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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Claims 1, 8, and 15 are amended.
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, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 11/11/2022 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Regarding 35 U.S.C. 103 applicant’s arguments, see page 9 Section III - page 11 (all), filed October 23, 2025, with respect to claims 1, 8 and 15 have been fully considered and but they are not persuasive.
Regarding claim 1, the applicant first argued that, see page 10 paragraph 2, “ … Claim 1 is patentable over the proposed combination of references cited in the Office Action at least because ethe proposed combination does not disclose or suggest at least the above-emphasized elements of the claims. For example, Figure 6 of Lorgeoux discloses a method of enhanced multi-link (EML) radio operation between an access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) and a non-access point (non-AP) MLD that includes having an EML control field include an EML link bitmap subfield that indicates the set or subset of enabled links that is to be used by the non-AP MLD for EMLMR communication. Lorgeoux, page 4. However, Lorgeoux does not disclose or suggest that the EML control field is configured to indicate that the non-AP MLD intends to operate in the EMLMR mode. Lorgeoux860, Huang, and Lu do not cure the above-identified deficiencies of Lorgeoux. For example, Lorgeoux860 discloses a method of communication between an AP MLD 402 and a non-AP MLD 401 in EML operating modes (OMs) that include sending EMLOM notification frames between the AP MLD 402 and the non-AP MLD 401. Lorgeoux860, par. [0151]. However, Lorgeoux860 does not disclose or suggest that the non-AP MLD 401 send a message that includes an EML control field configured to indicate that the non-AP MLD intends to operate in the EMLMR mode. Similarly, Lu discloses a method of EML operation between an AP MLD and a non-AP MLD by using an EML link bitmap. Lu, page 6. However, Lu does not disclose or suggest that the EML control field that includes an EMLMR link bitmap subfield presence indicator set to indicate that the EML control field indicates that the non-AP MLD intends to operate in the EMLMR mode. For at least these reasons, Claim 1 and its dependent claims are allowable. For similar reasons, Claims 8 and 15 and their respective dependent claims are allowable. The Applicant therefore respectfully requests that the § 103 rejection be withdrawn.”
In response to applicant's argument, the examiner respectfully disagrees with the argument above.
Regarding amended claim 1, Lorgeoux860 clearly teaches A non-access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) (see Fig.6, Fig.14-15, see para. 0358-0352) comprising: stations (STAs) (see Fig.6, Non-AP STAs 131-134, Fig. 14, Non-AP MLD 401, see Fig.15, a communication device 1500, see para. 0364), each comprising a transceiver (see Fig.15, Transmitter and Receiver 1502) and a processor (see Fig.15, CPU 1601) and
wherein a message includes an enhanced multi-link (EML) control field that includes an EMLMR link bitmap subfield presence indicator set to indicate that the EML control field does not include the EMLMR link bitmap subfield as an indication that all of the links are EMLMR links (see Fig.8, steps 800, 810, 865, para. 0284-0290, on the left side, a non-AP MLD performs an association procedure with an AP MLD during which the non-AP MLD declares, at step 800, its capabilities, including all the eligible EMLMR links to the AP MLD. This is done using EMLMR Link Bitmap subfield 229 included the EML capabilities field 220′ of the ML Association Request frame (or in a variant without any bitmap if all the candidate links are eligible EMLMR links). The EMLMR Link Bitmap subfield 229 is thus a declaration bitmap used to declare all the eligible EMLMR links / the EML control field does not include the EMLMR link bitmap subfield as an indication that all of the links are EMLMR links, EML OM Notification frame activates an EMLMR mode by specifying, using EML Link Bitmap field 721, an EMLMR links set, i.e. the set of EMLMR links in which the EMLMR mode applies, see also para. 0257-0258, 0260, 0280-0283), and
the EML control field configured to indicate that the non-AP MLD intends to operate in the EMLMR mode (see para. 0028, the EML Control field includes an EMLMR Mode subfield and an EMLSR mode subfield, and the EMLMR, respectively EMLSR, Mode subfield is set to 1 to indicate that an EMLMR, respectively EMLSR, mode is enabled / the non-AP MLD intends to operate in the EMLMR mode).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 has been amended to recite in lines 13-14, “the EML control field configured to indicate that the non-AP MLD intends to operate in the EMLMR mode”. Lines 11-14 recites, “wherein the message includes an enhanced multi-link (EML) control field that includes an EMLMR link bitmap subfield presence indicator set to indicate that the EML control field does not include the EMLMR link bitmap subfield as an indication that all of the links are EMLMR links”. It is unclear whether “an enhanced multi-link (EML) control field … set to indicate that the EML control field does not include the EMLMR link bitmap subfield as an indication that all of the links are EMLMR links” or “the EML control field configured to indicate that the non-AP MLD intends to operate in the EMLMR mode”. Thus the claim is indefinite.
Claims 10 and 19 are also rejected for the same reason as set forth above for claim 1.
Claims 2-9, 11-18 and 20 are also rejected since they are dependent on the respective independent claims 1, 10, and 19, respectively as set forth above.
For purpose of examination, the examiner interprets the limitation as best understood.
Notice re prior art available under both pre-AIA and AIA
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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, 6-10, 13-17 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lorgeoux et al. (IEEE P802.11, Wireless LANs, CC36 CR for EMLMR Links Sets, 01/14/2022), and further in view of Lorgeoux et al. (US Pub. No.: 2025/0016860, herein after Lorgeoux860).
As per claim 1, Lorgeoux disclose A non-access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD), comprising:
stations (STAs), each configured to form a link with a corresponding AP of an AP MLD, wherein at least a subset of the links are enhanced multi-link multi-radio (EMLMR) links configured to operate in an EMLMR mode of operation; and operably coupled to the STAs, and configured to generate a message including an indication that the subset of the links are EMLMR links, configured to transmit, to the AP MLD, the message before an EMLMR frame exchange (see Section 35.3.17 -- "(#6217)If a non-AP MLD with dot11EHTEMLMROptionlmplemented equal to true intends to switch EMLMR mode on an EMLMR links set after multi-link setup, then a non-AP STA affiliated with the non-AP MLD shall transmit an EML Operating Mode Notification frame with EML Mode subfield equal to 1 or Oto respectively enable or disable EMLMR mode for the EMLMR links set indicated in the EML Link Bitmap subfield").
Lorgeoux however does not explicitly disclose stations (STAs), each comprising a transceiver and a processor and wherein the message includes an enhanced multi-link (EML) control field that includes an EMLMR link bitmap subfield presence indicator set to indicate that the EML control field does not include the EMLMR link bitmap subfield as an indication that all of the links are EMLMR links
Lorgeoux860 however disclose A non-access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) (see Fig.6, Fig.14-15, see para. 0358-0352) comprising: stations (STAs) (see Fig.6, Non-AP STAs 131-134, Fig. 14, Non-AP MLD 401, see Fig.15, a communication device 1500, see para. 0364), each comprising a transceiver (see Fig.15, Transmitter and Receiver 1502) and a processor (see Fig.15, CPU 1601) and
wherein a message includes an enhanced multi-link (EML) control field that includes an EMLMR link bitmap subfield presence indicator set to indicate that the EML control field does not include the EMLMR link bitmap subfield as an indication that all of the links are EMLMR links (see Fig.8, steps 800, 810, 865, para. 0284-0290, on the left side, a non-AP MLD performs an association procedure with an AP MLD during which the non-AP MLD declares, at step 800, its capabilities, including all the eligible EMLMR links to the AP MLD. This is done using EMLMR Link Bitmap subfield 229 included the EML capabilities field 220′ of the ML Association Request frame (or in a variant without any bitmap if all the candidate links are eligible EMLMR links). The EMLMR Link Bitmap subfield 229 is thus a declaration bitmap used to declare all the eligible EMLMR links / the EML control field does not include the EMLMR link bitmap subfield as an indication that all of the links are EMLMR links, EML OM Notification frame activates an EMLMR mode by specifying, using EML Link Bitmap field 721, an EMLMR links set, i.e. the set of EMLMR links in which the EMLMR mode applies, see also para. 0257-0258, 0260, 0280-0283), and
the EML control field configured to indicate that the non-AP MLD intends to operate in the EMLMR mode (see para. 0028, the EML Control field includes an EMLMR Mode subfield and an EMLSR mode subfield, and the EMLMR, respectively EMLSR, Mode subfield is set to 1 to indicate that an EMLMR, respectively EMLSR, mode is enabled / the non-AP MLD intends to operate in the EMLMR mode).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of A non-access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) comprising: stations (STAs), each comprising a transceiver and a processor and wherein a message includes an enhanced multi-link (EML) control field that includes an EMLMR link bitmap subfield presence indicator set to indicate that the EML control field does not include the EMLMR link bitmap subfield as an indication that all of the links are EMLMR links), and the EML control field configured to indicate that the non-AP MLD intends to operate in the EMLMR mode, as taught by Lorgeoux860, in the system of Lorgeoux, so that the way of signaling the EMLMR links in two steps eases the management of multiple EMLMR links sets that non-AP MLD can use alternatively in operation, the latter can first declare all the eligible EMLMR links it intends to use for its various operations in EMLMR modes. This allows for instance the AP MLD to negotiate the eligible EMLMR links given the radio aggregation constraints, as described below. Then, it can specify which ones from them are actually used for a given activation of the EMLMR mode. This indeed allows the non-AP MLD to use whatever EMLMR links set based on the declared eligible EMLMR link, see Lorgeoux860, paragraphs 33-37.
Examiner Note: The prior art reference Sevin (US Pub. No.:2024/0381466) also teaches the above amended limitation, see para. 0172, “When a non-AP MLD 401 supporting an EML OM (EMLSR/EMLMR mode) intends to operate in one of the EML OMs, a STA affiliated with the non-AP MLD 401 transmits an EML OM Notification frame 420 (FIG. 3a) to an AP affiliated with AP MLD 402. If non-AP MLD 401 intends to activate the EMLSR mode, it sets the EMLSR Mode subfield 311 of the EML Control field 300a of frame 420 to 1. If it intends to activate the EMLMR mode, it sets the EMLMR Mode subfield 312 of the EML Control field 300a of frame 420 to 1. In FIG. 4, EMLSR Mode subfield is set to 1 to seek for an activation of the EMLSR mode”, see also para. 0179, 0199, 0206, 0228.
As per claim 2, the combination of Lorgeoux and Lorgeoux860 disclose the non-AP MLD of claim 1.
Lorgeoux further disclose wherein the processor is configured to generate the message as an enhanced multi-link (EML) operating mode notification frame that indicates link identifiers (IDs) of the EMLMR links (see Section 1, During multi-link setup, a first step signaling is performed in EML Capabilities:
- The non-AP MLD signals all the links eligible to any EMLMR mode operation, called eligible EMLMR links. This is done through the subfield called “EMLMR Links Bitmap” which is based on Link IDs.
This first step signaling helps the AP MLD during multi-link setup :- All the eligible EMLMR Links able to aggregate the Tx/Rx NSS signalled in EML capabilities are identified (based on Link IDs).
Once the multi-link setup is completed, it is not mandatory for the AP MLD to store the content of this subfield (i.e. “EMLMR Links Bitmap”)).
As per claim 9, claim 9 is rejected the same way as claim 2.
As per claim 3, the combination of Lorgeoux and Lorgeoux860 disclose the non-AP MLD of claim 2.
Lorgeoux further disclose wherein: the EML operating mode notification frame includes an EML control field that includes an EMLMR link bitmap subfield, and the EMLMR link bitmap subfield indicates which of the links are the EMLMR links (see Fig.9, 144i, EML Control field format (#6217) (#6217)The single one-bit subfield, namely EML Mode subfield, inherits from the declared supported mode (either EMLSR or EMLMR) in the EML Capabilities subfield (see 9.4.2.312.2.2, Figure 9-1002h): EML Mode subfield indicates the activation or deactivation of the sole EML OM supported as declared during the association procedure).
As per claim 6, the combination of Lorgeoux and Lorgeoux860 disclose the non-AP MLD of claim 1.
Lorgeoux860 further disclose wherein: the processor is configured to generate the message as an EML operating mode notification frame, and the EML operating mode notification frame serves as an indication that all of the links are EMLMR links (see para. 0170, a non-AP MLD declares EMLMR capabilities in a ML Association Request, with a set of eligible EMLMR links. Eligible EMLMR links form part or all of the candidate links for set up with an AP MLD. The latter replies with a ML Association Response setting up candidate links and signalling which eligible EMLMR links are accepted. The signalling may involve a Status Code per each link. In operation, the non-AP MLD may then send one or more EML OM Notification frames requesting an activation of an EMLMR mode. Such a frame includes an EML Link bitmap specifying the EMLMR links set to be used. Two EMLMR modes with two separate and disjoint EMLMR links sets can then be activated simultaneously, see also para. 0030-0037, 0077, 0092).
As per claim 7, the combination of Lorgeoux and Lorgeoux860 disclose the non-AP MLD of claim 1.
Lorgeoux860 further disclose the processor is configured to generate the message as a basic multi-link element that indicates link IDs of the EMLMR links (see Fig.2, Fig.5, para. 0122, 0133, 0162, 0184, Basic variant Multi-Link element 200 includes Element ID field, Length field (enabling to know the presence or not of the optional fields as well as the number of Per-STA profiles in field), Element ID Extension field, Multi-Link Control field, optional Common Info field 210 and optional Link Info field 250, see also para. 0258, 0263, 0292).
As per claim 8, Lorgeoux disclose An access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD), comprising: APs, each configured to form a link with a corresponding station (STA) of a non-AP MLD, wherein at least one of the transceivers is configured to receive, from the non-AP MLD, a message including an indication that at least a subset of the links are enhanced multi-link multi-radio (EMLMR) links configured to operate in an EMLMR mode of operation; and operably coupled to the APs, the processor configured to select one of the EMLMR links on which to initiate an EMLMR frame exchange (see Section 35.3.17 -- "(#6217)If a non-AP MLD with dot11EHTEMLMROptionlmplemented equal to true intends to switch EMLMR mode on an EMLMR links set after multi-link setup, then a non-AP STA affiliated with the non-AP MLD shall transmit an EML Operating Mode Notification frame with EML Mode subfield equal to 1 or Oto respectively enable or disable EMLMR mode for the EMLMR links set indicated in the EML Link Bitmap subfield”).
Lorgeoux however does not explicitly disclose APs, each comprising a transceiver and a processor,
Lorgeoux860 however disclose An access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) (see Fig.6, Fig.15, see para. 0358-0352), comprising: APs (see Fig.6, AP 1 – AP 4), each comprising a transceiver (see Fig.15, Transmitter and Receiver 1502) and a processor (see Fig.15, CPU 1601).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of An access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) comprising: APs, each comprising a transceiver and a processor, as taught by Lorgeoux860, in the system of Lorgeoux, so that the way of signaling the EMLMR links in two steps eases the management of multiple EMLMR links sets that non-AP MLD can use alternatively in operation, the latter can first declare all the eligible EMLMR links it intends to use for its various operations in EMLMR modes. This allows for instance the AP MLD to negotiate the eligible EMLMR links given the radio aggregation constraints, as described below. Then, it can specify which ones from them are actually used for a given activation of the EMLMR mode. This indeed allows the non-AP MLD to use whatever EMLMR links set based on the declared eligible EMLMR link, see Lorgeoux860, paragraphs 33-37.
As per claim 9, claim 9 is rejected the same way as claim 2.
As per claim 10, claim 10 is rejected the same way as claim 3.
As per claim 13, claim 13 is rejected the same way as claim 6.
As per claim 14, claim 14 is rejected the same way as claim 7.
As per claim 15, claim 15 is rejected the same way as claim 1.
As per claim 16, claim 16 is rejected the same way as claim 2.
As per claim 17, claim 17 is rejected the same way as claim 3.
As per claim 20, claim 20 is rejected the same way as claim 6.
Claims 4, 11 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lorgeoux et al. (IEEE P802.11, Wireless LANs, CC36 CR for EMLMR Links Sets, 01/14/2022), in view of Lorgeoux et al. (US Pub. No.: 2025/0016860, herein after Lorgeoux860) and further in view of Huang et al (US Pub. No.:2024/0298247).
As per claim 4, the combination of Lorgeoux and Lorgeoux860 disclose the non-AP MLD of claim 2.
The combination of Lorgeoux and Lorgeoux860 however does not explicitly disclose wherein the EML operating mode notification frame includes an EML control field that includes an EMLMR link bitmap subfield presence indicator that indicates whether the EML control field includes an EMLMR link bitmap subfield indicating which of the links are the EMLMR links.
Huang however disclose wherein an EML operating mode notification frame includes an EML control field that includes an EMLMR link bitmap subfield presence indicator that indicates whether the EML control field includes an EMLMR link bitmap subfield indicating which of the links are the EMLMR links (see Fig.10 para. 0168, FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a frame format of the TID-to-link mapping element according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 10, the TID-to-link mapping element includes an element identifier field, a length field, an element identifier extension field, a TID-to-link mapping control field, and the like. The TID-to-link mapping control field includes a direction subfield, a default link mapping bit, and a link mapping presence indicator subfield. When the direction subfield is set to 0, it indicates an uplink. When the direction subfield is set to 1, it indicates a downlink. When the direction subfield is set to 2, it indicates an uplink and a downlink. When the direction subfield is set to 3, 3 is a reserved value. The default link mapping bit indicates whether to map all TIDs to all links. When the default link mapping bit is set to 1, it indicates that all the TIDs are mapped to all the links. For example, it is assumed that there are three links between the non-AP MLD and the AP MLD: link 1, link 2, and link 3. When the default link mapping bit is set to 1, it indicates that TIDs 0 to 7 are mapped to the link 1, the TIDs 0 to 7 are mapped to the link 2, and the TIDs 0 to 7 are mapped to the link 3. The link mapping presence indicator field indicates link mapping corresponding to each TID (namely, Link Mapping of TID #n, where n ranges from 0 to 7). When the default link mapping bit is set to 1, the link mapping presence indicator field is reserved or unused. When link mapping of TID #n exists in the TID-to-link mapping element, link mapping of TID #n indicates whether the TID #n is mapped to a corresponding link. When a corresponding bit is set to 1, it indicates that the TID #n is mapped to the corresponding link, see also para. 0005, 0057, 0062).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide wherein an EML operating mode notification frame includes an EML control field that includes an EMLMR link bitmap subfield presence indicator that indicates whether the EML control field includes an EMLMR link bitmap subfield indicating which of the links are the EMLMR links, as taught by Huang, in the system of Lorgeoux and Lorgeoux860, so that the way of signaling the EMLMR links in two steps eases the management of multiple EMLMR links sets that non-AP MLD can use alternatively in operation, the latter can first declare all the eligible EMLMR links it intends to use for its various operations in EMLMR modes. This allows for instance the AP MLD to negotiate the eligible EMLMR links given the radio aggregation constraints, as described below. Then, it can specify which ones from them are actually used for a given activation of the EMLMR mode. This indeed allows the non-AP MLD to use whatever EMLMR links set based on the declared eligible EMLMR link, see Huang, paragraphs 33-37.
As per claim 11, claim 11 is rejected the same way as claim 4.
As per claim 18, claim 18 is rejected the same way as claim 4.
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SECOND REJECTION:
Claims 1, 8 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lu ("CC36 CR for EMLMR Links", IEEE Draft; 11-21-1840-02-00be-cc36-cr-for-emlmr-links, IEEE-SA mentor, Piscataway, NJ USA, vol. 802.11 EHT; 802.11be, no. 2, 6 December 2021 (2021-12-06), pages 1-7, 12/06/2021), and further in view of Lorgeoux et al. (US Pub. No.: 2025/0016860, herein after Lorgeoux860).
As per claim 1, Lu disclose A non-access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD), comprising:
stations (STAs), each configured to form a link with a corresponding AP of an AP MLD, wherein at least a subset of the links are enhanced multi-link multi-radio (EMLMR) links configured to operate in an EMLMR mode of operation; and operably coupled to the STAs, the processor configured to generate a message including an indication that the subset of the links are EMLMR links, wherein at least one of the transceivers is further configured to transmit, to the AP MLD, the message before an EMLMR frame exchange (see page 6, a non-access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) configured to operate in an EMLMR mode on a specified set of enabled links between a non-AP MLD and its associated AP MLD, see also page 7, "when a non-AP MLD operates in the EMLMR mode, after initial frame exchange subject to its per-link spatial stream capabilities and operating mode on one of the EMLMR links, the non-AP MLD shall be able to support the following until the end of the frame exchange sequence initiated by the initial frame exchange", and see page 8: "receive PPDUs with the number of spatial streams up to the value as indicated in the EMLMR Supported MCS And NSS Set subfield of the Common Info field of transmitted Basic Multi-Link element at a time on the link for which the initial frame exchange was made").
Lu however does not explicitly disclose stations (STAs), each comprising a transceiver and a processor, and wherein the message includes an enhanced multi-link (EML) control field that includes an EMLMR link bitmap subfield presence indicator set to indicate that the EML control field does not include the EMLMR link bitmap subfield as an indication that all of the links are EMLMR links, and the EML control field configured to indicate that the non-AP MLD intends to operate in the EMLMR mode.
Lorgeoux860 however disclose A non-access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) (see Fig.6, Fig.14, see para. 0358-0352) comprising: stations (STAs) (see Fig.6, Non-AP STAs 131-134, Fig. 14, Non-AP MLD 401, see Fig.15, a communication device 1500, see para. 0364), each comprising a transceiver (see Fig.15, Transmitter and Receiver 1502) and a processor (see Fig.15, CPU 1601) and
wherein a message includes an enhanced multi-link (EML) control field that includes an EMLMR link bitmap subfield presence indicator set to indicate that the EML control field does not include the EMLMR link bitmap subfield as an indication that all of the links are EMLMR links (see Fig.8, steps 800, 810, 865, para. 0284-0290, on the left side, a non-AP MLD performs an association procedure with an AP MLD during which the non-AP MLD declares, at step 800, its capabilities, including all the eligible EMLMR links to the AP MLD. This is done using EMLMR Link Bitmap subfield 229 included the EML capabilities field 220′ of the ML Association Request frame (or in a variant without any bitmap if all the candidate links are eligible EMLMR links). The EMLMR Link Bitmap subfield 229 is thus a declaration bitmap used to declare all the eligible EMLMR links / the EML control field does not include the EMLMR link bitmap subfield as an indication that all of the links are EMLMR links, EML OM Notification frame activates an EMLMR mode by specifying, using EML Link Bitmap field 721, an EMLMR links set, i.e. the set of EMLMR links in which the EMLMR mode applies, see also para. 0257-0258, 0260, 0280-0283), and
the EML control field configured to indicate that the non-AP MLD intends to operate in the EMLMR mode (see para. 0028, the EML Control field includes an EMLMR Mode subfield and an EMLSR mode subfield, and the EMLMR, respectively EMLSR, Mode subfield is set to 1 to indicate that an EMLMR, respectively EMLSR, mode is enabled / the non-AP MLD intends to operate in the EMLMR mode).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of A non-access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) comprising: stations (STAs), each comprising a transceiver and a processor and wherein a message includes an enhanced multi-link (EML) control field that includes an EMLMR link bitmap subfield presence indicator set to indicate that the EML control field does not include the EMLMR link bitmap subfield as an indication that all of the links are EMLMR links, and the EML control field configured to indicate that the non-AP MLD intends to operate in the EMLMR mode, as taught by Lorgeoux860, in the system of Lu, so that the way of signaling the EMLMR links in two steps eases the management of multiple EMLMR links sets that non-AP MLD can use alternatively in operation, the latter can first declare all the eligible EMLMR links it intends to use for its various operations in EMLMR modes. This allows for instance the AP MLD to negotiate the eligible EMLMR links given the radio aggregation constraints, as described below. Then, it can specify which ones from them are actually used for a given activation of the EMLMR mode. This indeed allows the non-AP MLD to use whatever EMLMR links set based on the declared eligible EMLMR link, see Lorgeoux860, paragraphs 33-37.
As per claim 8, claim 8 is rejected the same way as claim 1. Claim 8 relates to an access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD). The features of claim 8 are substantially the same as those of claim l and further comprise 'selecting one of EMLMR links on which to initiate an EMLMR frame exchange'. However, the different feature would be easily derived from the disclosure of DI (see page 7: "an AP of an AP MLD transmits a PPDU that initiates a frame exchange with a non-AP MLD operating in EMLMR mode").
As per claim 15, claim 15 is rejected the same way as claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 12 and 19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sevin (US Pub. No.:2024/0381466) – see para. 0050-0058, “… a communication method in a wireless network, comprises at a requesting multi-link device, MLD: [0051] sending, to a requested MLD, a requesting Enhanced Multi-Link, EML, Operating Mode, OM, Notification frame requesting an activation or deactivation of an EML Single-Radio, EMLSR, OM or of an EML Multi-Radio, EMLMR, OM, [0052] wherein the requesting EML OM Notification frame includes a single bitmap subfield that indicates either a set of links to be used in the EMLSR OM if the requesting EML OM Notification frame requests an activation of the EMLSR OM or a set of links to be used in the EMLMR OM if the requesting EML OM Notification frame requests an activation of the EMLMR OM”.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAKERAM JANGBAHADUR whose telephone number is (571)272-1335. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7 am - 4 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian Moore can be reached on 571-272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LAKERAM JANGBAHADUR/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469