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 amendment filed on 05/07/2026.
Claims 8-15 and 21-28 are under examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12 November 2025, 17 April 2024, and 13 October 2023. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 8-15 and 21-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Abedini et al. (US Publication 2021/0306065).
With respect to claims 8 and 21, Abedini teaches A wireless communication apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, (mobile device with processor and memory, Figure 2) cause the wireless communication apparatus to:
receive, from a second network node, a configuration information that include: (a base station may determine configuration information associated with configuring operation of a group of repeaters, and broadcast a SIB including the configuration information (e.g., such that the SIB can be received by the group of repeaters). A repeater may receive the SIB including the configuration information, and may communicate in a set of resources based at least in part on the configuration information included in the SIB. Similarly, in some aspects, another type of wireless communication device (e.g., a UE, an IAB node, or the like) may receive the SIB including the configuration information, and may communicate in a set of resources based at least in part on the configuration information, paragraph 88) that include:
a bitmap corresponding to one or more reference signals, (a given repeater would have previously received information indicating a location (e.g., in a time-domain) of the set of SSBs (e.g., based on a bitmap received in SIM and/or one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages that indicate the location of actually transmitted SSBs) and the resources of the signals associated with the set of SSBs, Paragraph 93. The signal may be associated with an SSB corresponding to an SSB index (e.g., an SSB index included in a set of SSB indices indicated in the configuration information, Paragraph 101)
a number of spatial settings that are configured for a first network node, (the configuration information may be associated with configuring a value for a parameter. The parameter may be associated with, for example, a maximum number of beams or a maximum number of SSBs that can be used by a given repeater of the plurality of repeaters (e.g., a maximum number of beams a repeater can use on a service-side), paragraph 95) and
a number of forwarding gaps associated with one or more reference signal. (the configuration information may be used for partitioning resources associated with an access procedure (e.g., resources that are to carry signals associated with an initial access procedure). For example, the configuration information may used for partitioning resources associated with an access procedure into a first set of resources and a second set of resources. In some aspects, the first set of resources may be, for example, a set of resources in which signals are not to be forwarded by the plurality of repeaters (e.g., a set of resources in which the plurality of repeaters are to refrain from forwarding signals associated with the access procedure), while the second set of resources may be a set of resources in which signals are to be forwarded by the plurality of repeaters (e.g., a set of resources in which the plurality of repeaters are to forward signals associated with the access procedure), paragraph 91)
With respect to claims 9 and 22, Abedini teaches wherein the bitmap includes one or more bits, wherein each bit corresponds to one reference signal, and wherein each bit indicates to the communication node whether a reference signal is to be received by the communication node from the second network node via the first network node. (a given repeater would have previously received information indicating a location (e.g., in a time-domain) of the set of SSBs (e.g., based on a bitmap received in SIM and/or one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages that indicate the location of actually transmitted SSBs) and the resources of the signals associated with the set of SSBs, Paragraph 93)
With respect to claims 10 and 23, Abedini teaches wherein the configuration information indicates the number of spatial settings associated with each of the one or more reference signals that are to be received by the communication node from the second network node via the first network node. (the configuration information may be associated with configuring a value for a parameter. The parameter may be associated with, for example, a maximum number of beams or a maximum number of SSBs that can be used by a given repeater of the plurality of repeaters (e.g., a maximum number of beams a repeater can use on a service-side), paragraph 95)
With respect to claims 11 and 24, Abedini teaches wherein the configuration information indicates a forwarding gap when a first network node does not send to the communication node information from the second network node, wherein the forwarding gap indicates a length of time when the communication node receives the one or more reference signals from the second network node and does not receive the one or more reference signals from the first network node, and wherein the method comprises receiving, by the communication node, the one or more reference signals from the second network node during the forwarding gap and the one or more reference signals from the first network node during a time other than the forwarding gap. (the first set of resources can be used for providing direct connections to the base station. For example, since the repeaters are not to forward signals in the first set of resources, the first set of resources can be used by wireless communication devices (e.g., repeaters, UEs, IAB nodes, or the like) to directly connect to the base station (e.g., rather than connecting to the base station via one or more of the plurality of repeaters), paragraph 92)
With respect to claims 12 and 25, Abedini teaches wherein the configuration information includes a value for the forwarding gap associated with each of the one or more reference signals that are not to be received by the communication node from the second network node during the forwarding gap. (communicating in the set of resources comprises transmitting or receiving a signal in the set of resources based at least in part on a value for a parameter. For example, the configuration information may be associated with configuring a value for a parameter, as described above. Here, the wireless communication device may receive the configuration information and, thus, may determine the value for the parameter. The repeater may then transmit a communication or receive a communication in the set of resources based at least in part on the value of the parameter), paragraph 104)
With respect to claims 13 and 26, Abedini teaches wherein the configuration information is received in a system information (SI). (a base station may determine configuration information associated with configuring operation of a group of repeaters, and broadcast a SIB including the configuration information (e.g., such that the SIB can be received by the group of repeaters). A repeater may receive the SIB including the configuration information, and may communicate in a set of resources based at least in part on the configuration information included in the SIB, paragraph 88)
With respect to claim 14 and 27, Abedini teaches further comprising: receiving, by the communication node, information from the first network node using a spatial setting from the number of spatial settings, wherein the information is received by the communication node from the second network node via the first network node. (communicating in the set of resources includes selecting an SSB to be used in association with performing an access procedure based at least in part on the configuration information, identifying the set of resources based at least in part on the selected SSB, and receiving the selected SSB in the set of resources. For example, the configuration information may include information associated with partitioning resources associated with an access procedure into a first set of resources and a second set of resources, as described above. Here, the wireless communication device may select an SSB to be used in association with performing an access procedure based at least in part on the configuration information (e.g., the wireless communication device may select an SSB corresponding to an SSB index indicated as one for which repeaters are to forward signals), paragraph 102)
With respect to claim 15 and 28, Abedini teaches wherein the one or more reference signals includes one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs). (the partitioning of the resources may be indicated by a set of synchronization signal block (SSB) indices. Here, each SSB index of the set of SSB indices may correspond to a respective SSB in a set of SSBs associated with an access procedure. In some aspects, the configuration information may include information indicating a set of SSB indices associated with the first set of resources (e.g., the set of resources in which the repeaters are not to forward signals) and/or may indicate a set of SSB indices associated with the second set of resources in association with partitioning the resources (e.g., the set of resources in which the repeaters are to forward signals), paragraph 91)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Cirik et al. (US Publication 2022/0376851) discloses determining first beam preference information for the first MT CC; transmitting, to a second device which is an upper node of the first device, the first beam preference information; and performing beam-based communications with the second device based on the first beam preference information.
Zhang et al. (US Publication 2023/0027512) discloses wireless device receives, via a second coreset with the coreset pool index, downlink control information (DCI) indicating transmission of an aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) via the cell. In response to the receiving the DCI via the second coreset with the coreset pool index, the wireless device transmits the aperiodic SRS with a transmission parameter determined based on the TCI state associated with the coreset pool index.
Any inquiry concerning this communication from the examiner should be directed to ABDULLAHI AHMED whose telephone number is (571) 270-3652. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00AM-4:30PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Khalid Kassim can be reached on 571-270-3370. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABDULLAHI AHMED/Examiner, Art Unit 2475
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