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)(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, 3-5, 7-8, 10-12 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a2 as being anticipated by Bai et al. US 2021/0194561 A1.
Claims 1 and 8:
Bai discloses a method by a terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: receiving, from a base station, a first additional re-transmission for a message, the first additional re-transmission being associated with at least one additional beam other than a main beam for the terminal (See fig. 5 step 525, transmits second beam sweep for retransmissions of the message. Also see paras 115-119); receiving, from the base station, a first transmission for the message, the first transmission being associated with the main beam for the terminal (See fig. 5 step 515, transmits first beam sweep. Also see paras 115-119); identifying whether a decoding of the message is successful based on the first additional re-transmission and the first transmission (See fig. 5 step 530, transmitting NACK based on first and second beam sweeps. Also see paras 115-119); and in case that the decoding of the message is unsuccessful, transmitting, to the base station, a NACK message (See fig. 5 step 530, transmitting NACK based on first and second beam sweeps. Also see paras 115-119).
With regards to claim 8, a user equipment (UE) in a communication system, the UE comprising: a transceiver, and a processor (See fig. 5, 510).
Claims 3 and 10:
Bai discloses that the at least one additional beam is separated in time from the main beam (See fig. 5 step 525, transmits second beam sweep for retransmissions of the message. Also see paras 115-119, separated in time).
Claims 4 and 11:
Bai discloses that the main beam and the at least one additional beam are separated from each other in one or more of space and time (See fig. 5 step 525, transmits second beam sweep for retransmissions of the message. Also see paras 115-119, separated in time).
Claims 5 and 12:
Bai discloses that the at least one additional beam is located before the main beam (See fig. 3-4, first and second beams in different locations).
Claims 7 and 14:
Bai discloses that in case that the decoding of the message is successful, transmitting, to the base station, an ACK message (See para 94, UEs sending ACK based on successfully receiving data).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 6, 9 and 13 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HASHIM S BHATTI whose telephone number is (571)270-7748. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9:00am-5:30pm.
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HASHIM S. BHATTI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2472
/HASHIM S BHATTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2475