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 .
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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) were submitted on 16 February 2024, 4 March 2025, and 29 April 2025. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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 1-22 and 28-29 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “the first indication having a first duration” in lines 13-14. It is unclear whether “a first duration” in lines 13-14 is the duration of the first indication itself or the duration of the first activation timeout indicated by the first indication. For examining purposes, the examiner will interpret the claim as best understood.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “the second indication having a second duration” in lines 17-18. It is unclear whether “a second duration” in lines 17-18 is the duration of the second indication itself or the duration of the second activation timeout indicated by the second indication. For examining purposes, the examiner will interpret the claim as best understood.
Claims 2-11 are also rejected since they are dependent upon rejected claim 1 as set forth above.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the elements. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted elements are: gaining access of the second communication link. In some elements of the claim, the apparatus contends for access of the first communication link, fails to gain access of the first communication link, contends for access of the second communication link, and outputs data for transmission via the second communication link. In the claim, the apparatus merely contends to gain access of the second communication link. The apparatus must gain access of the second communication link before outputting data for transmission via the second communication link.
Claims 13-22 are also rejected since they are dependent upon rejected claim 12 as set forth above.
In claim 20 The term “around” is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “around” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. Therefore, the use of the term “around” in the limitation “around 2.4 gigahertz” causes the limitation to be indefinite.
Claim 28 is rejected the same way as claim 1.
Claim 29 is rejected the same way as claim 12.
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.
Claim(s) 23-27 and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chakraborty et al. US 2019/0335504 A1 (hereinafter referred to as “Chakraborty”). Note: Chakraborty was cited by the applicant in the IDS received 29 April 2025.
As to claim 23, Chakraborty teaches an apparatus for wireless communications (¶¶5 and 162; see figure 16), comprising:
at least one processor (¶¶5 and 162; see figure 16);
a plurality of radio blocks associated with a plurality of communication links, each radio block of the plurality of radio blocks associated with a respective communication link of the plurality of communication links (¶165; see figure 16) ; and
at least one memory comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to (¶¶5 and 163; see figure 16):
obtain first feedback information about at least one channel condition of the plurality of communication links used to communicate downlink data (¶¶139-140 and 144-146; see figures 8 and 10: receive feedback from UE including preamble detection report causing interference on the band between the base station and the UE, sub-band reports of the licensed and/or unlicensed DL bands between the base station and the UE, or implicit feedback via SRSs);
provision one or more communication links via which to transmit the downlink data using the at least one channel condition (¶¶140 and 143-146; see figures 8, 9B, and 10: prepare resources for DL band for DL burst to UE based on the channel condition report(s)); and
output, for transmission by one or more first radio blocks of the plurality of radio blocks, the downlink data via the one or more communication links (¶¶140, 143, 145-146, and 165; see figures 8, 9B, 10, and 16: transmit DL burst).
As to claim 24, Chakraborty teaches the apparatus of claim 23, wherein the one or more communication links are for downlink traffic and provisioning the one or more communication links occurs independent of provisioning a communication link for uplink traffic (¶¶140 and 143-146; see figures 8, 9B, and 10: preparing resources for transmission on unlicensed DL band is separate from licensed UL band).
As to claim 25, Chakraborty teaches the apparatus of claim 23, wherein the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to:
identify whether to use a single link to communicate the downlink data or multiple links to communicate the downlink data, wherein identifying the one or more communication links is based at least in part on identifying whether to use the single link or the multiple links (¶¶140, 143, 145-146, and 165; see figures 8, 9B, 10, and 16: use the unlicensed DL band).
As to claim 26, Chakraborty teaches the apparatus of claim 23, wherein the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to:
obtain second feedback information about at least one second channel condition of the plurality of communication links (¶¶139-140 and 144-146; see figures 8 and 10: receive feedback from UE including preamble detection report causing interference on the band between the base station and the UE, sub-band reports of the licensed and/or unlicensed DL bands between the base station and the UE, or implicit feedback via SRSs);
provision one or more second communication links of one or more second radio blocks of the plurality of radio blocks via which to transmit data using the at least one second channel condition (¶¶140 and 143-146; see figures 8, 9B, and 10: prepare resources for DL band for DL burst to UE based on the channel condition report(s)); and
output, for transmission by the one or more second radio blocks, the downlink data via the one or more second communication links (¶¶140, 143, 145-146, and 165; see figures 8, 9B, 10, and 16: transmit DL burst).
As to claim 27, Chakraborty teaches the apparatus of claim 23, wherein provisioning of the one or more communication links is based at least in part on satisfying a threshold quantity of communication links, a quantity of the one or more communication links being below the threshold quantity of communication links (¶¶140 and 143-146; see figures 8, 9B, and 10: provision DL band to join UL band).
As to claim 30, Chakraborty teaches the apparatus of claim 23, wherein provisioning the one or more communication links occurs independent of exchanging information between the apparatus and a station (¶¶140 and 143-146; see figures 8, 9B, and 10: provision DL band between base station and UE has nothing to do with communication between the base station and a station).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Hirzallah et al., “Provisioning QoS in Wi-Fi Systems with Asymmetric Full-Duplex Communications”
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN T VAN ROIE whose telephone number is (571)270-0308. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian N Moore can be reached at 571-272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JUSTIN T VAN ROIE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469