DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present U.S. non-provisional application, filed on August 16, 2022, 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 January 20, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This Office action is responsive to the amendment and arguments on December 19, 2025. Claims 1, 19, 20 and 30 were amended. Claims 1, 3-8, 10-20, 22-27, 29 and 30 are pending for re-consideration in the present U.S. non-provisional application.
Response to Arguments
The arguments (pages 8-10) directed to the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been considered. The arguments are directed to the amendment, but they are considered as not sufficient to overcome the rejections. The arguments indicate that Sheng does not disclose wherein the MIB is an extended MIB including an extended amount of first information bits and is configured for one or more of the UE or the repeater or wherein the SIB is an extended SIB including an extended amount of second information bits and is configured for one or more of the UE or the repeater, wherein both of the extended amount of first information bits and the extended amount of second information bits correspond to an acquisition of a cell associated with the network node via the repeater. However, the claim language “or wherein” appears to make an extended amount of bits and their correspondence to an acquisition optional because receiving a SIB or a MIB is previously recited in the alternative (MPEP 2131, “…When a claim covers several structures or compositions, either generically or as alternatives, the claim is deemed anticipated if any of the structures or compositions within the scope of the claim is known in the prior art…” It is noted that limiting either alternative of receiving a SIB or MIB via “or wherein” language has no apparent limiting effect on the other of the SIB or MIB.) Accordingly, the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 are maintained.
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.
Claims 1, 3-8, 10-20, 22-27, 29 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable over Abedini et al. (US 2022/0053433 A1) in view of Sheng (US 2018/0092027 A1).
1. An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and, based at least in part on information stored in the memory, the at least one processor is configured (Abedini, FIG. 31) to:
receive, from a network node via a repeater, at least one of a system information block (SIB) (Sheng, paras. [0264], [0278], “…Message 5-3-1 comprises a system information availability message that indicates that the UE-to-Network Relay (UTNR) node 24 is capable of providing system information to an interested remote/evolved remote UE 26. Such system information may be sidelink system information, or SIBX, or SIB-NB, or SIB18/SIB19. For example, the message 5-3-1 may indicate that the UE-to-Network Relay (UTNR) node 24 is capable of and ready for relaying SIB18/SIB19 information. As a general example, message 5-3-1 may even include SIB18/SSIB19 information, and thereby indicate that the UTNR is ready to transmit system information necessary for the remote/evolved remote UE 26, if requested…”) or a synchronization signal block (SSB) including a master information block (MIB), wherein the MIB is an extended MIB including an extended amount of first information bits and is configured for one or more of the UE or the repeater or wherein the SIB is an extended SIB including an extended amount of second information bits and is configured for one or more of the UE or the repeater, wherein both of the extended amount of first information bits and the extended amount of second information bits correspond to an acquisition of a cell associated with the network node via the repeater (MPEP 2131, “…When a claim covers several structures or compositions, either generically or as alternatives, the claim is deemed anticipated if any of the structures or compositions within the scope of the claim is known in the prior art…” It is noted that the alternative of receiving a SIB is described in Sheng, therefore limiting the alternative of receiving a MIB via “or wherein” has no apparent limiting effect on the SIB.); and
process at least one of the SIB or the MIB after receiving at least one of the SIB or the MIB (Abedini, paras. [0115], [0368], “…In the example of FIG. 31, the network access node 3102 may first broadcast a master information block (MIB) 3108a, 3108b. The repeater device 3104 and the UE 3106 may each receive the MIB 3108a, 3108b. The MIB 3108a, 3108b may be transmitted over a broadcast channel (BCH) transport channel and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) physical channel. The MIB 3108a, 3108b may include parameters required to decode the SystemInformationBlockType 1 (SIB1) and other information...” Id.)
Abedini et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Sheng provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as receive, from a network node via a repeater, at least one of a system information block (SIB) (Sheng, paras. [0264], [0278], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Sheng are for reasons of enabling an evolved remote UE to obtain system information (Sheng, paras. [0019], [0278], “What is needed, therefore, and an example object of the technology disclosed herein, are methods, apparatus, and techniques for enabling a remote UE/evolved remote UE to obtain system information…”) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of enabling an evolved remote UE to obtain system information.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the extended MIB includes a higher amount of the first information bits compared to at least one other MIB, or wherein the extended SIB includes a higher amount of the second information bits compared to at least one other SIB (MPEP 2131, Id.)
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the MIB is a repeater-specific MIB and the SIB is a repeater-specific SIB (Abedini, paras. [0115], [0368], Id.)
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the repeater-specific SIB fails to include first information in at least one other SIB (MPEP 2131, Id.)
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the information in the at least one other SIB includes one or more of: cell selection information, a random access channel (RACH) configuration, common cell reselection information, a new radio (NR) intra-frequency neighbor cell list and reselection criteria, an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) neighbor cell list and reselection criteria, earthquake and tsunami warning system (ETWS) information, a global positioning satellite (GPS) time, or a coordinated universal time (UTC) (MPEP 2131, Id.)
7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the UE operates in frequency range 5 (FR5) (MPEP 2143, FR5 is considered as a simple substitution of one known frequency range for another that yields predictable results.)
8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the SIB is a type 1 SIB (SIB1) (Abedini, paras. [0115], [0368], Id.)
10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the MIB includes at least one of: cell selection information, common cell reselection information, barring information, or UE timer and constant information (Abedini, paras. [0115], [0368], Id.)
11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the MIB further includes at least one of: a system frame number, a subcarrier spacing, an SSB subcarrier offset, a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) type A position, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) configuration for a type 1 SIB (SIB1), a cell barred status, or an intra-frequency reselection status (Abedini, paras. [0115], [0368], Id.)
12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein to receive the MIB, the at least one processor is configured to receive the MIB via a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) (Abedini, paras. [0115], [0368], Id.)
13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the PBCH includes at least one of a higher amount of channel bits or a higher amount of information bits compared to at least one other PBCH (MPEP 2131, Id.)
14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein if the PBCH includes the higher amount of the information bits, the PBCH includes a higher coding rate compared to the at least one other PBCH (MPEP 2131, Id.)
15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein to receive the SIB, the at least one processor is configured to receive the SIB after the SSB including the MIB (Abedini, paras. [0115], [0368], Id.)
16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein to receive the SIB, the at least one processor is configured to receive the SIB via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) (MPEP 2131, Id.)
17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: transmit, to a network node, a request for an adjusted configuration for at least one of the MIB or the SIB (Sheng, paras. [0019], [0278], Id.)
18. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one of a transceiver or an antenna coupled to the at least one processor, wherein at least one of the transceiver or the antenna is configured to receive at least one of the SIB or the SSB including the MIB (Abedini, FIG. 31, Id.)
19. A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (Abedini, FIG. 31, Id.), comprising:
receiving, from a network node via a repeater, at least one of a system information block (SIB) (Sheng, paras. [0264], [0278], Id.) or a synchronization signal block (SSB) including a master information block (MIB), wherein the MIB is an extended MIB including an extended amount of first information bits and is configured for one or more of the UE or the repeater or wherein the SIB is an extended SIB including an extended amount of second information bits and is configured for one or more of the UE or the repeater, wherein both of the extended amount of first information bits and the extended amount of second information bits correspond to an acquisition of a cell associated with the network node via the repeater (MPEP 2131, Id.); and
processing at least one of the SIB or the MIB after receiving at least one of the SIB or the MIB (Abedini, paras. [0115], [0368], Id. cf. Claim 1).
Abedini et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Sheng provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as receiving, from a network node via a repeater, at least one of a system information block (SIB) (Sheng, paras. [0264], [0278], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Sheng are for reasons of enabling an evolved remote UE to obtain system information (Sheng, paras. [0019], [0278], Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of enabling an evolved remote UE to obtain system information.
20. An apparatus for wireless communication at a network node, comprising: memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and, based at least in part on information stored in the memory, the at least one processor is configured (Abedini, FIG. 31, Id.) to:
configure at least one of a master information block (MIB) or a system information block (SIB), wherein the MIB is associated with a synchronization signal block (SSB) (Abedini, paras. [0115], [0368], Id.), wherein the MIB is an extended MIB including an extended amount of first information bits and is configured for one or more of a user equipment (UE) or a repeater or wherein the SIB is an extended SIB including an extended amount of second information bits and is configured for one or more of the UE or the repeater, wherein both of the extended amount of first information bits and the extended amount of second information bits correspond to an acquisition of a cell associated with the network node via the repeater (MPEP 2131, Id.); and
transmit, via the repeater, at least one of the SIB (Sheng, paras. [0264], [0278], Id.) or the SSB including the MIB for one or more of the UE or the repeater (MPEP 2131, Id. cf. Claim 1).
Abedini et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Sheng provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as transmit, via the repeater, at least one of the SIB (Sheng, paras. [0264], [0278], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Sheng are for reasons of enabling an evolved remote UE to obtain system information (Sheng, paras. [0019], [0278], Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of enabling an evolved remote UE to obtain system information.
22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the extended MIB includes a higher amount of the first information bits compared to at least one other MIB, or wherein the extended SIB includes a higher amount of the second information bits compared to at least one other SIB (MPEP 2131, Id. cf. Claim 3).
23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the MIB is a repeater-specific MIB and the SIB is a repeater-specific SIB (Abedini, paras. [0115], [0368], Id. cf. Claim 4).
24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the repeater-specific SIB fails to include first information in at least one other SIB (MPEP 2131, Id. cf. Claim 5).
25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the information in the at least one other SIB includes one or more of: cell selection information, a random access channel (RACH) configuration, common cell reselection information, a new radio (NR) intra-frequency neighbor cell list and reselection criteria, an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) neighbor cell list and reselection criteria, earthquake and tsunami warning system (ETWS) information, a global positioning satellite (GPS) time, or a coordinated universal time (UTC) (MPEP 2131, Id. cf. Claim 6).
26. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the network node operates in frequency range 5 (FR5) (MPEP 2143, Id. cf. Claim 7).
27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the SIB is a type 1 SIB (SIB1) (Abedini, paras. [0115], [0368], Id. cf. Claim 8).
29. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising at least one of a transceiver or an antenna coupled to the at least one processor, wherein at least one of the transceiver or the antenna is configured to transmit at least one of the SIB or the SSB including the MIB (Abedini, FIG. 31, Id. cf. Claim 18).
30. A method of wireless communication at a network node (Abedini, FIG. 31, Id.), comprising:
configuring at least one of a master information block (MIB) or a system information block (SIB), wherein the MIB is associated with a synchronization signal block (SSB) (Abedini, paras. [0115], [0368], Id.), wherein the MIB is an extended MIB including an extended amount of first information bits and is configured for one or more of a user equipment (UE) or a repeater or wherein the SIB is an extended SIB including an extended amount of second information bits and is configured for one or more of the UE or the repeater, wherein both of the extended amount of first information bits and the extended amount of second information bits correspond to an acquisition of a cell associated with the network node via the repeater (MPEP 2131, Id.); and
transmitting, via the repeater, at least one of the SIB (Sheng, paras. [0264], [0278], Id.) or the SSB including the MIB for one or more of the UE or the repeater (MPEP 2131, Id. cf. Claim 1).
Abedini et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Sheng provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as transmitting, via the repeater, at least one of the SIB (Sheng, paras. [0264], [0278], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Sheng are for reasons of enabling an evolved remote UE to obtain system information (Sheng, paras. [0019], [0278], Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of enabling an evolved remote UE to obtain system information.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112 that forms the basis for all indefiniteness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1, 3-8, 10-20, 22-27, 29 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as indefinite because they fail to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites “wherein the MIB is an extended MIB including an extended amount of first information bits and is configured for one or more of the UE or the repeater or wherein the SIB is an extended SIB including an extended amount of second information bits and is configured for one or more of the UE or the repeater, wherein both of the extended amount of first information bits and the extended amount of second information bits correspond to an acquisition of a cell associated with the network node via the repeater” (ll. 8-13) whereas the claim language “or wherein” appears to make an extended amount of bits and their correspondence to an acquisition optional because receiving a SIB or a MIB is previously recited in the alternative (MPEP 2131, “…When a claim covers several structures or compositions, either generically or as alternatives, the claim is deemed anticipated if any of the structures or compositions within the scope of the claim is known in the prior art…” It is noted that limiting either alternative of receiving a SIB or MIB via “or wherein” language has no apparent limiting effect on the other of the SIB or MIB.) However, it could also be argued to the contrary that the determination of whether each of these clauses is a limitation in a claim depends on the specific facts of the case (MPEP 2111.04.I, …finding that a “wherein” clause limited a process claim where the clause gave “meaning and purpose to the manipulative steps”) Accordingly, amendment of the claim language from “or wherein” to “and wherein” is suggested to resolve the indefiniteness. Claims 19, 20 and 30 recite substantially similar limitations. Claims 3-8, 10-18, 22-27 and 29 are dependent.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record (PTO-1449, PTO-892) and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the subject matter of the present U.S. non-provisional application.
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/TIMOTHY J WEIDNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476