DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to RCE filed on 12/4/2025.
The application was filed on 11/10/2023.
Claims 1-20 were pending in previous office action mailed 10/10/2025.
Claims 1, 10, and 12 have been amended.
Claims 1-20 remain pending for examination with Claims 1 and 12 being independent.
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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for domestic benefit/national stage under 35 U.S.C. 119(e), 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) for parent Application Nos
63/383,444 filed on 11/11/2022
63,589,105 filed on 10/10/2023
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). Receipt is acknowledged of certified copy required by 37 CFR 1.55 for parent Application No CN202311473101.6 filed on 11/07/2023.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Applicant’s remarks pg. 6-9, filed 12/4/2025, with respect to Claims 1-20 under 35 U.S.C 102/103 have been fully considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on the references as applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the arguement. In view of amendments, a new ground of rejection is made in view of Kim et al. (US 2023/0103810 A1; hereinafter Kim) and newly found prior art Wang et al. (US 2024/0381465 A1; hereinafter Wang). See rejection below.
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, 3-6, 10-12, 14-16, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US 2023/0103810 A1; hereinafter Kim) and further in view of Wang et al. (US 2024/0381465 A1; hereinafter Wang).
Regarding Claim 1, Kim disclose(s):
An access point (AP) device for facilitating wireless communication, the AP device comprising:
one or more APs affiliated with the AP device; and [Kim discloses an AP MLD with multiple APs associated with it (¶ 299-300; Fig. 23-25)]
one or more processors coupled to the one or more APs, the one or more processors configured to cause: [Kim discloses at least one processor associated with APs (¶ 602; Fig. 1 and 19)]
receiving setup information from one or more [Kim discloses a network discovery operation which may include a scanning operation to identify a compatible network through a beacon frame transmitted by an AP in a basic service set (BSS) before participating in a wireless network (¶ 84; ¶93-96; Fig. 2-3). Kim also discloses that an MLD may transmit information about a link that the corresponding MLD can support through ML setup (¶279).]
generating data traffic to be transmitted to a station (STA) affiliated with a non-AP device via a first link established between the AP device and the non-AP device; [Kim discloses that both an AP multi-link device (MLD) and an AP non-MLD may both exchange various information per current link and information related to the link state including information on data traffic (¶ 309; ¶279)]
detecting that the first link is not available; [Kim discloses that information related to link state may include configuration as enabled or disabled (¶ 309)]
selecting one [Kim discloses that both the AP MLD and the Non-AP MLD may select a link that is more appropriate or adequate for transmitting and/or receiving signals based on various information per current link including data traffic and link state (¶ 309; Fig. 25)]
transferring the data traffic to the selected [Kim discloses switching or reconnecting to a link other than the initially connected link so as to increase its performance (¶ 310-314; Fig. 25)]
Kim does not explicitly disclose:
receiving setup information from one or more external AP devices, the setup information including at least one available link of at least one AP affiliated with each of the one or more external AP devices;
selecting one external AP device among the one or more external AP devices based on the setup information received from the one or more external AP devices, wherein the one or more available links are established between the one external AP device and the non-AP device; and
transferring the data traffic to the selected external AP device through a second link of an AP affiliated with the selected external AP device.
However Wang, analogous art that also discloses AP devices does disclose:
receiving setup information from one or more external AP devices, the setup information including at least one available link of at least one AP affiliated with each of the one or more external AP devices; [(Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 7-9; Table 2-3)
[0088] A MMLD may comprise multiple APs, or STAs. Each of the APs or STAs may be part of a physical device, which may be an MLD which may comprise one or more APs or STAs. Each of the MLDs may be located in the same physical location or different physical locations.
[0089] An AP Multi-MLD is a MMLD of which the STAs affiliated with the MMLD may be APs. In an example, an AP MMLD is a MMLD in which each MLD affiliated with the MMLD is an AP MLD. A non-AP Multi-MLD is a MMLD in which the STAs affiliated with the MMLD may be non-AP STAs. In an example, a non-AP MMLD is a MMLD in which each of the MLDs affiliated with the MMLD is a non-AP MLD. A mixed STA Multi-MLD is a MMLD of which some of the STAs affiliated with the MMLD may be APs while some of the STAs affiliated with the MMLD may be non-AP STAs.
[0090] In one example, an AP that is affiliated with an MLD that is a part of an MMLD and may include a MMLD element in frames that it transmits, such as beacon, short beacon, probe responses, fast initial link setup (FILS) discovery frames, association responses, etc., to indicate that it is part of an MLD that is a part of a MMLD and to provide information of one or more MLDs or APs that are affiliated with the same MMLD. An example design of such a Multi-AP element or MMLD element is depicted in FIG. 2.
[0109] In one example, the AP or MLD may include a subset of information of the MMLD in its beacon or regular probe responses or other type of frames, which may include one or more of the following: MMLD ID, MMLD MAC Address, and limited information of one or more MLDs such as their MLD IDs, MLD MAC Addresses. A special MLD ID and/or MLD MAC Address may identify the transmitting MLD and/or the MLD with which the transmitting AP is affiliated. The AP or MLD may also include more detailed information on the MLDs in other elements, such as multi-link elements, or Reduced Neighbor Report (RNR) element. Based on the information included in the MMLD element and/or multi-link element on MLDs, such as MMLD MAC address, MMLD ID, MLD ID, or MLD MAC Address, and/or Neighbor MLD Indication, and/or Co-located MLD Indication, a receiving STA may be able to discover the APs that are associated with the MLDs that are affiliated with the same MMLD as the transmitting MLD or the with the MLD with which the transmitting AP is affiliated, and/or affiliated an MLD that is affiliated with the same MMLD, and/or affiliated with a co-located MLD with the transmitting MLD or with the MLD with which the transmitting AP is affiliated, and/or affiliated with an MLD that is a neighbor MLD to the transmitting MLD or the with the MLD with which the transmitting AP is affiliated, and/or an AP that may be affiliated with a different MMLD.
[0110] If a special MLD ID, or MLD MAC Address is utilized to indicate the MLD with which the transmitting AP is affiliated, a receiving STA may identify the APs that are affiliated with the same MLD as the transmitting AP based on the special MLD ID and/or MLD MAC Address.
[0111] In another example, an AP may include a multi-link element to indicate the MLD with which it is affiliated, and additionally an MMLD element or a MMLD variant of multi-link element to indicate information of the MMLD with which the AP or its MLD is affiliated.
[0112] In another example, the AP or MLD may include full information on all the APs/MLDs that are affiliated with the same MMLD with which the transmitting AP is affiliated with. A receiving STA may be able to receive all the information that are associated of all the APs/MLDs that are affiliated with the MMLD. In this case, the AP/MLD may set the Partial Reporting information to false or to indicate complete reporting.
[0113] In yet another example, the AP or MLD may include the information on a subset of the APs/MLDs that are affiliated with the same MMLD with which the transmitting AP is affiliated. For example, the subset of APs/MLDs that are direct neighbors to the transmitting AP or its MLD have been reported. In another example, the subset of APs/MLDs that are co-located with the transmitting AP or its MLD have been reported. A receiving STA may be able to receive the information that is associated with the subset of the APs/MLDs that are affiliated with the MMLD, such as co-located APs/MLDs, and/or neighbor APs/MLDs. In this case, the AP/MLD may set the Partial Reporting information to true or set Neighbor MLD indication to true, or co-located MLD indication to true depending on the reported set of APs/MLDs.
[0114] A non-AP STA or MLD that is capable of supporting MMLD operation also may include an MMLD element or an MMLD variant of multi-link element in frames it transmits including Probe request, (Re)association request, etc. In another example, a non-AP STA or MLD may include one or more bits indicating of MMLD operation support in its EHT, Ultra High Reliability (UHR), or other capabilities element that it transmits.
[0115] A non-AP STA or MLD that is capable of supporting MMLD operations and desires to obtain more information on the MMLD may transmit a probe request that may contain the MMLD element or MMLD variant of multi-link element by following the active scanning procedure for MMLD discovery.
[0132] APs that are affiliated with MLD APs that are part of a multi-MLD AP may utilize the same extended service set (ESS). Being in the same ESS may enable inter-MLD AP communication, non-AP MLD mobility, and RF link sharing. MLD APs may communicate via the DS of the ESS to establish a multi-MLD AP, configure the multi-MLD AP, define multiplexing techniques, define resource sharing (time, frequency, code), coordinate multi-MLD AP beacon content, coordinate frame transmission, coordinate frame reception, and/or maintain security parameters/context for each associated non-AP MLD. Alternatively, any or all of these functions may be accomplished via intra-affiliated AP communication over the wireless medium.
[0140] An AP ID subfield may be used to indicate the AP/AP MLD within the AP MMLD uniquely. If the reported AP/AP MLD is not affiliated with any AP MMLD, the AP ID subfield may be set to a predefined value. A Synchronized MMLD subfield may indicate if the APs/AP MLDs within the MMLD may need to synchronize with each other. A Data Shared MMLD subfield may indicate if the data destined to one or more non-AP STAs/MLDs may need to be transmitted through more than one AP/AP MLD. An MMLD Parameter Change Count value of this subfield may increment when a critical update to the MMLD may occur. Alternatively, a combined MLD/MMLD Parameters subfield and/or MLD/MMLD element may be utilized. Note the MMLD Parameters subfield defined in Table 3 may be used in any field/element although a RNR element is used as an example here.
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selecting one external AP device among the one or more external AP devices based on the setup information received from the one or more external AP devices, wherein the one or more available links are established between the one external AP device and the non-AP device; and [(Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶132; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 6-9; Table 2-3)
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transferring the data traffic to the selected external AP device through an available link of an AP affiliated with the selected external AP device. [(Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶132; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 6-9; Table 2-3)]
It would have been obvious by one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the communication system of Kim with that of Wang in order to include an external MLD as part of an extended service set to define resource sharing and coordinate beacon content, as per Wang (¶132), with reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding Claim 3, Kim and Wang disclose:
The AP device of claim 1, wherein the STA affiliated with the non-AP device is associated with an AP affiliated with the selected external AP device. [Kim discloses STA1 associated with a Non-AP MLD is connected with AP1 which is associated with an AP MLD (¶ 299-300; Fig. 23) and (Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶132; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 6-9; Table 2-3)]
Regarding Claim 4, Kim and Wang disclose:
The AP device of claim 1, wherein the setup information further includes buffer status of the at least one AP affiliated with each of the one or more external AP devices. [Kim discloses after discovery and authentication, the association process may include information related to various capabilities, a status code (mapped to buffer status), an association ID, a supported rate, and a QoS map (¶ 99; Fig. 3). Wang discloses external AP devices and setup information (Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶132; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 6-9; Table 2-3).]
Regarding Claim 5, Kim and Wang disclose:
The AP device of claim 1, wherein the setup information further includes a first list of STAs associated with the at least one AP affiliated with each of the one or more external AP devices. [Kim discloses that during multi-link setup, an enabled link may be determined from at least one of a plurality of links determined as enabled (¶ 274-276). Wang discloses external AP devices and setup information including MMLD IDs and AP’s included in those groups (Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶132; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 6-9; Table 2-3)]
Regarding Claim 6, Kim and Wang disclose:
The AP device of claim 5, wherein the selecting one external AP device is further based on the first list of STAs and a second list of STAs associated with the AP device. [Kim discloses that during multi-link setup, an enabled link may be determined from at least one of a plurality of links determined as enabled (¶ 274-276). Kim further discloses a list of anchored links and that an anchored link may be selected from that list for a frame exchange (¶293-295; ¶ 440-444) and that operations of a STA may be performed by an AP and vice versa (¶ 70-74). Wang discloses external AP devices and setup information including MMLD IDs and AP’s included in those groups (Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶132; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 6-9; Table 2-3)]
Regarding Claim 10, Kim and Wang disclose(s):
The AP device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause informing the selected external AP device of a primary channel of the first link established between the AP device and the non-AP device. [Kim discloses a beacon being sent in every channel indicating the presence of a wireless network and also storing such information (¶ 94-95). Kim discloses a PHY layer protocol data unit (PPDU) used in IEEE standard which may include an HE-SIG-B field (¶ 101-105; Fig. 4), and that the number of STAs allocated to a specific channel may be determined based on the resource unit allocation information of the common field in the HE-SIG-B (¶ 130; Fig. 8). Kim also discloses designating a primary channel in the PPDU which may be included in U-SIG or EHT-SIG fields in the PPDU (¶ 206-207). Wang discloses external AP devices and setup information including MMLD IDs and AP’s included in those groups (Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶132; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 6-9; Table 2-3)]
Regarding Claim 11, Kim and Wang disclose(s):
The AP device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause transmitting, to the selected external AP device, an address or an identifier of the STA affiliated with the non-AP device. [Kim discloses that during the association process during setup, the STA may transmit an association request frame which may include a service set identifier (SSID) (¶ 99; Fig. 3). Wang discloses external AP devices and setup information including MMLD IDs and AP’s included in those groups (Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶132; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 6-9; Table 2-3)]
Regarding Claim 12, Kim disclose(s):
An access point (AP) device for facilitating wireless communication, the AP device comprising:
one or more APs affiliated with the AP device; and [Kim discloses an AP MLD with multiple APs associated with it (¶ 299-300; Fig. 23-25)]
one or more processors coupled to the one or more APs, the one or more processors configured to cause: [Kim discloses at least one processor associated with APs (¶ 602; Fig. 1 and 19)]
transmitting setup information to an [Kim discloses a network discovery operation which may include a scanning operation to identify a compatible network through a beacon frame transmitted by an AP in a basic service set (BSS) before participating in a wireless network (¶ 84; ¶93-96; Fig. 2-3) Kim also discloses that an MLD may transmit information about a link that the corresponding MLD can support through ML setup (¶279).]
receiving data traffic, from a first link established between the AP device and the [Kim discloses that both an AP multi-link device (MLD) and an AP non-MLD may both exchange various information per current link and information related to the link state including information on data traffic (¶ 309; ¶279)]
forwarding the received data traffic to the STA affiliated with the non-AP device. [Kim discloses that both an AP multi-link device (MLD) and an AP non-MLD may both exchange various information per current link and information related to the link state including information on data traffic (¶ 309)]
Kim does not explicitly disclose:
transmitting setup information to an external AP device, the setup information including at least one available link of at least one AP affiliated with the AP device;
receiving data traffic, from a first link established between the AP device and the external AP device, to be transmitted to a station (STA) affiliated with a non-AP device via a second link of the one or more available links of at least one AP affiliated with the AP device, wherein the second link is established between the at least one AP affiliated with the AP device and the STA affiliated with the non-AP device; and
However Wang, analogous art that also discloses AP devices does disclose:
transmitting setup information to an external AP device, the setup information including at least one available link of at least one AP affiliated with the AP device; [(Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 7-9; Table 2-3)]
receiving data traffic, from a first link established between the AP device and the external AP device, to be transmitted to a station (STA) affiliated with a non-AP device via a second link of the one or more available links of at least one AP affiliated with the AP device, wherein the second link is established between the at least one AP affiliated with the AP device and the STA affiliated with the non-AP device; and [(Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 7-9; Table 2-3)]
It would have been obvious by one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the communication system of Kim with that of Wang in order to include an external MLD as part of an extended service set to define resource sharing and coordinate beacon content, as per Wang (¶132), with reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding Claim 14, Kim and Wang disclose(s):
The AP device of claim 12, wherein the STA affiliated with the non-AP device is associated with an AP affiliated with the AP device. [Kim discloses an AP MLD with multiple APs associated with it (¶ 299-300; Fig. 23-25)]
Regarding Claim 15, Kim and Wang disclose(s):
The AP device of claim 12, wherein the setup information further includes buffer status of the at least one AP affiliated with the AP device. [Kim discloses after discovery and authentication, the association process may include information related to various capabilities, a status code (mapped to buffer status), an association ID, a supported rate, and a QoS map (¶ 99; Fig. 3). Wang discloses external AP devices and setup information (Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶132; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 6-9; Table 2-3).]
Regarding Claim 16, Kim and Wang disclose(s):
The AP device of claim 12, wherein the setup information further includes a first list of STAs associated with the at least one AP affiliated with the AP device. [Kim discloses that during multi-link setup, an enabled link may be determined from at least one of a plurality of links determined as enabled and that an anchored link may be referred to as a primary link (¶ 273-276). Wang discloses external AP devices and setup information including MMLD IDs and AP’s included in those groups (Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶132; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 6-9; Table 2-3)]
Regarding Claim 18, Kim and Wang disclose(s):
The AP device of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause being informed, from the external AP device, of a primary channel of a link established between the external AP device and the non-AP device. [Kim discloses a beacon being sent in every channel indicating the presence of a wireless network and also storing such information (¶ 94-95). Kim discloses a PHY layer protocol data unit (PPDU) used in IEEE standard which may include an HE-SIG-B field (¶ 101-105; Fig. 4), and that the number of STAs allocated to a specific channel may be determined based on the resource unit allocation information of the common field in the HE-SIG-B (¶ 130; Fig. 8). Kim also discloses designating a primary channel in the PPDU which may be included in U-SIG or EHT-SIG fields in the PPDU (¶ 206-207; 266-273). Wang discloses external AP devices and Link info (Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 6-9; Table 2-3).]
Regarding Claim 19, Kim and Wang disclose(s):
The AP device of claim 18, wherein the received data traffic is forwarded to the STA affiliated with the non-AP device through the primary channel informed from the external AP device. [Kim discloses setting up a connection on a primary channel (¶ 273-274) and that both the AP and non-AP MLD may exchange data traffic (¶ 309). Wang discloses external AP devices (Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 6-9; Table 2-3).]
Regarding Claim 20, Kim and Wang disclose(s):
The AP device of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause:
receiving an address or an identifier of the STA affiliated with the non-AP device; and [Kim discloses that during the association process, the STA may transmit an association request frame which may include a service set identifier (SSID) (¶ 99; Fig. 3)]
forwarding the received data traffic to the STA affiliated with the non-AP device using the address or the identifier of the STA affiliated with the non-AP device. [Kim discloses that during the association process in the setup procedure, the STA may transmit an association request frame which may include a service set identifier (SSID) (¶ 99; Fig. 3) and that both the AP and non-AP MLD may transceiver data traffic (¶ 309)]
Claims 2, 7-9, 13, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim and Wang and further in view of Smith et al. (US 2022 / 0225200 A1; hereinafter Smith).
Regarding Claim 2, Kim and Wang disclose:
The AP device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause receiving [Kim discloses that an MLD device may transmit information about a link that the corresponding MLD can support through ML setup including ACK (acknowledgement) policy information (¶ 279). Kim also discloses that part of the discovery process includes a probe response (¶ 94-96; Fig. 3)]
Kim and Wang do not explicitly disclose:
The AP device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause receiving an acknowledgment in response to the transferred data traffic.
However Smith, analogous art also teaching multi-AP MLDs, does disclose:
The AP device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause receiving an acknowledgment in response to the transferred data traffic. [Smith discloses APs may perform an acknowledgment function after data traffic is transferred over a link (¶ 21; ¶ 41 Fig. 1-2)]
It would have been obvious by the effective filing date of the claimed invention for a person of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the MLD wireless communication system of Kim and Wang with that of Smith to include an acknowledgement in response to received data traffic in order to establish a traffic ID (TID)-to-link map that assigns traffic IDs to each link, as per Smith (¶ 21), with reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding Claim 7, Kim, Wang, and Smith disclose(s):
The AP device of claim 2, wherein the acknowledgment is directly received from the non-AP device. [Kim discloses a method for requesting various information by a non-AP MLD to an AP MLD directly and can be used for various cases (¶ 343; ¶347; ¶393). Smith discloses APs may perform an acknowledgment function after data traffic is transferred over a link (¶ 21; ¶ 41 Fig. 1-2)]
Regarding Claim 8, Kim, Wang, and Smith disclose(s):
The AP device of claim 2, wherein the acknowledgment is received through the selected external AP device from the non-AP device. [Kim discloses a method for requesting various information by a non-AP MLD to an AP MLD directly and can be used for various cases (¶ 343; ¶347; ¶393). Smith discloses APs may perform an acknowledgment function after data traffic is transferred over a link (¶ 21; ¶ 41 Fig. 1-2). Wang discloses external AP devices(Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 6-9; Table 2-3).]
Regarding Claim 9, Kim, Wang, and Smith disclose(s):
The AP device of claim 2, wherein the acknowledgment is included in a group addressed frame indicating the AP device and the selected external AP device. [Kim discloses a method for requesting various information by a non-AP MLD to an AP MLD directly and can be used for various cases (¶ 343; ¶347; ¶393). Smith discloses APs may perform a block acknowledgment function after data traffic is transferred over a link (¶ 21; ¶ 41 Fig. 1-2). Wang discloses external AP devices(Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 6-9; Table 2-3).]
Regarding Claim 13, Kim and Wang disclose(s):
The AP device of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause:
receiving an [Kim discloses that an MLD device may transmit information about a link that the corresponding MLD can support through ML setup including ACK (acknowledgement) policy information (¶ 279). Kim also discloses that part of the discovery process includes a probe response (¶ 94-96; Fig. 3)]
forwarding the received [Kim discloses that information may be shared between a non-AP device and its associated STA and that operations performed by an STA may also be performed by an AP (¶ 70-75). Wang discloses external AP devices (Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 6-9; Table 2-3).]
Kim and Wang do not explicitly disclose:
receiving an acknowledgment from the STA affiliated with the non-AP device;
forwarding the received acknowledgment to the external AP device.
However Smith, analogous art also teaching multi-AP MLDs, does disclose:
receiving an acknowledgment from the STA affiliated with the non-AP device; [Smith discloses APs may perform an acknowledgment function after data traffic is transferred over a link (¶ 21; ¶ 41 Fig. 1-2)]
forwarding the received acknowledgment to the external AP device. [Smith discloses APs may perform an acknowledgment function after data traffic is transferred over a link (¶ 21; ¶ 41 Fig. 1-2)]
It would have been obvious by the effective filing date of the claimed invention for a person of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the MLD wireless communication system of Kim and Wang with that of Smith to include an acknowledgement in response to received data traffic in order to establish a traffic ID (TID)-to-link map that assigns traffic IDs to each link, as per Smith (¶ 21), with reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding Claim 17, Kim, Wang, and Smith disclose(s):
The AP device of claim 13, wherein the acknowledgment is included in a group addressed frame indicating the AP device and the external AP device. [Kim discloses a method for requesting various information by a non-AP MLD to an AP MLD directly and can be used for various cases (¶ 343; ¶347; ¶393). Wang discloses external AP devices (Wang ¶88-99; ¶106-115; ¶140-147; Fig. 2-3 and 6-9; Table 2-3). Smith discloses APs may perform a block acknowledgment function after data traffic is transferred over a link (¶ 21; ¶ 41 Fig. 1-2)]
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Kwon et al. (US 20210266931 A1) – Fig. 1 ¶3-5; ¶19-21
McCann et al. (US 20240049084 A1) – Fig. 10-13
Kim et al. (US 20230115361 A1) – Fig. 40-42
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Rowan K Fakhro whose telephone number is (703)756-1467. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Marcus R Smith can be reached on (571) 270-1096. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RKF/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2468
/MARCUS SMITH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2468
