DETAILED ACTION
This office action response to the communication filed on 02/03/2026.
Claims 1-15 are presented for examination.
Claims 16-20 withdrew due to restriction requirement.
Notice of 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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (lDSs) submitted on December 02, 2025; June 25, 2025; December 03, 2024; July 23, 2024; and September 28, 2023 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4, and 12 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
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.
(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 1-2, 9, and 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by JIANG et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0337011 A1), (“D1”, hereinafter).
As per Claim 1, D1 discloses a transmission timing adjustment method ([see, [0019], method for adjusting uplink transmission timing advance]), comprising:
acquiring first Timing Advance 'TA' information ([see, [0015], acquiring uplink transmission timing advance, including obtaining a timing advance command ('TA' information) value (T.sub.A) by a network device]),
the first TA information is estimated by a terminal device ([see, [0015-019], a terminal equipment for calculating timing advance (T.sub.TA)]); and
adjusting a first uplink TA value (adjusting uplink transmission timing advance includes TA value (T.sub.A)) according to the first TA information (TA command) to obtain a second uplink TA value (determine adjusted uplink transmission timing, such as determined new value (T.sub.A)) ([see, [0019-0020, 0079], wherein the adjusting uplink transmission timing advance, receive a timing advance command (TA command), the TA command including a timing advance command value (T.sub.A), and a determine adjusted uplink transmission timing based on the T.sub.A]).
As per Claim 2, D1 discloses the method according to claim 1, and D1 further discloses wherein the first TA information (TA command) comprises at least one of a first TA value (receives the TA command at a time t) and first TA variation information (timing adjustment amount) obtained based on the TA command) ([see, [0012, 0079], receives the TA command at a time t and the TA command after a certain time interval (such as a time t+T) with TA variation information to perform uplink transmission by using the uplink transmission timing advance updated based on the TA command]).
As per Claim 9, D1 discloses the method according to claim 1, and D1 further discloses further comprising: performing uplink transmission by applying the second uplink TA value in an uplink time unit n+m+1, where n represents an uplink time unit for acquiring or estimating the first TA information, and m is a number greater than or equal to 0 ([see, [0079], perform uplink transmission by using the uplink transmission timing advance updated based on the TA command (information), receives the TA command at an n-th time unit, the TA command is effective at an (n+N)-th (N>0, for example, N=6) time unit, that is, from the (n+N)-th time unit]).
As per Claim 13, D1 discloses the method according to claim 1, and D1 further discloses wherein said acquiring the first TA information comprises: acquiring the first TA information according to a first subcarrier spacing ([see, [0015], obtaining a timing advance command value (T.sub.A) by a network device, the T.sub.A being related to a first reference subcarrier spacing (SCS) used by a terminal equipment for calculating timing advance (T.sub.TA)]).
As per Claim 14, D1 discloses the method according to claim 13, and D1 further discloses
wherein the first subcarrier spacing (SCS) is a subcarrier spacing of an uplink active Bandwidth Part 'BWP ([see, [0181], obtain the reference subcarrier spacing (SCS), the first configuration information may be further used to indicate an active uplink bandwidth part (BWP)]); or
the terminal device is configured with a plurality of uplink active BWPs, and the first subcarrier spacing is a largest one of the plurality of uplink active BWPs; OR
the terminal device performs uplink active BWP switching between acquiring the first TA information and performing uplink transmission by applying the second uplink TA value, and the first subcarrier spacing is a subcarrier spacing of a new uplink active BWP; OR the terminal device performs uplink active BWP switching after performing uplink transmission by applying the second uplink TA value, and an absolute value of the second uplink TA value remains unchanged before switching the active BWP and after switching the active BWP.
As per Claim 15, D1 discloses a terminal device ([see, [0153], a terminal equipment]), comprising:
a processor ([see, [0153], a central processing unit 1101]), and
a memory that stores a computer program ([see, [0153], a memory 1102]),
wherein the processor is configured to invoke and execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform:
acquire first Timing Advance 'TA' information ([see, [0015], acquiring uplink transmission timing advance, including obtaining a timing advance command value (T.sub.A) by a network device]),
the first TA information is estimated by a terminal device ([see, [0015-019], a terminal equipment for calculating timing advance (T.sub.TA)]); and
adjust a first uplink TA value according to the first TA information to obtain a second uplink TA value ([see, [0019-0020], wherein the adjusting uplink transmission timing advance, receive a timing advance command (TA command), the TA command including a timing advance command value (T.sub.A), and a determine adjusted uplink transmission timing based on the T.sub.A]).
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.
Claims 5-6, 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1, in view of Yu et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20200314788 A1), (“D2”, hereinafter).
As per Claim 5, D1 discloses the method according to claim 1, and D1 doesn’t appear explicitly disclose: further comprising: determining, based on an overlapping status of the two adjacent time slots due to adjusting the first uplink TA value according to the first TA information, whether to adjust the first uplink TA value according to the first TA information overlapping with adjacent time slots, determining whether to adjust the first uplink TA value.
However, D2 discloses determining, based on an overlapping status of the two adjacent time slots due to adjusting the first uplink TA value according to the first TA information, whether to adjust the first uplink TA value according to the first TA information overlapping with adjacent time slots, determining whether to adjust the first uplink TA value ([see, [0046-0047], the UE may calculate a new time adjustment value by updating an old (current) time adjustment value, based on the TA parameter values]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D2, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D2. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide updating time adjustment value results improve on performance metrics such as latency, reliability and throughput (D2, [0003]]).
As per Claim 6, D1 discloses the method according to claim 1, and D1 doesn’t appear explicitly disclose:
wherein when a downlink reference timing of the terminal device changes and is not compensated, or
when the downlink reference timing of the terminal device changes and is partially compensated without receiving a TA command, the terminal device adjusts the first TA information; or
the terminal device adjusts the first uplink TA value according to the first TA information; or
the terminal device adjusts the second uplink TA value according to the first TA information.
However, D2 discloses the terminal device adjusts the second uplink TA value according to the first TA information ([see, [0046-0047], the UE may calculate a new time adjustment value by updating an old-time adjustment value (current or the second uplink TA value), based on the TA parameter values]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D2, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D2. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide updating time adjustment value results improve on performance metrics such as latency, reliability and throughput (D2, [0003]]).
As per Claim 10, D1 discloses the method according to claim 1, and D1 appear explicitly disclose: further comprising: determining, based on an overlapping status of two adjacent time slots due to adjusting the first uplink TA value according to the first TA information, an uplink time unit in which the second uplink TA value is applied for uplink transmission.
However, D2 discloses determining, based on an overlapping status of two adjacent time slots due to adjusting the first uplink TA value according to the first TA information, an uplink time unit in which the second uplink TA value is applied for uplink transmission ([see, [0046-0047], the UE may calculate a new time adjustment value by updating an old (current) time adjustment value, based on the TA parameter values]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D2, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D2. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide updating time adjustment value results improve on performance metrics such as latency, reliability and throughput (D2, [0003]]).
Claims 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1, in view of D2, and further in view of Tynderfeldt et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20110085491 A1), (“D3”, hereinafter).
As per Claim 11, D1 and D2 discloses the method according to claim 10, and D1 and D2 doesn’t appear explicitly disclose: wherein when the two adjacent time slots overlap (arrive the same time slot) due to adjusting the first uplink TA value according to the first TA information (command); the terminal device performs uplink transmission by applying the second uplink TA value after the ongoing uplink transmission ends; or when adjusting the first uplink TA value according to the first TA information leads to no overlapping of two adjacent time slots.
However, D3 further discloses wherein when the two adjacent time slots overlap (arrive the same time slot) due to adjusting the first uplink TA value according to the first TA information (command) ([see, [0062], wherein the UE to send uplink transmissions for arrival at the radio network node at the time slots (overlapping), the timing advance value is quantized (adjusting)]),
the terminal device performs uplink transmission by applying the second uplink TA value after the ongoing uplink transmission ends ([see, [0182-0184], a wireless communication network, for handling timing alignment of uplink communication transmissions between user equipment, i.e. UE, and a radio access network node, determining timing distance based on the preset timing advance value, to transmit uplink messages for arrival at a later time slot and in a controlled manner]); or
when adjusting the first uplink TA value according to the first TA information leads to no overlapping of two adjacent time slots.
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D3, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D3. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide updating time adjustment value results improve capacity, the partitioning of UL resources can be adjusted based on the traffic load for the users in each timing offset zone (D3, [0168]).
Claims 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1, in view of Tynderfeldt et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20110085491 A1), (“D3”, hereinafter).
As per Claim 7, D1 discloses the method according to claim 1, and D1 doesn’t explicitly discloses: wherein if the two adjacent time slots overlap due to adjusting the first uplink TA value according to the first TA information (command), a length of an earlier one of the two adjacent time slots is reduced; or
a length of a later one of the two adjacent time slots is reduced; or
a length of each time slot of the two adjacent time slots that is not used for transmission is reduced.
However, D3 discloses wherein if the two adjacent time slots overlap due to adjusting the first uplink TA value according to the first TA information (command) ([see, [0058], when the timing offset is greater than (overlap) or equal to the threshold value]), a length of an earlier one of the two adjacent time slots is reduced ([see, 55-0058], and Fig. 9, the radio network node sets the timing advance value to the timing offset reduced by one or more time slot periods, when the timing offset is greater than or equal to the threshold value, whereby a time-aligned uplink transmission from said at least one user equipment may be caused to arrive at the radio network node time aligned with a second uplink time slot that is later than the first uplink time slot]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D3, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D3. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide updating time adjustment value results improve capacity, the partitioning of UL resources can be adjusted based on the traffic load for the users in each timing offset zone (D3, [0168]).
As per Claim 8, D1 and D3 discloses the method according to claim 7, and D1 appears to be silent to the instant claim, and D3 further discloses wherein the reduced length is equal to a length of an overlapping portion of the two adjacent time slots ([see, [0027, 0058], the radio network node sets the timing advance value to the timing offset reduced by one or more time slot periods, when the timing offset is greater than or equal to the threshold value, whereby a time-aligned uplink transmission from said at least one user equipment may be caused to arrive at the radio network node time aligned with a second uplink time slot that is later than the first uplink time slot]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D3, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D3. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide updating time adjustment value results improve capacity, the partitioning of UL resources can be adjusted based on the traffic load for the users in each timing offset zone (D3, [0168]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BERHANU BELETE whose telephone number is (571)272-3478. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 7:30am-5pm, Alt. Friday, and EDT.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JEONG, MOO R. can be reached on (571) 272-9617. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BERHANU D BELETE/
Examiner, Art Unit 2468
/WUTCHUNG CHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2418