9DETAILED ACTION
This action is response to application number 18/153,494, amendment and remarks, dated on 09/11/2025.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-20 pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 09/11/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant in page 7 of remarks argues that “Fang does not teach the recited first message. With respect to claim 1, Fang does not teach a multi-link device configured to send a message to another multi-link device to indicate transmission modes for different types of data. Fang relates to multi-link transmission technology and discloses that devices may set up one or more links between the devices. See Fang, Fig. 1 and {[0041] and {[0064]. In utilizing the multi-link transmission technology, Fang discloses a device may sense that a first link of the one or more links is busy and may decide to send the frame to a second link”.
Fang discloses transmitting a first message that indicates the redundant transmission requirement. The indication of the redundant transmission requirement message as first message is transmitted through the QoS signaling mechanism messaging, through messaging that indicates applying the redundant transmission to a certain TID, through messaging and attaching a redundancy tag 504 indicating the redundancy to be applied to a specific type of traffic/flow/stream, through sending and receiving a frame with redundancy requirement indication (RRI) in order to apply redundant transmission to a specific type of traffic/flow/stream (TS)/TID related to time-sensitive traffic stream having low latency bound (¶15; ¶43), time-sensitive network flow (TSN) services or URLLC services (See exemplary following paragraphs; The interface to indicate the redundant transmission requirement: Besides traffic specification (TSPEC), here, several other different methods are proposed to indicate the redundancy requirement, such as: 1) The redundancy requirement can be carried through any QoS signaling mechanism over one or more 802.11 links. Redundancy requirements may be included as part of low latency or other QoS signaling mechanisms to identify data flows that need the redundancy requirement. The redundancy requirement may also be identified by a certain TID (existing or new TID value) that is associated to a traffic flow that needs high reliability; ¶52-¶54; In one or more embodiments, a multi-link redundancy system may facilitate including a redundancy tag 504 after applying any of these redundancy protocols over 802.1 layer. This way, the packet forwarded down to the 802.11 layer will be attached with the redundancy tag 504 as an EtherType 502 as shown in FIG. 5. Therefore, for the device supporting 802.1 layer redundancy protocol, this redundancy protocol may be applied to attach a redundancy tag 504 to indicate the redundancy requirement. As a result, the 802.11be MLD can based on the redundancy tag 504, perform frame duplication and transmission over more than one available link; ¶57; In one or more embodiments, the 802.11be MLD receives a frame with redundancy requirement indication (RRI), which is indicated by the above methods or other QoS indication methods, it will duplicate the frame and send it over more than one available links. Note: the duplicated frame should be sent over different links; ¶60).
In regard to argument that Fang retransmission mechanism is not the same as the claim duplication transmission and argument that in Fang “device may sense that a first link of the one or more links is busy and may decide to send the frame to a second link”.
Fang in exemplary paragraphs 57 and 60 discloses frame duplication and transmission over more than one available link based on the messaged tag 504 or the messaged RRI or the messaged QoS signaling mechanism (see exemplary following paragraphs; As a result, the 802.11be MLD can based on the redundancy tag 504, perform frame duplication and transmission over more than one available link; ¶57; In one or more embodiments, the 802.11be MLD receives a frame with redundancy requirement indication (RRI), which is indicated by the above methods or other QoS indication methods, it will duplicate the frame and send it over more than one available links. Note: the duplicated frame should be sent over different links; ¶60).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated or alternatively unpatentable over Fang et al. (US 20210274489 A1).
Claims 1, 11, Fang discloses a communication apparatus, applied to a second multi-link device (AP MLD or STA MLD; Fig. 1; In one embodiment, and with reference to FIG. 1, a user device 120 may be in communication with one or more APs 102. For example, one or more APs 102 may implement an enhanced retransmission 142 with one or more user devices 120. The one or more APs 102 may be multi-link devices (MLDs) and the one or more user device 120 may be non-AP MLDs. Each of the one or more APs 102 may comprise a plurality of individual APs (e.g., AP1, AP2, . . . , APn, where n is an integer) and each of the one or more user devices 120 may comprise a plurality of individual STAs (e.g., STA1, STA2, . . . , STAn). The AP MLDs and the non-AP MLDs may set up one or more links (e.g., Link1, Link2, . . . , Linkn) between each of the individual APs and STAs. It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting; ¶41; At block 702, a device (e.g., the user device(s) 120 and/or the AP 102 of FIG. 1) may establish one or more links with a station device (STA) multi-link device (MLD); ¶64), comprising:
at least one processor, and a memory storing instructions for execution by the at least one processor; wherein, when executed, the instructions cause a first station of the second multi-link station device to perform operations (In some embodiments, the user devices 120 and the AP 102 may include one or more computer systems similar to that of the functional diagram of FIG. 8 and/or the example machine/system of FIG. 9; ¶32; In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 806 of the communication station 800 may include one or more processors. In other embodiments, two or more antennas 801 may be coupled to the communications circuitry 802 arranged for sending and receiving signals. The memory 808 may store information for configuring the processing circuitry 806 to perform operations for configuring and transmitting message frames and performing the various operations described herein. The memory 808 may include any type of memory, including non-transitory memory, for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer); ¶72) comprising:
receiving a first message from a first multi-link device (STA MLD), wherein the first message indicates transmission modes for the apparatus (AP MLD) to send different types of data, and the transmission modes comprise a duplication transmission mode and a non-duplication transmission mode (communicating and indicating the redundant transmission requirement (duplication transmission mode) to be used with specific traffic/flow/stream (TS)/TID related to time-sensitive traffic stream having low latency bound (¶15; ¶43) such as TSN services and URLLC (¶29) and not applying to other traffic/flow/stream (TS)/TID) not having low latency bound (non-duplication transmission mode); The interface to indicate the redundant transmission requirement: Besides traffic specification (TSPEC), here, several other different methods are proposed to indicate the redundancy requirement, such as: 1) The redundancy requirement can be carried through any QoS signaling mechanism over one or more 802.11 links. Redundancy requirements may be included as part of low latency or other QoS signaling mechanisms to identify data flows that need the redundancy requirement. The redundancy requirement may also be identified by a certain TID (existing or new TID value) that is associated to a traffic flow that needs high reliability; ¶52-¶54; In one or more embodiments, a multi-link redundancy system may facilitate including a redundancy tag 504 after applying any of these redundancy protocols over 802.1 layer. This way, the packet forwarded down to the 802.11 layer will be attached with the redundancy tag 504 as an EtherType 502 as shown in FIG. 5. Therefore, for the device supporting 802.1 layer redundancy protocol, this redundancy protocol may be applied to attach a redundancy tag 504 to indicate the redundancy requirement. As a result, the 802.11be MLD can based on the redundancy tag 504, perform frame duplication and transmission over more than one available link; ¶57; In one or more embodiments, the 802.11be MLD receives a frame with redundancy requirement indication (RRI), which is indicated by the above methods or other QoS indication methods, it will duplicate the frame and send it over more than one available links. Note: the duplicated frame should be sent over different links; ¶60); and
sending data to the first multi-link device (STA MLD) in the duplication transmission mode (redundant transmission mode) or the non-duplication transmission mode (non-redundant transmission mode) according to the first message (AP MLD determining based on the communicated/indicated redundant transmission requirement between AP MLD and STA MLD to apply redundancy or not apply redundancy to the traffic/flow/stream (TS)/TID to send data to STA MLD according to a first message indicating the redundant transmission requirement, through the QoS signaling mechanism, through identifying and indicating the certain TID or new TID value to apply the redundant transmission, attaching a redundancy tag 504 to indicate the redundancy requirement, sending and receiving a frame with redundancy requirement indication (RRI) in order to apply redundant transmission to a specific type of traffic/flow/stream (TS)/TID related to time-sensitive traffic stream having low latency bound (¶15; ¶43), time-sensitive network flow (TSN) services or URLLC services; In one or more embodiments, a multi-link redundancy system may facilitate including a redundancy tag 504 after applying any of these redundancy protocols over 802.1 layer. This way, the packet forwarded down to the 802.11 layer will be attached with the redundancy tag 504 as an EtherType 502 as shown in FIG. 5. Therefore, for the device supporting 802.1 layer redundancy protocol, this redundancy protocol may be applied to attach a redundancy tag 504 to indicate the redundancy requirement. As a result, the 802.11be MLD can based on the redundancy tag 504, perform frame duplication and transmission over more than one available link; ¶57; In one or more embodiments, the 802.11be MLD receives a frame with redundancy requirement indication (RRI), which is indicated by the above methods or other QoS indication methods, it will duplicate the frame and send it over more than one available links. Note: the duplicated frame should be sent over different links; ¶60).
Claims 2, 12, Fang discloses wherein the operations comprising further comprise:
sending, a second message to the first multi-link device (STA MLD), wherein the second message is determined based on the first message, and the second message indicates transmission modes for the apparatus (AP MLD) to send different types of data (communicating the redundant transmission requirement between the AP MLD and STA MLD to indicate how and to which of the traffic/flow/stream (TS)/TID, the redundancy being applied and on which links the redundant traffic/flow/stream (TS)/TID being transmitted; Therefore, it is important to define an interface to indicate the redundancy requirement and also define a protocol for the MLD that when the MLD receives a frame or TID with redundancy requirement indication, it shall duplicate the frame and send it over more than one available channel. There may also be a need to indicate to the receiver of the frame that redundant transmissions will be performed so that the receiver device will be able to receive multiple frames in the redundant links; ¶22; The interface to indicate the redundant transmission requirement: Besides traffic specification (TSPEC), here, several other different methods are proposed to indicate the redundancy requirement, such as: 1) The redundancy requirement can be carried through any QoS signaling mechanism over one or more 802.11 links. Redundancy requirements may be included as part of low latency or other QoS signaling mechanisms to identify data flows that need the redundancy requirement. The redundancy requirement may also be identified by a certain TID (existing or new TID value) that is associated to a traffic flow that needs high reliability; ¶52-¶54; In one or more embodiments, a multi-link redundancy system may facilitate including a redundancy tag 504 after applying any of these redundancy protocols over 802.1 layer. This way, the packet forwarded down to the 802.11 layer will be attached with the redundancy tag 504 as an EtherType 502 as shown in FIG. 5. Therefore, for the device supporting 802.1 layer redundancy protocol, this redundancy protocol may be applied to attach a redundancy tag 504 to indicate the redundancy requirement. As a result, the 802.11be MLD can based on the redundancy tag 504, perform frame duplication and transmission over more than one available link; ¶57; In one or more embodiments, the 802.11be MLD receives a frame with redundancy requirement indication (RRI), which is indicated by the above methods or other QoS indication methods, it will duplicate the frame and send it over more than one available links. Note: the duplicated frame should be sent over different links; ¶60).
Claims 3, 13, Fang discloses wherein the first message comprises transmission mode information of at least one piece of traffic identifier (TID) type data (communicating the redundant transmission requirement between the AP MLD and STA MLD indicating to which of the traffic/flow/stream (TS)/TID, the redundancy being applied and on which links the redundant traffic/flow/stream (TS)/TID being transmitted; Therefore, it is important to define an interface to indicate the redundancy requirement and also define a protocol for the MLD that when the MLD receives a frame or TID with redundancy requirement indication, it shall duplicate the frame and send it over more than one available channel. There may also be a need to indicate to the receiver of the frame that redundant transmissions will be performed so that the receiver device will be able to receive multiple frames in the redundant links; ¶22; The redundancy requirement can be carried through any QoS signaling mechanism over one or more 802.11 links. Redundancy requirements may be included as part of low latency or other QoS signaling mechanisms to identify data flows that need the redundancy requirement. The redundancy requirement may also be identified by a certain TID (existing or new TID value) that is associated to a traffic flow that needs high reliability; ¶54).
Claims 4, 14, Fang discloses wherein the first message comprises transmission mode information of at least one piece of traffic identifier (TID) type data corresponding to at least one link (communicating the redundant transmission requirement between the AP MLD and STA MLD indicating to which of the traffic/flow/stream (TS)/TID, the redundancy being applied and on which links the redundant traffic/flow/stream (TS)/TID being transmitted; Figs. 2-4 show the duplicated traffic identifier (TID) type data correspondingly transmitted on the first link and the second link; Therefore, it is important to define an interface to indicate the redundancy requirement and also define a protocol for the MLD that when the MLD receives a frame or TID with redundancy requirement indication, it shall duplicate the frame and send it over more than one available channel. There may also be a need to indicate to the receiver of the frame that redundant transmissions will be performed so that the receiver device will be able to receive multiple frames in the redundant links; ¶22; The redundancy requirement can be carried through any QoS signaling mechanism over one or more 802.11 links. Redundancy requirements may be included as part of low latency or other QoS signaling mechanisms to identify data flows that need the redundancy requirement. The redundancy requirement may also be identified by a certain TID (existing or new TID value) that is associated to a traffic flow that needs high reliability; ¶54).
Claims 5, 15, Fang discloses wherein the first message comprises transmission mode information of at least one piece of traffic stream (TS) type data (communicating the redundant transmission requirement between the AP MLD and STA MLD indicating to which of the traffic/flow/stream (TS)/TID, the redundancy being applied and on which links the redundant traffic/flow/stream (TS)/TID being transmitted; The frame or traffic stream with redundancy requirement indication is allowed to be transmitted on multiple links for reliability/low latency reason; ¶19; For a frame or traffic stream with redundancy requirement indication, the 802.11be MLD (multi-link device) shall duplicate the frame and send it over more than one available link; ¶20; In one or more embodiments, it may be assumed that a time-sensitive traffic stream is a higher layer traffic stream that has high reliability and low latency bound/jitter requirements. The QoS requirement is known and indicated to the AP MLD; ¶43; In one or more embodiments, an enhanced retransmission system may facilitate in a downlink case that when the AP MLD receives time-sensitive traffic streams from the higher layer, it will prioritize and transmit time-sensitive packets when it obtains access to the channel over any of its links. As shown in the following figures, when link 1 is busy and link 2 is idle, the AP MLD will schedule the data transmission over link 2. When link 1 is also available, it will transmit (in this case, a copy of) the same packet over link 1 before the AP MLD receives the acknowledge from the non-simultaneous transmit receive (STR) STA MLD; ¶45).
Claims 6, 16, Fang discloses wherein the first message comprises transmission mode information of at least one piece of traffic stream (TS) type data corresponding to at least one link (communicating the redundant transmission requirement between the AP MLD and STA MLD indicating to which of the traffic/flow/stream (TS)/TID, the redundancy being applied and on which links the redundant traffic/flow/stream (TS)/TID being transmitted; Figs. 2-4 show the duplicated traffic stream (TS) type data correspondingly transmitted on the first link and the second link; The frame or traffic stream with redundancy requirement indication is allowed to be transmitted on multiple links for reliability/low latency reason; ¶19; For a frame or traffic stream with redundancy requirement indication, the 802.11be MLD (multi-link device) shall duplicate the frame and send it over more than one available link; ¶20; In one or more embodiments, it may be assumed that a time-sensitive traffic stream is a higher layer traffic stream that has high reliability and low latency bound/jitter requirements. The QoS requirement is known and indicated to the AP MLD; ¶43; In one or more embodiments, an enhanced retransmission system may facilitate in a downlink case that when the AP MLD receives time-sensitive traffic streams from the higher layer, it will prioritize and transmit time-sensitive packets when it obtains access to the channel over any of its links. As shown in the following figures, when link 1 is busy and link 2 is idle, the AP MLD will schedule the data transmission over link 2. When link 1 is also available, it will transmit (in this case, a copy of) the same packet over link 1 before the AP MLD receives the acknowledge from the non-simultaneous transmit receive (STR) STA MLD; ¶45).
Claims 7, 17, Fang discloses wherein the first message comprises one or more of a transmission delay threshold, a transmission packet loss rate threshold, or a buffer size threshold of at least one piece of traffic identifier (TID) type data (communicating the redundant transmission requirement of the traffic identifier (TID) type data QoS transmission parameters such as latency bound corresponding to the links for transmission of the time sensitive stream to meet the latency bound requirement;; The proposed retransmission mechanism will enable 802.11 networks to provide bounded latency and jitter with high reliability in managed scenarios, such as enterprise, factories and some homes deployments. This capability is expected to be one of the main new features in 802.11be and will enable time-sensitive networking (TSN) services and ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) over 802.11be; ¶26; In one or more embodiments, it may be assumed that a time-sensitive traffic stream is a higher layer traffic stream that has high reliability and low latency bound/jitter requirements. The QoS requirement is known and indicated to the AP MLD; ¶43; The redundancy requirement can be carried through any QoS signaling mechanism over one or more 802.11 links. Redundancy requirements may be included as part of low latency or other QoS signaling mechanisms to identify data flows that need the redundancy requirement. The redundancy requirement may also be identified by a certain TID (existing or new TID value) that is associated to a traffic flow that needs high reliability; ¶54; In one or more embodiments, high-availability Seamless Redundancy (HSR), parallel redundancy protocol (PRP) and 802.1CB are redundancy protocols that are defined for time sensitive networks to improve reliability with bounded latency; ¶56; Note: Other QoS requirement related parameters, such as the packet deliver rate, latency bound, can able be defined using the reserved bits in the Redundancy tag information field; ¶58).
Claims 8, 18, Fang discloses wherein the first message comprises one or more of a transmission delay threshold, a transmission packet loss rate threshold, or a buffer size threshold of at least one piece of traffic identifier (TID) type data corresponding to at least one link (communicating the redundant transmission requirement of the traffic identifier (TID) type data QoS transmission parameters such as latency bound corresponding to the links for transmission of the time sensitive stream to meet the latency bound requirement;; The proposed retransmission mechanism will enable 802.11 networks to provide bounded latency and jitter with high reliability in managed scenarios, such as enterprise, factories and some homes deployments. This capability is expected to be one of the main new features in 802.11be and will enable time-sensitive networking (TSN) services and ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) over 802.11be; ¶26; In one or more embodiments, it may be assumed that a time-sensitive traffic stream is a higher layer traffic stream that has high reliability and low latency bound/jitter requirements. The QoS requirement is known and indicated to the AP MLD; ¶43; The redundancy requirement can be carried through any QoS signaling mechanism over one or more 802.11 links. Redundancy requirements may be included as part of low latency or other QoS signaling mechanisms to identify data flows that need the redundancy requirement. The redundancy requirement may also be identified by a certain TID (existing or new TID value) that is associated to a traffic flow that needs high reliability; ¶54; In one or more embodiments, high-availability Seamless Redundancy (HSR), parallel redundancy protocol (PRP) and 802.1CB are redundancy protocols that are defined for time sensitive networks to improve reliability with bounded latency; ¶56; Note: Other QoS requirement related parameters, such as the packet deliver rate, latency bound, can able be defined using the reserved bits in the Redundancy tag information field; ¶58).
Claims 9, 19, Fang discloses wherein the first message comprises one or more of a transmission delay threshold, a transmission packet loss rate threshold, or a buffer size threshold of at least one piece of traffic stream (TS) type data (communicating the redundant transmission requirement of the stream QoS transmission parameters such as latency bound corresponding to the links for transmission of the time sensitive stream to meet the latency bound requirement;; The proposed retransmission mechanism will enable 802.11 networks to provide bounded latency and jitter with high reliability in managed scenarios, such as enterprise, factories and some homes deployments. This capability is expected to be one of the main new features in 802.11be and will enable time-sensitive networking (TSN) services and ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) over 802.11be; ¶26; In one or more embodiments, it may be assumed that a time-sensitive traffic stream is a higher layer traffic stream that has high reliability and low latency bound/jitter requirements. The QoS requirement is known and indicated to the AP MLD; ¶43; In one or more embodiments, high-availability Seamless Redundancy (HSR), parallel redundancy protocol (PRP) and 802.1CB are redundancy protocols that are defined for time sensitive networks to improve reliability with bounded latency; ¶56; Note: Other QoS requirement related parameters, such as the packet deliver rate, latency bound, can able be defined using the reserved bits in the Redundancy tag information field; ¶58).
Claims 10, 20, Fang discloses wherein the first message comprises one or more of a transmission delay threshold, a transmission packet loss rate threshold, or a buffer size threshold of at least one piece of traffic stream (TS) type data corresponding to at least one link (communicating the redundant transmission requirement of the stream QoS transmission parameters such as latency bound corresponding to the links for transmission of the time sensitive stream to meet the latency bound requirement; The proposed retransmission mechanism will enable 802.11 networks to provide bounded latency and jitter with high reliability in managed scenarios, such as enterprise, factories and some homes deployments. This capability is expected to be one of the main new features in 802.11be and will enable time-sensitive networking (TSN) services and ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) over 802.11be; ¶26; In one or more embodiments, it may be assumed that a time-sensitive traffic stream is a higher layer traffic stream that has high reliability and low latency bound/jitter requirements. The QoS requirement is known and indicated to the AP MLD; ¶43; In one or more embodiments, high-availability Seamless Redundancy (HSR), parallel redundancy protocol (PRP) and 802.1CB are redundancy protocols that are defined for time sensitive networks to improve reliability with bounded latency; ¶56; Note: Other QoS requirement related parameters, such as the packet deliver rate, latency bound, can able be defined using the reserved bits in the Redundancy tag information field; ¶58).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/KOUROUSH MOHEBBI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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