DETAILED ACTION RCE
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/12/26 has been entered.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This communication is response to claims filed on 01/12/26.
Claims 21, 24-26, 29-31, 34-36 & 39-44 are presented for examination.
Claims 21, 26, 31 & 36 are amended.
Claims 1-20, 22-23, 27-28, 32-33 & 37-38 are canceled.
Claims 41-44 are newly added.
Priority
8. Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Drawing
9. The drawings filed on 01/12/26 are accepted by the examiner
Response to Arguments/Remarks
10. Applicant’s amendment filed on 01/12/26, with respect to claims 21, 24-26, 29-31, 34-36 & 39-44 has been considered but they are moot with the new ground of rejection necessitated by applicant’s amendment as set forth below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
11. 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.
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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
12. Claims 21, 26, 31 & 36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abedini et al. (hereinafter referred as Abedini) US Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0185723 A1, in view of Kim et al. (hereinafter referred as Kim) US Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0253220 A1.
Regarding claims 21 & 31: Abedini discloses a relay node (See FIG. 13 & Para. 0180; a Repeater)/method in a wireless communication system, the relay node comprising:
a transceiver (See FIG. 13 & Para. 0182; a Repeater includes a transceiver 1310); and
at least one processor (See FIG. 6 & Para. 0181; a Repeater includes a processor 1306) coupled with the transceiver and configured to:
receive, from a base station, configuration information including information on at least one time resource for forwarding (See FIG. 6, Para. 0069, 0096 & 0102-0104; the base station may determine configuration information associated with configuring involvement of the repeater in an access procedure when forwarding a signal . the repeater receives access procedure configuration from the base station. the resource of the repeater includes a time resource. The access procedure configuration is provided via DCI), and
transmit, to a terminal, over the at least one time resource based on the DCI (See FIG. 6 & Para. 0104-0106; the repeater forwards the access procedure signal (based at least in part on access procedure configuration and other access procedure information) to the UE. the resource of the repeater includes a time resource. The access procedure configuration is provided via DCI),
Abedini does not explicitly disclose receiving, from a base station, downlink control information (DCI) including information for indicating a beam and information for indicating the time resource associated with the beam for the aperiodic forwarding.
However, Kim from the same field of endeavor discloses a repeater (i.e., a terminal: the examiner is relaying on the feature of the terminal) receiving, from a base station, downlink control information (DCI) including information for indicating a beam and information for indicating the time resource associated with the beam for the aperiodic forwarding (See Para. the terminal receives PDSCH from a base station through the time-frequency resource scheduled by the DCI by using the beam (e.g. beam #10)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the information on at least one time resource includes information on an offset and information on a duration as taught by Kim in the system of Abedini for improving frequency resource utilization efficiency in a communication system using reference signal configuration (See Para. 0009; lines 1-2).
Regarding claims 26 & 36: Abedini discloses a base station (See FIG. 15 & Para. 0190; a base station) in a wireless communication system, the base station comprising:
a transceiver (See FIG. 15 & Para. 0192; a base station includes a transceiver 1510); and
at least one processor (See FIG. 15 & Para. 0191; a base station includes a processor) coupled with the transceiver and configured to:
transmit, to a repeater, configuration information on a time resource for forwarding (See FIG. 6, Para. 0069, 0096 & 0102-0104; the base station may determine configuration information associated with configuring involvement of the repeater in an access procedure when forwarding a signal . the repeater receives access procedure configuration from the base station. the resource of the repeater includes a time resource. The access procedure configuration is provided via DCI), and
Abedini does not explicitly disclose transmits, to a repeater, downlink control information (DCI) including information for indicating a beam and information for indicating the time resource associated with the beam for the aperiodic forwarding on the time resource.
However, Kim from the same field of endeavor discloses transmits, to a repeater, downlink control information (DCI) including information for indicating a beam and information for indicating the time resource associated with the beam for the aperiodic forwarding on the time resource (See Para. 0111-0113; the terminal receives PDSCH from a base station through the time-frequency resource scheduled by the DCI by using the beam (e.g. beam #10)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include transmits, to a repeater, downlink control information (DCI) including information for indicating a beam and information for indicating the time resource associated with the beam for the aperiodic forwarding on the time resources as taught by Kim in the system of Abedini for improving frequency resource utilization efficiency in a communication system using reference signal configuration (See Para. 0009; lines 1-2).
Allowable Subject Matter
13. Claims 24-25, 29-30, 34-35 & 39-44 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
14. The prior art of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
A. Khoshnevisan et al. 2021/0258107 A1 (Title: HARQ for downlink control information without physical downlink shared channel scheduling) (See Abstract, Para. 0012 & 0037-0038).
B. Marinier et al. 2020/0229187 A1 (Title: Framing, scheduling and synchronization in wireless system) (See abstract, Para. 0006 & 00813-0016).
C. Cirik et al. 2020/0221485 A1 (Title: Method, system, and apparatus for beam management) (See FIG. 1, Para. 0046, 0050 & 0160).
15. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MEWALE A AMBAYE whose telephone number is (571)270-1076. The examiner can normally be reached on M.F 6a.m.-2p.m..
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, Ian Moore can be reached on (571)272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see https://ppair-my.uspto.gov/pair/PrivatePair. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MEWALE A AMBAYE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469