DETAILED ACTION
This office action is responsive to the Applicant’s claim amendment filed on 12/31/2025.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed on 12/31/2025 with respect to claim rejections have been considered but are moot in view of a new ground 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, 6, 11 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US 2017/0265184 A1) in view of Liu et al. (US 2017/0339718 A1), hereafter Liu-2.
Consider claims 1, 6, 11 and 16:
Liu discloses a method for transmitting beams (see paragraph 0012, where Liu describes a method for uplink synchronization using transmission of uplink beam groups), comprising:
receiving, by a terminal from a base station, grouping information (see Fig. 2 and paragraphs 0079-0081, where Liu describes that a base station notifies a terminal through a broadcast, the terminal obtains information on N uplink receiving beam groups , M+1 uplink transmitting beams are indexed by each of the N uplink receiving beam groups),
wherein the grouping information comprises at least one transmission beam index included in each of X transmission beam groups determined by the base station (see Fig. 2 and paragraphs 0079-0081, where Liu describes that each of the N uplink receiving beam groups includes uplink transmitting beam index 0, uplink transmitting beam index 1, … and uplink transmitting beam index M),
wherein X is an integer greater than or equal to 1 (see Fig. 2 and paragraphs 0079-0081, where Liu describes that N is greater than 3);
determining, by the terminal, the X transmission beam groups according to the received grouping information (see Fig. 2 and paragraphs 0079-0081, where Liu describes that the terminal obtains broadcast information about the N uplink receiving beam groups); and
transmitting, by the terminal, one or more transmission beams according to the X transmission beam groups (see paragraph 0077, where Liu describes that the terminal transmits uplink access signals through the N uplink receiving beam groups),
wherein the one or more transmission beams belong to the X transmission beam groups (see Fig. 2 and paragraphs 0079-0081, where Liu describes that M+1 uplink transmitting beams are indexed by each of the N uplink receiving beam groups).
Liu does not specifically disclose: different transmission beams in a same transmission beam group of the X transmission beam groups are transmitted by the terminal only at different time times; and transmission beams respectively belonging to different transmission beam groups of the X transmission beam groups are able to be transmitted by the terminal at the same time; wherein the terminal has antenna capability to transmit the transmission beams respectively belonging to the different transmission beam groups at the same time, and the terminal does not have antenna capability to transmit the different transmission beams in a same transmission beam group at a same time.
Liu-2 teaches: different transmission beams in a same transmission beam group of X transmission beam groups are transmitted by a terminal only at different time times; and transmission beams respectively belonging to different transmission beam groups of the X transmission beam groups are able to be transmitted by the terminal at the same time (see paragraph 0249, where Liu-2 describes that a terminal has four uplink transmitting beams: beamTx0 to beamTx3, where beamTx0 and beamTx1 belong to transmitting beam group txG1, and beamTx2 and beamTx3 belong to transmitting beam group txG2, for the first group txG1, the terminal transmits beamTx0 at time t and transmits beamTx1 at time t+∆, for the second group txG2, the terminal transmits beamTx2 at time t and transmits beamTx3 at time t+∆); wherein the terminal has antenna capability to transmit the transmission beams respectively belonging to the different transmission beam groups at the same time, and the terminal does not have antenna capability to transmit the different transmission beams in a same transmission beam group at a same time (see paragraph 0125, where Liu-2 describes that the terminal transmits the uplink transmitting beams according to its own antenna capability).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: different transmission beams in a same transmission beam group of the X transmission beam groups are transmitted by the terminal only at different time times; and transmission beams respectively belonging to different transmission beam groups of the X transmission beam groups are able to be transmitted by the terminal at the same time; wherein the terminal has antenna capability to transmit the transmission beams respectively belonging to the different transmission beam groups at the same time, and the terminal does not have antenna capability to transmit the different transmission beams in a same transmission beam group at a same time, as taught by Liu-2 to modify the method of Liu in order to respond to more uplink accesses, as discussed by Liu-2 (see paragraph 0012).
Claims 2-5, 7-10, 12-15 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US 2017/0265184 A1) in view of Liu-2 et al. (US 2017/0339718 A1), as applied to claims 1, 6, 11 and 16 above, and further in view of Yu et al. (US 2016/0197659 A1).
Consider claims 2, 7, 12 and 17:
Liu in view of Liu-2 discloses the invention of claims 1, 6, 11 and 16 above. Liu teaches: transmitting, by the terminal, each of the Q transmission beams on a respective one of the Q time domain resources (see Fig. 2 and paragraphs 0079-0081, where Liu describes that each of the N uplink receiving beam groups has a corresponding time-domain resource set).
Liu does not specifically disclose: the X transmission beam groups comprise Q transmission beams when X=1, and the Q transmission beams occupy Q time domain resources, respectively, wherein Q is an integer greater than 1.
Yu teaches: X transmission beam groups comprise Q transmission beams when X=1, and the Q transmission beams occupy Q time domain resources, respectively, wherein Q is an integer greater than 1 (see Fig. 3 and paragraphs 0056-0057, where Yu describes one beam group which includes zeroth to fourth beams 330, 332, 334, 336 and 338, the beams in this beam group are divided by time resources).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: the X transmission beam groups comprise Q transmission beams when X=1, and the Q transmission beams occupy Q time domain resources, respectively, wherein Q is an integer greater than 1, as taught by Yu to modify the method of Liu in order to improve transmission efficiency, as discussed by Yu (see paragraph 0008).
Consider claims 3, 8, 13 and 18:
Liu in view of Liu-2 discloses the invention of claims 1, 6, 11 and 16 above. Liu does not specifically disclose: the X transmission beam groups correspond to X radio frequency links of the terminal, and each of the X radio frequency links is used by the terminal for transmitting a transmission beam in one of the X transmission beam groups.
Yu teaches: X transmission beam groups correspond to X radio frequency links of a transmitting end (see Fig. 3 and paragraphs 0056-0058, where Yu describes that one beam group is transmitted by one antenna of a group of antennas including zeroth antenna 340 to third antenna 346, and the antennas are divided by frequency resources); and each of the X radio frequency links is used by the transmitting end for transmitting a transmission beam in one of the X transmission beam groups (see paragraph 0058, where Yu describes that each antenna is used to transmit beams in one beam group).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: the X transmission beam groups correspond to X radio frequency links of the terminal, and each of the X radio frequency links is used by the terminal for transmitting a transmission beam in one of the X transmission beam groups, as taught by Yu to modify the method of Liu in order to improve transmission efficiency, as discussed by Yu (see paragraph 0008).
Consider claims 4, 9, 14 and 19:
Liu in view of Liu-2 discloses the invention of claims 1, 6, 11 and 16 above. Liu does not explicitly disclose: determining, by the terminal, a multiplexing manner of transmission beams of X transmission beam groups according to the grouping information; and transmitting, by the terminal, transmission beams according to the multiplexing manner.
Yu teaches: determining, by a transmitting end, a multiplexing manner of transmission beams of X transmission beam groups according to grouping information (see Fig. 7 and paragraphs 0098-0099, operation 707, where Yu describes that the base station selects a multiplexing scheme); and transmitting, by the transmitting end, transmission beams according to the multiplexing manner (see Fig. 7 and paragraph 0099, operation 707, where Yu describes that the base station selects a multiplexing scheme for transmitting beams within each beam group).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: determining, by the terminal, a multiplexing manner of transmission beams of X transmission beam groups according to the grouping information; and transmitting, by the terminal, transmission beams according to the multiplexing manner, as taught by Yu to modify the method of Liu in order to improve transmission efficiency, as discussed by Yu (see paragraph 0008).
Consider claims 5, 10, 15 and 20:
Liu in view of Liu-2 discloses the invention of claims 4, 9, 14 and 19 above. Liu does not explicitly disclose: a multiplexing manner set of transmission beams in one of the X transmission beam groups is a set A, a multiplexing manner set of transmission beams in different beam groups of the X transmission beam groups is a set B, and the set A is a proper subset of the set B.
Yu teaches: a multiplexing manner set of transmission beams in one of N beam groups is a set A (see Fig. 7 and paragraph 0099, operation 707, where Yu describes a first multiplexing scheme set which includes: frequency division multiplexing (FDM), code division multiplexing (CDM) and time division multiplexing (TDM), the base station selects one of the multiplexing scheme from the set for transmitting beams within each beam group), a multiplexing manner set of transmission beams in different beam groups of the N beam groups is a set B, and the set A is a proper subset of the set B (see paragraph 0094, where Yu describes a second multiplexing scheme set which includes: space division multiplexing (SDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), code division multiplexing (CDM) and time division multiplexing (TDM), and the second multiplexing scheme set is used for transmitting beams in each beam group, Examiner’s comment: the first multiplexing scheme set is a proper subset of the second multiplexing scheme set because the second multiplexing scheme set contains all elements of the first multiplexing scheme set and the second multiplexing scheme set has one more element than the first multiplexing scheme set).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: a multiplexing manner set of transmission beams in one of the X transmission beam groups is a set A, a multiplexing manner set of transmission beams in different beam groups of the X transmission beam groups is a set B, and the set A is a proper subset of the set B, as taught by Yu to modify the method of Liu in order to improve transmission efficiency, as discussed by Yu (see paragraph 0008).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LIHONG YU whose telephone number is (571)270-5147. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00 am-6:00 pm EST Monday-Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hannah S. Wang can be reached at (571)272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LIHONG YU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631
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