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 .
Priority
This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/CN2023/079621, filed on March 3, 2023, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202210346893.X, filed on April 2, 2022.
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.
It is noted that as per MPEP 213.04, an English translation language of the foreign language application may be necessary to overcome the date of a reference relied upon by the examiner.
Drawings
Figures 1 and 2 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Examiner Note:
In view of objection to Figs. 1 and 2, Examiner considers any section (paragraphs e.g. [0047] to [00114]) of the specification of instant application as (Admitted Prior Art) since they describe what is already know in the art as admitted by the Applicant.
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, “ the first NDP supports puncturing; and the second NDP supports a secure long training field (LTF), and the second NDP supports a repeated LTF”, “a bandwidth of a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) is greater than the first threshold “, “ a quantity of data streams supported by the NDP is greater than or equal to a second threshold “, “the NDPA frame comprises a field A, and the field A indicates that the NDPA frame is a sensing NDPA frame or a ranging NDPA frame” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested:
NULL DATA PHYSICAL LAYER PROTOCOL DATA UNIT TRANSMITTING / RECEIVING OF A 1ST NDP and A 2ND NDP WITH FIFFERENT PHYSICAL LAYER VIRSIONS.
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)(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.
(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) 1-3, 9-13, 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Jeon ( US 20220078792 A1).
With respect to claims 1, 18, Jeon discloses A communication apparatus, wherein the communication apparatus comprises a processor (See e.g. 21 or 22 of fig. 2 and [0038] Additionally, or alternatively, various functions described hereinafter may be implemented or supported by one or more computer programs and each of the programs is formed of computer-readable program code and is executed in a computer-readable recording medium.); and the processor is configured to execute computer-executable instructions, to perform operations / A null data physical layer protocol data unit transmitting method, wherein the method (See e.g. [008], a first null data packet (NDP) based on a first protocol standard and a second NDP based on a second protocol standard; and transmitting the aggregated PPDU to the at least one second apparatus, wherein the first NDP and the second NDP have a same duration and are transmitted in different frequency bands.) comprises: transmitting a sensing null data physical layer protocol data unit announcement (NDPA) frame, wherein the sensing NDPA frame indicates to transmit a null data physical layer protocol data unit (NDP)( See e.g. [0028], in high efficiency (HE) (e.g., 802.11.ax) beamforming, an access point (AP) sequentially transmits a HE null data packet announcement (NDPA) frame, a HE null data packet (NDP), and a HE beamforming report poll (BFRP) to a station (STA).); and transmitting the NDP, wherein the NDP is a first NDP or a second NDP, and a physical layer version of the first NDP is different from a physical layer version of the second NDP (See e.g. [0031], a first NDP based on a first protocol standard and a second NDP based on a second protocol standard. The wireless communication method further includes transmitting the aggregated PPDU to the at least one second apparatus, where the first NDP and the second NDP have a same duration in different frequency bands (e.g., the first NDP and the second NDP may be transmitted in different frequency bands, where each of the first NDP and the second NDP have a same duration).
Regarding claims 2, 12, 19, Jeon discloses the first NDP meets at least one of the following: a bandwidth supported by the first NDP is greater than a first threshold (See e.g. Fig. 5, [0067-0069]), or the first NDP supports puncturing (See e.g. [0076, U-SIG-2 may include ‘PPDU Type And Compression Mode’, ‘Validate’, ‘Punctured Channel Info of Fig. 7); and the second NDP (See e.g. meets at least one of the following: the second NDP ( See e.g. NDP60, BDP61, NDP62 of Fig. 6) supports a secure long training field (LTF), and the second NDP supports a repeated LTF (See e.g. [0072], the L-SIG field may be repeated in the RL-SIG field).
Regarding claims 3, 13, 20, Jeon discloses the first NDP is an extremely high throughput (EHT) NDP, and the second NDP is a high efficient ranging-(HE) ranging NDP (See e.g. Fig. 4 as shown, VHT, HE EHT and ranging NDP).
Regarding claim 9, Jeon discloses the sensing NDPA frame comprises a field A, and the field A indicates that the NDPA frame is a sensing NDPA frame or a ranging NDPA frame (See e.g. [0065], a sounding dialog token frame may include 2-bits ‘B0 and B1’ indicating protocol standards on which the NDPA frame is based. In some embodiments, the bit ‘B0’ may be referred to as a ‘Ranging’ bit and the bit ‘B1’ may be referred to as an ‘EH/VHT’ bit. As shown in FIG. 4, 2-bit ‘00’ may indicate an 802.11ac NDPA frame referred to as very high throughput (VHT), ‘01’ may indicate a HE NDPA frame, ‘10’ may indicate ‘Ranging’ NDPA frame, and further See e.g. Fig. 13 and [0091]-[0096]) .
Regarding claim 10, Jeon discloses the sensing NDPA frame further comprises a station information field, and the station information field comprises the field A (See e.g. STA Info of Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 11, Jeon discloses A null data physical layer protocol data unit receiving method, wherein the method (See e.g. [008], a first null data packet (NDP) based on a first protocol standard and a second NDP based on a second protocol standard; and transmitting the aggregated PPDU to the at least one second apparatus, wherein the first NDP and the second NDP have a same duration and are transmitted in different frequency bands.) comprises: receiving a sensing null data physical layer protocol data unit announcement (NDPA) frame, wherein the sensing NDPA frame indicates to transmit a null data physical layer protocol data unit (NDP) ( See e.g. [0028], in high efficiency (HE) (e.g., 802.11.ax) beamforming, an access point (AP) sequentially transmits a HE null data packet announcement (NDPA) frame, a HE null data packet (NDP), and a HE beamforming report poll (BFRP) to a station (STA).); and receiving the NDP, wherein the NDP is a first NDP or a second NDP, and a physical layer version of the first NDP is different from a physical layer version of the second NDP (See e.g. [0031], a first NDP based on a first protocol standard and a second NDP based on a second protocol standard. The wireless communication method further includes transmitting the aggregated PPDU to the at least one second apparatus, where the first NDP and the second NDP have a same duration in different frequency bands (e.g., the first NDP and the second NDP may be transmitted in different frequency bands, where each of the first NDP and the second NDP have a same duration).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-8, 14-17 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.
With respect to claims 4, 14, the art of record either singly or in combination fail to disclose wherein when a first condition is met, the NDP is the first NDP; or when the first condition is not met, the NDP is the second NDP; and the first condition comprises at least one of the following: a bandwidth of a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) is greater than the first threshold, wherein the first PPDU comprises the sensing NDPA frame, or the first PPDU is the NDP; puncturing occurs in the first PPDU; an unavailable subchannel is present on a first channel, wherein the first channel is used to transmit the first PPDU; a quantity of data streams supported by the NDP is greater than or equal to a second threshold; and a first resource is a resource unit that is not supported by the physical layer version of the second NDP, wherein the first resource is used to carry the sensing NDPA frame, or the first resource is a to-be-measured resource on the first channel.
With respect to claim 8, the art of record either singly or in combination fail to disclose wherein the sensing NDPA frame comprises a sounding dialog token field and a sixth field, the sounding dialog token field comprises a first subfield, the first subfield indicates a first NDPA frame, and the sixth field indicates that the sensing NDPA frame reuses the first NDPA frame; and the first NDPA frame is one of a ranging NDPA frame, a very high throughput (VHT) NDPA frame, a high efficient (HE) NDPA frame, or an extremely high throughput (EHT) NDPA frame; or the sensing NDPA frame comprises a frame control field, the frame control field comprises a control frame extension field, and the control frame extension field indicates a type of the sensing NDPA frame.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure as listed on the attached PTO-892 Form.
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/KAMRAN AFSHAR/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2125
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