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 (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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 28 July 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant's election with traverse of Group 1 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the Groups are related to the same invention. This is not found persuasive because based on the examination of Group 1, none of the applied reference are applicable to a rejection of Group II. The Groups are not the same inventive concept as noted in the restriction requirement.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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.
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.
Claims 1, 4, 9 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jafarian et al. (US 2014/0112226), Palanki (US 2009/0247084) and Horn et al. (US 2022/0385507). For dependent claims herein, the motivation to combine is the same as the parent claim unless otherwise noted.
Regarding claim 1, Jafarian discloses a method of operating a base station (fig. 1, item 104) associated with a cell of a cellular network (item 102), the method comprising: activating a first periodic broadcasting pattern of a
Jafarian discloses beacons, OFDM transmissions and subcarriers (paras. 86 and para. 104) but fails to disclose activating a first periodic broadcasting pattern of a reference signal mapped to subcarriers of a carrier supported by the base station. However, Palanki discloses a beacon transmitted on subcarriers where the beacon includes a reference signal (para. 73-74; note: a reference signal as a known sequence in a preamble). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have activating a first periodic broadcasting pattern of a reference signal mapped to subcarriers of a carrier supported by the base station in the invention of Jafarian. The motivation to have the modification and/or well-known benefits of the modification include, but are not limited to, transmitting a known sequence in a preamble to aid in demodulation and transmitting data over different frequency components as is well known in the art (Palanki, paras. 73-74; MPEP 2143(I)(A)(B)(C)(D) - note: e.g., applying known techniques having predictable results).
Further, Jafarian in view of Palanki fails to teach and make obvious the low-powered reference signal designed for a non-coherent decoding at wireless communication devices located in the cell, and providing, to the wireless communication devices, at least one control signal indicative of activation of the second periodic broadcasting pattern. However, Horn discloses a reference signal for non-coherent decoding (fig. 3; para. 103, especially the first sentence; para. 98; para. 91, especially the last sentence; para. 96, especially the first sentence; para. 108; para. 83: note: cell specific reference signal). Horn additionally discloses transmitting a reference signal configuration (fig. 4, step 405; paras 116-117). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the low-powered reference signal designed for a non-coherent decoding at wireless communication devices located in the cell, and providing, to the wireless communication devices, at least one control signal indicative of activation of the second periodic broadcasting pattern in the invention of Jafarian. The motivation to have the modification and/or well-known benefits of the modification include, but are not limited to, providing quicker or less intensive decoding of a signal and providing an indication for proper reception of signals, respectively, as is known in the art (Horn, figs. 3-4 and paras. 91, 96, 98, 103 and 116-117; MPEP 2143(I)(A)(B)(C)(D) - note: e.g., applying known techniques having predictable results).
Regarding claim 4, Jafarian in view of Palanki and Horn teaches and make obvious the method of claim 1, wherein a first periodicity with which the reference signal is broadcasted according to the first periodic broadcasting pattern is the same or an integer multiple (note: multiple of one) of a second periodicity with which the low-power reference signal is broadcasted according to the second periodic broadcasting pattern (Jafarian, fig. 19; note: the wake up signal and beacon are transmitted together).
Regarding claim 9, Jafarian in view of Palanki and Horn teaches and make obvious the method of claim 1, wherein the low-power reference signal is cell specific (Horn, para. 83).
Regarding claims 19-20, these limitations are rejected on the same ground as claim 1. In addition, Jafarian discloses the base station associated with a cell of a cellular network, the base station comprising at least one processor and a memory, the at least one processor, upon loading program code from the memory and executing the program code, being configured to perform the method of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the method of claim 1 upon loading and executing the program code (fig. 2 and paras. 97-100).
Claims 5-6 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jafarian in view of Palanki and Horn as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Liao et al. (US 2020/0037247).
Regarding claims 5-6, Jafarian in view of Palanki and Horn fails to teach and make obvious the method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined relationship specifies a relationship between a first frequency region at which is the reference signal is broadcasted according to the first periodic broadcasting pattern and a second frequency region at which the low-power reference signal is broadcasted according to the second periodic broadcasting pattern, the method of claim 1, wherein the reference signal and the low-power reference signal are transmitted at the same frequency. However, Liao discloses frequency locations of signals (figs. 7 and 9-10; paras. 64, 69 and 83; note: frequencies and BWPs of control signaling). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the predetermined relationship specify a relationship between a first frequency region at which is the reference signal is broadcasted according to the first periodic broadcasting pattern and a second frequency region at which the low-power reference signal is broadcasted according to the second periodic broadcasting pattern, and wherein the reference signal and the low-power reference signal are transmitted at the same frequency in the invention of Jafarian in view of Palanki and Horn. The motivation to have the modification and/or well-known benefits of the modification include, but are not limited to, indicating frequencies for signaling reception as is known in the art (Liao, figs. 7 and 9-10 and paras. 64, 69 and 83; MPEP 2143(I)(A)(B)(C)(D) - note: e.g., applying known techniques having predictable results).
Regarding claim 8, Jafarian in view of Palanki and Horn discloses a wake up signal based on a wake-up event and a low-power preamble as a reference signal ((Jafarian, fig. 3B, Palanki, para. 73-74) but fails to teach and make obvious the method of claim 1, further comprising: responsive to a wake-up event associated with a given wireless communication device of the wireless communication devices: transmitting, to the given wireless communication device, a wake-up signal designed for the non-coherent decoding, wherein the low-power reference signal and the wake-up signal are transmitted in a joint bandwidth part. However, Liao discloses frequency locations of signals (figs. 7 and 9-10; paras. 64, 69 and 83; note: frequencies and BWPs of control signaling). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have responsive to a wake-up event associated with a given wireless communication device of the wireless communication devices: transmitting, to the given wireless communication device, a wake-up signal designed for the non-coherent decoding, wherein the low-power reference signal and the wake-up signal are transmitted in a joint bandwidth part in the invention of Jafarian in view of Palanki and Horn. The motivation to have the modification and/or well-known benefits of the modification include, but are not limited to, indicating frequencies for signaling reception as is known in the art (Liao, figs. 7 and 9-10 and paras. 64, 69 and 83; MPEP 2143(I)(A)(B)(C)(D) - note: e.g., applying known techniques having predictable results).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jafarian in view of Palanki and Horn as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Liao et al. (US 2020/0037247) and Wu et al. (US 2020/0229092).
Regarding claim 7, Jafarian in view of Palanki and Horn fails to teach and make obvious the method of claim 1, wherein the reference signal and the low-power reference signal are transmitted in different bandwidth parts of the carrier. However, Liao discloses frequency locations of signals (figs. 7 and 9-10; paras. 64, 69 and 83; note: frequencies and BWPs of control signaling) and Wu discloses the locations can be different (para. 199). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the reference signal and the low-power reference signal transmitted in different bandwidth parts of the carrier in the invention of Jafarian in view of Palanki and Horn. The motivation to have the modification and/or well-known benefits of the modification include, but are not limited to, indicating frequencies for signaling reception and using available frequencies for signaling reception as is known in the art (Liao, figs. 7 and 9-10 and paras. 64, 69 and 83; Wu, para. 199; MPEP 2143(I)(A)(B)(C)(D) - note: e.g., applying known techniques having predictable results).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3 and 10 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
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/Kevin C. Harper/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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