Obviousness — US Patent 12167415

Obviousness Analysis of US Patent 12167415 under 35 U.S.C. § 103

This analysis identifies combinations of prior art references that would render claims of US patent 12167415 obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (POSITA) as of the filing date (2022-09-09). A POSITA in this field would possess knowledge of wireless communication standards, particularly IEEE 802.11, OFDMA, MIMO, and signaling techniques for channel allocation. Motivation to combine prior art can come from the knowledge of those skilled in the art, the prior art reference itself, or the nature of the problem to be solved. An implicit motivation to combine exists when the improvement is technology-independent and results in a more desirable product or process, such as being more efficient.

The core invention of US12167415 revolves around efficiently signaling non-contiguous channel allocation information in wireless communication, particularly within an IEEE 802.11 environment.

Prior Art References Considered:

US10687281B2 (referred to as '281 patent): This patent, titled "Wireless communication method and wireless communication terminal, which use discontinuous channel," explicitly discusses signaling non-contiguous channel allocation information. It discloses that this information may be indicated via a combination of a bandwidth field of the HE-SIG-A and a resource unit allocation field of the HE-SIG-B. It also states that the bandwidth field may indicate total bandwidth information and channel information to be punctured, and the resource unit allocation field may indicate additional puncturing information. Furthermore, it mentions that this information can indicate unassigned channel information in units of 20 MHz and index puncturing of secondary 20 MHz and 40 MHz channels.
"Wider-Bandwidth Operation of IEEE 802.11 for Extremely High Throughput: Challenges and Solutions for Flexible Puncturing" by S. A. (referred to as S. A.): This research highlights how puncturing in IEEE 802.11ax supports non-contiguous channel bonding to address the low-efficiency problem of contiguous channel bonding limitations. It discusses the challenges of limited bandwidth patterns of puncturing as a tradeoff between signaling overhead and transmission bandwidth. It also notes that IEEE 802.11ax allows for transmission across idle channels when some are sensed busy.
"Wi-Fi 7: The Next Generation - Understanding The Future of Wi-Fi" (Versa Technology, Jan 5, 2021) (referred to as Versa Technology): This article describes Wi-Fi 7 (IEEE 802.11be) supporting 160+160MHz, 240+180MHz, and 160+80MHz channels to combine non-contiguous spectrum blocks. It also discusses enhanced OFDMA, allowing assignment of punctured resource units (RUs) to a single station and direct link transmissions to increase spectrum efficiency and reduce latency.
"Preamble Design for Non-contiguous Spectrum Usage in Cognitive Radio Networks" (referred to as "Preamble Design"): This paper proposes an in-band solution for informing receivers of spectrum usage patterns by embedding this information in packet preambles, specifically using the legacy 802.11 preamble structure. It notes that traditional transceivers operate on contiguous frequencies, and cognitive radios should be able to occupy non-contiguously aligned spectrum bands for efficient spectrum utilization.
US9258069B2 (referred to as '069 patent): This patent discusses non-contiguous carrier aggregation, where multiple carriers separated by gaps (potentially occupied by interference signals) are aggregated. It highlights the benefit of increasing bandwidth for communication.
"2.4 and 5 GHz WiFi Channel Discussion" (Maui Communications Networks): This reference notes that 802.11n, 802.11ac, and 802.11ax standards allow for "non-contiguous channel bonding," although commercial equipment support was unclear at the time of publication.
IEEE 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) Standard: Widely known in the art, this standard introduced OFDMA and puncturing. The '281 patent and the S. A. research paper both explicitly mention aspects of 802.11ax.

Analysis of Obviousness for Independent Claims:

Claims 1 and 8 (Receiving Terminal - Method and Apparatus):

Claim 1 (Method): "A wireless communication method of a wireless communication terminal, the method comprising: receiving a wireless packet; obtaining non-contiguous channel allocation information of the received packet; and decoding the received packet based on the obtained non-contiguous channel allocation information."
Claim 8 (Apparatus): "A wireless communication terminal, the terminal comprising: a processor; and a communication unit, wherein the processor receives a wireless packet through the communication unit, obtains non-contiguous channel allocation information of the received packet, and decodes the received packet based on the obtained non-contiguous channel allocation information."

Combination: US10687281B2 + S. A. + Common Knowledge of 802.11ax

Rationale: The '281 patent explicitly teaches a wireless communication terminal receiving a packet, obtaining non-contiguous channel allocation information, and decoding the packet based on this information. This directly addresses the steps in Claim 1 and the functionality of the processor in Claim 8. The '281 patent further details how this information can be indicated via HE-SIG-A and HE-SIG-B fields, including total bandwidth and punctured channel information in units of 20 MHz.
S. A. elaborates on the concept of puncturing in IEEE 802.11ax to support non-contiguous channel bonding, explaining that this addresses the inefficiency of contiguous channel bonding. This demonstrates that the concept of non-contiguous channel operation and the need to signal such allocation was a known problem and solution space within the context of IEEE 802.11 standards, particularly with the advent of 802.11ax and OFDMA.
A POSITA would recognize that for a receiving terminal to effectively utilize non-contiguous channels, it must be able to obtain and interpret the allocation information. The '281 patent provides the specific mechanisms (HE-SIG-A, HE-SIG-B, puncturing information) for doing so. The motivation to combine would be to enable efficient wideband communication in environments where contiguous channels are not available, a known problem addressed by 802.11ax and puncturing as discussed in S. A. and Versa Technology. This combination directly teaches and motivates the claimed receiving terminal method and apparatus.

Claims 15 and 20 (Base Terminal - Method and Apparatus):

Claim 15 (Method): "A wireless communication method of a base wireless communication terminal, the method comprising: performing a CCA of multiple channels for a wideband packet transmission; and transmitting a packet through at least one channel which is idle based on a result of performing the CCA of multiple channels, wherein when the packet is transmitted through a non-contiguous channel, non-contiguous channel allocation information is signaled via a non-legacy preamble of the packet."
Claim 20 (Apparatus): "A base wireless communication terminal, the terminal comprising: a processor; and a communication unit, wherein the processor performs a CCA of multiple channels for a wideband packet transmission, and transmits a packet through at least one channel which is idle based on a result of performing the CCA of multiple channels, wherein when the packet is transmitted through a non-contiguous channel, the processor signals non-contiguous channel allocation information via a non-legacy preamble of the packet."

Combination: US10687281B2 + S. A. + "Preamble Design" + Common Knowledge of CCA/CSMA/802.11 Standards

Rationale: The '281 patent explicitly discusses a base wireless communication terminal performing CCA of multiple channels for wideband packet transmission and transmitting a packet through idle channels. It further states that when transmitting through non-contiguous channels, non-contiguous channel allocation information is signaled via a non-legacy preamble (specifically, HE-SIG-A and HE-SIG-B subfields). This directly covers the steps and functionality claimed in Claims 15 and 20.
The S. A. research paper describes IEEE 802.11ax's ability to use non-contiguous channel bonding through puncturing, allowing stations to transmit in idle channels even if other channels are busy. This demonstrates the known problem of busy contiguous channels and the need for flexible channel utilization.
"Preamble Design" teaches an in-band solution for informing receivers of spectrum usage patterns by embedding this information in packet preambles, specifically within the 802.11 preamble structure. This provides explicit motivation for using the preamble to signal channel allocation information, addressing a known limitation of out-of-band control channels.
The concept of Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) and Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) is fundamental to wireless LAN communication (e.g., IEEE 802.11 standards). A POSITA would understand the necessity of performing CCA before transmission to avoid collisions and identify available channels.
The motivation to combine these references would be to improve spectrum efficiency and throughput in crowded wireless environments by leveraging non-contiguous channels, as enabled by puncturing in 802.11ax. By signaling the non-contiguous allocation information in the non-legacy preamble (as detailed by '281 and "Preamble Design"), the base station can efficiently communicate the channel configuration to receiving terminals, overcoming the limitations of contiguous channel bonding (as highlighted by S. A. and Maui Communications Networks). This combination directly teaches and motivates the claimed transmitting base terminal method and apparatus.

Further Considerations for Obviousness:

"Non-contiguous carrier aggregation" ('069 patent): While in a different context (3GPP LTE), the '069 patent demonstrates that the concept of non-contiguous spectrum usage for increased bandwidth was a known problem and solution space in wireless communication systems. A POSITA would be motivated to apply similar principles to IEEE 802.11 to improve spectrum utilization, especially given the congestion in Wi-Fi bands.
Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) developments (Versa Technology): The discussion of Wi-Fi 7 supporting non-contiguous spectrum blocks further underscores that this was a natural evolution in wireless communication standards to achieve higher throughput and efficiency. While after the priority date of US12167415, it reflects a continuous trend in the field.
"Known techniques" rationale: The combination of prior art references is supported by the "known-techniques" rationale, where the references address the same problem (efficient spectrum utilization in wireless communication) and provide known techniques (puncturing, in-band signaling in preambles, CCA) that would suitably address that problem.

In conclusion, the independent claims of US patent 12167415 appear obvious when considering the combination of existing technologies and the problems they aimed to solve within the wireless communication domain, particularly concerning the evolution of IEEE 802.11 standards towards more efficient spectrum usage through non-contiguous channel operation and explicit signaling in preambles.