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 .
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS)
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 18 November 2024 is being considered by the examiner.
Claims 1-20 are pending
Figure 7 of the application illustrates the claimed invention.
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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)(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.
Claim(s) 1, 6, 11 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US 2019/0174447 A) in view of Lundgren (US 2011/0216715 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 6, 11 and 16, Liu et al. discloses a communication method, applied in a terminal device comprising:
obtaining first configuration information (UE obtains transmission configuration information between the UE and a network, S101, figure 2), wherein the first configuration information comprises time domain information of a first transmission opportunity (“where the transmission configuration information indicates that an uplink tracking signal is to be sent according to a discontinuous transmission mode” see Abstract);
sending a first signal, wherein the first signal is used to determine timing advance (TA) information (“When the UE enters a low power mode, the UE sends an uplink tracking signal to the network device based on the transmission configuration information” S102, figure 2);
obtaining the TA information (“The network device determines timing advance TA adjustment information of the UE based on the uplink tracking signal” S103 and “The UE receives the TA adjustment information returned by the network device” S104, figure 2); and
determining a TA between the terminal device and a network device based on the TA information ([0005]: “the eNodeB determines a TA value of each UE based on measurement of uplink transmission of the corresponding UE. Therefore, as long as the UE has uplink transmission, the eNodeB may correspondingly estimate the TA value. Theoretically, any signal sent by the UE may be used for measuring the TA value. If specific UE requires correction, the eNodeB sends a TAC (6 bits) to the UE, to request the UE to adjust uplink transmission timing.”, wherein the TA is used for data transmission after a time domain start location corresponding to the time domain information of the first transmission opportunity
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Liu et al. differs from the claimed invention in that Liu teaches the network device determines timing advance TA adjustment information of the UE based on the uplink tracking signal while in the claims, the UE determines the TA information based on a signal obtained from the network device.
Lundgren, in the same field of invention, teaches the UE determines the timing advance based on received signal from the network device.
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It would have been obvious to those having ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the UE to determine timing advance, such as teaching in Lundgren.
Regarding claims 2, 7, 12 and 17, Liu et al. further teaches obtaining, second configuration information, where the second configuration information comprises time domain information that carrier the first signal. (See figure 4, [0184]: “if the network device detects that TA needs to be adjusted, the network device further sends TA adjustment information to the UE. A transmission cycle of the TA adjustment information may also be configured.”)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 8-10, 13-15 and 18-20 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 prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to
application disclosure.
ZHOU et al. (US 2014/0148186 A1) discloses method for determining Timing Advance TA, and method and device for transmitting information.
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Hosseini et al. (US 2018/0139747 A1) discloses timing advance reporting for latency reduction
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Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRENDA H PHAM whose telephone number is (571)272-3135. The examiner can normally be reached 571-272-3135.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Jiang can be reached at 571-270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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BRENDA H. PHAM
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2412
/BRENDA H PHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
Prosecution Insights