DETAILED ACTION
1. Claims 1-33 have been examined and are pending.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
3. Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 10/08/2024, 2/05/2025, 9/26/2025, and 3/19/2026 have been found to be in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
5. The drawings were received on 10/08/2024. These drawings are accepted.
Specification
6. 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: 802.11 MAC FRAME STRUCTURE COMMUNICATION APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR, AND STORAGE MEDIUM.
7. The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. Claims 1-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by United States Patent Application Publication 2020/0280975 A1 to Asterjadhi et al. (hereinafter “Asterjadhi”).
Regarding Claim 1, Asterjadhi discloses a communication apparatus (Asterjadhi: Figure 10 with [0094] – an access point (AP) or STA (wireless station).) comprising:
one or more memories that store a set of instructions (Asterjadhi: Figure 10, element 1008);
one or more processors that execute the set of instructions to (Asterjadhi: Figure 10, element 1006):
generate a MAC frame including an HT Control field (Asterjadhi: [0058] – “For example, the first wireless communication device may prepare and transmit a media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (MPDU) according to a standardized format. An MPDU also may be referred to as a frame or a packet in some aspects of this disclosure. A physical convergence layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) may include one or more MPDUs. For example, one type of PPDU (referred to as an Aggregated MPDU, or A-MPDU) may include multiple MPDUs in a payload of the AMPDU.”; [0071-0073], [0079] – the MAC frame comprises a high throughput (HT)/very high throughput (VHT) control field.), which complies with an IEEE 802.11 series standard (Asterjadhi: [0071-0073] – the MAC frame complies with 802.11 standards of wireless communications.), wherein the HT Control field is formed to include an A-Control subfield (Asterjadhi: [0059-0066] – corresponds to the inclusion of an aggregated control field (A-field).) by each of first 2 bits being set to 1 (Asterjadhi: Figure 3 – HT control field includes “VHT(1)HE(1)”, which corresponds to a Very High Throughput field set to 1, and a High Efficiency field set to 1, a total of two bits preceding the A-Control field.) and the MAC frame is formed to further include a variable-length extended field for extending the A-Control subfield included in the HT Control field (Asterjadhi: [0075], Figure 9 with [0093] – the frame includes an extended A-Control field; [0109] – the HT control field includes the A-Control field which may be dynamic in its features.); and
transmit the generated MAC frame (Asterjadhi: [0058] – “For example, the first wireless communication device may prepare and transmit a media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (MPDU) according to a standardized format. An MPDU also may be referred to as a frame or a packet in some aspects of this disclosure. A physical convergence layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) may include one or more MPDUs. For example, one type of PPDU (referred to as an Aggregated MPDU, or A-MPDU) may include multiple MPDUs in a payload of the AMPDU.”).
Regarding Claim 2, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the MAC frame is formed to further include the extended field by a control ID subfield included in the A-Control subfield being set to a specific value (Asterjadhi: Figure 3 with [0081] – corresponds to one or more control fields within the A-Control field having one or more values.).
Regarding Claim 3, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the A-Control subfield includes the control ID subfield and a length subfield indicating a length of the extended field (Asterjadhi: [0079-0083] - discloses that the A-Control field includes a plurality of control fields wherein at least one field determines a length. “…the A-Control field may have a longer length and may be variable in size to accommodate more control parameters. In the descriptions below, the length of the A-Control field may be described in a control header of the A-Control field. The control header may indicate a length of the container (such as the HT-Control field) of the A-Control field, or of the A-Control field itself. Because the length of the A-Control field and the HT-Control field are related, in this disclosure, references to the length of the A-Control field may be used interchangeably with reference to the length of the container (such as the HT-Control field) carrying the A-Control field.” See also [0060].).
Regarding Claim 4, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the extended field includes at least one control subfield, and each of the at least one control subfield includes a control information subfield storing control information added to the MAC frame (Asterjadhi: [0060] – the dynamic A-Control field(s) may have a variable length included in the at least one control field.) and an additional control ID subfield storing an ID corresponding to the control information (Asterjadhi: [0060] – the one control field includes a Control ID field.).
Regarding Claim 5, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the A-Control subfield includes the control ID subfield and a length subfield indicating a length of the extended field (Asterjadhi: [0060] - the dynamic A-Control field(s) may have a variable length included in the at least one control field, and the one control field includes a Control ID field.), and the length subfield indicates a number of control subfields included in the extended field (Asterjadhi: [0062-0064] – corresponds to the A-Control field that identifies (in one example) two links, wherein each of the control fields of the A-Control field identifies the different links.).
Regarding Claim 6, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 4, wherein each of the at least one control subfield further includes an end subfield indicating whether the control subfield is an end of the extended field (Asterjadhi: [0061], [0063], [0088] – corresponds to inclusion of a field that describes the end of the A-Control field.).
Regarding Claim 7, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the A-Control subfield and the extended field are formed to include the control ID subfield and at least one control subfield (Asterjadhi: Figure 3 and [0060] - the dynamic A-Control field(s) may have a variable length included in the at least one control field, and the one control field includes a Control ID field.), and each of the at least one control subfield includes a control information subfield storing control information added to the MAC frame and an additional control ID subfield storing an ID corresponding to the control information (Asterjadhi: [0060] – the dynamic A-Control field(s) may have a variable length included in the at least one control field; the one control field includes a Control ID field.).
Regarding Claim 8, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the A-Control subfield and the extended field are formed to further include a length subfield indicating a length of the extended field (Asterjadhi: [0064] – a control parameter of the dynamic A-Control field establishes a length of the A-Control field.).
Regarding Claim 9, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the A-Control subfield is formed to include the control ID subfield and an additional control ID subfield (Asterjadhi: Figure 3 – elements 374 and 378), and the MAC frame is formed to store control information added to the MAC frame in the extended field and store an ID corresponding to the control information in the additional control ID subfield (Asterjadhi: Figure 6-8 with [0086-0089] – corresponds to each of the control fields (as illustrated in Figures 7 and 8) comprising a Control ID as part of the dynamic A-Control field in the MAC frame.).
Regarding Claim 10, Asterjadhi discloses a communication apparatus (Asterjadhi: Figure 10 with [0094] – an access point (AP) or STA (wireless station).) comprising:
one or more memories that store a set of instructions (Asterjadhi: Figure 10, element 1008);
one or more processors that execute the set of instructions to (Asterjadhi: Figure 10, element 1006):
generate a MAC frame including an HT Control field (Asterjadhi: [0058] – “For example, the first wireless communication device may prepare and transmit a media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (MPDU) according to a standardized format. An MPDU also may be referred to as a frame or a packet in some aspects of this disclosure. A physical convergence layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) may include one or more MPDUs. For example, one type of PPDU (referred to as an Aggregated MPDU, or A-MPDU) may include multiple MPDUs in a payload of the AMPDU.”; [0071-0073], [0079] – the MAC frame comprises a high throughput (HT)/very high throughput (VHT) control field.), which complies with an IEEE 802.11 series standard (Asterjadhi: [0071-0073] – the MAC frame complies with 802.11 standards of wireless communications.), wherein the HT Control field is formed to include an A-Control subfield (Asterjadhi: [0059-0066] – corresponds to the inclusion of an aggregated control field (A-field).) by each of first 2 bits being set to 1 (Asterjadhi: Figure 3 – HT control field includes “VHT(1)HE(1)”, which corresponds to a Very High Throughput field set to 1, and a High Efficiency field set to 1, a total of two bits preceding the A-Control field.) and the HT Control field is formed as an extended field by extending the A-Control subfield to a variable-length subfield (Asterjadhi: [0075], Figure 9 with [0093] – the frame includes an extended A-Control field; [0109] – the HT control field includes the A-Control field which may be dynamic in its features.); and
transmit the generated MAC frame (Asterjadhi: [0058] – “For example, the first wireless communication device may prepare and transmit a media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (MPDU) according to a standardized format. An MPDU also may be referred to as a frame or a packet in some aspects of this disclosure. A physical convergence layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) may include one or more MPDUs. For example, one type of PPDU (referred to as an Aggregated MPDU, or A-MPDU) may include multiple MPDUs in a payload of the AMPDU.”).
Regarding Claim 11, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the MAC frame is formed to include the A-Control subfield extended to the variable-length subfield by a control ID subfield included in the A-Control subfield being set to a specific value (Asterjadhi: Figure 3 with [0081] – corresponds to one or more control fields within the A-Control field having one or more values.).
Regarding Claim 12, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the A-Control subfield includes the control ID subfield and at least one control subfield (Asterjadhi: Figure 3 with [0081] – corresponds to one or more control fields within the A-Control field having one or more values.), and each of the at least one control subfield includes a control information subfield storing control information added to the MAC frame (Asterjadhi: [0060] – the dynamic A-Control field(s) may have a variable length included in the at least one control field.) and an additional control ID subfield storing an ID corresponding to the control information (Asterjadhi: [0060] – the one control field includes a Control ID field.).
Regarding Claim 13, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the A-Control subfield further includes a length subfield indicating a length of the A-Control subfield (Asterjadhi: [0079-0083] - discloses that the A-Control field includes a plurality of control fields wherein at least one field determines a length. “…the A-Control field may have a longer length and may be variable in size to accommodate more control parameters. In the descriptions below, the length of the A-Control field may be described in a control header of the A-Control field. The control header may indicate a length of the container (such as the HT-Control field) of the A-Control field, or of the A-Control field itself. Because the length of the A-Control field and the HT-Control field are related, in this disclosure, references to the length of the A-Control field may be used interchangeably with reference to the length of the container (such as the HT-Control field) carrying the A-Control field.” See also [0060].).
Regarding Claim 14, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 12, wherein each of the at least one control subfield further includes an end subfield indicating whether the control subfield is an end of the A-Control subfield (Asterjadhi: [0061], [0063], [0088] – corresponds to inclusion of a field that describes the end of the A-Control field.).
Regarding Claim 15, Asterjadhi discloses a communication apparatus (Asterjadhi: Figure 10 with [0094] – an access point (AP) or STA (wireless station).) comprising:
one or more memories that store a set of instructions (Asterjadhi: Figure 10, element 1008);
one or more processors that execute the set of instructions to (Asterjadhi: Figure 10, element 1006):
receive a MAC frame including an HT Control field (Asterjadhi: [0071-0072], [0074-0075] – corresponds to receiving a MAC frame; [0079-0080] – an aggregated control field (A-Control) comprises a High Throughput (HT) field.), which complies with an IEEE 802.11 series standard (Asterjadhi: [0071-0073] – the MAC frame complies with 802.11 standards of wireless communications.); and
analyze the received MAC frame (Asterjadhi: [0074-0075] – each receiver comprises a processing unit for processing the received frame(s).), wherein the HT Control field is formed to include an A-Control subfield (Asterjadhi: [0059-0066] – corresponds to the inclusion of an aggregated control field (A-field).) by each of first 2 bits being set to 1 (Asterjadhi: Figure 3 – HT control field includes “VHT(1)HE(1)”, which corresponds to a Very High Throughput field set to 1, and a High Efficiency field set to 1, a total of two bits preceding the A-Control field.) and the MAC frame is formed to further include a variable-length extended field for extending the A-Control subfield included in the HT Control field (Asterjadhi: [0075], Figure 9 with [0093] – the frame includes an extended A-Control field; [0109] – the HT control field includes the A-Control field which may be dynamic in its features.).
Regarding Claim 16, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the MAC frame is formed to further include the extended field by a control ID subfield included in the A-Control subfield being set to a specific value (Asterjadhi: Figure 3 with [0081] – corresponds to one or more control fields within the A-Control field having one or more values.).
Regarding Claim 17, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the A-Control subfield includes the control ID subfield and a length subfield indicating a length of the extended field (Asterjadhi: [0079-0083] - discloses that the A-Control field includes a plurality of control fields wherein at least one field determines a length. “…the A-Control field may have a longer length and may be variable in size to accommodate more control parameters. In the descriptions below, the length of the A-Control field may be described in a control header of the A-Control field. The control header may indicate a length of the container (such as the HT-Control field) of the A-Control field, or of the A-Control field itself. Because the length of the A-Control field and the HT-Control field are related, in this disclosure, references to the length of the A-Control field may be used interchangeably with reference to the length of the container (such as the HT-Control field) carrying the A-Control field.” See also [0060].).
Regarding Claim 18, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the extended field includes at least one control subfield, and each of the at least one control subfield includes a control information subfield storing control information added to the MAC frame (Asterjadhi: [0060] – the dynamic A-Control field(s) may have a variable length included in the at least one control field.) and an additional control ID subfield storing an ID corresponding to the control information (Asterjadhi: [0060] – the one control field includes a Control ID field.).
Regarding Claim 19, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the A-Control subfield includes the control ID subfield and a length subfield indicating a length of the extended field (Asterjadhi: [0060] - the dynamic A-Control field(s) may have a variable length included in the at least one control field, and the one control field includes a Control ID field.), and the length subfield indicates a number of control subfields included in the extended field (Asterjadhi: [0062-0064] – corresponds to the A-Control field that identifies (in one example) two links, wherein each of the control fields of the A-Control field identifies the different links.).
Regarding Claim 20, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 18, wherein each of the at least one control subfield further includes an end subfield indicating whether the control subfield is an end of the extended field (Asterjadhi: [0061], [0063], [0088] – corresponds to inclusion of a field that describes the end of the A-Control field.).
Regarding Claim 21, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the A-Control subfield and the extended field are formed to include the control ID subfield and at least one control subfield (Asterjadhi: Figure 3 and [0060] - the dynamic A-Control field(s) may have a variable length included in the at least one control field, and the one control field includes a Control ID field.), and each of the at least one control subfield includes a control information subfield storing control information added to the MAC frame and an additional control ID subfield storing an ID corresponding to the control information (Asterjadhi: [0060] – the dynamic A-Control field(s) may have a variable length included in the at least one control field; the one control field includes a Control ID field.).
Regarding Claim 22, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the A-Control subfield and the extended field are formed to further include a length subfield indicating a length of the extended field (Asterjadhi: [0064] – a control parameter of the dynamic A-Control field establishes a length of the A-Control field.).
Regarding Claim 23, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the A-Control subfield is formed to include the control ID subfield (Asterjadhi: Figure 3 – elements 374 and 378) and an additional control ID subfield, and the MAC frame is formed to store control information added to the MAC frame in the extended field and store an ID corresponding to the control information in the additional control ID subfield (Asterjadhi: Figure 6-8 with [0086-0089] – corresponds to each of the control fields (as illustrated in Figures 7 and 8) comprising a Control ID as part of the dynamic A-Control field in the MAC frame.).
Regarding Claim 24, Asterjadhi discloses a communication apparatus (Asterjadhi: Figure 10 with [0094] – an access point (AP) or STA (wireless station).) comprising:
one or more memories that store a set of instructions (Asterjadhi: Figure 10, element 1008);
one or more processors that execute the set of instructions to (Asterjadhi: Figure 10, element 1006):
receive a MAC frame including an HT Control field (Asterjadhi: [0071-0072], [0074-0075] – corresponds to receiving a MAC frame; [0079-0080] – an aggregated control field (A-Control) comprises a High Throughput (HT) field.), which complies with an IEEE 802.11 series standard (Asterjadhi: [0071-0073] – the MAC frame complies with 802.11 standards of wireless communications.); and
analyze the received MAC frame (Asterjadhi: [0074-0075] – each receiver comprises a processing unit for processing the received frame(s).), wherein the HT Control field is formed to include an A-Control subfield (Asterjadhi: [0059-0066] – corresponds to the inclusion of an aggregated control field (A-field).) by each of first 2 bits being set to 1 (Asterjadhi: Figure 3 – HT control field includes “VHT(1)HE(1)”, which corresponds to a Very High Throughput field set to 1, and a High Efficiency field set to 1, a total of two bits preceding the A-Control field.) and the HT Control field is formed as an extended field by extending the A-Control subfield to a variable-length subfield (Asterjadhi: [0075], Figure 9 with [0093] – the frame includes an extended A-Control field; [0109] – the HT control field includes the A-Control field which may be dynamic in its features.).
Regarding Claim 25, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the MAC frame is formed to include the A-Control subfield extended to the variable-length subfield by a control ID subfield included in the A-Control subfield being set to a specific value (Asterjadhi: Figure 3 with [0081] – corresponds to one or more control fields within the A-Control field having one or more values.).
Regarding Claim 26, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the A-Control subfield includes the control ID subfield and at least one control subfield (Asterjadhi: Figure 3 with [0081] – corresponds to one or more control fields within the A-Control field having one or more values.), and each of the at least one control subfield includes a control information subfield storing control information added to the MAC frame (Asterjadhi: [0060] – the dynamic A-Control field(s) may have a variable length included in the at least one control field.) and an additional control ID subfield storing an ID corresponding to the control information (Asterjadhi: [0060] – the one control field includes a Control ID field.).
Regarding Claim 27, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the A-Control subfield further includes a length subfield indicating a length of the A-Control subfield (Asterjadhi: [0079-0083] - discloses that the A-Control field includes a plurality of control fields wherein at least one field determines a length. “…the A-Control field may have a longer length and may be variable in size to accommodate more control parameters. In the descriptions below, the length of the A-Control field may be described in a control header of the A-Control field. The control header may indicate a length of the container (such as the HT-Control field) of the A-Control field, or of the A-Control field itself. Because the length of the A-Control field and the HT-Control field are related, in this disclosure, references to the length of the A-Control field may be used interchangeably with reference to the length of the container (such as the HT-Control field) carrying the A-Control field.” See also [0060].).
Regarding Claim 28, Asterjadhi discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 26, wherein each of the at least one control subfield further includes an end subfield indicating whether the control subfield is an end of the A-Control subfield (Asterjadhi: [0061], [0063], [0088] – corresponds to inclusion of a field that describes the end of the A-Control field.).
Claim 29, directed to a method embodiment of claim 1, recites similar features as claim 1 and is therefore rejected upon the same grounds as claim 1. Please see above rejection of claim 1.
Claim 30, directed to a method embodiment of claim 10, recites similar features as claim 10 and is therefore rejected upon the same grounds as claim 10. Please see above rejection of claim 10.
Claim 31, directed to a method embodiment of claim 15, recites similar features as claim 15 and is therefore rejected upon the same grounds as claim 15. Please see above rejection of claim 15.
Claim 32, directed to a method embodiment of claim 24, recites similar features as claim 24 and is therefore rejected upon the same grounds as claim 24. Please see above rejection of claim 24.
Claim 33, directed to an article of manufacture embodiment of claim 1, recites similar features as claim 1, and is therefore rejected upon the same grounds as claim 1. Please see above rejection of claim 1. Asterjadhi discloses the article of manufacture as a non-transitory computer-readable medium in at least [0122].
Conclusion
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12. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN H ELLIOTT IV whose telephone number is (571)270-7163. The examiner can normally be reached M, T, R, F 5:00 AM-5:00 PM, W 5:00 AM-3:00 PM (EDT).
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BENJAMIN H. ELLIOTT IV
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2474
/BENJAMIN H ELLIOTT IV/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474 August 17, 2026
