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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claim Objections
Claim 16 objected to because of the following informalities: Line 2 appears to be missing a comma between ‘information’ and ‘the’. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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.
Claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harada et al. (US 2017/0064613) in view of Lee et al. (US 2015/0382205).
For claim 1, Harada teaches: A method for a device to communicate with one or more transmission points (TP's) (see at least fig. 9-13, terminal and base station may comprise processor and transmitter for communications), comprising:
receiving one or more synchronization signals (see at least 0079-0080, terminal may receive PSS/SSS);
deriving a synchronization reference from the one or more synchronization signals (see at least 0079-0080, terminal may acquire synchronizing timings based on the PSS/SSS);
receiving a plurality of reference signals (see at least 0079-0080, terminal may measure reference signal candidates according to the synchronizing timings);
based on the derived synchronization reference, performing a plurality of measurements on the plurality of reference signals (see at least 0079-0080, terminal may measure reference signal candidates according to the synchronizing timings).
Harada does not explicitly teach: based on the plurality of measurements, selecting a plurality of random access resources; and selecting a random access resource from the plurality of random access resources for transmitting a random access signal to at least one of the one or more TP's. Lee from an analogous art teaches (see at least 0213, 0159, and fig. 14, WTRU may measure reference signals transmitted on each beam to select a best beam. BS may send a message to WTRU indicating a set of PRACH resources associated with each beam; WTRU may transmit a PRACH preamble selected from the set of resources associated with the best beam/measurement). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate Lee to the system of Harada, so the terminal may receive an association of beams to PRACH resource sets, and transmit PRACH preamble using a resource set associated with a selected best reference signal/beam measurement, as suggested by Lee. The motivation would have been to enhance communications by performing random access on resources of the best beam (Lee 0213, 0080).
For claim 2, Harada, Lee teaches claim 1, Harada further teaches: wherein the synchronization reference includes a reference parameter in time, a reference parameter in frequency, a reference parameter in code, a reference parameter in space, a reference parameter in power, or a combination thereof that can be used as a reference while transmitting and/or receiving a signal (see at least 0079-0080, terminal may acquire synchronizing timings based on the PSS/SSS; terminal may measure reference signal candidates according to the synchronizing timings).
For claim 3, Harada, Lee teaches claim 1, Lee further teaches: further comprising: using the random access signal in order to cause the one or more TP's to detect whether the random access signal is on at least one of the plurality of random access resources so as to determine whether to transmit a random access response signal (see at least 0082, 0088-0089, fig. 12, eNB may transmit RAR upon receiving RA preamble on PRACH resource); and in response to the reception of the random access response signal, transmitting data to the one or more TP's (see at least 0089-0090, fig. 12, WTRU may transmit scheduled transmission e.g. Msg3 upon receiving RAR). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate Lee to the system of claim 1, so the preamble causes the base station to respond with RAR in turn causing the terminal to transmit data e.g. Msg3, as suggested by Lee. The motivation would have been to enhance communications by implementing well known RA procedure (Lee, fig. 12).
For claim 4, Harada, Lee teaches claim 1, Lee further teaches: further comprising receiving one or more other signals that include system information, the system information including a configuration of the selected plurality of random access resources (see at least 0082, 0213, PRACH resources may be configured via system information). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate Lee to the system of claim 1, so the PRACH resources are configured via system information, as suggested by Lee. The motivation would have been to enhance communications by configuring PRACH resources on a well known messaging (Lee, 0082).
For claim 6, Harada, Lee teaches claim 1, Lee further teaches: wherein the one or more TP's correspond to a plurality of antennas in a single multi-antenna TP, and each of the plurality of reference signals is received along a beam formed by the multi-antenna TP (see at least 0109, 0213, eNB may comprise multiple antenna elements transmitting beams; WTRU may measure reference signals transmitted on each beam to select a best beam). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate Lee to the system of claim 1, so the base station comprises a multi-antenna transmitter, with each antenna element transmitting reference signal on a different beam, as suggested by Lee. The motivation would have been to enhance communications by employing multiple antenna transmission beams to determine a best beam (Lee, 0109, 0213).
For claim 7, Harada, Lee teaches claim 1, Harada further teaches: wherein the one or more synchronization signals include a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and/or a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) of at least one of the one or more TP's (see at least 0079-0080, terminal may receive PSS/SSS).
For claim 8, Harada, Lee teaches claim 1, Lee further teaches: wherein: the performing a plurality of measurements on the plurality of reference signals includes measuring transmission powers of the plurality of reference signals, and the selecting a random access resource from a plurality of random access resources includes choosing the random access resource correspondent with one reference signal that has the highest transmission power among the plurality of reference signals (see at least 0213, 0159, and fig. 14, WTRU may measure reference signals transmitted on each beam to select a best beam; 0127, beam measurement may comprise SNR/RSRP. BS may send a message to WTRU indicating a set of PRACH resources associated with each beam; WTRU may transmit a PRACH preamble selected from the set of resources associated with the best beam/measurement). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate Lee to the system of claim 1, so the terminal may receive an association of beams to PRACH resource sets, and transmit PRACH preamble using a resource set associated with a selected best e.g. best RSRP reference signal/beam measurement, as suggested by Lee. The motivation would have been to enhance communications by performing random access on resources of the best beam (Lee 0213, 0080).
For claim 10, Harada, Lee teaches claim 1, Lee further teaches: wherein the plurality of random access resources include a set of allowed random access resources that is defined by a set of resource blocks (RB's) in time and frequency domains and/or a set of allowed random access preambles (see at least 0082, PRACH resource may be resource in time and frequency e.g. frequency may be defined in resource blocks). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate Lee to the system of claim 1, so the PRACH resources comprise time-frequency resources e.g. resource block, as suggested by Lee. The motivation would have been to enhance random access by implementing well known PRACH resource structure (Lee, 0082).
Claim 13 recites an apparatus substantially similar to the method of claim 1 and is rejected under similar reasoning.
Claim 14 recites an apparatus substantially similar to the method of claim 2 and is rejected under similar reasoning.
Claim 15 recites an apparatus substantially similar to the method of claim 3 and is rejected under similar reasoning.
Claim 16 recites an apparatus substantially similar to the method of claim 4 and is rejected under similar reasoning.
Claim 19 recites an apparatus substantially similar to the method of claim 6 and is rejected under similar reasoning.
Claim 20 recites an apparatus substantially similar to the method of claim 6 and is rejected under similar reasoning.
Claim 5, 17, 18 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harada et al. (US 2017/0064613) in view of Lee et al. (US 2015/0382205) in view of Ng et al. (US 2013/0083682).
For claim 5, Harada, Lee teaches claim 1, but not explicitly: wherein the one or more TP's are synchronized with one another such that the one or more synchronization signals share the synchronization reference, and the one or more TP's constitute a Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) set. Ng from an analogous art teaches (see at least claim 8, 1, UE may identify timing reference for CoMP reception based on synchronization signal). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate Ng to the system of claim 1, so the base station is comprised in a CoMP set, and the synchronization timing comprises a timing reference for the CoMP set, as suggested by Ng. The motivation would have been to enhance communications by implementing CoMP transmission and synchronization (Ng claim 8, 1).
Claim 17 recites an apparatus substantially similar to the method of claim 5 and is rejected under similar reasoning.
Claim 18 recites an apparatus substantially similar to the method of claim 5 and is rejected under similar reasoning.
Claim 9 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harada et al. (US 2017/0064613) in view of Lee et al. (US 2015/0382205) in view of Wei et al. (US 2017/0331535).
For claim 9, Harada, Lee teaches claim 1, but not explicitly: wherein: the performing a plurality of measurements on the plurality of reference signal includes measuring expected spectral efficiencies of the plurality of reference signals, and the selecting a random access resource from a plurality of random access resources includes choosing the random access resource correspondent with one reference signal that has the highest expected spectral efficiency among the plurality of reference signals. Wei from an analogous art teaches (see at least 0067, a best reference signal determined by a UE may be the one with maximum spectral efficiency). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate Wei to the system of claim 1, so the reference signals have varying spectral efficiencies and the WTRU measures and selects a best reference signal based on having highest spectral efficiency, as suggested by Wei. The motivation would have been to enhance random access by choosing a reference signal and corresponding resources having a highest quality relating to spectral efficiency rate (Wei 0067).
Claim 11 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harada et al. (US 2017/0064613) in view of Lee et al. (US 2015/0382205) in view of Seo et al. (US 2012/0178482).
For claim 11, Harada teaches: A method for a transmission point (TP) to adjust an amount of random access resources (see at least fig. 9-13, terminal and base station may comprise processor and transmitter for communications), comprising:
transmitting a synchronization signal to one or more devices (see at least 0079-0080, 0026, terminal may receive PSS/SSS from base station);
transmitting one or more reference signals to the one or more devices (see at least 0079-0080, terminal may measure reference signal candidates according to synchronizing timings obtained from PSS/SSS).
Harada does not explicitly teach: wherein each reference signal is associated with a set of random access resources of the TP; receiving one or more random access signals from the one or more devices, wherein each of the one or more random access signals is correspondent with at least one of the sets of the random access resources. Lee from an analogous art teaches (see at least 0213, 0159, and fig. 14, WTRU may measure reference signals transmitted on each beam to select a best beam. BS may send a message to WTRU indicating a set of PRACH resources associated with each beam; WTRU may transmit a PRACH preamble selected from the set of resources associated with the best beam/measurement). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate Lee to the system of Harada, so the base station may transmit an association of beams to PRACH resource sets, and receive PRACH preamble from the terminal using a resource set associated with a selected best reference signal/beam measurement, as suggested by Lee. The motivation would have been to enhance communications by implementing random access on respective resources of the best beam (Lee 0213, 0080).
Harada does not explicitly teach: based on the one or more random access signals, adjusting a transmission power of at least one of the reference signals. Seo from an analogous art teaches (see at least 0161, a PRACH preamble or message 3 in an RA procedure may comprise power control information to cause a receiving eNB to reduce transmission power). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate Seo to the system of Harada, Lee, so the PRACH preamble comprises power control information to cause the base station to adjust/reduce its transmission power e.g. including reference signals, as suggested by Seo. The motivation would have been to enhance communications by implementing transmission power control to avoid interference (Seo 0161, 0145).
Claim 12 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harada et al. (US 2017/0064613) in view of Lee et al. (US 2015/0382205) in view of Seo et al. (US 2012/0178482) in view of Lee et al. (US 2013/0267268) (hereinafter Lee ‘268).
For claim 12, Harada, Lee, Seo teaches claim 11, but not explicitly: wherein the adjusting a transmission power of at least one of the reference signals includes selectively ceasing transmitting at least one of the reference signals. Lee ‘268 from an analogous art teaches (see at least 0016, a TP may mute CSI-RS transmission to avoid causing interference). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate Lee ‘268 to the system of claim 11, so the base station may adjust/reduce its transmission power by muting (ceasing) reference signal transmission, as suggested by Lee ‘268. The motivation would have been to enhance communication by implementing signal muting to avoid interference (Lee ‘268 0016).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Kakishima et al. (US 2016/0056871) discloses a radio communication system and radio base station apparatus.
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/Siren Wei/
Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2467
Prosecution Insights