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 § 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.
Claims 1, 3, 34, 37, 40, 45, 47, 78, and 81 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US2019109700, hereinafter, “Liu”, provided in the IDS by the applicant) in view of Jung et al. (US 20180139084, hereinafter, “Jung”, provided in the IDS by the applicant).
Claim 1. Liu teaches: A wireless communication method, executable in a base station, comprising: - See Fig. 2, ¶ [0084], (“The BS can configure on/off of the additional PBCH that is transmitted for each SS/PBCH block.”)
determining a pattern of a separate synchronization signal block (SSB) for an extended device type, - in ¶ [0072], (“The SSS for the low-cost UE 120…may be the same as an SSS for a non-low-cost UE 120. The PSS for the low-cost UE 120 may be different for the low-cost UE 120 than for a non-low-cost UE. For example, the PSS for the low-cost UE 120 may have a same sequence as the SSS, or may have a new sequence, such as a Gold sequence with a different cyclic shift than for a non-MTC or non-IoT UE.”, The low-cost UE is equated to an extended device type.); See Fig. 7, ¶ [0103], (“FIG. 7 shows examples of determining a number of slots in which to repeat an SS/PBCH block for a low-cost UE”)
wherein radio resources defined by a number of symbols in a time domain and bandwidth in a frequency domain are allocated to the separate SSB - in ¶ [0072], (“Each rectangle of an SS/PBCH block may correspond to a symbol”); ¶ [0083], (“Reference numbers 608 through 622 show different alternatives for retransmission resources for a PBCH…symbol 6…symbol 7”); ¶ [0100], (“the minimum bandwidth of the low-cost UE 120 may be 12 RBs, 10 RBs, 6 RBs, 5 RBs”) for the extended device type; - in ¶ [0071], (“BS 110 may transmit one or more repetitions of a PBCH for a low-cost UE 120 to provide coverage extension”) and
transmitting the separate SSB for the extended device type on the radio resources; - in ¶ [0071], (“BS 110 may transmit one or more repetitions of a PBCH for a low-cost UE 120 to provide coverage extension.”); See Fig. 8, ¶ [0109], (“the low-cost UE may receive a transmission of a synchronization signal block in at least one first resource.”)
wherein the separate SSB for the extended device type comprises a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) for the extended device type; - in ¶ [0071], (“BS 110 may transmit one or more repetitions of a PBCH for a low-cost UE 120 to provide coverage extension…¶ [0072], (“each SS/PBCH block includes a PSS, an SSS, and one or more PBCHs.”)
Liu does not explicitly teach:
wherein a separate SSB burst and a legacy SSB burst are transmitted in different half frames or frames, wherein the separate SSB burst is formed by several separate SSBs.
However, Jung teaches:
wherein a separate SSB burst and a legacy SSB burst are transmitted in different half frames or frames, - See Fig. 7, ¶ [0110], (“the gNB 210 may transmit a narrowband SS burst 710 and a wideband SS burst 705 with different periodicities…the wideband SS bursts 705 are transmitted with a wideband SS burst periodicity 715 of 20 ms. The narrowband SS bursts are transmitted with a narrowband SS burst periodicity 720 (5 ms)”) wherein the separate SSB burst is formed by several separate SSBs. – in ¶ [0109], (“Each wideband SS burst 705 may include, as content, a wideband PSS, a wideband SSS, and/or physical broadcast channel (“PBCH”)…each narrowband SS burst 710 may include a narrowband PSS and a narrowband SSS.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Liu with Jung to include a separate SSB burst formed by several separate SSBs and a legacy SSB burst are transmitted in different half frames or frames, as taught by JUNG. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to support bandwidth-limited devices, as suggested by JUNG, By transmitting the narrowband SS burst 710 and wideband SS burst 705 with different periodicities, the gNB 210 guarantees similar cell detection latencies for all types of UEs, provides coverage extension benefit for band-limited UEs, while optimizing SS overhead. - ¶ [0111]
Claim 3. Combination of Liu and Jung teaches The method of claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Jung further teaches:
further comprises: determining a gap with a duration (n * 5ms) between the separate SSB burst and the legacy SSB burst, where n is a natural number. – See Fig. 7, ¶ [0110], (“the gNB 210 may transmit a narrowband SS burst 710 and a wideband SS burst 705 with different periodicities…the wideband SS bursts 705 are transmitted with a wideband SS burst periodicity 715 of 20 ms. The narrowband SS bursts are transmitted with a narrowband SS burst periodicity 720 (5 ms)…transmission of each wideband SS burst 705 is interleaved with transmissions of one or more narrowband SS bursts 710.”, The temporal separations are 5ms, 10ms, 15ms, 20ms, which are all n* 5ms, where n=1,2,3,4.)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Liu with Jung to include a separate SSB burst formed by several separate SSBs and a legacy SSB burst are transmitted in different half frames or frames, as taught by JUNG. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to support bandwidth-limited devices, as suggested by JUNG, By transmitting the narrowband SS burst 710 and wideband SS burst 705 with different periodicities, the gNB 210 guarantees similar cell detection latencies for all types of UEs, provides coverage extension benefit for band-limited UEs, while optimizing SS overhead. - ¶ [0111]
Claim 34. Combination of Liu and Jung teaches The method of claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Jung further teaches:
wherein the separate SSB has a periodicity the same as periodicity of a legacy SSB. – in ¶ [0111], (“band-limited UEs may use a 5 ms SS periodicity, while non-band-limited (e.g., “normal”) UEs may use a 20 ms SS periodicity. However, in other embodiments the gNB 210 may transmit the narrowband SS burst 710 and the wideband SS burst 705 with the same periodicity.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Liu with Jung to include the separate SSB has a periodicity the same as periodicity of a legacy SSB, as taught by JUNG. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to support bandwidth-limited devices, as suggested by JUNG, By transmitting the narrowband SS burst 710 and wideband SS burst 705 with different periodicities, the gNB 210 guarantees similar cell detection latencies for all types of UEs, provides coverage extension benefit for band-limited UEs, while optimizing SS overhead. - ¶ [0111]
Claim 37. Combination of Liu and Jung teaches The method of claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Liu teaches:
wherein the transmitted separate SSB is associated with legacy SSBs, - in ¶ [0081], (“additional transmission/repetition of the PBCH may not be consecutive to the legacy SS/PBCH block with the same block index”) wherein indexes of the transmitted separate SSB are the same as indexes of the legacy SSBs. - in ¶ [0081], (“…legacy SS/PBCH block with the same block index”)
Claim 40 is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim of Claim 1 and is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 1 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claim 45 is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 1 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claim 47 is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 3 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claim 78 is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 34 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claim 81 is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 37 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claims 2, 35, 46, 79 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US2019109700, hereinafter, “Liu”, provided in the IDS by the applicant) in view of Jung et al. (US 20180139084, hereinafter, “Jung”, provided in the IDS by the applicant), and further in view of Tang et al. (US 20250039715, hereinafter, “Tang”).
Claim 2. Combination of Liu and Jung teaches The method of claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Combination of Liu and Jung does not explicitly teach:
wherein the extended device type comprises a device type of reduced capability user equipment (RedCap UE).
However, Tang teaches:
wherein the extended device type comprises a device type of reduced capability user equipment (RedCap UE). – in ¶ [0354], (“wherein the UE comprises a reduced bandwidth UE (RB UE) or a reduced capability UE (Redcap UE).”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Liu and Jung with Tang to include the extended device type comprises a RedCap UE, as taught by Tang. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to specify device type, as suggested by Tang, requirements to support reduced capability (Redcap) User Equipments (UEs), which entail characteristics such as low complexity and low power consumption, are being specified in 3GPP Rel-17. - ¶ [0002]
Claim 35. Combination of Liu and Jung teaches The method of claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Jung further teaches:
wherein the separate SSB has a periodicity different from periodicity of a legacy SSB, – in ¶ [0111], (“band-limited UEs may use a 5 ms SS periodicity, while non-band-limited (e.g., “normal”) UEs may use a 20 ms SS periodicity. However, in other embodiments the gNB 210 may transmit the narrowband SS burst 710 and the wideband SS burst 705 with the same periodicity.”)
Tang further teaches:
configuration of the separated SSB is indicated by a parameter. – in ¶ [0214], (“ServingCellConfigCommonSIB…ssb-PeriodicityServingCell”); ¶ [0133], (“One or multiple SSBs are transmit in one SSB burst which is repeated with certain periodicity e.g. 5 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Liu and Jung with Tang to include configuration of the separated SSB is indicated by a parameter, as taught by Tang. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to specify the parameter, as suggested by Tang, To efficiently support UEs with different capabilities (e.g., bandwidth) in a network, it is important to ensure an efficient coexistence of different UEs (e.g., RedCap UEs and non-RedCap or legacy UEs). - ¶ [0018]
Claim 46 is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 2 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claim 79 is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 35 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claims 36, 80 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US2019109700, hereinafter, “Liu”, provided in the IDS by the applicant) in view of Jung et al. (US 20180139084, hereinafter, “Jung”, provided in the IDS by the applicant), and further in view of Jung et al. (US 20250096970, hereinafter, “Jung’970”).
Claim 36. Combination of Liu and Jung teaches The method of claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Combination of Liu and Jung does not explicitly teach:
wherein physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmitted does not overlapp with symbols and physical radio resources (PRBs) of the separate SSB.
However, Jung’970 teaches:
wherein physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmitted does not overlapp with symbols and physical radio resources (PRBs) of the separate SSB. – in ¶ [0091], (“a UE may assume that no SSB of any SSB burst configuration of multiple SSB burst configurations of a cell is transmitted in REs used by the UE for a reception of a PDSCH…¶ [0092] the UE shall assume that the PRBs containing the SS/PBCH block transmission resources are not available for PDSCH in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (“OFDM”) symbols where the SS/PBCH block is transmitted.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Liu and Jung with Jung’970 to include PDSCH transmitted does not overlapp with symbols and PRBs of the separate SSB, as taught by Jung’970. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to improve system efficiency, as suggested by Jung’970, some communications may be inefficient and/or include unnecessary noise. - ¶ [0002]
Claim 80 is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 36 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Conclusion
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/SHIMA WASEL/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475
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