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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgment is made of the information disclosure statement filed on July 9, 2024, and October 8, 2025, and May 6, 2026. U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, and non-patent literature documents have been considered.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because Figure 4 contains text in the column headers (on the right side) that is difficult to read. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being unpatentable by Jiang (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2020/0178312), herein referred to as “Shehata”.
Regarding Claim 1,
Jiang discloses: A wireless communication method, comprising:
determining, by a wireless communication device, a time-domain resource and a frequency-domain resource for transmitting at least one repetition of a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH)
[0061] FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a random access method, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5, the random access method includes the following operations.
[0062] In S501, the base station sends a broadcast message to the UE. The broadcast message contains a PRACH resource for multi-preamble transmission through each beam.
[0063] The PRACH resource is to indicate a multi-preamble transmission opportunity, and the multi-preamble transmission through each beam has a respective dedicated PRACH resource. The multi-preamble transmission opportunity may include a starting time-frequency resource position, a repetition period and a number of times of repetition of the PRACH resource. The PRACH resource may include a preamble identifier. In addition, the PRACH resource may further include a size of an RAR receiving window.
[0064] In S502, the UE is associated with a downlink beam by using a downlink measurement signal.
[0065] In S503, the UE, when initiating random access, acquires a PRACH resource for multi-preamble transmission from the presently associated downlink beam. The PRACH resource is to indicate a multi-preamble transmission opportunity.
transmitting, by the wireless communication device to the base station, the at least one repetition of the PRACH using the time-domain resource and the frequency-domain resource.
[0066] In S504, the UE starts preamble transmission from any time-frequency resource position in the present multi-preamble transmission opportunity, and when transmission of all preambles is ended, the UE starts monitoring an RAR receiving window.
[0067] In S505, the base station receives a preamble transmitted by the UE.
Regarding Claim 18,
Claim 18 is rejected is rejected on the same grounds set forth in claim 1.
Jiang discloses: A wireless communication device, comprising:
at least one processor configured to: determine a time-domain resource and a frequency-domain resource for transmitting at least one repetition of a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH)
[0061] FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a random access method, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5, the random access method includes the following operations.
[0062] In S501, the base station sends a broadcast message to the UE. The broadcast message contains a PRACH resource for multi-preamble transmission through each beam.
[0063] The PRACH resource is to indicate a multi-preamble transmission opportunity, and the multi-preamble transmission through each beam has a respective dedicated PRACH resource. The multi-preamble transmission opportunity may include a starting time-frequency resource position, a repetition period and a number of times of repetition of the PRACH resource. The PRACH resource may include a preamble identifier. In addition, the PRACH resource may further include a size of an RAR receiving window.
[0064] In S502, the UE is associated with a downlink beam by using a downlink measurement signal.
[0065] In S503, the UE, when initiating random access, acquires a PRACH resource for multi-preamble transmission from the presently associated downlink beam. The PRACH resource is to indicate a multi-preamble transmission opportunity.
transmit, via a transmitter to the base station, the at least one repetition of the PRACH using the time-domain resource and the frequency-domain resource.
[0066] In S504, the UE starts preamble transmission from any time-frequency resource position in the present multi-preamble transmission opportunity, and when transmission of all preambles is ended, the UE starts monitoring an RAR receiving window.
[0067] In S505, the base station receives a preamble transmitted by the UE.
Regarding Claim 19,
Claim 19 is rejected is rejected on the same grounds set forth in claim 1, but from the perspective of the receiver.
Jiang discloses: A wireless communication method, comprising: configuring, by a base station for a wireless communication device, a time-domain resource and a frequency-domain resource for transmitting at least one repetition of a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH)
[0061] FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a random access method, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5, the random access method includes the following operations.
[0062] In S501, the base station sends a broadcast message to the UE. The broadcast message contains a PRACH resource for multi-preamble transmission through each beam.
[0063] The PRACH resource is to indicate a multi-preamble transmission opportunity, and the multi-preamble transmission through each beam has a respective dedicated PRACH resource. The multi-preamble transmission opportunity may include a starting time-frequency resource position, a repetition period and a number of times of repetition of the PRACH resource. The PRACH resource may include a preamble identifier. In addition, the PRACH resource may further include a size of an RAR receiving window.
[0064] In S502, the UE is associated with a downlink beam by using a downlink measurement signal.
[0065] In S503, the UE, when initiating random access, acquires a PRACH resource for multi-preamble transmission from the presently associated downlink beam. The PRACH resource is to indicate a multi-preamble transmission opportunity.
receiving, by the base station from the wireless communication device, the at least one repetition of the PRACH using the time-domain resource and the frequency-domain resource.
[0066] In S504, the UE starts preamble transmission from any time-frequency resource position in the present multi-preamble transmission opportunity, and when transmission of all preambles is ended, the UE starts monitoring an RAR receiving window.
[0067] In S505, the base station receives a preamble transmitted by the UE.
Regarding Claim 20,
Claim 20 is rejected is rejected on the same grounds set forth in claim 1, but from the perspective of the base station.
Jiang discloses: A wireless communication method, comprising: configure, by a base station for a wireless communication device, a time-domain resource and a frequency-domain resource for transmitting at least one repetition of a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH)
[0061] FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a random access method, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5, the random access method includes the following operations.
[0062] In S501, the base station sends a broadcast message to the UE. The broadcast message contains a PRACH resource for multi-preamble transmission through each beam.
[0063] The PRACH resource is to indicate a multi-preamble transmission opportunity, and the multi-preamble transmission through each beam has a respective dedicated PRACH resource. The multi-preamble transmission opportunity may include a starting time-frequency resource position, a repetition period and a number of times of repetition of the PRACH resource. The PRACH resource may include a preamble identifier. In addition, the PRACH resource may further include a size of an RAR receiving window.
[0064] In S502, the UE is associated with a downlink beam by using a downlink measurement signal.
[0065] In S503, the UE, when initiating random access, acquires a PRACH resource for multi-preamble transmission from the presently associated downlink beam. The PRACH resource is to indicate a multi-preamble transmission opportunity.
receive, by the base station from the wireless communication device, the at least one repetition of the PRACH using the time-domain resource and the frequency-domain resource.
[0066] In S504, the UE starts preamble transmission from any time-frequency resource position in the present multi-preamble transmission opportunity, and when transmission of all preambles is ended, the UE starts monitoring an RAR receiving window.
[0067] In S505, the base station receives a preamble transmitted by the UE.
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 2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang in view of Yang et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2019/0215864), herein referred to as “Yang”.
Regarding Claim 2,
Jiang does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 2.
However, Yang discloses: The wireless communication method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the wireless communication device, a time-domain window, wherein the time-domain resource is in the time-domain window.
[0035] Preferably, the device further includes a second determining module, which is configured to determine time domain resources or candidate PRACH time domain resources for transmitting an Mgs1 by using at least one of the following parameters: a PRACH time domain position pattern, a period or a period set in which the PRACH time domain resources occur, an offset of the PRACH time domain position in the period, a PRACH time window start position, a period in which the PRACH time window appears, a PRACH time window length, a time domain resource start position in the PRACH time window, a domain resource interval in the PRACH time window, a time domain resource end position in the PRACH time window, and the number of time domain resources in the PRACH time window.
Jiang in view of Yang are considered to be analogous because they involve wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang to include the concept of having a time-domain resource in a time-domain window as taught by Yang so as to promote overall effectiveness in the wireless network.
Claims 3 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang in view of Yang, held further in view of He (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2024/0373473).
Regarding Claim 3,
Jiang in view Yang does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 3.
However, He discloses: The wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein each of a plurality of time-domain windows correspond to one of a plurality of PRACH transmissions, each of the plurality of PRACH transmissions has a different number of repetitions.
[0120] In an embodiment, the predefined condition includes: each SSB transmitted by a network device can be mapped to at least N PRACH occasions within a time domain window corresponding to the multiple, where N depends on the number of PRACH repetitions, and N is an integer and N≥1.
Note: N represents the different number of repetitions.
Jiang in view of Yang and He are considered to be analogous because they involve wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang in view of Yang to include the concepts of having a time domain window correspond to a PRACH transmission and also having different repetitions as taught by He so as to promote overall effectiveness in the wireless network.
Regarding Claim 4,
Jiang does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 4.
However, Yang discloses: The wireless communication method of claim 3, wherein one of: the plurality of time-domain windows are arranged according to an order; or
the plurality of time-domain windows are cyclical.
[0035] Preferably, the device further includes a second determining module, which is configured to determine time domain resources or candidate PRACH time domain resources for transmitting an Mgs1 by using at least one of the following parameters: a PRACH time domain position pattern, a period or a period set in which the PRACH time domain resources occur, an offset of the PRACH time domain position in the period, a PRACH time window start position, a period in which the PRACH time window appears, a PRACH time window length, a time domain resource start position in the PRACH time window, a domain resource interval in the PRACH time window, a time domain resource end position in the PRACH time window, and the number of time domain resources in the PRACH time window.
Note: A period herein is being interpreted as a cycle.
Jiang in view of Yang are considered to be analogous because they involve wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang to include the concept of having a time-domain resource in a time-domain window as taught by Yang so as to promote overall effectiveness in the wireless network.
Claims 5, 11, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang in view of Yang and He, held further in view of Seok et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2023/0179348), herein referred to as “Seok”.
Regarding Claim 5,
Jiang teaches PRACH transmissions; however Jiang in view of Yang and He does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 5.
However, Seok discloses: The wireless communication method of claim 4, wherein the order in which the plurality of time-domain windows are arranged comprises an ascending order of the numbers of repetitions of each of the plurality of PRACH transmissions.
[0397] ii) The terminal may transmit information on an index of the time domain window to the base station. One time domain window is configured with the same index, and another time domain window is configured with a sequentially increased index, so that the terminal may inform the base station that the time domain windows are different time domain windows. Referring to FIG. 66, the terminal may inform the base station, via an identical index, that an uplink channel transmission is performed within the same time domain window, and may inform, via an increased index, that an uplink channel transmission is performed within another time domain window. This enables the base station to, when the base station fails to receive uplink channels transmitted in slot 3 and slot 4 as described with reference to FIG. 66b, recognize the failure and request retransmission of the uplink channels from the terminal. That is, since indices of slots 0 to 2 and an index of slot 5 are different, the base station may recognize that slots 0 to 2 and slot 5 are included in different time domain windows.
Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Seok are considered to be analogous because they involve wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang in view of Yang and He to include the concept of having time domain windows arranged in ascending order as taught by Seok so as to promote overall effectiveness in the wireless network.
Regarding Claim 11,
Jiang in view of Yang and He does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 11.
However, Seok discloses: The wireless communication method of claim 3, further comprising determining the plurality of time-domain windows by: determining a reference time-domain window; and determining at least one time-domain window based on the reference time-domain window and an offset.
[0368] i) The base station may explicitly transmit information on a time domain window to the terminal, and the terminal may determine the time domain window, based on the transmitted information on the time domain window. In this case, information on the time domain window may be information on a duration of the time domain window, and may specifically include at least one information of the number of slots, the number of symbols, and the number of repeated uplink channel transmissions. The terminal may transmit a PUCCH or PUSCH to satisfy a joint channel estimation condition in a time domain window configured by the base station. If the terminal receives information on the time domain window from the base station, the terminal needs to determine a time point at which the time domain window starts.
[0372] i-d) The base station may configure, for the terminal, an offset value for determination of a time point at which a time domain window starts. An offset value may be at least one of the number of slots, the number of symbols, and the number of repeated uplink channel transmissions. For example, if the offset value is X slots, X symbols, or X repetitions, the time domain window may be configured by grouping durations corresponding to X slots, X symbols, or X repetitions. In this case, the X value may be a value smaller than a duration of the time domain section.
Note: The reference window is the determined window in paragraph [0368], and the offset is calculated from this window (paragraph [0072]).
Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Seok are considered to be analogous because they involve wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang in view of Yang and He to include the concepts of a reference time-domain windows and an offset as taught by Seok so as to promote overall effectiveness in the wireless network.
Regarding Claim 13,
Jiang in view of Yang and He does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 13.
However, Seok discloses: The wireless communication method of claim 11, wherein the offset is determined based on a step size and a repetition number of the at least one repetition.
[0372] i-d) The base station may configure, for the terminal, an offset value for determination of a time point at which a time domain window starts. An offset value may be at least one of the number of slots, the number of symbols, and the number of repeated uplink channel transmissions. For example, if the offset value is X slots, X symbols, or X repetitions, the time domain window may be configured by grouping durations corresponding to X slots, X symbols, or X repetitions. In this case, the X value may be a value smaller than a duration of the time domain section.
Note: Applicant’s specification defines the step size as an offset having a numerical value (paragraph [0067]), to which the X slots and symbols herein can be used as a step size, in conjunction with the X repetitions, to determine the offset.
Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Seok are considered to be analogous because they involve wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang in view of Yang and He to include the concept of a step size and repetition number to determine the offset as taught by Seok so as to promote overall effectiveness in the wireless network.
Claims 6-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang in view of Yang and He, held further in view of Wu et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2018/0049164), herein referred to as “Wu”.
Regarding Claim 6,
Jiang in view of Yang and He does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 6.
However, Wu discloses: The wireless communication method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of time-domain windows are consecutively connected to one another.
[0138] FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram illustrating the continuous repetition of a physical downlink control channel and the discontinuous repetition of the scheduled physical downlink data channel according to an embodiment of the invention, where 2501 represents the continuous PDCCH repetition and 2502 represents the discontinuous PDSCH repetition. The PDCCH is repeated regardless of the scheduling window, and the PDSCH repetition on the same set of time domain resource units in multiple scheduling windows. If the number of time domain resource units allocated by the PDSCH in the scheduling window is smaller than the number of time domain resource units included in the scheduling window, the PDSCH is discontinuously repeated. If the number of time domain resource units allocated by the PDSCH in the scheduling window equals to the number of time domain resource units included in the scheduling window, PDSCH is continuously repeated. The time relationship between the starting subframe of the scheduling window for the first PDSCH repetition and the last PDCCH repetition can be referred to FIG. 12, FIG. 13 and FIG. 14.
Note: Figure 25 presents consecutive time domain-windows.
Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Wu are considered to be analogous because they involve wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang in view of Yang and He to include the concept of having consecutive time domain windows as taught by Wu so as to promote overall effectiveness in the wireless network.
Regarding Claim 7,
Jiang in view of Yang and He does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 7.
However, Wu discloses: The wireless communication method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of time-domain windows comprises at least one time-domain window group, the at least one time-domain window group appears periodically, and adjacent time-domain window groups are discontinuous.
[0138] FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram illustrating the continuous repetition of a physical downlink control channel and the discontinuous repetition of the scheduled physical downlink data channel according to an embodiment of the invention, where 2501 represents the continuous PDCCH repetition and 2502 represents the discontinuous PDSCH repetition. The PDCCH is repeated regardless of the scheduling window, and the PDSCH repetition on the same set of time domain resource units in multiple scheduling windows. If the number of time domain resource units allocated by the PDSCH in the scheduling window is smaller than the number of time domain resource units included in the scheduling window, the PDSCH is discontinuously repeated. If the number of time domain resource units allocated by the PDSCH in the scheduling window equals to the number of time domain resource units included in the scheduling window, PDSCH is continuously repeated. The time relationship between the starting subframe of the scheduling window for the first PDSCH repetition and the last PDCCH repetition can be referred to FIG. 12, FIG. 13 and FIG. 14.
Note: Element 2501 shows the continuity, and element 2502 shows the discontinuity.
Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Wu are considered to be analogous because they involve wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang in view of Yang and He to include the concept of showing both continuous and discontinuous time domain windows as taught by Wu so as to promote overall effectiveness in the wireless network.
Regarding Claim 8,
Jiang in view of Yang and He does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 8.
However, Wu discloses: The wireless communication method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of time-domain windows comprises at least two sets of time-domain window group, the time-domain window groups in one set appears periodically, and different time-domain window group sets are configured with different periods.
[0138] FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram illustrating the continuous repetition of a physical downlink control channel and the discontinuous repetition of the scheduled physical downlink data channel according to an embodiment of the invention, where 2501 represents the continuous PDCCH repetition and 2502 represents the discontinuous PDSCH repetition. The PDCCH is repeated regardless of the scheduling window, and the PDSCH repetition on the same set of time domain resource units in multiple scheduling windows. If the number of time domain resource units allocated by the PDSCH in the scheduling window is smaller than the number of time domain resource units included in the scheduling window, the PDSCH is discontinuously repeated. If the number of time domain resource units allocated by the PDSCH in the scheduling window equals to the number of time domain resource units included in the scheduling window, PDSCH is continuously repeated. The time relationship between the starting subframe of the scheduling window for the first PDSCH repetition and the last PDCCH repetition can be referred to FIG. 12, FIG. 13 and FIG. 14.
Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Wu are considered to be analogous because they involve wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang in view of Yang and He to include the concept of showing both periodic and aperiodic time domain windows as taught by Wu so as to promote overall effectiveness in the wireless network.
Regarding Claim 9,
Jiang in view of Yang and He does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 9.
However, Wu discloses: The wireless communication method of claim 3, further comprising determining a length for each of the plurality of time-domain windows, wherein lengths of two or more of the plurality of time-domain windows are same or different.
[0138] FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram illustrating the continuous repetition of a physical downlink control channel and the discontinuous repetition of the scheduled physical downlink data channel according to an embodiment of the invention, where 2501 represents the continuous PDCCH repetition and 2502 represents the discontinuous PDSCH repetition. The PDCCH is repeated regardless of the scheduling window, and the PDSCH repetition on the same set of time domain resource units in multiple scheduling windows. If the number of time domain resource units allocated by the PDSCH in the scheduling window is smaller than the number of time domain resource units included in the scheduling window, the PDSCH is discontinuously repeated. If the number of time domain resource units allocated by the PDSCH in the scheduling window equals to the number of time domain resource units included in the scheduling window, PDSCH is continuously repeated. The time relationship between the starting subframe of the scheduling window for the first PDSCH repetition and the last PDCCH repetition can be referred to FIG. 12, FIG. 13 and FIG. 14.
Note: The aperiodic/discontinuous windows would have a different length compared to the continuous window.
Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Wu are considered to be analogous because they involve wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang in view of Yang and He to include the concept of showing both periodic and aperiodic time domain windows as taught by Wu so as to promote overall effectiveness in the wireless network.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Wu held further in view of Taherzadeh Boroujeni et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2023/0114659), herein referred to as “Taherzadeh Boroujeni”. This reference claims priority to, and has support in, provisional application 63/262,333.
Regarding Claim 10,
Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Wu does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 10.
However, Taherzadeh Boroujeni discloses: The wireless communication method of claim 9, further comprising determining the length for each of the plurality of time-domain windows by: receiving, by the wireless communication device from the base station, a reference length and at least one scaling factor; and determining, by the wireless communication device, the length for each of the plurality of time-domain windows based on at least one of the reference length, the at least one scaling factor, or the different number of repetitions.
[0098] In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first and second aspects, process 600 includes scaling, using a scaling factor, the first time domain window with respect to the second time domain window. In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through third aspects, the scaling factor is less than 1. In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fourth aspects, the scaling factor is greater than 1.
[0109] The scaling component 710 may scale, using a scaling factor, the first time domain window with respect to the second time domain window. The scaling component 710 may obtain the scaling factor from stored configuration information or from configuration information received from a network entity.
[0118] The scaling component 810 may scale, using a scaling factor, the first time domain window with respect to the second time domain window. The transmission component 804 may transmit the scaling factor in configuration information to the UE.
Jiang in view of Yang, He, Wu, and Taherzadeh Boroujeni are considered to be analogous because they involve wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Wu to include the concept of showing both periodic and aperiodic time domain windows as taught by Taherzadeh Boroujeni so as to promote overall effectiveness in the wireless network.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Seok, held further in view of Liu and Zhang (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2021/0250899), herein referred to as “Liu”.
Regarding Claim 12,
Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Seok does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 12.
However, Liu discloses: The wireless communication method of claim 11, wherein
the reference time-domain window corresponds to no repetition of the PRACH; and
each of the at least one time-domain window corresponds to at least one repetition of the PRACH.
[0162] The SFN is a system frame number, and radio frames corresponding to all values that are of the SFN and that satisfy the foregoing formula are PFs, and the PFs may be calculated according to the foregoing formula SFN mod T. After the first terminal device and the second terminal device in the foregoing embodiment obtain respective UE IDs, respective paging positions of the first terminal device and the second terminal device may be calculated according to the foregoing formula. A value range of the SFN is from 0 to 1023. Therefore, a PF periodically appears within the value range from 0 to 1023. mod represents a modulo operation, / represents division, and x represents multiplication.
Note: Per Applicant’s specification paragraph [0069], when the SFN satisfies a condition, there is no repetition (i.e., when SFN = 1). Here, the SFN can take on values that represent both non-repetition and repetition.
Jiang in view of Yang, He, Seok, and Liu are considered to be analogous because they involve wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Wu to include the concept of showing both repetitive and non-repetitive values as taught by Liu so as to promote overall effectiveness in the wireless network.
Claims 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang in view of Yang and He, held further in view of Feng and Sheng (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2024/0276487), herein referred to as “Feng”.
Regarding Claim 14,
Jiang in view of Yang and He does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 14.
However, Feng discloses: The wireless communication method of claim 3, further comprising: determining, by the wireless communication device, that two of the plurality of time-domain windows overlap in time; and modifying one of the two of the plurality of time-domain windows based on an offset.
[0064] Frequency hopping changes the frequency resources and impacts the joint channel estimation. Bundling is introduced to balance between JCE gain and frequency diversity gain. Inter-bundle frequency hopping can be considered for coverage enhancements. The phase continuity within one bundle should be preserved. With inter-bundle hopping, cross-slot channel estimation can be enabled to improve the accuracy of channel estimation within one bundle. To support inter-bundle frequency hopping for NR, the frequency hopping pattern including a frequency domain hopping offset, a time domain hopping interval and the related signaling need to be defined and the phase continuity within one bundle should be preserved.
[0151] When the bundling configuration conflicts with the time domain window configuration, the UE 10 and the base station 20 may perform the following options: [0152] Option 1: The UE 10 is not expected to be configured both of the time domain window configuration and the bundling configuration. The base station 20 ensures that the time domain window configuration and the bundling configuration are not configured at the same time. The base station 20 ensures that the time domain window configuration and the bundling configuration are not configured for the same set of uplink transmissions, such as PUSCHs or PUCCHs. [0153] Option 2: If the UE 10 is configured both of the time domain window configuration and the bundling configuration, the UE 10 prefers the bundling configuration. With reference to FIG. 11, specifically, when the base station 20 provides both of the time domain window configuration and the bundling configuration to the UE 10, the UE 10 prioritizes the bundling configuration over the time domain window configuration when the bundling configuration conflicts with the time domain window configuration. When the base station 20 sends the time domain window configuration and the bundling configuration to the UE 10 sequentially, the UE ignores or overrides the time domain window configuration (step 232). When the base station 20 sends the bundling configuration and the time domain window configuration to the UE 10 sequentially, the UE ignores or overrides the time domain window configuration (step 232a). receives the time domain window configuration and the bundling configuration for a frequency hopping function.
Note: The conflict is the “overlapping”. Modifying based on an offset is interpreted with a frequency hopping offset to maintain a “bundle” as cited herein.
Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Feng are considered to be analogous because they involve wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang in view of Yang and He to include the concept of an overlap in the time domain windows and modifying the windows based on an offset as taught by Feng so as to promote overall effectiveness in the wireless network.
Claims 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang in view of Yang and He, held further in view of Xu et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2021/0235456), herein referred to as “Xu”.
Regarding Claim 15,
Jiang in view of Yang and He does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 15.
However, Xu discloses: The wireless communication method of claim 2, further comprising: sorting, by the wireless communication device, a plurality of time-domain resources in the time-domain window; and mapping, by the wireless communication device, the plurality of time-domain resources to at least one Synchronization Signal/Physical Broadcasting Channel (PBCH) Block (SSB) based on the sorting.
[0095] In a fifth embodiment, using Case A as an example, the sub-carrier spacing SCS is 15 kHz. Taking the carrier frequency at 3 GHz and below as an example, the maximum number L of SS/PBCH blocks is 4. As shown in FIG. 7, in the half-frame window, the index numbers of the four SS/PBCH blocks are 0, 1, 2, and 3 in order. The time domain locations sent by these four SS/PBCH blocks are 0, 1, 2, and 3, respectively. If four SS/PBCH blocks are newly defined in the SS/PBCH block transmission window, the time domain positions are 4, 5, 6, and 7 respectively.
Note: The sorting occurs when the SS/PBCH blocks are in order which are transmitted.
Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Xu are considered to be analogous because they involve wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang in view of Yang and He to include the concepts of sorting and mapping a time-domain resource to a SS/PBCH as taught by Xu so as to promote overall effectiveness in the wireless network.
Regarding Claim 16,
Jiang in view of Yang and He does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 16.
However, Xu discloses: The wireless communication method of claim 3, further comprising mapping, by the wireless communication device, a plurality of time-domain resources in two or more of the plurality of time-domain windows within a time period to at least one Synchronization Signal/Physical Broadcasting Channel (PBCH) Block (SSB).
[0095] In a fifth embodiment, using Case A as an example, the sub-carrier spacing SCS is 15 kHz. Taking the carrier frequency at 3 GHz and below as an example, the maximum number L of SS/PBCH blocks is 4. As shown in FIG. 7, in the half-frame window, the index numbers of the four SS/PBCH blocks are 0, 1, 2, and 3 in order. The time domain locations sent by these four SS/PBCH blocks are 0, 1, 2, and 3, respectively. If four SS/PBCH blocks are newly defined in the SS/PBCH block transmission window, the time domain positions are 4, 5, 6, and 7 respectively.
Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Xu are considered to be analogous because they involve wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang in view of Yang and He to include the concept of mapping a time-domain resource to a SS/PBCH as taught by Xu so as to promote overall effectiveness in the wireless network.
Regarding Claim 17,
Jiang in view of Yang and He does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 17.
However, Xu discloses: The wireless communication method of claim 3, further comprising mapping, by the wireless communication device, a plurality of time-domain resources in each of the plurality of time-domain windows to at least one Synchronization Signal/Physical Broadcasting Channel (PBCH) Block (SSB).
[0095] In a fifth embodiment, using Case A as an example, the sub-carrier spacing SCS is 15 kHz. Taking the carrier frequency at 3 GHz and below as an example, the maximum number L of SS/PBCH blocks is 4. As shown in FIG. 7, in the half-frame window, the index numbers of the four SS/PBCH blocks are 0, 1, 2, and 3 in order. The time domain locations sent by these four SS/PBCH blocks are 0, 1, 2, and 3, respectively. If four SS/PBCH blocks are newly defined in the SS/PBCH block transmission window, the time domain positions are 4, 5, 6, and 7 respectively.
Jiang in view of Yang, He, and Xu are considered to be analogous because they involve wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang in view of Yang and He to include the concept of mapping a time-domain resource to a SS/PBCH as taught by Xu so as to promote overall effectiveness in the wireless network.
Conclusion
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/JESSE P. SAMLUK/Examiner, Art Unit 2411
/DERRICK W FERRIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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