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 .
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.
Claims 1 and 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lu (US 20221/0346171) in view of Lopez (US 2024/0196331).
Regarding claim 1, Lu describes a communication apparatus that operates as a multi-link device complaint with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series standard (para. 53, AP MLD operates according to various IEEE 802.11 standards), the communication apparatus comprising:
a determination unit configured to determine at least one enhanced multi-link multi-radio (EMLMR) link from among a plurality of EMLMR links, based on information about a link of multi-link communication (fig. 3 step 315 & para. 50-51, AP MLD receives frame comprising number of supported spatial steams supported, i.e. maximum number of spatial streams to an MCS support for a specific bandwidth + capabilities (information) corresponding to at least one of the EMLMR (multi-link) links [selected] to use); and
a control unit configured to control start of a frame exchange sequence on the selected at least one EMLMR link (fig. 3 step 320 & para. 51, AP MLD transmits and receives using multiple EMLMR links according to capabilities indicated in frame transmitted in step 315).
Lu describes enabling a plurality of EMLMR links for use, but fails to further explicitly describe:
selection unit configured to select at least one of the multilinks from among a plurality of multi-links.
Lopez also describes multi-link communication between access node 100 & user device 150 (title & fig. 1), further describing:
selection unit configured to select at least one of the multilinks from among a plurality of multi-links (fig. 1 step 120 & para. 68-70, access node selects link(s) for multi-link communication).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the EMLMR links determined to be used for communication is explicitly selected as in Lopez.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this yields the benefits of multi-link communication be retained when performance requirements are low (Lopez para. 8).
Regarding claim 4, Lu and Lopez combined describe:
wherein the control unit is configured to select the at least one EMLMR link, based on communication capabilities of respective links in the multi-link communication (Lu para. 50-51, using the multiple EMLMR links according to links’ communication capabilities provided, which is dependent on MCS and bandwidth supported, para. 46 & table 2).
Regarding claim 5, Lu and Lopez combined describe:
a determination unit configured to determine whether there is a plurality of EMLMR links, wherein the selection unit is configured to perform the selection, based on a determination performed by the determination unit that there is a plurality of EMLMR links (Lopez, fig. 1 step 120 & para. 68-70, access node selects (determines) link(s) for multi-link communication).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lu in view of Lopez as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Dong (US 2024/0422852).
Regarding claim 2, Lu fails to further explicitly describe:
wherein the selection unit is configured to select the at least one EMLMR link based on link identifiers (IDs) assigned to respective links in the multi-link communication.
Dong also describes communication between AP MLD and non-AP MLD (fig. 1 & para. 31), further describing:
wherein the selection unit is configured to select the at least one EMLMR link based on link identifiers (IDs) assigned to respective links in the multi-link communication (para. 6-7, non-AP MLD notifies link ID to AP MLD for their communication. See also abstract).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention that the AP MLD in Lu and Lopez to receive the assignment of link ID as in Dong to select and use the particular link for communicating with the non-AP MLD.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this enables clarity on which links support EMLMR & which supports EMLSR during multi-link establishment or association process between AP MLD and non-AP STA MLD (Dong, para. 30).
Claims 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lu in view of Lopez as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kwon (US 2022/0104261).
Regarding claim 6, Lu and Lopez combined fail to further explicitly describe:
wherein, in a case where a frame including an EMLMR Support subfield having a value of 1 is transmitted and received, or
a frame including the EMLMR Support subfield having a value of 1 is received and an enhanced multi-link (EML) Operating Mode Notification frame including an EMLMR Mode subfield having a value of 1 is transmitted, or
a frame including the EMLMR Support subfield having a value of 1 is transmitted and an EML Operating Mode Notification frame including the EMLMR Mode subfield having a value of 1 is received on a plurality of links, the determination unit determines that there is a plurality of links.
Kwon also describes multilink communication between AP MLD & non-AP MLD (fig. 1), further describing:
wherein, in a case where a frame including an EMLMR Support subfield having a value of 1 is transmitted and received, or a frame including the EMLMR Support subfield having a value of 1 is received and an enhanced multi-link (EML) Operating Mode Notification frame including an EMLMR Mode subfield having a value of 1 is transmitted, or a frame including the EMLMR Support subfield having a value of 1 is transmitted and an EML Operating Mode Notification frame including the EMLMR Mode subfield having a value of 1 is received on a plurality of links, the determination unit determines that there is a plurality of links (para. 88-90, AP MLD &/or non-AP MLD transmit/receive initial frames exchange comprising EMLMR Option = True (“1”) & set eMLMR Support subfield to one for indicating eMLMR operation over eMLMR links).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the multilink communication of Lu and Lopez to comprise a frame with EMLMR Support subfield &/or EMLMR Mode subfield set to 1 which determines plurality of links [to use] as in Kwon.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this facilitates the exchange of frames in multi-link communications (Kwon para. 2).
Regarding claim 7, Lu and Lopez combined fail to further explicitly describe:
wherein the control unit is configured to control, in a case where the control unit controls start of a frame exchange sequence on the selected at least one EMLMR link, frame exchange after an initial frame is exchanged in a started frame exchange sequence with a number of spatial streams up to a value defined in an EMLMR Supported Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) AND Number of Spatial Streams (NSS) SET subfield by the communication apparatus operating as a non-access point (Non-AP) multi-link device (MLD) or by another communication apparatus.
Kwon also describes multilink communication between AP MLD & non-AP MLD (fig. 1), further describing:
wherein the control unit is configured to control, in a case where the control unit controls start of a frame exchange sequence on the selected at least one EMLMR link, frame exchange after an initial frame is exchanged in a started frame exchange sequence with a number of spatial streams up to a value defined in an EMLMR Supported Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) AND Number of Spatial Streams (NSS) SET subfield by the communication apparatus operating as a non-access point (Non-AP) multi-link device (MLD) or by another communication apparatus (para. 90,
non-AP MLD may receive PPDUs with an NSS up to a value indicated by an eMLMR Rx NSS subfield of a TBD element at a time on the link for which the initial frame exchange sequence was made).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the multilink communication of Lu and Lopez to controls start of a frame exchange sequence on the selected at least one EMLMR link, frame exchange after an initial frame is exchanged in a started frame exchange sequence with a number of spatial streams up to a value defined in an EMLMR Supported MCS and ) AND NSS set as in Kwon.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this facilitates the exchange of frames in multi-link communications (Kwon para. 2).
Claim 8 is a method claim comprising limitation set for in apparatus claim 1. Hence, it is rejected under the same rationale.
Claim 9 is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium claim comprising limitation set for in apparatus claim 1. Since Lu already describes apparatus as a computer control system have processor & memory to execute steps of method claim 1, it is rejected under the same rationale.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 is 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.
Regarding claim 3, the prior art fails to further explicitly describe:
wherein the control unit is configured to select the at least one EMLMR link based on order of establishment of EMLMR links by respective links in the multi-link communication.
The closest prior art, Jang (US 2022/0240333), describing either a AP or non-AP STA MEL having a sorted link preference indication (para. 225, 227, 351-351, 454-455 & 517-518), in combination with Lu and Lopez, fail to render the above underscored features along with other limitations in claim as a whole obvious.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Chu (US 2021/0377856) describing Access point & station multi-link device operation (title), Seok (US 2021/0360521) describing Extreme-High-Throughput Enhanced Subchannel Selective Transmission Operation In Wireless Communications (title & fig. 1), Dong (US 2026/0019206) describing EMLMR fields (para. 42-48), Sevin (US 2024/0381466) describing signaling in the requesting frames may be simplified by using a single one-bit field to implicitly activate or deactivate the single EML OM, either EMLSR or EMLMR mode (abstract), Dong (US 2024/0314687) describing, during the initial association process, the station and the AP can carry the capability information value of supporting multi-link operation, specifically EMLMR or EMLSR, Chu (US 2022/0132608) describing MLD setup & operation (title), Lu (US 2024/0080129) describing an enhanced multi-link operation may be performed between MLDs (para. 3), Dong (US 2024/0064621) describing first message frame includes information for instructing a station device to request a fast initial link setup (FILS) IP address configuration; and sending the first message frame (abstract), Wang (US 2023/0102446) describing MLD link selection (abstract), Huang (US 2024/0031777) describing the device may perform an action based on whether the non-AP MLD sent an indication that a first link of the plurality of links is selected by the non-AP MLD for receiving a first group addressed frame from the one or more group addressed frames.
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WARNER WONG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2469
/WARNER WONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469