CTFR 17/771,789 CTFR 81681 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Response to Arguments 07-37 AIA Applicant's arguments filed 2/18/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Argument : Applicant argued (Remarks 2/18/2026, page 4, 2 nd last paragraph): “With respect to the underlined features, the shared data channel signal transmitted by the base station of Taoka is not a broadcast information signal. In addition, the shared data channel of Taoka is "transmitted from the antennas 202A-202H as a directional beam having high directivity in the direction of a destination mobile station." Thus, Taoka assumes a unicast transmission, which is different from transmitting to a plurality of communication apparatuses as recited. Accordingly, Taoka does not disclose the underlined features of claim 11. Response : In another embodiment, Taoka discloses “… broadcast information to a plurality of communication apparatuses by a radio communication, the broadcast information being based including information on a result of the estimation of the direction of the arrival.”. Taoka discloses: column 5, lines 49 – 55 discloses: “ DOA information based on a signal(s) received from each mobile station via the antennas 202A-202H. The DOA information is used by the transmitting antenna weight multiplying unit 222 to obtain antenna weights used to multiply transmission signals . ”; column 5, lines 65+ discloses: “ Meanwhile, to obtain antenna weights used by the base station based on the DOA information, the mobile station also needs antenna information including the number of antennas, the configuration of antennas, and the distance between antennas . The antenna information may be predetermined between the base station 20 and mobile stations to be used with the base station 20. Alternatively , the antenna information may be reported from the base station 20 to the mobile stations as broadcast information (i.e., via a broadcast channel) before the shared data channels multiplexed with the DOA information are transmitted from the base station 20 to the mobile stations ….” column 6, lines 19 - 21 discloses: “ As described above, the base station 20 of this embodiment makes it possible to report antenna weights to the mobile station without using a dedicated reference signal….”; wherein the “ information on a result of the estimation of the direction of the arrival” is interpreted as the antenna weights and it clear that in the alternate embodiment, the antenna weights are reported to the mobile stations). Argument : Applicant argued (Remarks 2/18/2026, page 4, last paragraph): “With respect to the italicized features, while the shared channel signal of Taoka may be generated using weights based on an estimation of a direction of arrival, the shared data channel signal transmitted by the base station of Taoka does not include information on a result of the estimation of the direction of arrival. Response : This is addressed as in argument a) response, where antenna weights and information are broadcast to the mobile stations. The above response is repeated below in claim 1 rejection . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 11 - 12, 18 – 19, 21, 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taoka et al. (US 8462714 B2) in view of Qin et al. (US 20200014515) . Regarding claim 11, Taoka discloses a base station (Abstract discloses “ …base station with a direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation unit configured to estimate a direction of arrival based on a signal from a mobile station … ”; Fig. 2; column 1, lines 7 - 13; column 3, lines 17 – 18) comprising: circuitry, which, in operation, receives information from a communication apparatus (Fig. 1, UE transmits signal to base station; Abstract discloses “ A base station communicating using multiple antennas includes a direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation unit configured to estimate a direction of arrival based on a signal from a mobile station ..”; wherein the communication apparatus is the UE) , and performs an estimation of a direction of an arrival (Fig. 2, block 206; column 2, lines 47 - 52; column 5, lines 20 - 25) ; and a transmitter, which, in operation, transmits broadcast information to a plurality of communication apparatuses by a radio communication, the broadcast information including information on a result of the estimation of the direction of the arrival ( column 5, lines 49 – 55 discloses: “ DOA information based on a signal(s) received from each mobile station via the antennas 202A-202H. The DOA information is used by the transmitting antenna weight multiplying unit 222 to obtain antenna weights used to multiply transmission signals . ”; column 5, lines 65+ discloses: “ Meanwhile, to obtain antenna weights used by the base station based on the DOA information, the mobile station also needs antenna information including the number of antennas, the configuration of antennas, and the distance between antennas . The antenna information may be predetermined between the base station 20 and mobile stations to be used with the base station 20. Alternatively , the antenna information may be reported from the base station 20 to the mobile stations as broadcast information (i.e., via a broadcast channel) before the shared data channels multiplexed with the DOA information are transmitted from the base station 20 to the mobile stations ….” column 6, lines 19 - 21 discloses: “ As described above, the base station 20 of this embodiment makes it possible to report antenna weights to the mobile station without using a dedicated reference signal….”; wherein the “ information on a result of the estimation of the direction of the arrival” is interpreted as the antenna weights and it clear that in the alternate embodiment, the antenna weights are reported to the mobile stations). Taoka does not explicitly disclose the signal from the UE that is received by the base station is associated with a resource and the limitation “based on the information of the resource and by using a reference signal on the resource”. In the same field of endeavor, however, Qin discloses based on the information of the resource and by using a reference signal on the resource” ([0153] discloses “ In this case, the ports of the second reference signals on the plurality of second reference signal resources and a port of the first reference signal on a first reference signal resource have a corresponding QCL relationship or spatial features corresponding to uplink and downlink. For example, AODs of the ports of the second reference signals on all the second reference signal resources correspond to an AOA of a port of the first reference signal on a first reference signal resource ”; ports can be selected based on QCL relationship or spatial features; [0031] discloses predetermined reception SNR must be satisfied. Hence port can be selected based on this criterion). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was filed, to use the method, as taught by Qin in the system of Taoka because selecting a resource, according to a port relationship, would result in the best reception SNR, as is well known in the art. Regarding claim 12, Taoka does not disclose the resource used for the reference signal is selected from a plurality of resources allocated to the reference signal. In the same field of endeavor, however, Qin discloses a resource used for the uplink reference signal is selected from a plurality of resources of the reference signal ( same as in claim 11 : [0153] discloses “ In this case, the ports of the second reference signals on the plurality of second reference signal resources and a port of the first reference signal on a first reference signal resource have a corresponding QCL relationship or spatial features corresponding to uplink and downlink. For example, AODs of the ports of the second reference signals on all the second reference signal resources correspond to an AOA of a port of the first reference signal on a first reference signal resource ”; ports can be selected based on QCL relationship or spatial features; [0031] discloses predetermined reception SNR must be satisfied. Hence port can be selected based on this criterion). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was filed, to use the method, as taught by Qin in the system of JP2018121190A because selecting a resource, according to a port relationship, would result in the best reception SNR, as is well known in the art. Claim 18 is similarly analyzed as claim 11, with claim 18 reciting equivalent method limitations. Regarding claim 19, Taoka does not disclose the reference signal is repeatedly arranged in a frame. In the same field of endeavor, however, Qin discloses the reference signal is repeatedly arranged in a frame ([0120], last sentence discloses “ The reference signal transmitted in the multi-slot manner may be further repeatedly sent on a same bandwidth by using different transmit beams or repeatedly received on a same bandwidth by using different receive beams ”; [0111] discloses “ Different terminals 120 may send reference signals on a same subframe …”). Regarding claim 21, Taoka does not disclose the information of the resource includes information on a time domain used for communication. In the same field of endeavor, however, Qin discloses the information of the resource includes information on a time domain used for communication ([0010] discloses “ In a possible implementation, the reference signal sending configuration information includes an indication of a time-frequency resource that is used to transmit the reference signal,.. ”; [0016] discloses “ In a possible implementation, the reference signal configuration information includes one or more types of the following information: …. and a correspondence between a time domain resource and a frequency domain position of the reference signal in the frequency domain unit .”; [0022] & [0040] disclose similar). Regarding claim 24, Taoka discloses directionalities in precoding are configured for each symbol of the reference signal (Figs. 4(A) and (B), 4 and 6 antennas; column 7, lines 57 – column 8, line 8; similar in lines 9+ for Fig. 4(B); directionality done by Fig. 2, block 222) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taoka et al. (US 8462714 B2) in view of Qin et al. (US 20200014515) and further in view of WO2015148434A1 (hereafter WO434). Regarding claim 20, Taoka does not disclose the information of the resource includes information on a frequency band used for communication and an address of another communication apparatus. In the same field of endeavor, however, Qin discloses the information of the resource includes information on a frequency band used for communication ([0010] discloses “ In a possible implementation, the reference signal sending configuration information includes an indication of a time-frequency resource that is used to transmit the reference signal,.. ”; [0016] discloses “ In a possible implementation, the reference signal configuration information includes one or more types of the following information: …. and a correspondence between a time domain resource and a frequency domain position of the reference signal in the frequency domain unit .”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was filed, to use the method, as taught by Qin in the system of Taoka because knowing the frequency domain position of the reference signal would allow the receiver to demodulate and process it correctly. In the same field of endeavor, however, WO434 discloses the information of the resource includes information on an address of another communication apparatus ([0283] discloses “… the identifier of the UE comprises a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the UE ”; [0284] discloses “ … the cellular transceiver is to send to the eNB a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message including the identifier of the UE ”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was filed, to use the method, as taught by WO434 in the system of Taoka because this would allow the base station to know which UE the resources are associated with. This would be essential in an environment where there are multiple UEs communication with the base station, so the base station can distinguish between the UEs . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taoka et al. (US 8462714 B2) in view of Qin et al. (US 20200014515) and further in view of Gong et al. (US 20180330624 A1) . Regarding claim 22, Taoka does not disclose a guard section is repeatedly arranged in the frame. In the same field of endeavor, however, Gong discloses a guard section is repeatedly arranged in the frame ([0006] discloses “ In some cases, the data transmission unit includes a data transmission frame for instance a management frame. In some cases, the data transmission unit includes a subframe. In alternatively cases, the data transmission unit includes a plurality of subframes or frames .”, wherein a frame would be a plurality of subframes; Fig. 5, guard interval 507 can occur before and after monitoring subframe 503; [0117] discloses “ In some cases, there can be an inter-subframe guard interval 507 to ensure that distinct transmissions used for the monitoring subframe 503 and the subsequence subframe 509 do not interfere with each other. Similarly, a guard interval may be provided between the subframe 505 and the monitoring subframe 503.” ). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was filed, to use the method, as taught by Gong in the system of Taoka because guard intervals would ensure that adjacent transmission do not interfere with each other, as disclosed by Gong ([0117] discloses “In some cases, there can be an inter-subframe guard interval 507 to ensure that distinct transmissions used for the monitoring subframe 503 and the subsequence subframe 509 do not interfere with each other. ”) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taoka et al. (US 8462714 B2) in view of Qin et al. (US 20200014515) and further in view of Eitan et al. (US 20200371220) . Regarding claim 23, Taoka discloses obtaining direction of arrival (Fig. 2, block 206; wherein direction of mobile station will be known; distance is not known). Taoka does not disclose the frame is a sensing frame. In the same field of endeavor, however, Eitan discloses the frame is a sensing frame (Fig. 4, block 402; [0064]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was filed, to use the method, as taught by Eitan in the system of Taoka because the sensing frame would provide all the setup parameters needed for sensing, as disclosed by Eitan ([0064]; [0081]). Other Prior Art Cited The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the applicant’s disclosure. The following patents/publications are cited to further show the state of the art with respect to performing directional radio communication: Nilsson et al. (US 11949486) discloses Beam Selection for A Radio Transceiver Device. Chung (US 7457587) discloses Method and Apparatus for Forming Array Antenna Beam of Mobile Terminal. Conclusion 07-40 AIA Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL . See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action. Contact Information Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ADOLF DSOUZA whose telephone number is (571)272-1043. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 9 AM - 5 PM. 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, Chieh M Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. 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. /ADOLF DSOUZA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632 Application/Control Number: 17/771,789 Page 2 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 17/771,789 Page 3 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 17/771,789 Page 4 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 17/771,789 Page 5 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 17/771,789 Page 6 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 17/771,789 Page 7 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 17/771,789 Page 8 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 17/771,789 Page 9 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 17/771,789 Page 10 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 17/771,789 Page 11 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 17/771,789 Page 12 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 17/771,789 Page 13 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 17/771,789 Page 14 Art Unit: 2632
Prosecution Insights