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
This action is in response to communications filed on 08/22/2024.
Claims 11-22 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 08/22/2024, 12/10/2024, 01/07/2025, and 06/09/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 11 recites “thefurther” in line 13, this is understood to be a typographical error and should be “further” and will be interpreted as such.
Appropriate correction is required.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1, 11, 17, and 22 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1 & 8 of U.S. Patent No. 12120025. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because of the following:
Claim 1, current application
Claims 1 & 8, 12120025 (Pub. No.: US 2021/0367886 A1)
A method for wireless communication by a wireless communication device comprising:
A method for wireless communication by a wireless communication device comprising:
receiving a packet including a physical layer preamble that includes a legacy short training field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF), a legacy signal field (L-SIG), a repeat of L-SIG (RL-SIG) that immediately follows L-SIG, and a universal signal field (U-SIG) that immediately follows RL-SIG and includes information for interpreting one or more subsequent fields of the packet, L-SIG including a length field having a value (LLEN) that satisfies L_LEN mod 3 equals zero
receiving a packet including a physical layer preamble that includes a legacy short training field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF), a legacy signal field (L-SIG), a repeat of L-SIG (RL-SIG) that immediately follows L-SIG, and a universal signal field (U-SIG) that immediately follows RL-SIG and includes information for interpreting one or more subsequent fields of the packet, L-SIG including a length field having a value (LLEN) that satisfies L_LEN mod 3 equals zero
wherein U-SIG further includes at least one of one or more version independent fields or one or more version dependent field
version identifier subfield of U-SIG
detecting one or more modulation schemes associated with U-SIG
detecting a plurality of modulation schemes applied to U-SIG
and determining a format of the packet based on the one or more modulation schemes associated with U-SIG.
first symbol of U-SIG is modulated according to a binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation scheme of the plurality of modulation schemes and a second symbol of U-SIG is modulated according to a quadrature BPSK (QBPSK) modulation scheme of the plurality of modulation schemes; and determining the second symbol of U-SIG is a repetition of the first symbol of U- SIG based on the first symbol being modulated according to the BPSK modulation scheme and the second symbol being modulated according to the QBPSK modulation scheme
Claim 1 of the current application does not have the specified quadrature BPSK modulation of claim 1 of the parent patent. Making the claims broader is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application. Claims 11, 17, and 22 are rejected for similar reasons. Claims 17 instead of reciting “and determining a format of the packet based on the one or more modulation schemes associated with U-SIG.” like the other independent claims, recites “modulating a first symbol of U-SIG according to a binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation scheme; modulating a second symbol of U-SIG according to a quadrature BPSK (QBPSK) modulation scheme; and transmitting the packet over a wireless channel”. This is still taught by the parent patent and able to be mapped to the limitation in claim 1 of the parent patent: “first symbol of U-SIG is modulated according to a binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation scheme of the plurality of modulation schemes and a second symbol of U-SIG is modulated according to a quadrature BPSK (QBPSK) modulation scheme of the plurality of modulation schemes; and determining the second symbol of U-SIG is a repetition of the first symbol of U- SIG based on the first symbol being modulated according to the BPSK modulation scheme and the second symbol being modulated according to the QBPSK modulation scheme”. Therefore, claims 1, 11, 17, and 22 are rejected under obviousness type double patenting as the claim of the current application is not patentably distinct from the parent patent.
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.
Claims 1-8 and 11-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (Pub. No.: US 2020/0136884 A1) in view of Kim (Pub. No.: US 2023/0016370 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Park teaches
A method for wireless communication by a wireless communication device (Park [0002-0003] and [0027]: method for wireless communication by wireless device) comprising:
receiving a packet including a physical layer preamble (Park [0066], [0099], and [0103]: packet with physical layer preamble) that includes a legacy short training field (L-STF) (Park [0106]: L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF) (Park [0106]: L-LTF), a legacy signal field (L-SIG) (Park [0106]: L-SIG), a repeat of L-SIG (RL-SIG) that immediately follows L-SIG (Park [0106] and fig. 9: RL-SIG), and a universal signal field (U-SIG) that immediately follows RL-SIG and includes information for interpreting one or more subsequent fields of the packet (Park [0106] and fig. 9), L-SIG including a length field having a value (LLEN) that satisfies L LEN mod 3 equals zero (Park [0137]: the length indicated mod 3 is equal to 0) wherein U-SIG further includes at least one of one or more version independent fields or one or more version dependent fields (Park [0137]: version independent or version dependent);
While Park does teach utilizing QBPSK and BPSK modulation, Park does not explicitly teach detecting one or more modulation schemes associated with U-SIG; and determining a format of the packet based on the one or more detected modulation schemes associated with U-SIG.
However, Kim, in the analogous art of wireless communication utilizing modulation schemes, teaches
detecting one or more modulation schemes associated with U-SIG (Kim [0117]: modulation schemes associated with U-SIG); and
determining a format of the packet based on the one or more detected modulation schemes associated with U-SIG (Kim [0347] and [0117]: recognize (detect) a format based on U-SIG field, indication using modulation schemes).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Park to incorporate the teachings of Kim and detect one or more modulation schemes associated with U-SIG; and determine a format of the packet based on the one or more detected modulation schemes associated with U-SIG. Doing so would allow for determination on the ER PPDU in the form of phase modulation (Kim [0117]).
Regarding claim 2, Park modified by Kim teaches
The method of claim 1 (the limitations of parent claim 1 as indicated above),
Park further teaches
wherein the one or more version independent fields include a physical laver (PHY) version identifier subfield (Park [0137]: version independent field with PHY version identifier subfield), an uplink or downlink subfield, a transmit opportunity duration subfield, a basic service set color subfield, a physical protocol data unit bandwidth subfield, or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 3, Park modified by Kim teaches
The method of claim 1 (the limitations of parent claim 1 as indicated above),
Park further teaches
wherein the one or more version dependent fields include a spatial reuse subfield, a physical protocol data unit type and compression mode subfield, a modulation and coding scheme subfield (Park [0114] and claim 7: modulation and coding scheme field in version dependent field), or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 4, Park modified by Kim teaches
The method of claim 1 (the limitations of parent claim 1 as indicated above),
Park further teaches
wherein the packet further comprises an additional SIG field subsequent to U-SIG, and wherein U-SIG, the additional SIG field, or both, comprise one or more additional version dependent fields (Park fig. 9 and [0114]: additional SIG field subsequent to U-SIG and comprising additional version dependent fields).
Regarding claim 5, Park modified by Kim teaches
The method of claim 4 (the limitations of parent claim 4 as indicated above),
Park further teaches
wherein the one or more additional version dependent fields include a guard interval and LTF size subfield, a low density parity check extra symbol segment subfield, a quantity of spatial streams and midamble periodicity subfield, a Doppler subfield, a space-time block coding subfield, a beam change subfield (Park [0118] and table 1: beam change subfield), a pre-forward error correction padding factor subfield, a packet extension disambiguity subfield, or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 6, Park modified by Kim teaches
The method of claim 1 (the limitations of parent claim 1 as indicated above),
Park further teaches
wherein the packet further comprises a user field, and wherein the user field includes a beamformed subfield, a coding subfield, a modulation and coding scheme subfield (Park [0114], [0118], and tables 1-2: MCS subfield), or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 7, Park modified by Kim teaches
The method of claim 6 (the limitations of parent claim 6 as indicated above),
Park further teaches
wherein the modulation and coding scheme subfield indicates whether the one or more modulation schemes comprises a dual carrier modulation scheme (Park tables 1-2, and 4: DCM scheme (dual carrier modulation)).
Regarding claim 8, Park modified by Kim teaches
The method of claim 1 (the limitations of parent claim 1 as indicated above),
wherein at least one of the one or more version independent fields, the one or more version dependent fields, or a user field are jointly encoded with a single cyclic redundancy check (Park [0140]: “ the version independent portion 2124 and version dependent portion 2126 are encoded together that includes a CRC [cyclic redundancy check] field and, in some embodiments, a tail bits field”).
Regarding claim 11, Park teaches
A wireless communication device (Park [0002-0003]: wireless communication device) comprising:
at least one modem (Park [0079]);
at least one processor communicatively coupled with the at least one modem (Park [0079-0080]); and
at least one memory communicatively coupled with the at least one processor and storing processor-readable code that, when executed by the at least one processor in conjunction with the at least one modem (Park [0079-0081]), is configured to:
receive a packet including a physical layer preamble (Park [0066], [0099], and [0103]: packet with physical layer preamble) that includes a legacy short training field (L-STF) (Park [0106]: L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF) (Park [0106]: L-LTF), a legacy signal field (L- SIG) (Park [0106]: L-SIG), a repeat of L-SIG (RL-SIG) that immediately follows L-SIG (Park [0106] and fig. 9: RL-SIG), and a universal signal field (U-SIG) that immediately follows RL-SIG and includes information for interpreting one or more subsequent fields of the packet (Park [0106] and fig. 9), L-SIG including a length field having a value (LLEN) that satisfies L LEN mod 3 equals zero (Park [0137]: the length indicated mod 3 is equal to 0), wherein U-SIG thefurther includes at least one of one or more version independent fields or one or more version dependent fields (Park [0137]: version independent or version dependent);
While Park does teach utilizing QBPSK and BPSK modulation, Park does not explicitly teach detect one or more modulation schemes associated with U-SIG; and determine a format of the packet based on the one or more detected modulation schemes associated with U-SIG.
However, Kim, in the analogous art of wireless communication utilizing modulation schemes, teaches
detect one or more modulation schemes associated with U-SIG (Kim [0117]: modulation schemes associated with U-SIG); and
determine a format of the packet based on the one or more modulation schemes associated with U-SIG (Kim [0347] and [0117]: recognize (detect) a format based on U-SIG field, indication using modulation schemes).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Park to incorporate the teachings of Kim and detect one or more modulation schemes associated with U-SIG; and determine a format of the packet based on the one or more detected modulation schemes associated with U-SIG. Doing so would allow for determination on the ER PPDU in the form of phase modulation (Kim [0117]).
Regarding claim 12, Park modified by Kim teaches
The wireless communication device of claim 11 (the limitations of parent claim 11 as indicated above),
Park further teaches
wherein the one or more version independent fields include a physical (PHY) version identifier subfield (Park [0137]: version independent field with PHY version identifier subfield), an uplink or downlink subfield, a transmit opportunity duration subfield, a basic service set color subfield, a physical protocol data unit bandwidth subfield, or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 13, Park modified by Kim teaches
The wireless communication device of claim 11 (the limitations of parent claim 11 as indicated above),
Park further teaches
wherein the one or more version dependent fields include a spatial reuse subfield, a physical protocol data unit type and compression mode subfield, a modulation and coding scheme subfield (Park [0114] and claim 7: modulation and coding scheme field in version dependent field), or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 14, Park modified by Kim teaches
The wireless communication device of claim 11 (the limitations of parent claim 11 as indicated above),
Park further teaches
wherein the packet further comprises an additional SIG field subsequent to U-SIG, and wherein U-SIG, the additional SIG field, or both, comprise one or more additional version dependent fields (Park fig. 9 and [0114]: additional SIG field subsequent to U-SIG and comprising additional version dependent fields).
Regarding claim 15, Park modified by Kim teaches
The wireless communication device of claim 14 (the limitations of parent claim 14 as indicated above),
Park further teaches
wherein the one or more additional version dependent fields include a guard interval and LTF size subfield, a low density parity check extra symbol segment subfield, a quantity of spatial streams and midamble periodicity subfield, a Doppler subfield, a space-time block coding subfield, a beam change subfield (Park [0118] and table 1: beam change subfield), a pre-forward error correction padding factor subfield, a packet extension disambiguity subfield, or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 16, Park modified by Kim teaches
The wireless communication device of claim 11 (the limitations of parent claim 11 as indicated above),
Park further teaches
wherein the packet further comprises a user field, and wherein the user field includes a beamformed subfield, a coding subfield, a modulation and coding scheme subfield (Park [0114], [0118], and tables 1-2: MCS subfield), or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 17, Park teaches
A method for wireless communication by a wireless communication device (Park [0002-0003] and [0027]: method for wireless communication by wireless device) comprising:
generating a packet including a physical layer preamble (Park [0066], [0099], and [0103]: packet with physical layer preamble) that includes a legacy short training field (L-STF) (Park [0106]: L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF) (Park [0106]: L-LTF), a legacy signal field (L-SIG) (Park [0106]: L-SIG), a repeat of L-SIG (RL-SIG) that immediately follows L-SIG (Park [0106] and fig. 9: RL-SIG), and a universal signal field (U-SIG) that immediately follows RL-SIG and includes information for interpreting one or more subsequent fields of the packet (Park [0106] and fig. 9), L-SIG including a length field having a value (LLEN) that satisfies L LEN mod 3 equals zero (Park [0137]: the length indicated mod 3 is equal to 0) wherein U-SIG further includes at least one of one or more version independent fields or one or more version dependent fields (Park [0137]: version independent or version dependent);
…
transmitting the packet over a wireless channel (Park [0002-0003], [0035], and [0103]: transmit signaling over wireless channels).
While Park does teach utilizing QBPSK and BPSK modulation, Park does not explicitly teach modulating a first symbol of U-SIG according to a binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation scheme; modulating a second symbol of U-SIG according to a quadrature BPSK (QBPSK) modulation scheme.
However, Kim, in the analogous art of wireless communication utilizing modulation schemes, teaches
modulating a first symbol of U-SIG according to a binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation scheme (Kim [0117]: modulation scheme of binary phase shift keying may be applied to a first symbol of a U-SIG);
modulating a second symbol of U-SIG according to a quadrature BPSK (QBPSK) modulation scheme (Kim [0117]: modulation scheme of quadrature binary phase shift keying may be applied to a second symbol of a U-SIG); and
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Park to incorporate the teachings of Kim and modulating a first symbol of U-SIG according to a binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation scheme; modulating a second symbol of U-SIG according to a quadrature BPSK (QBPSK) modulation scheme. Doing so would allow for determination on the ER PPDU may be indicated in the form of phase modulation (Kim [0117]).
Regarding claim 18, Park modified by Kim teaches
The method of claim 17 (the limitations of parent claim 17 as indicated above),
Park further teaches
wherein the one or more version independent fields include a physical (PHY) version identifier subfield (Park [0137]: version independent field with PHY version identifier subfield), an uplink or downlink subfield, a transmit opportunity duration subfield, a basic service set color subfield, a physical protocol data unit bandwidth subfield, or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 19, Park modified by Kim teaches
The method of claim 12 (the limitations of parent claim 12 as indicated above),
Park further teaches
wherein the one or more version dependent fields include a spatial reuse subfield, a physical protocol data unit type and compression mode subfield, a modulation and coding scheme subfield (Park [0114] and claim 7: modulation and coding scheme field in version dependent field), or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 20, Park modified by Kim teaches
The method of claim 18 (the limitations of parent claim 18 as indicated above),
Park further teaches
wherein the packet further comprises a user field, and wherein the user field includes a beamformed subfield, a coding subfield, a modulation and coding scheme subfield (Park [0114], [0118], and tables 1-2: MCS subfield), or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 21, Park modified by Kim teaches
The wireless communication device of claim 16 (the limitations of parent claim 16 as indicated above),
Park further teaches
wherein the modulation and coding scheme subfield indicates whether the one or more modulation schemes comprises a dual carrier modulation scheme (Park tables 1-2, and 4: DCM scheme (dual carrier modulation)).
Regarding claim 22, Park teaches
A method for wireless communication by a wireless communication device (Park [0002-0003] and [0027]: method for wireless communication by wireless device) comprising:
receiving a packet including a physical layer preamble (Park [0066], [0099], and [0103]: packet with physical layer preamble) that includes a legacy short training field (L-STF) (Park [0106]: L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF) (Park [0106]: L-LTF), a legacy signal field (L-SIG) (Park [0106]: L-SIG), a repeat of L-SIG (RL-SIG) that immediately follows L-SIG (Park [0106] and fig. 9: RL-SIG), and a universal signal field (U-SIG) that immediately follows RL-SIG and includes information for interpreting one or more subsequent fields of the packet (Park [0106] and fig. 9), L-SIG including a length field having a value (LLEN) that satisfies LLEN%3=0 (Park [0137]: the length indicated mod 3 is equal to 0);
While Park does teach utilizing QBPSK and BPSK modulation, Park does not explicitly teach detecting one or more modulation schemes associated with U-SIG; and determining a format of the packet based on the one or more detected modulation schemes associated with U-SIG.
However, Kim, in the analogous art of wireless communication utilizing modulation schemes, teaches
detecting one or more modulation schemes associated with U-SIG (Kim [0117]: modulation schemes associated with U-SIG); and
determining a format of the packet based on the one or more modulation schemes associated with U-SIG (Kim [0347] and [0117]: recognize (detect) a format based on U-SIG field, indication using modulation schemes).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Park to incorporate the teachings of Kim and detect one or more modulation schemes associated with U-SIG; and determine a format of the packet based on the one or more detected modulation schemes associated with U-SIG. Doing so would allow for determination on the ER PPDU in the form of phase modulation (Kim [0117]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RACHEL E MARKS whose telephone number is (703)756-1309. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:30am-6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles C Jiang can be reached at (571)270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/R.E.C./Examiner, Art Unit 2412 /CHARLES C JIANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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