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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 12/08/2025 has been entered.
Priorities and Examiner Remarks
This application is a Continuation of PCT/CN2021/109645 (filed 07/30/2021),
which claims foreign priority to application of CHINA: 202010770403.X (filed
07/31/2020).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-6, 10-16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DA et al. (WO 2019/137228 A1, hereinafter DA, NOTE: corresponding US 2020/0359343 A1 currently being used for rejection citation purposes below), in view of Ang et al. (US 2020/0053811 A1, hereinafter Ang).
Regarding claim 1, DA teaches an apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memories having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors (DA, see at least fig. 5 and/or fig. 3, e.g. various components),
cause the apparatus to (DA, in general, see fig. 1 in view of fig. 2 and their respective paragraphs, in particular, see at least para. 87-99 disclosing step 101 and step 1011):
receive a first synchronization signal block (SSB) from a network device, wherein the first SSB is a first-type SSB for a first terminal device (DA, see at least step 101 of para. 87 in view of para. 3, for one non-limiting example, one or more UE receives a RRM-SSB or a CD-SSB),
the same first SSB is also a second-type SSB for a second terminal device (DA, see at least step 101 of para. 87 in view of para. 3, for one non-limiting example, a UE receives a RRM-SSB, another UE can also receive a RRM-SSB or a CD-SSB),
the first-type SSB is different from the second-type SSB (DA, see at least step 101 of para. 87 in view of para. 3, for one non-limiting example, a UE receives a RRM-SSB, the UE can also receive a RRM-SSB or a CD-SSB in a subsequent action or at a later time),
the first terminal device is different from the second terminal device (DA, see at least step 101 of para. 87 in view of para. 3, for one non-limiting example, one or more UE receives a RRM-SSB or a CD-SSB),
the first SSB comprises first indication information, and the first indication information is carried in [(i)] a newly added field, [(ii)] a reserved field, or [(iii)] an original field in the first SSB, wherein the original filed in the first SSB is an invalid field for the second terminal device (DA, see at least para. 96-98, for one non-limiting example of (ii), “…step 1011: indicating whether the first SSB includes the associated RMSI by using a value of a physical resource block grid offsets (PRB-grid-offsets) parameter…”);
and
in response to at least that the first SSB is the second-type SSB for the second terminal device, determine one or more information based on the first SSB (DA, see at least step 101 of para. 87 in view of para. 3, for another example, similarly, one or more UE receives a RRM-SSB or a CD-SSB with information).
DA does not specifically teach determine at least one of a first control-resource set or first common search space based on the first SSB.
Ang teaches determine at least one of a first control-resource set or first common search space based on the first SSB (Ang, see at least para. 124, “…In some cases, SSB/PBCH transmissions 510 may be transmitted as part of a beam sweep procedure. At 515, the UE 115-b may acquire the SSB/PBCH and identify an initial downlink BWP (also referred to as RMSI CORESET bandwidth, or BWP0 in various examples herein) to be monitored from RMSI. In some cases, the RMSI CORESET may be an initial RMSI CORESET in an initial common search space…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Ang into the method of DA for providing efficient techniques for configuring channel bandwidths may enhance the efficiency of a wireless communications system.
Regarding claim 2, DA in view of Ang teaches a first value of the first indication information indicates that the first SSB is the second-type SSB for the second terminal device. (DA, see at least para. 97-98, e.g. using predetermined parameter to indicate a RRM-SSB or a CD-SSB)
Regarding claim 3, DA in view of Ang teaches the first indication information is carried by at least one of a common subcarrier spacing field, a demodulation reference signal-type A-position field, an intra-frequency reselection field, a spare field, or a reserved field corresponding to a frequency range (FR) 1 in the first SSB. (DA, see at least para. 96-98, for one example, but not limited to, “…step 1011: indicating whether the first SSB includes the associated RMSI by using a value of a physical resource block grid offsets (PRB-grid-offsets) parameter…”)
Regarding claim 4, DA in view of Ang teaches the at least one of the first control-resource set or the first common search space is determined based on the first SSB by using at least one of the common subcarrier spacing field, the demodulation reference signal-type A-position field, the intra-frequency reselection field, the spare field, or the reserved field corresponding to the frequency range (FR) 1 in the first SSB. (DA, see at least para. 96-98, for an unlimited example, “…The PRB-grid-offset in the embodiments of the present disclosure may also be referred to as a synchronous subcarrier offset (ssb-subcarrier-offset) in the PBCH…”; Ang, see at least para. 124, for an unlimited example, “…At 515, the UE 115-b may acquire the SSB/PBCH and identify an initial downlink BWP (also referred to as RMSI CORESET bandwidth, or BWP0 in various examples herein) to be monitored from RMSI. In some cases, the RMSI CORESET may be an initial RMSI CORESET in an initial common search space…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Ang into the method of DA for providing efficient techniques for configuring channel bandwidths may enhance the efficiency of a wireless communications system.
Regarding claim 5, DA teaches an apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memories having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors (see at least fig. 5 and/or fig. 3, e.g. various components),
cause the apparatus to (in general, see fig. 1 in view of fig. 2 and their respective paragraphs, in particular, see at least para. 87-99 disclosing step 101 and step 1011):
receive a first synchronization signal block (SSB) from a network device, wherein the first SSB is a second-type SSB for a first terminal device (see at least step 101 of para. 87 in view of para. 3, for one non-limiting example, one or more UE receives a RRM-SSB or a CD-SSB),
the same first SSB is also a first-type SSB for a second terminal device, and the first terminal device is different from the second terminal device (see at least step 101 of para. 87 in view of para. 3, for one non-limiting example, a UE receives a RRM-SSB, another UE can also receive a RRM-SSB or a CD-SSB);
and
in response to at least that the first SSB is the first-type SSB for the second terminal device, receive a second SSB from the network device, wherein the second SSB is the second-type SSB for the second terminal device and the first-type SSB is different from the second-type SSB (see at least step 101 of para. 87 in view of para. 3, for one non-limiting example, a UE receives a RRM-SSB, the UE can also receive a RRM-SSB or a CD-SSB in a subsequent action or at a later time),
and determine one or more information based on the second SSB (see at least step 101 of para. 87 in view of para. 3, for another example, similarly, one or more UE receives a RRM-SSB or a CD-SSB with information).
wherein:
the first SSB comprises first indication information, and a second value of the first indication information indicates that the first SSB is the first-type SSB for the second terminal device (see at least para. 97-98, e.g. using predetermined parameter to indicate a RRM-SSB or a CD-SSB);
and
the first indication information is carried by at least one of a common subcarrier spacing field, a demodulation reference signal-type A-position field, an intra-frequency reselection field, a spare field, or a reserved field corresponding to a frequency range (FR) 1 in the first SSB (see at least para. 96-98, for one example, but not limited to, “…step 1011: indicating whether the first SSB includes the associated RMSI by using a value of a physical resource block grid offsets (PRB-grid-offsets) parameter…”).
DA differs from the claim, in that, it does not specifically disclose determine at least one of a second control-resource set or second common search space based on the second SSB.
Ang, for example, from the similar field of endeavor, teaches determine at least one of a second control-resource set or second common search space based on the second SSB (see at least para. 124, “…In some cases, SSB/PBCH transmissions 510 may be transmitted as part of a beam sweep procedure. At 515, the UE 115-b may acquire the SSB/PBCH and identify an initial downlink BWP (also referred to as RMSI CORESET bandwidth, or BWP0 in various examples herein) to be monitored from RMSI. In some cases, the RMSI CORESET may be an initial RMSI CORESET in an initial common search space…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Ang into the apparatus of DA for providing efficient techniques for configuring channel bandwidths may enhance the efficiency of a wireless communications system.
Regarding claim 6, DA in view of Ang teaches the second SSB further comprises second indication information, wherein the second indication information indicates offset information of the second SSB. (DA, see at least para. 98-99 along with para. 87, for an unlimited example, “…It should be noted that when a carrier frequency is lower than 6 GHz, there are 24 possible values for a subcarrier offset between the boundary of the SSB PRB with the associated RMSI and an RMSI PRB. 5 bits of PRB-grid-offsets are used in NR to indicate possible subcarrier offset values…”)
Regarding claim 10, DA in view of Ang teaches the second indication information is carried by at least one of the common subcarrier spacing field, the demodulation reference signal-type A-position field, the intra-frequency reselection field, the spare field, or the reserved field corresponding to the frequency range (FR) 1 in the first SSB. (DA, see at least para. 96-99, “…It should be noted that when a carrier frequency is lower than 6 GHz, there are 24 possible values for a subcarrier offset between the boundary of the SSB PRB with the associated RMSI and an RMSI PRB. 5 bits of PRB-grid-offsets are used in NR to indicate possible subcarrier offset values…”)
Regarding claim 11, this claim is rejected for the same reasoning as claim 1. To be more specific, although reciting subject matters slightly different, one skilled in the art would have known the method of claim 11 performs reverse (or corresponding) procedures of the claim 1 apparatus. For example, it would be an apparatus of claim 14 that performs the reverse (or corresponding) receiving from and transmitting to the claim 1 apparatus. Hence, the examiner applies the same rejection reasoning as set forth in claim 1.
Regarding claims 12, 13, and 14, in view of claim 11 above, these claims are rejected for the same reasoning as claims 2, 3, and 4, respectively, except each of these claims is in method claim format.
Regarding claim 15, this claim is rejected for the same reasoning as claim 5. To be more specific, although reciting subject matters slightly different, one skilled in the art would have known the method of claim 15 performs reverse (or corresponding) procedures of the claim 5 apparatus. For example, it would be an apparatus of claim 15 that performs the reverse (or corresponding) receiving from and transmitting to the claim 5 apparatus. Hence, the examiner applies the same rejection reasoning as set forth in claim 5.
Regarding claims 16 and 20, in view of claim 15 above, these claims are rejected for the same reasoning as claims 6 and 10, respectively, except each of these claims is in method claim format.
Claims 7-8 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DA in view of Ang, as applied to claim 6 and 16 above, and further in view of John Wilson et al. (US 2018/0337755 A1, hereinafter Wilson).
Regarding claim 7, DA in view of Ang teaches
the offset information of the second SSB comprises first offset information of a synchronization raster of the second SSB relative to a synchronization raster of the first SSB (DA, see at least para. 95, “…In the information indicating method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, by using a predetermined parameter of a PBCH in an SSB to indicate that the SSB does not carry associated RMSI and information about a frequency offset of a synchronization raster where a next SSB carrying the associated RMSI is located, relative to a current synchronization raster…”),
the second indication information comprises a first bit and a second bit (DA, see at least para. 98, for an unlimited example, one or more bits are used),
and
the synchronization raster of the second SSB and the synchronization raster of the first SSB satisfy certain relationship (DA, see at least para. 95, “…information about a frequency offset of a synchronization raster where a next SSB carrying the associated RMSI is located, relative to a current synchronization raster, a terminal can quickly obtain the RMSI of a cell to be accessed according to the predetermined parameter, thereby achieving the objective of using a non-cell-defining SSB to notify the UE of a sync-raster frequency position where a next cell-defining SSB is located…”).
DA in view of Ang differs from the claim, in that, it does not specifically disclose:
(a) global synchronization channel number (GSCN), and
(b) the GSCN of the second SSB and the GSCN of the first SSB satisfy the following relationship: N GSCN2 Reference = N GSCN1 Reference + N GSCN1
Offset + a×n×N′ GSCN Offset, wherein NGSCN2 Reference is the GSCN of the second SSB, NGSCN1 Reference represents the GSCN of the first SSB, N GSCN1 Offset represents a first offset, a is a value indicated by the first bit, the value of a is 1 or −1, n is an adjustment coefficient, and N′GSCN Offset is a value indicated by the second bit.
Wilson, for example, from the similar field of endeavor, teaches:
(a) global synchronization channel number (GSCN) (see at least para. 75 and 81, “…This frequency window may be referred to as a synchronization raster cluster, and may indicate multiple possible frequency positions for SS blocks. In some aspects, each frequency position may have a corresponding global synchronization channel number (GSCN)…”), as well as
(b) the GSCN of the second SSB and the GSCN of the first SSB satisfy the following relationship: N GSCN2 Reference = N GSCN1 Reference + N GSCN1
Offset + a×n×N′ GSCN Offset, wherein NGSCN2 Reference is the GSCN of the second SSB, NGSCN1 Reference represents the GSCN of the first SSB, N GSCN1 Offset represents a first offset, a is a value indicated by the first bit, the value of a is 1 or −1, n is an adjustment coefficient, and N′GSCN Offset is a value indicated by the second bit (see at least para. 75 and 81, for one example in para. 75, “…As an example, the first set of bits and the second set of bits may indicate a single cell-defining SS block, an offset of the cell-defining SS block, such as an indication of a positive offset or a negative offset and/or a value of the offset (e.g., with a granularity of the synchronization raster), and/or the like. For example, a value of positive four may indicate that a cell-defining SS block is located at the fourth valid synchronization raster point above (e.g., at a higher frequency than) the current SS block synchronization raster location…”; and for another example in para. 81, “…These three frequency positions may be included in a synchronization raster cluster defined by an offset of −5 kHz (e.g., a lower frequency of 895 kHz) and an offset of +5 kHz (e.g., an upper frequency of 905 kHz) from a middle frequency of 900 kHz. In some cases, a UE 120 may receive a first SS block at a first frequency position, which may be one of the frequency positions within the synchronization raster cluster. The first SS block may include an offset value, referred to herein as a synchronization raster offset, that indicates a second frequency position of a second SS block relative to the first frequency position of the first SS block. For example, the first SS block may be received at 900 kHz, corresponding to a GSCN of 2, and may include a synchronization raster offset value of +4. This may indicate that the second SS block is positioned at 1805 kHz, which corresponds to a GSCN of 6, which is four GSCNs greater than (e.g., +4) the GSCN of the first SS block…”, NOTE: although these equation/formula not identical as one claimed in claim 7, a person skilled in the art would have known that a same or substantially similar result can be obtained using these equation/formula).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Wilson into the apparatus of DA in view of Ang for providing wireless communication devices and systems that conserve network resources, conserve device and system resources, and permit for flexible configuration of a wireless communication system.
Regarding claim 8, DA in view of Ang teaches
the offset information of the second SSB comprises second offset information of a synchronization raster of the second SSB relative to a synchronization raster of the first SSB (DA, see at least para. 95, “…In the information indicating method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, by using a predetermined parameter of a PBCH in an SSB to indicate that the SSB does not carry associated RMSI and information about a frequency offset of a synchronization raster where a next SSB carrying the associated RMSI is located, relative to a current synchronization raster…”),
the second indication information comprises a first bit and a second bit (DA, see at least para. 98, for an unlimited example, one or more bits are used),
and
the synchronization raster of the second SSB and the synchronization raster of the first SSB satisfy certain relationship (DA, see at least para. 95, “…information about a frequency offset of a synchronization raster where a next SSB carrying the associated RMSI is located, relative to a current synchronization raster, a terminal can quickly obtain the RMSI of a cell to be accessed according to the predetermined parameter, thereby achieving the objective of using a non-cell-defining SSB to notify the UE of a sync-raster frequency position where a next cell-defining SSB is located…”).
DA in view of Ang differs from the claim, in that, it does not specifically disclose:
(a) global synchronization channel number (GSCN), and
(b) N GSCN2 Reference = N GSCN1 Reference + a×n×N″ GSCN Offset, wherein NGSCN2 Reference is the GSCN of the second SSB, NGSCN1 Reference
represents the GSCN of the first SSB, a is a value indicated by the first bit, the value of a is 1 or −1, n is an adjustment coefficient, and N″GSCN Offset is a value indicated by the second bit.
Wilson, for example, from the similar field of endeavor, teaches:
(a) global synchronization channel number (GSCN) (see at least para. 75 and 81, “…This frequency window may be referred to as a synchronization raster cluster, and may indicate multiple possible frequency positions for SS blocks. In some aspects, each frequency position may have a corresponding global synchronization channel number (GSCN)…”), as well as
(b) N GSCN2 Reference = N GSCN1 Reference + a×n×N″ GSCN Offset, wherein NGSCN2 Reference is the GSCN of the second SSB, NGSCN1 Reference
represents the GSCN of the first SSB, a is a value indicated by the first bit, the value of a is 1 or −1, n is an adjustment coefficient, and N″GSCN Offset is a value indicated by the second (see at least para. 75 and 81, for one example in para. 75, “…As an example, the first set of bits and the second set of bits may indicate a single cell-defining SS block, an offset of the cell-defining SS block, such as an indication of a positive offset or a negative offset and/or a value of the offset (e.g., with a granularity of the synchronization raster), and/or the like. For example, a value of positive four may indicate that a cell-defining SS block is located at the fourth valid synchronization raster point above (e.g., at a higher frequency than) the current SS block synchronization raster location…”; and for another example in para. 81, “…These three frequency positions may be included in a synchronization raster cluster defined by an offset of −5 kHz (e.g., a lower frequency of 895 kHz) and an offset of +5 kHz (e.g., an upper frequency of 905 kHz) from a middle frequency of 900 kHz. In some cases, a UE 120 may receive a first SS block at a first frequency position, which may be one of the frequency positions within the synchronization raster cluster. The first SS block may include an offset value, referred to herein as a synchronization raster offset, that indicates a second frequency position of a second SS block relative to the first frequency position of the first SS block. For example, the first SS block may be received at 900 kHz, corresponding to a GSCN of 2, and may include a synchronization raster offset value of +4. This may indicate that the second SS block is positioned at 1805 kHz, which corresponds to a GSCN of 6, which is four GSCNs greater than (e.g., +4) the GSCN of the first SS block…”, NOTE: although these equation/formula not identical as one claimed in claim 7, a person skilled in the art would have known that a same or substantially similar result can be obtained using these equation/formula).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Wilson into the apparatus of DA in view of Ang for providing wireless communication devices and systems that conserve network resources, conserve device and system resources, and permit for flexible configuration of a wireless communication system.
Regarding claims 17 and 18, in view of claim 15 above, these claims are rejected for the same reasoning as claims 7 and 8, respectively, except each of these claims is in method claim format.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/08/2025 have been fully considered. Regarding independent claims 1, 5, 11, and 15, since applicant's amendment necessitated new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action, previous Office action's rejections are moot. Accordingly, corresponding dependent claims have also been rejected in this Office action.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following claims are allowable:
Claim 9 would be allowable if rewritten to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 19 would be allowable for the same reasoning as claim 9.
Reasons of allowability:
Regarding claim 9, DA in view of Ang does not appear to teach the offset information of the second SSB comprises a GSCN offset of the second SSB, the second indication information comprises a first bit and a second bit, and a frequency range of the second SSB is [NGSCN Reference−NGSCN Start−b×n×N′″GSCN Offset, NGSCN Reference+NGSCN End+b×n×N′″GSCN Offset], wherein NGSCN Reference is a GSCN of the first SSB, NGSCN Start is a GSCN start value, b is a value indicated by the first bit, the value of b is 1 or −1, n is an adjustment coefficient, NGSCN End is a GSCN end value, and N′″GSCN Offset is a value indicated by the second bit. To be more specific, DA may have taught frequency range in certain way, DA does not teach the frequency range obtain in a same way that claim 9 presents. Ang does not seem to cure DA. Hence, claim 9 is allowable.
Conclusion
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/YEE F LAM/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465