DETAILED ACTION
Applicant's submission filed on 31 December 2025 has been entered. Claims 1, 5, and 6 are currently amended; claims 3, 4, and 7-9 are cancelled; claim 2 is previously presented; no claims have been added. Claims 1, 2, 5, and 6 are pending and ready for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 5-6, filed 31 December 2025, with respect to “Objection to the Specification/Amendment to the Specification” have been fully considered and the examiner notes the applicant has made the appropriate corrections to overcome the objection.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
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.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 5, and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al. (US 2020/0336236 A1), hereafter referred Zhou, in view of Kwak et al. (US 2019/0174440 A1), hereafter referred Kwak, further in view of Alriksson et al. (US 2024/0007206 A1), hereafter referred Alriksson. Zhou was cited by applicant’s IDS filed 12 February 2025.
Regarding claim 1, Zhou teaches a terminal comprising:
a receiving section that receives a first synchronization signal in a first band (Zhou, [0008]-[0010]; configuring a common control channel and primary synchronization signal and a secondary synchronization signal in a subband where a user equipment resides in a frequency division multiplexing manner and transmitting the common control channel by using configured resources); and
a control section that simultaneously uses the first synchronization signal and the second synchronization signal for at least one of synchronization, reception quality measurement, and radio link quality monitoring (Zhou, [0030]-[0032]; receiving a common control channel including receiving a common control channel by configured resources, wherein the common control channel conducts frequency division multiplexing with a primary synchronization signal and a secondary synchronization signal in a subband where a user equipment resides. Since the common control channel occupies the same symbol with the primary synchronization signal and the secondary synchronization signal, each symbol allows the user equipment to conduct a training of the base station transmitting beam, so that the user equipment may conduct at least beam training on the common control channel).
Zhou does not expressly teach when a notification indicating presence of a second synchronization signal in a second band is received.
However, Kwak teaches when a notification indicating presence of a second synchronization signal in a second band is received (Kwak, [0519]-[0522]; if information about a frequency is included in the second type service occurrence indicator information, the information may provide notification of an offset based on one value (a given frequency value within a center frequency) of frequency bands in which a synchronization signal (a PSS and a SSS) for initial access is transmitted.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Zhou to include the above recited limitations as taught by Kwak in order to support sufficient uplink coverage (Kwak, [0006]).
While Zhou teaches wherein the first synchronization signal and the second synchronization signal are multiplexed together in a same synchronization signal block (Zhou, [0064]-[0066]; the SS/PBCH block comprises the primary synchronization signal and the secondary synchronization signal), Zhou in view of Kwak does not expressly teach wherein the synchronization signal block applies a same spatial domain filter and same periodicity in a same cell.
However, Alriksson teaches wherein the synchronization signal block applies a same spatial domain filter and same periodicity in a same cell (Alriksson, [0052]-[0059] and [0261]-[0268]; obtaining the radio resource information indicative of the spatial domain comprises implicitly receiving the radio resource information from the RAN from a cell based on a reception of a synchronization signal block (SSB), where the reception from the cell defines a spatial domain filter may be implemented by a set of beamforming weights associated with the antenna, where the radio resource information that is based on a reception of a synchronization signal block also comprises a measurement timing configuration containing at least one of a periodicity measure).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Zhou in view of Kwak to include the above recited limitations as taught by Alriksson in order to make measurements of a received signal strength in unlicensed spectrum (Alriksson, [0007]).
Regarding claim 5, Zhou teaches a radio communication method for a terminal, the radio communication method comprising:
receiving a first synchronization signal in a first band (Zhou, [0008]-[0010]; configuring a common control channel and primary synchronization signal and a secondary synchronization signal in a subband where a user equipment resides in a frequency division multiplexing manner and transmitting the common control channel by using configured resources); and
simultaneously using the first synchronization signal and the second synchronization signal for at least one of synchronization, reception quality measurement, and radio link quality monitoring (Zhou, [0030]-[0032]; receiving a common control channel including receiving a common control channel by configured resources, wherein the common control channel conducts frequency division multiplexing with a primary synchronization signal and a secondary synchronization signal in a subband where a user equipment resides. Since the common control channel occupies the same symbol with the primary synchronization signal and the secondary synchronization signal, each symbol allows the user equipment to conduct a training of the base station transmitting beam, so that the user equipment may conduct at least beam training on the common control channel).
Zhou does not expressly teach when a notification indicating presence of a second synchronization signal in a second band is received.
However, Kwak teaches when a notification indicating presence of a second synchronization signal in a second band is received (Kwak, [0519]-[0522]; if information about a frequency is included in the second type service occurrence indicator information, the information may provide notification of an offset based on one value (a given frequency value within a center frequency) of frequency bands in which a synchronization signal (a PSS and a SSS) for initial access is transmitted.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Zhou to include the above recited limitations as taught by Kwak in order to support sufficient uplink coverage (Kwak, [0006]).
While Zhou teaches wherein the first synchronization signal and the second synchronization signal are multiplexed together in a same synchronization signal block (Zhou, [0064]-[0066]; the SS/PBCH block comprises the primary synchronization signal and the secondary synchronization signal), Zhou in view of Kwak does not expressly teach wherein the synchronization signal block applies a same spatial domain filter and same periodicity in a same cell.
However, Alriksson teaches wherein the synchronization signal block applies a same spatial domain filter and same periodicity in a same cell (Alriksson, [0052]-[0059] and [0261]-[0268]; obtaining the radio resource information indicative of the spatial domain comprises implicitly receiving the radio resource information from the RAN from a cell based on a reception of a synchronization signal block (SSB), where the reception from the cell defines a spatial domain filter may be implemented by a set of beamforming weights associated with the antenna, where the radio resource information that is based on a reception of a synchronization signal block also comprises a measurement timing configuration containing at least one of a periodicity measure).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Zhou in view of Kwak to include the above recited limitations as taught by Alriksson in order to make measurements of a received signal strength in unlicensed spectrum (Alriksson, [0007]).
Regarding claim 6, Zhou teaches a base station comprising:
a transmitting section that transmits a first synchronization signal in a first band, and transmits the second synchronization signal (Zhou, [0008]-[0010]; configuring a common control channel and primary synchronization signal and a secondary synchronization signal in a subband where a user equipment resides in a frequency division multiplexing manner and transmitting the common control channel by using configured resources); and
a control section that configures, for a terminal, at least one of synchronization, reception quality measurement, and radio link quality monitoring, wherein the first synchronization signal and the second synchronization signal are simultaneously used for at least one of the synchronization, the reception quality measurement, and the radio link quality monitoring (Zhou, [0030]-[0032]; receiving a common control channel including receiving a common control channel by configured resources, wherein the common control channel conducts frequency division multiplexing with a primary synchronization signal and a secondary synchronization signal in a subband where a user equipment resides. Since the common control channel occupies the same symbol with the primary synchronization signal and the secondary synchronization signal, each symbol allows the user equipment to conduct a training of the base station transmitting beam, so that the user equipment may conduct at least beam training on the common control channel).
Zhou does not expressly teach transmits a notification indicating presence of a second synchronization signal in a second band.
However, Kwak teaches transmits a notification indicating presence of a second synchronization signal in a second band (Kwak, [0519]-[0522]; if information about a frequency is included in the second type service occurrence indicator information, the information may provide notification of an offset based on one value (a given frequency value within a center frequency) of frequency bands in which a synchronization signal (a PSS and a SSS) for initial access is transmitted.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Zhou to include the above recited limitations as taught by Kwak in order to support sufficient uplink coverage (Kwak, [0006]).
While Zhou teaches wherein the first synchronization signal and the second synchronization signal are multiplexed together in a same synchronization signal block (Zhou, [0064]-[0066]; the SS/PBCH block comprises the primary synchronization signal and the secondary synchronization signal), Zhou in view of Kwak does not expressly teach wherein the synchronization signal block applies a same spatial domain filter and same periodicity in a same cell.
However, Alriksson teaches wherein the synchronization signal block applies a same spatial domain filter and same periodicity in a same cell (Alriksson, [0052]-[0059] and [0261]-[0268]; obtaining the radio resource information indicative of the spatial domain comprises implicitly receiving the radio resource information from the RAN from a cell based on a reception of a synchronization signal block (SSB), where the reception from the cell defines a spatial domain filter may be implemented by a set of beamforming weights associated with the antenna, where the radio resource information that is based on a reception of a synchronization signal block also comprises a measurement timing configuration containing at least one of a periodicity measure).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Zhou in view of Kwak to include the above recited limitations as taught by Alriksson in order to make measurements of a received signal strength in unlicensed spectrum (Alriksson, [0007]).
Regarding claim 2, Zhou in view of Kwak further in view of Alriksson teaches the terminal according to claim 1 above. Further, Zhou teaches wherein the receiving section receives the notification in the first band or a third band (Zhou, Fig. 7, [0133]-[0135]; the third common control channel configuration sub-circuitry is configured to configure the common control channel to occupy the first symbol or the first and second symbol occupied by the primary synchronization signal and the secondary synchronization signal in a time domain).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 RODRICK MAK whose telephone number is (571)270-0284. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:30 am - 5:30 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, Noel Beharry can be reached at 571-270-5630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/R.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416
Prosecution Insights