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 .
The instant office action is in response to communication filed on 09/20/2024.
Claims 1-10, 12, and 13 are pending,
The IDS(s) submitted on 03/18/2026 is being considered.
Priority
Applicant is relying on provisional documents submitted using non-English literature, should applicant desire to obtain the benefit of foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) prior to declaration of an interference, a certified English translation of the foreign application must be submitted in reply to this action. 37 CFR 41.154(b) and 41.202(e).
Failure to provide a certified translation may result in no benefit being accorded for the non-English application.
The examiner also wants to emphasize all prior arts made of record in this office action have priority earlier than the instant application earliest priority.
Internet Communications
Applicant is encouraged to submit a written authorization for Internet communications (PTO/SB/439, http://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/sb0439.pdf) in the instant patent application to authorize the examiner to communicate with the applicant via email. The authorization will allow the examiner to better practice compact prosecution. The written authorization can be submitted via one of the following methods only: (1) Central Fax which can be found in the Conclusion section of this Office action; (2) regular postal mail; (3) EFS WEB; or (4) the service window on the Alexandria campus. EFS web is the recommended way to submit the form since this allows the form to be entered into the file wrapper within the same day (system dependent). Written authorization submitted via other methods, such as direct fax to the examiner or email, will not be accepted. See MPEP § 502.03.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-5, 10 ,11 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Gao et al (US 20240357329 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Gao discloses a method (Figs 1-13) for performing sensing measurement performed by a first station (STA) in a wireless LAN system (See Figs. 6 and 7b in particular where the first station is STA 1 in Fig. 6 and STA1 in Fig. 7a-c all doing sensing measurement in the uplink direction) , the method comprising:
receiving a trigger frame from a second STA (In Figs. 6 and 7a-c second station is AP sending measurement trigger frame to STA 1 in particular shown explicitly in Figs. 7 (a-c)), wherein the trigger frame (Fig. 9 shows the trigger format and explains the values in paragraphs 277 – 282 ) including a sensing subfield indicating whether a type of the trigger frame is a sensing trigger variant (See Fig. 9 Trigger Frame has EHT Variant Common Info has a sub field Trigger Frame type and when the value is 9 it is a sensing trigger variant per paragraphs 280-281); and transmitting a specific PPDU (physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) to the second STA based on the trigger frame (Per Paragraph 277 the specific PPDU sent back to the second STA/AP is EHT TB PDU and per Fig. 6 and 7b the special PPDU can be NDP), based on the sensing subfield indicating that the type of the trigger frame is a sensing trigger variant (See paragraphs 277-282 and Fig. 9 that the subfield value 9 indicates a sensing trigger variant frame), the trigger frame includes a special user info field (See Fig. 14 Trigger Frame has a special user info), and the special user info field includes an uplink (UL) bandwidth extension subfield (See Fig. 14 B15 and B16 UL BW extension field is included in the special user info. See paragraph 285) indicating whether a bandwidth of the specific PPDU is 320 MHz. (See the values of UL BW extension contain two values of 320 MHz for EHT TB PPDU. See Table 1 and paragraph 285. Note Applicant also discloses two types of 320 MHZ per paragraphs 267-269 of Applicant’s Specification.)
Regarding claim 12, Gao discloses a first station (STA) that performs sensing measurement in a wireless LAN system (See Figs. 6 and 7b in particular where the first station is STA 1 in Fig. 6 and STA1 in Fig. 7a-c all doing sensing measurement in the uplink direction), the first STA comprising:
at least one transceiver (Fig. 18 transceiver 1830); and
at least one processor (Fig. 18 processor 1810) connected to the at least one transceiver (See Fig. 18 and paragraph 550),
wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
receive a trigger frame from a second STA (In Figs. 6 and 7a-c second station is AP sending measurement trigger frame to STA 1 in particular shown explicitly in Figs. 7 (a-c)), wherein the trigger frame (Fig. 9 shows the trigger format and explains the values in paragraphs 277 – 282 ) including a sensing subfield indicating whether a type of the trigger frame is a sensing trigger variant (See Fig. 9 Trigger Frame has EHT Variant Common Info has a sub field Trigger Frame type and when the value is 9 it is a sensing trigger variant per paragraphs 280-281); and
transmit a specific PPDU (physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) to the second STA based on the trigger frame (Per Paragraph 277 the specific PPDU sent back to the second STA/AP is EHT TB PDU and per Fig. 6 and 7b the special PPDU can be NDP),
based on the sensing subfield indicating that the type of the trigger frame is a sensing trigger variant (See paragraphs 277-282 and Fig. 9 that the subfield value 9 indicates a sensing trigger variant frame), the trigger frame includes a special user info field (See Fig. 14 Trigger Frame has a special user info), and
the special user info field includes an uplink (UL) bandwidth extension subfield (See Fig. 14 B15 and B16 UL BW extension field is included in the special user info. See paragraph 285) indicating whether a bandwidth of the specific PPDU is 320 MHz. (See the values of UL BW extension contain two values of 320 MHz for EHT TB PPDU. See Table 1 and paragraph 285. Note Applicant also discloses two types of 320 MHZ per paragraphs 267-269 of Applicant’s Specification.)
Regarding claim 13, Gao discloses a second station (STA) in a wireless LAN system (i.e. Figs. 6 and 7a-c is a WLAN system, and the AP is the second station and the non-AP station STA 1 is the first station), the second STA (i.e. AP) comprising: at least one transceiver (Fig. 18 transceiver 1830); and
at least one processor (Fig. 18 processor 1810) connected to the at least one transceiver (See Fig. 18 and paragraph 550), wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
transmit a trigger frame to a first STA through the at least one transceiver(In Figs. 6 and 7a-c second station is AP sending measurement trigger frame to STA 1 in particular shown explicitly in Figs. 7 (a-c)), (See Fig. 9 Trigger Frame has EHT Variant Common Info has a sub field Trigger Frame type and when the value is 9 it is a sensing trigger variant per paragraphs 280-281); and
receive a specific PPDU (physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) from the first STA based through the at least one transceiver on the trigger frame, (Per Paragraph 277 the specific PPDU sent back to the second STA/AP is EHT TB PDU and per Fig. 6 and 7b the special PPDU can be NDP),
based on the sensing subfield indicating that the type of the trigger frame is a sensing trigger variant (See paragraphs 277-282 and Fig. 9 that the subfield value 9 indicates a sensing trigger variant frame), the trigger frame includes a special user info field (See Fig. 14 Trigger Frame has a special user info), and
the special user info field includes an uplink (UL) bandwidth extension subfield (See Fig. 14 B15 and B16 UL BW extension field is included in the special user info. See paragraph 285) indicating whether a bandwidth of the specific PPDU is 320 MHz. (See the values of UL BW extension contain two values of 320 MHz for EHT TB PPDU. See Table 1 and paragraph 285. Note Applicant also discloses two types of 320 MHZ per paragraphs 267-269 of Applicant’s Specification.)
Regarding claim 2, Gao discloses the method of claim 1, wherein: the specific PPDU is configured based on an extremely high throughput (EHT) NDP null data physical layer protocol data unit (NDP) frame format or an EHT triggered based (TB) PPDU format that does not include a data field. (See paragraph 394 and Table 15 indicating EHT Sounding NDP and paragraph 277 on EHT TB PDU)
Regarding claim 3, Gao discloses the method of claim 1, wherein: the bandwidth of the specific PPDU is set by the UL bandwidth extension subfield and an UL bandwidth subfield included in the trigger frame. (See Fig. 14 B15 and B16 UL BW extension field is included in the special user info. See paragraph 285. See also the values of UL BW extension contain two values of 320 MHz for EHT TB PPDU. See Table 1 and paragraph 285. Note Applicant also discloses two types of 320 MHZ per paragraphs 267-269 of Applicant’s Specification.)
Regarding claim 4, Gao discloses the method of claim 1, wherein: the special user info field includes at least one of a specific AID (association identifier (AID) subfield, a measurement setup ID subfield, a sensing measurement instance ID subfield, or a UL target reception power subfield for indicating the special user info field. (Gao discloses in paragraph 308 that “Herein, the special user information field may include the following fields: [0309] identification ID (AID12): a value of the AID12 field being a fixed value of 2007 indicates that the user information field is a special user information field;..” See paragraphs 316-326 for the other listed fields)
Regarding claim 5, Gao discloses the method of claim 1, wherein: the trigger frame includes a special user info flag subfield that indicates whether the trigger frame includes the special user info field. (See paragraph 295 stating that special user information field flag (Special User Info Field Flag): indicating whether a special user information field is included in the trigger frame. A value of the field of special user information field flag being 0 indicates that the special user information field flag is included in the trigger frame, and a value of 1 indicates that the special user information field flag is not included in the trigger frame.)
Regarding claim 10, Gao discloses the method of claim 1, wherein:
the first STA is a sensing responder (See Figs. 7a-c wherein STA 1 is the responding device), and the second STA is a sensing initiator. (See Figs. 7a-c wherein the AP as the second STA is the initiating device)
Conclusion
Claims 6-9 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HABTE MERED whose telephone number is (571)272-6046. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 12-10 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Thier can be reached at 5712722832. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HABTE MERED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474
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