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 .
This is responsive to Application 18/794,073 in which claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Iwai et al (US 2024/0373456 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Iwai teaches an access point (AP) (Iwai: Fig. 20; AP 100) comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the AP to:
transmit a first frame (Iwai: Fig. 20; [0162], MU-RTS TXS trigger frame) indicating: for a first station (STA), a first time allocation of a transmission opportunity (TXOP) obtained by the AP and a first triggered TXOP sharing (TXS) mode; and for a second STA, a second time allocation of the TXOP and a second TXS mode (Iwai: Fig. 15, Fig. 20; [0162]-[0165]; AP100 transmits in MU-RTS TXS allocation for STA1 with P2P flag=0/first triggered TXS sharing mode and allocation for STA3 with P2P flag=1/second triggered TXS sharing mode) and
receive, from the first STA, a second frame within the first time allocation in response to the first frame (Iwai: fig. 20, [0162]-[0165], STA1 transmits CTS to AP).
Regarding claim 10, Iwai teaches a first station (STA) comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the first STA to:
receive, from an access point (AP), a first frame (Iwai: Fig. 20; [0162], MU-RTS TXS trigger frame) indicating:
for the first STA, a first time allocation of a transmission opportunity (TXOP) obtained by the AP and a first triggered TXOP sharing (TXS) mode; and for a second STA, a second time allocation of the TXOP and a second TXS mode (Iwai: Fig. 15, Fig. 20; [0162]-[0165]; AP100 transmits in MU-RTS TXS allocation for STA1 with P2P flag=0/first triggered TXS sharing mode and allocation for STA3 with P2P flag=1/second triggered TXS sharing mode); and
transmit a second frame within the first time allocation in response to the first frame (Iwai: fig. 20, [0162]-[0165], STA1 transmits CTS to AP).
Regarding claim 19, Iwai teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an access point (AP), cause the AP to:
transmit a first frame (Iwai: Fig. 20; [0162], MU-RTS TXS trigger frame) indicating: for a first station (STA), a first time allocation of a transmission opportunity (TXOP) obtained by the AP and a first triggered TXOP sharing (TXS) mode; and for a second STA, a second time allocation of the TXOP and a second TXS mode (Iwai: Fig. 15, Fig. 20; [0162]-[0165]; AP100 transmits in MU-RTS TXS allocation for STA1 with P2P flag=0/first triggered TXS sharing mode and allocation for STA3 with P2P flag=1/second triggered TXS sharing mode); and
receive, from the first STA, a second frame within the first time allocation in response to the first frame (Iwai: fig. 20, [0162]-[0165], STA1 transmits CTS to AP).
Regarding claims 2, 11 and 20, Iwai teaches wherein the first TXS mode is of a different type than the second TXS mode (Iwai: Fig. 15, Fig. 20; [0162]-[0165]; AP100 transmits in MU-RTS TXS allocation for STA1 with P2P flag=0/first triggered TXS sharing mode and allocation for STA3 with P2P flag=1/second triggered TXS sharing mode).
Regarding claims 3 and 12, Iwai teaches wherein the first frame comprises a multi-user request-to-send TXS (MU-RTS TXS) trigger frame (Iwai: Fig. 20; [0162] MU-RTS TXS trigger frame).
Regarding claims 4 and 13, Iwai teaches wherein the first frame comprises: a first user info field indicating the first TXS mode; and a second user info field indicating the second TXS mode (Iwai: Fig. 15, Fig. 20; [0162]-[0165]; AP100 transmits in MU-RTS TXS allocation comprising user info fields P2P flag=0/first triggered TXS sharing mode and P2P flag=1/second triggered TXS sharing mode).
Regarding claims 5 and 14, Iwai teaches wherein the first frame comprises a first user info field and a second user info field, and wherein a common info field of the first frame indicates whether: the first user info field indicates the first TXS mode; and the second user info field indicates the second TXS mode (Iwai: Figs. 15 and 20; [0132]-[0133], TXOP Sharing Mode subfield value=3).
Regarding claims 6 and 15, Iwai teaches wherein the second frame comprises a clear-to-send (CTS) frame (Iwai: Fig. 20, STA1 transmits CTS to AP).
Regarding claims 7 and 16, Iwai teaches wherein the first TXS mode and the second TXS mode each corresponds to a TXS mode 1 or a TXS mode 2 (Iwai: Fig. 15, Fig. 20; [0162]-[0165]; AP100 transmits in MU-RTS TXS allocation comprising user info fields P2P flag=0/first triggered TXS sharing mode 1 and P2P flag=1/second triggered TXS sharing mode 2).
Regarding claims 8 and 17, Iwai teaches wherein the first TXS mode corresponds to a TXS mode 1 or a TXS mode 2, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the AP to receive, in the first time allocation, a third frame from the first STA (Iwai: fig. 20, [0162]-[0165], STA1 transmits DATA to AP in SU PPDU/third frame).
Regarding claims 9 and 18, Iwai teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the AP to receive, from the second STA, a fourth frame within the second time allocation in response to the first frame (Iwai: fig. 20, [0162]-[0165], STA2 transmits CTS to AP).
Conclusion
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/KODZOVI ACOLATSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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