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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 15 objected to because of the following informalities: “and” after “the additional scheduling information comprises a first indication of a range of frequencies to monitor for the system information” should be deleted. Appropriate correction is required.
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 5 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.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the TDRA table" in the wherein clause which depends on claim 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Applicant most likely meant to have the claim 5 dependent on claim 4 instead of claim 3 as corresponding to claim 22 depending on claim 21.
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.
Claim(s) 1-8, 17-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abedini et al. (US 2022/0078838, hereinafter “Abedini”) in view of Gao et al. (US 2021/0112583, hereinafter “Gao”).
For claim 1, Abedini discloses An apparatus configured for wireless communications, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories (Some UEs may be considered a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). UE 120 may be included inside a housing that houses components of UE 120, such as processor components and/or memory components. In some aspects, the processor components and the memory components may be coupled together; see Abedini par. 0062 and Fig. 2), configured to cause the apparatus to:
receive, in a first transmission occasion, a system information downlink control channel, the system information downlink control channel comprising scheduling information for a plurality of system information downlink shared channels in a plurality of transmission occasions, the plurality of transmission occasions including the first transmission occasion (as further shown in FIG. 9, and by reference number 940, the forwarding node 905 may transmit, and the UE 120 node may receive, the RMSI PDSCH that is scheduled by the RMSI PDCCH and includes the RMSI to enable initial access. Furthermore, as described above, the RMSI PDSCH may be transmitted multiple times in multiple transmission occasions, and each instance of the RMSI PDSCH may include a DMRS sequence associated with one or more time resources (e.g., a slot and symbol index) used to transmit the RMSI PDSCH; see Abedini par. 0191); and
monitor the plurality of system information downlink shared channels (the UE 120 may use the DMRS sequence included in the RMSI PDSCH to perform channel estimation and/or demodulation on the RMSI PDSCH signal received at the UE 120. Furthermore, in some aspects, the UE 120 may also receive a copy of the RMSI PDSCH transmitted by the base station 110, which includes a DMRS sequence associated with the time interval in which the RMSI PDSCH is transmitted by the base station 110. In this case, the UE 120 may process both RMSI PDSCH signals based at least in part on the respective DMRS sequences included in the RMSI PDSCH signals to achieve a signal processing gain; see Abedini par. 0191).
Abedini does not explicitly disclose scheduling information. Gao discloses scheduling information (receiving the indication of the plurality of transmission occasions comprises receiving the indication of the plurality of transmission occasions via a transmission configuration indication (TCI) field in a DCI that schedules the plurality of downlink transmissions, the TCI field indicating a codepoint that indicates more than one TCI state and thus more than one transmission occasion; see Gao par. 0052). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Gao's arrangement in Abedini's invention to provide an efficient way of signaling the starting symbols for multiple transmission occasions (see Gao par. 0044).
For claims 2 and 19, Abedini discloses The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the scheduling information comprises a downlink control information (DCI) (the configuration information 450 may be carried in a lower-layer control message (e.g., a control message associated with physical layers and/or medium access control (MAC) layers), an upper-layer control message (e.g., a control message associated with network layers), an application- layer control message (e.g., a control message associated with an application layer), and/or the like. For example, a control message may be carried using a radio resource control (RRC) message, downlink control information (DCI), a MAC control element (MAC-CE), and/or the like; see Abedini par. 0115, 0137-0138).
For claims 3 and 20, Abedini does not explicitly disclose The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the DCI indicates the plurality of transmission occasions. Gao discloses The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the DCI indicates the plurality of transmission occasions (receiving the indication of the plurality of transmission occasions comprises receiving a DCI that schedules the plurality of downlink transmissions in the plurality of transmission occasions in a same slot, wherein the DCI comprises the indication of the plurality of transmission occasions; see Gao par. 0054). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Gao's arrangement in Abedini's invention to provide an efficient way of signaling the starting symbols for multiple transmission occasions (see Gao par. 0044).
For claims 4 and 21, Abedini does not explicitly disclose The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the scheduling information comprises a time-domain resource allocation (TDRA) table. Gao discloses The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the scheduling information comprises a time-domain resource allocation (TDRA) table (receiving the indication of the start and the length of the first transmission occasion comprises receiving the indication of the start and the length of the first transmission occasion via a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) field in a DCI that schedules the plurality of downlink transmissions; see Gao par. 0051, 0120, 0130, 0012). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Gao's arrangement in Abedini's invention to provide an efficient way of signaling the starting symbols for multiple transmission occasions (see Gao par. 0044).
For claims 5 and 22, Abedini does not explicitily disclose The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the TDRA table indicates the plurality of transmission occasions. Gao discloses The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the TDRA table indicates the plurality of transmission occasions (The methods of the first example embodiment (including step c) and the fourth example embodiment provide a reduction in the downlink control overhead as only the start and length of the first transmission occasion are signaled via the TDRA field in DCI. The other solution is to indicate the start and length of both the first and second transmission occasions via the TDRA field in DCI, but this other solution will increase the number of bits in the TDRA field; see Gao par. 0120). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Gao's arrangement in Abedini's invention to provide an efficient way of signaling the starting symbols for multiple transmission occasions (see Gao par. 0044).
For claims 6 and 23, Abedini does not explicitly disclose The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a first number of time-frequency resources allocated for a first system information downlink shared channel of the plurality of system information downlink shared channels is different than a second number of time-frequency resources allocated for a second system information downlink shared channel of the plurality of system information downlink shared channels. Gao discloses The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a first number of time-frequency resources allocated for a first system information downlink shared channel of the plurality of system information downlink shared channels is different than a second number of time-frequency resources allocated for a second system information downlink shared channel of the plurality of system information downlink shared channels (For different starting symbols for the first PDSCH transmission occasion and mini-slot lengths, the allowed maximum K value would be different. For example, for S=0 and L=7, only K=0 is possible. While for S=2 and L=4, K can be from 0 to 5. Thus, in another embodiment, a K value is configured in each TDRA together with k0, PDSCH type, and SLIV. This would allow the K value to be configured according to the S and L values configured in each TDRA in the TDRA list and the same TDRA field in the DCI can be used indicate the K value. An example is shown below where each TD RA represented by the higher layer parameter PDSCH-TimeDomainResourceAllocation contains a K value. The maximum value possible for K is given by the parameter maxKvalue which may be, e.g., predefined in 3GPP specifications; see Gao par. 0130). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Gao's arrangement in Abedini's invention to provide an efficient way of signaling the starting symbols for multiple transmission occasions (see Gao par. 0044).
For claims 7 and 24, Abedini discloses The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to receive first system information in the plurality of system information downlink shared channels based at least in part on monitoring the plurality of system information downlink shared channels (the UE 120 may use the DMRS sequence included in the RMSI PDSCH to perform channel estimation and/or demodulation on the RMSI PDSCH signal received at the UE 120. Furthermore, in some aspects, the UE 120 may also receive a copy of the RMSI PDSCH transmitted by the base station 110, which includes a DMRS sequence associated with the time interval in which the RMSI PDSCH is transmitted by the base station 110. In this case, the UE 120 may process both RMSI PDSCH signals based at least in part on the respective DMRS sequences included in the RMSI PDSCH signals to achieve a signal processing gain; see Abedini par. 0191, 0239-0243).
For claims 8 and 25, Abedini discloses The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first system information comprises remaining minimum system information (RMSI) (for each repeater that is to forward an SSB, an RMSI PDCCH, and/or an RMSI PDSCH, the base station must perform multiple transmissions of the SSB and/or RMSI transmission(s) to be forwarded. Furthermore, even though the system information included in the RMSI PDSCH and at least some of the forwarding (e.g., reception and/or transmission) parameters for the RMSI PDCCH change relatively infrequently, the base station has to repeatedly transmit the RMSI PDSCH content and/or information configuring the forwarding parameters for the RMSI PDCCH because analog repeaters perform processing only in an analog domain ( e.g., lack capabilities to store information associated with the RMSI PDCCH and/or RMSI PDSCH); see Abedini par. 0047, 0173).
For claim 17, Abedini discloses The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each system information downlink shared channel of the plurality of system information downlink shared channels is confined within a respective time resource allocation of a respective synchronization signal block in a respective transmission occasion of the plurality of transmission occasions (the wireless forwarding node includes means for obtaining a payload that includes the RMSI associated with the access procedure; and/or means for inserting the payload and a new DMRS sequence into each instance of the RMSI PDSCH based at least in part on the one or more time resources associated with the transmission occasion in which the instance of the RMSI PDSCH is transmitted. In some aspects, the wireless forwarding node includes means for receiving, at the mobile termination (MT) unit associated with the wireless node, information updating the content of the RMSI in a fronthaul PDSCH. In some aspects, a forwarding node includes means for receiving information for use in generating one or more SSB communications that are to be transmitted in an SSB period; means for storing the information; and/or means for transmitting the one or more SSB communications, based at least in part on the information, in the SSB period; see Abedini par. 0079-0081).
For claim 18, Abedini discloses An apparatus configured for wireless communications (FIG. 17 is a block diagram of an example apparatus 1700 for wireless communication. The apparatus 1700 may be a wireless node, such as a forwarding node, a repeater node, a relay node, and/or the like, or a wireless node may include the apparatus 1700; see Abedini par. 0319 and Fig. 17), comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories (The transceiver may be used by a processor ( e.g., controller/processor 240) and memory 242 to perform aspects of any of the methods described herein (for example, as described with reference to FIGS. 9-21); see Abedini par. 0073), configured to cause the apparatus to:
send, in a first transmission occasion, a system information downlink control channel, the system information downlink control channel comprising scheduling information for a plurality of system information downlink shared channels in a plurality of transmission occasions, the plurality of transmission occasions including the first transmission occasion (as further shown in FIG. 9, and by reference number 940, the forwarding node 905 may transmit, and the UE 120 node may receive, the RMSI PDSCH that is scheduled by the RMSI PDCCH and includes the RMSI to enable initial access. Furthermore, as described above, the RMSI PDSCH may be transmitted multiple times in multiple transmission occasions, and each instance of the RMSI PDSCH may include a DMRS sequence associated with one or more time resources (e.g., a slot and symbol index) used to transmit the RMSI PDSCH; see Abedini par. 0191); and
send the plurality of system information downlink shared channels (base station may periodically transmit system information (e.g., RMSI) and/or transmit system information in multiple occasions within a period ( e.g., using a beam sweep), may transmit paging messages multiple times in multiple different beam directions, may transmit a group common PDCCH in multiple directions using different time and/or frequency resources, and/or the like; see Abedini par. 0219).
Abedini does not explicitly disclose scheduling information. Gao discloses scheduling information (receiving the indication of the plurality of transmission occasions comprises receiving the indication of the plurality of transmission occasions via a transmission configuration indication (TCI) field in a DCI that schedules the plurality of downlink transmissions, the TCI field indicating a codepoint that indicates more than one TCI state and thus more than one transmission occasion; see Gao par. 0052). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Gao's arrangement in Abedini's invention to provide an efficient way of signaling the starting symbols for multiple transmission occasions (see Gao par. 0044).
Claim(s) 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abedini and Gao, and further in view of Yoo et al. (US 11,595,990, hereinafter “Yoo”).
For claim 15, Abedini discloses The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:
the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to receive a master information block (MIB) comprising additional scheduling information for system information comprising the system information downlink control channel and the plurality of system information downlink shared channels (As shown in FIG. 9, and by reference number 910, the base station 110 may transmit, and the forwarding node 905 may receive, information for use in forwarding and/or generating RMSI communications. For example, in a wireless network, a PBCH master information block (MIB) may carry a first part of system information that the UE 120 needs in order to access the wireless network, and RMSI can carry all remaining system information that the UE 120 needs in order to gain access to the wireless network (e.g., in one or more system information blocks (SIBs)). In general, the RMSI may be transmitted in an RMSI PDSCH, which is scheduled by an RMSI PDCCH, and the RMSI PDCCH and the RMSI PDSCH may be periodically transmitted in one or more downlink beam sweeps to enable initial access…; see Abedini par. 0180);
the subset of transmission occasions includes the plurality of transmission occasions (when the forwarding node 905 is configured to transmit the RMSI PDSCH multiple times (e.g., in multiple transmission occasions), the forwarding node 905 may be configured to include, in each instance of the RMSI PDSCH, a DMRS scrambling sequence that is based at least in part on one or more time resources ( e.g., a slot and symbol index) associated with a transmission occasion in which the respective instance of the RMSI PDSCH is to be transmitted; see Abedini par. 0187).
Abedini does not explicitly disclose the additional scheduling information comprises a first indication of a range of frequencies to monitor for the system information; and the additional scheduling information comprises a second indication of a subset of transmission occasions, of a set of transmission occasions, to monitor for the system information; and. Yoo discloses the additional scheduling information comprises a first indication of a range of frequencies to monitor for the system information; and the additional scheduling information comprises a second indication of a subset of transmission occasions, of a set of transmission occasions, to monitor for the system information; and (1. A method performed by a terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: receiving, from a base station, a master information block (MIB) on a frequency range, wherein the frequency range is one of a first frequency range or a second frequency range; receiving, from the base station, a system information block (SIB) based on the MIB, the SIB including first information indicating a number of physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission occasions in a frequency domain, second information indicating a preamble format of a PRACH, and third information indicating a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the PRACH; in case that the frequency range is the first frequency range, identifying a first preamble format corresponding to the first frequency range based on the second information and identifying a first SCS; in case that the frequency range is the second frequency range, identifying a second preamble format corresponding to the second frequency range based on the second information and identifying a second SCS, wherein the second frequency range is different from the first frequency range and the second preamble format is different from the first preamble format· and transmitting, to the base station, the PRACH based on the identified first preamble format and the identified first SCS or based on the identified second preamble format and the identified second SCS, and based on the first information and third information; see Yoo claim 1 in page 27-28). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Yoo's arrangement in Abedini's invention to extent a RACH resource depending on N frequency resources so that there is an effect in that RACH capacity can be increased by N times (see Yoo col. 16 line 60-col. 17 line 3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-14, 16, 26-28 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.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: claims 9-14, 16, 26-28 would be allowable because the closest prior arts listed above either alone or in combination, fail to anticipate or render obvious, the claimed invention of “the first system information comprises a set of coded bits; and each of the plurality of system information downlink shared channels comprises a respective instance of the set of coded bits”, in combination with all other limitations in the claim(s) above as defined by applicant.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
- Wang et al. (US 2026/0136372);
-Li et al. (US 2021/0337428).
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/CHAE S LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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