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 Arguments
In light of the changes made to the specification, the objection pertaining to a non-descriptive title is withdrawn.
In light of the changes made to the claims, the Double Patenting rejections are withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed 01/12/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding claim 1, applicant argues that Kho and Marin fail to teach the claim language, particularly stating that while Kho discloses that the invention of Kho may be used for various wireless communication technologies, Kho is completely silent on carrier aggregation using carriers from different communication standards.
Applicant additionally argues that Marin doesn’t disclose “any configuration information comprising identification information of standard carrier groups, wherein different receive standard carrier groups correspond to different communication standards,” or that “configuration information that includes standard information of each of at least two receive carriers, wherein the standard information indicates a communication standard of the corresponding carrier”.
However, reading the claims in the broadest reasonable sense, the examiner respectfully disagrees. In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986). In this case, applicant has claimed that Kho fails to teach “the first receive carrier corresponds to a first communication standard, the second receive carrier corresponds to a second communication standard, and the first communication standard is different from the second communication standard”, however as can be seen from the Office Action dated 10/28/2025, Marin was used to teach this as seen in ¶0005-0007 and 0016-0023 wherein RAT systems may manage carrier aggregation through transmission and reception of information of a first type over a primary channel [for example using a first RAT], and of a second type over a supplementary channel [with a second RAT, concurrently], with aggregation or segmentation of the information being exchanged via the first and second component carriers.
Additionally, the examiner points to ¶0005-0007 and 0016-0023 of Marin wherein RAT systems may manage carrier aggregation through transmission and reception of information of a first type over a primary channel [for example using a first RAT], and of a second type over a supplementary channel [with a second RAT, concurrently], with aggregation or segmentation of the information being exchanged via the first and second component carriers. Specifically, as further described in ¶0008-0009 and 0069 wherein the various types, or standards, are described which are at least covered by the system, thus directly describing that, as an example, that one carrier aggregation of a first type may be according to LTE [Long Term Evolution] RAT [which functions as a 4G wireless communication standard as is understood by one of ordinary skill in the art], while the other carrier aggregation may be of a second type according to High Speed Packet Access [HSPA] RAT [which functions as a 3G mobile broadband communications technical standard as is understood by one of ordinary skill in the art], with similar arguments being provided for the receive carriers with regards to standards of corresponding carriers. Therefore Marin does indeed teach wherein at least the two receive standard carrier groups correspond to different communication standards as per currently claimed.
Therefore the rejection of claim(s) 1 is/are maintained. Regarding arguments pertaining to claim(s) 10 and 18, for reasons similar to those discussed above for claim 1, the examiner respectfully disagrees. Therefore the rejection of claim(s) 10 and 18 is/are maintained. Regarding claim(s) 4-9, 13-17 and 21-26 the claim(s) is/are dependent upon claim(s) 10 and 18 and are still rejected under the same basis as claim(s) 1, 10 and 18 and the arguments presented above.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4-10, 13-18, 21, 22 and 24-26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khoshnevisan et al. (“Kho”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2020/0336892) in view of Marinier et al. (“Marin”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2020/0154436).
In regards to claim 1, Kho teaches a method, comprising:
obtaining, by a first communication apparatus, first configuration information (“receiving a carrier aggregation configuration indicating component carriers designated for the separate operations; and receiving or transmitting transmissions based on the carrier aggregation configuration,” - ¶0008), wherein the first configuration information indicates to the first communication apparatus to perform carrier aggregation communication on at least two receive carriers, the at least two receive carriers comprise a first receive carrier and a second receive carrier (See ¶0046-0052 and 0091-0101 wherein multiple component carriers may be involved with the reception and transmission of information between devices, particularly “the UE 402 may receive the carrier aggregation configuration from the first TRP 404. For example, the carrier aggregation configuration may assign multiple component carriers to the first TRP 404 and multiple component carriers to the second TRP 406,” - ¶0052, and “the term “cell” can refer to a coverage area of a Node B (NB) and/or a NB subsystem serving this coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In NR systems, the term “cell” and BS, next generation NodeB (gNB or gNodeB), access point (AP), distributed unit (DU), carrier, or transmission reception point (TRP) may be used interchangeably,” - ¶0094); and
performing, by the first communication apparatus, carrier aggregation communication on the at least two receive carriers based on the first configuration information (See ¶0008 and 0046-0052, particularly “and receiving or transmitting transmissions based on the carrier aggregation configuration,” - ¶0008); and
wherein the first configuration information comprises:
configuration information of at least two receive standard carrier groups (See ¶0005-0007), wherein the configuration information of each receive standard carrier group of the at least two receive standard carrier groups comprises identification information of the respective receive standard carrier group and identification information of at least one receive carrier in the respective receive standard carrier group (See ¶0045), and each identification information of the respective receive standard carrier group indicates a communication standard corresponding to the respective receive standard carrier group (See ¶0045 as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art with regards to identifier information); or
wherein the first configuration information comprises identification information and standard information of each of the at least two receive carriers, wherein the standard information of each of the at least two receive carriers indicates a communication standard of the receive carrier corresponding to the identification information that corresponds to the respective standard information (See ¶0045-0065).
Kho, however, fails to teach the first receive carrier corresponds to a first communication standard, the second receive carrier corresponds to a second communication standard, and the first communication standard is different from the second communication standard; and different receive standard carrier groups correspond to different communication standards.
It is noted by the examiner that the claim is set up such that only one of the two limitations need to be satisfied, as “or” language is being introduced. However, for the purposes of compact prosecution, both portions will be considered in this rejection --- yet it is noted by the examiner that only one needs to be rejected for the entire claim to be considered to have proper prior art rejection.
In a similar endeavor Marin teaches the first receive carrier corresponds to a first communication standard, the second receive carrier corresponds to a second communication standard, and the first communication standard is different from the second communication standard (See ¶0005-0007 and 0016-0023 wherein RAT systems may manage carrier aggregation through transmission and reception of information of a first type over a primary channel [for example using a first RAT], and of a second type over a supplementary channel [with a second RAT, concurrently], with aggregation or segmentation of the information being exchanged via the first and second component carriers); and
different receive standard carrier groups correspond to different communication standards (See ¶0005-0007 and 0016-0023).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Marin into Kho because it allows for the enhancement of multi-radio technologies carrier aggregation through the use of concurrently allocation information on two carriers using RAT as taught by Marin.
In regards to claim 4, Kho teaches the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
sending, by the first communication apparatus, capability information of the first communication apparatus, wherein the capability information of the first communication apparatus indicates one or more of the following capabilities:
a communication standard supported by the first communication apparatus, a capability indicating that the first communication apparatus supports inter-radio access technology carrier aggregation (RAT CA) (See ¶0097), a capability indicating that the first communication apparatus supports cross-carrier scheduling of inter-RAT CA (See ¶0097), a capability indicating that the first communication apparatus supports cross-carrier scheduling in a same receive standard carrier group, or a capability indicating that the first communication apparatus supports cross-carrier scheduling between different receive standard carrier groups (See ¶0038, 0040, 0043 and 0103-0104); and
wherein the cross-carrier scheduling in a same receive standard carrier group indicates cross-carrier scheduling between at least two receive carriers corresponding to a same receive standard carrier group, and the cross-carrier scheduling between different receive standard carrier groups indicates cross-carrier scheduling between at least two receive carriers corresponding to different receive standard carrier groups (See ¶0038, 0040, 0043 and 0103-0104).
In regards to claim 5, Kho fails to teach the method according to claim 1, further comprising: obtaining, by the first communication apparatus, second configuration information, wherein the second configuration information comprises one or more of the following information: configuration information of a control resource set corresponding to each of the first communication standard and the second communication standard, or configuration information of a search space corresponding to each of the first communication standard and the second communication standard.
In a similar endeavor Marin teaches obtaining, by the first communication apparatus, second configuration information, wherein the second configuration information comprises one or more of the following information:
configuration information of a control resource set corresponding to each of the first communication standard and the second communication standard, or configuration information of a search space corresponding to each of the first communication standard and the second communication standard (See ¶0178).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Marin into Kho because it allows for the enhancement of multi-radio technologies carrier aggregation through the use of concurrently allocation information on two carriers using RAT as taught by Marin.
In regards to claim 6, Kho fails to teach the method according to claim 5, wherein: the first communication standard corresponds to a first control resource set, and the second communication standard corresponds to a second control resource set; or the first communication standard and the second communication standard correspond to a third control resource set, the first communication standard corresponds to a first search space of the third control resource set, and the second communication standard corresponds to a second search space of the third control resource set; or the first communication standard and the second communication standard correspond to a third search space.
In a similar endeavor Marin teaches the first communication standard corresponds to a first control resource set, and the second communication standard corresponds to a second control resource set; or
the first communication standard and the second communication standard correspond to a third control resource set, the first communication standard corresponds to a first search space of the third control resource set, and the second communication standard corresponds to a second search space of the third control resource set; or
the first communication standard and the second communication standard correspond to a third search space (See ¶0178).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Marin into Kho because it allows for the enhancement of multi-radio technologies carrier aggregation through the use of concurrently allocation information on two carriers using RAT as taught by Marin.
In regards to claim 7, Kho fails to teach the method according to claim 5, further comprising: detecting, by the first communication apparatus, control information corresponding to the second communication standard on the first receive carrier based on one or more of the following information corresponding to the first communication standard: a blind detection capability, a control resource set, or a search space, wherein the control information is control information for scheduling data transmission; or detecting, by the first communication apparatus, control information corresponding to the second communication standard on the first receive carrier based on one or more of the following information corresponding to the second communication standard: a blind detection capability, a control resource set, or a search space, wherein the control information is control information for scheduling data transmission; and parsing, by the first communication apparatus, the control information based on the second communication standard.
That is, although Kho teaches in ¶0045-0055 that the UE may monitor the PDCCH(s) in one or more CORESETs in multiple groups from one or more TRPs, and in ¶0075-0080 that the UE may proceed to a control information mapping onto or splitting from physical channels on a first TRP or a second TRP, Marin further teaches in ¶0025-0030 and 0175-0185 that the control signaling may be received on the physical data transport channel of the first RAT and the scheduling may be received on the PDCCH of a CC configured by RRC for cross-carrier scheduling of the concerned CC of the second RAT, while also indicating that the Downlink Control Information (DCI) may be used to schedule transmissions and that the DCI format may be received in a WTRU-specific search space of the PDCCH of a CC of the first RAT and a search space may be specific to at least one CC of the second RAT, thus showing how the UE may detect one or more control information (DCI[s]) in a carrier aggregation network.
Therefore, in a similar endeavor Marin teaches detecting, by the first communication apparatus, control information corresponding to the second communication standard on the first receive carrier based on one or more of the following information corresponding to the first communication standard:
a blind detection capability, a control resource set, or a search space (See ¶0178), wherein the control information is control information for scheduling data transmission (See ¶0177-0179); and
parsing, by the first communication apparatus, the control information based on the second communication standard (See ¶0174-0179 in view of ¶0104, 0152, 0157-0158).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Marin into Kho because it allows for the enhancement of multi-radio technologies carrier aggregation through the use of concurrently allocation information on two carriers using RAT as taught by Marin.
In regards to claim 8, Kho fails to teach the method according to claim 7, wherein: the first communication standard and the second communication standard correspond to a first control information format; the control information corresponds to the first control information format, the control information comprises first indication information, and the first indication information indicates a corresponding communication standard; and the first communication apparatus parses the control information based on the corresponding communication standard indicated by the first indication information.
In a similar endeavor Marin teaches the first communication standard and the second communication standard correspond to a first control information format (See ¶0102, 0104, 0178, 0217-0218 and 0260 wherein the system may select an appropriate transport format and resource for the data to be transmitted);
the control information corresponds to the first control information format, the control information comprises first indication information, and the first indication information indicates a corresponding communication standard (See ¶0025-0030 and 0175-0185 as described above, wherein further such standards such as LTE are taken into consideration); and
the first communication apparatus parses the control information based on the corresponding communication standard indicated by the first indication information (See ¶0025-0030 and 0175-0185 as described above, also see ¶0003-0004, 0008-0009 and 0016-0017).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Marin into Kho because it allows for the enhancement of multi-radio technologies carrier aggregation through the use of concurrently allocation information on two carriers using RAT as taught by Marin.
In regards to claim 9, Kho fails to teach the method according to claim 7, wherein:
the first communication standard corresponds to a second control information format, and the second communication standard corresponds to a third control information format.
That is, although Kho teaches in ¶0045-0055 that the UE may monitor the PDCCH(s) in one or more CORESETs in multiple groups from one or more TRPs, and in ¶0075-0080 that the UE may proceed to a control information mapping onto or splitting from physical channels on a first TRP or a second TRP, Marin further teaches in ¶0025-0030 and 0175-0185 that the control signaling may be received on the physical data transport channel of the first RAT and the scheduling may be received on the PDCCH of a CC configured by RRC for cross-carrier scheduling of the concerned CC of the second RAT, while also indicating that the Downlink Control Information (DCI) may be used to schedule transmissions and that the DCI format may be received in a WTRU-specific search space of the PDCCH of a CC of the first RAT and a search space may be specific to at least one CC of the second RAT, thus showing how the UE may detect one or more control information (DCI[s]) in a carrier aggregation network.
Therefore, in a similar endeavor Marin teaches the first communication standard corresponds to a second control information format, and the second communication standard corresponds to a third control information format (See ¶0025-0030 and 0175-0185 as described above).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Marin into Kho because it allows for the enhancement of multi-radio technologies carrier aggregation through the use of concurrently allocation information on two carriers using RAT as taught by Marin.
In regards to claim 10, the claim is rejected under the same basis as claim 1 by Kho in view of Marin.
In regards to claims 13-17, the claims are rejected under the same basis as claims 4-9 by Kho in view of Marin.
In regards to claim 18, the claim is rejected under the same basis as claim 1 by Kho in view of Marin, wherein the transceiver and processor are taught as seen in ¶0012-0013, 0088 and 0109-0116.
In regards to claim 21, Kho fails to teach detecting, by the first communication apparatus, control information corresponding to the second communication standard on the first receive carrier based on one or more of the following information corresponding to the second communication standard: a blind detection capability, a control resource set, or a search space, wherein the control information is control information for scheduling data transmission; and parsing, by the first communication apparatus, the control information based on the second communication standard.
That is, although Kho teaches in ¶0045-0055 that the UE may monitor the PDCCH(s) in one or more CORESETs in multiple groups from one or more TRPs, and in ¶0075-0080 that the UE may proceed to a control information mapping onto or splitting from physical channels on a first TRP or a second TRP, Marin further teaches in ¶0025-0030 and 0175-0185 that the control signaling may be received on the physical data transport channel of the first RAT and the scheduling may be received on the PDCCH of a CC configured by RRC for cross-carrier scheduling of the concerned CC of the second RAT, while also indicating that the Downlink Control Information (DCI) may be used to schedule transmissions and that the DCI format may be received in a WTRU-specific search space of the PDCCH of a CC of the first RAT and a search space may be specific to at least one CC of the second RAT, thus showing how the UE may detect one or more control information (DCI[s]) in a carrier aggregation network.
Therefore, in a similar endeavor Marin teaches detecting, by the first communication apparatus, control information corresponding to the second communication standard on the first receive carrier based on one or more of the following information corresponding to the second communication standard: a blind detection capability, a control resource set, or a search space (See ¶0178), wherein the control information is control information for scheduling data transmission (See ¶0177-0179); and
parsing, by the first communication apparatus, the control information based on the second communication standard (See ¶0174-0179 in view of ¶0104, 0152, 0157-0158).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Marin into Kho because it allows for the enhancement of multi-radio technologies carrier aggregation through the use of concurrently allocation information on two carriers using RAT as taught by Marin.
In regards to claim 22, Kho teaches the method according to claim 9, wherein the second control information format, and the third control information format are different formats.
In a similar endeavor Marin teaches wherein the second control information format, and the third control information format are different formats (See ¶0102, 0104, 0178, 0217-0218 and 0260 wherein the system may select an appropriate transport format and resource for the data to be transmitted, and as noted the system may provide differing formats/standards).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Marin into Kho because it allows for the enhancement of multi-radio technologies carrier aggregation through the use of concurrently allocation information on two carriers using RAT as taught by Marin.
In regards to claim 24, Kho fails to teach the method according to claim 14, wherein:
the first communication standard and the second communication standard correspond to a third search space.
In a similar endeavor Marin teaches the first communication standard and the second communication standard correspond to a third search space (See ¶0178).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Marin into Kho because it allows for the enhancement of multi-radio technologies carrier aggregation through the use of concurrently allocation information on two carriers using RAT as taught by Marin.
In regards to claim 25, Kho teaches the first communication apparatus according to claim i8, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
send capability information of the first communication apparatus, wherein the capability information of the first communication apparatus indicates one or more of the following capabilities:
a communication standard supported by the first communication apparatus, a capability indicating that the first communication apparatus supports inter-radio access technology carrier aggregation (RAT CA) (See ¶0097), a capability indicating that the first communication apparatus supports cross-carrier scheduling of inter-RAT CA (See ¶0097), a capability indicating that the first communication apparatus supports cross-carrier scheduling in a same receive standard carrier group, or
a capability indicating that the first communication apparatus supports cross- carrier scheduling between different receive standard carrier groups (See ¶0038, 0040, 0043 and 0103-0104); and
wherein the cross-carrier scheduling in a same receive standard carrier group indicates cross-carrier scheduling between at least two receive carriers corresponding to a same receive standard carrier group, and the cross-carrier scheduling between different receive standard carrier groups indicates cross-carrier scheduling between at least two receive carriers corresponding to different receive standard carrier groups (See ¶0038, 0040, 0043 and 0103-0104).
In regards to claim 26, Kho teaches the first communication apparatus according to claim i8, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: obtain second configuration information, wherein the second configuration information comprises one or more of the following information: configuration information of a control resource set corresponding to each of the first communication standard and the second communication standard, or configuration information of a search space corresponding to each of the first communication standard and the second communication standard.
In a similar endeavor Marin teaches obtain second configuration information, wherein the second configuration information comprises one or more of the following information: configuration information of a control resource set corresponding to each of the first communication standard and the second communication standard, or
configuration information of a search space corresponding to each of the first communication standard and the second communication standard (See ¶0178).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Marin into Kho because it allows for the enhancement of multi-radio technologies carrier aggregation through the use of concurrently allocation information on two carriers using RAT as taught by Marin.
Claim(s) 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khoshnevisan et al. (“Kho”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2020/0336892) in view of Marinier et al. (“Marin”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2020/0154436) and Saber et al. (“Saber”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2022/0116981).
In regards to claim 23, Kho teaches the method according to claim 14, wherein:
the first communication standard and the second communication standard correspond to a third control resource set, the first communication standard corresponds to a first search space of the third control resource set, and the second communication standard corresponds to a second search space of the third control resource set.
In a similar endeavor Saber teaches the first communication standard and the second communication standard correspond to a third control resource set, the first communication standard corresponds to a first search space of the third control resource set, and the second communication standard corresponds to a second search space of the third control resource set (See ¶0180 in view of 0003 and 0274 wherein a CORESET [control resource set] may correspond to one or more search spaces associated with it, this is taken in view of Marin’s teachings with regards to differing standards for the first and second communication standards).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Saber into Kho because it allows for one or more search spaces to be associated with one CORESET as described in ¶0180 as one of the settings by which a UE is configured, thus allowing for adaptability in how a UE may be operated.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EDEMIO NAVAS JR whose telephone number is (571)270-1067. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, ~ 9 AM -6 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Ustaris can be reached at 5712727383. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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EDEMIO NAVAS JR
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2483
/EDEMIO NAVAS JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2483
Prosecution Insights