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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/05/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
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, 9, 11-12, 14-17, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vermani et al. (US 20220038241) in view of Seok et al. (US 20160100396).
Regarding claim 1, Vermani discloses a channel sounding method (channel sounding; [0002]), comprising:
sending, by a first communication apparatus, a null data packet announcement (NDPA) frame (TX device may initiate a channel sounding operation by transmitting an NDP announcement (NDPA) frame; [0004]),
wherein the NDPA frame comprises first indication information indicating that the NDPA frame is for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) and non-OFDMA hybrid channel sounding (unified PPDU 800 may be configured for full-bandwidth SU or MU-MIMO communications, punctured SU or MU-MIMO communications, or OFDMA communications. When no compression is implemented, the unified PPDU 800 may be configured for OFDMA. When the first compression mode is implemented, the unified PPDU 800 may be configured for full-bandwidth SU or MU-MIMO communications. When the second compression mode is implemented, the unified PPDU 800 may be configured for punctured SU or MU-MIMO communications; [0076]); and
sending, by the first communication apparatus, one or more null data packets (NDPs) (transmitting an NDP following the transmission of the NDPA; and receiving the sounding feedback responsive to the NDP; [0011]),
wherein a total bandwidth of the one or more NDPs is a first bandwidth (a channel sounding procedure based on the transmission of null data packets (NDPs). RX device estimates the channel conditions based on the received NDP and transmits a feedback message, including information about the channel conditions, back to the TX device. new sounding packet designs are needed to support channel sounding over greater bandwidths and numbers of spatial streams; [0083]), and
the first bandwidth is greater than 80 MHz (the enhanced NDPA frame of the present implementations may be used to request sounding feedback associated with bandwidths of up to at least 320 MHz; [0085]).
Vermani does not expressly disclose a corresponding portion of the one or more NDPs in the first bandwidth is used by a second communication apparatus to obtain channel state information between the second communication apparatus and the first communication apparatus, a corresponding portion of the one or more NDPs in a second bandwidth is used by a third communication apparatus to obtain channel state information between the third communication apparatus and the first communication apparatus, the second bandwidth is a part of the first bandwidth.
In an analogous art, Seok discloses a corresponding portion of the one or more NDPs in the first bandwidth is used by a second communication apparatus to obtain channel state information between the second communication apparatus and the first communication apparatus (FIG. 18, NDP sounding over a low channel (e.g., one 20 MHz channel of a low frequency side out of two 20 MHz channels constituting a 40 MHz channel when NDP sounding is performed over a 40 MHz channel in FIG. 18) for STA1 and STA2. AP may transmit the NDPA frame and the NDP frame over a low 20 MHz channel for the purpose of requesting that STA1 and STA2 transmit the CSI for a low 20 MHz channel and then the AP may receive the CSI of a low 20 MHz channel through the compressed beamforming frame from STA1 and STA2; [0238-0239]),
a corresponding portion of the one or more NDPs in a second bandwidth is used by a third communication apparatus to obtain channel state information between the third communication apparatus and the first communication apparatus (Fig. 18, NDP sounding over a high channel (e.g., one 20 MHz channel of a high frequency side out of two 20 MHz channels constituting a 40 MHz channel) for STA3 and STA4. AP may transmit the NDPA frame and the NDP frame over a high 20 MHz channel for the purpose of requesting that STA3 and STA4 transmit CSI for a high 20 MHz channel and then the AP may receive the CSI of a high 20 MHz channel through the compressed beamforming frame from STA3 and STA4; [0238-0239]),
the second bandwidth is a part of the first bandwidth (FIG. 18, the AP may request that STAs transmit CSI on a channel (or subchannel) basis and receive the CSI. For example, the AP may perform NDP sounding using a 40 MHz channel with respect to STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4; [0239]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Seok into the system of Vermani in order to perform beamformed transmission in a WLAN supporting downlink multi-user transmission or uplink multi-user transmission (Seok; [0019]).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Vermani and Seok, particularly Vermani discloses receiving, by the first communication apparatus, a first beamforming report from the second communication apparatus, wherein the first beamforming report indicates the channel state information in the first bandwidth; and receiving, by the first communication apparatus, a second beamforming report from the third communication apparatus, wherein the second beamforming report indicates the channel state information in the second bandwidth (RX device estimates the channel conditions based on the received NDP and transmits a feedback message, including information about the channel conditions, back to the TX device. The TX device may use the information about the channel condition to adjust or configure subsequent communications (such as for link adaptation or beamforming) with the RX device. As new WLAN communication protocols enable enhanced features, new sounding packet designs are needed to support channel sounding over greater bandwidths and numbers of spatial streams; [0083]).
Regarding claim 3, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 1.
Regarding claim 4, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 2.
Regarding claim 5, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 1.
Regarding claim 6, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 2.
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Vermani and Seok, particularly Vermani discloses wherein the NDPA frame further comprises second indication information indicating puncturing information in the first bandwidth (the EHT-SIG compression field 809 may include 1 bit that can be used to indicate whether the unified PPDU 800 is configured for compression (or no compression) while the bandwidth and punctured information field 807 may be used to further differentiate between the first compression mode and the second compression mode; [0077]).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Vermani and Seok, particularly Vermani discloses wherein the second indication information further indicates the second communication apparatus to feed back channel state information of a nonpunctured subchannel in the first bandwidth (Each of the STA information fields 1030 carries bandwidth information indicating a bandwidth associated with the requested sounding feedback. Such bandwidth information may include, among other examples, a range of resource units (RUs) on which the channel estimation is to be performed or one or more punctured subchannels on which the channel estimation is not to be performed; [0091].
disallowed subchannel bitmap subfield 1214 carries puncturing information identifying punctured subchannels associated with the bandwidth for the sounding feedback, similar to the disallowed subchannel bitmap subfield 1114 of the STA information field 1110; [0103]).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Vermani and Seok, particularly Vermani discloses wherein the one or more NDPs comprise third indication information indicating puncturing information in the first bandwidth (because an NDP does not carry any user data, EHT-SIG 1660 may not include any user fields. Further, EHT-SIG 1660 may not be signaled on multiple content channels. Thus, EHT-SIG 1660 may not include any content channel fields (such as described with reference to FIG. 15). In some implementations, EHT-SIG 1660 may further include a punctured channel table (not shown) carrying additional bandwidth puncturing information indicating which (if any) subchannels associated with a bandwidth of the PPDU 1600 are punctured. In some aspects, the bandwidth puncturing information in the EHT-SIG 1660 may represent full bandwidth puncturing information; [0131]).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Vermani and Seok, particularly Vermani discloses wherein the third indication information is carried in a first extremely high throughput signal (EHT-SIG) field (because an NDP does not carry any user data, EHT-SIG 1660 may not include any user fields. Further, EHT-SIG 1660 may not be signaled on multiple content channels. Thus, EHT-SIG 1660 may not include any content channel fields (such as described with reference to FIG. 15). In some implementations, EHT-SIG 1660 may further include a punctured channel table (not shown) carrying additional bandwidth puncturing information indicating which (if any) subchannels associated with a bandwidth of the PPDU 1600 are punctured. In some aspects, the bandwidth puncturing information in the EHT-SIG 1660 may represent full bandwidth puncturing information; [0131]).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Vermani and Seok, particularly Vermani discloses wherein the one or more NDPs further comprise first format information indicating that each of the one or more NDPs in the first bandwidth is an OFDMA-based NDP (the NDP may be a PPDU having a physical layer preamble that includes an L-SIG, an RL-SIG that follows L-SIG, and a U-SIG that follows RL-SIG and carries information indicating that the PPDU is an NDP. In some implementations, the information carried in U-SIG may include compression mode information indicating a compression mode associated with an MU PPDU format. In some implementations, the physical layer preamble may further include an EHT-SIG that follows U-SIG, where EHT-SIG includes a common field and zero user fields; [0140]).
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Vermani and Seok, particularly Vermani discloses wherein the NDPA frame further comprises bandwidth information indicating at least one of the first bandwidth or the second bandwidth (NDPA frame includes a MAC header, a sounding dialog token field that follows the MAC header, and a first STA information field carrying bandwidth information indicating a bandwidth associated with the sounding feedback; [0134]).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Vermani and Seok, particularly Vermani discloses wherein the NDPA frame further comprises second indication information indicating puncturing information in the first bandwidth (Each of the STA information fields 1030 carries bandwidth information indicating a bandwidth associated with the requested sounding feedback. Such bandwidth information may include, among other examples, a range of resource units (RUs) on which the channel estimation is to be performed or one or more punctured subchannels on which the channel estimation is not to be performed. In some implementations, the subfield configuration for each STA information field 1030 may depend on the format of the NDPA frame 1000. For example, the types of subfields, the number of subfields, the size of each subfield, or the position of each subfield may be different for an NDPA frame 1000 configured in accordance with the legacy NDPA frame format compared to an NDPA frame 1000 configured in accordance with the non-legacy NDPA frame format; [0091]).
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Vermani and Seok, particularly Vermani discloses wherein the second indication information further indicates the second communication apparatus to feed back channel state information of a nonpunctured subchannel in the first bandwidth (disallowed subchannel bitmap subfield 1214 carries puncturing information identifying punctured subchannels associated with the bandwidth for the sounding feedback, similar to the disallowed subchannel bitmap subfield 1114 of the STA information field 1110. While 8 bits can sufficiently describe all possible punctured subchannels of a 160 MHz channel (with a 20 MHz puncturing granularity), at least 16 bits are needed to describe all possible punctured subchannels of a 320 MHz channel. Thus, in some aspects, each bit of the disallowed subchannel bitmap subfield 1214 may indicate whether puncturing is performed on a respective 20 MHz subchannel of a 320 MHz channel; [0103]).
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Vermani and Seok, particularly Vermani discloses wherein the one or more NDPs comprise third indication information indicating puncturing information in the first bandwidth (because an NDP does not carry any user data, EHT-SIG 1660 may not include any user fields. Further, EHT-SIG 1660 may not be signaled on multiple content channels. Thus, EHT-SIG 1660 may not include any content channel fields (such as described with reference to FIG. 15). In some implementations, EHT-SIG 1660 may further include a punctured channel table (not shown) carrying additional bandwidth puncturing information indicating which (if any) subchannels associated with a bandwidth of the PPDU 1600 are punctured. In some aspects, the bandwidth puncturing information in the EHT-SIG 1660 may represent full bandwidth puncturing information; [0131]).
Regarding claim 20, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 14.
Claim(s) 10 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vermani et al. (US 20220038241) in view of Seok et al. (US 20160100396) and in view of Kwon et al. (US 20210336752).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Vermani and Seok does not expressly disclose wherein the third indication information is carried in a first universal signal (U-SIG) field, and that the third indication information indicates puncturing information in the first bandwidth comprises: the third indication information indicates puncturing information in one or more frequency subblocks in the first bandwidth.
In an analogous art, Kown discloses wherein the third indication information is carried in a first universal signal (U-SIG) field, and that the third indication information indicates puncturing information in the first bandwidth comprises: the third indication information indicates puncturing information in one or more frequency subblocks in the first bandwidth (NDP packets used for signaling may support more than one hole transmission (similar to OFDMA transmissions) for punctured information signaling. In some embodiments, punctured information signaling may be performed according to one of three techniques. According to a first technique, a Universal-Signal field (U-SIG) and/or an EHT-Signal field (EHT-SIG) in an NDP packet may be similar to that of an OFDMA mode. In some embodiments, the first technique may involve a puncturing subfield in an NDP using the same format as an uncompressed OFDMA mode. In some embodiments, the first technique may involve omitting an RU Allocation field in EHT-SIG as a receiver (e.g., client or STA) will know how to combine content channels based on puncturing information in U-SIG; [0099]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Kwon into the system of Vermani and Seok in order to efficiently indicate solicited bandwidth information (Kwon; [0002]).
Regarding claim 18, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 10.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13 and 19 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 13, if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, would comprise a combination of elements which is not taught by the prior art of record.
The same remarks apply to claim 19 mutatis mutandis.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Saad et al. (US 20240243862), “MULTI-AP CHANNEL SOUNDING PROCEDURES FOR WLAN SYSTEMS.”
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OUSSAMA ROUDANI whose telephone number is (571)272-4727. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM.
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, UN C CHO can be reached at (571) 272 7919. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/OUSSAMA ROUDANI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413
Prosecution Insights