DETAILED ACTION
This communication is responsive to an Application No. 18/618,906 filed on 03/27/2024. Claims 1-12 is/are subject to 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 .
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)(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, 2, 5, 6, 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (EP 3706479 A1) (Kim hereafter).
Regarding claims 1 and 9, Kim teaches, a terminal comprising:
a memory storing a program (Kim; UE, 130 of Fig. 1); and
one or more processor (Kim; UE, 130 of Fig. 1) configured to execute the program to:
receive, from a base station, a radio resource control message (Kim; the terminal that maintains synchronization with the 5G base station for communication stores information related to synchronization acquired for the 5G base station (i.e., previous synchronization information)…The related information (or, previous synchronization information) is information received through a radio resource control (RRC) connection between the terminal and the 5G base station, and may include various information or parameters such as…SSB-periodicity-serving-cell…, Par. 0042),
receive, from the base station, a first synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block based on information used for configuring a periodicity of the first SS/PBCH block included in the radio resource control message (Kim; the terminal may store the period in which the base station transmits a synchronization block and the block position in the frequency band in an initial synchronization process…, Par. 0047) [The Examiner contends the initial synchronization process is the first SS/PBCH received from the information received through the RRC],
receive, from the base station, a second SS/PBCH block based on information used for configuring a frequency of the second SS/PBCH block and information used for configuring a periodicity of the second SS/PBCH block in a case where the information used for configuring the periodicity of the second SS/PBCH block is included in the radio resource control message (Kim; On the other hand, the terminal may fail to acquire synchronization as a result of performing the simplified synchronization procedure using the previous synchronization information (230). Such a situation may occur for various reasons, such as a case where the target base station to newly acquire synchronization is changed owing to movement of the terminal, and a case where the condition of a specific beam among the transmission beams of the base station or the reception beams of the terminal is not good. When the terminal fails to acquire synchronization using the previous synchronization information, it newly performs a synchronization procedure without consideration of the previous synchronization information (240). In other words, the terminal determines that the previous synchronization information is not valid and performs a synchronization procedure with the base station according to the general synchronization procedure, Par. 0044) [The Examiner contends that when the terminal fails to acquire synchronization, it newly performs a synchronization procedure with the base station according to the general synchronization procedure which would be the same as the initial synchronization procedure which would include specific information to this SS/PBCH in an RRC], and
receive, from the base station, the second SS/PBCH block based on the information used for configuring the frequency of the second SS/PBCH block and the information used for configuring the periodicity of the first SS/PBCH block in a case where the information used for configuring the periodicity of the second SS/PBCH block is not included in the radio resource control message. (Kim; the terminal may store the period in which the base station transmits a synchronization block and the block position in the frequency band in an initial synchronization process, and thereafter may apply it to a new synchronization process to thereby reduce the time required for the synchronization acquisition process., Par. 0047) [The Examiner contends that this second synchronization uses previously stored information of the first SS/PBCH which means it does not include specifics about a second SS/PBCH block in the RRC.]
Regarding claims 2, 6 and 10, Kim teaches, the terminal according to claim 1,
wherein the information used for configuring the frequency of the second SS/PBCH block is included in the radio resource control message. (Kim; the terminal that maintains synchronization with the 5G base station for communication stores information related to synchronization acquired for the 5G base station (i.e., previous synchronization information)…The related information (or, previous synchronization information) is information received through a radio resource control (RRC) connection…, Par. 0042)
Regarding claim 5, Kim teaches, a base station comprising:
a memory storing a program (Kim; UE, 120 of Fig. 1); and
one or more processor (Kim; UE, 120 of Fig. 1) configured to execute the program to:
transmit, to a terminal, a radio resource control message (Kim; the terminal that maintains synchronization with the 5G base station for communication stores information related to synchronization acquired for the 5G base station (i.e., previous synchronization information)…The related information (or, previous synchronization information) is information received through a radio resource control (RRC) connection between the terminal and the 5G base station, and may include various information or parameters such as…SSB-periodicity-serving-cell…, Par. 0042),
transmit, to the terminal, a first synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block based on information used for configuring a periodicity of a first SS/PBCH block included in the radio resource control message (Kim; the terminal may store the period in which the base station transmits a synchronization block and the block position in the frequency band in an initial synchronization process…, Par. 0047) [The Examiner contends the initial synchronization process is the first SS/PBCH received from the information received through the RRC],
transmit, to the terminal, a second SS/PBCH block based on information used for configuring a frequency of the second SS/PBCH block and information used for configuring a periodicity of the second SS/PBCH block in a case where the information used for configuring the periodicity of the second SS/PBCH block is included in the radio resource control message (Kim; On the other hand, the terminal may fail to acquire synchronization as a result of performing the simplified synchronization procedure using the previous synchronization information (230). Such a situation may occur for various reasons, such as a case where the target base station to newly acquire synchronization is changed owing to movement of the terminal, and a case where the condition of a specific beam among the transmission beams of the base station or the reception beams of the terminal is not good. When the terminal fails to acquire synchronization using the previous synchronization information, it newly performs a synchronization procedure without consideration of the previous synchronization information (240). In other words, the terminal determines that the previous synchronization information is not valid and performs a synchronization procedure with the base station according to the general synchronization procedure, Par. 0044) [The Examiner contends that when the terminal fails to acquire synchronization, it newly performs a synchronization procedure with the base station according to the general synchronization procedure which would be the same as the initial synchronization procedure which would include specific information to this SS/PBCH in an RRC],, and
transmit, to the terminal, the second SS/PBCH block based on the information used for configuring the frequency of the second SS/PBCH block and the information used for configuring the periodicity of the first SS/PBCH block in a case where the information used for configuring the periodicity of the second SS/PBCH block is not included in the radio resource control message. (Kim; the terminal may store the period in which the base station transmits a synchronization block and the block position in the frequency band in an initial synchronization process, and thereafter may apply it to a new synchronization process to thereby reduce the time required for the synchronization acquisition process., Par. 0047) [The Examiner contends that this second synchronization uses previously stored information of the first SS/PBCH which means it does not include specifics about a second SS/PBCH block in the RRC.]
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.
Claims 3, 4, 7, 8, 11 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Lei et al. (US 2023/0074775 A1) (Lei hereafter).
Regarding claims 3, 7 and 11, Kim teaches, the terminal according to claim 1, first SS/PBCH block (Kim; Par. 0047) and the second SS/PBCH block (Kim; Par. 0044), but does not explicitly teach,
wherein a SS/PBCH block can be a cell defining SS/PBCH block and a SS/PBCH block can be a non-cell defining SS/PBCH block.
However, Lei teaches,
wherein a SS/PBCH block can be a cell defining SS/PBCH block (Lei; CD-SSB, Par. 0128) and a SS/PBCH block can be a non-cell defining SS/PBCH block (Lei; NCD-SSB, Par. 0094).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Kim to include the above cited limitations as taught by Lei in order to configure the UE to determine the parameters to use in monitoring for and receiving messages (Lei; 0094).
Regarding claims 4, 8 and 12, Kim teaches, the terminal according to claim 1, wherein the second SS/PBCH block is transmitted to a terminal (Kim; Par. 0044), but does not explicitly teach,
wherein the SS/PBCH block is transmitted in an initial downlink bandwidth part for a RedCap terminal.
However, Lei teaches,
wherein the SS/PBCH block is transmitted in an initial downlink bandwidth part for a RedCap terminal. (Lei; a reduced capability UE may be configured with a separate initial DL BWP, e.g., which may be different from CORESET 0, rather than the shared initial DL BWP illustrated in FIG. 6. In such examples, a non-cell-defining SSB (NCD-SSB) may be transmitted within the initial BWP that is configured for the reduced capability UE, Par. 0094)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Kim to include the above cited limitations as taught by Lei in order to configure the UE to determine the parameters to use in monitoring for and receiving messages (Lei; 0094).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Noel R Beharry whose telephone number is (571)270-5630. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9-5pm.
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NOEL R. BEHARRY
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416