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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Acknowledgment is made for the applicant’s response and amendment filed on 08/12/2026.
Remarks
The claims are presented as follows:
Claims 1-6 are canceled.
Claim 7 is new.
Claim 7 is pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments with respect to the claim have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The claim recites the limitations “to perform…synchronization with a first carrier based on a synchronization carrier frequency related to a same subcarrier spacing of the first carrier other than a synchronization carrier frequency included in a list of carriers having a same subcarrier spacing to be referred to for synchronization”. This limitation is not clear as what is being synchronized with the first carrier based on the frequency [e.g., selected or provided], and whether the first carrier is induced in the list of carriers. Also, it’s not clear if the first carrier has the same subcarrier spacing or different subcarrier spacing from the list of carriers. The specification does not clearly explain what is being done, and the paragraphs indicated by applicant as support for this limitation also do not explain what is being done. Thus, the limitations are indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
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.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HOU et al. Publication No. (US 2020/0235887 A1) in view of Lee et al. Publication No. (US 2020/0235887 A1).
Claims 1- 6. (Canceled).
Regarding claim 7, HOU teaches a terminal (vehicle user 1 FIG.14) comprising:
a processor (a processor 1601 FIG.24) configured to perform, in inter-terminal direct communication using a plurality of carriers (the transmitting party notifies the selected numerology to other device involved in the sidelink communication, so that the transmitting and receiving parties can synchronize the numerology configuration used for the communication [0132-135] FIG.8), synchronization with a first carrier (the synchronization process is described in a chronological order with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 8 [0139] FIG.8) related to a same subcarrier spacing of the first carrier (vehicle user 1 performs sidelink communication with multiple vehicle users 2, 3 and 4 at the same time, and the vehicle user 1 is in a coverage of a base station, so that the vehicle user 1 may receive configuration information of one or more candidate numerologies and one or more candidate resource sets from the base station [0174-175] FIG.14) other than a synchronization carrier frequency included in a list of carriers (The component carriers CC0 to CC3 may correspond to the same or different numerology configurations according to actual communication conditions [0196-198] FIG.18) having a same subcarrier spacing (The subcarrier spacing may be 15 kHz e.g., same subcarrier spacing [0073]) to be referred to for synchronization (synchronization numerology configuration used by different component carriers in the communication process is selected based on the communication condition and the service type corresponding to each component carrier, The Vehicle user 1 informs the vehicle user 2 of the numerology configuration selected for each component carrier through one of the component carriers, the vehicle user 1 and the vehicle user 2 perform the carrier aggregation communication based on the numerology configured for each component carrier. [0193-196] FIG.17); and
a transceiver (a transceiver 1612 FIG.24) configured to perform transmission and reception with another terminal by using the plurality of carriers including the first carrier (selecting corresponding numerology configuration according to factors such as the communication condition and the transmission content of each component carrier to perform carrier aggregation communication scenario between user 1 and user 2, the communicating parties may use multiple component carriers to perform communication simultaneously or not simultaneously. For example, different component carriers may transmit different types of communication services. [0197-198] FIG.18).
HOU does not explicitly teach the synchronization is based on a synchronization carrier frequency.
Lee teaches that the synchronization is based on a synchronization carrier frequency (when one synchronization carrier is present in the SET B, the UE may derive a frequency synchronization of aggregated carriers from a synchronization reference of the synchronization carrier [0150-151] FIG.22. In V2X communication based on a single carrier, the UE may perform the transmitting/receiving operation on all BWPs in the carrier or on the pre-configured BWP, by using the frequency synchronization derived from the synchronization reference related to the SCREF_SLPRI [0188-190] FIG.23).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified HOU by the teaching of Lee to have a synchronization based carrier frequency in order to determine the bandwidth parts (BWPs) included in the first carrier to be used to acquire a priority of the first carrier (Lee: [0208-209] FIG.23).
Conclusion
Applicants’ amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicants are reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for replying 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 extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no case, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
When responding to this office action, Applicant is advised to clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present, in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. He or she must also show how the amendments avoid such references or objections See 37 CFR 1.111(c).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABDELNABI O MUSA whose telephone number is (571)270-1901, and email address is abdelnabi.musa@uspto.gov ‘preferred’. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kevin Bates, can be reached on 571-2723980. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ABDELNABI O MUSA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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