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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-28 are currently pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/09/2024, 04/17/2025 and 06/04/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 obviousness-type 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); and 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 a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
Claims 1-28 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of Patent No. US 11,121,813 B2. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other.
Claims 1-28 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-14 of copending Application No. 19/713,312 Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other.
Copending Application 19/713,312
Instant Application 18/974,119 Claim Text
A station (STA) comprises:
receiver; and
a processor, the processor configured to:
receive, via the receiver, in a signal A (SIG-A) field of a preamble of a multi-user (MU)
physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) (MU-PPDU), an indication of a modulation and coding scheme
(MCS) of a signal B (SIG-B) field of the preamble of the MU-PPDU;
determine the MCS of the SIG-B field from the SIG-A field of the MU-PPDU;
receive, via the receiver, the SIG-B field in accordance with the indicated MCS, wherein
the SIG-B field comprises a plurality of STA identifiers and a field divided into multiple portions based on
multiple subchannels, and wherein at least two of the portions have a same amount of bits;
receive, via the receiver, data of the MU-PPDU; and
identify at least one of the STA identifiers of the SIG-B field that corresponds to an
identifier of the STA.
A station (STA) comprising:a receiver and a processor, the processor configured to:receive, via the receiver, in a first signal A (SIG-A) field of a preamble of a multi- user (MU) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) (MU-PPDU) an indication of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) of a second signal B (SIG-B) field of the preamble of the MU-PPDU;determine the MCS of the SIG-B field from the SIG-A field of the MU-PPDU;receive, via the receiver, the second signal SIG-B field in accordance with the indicated MCS, wherein the second signal SIG-B field comprises a plurality of STA identifiers and a field divided into multiple portions based on multiple subchannels, and wherein at least two of the portions have a same amount of bits;and receive, via the receiver, data of the MU-PPDU [[,]] ;and identify wherein at least one of the STA identifiers of the second signal SIG-B field that corresponds to an identifier of the STA
2. The STA of claim 1, wherein the field comprises a first portion configured to be received on at least
one first subchannel that is at least a 20 megahertz (MHz)-channel and a second portion configured to be
received on at least one second subchannel, wherein the first portion and the second portion comprise the
same amount of bits.
The STA of claim 1, where in the field comprises a first portion configured to be received on at least one first subchannel that is at least a 20 megahertz (MHz) channel and a second portion configured to be received on at least one second subchannel, wherein the first portion and the second portion comprise the same amount of bits.
3. The STA of claim 2, wherein the SIG-A field indicates a length of the first portion and the second
portion.
3. The STA of claim 2 wherein the SIG-A field indicates a length of the first portion and the second s portion.
4. The STA of claim 2, wherein the first portion and the second portion are aligned in time.
4. The STA of claim 2 wherein the first portion and the second portion are aligned in time.
5. The STA of claim 2, wherein the first portion and the second portion are at the same instance in
time.
5. The STA of claim 2, wherein the first portion and the second portion are at the same instance in
time.
6. The STA of claim 2, wherein the first portion comprises a STA identifier that is different than a STA
identifier included in the second portion.
6. The STA of claim 2, wherein the first portion comprises a STA identifier that is different than a STA
identifier included in the second portion.
7. The STA of claim 2, wherein the first portion and the second portion are encoded differently.
7. The STA of claim 2, wherein the first portion and the second portion are encoded differently.
8. A method performed by a station (STA), the method comprising:
receiving in a signal A (SIG-A) field of a preamble of a multi-user (MU) physical layer protocol data
unit (PPDU) (MU-PPDU), an indication of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) of a signal B (SIG-B)
field of the preamble of the MU-PPDU;
determining the MCS of the SIG-B field from the SIG-A field of the MU-PPDU;
receiving the SIG-B field in accordance with the indicated MCS, wherein the SIG-B field comprises
a plurality of STA identifiers and a field divided into multiple portions based on multiple subchannels, and
wherein at least two of the portions have a same amount of bits;
receiving data of the MU-PPDU; and
identifying least one of the STA identifiers of the SIG-B field that corresponds to an identifier of the
STA.
8. A method performed by a station (STA), the method comprising:
receiving in a signal A (SIG-A) field of a preamble of a multi-user (MU) physical layer protocol data
unit (PPDU) (MU-PPDU), an indication of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) of a signal B (SIG-B)
field of the preamble of the MU-PPDU;
determining the MCS of the SIG-B field from the SIG-A field of the MU-PPDU;
receiving the SIG-B field in accordance with the indicated MCS, wherein the SIG-B field comprises
a plurality of STA identifiers and a field divided into multiple portions based on multiple subchannels, and
wherein at least two of the portions have a same amount of bits;
receiving data of the MU-PPDU; and
identifying least one of the STA identifiers of the SIG-B field that corresponds to an identifier of the
STA.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the field comprises a first portion configured to be received on at
least one first subchannel that is at least a 20 megahertz (MHz) channel and a second portion configured to
be received on at least one second subchannel, wherein the first portion and the second portion comprise
the same amount of bits.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the field comprises a first portion configured to be received on at
least one first subchannel that is at least a 20 megahertz (MHz) channel and a second portion configured to
be received on at least one second subchannel, wherein the first portion and the second portion comprise
the same amount of bits
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the SIG-A field indicates a length of the first portion and the
second portion.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the SIG-A field indicates a length of the first portion and the
second portion.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first portion and the second portion are aligned in time.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first portion and the second portion are aligned in time.
12. The method of claim 9, wherein the first portion and the second portion are at the same instance in
time.
12. The method of claim 9, wherein the first portion and the second portion are at the same instance in
time.
13. The method of claim 9, wherein the first portion comprises a STA identifier that is different than a
STA identifier included in the second portion.
13. The method of claim 9, wherein the first portion comprises a STA identifier that is different than a
STA identifier included in the second portion.
14. The method of claim 9, wherein the first portion and the second portion are encoded differently.
14. The method of claim 9, wherein the first portion and the second portion are encoded differently.
Claims 1-14 discloses similar limitations performed by a STA. (Steps of receiving from an AP).
Claims 15-28 are performed by an access point. Discloses the same steps (Transmitting steps) as disclosed above in claims 1-14.
This is a provisional obviousness-type double patenting rejection because the conflicting claims have not in fact been patented.
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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 8, 15 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Porat et al. (US 2012/0269142 A1) in view of Lee et al. (US 2011/0188598 A1)
Regarding claims 1 and 8, Porat discloses a station (STA) comprising: a receiver; and a processor, the processor configured to (Fig. 2, paragraph 0073 comprises a wireless communication device such as a STA processor and a memory): receive, via the receiver (Fig. 2, element RF receiver), in a signal A (SIG-A) field of a preamble of a multi-user (MU) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) (MU-PPDU), an indication of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) of a signal B (SIG-B) field of the preamble of the MU-PPDU; determine the MCS of the SIG-B field from the SIG-A field of the MU-PPDU; receive, via the receiver, the SIG-B field in accordance with the indicated MCS (Fig. 17, paragraphs 0139, 0146-0149 discloses the signal field (SIG-A) may be implemented to include bits that may signal the MCS used for Data and the MCS used for the second signal field (SIG-B). The signal field (SIG-A) may signal the MCS used for the second signal field (SIG-B) and the second signal field (SIG-B) then signals the MCS used for DATA. That is to say, the signal field (SIG-A) may indicate within the MCS for each of the separate and respective different, following fields. Alternatively, the signal field (SIG-A) may indicate a .DELTA.MCS (e.g., a difference based on at least one additional MCS) such that the .DELTA.MCS is with respect to the MCS of the second signal field (SIG-B) so that the MCS of the second signal field (SIG-B) and the .DELTA.MCS may be used for properly processing the DATA. A variety of preamble combinations (e.g., from among 5 rep combinations) may be chosen. For example, the signal field (SIG-A) may contain 1 or 2 bits (or a series or group of bits) may be implemented to provide indication for different preamble types and/or types of transmissions (e.g., MU, SU Open Loop, SU Beamforming); receive, via the receiver, data of the MU-PPDU (Fig. 17, paragraphs 0139, 0146-0149 discloses reception of data).
Porat does not explicitly disclose wherein the SIG-B field comprises a plurality of STA identifiers and a field divided into multiple portions based on multiple subchannels, and wherein at least two of the portions have a same amount of bits and identify at least one of the STA identifiers of the SIG-B field that corresponds to an identifier of the STA.
In an analogous art, Lee discloses wherein the SIG-B field comprises a plurality of STA identifiers and a field divided into multiple portions based on multiple subchannels, and identify at least one of the STA identifiers of the SIG-B field that corresponds to an identifier of the STA (Paragraph 0126 discloses At this time, the VHT-SIG can be transmitted while being divided into VHT-SIG-A and VHT-SIG-B. The Group Set information is transmitted first through the VHT-SIG-A and indicates the sets of terminals to perform decoding; and the VHT-SIG-B indicates a particular group such that which terminal should receive the corresponding spatial stream. The VHT-SIG-B can indicate exactly which STAs should receive the MU-MIMO transmission and indicate the order number of a group among the Group Set. In addition, the VHT-SIG-B transmitted separately for each individual STA can indicate the corresponding STA exactly by transmitting an ID with which an STA can be identified. At this time, the ID for identifying an STA can correspond to the Association ID) and wherein at least two of the portions have a same amount of bits (Paragraph 0107 discloses if the Group ID field corresponds to a particular state (i.e., index 15 in the case of transmitting a 4-bit Group ID), the SSAID is determined as the order of the STAs connected logically with the same Group ID and the STAs in the corresponding group are determined. If the Group ID field corresponds to a different state, each spatial stream is received by using the SSAID predetermined or assigned irrespective of the Group ID. In the latter case, multiple STAs can occupy the same SSAID and all of the multiple STAs can carry out decoding the combination of particular spatial streams).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of Porat to the system of Lee to provide a method and apparatus of transmitting a spatial stream for MU-MIMO in a wireless local area network system (Abstract).
Regarding claims 15 and 22, Porat discloses An access point (AP) comprising: a transmitter; and a processor, the processor configured to: (Fig. 2, paragraph 0068 comprises the base stations (BSs) or access points (APs) 12-16 are operably coupled to the network hardware 34 via local area network connections 36, 38 and 40 comprises a processor and a memory): transmit, via the transmitter (Fig. 2, element RF transeiver), in a signal A (SIG-A) field of a preamble of a multi-user (MU) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) (MU-PPDU), an indication of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) of a signal B (SIG-B) field of the preamble of the MU-PPDU; determine the MCS of the SIG-B field from the SIG-A field of the MU-PPDU; transmit, via the transmitter, SIG-B field in accordance with the MCS to at least one station (STA), (Fig. 17, paragraphs 0139, 0146-0149 discloses the signal field (SIG-A) may be implemented to include bits that may signal the MCS used for Data and the MCS used for the second signal field (SIG-B). The signal field (SIG-A) may signal the MCS used for the second signal field (SIG-B) and the second signal field (SIG-B) then signals the MCS used for DATA. That is to say, the signal field (SIG-A) may indicate within the MCS for each of the separate and respective different, following fields. Alternatively, the signal field (SIG-A) may indicate a .DELTA.MCS (e.g., a difference based on at least one additional MCS) such that the .DELTA.MCS is with respect to the MCS of the second signal field (SIG-B) so that the MCS of the second signal field (SIG-B) and the .DELTA.MCS may be used for properly processing the DATA. A variety of preamble combinations (e.g., from among 5 rep combinations) may be chosen. For example, the signal field (SIG-A) may contain 1 or 2 bits (or a series or group of bits) may be implemented to provide indication for different preamble types and/or types of transmissions (e.g., MU, SU Open Loop, SU Beamforming); transmit, via the transmitter data of the MU-PPDU (Fig. 17, paragraphs 0139, 0146-0149 discloses reception of data).
Porat does not explicitly disclose wherein the SIG-B field comprises a plurality of STA identifiers and a field divided into multiple portions based on multiple subchannels, and wherein at least two of the portions have a same amount of bits and identify at least one of the STA identifiers of the SIG-B field that corresponds to an identifier of the STA.
In an analogous art, Lee discloses wherein the SIG-B field comprises a plurality of STA identifiers and a field divided into multiple portions based on multiple subchannels, and identify at least one of the STA identifiers of the SIG-B field that corresponds to an identifier of the STA (Paragraph 0126 discloses At this time, the VHT-SIG can be transmitted while being divided into VHT-SIG-A and VHT-SIG-B. The Group Set information is transmitted first through the VHT-SIG-A and indicates the sets of terminals to perform decoding; and the VHT-SIG-B indicates a particular group such that which terminal should receive the corresponding spatial stream. The VHT-SIG-B can indicate exactly which STAs should receive the MU-MIMO transmission and indicate the order number of a group among the Group Set. In addition, the VHT-SIG-B transmitted separately for each individual STA can indicate the corresponding STA exactly by transmitting an ID with which an STA can be identified. At this time, the ID for identifying an STA can correspond to the Association ID) and wherein at least two of the portions have a same amount of bits (Paragraph 0107 discloses if the Group ID field corresponds to a particular state (i.e., index 15 in the case of transmitting a 4-bit Group ID), the SSAID is determined as the order of the STAs connected logically with the same Group ID and the STAs in the corresponding group are determined. If the Group ID field corresponds to a different state, each spatial stream is received by using the SSAID predetermined or assigned irrespective of the Group ID. In the latter case, multiple STAs can occupy the same SSAID and all of the multiple STAs can carry out decoding the combination of particular spatial streams).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of Porat to the system of Lee to provide a method and apparatus of transmitting a spatial stream for MU-MIMO in a wireless local area network system (Abstract).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7, 9-14, 16-21 and 23-28 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim (claims 2, 9, 16 and 23) and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Fukuzono et al. (US 2016/0119909 A1) discloses in [0508, 0486] The data transmission station 4100, for example, is an access point (AP) in a wireless local area network (LAN). The data transmission station 4100 generates a radio packet. The generated radio packet includes an identifier for identifying the data transmission station 4100 and identifiers for identifying the data reception stations 4200.
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/ROMANI OHRI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413
