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 .
Claims 1-23 are pending in this office action.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10, 11, 22 and 23 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the amendment filed 05/21/2026 have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection.
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 1-5, 9, 12-17 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Centonza et al (US 2022/0022264 A1) in view of Baldemair et al (US 2014/0198772 A1) in further view of Pao et al (US 2020/0100295 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Centonza teaches a base station (Centonza: Fig. 4; base station transmitting SSB) comprising:
a transmitter configured to transmit, on a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), a synchronization signal to a user equipment (UE) device at a pre-determined first time interval before a time-slot in which Random Access Channel (RACH) uplink transmissions are transmitted (Centonza: Fig. 5; [0059], transmitting SSB/synchronization signal in PDSCH before PRACH/RACH).
Centonza does not explicitly disclose the synchronization signal comprising a plurality of copies of a sequence.
Baldemair teaches the synchronization signal comprising a plurality of copies of a sequence (Baldemair: Fig. 7; [0055], the synchronization signal sequence s(t)).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill of art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Centonza wherein the synchronization signal comprising a plurality of copies of a sequence as disclosed by Baldemair to provide a system for synchronization signal design for wireless devices in a long range extension mode (Baldemair: Abstract).
Centonza in view of Baldemair does not explicitly disclose transmitting to the first UE a first time interval value indicating a pre-determined first time interval, the first time interval value indicating, to the UE device, a time of the timeslot relative to a completion time of the synchronization signal.
Pao teaches transmitting to the first UE a first time interval value indicating a pre-determined first time interval, the first time interval value indicating, to the UE device, a time of the timeslot relative to a completion time of the synchronization signal (Pao: Fig. 8; [0018], [0104], [0108], UE obtaining offset#1 as shown on Fig. 8).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill of art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Centonza in view of Baldemair transmitting to the first UE a first time interval value indicating a pre-determined first time interval, the first time interval value indicating, to the UE device, a time of the timeslot relative to a completion time of the synchronization signal as disclosed by Pao to provide a system for determining random access resource (Pao: Abstract).
Regarding claim 14, Centonza teaches a user equipment (UE) device (Centonza: Figs. 4-5; [0059], UE) comprising:
a receiver configured to receive, on a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), a synchronization signal from a base station at a pre-determined first time interval before a time-slot in which Random Access Channel (RACH) uplink transmissions are transmitted (Centonza: Fig. 5; [0059], transmitting SSB/synchronization signal in PDSCH before PRACH/RACH).
Centonza does not explicitly disclose the synchronization signal comprising a plurality of copies of a sequence.
Baldemair teaches the synchronization signal comprising a plurality of copies of a sequence (Baldemair: Fig. 7; [0055], the synchronization signal sequence s(t)).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill of art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Centonza wherein the synchronization signal comprising a plurality of copies of a sequence as disclosed by Baldemair to provide a system for synchronization signal design for wireless devices in a long range extension mode (Baldemair: Abstract).
Centonza in view of Baldemair does not explicitly disclose transmitting to the first UE a first time interval value indicating a pre-determined first time interval, the first time interval value indicating, to the UE device, a time of the timeslot relative to a completion time of the synchronization signal.
Pao teaches transmitting to the first UE a first time interval value indicating a pre-determined first time interval, the first time interval value indicating, to the UE device, a time of the timeslot relative to a completion time of the synchronization signal (Pao: Fig. 8; [0018], [0104], [0108], UE obtaining offset#1 as shown on Fig. 8).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill of art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Centonza in view of Baldemair transmitting to the first UE a first time interval value indicating a pre-determined first time interval, the first time interval value indicating, to the UE device, a time of the timeslot relative to a completion time of the synchronization signal as disclosed by Pao to provide a system for determining random access resource (Pao: Abstract).
Regarding claims 2 and 15, Centonza in view of Baldemair teaches wherein the base station operates in accordance with a Time Division Duplex (TDD) deployment in which downlink resources and uplink resources are located on a same carrier (Centonza: [0007]; [0272]; Baldemair: [0078]).
Regarding claims 3 and 16, Centonza in view of Baldemair teaches wherein the base station operates in accordance with a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) deployment in which downlink resources are located on a downlink carrier and uplink resources are located on an uplink carrier (Centonza: [0007]; [0272]; Baldemair: [0078]).
Regarding claims 4 and 17, Centonza in view of Baldemair teaches wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit M×N copies of the sequence, where M represents a first number of copies of the sequence spread across at least a portion of downlink frequency resources utilized to transmit the synchronization signal and N represents a second number of copies of the sequence spread across at least a portion of downlink time resources utilized to transmit the synchronization signal (Baldemair: Fig. 12; [0069]-[0070], repetition of synchronization signal s(t) spread over time and over frequency).
Regarding claim 5, Centonza in view of Baldemair teaches a controller configured to determine M and N based on at least one of the following: carrier bandwidth availability (Baldemair: Fig, 12; [0069]-[0070] minimum bandwidth of 1.4 MHz), a Coverage Enhancement (CE) level, a received downlink signal quality or strength reported by the UE device, and a Voltage-Controlled Crystal Oscillator (VCXO) tolerance of the UE device.
Regarding claim 12, Centonza in view of Baldemair teaches wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit the plurality of copies of the sequence in non-consecutive resources of the PDSCH (Baldemair: Fig. 12, [0068] the signal 26 may not be consecutive).
Regarding claim 13, Centonza in view of Baldemair teaches wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit data for the UE device in time-frequency resources of the PDSCH that are interspersed between the non-consecutive resources of the PDSCH that are occupied by the plurality of copies of the sequence (Baldemair: Fig. 12, [0068] the signal 26 may not be consecutive).
Claims 6, 7, 18 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Centonza et al (US 2022/0022264 A1) in view of Baldemair et al (US 2014/0198772 A1) in further view of Pao et al (US 2020/0100295 A1) in further view of Hsieh et al (US 2020/014095 A1).
Regarding claims 6 and 18, Centonza in view of Baldemair does not explicitly disclose wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit, to the UE device prior to the UE device entering a sleep state, at least one message containing one or more synchronization signal parameters for the synchronization signal.
Hsieh teaches wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit, to the UE device prior to the UE device entering a sleep state, at least one message containing one or more synchronization signal parameters for the synchronization signal (Hsieh: Fig. 3; [0041]-[0045] SSB transmit before sleep period).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill of art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Centonza in view of Baldemair wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit, to the UE device prior to the UE device entering a sleep state, at least one message containing one or more synchronization signal parameters for the synchronization signal as disclosed by Hsieh to provide a system for power saving (Hsieh: Abstract).
Regarding claims 7 and 19, Centonza in view of Baldemair and Hsieh teaches wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit the one or more synchronization signal parameters in at least one dedicated Radio Resource Control (RRC) message (Hsieh: Fig. 2; [0034]).
Regarding claims 9 and 21, Centonza in view of Baldemair and Hsieh teaches a controller configured to determine a projected wake-up time for the UE device, wherein the transmitter is further configured to begin transmitting the synchronization signal during a second time interval that begins at the projected wake-up time (Hsieh: Figs. 5-6; [0050]-[0052]).
Claims 8 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Centonza et al (US 2022/0022264 A1) in view of Baldemair et al (US 2014/0198772 A1) in further view of Pao et al (US 2020/0100295 A1) in further view of Hsieh et al (US 2020/014095 A1) in further view of Yang et al (US 2022/0078709 A1).
Regarding claims 8 and 20, Centonza in view of Baldemair and Hsieh does not explicitly disclose wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit the one or more synchronization signal parameters via Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) signaling.
Yang teaches wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit the one or more synchronization signal parameters via Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) signaling (Yang: [0204]).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill of art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Centonza in view of Baldemair and Hsieh wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit the one or more synchronization signal parameters via Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) signaling as disclosed by Yang to provide a system for power saving (Yang: Abstract).
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.
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/KODZOVI ACOLATSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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