DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-20 are pending in Instant Application.
Priority
Examiner acknowledges Applicant’s claim to priority benefits: This application is a CON of PCT/JP2021/036851 filed 10/05/2021, This application is a CON of PCT/JP2021/036838 filed 10/05/2021 and This application is a CON of PCT/JP2021/036849 filed 10/05/2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 5/13/2024, 1/31/2025, 3/28/2025 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered if signed and initialed by the Examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 19 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 19 recites, “Circuitry configured to control cyclic communication performed by repeating a communication cycle using a wireless communication, wherein the wireless communication is performed by repeating a time division duplex pattern having a sequential arrangement of communication slots, and wherein the circuitry is configured to control the cyclic communication so that a first part of one time division duplex pattern is included in one communication cycle of the cyclic communication and a second part of the one time division duplex pattern is included in another communication cycle of the cyclic communication subsequent to the one communication cycle."
There is no separation of the preamble and the body of the claim. It is unclear what is the preamble of the claim and what is the body of the claim.
Per Figure 3, it is unclear whether: A Control Server comprise: “Circuitry” … or A base Station comprise: “Circuitry”.
For clarification, it is recommend to change claim 19 to, either:
“A base station comprising :
circuitry configured to:
control cyclic communication performed by repeating a communication cycle using a wireless communication, wherein the wireless communication is performed by repeating a time division duplex pattern having a sequential arrangement of communication slots,…” or
“A mobile station comprising :
circuitry configured to:
control cyclic communication performed by repeating a communication cycle using a wireless communication, wherein the wireless communication is performed by repeating a time division duplex pattern having a sequential arrangement of communication slots,…”
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-4, 6-8, 10-13 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ly et al. (US provisional 63/176,831, prov831, 2021-03-19 and published as US Pub. No.: 2022/0337368), and further in view of Choi et al. (US Patent No.: 6741579).
As per claim 1, Ly disclose A communication system configured to perform wireless communication by repeating a time division duplex pattern having sequential arrangement of communication slots, the communication system comprising a pair of devices (see Fig. 4, Fig.9A, Fig.10, repetition transmissions in a time division duplex (TDD) between a UE and Base Station, see para. 0059) configured to:
perform cyclic communication with each other by repeating a communication cycle using the wireless communication (see Fig.9A, para. 0093-0095, FIG. 9A shows a repeating pattern of 10 slots shown by brackets 902, UE and Base Station perform cyclic communication, uplink (U), downlink (D), or special (S) slots allocated according to an allocation pattern); and
control the cyclic communication so that a first part of one time division duplex pattern of the wireless communication is included in one communication cycle of the cyclic communication (see Fig.9A, para. 0094-0095, each of the PUSCH repetition transmissions is seen at slots 904, 906 908, 910, and 912, it is noted that slot 906 in this example is a special slot S that is allocated for UL transmission) and a second part of the one time division duplex pattern is included in the communication cycle of the cyclic communication subsequent to the one communication cycle (see Fig.9A, para. 0094-0095, downlink repeating pattern, see also prov831, Fig.9A, para. 0090-0092).
Although Ly disclose a second part of the one time division duplex pattern is included in the communication cycle of the cyclic communication subsequent to the one communication cycle;
Ly however does not explicitly disclose a second part of the one time division duplex pattern is included in another communication cycle of the cyclic communication subsequent to the one communication cycle;
Choi however disclose to control a cyclic communication so that a first part of one time division duplex pattern of the wireless communication is included in one communication cycle of the cyclic communication and a second part of the one time division duplex pattern is included in another communication cycle of the cyclic communication subsequent to the one communication cycle (see Fig.2-Fig.4, column 4, lines 9-64, column 5, line 18to column 6, line 32, at least one macroslot 20 configured within one superslot interval 10 is configured from a static TDD interval 30, in which one or more forward-direction slots Dl and reverse-direction slots Ul are alternately and repeatedly arranged, and a dynamic TDD interval 40, in which the number and the arrangement of one or more forward-direction slots
Dl and reverse-direction slots Ul can each be varied according to signal characteristics such as the call traffic, delay time, and call quality of transmitted signals; the ratio of the numbers of slots allocated to the static TDD interval 30 and the dynamic TDD interval 40 is maintained throughout one superslot interval 10; the static TDD interval 30 and the dynamic TDD interval 40 have an equal number of slots; and the first slot in each of the static TDD interval 30 and the dynamic TDD interval 40 is a forward-direction slot.
The TDD pattern of the macroslot 20 in document 1 corresponds to the "one time-division duplexing
pattern" in the present application. Also, the static TDD interval 30 and dynamic TDD interval 40 in document 1 each correspond to the "communication cycle" , the number of macroslots 20
configured within one superslot interval 10 is set to two, for example, with two repetitions of a
TDD pattern containing the static TDD interval 30 and the dynamic TDD interval 40, set the number of reverse-direction slots in the dynamic TDD interval 40 to be equal to the number of reverse-direction slots in the static TDD interval 30, as appropriate).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of to control a cyclic communication so that a first part of one time division duplex pattern of the wireless communication is included in one communication cycle of the cyclic communication and a second part of the one time division duplex pattern is included in another communication cycle of the cyclic communication subsequent to the one communication cycle, as taught by Choi, in the system of Ly, so as to increase the transmission efficiency in case of bidirectionally transmitting data through a single channel between the base station and wireless terminal, see Choi, paragraphs 3-8.
As per claim 2, the combination of Ly and Choi disclose the communication system according to claim 1
Ly further disclose wherein the pair of devices are configured to repeat the communication cycle at a communication interval that is an integer fraction of a repetition interval of the time division duplex pattern (see Fig.9A, para. 0095, each of these slots in FIG. 9A, a representation of a count (starting from a slot 0) is illustrated representing the count that is kept in the UE of each PUSCH repetition transmission. The count, rather than counting all slots sequentially, is only counting the UL slots available for the PUSCH repetition transmission. In further aspects, the PUSCH repetition type may be Type A and the UE will repeat a same transport block (TB) across consecutive slots applying the same symbol allocation in each slot, integer fraction, multiplication factor of 1, identical frames) and
Choi also disclose wherein the pair of devices are configured to repeat the communication cycle at a communication interval that is an integer fraction of a repetition interval of the time division duplex pattern (see para. 14, at least one macro-slot section wherein a static TDD section, in which down-link slots and up-link slots are alternately and repeatedly arranged, and a dynamic TDD section, in which the number and the arrangement of the down-link slots and the up-link slots is varied / an integer fraction, are simultaneously allocated, and which can increase the efficiency of the frequency resources by acquiring the synchronization between the terminal and the corresponding base station, see also Fig.2, para. 6, , 80% of the whole slots in the dynamic TDD section 40 is allocated as the down-link slots, and 20% thereof is allocated as the up-link slots).
As per claim 3, the combination of Ly and Choi disclose the communication system according to claim 1
Choi further disclose wherein the pair of devices are configured to: receive a timing information associated with a start timing of the time division duplex pattern; and control a start timing of the communication cycle based on the timing information so that the first part of the one time division duplex pattern is included in the one communication cycle and the second part of the one time division duplex pattern is included in the other communication cycle (see para. 8, at least one macro-slot section 20 is provided in one super-slot section 10. The respective slots are used as the down-link and up-link slots, respectively, in the macro-slot section 20, and the rate of:the down-link slots to the up-link slots may be varied according to the amount and the characteristics of the signal transmitted through the down-link and up-link slots / a start timing/slot of the time division duplex pattern. If the allocation of the down-link and up-link slots is varied for each macro-slot 20, the corresponding information is transmitted to the corresponding wireless terminal to produce an overhead).
As per claim 4, the combination of Ly and Choi disclose the communication system according to claim 1
Choi further disclose wherein a first device of the pair of devices is configured to: receive a timing information associated with a start timing of the time division duplex pattern; recognize, based on the received timing information, a first timing for transmitting first data to a second device of the pair of devices so that the first part of the one time division duplex pattern is included in the one communication cycle and the second part of the one time division duplex pattern is included in the other communication cycle; and start transmitting the first data to the second device at the recognized first timing (see Fig.4a-e, para. 20-22, two down-link slots and two up-link slots D1, U1, D2, and U2 are alternately allocated in the static TDD section 30, and three down-link slots D3 to D5 and one up-link slot U3 are allocated in turn in the dynamic TDD section 40 / the second part of the one time division duplex pattern is included in the other communication cycle; and start transmitting the first data to the second device at the recognized first timing).
As per claim 6, the combination of Ly and Choi disclose the communication system according to claim 1.
Ly further disclose wherein the pair of devices are configured to control the cyclic communication so that each of the one communication cycle and the other communication cycle includes an identical number of communication slots of one or more time division duplex patterns of the wireless communication (see 0093-0095, Fig.9A, showing the other communication cycle includes an identical number of communication slots of one or more time division duplex patterns of the wireless communication, and
Choi disclose wherein the pair of devices are configured to control the cyclic communication so that each of the one communication cycle and the other communication cycle includes an identical number of communication slots of one or more time division duplex patterns of the wireless communication (see Fig.2-Fig.4, column 4, lines 9-64, column 5, line 18to column 6, line 32, set the number of reverse-direction slots in the dynamic TDD interval 40 to be equal to the number of reverse-direction slots in the static TDD interval 30, as appropriate).
As per claim 7, the combination of Ly and Choi disclose the communication system according to claim 1.
Ly further disclose wherein the communication slots include one or more uplink slots of time division duplex, and wherein the pair of devices are configured to control the cyclic communication so that each of the one communication cycle and the other communication cycle includes an identical number of uplink slots of one or more time division duplex patterns (see para. 0093-0095, Fig.9A, showing the other communication cycle includes an identical number of uplink slots of one or more time division duplex patterns), and
Choi disclose wherein the communication slots include one or more uplink slots of time division duplex, and wherein the pair of devices are configured to control the cyclic communication so that each of the one communication cycle and the other communication cycle includes an identical number of uplink slots of one or more time division duplex patterns (see Fig.2-Fig.4, column 4, lines 9-64, column 5, line 18to column 6, line 32, set the number of reverse-direction slots in the dynamic TDD interval 40 to be equal to the number of reverse-direction slots in the static TDD interval 30, as appropriate).
As per claim 8, the combination of Ly and Choi disclose the communication system according to claim 7.
Ly further disclose wherein the communication slots further include one or more downlink slots of time division duplex, and wherein the pair of devices are configured to control the cyclic communication so that the identical number of uplink slots are arranged after at least one downlink slot in each of the one communication cycle and the other communication cycle (see para. 0093-0095, Fig.9A, the identical number of uplink slots are arranged after at least one downlink slot in each of the one communication cycle and the other communication cycle), and
Choi disclose wherein the communication slots further include one or more downlink slots of time division duplex, and wherein the pair of devices are configured to control the cyclic communication so that the identical number of uplink slots are arranged after at least one downlink slot in each of the one communication cycle and the other communication cycle (see Fig.2-Fig.4, column 4, lines 9-64, column 5, line 18to column 6, line 32, set the number of reverse-direction slots in the dynamic TDD interval 40 to be equal to the number of reverse-direction slots in the static TDD interval 30, as appropriate).
As per claim 10, the combination of Ly and Choi disclose the communication system according to claim 1.
Choi further disclose wherein the pair of devices are configured to control the cyclic communication so that at least the one communication cycle is performed across two or more consecutive time division duplex patterns of the wireless communication including the one time division duplex pattern (see Fig.2, para. 13-4, the role of the slots D1, U1, D2, and U2 in the static TDD section 30, in which the down-link and up-link slots D1, U1, D2, and U2 are alternately and repeatedly allocated, is to bidirectionally transmit the required information, the static TDD section 30 of the macro slot 20 wherein the static TDD section 30 and the dynamic TDD section 40 are simultaneously allocated).
As per claim 11, the combination of Ly and Choi disclose the communication system according to claim 10.
Choi further disclose wherein the pair of devices are configured to control the cyclic communication so that the other communication cycle is performed within the one time division duplex pattern (see Fig.2, para. 13-4, the macro slot 20 wherein the static TDD section 30 and the dynamic TDD section 40 are simultaneously allocated).
As per claim 12, the combination of Ly and Choi disclose the communication system according to claim 1.
Choi further disclose wherein the communication slots include one or more uplink slots and one or more downlink slots of time division duplex, wherein the wireless communication is performed in parallel with another wireless communication, the other wireless communication is performed by repeating another time division duplex pattern having another sequential arrangement of one or more uplink slots and one or more downlink slots of time division duplex, and wherein the pair of devices are configured to control the cyclic communication so that: the one communication cycle is a synchronous communication cycle having an arrangement of at least one uplink slot and at least one downlink slot that matches the other sequential arrangement; and the other communication cycle is an asynchronous communication cycle having an arrangement of at least one uplink slot and at least one downlink slot that does not match the other sequential arrangement (see Fig.3, para. 13-14, the role of the slots D1, U1, D2, and U2 in the static TDD section 30, in which the down-link and up-link slots D1, U1, D2, and U2 are alternately and repeatedly allocated, is to bidirectionally transmit the required information, and according to the embodiment of the present invention, they are also used for acquiring the synchronization of the up-link slots. Referring to FIG. 3, if the base station carries a pilot signal on at least one down-link slot D1 in the static TDD section 30, the wireless terminal detects this pilot signal carried on the down-link slot D1 or D2 and synchronizes itself with a synchronous signal provided from the base station).
As per claim 13, the combination of Ly and Choi disclose the communication system according to claim 12.
LY further disclose wherein the pair of devices are further configured to evaluate communication quality in the asynchronous communication cycle (see para. 0052, when the signal strength or quality from the neighbor cell 206 exceeds that of the serving cell 202 for a given amount of time, the UE 224 may transmit a reporting message to its serving base station 210 indicating this condition).
As per claim 18, the combination of Ly and Choi disclose the communication system according to claim 1.
Choi further disclose wherein the communication slots include one or more uplink slots and one or more downlink slots of time division duplex, and wherein the pair of devices are further configured to: set a target arrangement of at least one downlink slot and at least one uplink slot based on configuration of the pair of devices; and control the cyclic communication to reduce a difference between the target arrangement and an arrangement of at least one downlink slot and at least one uplink slot in each of the one communication cycle and the other communication cycle (see para. 13-14, Referring to FIG. 2, the synchronization of a certain wireless unit with the corresponding base station according to the embodiment of the present invention is performed using the static TDD section 30 of the macro slot 20 wherein the static TDD section 30 and the dynamic TDD section 40 are simultaneously allocated. Specifically, the role of the slots D1, U1, D2, and U2 in the static TDD section 30, in which the downlink and up-link slots D1, U1, D2, and U2 are alternately and repeatedly allocated, is to bidirectionally transmit the required information, there are two macroslots 20 configured in one super-slot section 10, the TDD pattern that includes the static TDD section 30 and the dynamic TDD section 40 being repeated twice, to reduce a difference between the target arrangement and an arrangement of at least one downlink slot and at least one uplink slot in each of the one communication cycle and the other communication cycle).
As per claim 19, claim 19 is rejected the same way as alim 1.
As per claim 20, claim 20 is rejected the same way as alim 1.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ly et al. (US provisional 63/176,831, prov831, 2021-03-19 and published as US Pub. No.: 2022/0337368), in view of Choi et al. (US Patent No.: 6741579) and further in view of Komatsu (JP 2015201728 A, IDS submitted 5/13/2024).
As per claim 9, the combination of Ly and Choi disclose the communication system according to claim 1.
The combination of Ly and Choi however does not explicitly disclose wherein one of the pair of devices is a controller and another of the pair of devices is an industrial machine controlled by the controller, and wherein the communication cycle includes: transmitting, from the controller to the industrial machine using the wireless communication, command data for controlling the industrial machine; and transmitting, from the industrial machine to the controller using the wireless communication, response data of the industrial machine operated according to the command data.
Komatsu however disclose wherein one of the pair of devices is a controller and another of the pair of devices is an industrial machine controlled by the controller, and wherein the communication cycle includes: transmitting, from the controller to the industrial machine using the wireless communication, command data for controlling the industrial machine; and transmitting, from the industrial machine to the controller using the wireless communication, response data of the industrial machine operated according to the command data (see paragraphs [0002]-[0004], fig. 10) indicates that: an access point 222 receives an instruction from a controller 221, and transmits control signals to robots BA-BC to control the
robots BA-BC; and the robots BA-BC move around a disaster/accident site to collect information
about the surroundings of each robot and also transmit information such as captured images of the
surroundings to the controller 221 via the access point 222).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein one of the pair of devices is a controller and another of the pair of devices is an industrial machine controlled by the controller, and wherein the communication cycle includes: transmitting, from the controller to the industrial machine using the wireless communication, command data for controlling the industrial machine; and transmitting, from the industrial machine to the controller using the wireless communication, response data of the industrial machine operated according to the command data, as taught by Komatsu in the system of Ly and Choi, so as to provide a technique capable of suppressing disconnection of a communication connection between devices in a multi-hop network, see Komatsu, paragraphs 14-15.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 14-17 are 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Takeda et al (US Pub. No.:2022/0182212) – see Fig.2 – Fig.5, para. 0041, “FIG. 5 is a diagram for illustrating an example (2) of a TDD UL/DL configuration. As illustrated in FIG. 5, an NR dynamic TDD UL/DL configuration can be scheduled in units of symbols. In one slot, DL, UL, or Flexible is specified on a per symbol basis. Flexible is a DL symbol or a UL symbol. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 5, all symbols in a slot may be DL, all symbols in a slot may be UL, or all symbols in a slot may be Flexible. Additionally, as illustrated in FIG. 5, a DL symbol and a Flexible symbol may be included in one slot, or a DL symbol, a Flexible symbol, and a UL symbol may be included in one slot.”
Takano et al (US Pub. No.:2015/0156006) – see Fig.1, Fig.2, Fig.6, para. 0080, “The top part of FIG. 6 indicates Configuration 0, which may be configured as the legacy configuration. The 0th and 5th subframes of Configuration 0 are downlink subframes, while the 1st and 6th subframes are special subframes, and the 2nd to 4th and 7th to 9th subframes are uplink subframes. The CRS is transmitted from the base station in the 0th and 5th subframes. The dynamic TDD configuration may also be Configuration 0. However, if the UL-DL ratio of Configuration 0 does not fit the UL-DL traffic ratio, the dynamic TDD configuration is updated to any link configuration derived by substituting one or more uplink subframes (and special subframes) in Configuration 0 with downlink subframes. In the example in the bottom part of FIG. 6, the dynamic TDD configuration is configured to Configuration 3. In Configuration 3, the 6th subframe (special subframe) and the 7th to 9th subframes (uplink subframes) of Configuration 0 are substituted with downlink subframes”.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAKERAM JANGBAHADUR whose telephone number is (571)272-1335. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7 am - 4 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian Moore can be reached on 571-272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LAKERAM JANGBAHADUR/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469