or a sensing request frame” of Chen . One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the accuracy of the sensing measurements [0128].
Regarding Claim 5, Yang and Chen teach the limitations of Claim 4.
Although implicit, Yang does not explicitly teach,
The method of claim 4, wherein: the sensing measurement frame or the sensing request frame includes a subfield indicating whether repetition of LTF symbols is supported for each spatial stream.
However, in an analogous invention Chen teaches,
The method of claim 4, wherein: the sensing measurement frame or the sensing request frame includes a subfield indicating whether repetition of LTF symbols is supported for each spatial stream. -Paragraph [0125, 0127] ([0125] recites, “The STA info 1 subfield 1612.1 through STA info N subfield 1612.N may indicate parameters for sensing NDPs that will be transmitted after the sensing NDP announcement 1600. For example, there may be indication of an RU or RUs which will be transmitted, a power of the transmissions of the NDP, a repetition of the NDPs, a duration of the LTF of the NDP, and so forth (information may be included from the sensing parameter element 1600 or other parameters as disclosed in IEEE 802.11 and herein)…” [0127] recites, “The common info 1710 and/or user info list 1712 may include information for a STA and/or AP to transmit a packet such as a sensing NDP. The information may include an RU, spatial stream, duration, a repetition number, directional information, and so forth”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “NULL DATA PACKET-BASED IMPLICIT SOUNDING AND CALIBRATION IN A WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK” proposed by Yang to include the concept of “the sensing measurement frame or the sensing request frame includes a subfield indicating whether repetition of LTF symbols is supported for each spatial stream.” of Chen. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the accuracy of the sensing measurements [0128].
Regarding Claim 6, Yang and Chen teach the limitations of Claim 4.
Although implicit, Yang does not explicitly teach,
The method of claim 4, wherein: the sensing measurement frame or the sensing request frame includes at least one of information indicating whether a plurality of sensing measurement instances are used, a number of the plurality of sensing measurement instances, or duration information of the plurality of sensing measurement instances.
However, in an analogous invention Chen teaches,
The method of claim 4, wherein: the sensing measurement frame or the sensing request frame includes at least one of information indicating whether a plurality of sensing measurement instances are used, a number of the plurality of sensing measurement instances, or duration information of the plurality of sensing measurement instances. -Paragraph [0128] ([0128] recites, “the sensing parameters element 1800 is included in an initial fine timing measurement request frame or initial sensing request frame during an initial negotiation phase. The sensing parameters 1810 include a configuration hold 1812 field that indicates whether the transmit configuration should remain the same for transmitting sensing PPDUs. In some embodiments, the configuration hold 1812 field indicates that the transmit configuration for the sensing packets, e.g., NDP PPDUs, should remain unchanged throughout a sensing session, (i.e., duration of sensing measurements) which may improve the accuracy of the sensing measurements. In some embodiments, the configuration hold 1812 field indicates whether the STA should maintain a transmit configuration unchanged during UL sensing. (configuration hold field in a sense indicates the duration of sensing with certain configuration) In some embodiments, the configuration hold 1812 field indicates that the transmit configuration for the sensing PPDUs should remain unchanged for a portion of the sensing PPDUs. For example, the configuration hold 1812 field indicates that the STA or AP is to determine a transmit configuration, e.g., based on the strength of received signals and based on a target receive signal strength, when the STA or AP receives a first packet initiating a sensing session or protocol.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “NULL DATA PACKET-BASED IMPLICIT SOUNDING AND CALIBRATION IN A WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK” proposed by Yang to include the concept of “the sensing measurement frame or the sensing request frame includes at least one of information indicating whether a plurality of sensing measurement instances are used, a number of the plurality of sensing measurement instances, or duration information of the plurality of sensing measurement instances.” of Chen. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the accuracy of the sensing measurements [0128].
Regarding Claim 7, Yang and Chen teach the limitations of Claim 6.
Although implicit, Yang does not explicitly teach,
The method of claim 6, wherein: the plurality of sensing measurement instances include a first measurement instance, and a first NDP among the at least one NDP and a first NDP announcement frame corresponding to the first NDP are transmitted from the first measurement instance to the first STA.
However, in an analogous invention Chen teaches,
The method of claim 6, wherein: the plurality of sensing measurement instances include a first measurement instance, and a first NDP among the at least one NDP and a first NDP announcement frame corresponding to the first NDP are transmitted from the first measurement instance to the first STA. -Paragraph [0111] ([0111] recites, “FIG. 11 illustrates a method 1100 of multi-device wireless sensing, in accordance with some embodiments. Illustrated in FIG. 11 is the AP 502 as a sensing initiator and the AP 502 as sensing transmitter. The method 1100 includes operation 850 for a measurement sensing part 1172 and a measurement reporting part 1174. The method 1100 includes operation 1152 where the AP 502 transmits a sensing NDP announcement (NDPA) 1102 frame, e.g., sensing NDP announcement frame 1600. The sensing NDPA 1102 frame includes information for how the DL sensing packets 1104 are transmitted by the AP 502, e.g., duration information, channel information, number of DL sensing packets, spatial stream information, and so forth.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “NULL DATA PACKET-BASED IMPLICIT SOUNDING AND CALIBRATION IN A WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK” proposed by Yang to include the concept of “the plurality of sensing measurement instances include a first measurement instance, and a first NDP among the at least one NDP and a first NDP announcement frame corresponding to the first NDP are transmitted from the first measurement instance to the first STA..” of Chen. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the accuracy of the sensing measurements [0128].
Regarding Claim 8, Yang and Chen teach the limitations of Claim 7.
Although implicit, Yang does not explicitly teach,
The method of claim 7, wherein: the first NDP announcement frame includes at least one of order information of the first measurement instance or identification information of a first sensing session including the first measurement instance.
However, in an analogous invention Chen teaches,
The method of claim 7, wherein: the first NDP announcement frame includes at least one of order information of the first measurement instance or identification information of a first sensing session including the first measurement instance. -Paragraph [0111] ([0111] recites, “The method 1100 includes operation 850 for a measurement sensing part 1172 and a measurement reporting part 1174. The method 1100 includes operation 1152 where the AP 502 transmits a sensing NDP announcement (NDPA) 1102 frame, e.g., sensing NDP announcement frame 1600. The sensing NDPA 1102 frame includes information for how the DL sensing packets 1104 are transmitted by the AP 502, e.g., duration information, channel information, number of DL sensing packets, spatial stream information, and so forth.” As explained above NDP announcement frame contains all the information regarding measurements including when to measure, duration, number of packets, channel information etc.)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “NULL DATA PACKET-BASED IMPLICIT SOUNDING AND CALIBRATION IN A WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK” proposed by Yang to include the concept of “the first NDP announcement frame includes at least one of order information of the first measurement instance or identification information of a first sensing session including the first measurement instance” of Chen. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the accuracy of the sensing measurements [0128].
Regarding Claim 9, Yang and Chen teach the limitations of Claim 8.
Yang further teaches,
The method of claim 8, wherein: a value of a sounding dialog token field included in the first NDP announcement frame is configured based on the order information of the first measurement instance. -Paragraph [0095] ([0095] recites, “In association with the uplink channel measurement procedure for calibration (for example, before or after), the AP may transmit a downlink NDP announcement frame (for example, NDPA-D) followed by a downlink NDP to the one or more STAs. The one or more STAs may receive the NDPA-D and downlink NDP and perform downlink channel measurement. The AP may transmit a downlink trigger frame to the one or more STAs to initiate feedback signaling associated with the downlink channel measurement….”)
Regarding Claim 10, Yang and Chen teach the limitations of Claim 7.
Although implicit, Yang does not explicitly teach,
The method of claim 7, wherein: the plurality of sensing measurement instances include a second measurement instance, and a transmission parameter included in each of a second NDP announcement frame and the first NDP announcement frame transmitted in a second measurement instance are same.
However, in an analogous invention Chen teaches,
The method of claim 7, wherein: the plurality of sensing measurement instances include a second measurement instance, and a transmission parameter included in each of a second NDP announcement frame and the first NDP announcement frame transmitted in a second measurement instance are same. -Fig. 18; Paragraph [0128] ([0128] recites, “The sensing initiator and/or the sensing responder transmit the sensing parameters element 1800, e.g., the sensing parameters element 1800 is included in an initial fine timing measurement request frame or initial sensing request frame during an initial negotiation phase. The sensing parameters 1810 include a configuration hold 1812 field that indicates whether the transmit configuration should remain the same for transmitting sensing PPDUs. In some embodiments, the configuration hold 1812 field indicates that the transmit configuration for the sensing packets, e.g., NDP PPDUs, should remain unchanged throughout a sensing session, which may improve the accuracy of the sensing measurements” As explained above with the “hold field” set, transmission parameters remain same during the measurement (sensing) session (i.e., for first and second measurement instances))
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “NULL DATA PACKET-BASED IMPLICIT SOUNDING AND CALIBRATION IN A WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK” proposed by Yang to include the concept of “the plurality of sensing measurement instances include a second measurement instance, and a transmission parameter included in each of a second NDP announcement frame and the first NDP announcement frame transmitted in a second measurement instance are same.” of Chen. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the accuracy of the sensing measurements [0128].
Regarding Claim 11, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 1.
Although implicit, Yang does not explicitly mention,
The method of claim 1, wherein: each of the at least one NDP is transmitted in each of at least one measurement instance, and the at least one NDP is transmitted to the first STA based on a transmission parameter included in a single NDP announcement frame.
However, in an analogous invention Chen teaches,
The method of claim 1, wherein: each of the at least one NDP is transmitted in each of at least one measurement instance, and the at least one NDP is transmitted to the first STA based on a transmission parameter included in a single NDP announcement frame. -Paragraph [0128] ([0128] recites, “In some embodiments, the configuration hold 1812 field indicates that the transmit configuration for the sensing packets, e.g., NDP PPDUs, should remain unchanged throughout a sensing session, which may improve the accuracy of the sensing measurements. In some embodiments, the configuration hold 1812 field indicates whether the STA should maintain a transmit configuration unchanged during UL sensing…..The STA or AP then redetermines the transmit configuration when it receives the next packet initiating a new sensing session or protocol. In some embodiments, the configuration hold 1812 field is included in a sensing NDPA, e.g., 1308, or a TF for sensing, e.g., 1302, and/or TF for management reporting, e.g., 1510. The configuration hold 1812 field has a different name, in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the sensing parameters 1810 (or a portion of the parameters) and/or the configuration hold 1812 field are included in another frame, e.g., the sending NDP announcement 1600 frame or trigger frame 1700. The sensing parameters element 1800 may be included with the trigger frame 1700 and/or sending NDP announcement 1600, in accordance with some embodiments.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “NULL DATA PACKET-BASED IMPLICIT SOUNDING AND CALIBRATION IN A WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK” proposed by Yang to include the concept of “each of the at least one NDP is transmitted in each of at least one measurement instance, and the at least one NDP is transmitted to the first STA based on a transmission parameter included in a single NDP announcement frame.” of Chen. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the accuracy of the sensing measurements [0128].
Regarding Claim 12, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 1.
Although implicit, Yang does not explicitly mention,
The method of claim 1, wherein: based on a format of the at least one NDP being high efficiency (HE), a maximum value of the spatial stream is set to 4, and based on a format of the at least one NDP being extremely high throughput (EHT), a maximum value of the spatial stream is set to 8.
However, in an analogous invention Chen teaches,
The method of claim 1, wherein: based on a format of the at least one NDP being high efficiency (HE), a maximum value of the spatial stream is set to 4, and based on a format of the at least one NDP being extremely high throughput (EHT), a maximum value of the spatial stream is set to 8. -Paragraph [0061] ([0061] recites, “In some embodiments, the STAs 504 and/or AP 502 are configured to operate in accordance with IEEE 802.11be extremely high throughput (EHT) and/or high efficiency (HE) IEEE 802.11ax.” It is well known that IEEE 802.11be and IEEE 802.11ax supports maximum of 16 (for Wi-Fi 7) and 8 spatial streams respectively. Therefore, it can be configured to 4 and 8 spatial streams for EHT and HE scenarios.)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “NULL DATA PACKET-BASED IMPLICIT SOUNDING AND CALIBRATION IN A WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK” proposed by Yang to include the concept of “format of the at least one NDP being high efficiency (HE), a maximum value of the spatial stream is set to 4, and based on a format of the at least one NDP being extremely high throughput (EHT), a maximum value of the spatial stream is set to 8.” of Chen. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the accuracy of the sensing measurements [0128].
Regarding Claim 13, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 1.
Although implicit, Yang does not explicitly mention,
The method of claim 1, wherein: the first STA is a sensing responder, and the second STA is a sensing initiator.
However, in an analogous invention Chen teaches,
The method of claim 1, wherein: the first STA is a sensing responder, and the second STA is a sensing initiator. -Fig. 12; Paragraph [0113] ([0113] recites, “FIG. 12 illustrates a method 1200 of multi-device wireless sensing, in accordance with some embodiments. Illustrated in FIG. 12 is STA1 504.1 as the sensing initiator and the sensing receiver. AP 502 as the sensing responder and the sending transmitter. STA2 504.2 as the sensing responder and the sensing transmitter.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “NULL DATA PACKET-BASED IMPLICIT SOUNDING AND CALIBRATION IN A WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK” proposed by Yang to include the concept of “the first STA is a sensing responder, and the second STA is a sensing initiator” of Chen. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the accuracy of the sensing measurements [0128].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AHMED SAIFUDDIN whose telephone number is (703)756-4581. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30am-6:00pm.
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/AHMED SAIFUDDIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475