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 .
This Office Action is a response to communications dated 08/12/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending in the application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 08/13/2024 complies with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609. It has been considered and placed in the application file.
Claim Objections
Claims 3-6, 8-9, 14-16, and 19 are objected to because of the following informalities:
As per claim 3, line 8, first occurrence of acronym MAC should be spelled out.
As per claim 4, line 3, first occurrence of acronym TID should be spelled out.
As per claim 5, line 4 and line 5, first occurrence of acronyms MAC and ADDBA should be spelled out.
As per claim 6, line 6, first occurrence of acronym MAC should be spelled out.
As per claim 8, line 6, first occurrence of acronym MAC should be spelled out.
As per claim 9, line 2 and line 3, first occurrence of acronyms ADDBA and TID should be spelled out.
As per claim 14, line 8, first occurrence of acronym MAC should be spelled out.
As per claim 15, line 3, first occurrence of acronym TID should be spelled out.
As per claim 16, line 4 and line 6, first occurrence of acronyms MAC and ADDBA should be spelled out.
As per claim 17, line 6, first occurrence of acronym MAC should be spelled out.
As per claim 19, line 6, first occurrence of acronym MAC should be spelled out.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 12, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jia et al. (US 2016/0277170) (hereinafter “Jia”).
Regarding claim 1, in accordance with Jia reference entirety, Jia teaches a method of wireless communication performed by a first wireless station (STA) comprising at least a first transceiver and a second transceiver respectively associated with a first band (frequency band 606a) and a second band (frequency band 606b) (FIGs. 7A&B and 9A&9B and para [0103] and [0113] describes methods perform by AP and STA which are relied upon for the anticipation of the claim limitations as described hereinbelow), the method comprising:
setting a first field in each of a first plurality of frames to indicate respective sequence numbers, wherein said sequence numbers set for said first plurality of frames are consecutive values comprised in a single sequence number space (para [0103] or para [0113]: “… the first data packet and the second data packet have consecutive sequence numbers … .”);
transmitting said first plurality of frames in both said first band and said second band (para [0103]: “… the AP 604 transmits the first data packet via at least one of the frequency band 606a or the frequency 606b to the STA 602a. In some implementations, the first data packet is sent to the STA 602a via the first frequency band 606a. After transmitting the first data packet at block 704 … the AP 604 transmits the second data packet to the station via the frequency band 606b to the STA 602a … .”); transmitting a first frame in said first band, wherein said first frame is under no block acknowledgement agreement (para [0103]: “… the AP 604 transmits the first data packet via at least one of the frequency band 606a or the frequency 606b to the STA 602a … the AP 604 is configured to detect an acknowledgement transmit from the STA 602a via the least one of the frequency band … .”).; and
retransmitting said first frame in said second band (para [0103]: “… the AP 604 retransmits the first data packet to the STA 602a via the at least one of the two frequency band 606a and 606b at block 710.”).
As per claim 12, the claim calls for an apparatus having limitations variously and essentially mirrored functional limitations of method claim 1. Thus, it is anticipated by Jia for the same rationales applied to method claim 1 as above discussed.
As per claim 20, the claim calls for a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stored thereon program instruction having limitations variously and essentially mirrored functional limitations of method claim 1. Thus, it is anticipated by Jia for the same rationales applied to method claim 1 as above discussed.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-11 and 13-19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art of record, considered individually or in combination, appears to fail to fairly show or suggest a claimed invention of base claims 1 and 12, and further limits with novel and unobvious limitations of “setting said first field in each of a second plurality of frames to indicate a same sequence number, wherein said second plurality of frames are fragmented frames of a data unit; setting said first field in each of said second plurality of frames to indicate respective frame order numbers, wherein frame numbers set for said second plurality of frames are comprised in a single fragment number space; and transmitting said second plurality of frames in both said first band and said second band,” as recited in claims 2 and 13; “for each of said first band and said second band, maintaining independent information comprising: robust security network association (RSNA); security key; sequence counter; and packet number counter; specifying band information in an aggregated control field in each frame of a third plurality of frames, wherein said third plurality of frames are associated with different sequence number spaces and with a same traffic identifier (TID), and wherein said band information identifies an operating band of a peer MAC entity associated with said frame; and transmitting said third plurality of frames in both said first band and said second band,” as recited in claims 3 and 14; “responsive to receiving the first frame, updating a receiver cache based on said first frame, wherein said first frame is indexed by a combination of a receiver address, a TID, a sequence number, a fragment number and band information; and determining a sequence ordering of a band indicated by a band identifier based on said first field of said first frame or based on a band used to transmit said first frame,” as recited in claims 4 and 15; “setting an aggregated control field of each frame of the first plurality of frames to specify band information and sequence number information to represent a frame order, wherein said band information identifies a band of an MAC entity, and wherein said sequence number information set for said first plurality of frames comprises consecutive values starting from a starting sequence number indicated in an ADDBA request frame,” as recited in claims 5 and 16; “receiving a fifth plurality of frames at both said first transceiver and said second transceiver, wherein said fifth plurality of frames is under a same block acknowledgement agreement, wherein an aggregated control field of each frame of the fifth plurality of frames specifies first band information identifying a band of an MAC entity, and wherein said sequence control field of each frame of the fifth plurality of frames specifies second band information identifying a different band of said MAC entity; and using said first band information and sequence number information in said aggregated control field to determine sequence ordering of said fifth plurality of frames regardless of said second band information in said sequence control field,” as recited in claims 6 and 17; “wherein said first field comprises a sequence control field, and further comprising: setting an aggregated control field of a sixth plurality of frames to indicate sequence number information and fragment number information representing a frame order, and wherein said sixth plurality of frames are fragmented frames of a data unit and have a same sequence number; and transmitting said sixth plurality of frames in both said first band and said second band,” as recited in claims 7 and 18; “wherein said first field comprises a sequence control field, and further comprising: receiving a seventh plurality of frames at both said first transceiver and said second transceiver, wherein said seventh plurality of frames are fragmented frames of a data unit and have a same sequence number, wherein an aggregated control field of each frame of the seventh plurality of frames specifies first band information identifying a band of an MAC entity, wherein said sequence control field of each frame of the 7th plurality of frames specifies second band information identifying a different band of an MAC entity; and using sequence number information and fragment number information in said aggregated control field of said seventh plurality of frames regardless of said second band information in said sequence control field of seventh plurality of frames,” as recited in claims 8 and 19; “in a single multi-band information element in an ADDBA request frame, specifying a first single band for transmitting an eighth plurality of frames and a TID thereof; specifying to change to a different single band for transmitting said eighth plurality of frames in a fast session transfer (FST) message; and transmitting said eighth plurality of frames in said different single band,” as recited in claim 9; “receiving a retransmitted frame of said first frame in said second band, wherein said retransmitted frame comprises a first sequence number in said aggregated control field; and performing duplication detection with regard to said retransmitted frame based on a receiver cache,” as recited in claim 10; and “receiving the first frame in said first band, wherein said first frame comprises a first sequence number in an aggregated control field; and storing said first sequence number in a receiver cache,” as recited in claim 11, structurally and functionally interconnected in a manner as claimed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Jia et al. (US 2014/0254349).
Wentink (US 9,337,961).
Seok (US 2017/0048048).
Kim et al. (US 2017/0063509).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FRANK DUONG whose telephone number is (571)272-3164. The examiner can normally be reached 7:00AM-3:30PM.
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Applicant is encouraged to submit a written authorization for Internet communications (PTO/SB/439, http://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/sb0439.pdf) in the instant patent application to authorize the examiner to communicate with the applicant via email. The authorization will allow the examiner to better practice compact prosecution. The written authorization can be submitted via one of the following methods only: (1) Central Fax which can be found in the Conclusion section of this Office action; (2) regular postal mail; (3) EFS WEB; or (4) the service window on the Alexandria campus. EFS web is the recommended way to submit the form since this allows the form to be entered into the file wrapper within the same day (system dependent). Written authorization submitted via other methods, such as direct fax to the examiner or email, will not be accepted. See MPEP § 502.03.
/FRANK DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474 July 29, 2026
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