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 .
The IDS has been considered by the examiner.
The specification and drawings have been accepted by the examiner.
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 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.
Claim(s) 1, 4-6, 10, 15, 16, 18-20, 23, 24, 33 and 34 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KWON (US 2021/0143884) in view of Ding (US 2016/0100421).
Referring to claim 1, KWON discloses a first wireless access point (AP) (Abstract, Par. 6, 15, “master access point (AP)), comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory coupled with the at least one processor (Par. 134, “The processor may be connected to memory and storage, where the software instructions are stored in the storage. The processor may be any general purpose processor, a graphics processor, a signal processor, or any other type of specialized processor”. Note that a group of access points share a single wireless transmission opportunity where a first AP that has channel access can split that time, or the available frequency bands, into smaller parts and then assign those parts to itself and to other selected APs), the at least one memory storing instructions executable by the at least one processor to cause the first wireless AP to:
obtain information indicative of one or more AP identifiers associated with one or more wireless APs of a set of wireless APs (Par. 82, “determine whether an AP is part of an AP candidate set and can participate as a shared AP in Coordinated AP transmission initiated by a sharing or master AP”. Par. 112, “a group of APs form a candidate set for CAP-TX, a unique identification number is assigned to an AP within the group of APs”, “to determine whether an AP is part of an AP candidate set and can participate as a shared AP in Coordinated AP transmission initiated by a sharing AP”, Par. 111, 113, “unique identification number is assigned to a logical AP within the group of APs”, “the TXOP shared AP supports multiple BSSIDs and if there are one or more APs corresponding to non-transmitted BSSIDs in a multiple BSSID set of the TXOP shared AP, the TXOP shared AP have multiple logical APs”, note that the participating APs are assigned unique identifiers and based on their unique identifier information, they are participate in TXOP, thus, first wireless access point (AP) obtains the AP identifiers of the of other APs in the group of APs participating in TXOP),
the set of wireless APs including at least the first wireless AP associated with a first AP identifier and a second wireless AP associated with a second AP identifier (Par. 112, 113, “a group of APs form a candidate set for CAP-TX, a unique identification number is assigned to an AP within the group of APs”, “a unique identification number is assigned to a logical AP within the group of APs, wherein the logical AP may correspond to a non-transmitted BSSID in a multiple BSSID set”, Par. 82, “to determine whether an AP is part of an AP candidate set and can participate as a shared AP in Coordinated AP transmission initiated by a sharing AP”, note that each access point includes its own unique identification number, and further note that a group of APs includes at least a first AP and a second AP);
receive, within a transmission opportunity of the second wireless AP from a wireless communication device (Par. 21, “sharing a transmission opportunity (TXOP) of a master access point (AP) with a first station (STA)”. Par. 82, “mechanism to determine whether an AP is part of an AP candidate set and can participate as a shared AP in Coordinated AP transmission initiated by a sharing”. Par. 109, “procedure for an AP to share its frequency/time resources of an obtained TXOP with a set of APs. Coordinated OFDMA is supported in EHT, and in a coordinated OFDMA, both DL OFDMA and its corresponding UL OFDMA acknowledgement are allowed”, “to determine whether an AP is part of an AP candidate set and can participate as a shared AP in Coordinated AP transmission initiated by a sharing AP”, note that TXOP is Transmission Opportunity which is a period in where a device can transmit multiple frames without competing with other stations for channel access), wherein the wireless communication device is the second wireless AP, another wireless AP of the set of wireless APs, or a wireless station (STA) associated with a wireless AP of the set of wireless Aps (Par. 21, “sharing a transmission opportunity (TXOP) of a master access point (AP) with a first station (STA), including: transmitting a first frame from the master AP, wherein the first frame is an initial frame that obtains the TXOP; transmitting a second frame from the master AP, wherein the first frame includes an indication that the master AP shares the TXOP with the first STA within the TXOP”. Par. 82, “An AP that intends to use the resource (i.e., frequency or time) shared by another AP shall be able to indicate its resource needs to the AP that is sharing the resource”, note that in the participating group of APs include at least a master AP and a second AP, thus, the wireless communication device could be the second AP); and
communicate data with a first wireless STA associated with the first wireless AP within the transmission opportunity of the second wireless STA (FIG. 1, Par. 42, “an access point (AP) of a wireless local area network (WLAN) simultaneously transmits independent data streams to multiple client stations and/or receives independent data streams simultaneously transmitted by multiple client stations. In particular, the AP transmits data for the multiple clients in different sub-channels of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication channel,” Par. 44 and claim 16, “sharing a transmission opportunity (TXOP) of a master access point (AP) with a first station (STA),”, “The AP is configured to operate with client stations according to at least a first communication protocol”, note that the AP communicates with multiple wireless stations using TXOP and sharing resources with other APs).
KWON is not relied on for disclosing receiving a first packet from a wireless communication device and communicate data with a first wireless STA in association with the first packet being from the wireless communication device
in an analogous art, Ding discloses receiving a first packet from a wireless communication device and communicate data with a first wireless STA in association with the first packet being from the wireless communication device (Par. 38, “ the access point 102 may receive the first data packet (including the first fragment 142 of the first data) and the second data packet (including the second fragment 144 of the first data) from the first device 114 during different TX_OPs, such as during the first TX_OP and the second TX_OP”. Par. 46 and Par. 113, “The first device 114 may transmit the first data packet and the second data packet to the access point 102 during the first TX_OP and the second TX_OP”. Par. 47, “After at least one transmission by at least one of the devices 114 and 126, the access point 102 may generate the uncompressed or semicompressed BA frame 150 based on one or more received data fragments. For example, the first TX_OP may occur before the second TX_OP”, note that the access point (AP) communicates with the first device a first Packet and then continues communicating the first device after the first packet which reads on receiving a first packet from a wireless communication device and communicate data with a first wireless STA in association with the first packet being from the wireless communication device).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the invention of KWON by incorporating the teachings of Ding, in the format claimed so that so they do not unnecessarily block transmissions when a transmission opportunity is available, for the purpose of using the splitting of transmission time efficiently. Further, this an example of use of known technique to improve similar devices, methods or products in the same way. MPEP 2143.
Referring to claim 4, the combination of KWON/Ding discloses the first wireless AP of claim 1, wherein, to receive the first packet, the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to cause the first wireless AP to detect the first packet within the transmission opportunity as a transmission by the wireless communication device (Ding, Par. 38, “ the access point 102 may receive the first data packet (including the first fragment 142 of the first data) and the second data packet (including the second fragment 144 of the first data) from the first device 114 during different TX_OPs, such as during the first TX_OP and the second TX_OP”).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the invention of Bala by incorporating the teachings of Haim so that both frequency bands of licensed type and unlicensed type be used in as desired with the frequency sharing scheme of carrier aggregation, for the purpose of increasing available communication resources. Further, this an example of use of known technique to improve similar devices, methods or products in the same way. MPEP 2143.
Referring to claim 5, the combination of KWON/Ding discloses the first wireless AP of claim 1, wherein the information is received via a schedule announcement frame, and wherein the information comprises scheduling information associated with the transmission opportunity of the second wireless AP (KWON, Par. 102, “The TXOP shared APs receive a Trigger frame that is a scheduling announcement frame, wherein the Trigger frame indicates a first resource that the TXOP shared AP is scheduled for CAP-TX”, note that scheduling announcement frame is an announcement made available to all the participating APs and the scheduling announcement frame is delivered to the participating APs, thus, the scheduling information associated with the transmission opportunity of all participating APs including the second wireless AP is included in the scheduling announcement frame).
Referring to claim 6, the combination of KWON/Ding discloses the first wireless AP of claim 5, wherein the schedule announcement frame is a trigger frame (KWON, Par. 102, “hared APs receive a Trigger frame that is a scheduling announcement frame”, note that the schedule announcement frame is explicitly a trigger frame).
Referring to claim 10, the combination of KWON/Ding discloses the first wireless AP of claim 5, wherein the scheduling information indicates one or more portions of the transmission opportunity allocated to each respective wireless AP of the set of wireless APs for communicating with a respective BSS of that respective wireless AP (KWON, Par. 111, 113, “the TXOP shared AP supports multiple BSSIDs and if there are one or more APs corresponding to non-transmitted BSSIDs in a multiple BSSID set of the TXOP shared AP, the TXOP shared AP have multiple logical APs”, “APs … corresponding to transmitted BSSID, and/or one or more APs corresponding to non-transmitted BSSIDs in the multiple BSSID set”, “for multiple BSSID support, when a group of APs forms a candidate set for CAP-TX, a unique identification number is assigned to a logical AP within the group of APs”, note that BSSIS is the BSS ID for a corresponding participating AP, and further the participating APs are provided information on available resources so that the APs would be able use the TXOP procedure, thus, the APs are part of a BSS or basic service set with their own BSSIDs).
Referring to claim 15, the combination of KWON/Ding discloses the first wireless AP of claim 1, wherein the information is received via a trigger frame (KWON, Par. 15, 53, “transmitting a trigger frame that defines for a plurality of shared APs”), and wherein the first packet is a data packet (KWON, “transmitting a data frame”, “multiple APs transmit/receive data frames to/from a target station (STA) simultaneously”).
Referring to claim 16, the combination of KWON/Ding discloses the first wireless AP of claim 1, wherein the first packet indicates a sharing of at least a portion of the transmission opportunity with the first wireless AP (KWON, Par. 82, “An AP that intends to use the resource (i.e., frequency or time) shared by another AP shall be able to indicate its resource needs to the AP that is sharing the resource”. Par. 21, “sharing a transmission opportunity (TXOP) of a master access point (AP) with a first station (STA), including: transmitting a first frame from the master AP, wherein the first frame is an initial frame that obtains the TXOP; transmitting a second frame from the master AP, wherein the first frame includes an indication that the master AP shares the TXOP with the first STA within the TXOP”, note that in the participating group of APs share resources such that a portions of data are transmitted in different frames, thus, the first packet would be shared with other data in a portion of transmission opportunity and an indication is provided so that the first packet is received properly at the receiver).
Referring to claim 18, the combination of KWON/Ding discloses the first wireless AP of claim 1, wherein the first wireless AP is associated with a first basic service set (BSS) and the second wireless AP is associated with a second BSS (KWON, Par. 111, 113, “TXOP shared AP supports multiple BSSIDs and if there are one or more APs corresponding to non-transmitted BSSIDs in a multiple BSSID set of the TXOP shared AP, the TXOP shared AP have multiple logical APs”, “APs … corresponding to transmitted BSSID, and/or one or more APs corresponding to non-transmitted BSSIDs in the multiple BSSID set”, “for multiple BSSID support, when a group of APs forms a candidate set for CAP-TX, a unique identification number is assigned to a logical AP within the group of APs”, note that BSSIS is the BSS ID for a corresponding participating AP, and further the participating APs are provided information on available resources so that the APs would be able use the TXOP procedure, thus, the APs are part of a BSS or basic service set with their own BSSIDs and the first wireless AP is associated with a first basic service set (BSS) and the second wireless AP is associated with a second BSS).
Referring to claim 19, the combination of KWON/Ding discloses the first wireless AP of claim 1, wherein, to communicate the data, the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to cause the first wireless AP to: transmit the data to the first wireless STA; or receive the data from the first wireless STA (KWON, FIG. 1, Par. 42, “an access point (AP) of a wireless local area network (WLAN) simultaneously transmits independent data streams to multiple client stations and/or receives independent data streams simultaneously transmitted by multiple client stations. In particular, the AP transmits data for the multiple clients in different sub-channels of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication channel,” Par. 44 and claim 16, “sharing a transmission opportunity (TXOP) of a master access point (AP) with a first station (STA),”, “The AP is configured to operate with client stations according to at least a first communication protocol”, note that the AP communicates with multiple wireless stations using TXOP and sharing resources with other APs ).
Referring to claim 20, KWON discloses a method for wireless communication by a first wireless access point (AP) (Par. 112, “a group of APs form a candidate set for CAP-TX, a unique identification number is assigned to an AP within the group of APs”, “to determine whether an AP is part of an AP candidate set and can participate as a shared AP in Coordinated AP transmission initiated by a sharing AP”, Note that a group of access points share a single wireless transmission opportunity where a first AP that has channel access can split that time, or the available frequency bands, into smaller parts and then assign those parts to itself and to other selected APs), comprising:
obtaining information indicative of one or more AP identifiers associated with one or more wireless APs of a set of wireless APs (Par. 82, “determine whether an AP is part of an AP candidate set and can participate as a shared AP in Coordinated AP transmission initiated by a sharing or master AP”. Par. 112, “a group of APs form a candidate set for CAP-TX, a unique identification number is assigned to an AP within the group of APs”, “to determine whether an AP is part of an AP candidate set and can participate as a shared AP in Coordinated AP transmission initiated by a sharing AP”, Par. 111, 113, “unique identification number is assigned to a logical AP within the group of APs”, “the TXOP shared AP supports multiple BSSIDs and if there are one or more APs corresponding to non-transmitted BSSIDs in a multiple BSSID set of the TXOP shared AP, the TXOP shared AP have multiple logical APs”, note that the participating APs are assigned unique identifiers and based on their unique identifier information, they are participate in TXOP, thus, first wireless access point (AP) obtains the AP identifiers of the of other APs in the group of APs participating in TXOP), the set of wireless APs including at least the first wireless AP associated with a first AP identifier and a second wireless AP associated with a second AP identifier (Par. 112, 113, “a group of APs form a candidate set for CAP-TX, a unique identification number is assigned to an AP within the group of APs”, “a unique identification number is assigned to a logical AP within the group of APs, wherein the logical AP may correspond to a non-transmitted BSSID in a multiple BSSID set”, Par. 82, “to determine whether an AP is part of an AP candidate set and can participate as a shared AP in Coordinated AP transmission initiated by a sharing AP”, note that each access point includes its own unique identification number, and further note that a group of APs includes at least a first AP and a second AP);
receiving, within a transmission opportunity of the second wireless AP from a wireless communication device (Par. 21, “sharing a transmission opportunity (TXOP) of a master access point (AP) with a first station (STA)”. Par. 82, “mechanism to determine whether an AP is part of an AP candidate set and can participate as a shared AP in Coordinated AP transmission initiated by a sharing”. Par. 109, “procedure for an AP to share its frequency/time resources of an obtained TXOP with a set of APs. Coordinated OFDMA is supported in EHT, and in a coordinated OFDMA, both DL OFDMA and its corresponding UL OFDMA acknowledgement are allowed”, “to determine whether an AP is part of an AP candidate set and can participate as a shared AP in Coordinated AP transmission initiated by a sharing AP”, note that TXOP is Transmission Opportunity which is a period in where a device can transmit multiple frames without competing with other stations for channel access), wherein the wireless communication device is the second wireless AP, another wireless AP of the set of wireless APs, or a wireless station (STA) associated with a wireless AP of the set of wireless Aps (Par. 21, “sharing a transmission opportunity (TXOP) of a master access point (AP) with a first station (STA), including: transmitting a first frame from the master AP, wherein the first frame is an initial frame that obtains the TXOP; transmitting a second frame from the master AP, wherein the first frame includes an indication that the master AP shares the TXOP with the first STA within the TXOP”. Par. 82, “An AP that intends to use the resource (i.e., frequency or time) shared by another AP shall be able to indicate its resource needs to the AP that is sharing the resource”, note that in the participating group of APs include at least a master AP and a second AP, thus, the wireless communication device could be the second AP); and
communicating data with a first wireless STA associated with the first wireless AP within the transmission opportunity of the second wireless STA (FIG. 1, Par. 42, “an access point (AP) of a wireless local area network (WLAN) simultaneously transmits independent data streams to multiple client stations and/or receives independent data streams simultaneously transmitted by multiple client stations. In particular, the AP transmits data for the multiple clients in different sub-channels of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication channel,” Par. 44 and claim 16, “sharing a transmission opportunity (TXOP) of a master access point (AP) with a first station (STA),”, “The AP is configured to operate with client stations according to at least a first communication protocol”, note that the AP communicates with multiple wireless stations using TXOP and sharing resources with other APs).
KWON is not relied on for disclosing receiving a first packet from a wireless communication device and
communicate data with a first wireless STA in association with the first packet being from the wireless communication device
in an analogous art, Ding discloses receiving a first packet from a wireless communication device and communicate data with a first wireless STA in association with the first packet being from the wireless communication device (Par. 45, Par. 46 and Par. 113, “The first device 114 may transmit the first data packet and the second data packet to the access point 102 during the first TX_OP and the second TX_OP”. Par. 47, “After at least one transmission by at least one of the devices 114 and 126, the access point 102 may generate the uncompressed or semicompressed BA frame 150 based on one or more received data fragments. For example, the first TX_OP may occur before the second TX_OP”, note that the access point (AP) communicates with the first device a first Packet and then continues communicating the first device after the first packet which reads on receiving a first packet from a wireless communication device and communicate data with a first wireless STA in association with the first packet being from the wireless communication device).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the invention of Bala by incorporating the teachings of Haim so that both frequency bands of licensed type and unlicensed type be used in as desired with the frequency sharing scheme of carrier aggregation, for the purpose of increasing available communication resources. Further, this an example of use of known technique to improve similar devices, methods or products in the same way. MPEP 2143.
Referring to claim 23, the method of claim 20, wherein receiving the first packet further comprises detecting the first packet within the transmission opportunity as a transmission by the wireless communication device (Ding, Par. 38, “ the access point 102 may receive the first data packet (including the first fragment 142 of the first data) and the second data packet (including the second fragment 144 of the first data) from the first device 114 during different TX_OPs, such as during the first TX_OP and the second TX_OP”).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the invention of Bala by incorporating the teachings of Haim so that both frequency bands of licensed type and unlicensed type be used in as desired with the frequency sharing scheme of carrier aggregation, for the purpose of increasing available communication resources. Further, this an example of use of known technique to improve similar devices, methods or products in the same way. MPEP 2143.
Referring to claim 24, the method of claim 20, wherein the information is received via a schedule announcement frame, and wherein the information comprises scheduling information associated with the transmission opportunity of the second wireless AP (KWON, Par. 102, “The TXOP shared APs receive a Trigger frame that is a scheduling announcement frame, wherein the Trigger frame indicates a first resource that the TXOP shared AP is scheduled for CAP-TX”, note that scheduling announcement frame is an announcement made available to all the participating APs and the scheduling announcement frame is delivered to the participating APs, thus, the scheduling information associated with the transmission opportunity of all participating APs including the second wireless AP is included in the scheduling announcement frame).
Referring to claim 33, the combination of KWON/Ding discloses the method of claim 24, wherein the scheduling information indicates one or more portions of the transmission opportunity allocated to each respective wireless AP of the set of wireless APs for communicating with a respective BSS of that respective wireless AP (KWON, Par. 82, “An AP that intends to use the resource (i.e., frequency or time) shared by another AP shall be able to indicate its resource needs to the AP that is sharing the resource”. Par. 21, “sharing a transmission opportunity (TXOP) of a master access point (AP) with a first station (STA), including: transmitting a first frame from the master AP, wherein the first frame is an initial frame that obtains the TXOP; transmitting a second frame from the master AP, wherein the first frame includes an indication that the master AP shares the TXOP with the first STA within the TXOP”, note that in the participating group of APs share resources such that a portions of data are transmitted in different frames, thus, the first packet would be shared with other data in a portion of transmission opportunity and an indication is provided so that the first packet is received properly at the receiver).
Referring to claim 34, the combination of KWON/Ding discloses the method of claim 33, further comprising: receiving, via a frame from the second wireless AP, a field that includes an indication associated with a portion of the one or more portions of the transmission opportunity, wherein communicating the data is in association with receiving the frame (KWON, Par. 21, “sharing a transmission opportunity (TXOP) of a master access point (AP) with a first station (STA), including: transmitting a first frame from the master AP, wherein the first frame is an initial frame that obtains the TXOP; transmitting a second frame from the master AP, wherein the first frame includes an indication that the master AP shares the TXOP with the first STA within the TXOP”. Par. 82, “An AP that intends to use the resource (i.e., frequency or time) shared by another AP shall be able to indicate its resource needs to the AP that is sharing the resource”, note that in the participating group of APs share resources such that a portions of data are transmitted in different frames, thus, the first packet would be shared with other data in a portion of transmission opportunity and an indication is provided so that the first packet is received properly at the receiver).
Claim(s) 3 and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KWON (US 2021/0143884) in view of Ding (US 2016/0100421) and further in view of Wang (US 20120243487).
Referring to claim 3, the combination of KWON/Ding discloses the first wireless AP of claim 1.
Communicating within the transmission opportunity of the second wireless AP without performing contention- based medium access in association with the first packet being from the wireless communication device.
In an analogous art, Wang discloses Communicating within the transmission opportunity of the second wireless AP without performing contention- based medium access in association with the first packet being from the wireless communication device (Par. 3, 52, and Claim 1, “sending a plurality of data frames without performing the contention-based channel access procedure for obtaining a TxOP”, “the terms "continuous transmission" or "transmit continuously" mean that a WTRU or a coordinator may transmit a data packet without performing a contention-based channel access procedure to obtain a transmission opportunity on a channel in the WPAN,” note the a communication resource is accessed without performing contention-based policy using TxOP, which allows splitting during transmission opportunity).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the invention of KWON by incorporating the teachings of combination, in the format claimed so that for the purpose saving unnecessary waiting period and thus using transmission intervals efficiently. Further, this an example of use of known technique to improve similar devices, methods or products in the same way. MPEP 2143.
Referring to claim 22, claim 22 recites features analogous to the features of claim 3, thus, it is rejected for the same reasons.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 2, 7-9, 11-14, 17, 25, 26, 31 and 32 is/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 the examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claims 2 and 21:
The prior art fails to disclose or suggest the limitations “refraining from updating an inter-basic service set (BSS) network allocation vector and refraining from updating an intra-BSS network allocation vector in association with the first packet being from the wireless communication device; and communicating the data with the first wireless STA associated with the first wireless AP within the transmission opportunity of the second wireless AP by performing contention-based medium access in association with refraining from updating the inter-BSS network allocation vector and refraining from updating the intra-BSS network allocation vector”, along with the other limitations of the intermediate and/or base claims.
Regarding claims 7 and 25:
The prior art fails to disclose or suggest the limitations “instructions to cause the first wireless AP to receive, within the transmission opportunity of the second wireless AP, a frame from the second wireless AP indicating an identifier associated with the first wireless AP, wherein communicating the data with the first wireless STA is in association with receiving the frame”, along with the other limitations of the intermediate and/or base claims.
Regarding claims 8 and 26:
Claims 8 and 26 depend on allowable subject matter of claims 7 and 25, thus, they are allowable for being dependent upon allowable claims.
Regarding claims 9 and 31:
Claims 9 and 31 depend on allowable subject matter of claims 7 and 25, thus, they are allowable for being dependent upon allowable claims.
Regarding claim 11:
The prior art fails to disclose or suggest the limitations “wherein the one or more portions are non-overlapping in time or in frequency, and wherein each portion of the transmission opportunity is allocated to a respective wireless AP of the set of wireless APs”, along with the other limitations of the intermediate and/or base claims.
Regarding claim 12:
The prior art fails to disclose or suggest the limitations “wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to cause the first wireless AP to receive, via a frame from the second wireless AP, a field that includes an indication associated with a portion of the one or more portions of the transmission opportunity, wherein communicating the data is in association with receiving the frame”, along with the other limitations of the intermediate and/or base claims.
Regarding claim 13:
The prior art fails to disclose or suggest the limitations “wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to cause the first wireless AP to: detect a second packet from a second wireless communication device; update a network allocation vector in association with detecting the second packet and in accordance with a duration indicated in the second packet; and refrain from transmitting for the duration indicated in the second packet in association with updating the network allocation vector”, along with the other limitations of the intermediate and/or base claims.
Regarding claim 14:
Claim 14 depends on allowable subject matter of claim 13, thus, it is allowable for being dependent upon allowable claims.
Regarding claim 32:
Claim 32 depends on allowable subject matter of claim 25, thus, it is allowable for being dependent upon allowable claims.
The prior art fails to disclose or suggest the limitations “refraining from updating an inter-basic service set (BSS) network allocation vector and refraining from updating an intra-BSS network allocation vector in association with the first packet being from the wireless communication device; and communicating the data with the first wireless STA associated with the first wireless AP within the transmission opportunity of the second wireless AP by performing contention-based medium access in association with refraining from updating the inter-BSS network allocation vector and refraining from updating the intra-BSS network allocation vector”, along with the other limitations of the intermediate and/or base claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FRED A CASCA whose telephone number is (571)272-7918. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday from 9 to 5. 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, Kathy Wang-Hurst, can be reached at (571) 270-5371. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/FRED A CASCA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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