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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 03/30/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-6, 8-15, 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHITRAKAR et al. (US 20210360522 with foreign app. Filed on 10/26/2018) in view of SEOK et al. (US 20200120603).
Regarding claims 1, 10, 17, CHITRAKAR et al. (US 20210360522) teaches an access point device, the access point device comprising processing circuitry coupled to storage, the processing circuitry configured to:
associate a multi-link station with a plurality of supported frequency bands (par. 49, 50, 2.4 GHz band has been assigned as Primary band for all 3 STAs, while 5 and 6 GHz bands are assigned as Secondary band 1 and Secondary band 2 respectively);
generate a first indication of whether first traffic will be sent from the access point device to the multi-link station device using a first communication link (par. 61, 93, 95, 108, the AP may also include MB TIM elements 1512 in the Beacon frame to indicate that AP has BUs on all 3 bands/BSSs for the STA, implicitly indicating that it may initiate the multi-band transmission 1720 to the STA; par. 72, scheduled UL PPDUs from STA2 and STAT on Secondary band 1 and Primary band; par. 102, the MB TIM element 1530 indicates that the AP has BUs buffered for the STA in the Primary BSS and the Secondary BSS 1; par. 42, 99, primary band (or primary BSS));
generate a multi-link traffic indication map (TIM) comprising the first indication and a second indication of whether second traffic will be sent from the access point device to the multi-link station device using a second communication link (par. 37, 61, 99, 101, 108, Aside from the regular TIM element (to indicate BUs on the Primary BSS), AP also includes two MB TIM elements 1512 in the Beacon frame to indicate that AP has BUs on the 2 Secondary BSSs for the STA, implicitly indicating that it may initiate the multi-band transmission 1520 to the STA), wherein the TIM further comprises differentiated TIM information for each communication link that independently specifies activity for a plurality of non-overlapping frequency bands (par. 37, 61, 99, 101, 108, the AP may buffer data for the STAs in each BSS (band) independent from the other BSSs (band)… Aside from the regular TIM element (to indicate BUs on the Primary BSS), AP also includes two MB TIM elements 1512 in the Beacon frame to indicate that AP has BUs on the 2 Secondary BSSs for the STA, implicitly indicating that it may initiate the multi-band transmission 1520 to the STA; par. 102, the MB TIM element 1530 indicates that the AP has BUs buffered for the STA in the Primary BSS and the Secondary BSS 1); and
transmit a frame comprising the multi-link TIM (par. 61, 93, 95, 108, the AP may also include MB TIM elements 1512 in the Beacon frame to indicate that AP has BUs on all 3 bands/BSSs for the STA, implicitly indicating that it may initiate the multi-band transmission 1720 to the STA; par. 72, scheduled UL PPDUs from STA2 and STAT on Secondary band 1 and Primary band; par. 102, the MB TIM element 1530 indicates that the AP has BUs buffered for the STA in the Primary BSS and the Secondary BSS 1; par. 42, 99, primary band (or primary BSS)) and per-link activation control data to the multi-link station, wherein the activation control data identifies a subset of the supported frequency bands and causes the multi-link station to transition the identified subset of frequency bands to an active state while other frequency bands remain in a power-save state (par. 49, 90, 108, 109, all 3 STAs have their radio activated on the Primary band, but their radios on the Secondary bands are deactivated (the definition of “deactivated” may be implementation specific with some choosing to completely turn off the secondary radios to save power, while some may put their secondary radios in shallow sleep mode to facilitate faster activation time)…The AP includes the MB TWT element 1720 in the Beacon frame to indicate that AP has allocated broadcast TWT SPs on all 3 bands for the STA starting at time 1722. Although not shown in the figure, the AP may also include MB TIM elements 1512 in the Beacon frame to indicate that AP has BUs on all 3 bands/BSSs for the STA, implicitly indicating that it may initiate the multi-band transmission 1720 to the STA during the TWT SP…the STA may also transition back to the doze state at the end of the transmission 1720 on each band…the MB TWT element 1730 indicates that the AP has allocated broadcast TWT SPs to the STA in the Primary BSS and the Secondary BSS 1. At the indicated TWT SP start time 1732, the STA transition its radio on the 2 bands to the Awake state and transmits the PS-Poll frames in each Band to indicate that the STA's radios on the 2 bands are in the Awake state) and
wherein the frame is dynamically configured to selectively activate a subset of the frequency bands at the multi-link station device based on the differentiated TIM information (par. 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 108, 109, the AP include MB TIM elements 1512 in the Beacon frame to indicate that AP has buffer units (Bus) on all 3 bands/BSSSs for the STA or BUs on 2 bands/BSSSs for the STA, which would indicating the frame is dynamically configured to implicitly indicating that it may initiate the multi-band transmission, which then the STA switch the STA’s radios on 3 bands or 2 bands in the Awake state and ready to receive the Bus on the 3 bands or 2 bands, which would indicating the activate a subset of the frequency bands based on the MB TIM elements).
However, CHITRAKAR does not teach the activation control data directly commands the multi-link station to transition the identified subset of frequency bands to an active state upon receipt of the frame.
But, SEOK et al. (US 20200120603) in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches the activation control data identifies a subset of the supported frequency bands and directly commands the multi-link station to transition the identified subset of frequency bands to an active state upon receipt of the frame (fig. 7, par. 6, 7, 69, 70, The frame includes the CAS Control subfield 650 having a PM field 655 representing the power management mode of the second band of the STA, and an EOSP field 660 representing the Unscheduled Automatic Power Save Delivery (U-APSD) Service Period status of the second band of the STA. The EOSP field for triggering a Service Period (SP) in the second band is set to “0”…an AP that terminates a Service Period in the second band may send a frame using the first band including a Multi-band Control subfield (e.g., Multi-band Control subfield 500 or 550) having band information indicating a second band, and a Control ID set to “5” to indicate that the CAS subfield 650 is applied on the second band (the band indicated by the band information). The frame includes the CAS Control subfield 650 having an EOSP field 660 representing the U-APSD Service Period status of the second band of the STA. The EOSP field for triggering a Service Period (SP) in the second band is set to “1”).
Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by SEOK in the system of CHITRAKAR to control the activation of the band.
The motivation would have been to manage power and reduce power usage.
Regarding claims 2, 11, 18, CHITRAKAR et al. (US 20210360522) teaches the access point device of claim 1, wherein the second communication link is between the access point device and the multi-link station device (par. 42, 61, 72, 93, 95, 99, 102, 108), and wherein the second TIM indicates that the second traffic will to be sent to the multi-link station device using the second communication link (par. 61, 93, 95, 108, the AP may also include MB TIM elements 1512 in the Beacon frame to indicate that AP has BUs on all 3 bands/BSSs for the STA, implicitly indicating that it may initiate the multi-band transmission 1720 to the STA; par. 72, scheduled UL PPDUs from STA2 and STAT on Secondary band 1 and Primary band; par. 102, the MB TIM element 1530 indicates that the AP has BUs buffered for the STA in the Primary BSS and the Secondary BSS 1; par. 42, 99, primary band (or primary BSS)).
Regarding claims 3, 12, 19, CHITRAKAR et al. (US 20210360522) teaches the access point device of claim 2, wherein the first communication link and the second communication link are concurrently enabled (par. 61, 101, 108, primary and secondary bands are set).
Regarding claims 4, 13, 20, CHITRAKAR et al. (US 20210360522) teaches the access point device of claim 1, wherein the first TIM comprises a first bitmap, indicative of the first traffic, and an indication of the first communication link (fig. 5, par. 61, 101, 103, 108, bits indicating buffered traffic (BU) on the primary and secondaries bands), and wherein the second TIM comprises a second bitmap, indicative of the second traffic, and an indication of the second communication link (fig. 5, par. 61, 101, 103, 108, bits indicating buffered traffic (BU) on the primary and secondaries bands).
Regarding claims 5, 14, CHITRAKAR et al. (US 20210360522) teaches the access point device of claim 1, wherein the multi-link TIM is based on a previously negotiated multi-link traffic mapping between the access point device and the multi-link station device (par. 51, 53, 54, 55, 61, 93, 95, 108, the AP indicates an upcoming multi-band transmission TXOP (Transmission Opportunity) by transmitting multi-band (MB) Announcement frame 302A/302B/302C/302D on the Primary band and ACKs the multi-band announcement frame… When included in the multi-band announcement frame, the Band Configuration field 510 is only used to identify the band (Primary or Secondary 1 or Secondary 2) but the UL/DL field may be used to override the default UL/DL configurations of a band).
Regarding claims 6, 15, CHITRAKAR et al. (US 20210360522) teaches the access point device of claim 1, wherein the frame is a beacon (par. 61, 93, 95, 108, the AP may also include MB TIM elements 1512 in the Beacon frame to indicate that AP has BUs on all 3 bands/BSSs for the STA, implicitly indicating that it may initiate the multi-band transmission 1720 to the STA; par. 72, scheduled UL PPDUs from STA2 and STAT on Secondary band 1 and Primary band; par. 102, the MB TIM element 1530 indicates that the AP has BUs buffered for the STA in the Primary BSS and the Secondary BSS 1; par. 42, 99, primary band (or primary BSS)).
Regarding claim 8, CHITRAKAR et al. (US 20210360522) teaches the access point device of claim 1, further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit and receive wireless signals comprising the frame (fig. 20, par. 114, 115, 116, transceiver circuitry connects to antenna for transmission; par. 61, 93, 95, 108, par. 72, par. 102, par. 42, 99).
Regarding claim 9, CHITRAKAR et al. (US 20210360522) teaches the access point device of claim 8, further comprising an antenna coupled to the transceiver to send the frame (fig. 20, par. 114, 115, 116, transceiver circuitry connects to antenna for transmission; par. 61, 93, 95, 108, par. 72, par. 102, par. 42, 99).
Claim(s) 7, 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHITRAKAR et al. (US 20210360522 with foreign app. Filed on 10/26/2018) and SEOK et al. (US 20200120603) as applied to claims 1, 10 above, and further in view of YANG et al. (US 20140301322).
Regarding claims 7, 16, CHITRAKAR et al. (US 20210360522) teaches the access point device of claim 1, wherein the frame further comprises an element identifier field identifying the multi-link TIM (par. 57, 61, 93, 103, 108, multi-band element), and a length field in the multi-link TIM (par. 93, 103, 108, length).
However, CHITRAKAR does not explicitly teach a length field indicating a length of the TIM.
But, YANG et al. (US 20140301322) in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches an element identifier field identifying the link TIM (par. 65, the element identity 11 is used for indicating that this code is the traffic indication map); a length field indicating a length of the TIM (par. 65, the length identity 12 with one byte is used for representing the quantity of bytes occupied by the traffic indication map).
Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by YANG in the system of CHITRAKAR and SEOK to indicate a length of the multi-link TIM.
The motivation would have to provide variable size to identify different traffic assignments and saving the bandwidth.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
MERLIN et al. (US 20180103450) teaches the length of a traffic indication map also depends on how the association identifiers (AIDs) are assigned. For example, initial and final 0 bits are not sent (par. 108); a paging message 1228 with a compressed bitmap, such as a compressed version of a traffic identification map (TIM) …variable-length bitmap (par. 195, 196);
HUANG et al. (US 20200396568) teaches the beacon in link 1 includes a multi-link TIM to indicate the buffered traffic for the non-AP MLLE in other links (par. 99).
HUANG et al. (US 20240031777) teaches generate a Beacon frame containing a Multi-Link Traffic Indication Map (TIM) element to indicate a status of buffered group addressed data for the one or more APs in the AP MLD; buffer a Buffered Unit (BU) associated with a Traffic Identifier (TID) when the TID is not mapped to any active link for the non-AP MLD; update a bit in a link ID bitmap of the TIM element to reflect a status of the BU, where the bit corresponds to an Access Identifier (AID) of the non-AP MLD; and cause to send the beacon frame to the one or more non-AP STAs of the non-AP MLD (claim 1).
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 THINH D TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-3934. The examiner can normally be reached mon-fri 9-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, FARUK HAMZA can be reached at 5712727969. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THINH D TRAN/for /Thinh Tran/, Patent Examiner of Art Unit 2466 05/02/2026
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