DETAILED ACTION
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 arguments, see section titled “Objections to the Claims”, with respect to claims 5, 16, 20, and 25 have been fully considered and are partially persuasive. The objection of claims 5, 16, 20, and 25 has been withdrawn except for claim 25 since Applicant appears to forget to address issue(s) listed below.
Applicant’s arguments, see section titled “35 U.S.C. § 112(b)”, with respect to claims 1-28 have been fully considered and are partially persuasive. The 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) rejection of claims 1-28 has been withdrawn except for claim 22 since Applicant appears to forget to address “for each 20 MHz portion of the 160 MHz primary channel portion”.
Applicant’s arguments, see section titled “35 U.S.C. § 103”, with respect to claim(s) 1 and 29 and dependent claim(s) 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.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 25 is/are objected to because of the following informalities: change “MHz channel” in lines 6 and 10 to “MHz contiguous channel”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim(s) 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 22, it is unclear how there is “for each 20 MHz portion of the 160 MHz primary channel portion” when there is no mention of at least two 20 MHz portions of the 160 MHz primary channel portion in claims 1 and 22. The term “each” is generally used when there are multiple items and so in this case there should be at least two 20 MHz portions, but there is none of that.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-2, 5, 8-9, 29, and 31-32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20260121814 by Li et al. (hereinafter Li) in view of US 20210359885 by Shellhammer et al. (hereinafter Shellhammer).
Regarding claim 1, Li teaches a wireless communications device (fig. 8, communication device 800 with transceiver 830; ¶ 481, transceiver 830 may further include an antenna), comprising:
one or more memories storing processor-executable code (fig. 8, memory 820; ¶ 478, a computer program from the memory 820);
and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories (fig. 8, processor 810 coupled with memory 820) and configured to, in association with executing the code, cause the wireless communications device to (¶ 478, processor 810 may call a computer program from the memory 820 and run the computer program, so as to enable the communication device 800 to implement the method in the embodiments of the present application):
transmit a preamble of a physical layer protocol data unit (¶ 141, A first station may transmit the first information to a second station…The first information may be carried in a data packet; ¶ 142, the data packet transmitted by the transmission resource is a PPDU. The PPDU may be an ultra-high reliability (UHR) PPDU; section 2 and ¶ 371, U-SIG field in UHR PPDU),
wherein the preamble comprises a universal signal field (section 2 and ¶ 371, U-SIG field in UHR PPDU),
wherein the universal signal field comprises at least a bandwidth field to indicate a channel bandwidth for the physical layer protocol data unit (¶ 49, the first information includes first bandwidth indication information and/or second bandwidth indication information; ¶ 130, first bandwidth indication information is a bandwidth subfield in a universal signal (U-SIG) field; ¶ 131, second bandwidth indication information is a bandwidth extension subfield in the U-SIG field; ¶ 50, first bandwidth indication information and/or the second bandwidth indication information are used to indicate the bandwidth information of the transmission resource, and the transmission resource is used to transmit a data packet; ¶ 75, bandwidth information of the transmission resource includes at least one of following newly added bandwidth information: ¶ 76, …a bandwidth of a 480 MHz channel, or a bandwidth of a 640 MHz channel; ¶ 389, use a combination of at least one of values 3, 4 or 5 of the Bandwidth subfield and a 1-bit value of the Bandwidth Extension subfield to indicate one of the 240 MHz, 480 MHz or 640 MHz bandwidths; Tables 3-2 and 3-3),
the indicated channel bandwidth being one of a 480 megahertz (MHz) contiguous channel bandwidth or a 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth (¶ 76, …a bandwidth of a 480 MHz channel, or a bandwidth of a 640 MHz channel; ¶ 188, 480 MHz channel includes three adjacent 160 MHz channels; ¶ 192, 640 MHz channel includes four adjacent 160 MHz channels);
and transmit a payload of the physical layer protocol data unit using the indicated channel bandwidth (¶ 142, the data packet transmitted by the transmission resource is a PPDU. The PPDU may be an ultra-high reliability (UHR) PPDU; ¶ 268, UHR PPDU is a UHR MU PPDU and/or a UHR TB PPDU; figs. 6-7, shows UHR PPDU having a data portion; ¶ 114, a channel bandwidth of the transmission resource is 480 MHz; ¶ 122, a channel bandwidth of the transmission resource is 640 MHz; ¶ 50, the first bandwidth indication information and/or the second bandwidth indication information are used to indicate the bandwidth information of the transmission resource, and the transmission resource is used to transmit a data packet. Examiner correspond data portion to payload).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li’s teachings with Li’s one or more other embodiments’ teachings. The motivation is supporting next generation Wi-Fi communication bandwidth (Li ¶ 3).
Although Li teaches the universal signal field and the indicated channel bandwidth, Li does not explicitly disclose the universal signal field carries different information across different frequency subblocks of the indicated channel bandwidth.
Shellhammer in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches a universal signal field carries different information across different frequency subblocks of a channel bandwidth (¶ 89, the channel bandwidth 1005 is 640 MHz. A lower portion 1020 may be a 320 MHz subchannel and an upper portion 1010 may be a 320 MHz subchannel…the lower portion 1020 may include four 80 MHz bandwidth subchannels. The lower portion 1020 may include legacy preamble portion 1032, followed by a first generation-specific preamble that includes a U-SIG and EHT-SIG 1052. The U-SIG may be different for the different 80 MHz bandwidth subchannels). By modifying Li’s teachings of the universal signal field and the indicated channel bandwidth with Shellhammer’s teachings of a universal signal field carries different information across different frequency subblocks of a channel bandwidth, the modification results in the universal signal field carries different information across different frequency subblocks of the indicated channel bandwidth.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li’s teachings with Shellhammer’s above teachings. The motivation is reducing an overall PAPR of a preamble portion of a multi-generation PPDU (Shellhammer ¶ 42). Known work in one field of endeavor (Shellhammer prior art) may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one (Li prior art) based on design incentives (reduce an overall PAPR of the preamble portion of a multi-generation PPDU) or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one or ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 31, the combination teaches the wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the universal signal field further comprises a bandwidth extension field, and wherein the bandwidth field and the bandwidth extension field jointly indicate the channel bandwidth for the physical layer protocol data unit (Li ¶ 49, the first information includes first bandwidth indication information and/or second bandwidth indication information; ¶ 130, first bandwidth indication information is a bandwidth subfield in a universal signal (U-SIG) field; ¶ 131, second bandwidth indication information is a bandwidth extension subfield in the U-SIG field; ¶ 50, first bandwidth indication information and/or the second bandwidth indication information are used to indicate the bandwidth information of the transmission resource, and the transmission resource is used to transmit a data packet; ¶ 75, bandwidth information of the transmission resource includes at least one of following newly added bandwidth information: ¶ 76, …a bandwidth of a 480 MHz channel, or a bandwidth of a 640 MHz channel; ¶ 389, use a combination of at least one of values 3, 4 or 5 of the Bandwidth subfield and a 1-bit value of the Bandwidth Extension subfield to indicate one of the 240 MHz, 480 MHz or 640 MHz bandwidths; Tables 3-2 and 3-3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Li’s one or more other embodiments’ teachings. The motivation is supporting next generation Wi-Fi communication bandwidth (Li ¶ 3).
Regarding claim 2, the combination teaches the wireless communications device of claim 31, wherein: a first set of values of the bandwidth field indicate a corresponding set of channel bandwidths other than 480 MHz or 640 MHz, a second set of values of the bandwidth field indicates 480 MHz bandwidth operation or 640 MHz bandwidth operation (Li Tables 3-2 and 3-3), and the second set of values in combination with the bandwidth extension field indicates the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth or the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth (Li Tables 3-2 and 3-3; ¶ 188, 480 MHz channel includes three adjacent 160 MHz channels; ¶ 192, 640 MHz channel includes four adjacent 160 MHz channels).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Li’s one or more other embodiments’ teachings. The motivation is supporting next generation Wi-Fi communication bandwidth (Li ¶ 3).
Regarding claim 5, the combination teaches the wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein to transmit the preamble and the payload (see rejection above), the processor-executable code is configured to cause the wireless communications device to: transmit the preamble and the payload according to a tone plan, the tone plan comprising one or more of: a plurality of Extremely High Throughput (EHT) 80 MHz tone plans across the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth or the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth; a 6×996 tone resource unit for the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth; 4×996 tone multiple resource units for the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth; 4×996+484 tone multiple resource units for the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth; 4×996+484+242 tone multiple resource units for the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth; 5×996 tone multiple resource units for the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth; 5×996+484 tone multiple resource units for the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth; 5×996+484+242 tone multiple resource units for the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth; a 8×996 tone resource unit for the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth; 4×996 tone resource units for the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth; 4×996+484 tone multiple resource units for the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth; 5×996 tone multiple resource units for the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth; 5×996+484 tone multiple resource units for the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth; 6×996 tone multiple resource units for the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth; a 6×996+484 tone multiple resource units for the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth; 7×996 tone multiple resource units for the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth; or 7×996+484 tone multiple resource units for the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth (Li see rejection above; Li Table 7-1 titled “…for 480 MHz non-OFDMA PPDU transmission…” which contains Puncturing pattern (RU or MRU index) column and contents of the table; Table 8-1 titled “…for 640 MHz non-OFDMA PPDU transmission…” which contains Puncturing pattern (RU or MRU index) column and contents of the table).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Li’s one or more other embodiments’ teachings. The motivation is supporting next generation Wi-Fi communication bandwidth (Li ¶ 3).
Regarding claim 8, the combination teaches the wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the processor-executable code is configured to cause the wireless communications device to: transmit, in the preamble, an indication of a puncturing pattern for the physical layer protocol data unit (Li ¶ 478; ¶ 141, A first station may transmit the first information to a second station…The first information may be carried in a data packet; ¶ 142, the data packet transmitted by the transmission resource is a PPDU. The PPDU may be an ultra-high reliability (UHR) PPDU; section 2 and ¶ 371, U-SIG field in UHR PPDU; ¶ 233, PPDU includes the first punctured channel information and/or the second punctured channel information, and the first punctured channel information and/or the second punctured channel information may indicate the puncturing granularity and/or puncturing pattern of the transmission resource of the PPDU; ¶ 265, the first punctured channel information is a punctured channel information subfield in the U-SIG field; ¶ 266, the second punctured channel information is a punctured channel information extension subfield in the U-SIG field; Tables 7-1, and 8-1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Li’s one or more other embodiments’ teachings. The motivation is supporting next generation Wi-Fi communication bandwidth (Li ¶ 3).
Regarding claim 9, the combination teaches the wireless communications device of claim 8, wherein the physical layer protocol data unit comprises a non-orthogonal frequency-division multiple access physical layer protocol data unit (Li ¶ 138, a data packet transmitted by the transmission resource is a non-orthogonal frequency division multiple access (non-OFDMA) UHR PPDU), and wherein the indication of the puncturing pattern indicates one or more of no puncturing, a punctured 40 MHz bandwidth within the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth or the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth, a punctured 80 MHz bandwidth within the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth or the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth, two concurrent punctured 80 MHz bandwidths within the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth or the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth, or a concurrent 40 MHz bandwidth and 80 MHz bandwidth within the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth or the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth (Li Tables 7-1 and 8-1; ¶ 188, 480 MHz channel includes three adjacent 160 MHz channels; ¶ 192, 640 MHz channel includes four adjacent 160 MHz channels).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Li’s one or more other embodiments’ teachings. The motivation is supporting next generation Wi-Fi communication bandwidth (Li ¶ 3).
Claim 29 recite similar limitations of claim 1 and is thus rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 32, the combination teaches the wireless communications device of claim 1.
Although Li teaches the preamble and the indicated channel bandwidth, Li does not explicitly disclose the preamble comprises one or more user fields, each user field indicating a resource unit assignment within the indicated channel bandwidth for a respective user associated with the user field.
Shellhammer in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches a preamble comprises one or more user fields, each user field indicating a resource unit assignment within a channel bandwidth for a respective user associated with the user field (fig. 4a, shows preamble 410 contains field 418; ¶ 59, EHT-SIG 418 includes a common field and at least one STA-specific (“user-specific”) field…The user-specific fields are assigned to particular STAs and may be used to schedule specific RUs and to indicate the scheduling to other WLAN devices; ¶ 91, RU allocation within a larger channel bandwidth; ¶ 70, RU allocations…may refer to allocations within a first subchannel bandwidth). By modifying Li’s teachings of the preamble and the indicated channel bandwidth with Shellhammer’s teachings of a preamble comprises one or more user fields, each user field indicating a resource unit assignment within a channel bandwidth for a respective user associated with the user field, the modification results in the preamble comprises one or more user fields, each user field indicating a resource unit assignment within the indicated channel bandwidth for a respective user associated with the user field.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Shellhammer’s above teachings. The motivation is reducing an overall PAPR of a preamble portion of a multi-generation PPDU (Shellhammer ¶ 42).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li and Shellhammer and in further view of US 20170034829 by Yang et al. (hereinafter Yang).
Regarding claim 6, the combination teaches the wireless communications device of claim 5.
Although the combination teaches the processor-executable code is configured to cause the wireless communications device to: transmit (Li ¶ 478; ¶ 141, A first station may transmit) and the tone plan, the combination does not explicitly disclose the processor-executable code is configured to cause the wireless communications device to: transmit a plurality of pilot signals, wherein resources used to transmit the plurality of pilot signals are based at least in part on the tone plan.
Yang in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches processor-executable code is configured to cause a wireless communications device to: transmit a plurality of pilot signals, wherein resources used to transmit the plurality of pilot signals are based at least in part on a tone plan (fig. 8; ¶ 145; ¶ 57, Referring to the tone plan 270, pilot signals 272, 274, 276, 278 may be transmitted on tone indices −21, −7, 7, 21…a tone plan may indicate the tone index in which a pilot may be transmitted (e.g., where in the symbol a pilot is to be transmitted) and the number of pilots to be transmitted). By modifying the combination’s teachings of the processor-executable code is configured to cause the wireless communications device to: transmit and the tone plan with Yang’s teachings of processor-executable code is configured to cause a wireless communications device to: transmit a plurality of pilot signals, wherein resources used to transmit the plurality of pilot signals are based at least in part on a tone plan, the modification results in the processor-executable code is configured to cause the wireless communications device to: transmit a plurality of pilot signals, wherein resources used to transmit the plurality of pilot signals are based at least in part on the tone plan.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Yang’s above teachings. The motivation is reducing a number of leftover tones which is beneficial (Yang ¶ 64). Known work in one field of endeavor (Yang prior art) may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one (Li prior art) based on design incentives (reducing a number of leftover tones which is beneficial) or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one or ordinary skill in the art.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li and Shellhammer and in further view of US 20190281614 by Chen et al. (hereinafter Chen).
Regarding claim 7, the combination teaches the wireless communications device of claim 5, wherein the processor-executable code is configured to cause the wireless communications device to (Li ¶ 478): generate the physical layer protocol data unit (Li ¶ 141, A first station may transmit the first information to a second station…The first information may be carried in a data packet; ¶ 142, the data packet transmitted by the transmission resource is a PPDU. Although not explicitly stated, since the station transmit the PPDU, the station must generate the PPDU) and the tone plan, but the combination does not explicitly disclose generate the physical layer protocol data unit in accordance with a segment parser, wherein the segment parser is based at least in part on the tone plan.
Chen in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches generate the physical layer protocol data unit in accordance with a segment parser, wherein the segment parser is based at least in part on a tone plan (¶ 38, generate a data unit for transmission. In some aspects, the data unit can comprise a physical layer data unit (PPDU). In some aspects, the PPDU is referred to as a packet; ¶ 84, segment parser for coding transmissions according to 4× symbol duration tone plans… segment parser for coding transmissions according to 2× or 4× symbol duration tone plans). By modifying the combination’s teachings of the processor-executable code is configured to cause the wireless communications device to: generate the physical layer protocol data unit and the tone plan with Chen’s teachings of generate the physical layer protocol data unit in accordance with a segment parser, wherein the segment parser is based at least in part on a tone plan, the modification results in the processor-executable code is configured to cause the wireless communications device to: generate the physical layer protocol data unit in accordance with a segment parser, wherein the segment parser is based at least in part on the tone plan.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Chen’s above teachings. The motivation is improving communication efficiency in wireless networks (Chen ¶ 5). Known work in one field of endeavor (Chen prior art) may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one (Li prior art) based on design incentives (improving communication efficiency in wireless networks) or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one or ordinary skill in the art.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li and Shellhammer and in further view of US 20250219764 by Park et al. (hereafter Park).
Regarding claim 10, the combination teaches the wireless communications device of claim 8.
Although the combination teaches the physical layer protocol data unit, the indication of the puncturing pattern, and the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth or the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth, the combination does not explicitly disclose the physical layer protocol data unit comprises an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access physical layer protocol data unit, and the indication of the puncturing pattern indicates zero or one or two punctured 20 MHz bandwidths for each 80 MHz bandwidth of a plurality of 80 MHz bandwidths within the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth or the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth.
Park in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches a physical layer protocol data unit comprises an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access physical layer protocol data unit (¶ 161, an EHT MU PPDU in an OFDMA transmission), and an indication of a puncturing pattern of zero or one or two punctured 20 MHz bandwidths for each 80 MHz bandwidth of a plurality of 80 MHz bandwidths within a 480 MHz channel bandwidth or a 640 MHz channel bandwidth (¶ 285, when a bandwidth of 160/80 MHz or more is punctured in each 320/160 MHz channel constituting 480/640 MHZ, a puncturing pattern of 160/80/40/20 MHz rather than 320 MHz may be indicated, and a puncturing pattern of 80/40/20 MHz rather than 160 MHz may be indicated). By modifying the combination’s teachings of the physical layer protocol data unit, the indication of the puncturing pattern, and the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth or the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth with Park’s teachings of a physical layer protocol data unit comprises an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access physical layer protocol data unit and an indication of a puncturing pattern of zero or one or two punctured 20 MHz bandwidths for each 80 MHz bandwidth of a plurality of 80 MHz bandwidths within a 480 MHz channel bandwidth or a 640 MHz channel bandwidth, the modification results in the physical layer protocol data unit comprises an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access physical layer protocol data unit, and the indication of the puncturing pattern indicates zero or one or two punctured 20 MHz bandwidths for each 80 MHz bandwidth of a plurality of 80 MHz bandwidths within the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth or the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Park’s above teachings. The motivation is efficiency and throughput can be improved (Park ¶ 12). Known work in one field of endeavor (Park prior art) may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one (Li prior art) based on design incentives (efficiency and throughput can be improved) or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one or ordinary skill in the art.
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li and Shellhammer and in further view of US 20240089160 by Hu et al. (hereinafter Hu).
Regarding claim 13, the combination teaches the wireless communications device of claim 1.
Although the combination teaches the preamble and the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth or the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth, the combination does not explicitly disclose the preamble comprises an Ultra High Reliability short training field, the Ultra High Reliability short training field comprises a plurality of sequences within 80 MHz segments or 160 MHz segments of the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth or the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth, and each of the plurality of sequences is multiplied by a different coefficient.
Hu in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches a preamble comprises an Ultra High Reliability short training field, the Ultra High Reliability short training field comprises a plurality of sequences within 80 MHz segments or 160 MHz segments of a 480 MHz channel bandwidth or a 640 MHz channel bandwidth, and each of the plurality of sequences is multiplied by a different coefficient (¶ 28, a predefined STF base sequence may be used in constructing or otherwise generating a UHR-STF for wide bandwidths…an 80 MHz HE-STF sequence and/or extreme-high throughput (EHT) STF (EHT-STF) sequence may be reused, with additional coefficients applied on each 80 MHz frequency subblock or segment. Under the proposed schemes, an 80 MHz segment sequence for downlink (DL) multi-user (MU) PPDU (herein denoted as “EHTS80_1x”) may be expressed as: EHTS80_1x=[M, 1, (−1)*M, 0, (−1)*M, 1, (−1)*M]. Additionally, an 80 MHz segment sequence for uplink (UL) trigger-based (TB) PPDU (herein denoted as “EHTS80_2x”) may be expressed as: EHTS80_2x=[M, −1, M, −1, −M, −1, M, 0, −M, 1, M, 1, −M, 1, −M]. Here, M denotes an 80 MHz sub-sequence and M=[−1, −1, −1, 1, 1, 1, −1, 1, 1, 1, −1, 1, 1, −1, 1]; ¶ 45, in generating the STF, process 1000 may involve processor 912 repeating the 80 MHz HE-STF or EHT-STF sequence and applying a combination of coefficients on each 80 MHz frequency subblock or segment of the 240 MHz, 480 MHz or 640 MHz bandwidth; ¶ 31; ¶ 33; ¶ 46; ¶ 49-52). By modifying the combination’s teachings of the preamble and the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth or the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth with Hu’s teachings of a preamble comprises an Ultra High Reliability short training field, the Ultra High Reliability short training field comprises a plurality of sequences within 80 MHz segments or 160 MHz segments of a 480 MHz channel bandwidth or a 640 MHz channel bandwidth, and each of the plurality of sequences is multiplied by a different coefficient, the modification results in the preamble comprises an Ultra High Reliability short training field, the Ultra High Reliability short training field comprises a plurality of sequences within 80 MHz segments or 160 MHz segments of the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth or the 640 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth, and each of the plurality of sequences is multiplied by a different coefficient.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Hu’s above teachings. The motivation is improving PAPR performance over a variety of RU sizes for 240 MHz, 480 MHz and 640 MHz (Hu ¶ 28). Known work in one field of endeavor (Hu prior art) may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one (li prior art) based on design incentives (improve PAPR performance over a variety of RU sizes for 240 MHz, 480 MHz and 640 MHz) or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one or ordinary skill in the art.
Claim(s) 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li and Shellhammer and in further view of WO2024/167208 by Lim et al. (hereinafter Lim).
Regarding claim 24, the combination teaches the wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the indicated channel bandwidth is the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth (Li ¶ 49, 130, 131, 50, 75, 76, and 389).
Although the combination teaches the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth comprises a 160 MHz subchannel, a first 160 MHz subchannel, and one of a second 160 MHz subchannel or a tertiary 160 MHz subband (Li ¶ 375, The 480 MHz channel consists of any three adjacent 160 MHz IEEE channels in the 6 GHz band), the combination does not explicitly disclose the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth comprises a primary 160 MHz subchannel, a first secondary 160 MHz subchannel, and one of a second secondary 160 MHz subchannel or a tertiary 160 MHz subband.
Lim in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches a 480 MHz channel bandwidth comprises a primary 160 MHz subchannel, a first secondary 160 MHz subchannel, and one of a second secondary 160 MHz subchannel or a tertiary 160 MHz subband (page 19 of 29, 480 MHz may be configured as "160 MHz + 160 MHz + 160 MHz", and 160 MHz may be divided into a primary (or first) 160 MHz, a secondary 160 MHz, and a third 160 MHz (or a lower 160 MHz of the secondary 320 MHz)). By modifying the combination’s teachings of the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth comprises a 160 MHz subchannel, a first 160 MHz subchannel, and one of a second 160 MHz subchannel or a tertiary 160 MHz subband with Lim’s teachings of a 480 MHz channel bandwidth comprises a primary 160 MHz subchannel, a first secondary 160 MHz subchannel, and one of a second secondary 160 MHz subchannel or a tertiary 160 MHz subband, the modification results in the 480 MHz contiguous channel bandwidth comprises a primary 160 MHz subchannel, a first secondary 160 MHz subchannel, and one of a second secondary 160 MHz subchannel or a tertiary 160 MHz subband.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Lim’s above teachings. The motivation is throughput can be improved by performing uplink transmission using an extended bandwidth (Lim page 3 of 29). Known work in one field of endeavor (Lim prior art) may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one (Li prior art) based on design incentives (throughput can be improved by performing uplink transmission using an extended bandwidth) or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one or ordinary skill in the art.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 3-4, 11-12, 14-21, 23, and 25-26 is/are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim(s) 22 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 20260223093 discloses content of U-SIG field may be different for each 160 MHz channel for 480 MHz (¶ 219).
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 PETER P CHAU whose telephone number is (571)270-7152. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30 A.M - 6 P.M. ET M-F.
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/PETER P CHAU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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