DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present U.S. non-provisional application is being examined under the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA . The present U.S. non-provisional application, filed on September 24, 2024, is the U.S. national stage of an international PCT application, filed on April 22, 2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on September 24, 2024 and April 7, 2026 were filed before the mailing date of a first Office action in the present U.S. non-provisional application, in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
This Office action is responsive to the election without traverse on August 18, 2026. The election of invention group III is acknowledged. Claims 2-5, 15 and 18-25 are withdrawn from consideration. Claims 1, 10, 11, 13, 14, 28 and 29 are pending for consideration in the present U.S. non-provisional application.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13 and 14 would be considered as allowable if rewritten into independent form to include all of the limitations of the respective base claim and any intervening claims. The claimed invention is neither anticipated by the prior art of record, nor considered as obvious in view thereof to a person having ordinary skill in the art.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 102 that forms the basis for all anticipation rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 28 and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by Yang et al. (US 2021/0377887 A1).
1. A method for wireless communication, performed by a first Network Element (NE) in a wireless network (Yang, FIG. 10), the method comprising:
transmitting a first message to a second NE, the first message comprising power saving information (Yang, paras. [0329], [0349], "Further, when the first network device determines to deactivate the first SSB in the first network device, after the first network device deactivates the first SSB, power consumption for sending the SSB can be reduced, thereby reducing energy consumption of the first network device. [...] The first network device may receive the SSB activation indication information from an OAM device; or the first network device may receive SSB deactivation or activation indication information from a core network device; or the first network device may receive SSB deactivation or activation indication information from another network device.");
wherein the power saving information comprises an indication for an activation of an SSB (Yang, paras. [0329], [0349], "…The first network device may receive the SSB activation indication information from an OAM device; or the first network device may receive SSB deactivation or activation indication information from a core network device; or the first network device may receive SSB deactivation or activation indication information from another network device." Id.)
28. A device for wireless communication comprising a memory for storing computer instructions and a processor in communication with the memory, wherein, when the processor executes the computer instructions, the processor is configured to implement (Yang, FIG. 10, Id.) a method in claim 1.
29. A non-transitory computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable program medium with computer code stored thereupon, the computer code, when executed by one or more processors, causing the one or more processors to implement (Yang, FIG. 10, Id.) a method of claim 1.
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 10 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al. (US 2021/0377887 A1) in view of Abotabl et al. (US 2023/0284143 A1).
10. The method of claim 1, wherein: a combination of the first NE and the second NE comprises: the first NE comprising one of: a gNB, an eNB, or an ng-eNB, and the second NE comprising a UE (Abotabl, paras. [0193], [0194], “FIG. 10A is a flowchart 1000 of a method of wireless communication. The method may be performed by a receiver. In some aspects, the method may be performed by a UE or a component of a UE (e.g., the UE 104; the second wireless device 350; the apparatus 1102). The receiver may receive communication from a transmitter. In some aspects, the transmitter may be a network node, such as a base station or a component of a base station…”); the first NE comprising a gNB-CU, and the second NE comprising a gNB-DU; or the first NE comprising a RIC in an O-RAN, and the second NE comprising one of: an O-CU, or an O-DU (MPEP 2131, “…When a claim covers several structures or compositions, either generically or as alternatives, the claim is deemed anticipated if any of the structures or compositions within the scope of the claim is known in the prior art…”); and the power saving information comprises at least one of: an adjustment to an SSB transmitting (Tx) power; an adjustment to a Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) Tx power; an indication for an activation or deactivation of a Primary Secondary cell group cell (PScell); an indication for an activation or deactivation of a Secondary cell (Scell); an indication for an activation or deactivation of a BWP; an indication for a restriction on a number of active Transmitting/Receiving (TX/RX) antennas; an indication for a decrease of a number of active TX/RX diversities; an indication for a decrease of a number of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) layers; a longer periodicity for SSB or CSI-RS; multiple SSB or CSI-RS interval configurations; an indication for a decrease or an increase to a cell bandwidth; an indication for an activation or deactivation of a carrier; an indication for an activation or deactivation of a CSI-RS; an indication for a deactivation of an SSB (Yang, paras. [0329], [0349], Id.); an indication for an activation or deactivation of a slot; or an indication for an activation or deactivation of a symbol (MPEP 2131, Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Abotabl et al. are for reasons of facilitating an early indication of a power saving mode (Abotabl, Abstract) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of facilitating an early indication of a power saving mode.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the adjustment to the SSB Tx power comprises at least one of: a target Tx power of the SSB; or an offset between a current SSB Tx power and a target SSB Tx power; the adjustment to the CSI-RS Tx power comprises an offset between a target CSI-RS Tx power and the SSB Tx power (MPEP 2131, Id.)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record (PTO-1449, PTO-892) and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the subject matter of the present U.S. non-provisional application.
Abedini et al. (US 2023/0029173 A1) provides prior art disclosure considered as relevant to the subject matter of the claimed invention (Abedini, Abstract, “This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatuses for transmission of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) using adjusted transmit powers. In one aspect, a power offset may be configured for one or more sets of SSBs. The power offset may be configured to be applied for a set of SSBs based on a duplexing mode of one or more of a transmitter wireless node (that transmits an SSB) or a receiver wireless node (that receives the SSB). The duplexing mode may be based on whether the transmitter receiver node or the wireless receiver node is operating in a full-duplex mode or may be based on a resource configuration associated with a resource used to transmit the SSB. Some techniques and apparatuses described herein also provide signaling to support the transmission of SSBs using adjusted transmit powers, and techniques for receiving and processing SSBs that use adjusted transmit powers.”)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Timothy J. Weidner whose telephone number is (571) 270-1825. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayaz R. Sheikh can be reached on (571) 272-3795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TIMOTHY J WEIDNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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