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 .
Claims 1-18, 32 and 35 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 35 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claims fail to place the invention squarely within one statutory class of invention. Based on the broadest reasonable interpretation of the term "computer readable storage media storing", the term is not limited to non-transitory computer readable storage media, and can include transitory media (See http://www.uspto.gov/patents/law/comments/2009-08-25_interim_101_instructions.pdf). The transitory media generally stores data/information in form of signals. Signals are form of energy. As such, the claim is drawn to a form of energy and/or signal per se. Energy is not one of the four categories of invention and therefore this claim(s) is/are not statutory. Energy is not a series of steps or acts and thus is not a process. Energy is not a physical article or object and as such is not a machine or manufacture. Energy is not a combination of substances and therefore not a composition of matter. Signal per se does not appear to be a process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter. [Claims that recite nothing but the physical characteristics of a form of energy, such as frequency, voltage or the strength of a magnetic field, define energy or magnetism, per se, and as such are nonstatutory natural phenomena. O'Reilly, 56 U. S. (15 How.) at 112-14. See also In re Nuijten. Docket no. 2006-1371 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 20, 2007)(slip. Op. at 18): "A propagating signal is not a process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter"]. Thus, such a signal cannot be patentable subject matter.
As to claim 35, the claim recites “ A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon”. This does not meet 35 U.S.C. 101, for example the claim may recite “A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon”. Furthermore, the claim and the specification must refer to "A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium" to obviate 101 issues. Appropriate correction is required. Claims 18-20 are similarly rejected.
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.
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.
Claims 1-6, 15-18, 32 and 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al, application no. 2017/0302419, hereinafter known as Liu in view of 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #106-e, R1-2108643, e-Meeting, August 16th – 27th, 2021, Agenda item: 5.1, Source: Moderator (China Telecom), Title:[106-e-NR-R17-TxSwitching-01] Summary of email discussion on Rel-17 uplink Tx switching hereinafter known as CT. (Both IDS submitted art).
As to claim 1, Liu discloses a carrier switching method performed by a terminal, comprising: determining, from a first carrier set that transmits before switching and a second carrier set that transmits after the switching, one or more carriers involved in the switching, wherein a carrier comprised in the first carrier set is different from a carrier comprised in the second carrier set (Liu, [0319]-[0321], two set of carrier used by UE including switching-from CC and switching-to CC that are different), and during carrier switching, not transmitting on the one or more carriers involved in the switching (Liu, figure 17, [0108], no transmission during switching or retuning time). Liu does not disclose however CT teaches and a quantity of antenna ports used by a carrier comprised in the first carrier set is different from a quantity of antenna ports used by a carrier comprised in the second carrier set (CT, page 5, section 6.1.6.2, change in quantity of ports when switching from first number of carriers to second number of carriers).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Liu to include the limitations of and a quantity of antenna ports used by a carrier comprised in the first carrier set is different from a quantity of antenna ports used by a carrier comprised in the second carrier set as taught by CT. Use of different quantity of antenna per channel from one scenario to another allows flexibility in how User Equipment and Network device communicate. The determination of carriers and bands informs devices in the network what to expect and where to expect communications (carriers, channels) while allowing for varied communication set up based on device communication needs and capacity, and further based communication environment.
As to claim 2, Liu discloses the method according to claim 1. Liu does not disclose however CT discloses wherein determining, from the first carrier set that transmits before the switching and the second carrier set that transmits after the switching, the one or more carriers involved in the switching comprises: determining, as the one or more carriers involved in the switching, two carriers that use one antenna port to transmit and one carrier that uses two antenna ports to transmit; wherein the two carriers that use one antenna port to transmit are carriers in the same carrier set (CT, Page 42, agreement and table starting with “Agreement: For Rel-17 1Tx-2Tx switching between 1 carrier on Band A and 2 contiguous carriers on Band B, the mapping between UL transmission ports and Tx chain for UL CA Option 2 is defined as follows”, definition of how many antenna as associated with number of many channels, where you can have two channels each with an antenna or one channel with two antennas).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Liu to include the limitations of wherein determining, from the first carrier set that transmits before the switching and the second carrier set that transmits after the switching, the one or more carriers involved in the switching comprises: determining, as the one or more carriers involved in the switching, two carriers that use one antenna port to transmit and one carrier that uses two antenna ports to transmit; wherein the two carriers that use one antenna port to transmit are carriers in the same carrier set as taught by CT. Use of different quantity of antenna per channel from one scenario to another allows flexibility in how User Equipment and Network device communicate. The determination of carriers and bands informs devices in the network what to expect and where to expect communications (carriers, channels) while allowing for varied communication set up based on device communication needs and capacity, and further based communication environment.
As to claim 3, Liu discloses the method according to claim 1. Liu does not disclose however CT discloses wherein determining, from the first carrier set that transmits before the switching and the second carrier set that transmits after the switching, the one or more carriers involved in the switching comprises: in a case that each of different carriers comprised in the first carrier set uses one antenna port to transmit and a carrier comprised in the second carrier set uses two antenna ports to transmit, using two carriers comprised in the first carrier set as switched-from carriers involved in the switching, and using a carrier comprised in the second carrier set as a switched-to carrier involved in the switching (CT, page 15, proposal 5, first check mark; switching from 2 carriers on two bands to a carrier band set configuration a switched to carrier set).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Liu to include the limitations of wherein determining, from the first carrier set that transmits before the switching and the second carrier set that transmits after the switching, the one or more carriers involved in the switching comprises: in a case that each of different carriers comprised in the first carrier set uses one antenna port to transmit and a carrier comprised in the second carrier set uses two antenna ports to transmit, using two carriers comprised in the first carrier set as switched-from carriers involved in the switching, and using a carrier comprised in the second carrier set as a switched-to carrier involved in the switching as taught by CT. Use of different quantity of antenna per channel from one scenario to another allows flexibility in how User Equipment and Network device communicate. The determination of carriers and bands informs devices in the network what to expect and where to expect communications (carriers, channels) while allowing for varied communication set up based on device communication needs and capacity, and further based communication environment.
As to claim 4, Liu discloses the method according to claim 1. Liu does not disclose however CT discloses wherein determining, from the first carrier set that transmits before the switching and the second carrier set that transmits after the switching, the one or more carriers involved in the switching comprises: in a case that a carriers comprised in the first carrier set uses two antenna ports to transmit and each of different carriers comprised in the second carrier set uses one antenna port to transmit, using a carrier comprised in the first carrier set as a switched-from carrier involved in the switching, and using two carriers comprised in the second carrier set as switched-to carriers involved in the switching (CT, page 15, proposal 5, second check mark; switching from a carriers on a band to a two carriers on two band configuration a switched to carrier set).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Liu to include the limitations of wherein determining, from the first carrier set that transmits before the switching and the second carrier set that transmits after the switching, the one or more carriers involved in the switching comprises: in a case that a carriers comprised in the first carrier set uses two antenna ports to transmit and each of different carriers comprised in the second carrier set uses one antenna port to transmit, using a carrier comprised in the first carrier set as a switched-from carrier involved in the switching, and using two carriers comprised in the second carrier set as switched-to carriers involved in the switching as taught by CT. Use of different quantity of antenna per channel from one scenario to another allows flexibility in how User Equipment and Network device communicate. The determination of carriers and bands informs devices in the network what to expect and where to expect communications (carriers, channels) while allowing for varied communication set up based on device communication needs and capacity, and further based communication environment.
As to claim 5, Liu discloses wherein the method further comprises: determining, from the one or more carriers involved in the switching, a carrier switching location for performing the switching (Liu, [0170], determining switching from and to carriers locations explicitly).
As to claim 6, Liu discloses wherein determining, from the one or more carriers involved in the switching, the carrier switching location for performing the switching comprises one of the following: determining the carrier switching location based on a first parameter of the one or more carriers involved in the switching (Liu, [0350], carrier location based on cc index parameter; determining the carrier switching location from the one or more carriers involved in the switching based on configuration indication signaling (Liu, [0350], Use of RRC signaling to indicate configuration of switch from and switch to antenna carrier sets).
As to claim 11, Liu discloses wherein the method further comprises: determining switching start time of performing the switching ([0107], -[0113], delay to indicate switching time).
As to claims 15-17, the claim are rejected as applied to claim 1 above by Liu in view of CT.
As to claims 18, 32 and 35, the claim are each rejected as applied to claim 1 above by Liu in view of CT.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-10 and 12-14 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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/GAUTAM SHARMA/ Examiner, Art Unit 2467
/HASSAN A PHILLIPS/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2467
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