DETAILED ACTION
This Non-Final Office Action is in response to application number 18,857,411 filed on October 16th, 2024. 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 Statements
The Information Disclosure Statements (IDS), submitted on April 10th, 2026, and October 16th. 2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
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 1-4, 7-12, 15-16, and 19-22are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by IEE 802.11-22/0134r4.
Regarding claims 1,19 and 20, IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 discloses a communication method for sensing measurement reporting, wherein the method is performed an access point (AP) and comprises: receiving values for feeding back a channel attribute from one or more stations respectively (IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 Page 2 Discussion discloses “The responders feedback the CSI variation to the initiator in the Feedback Response frame); and based on at least one of the values being greater than or equal to a threshold, sending a trigger frame to at least one station of the one or more stations to trigger the at least one station to report a sensing measurement result (IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 Page 2 Discussion discloses “The initiator should send a Feedback Trigger frame to a responder that reports a CSI variation that is greater than or equal to the threshold. The above procedure is applicable to TB based sensing measurement instance. IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 Page 3 discloses “The non-AP STA that provided CSI variation feedback value greater than or equal to the threshold shall transmit the Sensing Measurement Report frame to the AP initiator in the assigned RU when triggered by a Sensing Trigger Frame C sent by the AP initiator”).
Regarding claim 2, IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 discloses the communication method according to claim 1, wherein the trigger frame comprises the threshold, wherein the threshold is set for each station of the one or more stations (IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 Page 2 Discussion discloses “The initiator sends the thresholds to the responders”), and the threshold is configured to enable the one or more stations to determine whether to report the sensing measurement result (IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 Page 3, 11.21.x.y.z discloses “The measurement reporting subphase includes only the sensing receivers that report their CSI variation value greater than or equal to the CSI variation threshold assigned to them.”). .
Regarding claim 3, IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 discloses the communication method according to claim 2, wherein the threshold for each station is a channel state information threshold or a quantized channel state information threshold (IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 Page 3, 11.21.x.y.z discloses “The threshold for each responder to be compared with the CSI variation value is determined by the sensing initiator, and is transmitted to each sensing receiver through a TBD frame. Different sensing receivers may have different thresholds values set by the sensing initiator”).
Regarding claim 4, IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 discloses the communication method according to claim 2, wherein the trigger frame comprises a threshold existence bit, wherein the threshold existence bit is configured to indicate that the trigger frame comprises the threshold (IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 Page 3, 11.21.x.y.z discloses “The threshold for each responder to be compared with the CSI variation value is determined by the sensing initiator, and is transmitted to each sensing receiver through a TBD frame. Different sensing receivers may have different thresholds values set by the sensing initiator” Additionally Comment h4 discloses “it may be included in the measurement setup procedure, NDPA frame or Trigger Frame A, etc.).
Regarding claim 7, IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 discloses the communication method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving a first message frame from one or more stations respectively, wherein the first message frame comprises a bit configured to indicate a corresponding station supporting threshold-based sensing measurement reporting (IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 Page 3, 11.21.x.y.z discloses.” When negotiated, the AP initiator shall transmit a Sensing Trigger frame A in the CSI variation reporting subphase to the non-AP STA responder that supports the threshold-based reporting to obtain the CSI variation feedback value.”)
Regarding claim 8, IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 discloses the communication method according to claim 1, further comprising: sending a second message frame to the one or more stations respectively, wherein the second message frame is configured to trigger the one or more stations to send the value for feeding back the channel attribute respectively (IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 Page 3, 11.21.x.y.z discloses “When negotiated, the AP initiator shall transmit a Sensing Trigger frame A in the CSI variation reporting subphase to the non-AP STA responder that supports the threshold-based reporting to obtain the CSI variation feedback value. The non-AP STA that supports the threshold based reporting shall transmit a Frame B containing the CSI variation feedback value in the assigned RU in the CSI variation reporting subphase”).
Regarding claims 9,21 and 22, IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 discloses a communication method for sensing measurement reporting, wherein the method is applied in a station device and comprises: sending a value for feeding back a channel attribute to an access point (AP) (IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 Page 2 Discussion discloses “The responders feedback the CSI variation to the initiator in the Feedback Response frame); receiving a trigger frame sent by the AP, wherein the trigger frame is determined to be sent based on the value being greater than or equal to a threshold (IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 Page 2 Discussion discloses “The initiator should send a Feedback Trigger frame to a responder that reports a CSI variation that is greater than or equal to the threshold. The above procedure is applicable to TB based sensing measurement instance.”; and determining whether to send a sensing measurement result to the AP based on the trigger frame IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 Page 3 discloses “The non AP STA that provided CSI variation feedback value greater than or equal to the threshold shall transmit the Sensing Measurement Report frame to the AP initiator in the assigned RU when triggered by a Sensing Trigger Frame C sent by the AP initiator”).
Regarding claim 10, IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 discloses the communication method according to claim 9, wherein the trigger frame comprises the threshold, wherein the threshold is set for each station of one or more stations, and the threshold is configured to enable one or more stations to determine whether to report a sensing measurement result (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same basis as claim 2).
Regarding claim 11, IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 discloses the communication method according to claim 10, wherein the threshold for each station is a channel state information threshold or a quantized channel state information threshold (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same basis as claim 3).
Regarding claim12, IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 discloses the communication method according to claim 10, wherein the trigger frame comprises a threshold existence bit, wherein the threshold existence bit is configured to indicate that the trigger frame comprises the threshold (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same basis as claim 4).
Regarding claim 15, IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 discloses the communication method according to claim 9, further comprising: sending a first message frame to the AP, wherein the first message frame comprises a bit configured to indicate the station device supporting threshold-based sensing measurement reporting (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same basis as claim 7).
Regarding claim16, IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 discloses the communication method according to claim 9, further comprising: receiving a second message frame, wherein the second message frame is configured to trigger the station device to send the values for feeding back the channel attribute, respectively (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same basis as claim 8).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 5-6 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.103 as being unpatentable over IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 in view of (IEEE 802.11-21/0457r1).
Regarding claim 5, IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 discloses the communication method according to claim 2.
IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 fails to explicitly disclose wherein the trigger frame comprises a sensing measurement setup identifier, wherein the sensing measurement setup identifier is configured to identify a sensing measurement procedure for which a sensing measurement result needs to be reported.
However, in an analogous art IEEE 802.11-21/0457r1 teaches wherein the trigger frame comprises a sensing measurement setup identifier, wherein the sensing measurement setup identifier is configured to identify a sensing measurement procedure for which a sensing measurement result needs to be reported (IEEE 802.11-21/0457r1 Slide 10 discloses the sensing measurement setup ID used in the sensing Trigger frame for the sensing measurement).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 to incorporate the teachings of IEEE 802.11-21/0457r1, to implement wherein the trigger frame comprises a sensing measurement setup identifier, wherein the sensing measurement setup identifier is configured to identify a sensing measurement procedure for which a sensing measurement result needs to be reported, in order to reduce ambiguity and ensure that the desired sensing measurement results are sent to the Access Point.
Regarding claim 6, IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 discloses the communication method according to claim 2.
IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 fails to explicitly disclose wherein the trigger frame comprises one or more station identifiers, wherein the one or more station identifiers identify the one or more stations, respectively.
However, in an analogous art IEEE 802.11-21/0457r1 teaches wherein the trigger frame comprises one or more station identifiers, wherein the one or more station identifiers identify the one or more stations, respectively (IEEE 802.11-21/0457r1 Slide 8 discloses different trigger frame variants for sensing whereby STAs are identified).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified IEE 802.11-22/0134r4 to incorporate the teachings of IEEE 802.11-21/0457r1, wherein the trigger frame comprises one or more station identifiers, wherein the one or more station identifiers identify the one or more stations, respectively, in order to reduce ambiguity and ensure that the desired station sends the sensing measurement results to Access Point.
Regarding claim 13, The communication method according to claim 10, wherein the trigger frame comprises a sensing measurement setup identifier, wherein the sensing measurement setup identifier is configured to identify a sensing measurement procedure for which a sensing measurement result needs to be reported (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same basis as claim 5).
Regarding claim 14. the communication method according to claim 10,
wherein the trigger frame comprises one or more station identifiers, wherein the one or
more station identifiers identify the one or more stations, respectively (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same basis as claim 6).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Samuel Dilan Rutnam whose telephone number is 703-756-1374. The examiner can normally be reached between 8:30am-5:00pm Mon-Fri.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached on 571-272-8586.
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/Samuel Dilan Rutnam/
Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/MOHAMMAD S ADHAMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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