Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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 Election/Restrictions
2. Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-4 in the reply filed on 01/20/2026 is acknowledged. However, in view of the recent amendment to claims, restriction has been withdrawn, thus claims 1-5 are pending in the current Office Action.
Claim Interpretation - 35 USC § 112
3. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
A) This application includes one or more claim (claims 1-5) limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claims limitation(s) are: “capable of” and “configured to” in claims 1-5.
Since the claims limitations invokes 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, claims 1-5 has been interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification that achieves the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
A review of the specification shows that the following appears to be the corresponding structure described in the specification for the 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph limitation: See figs 2-4.
If applicant wishes to provide further explanation or dispute the examiner's interpretation of the corresponding structure, applicant must identify the corresponding structure with reference to the specification by page and line number, and to the drawing, if any, by reference characters in response to this Office action.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
A) Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LEMSON (WO 2012/024345 A2) in view of Murata (US 2018/0063885 A1).
As per claim 1, LEMSON teaches a communication relay system (Fig.3, communication relay system) comprising: a master unit capable of transmitting and receiving a signal to and from a base station of a mobile communication system (Fig.3 and ¶0030, DAU (i.e. master unit) is transmitting and receiving RF signal from BTS (i.e. base station) of the mobile communication system); and a plurality of remote units configured to transmit and receive the signal to and from the master unit and wirelessly communicate with a mobile station of the mobile communication system (Fig.3 and ¶0030, remote radio head units (RRUs) are transmitting and receiving the RF signal to and from DAU and wirelessly communicate with mobile subscriber terminal); a service provider detector configured to detect a communication service provider to which the mobile station subscribes (¶0048 and ¶0052, DAU management module detects which carriers are active of GSM network (i.e. communication service provider) for each RRU and detects which time slots for each carrier are active which mobile subscriber terminal subscribes).
However, LEMSON does not explicitly teach a transmission end controller configured to stop a radio signal in a frequency band of a communication service provider not detected by the service provider detector.
In the same field of endeavor, Murata teaches a transmission end controller configured to stop a radio signal in a frequency band of a communication service provider not detected by the service provider detector (¶0133-134, control portion configured to prevent/stop data communication (i.e. radio signal) in transmission destination (i.e. frequency band of provider) from being transmitted to the communication apparatus 10 corresponding to an absent user (i.e. not detected subscriber).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify LEMSON’s invention in order to prevent data from being transmitted to the communication apparatus corresponding to an absent user, thus, stagnation of circulation of the circulation data among a plurality of users can be avoided.
As pr claim 2 as applied to claim 1 above, LEMSON further teaches wherein the master unit further includes: a detector configured to detect that the mobile station is located at a position where radio communication with the plurality of remote units is possible (Fig.3, ¶0048, detector to detect the user of mobile subscriber terminal located at the particular cell (i.e. position) where radio communication with RRUs is received therefore possible); a determiner configured to determine to which of the plurality of remote unit communication resources for performing radio communication with the mobile station located at the position where the radio communication is possible are to be allocated (¶0048 and ¶0052, determining that RRUs radio resources for performing communication with mobile subscriber terminal located at the particular cell where communication is received begin to deploy/allocate); and an allocator configured to allocate the communication resources to the remote units in accordance with a determination result of the determiner (¶0048 and ¶0052, deploying or allocating (i.e. allocator) the radio resources to the for use by particular RRU based on determination).
As pr claim 3 as applied to claim 2 above, LEMSON further teaches
the master unit further includes a resource detector configured to detect availabilities of the respective communication resources of the plurality of remote units (¶0032 and ¶0052, determine or detect radio resource which available for RRUs), and the determiner is configured to determine to which of the plurality of remote unit communication resources for performing radio communication with the mobile station located at the position where the radio communication is possible are to be allocated, in accordance with a detection result of the resource detector (¶0032 and ¶0052, determine to which of the RRUs radio resources for performing communication with the mobile subscriber terminal located at the particular position where the radio communication is received to be deploy).
As pr claim 4 as applied to claim 3 above, LEMSON further teaches the determiner is configured to determine to which of the plurality of remote unit a communication resource for performing radio communication with the mobile station located at the position where the radio communication is possible are to be allocated, in accordance with a detection result of the resource detector (¶0032 and ¶0052, determine to which of the RRUs radio resource(s) for performing communication with the mobile subscriber terminal located at the particular position where the radio communication is received to be deploy).
As per claim 5, LEMSON teaches a radio device configured to transmit and receive a signal to and from a master unit capable of transmitting and receiving the signal to and from a base station of a mobile communication system and to perform radio communication with a mobile station of the mobile communication system, the radio device (Fig.3 and ¶0030, DAU (i.e. master unit) is transmitting and receiving RF signal to and from remote radio head units (RRUs) capable of are transmitting and receiving the RF signal to and from BTS (i.e. base station) of the mobile communication system and wirelessly communicate with mobile subscriber terminal) comprising: a service provider detector configured to detect a communication service provider to which the mobile station subscribes (¶0048 and ¶0052, DAU management module detects which carriers are active of GSM network (i.e. communication service provider) for each RRU and detects which time slots for each carrier are active which mobile subscriber terminal subscribes). However, LEMSON does not explicitly teach a transmission end controller configured to stop a radio signal in a frequency band of a communication service provider not detected by the service provider detector.
In the same field of endeavor, Murata teaches a transmission end controller configured to stop a radio signal in a frequency band of a communication service provider not detected by the service provider detector (¶0133-134, control portion configured to prevent/stop data communication (i.e. radio signal) in transmission destination (i.e. frequency band of provider) from being transmitted to the communication apparatus 10 corresponding to an absent user (i.e. not detected subscriber).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify LEMSON’s invention in order to prevent data from being transmitted to the communication apparatus corresponding to an absent user, thus, stagnation of circulation of the circulation data among a plurality of users can be avoided.
Conclusion
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FARIDEH MADANI whose telephone number is (571)272-1249. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday; 9 AM to 5 PM EST.
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/FARIDEH MADANI/Examiner, Art Unit 2643
/JINSONG HU/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2643