DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to Application No. 18/569,276 filed on 12/12/2023. The preliminary amendment presented on 12/12/2023, which cancels claims 13, amends claims 1, 3-7, 10-12, and 14, and adds new claim 16, is hereby acknowledged. Claims 1-12 and 14-16 have been examined.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/12/2023 is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The specification is objected to because:
The title of the invention is not descriptive.
A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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 1, 4-5, 8, 11-12, 14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Novlan et al. (hereinafter Novlan)(US 2018/0092139) in view of Makki et al. (hereinafter Makki)(US 2021/0083793).
Regarding claims 1, 8, and 14, Novlan teaches as follows:
An information processing apparatus (interpreted as the network node 104 in figure 2)(a computer 1400 operable to execute the functions and operations performed in the described example embodiments. For example, network node devices and relay devices, see, ¶ [0086] and figure 17) comprising:
at least one memory (1406 in figure 14) storing instructions, and
at least one processor (1404 in figure 14) configured to execute the instructions to;
acquire information regarding wireless communication of a back-haul link between a first base station (interpreted as relay node 210 in figure 2) and a second base station (interpreted as the network node 104 in figure 2)(measuring channel characteristics of the backhaul communications links using a measurement reference signal. Measuring the channel characteristics comprises measuring for link strength, as well as measuring for interference, see, ¶ [0072]) and information regarding wireless communication of an access link between the second base station and a user terminal (interpreted as the user equipment (UE) 102 in figure 2)(at transaction (1), the UE sends to the network node a RACH preamble and/or message containing UE identification. This message can also include a beam recovery request or measurement reports (equivalent to applicant’s information regarding access link), see, ¶ [0054] and figure 7)( (the backhaul communications between relay transmission points (rTPs) and the access communications between user equipment (UE) and rTPs, see, ¶ [0035] and figure 2); and
determine a first wireless communication method of the back-haul link and a second wireless communication method of the access link on a basis of the acquired information (schedulers will assign resources based upon numerous criteria. Depending on factors and conditions (e.g., condition of the channels), the schedulers of the rTPs can be operative to select from a variety of multiplexing schemes (equivalent to applicant’s communication method) so as to integrate the transmission of the backhaul links and access links, see, ¶ [0035]. Therefore a multiplexing scheme is determined based on factors and conditions for the back-haul link and the access link).
Novlan teaches that the scheduler selects a multiplexing scheme but does not explicitly teach of transmitting the selected multiplexing scheme to other network devices.
Makki teaches as follows:
The network node 105 informs all UEs about their selected multiplexing schemes. In some embodiments, the network node 105 transmits to the UEs an indication indicating the selected multiplexing schemes (see, ¶ [0046] and figure 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Novlan with Makki to include transmitting selected multiplexing scheme to other network devices in order for all network nodes in communication to utilize same multiplexing scheme.
Regarding claims 4-5 and 11-12, Novlan teaches as follows:
The present application provides for system and methods for integrating the wireless backhaul communications between relay transmission point devices (rTPs) and the access communications between user equipment (UE) and rTPs including in 5G networks or other next generation networks. In example embodiments, rTPs can multiplex the access links and backhaul links using time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), hybrid FDM/TDM, or space division multiplexing (SDM)(see, ¶ [0023]).
Therefore, Novlan inherently teaches the physical channel multiplexing scheme, a reference signal multiplexing method, and a control signal multiplexing method.
Regarding claim 16, Novlan in view of Makki teaches all limitations as presented above in the rejection for claim 1. Therefore, it is rejected for similar reason as presented above.
Claims 2-3, 9-10, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Novlan et al. (hereinafter Novlan)(US 2018/0092139) in view of Makki et al. (hereinafter Makki)(US 2021/0083793), and further in view of Liu et al. (hereinafter Liu)(US 2021/0014016).
Regarding claims 2-3, 9-10, and 15, Novlan in view of Makki teaches all limitations as presented above except for the frequency spectrum of the back-haul link and the access link.
Liu teaches as follows:
A relay manner in which an access link and a backhaul link share a frequency band (equivalent to applicant’s frequency spectrum) may be referred to as in-band relay, and a relay node that performs an operation in this relay manner may be referred to as an in-band relay node (see, ¶ [0113]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Novlan in view of Makki with Liu to include specifying frequency spectrum (band) for the backhaul link and the access link in order to share same frequency band on both links.
Claims 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Novlan et al. (hereinafter Novlan)(US 2018/0092139) in view of Makki et al. (hereinafter Makki)(US 2021/0083793), and further in view of Kulkarni et al. (hereinafter Kulkarni)(US 11,374,627).
Regarding claims 6-7, Novlan teaches as follows:
The operations can comprise maintaining the integrated wireless backhaul communications links and access communications links by measuring channel characteristics of the backhaul communications links using a measurement reference signal. Measuring the channel characteristics comprises measuring for link strength, as well as measuring for interference. The characteristics can be obtained using beam-based measurements (equivalent to applicant’s pattern of a directional beam). The characteristics can also be obtained by using channel characteristics (see, ¶ [0072]); and
rTPs can multiplex the access links and backhaul links using time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), hybrid FDM/TDM, or space division multiplexing (SDM)(see, ¶ [0023]).
Makki teaches of transmitting selected multiplexing scheme as presented above (see, ¶ [0046] and figure 1).
Therefore, Novlan in view of Makki teaches all limitations as presented above except for the multi-hop communication of small cell base stations.
Kulkarni teaches as follows:
An integrated access and backhaul (IAB)) is utilized for multi-hop backhauling with the same or different frequency bands. Continuing the example, the multi-hop backhauling is a distributed routing scheme in which each small cell forms a neighbor relationship only with its immediately connected small cells or picocell (see, col. 11, lines 3-23).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Novlan in view of Makki with Kulkarni to include the multi-hop backhauling as taught by Kulkarni in order to efficiently implement a distributed routing scheme among small cell base stations forming a neighbor relationship.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jeong S Park whose telephone number is (571)270-1597. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 8:00-4:30 ET.
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/JEONG S PARK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454
December 23, 2025