Detail Action
This office action is a response to an amendment submitted on 06/02/2026.
Claims 1- 30 are pending for examination.
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 .
Response to Amendment
Claims 1-2, 6-7, 9, 12-13, 15-17, 21-25, 28 and 30 have been amended.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 06/02/2026 with respect to claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection.
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 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(a) 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 non-obviousness.
Claims 1-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vintola et al. (US 20190053091 A1); hereinafter “Vintola”; in view of Liao (US 20200221308 A1), hereinafter “Liao”; and in further view of Tsai et al. (US 20240179737 A1), hereinafter “Tsai”.
Regarding claim 1, Vintola teaches An apparatus for wireless communication at a network entity, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and, based at least in part on information stored in the at least one memory, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to cause the apparatus to [Vintola: Fig. 2; Par. 43 teaches of apparatus with memory, processor and antenna and transceiver]: transmit information for a virtual cell [Vintola: Figs. 5-6, Par. 52- 62 teaches UE receives information about one or more cell for uplink/ downlink communication which is from one or more network entities]; wherein the information indicates a virtual cell configuration for the virtual cell comprised of an aggregation of a plurality of non-contiguous frequency resources, and wherein the virtual cell configuration further includes bandwidth aggregation information and access information of the virtual cell [Vintola: Fig. 5; Par. 44, 50- 60 teaches of enable communication of support for non-contiguous capability information which include non-contiguous carrier aggregation information and indication that support for communication; Par. 52- 53 further disclosed of capability information indicated for support carrier aggregation]; and communicate with the UE on the virtual cell based on the indication of the support for the bandwidth aggregation of the virtual cell [Vintola: Par. 55 further teaches of UE communicated on updated assigned cell].
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However, Vintola does not teach transmit information is system information.
Nevertheless, Liao, in the similar field of endeavor, teach transmit information is system information [Liao: Fig. 7; Par. 35 teaches UE receive system information provided by gNB for capability negotiation and RRC configuration].
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Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time the invention was made to utilize the teachings of Liao for sending information on System information. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Liao in the Vintola system in order to provide communication in non-contiguous spectrum [Liao: Abstract].
However, Vintola in view of Liao does not teach receive, from a user equipment (UE), an indication of support for bandwidth aggregation of the virtual cell.
Nevertheless, Tsai, in the similar filed of endeavor, teaches receive, from a user equipment (UE), an indication of support for bandwidth aggregation of the virtual cell [Tsai: Fig. 19; Par. 75- 78; Par. 149 teaches of UE transmit supported of carrier aggregation for both contiguous and non-contiguous depending on its capabilities]
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Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time the invention was made to utilize the teachings of Tsai for configuration for carrier aggregation. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Tsai in the Vintola/ Liao system in order to provide adoption of carrier aggregation supported for non-contiguous carrier aggregation [Tsai: Par. 75].
Regarding claim 2, the combined Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai further teaches transmit via the transceiver, the virtual cell configuration for the virtual cell comprised of the aggregation of the plurality of non-contiguous frequency resources, the virtual cell configuration comprising the bandwidth aggregation information and the access information of the virtual cell [Vintola: Fig. 5; Par. 40 55 teaches of receiving aggregation information and capability information];
receive, from the UE via the transceiver, the indication of support for the bandwidth aggregation of the virtual cell Par. 52- 53 further disclosed of capability information indicated for support carrier aggregation; and
communicate, via the transceiver, with the UE on the virtual cell based on the indication of the support for the bandwidth aggregation of the virtual cell [Vintola: Par. 55 further teaches of UE communicated on updated assigned cell].
Regarding claim 3, the combined Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai further teaches wherein the virtual cell comprises a logical cell configured by flexible spectrum integration [Tsai: Par. 152 teaches of flexible spectrum ].
Regarding claim 4, the combined Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai further teaches wherein the bandwidth aggregation information comprises one or more of a location, a bandwidth, or a duplex mode of each subband associated with the virtual cell [Vintola: Par. 50-51 teaches the information included frequency bands information with predefined range value].
Regarding claim 5, the combined Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai further teaches wherein the access information corresponds to one or more subbands associated with the virtual cell or a subband group associated with the virtual cell, wherein each subband of the virtual cell comprises one or more component carriers or a portion of a component carrier [Vintola: Par. 40 -55].
Regarding claim 6, the combined Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai further teaches wherein the access information comprises at least one of access control information for accessing the virtual cell [Vintola: Par. 40 -55],
Regarding claim 7, the combined Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai further teaches transmit a first indication of the system information [Liao: Fig. 6-7]; and transmit a second indication of the system information for a second category of UEs [Vintola: Par. 59 teaches assigned carrier aggregation for different UEs].
Regarding claim 8, the combined Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 7. Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai further teaches wherein the first category of UEs are configured to connect with all subbands of the virtual cell, wherein the second category of UEs are configured to connect with a subset of subbands of the virtual cell [Vintola: Par. 59 further teaches assign outer portions of the spectrum allotments to UEs with full intra-band support in order to maximize the chance that a UE with limited intra-band support would be able to use more than one component carrier.]
Regarding claim 9, the combined Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai further teaches transmit a joint indication of a common system information for a first category of user equipment (UEs) and a second category of UEs [Vintola: Par. 59 assign component carriers from any portion of the allotments to UE 115 b. In some implementations, the system may be set up so that component carriers are assigned to different UEs in a way that provides more carrier aggregation opportunities for UEs with limited non-contiguous intra-band support. For example, base station 105 a may be configured to preferentially assign outer portions of the spectrum allotments to UEs with full intra-band support in order to maximize the chance that a UE with limited intra-band support would be able to use more than one component carrier].
Regarding claim 10, the combined Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai further teaches wherein a dedicated system information and paging resource configurations are provided separately to the first category of UEs and the second category of UEs [Vintola: Par. 59 teaches assigned carrier aggregation for different UEs].
Regarding claim 11, the combined Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai further teaches provide a gap indication of a retuning gap or a measurement gap to allow for reference signal measurements for a bandwidth part (BWP) outside of an active BWP [Tsai: par. 132 further teaches of UE configuring BWP for active BWP].
Regarding claim 12, the combined Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai further teaches obtain a UE capability indication indicating support for gapless bandwidth part (BWP) switching or gapless reference signal measurements for a BWP outside of an active BWP [Tsai: par. 132 further teaches of UE configuring BWP for active BWP].
Regarding claim 13, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 1.
Regarding claim 14, the combined Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 13. Vintola/ Liao in view of Tsai further teaches wherein the bandwidth aggregation information comprises one or more of a location, a bandwidth, or a duplex mode of each subband associated with the virtual cell [Vintola: Par. 50-51 teaches the information included frequency bands information with predefined range value]; wherein the access information corresponds to one or more subbands associated with the virtual cell or a subband group associated with the virtual cell, wherein each subband of the virtual cell comprises one or more component carriers or a portion of a component carrier [Vintola: Par. 40 -55].
Regarding claim 15, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 7.
Regarding claim 16, Vintola teaches An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory [Vintola: Fig. 2, 3] and, based at least in part on information stored in the at least one memory, the at least one processor, is configured to cause the apparatus to: [Vintola: Fig. 2; Par. 43 teaches of apparatus with memory, processor and antenna and transceiver]: receive information for a virtual cell [Vintola: Figs. 5-6, Par. 52- 62 teaches UE receives information about one or more cell for uplink/ downlink communication which is from one or more network entities]; wherein the information indicates a virtual cell configuration for the virtual cell comprised of an aggregation of a plurality of non-contiguous frequency resources, and wherein the virtual cell configuration further includes bandwidth aggregation information and access information of the virtual cell [Vintola: Fig. 5; Par. 44, 50- 60 teaches of enable communication of support for non-contiguous capability information which include non-contiguous carrier aggregation information and indication that support for communication; Par. 52- 53 further disclosed of capability information indicated for support carrier aggregation]; and communicate with the UE on the virtual cell based on the indication of the support for the bandwidth aggregation of the virtual cell [Vintola: Par. 55 further teaches of UE communicated on updated assigned cell].
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However, Vintola does not teach transmit information is system information.
Nevertheless, Liao, in the similar field of endeavor, teach transmit information is system information [Liao: Fig. 7; Par. 35 teaches UE receive system information provides by gNB for capability negotiation and RRC configuration].
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Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time the invention was made to utilize the teachings of Liao for sending information on System information. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Liao in the Vintola system in order to provide communication in non-contiguous spectrum [Liao: Abstract].
However, Vintola/ Liao does not teach transmit, to a network entity, an indication of support for bandwidth aggregation of the virtual cell.
Nevertheless, Tsai, in the similar filed of endeavor, teaches transmit, to a network entity, an indication of support for bandwidth aggregation of the virtual cell [Tsai: Fig. 19; Par. 75- 78; Par. 149 teaches of UE transmit supported of carrier aggregation for both contiguous and non-contiguous depending on its capabilities]
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Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time the invention was made to utilize the teachings of Tsai for configuration for carrier aggregation. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Tsai in the Vintola/ Liao system in order to provide adoption of carrier aggregation supported for non-contiguous carrier aggregation [Tsai: Par. 75].
Regarding claim 17, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 2.
Regarding claim 18, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 3.
Regarding claim 19, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 4.
Regarding claim 20, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 5.
Regarding claim 21, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 6.
Regarding claim 22, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 7.
Regarding claim 23, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 8.
Regarding claim 24, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 9.
Regarding claim 25, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 10.
Regarding claim 26, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 11.
Regarding claim 27, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 12.
Regarding claim 28, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 16.
Regarding claim 29, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 14.
Regarding claim 30, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 15.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record (see attached PTO-892) and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYAW Z SOE whose telephone number is (571)270-0304. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles C Jiang can be reached at 5712707191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KYAW Z SOE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
/CHARLES C JIANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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