DETAILED ACTION
This office action is a response to the Request for Continued Examination (RCE) filed on 01/30/2026.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/30/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed on 01/30/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1, 3-5, 10, 12 and 14-26 are pending
Claims 1, 10, 12 and 20 are amended
Claims 2, 6-9, 11 and 13 are canceled
Claims 22-26 are new
Claims 1, 3-5, 10, 12 and 14-26 remain rejected.
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 for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 3-5, 10, 12, 14-17 and 19-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PATIL et al. (US 20220124857 A1), hereinafter referenced as Patil, in view of LOPEZ et al. (US 20240196331 A1), hereinafter referenced as Lopez.
Regarding claims 1 and 20, Patil teaches a method of an enhanced multi-link single radio (EMLSR) operation (Para. [0007]-Patil discloses a method of wireless communications by a multi-link device (MLD). The method generally includes transmitting, to a first wireless station via a direct link between the first wireless station and one or more second wireless stations associated with the MLD, a data frame comprising a transmitter address field set to an address of the MLD, which is one of a plurality of addresses associated with the MLD and the second wireless stations being associated with the MLD for multi-link operations. Figs. 21-22, Para. [0015-0019]-Patil discloses the MLD generally includes a memory and a processor coupled to the memory), comprising:
exchanging, by a first non-access point (non-AP) multi-link device (MLD), EMLSR capability information with a second non-AP MLD in a handshake procedure on one of a plurality of links (Para. [0088-0094]-Patil discloses between the TDLS STA affiliated with a non-AP MLD and a TDLS peer STA at the other end of the TDLS direct link, STAs affiliated with the non-AP MLD … associated AP that is affiliated with the AP MLD to which the non-AP MLD has performed multi-link setup ... To setup one or more multi-link TDLS sessions, ... by providing provide an MLD's multi-link capabilities and/or constraints (such as n-STR links/STAs) for each link associated with a STA entity. The MLDs may coordinate transmissions on n-STR links that are part of a TDLS session. Para. [0051]-Patil discloses the STA of the non-AP MLD may use the MLD MAC address during the Tunneled Peer Key (TPK) handshake and encryption key generation for the TDLS session); and
establishing, by the first non-AP MLD, an EMLSR operation with the second non-AP MLD on one or more links of the plurality of links (Para. [0088-0094]-Patil discloses between the TDLS STA affiliated with a non-AP MLD and a TDLS peer STA at the other end of the TDLS direct link ... by providing provide an MLD's multi-link capabilities and/or constraints (such as n-STR links/STAs) for each link associated with a STA entity. The MLDs may coordinate transmissions on n-STR links that are part of a TDLS session),
the establishing of the EMLSR operation comprises detecting link availability of each of the one or more links of the plurality of links to select the one of the plurality of links that is available for the EMLSR operation (Para. [0214]-Patil discloses determining that a duration has passed without receiving a response to the first request ... direct link based on the determination, wherein the second request indicates a second link for communications. Para. [0159-0160]-Patil discloses an indication of the first link or a second link different from the first link. A BSSID field in the Link Identifier element of the Response frame may identify the requested link or a different/separate link … the BSSID field may be set to the MAC address of an AP on the channel or band associated with the requested link ... the responder MLD may not respond to a Discovery Request frame if the responder MLD is not operating on the requested link or receives the request on a different link than the requested link. For example, the first MLD may ignore the request based on the request being received on the second link, e.g., a different link, a different channel, or a different band than the requested first link);
the detecting of link availability comprises detecting a preamble or a medium access control (MAC) header of a physical-layer protocol data unit (PPDU) transmitted on one of the plurality of links (Para. [0159-0160]-Patil discloses an indication of the first link or a second link different from the first link. A BSSID field in the Link Identifier element of the Response frame may identify the requested link or a different/separate link … the BSSID field may be set to the MAC address. Para. [0133]-Patil discloses the first indication may be transmitted via a control field of a MAC header of a frame), and
a link is unavailable in an event that the PPDU transmitted on that link is from a peer device or to the peer device (Para. [0011]-Patil discloses the direct link is inoperative for the MLD while the first wireless station is communicating);
the detecting of link availability comprises estimating a duration of either a transmission opportunity (TXOP) or a PPDU transmitted on an unavailable link based on the information in the PPDU (Para. [0093-0094]-Patil discloses the link identifier IE format may have an element identifier (ID) field (which identifies the element as a link identifier), a length field {corresponding to transmission duration} ... To setup one or more multi-link TDLS sessions, multi-link support or a request for multi-link TDLS may be indicated by a BSSID field in Link Identifier element set to a wildcard value or a specific value. Para. [0163]-Patil discloses after sending the first request, the first MLD may wait a certain duration and determine that the duration has passed without receiving a response to the first request. The first MLD may transmit, to another one of the third wireless stations associated with the second MLD via the access point, a second request to discover a peer wireless station for the direct link, where the second request indicates a second link); and
the establishing of the EMLSR operation comprises applying a duration constraint obtained from the estimating on the at least one link of the plurality of links on which the first non-AP MLD or the second non-AP MLD, or both, is or are associated with, an access point (AP) MLD (Para. [0163]-Patil discloses after sending the first request, the first MLD may wait a certain duration {corresponding to duration constraint} and determine that the duration has passed without receiving a response to the first request. The first MLD may transmit, to another one of the third wireless stations associated with the second MLD via the access point, a second request to discover a peer wireless station for the direct link, where the second request indicates a second link).
Patil fails to teach each of the first non-AP MLD and the second non-AP MLD listens on at least one of the plurality of links.
However, Lopez teaches each of the first non-AP MLD and the second non-AP MLD listens on at least one of the plurality of links (Para. [0102]-Lopez discloses the transmitting device (radio access node or user device) may need to perform a listen-before talk (LBT) procedure or other clear channel assessment (CCA) to gain channel access before it can transmit the protocol signal. Fig. 1, Para. [0124]-Lopez discloses the AP MLD may also be configured to—if any of the non-WUR STAs affiliated with the non-AP MLD and servicing a selected link is in doze state—send a WUR frame to the WUR STA informing the non-AP MLD of the availability of BUs and indicating the set of selected links).
Patil and Lopez are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of wireless communication, dealing with approaches for multi-link communication.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the Patil to incorporate the teachings of Lopez on MLD, with a motivation to listen on at least one of the plurality of links, and guarantee reducing power consumption for multi-link communication devices, (Lopez, Para. [0009]).
Regarding claim 3, Patil in view of Lopez teaches the method of Claim 1.
Patil further teaches the exchanging of the EMLSR capability information comprises exchanging, in a handshake flow, EMLSR operational information or an EMLSR capability field, or both (Para. [0088-0094]-Patil discloses between the TDLS STA affiliated with a non-AP MLD and a TDLS peer STA at the other end of the TDLS direct link, STAs affiliated with the non-AP MLD … associated AP that is affiliated with the AP MLD to which the non-AP MLD has performed multi-link setup ... To setup one or more multi-link TDLS sessions, ... by providing provide an MLD's multi-link capabilities and/or constraints (such as n-STR links/STAs) for each link associated with a STA entity. The MLDs may coordinate transmissions on n-STR links that are part of a TDLS session. Para. [0051]-Patil discloses the STA of the non-AP MLD may use the MLD MAC address during the Tunneled Peer Key (TPK) handshake and encryption key generation for the TDLS session).
Regarding claim 4, Patil in view of Lopez teaches the method of Claim 3.
Patil further teaches the EMLSR capability field is in a tunneled direct link setup (TDLS) multi-link element or a peer-to-peer (P2P) Link Event Request sub-element (Para. [0088-0094]-Patil discloses between the TDLS STA affiliated with a non-AP MLD and a TDLS peer STA at the other end of the TDLS direct link, STAs affiliated with the non-AP MLD … associated AP that is affiliated with the AP MLD to which the non-AP MLD has performed multi-link setup ... To setup one or more multi-link TDLS sessions, ... by providing provide an MLD's multi-link capabilities and/or constraints (such as n-STR links/STAs) for each link associated with a STA entity. The MLDs may coordinate transmissions on n-STR links that are part of a TDLS session. Para. [0051]-Patil discloses the STA of the non-AP MLD may use the MLD MAC address during the Tunneled Peer Key (TPK) handshake and encryption key generation for the TDLS session).
Regarding claim 5, Patil in view of Lopez teaches the method of Claim 1.
Patil further teaches the first non-AP MLD and the second non-AP MLD are unaware of activities on other links of the plurality of links after establishing the EMLSR operation between each other on the available link (Fig. 5A, Para. [0090]-Patil discloses an MLD (MLD_S) initiating a TDLS setup with a legacy STA (STA_3) and communicating via the TDLS link with the legacy STA … the STA_3 is not aware of the STA entities (STA_1 and STA_2) of the MLD_S. Fig. 1, Para. [0061]-Patil discloses wireless station may also communicate peer-to-peer with another wireless station, for example, via direct link such as a tunneled direct link setup (TDLS)).
Regarding claim 10, Patil in view of Lopez teaches the method of Claim 1.
Patil further teaches the establishing of the EMLSR operation comprises establishing the EMLSR operation on the one of the plurality of links that is available considering the duration of the PPDU as a constraint (Para. [0088-0094]-Patil discloses between the TDLS STA affiliated with a non-AP MLD and a TDLS peer STA at the other end of the TDLS direct link ... by providing provide an MLD's multi-link capabilities and/or constraints (such as n-STR links/STAs) for each link associated with a STA entity. The MLDs may coordinate transmissions on n-STR links that are part of a TDLS session).
Regarding claims 12 and 19, Patil in view of Lopez teaches the method of Claim 1,
Patil further teaches the establishing of the EMLSR operation comprises performing one or more of: notifying a power-save mode to an access point (AP) MLD on the at least one link of the plurality of EMLSR links on which the first non-AP MLD is associated with the AP MLD (Para. [0010]-Patil discloses transmitting, to an access point, a first indication that a first wireless station associated with the MLD is in power save mode);
detecting whether each of the one or more links of the plurality of EMLSR links is unavailable (Para. [0214]-Patil discloses determining that a duration has passed without receiving a response to the first request ... direct link based on the determination, wherein the second request indicates a second link for communications. Para. [0159-0160]-Patil discloses an indication of the first link or a second link different from the first link. A BSSID field in the Link Identifier element of the Response frame may identify the requested link or a different/separate link … the BSSID field may be set to the MAC address of an AP on the channel or band associated with the requested link ... the responder MLD may not respond to a Discovery Request frame if the responder MLD is not operating on the requested link or receives the request on a different link than the requested link. For example, the first MLD may ignore the request based on the request being received on the second link, e.g., a different link, a different channel, or a different band than the requested first link); and
performing a peer-to-peer (P2P) EMLSR operation or a tunneled direct link setup (TDLS) EMLSR operation on the at least one link on which the power-save mode is set for the AP MLD (Para. [0088-0094]-Patil discloses between the TDLS {Tunneled Direct Link Setup} STA affiliated with a non-AP MLD and a TDLS peer STA at the other end of the TDLS direct link, STAs affiliated with the non-AP MLD … associated AP that is affiliated with the AP MLD to which the non-AP MLD has performed multi-link setup ... To setup one or more multi-link TDLS sessions, ... by providing provide an MLD's multi-link capabilities and/or constraints (such as n-STR links/STAs) for each link associated with a STA entity. The MLDs may coordinate transmissions on n-STR links that are part of a TDLS session).
Regarding claim 14, Patil in view of Lopez teaches the method of Claim 1.
Patil further teaches the detecting comprises receiving a request-to-send (RTS), multi-user request-to-send (MU-RTS), buffer status report poll (BSRP), clear-to-send-to-self (CTS2Self) or power-saving poll (PS-Poll) with a transmitter address (TA) or a receiver address (RA) being the second non-AP MLD (Para. [0009]-Patil discloses transmitting, to the MLD, the RTS frame requesting to send data to one or more wireless stations associated with the MLD based on the first indication. The method also includes transmitting, to the one or more wireless stations, the data if a clear-to-send (CTS) frame is received by the access point from the MLD. Para. [0060]-Patil discloses a RTS/CTS exchange and/or setting the SA fields when relaying frames between a legacy STA and a non-AP MLD).
Regarding claim 15, Patil in view of Lopez teaches the method of Claim 1.
Patil further teaches the detecting comprises receiving a clear-to-send (CTS) or acknowledgement (ACK) with a receiver address (RA) being the second non-AP MLD or a peer station (STA) of the second non-AP MLD (Para. [0009]-Patil discloses transmitting, to the MLD, the RTS frame requesting to send data to one or more wireless stations associated with the MLD based on the first indication. The method also includes transmitting, to the one or more wireless stations, the data if a clear-to-send (CTS) frame is received by the access point from the MLD. Para. [0060]-Patil discloses a RTS/CTS exchange and/or setting the SA fields when relaying frames between a legacy STA and a non-AP MLD).
Regarding claim 16, Patil in view of Lopez teaches the method of Claim 1.
Patil further teaches the detecting comprises receiving a trigger frame with an association identifier (AID) being that of the second non-AP MLD (Para. [0083]-Patil discloses the responder address of the link identifier IE may be set to the MLD MAC address in TDLS response frames (such as a TDLS Discovery Response frame and/or a TDLS Setup Response frame from a TDLS responder station). Para. [0090]-Patil discloses the STA_3 transmits directly, to the STA_1 of the MLD_S, a TDLS Discovery Response frame with the RA field set to the MLD_S MAC address. The STA_1 of the MLD_S may support receiving a frame with the RA field set to the MLD_S MAC address).
Regarding claim 17, Patil in view of Lopez teaches the method of Claim 1.
Patil further teaches the detecting comprises detecting a negotiation by the second non-AP MLD for another medium access control (MAC) address or an association identifier (AID) for the other EMLSR operation (Para. [0159]-Patil discloses the response to the discovery/setup request may indicate the desired/requested link for direct link communications. The response may include an indication of the first link or a second link different from the first link. A BSSID field in the Link Identifier element of the Response frame may identify the requested link or a different/separate link ... the BSSID field may be set to the MAC address. Para. [0147]-Patil discloses an initiator/responder non-AP MLD may transmit a TDLS request/response on a different link than a desired link for direct link communications).
Regarding claim 21, Patil in view of Lopez teaches the method of Claim 1.
Patil further teaches the initial PPDU comprises a request-to-send (RTS), multi-user RTS (MU-RTS), buffer status report poll (BSRP), power-saving poll (PS-Poll) or clear-to-send-to-self (CTS2self) (Para. [0135]-Patil discloses (sync-PPDU operation) on n-STR link(s) when TDLS is established on one of the n-STR links. Para. [0009]-Patil discloses transmitting, to the MLD, the RTS frame requesting to send data to one or more wireless stations associated with the MLD based on the first indication. The method also includes transmitting, to the one or more wireless stations, the data if a clear-to-send (CTS) frame is received by the access point from the MLD. Para. [0060]-Patil discloses a RTS/CTS exchange and/or setting the SA fields when relaying frames between a legacy STA and a non-AP MLD).
Regarding claim 22, Patil in view of Lopez teaches the method of claim 1,
Patil further teaches the EMLSR operation comprises a peer-to-peer (P2P) EMLSR operation or a tunneled direct link setup (TDLS) EMLSR operation between the first non-AP MLD and the second non-AP MLD (Para. [0088-0094]-Patil discloses between the TDLS {Tunneled Direct Link Setup} STA affiliated with a non-AP MLD and a TDLS peer STA at the other end of the TDLS direct link, STAs affiliated with the non-AP MLD … associated AP that is affiliated with the AP MLD to which the non-AP MLD has performed multi-link setup ... To setup one or more multi-link TDLS sessions, ... by providing provide an MLD's multi-link capabilities and/or constraints (such as n-STR links/STAs) for each link associated with a STA entity. The MLDs may coordinate transmissions on n-STR links that are part of a TDLS session).
Regarding claim 23, Patil in view of Lopez teaches the method of claim 1,
Patil further teaches the establishing of the EMLSR operation comprises: triggering the second non-AP MLD to perform an EMLSR communication on one or more of the plurality of links (Para. [0104]-Patil discloses frames related to establishing a direct link may include TDLS Discovery/Setup frames. For example, the first MLD may receive a TDLS Discovery Request frame and/or a TDLS Setup Request/Response frame as the first frames. The first MLD may receive a TDLS Discovery Request frame and/or a TDLS Setup Request/Response frame as the third frames. At 804 and 808, the first MLD may relay the first frames and/or the second frames to the first wireless station or the second MLD. Para. [0111]-Patil discloses the non-AP MLD may send a request to the AP MLD that when AP MLD transmits a frame to STA2 affiliated with the non-AP MLD on a second link, the AP is to send an RTS on the second link and send the DL frame only if the AP MLD receives a CTS response from the non-AP MLD. Fig. 1, Para. [0061]-Patil discloses wireless station may also communicate peer-to-peer with another wireless station, for example, via direct link such as a tunneled direct link setup (TDLS)); and
switching to an available link of the plurality of links (Para. [0005]-Patil discloses enable certain wireless communication devices (which may be referred to as multi-link devices (MLDs)) to communicate via two or more wireless communication links across the available bands (2.4, 5, and 6 GHz bands) simultaneously, for example, using multi-link operation (MLO) and/or multi-link aggregation (MLA)),
the first non-AP MLD and the second non-AP MLD are unaware of activities on other links of the plurality of links after establishing the EMLSR operation between each other on the available link (Fig. 5A, Para. [0090]-Patil discloses an MLD (MLD_S) initiating a TDLS setup with a legacy STA (STA_3) and communicating via the TDLS link with the legacy STA … the STA_3 is not aware of the STA entities (STA_1 and STA_2) of the MLD_S. Fig. 1, Para. [0061]-Patil discloses wireless station may also communicate peer-to-peer with another wireless station, for example, via direct link such as a tunneled direct link setup (TDLS)).
Regarding claim 24, Patil in view of Lopez teaches the method of claim 23,
Patil further teaches the triggering comprises transmitting an initial frame comprising a request-to-send (RTS) multi-user request-to-send (MU-RTS) buffer status report poll (BSRP) or power-saving poll (PS-Poll) to the second non-AP MLD on the available link (Para. [0009]-Patil discloses transmitting, to the MLD, the RTS frame requesting to send data to one or more wireless stations associated with the MLD based on the first indication. The method also includes transmitting, to the one or more wireless stations, the data if a clear-to-send (CTS) frame is received by the access point from the MLD. Para. [0060]-Patil discloses a RTS/CTS exchange and/or setting the SA fields when relaying frames between a legacy STA and a non-AP MLD); and
receiving a solicited frame such as a clear-to-send (CTS) buffer status report (BSR) or acknowledgement (ACK) from the second non-AP MLD on the available link in response (Para. [0009]-Patil discloses transmitting, to the MLD, the RTS frame requesting to send data to one or more wireless stations associated with the MLD based on the first indication. The method also includes transmitting, to the one or more wireless stations, the data if a clear-to-send (CTS) frame is received by the access point from the MLD. Para. [0060]-Patil discloses a RTS/CTS exchange and/or setting the SA fields when relaying frames between a legacy STA and a non-AP MLD).
Regarding claim 25, Patil in view of Lopez teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising:
Patil further teaches detecting, by the first non-AP MLD, one other EMLSR operation of the second non-AP MLD on a first link of the plurality of links (Para. [0051]-Patil discloses the STA of the non-AP MLD may set the TDLS initiator STA Address to the non-AP MLD MAC address in a Link Identifier—information element (IE)—in TDLS (Discovery/Setup) Request frames. The STA of the non-AP MLD may set the TDLS Responder STA Address to the non-AP MLD MAC address in the Link Identifier information element (IE) in TDLS (Discovery/Setup) Response frames sent in response to a TDLS (Discovery/Setup) Request frame received from the TDLS peer STA); and
refraining from triggering the second non-AP MLD for the EMLSR operation on one or more other links of the plurality of links (Para. [0051]-Patil discloses other STAs of the non-AP MLD may not be allowed to transmit a frame directed towards the peer STA with which another STA of the non-AP MLD has performed TDLS setup. (See also Para. [0088])).
Claims 18 and 26 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PATIL et al. (US 20220124857 A1), hereinafter referenced as Patil, in view of LOPEZ et al. (US 20240196331 A1), hereinafter referenced as Lopez, and further in view of YANG et al. (US 20240187168 A1), hereinafter referenced as Yang.
Regarding claims 18 and 26, Patil in view of Lopez teaches the method of Claims 1 and 25 respectively.
Patil fails to teach determining, by the first non-AP MLD, an end of a blocking EMLSR operation for the second non-AP MLD on other links of the plurality of links in an event that Point Coordination Function (PCF) inter-frame space (PIFS) idle is triggered.
However, Yang teaches determining, by the first non-AP MLD, an end of a blocking EMLSR operation for the second non-AP MLD on other links of the plurality of links in an event that Point Coordination Function (PCF) inter-frame space (PIFS) idle is triggered (Para. [0245-0250]-Yang discloses STA can determine the end of the frame exchange sequence through any of the following): [0246] it (which refers to the STA) receives a unicast frame, and a destination address of the unicast frame is another STA … a frame that initiates a current transmission opportunity (Transmission Opportunity, TXOP) ... a carrier sensing (Carrier Sensing, CS) mechanism indicates that a channel is idle at a transmission (transmission, Tx) point coordination function interframe space (Point coordination function Interframe Space, PIFS) slot boundary (TxPIFS slot boundary). Para. [0016]-Yang discloses the unicast control frame includes a block acknowledgment request (Block ACK Request, BAR) frame).
Yang is considered to be analogous because it is in the same field of wireless communication technologies, dealing with communication method and a related apparatus.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the Patil in view of Lopez to incorporate the teachings of Yang on PIFS, with a motivation to determine end of a blocking EMLSR operation, and ensure enhanced-multi-link-based communication method in a WLAN, (Yang, Para. [0005]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's Arguments/Remarks, filed on 01/30/2026, with respect to the 35 USC § 103 rejection of claims 1, 3-5, 10, 12 and 14-26 have been fully considered. Applicant’s arguments are not persuasive.
In the remarks, on pages 13 and 14, Lines [16-23 and 1-3 respectively], Applicant argues that, “…Patil (as well as the remainder of Patil), even assuming, arguendo, that the Office's characterization of Patil was correct, Patil at most can be said to describe retrying, waiting, or switching discovery requests in the context of TDLS establishment, which are confined to link-specific discovery or response behaviors. Such disclosures do not teach or suggest a mechanism in which a first non-AP MLD detects peer PPDU activity on one link, estimates a PPDU or TXOP duration on that peer link, and derives a duration constraint therefrom to be applied to at least one other link associated with an AP MLD, as now expressly required by amended Claims 1 and 20. Moreover, Patil does not disclose or contemplate the claimed cross-link coordination in which information inferred from a peer-to-peer link is explicitly used to constrain operations on an AP-associated link.”
However, Patil teaches the establishing of the EMLSR operation comprises applying a duration constraint obtained from the estimating on the at least one link of the plurality of links on which the first non-AP MLD or the second non- AP MLD, or both, is or are associated with an access point (AP) MLD (Para. [0163]-Patil discloses after sending the first request, the first MLD may wait a certain duration {corresponding to duration constraint} and determine that the duration has passed {corresponding to estimating on the at least one link of the plurality of links} without receiving a response to the first request. The first MLD may transmit, to another one of the third wireless stations associated with the second MLD via the access point, a second request to discover a peer wireless station for the direct link, where the second request indicates a second link).
In the remarks, on page 14, Lines [8-12], Applicant argues that, “Patil fails to teach or suggest the limitations now expressly recited therein, including detecting link availability based on PPDU preamble or MAC header, estimating a PPDU or TXOP duration on an unavailable peer link, and applying a duration constraint derived from such estimation to at least one AP-associated link in an EMLSR operation.”
However, Patil teaches the establishing of the EMLSR operation comprises detecting link availability of each of the one or more links of the plurality of links to select the one of the plurality of links that is available for the EMLSR operation (Para. [0214]-Patil discloses determining that a duration has passed without receiving a response to the first request ... direct link based on the determination, wherein the second request indicates a second link for communications. Para. [0159-0160]-Patil discloses an indication of the first link or a second link different from the first link. A BSSID field in the Link Identifier element of the Response frame may identify the requested link or a different/separate link … the BSSID field may be set to the MAC address of an AP on the channel or band associated with the requested link ... the responder MLD may not respond to a Discovery Request frame if the responder MLD is not operating on the requested link or receives the request on a different link than the requested link. For example, the first MLD may ignore the request based on the request being received on the second link, e.g., a different link, a different channel, or a different band than the requested first link); wherein the detecting of link availability comprises detecting a preamble or a medium access control (MAC) header of a physical-layer protocol data unit (PPDU) transmitted on one of the plurality of links (Para. [0159-0160]-Patil discloses an indication of the first link or a second link different from the first link. A BSSID field in the Link Identifier element of the Response frame may identify the requested link or a different/separate link … the BSSID field may be set to the MAC address. Para. [0133]-Patil discloses the first indication may be transmitted via a control field of a MAC header of a frame), and wherein a link is unavailable in an event that the PPDU transmitted on that link is from a peer device or to the peer device (Para. [0011]-Patil discloses the direct link is inoperative for the MLD while the first wireless station is communicating); wherein the detecting of link availability comprises estimating a duration of either a transmission opportunity (TXOP) or a PPDU transmitted on an unavailable link based on the information in the PPDU (Para. [0093-0094]-Patil discloses the link identifier IE format may have an element identifier (ID) field (which identifies the element as a link identifier), a length field {corresponding to transmission duration} ... To setup one or more multi-link TDLS sessions, multi-link support or a request for multi-link TDLS may be indicated by a BSSID field in Link Identifier element set to a wildcard value or a specific value. Para. [0163]-Patil discloses after sending the first request, the first MLD may wait a certain duration and determine that the duration has passed without receiving a response to the first request. The first MLD may transmit, to another one of the third wireless stations associated with the second MLD via the access point, a second request to discover a peer wireless station for the direct link, where the second request indicates a second link); and wherein the establishing of the EMLSR operation comprises applying a duration constraint obtained from the estimating on the at least one link of the plurality of links on which the first non-AP MLD or the second non-AP MLD, or both, is or are associated with, an access point (AP) MLD (Para. [0163]-Patil discloses after sending the first request, the first MLD may wait a certain duration {corresponding to duration constraint} and determine that the duration has passed without receiving a response to the first request. The first MLD may transmit, to another one of the third wireless stations associated with the second MLD via the access point, a second request to discover a peer wireless station for the direct link, where the second request indicates a second link).
In the remarks, on page 16, Lines [6-9], Applicant argues that, “…Nothing in Patil, Lopez, or their combination provides a teaching, suggestion, or motivation to modify Patil's TDLS-centric mechanisms to arrive at the specific duration-aware, link-availability-driven EMLSR establishment now recited in amended Claims 1 and 20.”
However, Patil teaches performing a peer-to-peer (P2P) EMLSR operation or a tunneled direct link setup (TDLS) EMLSR operation on the at least one link on which the power-save mode is set for the AP MLD (Para. [0088-0094]-Patil discloses between the TDLS {Tunneled Direct Link Setup} STA affiliated with a non-AP MLD and a TDLS peer STA at the other end of the TDLS direct link, STAs affiliated with the non-AP MLD … associated AP that is affiliated with the AP MLD to which the non-AP MLD has performed multi-link setup ... To setup one or more multi-link TDLS sessions, ... by providing provide an MLD's multi-link capabilities and/or constraints (such as n-STR links/STAs) for each link associated with a STA entity. The MLDs may coordinate transmissions on n-STR links that are part of a TDLS session).
Conclusion
Listed below are the prior arts made of record and not relied upon but are considered pertinent to applicant`s disclosure.
ASTERJADHI et al. (US 20170078967 A1) -discloses Fig. 11, Para. [0094-0096]-Asterjadhi discloses an example exchange of messages using a conventional polling technique ... the non-AP STA (e.g., UT 120) may send a PS-Poll {power-saving poll} to receive an MPDU from the AP (e.g., AP 110) or peer-to-peer device ... response time to a PS-Poll acknowledgment can vary for different peers in the network. Figs. 9-10, Para. [0088]-Asterjadhi discloses HE-Control frame 1000 that may be sent as a polling frame (e.g., instead of a PS-Poll or trigger frame) by a capable PS STA ... Other information may also be carried in the HE-Control frame 1000, such as ... CQI feedback, buffer status report.
Park et al. (US 20210084711 A1)-discloses Fig. 9, Para. [0159]-Pak discloses duration information may be obtained from the LENGTH field in the L-SIG field or the TXOP field in HE-SIGA or the Duration field in the MAC header of the OBSS packet received on the primary channel.
Chu et al. (US 20210377856 A1)-discloses a method performed by a multi-link device (MLD) access point to establish a target wake time (TWT) with a MLD station, wherein a plurality of links are established between the MLD access point and the MLD station, including: transmitting, by the MLD access point, a TWT set up frame to the MLD station configured to indicate whether the TWT set up frame is applied to multiple links of the plurality of links; and negotiating, by the MLD access point, a TWT agreement with the MLD station via one of the multiple links with the MLD station, wherein the TWT agreement applies to all of the indicated multiple links…. …Fig. 1-2
Xiandong DONG (US 20240324035 A1)-discloses determining a first message frame in any link of a plurality of links and transmitting the first message frame. The first message frame includes information indicating at least one traffic identifier TID.… …Fig. 1-5
Xiandong DONG (US 20240080136 A1)-discloses receiving a first message frame, wherein the first message frame includes block acknowledgement policy information; and sending, based on the block acknowledgement policy information, a second message frame on a first link among the multiple links…. …Fig. 1-5
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/OO/
Examiner, Art Unit 2472
/NICHOLAS A JENSEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2472