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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/13/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
The information disclosure statement filed 07/10/2025 and 03/31/2026 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(3)(i) because it does not include a concise explanation of the relevance, as it is presently understood by the individual designated in 37 CFR 1.56(c) most knowledgeable about the content of the information, of each reference listed that is not in the English language. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because:
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description:
“210” (see figure 10);
“220” (see figure 10);
“230” (see figure 10).
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because using phrases which can be implied, such as, “Disclosed herein are”. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
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 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.
Claims 1-12 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over R1-2203858 (“Maintenance on initial access aspects for NR from 52.6 GHz to 71 GHz” May 9, 222) in view of Zhang (US 20230164715 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 7 and 16, R1-2203858 discloses a transceiver, a processor; and memory connected to the processor and configured to store instructions executed cause the at least one processor to perform specific operations (UE includes transceiver, a processor an memory) detecting a first synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) (UE page 8 “If a UE detects a first SS/PBCH block “); based on a determination that a control resource set (CORESET) for a Type0-physical downlink control channel (Type0-PDCCH) common search space (CSS) set is not present in the first SSB, determining a nearest global synchronization channel number (GSCN) of a second SSB having a CORESET for the Type0-PDCCH CSS set (page 8 “If a UE detects a first SS/PBCH block and determines that a CORESET for Type0-PDCCH CSS set is not present, and for 24≤kSSB≤29 for FR1 or for 12≤kSSB≤13 for FR2, the UE may determine the nearest (in the corresponding frequency direction) global synchronization channel number (GSCN) of a second SS/PBCH block having a CORESET for an associated Type0-PDCCH CSS set as NGSCNReference + NGSCNSize⋅ NGSCNOffset. NGSCNReference is the GSCN of the first SS/PBCH block, NGSCNSize=1 for FR1 and FR2-1, and NGSCNSize is the step size given by Table 5.4.3.3-2 of [8-2, TS 38.101-2] for FR2-2, and NGSCNOffset is a GSCN offset provided by Table 13-16 for FR1 and Table 13-17 for FR2. If the UE detects the second SS/PBCH block and the second SS/PBCH block does not provide a CORESET for Type0-PDCCH CSS set, as described in clause 4.1, the UE may ignore the information related to GSCN of SS/PBCH block locations for performing cell search) wherein the nearest GSCN is determined based on (i) a GSCN of the first SSB, (ii) a step size, and (iii) a GSCN offset (page 8 “NGSCNReference + NGSCNSize⋅ NGSCNOffset. NGSCNReference is the GSCN of the first SS/PBCH block, NGSCNSize=1 for FR1 and FR2-1, and NGSCNSize is the step size given by Table 5.4.3.3-2 of [8-2, TS 38.101-2] for FR2-2, and NGSCNOffset is a GSCN offset provided by Table 13-16 for FR1 and Table 13-17 for FR2”); and wherein the step size is determined based on a frequency band in which the first SSB is detected (page 8 “NGSCNReference + NGSCNSize⋅ NGSCNOffset. NGSCNReference is the GSCN of the first SS/PBCH block, NGSCNSize=1 for FR1 and FR2-1, and NGSCNSize is the step size given by Table 5.4.3.3-2 of [8-2, TS 38.101-2] for FR2-2, and NGSCNOffset is a GSCN offset provided by Table 13-16 for FR1 and Table 13-17 for FR2”). R1-2203858 doesn’t specifically disclose receiving the second SSB based on the nearest GSCN and performing cell search based on the second SSB. Zhang discloses receiving the second SSB based on the nearest GSCN and performing cell search based on the second SSB (paragraph [0044] “After determining the GSCN offset value, the UE 103 may determine the GSCN of the second SSB. For example, for FR1, assuming that the GSCN of the first SSB is 7499, kSSB is 24, 16*controlresourcesetzero+searchspacezero is 39, the UE 103 may determine that a GSCN offset value (e.g., NGSCNoffset) is 40 and the GSCN of the second SSB is 7539”. Then, the UE 103 may obtain the frequency position of the second SSB based on the GSCN of the second SSB. Similarly, after locating the second SSB, the UE 103 may detect the second SSB to determine the access configuration for performing initial access to a cell.) R1-2203858 and Zhang are analogous art because they are from the same field of communications. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate in the technique disclosed by R1-2203858 the search using the second SSB disclosed by Zhang. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to perform initial access to a cell (Zhang paragraph [0044]). See also KSR. In the KSR case, the Court stated that in certain circumstances what is obvious to try is also obvious, such as where "there is a design need or market pressure to solve a problem, and there are a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, a person of ordinary skill has good reason to pursue the known options within his or her technical grasp. If this leads to the anticipated success, it is likely the product not of innovation but of ordinary skill and common sense." Regarding hindsight, the Court found that "[r]igid preventive rules that deny fact finders recourse to common sense . . . are neither necessary under our case law nor consistent with it." The Court stated that "familiar items may have obvious uses beyond their primary purposes," analogizing an obvious invention to the fitting together of pieces to a puzzle. The Court in this regard further stated that the person of ordinary skill is also a person of ordinary creativity, and not "an automaton."
Regarding claim 2 and 8, R1-2203858 and Zhang disclose claims 1 and 7, R1-2203858 also discloses that a subcarrier offset for a spacing from a lowest subcarrier in a common resource block (CRB) to a lowest subcarrier in the first SSB is within a predetermined range (page 8 “NGSCNReference + NGSCNSize⋅ NGSCNOffset. NGSCNReference is the GSCN of the first SS/PBCH block, NGSCNSize=1 for FR1 and FR2-1, and NGSCNSize is the step size given by Table 5.4.3.3-2 of [8-2, TS 38.101-2] for FR2-2, and NGSCNOffset is a GSCN offset provided by Table 13-16 for FR1 and Table 13-17 for FR2”)
Regarding claim 3 and 9, R1-2203858 discloses claims 1 and 7, R1-2203858 also discloses a value obtained by adding a product of the step size and the GSCN offset to the GSCN of the first SSB (page 8 “NGSCNReference + NGSCNSize⋅ NGSCNOffset. NGSCNReference is the GSCN of the first SS/PBCH block, NGSCNSize=1 for FR1 and FR2-1, and NGSCNSize is the step size given by Table 5.4.3.3-2 of [8-2, TS 38.101-2] for FR2-2, and NGSCNOffset is a GSCN offset provided by Table 13-16 for FR1 and Table 13-17 for FR2”)
Regarding claim 4 and 10, R1-2203858 discloses claims 1 and 7, R1-2203858 also discloses the step size is determined to be 1 based on that the frequency band is in Frequency Range 1 (FR1) or Frequency Range 2-1 (FR2-1), and wherein the step size is determined to be 3 based on that the frequency band is in Frequency Range 2-2 (FR2-2) (page 6 table 3)
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Regarding claim 5 and 11, R1-2203858 discloses claims 4 and 10. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that the step size is determined to be a same for cases in which a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the frequency is 120 KHz and 480 KHz because it is one of a finite number of possibilities 1, 2 or 3m the same or different (See KSR above).
Regarding claim 6 and 12, R1-2203858 discloses claims 2 and 8. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art GSCN offset is determined based on the frequency band and the subcarrier offset (see Zhang paragraph [0042] “] For the second SSB, the UE 103 may determine a GSCN of the second SSB. The GSCN of the second SSB may be determined based on a GSCN of the first SSB (e.g. NGSCNReference) and a GSCN offset value (e.g., NGSCNoffset). For example, the GSCN of the second SSB may be defined as NGSCNReference+NGSCNoffset. In an embodiment of the present application, the GSCN offset value (e.g., NGSCNoffset) may be determined based on the subcarrier offset value (e.g., kSSB), control resource set configuration information (e.g., controlresourcesetzero or CORESET #0) and search space configuration information (e.g., searchspacezero or searchspace0) in the MIB of the first SSB”).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Ma (US 20210345340 A1) discloses method to mitigate timing resolution limitation due to SSB with smaller SCS.
Takahashi (US 20210377950 A1) discloses user terminal.
Guo (US 20230007656 A1) discloses synchronization signal block determining method and related apparatus.
John Wilson (US 11316577 B2) discloses signaling of control resource set (CORESET).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUAN A TORRES whose telephone number is (571) 272-3119. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kenneth N Vanderpuye can be reached at (571) 272-3078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JUAN A TORRES/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2634
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