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 .
2. The following is a non-final Office action in response to Applicant submission received on 09/15/2025.
3. Claims 9-15 are currently pending and have been examined.
Foreign Priority
4. No foreign priority claimed under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Oath/Declaration
5. The applicant's oath/declaration filed on 04/26/2024 has been reviewed by the examiner and is found to conform to the requirements prescribed in 37 C.F.R. 1.63.
Drawings
6. The applicant’s drawings submitted on 04/26/2024 are acceptable for examination purposes.
Information Disclosure Statement
7. The information disclosure statement submitted by Applicant is in compliance with the provision of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609. It has been placed in the application file and the information referred to therein has been considered as to the merits.
Claim Interpretation
8. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
9. The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
10. This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitations are: “a transmission unit configured to perform” in claims 9, 13, 15; “a control unit configured to control” in claims 9, 13, 15; “a reception unit configured to receive” in claim 15; and “the transmission unit performs” in claims 9, 10, 13, 15; “the control unit does not perform” in claim 10; “the control unit controls” in claim 11.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
A review of the specification shows that the following appears to be the corresponding structure described in the specification for the 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph limitation:
“transmission unit configured to perform” appears to have corresponding structure of “transmitter” in (FIGS. 15, 16 and para. [0140] of the Application Publication);
“control unit configured to control” appears to be a processor
(FIGS. 15, 16, and para. para. [0166][0167] of the Application Publication);
“reception unit configured to receive” appears to have corresponding structure of “receiver” in (FIGS. 15, 16 and para. [0140] of the Application Publication);
“transmission unit performs” appears to have corresponding structure of “transmitter” in (FIGS. 15, 16 and para. [0140] of the Application Publication).
“control unit controls” appears to be a processor (para. [0166][0167] of the Application Publication).
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. The factual inquiries 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.
14. 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.
15. Claims 9-11, 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon et al. (US 20200280971 A1) in view of Wu (US 20200322982 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Moon discloses a base station (Figs. 1-2: device 110 and 200) capable of communicating in a high frequency band including an unlicensed band (para. [0081]: each of the plurality of base stations may support a transmission in unlicensed band), the base station comprising:
a transmission unit (Fig. 2: transceiver 230) configured to perform a first downlink transmission and a second downlink transmission transmitted after the first downlink transmission (Fig. 6, 12A and 12B, para. [0145][0162][0244]: Referring to FIGS. 12A and 12B, two downlink transmission bursts (e.g., first and second downlink transmission bursts) may be transmitted within a COT initiated by the base station. The transmission bandwidth of the first downlink transmission burst may be different from the transmission bandwidth of the second downlink transmission burst. The base station may expand the downlink transmission bandwidth by additionally performing an LBT operation in an uplink duration and/or a gap period within the COT initiated by the base station); and
in a case of starting a channel occupancy according to the channel access (para. [0128][0135][0182][0200]: The information on the starting time point of the COT may be transmitted in a starting region of the COT in each LBT subband or each channel), the transmission unit performs the first downlink transmission and the second downlink transmission during a predetermined period of the channel occupancy (para. [0251] [0182]: FIGS. 13A and 13B show two downlink transmission bursts (e.g., first and second downlink transmission bursts) transmitted within a COT initiated by the base station within predetermined time period t1 and t4).
Moon does not appear to disclose a control unit configured to control a channel access with a variable period of detection.
In the same field of endeavor, Wu teaches a control unit (Fig. 15: processing unit 920) configured to control a channel access with a variable period of detection (para. [0064]: Category-4 LBT (Cat-4 LBT): It is LBT with random backoff based on a variable CWS. In this case, the communications device determines that the CWS is a CWp, where the CWp is a variable value, the communications device generates a random number N according to the value of the CWp; and the communications device performs channel detection on an unlicensed spectrum, and may perform signal transmission after channel detection succeeds in all of N slots. Figs. 9-10, para. [0228][0229][0232] detection duration size varies).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Moon with the teaching of Wu to include the features such as a control unit to control a channel access with a variable period of detection as taught by Wu. The motivation for doing so would have been improve communication flexibility in an aspect of unlicensed spectrum communication.
Regarding claim 10, Moon and Wu disclose the base station as claimed in claim 9, however, Wu further teaches wherein the control unit does not perform the detection before performing the second downlink transmission in a case where the transmission unit performs the second downlink transmission during the predetermined period (Wu, para. [0058]: A downlink (DL) transmission burst (DL transmission burst) refers to a group of downlink transmission (that is, including one or more times of downlink transmission) performed by a gNB, and the group of downlink transmission is consecutive transmission (that is, there is no gap between a plurality of times of downlink transmission)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Moon with the teaching of Wu to include the features such as the control unit does not perform the detection before performing the second downlink transmission in a case where the transmission unit performs the second downlink transmission during the predetermined period as taught by Wu. The motivation for doing so would have been improve communication flexibility in an aspect of unlicensed spectrum communication.
Regarding claim 11, Moon and Wu disclose the base station as claimed in claim 9, However, Wu further teaches wherein the control unit controls whether or not to perform the detection before performing the second downlink transmission, based on a gap between an end of the first downlink transmission and a start of the second downlink transmission (para. [0115]: The gap between the ending location of the first transmission burst and the starting location of the second transmission burst may be used by the network device to determine the channel access scheme used for LBT performed before the second transmission burst).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Moon with the teaching of Wu to include the features such as controlling whether or not to perform the detection before performing the second downlink transmission, based on a gap between an end of the first downlink transmission and a start of the second downlink transmission as taught by Wu. The motivation for doing so would have been improve communication flexibility in an aspect of unlicensed spectrum communication.
Regarding claim 13, Moon discloses a terminal (Figs. 1-2 device 130 and 200) capable of communicating in a high frequency band including an unlicensed band, the terminal comprising:
a transmission unit (Fig. 2 transceiver 230) configured to perform a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission transmitted after the first uplink transmission (Fig. 6, para. [0177]: the terminal may transmit a plurality of uplink transmission bursts (first uplink transmission burst and second uplink transmission burst) within one COT); and
in a case of starting a channel occupancy according to the channel access (para. [0128][0135][0182][0200]: The information on the starting time point of the COT may be transmitted in a starting region of the COT in each LBT subband or each channel), the transmission unit performs the first uplink transmission and the second uplink transmission during a predetermined period of the channel occupancy (Fig. 6, para. [0177]: the terminal may transmit a plurality of uplink transmission bursts (first uplink transmission burst and second uplink transmission burst) within one COT by the terminal within predetermined time period t2 and t5).
Moon does not appear to disclose a control unit configured to control a channel access with a variable period of detection.
In the same field of endeavor, Wu teaches a control unit (Fig. 15: processing unit 920) configured to control a channel access with a variable period of detection (para. [0064]: Category-4 LBT (Cat-4 LBT): It is LBT with random backoff based on a variable CWS. In this case, the communications device determines that the CWS is a CWp, where the CWp is a variable value, the communications device generates a random number N according to the value of the CWp; and the communications device performs channel detection on an unlicensed spectrum, and may perform signal transmission after channel detection succeeds in all of N slots. Figs. 9-10, para. [0228][0229][0232] detection duration size varies).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Moon with the teaching of Wu to include the features such as a control unit to control a channel access with a variable period of detection as taught by Wu. The motivation for doing so would have been improve communication flexibility in an aspect of unlicensed spectrum communication.
Regarding claim 14, Moon discloses a communication method performed by a base station capable of communicating in a high frequency band including an unlicensed band (FIG. 12A, para. [0044][0084]: a channel occupancy method, a method of transmitting and receiving control information related to a channel occupancy time, etc. in a communication system supporting an unlicensed band), the communication method comprising:
starting a channel occupancy according to the channel access (para. [0128][0135][0182][0200]: The information on the starting time point of the COT may be transmitted in a starting region of the COT in each LBT subband or each channel);
performing a first downlink transmission and a second downlink transmission transmitted after the first downlink transmission during a predetermined period of the channel occupancy (para. [0251] [0182]: FIGS. 13A and 13B show two downlink transmission bursts (e.g., first and second downlink transmission bursts) transmitted within a COT initiated by the base station within predetermined time period t1 and t4).
Moon does not appear to disclose controlling a channel access with a variable period of detection.
In the same field of endeavor, Wu teaches controlling a channel access with a variable period of detection (para. [0064]: Category-4 LBT (Cat-4 LBT): It is LBT with random backoff based on a variable CWS. In this case, the communications device determines that the CWS is a CWp, where the CWp is a variable value, the communications device generates a random number N according to the value of the CWp; and the communications device performs channel detection on an unlicensed spectrum, and may perform signal transmission after channel detection succeeds in all of N slots. Figs. 9-10, para. [0228][0229][0232] detection duration size varies).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Moon with the teaching of Wu to include the features such as controlling a channel access with a variable period of detection as taught by Wu. The motivation for doing so would have been improve communication flexibility in an aspect of unlicensed spectrum communication.
Regarding claim 15, Moon discloses a system (system 100 of Fig. 1) capable of communicating in a high frequency band including an unlicensed band (para. [0084]: a communication system supporting an unlicensed band), the system comprising: a terminal (Fig. 1: node 130); and a base station (Fig. 1: node 110), wherein the base station includes:
a transmission unit (Fig. 2 transceiver 230) configured to perform a first downlink transmission and a second downlink transmission transmitted after the first downlink transmission to the terminal (Fig. 6, 12A and 12B, para. [0145][0162][0244]: Referring to FIGS. 12A and 12B, two downlink transmission bursts (e.g., first and second downlink transmission bursts) may be transmitted within a COT initiated by the base station. The transmission bandwidth of the first downlink transmission burst may be different from the transmission bandwidth of the second downlink transmission burst. The base station may expand the downlink transmission bandwidth by additionally performing an LBT operation in an uplink duration and/or a gap period within the COT initiated by the base station); and
in a case of starting a channel occupancy according to the channel access (para. [0128][0135][0182][0200]: The information on the starting time point of the COT may be transmitted in a starting region of the COT in each LBT subband or each channel), the transmission unit performs the first downlink transmission and the second downlink transmission to the terminal during a predetermine period of the channel occupancy (para. [0251] [0182]: FIGS. 13A and 13B show two downlink transmission bursts (e.g., first and second downlink transmission bursts) transmitted within a COT initiated by the base station within predetermined time period t1 and t4), and the terminal includes:
a reception unit (Fig. 2 transceiver 230) configured to receive the first downlink transmission and the second downlink transmission from the base station (Fig. 12A and 12B, para. [0244]: two downlink transmission bursts (e.g., first and second downlink transmission bursts) may be transmitted within a COT initiated by the base station to the terminal).
Moon does not appear to disclose a control unit configured to control a channel access with a variable period of detection.
In the same field of endeavor, Wu teaches a control unit (Fig. 15: processing unit 920) configured to control a channel access with a variable period of detection (para. [0064]: Category-4 LBT (Cat-4 LBT): It is LBT with random backoff based on a variable CWS. In this case, the communications device determines that the CWS is a CWp, where the CWp is a variable value, the communications device generates a random number N according to the value of the CWp; and the communications device performs channel detection on an unlicensed spectrum, and may perform signal transmission after channel detection succeeds in all of N slots. Figs. 9-10, para. [0228][0229][0232] detection duration size varies).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Moon with the teaching of Wu to include the features such as a control unit to control a channel access with a variable period of detection as taught by Wu. The motivation for doing so would have been improve communication flexibility in an aspect of unlicensed spectrum communication.
16. Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon et al. (US 20200280971 A1), Wu (US 20200322982 A1) in view of TIIROLA et al. (US 20170318607 A1).
Regarding claim 12, Moon and Wu disclose the base station as claimed in claim 9, but the references fail to teach wherein the predetermined period is 5 ms.
In the same field of endeavor, TIIROLA teaches wherein the predetermined period is 5 ms (TIIROLA, para. [0130][0131]: the CCA opportunity repeats with the FFP periodicity (such as 4 ms, 5 ms, or 10 ms for example). Fixed frame period consists of two portions: [0131] 1. Channel Occupancy Time. This provides Maximum scheduling time per FFP. The presence and the actual length of the current channel occupancy is up-to a scheduling decision of the base station 15).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Moon and Wu with the teaching of TIIROLA to include the features such as the predetermined period is 5 ms as taught by TIIROLA. The motivation for doing so would have been provide maximum opportunities for eNB to get the channel for DL operation (TIIROLA, para. [0131]).
Conclusion
17. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
a) Awadin et al. (US 20220377790 A1) discloses that a base station may initiate a Channel Occupancy Time (COT) that is an FBE COT or an LBE COT, in which the wireless device follows FBE or LBE procedures accordingly.
b) Salem (US 20210105815 A1) discloses A user equipment (UE) may transmit a configured-grant uplink control information (CG-UCI) to a base station during a channel occupancy time (COT) initiated by the UE in a shared spectrum, the CG-UCI comprising COT sharing information, the COT sharing information indicating, at least, an index value corresponding to a combination of: an indication of an offset to a beginning of a downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; an indication of a duration of the downlink transmission opportunity during the COT; and an indication of a channel access priority class (CAPC) value used by the UE to initiate the COT. The base station may transmit a downlink transmission to the UE within the downlink transmission opportunity and in accordance with the COT sharing information in the transmitted CG-UCI.
18. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JEAN F VOLTAIRE whose telephone number is (571)272-3953. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, REBECCA E. SONG can be reached at (571)270-3667. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JEAN F VOLTAIRE/Examiner, Art Unit 2417
/REBECCA E SONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2417
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