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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 39-40, 47-48 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 33-38, 41-46 and 49-50 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xu et al. (US 2022/0078755 A1, hereinafter “XU”).
Regarding claim 33, XU discloses a computer-implemented method, performed by a first node, for sending a grant to a wireless device comprised in a multi-hop path comprising a plurality of relay nodes, the first node, the plurality of relay nodes and the wireless device operating in a wireless communications network (see Figure 2), the method comprising: sending the grant to the wireless device, the grant indicating an allocation of first time- frequency resources to the wireless device and an indication of the multi-hop path (see para. 0070-0077, time-frequency resources with subchannels multiplexing for communicating between an end node or first node and relay nodes, resources between each rely UEs at adjacent hops, for communicating between each relay UE and at a final hop and an end node or wireless device and communicating in each direction for bidirectional communication, the first node being an end node and the wireless device being the other end node; see also 102-103, resource allocation of time-frequency from one end node or source node to the other end node or destination node), the grant thereby indicating the allocation of respective second time-frequency resources to each of the relay nodes in the multi-hop path (see para. 0070-0077, time-frequency resources with subchannels multiplexing for communicating between an end node or first node and relay nodes, resources between each rely UEs at adjacent hops, for communicating between each relay UE and at a final hop and an end node or wireless device and communicating in each direction for bidirectional communication; see also 102-103, resource allocation from end node to end node), wherein the first time-frequency resources and the respective second time-frequency resources are allocated in a same transmission occasion (see para. 0077-0085, resources could be shared so relay UEs are in the same transmission occasion).
Regarding claims 34 and 42, XU discloses wherein at least one of: a. each of the first time-frequency resources and the respective second time- frequency resources comprise a respective first subset of resources for reception and a respective second subset of resources for transmission (see para. 0086 and 0087, bi-directional resources for transmit or receive), b. each of the first time-frequency resources and the respective second time- frequency are the same in duration and frequency, with the exception of their allocated period of time (see Figures 5A, 5B, para. 0085, time-based allocation of resources), and c. each of the respective first subset of resources for reception and the respective second subset of resources for transmission is separated by a time gap (see para. 0089, time gap is configured between different resource groups).
Regarding claims 35 and 43, XU discloses wherein the first time-frequency resources and the respective second time-frequency resources are allocated consecutively in time in the transmission occasion (see para. 0072-0073, resource allocation for communication between end node and each relay UE), and wherein each of the first time-frequency resources and the respective second time-frequency are separated in time by an offset, so that the respective second subset of resources for transmission of a transmitter is separated by the offset from the respective first subset of resources for reception of a receiver (see para. 0089, time-gap between resource groups), wherein, in the downlink, the transmitter is one of the relay nodes in the multi-hop path and the receiver being one of: another of the relay nodes in the multi-hop path (see para. 0076-0077, 0092, different relay UE for allocation of sub-channels) and the wireless device, and in the uplink, the transmitter is one of the relay nodes in the multi-hop path and the wireless device, and the receiver is another of the relay nodes in the multi-hop path (see Figure 7, Group 1 and Group 4, para. 0101-0105) .
Regarding claims 36 and 44, XU discloses wherein the indication further indicates a respective hop number for each of the relay nodes in the multi-hop path (see para. 0103, Table 1, Hop#).
Regarding claims 37and 45, wherein the grant further indicates that the allocation of the first time-frequency resources and the respective second time-frequency resources is to be repeated periodically (see para. 0090, resource can be configured periodically).
Regarding claims 38 and 46, XU discloses wherein the sending is performed in at least one of: a. a single Downlink Control Information, DCI, message, and b. a group-common DCI message (see para. 0137, DCI).
Regarding claim 41, XU discloses a computer-implemented method performed by a second node, the method being for receiving a grant from a first node (see para. 0144, end node #2 is the second node and end node1 is the first node), the second node being one of: a) a wireless device comprised in a multi-hop path comprising a plurality of relay nodes (see para. 0145, multi-path resource allocation), and b) one of the relay nodes in the plurality of relay nodes (see par. 0145), the wireless device, the plurality of relay nodes and the first node, operating in a wireless communications network, the method comprising: receiving the grant from the first node, the grant indicating: an allocation of first time-frequency resources to the wireless device, and an indication of the multi-hop path (see para. 0070-0077, time-frequency resources with subchannels multiplexing for communicating between an end node or first node and relay nodes, resources between each rely UEs at adjacent hops, for communicating between each relay UE and at a final hop and an end node or wireless device and communicating in each direction for bidirectional communication), the grant thereby indicating the allocation of respective second time-frequency resources to each of the relay nodes in the multi-hop path (see para. 0070-0077, time-frequency resources with subchannels multiplexing for communicating between an end node or first node and relay nodes, resources between each rely UEs at adjacent hops, for communicating between each relay UE and at a final hop and an end node or wireless device and communicating in each direction for bidirectional communication), wherein the first time-frequency resources and the respective second time-frequency resources are allocated in a same transmission occasion. (see para. 0077-0085, resources could be shared so relay UEs are in the same transmission occasion).
Regarding claim 49, XU discloses a first node, for sending a grant to a wireless device configured to be comprised in a multi-hop path configured to comprise a plurality of relay nodes, the first node, the plurality of relay nodes and the wireless device being configured to operate in a wireless communications network (see Figure 2), the first node being further configured to: send the grant to the wireless device, the grant being configured to indicate: an allocation of first time-frequency resources to the wireless device, and an indication of the multi-hop path (see para. 0070-0077, time-frequency resources with subchannels multiplexing for communicating between an end node or first node and relay nodes, resources between each rely UEs at adjacent hops, for communicating between each relay UE and at a final hop and an end node or wireless device and communicating in each direction for bidirectional communication, the end nodes being the first node and wireless device), the grant thereby being configured to indicate the allocation of respective second time- frequency resources to each of the relay nodes in the multi-hop path(see para. 0070-0077, time-frequency resources with subchannels multiplexing for communicating between an end node or first node and relay nodes, resources between each rely UEs at adjacent hops, for communicating between each relay UE and at a final hop and an end node or wireless device and communicating in each direction for bidirectional communication), wherein the first time-frequency resources and the respective second time-frequency resources are configured to be allocated in a same transmission occasion (see para. 0077-0085, resources could be shared so relay UEs are in the same transmission occasion)
Regarding claim 50, XU discloses a second node, for receiving a grant from a first node (see para. 0143, source node sends a grant to relay UEs and the second end nose), the second node (see Figure 2) configured to be one of: a) a wireless device configured to be comprised in a multi-hop path configured to comprise a plurality of relay nodes (see Figure 2, Remote UE 204; see para. 0064), and b) one of the relay nodes in the plurality of relay nodes, the wireless device, the plurality of relay nodes (see Figure 2, para. 0057, Relay UEs) and the first node, being configured to operate in a wireless communications network, the second node being further configured to: receive the grant from the first node, the grant being configured to indicate: an allocation of first time-frequency resources to the wireless device, and an indication of the multi-hop path (see para. 0070-0077, time-frequency resources with subchannels multiplexing for communicating between an end node or first node and relay nodes, resources between each rely UEs at adjacent hops, for communicating between each relay UE and at a final hop and an end node or wireless device and communicating in each direction for bidirectional communication, the first node being an end node and the wireless device being the other end node, first time-frequency can be subchannel with configuration of resources allocated for relays as well source and destination nodes), the grant thereby being configured to indicate the allocation of respective second time- frequency resources to each of the relay nodes in the multi-hop path (see para. 0070-0077, time-frequency resources with subchannels multiplexing for communicating between an end node or first node and relay nodes, resources between each rely UEs at adjacent hops, for communicating between each relay UE and at a final hop and an end node or wireless device and communicating in each direction for bidirectional communication, the first node being an end node and the wireless device being the other end node), wherein the first time-frequency resources and the respective second time-frequency resources are configured to be allocated in a same transmission occasion (see para. 0077-0085, resources could be shared so relay UEs are in the same transmission occasion).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMAD S ANWAR whose telephone number is (571)270-5641. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6-5 EST.
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MOHAMMAD S. ANWAR
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2463
/MOHAMMAD S ANWAR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463