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 communication filed on 01/29/2026.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 01/29/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to claim(s) 14 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 of this title, 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.
Claim(s) 1, 5, 7, 9, 14 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (US. Pub. 20220104152) in view of Yuan et al. (U.S. Pub. 20210320768).
Regarding claim 14 Wu disclose, a method for wireless communications by a first base station read as: “a network unit 104 may also be referred to a base station” see para. 39 of an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network, comprising:
determining synchronization signal block (SSB) resources used for periodic SSB transmissions by one or more second base stations read as: one of the “network unit 104” see Fig. 1 of the IAB network para. 66, “For an IAB node, if an SSB transmitted by an IAB node for an access UE and an SSB for inter-IAB node discovery and/or measurement occupy different time domain resources”;
using the determined SSB resources to perform SSB-based measurements of one or more cells para. 66, “additional signaling can be used to indicate whether the SSB is for the access UE or the SSB is for inter-IAB node discovery and/or measurement”; and
communicating, via a backhaul link connected directly to the first base station and a second base station of the one or more second base stations, with the second base station, para. 64, “multiple SSB transmission occasions may be used to provide more chances for inter-IAB node discovery and measurement. In addition, an SSB time domain pattern may be changed over time or between different IAB nodes. As used herein, an SSB can be a single SSB or a SSB set”.
Wu do not specifically disclose, based on the SSB-based measurements of the one or more cells para. 64, “channel measurement and interference measure measurement on the two resource sets to, for example, determine at least one preferred precoder to be used for the data transmission between the IAB node and the IAB donor or the parent IAB node”
Wu and Yuan are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to transmission parameters.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Yuan in the system of Wu so the system can select the best available resource that has the best parameter performance values and backhauling functionality. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve and maintain the quality of the system.
Regarding claim 17 Wu do not specifically disclose, further comprising processing the SSB-based measurements to obtain interference information regarding the one or more cells. However, Yuan disclose, para. 41. “an IAB donor or a parent IAB node may perform channel measurement and interference measure measurement on the two resource sets to”.
Wu and Yuan are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to transmission parameters.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Yuan in the system of Wu so the system can select the best available resource that has the best parameter performance values and direct backhauling functionality. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve and maintain the best communications and quality of the system.
Claim 1 recites an apparatus corresponding to the method of claim 14 and thus is rejected under the same reason set forth in the rejection of claim 14. Regarding the apparatus comprising one or more processors and one or more memories, Wu disclose, “the network unit 104 may include a processor 302 and a memory 304”, see para. 53, Fig. 3”.
Regarding claim 5, Wu do not specifically disclose, wherein the first base station determines the SSB resources, based on information received from a central base station. However, Yuan disclose para. 41, “An IAB donor or a parent IAB node may perform channel measurement and interference measure measurement on the two resource sets to, for example, determine at least one preferred precoder to be used for the data transmission between the IAB node and the IAB donor or the parent IAB node”.
Wu and Yuan are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to transmission parameters.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Yuan in the system of Wu so the system can select the optimal available resources. The motivation for doing so would have been to establish the communication channel system according with the selected configuration.
Regarding claim 7 the limitations of claim 7 are rejected in the same manner as analyzed above with respect to claim 17.
Regarding claim 9 the limitations of claim 9 are rejected in the same manner as analyzed above with respect to claim 14.
Regarding claim 18 the limitations of claim 18 are rejected in the same manner as analyzed above with respect to claim 14.
Claim(s) 2, 6, 10, 13, 15 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (WIPO. Pub. WO2018236256), in view of Yuan et al. (U.S. Pub. 20210320768), further in view of Qi et al. (U.S. Pub. 20210176655).
Regarding claim 6 Wu and Yuan do not specifically disclose, wherein the periodic SSB transmissions comprise periodic radio resource management (RRM)-SSB transmissions. However, Qi disclose, “different SS block based RRM measurement timing configurations, STMC, are configured for different IAB nodes and/or UEs in terms of offset and/or duration”, see para. 30.
Wu, Yuan and Qi are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to transmission parameters.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Qi in the system of Wu and Yuan so the system can manage with the proper technique the available resources. The motivation for doing so would have been to optimize the use of limited radio resources.
Regarding claim 13 the limitations of claim 13 are rejected in the same manner as analyzed above with respect to claim 6.
Regarding claim 15 Wu and Yuan do not specifically disclose, wherein the periodic SSB transmissions comprise periodic cell defining (CD)-SSB transmissions. However, Qi disclose, “to use synchronization signal block (SSB), which is transmitted periodically. SSBs from all rTRPs can be transmitted at the same time”, para. 48.
Wu, Yuan and Qi are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to transmission parameters.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Qi in the system of Wu and Yuan so the system can operate over synchronized communications between the nodes. The motivation for doing so would have been to ensure the accuracy of the transmission maintaining the same communication speeds.
Regarding claims 2, 10 and 19 the limitations of claims 2, 10 and 19, respectively, are rejected in the same manner as analyzed above with respect to claim 15.
Claim(s) 3-4, 11-12, 16, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (WIPO. Pub. WO2018236256) in view of Yuan et al. (U.S. Pub. 20210320768), further in view of Qi et al. (U.S. Pub. 20210176655), further in view of Jassal et al. (U.S. Pub. 20200044806).
Regarding claim 16 Wu, Yuan and Qi do not specifically disclose, wherein each CD-SSB transmission is associated with a cell identifier (ID). However, Jassal disclose, “An identifier of a cell may be any parameter that may be used to determine the identity of a cell. An identifier of a cell may include, for example, a cell identity. A cell identity may also be referred to as a physical cell identity (…), An SSB already inherently carries information related to cell identities” see para. 52 and 111.
Wu, Yuan, Qi and Jassal are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to transmission parameters.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Jassal in the system of Wu, Yuan and Qi so the system can associate the correspondent measurement configuration with the proper cell to be measured. The motivation for doing so would have been to ensure that the user equipment can uniquely identify the associated SSB resource configuration with the given cell.
Regarding claims 3-4, 11-12 and 20, the limitations of claims 3-4, 11-12 and 20, respectively, are rejected in the same manner as analyzed above with respect to claim 16.
Claim(s) 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (WIPO. Pub. WO2018236256) in view of Yuan et al. (U.S. Pub. 20210320768), further in view of Qi et al. (U.S. Pub. 20210176655), further in view of Balraj et al. (U.S. Pub. 20150092583).
Regarding claim 8 Wu, Yuan and Qi do not specifically disclose, wherein the processing comprises generating an interference matrix based on the SSB-based measurements. However, Balraj teach, para. 30, “Interference measurements may be performed based on the cell-specific reference signals in the form of a noise and interference covariance matrix {circumflex over (R)}.sub.n according to: R ^ n = i = 0 N AP 1 N P , i ( h ~ AP , i - h ^ AP , i ) ( h ~ AP , i - h ^ AP , i ) H , ( 1 ) EQU00001 ”.
Wu, Yuan, Qi and Balraj are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to transmission parameters.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Balraj in the system of Wu, Yuan and Qi so the system can analyze the correspondent measurement configuration with the cell that it is being measured. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve the efficiency of the current communication and reduce the interference on a given cell.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Harada (U.S. Pub. 20210345262) which disclose(s) radio base station and radio communication method.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAUL RIVAS whose telephone number is (571)270–5590. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday – Friday, from 8:30am to 5:00pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy K. Kundu, can be reached on (571) 272 - 8586. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571–273–8300.
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/RR/
Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/SUJOY K KUNDU/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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