DETAILED ACTION
This Non-Final Office Action is in response to application number 17/796,421 filed on July 29th 2022. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed on 07/29/2022.
Information Disclosure Statements
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS), submitted on July 29th, 2022, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 June 29th, 2026, has been entered.
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 may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-2, 5-9,11-13 and 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (WO-2018223349-A1) in view of Zander et al. (WO 2017157480 A1) further in view of Luo et al. (US-20210250786-A1).
Regarding claim 1, Chen et al. disclose a method for controlling uplink (UL), UL, transmission, carried out in a user equipment (UE), UE, comprising a radio unit configured for communication with a wireless network, comprising: receiving information from the wireless network, which information identifies scheduling of one or more downlink (DL) , DL, reference signals, usable for estimating a time and/or frequency error of the radio unit (Paragraph 0021 discloses transmission of the CSI-RS trigger by the base station to the UE, indicating transmission of CSI-RS after a timing delay); wherein the information indicates timing of a first reference signal prior to or during the scheduled transmission pattern (Paragraph 0021 discloses the timing or time delay corresponding to CSI-RS transmission and UL data transmission, where by collisions are possible).
Chen et al. fail to explicitly disclose receiving, from the wireless network, scheduling of an UL transmission pattern for transmission of a plurality of repeated transmissions of the same UL data, such that the wireless network is enabled to average over multiple received repetitions of the same UL data; postponing one of the plurality of repeated transmissions for a first duration comprising the first reference signal, responsive to the timing of the first reference signal occurring during the scheduled transmission pattern, so as to enable the radio unit to receive the first reference signal during the first duration, and resuming transmission of the plurality of repeated transmissions according to said transmit pattern after said first duration.
However, in an analogous art, Zander et al. teaches receiving, from the wireless network, scheduling of an UL transmission pattern for transmission of a plurality of repeated transmissions of the same UL data, such that the wireless network is enabled to average over multiple received repetitions of the same UL data (WO 2017157480 A1 Column 18 Lines 22- 31 discloses “The eNB 150 may then schedule transmission of these smaller transport blocks using conventional scheduling mechanisms. The radio device 100 could then be configured with corresponding rules to take into account that the eNB 150 will not schedule UL transmissions exceeding a certain duration. In some implementations such rules configured in the radio device could define that when a UL transmission of the radio device 100 is scheduled there is be a maximum duration (e.g., of T 1) which the radio device 100 may continuously transmit and a minimum duration (e.g., of T2) that the radio…” Column 12 Lines 5-24 discloses “As mentioned above, in the case of the radio device 100, the extreme coverage range C3 involves repeatedly transmitting the UL message 20 so that the eNB 150 may perform averaging over multiple received repetitions of the same data and thereby improve its reception performance.”); postponing one of the plurality of repeated transmissions for a first duration comprising the first reference signal, responsive to the timing of the first reference signal occurring during the scheduled transmission pattern, so as to enable the radio unit to receive the first reference signal during the first duration, and resuming transmission of the plurality of repeated transmissions according to said transmit pattern after said first duration (WO 2017157480 A1 Column 4 Lines 16- 21 discloses “In addition or as an alternative, the downlink control information may also comprise a pause indicator. In response to receiving the pause indicator, the radio device may suspend the repetitive transmission of the uplink message. The pause indicator may alternatively or additionally indicate the time at which the radio device should recommend transmission of the uplink message.” Column 6 lines 12-14 discloses “While the repetitive transmission of the uplink messages is suspended, the base station may reallocate uplink radio resources assigned to
transmission of the uplink message.” Column 12 Lines 11-16 discloses “Alternatively or in addition, the DL signals may 10 also include synchronization signals, such as a PSS (Primary Synchronization Signal) or SSS (Secondary Synchronization Signal) of the LTE or NB-loT radio technology. Further, the DL signals 10 may also include reference signals, such as CRS of the L TE radio technology or the NB-RS of NB-loT”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Chen et al. to incorporate the teachings of Zander et al., to receive from the wireless network, scheduling of an UL transmission pattern and to postponing one of the plurality of repeated transmissions for a first duration comprising the first reference signal , in order to implement mechanisms that enhance and support improved performance by minimizing interference.
Chen et al. and Zander et al. fail to explicitly disclose receiving the first reference signal during the first duration to estimate said time and/or frequency error.
However, in an analogous art, Luo et al. teaches receiving the first reference signal to estimate said time and/or frequency error (Paragraph 0083 discloses “…the UE 115-a may use the associated Periodic/Semi-Periodic Tracking Reference Signal resources to measure associated TRSs and track transmit/receive beam beams and estimate time and frequency error.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Chen et al. and Zander et al. to incorporate the teachings of Luo et al., to receive and use the tracking reference signal to estimate time and frequency error, in order to synchronize UEs local oscillator frequency with the base station frequency.
Regarding claim 2, Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. disclose the method of claim 1, wherein said first reference signal is a periodic reference signal (Paragraph 0048 discloses the periodic CSI-RS).
Regarding claim 5, Chen et al. and Luo et al. disclose the method of claim 1.
Chen et al. fail to explicitly disclose controlling the radio unit based on a control rule, responsive to the timing of the first reference signal occurring during the scheduled transmission pattern, to perform the steps of dropping one of the plurality of repeated transmissions or the postponing one of the plurality of repeated transmissions for the first duration.
However, in an analogous art, Zander et al. teaches controlling the radio unit based on a control rule, responsive to the timing of the first reference signal occurring during the scheduled transmission pattern, to perform the steps of dropping one of the plurality of repeated transmissions or the postponing one of the plurality of repeated transmissions for the first duration (WO 2017157480 A1 Column 4 Lines 16- 21 discloses “In addition or as an alternative, the downlink control information may also comprise a pause indicator. In response to receiving the pause indicator, the radio device may suspend the repetitive transmission of the uplink message. The pause indicator may alternatively or additionally indicate the time at which the radio device should recommend transmission of the uplink message.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Chen et al. and Luo et al. to incorporate the teachings of Zander et al., to facilitate the dropping or postponing of repeated UL transmissions responsive to scheduled reference signals, in order to implement mechanisms that enhance and support improved downlink performance by minimizing interference.
Regarding claim 6, Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. disclose the method of claim 5, wherein said control rule is shared by the wireless network and the UE (Paragraph 0059 discloses the UE and the base station determining whether to suppress either CSI-RS or the UL data).
Regarding claim 7, Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. disclose the method of claim 5, comprising: receiving a control message from the wireless network, identifying said control rule (Paragraph 0061 discloses the base station transmitting the control message to the UE).
Regarding claim 8, Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. disclose method of claim 5, wherein the control rule determines the controlling dependent on channel type for the scheduled UL transmission pattern (Paragraph 0046 discloses the base station acquiring the UL channel information and paragraph 0049 discloses collision handling rules for the acquired channel).
Regarding claim 9, Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. disclose the method of claim 5, wherein the first duration comprises at least one timeslot for the periodic reference signal (Paragraph 0060 discloses that the backoff period required to avoid a collision, equivalent to the first duration is at least one slot).
Regarding claim 11, Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. disclose the method of claim 1, wherein said first reference signal is transmitted from one of a serving base station, of the wireless network, to which the UE is connected, or a neighbor base station to the serving base station (Paragraphs 0047- 0048 and FIG.2 disclose the serving base station to which the UE is connected and the transmission of the CSI-RS).
Regarding claim 12, Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the UE is configured to carry out said communication in one of full Time Division Duplex (TDD), TDD, and half-duplex Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) (Paragraph 0045).
Regarding claim 13, Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. disclose the method of claim 1, wherein said first reference signal is an aperiodic first reference signal scheduled prior to the scheduled transmission pattern (Paragraph 0048 discloses that the CSI-RS is scheduled prior to the transmission pattern).
Regarding claim 16, Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. disclose the method of claim 13, wherein the aperiodic first reference signal is scheduled based on a rule (Paragraphs 0048 and 0055).
Regarding claim 17, Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. disclose the method of claim 16, wherein said information is received at a first frequency, and wherein the aperiodic first reference signal is scheduled at the first frequency and the UL transmission pattern is scheduled at a second frequency (Paragraphs 0085, 0088 and FIG.6 disclose transmission of CSI-RS from the base station on CC1-CC6 and the transmission of the UL data on a different frequency).
Regarding claim 18, Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. disclose the method of claim 16., wherein, dependent on said rule, said information identifies scheduling of the aperiodic first signal responsive to a time parameter T exceeding a predetermined period T between frequency error estimation occasions (Paragraph 0022 discloses the communication configuration for the CSI-RS and the uplink data such that no collision occurs. The communication configuration for the CSI-RS includes delaying one of the colliding signals. Paragraph 0055 discloses the time parameter X equivalent to T).
Regarding claim 19, Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. disclose the method of claim 18, wherein the time parameter T comprises a period between a last received reference signal and an end time of the scheduled UL transmission repetitions (Paragraph 0055 discloses time parameter X equivalent to T).
Regarding claim 20, Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. disclose the method of claim 18, wherein the time parameter T comprises a period of received periodic DL reference signals (Paragraph 0055 discloses the time parameter X equivalent to T configured by a downlink control signal).
Claims 31 and 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (WO-2018223349-A1) in view of Zander et al. (WO 2017157480 A1) in view of Luo et al. (US-20210250786-A1) further in view of Islam et al. ((US 20180324816 A1).
Regarding claim 31, Chen et al. disclose the method of claim 5.
Chen et al. fail to explicitly disclose wherein the control rule is based on a number of repetitions of the transmission pattern in total.
However in an analogous art Islam et al. teaches wherein the control rule is based on a number of repetitions of the transmission pattern in total (US 20180324816 A1 Paragraph 0249 discloses “The modification of the assigned grant can be dropping the grant for the entire scheduled transmission, modify the time-frequency resources assigned originally for entire or part of the scheduled transmission, pre-empting or postponing part of the resources assigned to the scheduled transmission, adjusting transmission parameters, e.g., MCS, power or RV or repetition number. UE can be configured (e.g., by RRC signaling) to monitor at least one sub-sequent control signaling that may be sent to modify the previously allocated grant.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Chen et al. to incorporate the teachings of Islam et al., to wherein the control rule is based on a number of repetitions of the transmission pattern in total, in order optimize resource allocation, enhance user experience and improve overall network performance.
Regarding claim 32, Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. disclose the method of claim 5.
Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. fail to explicitly disclose wherein the control rule is based on a number of repetitions of the transmission pattern after receipt of the reference signal.
However in an analogous art Islam et al. teaches wherein the control rule is based on a number of repetitions of the transmission pattern after receipt of the reference signal (US 20180324816 A1 Paragraph 0249 discloses “The modification of the assigned grant can be dropping the grant for the entire scheduled transmission, modify the time-frequency resources assigned originally for entire or part of the scheduled transmission, pre-empting or postponing part of the resources assigned to the scheduled transmission, adjusting transmission parameters, e.g., MCS, power or RV or repetition number. UE can be configured (e.g., by RRC signaling) to monitor at least one sub-sequent control signaling that may be sent to modify the previously allocated grant.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. to incorporate the teachings of Islam et al., to wherein the control rule is based on a number of repetitions of the transmission pattern after receipt of the reference signal, in order optimize resource allocation, enhance user experience and improve overall network performance
Claims 10,14 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (WO-2018223349-A1) in view of Zander et al. (WO 2017157480 A1) in view of Luo et al. (US-20210250786-A1) further in view of Liu et al. (US-20190044678-A1).
Regarding claim 10, Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. disclose the method of claim 9.
Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. fail to explicitly teach that the first duration comprises a guard time.
However, in an analogous art, Liu et al. disclose that the first duration comprises a guard time (Paragraphs 0177-0179 disclose the procedure used to reduce uplink capability).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. to incorporate the teachings of Liu et al., to ensure that the first duration comprises a guard time, in order to prevent interference and ensure signal integrity.
Regarding claim 14 and 15, Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. disclose the method of claim 13.
Chen et al., Zander et al. and Luo et al. fail to explicitly teach transmitting UE capability information to the network, identifying a request for an aperiodic reference signal, wherein the information identifying scheduling of the aperiodic first reference signal is received responsive to said request.
However, in an analogous art, Liu et al. disclose transmitting UE capability information to the network, identifying a request for an aperiodic reference signal, wherein the information identifying scheduling of the aperiodic first reference signal is received responsive to said request (Paragraph 00097 discloses transmission by the UE and reception by the base station uplink carrier aggregation capabilities of the UE and the reception by the UE based on the capabilities of the UE the uplink configuration).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Chen et al.,Zander et al. and Luo et al. to incorporate the teachings of Liu et al., to transmit UE capabilities in the UL and receive in the DL the UL configuration, in order optimize resource allocation, enhance user experience and improve overall network performance).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 has been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Samuel Dilan Rutnam whose telephone number is 703-756-1374. The examiner can normally be reached between 8:30am-5:00pm Mon-Fri.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached on 571-272-8586.
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/Samuel Dilan Rutnam/
Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/MOHAMMAD S ADHAMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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