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 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.
Claim(s) 1-7 and 11-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Cherian et al. US 20190036583 A1.
Claims 1 and 11:
Cherian discloses a system comprising: a first access point (AP) configured to: identify a second AP that is capable of participating in coordinated beamforming (CBF) (See para 96 and fig. 10, “At blocks 1010 and 1012, AP 404B and AP 404C may then send CoBF accept messages to AP 404a”); select one or more candidate stations of the first AP (See para 96 and fig. 10, “The CoBF invite message may indicate the non-reuse STAs of AP 404a”); identify capabilities of at least one of the first AP or the one or more candidate stations (See para 96 and fig. 10, “the AP 404A may be the leader AP as it has obtained and controls the TXOP at block 1002…The CoBF invite message may indicate the non-reuse STAs of AP 404a”. Being the leader and non-reuse STAs are capabilities); determine one or more stations of the one or more candidate stations to participate in CBF based at least on the capabilities (See para 96 and fig. 10, “the AP 404A may be the leader AP as it has obtained and controls the TXOP at block 1002…The CoBF invite message may indicate the non-reuse STAs of AP 404a”. determining non-reuse STAs); and perform a sequence with the second AP to exchange, between the first AP and the second AP, a set of stations of the first AP and the second AP to participate in CBF, the first AP identifying to the second AP the determined one or more stations as participating in CBF (See para 96 and fig. 10, AP 404a performs sequence with 404b and 404c exchanging and identifying/finalizing information regarding non-reuse STAs to participate in CoBF).
Claims 2 and 12:
Cherian discloses identify at least one of a common basic service set (BSS) color (See paras 76-77, BSS) or a common association identifier (AID) space for the set of stations to participate in CBF (See para 74, AIDs and fig. 11, AIDs); and implement partial nulling with respect to a first station of the set of stations responsive to at least one of the BSS color or a value in the common AID space corresponding to the station (See para 67, “Non-reuse STAs may be scheduled in a CoBF TXOP with nulling to avoid interfering with transmission from other APs participating in that TXOP”).
Claim 3:
Cherian discloses that the first AP is further configured to perform a handshake with the second AP to identify one or more of the capabilities of the at least one of the first AP or the one or more candidate stations (See para 96 and fig. 10, “the AP 404A may be the leader AP as it has obtained and controls the TXOP at block 1002…The CoBF invite message may indicate the non-reuse STAs of AP 404a”. Being the leader and non-reuse STAs are capabilities).
Claim 4:
Cherian discloses that the capabilities comprise one or more of: a number of antennas, an amount of bandwidth, one or more sounding capabilities (See fig. 11, order of sounding APs), one or more nulling capabilities (See para 67, “Non-reuse STAs may be scheduled in a CoBF TXOP with nulling to avoid interfering with transmission from other APs participating in that TXOP”), precoder type, a maximum number of stations that can be part of CBF (See fig. 11, STAIDs of all non-reuse STAs), a maximum number of candidate stations (See fig. 11, STAIDs of all non-reuse STAs), traffic characteristics, channel characteristics (See para 67, “Non-reuse STAs may be scheduled in a CoBF TXOP with nulling to avoid interfering with transmission from other APs participating in that TXOP”), or channel state information (CSI).
Claim 13:
Cherian discloses that performing, by first AP, a handshake with the second AP to identify the capabilities of the at least one of the first AP, the second AP or the one or more candidate stations (See fig. 10-11, APs exchanging information), wherein the one or more capabilities comprises one or more of: a number of antennas, an amount of bandwidth, one or more sounding capabilities (See fig. 11, order of sounding APs),, one or more nulling capabilities (See para 67, “Non-reuse STAs may be scheduled in a CoBF TXOP with nulling to avoid interfering with transmission from other APs participating in that TXOP”), precoder type, a maximum number of stations that can be part of CBF (See fig. 11, STAIDs of all non-reuse STAs), or a maximum number of candidate stations (See fig. 11, STAIDs of all non-reuse STAs), traffic characteristics (See para 67, “Non-reuse STAs may be scheduled in a CoBF TXOP with nulling to avoid interfering with transmission from other APs participating in that TXOP”), channel characteristics, or channel state information (CSI).
Claims 5 and 14:
Cherian discloses that the first AP is further configured to enter a CBF enabled phase to perform coordination with the second AP (See figs. 10-11, coordination for CoBF), the coordination including a determination of at least one of a number of spatial streams, a direction for nulling (See para 77, “COBF may operate in both DL and UL directions with the APs nulling respective frequencies”), a type of nulling or a duration of a transmission opportunity (TXOP) for one or more stations of the set of stations of the first AP and the second AP to participate in CBF (See para 86, TXOPs).
Claims 6 and 15:
Cherian discloses that the first AP is further configured to: perform at least one of: identify, from a preamble of a frame from the second AP, at least one of a common basic service set (BSS) color or an association identifier (AID) corresponding to a station of the set of stations and perform CBF with respect to the station, based on the at least one of the common BSS color or the AID (See para 80, “BSS AP and an OBSS AP can cooperate such that an OBSS AP forms a spatial beam for transmission away from the BSS AP”. Also see para 74, AID); or identify a common medium access control (MAC) address for simultaneous transmission from both the first AP and the second AP and perform CBF, based at least on the common MAC address (See para 74, MAC Addresses).
Claims 7 and 16:
Cherian discloses that the first AP is further configured to perform CBF together with the second AP subsequent to the coordination, wherein the CBF is performed with respect to the one or more stations of the set of stations of the first AP and the second AP (See figs. 10-11, performing CoBF).
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) 8-10 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cherian et al. in view of Helwa et al. US 2026/0067932 A1.
Claims 8 and 17:
Cherian doesn’t disclose first AP is further configured to communicate, to the set of stations, at least one of a common medium access control (MAC) address or the MAC address of the first AP or the MAC address of the second AP.
Helwa disclose first AP is further configured to communicate, to the set of stations, at least one of a common medium access control (MAC) address or the MAC address of the first AP or the MAC address of the second AP (See para 50, AP broadcast BSSID which may be MAC address of the AP).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Cherian with the teachings of Helwa to improve the method disclosed by Cherian by including the feature of communicating MAC address. The motivation for doing so would have been to identify the AP.
Claims 9 and 18:
Cherian doesn’t disclose transmit a beamforming report poll (BFRP) frame to a first station of the set of stations configured for wireless communication with the first AP; and receive, from the first station responsive to the BFRP frame, a beamforming report (BFR) identifying one or more characteristics of one or more signals received by the first station; and adjust CBF responsive to the one or more characteristics.
Helwa disclose transmit a beamforming report poll (BFRP) frame to a first station of the set of stations configured for wireless communication with the first AP; and receive, from the first station responsive to the BFRP frame, a beamforming report (BFR) identifying one or more characteristics of one or more signals received by the first station; and adjust CBF responsive to the one or more characteristics (See para 131, “a beamforming report poll trigger frame (BFRP) and measurement frames (such as CSI frames) exchanged between each AP and a respective client may be utilized to report interference levels experienced by the client from the neighboring AP. For example, the BFRP frame may be used to solicit feedback from multiple STAs, and the CSI frame may be used to provide measurements. The measurements may be received or decoded by serving and non-serving APs. In accordance with the measurement levels (such as OBSS AP RSSI) reported with the CSI, the sharing AP or the shared AP may determine which transmission mode (such as CBF, CSR, or dedicated TXOP) to use for communications”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Cherion with the teachings of Helwa to improve the method disclosed by Cherion by including the feature of BFRP frame. The motivation to combine would have been to know what and how much stations are being affected to select them for CoBF.
Claims 10 and 19:
Cherian discloses that the second AP selects one or more candidate stations of the second AP to participate in CBF operation (Intended use. This claim is directed to the first access point not second AP. Also, see fig. 10-11, AP 404bc selecting non-reuse STAs).
Cherian doesn’t disclose select one or more candidate stations based on at least one of: data traffic intended for a station of the one or more candidate stations, a type of data traffic intended for the station, or a received-signal-strength-indication (RSSI) or a path-loss observed at the station from the first AP or the second AP.
Helwa discloses select one or more candidate stations based on at least one of: data traffic intended for a station of the one or more candidate stations, a type of data traffic intended for the station, or a received-signal-strength-indication (RSSI) or a path-loss observed at the station from the first AP or the second AP (See para 133, “, for the served STA 704-a, the AP 702-a may utilize the in-BSS CSI, the signal strength, and the interference strength received from the STA 704-a for determining whether to use CBF or CSR”. Also see para 131, RSSI).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Cherion with the teachings of Helwa to improve the method disclosed by Cherion by including the feature of signal strength. The motivation to combine would have been to know what stations are being affected to select them for CoBF.
Claim(s) 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cherian et al. in view of Park et al. US 2023/0093547 A1
Claim 20:
Cherian discloses a system, comprising: a second access point (AP) configured to: receive from the first AP, responsive to the request, a first data, the first data indicative of a first one or more capabilities of at least one of the first AP or the first one or more stations to participate in coordinated beamforming (CBF) (See para 96 and fig. 10, “the AP 404A may be the leader AP as it has obtained and controls the TXOP at block 1002…The CoBF invite message may indicate the non-reuse STAs of AP 404a”. Being the leader and non-reuse STAs are capabilities); generate, responsive to the request, a second data, the second data indicative of a second one or more capabilities of at least one of the second AP or the second one or more stations to participate in CBF (See para 96 and fig. 10, Aps 404b & c generate its own non-reuse STAs list and accept CoBF invitation); perform a sequence to exchange with the first AP a portion of the second data for a set of stations selected from the second one or more stations to use for CBF, the set of stations selected based at least on the first one or more capabilities or the second one or more capabilities (See para 96 and fig. 10, AP 404a performs sequence with 404b and 404c exchanging and identifying/finalizing information regarding non-reuse STAs to participate in CoBF).
Cherian doesn’t disclose receive from a first AP a request to initiate an exchange of data on a first one or more stations of the first AP and a second one or more stations of the second AP.
Park discloses receive from a first AP a request to initiate an exchange of data on a first one or more stations of the first AP and a second one or more stations of the second AP (See 257, “multi-AP coordination technology is a method for minimizing interference between BS Ss in data transmission and reception by sharing channel feedback information and scheduling information on a terminal between APs when transmitting and receiving a data frame between the terminal and the APs, or for increasing data transmission efficiency by two or more APs participating at a specific time in data transmission and reception to and from the terminal”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Cherian with the teachings of Park to improve the method disclosed by Cherian by including the feature of request for data on a first and second one or more stations. The motivation to combine would have been to increasing data transmission efficiency by two or more APs.
Conclusion
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HASHIM S. BHATTI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2472
/HASHIM S BHATTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2475
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