DETAILED ACTION
In response to communication filed on 6/1/2026.
Claims 1-25 are pending.
Claims 1-25 are rejected.
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 .
Response to Amendments
This communication is in response to Applicant’s reply filed under 3 CFR 1.111 on 6/1/2026. Claims 1,3,8,11,13,18, and 20 were amended, claims 21-25 were added and claims 1-25 remain pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 6/1/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1-4,8,9,11-14, and 18-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ciochina et al. (WO 2024/018688)(C1 hereafter) in view of Lauridsen et al. (US Pub. 2025/0151065)(L1 hereafter).
Regarding claims 1 and 20, C1 teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE)[refer Fig. 8], comprising: one or more memories (i.e. computer readable medium)[paragraph 0079]; and one or more processors [paragraph 0079], coupled to the one or more memories [paragraph 0080] and configured to cause the UE to:
receive a closed loop timing advance command message (i.e. timing advance command comprising closed loop information) that includes an indicator (i.e. data related to timing advance adjustment value) associated with the closed loop timing advance command message [paragraph 0025], a first value of the indicator indicates that the closed loop timing advance command message conveys a timing advance value (i.e. timing advance adjustment value)[paragraph 0025]; and
transmit one or more communications on an uplink in accordance with the interpretation (i.e. data related to) of the closed loop timing advance command message [paragraph 0026], the interpretation of the closed loop timing advance command message being based on the indicator (i.e. timing adjustment)[paragraph 0026].
However, C1 fails to disclose the indication comprises a second value of the indicator indicates that the closed loop timing advance command message conveys an uplink transmission extension indication, and a third value of the indicator indicates that the closed loop timing advance command message conveys the timing advance value and the uplink transmission extension indication.
L1 discloses that an indication can be received within a timing advance command (TAC), in which legacy TAC can be used for the purpose of extending an uplink transmission duration (i.e. transmission extension)[paragraph 0039], bits 2-6 of a TAC can be used for correcting the TA (i.e. TA value) and bits 0 and 1 can be used for indicating extending the uplink duration and a flag can indicate whether the extension of the uplink transmission duration is allowed [paragraph 0040].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of C1 for handling timing advance commands [refer C1; Abstract] to incorporate the use of a timing advance command to convey indications for extending a transmission duration or not as taught by L1. One would be motivated to do so to reduce overhead in terms of connection setup signaling [refer L1; paragraph 0002].
Regarding claims 2,12,21 and 24, C1 teaches the closed loop timing advance command message is a closed loop timing advance command medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) [paragraph 0025].
Regarding claims 3 and 13, C1 teaches the indicator is a codepoint (i.e. bit values) that conveys a value that maps to at least one of the timing advance value [paragraph 0106] or the uplink transmission extension (i.e. postponed time) indication [paragraph 0033].
Regarding claims 4 and 14, C1 teaches the uplink transmission extension indication is associated with an application of an uplink transmission extension update (i.e. updated assistance time)[paragraph 0055].
Regarding claims 8,18,22 and 25, C1 fails to disclose the first value of the indicator indicates that the closed loop timing advance command message conveys the timing advance value and does not convey the uplink transmission extension indication.
L1 discloses that an indication can be received within a timing advance command (TAC), in which legacy TAC can be used for the purpose of extending an uplink transmission duration (i.e. transmission extension)[paragraph 0039], bits 2-6 of a TAC can be used for correcting the TA (i.e. TA value) and bits 0 and 1 can be used for indicating extending the uplink duration and a flag can indicate whether the extension of the uplink transmission duration is allowed [paragraph 0040].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of C1 for handling timing advance commands [refer C1; Abstract] to incorporate the use of a timing advance command to convey indications for extending a transmission duration or not as taught by L1. One would be motivated to do so to reduce overhead in terms of connection setup signaling [refer L1; paragraph 0002].
Regarding claims 9 and 19, C1 teaches the interpretation of the closed loop timing advance command message is based on a configuration of a UE capability (i.e. hardware capability)(UE may be able to retrieve such updated assistance information and/or updated timing advance command before the transmission deadline time, the user equipment UE may also proceed to perform updated measurements at an updated measurement time MN+I providing its hardware capabilities and/or the preconfigured time opportunities to do so)[paragraph 0163].
Regarding claims 11 and 23, C1 teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a network node (i.e. base station)[paragraph 0018] , comprising:
one or more memories (it is inherent that a device, such as a base station, would comprise of memories to implement the processes)[paragraph 0081]; and
one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories [paragraph 0081] and configured to cause the network node to:
transmit a closed loop timing advance command message (i.e. timing advance command comprising closed loop information) that includes an indicator (i.e. data related to timing advance adjustment value) associated with the closed loop timing advance command message [paragraph 0025], the indicator includes at least one of a timing advance value (i.e. timing advance adjustment value)[paragraph 0025]; and
receive one or more communications on an uplink in accordance with an interpretation (i.e. data related to) of the closed loop timing advance command message [paragraph 0026], the interpretation of the closed loop timing advance command message being based on the indicator (i.e. timing adjustment)[paragraph 0026].
However, C1 fails to disclose the indication comprises a second value of the indicator indicates that the closed loop timing advance command message conveys an uplink transmission extension indication, and a third value of the indicator indicates that the closed loop timing advance command message conveys the timing advance value and the uplink transmission extension indication.
L1 discloses that an indication can be received within a timing advance command (TAC), in which legacy TAC can be used for the purpose of extending an uplink transmission duration (i.e. transmission extension)[paragraph 0039], bits 2-6 of a TAC can be used for correcting the TA (i.e. TA value) and bits 0 and 1 can be used for indicating extending the uplink duration and a flag can indicate whether the extension of the uplink transmission duration is allowed [paragraph 0040].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of C1 for handling timing advance commands [refer C1; Abstract] to incorporate the use of a timing advance command to convey indications for extending a transmission duration or not as taught by L1. One would be motivated to do so to reduce overhead in terms of connection setup signaling [refer L1; paragraph 0002].
Claims 5,6,15 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over C1 in view of L1, as applied to claims 1 and 11, in further view of Suzuki et al. (US 2014/0086219)(S1 hereafter).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, C1 fails to disclose that the uplink transmission extension update is applied to an uplink transmission extension timer after an expiration of the uplink transmission extension timer.
S1, in the field of applying a timing advance command [refer Abstract], discloses the use of a timing adjustment timer (i.e. transmission extension timer), and the timing advance can be adjusted based on the amount of time transmission timing has changed to define the adjusted timing advance, in which the timing advance can be stored after the expiration of the timing alignment timer (TAT)[paragraph 0116].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of C1 for handling timing advance commands [refer C1; Abstract] to incorporate timing advancement timer as taught by S1. One would be motivated to do so to control the timing of uplink signals from wireless devices that are time aligned to counteract propagation delay [refer S1; paragraph 0004].
Regarding claims 6 and 16, C1 fails to disclose that the uplink transmission extension update is applied to an uplink transmission extension timer before an expiration of the uplink transmission extension timer.
S1, in the field of applying a timing advance command [refer Abstract], discloses the use of a timing alignment timer in which the timer increments win time until being restarted due to receiving a new timing command (i.e. applied to timer before expiration) [paragraph 0069], a UE is able to store a timing advance upon expiry of an associated TAT, and applies a timing advance command MAC CE and starts the associated TAT when the TAT isn’t running [paragraph 0094].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of C1 for handling timing advance commands [refer C1; Abstract] to incorporate timing advancement timer as taught by S1. One would be motivated to do so to control the timing of uplink signals from wireless devices that are time aligned to counteract propagation delay [refer S1; paragraph 0004].
Claims 7 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over C1 in view of L1, as applied to claims 1 and 11, in further view of Prasad et al. (US Pub. 2025/0386311)(P1 hereafter).
Regarding claims 7 and 17, C1 fails to explicitly disclose the indicator is associated with a timing advance group (TAG) identity field.
P1 discloses that a timing advance command can comprise of a field, such as a TAG ID, for identifying a timing advance group [paragraph 0222].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of C1 for handling timing advance commands [refer C1; Abstract] to incorporate the identification of a timing advance group via an explicit field as taught by P1. One would be motivated to do so to provide the use of a known technique, such as explicit identification, within the field of endeavor of timing advance command transmission to yield predictable results.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over C1 in view of L1, as applied to claim 1, in further view of Jung et al. (WO 2025/127665)(J1 hereafter).
Regarding claim 10, C1 fails to disclose the interpretation of the closed loop timing advance command message is based on a configured logical channel identity codepoint (i.e. bit) value associated with the closed loop timing advance command message.
J1, in the same field of endeavor regarding timing advance commands [paragraph 0110], discloses that a timing advance reporting MAC CE is identified by a subheader with a logical channel ID with a codepoint/index [paragraph 0201].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of C1 for handling timing advance commands [refer C1; Abstract] to incorporate the identification of a logical channel identifier with a codepoint/index as taught by J1. One would be motivated to do so to provide the use of a known technique, such as explicit identification, within the field of endeavor of timing advance command transmission to yield predictable results.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 12-15, filed 6/1/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claims 104,9,11-14,19 and 20 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) have been fully considered and are persuasive in view of the amendments. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of the disclosure of Lauridsen et al. (US Pub. 2025/0151065)(L1 hereafter) as noted in the above rejection. Furthermore, due to the amendments altering the dependency and scope of claims 8 and 18 from what was initially interpreted and examined, a new grounds of rejection has been made accordingly in view of the disclosure of L1.
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RYAN C KAVLESKI whose telephone number is (571)270-3619. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30am-3pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles C Jiang can be reached on 571-270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Ryan Kavleski
/R.C.K./
Examiner, Art Unit 2412
/CHARLES C JIANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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