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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 05/14/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
An initialed and dated copy of Applicant’s IDS form 1449 submitted 05/14/2026 and 06/17/2026 is attached to the instant office action. The submission 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
A new grounds of rejection under 35 USC 112 for claims 33 and 35 has been introduced based on the new amendments to claims 33 and 35 (see 112 rejection below).
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.
Claims 33 and 35 are 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.
Claims 33 and 35 both recite “wherein the SS is received using the set of resources which are in the determined operating band”. However, the set of resources for receiving the SS is never introduced in the independent claims 23 and 28 to be within a determined operating band. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Furthermore, Claims 23 and 28 both recite:
receiving the SS using a set of resources having one of the first subcarrier spacing of the first signal structure or the second subcarrier spacing of the second signal structure; and
receiving and decoding a first physical channel transmission, which includes a master information block (MIB), using a set of resources having a same subcarrier spacing as the set of resources used for receiving the SS.
As such, “the set of resources” for receiving the SS can be interpreted to be one of the two instances of “a set of resources” in claims 23 and 28, where “a set of resources” having one of the subcarrier spacing of the first or second signal structure may be different from “a set of resources” having the same subcarrier spacing as the set of resources used for receiving the SS. In other words, it can be interpreted that the SS can be received using the set of resources for receiving the MIB. As such, for the claim language “the set of resources” as indicated in Claims 33 and 35, it is vague and unclear which set of resources are being referred to.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 23-32, 34, 36 are allowed.
Conclusion
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/JENKEY VAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
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