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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/19/2025 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 6-8, 13-14, and 19-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lin (US 20220217648 A1).
Consider claims 1, 8, and 14, Lin discloses a method for information processing, applied to a terminal, a terminal device, comprising: a processor and a transceiver (see Fig. 7), and a network device comprising a processor and a transceiver (Fig. 8), wherein the processor is configured according to a plurality of predefined uplink duty cycles corresponding to a first network device, determining a plurality of maximum uplink duty cycles capable of being scheduled by a second network device, wherein there is a correspondence relation between the plurality of maximum uplink duty cycles and the plurality of predefined uplink duty cycles (Determine, based on a first maximum transmit power and a first maximum uplink duty cycle, a second maximum uplink duty cycle of the terminal at a second maximum transmit power, paragraph 43; The first maximum transmit power and the first maximum uplink duty cycle both are capability parameters of the terminal on the first link, and the first maximum uplink duty cycle is a predefined capability parameter; and the second maximum transmit power and the second maximum uplink duty cycle both are capability parameters of the terminal on the second link, paragraph 44; the maximum uplink duty cycle (that is, the first maximum uplink duty cycle) of the first link, namely the FDD link, is predefined. In this way, the uplink duty cycle of the FDD link originally with a relatively large dynamic range is determined, so that the terminal can determine, based on the maximum uplink duty cycle and maximum transmit power (that is, the first maximum transmit power) on the first link, the maximum uplink duty cycle (that is, the second maximum uplink duty cycle) that can be supported by the terminal on the second link at a specific maximum transmit power (that is, the second maximum transmit power). In this way, reference can be provided for the terminal to perform overall capability parameter reporting, for the network-side device to perform uplink scheduling behaviors, for the terminal to perform uplink transmission behaviors, and the like, helping improve communication performance in the uplink dual connectivity scenario, paragraph 45; a group of reference capability parameter configurations on the first link may be predefined, for example, DutyLTE=70% and Plte=23 dBm, or DutyLTE=40% and Plte=23 dBm…Correspondingly, the terminal may determine multiple combinations of capability parameters on the second link. For example, if two groups of reference capability parameter configurations on the first link, {DutyLTE1, Plte1; DutyLTE2, Plte2} are predefined, the terminal will correspondingly have two groups of maximum uplink duty cycles maxUplinkDutyCycle at a specific maximum transmit power on the second link, {maxUplinkDutyCycle1, maxUplinkDutyCycle2}, paragraph 84); and
reporting the plurality of maximum uplink duty cycles, wherein the plurality of maximum uplink duty cycles are used for the second network device to select, according to a specific strategy, a referenced maximum uplink duty cycle from the plurality of maximum uplink duty cycles when scheduling a transmission time of the terminal (reporting the second maximum uplink duty cycle, paragraph 47; after determining the capability parameter on the second link, the terminal can report the capability parameter of the terminal on the second link to the network-side device at appropriate time, that is, the second maximum uplink duty cycle of the terminal at the second maximum transmit power. In this way, after receiving the capability parameter of the terminal on the second link, the network-side device can perform uplink scheduling for the terminal with reference to the capability parameter of the terminal on the second link, paragraph 48; In this way, due to the multiple combinations of capability parameters of the terminal on the first link and the second link, the network-side device can more flexibly perform uplink scheduling for the terminal based on the multiple combinations of capability parameters, paragraph 84); wherein the method further comprises:
acquiring a first uplink duty cycle actually scheduled by the first network device for the terminal in a time window (when uplink transmission scheduled by the network-side device is within a high-power capability range of the terminal, that is, when the uplink duty cycle scheduled by the network-side device for the first link is less than or equal to the first maximum uplink duty cycle and the uplink duty cycle scheduled by the network-side device for the second link is less than or equal to the second maximum uplink duty cycle, the uplink transmission may be performed by the terminal on each of the links at the maximum transmit power, paragraph 75);
determining a relationship between the first uplink duty cycle and a maximum value of the plurality of predefined uplink duty cycles (when uplink transmission scheduled by the network-side device is beyond the high-power capability range of the terminal, that is, when the uplink duty cycle scheduled by the network-side device for the first link is greater than the first maximum uplink duty cycle or the uplink duty cycle scheduled by the network-side device for the second link is greater than the second maximum uplink duty cycle, the terminal cannot perform the uplink transmission at the first maximum transmit power and the second maximum transmit power simultaneously, but needs to perform specific power backoff, that is, perform the uplink transmission on one or all of the links of the terminal at the transmit power less than the maximum transmit power, to ensure that the total radiation does not exceed limits, paragraph 78);
when the first uplink duty cycle is less than the maximum value, the method further comprises:
determining the referenced maximum uplink duty cycle from the plurality of maximum uplink duty cycles according to the specific strategy (the second maximum uplink duty cycle of the terminal at the second maximum transmit power is determined jointly based on the first maximum transmit power, the first maximum uplink duty cycle, and the total radiation threshold, so that the determined second maximum uplink duty cycle of the terminal at the second maximum transmit power is more reasonable and of greater reference value, paragraph 58);
acquiring a second uplink duty cycle actually scheduled by the second network device for the terminal in the time window (when uplink transmission scheduled by the network-side device is within a high-power capability range of the terminal, that is, when the uplink duty cycle scheduled by the network-side device for the first link is less than or equal to the first maximum uplink duty cycle and the uplink duty cycle scheduled by the network-side device for the second link is less than or equal to the second maximum uplink duty cycle, the uplink transmission may be performed by the terminal on each of the links at the maximum transmit power, paragraph 75); and performing power back-off or power level back-off when the second uplink duty cycle exceeds the referenced maximum uplink duty cycle (the case of high-power terminal configurations of Plte=23 dBm, Pnr=26 dBm, and Ptotal=26 dBm, if DutyLTE=40% and Plte=23 dBm are used as reference configurations of the LTE FDD link, the maximum uplink duty cycle maxUplinkDutyCycle of the NR link is reported based on such reference configurations. That means in a scenario of DutyLTE=40%, Plte=23 dBm, DutyNR=maxUplinkDutyCycle, Pnr=26 dBm, and Ptotal=26 dBm, the terminal can ensure that the total radiation (for example, a specific absorption rate SAR) does not exceed limits, that is, the total radiation is less than or equal to the total radiation threshold. In the embodiments of the present invention, the limit value may be determined based on the total radiation threshold and an implementation scheme of the terminal (for example, technical performance parameters of the terminal), to ensure that the total radiation of the terminal on all the links is less than or equal to the total radiation threshold. That is, (DutyLTE=40%)×(LTE_Tx_power=23 dBm)+maxUplinkDutyCycle×(NR_Tx_power=26 dBm)≤limit value in this case, the terminal may be scheduled by the network-side device to perform uplink transmission with DutyLTE≤40%, Plte≤23 dBm, DutyNR≤maxUplinkDutyCycle, Pnr≤26 dBm, and Ptotal≤26 dBm. In the case of DutyLTE>40% or DutyNR>maxUplinkDutyCycle scheduled by the network-side device, to ensure that the total radiation does not exceed limits, the terminal performs specific power backoff on a specific link or all the links, so that the maximum transmit power of Plte=23 dBm, Pnr=26 dBm, and Ptotal=26 dBm cannot be implemented, paragraph 83).
Consider claims 6, 13, and 19, and as applied to claims 1, 8,and 14 respectively above, Lin discloses determining the plurality of predefined uplink duty cycles corresponding to the first network device (a group of reference capability parameter configurations on the first link may be predefined, for example, DutyLTE=70% and Plte=23 dBm, or DutyLTE=40% and Plte=23 dBm. Alternatively, multiple combinations of reference capability parameter configurations on the first link may be predefined, paragraph 84; reporting the second maximum uplink duty cycle, paragraph 47).
Consider claims 7 and 20, and as applied to claims 1 and 14 respectively above, Lin discloses wherein an uplink duty cycle indicates a percentage of uplink slots in a sum of uplink slots and downlink slots in a time window (uplink-downlink slot ratio configuration, paragraph 36).
Consider claim 21, and as applied to claim 1 above, Lin discloses
wherein the specific strategy used for the second network device to select the referenced maximum uplink duty cycle from the plurality of maximum uplink duty cycles when scheduling the transmission time of the terminal comprises:
acquiring a first uplink duty cycle actually scheduled by the first network device for the terminal in the time window (when uplink transmission scheduled by the network-side device is within a high-power capability range of the terminal, that is, when the uplink duty cycle scheduled by the network-side device for the first link is less than or equal to the first maximum uplink duty cycle and the uplink duty cycle scheduled by the network-side device for the second link is less than or equal to the second maximum uplink duty cycle, the uplink transmission may be performed by the terminal on each of the links at the maximum transmit power, paragraph 75);
acquiring a plurality of predefined uplink duty cycles of the first network device (a group of reference capability parameter configurations on the first link may be predefined, for example, DutyLTE=70% and Plte=23 dBm, or DutyLTE=40% and Plte=23 dBm, paragraph 84);
selecting a target predefined uplink duty cycle from the plurality of predefined uplink duty cycles when the first uplink duty cycle is less than or equal to a maximum value of the plurality of predefined uplink dutycycles (a group of reference capability parameter configurations on the first link may be predefined, for example, DutyLTE=70% and Plte=23 dBm, or DutyLTE=40% and Plte=23 dBm. Alternatively, multiple combinations of reference capability parameter configurations on the first link may be predefined. Correspondingly, the terminal may determine multiple combinations of capability parameters on the second link. For example, if two groups of reference capability parameter configurations on the first link, {DutyLTE1, Plte1; DutyLTE2, Plte2} are predefined, the terminal will correspondingly have two groups of maximum uplink duty cycles maxUplinkDutyCycle at a specific maximum transmit power on the second link, {maxUplinkDutyCycle1, maxUplinkDutyCycle2}. In this way, due to the multiple combinations of capability parameters of the terminal on the first link and the second link, the network-side device can more flexibly perform uplink scheduling for the terminal based on the multiple combinations of capability parameters, paragraph 84); and
determining a maximum uplink duty cycle corresponding to the target predefined uplink duty cycle as the referenced maximum uplink duty cycle (For example, in the case of Plte=23 dBm, Pnr=23 dBm, and Ptotal=26 dBm, the LTE FDD reference configurations {DutyLTE1=70%, Plte1=23 dBm; DutyLTE2=40%, Plte2=23 dBm} may be used, and corresponding to Pnr=23 dBm and Ptotal=26 dBm, the maximum uplink duty cycles of the NR link that ensure the total radiation does not exceed limits are {maxUplinkDutyCycle1, maxUplinkDutyCycle2}, that is,
(DutyLTE=70%)×(LTE_Tx_power=23 dBm)+maxUplinkDutyCycle1×(NR_Tx_power=23 dBm)≤limit value
and
(DutyLTE=40%)×(LTE_Tx_power=23 dBm)+maxUplinkDutyCycle2×(NR_Tx_power=23 dBm)≤limit value.
This case means that the terminal is capable of ensuring the up-to-standard total radiation both in a scenario of DutyLTE≤70%, PLTE≤23 dBm, DutyNR≤maxUplinkDutyCycle1, Pnr≤23 dBm, and Ptotal≤26 dBm and in a scenario of DutyLTE≤40%, PLTE≤23 dBm, DutyNR≤maxUplinkDutyCycle2, Pnr≤23 dBm, and Ptotal≤≤26 dBm, and the network-side device can perform corresponding uplink scheduling for the terminal. When network scheduling is beyond the foregoing capabilities, the terminal performs power backoff, paragraphs 89-90).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/19/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues on page 7 with reference to claim 1, that in Lin, the terminal determines the capability parameters of the second link, which is essentially different from that of the second network device determining a referenced maximum uplink duty cycle in claim 1,and that in amended claim 1, the reference maximum uplink duty ratio is not determined by the terminal device, but is determined by the second network device.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees.
As shown in Fig. 3 of Applicant’s specification, multiple maximum uplink duty cycles are determined by the terminal and reported to the second network device, which selects a referenced maximum uplink duty cycle from the multiple maximum uplink duty cycle reported by the terminal. And as the Applicant points out on page 7, Lin discloses "...the terminal determines the capability parameter on the second link, and terminal can report the capability parameter of the terminal on the second link to the network-side device...".
However, Lin further discloses that due to multiple combinations of capability parameters of the terminal the network-side can have more flexibility in scheduling uplink transmissions for the terminal (see paragraph 84). Thus in Lin, the network side selects from the multiple combinations determined by the terminal.
Applicant further argues on page 8 that in Lin only when the "first uplink duty cycle" exceeds the "maximum uplink duty cycle," power back-off is executed, and that Lin does not disclose how to perform under the condition of "the first uplink duty cycle is less than the maximum uplink duty cycle." According to the Applicant Lin specifies that power back-off is executed when either "the first uplink duty cycle exceeds the maximum uplink duty cycle" or "the second uplink duty cycle exceeds the maximum uplink duty cycle", which is essentially different from that of two combining conditions defined in amended claim 1.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees, as performing back-off only makes sense when either when the first uplink duty cycle for the first link is exceeded (as transmissions on the second link would not be possible), or when the uplink duty cycle of the first link is not exceeded but the second uplink duty cycle is greater than a second maximum uplink duty cycle.
Conclusion
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/GERMAN VIANA DI PRISCO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2642