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 5 objected to because of the following informalities: Acronym “SR” should be spelled out. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 3 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 3 recites “wherein each of the one or more repeater control configurations comprises information for relay transmission by the network controlled repeater being to be turned on”. It is not clear and indefinite what “being to be turned on” means in this context.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abedini et al. (US 2022/0053433, hereinafter “Abedini”) in view of Luo et al. (US 2022/0417989, hereinafter “Luo”).
For Claim 1, Abedini discloses A communication control method comprising:
establishing, by a repeater control wireless terminal (Referring to FIG. 12, the repeater device 1204 includes an MT unit 1208 and an RU 1210 as discussed above in conjunction with FIGS. 10 and 11. The MT unit 1208 may communicate with the network access node 1202 via a fronthaul link; see Abedini par. 0202), a wireless connection to a network node (At 1408, the network access node 1402 and the repeater device 1404 may perform an initial access procedure and establish an RRC connection; see Abedini par. 0215 and Fig. 14), the repeater control wireless terminal being configured to control a network controlled repeater configured to relay wireless communication between the network node and a wireless terminal (The RU 1210 may provide relay functionality to enable signals from the network access node 1202 to reach the UE 1206 and/or to enable signals from the UE 1206 to reach the network access node 1202; see Abedini par. 0202-0203, see also par. 0183-0184); and
transmitting, by the network node to the repeater control wireless terminal through wireless communication, one or more repeater control configurations used to control the network controlled repeater (the network access node 1202 may control the operation of the RU 1210 through the MT unit 1208. For example, the network access node 1202 may configure the MT unit 1208 via a control path 1212 described above to cause the MT unit 1208 to configure the RU 1210. To this end, the MT unit 1208 may generate control signaling carried by a control signaling path 1214 for controlling the operation of the RU 1210; see Abedini par. 0204 and Fig. 12, see also par. 0219 and Figs. 10, 14), wherein
the transmitting comprises transmitting, to the repeater control wireless terminal, timing information relating to a timing at which each of the one or more repeater control configurations is applied (the baseband processor 1312 may control an antenna array by controlling a beamforming configuration for the antenna array, by controlling whether the antenna array acts as a receive antenna array or a transmit antenna array…the baseband processor 1312 may power on or power off one or more components of repeater device 1300 (e.g., when a network access node does not need to use the repeater device to serve UEs). In some aspects, the baseband processor 1312 may control timing of one or more of the above configurations; see Abedini par. 0209).
Abedini does not explicitly disclose a network controlled repeater. Luo discloses a network controlled repeater (Relay node 300 is a network-controlled repeater that is controlled via control path 303 by base station 105. Uplink and downlink communications between base station 105 and UE 115 may be repeated by relay node 300, via data path 304, according to the control information obtained via control path 303; see Luo par. 0104). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Luo's arrangement in Abedini's invention to allow for repeater or relay node-enabled communications between base stations and UEs to minimize or avoid the repeater or relay node amplifying noise or interference (see Luo par. 0103).
For Claim 2, Abedini discloses The communication control method according to claim 1, wherein the wireless connection is a radio resource control (RRC) connection (Smart repeater devices can acquire side control information via a control-interface to a network access node (e.g., scheduling entity, an eNode B (eNB), a gNode B (gNB), a base station). However, this requires the smart repeater device to establish a communication link (e.g., a radio resource control (RRC) connection) with the network access node. The establishment of the RRC connection may be similar to the way a user equipment (UE) establishes an RRC connection with a network access node; see Abedini par. 0072, 0215).
For Claim 3, Abedini discloses The communication control method according to claim 1, wherein each of the one or more repeater control configurations comprises information for relay transmission by the network controlled repeater being to be turned on (The configuration may, for example, implement a feature of turning on or off one or more receivers and/or transmitters when such receivers and/or transmitters are not needed. The decision to turn on or off a receiver and/or transmitter may be based on knowledge of the direction of scheduled resources (e.g., UL, flexible, or DL); see Abedini par. 0347). Examiner’s note: Examiner assumed that “being to be turned on” means “to be on or off”.
For Claim 4, Abedini discloses The communication control method according to claim 1, wherein each of the one or more repeater control configurations comprises beam configuration information to configure a transmission direction, a transmission weight, or a beam pattern for when the network controlled repeater performs directional transmission (The donor node may broadcast (e.g., send, transmit, broadcast, unicast, multicast) different sets of repeater-device-specific control information (e.g., configurations, configuration settings, configuration information) (hereinafter referred to as "repeater device control information") toward respective different angular directions; see Abedini par. 0179).
For Claim 5, Abedini discloses The communication control method according to claim 1, further comprising:
broadcasting, by the network node, SR support information indicating that the network node supports the repeater control wireless terminal (The control signal may be broadcast from the network access node and exclusively directed to a plurality of repeater devices, including the repeater device, within a broadcast reception range of the network access node; see Abedini par. 0400); and
performing, by the repeater control wireless terminal not having established the wireless connection to the network node, an operation to establish the wireless connection to the network node in response to reception of the SR support information from the network node (The control signal may configure the plurality of repeater devices to not convey the radio frequency traffic associated with a cell. In one aspect, the control signal may provide a synchronization signal block (SSB)-specific (SSBspecific) indication, wherein the repeater device may determine to convey or to not convey based on a detected SSB from the network access node and the provided SSE-specific indication. In one aspect, the control signal may indicate that a network access node, transmitting the cell-specific information, bars one or more wireless communication devices (e.g., one or more UEs) from camping on a cell associated with the cell-specific information. In such an example the repeater device (e.g., one or more circuits of the repeater device) may configure itself (i.e., the repeater device) to not convey the radio frequency traffic received at the repeater device from the one or more wireless communication devices in an uplink resource associated with the cell; see Abedini par. 0400).
For Claim 7, Abedini discloses The communication control method according to claim 1, further comprising:
the one or more repeater control configurations comprise repeater control configurations respectively associated with a plurality of synchronization signal blocks transmitted by the network node (At block 2202, a repeater device may receive a first configuration specifying a first quantity of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) to be transmitted by the repeater device. For example, the beam configuration circuitry 2142 together with the communication and processing circuitry 2141 and the transceiver 2110, shown and described above in connection with FIG. 21, may receive an SSB configuration from a gNB and may provide a means for receiving a first configuration specifying a first quantity of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) to be transmitted by the repeater device…; see Abedini par. 0260-0261).
For Claim 8, Abedini discloses The communication control method according to claim 1,wherein the transmitting of the one or more repeater control configurations comprises transmitting, to the repeater control wireless terminal, a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) comprising the one or more repeater control configurations (The configuration may include, for example, beamforming configurations and TDD configurations (e.g., Rx & Tx (forwarding) beamforming) and/or time-domain resource allocation (e.g., the resources used to adopt the indicated configuration). An RU-specific DCI format (scrambled by RU-RNTI) may be defined to provide the required configurations. In addition to a dynamic configuration (e.g., a default mode), semi-persistent and periodic configurations may also be supported. Configuration via MAC-CE or RRC (e.g., for semi-persistent/periodic modes) also may be supported; see Abedini par. 0219, 0331).
For Claim 9, Abedini discloses The communication control method according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the one or more repeater control configurations comprises transmitting, as an information element, an RRC message comprising the one or more repeater control configurations to the repeater control wireless terminal (the network access node 604 may transmit a reference signal, such as an SSB or CSI-RS, on each beam in the different beam directions during the synchronization slot. Transmission of the beam reference signals may occur periodically (e.g., as configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling by the gNB), semi-persistently (e.g., as configured via RRC signaling and activated/deactivated via medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) signaling by the gNB), or aperiodically (e.g., as triggered by the gNB via downlink control information (DCI)); see Abedini par. 0145).
For Claims 10, 12 and 14, Abedini discloses A wireless terminal for performing wireless communication with a network node in a mobile communication system (With respect to the repeater device 1114, an implementation of the protocol stack may be divided between a relay unit (RU) 1118 in L1 1142 and a mobile termination (MT) 1116 in L2 1144 and L3 1146; see Abedini par. 0183), the wireless terminal comprising:
a receiver configured to receive (the repeater device 1114 may receive a signal as a modulated RF waveform at a receiver coupled to a receive antenna array, amplify the signal, and retransmit the signal from a transmitter coupled to a transmit antenna array; see Abedini par. 0188), from a network node through wireless communication, one or more repeater control configurations used to control a network controlled repeater configured to relay wireless communication between the network node and another wireless terminal (The RU 1210 may provide relay functionality to enable signals from the network access node 1202 to reach the UE 1206 and/or to enable signals from the UE 1206 to reach the network access node 1202; see Abedini par. 0202-0203, see also par. 0183-0184); and
a circuitry configured to (the processor 2104 may include communication and processing circuitry 2141; see Abedini par. 0248 and Fig. 21) control the network controlled repeater based on the one or more repeater control configurations (the network access node 1202 may control the operation of the RU 1210 through the MT unit 1208. For example, the network access node 1202 may configure the MT unit 1208 via a control path 1212 described above to cause the MT unit 1208 to configure the RU 1210. To this end, the MT unit 1208 may generate control signaling carried by a control signaling path 1214 for controlling the operation of the RU 1210; see Abedini par. 0204 and Fig. 12, see also par. 0219 and Figs. 10, 14), wherein
the receiver is configured to receive, from the network node, timing information relating to a timing at which each of the one or more repeater control configurations is applied (the baseband processor 1312 may control an antenna array by controlling a beamforming configuration for the antenna array, by controlling whether the antenna array acts as a receive antenna array or a transmit antenna array…the baseband processor 1312 may power on or power off one or more components of repeater device 1300 (e.g., when a network access node does not need to use the repeater device to serve UEs). In some aspects, the baseband processor 1312 may control timing of one or more of the above configurations; see Abedini par. 0209).
Abedini does not explicitly disclose a network controlled repeater. Luo discloses a network controlled repeater (Relay node 300 is a network-controlled repeater that is controlled via control path 303 by base station 105. Uplink and downlink communications between base station 105 and UE 115 may be repeated by relay node 300, via data path 304, according to the control information obtained via control path 303; see Luo par. 0104). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Luo's arrangement in Abedini's invention to allow for repeater or relay node-enabled communications between base stations and UEs to minimize or avoid the repeater or relay node amplifying noise or interference (see Luo par. 0103).
Specifically for Claim 12, Abedini discloses A chipset for a wireless terminal for performing wireless communication with a network node in a mobile communication system, the chipset configured to execute processing of (The processor 2104 may in some instances be implemented via a baseband or modem chip and in other implementations, the processor 2104 may include a number of devices distinct and different from a baseband or modem chip; see Abedini par. 0341).
Specifically for Claim 14, Abedini discloses A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising, stored thereupon, computer program instructions for execution by a wireless terminal for performing wireless communication with a network node in a mobile communication system, the program instructions being configured to cause the wireless device to execute processing of: (The processor 2104 is responsible for managing the bus 2102 and general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium 2106. The software, when executed by the processor 2104, causes the processing system 2114 to perform the various functions described below for any particular apparatus; see Abedini par. 0244).
For Claim 11, Abedini discloses A network node for performing wireless communication with a wireless terminal in a mobile communication system (FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of network access node 2500 (e.g., a scheduling entity, a gNB, a base station) employing a processing system 2514 according to some aspects of the disclosure. For example, the network access node 2500 may be a device configured to wirelessly communicate with a scheduled entity ( e.g., a UE, a wireless communication devices) as well as repeater devices and/or IAB nodes and may also be configured to communication with one or more core network nodes; see Abedini par. 0283 and Fig. 25), the network node comprising:
a transmitter (a transceiver 2510; see Abedini par. 0285 and Fig. 25) configured to transmit, to a wireless terminal through wireless communication, one or more repeater control configurations used to control a network controlled repeater (the network access node 1202 may control the operation of the RU 1210 through the MT unit 1208. For example, the network access node 1202 may configure the MT unit 1208 via a control path 1212 described above to cause the MT unit 1208 to configure the RU 1210. To this end, the MT unit 1208 may generate control signaling carried by a control signaling path 1214 for controlling the operation of the RU 1210; see Abedini par. 0204 and Fig. 12, see also par. 0219 and Figs. 10, 14), the wireless terminal being configured to control the network controlled repeater configured to relay wireless communication between the network node and another wireless terminal (The RU 1210 may provide relay functionality to enable signals from the network access node 1202 to reach the UE 1206 and/or to enable signals from the UE 1206 to reach the network access node 1202; see Abedini par. 0202-0203, see also par. 0183-0184), wherein
the transmitter is configured to transmit, to the wireless terminal, timing information relating to a timing at which each of the one or more repeater control configurations is applied (the baseband processor 1312 may control an antenna array by controlling a beamforming configuration for the antenna array, by controlling whether the antenna array acts as a receive antenna array or a transmit antenna array…the baseband processor 1312 may power on or power off one or more components of repeater device 1300 (e.g., when a network access node does not need to use the repeater device to serve UEs). In some aspects, the baseband processor 1312 may control timing of one or more of the above configurations; see Abedini par. 0209).
Abedini does not explicitly disclose a network controlled repeater. Luo discloses a network controlled repeater (Relay node 300 is a network-controlled repeater that is controlled via control path 303 by base station 105. Uplink and downlink communications between base station 105 and UE 115 may be repeated by relay node 300, via data path 304, according to the control information obtained via control path 303; see Luo par. 0104). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Luo's arrangement in Abedini's invention to allow for repeater or relay node-enabled communications between base stations and UEs to minimize or avoid the repeater or relay node amplifying noise or interference (see Luo par. 0103).
For Claim 13, Abedini discloses A mobile communication system (wireless communication system 100; see Abedini par. 0074 and Fig. 1) comprising:
a network (The wireless communication system 100 includes three interacting domains: a core network 102, a radio access network (RAN) 104, and at least one scheduled entity 106; see Abedini par. 0074 and Fig. 1); and
a repeater control wireless terminal configured to control a network controlled repeater configured to relay wireless communication between the network node and a wireless terminal (The RU 1210 may provide relay functionality to enable signals from the network access node 1202 to reach the UE 1206 and/or to enable signals from the UE 1206 to reach the network access node 1202; see Abedini par. 0202-0203, see also par. 0183-0184), wherein
the repeater control wireless terminal is configured to establish a wireless connection to a network node (At 1408, the network access node 1402 and the repeater device 1404 may perform an initial access procedure and establish an RRC connection; see Abedini par. 0215 and Fig. 14), and
the network node is configured to (FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of network access node 2500 (e.g., a scheduling entity, a gNB, a base station) employing a processing system 2514 according to some aspects of the disclosure. For example, the network access node 2500 may be a device configured to wirelessly communicate with a scheduled entity ( e.g., a UE, a wireless communication devices) as well as repeater devices and/or IAB nodes and may also be configured to communication with one or more core network nodes; see Abedini par. 0283 and Fig. 25):
transmit, to the repeater control wireless terminal through wireless communication, one or more repeater control configurations used to control the network controlled repeater (the network access node 1202 may control the operation of the RU 1210 through the MT unit 1208. For example, the network access node 1202 may configure the MT unit 1208 via a control path 1212 described above to cause the MT unit 1208 to configure the RU 1210. To this end, the MT unit 1208 may generate control signaling carried by a control signaling path 1214 for controlling the operation of the RU 1210; see Abedini par. 0204 and Fig. 12, see also par. 0219 and Figs. 10, 14), and
transmit, to the repeater control wireless terminal, timing information relating to a timing at which each of the one or more repeater control configurations is applied (the baseband processor 1312 may control an antenna array by controlling a beamforming configuration for the antenna array, by controlling whether the antenna array acts as a receive antenna array or a transmit antenna array…the baseband processor 1312 may power on or power off one or more components of repeater device 1300 (e.g., when a network access node does not need to use the repeater device to serve UEs). In some aspects, the baseband processor 1312 may control timing of one or more of the above configurations; see Abedini par. 0209).
Abedini does not explicitly disclose a network controlled repeater. Luo discloses a network controlled repeater (Relay node 300 is a network-controlled repeater that is controlled via control path 303 by base station 105. Uplink and downlink communications between base station 105 and UE 115 may be repeated by relay node 300, via data path 304, according to the control information obtained via control path 303; see Luo par. 0104). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Luo's arrangement in Abedini's invention to allow for repeater or relay node-enabled communications between base stations and UEs to minimize or avoid the repeater or relay node amplifying noise or interference (see Luo par. 0103).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 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.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: claim 6 would be allowable because the closest prior arts listed above either alone or in combination, fail to anticipate or render obvious, the claimed invention of “the one or more repeater control configurations are a plurality of repeater control configurations applied to control of the network controlled repeater at timings different from one another, and the control timing information comprises information indicating an application timing at which each of the plurality of repeater control configurations is applied”, in combination with all other limitations in the claim(s) as defined by applicant.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
-Abedini et al. (US 2022/0321199).
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/CHAE S LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415