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 .
DETAIL ACTION
Priority
This application claims priority to a National Stage entry of PCT/CN2021/103601, filed on 06/30/2021 and is hereby incorporated by references.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 12/28/2023. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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, 2, 5-7, 10, 13-17 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over XU et al (US 2021/0399770 A1) in view of HUANG et al (US 2021/0105724 A1).
Regarding claim 1, XU discloses a terminal capability reporting method [See Abstract and Fig 16], applied to a terminal [See Fig. 11] and comprising: “reporting a target terminal capability to a base station” [See Fig. 16, element 1614 and ¶ 0124; One or more UE capability reports are sent or reported to the gNB in response to the gNB requesting the capability reports]; “wherein the target terminal capability comprises: UE capability may include one or more parameters, properties, features, or configurations, such as any one or more of the following illustrative examples: number of antennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) capability, and SL protocol or capability; ¶ 0071; MIMO capability and number of antennas of each component UE contributed to the enhanced UE are examples of information that may also or instead be part of an enhanced UE configuration. The number of antennas that a component UE contributes to the enhanced UE may be fewer than its normal antenna configuration ); “ the target configuration information is used to indicate at least one antenna panel configured UE capability may include one or more parameters, properties, features, or configurations, such as any one or more of the following illustrative examples: number of antennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) capability, and SL protocol or capability; ¶ 0071; MIMO capability and number of antennas of each component UE contributed to the enhanced UE are examples of information that may also or instead be part of an enhanced UE configuration. The number of antennas that a component UE contributes to the enhanced UE may be fewer than its normal antenna configuration ); “and the maximum uplink duty cycle value corresponding to each antenna panel of the terminal that is configured to be available” (This limitation further limit a limitation that was claimed in alternative way and was not selected for examination);
XU fails to explicitly disclose the target configuration information is used to indicate at least one antenna panel configured to be available on the terminal.
However, HUANG teaches the target configuration information is used to indicate at least one antenna panel configured to be available on the terminal [See Huang fig 7, element 710; ¶ 0088 - ¶ 0089; providing UE capability information to the base station; the capability indicator 708 is a bit having a value of 0 if the UE is not fully coherent (e.g., the UE is partially coherent or non-coherent) or having a value of 1 if the UE is fully coherent; ¶ 0053; The UE may have the first level of UE capability if the UE is fully coherent and each transmit chain is capable of transmitting at full power. A fully coherent UE is capable of maintaining a relative phase across all the antenna elements 202, 204, 206, and 208 ].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the communication system disclosed by XU to report the transmission power of the UE including number of available antennas as taught by HUANG as above, in order to know if the UE is capable of transmitting at full power because f a UE is located near an edge of a coverage area served by the BS, it may be desirable for the UE to transmit at an increased or full power level to establish/maintain a connection and exchange data with the BS [See HUANG; [¶ 0005]].
Regarding claim 2, XU and HUANG further disclose receiving a target signaling sent by the base station, wherein the target signaling is used to instruct the terminal to report the target terminal capability [See XU Fig. 16, element 1612 and ¶ 0124; One or more UE capability reports are sent or reported to the gNB in response to the gNB sending a request with instructing the UE to send the capability reports].
Regarding claim 5, XU and HUANG further disclose receiving at least one of power configuration information and uplink scheduling indication information sent by the base station [See XU: ¶ 0036; Capabilities as referenced herein encompass such features or elements as any one or more of: antennas, transmit power, ¶ HUANG; FIG. 7-8 and 14; scheduling information and Huang ¶ 0086 the UE provides full power capability signaling to transmit information about a maximum transmit power capability of the UE and/or to transmit information that enables the UE to transmit at full power. As discussed, a UE having the first level of UE capability may transmit at the maximum transmit power capability by using any of the transmit chains], wherein the power configuration information is used to indicate a maximum transmitting power corresponding to the at least one antenna panel of the terminal [eSee XU: ¶ 0036; Capabilities as referenced herein encompass such features or elements as any one or more of: antennas, transmit power, ¶ HUANG; FIG. 7-8 and 14; scheduling information and Huang ¶ 0086 the UE provides full power capability signaling to transmit information about a maximum transmit power capability of the UE and/or to transmit information that enables the UE to transmit at full power. As discussed, a UE having the first level of UE capability may transmit at the maximum transmit power capability by using any of the transmit chains].
Regarding claim 6-7 and 10, this is a terminal capability reporting method applied to a base station that includes same limitation as in claims 1, 2 and 5 above, the rejection of which are incorporated herein
Regarding claim 15, 17 and 20, this is an apparatus that includes same limitation as in claim 1. 2 and 5 above respectively, the rejection of which are incorporated herein. Furthermore, XU and HUANG disclose processor and a memory configured to store instructions executable by the processor [e.g. XU: FIGs.17 A and 17 B; processor(s) and memory].
Regarding claim 13, this is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that includes same limitation as in claim 1 above, the rejection of which are incorporated herein.
Regarding claim 14, this is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that includes same limitation as in claim 6 above, the rejection of which are incorporated herein.
Regarding claim 16, this is an apparatus that includes same limitation as in claim 6 above, the rejection of which are incorporated herein. Furthermore, XU and HUANG disclose processor and a memory configured to store instructions executable by the processor [e.g. XU: FIGs.17 A and 17 B; processor(s) and memory].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Guan et al (US 20220006507 A1).
Hunzinger (US 20110053527 A1).
Iii. ` SU et al (US 2021/0321431 A1)
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 KHALED M KASSIM whose telephone number is (571)270-3770. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am - 5:00 PM.
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/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475
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