DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 .
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.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. In particular, this Application is the national stage application of an international application, which claims foreign priority to a Chinese application, filed on 13 Aug 2021.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement, submitted on 12 Feb 2024, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
The Reply contends the combination of Abedini ‘144 and Liu fail to teach the subject matter of cancelled claim 15. Reply, 7-9. In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
First, the Reply finds “Liu does not involve a solution for determining a forwarding state of the resource.” Reply, 8. This argument fails to consider the teachings of Abedini ‘144, in which the repeater explicitly “determine[s] forwarding direction for [a] set of resources (e.g. UL direction).” Abedini ‘144, figure 6 (step 606).
Second, he Reply also alleges that while Liu does indicate beams in one or more direction, the beam directions “are not used to determine the forwarding state of the resource, nor is it combined with the resource transmission direction configuration information to determine the forwarding state of the resource.” Reply, 8 (emphasis omitted). The Examiner contends that by definition, the beam direction defines the forwarding state of a resource. As taught by figure 2 of Liu, the relay node either sends or receives [i.e. a forwarding state] a signal “in the first time unit” [i.e. a resource] “based on the access beam indicated by the first indication information.” Liu, figure 2 (step s203).
Third, the Reply finds the network device of Liu “actively indicates the relay node not to use one or more access beam or not to perform uplink forwarding or downlink forwarding.” Reply, 8 (emphasis omitted). In contrast, the Reply finds the first communication device of the claimed invention “does not receive any beam indication, it determines the forwarding state of the resource as no forwarding and does not need a specific indication.” Reply, 9 (emphasis omitted). This argument seems to imply that the claimed invention requires no beam information to be received by the relay/repeater when the forwarding state of the resource is “no forwarding.” The Examiner does not believe this interpretation is commensurate with the scope of the claimed invention. The claimed invention merely requires “no beam is indicated for use on the resource.” In other words, the prior art need only fail to indicate a beam to meet this limitation. In Liu, when the state of an access beam is indicate as “3,” none of the access beams are “indicated.” Liu, ¶169 (table 2 – “indicated meaning” is listed as “silent” for state 3, while all other states indicate a specific beam). As a result, the Examiner contends Liu teaches this optional limitation of claim 1.
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.
Claims 1, 14, 16, 17, 22, 24-26, 28-32, and 34-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abedini ‘144 (US 20210297144) in view of Liu ‘482 (US 20230262482).
Regarding claim 1, Abedini ‘144 teaches an information determination method, the method being applied by a first communication node and comprising:
acquiring resource transmission direction configuration information and beam indication information (Abedini ‘144, ¶¶102-104 and step 604 in figure 6 – repeater receives configuration information from the base station, where configuration information may include “indication of the forwarding direction” and a “beamforming configuration”),
wherein the beam indication information is used for indicating a beam used by the first communication node in at least one time unit (Abedini ‘144, ¶104 – beamforming configuration includes beam directions to be used by the repeater for forwarding a signal in in a given direction over a set of resources; Abedini ‘144, ¶¶92, 97 – resource may be TDD-based time resources, such as symbols, slots, etc.); and
determining a forwarding state of a resource according to the resource transmission direction configuration information and the beam indication information (Abedini ‘144, ¶¶102, 115, 128 (repeater determines the forwarding direction based on the indication of the forwarding direction when it is included in the configuration information and forwards the signal based on the beamforming configuration),
wherein the forwarding state comprises at least one of downlink (DL) forwarding, uplink (UL) forwarding, or no forwarding. Abedini ‘144, ¶96 (forwarding direction includes uplink, downlink, and null).
Abedini ‘144 does not explicitly teach “wherein determining the forwarding state of the resource comprises one of the following: in a case where a beam used on a DL resource in the time unit is indicated, a forwarding state of the resource is the DL forwarding; in a case where a beam used on an UL resource in the time unit is indicated, a forwarding state of the resource is the UL forwarding; or in a case where no beam is indicated for use on the resource in the time unit, a forwarding state of the resource is no forwarding.” However, Liu ‘482 teaches a relay node receiving a “first indication information” from a base station. Liu ‘482, figure 2 (s202). The first indication information indicates either a uplink or downlink access beam to be used by the relay node to forward a signal in one or more time units. Liu ‘482, ¶¶150, 152, 161; see also id. at ¶¶168-170 for no forwarding situation. At the time of the invention (pre-AIA ) or at the effective filing date of the invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to enable the repeater, taught by Abedini ‘144, to determine the forwarding direction of a time unit based on the specified beam identified in first indication information, as taught by Liu ‘482, in order to manage the beams of the relay node to improve coverage. Liu ‘482, ¶¶129, 149.
Regarding claims 14 and 25, Abedini ‘144 also teaches a wherein for a time unit, the beam indication information comprises at least one of: a beam used on a DL resource; a beam used on an UL resource. Abedini ‘144, ¶¶104, 115 (beamforming configuration includes beam directions).
Regarding claim 16, Abedini ‘144 also teaches wherein a forwarding state of an F resource is determined in the following manner: the forwarding state of the F resource is no forwarding. Abedini ‘144, ¶¶96, 98, 114 (no forwarding on null resources).
Regarding claim 17, Abedini ‘144 teaches an information determination method, the method being applied by a second communication node and comprising:
configuring resource transmission direction configuration information and beam indication information (Abedini ‘144, ¶¶102-104 and step 604 in figure 6 – base station transmits configuration information to the repeater, where configuration information may include “indication of the forwarding direction” and a “beamforming configuration”),
wherein the beam indication information is used for indicating a beam used by the first communication node in at least one time unit (Abedini ‘144, ¶104 – beamforming configuration includes beam directions to be used by the repeater for forwarding a signal in in a given direction over a set of resources; Abedini ‘144, ¶¶92, 97 – resource may be TDD-based time resources, such as symbols, slots, etc.); and
sending the resource transmission direction configuration information and the beam indication information to a first communication node (Abedini ‘144, figure 6 – in step 604, the base station transmits configuration information to repeater)
so that the first communication node determines a forwarding state of a resource according to the resource transmission direction configuration information and the beam indication information. Abedini ‘144, ¶¶102, 115 (repeater determines the forwarding direction based on the indication of the forwarding direction when it is included in the configuration information and forwards the signal based on the beamforming configuration).
Abedini ‘144 does not explicitly teach “wherein determining the forwarding state of the resource comprises one of the following: in a case where a beam used on a DL resource in the time unit is indicated, a forwarding state of the resource is the DL forwarding; in a case where a beam used on an UL resource in the time unit is indicated, a forwarding state of the resource is the UL forwarding; or in a case where no beam is indicated for use on the resource in the time unit, a forwarding state of the resource is no forwarding.” However, Liu ‘482 teaches a relay node receiving a “first indication information” from a base station. Liu ‘482, figure 2 (s202). The first indication information indicates either a uplink or downlink access beam to be used by the relay node to forward a signal in one or more time units. Liu ‘482, ¶¶150, 152, 161; see also id. at ¶¶168-170 for no forwarding situation. At the time of the invention (pre-AIA ) or at the effective filing date of the invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to enable the repeater, taught by Abedini ‘144, to determine the forwarding direction of a time unit based on the specified beam identified in first indication information, as taught by Liu ‘482, in order to manage the beams of the relay node to improve coverage. Liu ‘482, ¶¶129, 149.
Regarding claim 22, Abedini ‘144 also teaches a communication device, comprising a communication module, a memory, and at least one processor (Abedini ‘144, ¶146 – apparatus 902’ may be a repeater), wherein the communication module is configured to perform communication interaction between a first communication node, a second communication node, a third communication node, and a core network; the memory is configured to store at least one program; and when executed by the at least one processor, the at least one program causes the at least one processor to perform the information determination method of claim 1. Abedini ‘144, ¶50 and figure 1 (repeater 140 is in communication with UEs 120, base stations 110, and network controller 130, which includes the core network); supra. (rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 23, Abedini ‘144 also teaches a non-transitory storage medium, which is configured to store a computer program, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the information determination method of claim 1. Abedini ‘144, figure 10 (repeater 140, which may be apparatus 902’, includes a computer readable medium/memory 1008); supra. (rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 24, Abedini ‘144 also teaches wherein the DL forwarding refers to that the first communication node performs amplify-and-forward on data sent by a second communication node to a user equipment (UE), the UL forwarding refers to that the first communication node performs amplify-and-forward on data sent by the UE to the second communication node, and no forwarding refers to that the first communication node performs no forwarding operation. Abedini ‘144, ¶79 (gain component of repeater amplifies an input signal and outputs the amplified signal); Abedini ‘144, figure 6 and ¶87 (repeater be used to establish an access link between a base station and UE and sending uplink and downlink signals accordingly); see also Abedini ‘144, ¶¶96, 98, 114 (no forwarding on null resources).
Regarding claim 26, Abedini ‘144 also teaches a communication device, comprising a communication module, a memory, and at least one processor (Abedini ‘144, ¶155 – apparatus 1102’ may be a base station), wherein the communication module is configured to perform communication interaction between a first communication node, a second communication node, a third communication node, and a core network (Abedini ‘144, ¶50 and figure 1 (base station 110 is in communication with UEs 120, repeater 140, and network controller 130, which includes the core network); the memory is configured to store at least one program (Abedini ‘144, figure 12 – apparatus 1102’ includes a computer readable medium/memory 1208); and when executed by the at least one processor, the at least one program causes the at least one processor to perform the information determination method of claim 14. Supra. (see rejection of claim 14).
Regarding claim 28, Abedini ‘144 also teaches a communication device, comprising a communication module, a memory, and at least one processor (Abedini ‘144, ¶146 – apparatus 902’ may be a repeater), wherein the communication module is configured to perform communication interaction between a first communication node, a second communication node, a third communication node, and a core network (Abedini ‘144, ¶50 and figure 1 (repeater 140 is in communication with UEs 120, base station 110, and network controller 130, which includes the core network);
the memory is configured to store at least one program; and when executed by the at least one processor, the at least one program causes the at least one processor to perform the information determination method of claim 16. Abedini ‘144, ¶50 and figure 1 (repeater 140 is in communication with UEs 120, base stations 110, and network controller 130, which includes the core network); supra. (rejection of claim 16).
Regarding claim 29, Abedini ‘144 also teaches a communication device, comprising a communication module, a memory, and at least one processor (Abedini ‘144, ¶155 – apparatus 1102’ may be a base station), wherein the communication module is configured to perform communication interaction between a first communication node, a second communication node, a third communication node, and a core network (Abedini ‘144, ¶50 and figure 1 (base station 110 is in communication with UEs 120, repeater 140, and network controller 130, which includes the core network); the memory is configured to store at least one program (Abedini ‘144, figure 12 – apparatus 1102’ includes a computer readable medium/memory 1208); and when executed by the at least one processor, the at least one program causes the at least one processor to perform the information determination method of claim 17. Supra. (see rejection of claim 17).
Regarding claim 30, Abedini ‘144 also teaches a communication device, comprising a communication module, a memory, and at least one processor, wherein the communication module is configured to perform communication interaction between a first communication node, a second communication node, a third communication node, and a core network; the memory is configured to store at least one program; and when executed by the at least one processor, the at least one program causes the at least one processor to perform the information determination method of claim 24. Supra. (see rejections of claim 22 and 24).
Regarding claim 31, Abedini ‘144 also teaches a communication device, comprising a communication module, a memory, and at least one processor, wherein the communication module is configured to perform communication interaction between a first communication node, a second communication node, a third communication node, and a core network; the memory is configured to store at least one program; and when executed by the at least one processor, the at least one program causes the at least one processor to perform the information determination method of claim 25. Supra. (see rejections of claim 25 and 26).
Regarding claim 32, Abedini ‘144 also teaches a non-transitory storage medium, which is configured to store a computer program, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the information determination method of claim 14. Abedini ‘144, figure 10 (repeater 140, which may be apparatus 902’, includes a computer readable medium/memory 1008); supra. (rejection of claim 14).
Regarding claim 34, Abedini ‘144 also teaches a non-transitory storage medium, which is configured to store a computer program, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the information determination method of claim 16. Abedini ‘144, figure 10 (repeater 140, which may be apparatus 902’, includes a computer readable medium/memory 1008); supra. (rejection of claim 16).
Regarding claim 35, Abedini ‘144 also teaches a non-transitory storage medium, which is configured to store a computer program, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the information determination method of claim 17. Abedini ‘144, figure 12 (apparatus 1102’, which may be a base station, includes a computer readable medium/memory 1208); supra. (see rejection of claim 17).
Regarding claim 36, Abedini ‘144 also teaches a non-transitory storage medium, which is configured to store a computer program, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the information determination method of claim 24. Abedini ‘144, figure 10 (repeater 140, which may be apparatus 902’, includes a computer readable medium/memory 1008); supra. (see rejection of claim 24).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN S LAMONT whose telephone number is (571) 270-7514 and email address is benjamin.lamont@uspto.gov (see MPEP 502.03, which allows for written authorization via the USPTO electronic filing system or mail, but not via email). The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am to 3pm EST.
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/Benjamin Lamont/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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