DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 2/16/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed on 2/16/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-20 remain pending in the application and rejected.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments on pages 7-8 with respect to claims 1, 8 and 15 have been considered but are moot upon a further consideration and a new ground of rejection made under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Fang (US PGPub 2023/0104554).
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Fang (US PGPub 2023/0104554).
Regarding claims 1, 8 and 15, Fang teaches a method of aiding selection of at least one additional radio link (Fang, see abstract, systems, apparatus and methods that provide transmission information of different APs to a wireless device during link discovery), the method comprising:
establishing a connection using a radio link between a first access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD) and a non-AP MLD (Fang, see paragraph 0089, an STA associates with an AP of an AP MLD operating a BSS on a wireless link (e.g., a 2.4 GHz wireless link));
obtaining a set of indicators for a plurality of radio links, wherein the set of indicators includes key performance indicators for each radio link of the plurality of radio links and available resources via each radio link (Fang, see paragraph 0090, transmission information of another AP operating a different BSS, such as a reported AP affiliated with the AP MLD operating on a different wireless link (e.g., a 5 Ghz or 6 Ghz wireless link). The transmission information of the AP may include beacon transmission parameters, such as beacon Tx power, channel frequency, MCS rate, and/or PPDU type, for example, and the beacon transmission parameters may be carried in a beacon frame received from a reporting AP affiliated with the AP MLD);
forming a list of available radio links based on the key performance indicators and available resources, the list of available radio links being those present on a second AP MLD (Fang, see paragraph 0090, the STA receives transmission information of another AP operating a different BSS, such as a reported AP affiliated with the AP MLD operating on a different wireless link (e.g., a 5 Ghz or 6 Ghz wireless link). The transmission information of the AP may include beacon transmission parameters, such as beacon Tx power, channel frequency, MCS rate, and/or PPDU type, for example, and the beacon transmission parameters may be carried in a beacon frame received from a reporting AP affiliated with the AP MLD);
receiving a request for the at least one additional radio link from the non-AP MLD (Fang, see paragraph 0090, the STA receives transmission information of another AP operating a different BSS, such as a reported AP affiliated with the AP MLD operating on a different wireless link (e.g., a 5 Ghz or 6 Ghz wireless link). the transmission information is included in a RNR or ML element included in a ML probe response); and
sending the list of available radio links to the non-AP MLD, wherein the non-AP MLD selects the at least one additional radio link and makes a connection using the at least one additional radio link on the second AP MLD while maintaining the connection between the first AP MLD and the non-AP MLD (Fang, see paragraphs 0091-0092 and 0099, The STA determines if an available BSS operated by a neighbor or reported AP provides sufficient coverage to the STA. The STA selects an available BSS that is determined to have sufficient coverage to the STA and switches transmission on the selected BSS. The first and second APs perform coordinated transmission according to the coverage information reported in step 1320. For example, the first and second APs can perform coordinated CSR transmission on the 5 GHz wireless link and can perform coordinated multi-AP transmissions, such as forming coordinated transmission groups, performing coordinated spatial reuse, performing coordinated beam forming, performing coordinated joint transmissions, etc.).
Regarding claims 2, 9 and 16, Fang teaches wherein forming the list of available radio links includes executing a function in which the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD exchange information regarding performance characteristics of each AP MLD (Fang, see paragraph 0052, Embodiments of the present invention are drawn to systems, apparatus and methods that provide transmission information of different APs to a wireless device during link discovery).
Regarding claims 3, 10 and 17, Fang teaches wherein the performance characteristics include a channel width, jitter, and a delay encountered over a time interval (Fang, see paragraph 0090, transmission information of another AP operating a different BSS, such as a reported AP affiliated with the AP MLD operating on a different wireless link (e.g., a 5 Ghz or 6 Ghz wireless link). The transmission information of the AP may include beacon transmission parameters, such as beacon Tx power, channel frequency, MCS rate, and/or PPDU type, for example, and the beacon transmission parameters may be carried in a beacon frame received from a reporting AP affiliated with the AP MLD).
Regarding claims 4, 11 and 18, Fang teaches wherein the performance characteristics include a local distance metric based on mean travel time between the first and second AP MLD and between the first and second AP MLDs and a gateway connected to the first and second AP MLD (Fang, see paragraph 0090, transmission information of another AP operating a different BSS, such as a reported AP affiliated with the AP MLD operating on a different wireless link (e.g., a 5 Ghz or 6 Ghz wireless link). The transmission information of the AP may include beacon transmission parameters, such as beacon Tx power, channel frequency, MCS rate, and/or PPDU type, for example, and the beacon transmission parameters may be carried in a beacon frame received from a reporting AP affiliated with the AP MLD).
Regarding claims 5, 12 and 19, Fang teaches wherein the non-AP MLD specifies a set of requirements in the request (Fang, see paragraph 0090, transmission information of another AP operating a different BSS, such as a reported AP affiliated with the AP MLD operating on a different wireless link (e.g., a 5 Ghz or 6 Ghz wireless link). The transmission information of the AP may include beacon transmission parameters, such as beacon Tx power, channel frequency, MCS rate, and/or PPDU type, for example, and the beacon transmission parameters may be carried in a beacon frame received from a reporting AP affiliated with the AP MLD); and
wherein forming the list of available radio links includes sorting the list of available radio links according to the set of requirements (Fang, see paragraph 0090, the STA receives transmission information of another AP operating a different BSS, such as a reported AP affiliated with the AP MLD operating on a different wireless link (e.g., a 5 Ghz or 6 Ghz wireless link). The transmission information of the AP may include beacon transmission parameters, such as beacon Tx power, channel frequency, MCS rate, and/or PPDU type, for example, and the beacon transmission parameters may be carried in a beacon frame received from a reporting AP affiliated with the AP MLD).
Regarding claims 6, 13 and 20, Fang teaches further comprising:
receiving an action frame from the non-AP MLD, the action frame indicating that the list of available radio links is insufficient for the non-AP MLD (Fang, see paragraph 0009, the beacon transmission parameters are carried in an STA Info field of a multi-link (ML) element carried in a beacon frame transmitted by the first AP); and
sending an alternate available radio link to the non-AP MLD (Fang, see paragraph 0010, the beacon transmission parameters include at least one of: a transmit power parameter; a channel bandwidth parameter; and a transmission data rate parameter).
Regarding claims 7 and 14, Fang teaches wherein the available resources include a router coupled via a wired network to the first AP MLD and the second AP MLD (Fang, see paragraph 0090, transmission information of another AP operating a different BSS, such as a reported AP affiliated with the AP MLD operating on a different wireless link (e.g., a 5 Ghz or 6 Ghz wireless link). The transmission information of the AP may include beacon transmission parameters, such as beacon Tx power, channel frequency, MCS rate, and/or PPDU type, for example, and the beacon transmission parameters may be carried in a beacon frame received from a reporting AP affiliated with the AP MLD).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHONG G KIM whose telephone number is (571)270-0619. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri @ 9am - 5pm.
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/CHONG G KIM/Examiner, Art Unit 2443
/CHRISTOPHER B ROBINSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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