DETAILED ACTION
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (US 20230262766 A1).
Considering claims 1, 13, Kim teaches a method performed by a first station (STA)/ a processing unit configured to control a station (STA) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, the method comprising:
receiving a first frame related to a triggered transmission opportunity (TXOP) sharing procedure (1910, Fig.19, [0200]-[0201] transmitting to a STA a first frame, [0204]);
receiving a second frame from a second STA (Fig.11, [0126] STA 1112 may transmit one or more BA frames 1123, 1125 in response to the one or more data frames contained in non-TB PPDUs 1122, 1124 received from STA 1011); and
transmitting, to the second STA (Fig.14, [0108]), a third frame responding to the second frame, wherein based on the second frame being addressed to the first STA ([0108] STA that initiates a transmission opportunity (TXOP) to transmit a frame…), a network allocation vector (NAV) set by a STA transmitting the first frame is ignored by the first STA ([0150] STA 1412 may reset its NAV (e.g., set the NAV to 0)).
Considering claim 2, Kim teaches the first frame is a multiple user-request to send (MU-RTS) TXOP sharing (TXS) trigger frame, the STA transmitting the first frame is an access point (AP) (Fig.11, 14-19, [0114] MRTT frame, [0200]-[0201]).
Considering claim 3, Kim teaches the NAV is an intra-basic service set (BBS) NAV (Fig.1, [0032], [0107]).
Considering claim 4, Kim teaches the first STA is a STA associated with the AP or within a coverage of a BSS to which the AP belongs (Fig.1).
Considering claim 5, Kim teaches the first frame is a clear to send (CTS) frame responding to a multiple user-request to send (MU-RTS) TXOP sharing (TXS) trigger frame ([0108], [0114]), the STA transmitting the first frame is the second STA (Fig.11-19, [0114]).
Considering claim 6, Kim teaches the NAV is a basic NAV (Fig.1, [0032], [0107]).
Considering claim 7, Kim teaches the first STA is a STA not associated with an AP with which the second STA is associated or outside a coverage of a BSS to which the AP belongs (Fig.1).
Considering claim 8, Kim teaches the first frame is a MU-RTS TXS trigger frame or a CTS frame responding to the MU-RTS TXS trigger frame (Fig.11-19, [0037], [0200]-[0201]), a TXOP sharing mode subfield included in the MU-RTS TXS trigger frame is set as a value indicating a TXOP sharing mode that allocates a time to transmit a frame addressed to the second STA from the first STA ([0108], [0150]).
Considering claim 9, Kim teaches the second frame is an RTS frame to the first STA (Fig.14, [0148]).
Considering claim 10, Kim teaches the third frame is a CTS frame to the second STA ([0113]-[0114]).
Considering claim 11, Kim teaches wherein: the first STA is a peer-to-peer (P2P) receiving STA, the second STA is a P2P transmitting STA ([0116], [0125]).
Considering claim 12, Kim teaches a first station (STA) device in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, the device comprising:
at least one transceiver (transceiver, Fig.2); and at least one processor (220) connected to the at least one transceiver (Fig.2), wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
receive, through the at least one transceiver, a first frame related to a triggered transmission opportunity (TXOP) sharing procedure (1910, Fig.19, [0200]-[0201] transmitting to a STA a first frame, [0204]);
receive, through the at least one transceiver, a second frame from a second STA (Fig.11, [0126] STA 1112 may transmit one or more BA frames 1123, 1125 in response to the one or more data frames contained in non-TB PPDUs 1122, 1124 received from STA 1011); and
transmit, through the at least one transceiver, to the second STA (Fig.14, [0108]), a third frame responding to the second frame, wherein based on the second frame being addressed to the first STA ([0108] STA that initiates a transmission opportunity (TXOP) to transmit a frame…), a network allocation vector (NAV) set by a STA transmitting the first frame is ignored by the first STA ([0150] STA 1412 may reset its NAV (e.g., set the NAV to 0)).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KHAI MINH NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-7923. The examiner can normally be reached 6-3.
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/KHAI M NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641
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