DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The instant first office action is in response to communication filed on 01/23/2026.
Claims 1-30 are pending of which claims 1, 15 and 29-30 are the base independent claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/06/2024 and 01/23/2026 is being considered by the examiner.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 and 16-19 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 29 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Claim “ 29“ recites a “computer readable medium”, with nothing in the specification specifically limiting this medium from being a transitory medium (i.e. such as a signal medium), which is considered non-statutory. Further, the USPTO Official Gazette from week #8 of 2010 (Feb 23, 2010), Volume 1351 page 212 specifically explains that the addition of the term "non-transitory" before the computer readable medium will alleviate any issues with 35 USC 101 rejections, since the claims would no longer cover non statutory subject matter. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 6-8, 11-12, 15, 20-22, 25-26 and 29-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yi et al (US 2023/0074086) and in view of Hao (CN-114449656-A).
Regarding claim 1, Yi’086 discloses method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) comprising:
transmitting, to a base station, a capability message of the UE, the capability message indicating whether the UE supports simultaneous transmission of uplink signaling(see para.0388, which discusses the wireless device may transmit a capability by the wireless device whether the wireless device supports transmission of the first PUSCH via the first uplink carrier and the second PUSCH via the second uplink carrier simultaneously);
receiving, from the base station, schedule information scheduling simultaneous transmission of a first uplink transmission on a first carrier in a first cell and a second uplink transmission on a second carrier in a second cell different from the first cell(see para.0388, which discusses the wireless device may receive one or more second RRC messages indicating enabling as scheduling a simultaneous transmission via the first uplink carrier and the second uplink carrier, see para.0280, which discusses the first UL carrier may be associated with a cell …the second UL carrier may be associated with a second cell. The cell and the second cell may be different) based on the capability message(see para.0388, which discusses the wireless device may transmit a capability by the wireless device whether the wireless device supports transmission of the first PUSCH via the first uplink carrier and the second PUSCH via the second uplink carrier simultaneously, thus based on capability); and
transmitting, to the base station, the first uplink transmission on the first carrier via the first cell simultaneous with the second uplink transmission on the second carrier via the second cell(see para.0388, which discusses the wireless device may determine the simultaneous transmission via the first uplink carrier and the second uplink carrier of the transport block, para.0280, which discusses the first UL carrier may be associated with a cell …the second UL carrier may be associated with a second cell. The cell and the second cell may be different, see also para.0313, 0323, see fig.22A, 23A).
As discussed above, although Yi’086 discloses transmitting, to a base station, a capability message of the UE, the capability message indicating whether the UE supports simultaneous transmission of uplink signaling(see para.0388, which discusses the wireless device may transmit a capability by the wireless device whether the wireless device supports transmission of the first PUSCH via the first uplink carrier and the second PUSCH via the second uplink carrier simultaneously), Yi’086 does not explicitly show the use of “on supplementary uplink carriers” as required by present claimed invention. However, including “on supplementary uplink carriers” would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as evidenced by Hao’656.
In particular, in the same field of endeavor, Hao’656 teaches the use of on supplementary uplink carriers(see abs, which discusses the terminal reports the first information to the network side; the first information represents SUL carrier capacity supported by the terminal…wherein, the first information comprises at least one of the following: whether the terminal supports multiple SUL carriers; the maximum number of SUL carrier scheduling; At the same time, the maximum number of SUL carriers is transmitted).
In view of the above, having the system of Yi’086 and then given the well-established teaching of Hao’656, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Yi’086 to include “on supplementary uplink carriers” as taught by Hao’656, since Hao’656 stated in Background+ that such a modification would improve the uplink performance.
Regarding claim 6, 20, Yi’086 discloses wherein each of the first carrier and the second carrier is one of a supplementary uplink carrier or(due to or language, only one of them is being considered) a non-supplementary uplink carrier(see para.0280, which discusses the first UL carrier may be a non-supplemental uplink carrier and the second UL carrier may be a supplemental uplink carrier of the cell, see para.0393).
Regarding claim 7, 21, Yi’086 discloses wherein the first carrier is a supplementary uplink carrier and the second carrier is a non-supplementary uplink carrier(see para.0280, which discusses the first UL carrier may be a non-supplemental uplink carrier and the second UL carrier may be a supplemental uplink carrier of the cell).
Regarding clam 8, 22, as discussed above, although Yi’086 discloses transmitting, to a base station, a capability message of the UE, the capability message indicating whether the UE supports simultaneous transmission of uplink signaling(see para.0388, which discusses the wireless device may transmit a capability by the wireless device whether the wireless device supports transmission of the first PUSCH via the first uplink carrier and the second PUSCH via the second uplink carrier simultaneously), Yi’086 does not explicitly show the use of “are each supplementary uplink carriers” as required by present claimed invention. However, including “are each supplementary uplink carriers” would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as evidenced by Hao’656.
In particular, in the same field of endeavor, Hao’656 teaches the use of the first carrier and the second carrier are each supplementary uplink carriers (see abs, which discusses the terminal reports the first information to the network side; the first information represents SUL carrier capacity supported by the terminal…wherein, the first information comprises at least one of the following: whether the terminal supports multiple SUL carriers; the maximum number of SUL carrier scheduling; At the same time, the maximum number of SUL carriers is transmitted).
In view of the above, having the system of Yi’086 and then given the well-established teaching of Hao’656, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Yi’086 to include “are each supplementary uplink carriers” as taught by Hao’656, since Hao’656 stated in Background+ that such a modification would improve the uplink performance.
Regarding claim 11, 25, Yi’086 discloses wherein the first cell is a primary cell (PCell) and the second cell is a secondary cell (SCell)(see at least para.0136, which discusses the carrier corresponding to the PCell may be referred to as the downlink primary CC (DL PCC). In the uplink, the carrier corresponding to the PCell may be referred to as the uplink primary CC (UL PCC). The other aggregated cells for the UE may be referred to as secondary cells (SCells)).
Regarding claim 12, 26, Yi’086 discloses further comprising receiving, from the base station, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the PDCCH comprising the schedule information(see para.0098, which discusses a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for carrying downlink control information (DCI), which may include downlink scheduling commands, uplink scheduling grants, and uplink power control commands).
Regarding claim 15, 29-30, Yi’086 discloses An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: a memory(see fig.15, memory 1524); and at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to(see fig.15, which shows memory 1524 coupled to the processing 1520-1522, see para.0215, which discusses Memory 1514 and memory 1524 (e.g., one or more non-transitory computer readable mediums) may store computer program instructions or code that may be executed by the processing system 1508 and/or the processing system 1518 to carry out one or more of the functionalities discussed in the present application):
transmit, to a base station, a capability message of the UE, the capability message indicating whether the UE supports simultaneous transmission of uplink signaling(see para.0388, which discusses the wireless device may transmit a capability by the wireless device whether the wireless device supports transmission of the first PUSCH via the first uplink carrier and the second PUSCH via the second uplink carrier simultaneously);
receive, from the base station, schedule information scheduling simultaneous transmission of a first uplink transmission on a first carrier in a first cell and a second uplink transmission on a second carrier in a second cell different from the first cell(see para.0388, which discusses the wireless device may receive one or more second RRC messages indicating enabling as scheduling a simultaneous transmission via the first uplink carrier and the second uplink carrier, see para.0280, which discusses the first UL carrier may be associated with a cell …the second UL carrier may be associated with a second cell. The cell and the second cell may be different) based on the capability message(see para.0388, which discusses the wireless device may transmit a capability by the wireless device whether the wireless device supports transmission of the first PUSCH via the first uplink carrier and the second PUSCH via the second uplink carrier simultaneously, thus based on capability); and
transmit, to the base station, the first uplink transmission on the first carrier via the first cell simultaneous with the second uplink transmission on the second carrier via the second cell(see para.0388, which discusses the wireless device may determine the simultaneous transmission via the first uplink carrier and the second uplink carrier of the transport block, para.0280, which discusses the first UL carrier may be associated with a cell …the second UL carrier may be associated with a second cell. The cell and the second cell may be different, see also para.0313, 0323, see fig.22A, 23A).
As discussed above, although Yi’086 discloses transmitting, to a base station, a capability message of the UE, the capability message indicating whether the UE supports simultaneous transmission of uplink signaling(see para.0388, which discusses the wireless device may transmit a capability by the wireless device whether the wireless device supports transmission of the first PUSCH via the first uplink carrier and the second PUSCH via the second uplink carrier simultaneously), Yi’086 does not explicitly show the use of “on supplementary uplink carriers” as required by present claimed invention. However, including “on supplementary uplink carriers” would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as evidenced by Hao’656.
In particular, in the same field of endeavor, Hao’656 teaches the use of on supplementary uplink carriers(see abs, which discusses the terminal reports the first information to the network side; the first information represents SUL carrier capacity supported by the terminal…wherein, the first information comprises at least one of the following: whether the terminal supports multiple SUL carriers; the maximum number of SUL carrier scheduling; At the same time, the maximum number of SUL carriers is transmitted).
In view of the above, having the system of Yi’086 and then given the well-established teaching of Hao’656, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Yi’086 to include “on supplementary uplink carriers” as taught by Hao’656, since Hao’656 stated in Background+ that such a modification would improve the uplink performance.
Claim(s) 9, 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yi et al (US 2023/0074086) and in view of Hao (CN-114449656-A) and further in view of Jeon et al (US 20190254074).
Regarding claim 9, 23, Yi’086 discloses wherein the first carrier and the second carrier are (see para.0280, which discusses the first UL carrier may be a non-supplemental uplink carrier and the second UL carrier may be a supplemental uplink carrier of the cell, see para.0393).
As discussed above, although the combined system of Yi’086 and Hao ‘656 discloses the first carrier and the second carrier are (see para.0280, which discusses the first UL carrier may be a non-supplemental uplink carrier and the second UL carrier may be a supplemental uplink carrier of the cell, see para.0393), the combined system of Yi’086 and Hao ‘656 does not explicitly show the use of “each non-supplementary uplink carriers” as required by present claimed invention. However, including “each non-supplementary uplink carriers” would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as evidenced by Jeon’074.
In particular, in the same field of endeavor, Jeon’074 teaches the use of each non-supplementary uplink carriers(see para.0187, which discusses wireless device that travels from a first carrier (e.g., an SUL or a non-SUL) coverage of a cell to a second carrier (e.g., a non-SUL or an SUL) of the cell, thus first and second carrier are non-SUL).
In view of the above, having the combined system of Yi’086 and Hao ‘656 and then given the well-established teaching of Jeon’074, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the combined system of Yi’086 and Hao ‘656 to include “on supplementary uplink carriers” as taught by Jeon’074, since Jeon’074 stated in para.0002+ that such a modification would improve wireless communications by increasing the likelihood for a successful random access procedure by a wireless device, without adversely increasing signaling overhead and/or decreasing spectral efficiency.
Claim(s) 10, 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yi et al (US 2023/0074086) and in view of Hao (CN-114449656-A) and further in view of Lou et al (US 20150011213).
Regarding claim 10, 24, Yi’086 discloses wherein the first cell and the second cell (para.0280, which discusses the first UL carrier may be associated with a cell …the second UL carrier may be associated with a second cell. The cell and the second cell may be different ).
As discussed above, although the combined system of Yi’086 and Hao ‘656 discloses the first carrier and the second carrier are (see para.0280, which discusses the first UL carrier may be a non-supplemental uplink carrier and the second UL carrier may be a supplemental uplink carrier of the cell, see para.0393), the combined system of Yi’086 and Hao ‘656 does not explicitly show the use of “are associated with a same cell group” as required by present claimed invention. However, including “are associated with a same cell group” would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as evidenced by Lou’213.
In particular, in the same field of endeavor, Lou’213 teaches the use of are associated with a same cell group(see fig.6, 620-640, see para.0058-0059, which discusses the second cell is in the same cell group as the first cell ).
In view of the above, having the combined system of Yi’086 and Hao ‘656 and then given the well-established teaching of Lou’213, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the combined system of Yi’086 and Hao ‘656 to include “are associated with a same cell group” as taught by Lou’213, since Lou’213 stated in para.0006+ that such a modification would reduce processing overhead and power consumption by reading only that portion of system information that has changed between cells when moving between cells within a cell group.
Claim(s) 13-14, 27-28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yi et al (US 2023/0074086) and in view of Hao (CN-114449656-A) and in view of Jiang (EP 4,283903) and further in view of Yamada (US 20120257513).
Regarding claim 13, 27, as discussed above, although the combined system of Yi’086 and Hao ‘656 discloses second cell and a primary cell (see para.0136, which discusses In the uplink, the carrier corresponding to the PCell may be referred to as the uplink primary CC (UL PCC)… In the uplink, the carrier corresponding to the SCell may be referred to as the uplink secondary CC (UL SCC)), the combined system of Yi’086 and Hao ‘656 does not explicitly show the use of “wherein the first carrier as a supplementary uplink carrier is configured with a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) when the second carrier is a non-supplementary uplink carrier” as required by present claimed invention. However, including “wherein the first carrier as a supplementary uplink carrier is configured with a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) when the second carrier is a non-supplementary uplink carrier” would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as evidenced by Jiang’086.
In particular, in the same field of endeavor, Jiang’086 teaches the use of wherein the first carrier as a supplementary uplink carrier is configured with a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)(see para.0012, which discusses the uplink carrier carrying the PUCCH is an SUL, and the terminal device independently choose to roll back the NUL. Usually, when signal quality of the NUL is poor, a network device configures the PUCCH on the SUL. The terminal device sends the PDU on the SUL, see para.0008, which discusses When the SUL carrier carries the PUCCH, the NUL may be rolled back and the PDU is sent on the SU) when the second carrier is a non-supplementary uplink carrier(see para.0012, which discusses the terminal device sends the PDU on the SUL and does not send the PDU on the NUL, see para.0008, thus the uplink carrier as first carrier, thus second carrier is a non-supplementary uplink carrier since the terminal does not send the PDU on the NUL).
In view of the above, having the combined system of Yi’086 and Hao ‘656 and then given the well-established teaching of Jiang’086, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the combined system of Yi’086 and Hao ‘656 to include “wherein the first carrier as a supplementary uplink carrier is configured with a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) when the second carrier is a non-supplementary uplink carrier” as taught by Jiang’086, since Jiang’086 stated in para.0005+ that such a modification would improve uplink communication quality, and meet an uplink coverage requirement.
Although the combined system of Yi’086, Hao ‘656 and Jiang’086 discloses second cell and a primary cell (see para.0136, which discusses In the uplink, the carrier corresponding to the PCell may be referred to as the uplink primary CC (UL PCC)… In the uplink, the carrier corresponding to the SCell may be referred to as the uplink secondary CC (UL SCC)), the combined system of Yi’086, Hao ‘656 and Jiang’086 does not explicitly show the use of “the second cell is a primary cell” as required by present claimed invention. However, including “the second cell is a primary cell” would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as evidenced by Yamada’513.
In particular, in the same field of endeavor, Yamada’513 teaches the use of the second cell is a primary cell(see fig.14, which shows Scell1 is Pcell 1408).
In view of the above, having the combined system of Yi’086, Hao ‘656 and Jiang’086 and then given the well-established teaching of Yamada’513, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the combined system of Yi’086, Hao ‘656 and Jiang’086 to include “the second cell is a primary cell” as taught by Yamada’513, since Yamada’513 stated in para.0004+ that such a modification would enable or improve communication using multiple channels or cells may be beneficial.
Regarding claim 14, 28, as discussed above, although the combined system of Yi’086 and Hao ‘656 discloses second cell and a primary cell (see para.0136, which discusses In the uplink, the carrier corresponding to the PCell may be referred to as the uplink primary CC (UL PCC)… In the uplink, the carrier corresponding to the SCell may be referred to as the uplink secondary CC (UL SCC)), the combined system of Yi’086 and Hao ‘656 does not explicitly show the use of “wherein the first carrier as a supplementary uplink carrier is not configured with a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) when the second carrier is a non-supplementary uplink carrier” as required by present claimed invention. However, including “wherein the first carrier as a supplementary uplink carrier is not configured with a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) when the second carrier is a non-supplementary uplink carrier” would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as evidenced by Jiang’086.
In particular, in the same field of endeavor, Jiang’086 teaches the use of wherein the first carrier as a supplementary uplink carrier is not configured with a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) (see para.0010, which discusses the uplink carrier carrying the PUCCH is an NUL, and the terminal device independently choose to roll back an SUL. Usually, when signal quality of the NUL is good, a network device configures the PUCCH on the NUL, thus not configured he terminal device independently choose to roll back an SUL, see para.0008)when the second carrier is a non-supplementary uplink carrier(see para.0010, which discusses the terminal device choose to send the PDU on the NUL and not send the PDU on the SUL, see para.0008).
In view of the above, having the combined system of Yi’086 and Hao ‘656 and then given the well-established teaching of Jiang’086, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the combined system of Yi’086 and Hao ‘656 to include “wherein the first carrier as a supplementary uplink carrier is not configured with a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) when the second carrier is a non-supplementary uplink carrier” as taught by Jiang’086, since Jiang’086 stated in para.0005+ that such a modification would improve uplink communication quality, and meet an uplink coverage requirement.
Although the combined system of Yi’086, Hao ‘656 and Jiang’086 discloses second cell and a primary cell (see para.0136, which discusses In the uplink, the carrier corresponding to the PCell may be referred to as the uplink primary CC (UL PCC)… In the uplink, the carrier corresponding to the SCell may be referred to as the uplink secondary CC (UL SCC)), the combined system of Yi’086, Hao ‘656 and Jiang’086 does not explicitly show the use of “the second cell is a secondary cell” as required by present claimed invention. However, including “the second cell is a secondary cell” would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as evidenced by Yamada’513.
In particular, in the same field of endeavor, Yamada’513 teaches the use of the second cell is a secondary cell (see fig.14, which shows Scell1 is SCell1 1412).
In view of the above, having the combined system of Yi’086, Hao ‘656 and Jiang’086 and then given the well-established teaching of Yamada’513, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the combined system of Yi’086, Hao ‘656 and Jiang’086 to include “the second cell is a secondary cell” as taught by Yamada’513, since Yamada’513 stated in para.0004+ that such a modification would enable or improve communication using multiple channels or cells may be beneficial.
Conclusion
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/VINNCELAS LOUIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474
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