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 .
Priorities and Examiner Remarks
This application is a Divisional of 16945531 (filed 07/31/2020, now U.S. Patent # 12101165) which claims priority from provisional application 62881834 (filed 08/01/2019).
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 4-5, 7, 9, 11-12, 16-17 and 19 are 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 4 line 6, the term “sufficient” is vague and indefinite. For example, a person skilled in the art would not immediately know what range may be considered as sufficient. Clarification is requested. Similar problem appears in claim 16.
Claims 5 and 17 are rejected based on their dependency from the rejected claims 4 and 16.
Claim 7 line 5, the phrase “RACH transmissions” is unclear and ambiguous as to whether it is referred to the “RACH transmissions” in claim 6 line 3. If indeed so, it is suggested that the phrase be changed to --- the RACH transmissions ---. Similar problem appears in claims 9 and 19.
Claims 11 and 12 are rejected based on their dependency from the rejected claim 9.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sang et al. (US 20190045481 A1, hereinafter Sang), in view of Guo et al. (US 20180092129 A1, hereinafter Guo).
Regarding claim 1, Sang teaches an apparatus for wireless communications by a network entity, comprising: at least one memory comprising computer-executable instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the computer-executable instructions (Sang, see fig. 16A/B, e.g. apparatus components)
and cause the apparatus to (Sang, in general, see fig. 7 and its paragraphs at least 158-163):
transmit a configuration directing a first wireless device to utilize receive beams to receive radio frequency (RF) signals from the network entity and to utilize transmit beams to forward RF signals to at least one second wireless device (Sang, see at least para. 159-160, e.g. see at least steps 715, 719, 721);
and
receive information, in accordance with the configuration, from the first wireless device for an access procedure involving the network entity and the second wireless device (Sang, see at least para. 160-161, e.g. see at least steps 727, 735, 737).
Sang does not teach receive assistance... from the first wireless device for an access procedure.
Guo teaches receive assistance... from the first wireless device for an access procedure (Guo, in general, see sections including paragraphs 172-180 in view of at least para. 138-146 for additional details; in particular, see at least para. 180, “...During the RACH procedure, the TRP and the UE could build a coarse beam alignment over the beams used for initial access signals...”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Guo into Sang to give more channel diversity to improve the reliability of uplink preamble transmission.
Regarding claim 2, Sang in view of Guo teaches claim 1.
Sang further teaches configured to cause the apparatus to configure the first wireless device to assist in the access procedure by generating and sending signals used for the access procedure. (Sang, see at least para. 160-161, e.g. see at least steps 727-737).
Regarding claim 3, Sang in view of Guo teaches claim 2.
Sang further teaches wherein the signals used for the access procedure comprise at least one of reference signals (RS), a broadcast channel, or system information (SI). (Sang, see at least para. 160-161 along with para. 117, note that the search space of the paging channel may be implicitly configured with the reference signal and the scrambling code for the paging channel being derived from the PCI)
Regarding claim 4, Sang in view of Guo teaches claim 3.
Sang further teaches configured to cause the apparatus to: configure the first wireless device to store digital samples of copies of the RF signals transmitted from the network entity for subsequent transmission to the second wireless device;
or
provide information to the first wireless device sufficient to generate the reference signals. (Sang, see at least para. 160-161 along with para. 117, e.g. see at least step 727; note that para. 117 discloses the search space of the paging channel may be implicitly configured with the reference signal and the scrambling code for the paging channel being derived from the PCI)
Regarding claim 5, Sang in view of Guo teaches claim 4.
Sang further teaches wherein the information comprises at least one of a physical cell identity (PCI) or timing information. (Sang, see at least para. 160-161 along with para. 117, e.g. see at least step 727; note that para. 117 discloses the search space of the paging channel may be implicitly configured with the reference signal and the scrambling code for the paging channel being derived from the PCI)
Regarding claim 6, Sang in view of Guo teaches claim 2.
Sang further teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the apparatus to further configure the first wireless device to process random access channel (RACH) transmissions. (Sang, see at least para. 160-161, e.g. the uplink page may include a preamble (such as a random access preamble) and the communications may include the transfer of the downlink data, a random access procedure)
Regarding claim 7, Sang in view of Guo teaches claim 6.
Sang further teaches wherein, in order to process the RACH transmissions, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the apparatus to at least one of: monitor RACH occasions (ROs) to detect RACH preamble candidates; or receive RACH transmissions detected by and forwarded from the first wireless device. (Sang, see at least para. 160, e.g. “...The uplink page may include a preamble (such as a random access preamble), as well as a UE ID or beam ID, AU code or page cause code, and so on. Paged or paging TRP 707, monitoring an uplink paging channel receives the uplink page (event 719). Paged or paging TRP 707 sends information about paged or paging UE 705 and the uplink page to main device 709 (event 721)...”)
Regarding claim 8, Sang in view of Guo teaches claim 6.
Sang further teaches wherein the apparatus further configures the first wireless device to monitor for a reduced set of RACH preamble candidates. (Sang, see at least para. 160 along with para. 72, for one non-limiting example, “...Upon a PO or slot (or based on main device scheduling) paged or paging UE 705 initiates a beamformed uplink page (event 719). The uplink page may include a preamble (such as a random access preamble), as well as a UE ID or beam ID, AU code or page cause code, and so on. Paged or paging TRP 707, monitoring an uplink paging channel receives the uplink page (event 719)...”, note that “...As an example, subframe 219 of radio frame 213 is intended for UE 207, while subframe 218 of radio frame 212 is intended for a different UE...”)
Regarding claim 9, Sang in view of Guo teaches claim 6.
Sang further teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the apparatus to: receive a report from the first wireless device indicating a result of detecting RACH transmissions. (Sang, see at least para. 160, for one non-limiting example, “...The uplink page may include a preamble (such as a random access preamble), as well as a UE ID or beam ID, AU code or page cause code, and so on. Paged or paging TRP 707, monitoring an uplink paging channel receives the uplink page (event 719). Paged or paging TRP 707 sends information about paged or paging UE 705 and the uplink page to main device 709 (event 721). The information sent by paged or paging TRP 707 may include UE ID, page or AU cause code, and so on. The information may be sent using a TRP relay connection or by main signaling...”)
Regarding claim 10, Sang in view of Guo teaches claim 9.
Sang further teaches wherein the report comprises at least one of:
an indication of one or more detected RACH preamble IDs;
time and frequency resources of one or more detected RACH preamble IDs;
a received signal metric for one or more detected RACH preamble IDs;
timing information for one or more detected RACH preamble IDs;
at least one of transmit or receive beams for one or more detected RACH (Sang, see at least para. 160, for one non-limiting example, “...The uplink page may include a preamble (such as a random access preamble), as well as a UE ID or beam ID, AU code or page cause code, and so on. Paged or paging TRP 707, monitoring an uplink paging channel receives the uplink page (event 719). Paged or paging TRP 707 sends information about paged or paging UE 705 and the uplink page to main device 709 (event 721). The information sent by paged or paging TRP 707 may include UE ID, page or AU cause code, and so on. The information may be sent using a TRP relay connection or by main signaling...”)
or
transmit power for one or more detected RACH preamble IDs.
Sang does not teach RACH preamble IDs.
Guo teaches RACH preamble IDs (Guo, see at least para. 180 along with para. 172, for one non-limiting example, “...During the RACH procedure, the TRP and the UE could build a coarse beam alignment over the beams used for initial access signals...”, note that “...the UE is configured to obtain the configuration information of mapping Tx beam ID to preamble sequence ID...”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Guo into Sang to give more channel diversity to improve the reliability of uplink preamble transmission.
Regarding claim 11, Sang in view of Guo teaches claim 9.
Sang further teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the apparatus to: provide, to the first wireless device after receiving the report, control information for processing additional RACH-related messages, wherein the control information indicates at least one of content or resources for at least one of the additional RACH-related messages that is to be relayed from the network entity to a user equipment (UE). (Sang, see at least para. 160-161, e.g. the uplink page may include a preamble (such as a random access preamble) and the communications may include the transfer of the downlink data, a random access procedure)
Regarding claim 12, Sang in view of Guo teaches claim 11.
Sang further teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the apparatus to: choose at least one of the content or resources based on the report received from the first wireless device. (Sang, see at least para. 160-161, “...Main device 709 and paged or paging TRP 707 exchange messaging to perform a context transfer or downlink data forwarding (event 723). Main device 709 also confirms (or be confirmed by TRP-UE) regarding TRP-UE alignment or context forwarding (event 725). Main device 709, paged or paging TRP 707, and paged or paging UE 705 exchange messaging to confirm downlink paging TRP, beam ID, schedule, and so on (event 727)...”)
Regarding claims 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19, these claims are rejected for the same reasoning as claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, respectively, except each of these claims is in method claim format.
Regarding claim 20, this claim is rejected for the same reasoning as claim 1. In addition, Sang in view of Guo also teaches a same or similar apparatus with means for performing various functions (Sang, see at least fig. 16A/B), which is well known in the art and commonly used for providing and enabling robust and reliable data communication hardware and software.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YEE F LAM whose telephone number is (571)270-7577. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm. 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, Ayman Abaza can be reached on 571-270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/YEE F LAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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