Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
2. This Office Action is in response to application filed on 01/22/2024. Claims 1-2, 5-13, 16-22, 26-27 were previously pending. Claims 1-2, 5-13, 16-22, 26-27 are rejected.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 01/22/2024 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
4. The drawings FIG.7 are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description: Specification, [0106]: Pcell:SCS=60 KHz, Scell: SCS=15 KHz.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
5. Claims 7-9 are objected to because of the following informalities: the first instance of “SCS” should be --subcarrier spacing (SCS)--. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
6.1. 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.
6.2. 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.
6.3. Claims 1, 10-12, 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Li et al., ("Li", CN 108024357 A) in view of Lee et al., (“Lee”, US 2011/0026495 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Li teaches, a carrier switching method (Li, [0075]: a secondary carrier management method for multi-carrier aggregation), comprising:
determining a candidate secondary carrier based on a selection strategy (Li, [0076-79]: determining the priority of each configured secondary carrier (“candidate”) according to the channel quality information (CQI) of each auxiliary carrier and the current available physical resource block (PRB) resource information); and
in response to an available resource existing on the candidate secondary carrier, determining the candidate secondary carrier as a target secondary carrier (Li, [0080-84]: in response to the current available PRB information and CQI of each secondary carrier, determining the target secondary carrier based on the priority value; [0046-48]: activating the secondary carrier with the maximum priority from the inactivated candidate secondary carriers set).
Li does not expressly teaches
wherein the target secondary carrier is a switched secondary carrier in a carrier switching scenario of a physical channel.
Lee teaches (Lee, [0095]: activation or deactivation of the secondary carrier (“target secondary carrier”) may be determined by a base station (BS) on the basis of a QoS (Quality of Service), load condition of a carrier and other factor; [0097]: when DL/UL of a newly activated carrier is ready to be used for data traffic transmission; [0099]: the mobile station (MS) severs a control signal on the serving carrier, and then switches to the target fully configured carrier).
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement the “secondary carriers” of Lee into the invention of Li. The suggestion/motivation would have been enable the secondary carrier as an additional carrier used by the mobile station (MS) for traffic, (Lee, [0075-76]). Including the “secondary carriers” of Lee into the invention of Li was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Lee.
Regarding Claim 10, Li-Lee teaches, the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
performing transmission on the physical channel on the available resource of the target secondary carrier (Lee, [0097]: when DL/UL of a newly activated secondary carrier is ready to be used for data traffic transmission, the mobile station (MS) can transmit the AAI_CM-IND message; FIG.4, S413, [0111]: the BS and MS may communicate data traffic with each other even through the target secondary carrier).
Regarding Claim 11, Li-Lee teaches, the method according to claim 1, wherein the physical channel comprises at least one of: a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH); a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) (Lee, FIG.4, S413, [0111]: the BS and MS may communicate data traffic with each other even through the target secondary carrier).
Regarding Claim 12, Li teaches, a carrier switching apparatus, comprising:
a processor; and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor, wherein the processor is configured to (Li, [0111-113]: secondary carrier management method for multi-carrier aggregation storing in memory and executed by a processor):
determine a candidate secondary carrier based on a selection strategy (Li, [0076-79]: determining the priority of each configured secondary carrier (“candidate”) according to the channel quality information (CQI) of each auxiliary carrier and the current available physical resource block (PRB) resource information); and
determine the candidate secondary carrier as a target secondary carrier in response to an available resource existing on the candidate secondary carrier (Li, [0080-84]: in response to the current available PRB information and CQI of each secondary carrier, determining the target secondary carrier based on the priority value; [0046-48]: activating the secondary carrier with the maximum priority from the inactivated candidate secondary carriers set).
Li does not expressly teaches
wherein the target secondary carrier is a switched secondary carrier in a carrier switching scenario of a physical channel.
Lee teaches (Lee, [0095]: activation or deactivation of the secondary carrier (“target secondary carrier”) may be determined by a base station (BS) on the basis of a QoS (Quality of Service), load condition of a carrier and other factor; [0097]: when DL/UL of a newly activated carrier is ready to be used for data traffic transmission; [0099]: the mobile station (MS) severs a control signal on the serving carrier, and then switches to the target fully configured carrier).
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement the “subcarrier spacing (SCS)” of Bagheri into the invention of Li-Lee. The suggestion/motivation would have been enable the SCell to more easily communicate with a UE and the PCell using the same SCS (Bagheri, [0081]). Including the “subcarrier spacing” of Bagheri into the invention of Li-Lee was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Bagheri.
Regarding Claim 21, Li-Lee teaches, the apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to:
perform transmission on the physical channel on the available resource of the target secondary carrier (Lee, [0097]: when DL/UL of a newly activated secondary carrier is ready to be used for data traffic transmission, the mobile station (MS) can transmit the AAI_CM-IND message; FIG.4, S413, [0111]: the BS and MS may communicate data traffic with each other even through the target secondary carrier).
Regarding Claim 22, Li-Lee teaches, the apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the physical channel comprises at least one of: a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH); a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) (Lee, FIG.4, S413, [0111]: the BS and MS may communicate data traffic with each other even through the target secondary carrier).
6.4. Claims 2, 5-9, 13, 16-20, 26-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Li et al., ("Li", CN 108024357 A) in view of Lee et al., (“Lee”, US 2011/0026495 A1), and further in view of Bagheri et al., ("Bagheri", US 2023/0397191 A1) .
Regarding Claim 2, Li-Lee teaches, the method according to claim 1, wherein the selection strategy comprises at least one of: a first selection strategy, a second selection strategy, or a third selection strategy (Li, [0084-86]: the selection is based on the calculated priorities); but not expressly teaches wherein the first selection strategy comprises:
selecting a first secondary carrier with a same subcarrier spacing (SCS) as a primary carrier as the candidate secondary carrier;
the second selection strategy comprises: selecting a second secondary carrier using a symmetrical frequency spectrum as the candidate secondary carrier; and
the third selection strategy comprises: selecting a third secondary carrier in a descending order of SCS among secondary carriers using an asymmetric spectrum, as the candidate secondary carrier.
Bagheri teaches wherein the first selection strategy comprises:
selecting a first secondary carrier with a same subcarrier spacing (SCS) as a primary carrier as the candidate secondary carrier (Bagheri, [0059]: primary cell (PCell) and SCell scheduling a PCell (SCell-P) have the same SCS).
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement the “subcarrier spacing (SCS)” of Bagheri into the invention of Li-Lee. The suggestion/motivation would have been enable the SCell to more easily communicate with a UE and the PCell using the same SCS (Bagheri, [0081]). Including the “subcarrier spacing” of Bagheri into the invention of Li-Lee was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Bagheri.
Regarding Claim 5, Li-Lee-Bagheri teaches, the method according to claim 2, wherein a priority of the first selection strategy is higher than a priority of the second selection strategy (Li, [0084-85]: the selection priority is the sorted calculated priorities which is derived from CQI).
Regarding Claim 6, Li-Lee teaches, the method according to claim 1, but not expressly teaches further comprising:
performing a resource search based on a K1' slot position to search for the available resource on the candidate secondary carrier; wherein the K1' slot position is a slot position corresponding to a K1 slot position of a primary carrier on the candidate secondary carrier.
Bagheri teaches (Bagheri, [0069]: the UE may receive candidates for both PCell and SCell-P in the same search space.FIG.5, [0082]: The SCell-P 504 may receive DCI 506 indicating K0min in slot n ('K1’ slot’), and the PCell 502 may update K0_min in slot m+4 (“slot K1”) in response to receiving first allowed DCI 508 indicating an update to K0_min after the DCI 506 in slot n).
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement the “subcarrier spacing (SCS)” of Bagheri into the invention of Li-Lee. The suggestion/motivation would have been enable the SCell to more easily communicate with a UE and the PCell using the same SCS (Bagheri, [0081]). Including the “subcarrier spacing” of Bagheri into the invention of Li-Lee was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Bagheri.
Regarding Claim 7, Li-Lee-Bagheri teaches, the method according to claim 6, wherein a SCS of the candidate secondary carrier is equal to a SCS of the primary carrier, the K1' slot position comprises a first K1' slot position, and the first K1' slot position is equal to the K1 slot position (Bagheri, [0059]: primary cell (PCell) and SCell scheduling a PCell (SCell-P) have the same SCS);
performing the resource search based on the K1' slot position to search for the available resource on the candidate secondary carrier comprises: searching sequentially from a first slot interval until the available resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found, or until the first K1' slot position is reached, wherein the first slot interval is a slot position corresponding to when K1 is equal to 1 (It is obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that resource search from K1’ slot on the candidate secondary carrier, K1’=K1=1).
Slot 1
Slot 2
Pcell SCS=15 KHz
Slot 1
Slot 2
SCell SCS=15 KHz
Regarding Claim 8, Li-Lee-Bagheri teaches, the method according to claim 6, wherein a SCS of the candidate secondary carrier is greater than a SCS of the primary carrier, the K1' slot position comprises a second K1' slot position and a third K1' slot position, a value of the second K1' slot position is equal to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier/the SCS of the primary carrier * (K1-1)+1, and a value of the third K1' slot position is equal to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier/the SCS of the primary carrier/*K1 (It is obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that PCell has SCS of 15 KHz, and SCell has SCS of 30 KHz);
performing resource search based on the K1' slot position to search for the available resource on the candidate secondary carrier comprises: searching sequentially from the second K1' slot position until the available resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found, or until the third K1' slot position is reached (It is obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that resource search starting from the K1’).
Slot 1
Slot 2
Pcell SCS=15 KHz
Slot 1
Slot 2
Slot 3
Slot 4
SCell SCS=30 KHz
Regarding Claim 9, Li-Lee-Bagheri teaches, the method according to claim 6, wherein a SCS of the candidate secondary carrier is smaller than a SCS of the primary carrier, the K1' slot position comprises a fourth K1' slot position, a value of the fourth K1' slot position is equal to upward rounding of (the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier/the SCS of the primary carrier *K1) (It is obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that PCell has SCS of 60 KHz, and SCell has SCS of 15 KH);
performing resource search based on the K1' slot position to search for the available resource on the candidate secondary carrier comprises: searching sequentially from a first symbol position of the fourth K1' slot position until the available resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found and determined, or until a last symbol position of the fourth K1' slot position is reached (It is obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that resource search starting from the K1’).
Slot 1
Slot 2
Slot 3
Slot 4
Slot 5
Slot 6
Slot 7
Slot 8
Pcell SCS=60 KHz
Slot 1
Slot 2
SCell SCS=15 KHz
Regarding Claim 13, Li-Lee teaches, the apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the selection strategy comprises at least one of: a first selection strategy; a second selection strategy; or a third selection strategy (Li, [0084-86]: the selection is based on the calculated priorities); but not expressly teaches wherein the first selection strategy comprises: selecting a first secondary carrier with a same subcarrier spacing (SCS) as a primary carrier as the candidate secondary carrier;
the second selection strategy comprises: selecting a second secondary carrier using a symmetrical frequency spectrum as the candidate secondary carrier; and
the third selection strategy comprises: selecting a third secondary carrier in a descending order of SCS among secondary carriers using an asymmetric spectrum, as the candidate secondary carrier.
Bagheri teaches
not expressly teaches
wherein the first selection strategy comprises: selecting a first secondary carrier with a same subcarrier spacing (SCS) as a primary carrier as the candidate secondary carrier (Bagheri, [0059]: primary cell (PCell) and SCell scheduling a PCell (SCell-P) have the same SCS).
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement the “subcarrier spacing (SCS)” of Bagheri into the invention of Li-Lee. The suggestion/motivation would have been enable the SCell to more easily communicate with a UE and the PCell using the same SCS (Bagheri, [0081]). Including the “subcarrier spacing” of Bagheri into the invention of Li-Lee was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Bagheri.
Regarding Claim 16, Li-Lee-Bagheri teaches, the apparatus according to claim 13, wherein a priority of the first selection strategy is higher than a priority of the second selection strategy (Li, [0084-85]: the selection priority is the sorted calculated priorities which is derived from CQI).
Regarding Claim 17, Li-Lee teaches, the apparatus according to claim 12, but not expressly teaches wherein the processor is further configured to:
perform a resource search based on a K1' slot position, and search for an available resource on the candidate secondary carrier; wherein the K1' slot position is a slot position corresponding to a K1 slot position of a primary carrier on the candidate secondary carrier.
Bagheri teaches (Bagheri, [0069]: the UE may receive candidates for both PCell and SCell-P in the same search space.FIG.5, [0082]: The SCell-P 504 may receive DCI 506 indicating K0min in slot n ('K1’ slot’), and the PCell 502 may update K0_min in slot m+4 (“slot K1”) in response to receiving first allowed DCI 508 indicating an update to K0_min after the DCI 506 in slot n).
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement the “subcarrier spacing (SCS)” of Bagheri into the invention of Li-Lee. The suggestion/motivation would have been enable the SCell to more easily communicate with a UE and the PCell using the same SCS (Bagheri, [0081]). Including the “subcarrier spacing” of Bagheri into the invention of Li-Lee was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Bagheri.
Regarding Claim 18, Li-Lee-Bagheri teaches, the apparatus according to claim 17, wherein in a SCS of the candidate secondary carrier is equal to a SCS of the primary carrier, the K1' slot position comprises a first K1' slot position, and the first K1' slot position is equal to the K1 slot position (Bagheri, [0059]: primary cell (PCell) and SCell scheduling a PCell (SCell-P) have the same SCS); and
the processor is further configured to search sequentially from a first slot interval until the available resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found, or until the first K1' slot position is reached, wherein the first slot interval is a slot position when K1 is equal to 1 (It is obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that resource search from K1’ slot on the candidate secondary carrier, K1’=K1=1).
Slot 1
Slot 2
Pcell SCS=15 KHz
Slot 1
Slot 2
SCell SCS=15 KHz
Regarding Claim 19, Li-Lee-Bagheri teaches, the apparatus according to claim 17, wherein in a SCS of the candidate secondary carrier is greater than a SCS of the primary carrier, the K1' slot position comprises a second K1' slot position and a third K1' slot position, a value of the second K1' slot position is equal to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier/the SCS of the primary carrier *(K1-1)+1, and a value of the third K1' slot position is equal to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier/the SCS of the primary carrier/*K1 (It is obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that PCell has SCS of 15 KHz, and SCell has SCS of 30 KHz); and
the processor is further configured to search sequentially from the second K1' slot position until the available resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found, or until the third K1' slot position is reached (It is obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that resource search starting from the K1’).
Slot 1
Slot 2
Pcell SCS=15 KHz
Slot 1
Slot 2
Slot 3
Slot 4
SCell SCS=30 KHz
Regarding Claim 20, Li-Lee-Bagheri teaches, the apparatus according to claim 17, wherein in a SCS of the candidate secondary carrier is smaller than a SCS of the primary carrier, the K1' slot position comprises a fourth K1' slot position, a value of the fourth K1' slot position is equal to upward rounding of (the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier/the SCS of the primary carrier *K1) (It is obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that PCell has SCS of 60 KHz, and SCell has SCS of 15 KHz); and
the processor is further configured to search sequentially from a first symbol position of the fourth K1' slot position until the available resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found and determined, or until a last symbol position of the fourth K1' slot position is reached (It is obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that resource search starting from the K1’).
Slot 1
Slot 2
Slot 3
Slot 4
Slot 5
Slot 6
Slot 7
Slot 8
Pcell SCS=60 KHz
Slot 1
Slot 2
SCell SCS=15 KHz
Regarding Claim 26, Li-Lee-Bagheri teaches, the method according to claim 2, wherein a priority of the second selection strategy is higher than a priority of the third selection strategy (Li, [0084-8]: the selection priority is the sorting calculated priorities which is derived from CQI).
Regarding Claim 27, Li-Zhang teaches, the apparatus according to claim 13, wherein a priority of the second selection strategy is higher than a priority of the third selection strategy (Li, [0084-8]: the selection priority is the sorting calculated priorities which is derived from CQI).
Conclusion
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Tang, US 2020/0337008 A1, Method for transmitting signal to terminal device in long term evolution system, involves determining signal transmission mode on carrier and sending information to terminal device according to transmission mode and on carrier.
Kim et al., US 2021/0392627 A1, Terminal method for transmitting and receiving down-link control information in a wireless communication system, involves receiving control information from a base station, and the CRC of control information is scrambled with CS-RNTI.
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be directed to CHHIAN (AMY) LING whose telephone number is (571)270-1074. The examiner can
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/C.L/Examiner, Art Unit 2446
/MICHAEL A KELLER/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2446