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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
The indicated allowability of claims 2-7 and 23-28 is withdrawn in view of 101 issues found in the pending claims and in view of further consideration given to previously cited reference(s) to Ghanbarinejad et al (hereinafter Ghan) US PGPUB 2023/0247574. Rejections based on the 101 issues and the previously cited reference(s) follow.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1, 3-5, 10, 21, 24-26, 31-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. With regards to independent claims 1, 21, and 32 the claim(s) recite(s) determining an uplink transmission timing error and determining an adjustment approach for uplink transmission timing information.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the limitations of determining an uplink transmission timing error and determining an adjustment approach for uplink transmission timing information are limitations that, under broadest reasonable interpretation, cover performance of the limitation in the mind. Nothing in the claim elements preclude the steps from practically being performed in the mind. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the “Mental Processes” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, claims 1, 21, and 32 recite an abstract idea. Furthermore, dependent claims 3-5, 10, 24-26, 31 and 33 fail to cure the deficiencies of independent claims 1, 21 and 32 and are rejected under the same rationale.
The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because as discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional element of using a processor to perform the determining steps amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Mere instruction to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. The claims are not patent eligible.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 –
Claim(s) 1, 8-10, 21, 29-33, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Ghan.
Regarding claims 1, 21, 32 and 33, Ghan discloses A method for adjusting timing, performed by a terminal, comprising: determining, according to downlink timing information, an uplink transmission timing error, (“misalignment value”, [0444]); and
determining, according to the uplink transmission timing error, an adjustment approach for uplink transmission timing information, (“In the case that a TX timing alignment method (Case-6) is employed at the TX IAB node (aggressor node), the uplink timing of the SRS transmission can be directly obtained from the downlink timing of the SSB transmission with a zero timing offset”, [0444]).
Regarding claims 8 and 29, Ghan discloses The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving a downlink reference signal; and obtaining the downlink timing information through the downlink reference signal, (0004]).
Regarding claims 9 and 30, Ghan discloses The method according to claim 8, wherein the downlink reference signal comprises at least one of: Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), [0443]; or Channel-State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), [0401].
Regarding claims 10 and 31, Ghan discloses The method according to claim 1, further comprising: reporting timing adjustment capability information of the terminal, wherein the timing adjustment capability information is configured to inform a base station that the terminal has a capability to adjust the uplink transmission timing information at one shot, ([0069], [0374]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 7, 27, 28 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Zhou et al. US PGPUB 2022/0217600 (see [0022], [0023] – with “drift” interpreted as applicants claimed “timing error”).
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/HASSAN A PHILLIPS/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2467
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