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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because it can be interpreted as including signals per se embodiments.
Claim 10 is drawn towards a computer readable storage medium. As defined in the specification (Para 74), the medium may include signals/carrier waves. Amendments avoiding software and signals per se are required.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: the first reference of the acronym BWP in claim 1 should be written out, i.e. “Bandwidth Part (BWP)”, so that the acronym’s meaning is spelled out and clearer. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 7-10, 17-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ma et al. (12,245,212) in view of Li et al. (12,096,460).
For claims 1, 9, 10, Ma teaches a BWP switching method and system (abstract, background, summary and claims), applied to a network device (col. 4, line 55 – col. 6, line 10), the method comprising:
determining that, in a case that a working bandwidth of a network device is within a current BWP (col. 12, lines 10-25) and if a terminal (col. 6, lines 25-45) that has performed switching from the current BWP is detected, a BWP switching error is occurred (col. 16, lines 5-15) with the terminal that has performed switching from the current BWP (col. 10, lines 5-15); and
instructing the terminal with which the BWP switching error is occurred to switch to a target BWP (col. 15, lines 15-30) and controlling the network device to switch to the target BWP (col. 13, lines 30-50).
Ma does not expressly disclose determining that, in a case that a working bandwidth of a network device is within a current BWP. Li teaches a method and system (abstract) in the relevant art (background, summary and claims) that includes determining that, in a case that a working bandwidth (col. 15 line 25 – col. 16, line 35) of a network device is within a current BWP (col. 7, line 55 – col. 10, line 25). At the time of filing, one of ordinary skill in the art would have added Li in order to provide switching capabilities (background).
For claims 7, 17, 18, Ma teaches detecting whether a service of the terminal is interrupted within a second preset period of time, after the network device switches to the target BWP at the target switching moment, and issuing a reconfiguration message to the terminal so that the terminal switches to the target BWP (col 13, lines 50-60), if it is determined that the service of the terminal is interrupted within the second preset period of time, wherein the reconfiguration message comprises identity information of the target BWP (col. 13, line 60 – col. 14, line 5).
For claim 8., Ma teaches that issuing a reconfiguration message to the terminal so that the terminal switches to the target BWP, wherein the reconfiguration message comprises identity information of the target BWP (col. 13, line 60 – col. 14, line 5).
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ma and Li as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Cirik et al. (11,711,195).
For claim 2, Ma teaches detection for supporting DCI based BWP switching (col. 15, lines 15-50) but Ma and Li do not expressly disclose the limitations. Cirik teaches a method and system (abstract) in the relevant art (background, summary and claims) that includes determining that, in a case that the working bandwidth of the network device is within the current BWP and if the terminal that has performed switching from the current BWP is detected, a BWP switching error is occurred with the terminal that has performed switching from the current BWP (col. 60, lines 10-45), comprising:
performing following operations on each terminal communicating with the network device, in a case that the working bandwidth of the network device is within the current BWP: detecting whether a service of the terminal is interrupted within a first preset period of time (col. 60, line 45 – col. 61, line 15), under detection of the terminal supporting the mode of downlink control information (DCI) based BWP switching (col. 61, line 55 – col. 62, line 15); and
determining that the terminal has performed switching from the current BWP, if it is determined that the service of the terminal is interrupted within the first preset period of time (col. 60, line 45 – col. 61, line 15).
At the time of filing, one of ordinary skill in the art would have added Cirik in order to provide improvements to RRC connections (col. 10, lines 45-65).
Claim(s) 3, 4, 11, 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ma, Li and Cirik as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Myung et al. (12,376,099).
For claim 3, Ma, Li and Cirik do not expressly disclose the limitations. Myung teaches a method and system (abstract) in the relevant art (background, summary and claims) that includes detecting whether the service of the terminal is interrupted within the first preset period of time comprising:
detecting whether the service of the terminal is normal at a moment T-1 (col 7, lines 25-40), under detection of the terminal being in a discontinuous transmission (DTX) state (col. 10, lines 30-50) at a moment T (col. 7, lines 40-55);
if normal, then determining that the service of the terminal is interrupted (col. 19, line 50 – col. 22, line 50) within the first preset period of time (col 8, line 60 – col. 9, line 5);
otherwise, determining that the service of the terminal is normal within the first preset period of time, wherein T is an integer greater than 1 (col 19, lines 30-50).
At the time of filing, one of ordinary skill in the art would have added Myung in order to provide improvements to better integrate BWP into legacy systems (col. 1, lines 20-65).
For claims 4, 11, 12, Myung teaches wherein instructing the terminal with which the BWP switching error is occurred to switch to the target BWP comprising: providing a synchronous moment for the terminal (col 13, lines 5-25), so that the terminal determines a target switching moment according to the synchronous moment, and the terminal switches to the target BWP at the target switching moment (col. 25, lines 30-50).
Claim(s) 5, 6, 13-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ma and Li as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Reial et al. (12,471,019).
For claims 5, 13, 14, Ma and Li do not expressly disclose the elements. Reial teaches a method and system (abstract) in the relevant art (background, summary and claims) that includes providing the synchronous moment information for the terminal comprising: stopping uplink and downlink scheduling (col. 7, lines 20-45), so that the terminal uses a moment when the uplink and downlink scheduling is stopped as the synchronous moment and determines the target switching moment according to the synchronous moment (col. 16, lines 35-65). At the time of filing, one of ordinary skill in the art would have added Reial in order to provide improvements to lower power consumption (background).
For claims 6, 15, 16, Reial teaches controlling the network device to switch to the target BWP comprising:
obtaining the moment when the uplink and downlink scheduling is stopped as the synchronous moment after the uplink and downlink scheduling is stopped (col. 16, lines 35-65); and
recording a duration of stopping the uplink and downlink scheduling starting with the synchronous moment, and if the duration exceeds a preset threshold, switching to the target BWP (col. 11, line 60 – col. 12, line 50).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MELVIN H POLLACK whose telephone number is (571)272-3887. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:00.
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/MELVIN H POLLACK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445