DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 .
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.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. In particular, this Application is the national stage application of an international application that claims foreign priority to an Indian application filed on 6 Aug 2021.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statements
The information disclosure statements. submitted on 29 Jan 2024 and 3 Jun 2025, are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
Figure 7 is objected to because “700: Serving cells may use a TDM pattern ‘A’ [f]or UL coordination” appears twice and the top instance appears to block out other text.
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.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 4, 6, 13, 16, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Cui (US 20230009163).
Regarding claims 1 and 13, Cui teaches a method and an apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory comprising computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus (Cui, figure 1 – electronic device 10 may be a user equipment) at least to
detect a power exposure event at the apparatus (Cui, ¶¶49, 51) – device 10 identifies an RF exposure event is occurring);
report the power exposure event to a network element (Cui, ¶51 – device 10 reports an indicator to the base station 8 that an RF exposure event occurred);
receive instructions from the network element to activate a duty cycle pattern at the apparatus (Cui, ¶48 – device 10 transmits UL signals to base station 8 based on a schedule, which implements an initial maximum duty cycle); and
activate the duty cycle pattern by performing uplink transmission based on a new communication pattern. Cui, ¶54 (device 10 receives an updated maximum UL duty cycle, which implements an updated UL schedule generated by base station 8).
Regarding claims 4 and 16, Cui also teaches wherein the apparatus is pre-configured with a plurality of uplink communication patterns. Cui, ¶ 61, figures 11 and 12 (terminal is pre-configured with the table 168 or 170, so that it know which duty cycle [communication pattern] corresponds to a series of bits in the feedback signal provided by the base station 8).
Regarding claims 6 and 18, Cui also teaches receiving instructions from the network element to switch from a current uplink communication pattern to one of the pre-configured uplink communication patterns. Cui, ¶61 (device 10 receives feedback signal, which indicates a different maximum UL duty cycle to use, from base station 8).
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 2 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cui (US 20230009163).
Regarding claims 2 and 14, Cui teaches reporting an exposure event (Cui, figure 3 – step 56) and a power management-maximum power reduction level. Cui, ¶42 (P-MPR is known from prior 3GPP specifications). Cui does not explicitly teach a P-MPR as a part of its indicator in step 56. However, one skill in the art would be include a known exposure metric, in a report of RF exposure event. At the time of the invention (pre-AIA ) or at the effective filing date of the invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to include the MPR, taught by Cui, in the RFE exposure indicator, taught by Cui, in order to mitigate RF exposure using both MPR and a dynamic UL duty cycle. Cui, ¶45.
Claims 3, 7-12, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cui (US 20230009163) in view of Viering (US 20200267723).
Regarding claims 3 and 15, Cui teaches the method of claim 1 and the apparatus according to claim 13, but does not explicitly teach a user apparatus “identifying which transmission slot is not used by the apparatus for uplink with the network element.” However, Viering teaches mutually exclusive muting patterns for a source cell and a target cell, where “M” indicates a subframe during which the UE cannot transmit. Viering, figure 6 and ¶¶101-102. At the time of the invention (pre-AIA ) or at the effective filing date of the invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to enable the indicator transmitted by base station 8 in Cui, to identify particular time slots that are ineligible for uplink transmission, as taught by Viering, in order to enable the network to implement dual connectivity, even when the UE has only one transmitter chain. Viering, ¶64.
Regarding claim 7, Cui teaches a method, comprising:
receiving configuration of a first communication pattern for uplink coordination for a user equipment (Cui, ¶48 – device 10 transmits UL signals to base station 8 based on a schedule, which implements an initial maximum duty cycle);
configuring the user equipment with the first communication pattern for uplink coordination (Cui, ¶48 – base station 8 grants uplink UL slots to device 10 based on initial maximum UL duty cycle);
receiving a report from the user equipment of a power exposure event at the user equipment during the first communication pattern (Cui, ¶52 – base station 8 receives indicator of device 10’s RF exposure event);
[generating] from a primary or a secondary cell of a new communication pattern (Cui, ¶59 – base station 8 or other devices in network 6 may generate the new updated UL schedule to accommodate the updated UL duty cycle; Cui, ¶36 – network 6 is organized in the multiple cells), . . . and
enforcing an uplink duty cycle pattern at the user equipment in response to the power exposure event. Cui, ¶54 (device 10 receives an updated maximum UL duty cycle, which implements an updated UL schedule generated by base station 8).
Cui does not explicitly teach base station 8 (1) “requesting” a time slot configuration from another cell or (2) “receiving an acknowledgement of the requested communication pattern, or informing a primary or a secondary cell of the new communication pattern.” However, Viering teaches the coordination of uplink patterns using the X2 interface between base stations. Viering, ¶66. In particular, NWN 1 12 and NWN2 13 send instructions to each other over X2 745 before sending their patterns to UE 10. Id. at ¶107 (figure 7B). At the time of the invention (pre-AIA ) or at the effective filing date of the invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to enable base station 8, taught by Cui, to share UL reference patterns with other network nodes, as taught by Lightstone, in order to provide dual connectivity even when the UE only has one transmit chain. Id. at ¶¶53, 64.
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Cui and Viering also teaches wherein the uplink duty cycle pattern comprises an identification of one or more slots that are not used by the user equipment for uplink communication. Viering, ¶¶106, 107 (pattern indicates at least one particular time slot during which the UE is prevented from transmitting [i.e. blanked]).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Cui and Viering also teaches wherein the request of the new communication pattern comprises indicating one or more uplink slots that are not used. Viering, figure 5 (each UL-DL configuration or pattern may includes “B” or blank slots and/or “D” or downlink slots – neither of which are used for uplink).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Cui and Viering also teaches pre-configuring the user equipment with a plurality of communication patterns with a corresponding power exposure event condition. Cui, ¶108 and figure 11 (each indicator, which is transmitted from base station 8 in response to an exposure event, corresponds to a different UL duty cycle percentage); Viering, figure 4 (each uplink percentage corresponds to one or more subframe [i.e. slot] configurations).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Cui and Viering also teaches signaling the user equipment to switch from a current uplink communication pattern to one of the plurality of pre-configured uplink communication patterns. Cui, ¶108 and figure 11 (first indicator, when transmitted from base station 8, triggers the UE to change to a different UL duty cycle percentage); Viering, figure 4 (each uplink percentage corresponds to one or more subframe [i.e. slot] configurations).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Cui and Viering also teaches wherein the primary or the secondary cell is informed, or the primary or the secondary cell is requested to provide acknowledgement for the new communication pattern, and wherein when the primary or the secondary cell is informed, or the primary or the secondary cell is requested to provide acknowledgement for the new communication pattern, the primary or the secondary cell is also informed of, or the primary or the secondary cell is requested to provide an indication of uplink slots that are not used. Viering, ¶107 (each network node, NWN1 12 and NWN2 13, exchange their patterns with each other, which means both network nodes are “informed” of each other’s pattern); Viering, figure 5 (each configuration or pattern includes subframes or slots that are not used for uplink, i.e. downlink or blank).
Claims 5 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cui (US 20230009163) in view of Sun (US 20200145927).
Regarding claims 5 and 17, Cui teaches the method of claim 4 and the apparatus according to claim 16, but does not explicitly teach “autonomously switch from a current communication pattern or a current duty cycle to one of the pre-configured uplink communication patterns or a current duty cycle.” However, Sun teaches teaches a UE initiating autonomously a power reduction (Sun, ¶54) by invoking a reduced UL duty cycle. Sun, ¶56. At the time of the invention (pre-AIA ) or at the effective filing date of the invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to allow the user terminal, taught by Cui, to autonomously reduce the UL duty cycle, as taught by Sun, in order to ensure better UL coverage (i.e. distance between UE and base station may be greater in comparison to if maximum UL transmit power is reduced instead). Sun, ¶56.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure, includes figure 5 of Ng, paragraph 92 of Cao, and figure 54 of Zhou.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN S LAMONT whose telephone number is (571)270-7514 and email address is benjamin.lamont@uspto.gov (see MPEP 502.03, which allows for written authorization via the USPTO electronic filing system or mail, but not via email). The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am to 3pm EST.
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/Benjamin Lamont/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461