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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claim Informality
1. Claims 3 and 4 disclose “NAV”, but do not disclose the term represents “Network allocation vector” IN THE CLAIM. Corrections are required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
1. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
1a. Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ahn (US 20250350394 A1).
1b. Summary of the Cited Prior Art
Ahn discloses a method for concurrent access for wireless local area network.
1c. Claim Analysis
Regarding Claim 1, Ahn discloses:
An access point apparatus (Fig 1, PCP/AP-1) for communicating with multiple station apparatuses (Fig 1, STA-1 and STA-2), the access point apparatus comprising:
a transmitter (Fig 3, Transceiver 120, Transmitting part) configured to transmit a trigger frame (Fig 9, Trigger Frame 312) triggering frame transmission (Fig 9, UL Data (STA1) and (STA2)) performed by each of the multiple station apparatuses (Fig 9. STA1’s and STA2’s ranges; see: [0089] … the AP transmits an MU-RTS frame 312 configured in the format of a trigger frame for NAV setting in the UL-OFDMA transmission process; Examiner’s Note: the trigger frame 312 triggering uplink transmissions UL-OFDMA from STA1 and STA2); and
a receiver (Fig 3, Transceiver 120, Receiving part) configured to perform carrier sense (Fig 6, [0031] FIG. 6 illustrates a carrier sense multiple access (CSMA)/collision avoidance (CA) method used in wireless LAN communication) to reserve multiple radio resources (see: [0093] … the STAs being allocated the resource unit in the UL-OFDMA transmission process transmit a simultaneous CTS frame 322 after SIFS from the reception of the MU-RTS frame 312, and transmit UL data frame 332) in time periods with different lengths (Fig 9, NAVs; see: [0096] … terminals receiving the trigger frame 400 set a NAV based on the duration field of the corresponding trigger frame 400);
wherein the trigger frame (Fig 10, Trigger Frame 400) includes information indicating the time periods (Fig 10, Duration) for the multiple radio resources reserved by the receiver (see: [0093] … the STAs being allocated the resource unit in the UL-OFDMA transmission process).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
2. 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.
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 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.
2a. Claims 2-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ahn (US 20250350394 A1) in view of Lou (US 20200037356 A1).
2b. Summary of the Cited Prior Art
Ahn discloses a method for concurrent access for wireless local area network.
Lou discloses a method for multi-user concurrent random access for wireless local area network.
2c. Claim Analysis
Regarding Claim 2, Ahn discloses:
wherein the trigger frame (Fig 9, Trigger Frame 312) is configured to configure first communication that is communication between the multiple station apparatuses (Fig 19 (a)-(d), communication between STAs; see: [0154] First, FIG. 19(a) illustrates a situation in which seven STAs have OBO counters of six or less while six resource units are selected as random access resource units. Examiner’s Note: OBO: OFDMA BackOff counter in [0146]) and
second communication (Fig 9, communication between AP and STA1 STA2), that is communication between the access point apparatus and the multiple station apparatuses, and (see: [0091] The STAs (i.e., STA1, STA2) receiving the MU-RTS frame 312 from the AP transmit a simultaneous CTS frame 322);
the trigger frame includes information associated with transmit power for a frame where the first communication is configured.
Ahn does not disclose about transmit power.
However, Lou discloses transmit power:
the trigger frame (Figs 3A-3B) includes information associated with transmit power for a frame where the first communication is configured (see: [0079] For both of the trigger frames 300A and 300B, the common information field 310, 326 may include different types of information, such as a sequence number and/or trigger token, common transmit power control (TPC) indices).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to integrate Ahn’s method for concurrent access for wireless local area network with Lou’s method for multi-user concurrent random access for wireless with the motivation being to enhance high efficiency wireless local area network (Lou, [0066])
Regarding Claim 3, Ahn discloses:
wherein the information described in the trigger frame (Fig 10, trigger frame) and indicating the time periods (Fig 10, Duration) triggers configuration of NAVs with different attributes for the station apparatus having received the trigger frame (Fig 9, various NAV durations; see: [0096] … the corresponding trigger frame 400 is an MU-RTS frame, and terminals receiving the trigger frame 400 set a NAV based on the duration field of the corresponding trigger frame 400).
Regarding Claim 4, Ahn discloses:
wherein an attribute of a NAV (Fig 9, NAVs) triggered by the trigger frame (Fig 9, Trigger Frame 312) is a NAV that is allowed to be updated by a station apparatus (see: [0091] … The neighboring terminals of STA1 and STA2 set a NAV until the end of the UL-OFDMA session based on the duration field of the simultaneous CTS frame 322. Examiner’s Note: NAVs are set or updated by stations base on the received CTS) where the first communication is configured (Fig 19 (a)-(d), communication between STAs).
Regarding Claim 5, the claim discloses similar features as of Claim 1, and is rejected accordingly.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jung-Jen Liu whose telephone number is 571-270-7643. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang B. Yao can be reached on 571-272-3182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JUNG LIU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473