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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted was filed after the mailing date. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 4, 7, 12, 15 must first define each term before referencing the term as an acronym. C-BF, C-OFDMA, C-SR, J-TX, C-UL-MINO should be defined first.
Claim 6, 14 must first define each term before referencing the term as an acronym. AID12 should be defined first.
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)(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) 1-8, 11-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Aio et al. (“Aio”) (US 20240155360 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Aio teaches:
A wireless communication method, comprising: transmitting, by a first access point (AP), a first request frame to at least one second AP [¶0095, “a Coordination Setup Request frame is transmitted from an access point AP1 to an access point AP2 (S11 in FIG. 4)”], the first request frame comprising first indication information and/or a target coordinated transmission command, wherein the first indication information is used to indicate a first target coordinated transmission scheme [¶0102 “The Coordination Type includes information indicating a candidate for the coordinated transmission scheme. For example, in a case where there are the Coordinated Tx and Joint Tx as the coordinated transmission scheme, a two-bit field can be provided as the Coordination Type, and “00” can be set to “None”, “01” can be set to “Coordinated Tx only”, “10” can be set to “Joint Tx only”, and “11” can be set to “Both”.” Considered a first indication information], the first target coordinated transmission scheme is a coordinated transmission scheme in which the first AP requests the at least one second AP to participate [¶0095 request for participation in coordination, and triggers response frame ¶0111 with enabler flag ¶0114], and the target coordinated transmission command is a coordinated transmission command corresponding to the first target coordinated transmission scheme [Examiner notes the command does not require support as it is recited in the alternative with the first indication information which is supported by the prior art].
Regarding claim 2, Aio teaches:
The method according to claim 1, wherein the first indication information indicates the first target coordinated transmission scheme by a bitmap; wherein the first indication information comprises multiple bits, each bit corresponds to one of multiple coordinated transmission schemes, and a value of the each bit is used to indicate whether the first AP requests the at least one second AP to participate in a corresponding coordinated transmission scheme [¶0102, two-bit field, where each field specifies a mode, TX or RX, which are active if the bit is 1 and inactive if 0, corresponding to a bitmap of schemes, as two 1s indicate both TX and RX].
Regarding claim 3, Aio teaches:
The method according to claim 1, wherein the coordinated transmission command corresponding to the first target coordinated transmission scheme comprises at least one of the following information: indication information on whether to report channel state information (CSI) between the second AP and associated STAs of the second AP; indication information on whether to report CSI between the second AP and an overlapping basic service set (OBSS) STA; an available resource unit (RU) or multiple resource units (MRU) shared by the first AP to the at least one second AP; indication information on whether to report received signal strength indication (RSSI) between the second AP and associated STAs of the second AP; or indication information on whether to report RSSI between the second AP and OBSS STAs of the second AP [Examiner notes the “command” is recited in claim 1 an alternative to “indication” and thus does not require response as “indication” was rejected, and any dependent claims further defining the command do not have patentable weight]
Regarding claim 4, Aio teaches:
The method according to claim 1, wherein the first request frame is a control frame [¶0095, “a Coordination Setup Request frame is transmitted from an access point AP1 to an access point AP2 (S11 in FIG. 4)” considered control frame];
wherein the first request frame comprises a coordinated transmission request field, and the first indication information and/or the target coordinated transmission command is carried in the coordinated transmission request field [Figure 5, common info considered request field, contains first indication information ¶0102]; wherein the coordinated transmission request field comprises at least one of the following fields:
a coordinated transmission scheme used field, used to indicate a coordinated transmission scheme in which the first AP requests the at least one second AP to participate [Figure 5, ¶0102, coordination type being the coordinated scheme used]; a C-BF command field, used to indicate a coordinated transmission command corresponding to a C-BF scheme; a C-OFDMA command field, used to indicate a coordinated transmission command corresponding to a C-OFDMA scheme; a C-SR command field, used to indicate a coordinated transmission command corresponding to a C-SR scheme; a J-TX command field, used to indicate a coordinated transmission command corresponding to a J-TX scheme; or a C-UL MU-MIMO command field, used to indicate a coordinated transmission command corresponding to a C-UL MU-MIMO scheme.
Regarding claim 5, Aio teaches:
The method according to claim 1, wherein the first request frame is a trigger frame; wherein the first request frame comprises a trigger frame type dependent common information field, and the first indication information and the target coordinated transmission command are carried in the trigger frame type dependent common information field [Figure 5, ¶0102, coordination type being the coordinated scheme used, carrying scheme information considered first indication/command, Examiner noting that the command does not require support as it is recited as an alternative to the indication, thus any limitations pertaining to the command do not have patentable weight];
wherein the trigger frame type dependent common information field comprises at least one of the following fields:
a coordinated transmission scheme used field, used to indicate the first target coordinated transmission scheme [Figure 5, ¶0102, coordination type being the coordinated scheme used, Examiner noting the remaining limitations are alternative options that do not require support]; or a coordinated transmission scheme related command field, used to indicate the coordinated transmission command corresponding to the first target coordinated transmission scheme; or the first request frame comprises a trigger frame type dependent common information field and a special user information field, the first indication information is carried in the trigger frame type dependent common information field, and the target coordinated transmission command is carried in the special user information field; wherein the trigger frame type dependent common information field comprises: a coordinated transmission scheme used field, used to indicate the first target coordinated transmission scheme; or the first request frame comprises a trigger frame type dependent common information field and a multi-AP user information field, the first indication information is carried in the trigger frame type dependent common information field, and the target coordinated transmission command is carried in the multi-AP user information field; wherein the trigger frame type dependent common information field comprises: a coordinated transmission scheme used field, used to indicate the first target coordinated transmission scheme; or the first request frame comprises a trigger frame type dependent user information field, and the first indication information and the target coordinated transmission command are carried in the trigger frame type dependent user information field; wherein the trigger frame type dependent user information field comprises at least one of the following fields: a coordinated transmission scheme used field, used to indicate the first target coordinated transmission scheme; or a coordinated transmission scheme related command field, used to indicate the coordinated transmission command corresponding to the first target coordinated transmission scheme.
Regarding claim 6, Aio teaches:
The method according to claim 5, wherein the multi-AP user information field comprises an AID12 field, a value of the AID12 field is a third value, which is used to indicate that the first request frame is used to request the at least one second AP to participate in a multi-AP coordinated transmission of the first target coordinated transmission scheme, and the third value is a reserved value of the AID12 field [Examiner notes this claim depends on the option of the “the multi-AP user information field” in claim 5 which was not rejected as it was recited in alternative to other options, and thus any dependent claim depending on this term does not have patentable weight and does not require support].
Regarding claim 7, Aio teaches:
The method according to claim 5, wherein the coordinated transmission scheme used field comprises at least one of the following fields: a C-BF used field, used to indicate whether to request using a multi-AP coordinated transmission of a C-BF scheme; a C-OFDMA used field, used to indicate whether to request using a multi-AP coordinated transmission of a C-OFDMA scheme; a C-SR used field, used to indicate whether to request using a multi-AP coordinated transmission of a C-SR scheme; a J-TX used field, used to indicate whether to request using a multi-AP coordinated transmission of a J-TX scheme [¶0102 bitmap considered a field indicates joint TX scheme]; or a C-UL MU-MIMO used field, used to indicate whether to request using a multi-AP coordinated transmission of a C-UL MU-MIMO scheme.
Regarding claim 8, Aio teaches:
The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the first AP, a first response frame transmitted by at least one second AP [¶0111, coordination response frame received from AP2], wherein the first response frame is used to indicate whether the at least one second AP participates in a multi-AP coordinated transmission of the first target coordinated transmission scheme [¶0114 response indicates coordination scheme may be performed]; wherein the first response frame comprises second indication information and/or target coordinated transmission information, the second indication information is used to indicate a second target coordinated transmission scheme, the second target coordinated transmission scheme is a coordinated transmission scheme in which the second AP participates [¶0114 indicates second scheme back in form of bitmap considered second indication information], and the target coordinated transmission information is coordinated transmission information corresponding to the second target coordinated transmission scheme [Examiner notes this is an alternative options and thus does not require support].
Regarding claim 11, Aio teaches:
An access point, wherein the access point is a first access point (AP), which comprises: a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to call and run the computer program stored in the memory, to cause the first AP to perform [¶0095 AP1]: transmitting a first request frame to at least one second AP [¶0095, “a Coordination Setup Request frame is transmitted from an access point AP1 to an access point AP2 (S11 in FIG. 4)”], the first request frame comprising first indication information and/or a target coordinated transmission command, wherein the first indication information is used to indicate a first target coordinated transmission scheme [¶0102 “The Coordination Type includes information indicating a candidate for the coordinated transmission scheme. For example, in a case where there are the Coordinated Tx and Joint Tx as the coordinated transmission scheme, a two-bit field can be provided as the Coordination Type, and “00” can be set to “None”, “01” can be set to “Coordinated Tx only”, “10” can be set to “Joint Tx only”, and “11” can be set to “Both”.” Considered a first indication information], the first target coordinated transmission scheme is a coordinated transmission scheme in which the first AP requests the at least one second AP to participate [¶0095 request for participation in coordination, and triggers response frame ¶0111 with enabler flag ¶0114], and the target coordinated transmission command is a coordinated transmission command corresponding to the first target coordinated transmission scheme [Examiner notes the command does not require support as it is recited in the alternative with the first indication information which is supported by the prior art].
Regarding claim 12, see similar rejection for claim 4 which teaches the steps performed by an AP.
Regarding claim 13-15, see similar rejection for claim 5-7 which teaches the steps performed by an AP.
Regarding claim 16, Aio teaches:
An access point, wherein the access point is a second access point (AP) , which comprises: a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to call and run the computer program stored in the memory, to cause the second AP to perform: receiving a first request frame transmitted by a first AP [¶0095, “a Coordination Setup Request frame is transmitted from an access point AP1 to an access point AP2 (S11 in FIG. 4)” wherein AP2 is the claimed second access point], the first request frame comprising first indication information and/or a target coordinated transmission command [¶0102 “The Coordination Type includes information indicating a candidate for the coordinated transmission scheme. For example, in a case where there are the Coordinated Tx and Joint Tx as the coordinated transmission scheme, a two-bit field can be provided as the Coordination Type, and “00” can be set to “None”, “01” can be set to “Coordinated Tx only”, “10” can be set to “Joint Tx only”, and “11” can be set to “Both”.” Considered a first indication information], wherein the first indication information is used to indicate a first target coordinated transmission scheme, the first target coordinated transmission scheme is a coordinated transmission scheme in which the first AP requests the second AP to participate [¶0095 request for participation in coordination, and triggers response frame ¶0111 with enabler flag ¶0114], and the target coordinated transmission command is a coordinated transmission command corresponding to the first target coordinated transmission scheme [Examiner notes the command does not require support as it is recited in the alternative with the first indication information which is supported by the prior art].
Regarding claim 17, Aio teaches:
The access point according to claim 16, wherein the first indication information indicates the first target coordinated transmission scheme by a bitmap; wherein the first indication information comprises multiple bits, each bit corresponds to one of multiple coordinated transmission schemes, and a value of the each bit is used to indicate whether the first AP requests the second AP to participate in a corresponding coordinated transmission scheme [¶0102, two-bit field, where each field specifies a mode, TX or RX, which are active if the bit is 1 and inactive if 0, corresponding to a bitmap of schemes].
Regarding claim 18, Examiner notes the “command” is recited in claim 16 an alternative to “indication” and thus does not require response as “indication” was rejected, and any dependent claims further defining the command do not have patentable weight.
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.
The factual inquiries 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 nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 9, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aio et al. (“Aio”) (US 20240155360 A1) in view of Lin et al. (“Lin”) (US 20210345320 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Aio teaches:
The method according to claim 8.
Aio teaches a response frame but not QoS null.
Lin teaches wherein the first response frame is a quality of service (QoS) null frame, and the second indication information and/or the target coordinated transmission information are carried in an aggregate control (A-Control) field in the QoS null frame [¶0030 A-Control field in QoS null frame].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to specify the QoS null frame in Lin. Aio teaches sending the response frame and it would have been obvious to specify the QoS null frame as in Lin to acquire resources needed by sharing APs ¶0030.
Regarding claim 19, Aio teaches:
The access point according to claim 16, wherein the second AP further performs: transmitting a first response frame to the first AP [¶0111, coordination response frame received at AP1 from second AP2], wherein the first response frame is used to indicate whether the second AP participates in a multi-AP coordinated transmission of the first target coordinated transmission scheme [¶0114 indicates coordination may be performed]; wherein the first response frame comprises second indication information and/or target coordinated transmission information, the second indication information is used to indicate a second target coordinated transmission scheme, the second target coordinated transmission scheme is a coordinated transmission scheme in which the second AP participates [¶0114 indicates second scheme back in form of bitmap], and the target coordinated transmission information is coordinated transmission information corresponding to the second target coordinated transmission scheme [Examiner notes the command does not require support as it is recited in the alternative with the first indication information which is supported by the prior art]..
Aio teaches a response frame but not QoS null.
Lin teaches wherein the first response frame is a quality of service (QoS) null frame, and the second indication information and/or the target coordinated transmission information are carried in an aggregate control (A-Control) field in the QoS null frame [¶0030].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to specify the QoS null frame in Lin. Aio teaches sending the response frame and it would have been obvious to specify the QoS null frame as in Lin to acquire resources needed by sharing APs ¶0030.
Claim(s) 10, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aio et al. (“Aio”) (US 20240155360 A1) in view of Tsodik et al. (Tsodik) (WO 2022214163 A1).
Regarding claim 10, Aio teaches:
The method according to claim 1.
Aio teaches exchanging parameters but not an announcement frame.
Tsodik teaches further comprising: transmitting, by the first AP, a first announce frame to at least one third AP, wherein the first announce frame is used to announce coordinated transmission parameters used by APs participating in a coordinated transmission; wherein the first announce frame comprises first announce information, and the first announce information comprises at least one of: third indication information, used to indicate a third target coordinated transmission scheme, wherein the third target coordinated transmission scheme is a coordinated transmission scheme determined to be adopted by the first AP; a list of APs participating in the third target coordinated transmission scheme; or coordinated transmission parameters used for the third target coordinated transmission scheme [Figure 5, AP 1 sends 503 (first announce frame) announcing coordination parameters to third AP AP3, “The agreement requests 501, 503, 505 indicate cooperation parameters under the specific Coordination Agreement 402 which shall be used for M-AP coordinated transmission of the Access Point entities 201 , 202,203, 204 of the Multi-Access Point Set X 210 which are included under that specific Coordination Agreement 402.” Page 21-23].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to specify the announcement frame as in Tsodik who teaches pages 2 “to increase the efficiency of M-AP coordination transmission in a dynamic network environment.”
Regarding claim 20, Aio teaches:
The method according to claim 1.
Aio teaches exchanging parameters but not an announcement frame.
Tsodik teaches wherein the second AP further performs: receiving a first announce frame transmitted by the first AP, wherein the first announce frame is used to announce coordinated transmission parameters used by APs participating in a coordinated transmission; wherein the first announce frame comprises first announce information, and the first announce information comprises at least one of: third indication information, used to indicate a third target coordinated transmission scheme, wherein the third target coordinated transmission scheme is a coordinated transmission scheme determined to be adopted by the first AP; a list of APs participating in the third target coordinated transmission scheme; or coordinated transmission parameters used for the third target coordinated transmission scheme [Figure 5, AP 1 sends 503 (first announce frame) announcing coordination parameters to another AP3 being second AP, “The agreement requests 501, 503, 505 indicate cooperation parameters under the specific Coordination Agreement 402 which shall be used for M-AP coordinated transmission of the Access Point entities 201 , 202,203, 204 of the Multi-Access Point Set X 210 which are included under that specific Coordination Agreement 402.” Page 21-23].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to specify the announcement frame as in Tsodik who teaches pages 2 “to increase the efficiency of M-AP coordination transmission in a dynamic network environment.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. WO 2022132030 A1
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAY L. VOGEL whose telephone number is (303)297-4322. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-4:30 PM MT.
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/JAY L VOGEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
