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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments regarding the 103 rejection have been considered and they are moot because they do apply to the new ground rejection and the new references used in the current office action. Detailed responses can be found in the rejection of claim 1.
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, 3-7, 9-10, 12-14, 16 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Patil (US 20200359259) in view of Patil2 (US 20210321243) further in view of Hassan (US 20170201895).
Regarding claim 1, Patil discloses a communication method, performed by a station that supports multiple links, comprising:
sending a first radio frame, wherein the first radio frame comprises a Traffic Identifier- to-communication Link (TID-to-Link) mapping information element between a traffic identifier and a target communication link ([0035][0108-110][0129], fig. 6, a non-AP STA may generate and transmit at least one message indicating a mapping of each of a plurality of traffic identifiers to one or more parameters associated with each of a plurality of wireless links (TID-to-link mapping); TID-to-Link mapping changes may be exchanged), and the target communication link comprises at least one of: a newly added communication link or a deleted communication link ([0129], one TID may be mapped to multiple links (such as links 1 and 3) (such as for packet aggregation). The mapping of TID 8 may be changed from link ID 1 to link ID 2. After this change occurring, the table 904 may be exchanged to communicate this change. Link 2 is newly added, and Link 1 is deleted).
Patil does not explicitly disclose receiving a fourth radio frame, wherein the fourth radio frame comprises a target information element, the target information element indicates capability information of an AP at a physical (PHY) layer or at a medium access control (MAC) layer;
wherein the TID-to-Link mapping information element comprises a link change indicator field, and the link change indicator field indicates at least one of: adding a communication link and/or deleting a communication link.
Patil2 discloses receiving a fourth radio frame, wherein the fourth radio frame comprises a target information element, the target information element indicates capability information of an AP at a physical (PHY) layer or at a medium access control (MAC) layer, and (Patil2, [0310], a protected action frame or the fourth radio frame contains protected ML information, mappings between traffic identifier (TID) values and communication links associated with the AP MLD, operation parameters of the AP MLD or capability information of the AP MLD. ML operation parameters includes MAC layer information or capability; where the action frame further includes one or more of a medium access control (MAC) address of a MAC address of a corresponding AP of the AP MLD associated with the new communication link),
wherein the TID-to-Link mapping information element comprises a link change indicator field, and the link change indicator field indicates at least one of: adding a communication link and/or deleting a communication link (Patil2, [0527], the first frame includes a field of requesting to add at least one additional communication link to the identification of the one or more communication links in the ML context; [0535], includes a request to delete at least one communication link from the identification of the one or more communication links in the ML context, here, the request can include an indicator. The field of request can be added to the TID 8 or table 904 taught by Patil).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of exchanging TID-to-Link information as given by Patil with the teachings of indicating changes in the TID-to-Link information given by Patil2. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve communication between the AP and the one or more STAs over each of the communication links (Patil2, [0004]).
Patil2 does not explicitly disclose the capability information comprises an indication of an ability of the AP to support a change in a secondary AP.
Hassan discloses the capability information comprises an indication of an ability of the AP to support a change in a secondary AP (Hassan, [0019][0020][0023], the SDR capability allows APs 110-116 to be configurable to operate according to different behavior profiles that define different control features and parameters for sending and receiving data transmissions in network 100. That is, the capability indicates the AP supports change in the secondary AP or other devices; the adaptive profile functions may be configured to handle different network RF environments in areas covered by particular APs, or areas covered by particular multiple APs, within the network separately).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of exchanging TID-to-Link information as given by Patil with the teachings of indicating certain AP capabilities given by Hassan. The motivation for doing so would have been to support more traffic (Hassan, [0020]). It is noted that the applicant uses selective language in this claim and the examiner can only show one of the claimed options.
Claims 10 and 21 are rejected similarly with claim 1 noting that Patil discloses a processor and memory in fig. 2.
Regarding claim 3, Patil discloses the method of claim 1, before sending the first radio frame, further comprising: determining the first radio frame ([0035][0108-110], fig. 6, a non-AP STA may generate or determine (before transmitting) at least one message indicating a mapping of each of a plurality of traffic identifiers to one or more parameters associated with each of a plurality of wireless links).
Regarding claims 4, 12, Patil and Patil2 disclose the method of claim 3, wherein determining the first radio frame comprises:
receiving a second radio frame, wherein the second radio frame indicates adding a communication link or deleting a communication link (Patil2, [0532], adding the at least one additional communication link to the identification of the one or more communication links in the ML context based on the second frame indicating an acceptance of the request);
determining the first radio frame based on the second radio frame (Patil2, fig. 7, dynamically reaffiliating the at least one TID to a second subset of the first communication link, the second communication link, and a third communication link; Patil, [0129], the mapping of TID 8 may be changed from link ID 1 to link ID 2. After this change occurring, the table 904 may be exchanged to communicate this change).
It is noted that the applicant uses selective language in this claim and the examiner is only showing one of the claimed options.
Regarding claims 5, 13, Patil discloses the method of claim 1, wherein sending the first radio frame comprises: sending the first radio frame on a communication link with an access point (AP) ([0035][0110], fig. 2, a non-AP STA outputs (such as via at least one interface) the at least one message for transmission via at least one of the plurality of wireless links to an AP).
Regarding claim 6, Patil discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the first radio frame indicates establishing a TID-to-Link mapping of the station ([0108], generating or establishing a mapping of each of a plurality of traffic identifiers to one or more parameters associated with each of a plurality of wireless links).
Regarding claims 7, 14, Patil and Patil2 disclose the method of claim 1, after sending the first radio frame, further comprising:
receiving a third radio frame, wherein the third radio frame comprises first indication information or second indication information; wherein the first indication information indicates an AP to establish a first TID-to-Link mapping in the TID-to-Link mapping information element, the second indication information indicates the station to trigger establishment of a second TID-to-Link mapping, wherein the first TID-to-Link mapping is different from the second TID-to-Link mapping (Patil2, [0527], includes a request to add at least one additional communication link to the identification of the one or more communication links in the ML context; [0535], includes a request to delete at least one communication link from the identification of the one or more communication links in the ML context).
It is noted that the applicant uses selective language in this claim and the examiner is only showing one of the claimed options.
Regarding claims 9, 16, Patil and Patil2 disclose the e method of claim 1,
wherein the first radio frame comprises a TID-to-Link request frame (Patil2, [0527][0535], includes a request to add at least one additional communication link to the identification of the one or more communication links in the ML context).
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 ZHENSHENG ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1985. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8:00am-6:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Thier can be reached at 571-272-2832. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZHENSHENG ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474