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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: Method and Apparatus for Gaining Priority Access in Communication System
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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:
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.
Claim 5 is 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.
Claim 5 recites the language “…and the transmission circuitry individually transmits the response frame to each of the two or more terminal apparatus” which makes the claim indefinite. Claim 5 claims dependency from claim 4 which recites that the response frame contains parameter information and information indicating acceptance/denial. It’s unclear if Applicant intended to claim two or more (or all STAs in BSS) to receive the same parameter information and acceptance/denial. Examiner will interpret as best understood.
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.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cherian et al (USPN 20210144778), provided by Applicant’s IDS, in view of Xin et al (USPN 20210306271).
Regarding claim 1, Cherian discloses
a terminal apparatus comprising: (STA, FIG. 14B, comprising:
transmission circuitry configured to transmit a request frame which requests a priority right (wireless communication device, FIG. 14B #1415, configured to transmit a priority service request frame that includes a priority access indication to AP [0139, 0118, 0165], FIG. 11
reception circuitry configured to receive a response frame directed to the terminal apparatus in response to the request frame, wherein (wireless communication device, FIG. 14B #1415, configured to receive a priority service response frame [0139, 0006, 0018, 0032]
the response frame includes: parameter information to increase likelihood of obtaining an access to a wireless medium and (response frame contains information that STA allowed to perform prioritized contention-based access of the wireless channel using enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) [0018, 0019, 0127, 0129], FIGs. 9, 11
information indicating one of an acceptance and a denial of the request to the priority right (response message includes either a success or failure to activate the priority access service [0127]
in a case that the information indicates the acceptance, the transmission circuitry is allowed to perform high priority traffic communication and updates a transmission parameter of the terminal apparatus based on the parameter information (if authorized, STA performs via its wireless communication device a prioritized contention-based access of the wireless channel using a first set of EDCA parameters [0018, 0092, 0129
in a case that the information indicates the denial, (response message includes denial to activate the priority access service [0127]
Cherian does not expressly disclose requests a priority right based on instruction from a higher layer; in a case that the information indicates the denial, the transmission circuitry is prohibited from performing the high priority traffic communication and forgoes updating the transmission parameter f the terminal apparatus based on the parameter information
Xin discloses requests a priority right based on instruction from a higher layer (priority request initiated from higher layer [0088, 0092], FIG. 14
in a case that the information indicates the denial, the transmission circuitry is prohibited from performing the high priority traffic communication and forgoes updating the transmission parameter of the terminal apparatus based on the parameter information (if status code is denied/rejected with suggested changes, RTA/high-priority traffic not started and STA uses suggested changes to renegotiate [0108, 0078], FIG. 9
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement “requests a priority right based on instruction from a higher layer; in a case that the information indicates the denial, the transmission circuitry is prohibited from performing the high priority traffic communication and forgoes updating the transmission parameter of the terminal apparatus based on the parameter information” as taught by Xin into Cherian’s system with the motivation to adopt accept/reject/renegotiate to enable a more predictable outcome for high priority traffic.
Claim 7 is rejected based on similar ground(s) provided in rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 2, Cherian discloses “wherein the priority right is related to a frame transmission after a carrier sense is performed” EDCA is post carrier sense contention scheme [0061]
Regarding claim 4, Cherian discloses
a base station apparatus comprising: (AP, FIG. 14A #1402, comprising
reception circuitry configured to receive a request frame which requests a priority right (wireless communication device, FIG. 14A #1410, configured to receive priority access request message [0138, 0005, 0006, 0022, 0023, 0112], FIG. 6B
transmission circuitry configured to transmit a response frame in response to the request frame (wireless communication device, FIG. 14A #1410, configured to transmits a priority service response frame in response to request message [0138, 0112, 0115, 0022, 0023], FIG. 6C
the response frame includes: parameter information to increase likelihood of obtaining an access to a wireless medium and (response frame contains information that STA allowed to perform prioritized contention-based access of the wireless channel using enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) [0018, 0019, 0127, 0129], FIGs. 9, 11
information indicating one of an acceptance and a denial of the request to the priority right (response message includes either a success or failure to activate the priority access service [0127]
in a case that the information indicates the acceptance, the transmission circuitry is allowed to perform high priority traffic communication and updates a transmission parameter of the terminal apparatus based on the parameter information (if authorized, STA performs via its wireless communication device a prioritized contention-based access of the wireless channel using a first set of EDCA parameters [0018, 0092, 0129
in a case that the information indicates the denial, (response message includes denial to activate the priority access service [0127]
Cherian does not expressly disclose requests a priority right based on instruction from a higher layer; in a case that the information indicates the denial, the transmission circuitry is prohibited from performing the high priority traffic communication and forgoes updating the transmission parameter f the terminal apparatus based on the parameter information
Xin discloses requests a priority right based on instruction from a higher layer (priority request initiated from higher layer [0088, 0092], FIG. 14
in a case that the information indicates the denial, the transmission circuitry is prohibited from performing the high priority traffic communication and forgoes updating the transmission parameter of the terminal apparatus based on the parameter information (if status code is denied/rejected with suggested changes, RTA/high-priority traffic not started and STA uses suggested changes to renegotiate [0108, 0078], FIG. 9
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement “requests a priority right based on instruction from a higher layer; in a case that the information indicates the denial, the transmission circuitry is prohibited from performing the high priority traffic communication and forgoes updating the transmission parameter f the terminal apparatus based on the parameter information” as taught by Xin into Cherian’s system with the motivation to adopt accept/reject/renegotiate to enable a more predictable outcome for high priority traffic.
Regarding claim 5, Cherian discloses “wherein the base station apparatus communicates with two or more terminal apparatus, including the terminal apparatus, and the transmission circuitry individually transmits the response to each of the two or more terminal apparatus” AP, e.g. FIG. 4C #102, operating with multiple STAs and AP transmits response message to individual STAs [0065, 0080, 0081, 0108, 0112, 0113], FIGs. 5A, 10, 12
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ji et al (USPN 20100150116) FIG. 2
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/THAI NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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