Claims 1-17 and 19-21 are pending.
Claim 18 has been cancelled.
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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1, 8 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by He et al. (US Pg Pub 2022/0015119), hereinafter referred to as He.
For claims 1, He discloses an input (receiver) configured to receive a plurality of packets (DL transmissions include packets; see paragraph 0078 and figures 3B and 7, respectively), at least one of the packets including user plane data (yes branch of item 720 in figure 7); a plurality of transmit paths (transceiver paths 350 and 360 are interconnected via bus 382; see figure 3B) configured to receive the user plane data (the receiver portion of the transceivers receive user plane data; see paragraph 0016) and to output RF signals for transmission on a plurality of antennas (the transmitter portions of the transceiver output signals to respective antennas; see figure 3B); and a discontinuous transmit monitoring component (processor performing steps 720-760 of figure 7) configured to receive the user plane data (item 720) and to determine a discontinuous transmit state (active or inactive state) for each of the plurality of transmit paths (transceiver paths) based on whether the user plane data contains any data (the presence of user plane data is used to control the various timers. The DRX inactivity timer is used to determine whether the DRX state is maintained (i.e. restart timer; item 750) or to transition to a different state (i.e. expedite expiration of the timer; item 730; see paragraph 0007 and figure 7).
For claim 8, He discloses receiving a plurality of packets (DL transmission) at an input of the radio unit (receiver; the receiver portion of the transceivers receive DL transmissions; see paragraph 0016 and figure 3B), at least one of the packets including user plane data (see figure 7 item 720); processing the user plane data using a plurality of transmit paths (transceiver paths 350 and 360 are interconnected via bus 382; see figure 3B) to generate a plurality of RF transmit signals (user plane data; the transceivers are used to transmit user plane data; see paragraph 0117 and figure 3B); transmitting the plurality of RF transmit signals (user plane data) using a plurality of antennas (see figure 3B items 356, 366 and 376); and deriving the discontinuous transmit state (active or inactive state) for each of the plurality of transmit paths (transceiver paths) based on whether the user plane data contains any data (the presence of user plane data is used to control the various timers. The DRX inactivity timer is used to determine whether the DRX state is maintained (i.e. restart timer; item 750) or to transition to a different state (i.e. expedite expiration of the timer; item 730; see paragraph 0007 and figure 7).
For claim 21, He discloses wherein the discontinuous transmit monitoring (processor performing steps 720-760 of figure 7) component is further configured to determine the discontinuous transmit state (active or inactive state) for each of the plurality of transmit paths (transceiver paths) based on whether the user plane data includes user data (user plane data) to be transmitted (the state of the timers are based on whether there is user plane data to transmit; see paragraphs 0117, 0123 and figure 4 items 420-430).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 2, 5, 9, 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He et al. (US Pg Pub 2022/0015119), hereinafter referred to as He, in view of Patwardhan et al. (US Pg Pub 2017/0064770), hereinafter referred to as Patwardhan.
For claims 2 and 9, He discloses the use power efficiency techniques (see paragraph 0007). He does not disclose the turning on and off of transmit paths. Patwardhan discloses wherein each of the plurality of transmit paths (components such as transceivers and antennas) is further configured to turn on and turn off (activate/deactivate) based on the corresponding discontinuous transmit state (DRX configuration; see paragraph 0054). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Patwardhan into He’s arrangement to maintain the effectiveness of DRX for decreasing power consumption (Patwardhan, 0005).
For claims 5 and 12, He discloses wherein the discontinuous transmit monitoring component (processor performing steps 720-760 of figure 7) is further configured to set the discontinuous transmit state (active or inactive state) to be one of a first discontinuous transmit state in which the corresponding transmit path is to be inactive in response to the user plane data containing no data (the no branch of the item 720 allows the active timers to expire, allowing the UE to enter a power saving mode; see paragraph 0007 and figure 7) or a second discontinuous transmit state in which the corresponding transmit path is to be active in response to the user plane data containing data (the yes branch of item 720 allows the active timers to be restarted, allowing the UE to continue actively monitoring a channel; see paragraph 007 and figure 7).
He does not disclose the turning on and off paths. Patwardhan discloses the use of discontinuous transmit states in which the corresponding transmit path (components such as transceivers and antennas) is turned off (deactivated) and a second discontinuous transmit state in which the corresponding path is turned on (activated; see paragraph 0054). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Patwardhan into He’s arrangement to maintain the effectiveness of DRX for decreasing power consumption (Patwardhan, 0005).
Claims 3-4, 7 and 10-11, 14-15 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He in view of U.S. Patent No. 10,616,016 Fertonani et al. (hereinafter Fertonani).
For claims 3, 10 and 17, most of the limitations of this claim have been noted in the rejection of claim 1. The combination of He and Patwardhan does not disclose the use of a jitter buffer. Fertonani does teach a data jitter buffer (Fig. 14, e.g., blocks 1405 to 1406 and Col. 37 line 9 , e.g., …packets may be buffered at block 1406) configured to receive the user plane data from the input and to provide the user plane data to each of the one or more transmit paths (Fig. 14, e.g., element 1409 and Col. 36 lines 47-48, e.g., …communication between a wireless terminal and a baseband unit…(this requires transmission, and therefore transmit path(s))) and the discontinuous transmit monitoring component (Fig. 14, e.g., element 1471 and Col. 37 lines 18-22, e.g., The fronthaul link may be monitored at block 1471 to capture fronthaul link information and the fronthaul link quality indicator may be determined based, at least in part, on the fronthaul link information that is captured.).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified He to incorporate the teachings of Fertonani to include a data jitter buffer before the transmit paths and the discontinuous transmit monitoring component. The benefit of doing so would be to keep the data stream consistent and allow the correct routing of the data when the buffer and DTX requirements were met.
For claims 4 and 11, most of the limitations of this claim have been noted in the rejection of claim 3. The combination of He and Patwardhan does not disclose the use of a jitter buffer. Fertonani does teach the data jitter buffer is further configured to output the user plane data at a substantially fixed rate (Col. 37 lines 10-12, e.g., …storing irregularly sent fronthaul uplink information in a buffer, either before or after is it packetized, to enable a constant stream of information…).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified He to incorporate the teachings of Fertonani to include a data jitter buffer before the transmit paths and the discontinuous transmit monitoring component. The benefit of doing so would be to keep the data stream consistent and allow the correct routing of the data when the buffer and DTX requirements were met.
For claims 7 and 14, most of the limitations of this claim have been noted in the rejection of claim 1. He does not explicitly teach, but Fertonani does teach the input is further configured to receive the packets from a distributed unit (Fig. 2, e.g., block 230 and Col. 4 lines 53-54, e.g., FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a distributed radio access network (RAN)) via Ethernet (Fig. 2, e.g., block 235 and Col. 6 lines 63-64, e.g., …fronthaul link 235 that includes an Ethernet network.).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified He to incorporate the teachings of Fertonani to add an Ethernet link from a distributed unit as the source for the packets. The benefit of doing so would be to distribute the components of a RAN allowing for geographic diversity and larger area coverage. The additional benefit of using Ethernet specifically is that as an international standard it appears in computing and radio products nearly by default and therefore using it allows for high compatibility with any number of products.
For claim 15, He discloses a radio unit (UE) configured to receive the packets (DL transmissions) from a network (network node; receiver; the receiver portion of the transceivers receive DL transmissions; see figures 3B and 7 item 710) and generate radio frequency (RF) signals based on the user plane data (the transceivers are used to transmit user plane data; see paragraph 0117 and figure 3B); and a plurality of antennas (see figure 3B items 356, 366 and 376) configured to receive the RF signals from the radio unit (UE; the UE has a plurality of antennas for transmission and reception; see figure 3B) and wireless wirelessly transmit the RF signals (items 358, 368 and 378 of figure 3B), wherein the radio unit comprises: a plurality of transmit paths (transceiver paths 350 and 360 are interconnected via bus 382; see figure 3B) configured to receive the user plane data (the transceiver paths receive user plane data; see figures 3B and 7 item 720) and to generate the RF signals (see figure 3B items 356, 366 and 376); and a discontinuous transmit monitoring component (processor performing the steps in figure 7) configured to receive the user plane data (see figure 7 item 720) and to determine a discontinuous transmit state (active or inactive state) for each of the plurality of transmit paths (transceiver paths) based on whether the user plane data contains any data (the presence of user plane data is used to control the various timers. The DRX inactivity timer is used to determine whether the DRX state is maintained (i.e. restart timer; item 750) or to transition to a different state (i.e. expedite expiration of the timer; item 730; see paragraph 0007 and figure 7).
He does not explicitly teach, but Fertonani does teach a distributed unit (Col. 6 line 18-24 e.g., The RAN 200 includes a remote radio unit (RRU) 230 coupled to at least one antenna 231 to communicate with the wireless terminal. Depending on the system, any number of RRUs can be included, such as the three RRUs 230 shown in FIG. 2. The multiple RRUs 230 can be geographically distributed and there can be multiple RRUs 230 in a single location.) configured to output (Fig. 2, e.g., double-sided arrows connected to element 230) a plurality of packets, at least one of the packets including user plane data; a radio unit configured to receive (Fig. 7, e.g., element 735) the packets from the distributed unit and generate radio frequency (RF) signals based on the user plane data.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified He to incorporate the teachings of Fertonani to add a distributed unit that could provide the user data packets to the radio unit. The benefit of doing so would be to allow for the RAN to cover a wide area and distribute the network in such a way that processing capabilities and radio capabilities can be as centralized or separated as needed for the type(s) of protocol(s) the network uses.
Claims 6 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He in view of Imanilov et al. (US Pg Pub 2023/0056739), hereinafter referred to as Imanilov.
For claims 6 and 13, He discloses the use power efficiency techniques (see paragraph 0007) for a plurality of front end circuits 310, 320, 330 (see figure 3A). He does not disclose the turning on and off of components. Imanilov discloses wherein the discontinuous transmit monitoring component (processor performing the steps in figure 5) is further configured to provide the discontinuous transmit state (power saving interval) to a plurality of power amplifiers respectively coupled to the plurality of antennas (front end circuit 402 includes at least one power amplifier 408 and at least one antenna 412; see paragraph 0050 and figure 4), the plurality of power amplifiers (PA 408) configured to turn on and turn off based on the corresponding discontinuous transmit state (power saving interval; see paragraphs 0050, 0052 and figure 4). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Imanilov into He’s arrangement to adopt sound power saving techniques (Imanilov, 0008).
Claims 16 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He in view of Fertonani as applied to claim 15 above, and further in view of Patwardhan.
For claim 16, He discloses the use power efficiency techniques (see paragraph 0007). The combination of He and Fertonani does not disclose the turning on and off of transmit paths. Patwardhan discloses wherein each of the plurality of transmit paths (components such as transceivers and antennas) is further configured to turn on and turn off (activate/deactivate) based on the corresponding discontinuous transmit state (DRX configuration; see paragraph 0054). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Patwardhan into He’s arrangement to maintain the effectiveness of DRX for decreasing power consumption (Patwardhan, 0005).
For claim 19, He discloses wherein the discontinuous transmit monitoring component (processor performing steps 720-760 of figure 7) is further configured to set the discontinuous transmit state (active or inactive state) to be one of a first discontinuous transmit state in which the corresponding transmit path is to be inactive in response to the user plane data containing no data (the no branch of the item 720 allows the active timers to expire, allowing the UE to enter a power saving mode; see paragraph 0007 and figure 7) or a second discontinuous transmit state in which the corresponding transmit path is to be active in response to the user plane data containing data (the yes branch of item 720 allows the active timers to be restarted, allowing the UE to continue actively monitoring a channel; see paragraph 007 and figure 7).
The combination of He and Fertonani does not disclose the turning on and off paths. Patwardhan discloses the use of discontinuous transmit states in which the corresponding transmit path (components such as transceivers and antennas) is turned off (deactivated) and a second discontinuous transmit state in which the corresponding path is turned on (activated; see paragraph 0054). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Patwardhan into He’s arrangement to maintain the effectiveness of DRX for decreasing power consumption (Patwardhan, 0005).
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He in view of Fertonani as applied to claim 15 above, and further in view of Imanilov.
For claim 20, He discloses the use power efficiency techniques (see paragraph 0007) for a plurality of front end circuits 310, 320, 330 (see figure 3A). The combination of He and Fertonani does not disclose the turning on and off of components. Imanilov discloses wherein the discontinuous transmit monitoring component (processor performing the steps in figure 5) is further configured to provide the discontinuous transmit state (power saving interval) to a plurality of power amplifiers respectively coupled to the plurality of antennas (front end circuit 402 includes at least one power amplifier 408 and at least one antenna 412; see paragraph 0050 and figure 4), the plurality of power amplifiers (PA 408) configured to turn on and turn off based on the corresponding discontinuous transmit state (power saving interval; see paragraphs 0050, 0052 and figure 4). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Imanilov into He’s arrangement to adopt sound power saving techniques (Imanilov, 0008).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-17 and 19-21 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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JEFFREY M. RUTKOWSKI
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2415
/JEFFREY M RUTKOWSKI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2415