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 .
This action is in response to the amendment filed on 4/30/2026. Claims 1-20 are pending and have been considered below.
Response to Arguments
In view of Applicant’s response filed 4/30/26, the 35 USC 112 rejection is hereby withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) filed 4/30 have been considered but they are moot in view of new ground of rejection necessitated by the amendment as set forth below in this official communication.
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.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu (US 2024/0324039) in view of Park et al. (US 2023/0117298).
Regarding claim 1:
Wu discloses a system and method (abstract; figures) comprising:
sending, by a first integrated access and backhaul (IAB) donor (figs 1-5), an Xn application protocol (XnAP) message (fig 5A [step 518]; para 98, partially reproduced herein with emphasis {send 518 the second F1 Setup Request message, e.g., directly to the IAB-donor 108B over the BS to BS interface, the IAB-donor 108A can generate a first BS to BS interface message (e.g., Xn interface message, XnAP message, or GTP-U packet) including the second F1 Setup Request message (or the first packet), and send 518 the first BS to BS interface message to the IAB-donor 108B…}) to transfer an updated information of an IAB node to a second IAB donor (see figures 5-8; para 94 {the IAB-node 104 can include (second) identifiers or information associated with the IAB-node 104 (e.g., IAB-DU 174C) in the second F1 Setup Request message…}; para 81,87 [update procedure, message]; para 85,87,102; para 229,233; and see throughout the disclosure).
Although Wu discloses all of the subject matter as described above and list of cell(s) to be activated (para 85,87,100), except for specifically teaching that wherein the updated information includes an IAB node configuration information including at least one of: multiplexing capability information, an activated cell list, a downlink/uplink/flexible (DUF) configuration, or a hard/soft/not-available (HSNA) configuration.
However, Park in the same field of endeavor discloses a system and method for wireless communication wherein the updated information includes an IAB node configuration information including at least one of: multiplexing capability information, an activated cell list, a downlink/uplink/flexible (DUF) configuration, or a hard/soft/not-available (HSNA) configuration ([Note: optional language requires only one element]; see Park, para 127-128 {downlink (DL), uplink (UL), flexible (F)}; para 129 [link availability (hard/soft]; figs 6-8; para 230 {information on multiplexing capability on whether to perform the MT operation and the DU operation simultaneously, and may then receive a resource configuration information}; figures 12-17; and throughout the disclosure).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use teachings of Park in Wu in order to provide operation by an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) with resource configuration information for minimizing inefficiency of an IAB behavior while minimizing the waste of FDDed radio resources [6-8] (KSR: Combining Prior Art Elements According to Known Methods to Yield Predictable Results).
Regarding claim 11:
Wu and Park disclose all of the subject matter as described above for claim 1, and Wu further discloses a first integrated access and backhaul (IAB) donor (108A in figures 1a-5), comprising: at least one processor (fig 1A [processing hardware 140]) configured to perform function as above in claim 1, thus claim 11 is rejected with similar rationale under combined teachings of the prior art.
Regarding claims 2, and 12:
Wu et al discloses all of the subject matter as described above and receiving, by the first IAB donor prior to sending the XnAP message, a message from an IAB entity (figure 5A [step 516]; para 94,229; and throughout the disclosure).
Regarding claims 3, 13:
Wu et al discloses all of the subject matter as described above and wherein at least one of [Note: the optional language at multiple places in claim(s) only requires one of the elements and further one part of an element, for rejection of that claim]:
the first IAB donor comprises a F1-terminating donor, or a source IAB donor, or an initial IAB donor (para 3 [terminating node]; para 42 [source IAB donor]); or
the message includes an indication to the first IAB donor to maintain at least one of: a user equipment (UE) context, a mobile termination (MT) context or a UE-associated Xn connection between the first IAB donor and the second IAB donor.
Regarding claims 4, 14:
Wu et al discloses all of the subject matter as described above and sending, by the first IAB donor, a request to the second IAB donor, to indicate that at least one of [Note: the optional language]: a user equipment (UE) context, a mobile termination (MT) context or an UE- associated Xn connection between the first IAB donor and the second IAB donor, is to be maintained (para 56 [including context management procedures or F1 Application Protocol (F1AP) procedures) with the IAB-donor]; para 96 {IAB-donor 108B can communicate F1AP messages (e.g., including the second F1 Setup Request, second F1 Setup Response, F1AP messages such as UE Context Request message 808, 810 and UE Context Response message…}; para 114; and see throughout the disclosure).
Regarding claims 5, 15:
Wu et al discloses all of the subject matter as described above and wherein the XnAP message comprises a UE-associated XnAP message (para 169 {message (e.g., XnAP message or GTP-U packet) including the UE Context}; and throughout).
Regarding claims 6, 16:
Wu et al discloses all of the subject matter as described above and wherein at least one of [Note: the optional language]:
the first IAB donor comprises a F1-terminating donor, or a source IAB donor, or an initial IAB donor (para 42 [source donor]); or
the message includes an identifier of the IAB node, the identifier including at least one of: a distributed unit (DU) identifier (ID), a backhaul adaptation protocol (BAP) address of the IAB node that is allocated by the non F1-terminating donor, an internet protocol (IP) address of the IAB node that is allocated by the non F1-terminating donor, or a UEF1 application protocol (F1AP) ID of an IAB mobile termination (IAB-MT) (para 99 {message can include one or more second identifiers of the IAB-donor}).
Regarding claims 7, 17:
Wu et al discloses all of the subject matter as described above and sending, by the first IAB donor to the second IAB donor, a non-UE-associated XnAP message to transfer an updated information of an IAB node to the second IAB donor, the non- UE-associated XnAP message including an identifier of the IAB node (para 84; para 94 {.. message to the IAB-donor-DU 174A, which forwards the second F1 Setup Request message to the IAB-donor-CU 172A. In some implementations, the IAB-node 104 can include (second) identifiers or information associated with the IAB-node 104}; para 99,144; and throughout).
Regarding claims 8, 18:
Wu et al discloses all of the subject matter as described above and wherein at least one of [Note: the optional language]:
the updated information further includes quality of service (QoS) information (para 170 {BH RLC CH QOS or E-UTRAN BH RLC CH QOS..});
including at least one of: a backhaul (BH) radio link control (RLC) channel (CH) identifier (ID), a BH RLC CH QoS, an evolved-UMTS terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) BH RLC CH QoS, a control plane traffic type, a data radio bearer (DRB) ID, a QoS of a DRB, a F1 user plane interface (F1-U) GPRS tunneling protocol (GTP) tunnel ID, or a QoS of a F1-U tunnel (para 170 [BH RLC CH QOS]; and see throughout the disclosure).
Regarding claim 9:
Wu discloses a method (abstract; see figures), comprising:
receiving, by a second integrated access and backhaul (IAB) donor from a first IAB donor (see figures 1-5 [IAB donors]), an Xn application protocol (XnAP) message (fig 5A [second donor 108B receive the message in step 518 sent by donor 108A]; para 98 {518 the second F1 Setup Request message, e.g., directly to the IAB-donor 108B over the BS to BS interface, the IAB-donor 108A can generate a first BS to BS interface message (e.g., Xn interface message, XnAP message, or GTP-U packet) including the second F1 Setup Request message (or the first packet), and send 518 the first BS to BS interface message to the IAB-donor 108B…}) to transfer an updated information of an IAB node to the second IAB donor (see figures 5-8; para 94 {the IAB-node 104 can include (second) identifiers or information associated with the IAB-node 104 (e.g., IAB-DU 174C) in the second F1 Setup Request message…}; para 81,87 [update procedure, message]; para 85,87,102; para 229,233; and see throughout the disclosure).
Although Wu discloses all of the subject matter as described above and list of cell(s) to be activated (para 85,87,100), except for specifically teaching that wherein the updated information includes an IAB node configuration information including at least one of: multiplexing capability information, an activated cell list, a downlink/uplink/flexible (DUF) configuration, or a hard/soft/not-available (HSNA) configuration.
However, Park in the same field of endeavor discloses a system and method for wireless communication wherein the updated information includes an IAB node configuration information including at least one of: multiplexing capability information, an activated cell list, a downlink/uplink/flexible (DUF) configuration, or a hard/soft/not-available (HSNA) configuration ([Note: optional language requires only one element]; see Park, para 127-128 {downlink (DL), uplink (UL), flexible (F)}; para 129 [link availability (hard/soft]; figs 6-8; para 230 {information on multiplexing capability on whether to perform the MT operation and the DU operation simultaneously, and may then receive a resource configuration information}; figures 12-17; and throughout the disclosure).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use teachings of Park in Wu in order to provide operation by an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) with resource configuration information for minimizing inefficiency of an IAB behavior while minimizing the waste of FDDed radio resources [6-8] (KSR: Combining Prior Art Elements According to Known Methods to Yield Predictable Results).
Regarding claim 10:
Wu and Park discloses all of the subject matter as described above for claim 9, and Wu further discloses a second integrated access and backhaul (IAB) donor (figures 1a-5 [108B]), comprising: at least one processor (fig 1A [processing hardware 140]) to perform function as above in claim 9, thus claim 10 is rejected with similar rationale under combined teachings of the prior art.
Regarding claim 19:
Wu et al discloses all of the subject matter as described above for claim 1, and Wu further discloses non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions (figures; para 56; para 57 [processing hardware 140, which may include one or more general-purpose processors (e.g., CPUs) and a computer-readable memory storing machine-readable instructions]; para 237), which when executed by one or more processors can cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 1 (see throughout disclosure).
Regarding claim 20:
Wu et al discloses all of the subject matter as described above for claim 9, and Wu discloses non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions, which when executed by one or more processors can cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 9 (see figures; para 56; para 57 [processing hardware 140, which may include one or more general-purpose processors (e.g., CPUs) and a computer-readable memory storing machine-readable instructions]; para 59-60; para 236,237; and see throughout disclosure).
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HIRDEPAL SINGH whose telephone number is (571)270-1688. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00-5:00 M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hannah S Wang can be reached on (571) 272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HIRDEPAL SINGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631
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