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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/28/2024, 11/15/2024 and 01/23/2026 were filed with the instant application. The submission 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
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
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 1-4 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YOSHIKAWA; YUKI et al. (US 2023/0115667 A1), hereinafter, “Yuki” in view of Li et al. (US 2022/0255692 A1), hereinafter, “Li”.
Regarding 1, Yuki discloses: A base station (Yuki: fig 1 and 4A-B, para [0058], where, AP 100 equivalent to “ Base Station”) comprising: a first wireless signal processing circuit (Yuki: fig 1 and 4A-B, para [0032], where, AP 100, 104-106 equivalent to “ Base Station” may be an processing apparatus, where, each AP include radio chip equivalent to “processing circuit”); and
a processor is configured to establish a link with a first wireless terminal apparatus by using the first wireless signal processing circuit (Yuki: fig 1 and 4A-B, para [0038], where, the AP 105 establishes a link with the STA 107 equivalent to “terminal apparatus 107” using the processor/processing circuit of AP 105);
wherein the processor is further configured to: cause the first wireless signal processing circuit to radiate a wireless signal including a trigger frame in a first cycle (Yuki: fig 1 and 11-12, para [0110], where, “Each SAP (each of the APs 104 and 105) transmits the trigger frame for triggering data transmission to the designated STA using the frequency channel and RU designated by the trigger frame received from the MAP (AP 100) (S1101)”); and
in response to a first trigger frame included in a set of the trigger frames radiated in the first cycle, receive first uplink data and information of a first queue delay time of the first uplink data from the first wireless terminal apparatus (Yuki: fig 1 and 11-12, para [0110], where, in response to the receiving the trigger frame by the STA 107 in step 1101, the STA 107 sends the uplink data to the AP 105), Yuki does not explicitly teach: and change the cycle for causing the first wireless signal processing circuit to radiate a wireless signal including the trigger frame from the first cycle to a second cycle shorter than the first cycle in a case where the first queue delay time exceeds a first threshold.
Li teaches: change the cycle for causing the first wireless signal processing circuit to radiate a wireless signal including the trigger frame from the first cycle to a second cycle shorter than the first cycle in a case where the first queue delay time exceeds a first threshold (Li: para [0020], where, “when the bandwidth and delay product is greater than a preset threshold, sending the first ACK packet each time the preset time period passes”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use “change the cycle for causing the first wireless signal processing circuit to radiate a wireless signal including the trigger frame from the first cycle to a second cycle shorter than the first cycle in a case where the first queue delay time exceeds a first threshold” as taught by Li into Yuki in order to improve data transmission efficiency (Li: para [0007]).
Regarding claim 7, the claim includes features identical to the subject matter mentioned in the rejection to claim 1 above. The claims are mere reformulation of claim 1 in order to define the corresponding signal processing terminal apparatus, and the rejection to claim 1 is applied hereto.
Regarding 2, Yuki modified by Li disclose: The base station (Yuki: fig 1 and 4A-B, para [0058], where, AP 100 equivalent to “ Base Station”) according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to use a beacon to notify the first wireless terminal apparatus of a cycle for causing the first wireless signal processing circuit to radiate the trigger frame (Yuki: para [0061], where, “the TIM value indicating the reception frequency of the beacon signal”).
Regarding 3, Yuki modified by Li disclose: The base station (Yuki: fig 1 and 4A-B, para [0058], where, AP 100 equivalent to “ Base Station”) according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to use a second trigger frame to be radiated by the first wireless signal processing circuit (Yuki: fig 11, step S1101, para [0110], where, “Each SAP (each of the APs 104 and 105) transmits the trigger frame for triggering data transmission to the designated STA using the frequency channel and RU designated by the trigger frame received from the MAP (AP 100) (S1101)”) after detecting that the first queue delay time exceeds the first threshold to notify the first wireless terminal apparatus of a cycle for causing the first wireless signal processing circuit to radiate a wireless signal including the trigger frame (Li: para [0020], where, “when the bandwidth and delay product is greater than a preset threshold, sending the first ACK packet each time the preset time period passes”).
Regarding 4, Yuki modified by Li disclose: The base station (Yuki: fig 1 and 4A-B, para [0058], where, AP 100 equivalent to “ Base Station”) according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: establish a link with a second wireless terminal apparatus by using the first wireless signal processing circuit (Yuki: fig 11, step S1101, para [0110], where, the AP 105 establish a link with the second STA 109 sending the trigger frame);
generate the trigger frame to be radiated in the first cycle for a wireless terminal apparatus of a first group including the first wireless terminal apparatus and the second wireless terminal apparatus (Yuki: fig 11, step S1101, para [0110], where, the AP 105 establish a link with the second STA 109 sending the trigger frame); and
in response to a trigger frame included in the set, receive information of a queue delay time from each of the first wireless terminal apparatus and the second wireless terminal apparatus (Yuki: fig 11, step S1101, para [0110]-[0113], where, information received of a queue delay); and change a cycle for causing the first wireless signal processing circuit to radiate a wireless signal including the trigger frame from the first cycle to a third cycle shorter than the first cycle in a case where the queue delay time exceeds a second threshold (Li: para [0020], where, “when the bandwidth and delay product is greater than a preset threshold, sending the first ACK packet each time the preset time period passes”).
Regarding 8, Yuki modified by Li disclose: The wireless terminal apparatus (Yuki: fig 1 and 4A-B, para [0058], where, STA 107 equivalent to “ terminal”) according to claim 7, wherein the processor link management unit is further configured to bring brings the wireless signal processing circuit into a state capable of receiving a wireless signal from the base station (Yuki: fig 3 and fig 11, para [0073], where, “the MAP can perform management up to link allocation, and the SAP can manage RU allocation in the allocated link. In this case, it is only necessary to designate the frequency channel or the link number in the trigger frame transmitted in step S412”) in accordance with a transmission cycle of the trigger frame on the basis of reception of information on the transmission cycle from the base station by the wireless signal processing circuit (Yuki: fig 4B, step S412, para [0075], where, “the AP 100 may repeat the processing from transmission (step S412) of the trigger frame for retransmission of the data. The AP 100 may stand by until it confirms that all the data are transmitted correctly”).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 6 are 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NIZAM U AHMED whose telephone number is (571)272-9561. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fry, 7:00 AM-6:00 PM PST.
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/NIZAM U AHMED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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