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 .
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS)
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05 September 2024 and 11 March 2026 is being considered by the examiner.
Claims 7-11 are pending.
Figure 4 of the application illustrates the claimed invention.
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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.
Claim(s) 7-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KUSASHIMA et al. (US 2024/0022315 A1) in view of KIM (US 2013/0229931 A1).
Regarding claims 7 and 11, KUSASHIMA et al. discloses a repeater, comprising:
a reception section that receives information related to a resource set via a radio resource control message ([0221]: “First, the base station 20 transmits the beam setting information for access link to the repeater device 30 (step S101). The reception unit 331 of the repeater device 30 receives the beam setting information from the base station 20. The beam setting information includes beam setting information for the downlink access link. The beam setting information for the downstream access link may be added to the DCI and transmitted”); and
a control section that determines a resource set for a signal to be forwarded, based on the information (The repeater device 30 sets a beam for the downlink access link on the basis of the beam setting information received from the base station 20 (Step S102). The communication control unit 333 of the repeater device 30 controls the beam for the downstream access link on the basis of this setting.”), wherein
the reception section receives control information via ([0284]: “Furthermore, the repeater device 30 is configured so that valid Spatial Transmitter characteristic and invalid Spatial Transmitter characteristic are set by the base station 20. The base station 20 is configured to set the validity or invalidity of the beam corresponding to the Spatial Transmitter characteristic of the repeater device 30 by DCI, MAC CE, and/or RRC signaling”), and
the control section determines activation or deactivation of the resource set based on the control information ([0284]: “In a case where the Spatial Transmitter characteristic is indicated to be valid (enabled or activated), the repeater device 30 is allowed to use a transmission beam corresponding to the valid Spatial Transmitter characteristic for the downstream access link. On the other hand, when the Spatial Transmitter characteristic is indicated to be invalid (disabled or deactivated), the repeater device 30 is not allowed to use a transmission beam corresponding to the invalid Spatial Transmitter characteristic of the downstream access link.”)
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KUSASHIMA et al. fails to explicitly teach receives control information via a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer.
KIM in the same field of invention, teach this feature.
([0172]: “a function and parameter for the DRX operation or measurement/measurement reporting operation are (re)set using an RRC layer control message, and activation (deactivation) of each DRX operation or measurement operation, a parameter changes request or instruction, etc. may be performed using a MAC layer or physical layer control message (a MAC control PDU, information field bits or indication bits of a physical control channel, feedback information bits, and so on.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to those skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to transmit control information for indicating the activation or deactivation of the resource set, to the repeater via a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer.
Regarding claim 8, KUSASHIMA et al. teaches wherein the reception section receives the control information, the control information including: an identifier for identifying a resource set, and a value indicating activation or deactivation of a resource set ([0318]: “The base station 20 specifies the application duration where beam setting is applied, according to the DCI information. The DCI includes information explicitly or implicitly specifying the application duration where beam setting is applied.”, and
the control section determines activation or deactivation of a resource set corresponding to the identifier, based on the value ([0318]: “The identifier unit 332 of the repeater device 30 identifies the application duration where beam setting is applied, on the basis of the information in the DCI. The communication control unit 333 of the repeater device 30 applies a transmission beam and/or a reception beam specified by the base station 20, only for the identified duration.”)
([0347]: “The application duration where beam setting is applied can also be specified on the basis of DCI transmission timing and another parameter. The identification unit 332 of the repeater device 30 identifies the application duration where beam setting is applied, on the basis of the DCI transmission timing and the another parameter. The communication control unit 333 of the repeater device 30 applies a transmission beam and/or a reception beam indicated by the DCI, only in the identified period. The repeater device 30 does not apply the transmission beam and/or the reception beam indicated by the DCI in the other durations.”) See figures 29 and 37.
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Regarding claims 9-10, KUSASHIMA et al. discloses a radio system, comprising:
a base station (gNB, figure 13); and
a repeater (Smart repeater, figure 13),
the base station including:
a control section (Control unit 23) that determines information related to a resource set for the repeater to forward a signal ; and
a transmission section (Transmission communication unit 211) that transmits the information to the repeater (Smart repeater) via a radio resource control message (DCI), ([0112]: “the physical control signal is Downlink Control Information (DCI) from the base station to the smart repeater.”), wherein
the control section determines activation or deactivation of the resource set based on the information ([0321]: “As an example of the information indicating the application duration where beam setting is applied, included in DCI, information specifying one or more consecutive slots and/or symbols can be considered. DCI includes information indicating consecutive slots and/or symbols. To a section indicated by the information indicating consecutive slots and/or symbols, the repeater device applies the transmission beam and/or the reception beam specified by the base station 20. In the other duration, the repeater device 30 does not apply the beam specified by the based station 20.”) and
the transmission section transmits control information for indicating the activation or deactivation of the resource set, to the repeater via a ([0326]: “FIG, 29 is a diagram illustrating another example of the information indicating the application duration where beam setting is applied according to DCI. In the example of FIG. 29, the base station 20 transmits DIC including at least one of the following (A1) to (A6) to the repeater device 30 in slot #0.”),
the repeater including (figure 17):
a reception section that receives the information (Reception Processing unit 312, [0215]: “); and
a control section (Control unit 33) that determines a resource set for a signal to be forwarded, based on the information ([0268]: “the beam information for the access link with the smart repeater may be defined in association with one or more symbols or slots. For example, DCI may include beam information about 14 beams. The beam information about each beam corresponds to 14 symbols in a slot. For example, the DCI includes beam information about 10 beams. The beam information about each beam corresponds to 10 slots in a radio frame.”), wherein
the reception section receives the control information (Reception Processing Unit 312), and
the control section determines activation or deactivation of the resource set based on the control information (Control unit 33), ([0322]: “FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating an example of information indicating the application duration where beam setting is applied according to DCI. In the example of FIG 28, the DCI including the beam setting information and information about the beam application duration where slot #1 is indicated is transmitted in slot #0. The repeater device 30 receives the DCI and applies the beam indicated in the slot #1 other than the slot #1 (here, slot #0 and slot #2), the indicated beam is not applied.”)
KUSASHIMA et al. fails to explicitly teach receives control information via a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer.
KIM in the same field of invention, teach this feature.
([0172]: “a function and parameter for the DRX operation or measurement/measurement reporting operation are (re)set using an RRC layer control message, and activation (deactivation) of each DRX operation or measurement operation, a parameter changes request or instruction, etc. may be performed using a MAC layer or physical layer control message (a MAC control PDU, information field bits or indication bits of a physical control channel, feedback information bits, and so on.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to those skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to transmit control information for indicating the activation or deactivation of the resource set, to the repeater via a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRENDA H PHAM whose telephone number is (571)272-3135. The examiner can normally be reached 571-272-3135.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Jiang can be reached at 571-270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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BRENDA H. PHAM
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2412
/BRENDA H PHAM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
Prosecution Insights