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 .
Priority
The claims in this application are given priority to their filing date February 9, 2024.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 9, 11-17, 23, and 27-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Cheng (US 20250112715 A1 and Cheng hereinafter).
Regarding Claim 1, Cheng teaches a user equipment (UE) (FIG 17, element 1710), comprising: one or more memories storing processor-executable code; and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
transmit a first message that indicates a request for an on-demand first system information block (“the UE may transmit the on-demand SSB request to the network node”[0043], “The network node may broadcast multiple sets of on-demand SSB configuration in the system information (e.g., SIB1, other SIBs or RRC message).”[0065] and FIG 3);
receive, in response to the first message and via a physical channel (“the network node may indicate the on-demand SSB transmission by a downlink control information (DCI) (i.e. Downlink Control Information (DCI) is a crucial component of the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH)).”[0053]), a second message (“The UE may receive the response of the on-demand SSB request and the on-demand SSB from the network node.”[0043] and FIG 3) indicating for the UE to monitor for reception of the on-demand first system information block (The UE may receive (i.e. from the network entity) an updated SMTC (i.e. which includes the DCI) and perform the on-demand RS/SIB measurement according to the updated SMTC. If the preferred SMTC is present, the UE may set up an additional SMTC in accordance with the received periodicity and offset parameters to monitor on-demand SSB occasions. The preferred SMTC request may include periodicity, time offset, window length, and the number of window occasions.”[0069]).;
receive, based at least in part on the second message and via the physical channel, a third message that includes the on-demand first system information block (“The UE may receive the response of the on-demand SSB request and the on-demand SSB from the network node.”[0043] and FIG 3); and
communicate with a network entity based at least in part on the on-demand first system information block (“FIG. 17 illustrates an example communication system 1700 having an example communication apparatus 1710 (i.e. UE) and an example network apparatus 1720 (i.e. network entity) in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.”[0077], “Accordingly, communication apparatus 1710 and network apparatus 1720 may wirelessly communicate with each other via transceiver 1716 and transceiver 1726, respectively.”[0081] and FIG 17).
Regarding Claim 16, Cheng teaches all the limitations of claim 1 from the view of the network entity rather than from the view of the UE. Cheng also discloses a network entity (FIG. 17). Therefore the rejection of claim 1 applies equally as well to the limitations of claim 16.
Regarding Claim 27 and Claim 29, Cheng suggests all the limitations of claim 1 in method form rather than device form. Cheng also discloses a method ([0010] ” In one aspect, a method may involve an apparatus (i.e. network entity) receiving an on-demand RS/SIB request from a user equipment (UE). The method may also involve the apparatus determining a response according to the on-demand RS/SIB request. The method may further involve the apparatus transmitting the response to the UE. The method may further involve the apparatus transmitting an on-demand RS/SIB according to the response.”). Therefore, the rejection of claim 1 applies equally as well to the limitations of claim 27 and claim 29.
Regarding Claim 2, Claim 17 Claim 28 and Claim 30, Cheng teaches all the limitations of claim 1 as described above. Further Cheng teaches
wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
receive signaling indicating a configuration for performing an on-demand first system information block procedure, wherein transmitting the first message is based at least in part on the configuration (“The UE may receive one or multiple recommending on-demand SSB configuration parameter sets via higher layer signaling (e.g., radio resource control (RRC) signaling). The UE may select one set from the received sets. The UE may indicate the recommended/preferred SSB configuration parameter set via a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in Msg 3 or MSG-A.”[0047]).
Regarding Claim 4 and Claim 19, Cheng teaches all the limitations of claims 1 and 16 as described above. Further Cheng teaches
wherein, to receive the second message, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
receive signaling that includes one or more synchronization signal block indices associated with one or more respective on-demand system information blocks (“The UE may receive an on-demand SSB request configuration initiated by the network node including a preference list of SSB indices (e.g., candidates of SSBs) that the network node would like to deactivate/activate”[0076]),
a transmission repetition periodicity for the one or more respective on-demand system information blocks (“The UE may receive the RRC message for periodical on-demand SSB transmission. The configuration parameters for periodical on-demand SSB transmission may be configured in the RRC signaling.”[0051], “the UE may receive the pre-configuration via SIB and RRC messages including, for example but not limited to, at least one of start/end time of SSB transmission (e.g., SMTC), SSB ID (e.g., ssb-index), SSB set (e.g., ssb-ToMeasure), SSB periodicity and offset”[0055]),
a time duration during which the UE is to monitor one or more physical channels, information related to cell access (“For the UE to report a preferred SSB configuration, the UE may receive (i.e. from the network entity) the pre-configuration via SIB and RRC messages including, for example but not limited to, at least one of start/end time of SSB transmission (e.g., SMTC) (i.e. Synchronization Measurement Timing Configuration) SSB ID (e.g., ssb-index), SSB set (e.g., ssb-ToMeasure), SSB periodicity and offset, SSB subcarrier offset (e.g., ssb-SubcarrierOffset), beam directions (e.g., ssb-PositionQCL), ON/OFF indicator of on-demand SSB transmission, SSB subcarrier spacing (e.g., ssbSubcarrierSpacing), maximum number of SSB (e.g., short/medium/longBitmap), SSB position (e.g., ssb-PositionsInBurst) and SSB priority.”[0055]), or any combination thereof.
Regarding Claim 5 and Claim 20, Cheng teaches all the limitations of claims 4 and 19 as described above. Further Cheng teaches wherein the second message is a random access response message (“In some implementations, processor 1712 may receive the response via at least one of an RRC message, a MAC CE and a DCI. (i.e. each of these elements are components of a random access message)”[0087]).
Regarding Claim 9 and Claim 22, Cheng teaches all the limitations of claims 4 and 19 as described above. Further Cheng teaches wherein, to receive the signaling, the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive the signaling that includes one or more synchronization signal block indices associated with one or more respective on-demand synchronization signal blocks (“The UE may receive an on-demand SSB request configuration initiated by the network node including a preference list of SSB indices (e.g., candidates of SSBs) that the network node would like to deactivate/activate”[0076]), a transmission repetition periodicity for the one or more respective on-demand synchronization signal blocks (“The UE may receive the RRC message for periodical on-demand SSB transmission. The configuration parameters for periodical on-demand SSB transmission may be configured in the RRC signaling.”[0051], “the UE may receive the pre-configuration via SIB and RRC messages including, for example but not limited to, at least one of start/end time of SSB transmission (e.g., SMTC), SSB ID (e.g., ssb-index), SSB set (e.g., ssb-ToMeasure), SSB periodicity and offset”[0055]), or any combination thereof.
Regarding Claim 11 and Claim 24, Cheng teaches all the limitations of claims 1 and 16 as described above. Further Cheng teaches wherein the first message further indicates a request for an on-demand synchronization signal (“the UE may transmit the on-demand SSB (i.e. synchronization signal block) request to the network node”[0043] and FIG 3).
Regarding Claim 12 and Claim 25, Cheng teaches all the limitations of claims 11 and 24 as described above. Further Cheng teaches wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive signaling indicating a configuration for a plurality of monitoring occasions associated with receiving a set of preconfigured synchronization signals (“For the UE to report a preferred SSB configuration, the UE may receive (i.e. from the network entity) the pre-configuration via SIB and RRC messages including, for example but not limited to, at least one of start/end time of SSB transmission (e.g., SMTC) (i.e. Synchronization Measurement Timing Configuration...”[0055] and “the UE may set up an additional SMTC in accordance with the received periodicity and offset parameters to monitor on-demand SSB occasions. The preferred SMTC request may include periodicity, time offset, window length, and the number of window occasions.”[0069]), wherein time resources for receiving the on-demand synchronization signal are non-overlapping with the plurality of monitoring occasions (“If the on-demand SSB and other UL/DL signal/channels (e.g., SSB, SIB1, CORESETO, MSG2/MSGB, paging or DL small data transmission (SDT)) overlap in time, reception of the on-demand SSB may have lower priority than other signal/channels. For example, if the UE determines a conflict (i.e. overlap) between the on-demand SSB and other signals/channels reception, the UE may ignore the on-demand SSB reception or skip the on-demand SSB scheduling. For an idle or inactive UE, it may only monitor the DL always-on signal including SSB, SIB1, and PDCCH. When the UE detects the on-demand SSB and if the UE determines no conflicts (i.e. non-overlapping) between the on-demand SSB and other DL signals/channels reception, the detected on-demand SSB may be used.”[0072] and FIG. 13).
Regarding Claim 13 and Claim 26, Cheng teaches all the limitations of claims 1 and 16 as described above. Further Cheng teaches wherein, to transmit the first message, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: transmit the first message via a physical random access channel, a physical uplink shared channel, or a physical uplink control channel (“In some implementations, the UE may transmit the on-demand SSB request (i.e. first message) via a scheduling request (SR) on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).”[0048]).
Regarding Claim 14, Cheng teaches all the limitations of claim 1 as described above. Further Cheng teaches wherein the first message and the second message are random access channel messages in a random access channel procedure (“The UE may transmit the on-demand SSB request in a random access preamble (i.e. message) in random-access channel (RACH) via Msg 1 or Msg A.”[0047]).
Regarding Claim 15, Cheng teaches all the limitations of claim 1 as described above. Further Cheng teaches wherein the physical channel is a physical downlink shared channel or a physical downlink control channel (“the network node may indicate the on-demand SSB transmission by a downlink control information (DCI) (i.e. Downlink Control Information (DCI) is a crucial component of the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH)).”[0053]).
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.
Claims 3, 6-8, 10, 18 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cheng as applied to claim 1 and 16 above, and further in view of Locher (US 20180270866 A1 and Locher hereinafter).
Regarding Claim 3 and Claim 18, Cheng teaches all the limitations of claims 1 and 16 as described above.
Cheng doesn’t explicitly disclose
wherein, to receive the second message, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive a confirmation of successful reception of the request for the on-demand first system information block
However, in a similar field of endeavor Locher teaches
wherein, to receive the second message, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive a confirmation of successful reception of the request for the on-demand first system information block (“In certain embodiments, for an SI (i.e. system information)-request the UE 502 may only need to receive confirmation that the PRACH preamble 508 (i.e. first message) was detected by the gNB 504 (i.e. successful reception).”[0074]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Cheng with the method suggested by Locher. The motivation would be for sending and/or receiving feedback for a system information request, see Locher at Abstract.
Regarding Claim 6 and Claim 21, Cheng teaches all the limitations of claim 4 and 19 as described above.
Cheng doesn’t explicitly teach
wherein the second message is a downlink control information message, based at least in part on a cyclic redundancy check that is scrambled by a random access radio network temporary identifier
In a similar endeavor Locher teaches
wherein the second message is a downlink control information message, based at least in part on a cyclic redundancy check that is scrambled by a random access radio network temporary identifier (“In some embodiments, a new RNTI value (e.g., SI-Request RNTI) may be used to indicate that the DCI (e.g., PDCCH) contains the SI request feedback message (i.e. the second message). This may enable the UE 502 to distinguish between a random access response message (e.g., cyclic redundancy check (“CRC”) scrambled with random access RNTI (“RA-RNTI”) (i.e. random access radio network temporary identifier)) and the SI-request feedback message (e.g., CRC of PDCCH scrambled with SI-request RNTI).”[0069]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Cheng with the method suggested by Locher. The motivation would be for sending and/or receiving feedback for a system information request, see Locher at Abstract.
Regarding Claim 7, Cheng in view of Locher, Cheng-Locher hereinafter, teaches all the limitations of claim 6 as described above. Further Cheng teaches
wherein the signaling is received in one or more fields of the downlink control information message that are also used for a second set of signaling information (“the network node may indicate the on-demand SSB transmission by a downlink control information (DCI). The UE may receive a DCI format for semi-persistent and aperiodic on-demand SSB transmission. Multiple configuration parameter sets (i.e. a second set of signaling information) for semi-persistent and aperiodic on-demand SSB transmission may be configured in the RRC signaling. One of them may be activated by the DCI. Assuming that the number of configuration parameter sets is larger than the number of codepoints in the DCI. In that case, the MAC CE may activate some of the configuration parameter sets configured in the RRC signaling.”[0053]).
Regarding Claim 8, Cheng-Locher teaches all the limitations of claim 6 as described above. Further Cheng teaches
wherein the signaling is received in one or more fields of the downlink control information message that are reserved for indicating for the UE to monitor for reception of the on-demand first system information block (“The UE may request the network node to configure the on-demand SSB in a preferred measurement timing window (e.g., preferred SMTC). The UE may receive (i.e. from the network entity) an updated SMTC (i.e. which includes the DCI) and perform the on-demand RS/SIB measurement according to the updated SMTC. If the preferred SMTC is present, the UE may set up an additional SMTC in accordance with the received periodicity and offset parameters to monitor on-demand SSB occasions. The preferred SMTC request may include periodicity, time offset, window length, and the number of window occasions.”[0069]).
Claims 10 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cheng as applied to claim 1 and 16 above, and further in view of Cozzo (US 20230171814 A1 and Cozzo hereinafter).
Regarding Claim 10 and 23, Cheng teaches all the limitations of claims 1 and 19 as described above. Cheng doesn’t explicitly teach
wherein, to communicate with the network entity, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: transition from an idle state to a radio resource control connected state
However in a similar endeavor Cozzo teaches
wherein, to communicate with the network entity, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: transition from an idle state to a radio resource control connected state (“the RA procedure can be initiated for initial access to establish an RRC connection, where a user equipment (UE) transitions from an RRC_IDLE state to an RRC_CONNECTED state”[0070]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Cheng with the method suggested by Cozzo. The motivation would be for an on-demand SI request, or for hand-over, see Cozzo at [0070].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wang (US 20200120553 A1) which teaches a method and a device supporting on-demand system information message.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Iyonda L. Lewis whose telephone number is (571)272-4440. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:00pm.
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/IYONDA L LEWIS/Examiner, Art Unit 2647
/Alison Slater/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2647