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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 19 is objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate of claim 9. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
The examiner understood “The method of claim 8” in line 1 as “The method of claim 18” for the purpose of examination.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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, 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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MolavianJazi et al. (US Pub. 2024/0049197) in view of He et al. (US Pub. 2024/0023035).
Regarding claims 1, 11 and 20, MolavianJazi teaches a method comprising: receiving, by a network controlled repeater from a base station, one or more radio resource control configuration parameters indicating a plurality of side control information associated with a first function of the network controlled repeater (“DL SCI can be transmitted … in L2 RRC, e.g., by RRC signaling messages and/or IEs” in [0146]), wherein the first function performs amplifying and forwarding signals between a wireless device and the base station (“perform the amplify-and-forwarding of UL/DL RF signal between gNB and UE” in [0150]); receiving a downlink control information (DCI) comprising a field with a value indicating a first side control information in the plurality of side control information (“DL SCI can be transmitted in L1, e.g., by DCI” in [0146]), wherein: the DCI is associated with a first radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) (“NCR-RNTI or ABI-RNTI” in [0263]); the DCI is associated with a first format (“DCI format 2_X (e.g., 2_8 with X=8) associated with a new dedicated RNTI for NCR-MT” in [0263]); and the first RNTI and the first format of DCI are associated with transmission of side control information to a network controlled repeater (“For aperiodic beam indication for NCR-Fwd access link, the NCR-MT can receive a new DCI format such as DCI format 2_X (e.g., 2_8 with X=8) associated with a new dedicated RNTI for NCR-MT, such as NCR-RNTI or ABI-RNTI (wherein ABI stands for aperiodic beam indication)” in [0263]); and transmitting a signal or a channel based on the first side control information (“The behaviour of the NCR-Fwd will be controlled according to the received side control information from gNB” in [0150]). MolavianJazi, however, does not teach receiving a downlink control information (DCI) comprising a field, wherein a value of the field provides an index to a first side control information in the plurality of side control information indicated by the one or more configuration parameters. He teaches receiving a downlink control information (DCI) comprising a field, wherein a value of the field provides an index to a first side control information in the plurality of side control information indicated by the one or more configuration parameters (“detected DCI indicates one of the row indices. The SCI blocks included in the row are used to determine the transmit power controls” in [0091]). It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify MolavianJazi to have receiving a downlink control information (DCI) comprising a field, wherein a value of the field provides an index to a first side control information in the plurality of side control information indicated by the one or more configuration parameters as taught by He in order to use DCI indicating transmission power controls [0089].
Regarding claims 2 and 12, MolavianJazi teaches the network controlled repeater comprises the first function (“the amplify-and-forwarding of UL/DL RF signal between gNB and UE” in [0150]) and a first entity (“NCR-Fwd” in Figure 14).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, MolavianJazi teaches the receiving the one or more radio resource control configuration parameters is via a control link between the first entity of the network controlled repeater and the base station (“The set of states/lists of symbols/slots can be provided by the specifications for system operation or by higher layer signaling such as by NCR-specific system information or by OAM or by RRC configuration” in [0184], see also Figure 14).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, MolavianJazi teaches the receiving the DCI is via a control link between the first entity of the network controlled repeater and the base station (“the NCR-MT can be configured to monitor PDCCH according to USS sets for detection of a DCI format 5_0 for aperiodic beam indication with CRC scrambled by an NCR-RNTI” in [0169], see also Figure 14).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, MolavianJazi teaches the forwarding is based on: a backhaul link between the base station and the first function of the network controlled repeater (see “Backhaul link” and “NCR-Fwd” in Figure 14); and an access link between the first function of the network controlled repeater and the wireless device (see “Access link” and “NCR-Fwd” in Figure 14).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, MolavianJazi teaches behavior of the first function of the network controlled repeater is controlled (“The behaviour of the NCR-Fwd will be controlled according to the received side control information from gNB” in [0150]) based on side control information received by the first entity of the network controlled repeater (“The NCR-MT is defined as a functional entity to communicate with a gNB via a Control link (C-link) to enable exchange of control information (e.g., side control information at least for the control of NCR-Fwd)” in [0149]).
Regarding claims 7 and 17, MolavianJazi teaches the plurality of side control information is associated with a first side control information type (“NCR side control information, such as for ON-OFF indication or for power control or for TDD UL/DL information” in [0177]).
Regarding claims 8 and 18, MolavianJazi teaches the first side control information type is ON-OFF information for the first function of the network controlled repeater (“An ON-OFF indication can be provided by higher layers such as OAM or RRC, or can be provided by L1/L2 signaling such as a DCI format or a MAC-CE command” in [0183]).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, MolavianJazi teaches the transmitting the signal or the channel is based on the ON-OFF information indicating that the first function of the network control repeater is in an ON state (“ON-OFF information refers to configuration or indication from gNB to NCR about an ON state in which the NCR-Fwd is switched on and operational to perform an amplify and forward operation, or an OFF state in which the NCR-Fwd is switched off or not operational so the NCR-Fwd does not perform an amplify and forward operation” in [0042]).
Regarding claim 10, MolavianJazi teaches the transmitting the signal or the channel is via the first function of the network controlled repeater (“The NCR-Fwd is defined as a functional entity to perform the amplify-and-forwarding of UL/DL RF signal between gNB and UE via backhaul link and access link. The behaviour of the NCR-Fwd will be controlled according to the received side control information from gNB” in [0150]).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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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/CLEMENCE S HAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414
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