US 10306667

US patent 10306667, titled "Method for transmitting and receiving uplink acknowledgement signal in wireless LAN system and apparatus therefor," was assigned to LG Electronics Inc. The inventors are Jeongki Kim, Kiseon Ryu, and HanGyu CHO. The patent was filed on January 16, 2017, and issued on May 28, 2019.

Abstract:
The patent describes a method for a station (STA) in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) system to efficiently transmit an acknowledgment (ACK) signal in response to downlink data. The STA receives a downlink Physical Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) from an Access Point (AP), where this PPDU includes a special control information subfield with uplink scheduling details and the actual downlink data. Based on this uplink scheduling information, the STA then transmits an uplink PPDU containing the ACK signal back to the AP. The control information subfield specifically includes details like the length of the uplink PPDU, resource unit (RU) allocation, modulation and coding scheme (MCS) information for the uplink PPDU, the AP's transmit power, and the AP's target receive signal strength indicator (RSSI) information.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

• Claim 1 (STA Method): This claim outlines a method for a wireless device (STA) to send an acknowledgment. The STA first receives a data packet (downlink PPDU) from a Wi-Fi router (AP). This data packet includes not only the actual data but also specific instructions (a control information subfield) on how the STA should send its acknowledgment back to the AP. These instructions cover the length of the acknowledgment message, which radio resources (RUs) to use, the modulation and coding scheme (MCS), the AP's transmit power, and the AP's desired received signal strength (RSSI). Crucially, when the STA receives this downlink PPDU, it assumes that the control information subfield does not include spatial reuse information, and therefore, the STA is configured to disable spatial reuse for its uplink acknowledgment.
• Claim 9 (STA Apparatus): This claim describes a wireless device (STA) itself that is designed to perform the method of Claim 1. It comprises a transceiver (for receiving and transmitting signals) and a processor. The transceiver receives the downlink PPDU, which contains both data and the uplink scheduling instructions (control information subfield) from the AP. The processor is configured to interpret these uplink scheduling instructions, assuming they contain information about the uplink PPDU's length, RU allocation, MCS, AP's transmit power, and AP's target RSSI. The processor then directs the transceiver to send the uplink PPDU with the acknowledgment signal to the AP. Similar to Claim 1, the processor is specifically configured to disable spatial reuse for the uplink PPDU because it assumes the control information subfield does not contain spatial reuse information.
• Claim 12 (AP Method): This claim details a method for a Wi-Fi router (AP) to receive an acknowledgment from a wireless device (STA). The AP first transmits a downlink PPDU to the STA, which includes both the downlink data and a control information subfield containing uplink scheduling instructions. Subsequently, the AP receives an uplink PPDU from the STA, which contains the acknowledgment signal sent according to the scheduling information provided by the AP. The control information subfield that the AP sends includes the length of the uplink PPDU, RU allocation, MCS information, the AP's transmit power, and the AP's target RSSI. The claim specifies that this control information subfield does not include spatial reuse information, and the AP processes the incoming signals from the STA by assuming that the STA has disabled spatial reuse in response to receiving the downlink PPDU.

CAFC 2026 Dockets:
As of April 26, 2026, no specific CAFC 2026 docket information directly mentioning US patent 10306667 was found in the search results.