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 .
Applicant’s amendment filed 9/24/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 1, 5, 9, 13, and 19 are amended.
Claims 25 and 26 are newly added.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 9/24/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Amendments filed on 9/24/2026 are entered for prosecution. Claims 1, 4-7, 9, 12-14, 19-22, 25, and 26 remain pending in the application.
Applicant’s amendments to claims 1, 9, and 19 have overcome the objection to claims 1, 9, and 19 previously set forth in the Final Action mailed on 6/26/2026.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to independent claims 1, 9, and 19 (pages 7-13) in a reply filed 9/24/2026 have been considered but are moot because the arguments are based on newly changed limitations in the amendment and new ground of rejections using newly introduced references or a newly introduced portion of an existing reference are applied in the current rejection.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 5, and 13 are objected because of the following informalities:
In claim 1, it is suggested to amend to read “… sending a target radio frame on the second communication link, wherein the target radio frame is a Beacon frame and carries ML information element[[;]], wherein the ML information element …” for punctuational correction for clarity.
In claims 5 and 13, it is suggested to amend for clarity.
5. (Currently Amended) The method of claim 1, further comprising:
broadcasting the target radio frame, wherein the target radio frame comprises carrying the BSS Color Disable information.
13. (Currently Amended) The method of claim 9, further comprising:
receiving the target radio frame broadcast by the ML access point device, wherein the target radio frame comprises carrying the BSS Color Disable information.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 26 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends.
Regarding claim 26:
The claim is dependent on canceled claim 8, which appears to be a typographical error. The parent claim of claim 26 is unclear because the claim language includes a typographical error. For the purpose of the examination, “The method of claim 8” in line 1 of the claim 26 will be interpreted as “The method of claim 9”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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, 7, 9, 19-22, 25, and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cariou et al. (US 2021/0274500 A1, hereinafter Cariou) in view of IEEE 802.11-16/1413r8 (November 2016, hereinafter Patil) further in view of IEEE P802.11be/D3.0 (January 2023, hereinafter 802.11be).
Regarding claim 1:
Carious teaches a signal processing method, performed by a multi-link (ML) access point device (see, Cariou: para. [0002], “Embodiments relate to multi-link devices (MLDs) operating in accordance with wireless local area networks (WLANs) and Wi-Fi networks including networks operating in accordance with different versions or generations of the IEEE 802.11 family of standards. Some embodiments relate to communicating elements or fields transmitted by an access point (AP) of the MLD operating on a first frequency band with APs of the MLD operating on other frequency bands.”), wherein the ML access point device supports communications via a plurality of communication links (see, Cariou: para. [0107], “ML AP logical entity 808 includes AP1 830, AP2 832, and AP3 834 operating on link 1 804.1, link 2 804.2, and link 3 804.3, respectively.”), the plurality of communication links comprises a first communication link over a first frequency band and a second communication link over a second frequency band different from the first frequency band (see, Cariou: para. [0105], “The ML logical entity 1 806 includes three STAs, STA1.1 814.1, STA 1.2 814.2, and STA 1.3 814.3 that operate in accordance with link 1 802.1, link 2 802.2, and link 3 802.3, respectively. The Links are different frequency bands such as 2.4 GHz band, 5 GHz band, 6 GHz band, and so forth. ML logical entity 2 807 includes STA2.1 816.1, STA2.2 816.2, and STA2.3 816.3 that operate in accordance with link 1 802.1, link 2 802.2, and link 3 802.3, respectively.”; para. [0107], “ML AP logical entity 808 includes a MAC address 854 that may be used by applications to transmit and receive data across one or more of AP1 830, AP2 832, and AP3 834. AP1 830, AP2 832, and AP3 834 includes a frequency band, which are 2.4 GHz band 836, 5 GHz band 838, and 6 GHz band 840, respectively.”), the method comprising:
Cariou does not explicitly teach wherein in a case where Basic Service Set (BSS) Color Disable information corresponding to the first communication link is set to a state indicating that a BSS Color is disabled such that a BSS parameter change of the first communication link has occurred.
In the same field of endeavor, Patil teaches that the HE Operation Parameters field contains both a BSS Color and a BSS Color Disabled subfield. Patil further states that an HE AP sets the BSS Color Disabled subfield to 1 when the AP decides to disable use of BSS Color for the BSS it serves, for example after detecting a BSS Color overlap (see, Patil: Section 9.4.2.219, “An HE AP sets the BSS Color Disabled subfield to 1 if the HE AP decides to disable the use of the BSS color for the BSS that it serves, for example, after detecting a BSS Color overlap in the neighborhood as described in 25.11.3 (BSS_COLOR); otherwise the HE AP sets the BSS Color Disabled subfield to 0.” The BSS Color Disabled subfield is a field of the HE Operation element, and when BSS Color Disabled is set to 1, BSS Color operation for that AP/BSS is disabled.).
Also, in the same field of endeavor, 802.11be defines “Modification of the HE Operation element” as a critical update event (see, 802.11be: Section 11.2.3.15 TIM Broadcast (page 361), “The following events about the BSS parameters of the AP shall classify as a critical update: … l) Modification of the HE Operation element … n) Inclusion of the BSS Color Change Announcement element”. Therefore, changing the BSS Color Disabled subfield of the HE Operation element from a state permitting BSS Color operation to 1, indicating that BSS Color operation is disabled, constitutes a modification of the HE Operation element, which 802.11be expressly classifies as a critical BSS parameter update.).
Cariou further teaches wherein updating BSS parameters change count information associated with a BSS parameter corresponding to the first communication link (see, Carious: para. [0122], “beacon frames and probe response frames sent by an AP (AP1 830, AP2 832, or AP 834) of an AP MLD 808 include a field called Change Sequence (e.g., BSS parameters change count 1408 or a field within per-STA profile 1504) that indicates a change of system information of another AP within the same AP MLD 808 when a critical update to the Beacon frame in another AP has occurred, where the change sequence is initialized to 0, that increments as the critical update is occurred.”; para. [0134], “BSS parameters change count 1408 subfield is an unsigned integer, initialized to 0, that increments when a critical update to the Beacon frame of the reported AP occurs.”).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Cariou in combination of the teachings of Patil and 802.11be in order to increment the BSS Parameters Change Count when a critical update to the BSS Parameters of the reported AP occurs such as modification of the HE Operation element taught by Patil (see, Patil: Section 9.4.2.219; 802.11be: ).
Cariou further teaches wherein sending a target radio frame on the second communication link, wherein the target radio frame is a Beacon frame and carries ML information element (see, Cariou: para. [0141], “the AP2 832 may encode a beacon frame to include the extended channel switch announcement element 900, channel switch announcement element 1000 and transmit it on 5 GHz Band 838. AP1 830 may encode multi-link element 1502 as part of the first beacon frame where the multi-link element 1502 includes a per-STA profile 1504 field for AP2 832 with a MAC address 1506 of AP2 832 and the extended channel switch announcement element 900, channel switch announcement element 1000 as element 1 1508.”; para. [0142], “The method 1900 continues at operation 1906 with configuring the first AP of the AP MLD to transmit, on a first frequency band, the first beacon frame. For example, an apparatus of the AP MLD 808 or of AP1 830 may configure AP1 830 to transmit a beacon frame or a probe response frame that includes the multi-link element 1502 with the extended channel switch announcement element 900 or channel switch announcement element 1000.”); wherein the ML information element comprises per-STA profile subelement corresponding to the first communication link (see, Cariou: para. [0136], “The multi-link element 1502 may be encoded within a management frame or another frame. The multi-link element 1502 includes a per-STA profile 1504, which may be a STA or AP of a MLD. The per-STA profile 1504 includes a MAC address 1506 field for identifying the AP of the AP MLD, and element 1 1508 through element N 1501, which are elements being included from a first AP of an AP MLD by a second AP of the same AP MLD as described herein.” More specifically, para. [0141] teaches that AP1’s Beacon contains a Multi-Link element having a Per-STA Profile for AP2 with AP2’s MAC address and elements relating to AP2. Thus, Cariou expressly teaches a Beacon transmitted on one link containing a Multi-Link element with a Per-STA Profile corresponding to the AP operating on another link.).
Cariou further teaches the substantive BPCC information and cross-link reporting (see, Cariou: para. [0122], “beacon frames and probe response frames sent by an AP (AP1 830, AP2 832, or AP 834) of an AP MLD 808 include a field called Change Sequence (e.g., BSS parameters change count 1408 or a field within per-STA profile 1504) that indicates a change of system information of another AP within the same AP MLD 808 when a critical update to the Beacon frame in another AP has occurred, where the change sequence is initialized to 0, that increments as the critical update is occurred. Performing an extended Channel Switch Announcement is considered a critical event and therefore the change sequence field for the AP performing the ECSA shall be incremented in the beacon and probe response frames of all APs of the AP MLD 808.”). 802.11be further teaches wherein updated BSS parameters change count information is carried in an STA Info field of the per-STA profile subelement (see, 802.11be: Fig. 9-1002o – STA Info field format of the Basic Multi-Link element; page 262, “The BSS Parameters Change Count Present subfield indicates the presence of the BSS Parameters Change Count subfield in the STA Info field and is set to 1 if the BSS Parameters Change Count subfield is present in the STA Info field; otherwise set to 0.”).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply Cariou‘s BSS Parameter Change Count update mechanism when the BSS Color Disabled subfield of the HE Operation element changes to a value indicating that BSS Color is disabled, as taught by Patil, because such a change modifies the HE Operation element and therefore constitutes one of the critical update events expressly identified by 802.11be. The combination would predictably result in incrementing the BSS Parameters Change Count corresponding to the AP/link whose BSS Color operation has been disabled, thereby allowing a station monitoring another link of the AP MLD to recognize that the BSS operational parameters of the reported AP have changed.
Regarding claim 7:
As discussed above, Cariou in view of Patil and 802.11be teaches all limitations in claim 1.
Cariou further teaches wherein before sending the target radio frame, the method comprises: determining the target radio frame (see, Cariou: para. [0139], “The method 1900 begins at operation 1902 with encode a first portion of a first beacon frame or first response frame. For example, an apparatus of AP1 830 may encode a first portion of a beacon frame or first response frame.”; para. [0140], “in response to a second AP of the AP MLD transmitting, on a second frequency band, a second beacon frame or a second probe response frame comprising a channel switch announcement element or an enhanced channel switch announcement frame, encoding a second portion of the first beacon frame or the first probe response frame, the second portion comprising the channel switch announcement element or the enhanced channel switch announcement frame.”; para. [0141], “AP1 830 may encode multi-link element 1502 as part of the first beacon frame where the multi-link element 1502 includes a per-STA profile 1504 field for AP2 832 with a MAC address 1506 of AP2 832 and the extended channel switch announcement element 900, channel switch announcement element 1000 as element 1 1508.”)
Regarding claim 9:
Claim 9 is directed towards a signal processing method, performed by a station (STA) device (see, Cariou: Fig. 5, STA 504), comprising: similar feature of claim 1 from the perspective of the station (STA) device (see, Cariou: para. [0077], “the STAs 504 and/or the HE AP 502 are configured to perform the methods and operations/functions described herein in conjunction with FIGS. 1-18. In example embodiments, an apparatus of the STA 504 and/or an apparatus of the AP 502 are configured to perform the methods and functions described herein in conjunction with FIGS. 1-18. The term Wi-Fi may refer to one or more of the IEEE 802.11 communication standards. AP and STA may refer to EHT/HE access point and/or EHT/HE station as well as legacy devices 506.”). Therefore, claim 9 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 19:
Claim 19 is directed towards a multi-link (ML) access point device (see, Cariou: Fig. 5 and Fig. 7, Access Point, AP 502; para. [0093-0094]), comprising: a processor (see, Cariou: Fig. 7, Processing Circuitry 708 including processor(s); para. [0093-0094] [0101]); and a memory (see, Cariou: Fig. 7, Memory 710; para. [0093-0094]) for storing a computer program executable by the processor; wherein when executing the computer program, the processor is configured to: perform the method of claim 1. Therefore, claim 19 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 20:
Claim 20 is directed towards a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (see, Cariou: Fig. 7, Memory 710; para. [0093-0094]), having a computer program stored thereon, wherein when the computer program is executed by a processor (see, Cariou: Fig. 7, Processing Circuitry 708 including processor(s); para. [0093-0094] [0101]), the method of claim 1 is performed. Therefore, claim 20 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 21:
Claim 21 is directed towards an electronic device (see, Cariou: Fig. 5 and Fig. 7, Station, STA 504; para. [0093-0094]), comprising: a processor (see, Cariou: Fig. 7, Processing Circuitry 708 including processor(s); para. [0093-0094] [0101]); and a memory (see, Cariou: Fig. 7, Memory 710; para. [0093-0094]) for storing a computer program executable by the processor, wherein when executing the computer program, the processor is configured to perform the method of claim 9. Therefore, claim 21 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 9 above.
Regarding claim 22:
Claim 22 is directed towards a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (see, Cariou: Fig. 7, Memory 710; para. [0093-0094]), having a computer program stored thereon, wherein when the computer program is executed by a processor (see, Cariou: Fig. 7, Processing Circuitry 708 including processor(s); para. [0093-0094] [0101]), the method of claim 9 is performed. Therefore, claim 22 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 9 above.
Regarding claim 25:
As discussed above, Cariou in view of Patil and 802.11be teaches all limitations in claim 1.
Cariou further teaches wherein broadcasting the target radio frame on the second communication link (see, Cariou: para. [0141], “AP1 830 may encode multi-link element 1502 as part of the first beacon frame where the multi-link element 1502 includes a per-STA profile 1504 field for AP2 832 with a MAC address 1506 of AP2 832 and the extended channel switch announcement element 900, channel switch announcement element 1000 as element 1 1508.”; para. [0142], “configuring the first AP of the AP MLD to transmit, on a first frequency band, the first beacon frame. For example, an apparatus of the AP MLD 808 or of AP1 830 may configure AP1 830 to transmit a beacon frame or a probe response frame that includes the multi-link element 1502 with the extended channel switch announcement element 900 or channel switch announcement element 1000.”; para. [0113], “Each AP (e.g., AP1 830, AP2 832, and AP3 834) of the MLD sends a beacon frame that includes: a description of its capabilities, operation elements, a basic description of the other AP of the same MLD that are collocated, which may be a report in a Reduced Neighbor Report element or another element such as a basic multi-link element 1600. AP1 830, AP2 832, and AP3 834 transmitting information about the other APs in beacons and probe response frames enables STAs of non-AP MLDs to discover the APs of the AP MLD.”. Accordingly, where the communication link/frequency band on which AP1 transmits the first Beacon frame is designated as the claimed second communication link, Cariou teaches or at least renders obvious broadcasting the target Beacon frame on the second communication link, as recited in claim 25.).
Regarding claim 26:
Claim 26 is directed towards the method of claim 9 that is further limited to similar features to claim 25 from the perspective of the station (STA) device of claim 9. Therefore, claim 26 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 25 above.
Claims 4 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cariou in view of Patil further in view of 802.11be further in view of Seok et al. (US 2021/0250848 A1, hereinafter Seok).
Regarding claim 4:
As discussed above, Cariou in view of Patil and 802.11be teaches all limitations in claim 1.
Cariou in view of Patil and 802.11be does not explicitly teach wherein the BSS Color Disable information is carried in a Link info subelement of the ML information element.
In the same field of endeavor, Seok in view of 802.11be teaches wherein the BSS Color Disable information is carried in a Link info subelement of the ML information element (see, Seok: para. [0050], “multi-link parameter updates can be communicated to wireless STAs using a BSS Color Change Announcement (BCCA) carried in an optional subelements field of a multi-link IE, for example, Multi-link IE 100 depicted in FIG. 1.”; Also, see 802.11be: Section 9.4.2.312.2.4 Link Info field of the Basic Multi-Link element teaches that link-specific information concerning affiliated STAs/Aps is conveyed in the Link Info field of the Basic Multi-Link element, including through Per-STA Profile subelements corresponding to the respective affiliated Aps/links.).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Cariou in view of Patil and 802.11b in combination of the teachings of Seok in order to communicate multi-link parameter updates to wireless STAs using BSS Color Change Announcement (BCCA) carried in an optional subelement of the multi-link IE (see, Seok: para. [0050].).
Regarding claim 12:
Claim 12 is directed towards the method of claim 11 that is further limited to similar features to claim 4 from the perspective of the station (STA) device of claim 9. Therefore, claim 12 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 4 above.
Claims 5 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cariou in view of Patil further in view of 802.11be further in view of Gidvani et al. (US 2018/0220368 A1, hereinafter Gidvani).
Regarding claim 5:
As discussed above, Cariou in view of Patil and 802.11be teaches all limitations in claim 1.
Cariou in view of Patil and 802.11be further teaches wherein broadcasting the target radio frame (see, Cariou: para. [0113], “Each AP (e.g., AP1 830, AP2 832, and AP3 834) of the MLD sends a beacon frame that includes: a description of its capabilities, operation elements, a basic description of the other AP of the same MLD that are collocated, which may be a report in a Reduced Neighbor Report element or another element such as a basic multi-link element 1600. AP1 830, AP2 832, and AP3 834 transmitting information about the other APs in beacons and probe response frames enables STAs of non-AP MLDs to discover the APs of the AP MLD.”; para. [0141], “AP1 830 may encode multi-link element 1502 as part of the first beacon frame where the multi-link element 1502 includes a per-STA profile 1504 field for AP2”; para. [0142], “configuring the first AP of the AP MLD to transmit, on a first frequency band, the first beacon frame. For example, an apparatus of the AP MLD 808 or of AP1 830 may configure AP1 830 to transmit a beacon frame or a probe response frame that includes the multi-link element 1502 with the extended channel switch announcement element 900 or channel switch announcement element 1000.”. 802.11be further teaches the conventional transmission of Beacon frames by an AP for communicating BSS and multi-link information to STAs receiving on the corresponding link. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to transmit Cariou’s Beacon frame containing the Multi-Link element as a broadcast Beacon frame on the corresponding communication link, as taught by the conventional Beacon transmission procedure of 802.11be in order to make the BSS and multi-link information carried by the Beacon available to STAs operating on that link.).
Cariou in view of Patil and 802.11be does not explicitly teach wherein the BSS Color Disable information is carried in an enhancements for extremely high throughput (EHT) operation element, the EHT operation element being carried in the target radio frame.
In the same field of endeavor, Gidvani teaches an HE Operation element included in Beacon frames (see, Gidvani: para. [0051], “HE Operation element 200 that may be provided in beacon (or other management) frames transmitted by the AP 110.”), an HE Operation Parameters field containing a BSS Color Disabled subfield (see, Gidvani: para. [0052], “The HE Operation Parameters field 240 may include a “BSS Color” subfield 242, a “BSS Color Disabled” subfield 244, and a “Dual Beacon” subfield 246.”), and setting the BSS Color disabled subfield to 1 in the HE Operation element of a broadcast Beacon when BSS Color operation is to be disabled during a BSS Color change (see, Gidvani: para [0073], “an AP may disable a BSS color check procedure by storing a value of 1 in the BSS Color Disabled subfield 244 in the HE Operation element 200 of beacon (or other management) frames transmitted to its associated STAs.”).
802.11be teaches the EHT Operation element used for communicating EHT operational information in an EHT BSS (see, 802.11be: Section 9.4.2.311 EHT Operation element, 802.11be teaches the standardized EHT Operation element used by an EHT AP to communicate EHT operational information and teaches carrying the EHT Operation element in management signaling including Beacom frames.).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to carry the BSS Color Disable operational information taught by Gidvani using the corresponding EHT Operation signaling provided for the EHT system. Gidvani had already established the known technique of communicating BSS Color Disable status in an operation element carried by a Beacon, and applying that known signaling technique to the EHT Operation signaling of 802.11be would have predictably provided the BSS operational status to EHT STAs.
Regarding claim 13:
Claim 13 is directed towards the method of claim 10 that is further limited to similar features to claim 5 from the perspective of the station (STA) device of claim 9. Therefore, claim 13 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 5 above.
Claims 6 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cariou in view of Patil further in view of 802.11be further in view of Gidvani further in view of Seok.
Regarding claim 6:
As discussed above, Cariou in view of Patil, 802.11be, and Gidvani teaches all limitations in claim 5.
Cariou in view of Patil, 802.11be, and Gidvani does not explicitly teach wherein the BSS Color Disable information is carried in an EHT operation information subelement of the EHT operation element.
In the same field of endeavor, Seok teaches an enhancements for extremely high throughput (EHT) operation element (see, Seok: Title; the sub-title above para. [0043], “Novel Techniques for EHT Multi-Link BSS Parameter Update”; and para. [0043]). Seok further teaches wherein a BSS Color Change Announcement (BCCA) is carried in an optional subelements field of a multi-link IE (see, Seok: Fig. 6, Step 605 and para. [0058], “The beacon frame identifies the second wireless link (e.g., using a Link ID) and announces and/or includes a basic service set (BSS) parameter update for the second wireless link. The Link ID and BSS parameter update can be carried in ECSA (e.g., in an optional subelements field) Multi-link IE. The ECSA Multi-link IE can include a channel number, a channel switch count, a channel switch mode, and/or a change sequence, for example, used to indicate a channel switch or other BSS parameter update (e.g., BSS Color Change Announcement), modification of EDCA parameters, modification of MU EDCA Parameter Set element, modification of the Spatial Reuse Parameter Set element, etc.).”; para. [0050], “According to other embodiments, multi-link parameter updates can be communicated to wireless STAs using a BSS Color Change Announcement (BCCA) carried in an optional subelements field of a multi-link IE, for example, Multi-link IE 100 depicted in FIG. 1. The optional subelements field in the Multi-link IE (e.g., optional subelements field 105) may contain the beacon interval (BI) and the TSF offset between two wireless links in order to track the TBTT. Importantly, when the BI and the TSF offset are not present in the Multi-link IE, the BSS color is disabled until the BSS color change indicated by the BCCA takes place.”).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to carry the BSS Color Change Announcement (e.g., BSS Color Disable information) taught by Seok using the corresponding EHT Operation element provided for the EHT system, and applying that known signaling technique to the EHT Operation element of 802.11be would have predictably provided the BSS operational status to EHT STAs.
Regarding claim 14:
Claim 14 is directed towards the method of claim 13 that is further limited to similar features to claim 6 from the perspective of the station (STA) device of claim 9. Therefore, claim 14 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 6 above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JI-HAE YEA whose telephone number is (571) 270-3310. The examiner can normally be reached on MON-FRI, 7am-3pm, ET.
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, SUJOY K KUNDU can be reached on (571) 272-8586. 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 https://ppair-my.uspto.gov/pair/PrivatePair. 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.
/JI-HAE YEA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
