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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 6, 32, and 38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 6, 32, and 38, the subject matter “the priorities of the service of the first network type and the service of the second network type” lacks antecedent basis.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1-7, 24, 26, and 28-38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MIAO et al. (US 2025/0048417 A1, “MIAO”), in view of LI et al. (US 2020/0068534 A1, “LI”).
Regarding intendent claim 1:
MIAO discloses a communication method, being applied to a first terminal device (e.g., Fig. 1, 110), wherein the method comprises:
in case of a sum of transmission powers of N carriers is greater than a maximum transmission power of the first terminal device, adjusting a transmission power sequentially based on a priority order from low to high of services to be transmitted on the N carriers, until a sum of transmission powers of the N carriers after adjustment is less than or equal to the maximum transmission power; some or all of the N carriers are used for communication with a second terminal device (e.g., Fig. 1, 120); and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2 (e.g., [0035], [0043], [0057], [0077], [0081], total transmission power of carriers overlapping in time exceeding a max transmission power limit, adjusting the transmission power of the sidelink transmission in the carrier with the largest priority value first); and performing, with use of adjusted respective transmission powers of M carriers, channel/signal transmission on the M carriers simultaneously, wherein the M carriers are carriers, subjected to transmission power adjustment out of the N carriers, with transmission powers not being 0, and M is an integer greater than 0 and less than or equal to N (e.g., [0077], [0081], the terminal can drop the sidelink transmissions of carrier with the largest priority value).
MIAO does not disclose wherein carriers, out of the N carriers, for corresponding services having a same priority are subjected to transmission power adjustment based on a first adjustment order, the first adjustment order is related to a type of a channel/signal to be transmitted on the carriers for the corresponding services having the same priority.
LI teaches carriers for corresponding services having a same priority are subjected to transmission power adjustment based on a first adjustment order, the first adjustment order is related to a type of a channel/signal to be transmitted on the carriers for the corresponding services having the same priority (e.g., [0136], when there are multiple carriers having the same priority (same traffic priority), the transmission power of the multiple carriers can be weighted with equal weighting coefficients).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of MIAO in view of LI to include the feature wherein carriers, out of the N carriers, for corresponding services having a same priority are subjected to transmission power adjustment based on a first adjustment order, the first adjustment order is related to a type of a channel/signal to be transmitted on the carriers for the corresponding services having the same priority, because it would ensure a fair power adjustment for carriers for services having the same priority.
Regarding claim 2:
MIAO does not disclose the first adjustment order is predefined.
LI teaches the first adjustment order is predefined (e.g., [0136], when there are multiple carriers having the same priority (same traffic priority), the transmission power of the multiple carriers can be weighted with equal weighting coefficients).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of MIAO in view of LI to include the feature: the first adjustment order is predefined, because it would ensure a fair power adjustment for carriers for services having the same priority.
Regarding claim 3:
Both MIAO and LI are silent regarding receiving, from a network device, indication information which is used for indicating the first adjustment order; or, receiving, from the network device, indication information which is used for indicating at least one adjustment order, wherein the at least one adjustment order comprises the first adjustment order. However, the technique of a terminal receiving an adjustment indication from a network device is well known in the art. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of MIAO to include the features: receiving, from a network device, indication information which is used for indicating the first adjustment order; or, receiving, from the network device, indication information which is used for indicating at least one adjustment order, wherein the at least one adjustment order comprises the first adjustment order, in order to enable flexible configuration of transmission power adjustment by the network.
Regarding claim 4:
MIAO further discloses wherein adjusting the transmission power comprises: reducing a transmission power of a carrier; or, discarding a service to be transmitted on the carrier; or, after reducing the transmission power of the carrier, in case of the sum of the transmission powers of the N carriers is still greater than the maximum transmission power, discarding the service to be transmitted on the carrier (e.g., [0077], [0081]).
Regarding claim 5:
MIAO further discloses wherein the N carriers comprise X carriers for channel/signal transmission of a service of a first network type, and Y carriers for channel/signal transmission of a service of a second network type; wherein X and Y are both positive integers, and a sum of X and Y is equal to N (e.g., [0081], Fig. 4, for the two carriers, C2 and C1, C2 has a sub-carrier space of 60 KHz, C1 has a sub-carrier space of 30 KHz); the method further comprises: receiving configuration information, wherein the configuration information is used for configuring priorities of the service of the first network type and the service of the second network type (e.g., [0059]-[0060], [0068]-[0069], configuration for configuring priority thresholds for the carriers); or determining the priorities of the service of the first network type and the service of the second network type independently.
Regarding claim 6:
MIAO further discloses wherein the priorities of the service of the first network type and the service of the second network type are predefined (e.g., [0059]-[0062]).
Regarding claim 7:
MIAO further discloses wherein the N carriers comprise a carrier for transmitting first information, wherein the first information is used to feedback data reception status of the first terminal device (e.g., [0033], [0067]).
Regarding independent claim 24:
MIAO discloses a communication apparatus (e.g., Fig. 5, 500), comprising: a processor (Fig. 5, 510) and a memory (Fig. 5, 520); wherein the memory is configured to store computer executable program codes (Fig. 5, 530) comprising instructions; and when the processor executes the instructions, the instructions enable the communication apparatus to: in case of a sum of transmission powers of N carriers is greater than a maximum transmission power of the first terminal device, adjust a transmission power sequentially based on a priority order from low to high of services to be transmitted on the N carriers, until a sum of transmission powers of the N carriers after adjustment is less than or equal to the maximum transmission power, some or all of the N carriers are used for communication with a second terminal device; and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and perform, with use of adjusted respective transmission powers of M carriers, channel/signal transmission on the M carriers simultaneously, wherein the M carriers are carriers, subjected to transmission power adjustment out of the N carriers, with transmission powers not being 0, and M is an integer greater than 0 and less than or equal to N. (See features in rejection of independent claim 1.)
MIAO does not disclose wherein carriers, out of the N carriers, for corresponding services having a same priority are subjected to transmission power adjustment based on a first adjustment order, the first adjustment order is related to a type of a channel/signal to be transmitted on the carriers for the corresponding services having the same priority.
LI teaches carriers for corresponding services having a same priority are subjected to transmission power adjustment based on a first adjustment order, the first adjustment order is related to a type of a channel/signal to be transmitted on the carriers for the corresponding services having the same priority (e.g., [0136], when there are multiple carriers having the same priority (same traffic priority), the transmission power of the multiple carriers can be weighted with equal weighting coefficients).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of MIAO in view of LI to include the feature wherein carriers, out of the N carriers, for corresponding services having a same priority are subjected to transmission power adjustment based on a first adjustment order, the first adjustment order is related to a type of a channel/signal to be transmitted on the carriers for the corresponding services having the same priority, because it would ensure a fair power adjustment for carriers for services having the same priority.
Regarding independent claim 26:
MIAO discloses a non-transitory computer readable storage medium (e.g., Fig. 5, 530, [0084]), storing thereon a computer program, wherein the computer program is configured to, when being executed by a computer, cause the computer to: in case of a sum of transmission powers of N carriers is greater than a maximum transmission power of the first terminal device, adjust a transmission power sequentially based on a priority order from low to high of services to be transmitted on the N carriers, until a sum of transmission powers of the N carriers after adjustment is less than or equal to the maximum transmission power; some or all of the N carriers are used for communication with a second terminal device; and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; and perform, with use of adjusted respective transmission powers of M carriers, channel/signal transmission on the M carriers simultaneously, wherein the M carriers are carriers, subjected to transmission power adjustment out of the N carriers, with transmission powers not being 0, and M is an integer greater than 0 and less than or equal to N. (See features in rejection of independent claim 1.)
MIAO does not disclose wherein carriers, out of the N carriers, for corresponding services having a same priority are subjected to transmission power adjustment based on a first adjustment order, the first adjustment order is related to a type of a channel/signal to be transmitted on the carriers for the corresponding services having the same priority.
LI teaches carriers for corresponding services having a same priority are subjected to transmission power adjustment based on a first adjustment order, the first adjustment order is related to a type of a channel/signal to be transmitted on the carriers for the corresponding services having the same priority (e.g., [0136], when there are multiple carriers having the same priority (same traffic priority), the transmission power of the multiple carriers can be weighted with equal weighting coefficients).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of MIAO in view of LI to include the feature wherein carriers, out of the N carriers, for corresponding services having a same priority are subjected to transmission power adjustment based on a first adjustment order, the first adjustment order is related to a type of a channel/signal to be transmitted on the carriers for the corresponding services having the same priority, because it would ensure a fair power adjustment for carriers for services having the same priority.
Regarding claims 28-38:
Claims 28-38 contain claim limitations similar to those recited by claims 2-7 and are rejected for at least the same reasons set forth above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Alvin ZHU whose telephone number is (571)270-1086. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 6am-9am and 2pm-7pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gary Mui can be reached at 571-270-1420. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BO HUI A ZHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465