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 .
This Office Action is in response to preliminary amendment filing on 09/12/2025.
Claims 1-6 have been cancelled.
Claims 7-13 have been newly added.
Claim 7-13 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 12/15/2023. These drawings are reviewed and accepted by the Examiner.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/08/2024 and 10/01/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 7 is objected to because of the following informalities: In line 5, delete “a” before “synchronization signal” and before “broadcast channel” and insert -- the --. 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 7-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harada et al (US 2023/0057833).
Regarding claim 7, Harada discloses a terminal (Figures 1 and 15, terminal 10) comprising:
a reception unit configured to receive (Figure 15, reception unit 120, and [0122] the reception unit 120 may be referred to as a receiver), from a base station, blocks including a synchronization signal and a broadcast channel (The base station 20 transmits synchronization signals and system information to the terminal 10. The synchronization signals are, for example, NR-PSS and NR-SSS. A part of the system information is transmitted, for example, by NR-PBCH, and is also called broadcast information. The synchronization signal and broadcast information may be periodically transmitted as an SS block (SS/PBCH block), See [0040]); and
a control unit (Figure 15, control unit 130) configured to assume that there is QCL (Quasi-Co-Location) between the blocks including a synchronization signal and a broadcast channel (subcarrier spacing (SCS) of remaining minimum system information (RMSI) is always assumed to be the same as SCS of the SSB (i.e., Synchronization Signal Block). Accordingly, one bit of SubCarrierSpacingCommon may be used for another purpose such as a part of the QCL parameter),
wherein the broadcast channel includes a parameter indicating a subcarrier spacing (In the case of initial access of the NR-U, subcarrier spacing (SCS) of remaining minimum system information (RMSI) is always assumed to be the same as SCS of the SSB (i.e., Synchronization Signal Block, see [0072]),
a number of parameters related to the QCL applied to the blocks including the synchronization signal and the broadcast channel is based on the parameter indicating the subcarrier spacing (ssb-SubcarrierOffset (four bits) and In the case of the NR-U, when the SSB is actually disposed in conformity with the definition of the assumed channel raster and synchronization raster, it is assumed that a candidate value of subcarrier offset between a resource block (RB) of the SSB and an RB of data becomes always even number, and, thus, the Least Significant Bit (or spare bit) of ssb-SubcarrierOffset may be used, for example, for another purpose such as a part of the QCL parameter, [0073]).
Harada in a first embodiment does not expressly disclose the number of parameters related to the QCL being equal to or less than 64.
However, in different embodiments, Harada discloses Up to 64 synchronization signal block (SSB) beams for an operation in a licensed frequency band and an operation in an unlicensed frequency band in a frequency band of 52.6 GHz to 71 GHz (Harada, [0057]), which parameters are related to quasi-co-location.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combine the first embodiment with the second embodiments of Harada to include the number of parameters related to the QCL being equal to or less than 64 as taught by Harada in order to allow a device (UE) to determine properties of one beam from another, which is crucial for efficient beam management and initial access.
Regarding claim 8, Harada discloses the terminal as claimed in claim 7, wherein the number of parameters related to the QCL is 32 or 64 (Up to 64 synchronization signal block (SSB) beams for an operation in a licensed frequency band and an operation in an unlicensed frequency band, see [0057]).
Regarding claim 9, Harada discloses the terminal as claimed in claim 7, wherein in a case where the terminal operates in FR (Frequency Range) 2-2, the parameter indicating the subcarrier spacing is used for indicating a number of parameters related to the QCL applied to the blocks including the synchronization signal and the broadcast channel (and FR2, which corresponds to a frequency band of 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz, [0051]).
Regarding claim 10, Harada discloses the terminal as claimed in claim 7, wherein the broadcast channel includes an MIB (Master Information Block), and the MIB includes the parameter indicating the subcarrier spacing.
Regarding claim 11, Harada discloses the terminal as claimed in claim 10, wherein the parameter indicating the subcarrier spacing is subCarrierSpacingCommon (Accordingly, one bit of SubCarrierSpacingCommon may be used for another purpose such as a part of the QCL parameter, [0072]).
Claim 12 contains subject matter similar to claim 44, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale .
Claim 13 contains subject matter similar to claim 44, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale (The base station 20 is a communication device that provides one or more cells and that performs radio communication with the terminal 10, [0040] ).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 10790956 to Cheng et al: A controller may configure one or more channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) configurations for transmitting RSs to user equipment (UEs) for tracking.
US 20210007068 TO Kim et al: A terminal can obtain timing information relating to a unlicensed band on the basis of a PBCH payload in a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block and a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence for the PBCH.
US 11082911 to Abedini et al: A UE may determine a transmit power for transmitting a message during a RACH procedure with a secondary BS, based at least in part, on communication between the UE and a primary BS.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JULIO R PEREZ whose telephone number is (571)272-7846. The examiner can normally be reached 10Am - 6PM EST M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kathy Wang-Hurst can be reached at 5712705371. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JULIO R PEREZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644