AlmoNotice 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 .
The response filed 5/27/2026 to the restriction requirement has been entered and acknowledged.
Claims 1-8 and 21-32 are pending.
Claims 9-20 are canceled.
Claims 1-8 are withdrawn from consideration.
Claims 21-32 stand rejected.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II, Claims 21-32 in the reply filed on 5/27/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 21, 26-28 and 32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wang et al. (Pub. No.: US 20130235720 A1), hereafter referred to as Wang.
In regard to Claim 21, Wang teaches An access point (AP, Para. 66, 135, FIGS. 4C, 11) comprising: circuitry configured to: transmit a Defer Signal (an IEEE 802.11 based wireless local area network (WLAN) 460, Para. 66, FIG. 4C. All STAs with packets to transmit wait for a DIFS period (1106), Para. 136, FIG. 11) Clear to Send (DS-CTS) frame (In FIG. 11, the AP indicates the start of the controlled contention period by sending out a CTS-to-BSS (1102), Para. 135, FIG. 11) to start a Prioritized Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (P-EDCA) (Enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) to support prioritized Quality of Service (QoS), Para. 3) contention, the DS-CTS frame including a Duration field set to a P-EDCA contention duration (Enhance DCF/EDCA to reduce channel contention and packet collisions, Para. 72. Additional medium reservation may be performed by the AP, Para. 119. The duration field of the CTS frame is set to equal to the controlled contention period, Para. 120, FIG. 11. The duration field of the CTS frame should be set to equal to the controlled contention period, Para. 129, FIG. 11. In FIG. 11, the AP indicates the start of the controlled contention period by sending out a CTS-to-BSS (1102), reserve the medium for the duration of the controlled contention period, Para. 135, FIG. 11).
Wang teaches advertise a P-EDCA parameter set to one or more stations for use during the P-EDCA contention (The controlled contention period may be scheduled a priori by a schedule IE included in the beacon or other management/control frames, Para. 119. The schedule of the various intervals including the controlled contention interval may be conveyed to the STAs by the AP using the Interval Schedule IE which may be included in beacon, association response, or other management or control frames. An example of the Interval Schedule IE format is shown in FIG. 10, Para. 126, FIG. 10).
In regard to Claim 26, Wang teaches the DS-CTS frame is transmitted via broadcast (transmitting a CTS-to-BSS, which is a standard clear to send (CTS) frame with the receiver address (RA) set to a broadcast/multicast address, Para. 120).
In regard to Claim 27, Wang teaches the Duration field causes legacy stations that cannot decode content of the DS-CTS frame to set a Network Allocation Vector (NAV) as busy for the P-EDCA contention duration (All STAs that are not part of the BSS set their network allocation vector (NAV) until the end of the contention period, Para. 120. The duration field of the CTS frame should be set to equal to the controlled contention period. All STAs that are not part of the BSS set their NAV to the end of the contention period, Para. 129. If the preamble cannot be decoded, the STA sleeps for the duration of the shortest packet possible, Para. 134).
In regard to Claim 28, Wang teaches the P-EDCA parameter set is advertised in beacon frames (The controlled contention period may be scheduled a priori by a schedule IE included in the beacon or other management/control frames, Para. 119. The schedule of the various intervals including the controlled contention interval may be conveyed to the STAs by the AP using the Interval Schedule IE which may be included in beacon, association response, or other management or control frames. An example of the Interval Schedule IE format is shown in FIG. 10, Para. 126, FIG. 10).
In regard to Claim 32, Wang teaches A station (STAs, Para. 129) comprising: circuitry configured to: receive a Defer Signal (an IEEE 802.11 based wireless local area network (WLAN) 460, Para. 66, FIGS. 4B, 4C. All STAs with packets to transmit wait for a DIFS period (1106), Para. 136, FIG. 11) Clear to Send (DS-CTS) frame from an access point (The AP signals the start of the controlled contention period by transmitting a CTS-to-BSS, which is a standard clear to send (CTS) frame with the receiver address (RA) set to a broadcast/multicast address, Para. 120, FIG. 11. The CTS-to-BSS may be used by the AP to conduct medium reservation to signal the start of the controlled contention period. The CTS-to-BSS is a standard CTS frame with the RA set to some broadcast/multicast/unicast address, Para. 129, FIG. 11. In FIG. 11, the AP indicates the start of the controlled contention period by sending out a CTS-to-BSS (1102), Para. 135, FIG. 11), the DS-CTS frame initiating a Prioritized Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (P-EDCA) (Enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) to support prioritized Quality of Service (QoS), Para. 3) contention and including a Duration field set to a P-EDCA contention duration (Enhance DCF/EDCA to reduce channel contention and packet collisions, Para. 72. Additional medium reservation may be performed by the AP, Para. 119. The duration field of the CTS frame is set to equal to the controlled contention period, Para. 120, FIG. 11. The duration field of the CTS frame should be set to equal to the controlled contention period, Para. 129, FIG. 11. In FIG. 11, the AP indicates the start of the controlled contention period by sending out a CTS-to-BSS (1102), reserve the medium for the duration of the controlled contention period, Para. 135, FIG. 11).
Wang teaches either set a Network Allocation Vector (NAV) as busy based on the Duration field (All STAs that are not part of the BSS set their NAV to the end of the contention period, Para. 129), or contend for channel access during the P-EDCA contention (STAs in the same BSS may conduct the controlled contention access to the medium, Para. 129, FIG. 11. The controlled contention illustrated in FIG. 11, Para. 136, FIG. 11) based on P-EDCA parameters (The controlled contention period may be scheduled a priori by a schedule IE included in the beacon or other management/control frames, Para. 119. The schedule of the various intervals including the controlled contention interval may be conveyed to the STAs by the AP using the Interval Schedule IE which may be included in beacon, association response, or other management or control frames. An example of the Interval Schedule IE format is shown in FIG. 10, Para. 126, FIG. 10).
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.
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) 22-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Ji et al. (Pub. No.: US 20090279427 A1), hereafter referred to as Ji.
In regard to Claim 22, as presented in the rejection of Claim 21, Wang teaches the P-EDCA parameter set.
Wang fails to teach the parameter set includes prioritized channel access parameters.
Ji teaches the parameter set includes prioritized channel access parameters (the enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) mechanism. EDCA recognizes four different traffic service classes (background, best effort, video, and voice). Priority is provided via a set of configurable parameters (EDCA parameter set) which are transmitted by an access point to the mobile devices under its control, Para. 9).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Ji with the teachings of Wang since Ji provides a technique for utilizing EDCA to provide priority information from access points, which can be introduced into the arrangement of Wang to permit an AP to convey priority information of stations for channel access through EDCA.
In regard to Claim 23, as presented in the rejection of Claim 21, Wang teaches the access point.
Wang fails to teach the prioritized channel access parameters include one or more of: P-EDCA minimum contention window (CWmin), P-EDCA maximum contention window (CWmax), and P-EDCA Arbitration Interframe Space Number (A1FSN).
Ji teaches the prioritized channel access parameters include one or more of: P-EDCA minimum contention window (CWmin) (Priority is controlled by an EDCA parameter set, which is transmitted from an AP to its associated member STAs via a special set of frames. Priority control may be achieved by varying the following parameters for different UP values: Length of the contention window, Para. 29, 31), P-EDCA maximum contention window (CWmax), and P-EDCA Arbitration Interframe Space Number (A1FSN).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Ji with the teachings of Wang since Ji provides a technique for utilizing EDCA to provide priority information from access points, which can be introduced into the arrangement of Wang to permit an AP to convey priority information of stations for channel access through EDCA.
Claim(s) 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Hu et al. (Pub. No.: US 20220124806 A1), hereafter referred to as Hu.
In regard to Claim 24, Wang teaches transmission of the DS-CTS frame (In FIG. 11, the AP indicates the start of the controlled contention period by sending out a CTS-to-BSS (1102), Para. 135, FIG. 11) occurs at a Defer Signal Arbitration Interframe Space (DSAIFS) slot boundary (a DCF interframe space (DIFS), Para. 4. A DIFS period (1106), Para. 136, FIG. 11).
Wang fails to teach when a carrier sense mechanism determines that a medium is idle.
Hu teaches transmission occurs when a carrier sense mechanism determines that a medium is idle (LBT may be used to initiate a COT by a gNB using LBT schemes. A network device initiates a transmission after sensing a channel (e.g., performing a clear channel assessment (CCA)) to be idle), Para. 42. In step 801, a gNB performs directional sensing (e.g., CCA), Para. 120, FIG. 8. In step 802, the gNB transmits a specific DCI message to the UE. If the beam sensed previously is idle, the gNB sends a specific DCI message to the UE via that specific beam, Para. 121, FIG. 8).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Hu with the teachings of Wang since Hu provides a technique for gNB to utilize LBT schemes to perform CCA to ensure a wireless resource is idle before transmission, which can be introduced into the arrangement of Wang to permit an AP to perform CCA prior to sending out a CTS-to-BSS.
Claim(s) 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Seok (Pub. No.: US 20150003367 A1), hereafter referred to as Seok.
In regard to Claim 25, as presented in the rejection of Claim 21, Wang teaches the DS-CTS frame.
Wang fails to teach the frame is transmitted in a non-High Throughput (non-HT) Physical Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) or non-HT PPDU duplicate format.
Seok teaches the frame is transmitted in a non-High Throughput (non-HT) Physical Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) or non-HT PPDU duplicate format (FIG. 18(a) shows a legacy basic Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Packet Data Unit (PPDU) frame format, Para. 179, FIG. 18(a). The legacy PPDU frame format may include a Short Training Field (STF), a Long Training Field (LTF), a signal (SIG) field, and a data field. The most basic (for example, non-HT) PPDU frame format may be comprised of a Legacy-STF (L-STF) field, a Legacy-LTF (L-LTF) field, an SIG field, and a data field, Para. 180, FIG. 18(a)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Seok with the teachings of Wang since Seok provides a technique for a non-HT PPDU frame format of legacy fields, , which can be introduced into the arrangement of Wang to ensure compatibility with legacy technologies through utilization of legacy data formats.
Claim(s) 29 and 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Ho et al. (Pub. No.: US 20220070772 A1), hereafter referred to as Ho.
In regard to Claim 29, as presented in the rejection of Claim 21, Wang teaches the P-EDCA contention.
Wang fails to teach the P-EDCA contention is associated with a restricted Target Wake Time (rTWT) scheduling interval.
Ho teaches the P-EDCA contention is associated with a restricted Target Wake Time (rTWT) scheduling interval (transmissions of communications that support restricted TWT sessions, Para. 84, FIG. 13A).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Ho with the teachings of Wang since Ho provides a technique for utilizing restricted TWT intervals in relation to contention, which can be introduced into the arrangement of Wang for more precise control of transmissions through utilization of restricted TWT intervals in relation to contention processes.
In regard to Claim 31, as presented in the rejection of Claim 21, Wang teaches the DS-CTS frame.
Wang fails to teach the CTS frame is transmitted at a start of the rTWT scheduling interval.
Ho teaches the CTS frame is transmitted at a start of the rTWT scheduling interval (At time t0, which corresponds to the start of the restricted TWT SP, the AP transmits a clear-to-send (CTS) frame, Para. 90, FIG. 13A).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Ho with the teachings of Wang since Ho provides a technique for utilizing restricted TWT intervals in relation to contention, which can be introduced into the arrangement of Wang for more precise control of transmissions through utilization of restricted TWT intervals in relation to contention processes.
Claim(s) 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Ho, and further in view of Asterjadhi et al. (Pub. No.: US 20160219522 A1), hereafter referred to as Asterjadhi.
In regard to Claim 30, as presented in the rejection of Claim 21, Wang teaches the DS-CTS frame.
Wang fails to teach the frame is transmitted before a start of the rTWT scheduling interval.
Asterjadhi teaches the frame is transmitted before a start of the rTWT scheduling interval (a beacon carrying the TWT element containing a broadcast TWT is scheduled to be delivered, Para. 107, FIG. 6. FIG. 6 shows a Beacon before a TWT Wake Interval).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Asterjadhi with the teachings of Wang since Asterjadhi provides a technique for utilizing TWT wake intervals in relation to contention, which can be introduced into the arrangement of Wang for more precise control of transmissions through utilization of TWT wake intervals in relation to contention processes.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Zhang et al. (Pub. No.: US 20100034214 A1) teaches the DS-CTS frame including a Duration field set to a P-EDCA contention duration (the CTS message includes a duration field which is the duration of the contention period, Para. 23, FIG. 3).
Wentink (Pub. No.: US 20160262184 A1) teaches the DS-CTS frame including a Duration field set to a P-EDCA contention duration (the wireless device 200 may defer from contending for medium access for the duration indicated in the received CTS frame (1810), Para. 157, FIGS. 2, 18).
Bange et al. (Pub. No.: US 20090296602 A1) teaches the DS-CTS frame including a Duration field set to a P-EDCA contention duration (The master nodes know how long the second contention interval is based on the specified length of the DS message that is provided in the RTS and CTS messages, Para. 75).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSHUA Y SMITH whose telephone number is (571)270-1826. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 10:30am-7pm ET.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, CHIRAG G SHAH can be reached at (571)272-3144. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Joshua Smith
/J.S./
6-17-2026
/CHIRAG G SHAH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2477
Prosecution Insights