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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 02/09/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 2023/0300766) in view of Awad (US 2023/0232355) and Choi (US 11,832,203).
Lin discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 1, a method of wireless communication, comprising: receiving, by the network node from the wireless device, a request for reference time information, wherein the request is included in a UE Assistance Information message (see step 3 in Fig. 6, wherein the UE sends a Timing Advance Request to the gNB, wherein the Timing Advance Request is considered as a UE Assistance Information message that requests the timing advance assisting the UE for delay compensation to be performed in step 5 of Fig. 6); and in response to receiving the request, transmitting, by the network node to the wireless device, a value based on the propagation delay and an indication whether to perform a propagation delay compensation operation (see “Step 4: After receiving timing advance request message, the gNB transmits Timing Advance Command MAC CE to the UE to update timing advance for the UE. The Timing Advance Command MAC CE may include at least one of timing advance (or enhanced timing advance) and propagation delay compensation indication. It is noted that only one of RRC-based PropagationDelayCompensationDedicated-r16 and MAC-based propagation delay compensation indication may be used for informing the UE whether to perform PDC” recited in paragraph [0068]).
Regarding claim 2, wherein the value is a timing advance value, and wherein the timing advance value enables the wireless device to perform propagation delay compensation operation based on the timing advance value (see steps 4-5 in Fig. 6, wherein the UE obtains the timing advance and performs propagation delay compensation accordingly).
Regarding claim 3, wherein the indication whether to perform the propagation delay compensation operation is transmitted through a downlink information transfer message (see paragraph [0068] and step 4 of Fig. 6, wherein the UE receives the propagation delay compensation indication in a downlink MAC CE).
Regarding claim 4, wherein the value based on the propagation delay is included in a MAC CE (see paragraph [0068] and step 4 of Fig. 6, wherein the UE receives the timing advance value in a downlink MAC CE).
Regarding claim 5, wherein the network node is a gNB and the wireless device is a UE (see UE and gNB in Fig. 6).
Regarding claim 6, a method of wireless communication, comprising: transmitting, by a wireless device to a network node, a request for reference time information, wherein the request is included in a UE Assistance Information message (see step 3 in Fig. 6, wherein the UE sends a Timing Advance Request to the gNB, wherein the Timing Advance Request is considered as a UE Assistance Information message that requests the timing advance assisting the UE for delay compensation to be performed in step 5 of Fig. 6); in response to transmitting the request, receiving, by the wireless device from the network node, a value based on a propagation delay of a wireless channel between the network node and the wireless device (see “Step 4: After receiving timing advance request message, the gNB transmits Timing Advance Command MAC CE to the UE to update timing advance for the UE. The Timing Advance Command MAC CE may include at least one of timing advance (or enhanced timing advance) and propagation delay compensation indication. It is noted that only one of RRC-based PropagationDelayCompensationDedicated-r16 and MAC-based propagation delay compensation indication may be used for informing the UE whether to perform PDC” recited in paragraph [0068]); receiving an indication whether to perform a propagation delay compensation operation (see “the gNB transmits Timing Advance Command MAC CE to the UE to update timing advance for the UE. The Timing Advance Command MAC CE may include at least one of timing advance (or enhanced timing advance) and propagation delay compensation indication” recited in paragraph [0068]); and performing, based on the value of the propagation delay, the propagation delay compensation operation (see steps 4-5 in Fig. 6, wherein the UE obtains the timing advance and performs propagation delay compensation accordingly).
Regarding claim 7, wherein the value is a timing advance value, and wherein the timing advance value enables the wireless device to perform propagation delay compensation operation based on the timing advance value (see steps 4-5 in Fig. 6, wherein the UE obtains the timing advance and performs propagation delay compensation accordingly).
Regarding claim 8, wherein the indication whether to perform the propagation delay compensation operation is transmitted through a downlink information transfer message (see paragraph [0068] and step 4 of Fig. 6, wherein the UE receives the propagation delay compensation indication in a downlink MAC CE).
Regarding claim 9, wherein the value based on the propagation delay is included in a MAC CE (see paragraph [0068] and step 4 of Fig. 6, wherein the UE receives the timing advance value in a downlink MAC CE).
Regarding claim 10, wherein the network node is a gNB and the wireless device is a UE (see UE and gNB in Fig. 6).
Regarding claim 11, an apparatus for wireless communication comprising a processor and a memory (see gNB in Fig. 6 and base station 200a in Fig. 2 including processor 201a and memory 202a) storing instructions, execution of which by the processor causes the apparatus to: receive, from the wireless device, a request for reference time information, wherein the request is included in a UE Assistance Information message (see step 3 in Fig. 6, wherein the UE sends a Timing Advance Request to the gNB, wherein the Timing Advance Request is considered as a UE Assistance Information message that requests the timing advance assisting the UE for delay compensation to be performed in step 5 of Fig. 6); and in response to receiving the request, transmit, to the wireless device, a value based on the propagation delay and an indication whether to perform a propagation delay compensation operation (see “Step 4: After receiving timing advance request message, the gNB transmits Timing Advance Command MAC CE to the UE to update timing advance for the UE. The Timing Advance Command MAC CE may include at least one of timing advance (or enhanced timing advance) and propagation delay compensation indication. It is noted that only one of RRC-based PropagationDelayCompensationDedicated-r16 and MAC-based propagation delay compensation indication may be used for informing the UE whether to perform PDC” recited in paragraph [0068]).
Regarding claim 12, wherein the value is a timing advance value, and wherein the timing advance value enables the wireless device to perform propagation delay compensation operation based on the timing advance value (see steps 4-5 in Fig. 6, wherein the UE obtains the timing advance and performs propagation delay compensation accordingly).
Regarding claim 13, wherein the indication whether to perform the propagation delay compensation operation is transmitted through a downlink information transfer message (see paragraph [0068] and step 4 of Fig. 6, wherein the UE receives the propagation delay compensation indication in a downlink MAC CE).
Regarding claim 14, wherein the value based on the propagation delay is included in a MAC CE (see paragraph [0068] and step 4 of Fig. 6, wherein the UE receives the timing advance value in a downlink MAC CE).
Regarding claim 15, wherein the network node is a gNB and the wireless device is a UE (see UE and gNB in Fig. 6).
Regarding claim 16, an apparatus for wireless communication comprising a processor and a memory (see UE in Fig. 6 and UE in Fig. 2 including processor and memory) storing instructions, execution by the processor causes the apparatus to:, comprising: transmit, to a network node, a request for reference time information, wherein the request is included in a UE Assistance Information message (see step 3 in Fig. 6, wherein the UE sends a Timing Advance Request to the gNB, wherein the Timing Advance Request is considered as a UE Assistance Information message that requests the timing advance assisting the UE for delay compensation to be performed in step 5 of Fig. 6); in response to transmitting the request, receive, from the network node, a value based on a propagation delay of a wireless channel between the network node and the wireless device (see “Step 4: After receiving timing advance request message, the gNB transmits Timing Advance Command MAC CE to the UE to update timing advance for the UE. The Timing Advance Command MAC CE may include at least one of timing advance (or enhanced timing advance) and propagation delay compensation indication. It is noted that only one of RRC-based PropagationDelayCompensationDedicated-r16 and MAC-based propagation delay compensation indication may be used for informing the UE whether to perform PDC” recited in paragraph [0068]); receive an indication whether to perform a propagation delay compensation operation (see “the gNB transmits Timing Advance Command MAC CE to the UE to update timing advance for the UE. The Timing Advance Command MAC CE may include at least one of timing advance (or enhanced timing advance) and propagation delay compensation indication” recited in paragraph [0068]); and perform, based on the value of the propagation delay, the propagation delay compensation operation (see steps 4-5 in Fig. 6, wherein the UE obtains the timing advance and performs propagation delay compensation accordingly).
Regarding claim 17, wherein the value is a timing advance value, and wherein the timing advance value enables the wireless device to perform propagation delay compensation operation based on the timing advance value (see steps 4-5 in Fig. 6, wherein the UE obtains the timing advance and performs propagation delay compensation accordingly).
Regarding claim 18, wherein the indication whether to perform the propagation delay compensation operation is transmitted through a downlink information transfer message (see paragraph [0068] and step 4 of Fig. 6, wherein the UE receives the propagation delay compensation indication in a downlink MAC CE).
Regarding claim 19, wherein the value based on the propagation delay is included in a MAC CE (see paragraph [0068] and step 4 of Fig. 6, wherein the UE receives the timing advance value in a downlink MAC CE).
Regarding claim 20, wherein the network node is a gNB and the wireless device is a UE (see UE and gNB in Fig. 6).
Lin does not disclose the following features: regarding claims 1, 6, 11 and 16, determining, by a network node, a propagation delay of a wireless channel between the network node and a wireless device, wherein a measurement of the propagation delay is of a variable granularity, wherein the variable granularity is selected from a granularity group whose elements are determined by multiplying TA values corresponding to a single predefined SCS by respective factors, wherein the respective factors include 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, or 1/16; and wherein the value transmitted by the network node is a value based on the propagation delay (Lin discloses transmitting a timing advance to be used for propagation delay compensation, but does not explicitly that the timing advance being based on propagation delay determined by the network node); and transmitting an indication of a granularity of the measurement of the propagation delay.
Awad discloses the following features.
Regarding claims 1, 6, 11 and 16, determining, by a network node, a propagation delay of a wireless channel between the network node and a wireless device (see “The gNB regularly measures the propagation delays from the UE, for example based on received UL SRS, PUSCH and PUCCH” recited in paragraph [0100]); and wherein the value transmitted by the network node is a value based on the propagation delay (see “the gNB estimates the propagation delay from the random-access preamble transmitted by the UE in message 1, and converts this propagation delay to a TA value” recited in paragraph [0098] and “The gNB regularly measures the propagation delays from the UE, for example based on received UL SRS, PUSCH and PUCCH, and then the gNB includes TA updates” recited in paragraph [0100]).
Choi discloses the following features.
Regarding claims 1, 6, 11 and 16, wherein a measurement of the propagation delay is of a variable granularity, wherein the variable granularity is selected from a granularity group whose elements are determined by multiplying TA values corresponding to a single predefined SCS by respective factors, wherein the respective factors include 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, or 1/16 (see “a method for the TA granularity scaled for each NR numerology based on the LTE granularity. As shown in Table 1 below, if the TA granularity value is predetermined as (1024 ∙2−μ)TsNR with respect to numerology index μ, it becomes equal to the TA granularity of the LTE in 15 kHz subcarrier spacing, and as the subcarrier spacing is increased, the TA granularity is proportionally decreased” recited in column 8, lines 31-50 and TABLE 1; wherein TABLE 1 shows a group of TA granularity determined by multiplying TsNR and a factor 2−μ corresponding to a single predefined SCS of 15 kHz; wherein 2−μ include 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, or 1/16 when μ =1, 2, 3 or 4, respectively; also, the TA granularity formula is based on a single predefined SCS of 15 kHz, that is, even as the SCS to be used increases, the formula is still based on the 15 kHz SCS and accounts for the SCS as shown in TABLE 1); and transmitting an indication of a granularity of the measurement of the propagation delay (see “In step [S215], the terminal 202 receives a TA granularity value together with the TA command update message through a MAC-CE” recited in column 11, lines 8-10, wherein the TA is considered as a measurement of propagation delay).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application to modify the system of Lin using features, as taught by Awad and Choi, in order to compensate for propagation delay caused by the changing distance between the UE and the gNodeB (see paragraph [0100] of Awad) and in order to support various numerologies (see column 7, lines 29-39 of Choi).
Conclusion
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/JUTAI KAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473