DETAILED ACTION
Applicant’s amendment and arguments filed September 18, 2025 is acknowledged.
Applicant’s amendment have overcome the previous rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b).
Claims 1, 3, 12, and 16 have been amended.
Claims 2 and 13-15 are cancelled.
Claims 1, 3-12, and 16 are currently pending.
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.
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.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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, 3-8, 12, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Babaei (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2025/0081196 A1) in view of Fox et al. (hereinafter Fox) (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2019/0222239 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 12, Babaei teaches a method and a user equipment (UE, figures 12A-C; wireless device, figure 15) comprising: one or more transceivers (1530, figure 15); one or more processors (1524, figure 15) controlling the one or more transceivers; and one or more memories (1512, figure 15) connected to the one or more processors, and storing instructions for performing operations based on being executed by the one or more processors, wherein the operations include
receiving, from a base station (BS, figures 12A-C; Base Station, figure 15), a downlink signal which is related to a cell search performed by the UE to acquire synchronization and detect a cell ID ([0110]; [0242]; teaches the UE receives a downlink signal related to a cell search), wherein the downlink signal includes Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS) and a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) ([0080]; [0081]; [0110]; teaches the downlink signal includes PSS, SSS, and PBCH); receiving, from the base station, system information ([0114]; teaches the UE receives system information); transmitting, to the base station, a random access preamble based on a physical random access channel (PRACH) ([0106]; [0109]; teaches the UE transmitting a preamble based on PRACH); receiving, from the base station, a random access response (RAR) message based on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) ([0080]; [0106]; [0107]; [0109]; teaches the UE receives a response based on PDCCH and PDSCH); based on a random access procedure based on the random access preamble being a contention-based random access procedure, receiving, from the base station, a contention resolution message ([0106]; [0107]; [0110]; teaches the UE receives a contention resolution message); receiving, from the base station, configuration information which is related to a connection between the UE and the base station; determining information related to a message, based on the configuration information ([0106]; [0107]; [0110]; [0119]; [0132]; [0266]; teaches the UE receives configuration information related to a connection between the UE and BS); and
transmitting, to the base station, the message, wherein the connection is related to a plurality of connections (CNs) based on different frequency bands and a reference connection (RCN) related to the plurality of CNs, wherein the information related to the message includes at least one specific CN among the plurality of CNs which is determined based on a similarity of a Radio Frequency (RF) characteristic between the RCN and each CN ([0131]; [0132]; [0133]; teaches a plurality of connection between the UE and BS), and wherein the message is related to a request to disable a resource allocation for transmission of at least one specific downlink signal (CSI-RS) related to the at least one specific CN ([0119]; teaches deactivation of CSI-RS resources related to the connection).
However, Babaei may not explicitly disclose wherein the at least one specific CN is related to a common reference clock, wherein the common reference clock is related to a frequency band transition of a radio signal performed by the UE.
Nonetheless, in the same field of endeavor, Fox teaches and suggests wherein the at least one specific CN is related to a common reference clock (reference clock), wherein the common reference clock is related to a frequency band transition of a radio signal performed by the UE ([0007]; [0008]; [0012]; [0046]; teaches a connection between the UE and BS related to a reference block related to a frequency band of a radio signal of the UE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate a connection between the UE and BS related to a reference block related to a frequency band of a radio signal of the UE as taught by Fox with the method and UE for random access procedure and establishing connections between a UE and BS as disclosed by Babaei for the purpose of frequency re-banding and synchronization, as suggested by Fox.
Regarding claim 3, Babaei, as modified by Fox, further teaches and suggests wherein the at least one specific downlink signal includes at least one of a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS), or a tracking reference signal (TRS) ([0081]; [0119]; teaches the downlink signal includes CSI-RS).
Regarding claim 4, Babaei, as modified by Fox, further teaches and suggests wherein the RCN is configured for each resource for transmission of the at least one specific downlink signal ([0081]; [0119]; teaches connection between the UE and the BS is configured for resources related to the specific downlink signal, such as CSI-RS).
Regarding claim 5, Babaei, as modified by Fox, further teaches and suggests wherein the RCN is based on at least one of i) a CN related to a specific frequency band among the plurality of CNs or ii) a CN related to a primary cell (PCell) among the plurality of CNs ([0132]; teaches the connection is related to a PCell).
Regarding claim 6, Babaei, as modified by Fox, further teaches and suggests measuring a link quality of each of the plurality of CNs; and transmitting an RCN update request based on the measurement result ([0116]; [0126]; [0130]; teaches measuring a link quality and measurements).
Regarding claim 7, Babaei, as modified by Fox, further teaches and suggests wherein the RCN is based on any one of the plurality of CNs, and the RCN update request is transmitted based on the link quality of the RCN being smaller than a specific value ([0116]; [0126]; [0130]; teaches measuring a link quality and measurements).
Regarding claim 8, Babaei, as modified by Fox, further teaches and suggests wherein the similarity of the RF characteristic is determined based on a predetermined reference, and the predetermined reference is related to at least one of a frequency offset, a frame timing, or a phase noise ([0126]; [0128]; teaches RF characteristic such as phase noise and offset).
Regarding claim 16, Babaei teaches a base station (base station, BS, figures 12A-C and 15) comprising: one or more transceivers (1570, figure 15); one or more processors (1564, figure 15) controlling the one or more transceivers; and one or more memories (1552, figure 15) connected to the one or more processors, and storing instructions for performing operations when based on being executed by the one or more processors, wherein the operations include
transmitting, to a user equipment (UE, figures 12A-C; wireless device, figure 15), a downlink signal which is related to a cell search for the UE to acquire synchronization and detect a cell ID ([0110]; [0242]; teaches the BS transmits to the UE a downlink signal related to a cell search), wherein the downlink signal includes a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS) and a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) ([0080]; [0081]; [0110]; teaches the downlink signal includes PSS, SSS, and PBCH); transmitting, to the UE, system information ([0114]; teaches the BS transmits system information); receiving, from the UE, a random access preamble based on a physical random access channel (PRACH) ([0106]; [0109]; teaches the BS receives from the UE a preamble based on PRACH); transmitting, to the UE, a random access response (RAR) message based on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) ([0080]; [0106]; [0107]; [0109]; teaches the BS transmits to the UE a response based on PDCCH and PDSCH); based on a random access procedure based on the random access preamble being a contention-based random access procedure, transmitting, to the UE, a contention resolution message ([0106]; [0107]; [0110]; teaches the BS transmits to the UE a contention resolution message); transmitting, to the UE, configuration information which is related to a connection between the UE and the base station, wherein information related to a message is determined, by the UE, based on the configuration information ([0106]; [0107]; [0110]; [0119]; [0132]; [0266]; teaches the BS transmits to the UE configuration information related to a connection between the UE and BS); and
receiving, from the UE, the message, wherein the connection is related to a plurality of connections (CNs) based on different frequency bands and a reference connection (RCN) related to the plurality of CNs, wherein the information related to the message includes at least one specific CN among the plurality of CNs which is determined based on a similarity of a Radio Frequency (RF) characteristic between the RCN and each CN among the plurality of CNs ([0131]; [0132]; [0133]; teaches a plurality of connection between the UE and BS), and wherein the message is related to a request to disable a resource allocation for transmission of at least one specific downlink signal (CSI-RS) related to the at least one specific CN ([0119]; teaches deactivation of CSI-RS resources related to the connection).
However, Babaei may not explicitly disclose wherein the at least one specific CN is related to a common reference clock, wherein the common reference clock is related to a frequency band transition of a radio signal performed by the UE.
Nonetheless, in the same field of endeavor, Fox teaches and suggests wherein the at least one specific CN is related to a common reference clock (reference clock), wherein the common reference clock is related to a frequency band transition of a radio signal performed by the UE ([0007]; [0008]; [0012]; [0046]; teaches a connection between the UE and BS related to a reference block related to a frequency band of a radio signal of the UE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate a connection between the UE and BS related to a reference block related to a frequency band of a radio signal of the UE as taught by Fox with the method and UE for random access procedure and establishing connections between a UE and BS as disclosed by Babaei for the purpose of frequency re-banding and synchronization, as suggested by Fox.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-11 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. Claims 10 and 11 are objected for their dependency on claim 9.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 1, 3-12, and 16 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection as necessitated by Applicant’s amendment.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUK JIN KANG whose telephone number is (571) 270-1771. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chirag Shah can be reached on (571) 272-3144. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist/customer service whose telephone number is (571) 272-2600.
/Suk Jin Kang/
Examiner, Art Unit 2477
December 26, 2025