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 .
This office action is in response to remarks filed 03/12/2026.
Claims 1, 3-8, 10-20 are pending in this application. Claims 1, 3, and 18-20 are amended. Claims 2 and 9 are cancelled. No claims are added.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 03/12/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Rejections of claims 1, 19, and 20 under 35 U.S.C. § 112(a) are withdrawn.
Priority
The later-filed application must be an application for a patent for an invention which is also disclosed in the prior application (the parent or original nonprovisional application or provisional application). The disclosure of the invention in the parent application and in the later-filed application must be sufficient to comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, except for the best mode requirement. See Transco Products, Inc. v. Performance Contracting, Inc., 38 F.3d 551, 32 USPQ2d 1077 (Fed. Cir. 1994).
The disclosure of the prior-filed application, Application No. 17/944,776, fails to provide adequate support or enablement in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph for one or more claims of this application. The amended limitation “wherein the second wireless device, responsive to transmitting a BlockAck (BA) frame of the BA agreement, flushes the managed scoreboard context, and further flushes the managed scoreboard context at an end of a transmission opportunity (TXOP)” is not supported in any of the priority documents. Therefore, the amended limitation has a priority date no earlier than the filing date of the instant application, 09/14/2022.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
The added material which is not supported by the original disclosure is as follows: “wherein the second wireless device, responsive to transmitting a BlockAck (BA) frame of the BA agreement, flushes the managed scoreboard context, and further flushes the managed scoreboard context at an end of a transmission opportunity (TXOP)”. A review of the specification and the drawings does not disclose ‘flushes the managed scoreboard context at an end of a transmission opportunity (TXOP)’.
Remarks by the applicant provided a reference location in the disclosure for support of the proposed amendment to paragraphs 0067 and 0088. The paragraphs of the specification are included in the following text with examiner emphasis.
[0067] In some embodiments, for a partial state scoreboard context, a managed scoreboard context is flashed. In such an embodiment, the managed scoreboard context is flashed by deleting WinStart.sub.R, a scoreboard receiving window size (WinSize.sub.R), and a scoreboard receiving window bitmap. In some embodiments, for the partial-state scoreboard context, a temporary record of the managed scoreboard context for a BA agreement is deleted at an end of a transmission opportunity (TXOP). In some embodiments, for the partial-state scoreboard context, a temporary record of the managed scoreboard context for a BA agreement created by one TXOP is deleted at a following transmission TXOP before processing the received A-MPDU if the received A-MPDU is related to the BA agreement.
Paragraph 0067 is directed to a temporary record of the managed scoreboard context. The temporary record is deleted at the end of the TXOP. The paragraph does not disclose flushing the managed score context in response to transmitting a BA of a BA agreement a required by the limitation.
[0088] In some embodiments, a scoreboard context may be updated per frames from a third-party STA whose decryption fails. In such an embodiment, if after a recipient updates its reordering buffer per a received frame and WinStart.sub.R is more than WinStart.sub.B, then WinStart.sub.R is updated to a same value as WinStart.sub.B. If the recipient cannot update WinStart.sub.R to the same value as WinStart.sub.B, then the recipient may perform a partial-state operation. In an embodiment, the recipient may need to flush the scoreboard context after sending a BA and/or flush the scoreboard context after each TXOP.
Paragraph 0087 is directed to an embodiment for ‘a scoreboard context’. The ‘scoreboard context’ is not further described as a ‘managed scoreboard context’ as required by the limitation. The step of flushing the scoreboard is preceded by a requirement that the recipient cannot update its reordering buffer. Claim 1 recites that “wherein the BA agreement includes a managed scoreboard context for acknowledgement of received frames and a managed reorder buffer”.
Applicant is required to cancel the new matter in the reply to this Office Action.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-4, 7, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US 20210084533 A1, hereinafter, “Huang”), in view of Aio et al (US 20230179340 A1, hereinafter “Aio”), in view of Chitrakar et al. (US 20230011167 A1, hereinafter, “Chitrakar”).
RE Claim 1 Huang discloses: A device comprising: a wireless network interface device implemented on one or more integrated circuits (ICs), (Fig. 2, 10-13; ¶13 wireless interfaces, ¶77 wireless card of multiple integrated circuits) wherein the wireless network interface device is configured to: negotiate a Block Acknowledgement (Ack) (BA) agreement for multiple links, (Fig. 3, 5, 9; ¶20, The link aggregator 104 facilitates multi-band link aggregation as an originator or a recipient, depending on whether the device 100, 102 is acting as a transmitter or a receiver; ¶70-71, negotiation determiner confirms responses of first and second devices correspond to an agreement to the link aggregation characteristics) wherein the BA agreement includes a managed scoreboard context for acknowledgement of received frames and a managed reorder buffer; (Fig. 3, 5, 9; ¶17, decoupling specific acknowledgement mechanisms in an interface (e.g. a scoreboard context control protocol); one reordering buffer can be shared by multiple interfaces; ¶0021, Originator sends a BA request, BAR, to the recipient to solicit an immediate BA response corresponding to bitmaps. Bitmap includes a bit value for each data packet the recipient expects to receive, an acknowledgement, on a particular interface. When all data packets are received on a particular interface, the link aggregator 103 of the recipient device update the values of the BA bitmap to correspond to a reception of all the bits using the interface. ¶0032, Window determine controls the buffer reordering window to correspond to the SNs of the data packets the recipient is currently expecting to receive.) and exchange frames according to the BA agreement; (Fig. 2, 3, 9; ¶42 receiver/transmitter transmits data packets on two or more interfaces according to the initial negotiations)
Huang does not explicitly disclose:
wherein a temporary record of the managed scoreboard context for acknowledgement of the frames received according to the BA agreement in a transmit opportunity (TXOP) is always deleted at least before processing a received frame corresponding to the BA agreement in a subsequent TXOP,
wherein the temporary record of the managed scoreboard context is implemented by a recipient of the frames; and
wherein a recipient, responsive to transmitting a BlockAck (BA) frame of the BA agreement, flushes the managed scoreboard context, and further flushes the managed scoreboard context at an end of a transmission opportunity (TXOP).
However, Aio discloses:
wherein a temporary record of the managed scoreboard context for acknowledgement of the frames received according to the BA agreement in a transmit opportunity (TXOP) is always deleted at least before processing a received frame corresponding to the BA agreement in a subsequent TXOP (BA setup phase between AP and STA and a Block Ack Session is established with information including Block Ack Policy and TID. ¶0129, Fig. 6: 604; AP is recipient and STA is originator. ¶¶0268-0270, Fig. 25; AP receives data, frames received, on Link 1 from STA and updates the Link Scoreboard, temporary record of managed scoreboard, of the Link MAC entity. ¶0269; A Link Scoreboard stores the acquisition success/failure of each packet received in order to generate a Block Ack on the corresponding link. The Link Scoreboard is a Partial-State scoreboard that temporarily stores the acquisition success/fail information in at most one Block Ack Session, a current TXOP, per link. ¶0103, Fig. 3; A Partial-State scoreboard is a small capacity cache memory to temporarily store success/fail information in at most one Block Ack Session, a current TXOP. When another Block Ack session starts on the corresponding link, the Block Ack Session is overwritten, deleted, Link Scoreboard is a partial-state scoreboard. ¶0007; Therefore, the Link Scoreboard, a temporary record of the managed scoreboard per link is overwritten, deleted, at the next Block Ack Session, the next TXOP.),
wherein the temporary record of the managed scoreboard context is implemented by a recipient of the frames (AP, recipient, checks whether or not the Link Scoreboard, temporary record, on which data has been received and the Common Scoreboard managing the bitmap have the same sender and same TID. ¶0150, Fig. 9; The AP, recipient, updates the Common Scoreboard, storing the temporary record updated information into the Common Scoreboard, on the basis of the bitmap information of the Link1 Link Scoreboard, temporary record, on which data has been received. As a result, as long as data is continuously received from the same sender as the one managed by the Common Scoreboard with the same TID, the acquisition success/failure information in the same Block Ack Session is sequentially updated in the Common Scoreboard on the basis of the acquisition success/failure information of the scoreboard of the link on which the data has been received.¶0151, Fig. 9; The Link Scoreboard is a Partial-State scoreboard that temporarily stores the acquisition success/fail information in at most one Block Ack Session, a current TXOP, per link. ¶0103, Fig. 3; A Partial-State scoreboard is a small capacity cache memory to temporarily store success/fail information in at most one Block Ack Session, a current TXOP. When another Block Ack session starts on the corresponding link, the Block Ack Session is overwritten, deleted, Link Scoreboard is a partial-state scoreboard. ¶0007);
Huang and Aio do not explicitly disclose:
wherein a recipient, responsive to transmitting a BlockAck (BA) frame of the BA agreement, flushes the managed scoreboard context, and further flushes the managed scoreboard context at an end of a transmission opportunity (TXOP).
However, Chitrakar discloses:
wherein a recipient, responsive to transmitting a BlockAck (BA) frame of the BA agreement, flushes the managed scoreboard context, and further flushes the managed scoreboard context at an end of a transmission opportunity (TXOP). (Schematic of the recipient MLD in Fig. 25, ¶0131. [0080] Due to the low latency required to produce a BA in response to a BAR (within the Short Interframe Space (SIFS) from the end of the BAR), the Block Ack Scoreboard for a particular band is implemented using fast but expensive on-chip memory in each radio I/F. However, maintaining the BA Scoreboard that persists for an entire duration of all active Block Ack sessions (known as a full state Block Ack) increases the memory requirement burden for a receiver implementation. Hence, most implementations reuse the on-chip memory for more than one Block Ack session, with the memory serving as a cache for storing the state of the most recently active Block Ack session (which is referred to as a partial state Block Ack). ¶0079; To realize multi-link Block Ack operation, a Multi-link BA Scoreboard 1406 is maintained in the host system 1405. Since memory on the host system 1405 is generally cheaper, the Multi-link BA Scoreboard 1406 may be implemented as a full state Block Ack Scoreboard, i.e., the Scoreboard persists for the entire duration of a Multi-link Block Ack session. ¶0080; A recipient MLD comprises a scoreboard context per link, temporary record, and managed scoreboard context, comprising deaggregation control and receive reordering buffering combining all links. Scoreboard context also known as block acknowledgement records of reception status of MPDUs. ¶0090, Fig. 16: 1614, 1616a, 1616b, 1618a, 1618b. Each per-link scoreboard context contains acknowledgement bitmap containing current reception status of MSDUs received over associate link and may use full-state or partial-state operation. ¶0095. Therefore, the managed scoreboard context only persists for a duration of a Multi-link Block Ack session of a block agreement. A person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention would understand that the duration of a Block Agreement ends at a BA confirming receipt of all transmitted data in the last TXOP.)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Huang with the teachings of Aio. Huang discloses a scoreboard context control based on block acknowledgement agreement . Aio further teaches a method for the clearing a per link temporary record, a per link scoreboard, of the managed scoreboard, a Common Scoreboard over all links, at the end of specified TXOP in preparation for the next transmission block agreement, with the teachings of Chitrakar, a Multi-Link Block Ack Scoreboard, a managed scoreboard of multiple links of an MLD, only persists for the duration of the Multi-Link Block Ack session.
This combination of Huang in view of Aio in view of Chitrakar applies the use of known techniques, such as partial state MLD operation and full state MLD operation, to achieve the same desired results to prevent use of prior scoreboard contexts causing errors in the TXOP of affiliated links in a transmission block agreement. (Huang: Abstract, ¶14-17; Aio: Abstract, ¶¶0002-0005, 0104-0106; Chitrakar: Abstract, ¶4-5, ¶79)
RE Claim 3 Huang discloses: wherein the managed scoreboard context is flushed by deleting a scoreboard receiving window start (WinStartR), (Fig. 5 – 506; ¶52 window determiner initializes WinStartR) a scoreboard receiving window size (WinSizeR), (Fig. 5 – 506; ¶52 window determiner initializes WinStartR, WinEndR, and determines WinsizeR based on initial negotiations) and a scoreboard receiving window bitmap. (Fig. 3 – 302,318, ¶42 after negotiating agreement the receiver/transmitter receives BAs including BA bitmaps)
RE Claim 4 Huang discloses: wherein WinStartR of the managed scoreboard context is updated based on a buffer window start (WinStartB). (Fig. 6 – 614; ¶56 window determiner updates the WinStartR and the WinEndR to correspond to the updated reordering buffer window.)
RE Claim 7 Huang discloses: wherein WinStartR of the managed scoreboard context of a first link is updated to WinStartR of a second link. (¶52 “a first scoreboard window may correspond to a BA bitmap for a first group of data packets received on a first interface, a second scoreboard window may correspond to a BA bitmap for a second group of data packets received on a second interface, etc. The WinSizeB and the WinSizeR may be determined based on the initial negotiations. Accordingly, once the window determiner 206 determines the WinStartRs for each BA bitmap, the window determiner 206 determines the WinEndRs based on the SizeRs (e.g., WinEndR corresponds to a sum of WinStartR and WinSizeR). The WinStartB, WinEndB, and WinSizeB are based on the size of the common recipient buffer 210.”)
RE Claim 17 Huang discloses: wherein: the BA agreement is negotiated between a first MLD and a second MLD; (Fig. 1, 3, 5, 9; ¶multi-band link aggregation between a first device and second device each have multiple wireless interfaces; ¶70-71, negotiation determiner confirms responses of first and second devices correspond to an agreement.) and a station (STA) of the second MLD implements a partial-state operation for its scoreboard context (Partial State Operation exists only for current transmit opportunity, 802.11 standard; ¶22 link aggregator 104 includes a common reordering buffer is per traffic identifier (TID), to exclude data packets from different TIDs being mixed into the same buffer) when the second MLD has a separate scoreboard context for each of its links. (¶17 one reordering buffer can be shared by multiple interfaces, and each interface will have independent scoreboard contexts for independent BA bitmaps. ¶22 link aggregator 104 includes a common reordering buffer is per traffic identifier (TID), to exclude data packets from different TIDs being mixed into the same buffer)
RE Claim 18 Huang discloses: wherein: the BA agreement is negotiated between a first MLD and a second MLD. (Fig. 1, 3, 5, 9; ¶multi-band link aggregation between a first device and second device each have multiple wireless interfaces; ¶70-71, negotiation determiner confirms responses of first and second devices correspond to an agreement.)
RE Claim 19 Huang discloses A system comprising: a first wireless device, wherein the first wireless device includes a wireless network interface device implemented on one or more integrated circuits (ICs), (Fig. 2, 10-13; ¶13, wireless interfaces; ¶77, wireless card made of multiple integrated circuits) and wherein the wireless network interface device is configured to: negotiate a Block Acknowledgement (Ack) (BA) agreement for multiple links, (Fig. 3, 5, 9; ¶70-71, negotiation determiner confirms responses of first and second devices correspond to an agreement.) wherein the BA agreement includes a managed scoreboard context for acknowledgement of received frames and a managed reorder buffer; (Fig. 3, 5, 9; ¶17, decoupling specific acknowledgement mechanisms in an interface (e.g. a scoreboard context control protocol); one reordering buffer can be shared by multiple interfaces; ¶0021, Originator sends a BA request, BAR, to the recipient to solicit an immediate BA response corresponding to bitmaps. Bitmap includes a bit value for each data packet the recipient expects to receive, an acknowledgement, on a particular interface. When all data packets are received on a particular interface, the link aggregator 103 of the recipient device update the values of the BA bitmap to correspond to a reception of all the bits using the interface. ¶0032, Window determine controls the buffer reordering window to correspond to the SNs of the data packets the recipient is currently expecting to receive.)
transmit frames according to the BA agreement; (Fig. 2, 3, 9; ¶42 receiver/transmitter transmits data packets on two or more interfaces according to the initial negotiations)
a second wireless device, wherein the second wireless device includes another wireless network interface device implemented on one or more other ICs, (Fig. 1, 2, 10-13; ¶13, wireless interfaces; ¶77, wireless card made of multiple integrated circuits) and wherein the other wireless network interface device is configured to:
negotiate the BA agreement with the first wireless device; (Fig. 3, 5, 9; ¶70-71, negotiation determiner confirms responses of first and second devices correspond to an agreement.) and
receive the frames from the first wireless device according to the BA agreement; (Fig. 2, 3, 9; ¶42 receiver/transmitter transmits data packets on two or more interfaces according to the initial negotiations)
Huang does not explicitly disclose:
wherein a temporary record of the managed scoreboard context for acknowledgement of the frames received according to the BA agreement in a transmit opportunity (TXOP) is always deleted at least before processing a received frame corresponding to the BA agreement in a subsequent TXOP,
wherein the temporary record of the managed scoreboard context is implemented by the second wireless device;
wherein the second wireless device, responsive to transmitting a BlockAck (BA) frame of the BA agreement, flushes the managed scoreboard context, and further flushes the managed scoreboard context at an end of a transmission opportunity (TXOP).
However, Aio discloses:
wherein a temporary record of the managed scoreboard context for acknowledgement of the frames received according to the BA agreement in a transmit opportunity (TXOP) is always deleted at least before processing a received frame corresponding to the BA agreement in a subsequent TXOP (BA setup phase between AP and STA and a Block Ack Session is established with information including Block Ack Policy and TID. ¶0129, Fig. 6: 604; AP is recipient and STA is originator. ¶¶0268-0270, Fig. 25; AP receives data, frames received, on Link 1 from STA and updates the Link Scoreboard, temporary record of managed scoreboard, of the Link MAC entity. ¶0269; A Link Scoreboard stores the acquisition success/failure of each packet received in order to generate a Block Ack on the corresponding link. The Link Scoreboard is a Partial-State scoreboard that temporarily stores the acquisition success/fail information in at most one Block Ack Session, a current TXOP, per link. ¶0103, Fig. 3; A Partial-State scoreboard is a small capacity cache memory to temporarily store success/fail information in at most one Block Ack Session, a current TXOP. When another Block Ack session starts on the corresponding link, the Block Ack Session is overwritten, deleted, Link Scoreboard is a partial-state scoreboard. ¶0007; Therefore, the Link Scoreboard, a temporary record of the managed scoreboard per link is overwritten, deleted, at the next Block Ack Session, the next TXOP.),
wherein the temporary record is stored by a recipient of the frames and the BA used for the TXOP and subsequent TXOP after the temporary record is deleted is for a same traffic identifier (TID) (AP, recipient, checks whether or not the Link Scoreboard, temporary record, on which data has been received and the Common Scoreboard managing the bitmap have the same sender and same TID. ¶0150, Fig. 9; The AP, recipient, updates the Common Scoreboard, storing the temporary record updated information into the Common Scoreboard, on the basis of the bitmap information of the Link1 Link Scoreboard, temporary record, on which data has been received. As a result, as long as data is continuously received from the same sender as the one managed by the Common Scoreboard with the same TID, the acquisition success/failure information in the same Block Ack Session is sequentially updated in the Common Scoreboard on the basis of the acquisition success/failure information of the scoreboard of the link on which the data has been received.¶0151, Fig. 9; The Link Scoreboard is a Partial-State scoreboard that temporarily stores the acquisition success/fail information in at most one Block Ack Session, a current TXOP, per link. ¶0103, Fig. 3; A Partial-State scoreboard is a small capacity cache memory to temporarily store success/fail information in at most one Block Ack Session, a current TXOP. When another Block Ack session starts on the corresponding link, the Block Ack Session is overwritten, deleted, Link Scoreboard is a partial-state scoreboard. ¶0007);
Huang and Aio do not explicitly disclose:
wherein a recipient, responsive to transmitting a BlockAck (BA) frame of the BA agreement, flushes the managed scoreboard context, and further flushes the managed scoreboard context at an end of a transmission opportunity (TXOP).
However, Chitrakar discloses:
wherein a recipient, responsive to transmitting a BlockAck (BA) frame of the BA agreement, flushes the managed scoreboard context, and further flushes the managed scoreboard context at an end of a transmission opportunity (TXOP). (Schematic of the recipient MLD in Fig. 25, ¶0131. [0080] Due to the low latency required to produce a BA in response to a BAR (within the Short Interframe Space (SIFS) from the end of the BAR), the Block Ack Scoreboard for a particular band is implemented using fast but expensive on-chip memory in each radio I/F. However, maintaining the BA Scoreboard that persists for an entire duration of all active Block Ack sessions (known as a full state Block Ack) increases the memory requirement burden for a receiver implementation. Hence, most implementations reuse the on-chip memory for more than one Block Ack session, with the memory serving as a cache for storing the state of the most recently active Block Ack session (which is referred to as a partial state Block Ack). ¶0079; To realize multi-link Block Ack operation, a Multi-link BA Scoreboard 1406 is maintained in the host system 1405. Since memory on the host system 1405 is generally cheaper, the Multi-link BA Scoreboard 1406 may be implemented as a full state Block Ack Scoreboard, i.e., the Scoreboard persists for the entire duration of a Multi-link Block Ack session. ¶0080; A recipient MLD comprises a scoreboard context per link, temporary record, and managed scoreboard context, comprising deaggregation control and receive reordering buffering combining all links. Scoreboard context also known as block acknowledgement records of reception status of MPDUs. ¶0090, Fig. 16: 1614, 1616a, 1616b, 1618a, 1618b. Each per-link scoreboard context contains acknowledgement bitmap containing current reception status of MSDUs received over associate link and may use full-state or partial-state operation. ¶0095. Therefore, the managed scoreboard context only persists for a duration of a Multi-link Block Ack session of a block agreement. A person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention would understand that the duration of a Block Agreement ends at a BA confirming receipt of all transmitted data in the last TXOP.)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Huang with the teachings of Aio. Huang discloses a scoreboard context control based on block acknowledgement agreement . Aio further teaches a method for the clearing a per link temporary record, a per link scoreboard, of the managed scoreboard, a Common Scoreboard over all links, at the end of specified TXOP in preparation for the next transmission block agreement, with the teachings of Chitrakar, a Multi-Link Block Ack Scoreboard, a managed scoreboard of multiple links of an MLD, only persists for the duration of the Multi-Link Block Ack session.
This combination of Huang in view of Aio in view of Chitrakar applies the use of known techniques, such as partial state MLD operation and full state MLD operation, to achieve the same desired results to prevent use of prior scoreboard contexts causing errors in the TXOP of affiliated links in a transmission block agreement. (Huang: Abstract, ¶14-17; Aio: Abstract, ¶¶0002-0005, 0104-0106; Chitrakar: Abstract, ¶4-5, ¶79)
RE Claim 20 Huang discloses A method for Block Acknowledgement (Ack) (BA) operations, (Fig. 6; ¶56 At block 618, the example receiver/transmitter 200 transmits BAs corresponding to the BA bitmaps for each interface/scoreboard using the example interfaces 108, 110, 112 via the example radio architecture 1000.) the method comprising: negotiating a BA agreement for multiple links, (Fig. 3, 5, 9; ¶70-71, negotiation determiner confirms responses of first and second devices correspond to an agreement.) wherein the BA agreement includes a managed scoreboard context for acknowledgement of received frames and a managed reorder buffer for received frames; (Fig. 3, 5, 9; ¶17, decoupling specific acknowledgement mechanisms in an interface (e.g. a scoreboard context control protocol); one reordering buffer can be shared by multiple interfaces; ¶0021, Originator sends a BA request, BAR, to the recipient to solicit an immediate BA response corresponding to bitmaps. Bitmap includes a bit value for each data packet the recipient expects to receive, an acknowledgement, on a particular interface. When all data packets are received on a particular interface, the link aggregator 103 of the recipient device update the values of the BA bitmap to correspond to a reception of all the bits using the interface. ¶0032, Window determine controls the buffer reordering window to correspond to the SNs of the data packets the recipient is currently expecting to receive.) and
exchanging frames according to the BA agreement; (Fig. 2, 3, 9; ¶42 receiver/transmitter transmits data packets on two or more interfaces according to the initial negotiations)
Huang does not explicitly disclose:
wherein a temporary record of the managed scoreboard context for acknowledgement of the frames received according to the BA agreement in a transmit opportunity (TXOP) is always deleted at least before processing a received frame corresponding to the BA agreement in a subsequent TXOP,
wherein the temporary record of the managed scoreboard context is implemented by a recipient of the frames;
wherein a recipient, responsive to transmitting a BlockAck (BA) frame of the BA agreement, flushes the managed scoreboard context, and further flushes the managed scoreboard context at an end of a transmission opportunity (TXOP).
However, Aio discloses:
wherein a temporary record of the managed scoreboard context for acknowledgement of the frames received according to the BA agreement in a transmit opportunity (TXOP) is always deleted at least before processing a received frame corresponding to the BA agreement in a subsequent TXOP (BA setup phase between AP and STA and a Block Ack Session is established with information including Block Ack Policy and TID. ¶0129, Fig. 6: 604; AP is recipient and STA is originator. ¶¶0268-0270, Fig. 25; AP receives data, frames received, on Link 1 from STA and updates the Link Scoreboard, temporary record of managed scoreboard, of the Link MAC entity. ¶0269; A Link Scoreboard stores the acquisition success/failure of each packet received in order to generate a Block Ack on the corresponding link. The Link Scoreboard is a Partial-State scoreboard that temporarily stores the acquisition success/fail information in at most one Block Ack Session, a current TXOP, per link. ¶0103, Fig. 3; A Partial-State scoreboard is a small capacity cache memory to temporarily store success/fail information in at most one Block Ack Session, a current TXOP. When another Block Ack session starts on the corresponding link, the Block Ack Session is overwritten, deleted, Link Scoreboard is a partial-state scoreboard. ¶0007; Therefore, the Link Scoreboard, a temporary record of the managed scoreboard per link is overwritten, deleted, at the next Block Ack Session, the next TXOP.),
wherein the temporary record of the managed scoreboard context is implemented by a recipient of the frames (AP, recipient, checks whether or not the Link Scoreboard, temporary record, on which data has been received and the Common Scoreboard managing the bitmap have the same sender and same TID. ¶0150, Fig. 9; The AP, recipient, updates the Common Scoreboard, storing the temporary record updated information into the Common Scoreboard, on the basis of the bitmap information of the Link1 Link Scoreboard, temporary record, on which data has been received. As a result, as long as data is continuously received from the same sender as the one managed by the Common Scoreboard with the same TID, the acquisition success/failure information in the same Block Ack Session is sequentially updated in the Common Scoreboard on the basis of the acquisition success/failure information of the scoreboard of the link on which the data has been received.¶0151, Fig. 9; The Link Scoreboard is a Partial-State scoreboard that temporarily stores the acquisition success/fail information in at most one Block Ack Session, a current TXOP, per link. ¶0103, Fig. 3; A Partial-State scoreboard is a small capacity cache memory to temporarily store success/fail information in at most one Block Ack Session, a current TXOP. When another Block Ack session starts on the corresponding link, the Block Ack Session is overwritten, deleted, Link Scoreboard is a partial-state scoreboard. ¶0007);
Huang and Aio do not explicitly disclose:
wherein a recipient, responsive to transmitting a BlockAck (BA) frame of the BA agreement, flushes the managed scoreboard context, and further flushes the managed scoreboard context at an end of a transmission opportunity (TXOP).
However, Chitrakar discloses:
wherein a recipient, responsive to transmitting a BlockAck (BA) frame of the BA agreement, flushes the managed scoreboard context, and further flushes the managed scoreboard context at an end of a transmission opportunity (TXOP). (Schematic of the recipient MLD in Fig. 25, ¶0131. [0080] Due to the low latency required to produce a BA in response to a BAR (within the Short Interframe Space (SIFS) from the end of the BAR), the Block Ack Scoreboard for a particular band is implemented using fast but expensive on-chip memory in each radio I/F. However, maintaining the BA Scoreboard that persists for an entire duration of all active Block Ack sessions (known as a full state Block Ack) increases the memory requirement burden for a receiver implementation. Hence, most implementations reuse the on-chip memory for more than one Block Ack session, with the memory serving as a cache for storing the state of the most recently active Block Ack session (which is referred to as a partial state Block Ack). ¶0079; To realize multi-link Block Ack operation, a Multi-link BA Scoreboard 1406 is maintained in the host system 1405. Since memory on the host system 1405 is generally cheaper, the Multi-link BA Scoreboard 1406 may be implemented as a full state Block Ack Scoreboard, i.e., the Scoreboard persists for the entire duration of a Multi-link Block Ack session. ¶0080; A recipient MLD comprises a scoreboard context per link, temporary record, and managed scoreboard context, comprising deaggregation control and receive reordering buffering combining all links. Scoreboard context also known as block acknowledgement records of reception status of MPDUs. ¶0090, Fig. 16: 1614, 1616a, 1616b, 1618a, 1618b. Each per-link scoreboard context contains acknowledgement bitmap containing current reception status of MSDUs received over associate link and may use full-state or partial-state operation. ¶0095. Therefore, the managed scoreboard context only persists for a duration of a Multi-link Block Ack session of a block agreement. A person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention would understand that the duration of a Block Agreement ends at a BA confirming receipt of all transmitted data in the last TXOP.)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Huang with the teachings of Aio. Huang discloses a scoreboard context control based on block acknowledgement agreement . Aio further teaches a method for the clearing a per link temporary record, a per link scoreboard, of the managed scoreboard, a Common Scoreboard over all links, at the end of specified TXOP in preparation for the next transmission block agreement, with the teachings of Chitrakar, a Multi-Link Block Ack Scoreboard, a managed scoreboard of multiple links of an MLD, only persists for the duration of the Multi-Link Block Ack session.
This combination of Huang in view of Aio in view of Chitrakar applies the use of known techniques, such as partial state MLD operation and full state MLD operation, to achieve the same desired results to prevent use of prior scoreboard contexts causing errors in the TXOP of affiliated links in a transmission block agreement. (Huang: Abstract, ¶14-17; Aio: Abstract, ¶¶0002-0005, 0104-0106; Chitrakar: Abstract, ¶4-5, ¶79)
Claim(s) 10-14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view, in view of Aio, in view of Kneckt et al. (US 20210211234 A1, hereinafter, “Kneckt”).
RE Claim 10 Huang discloses: wherein: the managed scoreboard context is updated per a frame (¶23 The example link aggregator 104 updates the scoreboard context windows and the buffer reordering window based on each received data packet, the passing of one or more data packets to the next MAC layer, and/or instructions from an originator)
Huang does not explicitly teach: whose at least one of a decryption and an integrity check fails; and the updated managed scoreboard context rejects frames that pass at least one of the decryption and the integrity check.
However, Kneckt teaches: whose at least one of a decryption and an integrity check fails; and the updated managed scoreboard context rejects frames that pass at least one of the decryption and the integrity check. (Fig. 29, 30; ¶177 Moreover, the receiver: decrypts MPDUs based at least in part on CCMP/GCMP decapsulation operation; maintains a block acknowledgment record (e.g., the transmitter address, TID, a record of reorder buffer size indexed by the received MPDU sequence control value, etc.); holds frames in the reorder buffer until gaps in the sequence number slot are filled; reorders the held frames, reassembles them to complete an MSDU, and passes them in sequence to the upper layer; discards them if complete MSDUs cannot be reconstructed (notably, after exceeding the retries limit) to flush the reorder buffer to avoid overflow; maintains a scoreboard to track which MPDUs have been received correctly; and prepares a block-acknowledgment response by converting the scoreboard into a bitmap.)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Huang with the teachings of Kneckt. Huang discloses a method to update a scoreboard after receiving each packet. Kneckt further teaches the method checking decryption and integrity of each packet to determine action per packet. This combination of Huang in view of Kneckt applies the use of known techniques to achieve the same desired results of improving frame and packet transfer efficiency of multiple link aggregation between multi-link devices. (Huang: Abstract, ¶14-17; Kneckt: Abstract, ¶3-7, )
RE Claim 11 Huang discloses: wherein: the managed scoreboard context is updated per a frame (¶23 The example link aggregator 104 updates the scoreboard context windows and the buffer reordering window based on each received data packet, the passing of one or more data packets to the next MAC layer, and/or instructions from an originator)
Huang does not explicitly teach: whose at least one of a decryption and an integrity check fails; and the managed scoreboard context resumes a state from before the update when the managed scoreboard context is updated per the frame whose at least one of the decryption and the integrity check fails.
However, Kneckt teaches: whose at least one of a decryption and an integrity check fails; and the managed scoreboard context resumes a state from before the update when the managed scoreboard context is updated per the frame whose at least one of the decryption and the integrity check fails. (Fig. 29, 30; ¶177 Moreover, the receiver: decrypts MPDUs based at least in part on CCMP/GCMP decapsulation operation; maintains a block acknowledgment record (e.g., the transmitter address, TID, a record of reorder buffer size indexed by the received MPDU sequence control value, etc.); holds frames in the reorder buffer until gaps in the sequence number slot are filled; reorders the held frames, reassembles them to complete an MSDU, and passes them in sequence to the upper layer; discards them if complete MSDUs cannot be reconstructed (notably, after exceeding the retries limit) to flush the reorder buffer to avoid overflow; maintains a scoreboard to track which MPDUs have been received correctly; and prepares a block-acknowledgment response by converting the scoreboard into a bitmap.)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Huang with the teachings of Kneckt. Huang discloses a method to update a scoreboard after receiving each packet. Kneckt further teaches the method checking decryption and integrity of each packet to determine action per packet. This combination of Huang in view of Kneckt applies the use of known techniques to achieve the same desired results of improving frame and packet transfer efficiency of multiple link aggregation between multi-link devices. (Huang: Abstract, ¶14-17; Kneckt: Abstract, ¶3-7, )
RE Claim 12 Huang discloses wherein: the managed scoreboard context is updated per a frame (¶23 The example link aggregator 104 updates the scoreboard context windows and the buffer reordering window based on each received data packet, the passing of one or more data packets to the next MAC layer, and/or instructions from an originator)
Huang does not explicitly teach: whose at least one of a decryption and an integrity check fails; and the decryption is before a BA scoreboard context.
However, Kneckt teaches: whose at least one of a decryption and an integrity check fails; and the decryption is before a BA scoreboard context. (Fig. 29, 30; ¶177 Moreover, the receiver: decrypts MPDUs based at least in part on CCMP/GCMP decapsulation operation; maintains a block acknowledgment record (e.g., the transmitter address, TID, a record of reorder buffer size indexed by the received MPDU sequence control value, etc.); holds frames in the reorder buffer until gaps in the sequence number slot are filled; reorders the held frames, reassembles them to complete an MSDU, and passes them in sequence to the upper layer; discards them if complete MSDUs cannot be reconstructed (notably, after exceeding the retries limit) to flush the reorder buffer to avoid overflow; maintains a scoreboard to track which MPDUs have been received correctly; and prepares a block-acknowledgment response by converting the scoreboard into a bitmap.)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Huang with the teachings of Kneckt. Huang discloses a method to update a scoreboard after receiving each packet. Kneckt further teaches the method checking decryption and integrity of each packet to determine action per packet. This combination of Huang in view of Kneckt applies the use of known techniques to achieve the same desired results of improving frame and packet transfer efficiency of multiple link aggregation between multi-link devices. (Huang: Abstract, ¶14-17; Kneckt: Abstract, ¶3-7, )
RE Claim 13 Huang discloses: wherein: a reorder buffer of the managed scoreboard context is updated per a frame (¶23 The example link aggregator 104 updates the scoreboard context windows and the buffer reordering window based on each received data packet, the passing of one or more data packets to the next MAC layer, and/or instructions from an originator)
Huang does not explicitly disclose: whose at least one of a decryption and an integrity check fails; and the decryption is before the reorder buffer.
However, Kneckt teaches: whose at least one of a decryption and an integrity check fails; and the decryption is before the reorder buffer. (Fig. 29, 30; ¶177 Moreover, the receiver: decrypts MPDUs based at least in part on CCMP/GCMP decapsulation operation; maintains a block acknowledgment record (e.g., the transmitter address, TID, a record of reorder buffer size indexed by the received MPDU sequence control value, etc.); holds frames in the reorder buffer until gaps in the sequence number slot are filled; reorders the held frames, reassembles them to complete an MSDU, and passes them in sequence to the upper layer; discards them if complete MSDUs cannot be reconstructed (notably, after exceeding the retries limit) to flush the reorder buffer to avoid overflow; maintains a scoreboard to track which MPDUs have been received correctly; and prepares a block-acknowledgment response by converting the scoreboard into a bitmap.)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Huang with the teachings of Kneckt. Huang discloses a method to update a scoreboard after receiving each packet. Kneckt further teaches the method checking decryption and integrity of each packet to determine action per packet. This combination of Huang in view of Kneckt applies the use of known techniques to achieve the same desired results of improving frame and packet transfer efficiency of multiple link aggregation between multi-link devices. (Huang: Abstract, ¶14-17; Kneckt: Abstract, ¶3-7, )
RE Claim 14 Huang discloses: wherein: a reorder buffer of the managed scoreboard context is updated per a frame (¶23 The example link aggregator 104 updates the scoreboard context windows and the buffer reordering window based on each received data packet, the passing of one or more data packets to the next MAC layer, and/or instructions from an originator)
Huang does not explicitly disclose: whose at least one of a decryption and an integrity check fails; and the reorder buffer resumes a state from before the update when the reorder buffer is updated per the frame whose at least one of the decryption and the integrity check fails.
However, Kneckt teaches: whose at least one of a decryption and an integrity check fails; and the reorder buffer resumes a state from before the update when the reorder buffer is updated per the frame whose at least one of the decryption and the integrity check fails. (Fig. 29, 30; ¶177 Moreover, the receiver: decrypts MPDUs based at least in part on CCMP/GCMP decapsulation operation; maintains a block acknowledgment record (e.g., the transmitter address, TID, a record of reorder buffer size indexed by the received MPDU sequence control value, etc.); holds frames in the reorder buffer until gaps in the sequence number slot are filled; reorders the held frames, reassembles them to complete an MSDU, and passes them in sequence to the upper layer; discards them if complete MSDUs cannot be reconstructed (notably, after exceeding the retries limit) to flush the reorder buffer to avoid overflow; maintains a scoreboard to track which MPDUs have been received correctly; and prepares a block-acknowledgment response by converting the scoreboard into a bitmap.)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Huang with the teachings of Kneckt. Huang discloses a method to update a scoreboard after receiving each packet. Kneckt further teaches the method checking decryption and integrity of each packet to determine action per packet. This combination of Huang in view of Kneckt applies the use of known techniques to achieve the same desired results of improving frame and packet transfer efficiency of multiple link aggregation between multi-link devices. (Huang: Abstract, ¶14-17; Kneckt: Abstract, ¶3-7, )
RE Claim 16 Huang discloses: wherein the BA agreement is negotiated between a first multi-link device (MLD) and a second MLD, (Fig. 1, 3, 5, 9; ¶multi-band link aggregation between a first device and second device each have multiple wireless interfaces; ¶70-71, negotiation determiner confirms responses of first and second devices correspond to an agreement.) and wherein when the second MLD has a separate scoreboard context for each of its links, (¶17 one reordering buffer can be shared by multiple interfaces, and each interface will have independent scoreboard contexts for independent BA bitmaps. ¶22 link aggregator 104 includes a common reordering buffer is per traffic identifier (TID), to exclude data packets from different TIDs being mixed into the same buffer)
Huang does not explicitly teach: the second MLD cannot use: reorder buffer information to update the managed scoreboard context; and information of another link's scoreboard context to update the managed scoreboard context.
However, Kneckt teaches: the second MLD cannot use: reorder buffer information of the managed scoreboard context to update the managed scoreboard context; and information of another link's scoreboard context to update the managed scoreboard context. (¶140 Furthermore, each of the links may have an independent block-acknowledgment scoreboard for each traffic identifier for which a block acknowledgment is established. Notably, a block-acknowledgment scoreboard position may be updated by the MDPUs and block acknowledgment requests transmitted in a link. The MPDUs and block-acknowledgment requests transmissions in other links may not change the block-acknowledgment scoreboard position.)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Huang with the teachings of Kneckt. Huang discloses a method to negotiate a block acknowledgement agreement between MLDs in which each link of the MLDs have independent scoreboards. Kneckt further teaches that other links of an MLD may not change the current session scoreboards. This combination of Huang in view of Kneckt applies the use of known techniques to achieve the same desired results of improving frame and packet transfer efficiency of multiple link aggregation between multi-link devices. (Huang: Abstract, ¶14-17; Kneckt: Abstract, ¶3-7, ).
Claim(s) 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view, in view of Aio, in view of Kneckt, in view of Chitrakar.
RE Claim 15 Huang does not explicitly teach: wherein the reorder buffer is under a protected BA agreement.
However, Chitrakar teaches: wherein the reorder buffer is under a protected BA agreement. (¶90 The Recipient MLD also maintain a common receive reordering buffer (or receive buffer in short) for each TID of a Multi-link Block Ack agreement. ¶99 if a protected block ack agreement has been successfully negotiated, a robust ADDBA Request frame may also be used to achieve the same effect as the eBAR frame 1800. Accordingly, a BlockAck Request frame may be configured to indicate whether or not a starting point of a block acknowledgment record maintained by a station should be replaced with a value of a Starting Sequence Number (SSN) carried in the BlockAck Request frame.)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Huang with the teachings of Chitrakar. Huang does not disclose a method for protected BA agreements. Chitrakar further teaches a protected BA agreement option for a multi-link block agreement. This combination of Huang in view of Chitrakar applies the use of known techniques to achieve the same desired results to (Chitrakar: Abstract, ¶4-5, ¶99)
Claims 5, 6, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang, in view of Aio, in view of Xu et al. (WO2023019581A, see attached machine translation, hereinafter, “Xu”).
RE Claim 5 Huang discloses: wherein WinStartR of the managed scoreboard context is updated to WinStartB (Fig. 7 – 706, 720, 8 – 812; ¶64 WinStartR adjusted corresponding to the updated reordering buffer)
Huang does not explicitly teach: when: a difference between a buffer window end (WinEndB) and a largest sequence number of received frames from a first link is more than 2^11; and a temporary record of a scoreboard context of the first link exists.
However Xu teaches:
when: a difference between a buffer window end (WinEndB) and a largest sequence number of received frames from a first link is more than 2^11; and a temporary record of a scoreboard context of the first link exists. (¶55, If its SN falls outside the current receive window but is within half of the sequence number space range, that is, WinEnd<SN<WinStart+2^11, the scoreboard is shifted right to accommodate SN, that is, WinStart=SN–WinSize+1 and WinEnd=SN are changed.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Huang with the teachings of Xu. Huang discloses a method to update WinStart to follow updates to changes in the reorder buffer. Xu further teaches the method of updating scoreboard contexts when a SN falls outside of SN range. This combination of Huang in view of Xu applies the use of known techniques to achieve the same desired results to maintain correct SN ranges during transmission so as not to incorrectly drop desired frames. (Huang: Abstract, ¶14-17; ¶; Xu: Abstract, ¶53-58)
RE Claim 6 Huang discloses: wherein WinStartR of the managed scoreboard context is updated to WinStartB (Fig. 7 – 706, 720, 8 – 812; ¶64 WinStartR adjusted corresponding to the updated reordering buffer )
Huang does not explicitly teach: when: a difference between WinStartR of a first link and WinStartB of the first link is more than 2^11; and a temporary record of a scoreboard context of the first link exists.
However, Xu teaches: when: a difference between WinStartR of a first link and WinStartB of the first link is more than 2^11; and a temporary record of a scoreboard context of the first link exists. (Abstract, ¶29 provide a method for implementing scoreboard status update after receipt of a frame on 1st MAC and then refer to status of other MAC scoreboards to update the 1st; ¶97 the target condition of the i-th lower layer MAC scoreboard includes: the sequence number of the data frame exceeds half of the sequence space outside the receiving window corresponding to the i-th lower layer MAC scoreboard. That is, the target condition is: WinStart_i+2^11<=SN<WinStart_i . Wherein, i is any number from 2 to n; ¶100 he first lower layer MAC scoreboard is shifted right to accommodate SN, and WinStart_first =SN–WinSize_first +1 and WinEnd_first =SN are changed, ¶102 Link 1 checks the status of the lower-layer MAC scoreboard on link 2 and determines that SN<WinStart_link2 2^11. Therefore, the lower-layer MAC scoreboard of link 1 still needs to be updated based on these data frames; ¶104-108 based on the status of the second lower layer MAC scoreboard to the nth lower layer MAC scoreboard on the other n-1 links, the update mode of the status of the first lower layer MAC scoreboard is determined; ¶112-115 update WinStart, WinSize, WinEnd; ¶126 the first updating module 1010 is configured to determine, in response to the first lower layer MAC scoreboard on the first link receiving the data frame, and the sequence number of the data frame meets the target condition of the first lower layer MAC scoreboard, based on the states of the second lower layer MAC scoreboard to the nth lower layer MAC scoreboard on the other n-1 links, an update method of the state of the first lower layer MAC scoreboard; ¶131-134 update the state of the 1st MAC scoreboard to the state of the target MAC scoreboard; ¶139-142 update the 1st MAC scoreboard based states of second MAC scoreboard to the nth MAC scoreboard on the other n-1 links)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Huang with the teachings of Xu. Huang discloses a method to update WinStart to follow updates to changes in the reorder buffer. Xu further teaches the method to update WinStart based on the changes in the other links and contexts to maintain current information of the BA session. This combination of Huang in view of Xu applies the use of known techniques to achieve the same desired results to maintain scoreboard contexts as frames are received by updating scoreboards so as not to incorrectly drop desired frames. (Huang: Abstract, ¶14-17; ¶; Xu: Abstract, ¶53-58)
RE Claim 8 Huang discloses wherein WinStartR of the managed scoreboard context of a first link is updated to WinStartR of a second link ¶52 “a first scoreboard window may correspond to a BA bitmap for a first group of data packets received on a first interface, a second scoreboard window may correspond to a BA bitmap for a second group of data packets received on a second interface, etc. The WinSizeB and the WinSizeR may be determined based on the initial negotiations. Accordingly, once the window determiner 206 determines the WinStartRs for each BA bitmap, the window determiner 206 determines the WinEndRs based on the SizeRs (e.g., WinEndR corresponds to a sum of WinStartR and WinSizeR). The WinStartB, WinEndB, and WinSizeB are based on the size of the common recipient buffer 210.”
Huang does not explicitly teach: when: a difference between WinStartR of the first link and WinStartR of the second link is more than 2"; and WinStartR of the second link has been updated.
However, Xu teaches: when: a difference between WinStartR of the first link and WinStartR of the second link is more than 2"; and WinStartR of the second link has been updated. (Abstract, ¶29 provide a method for implementing scoreboard status update after receipt of a frame on 1st MAC and then refer to status of other MAC scoreboards to update the 1st; ¶97 the target condition of the i-th lower layer MAC scoreboard includes: the sequence number of the data frame exceeds half of the sequence space outside the receiving window corresponding to the i-th lower layer MAC scoreboard. That is, the target condition is: WinStart_i+2^11<=SN<WinStart_i . Wherein, i is any number from 2 to n; ¶100 the first lower layer MAC scoreboard is shifted right to accommodate SN, and WinStart_first =SN–WinSize_first +1 and WinEnd_first =SN are changed, ¶102 Link 1 checks the status of the lower-layer MAC scoreboard on link 2 and determines that SN<WinStart_link2 2^11. Therefore, the lower-layer MAC scoreboard of link 1 still needs to be updated based on these data frames; ¶104-108 based on the status of the second lower layer MAC scoreboard to the nth lower layer MAC scoreboard on the other n-1 links, the update mode of the status of the first lower layer MAC scoreboard is determined; ¶112-115 update WinStart, WinSize, WinEnd; ¶126 the first updating module 1010 is configured to determine, in response to the first lower layer MAC scoreboard on the first link receiving the data frame, and the sequence number of the data frame meets the target condition of the first lower layer MAC scoreboard, based on the states of the second lower layer MAC scoreboard to the nth lower layer MAC scoreboard on the other n-1 links, an update method of the state of the first lower layer MAC scoreboard; ¶131-134 update the state of the 1st MAC scoreboard to the state of the target MAC scoreboard; ¶139-142 update the 1st MAC scoreboard based states of second MAC scoreboard to the nth MAC scoreboard on the other n-1 links)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Huang with the teachings of Xu. Huang discloses a method to update WinStart to follow updates to changes in the reorder buffer. Xu further teaches the method to update WinStart based on the changes in the other links and contexts to maintain current information of the BA session. This combination of Huang in view of Xu applies the use of known techniques to achieve the same desired results to maintain scoreboard contexts as frames are received by updating scoreboards so as not to incorrectly drop desired frames. (Huang: Abstract, ¶14-17; ¶; Xu: Abstract, ¶53-58)
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments are directed to amended claim 1 and the amended limitation “wherein a recipient, responsive to transmitting a BlockAck (BA) frame of the BA agreement, flushes the managed scoreboard context, and further flushes the managed scoreboard context at an end of a transmission opportunity (TXOP).” Applicant submits that references Aio and Chitrakar do not disclose or suggest the amendment. Applicant argues that “Further, the scoreboard is overwritten rather than flushed” as disclosed by Aio. Applicant argues that “Chitrakar discloses "Partial state Block Ack saves memory but increases the risk that the Block Ack Scoreboard may be overwritten by another Block Ack session in a next Transmission Opportunity (TXOP)" (Para. 79) rather than actively flushing the scoreboard at the end of the TXOP.”
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Chitrakar discloses the subject matter. Chitrakar discloses a ‘Multi-Link Block Ack Session’ with a ‘Multi-Link BA Scoreboard’, a common scoreboard interpreted as a managed scoreboard for overall tracking of per-link scoreboards. Chitrakar discloses the subject matter. Schematic of the recipient MLD in Fig. 25, ¶0131. [0080] Due to the low latency required to produce a BA in response to a BAR (within the Short Interframe Space (SIFS) from the end of the BAR), the Block Ack Scoreboard for a particular band is implemented using fast but expensive on-chip memory in each radio I/F. However, maintaining the BA Scoreboard that persists for an entire duration of all active Block Ack sessions (known as a full state Block Ack) increases the memory requirement burden for a receiver implementation. Hence, most implementations reuse the on-chip memory for more than one Block Ack session, with the memory serving as a cache for storing the state of the most recently active Block Ack session (which is referred to as a partial state Block Ack). ¶0079; To realize multi-link Block Ack operation, a Multi-link BA Scoreboard 1406 is maintained in the host system 1405. Since memory on the host system 1405 is generally cheaper, the Multi-link BA Scoreboard 1406 may be implemented as a full state Block Ack Scoreboard, i.e., the Scoreboard persists for the entire duration of a Multi-link Block Ack session. ¶0080; A recipient MLD comprises a scoreboard context per link, temporary record, and managed scoreboard context, comprising deaggregation control and receive reordering buffering combining all links. Scoreboard context also known as block acknowledgement records of reception status of MPDUs. ¶0090, Fig. 16: 1614, 1616a, 1616b, 1618a, 1618b. Each per-link scoreboard context contains acknowledgement bitmap containing current reception status of MSDUs received over associate link and may use full-state or partial-state operation. ¶0095. Therefore, the managed scoreboard context only persists for a duration of a Multi-link Block Ack session of a block agreement. A person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention would understand that the duration of a Block Agreement ends at a BA confirming receipt of all transmitted data in the last TXOP.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20220322473 A1 Hwang et al.
“METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING BLOCK ACK IN MULTIPLE LINK OF WIRELESS LAN COMMUNICATION SYSTEM”
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention for achieving the objective, as an operation method of a first communication node in a WLAN supporting a multi-link operation, may comprise: setting a first transmit window size of a first link for transmitting a plurality of frames to a second communication node; transmitting the plurality of frames through the first link; when a state of a channel detected through channel sensing on a second link is an idle state, configuring a transmit opportunity (TXOP) in the channel; and when the transmit opportunity is configured, agreeing a second transmission window size for transmitting the plurality of frames with the second communication node. ¶0013. According to the present invention, provided is a multi-link method for sharing one sequence number, one reordering buffer, and one scoreboard in a wireless LAN using multiple links. Therefore, even when the existing block ACK execution scheme is applied, the performance of the terminal based on IEEE 802.11be is not reduced, but the performance of the terminal can be improved. ¶0032
US 20240244481 A1 Viger et al.
“COMMUNICATION METHODS AND MULTILINK APPARATUS”
[0192] As illustrated, the recipient MLD 350 may also maintain a common scoreboard 382 to keep a longer-term record of the received data units for multilink data transmissions for a given TID, not limited by TXOPs. [0193] The common scoreboard 382 may be implemented as full-state. The common scoreboard 382 may be updated regularly with the content of the per-link scoreboards 370-x, 370-y. For example, the common scoreboard is updated every time a per-link scoreboard is updated, or at least at the end of TXOPs of each link. The common scoreboard has thus a bigger size than the per-link scoreboards 370-x, 370-y. Still, the common score board is generated for a given TID. The common scoreboard 382 is used by the BA generation block 383 to generate a BA frame.
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/PAUL A. LANGER/Examiner, Art Unit 2419
/Nishant Divecha/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2419
Prosecution Insights