DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This communication is in response to the application filed on 03/07/2025.
Claims 1-20 are pending and are rejected.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on/7/2025 and 6/26/2025 were filed a. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1, 3-4, 6, 8, 13, 10-11, 13, 15, 17-18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ajami et al (US 20250274808 A1), hereafter Ajami in view of LIN et al. (US 20210345320 A1), hereafter Lin.
Regarding claim 1, Ajami teaches a method comprising:
determining flow-set data comprising data for one or more Quality of Service (QoS) flows-sets of one or more clients ([0104], fig. 1, the signaling can begin with a non-access point wireless station, such as non-AP STA 106, which can be a wireless station 106, detecting and/or initiating a QoS session);
sending the flow-set data to one or more neighboring co-channel Access Points (APs) ([0092], fig. 1, the roaming recommendation frame can be a broadcast and/or management frame and can steer non-AP STA 106, to another AP, e.g., to another AP MLD within AP 104);
receiving neighbor flow-set data comprising data for one or more neighbor QoS flow-sets from at least one of the one or more neighboring co-channel APs; establishing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for the one or more QoS flow-sets and the one or more neighbor QoS flow-sets based on the flow-set data and the neighbor flow-set data ([0093] After transmitting the roaming response frame, non-AP STA 106 can setup and/or update an existing SCS agreement (SLAs) in a roaming sequence via inclusion of an SCS descriptor element/QoS characteristics element in a roaming request frame to AP MLD 1. AP MLD 1 can respond with inclusion of an SCS status list and SCS descriptor element in a roaming response frame, e.g., to confirm continuation of the SCS agreement and indicate necessary parameters for a service start time);
Ajami does not explicitly teach
scheduling one or more Service Periods (SPs) for at least one of the one or more QoS flow-sets and the one or more neighbor QoS flow-sets based on the SLAs.
Lin teaches
scheduling one or more Service Periods (SPs) for at least one of the one or more QoS flow-sets and the one or more neighbor QoS flow-sets based on the SLAs ([0086] the shared AP schedules the allocated time-frequency resources for the client traffic transmission of the STAs, and transmits an MU trigger frame indicating the scheduled time-frequency resources for the STAs).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the Ajami disclosure, scheduling service period, as taught by Lin. One would be motivated to do so to improve the performance of coordinated AP transmission.
Regarding claims 3, 10, and 17, Ajami and Lin teach all limitations of parent claims 1, 8, and 15, Ajami further teaches queue jumping a higher priority SP by determining the higher priority SP is not initiated and scheduling a new SP before the higher priority SP ([0070] SCS allows a device (e.g., a user of a device) to select priority (UP), drop eligibility, and Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) transmit queue based on a medium access control (MAC) Service Data Unit (MSDU) classification).
Regarding claims 4, 11, and 18, Ajami and Lin teach all limitations of parent claims 3, 10, and 17, Ajami further teaches:
pausing the new SP at a transmit boundary; when the higher priority SP initiates at the transmit boundary, resuming the new SP after the higher priority SP; and when the higher priority SP does not initiate for a delay period, resuming the new SP after the delay period ([0114] suspension/resumption of the SCS agreement can depend on a service start time and/or a frame sent by the client. Note that the client can be required to indicate the service start time for the target AP MLD so that the Target AP MLD can start scheduling the client at the target AP MLD. Note that uplink, downlink, and/or peer-to-peer link can have independent (e.g., different, unique, and/or distinct) service start times. Note further that a service start time link ID field of a QoS characteristics IE can be used to indicate the link who TSF timer is used as a reference for the service start time).
Regarding claims 6, 13, and 20, Ajami and Lin teach all limitations of parent claims 1, 8, and 15, Ajami further teaches performing SP chaining for a plurality of sequential SPs ([0060] The core network can provide mobility related services and/or other services to a plurality of devices, such as STA devices).
Regarding claim 8, Ajami teaches a system comprising:
a memory storage; and a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operative to ([0144] a device can be configured to include a processor and a memory medium):
determine flow-set data comprising data for one or more Quality of Service (QoS) flows-sets of one or more clients ([0104], fig. 1, the signaling can begin with a non-access point wireless station, such as non-AP STA 106, which can be a wireless station 106, detecting and/or initiating a QoS session);
send the flow-set data to one or more neighboring co-channel Access Points (APs) ([0092], fig. 1, the roaming recommendation frame can be a broadcast and/or management frame and can steer non-AP STA 106, to another AP, e.g., to another AP MLD within AP 104);
receive neighbor flow-set data comprising data for one or more neighbor QoS flow-sets from at least one of the one or more neighboring co-channel APs; establish Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for the one or more QoS flow-sets and the one or more neighbor QoS flow-sets based on the flow-set data and the neighbor flow-set data ([0093] After transmitting the roaming response frame, non-AP STA 106 can setup and/or update an existing SCS agreement (SLAs) in a roaming sequence via inclusion of an SCS descriptor element/QoS characteristics element in a roaming request frame to AP MLD 1. AP MLD 1 can respond with inclusion of an SCS status list and SCS descriptor element in a roaming response frame, e.g., to confirm continuation of the SCS agreement and indicate necessary parameters for a service start time);
Ajami does not explicitly teach
schedule one or more Service Periods (SPs) for at least one of the one or more QoS flow-sets and the one or more neighbor QoS flow-sets based on the SLAs.
Lin teaches
schedule one or more Service Periods (SPs) for at least one of the one or more QoS flow-sets and the one or more neighbor QoS flow-sets based on the SLAs ([0086] the shared AP schedules the allocated time-frequency resources for the client traffic transmission of the STAs, and transmits an MU trigger frame indicating the scheduled time-frequency resources for the STAs).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the Ajami disclosure, scheduling service period, as taught by Lin. One would be motivated to do so to improve the performance of coordinated AP transmission.
Regarding claim 15, Ajami teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores a set of instructions which when executed perform a method executed by the set of instructions comprising:
determining flow-set data comprising data for one or more Quality of Service (QoS) flows-sets of one or more clients ([0104], fig. 1, the signaling can begin with a non-access point wireless station, such as non-AP STA 106, which can be a wireless station 106, detecting and/or initiating a QoS session);
sending the flow-set data to one or more neighboring co-channel Access Points (APs) ([0092], fig. 1, the roaming recommendation frame can be a broadcast and/or management frame and can steer non-AP STA 106, to another AP, e.g., to another AP MLD within AP 104);
receiving neighbor flow-set data comprising data for one or more neighbor QoS flow-sets from at least one of the one or more neighboring co-channel APs; establishing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for the one or more QoS flow-sets and the one or more neighbor QoS flow-sets based on the flow-set data and the neighbor flow-set data ([0093] After transmitting the roaming response frame, non-AP STA 106 can setup and/or update an existing SCS agreement (SLAs) in a roaming sequence via inclusion of an SCS descriptor element/QoS characteristics element in a roaming request frame to AP MLD 1. AP MLD 1 can respond with inclusion of an SCS status list and SCS descriptor element in a roaming response frame, e.g., to confirm continuation of the SCS agreement and indicate necessary parameters for a service start time);
scheduling one or more Service Periods (SPs) for at least one of the one or more QoS flow-sets and the one or more neighbor QoS flow-sets based on the SLAs.
Ajami does not explicitly teach
Lin teaches
scheduling one or more Service Periods (SPs) for at least one of the one or more QoS flow-sets and the one or more neighbor QoS flow-sets based on the SLAs ([0086] the shared AP schedules the allocated time-frequency resources for the client traffic transmission of the STAs, and transmits an MU trigger frame indicating the scheduled time-frequency resources for the STAs).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the Ajami disclosure, scheduling service period, as taught by Lin. One would be motivated to do so to improve the performance of coordinated AP transmission.
Claims 2, 9, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ajami in view of Lin and further in view of Shafin et al. (US 20220408355 A1), hereafter Shafin
Regarding claims 2, 9, and 16, Ajami and Lin teach all limitations of parent claims 1, 8, and 15, Ajami does not explicitly teach wherein scheduling the one or more SPs comprises, for each SP:
determining a Target SP Transmission Time (TSTT);
determining a Priority Time (PT); and
scheduling the SP based on the TSTT and the PT.
Shafin teaches
determining a Target SP Transmission Time (TSTT) ([00123] The transceiver is configured to transmit traffic to a second station (STA) in a second target wake time (TWT) service period (SP) based on parameters of a second TWT operation between the second AP and the second STA);
determining a Priority Time (PT) ([0120] Based on the priority level of the quieting request, the neighbor AP in the coordinating set which receives the TWT element may take different actions in response to the quieting request); and
scheduling the SP based on the TSTT and the PT ([0007] Target Wake Time (TWT) is one of the important features of the IEEE 802.1 lax amendment. TWT enables wake time negotiation between an AP and an associated station (STA) for improving power efficiency. With TWT operation, it suffices for a STA to only wake up at a pre-scheduled time negotiated with another STA or AP in the network).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the Ajami disclosure, scheduling service based on time, as taught by Shafin. One would be motivated to do so to improve the performance of coordinated AP transmission.
Claims 5, 7, 12, 14, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ajami in view of Lin and further in view of PARK et al. (US 20220408355 A1), hereafter Park
Regarding claims 5, 12, and 19, Ajami and Lin teach all limitations of parent claims 1, 8, and 15, Ajami does not explicitly teach:
pausing an in-progress SP for a higher priority SP; and
resuming the in-progress SP after the higher priority SP.
Park teaches
pausing an in-progress SP for a higher priority SP; and resuming the in-progress SP after the higher priority SP ([0071] when the pended downlink data having the relatively high priority may be transmitted, the AP may hold off transmission of the pended downlink data having the relatively low priority, which is currently transmitted.).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the Ajami disclosure, pausing a lower priority for transmitting higher priority, as taught by Park. One would be motivated to do so to reduce a service delay.
Regarding claims 7 and 14, Ajami and Lin teach all limitations of parent claims 1 and 8, Ajami does not explicitly teach refarming a gap between SPs for any one of (i) aperiodic high priority traffic, (ii) deferred retries of flow-sets, (iii) Best Effort (BE) traffic, (iv) Background (BK) traffic, (v) probing, (vi) a power management transition, or (vii) any combination of (i)-(vi).
Park teaches
refarming a gap between SPs for any one of (i) aperiodic high priority traffic, (ii) deferred retries of flow-sets, (iii) Best Effort (BE) traffic, (iv) Background (BK) traffic, (v) probing, (vi) a power management transition, or (vii) any combination of (i)-(vi) ([0078] the downlink data corresponding to the access category best effort (AC_BE) to be transmitted to STA3, and the downlink data corresponding to the access category background (AC_BK) to be transmitted to the STA4 may be pended to the AP).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the Ajami disclosure, refarming a gap between SPs and other elements, as taught by Park. One would be motivated to do so to reduce a service delay.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Veerabudrant (US-20200029246-A1t).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANH NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-0657. The examiner can normally be reached M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Umar Cheema can be reached at 5712703037. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANH NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2458
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