DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
2. The instant application claims priority to the Provisional 63/261,983 filed on 10/01/2021.
Continued Examination (RCE)
3. 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has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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
08/29/2025 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted, IDS - 03/24/2023. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
4. The amendment filed 12/23/2025 has been entered. Claims 1-30 remain pending
in the application. Claims 1, 3-7, 8-9, 17, 21, 23, 24, 27, 29 and 30 have been amended. No new claims were added and no claims were cancelled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
5. 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 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.
6. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that
form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or
in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151,
or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section
122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another
inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed
invention.
7. Claims 1, 3, 6-14, 16-21 and 23, 25-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Park et al. (US-20250063573-A1) hereinafter “Park”.
Regarding Claim 1,
Park discloses, ‘A wireless node for wireless communication, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless node to: transmit, to a first parent node, assistance information relating to simultaneous communication of the wireless node with the first parent node and a second parent node’( In Fig. 3 Wireless device.
The first access node transmit/receive to/from a wireless device (e.g. IAB-node1 or first/second child-access node) [0425] and in Fig. 33 to 38. And, the first access-node (i.e. gNB-DU/first RAT) of first/second child-access node that serve one/more wireless device (e.g., UE, IAB-node, IAB-MT) [0414-0418].
UE[Wingdings font/0xE0]IAB-node-MT [Wingdings font/0xE0] IAB-donor1/first-RAT and IAB-donor1/second-RAT (Fig. 18, 30 to 33).
Transmit/receive on multiple-BH links simultaneously example multi-TRP and/or intra-frequency dual connectivity supported [0362].
Topology adaptation (e.g., adaptive routing) autonomously reconfigure BH network and IAB-implementation L2/L3 architectures supported [0340-0341].
Regarding the most important part of the claim, simultaneous communication that is a dual/concurrent communication upstream more than one IAB-node/donor [0350]. Disclosure following key methodologies,
- Uses Spanning Tree and/or directed acyclic graph [0394]
- supported Tech Spec topology redundancy/concurrent BH links with two parent nodes [0394-0400]
- Multi/Dual-connectivity simultaneous comm how implemented
- Approach DU/split resources MCG/SCG/split-RB in Fig. 11 and Fig. 30 + another approach IP domain L3 layer adaptation Fig. 31
- Fig. 30 architecture function splits/resources managed efficiently different donor-DUs + multiple parents nodes [0395].
And discloses, ‘wherein the assistance information comprises a request for first configuration information for communication between the wireless node and the first parent node,
and second configuration information for communication between the wireless node and the second parent node’;
Regarding the config-IAB-node,
- IAB-node establish IP-connectivity [Wingdings font/0xE0] OAM/RAN signaling RRC; includes two architecture 1a and 1b in Fig. 31
- IAB-node provide service to UEs and/or IAB-nodes and without service-interruptions topology adaption procedures for the UEs to access RAN/resources
-modification procedures at BH
- Fig. 32 connectivity UE[Wingdings font/0xE0] child-BH/parent BH and flexible time-resources
- Configuration includes specific resources, scheduling, resource-allocation and route-selection across IAB-nodes/donors and multiple-BH; indication of resources withing the configurations dynamically/flexibly used for different links.
Above disclosures [0394-0405].
The first access node determine the resource-status/first access node to activate flexible resources for the first/second child-access node to activate the resources to serve the wireless device (e.g., UE, child IAB-nodes); then receive configuration message comprises parameters to activate resources for a first cell and a second cell; the first and the second child-access node serve two cells [0449-0451] and Fig. 40 to Fig. 41. And, configuration/activation in Fig. 33 to Fig. 38 and [0417-0419]. Multi-connectivity uses protocol-stacks at layers/Mac config applied includes simultaneous-config [0298] and Fig. 11. And, resource-config and activate resources in a first cell and a second cell uses BWP [0433-0435]. The config-parameters include resources to be activated a first BWP of the first cell and a second BWP of the second cell to be activated in overlap-time-duration that is simultaneous [0455] and Fig. 44 to 48.
And discloses ‘and communicate with at least one of the first parent node or the second parent node based at least in part on the assistance information.’ ([0414-0419])
Regarding Claim 3,
‘wireless node of claim 1’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the assistance information, individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless node to:’ (disclosed above),
Park discloses, ‘transmit, to the first parent node, at least one of: an indication of at least one of a requested transmit beam or a requested receive beam for communication with the first parent node, an indication of at least one of a transmit beam or a receive beam not preferred for communication with the first parent node, or an indication of at least one of one or more transmit beams or one or more receive beams that the wireless node is configured to use for communication with the second parent node.’
Disclosure includes config-parameters comprises resources-parameters of the flexible-resources includes beam to activate the flexible-resources based on the beam; transmit/receive to/from the wireless device [0423-0425]. The Config-parameters indicate a group of cells/BWPs of cells/beams of cells (e.g., served by one or more IAB-nodes [0426-0428], Fig. 36 and Fig 45 to 46.
Regarding Claim 6,
‘wireless node of claim 1’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein, to transmit the assistance information, the one or more processors, individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless node to:’ (disclosed above),
Park discloses, ‘transmit, to the first parent node, at least one of: an indication of at least one of a requested downlink transmit timing adjustment for the first parent node or a requested uplink transmit timing for an uplink communication to the first parent node, or an indication of at least one of a downlink receive timing for a downlink communication from the second parent node or an uplink transmit timing for an uplink communication to the second parent node.’ ( Adjust timing of the IAB-nodes and TA-based sync between the IAB-nodes. The DL/UL-timing within the IAB-nodes and access of the UE [0366-0367, 0371, 0408, 0409] and Fig. 32.
Regarding Claim 7,
‘wireless node of claim 1’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein to transmit the assistance information, the one or more processors, individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless node to:’ (disclosed above),
Park discloses, ‘transmit, to the first parent node, at least one of: an indication of at least one of a requested downlink reference signal configuration or a requested uplink reference signal configuration associated with the first parent node, or an indication of at least one of a downlink reference signal configuration or an uplink reference signal configuration associated with the second parent node.’ (The config parameters includes resources activation/deactivation in Fig. 45 and Fig. 47. The config-parameters of the resources comprises beams (e.g., SS beam, CSI-RS beam etc. [0426-0427]. To measure on multiple-BH links, IAB-nodes supports SSBs, CSI-RS and the RS. And, the CSI-RS-config to support RRM for IAB [0360]. )
Regarding Claim 8,
‘wireless node of claim 1’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein the assistance information is associated with resources configured for simultaneous communication with the first parent node and the second parent node,’ (disclosed above in claim 1),
And Park discloses, ‘and wherein the assistance information is associated with a set of time and frequency resources’ (IAB support time slot and/or frequency resources between access and BH links across multiple-hops. Utilization of different DL/UL slots; further uses scheduling, resource allocations IAB/IAB-donor and/or multiple BH-hps [0364-0365]. ).
And discloses, ‘or the assistance information is associated with at least one of a resource type, a signal type, or a channel type.’ (IAB support resource-allocation, resource granularity, resource (time and/or frequency [0364-0365], in Fig. 33 to 38 and Fig. 40 to 44. Channel/signal-type SS/SSB/RS disclosed above in Claim 7. )
Regarding Claim 9,
‘wireless node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Park discloses, ‘
topology adaption procedures autonomously re-config BH-network includes L3/L2/L1 implementations [0340-0341]. IAB-architectures MT/DU/CU and the UE connecting to IAB-node; uses slices network selection; IAB-node operates/connects to same or different BS [0344-0346] and Fig. 14 to Fig. 17. Most importantly multi-hop IAB design includes two approach in the architectures: hop-by-hop adaptation layer PDN in Fig. 18 to 19 while hop-by-hop PDU session to access node Fig. 20 to 23 [-347-0350]. That includes connectivity as example,
UE[Wingdings font/0xE0] IAB-MT [Wingdings font/0xE0] IAB-DU uses more than one upstream adaption-layer [0350] and connectivity at L1/L2/L3 uses the master/secondary node even one or more cells (MCG/SCG) includes resources in Fig. 11 and Fig. 13. And, multi-connectivity config-MAC-entities and multi-connectivity config-set for set of serving cells. And, maintain RRM measurement-config of the wireless device as part of RAN disaggregation split/functionalities of resources [0298-0299].
Regarding Claim 10,
‘wireless node of claim 1’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless node to:’ (disclosed above),
Identical to claim 1 only inclusion ‘receive’ and disclosed above, ‘receive, from the first parent node, a configuration for communication with the first parent node based at least in part on transmitting the assistance information to the first parent node.’ (And, configuration/activation simultaneously in Fig. 33 to Fig. 38 and [0417-0419]. Multi-connectivity [0298] and Fig. 11. And, transmit/receive config [0414-0418, 0504].
Regarding Claim 11,
‘wireless node of claim 1’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless node to:’ (disclosed above),
Park discloses, ‘receive, from the first parent node, a recommended configuration for communication between the wireless node and the second parent node.’ (Fig. 33 to Fig. 38 includes config and the activation of the resources between the wireless device and the IAB-nodes alternatively between the first access node and the second access node [0414-0419, 0504])
Regarding Claim 12,
‘wireless node of claim 11’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein the one or more processors, individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless node to:’ (disclosed above),
Identical to Claim 11 disclosed above, ‘transmit the assistance information to the second parent node, wherein the assistance information is based at least in part on the recommended configuration for communication between the wireless node and the second parent node.’ (Park, the configuration disclosed above claim 10 and 11 in Fig. 33 to Fig. 38 and [0414-0419, 0504]).
Regarding Claim 13,
‘wireless node of claim 11’ (disclosed above),
Park discloses, ‘wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive, from the first parent node, the recommended configuration for communication between the wireless node and the second parent node based at least in part on transmitting the assistance information to the first parent node.’ (Disclosed above in Claim 10 to 12. In Fig. 33 to Fig. 38, and [0414-0419, 0504]).
Regarding Claim 14,
‘wireless node of claim 13’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless node to:’ (disclosed above),
Disclosed above Claim 10 to 14, ‘transmit, to the second parent node, the recommended configuration for communication between the wireless node and the second parent node.’ (In Fig. 33 to Fig. 38, and [0414-0419, 0504]).
Regarding Claim 16,
‘wireless node of claim 11’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein the recommended configuration for communication between the wireless node and the second parent node is associated with resources configured for simultaneous communication with the first parent node and the second parent node’, (disclosed above Claim 11)
Identical to Claim 8, and 11 disclosed above, ‘and wherein the recommended configuration for communication between the wireless node and the second parent node is associated with a set of time and frequency resources, or wherein the recommended configuration for communication between the wireless node and the second parent node is associated with at least one of a resource type, a signal type, or a channel type.’
Regarding Claim 17,
‘wireless node of claim 1’ (disclosed above), ‘ wherein the second configuration information indicates resources configured for a plurality of periodic’ ‘or beam-swept communications associated with the second parent node’ (In Fig. 34 to Fig. 38 includes resource-config to activate resources and uses config for the beams associated with the resources [0417, 0423] and Fig. 36.)
Regarding Claim 18,
‘wireless node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Identical to Claim 1 disclosed above, ‘wherein the one or more processors, are individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless node to:’ communicate with the first parent node and the second parent node simultaneously based at least in part on the assistance information.’
Regarding Claim 19,
‘wireless node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Park discloses, ‘wherein the wireless node is an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) mobile termination (IAB-MT).’ (Fig. 18 to 22 and Fig. 33 to 35, [0414-0418].)
Regarding Claim 20,
‘wireless node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Park discloses, ‘wherein the wireless node is a user equipment (UE).’ (Fig. 18 to 22 and Fig. 33 to 35, [0414-0419].).
Regarding Claim 21,
Park discloses, ‘A first parent node for wireless communication, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless node to:’ (Fig. 1A and Fig. 14, and 18),
Identical to Claim 1 disclosed above, ‘receive assistance information relating to simultaneous communication of a wireless node with the first parent node and a second parent node, a request for first configuration information for communication between the wireless node and the first parent node, and second configuration information for communication between the wireless node and the second parent node; and communicate with the wireless node based at least in part on the assistance information.’
Regarding Claim 23,
‘first parent node of claim 21’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein, to receive the assistance information, one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to cause first parent node to:’ (disclosed above),
Identical to portion of Claim 1 disclosed above and inclusion of CU, ‘receive the assistance information from at least one of the wireless node, the second parent node, or a central unit associated with the first parent node.’ (Fig. 18 to Fig. 22 [0347-0355].)
Regarding Claim 25,
‘first parent node of claim 21’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to cause first parent node to:’ (disclosed above),
Identical to Claim 11 disclosed above and inclusion of CU, ‘receive, from at least one of the second parent node, a central unit associated with the first parent node, or the wireless node, a recommended configuration for communication between the wireless node and the first parent node.’ (Fig 18 to Fig. 22 and [0347] and configurations/activation [0414-0418] and Fig. 33 to 38 and 40 to 41.)
Regarding Claim 26,
‘first parent node of claim 21’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to cause first parent node to:’ (disclosed above),
Identical to Claim 12 disclosed above and inclusion of CU, ‘transmit, to at least one of the wireless node, the second parent node, or a central unit associated with the first parent node, a recommended configuration for communication between the wireless node and the second parent node based at least in part on the assistance information.’ (Park [0347-0355] and Fig. 18 to 22. And configuration Fig. 33 to 38 and [0414-0418].)
Regarding Claim 27,
‘first parent node of claim 21’ (disclosed above),
Identical to Claim 17 disclosed above, ‘wherein the second configuration information indicates resources are configured for a plurality of periodic or beam-swept communications associated with the second parent node.’
Regarding Claim 28,
‘first parent node of claim 21’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless node to:’ (disclosed above),
Identical to Claim 10 disclosed above, ‘transmit, to the wireless node, a configuration for communication between the wireless node and the first parent node, wherein the configuration is based at least in part on the assistance information.’
Regarding Claim 29,
Identical to Claim 1 disclosed above, ‘A method of wireless communication performed by a wireless node, comprising: transmitting, to a first parent node, assistance information relating to simultaneous communication of a wireless node with the first parent node and a second parent node,
a request for first configuration information for communication between the wireless node and the first parent node, and second configuration information for communication between the wireless node and the second parent node; and communicate with the wireless node based at least in part on the assistance information.’ (IAB-topology adaptation uses directed acyclic graph spanning tree and/or directed graph multi/dual-connected more than one upstream concurrently and redundant routes for the IAB-nodes [0394]. Receive config/activation of resources simultaneously [0414-0419], in Fig. 33 to 38 and Fig. 40 to 41. The config for the multi/dual-connectivity for the wireless device to perform multiple Tx/Rx multiple-BS; with CA/multi-connectivity multiple cells [0293-0294].)
Regarding Claim 30,
Park discloses ‘A method of wireless communication performed by a first parent node, comprising: receiving assistance information relating to simultaneous communication of a wireless node with the first parent node and a second parent node’ (IAB-topology adaptation uses directed acyclic graph spanning tree and/or directed graph multi/dual-connected more than one upstream concurrently and redundant routes for the IAB-nodes [0394]. Receive config/activation of resources simultaneously for the IAB-doner/parent-node [0414-0419], in Fig. 33 to 38 and Fig. 40 to 41.),
Identical to Claim 1 and 29 disclosed above, ‘a request for first configuration information for communication between the wireless node and the first parent node, and second configuration information for communication between the wireless node and the second parent node; and communicate with the wireless node based at least in part on the assistance information.’
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness
under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
• Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
• Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
• Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
• Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating
• obviousness or nonobviousness.
8. 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.
9. Claims 2, and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. in view of 3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; NR and NG-RAN Overall Description 3GPP TS 38.300 V16.5.0 (2021-03) hereinafter “3GPP ” in view of et al. Published: 03/2021) hereinafter “3GPP”.
Regarding Claim 2,
‘wireless node of claim 1’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless node to:’ (disclosed above),
Park discloses, ‘the wireless node for simultaneous communication with the first parent node and the second parent node’, and ‘the wireless node for simultaneous transmission and reception on multiple serving cells in a frequency band’,
The wireless device is configured with a CA and set of serving cells [0220, 0227]. In a multi-connectivity, the wireless device is configured,
- connected multiple-TRP/Tx/Rx in RRC-connected [0293-0295, 0311]
- config to utilize radio resources multiple scheduler/BSs
- wireless device connected to one primary BS and one/more secondary BS
- RBs supported MCG/SCG/split in Fig. 11, 13 at least one bearer config to use radio resource secondary-BS
- multiple Mac-entities uses stacks simultaneous-config [0298]
- master/secondary-BS maintain RRM measurement-config; master-BS decide/request additional resources(e.g., serving cells) for the secondary serving cells [0299]
IAB-nodes can supports/capable
- operate in RAN architecture functional splits at stacks support combination flexibility of resources in Fig. 14 and [0317-0319]
- IAB EN-DC for access-link and BH-links [0335-0336]
- topology adaptation/adaptive routing re-config without interruption for UEs fixed relays to mitigate blockage/load variations on BH [0340]
- multi-hop BH [0343]
- IAB-donor support UEs and/or IAB-MT dual connected [0351-0352] in Fig. 18 to 22.
- a parent IAB-node indicate to IAB-node, a cell (beam, BWP, UL/DL of cell) to activate/deactivate resources for proper utilization of resources; uses protocol-stack [0466-0472]; in Fig. 42 to 44 and Fig. 47
Disclosure, a set of serving-cells for the wireless device [0298] and simultaneous-config Fig. 11. That is the capability for the wireless node of simultaneous communication to the serving cells includes parameters: MCG for the serving cells for a master-BS and SCG for the serving cells of a secondary-BS. For an SCG-config includes UL-component carriers [0220, 0298]. The multi-connectivity between a master-BS and a secondary-BS can be applied: for SCG is config at least one SCG bearer or simultaneous config of the SCG [0298]. The multi-connectivity defined at least one bearer config to use radio resources provide to the secondary-BS [0295]. The wireless is configured in a multi-connectivity-mode and the Mac-entities [0311] and Fig. 13.
The wireless device and the BS communicate with multiple CCs when config with the CA; different CCs include different bandwidth and combination of multi-carriers [0260] and Fig. 7.
Disclosure includes the IAB in-band and out-band. For the in-band simultaneous transmit/receive on both links uses full duplex while the out-band don’t have the half-duplex constraints. Includes frequency spectrum, IAB-based relay of UE’s MCG/SCG, and EN-DC [0328].
Though discloses simultaneous communication between the IAB nodes [0412], and didn’t disclose,
‘an indication of a capability of the wireless node for simultaneous communication with the first parent node and the second parent node, wherein the indication includes an indication of a capability of the wireless node for simultaneous transmission and reception on multiple serving cells in a frequency band.’
3GPP TS 38.300 discloses in the relevant art, provide specific details in the Tech specification NR-RAN regarding the simultaneous communication within IAB-nodes (first node and second node) and the wireless nodes/UE; that includes, an indication of a capability for simultaneous transmission and reception on multiple serving cells;
3GPP discloses, A UE with single/multiple timing advance capability for Carrier Aggregation (CA) can simultaneously receive and/or transmit on multiple component carriers (CCs) corresponding to multiple serving cells sharing the same/different timing advance (multiple serving cells grouped in one/multiple TAG)”; Uses CA in multiples of slots between the PCell/PSCell and an SCell is configured to the UE. Includes a maximum number of configured CCs for a UE both DL/UL-TDD/FDD band; see page 35 section 5.4.1; see further Intra-system Automatic Neighbor Cell communication UE to Cell A and Cell B; UE sends measurement report to RAN node and serving NR frequency bands, see section 15.3.3.2 along with Fig. 15.3.3.2;
The UE capabilities features set per band in the serving cell and the CA for the CCs Fig. 14.1, section 14, page-105 to 106.
this can be further explained in the upper tiers communication with IAB nodes (parent) as part of migration to another IAB-DU; See Fig. 4.7.1-1 and 4.7.1-2, page 23; In addition to the gNB-DU functionality, the IAB-node also supports a subset of the UE functionality referred to as IAB-MT, which includes, e.g., physical layer, layer-2, RRC and NAS functionality to connect to the gNB-DU of another IAB-node or the IAB-donor, to connect to the gNB-CU on the IAB-donor, and to the core network. IAB nodes IAB-DU and IAB-MT capable of simultaneous communication; See section 4.7; for cell reselection, UE searches the NR frequency bands; UE search and measurement of inter-frequency neighbor cells, only the carrier frequencies need to be indicated, section 9.2.1.2. All IAB-donor are connected one/multiple hops directed acyclic graph page-22.
Regarding the capability of wireless node IAB-MT/UE to perform simultaneous communication, disclosure specifically includes that the network support large number of slices as hundreds while the UE can avail max 8 slices simultaneously, page-121; that is most important in the relevant subject matter access link and BH links IAB function architecture.
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of
the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Park and to include
with that of 3GPP disclosure and to come up with the claim invention,
to further include the UEs communication multiple serving cells in the overall functionalities of the topology adaption backhaul NR and IAB nodes. Disclosure, Park includes IAB backhaul in New Radio (NR) refer to 3GPP and exemplify the IAB network in split architecture conform the spec regarding architecture topology redundancy and concurrent BH link with two parents nodes i.e. EN-DC, disclosed by Park [0394] and 3GGP section-4.7.4.3, page-26. In contrast, disclosure of 3GPP present beyond to provide details of UE capabilities on NR uses certain capability parameters per duplex mode (FDD/TDD), per frequency range (FR1/FR2), per band combinations. See Features Combinations, Set Fig. 14-1. Those capability parameters are sent in feature set per component carrier and they are signaled in the corresponding feature sets (per Band), page-105 to 106. This would enhance communication capability in IAB as part of 5G NR topology redundancy and reliable communication.
Can meet different service requirement data rate, latency and reliability of the transmission to support the CCs and the CA [0260] and Fig. 7.
Regarding Claim 22,
‘first parent node of claim 21’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein the one or more processors are individually and collectively configured to the first parent node to:’ (disclosed above),
Identical to Claim 2 disclosed above, ‘receive, from the wireless node, an indication of a capability of the wireless node for simultaneous communication with the first parent node and the second parent node, wherein the indication includes an indication of a capability of the wireless node for simultaneous transmission and reception on multiple serving cells in a frequency band’;
Disclosed above Claim 2, ‘and transmit the indication of the capability of the wireless node for simultaneous communication to the second parent node’,
Park discloses, ‘via an interface between a first central unit associated with the first parent node and a second central unit associated with the second parent node.’ (Disclosure includes IAB multi-hop design includes architecture approaches [0347]. The CU/DU BH uses hop-by-hop adaptation-layer either by PDN alternatively PDU session. And, End-to-End connectivity and/or Hop-by-Hop uses the stack. Includes more than one upstream IAB-node [0348-0555] and Fig. 18 to Fig. 22.)
10. Claims 4-5, 15 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. in view of Hyangsun-You et al. (US-20230126621-A1), hereinafter “Hyangsun-You”.
Regarding Claim 4,
‘wireless node of claim 1’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein to transmit the assistance information, the one or more processors, individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless node to:’ (disclosed above),
Park discloses, the BS communicate with the wireless device with a carrier within a channel bandwidth and uses guard symbol to reduce interference and Fig. 7. And, multiple CCs config with CA supported different bandwidth and/or SCS [0259-0260]. IAB-node can utilize different UL/DL slot-config and reduces interference [0364]. Uses CLI-mitigation techniques to UL/DL [0369] and didn’t disclose,
‘transmit, to the first parent node, at least one of: an indication of at least one of requested guard symbols or a requested guard band, or an indication of at least one of guard symbols or a guard band provided by the second parent node’.
Hyangsun-You in the relevant art discloses includes guard symbol for the parent node Fig. 38 and [0508-0520].
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure and to include with that of Hyangsun-You disclosure to come up with the claim invention,
Park multiple CCs config with CA supported different bandwidth and/or SCS [2059-026]; motive include redundant and concurrent communication and multiple CCs to support the CA that provide service requirement (e.g., data rate, latency and reliability [0260]. Someone would take this motive would considerations to apply guard symbols in the parent nodes, disclosed by Hyangsun-You.
Regarding Claim 5,
‘wireless node of claim 1’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein to transmit the assistance information, the one or more processors, individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless node to:’ (disclosed above),
Park discloses, IAB node support UL/DL-power-control enhancements [0364] and power-config parameter [0420-0422].
And didn’t disclose,
‘transmit, to the first parent node, at least one of: an indication of at least one of a requested downlink transmit power adjustment for the first parent node or a requested uplink transmit power for an uplink communication to the first parent node, or an indication of at least one of a downlink receive power for a downlink communication from the second parent node, an uplink transmit power for an uplink communication to the second parent node, or a downlink transmit power adjustment for the second parent node.’
Hyangsun-You in the relevant art discloses, adjust transmit power for a transceiver [0136]. And, UL/DL-transmission. The IAB-node support TDM/FDM/SDM between the access and the BH links utilization. And, DL/UL power control enhancement [0287-0289]. Identify power difference transmit/receive for the cells in certain limits; and the IAB-MT perform on the two parent-Dus identify the power difference within certain limit [0355-0356, 0419-0420].
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of
the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure Park and to include with that of Hyangsun-You disclosure to come up with the claim invention,
Park discloses, IAB-node provide the UL/DL power control enhancement; provide interference management includes CLI and motive to reduces interference [0364, 0367-0369]. That is required for the simultaneous communication IAB-nodes configured resources activation require interference consideration [0412]. Need reliability in redundant routes, concurrent and dual-connectivity [0394]. And achieve more reliability Hyangsun-You, [0118].
Regarding Claim 15,
‘wireless node of claim 11’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein the recommended configuration for communication between the wireless node and the second parent node includes at least one of:’ (disclose above to Claim 11),
Identical to Claim 3 and 4 disclosed above, ‘an indication of at least one of a transmit beam or receive beam for the wireless node to use for communication with the second parent node’,
Identical to Claim 4 disclosed above, ‘an indication of at least one of guard symbols or guard bands for communication with the second parent node, an indication of an uplink transmit power for an uplink communication to the second parent node’,
Identical to Claim 5 disclosed above ‘an indication of an uplink transmit timing for an uplink communication to the second parent node, an indication of at least one of a downlink reference signal configuration or an uplink reference signal configuration, or an indication of a downlink transmit power for the second parent node.’
Regarding Claim 24,
‘first parent node of claim 21’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein the one or more processors, to receive the assistance information, individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless node to:, from the wireless node, at least one of:’,
Identical to Claim 3 disclosed above, ‘an indication of at least one of a requested transmit beam or a requested receive beam for communication with the first parent node, an indication of at least one of a transmit beam or a receive beam not preferred for communication with the first parent node, an indication of at least one of one or more transmit beams or one or more receive beams that the wireless node is configured to use for communication with the second parent node’,
Identical to Claim 4 disclosed above, ‘an indication of at least one of requested guard symbols or a requested guard band, an indication of at least one of guard symbols or a guard band provided by the second parent node’,
Identical to Claim 5 disclosed above, ‘an indication of at least one of a requested downlink transmit power adjustment for the first parent node or a requested uplink transmit power for an uplink communication to the first parent node, an indication of at least one of a downlink receive power for a downlink communication from the second parent node, an uplink transmit power for an uplink communication to the second parent node, or a downlink transmit power adjustment for the second parent node’,
Identical to Claim 6 disclosed above, ‘an indication of at least one of a requested downlink transmit timing adjustment for the first parent node or a requested uplink transmit timing for an uplink communication to the first parent node, an indication of at least one of a downlink receive timing for a downlink communication from the second parent node or an uplink transmit timing for an uplink communication to the second parent node’,
Identical to Claim 7 disclosed above, ‘an indication of at least one of a requested downlink reference signal configuration or a requested uplink reference signal configuration associated with the first parent node, or an indication of at least one of a downlink reference signal configuration or an uplink reference signal configuration associated with the second parent node.’
Response to Arguments
11. Applicant's arguments filed 12/23/2025 have been fully considered but they are
not persuasive. Applicant’s arguments do not comply with 37 CFR 1.111(c) because they do not clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. Further, they do not show how the amendments avoid such references or objections.
Applicant Arguments:
Applicant addresses below the issues raised by the Office Action. Applicant thanks the Examiner with appreciation for the careful consideration and examination.
Claims 1-30 are currently pending, with claims 1, 3-7, 17, 21, 23, 24, 27, 29, and 30 being currently amended. No new matter has been added.
Applicant files this response solely to facilitate prosecution. As such, Applicant reserves the right to pursue claims of broader or similar scope as originally filed in this application, a continuation application, or other application. Applicant does not concede that the current or past rejections are correct and reserves the right to challenge such rejections later in prosecution or on appeal. Any amendment, argument, or claim cancellation is not to be construed as abandonment or disclaimer of subject matter.
It is believed that the initially filed claims are patentable and these modifications are
believed to also be patentable. Here are several reasons why the pending claims are patentable.
Example Support
Example support for the amended claims may be found in, for example, paragraphs 104- 108 and Figures 6 and 7 of the specification as filed.
Notice of Reference Cited
The YUAN publication (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0362727) cited on page 34 of the Office Action has not been identified on the Notice of References Cited (PTO- 892). Applicant respectfully requests the Examiner identify the reference in a PTO-892 accompanying the next communication.
Statement Regarding Substance of Interview
Applicant submits that an interview occurred on 3 December 2025, with Applicant's representative, Nathan Gundlach, and Examiner Ahmed. Applicant appreciates the courtesies extended during the interview. During the interview, Applicant's representative discussed the claims, the rejections, the applied references, and proposed claim amendments. While no formal agreement was reached, the Examiner is invited to call Applicant's representative to resolve any remaining issues if the Examiner believes the application is not in condition for allowance.
Rejection under 35 U.S. C. $103 based on MILDH AND 3GPP
Claims 1-3, 6, 9-14, 18-23, 25, 26, and 28-30 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as allegedly being unpatentable over MILDH (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2023/0292204) and 3GPP (non-patent literature by 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; NR and NG-RAN Overall Description 3GPP TS 38.300 V16.5.0, 2021-03). Applicant respectfully traverses the rejection.
Applicant respectfully submits that MILDH and 3GPP do not disclose each and every feature recited in amended claim 1. For example, MILDH and 3GPP do not disclose "the assistance information comprises: a request for first configuration information for communication between the wireless node and the first parent node, and second configuration information for communication between the wireless node and the second parent node," as recited in amended claim 1. Pages 5-7 of the Office Action rely on paragraphs 5, 78, 79, and 188 of MILDH and section 7.9 (page 55) of 3GPP for allegedly disclosing "the assistance information comprises an indication of a utilization, by the wireless node, of resources-16-configured for a plurality of communications associated with the second parent node," as recited in previously presented claim 1.
Instead, paragraph 79 of MILDH recites: "control plane message(s) are transmitted over
the control plane connection 22 and an interface 26 between the first and second radio network equipment 14A, 14B, in order to support the radio network layer application protocol connection 24 maintained between the IAB node 12 and the first radio network equipment."
However, transmitting control plane messages on an interface between radio network
equipment, as described in MILDH, does not disclose "the assistance information comprises: a request for first configuration information for communication between the wireless node and the first parent node, and second configuration information for communication between the wireless node and the second parent node," as recited in amended claim 1.
3GPP does not cure the deficiencies of MILDH. Instead, section 7.9 of 3GPP recites:
When configured to do so, the UE can signal the network through
UE-Assistance-Information
- If it prefers an adjustment in the connected mode DRX cycle length, for the
purpose of delay budget reporting;
- If it is experiencing internal overheating;
- If it prefers certain DRX parameter values, and/or a reduced maximum
number of secondary component carriers, and/or a reduced maximum aggregated bandwidth and/or a reduced maximum number of MIMO layers and/or minimum
scheduling offsets KO and K2 for power saving purpose;
- If it expects not to send or receive any more data in the near future, and in
this case, it can provide its preference to transition out of RRC_CONNECTED where this indication may express its preferred RRC state, or alternately, it may
cancel an earlier indicated preference to transition out of RRC_CONNECTED;
- If it prefers (not) to be provisioned with reference time information;
- The list of frequencies affected by IDC problems (see clause 23.4 of TS
36.300 [2]).
However, the UE-Assistance-Information described in 3GPP does not disclose "the assistance information comprises: a request for first configuration information for communication between the wireless node and the first parent node, and second configuration information for communication between the wireless node and the second parent node," as recited in amended claim 1.
For at least the foregoing reasons, Applicant submits that amended claim 1 is patentable over MILDH and 3GPP.
Independent claims 21, 29, and 30, as amended, recite similar features. Therefore,
independent claims 1, 21, 29, and 30, and the claims that depend thereon, are patentable over MILDH and 3GPP.
Accordingly, Applicant respectfully requests that the Examiner reconsider and withdraw the rejection of claims 1-3, 6, 9-14, 18-23, 25, 26, and 28-30 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 based on MILDH and 3GPP.
Rejection of Dependent Claims
Claims 4, 5, 7, 8, and 15-17 depend from independent claim 1, and claims 24 and 27
depend from independent claim 21. Therefore, these claims are patentable for at least the reasons set forth above with respect to their parent claims and for their additional distinguishing features recited therein.
Compact Prosecution
The Office Action provides a Notice of References Cited. Under the policy of "compact" prosecution, Applicant submits that the Notice of References Cited serves as an acknowledgement that the Office conducted a full search and examination regarding the application and claims, and that no further search or examination of the claims is required in this-18-application. See MPEP § 904.03 (instructing Examiners to search "all subject matter which the examiner reasonably anticipates might be incorporated into applicant's amendment") and MPEP § 2103 (instructing Examiners to review Applicant's "complete specification" for searching purposes).
Examiners response:
With respect to applicant’s arguments/remarks, examiner responses are:
Examiner reviewed the applicant’s arguments/remarks and further amended claims and
provided required disclosures in the office actions from the closest prior
art that covers the subject matters and claims. Addressed all the claims and applicant’s
argument/remarks included disclosures from the presented prior arts “Park”, “3GPP” and “Hyangsun-You”.
Examiner would present the amended subject matter summarized precisely. For details please see this OA page 1 to 28 disclosure of presented prior arts:
Claim subject and the claims are presented with claim limitations
Simultaneous communication mainly emphasized term “simultaneous”. Equivalent technical meaning in the art and mostly in the tech filed concurrent that is concurrent communication. In the tech filed of IAB-nodes that is mostly BH links and also connected by a wireless node that is a mobile terminal (IAB-MT) and at lowest tier terminal/UE through access link.
Further limited by two parent nodes i.e. IAB-nodes-DU [Wingdings font/0xE0] IAB-CU as spec applicant Fig. 4 to 6 and presented prior art park Fig. 14, 16 to 22.
The independent claims are presented, the wireless node transmit/request for the simultaneous communication to a first and a second parent node and that is further limited by configurations for the first parent node and the second parent node.
Let us take the motive from the claim alternatively how best this claim can be explained more precisely to perform more efficiently. Though not specifically spelled in the claims, the simultaneous communication in the two IAB-nodes yet includes dual-connectivity and as per spec in the relevant art dual-connectivity/multi-connectivity to the two IAB-nodes simultaneously that specific time/concurrently. This is to achieve the redundancy and reliability.
In the tech field of the integrated access backhaul or IAB Simultaneous/ concurrent communication and dual-connectivity to achieve redundancy and reliability
In the industrial application, “Computing Resource” are efficiently managed with two important principles “High availability” and “the scalability” in near-real time and real-time (supported non-patent literature “SD-RAN ORAN” and RIC are cited). Equivalent to redundancy/reliability. In the theory of computation known as concurrent computation/parallel processing and broadly in the computer science distributed computing also uses graphical edge nodes identical to IAB Topology adaptation for the access links and BH links includes IAB-MT/DU/CU nodes, Park [0394].
IAB topology comprise spanning tree and/or directed acyclic graph, IAB-node multi/Dual-connected, multiple-parents and redundant routes to achieve reliability [0394]. Manage resources functional-splits and in two architectures in Fig. 30 and Fig. 31. Also comprises end-to-end and/or hop-by-hop; uses PDN and PDU session connectivity by Layers-stacks Fig. 18 to 22; more than one cells MN/SN and MCG/SCG. The wireless node specifically the UE not able to distinguish access to IAB-node while access to BS/RAN. Includes DL/UL flexible time resource scheduling/resource-allocation/multiple BH and configurations [0394-0406]. The configurations includes parameters: resources activation for more than one cells uses beam, BWP, frequency etc. illustrated in Fig. 33 to 38 and Fig. 43 to 48.
Examiner thanks to applicant and attorney for their time and effort.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to
applicant's disclosure:
Sunay, O., et al. "ONF’s software-defined RAN platform consistent with the O-RAN architecture." ONF White Paper. 2020. (Year: 2020); Disclosure, software defined RAN includes RRM L1/L2/L3, carrier aggregation and dual-connectivity, page-8;
3GPP standards [Wingdings font/0xE0] ORAN spec [Wingdings font/0xE0] ONF SD-RAN
manage resources at layers L1/L2/L3 disaggregated Fig. 6 to 8
high availability and scalability in near real-time/real-time and latency in RIC RAN architectures reduces downtime more reliability.
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 extension
fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the
examiner should be directed to SYED AHMED whose telephone number is (703)756-
5308. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday 9AM-5PM EST.
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/S.A./Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/CHRISTOPHER M CRUTCHFIELD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466