DETAILED ACTION
Responsive to the Applicant reply filed on 12/29/2025, Applicant's amendments to claims have been entered and respective arguments carefully considered and responded in following:
On this Office Action, claims 1, 4-11 and 14-19 consisting of independent claims 1, 11 and 19.
Claims 1, 4-11 and 14-19 are pending.
Claims 1, 4-11 and 14-19 are rejected under the 35 USC § 103.
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 .
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application, parent Application No. 63/022,256,filed on 05/08/2020, under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 12/29/2025 has been entered.
Claims 1, 4-6, 11, 14, 15, 16 and 19 have been amended.
Claims 2-3, 12-13 and 20 have been canceled.
Response to Arguments
Applicants arguments, see amended independent claims and Applicant’s Remarks regarding the newly added limitation have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. Upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is presented in this Office Action. For a comprehensive understanding of rejection, please refer to the 35 U.S.C. § 103 section below.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 5-6, 11, 14-16, and 19 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites “the apparatus comprising processing circuitry coupled to storage.” It should be “the apparatus comprising processing circuitry coupled to a storage.”
Claims 1, 11 and 19 recite “the KDE comprises one or more repetitions of a Link ID field.” The abbreviation needs to be spelled out.
Claim 5 recites “an STA MAC KDE.” It should be “an STA MAC address KDE.”
Claims 6 and 16 recite “a multi-link group temporal key (GTK) KDE, a multi-link integrity group temporal key (IGTK) KDE, or a multi-link beacon integrity group transient key (BIGTK) KDE are used in message 3 of the FT 4-way handshake.” It should be “a multi-link group temporal key (GTK) KDE, a multi-link integrity group temporal key (IGTK) KDE, or a multi-link beacon integrity group transient key (BIGTK) KDE is used in message 3 of the FT 4-way handshake.”
Claims 14 and 15 should be amended in the same manner as claims 4 and 5.
Appropriate correction is required.
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, 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 4-6, 8-11, 14-16 and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GAN et al. (US 20230024407 A1 hereinafter “Gan”, PCT application with Prior Filing Date on 04/03/2020) in view of Ho et al. (US 20210282007 A1, Provisional application, 62/985311, filed on Mar. 4, 2020 hereinafter “Provisional_Ho”).
Regarding claim 1, (Currently Amended) Gan discloses an apparatus of a non-access point (AP) station device (STA), the apparatus comprising processing circuitry coupled to storage, the processing circuitry configured to (Gan: Fig. 11 and [0376] A station (non-AP), a current AP (current AP) associated with the station, and a target AP (Target AP) to which the station needs to be transitioned are included in the method; [0406] The components shown in FIG. 15 may include at least one processor 1501, a memory 1502, a transceiver 1503, and a communication bus 1504):
initiate a fast transition from the current AP to a target AP, wherein at least one of the current AP or the target AP is a multi-link device (MLD) having a plurality of links associated with a plurality of APs affiliated with an AP MLD (Gan: [0376-0383 and 0379] Step S1101: The Station Sends a Fast Transition (Fast Transition, FT) Request (Request) Frame to the Current AP. The current AP parses the FT action frame to obtain the first address information carried in the FT action frame; and sends the first address information obtained through parsing to the target AP (Target AP) (“initiate a fast transition from the current AP to a target AP”). The first address information includes a MAC address of an MLD to which the station is affiliated (“multi-link device (MLD)”); [0381] if the station is a station in a station MLD, and the target AP is an AP in an AP multi-link device (“multi-link device (MLD)”));
include a multi-link element in a reassociation request frame or a reassociation response frame, wherein the multi-link element is present when the target AP is the AP MLD (Gan: [0383 and 0384] Step S1103: The Station Sends a Reassociation Request Frame to the Target AP. A current AP address field in the reassociation request frame carries a MAC address of an MLD to which the current AP is affiliated; [0385] Step S1104: The Target AP Replies with a Reassociation Response Frame to the Current Station); and
perform a transition from the current AP to the target AP (Gan: [0392] The method shown in FIG. 11 is for fast transition from a station multi-link device to an AP multi-link device, from a station to an AP multi-link device, or from a station multi-link device to an AP, to help all stations in the multi-link device participate in fast transition).
However, Gan does not disclose, Provisional_Ho, in a same field of endeavor, discloses the apparatus, wherein perform an initial association with a current AP during an over-the-air fast basic service set (BSS) (FT) transition, wherein the initial association comprises exchanging a key data encapsulation (KDE) in message 2 and message 3 of a fast basic service set transition (FT) 4- way handshake (Provisional_Ho: Fig. 5 and [0053-0055] At time t7, the STA MLD may be authenticated and associated with the AP MLD and may proceed to execute a security protocol, such as a four-way handshake operation, with the AP MLD (“message 2 of a fast basic service set transition (FT) 4- way handshake”, refer to t7- t14 in Fig. 5). In response to the first EAPoL message, the STA MLD transmits a second EAPoL message (“msg 2”) to the AP MLD at time t8. The second EAPoL message may include one or more of a STA nonce (SNonce) or a message integrity code (MIC). In some implementations, the second EAPoL message may further include a set of first key data encapsulations (KDEs) (“exchanging a key data encapsulation (KDE)”); [0077] In response to the second EAPoL message, the AP MLD transmits a third EAPoL message (“msg 3”) to the STA MLD at time t1 (“message 3 of a fast basic service set transition (FT) 4- way handshake”, refer to t7- t14 in Fig. 5); [0064] In some implementations, one or more of the AP MLD and the STA MLD may perform another association or reassociation process. For example, the STA MLD may reassociate with an AP other than the AP MLD via a fast roaming or fast BSS transition (FT) (“fast basic service set (BSS) (FT) transition”) or a fast initial link setup (FILS), during which the STA MLD and/or the other AP may exchange information, such as one or more MAC addresses), and
wherein the KDE comprises one or more repetitions of a Link ID field coupled with station device (STA) medium access control (MAC) address fields (Provisional_Ho: [0050 and 0055] At time t5, the STA MLD may transmit an association request to the AP MLD. In some implementations, the association request may include the MAC addresses of each of the STAs that belong to the STA MLD (“the STA MAC addresses”). As described above, each of the STAs may operate on a respective one of the communication links between the AP MLD and the STA MLD (“one link ID a link of the AP MLD plus STA MAC address fields for the link”). In some aspects, the STA MLD may encapsulate a plurality of first MAC addresses in the set of first KDEs. At time t9, the AP MLD may confirm that each of the plurality of first MAC addresses matches a respective one of the STA MAC addresses received in the association request at time t5 (“KDE comprises one link ID”). In this manner, the AP MLD may verify the authenticity of the STA MAC addresses exchanged during the association process).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the fast BSS transition method based on a DS system disclosed by Gan with the teachings of Provisional_Ho to perform an initial association with a current AP during an over-the-air fast basic service set (BSS) (FT) transition, wherein the initial association comprises exchanging a key data encapsulation (KDE) in message 2 and message 3 of a fast basic service set transition (FT) 4- way handshake, and wherein the KDE comprises one or more repetitions of a Link ID field coupled with station device (STA) medium access control (MAC) address fields. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because the devices may perform a security protocol known as the “four-way handshake” to generate encryption keys that the AP and the STA may use to protect the data carried in the subsequently exchanged data frames (para. 0013).
Regarding claim 4, (Currently Amended) the combination of Gan and Provisional_Ho teaches all elements of the current invention as stated above. Provisional_Ho discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein a non-AP MLD is configured to include the STA MAC address KDE for a different link in message 2 of the FT 4-way handshake (Provisional_Ho: [0053-0055] At time t7, the wireless station (STA) MLD (“non-AP MLD”) may be authenticated and associated with the AP MLD and may proceed to execute a security protocol, such as a four-way handshake operation, with the AP MLD. In the example of FIG. 5, the AP MLD and the STA MLD each generate a pairwise transient key (PTK) based on exchanging four Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) over LAN (EAPoL) messages during the four-way handshake operation (“FT 4-way handshake”). In response to the first EAPoL message, the STA MLD transmits a second EAPoL message (“msg 2”) to the AP MLD at time t8 (“a different link in message 2 of the FT 4-way handshake”). In some implementations, the second EAPoL message may further include a set of first key data encapsulations (KDEs). The plurality of first MAC addresses may include an MLD address of the ST A MLD and the MAC addresses of each of the ST As belonging to the STA MLD).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the fast BSS transition method based on a DS system disclosed by Gan with the teachings of Provisional_Ho to include a non-AP MLD that is configured to include the STA MAC address KDE for a different link in message 2 of the FT 4-way handshake. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because the apparatus may perform a security protocol known as the “four-way handshake” to generate encryption keys that the AP and the STA may use to protect the data carried in the subsequently exchanged data frames (Provisional_Ho: para. 0013).
Regarding claim 5, (Currently Amended) the combination of Gan and Provisional_Ho teaches all elements of the current invention as stated above. Provisional_Ho discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the AP MLD is configured to include an STA MAC KDE for a different link in message 3 of the FT 4-way handshake (Provisional_Ho: Fig. 5 and [0053] At time t7, the wireless station (STA) MLD (“non-AP MLD”) may be authenticated and associated with the AP MLD and may proceed to execute a security protocol, such as a four-way handshake operation, with the AP MLD. In the example of FIG. 5, the AP MLD and the STA MLD each generate a pairwise transient key (PTK) based on exchanging four Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) over LAN (EAPoL) messages during the four-way handshake operation (“FT 4-way handshake”); [0057-0058] In response to the second EAPoL message, the AP MLD transmits a third EAPoL message ("msg 3") to the STA MLD at time t11 (“an STA MAC KDE for a different link in message 3”). The third EAPoL message may include a group temporal key (GTK) secured or encrypted with the PTK. In some implementations, the third EAPoL message may further include a set of second KDEs. In some aspects, the AP MLD may encapsulate a plurality of second MAC addresses in the set of second KDEs. The plurality of second MAC addresses may include an MLD address of the AP MLD and the MAC addresses of each of the APs belonging to the AP MLD).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the fast BSS transition method based on a DS system disclosed by Gan with the teachings of Provisional_Ho to include the AP MLD that is configured to include an STA MAC address key data encapsulation (KDE) for a different link in message 3 of the FT 4-way handshake. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because the apparatus may perform a security protocol known as the “four-way handshake” to generate encryption keys that the AP and the STA may use to protect the data carried in the subsequently exchanged data frames (Provisional_Ho: para. 0013).
Regarding claim 6, (Currently Amended) the combination of Gan and Provisional_Ho teaches all elements of the current invention as stated above. Provisional_Ho discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein a multi-link group temporal key (GTK) KDE, a multi-link integrity group temporal key (IGTK) KDE, or a multi-link beacon integrity group transient key (BIGTK) KDE are used in message 3 of the FT 4-way handshake each comprising one link ID associated with a link of the AP MLD (Provisional_Ho: Fig. 5 and [0053] At time t7, the wireless station (STA) MLD (“non-AP MLD”) may be authenticated and associated with the AP MLD and may proceed to execute a security protocol, such as a four-way handshake operation, with the AP MLD. In the example of FIG. 5, the AP MLD and the STA MLD each generate a pairwise transient key (PTK) based on exchanging four Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) over LAN (EAPoL) messages during the four-way handshake operation (“FT 4-way handshake”); [0057] In response to the second EAPoL message, the AP MLD transmits a third EAPoL message (“msg 3”) to the STA MLD at time t11. The third EAPoL message may include a group temporal key (GTK) secured (“a multi-link group temporal key (GTK) are used in message 3 of the FT 4-way handshake”) or encrypted with the PTK).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the fast BSS transition method based on a DS system disclosed by Gan with the teachings of Provisional_Ho to include a multi-link group temporal key (GTK) KDE, a multi-link integrity group temporal key (IGTK) KDE, or a multi-link beacon integrity group transient key (BIGTK) KDE are used in message 3 of the FT 4-way handshake each comprising one link ID associated with a link of the AP MLD. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because the apparatus may perform a security protocol known as the “four-way handshake” to generate encryption keys that the AP and the STA may use to protect the data carried in the subsequently exchanged data frames (Provisional_Ho: para. 0013).
Regarding claim 8, (Previously Presented) the combination of Gan and Provisional_Ho teaches all elements of the current invention as stated above. Gan further discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein each AP affiliated with the AP MLD shares the same service set identifier (SSID) and is part of a same extended service set (ESS) (Gan: [0177] The AP may carry a plurality of neighbor report elements to indicate related information of a plurality of neighbor APs. It can be learned from FIG. 3(c) that the neighbor report element may include the following fields: a BSSID info. [0183] The BSSID info (BSSID information) field carries the following information fields: a member of ESS with 2.4/5 GHz co-located AP (ESS (extended service set, extended service set) in which the 2.4/5 GHz co-located AP is located) field indicating whether the neighbor AP is a member of an extended service set with 2.4/5 GHz AP co-located).
Regarding claim 9, (Original) the combination of Gan and Provisional_Ho teaches all elements of the current invention as stated above. Gan discloses the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit and receive wireless signals (Gan: [0112] The transceiver is configured to send and receive information, or is configured to communicate with another network element).
Regarding claim 10, (Original) the combination of Gan and Provisional_Ho teaches all elements of the current invention as stated above. Gan discloses the apparatus of claim 9, further comprising an antenna coupled to the transceiver (Gan: [0154 and 0159] the multi-link device in this embodiment of this application may be a single-antenna device, or may be a multi-antenna device. For example, the multi-link device may be a device with more than two antennas. the multi-link STA in embodiments of this application has a wireless transceiver function, may support the 802.11 series protocols, and may communicate with the multi-link AP).
Regarding independent claims 11 and 19, (Currently Amended) they each recite a non-transitory readable storage medium having a plurality of computer executable instructions and a method claims that respectively corresponds to claim 1. Therefore, these claims are rejected for at least the same reasons as the apparatus of claim 1.
Regarding claim 14, (Original) it is a non-transitory readable storage medium having a plurality of computer executable instructions claim that corresponds to claim 4. Therefore, the claim is rejected for at least the same reasons as the apparatus of claim 4.
Regarding claim 15, (Original) it is a non-transitory readable storage medium having a plurality of computer executable instructions claim that corresponds to claim 5. Therefore, the claim is rejected for at least the same reasons as the apparatus of claim 5.
Regarding claim 16, (Original) it is a non-transitory readable storage medium having a plurality of computer executable instructions claim that corresponds to claim 6. Therefore, the claim is rejected for at least the same reasons as the apparatus of claim 6.
Regarding claim 18, (Original) it is a non-transitory readable storage medium having a plurality of computer executable instructions claim that corresponds to claim 8. Therefore, the claim is rejected for at least the same reasons as the apparatus of claim 8.
Claims 7 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GAN et al. (US 20230024407 A1 hereinafter “Gan”, PCT application with Prior Filing Date on 04/03/2020) in view of Ho et al. (US 20210282007 A1, Provisional application, 62/985311, filed on Mar. 4, 2020 hereinafter “Provisional_Ho”), and further in view of (IEEE Std 802.11™-2012, Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, hereinafter “IEEE_2012”).
Regarding claim 7, (Original) the combination of Gan and Provisional_Ho teaches all elements of the current invention as stated above. However, the combination does not teach, IEEE_2012, in a same field of endeavor, discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the non-AP STA is a fast basic service set transition originator (FTO) (IEEE_2012: PP.1308, [A] The FT protocols require information to be exchanged during the initial association ( or a later reassociation) between a STA (known as the FT Originator (FTO)) and AP. The initial exchange is referred to as the FT initial mobility domain association).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the fast BSS transition method based on a DS system disclosed by Gan with the teachings of IEEE_2012 to include the non-AP STA that is a fast basic service set transition originator (FTO). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because the apparatus may drastically reduce handover latency, uninterrupted voice/video calls, improved VoIP call quality, and pre-negotiated encryption keys, preventing full re-authentication during roaming.
Regarding claim 17, (Original) it is a non-transitory readable storage medium having a plurality of computer executable instructions claim that corresponds to claim 7. Therefore, the claim is rejected for at least the same reasons as the apparatus of claim 7.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Huang et al. (US 20200267541 A1): [0099] For IGTK, a separate integrity group transient key packet number (IPN) is maintained. When management frame protection is negotiated, the receiver may maintain a 48-bit replay counter for each IGTK. The receiver may set the receive replay counter to the value of the IPN in the IGTK key data encapsulation (KDE) provided by the Authenticator in the 4-way handshake, FT 4-way handshake, FT handshake, group key handshake, or fast initial link setup (FILS) authentication. The transmitter may maintain a single IPN for each IGTK.
Huang et al. (US 20210120602 A1): [0062] FIG. 4 illustrates an FT initial mobility domain setup in accordance with some aspects. In particular, FIG. 4 illustrates a flow for the initial association in an RSN between a STA and an AP, including an authentication request/response exchange to achieve open system authentication, which admits any STA to the DS. After the authentication request/response exchange, an association request/response is used to exchange mobility domain information in mobility domain element (MDE) and FT information in a Fast BSS Transition element (FTE). Then 802.1X EAP authentication is used to generate Pairwise Master Key (PMK)-R0, to be used to generate any PMK-R1, and PMK-R1 between the pair of AP and STA. A FT 4-way handshake is used to generate the Pairwise Transit Key (PTK) and deliver GTK, IGTK, BIGTK.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW SUH whose telephone number is (571)270-5524. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 AM- 5:00 PM.
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/ANDREW SUH/Examiner, Art Unit 2493