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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see applicant’s remark, filed on 08/26/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 2, 4-5, 11-26 under 103 Rejections have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of previously cited reference Yang et al. (Pub No.: 2023/0119096).
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)(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, 15, 17-20, 23, 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yang et al. (Pub No.: 2023/0119096).
Regarding claim 18, Yang et al. discloses a network node (read as repeater 703 fig. 7), comprising: at least one processor (see processing circuitry 502 in fig. 5) configured to:
receive, by a transceiver (see communication interface 504 in fig. 5), configuration information (read as the resource allocation information/signaling) for a plurality of first common channels (read as the physical beam channels in para. 0130 and in para. 0136) received from a wireless communication node (read as the donor node A 701) or a wireless communication device through a signaling (read as the resource allocation information/signaling in para. 0130) (Yang et al. see fig. 7, step 1, steps 5a-d; para. 0130, 0136, In operation 1 of FIG. 7, donor node A 701 may provide an indication of resource information to repeater node 703. In some embodiments, the indication of resource information may include a number of physical beam channels that the donor node may allocate to the repeater node 703, as denoted by the SSB_ids available. In para. 0136, …In operations 5a-d and 7a-d of FIG. 7, donor node A 701 and donor node B 702 may provide respective physical beam channels to the repeater node 703. In some embodiments, the one or more physical beam channels each correspond to a particular SSB identifier (SSB_id). An SSB_id may uniquely identify the physical beam channel and corresponding donor node.). The repeater receiving the resource allocation information/signaling for a plurality of dedicated physical beam channels from donor nodes A and/or B through a resource allocation signaling;
forward, by the transceiver, based on the configuration information, one or more second common channels, wherein the signaling indicates that the one or more second common channels are a subset of the plurality of first common channels that correspond to a best downlink transmission beam (read as the physical repeater beam channel with strongest signal 6c in fig. 7) (Yang et al. see fig. 7, steps 6a-d, 8a-c; para. 0049, 0133, 0137, 0138; In para. 0137, …In operations 6a-d and 8a-d of FIG. 7, the repeater node 703 may provide one or more physical repeater beam channels to an associated access area as determined by the grid of physical repeater beam channels. In para. 0138, …Each UE may then determine which uplink physical repeater beam channel is associated with the strongest signal. UE A 704 may determine the uplink physical repeater beam channel 3 (9c) is associated with the strongest physical repeater beam signal 6c while UE B 705 may determine the uplink physical repeater beam channel 6 (11b) is associated with the strongest physical repeater beam signal 8b. The physical repeater beam channel associated with the uplink physical repeater beam channel which a UE detects as associated with the strongest signal is denoted by a solid line…). The repeater forwards based on the resource allocation information, the one or more (e.g., subset) physical repeater beam channels to the UE A and UE B. The UE A determines that the physical repeater beam signal 6c is the strongest or the best. Thus, the resource allocation information indicates/includes the one or more physical repeater beam channels (e.g., one or more second common channels) that corresponds to a best downlink transmission beam.
Claim 1 is rejected similarly to claim 18.
Regarding claim 20, Yang et al. discloses a wireless communication node (see Donor node 701 in fig. 7), comprising: at least one processor (see processing circuitry 502 in fig. 5) configured to:
send, via a transmitter (see communication interface 504 in fig. 5) to a network node (read as the repeater 703 in fig. 7), configuration information for a plurality of first common channels received from a wireless communication node or a wireless communication device through a signaling (read as the resource allocation information/signaling in para. 0130) (Yang et al. see fig. 7, step 1, steps 5a-d; para. 0130, 0136, In operation 1 of FIG. 7, donor node A 701 may provide an indication of resource information to repeater node 703. In some embodiments, the indication of resource information may include a number of physical beam channels that the donor node may allocate to the repeater node 703, as denoted by the SSB_ids available. In para. 0136, …In operations 5a-d and 7a-d of FIG. 7, donor node A 701 and donor node B 702 may provide respective physical beam channels to the repeater node 703. In some embodiments, the one or more physical beam channels each correspond to a particular SSB identifier (SSB_id). An SSB_id may uniquely identify the physical beam channel and corresponding donor node.). The donor A transmits to the repeater 703, the resource allocation information/signaling for a plurality of dedicated physical beam channels through a resource allocation signaling; and
cause the network node to forward, via the transceiver, based on the configuration information, one or more second common channels, wherein the signaling indicates that the one or more second common channels are a subset of the plurality of first common channels that correspond to a best downlink transmission beam (read as the physical repeater beam channel with strongest signal 6c in fig. 7) (Yang et al. see fig. 7, steps 6a-d, 8a-c; para. 0049, 0133, 0137, 0138; In para. 0137, …In operations 6a-d and 8a-d of FIG. 7, the repeater node 703 may provide one or more physical repeater beam channels to an associated access area as determined by the grid of physical repeater beam channels. In para. 0138, …Each UE may then determine which uplink physical repeater beam channel is associated with the strongest signal. UE A 704 may determine the uplink physical repeater beam channel 3 (9c) is associated with the strongest physical repeater beam signal 6c while UE B 705 may determine the uplink physical repeater beam channel 6 (11b) is associated with the strongest physical repeater beam signal 8b. The physical repeater beam channel associated with the uplink physical repeater beam channel which a UE detects as associated with the strongest signal is denoted by a solid line…). The repeater forwards based on the resource allocation information, the one or more (e.g., subset) physical repeater beam channels to the UE A and UE B. The UE A determines that the physical repeater beam signal 6c is the strongest or the best. Thus, the resource allocation information indicates/includes the one or more physical repeater beam channels (e.g., one or more second common channels) that corresponds to a best downlink transmission beam.
Claim 19 is rejected similarly to claim 20.
Regarding claims 15, 23, Yang et al. discloses the feature for using, by the network node, a plurality of beams to forward the one or more second common channels, respectively, wherein indices of the plurality of beams are configured by the wireless communication node or an operations administration and maintenance (OAM) unit (Yang et al. see abstract; fig. 6; para. 0124-0126). The indication of resource information is configured by the donor node. In fig. 6, the repeater using multiple beams 604n-604y to forward multiple signals/channels respectively. The indices of the two beams 604n and 604y (e.g., SSBM+1 and SSBM+N) are configured by the donor A.
Regarding claims 17, 24, Yang et al. discloses the feature for using, by the network node, one or more beams to forward a corresponding one of the one or more second common channels; or using, by the network node, a plurality of narrow or wide beams to forward the one or more second common channels, respectively (Yang et al. see abstract; fig. 3, access side 306; see para. 0103, 0107; The access panel may be used to provide a physical repeater beam channel to one or more UEs 303a-b). The repeater uses a physical repeater beam channel to forward a signal/channel to one or more UEs 303a-b.
Claim(s) 2, 21, 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al. (Pub No.: 2023/0119096) in view of Wanuga et al. (Pub No.: 2024/0364414).
Regarding claims 2, 21, 25, Yang et al. does not explicitly disclose the feature for receiving, by the network node, the configuration information from the wireless communication node through the signaling comprising at least one of: system information, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, a medium access control control element (MAC CE) signaling, or a Downlink Control Information (DCI) signaling.
Wanuga et al. from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses the feature receiving, by the network node, the configuration information from the wireless communication node through the signaling comprising at least one of: system information, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, a medium access control control element (MAC CE) signaling, or a Downlink Control Information (DCI) signaling (Wanuga et al. see para. 0093, The configuration parameters sent by the donor gNB 802 to the repeater 804 may include resource allocation for CSI-RS and/or access link transmit beam configuration for CSI-RS signals. For periodic and semi-persistent CSI-RS signals, the repeater 804 may be semi-statically configured for relaying the signals and the configuration parameter may also include the starting time and periodicity of CSI-RS signals. The controller may acquire these configurations from the SIB and radio resource control (RRC) messages transmitted by the gNB 802.)
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Yang et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Wanuga et al. wherein the resource allocation signaling via RRC messages.
The motivation would be to improve transmission resources.
Claim(s) 4, 5, 22, 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al. (Pub No.: 2023/0119096) in view of Wanuga et al. (Pub No.: 2024/0364414) as applied to claim 2, 21 or 25 above, and further in view of Abedini et al. (Pub No.: 2021/0298069).
Regarding claims 4, 22, Yang et al. in view of Wanuga et al. does not explicitly disclose the feature wherein the signaling, through one or more bitmaps, indicates that each of the one or more second common channels further corresponds to at least one of the plurality of first common channels associated with a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmitted by the network node.
Abedini et al. from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses the feature wherein the signaling, through one or more bitmaps, indicates that each of the one or more second common channels further corresponds to at least one of the plurality of first common channels associated with a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmitted by the network node (Abedini et al. see para. 0097, 0098; …the indication may be carried in a bitmap. For example, a bitmap may be used to indicate whether the repeater is to forward signals on resources associated with the set of SSBs, PDCCHs associated with scheduling RMSI associated with the set of SSBs, RACH messages carried in RACH occasions associated with the set of SSBs, and/or PDCCHs associated with scheduling responses to the RACH messages.).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Yang et al. in view of Wanuga et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Abedini et al. wherein the signaling includes a bitmap indicating each SSB of the set of SSBs is associated with a PRACH.
The motivation would be to improve transmission reliability.
Regarding claims 5, 26, Abedini et al. discloses the feature wherein the signaling, through one or more bitmaps, indicates that the one or more second common channels are excluded from the plurality of first common channels (Abedini et al. see para. 0097, 0098; … Similarly, the first value in a second bit of the bitmap may be used to indicate that the repeater is to forward signals in resources associated with a second SSB and in resources associated with other types of access procedure communications associated with the second SSB, while the second value in the second bit of the bitmap may be used to indicate that the repeater is not to forward signals in resources associated with the second SSB or in resources associated with other types of access procedure communications associated with the second SSB… in some aspects, the bitmap may be a compressed bitmap (e.g., such that a number of bits in the bitmap is less than a number of SSBs actually transmitted by the base station). In such a case, a first bit of the bitmap may correspond to a first subset of the SSBs, a second bit of the bitmap may correspond to a second subset of the SSBs, and so on (e.g., such that the access procedure configuration is the same for each subset of SSBs).). The bitmap includes bits to corresponding to subsets of SSBs from forwarding or not forwarding (e.g., exclude).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Yang et al. in view of Wanuga et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Abedini et al. wherein the signaling includes a bitmap indicating a subset of SSBs excluded from forwarding.
The motivation would be to improve transmission efficiency.
Claim(s) 11, 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al. (Pub No.: 2023/0119096) in view of Seo et al. (Pub No.: 2018/0054253).
Regarding claim 11, Yang et al. does not explicitly disclose the feature for determining the one or more second common channels based on comparing respective measurement results of the plurality of first common channels with a threshold value, wherein the threshold value is configured by the wireless communication node or an operations administration and maintenance (OAM) unit.
Seo et al. from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses the feature for determining the one or more second common channels based on comparing respective measurement results of the plurality of first common channels with a threshold value, wherein the threshold value is configured by the wireless communication node or an operations administration and maintenance (OAM) unit (Seo see para. 0008, 0009, 0097; when a UE measures signal strength of a signal received from an eNB and succeeds in decoding the received signal, if the signal strength is smaller than a predetermined threshold, the UE can relay a prescribed signal among the signal received from the eNB… the predetermined threshold can be configured to make UEs located at the cell edge of the eNB perform relaying.). The relay is configured to measure to signal strength of the signals received from the eNB and to relay the received signals based on comparing to a threshold. The threshold value is configured by the eNB.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Yang et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Seo to measure signal strength of signals received based on a predetermined threshold, and to forward the prescribed signals based on the predetermined threshold.
The motivation would be to improve efficiency of resources utilization.
Regarding claim 12, Seo et al. discloses the feature for determining the one or more second common channels based on respective measurement results of the plurality of first common channels (Seo see para. 0008, 0097; when a UE measures signal strength of a signal received from an eNB and succeeds in decoding the received signal, if the signal strength is smaller than a predetermined threshold, the UE can relay a prescribed signal among the signal received from the eNB… the predetermined threshold can be configured to make UEs located at the cell edge of the eNB perform relaying.). The relay is configured to measure to signal strength of the signals received from the eNB and to relay the received signals based on comparing to a threshold.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Yang et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Seo to determine the forwarding signals based on the measurement results of the received signals.
The motivation would be to improve efficiency of resources utilization.
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al. (Pub No.: 2023/0119096) in view of Nam et al. (Pub No.: 2020/0052775).
Regarding claim 13, Yang et al. does not explicitly disclose the feature for determining, by the network node, a plurality of beams to forward the one or more second common channels, respectively, wherein indices of the plurality of beams correspond to indices of the one or more second common channels arranged in an ascending order, respectively.
Nam from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses the feature for determining, by the network node, a plurality of beams to forward the one or more second common channels, respectively, wherein indices of the plurality of beams correspond to indices of the one or more second common channels arranged in an ascending order, respectively (Nam et al. see para. 0052; Additionally, if relay nodes transmit DRSs in DRS burst sets using transmit beam sweeping, the relay nodes may rearrange the order of transmit beams in the beam sweep to increase the discovery of other IAB nodes.). The relay transmits DRSs using beam sweeping, wherein the relay rearranges the order of transmit beams to increase the discovery of other IAB nodes, although Nam et al. does not explicitly disclose to arrange the beams in an ascending order however an official notice is taken that arranging the beams in ascending/descending order is well known in the art as a preference.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Yang et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Nam et al. to arrange transmission beams in ascending order.
The motivation would be to enhance transmission efficiency.
Claim(s) 14, 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al. (Pub No.: 2023/0119096) in view of Gao et al. (Pub No.: 2025/0168890).
Regarding claim 14, Yang et al. does not explicitly disclose the feature for determining, by the network node, a plurality of beams to forward the one or more second common channels, respectively, wherein indices of the plurality of beams are identical to indices of the one or more second common channels, respectively.
Gao et al. from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses the feature for determining, by the network node, a plurality of beams to forward the one or more second common channels, respectively, wherein indices of the plurality of beams are identical to indices of the one or more second common channels, respectively (Gao et al. see para. 0104, 0109, repeater 120 transmits 530 the stored SSB signals indexed by SSB {a, b, c, d} with a beam sweeping method. FIG. 6B illustrates an example SSB transmission scheme according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 6B, the repeater 120 transmits the stored SSB signals indexed by SSB {a, b, c, d} via beams A1 to A4 in the beam sweeping manner.). The indices/number of SSB corresponds to the number of beams.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Yang et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Gao et al. wherein the number of beams is equal to the number of transmission signals/channels.
The motivation would be to improve transmission accuracy.
Regarding claim 16, Gao et al. discloses the feature for using, by the network node, a single beam to forward a subset of the one or more second common channels (Gao et al. see para. 0104, 0109, repeater 120 transmits 530 the stored SSB signals indexed by SSB {a, b, c, d} with a beam sweeping method. FIG. 6B illustrates an example SSB transmission scheme according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 6B, the repeater 120 transmits the stored SSB signals indexed by SSB {a, b, c, d} via beams A1 to A4 in the beam sweeping manner.). A single beam is used for forwarding a subset of one SSB.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Yang et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Gao et al. wherein a single beam is use to transmit a subset of one SSB.
The motivation would be to improve transmission accuracy.
Examiner's Note
The Applicant is welcome to request a telephonic interview if the Applicant has any questions or requires any additional information that would further or expedite the prosecution of the application.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Echigo et al. (Pub No.: 2025/0048131) discloses a wireless relay device includes: a communication unit configured to relay a downlink wireless signal or an uplink wireless signal; a reception unit configured to receive control information indicating a beam to be applied for each of resources via a downlink; and a control unit configured to determine a beam to be applied to the downlink wireless signal or the uplink wireless signal to be relayed, based on the control information.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAN YUEN whose telephone number is (571)270-1413. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 10:30am-7pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricky Ngo can be reached at 571-272-3139. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KAN YUEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464
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