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 .
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.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 6/29/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-3, 5-10, 12-18 and 20-23 are pending.
Claim Objections
Claims 5 and 12 are objected to because of the following informalities: “the link disablement is for both the uplink and the downlink” should be changed to “the link disablement disables both the uplink and the downlink” for clarity. Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-3, 5-10, 12-18 and 20-23 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.
The terms “maximum duration” and “minimum duration” in the independent claims are relative terms which render the claims indefinite. The term “maximum duration” and “minimum duration” are not defined by the claims, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. It is unclear what durations are considered to be maximum and minimum because the claims do not explicitly recite what the durations are relative to what such that they are a maximum and a minimum. Examiner suggests explicitly recite the definitions of maximum duration of link disablement and minimum duration of link disablement.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-3, 5-6, 8-10, 12-13, 15-17 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2016/0080968 (hereinafter Jeong) in view of US 2021/0360521 (hereinafter Seok), US 2014/0286217 (hereinafter Park), US 2022/0022087 (hereinafter Chu) and US 2008/0253368 (hereinafter Rasanen).
Regarding claims 1, 8 and 15, Jeong teaches an access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) / non-access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) / method comprising: a transceiver; and a processor operably coupled to the transceiver ([0062]-[0063]: details processor 11, memory 12 and a network interface device 13 connected to a network 20 and configured to perform communication), the processor configured to: generate an information element (IE) configured to indicate unavailability of a link of a plurality of links which APs affiliated with the AP MLD operate on, the information element comprising: an indication of a duration of link disablement (paragraphs [0103]-[0147], [0184]-[0186] relay control frame may include a relay suspend field [i.e., an information element], a relay resume field, and a reserved field; relay device may generate a relay suspend frame including both the configured suspend condition and a suspend duration for data transmission; relay action information may indicate that the corresponding frame requests the suspension of data transmission; suspend duration information may indicate a duration during which the transmission of data to the relay device is suspended and figures 1-17); wherein the transceiver is configured to transmit a broadcast frame that includes the IE ([0103]-[0147], [0184]-[0186] when a certain frame is received, the end terminal may determine that the certain frame is the relay suspend frame [i.e., a management frame], based on action category information and relay action information included in the received certain frame, and may acquire the suspend condition and the suspend duration included in the relay suspend frame: relay device [i.e., the relay AP device] may transmit the relay suspend frame to the end terminal in a broadcast or unicast manner and figures 1-17).
Jeong does not explicitly teach an indication of a minimum duration of link disablement; an indication of a maximum duration of link disablement; an indication that the link disablement disables both an uplink and a downlink; and an indication of at least one link to which one or more traffic identifiers (TIDs) are temporarily mapped during the duration of link disablement; temporarily map the one or more TIDs to the at least one link indicated by the indication of at least one link; disable the link during the duration of link disablement; and enable the link after the duration of the disablement has elapsed.
However, Seok teaches an indication of a minimum duration of link disablement ([0044]: details a Nominal Minimum TWT Wake Duration field of 1 octet long, a TWT Wake Interval Mantissa field of 2 octets long).
Therefore, it would have been obvious at to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong to incorporate the teachings of Seok and include an indication of a minimum duration of link disablement of Seok with Jeong. Doing so would provide efficient frequency utilization (Seok, paragraph [0040]).
Moreover, Park teaches an indication of a maximum duration of link disablement ([0018] details the information may include a Max Idle Time period (transmitted as a parameter BSSMaxIdlePeriod) corresponding to a time period during which the device is to operate in a power save mode. In a power save mode, the STA can refrain from transmitting frames to the associated AP without being disassociated).
Therefore, it would have been obvious at to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong to incorporate the teachings of Park and include an indication of a maximum duration of link disablement of Park with Jeong. Doing so would reduce power consumption (Park, paragraph [0021]).
Furthermore, Rasanen teaches an indication that the link disablement disables both an uplink and a downlink ([0049]: details DISABLED (3) which is used for indicating whether to disable all associated IP flow(s) in both directions).
Therefore, it would have been obvious at to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong to incorporate the teachings of Rasanen and include an indication that the link disablement disables both an uplink and a downlink of Rasanen with Jeong. Doing so would maintain real time control packet flow (Rasanen, paragraph [0004]).
Moreover, Chu teaches an indication of at least one link to which one or more traffic identifiers (TIDs) are temporarily mapped during the duration of link disablement ([0013]-[0021]: details performing link disablement by mapping the TID to at least one of the two links associated with the first MLD and the second MLD, as temporarily mapped); temporarily map the one or more TIDs to the at least one link indicated by the indication of at least one link ([0078]: details In some embodiments, link disablement may be performed via TID-to-Link Mapping, e.g., mapping a TID to at least one of two links associated with a first MLD and a second MLD. In one embodiment, link disablement via the TID-to-Link Mapping (e.g., when no TIDs are to be mapped to a disabled link) may performed by the first MLD (e.g., non-AP MLD) by a TID-to-Link Mapping negotiation on links with at least one mapped TID, such that the TID-to-Link Mapping negotiation may always be accepted by the second MLD (e.g., AP MLD). In another embodiment, link disablement via the TID-to-Link Mapping (e.g., when no TIDs are to be mapped to a disabled link) may be performed by the first MLD (e.g., AP MLD) by a TID-to-Link Mapping announcement on links with at least one mapped TID, such that the TID-to-Link Mapping announcement may be accepted by the second MLD (e.g., non-AP MLD)); disable the link during the duration of link disablement ([0080]: details link disablement 412); and enable the link after the duration of the disablement has elapsed ([0054]: details indicate a future time when new TID-to-Link Mapping (includes default TID-to-Link Mapping) may be used).
Therefore, it would have been obvious at to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong to incorporate the teachings of Chu and include an indication of at least one link to which one or more traffic identifiers (TIDs) are temporarily mapped during the duration of link disablement; temporarily map the one or more TIDs to the at least one link indicated by the indication of at least one link; disable the link during the duration of link disablement; and enable the link after the duration of the disablement has elapsed of Chu with Jeong. Doing so would easily support TID-to-link mapping in multi-link operations (Chu, paragraph [0002]).
Regarding claims 2, 9 and 16, Jeong teaches wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit the broadcast frame that includes the IE indicating a remaining duration for which the link is disabled ([0103]-[0147], [0184]-[0186]: details relay control frame may include a relay suspend field [i.e., an information element], a relay resume field, and a reserved field; relay device may generate a relay suspend frame including both the configured suspend condition and a suspend duration for data transmission; relay action information may indicate that the corresponding frame requests the suspension of data transmission; suspend duration information may indicate a duration during which the transmission of data to the relay device is suspended and figures 1-17).
Regarding claims 3, 10 and 17, Jeong teaches wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit the broadcast frame that includes the IE indicating a reduced duration for which the link is disabled ([0103]-[0147], [0184]-[0186] relay control frame may include a relay suspend field [i.e., an information element], a relay resume field, and a reserved field; relay device may generate a relay suspend frame including both the configured suspend condition and a suspend duration for data transmission; relay action information may indicate that the corresponding frame requests the suspension of data transmission; suspend duration information may indicate a duration during which the transmission of data to the relay device is suspended and figures 1-17).
Regarding claims 5 and 12, Jeong teaches wherein: the processor is configured to disable the link based on the indication that the link disablement is for both the uplink and the downlink ([0013][0014]: details suspend condition may be configured to suspend transmission of data form a specific terminal… suspend condition may be configured to suspend transmission of specific data).
Regarding claims 6, 13 and 20, Jeong teaches wherein: the IE further comprises an indication of one or more link identifiers (IDs) to be disabled, and the processor is configured to disable one or more links corresponding to the indicated one or more link IDs ([0015][0128]: details suspend condition based on… group ID and association ID).
Claims 7, 14 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeong in view of Seok, Park, Chu and Rasanen, further in view of US 2022/0377839 (hereinafter Jang).
Regarding claims 7, 14 and 18, Jeong does not explicitly teach wherein: the IE further comprises an indication of TIDs associated with a destination address (DA) to be disabled, and the processor is configured to disable traffic corresponding to the indicated TIDs.
However, Jang teaches wherein: the IE further comprises an indication of TIDs associated with a destination address (DA) to be disabled, and the processor is configured to disable traffic corresponding to the indicated TIDs ([0041]-[0049], [0242)- [0248], [(0261]-[0291]: details STAs 110 and 120 may perform an access point (AP) role; STA (AP and/or non-AP STA) of the present disclosure may support multi-link (ML) communication; AP may perform enablement/disablement one or more links for power saving or efficiency; AP/STA may transmit/ receive a multi-link (ML) enablement/disablement control field or element for link enablement/disablement; Link enablement/disablement information may be included in a management frame, such as a beacon, a probe response, and the like, a new control/action frame (for example, an enablement/disablement announcement frame), or a data frame (or a PPDU) in the form of a control field; Enablement/Disablement information may be determined based on TID information mapped to each link; Timing information: it may include information on the time, from the time point at which the timing information is received, for data transmission on the link; When the link is disabled, time information about when the link will be deactivated additionally may be required; lt may include information on the time, from the time point at which the timing information is received, for stopping the data transmission on that link; receiving MLD may receive a physical protocol data unit (PPDU) including a first control field in a first link; first control field may include information related to disablement of the first link and information on a time point at which the first link is disabled; receiving MLD may disable the first link based on the first control field and figures 1-22).
Therefore, it would have been obvious at to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong to incorporate the teachings of Jang and include wherein: the IE further comprises an indication of TIDs associated with a destination address (DA) to be disabled, and the processor is configured to disable traffic corresponding to the indicated TIDs of Jang with Jeong. Doing so would improve throughput (Jang, paragraph [0004]).
Claims 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeong in view of Seok, Park, Chu and Rasanen, further in view of US 2018/0351812 (hereinafter Borch).
Regarding claims 21-23, Jeong does not explicitly teach wherein: the IE further comprises an indication of an interval to an occurrence of link disablement; and the processor is configured to disable the link based on the indication of the occurrence of link disablement.
However, Borch teaches wherein: the IE further comprises an indication of an interval to an occurrence of link disablement ([0064]: details determine whether any one or more global links of the plurality of global links can be disabled during the next epoch as a function of the calculated predicted fabric bandwidth demand; determine whether any local links of the plurality of local links can be disabled during the next epoch as a function of the calculated predicted fabric bandwidth demand); and the processor is configured to disable the link based on the indication of the occurrence of link disablement ([0064]: details disable, in response to a determination that one or more global links of the plurality of global links can be disabled, the one or more global links of the plurality of global links that can be disabled; and disable, in response to a determination that one or more local links of the plurality of local links can be disabled, the one or more local links of the plurality of local links that can be disabled).
Therefore, it would have been obvious at to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong to incorporate the teachings of Borch and include wherein: the IE further comprises an indication of an interval to an occurrence of link disablement; and the processor is configured to disable the link based on the indication of the occurrence of link disablement of Borch with Jeong. Doing so would avoid wasted power consumption (Borch, paragraph [0004]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the pending claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/JASPER KWOH/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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