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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 03/03/2026 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/16/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 02/09/2026 have been fully considered.
With regards to independent claim 11, the arguments are moot in view of new ground(s).
With regards to independent claims 2 and 19, the arguments are not persuasive:
In response to applicant's argument that GUPTA does not disclose one or more bands other than the source band and the target band that are affected by the band steering from the source band to the target band, it is noted that these features upon which applicant relies are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Claims 2 and 19 do not necessarily preclude the source and target band(s) from being amongst the bands affected by the switching. The term other bands in the claim(s) does not encompass other than the source and target bands.
Gupta ([0200-0201, 0214-0215]) discloses that multiband mobile device transmits a capability message indicating a capability to support multi-band information, and capability to support band steering operations. Multiband mobile device transmits a Band Steering Command ANQP message to multiband AP to indicate steering communications from one band to another. Band Steering Command ANQP message includes source band and target band. i.e., bands affected by the steering/switching.
Claim Objections
Claims 2 and 19 are objected to because the term “other bands” renders the scope of the claim(s) ambiguous in terms of what bands are excluded from being affected by the carrier/band switching operation.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 2, 3, 5, 8, 19, 20, and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gupta et al (US 20150282032) in view of Zhang et al. (US 20190159080).
Regarding claim 2, Gupta discloses a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) (UE 110; Fig. 1), comprising:
determining a carrier switching capability of the UE that relates to a capability of the UE to switch bands, wherein the carrier switching capability indicates one or more other bands, affected by a switch from a source band to a target band (multiband mobile device 110, may transmit a capability message, e.g., an HS Capability ANQP message, including a subtype filed having a value to indicate the a capability of the multiband device to support multi-band information, and a subtype filed having a value to indicate the a capability of the multiband device to support band steering operations; [0200-0201].
transmitter 114 may transmit the Band Steering Command ANQP message to multiband AP 130, e.g., to indicate to multiband AP 130 that multiband mobile device 110 is to steer communications from one band to another. Band Steering Command ANQP message may include source band information relating to a band communication is to be steered form (“source band”), if applicable, and target band information relating to a band to which communication is to be steered (“target band”); [0214-0215]), and
wherein the source band and the target band are associated with a same radio access technology (RAT) (source band information tuple 606 may include band information tuple 630 and/or target band information tuple 608 may include band information tuple 630. Band information tuple 630 may include an identifier 636of a WLAN network with which the multiband mobile device may be associated; [0218, 0221].
i.e. the source band and target band are associated with WLAN); and
signaling, to a network entity, the carrier switching capability (transmitting from a mobile device a first message to AP, the first message including multiband capability information indicating a plurality of supported wireless communication bands of the mobile device. receiver 136 (FIG. 1) may receive the message, e.g., the ANQP message, including the multiband capability information from multiband mobile device 110 (FIG. 1), e.g., as described above; [0225-0226]).
Gupta does not expressly disclose wherein the carrier switching capability is associated with a sounding reference signal (SRS).
In an analogous art, Zhang discloses wherein the carrier switching capability is associated with a sounding reference signal (SRS) (UE can report its SRS switching capability on a group basis, e.g., a SRS switching cell group. The feedback may include one or more SRS switching cell groups and the cells in each group (e.g. Group 1, including CC1, CC2, . . . ); or the bands in each group (e.g. Group 1, including band 1, band 2 . . . ). The feedback may include, for example: the cells or supported bands within the same RF TX chain. If the reported SRS switching cell group is per band, the cells supported in the band may be in the same SRS switching cell group. The grouping can be at least done according to TX chain capability (e.g., the cells supported by TX chain 1 form Group 1, cells supported by TX chain 2 form Group 2, etc.); [0041]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Zhang into the system of Gupta in order to enable fast SRS carrier switching among TDD DL carriers, and thus improve the DL beamforming performance (Zhang; [0027]).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Gupta and Zhang, particularly Gupta discloses wherein the carrier switching capability further indicates: a capability of the UE to perform the switch (transmitting from a mobile device a first message to AP, the first message including multiband capability information indicating a plurality of supported wireless communication bands of the mobile device. receiver 136 (FIG. 1) may receive the message, e.g., the ANQP message, including the multiband capability information from multiband mobile device 110 (FIG. 1), e.g., as described above; [0225-0226]).
Zhang discloses wherein the carrier switching capability indicates an interruption in the one or more other bands caused by the switch (UE's SRS switching capability feedback may include the interruption time (including switching time and SRS transmission time) for UL and DL, respectively, for each configured serving cell; [0037-0039]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Zhang into the system of Gupta in order to enable fast SRS carrier switching among TDD DL carriers, and thus improve the DL beamforming performance (Zhang; [0027]).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Gupta and Zhang, particularly Zhang discloses wherein the carrier switching capability indicates an interruption time due to the switch (UE's SRS switching capability feedback may include the interruption time (including switching time and SRS transmission time) for UL and DL, respectively, for each configured serving cell; [0037-0039]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Zhang into the system of Gupta in order to enable fast SRS carrier switching among TDD DL carriers, and thus improve the DL beamforming performance (Zhang; [0027]).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Gupta and Zhang, particularly Zhang discloses wherein the carrier switching capability indicates at least one of: an interruption for at least one of an uplink operation or a downlink operation; an interruption of one or more symbols for an uplink operation; an interruption of one or more symbols for a downlink operation; an interruption to a band of two symbols for downlink and two symbols for uplink when another band transmits the SRS; or an interruption to a band of one symbol for downlink and one symbol for uplink when another band transmits the SRS (SRS switching capability information may include, for each cell in the list: an interruption time on uplink transmission and an interruption time on downlink reception for each serving cell of the user equipment, wherein the interruption time may include at least: a switching time and a SRS transmission time for the given cell in the list; and the downlink timing difference between each of the serving cells and the given cell in the list; [0047]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Zhang into the system of Gupta in order to enable fast SRS carrier switching among TDD DL carriers, and thus improve the DL beamforming performance (Zhang; [0027]).
Regarding claim 19, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 2.
Regarding claim 20, the combination of Gupta and Zhang, particularly Gupta discloses wherein the capability relates to antenna switching (multiband radio 112 may include or may be associated with one or more antennas 120. Method of FIG. 7 may be performed by multiband mobile device 110 (FIG. 1), and/or a multiband radio, e.g., multiband radio 112 (FIG. 1). block 702, the method may include transmitting from a mobile device a first message to AP, the first message including multiband capability information indicating a plurality of supported wireless communication bands of the mobile device; [0055, 0224-0225]).
Regarding claim 29, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 5.
Claims 7, 11, 12, 14, 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gupta et al (US 20150282032) in view of Zhang et al. (US 20190159080) and in view of Cui et al. (WO 2018081597).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Gupta and Zhang does not expressly disclose wherein the carrier switching capability indicates one or more bands that experience an interruption when the SRS is transmitted in a band without an uplink capability.
In analogous art, Cui discloses wherein the carrier switching capability indicates one or more bands that experience an interruption when the SRS is transmitted in a band without an uplink capability (for transmission to the eNB through the interface, radio resource control (RRC) signaling comprising an UE-EUTRA-capability information element (IE) that indicates at least one of: an interruption time on downlink (DL) reception within a band pair of TDD component carriers (CCs) of the SCell during radio frequency (RF) retuning for switching between the band pair to transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS) on a PUSCH-less SCell, or an interruption time on uplink (UL) reception within the band pair during RF retuning for switching between the band pair for switching between the band pair to transmit the SRS on the PUSCH-less SCell; and encode, for transmission to the eNB via the interface, the SRS after transmission of the RRC signaling; [0125]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Cui into the system of Gupta and Zhang in order to allow a network to minimize interruption impact, so that the network and the UE coordinate behavior to avoid mis-scheduling or resource/power waste in transmission attempts (Cui; [0083]).
Regarding claim 11, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 7.
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Gupta, Cui, and Zhang, particularly Gupta discloses wherein the carrier switching capability further indicates: a capability of the UE to perform a switch from a source band to a target band, wherein the source band and the target band are associated with a same radio access technology (RAT) (Band Steering Command ANQP message may include source band information relating to a band communication is to be steered form (“source band”), if applicable, and target band information relating to a band to which communication is to be steered (“target band”); [0214-0215].
source band information tuple 606 may include band information tuple 630 and/or target band information tuple 608 may include band information tuple 630. Band information tuple 630 may include an identifier 636of a WLAN network with which the multiband mobile device may be associated; [0218, 0221].
i.e. the source band and target band are associated with WLAN).
Zhang discloses an interruption in one or more other bands caused by the switch (UE's SRS switching capability feedback may include the interruption time (including switching time and SRS transmission time) for UL and DL, respectively, for each configured serving cell; [0037-0039]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Zhang into the system of Gupta and Cui in order to enable fast SRS carrier switching among TDD DL carriers, and thus improve the DL beamforming performance (Zhang; [0027]).
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Gupta, Cui, and Zhang, particularly Zhang discloses wherein the carrier switching capability indicates an interruption time due to the switch (UE's SRS switching capability feedback may include the interruption time (including switching time and SRS transmission time) for UL and DL, respectively, for each configured serving cell; [0037-0039]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Zhang into the system of Gupta and Cui in order to enable fast SRS carrier switching among TDD DL carriers, and thus improve the DL beamforming performance (Zhang; [0027]).
Regarding claim 24, the combination of Gupta, Cui, and Zhang, particularly Zhang discloses wherein the carrier switching capability indicates at least one of: an interruption for at least one of an uplink operation or a downlink operation; an interruption of one or more symbols for an uplink operation; an interruption of one or more symbols for a downlink operation; an interruption to a band of two symbols for downlink and two symbols for uplink when another band transmits the SRS; or an interruption to a band of one symbol for downlink and one symbol for uplink when another band transmits the SRS (SRS switching capability information may include, for each cell in the list: an interruption time on uplink transmission and an interruption time on downlink reception for each serving cell of the user equipment, wherein the interruption time may include at least: a switching time and a SRS transmission time for the given cell in the list; and the downlink timing difference between each of the serving cells and the given cell in the list; [0047]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Zhang into the system of Gupta and Cui in order to enable fast SRS carrier switching among TDD DL carriers, and thus improve the DL beamforming performance (Zhang; [0027]).
Claims 9, 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gupta et al (US 20150282032) in view of Zhang et al. (US 20190159080) and in view of Liu et al. (US 20170302419).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Gupta and Zhang does not expressly disclose wherein the carrier switching capability indicates no interruption to a band when another band transmits the SRS.
In an analogous art, Liu discloses wherein the carrier switching capability indicates no interruption to a band when another band transmits the SRS (UE 210 may need to perform SRS switching in order to periodically, or aperiodically, transmit SRS symbols over the component carriers that do not support PUSCH/PUCCH transmissions. In this way, SRS switching may occur even when the UE 210 is capable of simultaneously transmitting uplink signals over all component carriers in the set of aggregated component carriers 240, in which case there may be no uplink RF retuning delay associated with SRS switching; [0082]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Liu into the system of Gupta and Zhang in order to increase the effective bandwidth available to a mobile device by allowing the communication session to be transitioned over to a component carrier that is exhibiting better channel quality (Liu; [0136]).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Gupta and Zhang does not expressly disclose wherein the carrier switching capability indicates no interruption to a band in downlink and an interruption to the band of two symbols for uplink when another band transmits the SRS.
In an analogous art, Liu discloses wherein the carrier switching capability indicates no interruption to a band in downlink (UE 210 may need to perform SRS switching in order to periodically, or aperiodically, transmit SRS symbols over the component carriers that do not support PUSCH/PUCCH transmissions. In this way, SRS switching may occur even when the UE 210 is capable of simultaneously transmitting uplink signals over all component carriers in the set of aggregated component carriers 240, in which case there may be no uplink RF retuning delay associated with SRS switching; [0082]) and
an interruption to the band of two symbols for uplink when another band transmits the SRS (DL interruption may be due to the RF retuning in the UL switching, and in this case, the DL interruption caused by the UL retuning is no longer than the RF retuning time (e.g., 2 symbols). This may be the case if the UE has an implementation with a single RFIC or strongly coupled transmission and reception chains. If the UE reports an interruption is needed for CA operations (e.g., CA activation/deactivation, etc.), then it is possible that DL interruption due to UL retuning would occur, otherwise the DL interruption due to UL retuning would not occur. Alternatively this may be a UE capability reported to the network reflecting RF retuning time and whether DL interruption would occur during RF retuning; [0229]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Liu into the system of Gupta and Zhang in order to increase the effective bandwidth available to a mobile device by allowing the communication session to be transitioned over to a component carrier that is exhibiting better channel quality (Liu; [0136]).
Claims 17, 18, 25, 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gupta et al (US 20150282032) in view of Zhang et al. (US 20190159080) and Cui et al. (WO 2018081597), and in view of Liu et al. (US 20170302419).
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Gupta, Cui, and Zhang does not expressly disclose wherein the carrier switching capability indicates no interruption to the one or more bands when another band transmits the SRS.
In an analogous art, Liu discloses wherein the carrier switching capability indicates no interruption to the one or more bands when another band transmits the SRS (UE 210 may need to perform SRS switching in order to periodically, or aperiodically, transmit SRS symbols over the component carriers that do not support PUSCH/PUCCH transmissions. In this way, SRS switching may occur even when the UE 210 is capable of simultaneously transmitting uplink signals over all component carriers in the set of aggregated component carriers 240, in which case there may be no uplink RF retuning delay associated with SRS switching; [0082]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Liu into the system of Gupta, Cui, and Zhang in order to increase the effective bandwidth available to a mobile device by allowing the communication session to be transitioned over to a component carrier that is exhibiting better channel quality (Liu; [0136]).
Regarding claim 18, the combination of Gupta, Cui, and Zhang does not expressly disclose wherein the carrier switching capability indicates no interruption to the one or more bands in downlink and an interruption to the one or more bands of two symbols for uplink when another band transmits the SRS.
In an analogous art, Liu discloses wherein the carrier switching capability indicates no interruption to the one or more bands in downlink (UE 210 may need to perform SRS switching in order to periodically, or aperiodically, transmit SRS symbols over the component carriers that do not support PUSCH/PUCCH transmissions. In this way, SRS switching may occur even when the UE 210 is capable of simultaneously transmitting uplink signals over all component carriers in the set of aggregated component carriers 240, in which case there may be no uplink RF retuning delay associated with SRS switching; [0082]) and
an interruption to the one or more bands of two symbols for uplink when another band transmits the SRS (DL interruption may be due to the RF retuning in the UL switching, and in this case, the DL interruption caused by the UL retuning is no longer than the RF retuning time (e.g., 2 symbols). This may be the case if the UE has an implementation with a single RFIC or strongly coupled transmission and reception chains. If the UE reports an interruption is needed for CA operations (e.g., CA activation/deactivation, etc.), then it is possible that DL interruption due to UL retuning would occur, otherwise the DL interruption due to UL retuning would not occur. Alternatively this may be a UE capability reported to the network reflecting RF retuning time and whether DL interruption would occur during RF retuning; [0229]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Liu into the system of Gupta, Cui, and Zhang in order to increase the effective bandwidth available to a mobile device by allowing the communication session to be transitioned over to a component carrier that is exhibiting better channel quality (Liu; [0136]).
Regarding claim 25, the combination of Gupta, Cui, and Zhang does not expressly disclose wherein the switch from the source band to the target band causes an uplink interruption of 1 symbol to the target band.
In an analogous art, Liu discloses wherein the switch from the source band to the target band causes an uplink interruption of 1 symbol to the target band (Max interruption=1 subframe. This implies that SRS switching cannot affect the next subframe, then A/N won't be affected, and the network carefully configures suitable UEs for SRS switching. If the interruption is limited to 1 subframe, for cases with aligned TDD UL/DL configuration, the interruption is only in the special subframe or the last symbol of UL subframe; [0536]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Liu into the system of Gupta, Cui, and Zhang in order to increase the effective bandwidth available to a mobile device by allowing the communication session to be transitioned over to a component carrier that is exhibiting better channel quality (Liu; [0136]).
Regarding claim 26, the combination of Gupta, Cui, and Zhang does not expressly disclose wherein the switch from the source band to the target band causes a downlink interruption of 2 symbols to the source band.
In an analogous art, Liu discloses wherein the switch from the source band to the target band causes a downlink interruption of 2 symbols to the source band (Note that the switching for SRS transmission in the UL may cause DL interruption. The DL interruption may be due to the RF retuning in the UL switching, and in this case, the DL interruption caused by the UL retuning is no longer than the RF retuning time (e.g., 2 symbols); [0229]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Liu into the system of Gupta, Cui, and Zhang in order to increase the effective bandwidth available to a mobile device by allowing the communication session to be transitioned over to a component carrier that is exhibiting better channel quality (Liu; [0136]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 27 and 28 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 27, if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, would comprise a combination of elements which is not taught by the prior art of record. The same reasoning applies to dependent claim 28 mutatis mutandis.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Zaus et al. (US 20190373540), “METHOD FOR THE TRANSFER OF RADIO CAPABILITY INFORMATION.”
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OUSSAMA ROUDANI whose telephone number is (571)272-4727. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, UN C CHO can be reached on (571) 272 7919. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/OUSSAMA ROUDANI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413