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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 04/14/2026 has been fully considered and entered into record. Claims 1-17 and 20 remain pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks filed 04/14/2026, particularly with respect to the rejection of claims 1-13 under 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. For these reasons, the rejections have been withdrawn and allowable subject matter has been indicated below.
Regarding Claims 14-17 and 20, applicants remarks regarding the rejection of the claims under 35 U.S.C 103, particularly in view of Chu et al (US 2021/0266891), in view of Jang et al (US 2023/0164842), and further in view of Naribole et al (US 2021/0076412), have been fully considered but are moot because they do not apply to the new grounds of rejection provided below, as necessitated by amendment to the claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 14-17 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim recites “A method of a first device, the method comprising: receiving a first frame from a second device in a first transmit opportunity (TXOP) of a first link; and receiving a second frame from the second device in a second TXOP of a second link, wherein the second frame is generated by the second device based on a first TXOP limit of the first link to align an end time of the second frame with an end time of the first frame.” Since the claim is directed to a method performed by a first device, all limitations pertaining to the generation of the frame by the second device are not given patentable weight. Therefore, the claim is directed to a first device receiving two frames in two different transmit opportunities, and literally nothing else. The first device does not do anything with the received frames, the method stops without any indication of why the frames were received, what happens with the frames, or any actual application besides simply receiving frames from generated by another device. Absent any other limitations, this judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application and the claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. For these reasons, the subject matter is ineligible.
Claims 15-17 and 20 are rejected for the same reasons by virtue of their dependency on Claim 14 and for failing to add any additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 14-17 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chu et al (US 2021/0266891), in view of Jang et al (US 2023/0164842).
Regarding Claim 14, Chu teaches a method of a first device (Figs. 11-12), the method comprising: receiving a first frame from a second device in a first transmit opportunity (TXOP) of a first link; receiving a second frame from the second device in a second TXOP of a second link ([0003], at a multi-link station device that has a non-simultaneous transmission and reception capability (NSTR STA MLD) that supports multiple links, exchanging frames on multiple links with a multi-link access point device (AP MLD) that has at least one of a simultaneous transmission capability and a simultaneous transmission and reception (STR) capability);
wherein the second frame is generated by the second device based on a first TXOP limit of the first link to align an end time of the second frame with an end time of the first frame ([0111], after receiving DL A-MPDU2 to STA MLD2 1104 on link2 1102-2 at STA MLD2, STA MLD2 may transmit an UL BA frame, UL BA2 1112, on link2 1102-2 to the AP MLD, such that the transmission end time of UL BA2 1112 on link2 1102-2 is aligned with the transmission end time of UL A-MPDU1 from STA MLD1 1106-1 on link1 1102-1. In some embodiments, after receiving UL A-MPDU1 from STA MLD1 1106-1 on link1 1102-1 and UL BA2 1112 on link2 1102-2 at the AP MLD, the AP MLD may transmit a first DL BA frame, DL BA1 1108-1, on link1 1102-1 to STA MLD1 and a DL Trigger frame, DL Trigger 1114, on link2 1102-2 to STA MLD1. As an example, the transmission of DL Trigger 1114 on link2 1102-2 to STA MLD1 may be an attempt to schedule simultaneous transmission from STA MLD1 without changing the TXOP owner on link1 1102-1).
Regarding Claim 15, Chu teaches the method of claim 14, Chu further teaches wherein the first link and the second link are a non-simultaneous transmit and receive (NSTR) link pair ([0003], at a multi-link station device that has a non-simultaneous transmission and reception capability (NSTR STA MLD) that supports multiple links, exchanging frames on multiple links with a multi-link access point device (AP MLD) that has at least one of a simultaneous transmission capability and a simultaneous transmission and reception (STR) capability), the first TXOP limit is shorter than the second TXOP limit (Fig. 11A, after a first backoff 1118-1 by STA MLD1 on link1 1102-1 (shown by “STA MLD1's backoff”), STA MLD1 may transmit a first UL A-MPDU frame, UL A-MPDU1 from STA MLD1 1106-1, on link1 1102-1 to the AP MLD, such that transmission of UL A-MPDU1 from STA MLD1 1106-1 begins a first TXOP owned by STA MLD1 1110-1 (shown as “TXOP owned by STA MLD1”). In some embodiments, after a second backoff 1118-2 by the AP MLD on link2 (shown by “AP MLD's backoff”), the AP MLD may transmit a DL A-MPDU frame, DL A-MPDU2 to STA MLD2 1104, to a second STA MLD, STA MLD2, on link2 1102-2. In such an embodiment, transmission of DL A-MPDU2 to STA MLD2 1104 begins a second TXOP owned by the AP MLD 1110-2 (shown as “TXOP owned by AP MLD”) on link2 1102-2)
wherein a length of the second frame is determined based on the first TXOP limit ([0111], after receiving DL A-MPDU2 to STA MLD2 1104 on link2 1102-2 at STA MLD2, STA MLD2 may transmit an UL BA frame, UL BA2 1112, on link2 1102-2 to the AP MLD, such that the transmission end time of UL BA2 1112 on link2 1102-2 is aligned with the transmission end time of UL A-MPDU1 from STA MLD1 1106-1 on link1 1102-1. In some embodiments, after receiving UL A-MPDU1 from STA MLD1 1106-1 on link1 1102-1 and UL BA2 1112 on link2 1102-2 at the AP MLD, the AP MLD may transmit a first DL BA frame, DL BA1 1108-1, on link1 1102-1 to STA MLD1 and a DL Trigger frame, DL Trigger 1114, on link2 1102-2 to STA MLD1. As an example, the transmission of DL Trigger 1114 on link2 1102-2 to STA MLD1 may be an attempt to schedule simultaneous transmission from STA MLD1 without changing the TXOP owner on link1 1102-1).
Regarding Claim 16, Chu teaches the method of claim 14, Chu further teaches wherein the second frame is a frame fragmented by the second device based on the first TXOP limit ([0081], In some embodiments, if there is activity on link1, then the AP MLD may additionally report a remaining NAV timer value after the notification frame transmission. In such an embodiment, the indication may be carried in the specific Per-AID TID Information field of a multi-BA frame and identified by a specific AID value, specific TID value, or specific Fragment Number. In another embodiment, the indication may also use a change of compressed BA frame for transmission).
Regarding Claim 17, Chu teaches the method of claim 16, Chu further teaches wherein the second frame further comprises padding bits added by the second device based on the first TXOP limit ([0068], a first backoff 512-1 on link1 502-1 and a second backoff 512-2 on link2 502-2 may start at a similar time, but the first backoff 512-1 may end before the second backoff 512-2. In some embodiments, after the first backoff 512-1 on link1 502-1, the AP MLD may transmit a first DL A-MPDU frame of a second TID to the NSTR STA MLD on link1 502-1, e.g., DL A-MPDU1 of TID2 to STA MLD1 506-1, such that the BA buffer size of TID2 is 256. In some embodiments, after the second backoff 512-2 on link2 502-2, the AP MLD may transmit a second DL A-MPDU frame of a first TID to the NSTR STA MLD on link2 502-2, e.g., DL A-MPDU2 of TID1 to STA MLD1 506-2, such that the BA buffer size of TID1 is 64. In such an embodiment, DL A-MPDU1 of TID2 to STA MLD1 506-1 and DL A-MPDU2 of TID1 to STA MLD1 506-2 may have an aligned transmission end time. In some embodiments, after receiving DL A-MPDU1 of TID2 to STA MLD1 506-1 and DL A-MPDU2 of TID1 to STA MLD1 506-2 at the NSTR STA MLD, the NSTR STA MLD may transmit a first UL BA frame, UL BA1 508-1, to the AP MLD on link1 502-1 after an interframe space of SIFS 510, and a second UL BA frame, UL BA2 508-2, to the AP MLD on link2 502-2 after the interframe space of SIFS 510, such that UL BA1 508-1 and UL BA2 508-2 have an aligned transmission start/end time. In some embodiments, UL BA1 508-1 and UL BA2 508-2 may each include the BA frame and optional padding (e.g., MPDU delimiter padding).
Regarding Claim 20, Chu teaches the method of claim 14, Chu further teaches wherein in response that the first device is an access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD), the second device is a station (STA) MLD, and in response that the first device is an STA MLD, the second device is an AP MLD; the AP MLD supports a simultaneous transmit and receive (STR) operation on the first link and the second link; and the STA MLD does not support the STR operation on the first link and the second link ([0003], at a multi-link station device that has a non-simultaneous transmission and reception capability (NSTR STA MLD) that supports multiple links, exchanging frames on multiple links with a multi-link access point device (AP MLD) that has at least one of a simultaneous transmission capability and a simultaneous transmission and reception (STR) capability).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-13 are allowed. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: In view of the claim amendments and Applicant’s remarks, the recited limitations are neither taught, suggested, nor made obvious by any prior art of record, and therefore are allowable.
Conclusion
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 MARGARET G WEBB whose telephone number is (571)270-7803. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-6:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Appiah can be reached at (571) 272-7904. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARGARET G WEBB/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641
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