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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
IDS(es) submitted on 12/3/2025 has/have been considered.
Oath/Declaration
Oath/Declaration filed on 4/3/2026 has been acknowledged.
Drawings
Drawing(s) submitted on 7/27/2023 have been acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-6, and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chauhan et al. (US 2020/0383072; hereinafter Chauhan).
Regarding claims 1 and 20, Chauhan discloses a fifth generation (5G) or later generation standard cellular base station unit (Fig. 2; cellular base station) comprising:
at least one user equipment (UE) modem operative to receive wireless signals from at least one external base station and to derive at least one synchronization signal based on said wireless signals received from said at least one external base station (Fig. 2, base station 202 and the NB-IoT modem 203; [0052]-[0053]: synchronizing small cell 202 with macro cell 201); and
a 5G base station sub-unit operative to receive said at least one synchronization signal from said at least one UE modem and to employ said at least one synchronization signal to synchronize internal functions of said 5G base station sub-unit (Fig. 2, synchronization processing module 204; [0052]-[0053]: synchronizing small cell 202 with macro cell 201).
Regarding claim 2, Chauhan discloses the unit according to claim 1, wherein said base station sub-unit is one of a gNB and a radio unit (RU) (Fig. 2, small cell 202-204; [0080]).
Regarding claim 3, Chauhan discloses the unit according to claim 1, wherein said UE modem does not include a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) of any type (Chauhan does not disclose any SIM).
Regarding claim 4, Chaunhan discloses the unit according to claim 3, wherein said UE modem is operative to communicate with said external base station until said UE modem receives from said external base station a timing advance value of said signals received from said external base station, and may or may not stop communicating with said external base station upon receiving said timing advance value ([0015]-[0016]: initial timing synchronization between small and macro cell; [0053]).
Regarding claim 5, Chauhan discloses the unit according to claim 1, and also comprising a bi- directional communication protocol between said base station sub-unit and said UE modem (Fig. 4; [0076]-[0079]: commination between NB-Iot modem and small cell).
Regarding claim 6, Chauhan discloses the unit according to claim 5, wherein:
said base station sub-unit is operative to provide information or queries to said UE modem (Fig. 4; [0076]-[0079]: commination between NB-Iot modem and small cell); and
said UE modem is operative to function based on said information or queries (Fig. 4; [0076]-[0079]: commination between NB-Iot modem and small cell).
Regarding claim 8, Chauhan discloses the unit according to claim 1 and also comprising a GNSS receiver included in said unit and in operative communication with said UE modem ([0053]: GNSS receiver),
said UE modem being operative to ascertain a geographical location of said base station unit and to provide said geographical location to said GNSS receiver ([0053]: use of GNSS satellites for location information: [0010]: GPS),
said GNSS receiver being operative to generate an additional synchronization signal based on said location and on a signal from at least one GNSS satellite,
said base station sub-unit being operative to receive said additional synchronization signal from said GNSS receiver and to employ said additional synchronization signal to time synchronize said base-station sub-unit with said at least one GNSS satellite ([0053:further use of GNSS for synchronization with other macro cells).
Regarding claim 9, Chauhan discloses the unit according to claim 1, wherein said wireless signals comprise at least one of 5G standard signals, Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard signals, LTE-Machine Type Communication (LTE-M) standard signals and Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) standard signals ([0086]: 5G; [0008]: LTE-M, LTE; [0077]: NB-IoT).
Regarding claim 10, Chauhan discloses the unit according to claim 1, wherein said UE modem is operative to select said external base station and to derive said at least one synchronization signal based on said wireless signals received from said external base station based on at least one of:
a quality level of said wireless signals received from said external base station,
a base station stratum level of said external base station as reported by said external base station ([0011]: use of synchronization stratum); and
a base station operator identity as reported by said external base station ([0015], [0053]: cell identification information).
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.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chauhan in view of Khalid (US 2021/0127342).
Regarding claim 7, Chauhan discloses all the particulars of the claim but is unclear about the unit according to claim 1, wherein said base station sub- unit is operative to receive timing information from a network time protocol (NTP).
However, Khalid does disclose the limitation of wherein said base station sub- unit is operative to receive timing information from a network time protocol (NTP) (Fig. 5; [0014], [050]: use of NTP over NB-IoT network).
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art at the time of invention to incorporate Khalid’s disclosure to provide improved timing and synchronization with macro cell.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUCK HUYNH whose telephone number is (571)272-7866. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10am - 6pm.
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/CHUCK HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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