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 .
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed 04/28/2026 has been entered.
Claims 2-3, 7-8, 10-11, 13-14, 16-17 and 19-20 have been canceled.
Claims 1, 4-6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 have been amended.
Claims 21-32 have been added.
Claims 1, 4-6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21-32 remain pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 4-6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21-32 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claims 1, 4-6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 24-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xin et al. (US 20220053560 A1) in view of Kim et al. (US 20230083599 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Xin teaches a request sending method (non-AP STA sharing its TXOP within its associated BSS and requests a P2P transmission during the shared TXOP by sending a P2P-BSR frame, [0217], Fig. 42), wherein the method comprises:
generating, by a non-access point multi-link device (e.g. MLD#4 and his affiliate STA4, Fig. 20), a request (STA4 gains channel access 652 and sends a P2P-BSR frame 656 to the AP, [0219]), wherein the request requests for a duration of direct transmission performed by a first affiliated non-access point station (STA requests to share its TXOP within the BSS and requests a P2P transmission during the shared TXOP… A Requested time field indicates the time requested by the STA to access the channel, [0220]), the first direct link is a link between a first target non-AP STA and the first affiliated non-AP STA of the non-AP MLD (The P2P transmission of STA4 is transmitted over RU3 to STA5, [0221], Fig. 20); and
sending, by the non-AP MLD, the request to an access point multi-link device (AP MLD) on a first uplink or downlink (STA4 gains channel access 652 and sends a P2P-BSR frame 656 to the AP, [0219] and STA1 collects buffer status on Link1 by sending a BSRP 1038 and receives various BSR responses, [0265], STA 1 and STA 1′ are affiliated with AP MLD1, [0126]; Fig. 20).
However, Xin does not clearly teach wherein the request comprises link information, and the link information indicates the first direct link that carries the direct transmission of which the request requests for the duration, wherein the link information is an identifier of the first direct link or a bitmap.
In an analogous art, Kim teaches wherein the request comprises link information, and the link information indicates the first direct link that carries the direct transmission of which the request requests for the duration (AP MLD may provide an OPS duration which is different for each link ID through the OPS element. That is, a different OPS duration may be set according to a link id. A ‘multi-OP duration per link field may indicate a different OPS duration value for each link, based on the link id and the OPS duration, [0351], Fig. 28), wherein the link information is an identifier of the first direct link or a bitmap (in a bitmap control field and a partial virtual bitmap field, information related to STAs of all links provided by the AP MLD may be indicated using a bitmap. An STA which has received the TIM element may identify a bitmap order of links to which the STA is connected, based on the ‘the number of links’ field, [0340], Fig. 26).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the p2p transmission of Xin with the link bitmap of Kim to provide an extreme high throughput to use a wide bandwidth and/or a multi-link operation to support a high throughput and a high data rate as suggested, Kim [0004].
Regarding claim 4, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the method according to claim 2, wherein the request comprises transmission duration information, the transmission duration information indicates a first transmission duration, and the first transmission duration is the duration of direct transmission performed by the first affiliated non-AP STA of the non-AP MLD on the first direct link (A Requested time field indicates the time requested by the STA to access the channel upon receiving the TF from the A STA requests to share its TXOP within the BSS and requests a P2P transmission during the shared TXOP, Xin [0220]).
Regarding claim 24, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the method according to claim 4, wherein the first transmission duration is a normalized time length (TXOP sharing time 654 of Xin Fig. 42).
Regarding claim 25, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the method according to claim 24, wherein the normalized time length is determined based on a reference bandwidth and a reference rate (is possible that the BSR frames shall be carried in the same PPDU format with the same packet length, with the same bit rate (e.g., 6 Mb/s rate) and with the TXVECTOR parameter SCRAMBLER_INITIAL_VALUE set to the same value, Xin [0186]).
Regarding claim 5, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the method according to claim 2, wherein the first uplink or downlink is one of a plurality of uplinks or downlinks that are set up between the non-AP MLD and the AP MLD (AP sends a P2P TF 668 to launch multi-user UL transmissions 670, 672, 674, 676 of STA2 and STA3 and a P2P transmission 678, 680 between STA4 and STA5, Xin [0220]).
Regarding claim 6, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the request further comprises buffer type information, and the request type information indicates that the request is corresponding to direct transmission (FIG. 49 illustrates an example embodiment 1150 of a BSR frame of any type, including the BSR frame defined in IEEE 802.11ax, P2P-BSR, and RTA-BSR. A Frame Control field indicates the type of frame, Xin [0273]-[0274]).
Regarding claim 9, Xin teaches an apparatus (MLD 10 of Fig. 19), comprising at least one processor (CPU 36) and a memory (RAM 38), wherein the memory is coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions (MLD management entity 30) for execution by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to perform the following operations:
generating, a request, wherein the request requests for a duration of direct transmission performed by a first affiliated non-access point station (non-AP STA) of the apparatus on a first direct link (STA4 gains channel access 652 and sends a P2P-BSR frame 656 to the AP, [0219]; (STA requests to share its TXOP within the BSS and requests a P2P transmission during the shared TXOP, [0220]), the first direct link is a link between a first target non-AP STA and the first affiliated non-AP STA of the apparatus (The P2P transmission of STA4 is transmitted over RU3 to STA5, [0221], Fig. 20), and
sending, the request to an access point multi-link device (AP MLD) on a first uplink or downlink (STA4 gains channel access 652 and sends a P2P-BSR frame 656 to the AP, [0219] and STA1 collects buffer status on Link1 by sending a BSRP 1038 and receives various BSR responses, [0265], STA 1 and STA 1′ are affiliated with AP MLD1, [0126]; Fig. 20).
However, Xin does not clearly teach wherein the request comprises link information, and the link information indicates the first direct link that carries the direct transmission of which the request requests for the duration, wherein the link information is an identifier of the first direct link or a bitmap.
In an analogous art, Kim teaches wherein the request comprises link information, and the link information indicates the first direct link that carries the direct transmission of which the request requests for the duration (AP MLD may provide an OPS duration which is different for each link ID through the OPS element. That is, a different OPS duration may be set according to a link id. A ‘multi-OP duration per link field may indicate a different OPS duration value for each link, based on the link id and the OPS duration, [0351], Fig. 28), wherein the link information is an identifier of the first direct link or a bitmap (in a bitmap control field and a partial virtual bitmap field, information related to STAs of all links provided by the AP MLD may be indicated using a bitmap. An STA which has received the TIM element may identify a bitmap order of links to which the STA is connected, based on the ‘the number of links’ field, [0340], Fig. 26).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the p2p transmission of Xin with the link bitmap of Kim to provide an extreme high throughput to use a wide bandwidth and/or a multi-link operation to support a high throughput and a high data rate as suggested, Kim [0004].
Regarding claim 12, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the request further comprises request type information, and the information indicates that the request is corresponding to direct transmission (FIG. 49 illustrates an example embodiment 1150 of a BSR frame of any type, including the BSR frame defined in IEEE 802.11ax, P2P-BSR, and RTA-BSR. A Frame Control field indicates the type of frame, Xin [0273]-[0274]).
Regarding claim 26, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the request comprises transmission duration information, the transmission duration information indicates a first transmission duration, and the first transmission duration is the duration of direct transmission performed by the first affiliated non-AP STA of a non-AP MLD on the first direct link (A Requested time field indicates the time requested by the STA to access the channel upon receiving the TF from the A STA requests to share its TXOP within the BSS and requests a P2P transmission during the shared TXOP, Xin [0220]).
Regarding claim 27, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the first transmission duration is a normalized time length (TXOP sharing time 654 of Xin Fig. 42).
Regarding claim 28, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the apparatus according to claim 27, wherein the normalized time length is determined based on a reference bandwidth and a reference rate (it is possible that the BSR frames shall be carried in the same PPDU format with the same packet length, with the same bit rate (e.g., 6 Mb/s rate) and with the TXVECTOR parameter SCRAMBLER_INITIAL_VALUE set to the same value, Xin [0186]).
Regarding claim 15, Xin teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program (MLD 10 of Fig. 19), wherein the computer program comprises instructions that, when the instructions are run, cause a computer to perform the following operations:
generating, a request, wherein the request requests for a duration of direct transmission performed by a first affiliated non-access point station (non-AP STA) of a non-access point multi-link device (non-AP MLD) on a first direct link (STA4 gains channel access 652 and sends a P2P-BSR frame 656 to the AP, [0219]; (STA requests to share its TXOP within the BSS and requests a P2P transmission during the shared TXOP, [0220]), the first direct link is a link between a first target non-AP STA and the first affiliated non-AP STA of the non-AP MLD (The P2P transmission of STA4 is transmitted over RU3 to STA5, [0221], Fig. 20); and
sending, the request to an access point multi-link device (AP MLD) on a first uplink or downlink (non-AP STA sharing its TXOP within its associated BSS, [0217]) (STA4 gains channel access 652 and sends a P2P-BSR frame 656 to the AP, [0219] and STA1 collects buffer status on Link1 by sending a BSRP 1038 and receives various BSR responses, [0265], STA 1 and STA 1′ are affiliated with AP MLD1, [0126]; Fig. 20).
However, Xin does not clearly teach wherein the request comprises link information, and the link information indicates the first direct link that carries the direct transmission of which the request requests for the duration, wherein the link information is an identifier of the first direct link or a bitmap.
In an analogous art, Kim teaches wherein the request comprises link information, and the link information indicates the first direct link that carries the direct transmission of which the request requests for the duration (AP MLD may provide an OPS duration which is different for each link ID through the OPS element. That is, a different OPS duration may be set according to a link id. A ‘multi-OP duration per link field may indicate a different OPS duration value for each link, based on the link id and the OPS duration, [0351], Fig. 28), wherein the link information is an identifier of the first direct link or a bitmap (in a bitmap control field and a partial virtual bitmap field, information related to STAs of all links provided by the AP MLD may be indicated using a bitmap. An STA which has received the TIM element may identify a bitmap order of links to which the STA is connected, based on the ‘the number of links’ field, [0340], Fig. 26).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the p2p transmission of Xin with the link bitmap of Kim to provide an extreme high throughput to use a wide bandwidth and/or a multi-link operation to support a high throughput and a high data rate as suggested, Kim [0004].
Regarding claim 18, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein the request further comprises type information, and the request information indicates that the request is a to direct transmission (FIG. 49 illustrates an example embodiment 1150 of a BSR frame of any type, including the BSR frame defined in IEEE 802.11ax, P2P-BSR, and RTA-BSR. A Frame Control field indicates the type of frame, Xin [0273]-[0274]).
Regarding claim 29, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein the request comprises transmission duration information, the transmission duration information indicates a first transmission duration, and the first transmission duration is the duration of direct transmission performed by the first affiliated non-AP STA of a non-AP MLD on the first direct link (A Requested time field indicates the time requested by the STA to access the channel upon receiving the TF from the A STA requests to share its TXOP within the BSS and requests a P2P transmission during the shared TXOP, Xin [0220]).
Regarding claim 30, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 29, wherein the first transmission duration is a normalized time length (TXOP sharing time 654 of Xin Fig. 42).
Regarding claim 31, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 30, wherein the normalized time length is determined based on a reference bandwidth and a reference rate (it is possible that the BSR frames shall be carried in the same PPDU format with the same packet length, with the same bit rate (e.g., 6 Mb/s rate) and with the TXVECTOR parameter SCRAMBLER_INITIAL_VALUE set to the same value, Xin [0186]).
Claims 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xin et al. (US 20220053560 A1) in view of Kim and further in view of Chitrakar et al. (US 20230232276 A1).
Regarding claim 21, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the method according to claim 1.
However, Xin and Kim do not teach wherein a size of the bitmap is a total quantity of uplinks or downlinks that are set up between the non-AP MLD and the AP MLD.
In an analogous art, Chitrakar teaches wherein a size of the bitmap is a total quantity of uplinks or downlinks that are set up between the non-AP MLD and the AP MLD (The LMB presence bitmap 1202 carries a bit for every bit set to 1 in the TIM bitmap 1200 in the same order as in the TIM bitmap 1200, hence the LMB presence bitmap 1202 has a total size of five bits, [0080];Fig. 12).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the p2p transmission of Xin and Kim with the link ID of Chitrakar to provide a method for multi-link traffic indication map to reduce the overhead required for signaling additional information about buffered BUs in WLAN networks that contain MLDs as suggested, Chitrakar [0005].
Regarding claim 22, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the apparatus according to claim 9.
However, Xin and Kim do not teach wherein a size of the bitmap is a total quantity of uplinks or downlinks that are set up between the non-AP MLD and the AP MLD.
In an analogous art, Chitrakar teaches wherein a size of the bitmap is a total quantity of uplinks or downlinks that are set up between the non-AP MLD and the AP MLD (The LMB presence bitmap 1202 carries a bit for every bit set to 1 in the TIM bitmap 1200 in the same order as in the TIM bitmap 1200, hence the LMB presence bitmap 1202 has a total size of five bits, [0080];Fig. 12).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the p2p transmission of Xin and Kim with the link ID of Chitrakar to provide a method for multi-link traffic indication map to reduce the overhead required for signaling additional information about buffered BUs in WLAN networks that contain MLDs as suggested, Chitrakar [0005].
Regarding claim 23, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15.
However, Xin and Kim do not teach wherein a size of the bitmap is a total quantity of uplinks or downlinks that are set up between the non-AP MLD and the AP MLD.
In an analogous art, Chitrakar teaches wherein a size of the bitmap is a total quantity of uplinks or downlinks that are set up between the non-AP MLD and the AP MLD (The LMB presence bitmap 1202 carries a bit for every bit set to 1 in the TIM bitmap 1200 in the same order as in the TIM bitmap 1200, hence the LMB presence bitmap 1202 has a total size of five bits, [0080];Fig. 12).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the p2p transmission of Xin and Kim with the link ID of Chitrakar to provide a method for multi-link traffic indication map to reduce the overhead required for signaling additional information about buffered BUs in WLAN networks that contain MLDs as suggested, Chitrakar [0005].
Claim 32 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xin et al. (US 20220053560 A1) in view of Kim and further in view of Dong (US 20240015780 A1).
Regarding claim 32, Xin as modified by Kim teaches the method according to claim 4.
However, Xin and Kim do not teach wherein the transmission duration information comprises a size of a first buffer, wherein the first buffer is used to cache data to be sent on the first direct link by the first affiliated non-AP STA of the non-AP MLD, or cache data to be sent by the first affiliated non-AP STA of the non-AP MLD to the first target non-AP STA.
In an analogous art, Dong teaches wherein the transmission duration information comprises a size of a first buffer (the size of the periodic low-latency service may indicate a size of a data volume of the service to be transmitted. The periodic interval corresponding to the periodic low-latency service may be configured to identify: a time interval between sending two adjacent periodic low-latency services, [0037]), wherein the first buffer is used to cache data to be sent on the first direct link by the first affiliated non-AP STA of the non-AP MLD, or cache data to be sent by the first affiliated non-AP STA of the non-AP MLD to the first target non-AP STA (when the station has data to send, it carries the size of a cached uplink data frame in an A-control domain of a data frame or a management frame, [0023]; the access point may be a multi-link device (MLD), [0049]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the p2p transmission of Xin and Kim with the communication configuration of Dong to provide a method that can satisfy latency requirements of different services and improve the throughput of a system as suggested, Dong [0130].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Huang et al. (US 20210227502 A1): Embodiments of a station (STA) and method of communication are generally described herein. The STA may be included in a first plurality of STAs affiliated with a first multi-link logical entity (MLLE). A plurality of links may be established between the first MLLE and a second MLLE, wherein the second MLLE may be affiliated with a second plurality of STAs. The STA may receive a first subset of a sequence of MAC protocol data units (MPDUs). A second subset of the sequence of MPDUs may be transmitted by another STA of the first plurality of STAs. The STA may transmit a block acknowledgement (BA) frame that includes: a number of BA bitmaps, configurable to values greater than or equal to one; and BA control information for each of the BA bitmaps.
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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/NICOLE M LOUIS-FILS/ Examiner, Art Unit 2641
/CHARLES N APPIAH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2641
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