DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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 § 103
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
6. Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ghosh et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2019/0058533 (hereinafter Ghosh), in view of Elgarisi et al., WO 2022221854 A1 (hereinafter Elgarisi).
Regarding claim 1, Ghosh discloses a method of implementing Orthogonal Channel Noise (OCN) testing in a wireless network for fully loaded conditions in the absence of actual user equipment (UE) loads, said wireless network including a radio unit (RU), a Layer 1 module, and a Layer 2 module connected to the Layer 1 module over a message-based interface (disclosed is a method for measuring wireless channel related parameters under a variety of test conditions using blank, reserved time-frequency resources that are not used by UEs, according to [0016]-[0019], whereby a base station comprises a transmitter [“a radio unit (RU)”], a physical layer (PHY) processing unit [“a Layer 1 module”], and a MAC scheduler [“a Layer 2 module”], according to [0031]-[0032]), the method comprising:
sending, by the Layer 2 module, OCN parameters to the Layer 1 module (using an OCNS (orthogonal channel noise simulator), a predetermined pseudo-random sequence [“OCN parameters”] is generated by the MAC scheduler and inserted into the physical layer processing unit at the transport block level, according to [0031]-[0032]); and
configuring, by the Layer 1 module, the RU using the OCN parameters (the physical layer processing unit processes the pseudo-random sequence/transport block prior to transmission, according to [0030]-[0032]).
Ghosh does not expressly disclose sending via a Downlink Transmission Time Interval request (DL_TTI.request) message.
Elgarisi discloses sending via a Downlink Transmission Time Interval request (DL_TTI.request) message (an L2/L3 MAC layer notifies an L1 PHY layer that the former intends to send either control information or data by first issuing a DL TTI request, according to [0093]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ghosh with Elgarisi by sending via a Downlink Transmission Time Interval request (DL_TTI.request) message.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to facilitate the configuration of a downlink channel, such as a PDCCH or PDSCH (Elgarisi: [0093]).
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 2-16 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
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW W GENACK whose telephone number is (571)272-7541. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
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, Anthony Addy can be reached at 571-272-7795. 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.
/MATTHEW W GENACK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645