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 .
DETAILED ACTION
a. Claims 1-20 in the present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA :
- claims 1-3, 9-13, and 16-19 are amended
- claims 8, are canceled
b. This is a final action on the merits based on Applicant’s claims submitted on 03/25/2026.
Response to Arguments
Regarding claim 13 previously objected for informalities, claim 13 has been amended according to the examiner's recommendation and thus the previous objection has been withdrawn.
Regarding Independent claims 1 and 18 previously rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103, Applicant's arguments, see “Applicant respectfully submits that claim 1 is patentable because the proposed combination of Jeon-Yang does not disclose or suggest that "based on receiving the uplink transmission, control transmission of a user-plane (U-Plane) signal to a network node, wherein the transmission of the U-Plane signal is performed after detecting a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission from the UE," as claimed.” on page 8, filed on 03/25/2026, with respect to Jeon et al US Pub 2023/0115400 (hereinafter "Jeon"), in view of Yang et al. US Pub 2015/0365157 (hereinafter "Yang"), have been fully considered but are moot, over the limitations of “the communication unit performs based on receiving the uplink transmission, control transmission of a user-plane (U-Plane) signal to a network node, wherein the transmission of the U-Plane signal is performed after detecting a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission from the UE”. Said limitations are newly added to the amended Claims 1 and 18 and have been addressed in instant office action, as shown in section 35 USC 103 rejection below, with newly identified prior art teaching from newly found reference Priyanto et al. US Pub 2022/0256611 (hereinafter “Priyanto”), in combination with previously applied references Jeon and Yang, thus rendering said Applicant’s arguments moot.
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 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Claims 1-3, 7, 9-10, 12, 15-16, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon et al US Pub 2023/0115400 (hereinafter “Jeon”), in view of Priyanto et al. US Pub 2022/0256611 (hereinafter “Priyanto”), and further in view of Yang et al. US Pub 2015/0365157 (hereinafter “Yang”).
Regarding claim 1 (Currently Amended)
Jeon discloses a wireless device (i.e. “O-RAN radio unit (O-RU) 520” in Fig. 5) comprising:
at least one memory storing instructions (“storage unit 320” in Fig. 3); [0071]), and
at least one processor (“control unit 330” in Fig. 3); [0072]) configured to execute the instructions to:
Jeon does not specifically teach receive, from a user equipment (UE), an uplink transmission; and based on receiving the uplink transmission, control transmission of a user-plane (U-Plane) signal to a network node, wherein the transmission of the U-Plane signal is performed after detecting a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission from the UE.
In an analogous art, Priyanto discloses receive, from a user equipment (UE) (e.g. “UE 101”), an uplink transmission (“A third channel (thick solid line in FIGS. 5A, 5B)—e.g., implemented by the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) 212—may be used by the UE 101, and possibly other UEs 101 at the same time, to transmit a random access preamble” [0067]); and
based on receiving the uplink transmission (i.e. “random access preamble” [0067]), control transmission of a user-plane (U-Plane) (i.e. data plane) signal to a network node (“thereby initiate a random access procedure for a establishing control and data plane connectivity between the UE 101 and the CN 115. The network 100 may broadcast system information (i.e., SIB2) defining those time-frequency resource elements of the time-frequency resource grid 200 which are assigned to the PRACH 212 and in which random access preambles may be transmitted—so-called Random Access occasions (RO) 212. Signaling may be reduced by pre-defining various preamble formats and resource assignments, which may be referenced and looked up using a PRACH configuration index.” [0067]), wherein the transmission of the U-Plane signal is performed after detecting a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission from the UE (i.e. data plane is established after PRACH 212 in Figs. 5A, 5B is used to transmit the random access preamble).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Jeon’s method for fronthaul transmission in the wireless communication system, to include Priyanto’s method for establishing data plane/U-plane after receiving PRACH transmission, in order to initiate a random access procedure (Priyanto [0067]).
Jeon and Priyanto disclose that the transmission of U-plane is performed after the PRACH transmission but do not specifically teach the detecting of PRACH activity.
In an analogous art, Yang discloses a detection unit (i.e. “apparatus 210, 220-1” in Figs. 3 and 7) that detects a PRACH signal transmitted from the user device (“An apparatus 210, 220-1, as shown by way of non-limiting example in FIGS. 3 and 7, which comprises: one or more processors 150-1, 180; and one or more memories 155-1, 195 including computer program code 153-1, 197, the one or more memories 155-1, 195 and the computer program code 153-1, 197 configured, with the one or more processors 150-1, 180, to cause the apparatus 210, 220-1 to perform at least the following: selecting a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble (S710); transmitting information regarding the selected PRACH preamble (S720), the transmitted information configured to be receivable by a user equipment; receiving at a first antenna a PRACH transmission transmitted by the user equipment (S730); detecting the selected PRACH preamble in the received PRACH transmission transmitted by the user equipment (S740);” [0095]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Jeon’s method for fronthaul transmission in the wireless communication system, as modified by Priyanto, to include Yang’s method for detecting the selected PRACH preamble in the received PRACH transmission, in order to efficiently share information regarding the selected PRACH preamble amongst cells (Yang [Abstract]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Yang’s method for detecting the selected PRACH preamble in the received PRACH transmission into Jeon’s method for fronthaul transmission in the wireless communication system since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 2 (Currently Amended)
Jeon, as modified by Priyanto and Yang, previously discloses the wireless device according to claim 1, further comprising
Yang further discloses a recording unit that records the detection result (“The one or more memories and the computer program code are configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: detecting the selected PRACH preamble transmitted by the user equipment corresponding to the transmitted information regarding the selected PRACH preamble at an antenna of the base station” [0025]).
Regarding claim 3 (Currently Amended)
Jeon, as modified by Priyanto and Yang, previously discloses the wireless device according to claim 2,
Priyanto further discloses further comprising a transmission control unit (i.e. “interface (IF) 1012” in Fig. 2; [0045]) that controls the transmission of the U-Plane signal by the communication unit (“CPU 1011” in Fig. 2), based on the detection result (“the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) 212—may be used by the UE 101, and possibly other UEs 101 at the same time, to transmit a random access preamble and thereby initiate a random access procedure for a establishing control and data plane connectivity between the UE 101 and the CN 115.” [0067]).
Regarding claim 7
Jeon, as modified by Priyanto and Yang, previously discloses the wireless device according to claim 1,
Jeon further discloses wherein the wireless device is an O-RAN radio unit (O-RU) (“the plurality of O-RUs 520-1, 520-2, . . . 520-N-1, 520-N” [0108]).
Regarding claim 9 (Currently Amended)
Jeon, as modified by Priyanto and Yang, previously discloses the wireless device according to claim 1,
Jeon further discloses wherein the communication unit further transmits, to the network node, information of the PRACH signal (“The U-plane may include user's downlink data (IQ data or SSB/RS), uplink data (IQ data or SRS/RS), or PRACH data.” [0093]) detected by a detection unit (as previously taught by Priyanto).
Regarding claim 10 (Currently Amended)
Jeon, as modified by Priyanto and Yang, previously discloses the wireless device according to claim 9,
Yang further discloses wherein the recording unit acquires the detection result (“The one or more memories and the computer program code are configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: detecting the selected PRACH preamble transmitted by the user equipment corresponding to the transmitted information regarding the selected PRACH preamble at an antenna of the base station” [0025]) from the detection unit (“An apparatus 210, 220-1, as shown by way of non-limiting example in FIGS. 3 and 7, which comprises: one or more processors 150-1, 180; and one or more memories 155-1, 195 including computer program code 153-1, 197, the one or more memories 155-1, 195 and the computer program code 153-1, 197 configured, with the one or more processors 150-1, 180, to cause the apparatus 210, 220-1 to perform at least the following: selecting a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble (S710); transmitting information regarding the selected PRACH preamble (S720), the transmitted information configured to be receivable by a user equipment; receiving at a first antenna a PRACH transmission transmitted by the user equipment (S730); detecting the selected PRACH preamble in the received PRACH transmission transmitted by the user equipment (S740);” [0095]).
Regarding claim 12 (Currently Amended)
Jeon, as modified by Priyanto and Yang, previously discloses the wireless device according to claim 1,
Jeon further discloses wherein the network node is an O-RAN distributed unit (O-DU) (i.e. “O-RAN distributed unit (O-DU) 510” in Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 15
Jeon, as modified by Priyanto, previously discloses the intermediate device according to claim 13,
Jeon and Priyanto do not specifically teach further comprising: a recording unit that records the detection result.
In an analogous art, Yang discloses a recording unit (“The one or more memories and the computer program code are configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: detecting the selected PRACH preamble transmitted by the user equipment corresponding to the transmitted information regarding the selected PRACH preamble at an antenna of the base station” [0025]) that records the detection result (“An apparatus 210, 220-1, as shown by way of non-limiting example in FIGS. 3 and 7, which comprises: one or more processors 150-1, 180; and one or more memories 155-1, 195 including computer program code 153-1, 197, the one or more memories 155-1, 195 and the computer program code 153-1, 197 configured, with the one or more processors 150-1, 180, to cause the apparatus 210, 220-1 to perform at least the following: selecting a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble (S710); transmitting information regarding the selected PRACH preamble (S720), the transmitted information configured to be receivable by a user equipment; receiving at a first antenna a PRACH transmission transmitted by the user equipment (S730); detecting the selected PRACH preamble in the received PRACH transmission transmitted by the user equipment (S740);” [0095]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Jeon’s method for fronthaul transmission in the wireless communication system, as modified by Priyanto, to include Yang’s method for detecting the selected PRACH preamble in the received PRACH transmission, in order to efficiently share information regarding the selected PRACH preamble amongst cells (Yang [Abstract]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Yang’s method for detecting the selected PRACH preamble in the received PRACH transmission into Jeon’s method for fronthaul transmission in the wireless communication system since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 16 (Currently Amended)
Jeon, as modified by Priyanto and Yang, previously discloses the intermediate device according to claim 15, further comprising:
Priyanto further discloses a transmission control unit (i.e. “interface (IF) 1012” in Fig. 2; [0045]) that controls the transmission of the U-Plane signal by the communication unit (“CPU 1011” in Fig. 2), based on the detection result (“the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) 212—may be used by the UE 101, and possibly other UEs 101 at the same time, to transmit a random access preamble and thereby initiate a random access procedure for a establishing control and data plane connectivity between the UE 101 and the CN 115.” [0067]).
Regarding claim 18 (Currently Amended)
A method performed by a wireless device, the method comprising:
receive, from a user equipment (UE), an uplink transmission; and
based on receiving the uplink transmission, control transmission of a U-Plane (U-Plane) signal to a network node, wherein the transmission of the U-Plane signal is performed after detecting a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission from the UE.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 18 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claim 1. Therefore method claim 18 corresponds to apparatus claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 1 rejection above.
Regarding claim 19 (Currently Amended)
The method according to claim 18, further comprising: recording a detection result of the detecting of the PRACH transmission.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 19 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claim 2. Therefore method claim 19 corresponds to apparatus claim 2 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 2 rejection above.
Regarding claim 20
The method according to claim 19, further comprising: controlling transmission of the U-Plane signal based on the detection result.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 20 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claim 3. Therefore method claim 20 corresponds to apparatus claim 3 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 3 rejection above.
Claims 4 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon, in view of Priyanto and Yang, and further in view of Wanuga et al. US Pub 2024/0364414 (hereinafter “Wanuga”).
Regarding claim 4
Jeon, as modified by Priyanto and Yang, previously discloses the wireless device according to claim 3,
Jeon and Yang do not specifically teach wherein the recording unit further outputs a signal, based on the detection result, and the transmission control unit controls, based on the signal, transmission of the U-Plane signal by the communication unit.
In an analogous art, Wanuga discloses wherein the recording unit (i.e. “PRACH preamble detector”) further outputs a signal, based on the detection result (“Other components of the repeater 1002 illustrated in FIG. 10 may include an SSB and/or SIB transmitter that may transmit SSBs and/or may broadcast SIBs, a PRACH preamble detector that may detect PRACH preambles and may forward the detected information to the donor gNB 1010 (e.g., the forwarded information may include a preamble identifier, a random access RNTI (RA-RNTI), and/or a temporary C-RNTI (TC-RNTI)), a CSI-RS transmitter that may transmit CSI-RS signals, and/or a SRS receiver that may receive SRS signals and may forward the SRS information to the donor gNB 1010 (e.g., the SRS information may include layer 1 (L1) measurement reports, which may be filtered).” [0100]), and the transmission control unit controls, based on the signal, transmission of the U-Plane signal by the communication unit (as previously taught in claim 2 discussion).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Jeon’s method for fronthaul transmission in the wireless communication system, as modified by Priyanto and Yang, to include Wanuga’s PRACH preamble detector, in order to efficiently connect to network device (Wanuga [0100]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Wanuga’s PRACH preamble detector into Jeon’s method for fronthaul transmission in the wireless communication system since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 11 (Currently Amended)
Jeon, as modified by Priyanto, Yang, and Wanuga, previously discloses the wireless device according to claim 9,
Yang further discloses wherein, when the detection unit detects the PRACH signal (“An apparatus 210, 220-1, as shown by way of non-limiting example in FIGS. 3 and 7, which comprises: one or more processors 150-1, 180; and one or more memories 155-1, 195 including computer program code 153-1, 197, the one or more memories 155-1, 195 and the computer program code 153-1, 197 configured, with the one or more processors 150-1, 180, to cause the apparatus 210, 220-1 to perform at least the following: selecting a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble (S710); transmitting information regarding the selected PRACH preamble (S720), the transmitted information configured to be receivable by a user equipment; receiving at a first antenna a PRACH transmission transmitted by the user equipment (S730); detecting the selected PRACH preamble in the received PRACH transmission transmitted by the user equipment (S740);” [0095]),
Wanuga further discloses the recording unit (i.e. “PRACH preamble detector”) outputs a control signal (“Other components of the repeater 1002 illustrated in FIG. 10 may include an SSB and/or SIB transmitter that may transmit SSBs and/or may broadcast SIBs, a PRACH preamble detector that may detect PRACH preambles and may forward the detected information to the donor gNB 1010 (e.g., the forwarded information may include a preamble identifier, a random access RNTI (RA-RNTI), and/or a temporary C-RNTI (TC-RNTI)), a CSI-RS transmitter that may transmit CSI-RS signals, and/or a SRS receiver that may receive SRS signals and may forward the SRS information to the donor gNB 1010 (e.g., the SRS information may include layer 1 (L1) measurement reports, which may be filtered).” [0100]) that permits the communication unit to transmit the U-Plane signal (as previously taught in claim 2 discussion).
Claims 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon, in view of Priyanto, Yang and Wanuga, and further in view of Motegi et al. US Pub 2009/0285144 (hereinafter “Motegi”).
Regarding claim 5
Jeon, as modified by Priyanto, Yang, and Wanuga, previously discloses the wireless device according to claim 4,
Jeon, Priyanto, Yang, and Wanuga do not specifically teach wherein the transmission control unit further confirms presence or absence of transmission of the U-Plane signal by the communication unit.
In an analogous art, Motegi discloses wherein the transmission control unit further confirms presence or absence of transmission of the U-Plane signal by the communication unit (“BTS repeatedly transmits broadcast information (BCCH) at a timing specified beforehand in the system (although only one time of transmission of broadcast information is shown for the sake of simplicity of the figure, it is actually performed repeatedly). The broadcast information includes "common parameter necessary for receiving MBMS content" in addition to general information that is not related to MBMS. For example, the broadcast information may include U-plane parameter (presence or absence of header compression, presence or absence of In-sequence-delivery, and the like),” [0052]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Jeon’s method for fronthaul transmission in the wireless communication system, as modified by Priyanto, Yang, and Wanuga, to include Motegi’s method for transmitting a signal for Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS), in order to efficiently indicate the absence/presence of U-plane transmission (Motegi [0100]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Motegi’s method for transmitting a signal for Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) into Jeon’s method for fronthaul transmission in the wireless communication system since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 6
Jeon, as modified by Priyanto, Yang, and Wanuga, previously discloses the wireless device according to claim 4,
Jeon, Priyanto, Yang, and Wanuga do not specifically teach wherein, when no transmission of the U-Plane signal by the communication unit is present for a certain time, the transmission control unit controls in such a way that the communication unit does not transmit the U-Plane signal.
In an analogous art, Motegi discloses wherein, when no transmission of the U-Plane signal by the communication unit is present for a certain time, the transmission control unit controls in such a way that the communication unit does not transmit the U-Plane signal (“For example, the broadcast information may include U-plane parameter (presence or absence of header compression, presence or absence of In-sequence-delivery, and the like), access control information (for IDLE, CELL_DCH, URA_PCH) and frame timing information for MBMS (DRX cycle of UE) and the like. The UE receives the broadcast information at a timing when moving to another cell or when powered on in addition to when the UE resides in the cell. In the present embodiment, although UE receives the broadcast information at a timing when moving to another cell or when powered on, the present invention is not limited to that. In the same way as general broadcast information, the broadcast information may be received when detecting that the broadcast information is changed.” [0052]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Jeon’s method for fronthaul transmission in the wireless communication system, as modified by Priyanto, Yang, and Wanuga, to include Motegi’s method for transmitting a signal for Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS), in order to efficiently indicate the absence/presence of U-plane transmission (Motegi [0100]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Motegi’s method for transmitting a signal for Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) into Jeon’s method for fronthaul transmission in the wireless communication system since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Claims 13, 14, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon, and in view of Priyanto.
Regarding claim 13 (Currently Amended)
Jeon discloses an intermediate device (i.e. “front haul multiplexing (FHM) 530” in Fig. 5) that duplicates or synthesizes and transmits a signal (“the FHM 530 may additionally perform a copy and combine function in the general O-RU… In addition, the FHM 530 may support a selective transmission and reception function in order to perform the copy and combine function.” [0108]) between a plurality of wireless devices (“the plurality of O-RUs 520-1, 520-2, . . . 520-N-1, 520-N” [0108]) communicating with a user device (i.e. “O-RAN distributed unit (O-DU) 510” in Fig. 5), and a network node communicating with the user device via the plurality of wireless devices (“different cells may operate different numbers of O-RUs. For example, the O-RU #1 may operate the cell #1, and the O-RU #2, the O-RU #N-1, and the O-RU #N may operate the cell #M” [0108]), the intermediate device comprising:
at least one memory (“storage unit (e.g., a memory) 320” [0066]) storing instructions, and
at least one processor (“control unit (e.g., including control/processing circuitry) 330” [0066]) configured to execute the instructions to:
Jeon does not specifically teach receive, from one of the plurality of wireless devices, a detection result of a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission from the user device, and transmit, to the network node, a user-plane (U-Plane) signal received from the plurality of wireless devices wherein the intermediate device receives the U-Plane signal from the plurality of wireless devices after the plurality of wireless devices detect the PRACH transmission from the user device.
Jeon does not specifically teach receive, from one of the plurality of wireless devices, a detection result of a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission from the user device, and transmit, to the network node, a user-plane (U-Plane) signal received from the plurality of wireless devices wherein the intermediate device receives the U-Plane signal from the plurality of wireless devices after the plurality of wireless devices detect the PRACH transmission from the user device.
In an analogous art, Priyanto discloses receive, from one of the plurality of wireless devices (i.e. “O-RUs in Fig. 5), a detection result of a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission (“A third channel (thick solid line in FIGS. 5A, 5B)—e.g., implemented by the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) 212—may be used by the UE 101, and possibly other UEs 101 at the same time, to transmit a random access preamble” [0067]) from the user device (e.g. “UE 101”), and
transmit, to the network node, a user-plane (U-Plane) signal received from the plurality of wireless devices wherein the intermediate device receives the U-Plane signal from the plurality of wireless devices (“thereby initiate a random access procedure for a establishing control and data plane connectivity between the UE 101 and the CN 115. The network 100 may broadcast system information (i.e., SIB2) defining those time-frequency resource elements of the time-frequency resource grid 200 which are assigned to the PRACH 212 and in which random access preambles may be transmitted—so-called Random Access occasions (RO) 212. Signaling may be reduced by pre-defining various preamble formats and resource assignments, which may be referenced and looked up using a PRACH configuration index.” [0067]) after the plurality of wireless devices detect the PRACH transmission from the user device (i.e. data plane is established after PRACH 212 in Figs. 5A, 5B is used to transmit the random access preamble).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Jeon’s method for fronthaul transmission in the wireless communication system, to include Priyanto’s method for establishing data plane/U-plane after receiving PRACH transmission, in order to initiate a random access procedure (Priyanto [0067]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Priyanto’s method for establishing data plane/U-plane after receiving PRACH transmission into Jeon’s method for fronthaul transmission in the wireless communication system since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 14
Jeon, as modified by Priyanto, previously discloses the intermediate device according to claim 13,
Jeon further discloses wherein the intermediate device is a fronthaul multiplexer (FHM) (i.e. “front haul multiplexing (FHM) 530” in Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 17 (Currently Amended)
Jeon, as modified by Priyanto, previously discloses the intermediate device according to claim 13, further comprising
Jeon further discloses a synthesis unit that synthesizes, based on the detection result, the U-Plane signal received from the plurality of wireless devices (“The FHM 630 may combine IQ data corresponding the same radio resource element from a plurality of eCPRI messages for a UL U-plane of the Ethernet frames.” [0116] and furthermore “As described above with reference to FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B, when the FHM 630 or the cascaded O-RU 660 combines the UL U-plane message, information elements required to be checked for are as shown in Table 3 below.” [0129]).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUONG M NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-8184. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00am - 6:30pm.
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/CHUONG M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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