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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 06/12/2026 has been entered.
This Office action is in response to RCE filed on 06/12/2026. Claims 1, 7-8 and 15 have been amended.
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/05/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baek et al. (US 2023/0422234 A1), in view of Wang et al. (US 2021/0297948 A1), Jia et al. (US 2022/0182931 A1).
As to claims 1 and 8, Baek discloses the invention as claimed, including a wireless station (STA) device (Fig. 1; Fig. 3, STA) comprising:
a transceiver (Fig. 1, 113); and
a processor (Fig. 1, 111) operably coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to generate a first message that includes a request for information on existing broadcast target wake time (TWT) schedules in a basic service set (BSS) (¶0194, “broadcast including information for the restricted TWT SP in a frame other than the beacon frame (e.g., existing management/action/control/data frame, new management/action/control/data frame, etc.). The corresponding frame may include only restricted TWT scheduling information”; ¶0201, “The STA that has not received the beacon frame transmitted by the AP may check whether a restricted TWT SP to be proceeded exists and transmit request information and/or a request frame (e.g., existing management/action/control/data frame, new management/action/control/data frame, etc.) for receiving related information to the AP”; ¶0212, “the request information may be included in an existing frame and/or message. The regular STA may include request information for the restricted TWT scheduling information of the low-latency STA in the existing transmission data”; ¶0235, “the request information is information requesting transmission of restricted Target Wake Time (TWT) scheduling information, wherein the restricted TWT scheduling information includes information related to a restricted TWT service period (SP)”),
wherein the transceiver is configured to transmit the first message to an associated access point (AP) in the BSS (¶0222, “the STA transmits request information to the AP (S2110). Here, the request information may be information requesting information related to presence and/or absence of the restricted TWT SP of the low-delay STA scheduled in the intra-BSS”).
Baek does not specifically disclose existing broadcast target wake time (TWT) schedules in a basic service set (BSS) that are available within a specified window of time; and have a minimum service period (SP) duration.
However, Wang discloses a request for information on existing broadcast target wake time (TWT) schedules in a basic service set (BSS) that are available within a specified window of time (Figs. 7 and 9; Fig. 8, 804; ¶0061, “the AP 102 receives a TWT request (e.g., a TWT element 250) from the STA 6 114 for a TWT session. At block 804, the scheduler 310 of the AP 102 determines whether timeslots of an existing TWT session are available to accommodate the TWT request from the STA 6 114”; ¶0062, “If sufficient timeslots are available, the method proceeds to block 806 where, referring to the adjusted schedule 904 of FIG. 9, the AP 102 allocates timeslots of the existing TWT session (e.g., TWT group 2′ 905) to the STA 6 114”; ¶0063, “If the scheduler 310 determines that sufficient timeslots of an existing TWT session are not available to accommodate the TWT request from the STA 6 114…”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Baek to include existing broadcast target wake time (TWT) schedules in a basic service set (BSS) that are available within a specified window of time, as taught by Wang because it would allow a wireless station to discover active network allocation periods, thereby optimizing power saving (Wang; ¶0061-¶0063).
Jia, on the other hand, discloses a request for information on existing broadcast target wake time (TWT) schedules in a basic service set (BSS) that have a minimum service period (SP) duration (Fig. 2; ¶0013, “a TWT client transmits, to an AP, a request to negotiate a schedule for a TWT session. The request comprises a first set of TWT parameters requested by the TWT client. The AP determines, based on respective sets of TWT parameters of existing TWT sessions and the first set of TWT parameters, a second set of TWT parameters for the TWT client to minimize overlap between the TWT session and the existing TWT sessions”; ¶0034, “determine a plurality of candidate TWT durations based on a predetermined minimum TWT duration (also represented as “TWT_dur_min”)”; ¶0036, “regarding the first TWT interval TWT_intvl_1, the AP 110 may determine a plurality of candidate TWT intervals based on a predetermined minimum TWT interval (also represented as “TWT_intvl_min”)”; ¶0043; ¶0044;
Claim 1, “a request to negotiate a schedule for a target wakeup time (TWT) session between the AP and the client device, the request comprising a first set of TWT parameters requested by the client device; determining, based on respective sets of TWT parameters of existing TWT sessions and the first set of TWT parameters, a second set of TWT parameters for the TWT session to minimize overlap between the TWT session and the existing TWT sessions”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Baek to include existing broadcast target wake time (TWT) schedules in a basic service set (BSS) that have a minimum service period (SP) duration, as taught by Jia because it would enable the station efficiently align its power-saving operation and traffic patterns with the network's predefined TWT allocation windows (Jia; ¶0013; ¶0034; ¶0043-¶0044).
As to claim 2, Baek discloses the STA of claim 1, wherein the request includes: an indication that the request is for information on restricted TWT schedules, an indication that the request is for information on both restricted TWT schedules and non-restricted broadcast TWT schedules, or TWT parameter criteria and an indication that the request is for information on TWT schedules that meet the TWT parameter criteria (¶0178, “the STA 1 performs a requested TWT operation, and the STA2 performs a non-requested TWT operation”; ¶0184, “a space/resource reserved in the Request Type field format of the Broadcast TWT Parameter Set field may be used to indicate whether restricted TWT is supported”).
As to claim 3, Baek discloses the STA of claim 1, wherein: the transceiver is further configured to receive a second message from the AP in response to the first message, and the second message includes information on the existing broadcast TWT schedules that fulfill the request (¶0176, “an AP that responds to the request, such as accept/reject, may be referred to as a TWT responding STA”; ¶0178, “The broadcast TWT is a TWT method in which a non-AP STA (TWT Scheduling STA) transmits and receives TWT request/response frames with the AP (TWT Scheduled STA) to obtain information on TBTT (Target Beacon Transmission Time) and Listen Interval)”).
As to claim 4, Baek discloses the STA of claim 3, wherein: the processor is further configured to generate a third message that includes a request to join one of the existing broadcast TWT schedules based on the information included in the second message, and the transceiver is further configured to transmit the third message to the AP (¶0062; ¶0194, “broadcast including information for the restricted TWT SP in a frame other than the beacon frame (e.g., existing management/action/control/data frame, new management/action/control/data frame, etc.). The corresponding frame may include only restricted TWT scheduling information”; ¶0201, “The STA that has not received the beacon frame transmitted by the AP may check whether a restricted TWT SP to be proceeded exists and transmit request information and/or a request frame (e.g., existing management/action/control/data frame, new management/action
/control/data frame, etc.) for receiving related information to the AP”).
As to claim 5, Baek discloses the STA of claim 3, wherein: the processor is further configured to: determine, based on the information included in the second message, to request establishment of a new broadcast TWT schedule; and generate a third message that includes a request to establish the new broadcast TWT schedule, and the transceiver is further configured to transmit the third message to the AP (¶0176, “The setup step may include a process of determining/defining a TWT request from an STA to an AP, a type of a TWT operation to be performed, and a frame type to be transmitted and received. The TWT operation can be classified into an individual TWT and a broadcast TWT”; ¶0178, “The broadcast TWT is a TWT method in which anon-AP STA (TWT Scheduling STA) transmits and receives TWT request/response frames with the AP (TWT Scheduled STA) to obtain information on TBTT (Target Beacon Transmission Time) and Listen Interval”).
As to claim 6, Baek discloses the STA of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine that there are no existing broadcast TWT schedules that fulfill the request, based on either: information in a second message received from the AP in response to the first message, or a determination that no response to the first message has been received from the AP (¶0194, “The AP may broadcast including information for the restricted TWT SP in a frame other than the beacon frame (e.g., existing management/action/
control/data frame, new management/action/control/data frame, etc.). The corresponding frame may include only restricted TWT scheduling information”; ¶0201, “The STA that has not received the beacon frame transmitted by the AP may check whether a restricted TWT SP to be proceeded exists and transmit request information and/or a request frame (e.g., existing management/action/control/data frame, new management/action/control/data frame, etc.) for receiving related information to the AP”).
As to claim 7, it is rejected for the same reasons set forth above with claim 1. In addition, Baek discloses the STA of claim 1, wherein the first message is a frame including (i) a first subfield specifying a start time of the window, (ii) a second subfield specifying an end time of the window (¶0186, “support the announced restricted TWT SPs and are associated with the AP announcing the restricted TWT SP at the same time may end/terminate their TXOP before the start time of the corresponding restricted TWT SP”).
As to claims 9-14, they are rejected for the same reasons set forth above with claims 2-7, respectively.
As to claim 15, it is rejected for the same reasons set forth above with claim 1. In addition, an access point (AP) device, comprising: a transceiver configured to receive a first message from a station (STA) in a basic service set (BSS); and a processor operably coupled to the transceiver (Figs. 1-3; ¶0061; ¶0062).
As to claims 16-17, they are rejected for the same reasons set forth above with claims 2-3, respectively.
As to claim 18, Baek discloses the AP of claim 17, wherein: the transceiver is further configured to receive a third message from the STA, and the processor is further configured to: determine that the third message includes a request to join one of the existing broadcast TWT schedules based on the information included in the second message, or determine that the third message includes a request to establish a new broadcast TWT schedule (¶0194, “The AP may broadcast including information for the restricted TWT SP in a frame other than the beacon frame (e.g., existing management/action/
control/data frame, new management/action/control/data frame, etc.). The corresponding frame may include only restricted TWT scheduling information”; ¶0201, “The STA that has not received the beacon frame transmitted by the AP may check whether a restricted TWT SP to be proceeded exists and transmit request information and/or a request frame (e.g., existing management/action/control/data frame, new management/action/control/data frame, etc.) for receiving related information to the AP”; ¶0222, “the STA transmits request information to the AP (S2110). Here, the request information may be information requesting information related to presence and/or absence of the restricted TWT SP of the low-delay STA scheduled in the intra-BSS”).
As to claim 19, Baek discloses the AP of claim 15, wherein: the processor is further configured to: generate a second message that includes an indication that there are no existing broadcast TWT schedules that fulfill the request; or determine, based on a determination that there are no existing broadcast TWT schedules that fulfill the request, not to respond to the first message, and the transceiver is further configured to: transmit the second message to the STA based on the second message being generated; or refrain from transmitting to the STA a response to the first message (¶0194, “The AP may broadcast including information for the restricted TWT SP in a frame other than the beacon frame (e.g., existing management/action/control/data frame, new management/action/control/data frame, etc.). The corresponding frame may include only restricted TWT scheduling information”; ¶0201, “The STA that has not received the beacon frame transmitted by the AP may check whether a restricted TWT SP to be proceeded exists and transmit request information and/or a request frame (e.g., existing management/action/control/data frame, new management/action/
control/data frame, etc.) for receiving related information to the AP”; ¶0222, “the STA transmits request information to the AP (S2110). Here, the request information may be information requesting information related to presence and/or absence of the restricted TWT SP of the low-delay STA scheduled in the intra-BSS”).
As to claim 20, it is rejected for the same reasons set forth above with claim 7.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wei et al. (US 2023/0073352), Asterjadhi et al. (US 2023/0362822), Xin et al. (US 2023/0047705), Patwardhan et al. (US 2023/0013861) disclose method and apparatus for communication schedule such as a target wake time (TWT) schedule.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUNGWON CHANG whose telephone number is (571)272-3960. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5:30PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, GLENTON BURGESS can be reached at (571)272-3949. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JUNGWON CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454 September 19, 2026
Prosecution Insights