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 .
Response to Amendment
This is in response to an amendment/response/communication filed 12/9/2026.
No claims have been cancelled.
No claims have been added.
Claims(s) 1-5 is/are currently pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS(s)) submitted on 10/1/2024 and 12/9/2025 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the Examiner.
An English translation of the Non-Patent Literature Documents citation #2, “Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority Issued in PCT/JP2022/017442 on September 27, 2022”, as noted on the IDS dated 2024-10-01 was not found in the file wrapper. The Examiner has included the reference on the PTO-892.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 10/1/2024. These drawings are objected.
The drawings are objected to because the unlabeled rectangular boxes and circles illustrated in FIG. 23, should be provided with descriptive text labels. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are:
“transmission unit” in claims 1 and 4;
“reception unit” in claims 1 and 4;
.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
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) 1, 2, 4 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lyu et al. US 20240049037 in view of Rastegardoost et al. US 20240389129.
As to claim 1:
Lyu et al. discloses:
A terminal comprising:
a transmission unit configured to report, to a base station, capability information indicating a switching period required for switching between bands,
(“In 3GPP NR Release 16, the capability of UL Tx switching per band pair is introduced. UL Tx switching per band pair involves dynamically switching uplink transmission between to bands that have been identified as a band pair. In 3GPP NR Release 16, the capability to support UL Tx switching per band pair is indicated by ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16. In particular, ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 in 3GPP TS 38.306 indicates a UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching in case of inter-band carrier aggregation (CA), supplement uplink (SUL), and (NG)EN-DC (E-UTRA NR-dual connectivity) as defined in TS 38.214, TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. The capability signaling for ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 comprises the following parameters: [0108] bandIndexUL1-r16 and bandIndexUL2-r16 indicate the band pair on which UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching. bandindexUL1/bandindexUL2 xx refers to the xxth band entry in the band combination. UE shall indicate support for 2-layer UL MIMO capabilities at least on one of the indicated two bands for UL Tx switching, and only the band where UE supports 2-layer UL MIMO capability can work as carrier2 as defined in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. [0109] uplinkTxSwitchingPeriod-r16 indicates the length of UL Tx switching period per pair of UL bands per band combination when dynamic UL Tx switching is configured, as specified in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. UE shall not report the value n210 us for EN-DC band combinations. n35 us represents 35 us, n140 us represents 140 us, and so on, as specified in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3….”; Lyu et al.; 0107-109)
(where
FIG. 6A illustrates “transmission unit”
“In 3GPP NR Release 16, the capability to support UL Tx switching per band pair is indicated by ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16. In particular, ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 in 3GPP TS 38.306 indicates a UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching in case of inter-band carrier aggregation (CA), supplement uplink (SUL), and (NG)EN-DC (E-UTRA NR-dual connectivity) as defined in TS 38.214, TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. The capability signaling for ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 comprises the following parameters: [0108] bandIndexUL1-r16 and bandIndexUL2-r16 indicate the band pair on which UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching. bandindexUL1/bandindexUL2 xx refers to the xxth band entry in the band combination. UE shall indicate support for 2-layer UL MIMO capabilities at least on one of the indicated two bands for UL Tx switching, and only the band where UE supports 2-layer UL MIMO capability can work as carrier2 as defined in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. [0109] uplinkTxSwitchingPeriod-r16 indicates the length of UL Tx switching period per pair of UL bands per band combination when dynamic UL Tx switching is configured”/FIG. 1 maps to “configured to report, to a base station, capability information indicating a switching period required for switching between bands”, where FIG. 1 illustrates “base station”, where “configured” maps to “configured”, “UE shall indicate support” maps to “report”, “the capability to support UL Tx switching per band pair is indicated by ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16. In particular, ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 in 3GPP TS 38.306 indicates a UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching in case of inter-band carrier aggregation… The capability signaling for ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 comprises the following parameters: … [0109] uplinkTxSwitchingPeriod-r16 indicates the length of UL Tx switching period per pair of UL bands per band combination when dynamic UL Tx switching is configured” maps to “capability signaling” maps to “capability information”, “uplinkTxSwitchingPeriod-r16 indicates the length of UL Tx switching period per pair of UL bands per band” maps to “information indicating a switching period required for switching between bands”
in a transmission switching scheme in which at least one antenna
(where
FIG. 6A illustrates “one antenna , connections to antennas 340x
FIG. 6A/switch 322x and “f1”, “f2” and “f3” maps to “one antenna
FIG. 6A/switch 322x and “f1, “f2” and “f3” maps to “the plurality of antenna
a reception unit …
(see FIG 6B)
Lyu et al. teaches a UE indicating support for capability associated with uplink switching period and teaches switching associated with antennas for a plurality of bands.
Lyu et al. as described above does not explicitly teach:
configured to receive, from the base station, information related to a cell in which the switching period occurs.
However, Rastegardoost et al. further teaches an antenna port/rrc message/switching period capability which includes:
(“FIG. 23A and FIG. 23B show examples of UL Tx switching period location. The UL Tx switching period (also referred to as time mask and/or switching time mask) for switching between two uplink carriers is shown in FIG. 23A and FIG. 23B. An UL Tx switching period may be applicable for an uplink band pair. For example, the uplink band pair may be associated with an inter-band UL CA configuration and/or SUL configuration and/or dual connectivity (e.g., NR-DC and/or EN/DC and/or NE-DC and/or MR-DC). The two uplink carriers may be in different bands with different carrier frequencies. A capability information indicating UL Tx switching period/gap (e.g., uplinkTxSwitchingPeriod, N.sub.Tx1-Tx2) may be present for the respective band combination associated with the two uplink carriers and/or sent to the network. For example, NR UL carrier 1 is capable of one transmit antenna connector and NR UL carrier 2 is capable of two transmit antenna connectors, e.g., with 3 dB boosting on the maximum output power when the capability uplinkTxSwitchingPowerBoosting is present and the IE powerboosting TxSwitching is set to 1. The UE may support the switch between single layer transmission with one antenna port and two-layer transmission with two antenna ports on the two uplink carriers following the scheduling commands and/or rank adaptation. In an example, both single layer and two-layer transmission with 2 antenna ports, and single layer transmission with 1 antenna port may be supported on NR UL carrier 2.”; Rastegardoost et al.; 0291)
“antenna ports…antenna port” maps to “
configured to receive, from the base station, information related to a cell in which the switching period occurs.
(“A wireless device may receive one or more messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more cells. The one or more cells may comprise two or more uplink carriers. The wireless device may receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages indicating a first parameter, of a first uplink carrier associated with a first frequency band, indicating whether an antenna switching period is configured in the first uplink carrier. The wireless device may receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages indicating a second parameter, of a second uplink carrier associated with a second frequency band, indicating whether an antenna switching period is configured in the second uplink carrier. The wireless device may receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages indicating switching of a transmission antenna across a plurality of uplink carriers comprising a first uplink carrier, associated with a first frequency band, and a second uplink carrier, associated with a second frequency band.”; Rastegardoost et al.; 0408)
(where
“wireless device may receive one or more messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more cells. The one or more cells may comprise two or more uplink carriers. The wireless device may receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages indicating a first parameter, of a first uplink carrier associated with a first frequency band, indicating whether an antenna switching period is configured in the first uplink carrier”/FIG. 1B maps to “configured to receive, from the base station, information related to a cell in which the switching period occurs”, where “receive…configuration parameters”/”indicating whether an antenna switching period is configured” maps to “configured to receive”, FIG. 1B illustrates “base station”, “one or more cells” maps to “information related to a cell in which the switching period occurs”
Rastegardoost et al. teaches receiving an RRC message for configuring an antenna switching period associated with uplink carriers associated with a cell.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the antenna port/rrc message/switching period capability of Rastegardoost et al. into Lye et al. By modifying the processing/communications of Lyu et al. to include the antenna port/rrc message/switching period capability as taught by the processing/communications of Rastegardoost et al., the benefits of improved control signaling (Lyu et al.; Abstract) with improved user experience (Rastegardoost et al.; 0247) are achieved.
As to claim 2:
Lyu et al. discloses:
wherein the transmission unit reports the capability information indicating a switching period, for each combination of bands for performing switching in band combinations…
(“In 3GPP NR Release 16, the capability of UL Tx switching per band pair is introduced. UL Tx switching per band pair involves dynamically switching uplink transmission between to bands that have been identified as a band pair. In 3GPP NR Release 16, the capability to support UL Tx switching per band pair is indicated by ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16. In particular, ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 in 3GPP TS 38.306 indicates a UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching in case of inter-band carrier aggregation (CA), supplement uplink (SUL), and (NG)EN-DC (E-UTRA NR-dual connectivity) as defined in TS 38.214, TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. The capability signaling for ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 comprises the following parameters: [0108] bandIndexUL1-r16 and bandIndexUL2-r16 indicate the band pair on which UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching. bandindexUL1/bandindexUL2 xx refers to the xxth band entry in the band combination. UE shall indicate support for 2-layer UL MIMO capabilities at least on one of the indicated two bands for UL Tx switching, and only the band where UE supports 2-layer UL MIMO capability can work as carrier2 as defined in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. [0109] uplinkTxSwitchingPeriod-r16 indicates the length of UL Tx switching period per pair of UL bands per band combination when dynamic UL Tx switching is configured, as specified in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. UE shall not report the value n210 us for EN-DC band combinations. n35 us represents 35 us, n140 us represents 140 us, and so on, as specified in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3….”; Lyu et al.; 0107-109)
As to claim 4:
Lyu et al. discloses:
A base station comprising:
a reception unit configured to receive, from a terminal, capability information indicating a switching period required for switching between bands,
(“In 3GPP NR Release 16, the capability of UL Tx switching per band pair is introduced. UL Tx switching per band pair involves dynamically switching uplink transmission between to bands that have been identified as a band pair. In 3GPP NR Release 16, the capability to support UL Tx switching per band pair is indicated by ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16. In particular, ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 in 3GPP TS 38.306 indicates a UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching in case of inter-band carrier aggregation (CA), supplement uplink (SUL), and (NG)EN-DC (E-UTRA NR-dual connectivity) as defined in TS 38.214, TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. The capability signaling for ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 comprises the following parameters: [0108] bandIndexUL1-r16 and bandIndexUL2-r16 indicate the band pair on which UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching. bandindexUL1/bandindexUL2 xx refers to the xxth band entry in the band combination. UE shall indicate support for 2-layer UL MIMO capabilities at least on one of the indicated two bands for UL Tx switching, and only the band where UE supports 2-layer UL MIMO capability can work as carrier2 as defined in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. [0109] uplinkTxSwitchingPeriod-r16 indicates the length of UL Tx switching period per pair of UL bands per band combination when dynamic UL Tx switching is configured, as specified in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. UE shall not report the value n210 us for EN-DC band combinations. n35 us represents 35 us, n140 us represents 140 us, and so on, as specified in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3….”; Lyu et al.; 0107-109)
(where
FIG. 3 illustrates “reception unit”
“In 3GPP NR Release 16, the capability to support UL Tx switching per band pair is indicated by ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16. In particular, ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 in 3GPP TS 38.306 indicates a UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching in case of inter-band carrier aggregation (CA), supplement uplink (SUL), and (NG)EN-DC (E-UTRA NR-dual connectivity) as defined in TS 38.214, TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. The capability signaling for ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 comprises the following parameters: [0108] bandIndexUL1-r16 and bandIndexUL2-r16 indicate the band pair on which UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching. bandindexUL1/bandindexUL2 xx refers to the xxth band entry in the band combination. UE shall indicate support for 2-layer UL MIMO capabilities at least on one of the indicated two bands for UL Tx switching, and only the band where UE supports 2-layer UL MIMO capability can work as carrier2 as defined in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. [0109] uplinkTxSwitchingPeriod-r16 indicates the length of UL Tx switching period per pair of UL bands per band combination when dynamic UL Tx switching is configured”/FIG. 1 maps to “configured to report, to a base station, capability information indicating a switching period required for switching between bands”, where FIG. 1 illustrates “base station”, where “configured” maps to “configured”, “UE shall indicate support” maps to “report”, “the capability to support UL Tx switching per band pair is indicated by ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16. In particular, ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 in 3GPP TS 38.306 indicates a UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching in case of inter-band carrier aggregation… The capability signaling for ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 comprises the following parameters: … [0109] uplinkTxSwitchingPeriod-r16 indicates the length of UL Tx switching period per pair of UL bands per band combination when dynamic UL Tx switching is configured” maps to “capability signaling” maps to “capability information”, “uplinkTxSwitchingPeriod-r16 indicates the length of UL Tx switching period per pair of UL bands per band” maps to “information indicating a switching period required for switching between bands”
in a transmission switching scheme in which at least one antenna plurality of antenna
(where
FIG. 6A illustrates “one antenna , connections to antennas 340x
FIG. 6A/switch 322x and “f1”, “f2” and “f3” maps to “one antenna
FIG. 6A/switch 322x and “f1, “f2” and “f3” maps to “the plurality of antenna
a transmission unit …
(see FIG 3)
Lyu et al. teaches a UE indicating support for capability associated with uplink switching period and teaches switching associated with antennas for a plurality of bands.
Lyu et al. as described above does not explicitly teach:
configured to receive, from the base station, information related to a cell in which the switching period occurs.
However, Rastegardoost et al. further teaches an antenna port/rrc message/switching period capability which includes:
(“FIG. 23A and FIG. 23B show examples of UL Tx switching period location. The UL Tx switching period (also referred to as time mask and/or switching time mask) for switching between two uplink carriers is shown in FIG. 23A and FIG. 23B. An UL Tx switching period may be applicable for an uplink band pair. For example, the uplink band pair may be associated with an inter-band UL CA configuration and/or SUL configuration and/or dual connectivity (e.g., NR-DC and/or EN/DC and/or NE-DC and/or MR-DC). The two uplink carriers may be in different bands with different carrier frequencies. A capability information indicating UL Tx switching period/gap (e.g., uplinkTxSwitchingPeriod, N.sub.Tx1-Tx2) may be present for the respective band combination associated with the two uplink carriers and/or sent to the network. For example, NR UL carrier 1 is capable of one transmit antenna connector and NR UL carrier 2 is capable of two transmit antenna connectors, e.g., with 3 dB boosting on the maximum output power when the capability uplinkTxSwitchingPowerBoosting is present and the IE powerboosting TxSwitching is set to 1. The UE may support the switch between single layer transmission with one antenna port and two-layer transmission with two antenna ports on the two uplink carriers following the scheduling commands and/or rank adaptation. In an example, both single layer and two-layer transmission with 2 antenna ports, and single layer transmission with 1 antenna port may be supported on NR UL carrier 2.”; Rastegardoost et al.; 0291)
“antenna ports…antenna port” maps to “
configured to receive, from the base station, information related to a cell in which the switching period occurs.
(“A wireless device may receive one or more messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more cells. The one or more cells may comprise two or more uplink carriers. The wireless device may receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages indicating a first parameter, of a first uplink carrier associated with a first frequency band, indicating whether an antenna switching period is configured in the first uplink carrier. The wireless device may receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages indicating a second parameter, of a second uplink carrier associated with a second frequency band, indicating whether an antenna switching period is configured in the second uplink carrier. The wireless device may receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages indicating switching of a transmission antenna across a plurality of uplink carriers comprising a first uplink carrier, associated with a first frequency band, and a second uplink carrier, associated with a second frequency band.”; Rastegardoost et al.; 0408)
(where
“wireless device may receive one or more messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more cells. The one or more cells may comprise two or more uplink carriers. The wireless device may receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages indicating a first parameter, of a first uplink carrier associated with a first frequency band, indicating whether an antenna switching period is configured in the first uplink carrier”/FIG. 1B maps to “configured to receive, from the base station, information related to a cell in which the switching period occurs”, where “receive…configuration parameters”/”indicating whether an antenna switching period is configured” maps to “configured to receive”, FIG. 1B illustrates “base station”, “one or more cells” maps to “information related to a cell in which the switching period occurs”
Rastegardoost et al. teaches receiving an RRC message for configuring an antenna switching period associated with uplink carriers associated with a cell.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the antenna port/rrc message/switching period capability of Rastegardoost et al. into Lye et al. By modifying the processing/communications of Lyu et al. to include the antenna port/rrc message/switching period capability as taught by the processing/communications of Rastegardoost et al., the benefits of improved control signaling (Lyu et al.; Abstract) with improved user experience (Rastegardoost et al.; 0247) are achieved.
As to claim 5:
Lyu et al. discloses:
A communication method executed by a terminal, the communication method comprising:
reporting, to a base station, capability information indicating a switching period required for switching between bands,
(“In 3GPP NR Release 16, the capability of UL Tx switching per band pair is introduced. UL Tx switching per band pair involves dynamically switching uplink transmission between to bands that have been identified as a band pair. In 3GPP NR Release 16, the capability to support UL Tx switching per band pair is indicated by ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16. In particular, ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 in 3GPP TS 38.306 indicates a UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching in case of inter-band carrier aggregation (CA), supplement uplink (SUL), and (NG)EN-DC (E-UTRA NR-dual connectivity) as defined in TS 38.214, TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. The capability signaling for ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 comprises the following parameters: [0108] bandIndexUL1-r16 and bandIndexUL2-r16 indicate the band pair on which UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching. bandindexUL1/bandindexUL2 xx refers to the xxth band entry in the band combination. UE shall indicate support for 2-layer UL MIMO capabilities at least on one of the indicated two bands for UL Tx switching, and only the band where UE supports 2-layer UL MIMO capability can work as carrier2 as defined in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. [0109] uplinkTxSwitchingPeriod-r16 indicates the length of UL Tx switching period per pair of UL bands per band combination when dynamic UL Tx switching is configured, as specified in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. UE shall not report the value n210 us for EN-DC band combinations. n35 us represents 35 us, n140 us represents 140 us, and so on, as specified in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3….”; Lyu et al.; 0107-109)
(where
FIG. 6A illustrates “transmission unit”
“In 3GPP NR Release 16, the capability to support UL Tx switching per band pair is indicated by ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16. In particular, ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 in 3GPP TS 38.306 indicates a UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching in case of inter-band carrier aggregation (CA), supplement uplink (SUL), and (NG)EN-DC (E-UTRA NR-dual connectivity) as defined in TS 38.214, TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. The capability signaling for ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 comprises the following parameters: [0108] bandIndexUL1-r16 and bandIndexUL2-r16 indicate the band pair on which UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching. bandindexUL1/bandindexUL2 xx refers to the xxth band entry in the band combination. UE shall indicate support for 2-layer UL MIMO capabilities at least on one of the indicated two bands for UL Tx switching, and only the band where UE supports 2-layer UL MIMO capability can work as carrier2 as defined in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3. [0109] uplinkTxSwitchingPeriod-r16 indicates the length of UL Tx switching period per pair of UL bands per band combination when dynamic UL Tx switching is configured”/FIG. 1 maps to “configured to report, to a base station, capability information indicating a switching period required for switching between bands”, where FIG. 1 illustrates “base station”, where “configured” maps to “configured”, “UE shall indicate support” maps to “report”, “the capability to support UL Tx switching per band pair is indicated by ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16. In particular, ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 in 3GPP TS 38.306 indicates a UE supports dynamic UL Tx switching in case of inter-band carrier aggregation… The capability signaling for ULTxSwitchingBandPair-r16 comprises the following parameters: … [0109] uplinkTxSwitchingPeriod-r16 indicates the length of UL Tx switching period per pair of UL bands per band combination when dynamic UL Tx switching is configured” maps to “capability signaling” maps to “capability information”, “uplinkTxSwitchingPeriod-r16 indicates the length of UL Tx switching period per pair of UL bands per band” maps to “information indicating a switching period required for switching between bands”
in a transmission switching scheme in which at least one antenna
(where
FIG. 6A illustrates “one antenna , connections to antennas 340x
FIG. 6A/switch 322x and “f1”, “f2” and “f3” maps to “one antenna
FIG. 6A/switch 322x and “f1, “f2” and “f3” maps to “the plurality of antenna
Lyu et al. teaches a UE indicating support for capability associated with uplink switching period and teaches switching associated with antennas for a plurality of bands.
Lyu et al. as described above does not explicitly teach:
configured to receive, from the base station, information related to a cell in which the switching period occurs.
However, Rastegardoost et al. further teaches an antenna port/rrc message/switching period capability which includes:
(“FIG. 23A and FIG. 23B show examples of UL Tx switching period location. The UL Tx switching period (also referred to as time mask and/or switching time mask) for switching between two uplink carriers is shown in FIG. 23A and FIG. 23B. An UL Tx switching period may be applicable for an uplink band pair. For example, the uplink band pair may be associated with an inter-band UL CA configuration and/or SUL configuration and/or dual connectivity (e.g., NR-DC and/or EN/DC and/or NE-DC and/or MR-DC). The two uplink carriers may be in different bands with different carrier frequencies. A capability information indicating UL Tx switching period/gap (e.g., uplinkTxSwitchingPeriod, N.sub.Tx1-Tx2) may be present for the respective band combination associated with the two uplink carriers and/or sent to the network. For example, NR UL carrier 1 is capable of one transmit antenna connector and NR UL carrier 2 is capable of two transmit antenna connectors, e.g., with 3 dB boosting on the maximum output power when the capability uplinkTxSwitchingPowerBoosting is present and the IE powerboosting TxSwitching is set to 1. The UE may support the switch between single layer transmission with one antenna port and two-layer transmission with two antenna ports on the two uplink carriers following the scheduling commands and/or rank adaptation. In an example, both single layer and two-layer transmission with 2 antenna ports, and single layer transmission with 1 antenna port may be supported on NR UL carrier 2.”; Rastegardoost et al.; 0291)
“antenna ports…antenna port” maps to “
configured to receive, from the base station, information related to a cell in which the switching period occurs.
(“A wireless device may receive one or more messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more cells. The one or more cells may comprise two or more uplink carriers. The wireless device may receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages indicating a first parameter, of a first uplink carrier associated with a first frequency band, indicating whether an antenna switching period is configured in the first uplink carrier. The wireless device may receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages indicating a second parameter, of a second uplink carrier associated with a second frequency band, indicating whether an antenna switching period is configured in the second uplink carrier. The wireless device may receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages indicating switching of a transmission antenna across a plurality of uplink carriers comprising a first uplink carrier, associated with a first frequency band, and a second uplink carrier, associated with a second frequency band.”; Rastegardoost et al.; 0408)
(where
“wireless device may receive one or more messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more cells. The one or more cells may comprise two or more uplink carriers. The wireless device may receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages indicating a first parameter, of a first uplink carrier associated with a first frequency band, indicating whether an antenna switching period is configured in the first uplink carrier”/FIG. 1B maps to “configured to receive, from the base station, information related to a cell in which the switching period occurs”, where “receive…configuration parameters”/”indicating whether an antenna switching period is configured” maps to “configured to receive”, FIG. 1B illustrates “base station”, “one or more cells” maps to “information related to a cell in which the switching period occurs”
Rastegardoost et al. teaches receiving an RRC message for configuring an antenna switching period associated with uplink carriers associated with a cell.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the antenna port/rrc message/switching period capability of Rastegardoost et al. into Lye et al. By modifying the processing/communications of Lyu et al. to include the antenna port/rrc message/switching period capability as taught by the processing/communications of Rastegardoost et al., the benefits of improved control signaling (Lyu et al.; Abstract) with improved user experience (Rastegardoost et al.; 0247) are achieved.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lyu et al. US 20240049037 in view of Rastegardoost et al. US 20240389129 and in further view of Rastegardoost et al. US 20240357681 (hereinafter “Rastegardoost2”).
As to claim 3:
Lyu et al. as described above does not explicitly teach:
wherein the reception unit receives the information related to a cell in which the switching period occurs …, for each serving cell, or…
However, Rastegardoost2 further teaches a serving cells capability which includes:
wherein the reception unit receives the information related to a cell in which the switching period occurs …, for each serving cell, or…
(“FIG. 27 shows an example of signaling between UE and the base station for transfer of UE capability information and configuration of uplink Tx switching. As shown in the figure, the UE may receive the UE capability enquiry that may indicate a request for UL Tx switching across more than two bands (e.g., N bands, N>2). In an example, the UE capability enquiry may indicate a request for simultaneous/dual UL Tx switching of both UEs UL Tx chains/antennas. The UE may send the UE capability information indicating the UE capability for supported band combinations and/or supported UL Tx switching mode and/or whether the UE supports UL Tx switching across more than two bands and/or whether the UE supports simultaneous/dual UL Tx switching. For example, the UE capability information may indicate one or more UL Tx switching periods/gaps per band pair/combination. The one or more UL Tx switching periods/gaps may comprise a first period for switching a first UL Tx chain/antenna and/or a second period for switching a second UL Tx chain/antenna and/or a third period for switching the first UL Tx chain/antenna and the second UL Tx chain/antenna. In response, the UE may receive one or more RRC messages indicating configuration of one or more serving cells comprising more than two uplink carriers (e.g., UL carrier 1, UL carrier 2, . . . , UL carrier M, M>2), wherein the uplink carriers are in/belong to more than two frequency bands, e.g., based on the UE supported band combination. For example, M may be equal to N. For example, M may be different from N. For example, the one or more RRC messages may indicate which carrier is associated with and/or configured with which band. For example, each of M carriers may be associated with at least one of N bands. For example, each of N bands may be associated with at least one of M carriers. The UE may transmit uplink transmissions via the uplink carriers and/or based on the UL Tx switching configuration. For example, the UE may omit (part of) uplink transmissions based on switching of either UL Tx chain/antennas and/or simultaneous/dual switching both UL Tx chains/antennas, e.g., based on the first period and/or the second period and/or the third period.”; Rastegardoost et al.; 0362)
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the serving cells capability of Rastegardoost2. into Lye et al. By modifying the processing/communications of Lyu et al. to include the serving cells capability as taught by the processing/communications of Rastegardoost2, the benefits of improved control signaling (Lyu et al.; Abstract) with improved configuration (Rasteardoost2; Abstract) are achieved.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 20230232420 – teaches switching period associated with band combination (see para. 0153).
US 20240250799 – teaches switching associated with a plurality of bands (see FIG. 29)
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MICHAEL K. PHILLIPS
Examiner
Art Unit 2464
/MICHAEL K PHILLIPS/Examiner, Art Unit 2464
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