DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 11/10/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The following is an office action in response to applicant’s amendment filed under RCE dated 11/10/2025 for response of the final office action mailed on 08/25/2025. Independent Claims 1, 9, 16, 17, and 20 are amended. Claims 1-20 are pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to Claims 1-20 have been fully considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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 non- obviousness.
Claims 1, 4-8, 16 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MAKKI et al. (US 20210075498 A1), hereinafter MAKKI, in view of Chopra et al. (US 20200045645 A1), hereinafter Chopra.
Regarding Claim 1, MAKKI teaches a communication system (MAKKI, FIG. 2, ¶0034 relay-based NOMA system 200) comprising:
a base station (MAKKI, FIG. 2, ¶0034 base station/NN 105); and
a plurality of terminals to be Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access-connected (NOMA-connected) to the base station (MAKKI, ¶0003; ¶0005; FIG. 2, ¶0034-0035, plurality of NOMA connected terminals (UEs 101,102, RN) connected to NN),
the plurality of terminals including:
a relay terminal to relay uplink communication data to the base station (MAKKI, ¶0006; FIG. 2 ¶0034, relay terminal /relay node (RN, 202) to relay uplink communication data to BS), and
a relayed terminal to transmit the uplink communication data to the base station via the relay terminal (MAKKI, FIG. 2, ¶0034-0035, relayed terminal/UE 101, UE 102),
wherein the relay terminal transmits, to the base station, overlap data given by getting uplink communication data based on a communication request occurring in the relay terminal to overlap with the uplink communication data coming from the relayed terminal (MAKKI, FIG. 2, ¶0030; ¶0038, relay terminal/node (RN 202) transmits overlap data/superimposed/combined signal; See also ¶0010 “the combined signal comprising a first message transmitted by a first user equipment, UE (101, 102), in a first time slot, and a second message transmitted in the first time slot by a second UE (101, 102), that is a different UE than the first UE”), and
MAKKI does not explicitly teach wherein the relay terminal overlaps the uplink communication data of the relayed terminal with the uplink communication data of the relay terminal itself by setting a power offset such that a transmission power of the uplink communication data of the relayed terminal is decreased by the power offset relative to a transmission power of the uplink communication data of the relay terminal itself.
However, in the analogous art, Chopra explicitly discloses wherein the relay terminal overlaps the uplink communication data of the relayed terminal with the uplink communication data of the relay terminal itself by setting a power offset (Chopra, Abstract, the power control system can schedule relay node devices to transmit uplink transmissions alongside UE devices that have a high signal strength; ¶0034, the relay node device can perform uplink power control management of overlapping uplink communication data; see also ¶0042 the resources overlap with each other in time) such that a transmission power of the uplink communication data of the relayed terminal is decreased by the power offset relative to a transmission power of the uplink communication data of the relay terminal itself (Chopra, FIG. 7 at 704, FIG. 8, at 804 see also Abstract, ¶0015, see also FIG. 4, ¶0045, the power control management [of relay terminal] is initiated by the difference in power spectral density of UL transmission of relay node / “relay terminal” and UE device/”relayed terminal”, examiner interprets power spectral density and signal strength to correspond to “power”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine MAKKI’s invention of a relay-based non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) communication system and method with Chopra’s power control system in a multi-hop integrated access and backhaul network. The motivation would be to improve overall throughput [Chopra, ¶0042].
Regarding Claim 4, MAKKI and Chopra teach Claim 1.
MAKKI further teaches the relay terminal is NOMA-connected to plural relayed terminals (MAKKI, FIG. 2 ¶0034, relay terminal /relay node (RN 202) is NOMA connected to plural relayed terminals/UEs (101, 102).
Regarding Claim 5, MAKKI and Chopra teach Claim 1.
MAKKI further teaches the relay terminal, when relaying the uplink communication data coming from the relayed terminal, transmits the uplink communication data coming from the relayed terminal to the base station with transmission power smaller by at least a fourth criterion value than transmission power used for transmitting the uplink communication data based on the communication request occurring in the relay terminal; (MAKKI, FIG. 2; ¶0032-¶0035 the relayed terminal (UE 101,102) adapt their transmission parameter/rate and transmission power and send their message in a NOMA based fashion to the relay terminal/RN 202; ¶0051 presence of relay terminal/RN 102 and adaptive power allocation and NOMA reduces the transmission power / originating transmission power of the relayed terminal/ UE (when power lower than threshold/fourth criterion value); see also ¶0005 adaptive transmission power allocation may be used at the UEs and/or the RN).
Regarding Claim 6, MAKKI and Chopra teach Claim 5.
MAKKI further teaches the relay terminal increases the transmission power for transmitting the uplink communication data of the relayed terminal upon completing the transmission of the uplink communication data based on the communication request occurring in the relay terminal before completing the relay of the uplink communication data of the relayed terminal (MAKKI, FIG. 2, ¶0032-¶0035, the relayed terminal (UE 101,102) adapt their transmission parameter/rate and transmission power and send their message in a NOMA based fashion to the relay terminal/RN 202; the relay terminal/RN determines an optimal transmission power (i.e. can increase or decrease transmission power) for the relayed terminal/first UE (UE 101,102); see also ¶0005 adaptive transmission power allocation may be used at the UEs and/or the RN; ¶0051 adaptive power allocation at the RN).
Regarding Claim 7, MAKKI and Chopra teach Claim 5.
MAKKI further teaches the relay terminal increases the transmission power for relaying the uplink communication data of a first relayed terminal having the transmission power being set lower than that of a second relayed terminal with the relay being completed when the relay terminal completes the relay of the uplink communication data of any one of plural relayed terminals including the first relayed terminal and the second relayed terminal (MAKKI, FIG. 2, ¶0035; FIG. 5, (500), ¶0066, the UEs 101 and 102 transmit pilot signals that base station/NN 105 and relay terminal/relay node RN 202 can use to estimate the channel gains (power levels); relay terminal/RN 202 can transmit to base station/NN 105 the channel gain information determined by relay terminal RN 202 so that base station/NN 105 can determine the optimal value (increase or decrease) for the power for relaying the first UE 101 uplink information; see also ¶0005 adaptive transmission power allocation may be used at RN).
Regarding Claim 8, MAKKI and Chopra teach Claim 1.
MAKKI further teaches the relayed terminal includes a terminal positioned outside a cell provided by the base station (MAKKI, ¶0028, the relayed terminal includes a “weak UE”/ cell-edge UE 102).
Regarding Claim 16, the claim discloses similar features of Claim 1, and is rejected based on the same rationales of Claim 1 (MAKKI, a terminal (FIG. 2 relay terminal/relay node (RN 202)) in a communication system configured to establish NOMA-connections between a plurality of terminals and a base station (MAKKI, ¶0006; FIG. 2 ¶0034, relay terminal/relay node (RN, 202) configured to relay uplink communication data from a plurality of terminals to a base station/network node (NN 105)), the terminal comprising: a controller (MAKKI, FIG.6, ¶0067 controller/apparatus 600 used to implement RN 202)).
Regarding Claim 20, the claim discloses similar features of Claim 1, and is rejected based on the same rationales of Claim 1, in method form (MAKKI, FIG. 5, ¶0062 Process 500; Chopra, FIG. 7, FIG. 8).
Claims 2-3, 9-14 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MAKKI, in view of Chopra, and further in view of Papadogiannis et al (US 20120250545 A1), hereinafter Papadogiannis.
Regarding Claim 2, MAKKI and Chopra teach Claim 1.
MAKKI further teaches the base station obtains a propagation loss of a propagation path between the base station and each of the plurality of terminals, (MAKKI, FIG. 3, ¶0035; ¶0042, BS/NN 105 obtains propagation loss/¶0035 channel gain information of UEs to determine loss (inverse of propagation loss)/ ¶0042 NN experiences “worst channel quality” of a propagation path between BS/NN 105 and plurality of NOMA connected terminals (UEs 101,102, RN).
MAKKI and Chopra do not explicitly teach [the base station] sets terminals with the propagation loss of the propagation path being smaller than a first criterion value, as candidates for the relay terminal, sets terminals with the propagation loss of the propagation path being equal to or larger than a second criterion value larger than the first criterion value, as candidates for the relayed terminal, and selects the relay terminal and the relayed terminal from within the candidates for the relay terminal and the candidates for the relayed terminal.
However, in the analogous art, Papadogiannis explicitly discloses [the base station] sets terminals with the propagation loss of the propagation path being smaller than a first criterion value, as candidates for the relay terminal (Papadogiannis, FIG. 5, at steps 58-60, ¶0064; ¶0142-0145, ¶0149 -¶0151, ¶0154, base station/BS sets terminal with propagation loss /attenuation is less than a first criterion value /threshold dt2 as candidates for the relay terminal/potential relay; see also ¶0018, “gain of the channel” depends on propagation losses (or “path loss”), which increase w/ distance between transmitter node and receiver node; ¶0022 “attenuation” is cumulative effect of “path loss”),
sets terminals with the propagation loss of the propagation path being equal to or larger than a second criterion value larger than the first criterion value, as candidates for the relayed terminal (Papadogiannis, FIG. 5, at steps 58-60, ¶0142-0145, ¶0149 -¶0151, ¶0154, base station/BS sets terminal with propagation loss /attenuation greater than a second criterion value /DIS greater than attenuation threshold and attenuation larger than the threshold dt2, as candidate for the relayed terminal/normal UE; see also ¶0022 “attenuation” is cumulative effect of “path loss”), and
selects the relay terminal and the relayed terminal from within the candidates for the relay terminal and the candidates for the relayed terminal (Papadogiannis, FIG. 5, step 62, ¶0068 ¶0149 ¶0151 the base station/BS selects a relay terminal/decides to fix at least one terminal as a relay node and the relayed terminal from a number of candidate terminals/nodes for the relay operation).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine MAKKI’s invention of a relay-based non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) communication system and method with Papadogiannis's selection of dynamic relays for cooperative communication in a mobile network. The motivation would be to provide a diversity of communication paths which allow the signal-to-noise SNR ratio on the reception of signals to be improved [Papadogiannis, ¶0008].
Regarding Claim 3, MAKKI and Chopra and Papadogiannis teach Claim 2.
MAKKI and Chopra do not explicitly teach [the base station selects the candidate for the relayed terminal as the relayed terminal and the candidate for the relay terminal as the relay terminal] . . . when a propagation loss given upon performing communications with the base station in such a way that data of the candidate for the relayed terminal are relayed by the candidate for the relay terminal improves more by a third criterion value or above than a propagation loss given upon performing the communications with the base station in such a way that the data of the candidate for the relayed terminal are not relayed by the candidate for the relay terminal.
However, in the analogous art, Papadogiannis explicitly discloses [the base station selects the candidate for the relayed terminal as the relayed terminal and the candidate for the relay terminal as the relay terminal]. . . when a propagation loss given upon performing communications with the base station in such a way that data of the candidate for the relayed terminal are relayed by the candidate for the relay terminal improves more by a third criterion value or above than a propagation loss given upon performing the communications with the base station in such a way that the data of the candidate for the relayed terminal are not relayed by the candidate for the relay terminal (FIG. 5, step 55, ¶0141; ¶0162;¶0170 relay is disabled and candidate for relayed terminal is clear to send (CTS-OFF) direct to base station BS, when the propagation loss/attenuation between the relayed terminal (terminal i or terminal j) is smaller than a threshold dt1 (i.e. the propagation loss for data/message from the relayed terminal is improved).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine MAKKI’s invention of a relay-based non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) communication system and method with Papadogiannis's selection of dynamic relays for cooperative communication in a mobile network. The motivation would be to provide a diversity of communication paths which allow the signal-to-noise SNR ratio on the reception of signals to be improved [Papadogiannis, ¶0008].
Regarding Claim 9, MAKKI teaches a base station configured to be NOMA-connected with a plurality of terminals (MAKKI, ¶0003; ¶0005; FIG. 2, ¶0034-0035, plurality of NOMA connected terminals (UEs 101,102, RN) connected to NN 105), comprising:
a controller (MAKKI, FIG.6, ¶0067 controller/apparatus 600 used to implement NN 105) to execute:
. . . receiving, from the relay terminal, overlap data given by getting uplink communication data based on a communication request occurring in the relay terminal to overlap with the uplink communication data coming from the relayed terminals (MAKKI, FIG. 2, ¶0030; ¶0038, relay terminal/node (RN 202) transmits overlap data/superimposed/combined signal; See also ¶0010 “the combined signal comprising a first message transmitted by a first user equipment, UE (101, 102), in a first time slot, and a second message transmitted in the first time slot by a second UE (101, 102), that is a different UE than the first UE”),
MAKKI does not explicitly teach wherein the uplink communication data of the relayed terminal are overlapped with the uplink communication data of the relay terminal itself by settinq a power offset such that a transmission power of the uplink communication data of the relayed terminal is decreased by the power offset relative to a transmission power of the uplink communication data of the relay terminal itself.
However, in the analogous art, Chopra explicitly discloses wherein the uplink communication data of the relayed terminal are overlapped with the uplink communication data of the relay terminal itself by settinq a power offset such that a transmission power of the uplink communication data of the relayed terminal is decreased by the power offset relative to a transmission power of the uplink communication data of the relay terminal itself (Chopra, Abstract, the power control system can schedule relay node devices to transmit uplink transmissions alongside UE devices that have a high signal strength; ¶0034, the relay node device can perform uplink power control management of overlapping uplink communication data; see also ¶0042 the resources overlap with each other in time; Chopra, FIG. 7 at 704, FIG. 8, at 804 see also Abstract, ¶0015, see also FIG. 4, ¶0045, the power control management [of relay terminal] is initiated by the difference in power spectral density of UL transmission of relay node / “relay terminal” and UE device/”relayed terminal”, examiner interprets power spectral density and signal strength to correspond to “power”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine MAKKI’s invention of a relay-based non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) communication system and method with Chopra’s power control system in a multi-hop integrated access and backhaul network. The motivation would be to improve overall throughput [Chopra, ¶0042].
MAKKI and Chopra do not explicitly teach selecting, from the plurality of terminals, a relay terminal [to relay uplink communication data to the base station] and a relayed terminal [to transmit the uplink communication data to the base station via the relay terminal] . . .
However, in the analogous art, Papadogiannis explicitly discloses selecting, from the plurality of terminals, a relay terminal [to relay uplink communication data to the base station] (FIG. 5, 62, ¶0068 ¶0149 ¶0151, the base station/BS selects a relay terminal/decides to fix at least one terminal as a relay node and the relayed terminal from a number of candidate terminals/nodes for the relay operation).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine MAKKI’s invention of a relay-based non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) communication system and method, and Chopra’s power control system in a multi-hop integrated access and backhaul network with Papadogiannis's selection of dynamic relays for cooperative communication in a mobile network. The motivation would be to provide a diversity of communication paths which allow the signal-to-noise SNR ratio on the reception of signals to be improved [Papadogiannis, ¶0008].
Regarding Claims 10-11, the claims disclose similar features of Claims 2-3, and are rejected based on the same rationales of Claims 2-3 (Papadogiannis, FIG. 5).
Regarding Claim 12, MAKKI and Chopra and Papadogiannis teach Claim 9.
MAKKI further teaches the controller indicates transmission power smaller by at least a fourth criterion value than transmission power when transmitting the uplink communication data based on the communication request occurring in the relay terminal as transmission power to the relay terminal when the relay terminal relays the uplink communication data coming from the relayed terminal (MAKKI, FIG. 2; ¶0032-¶0035 the relayed terminal (UE 101,102) adapt their transmission parameter/rate and transmission power and send their message in a NOMA based fashion to the relay terminal/RN 202; ¶0051 presence of relay terminal/RN 102 and adaptive power allocation and NOMA reduces the transmission power / originating transmission power of the relayed terminal/ UE; see also ¶0005 adaptive transmission power allocation may be used at the UEs and/or the RN).
Regarding Claim 13, MAKKI and Chopra and Papadogiannis teach Claim 12.
MAKKI further teaches the controller gets the relay terminal to increase the transmission power for transmitting the uplink communication data of the relayed terminal upon completing the transmission of the uplink communication data based on the communication request occurring in the relay terminal before completing the relay of the uplink communication data of the relayed terminal. (MAKKI, FIG. 2, ¶0032-¶0035, the relayed terminal (UE 101,102) adapt their transmission parameter/rate and transmission power and send their message in a NOMA based fashion to the relay terminal/RN 202; the relay terminal/RN determines an optimal transmission power (i.e. can increase or decrease transmission power) for the relayed terminal/first UE; see also ¶0005 adaptive transmission power allocation may be used at the UEs and/or the RN; ¶0051 adaptive power allocation at the RN).
Regarding Claim 14, MAKKI and Chopra and Papadogiannis teach Claim 12.
MAKKI further teaches the controller gets the relay terminal to increase the transmission power for relaying the uplink communication data of a first relayed terminal having the transmission power being set lower than that of a second relayed terminal with the relay being completed when the relay terminal completes the relay of the uplink communication data of any one of plural relayed terminals including the first relayed terminal and the second relayed terminal. (MAKKI, FIG. 2, ¶0035; FIG. 5, (500), ¶0066, the UEs 101 and 102 transmit pilot signals that base station/NN 105 and relay terminal/relay node RN 202 can use to estimate the channel gains (power levels); relay terminal/RN 202 can transmit to base station/NN 105 the channel gain information determined by relay terminal RN 202 so that base station/NN 105 can determine the optimal value (increase or decrease) for the power for relaying the first UE 101 uplink information; see also ¶0005 adaptive transmission power allocation may be used at RN; ¶0040;¶0046 ;¶0050; relay terminal total transmit power of combined signals; adaptive power allocation based on UE power level being lower or higher rate).
Regarding Claims 17-19, the claims disclose similar features of Claims 9-11, and are rejected based on the same rationales of Claims 9-11 respectively, in method form (Papadogiannis, FIG. 5).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MAKKI in view of Chopra and Papadogiannis and further in view of Kitagawa et al. (US 20170245254 A1), Kitigawa hereinafter.
Regarding Claim 15, MAKKI and Chopra, and Papadogiannis teach Claim 9.
MAKKI and Chopra and Papadogiannis do not explicitly teach the controller gets the relay terminal to search for a terminal positioned outside a cell provided by the base station and to relay the communication data coming from the searched terminal.
However, in the analogous art, Kitagawa explicitly discloses the controller gets the relay terminal to search for a terminal positioned outside a cell provided by the base station (Kitagawa, ¶0037;FIG.5 ¶0068-0076, controller/base station device 30 instructs relay terminal/first terminal device 10 via paging signal (step S1a) to transmit a search signal (step S1e)/search for an “out-of-area” terminal/second terminal device 20) and to relay the communication data coming from the searched terminal (Kitagawa, ¶0037;FIG.5 ¶0068-0076, relay terminal/first terminal device 10 relays communication data coming from the searched terminal/ “out-of-area” terminal/second terminal device (step S1f)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine MAKKI’s invention of a relay-based non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) communication system and method and Chopra’s power control system in a multi-hop integrated access and backhaul network and Papadogiannis's selection of dynamic relays for cooperative communication in a mobile network with Kitagawa’s terminal device communication method. The motivation would be to efficiently connect an “out-of-area” terminal that is not under the control of a base station device to a wireless network [Kitagawa, ¶0008].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRACY L WILLIAMS whose telephone number is 571-270-7694. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8:30-5:30. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayman Abaza can be reached at 571-270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TRACY L WILLIAMS/Examiner, Art Unit 2465
/AYMAN A ABAZA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465