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 .
DETAILED ACTION
1. The following is a Final Office Action in response to applicant’s arguments filed on June 3, 2026
Claims 1, 3, 11, and 16 are amendedClaims 1-20 are pending
Examiner’s Note: The specification discloses in paragraphs 0082 and 0090 that a station (STA) and AP comprise one or more processors, respectively.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendment to claims 1, 11 and 16 regarding, “a Multi-link Multi-device (MLMD) comprising an MLMD MAC address, wherein the MLMD controls a plurality of access point (AP) multi-link devices (MLDs); and wherein each AP MLD of the plurality of AP MLDs is associated with a plurality of APs“, filed on June 03, 2026 necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Therefore, Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 of this title, 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.
1.) Claims 1 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20250374178, Li in view of US 20220167256, Kneckt
In regards to claim 1, Li teaches a wireless communication system, the system comprising: a Multi-link Multi-device (MLMD) comprising an MLMD MAC address, wherein the MLMD controls a plurality of access point (AP) multi-link devices (MLDs)(US 20250374178, Li, fig. 5, and para. 0044, A-MSDU frame aggregation, and MPDU frame encryption (key management) that are located in an MLD MAC upper sublayer are moved up to a distributed MLD controller chip of a home distributed MLD controller device; the rest of the architecture of MLDs is kept unchanged. In particular, a Distributed MLD Service Management function is newly added to a distributed MLD controller chip and an AP MLD, which includes, but is not limited to, a Management module and an MLD Traffic Schedule module, and is configured to guide communication between the distributed MLD controller and a target AP MLD, and implement scheduling management of data and management information for a plurality of AP MLDs);wherein each AP MLD of the plurality of AP MLDs is associated with a plurality of Aps (US 20250374178, Li, fig. 8, where each AP MLD controls a plurality of APs), Li does not teach wherein the AP MLDs are configured to perform data encryption between a station (STA) and an AP using the MLMD MAC address such that the AP MLDs support the STA roaming between the AP MLDs using a same encryption key, and use one or multiple of same or shared sequence number (SN), packet number (PN) space, block ACK sessions negotiated for one or multiple traffic identifiers (TIDs), or BA Bitmap for each negotiated TID; However, Kneckt teaches wherein the AP MLDs are configured to perform data encryption between a station (STA) and an AP using the MLMD MAC address such that the AP MLDs support the STA roaming between the AP MLDs using a same encryption key(US 20220167256, Kneckt, para. 0104, Issues have developed around privacy of access point (AP) discovery, link setup, and link maintenance. In an effort to improve privacy for scanning stations, IEEE 802.11aq introduced transmission of scanning frames from random Medium Access Control (MAC) addresses. Additionally, privacy of initial public scanning may be improved by an access point's public key. For example, a non-associated wireless station may use the public key and asymmetric cryptography to setup a shared key with the access point. The shared key may be used to encrypt unicast scanning, authentication, and association frames to ensure the privacy of the non-associated station and access point. ), and use one or multiple of same or shared sequence number (SN), packet number (PN) space, block ACK sessions negotiated for one or multiple traffic identifiers (TIDs), or BA Bitmap for each negotiated TID(US 20220167256, Kneckt, para. 0105, association resets many parameters such as sequence number (SN), packet number (PN), Block Acknowledgment, traffic specification (TSPEC) parameters, and so forth. These parameters are reset for all frame types and traffic identifiers (IDs), e.g., priority levels. Thus, if/when a non-AP MLD node uses re-association to add an AP link to the associated AP MLD, then the parameters reset interrupts transmissions in all links.). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching Li with the teaching of Kneckt because a user would have been motivated to use a shared key, taught by Kneckt, to encrypt frame information in order to preserve the privacy of access points in the network taught by Henry(Kneckt, para. 0104)
In regards to claim 7, the combination of Li and Kneckt teach the system of claim 1, wherein the APs are configured to: receive an authentication request from the STA, wherein the authentication request comprises an indication that the STA supports MLMD-level association(US 20220167256, Kneckt, para. 0134, Thus, as shown, after receiving the add link response 806, STA 606a may transmit an authentication request 828 to AP 612A. AP 612a may respond with an authentication response 830. Note that the authentication (e.g., modified fast MLD transition signaling) may establish BIGTKSA, IGTKSA, and GTKSA for the new link.); and send an authentication response that includes the MLMD MAC address(US 20220167256, Kneckt, para. 0134: Thus, as shown, after receiving the add link response 806, STA 606a may transmit an authentication request 828 to AP 612A. AP 612a may respond with an authentication response 830. Note that the authentication (e.g., modified fast MLD transition signaling) may establish BIGTKSA, IGTKSA, and GTKSA for the new link. Upon completion of the addition of the new link and 4-way handshake (accomplished via the modified fast MLD transition signaling) at 832, STA 606a may transmit data 834 to AP 612b. AP 612b may transmit an acknowledgment 836 of the data, as shown.[i.e. note: where an add link request indicates a MAC address associated with the link]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching Li with the teaching of Kneckt because a user would have been motivated to use a shared key, taught by Kneckt, to encrypt frame information in order to preserve the privacy of access points in the network taught by Henry(Kneckt, para. 0104)
2.) Claims 5 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20250374178, Li in view of US 20220167256, Kneckt and further in view of US 20220182184, Wang
In regards to claim 5, the combination of Li and Kneckt teach the system of claim 1. The combination of Li and Kneckt do not teach wherein a single service set identifier (SSID) is used for the MLMD that is different than other MLMDs However, Wang teaches wherein a single service set identifier (SSID) is used for the MLMD that is different than other MLMDs(US 20220182184, Wang, para. 0119, The AP MLD may have an MLD_address, and the non-AP may have an MLD_address. The respective APs may have respective basic service set identifier (BSSIDs), which may be the MAC addresses of the APs. Similarly, the respective STAs may have over-the-air (OTA) mac addresses (OTA MAC1, OTA MAC2, OTA MAC2), which are the MAC addresses of the STAs 1104a-c.). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching the combination of Kneckt and Li with the teaching of Wang because a user would have been motivated to employ duplication detection system, taught by Wang, in order to detect frame duplication issues in the multi-link system taught by Kneckt(Wang, para. 0003)
In regards to claim 10, the combination of Li and Kneckt teach the system of claim 1, wherein the STA corresponds to an STA MLD, and wherein a first AP receives an association request from the STA, the association request indicating desired links to be setup with APs across multiple of the AP MLDs, and wherein the AP MLDs communicate between each other either over-the-air (OTA) or over a Distributed System (DS) about setting up the desired links for the STA(US 20220182184, Wang, para. 0119, As may be seen in FIG. 11, and as briefly described previously with respect to FIG. 1B, an AP MLD 1108 may be communicatively coupled with a non-AP MLD 1106 by a plurality of links 1110a-c. Additionally, a number of APs 1102a-c (AP1, AP2, and AP3) may be coupled with a number of STAs (e.g., STA1, STA2, and STA3). The AP MLD may have an MLD_address, and the non-AP may have an MLD_address. The respective APs may have respective basic service set identifier (BSSIDs), which may be the MAC addresses of the APs. Similarly, the respective STAs may have over-the-air (OTA) mac addresses (OTA MAC1, OTA MAC2, OTA MAC2), which are the MAC addresses of the STAs 1104a-c). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching the combination of Kneckt and Li with the teaching of Wang because a user would have been motivated to employ duplication detection system, taught by Wang, in order to detect frame duplication issues in the multi-link system taught by Kneckt(Wang, para. 0003)
3.) Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20250374178, Li in view of US 20220167256, Kneckt and further in view of EP 3573418, Lai
In regards to claim 2, the combination of Li and Kneckt teach the system of claim 1. the combination of Li and Kneckt do not teach further comprising multiple routers coupled to the AP MLDs, wherein the AP MLDs have a data path with the router and a control path with the MLMD However, Lai teaches further comprising multiple routers coupled to the AP MLDs, wherein the AP MLDs have a data path with the router and a control path with the MLMD(EP 3573418, Lai, para. 0042 and para. 0053: [0042]- After the setup information including said information is received, the UE may establish a first data path to the specific DN according to the setup information.[0053]- receiving a request message from the 5G communication network through the transceiver 230, wherein the request message includes a multi-data-path indication; selecting a plurality of UPFs according to the multi-data-path indication;). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of the combination of Li and Kneckt with the teaching of Lai because a user would have been motivated to apply ultra reliable transmission methods, taught by Lai, in order to provide enhanced reliable data transmission in the multi-link system taught by the combination of Kneckt and Wang(Lai, para. 0031)
4.) Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20250374178, Li in view of US 20220167256, Kneckt and further in view of US 20180077572, Trappitt
In regards to claim 3, the combination of Li and Kneckt teach the system of claim 1. The combination of Li and Kneckt do not teach wherein the AP MLDs are further configured to send an MLMD element to the STA during a beacon frame, wherein the MLMD element comprises the MLMD MAC address and include an MLMD IP address However, Trappitt teaches wherein the AP MLDs are further configured to send an MLMD element to the STA during a beacon frame, wherein the MLMD element comprises the MLMD MAC address and include an MLMD IP address (US 20180077572, Trappitt, para. 0051, FIG. 4 illustrates a graphical representation of a beacon frame 500 according to various embodiments described herein. For example, and without limitation, an SSID may comprise 32 bytes and may be placed in the SSID field of the beacon frame 500. Continuing to refer additionally to FIG. 1, for a unicast beacon, the MAC Address 150 of the probing client device 400b may be inserted into a DA (Destination Address) field of the beacon frame 500.). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of the combination of Li and Kneckt with the teaching of Trappitt because a user would have been motivated to dynamically stream beacons, taught by Trappitt, for the purpose of acquiring SSID information of a client device in order to improve functioning in networks taught by the combination of Li and Kneckt (Trappitt, para. 0007 and 0010)
5.) Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20250374178, Li in view of US 20220167256, Kneckt and further in view of US 20180077572, Trappitt and further in view of US 20220182184, Wang
In regards to claim 4, the combination of Li and Kneckt and Trappitt teach the system of claim 3. The combination of Li and Kneckt and Trappitt do not teach wherein the MLMD element further comprises a field that indicates whether the AP MLD supports link setup across the AP MLDs after association with a single AP MLD within the MLMD, or supports link setup across the AP MLDs during association with the single AP MLD within the MLMD However, Wang teaches wherein the MLMD element further comprises a field that indicates whether the AP MLD supports link setup across the AP MLDs after association with a single AP MLD within the MLMD, or supports link setup across the AP MLDs during association with the single AP MLD within the MLMD (US 20220182184, Wang, para. 0042, A legacy STA 168 can associate with only a single AP 162 and receive all unicast and group addressed frames from this associated AP 162. The non-AP MLD devices 154 can create MLD setup that allows the non-AP MLD devices 154 to receive unicast and group frames from any AP 162, 164, 166 which is part of the ML setup.). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching the combination of Li, Kneckt and Trappitt with the teaching of Wang because a user would have been motivated to employ duplication detection system, taught by Wang, in order to detect frame duplication issues in the multi-link system taught by Kneckt(Wang, para. 0003)
6.) Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20250374178, Li in view of US 20220167256, Kneckt and further in view of US 20230232315, Chitrakar
In regards to claim 6, the combination of Li and Kneckt teach the system of claim 1. The combination of Li and Kneckt do not teach wherein multiple MLMDs use a single service set identifier (SSID) However, Chitrakar teaches wherein multiple MLMDs use a single service set identifier (SSID) (US 20230232315, Chitrakar, para. 0110, The Host Link ID field 1508 indicates a Link ID assigned to the link in which the Multi-link element 1500 is transmitted (i.e. host link). If all the links of an AP MLD advertise the same SSID, MLD level SSID may be defined and indicated in the Common Information field and the SSID fields are omitted in the per-link info. Fields. In such cases, the beacon frame carries the SSID for legacy devices,). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of the combination of Li and Kneckt with the teaching of Chitrakar because a user would have been motivated to enable multi-link setup, taught by Chitrakar, in order to enable multi-link device(MLD) operations between an access point multi-link device and a non-AP MLD(Chirakar, para. 0004)
7.) Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20250374178, Li in view of US 20220167256, Kneckt and further in view of US 20230354298, Hazarioa
In regards to claim 8, the combination of Li and Kneckt teach the system of claim 1. The combination of Li and Kneckt do not teach wherein the MLMD is configured to maintain an STA state transition table to track assigned association identifiers (AID) and determine a next available AID to assign However, Hazarioa teaches wherein the MLMD is configured to maintain an STA state transition table to track assigned association identifiers (AID) and determine a next available AID to assign (US 20230354298, Hazarioa, para. 0030, An AP may assign AIDs to STAs during initial association, but assigning an AID using a first-come first-serve (FCFS) basis (e.g., assigning a next available AID to whichever STA connects first, regardless of whether the STA is a legacy device or an MLD) may lead to inefficient use of MLTE and may contribute to beacon bloat and inefficient spectrum use (e.g., resource heavy beacon frames with redundant and/or useless information).). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of the combination of Li and Kneckt with the teaching of Hazarioa because a user would have been motivated to group a plurality of STAs into resource units(RU), taught by Hazarioa, in order to cause each RU to receive its multi-link traffic element so that the resources used by the beacon frame is reduced(Hazarioa, para. 0035)
8.) Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20250374178, Li in view of US 20220167256, Kneckt and further in view of US 20220182184, Wang and further in view of EP 4648541, Cheng
In regards to claim 9, the combination of Li and Kneckt teach the system of claim 1. The combination of Li and Kneckt do not teach wherein the STA corresponds to an STA MLD, and wherein a first AP receives an association request from the STA, and a second AP on a different AP MLD receives a reconfiguration multi-link element (MLE) from a second STA corresponding to the STA MLD However, Wang teaches wherein the STA corresponds to an STA MLD, and wherein a first AP receives an association request from the STA, and a second AP on a different AP MLD receives a reconfiguration multi-link element (MLE) from a second STA corresponding to the STA MLD (US 20220182184, Wang, para. 0048, In a network containing MLDs, the AP MLD 152 transmits a copy of group addressed data frames from each AP 1262, 164, 166 to allow the legacy STAs associated with each AP to receive these frames and for other considerations (e.g., simple power save management)), It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching the combination of Kneckt and Li with the teaching of Wang because a user would have been motivated to employ duplication detection system, taught by Wang, in order to detect frame duplication issues in the multi-link system taught by Kneckt(Wang, para. 0003) The combination of Kneckt and Wang do not teach wherein the reconfiguration MLE includes an update type field that indicates the reconfiguration MLE is to add a link between the second AP and the second STA However, Cheng teaches wherein the reconfiguration MLE includes an update type field that indicates the reconfiguration MLE is to add a link between the second AP and the second STA (EP 4648541, Cheng, para. 0028, After the negotiation and successful establishment of the multiple links between the Non-AP MLD and the AP MLD, the link between the Non-AP MLD and the AP MLD may be reconfigured…after the multiple links between the Non-AP MLD and the AP MLD are established, when the Non-AP MLD detects that the AP MLD needs to add a new affiliated AP, the Non-AP MLD side needs to add an affiliated STA through a re-association mechanism to establish a new link.). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of the combination of Li, Kneckt and Wang with the teaching of Cheng because a user would have been motivated to perform a multi-link reconfiguration, taught by Cheng, in order to improve multi-link operation in the system taught by the combination of Li, Kneckt and Wang(Cheng, para. 0086)
9.) Claims 11, 12, 15-17 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20220167256, Kneckt in view of US 20250374178, Li and further in view of US 20230139206, Cariou
In regards to claim 11, Kneckt teaches a method for operation of a station (STA) multi-link device (MLD), the method comprising: sending an authentication request, wherein the authentication request comprises an indication that the STA supports MLMD-level association(US 20220167256, Kneckt, para. 0134, Thus, as shown, after receiving the add link response 806, STA 606a may transmit an authentication request 828 to AP 612A. AP 612a may respond with an authentication response 830. Note that the authentication (e.g., modified fast MLD transition signaling) may establish BIGTKSA, IGTKSA, and GTKSA for the new link.); receiving an authentication response that includes the MLMD MAC address(US 20220167256, Kneckt, para. 0134: Thus, as shown, after receiving the add link response 806, STA 606a may transmit an authentication request 828 to AP 612A. AP 612a may respond with an authentication response 830. Note that the authentication (e.g., modified fast MLD transition signaling) may establish BIGTKSA, IGTKSA, and GTKSA for the new link. Upon completion of the addition of the new link and 4-way handshake (accomplished via the modified fast MLD transition signaling) at 832, STA 606a may transmit data 834 to AP 612b. AP 612b may transmit an acknowledgment 836 of the data, as shown.[i.e. note: where an add link request indicates a MAC address associated with the link]); and Kneckt does not teach receiving beacon frames from a two or more of access point (AP) multi-link devices (MLDs), wherein the beacon frames comprise an Multi-link Multi-device (MLMD) element with an MLMD MAC addressestablishing links between one or more STAs affiliated with the STA MLD and one or more APs across the AP MLDs that are associated with the same MLMD; However, Li teaches receiving beacon frames from a two or more of access point (AP) multi-link devices (MLDs) (US 20250374178, Li, para. 0072, the beacon frame sent independently by each AP MLD contains information of all links in the distributed MLD), wherein the beacon frames comprise a Multi-link Multi-device (MLMD) element with an MLMD MAC address, wherein one MLMD controls a plurality AP MLDs and each of the plurality of AP MLDs is associated with a plurality of Aps(US 20250374178, Li, fig. 5, and para. 0044, A-MSDU frame aggregation, and MPDU frame encryption (key management) that are located in an MLD MAC upper sublayer are moved up to a distributed MLD controller chip of a home distributed MLD controller device; the rest of the architecture of MLDs is kept unchanged. In particular, a Distributed MLD Service Management function is newly added to a distributed MLD controller chip and an AP MLD, which includes, but is not limited to, a Management module and an MLD Traffic Schedule module, and is configured to guide communication between the distributed MLD controller and a target AP MLD, and implement scheduling management of data and management information for a plurality of AP MLDs); establishing links between one or more STAs affiliated with the STA MLD and one or more APs across the AP MLDs that are associated with the same MLMD(US 20250374178, Li, fig. 8, where a distributed MLD controller[i.e. note: MLMD] controls a plurality of AP MLDs affiliated with a non-AP MLD[i.e. note: STA MLD] linked to a plurality of STAs); It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching Kneckt with the teaching of Li because a user would have been motivated to collect link information from a plurality of AP MLDs to determine an optimal AP MLD, taught by Li, in order to reduce the communication delay between an AP MLD and a non-AP MLD, taught by Kneckt(Li, para. 0010); the combination of Kneckt and Li do not teach determining which of the AP MLDs are associated with a same MLMD based on the MLMD MAC address However, Cariou determining which of the AP MLDs are associated with a same MLMD based on the MLMD MAC address(US 20230139206, Cariou, para. 0046, the non-AP MLDs may transition between the first AP MLD (AP MLD 1) and the second AP MLD (AP MLD 2) with, e.g., a fast transition (FT) protocol. Furthermore, under the same IEEE 802.11be standard protocol, the non-AP MLDs may not understand if the two AP MLDs have the same AP MLD MAC address to identify an affiliated non-collocated AP MLD. Embodiments herein may define a protocol to advantageously reduce latency and packet loss during transitions from a link with an AP STA of a first collocated AP MLD, AP MLD 1, to a link with an AP STA of a second collocated AP MLD (AP MLD 2), wherein both the first collocated AP MLD and the second collocated AP MLD are affiliated with a non-collocated AP MLD.). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of the combination of Kneckt and Li with the teaching of Cariou because a user would have been motivated to use orthogonal frequency division multiple access communication (OFDMA), taught by Cariou, in order increase bandwidth and throughput of devices in the system taught by the combination of Kneckt and Wang(Cariou, para. 0003)
In regards to claim 12, the combination of Kneckt, Li and Cariou teach the method for operation of claim 11, further comprising performing data encryption using the MLMD MAC address, and roaming between the AP MLDs using a same encryption key(US 20220167256, Kneckt, para. 0104, Issues have developed around privacy of access point (AP) discovery, link setup, and link maintenance. In an effort to improve privacy for scanning stations, IEEE 802.11aq introduced transmission of scanning frames from random Medium Access Control (MAC) addresses. Additionally, privacy of initial public scanning may be improved by an access point's public key. For example, a non-associated wireless station may use the public key and asymmetric cryptography to setup a shared key with the access point. The shared key may be used to encrypt unicast scanning, authentication, and association frames to ensure the privacy of the non-associated station and access point.).
In regards to claim 15, the combination of Kneckt, Li and Cariou teach the method for operation of claim 11, selectively activating and disabling the links to roam between APs across different STA MLDs(US 20220167256, Kneckt, para. 0156, In some embodiments, although all APs of an infrastructure AP MLD may be typically available all the time, an AP MLD may temporarily disable AP, e.g., if traffic load is high and/or if the AP needs to do measurements and/or other operations.).
In regards to claim 16, Kneckt teaches a station (STA) multi-link device (MLD) apparatus comprising: a processor(US 20220167256, Kneckt, para. 0027, The baseband processing circuitry can be realized by, for example, one or more processors (or processor cores)); and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor(US 20220167256, Kneckt, para. 0027, The baseband processing circuitry can be realized by, for example, one or more processors (or processor cores) configured to execute stored program instructions as described herein.), configure the apparatus to:send an authentication request, wherein the authentication request comprises an indication that the STA supports MLMD-level association(US 20220167256, Kneckt, para. 0134, Thus, as shown, after receiving the add link response 806, STA 606a may transmit an authentication request 828 to AP 612A. AP 612a may respond with an authentication response 830. Note that the authentication (e.g., modified fast MLD transition signaling) may establish BIGTKSA, IGTKSA, and GTKSA for the new link.); receive an authentication response that includes the MLMD MAC address(US 20220167256, Kneckt, para. 0134: Thus, as shown, after receiving the add link response 806, STA 606a may transmit an authentication request 828 to AP 612A. AP 612a may respond with an authentication response 830. Note that the authentication (e.g., modified fast MLD transition signaling) may establish BIGTKSA, IGTKSA, and GTKSA for the new link. Upon completion of the addition of the new link and 4-way handshake (accomplished via the modified fast MLD transition signaling) at 832, STA 606a may transmit data 834 to AP 612b. AP 612b may transmit an acknowledgment 836 of the data, as shown.[i.e. note: where an add link request indicates a MAC address associated with the link]); Kneckt does not teach receive beacon frames from two or more of access point (AP) multi-link devices (MLDs), wherein the beacon frames comprise an Multi-link Multi-device (MLMD) element with an MLMD MAC address, wherein the MLMD controls a plurality AP MLDs and each of the plurality of AP MLDs is associated with a plurality of APs; and establish links between one or more STAs affiliated with the STA MLD and one or more APs across the AP MLDs that are associated with the same MLMD; However Li teaches receive beacon frames from two or more of access point (AP) multi-link devices (MLDs) (US 20250374178, Li, para. 0072, the beacon frame sent independently by each AP MLD contains information of all links in the distributed MLD), wherein the beacon frames comprise an Multi-link Multi-device (MLMD) element with an MLMD MAC address, wherein the MLMD controls a plurality AP MLDs and each of the plurality of AP MLDs is associated with a plurality of APs(US 20250374178, Li, fig. 5, and para. 0044, A-MSDU frame aggregation, and MPDU frame encryption (key management) that are located in an MLD MAC upper sublayer are moved up to a distributed MLD controller chip of a home distributed MLD controller device; the rest of the architecture of MLDs is kept unchanged. In particular, a Distributed MLD Service Management function is newly added to a distributed MLD controller chip and an AP MLD, which includes, but is not limited to, a Management module and an MLD Traffic Schedule module, and is configured to guide communication between the distributed MLD controller and a target AP MLD, and implement scheduling management of data and management information for a plurality of AP MLDs); and establish links between one or more STAs affiliated with the STA MLD and one or more APs across the AP MLDs that are associated with the same MLMD(US 20250374178, Li, fig. 8, where a distributed MLD controller[i.e. note: MLMD] controls a plurality of AP MLDs affiliated with a non-AP MLD[i.e. note: STA MLD] linked to a plurality of STAs). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching Kneckt with the teaching of Li because a user would have been motivated to collect link information from a plurality of AP MLDs to determine an optimal AP MLD, taught by Li, in order to reduce the communication delay between an AP MLD and a non-AP MLD, taught by Kneckt(Li, para. 0010); the combination of Kneckt and Li do not teach determine which of the AP MLDs are associated with a same MLMD based on the MLMD MAC address However, Cariou teaches determine which of the AP MLDs are associated with a same MLMD based on the MLMD MAC address(US 20230139206, Cariou, para. 0046, the non-AP MLDs may transition between the first AP MLD (AP MLD 1) and the second AP MLD (AP MLD 2) with, e.g., a fast transition (FT) protocol. Furthermore, under the same IEEE 802.11be standard protocol, the non-AP MLDs may not understand if the two AP MLDs have the same AP MLD MAC address to identify an affiliated non-collocated AP MLD. Embodiments herein may define a protocol to advantageously reduce latency and packet loss during transitions from a link with an AP STA of a first collocated AP MLD, AP MLD 1, to a link with an AP STA of a second collocated AP MLD (AP MLD 2), wherein both the first collocated AP MLD and the second collocated AP MLD are affiliated with a non-collocated AP MLD.) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of the combination of Kneckt and Li with the teaching of Cariou because a user would have been motivated to use orthogonal frequency division multiple access communication (OFDMA), taught by Cariou, in order increase bandwidth and throughput of devices in the system taught by the combination of Kneckt and Li(Cariou, para. 0003).
In regards to claim 17, the combination of Kneckt, Li and Cariou teach the STA MLD apparatus of claim 16, wherein the instructions further configure the apparatus to perform data encryption using the MLMD MAC address, and roam between the AP MLDs using a same encryption key(US 20220167256, Kneckt, para. 0104, Issues have developed around privacy of access point (AP) discovery, link setup, and link maintenance. In an effort to improve privacy for scanning stations, IEEE 802.11aq introduced transmission of scanning frames from random Medium Access Control (MAC) addresses. Additionally, privacy of initial public scanning may be improved by an access point's public key. For example, a non-associated wireless station may use the public key and asymmetric cryptography to setup a shared key with the access point. The shared key may be used to encrypt unicast scanning, authentication, and association frames to ensure the privacy of the non-associated station and access point.).
In regards to claim 20, the combination of Kneckt, Li and Cariou teach the STA MLD apparatus of claim 16, selectively activate and disable the links to roam between APs across different STA MLDs(US 20220167256, Kneckt, para. 0156, In some embodiments, although all APs of an infrastructure AP MLD may be typically available all the time, an AP MLD may temporarily disable AP, e.g., if traffic load is high and/or if the AP needs to do measurements and/or other operations.).
10.) Claims 14 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20220167256, Kneckt in view of US 20250374178, Li and further in view of US 20230139206, Cariou and further in view of US 20220182184, Wang
In regards to claim 14, the combination of Kneckt, Li and Cariou teach the method for operation of claim 11. The combination of Kneckt, Li and Cariou do not teach wherein establishing a link comprises: sending an association request to a first AP on a first AP MLD, the association request indicating desired links to be setup with the APs across multiple of the AP MLDs, and wherein the AP MLDs communicate between each other either over-the-air (OTA) or over a Distributed System (DS) about setting up the desired links for the STA However, Wang teaches wherein establishing a link comprises: sending an association request to a first AP on a first AP MLD, the association request indicating desired links to be setup with the APs across multiple of the AP MLDs, and wherein the AP MLDs communicate between each other either over-the-air (OTA) or over a Distributed System (DS) about setting up the desired links for the STA (US 20220182184, Wang, para. 0119, As may be seen in FIG. 11, and as briefly described previously with respect to FIG. 1B, an AP MLD 1108 may be communicatively coupled with a non-AP MLD 1106 by a plurality of links 1110a-c. Additionally, a number of APs 1102a-c (AP1, AP2, and AP3) may be coupled with a number of STAs (e.g., STA1, STA2, and STA3). The AP MLD may have an MLD_address, and the non-AP may have an MLD_address. The respective APs may have respective basic service set identifier (BSSIDs), which may be the MAC addresses of the APs. Similarly, the respective STAs may have over-the-air (OTA) mac addresses (OTA MAC1, OTA MAC2, OTA MAC2), which are the MAC addresses of the STAs 1104a-c). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of the combination of Kneckt, Li and Cariou with the teaching of Wang because a user would have been motivated to employ duplication detection system, taught by Wang, in order to detect frame duplication issues in the multi-link system taught by Kneckt(Wang, para. 0003)
In regards to claim 19, the combination of Kneckt, Li and Cariou teach the STA MLD apparatus of claim 16. The combination of Kneckt, Li and Cariou do not teach wherein establishing a link comprises: send an association request to a first AP on a first AP MLD, the association request indicating desired links to be setup with the APs across multiple of the AP MLDs, and wherein the AP MLDs communicate the desired links between each other However, Wang teaches wherein establishing a link comprises: send an association request to a first AP on a first AP MLD, the association request indicating desired links to be setup with the APs across multiple of the AP MLDs, and wherein the AP MLDs communicate the desired links between each other(US 20220182184, Wang, para. 0119, As may be seen in FIG. 11, and as briefly described previously with respect to FIG. 1B, an AP MLD 1108 may be communicatively coupled with a non-AP MLD 1106 by a plurality of links 1110a-c. Additionally, a number of APs 1102a-c (AP1, AP2, and AP3) may be coupled with a number of STAs (e.g., STA1, STA2, and STA3). The AP MLD may have an MLD_address, and the non-AP may have an MLD_address. The respective APs may have respective basic service set identifier (BSSIDs), which may be the MAC addresses of the APs. Similarly, the respective STAs may have over-the-air (OTA) mac addresses (OTA MAC1, OTA MAC2, OTA MAC2), which are the MAC addresses of the STAs 1104a-c). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of the combination of Kneckt, Li and Cariou with the teaching of Wang because a user would have been motivated to employ duplication detection system, taught by Wang, in order to detect frame duplication issues in the multi-link system taught by Kneckt(Wang, para. 0003)
11.) Claims 13 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20220167256, Kneckt in view of US 20250374178, Li and further in view of US 20230139206, Cariou and further in view of EP 4648541, Cheng
In regards to claim 13, the combination of Kneckt, Li and Cariou teach the method for operation of claim 11, wherein establishing a link comprises: sending an association request to a first AP on a first AP MLD (US 20250374178, Li, para. 0094, three sub-STAs of a non-AP MLD are associated with one sub-AP in three AP MLDs[i.e. note: a request is implicitly requested]); and sending a reconfiguration multi-link element (MLE) to a second AP on a second AP MLD (US 20250374178, Li, para. 0063, Reconfiguration phase: when the distributed MLD controller learns that the link information of a certain AP MLD changes, it is triggered to reconfigure the link information of each AP MLD.), the combination of Kneckt, Li and Cariou do not teach wherein the reconfiguration MLE includes an update type field that indicates the reconfiguration MLE is for adding the links However, Cheng teaches wherein the reconfiguration MLE includes an update type field that indicates the reconfiguration MLE is for adding the links(EP 4648541, Cheng, para. 0028, After the negotiation and successful establishment of the multiple links between the Non-AP MLD and the AP MLD, the link between the Non-AP MLD and the AP MLD may be reconfigured…after the multiple links between the Non-AP MLD and the AP MLD are established, when the Non-AP MLD detects that the AP MLD needs to add a new affiliated AP, the Non-AP MLD side needs to add an affiliated STA through a re-association mechanism to establish a new link.). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of the combination of Kneckt, Li and Cariou with the teaching of Cheng because a user would have been motivated to perform a multi-link reconfiguration, taught by Cheng, in order to improve multi-link operation in the system taught by the combination of Kneckt and Wang(Cheng, para. 0086)
In regards to claim 18, the combination of Kneckt, Li and Cariou teach the STA MLD apparatus of claim 16, wherein establishing a link comprises: send an association request to a first AP on a first AP MLD(US 20250374178, Li, para. 0094, three sub-STAs of a non-AP MLD are associated with one sub-AP in three AP MLDs[i.e. note: a request is implicitly requested]); and send a reconfiguration multi-link element (MLE) to a second AP on a second AP MLD(US 20250374178, Li, para. 0063, Reconfiguration phase: when the distributed MLD controller learns that the link information of a certain AP MLD changes, it is triggered to reconfigure the link information of each AP MLD.), the combination of Kneckt, Li and Cariou do not teach wherein the reconfiguration MLE includes an update type field that indicates the reconfiguration MLE is for adding the links However, Cheng teaches wherein the reconfiguration MLE includes an update type field that indicates the reconfiguration MLE is for adding the links(EP 4648541, Cheng, para. 0028, After the negotiation and successful establishment of the multiple links between the Non-AP MLD and the AP MLD, the link between the Non-AP MLD and the AP MLD may be reconfigured…after the multiple links between the Non-AP MLD and the AP MLD are established, when the Non-AP MLD detects that the AP MLD needs to add a new affiliated AP, the Non-AP MLD side needs to add an affiliated STA through a re-association mechanism to establish a new link.). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of the combination of Kneckt, Li and Cariou with the teaching of Cheng because a user would have been motivated to perform a multi-link reconfiguration, taught by Cheng, in order to improve multi-link operation in the system taught by the combination of Kneckt and Li(Cheng, para. 0086).
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREGORY LANE whose telephone number is (571)270-7469. The examiner can normally be reached on 571 270 7469 from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Taghi Arani, can be reached on 571 272 3787. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/GREGORY A LANE/ Examiner, Art Unit 2438
/TAGHI T ARANI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2438
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