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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 4 and 15 objected to because of the following informalities: Claims 4 and 15 depend from claims 1 and 12, respectively and newly introduce NDP without spelling out. The abbreviation needs to be spelled out.
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 6-13, 17-19 and 21 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al. (US 2024/0413866, “Yang”) in view of Li et al. (US 2021/0409084, “Li”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Yang unless otherwise mentioned.
Yang comprises the following features:
With respect to independent claims:
Regarding claim 1, a device, the device comprising processing circuitry coupled to storage, the processing circuitry configured to:
establish two or more links with a non-AP multi-link device (MLD) ([0075 and Fig. 7] “An MLO-capable device may be referred to as a multi-link device (MLD). For example, an AP MLD may include multiple APs each configured to communicate on a respective communication link with a non-AP MLD (also referred to as a “STA MLD”). Similarly, the non-AP MLD may include multiple STAs each configured to communicate on a respective one of the communication link with the AP MLD.” See Fig. 7 for Link 702 (Sub-7 GHz) and Link 704 (60 GHz). [0093] “FIG. 10 shows a timing diagram 1000 depicting example wireless communications between an AP and a STA over an anchor link (AL) and a directional link (DL), according to some implementations. … With reference for example to FIGS. 7 and 8, the anchor link may be one example of any of the anchor links 702 or 802 and the directional link may be one example of any of the directional links 704 or 804.”);
cause to send on a first link of the two or more links a trigger discovery frame to a first station device (STA) in the non-AP MLD ([0094] “At time to, the AP (as the beamforming initiator) transmits a trigger frame on the anchor link signaling the start of a beamforming training operation to be performed on the directional link.”);
select a beamforming training sequence mode ([0094] “the trigger frame may carry beam management setup information indicating one or more control parameters associated with the beamforming training operation.” Yang discloses a beamforming training operation, but does not specifically describe about a training sequence mode. This will be discussed in view of Oteri.);
cause to send a training frame, based on the beamforming training sequence mode, during a beamforming phase, on a second link of the two or more links with a second STA in the non-AP MLD ([0129] “At time t.sub.1, the AP initiates the beamforming training operation by transmitting N training sequences in various TX beam directions on the directional link. More specifically, at least one training sequence may be transmitted by each TX sector associated with the AP (such as the TX sectors T1-T7 of FIG. 6). In some aspects, the STA may determine the sector IDs (of the AP) from which the training sequences are transmitted based on the trigger frame received on the anchor link (at time t0) and a timing of each training sequence (such as indicated by a timestamp).”); and
identify a feedback frame received from the first STA on the first link ([0097] “The STA receives one or more of the BFT packets and compares the signal powers of the received BFT packets. At time t.sub.2, the STA provides feedback (FB) on the directional link indicating which of the BFT packets has the highest received signal power.”).
It is noted that while disclosing multiple links, Yang does not specifically teach about a training sequence mode. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Li as follows;
select a beamforming training sequence mode ([Li, 0172] “the channel transmission mode information is used to indicate whether a beamforming training sequence uses a channel aggregation mode or a channel bonding mode.”, and [Li, 0176] “A second device receives beamforming training request information sent by a first device, where the beamforming training request information includes at least one of training phase information, channel number information, channel bandwidth information, channel transmission mode information, and information about a quantity of spatial flows of a training sequence.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Yang by using the features of Li in order to perform beamforming training using a configuration appropriate to the requested channel transmission mode such that “whether a beamforming training sequence uses a channel aggregation mode or a channel bonding mode.” [Li, 0037].
Regarding claim 12, it is a terminal claim corresponding to the method claim 1, except the limitations, “instructions which when executed by one or more processors” ([0142] “at least some of the components 1722, 1724, 1726, or 1728 are implemented at least in part as software stored in a memory (such as the memory 540 of FIG. 5A or the memory 408 of FIG. 4). For example, portions of one or more of the components 1722-1728 can be implemented as non-transitory instructions (or “code”) executable by a processor”), and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 21, it is a method claim corresponding to the method claim 1, and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
With respect to dependent claims:
Regarding claims 2 and 13, the device of claim 1 and the CRM of claim 12, respectively, wherein trigger discovery frame ([0094 and Fig. 10] “At time to, the AP (as the beamforming initiator) transmits a trigger frame on the anchor link signaling the start of a beamforming training operation to be performed on the directional link.”) comprises an indication for beamforming to start at a predetermined time on the second link of the two or more links ([0094 and Fig. 10] “the trigger frame may carry beam management setup information indicating one or more control parameters associated with the beamforming training operation. In the example of FIG. 10, the beamforming training operation is scheduled to occur from times t.sub.1 to t.sub.3. In some aspects, the trigger frame may provide a timing reference for wireless communications on the directional link.”).
Regarding claims 6 and 17, the device of claim 1 and the CRM of claim 12, respectively, wherein the feedback frame comprises indication of a best transmit and receive (TX/RX) sector ([0124] “the AP may transmit the TX data via the best TX sector indicated by the feedback received at time t.sub.2.”).
Regarding claims 7 and 18, the device of claim 6 and the CRM of claim 17, respectively, wherein the best TX/RX sector is with the second STA on the second link ([0124] “the STA may receive the TX data via the best RX sector determined through the beamforming training operation.”).
Regarding claims 8 and 19, the device of claim 1 and the CRM of claim 12, respectively, wherein the first link operates on a 2.4, 5, or 6 GHz band (See Fig. 7.).
Regarding claim 9, the device of claim1,wherein the second link operates on a 60 GHz band (See Fig. 7.).
Regarding claim 10, the device of claim 1, further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit and receive wireless signals ([0061] “The radio 404 generally includes at least one radio frequency (RF) transmitter (or “transmitter chain”) and at least one RF receiver (or “receiver chain”), which may be combined into one or more transceivers.”).
Regarding claim 11, the device of claim 10, further comprising an antenna coupled to the transceiver to cause to send the training frame ([0061] “the RF transmitters and receivers may include various DSP circuitry including at least one power amplifier (PA) and at least one low-noise amplifier (LNA), respectively. The RF transmitters and receivers may, in turn, be coupled to one or more antennas. For example, in some implementations, the wireless communication device 400 can include, or be coupled with, multiple transmit antennas (each with a corresponding transmit chain) and multiple receive antennas (each with a corresponding receive chain).”).
Claim(s) 3-4 and 14-15 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al. (US 2024/0413866, “Yang”) in view of Li et al. (US 2021/0409084, “Li”) and further in view of Oteri et al. (US 2021/0028839, “Oteri”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Yang unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claims 3 and 14, it is noted that while disclosing multiple links, Yang does not specifically teach about NDP. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Oteri as follows;
the device of claim 1 and the CRM of claim 12, respectively, wherein the training frame is a null data packet (NDP) ([Oteri, 0103] “With explicit VAS, the initiator (e.g., STA1) may transmit a frame with sounding/training sequences transmitted by each AVS sequentially. Each sequence may be transmitted with the VAS associated with different combinations. For example, to train 4 virtual antennas, STA1 may transmit a training sequence 4 times with different antenna rotation combinations, respectively. In an example, a P matrix may be used to rotate and combine the signals. The frame may be a null data packet (NDP) frame with a NDP announcement frame transmitted xSIF time before.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Yang by using the features of Oteri in order to carry sounding/training sequences for beamforming related antenna configuration and selection such that “The first STA may receive a dummy signal before the training period. The first STA may send, to the second STA, first training feedback associated with the one or more transmit beams.” [Oteri, 0003].
Regarding claims 4 and 15, the device of claim 1 and the CRM of claim 12, respectively, wherein one or more NDP frames ([Oteri, 0103] “The frame may be a null data packet (NDP) frame with a NDP announcement frame transmitted xSIF time before.”) in various antenna sectors during the beamforming training phase ([0171] “At time t.sub.1, the AP initiates the beamforming training operation by transmitting N training sequences in various TX beam directions on the directional link. More specifically, at least one training sequence may be transmitted by each TX sector associated with the AP (such as the TX sectors T1-T7 of FIG. 6).”).
Claim(s) 5 and 16 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al. (US 2024/0413866, “Yang”) in view of Li et al. (US 2021/0409084, “Li”) and further in view of Abouelseoud et al. (US 2022/0116851, “Abouelseoud”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Yang unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claims 5 and 16, it is noted that while disclosing multiple links, Yang does not specifically teach about directional and omni directional transmissions. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Abouelseoud as follows;
the device of claim 1 and the CRM of claim 12, respectively, wherein the beamforming training sequence mode comprises a first mode where omni reception is not possible ([Abouelseoud, 0122] “It will be noted that directional transmission or reception is not required all the time at both sides. For example, one side might be performing directional transmission or reception and the other side is not. This might be due to limited capabilities of devices or the application requirement where there is no need for directional transmission from both side (limiting interference/small distance).”) and a second mode where omni reception is possible ([Abouelseoud, 0262] “indicating new STA supported capabilities; (d) Mesh ID—mesh identification element; (e) Assistance Request flag—indicates if the new STA is requesting mesh discovery assistance; (f) beamforming training request—indicating whether a new STA is requesting beamforming training; (g) beacon ID—the MSTA discovery beacon ID; (h) beam ID—transmit beam ID in case of direction transmission of beacon response message; (i) message counter—message counter if frame is transmitted multiple times from Omni/quasi-Omni antenna.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Yang by using the features of Abouelseoud in order to effectively reduce signal overhead or network discovery delay such that “In the disclosed technology two different types of beacon signals are utilized: (1) a communication beacon (peer beacon) and (2) a discovery beacon. The use of these two beacons allows separation of discovery function and network maintenance function” [Abouelseoud, 0012].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Harry H. Kim whose telephone number and email address are as follows; 571-272-5009, harry.kim2@uspto.gov.
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/HARRY H KIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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