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 .
Claim Status
This office action is in response to the communication(s) filed on 02/07/2024.
Claim(s) 1-11, and 13 is/are currently presenting for examination.
Claim(s) 1, 11, and 13 is/are independent claim(s).
Claim(s) 1-11, and 13 is/are rejected.
This action has been made NON-FINAL.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 8, 11, 13, objected to because of the following informalities: the words “N cell” should be changed to “N cells”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(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) 1-9, 11 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US_20240195566_A1_Ohara.
Regarding claim 1, Ohara teaches a method performed by a terminal in a wireless communication system (Ohara figure 11), the method comprising: receiving, from a network, a control element including first information indicating an identifier for N (N is an integer equal to or greater than 1) cell for which an activation is indicated (Ohara figure 11, step S1, paragraph 111, “…In step S1, the base station 10 transmits an indication to the terminal 20 via a MAC-CE…”. Figure 6, and paragraph 45, “FIG. 6 is an example (1) of MAC-CE for activating secondary cells in an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 6, Cx is an indication of activation or deactivation with respect to a secondary cell whose secondary cell index is X, and Tx is an indication of triggering a temporary RS with respect to a secondary cell whose secondary cell index is X…”, paragraph 58, “Note that the secondary cell index X may be an index for a single secondary cell, or may be an index for a secondary cell group…”), and second information including a field related to a tracking reference signal (TRS) corresponding to each of the N cell (Ohara paragraph 41, “…TRS (Tracking RS) as the temporary RS…”, Figure 6, and paragraph 45, “…and Tx is an indication of triggering a temporary RS with respect to a secondary cell whose secondary cell index is X…”); and receiving at least one TRS for at least one cell of the N cell (Ohara figure 11, step S3, and figure 3), wherein a size of the control element is based on a value of N (Ohara paragraph 42, “…an indication of activation or deactivation is performed via a MAC-CE as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. An indication related to up to seven (7) secondary cells is available in FIG. 4, and an indication related to up to thirty-one (31) secondary cells is available in FIG. 5…”).
Regarding claim 2, Ohara teaches the method of claim 1, wherein: a number of field related to the TRS is N (Ohara figure 6, Tx fields).
Regarding claim 3, Ohara teaches the method of claim 2, wherein: the field related to the TRS indicates an identifier of the TRS (Ohara paragraph 49), or includes information indicating a null state or a 0 (zero) value (Ohara paragraph 45, “…With respect to each of CX and TX, 1 may indicate activation or enabled, and 0 may indicate deactivation or disabled.”).
Regarding claim 4, Ohara teaches the method of claim 3, wherein: the at least one TRS corresponds to the number of field that the identifier of the TRS is indicated among the N TRS field (Ohara paragraph 49, each of the Tx can include the configuration ID).
Regarding claim 5, Ohara teaches the method of claim 3, wherein: the identifier of the TRS indicates a channel state information (CSI)-RS configuration associated with at least one of a resource (Ohara paragraph 52, BWP index), a periodicity, or an offset of the TRS (Ohara paragraph 50, Trigger offset).
Regarding claim 6, Ohara teaches the method of claim 1, wherein: the control element is based on at least one of a configuration for the cell or a configuration for the TRS (Ohara paragraph 49, “1) Configuration ID (for example, a trigger state ID, a temporary RS configuration ID, etc.)…”)..
Regarding claim 7, Ohara teaches the method of claim 1, wherein: at least one of a configuration for the cell or a configuration for the TRS is configured by a higher layer (Ohara paragraphs 47-49, RRC signaling).
Regarding claim 8, Ohara teaches the method of claim 1, wherein: the N cell corresponds to a secondary cell (SCell) for which the activation is indicated among cells configured for the terminal (Ohara paragraphs 45-56, secondary cells).
Regarding claim 9, Ohara teaches the method of claim 1, wherein: the control element is a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (Ohara paragraph 45, MAC-CE).
Regarding claim 11, Ohara teaches the limitations as set forth in claim 1, and a terminal in a wireless communication system, the terminal comprising: at least one transceiver; and at least one processor connected to the at least one transceiver (Ohara figure 14).
Regarding claim 13, Ohara teaches the limitations as set forth in claim 1, and a base station in a wireless communication system, the base station comprising: at least one transceiver; and at least one processor connected to the at least one transceiver (Ohara figure 14).
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, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US_20240195566_A1_Ohara in view of US_20220247529_A1_Takeda.
Regarding claim 10, Ohara teaches the method of claim 1, but does not teach wherein: the TRS corresponds to an aperiodic CSI-RS for tracking for an SCell for fast SCell activation.
Takeda from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: the TRS corresponds to an aperiodic CSI-RS for tracking for an SCell for fast SCell activation (Takeda paragraph 112, “FIG. 3 illustrates an example of an aperiodic reference signal configuration 300 that supports temporary reference signal for fast SCell activation…”, paragraph 119, and paragraph 94, “… the temporary reference signal may also be referred to as an aperiodic reference signal 220, which may be an example of a TRS, an aperiodic CSI-RS…”).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Takeda into Ohara, since Ohara suggests a technique for activation of a secondary cell, and Takeda suggests the beneficial way of an aperiodic reference signal configuration that supports temporary reference signal for fast SCell activation so that/thus eliminates the waiting time for the next periodic synchronization or tracking signal (Takeda paragraph 4, 43) in the analogous art of communication.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
The reference US_10694392_B2_Ouchi, teaches a number of the C-fields increases such that the size of the activation/deactivation MAC CE increases from one octet to two or more octets in a case that a number of the secondary cell(s) is increased over a predetermined number due to the addition (Ouchi column 27 lines 41-61, and claim 1).
Conclusion
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/W.H/Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/SUJOY K KUNDU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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