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 .
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 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.
This action is responsive to the Remark filed on 7/21/26.
Claim(s) 1, 4-6, 8, 11, 14-17, and 20 was/were amended.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are presented for examination.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 1, 11 & 20 is/are unclear to the examiner; what does it mean by stating “transmit, to the UE, downlink transmissions in downlink slots of the TDD pattern except in downlink slots included in the set of downlink slots”? the claim languages are not exactly clear what it mean by “downlink transmissions in downlink slots of the TDD pattern except in downlink slots”. Does it mean the TDD pattern is “not included” in the downlink slot? Please clarify
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 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 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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-5, 7, 9, 11, 13-15, 18 & 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sridharan, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 20220104219A1 in view of Larsson, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 20090077198A1, and further in view of Xu, US 2016/0037492 A1.
As to claim 1, Sridharan teaches an apparatus for wireless communication by a network entity, comprising:
one or more processors configured to execute instructions stored on one or more memories and to cause the network entity to:
receive an indication of a timing advance (TA) value from a user equipment (UE) (Sridharan, page 4, paragraph 52; i.e., [0052] a UE may, at a slot boundary, change transmission power, a timing advance value, perform various radio frequency configuration changes);
transmit, to the UE, information indicating a first set of downlink slots of a time division duplexing (TDD) pattern, wherein the first set of downlink slots is based on the TA value (Sridharan, page 7, paragraph 80; i.e., [0080] time domain duplexing (TDD) pattern configurations 1100 in which a UE may be configured. TDD pattern configuration may be specified via a common configuration 1102 (TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon), a dedicated configuration 1104 (TDD-UL-DL ConfigDedicated), dynamic slot format indicator (SFI) 1106, and uplink/down-link scheduling 1108).
But Sridharan failed to teach the claim limitation wherein dynamically restricted from being scheduled for the UE; transmit, to the UE, downlink transmissions in a second set of downlink slots consisting of downlink slots of the TDD pattern that are separate from the first set of downlink slots.
However, Larsson teaches the limitation wherein dynamically restricted from being scheduled for the UE (Larsson, page 4, paragraph 43; i.e., [0043] (1) Dynamically Constrained, where the scheduling requirements and constraints can be dynamically set on a running system).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Sridharan to substitute searchable items from Larsson for shared available from Sridharan to achieving relatively quicker refresh of a subset of items is to simply associate the subset with a fixed scheduling priority (Larsson, page 1, paragraph 9).
However, Xu teaches the limitation wherein transmit, to the UE, downlink transmissions in a second set of downlink slots consisting of downlink slots of the TDD pattern that are separate from the first set of downlink slots (Xu, page 1, paragraph 8; page 2, paragraph 9-13; i.e., [0008] In a Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, the same frequency resources are applied to uplink and downlink trans mission, and an uplink or downlink signal is transmitted in different time slots; [0009] to indicate the TDD uplink-downlink configuration information frequently to the user equipment, but a solution to indicating the TDD uplink-downlink configuration ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Sridharan to substitute CRC from Xu for CP from Sridharan to decoding DCI of two different types of lengths, so the user equipment needs to perform a total number 44 of times of blind detection in a downlink sub-frame (Xu, page 1, paragraph 7).
As to claim 3, Sridharan-Larsson-Xu teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the network entity to transmit, to the UE, information indicating a location of the network entity, wherein the TA value is based on the location of the network entity (Sridharan, page 3, paragraph 36; page 4, paragraph 52; i.e., [0036] A BS 110 may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area, sometimes referred to as a "cell", which may be stationary or may move according to the location of a mobile BS 110; [0052] to ensure that uplink channel repetitions do not cross a slot boundary).
As to claim 4, Sridharan-Larsson-Xu teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the set of downlink slots of the TDD pattern is configured for downlink-to-uplink switching and uplink transmissions at the UE (Sridharan, page 7, paragraph 80; i.e., [0080] time domain duplexing (TDD) pattern configurations 1100 in which a UE may be configured. TDD pattern configuration may be specified via a common configuration 1102 (TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon), a dedicated configuration 1104 (TDD-UL-DL ConfigDedicated), dynamic slot format indicator (SFI) 1106, and uplink/down-link scheduling 1108. The common configuration 1102 and dedicated configuration 1104 may be statically or semistatically configured and may specify whether slots in the TDD configuration are downlink (D) slots, flexible (F) slots, or uplink (U) slots).
As to claim 5, Sridharan-Larsson-Xu teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein:
the first set of downlink slots of the TDD pattern that is further based on a downlink-to-uplink switching delay of the UE (Sridharan, page 7, paragraph 80; i.e., [0080] time domain duplexing (TDD) pattern configurations 1100 in which a UE may be configured. TDD pattern configuration may be specified via a common configuration 1102 (TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon), a dedicated configuration 1104 (TDD-UL-DL ConfigDedicated), dynamic slot format indicator (SFI) 1106, and uplink/down-link scheduling 1108. The common configuration 1102 and dedicated configuration 1104 may be statically or semistatically configured and may specify whether slots in the TDD configuration are downlink (D) slots, flexible (F) slots, or uplink (U) slots); and
one of: the one or more processors are further configured to cause the network entity to receive capability information from the UE indicating the downlink-to-uplink switching delay of the UE (Sridharan, page 7, paragraph 80; i.e., [0080] time domain duplexing (TDD) pattern configurations 1100 in which a UE may be configured. TDD pattern configuration may be specified via a common configuration 1102 (TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon), a dedicated configuration 1104 (TDD-UL-DL ConfigDedicated), dynamic slot format indicator (SFI) 1106, and uplink/down-link scheduling 1108. The common configuration 1102 and dedicated configuration 1104 may be statically or semistatically configured and may specify whether slots in the TDD configuration are downlink (D) slots, flexible (F) slots, or uplink (U) slots); or the downlink-to-uplink switching delay of the UE is pre-configured or based on a wireless communications standard.
As to claim 7, Sridharan-Larsson-Xu teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the TDD pattern has a periodicity and, within each period of the periodicity, the TDD pattern comprises:
a first number of downlink slots configured for downlink transmissions (Sridharan, page 7, paragraph 80; i.e., [0080] time domain duplexing (TDD) pattern configurations 1100 in which a UE may be configured. TDD pattern configuration may be specified via a common configuration 1102 (TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon), a dedicated configuration 1104 (TDD-UL-DL ConfigDedicated), dynamic slot format indicator (SFI) 1106, and uplink/down-link scheduling 1108. The common configuration 1102 and dedicated configuration 1104 may be statically or semistatically configured and may specify whether slots in the TDD configuration are downlink (D) slots, flexible (F) slots, or uplink (U) slots);
a second number of uplink slots configured for uplink transmissions (Sridharan, page 7, paragraph 80; i.e., [0080] time domain duplexing (TDD) pattern configurations 1100 in which a UE may be configured. TDD pattern configuration may be specified via a common configuration 1102 (TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon), a dedicated configuration 1104 (TDD-UL-DL ConfigDedicated), dynamic slot format indicator (SFI) 1106, and uplink/down-link scheduling 1108. The common configuration 1102 and dedicated configuration 1104 may be statically or semistatically configured and may specify whether slots in the TDD configuration are downlink (D) slots, flexible (F) slots, or uplink (U) slots); and
a third number of switching slots configured for downlink-to-uplink switching (Sridharan, page 7, paragraph 80; i.e., [0080] time domain duplexing (TDD) pattern configurations 1100 in which a UE may be configured. TDD pattern configuration may be specified via a common configuration 1102 (TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon), a dedicated configuration 1104 (TDD-UL-DL ConfigDedicated), dynamic slot format indicator (SFI) 1106, and uplink/down-link scheduling 1108. The common configuration 1102 and dedicated configuration 1104 may be statically or semistatically configured and may specify whether slots in the TDD configuration are downlink (D) slots, flexible (F) slots, or uplink (U) slots).
As to claim 9, Sridharan-Larsson-Xu teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein:
the network entity is associated with a serving cell comprising a plurality of UEs, including the UE (Sridharan, page 7, paragraph 80; i.e., [0080] time domain duplexing (TDD) pattern configurations 1100 in which a UE may be configured. TDD pattern configuration may be specified via a common configuration 1102 (TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon), a dedicated configuration 1104 (TDD-UL-DL ConfigDedicated), dynamic slot format indicator (SFI) 1106, and uplink/down-link scheduling 1108); and
the TDD pattern comprises a common TDD pattern for the plurality of UEs in the serving cell associated with the network entity (Sridharan, page 7, paragraph 80; i.e., [0080] time domain duplexing (TDD) pattern configurations 1100 in which a UE may be configured. TDD pattern configuration may be specified via a common configuration 1102 (TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon), a dedicated configuration 1104 (TDD-UL-DL ConfigDedicated), dynamic slot format indicator (SFI) 1106, and uplink/down-link scheduling 1108. The common configuration 1102 and dedicated configuration 1104 may be statically or semistatically configured and may specify whether slots in the TDD configuration are downlink (D) slots, flexible (F) slots, or uplink (U) slots); and
the common TDD pattern is based on a UE of the plurality of UEs requiring a least number of switching slots for downlink-to-uplink switching and timing advance (Sridharan, page 7, paragraph 80; i.e., [0080] time domain duplexing (TDD) pattern configurations 1100 in which a UE may be configured. TDD pattern configuration may be specified via a common configuration 1102 (TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon), a dedicated configuration 1104 (TDD-UL-DL ConfigDedicated), dynamic slot format indicator (SFI) 1106, and uplink/down-link scheduling 1108. The common configuration 1102 and dedicated configuration 1104 may be statically or semistatically configured and may specify whether slots in the TDD configuration are downlink (D) slots, flexible (F) slots, or uplink (U) slots).
Claim(s) 11, 13-15 & 18 is/are directed to the apparatus claims and they do not teach or further define over the limitations recited in claim(s) 1, 3-5 & 9. Therefore, claim(s) 11, 13-15 & 18 is/are also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim(s) 1, 3-5 & 9.
Claim(s) 2, 6, 12 & 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sridharan, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 20220104219A1 in view of Larsson, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 20090077198A1, and Xu, US 2016/0037492 A1, and further in view of Yang, US 20210337570A1.
As to claim 2, Sridharan-Larsson-Xu teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 1. But Sridharan-Larsson-Xu failed to teach the claim limitation wherein: the TA value is received from the UE when a difference between the TA value and a previous TA value is greater than a TA reporting granularity; and one of: the TA reporting granularity is one slot; or TA reporting granularity is less than one slot.
However, Yang teaches the limitation wherein the TA value is received from the UE when a difference between the TA value and a previous TA value is greater than a TA reporting granularity (Yang, page 11, paragraph 98; i.e., [0098] the UE may transmit a capability report indicating the BS the TA processing time of the UE and/or other information allowing the BS to determine when the UE will be scheduled to implement the TA based on when the BS transmits the TA to the UE); and one of: the TA reporting granularity is one slot; or TA reporting granularity is less than one slot (Yang, page 11, paragraph 98; i.e., [0098] the UE may transmit a capability report indicating the BS the TA processing time of the UE and/or other information allowing the BS to determine when the UE will be scheduled to implement the TA based on when the BS transmits the TA to the UE).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Sridharan-Larsson-Xu to substitute high-bandwidth services from Yang for wide bandwidth from Sridharan-Larsson-Xu to improved techniques for bundling uplink communication signals, including reference signals, under TA conditions (Yang, page 1, paragraph 6).
As to claim 6, Sridharan-Larsson-Xu teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 1. But Sridharan-Larsson-Xu failed to teach the claim limitation wherein a first number of downlink slots when the TA value is less than or equal to a threshold; and a second number of downlink slots when the TA value is greater than the threshold, wherein the first number of downlink slots is less than the second number of downlink slots.
However, Yang teaches the limitation wherein a first number of downlink slots when the TA value is less than or equal to a threshold (Yang, page 9, paragraph 76; i.e., [0076] a longer delay period for implementation than a larger magnitude TA 430-a. In some instances, if a magnitude of the TA 430-a is above a threshold, then the UE delays implementation of the TA; In some instances, the UE is configured to implement the TA 430-a following an uplink-to-downlink switch. In some instances, the UE is configured to implement the TA 430-a following a downlink-to-uplink switch. In some instances, the UE is configured to implement the TA 430-a when a gap (e.g., time and/or number of slots/subslots) between uplink communications exceeds a threshold); and a second number of downlink slots when the TA value is greater than the threshold, wherein the first number of downlink slots is less than the second number of downlink slots (Yang, page 9, paragraph 76; i.e., [0076] a longer delay period for implementation than a larger magnitude TA 430-a. In some instances, if a magnitude of the TA 430-a is above a
threshold, then the UE delays implementation of the TA; In some instances, the UE is configured to implement the TA 430-a following an uplink-to-downlink switch. In some instances, the UE is configured to implement the TA 430-a following a downlink-to-uplink switch. In some instances, the UE is configured to implement the TA 430-a when a gap (e.g., time and/or number of slots/subslots) between uplink communications exceeds a threshold).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Sridharan-Larsson-Xu to substitute high-bandwidth services from Yang for wide bandwidth from Sridharan-Larsson-Xu to improved techniques for bundling uplink communication signals, including reference signals, under TA conditions (Yang, page 1, paragraph 6).
Claim(s) 12 & 16 is/are directed to the apparatus claims and they do not teach or further define over the limitations recited in claim(s) 2 & 6. Therefore, claim(s) 12 & 16 is/are also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim(s) 2 & 6.
Claim(s) 8, 10, 17 & 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sridharan, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 20220104219A1 in view of Larsson, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 20090077198A1, and Xu, US 2016/0037492 A1, and further in view of Chen, US 20240251348A1.
As to claim 8, Sridharan-Larsson-Xu teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 7, when the UE is not scheduled to perform any uplink transmissions in the second number of uplink slots, the first set of downlink slots of the TDD pattern (Sridharan, page 7, paragraph 80; i.e., [0080] time domain duplexing (TDD) pattern configurations 1100 in which a UE may be configured. TDD pattern configuration may be specified via a common configuration 1102 (TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon), a dedicated configuration 1104 (TDD-UL-DL ConfigDedicated), dynamic slot format indicator (SFI) 1106, and uplink/down-link scheduling 1108. downlink (D) symbols, a special (X) symbol for switching from downlink to uplink symbols ( or vice versa), or uplink (U) symbols); each of the downlink slots in the first number of downlink slots are permitted to be scheduled for downlink transmissions to the UE (Sridharan, page 7, paragraph 80; i.e., [0080] TDD pattern configuration may be specified via a common configuration 1102 (TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon), a dedicated configuration 1104 (TDD-UL-DL ConfigDedicated), dynamic slot format indicator (SFI) 1106, and uplink/down-link scheduling 1108. Dynamic SFI 1106 and uplink/downlink scheduling 1108 may define the arrangement of symbols in a flexible subframe identified in dedicated configuration 1104 in terms of downlink (D) symbols, a special (X) symbol for switching from downlink to uplink symbols ( or vice versa), or uplink (U) symbols); and when the UE is scheduled to perform one or more uplink transmissions in the second number of uplink slots, the first set of downlink slots of the TDD pattern comprises one or more downlink slots (Sridharan, page 7, paragraph 80; i.e., [0080] time domain duplexing (TDD) pattern configurations 1100 in which a UE may be configured. TDD pattern configuration may be specified via a common configuration 1102 (TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon), a dedicated configuration 1104 (TDD-UL-DL ConfigDedicated), dynamic slot format indicator (SFI) 1106, and uplink/down-link scheduling 1108. The common configuration 1102 and dedicated configuration 1104 may be statically or semistatically configured and may specify whether slots in the TDD configuration are downlink (D) slots, flexible (F) slots, or uplink (U) slots).
But Sridharan-Larsson-Xu failed to teach the claim limitation wherein when the UE is not scheduled to perform any uplink transmissions in the second number of uplink slots, the first set of downlink slots of the TDD pattern comprises zero downlink slots; based on the first set of downlink slots of the TDD pattern comprising zero downlink slots, each of the downlink slots in the first number of downlink slots are permitted to be scheduled for downlink transmissions to the UE; and when the UE is scheduled to perform one or more uplink transmissions in the second number of uplink slots, the first set of downlink slots of the TDD pattern comprises one or more downlink slots.
However, Chen teaches the limitation wherein when the UE is not scheduled to perform any uplink transmissions in the second number of uplink slots, the first set of downlink slots of the TDD pattern comprises zero downlink slots (Chen, page 20, paragraph 575; i.e., [0575] timing advance is used, or a timing advance is equal to 0, the time occupied by the first PUSCH belongs to then-th downlink slot, or is comprised by then-th downlink slot, or is overlapping with the n-th downlink slot); based on the first set of downlink slots of the TDD pattern comprising zero downlink slots, each of the downlink slots in the first number of downlink slots are permitted to be scheduled for downlink transmissions to the UE (Chen, page 20, paragraph 575; i.e., [0575] timing advance is used, or a timing advance is equal to 0, the time occupied by the first PUSCH belongs to then-th downlink slot, or is comprised by then-th downlink slot, or is overlapping with the n-th downlink slot); and when the UE is scheduled to perform one or more uplink transmissions in the second number of uplink slots, the first set of downlink slots of the TDD pattern comprises one or more downlink slots (Chen, page 20, paragraph 575; i.e., [0575] timing advance is used, or a timing advance is equal to 0, the time occupied by the first PUSCH belongs to then-th downlink slot, or is comprised by then-th downlink slot, or is overlapping with the n-th downlink slot).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Sridharan-Larsson-Xu to substitute CRC from Chen for CP from Sridharan-Larsson-Xu to enhancing the spectrum utilization and improving service quality (Chen, page 1, paragraph 4).
As to claim 10, Sridharan-Larsson-Xu teaches the apparatus as recited in claim 1. But Sridharan-Larsson-Xu failed to teach the claim limitation wherein the UE is associated with an aircraft.
However, Chen teaches the limitation wherein the UE is associated with an aircraft (Chen, page 21, paragraph 605; i.e., [0605] aircraft).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Sridharan-Larsson-Xu to substitute CRC from Chen for CP from Sridharan-Larsson-Xu to enhancing the spectrum utilization and improving service quality (Chen, page 1, paragraph 4).
Claim(s) 17 & 19 is/are directed to the apparatus claims and they do not teach or further define over the limitations recited in claim(s) 7-8 & 10. Therefore, claim(s) 17 & 19 is/are also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim(s) 7-8 & 10.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Listing of Relevant Arts
Ohm, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 20240414769 A1 discloses timing advance and TDD pattern.
Nhan, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 20240389157 A1 discloses TDD pattern and timing advance.
Contact Information
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
THUONG NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3864. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9:00-6:00.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Noel Beharry can be reached on 571-270-5630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THUONG NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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