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 .
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 2-12 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-28 of U.S. Patent No. 12144063 (p12144063). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because of the following.
For claim 7, p12144063 discloses a first communication device (claim 8 “An access point (AP)”), comprising:
a wireless network interface (claim 8 “a wireless network interface”) having i) first circuitry configured to communicate via a first frequency channel segment of a wireless local area network (WLAN) (claim 8 “… control the wireless network interface to transmit the first PPDU to the one or more client stations via a first frequency channel segment of the WLAN, …”), ii) second circuitry configured to communicate via a second frequency channel segment of the WLAN (claim 8 “… sounding feedback from the first client station, included within a second PPDU that was received from the first client station by the wireless network interface via a second frequency channel segment while transmitting the first PPDU via the first channel segment”), and iii) third circuitry configured to:
control the wireless network interface to transmit a packet to a second communication device via a first frequency channel segment of the WLAN (claim 8 “… control the wireless network interface to transmit the first PPDU to the one or more client stations via a first frequency channel segment of the WLAN, …”), and
receive an acknowledgement of the packet via a second frequency channel segment of the WLAN (claim 8 “iii) sounding feedback from the first client station, included within a second PPDU that was received from the first client station by the wireless network interface via a second frequency channel segment while transmitting the first PPDU via the first channel segment.”).
Claim 2 is rejected because it is a claim of a method performed by the communication device of claim 7 and has the same subject matter.
Dependent claims 3-6 and 8-12 are rejected in a similar fashion.
Claims 13-21 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-28 of U.S. Patent No. 12144063 (hereinafter p12144063) in view of D1 (US 20180206284), further in view of Lou (US 20190208463 A1).
For claim 17, p12144063 discloses a first communication device (claim 8 “An access point (AP)”), comprising:
a wireless network interface having i) first circuitry configured to communicate via a first frequency channel segment of a wireless local area network (WLAN) (claim 8 “a wireless network interface”), ii) second circuitry configured to communicate via a second frequency channel segment of the WLAN (claim 8 “”), and iii) third circuitry configured to:
control the wireless network interface to transmit a packet to a second communication device via a first frequency channel segment of the WLAN (claim 8 “… control the wireless network interface to transmit the first PPDU to the one or more client stations via a first frequency channel segment of the WLAN, …”),
p12144063 is silent but D1 discloses control the wireless network interface to transmit a packet to a second communication device via a first frequency channel segment of the WLAN, determine that the first communication device did not receive an acknowledgement of the packet from the second communication device (FIGs. 1-18 and the associated text, such as “[0054] In various examples, block acknowledgements (BAs) may be sent in response to multi-link transmissions. …”; note that blocking ack is equivalent to ack not been received); and
control the wireless network interface to retransmit the packet in response to determining that the first communication device did not receive the acknowledgement of the packet (FIGs. 1-18 and the associated text, such as “[0054] In various examples, block acknowledgements (BAs) may be sent in response to multi-link transmissions. … maintain a sliding window (e.g., a BA window), … a BA session may have a BA size of 64 MPDUs … The BA may indicate whether all 64 MPDUs were received correctly, which MPDUs are missing, etc.”; note that a sliding BA window suggests retransmitting).
p12144063 in view of D1 is silent but Lou, in the same field of endeavor of WLAN, discloses that retransmit the packet via a second frequency channel segment of the WLAN (“[0140] … ACK/BA frames 1718 may be transmitted by STA 1704 concurrently using different frequency channels 1731 and 1732 …”). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Lou above to the ACK/BA by D1 to yield a predictable result of acknowledging successful traffic transmissions.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine p12144063 with D1 and Lou for the benefit of acknowledging successful traffic transmissions ([0140] of Lou).
Claim 13 is rejected because it is a claim of a method performed by the communication device of claim 17 and has the same subject matter.
Dependent claims 14-16 and 18-21 are rejected in a similar fashion.
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.
Claims 2-4, 6-8, 11-13, 16-17 and 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 (US 20180206284) in view of Lou (US 20190208463 A1).
For claim 7, D1 discloses a first communication device, comprising: a wireless network interface having i) first circuitry configured to communicate via a first frequency channel segment of a wireless local area network (WLAN), ii) second circuitry configured to communicate via a second frequency channel segment of the WLAN (“[0003] … A wireless network, for example a wireless local area network (WLAN), … network may include an access point (AP) that may communicate with one or more stations (STAs) or mobile devices. … [0028] … The base station 114a and/or the base station 114b may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencie …“), and iii) third circuitry (FIG. 1B, processor 118 in view of “[0040] The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, and the like.”) configured to:
control the wireless network interface to transmit a packet to a second communication device via a first frequency channel segment of the WLAN (FIGs. 1-18 and the associated text, such as “[0046] … Devices in WLAN 100 may communicate over unlicensed spectrum, which may be a portion of spectrum that includes frequency bands traditionally used by Wi-Fi technology, such as the 5 GHz band, the 2.4 GHz band, the 60 GHz band, the 3.6 GHz band, and/or the 900 MHz band. The unlicensed spectrum may also include other frequency bands.”), and
receive an acknowledgement of the packet (FIGs. 1-18 and the associated text, such as “[0054] In various examples, block acknowledgements (BAs) may be sent in response to multi-link transmissions. …”).
D1 is silent but Lou, in the same field of endeavor of WLAN, discloses that ack packet via a second frequency channel segment of the WLAN (“[0140] … ACK/BA frames 1718 may be transmitted by STA 1704 concurrently using different frequency channels 1731 and 1732 …”). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Lou above to the ACK/BA by D1 to yield a predictable result of confirming transmission delivery.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine D1 and Lou for the benefit of confirming transmission delivery ([0140] of Lou).
Claim 2 is rejected because it is a claim of a method performed by the communication device of claim 7 and has the same subject matter.
For claim 17, D1 discloses a first communication device, comprising: a wireless network interface having i) first circuitry configured to communicate via a first frequency channel segment of a wireless local area network (WLAN), ii) second circuitry configured to communicate via a second frequency channel segment of the WLAN (“[0003] … A wireless network, for example a wireless local area network (WLAN), … network may include an access point (AP) that may communicate with one or more stations (STAs) or mobile devices. … [0028] … The base station 114a and/or the base station 114b may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencie …“), and iii) third circuitry (FIG. 1B, processor 118 in view of “[0040] The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, and the like.”) configured to:
control the wireless network interface to transmit a packet to a second communication device via a first frequency channel segment of the WLAN, determine that the first communication device did not receive an acknowledgement of the packet from the second communication device (FIGs. 1-18 and the associated text, such as “[0054] In various examples, block acknowledgements (BAs) may be sent in response to multi-link transmissions. …”; note that blocking ack is equivalent to ack not been received), and
control the wireless network interface to retransmit the packet in response to determining that the first communication device did not receive the acknowledgement of the packet (FIGs. 1-18 and the associated text, such as “[0054] In various examples, block acknowledgements (BAs) may be sent in response to multi-link transmissions. … maintain a sliding window (e.g., a BA window), … a BA session may have a BA size of 64 MPDUs … The BA may indicate whether all 64 MPDUs were received correctly, which MPDUs are missing, etc.”; note that a sliding BA window suggests retransmitting).
D1 is silent but Lou, in the same field of endeavor of WLAN, discloses that retransmit the packet via a second frequency channel segment of the WLAN (“[0140] … ACK/BA frames 1718 may be transmitted by STA 1704 concurrently using different frequency channels 1731 and 1732 …”). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Lou above to the ACK/BA by D1 to yield a predictable result of acknowledging successful traffic transmissions.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine D1 and Lou for the benefit of acknowledging successful traffic transmissions ([0140] of Lou).
Claim 13 is rejected because it is a claim of a method performed by the communication device of claim 17 and has the same subject matter.
As to claims 3 and 8, D1 in view of Lou, discloses claims 2 and 7, D1 discloses: transmitting, by the first communication device, a trigger frame via the second frequency channel segment, the trigger frame being configured to prompt the second communication device to transmit the acknowledgement of the packet (“[0082] … each link 205 may have an associated lower MAC layer 625 that performs link-specific features (e.g., channel access, UL triggered transmission procedures, multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) signaling, etc.) …”).
As to claims 6 and 11, D1 in view of Lou, discloses claims 2 and 7, D1 discloses: wherein the packet is a first packet, and wherein the method further comprises: transmitting, by the first communication device, a second packet to the second communication device via the first frequency channel segment while the first communication device receives the acknowledgement of the first packet via the second frequency channel segment ([0028] … The base station 114a and/or the base station 114b may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencie …“).
As to claims 12 and 21, D1 in view of Lou, discloses claims 7 and 17, D1 discloses: the first circuitry configured to communicate via the first frequency channel segment of the WLAN comprises a first transceiver configured to communicate via the first frequency channel segment; and the second circuitry configured to communicate via the second frequency channel segment of the WLAN comprises a second transceiver configured to communicate via the second frequency channel segment ([0028] … The base station 114a and/or the base station 114b may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencie …“).
As to claims 16 and 20, D1 in view of Lou, discloses claims 13 and 17, Lou discloses: wherein the packet is a first packet, and wherein the method further comprises: receiving, by the first communication device, a second packet via the first frequency channel segment while retransmitting the first packet via the second frequency channel segment (“[0140] … ACK/BA frames 1718 may be transmitted by STA 1704 concurrently using different frequency channels 1731 and 1732 …”). The motivation is the same as stated in the parent claims.
Claims 4-5, 9-10,14-15 and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 (US 20108206284) in view of Lou (US 20190208463 A1), further in view of Balleste (US 20130003879 A1).
As to claims 4 and 9, D1 in view of Lou, discloses claims 2 and 7, and is silent but Balleste, in the same field of endeavor of WLAN, discloses: wherein the packet is a first packet, and wherein the method further comprises: transmitting, by the first communication device, a second packet to the second communication device via the first frequency channel segment; receiving, by the first communication device, a negative acknowledgement of the second packet via the second frequency channel segment; and in response to receiving the negative acknowledgement of the second packet via the second frequency channel segment, stopping transmission, by the first communication device, of the second packet via the first frequency channel segment (“[0055] … This can be extended to cover situations with multi-casting (e.g., media streaming) to several devices and wherein ACK/NACK processing and subsequent resends can be handled outside of the main payload delivery. A secondary or redundant ACK/NACK may be transmitted through a second/differing frequency channel of a PLC, i.e., through narrowband when the main communications is through a broadband link.”). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Balleste above to WLAN by D1 in view of Lou to yield a predictable result of confirming traffic delivery.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine Balleste with D1 in view of Lou for the benefit of confirming traffic delivery ([0055] of Balleste).
As to claims 5 and 10, D1 in view of Lou and Balleste, Balleste, further discloses: wherein receiving the negative acknowledgement of the second packet comprises: receiving the negative acknowledgement of the second packet while transmitting the second packet via the first frequency channel segment (“[0055] … This can be extended to cover situations with multi-casting (e.g., media streaming) to several devices and wherein ACK/NACK processing and subsequent resends can be handled outside of the main payload delivery. A secondary or redundant ACK/NACK may be transmitted through a second/differing frequency channel of a PLC, i.e., through narrowband when the main communications is through a broadband link.”). The motivation is the same as stated in the parent claims.
As to claims 14 and 18, D1 in view of Lou, discloses claims 13 and 17, D1 discloses: determining that the first communication device did not receive the acknowledgement of the packet comprises receiving, by the first communication device, a negative acknowledgement of the packet; and retransmitting the packet via the second frequency channel segment comprises retransmitting the packet in response to receiving the negative acknowledgement of the packet (“[0055] … This can be extended to cover situations with multi-casting (e.g., media streaming) to several devices and wherein ACK/NACK processing and subsequent resends can be handled outside of the main payload delivery. A secondary or redundant ACK/NACK may be transmitted through a second/differing frequency channel of a PLC, i.e., through narrowband when the main communications is through a broadband link.”). The motivation is the same as stated in the parent claims.
As to claims 15 and 19, D1 in view of Lou, discloses claims 14 and 18, D1 discloses: wherein receiving the negative acknowledgement of the packet comprises: receiving the negative acknowledgement of the packet via the second frequency channel segment (“[0055] … This can be extended to cover situations with multi-casting (e.g., media streaming) to several devices and wherein ACK/NACK processing and subsequent resends can be handled outside of the main payload delivery. A secondary or redundant ACK/NACK may be transmitted through a second/differing frequency channel of a PLC, i.e., through narrowband when the main communications is through a broadband link.”). The motivation is the same as stated in the parent claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIANYE WU whose telephone number is (571)270-1665. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 8am-6pm.
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/JIANYE WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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