DETAILED ACTION
Applicant’s response filed on 01/26/2026 has been entered and made of record.
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 .
Claim Status
Claims 1, 7, 9 and 11 are amended.
No new Claim is/are added.
Claim 1-7, 9, 11, and 13-28 are pending for examination.
Applicant Argument
Applicant’s response has been fully considered. Below are applicant’s main arguments and examiner’s response to those arguments:
Applicant’s argument: (remark pages 10-11), filed on 01/26/2026, with respect to claim 1, “Applicant respectfully traverses the rejections for at least the following reasons … Liu fails to disclose or suggest offloading all downlink data of a given UE using the same "radio access technology," as generally recited in amended independent claim 1”.
Examiner’s response: Examiner respectfully disagrees. First, in response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, examiner would like to mention that one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
Yerramalli teaches LTE RAT with LAA mode to offload downlink data to SDL carrier on unlicensed spectrum, where both anchor carrier and SDL carrier are on LTE RAT (Yerramalli: [FIG.2A], [0018], [0067], [0061]; [0128]). Liu teaches offload all downlink data of a given UE to unlicensed spectrum carrier (Liu: [0010], [0005], [0007]). Therefore, combination of Yerramalli and Liu teaches to offload all downlink data of a given UE to SDL carrier on unlicensed spectrum, where both anchor carrier and SDL carrier are on LTE RAT, which teaches the subject matters as claimed.
Applicant’s argument: (remark pages 11-12), filed on 01/26/2026, with respect to claim 1, “In addition, independent claim I recites, in part … Thus, the Office Action fails to show where Yerramalli discloses or suggests at least the above highlighted aspects of independent claim 1”.
Examiner’s response: Examiner respectfully disagrees. Yerramalli teaches UE can use a diplexer/switch to select antennas to access a given carrier triggering by measurement result such as CQI and RSRP (Yerramalli: [0093], [0092]), which teaches the subject matter as claimed.
Applicant’s arguments (remark pages 10-12), filed on 01/26/2026, with respect to claims 1-7, 9, 11 and 13-28 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground of rejection below which better address the claimed invention as amended.
This Office Action is made Final.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-4, 7, 9, 11, 13-15, 18-20 and 23-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable over Yerramalli et al. (US 20180124789 A1), hereinafter “Yerramalli”, in view of Liu et al. (US 20140086211 A1), hereinafter “Liu”.
Per claim 1, 7 and 9:
Regarding claim 7, Yerramalli teaches ‘An apparatus for wireless communications’ (Yerramalli: [0015]: “an apparatus for wireless communication”); ‘comprising: at least one processor and memory’ (Yerramalli: [FIG.14]: “Processor”, “Memory”); ‘coupled to the at least one processor’ (Yerramalli: [0164]: “a processor 1404 coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory”); ‘the memory including instructions for configuring by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to’ (Yerramalli: [0164]: “software stored on the computer-readable medium/memory 1406. The software, when executed by the processor 1404, causes the processing system 1414 to”);
‘initiate, using a radio access technology’ (Yerramalli: [FIG.2A]: bidirectional link “210” over carrier “F4”; [0151]: “the UE may attempt RACH transmissions”; [0018]: “FIG. 2A shows a diagram that illustrates examples of deployment scenarios for using LTE in an unlicensed spectrum”, using LTE RAT);
‘at a user equipment (UE), an initial access procedure with a network entity on an anchor carrier in time division duplex (TDD) band in order to synchronize with the network entity’ (Yerramalli: [FIG.2A]: bidirectional link “210” over carrier “F4”; [0151]: “the UE may attempt RACH transmissions”; [0067]: “a supplemental downlink mode … The base station 105-a may transmit OFDMA communications signals to the same UE 115-a using a bidirectional link 210 and may receive SC-FDMA communications signals from that UE 115-a using the bidirectional link 210”; [0061]: “time domain duplexing (TDD) operation”; [0128]: “as anchor DL subframes”; UE may initiate an initial access procedure over TDD anchor carrier “F4” to synchronize with base station);
‘wherein the UE is a half-duplex device that lacks a duplexer’ (Yerramalli: [0097]: “an MTC UE is half-duplex”, the UE may be a half-duplex device without a duplexer);
‘redirect, via a switch at the UE and based on a signal strength or quality measurement of a signal received from the network entity on the anchor carrier, from the anchor carrier to a supplementary downlink (SDL) carrier to receive, via the SDL and not the anchor carrier and using the radio access technology, subsequent downlink transmissions from the network entity after completion of the initial access procedure’ (Yerramalli: [FIG.2A]: downlink “205” over carrier “F1”; [0067]: “a supplemental downlink mode (e.g., LAA mode) in diagram 200, the base station 105-a may transmit OFDMA communications signals to a UE 115-a using a downlink 205. The downlink 205 is associated with a frequency F1 in an unlicensed spectrum … The downlink 205 may provide a downlink capacity offload for the base station”, unlicensed spectrum SDL carrier is on LTE RAT too; [0093]: “a UE may use a diplexer/switch in order to use all antennas”; via a diplexer/switch, UE would redirect from anchor carrier “F4” to a SDL carrier ”F1” to receive subsequent offload traffic from base station; [0092]: “the device may use a fixed number of antennas for one carrier in CA cases, or it may use a fixed number of antennas for Wi-Fi when the device supports both Wi-Fi and other technologies, such as LTE … In such dynamic or semi-static schemes, the sharing or selection may be triggered by a particular measurement result, such as channel quality indicator (CQI), reference signal receive power (RSRP)”, based on signal strength on the anchor carrier). However, Yerramalli fails to expressly teach base station offloads all downlink data of a given UE to unlicensed spectrum;
‘receive the subsequent downlink transmission from the network entity on the SDL and not the anchor carrier’ (Yerramalli: [FIG.2A]: downlink “205”; [0067]: “a supplemental downlink mode”; [0089]: “the UE 115, the antennas 652a through 652r may receive the downlink signals from the base station”; [0067]: “a supplemental downlink mode … The downlink 205 may provide a downlink capacity offload for the base station”; UE would receive a downlink transmission offloaded by base station on SDL). However, Yerramalli fails to expressly teach base station offloads all downlink data of a given UE to unlicensed spectrum.
However, Liu in the same field of endeavor teaches base station would offload all downlink data of a given UE to unlicensed spectrum carrier (Liu: [0010]: “the data offloading manner being used to designate all or a part of user data streams in a downlink and/or uplink direction of the user equipment that are transmitted through a WLAN air interface”; [0005]: “The unlicensed spectrum used by the WLAN”; [0007]: “Based on the I-WLAN manner, the 3GPP further proposes IFOM (IP Flow Mobility and Seamless WLAN Offloading, IP flow mobility and seamless WLAN offloading) in Release 10, so as to further improve user experience, which is mainly characterized in that a UE (User Equipment, user equipment) is allowed to use a mobile communication network, such as GPRS, UMTS, or LTE, and an I-WLAN network to transmit different IP data streams of the UE, thereby realizing more flexible data offloading and increasing a peak rate of a user”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Liu’s teaching with that of Yerramalli for base station to offload all downlink data of a given UE to a SDL carrier, in another word, UE receives downlink data via the SDL carrier and not the anchor carrier after completion of the initial access, in order to maximize exploitation of unlicensed spectrum by offloading all downlink data to unlicensed spectrum carrier (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 1, claim 1 recites the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 7 (see rejection of claim 7 above).
Regarding claim 9, claim 9 recites the memory and the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 7 (see rejection of claim 7 above).
Per claim 2, 13 and 18:
Regarding claim 13, combination of Yerramalli and Liu teaches the apparatus of claim 7 (discussed above).
Yerramalli teaches ‘receive, at the UE, at least one of a synchronization signal block (SSB) message or a system information (SI) message from the network entity over the anchor carrier in TDD band’ (Yerramalli: [0129]: “network signaling messages such as paging and System Information”; [FIG.2A]: link “210” over carrier “F4”; [0067]: “The base station 105-a may transmit OFDMA communications signals to the same UE 115-a using a bidirectional link”; [0061]: “time domain duplexing (TDD) operation”; UE may receive SI message over the TDD anchor carrier from base station);
‘initiate the initial access procedure based on the at least one of the SSB message or the SI message’ (Yerramalli: [0151]: “the UE may attempt RACH transmissions”; [0067]: “The base station … may receive SC-FDMA communications signals from that UE 115-a using the bidirectional link”; UE may initiate the initial access procedure based on the SI message).
Regarding claim 2, claim 2 recites the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 13 (see rejection of claim 13 above).
Regarding claim 18, claim 18 recites the memory and the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 13 (see rejection of claim 13 above).
Per claim 3, 14 and 19:
Regarding claim 14, combination of Yerramalli and Liu teaches the apparatus of claim 7 (discussed above).
Yerramalli teaches ‘transmit uplink communication on the anchor carrier in the TDD band’ (Yerramalli: [FIG.2A]: link “210” over carrier “F4”; [0067]: “The base station … may receive SC-FDMA communications signals from that UE 115-a using the bidirectional link”; [0061]: “time domain duplexing (TDD) operation”; UE may transmit uplink communication on the TDD anchor carrier).
Regarding claim 3, claim 3 recites the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 14 (see rejection of claim 14 above).
Regarding claim 19, claim 19 recites the memory and the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 14 (see rejection of claim 14 above).
Per claim 4, 15 and 20:
Regarding claim 15, combination of Yerramalli and Liu teaches the apparatus of claim 7 (discussed above).
Yerramalli teaches ‘wherein to switch from the anchor carrier to the supplementary downlink (SDL) carrier is triggered by the UE or the network entity’ (Yerramalli: [0067]: “a supplemental downlink mode … The downlink 205 may provide a downlink capacity offload for the base station”, switch to SDL carrier may be triggered by the base station to offload the traffic).
Regarding claim 4, claim 4 recites the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 15 (see rejection of claim 15 above).
Regarding claim 20, claim 20 recites the memory and the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 15 (see rejection of claim 15 above).
Regarding claim 11, Yerramalli teaches ‘An apparatus for wireless communications’ (Yerramalli: [0015]: “an apparatus for wireless communication”);
‘comprising:
means for initiating, using a radio access technology’ (Yerramalli: [FIG.2A]: bidirectional link “210” over carrier “F4”; [0151]: “the UE may attempt RACH transmissions”; [0018]: “FIG. 2A shows a diagram that illustrates examples of deployment scenarios for using LTE in an unlicensed spectrum”, using LTE RAT);
‘an initial access procedure with a network entity on an anchor carrier in time division duplex (TDD) band in order to synchronize with the network entity’ (Yerramalli: [FIG.2A]: bidirectional link “210” over carrier “F4”; [0151]: “the UE may attempt RACH transmissions”; [0067]: “a supplemental downlink mode … The base station 105-a may transmit OFDMA communications signals to the same UE 115-a using a bidirectional link 210 and may receive SC-FDMA communications signals from that UE 115-a using the bidirectional link 210”; [0061]: “time domain duplexing (TDD) operation”; [0128]: “as anchor DL subframes”; UE may initiate an initial access procedure over TDD anchor carrier “F4” to synchronize with base station);
‘wherein the apparatus is a half-duplex device that lacks a duplexer’ (Yerramalli: [0097]: “an MTC UE is half-duplex”, the UE may be a half-duplex device without a duplexer);
‘means for redirecting, via a switch at the apparatus and based on a signal strength or quality measurement of a signal received from the network entity on the anchor carrier, from the anchor carrier to a supplementary downlink (SDL) carrier to receive, via the SDL and not the anchor carrier and using the radio access technology, subsequent downlink transmissions from the network entity after completion of the initial access procedure’ (Yerramalli: [FIG.2A]: downlink “205” over carrier “F1”; [0067]: “a supplemental downlink mode (e.g., LAA mode) in diagram 200, the base station 105-a may transmit OFDMA communications signals to a UE 115-a using a downlink 205. The downlink 205 is associated with a frequency F1 in an unlicensed spectrum … The downlink 205 may provide a downlink capacity offload for the base station”, unlicensed spectrum SDL carrier is on LTE RAT too; [0093]: “a UE may use a diplexer/switch in order to use all antennas”; via a diplexer/switch, UE would redirect from anchor carrier “F4” to a SDL carrier ”F1” to receive subsequent offload traffic from base station; [0092]: “the device may use a fixed number of antennas for one carrier in CA cases, or it may use a fixed number of antennas for Wi-Fi when the device supports both Wi-Fi and other technologies, such as LTE … In such dynamic or semi-static schemes, the sharing or selection may be triggered by a particular measurement result, such as channel quality indicator (CQI), reference signal receive power (RSRP)”, based on signal strength on the anchor carrier). However, Yerramalli fails to expressly teach base station offloads all downlink data of a given UE to unlicensed spectrum;
‘means for receiving the subsequent downlink transmissions from the network entity on the SDL and not the anchor carrier’ (Yerramalli: [FIG.2A]: downlink “205”; [0067]: “a supplemental downlink mode”; [0089]: “the UE 115, the antennas 652a through 652r may receive the downlink signals from the base station”; UE would receive a downlink transmission offloaded by base station on SDL). However, Yerramalli fails to expressly teach base station offloads all downlink data of a given UE to unlicensed spectrum;
However, Liu teaches base station would offload all downlink data of a given UE to unlicensed spectrum carrier (Liu: [0010]: “the data offloading manner being used to designate all or a part of user data streams in a downlink and/or uplink direction of the user equipment that are transmitted through a WLAN air interface”; [0005]: “The unlicensed spectrum used by the WLAN”; [0007]: “Based on the I-WLAN manner, the 3GPP further proposes IFOM (IP Flow Mobility and Seamless WLAN Offloading, IP flow mobility and seamless WLAN offloading) in Release 10, so as to further improve user experience, which is mainly characterized in that a UE (User Equipment, user equipment) is allowed to use a mobile communication network, such as GPRS, UMTS, or LTE, and an I-WLAN network to transmit different IP data streams of the UE, thereby realizing more flexible data offloading and increasing a peak rate of a user”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Liu’s teaching with that of Yerramalli for base station to offload all downlink data of a given UE to a SDL carrier, in another word, UE receives downlink data via the SDL carrier and not the anchor carrier after completion of the initial access, in order to in order to maximize exploitation of unlicensed spectrum by offloading all downlink data to unlicensed spectrum carrier (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 23, combination of Yerramalli and Liu teaches the apparatus of claim 11 (discussed above).
Yerramalli teaches ‘means for receiving, at the UE, at least one of a synchronization signal block (SSB) message or a system information (SI) message from the network entity over the anchor carrier in TDD band’ (Yerramalli: [0129]: “network signaling messages such as paging and System Information”; [FIG.2A]: link “210” over carrier “F4”; [0067]: “The base station 105-a may transmit OFDMA communications signals to the same UE 115-a using a bidirectional link”; [0061]: “time domain duplexing (TDD) operation”; UE may receive SI message over the TDD anchor carrier from base station);
‘means for initiating the initial access procedure based on the at least one of the SSB message or the SI message’ (Yerramalli: [0151]: “the UE may attempt RACH transmissions”; [0067]: “The base station … may receive SC-FDMA communications signals from that UE 115-a using the bidirectional link”; UE may initiate the initial access procedure based on the SI message).
Regarding claim 24, combination of Yerramalli and Liu teaches the apparatus of claim 11 (discussed above).
Yerramalli teaches ‘means for transmitting uplink communication on the anchor carrier in the TDD band’ (Yerramalli: [FIG.2A]: link “210” over carrier “F4”; [0067]: “The base station … may receive SC-FDMA communications signals from that UE 115-a using the bidirectional link”; [0061]: “time domain duplexing (TDD) operation”; UE may transmit uplink communication on the TDD anchor carrier).
Regarding claim 25, combination of Yerramalli and Liu teaches the apparatus of claim 11 (discussed above).
Yerramalli teaches ‘wherein the means for switching from the anchor carrier to the supplementary downlink (SDL) carrier is triggered by the UE or the network entity’ (Yerramalli: [0067]: “a supplemental downlink mode … The downlink 205 may provide a downlink capacity offload for the base station”, switch to SDL carrier may be triggered by the base station to offload the traffic).
Claims 5, 16, 21 and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination of Yerramalli and Liu, in view of combination of TS38.311_measurement, hereinafter “TS38.311”, and Shin et al. (US 20170013618 A1), hereinafter “Shin”.
Per claim 5, 16 and 21:
Regarding claim 16, combination of Yerramalli and Liu teaches the apparatus of claim 7 (discussed above).
Yerramalli teaches ‘measure at least one of a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement or a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) measurement on the SDL carrier’ (Yerramalli: [FIG.2A]: link “205” over carrier “F1”; [0067]: “a supplemental downlink mode”; [0092]: “a UE, may also dynamically or semi-statically select a number of antennas for one technology or one carrier (antenna selection). In such dynamic or semi-static schemes, the sharing or selection may be triggered by a particular measurement result, such as channel quality indicator (CQI), reference signal receive power (RSRP)”; UE would measure RSRP on the SDL carrier).
Combination of Yerramalli and Liu does not expressly teach ‘determine whether the at least one of the RSRP measurement or the RSRQ measurement is less than a network configured threshold’, ‘based on a determination that the at least one of the RSRP measurement or the RSRQ measurement is less than the network configured threshold’ and ‘redirect from the SDL carrier to the anchor carrier to receive, via the anchor carrier and not the SDL carrier, further subsequent downlink communications from the network entity’.
However, TS38.311 in the same field of endeavor teaches Event A2 (Serving becomes worse than threshold) which requires UE to search for other cell and release current serving cell when RSRP or RSRQ is less than a network configured threshold (TS38.311: [Page 99]: ”Event A2 (Serving becomes worse than threshold) … RSRP, or in dB in case of RSRQ”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine TS38.311’s teaching with that of combination of Yerramalli and Liu to determine whether the at least one of the RSRP measurement or the RSRQ measurement is less than a network configured threshold and redirect from the SDL carrier to the anchor carrier to receive, via the anchor carrier and not the SDL carrier, further subsequent downlink communications from the network entity based on a determination that the at least one of the RSRP measurement or the RSRQ measurement is less than the network configured threshold in order to redirect away from SDL carrier which becomes too poor to use.
Regarding claim element, ‘transmit a scheduling request to the network entity requesting switching the downlink communication from the SDL carrier back to the anchor carrier based on a determination that the at least one of the RSRP measurement or the RSRQ measurement is less than the network configured threshold’, combination of Yerramalli and TS38.311 teaches switching the downlink communication from the SDL carrier back to the anchor carrier based on a determination that the at least one of the RSRP measurement or the RSRQ measurement is less than the network configured threshold (discussed in elements above). However, combination of Yerramalli, Liu and TS38.311 fails to expressly teach transmit a scheduling request to the network entity requesting switching.
Regarding claim element, ‘receive, in response to the scheduling request, a message from the network entity to switch the downlink communication from the SDL carrier back to the anchor carrier’, combination of Yerramalli and TS38.311 teaches switch the downlink communication from the SDL carrier back to the anchor carrier (discussed in elements above). However, combination of Yerramalli, Liu and TS38.311 fails to expressly teach receive, in response to the scheduling request, a message from the network entity to switch.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine TS38.311’s teaching of A2 Event with that of combination of Yerramalli and Liu in order to redirect away from SDL carrier which becomes too poor to use.
However, Shin in the same field of endeavor teaches UE which is ending secondary carrier may transmit a scheduling request to base station to switch connection back to primary (anchor) carrier (Shin: [0121]: “The terminal 200 ends the low latency mode in the secondary component carrier … The terminal 200 ending the low latency mode may request a scheduling request (SR) to the base station … be switched into a connection mode within the primary component carrier”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Shin’s teaching with that of combination of Yerramalli, Liu and TS38.311 to transmit a scheduling request to the network entity requesting switching the downlink communication from the SDL carrier back to the anchor carrier based on a determination that the at least one of the RSRP measurement or the RSRQ measurement is less than the network configured threshold and receive, in response to the scheduling request, a message from the network entity to switch the downlink communication from the SDL carrier back to the anchor carrier in order to inform and request base station to allocate resources back on anchor carrier when SDL carrier becomes too poor to use.
Regarding claim 5, claim 5 recites the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 16 (see rejection of claim 16 above).
Regarding claim 21, claim 21 recites the memory and the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 16 (see rejection of claim 16 above).
Regarding claim 26, combination of Yerramalli and Liu teaches the apparatus of claim 11 (discussed above).
Yerramalli teaches ‘means for measuring at least one of a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement or a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) measurement on the SDL carrier’ (Yerramalli: [FIG.2A]: link “205” over carrier “F1”; [0067]: “a supplemental downlink mode”; [0092]: “a UE, may also dynamically or semi-statically select a number of antennas for one technology or one carrier (antenna selection). In such dynamic or semi-static schemes, the sharing or selection may be triggered by a particular measurement result, such as channel quality indicator (CQI), reference signal receive power (RSRP)”; UE may measure RSRP on the SDL carrier).
Combination of Yerramalli and Liu does not expressly teach ‘means for determining whether the at least one of the RSRP measurement or the RSRQ measurement is less than a network configured threshold’, ‘based on a determination that the at least one of the RSRP measurement or the RSRQ measurement is less than the network configured threshold’ and ‘means for redirecting from the SDL carrier to the anchor carrier to receive, via the anchor carrier and not the SDL carrier, further subsequent downlink communications from the network entity’.
However, TS38.311 teaches Event A2 (Serving becomes worse than threshold) which requires UE to search for other cell and release current serving cell when RSRP or RSRQ is less than a network configured threshold (TS38.311: [Page 99]: ”Event A2 (Serving becomes worse than threshold) … RSRP, or in dB in case of RSRQ”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine TS38.311’s teaching with that of combination of Yerramalli and Liu for the apparatus to have means for determining whether the at least one of the RSRP measurement or the RSRQ measurement is less than a network configured threshold and means for redirecting from the SDL carrier to the anchor carrier to receive, via the anchor carrier and not the SDL carrier, further subsequent downlink communications from the network entity based on a determination that the at least one of the RSRP measurement or the RSRQ measurement is less than the network configured threshold in order to switch away from SDL carrier which becomes too poor to use.
Regarding claim element, ‘means for transmitting a scheduling request to the network entity requesting switching the downlink communication from the SDL carrier back to the anchor carrier based on a determination that the at least one of the RSRP measurement or the RSRQ measurement is less than the network configured threshold’, combination of Yerramalli and TS38.311 teaches switching the downlink communication from the SDL carrier back to the anchor carrier based on a determination that the at least one of the RSRP measurement or the RSRQ measurement is less than the network configured threshold (discussed in elements above). However, combination of Yerramalli, Liu and TS38.311 fails to expressly teach transmit a scheduling request to the network entity requesting switching.
Regarding claim element, ‘means for receiving, in response to the scheduling request, a message from the network entity to switch the downlink communication from the SDL carrier back to the anchor carrier’, combination of Yerramalli and TS38.311 teaches switch the downlink communication from the SDL carrier back to the anchor carrier (discussed in elements above). However, combination of Yerramalli, Liu and TS38.311 fails to expressly teach receive, in response to the scheduling request, a message from the network entity to switch.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine TS38.311’s teaching of A2 Event with that of combination of Yerramalli and Liu in order to redirect away from SDL carrier which becomes too poor to use.
However, Shin teaches UE which is ending secondary carrier may transmit a scheduling request to base station to switch connection back to primary (anchor) carrier (Shin: [0121]: “The terminal 200 ends the low latency mode in the secondary component carrier … The terminal 200 ending the low latency mode may request a scheduling request (SR) to the base station … be switched into a connection mode within the primary component carrier”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Shin’s teaching with that of combination of Yerramalli, Liu and TS38.311 for the apparatus to have means for transmitting a scheduling request to the network entity requesting switching the downlink communication from the SDL carrier back to the anchor carrier based on a determination that the at least one of the RSRP measurement or the RSRQ measurement is less than the network configured threshold and means for receiving, in response to the scheduling request, a message from the network entity to switch the downlink communication from the SDL carrier back to the anchor carrier in order to inform and request base station to allocate resources back on anchor carrier when SDL carrier becomes too poor to use.
Claims 6, 17, 22 and 27-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination of Yerramalli and Liu, in view of combination of Baek et al. (US 20230189295 A1), hereinafter “Baek”, and Chou et al. (US 20180183551 A1), hereinafter “Chou”.
Per claim 6, 17 and 22:
Regarding claim 17, combination of Yerramalli and Liu teaches the apparatus of claim 7 (discussed above).
Regarding claim element, ‘receive, from the network entity, bandwidth part (BWP) configuration of the SDL carrier, wherein the BWP configuration is received via either a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) that is transmitted on the anchor carrier in the TDD band dedicated to the UE or by system information message that is transmitted on the anchor carrier in the TDD band and shared with a legacy U’, Yerramalli teaches ‘SDL carrier’ (Yerramalli: [FIG.2A]: downlink “205” over carrier “F1”; [0067]: “a supplemental downlink”), ‘TDD band’ (Yerramalli: [0061]: “time domain duplexing (TDD) operation”), ‘system information message’ (Yerramalli: [0129]: “network signaling messages such as paging and System Information”), and ‘physical broadcast channel (PBCH)’ (Yerramalli: [0088]: “The control information may be for the physical broadcast channel (PBCH)”). However, combination of Yerramalli and Liu fails to expressly teach receive BWP configuration of SDL carrier via either PBCH of the anchor carrier dedicated to the UE or by system information on the anchor carrier which may be shared by legacy UE.
Baek in the same field of endeavor teaches receive BWP configuration for SDL carrier in system information (Baek: [FIG.4]; [0030]: “receive, from a base station, bandwidth part (BWP) configuration information for receiving MBS … supplementary downlink (SDL) carrier”; [0031]: “BWP configuration information for receiving MBS or the SDL carrier configuration information for receiving MBS may be included and transmitted in a system information block (SIB) or an RRC release message”).
Baek does not expressly teach ‘by system information message that is transmitted on the anchor carrier in the TDD band and shared with a legacy UE’.
Chou in the same field of endeavor teaches primary cell (anchor carrier) may transmit BWP configuration of secondary cell to UE via system information which may be shared with legacy UE (Chou: [FIG.4]: “Cell 2 RAN profile indexing information”, “BWP Index”; [0116]: “PCell 904 provides RAN profile indexing of SCell 906 to UE”; [0169]: “PCell 1504 and PsCell 1506 may broadcast the RAN profile indexing via system information”; [0179]: “if a UE does not support the PHY composition in the broadcasted RAN profile indexing, the cell simply treats the UE as a legacy UE”; primary (anchor) carrier may transmit BWP configuration of secondary carrier to UE via system information which may be shared with a legacy UE).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of combination of Baek and Chou with that of combination of Yerramalli and Liu to receive, from the network entity, bandwidth part (BWP) configuration of the SDL carrier, wherein the BWP configuration is received via either a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) that is transmitted on the anchor carrier in the TDD band dedicated to the UE or by system information message that is transmitted on the anchor carrier in the TDD band and shared with a legacy UE in order to support a plurality of BWP configurations for a plurality of carriers (Chou: [Abstract]: “RAN profile indexing message to a user equipment (UE), the first RAN profile indexing message comprising a first plurality of Bandwidth Part (BWP) indicators (e.g., BWP indices) corresponding to a first plurality of BWP configurations, the first plurality of BWP configurations being configured for at least one of a first plurality of component carriers in frequency domain”).
Regarding claim 6, claim 6 recites the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 17 (see rejection of claim 17 above).
Regarding claim 22, claim 22 recites the memory and the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 17 (see rejection of claim 17 above).
Regarding claim 27, combination of Yerramalli and Liu teaches the apparatus of claim 11 (discussed above).
Regarding claim element, ‘means for receiving, from the network entity, bandwidth part (BWP) configuration of the SDL carrier, wherein the BWP configuration is received via either a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) that is transmitted on the anchor carrier in the TDD band dedicated to the UE or by system information message that is transmitted on the anchor carrier in the TDD band and shared with a legacy UE’, Yerramalli teaches ‘SDL carrier’ (Yerramalli: [FIG.2A]: downlink “205” over carrier “F1”; [0067]: “a supplemental downlink”), ‘TDD band’ (Yerramalli: [0061]: “time domain duplexing (TDD) operation”), ‘system information message’ (Yerramalli: [0129]: “network signaling messages such as paging and System Information”), and ‘physical broadcast channel (PBCH)’ (Yerramalli: [0088]: “The control information may be for the physical broadcast channel (PBCH)”). However, combination of combination of Yerramalli and Liu fails to expressly teach means for receiving BWP configuration of SDL carrier via either PBCH of the anchor carrier dedicated to the UE or by system information on the anchor carrier which may be shared by legacy UE.
Baek teaches receive BWP configuration for SDL carrier in system information (Baek: [FIG.4]; [0030]: “receive, from a base station, bandwidth part (BWP) configuration information for receiving MBS … supplementary downlink (SDL) carrier”; [0031]: “BWP configuration information for receiving MBS or the SDL carrier configuration information for receiving MBS may be included and transmitted in a system information block (SIB)”).
Baek does not expressly teach ‘by system information message that is transmitted on the anchor carrier in the TDD band and shared with a legacy UE’.
Chou teaches primary cell (anchor carrier) may transmit BWP configuration of secondary cell to UE via system information which may be shared with legacy UE (Chou: [FIG.4]: “Cell 2 RAN profile indexing information”, “BWP Index”; [0116]: “PCell 904 provides RAN profile indexing of SCell 906 to UE”; [0169]: “PCell 1504 and PsCell 1506 may broadcast the RAN profile indexing via system information”; [0179]: “if a UE does not support the PHY composition in the broadcasted RAN profile indexing, the cell simply treats the UE as a legacy UE”; primary (anchor) carrier may transmit BWP configuration of secondary carrier to UE via system information which may be shared with a legacy UE).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of combination of Baek and Chou with that of combination of combination of Yerramalli and Liu for the apparatus to have means for receiving, from the network entity, bandwidth part (BWP) configuration of the SDL carrier, wherein the BWP configuration is received via either a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) that is transmitted on the anchor carrier in the TDD band dedicated to the UE or by system information message that is transmitted on the anchor carrier in the TDD band and shared with a legacy UE in order to support a plurality of BWP configurations for a plurality of carriers (Chou: [Abstract]: “RAN profile indexing message to a user equipment (UE), the first RAN profile indexing message comprising a first plurality of Bandwidth Part (BWP) indicators (e.g., BWP indices) corresponding to a first plurality of BWP configurations, the first plurality of BWP configurations being configured for at least one of a first plurality of component carriers in frequency domain”).
Regarding claim 28, combination of Yerramalli and Liu teaches the apparatus of claim 7 (discussed above).
Combination of Yerramalli and Liu does not expressly teach, but combination of Baek and Chou teaches ‘receive, from the network entity and over the anchor carrier, a system information (SI) message indicating a bandwidth part of the SDL carrier’ (Baek: [FIG.4]; [0030]: “receive, from a base station, bandwidth part (BWP) configuration information for receiving MBS … supplementary downlink (SDL) carrier”; [0031]: “BWP configuration information for receiving MBS or the SDL carrier configuration information for receiving MBS may be included and transmitted in a system information block (SIB)”, receive SI message indicating BWP of SDL carrier. Chou: [FIG.4]: “Cell 2 RAN profile indexing information”, “BWP Index”; [0116]: “PCell 904 provides RAN profile indexing of SCell 906 to UE”, receive BWP of SCell over PCell (anchor carrier)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of combination of Baek and Chou with that of combination of Yerramalli and Liu in order to support a plurality of BWP configurations for a plurality of carriers (Chou: [Abstract]: “RAN profile indexing message to a user equipment (UE), the first RAN profile indexing message comprising a first plurality of Bandwidth Part (BWP) indicators (e.g., BWP indices) corresponding to a first plurality of BWP configurations, the first plurality of BWP configurations being configured for at least one of a first plurality of component carriers in frequency domain”).
Conclusion
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.
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/G.F./Examiner, Art Unit 2462
/YEMANE MESFIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2462