DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 10 July 2026 has been entered. Claims 6 and 8-10 are currently amended; claims 1-5 and 7 are cancelled; no claims are previously presented; no claims have been added. Claims 6 and 8-10 are pending and ready for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
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.
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.
Claims 6 and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai et al. (US 2018/0376511 A1), hereafter referred Tsai, in view of Zhou et al. (US 2021/0152234 A1), hereafter referred Zhou.
Regarding claim 6, Tsai teaches a terminal comprising:
a reception unit that receives broadcast information including a configured value of a control resource set (Tsai, [0036]; CORESET configuration for PDCCHs in a RACH procedure is provided to the UE through a higher layer signaling); and
a control unit that determines a number of resource blocks and a number of symbols of a control resource set for a cell search based on first information, wherein the first information is specified for a first frequency range, and the first information associates the configured value of the control resource set with the number of resource blocks and the number of symbols of the control resource set (Tsai, [0033]-[0036]; the first CORESET configuration indicates related information of the CORESET including number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) and number of OFDM symbols), and the second information associates the configured value of the control resource set with the number of resource blocks and the number of symbols of the control resource set (Tsai, [0033]-[0037]; the second CORESET configuration is provided and indicates related information of the CORESET including number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) and number of OFDM symbols).
Tsai does not expressly teach wherein the first frequency range is 52.6 GHz to 71 GHz, the first information differs from second information, the second information is specified for a second frequency range that is 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz.
However, Zhou teaches wherein the first frequency range is 52.6 GHz to 71 GHz, the first information differs from second information, the second information is specified for a second frequency range that is 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz (Zhou, [0033]-[0035]; in 5G NR, operating bands can be FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz), FR4-a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz-71 GHz), where each of these higher frequency bands fall within the EHF band).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Tsai to include the above recited limitations as taught by Zhou in order to extend 5G NR operation beyond 52.6 GHz and fully take advantage of millimeter wave bands which are in the extremely high frequency (EHF) band of 30 GHz-300 GHz (Zhou, [0033]-[0034]).
Regarding claim 8, Tsai teaches a base station comprising:
a transmission unit that transmits, to a terminal, broadcast information including a configured value of a control resource set (Tsai, [0033]-[0036]; base station may provide a CORESET configuration and a search space configuration to the UE by its transmitter); and
a control unit that assumes that a number of resource blocks and a number of symbols of a control resource set for a cell search are determined based on first information, wherein the first information is specified for a first frequency range, and the first information associates the configured value of the control resource set with the number of resource blocks and the number of symbols of the control resource set (Tsai, [0033]-[0036]; the first CORESET configuration indicates related information of the CORESET including number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) and number of OFDM symbols), and the second information associates the configured value of the control resource set with the number of resource blocks and the number of symbols of the control resource set (Tsai, [0033]-[0037]; the second CORESET configuration is provided and indicates related information of the CORESET including number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) and number of OFDM symbols).
Tsai does not expressly teach wherein the first frequency range is 52.6 GHz to 71 GHz, the first information differs from second information, the second information is specified for a second frequency range that is 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz.
However, Zhou teaches wherein the first frequency range is 52.6 GHz to 71 GHz, the first information differs from second information, the second information is specified for a second frequency range that is 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz (Zhou, [0033]-[0035]; in 5G NR, operating bands can be FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz), FR4-a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz-71 GHz), where each of these higher frequency bands fall within the EHF band).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Tsai to include the above recited limitations as taught by Zhou in order to extend 5G NR operation beyond 52.6 GHz and fully take advantage of millimeter wave bands which are in the extremely high frequency (EHF) band of 30 GHz-300 GHz (Zhou, [0033]-[0034]).
Regarding claim 9, Tsai teaches a communication method executed by a terminal, the method comprising:
receiving broadcast information including a configured value of a control resource set (Tsai, [0036]; CORESET configuration for PDCCHs in a RACH procedure is provided to the UE through a higher layer signaling); and
determining a number of resource blocks and a number of symbols of a control resource set for a cell search based on first information, wherein the first information is specified for a first frequency range, and the first information associates the configured value of the control resource set with the number of resource blocks and the number of symbols of the control resource set (Tsai, [0033]-[0036]; the first CORESET configuration indicates related information of the CORESET including number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) and number of OFDM symbols), and the second information associates the configured value of the control resource set with the number of resource blocks and the number of symbols of the control resource set (Tsai, [0033]-[0037]; the second CORESET configuration is provided and indicates related information of the CORESET including number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) and number of OFDM symbols).
Tsai does not expressly teach wherein the first frequency range is 52.6 GHz to 71 GHz, the first information differs from second information, the second information is specified for a second frequency range that is 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz.
However, Zhou teaches wherein the first frequency range is 52.6 GHz to 71 GHz, the first information differs from second information, the second information is specified for a second frequency range that is 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz (Zhou, [0033]-[0035]; in 5G NR, operating bands can be FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz), FR4-a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz-71 GHz), where each of these higher frequency bands fall within the EHF band).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Tsai to include the above recited limitations as taught by Zhou in order to extend 5G NR operation beyond 52.6 GHz and fully take advantage of millimeter wave bands which are in the extremely high frequency (EHF) band of 30 GHz-300 GHz (Zhou, [0033]-[0034]).
Regarding claim 10, Tsai teaches a communication system comprising:
a base station (Tsai, Fig. 1; base station 110); and
a terminal (Tsai, Fig. 1; user equipment 120),
wherein the base station includes a transmission unit that transmits, to a terminal, broadcast information including a configured value of a control resource set (Tsai, [0033]-[0036]; base station may provide a CORESET configuration and a search space configuration to the UE by its transmitter); and
a control unit that assumes that a number of resource blocks and a number of symbols of a control resource set for a cell search are determined based on first information (Tsai, [0033]-[0036]; the first CORESET configuration indicates related information of the CORESET including number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) and number of OFDM symbols),
wherein the terminal includes
a reception unit that receives, from the base station, the broadcast information including the configured value of the control resource set (Tsai, [0033]-[0036]; base station may provide a CORESET configuration and a search space configuration to the UE by its transmitter); and
a control unit that determines the number of resource blocks and the number of symbols of the control resource set for the cell search based on the first information (Tsai, [0033]-[0036]; the first CORESET configuration indicates related information of the CORESET including number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) and number of OFDM symbols), and
wherein the second information associates the configured value of the control resource set with the number of resource blocks and the number of symbols of the control resource set (Tsai, [0033]-[0037]; the second CORESET configuration is provided and indicates related information of the CORESET including number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) and number of OFDM symbols).
Tsai does not expressly teach wherein the first frequency range is 52.6 GHz to 71 GHz, the first information differs from second information, the second information is specified for a second frequency range that is 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz.
However, Zhou teaches wherein the first frequency range is 52.6 GHz to 71 GHz, the first information differs from second information, the second information is specified for a second frequency range that is 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz (Zhou, [0033]-[0035]; in 5G NR, operating bands can be FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz), FR4-a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz-71 GHz), where each of these higher frequency bands fall within the EHF band).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Tsai to include the above recited limitations as taught by Zhou in order to extend 5G NR operation beyond 52.6 GHz and fully take advantage of millimeter wave bands which are in the extremely high frequency (EHF) band of 30 GHz-300 GHz (Zhou, [0033]-[0034]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
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/R.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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