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 § 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.
Claims 1-3, 7-9 and 13-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hoshino et al (US 2014/0161093; art cited by applicant).
Regarding independent claim 1, Hoshino teaches a control device included in a radio communication system that provides a communication service to a terminal device via a portion of many antennas ([0049], [0050] and [0211], the base station is interpreted as control device and TPs are interpreted as claimed antennas), the control device comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memories that store a computer-readable instruction for causing, when executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors to function as: a notification unit configured to notify the terminal device of information that makes it possible to identify measurement target radio signals to be used by the terminal device when executing transmission power control from among radio signals respectively transmitted from the antennas ([0218]-[0223]).
Regarding independent claims 7 and 13-16, the claims correspond to a terminal device (claim 7), method claims (13 and 14) and computer based implementation (claims 15 and 16) and recites similar subject matter as in claim 1. Therefore, similar rationale is applied as for claim 1.
Regarding dependent claims 2 and 8, Hoshino further teaches wherein the radio signals are each configured such that an antenna that transmitted the radio signal is identifiable among the antennas, the information includes information specifying the portion of the antennas used to provide the communication service to the terminal device, and the control unit measures radio quality of radio signals transmitted from the portion of the antennas specified by the information, and controls transmission power based on the radio quality. See [0211] and [0218].
Regarding dependent claims 3 and 9, Hoshino further teaches wherein the information includes information indicating the number of antennas included in the portion of the antennas used to provide the communication service to the terminal device, and the control unit measures radio quality of the number of radio signals indicated by the information, and controls transmission power based on the radio quality. See [0218] and fig. 13, ST207.
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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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 4 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hoshino et al (US 2014/0161093; art cited by applicant) in view of Wang et al (WO 2021/178214; art cited by applicant).
Regarding dependent claim 4 and 10, Hoshino teaches all subject matter claimed except to further teach wherein the information includes information regarding a reference value of radio quality, and the terminal device takes, as the measurement target radio signals, radio signals whose radio quality is higher than the reference value among the radio signals transmitted from the antennas. The claimed limitation is regard as avoiding low quality signals when performing measurements for power control to solve the problem of how to increase the accuracy of the determination of transmit power. However, avoiding low quality signals is notoriously well-known in the art of digital communications. For example, Wang, from the same field of endeavor, teaches "[T]the UE 110 then performs an analysis 710 on the metrics 708 based on the threshold value 706, where the UE 110 compares each link quality parameter (e.g., RSRP metric) to the threshold value. Based on the analysis, the UE 110 determines a selection 712 of base stations with respective link quality parameters that exceed the threshold value” ([0072]) and "[I]in some implementations, the UE 110 determines a transmit power of the uplink SRS based upon the analysis 710... This includes averaging only a subset of link quality parameters (e.g., only link quality parameters that meet the threshold value)" ([0073]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Hoshino by employing the teachings as taught by Wang in order to arrive at the claimed invention.
Claims 5-6 and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hoshino et al (US 2014/0161093; art cited by applicant).
Regarding dependent claims 5 and 11, Hoshino teaches all subject matter claimed and further teach an index regarding radio quality of the measurement target radio signals to be used as a reference by the terminal device in the transmission power control ([0233]-[0235]). Hoshino fails to teach the notification of said index. However,
it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have recognized to modify the system of Hoshino by notifying such index regarding radio quality of the measurement since it is common in cellular networks to signal configuration parameters to the terminals.
Regarding dependent claims 6 and 12, Hoshino further teaches wherein the index includes a total received power, an average received power, the lowest received power, the highest received power, or a median value of a distribution of received power of the measurement target radio signals. See [0202]-[204] and [0233]-[0235].
Conclusion
Examiner's note: Examiner has cited particular columns and line numbers in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. References Hiramatsu et al (US 6,600,933), Chen et al (US 8,879,667) and Yang et al (US 2021/0336333) are cited because they are pertinent to the method and apparatus for transmission power control.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DON NGUYEN VO whose telephone number is (571) 272-3018. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 6:30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kenneth N Vanderpuye, can be reached on 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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/DON N VO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2634