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 .
This Office Action is a response to communications dated 01/26/2024. Claims 1-30 are pending in the application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 01/26/2024 complies with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609. It has been considered and placed in the application file.
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.
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.
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.
Claims 1-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as anticipated by Zhang et al. (US 12,335,194) (hereinafter “Zhang”) or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Zhang in view of Wang et al. (US 11,558,833) (hereinafter “Wang”).
Regarding claim 1, in accordance with Zhang reference entirety, Zhang discloses a user equipment (UE) (FIG. 2l 204) for wireless communication (FIG. 2 and col. 9, lines 12-13: “… wireless communication system 200 for transmitting and receiving wireless communication signals … . .”), comprising: one or more memories (FIG. 2; UE MEMORY MODULE 234 and col. 9, line 33); and one or more processors (FIG. 2; UE PROCESSOR MODULE 236 and col. 9, line 33), coupled to (see FIG. 2 for connection details) the one or more memories (FIG. 2; UE MEMORY MODULE 234), configured to:
receive a first allocation (a set of resources scheduled for a second defined communication), for reception of a downlink communication (PDSCH) via a first cell (serving cell 305A) (col. 6, lines 12-20: “… the second defined communication may include a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) … .”), that is configured to be spaced by an amount of time (a set of symbols or slots) (col. 6, lines 34-43: “the wireless communication device may perform only one of the plurality of downlink receptions within the reception timing window … include a set of symbols or slots … .”) from a second allocation (a set of resources scheduled for a second defined communication) for reception of a synchronization signal block (SSB) (col, 6, lines 3-11: “… the first defined communication may include a SS/PBCH block (SSB) … .”) for a second cell (non-serving cell 305B) (Abstract: “A wireless communication device may receive, from a wireless communication node, an indication that a set of resources is scheduled for a first defined communication and a second defined communication.” Or FIG. 8; block 805 and col. 25, lines 52-55: “… a wireless communication device (e.g., UE 104 or 315) may … receive an indication of a set of resources scheduled for a first defined communication and a second defined communication (805) … .” Moreover col. 26, lines 14-58, it is further disclosed and equated the first defined communication is corresponding to PDSCH and the second defined communication is corresponding to SSB as claimed. Also see FIG. 7 and corresponding description in col. 21, lines 19-43 and thereinafter, describes wireless communication device (UE 104 or 315) in communication with serving cell 305A and non-serving cell 305B); and
receive the downlink communication using resources of the first allocation (col. 27, lines 39-41: “the wireless device may determine to perform only the second define communication in accordance with the scheduled set of resources) and
receiving the SSB using resources of the second allocation (col. 27, lines 34-37: “the wireless device may determine to perform only the first defined communication in accordance with the schedule set of resources) (Note: the claim limitation of receiving the downlink communication using resources of the first allocation and the receiving of the SSB using the resources of the second allocation are not happening simultaneously or at the same time. Therefore, the interpretation of Zhang’s teaching to read on the claim limitation in the manner as proposed is just.).
For argument’s sake, let’s say that Zhang fails to explicitly teach the claim limitations of a first allocation for reception of a downlink communication that is configured to be spaced by an amount of time form a second allocation for reception of SSB. Nevertheless, such limitation lacks thereof from Zhang’s teaching is well-known in the art and taught by Wang.
In an analogous art in the same field of endeavor, Wang teaches a method for transmitting a synchronization signal (Wang; Abstract and thereinafter) comprising, among other things, the limitations of a first allocation for reception of a downlink communication that is configured to be spaced by an amount of time (window) form a second allocation for reception of SSB (Wang; col. 4, line 66 to col. 5, line 7: “… acquiring SSB resource indication information in the window any one of a cell … scheduling of a PDCCH of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); avoiding a position of the SSB resource according to the SSB resource indication information, to receive any downlink signal or downlink physical channel except the SSB in the window … while receiving the SSB in the window, determining the index of a slot or subframe where the SSB is, according to a predefined SSB pattern and a position of on SSB set in the predefined SSB pattern indicated by a base station … a predefined SSB pattern and a position of the SSB in the predefined SSB pattern indicated by a base station.” Moreover; col. 2, line2 30-34: "Preferably, in time domain, one window contains a number of candidate positions; the transmitting of the SSB in the window comprises: transmitting one SSB set in one window consecutively in time domain, wherein each SSB is transmitted on one corresponding candidate position.").
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention. A motivation for doing so would be to overcome the efficiency of the prior art in providing a method and equipment for transmitting a synchronization signal with a desirable efficiency of data transmission.” (Wang; col. 2, lines 14-18).
Regarding claim 2, in addition to features recited in base claim 1 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of
wherein the amount of time is based at least in part on a communication protocol or configuration information (system information or high-level signaling) (Wang; col. 3, lines 1-4 and thereinafter: "Preferably, the base station may indicate whether the one SSB candidate-position set in one SMTC or an SSB transmission window is determined according to Le or L, by system information or high-level signaling.").
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 3, in addition to features recited in base claim 1 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein the amount of time is based at least in part on a subcarrier spacing (subcarrier interval) of the downlink communication (Wang; col. 14, lines 28-45: “… when a subcarrier interval is 15 KHz, one SSB set may contain at most L SSBs … the period is 40 ms.”).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 4, in addition to features recited in base claim 1 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of
wherein the second allocation for reception of the SSB is associated with a guard window, during which a base station of the first cell is configured not to transmit (avoided by) the downlink communication, that extends for a first number of symbols before a scheduled transmission of the SSB and for a second number of symbols after the scheduled transmission of the SSB (Wang; col. 36, line 48 to col. 37, line 3: "For the PDSCH transmitted in the SMTC window or the SSB transmission window, such as the RMSI or a normal PDSCH, if a part of resources thereof do not overlap with the SSB, which may be transmitted, in the time or frequency domain resources, the mapping of this part of resources may ignore the impact of the SSB; otherwise, the time-frequency resources, on which the UE cannot receive any downlink signal or downlink physical channel except the SSB, may be determined according to at least one of the following methods. For example, when the PDSCH in the SMTC is to be received, it is necessary to determine the position of these resources avoided by the PDSCH and to determine the rate matching or puncturing information for the PDSCH. As another example, when other periodic reference signal or semi-persistant reference signal in the SMTC is to be received, it is necessary to determine the position of the resources avoided by the reference signal, so as to correctly receive the reference signal. The specific methods will be described below by taking the reception of the PDSCH for example, but also applicable to the reception of other reference signals or physical channels (e.g., PDCCH) in the SMTC.").
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 5, in addition to features recited in base claim 4 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein one or more of the first number of symbols or the second number of symbols is based at least in part on a difference in reception timings (SMTC), at the UE, associated with the first cell and the second cell (Wang; col. 7, lines 19-21 and lines 60-61; and col. 8, lines 29-60, “predefined window is an SS measurement timing configuration (SMTC) or an SSB transmission window” is discussed.).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 6, in addition to features recited in base claim 5 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein the difference in the reception timings at the UE is unknown before reception of the SSB (Wang; col. 7, lines 60-63: “Preferably, the base station may indicate whether the one SSB candidate-position set in one SMTC or an SSB transmission window is determined according to Le or L, by system information or high-level signaling.”).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 7, in accordance with Zhang reference entirety, Zhang discloses a user equipment (UE) (FIG. 2; 204) for wireless communication (FIG. 2), comprising: a one or more memories (FIG. 2; 234); and one or more processors (FIG. 2; 236), coupled to (see FIG. 2 for connection details) the one or more memories (FIG. 2; 234), configured to:
receive a first allocation (a set of resources scheduled for a second defined communication), for reception of a downlink communication (PDSCH) via a first cell (serving cell 305A) (col. 6, lines 12-20: “… the second defined communication may include a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) … .”), that overlaps with (col. 5, lines 58-67: “the wireless communication device may … determine that the second communication would overlap with the first defined communication in at least part of the set of resources … .”) a second allocation (a set of resources scheduled for a second defined communication) for reception of a synchronization signal block (SSB) (col, 6, lines 3-11: “… the first defined communication may include a SS/PBCH block (SSB) … .”) for a second cell (non-serving cell 305B) (Abstract: “A wireless communication device may receive, from a wireless communication node, an indication that a set of resources is scheduled for a first defined communication and a second defined communication.” Or FIG. 8; block 805 and col. 25, lines 52-55: “… a wireless communication device (e.g., UE 104 or 315) may … receive an indication of a set of resources scheduled for a first defined communication and a second defined communication (805) … .” Moreover col. 26, lines 14-58, it is further disclosed and equated the first defined communication is corresponding to PDSCH and the second defined communication is corresponding to SSB as claimed. Also see FIG. 7 and corresponding description in col. 21, lines 19-43 and thereinafter, describes wireless communication device (UE 104 or 315) in communication with serving cell 305A and non-serving cell 305B.);
receive the downlink communication during non-overlapping resources and
receiving the SSB during the overlapping resources (col. 27, lines 21-41: “the wireless communication device may determine that the first defined communication overlaps with the second defined communication in at least part of the set of resources. When the second defined communication is determined to overlap with the first defined communication, the wireless communication device may determine to perform only the first defined communication in accordance with the scheduled set of resources. On the other hand, when the first defined communication is determined to overlap with the second defined communication, the wireless communication device may determine to perform only the second defined communication in accordance with the scheduled set of resources. The wireless communication device may carry out or otherwise perform one of the first defined communication or the second defined communication in accordance to/with the determination (815).") (Note: there appears to be no specific definition in the claim that the claim limitation of receive the downlink communication during non-overlapping resources and receiving the SSB during overlapping resources shall happen simultaneously. Therefore, the interpretation of Zhang’s teaching to read on the claim limitation in the manner as proposed is just and proper.).
For argument’s sake, let’s say that Zhang fails to explicitly teach the claim limitations of receive the downlink communication during non-overlapping resources and receiving the SSB during overlapping resources. Nevertheless, such limitation lacks thereof from Zhang’s teaching is well-known in the art and taught by Wang.
In an analogous art in the same field of endeavor, Wang teaches a method for transmitting a synchronization signal (Wang; Abstract and thereinafter) comprising, among other things, the limitations of receive the downlink communication during non-overlapping resources and receiving the SSB during overlapping resources (Wang; col. 4, line 66 to col. 5, line 7: “… acquiring SSB resource indication information in the window any one of a cell … scheduling of a PDCCH of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); avoiding a position of the SSB resource according to the SSB resource indication information, to receive any downlink signal or downlink physical channel except the SSB in the window … while receiving the SSB in the window, determining the index of a slot or subframe where the SSB is, according to a predefined SSB pattern and a position of on SSB set in the predefined SSB pattern indicated by a base station … a predefined SSB pattern and a position of the SSB in the predefined SSB pattern indicated by a base station.” Moreover; col. 2, line2 30-34: "Preferably, in time domain, one window contains a number of candidate positions; the transmitting of the SSB in the window comprises: transmitting one SSB set in one window consecutively in time domain, wherein each SSB is transmitted on one corresponding candidate position.").
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention. A motivation for doing so would be to overcome the efficiency of the prior art in providing a method and equipment for transmitting a synchronization signal with a desirable efficiency of data transmission.” (Wang; col. 2, lines 14-18).
Regarding claim 8, in addition to features recited in base claim 7 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of
wherein the first allocation overlaps with the second allocation and a guard window that extends for a first number of symbols before a scheduled transmission of the SSB and for a second number of symbols after the scheduled transmission of the SSB (Wang; col. 3, lines 1-4; SMTC or an SSB transmission window is discussed), and wherein the one or more processors, to receive the downlink communication during the non-overlapping resources, are configured to receive the downlink communication during the non-overlapping resources that are outside of the guard window (Wang; col. 3, lines 5-67; window contains a number of candidate-position sets which partially overlap or do not overlap contained SSB set expected to be transmitted by the base station are discussed).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 9, in addition to features recited in base claim 8 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of
wherein one or more of the first number of symbols or the second number of symbols is based at least in part on a difference in reception timings (SMTC), at the UE, associated with the first cell and the second cell (Wang; col. 7, lines 19-21 and lines 60-61; and col. 8, lines 29-60, “predefined window is an SS measurement timing configuration (SMTC) or an SSB transmission window” is discussed.).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 10, in addition to features recited in base claim 9 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein the difference in the reception timings at the UE is unknown before reception of the SSB (Wang; col. 7, lines 60-63: “Preferably, the base station may indicate whether the one SSB candidate-position set in one SMTC or an SSB transmission window is determined according to Le or L, by system information or high-level signaling.” Moreover; col. 29, line 47 to col. 30, line 14, and thereinafter, start point of the SMTC is discussed to include “… only the resources for the SSBs in the SMTC corresponding to the SSBs in the SSB transmission window may be regarded as the SSB candidate positions. The resources outside the SSB transmission window and the SMTC window are not the SSB candidate positions … latter half of an SF.” Such discussed is equated to correspond to the claim limitation.).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 11, in addition to features recited in base claim 8 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein one or more of the first number of symbols or the second number of symbols is based at least in part on a subcarrier spacing associated with the first cell (Wang; col. 14, lines 28-45: “… when a subcarrier interval is 15 KHz, one SSB set may contain at most L SSBs … the period is 40 ms.”).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 12, in addition to features recited in base claim 7 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein the one or more processors, to receive the SSB during the overlapping resources, are configured to: receive the SSB during the overlapping resources within an SSB measurement timing configuration window, or receive the SSB during the overlapping resources outside of the SSB measurement timing configuration window (Wang; col. 4, line 66 to col. 5, line 7: “… acquiring SSB resource indication information in the window any one of a cell … scheduling of a PDCCH of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); avoiding a position of the SSB resource according to the SSB resource indication information, to receive any downlink signal or downlink physical channel except the SSB in the window … while receiving the SSB in the window, determining the index of a slot or subframe where the SSB is, according to a predefined SSB pattern and a position of on SSB set in the predefined SSB pattern indicated by a base station … a predefined SSB pattern and a position of the SSB in the predefined SSB pattern indicated by a base station.” Moreover; col. 2, line2 30-34: "Preferably, in time domain, one window contains a number of candidate positions; the transmitting of the SSB in the window comprises: transmitting one SSB set in one window consecutively in time domain, wherein each SSB is transmitted on one corresponding candidate position.").
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 13, in addition to features recited in base claim 7 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein the one or more processors, to receive the downlink communication during the non-overlapping resources, are configured to: receive the downlink communication during the non-overlapping resources based at least in part on rate matching the non-overlapping resources (Wang; col. 36, line 49 to col. 37, line 3: " For the PDSCH transmitted in the SMTC window or the SSB transmission window, such as the RMSI or a normal PDSCH, if a part of resources thereof do not overlap with the SSB, which may be transmitted, in the time or frequency domain resources, the mapping of this part of resources may ignore the impact of the SSB; otherwise, the time-frequency resources, on which the UE cannot receive any downlink signal or downlink physical channel except the SSB, may be determined according to at least one of the following methods. For example, when the PDSCH in the SMTC is to be received, it is necessary to determine the position of these resources avoided by the PDSCH and to determine the rate matching or puncturing information for the PDSCH. As another example, when other periodic reference signal or semi-persistant reference signal in the SMTC is to be received, it is necessary to determine the position of the resources avoided by the reference signal, so as to correctly receive the reference signal. The specific methods will be described below by taking the reception of the PDSCH for example, but also applicable to the reception of other reference signals or physical channels (e.g., PDCCH) in the SMTC.").
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 14, in accordance with Zhang reference entirety, Zhang discloses a user equipment (UE) (FIG. 2; 204) for wireless communication (FIG. 2), comprising: a one or more memories (FIG. 2; 234); and one or more processors (FIG. 2; 236), coupled to (see FIG. 2 for connection details) the one or more memories (FIG. 2; 234), configured to:
transmit an indication of a capability to receive one or more SSBs, from one or more non-serving cells (non-serving cell 305B), on resources that overlap with a downlink communication from a serving cell (serving cell 305A) (col. 25, lines 52-56: “a wireless communication device (e.g., UE 104 or 315) may identify, retrieve, or otherwise receive an indication of a set of resources scheduled for a first defined communication and a second defined communication.” Moreover; col. 27, lines 21-24: “… the wireless communication device may identify or determine whether the first defined communication and the second defined communication overlap.”); and
receive, based at least in part on the indication, a first allocation for reception of the downlink communication from the serving cell that overlaps with a second allocation for reception of an SSB for a non-serving cell (Moreover; Abstract: “A wireless communication device may receive, from a wireless communication node, an indication that a set of resources is scheduled for a first defined communication and a second defined communication.” Or FIG. 8; block 805 and col. 25, lines 52-55: “… a wireless communication device (e.g., UE 104 or 315) may … receive an indication of a set of resources scheduled for a first defined communication and a second defined communication (805) … .” Moreover col. 26, lines 14-58, it is further disclosed and equated the first defined communication is corresponding to PDSCH and the second defined communication is corresponding to SSB as claimed. Also see FIG. 7 and corresponding description in col. 21, lines 19-43 and thereinafter, describes wireless communication device (UE 104 or 315) in communication with serving cell 305A and non-serving cell 305B. Furthermore; col. 27, lines 21-41: “the wireless communication device may determine that the first defined communication overlaps with the second defined communication in at least part of the set of resources. When the second defined communication is determined to overlap with the first defined communication, the wireless communication device may determine to perform only the first defined communication in accordance with the scheduled set of resources. On the other hand, when the first defined communication is determined to overlap with the second defined communication, the wireless communication device may determine to perform only the second defined communication in accordance with the scheduled set of resources. The wireless communication device may carry out or otherwise perform one of the first defined communication or the second defined communication in accordance to/with the determination (815).") (Note: there appears to be no specific definition in the claim that the claim limitation of receive, based at least in part on the indication, a first allocation for reception of the downlink communication from the serving cell that overlaps with a second allocation for reception of an SSB for a non-serving cell.shall happen simultaneously. Therefore, the interpretation of Zhang’s teaching to read on the claim limitation in the manner as proposed is just and proper.).
For argument’s sake, let’s say that Zhang fails to explicitly teach the claim limitations of receive, based at least in part on the indication, a first allocation for reception of the downlink communication from the serving cell that overlaps with a second allocation for reception of an SSB for a non-serving cell.. Nevertheless, such limitation lacks thereof from Zhang’s teaching is well-known in the art and taught by Wang.
In an analogous art in the same field of endeavor, Wang teaches a method for transmitting a synchronization signal (Wang; Abstract and thereinafter) comprising, among other things, the limitations of receive, based at least in part on the indication, a first allocation for reception of the downlink communication from the serving cell that overlaps with a second allocation for reception of an SSB for a non-serving cell. (Wang; col. 4, line 66 to col. 5, line 7: “… acquiring SSB resource indication information in the window any one of a cell … scheduling of a PDCCH of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); avoiding a position of the SSB resource according to the SSB resource indication information, to receive any downlink signal or downlink physical channel except the SSB in the window … while receiving the SSB in the window, determining the index of a slot or subframe where the SSB is, according to a predefined SSB pattern and a position of on SSB set in the predefined SSB pattern indicated by a base station … a predefined SSB pattern and a position of the SSB in the predefined SSB pattern indicated by a base station.” Moreover; col. 2, line2 30-34: "Preferably, in time domain, one window contains a number of candidate positions; the transmitting of the SSB in the window comprises: transmitting one SSB set in one window consecutively in time domain, wherein each SSB is transmitted on one corresponding candidate position.").
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention. A motivation for doing so would be to overcome the efficiency of the prior art in providing a method and equipment for transmitting a synchronization signal with a desirable efficiency of data transmission.” (Wang; col. 2, lines 14-18).
Regarding claim 15, in addition to features recited in base claim 14 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
receive the downlink communication via a first set of resources of the first allocation; and receive the SSB via a second set of resources, that overlap (partially overlap) with at least a portion of the first set of resources, of the first allocation (Wang; col. 3, lines 1-35 and thereinafter, the candidate-position sets contained in one window partially overlap with each other is also discussed and equated to correspond to the claim limitations.)
. Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 16, in addition to features recited in base claim 14 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
receive the downlink communication via a first set of resources of the first allocation; and receive the SSB and an additional SSB via a second set of resources, that are overlapping with the first set of resources, of the first allocation (Wang; col. 3, lines 1-35 and thereinafter, the candidate-position sets contained in one window partially overlap with each other is also discussed and equated to correspond to the claim limitations.).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 17, in addition to features recited in base claim 16 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein the one or more processors, to receive the downlink communication via the first set of resources of the first allocation, are configured to:
receive the downlink communication during the first set of resources based at least in part on rate matching the first set of resources (Wang; col. 36, lines 49-61 and thereinafter, ratch matching is also discussed).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 18, in addition to features recited in base claim 16 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein the first allocation comprises: the first set of resources,
the second set of resources, and a guard window that extends for a first number of symbols before a scheduled transmission of an earlier of the SSB and the additional SSB, and for a second number of symbols after a scheduled transmission of a later of the SSB and the additional SSB, wherein the first set of resources are outside of the guard window (Wang; col. 29, line 47 to col. 30, line 14, and thereinafter, start point of the SMTC is discussed to include “The resources outside the SSB transmission window and the SMTC window are not the SSB candidate positions … latter half of an SF.” Such discussed is equated to correspond to the claim limitation.).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 19, in addition to features recited in base claim 18 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein one or more of the first number of symbols or the second number of symbols is based at least in part on a difference in reception timings (SMTC), at the UE, associated with the serving cell and the non-serving cell (Wang; col. 29, line 47 to col. 30, line 14, and thereinafter, start point of the SMTC is discussed to include “… only the resources for the SSBs in the SMTC corresponding to the SSBs in the SSB transmission window may be regarded as the SSB candidate positions. The resources outside the SSB transmission window and the SMTC window are not the SSB candidate positions … latter half of an SF.” Such discussed is equated to correspond to the claim limitation.).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 20, in addition to features recited in base claim 19 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein the difference in the reception timings (SMTC) at the UE is unknown before reception of the SSB (Wang; col. 7, lines 60-63: “Preferably, the base station may indicate whether the one SSB candidate-position set in one SMTC or an SSB transmission window is determined according to Le or L, by system information or high-level signaling.” Moreover; col. 29, line 47 to col. 30, line 14, and thereinafter, start point of the SMTC is discussed to include “… only the resources for the SSBs in the SMTC corresponding to the SSBs in the SSB transmission window may be regarded as the SSB candidate positions. The resources outside the SSB transmission window and the SMTC window are not the SSB candidate positions … latter half of an SF.” Such discussed is equated to correspond to the claim limitation.).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 21, in addition to features recited in base claim 18 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein one or more of the first number of symbols or the second number of symbols is based at least in part on a subcarrier spacing associated with the serving cell (Wang; col. 14, lines 28-45: “… when a subcarrier interval is 15 KHz, one SSB set may contain at most L SSBs … the period is 40 ms.”).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 22, in addition to features recited in base claim 14 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein the one or more processors, to receive the SSB, are configured to: receive the SSB within an SSB measurement timing configuration window, or receive the SSB outside of the SSB measurement timing configuration window (Wang; col. 2, lines 27-29 and thereinafter; SMTC or an SSB transmission window is discussed).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 23, in addition to features recited in base claim 14 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein the capability to receive the one or more SSBs on resources that overlap with the downlink communication from the serving cell is based at least in part on one or more of: components of the UE, power resources of the UE, or
channel conditions of the UE (Zhang; col. 27, line 8 to col. 28, line 15: “… the determination of the overlap may be based on resource elements … the wireless communication device may perform one (e.g., only one) of the set of downlink receptions within the reception time window … via the subset of downlink reception.” Note: the claim is drafted in an alternative format not requiring all recitations but one of the recitations).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 24, in addition to features recited in base claim 14 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the indication of the capability to receive the one or more SSBs on resources that overlap with the downlink communication from the serving cell, are configured to: transmit the indication via radio resource control signaling, or transmit the indication via dynamic signaling (Zhang; col. 2, line 49-59: “.. radio resource control (RRC) signaling … may be associated with the PDSCH.” Or Wang; col. 13, lines 34-36: “… The UE in the RRC connection state may determine the SMTC according to the RRC signaling of the base station …. .”).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 25, in addition to features recited in base claim 14 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein the indication of the capability to receive the one or more SSBs on resources that overlap with the downlink communication from the serving cell comprises: an indication of a number of SSBs having different physical cell identifications (PCIs) that the UE is capable of receiving simultaneously on resources that overlap with the downlink communication from the serving cell (Zhang; col. 19, lines 19-25: “In some embodiments, for the set of (one or more) symbols or slots configured or indicated to the UE as a downlink reception related or associated to the one PCI, the UE may not perform an uplink transmission related or associated to the other PCI, when the uplink transmission overlaps with the set of symbols or slots … .”).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
Regarding claim 26, in addition to features recited in base claim 25 (see rationales discussed above), Zhang in view of Wang also render obvious the claim limitations of wherein the indication of the number of SSBs having different PCIs that the UE is capable to receive simultaneously on resources that overlap with the downlink communication from the serving cell comprises one or more indications of:
a number of SSBs, that the UE is capable to receive, having different PCIs and having reception timing differences that are less than a cyclic prefix (CP) associated with the serving cell, a number of SSBs, that the UE is capable to receive, having different PCIs and having reception timing differences that are greater than a cyclic prefix associated with the serving cell, or a number of SSBs, that the UE is capable to receive, having different PCIs and having reception timing differences from a serving cell SSB that are less than a reception timing difference threshold (Zhang; col. 20,lnes 29-41: "UE may be scheduled to perform multiple downlink receptions by one reception timing window. The UE may perform a set of the multiple downlink receptions within the reception timing window. When the UE receives multiple downlink signals in a same reception timing window simultaneously, the timing misalignment between the received signals may fall within the cyclic prefix (CP). For the case of multi-TRP operation, when the largest time difference between any of multiple downlink transmissions exceeds the CP, only one downlink transmission can be received within the reception timing window due to the UE's capability. These and other issues may be addressed in the following manner.” Note: the claim is drafted in an alternative format not requiring all recitations but one of the recitations).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Wang’s teaching into Zhang’s method to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as previously stated.
As pre claims 27-30, the claims appear to call for a method having limitations variously and essentially mirrored functional limitations of apparatus claims 1, 8, 12, and 13, respectively. Thus, they are deemed obvious over Zhang in view of Wang for the same rationales applied to apparatus claims 1, 8, 12, and 13 as above discussed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Noh et al. (US 2023/0224891).
Khoshnevisan et al. (US 2022/0369250).
Khoshnevisan et al. (US 2022/0007342).
Zhou et al. (US 2021/0328710).
Akkarakaran et al. (US 2020/0154449).
John Wilson et al. (US 2019/0261252).
Wang et al. (US 2021/0258065).
Chen et al. (US 2022/0322252).
Takeda et al. (US 2022/0322372).
Zhang et al. (US 2025/0063562).
Zhang et al. (US 2023/0132666).
Zhang et al. (US 2022/0322381).
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/FRANK DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474 February 3, 2026