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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment to the claims filed on 03/03/2026 complies with the requirements of 37 CFR 1.121(c) and has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the amended claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
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.
Claims1-15, 17-18, 20-22, and 24-28, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over Zheng et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0237463 (hereinafter Zheng) in view of Lagen et al., "New Radio Beam-Based Access to Unlicensed Spectrum: Design Challenges and Solutions," in IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 8-37, First quarter 2020, doi: 10.1109/COMST.2019.2949145 (hereinafter Lagen) and references included therein.
Regarding Amended Claim 1, Zheng teaches an apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: one or more antennas; and a processing system that includes one or more processors and one or more memories that store code and are coupled with the one or more processors (“the communications device 140 includes a processor 141, a memory 142, a receiving circuit 143, and a transmitting circuit 144. The processor 141, the memory 142, the receiving circuit 143, and the transmitting circuit 144 are connected by a system bus 149” – See [¶0332] and Fig. 14 showing Antenna 145),
the processing system configured to cause the apparatus to:
receive a synchronization signal from an external device (“the UE may obtain the synchronization information of the first cell by reading a synchronization reference signal sent by the first cell, for example, a PSS, an SSS” – See [¶0167] and the external device “may be . . . a global positioning system (Global Positioning System, GPS), or a wired network clock synchronization protocol, for example, the IEEE 1588 protocol, or a synchronization source base station in radio-interface based synchronization (Radio-interface based synchronization, RIBS), and the synchronization source base station is a base station that may provide a synchronization signal for another base station” – See [¶0109]); and
communicate in a wireless network using a licensed access protocol that is based at least in part on time division multiplexing (TDM) that uses time boundaries associated with the synchronization signal (the “UE may determine an OFDM symbol position in the first cell by using the synchronization information of the first cell” – See [¶0167] wherein a “time unit boundary may include an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, OFDM) symbol boundary, a timeslot (Slot) boundary, a subframe (Subframe) boundary, a radio frame (Radio Frame) boundary, a super frame (Super Frame) boundary, or the like,” i.e., communicate based at least in part on TDM – See [¶0109])
and based at least in part on a frequency band that is allocated to a licensed access mode and an unlicensed access mode (“one method is to aggregate the licensed spectrum and the unlicensed spectrum in the carrier aggregation (Carrier Aggregation, CA) manner” – See [¶0098] and “the LTE base station may use content carried by a control channel of the licensed spectrum to indicate a transmission format of a data channel of the unlicensed spectrum and therefore, a quantity of blind detection of the UE may be reduced” – See [¶0115]),
wherein, in accordance with the licensed access protocol, a time duration between a first time boundary associated with the synchronization signal and a second time boundary associated with the synchronization signal includes a first time slot and a second time slot (“the subframe boundary may indicate a start position of data channel transmission that can be detected by UE, or a start position of a control data channel that can be detected by UE” – See [¶0115] and Fig. 3a showing a subframe with 14 OFDMA symbols, and “the synchronization information of [a] cell may be implemented by using a reference signal sent by the [] cell, and may include a PSS, an SSS, a CRS, a DMRS, a CSI-RS, a PRS, a UE-specific reference signal, or a DRS” – See [¶0180] and “the UE can detect the first[reference] signal only after learning the format of the first [reference] signal” – See [¶0187] whereby “[a] rule for mapping the reference signal on a time-frequency resource is similar to a reference signal mapping rule supported by the LTE system” – See [¶0186] and further explained for PSS/SSS in Lagen infra).
Although Zheng teaches that data transmission is aligned at subframe boundaries in LTE (“the LTE base station may use content carried by a control channel of the licensed spectrum to indicate a transmission format of a data channel of the unlicensed spectrum” – See [¶0115] and remarks that “the LTE base station may send a padding starting from seizing an opportunity to use an unlicensed spectrum to arrival of a next subframe boundary at which data can be scheduled” – See [¶0116] and “currently, data sending and receiving by an LIE device are both based on a subframe boundary” – See [¶0108]), Zheng does not explicitly teach time boundaries associated with synchronization signal in LTE (or NR) licensed/unshared spectrum.
Lagen, like Zheng, addresses issues related to using unlicensed spectrum in LTE and NR systems, drawing a parallel between the LTE and NR in Table II, at page 18, distinguishing the Time-domain resource allocation granularity in NR (1 OFDM symbol of various durations depending on the subcarrier spacing used) and in LTE (1 subframe of fix duration 1 ms). Section VIII of Lagen, at page 24, discusses “the Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS) and Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), which are used by the UE to find, synchronize, and identify a network” as “[t]he basic structure of NR initial access [which] is similar to the corresponding functionality of LTE” and shows an example of a SSB in an NR slot belonging to a subframe in Fig. 13, at page 25. Lagen further indicates that “[t]he periodicity of an SS burst set is configurable from the set of {5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160} ms (default at 20 ms)” whereby a person of ordinary skills in the art would know that a frame duration is 10 ms, the same in LTE and NR, therefore while the default frequency of SSBs is one every other frame, they can be sent as frequently as one every half-frame, i.e., 5ms. Lagen further references 3GPP technical specifications in the 36/38.211 series1 for “more details on the PSS, SSS, and PBCH signals,” in the 36/38.213 series2 for “synchronization procedure for cell search,” and 36/38.300 series3 for “time-frequency structure of the SS block” on the synchronization raster – See id., col1:¶1. Taking LTE as an example common with Zheng, §5.1, 3GPP TS 36.300 describes at page 62, the structure of an LTE frame used for time-division duplexing (TDD) transmission (Figure 5.1-2 shown below) wherein each subframe consists of two slots except those where a DL/UL switch point occurs (DwPTS, GP and UpPTS, e.g., every half-frame).
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Table 5.1-1 (shown below) specifies possible uplink-downlink allocations, occurring per subframe in LTE.
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Section 5.1.7.3 at page 69, describes “Cell search [a]s the procedure by which a UE acquires time and frequency synchronization with a cell and detects the Cell ID of that cell” and states that “primary and secondary synchronization signals are transmitted over the centre 72 sub-carriers in the first and sixth subframe of each frame,” meaning every half frame.
Therefore, Lagen, referencing 3GPP TS 36.300 for LTE teaches:
a time duration between a first time boundary associated with the synchronization signal and a second time boundary associated with the synchronization signal includes a first time slot and a second time slot (e.g., when PSS is sent on DL in subframe #0 and subframe #5 shown above, taking the time boundary at the subframe boundary, as taught in Zheng, there are at least two time slots in between4 the subframes wherein there is a PSS sent: slot 0 comprising the OFDM symbols carrying the PSS, followed by slot 1 and so on until slot 10 carrying the next PSS, each subframe having 2 slots as shown in the figure above)
wherein the first time slot begins at the first time boundary and the second time slot begins at a third time boundary associated with a non-synchronization signal time (e.g., the first time slot is the first slot of frame #0 because it begins at the first time boundary; and the second time slot is the second slot of subframe #0 or the second time slot is subframe #1 itself and each begins at a third time boundary associated with a non-synchronization signal time as shown in the figure above), and
wherein the processing system, to communicate in the wireless network using the licensed access protocol, is configured to cause the apparatus to: refrain from starting a transmission at the third time boundary (based on the table above, the UE cannot start transmitting, i.e., UL communication, neither at the beginning of the second slot of subframe #0 nor at the beginning of subframe #1 because subframe #0 is always configured for DL and subframe #1 starts always with a downlink pilot timeslot DwPT; therefore, the UE must refrain transmitting UL until at least the end of subframe #1 or subframe #2 which is configured for UL transmissions).
Thus, Zheng and Lagen each teaches techniques for communications in licensed and unlicensed spectrum based on taking a synchronization source from the licensed spectrum transmission with examples of time boundaries (OFDM symbol, slot, subframe, frame) from 3GPP technical specifications. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have understood that the cell synchronization procedure using PSS/SSS signals mapped to standard defined time-frequency resources in LTE TDD frames comprising 10 subframes with well-defined UL/DL configurations as taught in Lagen references could have been combined with the LTE licensed spectrum cell synchronization procedure in Zheng because both references are based on 3GPP specifications for access in licensed spectrum, e.g., using LTE/E-UTRAN. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the combination through techniques known in the art. Finally, the combination achieves the predictable result of aligning transmissions ion licensed spectrum at 3GPP standards defined time boundaries, as taught in Lagen references.
Therefore, Amended Claim 1 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Claim 2, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Zheng teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the synchronization signal is a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) synchronization signal (“The UE may obtain the foregoing [time boundary] information by tracing a synchronization signal” – See [¶0167], and the “time synchronization information . . . [is] provided by the reference time source” wherein “the reference time source may be . . . a global positioning system (Global Positioning System, GPS)” – See [¶0109], whereby a person of ordinary skills in the arts knows that a GPS is a type of GNSS).
Therefore, Claim 2 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Claim 3, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Zheng teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the licensed access protocol is based at least in part on aligning a synchronization signal time boundary associated with the synchronization signal with a slot time boundary of the licensed access mode (where “the reference time source may be a licensed spectrum aggregated with an unlicensed spectrum by CA aggregation . . . a time unit boundary of the licensed spectrum . . . may include an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, OFDM) symbol boundary, a timeslot (Slot) boundary, a subframe (Subframe)” – See [¶0109] and the UE “determines, by detecting the first signal, whether the first cell that sends the first signal has data transmission on the spectrum on which the first cell is deployed” whereby “[t]he first signal may be a reference signal, for example, may be one of the following reference signals: a PSS, an SSS” – See [¶0131], i.e., a synchronization signal, and the “UE may determine, by detecting the first signal, the sequence form of the first sequence included in the first signal,” e.g., when “PSS in an existing LTE system is used as the first signal; in this case, the first sequence may be Zadoff-Chu sequences forming the PSS” – See [¶0132] and “[t]he first sequence is designed to indicate the reference time point of the first cell . . . indicated by an integer multiple of a time unit that can be identified by the LTE system” – See [¶0141] “where the time unit may be . . . a timeslot . . . or another time unit that can be identified by another LTE UE” – See [¶0143], i.e., by detecting the PSS, the UE aligns on a slot time boundary of the licensed access mode to further decode the signal transmitted on the channel).
Lagen also teaches the synchronization signal is aligned with a slot time boundary of the licensed access mode because it references the 3GPP specifications defining precisely where the PSS/SSS signals are mapped on time-frequency resources in an LTE frame, as explained in Regarding Amended Claim 1 supra.
Therefore, Claim 3 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Amended Claim 4, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Zheng further teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing system, to communicate in the wireless network, is further configured to cause the apparatus to:
transmit a communication without performing a clear channel assessment procedure (“the LTE device may use the licensed spectrum as a primary component carrier (Primary Component Carrier, PCC) or a primary cell (Primary Cell, PCell) . . . to inherit the conventional advantages of the LTE device used in wireless communication,” e.g., transmitting without performing CCA – See [¶0105]). In addition, Lagen, referencing Table 5.1-1, 3GPP TS 36.211, teaches that transmission without performing a clear channel assessment procedure in licensed spectrum is possible because subframes in a frame are preconfigured for DL/UL transmissions.
Therefore, Amended Claim 4 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Amended Claim 5, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Zheng teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing system, to communicate in the wireless network, is further configured to cause the apparatus to:
perform a clear channel assessment procedure (“using an unlicensed spectrum resource for data transmission next time, the device must monitor again whether the channel is available. The device may perform a clear channel assessment (Clear Channel Assessment, CCA) by performing energy detection, and determine whether the monitored channel is idle or available” – See [¶0106]); and
transmit an uplink communication to a network node based at least in part on the clear channel assessment procedure clearing (the UE “can send data only after determining that an unlicensed spectrum resource is available” – See [¶0107]).
In addition, § IV of Lagen, teaches, at page 15-17, dual connectivity between licensed band LTE and unlicensed band NR-U, and listen-before-talk (LBT) channel access procedures to initiate a COT for data transmissions and states, in § V, at page 17 that “[a]s compared to LTE in unlicensed spectrum, in NR-U, we may expect: 1) a lower interference generation owing to the beam-based transmissions that allow exploiting the spatial domain, and 2) a lower latency thanks to the reduced processing times as well as the better scheduling time-resource granularity provided by the NR numerologies.”
Therefore, Amended Claim 5 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Amended Claim 6, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Zheng teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing system, to communicate in the wireless network, is further configured to cause the apparatus to:
transmit a communication based at least in part on starting transmission of the communication at a synchronization signal time boundary (“data sending and receiving by an LTE device are both based on a subframe boundary” – See [¶0108] whereby “subframe boundary of the unlicensed spectrum may be determined according to time information provided by the reference time source” – See [¶0111]; furthermore, “[t]o implement data communication between the first cell and the UE on the unlicensed spectrum, . . . the UE needs to first learn other control information used for detecting control data and/or service data,” e.g., “that the first cell seizes an opportunity to use the unlicensed spectrum, a cell identity of the first cell, synchronization information of the first cell, . . . or more generally, necessary control information supporting data transmission (including control data transmission and/or service data transmission),” – See [¶0135] i.e., the UE must acquire a reference time point, whereby “the reference time point may be indicated by a position of an OFDM symbol” in a subframe – See [¶0141] and Figs. 3a and 3b wherein the first signal is a synchronization signal and the OFDM symbol is within the time boundary of a subframe comprising the reference time point in the unlicensed spectrum whereby “[t]he end boundary of the subframe may be understood as an end time point of a last symbol of the subframe” – See [¶0179]; then, “if a time length between the determined reference time point and an end boundary of the first subframe is not less than X1, it may be determined that the position of the data channel is located in the first subframe,” – See [¶0178] i.e., “a quantity of OFDM symbols included in this range in the first subframe may support normal data transmission between the first cell and the UE” – See [¶0181] and Figs. 4a and 4b)
Therefore, Amended Claim 6 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Amended Claim 7, dependent from Amended Claim 6, Zheng teaches the apparatus of claim 6, wherein the processing system, to transmit the communication, is further configured to cause the apparatus to:
delay transmission of the communication until the synchronization signal time boundary (when the “manner is to keep synchronization between the unlicensed spectrum and a reference time source . . . a subframe boundary of the unlicensed spectrum may be determined according to time information provided by the reference time source” – See [¶0111] and “[i]f the currently detected unlicensed spectrum is available, the LTE device sends a reservation signal starting from determining successful preemption of a channel to arrival of a next subframe boundary” whereby “the subframe boundary may indicate a start position of data channel transmission that can be detected by UE , or a start position of a control data channel that can be detected by UE” and whereby the LTE base station “may align time information of the unlicensed spectrum with the reference time source, for example, align the time information with a subframe boundary of the licensed spectrum” – See [¶0115] and “may send a padding starting from seizing an opportunity to use an unlicensed spectrum to arrival of a next subframe boundary at which data can be scheduled” – See [¶0117]; therefore, the communication between the UE and the base station is aligned at the next subframe when the subframe is the synchronization boundary)
Therefore, Amended Claim 7 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Amended Claim 8, Zheng teaches an apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: one or more antennas; and a processing system that includes one or more processors and one or more memories that store code and are coupled to the one or more processors (“As shown in FIG. 15, the communications device 150 includes a processor 151, a memory 152, a receiving circuit 153, and a transmitting circuit 154. The processor 151, the memory 152, the receiving circuit 153, and the transmitting circuit 154 are connected by a system bus 159” – See [¶0356] “the communications device 150 may further include an antenna 155, and the like. The processor 151 controls an operation of the communications device 150” – See [¶0357] and “The processor may implement or execute methods, steps, and logic block diagrams” – See [¶0358]) the processing system configured to cause the apparatus to:
receive a synchronization signal from an external device (“the UE may obtain the synchronization information of the first cell by reading a synchronization reference signal sent by the first cell, for example, a PSS, an SSS” – See [¶0167] and if the device is the base station, “the synchronization source base station is a base station that may provide a synchronization signal for another base station” – See [¶0109]); and
communicate in a wireless network using a synchronized unlicensed access protocol that is based at least in part on synchronization signal time boundaries associated with the synchronization signal (“Another manner is to keep synchronization between the unlicensed spectrum and a reference time source. In this case, a subframe boundary of the unlicensed spectrum may be determined according to time information provided by the reference time source” – See [¶0111]; whereby “’synchronization’ between different spectrums means that subframe boundaries of different spectrums are aligned or that there is a fixed offset” – See [¶0114] and “the subframe boundary may also be other time units, for example, a time unit that is used for data transmission and can be identified by the LTE device, for example, one OFDM symbol” – See [¶0116])
and based at least in part on a frequency band that is allocated to a licensed access mode and an unlicensed access mode (“the LTE device may use the licensed spectrum as a primary component carrier (Primary Component Carrier, PCC) or a primary cell (Primary Cell, PCell), and use the unlicensed spectrum as a secondary component carrier (Secondary Component Carrier, SCC) or a secondary cell (Secondary Cell, SCell)” – See [¶0105])
wherein, in accordance with the synchronized unlicensed access protocol, a time duration between a first time boundary associated with the synchronization signal and a second time boundary associated with the synchronization signal includes a first time slot and a second time slot (because the synchronization signal comes from the LTE licensed spectrum, as required above, within the subframes #0, aka Subframe N in Fig. 6, and subframe#5, not shown in Fig. 6, of the licensed spectrum raster, a subframe boundary of the unlicensed spectrum is the same as the subframe boundary of the licensed spectrum, possibly with some fixed number of OFDM symbols offset, as shown in Fig. 6, and there are at least a first time slot and a second time slot between the two synchronization signals, e.g. slot 0 and slot 1 of the First subframe of the unlicensed spectrum in Fig. 6; see also §5.1, 3GPP TS 36.300, referenced by Lagen, describing the structure of an LTE frame used for time-division duplexing (TDD) transmission, as explained in Regarding Amended Claim 1 supra)
wherein the first time slot begins at the first time boundary and the second time slot begins at a third time boundary associated with a non-synchronization signal time (e.g., slot 0 begins at the start of Subframe #N, aka a subframe wherein PSS is sent in the licensed spectrum, and slot 1 starts at the middle of that subframe shown in Fig. 6, i.e., a third time boundary associated with a non-synchronization signal time)
wherein the processing system, to communicate in the wireless network using the synchronized unlicensed access protocol, is configured to cause the apparatus to:
refrain from starting a transmission at the third time boundary (because “the time length between the determined reference time point and the end boundary of the first subframe is less than X2, it is determined that the position of the data channel is located in a third subframe, where the third subframe is a next subframe that is in the second cell and adjacent to the first subframe in time” – See [¶0208] and Fig. 6, i.e., the apparatus refrains from starting a transmission at the third time boundary; see also Table 4).
Therefore, Amended Claim 8 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Claims 9-10 and 12, as amended, dependent from Amended Claim 8, each claim merely recites the limitations of Claims 2-3 and 5, respectively, as amended, recited with the same language, only applied to the apparatus of Amended Claim 8. Because Claims 1-3, 5, and 8, as amended, are obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen, and the apparatus of Amended Claims 1 or 8 uses carrier aggregation between the licensed channel and the unlicensed channel, each of Claims 9-10 and 12, as amended, is also obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Amended Claim 11, dependent from Amended Claim 10, Zheng further teaches the apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processing system, to perform the clear channel assessment procedure, is further configured to cause the apparatus to:
delay performing the clear channel assessment procedure until a synchronization signal time boundary ( “the start position of the first signal is related to a time point at which the LTE device seizes the opportunity to use the spectrum, and may be further related to a time granularity of a CCA performed by the LTE device,” e.g., “a time of a CCA performed by the LTE device is an OFDM symbol, preferentially, to simplify a system design and enable the LTE device to start to perform a CCA at a boundary of each OFDM symbol,” e.g., at a synchronization signal time boundary– See [¶0242]).
Therefore, Amended Claim 11 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Amended Claim 13, dependent from Amended Claim 10, teaches the apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processing system, to perform the clear channel assessment procedure, is further configured to cause the apparatus to:
perform the clear channel assessment procedure based at least in part on a frequency sub-band specified by a communication standard (“application scenario of the embodiments of the present invention includes that the embodiments are applied to an LTE system for licensed-assisted access (Licensed Assisted Access, LAA), that is, an LAA-LTE system” as introduced by 3GPP Release 13, and “[t]he LTE system for licensed-assisted access refers to an LTE system in which a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum are used together in a CA or non-CA manner” – See [¶0099]; furthermore, “to achieve fairness of spectrum usage by different wireless comm1mications systems on the unlicensed spectrum, in some regions, wireless communications devices need to comply with specific regulations and rules when using the unlicensed spectrum,” e.g., “in ETSI EN 301 893 published by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (European Telecommunications Standards Institute, ETSI), rules such as listen before talk (Listen Before Talk, LBT) and channel bandwidth occupancy requirements are specified for using the unlicensed spectrum” in 5GHz bands, e.g., “[t]he device may perform a clear channel assessment (Clear Channel Assessment, CCA) by performing energy detection” – See [¶0106]; see also ETSI EN 301 893 V2.1.1 (2017-05), “5 GHz RLAN; Harmonized Standard covering the essential requirements of article 3.2 of Directive 2014/53/EU” (hereinafter ETSI 301.893)(defining, at page 12, “5 GHz RLAN bands: total frequency range that consists of the 5 150 MHz to 5 350 MHz and the 5470 MHz to 5 725 MHz sub-bands”).
Therefore, Amended Claim 13 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Amended Claim 14, dependent from Amended Claim 8, Zheng further teaches the apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processing system, to communicate in the wireless network, is further configured to cause the apparatus to transmit a communication, and
transmit, prior to transmitting the communication, a reserve signal based at least in part on using a primary channel (“the LTE device sends a reservation signal (padding), where the reservation signal indicates that the LTE device starts to perform data communication in a next subframe with another LTE device” – See [¶0111], whereby the LTE device “may use content carried by a control channel of the licensed spectrum to indicate a transmission format of a data channel of the unlicensed spectrum” – See [¶0115] and “may use the licensed spectrum as a primary component carrier (Primary Component Carrier, PCC) or a primary cell (Primary Cell, PCell)” – See [¶0105] and Fig. 1, and a “person skilled in the art easily understands that a case in which the first signal and the data channel are an uplink signal and channel may be designed or modified similarly,” i.e., the LTE device may be a UE or a base station – See [¶0134]).
Therefore, Amended Claim 14 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Amended Claim 15, dependent from Amended Claim 8, Zheng further teaches the apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the apparatus to:
receive the synchronization signal (“the LTE base station may further preempt the unlicensed spectrum, and may align time information of the unlicensed spectrum with the reference time source, for example, align the time information with a subframe boundary of the licensed spectrum” – See [¶0115], and further sending “the padding may carry . . . reference signal such as a primary synchronization signal (Primary Synchronization Signal, PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (Secondary Synchronization Signal, SSS)” – See [¶0118] and “the receive end determines, by detecting the first signal, whether the first cell that sends the first signal has data transmission on the spectrum on which the first cell is deployed” and “whether the first cell starts to use the unlicensed spectrum or whether the first cell seizes an opportunity to use a spectrum resource on the unlicensed spectrum” – See [¶0131]).
Although Zheng does not explicitly teach refrain from transmitting an access probe until receiving the synchronization signal, Zheng teaches the apparatus of Amended Claim 8 communicates in a wireless network using a synchronized unlicensed access protocol that is based at least in part on synchronization signal time boundaries associated with the synchronization signal, and also includes by reference ETSI 301.893 regarding CCA procedures wherein § 4.2.6.1.3, at page 21-22, teaches a master-slave operating mode whereby “a slave shall only operate in a network controlled by an RLAN device operating as a master” and “[a] slave device shall not transmit before receiving an appropriate enabling signal from an associated master device,” i.e., the apparatus of Amended Claim 8 would not transmit an access probe before receiving the enabling/synchronization signal from a master device.
Therefore, Amended Claim 15 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Amended Claim 17, Zheng teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at an apparatus, comprising: one or more antennas; and a processing system that includes one or more processors, and one or more memories that store code and are coupled to the one or more processors – See, e.g., Figs. 14-15 and [¶0358], the processing system configured to cause the apparatus to:
transmit a first communication based at least in part on using an unsynchronized unlicensed access protocol that is associated with a frequency band that is allocated to a licensed access mode and an unlicensed access mode; (“once an LTE device, for example, an LTE base station, seizes a usage opportunity on the unlicensed spectrum, the LTE device uses a time point at which the usage opportunity is currently seized as a subframe boundary, and performs data communication with another LTE device, for example, LTE UE,” i.e., the “subframe boundary of the unlicensed spectrum is not aligned with a subframe boundary of the licensed spectrum, or time information on the unlicensed spectrum and the licensed spectrum may be asynchronous,” i.e., “a time unit boundary of the unlicensed spectrum and a time unit boundary of the licensed spectrum are not aligned or there is no fixed offset” whereby a “time unit boundary may include an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, OFDM) symbol boundary, a timeslot (Slot) boundary, a subframe (Subframe)” – See [¶0109], and transmit a first signal with “a reference time point according to a first sequence. . . , where the reference time point is located in a first subframe of the first cell” – See [¶0124] and Fig. 2, and a “one-to-one correspondence between the sequence information of the first sequence and the reference time is that, the sequence information of the first sequence indicates a time position of a signal carrying the first sequence” – See [¶0159]) and
defer, based at least in part on the unsynchronized unlicensed access protocol, transmission of a second communication based at least in part on a derived synchronization signal time boundary (“a backoff (backoff) phase on the unlicensed spectrum indicates that the LTE device performs a CCA in the range, and determines” that “the currently detected unlicensed spectrum is available”; then “the LTE device sends a reservation signal starting from determining successful preemption of a channel to arrival of a next subframe boundary. Herein the subframe boundary may indicate a start position of data channel transmission that can be detected by UE, or a start position of a control data channel that can be detected by UE” – See [¶0115] and Fig. 1; furthermore “[a]fter sending the reservation signal is ended, the base station and the UE start to perform data communication. In this manner, because data communication between the base station and the UE starts from a next subframe, synchronization between the unlicensed spectrum and the reference time source (for example, the licensed spectrum) may be implemented” – See [¶0118] i.e., the LTE device defers transmission of a second communication/signal on the unlicensed spectrum based at least in part on the unsynchronized unlicensed access protocol and using a derived synchronization signal time boundary from the licensed spectrum when “[t]he second cell and the first cell may be deployed on a same base station” – See [¶0146]) and a derived minimum time to wait (as explained in Lagen infra),
wherein the synchronization signal time boundary is derived from transitioning power levels (“detecting the first signal may be detecting whether there is a specific signal by performing related energy detection” whereby “the detected specific signal, for example, sequences forming the PSS, the SSS, the CRS, the DMRS, the CSI-RS, the PRS, the UE-specific reference signal, or the DRS. The reference time point is determined according to the first sequence” – See [¶0188] i.e., synchronization signals with time boundaries, e.g., a subframe and/or an OFDM symbol).
Zheng does not teach the derived minimum time to wait is based at least in part on a derived synchronization period.
Lagen discusses in § 3.B, at page 14-15, regulatory requirements in unlicensed spectrum including “Energy Detection (ED) to detect the presence (i.e., channel is busy) or absence (i.e., channel is idle) of other signals on the channel” and other LBT parameters for each band, e.g., “the regulation specifies the CCA slot duration (9 μs in the 5 GHz band, and 5 μs in the 60 GHz band), the initial and extended CCA check times (e.g., a multiple of 5 μs for initial CCA and 8 + m × 5 μs for extended CCA in the 60 GHz band, where m controls the backoff), and the ED threshold (−72 dBm for a 20 MHz channel bandwidth in the 5 GHz band, and −47 dBm for 40 dBm of radiated power in the 60 GHz band)” and using “using different ED thresholds for intra-RAT and inter- RAT signals, provided that the devices can distinguish between these two types of signals,” including preamble sequences used in synchronization signals, whereby “Wi-Fi supports preamble detection to identify intra-RAT signals, and it uses −82 dBm of preamble detection threshold for Wi-Fi signals while a −62 dBm of ED threshold for non-Wi-Fi signals in the 5 GHz band.”
Section IV.B of Lagen, at page 16-17 teaches the four categories of LBT including “Category 1 (Cat 1 LBT): Immediate transmission after a short switching gap of 16 μs” and references 3GPP TR 38.889 V16.0.0 (2018-12), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Study on NR-based access to unlicensed spectrum (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TR 38.889) or, for LTE, 3GPP TR 36.889 V13.0.0 (2015-06), Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Study on Licensed-Assisted Access to Unlicensed Spectrum; (Release 13)" (hereinafter 3GPP TR 36.889) for “[t]he rules for shared COT,” including whether “a short sensing Cat 2 LBT) is needed at the responding devices” based on their required “gap in between DL and UL transmissions,” i.e., there is always a minimum time to wait of 16 μs.
Section X.A of Lagen, at page 28, further teaches that the derived minimum time to wait is based at least in part on a derived synchronization period (“As inherited in LTE, in LAA and MulteFire technologies there is 1 ms (one LTE subframe) of MAC processing delay and 1 ms of PHY processing delay for each transmission” e.g., “as shown in Fig. 15, data scheduled in subframe number 0 (SF0) can be transmitted over the air after 2 ms in subframe number 2 (SF2). This allows two ways to perform LBT, which are also shown in Fig. 16: (a) LBT before MAC processing, (b) LBT after MAC processing” further explaining the tradeoffs in terms of delay between the two options). Because Zheng is combinable with Lagen on LAA techniques, Amended Claim 17 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Amended Claim 18, dependent from Amended Claim 17, Zheng teaches the apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the apparatus to:
receive a configuration parameter associated with the unsynchronized unlicensed access protocol (“The information carried by the first signal and the second signal may be learned by the UE in advance, so that the UE detects the first signal and the second signal. A manner of the learning may be a method of predefinition, standard specification, network configuration, or signaling notification” – See [¶0201], e.g., by way of standards, “wireless communications devices need to comply with specific regulations and rules when using the unlicensed spectrum. For example, in ETSI EN 301 893 published by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (European Telecommunications Standards Institute, ETSI), rules such as listen before talk (Listen Before Talk, LBT) and channel bandwidth occupancy requirements are specified for using the unlicensed spectrum” and “a time of occupying the channel is limited. After the time of occupying the channel reaches a maximum limit, the device must release the unlicensed spectrum for a period of time, that is, data transmission on the unlicensed spectrum must be stopped for a period of time” – See [¶0106]; see also § 4.2.7.3.1.4, ETSI 301.893:26-27 (defining configuration parameters5 for the initiating device CCA mechanism such as: “The Fixed Frame Periods supported by the equipment . . . declared by the manufacturer,” “the Channel Occupancy Time (COT)” and “[t]he ED Threshold Level (TL), at the input of the receiver”); then “the LTE device determines, by performing energy detection in a specified time range, that received energy is less than a particular threshold, the LTE device may determine that the unlicensed spectrum resource is available” – See [¶0107]; alternatively, by way of network configuration, “the LTE base station may use content carried by a control channel of the licensed spectrum to indicate a transmission format of a data channel of the unlicensed spectrum,” including synchronization on OFDM symbols – See [¶¶0115-16], e.g., “a signal carried by the first OFDM symbol is used by the UE to determine that the first cell has seized an opportunity to use a spectrum resource on the unlicensed spectrum” – See [¶0152]) and
calculate the derived synchronization signal time boundary based at least in part on the configuration parameter (“the LTE device uses a time point at which the usage opportunity is currently seized as a subframe boundary and performs data communication with another LTE device” – See [¶0109], e.g., using the configured Fixed Frame Periods, as taught in ETSI 301.893 supra; “Alternatively, the UE may first determine the synchronization information of the first cell according to the synchronization information of the second cell,” and then “the UE may detect the first signal by using a symbol length of the first signal in time in a neighborhood of a symbol position understood by the UE” – See [¶0156] by “learn[ing] an OFDM index number of the first cell, and accurately determine a position of the first signal, for example, the start time position of the first signal” – See [¶0177], “because the LTE device sends the first signal only after seizing an opportunity to use a spectrum, the start position of the first signal is related to a time point at which the LTE device seizes the opportunity to use the spectrum” and “a time of a CCA performed by the LTE device is an OFDM symbol” – See [¶0242], i.e., the LTE device derives the synchronization signal time boundary based at least in part on the configuration parameter received on the licensed spectrum).
Therefore, Amended Claim 18 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Claim 20, dependent from Amended Claim 17, Zheng further teaches the apparatus of claim 17, wherein the unsynchronized unlicensed access protocol indicates that self-deferral6 by the apparatus is disallowed (“In comparison with a manner of starting data transmission only in a next subframe regardless of a time position in which an LTE device seizes a usage opportunity, spectrum resources of the subframe in which the reference time point is located can be fully used” when “a reference time point in a subframe is considered for determining a position of a data channel, and therefore, the data channel is received according to the position of the data channel” – See [¶0248] whereby “when the time length between the reference time point [at which the opportunity to use the unlicensed spectrum was seized] and the end boundary of the first subframe is greater than the length of the second signal having a minimum time length, remaining symbols of the first subframe may be used for repeating content of the second signal or used for sending a reservation signal (for example, a padding or a preamble)” – See [¶0213] and “when the time length between the reference time point and the end boundary of the first subframe is less than a normal length of the second signal, a part of the second signal may be extended to a next subframe for continuing sending” – See [¶0217] and Figs. 9 and 10, i.e., the LTE apparatus is not allowed to self-defer the transmission until the next subframe).
Therefore, Claim 20 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Amended Claim 21, dependent from Claim 17, teaches the apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the apparatus to:
restart a minimum time duration after completing transmission of the second communication (“After the time of occupying the channel reaches a maximum limit, the device must release the unlicensed spectrum for a period of time,” i.e., “transmission on the unlicensed spectrum must be stopped for a period of time” whereby parameters are “currently specified in ETSI EN 301 893 when using the unlicensed spectrum”– See [¶0106], e.g., ETSI 301.893:24-25 defines Non-Occupancy Period as “the time during which the RLAN device shall not make any transmissions on a channel” and “shall not be less than the value defined in table D.1,” i.e., a minimum time duration is defined; furthermore, when “a Channel Occupancy consists of more than one transmission the transmissions may be separated by gaps,” the transmitting device in a LBE framework performs a Backoff Procedure by initiating the contention window to a minimum CWmin each time before a new transmission – See § 4.2.7.3.2, ETSI 301.893:30-32).
Therefore, Amended Claim 21 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Claim 22, dependent from Amended Claim 17, Zheng teaches the apparatus of claim 17, wherein the apparatus is at least part of a user equipment (UE), e.g., an LTE device as in Fig. 14, but does not explicitly teach wherein the unsynchronized unlicensed access protocol indicates that transmission of an access probe is disallowed. However, Zheng references ETSI 301.893 wherein § 4.2.6.1, at pages 20-22, as part of the regulatory requirements for access to unlicensed spectrum, it is disclosed that when Dynamic Frequency Selection is used for a near-uniform loading of the spectrum, the UE is a slave device that “shall not transmit before receiving an appropriate enabling signal from an associated master device,” i.e., an access probe, as understood, e.g., in the IEEE 802.11 protocol, referenced by ETSI 301.893, is disallowed.
Therefore, Claim 22 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Amended Claim 24, dependent from Amended Claim 17, Zheng further teaches the apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the apparatus to:
complete transmission of the second communication based at least in part on the derived synchronization signal time boundary (“when the position of the data channel,” i.e., the second signal, “is determined according to the determined reference time point in step 203,” i.e., the first signal decoded based on the derived synchronization signal time boundary, “if a time length between the determined reference time point and an end boundary of the first subframe is not less than X1, it may be determined that the position of the data channel is located in the first subframe” – See [¶0178], otherwise “the position of the data channel is located in . . . a next subframe that is in the second cell and adjacent to the first subframe in time” – See [¶0208], i.e., the second communication is completed based at least in part on the derived synchronization signal time boundary).
Therefore, Amended Claim 24 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Amended Claim 25, dependent from Amended Claim 17, in a case of “the wireless communications device needs to meet a listen before talk mechanism requirement of frame based equipment (Frame Based Equipment, FBE) . . . [a]s currently specified in ETSI EN 301 893” – See [¶0106], Zheng further teaches the apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the apparatus to:
receive an indication of a minimum time duration from a primary network node (“X1 may be predefined, or configured by a network, or learned by a base station or UE in a signaling manner,” e.g., “learned by the base station through a backhaul link (an X2 interface or an S1 interface)” with a primary network node, and “may indicate a quantity of OFDM symbols (or a quantity of fractional OFDM symbols) occupied by control information that can support data transmission between the first cell and the UE” – See [¶0180] whereby “30.26 microseconds is approximately equal to a length of a half OFDM symbol” – See [¶0177]); and
to defer transmission of the second communication based at least in part on the minimum time duration (“if a time length between the determined reference time point and an end boundary of the first subframe is not less than X1, it may be determined that the position of the data channel is located in the first subframe” – See [¶0178], otherwise the second communication is deferred, i.e., “the position of the data channel is located in . . . a next subframe that is in the second cell and adjacent to the first subframe in time” based on the minimum time duration X1 – See [¶0208]).
Therefore, Amended Claim 25 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Claims 26-27, as amended, Zheng teaches a method of wireless communication performed by an apparatus, comprising: the steps performed by the apparatus of Amended Claims 17 and 18, respectively, recited with the same language. Because the apparatus in each of Amended Claims 17 and 18 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen, each of the methods in Claim 26 and 27, as amended, is also obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Regarding Claim 28, dependent from Claim 27, Zheng teaches the method of claim 27, wherein the configuration parameter comprises at least one of: an energy threshold, a contention window size, a listen-before-talk configuration parameter, an interframe space length, a backoff configuration, or a synchronization period (e.g., by way of standards configuration “currently specified in ETSI EN 301 893, when using the unlicensed spectrum, the wireless communications device needs to meet a listen before talk mechanism requirement of frame based equipment (Frame Based Equipment, FBE) or listen before talk mechanism requirement of load based equipment (Load Based Equipment, LBE)” – See [¶0106], whereby § 4.2.7.3.1.4, ETSI 301.893:26-27 teaches energy threshold and a listen-before-talk configuration parameter for Frame-Based Equipment and at least an energy threshold, or a contention window size § 4.2.7.3.2, ETSI 301.893:30-32 for Load-Based Equipment; and by way of network configuration, or a synchronization period when “the UE may first determine the synchronization information of the first cell according to the synchronization information of the second cell” – See [¶0156]).
Therefore, Claim 28 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
In sum, Claims 1-15, 17-18, 20-22, and 24-28, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen.
Claims 16, 23 and 29-30, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zheng in view of Lagen as applied to Claims 8, 17 and 26 above, and further in view of Tsai et al., U.S. Patent Application No. 2021/0051498 (hereinafter Tsai).
Regarding Amended Claim 16, dependent from Amended Claim 8, while Zheng teaches using an air interface resource specified by a communication standard (e.g., ETSI 301. 893 supra), Zheng in view of Lagen does not teach the apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the apparatus to: transmit a beacon based at least in part on using an air interface resource specified by a communication standard.
Tsai, like Zheng in view of Lagen teaches a wireless communication system wherein “an operational configuration may include a bootstrapped mode (e.g., supplemental downlink (e.g., LAA mode), carrier aggregation) that uses primary component carrier (PCC) on the non-contention spectrum and the secondary component carrier (SCC) on the contention-based spectrum” – See [¶0040] and “the transmitting apparatus may reserve or use the channel of the contention-based shared radio frequency spectrum band during part or all of the LBT radio frame” – See [¶0044].
Tsai further teaches the apparatus transmitting a beacon based at least in part on using an air interface resource specified by a communication standard (“Following a successful uplink CCA procedure 365 by a UE, the UE may transmit a preamble, such as an uplink [channel usage beacon signal] CUBS (U-CUBS 370) to provide an indication to other UEs or apparatuses ( e.g., base stations, Wi-Fi access points, etc.) that the UE has reserved the channel . . . using a plurality of interleaved resource blocks . . . to occupy at least a certain percentage of the available frequency bandwidth of the contention-based radio frequency spectrum band and satisfy one or more regulatory requirements ( e.g., the requirement that transmissions over the contention-based radio frequency spectrum band occupy at least 80% of the available frequency bandwidth)” – See [¶0049]).
Thus, Zheng in view of Lagen and Tsai each discloses an apparatus in a wireless systems using both licensed and unlicensed bands which are synchronized on a time boundary whereby the apparatus receives a first signal in a set of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have understood that the channel usage beacon signal disclosed in Tsai could have been added to the CCA procedure using padding as taught in Zheng in view of Lagen, because both provide for the apparatus to provide an indication to other UEs/apparatuses that the UE has reserved the channel. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the substitution through techniques known in the art. Finally, the combination achieves the predictable result of allowing the apparatus to occupy at least a certain percentage of the available frequency bandwidth of the contention-based radio frequency spectrum band and satisfy one or more regulatory requirements, as taught by Tsai.
Therefore, Amended Claim 16 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen and further in view of Tsai.
Regarding Amended Claim 23, dependent from Amended Claim 17, Zheng in view of Lagen further teaches the apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the apparatus to:
perform a clear channel assessment procedure (“The device may perform a clear channel assessment (Clear Channel Assessment, CCA) by performing energy detection . . . [a]s currently specified in ETSI EN 301 893, when using the unlicensed spectrum” and “needs to meet a listen before talk mechanism requirement of frame based equipment (Frame Based Equipment, FBE) or listen before talk mechanism requirement of load based equipment (Load Based Equipment, LBE)” – See Zheng:[¶0106] whereby § 4.2.7.3.2, ETSI 301.893:28-33, referenced by Zheng, defines LBE requirements including a minimum and maximum contention window that determines the duration of the Backoff Procedure). While Lagen teaches a contention window in § II.A., at page 12, Zheng in view of Lagen does not teach detecting a contention in a LBE procedure.
Tsai further teaches detect, as part of the clear channel assessment procedure, a contention (“[t]he ECCA procedure 515 may provide a greater likelihood of winning contention to access the contention-based shared radio frequency spectrum band” and “may be performed in accordance with an LBT-load based equipment (LBT-LBE) protocol (e.g., the LBT-LBE protocol described by EN 301 893)”– See [¶0053], i.e., a contention window is used to backoff longer, up to maximum contention window, when collision is detected as specified in § 4.2.7.3.2, ETSI 301.893:28-23 supra);
and defer transmission of the second communication based at least in part on detecting the contention (“the CCA procedure 415, a channel reserving signal, such as a CUBS 420, may be transmitted, followed by a data transmission (e.g., an uplink transmission or a downlink transmission)” – See [¶0051] and Fig. 4, i.e., the transmission of data, the second signal in Zheng, is deferred based at least in part on detecting the contention).
Therefore, Amended Claim 23 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen and further in view of Tsai.
Regarding Claim 29, dependent from Amended Claim 26, the claim merely recites the same limitations as Amended Claim 23, only applied to the method of Amended Claim 26, which is executed by the apparatus of Amended Claim 17. Because Claims 17 and 26, as amended, are obvious over Zhang in view of Lagen and Amended Claim 23 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen and further in view of Tsai, Claim 29 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen and further in view of Tsai.
Regarding Claim 30, dependent from Claim 29, Zhang in view of Lagen further teaches the method of claim 29, wherein performing the clear channel assessment procedure is based at least in part on a second energy detected threshold associated with synchronized unlicensed access (“if an energy detection result of the DCI format exceeds a particular threshold, it may be considered that the first cell has preempted the unlicensed spectrum” whereby “the UE can detect the first signal only after learning the format of the first signal,” i.e., after the unlicensed access is synchronized – See Zheng:[¶0187]). Although Zheng does not teach a first energy detected threshold that is lower than the second energy detected threshold associated with synchronized unlicensed access, Lagen teaches, at page 16, that “[t]he performance metrics for NR-U coexistence evaluation are the same as in LAA [12]” referencing 3GPP TR 36.889, which, like Zheng, discloses a solution framework for licensed-assisted access to unlicensed spectrum whereby “the primary component carrier in licensed spectrum will be used to carry some (or all) of the control signal (and possibly also data, e.g. retransmissions) of the traffic carried over the carrier in unlicensed spectrum” – See § 5.1, at page 34. In addition, § 7.2.1.6, at page 42-43 teaches a first energy detected threshold that is lower than the second energy detected threshold associated with synchronized unlicensed access (“While all nodes need to follow such regulatory requirements, a node may optionally use a lower threshold for energy detection than that specified by regulatory requirements. For LAA, it is recommended that LAA supports a mechanism to adaptively change the energy detection threshold, at least for the downlink, i.e., it is recommended that LAA support a mechanism to adaptively lower the energy detection threshold from an upper bound”).
Because Claim 29 is obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen and further in view of Tsai, Claim 30 is also obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen and further in view of Tsai.
In sum, Claims 16, 23, and 29-30, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen and further in view of Tsai.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zheng in view of Lagen as applied to claim 18 above, and further in view of Huang et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0337997 (hereinafter Huang).
Regarding Claim 19, dependent from Claim 18, anticipated by Zheng, teaching the apparatus of claim 18, wherein the derived synchronization signal time boundary is a first derived synchronization signal time boundary, Zheng does not teach wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the apparatus to recognize a distributed coordinated function interframe space (DC-IFS).
Huang, like Zheng in view of Lagen, teaches that “[t]he base station that supports both an unlicensed spectrum and a licensed spectrum may control both an unlicensed-spectrum cell and a licensed-spectrum cell (that is, the unlicensed-spectrum cell and the licensed-spectrum cell belong to a same base station). For the UE, there are multiple cells that can provide a service to the UE, where one cell is used as a primary serving cell (Primary Cell, PCell), and other cells are used as secondary serving cells (Secondary Cell, SCell)” – See [¶0105] and includes “a scenario in which the unlicensed spectrum cell and the licensed-spectrum cell belong to a same base station, when the base station determines the subframe boundary of the unlicensed-spectrum cell, reference may be made to the licensed-spectrum cell” – See [¶0084].
Huang further teaches calculate a synchronization period between the first derived synchronization signal time boundary and a second derived synchronization signal time boundary based at least in part on a distributed coordinated function interframe space associated with the RTS/CTS mechanism (“the unlicensed-spectrum base station may preempt the radio channel by using an RTS/CTS mechanism” – See [¶0107] and the “time point at which sending of CTS ends indicates that the radio channel is successfully preempted by the unlicensed-spectrum base station, where the time point is the first time point” and a “first time period may include a short interframe space (Short Inter-frame Space, SIPS) starting from the first time point and a padding (Padding) time period from ending of the SIPS to the second time point” wherein “the unlicensed-spectrum base station needs to determine the subframe boundary at which the effective subframe starts to be sent, that is, the second time point” – See [¶0108] and “[t]he unlicensed-spectrum base station intensively sends the synchronization signal in the first time period . . . multiple times in the padding time period”, i.e., using first derived synchronization signal time boundary, e.g., the OFDM symbol on the licensed channel, as taught in Zheng and here – See [¶0110] and Fig. 4, wherein “the unlicensed-spectrum base station completes preemption of the radio channel at the point D; and after a short interframe space (Short Inter Frame Space, SIPS), that is, a point E in FIG. 4, determines that a time point at a distance of M times of 1 ms from the synchronization signal (synchronization signal 2) originally sent for the last time is the start location of the effective subframe, that is, a point F in the figure, where M is a positive integer” – See [¶0133], i.e., a second derived synchronization signal time boundary, e.g., the subframe boundary, is based in part on adding the SIFS which are part of the Distributed Coordinated Function associated with the RTS/CTS mechanism as known in the art7).
Thus, Zheng in view of Lagen and Huang each teaches synchronization on an unsynchronized (with an external source) unlicensed access protocol using configuration received from a licensed spectrum managed by the same base station, whereby the base station first obtains access to the unlicensed spectrum and derives a first synchronization time boundary, e.g., a OFDM symbol, as synchronization signal. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have understood that the RTS/CTS channel access protocol using the Short Inter-frame Space to sense if the channel is idle before sending the CTS and/or the padding signal containing the first synchronization time boundary could have been combined with the unlicensed spectrum access protocol taught by Zheng in view of Lagen, e.g., for load based equipment specified in ETSI 301.893, because both provide for LBT mechanism on unlicensed spectrum. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the combination through techniques known in the art. Finally, the substitution achieves the predictable result of achieving faster synchronization whereby the user equipment UE completes uplink synchronization in the first time period; and starting, by the base station, to send the effective subframe at the second time point, as taught by Huang.
Therefore, Amended Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Zheng in view of Lagen and further in view of Huang.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Sadeghi et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0016295 discloses method and apparatus for frequency and/or timing estimation based on the synchronization signal transmission using unlicensed spectrum or a licensed spectrum;
Oh et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0022015 discloses method and apparatus for receiving configuration information related to a beam used in an unlicensed spectrum and configuration information related to transmission of a synchronization signal block and determining a threshold value used for a channel access procedure based on the configuration information received;
Khawer et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0311168 discloses wireless connectivity in the unlicensed frequency band;
Goto et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0265096 discloses method and base station apparatus to efficiently notify, by a licensed band, a terminal apparatus of control information for communication with an unlicensed band;
Jau et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0299561discloses method and apparatus for time measurement of the GNSS signals and a time measurement of the communication signals at the exact same time point;
Ng et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0073366 discloses methods and apparatuses for cell detection, synchronization and measurement on unlicensed spectrum;
Park et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0370987 discloses method and apparatus for synchronization on sidelink in an unlicensed spectrum or a licensed spectrum;
Section 10.3, IEEE 802.11:1639-1684, “Telecommunications and information exchange between systems; Specific requirements for local and metropolitan area networks — Part 11: Wireless LAN medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) specifications,” July 2022; describing the role of the DCF IFS;
3GPP TS 36.211 V17.2.0 (2022-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical channels and modulation (Release 17)” ;
3GPP TS 38.211 V17.3.0 (2022-09),” Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical channels and modulation (Release 17)”;
3GPP TS 36.213 V17.2.0 (2022-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer procedures for control (Release 18)”;
3GPP TS 38.213 V17.3.0 (2022-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for control (Release 17)”;
3GPP TS 36.300 V17.2.0 (2022-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); Overall Description; Stage 2 (Release 16)”;
3GPP TS 38.300 V16.7.0 (2021-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; NR and NG-RAN Overall Description; Stage 2 (Release 16)”;
3GPP TR 38.889 V16.0.0 (2018-12), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Study on NR-based access to unlicensed spectrum (Release 16)”;
Edalat et al., “Smart adaptive collision avoidance for IEEE802.11,” published in Ad Hoc Networks, Vol. 124, 1 January 2022, 102721, ISSN 1570-8705, available online at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570870521002146;
Chakrapani, “On the Design Details of SS/PBCH, Signal Generation and PRACH in 5G-NR”; IEEE Access, published July 20, 2020;
Won et al., “Three Decades of 3GPP Target Cell Search through 3G, 4G, and 5G,” IEEE Access, published June 17, 2020.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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/JOSEPH E AVELLINO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478
1 3GPP TS 36.211 V17.2.0 (2022-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical channels and modulation (Release 17)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 36.211) and 3GPP TS 38.211 V17.3.0 (2022-09),” Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical channels and modulation (Release 17)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.211).
2 3GPP TS 36.213 V17.2.0 (2022-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer procedures for control (Release 18)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 36.213); 3GPP TS 38.213 V17.3.0 (2022-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for control (Release 17)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.213).
3 3GPP TS 36.300 V17.2.0 (2022-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); Overall Description; Stage 2 (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 36.300); 3GPP TS 38.300 V16.7.0 (2021-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; NR and NG-RAN Overall Description; Stage 2 (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.300)
4 See, e.g., 3GPP TS 36.211, at page 181, “[f]or frame structure type 2, the primary synchronization signal shall be mapped to the third OFDM symbol in subframes 1 and 6,” on slots 0 and 10.
5 In light of the Specification, defining the configuration parameters as including “one or more of an energy threshold, a contention window size, a listen-before-talk configuration parameter, an IFS length, a backoff configuration, and/or a synchronization period” – See [¶0109].
6 The Specification defines “Self-deferral” to “denote a device delaying a transmission based at least in part on an operating condition at the device and not based on detected contentions” – See [¶0122].
7 See, e.g., Edalat et al., “Smart adaptive collision avoidance for IEEE802.11,” published in Ad Hoc Networks, Vol. 124, 1 January 2022, 102721, ISSN 1570-8705, available online at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570870521002146, disclosing in §2, at page 2, that “[w]hen a station wants to transmit a data frame, it first senses the channel to check whether it is idle for a DCF Inter-frame Space (DIFS) interval” and, for collision avoidance, “if the channel is idle, the station will then reserve it for its own transmission via a two-way handshake using small control frames, namely the Request to Send (RTS) and Clear To Send (CTS).”; see also § 10.3 IEEE 802.11:1639-1684, “Telecommunications and information exchange between systems; Specific requirements for local and metropolitan area networks — Part 11: Wireless LAN medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) specifications,” July 2022; describing the role of the DCF IFS.
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