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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 3-5 and 7 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 3 recites the claimed limitation “the indication information being used to indicate a beam for the second module to send a first signal on the terminal side and/or a beam for the second module to receive a second signal on the terminal side”. However, it’s not clear as to whether the indicated beam for the second module is sending a first signal or receiving a second signal on the terminal side. Further clarification is needed for examination and inventive purposes.
Claims 4-5 and 7 inherit the features of claim 3, and therefore are rejected under 112(b) by virtue of dependencies.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
(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.
Claim(s) 1-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Li et al., Pub. No.: US2021/0044412 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Li discloses A repeater node (Fig. 8 item 802; repeater 802), comprising: a first module at least configured to establish connection with a network device, the first module being Repeater-MT (mobile terminal) (par. 0126-0127; a reception component 804 receive a signaling communication 808 from BS 812 in a BWP carrying a control interface associated with apparatus 802 signaling communication 808 may include an RRC communication, a MAC-CE communication, a DCI communication, and/or the like.); and a second module configured to, for the repeater node, amplify and forward a signal between a terminal equipment and the network device (par. 0128; transmission component 806 may transmit an RF analog signal 810 carrying an uplink communication to BS 812, may receive an RF analog signal 810 carrying a downlink communication to UE 814, and/or the like.).
Regarding claim 2, Li discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Li also discloses wherein, the signal between terminal equipment and the network device is a RF signal (par. 0128; RF analog signal 810).
Regarding claim 3, Li discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Li also discloses wherein, the repeater node receives indication information from the network device through the first module, and the indication information being used to indicate a beam for the second module to send a first signal on the terminal side and/or a beam for the second module to receive a second signal on the terminal side (par. 0076; he BS may use the repeater configuration to indicate, to the repeater, one or more time durations during which the repeater may communicate with the BS and/or the UE, may indicate whether the repeater is to operate in an idle or low-power mode (e.g., by powering on or off particular components of the repeater), may indicate whether the repeater is to activate an uplink path and/or downlink path between the BS and the UE, may indicate one or more beamforming parameters, and/or other parameters.); wherein, the first signal is a first forwarding signal that forwards a signal received from the network device to a terminal equipment, and the second signal is a signal to be forwarded received from a terminal device (par. 0068; the repeater may perform directional communication by using beamforming to communicate with the BS via a first beam pair (e.g., a backhaul beam pair over a backhaul link) and to communicate with the UE via a second beam pair (e.g., an access beam pair over an access link).).
Regarding claim 4, Li discloses all the limitations in claim 3. Li also discloses wherein, the indication information indicates a beam for the second module to transmit the first signal on the terminal side and/or a beam for the second module to receive the second signal on the terminal side through a beam index (par. 0089; The transmit beamforming configuration may identify a codebook-based codeword index for the Tx beam associated with the BS and/or the Tx beam associated with the UE, one or more beamforming weights (e.g., phase shifting coefficients, amplitude coefficients, and/or the like) that are to be applied to the Tx beam associated with the BS and/or the Tx beam associated with the UE.).
Regarding claim 5, Li discloses all the limitations in claim 3. Li also discloses wherein, the repeater node transmits the first signal using the beam indicated by the indication information and/or receives the second signal using the beam indicated by the indication information through the second module (par. 0089; The transmit beamforming configuration may identify a codebook-based codeword index for the Tx beam associated with the BS and/or the Tx beam associated with the UE, one or more beamforming weights (e.g., phase shifting coefficients, amplitude coefficients, and/or the like) that are to be applied to the Tx beam associated with the BS and/or the Tx beam associated with the UE.).
Regarding claim 6, Li discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Li also discloses wherein, the repeater node amplifies the signal received from the network device through the second module to obtain the first signal, and the repeater node amplifies the second signal to be forwarded through the second module to obtain a second forwarding signal for the repeater node to transmit on the network side (par. 0034).
Regarding claim 7, Li discloses all the limitations in claim 3. Li also discloses wherein, the beam indicated by the indication information for the second module to transmit the first signal on the terminal side and the beam indicated by the indication information for the second module to receive the second signal on the terminal side have the uplink and downlink reciprocity (par. 0084; the repeater may transmit an indication to the BS of a capability parameter associated with the capability of the repeater to receive and process a repeater configuration. In this way, the BS may consider the hardware and/or software capability of the repeater when configuring time durations for a repeater configuration for the repeater.).
Regarding claim 8, Li discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Li also discloses wherein, the repeater node establishes a connection with the network device through the first module, and the repeater node also transmits reporting information to the network device through the first module, and the reporting information comprising information related to the capability of the repeater node (par. 0091; a repeater configuration may indicate that the repeater is to perform one or more measurements during a time duration indicated in the repeater configuration, and may indicate that the repeater is to report the measurement results to the BS during the time duration and/or is to store the measurement results and report the measurement results at another time.).
Regarding claim 9, Li discloses all the limitations in claim 8. Li also discloses wherein, the reporting information further comprising parameters for repeater node capability (par. 0084; the repeater may transmit an indication to the BS of a capability parameter associated with the capability of the repeater to receive and process a repeater configuration.).
Regarding claim 10, Li discloses all the limitations in claim 8. Li also discloses wherein, the reporting information comprising at least one of the following: the maximum number of beams supported by the repeater node (par. 0046; an antenna array 310 may be referred to as a phased array because phase values and/or phase offsets of the antenna elements may be configured to form a beam, with different phase values and/or phase offsets being used for different beams (e.g., in different directions).); or the antenna information of the repeater node (par. 0046; an antenna array 310 may be referred to as a phased array because phase values and/or phase offsets of the antenna elements may be configured to form a beam, with different phase values and/or phase offsets being used for different beams (e.g., in different directions).).
Regarding claim 11, Li discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Li also discloses wherein, the maximum number of beams supported by the repeater node comprising at least one of the following: the maximum number of candidate spatial filters or candidate beams; or the maximum number of candidate spatial filter reference signals or candidate beam reference signals (par. 0070; a received RF analog signal may be relayed or forwarded using a different time resource, a different frequency resource, and/or a different spatial resource (e.g., a different beam) to transmit the RF analog signal as compared to a time resource, a frequency resource, and/or a spatial resource in which the RF analog signal was received.).
Regarding claim 12, Li discloses all the limitations in claim 11. Li also discloses wherein, the maximum number of candidate spatial filter reference signals or candidate beam reference signals comprising the maximum number of antenna ports of the candidate spatial filter reference signals or candidate beam reference signals (par. 0046).
Regarding claim 13, Li discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Li also discloses wherein, the antenna information of the repeater node comprising at least one of the following: antenna panel information; antenna polarization information; or antenna dimension information (par. 0048; one or more beamforming parameters for the antenna array 310, a Tx beamforming configuration, an Rx beamforming configuration, and/or the like).).
Conclusion
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/AYODEJI O AYOTUNDE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649