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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites a term “the BWP-SownlinkDedicated”, this is an obvious typo which should have been “BWP-DownlinkDedicated”.
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.
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because of the following.
Claims 1-5, 7-8 and 10-11 provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-14 of copending Application No. 18396217 (Hereinafter A18396217) in view of NAGARAJA (US 20190319833 A1).
For claim 1, A18396217 discloses a communication apparatus that communicates with a base station that manages a cell including N (N≥2) transmission/reception points, the communication apparatus comprising (claim 1, “A communication apparatus that communicates with a base station that manages a cell including N (N≥2) transmission/reception points, the communication apparatus comprising”):
a communicator configured to receive, from the base station, a radio resource control (RRC) message including information for configuring N beam failure detection resource sets (claim 1 “a communicator configured to receive, from the base station, a radio resource control (RRC) message including a radio link monitoring configuration for configuring radio link monitoring and a beam failure detection configuration for configuring N beam failure detection resource sets”); and
a controller configured to individually detect beam failure for each of the N beam failure detection resource sets (claim 1 “… a beam failure detection configuration for configuring N beam failure detection resource sets; …”), wherein
the RRC message includes BWP-DownlinkDedicated which is an information element used for configuring communication apparatus specific parameters of a downlink bandwidth part (claim 4 “the RRC message includes BWP-DownlinkDedicated which is an information element used for configuring communication apparatus specific parameters of a downlink bandwidth part,”), and
the BWP-DownlinkDedicated includes information for configuring a reference signal resource for cell level radio link monitoring and the information for configuring the N beam failure detection resource sets (claim 1 “the radio link monitoring configuration includes information indicating a reference signal resource for radio link monitoring and information indicating purpose of the reference signal resource, beam failure, radio link failure (RLF), and both of these are defined for the purpose, …” and claim 4 “the RRC message includes BWP-DownlinkDedicated which is an information element used for configuring communication apparatus specific parameters of a downlink bandwidth part” in view of the parent claims).
A18396217 is silent but NAGARAJA the controller is configured to initiate a random access procedure in a case where a beam failure recovery (BFR) is triggered for all of the N beam failure detection resource sets and the BFR is not successfully completed for any of the beam failure detection resource sets
(“[0090] …; means for determining based on a threshold radio link quality whether to perform a measurement of a second radio link quality of a beam failure recovery candidate resource set …; means for determining whether to perform a contention free random access procedure on a candidate beam or a contention based random access procedure on the candidate beam based on whether the measurement of the second radio link quality of the beam failure recovery candidate resource set meets a second threshold; ...”; note that determining whether to perform random access procedure based on outcome of measurement outcome suggests if BFR is successfully completed or not). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of NAGARAJA to the beams by A18396217 to yield an predictable result of performing failure recovery.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the application to combine A18396217 with NAGARAJA for the benefit of performing failure recovery ([0090] of NAGARAJA).
For claim 7 is rejected because it is a claim of the corresponding base station communicating with the communication apparatus of claim 1 and has the same subject matter.
For claim 10 is rejected because it is a claim of a method that is performed by the communication apparatus of claim 1 and has the same subject matter.
As to claim 2, A18396217 in view of NAGARAJA discloses claim 1, A18396217 further discloses: wherein the controller is configured to initiate the random access procedure on a special cell (SpCell) in a case where the BFR is triggered for all of the N beam failure detection resource sets of the SpCell and the BFR is not successfully completed for any of the beam failure detection resource sets (claim 1 “”).
As to claim 3, A18396217 in view of NAGARAJA discloses claim 1, A18396217 further discloses: wherein in a case that the beam failure for one beam failure detection resource set of the N beam failure detection resource sets is detected, the controller is configured to initiate the random access procedure only in a case where the beam failure for the other beam failure detection resource set is detected and the BFR is not successfully completed for any of the beam failure detection resource sets (claim 1 “”).
As to claim 4, A18396217 in view of NAGARAJA discloses claim 2, A18396217 further discloses:
wherein in a case that the beam failure for the one beam failure detection resource set is detected, the controller is configured to initiate the random access procedure only in a case where the cell is the SpCell, the beam failure for the other beam failure detection resource set is detected, and the BFR is not successfully completed for any of the beam failure detection resource sets (claim 1 “”).
As to claim 5, A18396217 in view of NAGARAJA discloses claim 3, A18396217 further discloses:
wherein in a case that the beam failure for the one beam failure detection resource set is detected, the controller is configured to determine not to initiate the random access procedure in a case where the beam failure for the other beam failure detection resource set is detected and the BFR is successfully completed for the other beam failure detection resource set (claim 1 “”).
As to claim 8, A18396217 in view of NAGARAJA discloses claim 7, A18396217 further discloses:
wherein in a case where the BFR is triggered for all of the N beam failure detection resource sets of a special cell (SpCell) and the BFR is not successfully completed for any of the beam failure detection resource sets, the random access procedure on the SpCell is performed (claim 1 “”).
As to claim 9, A18396217 in view of NAGARAJA discloses claim 7, A18396217 further discloses:
wherein the RRC message includes BWP-DownlinkDedicated which is an information element used for configuring communication apparatus specific parameters of a downlink bandwidth part, and
the BWP-DownlinkDedicated includes information for configuring a reference signal resource for cell level radio link monitoring and the information for configuring the N beam failure detection resource sets (claim 1 “”).
As to claim 11, A18396217 in view of NAGARAJA discloses claim 10, A18396217 further discloses:
wherein initiating the random access procedure on a special cell (SpCell) in a case where the BFR is triggered for all of the N beam failure detection resource sets of the SpCell and the BFR is not successfully completed for any of the beam failure detection resource sets (claim 1 “”).
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 1-5, 7-8 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun (US 20220116876 A1) in view of D1 (R1-2105781, NPL dated 12/26/23, 12 pages), further in view of NAGARAJA (US 20190319833 A1).
For claim 1, Sun discloses a communication apparatus that communicates with a base station that manages a cell including N (N≥2) transmission/reception points (FIGs. 4-6 shows that a base station with N>2 TRPs/beams), the communication apparatus comprising:
a communicator configured to receive, from the base station, a radio resource control (RRC) message including information for configuring N beam failure detection resource sets (FIGs. 1-8 and the associated text, such as FIG, 7, Step 201 “Monitor signal quality corresponding to a physical layer or a radio resource control RRC layer of the terminal device” and “[0024] a monitoring module, configured to monitor signal quality corresponding to a physical layer or a radio resource control RRC layer of the terminal device”); and
a controller configured to ([0369] “It may be understood that the embodiments described in the embodiments of this application may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, or a combination thereof. For implementation with hardware, the processing unit may be implemented in ... a controller, a microcontroller, …”) wherein
the RRC message includes BWP-DownlinkDedicated which is an information element used for configuring communication apparatus specific parameters of a downlink bandwidth part (FIGs. 1-8 and the associated text, such as “[0024] a monitoring module, configured to monitor signal quality corresponding to a physical layer or a radio resource control RRC layer of the terminal device” and “[0099] The signal quality result monitored on the BWP can be converted into a BLER for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) receiving on a full bandwidth …” in view of the parent claims), and
the BWP-DownlinkDedicated includes information for configuring a reference signal resource for cell level radio link monitoring and the information for configuring the N beam failure detection resource sets (FIGs. 1-8 and the associated text, such as “[0099] The signal quality result monitored on the BWP can be converted into a BLER for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) receiving on a full bandwidth …” in view of the parent claims).
Sun does not explicitly state but D1, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication specified by 3GPP, discloses individually detect beam failure for each of the N beam failure detection (p6, 2nd Agreement, 1st para “for a UE configured … when beam failure is detected in a one or more CCs in one or more of BFD-RS sets configured in one or more of CCs”). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of D1 above to each of the N beams by Sun to yield a predictable result of reusing a beam.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA to combine Sun with D1 for the benefit of reusing communication resources such as a beam ([0161] of D1).
Sun in view of D1 is silent but NAGARAJA the controller is configured to initiate a random access procedure in a case where a beam failure recovery (BFR) is triggered for all of the N beam failure detection resource sets and the BFR is not successfully completed for any of the beam failure detection resource sets
(“[0090] …; means for determining based on a threshold radio link quality whether to perform a measurement of a second radio link quality of a beam failure recovery candidate resource set …; means for determining whether to perform a contention free random access procedure on a candidate beam or a contention based random access procedure on the candidate beam based on whether the measurement of the second radio link quality of the beam failure recovery candidate resource set meets a second threshold; ...”; note that determining whether to perform random access procedure based on outcome of measurement outcome suggests if BFR is successfully completed or not). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of NAGARAJA to the beams by A18396217 to yield an predictable result of performing failure recovery.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the application to combine A18396217 in view of D1 with NAGARAJA for the benefit of performing failure recovery ([0090] of NAGARAJA).
For claim 7 is rejected because it is a claim of the corresponding base station communicating with the communication apparatus of claim 1 and has the same subject matter.
For claim 10 is rejected because it is a claim of a method that is performed by the communication apparatus of claim 1 and has the same subject matter.
As to claims 2, 8 and 11, Sun in view of D1 and NAGARAJA discloses claims 1, 7 and 10, NAGARAJA further discloses: wherein the controller is configured to initiate the random access procedure on a special cell (SpCell) in a case where the BFR is triggered for all of the N beam failure detection resource sets of the SpCell and the BFR is not successfully completed for any of the beam failure detection resource sets (“[0090] …; means for determining based on a threshold radio link quality whether to perform a measurement of a second radio link quality of a beam failure recovery candidate resource set …; means for determining whether to perform a contention free random access procedure on a candidate beam or a contention based random access procedure on the candidate beam based on whether the measurement of the second radio link quality of the beam failure recovery candidate resource set meets a second threshold; ...” and “[0054] When an RLF and/or BFR is detected, a UE may take appropriate actions to recover the connection. For example, after multiple out-of-sync measurements, the UE may transmit a beam failure recovery signal to initiate recovery of the connection with the base station. For example, the UE may be configured by RRC with a beam failure recovery procedure that is used to indicate to the base station that the RLF has been detected.”; note that the special cell SpCell is the cell specified by the base station). The motivation of NAGARAJA with Sun in view of D1 is the same as stated in the parent claim.
As to claim 3, Sun in view of D1 and NAGARAJA discloses claim 1, NAGARAJA further discloses: wherein in a case that the beam failure for one beam failure detection resource set of the N beam failure detection resource sets is detected, the controller is configured to initiate the random access procedure only in a case where the beam failure for the other beam failure detection resource set is detected and the BFR is not successfully completed for any of the beam failure detection resource sets (“[0090] …; means for determining based on a threshold radio link quality whether to perform a measurement of a second radio link quality of a beam failure recovery candidate resource set …; means for determining whether to perform a contention free random access procedure on a candidate beam or a contention based random access procedure on the candidate beam based on whether the measurement of the second radio link quality of the beam failure recovery candidate resource set meets a second threshold; ...” and “[0054] When an RLF and/or BFR is detected, a UE may take appropriate actions to recover the connection. For example, after multiple out-of-sync measurements, the UE may transmit a beam failure recovery signal to initiate recovery of the connection with the base station. For example, the UE may be configured by RRC with a beam failure recovery procedure that is used to indicate to the base station that the RLF has been detected.” in view of the parent claim). The motivation of NAGARAJA with Sun in view of D1 is the same as stated in the parent claim.
As to claim 4, Sun in view of D1 and NAGARAJA discloses claim 2, NAGARAJA further discloses:wherein in a case that the beam failure for the one beam failure detection resource set is detected, the controller is configured to initiate the random access procedure only in a case where the cell is the SpCell, the beam failure for the other beam failure detection resource set is detected, and the BFR is not successfully completed for any of the beam failure detection resource sets (“[0090] …; means for determining based on a threshold radio link quality whether to perform a measurement of a second radio link quality of a beam failure recovery candidate resource set …; means for determining whether to perform a contention free random access procedure on a candidate beam or a contention based random access procedure on the candidate beam based on whether the measurement of the second radio link quality of the beam failure recovery candidate resource set meets a second threshold; ...” in view of the parent claims). The motivation of NAGARAJA with Sun in view of D1 is the same as stated in the parent claim.
As to claim 5, Sun in view of D1 and NAGARAJA discloses claim 3, NAGARAJA further discloses: wherein in a case that the beam failure for the one beam failure detection resource set is detected, the controller is configured to determine not to initiate the random access procedure in a case where the beam failure for the other beam failure detection resource set is detected and the BFR is successfully completed for the other beam failure detection resource set (“[0090] …; means for determining based on a threshold radio link quality whether to perform a measurement of a second radio link quality of a beam failure recovery candidate resource set …; means for determining whether to perform a contention free random access procedure on a candidate beam or a contention based random access procedure on the candidate beam based on whether the measurement of the second radio link quality of the beam failure recovery candidate resource set meets a second threshold; ...” in view of the parent claims). The motivation of NAGARAJA with Sun in view of D1 is the same as stated in the parent claim.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIANYE WU whose telephone number is (571)270-1665. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 8am-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, Yemane Mesfin can be reached at (571) 272-3927. 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.
/JIANYE WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462