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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements submitted on August 12, 2025 and March 10, 2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-8, 10, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because claims 1-8, 10, and 11 are directed to a computer-readable recording medium which, given its broadest reasonable interpretation, would typically covers forms of both non-transitory tangible media and transitory propagating signals per se in view of the ordinary and customary meaning of computer readable media. When the broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim covers a signal per se, the claim must be rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as covering non-statutory subject matter.
In an effort to assist the patent community in overcoming the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 101, the USPTO suggest the following approach. A claim drawn to such a computer readable medium (or the like) that covers both transitory and non-transitory embodiments may be amended to narrow the claim to cover only statutory embodiments to avoid a rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 101 by adding the limitation “non-transitory” to the claim. Such an amendment would typically not raise the issue of new matter, even when the specification is silent because the broadest reasonable interpretation relies on the ordinary and customary meaning that includes signals per se.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because claim 9 is directed to a computer program per se.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1 lines 3 and 4, the limitations “the wireless network” and “the station” have no antecedent basis. Claims 2-5 depend on claim 1 and are rejected for the same reason.
Regarding claim 6 line 3, the limitation “the wireless network” has no antecedent basis.
Claims 7 and 8 depend on claim 6 and are rejected for the same reason.
Regarding claim 9 line 2, the limitation “the wireless network” has no antecedent basis.
Claims 10 and 11 depend on claim 6 and are rejected for the same reason.
Furthermore, claims 10 and 11 depend on claim 9, directed to a program. However, claims 10 and 11 are directed to “the computer-readable recording medium according to claim 9.” Thus, the antecedent basis is not clearly defined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pub. No. 2017/0142662 (hereinafter “Sutskover,” cited in 08/12/2025 IDS) in view of U.S. Pub. No. 2016/0044533 (hereinafter “Seok,” cited in 08/12/2025 IDS).
Regarding claim 1, Sutskover discloses or suggests a computer-readable recording medium on which a program is recorded, wherein the program, when executed, enables a computer to perform a method as below (see at least paragraphs 66-69, storage device including a machine readable medium on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions (e.g., software)):
receiving a trigger frame from an access point of the wireless network, wherein the trigger frame comprises an identifier of a target resource unit (RU) allocated to the station, the target RU is in a frequency domain and is located in one or more fundamental channels (see at least Fig. 2, and paragraphs 24 and 27, the master station transmitting a trigger frame (TF) to the HE stations, where the TF comprises resource allocation indicating a frequency for the HE station to transmit on, where the frequency may be a 20, 40, or 80 MHz channel, for example);
sending an uplink orthogonal frequency division multiple access physical layer protocol data unit (OFDMA PPDU) to the access point, wherein the uplink OFDMA PPDU comprises a data part, the data part is sent on the target RU (see at least Fig. 2, and paragraphs 18, 19, and 32, the HE station transmitting the UL data in accordance with the RA and the frequency indicated in the TF, where the UL data corresponds to UL OFDMA data in accordance with IEEE 802.11ax);
receiving an acknowledgement frame fed back for the uplink OFDMA PPDU, wherein the acknowledgement frame is received on an RU selected by the access point from the one or more fundamental channel units, wherein the acknowledgement frame is an orthogonal frequency division multiple access block acknowledgement (OFDMA BA) or an orthogonal frequency division multiple access Multi-STA block acknowledgement (OFDMA M-BA) (see at least Fig. 2 and paragraph 33, the HE station receives an acknowledgement (ACK) on Frequency 208.4 to acknowledge receipt of the UL data, where the ACK may be a block ACK (BACK) or a multi-user block ACK (M-BA));
when neither the OFDMA BA nor the OFDMA M-BA is received on a primary fundamental channel unit, receive a preset frame on the primary fundamental channel unit to prevent the primary fundamental channel unit from being preempted by another station (see at least Fig. 2 and paragraph 33, when neither the OFDMA BA nor the OFDMA M-BA is received from the master station on Frequency 208.4, the master station may send and the HE station may receive another frame such as another TF that implicitly ACKs the UL data (i.e., a trigger frame is sent, instead of a block ACK or a multi-user block ACK, to implicitly acknowledge the UL data), where the transmission of TF prevents Frequency 208.4 from being preempted by another station).
Sutskover does not explicitly disclose the uplink OFDMA PPDU comprising a common physical layer preamble, and the common physical layer preamble is sent on the one or more fundamental channels.
However, Seok, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, discloses or suggests the uplink OFDMA PPDU comprising a data part and a common physical layer preamble, and the common physical layer preamble is sent on the one or more fundamental channels (see at least Fig. 12, and paragraphs 149-156 and 163-164, the UL OFDMA HE PPDU comprises a L-STF field, a L-LTF field, a L-SIG field, and a HE-SIG A field corresponding to a common physical layer preamble that are sent on the one or more sub-channels of the channel, where the UL OFDMA HE PPDU further comprises a plurality of PSDUs included in a DATA field of the PPDU frame).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to replace the frame format of UL data of Sutskover with the UL OFDMA PPDU frame format of Seok because one of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out such a substitution and the results would have been reasonably predictable.
Regarding claims 2 and 3, Sutskover discloses or suggests all of the subject matter of the claimed invention except the common physical layer preamble of the uplink OFDMA PPDU comprising a legacy preamble field, a repeated legacy-signal field, and a high efficient-signal field A, and the data part of the uplink OFDMA PPDU comprising a high efficient-short training field, a high efficient-long training field, and Data field.
However, Seok, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, discloses or suggests the common physical layer preamble of the uplink OFDMA PPDU comprising a legacy preamble field, a repeated legacy-signal field, and a high efficient-signal field A, and the data part of the uplink OFDMA PPDU comprising a high efficient-short training field, a high efficient-long training field, and Data field (see at least Fig. 12, and paragraphs 149-156 and 163-164, the UL OFDMA HE PPDU comprises a L-STF field, a L-LTF field, a L-SIG field, and a HE-SIG A field corresponding to a common physical layer preamble, where the UL OFDMA HE PPDU further comprises a HE-STF field, a HE-LTF field, and PSDU included in a DATA field of the PPDU frame).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to replace the frame format of UL data of Sutskover with the UL OFDMA PPDU frame format of Seok because one of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out such a substitution and the results would have been reasonably predictable.
Regarding claim 4, Sutskover discloses or suggests that the one or more fundamental channels comprise multiple fundamental channels, the target RU is located in the multiple fundamental channels, and the RU selected by the access point is located in a part of the multiple fundamental channels (see at least Fig. 2, Frequencies 208.1-208.4 correspond to multiple fundamental channels, where the target RU is located in the Frequencies 208.1-208.4 and the RU selected by the master station is Frequency 208.4).
Regarding claim 5, Sutskover discloses or suggests that the one or more fundamental channels comprise multiple fundamental channels, and the target RU is located in the multiple fundamental channels (see at least Fig. 2, Frequencies 208.1-208.4 correspond to multiple fundamental channels, where the target RU is located in the Frequencies 208.1-208.4). However, Sutskover does not explicitly disclose or suggest that the common physical layer preamble is sent on the multiple fundamental channels.
Seok, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, discloses or suggests that the common physical layer preamble is sent on the multiple fundamental channels (see at least Fig. 12, and paragraphs 149-156 and 163-164, The L-STF field, L-LTF field, L-SIG field, and HE-SIG-A fields corresponding to the common physical layer preamble is sent on the multiple fundamental channels).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to replace the frame format of UL data of Sutskover with the UL OFDMA PPDU frame format of Seok because one of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out such a substitution and the results would have been reasonably predictable.
Regarding claims 6 and 9, Sutskover discloses or suggests a computer-readable recording medium on which a program is recorded, wherein the program, when executed, enables a computer to perform a method as below (see at least paragraphs 66-69, storage device including a machine readable medium on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions (e.g., software)):
sending a trigger frame from an access point, wherein the trigger frame comprises an identifier of a target resource unit (RU) allocated to the station, the target RU is in a frequency domain and is located in one or more fundamental channels (see at least Fig. 2, and paragraphs 24 and 27, the master station transmitting a trigger frame (TF) to the HE stations, where the TF comprises resource allocation indicating a frequency for the HE station to transmit on, where the frequency may be a 20, 40, or 80 MHz channel, for example);
receiving an uplink orthogonal frequency division multiple access physical layer protocol data unit (OFDMA PPDU) to the access point, wherein the uplink OFDMA PPDU comprises a data part, the data part is sent on the target RU (see at least Fig. 2, and paragraphs 18, 19, and 32, the HE station transmitting the UL data in accordance with the RA and the frequency indicated in the TF, where the UL data corresponds to UL OFDMA data in accordance with IEEE 802.11ax);
selecting an RU from the one or more fundamental channel units (see at least Fig. 2, and paragraphs 24 and 33, the master station selects Frequency 208.4 including at least one resource unit to transmit an acknowledgement to the HE stations);
sending an acknowledgement frame fed back for the uplink OFDMA PPDU, wherein the acknowledgement frame is received on an RU selected by the access point from the one or more fundamental channel units, wherein the acknowledgement frame is an orthogonal frequency division multiple access block acknowledgement (OFDMA BA) or an orthogonal frequency division multiple access Multi-STA block acknowledgement (OFDMA M-BA) (see at least Fig. 2 and paragraph 33, the master station transmits an acknowledgement (ACK) to the HE stations on Frequency 208.4 to acknowledge receipt of the UL data, where the ACK may be a block ACK (BACK) or a multi-user block ACK (M-BA));
when neither the OFDMA BA nor the OFDMA M-BA is received on a primary fundamental channel unit, send a preset frame on the primary fundamental channel unit to prevent the primary fundamental channel unit from being preempted by another station (see at least Fig. 2 and paragraph 33, when neither the OFDMA BA nor the OFDMA M-BA is received from the master station on Frequency 208.4, the master station may send and the HE station may receive another frame such as another TF that implicitly ACKs the UL data (i.e., a trigger frame is sent, instead of a block ACK or a multi-user block ACK, to implicitly acknowledge the UL data), where the transmission of TF prevents Frequency 208.4 from being preempted by another station).
Sutskover does not explicitly disclose the uplink OFDMA PPDU comprising a common physical layer preamble, and the common physical layer preamble is sent on the one or more fundamental channels.
However, Seok, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, discloses or suggests the uplink OFDMA PPDU comprising a data part and a common physical layer preamble, and the common physical layer preamble is sent on the one or more fundamental channels (see at least Fig. 12, and paragraphs 149-156 and 163-164, the UL OFDMA HE PPDU comprises a L-STF field, a L-LTF field, a L-SIG field, and a HE-SIG A field corresponding to a common physical layer preamble that are sent on the one or more sub-channels of the channel, where the UL OFDMA HE PPDU further comprises a plurality of PSDUs included in a DATA field of the PPDU frame).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to replace the frame format of UL data of Sutskover with the UL OFDMA PPDU frame format of Seok because one of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out such a substitution and the results would have been reasonably predictable.
Regarding claims 7 and 10, Sutskover discloses or suggests that the one or more fundamental channels comprise multiple fundamental channels, the target RU is located in the multiple fundamental channels, and the RU selected by the access point is located in a part of the multiple fundamental channels (see at least Fig. 2, Frequencies 208.1-208.4 correspond to multiple fundamental channels, where the target RU is located in the Frequencies 208.1-208.4 and the RU selected by the master station is Frequency 208.4).
Regarding claims 8 and 11, Sutskover discloses or suggests that the one or more fundamental channels comprise multiple fundamental channels, and the target RU is located in the multiple fundamental channels (see at least Fig. 2, Frequencies 208.1-208.4 correspond to multiple fundamental channels, where the target RU is located in the Frequencies 208.1-208.4). However, Sutskover does not explicitly disclose or suggest that the common physical layer preamble is sent on the multiple fundamental channels.
Seok, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, discloses or suggests that the common physical layer preamble is sent on the multiple fundamental channels (see at least Fig. 12, and paragraphs 149-156 and 163-164, The L-STF field, L-LTF field, L-SIG field, and HE-SIG-A fields corresponding to the common physical layer preamble is sent on the multiple fundamental channels).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to replace the frame format of UL data of Sutskover with the UL OFDMA PPDU frame format of Seok because one of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out such a substitution and the results would have been reasonably predictable.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Pub. No. 2016/0165574 (Chu et al.) – trigger frame format for OFDMA communication.
U.S. Pub. No. 2018/0242355 (Lou et al.) – multi-user concurrent random access for wireless local area network.
U.S. Pub. No. 2018/0262315 (Chun et al.) – ACK/NACK signal processing for uplink multi-user transmission.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Pawaris Sinkantarakorn whose telephone number is (571)270-1424. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hadi Armouche can be reached at (571) 270-3618. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PAO SINKANTARAKORN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409 09/22/2026
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