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 .
For reissue applications filed on or after September 16, 2012, all references to 35 U.S.C. 251 and 37 CFR 1.172, 1.175, and 3.73 are to the current provisions.
Reissue Applications
The instant application is a broadening reissue of U.S. Patent No. 11,438,851 (hereinafter the ‘851 patent), granted on 6 September 2022. Claims 1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 14, 16, and 19, and 21-32 have been examined.
Applicant is reminded of the continuing obligation under 37 CFR 1.178(b), to timely apprise the Office of any prior or concurrent proceeding in which the ‘851 patent is or was involved. These proceedings would include any trial before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, interferences, reissues, reexaminations, supplemental examinations, and litigation.
Applicant is further reminded of the continuing obligation under 37 CFR 1.56, to timely apprise the Office of any information which is material to patentability of the claims under consideration in this reissue application.
These obligations rest with each individual associated with the filing and prosecution of this application for reissue. See also MPEP §§ 1404, 1442.01 and 1442.04.
Applicant is notified that any subsequent amendment to the specification and/or claims must comply with 37 CFR 1.173(b). In addition, for reissue applications filed before September 16, 2012, when any substantive amendment is filed in the reissue application, which amendment otherwise places the reissue application in condition for allowance, a supplemental oath/declaration will be required. See MPEP § 1414.01.
Information Disclosure Statements
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 26 September 2025 and 12 January 2026 were filed after the mailing date of the non-final rejection on 16 September 2025. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Priority
The ‘851 patent is a continuation of U.S. Patent No. 10.932,209 to Zhang (hereinafter the ‘209 patent). The ‘209 patent was filed as continuation of Application PCT/CN2017/105777, filed 11 October 2017.
Oath/Declaration
The Reissue Declaration is objected to because it designates the claims of the application as being narrowing in scope, although they are clearly broadening. The change that cures the cited error should be one that is broadening in scope.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 251
Claims 1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 14, 16, and 19, and 21-32 are rejected as being based upon a defective reissue declaration under 35 U.S.C. 251 as set forth above. See 37 CFR 1.175.
The nature of the defect(s) in the reissue declaration is set forth in the discussion above in this Office action.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 14, 16, and 19, and 21-32 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 251 set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: No art was found that discloses or renders obvious “wherein the second bandwidth is less than a bandwidth of 24 Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs)” in the contexts of claims 1, 6, 11, and 16. All other claims would be allowable based upon their dependence upon allowable subject matter.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 9 December 2025 with respect to the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 251 for a recapture have been fully considered and are persuasive. Since the broadening change to the original claims would have still been sufficient to overcome the cited prior art (Ko) in the original prosecution, the recapture test is not met and that rejection under 35 U.S.C. 251 is withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments are also persuasive with respect to the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103. Zhang ‘424 does not suggest that the “wraparound” approach to PBCH allocation could be used to reduce the bandwidth to less than 24 PRB’s; rather, as Applicant points out, Zhang ‘424 merely suggests that its architecture could be used for additional information to be transmitted. The rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 are withdrawn.
Applicant’s argument regarding the objection and rejection of the reissue declaration is not persuasive. The claims as now recited are broadening in scope in certain aspects. For example, the original claims as recited effectively required the PSS to precede the SSS in the sequence, as S0 (PSS) came before S2 (SSS). In the claims as now recited, they could appear in either order. The reissue declaration should therefore point out the broadening nature of the application.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 MATTHEW E HENEGHAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3834. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
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, Michael Fuelling can be reached at (571)270-1367. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MATTHEW E HENEGHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992
Conferees:
/Ovidio Escalante/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992
/M.F/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3992