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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 8/26/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The applicant argues:
First, MIAO fails to disclose first limitations "determining that the parameter is less than or equal to a corresponding threshold" recited in claim 1. MIAO's received power of the reference signal or a reception quality of the reference signal is different form claim 1's parameter that indicates a real-time status of the target cell. Instead, MIAO's received power of the reference signal or reception quality of the reference signal is a measurement result of RRM measurement performed by a user equipment (UE), which reflects receiving status of the UE but NOT real-time status of the target cell. As such, MIAO does not disclose the first limitations.
The examiner draws attention to claim 1 being reject under 35 USC§103. Though MIAO does not teach of a real-time status, claim 1 is rejected under MIAO in view of JIANG, LEI and HAN, and JIANG does teach performing a measurement for each target cell in real-time see paragraph 0068. MIAO teaches determining that the parameter is less than or equal to corresponding threshold see paragraphs 0069, 0092, 0156.
Second, MIAO fails to disclose second limitations "determining that each terminal device in connected mode in the target cell is in a discontinuous reception (DRX) sleep period or no terminal in connected mode exists in the target cell" recited in claim 1. The Office Action asserts that paragraph [0092] of MIAO discloses the second limitations. The Applicant submits that the assertion is inappropriate. It is noted that paragraph [0092] of MIAO at most refers to the transition process of the UE from the inactive state to the active state, in which multiple transition states are defined for UE itself but NOT from the target cell side. Further, the transition of MIAO is from the inactive state to the active state, which is opposite to claim l's direction from connected mode to a discontinuous reception (DRX) sleep period or no terminal in connected mode exists in the target cell. In addition, it is impossible for the UE to determine whether each terminal device in connected mode in the target cell is in a DRX sleep period or no terminal in connected mode exists in the target cell. As such, MIAO does not disclose the second limitations.
The examiner calls attention to the words of MIAO. MIAO writes, “The above exemplary embodiments are described with reference to these drawings. Many different forms and embodiments are possible without departing from the spirit and teachings of the present disclosure. Therefore, the present disclosure should not be constructed as a limitation to the exemplary embodiments presented herein. More precisely, these exemplary embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure will be complete and thorough, and will convey the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art” (paragraph 0246). MIAO continues, “The above are optional implementations of the present disclosure. It should be noted that for those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the principles described in the present disclosure, several improvements and modifications can be made” (paragraph 0247). MIAO teaches a transition process. JIANG already has taught a handover command between a UE and a target cell, as noted above. MIAO explains that many different forms and embodiments are possible without departing from the spirit and teachings of the present disclosure and that the scope will be conveyed of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the transition discussed by MIAO, to an individual of ordinary skill in the art, is similar to what is disclosed by the applicant.
First, the Office Action overlooks the critical limitation: "in response to the determination," recited in claim 1. LEI is silent of the condition of performing the process of shutting down one or more first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in a first subframe of the target cell.
The examiner calls attention to claim 14, that excludes the wording "in response to the determination,", but does not deviate from the scope of the claim. The applicant, also recognizes, as contained in the Response to Office Action, that “Independent claims 8 and 14 include elements similar to independent claim 1 and would be patentable for the same reason”. MIAO, as previously mentioned, writes, “…the processor is further configured to: if a received power of the reference signal is less than a first threshold or a reception quality of the reference signal is less than a second threshold after the RRM measurement, start RRM measurement to a neighboring cell (paragraph 0069)”. MIAO teaches determining the parameter is less than or equal to a corresponding threshold. Further MIAO teaches each terminal device in connected mode in the target cell is in a discontinuous reception (DRX) as explained above regarding the transition process. LEI teaches shutting down one or more first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in a first subframe by describing that “Thus, for LTE, NB-SSS and NB-PSS may occupy the entire subframe allocated for a SYNC channel, but may effectively exclude symbol 0 to symbol 2 in order to avoid conflicts with CRS and PDCCH” and “the first three OFDM symbols may still be excluded in resource mapping (paragraph 0131)”. LEI indicates the OFDM symbols may be excluded in the subframe.
Second, the citation of paragraph 0131 and Fig. 14 of LEI emphasizes that there is no need to consider CRS punctures. In addition, even the CRS punctures is needed, the condition is the conflict between CRS (NB-PSS and NB-SSS) and PDCCH (LIE), but NOT "in response to determination" recited in claim 1.
The examiner calls attention to the wording of LEI. LEI writes, “For guard-band and stand-alone deployments, there may be no need to consider CRS punctures…” Though LEI states that there may be no need to consider CRS punctures, LEI does not dismiss considering CRS punctures. The prior art of HAN, also used in the rejection of claim 1, 8, and 14, teaches each first OFDM symbols carries CRS corresponding to a port.
Based on the response to the arguments above the rejections of claims 1, 8, and 14 remain, along with the rejections to the dependent claims, respectfully.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 14-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MIAO et al. (US 20210234657 A1, hereinafter, MIAO) in view of JIANG (US 20200045602 A1, hereinafter, "JIANG"), LEI et al. (US 20170317816 A1, hereinafter, "LEI"), and HAN et al. (US 20120027110 A1, hereinafter, "HAN").
Regarding claim 14, MIAO teaches a communication apparatus, comprising:
MIAO writes, “As shown in FIG. 9, a user equipment according to some embodiments of the present
disclosure includes: a transceiver 910, a storage 920, a processor 930, and a computer program stored
on the storage 920 and executable on the processor 930” (paragraph 0219; figure 9).
a processor (paragraph 0219; figure 9, 930: processor);
and a memory coupled to the processor and configured to store a computer program
comprising instructions (paragraph 0219; figure 9, 920: storage) that, when executed by the processor,
cause the communication apparatus to perform the following:
determining that the parameter is less than or equal to a corresponding threshold and that
each terminal device in connected mode in the target cell is in a discontinuous reception (DRX) sleep
period or no terminal in connected mode exists in the target cell;
MIAO writes, “Optionally, the processor is further configured to: if a received power of the reference
signal is less than a first threshold or a reception quality of the reference signal is less than a
second threshold after the RRM measurement, start RRM measurement to a neighboring cell”
(paragraph 0069). MIAO adds, “The transition process from the inactive state to the active state
includes: the user equipment being configured in the radio resource control (RRC) connected state
(RRC_Connected) or an RRC idle state (RRC_IDLE) or the RRC inactive state (RRC_Inactive mode); a state
transition from discontinuous reception sleep (DRX-OFF) to discontinuous reception activation (DRX-
ON); or a state transition from a sleep state to a normal data transmission and reception state; or a state
transition from the sleep state to a control channel monitoring state after receiving a wake-up signal;
wherein the sleep state means a state in which a transceiver circuit of the user equipment is in an off
state or a partially off state, and a downlink control channel is not monitored” (paragraph 0092). If the
user equipment is configured with DRX, each time a state transition occurs from DRX-OFF to DRX-ON,
the reference signal dedicated to the RRM measurement is detected first (paragraph 0156). MAIO
indicates that the processor is able to determine if a received power (e.g. the parameter) of the
reference signal is less than a first threshold. MAIO points out that the UE may be configured in the RRC
connected state (RRC_Connected), and the UE transitions from discontinuous reception sleep state
(DRX-OFF) to a discontinuous reception activation state (DRX-ON).
MIAO fails to explicitly disclose information regarding, “obtaining a parameter of a target cell,
wherein the parameter indicates a real-time status of the target cell;”, “and shutting down one or more first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in a first subframe of the target cell,”, and “wherein each first OFDM symbols each carries a cell specific reference signal (CRS) corresponding to a port.”
However, in analogous art, JIANG teaches obtaining a parameter of a target cell, wherein the
parameter indicates a real-time status of the target cell;
JIANG writes, “In some embodiments, after receiving the conditional handover command, the UE can
perform measurement for each target cell in real time to obtain a measurement result of each target
cell. When a measurement result of a target cell matches the corresponding handover decision
parameter, it can be determined that the target cell meets the hand over condition. For example, if the
handover decision parameter of target cell A is the RSSI greater than −75 dBm, and the RSSI of the target
cell A measured by the UE is −70 dBm, it can be determined that the target cell A meets the handover
condition” (paragraph 0068). JIANG specifies that the UE can perform measurement for each target cell
in real time to obtain a measurement result of each target cell.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of
the claimed invention, to modify the invention and method of MIAO to include aspects of the method
and apparatus described by JIANG that “relates generally to the field of communication technologies,
and more specifically to a method, apparatus for cell handover and user equipment.” JIANG provides
motivation for modification of the invention indicating, “...when receiving the conditional handover
command transmitted by the base station and determining the target cell that meets the handover
condition, the UE can be enabled to start the preset timer and execute the cell handover operation, so
as to ensure that the UE can trigger a handover process and avoid occurrence of a radio link failure,
thereby improving mobility performance of the UE” (paragraph 0153).
MIAO and JIANG fail to explicitly disclose information regarding, “and shutting down one or more first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in a first subframe of the target cell,” and “wherein each first OFDM symbols each carries a cell specific reference signal (CRS) corresponding to a port.”
However, in analogous art, LEI teaches and shutting down one or more first orthogonal
frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in a first subframe of the target cell,
LEI writes, “FIG. 14 shows an example subframe structure 1400 for in-band deployment, where NB-PSS
and NB-SSS signals occupy the last 11 OFDM symbols of a subframe and are punctured by CRS. Thus, for
LTE, NB-SSS and NB-PSS may occupy the entire subframe allocated for a SYNC channel, but may
effectively exclude symbol 0 to symbol 2 in order to avoid conflicts with CRS and PDCCH. Besides, NB-IoT
PSS signal may repeated on subframe 0 and 5 of radio frames with odd index, and NB-SSS signal may be
transmitted on subframe 4 of radio frames with even index. For guard-band and stand-alone
deployments, there may be no need to consider CRS punctures, but the first three OFDM symbols may
still be excluded in resource mapping” (paragraph 0131; figure 14). LEI displays in figure 14 that the last
11 OFDM symbols of a subframe and may be punctured, or shut down, by CRS.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of
the claimed invention, to modify the invention and method of MIAO to include aspects of the method
and apparatus described by LEI that “relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly,
to aspects of a Narrow Band (NB) Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS).” LEI provides motivation for
modification of the invention indicating, "Interleaving may also be used to construct the SSS. Thus, in
addition to the use of the ZC root index, cyclic shift, and scrambling, interleaving may also be used to
improve the robustness of detection for PCID and SFN location" (paragraph 0079). LEI adds, "A pattern
of code cover may be optimized to improve the accuracy and reliability of cell acquisition." (paragraph 0132).
MIAO, JIANG, and LEI fail to explicitly disclose information regarding, “wherein each first OFDM symbols each carries a cell specific reference signal (CRS) corresponding to a port.”
However, in analogous art, HAN teaches wherein each first OFDM symbols each carries a cell
specific reference signal (CRS) corresponding to a port.
HAN writes, “...CRSs of four antennas (antenna ports 0 to 3) are transmitted in the first and second
OFDM symbols (OFDM symbol indexes 0, 1)” (paragraph 0097).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of
the claimed invention, to modify the invention and method of MIAO to include aspects of the method
and apparatus described by HAN that “relates to wireless communication and, more particularly, to a
method and apparatus for transmitting a positioning reference signal in a wireless communication
system.” HAN provides motivation for modification of the invention indicating, "MIMO technology can
be used to improve the efficiency of data transmission and reception using multiple transmission
antennas and multiple reception antennas" (paragraph 0005). HAN adds, "...the performance of channel
estimation can be improved as compared with the method of assigning the reference signal between
data subcarriers because the density of reference signals is in general high" (paragraph 0007).
Regarding claim 15, MIAO, JIANG, LEI, and HAN teach the communication apparatus according
to claim 14,
Additionally, LEI teaches wherein a quantity of first OFDM symbols that are shut down is 4, 3,
2, or 1.
LEI writes, “FIG. 14 shows an example subframe structure 1400 for in-band deployment, where NB-PSS
and NB-SSS signals occupy the last 11 OFDM symbols of a subframe and are punctured by CRS. Thus, for
LTE, NB-SSS and NB-PSS may occupy the entire subframe allocated for a SYNC channel, but may
effectively exclude symbol 0 to symbol 2 in order to avoid conflicts with CRS and PDCCH. Besides, NB-IoT
PSS signal may repeated on subframe 0 and 5 of radio frames with odd index, and NB-SSS signal may be
transmitted on subframe 4 of radio frames with even index. For guard-band and stand-alone
deployments, there may be no need to consider CRS punctures, but the first three OFDM symbols may
still be excluded in resource mapping” (paragraph 0131; figure 14). LEI displays in figure 14 that the last
11 OFDM symbols of a subframe and may be punctured, or shut down, by CRS.
Regarding claim 16, MIAO, JIANG, LEI, and HAN teach the communication apparatus according
to claim 14,
Additionally, LEI teaches wherein the CRS comprises a first CRS corresponding to a first port
and a second CRS corresponding to a second port,
LEI writes, “As illustrated in FIG. 2A, some of the REs carry DL reference (pilot) signals (DL-RS) for
channel estimation at the UE. The DL-RS may include cell-specific reference signals (CRS) (also
sometimes called common RS), UE-specific reference signals (UE-RS), and channel state information
reference signals (CSI-RS). FIG. 2A illustrates CRS for antenna ports 0, 1, 2, and 3 (indicated as R.sub.0,
R.sub.1, R.sub.2, and R.sub.3, respectively), UE-RS for antenna port 5 (indicated as R.sub.5), and CSI-RS
for antenna port 15 (indicated as R)” (paragraph 0046). LEI displays in figure 2A CRS for antenna ports 0,
1, 2, and 3.
Additionally, JIANG teaches with the first CRS and the second CRS being provided to the
terminal device to measure reference signal received power (RSRP) of the target cell.
JIANG writes, “In some embodiments, the handover decision parameter corresponding to each target
cell can include, but are not limited to, any one parameter or a combination of two or more parameters:
Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), and Reference
Signal Receiving Quality (RSRQ)” (paragraph 0064). JIANG specified earlier that the UE can perform
measurement for each target cell in real time to obtain a measurement result of each target cell. JIANG
indicates that the measurements may include RSRP of the target cell.
Regarding claim 17, MIAO, JIANG, LEI, and HAN teach the communication apparatus according
to claim 14,
Additionally, MIAO teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause
the communication apparatus to perform:
MIAO writes, “In the embodiments of the present disclosure, modules may be implemented by software
so as to be executed by various types of processors. For example, an identified executable code module
may include one or more physical or logical blocks of computer instructions, for example, may be
constructed as an object, a process, or a function. Nevertheless, identified executable code modules do
not need to be physically located together, but can include different instructions stored in different
locations. When these instructions are logically combined together, they constitute a module and
implement required purpose of the module” (paragraph 0243).
determining that each terminal device in connected mode in the target cell is in the DRX sleep
period,
MIAO writes, “Optionally, the processor is further configured to: if a received power of the reference
signal is less than a first threshold or a reception quality of the reference signal is less than a
second threshold after the RRM measurement, start RRM measurement to a neighboring cell”
(paragraph 0069). MIAO adds, “The transition process from the inactive state to the active state
includes: the user equipment being configured in the radio resource control (RRC) connected state
(RRC_Connected) or an RRC idle state (RRC_IDLE) or the RRC inactive state (RRC_Inactive mode); a state
transition from discontinuous reception sleep (DRX-OFF) to discontinuous reception activation (DRX-
ON); or a state transition from a sleep state to a normal data transmission and reception state; or a state
transition from the sleep state to a control channel monitoring state after receiving a wake-up signal;
wherein the sleep state means a state in which a transceiver circuit of the user equipment is in an off
state or a partially off state, and a downlink control channel is not monitored” (paragraph 0092). If the
user equipment is configured with DRX, each time a state transition occurs from DRX-OFF to DRX-ON,
the reference signal dedicated to the RRM measurement is detected first (paragraph 0156). MAIO
indicates that the processor is able to determine if a received power (e.g. the parameter) of the
reference signal is less than a first threshold. MAIO points out that the UE may be configured in the RRC
connected state (RRC_Connected), and the UE transitions from discontinuous reception sleep state
(DRX-OFF) to a discontinuous reception activation state (DRX-ON).
wherein a DRX cycle of each terminal device in connected mode has same start time and same
end time, or DRX cycles of different terminal devices in connected mode have different start time
and/or different end time.
MIAO writes, “Optionally, transmitting the reference signal to the user equipment during the transition
process of the user equipment from the inactive state to the active state includes: transmitting the
reference signal to the user equipment based on a first preset period. Optionally, transmitting the
reference signal to the user equipment during the transition process of the user equipment from the
inactive state to the active state includes: transmitting the reference signal to the user equipment after
transmitting a wake-up signal to the user equipment” (paragraphs 0010-0011). MIAO indicates a preset
period for the DRX cycle, therefore, suggesting a same start and end time.
Regarding claim 18, MIAO, JIANG, LEI, and HAN teach the communication apparatus according
to claim 14,
Additionally, MIAO teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause
the communication apparatus to perform:
MIAO writes, “In the embodiments of the present disclosure, modules may be implemented by software
so as to be executed by various types of processors. For example, an identified executable code module
may include one or more physical or logical blocks of computer instructions, for example, may be
constructed as an object, a process, or a function. Nevertheless, identified executable code modules do
not need to be physically located together, but can include different instructions stored in different
locations. When these instructions are logically combined together, they constitute a module and
implement required purpose of the module” (paragraph 0243).
Additionally, LEI teaches shutting down at least one second OFDM symbol in the first subframe
of the target cell,
LEI writes, “FIG. 14 shows an example subframe structure 1400 for in-band deployment, where NB-PSS
and NB-SSS signals occupy the last 11 OFDM symbols of a subframe and are punctured by CRS. Thus, for
LTE, NB-SSS and NB-PSS may occupy the entire subframe allocated for a SYNC channel, but may
effectively exclude symbol 0 to symbol 2 in order to avoid conflicts with CRS and PDCCH. Besides, NB-IoT
PSS signal may repeated on subframe 0 and 5 of radio frames with odd index, and NB-SSS signal may be
transmitted on subframe 4 of radio frames with even index. For guard-band and stand-alone
deployments, there may be no need to consider CRS punctures, but the first three OFDM symbols may
still be excluded in resource mapping” (paragraph 0131; figure 14). LEI displays in figure 14 that the last
11 OFDM symbols of a subframe and may be punctured, or shut down, by CRS.
Additionally, HAN teaches wherein each second OFDM symbol carries a CRS corresponding to
another port different from the port.
HAN writes, “...CRSs of four antennas (antenna ports 0 to 3) are transmitted in the first and second
OFDM symbols (OFDM symbol indexes 0, 1)” (paragraph 0097).
Claims 1 – 5 are method claims corresponding to the apparatus claims 14 – 18 that have already
been rejected above. The applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection of claims 14 – 18. Claims 1 – 5
are rejected under the same rational as claims 14 – 18.
Claim(s) 6-7 and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MIAO, JIANG, LEI, and HAN as applied to claim1 and 14 above, and further in view of AGRAWAL et al. (US 20170041984 A1, hereinafter, "AGRAWAL") and PARK et al. (US 20210111824 A1, hereinafter, "PARK").
Regarding claim 19, MIAO, JIANG, LEI, and HAN teach the communication apparatus according
to claim 14,
MIAO, JIANG, LEI, and HAN fail to explicitly disclose information regarding, “wherein if the
target cell is a frequency division duplex (FDD)-based cell,”, “a sequence number of the first
subframe is 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, or 8,”, and “and the first subframe does not carry at least one of a system information block (SIB) message or a radio access response (RAR) message.”
However, in analogous art, AGRAWAL teaches wherein if the target cell is a frequency division
duplex (FDD)-based cell,
AGRAWAL writes, “The communication links 125 may transmit bidirectional communications using a
frequency domain duplexing (FDD) operation (e.g., using paired spectrum resources) or a time domain
duplexing (TDD) operation (e.g., using unpaired spectrum resources). Frame structures for FDD
operation (e.g., frame structure type 1) and TDD operation (e.g., frame structure type 2) may be
defined” (paragraph 0045).
a sequence number of the first subframe is 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, or 8,
AGRAWAL writes, “As shown in FIG. 4, a base station may transmit a physical channel (e.g., a PDSCH
405) to a UE. The physical channel may be transmitted over a number of subframes (e.g., a first
subframe (SF0), a second subframe (SF1), etc.) and include a plurality of codewords. The plurality of
codewords may be distributed across a PCC 410 and an SCC 415 (and in some examples, across one or
more additional SCCs). By way of example, the physical channel is shown to include four codewords
(e.g., a first codeword (CW0) and a second codeword (CW1) transmitted on the PCC 410, and a third
codeword (CW0) and a fourth codeword (CW1) transmitted on the SCC 415). A plurality of physical layer
packets in a sequence of physical layer packets may be transmitted on the physical channel. For
example, physical layer packets associated with sequence numbers 0 (RLC SN 0), 4 (RLC SN 4), etc. may
be transmitted on the first codeword (CW0) on the PCC 410; physical layer packets associated with
sequence numbers 1, 5, etc. may be transmitted on the third codeword (CW0) on the SCC 415; physical
layer packets associated with sequence numbers 2, 6, etc. may be transmitted on the second codeword
(CW1) on the PCC 410; and physical layer packets associated with sequence numbers 3, 7, etc. may be
transmitted on the fourth codeword (CW1) on the SCC 415” (paragraph 0071). AGRAWAL displays in
figure 4 that a first subframe (SF0) includes sequence numbers 0, 1, 2, and 3 distributed across a PCC
and an SCC.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of
the claimed invention, to modify the invention and method of MIAO, JIANG, LEI, and HAN to include
aspects of the method and apparatus described by AGRAWAL that “relates to wireless communication
systems, and more particularly to techniques for retransmitting physical layer packets after inactivity on
a secondary component carrier (SCC) in a shared radio frequency spectrum band.” AGRAWAL provides
motivation for modification of the invention indicating, "In some examples of the wireless
communication system, base stations or UEs may include multiple antennas for employing antenna
diversity schemes to improve communication quality and reliability between base stations and UEs"
(paragraph 0046). AGRAWAL adds, "The MAC layer may also use hybrid automatic repeat request
(HARQ) to provide retransmission at the MAC layer to improve link efficiency" (paragraph 0042).
MIAO, JIANG, LEI, HAN, and AGRAWAL fail to explicitly disclose information regarding, “and the first subframe does not carry at least one of a system information block (SIB) message or a radio access response (RAR) message.”
However, in analogous art, PARK teaches and the first subframe does not carry at least one of a
system information block (SIB) message or a radio access response (RAR) message.
PARK writes, “On the anchor-carrier, the transmission subframes of the NPSS, the NSSS, the NPBCH,
and SIB1-NB may correspond to subframes #5, #9, #0 and #4, respectively” (paragraph 0230). PARK
indicates the subframes, including #0, carry a SIB message, but not a RAR message.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of
the claimed invention, to modify the invention and method of MIAO, JIANG, LEI, and HAN to include
aspects of the method and apparatus described by PARK that “relates to a wireless communication
system, and more particularly, to a method of operating a user equipment (UE) by using a
synchronization signal defined in a wireless communication system supporting narrowband Internet of
things (NB-IoT).” PARK provides motivation for modification of the invention indicating, “According to
the present disclosure, the cell search performance of a user equipment (UE) may be increased by a new
narrowband primary synchronization signal (NPSS) and a new narrowband secondary synchronization
signal (NSSS) configured in similar structures to legacy NPSS and NSSS. Further, the UE may acquire
various pieces of information by using the signals and perform various operations based on the acquired
information" (paragraph 0028).
Regarding claim 20, MIAO, JIANG, LEI, and HAN teach the communication apparatus according
to claim 14,
MIAO, JIANG, LEI, and HAN fail to explicitly disclose information regarding, “wherein if the
target cell is a time division duplex (TDD)-based cell,”, “a sequence number of the first subframe is
1, 2, 3, 6, 7, or 8,”, and “and the first subframe does not carry at least one of a system information block (SIB) message or a radio access response (RAR) message.”
However, in analogous art, AGRAWAL teaches wherein if the target cell is a time division
duplex (TDD)-based cell,
AGRAWAL writes, “The communication links 125 may transmit bidirectional communications using a
frequency domain duplexing (FDD) operation (e.g., using paired spectrum resources) or a time domain
duplexing (TDD) operation (e.g., using unpaired spectrum resources). Frame structures for FDD
operation (e.g., frame structure type 1) and TDD operation (e.g., frame structure type 2) may be
defined” (paragraph 0045).
a sequence number of the first subframe is 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, or 8,
AGRAWAL writes, “As shown in FIG. 4, a base station may transmit a physical channel (e.g., a PDSCH
405) to a UE. The physical channel may be transmitted over a number of subframes (e.g., a first
subframe (SF0), a second subframe (SF1), etc.) and include a plurality of codewords. The plurality of
codewords may be distributed across a PCC 410 and an SCC 415 (and in some examples, across one or
more additional SCCs). By way of example, the physical channel is shown to include four codewords
(e.g., a first codeword (CW0) and a second codeword (CW1) transmitted on the PCC 410, and a third
codeword (CW0) and a fourth codeword (CW1) transmitted on the SCC 415). A plurality of physical layer
packets in a sequence of physical layer packets may be transmitted on the physical channel. For
example, physical layer packets associated with sequence numbers 0 (RLC SN 0), 4 (RLC SN 4), etc. may
be transmitted on the first codeword (CW0) on the PCC 410; physical layer packets associated with
sequence numbers 1, 5, etc. may be transmitted on the third codeword (CW0) on the SCC 415; physical
layer packets associated with sequence numbers 2, 6, etc. may be transmitted on the second codeword
(CW1) on the PCC 410; and physical layer packets associated with sequence numbers 3, 7, etc. may be
transmitted on the fourth codeword (CW1) on the SCC 415” (paragraph 0071). AGRAWAL displays in
figure 4 that a first subframe (SF0) includes sequence numbers 0, 1, 2, and 3 distributed across a PCC
and an SCC.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of
the claimed invention, to modify the invention and method of MIAO, JIANG, LEI, and HAN to include
aspects of the method and apparatus described by AGRAWAL that “relates to wireless communication
systems, and more particularly to techniques for retransmitting physical layer packets after inactivity on
a secondary component carrier (SCC) in a shared radio frequency spectrum band.” AGRAWAL provides
motivation for modification of the invention indicating, "In some examples of the wireless
communication system, base stations or UEs may include multiple antennas for employing antenna
diversity schemes to improve communication quality and reliability between base stations and UEs"
(paragraph 0046). AGRAWAL adds, "The MAC layer may also use hybrid automatic repeat request
(HARQ) to provide retransmission at the MAC layer to improve link efficiency" (paragraph 0042).
MIAO, JIANG, LEI, HAN, and AGRAWAL fail to explicitly disclose information regarding, “and the first subframe does not carry at least one of a system information block (SIB) message or a radio access response (RAR) message.”
However, in analogous art, PARK teaches and the first subframe does not carry at least one of a
system information block (SIB) message or a radio access response (RAR) message.
PARK writes, “On the anchor-carrier, the transmission subframes of the NPSS, the NSSS, the NPBCH,
and SIB1-NB may correspond to subframes #5, #9, #0 and #4, respectively” (paragraph 0230). PARK
indicates the subframes, including #0, carry a SIB message, but not a RAR message.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of
the claimed invention, to modify the invention and method of MIAO, JIANG, LEI, and HAN to include
aspects of the method and apparatus described by PARK that “relates to a wireless communication
system, and more particularly, to a method of operating a user equipment (UE) by using a
synchronization signal defined in a wireless communication system supporting narrowband Internet of
things (NB-IoT).” PARK provides motivation for modification of the invention indicating, “According to
the present disclosure, the cell search performance of a user equipment (UE) may be increased by a new
narrowband primary synchronization signal (NPSS) and a new narrowband secondary synchronization
signal (NSSS) configured in similar structures to legacy NPSS and NSSS. Further, the UE may acquire
various pieces of information by using the signals and perform various operations based on the acquired
information" (paragraph 0028).
Claims 6 – 7 are method claims corresponding to the apparatus claims 19 – 20 that have already
been rejected above. The applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection of claims 19 – 20. Claims 6 – 7
are rejected under the same rational as claims 19 – 20.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MIAO, JIANG, LEI, HAN, and WU et al. (US 20140335863 A1, hereinafter, "WU").
Claim 8 is a method claim corresponding to the apparatus claim 14 that has already been
rejected above. The applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection of claim 14. Most of claim 8 is
rejected under the same rational as claim 14.
MIAO, JIANG, LEI, and HAN fail to explicitly disclose information regarding, “determining that the parameter is less than or equal to a corresponding threshold and that the secondary carrier cell is in a first state;”
However, in analogous art, WU teaches determining that the parameter is less than or equal to
a corresponding threshold and that the secondary carrier cell is in a first state;
WU writes, “According to certain aspects, determining whether the UE is in one of a plurality of states,
based on the one or more factors, further comprises determining the UE is in the second state if at least
one of: the metric related to reception of the reference signal of the one PCell is less than a first
threshold value, the SNR of the PCell is less than a second threshold value, or satisfaction of entrance
conditions of a first measurement event occurs; and at least one of: the metric related to reception of a
reference signal of one or more SCells is less than a third threshold value, the signal to noise ratio (SNR)
of the one or more SCells is less than a fourth threshold value, or satisfaction of entrance conditions of a
second measurement event triggered by an SCell or a neighbor cell on the SCC. For example, a UE may
determine to transition to or remain in the second state if RSRQ of the PCell drops below a first
threshold value and RSRQ one or more SCells drops below a third threshold” (paragraph 0112). WU
indicates that if the UE is less than a designated threshold value that the UE may determine to transition
to or remain in a specific state.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of
the claimed invention, to modify the invention and method of MIAO to include aspects of the method
and apparatus described by WU that “relates generally to wireless communication, and more
particularly, to methods and apparatus that utilize different user equipment (UE) states under
connected mode discontinuous reception (C-DRX) state in long term evolution (LTE).” WU provides
motivation for modification of the invention indicating, "CA can improve overall transmission efficiency,
in that only resources on the primary carrier are used for control functions, while all of the secondary
carriers are available for data transmission. Thus, the ratio of transmitted data to control functions may
be increased by CA, when compared to non-CA techniques" (paragraph 0060). WU adds, "The UE may,
for example, turn off a receiver in order to save power and/or improve battery performance" (paragraph
0066).
Claim(s) 9-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MIAO, JIANG, LEI, HAN, and WU as applied to claim 8 above, and further in view of AGRAWAL and PARK.
Claims 9 – 11 are method claims corresponding to the apparatus claims 15, 16, and 18 that have
already been rejected above. The applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection of claims 15, 16, and
18. Claims 9 – 11 are rejected under the same rational as claims 15, 16, and 18.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
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/Christopher A. Reyes/Examiner, Art Unit 2475 11/7/2025
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475