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 § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 1-5, 7-19, 21, 23 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. The specification fails to describe the limitation of claim 1 and 11” generating, for transmission … one or more messages… based on the COT acquired indication and based on the mode of operation… wherein the mode is.. frame based equipment (FBE) mode or load based equipment (LBE) mode. The specification para [0050]- [0058] describes the process of the COT acquired indication and assembling data to be transmitted after receiving the COT acquired indication. However, there is no support for generating data based on both the COT acquired indication and the mode of operation (e.g. FBE or LBE). The figures 1-4 show the use of FBE/LBE and fig 15 show the use of COT acquired indication. Secondly, the specification only states that the data message is assembled first and then the COT indication is monitored for (see para [0058 and fig. 15B). This means the COT acquired indication is monitored in response to data being assembled. The specification does not teach the limitation of claim 1 “generating/assembling a message based on the COT acquired indication”.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 08/09/21, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-5, 7-19, 21, 23 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Li (Pub No 20180192442) further in view of Xu (Pub No 20210219333)
Regarding claim 1,
Applicant argues that the prior art does not teach generating for transmission by the UE.. one or more messages during the COT based on the COT acquired indication.
The examiner relies on newly cited portions of Li to teach the limitation.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-4, 11, 13-14, 16, 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (Pub No 20180192442) further in view of Xu (Pub No 20210219333)
Regarding claim 1,
Li teaches A method for communicating in a communication network according to a mode of operation, the method comprising:
configuring, by a user equipment (UE), the mode of operation to be used in the communicating with the communication network; and (interpreted as process of performing LBT by the UE according to the configuration information is described, see FBE-based LBT and LBE-based LBT, para [0188-0190])
generating a data message to be transmitted; (interpreted as uplink data para [0229])
monitoring by the UE, for a channel occupancy time (COT) acquired indication signaled from a radio access network (RAN); and (interpreted as the base station first performs LBT successfully and transmits the downlink data, and the downlink transmission time does not exceed the maximum occupancy time limit. In this case, the base station may instruct the UE to directly perform uplink data transmission without LBT, but the sum of the uplink data transmission time and the downlink transmission time does not exceed the maximum occupancy time limit, see [0229]. The COT acquired indication is the indication of the uplink data transmission without LBT since that means the COT is already acquired by the RAN)
generating, for transmission by the UE to the communication network through the RAN, one or more messages during the COT based on the COT acquired indication (interpreted as the base station first performs LBT successfully and transmits the downlink data, and the downlink transmission time does not exceed the maximum occupancy time limit. In this case, the base station may instruct the UE to directly perform uplink data transmission without LBT, but the sum of the uplink data transmission time and the downlink transmission time does not exceed the maximum occupancy time limit, see [0229]) and on the mode of operation, wherein the mode of operation is a Frame Based Equipment (FBE) mode of operation or a Load Based Equipment (LBE) mode of operation. (interpreted as uplink configuration is an FBE-based or LBE-based LBT, see para [0189] [0190])
However, Li does not teach monitoring in response to generating the data message to be transmitted the COT acquired indication.
Xu teaches monitoring in response to generating the data to be transmitted (interpreted as when uplink data arrives, the terminal does not need to send a scheduling request (SR) to the network device and waits for a dynamic grant of the network device, see para [0082])
It would have been obvious of one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the UL grant after having data ready as taught by Li with the monitoring for the UL grant after having data as taught by Xu with the motivation being to have resources for transmitting the UL data.
Regarding claim 11,
Li teaches A user equipment (UE) comprising:
a memory that stores a mode of operation of the UE; (see para [0259])
a processor, coupled to the memory, configured to generate a data message to be transmitted; (para [0259-0262])
a transmitter configured to transmit a first signal in a frame period (FP) of a communication network based on the mode of operation; (interpreted as for the FBE with a fixed transmission frame structure, the channel occupancy time and idle period constitute a fixed frame period (FP, Frame Period), see para [0186])
a receiver configured to:
monitor for a channel occupancy time (COT) acquired indication signaled from a radio access network (RAN) in response to generating the data message to be transmitted, and (interpreted as the base station first performs LBT successfully and transmits the downlink data, and the downlink transmission time does not exceed the maximum occupancy time limit. In this case, the base station may instruct the UE to directly perform uplink data transmission without LBT, but the sum of the uplink data transmission time and the downlink transmission time does not exceed the maximum occupancy time limit, see [0229]. The COT acquired indication is the indication of the uplink data transmission without LBT since that means the COT is already acquired by the RAN)
receive a second signal based on the mode of operation; and (interpreted as in step S202, a user equipment (UE) receives a configuration signaling transmitted by a base station. The configuration signaling carries a clear channel assessment (CCA) parameter of the UE and an uplink transmission parameter of the UE, see para [0084]. Configuration information for FBE-based or LBE-based para [0189] [1090])
wherein the processor is further configured to carry out the mode of operation, (para [0110]) wherein the mode of operation is a Frame Based Equipment (FBE) mode of operation or a Load Based Equipment (LBE) mode of operation. (interpreted as uplink configuration is an FBE-based or LBE-based LBT, see para [0189] [0190])
wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit to the communication network through the RAN, one or more messages during the COT based on the COT acquired indication (interpreted as the base station first performs LBT successfully and transmits the downlink data, and the downlink transmission time does not exceed the maximum occupancy time limit. In this case, the base station may instruct the UE to directly perform uplink data transmission without LBT, but the sum of the uplink data transmission time and the downlink transmission time does not exceed the maximum occupancy time limit, see [0229]) and based on the mode of operation, (interpreted as uplink configuration is an FBE-based or LBE-based LBT, see para [0189][0190])
However, Li does not teach monitoring in response to generating the data message to be transmitted the COT acquired indication.
Xu teaches monitoring in response to generating the data to be transmitted (interpreted as when uplink data arrives, the terminal does not need to send a scheduling request (SR) to the network device and waits for a dynamic grant of the network device, see para [0082])
It would have been obvious of one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the data for UL grant taught by Li with the explicitly stated monitoring for the UL grant after having data as taught by Xu with the motivation being to have resources for transmitting the UL data.
Regarding claim 3 and 13 and 16,
Li teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the UE, and from the RAN, an indication of the mode of operation to be used in the communication network; and performing, by the UE, a radio resource control (RRC) configuration operation based on the mode of operation. (interpreted as configuration signaling involved in the present embodiment is a downlink control information (DCI) signaling and/or a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, see para [0120])
Regarding claim 4 and 14,
Li teaches the method of claim 3, wherein the indication can be via downlink control information (DCI) signaling or via a sequence based signaling. (interpreted as configuration signaling involved in the present embodiment is a downlink control information (DCI) signaling and/or a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, see para [0120])
Regarding claim 23,
Li teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the COT is a RAN-acquired COT,
and wherein generating the one or more messages for transmission during the COT comprises
generating the one or more messages for transmission during the RAN-acquired COT. (Interpreted as the base station first performs LBT successfully and transmits the downlink data, and the downlink transmission time does not exceed the maximum occupancy time limit. In this case, the base station may instruct the UE to directly perform uplink data transmission without LBT, but the sum of the uplink data transmission time and the downlink transmission time does not exceed the maximum occupancy time limit, see [0229]. The COT acquired indication is the indication of the uplink data transmission without LBT since that means the COT is already acquired by the RAN)
Claim(s) 5, 7, 10, 15, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (Pub No 20180192442) further in view of Xu (Pub No 20210219333) and Oh (Pub no 20210298072).
Regarding claims 5 and 15,
Li in view of Xu teaches the method of claim 3, however, does not teach wherein the indication of the mode of operation is an explicit indication of the mode of operation.
Oh teaches wherein the indication of the mode of operation is an explicit indication of the mode of operation (interpreted as whether the channel access procedure of the base station is the frame-based channel access procedure or the traffic-based channel access procedure may be transmitted to the terminal via an additional field to the SB1 as below, see para [0159])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the FBE configuration taught by Li in view of Xu with the indication taught by Oh with the motivation being so the devices know what communication format to transmit/receive.
Regarding claim 7,
Li in view of Xu teaches the method of claim 3, wherein the receiving the indication of the mode of operation comprises receiving a configuration message, (interpreted as When the uplink is FBE-based LBT, assuming that the moment when the base station transmits the uplink grant (UL grant), see para [0189]). See uplink configuration is an LBE-based LBT, see Li para [0190])
However, Li in view of Xu does not teach the configuration message comprising a bit specifying the indication of the mode of operation.
Oh teaches the configuration message comprising a bit specifying the indication of the mode of operation (interpreted as the base station may transmit, to the terminal, whether the channel access procedure of the base station is the frame-based channel access procedure or the traffic-based channel access procedure, via a higher layer signal. For example, the base station may transmit, to the terminal, a 1-bit field as in Method 1-2 by adding the 1-bit field to the higher layer signal including the unlicensed band transmission/reception-related configuration information, see para [0168])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the FBE configuration taught by Li in view of Xu with the bit taught by Oh with the motivation being to indicate information using bits so that parameters for communications can exchanged
Regarding claim 10,
Li in view of Xu teaches the method of claim 1, however does not teach wherein the mode of operation is indicated explicitly in a broadcast signal of the communication network by a master information block (MIB) or a system information block (SIB).
Oh teaches wherein the mode of operation is indicated explicitly in a broadcast signal of the communication network by a master information block (MIB) or a system information block (SIB). (interpreted as whether the channel access procedure of the base station is the frame-based channel access procedure or the traffic-based channel access procedure, via an MIB transmitted through a PBCH, see para [0155])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the FBE configuration taught by Li in view of Xu with the indication taught by Oh with the motivation being to transmit configuration information for setting up communications.
Regarding claim 19,
Li in view of Xu teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, however does not teach wherein the handover command includes a bit specifying an explicit indication of the mode of operation to be used in a communication network.
However, Li in view of Xu does not teach the configuration message comprising a bit specifying the indication of the mode of operation.
Oh teaches the configuration message comprising a bit specifying the indication of the mode of operation (interpreted as the base station may transmit, to the terminal, whether the channel access procedure of the base station is the frame-based channel access procedure or the traffic-based channel access procedure, via a higher layer signal. For example, the base station may transmit, to the terminal, a 1-bit field as in Method 1-2 by adding the 1-bit field to the higher layer signal including the unlicensed band transmission/reception-related configuration information, see para [0168])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the FBE configuration taught by Li in view of Xu with the bit taught by Oh with the motivation of using a known in the art format such as bits for indicating configuration information.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (Pub No 20180192442) further in view of Xu (Pub No 20210219333) and Harada (Pub No 20190116005)
Regarding claim 8,
Li in view of Xu teaches the method of claim 3, wherein the receiving the indication of the mode of operation comprises receiving a RRC message that comprises the indication of the mode of operation (interpreted as the configuration signaling is a downlink control information (DCI) signaling and/or a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, see para [0018])
However, Li in view of Xu does not teach RRC reconfiguration message.
Harada teaches RRC reconfiguration message; (interpreted as Moreover, the RRC signaling may be referred to as an RRC message, and for example may be an RRC connection setup (RRC Connection Setup) message, an RRC connection reconfiguration (RRC Connection Reconfiguration) message, or the like.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the FBE configuration taught by Li in view of Xu with the RRC reconfiguration by Harada since it would have been a simple substitution for one known element for another to perform the operating of the user equipment.
Claim(s) 9, 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (Pub No 20180192442) further in view of Xu (Pub No 20210219333) and Yang (Pub No 20180324604)
Regarding claim 9 and 12,
Li in view of Xu teaches the method of claim 1, however does not teach wherein the UE is configured by a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) to operate only in the mode of operation.
Yang teaches wherein the UE is configured by a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) to operate only in the mode of operation. (interpreted as the CCA detection pattern or the Muting pattern through a downlink control information (DCI) instruction; acquiring, by the transmission equipment, the CCA detection pattern or the Muting pattern by inserting a parameter configuration of a CCA pattern into a SIM card; or acquiring, by the transmission equipment, the CCA detection pattern or the Muting pattern in a predefined manner, see para 0047])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the FBE configuration taught by Li in view of Xu with the SIM by Yang with the motivation being to provide user specific communications using the sim.
Claim(s) 17-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (Pub No 20180192442) further in view of Xu (Pub No 20210219333) and Wang (Pub 20220346147)
Regarding claim 17,
Li in view of Xu teaches A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a user equipment (UE), upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the UE, to perform one or more operations, the operations comprising: (para [0110])
transmitting a physical random access channel (PRACH) message to a radio access network (RAN); and (interpreted as the UE directly transmits a retransmitted uplink data or uplink data having a high priority. The uplink data having a high priority includes acknowledge (ACK) information or non-acknowledge (NACK) information, channel state feedback information (CSI), a channel sounding reference signal (SRS) and a physical random access channel (PRACH), see para [0091])
receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message from the RAN, and specifies an indication of a mode of operation of the UE, and wherein the mode of operation is a Frame Based Equipment (FBE) mode of operation or a Load Based Equipment (LBE) mode of operation. (interpreted as When the uplink is FBE-based LBT, assuming that the moment when the base station transmits the uplink grant (UL grant), see para [0189]). See uplink configuration is an LBE-based LBT, see para [0190])
generating a data message to be transmitted; (interpreted as uplink data para [0229])
monitoring by the UE, for a channel occupancy time (COT) acquired indication signaled from a radio access network (RAN); and (interpreted as the base station first performs LBT successfully and transmits the downlink data, and the downlink transmission time does not exceed the maximum occupancy time limit. In this case, the base station may instruct the UE to directly perform uplink data transmission without LBT, but the sum of the uplink data transmission time and the downlink transmission time does not exceed the maximum occupancy time limit, see [0229]. The COT acquired indication is the indication of the uplink data transmission without LBT since that means the COT is already acquired by the RAN)
generating, for transmission by the UE to the communication network through the RAN, one or more messages during the COT based on the COT acquired indication (interpreted as the base station first performs LBT successfully and transmits the downlink data, and the downlink transmission time does not exceed the maximum occupancy time limit. In this case, the base station may instruct the UE to directly perform uplink data transmission without LBT, but the sum of the uplink data transmission time and the downlink transmission time does not exceed the maximum occupancy time limit, see [0229]) and on the mode of operation, wherein the mode of operation is a Frame Based Equipment (FBE) mode of operation or a Load Based Equipment (LBE) mode of operation. (interpreted as uplink configuration is an FBE-based or LBE-based LBT, see para [0189] [0190])
However, Li does not teach monitoring in response to generating the data message to be transmitted the COT acquired indication.
Xu teaches monitoring in response to generating the data to be transmitted (interpreted as when uplink data arrives, the terminal does not need to send a scheduling request (SR) to the network device and waits for a dynamic grant of the network device, see para [0082])
It would have been obvious of one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the data for UL grant taught by Li with the explicitly stated monitoring for the UL grant after having data as taught by Xu with the motivation being to have resources for transmitting the UL data.
However, Li in view of Xu does not teach the RRC reconfiguration message comprising a handover command.
Wang teaches the RRC reconfiguration message comprising a handover command; (interpreted as the first indication is sent via at least one of system information, paging message, Downlink Control Information DCI, Media Access Control Element MAC CE signaling, Radio Resource Control RRC signaling and handover command, see para [0027] [0029])
It would have been obvious of one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the RRC taught by Li in view of Xu with RRC handover as taught by Wang with the modification of providing configuration information for performing the communications.
Regarding claim 18,
Li teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the receiving operation comprises receiving the indication by one of downlink control information (DCI) signaling or sequence based signaling. (interpreted as the first indication is sent via at least one of system information, paging message, Downlink Control Information DCI, Media Access Control Element MAC CE signaling, Radio Resource Control RRC signaling and handover command, see para [0027] [0029])
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (Pub No 20180192442) further in view of Xu (Pub No 20210219333), and Oh (Pub No 20210298072).
Regarding claim 19,
Li in view of Xu teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, however does not teach wherein the handover command includes a bit specifying an explicit indication of the mode of operation to be used in a communication network.
However, in view of Wang does not teach the configuration message comprising a bit specifying the indication of the mode of operation.
Oh teaches the configuration message comprising a bit specifying the indication of the mode of operation (interpreted as the base station may transmit, to the terminal, whether the channel access procedure of the base station is the frame-based channel access procedure or the traffic-based channel access procedure, via a higher layer signal. For example, the base station may transmit, to the terminal, a 1-bit field as in Method 1-2 by adding the 1-bit field to the higher layer signal including the unlicensed band transmission/reception-related configuration information, see para [0168])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the FBE configuration taught by Li in view of Xu with the bit taught by Oh with the motivation of using bits as the format for indication information between devices.
Claim(s) 2, 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (Pub No 20180192442) further in view of Xu (Pub No 20210219333), and Talarico (Pub No 20190159256)
Regarding claim 2,
Li in view of Xu teaches the method of claim 1, however does not teach wherein the communicating one or more LBT messages with the RAN further comprises communicating an uplink (UL) transmission over autonomous uplink (AUL) with the RAN.
Talarico teaches wherein the communicating one or more LBT messages with the RAN further comprises communicating an uplink (UL) transmission over autonomous uplink (AUL) with the RAN. (interpreted as A COT acquired by a UE using Cat-4 LBT for AUL transmission can be shared with the eNB, see para [0081])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the UL transmission taught by Li in view of Xu with the AUL transmission by Talarico with the motivation of using uplink as a channel for transmitting information.
Regarding claim 21,
Li in view of Xu teaches the user equipment of claim 11, however does not teach wherein to communicate one or more listen before talk (LBT) messages, the transmitter is further configured to communicate an uplink (UL) transmission over an autonomous uplink (AUL) with the RAN.
Talarico teaches wherein to communicate one or more listen before talk (LBT) messages, the transmitter is further configured to communicate an uplink (UL) transmission over an autonomous uplink (AUL) with the RAN. (interpreted as A COT acquired by a UE using Cat-4 LBT for AUL transmission can be shared with the eNB, see para [0081])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the UL transmission taught by Li in view of Xu with the AUL transmission by Talarico with the motivation of using uplink as a channel for transmitting information.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BAO G NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-7732. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10pm - 6:30pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Huy Vu can be reached on 571-272-3155. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/BAO G NGUYEN/ Examiner, Art Unit 2461
/HUY D VU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2461
