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, see Applicant Argument’s, Claim Objections, page 7, filed 06/12/2026, with respect to claims 13 and 19 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objection of claims 13 and 19 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries 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.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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, 5-6, 10, 11 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jain (US-20200314655-A1) in view of KUCHAREWSKI (US-20250287444-A1) in view of Fang (US-20220369403-A1) in view of Venkataramaiah (US-20220030027-A1) in further view of Jiang (US 20230262807 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Jain discloses A method comprising: detecting, by the first the second (paragraph [0064], Fig.9, " Control plane traffic, such as SCTP packets, from eNB 902 are intercepted by DDoS mitigation module 903 before they are transmitted to mobile communication infrastructure. Attach Request messages to be sent to MME 904 may be parsed from control plane traffic by DDoS mitigation module 903. The rates of attach request messages from UEs are metered by DDoS mitigation module 903 in order to identify flood attacks. Once the rate of Attach Request messages from a UE, such as UE 910, is over a predetermined threshold," (i.e., Jain discloses a UE sending a flood of request messages to the MME while connected to eNB. The UE is the first device, and eNB is the “second MLD.” The “multi-link” will be taught by a different reference.)).
However, Jain does not explicitly disclose establishing, by a first multi-link device (MLD), a multi-link association with a second MLD, the multi-link association comprising multiple links between the first MLD and the second MLD, wherein the first MLD designates a link from the multiple links, wherein the second MLD is authenticated for multi-link operation (MLO) with the first MLD; a plurality of link transition, wherein each link transition trigger signal indicates a transition of one of the multiple links from a non-active link to an active link, wherein the anomaly comprises the plurality of link transition trigger signals transmitted on one or more of the multiple links that are different from the link designated by the first MLD; and in response to detecting the anomaly, de-authenticating the second MLD for MLO with the first MLD.
KUCHAREWSKI discloses establishing, by a first multi-link device (MLD) (Fig.6, AP MLD), a multi-link association with a second MLD (Fig.6, non-AP MLD), the multi-link association comprising multiple links between the first MLD and the second MLD (paragraph [0092], Fig.6, "FIG. 6 shows an example communication system 600 that includes an AP MLD 610 and a non-AP MLD 620. In some implementations, the AP MLD 610 may be one example of any of the APs 102 of FIG. 1, the wireless communication device 400 of FIG. 4, or the AP 502 of FIG. 5A. The non-AP MLD 620 may be one example of any of the STAs 104 FIG. 1, the wireless communication device 400 of FIG. 4, or the STA 504 of FIG. 5B." and paragraph [0093], "The AP MLD 610 includes multiple APs 611-613 associated with (or operating on) respective communication links 601-603. In the example of FIG. 6, the AP MLD 610 is shown to include 3 APs 611-613." (i.e., KUCHAREWSKI teaches wherein the UE is a MLD and can perform multi-link communication as in MLO. KUCHAREWSKI further teaches AP MLD. Fig.6 discloses a plurality links between the AP MLD and non-AP MLD.)),
wherein the first MLD designates a link from the multiple links (paragraph [0093], Fig.6, "The AP MLD 610 includes multiple APs 611-613 associated with (or operating on) respective communication links 601-603. In the example of FIG. 6, the AP MLD 610 is shown to include 3 APs 611-613. In other implementations, the AP MLD 610 may include fewer or more APs than those depicted in FIG. 6. Although the APs 611-613 may share a common association context (through the AP MLD 610), each of the APs 611-613 may establish a respective BSS on the AP's associated communication link." (i.e., Fig.6 shows a designated links 611-613.)),
wherein the second MLD is authenticated for multi-link operation (MLO) with the first MLD (paragraph [0094], Fig.6, "The non-AP MLD 620 includes multiple STAs 621-623 that may be configured to communicate on the communication links 601-603, respectively. Thus, the STA 621 may operate on the 2.4 GHz frequency band, the STA 622 may operate on the 5 GHz frequency band, and the STA 623 may operate on the 6 GHz frequency band." and paragraph [0106], Fig.7, "In various aspects, the resource manager 722 may provide multi-link operation (MLO) mode indications, link provisioning information, and/or STA link assignments to the firmware component 726." (i.e., the UE/STA is authenticated for MLO when receiving the MLO mode indication.));
Jain and KUCHAREWSKI are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain method to implement the method of KUCHAREWSKI as shown Fig.6 or Fig.10B in order to enable Jain UE to perform multi-link as Wi-Fi 7 is an improvement to previous iteration of Wi-Fi and providing a UE to switch from multi-link to single-link in order to conserve power (KUCHAREWSKI, paragraph [0019], “In some instances, each of the multiple communication links is associated with a respective AP of the AP MLD and occupies one of a 2.4 GHz frequency band, a 5 GHz frequency band, a 6 GHz frequency band, or a 60 GHz frequency band.” and paragraph [0065], “Particular implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the following potential advantages. By re-assigning a respective STA from a multiple communication links (such as a pair of communication links) to a single communication link when congestion on the communication links is at least equal to the first threshold or when OBSS interference levels are at least equal to the interference threshold, aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein may reduce traffic and congestion on the non-assigned communication links while achieving similar latencies and throughput using only the single communication link.”).
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI do not explicitly disclose a plurality of link transition, wherein each link transition trigger signal indicates a transition of one of the multiple links from a non-active link to an active link, wherein the anomaly comprises the plurality of link transition trigger signals transmitted on one or more of the multiple links that are different from the link designated by the first MLD; and in response to detecting the anomaly, de-authenticating the second MLD for MLO with the first MLD.
Fang discloses receiving a plurality of link transition trigger signals from the second MLD (paragraph [0075], “The ML-STA may communicate with ML-AP (or vice versa) to dynamic configure the transmission and receiving radio chains to form single link or multiple links, and/or change the operation channel frequency of each link to adapt to the radio environment variance for optimizing the multi-link performance. For example, when multiple radio channels are detected as idle, the ML-STA and ML-AP may communicate each other to form multiple links operating on those available radio frequency channels to transmit data on the multiple links so as to improve the data throughput…” and paragraph [0189], "receiving, by the network node, a ready-to-send (RTS) or multi-user ready-to-send (MU-RTS) message from the station over the one or more wireless links associated with the station;" (i.e., par.75 discloses ML-STA communicate with ML-AP for change of operation frequency. Communicate over multiple links is reading as plurality of link transition trigger.));
wherein each link transition trigger signal indicates a transition of one of the multiple links from a non-active link to an active link (paragraph [0091], "the ML-STA 210 may send a message to ML-AP 220 to request to change the current ML operating channel, and switch to a new one after receiving the response from the ML-AP 220." and paragraph [0153], Fig.9A;9B, " In step 901, the ML-STA 910 may send a request message, e.g. ML Channel Switch Request message 931 (or MU-RTS request message), to the ML-AP 920 to request change of the ML operating channel(s) in some situation, like the current ML operating channel is experiencing an interference or over loaded or dynamically switching to adapt radio frequency channel variance condition and acquired TXOP." (i.e., Fig.9 discloses of second MLD requesting channel switching reading on transition from a non-active link to an active link.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI and Fang are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain method to implement the method of Fang utilizing multiple wireless connections links between a wireless station and an access point to reduce access delay, improve transmission reliability, and increase throughput (Fang, paragraph [0005], “This document discloses methods, systems, and devices related to digital wireless communications, and more specifically, to techniques related to utilizing multiple wireless connection links between a wireless station and an access point to transmit user data to reduce the access delay, improve transmission reliability, and increase transmission throughput.”).
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in further view of Fang do not explicitly disclose wherein the anomaly comprises the plurality of link transition trigger signals transmitted on one or more of the multiple links that are different from the link designated by the first MLD; and in response to detecting the anomaly, de-authenticating the second MLD for MLO with the first MLD.
Venkataramaiah discloses and in response to detecting the anomaly, de-authenticating the second MLD for MLO with the first MLD (paragraph [0004], “Therefore, any Wi-Fi-compatible electronic device (which are sometimes referred to as a ‘station’ or a ‘client’)” and paragraph [0033], “after receiving the response, malicious electronic device 124 may repeatedly provide router solicitations, e.g., to access point 112-1. These router solicitations, which are referred to as a ‘router-solicitation flood attack’, may degrade the communication performance of the WLAN.” and paragraph [0051], “after determining that malicious activity is occurring, the access point may send a unicast de-authentication message to the client to prevent the malicious activity or flood attacks from the client.” (i.e., Venkataramaiah discloses de-authenticating the malicious UE based on receiving a flooding attack.)).
Jain in view of Fang in further view of KUCHAREWSKI and Venkataramaiah are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain method to implement the method of Venkataramaiah of de-authenticating the user in order to stop malicious activity and improve the user experience and customer satisfaction for other users using the WLAN (Venkataramaiah, paragraph [0022], “By detecting the malicious activity (such as a router-solicitation flood attack) and performing the remedial action, the communication techniques may protect the WLAN (and an associated wired network). For example, the communication techniques may stop the malicious activity. This may maintain the communication performance and may enhance security in the WLAN. Consequently, the communication techniques may improve the user experience and customer satisfaction when communicating using the WLAN and/or using the electronic device.”).
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in further view of Venkataramaiah do not explicitly disclose wherein the anomaly comprises the plurality of link transition trigger signals transmitted on one or more of the multiple links that are different from the link designated by the first MLD.
Jiang discloses wherein the anomaly comprises the plurality of link transition trigger signals transmitted on one or more of the multiple links that are different from the link designated by the first MLD (paragraph [0127], Fig.14, "The mapping and policy/guidelines may provide that different links may be used in one of at least the following basic ways: without restriction (e.g., any TID may be considered prioritized or fully allowed for that link), with some restriction (e.g., traffic of a particular TID on that link may be allowed with some limitation/guideline), or not at all (e.g., the non-AP MLD may not transmit traffic of that TID on that link, e.g., for the time period that the guideline is in effect, that TID may be prohibited from that link)." and paragraph [0149], "For example, if the AP MLD determines that an amount, timing, or frequency of transmission from the non-AP MLD does not comply with the applicable guidelines, the AP MLD may determine how much or how often the non-AP MLD has not complied." and paragraph [0152], "In the event that the AP MLD determines that the non-compliance is significant and/or repeated (and possibly also that the non-compliance is not justified), the AP MLD may determine to adjust the access of the non-AP MLD. This may allow the AP MLD to manage load on the various links, e.g., to protect other STAs/non-AP MLDs from excessive non-compliance by the non-AP MLD." (i.e., Jain discloses of plurality of link transitions, and in combination with Jiang teaches an MLD AP can detect when a non-ap MLD breaks the policies such as using a forbidden link excessively then it would either change polices to protect other non-ap or block access to the non-ap that is breaking the policies.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in further view of Venkataramaiah and Jiang are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field Setup of multiple wireless link connections. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain method to implement the method of Jiang enforcing policy in order to protect a plurality of non-AP MLD from a non-compliant non-AP by either adjusting the policies for the non-compliant non-AP MLD or denying connectivity (Jiang, paragraph [0152], “the AP MLD may determine to adjust the access of the non-AP MLD. This may allow the AP MLD to manage load on the various links, e.g., to protect other STAs/non-AP MLDs from excessive non-compliance by the non-AP MLD.”).
Regarding Claim 5, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in further view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
Jain further discloses wherein the de-authenticating of the second MLD is responsive to determining that the plurality of link transition trigger signals satisfy a threshold (paragraph [0064], Fig.9, " Control plane traffic, such as SCTP packets, from eNB 902 are intercepted by DDoS mitigation module 903 before they are transmitted to mobile communication infrastructure. Attach Request messages to be sent to MME 904 may be parsed from control plane traffic by DDoS mitigation module 903. The rates of attach request messages from UEs are metered by DDoS mitigation module 903 in order to identify flood attacks. Once the rate of Attach Request messages from a UE, such as UE 910, is over a predetermined threshold," (i.e., Jain discloses "over a predetermined threshold" as in satisfy a threshold that is above the limit for receiving flood messages.)).
Regarding Claim 6, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in further view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang discloses all the limitation of claim 5.
Jain further discloses wherein the plurality of link transition trigger signals comprises a number of link transition trigger signals (paragraph [0064], Fig.9, " Control plane traffic, such as SCTP packets, from eNB 902 are intercepted by DDoS mitigation module 903 before they are transmitted to mobile communication infrastructure. Attach Request messages to be sent to MME 904 may be parsed from control plane traffic by DDoS mitigation module 903. The rates of attach request messages from UEs are metered by DDoS mitigation module 903 in order to identify flood attacks." (i.e., Fang discloses sending a plurality of transition signals, and Jain discloses also discloses sending a flood attack.)),
and wherein determining that the plurality of link transition trigger signals satisfy a threshold comprises determining that the number of plurality of link transition trigger signal is greater than a threshold number (paragraph [0064], Fig.9, "Control plane traffic, such as SCTP packets, from eNB 902 are intercepted by DDoS mitigation module 903 before they are transmitted to mobile communication infrastructure. Attach Request messages to be sent to MME 904 may be parsed from control plane traffic by DDoS mitigation module 903. The rates of attach request messages from UEs are metered by DDoS mitigation module 903 in order to identify flood attacks. Once the rate of Attach Request messages from a UE, such as UE 910, is over a predetermined threshold," (i.e., Jain discloses "over a predetermined threshold" as in satisfy a threshold that is above the limit for receiving flood messages.)).
Regarding Claim 10, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in further view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
KUCHAREWSKI further discloses wherein the first MLD is an access point (AP) MLD and the second MLD is a non-AP MLD (paragraph [0092], Fig.6, "FIG. 6 shows an example communication system 600 that includes an AP MLD 610 and a non-AP MLD 620. In some implementations, the AP MLD 610 may be one example of any of the APs 102 of FIG. 1, the wireless communication device 400 of FIG. 4, or the AP 502 of FIG. 5A. The non-AP MLD 620 may be one example of any of the STAs 104 FIG. 1, the wireless communication device 400 of FIG. 4, or the STA 504 of FIG. 5B." (i.e., examiner points to Fig.6 wherein discloses AP MLD 610 as “the first MLD” and non-AP MLD 620 as “the second MLD.”)).
Regarding Claim 12, Jain discloses an access point (AP) (Fig.9:902) comprising: a memory storing instructions; and a hardware processor communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions to:
receive, from the MLD, a plurality of link (paragraph [0064], Fig.9, "a malicious UE 910 may send a large amount of Attach Request messages to flood MME 904 through eNB 902." (i.e., UE sending a plurality of signals.)).
However, Jain does not disclose establish a multi-link association with a multi-link device (MLD) authenticated for multi-link operation (MLO), the multi-link association comprising multiple links with the MLD; a plurality of link transition, each link transition trigger signal indicating a transition of one of the multiple links from a non-active link to an active link; and based on receiving the plurality of the link transition trigger signals, detect an anomaly related to the MLD in which the plurality of link transition trigger signals are transmitted on one or more of the multiple links that are different from a link designated by the AP, and de-authenticate the MLD for MLO.
KUCHAREWSKI discloses An access point (AP) (Fig.6:610) comprising: a memory storing instructions (Fig.5A:540); and a hardware processor (Fig.5A:530) communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions to: establish a multi-link association with a multi-link device (MLD) authenticated for multi-link operation (MLO), the multi-link association comprising multiple links with the MLD (paragraph [0092], Fig.6, "FIG. 6 shows an example communication system 600 that includes an AP MLD 610 and a non-AP MLD 620. In some implementations, the AP MLD 610 may be one example of any of the APs 102 of FIG. 1, the wireless communication device 400 of FIG. 4, or the AP 502 of FIG. 5A. The non-AP MLD 620 may be one example of any of the STAs 104 FIG. 1, the wireless communication device 400 of FIG. 4, or the STA 504 of FIG. 5B." and paragraph [0093], "The AP MLD 610 includes multiple APs 611-613 associated with (or operating on) respective communication links 601-603. In the example of FIG. 6, the AP MLD 610 is shown to include 3 APs 611-613." and paragraph [0094], Fig.6, "The non-AP MLD 620 includes multiple STAs 621-623 that may be configured to communicate on the communication links 601-603, respectively. Thus, the STA 621 may operate on the 2.4 GHz frequency band, the STA 622 may operate on the 5 GHz frequency band, and the STA 623 may operate on the 6 GHz frequency band." and paragraph [0106], Fig.7, "In various aspects, the resource manager 722 may provide multi-link operation (MLO) mode indications, link provisioning information, and/or STA link assignments to the firmware component 726." (i.e., KUCHAREWSKI teaches wherein the UE is a MLD and can perform multi-link communication as in MLO. KUCHAREWSKI further teaches AP MLD. Fig.6 discloses a plurality links between the AP MLD and non-AP MLD.)).
Jain and KUCHAREWSKI are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain method to implement the method of KUCHAREWSKI as shown Fig.6 or Fig.10B in order to enable Jain UE to perform multi-link as Wi-Fi 7 is an improvement to previous iteration of Wi-Fi and providing a UE to switch from multi-link to single-link in order to conserve power (KUCHAREWSKI, paragraph [0019], “In some instances, each of the multiple communication links is associated with a respective AP of the AP MLD and occupies one of a 2.4 GHz frequency band, a 5 GHz frequency band, a 6 GHz frequency band, or a 60 GHz frequency band.” and paragraph [0065], “Particular implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the following potential advantages. By re-assigning a respective STA from a multiple communication links (such as a pair of communication links) to a single communication link when congestion on the communication links is at least equal to the first threshold or when OBSS interference levels are at least equal to the interference threshold, aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein may reduce traffic and congestion on the non-assigned communication links while achieving similar latencies and throughput using only the single communication link.”).
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI do not disclose a plurality of link transition, each link transition trigger signal indicating a transition of one of the multiple links from a non-active link to an active link; and based on receiving the plurality of the link transition trigger signals, detect an anomaly related to the MLD in which the plurality of link transition trigger signals are transmitted on one or more of the multiple links that are different from a link designated by the AP, and de-authenticate the MLD for MLO.
Fang discloses a plurality of link transition (paragraph [0075], “The ML-STA may communicate with ML-AP (or vice versa) to dynamic configure the transmission and receiving radio chains to form single link or multiple links, and/or change the operation channel frequency of each link to adapt to the radio environment variance for optimizing the multi-link performance. For example, when multiple radio channels are detected as idle, the ML-STA and ML-AP may communicate each other to form multiple links operating on those available radio frequency channels to transmit data on the multiple links so as to improve the data throughput…” and paragraph [0189], "receiving, by the network node, a ready-to-send (RTS) or multi-user ready-to-send (MU-RTS) message from the station over the one or more wireless links associated with the station;" (i.e., par.75 discloses ML-STA communicate with ML-AP for change of operation frequency. Communicate over multiple links is reading as plurality of link transition trigger.))
each link transition trigger signal indicating a transition of one of the multiple links from a non-active link to an active link (paragraph [0091], "the ML-STA 210 may send a message to ML-AP 220 to request to change the current ML operating channel, and switch to a new one after receiving the response from the ML-AP 220." and paragraph [0153], Fig.9A;9B, " In step 901, the ML-STA 910 may send a request message, e.g. ML Channel Switch Request message 931 (or MU-RTS request message), to the ML-AP 920 to request change of the ML operating channel(s) in some situation, like the current ML operating channel is experiencing an interference or over loaded or dynamically switching to adapt radio frequency channel variance condition and acquired TXOP." (i.e., Fig.9 discloses of second MLD requesting channel switching reading on transition from a non-active link to an active link.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI and Fang are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain method to implement the method of Fang utilizing multiple wireless connections links between a wireless station and an access point to reduce access delay, improve transmission reliability, and increase throughput (Fang, paragraph [0005], “This document discloses methods, systems, and devices related to digital wireless communications, and more specifically, to techniques related to utilizing multiple wireless connection links between a wireless station and an access point to transmit user data to reduce the access delay, improve transmission reliability, and increase transmission throughput.”).
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in further view of Fang do not disclose and based on receiving the plurality of the link transition trigger signals, detect an anomaly related to the MLD in which the plurality of link transition trigger signals are transmitted on one or more of the multiple links that are different from a link designated by the AP, and de-authenticate the MLD for MLO.
Venkataramaiah discloses and de-authenticate the MLD for MLO (paragraph [0004], “Therefore, any Wi-Fi-compatible electronic device (which are sometimes referred to as a ‘station’ or a ‘client’)” and paragraph [0033], “after receiving the response, malicious electronic device 124 may repeatedly provide router solicitations, e.g., to access point 112-1. These router solicitations, which are referred to as a ‘router-solicitation flood attack’, may degrade the communication performance of the WLAN.” and paragraph [0051], “after determining that malicious activity is occurring, the access point may send a unicast de-authentication message to the client to prevent the malicious activity or flood attacks from the client.” (i.e., Venkataramaiah discloses de-authenticating the malicious UE based on receiving a flooding attack.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in further view of Fang and Venkataramaiah are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain method to implement the method of Venkataramaiah of de-authenticating the user in order to stop malicious activity and improve the user experience and customer satisfaction for other users using the WLAN (Venkataramaiah, paragraph [0022], “By detecting the malicious activity (such as a router-solicitation flood attack) and performing the remedial action, the communication techniques may protect the WLAN (and an associated wired network). For example, the communication techniques may stop the malicious activity. This may maintain the communication performance and may enhance security in the WLAN. Consequently, the communication techniques may improve the user experience and customer satisfaction when communicating using the WLAN and/or using the electronic device.”).
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in further view of Venkataramaiah do not disclose or was not relied upon and based on receiving the plurality of the link transition trigger signals, detect an anomaly related to the MLD in which the plurality of link transition trigger signals are transmitted on one or more of the multiple links that are different from a link designated by the AP.
Jiang discloses and based on receiving the plurality of the link transition trigger signals, detect an anomaly related to the MLD in which the plurality of link transition trigger signals are transmitted on one or more of the multiple links that are different from a link designated by the AP (paragraph [0127], Fig.14, "The mapping and policy/guidelines may provide that different links may be used in one of at least the following basic ways: without restriction (e.g., any TID may be considered prioritized or fully allowed for that link), with some restriction (e.g., traffic of a particular TID on that link may be allowed with some limitation/guideline), or not at all (e.g., the non-AP MLD may not transmit traffic of that TID on that link, e.g., for the time period that the guideline is in effect, that TID may be prohibited from that link)." and paragraph [0149], "For example, if the AP MLD determines that an amount, timing, or frequency of transmission from the non-AP MLD does not comply with the applicable guidelines, the AP MLD may determine how much or how often the non-AP MLD has not complied." and paragraph [0152], "In the event that the AP MLD determines that the non-compliance is significant and/or repeated (and possibly also that the non-compliance is not justified), the AP MLD may determine to adjust the access of the non-AP MLD. This may allow the AP MLD to manage load on the various links, e.g., to protect other STAs/non-AP MLDs from excessive non-compliance by the non-AP MLD." (i.e., Jain discloses of plurality of link transitions, and in combination with Jiang teaches an MLD AP can detect when a non-ap MLD breaks the policies such as using a forbidden link excessive then it would either change polices to protect other non-ap or block access to the non-ap that is breaking the policies.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in further view of Venkataramaiah and Jiang are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field Setup of multiple wireless link connections. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain method to implement the method of Jiang enforcing policy in order to protect a plurality of non-AP MLD from a non-compliant non-AP by either adjusting the policies for the non-compliant non-AP MLD or denying connectivity (Jiang, paragraph [0152], “the AP MLD may determine to adjust the access of the non-AP MLD. This may allow the AP MLD to manage load on the various links, e.g., to protect other STAs/non-AP MLDs from excessive non-compliance by the non-AP MLD.”).
Regarding Claim 14, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in further view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang discloses all the limitation of claim 12.
KUCHAREWSKI further discloses wherein the MLD is one of a multi-link single radio (MLSR) device and an enhanced MLSR device (paragraph [0095], “the non-AP MLD 620 may include a single radio or may otherwise be capable of communicating on only one link at a time. In such implementations, the non-AP MLD 620 may operate in a multi-link single-radio (MLSR) mode or an enhanced MLSR (EMLSR) mode…” (i.e., the non-AP MLD can either be a multi-link single-radio (MLSR) mode or an enhanced MLSR (EMLSR).)).
The proposed combination as well as the motivations for combining the references presented in the rejection of the parent claim apply to this claim and are incorporated herein by reference.
Regarding Claim 17, Jain discloses a system comprising: a memory storing instructions; and a hardware processor communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions to: receive, by the AP , a plurality of (paragraph [0064], Fig.9, "a malicious UE 910 may send a large amount of Attach Request messages to flood MME 904 through eNB 902." (i.e., UE sending a plurality of signals.)),
detect, by the AP (paragraph [0064], Fig.9, "Control plane traffic, such as SCTP packets, from eNB 902 are intercepted by DDoS mitigation module 903 before they are transmitted to mobile communication infrastructure. Attach Request messages to be sent to MME 904 may be parsed from control plane traffic by DDoS mitigation module 903. The rates of attach request messages from UEs are metered by DDoS mitigation module 903 in order to identify flood attacks. Once the rate of Attach Request messages from a UE, such as UE 910, is over a predetermined threshold," (i.e., Jain discloses a UE sending a flood of request messages to the MME while connected to eNB. The UE is the first device. The “multi-link” will be taught by a different reference.)).
However, Jain does not explicitly disclose establish, by an access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD), a multi-link association with a non-AP MLD configured for multi-link operation (MLO), the multi-link association comprising multiple links between the AP MLD and the non-AP MLD; receive, by the AP MLD, a plurality of link transition trigger signals from a non-AP MLD, each link transition trigger signal indicating a transition of one of the multiple links from a non-active link to an active link; wherein the anomaly comprises the plurality of link transition trigger signals transmitted on one or more of the multiple links that are different from a link designated by the AP MLD; and in response to detecting the anomaly, de-authenticate the non-AP MLD for MLO with the AP MLD and configure the non-AP MLD for single-link operation (SLO) only.
KUCHAREWSKI discloses establish, by an access point (AP) multi-link device (MLD), a multi-link association with a non-AP MLD configured for multi-link operation (MLO) (paragraph [0092], Fig.6, "FIG. 6 shows an example communication system 600 that includes an AP MLD 610 and a non-AP MLD 620. In some implementations, the AP MLD 610 may be one example of any of the APs 102 of FIG. 1, the wireless communication device 400 of FIG. 4, or the AP 502 of FIG. 5A. The non-AP MLD 620 may be one example of any of the STAs 104 FIG. 1, the wireless communication device 400 of FIG. 4, or the STA 504 of FIG. 5B." and paragraph [0093], "The AP MLD 610 includes multiple APs 611-613 associated with (or operating on) respective communication links 601-603. In the example of FIG. 6, the AP MLD 610 is shown to include 3 APs 611-613." and paragraph [0094], Fig.6, "The non-AP MLD 620 includes multiple STAs 621-623 that may be configured to communicate on the communication links 601-603, respectively. Thus, the STA 621 may operate on the 2.4 GHz frequency band, the STA 622 may operate on the 5 GHz frequency band, and the STA 623 may operate on the 6 GHz frequency band." and paragraph [0106], Fig.7, "In various aspects, the resource manager 722 may provide multi-link operation (MLO) mode indications, link provisioning information, and/or STA link assignments to the firmware component 726." (i.e., KUCHAREWSKI teaches wherein the UE is a MLD and can perform multi-link communication as in MLO. KUCHAREWSKI further teaches AP MLD. Fig.6 discloses a plurality links between the AP MLD and non-AP MLD.)),
the multi-link association comprising multiple links between the AP MLD and the non-AP MLD (paragraph [0093], Fig.6, "The AP MLD 610 includes multiple APs 611-613 associated with (or operating on) respective communication links 601-603. In the example of FIG. 6, the AP MLD 610 is shown to include 3 APs 611-613. In other implementations, the AP MLD 610 may include fewer or more APs than those depicted in FIG. 6. Although the APs 611-613 may share a common association context (through the AP MLD 610), each of the APs 611-613 may establish a respective BSS on the AP's associated communication link." (i.e., Fig.6 shows a designated links 611-613.));
and configure the non-AP MLD for single-link operation (SLO) only (paragraph [0162], Fig.10B, "the AP MLD 1010 obtains an indication of at least one of the latency, interference level, or traffic load associated with one or both of Link1 and Link2 being at least equal to the respective latency threshold, interference threshold, or traffic load threshold. In some instances, the indication may signal that Link1 and Link2 are associated with higher latencies and/or lower throughput than Link3. As such, in some aspects, the AP MLD 1010 may switch STA1 from multi-link communications to single-link communications based on the indication. In this way, aspects of the present disclosure may reduce latencies and increase throughput of traffic flows associated with STA1." (i.e., AP MLD configuring the STA for single-link operation.)).
Jain and KUCHAREWSKI are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain method to implement the method of KUCHAREWSKI as shown Fig.6 or Fig.10B in order to enable Jain UE to perform multi-link as Wi-Fi 7 is an improvement to previous iteration of Wi-Fi and providing a UE to switch from multi-link to single-link in order to conserve power (KUCHAREWSKI, paragraph [0019], “In some instances, each of the multiple communication links is associated with a respective AP of the AP MLD and occupies one of a 2.4 GHz frequency band, a 5 GHz frequency band, a 6 GHz frequency band, or a 60 GHz frequency band.” and paragraph [0065], “Particular implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the following potential advantages. By re-assigning a respective STA from a multiple communication links (such as a pair of communication links) to a single communication link when congestion on the communication links is at least equal to the first threshold or when OBSS interference levels are at least equal to the interference threshold, aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein may reduce traffic and congestion on the non-assigned communication links while achieving similar latencies and throughput using only the single communication link.”).
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI do not explicitly disclose receive, by the AP MLD, a plurality of link transition trigger signals from a non-AP MLD, each link transition trigger signal indicating a transition of one of the multiple links from a non-active link to an active link; wherein the anomaly comprises the plurality of link transition trigger signals transmitted on one or more of the multiple links that are different from a link designated by the AP MLD; and in response to detecting the anomaly, de-authenticate the non-AP MLD for MLO with the AP MLD.
Fang discloses receive, by the AP MLD, a plurality of link transition trigger signals from a non-AP MLD (paragraph [0075], “The ML-STA may communicate with ML-AP (or vice versa) to dynamic configure the transmission and receiving radio chains to form single link or multiple links, and/or change the operation channel frequency of each link to adapt to the radio environment variance for optimizing the multi-link performance. For example, when multiple radio channels are detected as idle, the ML-STA and ML-AP may communicate each other to form multiple links operating on those available radio frequency channels to transmit data on the multiple links so as to improve the data throughput…” and paragraph [0189], "receiving, by the network node, a ready-to-send (RTS) or multi-user ready-to-send (MU-RTS) message from the station over the one or more wireless links associated with the station;" (i.e., par.75 discloses ML-STA communicate with ML-AP for change of operation frequency. Communicate over multiple links is reading as plurality of link transition trigger.)),
each link transition trigger signal indicating a transition of one of the multiple links from a non-active link to an active link (paragraph [0091], "the ML-STA 210 may send a message to ML-AP 220 to request to change the current ML operating channel, and switch to a new one after receiving the response from the ML-AP 220." and paragraph [0153], Fig.9A;9B, " In step 901, the ML-STA 910 may send a request message, e.g. ML Channel Switch Request message 931 (or MU-RTS request message), to the ML-AP 920 to request change of the ML operating channel(s) in some situation, like the current ML operating channel is experiencing an interference or over loaded or dynamically switching to adapt radio frequency channel variance condition and acquired TXOP." (i.e., Fig.9 discloses of second MLD requesting channel switching reading on transition from a non-active link to an active link.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI and Fang are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain method to implement the method of Fang utilizing multiple wireless connections links between a wireless station and an access point to reduce access delay, improve transmission reliability, and increase throughput (Fang, paragraph [0005], “This document discloses methods, systems, and devices related to digital wireless communications, and more specifically, to techniques related to utilizing multiple wireless connection links between a wireless station and an access point to transmit user data to reduce the access delay, improve transmission reliability, and increase transmission throughput.”).
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in further view of Fang do not explicitly disclose wherein the anomaly comprises the plurality of link transition trigger signals transmitted on one or more of the multiple links that are different from a link designated by the AP MLD; and in response to detecting the anomaly, de-authenticate the non-AP MLD for MLO with the AP MLD.
Venkataramaiah discloses and in response to detecting the anomaly, de-authenticate the non-AP MLD for MLO with the AP MLD (paragraph [0004], “Therefore, any Wi-Fi-compatible electronic device (which are sometimes referred to as a ‘station’ or a ‘client’)” and paragraph [0033], “after receiving the response, malicious electronic device 124 may repeatedly provide router solicitations, e.g., to access point 112-1. These router solicitations, which are referred to as a ‘router-solicitation flood attack’, may degrade the communication performance of the WLAN.” and paragraph [0051], “after determining that malicious activity is occurring, the access point may send a unicast de-authentication message to the client to prevent the malicious activity or flood attacks from the client.” (i.e., Venkataramaiah discloses de-authenticating the malicious UE based on receiving a flooding attack.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in further view of Fang and Venkataramaiah are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain method to implement the method of Venkataramaiah of de-authenticating the user in order to stop malicious activity and improve the user experience and customer satisfaction for other users using the WLAN (Venkataramaiah, paragraph [0022], “By detecting the malicious activity (such as a router-solicitation flood attack) and performing the remedial action, the communication techniques may protect the WLAN (and an associated wired network). For example, the communication techniques may stop the malicious activity. This may maintain the communication performance and may enhance security in the WLAN. Consequently, the communication techniques may improve the user experience and customer satisfaction when communicating using the WLAN and/or using the electronic device.”).
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in further view of Fang in further view of Venkataramaiah do not explicitly disclose wherein the anomaly comprises the plurality of link transition trigger signals transmitted on one or more of the multiple links that are different from a link designated by the AP MLD.
Jiang discloses wherein the anomaly comprises the plurality of link transition trigger signals transmitted on one or more of the multiple links that are different from a link designated by the AP MLD (paragraph [0127], Fig.14, "The mapping and policy/guidelines may provide that different links may be used in one of at least the following basic ways: without restriction (e.g., any TID may be considered prioritized or fully allowed for that link), with some restriction (e.g., traffic of a particular TID on that link may be allowed with some limitation/guideline), or not at all (e.g., the non-AP MLD may not transmit traffic of that TID on that link, e.g., for the time period that the guideline is in effect, that TID may be prohibited from that link)." and paragraph [0149], "For example, if the AP MLD determines that an amount, timing, or frequency of transmission from the non-AP MLD does not comply with the applicable guidelines, the AP MLD may determine how much or how often the non-AP MLD has not complied." and paragraph [0152], "In the event that the AP MLD determines that the non-compliance is significant and/or repeated (and possibly also that the non-compliance is not justified), the AP MLD may determine to adjust the access of the non-AP MLD. This may allow the AP MLD to manage load on the various links, e.g., to protect other STAs/non-AP MLDs from excessive non-compliance by the non-AP MLD." (i.e., Jain discloses of plurality of link transitions, and in combination with Jiang teaches an MLD AP can detect when a non-ap MLD breaks the policies such as using a forbidden link excessive then it would either change polices to protect other non-ap or block access to the non-ap that is breaking the policies.));
and in response to detecting the anomaly, de-authenticate the non-AP MLD for MLO with the AP MLD and configure the non-AP MLD for single-link operation (SLO) only (paragraph [0127], Fig.14, "The mapping and policy/guidelines may provide that different links may be used in one of at least the following basic ways: without restriction (e.g., any TID may be considered prioritized or fully allowed for that link), with some restriction (e.g., traffic of a particular TID on that link may be allowed with some limitation/guideline), or not at all (e.g., the non-AP MLD may not transmit traffic of that TID on that link, e.g., for the time period that the guideline is in effect, that TID may be prohibited from that link)." and paragraph [0149], "For example, if the AP MLD determines that an amount, timing, or frequency of transmission from the non-AP MLD does not comply with the applicable guidelines, the AP MLD may determine how much or how often the non-AP MLD has not complied." and paragraph [0152], "In the event that the AP MLD determines that the non-compliance is significant and/or repeated (and possibly also that the non-compliance is not justified), the AP MLD may determine to adjust the access of the non-AP MLD. This may allow the AP MLD to manage load on the various links, e.g., to protect other STAs/non-AP MLDs from excessive non-compliance by the non-AP MLD. For example, the AP MLD may determine (e.g., in 1208) to use a mapping that provides less flexibility to the non-AP MLD. For example, the non-AP MLD may be prohibited from using a link, e.g., at least for one or more TID (e.g., a TID/link combination for which the non-AP MLD has repeatedly and/or significantly exceeded/violated guideline usage). " (i.e., Venkataramaiah teaches de-authentication and in combination with KUCHAREWSKI teach when an anomaly is detected the AP MLD can manage the usage of links that is being used by the non-AP MLD.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in further view of Venkataramaiah and Jiang are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field Setup of multiple wireless link connections. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain method to implement the method of Jiang enforcing policy in order to protect a plurality of non-AP MLD from a non-compliant non-AP by either adjusting the policies for the non-compliant non-AP MLD or denying connectivity (Jiang, paragraph [0152], “the AP MLD may determine to adjust the access of the non-AP MLD. This may allow the AP MLD to manage load on the various links, e.g., to protect other STAs/non-AP MLDs from excessive non-compliance by the non-AP MLD.”).
Regarding Claim 18, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang discloses all the limitation of claim 17.
KUCHAREWSKI further discloses wherein the MLD is one of a multi-link single radio (MLSR) device and an enhanced MLSR device (paragraph [0095], “the non-AP MLD 620 may include a single radio or may otherwise be capable of communicating on only one link at a time. In such implementations, the non-AP MLD 620 may operate in a multi-link single-radio (MLSR) mode or an enhanced MLSR (EMLSR) mode…”).
The proposed combination as well as the motivations for combining the references presented in the rejection of the parent claim apply to this claim and are incorporated herein by reference.
Claim(s) 2-3, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jain (US-20200314655-A1) in view of KUCHAREWSKI (US-20250287444-A1) in view of Fang (US-20220369403-A1) in view of Venkataramaiah (US-20220030027-A1) in view of Jiang (US 20230262807 A1) in further view of CHOYI (US-20140201809-A1).
Regarding Claim 2, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
KUCHAREWSKI discloses authenticating the second MLD for single-link operation (SLO) (paragraph [0103], “the resource manager 722 may provision single communication links to STAs during association and authentication procedures… the resource manager 722 may use load balancing techniques described herein to dynamically re-assign one or more STAs between communication links to achieve similar link metrics for each of the communication links. In this way, the resource manager 722 may increase the length of time during which the STAs communicate with the AP MLD 720 in a single-link operation mode.” and paragraph [0162], Fig.10B, "the AP MLD 1010 obtains an indication of at least one of the latency, interference level, or traffic load associated with one or both of Link1 and Link2 being at least equal to the respective latency threshold, interference threshold, or traffic load threshold. In some instances, the indication may signal that Link1 and Link2 are associated with higher latencies and/or lower throughput than Link3. As such, in some aspects, the AP MLD 1010 may switch STA1 from multi-link communications to single-link communications based on the indication. In this way, aspects of the present disclosure may reduce latencies and increase throughput of traffic flows associated with STA1." (i.e., KUCHAREWSKI teaches authenticating the UE for single-link operation.)).
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang do not disclose further comprising: receiving, by the first MLD from the second MLD, an authentication request based on the de-authentication; and in response to the authentication request, authenticating the second MLD
CHOYI discloses further comprising: receiving, by the first MLD from the second MLD, an authentication request based on the de-authentication; and in response to the authentication request, authenticating the second MLD (paragraph [0077], "the UE may provide an immediate response to the NAF request for user re-authentication. For example, the UE may send, to the NAF 612, the re-authentication information immediately following step 620 in FIG. 6. In such an embodiment, the NAF 612 may respond with another 401 Unauthorized digest challenge to the UE that may require bootstrapping (e.g., step 618). The response may indicate that the updated user authentication assurance level and/or freshness level is acceptable. For example, it may be assumed that the UE knows what authentication strength is expected by the NAF and the UE may be able to provide the expected authentication strength. If the UE is not able to provide the expected authentication strength, the UE may terminate the access request or may negotiate for limited access to the service." (i.re-authenticate the UE with limited access such as single-link operation as taught in KUCHAREWSKI. Venkataramaiah discloses de-authentication and CHOYI implies there is a de-authentication as it needs a threshold of assurance level that the UE is not meeting and then puts the UE in either limited access or terminate the access.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang and CHOYI are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain method to implement the method of CHOYI of re-authenticating the user in order to reduce the chances of a compromised UE performing DDOS attacks as there is a level of assurance required to access the service provider (CHOYI, paragraph [0006], “a user and/or UE may receive limited access to a service if an assurance level and/or a freshness level is not within an acceptable range,” and paragraph [0020], “characteristics of a security association may be provided to a service providing entity, which can also be referred to as a service provider (SP), for authentication or re-authentication. Such characteristics may be provided by using a locally-determined process and/or a network-assisted process. In an embodiment, existing or expired characteristics of a security association may be exploited for a user equipment (UE) to re-authenticate and/or re-key to a SP… Such re-authentication or re-keying may provide the UE with limited or limitless access to a service that is provided by the SP.”).
Regarding Claim 3, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in view of Jiang in further view of CHOYI discloses all the limitation of claim 2.
KUCHAREWSKI further discloses authenticating the second MLD for only single-link operation (paragraph [0069], “Each STA 104 may be configured to identify or select an AP 102 with which to associate based on the scanning information obtained through the passive or active scans, and to perform authentication and association operations to establish a communication link 108 with the selected AP 102.” and paragraph [0162], Fig.10B, "the AP MLD 1010 obtains an indication of at least one of the latency, interference level, or traffic load associated with one or both of Link1 and Link2 being at least equal to the respective latency threshold, interference threshold, or traffic load threshold. In some instances, the indication may signal that Link1 and Link2 are associated with higher latencies and/or lower throughput than Link3. As such, in some aspects, the AP MLD 1010 may switch STA1 from multi-link communications to single-link communications based on the indication. In this way, aspects of the present disclosure may reduce latencies and increase throughput of traffic flows associated with STA1." (i.e., switching the AP MLD from multi-link to single-link communication. “only” is described in CHOYI as “limited access” in par.77, and KUCHAREWSKI implies “only” as Fig.10B the AP MLD is switching the non-AP MLD for single link because the quality of the other two links are in not good quality.)).
CHOYI further discloses authenticating the second MLD for only single(paragraph [0077], “the UE may send, to the NAF 612, the re-authentication information …the UE may terminate the access request or may negotiate for limited access to the service.”).
The proposed combination as well as the motivations for combining the references presented in the rejection of the parent claim apply to this claim and are incorporated herein by reference.
Regarding Claim 15, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang discloses all the limitation of claim 12.
Venkataramaiah further discloses transmit a de-authentication frame to the MLD based on de-authenticating the MLD (paragraph [0004], “Therefore, any Wi-Fi-compatible electronic device (which are sometimes referred to as a ‘station’ or a ‘client’)” and paragraph [0051], “after determining that malicious activity is occurring, the access point may send a unicast de-authentication message to the client to prevent the malicious activity or flood attacks from the client.” (i.e., sending a de-authentication to the user device.)).
KUCHAREWSKI further discloses authenticating the second MLD for single-link operation (SLO) (paragraph [0103], “the resource manager 722 may provision single communication links to STAs during association and authentication procedures… the resource manager 722 may use load balancing techniques described herein to dynamically re-assign one or more STAs between communication links to achieve similar link metrics for each of the communication links. In this way, the resource manager 722 may increase the length of time during which the STAs communicate with the AP MLD 720 in a single-link operation mode.” and paragraph [0162], Fig.10B, "the AP MLD 1010 obtains an indication of at least one of the latency, interference level, or traffic load associated with one or both of Link1 and Link2 being at least equal to the respective latency threshold, interference threshold, or traffic load threshold. In some instances, the indication may signal that Link1 and Link2 are associated with higher latencies and/or lower throughput than Link3. As such, in some aspects, the AP MLD 1010 may switch STA1 from multi-link communications to single-link communications based on the indication. In this way, aspects of the present disclosure may reduce latencies and increase throughput of traffic flows associated with STA1." (i.e., KUCHAREWSKI teaches authenticating the UE for single-link operation.)).
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang do not disclose receive, from the MLD, an authentication request responsive to the de-authentication frame; and in response to the authentication request, authenticate the MLD
CHOYI discloses further comprising: receive, from the MLD, an authentication request responsive to the de-authentication frame (paragraph [0077], "the UE may provide an immediate response to the NAF request for user re-authentication. For example, the UE may send, to the NAF 612, the re-authentication information immediately following step 620 in FIG. 6. In such an embodiment, the NAF 612 may respond with another 401 Unauthorized digest challenge to the UE that may require bootstrapping (e.g., step 618). The response may indicate that the updated user authentication assurance level and/or freshness level is acceptable. For example, it may be assumed that the UE knows what authentication strength is expected by the NAF and the UE may be able to provide the expected authentication strength. If the UE is not able to provide the expected authentication strength, the UE may terminate the access request or may negotiate for limited access to the service." (i.e., re-authenticate the UE with limited access such as single-link operation as taught in KUCHAREWSKI. Venkataramaiah discloses de-authentication and CHOYI implies there is a de-authentication as it needs a threshold of assurance level that the UE is not meeting and then puts the UE in either limited access or terminate the access.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang and CHOYI are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain method to implement the method of CHOYI of re-authenticating the user in order to reduce the chances of a compromised UE performing DDOS attacks as there is a level of assurance required to access the service provider (CHOYI, paragraph [0006], “a user and/or UE may receive limited access to a service if an assurance level and/or a freshness level is not within an acceptable range,” and paragraph [0020], “characteristics of a security association may be provided to a service providing entity, which can also be referred to as a service provider (SP), for authentication or re-authentication. Such characteristics may be provided by using a locally-determined process and/or a network-assisted process. In an embodiment, existing or expired characteristics of a security association may be exploited for a user equipment (UE) to re-authenticate and/or re-key to a SP… Such re-authentication or re-keying may provide the UE with limited or limitless access to a service that is provided by the SP.”).
Claim(s) 7, 16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jain (US-20200314655-A1) in view of KUCHAREWSKI (US-20250287444-A1) in view of Fang (US-20220369403-A1) in view of Venkataramaiah (US-20220030027-A1) in view of Jiang (US 20230262807 A1) in further view of Burakovsky (US-20200162429-A1).
Regarding Claim 7, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang discloses all the limitation of claim 6.
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang do not explicitly disclose wherein determining that the plurality of link transition trigger signal satisfy a threshold comprises determining that the number of plurality of link transition trigger signal is greater than a threshold number within a set time interval.
Burakovsky discloses wherein determining that the plurality of link transition trigger signal satisfy a threshold comprises determining that the number of plurality of link transition trigger signal is greater than a threshold number within a set time interval (paragraph [0070], " when the P-CSCF determines that this is an attack (e.g., the P-CSCF can be configured to detect such an attack based on a threshold number of REGISTER messages from a specific client(s) within a predetermined period of time, in which the security platform is configured to detect such a REGISTER flood and apply a security policy in response to detection of the REGISTER flood)," (i.e., Burakovsky teaches a flood attacked detected within a period of time and a threshold.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang and Burakovsky are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain to implement the method of Burakovsky of a threshold within a predetermined time in order to increase security against DDoS attacks (Burakovsky, paragraph [0029], “Thus, technical and security challenges with service provider networks exist. As such, what are needed are new and improved security policy techniques for such service provider network environments. Specifically, what are needed are new and improved solutions for applying security policies (e.g., firewall policies) on service provider networks.”).
Regarding Claim 16, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang discloses all the limitation of claim 12.
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang do not disclose wherein de-authenticating the MLD is responsive to determining that the plurality of link transition trigger signals satisfy a threshold.
Burakovsky discloses wherein de-authenticating the MLD is responsive to determining that the plurality of link transition trigger signals satisfy a threshold (paragraph [0018], “These sets of rules are often referred to as policies (e.g., network policies or network security policies). For example, a firewall can filter inbound traffic by applying a set of rules or policies to prevent unwanted outside traffic from reaching protected devices. A firewall can also filter outbound traffic by applying a set of rules or policies (e.g., allow, block, monitor, notify or log, and/or other actions can be specified in firewall/security rules or firewall/security policies, which can be triggered based on various criteria, such as described herein).” and paragraph [0070], "when the P-CSCF determines that this is an attack (e.g., the P-CSCF can be configured to detect such an attack based on a threshold number of REGISTER messages from a specific client(s) within a predetermined period of time, in which the security platform is configured to detect such a REGISTER flood and apply a security policy in response to detection of the REGISTER flood)," (i.e., Burakovsky teaches a flood attack satisfy a threshold to perform a security policy. Venkataramaiah discloses performing de-authentication. In combination teach the said limitation.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang and Burakovsky are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain to implement the method of Burakovsky of a threshold within a predetermined time in order to increase security against DDoS attacks (Burakovsky, paragraph [0029], “Thus, technical and security challenges with service provider networks exist. As such, what are needed are new and improved security policy techniques for such service provider network environments. Specifically, what are needed are new and improved solutions for applying security policies (e.g., firewall policies) on service provider networks.”).
Regarding Claim 20, which is similar in scope to claim 7, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Claim(s) 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jain (US-20200314655-A1) in view of KUCHAREWSKI (US-20250287444-A1) in view of Fang (US-20220369403-A1) in view of Venkataramaiah (US-20220030027-A1) in view of Jiang (US 20230262807 A1) in further view of HU (US-20220124855-A1).
Regarding Claim 8, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
Fang further discloses wherein the plurality of link transition trigger signals are received via one or more links of a plurality of links between the first MLD and the second MLD (paragraph [0189], "the method includes receiving, by the network node, a ready-to-send (RTS) or multi-user ready-to-send (MU-RTS) message from the station over the one or more wireless links associated with the station; and transmitting, by the network node, a clear-to-send (CTS) or multi-user clear-to-send (MU-CTS) message to the station over the one or more wireless links associated with the station to establish a multi-link transmission opportunity (TXOP) across the one or more wireless links. " (i.e., Fang discloses receiving from multiple links.)).
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang do not disclose or were not relied upon wherein de-authenticating the second MLD for MLO with the first MLD comprises tearing down the plurality of links.
HU discloses wherein de-authenticating the second MLD for MLO with the first MLD comprises tearing down the plurality of links (paragraph [0084], "ML reconfiguration scenarios may include removing a link. A link can be removed because operating on all available links may not always be the best option due to a variety of reasons." and paragraph [0141], "For example, link 1 and link 2 have been established between the first MLD and the second MLD through association. The first frame indicates to remove link 2. After the first MLD and the second MLD remove link 2, link 2 becomes an unestablished link between the first MLD and the second MLD. The first MLD and the second MLD can use only link 1 for data transmission, but cannot use link 2 for data transmission." and paragraph [0091], "Adding or removing or replacing a link can arise on any side—AP or non-AP." and paragraph [0143], "instead of halting the transmission, after the removal of all the link where the TID is mapped to, transmission may be performed using default mapping, for example, TID to all link mapping. In some embodiments, an AP MLD or a non-AP MLD may initiate (re)negotiation for TID-to-link mapping upon any changes in the set of the links (e.g., add or removal) after the ML configuration. " (i.e., HU discloses of removing links.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang and HU are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain to implement the method of HU removing links in order for the UE to conserve power when not using all the links (HU, paragraph [0072], “some embodiments can provide useful techniques for removing a link between MLDs. A link can be removed because operating on all available links may not always be the best option due to a variety of reasons. For example, a link can be removed (1) for improved efficiency or power save, (2) for less management overhead, or (3) to stick with a dominant traffic component (e.g., keeping a Traffic ID (TID) with 5% of the traffic together with the only other TID carrying 95%, in one link).”).
Claim(s) 11, 13, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jain (US-20200314655-A1) in view of KUCHAREWSKI (US-20250287444-A1) in view of Fang (US-20220369403-A1) in view of Venkataramaiah (US-20220030027-A1) in view of Jiang (US 20230262807 A1) in further view of Gopinath (US-20060165078-A1).
Regarding Claim 11, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
Fang further discloses wherein the plurality of link transition trigger signals comprises at least one of (paragraph [0075], “The ML-STA may communicate with ML-AP (or vice versa) to dynamic configure the transmission and receiving radio chains to form single link or multiple links, and/or change the operation channel frequency of each link to adapt to the radio environment variance for optimizing the multi-link performance. For example, when multiple radio channels are detected as idle, the ML-STA and ML-AP may communicate each other to form multiple links operating on those available radio frequency channels to transmit data on the multiple links so as to improve the data throughput…” and paragraph [0189], "receiving, by the network node, a ready-to-send (RTS) or multi-user ready-to-send (MU-RTS) message from the station over the one or more wireless links associated with the station;" (i.e., par.75 discloses ML-STA communicate with ML-AP for change of operation frequency.)).
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang do not disclose wherein the plurality of link transition trigger signals comprises at least one of a power save poll signal,
Gopinath discloses wherein the plurality of link transition trigger signals comprises at least one of a power save poll signal, (paragraph [0036], Fig.1, "an undesirable wireless station 126 can disrupt the operation of wireless network comprising authorized APs and authorized end user devices. Such station can be operating from within or from outside of the selected geographic region of LAN operation. For example, the station 126 can launch wireless DOS attack. Examples of some DOS attacks are deauthentication or disassociation flood, authentication or association flood, NAV field based virtual jamming, CTS flood, EAP message flood, PS Poll flood, fake AP etc." (i.e., its known in the art the plurality of transition trigger signals can be power save poll signal flood or clear-to-send signal flood.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang and Gopinath are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain to implement the method of Gopinath of detecting differen types of DoS attacks in order to prevent undesirable wireless activities (Gopinath, paragraph [0017], “Certain advantages and/or benefits may be achieved using the present invention. For example, the present technique provides an easy to use process that relies upon conventional computer hardware and software technologies. In some embodiments, the method and system can selectively restrict undesirable wireless activity, while allowing desirable wireless activity for a selected device for a predetermined portion of time. The selectively restricting enables authorized wireless devices to communicate, while undesirable wireless activity is being restricted according to a specific embodiment. The present technique can be used to resist DOS attacks, block unauthorized ad hoc connections, block unauthorized APs and so on according to certain embodiments.”).
Regarding Claim 13, which is similar in scope to claim 11, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 19, which is similar in scope to claim 11, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Claim(s) 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jain (US-20200314655-A1) in view of KUCHAREWSKI (US-20250287444-A1) in view of Fang (US-20220369403-A1) in view of Venkataramaiah (US-20220030027-A1) in view of Jiang (US 20230262807 A1) in view of CHOYI (US-20140201809-A1) in further view of LU (US-20250098000-A1).
Regarding Claim 4, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in view of Jiang in further view of CHOYI discloses all the limitation of claim 2.
KUCHAREWSKI discloses activating a first link based on authenticating the second MLD for SLO (paragraph [0069], “Each STA 104 may be configured to identify or select an AP 102 with which to associate based on the scanning information obtained through the passive or active scans, and to perform authentication and association operations to establish a communication link 108 with the selected AP 102.” and paragraph [0162], Fig.10B, "the AP MLD 1010 obtains an indication of at least one of the latency, interference level, or traffic load associated with one or both of Link1 and Link2 being at least equal to the respective latency threshold, interference threshold, or traffic load threshold. In some instances, the indication may signal that Link1 and Link2 are associated with higher latencies and/or lower throughput than Link3. As such, in some aspects, the AP MLD 1010 may switch STA1 from multi-link communications to single-link communications based on the indication. In this way, aspects of the present disclosure may reduce latencies and increase throughput of traffic flows associated with STA1." (i.e., activating only link 3.)).
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in view of Jiang in further view of CHOYI do not discloses and rejecting a request to activate a second link.
LU discloses and rejecting a request to activate a second link (paragraph [0096], "The second MLD can accept all of the at least one requested link, or can accept some of the at least one requested link, or can reject all the requested links, which is not limited in embodiments of the disclosure." and paragraph [0112], "the second MLD can reject performing multi-link setup for the requested link, and indicate, through first response frame, that addition of the requested link failed." (i.e., LU discloses of teaching accepting some of the links such as the first link and rejecting any additional links.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in view of Jiang in further view of CHOYI and LU are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain to implement the method of LU of accepting and rejecting links for multi-link operation in order to reduce incompatibility of new links that was requested to be added by the UE (LU, paragraph [0115], “If the at least one requested link is incompatible with the link common capability and/or link common operation of the current setup link, the second MLD can reject setup of the at least one requested link, which can avoid incompatibility of a new link in multi-link reconfiguration, thereby improving the mechanism for multi-link reconfiguration.”).
Claim(s) 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jain (US-20200314655-A1) in view of KUCHAREWSKI (US-20250287444-A1) in view of Fang (US-20220369403-A1) in view of Venkataramaiah (US-20220030027-A1) in view of Jiang (US 20230262807 A1) in view of Havaralu (US-10492071-B1) in further view of CHITRAKAR (US-20230156840-A1).
Regarding Claim 9, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang do not explicitly disclose after a wait period: receiving a request to authenticate the second MLD for MLO with the first MLD; and authenticating the second MLD for MLO with the first MLD.
Havaralu discloses after a wait period (Col. 06, Lines 15-26, "based on the monitoring of client device activity by the authenticator, a client device may be identified as being one of either a rogue static client, a rogue dynamic client, a valid static client or a valid dynamic client. Different measures may then be taken by the authenticator based on the determined client identity. For example, if it is determined that the client device has made a repeated number of attempts to authenticate that have failed, the client device may be identified as being a rogue static client. As a result, a waiting period before another attempt to authenticate is permitted by the rogue static client device can be increased by the authenticator." (i.e., Applying a waiting period for a device attempting to access for service.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in further view of Jiang and Havaralu are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain to implement the method of Havaralu waiting period in order to reduce DOS attacks (Havaralu, Col.02, lines 04-19, “DOS attacks by rogue clients can be reduced by monitoring a history of client device activity by an authenticator (access point or Ethernet switch). Based on the monitored history of access point behavior, a client device may be identified as being one of either a rogue static client, a rogue dynamic client, a legitimate or valid static client or a valid dynamic client, as described below in detail. Different measures may then be taken by the authenticator based on the determined client identity. For example, if it is determined that the client device has made a repeated number of attempts to authenticate that have been failed attempts, the client device may be identified as being a rogue client device. As a result, a waiting period another authentication request is permitted after a faded authentication attempt by a client device can be increased by the authenticator.”).
However, Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in view of Jiang in further view of Havaralu do not explicitly disclose receiving a request to authenticate the second MLD for MLO with the first MLD; and authenticating the second MLD for MLO with the first MLD.
CHITRAKAR discloses receiving a request to authenticate the second MLD for MLO with the first MLD (paragraph [0061], Fig.5, "FIG. 5 depicts communication flow between an AP MLD and a non-AP MLD for multi-link discovery, authentication, setup, TID-to-link mapping and communication thereafter in accordance with the first embodiment." and paragraph [0062], "After the discovery phase, the non-AP MLD 504 may initiate multi-link authentication by transmitting an authentication request 510 to the AP MLD 502 on, for example, link 2. The authentication request may comprise information of the MLD MAC address of non-AP MLD 504." (i.e., non-AP MLD sending authentication to AP MLD.));
and authenticating the second MLD for MLO with the first MLD (paragraph [0062], Fig.5, "…In response to receiving the authentication request 510, the AP MLD 502 may transmit an authentication response 512 to the non-AP MLD 504 on the same link 2. The authentication response may comprise information on the MLD MAC address of AP MLD 502. Multi-link authentication may be optional for Open Systems with Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) but is mandatory for SAE and Fast Initial link setup (FILS)." and paragraph [0063], "After authentication is successfully completed, multi-link setup/association may be initiated by the non-AP MLD 504 by transmitting a multi-link setup request 514 to the AP MLD 502 on, for example, link 2. The multi-link setup request 514 may comprise the link capabilities of links 1, 2 and 3 as well as request information that identify the affiliated STAs of the non-AP MLD 504 for which links are to be set up i.e. links 1, 2 and 3 in this case. " (i.e., authenticating the non-AP MLD.)).
Jain in view of KUCHAREWSKI in view of Fang in view of Venkataramaiah in view of Jiang in further view of Havaralu and CHITRAKAR are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field multi-link setup and link maintenance. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jain to implement the method of CHITRAKAR of authenticating the second MLD for MLO as CHITRAKAR ensures the links are set up based on the link quality thus providing the UE with the best service (paragraph [0106], “On the other hand, if the link quality improves above the threshold value, the link may be re-used as a normal enabled link. However, if the link quality continues to be below the threshold level for a certain TIMEOUT duration, the link may be disabled (i.e. through TID-to-link mapping). Advantageously, this ensures that links are set up based on link quality.”).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 21 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.
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 Erkin S. Abdullaev whose telephone number is (571)272-4135. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday - 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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ERKIN S. ABDULLAEV
Examiner
Art Unit 2648
/ERKIN ABDULLAEV/Examiner, Art Unit 2648
/WESLEY L KIM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2648
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