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 .
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.
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to Application No. 18/446,349 filed on 8 August 2023. The response filed 4 March 2026 presents arguments is hereby acknowledged. Claims 1-10 are presented for examination.
Withdrawal of Finality of Last Office Action
Applicant's request for reconsideration of the finality of the rejection of the last Office action (12/04/2025) is persuasive and, therefore, the finality of that action is withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Independent Claims 1 and 6
On pages 6-8 of the response filed 4 March 2026, Applicant addresses the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection made on the 4 December 2025 Final Rejection. Applicant’s arguments, regarding the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103, have been fully considered.
On pages 6-8, Applicant argues that the You/Chen system fails to teach or suggest “as a response to the completion of the random access procedure, forwarding a second signal between the base station and the UE based on the beam indication.” Applicant argues that Chen is disqualified as prior art. Examiner respectfully agrees and finds this argument persuasive.
Dependent Claims 2-5 and 7-10
On pages 6-8 of the response filed 4 March 2026, Applicant addresses the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection made on the 4 December 2025 Final Rejection. Applicant submits that these claims are allowable at least as depending from an allowable independent claim, and further in view of the amendments to the independent claims, and the comments provided above. As per the comments above, Examiner found the arguments persuasive. With regards to allowability, Examiner has conducted a search and applied new art. Thus, a new rejection is established against the independent claims.
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, 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.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PGPUB 2025/0253928 A1 to You et al and in view of US PGPUB 2023/0345262 A1 to Park.
Regarding Claim 1, You discloses a method performed by a Network-Controlled Repeater (NCR) in a wireless communication system (FIG. 14, NCR), the method comprising: receiving, from a base station, side control information including configuration information for forwarding of signals between the base station and a user equipment (UE) (FIG. 14 and 0182-0186 provides for NCR receiving, from gNB, side control information including NCR-Fwd control), wherein the configuration information includes information on a beam indication for a link forwarding to the UE (0199-0202 provides for side control information includes information about the beam); forwarding a first signal between the base station and the UE based on the beam indication (0187 and 0190 provides for forwarding signals based on beam direction); and identifying, that a random access procedure triggered by beam failure recovery for a mobile termination (MT) of the NCR is completed (FIG. 14, 0106-0108, 0144, and 0182-0185 provides for NCR may include NCR-MT and NCR-Fwd). You doesn’t explicitly disclose as a response to the completion of the random access procedure, forwarding a second signal between the base station and the UE based on the beam indication. Park, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses as a response to the completion of the random access procedure, forwarding a second signal between the base station and the UE based on the beam indication (FIG. 12, 0076, 0106, 0153-0156 provides for after utilizing link c to configure the base station to control the repeater, repeater forwarding/amplifying the uplink signal from the UE to the base station). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filed date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Park for amplifying transmissions based on beam information. The beam indication of Park when implemented with the network-controlled repeater of the You system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to amplify antenna selection in order to transmit data based on received beam information. Therefore, the examiner concludes it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to utilize the beam indication of Park with the network-controlled repeater of the You system for the desirable purpose of amplifying transmissions through a network using base station communications with a repeater.
Regarding Claim 2, the You/Park system discloses the method of Claim 1, wherein the side control information is received by the MT of the NCR (You, FIG. 14 and 0182-0185 provides for NCR may include NCR-MT), and wherein a forwarding (Fwd) of the NCR is controlled based on the side control information (You, FIG. 14 and 0182-0185 provides for NCR may include NCR-Fwd).
Regarding Claim 3, the You/Park system discloses the method of Claim 1, wherein the configuration information is configured via a radio resource control (RRC) layer (You, 0236 provides for RRC signal/message to provide NCR).
Regarding Claim 4, the You/Park system discloses the method of Claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the base station by the MT of the NCR, information on time domain resources (You, FIG. 14 and 0248 provides for NCR receiving, from the gNB, through the NCR-MT and NCR-Fwd is assumed to be ON in the time domain resources associated with that beam), wherein the forwarding the first signal or forwarding the second signal comprises: forwarding, by a Fwd of the NCR, signals for a downlink on an access link based on the information on time domain resources (You, FIG. 14, 0185-0186, and 0251 provides for forwarding, by the NCR-Fwd, sends resources to the UE down the access link), or forwarding, by the Fwd of the NCR, signals for an uplink on a backhaul link based on the information on time domain resources (You, FIG. 14 and 0185-0186).
Regarding Claim 5, the You/Park system discloses the method of Claim 4, wherein the backhaul link is between the base station and the NCR (You, FIG. 14 provides for the Backhaul link is between the gNB and the NCR), and wherein the access link is between the NCR and the UE (You, FIG. 14 provides for the access link is between the NCR and the UE).
Regarding Claim 6, similar rejection where the method performed by the NCR of claim 1 teaches the NCR of claim 6.
Regarding Claim 7, similar rejection where the method performed by the NCR of claim 2 teaches the NCR of claim 7.
Regarding Claim 8, similar rejection where the method performed by the NCR of claim 3 teaches the NCR of claim 8.
Regarding Claim 9, similar rejection where the method performed by the NCR of claim 4 teaches the NCR of claim 9.
Regarding Claim 10, similar rejection where the method performed by the NCR of claim 5 teaches the NCR of claim 10.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US PGPUB 2026/0006648 A1 to Zhu discloses forwarding information based on random access.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 SCHQUITA GOODWIN whose telephone number is (571)272-5477. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am - 5pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tonia Dollinger can be reached on (571) 272-4170. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SCHQUITA D GOODWIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2459