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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 20030177267 A1 herein Orava.
Claim 1, Orava discloses a method in a wireless network comprising at least one wireless station and at least one access point (AP)(Abstract, method), comprising:
selecting, by a wireless station, a first Identifiable Random Media Access Control (MAC) (IRM) address (0031, MT sends a MAC address to the AP, the MAC can be an address that the MT has not used previously, thus selecting);
sending, by the wireless station, the first IRM address in an IRM information element during execution of a handshake protocol between the wireless station and the AP (0031, previously unused MAC sent to the AP);
receiving, by the wireless station, a message from the AP indicating whether the selected first IRM address is allocated for use by another wireless station (0047, the uniqueness is at first checked only at the access point AP for the duration of the authentication, and only later concerning the rest of the network; 0048, If, on the basis of checking 306, 307, the MAC address is not unique, the access point AP rejects 308 the request and begins to wait for new requests. If, on the basis of the checking, the suggested MAC address is unique, the access point AP transmits 309 a response to the terminal MT, the destination address of which is MAC, and which indicates that the checking of the uniqueness was successful);
responsive to the message from the AP indicating that the selected first IRM address is allocated for use by another wireless station (0048, Fig. 3: 301, rejecting the MAC if it is not unique and transmitting a beacon advertising support):
selecting, by the wireless station, a second IRM address different from the first IRM address (0049, reattempts with a new MAC); and
transmitting, by the wireless station, a first wireless action frame to the AP after execution of the handshake protocol, wherein the wireless action frame includes the second IRM address (0048, Fig. 3); and
using, by the wireless station, the second IRM address in a subsequent association with the wireless AP or any other AP in a same extended service set (ESS) of the wireless AP (0048, MAC address is valid with another AP; 0049, MAC attached to the outgoing PDUs after MAC is approved for use).
Claim 2, Orava discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the wireless station, a second wireless action frame from the AP, wherein the second wireless action frame indicates a recognition or a collision of the second IRM address (0048, MAC is rejected and Fig. 3: 301, rejecting the MAC if it is not unique and transmitting a beacon advertising support).
Claim 3, Orava discloses the method of claim 2, wherein, when the second wireless action frame indicates recognition of the second IRM address, the second wireless action frame further comprises an indication of a validity time period for the second IRM address (0058).
Claim 4, Orava discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the handshake protocol is an authentication protocol (0048, authentication).
Claim 5, Orava discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the AP sends the second IRM address to the any other AP in the same ESS (0048).
Claim 6, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 1. Orava disclose a wireless station comprising at least one memory element for storing data (0021, memory for storing data); and at least one processor for executing instructions associated with the data (0021, processor).
Claim 7, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 2.
Claim 8, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 3.
Claim 9, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 4.
Claim 10, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 5.
Claim 11, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 1. Orava discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions (0021, memory for storing instructions) which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations (0021, processor).
Claim 12, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 2.
Claim 13, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 3.
Claim 14, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 4.
Claim 15, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 5.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20230208617 A1 – A method for a mobile station (STA) is described. The method may be performed to use an identifiable medium access control (MAC) random (IRM) address (IRMA) to associate to an access point (AP). The method includes exchanging one IRM key (IRMK) with the AP for each association of a plurality of associations; determining an IRM hash using the IRMA and the IRMK exchanged with the AP at an immediately previous association of the plurality of associations and/or a temporal element; associating to the AP using the IRMA as a transmitted address (TA); and transmitting an association request including the IRM hash. The transmitted association request triggers the AP to one or both of check a list of stored IRMKs to find one stored IRMK that together with the IRMA produces the IRM hash included in the association request and identify the STA by the one IRMK.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mehmood B. Khan whose telephone number is (571)272-9277. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 am-6:30 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Asad Nawaz can be reached at (571) 272-3988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Mehmood B. Khan/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
MEHMOOD B. KHAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2463
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