DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
2. 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
3. Claims 1-4, 8-12, and 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Li et al (US 20230309017 A1, hereinafter referred to as Li).
Re claim 1, Li teaches an access point (105, Fig. 1) comprising:
(i) one or more memories (Memory, Par 0089); and
(ii) one or more processors (Processor, Par 0089) communicatively coupled to the one or more memories (Memory, Par 0089), a combination of the one or more processors configured to:
(iii) receive, from a first device (first device/Computing device 110, Fig. 1, device 502/602, Fig. 5-6), a request to refrain from transmitting wireless fidelity (WiFi) messages to the first device during a time period (requesting to suspend/halt transmission to the first device during the second TWT period) (Fig. 6-9, Par 0059-0066, Par 0073-0075, Par 0079);
(iv) communicate, to the first device, a response (TWT response from the AP, Fig. 6-9) confirming that the access point will refrain from transmitting WiFi messages to the first device during the time period (accepting/confirming to suspend/halt transmission to the first device during the second TWT period) (Par 0063, Par 0066, Par 0073-0076, Par 0079-0080, Par 0083-0086); and
(v) refrain from transmitting the WiFi messages to the first device during the time period (suspending/halting transmission to the first device during the second TWT period) (Fig. 6-10, Par 0063, Par 0066, Par 0073-0076, Par 0079-0080, Par 0083-0086).
Claim 9 recites a method performing the functions recited in claim 1 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 1.
Claim 17 recites a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions to be executed by a combination of one or more processors to perform the functions recited in claim 1 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 1. Li further teaches a non-transitory computer readable medium (Par 0089).
Re claims 2, 10, 18, Li teaches that the request comprises a target wake time (TWT) element specifying the time period (requesting to suspend the second TWT period) (Fig. 6-9, Par 0059-0066, Par 0073-0075, Par 0079).
Re claims 3, 11, 19, Li teaches that the response comprises the TWT element specifying the time period (accepting/confirming to suspend/halt transmission to the first device during the second TWT period) (Par 0063, Par 0066, Par 0073-0076, Par 0079-0080, Par 0083-0086).
Re claims 4, 12, 20, Li teaches to schedule a transmission to a second device for the time period (second TWT period is scheduled for the UE1) (Fig. 6-9, P0061-0063, Par 0066, Par 0073-0076, Par 0079-0080, Par 0083-0086).
Re claims 8, 16, Li teaches to refrain from transmitting WiFi messages to a second device (UE 2, Fig. 5) during the time period (nearby devices such as UE2 communicate with the AP during their scheduled TWT and second TWT is not assigned to UE 2. Therefore, AP refrains from transmitting WiFi messages to the nearby devices (i.e., UE2) during the second TWT period) (Fig. 6-8, Par 0073, Par 0075-0080).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claims 5-6 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Shafin et al (US 20230422173, hereinafter referred to as Shafin).
Re claims 5, 13, Li does not explicitly disclose that the first device has established a first link and a second link with the access point and wherein refraining from transmitting the WiFi messages to the first device during the time period is limited to refraining from transmitting the WiFi messages to the first device over the first link.
Shafin teaches that the first device has established a first link and a second link with the access point (multiple link established between non-AP MLD and AP MLD) and wherein refraining from transmitting the WiFi messages to the first device during the time period is limited to refraining from transmitting the WiFi messages to the first device over the first link (suspending TWT schedule of another link) (Fig. 23-24, Par 0148-0152, Par 0156-0160).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li by including the feature that the first device has established a first link and a second link with the access point and wherein refraining from transmitting the WiFi messages to the first device during the time period is limited to refraining from transmitting the WiFi messages to the first device over the first link, as taught by Shafin for the purpose of “enhancing Target Wake Time operations in a wireless local area network communications system”, as taught by Shafin (Par 0002).
Re claims 6, 14, Li does not explicitly disclose to transmit the WiFi messages to the first device over the second link during the time period.
Shafin teaches to transmit the WiFi messages to the first device over the second link during the time period (communicating over the operating link while suspending another link) (Fig. 23-24, Par 0148-0152, Par 0156-0160).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li by including the feature to transmit the WiFi messages to the first device over the second link during the time period, as taught by Shafin for the purpose of “enhancing Target Wake Time operations in a wireless local area network communications system”, as taught by Shafin (Par 0002).
6. Claims 7 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li and Shafin as applied to claim 6 above and further in view of Kuppa et al (US 20240022955, hereinafter referred to as Kuppa).
Re claims 7, 15, Li does not explicitly disclose to transmit WiFi messages to a second device over a third link during the time period, wherein the first link and the third link are in a same frequency domain.
Kuppa teaches to transmit WiFi messages to a second device over a third link during the time period (communicating with another STA in the same TWT session, Fig. 7), wherein the first link and the third link are in a same frequency domain (AP communicating with multiple STAs in the same frequency channel, Fig. 7) (Fig. 5-7, Par 0059-0062, Par 0071-0081).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li by including the feature to transmit WiFi messages to a second device over a third link during the time period, wherein the first link and the third link are in a same frequency domain, as taught by Kuppa for the purpose of “managing hopping of frequency channels over target wake time (TWT) sessions”, as taught by Kuppa (Par 0002).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARUN UR R CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)270-3895. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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/HARUN CHOWDHURY/Examiner, Art Unit 2473