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 .
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 5/8/2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
Figure 1 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. 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
Claims 4-15 and 19-23 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 4, “the method comprising Receiving” should be changed to “the method comprising: receiving” for clarity.
Regarding claim 19, it is unclear whether the claim is directed to a circuitry or communication device. Examiner suggests deleting “Circuitry for” for clarity of the scope of the claim because the body of the claim is directed to the communications device and circuity could be software per se.
Regarding claim 21, it is being treated as depending from independent claim 19. It appears to include a typo, and “18” should be changed to “19”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 22 is missing a period at the end of the sentence. Appropriate correction is required.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 4-23 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 11665691. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the pending claims are broader version of and/or are taught by claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 11665691.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 4, 16 and 19-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2012/0140743 (hereinafter Pelletier).
Regarding claims 4, Pelletier discloses A method of operating a communications device in a wireless telecommunications system comprising one or more infrastructure equipment, wherein the communications device is configured to transmit signals to and receive signals from the infrastructure equipment via a first wireless access interface in accordance with a first radio access technology (RAT), and to transmit signals to and receive signals from the infrastructure equipment via a second wireless access interface in accordance with a second RAT, the second RAT being different to the first RAT, the method comprising ([0004]: details method, a first MAC entity may be configured in a wireless WTRU that is associated with a first RAT, and a second MAC entity may be configured in the WTRU that is associated with a second RAT) Receiving, via the first wireless access interface, first control signaling from one of the infrastructure equipment, the first control signaling comprising an indication of first communications resources to be used by the communications device to transmit/receive signals representing data to/from the one of the infrastructure equipment via the second wireless access interface ([0029]: details the transmit/receive unit wirelessly may receive, via the primary channel associated with the RAT of the first type, control information for the primary channel and control information for the supplementary channel), and transmitting the signals representing data to and/or receiving the signals representing data from, using the first communications resources, the one of the infrastructure equipment via the second wireless access interface ([0028]: details transmit/receive unit wirelessly exchanges first data associated with a communication over the primary channel via RAT of the first type, while wireless exchanging second data associated with the communication over the supplementary channel via the RAT of the second type).
Regarding claim 16, Pelletier discloses A method of operating a communications device in a wireless telecommunications system comprising one or more infrastructure equipment, wherein the communications device is configured to transmit signals to and receive signals from the infrastructure equipment via a first wireless access interface in accordance with a first radio access technology (RAT), and to transmit signals to and receive signals from the infrastructure equipment via a second wireless access interface in accordance with a second RAT, the second RAT being different to the first RAT ([0011]: details method may include prior to receiving by the WRTU the provisioning information, establishing the primary channel associated with the RAT of the first type, and the establishing the supplementary channel associated with the RAT of the second type may include establishing the supplementary channel using a single radio resource connection to control radio resources of the RATs of the first and second types), the method comprising: transmitting, via the first wireless access interface, first control signaling to one of the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first control signaling comprises physical uplink control information to be used by the one of the infrastructure equipment, and wherein the physical uplink control information relates to the second RAT ([0103]: details “to be used by” is interpreted as an intended use so no patentable weight; For LTE, the UL physical channels may include, for example, a physical UL control channel (PUCCH) and/or a physical UL shared channel (PUSCH), among others. On the PUSCH, the WTRU 102 may transmit user and/or control data. On the PUCCH, and/or the PUSCH, the WTRU 102 may transmit UL control information (such as a channel quality indicator (CQI)/precoding matrix indicator (PMI)/rank indicator (RI) and/or scheduling request (SR)) and/or hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) ACK/NACK feedback. On a UL CC, the WTRU 102 may be allocated dedicated resources for transmission of a sounding reference signal (SRS)).
Regarding claim 19, Pelletier discloses Circuitry ([0076]: details ASIC, FPGA, IC, as circuitry) for a communications device configured to communicate with a wireless telecommunications network comprising one or more infrastructure equipment (“for” is interpreted as “used for” which is an intended use so no patentable weight), the communications device comprising: transmitter circuitry configured to transmit signals to the infrastructure equipment via a first wireless access interface in accordance with a first radio access technology (RAT), and to transmit signals to the infrastructure equipment via a second wireless access interface in accordance with a second RAT, the second RAT being different to the first RAT; receiver circuitry configured to receive signals from the infrastructure equipment via the first wireless access interface in accordance with the first RAT, and to receive signals from the infrastructure equipment via the second wireless access interface in accordance with the second RAT; and controller circuitry configured to control the transmitter circuitry to transmit the signals, and control the receiver circuitry to receive the signals, wherein the controller circuitry is configured in combination with the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry, to transmit, via the first wireless access interface, first control signaling to one of the infrastructure equipment, the first control signalling comprising physical uplink control information to be used by the one of the infrastructure equipment, the physical uplink control information relating to the second RAT (further limits the intended use so no patentable weight).
Regarding claim 20, Pelletier discloses wherein the controller circuitry is configured in combination with the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry to receive, via the first wireless access interface, second control signaling from the one infrastructure equipment, the second control signaling comprising a second indication of second communications resources to be used by the communications device to transmit/receive signals representing data to/from the one infrastructure equipment via the first wireless access interface (further limits the intended use so no patentable weight).
Regarding claim 21, Pelletier discloses wherein the first control signaling is in a Multicast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) subframe, and wherein the predefined control channel region as defined by the predefined frame structure associated with the first RAT is the only control channel region in the MBSFN subframe (further limits the intended use so no patentable weight).
Regarding claim 22, Pelletier discloses wherein the controller circuitry is configured in combination with the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry to receive, via the first wireless access interface, second control signaling from the one infrastructure equipment, the second control signaling comprising a second indication of second communications resources to be used by the communications device to transmit/receive signals representing data to/from the one infrastructure equipment via the first wireless access interface (further limits the intended use so no patentable weight)
Regarding claim 23, Pelletier discloses wherein the predefined control channel region as defined by the predefined frame structure associated with the first RAT is the only control channel region in a subframe having the first control signaling (further limits the intended use so no patentable weight).
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 5, 7-11, 15 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pelletier in view of US 2013/0223402 (hereinafter Feng).
Regarding claim 5, Pelletier does not explicitly teach wherein the first control signaling is in a predefined control channel region as defined by a predefined frame structure associated with the first RAT.
However, Feng et al. teaches wherein the first control signaling is in a predefined control channel region as defined by a predefined frame structure associated with the first RAT ([0162] The exemplary control channel configurations shown in FIG. 26 and FIG. 27 may be useful for conveying physical downlink control channel information (e.g. uplink and downlink grants) to from a base station (donor eNodeB) to a relay node. However, as outlined above, the invention is not limited to this scenario. FIG. 28 shows another exemplary configuration of a control channel region within a sub-frame according to another embodiment of the invention. In this example, the sub-frame has no control channel region configured, so that all OFDM symbols of the sub-frame may be considered part of the PDSCH region).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Pelletier with the teachings of Feng to incorporate the first control signaling is in a predefined control channel region as defined by a predefined frame structure associated with the first RAT of Feng with Pelletier. Doing so would provide flexibility (Feng, at paragraph [0194]).
Regarding claim 7, Pelletier does not explicitly teach receiving, via the first wireless access interface, second control signaling from the one infrastructure equipment, the second control signalling comprising a second indication of second communications resources to be used by the communications device to transmit/receive signals representing data to/from the one infrastructure equipment via the first wireless access interface.
However, Feng teaches receiving, via the first wireless access interface, second control signaling from the one infrastructure equipment, the second control signalling comprising a second indication of second communications resources to be used by the communications device to transmit/receive signals representing data to/from the one infrastructure equipment via the first wireless access interface ([0208-209] FIG. 23 shows another division of a control channel region within a sub-frame in a FDM fashion according to a further exemplary embodiment of the invention. In this example--in line with the example shown in FIG. 29 discussed previously herein --, it is assumed that the sub-frame do not contain a PDCCH region within the firsts OFDM symbols of the sub-frame. Instead, a PDCCH region carrying the PDCCH information for the receiving apparatus is assigned to the receiving apparatus (e.g. a user equipment or a relay node) by the transmitting apparatus (e.g. base station or relay node). The PDCCH regions of the receiving apparatus(es) within a radio cell controlled by the transmitting apparatus may overlap or may even be identical. The PDDCH region may be considered a search space in which the respective receiving apparatus is expecting to receive the control signaling (e.g. downlink and/or uplink resource assignments) from the transmitting apparatus. The PDCCH region of the receiving apparatus is split in the frequency domain in blocks of N.sub.SC.sup.CCE=3 subcarriers, so that overall, there are eight sub-control channel elements obtained by the division. Each sub-channel element spans N.sub.SC.sup.CCE=3 subcarriers in the frequency domain and all N.sub.symb.sup.R-PDCCH OFDM symbols of the PDCCH region in the time domain).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Pelletier with the teachings of Feng to incorporate receiving, via the first wireless access interface, second control signaling from the one infrastructure equipment, the second control signalling comprising a second indication of second communications resources to be used by the communications device to transmit/receive signals representing data to/from the one infrastructure equipment via the first wireless access interface of Feng with Pelletier. Doing so would provide flexibility (Feng, at paragraph [0194]).
Regarding claim 8, Pelletier teaches wherein the first communications resources comprise first frequency sub-bands and the second communications resources comprise second frequency sub-bands, the first frequency sub-bands being separated in frequency from the second frequency sub-bands ([0015] the exchanging of the first data and the second data may include operating the WTRU at a first frequency or in a first frequency band for exchange of the first data and at a second frequency or in a second frequency band that is different from the first frequency or the first frequency band. See also [0035]).
Regarding claim 9, Pelletier teaches receiving, via the second wireless access interface, second control signaling from the one infrastructure equipment, the second control signaling comprising a second indication of the first communications resources; and attempting to decode, each of the first control signaling and the second control signaling to identify the first communications resources ([0187] the multi-mode WTRU 102 configured for multi-RAT operation may determine whether or not it may: (1) decode the control signaling for scheduling, (e.g., PDCCH for PDSCH/PUSCH scheduling for LTE); and/or (2) transmit on configured periodic resource, if any, of a configured UL CC, (e.g., periodic CQI/PMI/RI reporting on PUCCH in LTE, or PCI reporting in HSPA) the multiple resources are identified using control signaling and scheduled).
Regarding claim 10, Pelletier teaches receiving, via the second wireless access interface, second control signaling from the one of the infrastructure equipment, the second control signaling comprising a second indication of the first communications resources; determining whether the first communications resources comprise, in a broadcast control channel region, a third indication that a full control channel region in accordance with the second RAT exists ([0291] after a TB is successfully decoded from any of the RATs, the HARQ process may forward the data to the HSPA MAC entity that may de-multiplex, reorder, reassemble and forward to the corresponding logical channel); and attempting to decode the second control signaling to identify the first communications resources ([0187] the multi-mode WTRU 102 configured for multi-RAT operation may determine whether or not it may: (1) decode the control signaling for scheduling, (e.g., PDCCH for PDSCH/PUSCH scheduling for LTE); and/or (2) transmit on configured periodic resource, if any, of a configured UL CC, (e.g., periodic CQI/PMI/RI reporting on PUCCH in LTE, or PCI reporting in HSPA) ).
Regarding claim 11, Pelletier teaches receiving, via the second wireless access interface, second control signaling from the one infrastructure equipment, the second control signaling comprising a second indication of the first communications resources; determining whether the first control signaling comprises a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) indicating that a full control channel region in accordance with the second RAT exists; and attempting to decode the second control signaling to identify the first communications resources ([0178] The DCI format may be scrambled using a specific Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI), which may indicate the identity of the CC of the second RAT. The DCI format may be received in a WTRU-specific search space of the PDCCH of a CC of the first RAT. The search space may be specific to at least one CC of the second RAT. The search space may not overlap with any other search space and the successful decoding of the DCI format in the search space may implicitly determines the identity of the CC of the second RAT to which the DCI is applicable (e.g., associated with)).
Regarding claims 15 and 17, Pelletier does not explicitly teach wherein the first control signaling is in a predefined control channel region as defined by a predefined frame structure associated with the first RAT, wherein the first control signaling is in a Multicast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) subframe, and wherein the predefined control channel region as defined by the predefined frame structure associated with the first RAT is the only control channel region in the MBSFN subframe.
However, Feng teaches wherein the first control signaling is in a predefined control channel region as defined by a predefined frame structure associated with the first RAT, wherein the first control signaling is in a Multicast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) subframe, and wherein the predefined control channel region as defined by the predefined frame structure associated with the first RAT is the only control channel region in the MBSFN subframe (fig. 26-29, [0010] In MBSFN operation, the user equipment receives and combines synchronized signals from multiple cells. In order for MBSFN reception, the user equipment performs a separate channel estimation based on MBSFN Reference Signal (MBSFN RS). In order to avoid mixing MBSFN RS and other reference signals (RSs) in the same sub-frame, certain sub-frames, known as MBSFN sub-frames, are reserved for MBSFN transmission. See [0199-200] the control channel region (PDCCH region), as shown in FIG. 27).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Pelletier with the teachings of Feng to incorporate wherein the first control signaling is in a predefined control channel region as defined by a predefined frame structure associated with the first RAT, wherein the first control signaling is in a Multicast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) subframe, and wherein the predefined control channel region as defined by the predefined frame structure associated with the first RAT is the only control channel region in the MBSFN subframe of Feng with Pelletier. Doing so would provide flexibility (Feng, at paragraph [0194]).
Regarding claim 18, Pelletier does not explicitly teach receiving, via the first wireless access interface, second control signaling from the one infrastructure equipment, the second control signaling comprising a second indication of second communications resources to be used by the communications device to transmit/receive signals representing data to/from the one infrastructure equipment via the first wireless access interface, wherein the first control signaling includes one of Long Term Evolution Downlink Control Information (LTE DCI) or Inter-RAT Downlink Control Information (i-RAT DCI), wherein the second control signaling includes the other of the Long Term Evolution Downlink Control Information (LTE DCI) or the Inter-RAT Downlink Control Information (i-RAT DCI), and wherein the LTE DCI and the i-RAT DCI overlap in time and are completely separated in frequency.
However, Feng teaches receiving, via the first wireless access interface, second control signaling from the one infrastructure equipment, the second control signaling comprising a second indication of second communications resources to be used by the communications device to transmit/receive signals representing data to/from the one infrastructure equipment via the first wireless access interface, wherein the first control signaling includes one of Long Term Evolution Downlink Control Information (LTE DCI) or Inter-RAT Downlink Control Information (i-RAT DCI), wherein the second control signaling includes the other of the Long Term Evolution Downlink Control Information (LTE DCI) or the Inter-RAT Downlink Control Information (i-RAT DCI), and wherein the LTE DCI and the i-RAT DCI overlap in time and are completely separated in frequency ([0208-209] FIG. 23 shows another division of a control channel region within a sub-frame in a FDM fashion according to a further exemplary embodiment of the invention. In this example--in line with the example shown in FIG. 29 discussed previously herein --, it is assumed that the sub-frame do not contain a PDCCH region within the firsts OFDM symbols of the sub-frame. Instead, a PDCCH region carrying the PDCCH information for the receiving apparatus is assigned to the receiving apparatus (e.g. a user equipment or a relay node) by the transmitting apparatus (e.g. base station or relay node). The PDCCH regions of the receiving apparatus(es) within a radio cell controlled by the transmitting apparatus may overlap or may even be identical. The PDDCH region may be considered a search space in which the respective receiving apparatus is expecting to receive the control signaling (e.g. downlink and/or uplink resource assignments) from the transmitting apparatus. The PDCCH region of the receiving apparatus is split in the frequency domain in blocks of N.sub.SC.sup.CCE=3 subcarriers, so that overall, there are eight sub-control channel elements obtained by the division. Each sub-channel element spans N.sub.SC.sup.CCE=3 subcarriers in the frequency domain and all N.sub.symb.sup.R-PDCCH OFDM symbols of the PDCCH region in the time domain).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Pelletier with the teachings of Feng to incorporate receiving, via the first wireless access interface, second control signaling from the one infrastructure equipment, the second control signaling comprising a second indication of second communications resources to be used by the communications device to transmit/receive signals representing data to/from the one infrastructure equipment via the first wireless access interface, wherein the first control signaling includes one of Long Term Evolution Downlink Control Information (LTE DCI) or Inter-RAT Downlink Control Information (i-RAT DCI), wherein the second control signaling includes the other of the Long Term Evolution Downlink Control Information (LTE DCI) or the Inter-RAT Downlink Control Information (i-RAT DCI), and wherein the LTE DCI and the i-RAT DCI overlap in time and are completely separated in frequency of Feng with Pelletier. Doing so would provide flexibility (Feng, at paragraph [0194]).
Claims 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pelletier in view of US 2018/0020462 (hereinafter Xiong).
Regarding claim 12, Pelletier does not explicitly teach wherein the first communications resources comprise first temporal units and the second communications resources comprise second temporal units, the first temporal units being separated in time from the second temporal units.
However, Xiong teaches wherein the first communications resources comprise first temporal units and the second communications resources comprise second temporal units, the first temporal units being separated in time from the second temporal units ([0019] the UE obtains system information for access to S-RAT at least including the resource configuration in time and frequency (e.g., DL bandwidth, antenna configuration information, multicast-broadcast single-frequency network (MBSFN) configuration, frame structure configuration, absolute radio-frequency channel number (ARFCN) value to indicate the frequency of S-RAT etc.), and/or numerology, and configuration of downlink synchronization signal. The UE detects downlink synchronization signal in S-RAT within a search window which size is either fixed or configured by higher layers and then communicates with S-RAT).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Pelletier with Xiong because Xiong enables access to secondary radio access technology (S-RAT), a cross radio access technology (RAT) scheduling between a primary RAT (P-RAT) and a secondary RAT (S-RAT) and/or cross-scheduling in a same RAT with different optimizations and use/partition for different applications (Xiong, paragraph [0018]).
Regarding claim 13, Pelletier does not explicitly teach receiving, with the first control signaling, in a first case where the first temporal units are temporal units of a multicast-broadcast, single-frequency network (MBSFN), a third indication that the first communications resources comprise no cell-specific reference signals, or receiving, with the first control signaling, in a second case where the first temporal units are not temporal units of a MBSFN, a fourth indication that the first communications resources comprise one or more cell-specific reference signals.
However, Xiong teaches receiving, with the first control signaling, in a first case where the first temporal units are temporal units of a multicast-broadcast, single-frequency network (MBSFN), a third indication that the first communications resources comprise no cell-specific reference signals, or receiving, with the first control signaling, in a second case where the first temporal units are not temporal units of a MBSFN, a fourth indication that the first communications resources comprise one or more cell-specific reference signals ([0055] MBSFN configuration, frame structure configuration, ARFCN value to indicate the frequency of the S-RAT 504, etc.), and/or numerology, and configuration of downlink synchronization signal, i.e., physical cell identity and/or transmission offset between the P-RAT 502 and S-RAT 504. In another option, the relevant system information of the S-RAT 504 mentioned above can be provided to a UE by a dedicated RRC signaling. [0082] carrier band index can be provided by higher layer via MIB, SIB or UE specific dedicated RRC signaling. Further, the starting OFDM symbols in the transmission of F-PDSCH in P-RAT can be configured by higher layers, via MIB, SIB or UE specific dedicated RRC signaling).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Pelletier with Xiong because Xiong enables access to secondary radio access technology (S-RAT), a cross radio access technology (RAT) scheduling between a primary RAT (P-RAT) and a secondary RAT (S-RAT) and/or cross-scheduling in a same RAT with different optimizations and use/partition for different applications (Xiong, paragraph [0018]).
Regarding claim 14, Pelletier teach receiving, via the first wireless access interface, downlink control information from the one infrastructure equipment ([0102] On the PDCCH, the WTRU 102 may receive DL control information (DCI) messages used to schedule DL and UL resources. On the PDSCH, the WTRU 102 may receive user and/or control data.), and, in a case where the communications device is capable of transmitting signals to and receiving signals from the one infrastructure equipment via the second wireless access interface (conditional phrase and “capable”, no patentable weight; Examiner suggests positively reciting this feature); and decoding the downlink control information ([0178] The search space may not overlap with any other search space and the successful decoding of the DCI format in the search space may implicitly determines the identity of the CC of the second RAT to which the DCI is applicable (e.g., associated with).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pelletier in view of US 2010/0120442 (hereinafter Zhuang).
Regarding claim 6, Pelletier does not explicitly teach wherein the first control signaling is at an end of the predefined control channel region and starts after start of the predefined control channel region, and wherein the predefined control channel region is at a beginning of the predefined frame structure.
However, Zhuang teaches the first control signaling is at an end of the predefined control channel region and starts after start of the predefined control channel region, and wherein the predefined control channel region is at a beginning of the predefined frame structure (FIG. 9: details possible SCR is at end of first control region; starting location of SCR is after the first control region).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Pelletier with the teachings of Zhuang to incorporate the first control signaling is at an end of the predefined control channel region and starts after start of the predefined control channel region, and wherein the predefined control channel region is at a beginning of the predefined frame structure of Zhuang with Pelletier. Doing so would reduce decoding latency (Zhuang, at paragraph [0040]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Zhu (US 2017/0078890) details cross-layer bearer splitting and cross-radio access technology retransmission.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jasper Kwoh whose telephone number is (408)918-7644. The examiner can normally be reached Tuesday through Friday, 10am to 4pm Pacific.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached at (571) 270-1215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JASPER KWOH/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2415