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 .
Request for Continued Examination
The request filed on 6/10/2026, for a Request for Continued Examination (RCE) under 37 CFR 1.114 based on the Parent Application No. 18615436 is acceptable and a RCE has been established. An action on the RCE follows.
Allowable Subject Matter
The indicated allowability of claims 34-36 and 38-40 are withdrawn in view of the newly discovered USC 112(b) antecedent basis issues. Rejections based on the newly found issues follow.
Claim Objections
Claims 34-36 and 38-40 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 34, the term “CSMA/CA” has not been defined
In claim 38, the term “CSMA/CA” has not been defined
Appropriate correction is required.
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 34-36, 38-40 and 41-43 are 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 34 recites the limitation "the CSMA/CA band" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 38 recites the limitation "the CSMA/CA band" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 41 and 42 are rejected for being indefinite in scope. In claim 41, line 2 the claim recites “secondary unlicensed carriers (Scells)”. However, the term ‘SCell’ has been previously defines in the application to mean ‘a secondary serving cell’ [see claims 21 and 27]. Likewise, claim 42 in line 2 recites “a primary licensed carrier (PCell)” while again the term ‘PCell’ has been previously defined in scope as ‘a primary serving cell’ [see again claims 21 and 27]. This creates an indefinite scope to the claims, as the terms being used have already been defines as something else, and it is unclear what terminology is meant to be given patentable weight and considered to encompass the scope of the claimed limitations. It is suggested to amend the claims to either use the previously established meanings for the terms to find another suitable and supported shorthand definition for the terms. As such the scope of the scope of claims 41 and 42 is rejected as unclear and indefinite [claim 43 is rejected via dependency].
In claim 41, line 6 states ‘detecting a busy condition’ which creates antecedent confusion as the claim previously recites ‘a busy status’. This further exists in Claim 43, where again the two different terms are used to seemingly refer the same consideration.
In claims 41 and 43, the recitations of ‘an idle status’ in lines 4 and 6 of claim 41, ‘a busy condition’ in line 6 of claim 41, and ‘a busy status’ in line 2 of claim 43; each creates antecedent confusion with the established ‘a busy or idle status’ from lines 2-3 of claim 43. Correction to create a clear antecedent relationship between the claimed terms is required.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 21-33 and 37 are allowed.
Claim 41 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 34-36, 38-40 and 42-43 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art of record fails to anticipate or render obvious the limitations of the above cited claims. Re claims 21 and 27 and 41; the prior art fails to explicitly disclose the specifically claimed monitoring relationship of the SCell status as it applied to the UE and the associated data transmission determinations.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
The following prior art is relevant to the scope of the claimed limitations but fails to anticipate or render obvious the specifically claimed limitations.
Yerramalli (US Pub 20150156638)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL R NEFF whose telephone number is (571)270-1848. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 5:30am-2:00pm.
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/MICHAEL R NEFF/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631
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