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.
Claims 12,13, 16, 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yang (Pub. No.: US 2019/0103907 A1)
With respect to claim 12:
Yang discloses an information sending method, comprising performing, by a network-side device, an operation of turning on and/or off, an antenna port, and sending, by the network-side device, indication information wherein the indication information is used to indicate information about the antenna port turned on and/or off by the network-side device (parag. 0053).
With respect to claims 13, 18:
Yang discloses the method according to claim 13, wherein in a case that the network- side device further performs an operation of turning on and/or off an antenna element, the indication information is further used to indicate information about the antenna element turned off and/or off by the network-side device (parag. 0053); and the information about the antenna element comprises at least one of the following: an identifier of the antenna element; a start antenna element and a quantity of antenna elements; a first mode of the antenna element, wherein the first mode of the antenna element corresponds to at least one antenna element; a second mode of the antenna element, wherein the second mode of the antenna element is associated with a time when the antenna element is turned on and/or off; on and/or off duration of the antenna element; or not turning off any antenna element; or, wherein the information about the antenna port comprises at least one of the following: an identifier of the antenna port; a start antenna port and a quantity of antenna ports; a first mode of the antenna port, wherein the first mode of the antenna port corresponds to at least one antenna port; a second mode of the antenna port, wherein the second mode of the antenna port is associated with a time when the antenna port is turned on and/or off; on and/or off duration of the antenna port; or not turning off any antenna port (parag. 0007-0008 discloses identifier of the antenna port).
With respect to claim 16:
Yang discloses wherein the indication information provides an indication by using a bitmap to indicate the antenna port turned on and/or off by the network-side device (parag. 0053).
With respect to claim 17:
The rejection of claim 12 is incorporated; Yang further discloses a terminal, comprising a processor (fig. 11, with processor 1112) and a memory (fig. 11, with memory 1114), wherein the memory stores a program or instructions capable of running on the processor (parag. 0158-0162).
With respect to claim 20:
Yang discloses a network-side device, comprising a processor (fig. 11 with processor 1122) and a memory (fig. 11 with memory 1124), wherein the memory stores a program or instructions capable of running on the processor, and when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the information sending method according to claim 12 are implemented (parag. 0161-0162).
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.
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 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GUAN (Pub. No.: US 2021/0168714 A1) and further in view of Yang (Pub. No.: US 2019/0103907 A1).
With respect to claim 1:
GUAN discloses an information responding method, comprising obtaining, by a terminal, indication information sent by a network-side device (fig. 2, item S220 as in parag. 0135); and performing, by the terminal, a target operation in response to the indication information, wherein the indication information is used to indicate information about an antenna port turned on and/or off by the network-side device (fig. 2, item S230 as in parag. 0148-0149 discloses information about an antenna element turned on and/or off).
GUAN does not explicitly disclose information about an antenna port turned on and/or off by the network-side device.
Yang discloses information about an antenna port turned on and/or off by the network-side device (parag. 0053).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to utilize the teaching of Yang into the teaching of GUAN in order to reduce transmission overhead, improve system performance, and reduce power consumption by UEs.
With respect to claim 2:
GUAN discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the indication information is further used to indicate information about an antenna element turned on and/or off by the network-side device (fig. 2, item S230 as in parag. 0148-0149 discloses information about an antenna element turned on and/or off); and wherein the information about the antenna element comprises at least one of the following: an identifier of the antenna element; a start antenna element and a quantity of antenna elements; a first mode of the antenna element, wherein the first mode of the antenna element corresponds to at least one antenna element; a second mode of the antenna element, wherein the second mode of the antenna element is associated with a time when the antenna element is turned on and/or off; on and/or off duration of the antenna element; or not turning off any antenna element (parag. 0008 and 0011 discloses identifier of an antenna element).
With respect to claim 3:
GUAN discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the information about the antenna port comprises at least one of the following: an identifier of the antenna port; a start antenna port and a quantity of antenna ports; a first mode of the antenna port, wherein the first mode of the antenna port corresponds to at least one antenna port; a second mode of the antenna port, wherein the second mode of the antenna port is associated with a time when the antenna port is turned on and/or off; on and/or off duration of the antenna port; or not turning off any antenna port (parag. 0008 and 0011 discloses identifier of an antenna element).
Claims 4-10, 14, 11, 15, 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GUAN (Pub. No.: US 2021/0168714 A1), Yang (Pub. No.: US 2019/0103907 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of KORPI (Pub. No.: US 2024/0305391 A1).
With respect to claims 4, 5:
The rejection of claim 1 is incorporated; GUAN and Yang do not explicitly disclose canceling uplink transmission on a resource corresponding to the first antenna element/port;
KORPI discloses canceling uplink transmission on a resource corresponding to the first antenna element/port (parag. 0015-0017); It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to utilize the teaching of KORPI into the teaching of GUAN in view of Yang in order to determine the channel condition between the transmission distributed unit and the user equipment based on an uplink reference signal received from the user equipment.
With respect to claims 6, 19:
GUAN discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the indication information is further used to indicate information about a signal turned on and/or off by the network-side device (parag. 0148-0149) and the information about the signal comprises at least one of the following: information about a reference signal; an uplink channel; or an uplink signal (para. 0165 discloses reference signal which 0141 discloses uplink signal).
With respect to claim 7:
GUAN discloses the method according to claim 6, wherein the information about the reference signal comprises at least one of the following: an identifier of the reference signal (parag. 0162);
With respect to claim 8:
GUAN discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining, by a terminal, indication information sent by a network-side device comprises: performing, by the terminal, monitoring based on a preset period or based on an event trigger to obtain the indication information sent by the network-side device (parag. 0117-0118 discloses preset period).
With respect to claim 9:
GUAN discloses the method according to claim 8, wherein the preset period is a period configured by the network-side device or a monitoring period of a PDCCH carrying the indication information; or, wherein the event comprises one of the following: a preset timer expires; or layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of at least one reference signal measured by the terminal in a target cell is lower than a threshold; wherein that L1-RSRP or an SINR of at least one reference signal measured by the terminal in a target cell is lower than a threshold comprises: the L1-RSRP or SINR of the at least one reference signal measured by the terminal in the target cell in at least one time unit is lower than the threshold, wherein the target cell is a primary cell or a secondary cell of the terminal (parag. 0098-0099).
With respect to claims 10, 15:
GUAN further discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein before the obtaining, by a terminal, indication information, the method further comprises: receiving, by the terminal, configuration information, wherein the configuration information comprises information about at least one of the antenna element, the antenna port, or the signal; wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of the following: an association relationship between each antenna element and channel state information (CSI) measurement (parag. 0130,0162).
With respect to claim 11:
Yang discloses wherein the indication information provides an indication by using a bitmap to indicate the antenna port turned on and/or off by the network-side device (parag. 0053).
With respect to claim 14:
The rejection of claim 12 is incorporated; GUAN further disclose wherein the indication information is further used to indicate information about a signal turned on and/or off by the network-side device (parag. 0148-0149) and the information about the signal comprises at least one of the following: information about a reference signal; an uplink channel; or an uplink signal (para. 0165 discloses reference signal which 0141 discloses uplink signal).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 12, 17 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AJIBOLA A AKINYEMI whose telephone number is (571)270-1846. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm, EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, YUWEN PAN can be reached at (571)-272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AJIBOLA A AKINYEMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649
