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 Arguments/Amendments
For Independent claims 1, 10 and 17, Applicant argues:
a) D1 fails to disclose “transmitting configuration information to the repeater, identifying a starting point of a repeater UL slot having an offset to the second period, wherein said starting point is dependent on timing advance applied by one or more UEs served by the base station” because “The following paragraphs describe how the repeater can function without relying on a TA value from the UE …” (p6, last para extending to p7);
b) D2 fails to disclose “transmitting configuration information to the repeater, identifying a starting point of a repeater UL slot having an offset to the second period, wherein said starting point is dependent on timing advance applied by one or more UEs served by the base station” because CMCC comments “do not discuss the starting point being dependent on timing advance applied by one or more UEs served by the base station”.
In response, Examiner respectfully disagrees:
a) Applicant did not address the FIGs and paragraphs cited by the OA for addressing the cited claim limitation. Therefore, the argument is not persuasive. Furthermore, addressing one option of a solution does not prove different option of the solution is not valid;
b) D2 in Section 4.3.1, CMCC, such as “sub topic 4-6: repeater should know the exact UL timing. If we assume the repeater know the exact DL and UL configuration and is synchronized with gNB, then repeater would switch from DL to UL to amplify the UL signals during the DL-UL GP, before the beginning time of the first UL slot. Time advance between repeater and gNB could help repeater to determine the time advance before the beginning of UL slot to amplify the UL signal.”, teaching the starting point being dependent on timing advance between repeater and gNB, which is part of timing advance between the gNB and the UEs associated with the gNB. In other words, the starting point dependent on timing advance between advance between the gNB and the UEs.
Therefore, Applicant’s arguments are not persuasive, and Examiner maintains rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102.
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 –
Claims 1-3, 8-12 and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by D1 (US 20200383075).
For claim 1, D1 discloses a method for use in a base station arranged for radio communication with user equipment (UE) via a time division duplexing (TDD) repeater (FIGs. 1 and 3 and the associated text, such as “[0005] FIG. 1 depicts functionality of a time division duplex (TDD) multiband repeater …” or “0007] FIG. 3 illustrates a repeater in communication with a user equipment (UE) and a base station (BS) …”), the method comprising:
determining base station configuration of ([0181], [0180], [0186]):
a first period usable for downlink (DL) communication (FIG. 15d, Dowlink/DwPTS 1571/1572),
a second period usable for uplink (UL) communication (FIG. 15d, Uplink/UwPTS 1576b/1576), and
a guard period between the first and second periods (FIG. 15c or 15d and the associated text, such as “GP 1574” in FIG. 15c or 15d; “[0181] In another example, as illustrated in FIG. 15d, a special subframe 1500d can include a DwPTS 1572, a GP 1574, and a UpPTS 1576. The guard period for switching from the DL subframe to the UL subframe can enable UL transmissions from multiple UEs to arrive at substantially the same time at the BS.”);
transmitting configuration information to the repeater, identifying a starting point of a repeater UL slot having an offset to the second period, wherein said starting point is dependent on timing advance applied by one or more UEs served by the base station (FIGs. 15-17 and the associated text, such as (“[0184] In another example, as illustrated in FIGS. 16 and 17, a modem can be configured to receive a time division duplex (TDD) signal including synchronization information for a frequency range and uplink/downlink (UL/DL) configuration information for the frequency range from a TDD DL signal from a BS. … The modem can accommodate varying degrees of timing advance from a plurality of UEs in the cell served by the repeater.”; [0189] … the repeater can be configured to switch from the first TDD DL signal to the first TDD UL signal within a first selected time period after downlink pilot time slot (DwPTS) symbols in a special subframe of the first TDD DL signal; or switch from the first TDD UL signal to the first TDD DL signal within a second selected time period after a subframe boundary between a UL subframe of the first TDD signal and a DL subframe of the first TDD DL signal. The first selected time period can be less than one or more of: 1 mcs, 500 nanoseconds, 300 nanoseconds, 200 nanoseconds, or 100 nanoseconds, and the second selected time period can be less than one or more of: 1 mcs, 500 nanoseconds, 300 nanoseconds, 200 nanoseconds, or 100 nanoseconds. … [0194] In this example, block 1610a shows the timing of LTE TDD frame configuration 0 transmitted from the BS when the maximum guard band is used. Subframe D 1600 begins at time 0. In another example, block 1620a shows the timing of LTE TDD frame configuration 0 received from the BS at time G. In another example, block 1630a shows the timing of LTE TDD frame configuration 0 transmitted from the repeater (with a delay of about 100 ns from the donor port to the server port of the repeater) and received at the UE …”).
For claim 10, D1 discloses a method for operating a time division duplex (TDD) repeater (FIG. 3, repeater 320) in radio communication between a base station and a user equipment (UE) (FIGs. 1 and 3 and the associated text, such as “[0005] FIG. 1 depicts functionality of a time division duplex (TDD) multiband repeater …” or “0007] FIG. 3 illustrates a repeater in communication with a user equipment (UE) and a base station (BS) …”) the method comprising:
synchronizing with the base station to obtain base station configuration of
a first period usable for downlink (DL) communication (FIG. 15d, Dowlink/DwPTS 1571/1572),
a second period usable for uplink (UL) communication (FIG. 15d, Uplink/UwPTS 1576b/1576), and
a guard period between the first and second periods (FIG. 15 and the associated text, such as “[0181] In another example, as illustrated in FIG. 15d, a special subframe 1500d can include a DwPTS 1572, a GP 1574, and a UpPTS 1576. The guard period for switching from the DL subframe to the UL subframe can enable UL transmissions from multiple UEs to arrive at substantially the same time at the BS.”);
receiving configuration information from the base station, identifying a starting point of a repeater UL slot having an offset to the second period, wherein said starting point is dependent on timing advance applied by one or more UEs served by the base station (FIGs. 15-17 and the associated text, such as [0189]-[0194], particularly “[0189] … the repeater can be configured to switch from the first TDD DL signal to the first TDD UL signal within a first selected time period after downlink pilot time slot (DwPTS) symbols in a special subframe of the first TDD DL signal; or switch from the first TDD UL signal to the first TDD DL signal within a second selected time period after a subframe boundary between a UL subframe of the first TDD signal and a DL subframe of the first TDD DL signal. The first selected time period can be less than one or more of: 1 mcs, 500 nanoseconds, 300 nanoseconds, 200 nanoseconds, or 100 nanoseconds, and the second selected time period can be less than one or more of: 1 mcs, 500 nanoseconds, 300 nanoseconds, 200 nanoseconds, or 100 nanoseconds. … [0194] In this example, block 1610a shows the timing of LTE TDD frame configuration 0 transmitted from the BS when the maximum guard band is used. Subframe D 1600 begins at time 0. In another example, block 1620a shows the timing of LTE TDD frame configuration 0 received from the BS at time G. In another example, block 1630a shows the timing of LTE TDD frame configuration 0 transmitted from the repeater (with a delay of about 100 ns from the donor port to the server port of the repeater) and received at the UE …”).
For claim 17, D1 discloses a method for use in a base station arranged for radio communication with user equipment (UE) via a time division duplexing (TDD) repeater (FIGs. 1 and 3 and the associated text, such as “[0005] FIG. 1 depicts functionality of a time division duplex (TDD) multiband repeater …” or “0007] FIG. 3 illustrates a repeater in communication with a user equipment (UE) and a base station (BS) …”), the method comprising:
determining base station configuration of:
a first period usable for downlink (DL) communication,
a second period usable for uplink (UL) communication, and
a guard period between the first and second periods (FIG. 15 and the associated text, such as “[0181] In another example, as illustrated in FIG. 15d, a special subframe 1500d can include a DwPTS 1572, a GP 1574, and a UpPTS 1576. The guard period for switching from the DL subframe to the UL subframe can enable UL transmissions from multiple UEs to arrive at substantially the same time at the BS.”);
transmitting configuration information to the repeater, identifying a starting point of a repeater UL slot having an offset to the second period, wherein said starting point is defined with respect to the guard period between the first period and periods (FIGs. 15-17 and the associated text, such as [0189]-[0194], particularly “[0189] … the repeater can be configured to switch from the first TDD DL signal to the first TDD UL signal within a first selected time period after downlink pilot time slot (DwPTS) symbols in a special subframe of the first TDD DL signal; or switch from the first TDD UL signal to the first TDD DL signal within a second selected time period after a subframe boundary between a UL subframe of the first TDD signal and a DL subframe of the first TDD DL signal. The first selected time period can be less than one or more of: 1 mcs, 500 nanoseconds, 300 nanoseconds, 200 nanoseconds, or 100 nanoseconds, and the second selected time period can be less than one or more of: 1 mcs, 500 nanoseconds, 300 nanoseconds, 200 nanoseconds, or 100 nanoseconds. … [0194] In this example, block 1610a shows the timing of LTE TDD frame configuration 0 transmitted from the BS when the maximum guard band is used. Subframe D 1600 begins at time 0. In another example, block 1620a shows the timing of LTE TDD frame configuration 0 received from the BS at time G. In another example, block 1630a shows the timing of LTE TDD frame configuration 0 transmitted from the repeater (with a delay of about 100 ns from the donor port to the server port of the repeater) and received at the UE …”).
As to claim 2, D1 discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: obtaining information of absolute timing advance (TA) values applied by said UEs, wherein the starting point is configured to accommodate for at least one of said absolute TA values (“[0189] … The repeater can be configured to switch from the first TDD DL signal to the first TDD UL signal without using a timing advance (TA) value received from the UE; or switch from the first TDD UL signal to the first TDD DL signal without the TA value to received from the UE.” ; note that a TA is a value that inherently has an absolute TA value).
As to claim 3, D1 discloses claim 2, D1 further discloses: transmitting an indication of at least one of said absolute TA values, for receipt in the repeater, to control the repeater to adjust said starting point (“[0189] … The repeater can be configured to switch from the first TDD DL signal to the first TDD UL signal without using a timing advance (TA) value received from the UE; or switch from the first TDD UL signal to the first TDD DL signal without the TA value to received from the UE.”).
As to claims 8 and 15, D1 discloses claims 1 and 10, D1 further discloses: wherein the configured starting point is identified with respect to a guard symbol of the guard period, a repeater DL slot, or the repeater UL slot (FIGs. 15-17 and the associated text, with FIG. 15d and FIG. 15e showing “Guard period(Symbols)”, and FIGs. 16-17 showing a repeater DL/UL slot).
As to claims 9 and 16, D1 discloses claims 1 and 10, D1 further discloses: wherein said configuration information identifies a first offset parameter based on signal propagation distance between the base station and the repeater, and a second offset parameter specifically related to said starting point (FIGs.15-17 and the associated text, such as “[0180] … The GP 1574 can be used to control switching between UL and DL transmission. Because switching between transmission directions can have a hardware delay for both the UE and the BS, the GP 1574 can compensate for this hardware delay. … [0181] In another example, as illustrated in FIG. 15d, a special subframe 1500d can include a DwPTS 1572, a GP 1574, and a UpPTS 1576. The guard period for switching from the DL subframe to the UL subframe can enable UL transmissions from multiple UEs to arrive at substantially the same time at the BS. A guard period for switching for switching from an UL subframe to a DL subframe may not be used because the BS can be transmitting without transmission by UEs, and the BS can issue a timing advance (TA) to the UE. The BS can end DL transmission after downlink 1571, and the downlink subframe can reach the UE before the end of a propagation time (PT) 1574a. The UE can be configured to switch transmission before the end of the transmission/receiving (Tx-Rx) switching timer (SP) 1574b and before the beginning of the uplink 1577a. The UL can reach the BS before the end of the PT 1574c and before the beginning of the uplink 1577b. In one example, the guard period can be the sum of the round-trip distance (RTD) and the SP. The RTD can be equal to the propagation time multiplied by 2.”).
As to claim 11, D1 discloses claim 10, D1 further discloses: wherein the starting point is configured to accommodate for at least one absolute timing advance, TA, value used by the UEs served by the base station (FIGs.15-17 and the associated text, such as “[0189] … The repeater can be configured to switch from the first TDD DL signal to the first TDD UL signal without using a timing advance (TA) value received from the UE; or switch from the first TDD UL signal to the first TDD DL signal without the TA value to received from the UE.”; note that a TA is a value that inherently has an absolute TA value).
As to claim 12, D1 discloses claim 10, D1 further discloses: receiving, from the base station, an indication of at least one of said absolute TA values; and adjusting said starting point based on said indication (FIGs.15-17 and the associated text, such as “[0189] … The repeater can be configured to switch from the first TDD DL signal to the first TDD UL signal without using a timing advance (TA) value received from the UE; or switch from the first TDD UL signal to the first TDD DL signal without the TA value to received from the UE.”; note that a TA is a value that inherently has an absolute TA value).
Claims 1, 10 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by D2 (3GPP R4-2103751, NPL dated 9/17/23, 36 pages).
For claim 1, D2 discloses a method for use in a base station arranged for radio communication with user equipment (UE) via a time division duplexing (TDD) repeater (Section 4.2 “Many papers are discussing the behaviour of repeaters in TDD bands, the need for synchronization and UL/DL configuration awareness. Other topics brought up are support for dynamic TDD and definition of requirements related to TDD such as Rx-Tx switching time, whether the repeater should be aware of the exact timing when UL starts…”; note that UL/DL and repeater suggest UE and BS), the method comprising:
determining base station configuration of:
a first period usable for downlink (DL) communication,
a second period usable for uplink (UL) communication, and
a guard period between the first and second periods (Section 4.3.1, CMCC, “sub topic 4-6: repeater should know the exact UL timing. If we assume the repeater know the exact DL and UL configuration and is synchronized with gNB, then repeater would switch from DL to UL to amplify the UL signals during the DL-UL GP, before the beginning time of the first UL slot. Time advance between repeater and gNB could help repeater to determine the time advance before the beginning of UL slot to amplify the UL signal.“);
transmitting configuration information to the repeater, identifying a starting point of a repeater UL slot having an offset to the second period, wherein said starting point is dependent on timing advance applied by one or more UEs served by the base station (Section 4.3.1, CMCC, “sub topic 4-6: repeater should know the exact UL timing. If we assume the repeater know the exact DL and UL configuration and is synchronized with gNB, then repeater would switch from DL to UL to amplify the UL signals during the DL-UL GP, before the beginning time of the first UL slot. Time advance between repeater and gNB could help repeater to determine the time advance before the beginning of UL slot to amplify the UL signal.“).
For claim 10, D2 discloses a method for operating a time division duplex (TDD) repeater (FIG. 3, repeater 320) in radio communication between a base station and a user equipment (UE) (Section 4.2 “Many papers are discussing the behaviour of repeaters in TDD bands, the need for synchronization and UL/DL configuration awareness. Other topics brought up are support for dynamic TDD and definition of requirements related to TDD such as Rx-Tx switching time, whether the repeater should be aware of the exact timing when UL starts…”; note that UL/DL and repeater suggest UE and BS)the method comprising:
synchronizing with the base station to obtain base station configuration of
a first period usable for downlink (DL) communication,
a second period usable for uplink (UL) communication, and
a guard period between the first and second periods (Section 4.3.1, CMCC, “sub topic 4-6: repeater should know the exact UL timing. If we assume the repeater know the exact DL and UL configuration and is synchronized with gNB, then repeater would switch from DL to UL to amplify the UL signals during the DL-UL GP, before the beginning time of the first UL slot. Time advance between repeater and gNB could help repeater to determine the time advance before the beginning of UL slot to amplify the UL signal.“);
receiving configuration information from the base station, identifying a starting point of a repeater UL slot having an offset to the second period, wherein said starting point is dependent on timing advance applied by one or more UEs served by the base station (Section 4.3.1, CMCC, such as “sub topic 4-6: repeater should know the exact UL timing. If we assume the repeater know the exact DL and UL configuration and is synchronized with gNB, then repeater would switch from DL to UL to amplify the UL signals during the DL-UL GP, before the beginning time of the first UL slot. Time advance between repeater and gNB could help repeater to determine the time advance before the beginning of UL slot to amplify the UL signal.“).
For claim 17, D2 discloses a method for use in a base station arranged for radio communication with user equipment (UE) via a time division duplexing (TDD) repeater (Section 4.2 “Many papers are discussing the behaviour of repeaters in TDD bands, the need for synchronization and UL/DL configuration awareness. Other topics brought up are support for dynamic TDD and definition of requirements related to TDD such as Rx-Tx switching time, whether the repeater should be aware of the exact timing when UL starts…”; note that UL/DL and repeater suggest UE and BS), the method comprising:
determining base station configuration of:
a first period usable for downlink (DL) communication,
a second period usable for uplink (UL) communication, and
a guard period between the first and second periods (Section 4.3.1, CMCC, “sub topic 4-6: repeater should know the exact UL timing. If we assume the repeater know the exact DL and UL configuration and is synchronized with gNB, then repeater would switch from DL to UL to amplify the UL signals during the DL-UL GP, before the beginning time of the first UL slot. Time advance between repeater and gNB could help repeater to determine the time advance before the beginning of UL slot to amplify the UL signal.“);
transmitting configuration information to the repeater, identifying a starting point of a repeater UL slot having an offset to the second period, wherein said starting point is defined with respect to the guard period between the first period and periods (Section 4.3.1, CMCC, “sub topic 4-6: repeater should know the exact UL timing. If we assume the repeater know the exact DL and UL configuration and is synchronized with gNB, then repeater would switch from DL to UL to amplify the UL signals during the DL-UL GP, before the beginning time of the first UL slot. Time advance between repeater and gNB could help repeater to determine the time advance before the beginning of UL slot to amplify the UL signal.“).
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.
Claims 4-5 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 (US 20200383075) in view of Liang (CN 110249568 A).
As to claims 4 and 13, D1 discloses claims 3 and 12, and is silent but Liang, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses: wherein said at least one of said absolute TA values is a largest TA value applied by said UEs (p47, 2nd para “… timing advance (TA) is added to the UE processing time … TA may have the maximum value (UE) application” in view of the parent claims). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Liang above to the wireless system disclosed by D1 to yield a predictable result of obtaining proper timing.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine D1 and Liang for the benefit of obtaining proper timing (p47, 2nd para of Liang).
As to claims 5 and 14, D1 discloses claims 3 and 12, D1 further discloses: wherein said at least one of said absolute TA values is a largest TA value applied by said UEs in a base station beam relayed through the repeater (p47, 2nd para “… timing advance (TA) is added to the UE processing time … TA may have the maximum value (UE) application” in view of the parent claims). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Liang above to the wireless system disclosed by D1 to yield a predictable result of obtaining proper timing.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine D1 and Liang for the benefit of obtaining proper timing (p47, 2nd para of Liang).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 (US 20200383075) in view of Kuo (US 20130058309 A1).
As to claim 6, D1 discloses claim 2, D1 further discloses: receiving an UL signal from the UE;
determining, responsive to detecting that the signal is received over two or more paths, timing of signal reception of a path through the repeater (FIG. 2 and the associated text, such as “[0041] … The repeater 200 can include a server antenna port that can also be coupled to a first duplexer (or diplexer or multiplexer or circulator or splitter) 212. Between the two duplexers, 214 and 212, can be two paths: a first path and a second path. ….”).
D1 is silent but Kuo, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses: transmitting a TA command to the UE based on the determined timing (“[0057] On the other hand, if the Scell forms a new TA group after TA group change, some extra handling may be needed. Since the eNB detects TA change based on uplink transmissions from the UE, it should be possible for the eNB to estimate the TA value based on uplink transmission (i.e. without relying on a random access procedure) and provide a TA command along with the TA group change command for the UE to derive the initial TA corresponding to the new TA group so that uplink transmissions on the Scell could continue right away after transition to the new TA group. …”). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Kuo above to the wireless system disclosed by D1 to yield a predictable result of obtaining proper timing.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine D1 and Kuo for the benefit of obtaining proper timing ([0057] of Kuo).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 (US 20200383075) in view of Kuo (US 20130058309 A1), further in view of Liang (CN 110249568 A).
As to claim 7, D1 in view of Kuo discloses claim 6, and is silent but Liang, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses: wherein the determining timing of signal reception comprises determining, out of a plurality of taps associated with said paths, the strongest tap of the detected UL signal (p47, 2nd para “… timing advance (TA) is added to the UE processing time … TA may have the maximum value (UE) application” in view of the parent claims). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Liang above to the wireless system disclosed by D1 in view of Kuo to yield a predictable result of obtaining proper timing.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine D1 in view of Kuo and Liang for the benefit of obtaining proper timing (p47, 2nd para of Liang).
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIANYE WU whose telephone number is (571)270-1665. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 8am-6pm.
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/JIANYE WU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462