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 Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 13 July 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argued in Remark filed on 13 July 2026 that “Kwon and Asterjadhi do
not disclose or suggest Applicant’s amended claim features related to a communication device that perform operations including: transmitting a request for a TID (Traffic identifier) and link assignment, the TID indicating a priority of data...and...in a case where a first request is accepted and a second request is unaccepted among requests transmitted in the transmitting, starting communication using a first link corresponding to the first request before an assignment of a second link corresponding to the second request is completed.”
The Examiner respectfully disagrees with applicant’s argument, because Kwon
and Asterjadhi indeed teach and render obvious the arguable feature.
As recited in the office action, Kwon et al. discloses a communication device
capable of establishing a plurality of links in parallel with another communication device, the communication device comprising:
at least one memory that stores a set of instructions; and
at least one processor that executes the instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed (see figure 1), cause the communication device to perform operations comprising:
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transmitting a request for a TID (Traffic identifier) and link assignment, the TID indicating a priority of data (“wherein the new request includes the unique identifier of the second device.” 208, figure 2.), ([0088]: “Traffic Identifier (TIDs) in IEEE 802.11 specify a set of data traffic categories (e.g., priority port, voice, video, etc.) which can used to prioritize and/or reduce latency of category specific frames transported with a communication channel over a communications link.”); ([0089]: “adapting multi-link association and reassociation processes to Traffic Identifier (TID) to communications link mapping. In terms of mapping, there is default mapping and specific TID-to-link mapping.”).
Kwon et al. further teaches ([0025]: “wherein the request frame was configured to request an association with the first AP-MLD and incudes the unique identifier of the second-AP-MLD; transmit a response frame from the first-AP-MLD to the non-AP-MLD; and wherein the response frame includes an indication that request was successful.”); ([0061]: “Success” and “successful” are herein broadly defined to include at least the following: acceptance of any association or reassociation request; permission for frames to be transmitted and received over one or more communications links.”)
Kwon et al. fails to teach: in a case where a first request is accepted and a second request is unaccepted among requests transmitted in the transmitting, starting communication using a first link corresponding to the first request before an assignment of a second link corresponding to the second request is completed.
Asterjadhi et al. in the same field of invention teaches these features.
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Asterjadhi et al. teaches (“for signaling between an access point (AP) multi-link
device (MLD) and a non-AP MLD that support multi-link communication in a wireless local area network (WLAN). In some implementations, a multi-link association may include a first link (referred to as an anchor link) and one or more other links (referred to as auxiliary links). ([0106]: “An auxiliary link may be “enabled” for communication when a TID is mapped to it. However, even though the auxiliary link is enabled, the non-AP MLD or the AP MLD may dynamically activate or deactivate the auxiliary link based on the availability of traffic associated with the TID.”)
Asterjadhi et al. further teaches ([0125]: “the AP MLD 110 (or the non-AP MLD
120) may selectively activate or deactivate the auxiliary link 134. For example, the non-AP MLD 120 may send a request or indication of data requirements that cause the AP MLD 110 to determine that the anchor link 132 is insufficient for the amount of data. Alternatively, the AP MLD 110 may have downlink data to send to the non-AP MLD 120 and may determine to activate the auxiliary link 134 based on the amount of downlink data.”
The AP MLD 110 (or the non-AP MLD 120) may selectively/dynamically activate or deactivate the auxiliary link 134 based on load, throughput requirements, speed or quality of service (QoS). The activation of an auxiliary link may be based on an amount or type of data buffered to send form an AP MLD to a non-AP MLD, or vice versa. For example, when the Anchor link 132 is sufficient for transmitting an amount of data, the non-AP MLD may send a first request for establishing connection with the anchor link 132 and starting communication using the Anchor link 132. When the Anchor link 132 is insufficient for the amount of data, the non-AP MLD 120 may send a second request to the AP MLD 110 for requesting an Auxiliary Link 134.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to those having ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Asterjadhi et al. with Kwon et al. for requesting communication link(s) between AP MLD device and non-AP MLD device.
Knon et al. in view of Asterjadhi et al. indeed disclose and render obvious all
featurse in the claims. Therefore, the rejection stand.
Claims 1-9 are pending.
Figures 4 and 5 of the application illustrate the claimed invention.
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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, 3-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kwon et al. (US 2021/0266931 A1) in view of Asterjadhi et al. (US 2021/0007168 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 6-9, Kwon et al. discloses a non-transitory storage medium, a method and a communication device capable of establishing a plurality of links in parallel with another communication device, the communication device comprising:
a transmitting unit configured to transmit a request for a TID Traffic identifier) and link assignment ([0017]: “the first-device is a logical non-AP-MLD with which a set of physical non-AP-STAs (stations) are affiliated; the second device is a logical AP-MLD with which a set of physical APs are affiliated and having a set of communications links; the first-device is configured to have a current multi-link association with the second-device; at least one of the non-AP-STAs is configured to transmit a first management frame to the second-device requesting a new single-link association with one of the physical APs affiliated with the second-device; and the first management frame, including a unique identifier identifying an address of the second-device with which the non-AP-STA is currently linked to”) and, the TID indicating a priority of data ([0088]: “Traffic Identifier (TIDs) in IEEE 802.11 specify a set of data traffic categories (e.g. priority port, voice, video, etc.) which can be used to prioritize and/or reduce latency of category specific frames transported within a communications channel over a communication link. For example, frames labeled as high priority and/or low latency can be sent over a communication link with a greater bandwidth and/or less delay.”); and
a control unit configured to, in a case where a first request is accepted (([0078]: “From the AP-MLD’s 102 perspective, if there’s only one communications link that matches with the non-AP-MLD 104-1, then the AP-MLD 102 may respond to the first frame (the request frame) by sending back a second frame. The second frame can be an Association Response frame, in which case a non-AP-STA (e.g. 120-1) that is affiliated with the non-AP-MLD 104-1 on the link is now successfully associated with an AP (e.g., 110-1) that is affiliated with the AP-MLD 102.”); ([0061]: “Success” and “successful” are herein broadly defined to include at least the following: acceptance of any association or reassociation request; permission for frames to be transmitted and received over one or more communications links, affiliation of one or more non-AP or AP devices (e.g. within a logical non-AP-MLD affiliation or logical AP-MLD affiliation), and one or more single-link or multi-link setups between any non-AP device and AP device.”). See figures 1 and 2.
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Kwon et al. fails to teach a control unit configured to, in a case where a first request is accepted and a second request is unaccepted among request transmitted by the transmitting unit, start communication using a first link corresponding to the first request before an assignment of a second link corresponding to the second request is completed.
Asterjadhi et al. in the same field of invention, discloses this feature.
Asterjadhi et al. discloses methods and apparatus, for signaling between an access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD)and a non-AP MLD that support multi-link communication in a wireless local area network (WLAN).
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“A multi-link association may include a first link (referred to as auxiliary links). The signaling may include control information to activate or deactivate auxiliary links dynamically based on communication load, throughput requirements, or quality of service (QoS). The signaling also may include requests, acknowledgements, or negotiation regarding multi-link connections. Furthermore, signaling and timing information may be used to coordinate when auxiliary links are used for communication or when to promote an auxiliary link to another link.” See Abstract and figure 2A.
For the above reason, it would have been obvious to those having ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Asterjadhi et al. with Kwon et al. so for dynamically controlling link connection between the first and second device based the links condition.
Regarding claim 3, Kwon et al. further teaches wherein, in a case where none of the requests transmitted by the transmitting unit is accepted, the control unit does not start communication on any of the plurality of links. ([0085]: “The second frame indicates (e.g. using a statuscode field) that the AP-MLD 102 does not accept the multi-link association request. The AP-MLD 102 may include an indication that the AP-MLD 102 does not accept the multi-link for the non-AP-MLD 104-1.”)
It can be understood that because the request for mapping link is not accepted, the control unit inherently does not start communication on any of the link.
Regarding claim 4, Kwon et al. teaches wherein the request transmitted by the transmitting unit is an Association Request. ([0025]: “wherein the request frame was configured to request an association with the first AP-MLD”).
Regarding claim 5, Kwon et al. teaches wherein the Association Request includes a TID-To-Link Mapping element indicating a TID and link assignment. ([0020]: “the first-device is further configured to, receive a request frame from a third-device that requests a specific Traffic Identifier (TID)-to-link mapping; and transmit a response frame to the third-device to indicate that the requested TID-to-link mapping is accepted.”).
Claim(s) 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kwon et al. (US 2021/0266931 A1) in view of Asterjadhi et al. (US 2021/0007168 A1) further in view of WANG et al. (US 2021/0409979 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Kwon et al. in view of Asterjadhi et al. fails to explicitly teach wherein the transmitting unit re-transmits a request for an assignment of the second link after communication using the first link started.
WANG et al. in the same field of invention, teaches ([0003]: “A first station can communicate data with a second station using a transceiver over a communication link. If the first link becomes unavailable, the first and second stations need to wait for the communication link to become available again before the first and second stations can continue. Additionally, or alternatively, the first and second station need to go long association procedures to reestablish their communication.”). See figures 1 and 2.
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It would have been obvious to those having ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to re-establish communication link.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant disclosure:
Cariou et al. (US 12,160,830 B2) discloses methods and devices related to initiate power state. A device may identify a request frame received from a non-AP MLD on a first link of a plurality of links, wherein the non-AP MLD comprises a plurality of station devices (STAs) , and wherein the first link is associated with a first STA of the plurality of station device (STAs). The device may cause to send a response frame to the non-AP-MLD on the first link to establish the plurality of links between the device and the non-AP-MLD. The device may determine, based on the request frame, a power save mode associated with each of the STAs of the non-AP-MLD. The device may communicate with the non-AP MLD based on the power save mode.”
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Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 BRENDA H PHAM whose telephone number is (571)272-3135. The examiner can normally be reached 571-272-3135.
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, Charles Jiang can be reached at 571-270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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BRENDA H. PHAM
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2412
/BRENDA H PHAM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
Prosecution Insights