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 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 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.
2. 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.
3. Claims 16-18, 20, 24-26 and 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pre-Grant Publication US 2020/0404600 to Ly et al. (hereinafter Ly) in view of U.S. Publication No, US 2023/0164715 to Zhang et al. (hereinafter Zhang) in view of U.S. Publication No, US 2020/0100295 to Pao et al. (hereinafter Pao)
As to claims 16 and 24, Ly discloses a terminal comprising:
reception circuitry, which, in operation, receives a second synchronization signal block (SSB) of a plurality of second SSBs, wherein the second SSB is mapped to a different resource from a resource of a first SSB of a plurality of first SSBs (Ly; Fig.7A; [0080]-[0081] discloses BS 110 may transmit a first SSB (SSB-1) for high-tier UEs and a second SSB (SSB-2) for low-tier UEs. The high-tier UEs may include legacy UEs with a bandwidth capability that satisfies a threshold and the low-tier UEs may include NR-Light UEs with a bandwidth that does not satisfy the threshold. In such examples, as indicated by diagram 720, the first SSB is associated with a first periodicity and the second SSB is associated with a second periodicity that is different from the first periodicity. Fig.3B; [0056]; [0078] Fig.7A shows and discloses plurality of First SSBs and second SSBs);
wherein,
the plurality of first SSBs are used for non-RedCap user equipments (UEs) (Ly; Fig.3B; [0056]; [0078] Fig.7A shows and discloses plurality of First SSBs and second SSBs. [0080] discloses the high-tier UEs may include legacy UEs with a bandwidth capability that satisfies a threshold and the low-tier UEs may include NR-Light UEs with a bandwidth that does not satisfy the threshold and also discloses a first SSB for a first type of UE and a second SSB for a second type of UE, various quantities of SSBs and types of UEs are contemplated. Fig.7A shows plurality of SSB-1 or first SSBs are used for high-tier UEs or legacy UEs (= non-RedCap user equipments (UEs));
the plurality of second SSBs are used for RedCap UEs (Ly; Fig.3B; [0056]; [0078] Fig.7A shows and discloses plurality of First SSBs and second SSBs. [0080] discloses the high-tier UEs may include legacy UEs with a bandwidth capability that satisfies a threshold and the low-tier UEs may include NR-Light UEs with a bandwidth that does not satisfy the threshold and also discloses a first SSB for a first type of UE and a second SSB for a second type of UE, various quantities of SSBs and types of UEs are contemplated. Fig.7A shows plurality of SSB-2 or second SSBs are used for low-tier UEs or NR-Light UEs (= RedCap user equipment (UEs));
Ly at [0080] discloses time resource for first SSB and second SSB and also discloses various quantities of SSBs and types of UEs are contemplated, but fails to explicitly disclose wherein a time resource of the second SSB is indicated by an offset to a time resource of the first SSB. However, Zhang discloses
control circuitry, which, in operation, identifies a resource of the second SSB, wherein a time resource of the second SSB is indicated by an offset to a time resource of the first SSB (Zhang; [0061] discloses in response to that the subcarrier offset value is within the first range while the indication indicates that the first SSB does not have the valid access configuration for the NR-Light UE (=RedCap UE), the NR-Light UE may locate another SSB to be detected, i.e., a second SSB to acquire the valid access configuration for SIB1 reception based on GSCN of the first SSB and a first GSCN offset relative to the first SSB. The first GSCN offset may be determined based on a second GSCN offset and an additional GSCN offset),
a number of the plurality of second SSBs is less than a number of the plurality of first SSBs in a time domain (Zhang; [0062] discloses the second SSB is from a set of SSBs that are dedicated for NR-light UEs. The number of SSBs in the set may be different from the number of SSBs in a SSB set for legacy UEs. There may be a mapping relationship between the SSBs for legacy UEs and the SSBs for NR-light UEs. In an embodiment of the present application, there may be a mapping relationship between the set of SSBs for legacy UEs and the set of SSBs for NR-light UEs. In another embodiment of the present application, there may be a mapping relationship of position of a SSB for legacy UEs and a SSB for NR-light UEs in time domain. From this teaching It is merely a design matter to configure a certain number of SSBs for RED cap UE that is less than the SSBs of the legacy UEs)
It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings in order to determine the position or location of the additional SSB that is used to transmit or receive data
Ly-Zhang discloses of sending offset, but fails to disclose of sending higher layer signaling that indicates offset. However, Pao discloses
the offset being indicated by higher layer signaling (Pao; [0018]; [0103]; [0109] discloses of obtaining offset through higher layer signaling).
It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings in order to determine the location of a resource based on the offset
As to claims 17 and 25, the rejection of claim 16 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Ly-Zhang-Pao discloses wherein a frequency resource of the second SSB is different from a frequency resource of the first SSB (Zhang; Fig.5; [0066] shows and discloses frequency resources used in SSB for NR-Light UE is different than the frequency resources used in SSB for legacy UE).
As to claims 18 and 26, the rejection of claim 16 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Ang-Zhang-Pao discloses wherein control information relating to the first SSB and the second SSB is indicated by a higher layer signaling (Pao; [0104] discloses of determining a RACH burst #1 (or RACH burst #2, RACH burst #3) based on an SSB burst 30 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The UE 200 may obtain an offset #1 (e.g., pre-determined or obtained from a higher layer signal transmitted by the BS 100) associated with the resource location of the RACH burst #1, and may determine the resource location of the RACH burst #1 according to the offset #1. Specifically, the UE 200 may receive an SSB burst 30, wherein the resource location of the SSB burst 30 may be defined as a reference resource location. Then the UE 200 may determine the resource location of the RACH burst #1 according to the reference resource location and the offset #1).
As to claims 20 and 28, the rejection of claim 16 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Ang-Zhang-Pao discloses wherein the first SSB and the second SSB are frequency division multiplexed (FDMed) (Zhang; [0028]-[0029])
Claims 22 and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pre-Grant Publication US 2020/0404600 to Ly et al. (hereinafter Ly) in view of U.S. Publication No, US 2023/0164715 to Zhang et al. (hereinafter Zhang) in view of U.S. Publication No, US 2020/0100295 to Pao et al. (hereinafter Pao) in view of U.S. Publication No, US 2021/0314910 to Rune et al. (hereinafter Rune)
As to claims 22 and 30, Ly-Zhang-Pao discloses multiplexing SSBs, but fails to disclose wherein the second SSB is frequency multiplexed with a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). However, Rune discloses
wherein the second SSB is frequency multiplexed with a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) (Rune; Fig.2; [0073] shows and discloses wherein SSBs are frequency multiplexed with a Physical Downlink Control Channel)
It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings in order to use the limited resources in an effective way.
Conclusion
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/FAISAL CHOUDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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