DETAILED ACTION
The following is a non-final office action in response to filing of IDS on 06/23/2026 along with applicant’s amendment filed on 03/03/2023 for response of the office action mailed on 12/04/2025. Independent claims 1, 10 and 19 are amended. Claims 2, 11 and 20 are added or cancelled. Therefore, claims 1, 3-10 and 12-19 are pending and addressed below.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/23/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). 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, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 06/23/2026 has been entered.
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.
In 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 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 factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 1, 3, 10, 12 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Min et. al. (2021/0051513), Min hereinafter, in view of Park et. al. (IEEE 802.11-21/0612r4, CC34 Comment Resolution for 35.3.10.4 Traffic Indication, 23rd April 2021, Park hereinafter, further in view of Kim et al. (2023/0083599), Kim hereinafter.
Re. claims 1 and 19, Min teaches a method (Fig.2 & ¶0018 /¶00125-¶0026/¶0050) for operating a non-access point (non-AP) multi-link device (Fig.2, Non-AP MLD 208/Fig.4-5) comprising multiple stations (Fig. 2, STA 210/212) each operating in multiple links (Fig. 1A/1B/Fig.2, 214/216), and a non-access point (non-AP) multi-link device (Fig.2, Non-AP MLD 208/Fig.4-5) comprising multiple stations (Fig. 2, STA 210/212) each operating in multiple links (Fig. 1A/1B/Fig.2, 214/216), the multi-link device comprising: a transceiver (Fig.4, 410); and a processor (Fig.4, 406), wherein the processor is configured to: receive (Fig.2 & ¶0050 - AP 204 may send a beacon 218 followed by a beacon 220 using the first link 214. The time interval between the beacon 218 and the beacon 220 may be referred to as a beacon interval 222. … The beacon 220 may indicate whether non-AP MLDs using the first link 214 and the second link 216 have traffic to send/receive during a time period between the beacon 220 and the next beacon 224) a beacon frame (Fig.2, 220) comprising a traffic indication map (TIM) element (Fig.2, 260) and a Multi-Link Traffic element (Fig. 2, 262) from an AP multi-link device (Fig.2, 202); determine, based on a Partial Virtual Bitmap subfield of the TIM element, whether traffic for the non- AP multi-link device has been buffered to the AP multi- link device, wherein the Partial Virtual Bitmap subfield comprises one or more first bits and one or more second bits, a bit set to 1 among the one or more first bits indicates that traffic for a non-AP multi-link device corresponding to the bit among the one or more first bits has been buffered to the AP multi- link device, and a bit set to 1 among the one or more second bits indicates whether traffic for a non-AP station which is not affiliated with a multi-link device, corresponding to the bit among the one or more second bits has been buffered to the AP multi- link device (Fig.2 & ¶0018 - a TIM element included in a beacon frame may be used to signal the presence of buffered data at the AP for its associated STAs (e.g., STAs that have performed an association process with the AP). Respective bit positions of the Partial Virtual Bitmap subfield in the TIM element (also referred to as a TIM bitmap) may correspond to specific device address (e.g., an association identifier—AID) and may be set to 1 when there is buffered data for the STA that has the AID corresponding to the bit position. Fig.2 & ¶0025 - A-MLD may avoid needing to look up each AID (or other address) of the logical non-AP entities of non-AP MLDs and may rely on the Link ID field. In this manner, because each bit position of the Partial Virtual Bitmap field corresponds to the AID of a device (or logical entity), the same AID may be used for all logical entities of a non-AP MLD. Fig.2 & ¶0026 - when an AP logical entity in link 1 decides to send buffered data to a STA logical entity in link 2, then the AP logical entity merely needs to set the bit location corresponding to the current AID (in link 1) to “1” in TIM bitmap in ML-TIM element for link 2 (and set it to “0” for the current link in regular TIM element).);
PNG
media_image2.png
349
603
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Yet, Min does not expressly teach when the traffic for the non-AP multi-link device has been buffered to the AP multi-link device, determine, based on a Per-Link Traffic Indication List subfield of the Multi-Link Traffic element, which of the multiple links is a link in which the traffic for the non-AP multi- link device has been buffered or which of the multiple links is a link in which the AP multi-link device recommends the non-AP multi-link device to retrieve traffic transmission, wherein the Per-Link Traffic Indication List subfield comprises n Per-Link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfields, wherein n is a value equal to a sum of a
However, in the analogous art, Park explicitly discloses when the traffic for the non-AP multi-link device has been buffered to the AP multi-link device, determine, based on a Per-Link Traffic Indication List subfield of the Multi-Link Traffic element, which of the multiple links is a link in which the traffic for the non-AP multi- link device has been buffered or which of the multiple links is a link in which the AP multi-link device recommends the non-AP multi-link device to retrieve traffic transmission (TGbe Editor to add the following paragraphs at the end of Subclause 35.3.10.4 (Traffic indication): (#2135): Page 6: If a non-AP MLD is in the default mapping mode , the bit position i of the Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield that corresponds to the link with the Link ID equal to i on which a STA affiliated with the non-AP MLD is operating may be set to 1 to indicate to the non-AP MLD a recommended link on which buffered BU(s) should be retrieved), wherein the Per-Link Traffic Indication List subfield comprises n Per-Link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfields, wherein n is a value equal to a sum number of bits set to 1 among the one or more first bits and the number of bits set to 1 among the one or more second bits, and wherein the n Per-Link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfields are mapped to the non-AP multi-link device corresponding to the bit set to 1 among the one or more first bits and the non-AP station corresponding to the bit set to 1 among the one or more second bits, respectively (TGbe Editor to add the following paragraphs at the end of Subclause 35.3.10.4 (Traffic indication): (#2135): Pages 5-6: The Multi-link Traffic element includes Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield(s) that corresponds to the AID(s) of the non-AP MLD(s), starting from the octet numbered N of the traffic indication virtual bitmap, in the Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap List field. The AID Offset subfield of the Multi-Link Traffic Control field of the Multi-Link Traffic element contains the value N. The order of the Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield(s) follows the order of the bits that are set to 1 in the Partial Virtual Bitmap subfield of the TIM element that corresponds to the AID(s) of the non-AP MLD(s). The AID Offset subfield indicates an octet numbered N of the traffic indication virtual bitmap. Page 8 : The Per-link Traffic Indication List field is defined in Figure 9-xyz3 (Per-link Traffic Indication List field format). The Per-link Traffic Indication List field contains Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfields that correspond to the AIDs of the non-AP MLDs starting from the octet numbered N of the traffic indication virtual bitmap. The Per-link Traffic Indication List field contains l Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfields, where l is the number of the bits that corresponds to the AIDs of the non-AP MLDs set to 1, counting from the octet numbered N of the traffic indication virtual bitmap, in the Partial Virtual Bitmap field of the TIM element that is included in a Beacon frame with the Multi-Link Traffic element. The Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield is defined in Figure 9-xyz4 (Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap field format). Each Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield indicates per-link traffic indications for a non-AP MLD that has negotiated a TID-link mapping with an AP MLD. Each bit in the Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield corresponds to a link on which a STA affiliated with a non-AP MLD is operating, with the bit position i of the bitmap, Bi, corresponding to a link with Link ID equal to i. A value of 1 in the bit position i in the bitmap indicates that there is buffered BU(s) with TID(s) mapped to the link with the Link ID equal to i; a value of 0 in a bit position in the bitmap indicates that there is no buffered BU(s) with TID(s) mapped to the corresponding link).
PNG
media_image3.png
550
1343
media_image3.png
Greyscale
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Min’s invention of a system and a method of Enhanced traffic indications for multi-link wireless communication devices in a wireless network to include Park’s invention of a system and a method operating for multi-link traffic indication in a wireless network, because it provides an efficient mechanism for the receiving Multi-link Device (MLD) in learning quickly that there is traffic for all links or a specific link used by the receiving MLD, and thus can efficiently manage traffic in the wireless network. (Pages 5-8, Park & knowledge in the field of art)
Yet, Min and Park do not expressly teach wherein the Per-Link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield mapped to the non-AP station corresponding to the bit set to 1 among the one or more second bits is configured as a reserved bit.
However, in the analogous art, Kim explicitly discloses wherein the Per-Link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield mapped to the non-AP station corresponding to the bit set to 1 among the one or more second bits is configured as a reserved bit. (Fig. 22 & ¶0314: ¶0318 - for a scheduled OPS mechanism, the TIM element may be included in the OPS frame or the FILS discovery frame. For example, the OPS frame or the FILS discovery frame may be transmitted from an OPS AP. In this case, a TIM element which is set differently from the TIM element 2200 shown in FIG. 22 may be configured/set. The TIM element included in the OPS frame or FILS discovery frame for the scheduled OPS mechanism may be configured/set as follows. For example, the DTIM count field may be changed to “reserved”. For example, the DTIM count field may be changed to “reserved”. For example, a bit ‘N’ of the traffic indication virtual bitmap corresponding to an OPS non-AP STA with AID ‘N’ may be determined/set in various ways. For example, the traffic indication virtual bitmap may be related to the AID of the OPS non-AP STA. As an example, information for the OPS non-AP STA with AID ‘N’ may be indicated through an N-th bit of the traffic indication virtual bitmap. If the OPS AP has no plan to transmit a frame information trigger information (or a trigger frame) for UL MU transmission to the OPS non-AP STA before a next TWT SP or during a TWT SP, the bit N may be set to 0. Otherwise, the bit N may be set to 1. For example, the bit “N” of the traffic indication virtual bitmap corresponding to the Non-OPS non-AP STA with AID ‘N’ may be determined/set in various ways. As an example, if the AP has a buffered frame for the STA, the bit N may be set to 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Min’s invention of a system and a method of Enhanced traffic indications for multi-link wireless communication devices in a wireless network and Park’s invention of a system and a method operating for multi-link traffic indication in a wireless network to combine Kim’s invention of a system and a method for performing multi-link communication in a wireless communication system, because it provides an efficient mechanism for performing a power saving (PS) operation in the multi-link communication in the wireless communication system. (¶0001, Kim)
Re. claim 10, Min teaches an access point (AP) multi-link device (Fig.2, A-MLD 202/Fig.4-5) comprising multiple stations (Fig. 2, AP 204/206) each operating in multiple links (Fig. 1A/1B/Fig.2, 214/216), the multi-link device comprising: a transceiver (Fig.4, 410); and a processor (Fig.4, 406), wherein the processor is configured to: configure a traffic indication map (TIM) element (Fig.2, 260) and a Multi-Link Traffic element (Fig.2, 262) which is to be included in a beacon frame (Fig. 2, 220) to be transmitted to a non-AP multi-link device (Fig. 2, 208), wherein the TIM element (Fig.2, 260) comprises a Partial Virtual Bitmap subfield (Fig.2, 264, ¶0018- Respective bit positions of the Partial Virtual Bitmap subfield in the TIM element (also referred to as a TIM bitmap)), the Partial Virtual Bitmap subfield comprises one or more first bits and one or more second bits, a bit set to 1 among the one or more first bits indicates that traffic for a non-AP multi-link device corresponding to the bit among the one or more first bits has been buffered to the AP multi-link device, and a bit set to 1 among the one or more second bits indicates whether traffic for a non-AP station which is not affiliated with a multi-link device, corresponding to the bit among the one or more second bits has been buffered to the AP multi-link device (Fig.2 & ¶0018 - a TIM element included in a beacon frame may be used to signal the presence of buffered data at the AP for its associated STAs (e.g., STAs that have performed an association process with the AP). Respective bit positions of the Partial Virtual Bitmap subfield in the TIM element (also referred to as a TIM bitmap) may correspond to specific device address (e.g., an association identifier—AID) and may be set to 1 when there is buffered data for the STA that has the AID corresponding to the bit position. Fig.2 & ¶0025 - A-MLD may avoid needing to look up each AID (or other address) of the logical non-AP entities of non-AP MLDs and may rely on the Link ID field. In this manner, because each bit position of the Partial Virtual Bitmap field corresponds to the AID of a device (or logical entity), the same AID may be used for all logical entities of a non-AP MLD. Fig.2 & ¶0026 - when an AP logical entity in link 1 decides to send buffered data to a STA logical entity in link 2, then the AP logical entity merely needs to set the bit location corresponding to the current AID (in link 1) to “1” in TIM bitmap in ML-TIM element for link 2 (and set it to “0” for the current link in regular TIM element).); and transmit the beacon frame (Fig.2 & ¶0050 - AP 204 may send a beacon 218 followed by a beacon 220 using the first link 214. The time interval between the beacon 218 and the beacon 220 may be referred to as a beacon interval 222. … The beacon 220 may indicate whether non-AP MLDs using the first link 214 and the second link 216 have traffic to send/receive during a time period between the beacon 220 and the next beacon 224 …..) by using the transceiver (Fig.4, 410),
PNG
media_image2.png
349
603
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Yet, Min does not expressly teach when the traffic for the non-AP multi-link device has been buffered to the AP multi-link device, configure a Per-Link Traffic Indication List subfield of the Multi- Link Traffic element, based on which of the multiple links is a link in which the traffic for the non-AP multi-link device has been buffered or which of the multiple links is a link in which the AP multi-link device recommends the non-AP multi-link device to retrieve traffic transmission; wherein the Per-Link Traffic Indication List subfield comprises n Per-Link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfields, wherein n is a value equal to a sum of a number of bits set to 1 among the one or more first bits and a number of bits set to 1 among the one or more second bits, and wherein the n Per-Link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfields are mapped to the non-AP multi-link device corresponding to the bit set to 1 among the one or more first bits and the non-AP station corresponding to the bit set to 1 among the one or more second bits, respectively.
However, in the analogous art, Park explicitly discloses when the traffic for the non-AP multi-link device has been buffered to the AP multi-link device, configure a Per-Link Traffic Indication List subfield of the Multi- Link Traffic element, based on which of the multiple links is a link in which the traffic for the non-AP multi-link device has been buffered or which of the multiple links is a link in which the AP multi-link device recommends the non-AP multi-link device to retrieve traffic transmission (TGbe Editor to add the following paragraphs at the end of Subclause 35.3.10.4 (Traffic indication): (#2135): Page 6: If a non-AP MLD is in the default mapping mode , the bit position i of the Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield that corresponds to the link with the Link ID equal to i on which a STA affiliated with the non-AP MLD is operating may be set to 1 to indicate to the non-AP MLD a recommended link on which buffered BU(s) should be retrieved); wherein the Per-Link Traffic Indication List subfield comprises n Per-Link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfields, wherein n is a value equal to a sum of a number of bits set to 1 among the one or more first bits and a number of bits set to 1 among the one or more second bits, and wherein the n Per-Link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfields are mapped to the non-AP multi-link device corresponding to the bit set to 1 among the one or more first bits and the non-AP station corresponding to the bit set to 1 among the one or more second bits, respectively. (TGbe Editor to add the following paragraphs at the end of Subclause 35.3.10.4 (Traffic indication): (#2135): Pages 5-6: The Multi-link Traffic element includes Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield(s) that corresponds to the AID(s) of the non-AP MLD(s), starting from the octet numbered N of the traffic indication virtual bitmap, in the Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap List field. The AID Offset subfield of the Multi-Link Traffic Control field of the Multi-Link Traffic element contains the value N. The order of the Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield(s) follows the order of the bits that are set to 1 in the Partial Virtual Bitmap subfield of the TIM element that corresponds to the AID(s) of the non-AP MLD(s). The AID Offset subfield indicates an octet numbered N of the traffic indication virtual bitmap. Page 8 : The Per-link Traffic Indication List field is defined in Figure 9-xyz3 (Per-link Traffic Indication List field format). The Per-link Traffic Indication List field contains Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfields that correspond to the AIDs of the non-AP MLDs starting from the octet numbered N of the traffic indication virtual bitmap. The Per-link Traffic Indication List field contains l Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfields, where l is the number of the bits that corresponds to the AIDs of the non-AP MLDs set to 1, counting from the octet numbered N of the traffic indication virtual bitmap, in the Partial Virtual Bitmap field of the TIM element that is included in a Beacon frame with the Multi-Link Traffic element. The Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield is defined in Figure 9-xyz4 (Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap field format). Each Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield indicates per-link traffic indications for a non-AP MLD that has negotiated a TID-link mapping with an AP MLD. Each bit in the Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield corresponds to a link on which a STA affiliated with a non-AP MLD is operating, with the bit position i of the bitmap, Bi, corresponding to a link with Link ID equal to i. A value of 1 in the bit position i in the bitmap indicates that there is buffered BU(s) with TID(s) mapped to the link with the Link ID equal to i; a value of 0 in a bit position in the bitmap indicates that there is no buffered BU(s) with TID(s) mapped to the corresponding link.).
PNG
media_image3.png
550
1343
media_image3.png
Greyscale
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Min’s invention of a system and a method of Enhanced traffic indications for multi-link wireless communication devices in a wireless network to include Park’s invention of a system and a method operating for multi-link traffic indication in a wireless network, because it provides an efficient mechanism for the receiving Multi-link Device (MLD) in learning quickly that there is traffic for all links or a specific link used by the receiving MLD, and thus can efficiently manage traffic in the wireless network. (Pages 5-8, Park & knowledge in the field of art)
Yet, Min and Park do not expressly teach wherein the Per-Link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield mapped to the non-AP station corresponding to the bit set to 1 among the one or more second bits is configured as a reserved bit.
However, in the analogous art, Kim explicitly discloses wherein the Per-Link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield mapped to the non-AP station corresponding to the bit set to 1 among the one or more second bits is configured as a reserved bit. (Fig. 22 & ¶0314: ¶0318 - for a scheduled OPS mechanism, the TIM element may be included in the OPS frame or the FILS discovery frame. For example, the OPS frame or the FILS discovery frame may be transmitted from an OPS AP. In this case, a TIM element which is set differently from the TIM element 2200 shown in FIG. 22 may be configured/set. The TIM element included in the OPS frame or FILS discovery frame for the scheduled OPS mechanism may be configured/set as follows. For example, the DTIM count field may be changed to “reserved”. For example, the DTIM count field may be changed to “reserved”. For example, a bit ‘N’ of the traffic indication virtual bitmap corresponding to an OPS non-AP STA with AID ‘N’ may be determined/set in various ways. For example, the traffic indication virtual bitmap may be related to the AID of the OPS non-AP STA. As an example, information for the OPS non-AP STA with AID ‘N’ may be indicated through an N-th bit of the traffic indication virtual bitmap. If the OPS AP has no plan to transmit a frame information trigger information (or a trigger frame) for UL MU transmission to the OPS non-AP STA before a next TWT SP or during a TWT SP, the bit N may be set to 0. Otherwise, the bit N may be set to 1. For example, the bit “N” of the traffic indication virtual bitmap corresponding to the Non-OPS non-AP STA with AID ‘N’ may be determined/set in various ways. As an example, if the AP has a buffered frame for the STA, the bit N may be set to 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Min’s invention of a system and a method of Enhanced traffic indications for multi-link wireless communication devices in a wireless network and Park’s invention of a system and a method operating for multi-link traffic indication in a wireless network to combine Kim’s invention of a system and a method for performing multi-link communication in a wireless communication system, because it provides an efficient mechanism for performing a power saving (PS) operation in the multi-link communication in the wireless communication system. (¶0001, Kim)
Re. Claims 3 and 12, Min, Park and Kim teach claims 1 and 10. -
Yet, Min does not expressly teach wherein the reserved bit has a value of 0.
However, in the analogous art, Park explicitly discloses wherein the reserved bit has a value of 0 (Page 7 - The Bitmap Size subfield indicates the size of each Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield, in bits. The subfield is set to m, where (m + 1) is the size of the Per-link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield. A value of 0 in the Bitmap Size subfield is reserved.).
PNG
media_image4.png
144
413
media_image4.png
Greyscale
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Min’s invention of a system and a method of Enhanced traffic indications for multi-link wireless communication devices in a wireless network and Kim’s invention of a system and a method for performing multi-link communication in a wireless communication system to include Park’s invention of a system and a method operating for multi-link traffic indication in a wireless network, because it provides an efficient mechanism for the receiving Multi-link Device (MLD) in learning quickly that there is traffic for all links or a specific link used by the receiving MLD, and thus can efficiently manage traffic in the wireless network. (Pages 5-8, Park & knowledge in the field of art)
Claims 8 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Min, in view of Park, in view of Kim, further in view of Gan et al. (2024/0089815), Gan hereinafter.
Re. Claims 8 and 17, Min, Park and Kim teach claims 1 and 10.
Yet, Min and Park do not expressly teach wherein when an AP having transmitted the beacon frame in the AP multi- link device does not belong to a multiple BSSID set, the range of values that the AP multi-link device is capable of assigning as an association ID (AID) is determined based on a value of a Group Addressed BU Indication Exponent subfield, and wherein the value of the Group Addressed BU Indication Exponent subfield indicates the number of bits that is to be used to indicate a buffered group addressed frame corresponding to an AP different from the AP having transmitted the beacon frame in the AP multi-link device..
However, in the analogous art, Chen explicitly discloses wherein when an AP having transmitted the beacon frame in the AP multi- link device does not belong to a multiple BSSID set, the range of values that the AP multi-link device is capable of assigning as an association ID (AID) is determined based on a value of a Group Addressed BU Indication Exponent subfield, and wherein the value of the Group Addressed BU Indication Exponent subfield indicates the number of bits that is to be used to indicate a buffered group addressed frame corresponding to an AP different from the AP having transmitted the beacon frame in the AP multi-link device. (Fig. 1-12 & ¶0189 - a method for allocating an AID to a multi-link device, and the method is specifically a method for allocating an AID to a non-AP MLD. Fig. 1-12 & ¶0190 - AID is an identifier (identify, ID) allocated by an AP to an associated STA after the association is established, and may be considered as an ID of the associated STA. The AID may be used to identify and distinguish STAs associated with the AP, and may be used as an index in a partial frame structure to point to a specific associated STA. If the AP can support multiple BSSIDs, or a beacon frame or a probe response frame can carry a multiple BSSID element (multiple BSSID element), a maximum quantity of BSSIDs that the AP can support is 2n , indicating that a range of a quantity of BSSIDs is [1, 2n−1], and a range of an AID that the AP can allocate to the STA is [2n, 2007] Herein, n may be a value of a MaxBSSID indicator (MaxBSSID indicator) field in the BSSID element. If the AP cannot support multiple BSSIDs, or the beacon frame or the probe response frame cannot carry the multiple BSSID element, the range of the AID that the AP can allocate to the STA is [1, 2007]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Min’s invention of a system and a method of Enhanced traffic indications for multi-link wireless communication devices in a wireless network and Park’s invention of a system and a method operating for multi-link traffic indication in a wireless network and Kim’s invention of a system and a method for performing multi-link communication in a wireless communication system to include Gan’s invention of an individually addressed traffic indication method applicable to multiple links in a wireless network , because it provides an efficient mechanism for some APs (Access points) or all APs of some AP MLDs (access point multi-link device) indicate whether station multi-link devices associated with the AP MLDs have downlink individually addressed traffics, to assist the station multi-link devices in correctly receiving downlink individually addressed traffics in the wireless network. (¶0002-¶0006, Gan)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-7, 9, 13-16 and 18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The Examiner has conducted a search of Patent and Non-Patent Literature and was unable to find any prior art which solely or in combination with another reference teaches the limitation of:
Claim 4 – wherein when the non-AP multi-link device successfully performs TID- to-link mapping with the AP multi-link device and not all TIDs are mapped to all links in the TID-to-link mapping, the Per-Link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield mapped to the non-AP multi-link device indicates whether the traffic for the non-AP multi- link device is buffered in each of the multiple links.
Claim 5 – Depends on claim 4.
Claim 6 – Depends on claim 4.
Claim 7 – Depends on claim 4.
Claim 9 – wherein when the AP having transmitted the beacon frame in the AP multi- link device belongs to the multiple BSSID set, the range of values that the AP multi-link device is capable of assigning as an AID is determined based on the value of the Group Addressed BU Indication Exponent subfield and a bitmap limit, and wherein the bitmap limit is 48 bits.
Claim 13 – wherein when the non-AP multi-link device successfully performs TID- to-link mapping with the AP multi-link device and that not all TIDs are mapped to all links, the Per-Link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield mapped to the non-AP multi-link device indicates whether the traffic for the non-AP multi- link device is buffered in each of the multiple links, wherein when default mapping is applied to a link between the non-AP multi-link device and the AP multi-link device, the Per-Link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield mapped to the non-AP multi-link device indicates which of the multiple links is a link in which the non-AP multi- link device is recommended to retrieve traffic transmission, and wherein in the default mapping, all TIDs are mapped to all links.
Claim 14 – Depends on claim 13.
Claim 15 – Depends on claim 13.
Claim 16 – Depends on claim 13.
Claim 18 – wherein when the AP having transmitted the beacon frame in the AP multi- link device belongs to the multiple BSSID set, the range of values that the AP multi-link device is capable of assigning as an AID is determined based on the value of the Group Addressed BU Indication Exponent subfield and a bitmap limit, and wherein the bitmap limit is 48 bit.
Response to Arguments
Earlier claim objections for claims 1, 3, 10, 12 and 19 have been withdrawn following amended claim languages.
Applicant's arguments filed on 03/03/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding remarks in pages 9-11 for independent claim 1, applicant argues that Min or Park fails to teach, ” wherein the Per-Link Traffic Indication Bitmap subfield mapped to the non-AP station corresponding to the bit set to 1 among the one or more second bits is configured as a reserved bit. “.
Examiner agrees, however, in the analogous art, Kim (2023/0083599 [Wingdings font/0xF3] a new reference) discloses the limitation as disclosed in §103 rejection.
For these reasons, it is maintained that independent claim 1 is unpatentable over Min, in view of Park, further in view of Kim (2023/0083599 [Wingdings font/0xF3] a new reference).
For similar reasons, it is maintained that independent claims 10 and 19 are also, unpatentable Min, in view of Park, further in view of Kim (2023/0083599 [Wingdings font/0xF3] a new reference).
As all other dependent claims depend either directly or indirectly from the independent claims 1, 10 and 19, similar rationale also applies to all respective dependent claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMED SHAMSUL CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)272-0485. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday 9 AM- 6 PM EST (Friday Var.).
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, Hassan Phillips can be reached on 571-272-3940. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MOHAMMED S CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467
Prosecution Insights