DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-13, 15-19, 22, and 24 are pending. Claims 14, 20, 21, and 23 have been cancelled.
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 1-10, 22, and 24 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 1/23/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/7/23 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/2/24 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 3/2/26 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 12/7/23. These drawings are accepted.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Huawei (NPL, R1-2202491 – see PTO-892, pg. 2, reference V).
As per claim 11, Huawei teaches a wireless communication method [Huawei, Section 1, pg. 1, “For a UE capable of 2Tx-2Tx switching and configured with UL Tx switching via uplinkTxSwitching, to differentiate the switching delay for 1Tx-2Tx switching from that for 2Tx-2Tx switching, a new RRC parameter is used to indicate 1Tx-2Tx switching mode or 2Tx-2Tx switching mode”, A UE performs an UL communication method.], comprising:
establishing a current uplink transmission on at least one carrier corresponding to one band among up to three or four bands configured for a user equipment (UE) [Huawei, Section 2.3, pg. 6, “This method not only releases UE burden from too frequent RF retunings but also allows a gNB to schedule the succeeding slot so that no UL throughput loss for network operation, the cost is the DCI should be received by the UE earlier. With the help of earlier arrival of scheduling DCI, if a UE prefer to implement two switchings/RF retunings in this case, then it is still up to UE to do it. But it provides the availability to avoid frequent RF retunings”, Fig. 3 shows Tx switching on CC1 and CC2, where a DCI received from a gNB via a PDCCH is used. The presence of a PDCCH shows that a current uplink transmission is established on CC1 and CC2 of at least one band for use by the UE.]; and
transmitting or receiving on one or more RRC (Radio Resource Control) parameters for determining a transmission chain configuration of the UE following the current uplink transmission [Huawei, section 2.1, pg. 2, box 3, “If the UE is configured with [1T with uplinkTxSwitchingdualULTxState], when the UE is under the operation state in which 2-port transmission can be supported on one carrier on one band followed by no transmission on this carrier and 1-port transmission on the other carrier on another band the UE shall consider this as if 1-port transmission was transmitted on both uplinks, otherwise the UE shall consider this as if 2-port transmission took place on the transmitting carrier”, The UE is configured with (or receives) a RRC parameter, uplinkTxSwitchingdualULTxState, which configures its uplink transmissions. The parameter contains Tx state information for one carrier on one band (e.g., CC1) and an other carrier on another band (e.g., CC2). An example of the transmission chain configuration carried by the RRC parameter is “2T + 0T” (see applicant’s specification, ¶s 0061, 0062, and Table 3 for correspondence between transmission chain configuration and “2T + 0T”).].
As per claim 12, Huawei teaches the method of claim 11. Huawei also teaches wherein the transmission chain state corresponds to an operation state for the UE, and the operation state indicates whether a two-port transmission can be supported or not on one band [Huawei, section 2.1, pg. 2, box 3, “If the UE is configured with [1T with uplinkTxSwitchingdualULTxState], when the UE is under the operation state in which 2-port transmission can be supported on one carrier on one band followed by no transmission on this carrier and 1-port transmission on the other carrier on another band the UE shall consider this as if 1-port transmission was transmitted on both uplinks, otherwise the UE shall consider this as if 2-port transmission took place on the transmitting carrier”, The UE is configured with (or receives) a RRC parameter, uplinkTxSwitchingdualULTxState, which configures its uplink transmissions. The parameter contains Tx state information for one carrier on one band (e.g., CC1) and an other carrier on another band (e.g., CC2). An example of the transmission chain configuration carried by the RRC parameter is “2T + 0T”, which means one carrier on one band may support two-port transmission and another carrier on another band does not. See also, pg. 9, section 6.1.6.2, bullet 1 for more disclosure regarding the port transmissions supported.].
As per claim 13, Huawei teaches the method of claim 11. Huawei also teaches wherein the RRC parameter is selectable from a set of different values corresponding to a plurality of candidate transmission chain configurations [Huawei, section 2.1, pg. 2, ¶ 3, “In addition, the following description about the RRC parameter uplinkTxSwitchingdualULTxState for CA option 2 is inaccurate in latest editor draft CR. The “1-port” marked in yellow contains the Tx state “1T+1T” while “1-port” marked in yellow should only mean the Tx state “2T+0T” or “0T+2T””, A number of possible Tx state (or chain) configurations are possible within the uplinkTxSwitchingdualULTxState RRC parameter.].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 15-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huawei (NPL, R1-2202491 – see PTO-892, pg. 2, reference V) in view of Rastegardoost et al. (US PG Pub 2024/0357681).
As per claim 15, Huawei teaches the method of claim 11. Huawei does not explicitly teach wherein the RRC parameters comprise two or more RRC parameters and a value of each RRC parameter is selectable to represent a subset of a plurality of candidate transmission chain configurations.
However, in an analogous art, Rastegardoost et al. teach wherein the RRC parameters comprise two or more RRC parameters and a value of each RRC parameter is selectable to represent a subset of a plurality of candidate transmission chain configurations [Rastegardoost, ¶ 0362, “In response, the UE may receive one or more RRC messages indicating configuration of one or more serving cells comprising more than two uplink carriers (e.g., UL carrier 1, UL carrier 2, . . . , UL carrier M, M>2), wherein the uplink carriers are in/belong to more than two frequency bands, e.g., based on the UE supported band combination. For example, M may be equal to N. For example, M may be different from N. For example, the one or more RRC messages may indicate which carrier is associated with and/or configured with which band. For example, each of M carriers may be associated with at least one of N bands. For example, each of N bands may be associated with at least one of M carriers. The UE may transmit uplink transmissions via the uplink carriers and/or based on the UL Tx switching configuration. For example, the UE may omit (part of) uplink transmissions based on switching of either UL Tx chain/antennas and/or simultaneous/dual switching both UL Tx chains/antennas, e.g., based on the first period and/or the second period and/or the third period”, Fig. 27 shows the use of RRC messaging between a UE and gNB to configure UL Tx switching utilizing 1 to M carriers, which may occupy up to N bands (where N > 2). Further, the RRC configuration information may contain a single parameter or multiple parameters tro set up the Tx chains.].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the UL Tx switching for M carriers as taught by Rastegardoost et al. into Huawei et al. One would have been motivated to do this because the RRC parameters for UL Tx switching as taught by Huawei may incorporate those RRC parameters for M carriers as taught by Rastegardoost et al. with a reasonable expectation of success.
As per claim 16, Huawei in view of Rastegardoost et al. teach the method of claim 15. Huawei does not explicitly teach wherein a first RRC parameter corresponds to a first subset of candidate transmission chain states and a second RRC parameter corresponds to a second subset of candidate transmission chain configurations.
However, in an analogous art, Rastegardoost et al. teach wherein a first RRC parameter corresponds to a first subset of candidate transmission chain states and a second RRC parameter corresponds to a second subset of candidate transmission chain configurations [Rastegardoost, ¶ 0362, “In response, the UE may receive one or more RRC messages indicating configuration of one or more serving cells comprising more than two uplink carriers (e.g., UL carrier 1, UL carrier 2, . . . , UL carrier M, M>2), wherein the uplink carriers are in/belong to more than two frequency bands, e.g., based on the UE supported band combination. For example, M may be equal to N. For example, M may be different from N. For example, the one or more RRC messages may indicate which carrier is associated with and/or configured with which band. For example, each of M carriers may be associated with at least one of N bands. For example, each of N bands may be associated with at least one of M carriers. The UE may transmit uplink transmissions via the uplink carriers and/or based on the UL Tx switching configuration. For example, the UE may omit (part of) uplink transmissions based on switching of either UL Tx chain/antennas and/or simultaneous/dual switching both UL Tx chains/antennas, e.g., based on the first period and/or the second period and/or the third period”, Fig. 27 shows the use of RRC messaging between a UE and gNB to configure UL Tx switching utilizing 1 to M carriers, which may occupy up to N bands (where N > 2). Further, the RRC configuration information may contain a single parameter or multiple parameters to set up the Tx chains.].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the UL Tx switching for M carriers as taught by Rastegardoost et al. into Huawei et al. One would have been motivated to do this because the RRC parameters for UL Tx switching as taught by Huawei may incorporate those RRC parameters for M carriers as taught by Rastegardoost et al. with a reasonable expectation of success.
As per claim 17, Huawei in view of Rastegardoost et al. teach the method of claim 16. Huawei does not explicitly teach wherein a total number of a number of the first subset of candidate transmission chain configurations and the second subset of candidate transmission chain states is not smaller than five, six, nine, or ten.
However, in an analogous art, Rastegardoost et al. teach wherein a total number of a number of the first subset of candidate transmission chain configurations and the second subset of candidate transmission chain states is not smaller than five, six, nine, or ten [Rastegardoost, ¶ 0362, “the UE may receive the UE capability enquiry that may indicate a request for UL Tx switching across more than two bands (e.g., N bands, N>2). In an example, the UE capability enquiry may indicate a request for simultaneous/dual UL Tx switching of both UEs UL Tx chains/antennas. The UE may send the UE capability information indicating the UE capability for supported band combinations and/or supported UL Tx switching mode and/or whether the UE supports UL Tx switching across more than two bands and/or whether the UE supports simultaneous/dual UL Tx switching. For example, the UE capability information may indicate one or more UL Tx switching periods/gaps per band pair/combination”, With at four possible bands and associated carriers for the Tx chains, the number of possible transmission chain states is not smaller than five, six, nine, or ten. See also ¶ 0389.].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the UL Tx switching for M carriers as taught by Rastegardoost et al. into Huawei et al. One would have been motivated to do this because the RRC parameters for UL Tx switching as taught by Huawei may incorporate those RRC parameters for M carriers as taught by Rastegardoost et al. with a reasonable expectation of success.
As per claim 18, Huawei teaches the method of claim 11. Huawei does not explicitly teach wherein the UE is configured with three bands, and the one or more RRC parameters are used for indicating among six candidate transmission chain configurations comprise: (1) 1 transmission chain being assigned to band A, 1 transmission chain being assigned to band B, and no transmission chain being assigned to band C; or (2) no transmission chain being assigned to band A, 1 transmission chain being assigned to band B, and 1 transmission chain being assigned to band C; or (3) 1 transmission chain being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, and 1 transmission chain being assigned to band C; or (4) 2 transmission chains being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, and no transmission chain being assigned to band C; (5) no transmission chain being assigned to band A, 2 transmission chains being assigned to band B, and no transmission chain being assigned to band C; or (6) no transmission chain being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, and 2 transmission chains being assigned to band C.
However, in an analogous art, Rastegardoost et al. teach wherein the UE is configured with three bands, and the one or more RRC parameters are used for indicating among six candidate transmission chain configurations comprise: (1) 1 transmission chain being assigned to band A, 1 transmission chain being assigned to band B, and no transmission chain being assigned to band C; or (2) no transmission chain being assigned to band A, 1 transmission chain being assigned to band B, and 1 transmission chain being assigned to band C; or (3) 1 transmission chain being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, and 1 transmission chain being assigned to band C; or (4) 2 transmission chains being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, and no transmission chain being assigned to band C; (5) no transmission chain being assigned to band A, 2 transmission chains being assigned to band B, and no transmission chain being assigned to band C; or (6) no transmission chain being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, and 2 transmission chains being assigned to band C [Rastegardoost, ¶ 0394, “As shown in the example of FIG. 28, depending on the scenario, e.g., the scheduled/configured UL transmission (e.g., one-port or two-port) and/or the previous transmission via the band combination, the UE may move/switch a different UL Tx chain/antenna between bands of a same band pair/combination, and thus, require/take different UL Tx switching time/period/gap associated with the same band pair/combination. Embodiments enable reporting the different values of UL Tx switching to the network”, Three carriers are used across three bands (e.g., A, B, and C instead of 1, 2, and 3). The Tx states across these three bands may be reasonably mapped to follow the claim limitation.].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the UL Tx switching for M carriers as taught by Rastegardoost et al. into Huawei et al. One would have been motivated to do this because the RRC parameters for UL Tx switching as taught by Huawei may incorporate those RRC parameters for M carriers as taught by Rastegardoost et al. with a reasonable expectation of success.
As per claim 19, Huawei teaches the method of claim 11. Huawei does not explicitly teach wherein the UE is configured with four bands, the one or more RRC parameters are used for indicating among ten candidate transmission chain configurations comprise: (1) 1 transmission chain being assigned to band A, 1 transmission chain being assigned to band B, no transmission chain being assigned to band C, and no transmission chain being assigned to band D; (2) no transmission chain being assigned to band A, 1 transmission chain being assigned to band B, 1 transmission chain being assigned to band C, and no transmission chain being assigned to band D; (3) no transmission chain being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, 1 transmission chain being assigned to band C, and 1 transmission chain being assigned to band D; (4) 1 transmission chain being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, no transmission chain being assigned to band C, and 1 transmission chain being assigned to band D; (5) 1 transmission chain being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, 1 transmission chain being assigned to band C, and no transmission chain being assigned to band D; (6) no transmission chain being assigned to band A, 1 transmission chain being assigned to band B, no transmission chain being assigned to band C, and 1 transmission chain being assigned to band D; (7) 2 transmission chains being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, no transmission chain being assigned to band C, and no transmission chain being assigned to band D; (8) no transmission chain being assigned to band A, 2 transmission chains being assigned to band B, no transmission chain being assigned to band C, and no transmission chain being assigned to band D; (9) no transmission chain being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, 2 transmission chains being assigned to band C, and no transmission chain being assigned to band D; or (10) no transmission chains being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, no transmission chain being assigned to band C, and 2 transmission chains being assigned to band D.
However, in an analogous art, Rastegardoost et al. teach wherein the UE is configured with four bands, the one or more RRC parameters are used for indicating among ten candidate transmission chain configurations comprise: (1) 1 transmission chain being assigned to band A, 1 transmission chain being assigned to band B, no transmission chain being assigned to band C, and no transmission chain being assigned to band D; (2) no transmission chain being assigned to band A, 1 transmission chain being assigned to band B, 1 transmission chain being assigned to band C, and no transmission chain being assigned to band D; (3) no transmission chain being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, 1 transmission chain being assigned to band C, and 1 transmission chain being assigned to band D; (4) 1 transmission chain being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, no transmission chain being assigned to band C, and 1 transmission chain being assigned to band D; (5) 1 transmission chain being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, 1 transmission chain being assigned to band C, and no transmission chain being assigned to band D; (6) no transmission chain being assigned to band A, 1 transmission chain being assigned to band B, no transmission chain being assigned to band C, and 1 transmission chain being assigned to band D; (7) 2 transmission chains being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, no transmission chain being assigned to band C, and no transmission chain being assigned to band D; (8) no transmission chain being assigned to band A, 2 transmission chains being assigned to band B, no transmission chain being assigned to band C, and no transmission chain being assigned to band D; (9) no transmission chain being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, 2 transmission chains being assigned to band C, and no transmission chain being assigned to band D; or (10) no transmission chains being assigned to band A, no transmission chain being assigned to band B, no transmission chain being assigned to band C, and 2 transmission chains being assigned to band D [Rastegardoost, ¶ 0389, “For the UE configured with uplinkTxSwitchingOption set to ‘dualUL’, when the UE is to transmit a 2-port transmission on a first uplink carrier, and if the preceding uplink transmission was a 2-port transmission on a second uplink carrier (e.g., scenario T2 in FIG. 25), then the UE may not be expected to transmit for the first duration on any of the two uplink carriers. For the UE configured with uplinkTxSwitchingOption set to ‘dualUL’, when the UE is to transmit a 2-port transmission on a first uplink carrier, and if the preceding uplink transmissions were a 1-port transmission on a second uplink carrier and another 1-port transmission on a third uplink carrier (e.g., scenario T5 in FIG. 25), then the UE may not be expected to transmit for the first duration on any of the four uplink carriers. The first duration may be a largest of Tx switching period of a first UL Tx chain/antenna and a second UL Tx chain/antenna associated with the band pair/combination (e.g., max{N.sub.Tx1-Tx2, N.sub.Tx2-Tx1}). The first duration may be a dual/simultaneous UL Tx switching of both UL Tx chains/antennas (e.g., N.sub.Tx1-Tx2+N.sub.Tx1-Tx2, or N.sub.Tx1, Tx2, or N.sub.2Tx, or 2N.sub.Tx1-Tx2). The first duration may be the sum of the first UL Tx switching period and the second UL Tx switching period”, Three carriers are used across three bands (e.g., A, B, C, and D instead of 1, 2, 3, and 4). The Tx states across these four bands may be reasonably mapped to follow the claim limitation.].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the UL Tx switching for M carriers as taught by Rastegardoost et al. into Huawei et al. One would have been motivated to do this because the RRC parameters for UL Tx switching as taught by Huawei may incorporate those RRC parameters for M carriers as taught by Rastegardoost et al. with a reasonable expectation of success.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
The reference, Shi et al. (US PG Pub 2025/0294543), teaches UL Tx switching (see ¶s 0049-0057 and Tables 1-3).
The reference, Wang et al. (US PG Pub 2025/0089033), teaches UL Tx switching between Bands A, B, and C (see at least figs. 1-6).
The reference, Gaal et al. (US PG Pub 2024/0147440), teaches a UL Tx switching procedure (see at least fig. 9).
The reference, Cao et al. (US PG Pub 2024/0137958), teaches UL Tx switching with transmission chains (see at least fig. 2).
The reference, Karmoose et al. (US 2023/0232395), teaches UL Tx switching on at least three carriers (see at least fig. 5).
The reference, 3GPP TS 38.214 V17.0.0 (see PTO-892), teaches UL Tx switching (see section 6.1.6 through 6.1.6.3).
The reference, ZTE (NPL, R1-2201154), teaches UL Tx switching, including a new Rel-17 RRC parameters for 2Tx-2Tx switching (see section 6.1.6).
The reference, Huawei (NPL, R1-2200973), teaches the RRC parameter uplinkTxSwitchingdualULTxState (see section2.1).
The reference, OPPO (NPL, R1-2201238), teaches an uplinkTxSwitching-2T-Mode parameter (see section 6.1.6).
The reference, Qualcomm (NPL, R1-2202110), teaches UL Tx switching, including a new Rel-17 RRC parameters for 2Tx-2Tx switching (see section 1).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Paul H. Masur whose telephone number is (571)270-7297. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday, 4:30 AM to 5PM.
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/Paul H. Masur/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2417