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 § 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 (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.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 7-9, 11, 13-15, 17, 19 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chitrakar, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2021/0227547 A1) in view of Cariou, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2018/0278697) and Patil, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2020/0288523; note also 62/834,316 “316” – an identical detailed disclosure in relevant paragraphs).
Regarding claims 1 and 13, Chitrakar discloses a method for wireless communication, comprising and a multi-link station comprising at least one processor (paragraph 0111) that when configured causes the multi-link station to
a. receiving, by a multi-link station, an indication message from a multi-link access point, the indication message indicating that the multi-link access point is capable of transmitting information over one or more wireless links (Chitrakar discloses that a multi-link access point transmits a beacon/probe response frame in which it indicates support for multi-band/multi-link transmission over multiple bands/links which is received at a multi-link station [paragraph 0050-0053, 0058- concurrent communication on multiple bands is “multi-band” [0050], element advertised in beacon/probe response indicates multi-band support [0052-0053, 0058]; note also paragraphs 0047, 0049- different bands used for communication are considered different links].)
b. transmitting, by the multi-link station, a first request message to the multi-link access point, wherein the multi-link station is associated with the one or more wireless links, and wherein the first request message includes a multi-link association request indicating a request to establish a connection to the one or more wireless links (Chitrakar discloses that after an initial association to the one or more wireless links [i.e. wherein the station is associated with the one or more links] that the UEs situation may change and the UE may then further send a re-association/first request message to associate with different links of the one or more wireless links [paragraph 0086 – example given is multi link station is initially associated with 5GHz band in multi-band mode and comes in range of 6 GHz and then a new/first association request is given to include both the 5 and 6GHz bands; note that 0086 also contemplates initially having multiple bands before the band change as well “STA is already associated with the AP on at least one band”] paragraphs 0087-0088 – particular details of multi-band association request/first request.)
Chitrakar fails to disclose wherein the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side include an aggregate MAC service data unit (A-MSDU) aggregation, sequence number assignment, packet number assignment, and a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) encryption and integrity protection and queueing. (i.e. Chitrakar refers to unified MAC SAP [fig. 19] but does not give any details of operation). In the same field of endeavor, Cariou discloses he multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side include an aggregate MAC service data unit (A-MSDU) aggregation, sequence number assignment, packet number assignment, and a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) encryption and integrity protection (Cariou discloses a multi-band upper MAC [paragraph 0051] operating as a single MAC SAP layer the includes services such as MPDU encryption, integrity protection, packet number assignments, sequence number assignments and A-MSDU aggregation [paragraph 0054] and common buffering/queueing in the upper MAC [paragraph 0038].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses a multi-band upper MAC, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the upper MAC of Cariou with the system of Chitrakar by implementing a multi-band upper MAC/SAP that includes functions for MPDU encryption, integrity protection, packet number assignments, sequence number assignments and A-MSDU aggregation. The motive to combine is to allow the upper MAC to perform functions such as aggregation, numbering integrity protection, etc. that relate to the entire stream before it is subdivided to the different individual MACs for easier processing at a point where all necessary information is still present and to allow functions such as A-MSDU division to occur before the MSDUs are needed at the lower layer MAC.
Chitrakar as modified by Cariou fails to disclose the medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side includes power save (PS) defer queuing. (i.e. the combination with Cariou discloses common queueing/buffering in the MAC-U layer, but fails to disclose deferred transmission for power saving, such that the buffer is a “power save” buffer). In the same field of endeavor, Patil discloses the medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side includes power save (PS) defer queuing. (Patil discloses a single queue is used, which may store all outgoing transmissions awaiting transmission [paragraph 0092 – single queue; 0145-0146 -upper MAC]. This queue is a power save defer queue when an opportunistic power save/TIM frame is received indicating that no TX/solicited UL transmission is to be performed [or in the case of OPS, how long to power save until transmission] and the UE may then power save while deferring transmission of queued frames [paragraphs 0155, 0166, 0185 – TIM/OPS frame UE power save when non-indicated or until OPS time indication].)
Therefore, since Patil disclose defer queuing for power save, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the power saving of Patil with the system of Chitrakar as modified by Cariou by having the common queue of the MAC-U of Chitrakar as modified by Cariou act as a deferred power save queue by holding frames until power save is over for transmission as indicated via TIM/OPS. The motive to combine is to allow power savings while still preserving packets for transmission using a queue.
Regarding claims 2 and 14, Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil fails to disclose the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a receiving side include block acknowledgement buffering and reordering. In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Cariou discloses tthe multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a receiving side include block acknowledgement buffering and reordering (Cariou discloses RX single MAC SAP/upper layer MAC [fig. 5, element 435, for example] including BA/block acknowledgement buffering/reordering [fig. 5, element 455, paragraph 0045].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses block ACK and reordering in the upper MAC, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement block ACK and reordering in the MAC-U in the system of Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to allow the MAC-U to handle functions common to all of the MACs for greater efficiency and lower load on the MAC-L.
Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil fails to disclose MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) decryption and integrity check occur and replay detection occur in the MAC-U. In the same field of endeavor another portion of Cariou discloses disclose MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) decryption and integrity check occur and replay detection occur in the MAC-U. (Cariou discloses that the reception functions can be re-organized between the lower and upper MAC [paragraph 0030] and further discloses decryption and integrity checks of the header/CRC using lower MAC [paraph 0060] and common encryption across the links [paragraph 0092] and replay detection [paragraph 0092].)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to move the decryption and integrity/header checks from the lower MAC to the upper MAC when there are common encryption keys as the common key is better handled at the common portion of the MAC, as it pertains to al the lower MACs furthermore, the replay detection may be implemented at the upper MAC as well, as it pertains to the numbering of the AMSDU across all the links in the system of Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to reduce load on the lower MAC and to further include common functions, such as encryption and replay detection at the common portion of the MAC to reduce overhead and the need for the lower MACs to inter-communicate.
Regarding claims 3 and 15, Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil fails to disclose the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control lower (MAC-L) layer on a transmission side include a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) header and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) creation, and a MPDU aggregation. In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Cariou discloses the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control lower (MAC-L) layer on a transmission side include a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) header and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) creation, and a MPDU aggregation (Cariou discloses lower MAC [fig. 4, element 460, paragraph 0056] includes MPDU header insertion, CRC creation and MPDU aggregation [fig. 4, element 472, paragraph 0058].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses lower MAC header, CRC and aggregation functions, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement MPDU header insertion, CRC creation and MPDU aggregation in the lower MAC in the system of Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to reduce load on the upper MAC by performing lower MAC related functions in the lower MAC.
Regarding claims 5 and 17, Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil fails to disclose transmitting, by the multi-link station to the multi-link access point, an indication that the multi-link station supports a simplex multi-link transmission mode and operating the multi-link station in the simplex multi-link transmission mode. In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Patil discloses transmitting, by the multi-link station to the multi-link access point, an indication that the multi-link station supports a simplex multi-link transmission mode and operating the multi-link station in the simplex multi-link transmission mode (Patil discloses that a UE may operate in flow-based/simplex multi link transmission in which a single flow is mapped to a single link [paragraph 0089; note also 316, paragraph 0082] and the UE may exchange with the base station an indication of support from simplex/flow based aggregation [paragraph 0091; note also 316, paragraph 0084].)
Therefore, since Patil discloses simplex capability indications, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the simplex of Patil with the system of Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil by exchanging support for simplex/single flow capability with the base station and operating the UE in simplex mode. The motive to combine is to use the less computationally expensive simplex mode when multi-link is not required to conserve battery and processing resources or when the UE does not support it because of lower cost hardware.
Regarding claim 7, Chitrakar discloses a method for wireless communication, comprising and a multi-link station comprising at least one processor (paragraph 0111) that when configured causes the multi-link station to
a. transmitting, by a multi-link access point, an indication message to a multi-link station, the indication message indicating that the multi-link access point is capable of transmitting information over one or more wireless links; (Chitrakar discloses that a multi-link access point transmits a beacon/probe response frame in which it indicates support for multi-band/multi-link transmission over multiple bands/links which is received at a multi-link station [paragraph 0050-0053, 0058- concurrent communication on multiple bands is “multi-band” [0050], element advertised in beacon/probe response indicates multi-band support [0052-0053, 0058]; note also paragraphs 0047, 0049- different bands used for communication are considered different links].)
b. receiving, by the multi-link access point, a first request message from the multi-link station, wherein the multi-link station is associated with the one or more wireless links, and wherein the first request message includes a multi-link association request indicating a request to establish a connection to the one or more wireless links (Chitrakar discloses that after an initial association to the one or more wireless links [i.e. wherein the station is associated with the one or more links] that the UEs situation may change and the UE may then further send a re-association/first request message to associate with different links of the one or more wireless links to the multi-link access point, which receives it [paragraph 0086 – example given is multi link station is initially associated with 5GHz band in multi-band mode and comes in range of 6 GHz and then a new/first association request is given to include both the 5 and 6GHz bands; note that 0086 also contemplates initially having multiple bands before the band change as well “STA is already associated with the AP on at least one band”] paragraphs 0087-0088 – particular details of multi-band association request/first request.)
Chitrakar fails to disclose wherein the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side include an aggregate MAC service data unit (A-MSDU) aggregation, sequence number assignment, packet number assignment, and a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) encryption and integrity protection and queueing. (i.e. Chitrakar refers to unified MAC SAP [fig. 19] but does not give any details of operation). In the same field of endeavor, Cariou discloses he multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side include an aggregate MAC service data unit (A-MSDU) aggregation, sequence number assignment, packet number assignment, and a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) encryption and integrity protection (Cariou discloses a multi-band upper MAC [paragraph 0051] operating as a single MAC SAP layer the includes services such as MPDU encryption, integrity protection, packet number assignments, sequence number assignments and A-MSDU aggregation [paragraph 0054] and common buffering/queueing in the upper MAC [paragraph 0038].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses a multi-band upper MAC, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the upper MAC of Cariou with the system of Chitrakar by implementing a multi-band upper MAC/SAP that includes functions for MPDU encryption, integrity protection, packet number assignments, sequence number assignments and A-MSDU aggregation in the system of Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to allow the upper MAC to perform functions such as aggregation, numbering integrity protection, etc. that relate to the entire stream before it is subdivided to the different individual MACs for easier processing at a point where all necessary information is still present and to allow functions such as A-MSDU division to occur before the MSDUs are needed at the lower layer MAC.
Chitrakar as modified by Cariou fails to disclose the medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side includes power save (PS) defer queuing. (i.e. the combination with Cariou discloses common queueing/buffering in the MAC-U layer, but fails to disclose deferred transmission for power saving, such that the buffer is a “power save” buffer). In the same field of endeavor, Patil discloses the medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side includes power save (PS) defer queuing. (Patil discloses a single queue is used, which may store all outgoing transmissions awaiting transmission [paragraph 0092 – single queue; 0145-0146 -upper MAC]. This queue is a power save defer queue when an opportunistic power save/TIM frame is received indicating that no TX/solicited UL transmission is to be performed [or in the case of OPS, how long to power save until transmission] and the UE may then power save while deferring transmission of queued frames [paragraphs 0155, 0166, 0185 – TIM/OPS frame UE power save when non-indicated or until OPS time indication].)
Therefore, since Patil disclose defer queuing for power save, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the power saving of Patil with the system of Chitrakar as modified by Cariou by having the common queue of the MAC-U of Chitrakar as modified by Cariou act as a deferred power save queue by holding frames until power save is over for transmission as indicated via TIM/OPS. The motive to combine is to allow power savings while still preserving packets for transmission using a queue.
Regarding claim 8, Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil fails to disclose the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a receiving side include block acknowledgement buffering and reordering. In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Cariou discloses tthe multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a receiving side include block acknowledgement buffering and reordering (Cariou discloses RX single MAC SAP/upper layer MAC [fig. 5, element 435, for example] including BA/block acknowledgement buffering/reordering [fig. 5, element 455, paragraph 0045].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses block ACK and reordering in the upper MAC, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement block ACK and reordering in the MAC-U in the system of Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to allow the MAC-U to handle functions common to all of the MACs for greater efficiency and lower load on the MAC-L.
Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil fails to disclose MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) decryption and integrity check occur and replay detection occur in the MAC-U. In the same field of endeavor another portion of Cariou discloses disclose MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) decryption and integrity check occur and replay detection occur in the MAC-U. (Cariou discloses that the reception functions can be re-organized between the lower and upper MAC [paragraph 0030] and further discloses decryption and integrity checks of the header/CRC using lower MAC [paraph 0060] and common encryption across the links [paragraph 0092] and replay detection [paragraph 0092].)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to move the decryption and integrity/header checks from the lower MAC to the upper MAC when there are common encryption keys as the common key is better handled at the common portion of the MAC, as it pertains to al the lower MACs furthermore, the replay detection may be implemented at the upper MAC as well, as it pertains to the numbering of the AMSDU across all the links. The motive to combine is to reduce load on the lower MAC and to further include common functions, such as encryption and replay detection at the common portion of the MAC to reduce overhead and the need for the lower MACs to inter-communicate.
Regarding claims 9, Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil fails to disclose the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control lower (MAC-L) layer on a transmission side include a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) header and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) creation, and a MPDU aggregation. In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Cariou discloses the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control lower (MAC-L) layer on a transmission side include a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) header and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) creation, and a MPDU aggregation (Cariou discloses lower MAC [fig. 4, element 460, paragraph 0056] includes MPDU header insertion, CRC creation and MPDU aggregation [fig. 4, element 472, paragraph 0058].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses lower MAC header, CRC and aggregation functions, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement MPDU header insertion, CRC creation and MPDU aggregation in the lower MAC. The motive to combine is to reduce load on the upper MAC by performing lower MAC related functions in the lower MAC.
Regarding claim 11, Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil fails to receiving, by the multi-link access point from the multi-link access point, an indication that the multi-link station supports a simplex multi-link transmission mode, wherein the multi-link station is operated in the simplex multi-link transmission mode. In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Patil discloses receiving, by the multi-link access point from the multi-link access point, an indication that the multi-link station supports a simplex multi-link transmission mode, wherein the multi-link station is operated in the simplex multi-link transmission mode (Patil discloses that a UE may operate in flow-based/simplex multi link transmission in which a single flow is mapped to a single link [paragraph 0089; note also 316, paragraph 0082] and the UE may exchange with the base station an indication of support from simplex/flow based aggregation, which the base station receives [paragraph 0091; note also 316, paragraph 0084].)
Therefore, since Patil discloses simplex capability indications, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the simplex of Patil with the system of Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil by exchanging support for simplex/single flow capability with the base station and operating the UE in simplex mode. The motive to combine is to use the less computationally expensive simplex mode when multi-link is not required to conserve battery and processing resources or when the UE does not support it because of lower cost hardware.
Regarding claim 19, Chitrakar discloses a multi-link access point, comprising a processor paragraph 0111) that when configured causes the multi-link access point to:
a. transmit, an indication message to a multi-link station, the indication message indicating that the multi-link access point is capable of transmitting information over one or more wireless links; (Chitrakar discloses that a multi-link access point transmits a beacon/probe response frame in which it indicates support for multi-band/multi-link transmission over multiple bands/links which is received at a multi-link station [paragraph 0050-0053, 0058- concurrent communication on multiple bands is “multi-band” [0050], element advertised in beacon/probe response indicates multi-band support [0052-0053, 0058]; note also paragraphs 0047, 0049- different bands used for communication are considered different links].)
b. receive a first request message from the multi-link station, wherein the multi-link station is associated with the one or more wireless links, and wherein the first request message includes a multi-link association request indicating a request to establish a connection to the one or more wireless links (Chitrakar discloses that after an initial association to the one or more wireless links [i.e. wherein the station is associated with the one or more links] that the UEs situation may change and the UE may then further send a re-association/first request message to associate with different links of the one or more wireless links to the multi-link access point, which receives it [paragraph 0086 – example given is multi link station is initially associated with 5GHz band in multi-band mode and comes in range of 6 GHz and then a new/first association request is given to include both the 5 and 6GHz bands; note that 0086 also contemplates initially having multiple bands before the band change as well “STA is already associated with the AP on at least one band”] paragraphs 0087-0088 – particular details of multi-band association request/first request.)
Chitrakar fails to disclose wherein the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side include an aggregate MAC service data unit (A-MSDU) aggregation, sequence number assignment, packet number assignment, and a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) encryption and integrity protection and queueing. (i.e. Chitrakar refers to unified MAC SAP [fig. 19] but does not give any details of operation) (note that in an apparatus claim although this element is directed to the station, it still limits the claim to the extent in requires a structural difference in the configuration of the multi-link access point, such as appropriate structuring of the packets, etc). In the same field of endeavor, Cariou discloses he multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side include an aggregate MAC service data unit (A-MSDU) aggregation, sequence number assignment, packet number assignment, and a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) encryption and integrity protection (Cariou discloses a multi-band upper MAC [paragraph 0051] operating as a single MAC SAP layer the includes services such as MPDU encryption, integrity protection, packet number assignments, sequence number assignments and A-MSDU aggregation [paragraph 0054] and common buffering/queueing in the upper MAC [paragraph 0038].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses a multi-band upper MAC, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the upper MAC of Cariou with the system of Chitrakar by implementing a multi-band upper MAC/SAP that includes functions for MPDU encryption, integrity protection, packet number assignments, sequence number assignments and A-MSDU aggregation in the UE and to further place complimentary structure in the access point to provide the required singling to the UE. The motive to combine is to allow the upper MAC to perform functions such as aggregation, numbering integrity protection, etc. that relate to the entire stream before it is subdivided to the different individual MACs for easier processing at a point where all necessary information is still present and to allow functions such as A-MSDU division to occur before the MSDUs are needed at the lower layer MAC.
Chitrakar as modified by Cariou fails to disclose the medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side includes power save (PS) defer queuing. (i.e. the combination with Cariou discloses common queueing/buffering in the MAC-U layer, but fails to disclose deferred transmission for power saving, such that the buffer is a “power save” buffer). In the same field of endeavor, Patil discloses the medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side includes power save (PS) defer queuing. (Patil discloses a single queue is used, which may store all outgoing transmissions awaiting transmission [paragraph 0092 – single queue; 0145-0146 -upper MAC]. This queue is a power save defer queue when an opportunistic power save/TIM frame is received indicating that no TX/solicited UL transmission is to be performed [or in the case of OPS, how long to power save until transmission] and the UE may then power save while deferring transmission of queued frames [paragraphs 0155, 0166, 0185 – TIM/OPS frame UE power save when non-indicated or until OPS time indication].)
Therefore, since Patil disclose defer queuing for power save, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the power saving of Patil with the system of Chitrakar as modified by Cariou by having the common queue of the MAC-U of Chitrakar as modified by Cariou act as a deferred power save queue by holding frames until power save is over for transmission as indicated via TIM/OPS in the UE and to further place complimentary structure in the access point to provide the required singling to the UE. The motive to combine is to allow power savings while still preserving packets for transmission using a queue.
Regarding claim 20, Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil fails to disclose the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a receiving side include block acknowledgement buffering and reordering. (note that in an apparatus claim although this element is directed to the station, it still limits the claim to the extent in requires a structural difference in the configuration of the multi-link access point, such as appropriate structuring of the packets, etc.) In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Cariou discloses tthe multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a receiving side include block acknowledgement buffering and reordering (Cariou discloses RX single MAC SAP/upper layer MAC [fig. 5, element 435, for example] including BA/block acknowledgement buffering/reordering [fig. 5, element 455, paragraph 0045].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses block ACK and reordering in the upper MAC, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement block ACK and reordering in the MAC-U of the UE along with appropriate signaling structure in the multi-link access point in the system of Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to allow the MAC-U to handle functions common to all of the MACs for greater efficiency and lower load on the MAC-L.
Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil fails to disclose MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) decryption and integrity check occur and replay detection occur in the MAC-U. In the same field of endeavor another portion of Cariou discloses disclose MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) decryption and integrity check occur and replay detection occur in the MAC-U. (Cariou discloses that the reception functions can be re-organized between the lower and upper MAC [paragraph 0030] and further discloses decryption and integrity checks of the header/CRC using lower MAC [paraph 0060] and common encryption across the links [paragraph 0092] and replay detection [paragraph 0092].)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to move the decryption and integrity/header checks from the lower MAC to the upper MAC when there are common encryption keys as the common key is better handled at the common portion of the MAC, as it pertains to al the lower MACs furthermore, the replay detection may be implemented at the upper MAC as well, as it pertains to the numbering of the AMSDU across all the links and appropriate signaling structure in the multi-link access point in the system of Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to reduce load on the lower MAC and to further include common functions, such as encryption and replay detection at the common portion of the MAC to reduce overhead and the need for the lower MACs to inter-communicate.
Claim(s) 4, 10 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chitrakar, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2021/0227547 A1) and Cariou, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2018/0278697) and Patil, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2020/0288523; note also 62/834,316 “316” – an identical detailed disclosure in relevant paragraphs) as applied to claims 1, 7 and 13 and further in view of Barak, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2007/0049339)
Regarding claims 4, 10 and 16, Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil fails to disclose the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control lower (MAC-L) layer on a receiving side includes a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) header and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) validation, and a MPDU de-aggregation. In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Cariou discloses the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control lower (MAC-L) layer on a receiving side includes a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) header and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) validation, and a MPDU de-aggregation (Cariou discloses lower RX MAC [fig. 4, element 460, paragraph 0056] includes Header/CRC validation and MPDU de-aggregation [fig. 4, element 472, paragraph 0060].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses lower RX MAC validation and de-aggregation functions, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement CRC and header validation and de-aggregation in the lower MAC om the system of Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to reduce load on the upper MAC by performing lower MAC related functions in the lower MAC.
Chitrakar as modified by Cariou and Patil fails to disclose address filtering. In the same field of endeavor, Barak discloses address filtering. (Barak discloses a lower MAC performs address filtering [paragraph 0027].)
Therefore, since Barak dislcoses address filtering, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the address filtering of Barak with the system of Chitrakar as modified by Cariou and Patil by implementing address filtering in the lower MAC. The motive to combine is to reduce latency in address filtering by performing it in the lower MAC so that the upper MAC does not need to determine if each MAC PDU is addressed to the device.
Claim(s) 6, 12 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chitrakar, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2021/0227547 A1), Cariou, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2018/0278697) and Patil, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2020/0288523; note also 62/834,316 “316” – an identical detailed disclosure in relevant paragraphs) as applied to claims 1 and 13 and further in view of Seok, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2020/0314920)
Regarding claims 6, 12 and 18, Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil fails to disclose in the simplex multi-link transmission mode, a padding is included at an end of a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) transmission. In the same field of endeavor Seok discloses in the simplex multi-link transmission mode, a padding is included at an end of a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) transmission. (Seok discloses that PPDU length is adjusted to maintain synchronization of transmitted MPDUs [paragraphs 0042, 0091 – PPDU length is adjusted; paragraph 0061 – is applied when sets of flows/TIDs are assigned to particular links [i.e. “simplex” transmission].]
Therefore, since Seok discloses PPDU length padding, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the padding of Seok with the system of Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil by using PPDU length padding for simplex multi-link transmission. The motive to combine is to keep alignment of transmitted PPDUs for lower interference.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 7-9, 11, 13-15, 17, 19 and 20 rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims XXX of U.S. Patent No. 12,144,044 (“044”) in view of Chitrakar, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2021/0227547 A1) in view of Cariou, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2018/0278697) and Patil, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2020/0288523; note also 62/834,316 “316” – an identical detailed disclosure in relevant paragraphs).
Regarding claims 1 and 13, claim 7 of 044 discloses
Claims 1 and 13
Claim 7 of 044
A method of wireless communication, comprising and a multi-link station, comprising at least one processor that when configured causes the multi-link station to:
A station for wireless communication comprising a process or that is configured to carry out the method comprising:
(for multi-link station see citation, infra)
receive an indication message from a network node access point, the indication message indicating that the multi-link network node is capable of transmitting information over one or more wireless links
receive, by the station, an indication message from a network node, the indication message indicating that the network node is capable of transmitting information over one or more wireless links
transmit a first request message to the multi-link network node, wherein the multi-link station is associated with the one or more wireless links, and wherein the first request message includes a multi-link association request indicating a request to establish a connection to the one or more wireless links,
transmit, by the station, a first request message to the network node, wherein the station is associated with the one or more wireless links, and wherein the first request message includes a multi-link association request indicating a request to establish a connection to the one or more wireless links;
Claim 7 of 044 fails to disclose a multi-link access point. In the same field of endeavor, Chitrakar discloses a multi-link access point. (Chitrakar discloses that a multi-link access point transmits a beacon/probe response frame in which it indicates support for multi-band/multi-link transmission over multiple bands/links which is received at a multi-link station [paragraph 0050-0053, 0058- concurrent communication on multiple bands is “multi-band” [0050], element advertised in beacon/probe response indicates multi-band support [0052-0053, 0058]; note also paragraphs 0047, 0049- different bands used for communication are considered different links].)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to implement the multi-link network node of Claim 7 of 044 using a multi-link access point. The motive to combine is to reduce costs by applying the technique to commonly deployed access points instead of a new device.
Claim 7 of 044 as modified by Chitrakar fails to disclose wherein the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side include an aggregate MAC service data unit (A-MSDU) aggregation, sequence number assignment, packet number assignment, and a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) encryption and integrity protection and queueing. (i.e. Chitrakar refers to unified MAC SAP [fig. 19] but does not give any details of operation). In the same field of endeavor, Cariou discloses he multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side include an aggregate MAC service data unit (A-MSDU) aggregation, sequence number assignment, packet number assignment, and a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) encryption and integrity protection (Cariou discloses a multi-band upper MAC [paragraph 0051] operating as a single MAC SAP layer the includes services such as MPDU encryption, integrity protection, packet number assignments, sequence number assignments and A-MSDU aggregation [paragraph 0054] and common buffering/queueing in the upper MAC [paragraph 0038].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses a multi-band upper MAC, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the upper MAC of Cariou with the system of Claim 7 of 044 as modified by Chitrakar by implementing a multi-band upper MAC/SAP that includes functions for MPDU encryption, integrity protection, packet number assignments, sequence number assignments and A-MSDU aggregation. The motive to combine is to allow the upper MAC to perform functions such as aggregation, numbering integrity protection, etc. that relate to the entire stream before it is subdivided to the different individual MACs for easier processing at a point where all necessary information is still present and to allow functions such as A-MSDU division to occur before the MSDUs are needed at the lower layer MAC.
Claim 7 of 044 as modified by Chitrakar and Cariou fails to disclose the medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side includes power save (PS) defer queuing. (i.e. the combination with Cariou discloses common queueing/buffering in the MAC-U layer, but fails to disclose deferred transmission for power saving, such that the buffer is a “power save” buffer). In the same field of endeavor, Patil discloses the medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side includes power save (PS) defer queuing. (Patil discloses a single queue is used, which may store all outgoing transmissions awaiting transmission [paragraph 0092 – single queue; 0145-0146 -upper MAC]. This queue is a power save defer queue when an opportunistic power save/TIM frame is received indicating that no TX/solicited UL transmission is to be performed [or in the case of OPS, how long to power save until transmission] and the UE may then power save while deferring transmission of queued frames [paragraphs 0155, 0166, 0185 – TIM/OPS frame UE power save when non-indicated or until OPS time indication].)
Therefore, since Patil disclose defer queuing for power save, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the power saving of Patil with the system of Claim 7 of 044 as modified by Chitrakar and Cariou by having the common queue of the MAC-U of Chitrakar as modified by Cariou act as a deferred power save queue by holding frames until power save is over for transmission as indicated via TIM/OPS. The motive to combine is to allow power savings while still preserving packets for transmission using a queue.
Regarding claims 2 and 14, claim 7 of 044 as previously modified Chitrakar by Cariou and Patil fails to disclose the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a receiving side include block acknowledgement buffering and reordering. In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Cariou discloses tthe multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a receiving side include block acknowledgement buffering and reordering (Cariou discloses RX single MAC SAP/upper layer MAC [fig. 5, element 435, for example] including BA/block acknowledgement buffering/reordering [fig. 5, element 455, paragraph 0045].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses block ACK and reordering in the upper MAC, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement block ACK and reordering in the MAC-U in the system of claim 7 of 044 as previously modified Chitrakar by Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to allow the MAC-U to handle functions common to all of the MACs for greater efficiency and lower load on the MAC-L.
Claim 7 of 044 as previously modified Chitrakar by Cariou and Patil fails to disclose MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) decryption and integrity check occur and replay detection occur in the MAC-U. In the same field of endeavor another portion of Cariou discloses disclose MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) decryption and integrity check occur and replay detection occur in the MAC-U. (Cariou discloses that the reception functions can be re-organized between the lower and upper MAC [paragraph 0030] and further discloses decryption and integrity checks of the header/CRC using lower MAC [paraph 0060] and common encryption across the links [paragraph 0092] and replay detection [paragraph 0092].)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to move the decryption and integrity/header checks from the lower MAC to the upper MAC when there are common encryption keys as the common key is better handled at the common portion of the MAC, as it pertains to al the lower MACs furthermore, the replay detection may be implemented at the upper MAC as well, as it pertains to the numbering of the AMSDU across all the links in the system of claim 7 of 044 as previously modified Chitrakar by Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to reduce load on the lower MAC and to further include common functions, such as encryption and replay detection at the common portion of the MAC to reduce overhead and the need for the lower MACs to inter-communicate.
Regarding claims 3 and 15, claim 7 of 044 as previously modified Chitrakar by Cariou and Patil fails to disclose the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control lower (MAC-L) layer on a transmission side include a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) header and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) creation, and a MPDU aggregation. In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Cariou discloses the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control lower (MAC-L) layer on a transmission side include a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) header and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) creation, and a MPDU aggregation (Cariou discloses lower MAC [fig. 4, element 460, paragraph 0056] includes MPDU header insertion, CRC creation and MPDU aggregation [fig. 4, element 472, paragraph 0058].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses lower MAC header, CRC and aggregation functions, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement MPDU header insertion, CRC creation and MPDU aggregation in the lower MAC in the system of claim 7 of 044 as previously modified Chitrakar by Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to reduce load on the upper MAC by performing lower MAC related functions in the lower MAC.
Regarding claims 5 and 17, Claim 7 of 044 as modified by Chitrakar and Cariou fails to disclose transmitting, by the multi-link station to the multi-link access point, an indication that the multi-link station supports a simplex multi-link transmission mode and operating the multi-link station in the simplex multi-link transmission mode. In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Patil discloses transmitting, by the multi-link station to the multi-link access point, an indication that the multi-link station supports a simplex multi-link transmission mode and operating the multi-link station in the simplex multi-link transmission mode (Patil discloses that a UE may operate in flow-based/simplex multi link transmission in which a single flow is mapped to a single link [paragraph 0089; note also 316, paragraph 0082] and the UE may exchange with the base station an indication of support from simplex/flow based aggregation [paragraph 0091; note also 316, paragraph 0084].)
Therefore, since Patil discloses simplex capability indications, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the simplex of Patil with the system of Claim 7 of 044 as modified by Chitrakar and Cariou by exchanging support for simplex/single flow capability with the base station and operating the UE in simplex mode. The motive to combine is to use the less computationally expensive simplex mode when multi-link is not required to conserve battery and processing resources or when the UE does not support it because of lower cost hardware.
Regarding claim 7, claim 11 of 044 discloses
Claim 7
Claim 11 of 044
A method of wireless communication, comprising:
A network node for wireless communication comprising a processor that is configured to carry out the method comprising:
transmitting, by a multi-link network node, an indication message to a multi-link station, the indication message indicating that the multi-link network node is capable of transmitting information over one or more wireless links;
transmit, by the network node, an indication message to a station, the indication message indicating that the network node is capable of transmitting information over at least one wireless link
receiving, by the multi-link network node, a first request message from the multi-link station, wherein the multi-link station is associated with the one or more wireless links, and wherein the first request message includes a multi-link association request indicating a request to establish a connection to the one or more wireless links, and
receive, by the network node, a first request message including multi-link capability information, wherein the first request message includes a multi-link association request indicating a request to establish a connection to one or more wireless links; associate the one or more wireless links with the station based on the multi-link capability information;
Claim 11 of 044 fails to disclose a multi-link access point. In the same field of endeavor, Chitrakar discloses a multi-link access point. (Chitrakar discloses that a multi-link access point transmits a beacon/probe response frame in which it indicates support for multi-band/multi-link transmission over multiple bands/links which is received at a multi-link station [paragraph 0050-0053, 0058- concurrent communication on multiple bands is “multi-band” [0050], element advertised in beacon/probe response indicates multi-band support [0052-0053, 0058]; note also paragraphs 0047, 0049- different bands used for communication are considered different links].)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to implement the multi-link network node of Claim 11 of 044 using a multi-link access point. The motive to combine is to reduce costs by applying the technique to commonly deployed access points instead of a new device.
Claim 11 of 044 as modified by Chitrakar fails to disclose wherein the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side include an aggregate MAC service data unit (A-MSDU) aggregation, sequence number assignment, packet number assignment, and a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) encryption and integrity protection and queueing. (i.e. Chitrakar refers to unified MAC SAP [fig. 19] but does not give any details of operation). In the same field of endeavor, Cariou discloses he multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side include an aggregate MAC service data unit (A-MSDU) aggregation, sequence number assignment, packet number assignment, and a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) encryption and integrity protection (Cariou discloses a multi-band upper MAC [paragraph 0051] operating as a single MAC SAP layer the includes services such as MPDU encryption, integrity protection, packet number assignments, sequence number assignments and A-MSDU aggregation [paragraph 0054] and common buffering/queueing in the upper MAC [paragraph 0038].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses a multi-band upper MAC, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the upper MAC of Cariou with the system of Claim 11 of 044 as modified by Chitrakar by implementing a multi-band upper MAC/SAP that includes functions for MPDU encryption, integrity protection, packet number assignments, sequence number assignments and A-MSDU aggregation. The motive to combine is to allow the upper MAC to perform functions such as aggregation, numbering integrity protection, etc. that relate to the entire stream before it is subdivided to the different individual MACs for easier processing at a point where all necessary information is still present and to allow functions such as A-MSDU division to occur before the MSDUs are needed at the lower layer MAC.
Claim 11 of 044 as modified by Chitrakar and Cariou fails to disclose the medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side includes power save (PS) defer queuing. (i.e. the combination with Cariou discloses common queueing/buffering in the MAC-U layer, but fails to disclose deferred transmission for power saving, such that the buffer is a “power save” buffer). In the same field of endeavor, Patil discloses the medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side includes power save (PS) defer queuing. (Patil discloses a single queue is used, which may store all outgoing transmissions awaiting transmission [paragraph 0092 – single queue; 0145-0146 -upper MAC]. This queue is a power save defer queue when an opportunistic power save/TIM frame is received indicating that no TX/solicited UL transmission is to be performed [or in the case of OPS, how long to power save until transmission] and the UE may then power save while deferring transmission of queued frames [paragraphs 0155, 0166, 0185 – TIM/OPS frame UE power save when non-indicated or until OPS time indication].)
Therefore, since Patil disclose defer queuing for power save, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the power saving of Patil with the system of Claim 11 of 044 as modified by Chitrakar and Cariou by having the common queue of the MAC-U of Chitrakar as modified by Cariou act as a deferred power save queue by holding frames until power save is over for transmission as indicated via TIM/OPS. The motive to combine is to allow power savings while still preserving packets for transmission using a queue.
Regarding claim 8, Claim 11 of 044 as previously modified by Chitrakar, Cariou and Patil fails to disclose the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a receiving side include block acknowledgement buffering and reordering. In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Cariou discloses tthe multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a receiving side include block acknowledgement buffering and reordering (Cariou discloses RX single MAC SAP/upper layer MAC [fig. 5, element 435, for example] including BA/block acknowledgement buffering/reordering [fig. 5, element 455, paragraph 0045].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses block ACK and reordering in the upper MAC, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement block ACK and reordering in the MAC-U in the system of Claim 11 of 044 as previously modified by Chitrakar, Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to allow the MAC-U to handle functions common to all of the MACs for greater efficiency and lower load on the MAC-L.
Claim 11 of 044 as previously modified by Chitrakar, Cariou and Patil fails to disclose MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) decryption and integrity check occur and replay detection occur in the MAC-U. In the same field of endeavor another portion of Cariou discloses disclose MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) decryption and integrity check occur and replay detection occur in the MAC-U. (Cariou discloses that the reception functions can be re-organized between the lower and upper MAC [paragraph 0030] and further discloses decryption and integrity checks of the header/CRC using lower MAC [paraph 0060] and common encryption across the links [paragraph 0092] and replay detection [paragraph 0092].)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to move the decryption and integrity/header checks from the lower MAC to the upper MAC when there are common encryption keys as the common key is better handled at the common portion of the MAC, as it pertains to al the lower MACs furthermore, the replay detection may be implemented at the upper MAC as well, as it pertains to the numbering of the AMSDU across all the links in the system of Claim 11 of 044 as previously modified by Chitrakar, Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to reduce load on the lower MAC and to further include common functions, such as encryption and replay detection at the common portion of the MAC to reduce overhead and the need for the lower MACs to inter-communicate.
Regarding claim 9, Claim 11 of 044 as previously modified by Chitrakar, Cariou and Patil fails to disclose the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control lower (MAC-L) layer on a transmission side include a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) header and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) creation, and a MPDU aggregation. In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Cariou discloses the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control lower (MAC-L) layer on a transmission side include a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) header and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) creation, and a MPDU aggregation (Cariou discloses lower MAC [fig. 4, element 460, paragraph 0056] includes MPDU header insertion, CRC creation and MPDU aggregation [fig. 4, element 472, paragraph 0058].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses lower MAC header, CRC and aggregation functions, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement MPDU header insertion, CRC creation and MPDU aggregation in the lower MAC in the system of Claim 11 of 044 as previously modified by Chitrakar, Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to reduce load on the upper MAC by performing lower MAC related functions in the lower MAC.
Regarding claim 11, Claim 11 of 044 as previously modified by Chitrakar, Cariou and Patil fails to disclose receiving, by the multi-link access point from the multi-link access point, an indication that the multi-link station supports a simplex multi-link transmission mode, wherein the multi-link station is operated in the simplex multi-link transmission mode. In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Patil discloses receiving, by the multi-link access point from the multi-link access point, an indication that the multi-link station supports a simplex multi-link transmission mode, wherein the multi-link station is operated in the simplex multi-link transmission mode (Patil discloses that a UE may operate in flow-based/simplex multi link transmission in which a single flow is mapped to a single link [paragraph 0089; note also 316, paragraph 0082] and the UE may exchange with the base station an indication of support from simplex/flow based aggregation, which the base station receives [paragraph 0091; note also 316, paragraph 0084].)
Therefore, since Patil discloses simplex capability indications, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the simplex of Patil with the system of Chitrakar as previously modified by Cariou and Patil by exchanging support for simplex/single flow capability with the base station and operating the UE in simplex mode in the system of Claim 11 of 044 as previously modified by Chitrakar, Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to use the less computationally expensive simplex mode when multi-link is not required to conserve battery and processing resources or when the UE does not support it because of lower cost hardware.
Regarding claim 19, claim 11 of 044 discloses
Claim 19
Claim 11 of 044
A network node, comprising a processor that when configured causes the network node:
A network node for wireless communication comprising a processor that is configured to carry out the method comprising:
transmit, by a multi-link network node, an indication message to a multi-link station, the indication message indicating that the multi-link network node is capable of transmitting information over one or more wireless links;
transmit, by the network node, an indication message to a station, the indication message indicating that the network node is capable of transmitting information over at least one wireless link
transmit, by the multi-link network node, a first request message from the multi-link station, wherein the multi-link station is associated with the one or more wireless links, and wherein the first request message includes a multi-link association request indicating a request to establish a connection to the one or more wireless links, and
receive, by the network node, a first request message including multi-link capability information, wherein the first request message includes a multi-link association request indicating a request to establish a connection to one or more wireless links; associate the one or more wireless links with the station based on the multi-link capability information;
Claim 11 of 044 fails to disclose a multi-link access point. In the same field of endeavor, Chitrakar discloses a multi-link access point. (Chitrakar discloses that a multi-link access point transmits a beacon/probe response frame in which it indicates support for multi-band/multi-link transmission over multiple bands/links which is received at a multi-link station [paragraph 0050-0053, 0058- concurrent communication on multiple bands is “multi-band” [0050], element advertised in beacon/probe response indicates multi-band support [0052-0053, 0058]; note also paragraphs 0047, 0049- different bands used for communication are considered different links].)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to implement the multi-link network node of Claim 11 of 044 using a multi-link access point. The motive to combine is to reduce costs by applying the technique to commonly deployed access points instead of a new device.
Claim 11 of 044 as modified by Chitrakar fails to disclose wherein the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side include an aggregate MAC service data unit (A-MSDU) aggregation, sequence number assignment, packet number assignment, and a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) encryption and integrity protection and queueing. (i.e. Chitrakar refers to unified MAC SAP [fig. 19] but does not give any details of operation). In the same field of endeavor, Cariou discloses he multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side include an aggregate MAC service data unit (A-MSDU) aggregation, sequence number assignment, packet number assignment, and a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) encryption and integrity protection (Cariou discloses a multi-band upper MAC [paragraph 0051] operating as a single MAC SAP layer the includes services such as MPDU encryption, integrity protection, packet number assignments, sequence number assignments and A-MSDU aggregation [paragraph 0054] and common buffering/queueing in the upper MAC [paragraph 0038].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses a multi-band upper MAC, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the upper MAC of Cariou with the system of Claim 11 of 044 as modified by Chitrakar by implementing a multi-band upper MAC/SAP that includes functions for MPDU encryption, integrity protection, packet number assignments, sequence number assignments and A-MSDU aggregation. The motive to combine is to allow the upper MAC to perform functions such as aggregation, numbering integrity protection, etc. that relate to the entire stream before it is subdivided to the different individual MACs for easier processing at a point where all necessary information is still present and to allow functions such as A-MSDU division to occur before the MSDUs are needed at the lower layer MAC.
Claim 11 of 044 as modified by Chitrakar and Cariou fails to disclose the medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side includes power save (PS) defer queuing. (i.e. the combination with Cariou discloses common queueing/buffering in the MAC-U layer, but fails to disclose deferred transmission for power saving, such that the buffer is a “power save” buffer). In the same field of endeavor, Patil discloses the medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a transmission side includes power save (PS) defer queuing. (Patil discloses a single queue is used, which may store all outgoing transmissions awaiting transmission [paragraph 0092 – single queue; 0145-0146 -upper MAC]. This queue is a power save defer queue when an opportunistic power save/TIM frame is received indicating that no TX/solicited UL transmission is to be performed [or in the case of OPS, how long to power save until transmission] and the UE may then power save while deferring transmission of queued frames [paragraphs 0155, 0166, 0185 – TIM/OPS frame UE power save when non-indicated or until OPS time indication].)
Therefore, since Patil disclose defer queuing for power save, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the power saving of Patil with the system of Claim 11 of 044 as modified by Chitrakar and Cariou by having the common queue of the MAC-U of Chitrakar as modified by Cariou act as a deferred power save queue by holding frames until power save is over for transmission as indicated via TIM/OPS. The motive to combine is to allow power savings while still preserving packets for transmission using a queue.
Regarding claim 20, Claim 11 of 044 as previously modified by Chitrakar, Cariou and Patil fails to disclose the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a receiving side include block acknowledgement buffering and reordering. (note that in an apparatus claim although this element is directed to the station, it still limits the claim to the extent in requires a structural difference in the configuration of the multi-link access point, such as appropriate structuring of the packets, etc.) In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Cariou discloses tthe multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control upper (MAC-U) layer on a receiving side include block acknowledgement buffering and reordering (Cariou discloses RX single MAC SAP/upper layer MAC [fig. 5, element 435, for example] including BA/block acknowledgement buffering/reordering [fig. 5, element 455, paragraph 0045].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses block ACK and reordering in the upper MAC, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement block ACK and reordering in the MAC-U in the system of Claim 11 of 044 as previously modified by Chitrakar, Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to allow the MAC-U to handle functions common to all of the MACs for greater efficiency and lower load on the MAC-L.
Claim 11 of 044 as previously modified by Chitrakar, Cariou and Patil fails to disclose MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) decryption and integrity check occur and replay detection occur in the MAC-U. In the same field of endeavor another portion of Cariou discloses disclose MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) decryption and integrity check occur and replay detection occur in the MAC-U. (Cariou discloses that the reception functions can be re-organized between the lower and upper MAC [paragraph 0030] and further discloses decryption and integrity checks of the header/CRC using lower MAC [paraph 0060] and common encryption across the links [paragraph 0092] and replay detection [paragraph 0092].)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to move the decryption and integrity/header checks from the lower MAC to the upper MAC when there are common encryption keys as the common key is better handled at the common portion of the MAC, as it pertains to al the lower MACs furthermore, the replay detection may be implemented at the upper MAC as well, as it pertains to the numbering of the AMSDU across all the links in the system of Claim 11 of 044 as previously modified by Chitrakar, Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to reduce load on the lower MAC and to further include common functions, such as encryption and replay detection at the common portion of the MAC to reduce overhead and the need for the lower MACs to inter-communicate.
Claim(s) 4, 10 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over claims 7 and 11 of 033, Chitrakar, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2021/0227547 A1) and Cariou, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2018/0278697) and Patil, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2020/0288523; note also 62/834,316 “316” – an identical detailed disclosure in relevant paragraphs) as applied to claims 1, 7 and 13 and further in view of Barak, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2007/0049339)
Regarding claims 4, 10 and 16, claims 7 and 11 of 033 as previously modified by Chitrakar, Cariou and Patil fails to disclose the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control lower (MAC-L) layer on a receiving side includes a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) header and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) validation, and a MPDU de-aggregation. In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Cariou discloses the multi-link station supports multi-link communication by having a medium access control lower (MAC-L) layer on a receiving side includes a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) header and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) validation, and a MPDU de-aggregation (Cariou discloses lower RX MAC [fig. 4, element 460, paragraph 0056] includes Header/CRC validation and MPDU de-aggregation [fig. 4, element 472, paragraph 0060].)
Therefore, since Cariou discloses lower RX MAC validation and de-aggregation functions, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement CRC and header validation and de-aggregation in the lower MAC of the system of laims 7 and 11 of 033 as previously modified by Chitrakar, Cariou and Patil. The motive to combine is to reduce load on the upper MAC by performing lower MAC related functions in the lower MAC.
Chitrakar as modified by Cariou and Patil fails to disclose address filtering. In the same field of endeavor, Barak discloses address filtering. (Barak discloses a lower MAC performs address filtering [paragraph 0027].)
Therefore, since Barak dislcoses address filtering, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the address filtering of Barak with the system of Chitrakar as modified by Cariou and Patil by implementing address filtering in the lower MAC. The motive to combine is to reduce latency in address filtering by performing it in the lower MAC so that the upper MAC does not need to determine if each MAC PDU is addressed to the device.
Claim(s) 6, 12 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over claims 7 and 11 of 033, Chitrakar, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2021/0227547 A1) and Cariou, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2018/0278697) and Patil, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2020/0288523; note also 62/834,316 “316” – an identical detailed disclosure in relevant paragraphs) as applied to claims 1 and 13 and further in view of Seok, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2020/0314920)
Regarding claims 6, 12 and 18, claims 7 and 11 of 033 as previously modified by Chitrakar, Cariou and Patil fails to disclose in the simplex multi-link transmission mode, a padding is included at an end of a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) transmission. In the same field of endeavor Seok discloses in the simplex multi-link transmission mode, a padding is included at an end of a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) transmission. (Seok discloses that PPDU length is adjusted to maintain synchronization of transmitted MPDUs [paragraphs 0042, 0091 – PPDU length is adjusted; paragraph 0061 – is applied when sets of flows/TIDs are assigned to particular links [i.e. “simplex” transmission].]
Therefore, since Seok discloses PPDU length padding, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the padding of Seok with the system of claims 7 and 11 of 033 as previously modified by Chitrakar, Cariou and Patil by using PPDU length padding for simplex multi-link transmission. The motive to combine is to keep alignment of transmitted PPDUs for lower interference.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Huang, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2021/0227502) – disclosing a multi link UE and AP
Hart, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2010/0214992) – disclosing an upper MAC supporting encryption
Huang II, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2021/0400662) – disclosing a multi link UE and AP
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/CHRISTOPHER M CRUTCHFIELD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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