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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 08/14/2023 and 02/06/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 5-8 and 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential step/process, such omission amounting to a gap between the steps. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted step/process in each of claims 5 and 13 is: “generating configuration information on amplifying gain for a network-controlled repeater (NCR)”.
Claims 6-8, 14-15 are rejected for depending on claims 5 and 13, respectively.
Claims 1-15 are further rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In claim 1, lines 3-4, it is confusing and ambiguous for reciting “an amplifying gain for the NCR” since it is unclear as to regarding of what that the amplifying gain is related to. Is it related to a value, a signal, a scale, a range, … or something else? Line 8, it is unclear as to where the amplified signals are transmitted to.
In claim 2, line 5, “a time domain division (TDD)” should be changed to – a time division duplex (TDD) – to correspond to the disclosure of original specification (see page 46, line 7).
In claim 3, lines 2-4, it is confusing and ambiguous for reciting “receiving, from the BS, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) including an indicator indicating an amplifying gain value among a plurality of amplifying gain values included in the configuration information” since it is unclear as to how the medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) received is related to the configuration information received as recited in lines 3-4. Furthermore, it is also unclear as to in what order or fashion that the configuration information and the medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) are received.
In claim 4, lines 3-4, it is unclear as to where the amplifying gain value is coming from. Is it part of the amplifying gain?
Claims 5-8 are rejected for substantially same reasons as claims 1-4, except the method is carried out on the base station (BS) perspective, instead of the network-controlled repeater (NCR).
Claims 9-12 are rejected for substantially identical reasons as claims 1-4, except each claim is in apparatus claim format, instead of method.
Claims 13-15 are rejected for substantially identical reasons as claims 5-7, except each claim is in apparatus claim format, instead of method.
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.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NPL Document by Huawei, entitled “Discussion on L1/L2 signaling for side control information” (cited by the applicant), hereinafter referred to as Huawei Document 1, in view of NPL Document by Huawei, entitled “Discussion on side control information to enable NR network-controlled repeaters” (also cited by the applicant), hereinafter referred to as Huawei Document 2.
Regarding claim 1, Huawei Document 1 discloses a method performed by a network-controlled repeater (NCR) in a communication system, the method comprising: receiving, from a base station (BS), configuration information on an amplifying gain for the NCR and identifying the amplifying gain based on the configuration information (see pages 2, 3 and table 2).
Huawei Document 1 differs from the claim, it does not disclose the features of “amplifying signals received from a terminal and the BS based on the identified amplifying gain” and “transmitting the amplified signals”, which are well known in the art and commonly applied in wireless communications field for signal amplification and transmission. Huawei Document 2, from the same field of endeavor, teaches such conventional features (see pages 2, 3 and figures 1 & 3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the instant application, to implement these conventional features of Huawei Document 2 in the method provided by Huawei Document 1, to provide conventional signal amplification and transmission to further enhance the system capability and performance.
Regarding claim 2, Huawei Document 1 in view of Huawei Document 2 disclose that the configuration information includes an amplifying gain value and information associated with the amplifying gain, and wherein the information associated with the amplifying gain includes at least one of a passband, a beam or reference signal index, or a time [domain] division duplex (TDD) direction associated with the amplifying gain (see pages 2, 3 and table 2 in Huawei Document 1).
Regarding claim 3, Huawei Document 1 in view of Huawei Document 2 disclose the further step of “receiving, from the BS, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) including an indicator indicating an amplifying gain value among a plurality of amplifying gain values included in the configuration information, wherein the identified amplifying gain is based on the MAC CE and the configuration information” (see pages 2, 3 and tables 1 & 2 in Huawei Document 1).
Regarding claim 4, Huawei Document 1 in view of Huawei Document 2 disclose the further step of “transmitting, to the BS, capability information associated with the amplifying gain, wherein the capability information includes an interval for configuring an amplifying gain value (see page 3 in Huawei Document 2).
Note: for detail explanation of each claim limitation interpretation, the applicant is directed to International Search Report, pages 6-7, filed by the applicant on 02/06/2024.
Claims 5-8 are rejected for substantially same reasons as claims 1-4, except the method is carried out on the base station (BS) perspective, instead of the network-controlled repeater (NCR).
Claims 9-12 are rejected for substantially identical reasons as claims 1-4, except each claim is in apparatus claim format, instead of method.
Claims 13-15 are rejected for substantially identical reasons as claims 5-7, except each claim is in apparatus claim format, instead of method.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Patel et al. ‘701 & ‘423, Abedini et al. ‘959 & ‘486, Luo et al. and Tsai are all cited to show the common feature of network-controlled repeater (NCR) for amplifying signals received before signal transmission in wireless communications network similar to the claimed invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALPUS H HSU whose telephone number is (571)272-3146. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 6:30 AM - 3:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, AYMAN A ABAZA can be reached at (571)270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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AH /ALPUS HSU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465