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
Response to Amendment
Acknowledgement is made of the Response to Restriction, filed on July 20, 2026, in which:
Group I directed to claims 1-13 is elected without traverse.
Claims 21-27 are New, and
Claims 14-20 are Canceled.
Claims 1-13 and 21-27 are currently pending and an Office action on the merits follows.
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.
Claims 6 and 26 are 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 term “essentially a same communications” in claims 6 and 26 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “essentially a same communications” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-13 and 21-27is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Pub No.: US-20220053433-A1 (herein “Abedini”).
Claims 1, 21, and 25
Consider claim 1, Abedini teaches a device (see Abedini Fig. 14, Repeater Device 1404), comprising:
a processing system including a processor (see Abedini Fig. 32, note Processor 3204 of Repeater Device 3200); and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations (see Abedini Fig. 32, note CRM 3206 of Repeater Device 3200), the operations comprising:
communicating, with a parent cell of a wireless communications system, beamforming information (see Abedini Fig. 14, [0215]-[0219] note Initial Access and RRC Connection 1408 may identify the beams that will be used to communicate between the Repeater Device 1404 and Network Access Node 1402);
receiving, from the parent cell, first parent downlink (DL) communications, wherein the first parent DL communications are associated with first user equipment (UE) (see Abedini Fig. 14, [0220] note the Network AN 1402 transmits DL traffic for the UE 1406 to the repeater device 1404 );
transmitting, to the first UE, first repeater DL communications, wherein the first repeater DL communications are based upon the first parent DL communications (see Abedini Fig. 14, [0220] note then the repeater device 1404 may forward the DL traffic for the UE to the UE 1406);
receiving, from the first UE, first UE uplink (UL) communications (see Abedini Fig. 14, [0221] note the UE 1406 may transmit UL traffic to the repeater device 1404); and
transmitting, to the parent cell, first repeater UL communications, wherein the first repeater UL communications are based upon the first UE UL communications (see Abedini Fig. 14, [0221[ note the repeater device 1404 may forward the UL traffic from the UE 1406 to the Network AN 1402);
wherein the beamforming information is used to control the transmitting of the first repeater DL communications, the transmitting of the first repeater UL communications, or any combination thereof (see Abedini Fig. 14, [0215]-[0219] note the Network AN 1402 and the Repeater Device 1404 identify the beams used to communicate with each other).
Claim(s) 21 and 25 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 1.
Claims 2 and 22
Consider claim 2, Abedini teaches wherein:
the beamforming information comprises DL beamforming information that applies to the transmitting of the first repeater DL communications to the first UE (see Abedini [0219] note the network access node 1402 and the repeater device 1404 may perform an RU configuration procedure. Here, the network access node 1402 may send control messages to configure the operation of an RU. For example, the network access node 1402 may send configuration information for an RU of the repeater device 1404 to an MT of the repeater device 1404. Thus, in some examples, the RU configuration procedure may control (as represented by a line 1416) the operation of a first RU 1404a for DL traffic and control (as represented by a line 1418) the operation of a second RU 1404b for UL traffic. The configuration may include, for example, beamforming configurations and TDD configurations (e.g., Rx & Tx (forwarding) beamforming) and/or time-domain resource allocation (e.g., the resources used to adopt the indicated configuration);
the DL beamforming information comprises: DL beam type; DL reference signal association, DL half-power beam width, DL beam direction defined by a boresight of the DL beam; a first explicit mapping to set of DL beam indices; or any first combination thereof (see Abedini Fig. 22, Fig. 23, Fig. 24, [0249]-[0253] note beam signals a the mm Wave frequency, etc);
the beamforming information comprises UL beamforming information that applies to the transmitting of first repeater UL communications to the parent cell (see Abedini [0219] note the network access node 1402 and the repeater device 1404 may perform an RU configuration procedure. Here, the network access node 1402 may send control messages to configure the operation of an RU. For example, the network access node 1402 may send configuration information for an RU of the repeater device 1404 to an MT of the repeater device 1404. Thus, in some examples, the RU configuration procedure may control (as represented by a line 1416) the operation of a first RU 1404a for DL traffic and control (as represented by a line 1418) the operation of a second RU 1404b for UL traffic. The configuration may include, for example, beamforming configurations and TDD configurations (e.g., Rx & Tx (forwarding) beamforming) and/or time-domain resource allocation (e.g., the resources used to adopt the indicated configuration); and
the UL beamforming information comprises: UL beam type; UL reference signal association, UL half-power beam width, UL beam direction defined by a boresight of the UL beam; a second explicit mapping to set of UL beam indices; or any second combination thereof (see Abedini Fig. 22, Fig. 23, Fig. 24, [0249]-[0253] note beam signals at the mm Wave frequency, etc).
Claim 3
Consider claim 3, Abedini teaches wherein: each beam type comprises a respective coverage-beam or a respective user-beam (see Abedini [0351] note steering beams in various directions or form an omnidirectional beam); and
each reference signal association comprises a respective Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), or any combination thereof (see Abedini teaches [0249], [0260] note SSB or CSI-RS).
Claims 4 and 23
Consider claim 4, Abedini teaches wherein the beamforming information is carried via a control channel link (see Abedini [0113], [0215]-[0219] note communication over a Uu Link).
Claim(s) 23 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 4.
Claims 5 and 24
Consider claim 5, Abedini teaches wherein the communicating of the beamforming information comprises receiving first beamforming information from the parent cell, transmitting second beamforming information to the parent cell, or any combination thereof (see Abedini [0215]-[0219] note the network access node 1402 and the repeater device 1404 may identify the beams they will use to communicate with each other).
Claim(s) 24 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 5.
Claims 6 and 26
Consider claim 6, Abedini teaches wherein: the first repeater DL communications are essentially a same communications as the first parent DL communications (see Abedini Fig. 14, [0220] note then the repeater device 1404 may forward the DL traffic for the UE to the UE 1406); and
the first repeater UL communications are essentially a same communications as the first UE UL communications (see Abedini Fig. 14, [0221[ note the repeater device 1404 may forward the UL traffic from the UE 1406 to the Network AN 1402);.
Claim(s) 26 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 6.
Claims 7 and 27
Consider claim 7, Abedini teaches wherein the transmitting, to the first UE, the first repeater DL communications is responsive to receipt of the first parent DL communications from the parent cell (see Abedini Fig. 14, [0220] note then the repeater device 1404 may forward the DL traffic for the UE to the UE 1406).
Claim(s) 27 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 7.
Claim 8
Consider claim 8, Abedini teaches wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving, from the parent cell, second parent DL communications, wherein the second parent DL communications are associated with a second UE (see Abedini Fig. 14, [0220] note the Network AN 1402 transmits DL traffic for the UE 1406 to the repeater device 1404. Also see Abedini Fig. 8, [0163]-[0166] note a first repeater 806 communicating with the first UE 810 and second UE 814);
transmitting, to the second UE, second repeater DL communications, wherein the second repeater DL communications are based upon the second parent DL communications (see Abedini Fig. 14, [0220] note then the repeater device 1404 may forward the DL traffic for the UE to the UE 1406);
receiving, from the second UE, second UE UL communications (see Abedini Fig. 14, [0221] note the UE 1406 may transmit UL traffic to the repeater device 1404); and
transmitting, to the parent cell, second repeater UL communications, wherein the second repeater UL communications are based upon the second UE UL communications (see Abedini Fig. 14, [0221] note the repeater device 1404 may forward the UL traffic from the UE 1406 to the Network AN 1402);
wherein the beamforming information is used to control the transmitting of the second repeater DL communications, the transmitting of the second repeater UL communications, or any combination thereof (see Abedini Fig. 14, [0215]-[0219] note the Network AN 1402 and the Repeater Device 1404 identify the beams used to communicate with each other).
Claim 9
Consider claim 9, Abedini teaches wherein the device is part of a network controlled repeater (NCR) (see Abedini Fig. 14, Repeater Device 1404).
Claim 10
Consider claim 10, Abedini teaches wherein the NCR operates in a fifth generation (5G) communications system, a sixth generation (6G) communications system, a subsequent generation communications system, or any combination thereof (see Abedini [0185] note 5G wireless network).
Claim 11
Consider claim 11, Abedini teaches wherein each of the first parent DL communications, the first repeater DL communications, the first UE UL communications, and the first repeater UL communications comprises user traffic (see Abedini Fig. 14, [0220]-[0221] note UE DL 1420, UE DL 1422, UE UL 1424, and UE UL 1426) .
Claim 12
Consider claim 12, Abedini teaches wherein the user traffic comprises audio, video, data, text, or a combination thereof (see Abedini Fig. 14, [0220]-[0221], [0223] note UE DL 1420, UE DL 1422, UE UL 1424, and UE UL 1426, where the UE DL traffic may be data sent to and/or received from a UE) .
Claim 13
Consider claim 13, Abedini teaches wherein the first UE comprises: a cellphone; a smartphone; a tablet computer; a laptop computer; a notebook computer, or any combination thereof (see Abedini [0078] note cellular phone).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCUS C HAMMONDS whose telephone number is (571)270-3193. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00AM-6:00PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ALISON T. SLATER can be reached at (571)270-0375. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARCUS HAMMONDS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
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