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 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) 1-5, 13-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 1029a)(2) as being anticipated by Elkotby et al. – US 2025/0016822 (hereafter Elkotby).
Re claim 17, Elkotby discloses:
A communication device, comprising:
“a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is configured to store a computer program, the processor is configured to invoke and execute the computer program stored in the memory, to cause the communication device to perform” (Fig. 1B; para. 0044, 0045, 0225-0229):
“determine time domain resource information for the back scattering communication according to first information” (para. 0160, 0161, 0163, 0172, 0173, 0175; wherein the UE determines the transmission time and window (“time domain resource information”) for backscattering feedback on the basis of the control information (“first information”) sent from the base station);
“wherein the first information is identification information of the first communication device, or the first information is identification information of the first communication device and identification information of a serving cell” (para. 0154, 0156, 0160, 0162, 0163; wherein the “first information” includes, among other essential parameters, the UE unique ID).
Re claim 1, see corresponding claim 17.
Re claim 18, Elkotby further discloses claimed subject matter “wherein
the time domain resource information for the back scattering communication comprises at least one of: a starting location of a time domain resource for the back scattering communication, or a back scattering occasion for the back scattering communication” in para. 0160, wherein the UE determines the beginning of its (backscattering) transmission window on the basis of the control message.
Re claim 2, see corresponding claim 18.
Re claim 19, Elkotby further discloses:
“the time domain resource information for the back scattering communication comprises a starting location of a time domain resource for the back scattering communication (para. 0160, wherein the UE determines the beginning of its (backscattering) transmission window on the basis of the control message);
“determining by the first communication device, the time domain resource information for the back scattering communication according to the first information, comprises:
determining by the first communication device, a first duration according to the first information” (para. 0160; the transmission time offset Toff); and
“determining by the first communication device, the starting location of the time domain resource for the back scattering communication according to the first duration and a first time domain location” (para. 0160, 0163; T0 teaches the claimed “first time domain location”)
wherein determining by the first communication device, the starting location of the time domain resource for the back scattering communication according to the first duration and the first time domain location, comprises:
determining by the first communication device, the starting location of the time domain resource for the back scattering communication according to the following formula:
Tstart =T0+T
wherein Tstart denotes the starting location of the time domain resource for the back scattering communication, T0 denotes the first time domain location, and T denotes the first duration (para. 0160, 0163 wherein T0 + Toff teaches the Tstart).
Re claim 3, see corresponding claim 19 above for same claimed subject matter.
Re claim 20, Elkotby further discloses claimed subject matter “wherein the first time domain location is determined based on a first scheduling signal for scheduling or triggering the back scattering communication (para. 0145, 0147-0148, 0154, 0161, 0163; the very first time the network sends control message (which includes scheduling signal) to the UE teaches the claimed “first scheduling signal”; wherein
the first time domain location is a moment at which the first communication device receives the first scheduling signal, or the first time domain location is a starting time domain location at which the first communication device receives the first scheduling signal, or the first time domain location is an ending time domain location at which the first communication device receives the first scheduling signal, or the first time domain location is a time unit in which the first scheduling signal is located, or the first time domain location is a time unit in which a starting time domain location of the first scheduling signal is located, or the first time domain location is a time unit in which an ending time domain location of the first scheduling signal is located, or the first time domain location is indicated by the first scheduling signal” in para. 0163, wherein T0 is “an ending time domain location at which the first communication device receives the first scheduling signal”.
Re claim 4, see corresponding claim 10 above.
Re claim 5, Elkotby further discloses “wherein
the first time domain location is pre-configured, or the first time domain location is agreed by a protocol, or the first time domain location is indicated by a second communication device by a signal other than a first scheduling signal for scheduling or triggering the back scattering communication” in para. 0136, 0137, 0139, 0144, wherein the control message, which include “first time domain location”, is pre-configured.
Re claim 13, Elkotby discloses:
“transmitting by a second communication device, a first scheduling signal, wherein the first scheduling signal is used to schedule or trigger the back scattering communication” (para. 0126, 0145, 0147-0148, 0154, 0161, 0163; wherein the network teaches the claimed “second communication device”; the UE determines when to modulate a backscattering signal on the basis of the control message, which includes transmission schedule);
“receiving by the second communication device, a backscattering signal transmitted by a first communication device” (para. 0153, 0160-0161, 0168; wherein the UE teaches the claimed “first communication device”, which transmits backscattering feedback signal to the network);
wherein the back scattering signal is transmitted by the first communication device based on time domain resource information for the back scattering communication, the time domain resource information for the back scattering communication is determined by the first communication device based on first information (para. 0160, 0161, 0163, 0172, 0173, 0175; wherein the UE determines the transmission time and window (“time domain resource information”); the UE transmits backscattering feedback on the basis of the transmission schedule in the control information (“first information”) sent from the base station), the first information is identification information of the first communication device, or the first information is identification information of the first communication device and identification information of a serving cell (para. 0154, 0156, 0160, 0162, 0163; wherein the “first information” includes, among other essential parameters, the UE unique ID).
Re claim 14, Elkotby further discloses “method according to claim 13, wherein
the time domain resource information for the back scattering communication comprises at least one of: a starting location of a time domain resource for the back scattering communication, or a back scattering occasion for the back scattering communication” in para. 0160, wherein the UE determines the beginning of its (backscattering) transmission window on the basis of the control message.
Re claim 15, Elkotby further discloses:
“the time domain resource information for the back scattering communication comprises a starting location of a time domain resource for the back scattering communication” (para. 0160, wherein the UE determines the beginning of its (backscattering) transmission window on the basis of the control message);
wherein the starting location of the time domain resource for the back scattering communication is determined by the first communication device based on a first duration (para. 0160; the transmission time offset Toff) and a first time domain location (para. 0160, 0163; T0 teaches the claimed “first time domain location”), and the first duration is determined by the first communication device based on the first information; wherein
the starting location of the time domain resource for the back scattering communication is determined by the first communication device according to the following formula:
Tstart=To+T;
wherein Tstart denotes the starting location of the time domain resource for the back scattering communication, To denotes the first time domain location, and T denotes the first duration” (para. 0160, 0163 wherein T0 + Toff teaches the Tstart).
Re claim 16; Elkotby further discloses:
“wherein the first time domain location is determined based on the first scheduling signal (para. 0145, 0147-0148, 0154, 0161, 0163; the very first time the network sends control message (which includes scheduling signal) to the UE teaches the claimed “first scheduling signal”); wherein
“the first time domain location is a moment at which the first communication device receives the first scheduling signal, or the first time domain location is a starting time domain location at which the first communication device receives the first scheduling signal, or the first time domain location is an ending time domain location at which the first communication device receives the first scheduling signal, or the first time domain location is a time unit in which the first scheduling signal is located, or the first time domain location is a time unit in which a starting time domain location of the first scheduling signal is located, or the first time domain location is a time unit in which an ending time domain location of the first scheduling signal is located, or the first time domain location is indicated by the first scheduling signal in para. 0163, wherein T0 is “an ending time domain location at which the first communication device receives the first scheduling signal”.
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.
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Elkotby in view of Herath et al. – US 2024/0146408 (hereinafter Herath).
Re claim 11, Elkotby discloses all claimed subject matter in claim 11, as stated above, except for “further comprising:
transmitting by the first communication device, a back scattering signal according to a determined time domain resource for the back scattering communication (see claim 1 above, where the backscattering communication is according with the time domain resource);
wherein the back scattering signal is obtained by scrambling the identification information of the first communication device”.
Herath, in similar field of endeavor, discloses utilizing spreading/scrambling code for the backscattering transmission for the benefits of increasing the number of channels and reduce the likelihood of collision (para. 0005, 0029, 0143).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing to have incorporated the utilization of spreading/scrambling for backscattering transmission, taught by Herath, for the above-mention benefits (note: in Elkotby, the backscattering transmission is based on the UE ID information; therefore, when incorporated with Herath, spreading/scrambling the backscattering transmission would be considered “scranbling the identification information”).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-10, 12 are 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
LIU – US 2025/0324442
Elshafie et al. – US 2025/0261170
Yang et al. – US 20250192879
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/DAC V HA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633