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 .
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 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.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-20 filed on August 15, 2024 are pending.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) and certified copy of paper required by 37 CFR 1.55 is received.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on October 02, 2024 and August 16, 2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner and an initialed and dated copy of the Applicant’s IDS form 1449 is attached to the instant Office Action.
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.
Claims 1-20 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.
Claims 1 and 13 recite "the first SSB is an SSB, in at least one second SSB…domain, and each of the at least one second SSB is an SSB, in the at least one SSB, that satisfies a preset condition" and claims 2 and 14 recite "the second SSB is before the first RO". These limitations are vague and ambiguity between the first SSB and second SSB. Since first SSB is an SSB and second SSB is an SSB, first SSB in second SSB domain, it is not clear whether first SSB is also second SSB. If second SSB refers to SSB burst, it should replace with SSB burst. Claims 4-10 and 15-18 are similarly rejected based upon claim dependency to claims 1 and 13.
Claims 11 and 19 recite "a moment corresponding to the first RO is not earlier than or later than a second moment, the second moment is later than the first moment…the moment corresponding to the first RO is not later than or earlier than a third moment, the third moment is later than a fourth moment corresponding to a third SSB". It is vague that a moment can be exist in both a second moment and a fourth moment or refer to a repetition SSB forwarding. Claims 12 and 20 are similarly rejected based upon claim dependency to claims 11 and 19.
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) 1-3, 11, 13-15 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abedini et al. (US 2022/0069893 A1, hereinafter "Abedini") in view of Li et al. (US 2020/0344813 A1, hereinafter "Li").
Regarding claim 1, Abedini discloses an uplink access method performed by a communication apparatus, comprising:
receiving at least one synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel block (SSB), and forwarding the at least one SSB (Abedini, [0146-0147] the base station 1402 (or a cell) broadcasts one or more SSBs; the repeater device 1404 may execute a process in block 1410 where at least a portion of the SSB is detected), wherein each of the at least one SSB has an index associated with a plurality of random access channel occasions (ROs), and the communication apparatus uses one spatial domain sending parameter when forwarding each of the at least one SSB (Abedini, [0154] By knowing the detected SSB, and a corresponding RACH occasion (RO), the repeater 1410 may be able to use the RO to learn a suitable beam configuration for the service-side link); and
receiving an uplink access signal from a terminal on a first RO by using a first spatial domain receiving parameter (Abedini, [0148] the repeater 1404 may then select a cell (and optionally a frequency band) to which it will forward signals, as well as a suitable FH link beam configuration…Once the cell and beam are selected forwarding of DL and UL signals through the repeater 1404 to the UE 1406 may effected as shown by signals 1420, 1422, 1424 (i.e. uplink access signal) and 1426), but does not explicitly disclose wherein the first RO is one of the ROs associated with the index of each of the at least one SSB, the first spatial domain receiving parameter is determined based on a first spatial domain sending parameter used by the communication apparatus to forward a first SSB, the first SSB is an SSB, in at least one second SSB, that is closest to the first RO in time domain, and each of the at least one second SSB is an SSB, in the at least one SSB, that satisfies a preset condition.
Li from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the first RO is one of the ROs associated with the index of each of the at least one SSB, the first spatial domain receiving parameter is determined based on a first spatial domain sending parameter used by the communication apparatus to forward a first SSB, the first SSB is an SSB, in at least one second SSB, that is closest to the first RO in time domain, and each of the at least one second SSB is an SSB, in the at least one SSB, that satisfies a preset condition (Li, [0097, 0100] a base station 110 may transmit a configuration that instructs a repeater 140 to refrain from relaying communications received in a first resource set and to relay communications received in a second resource set; the first resource set is configured for beam management for direct links between UEs 120 and the base station 110 and the second resource set is configured for beam management for indirect links between UEs 120 and the base station 110 via the repeater 140; the UE 120 may receive an SSB (i.e. first SSB) in the second resource set and may not receive a corresponding SSB in the first resource set. In this case, as shown by reference number 830, the UE 120 may transmit a RACH message in a RACH occasion corresponding to the SSB received in the second resource set).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified SSB transmitted by repeater disclosed by Abedini and repeat SSB disclosed by Li with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve spectral efficiency (Li, [0005]).
Regarding claim 2, Abedini does not explicitly disclose wherein the preset condition satisfied by each of the at least one second SSB comprises:
an index of the second SSB is associated with the first RO,
the second SSB is before the first RO, and
a time interval between the second SSB and the first RO is greater than or equal to a first threshold; or
the preset condition satisfied by each of the at least one second SSB comprises:
an index of the second SSB is associated with the first RO,
the second SSB is before the first RO, and
a time interval between the second SSB and the first RO is greater than a first threshold.
Li from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the preset condition satisfied by each of the at least one second SSB comprises:
an index of the second SSB is associated with the first RO,
the second SSB is before the first RO (Li, [0099] due to the configuration by the base station 110, the repeater 140 may relay the SSB(s) received by the repeater 140 in the second resource set (e.g., bm2). Also due to the configuration, the repeater 140 may refrain from relaying the SSB(s) received by the repeater 140 in the first resource set (e.g., bm1)…the UE 120 may receive the configuration transmitted by the base station 110 and may use the configuration to assign a higher priority to SSBs received in the first resource set as compared to SSBs received in the second resource set).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified SSB transmitted by repeater disclosed by Abedini and repeat SSB disclosed by Li with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve spectral efficiency (Li, [0005]).
Regarding claim 3, Abedini discloses receiving configuration information for configuring a RO time-frequency resource, and the RO time-frequency resource comprises at least a time-frequency resource of the first RO (Abedini, [0004] a base station may allocate different resources (e.g., time domain and frequency domain resources) for different UEs operating within a cell of the base station. To extend the coverage of a wireless network, repeater devices may be used to relay communication traffic between two node), but does not explicitly disclose
determining an association relationship between the index of the second SSB and the first RO based on the configuration information.
Li from the same field of endeavor discloses determining an association relationship between the index of the second SSB and the first RO based on the configuration information (Li, [0074] a UE 120 may receive a relayed SSB and may use information included in the SSB (e.g., timing information, system information, and/or a beam index) to generate a random access channel (RACH) message and transmit the RACH message in a RACH occasion to the repeater 140 for relaying to the base station 110 as part of a network access procedure (e.g., a RACH procedure)).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified SSB transmitted by repeater disclosed by Abedini and repeat SSB disclosed by Li with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve spectral efficiency (Li, [0005]).
Regarding claim 11, Abedini discloses an uplink access method performed by a communication apparatus, comprising:
receiving a first synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel block (SSB) from a relay device at a first moment (Abedini, [0146]) the base station 1402 (or a cell) broadcasts one or more SSBs);
determining a first random access channel occasion (RO) based on the first moment and the first SSB, wherein an index of the first SSB is associated with the first RO; a moment corresponding to the first RO is not earlier than or later than a second moment, the second moment is later than the first moment, and an interval between the second moment and the first moment is a first threshold (Abedini, [0154] By knowing the detected SSB, and a corresponding RACH occasion (RO), the repeater 1410 may be able to use the RO to learn a suitable beam configuration for the service-side link (i.e., the access link (AL) with a UE) by scanning different receive RX directions for the service side); and
sending an uplink access signal to the relay device on the first RO (Abedini, [0148] the repeater 1404 may then select a cell (and optionally a frequency band) to which it will forward signals, as well as a suitable FH link beam configuration…Once the cell and beam are selected forwarding of DL and UL signals through the repeater 1404 to the UE 1406 may effected as shown by signals 1420, 1422, 1424 (i.e. uplink access signal) and 1426), but does not explicitly disclose the moment corresponding to the first RO is not later than or earlier than a third moment, the third moment is later than a fourth moment corresponding to a third SSB, an interval between the third moment and the fourth moment is the first threshold, an index of the third SSB is the same as that of the first SSB, and the third SSB is located in a period that is next to a period in which the first SSB is located.
Li from the same field of endeavor discloses the moment corresponding to the first RO is not later than or earlier than a third moment, the third moment is later than a fourth moment corresponding to a third SSB, an interval between the third moment and the fourth moment is the first threshold, an index of the third SSB is the same as that of the first SSB, and the third SSB is located in a period that is next to a period in which the first SSB is located (Li, [0099] due to the configuration by the base station 110, the repeater 140 may relay the SSB(s) received by the repeater 140 in the second resource set (e.g., bm2). Also due to the configuration, the repeater 140 may refrain from relaying the SSB(s) received by the repeater 140 in the first resource set (e.g., bm1)…the UE 120 may receive the configuration transmitted by the base station 110 and may use the configuration to assign a higher priority to SSBs received in the first resource set as compared to SSBs received in the second resource set).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified SSB transmitted by repeater disclosed by Abedini and repeat SSB disclosed by Li with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve spectral efficiency (Li, [0005]).
Regarding claims 13-15 and 19, these claims recite "a communication apparatus" that disclose similar steps as recited by the method of claims 1-3 and 11, thus are rejected with the same rationale applied against claims 1-3 and 11 as presented above.
Claim(s) 12 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abedini et al. (US 2022/0069893 A1, hereinafter "Abedini") in view of Li et al. (US 2020/0344813 A1, hereinafter "Li") as applied to claim above, and further in view of Raghavan et al. (US 11,751,190 B2, hereinafter "Raghavan").
Regarding claims 12 and 20, Abedini in view of Li does not explicitly disclose wherein before the determining a first RO based on the first moment and the first SSB, the method further comprises:
receiving position information from a network device, wherein the position information comprises at least information about a position of the relay device; and
determining based on the position information, whether the communication apparatus can be served by the relay device.
Raghavan from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein before the determining a first RO based on the first moment and the first SSB, the method further comprises:
receiving position information from a network device, wherein the position information comprises at least information about a position of the relay device; and
determining based on the position information, whether the communication apparatus can be served by the relay device (Raghavan, Col. 26 line 1-7 The relay request may include a flag that indicates why the neighboring UE is requesting the relay. At
610, the UE determines whether it can act as a relay between the neighboring UE and the base station. Factors the UE may consider include a battery level at the UE, available bandwidth, LOS conditions, traffic generated by a user of the UE; The UE may continuously or periodically monitor itself to detect a terminating condition for the relay link at 640…a change in the location of the UE).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Raghavan’s system for relay determination into Abedini’s SSB forwarding as modified by Li with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve power savings at the wireless device, improve performance (Raghavan, Col. 8).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-10 and 16-18 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 and to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 4, 7-10, 16 and 18 are potentially allowable over the prior art of record Abedini et al. (US 2022/0069893 A1, hereinafter "Abedini") in view of Li et al. (US 2020/0344813 A1, hereinafter "Li") and further in view of Abedini et al. (US 2023/0029663 A1, hereinafter "Abedini1") as applied to the claim above.
Regarding claims 4 and 16, Abedini in view of Li does not explicitly disclose wherein the forwarding the at least one SSB comprises: periodically forwarding an SSB with a first index. Abedini1 from the same field of endeavor discloses herein the forwarding the at least one SSB comprises: periodically forwarding an SSB with a first index (Abedini1, [0085, 0092] the base station may configure a first set of ROs with a first configuration (e.g., a first set of resources or a first periodicity, among other examples) for a first mode of operation (e.g., half duplex (HD) RACH) and a second set of ROs with a second configuration (e.g., a second set of resources or a second periodicity, among other examples) for a second mode of operation (e.g., FD RACH); network node 705 may apply the timing offset to a particular set of ROs. For example, when network node 705 is configured with multiple sets of RACH configurations (e.g., a set of RACH configurations for ROs for HD RACH or a set of RACH configurations for ROs for FD RACH, among other examples), network node 705 may apply an offset value to a particular set of RACH configurations).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Abedini1’s system for timing offset into Abedini’s SSB forwarding as modified by Li with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve spectral efficiency, lower costs, improve services (Abedini1, [0004]).
Abedini in view of Li and Abedini1 fails to teach alone or in combination "wherein a spatial domain sending parameter used when the communication apparatus forwards an SSB with the first index in a yth period is the same as a spatial domain sending parameter used when the communication apparatus forwards an SSB with the first index in a (y+M)th period; and two or more SSBs in the at least one SSB have the first index, y and M are positive integers, and M≥2".
Regarding claim 5, Abedini in view of Li does not explicitly disclose wherein the first index is the same as an index of the first SSB.
Abedini1 discloses wherein the first index is the same as an index of the first SSB (Abedini1, [0095] may use a timing offset (e.g., applied to N_TAoffset) associated with the particular subset of ROs (and another timing offset for another RACH preamble transmission using another subset of ROs). Additionally, or alternatively, network node 705 may transmit on an RO based at least in part on an association with an SSB).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Abedini1’s system for timing offset into Abedini’s SSB forwarding as modified by Li with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve spectral efficiency, lower costs, improve services (Abedini1, [0004]).
Regarding claim 6, Abedini in view of Li does not explicitly disclose sending first information indicating a value of M.
Abedini1 discloses sending first information indicating a value of M (Abedini1, [abstract] a network node may receive a control message including a field for a timing offset, wherein the timing offset is applicable to a subset of a set of random access channel occasions).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Abedini1’s system for timing offset into Abedini’s SSB forwarding as modified by Li with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve spectral efficiency, lower costs, improve services (Abedini1, [0004]).
Regarding claim 17, Abedini discloses further comprising a relay device or a chip in a relay device (Abedini, [0037] a relay node may be deployed to extend the size or coverage area of a given cell).
Regarding claims 7 and 18, Abedini in view of Li does not explicitly disclose receiving indication information comprising information indicating m (Abedini1, [abstract] a network node may receive a control message including a field for a timing offset, wherein the timing offset is applicable to a subset of a set of random access channel occasions).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Abedini1’s system for timing offset into Abedini’s SSB forwarding as modified by Li with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve spectral efficiency, lower costs, improve services (Abedini1, [0004]).
Abedini in view of Li and Abedini1 fails to teach alone or in combination "determining a target spatial domain parameter based on a spatial domain sending parameter for forwarding an SSB in an xth period, wherein x is an integer determined based on m".
Regarding claim 8, Abedini in view of Li and Abedini1 fails to teach alone or in combination "determining the target spatial domain parameter based on a spatial domain sending parameter for forwarding any SSB in the xth period, wherein the communication apparatus uses the same spatial domain sending parameter when forwarding all SSBs in the xth period".
Regarding claim 9, Abedini in view of Li and Abedini1 fails to teach alone or in combination "determining the target spatial domain parameter based on a spatial domain sending parameter for forwarding an SSB whose index is the first index in the xth period".
Regarding claim 10, Abedini in view of Li and Abedini1 fails to teach alone or in combination "x and m satisfy: x=m+k*M+N, wherein k, M, and N are integers".
Conclusion
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/LUNA WEISSBERGER/ Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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