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 .
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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
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 33-52 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2021/198991 to Ghanbarinejad et al. (hereinafter Ghanbarinejad, attached) in view of Ma et al. (hereinafter Ma) US 2022/0006600 A1.
Regarding Claim 33, Ghanbarinejad teaches a method performed by a first integrated access backhaul (IAB) node (¶0062-¶0064, ¶0068, ¶0074-¶0088, ¶01115, ¶0171 & Figs. 4-5 and tables 2, 4, 5), the method comprising:
receiving, from an IAB donor (Fig. 4 & ¶0063; donor 404= parent node), signaling (¶0071-¶0075; MAC message) that indicates which one or more possible values of a field are mapped to which one or more possible values of a multiplexing adaptation parameter (¶0063-¶0077, fig. 5 & Table 4; the downlink control signaling (DCI) via MAC provides IDs and related TCI of beams, which are used for an spatial division multiplexing, SDM for PDSCH-config), wherein the multiplexing adaptation parameter facilitates or governs adaptation of in which multiplexing mode, if any, a multiplexing IAB node operates for multiplexing communication on a parent IAB link with communication on a child IAB link (¶0063-¶0077, fig. 5 & Table 4; the TCI parameters related to SDM facilitate beamforming communication on both links of IAB 412, a parent link between 404 and 412 and on child link between 412 and 420);
and transmitting to, or receiving from, a second IAB node (¶0088; 420 or node N2) a message that includes the field set to one of the one or more possible values of the field indicated by the signaling, wherein the multiplexing IAB node is the first IAB node (¶0088; 420 or node N2. Note that according to Table 5, ¶0088 and Table 2 that for DL from 412 or N2 is transmitted to child IAB a corresponding DCI control signaling with TCI-ID with related transmission configuration, TCI) or the second IAB node.
Ghanbarinejad does not expressly teach “…multiplexing adaptation parameter…”
Ma teaches “…multiplexing adaptation parameter….” (¶0208-¶0209 & ¶217, abstract, Fig. 17; transmission configuration indicator TCI codepoint mapped to beams or beam configuration.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed limitation to incorporate the teachings of Ma into the system of Ghanbarinejad in order to utilize for communications with a network entity when DCI is transmitted to a UE, the communications manager 102 of the UE 115 may identify a bandwidth part and beam, such as a base station or a satellite. ¶0208. As the UE moves (or the satellites move), the MAC-CE messaging may be used to update the mapping. Id. Thus, using a combination of MAC-CE messaging and DCI messaging, the network may signal to a UE as to which beams and bandwidth parts to utilize for communications. Id.
Regarding claim 34, Ghanbarinejad in view of Ma teaches the method of claim 33, Ghanbarinejad further teaches wherein the one or more possible values of the multiplexing adaptation parameter to which the one or more possible values of the field are mapped comprise a subset of a set of multiple possible values of the multiplexing adaptation parameter (¶0063-¶0077; this is implied because only part of the possible TCIs or subset of TCIs and related IDs is used as cited above. Also see ¶0171. See also MA in & ¶0087-¶0095).
Regarding claim 35, Ghanbarinejad in view of Ma teaches the method of claim 33, Ghanbarinejad further teaches wherein the signaling is upper layer signaling transmitted at an upper layer of a protocol stack, wherein the upper layer is above a layer at which the message is transmitted or received on the interface between the first and second IAB nodes (¶0115; for DCI signaling using higher layer compared to physical layer)
Regarding claim 36, Ghanbarinejad in view of Ma teaches the method of claim 33, Ghanbarinejad further teaches wherein the signaling is radio resource control signaling, and wherein the message is a medium access control (MAC) message (¶0063-¶0075; MAC message for signaling)
Regarding claim 37, Ghanbarinejad in view of Ma teaches the method of claim 33, Ghanbarinejad further teaches wherein the multiplexing IAB node is the first IAB node, wherein the method further comprises, based on or according to the value of the multiplexing adaptation parameter to which the value of the field included in the message is mapped, adapting in which multiplexing mode the first IAB node operates (Based on TCI adapting SDM beaming as cited in claim 33)
Regarding claim 38, Ghanbarinejad in view of Ma teaches the method of claim 33, Ghanbarinejad further teaches wherein the multiplexing adaptation parameter is an association parameter indicating one or more indices of one or more time slots associated with a condition that has been applied, or that is requested to be applied, in order for the multiplexing IAB node to operate in a multiplexing mode (¶0088 & ¶204-¶205 see if condition is not satisfied)
Regarding claim 39, Ghanbarinejad in view of Ma teaches the method of claim 38, Ghanbarinejad further teaches wherein the multiplexing IAB node comprises a mobile termination (MT) and a distributed unit (DU), and wherein the condition is: restriction of simultaneous transmission at the multiplexing IAB node in the direction of one or more beams of the DU; use of one or more specified beams by the MT for communication on the parent IAB link; adjustment of a downlink transmission power by the parent IAB node; power spectral density (PSD) of the MT being within a specified range; use of certain timing modes in certain respective time slots; or a combination of any two or more of the above (¶0087-¶0088; IAB with MT and DI and simultaneous transmissions)
Regarding claim 40, Ghanbarinejad in view of Ma teaches the method of claim 33, Ghanbarinejad further teaches wherein the multiplexing adaptation parameter is a condition parameter indicating a condition that has been applied, or that is requested to be applied, in order for the multiplexing IAB node to operate in a multiplexing mode, wherein the multiplexing IAB node comprises a mobile termination (MT) and a distributed unit (DU), wherein the condition is: restriction of simultaneous transmission at the multiplexing IAB node in the direction of one or more beams of the DU (¶0062-¶0064, ¶0068, ¶0074-¶0088, ¶01115, ¶0171 & Figs. 4-5 and tables 2, 4, 5); use of one or more specified beams by the MT for communication on the parent IAB link; adjustment of a downlink transmission power by the parent IAB node; power spectral density (PSD) of the MT being within a specified range; use of certain timing modes in certain respective time slots; or a combination of any two or more of the above (¶0087-¶0088).
Regarding claim 41, Ghanbarinejad in view of Ma teaches the method of claim 33, Ghanbarinejad further teaches wherein the message is a first message, wherein the method further comprises: receiving, from the IAB donor, signaling that changes which one or more possible values of the field are mapped to which one or more possible values of the multiplexing adaptation parameter (¶0062-¶0064, ¶0068, ¶0074-¶0088, ¶01115, ¶0171 & Figs. 4-5 and tables 2, 4, 5); and transmitting to, or receiving from, the second IAB node a second message that includes the field set to one of the one or more possible values of the field as changed by the signaling (this is obvious from cited paragraphs in claim 33 because to change or adapt after a time period the DCI signaling concerning the mapping and to perform the mapping is merely for selected values are routine design options in view of the cited art).
Regarding claim 42, Ghanbarinejad in view of Ma teaches the method of claim 33, Ghanbarinejad further teaches wherein the parent IAB link is a link between the multiplexing IAB node and a parent IAB node, wherein the child IAB link is a link between the multiplexing IAB node and a child IAB node, wherein the multiplexing IAB node is capable of operating in any one of multiple possible multiplexing modes, wherein the multiple possible multiplexing modes include two or more of: a time-domain multiplexing (TDM) mode in which the multiplexing IAB node uses TDM to multiplex communication by the MT on the parent IAB link towards the parent IAB node with communication by the DU on the child IAB link towards the child IAB node; a frequency-domain multiplexing (FDM) mode in which the multiplexing IAB node uses FDM to multiplex communication by the MT on the parent IAB link towards the parent IAB node with communication by the DU on the child IAB link towards the child IAB node (¶0062-¶0064, ¶0068, ¶0074-¶0088, ¶01115, ¶0171 & Figs. 4-5 and tables 2, 4, 5); a spatial-domain multiplexing (SDM) mode in which the multiplexing IAB node uses SDM to multiplex communication by the MT on the parent IAB link towards the parent IAB node with communication by the DU on the child IAB link towards the child IAB node (¶0062-¶0064, ¶0068, ¶0074-¶0088, ¶01115, ¶0171 & Figs. 4-5 and tables 2, 4, 5); and a combination mode in which the multiplexing IAB node uses a combination of two or more of TDM, FDM, and SDM to multiplex communication by the MT on the parent IAB link towards the parent IAB node with communication by the DU on the child IAB link towards the child IAB node (Fig. 5, Table 2, 4, ¶0078-¶0081; such time domain or time slot signaling information are obvious from the cited paragraphs).
Claims 43-52 are substantially similar to the above claims, thus the same rationale applies.
Conclusion
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MAHRAN ABU ROUMI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2455
/MAHRAN Y ABU ROUMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2455
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