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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 3/18/26 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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cariou, U.S. Publication No. 2021/0153125 (Cariou 125’) in view of Cariou et al., U.S. Publication No. 2018/0278697 (Cariou 697’).
Regarding Claims 1, 8 and 15, Cariou 125’ discloses an information
transmission method, comprising:
determining, an operating mode of a second frequency band in a first period (in other words, a mode of TWT; see paragraph [0141]), where the operating mode of the second frequency band includes one or more of enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) operating mode and EDCA disable operating mode (in other words, the STA 103 may refrain from performance of EDCA to access the medium outside of the TWT SP, in some cases. The TWT SPs may be identified by a field in the TWT element (using one reserved bit). For instance, the field may be referred to as “EDCA” or similar. In a non-limiting example, the bit may be set to 0 for regular TWT SP, and may be set to 1 to indicate that the TWT SP is followed by the STA 103 by applying a rule/guideline/procedure that EDCA may not be performed outside of the TWT.; see paragraph [0141]), the EDCA operating mode and the EDCA disable operating mode are in different periods of the second frequency band, and in the first period, the second frequency band is in the EDCA operating mode or the EDCA disable operating mode (as described in paragraph [0146]);
determining, based on the operating mode of the second frequency band in the first period, whether to bind a first frequency band (i.e., 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands) and the second frequency band (i.e., 6 GHz band) in the first period (for example, the TWT mode described above may be optional for operation in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, and may be considered mandatory (for operation in accordance with an 802.11ax standard and/or other standard) for operation in the 6 GHz band; see paragraph [0145]).
Cariou 125’ fails to disclose in response to the first frequency band and the second frequency band being bound in the first period, transmitting data on an aggregate frequency band obtained by binding the first frequency band and the second frequency band.
Cariou 697’ discloses in response to the first frequency band and the second frequency band being bound in the first period, transmitting data on an aggregate frequency band obtained by binding the first frequency band and the second frequency band (Cariou 697’ teaches link aggregation between different WiFi air interfaces on different bands is managed (e.g., 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 60 GHz, and others). Simultaneous dual band operation (2.4 and 5 GHz) is common in APs … Link aggregation can also be applicable to multiple air interfaces in the same band…the transmitter/receiver establish link aggregation. In other words, Cariou 69’ teaches binding of different frequency bands (for example, first frequency band 2.4 GHz and second frequency band 5 GHz) and transmitting data on an aggregate frequency band obtained by the binding; see paragraphs [0013]-[0015], [0023] and [0093]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Cariou 697’s invention with Cariou 125’s invention for a most reliable interface and low latency (see paragraph [0017] of Cariou 697’).
Regarding Claims 2, 9 and 16, Cariou 125’ and Cariou 697’ disclose the
method, apparatus and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as described above. Cariou 125’ further discloses wherein the determining, based on the operating mode of the second frequency band in the first period, whether to bind a first frequency band and the second frequency band in the first period comprises: when the second frequency band is in the EDCA disable operating mode in the first period, binding the first frequency band and the second frequency band in the first period (see paragraphs [0141] and [0145]).
Regarding Claims 3, 10 and 17, Cariou 125’ and Cariou 697’ disclose the
method, apparatus and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as described above. Cariou 125’ further discloses wherein the determining, based on the operating mode of the second frequency band in the first period, whether to bind a first frequency band and the second frequency band in the first period comprises: when the second frequency band is in the EDCA disable operating mode in the first period, skipping binding the first frequency band and the second frequency band in the first period (see paragraphs [0141] and [0145]).
Regarding Claims 4, 11 and 18, Cariou 125’ and Cariou 697’ disclose the
method, apparatus and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as described above. Cariou 125’ further discloses wherein the determining, based on the operating mode of the second frequency band in the first period, whether to bind a first frequency band and the second frequency band in the first period comprises: determining, based on first indication information, whether to bind the first frequency band and the second frequency band in the first period, where the first indication information is used to indicate to bind or skip binding the first frequency band and the second frequency band in the first period, and the first period is an EDCA period or an EDCA disable period (see paragraphs [0141] and [0145]).
Regarding Claims 5, 12 and 19, Cariou 125’ and Cariou 697’ disclose the
method, apparatus and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as described above. Cariou 125’ further discloses wherein the operating mode of the second frequency band further comprises a preconfigured operating mode for transmitting information, and wherein the determining, based on the operating mode of the second frequency band in the first period, whether to bind a first frequency band and the second frequency band in the first period comprises: when the second frequency band is in the preconfigured operating mode for transmitting information in the first period, binding the first frequency band and the second frequency band in the first period (see paragraphs [0141] and [0145]).
Regarding Claims 6, 13 and 20, Cariou 125’ and Cariou 697’ disclose the
method, apparatus and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as described above. Cariou 125’ further discloses wherein the determining, based on the operating mode of the second frequency band in the first period, whether to bind a first frequency band and the second frequency band in the first period comprises: when a transmission opportunity exists on the second frequency band in the first period, binding the first frequency band and the second frequency band in the first period (see paragraphs [0141] and [0145]).
Regarding Claims 7 and 14, Cariou 125’ and Cariou 697’ disclose the method
and apparatus as described above. Cariou 125’ further discloses wherein the first frequency band is a 5-GHz frequency band, and the second frequency band is a 6-GHz frequency band (see paragraph [0145]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Cherian et al., U.S. Publication No. 2019/0098565 discloses methods and
systems for controlling network access
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHANTELL LAKETA HEIBER whose telephone number is (571)272-0886. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F from 9am to 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony Addy, can be reached at telephone number (571)272-0886. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHANTELL L HEIBER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645
October 6, 2026
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