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 .
Response to Amendment
This communication is in response to the amendment of 12/17/2025 in which Applicant elects Group I (Claims 1-13 and 30) without traverse. All changes made to the claims have been entered. Accordingly, Claims 1-13, 30-46 are currently pending in the application and claims 14-29 cancelled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2 and 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Dependent claim 2 recites the limitation “control information associated with the relay device”. However independent claim 1 in which claim 2 depends upon recites the subject matter “first control information” and “second control information”. It is thus unclear on whether the “control information” as seen in claim 2 refers to “first control information” and/or “second control information” or should be considered a separate/different control information. Examiner suggests clarifying such subject matter. Similar rationale is applied to claim 32 reciting similar subject matter.
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 8, 9, 10, 30, 31, 32, 38, 39, 40, 44, 45, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morioka (US 2013/0083723), in view of Jen (US 2010/0331037).
Regarding claim 1, 31, Morioka discloses a relay device for wireless communication (relay device 40 relays communication between the eNodeB 10 and the MTC terminal 20, [0080] and [0085] and figure 3 and figure 5 and figure 6 and figure 8), comprising:
a memory; and
one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory, the memory and the one or more processors (relay device 40 includes an antenna 410, a reception processing unit 420, a storage unit 430, an information processing unit 440, and a transmission processing unit 450, [0093] and [0097]-[0104] and [0113] and [0119]-[0120] and figure 5 and [0141]) configured to:
receive, from a base station, a data message that includes at least first control information associated with a first user equipment (UE) and second control information associated with a second UE (a relay device including a receiving unit for receiving information aggregated for a plurality of wireless communication devices from a base station, an information processing unit for obtaining individual information for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices based on the aggregated information received by the receiving unit and the group uplink grant in the operation example includes a user equipment identity list (UE Identity List), a resource grant list (Resource Grant List), a MCS strategy field, a power control strategy field, and so on (correlating to control information) and the relay device generates the uplink grant by dividing information included in the group uplink grant, that is, by extracting a resource to be allocated to each of the MTC terminals, [0016]-[0019] and [0108]-[0113] and [0116]-[0121] and figure 4 and figure 6 and figure 8 and figure 9);
transmit, to the first UE, the first control information based at least in part on information associated with the data message (a transmitting unit for individually transmitting the individual information obtained by the information processing unit to each of the plurality of wireless communication devices and relay device 40 generates an uplink grant relative to each of the MTC terminals 20, based on the group uplink grant as described above. Specifically, the information processing unit 440 of the relay device 40 generates the uplink grant by dividing information included in the group uplink grant, that is, by extracting a resource to be allocated to each of the MTC terminals 20, [0016]-[0018] and [0108]-[0113] and [0116]-[0120] and figure 4 and figure 6 and figure 8 and figure 9); and
transmit, to the second UE, the second control information based at least in part on the information (a transmitting unit for individually transmitting the individual information obtained by the information processing unit to each of the plurality of wireless communication devices and relay device 40 generates an uplink grant relative to each of the MTC terminals 20, based on the group uplink grant as described above. Specifically, the information processing unit 440 of the relay device 40 generates the uplink grant by dividing information included in the group uplink grant, that is, by extracting a resource to be allocated to each of the MTC terminals 20, [0016]-[0018] and [0108]-[0113] and [0116]-[0120] and figure 4 and figure 6 and figure 8 and figure 9).
Morioka however fails to disclose information included in a header. Morioka however discloses the group uplink grant…includes a user equipment identity list (UE Identity List), a resource grant list (Resource Grant List), a MCS strategy field, a power control strategy field, and so on ([0117] and figure 9) and the association of uplink grant with PDCCH DCI Format (figure 4). In a similar field of endeavor, Jen discloses information included in a header (header that includes a control information indication (e.g. indication for power control, UL grant, DL assignment, MCS), [0072] and page 10 claim 23). It 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 to incorporate the concept of having such control information as power control, grant, and MCS be included in a header as disclosed by Jen into the relaying method comprising dividing information included in a group uplink grant such as a resource grant list (Resource Grant List), a MCS strategy field, a power control strategy field as disclosed by Morioka in order to improve the system and provide flexible implementations of communicating information in a network, such as via headers.
Regarding claim 30, 44, Morioka discloses a relay device for wireless communication (relay device 40 relays communication between the eNodeB 10 and the MTC terminal 20, [0080] and [0085] and figure 3 and figure 5 and figure 6 and figure 8), comprising:
a memory; and
one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory, the memory and the one or more processors (relay device 40 includes an antenna 410, a reception processing unit 420, a storage unit 430, an information processing unit 440, and a transmission processing unit 450, [0093] and [0097]-[0104] and [0113] and [0119]-[0120] and figure 5 and [0141]) configured to:
receive, from a base station, a data message that includes at least first data associated with a first user equipment (UE) and second data associated with a second UE (a relay device including a receiving unit for receiving information aggregated for a plurality of wireless communication devices from a base station, an information processing unit for obtaining individual information for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices based on the aggregated information received by the receiving unit and the group uplink grant in the operation example includes a user equipment identity list (UE Identity List), a resource grant list (Resource Grant List), a MCS strategy field, a power control strategy field, and so on (correlating to data) and the relay device generates the uplink grant by dividing information included in the group uplink grant, that is, by extracting a resource to be allocated to each of the MTC terminals, [0016]-[0019] and [0108]-[0113] and [0116]-[0121] and figure 4 and figure 6 and figure 8 and figure 9);
transmit, to the first UE, the first data based at least in part on information associated with the data message (a transmitting unit for individually transmitting the individual information obtained by the information processing unit to each of the plurality of wireless communication devices and relay device 40 generates an uplink grant relative to each of the MTC terminals 20, based on the group uplink grant as described above. Specifically, the information processing unit 440 of the relay device 40 generates the uplink grant by dividing information included in the group uplink grant, that is, by extracting a resource to be allocated to each of the MTC terminals 20, [0016]-[0018] and [0108]-[0113] and [0116]-[0120] and figure 4 and figure 6 and figure 8 and figure 9); and
transmit, to the second UE, the second data based at least in part on the information (a transmitting unit for individually transmitting the individual information obtained by the information processing unit to each of the plurality of wireless communication devices and relay device 40 generates an uplink grant relative to each of the MTC terminals 20, based on the group uplink grant as described above. Specifically, the information processing unit 440 of the relay device 40 generates the uplink grant by dividing information included in the group uplink grant, that is, by extracting a resource to be allocated to each of the MTC terminals 20, [0016]-[0018] and [0108]-[0113] and [0116]-[0120] and figure 4 and figure 6 and figure 8 and figure 9).
Morioka however fails to disclose information included in a header. Morioka however discloses the group uplink grant…includes a user equipment identity list (UE Identity List), a resource grant list (Resource Grant List), a MCS strategy field, a power control strategy field, and so on ([0117] and figure 9) and the association of uplink grant with PDCCH DCI Format (figure4). In a similar field of endeavor, Jen discloses information included in a header (header that includes a control information indication (e.g. indication for power control, UL grant, DL assignment, MCS), [0072] and page 10 claim 23). It 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 to incorporate the concept of having such control information as power control, grant, and MCS be included in a header as disclosed by Jen into the relaying method comprising dividing information included in a group uplink grant such as a resource grant list (Resource Grant List), a MCS strategy field, a power control strategy field as disclosed by Morioka in order to improve the system and provide flexible implementations of communicating information in a network, such as via headers.
Regarding claim 2, 32, 45, Morioka discloses wherein the memory and the one or more processors are further configured to: receive, from the base station, control information associated with the relay device (a relay device including a receiving unit for receiving information aggregated for a plurality of wireless communication devices from a base station, an information processing unit for obtaining individual information for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices based on the aggregated information received by the receiving unit and the group uplink grant in the operation example includes a user equipment identity list (UE Identity List), a resource grant list (Resource Grant List), a MCS strategy field, a power control strategy field, and so on (correlating to control information) and the relay device generates the uplink grant by dividing information included in the group uplink grant, that is, by extracting a resource to be allocated to each of the MTC terminals, [0016]-[0019] and [0108]-[0113] and [0116]-[0121] and figure 4 and figure 6 and figure 8 and figure 9).
Regarding claim 8, 38, Morioka discloses wherein the data message encodes content of the first control information with content of the second control information (The CRC field is scrambled with a unique code of a MTC terminal 20 which will be a destination. Thus, it is possible to specify a MTC terminal 20 which will be a destination, on the basis of the code used for scrambling the CRC field and the group uplink grant in the operation example includes a user equipment identity list (UE Identity List) and the user equipment identity list is comprised of information for identifying each of the MTC terminals 20 and the uplink grant includes a CRC field (UE identity), [0087]-[0088] and [0117]-[0118] and figure 9 and [0110]-[0111] and [0096]).
Regarding claim 9, 39, Morioka discloses wherein the data message includes at least a first control element that includes the first control information and a second control element that includes the second control information (the group uplink grant in the operation example includes a user equipment identity list (UE Identity List) and the user equipment identity list is comprised of information for identifying each of the MTC terminals 20 and the uplink grant includes a CRC field (UE identity), [0117]-[0118] and figure 9 and [0087]-[0088] and [0110]-[0111]).
Regarding claim 10, 40, Jen discloses wherein the header is separately encoded from the data message (the message may be constructed by the network as a MAC packet having a MAC payload and a MAC header that includes a control information indication (e.g. indication for power control, UL grant, DL assignment, MCS) and The MAC layer 330 feedbacks an acknowledgement (ACK) to the network if a MAC packet is successfully received and decoded , [0072] and [0030] and [0052] and [0082]). It 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 to incorporate the concept of having such control information as power control, grant, and MCS be included in a header in which is separately encoded from a payload/data message as disclosed by Jen into the relaying method comprising dividing information included in a group uplink grant such as a resource grant list (Resource Grant List), a MCS strategy field, a power control strategy field as disclosed by Morioka in order to improve the system and provide flexible implementations of communicating information in a network, such as via encoded headers and payloads.
Claim(s) 3, 4, 33, 34, 46 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morioka, in view of Jen, in further view of Gholmieh et al. (US 2008/0102880)
Regarding claim 3, 33, 46, Morioka discloses wherein the control information associated with the relay device indicates that the data message includes control information associated with a plurality of UEs (the group uplink grant in the operation example includes a user equipment identity list (UE Identity List) and the user equipment identity list is comprised of information for identifying each of the MTC terminals 20 and the uplink grant includes a CRC field (UE identity), [0117]-[0118] and figure 9 and [0087]-[0088] and [0110]-[0111]).
Morioka however fails to disclose at least one bit of the control information. However in a similar field of endeavor, Gholmieh discloses at least one bit of the control information (a 16-bit UE identity/CRC field, [0057] and figure 8). It 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 to incorporate the concept of having control information such as UE identity/CRC field be at least one bit as disclosed by Gholmieh into the relaying method comprising dividing information included in a group uplink grant wherein a plurality of UEs is indicated via UE identity/CRC information as disclosed by Morioka and Jen in order to improve the system and provide flexible implementations of communicating information to the proper plurality of destinations.
Regarding claim 4, 34, Morioka discloses wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC), associated with the control information that is associated with the relay device, indicate that the data message includes control information associated with a plurality of UEs (the group uplink grant in the operation example includes a user equipment identity list (UE Identity List) and the user equipment identity list is comprised of information for identifying each of the MTC terminals 20 and the uplink grant includes a CRC field (UE identity), [0117]-[0118] and figure 9 and [0087]-[0088] and [0110]-[0111]).
Morioka however fails to disclose at least six bits of a cyclic redundancy check (CRC). However in a similar field of endeavor, Gholmieh discloses at least six bits of a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) (a 16-bit UE identity/CRC field, [0057] and figure 8). It 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 to incorporate the concept of having control information such as UE identity/CRC field be at least six bits as disclosed by Gholmieh into the relaying method comprising dividing information included in a group uplink grant wherein a plurality of UEs is indicated via UE identity/CRC information as disclosed by Morioka and Jen in order to improve the system and provide flexible implementations of communicating information to the proper plurality of destinations.
Claim(s) 5, 7, 35, 37, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morioka, in view of Jen, in further view of Reddy et al. (US 2018/0302186).
Regarding claim 5, 35, Morioka and Jen fails to disclose wherein the data message includes a control resource set (CORESET) shared by the first UE and the second UE. Morioka however discloses the association of uplink grant with PDCCH DCI Format (figure 4). In a similar field of endeavor, Reddy discloses the data message includes a control resource set (CORESET) shared by the first UE and the second UE (enabling UEs with different bandwidth configurations to share the same coreset bandwidth to monitor and decode the resources allocated a particular UE and the PDCCH be transmitted to each UE in the set of UEs using the coreset bandwidth , [0067] and abstract and [0013]). It 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 to incorporate the concept of having UEs share a CORESET as disclosed by Reddy into the relaying method comprising dividing information included in a group uplink grant that is associated with PDCCH DCI as disclosed by Morioka and Jen in order to improve the system and reduce system overhead and system complexity.
Regarding claim 7, 37, Morioka discloses wherein the header includes at least a first sub-header associated with the first UE and a second sub-header associated with the second UE (the group uplink grant in the operation example includes a user equipment identity list (UE Identity List) and the user equipment identity list is comprised of information for identifying each of the MTC terminals 20 and the uplink grant includes a CRC field (UE identity), [0117]-[0118] and figure 9 and [0087]-[0088] and [0110]-[0111]). .
Claim(s) 6, 36 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morioka, in view of Jen, in view of Reddy, in further view of Lee et al. (US 2019/0327024).
Regarding claim 6, 36, Morioka, Jen, and Reddy fails to disclose wherein the data message includes at least one unused resource element (RE) that is filled with zeroes. However in a similar field of endeavor, Lee discloses the data message includes at least one unused resource element (RE) that is filled with zeroes (the unused REs for can be in the form of empty REs (e.g., zero powered REs). The downlink control information can be used to indicate one or more sets of empty REs or non-data REs in an allocation, wherein such signaling may be configured based on UE capability and the transmission data rate, which can comprise modulation, effective code rate (e.g., after HARQ combining), number of layers (i.e., rank), number of OFDM symbols (or REs) for transmission, and payload size, [0051] and [0027]). It 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 to incorporate the concept of having unused REs that are zeros as disclosed by Lee into the relaying method comprising dividing information included in a group uplink grant that is associated with PDCCH DCI as disclosed by Morioka, Jen, and Reddy in order to improve the system and flexibly transmits data signals by a transmitter.
Claim(s) 12, 42 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morioka, in view of Jen, in further view of Tolety (US 6996132).
Regarding claim 12, 42, Morioka, and Jen fails to disclose wherein the data message includes a control element that indicates an original transmission time associated with the data message. However in a similar field of endeavor, Tolety discloses the data message includes a control element that indicates an original transmission time associated with the data message (information specifying the packet's original transmission time from field 34 of the received packet, and employs that information and the packet receipt time determined in step A5 to determine a difference between the packet receipt time and the original packet transmission time , col12 lines 1-15). It 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 to incorporate the concept of having a field that indicates an original transmission time as disclosed by Tolety into the relaying method comprising dividing information included in a group uplink grant as disclosed by Morioka, and Jen in order to improve the system and flexibly provide parameters such that the amount of time for packet transmission may be determined.
Claim(s) 13, 43 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morioka, in view of Jen, in further view of Kanesalingam (US 2015/0063188).
Regarding claim 13, 43, Morioka, and Jen fails to disclose wherein the data message includes a header that indicates an absolute transmission time associated with the data message. However in a similar field of endeavor, Kanesalingam discloses wherein the data message includes a header that indicates an absolute transmission time associated with the data message (the transmission time may be included in an extension field of the MBMS SYNC PDU…Further, the transmission time may be an absolute transmission time, [0040]-[0041]). It 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 to incorporate the concept of having a field that indicates an absolute transmission time as disclosed by Kanesalingam into the relaying method comprising dividing information included in a group uplink grant as disclosed by Morioka, and Jen in order to improve the system and flexibly provide timing parameters within a network.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 11, 41 is 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NGUYEN HOANG NGO whose telephone number is (571)272-8398. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang Yao can be reached at 571-272-3182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NGUYEN H NGO/Examiner, Art Unit 2473