DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 04/21/2026 has been entered.
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 .
Claims 15, 16, 18-26, 28-36 are pending in this office action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/24/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. See rejection below.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 22-24, and 32-35 are allowed.
Claims 18, 28 and 36 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 15, 16, 19-21, 25, 26 and 29-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Abedini et al (US 2021/0185749 A1).
Regarding claim 15, Abedini teaches a method, comprising:
reporting, by an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a multiplexing operation mode and first information to a donor node of the IAB node, wherein the multiplexing operation mode is associated with multiple supporting states that are mutually exclusive, the multiplexing operation mode is selected from a plurality of multiplexing operation modes, the first information indicates a first condition for one of the multiple supporting states of the multiplexing operation mode under which a mobile termination (MT) of the IAB node and a distributed unit (DU) of the IAB node work (Abedini: Fig. 8:810; [0069]; [0104]-[0105] IAB node 410-1 reports it capability/multiplexing operation mode, of synchronous communication between MT and DU to the parent IAB node 410-2 and the capability is subject to a condition or not subject to a condition/states; the multiple states are “conditional” and “unconditional”, two states/multiple states); and
under the first condition, synchronously communicating with a lower-level node of the IAB node or a terminal device, by the DU of the IAB node, and communicating with an upper- level node of the IAB node, by the MT of the IAB node (Abedini: Fig. 8; [0104]-[0107]).
Regarding claim 25, Abedini teaches an apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and one or more memories coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions for execution by the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
reporting, by an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a multiplexing operation mode and first information to a donor node of the IAB node, wherein the multiplexing operation mode is associated with multiple supporting states that are mutually exclusive, the multiplexing operation mode is selected from a plurality of multiplexing operation modes, the first information indicates a first condition for one of the multiple supporting states of the multiplexing operation mode under which a mobile termination (MT) of the IAB node and a distributed unit (DU) of the IAB node work (Abedini: Fig. 8:810; [0069]; [0104]-[0105] IAB node 410-1 reports it capability/multiplexing operation mode, of synchronous communication between MT and DU to the parent IAB node 410-2 and the capability is subject to a condition or not subject to a condition/states; the multiple states are “conditional” and “unconditional”, two states/multiple states); and
under the first condition, synchronously communicating with a lower-level node of the IAB node or a terminal device, by the DU of the IAB node, and communicating with an upper- level node of the IAB node, by the MT of the IAB node (Abedini: Fig. 8; [0104]-[0107]).
Regarding claims 16 and 26, Abedini teaches reporting, by the IAB node, first indication information to the donor node of the IAB node, wherein the first indication information indicates whether the first condition needs to be met when the MT of the IAB node and the DU of the IAB node work synchronously (Abedini: Fig. 8; [0104]-[0107]).
Regarding claims 19 and 29, Abedini teaches wherein the first condition comprises: an expected transmit power of a DU of an upper-level node when the MT of the IAB node and the DU of the IAB node work synchronously (Abedini: Fig. 8; [0064], [0069]-[0070]).
Regarding claims 20 and 30, Abedini teaches wherein the first condition comprises: an expected transmit power of the MT of the IAB node when the MT of the IAB node and the DU of the IAB node work synchronously (Abedini: Fig. 8; [0064], [0069]-[0070]).
Regarding claims 21 and 31, Abedini teaches wherein the first condition comprises: an expected transmit power of a DU of an upper-level node when the MT of the IAB node and the DU of the IAB node work synchronously; and an expected transmit power of the MT of the IAB node when the MT of the IAB node and the DU of the IAB node work synchronously (Abedini: Fig. 8; [0064], [0069]-[0070]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KODZOVI ACOLATSE whose telephone number is (571)270-1999. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday 10 am to 6pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Avellino Joseph can be reached at (571) 272-3905. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/KODZOVI ACOLATSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
Prosecution Insights