Detailed Action
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This is a final action for application number 18/576,279 in response to an amendment filed on 03/17/2026; the original application filed on 01/03/2024.
Claims 15-28 and 53-58 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Claims 1-14, 29-52 and 59-73 have been cancelled.
Claims 15 and 53 are independent claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments with respect to claims 15-28 and 53-58 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Claim Objections
Claims 16 and 5 are objected to because of the following informalities:
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Appropriate correction is required.
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 15-18, 25 and 53 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (US 2020/0037354 A1) in view of Talarico et al. (US 2022/0183064 A1).
Regarding claims 15, an apparatus, [Figure 3A, UE], comprising:
at least one processor, [Figure 3A, Ref # 340],
and at least one memory comprising computer program code, [Figure 3A, Ref # 360], the at least one memory and computer program code configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to perform:
receiving, from a serving cell, assistance information, [adaptation procedure for a UE operation to enable signaling for both an adaptation request from the UE to a serving base station (gNB) and an adaptation request from the gNB to the UE that can be based on assistance information from the UE, (Li et al., Paragraph 64)],
determining whether there is a transmission from the serving cell during a period of time, [Frame based equipment, or FBE, is a channel access mechanism wherein the transmit/receive structure has a periodic timing with a periodicity named the fixed frame period (FFP); and that the initiating device shall perform listen-before-talk (LBT) during an observation slot before starting transmissions on an operating channel at the start of a FFP. The FFP is within 1 ms to 10 ms, and the observation slot is at least 9 microseconds, (Li et al., Paragraph 129)],
and in accordance with a determination that there is no transmission from the serving cell during the period of time, [a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided. The UE includes at least one processor configured to identify a channel access mechanism to gain access to an operating channel of unlicensed band, perform a listen-before-talk (LBT) operation over the operating channel according to the identified channel access mechanism and obtain a channel occupancy time (COT) for transmission and reception on the operating channel after the LBT operation is successful, and identify, within the COT, one or more switching points for the UE to switch from UL transmission to DL reception or from the DL reception to the UL transmission, (Li et al., Paragraph 14)], based at least on the assistance information, performing measurement of the at least one neighbor cell during the period of time, [Once the UE is in the network and associated with a serving cell, the UE monitors several neighboring cells by attempting to detect their synchronization signals and/or measuring the associated cell-specific RSs (for instance, by measuring their RSRPs), (Li et al., Paragraph 114)],
Li et al. fails to explicitly teach that the assistance information comprises a fixed frame period (FFP) configuration of the serving cell,
Talarico et al. teaches a single Observation Slot as defined in clause 3.1 and as referenced by the procedure in clause 4.2.7.3.1.4 “shall have a duration of not less than 9 μs.” In some embodiments, the Fixed Frame Period “supported by the equipment shall be declared by the manufacturer, (Talarico et al., Paragraph 52),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify Li et al. by including that the assistance information comprises a fixed frame period (FFP) configuration of the serving cell, (Talarico et al., Paragraph 52), in order to receive network services. Registration Management (RM) is used to register or deregister the UE 501 with the network (e.g., AMF 521), and establish a UE context in the network, (Talarico et al., Paragraph 123).
Regarding claim 16, the apparatus of claim 15, wherein the measurement of the at least one neighbor cell comprises at least one of the following: measurement of at least one reference signal of the at least one neighbor cell; and measurement of SFN and frame timing difference of the at least one neighbor cell, [the UE monitors several neighboring cells by attempting to detect their synchronization signals and/or measuring the associated cell-specific RSs (for instance, by measuring their RSRPs), (Li et al., Paragraph 114)].
Regarding claim 17, the apparatus of claim 15, the determination of whether there is transmission from the serving cell during the period of time comprising: determining whether there is transmission at a start of a FFP, wherein the period of time comprises the FFP, [Frame based equipment, or FBE, is a channel access mechanism wherein the transmit/receive structure has a periodic timing with a periodicity named the fixed frame period (FFP); and that the initiating device shall perform listen-before-talk (LBT) during an observation slot before starting transmissions on an operating channel at the start of a FFP, (Li et al., Paragraph 129)].
Regarding claim 18, the apparatus of claim 15, wherein the period of time is outside at least one configured measurement gap occasion, [for a downlink to uplink switching point during a COT, if the gap duration between the start of the assigned uplink transmission and the end of previous downlink transmission is less than SIFS duration from the UE perspective, (Li et al., Paragraph 363)].
Regarding claim 25, the apparatus of claim 15, wherein, when one or more measurements of the at least one neighbor cell are performed outside the at least one configured measurement gap occasion, the at least one memory and computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to perform: changing a priority between intra-frequency and inter-frequency measurements during at least one of the at least one configured measurement gap occasion subsequent to the one or more measurements, [The channel access mechanism for asynchronous FBE NR-U network (e.g., intra operator and/or inter-operator) shall also be enhanced over the baseline channel access scheme, wherein asynchronous for two FBE devices or operators can refer to the fact that their start timing for the fixed frame period is different; and/or the duration of the fixed frame period is different; and/or the duration of the COT/idle period is different, (Li et al., Paragraph 252)].
Regarding claim 53, a apparatus, [Figure 3B, NodeB], comprising: at least one processor, [Figure 3B, Ref # 378], and at least one memory comprising computer program code, [Figure 3B, Ref # 380], the at least one memory and computer program code configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to perform: transmitting, to a user equipment, assistance information, [adaptation procedure for a UE operation to enable signaling for both an adaptation request from the UE to a serving base station (gNB) and an adaptation request from the gNB to the UE that can be based on assistance information from the UE, (Li et al., Paragraph 64)],
Li et al. fails to explicitly teach that the assistance information comprises a fixed frame period (FFP) configuration of the serving cell,
Talarico et al. teaches a single Observation Slot as defined in clause 3.1 and as referenced by the procedure in clause 4.2.7.3.1.4 “shall have a duration of not less than 9 μs.” In some embodiments, the Fixed Frame Period “supported by the equipment shall be declared by the manufacturer, (Talarico et al., Paragraph 52),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify Li et al. by including that the assistance information comprises a fixed frame period (FFP) configuration of the serving cell, (Talarico et al., Paragraph 52), in order to receive network services. Registration Management (RM) is used to register or deregister the UE 501 with the network (e.g., AMF 521), and establish a UE context in the network, (Talarico et al., Paragraph 123).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 19-24, 26-28 and 54-58 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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 Shukri Taha whose telephone number is 571-270-1921. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:30am-5pm Mon-Fri.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Avellino can be reached on 571-272-3905.
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/SHUKRI TAHA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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