DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This Office Action is in response to the submission filed 2025-10-24 (herein referred to as the Reply) where claim(s) 2-20 are pending for consideration.
35 USC §112(a) – Claim Rejections
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claim(s) is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a)
Claim(s) 2, 7 and 3-6, 8-10
The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
The claim(s) are from the perspective of a single station (STA). Further, the claims recite variants of:
receive, via the transceiver, a first message from an access point (AP), wherein the first message is configured to be transmitted to a first group of STAs of a plurality of STAs;
receive, via the transceiver, a second message from the AP, wherein the second message is configured to be transmitted to a second group of STAs of the plurality of STAs; wherein the first guard interval and the second guard interval are different guard intervals of the plurality of different guard intervals,
In other words, the claims require a station that is effectively part of the first group AND the second group as it receives both the first message configured for the first group and receives the second message configured for the second group. The same STA then uses both the first and second guard intervals were are different.
However, the Specification describes is silent with regards of an STA being part of multiple groups within the plurality of STAs and using two different guard intervals with the same AP. Rather it appears each STA would belong to a single group to use a single GI length that is appropriate for that group:
[0122] Data and control frame transmission may utilize the different CP lengths in different ways. One or more of the following may be performed. The AP may transmit to one or more (e.g., each) STA or group of STAs using its or their desired CP length. The AP may send data frames to the STA with the desired GI, for example, to optimize the GI overhead. The control frame transmission or frame preambles (e.g., intended for one or more or all the STAs in the network) may be sent with the largest CP (e.g., largest CP required). Alternatively, control frames (e.g., and frame preambles) may be transmitted with the lowest MCS allowed, for example, to ensure that the control frame may be decoded even in the presence of large delay spread channels. A CP field may be added to the SIG in the preamble to indicate the CP length used. In multi-user transmission that may require grouping (e.g., OFDMA type transmissions and/or multiple antenna type transmissions), two approaches may be possible. For example, STAs may be assigned to groups in such a manner that ensures that STAs that utilize similar CP lengths that are grouped together for transmission. For example, STAs may be assigned to groups independent of the CP length utilized by the STA and the transmission used may transmit the largest CP length utilized in the group. For uplink transmission, this largest CP length may be communicated to one or more (e.g., all) of the STAs in the group. This may require a handshake procedure in which the frame assigning the STAs to the multi-user transmission may include the CP length to be used.
There is no explicit embodiment discussed where a single STA is part of at least two groups and switches between different guard length intervals.
Dependent claims do not cure the deficiencies of the base/intervening claims as discussed herein and are therefore rejected for at least the same reasons.
35 USC §112(b) – Claim Rejections
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim(s) is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) for not particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter of the invention.
Claim(s) 15
The claim(s) preamble recites:
“The access of claim 11,”
Dependent claims do not cure the deficiencies of the base/intervening claims as discussed herein and are therefore rejected for at least the same reasons.
35 USC §103 - Claim Rejections
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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or non-obviousness.
Claim(s) is/are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu_653 (US20140307653) in view of CHOI_519 (US20170310519)
Claim(s) 11, 16
Liu_653 teaches
a transceiver configured to communicate in a wireless local area network (WLAN); and a processor configured to: Access point(s) includes a radio system including a processor, transmitter and receiving for communicating in accordance with HE in a WLAN environment. <FIG(s). 10A, 2, 3A, 8C; para. 0001, 0043-0048, 0068, 0070, 0090-0091, 0097>.
send, via the transceiver, a first message to a first group of stations of a plurality of stations, Multi-user poll frame is sent, by an AP, to a STA groups. <FIG(s). 10A, 3A, 8C; para. 0001, 0044, 0046, 0068, 0070, 0075, 0090-0091, 0097>.
wherein the first message is configured to enable the first group of stations to identify a first guard interval of a plurality of different guard intervals; Multi-user poll can indicate either SGI or LGI for polled transmission on a per STA basis. Poll is sent to a group of STAs, for example, STAs associated with a group IDs or multiple group IDs. In one embodiment, the AP and STA communicate in accordance with high efficiency wireless in a WLAN environment <FIG(s). 8C; para. 0076, 0090-0092, 0097>.
receive, via the transceiver, a first response to the first message, the first response to the first message being configured to be received using the first guard interval of the plurality of different guard intervals for multi-user uplink WLAN communications; Each STA response to the multi-user poll frame by transmitting a polled uplink transmission to AP in accordance with the parameters such as SGI/LGI. <FIG(s). 8C; para. 0076, 0090-0092, 0097>.
send, via the transceiver, a second message to a second group of stations of the plurality of stations, wherein the second message is configured to enable the second group of stations to identify a second guard interval of the plurality of different guard intervals; receive, via the transceiver, a second response to the second message, the second response to the second message being configured to be received using the second guard interval of the plurality of different guard intervals for multi-user uplink WLAN communications, Implicitly taught is the embodiments can occur for another set of STA groups (i.e., polling another group ID associated with a second group of STAs). Accordingly a second multi-user poll can indicate either SGI or LGI for polled transmission on a per STA basis. Poll is sent to a group of STAs, for example, STAs associated with a group IDs or multiple group IDs. In one embodiment, the AP and STA communicate in accordance with high efficiency wireless in a WLAN environment <FIG(s). 8C; para. 0076, 0090-0092, 0097>.
wherein the first guard interval and the second guard interval are different guard intervals of the plurality of different guard intervals, Multi-user poll can indicate either SGI or LGI for polled transmission on a per STA basis. SGI and LGI have different lengths. <FIG(s). 8C; para. 0076, 0090-0092, 0097>.
Liu_653 does not explicitly teach
the first guard interval comprising 1.6 microseconds and
the second guard interval comprising 3.2 microseconds.
However, in a similar endeavor, CHOI_519 teaches
the first guard interval comprising 1.6 microseconds and the second guard interval comprising 3.2 microseconds. GI lengths can include 1.6 microseconds, 2.4 microseconds, or 3.2 microseconds. <FIG(s). 4; para. 0049>.
Before the effective filing date of the claim invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art to have modified the system/techniques disclosed by Liu_653 and Zhang_908 with the embodiment(s) disclosed by CHOI_519. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to provide a method capable of automatically detecting PPDUs of existing and new formats. <para. 0007>.
Claim(s) 2, 7
Liu_653 teaches
a transceiver configured to communicate in a wireless local area network (WLAN); and a processor configured to: Wireless devices such as stations (STA) includes a radio system including a transmitter and receiving for communicating in accordance with HE in a WLAN environment. <FIG(s). 10C, 2, 3A, 8C; para. 0001, 0043-0048, 0068, 0070, 0090-0091, 0097>.
receive, via the transceiver, a first message from an access point (AP), Multi-user poll frame is sent, by an AP, to a STA groups. <FIG(s). 10A, 3A, 8C; para. 0001, 0044, 0046, 0068, 0070, 0075, 0090-0091, 0097>.
wherein the first message is configured to be transmitted to a first group of STAs of a plurality of STAs; Multi-user poll frame is sent, by an AP, to a STA group which includes multiple STAs <FIG(s). 10A, 3A, 8C; para. 0001, 0044, 0046, 0068, 0070, 0075, 0090-0091, 0097>.
identify, based on the first message from the AP, a first guard interval of a plurality of different guard intervals; Multi-user poll include physical layer (PHY) parameters that indicate either SGI or LGI for polled transmission on a per STA basis. The STA then performs polled uplink transmission in accordance with said parameters. Therefore, the STA implicitly identifies which GI to use (SIG or LGI) from the multi-user poll in order to perform polled transmission in accordance with the parameters. In one embodiment, the AP and STA communicate in accordance with high efficiency wireless in a WLAN environment. <FIG(s). 8C; para. 0076, 0090-0092, 0097>.
send, via the transceiver, a response to the first message received from the AP, the response to the first message using the identified first guard interval of the plurality of different guard intervals for multi-user uplink WLAN communications; Each STA response to the multi-user poll frame by transmitting a polled uplink transmission to AP in accordance with the parameters such as SGI/LGI. <FIG(s). 8C; para. 0076, 0090-0092, 0097>.
receive, via the transceiver, a second message from the AP, wherein the second message is configured to be transmitted to a second group of STAs of the plurality of STAs; identify, based on the second message from the AP, a second guard interval of the plurality of different guard intervals; and send, via the transceiver, a response to the second message received from the AP, the response to the second message using the identified second guard interval of the plurality of different guard intervals for multi-user uplink WLAN communications, Implicitly taught is the embodiments can occur for subsequent times after an initial times (i.e., it is know in the art disclosures are not set to occur only once but multiple times. Accordingly a second multi-user poll can indicate either SGI or LGI for polled transmission on a per STA basis. Another poll is sent to another group of STAs, for example, STAs associated with a group IDs or multiple group IDs. In one embodiment, the AP and STA communicate in accordance with high efficiency wireless in a WLAN environment <FIG(s). 8C; para. 0076, 0090-0092, 0097>.
wherein the first guard interval and the second guard interval are different guard intervals of the plurality of different guard intervals, Multi-user poll can indicate either SGI or LGI for polled transmission on a per STA basis. SGI and LGI have different lengths. <FIG(s). 8C; para. 0076, 0090-0092, 0097>.
Liu_653 does not explicitly teach
the first guard interval comprising 1.6 microseconds and
the second guard interval comprising 3.2 microseconds.
However in a similar endeavor, CHOI_519 teaches
the first guard interval comprising 1.6 microseconds and the second guard interval comprising 3.2 microseconds. GI lengths can include 1.6 microseconds, 2.4 microseconds, or 3.2 microseconds. <FIG(s). 4; para. 0049>.
Before the effective filing date of the claim invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art to have modified the system/techniques disclosed by Liu_653 with the embodiment(s) disclosed by CHOI_519. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to provide a method capable of automatically detecting PPDUs of existing and new formats. <para. 0007>.
Claim(s) 4, 8, 12, 17
Liu_653 does not explicitly teach
wherein one of the first guard interval or second guard interval is a longest guard interval of the plurality of different guard intervals.
However in a similar endeavor, CHOI_519 teaches
wherein one of the first guard interval or second guard interval is a longest guard interval of the plurality of different guard intervals. GI lengths can include 1.6 microseconds, 2.4 microseconds, or 3.2 microseconds. Within this set 3.2 microseconds is the longest length. <FIG(s). 4; para. 0049>.
Before the effective filing date of the claim invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art to have modified the system/techniques disclosed by Liu_653 with the embodiment(s) disclosed by CHOI_519. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to provide a method capable of automatically detecting PPDUs of existing and new formats. <para. 0007>.
Claim(s) 5, 9
Liu_653 teaches
wherein: the first message comprises an indication of the first guard interval; the second message comprises an indication of the second guard interval; and the processor is configured to identify the first guard interval and the second guard interval of the plurality of different guard intervals from the indicated guard intervals in the respective first message and second message. Each multi-user poll includes physical layer (PHY) parameters that indicate either SGI or LGI for polled transmission on a per STA basis. The STA then performs polled uplink transmission in accordance with said parameters. Therefore, the STA implicitly identifies which GI to use (SIG or LGI) from the multi-user poll in order to perform polled transmission in accordance with the parameters. In one embodiment, the AP and STA communicate in accordance with high efficiency wireless in a WLAN environment. <FIG(s). 8C; para. 0076, 0090-0092, 0097>.
Claim(s) 14, 19
Liu_653 teaches
wherein: the first message comprises an indication of the first guard interval of the plurality of different guard intervals; and the second message comprises an indication of the second guard interval of the plurality of different guard intervals. Each multi-user poll includes physical layer (PHY) parameters that indicate either SGI or LGI for polled transmission on a per STA basis. <FIG(s). 8C; para. 0076, 0090-0092, 0097>.
Claim(s) 15, 20
Liu_653 teaches
wherein the processor being configured to receive the response to the first message using the identified first guard interval comprises the processor being configured to receive the response to the first message including the first guard interval, and wherein the processor being configured to receive the response to the second message using the identified first guard interval comprises the processor being configured to receive the response to the first message including the first guard interval. Each STA response to the multi-user poll frame by transmitting a polled uplink transmission to AP in accordance with the parameters such as SGI/LGI. <FIG(s). 8C; para. 0076, 0090-0092, 0097>.
Claim(s) 6, 10
Liu_653 teaches
wherein the processor being configured to send the response to the first message using the identified first guard interval comprises the processor being configured to include the first guard interval in the response to the first message, and wherein the processor being configured to send the response to the second message using the identified second guard interval comprises the processor being configured to include the second guard interval in the response to the second message. Each STA response to the multi-user poll frame by transmitting a polled uplink transmission to AP in accordance with the parameters such as SGI/LGI. <FIG(s). 8C; para. 0076, 0090-0092, 0097>.
Claim(s) is/are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu_653 (US20140307653) in view of CHOI_519 (US20170310519), in view of Merlin_347 (US20130272347), and further view of Lin_734 (US20170223734)
Claim(s) 13, 18
Liu_653 does not explicitly teach
wherein: the first message comprises a request that each station of the first group of stations perform a time domain channel estimate of a frame received by each station of the first group of stations; and the second message comprises a request that each station of the second group of stations perform a time domain channel estimate of a frame received by each station of the second group of stations.
However in a similar endeavor, Merlin_347 teaches
wherein: the first message comprises a request that each station of the first group of stations perform a
Before the effective filing date of the claim invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art to have modified the system/techniques disclosed by Liu_653 and CHOI_519 with the embodiment(s) disclosed by Merlin_347. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to provide effective techniques for providing link adaptation for MU mode. <para. 0010>.
As discussed above, Merlin_347 teaches channel estimate but do not explicitly teach a time domain type channel estimate.
However in a similar endeavor, Lin_734 teaches
a time domain channel estimate. probing sequence invokes a channel profile estimation in the time domain <FIG(s). 1, 4, 7; para. 0031, 0037-0038, 0055; Claim 4>.
Before the effective filing date of the claim invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art to have modified the system/techniques disclosed by Liu_653, CHOI_519 and Merlin_347 with the embodiment(s) disclosed by Lin_734. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to provide orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)-based design solution for common signaling in a WLAN system. See para. 0008.
Claim(s) is/are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu_653 (US20140307653) in view of CHOI_519 (US20170310519), and further view of MUJTABA_943 (US20060250943)
Claim(s) 3
Liu_653 does not explicitly teach
wherein at least one of the guard intervals of the plurality of different guard intervals is compatible with a legacy long training field.
However in a similar endeavor, MUJTABA_943 teaches
wherein at least one of the guard intervals of the plurality of different guard intervals is compatible with a legacy long training field. a legacy LTF is comprised of a 1.6 .mu.s guard interval. Accordingly it is compatible with 1.6 microsecond GI <FIG(s). 2; para. 0025>.
Before the effective filing date of the claim invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art to have modified the system/techniques disclosed by Liu_653 and CHOI_519 with the embodiment(s) disclosed by MUJTABA_943. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to provide a training mechanism that covers addition subcarriers in wireless communications <para. 0005>.
Relevant Cited References
CHOI - US62049339 Provisional Application demonstrating sufficient support for the relied upon subject matter.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDRE TACDIRAN whose telephone number is 571-272-1717. The examiner can normally be reached on M-TH, 10-5PM EST. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached on 571-270-1215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANDRE TACDIRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
