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 .
Specification
The specification is objected to as failing to provide proper antecedent basis for the claimed subject matter. See 37 CFR 1.75(d)(1) and MPEP § 608.01(o). Correction of the following is required:
The terms found in claim 15, “the first operational situation” and “the second operational situation” is failing to provide proper antecedent basis for the claimed subject matter.
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.
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.
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 1 – 6, 10 – 14, 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Takahashi US PGPub: US 2020/0359398 A1 Nov. 12, 2020 and in view of
Ng WO 2020/201617 A1 Oct. 8, 2020.
Regarding claim 1, Takahashi discloses,
an apparatus (user equipment 200 - Fig. 10/200. The user equipment including a generating unit that generates terminal capability information including information indicating an uplink band combination; information indicating whether simultaneous transmissions in the uplink band combination are allowed; and information indicating maximum sensitivity degradation when the simultaneous transmissions are executed in the uplink band combination; a transmitting unit that transmits the generated terminal capability information to the base station apparatus; and a receiving unit that receives an uplink scheduling allocation from the base station apparatus, wherein the user equipment executes the simultaneous transmissions in the uplink band combination based on the uplink scheduling allocation – ABSTRACT, Fig. 4, paragraphs 0009, 0108), comprising:
at least one processor (processor 1001 – Fig. 10/1001); and
at least one non-transitory memory (storage device 1002 – Fig. 10/1002) storing instructions that, when executed with the at least one processor (each function of the base station apparatus 100 and the user equipment 200 is implemented by loading predetermined software – i.e., program on hardware, such as the processor 1001 and the storage device 1002, so that the processor 1001 performs computation and controls communication by the communication device 1004, and reading and/or writing of data in the storage device 1002 and the auxiliary storage device 1003 – Fig. 10, paragraph 0080), cause the apparatus at least to:
receive a request message related to capability of the apparatus (the base station apparatus 100 transmits a terminal capability report request to the user equipment 200 – Fig. 4/s1, paragraph 0038), wherein the request message includes maximum sensitivity degradation information of the apparatus corresponding to an operational situation of the apparatus (the terminal capability information may include only one item of the information indicating the maximum sensitivity degradation in the user equipment – paragraphs 0009, 0106, 0108);
respond to the request message with a response message (the user equipment 200 transmits an RRC message “UECapabilityInformation” to the base station apparatus 100 as the terminal capability report – Fig. 4/s2, paragraph 0040), wherein the response message indicates the maximum sensitivity degradation value corresponding to said operational situation of the apparatus (the information indicating maximum sensitivity degradation MSD when the simultaneous transmissions are executed in the uplink band combination; a transmitting unit that transmits the generated terminal capability information to the base station apparatus – paragraphs 0009, 0106. The uplink band combination may be associated with a plurality of items of information representing the maximum sensitivity degradation, and, for each uplink band combination, information indicating one of the plurality of items of the information representing the maximum sensitivity gradation may be included in the terminal capability information – paragraphs 0109, 0110),
but, does not disclose, utilize self-measurements during said operational situation of the apparatus to determine a new maximum sensitivity degradation value which replaces the current maximum sensitivity degradation value corresponding to the operational situation of the apparatus.
Ng teaches, a method and apparatus for signaling a message regarding UE receiver performance degradation between a user equipment and a network (ABSTRACT, Figs. 8, 9, page 1, lines 13, 14).
Receiving by the user equipment from a network a new defined bandwidth combination set which is linked with the determined improved maximum sensitivity degradation. the user equipment informing the network which bandwidth combination sets the user equipment supports (Figs. 8/840, 8/850, page 12, lines 33 - 37).
Transmitting to the user equipment with the network equipment a new defined bandwidth combination set which is linked with the determined improved maximum sensitivity degradation (Figs. 9/930, 9/940, page 16, lines 6 – 11).
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 user equipment communicating with the base station the information indicating maximum sensitivity degradation when the simultaneous transmissions are executed in the uplink band combination of Takahashi (Takahashi, ABSTRACT, Figs. 4, 10, paragraphs 0009, 0108), wherein the system of Takahashi, would have incorporated a method and apparatus for signaling a message regarding UE receiver performance degradation between a user equipment and a network of Ng (Ng, ABSTRACT, Figs. 8, 9, page 1, lines 13, 14, page 12, lines 33 – 37, page 16, lines 6 – 11) to define signaling in regard to UE receiver performance degradation for example. In one example embodiment features as described herein may be used to define signaling such that a user equipment UE may indicate to a network an actual maximum sensitivity degradation MSD required for each supported E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity EN-DC or Long Term Evolution/New Radio Carrier Aggregation/Due Connectivity LTE/NR CA/DC configuration (Ng, page 7, lines 27 – 32).
Regarding claim 2, Takahashi discloses,
the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to determine the new maximum sensitivity degradation value at intervals (the user equipment 200 transmits an RRC message “UECapabilityInformation” to the base station apparatus 100 as the terminal capability report – Fig. 4/s2, paragraph 0040. The information indicating maximum sensitivity degradation MSD when the simultaneous transmissions are executed in the uplink band combination; a transmitting unit that transmits the generated terminal capability information to the base station apparatus – paragraphs 0009, 0106. The uplink band combination may be associated with a plurality of items of information representing the maximum sensitivity degradation, and, for each uplink band combination, information indicating one of the plurality of items of the information representing the maximum sensitivity gradation may be included in the terminal capability information – paragraphs 0109, 0110).
Regarding claim 3, Takahashi discloses,
the apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the instructions, when executed with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to determine the new maximum sensitivity degradation value after receiving a request from the network (the user equipment 200 transmits an RRC message “UECapabilityInformation” to the base station apparatus 100 as the terminal capability report – Fig. 4/s2, paragraph 0040. The information indicating maximum sensitivity degradation MSD when the simultaneous transmissions are executed in the uplink band combination; a transmitting unit that transmits the generated terminal capability information to the base station apparatus – paragraphs 0009, 0106. The uplink band combination may be associated with a plurality of items of information representing the maximum sensitivity degradation, and, for each uplink band combination, information indicating one of the plurality of items of the information representing the maximum sensitivity gradation may be included in the terminal capability information – paragraphs 0109, 011).
Regarding claim 4, Takahashi discloses,
he apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operational situation is related to an environmental condition of the apparatus (the user equipment including a generating unit that generates terminal capability information including information indicating an uplink band combination; information indicating whether simultaneous transmissions in the uplink band combination are allowed; and information indicating maximum sensitivity degradation when the simultaneous transmissions are executed in the uplink band combination; a transmitting unit that transmits the generated terminal capability information to the base station apparatus; and a receiving unit that receives an uplink scheduling allocation from the base station apparatus, wherein the user equipment executes the simultaneous transmissions in the uplink band combination based on the uplink scheduling allocation – ABSTRACT, Fig. 4, paragraphs 0009, 0108).
Regarding claim 5, Takahashi discloses,
the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to identify one or more band combinations affected with maximum sensitivity degradation (Fig. 6, paragraph 0047).
Regarding claim 6, Takahashi discloses,
the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the self-measurement is self-interference measurement, wherein the instructions, when executed with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to select, based on a type of the self-interference to be estimated, a method for the estimation (when implementation performance of the user equipment 200 is favorable and almost no IMD2 occurs, i.e., when MSD can be deemed to be 0 dB, the user equipment 200 reports, to the base station apparatus 100, UECapabilityInformation in which “MSD Perf” illustrated in FIG. 12 is set to “8,” “10,” or “11.” In contrast, when implementation performance of the user equipment 200 is unfavorable and relatively large IMD2 occurs, for example, when the user equipment 200 can satisfy MSD of only 30 dB, the user equipment 200 reports, to the base station apparatus 100, UECapabilityInformation in which “MSD Perf” illustrated in FIG. 12 is set to “0,” “2,” or “3.”. In other words, the user equipment determines if the performance is favorable or not and reports to the base station accordingly– Figs. 11, 12, paragraph 0101).
Regarding claim 10, Takahashi discloses,
the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises an antenna (antenna ports are used in the user equipment 200 – paragraphs 0048, 0050).
Regarding claim 11, Takahashi discloses,
a method (user equipment 200 - Fig. 10/200. The user equipment including a generating unit that generates terminal capability information including information indicating an uplink band combination; information indicating whether simultaneous transmissions in the uplink band combination are allowed; and information indicating maximum sensitivity degradation when the simultaneous transmissions are executed in the uplink band combination; a transmitting unit that transmits the generated terminal capability information to the base station apparatus; and a receiving unit that receives an uplink scheduling allocation from the base station apparatus, wherein the user equipment executes the simultaneous transmissions in the uplink band combination based on the uplink scheduling allocation – ABSTRACT, Fig. 4, paragraphs 0009, 0108), comprising:
receiving a request message related to capability of the apparatus (the base station apparatus 100 transmits a terminal capability report request to the user equipment 200 – Fig. 4/s1, paragraph 0038), wherein the request message includes maximum sensitivity degradation information of the apparatus corresponding to an operational situation of the apparatus (the terminal capability information may include only one item of the information indicating the maximum sensitivity degradation in the user equipment – paragraphs 0009, 0106, 0108);
responding to the request message with a response message (the user equipment 200 transmits an RRC message “UECapabilityInformation” to the base station apparatus 100 as the terminal capability report – Fig. 4/s2, paragraph 0040), wherein the response message indicates the maximum sensitivity degradation value corresponding to said operational situation of the apparatus (the information indicating maximum sensitivity degradation MSD when the simultaneous transmissions are executed in the uplink band combination; a transmitting unit that transmits the generated terminal capability information to the base station apparatus – paragraphs 0009, 0106. The uplink band combination may be associated with a plurality of items of information representing the maximum sensitivity degradation, and, for each uplink band combination, information indicating one of the plurality of items of the information representing the maximum sensitivity gradation may be included in the terminal capability information – paragraphs 0109, 0110),
but, does not disclose, utilizing self-measurements during said operational situation of the apparatus to determine a new maximum sensitivity degradation value which replaces the current maximum sensitivity degradation value corresponding to the operational situation of the apparatus.
Ng teaches, a method and apparatus for signaling a message regarding UE receiver performance degradation between a user equipment and a network (ABSTRACT, Figs. 8, 9, page 1, lines 13, 14).
Receiving by the user equipment from a network a new defined bandwidth combination set which is linked with the determined improved maximum sensitivity degradation. the user equipment informing the network which bandwidth combination sets the user equipment supports (Figs. 8/840, 8/850, page 12, lines 33 - 37).
Transmitting to the user equipment with the network equipment a new defined bandwidth combination set which is linked with the determined improved maximum sensitivity degradation (Figs. 9/930, 9/940, page 16, lines 6 – 11).
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 user equipment communicating with the base station the information indicating maximum sensitivity degradation when the simultaneous transmissions are executed in the uplink band combination of Takahashi (Takahashi, ABSTRACT, Figs. 4, 10, paragraphs 0009, 0108), wherein the system of Takahashi, would have incorporated a method and apparatus for signaling a message regarding UE receiver performance degradation between a user equipment and a network of Ng (Ng, ABSTRACT, Figs. 8, 9, page 1, lines 13, 14, page 12, lines 33 – 37, page 16, lines 6 – 11) to define signaling in regard to UE receiver performance degradation for example. In one example embodiment features as described herein may be used to define signaling such that a user equipment UE may indicate to a network an actual maximum sensitivity degradation MSD required for each supported E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity EN-DC or Long Term Evolution/New Radio Carrier Aggregation/Due Connectivity LTE/NR CA/DC configuration (Ng, page 7, lines 27 – 32).
Regarding claim 12, is similar to claim 2 above and is rejected on the same grounds.
Regarding claim 13, is similar to claim 3 above and is rejected on the same grounds.
Regarding claim 14, is similar to claim 4 above and is rejected on the same grounds.
Regarding claim 16, Takahashi discloses,
a non-transitory program storage device (storage device 1002 – Fig. 10/1002) readable with an apparatus (user equipment 200 - Fig. 10/200. The user equipment including a generating unit that generates terminal capability information including information indicating an uplink band combination; information indicating whether simultaneous transmissions in the uplink band combination are allowed; and information indicating maximum sensitivity degradation when the simultaneous transmissions are executed in the uplink band combination; a transmitting unit that transmits the generated terminal capability information to the base station apparatus; and a receiving unit that receives an uplink scheduling allocation from the base station apparatus, wherein the user equipment executes the simultaneous transmissions in the uplink band combination based on the uplink scheduling allocation – ABSTRACT, Fig. 4, paragraphs 0009, 0108) tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable with the apparatus for performing operations (each function of the base station apparatus 100 and the user equipment 200 is implemented by loading predetermined software – i.e., program on hardware, such as the processor 1001 and the storage device 1002, so that the processor 1001 performs computation and controls communication by the communication device 1004, and reading and/or writing of data in the storage device 1002 and the auxiliary storage device 1003 – Fig. 10, paragraph 0080), the operations comprising:
receiving a request message related to capability of the apparatus (the base station apparatus 100 transmits a terminal capability report request to the user equipment 200 – Fig. 4/s1, paragraph 0038), wherein the request message includes maximum sensitivity degradation information of the apparatus corresponding to an operational situation of the apparatus (the terminal capability information may include only one item of the information indicating the maximum sensitivity degradation in the user equipment – paragraphs 0009, 0106, 0108);
responding to the request message with a response message (the user equipment 200 transmits an RRC message “UECapabilityInformation” to the base station apparatus 100 as the terminal capability report – Fig. 4/s2, paragraph 0040), wherein the response message indicates the maximum sensitivity degradation value corresponding to said operational situation of the apparatus (the information indicating maximum sensitivity degradation MSD when the simultaneous transmissions are executed in the uplink band combination; a transmitting unit that transmits the generated terminal capability information to the base station apparatus – paragraphs 0009, 0106. The uplink band combination may be associated with a plurality of items of information representing the maximum sensitivity degradation, and, for each uplink band combination, information indicating one of the plurality of items of the information representing the maximum sensitivity gradation may be included in the terminal capability information – paragraphs 0109, 0110),
but, does not disclose, utilizing self-measurements during said operational situation of the apparatus to determine a new maximum sensitivity degradation value which replaces the current maximum sensitivity degradation value corresponding to the operational situation of the apparatus.
Ng teaches, a method and apparatus for signaling a message regarding UE receiver performance degradation between a user equipment and a network (ABSTRACT, Figs. 8, 9, page 1, lines 13, 14).
Receiving by the user equipment from a network a new defined bandwidth combination set which is linked with the determined improved maximum sensitivity degradation. the user equipment informing the network which bandwidth combination sets the user equipment supports (Figs. 8/840, 8/850, page 12, lines 33 - 37).
Transmitting to the user equipment with the network equipment a new defined bandwidth combination set which is linked with the determined improved maximum sensitivity degradation (Figs. 9/930, 9/940, page 16, lines 6 – 11).
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 user equipment communicating with the base station the information indicating maximum sensitivity degradation when the simultaneous transmissions are executed in the uplink band combination of Takahashi (Takahashi, ABSTRACT, Figs. 4, 10, paragraphs 0009, 0108), wherein the system of Takahashi, would have incorporated a method and apparatus for signaling a message regarding UE receiver performance degradation between a user equipment and a network of Ng (Ng, ABSTRACT, Figs. 8, 9, page 1, lines 13, 14, page 12, lines 33 – 37, page 16, lines 6 – 11) to define signaling in regard to UE receiver performance degradation for example. In one example embodiment features as described herein may be used to define signaling such that a user equipment UE may indicate to a network an actual maximum sensitivity degradation MSD required for each supported E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity EN-DC or Long Term Evolution/New Radio Carrier Aggregation/Due Connectivity LTE/NR CA/DC configuration (Ng, page 7, lines 27 – 32).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Takahashi US PGPub: US 2020/0359398 A1 Nov. 12, 2020 and in view of
Ng WO 2020/201617 A1 Oct. 8, 2020 and further in view of
Chen US PGPub: US 2011/0199743 A1 Aug. 18, 2011.
Regarding claim 15, Takahashi discloses,
the method according to claim 14, the second operational situation is related to environmental condition of the apparatus during use (user equipment 200 communicates with and is connected to a base station apparatus 100A and a base station apparatus 100B – Fig. 3, paragraph 0036),
Takahashi and Ng discloses all the claimed features,
but, does not disclose, wherein the first operational situation is related to an environmental condition of the apparatus at a manufacturing stage.
Chen teaches, a circuit board capable of loading high electrical current, which comprises an insulation plate and a plurality of conductive plates each positioned on the insulation plate by riveting. A manufacturer can conveniently change and use various conductive plates having different thicknesses or current-loading capabilities according to a customer's desire or an operational environment of the circuit board 2 such as being applied to an electronic product of low current selected from a mobile phone, a digital camera, a PDA, an LCD, etc., or applied to an industrial equipment of high electrical current selected from an electric control device, an electric transformation device, a cooling system, a multi-way socket, a socket of an extension cord, etc., (ABSTRACT, paragraphs 0013, 0019).
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 user equipment communicating with the base station the information indicating maximum sensitivity degradation when the simultaneous transmissions are executed in the uplink band combination of combined Takahashi and Ng (combined Takahashi and Ng, ABSTRACT, Figs. 4, 10, paragraphs 0009, 0108), wherein the system of combined Takahashi and Ng, would have incorporated, A manufacturer can conveniently change and use various conductive plates having different thicknesses or current-loading capabilities according to a customer's desire or an operational environment of the circuit board 2 such as being applied to an electronic product of low current selected from a mobile phone, a digital camera, a PDA, an LCD, etc., or applied to an industrial equipment of high electrical current selected from an electric control device, an electric transformation device, a cooling system, a multi-way socket, a socket of an extension cord, etc., of Chen (Chen, ABSTRACT, paragraphs 0013, 0019) to develop a circuit board capable of loading high electrical current to solve the problems existing in the manufacture and operation of the traditional printed circuit board, to simplify the manufacturing process of the circuit board, and to provide a capability of loading high electrical current (Chen, paragraph 0012).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7 – 9 are 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 prior arts made of record and not relied upon are considered pertinent to applicants disclosure.
Lim US PGPub: US 2024/0276400 A1 Aug. 15, 2024.
Maximum sensitivity degradation, where the UE comprising: at least one transceiver, at least one processor; and at least one computer memory storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform operations comprising: receiving a capability enquiry message from a serving cell; transmitting a capability information to the serving cell, based on that the capability enquiry message is received; and transmitting an uplink signal based on first CC within a NR TDD operating band; and receiving a downlink signal based on second CC within NR TDD operating band.
Zeng US PGPub: US 2019/0081657 A1 Mar. 14, 2019.
An apparatus, systems and methods for a wireless device for detection of intermodulation issues and transmission scheme configuration to remedy intermodulation issues. The network may also be configured to know the maximal sensitivity degradation MSD for the particular channel combination, which can be specified in specification documents, and as previously noted may typically be measured under the assumption of peak TX power. Accordingly, based on the UE reported power head room, as well as the determined IMD order and MSD, the network may be able to estimate the effective amount of de-sensitivity of the potential IMD issue, and accordingly decide whether to configure the UE to operate using single UL or dual UL configuration.
Song US PGPub: US 2020/0128622 A1 Apr. 23, 2020.
An apparatus and method for selecting uplink based on communication. The reference sensitivity may refer to a reference value used to identify strength of a received signal. The threshold value may be derived from the reference sensitivity and maximum sensitivity degradation MSD set for a frequency band or channel combination.
Zanaty US PGPub: US 2004/0198333 A1 Oct. 7, 2004.
A wireless communication system and method therefore include a processor programmed with a protocol of a telecommunications provider downloaded from a network, so as to operate the wireless communication system in accordance with the protocol corresponding to a geographical region. The processor includes input and output pins arranged to provide a standard connectivity to electrical components in the wireless communication system. A slot in the wireless communication system receives the processor.
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/NIMESH PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2642