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 October 16, 2024, is the U.S. national stage of an international PCT application, filed on April 20, 2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on October 16, 2024 and July 7, 2025 were filed before the mailing 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 preliminary amendment under 37 CFR 1.115 on October 21, 2024. Claims 1, 3, 8, 10, 11, 13-16 and 20-22 were amended. Claims 18, 19 and 23 were canceled. Claims 1-17 and 20-22 are pending for consideration in the present U.S. non-provisional application.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-10, 13, 14, 16 and 17 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, 2, 11, 12, 15 and 20-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by Larsson et al. (US 2012/0087257 A1).
1. A user equipment (UE) capability sending method, performed by a UE, comprising: sending carrier aggregation (CA) capability information from the UE to a first network device, wherein the CA capability information indicates whether the UE has an intra-band non-collocated CA receiving capability (Larsson, paras. [0107], [0119], “Some embodiments of the present inventive concept provide a signaling mechanism in which the capability of a user equipment unit to perform intra-band carrier aggregation from geographically separated (i.e., non co-located) radio network nodes is communicated to the network, and the network schedules resources accordingly. That is, the network may aggregate component carriers within the same band from different radio network nodes in response to the indicated capability of a user equipment unit to receive such transmissions…”)
2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the CA capability information to the first network device comprises: sending a capability signaling to the first network device, wherein the capability signaling comprises the CA capability information (Larsson, paras. [0107], [0119], “…The user equipment unit UE may signal its capability to the radio network node A by means of a terminal capability message 26. The terminal capability message 26 can be expressed in different forms. For example, the terminal capability message 26 may explicitly indicate that the user equipment unit UE supports inter-band carrier aggregation, intra-band carrier aggregation from co-located nodes, and/or intra-band carrier aggregation from non co-located nodes…” Id.)
11. A user equipment (UE) capability receiving method, performable by a first network device, comprising: receiving carrier aggregation (CA) capability information sent by a UE, wherein the CA capability information indicates whether the UE has an intra-band non-collocated CA receiving capability (Larsson, paras. [0107], [0119], Id. cf. Claim 1).
12. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving the CA capability information sent by the UE, comprises: receiving a capability signaling sent by the UE, the capability signaling comprising the CA capability information (Larsson, paras. [0107], [0119], Id. cf. Claim 2).
15. The method of claim 11, further comprising: sending data transmission scheduling information based on intra-band non-collocation to the UE (Larsson, paras. [0107], [0119], “Some embodiments of the present inventive concept provide a signaling mechanism in which the capability of a user equipment unit to perform intra-band carrier aggregation from geographically separated (i.e., non co-located) radio network nodes is communicated to the network, and the network schedules resources accordingly. That is, the network may aggregate component carriers within the same band from different radio network nodes in response to the indicated capability of a user equipment unit to receive such transmissions….” emphasis added. Id.)
20. An electronic device, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is configured for storing computer programs; and the processor is configured for executing the computer programs to implement a user equipment (UE) capability (Larsson, FIG. 8) sending method, and the method comprises: sending carrier aggregation (CA) capability information to a first network device, wherein the CA capability information indicates whether the UE has an intra-band non- collocated CA receiving capability (Larsson, paras. [0107], [0119], Id. cf. Claim 1).
21. A communication apparatus, comprising a processor and a memory, [wherein] the memory is configured for storing computer programs; and the processor is configured for executing the computer programs to implement (Larsson, FIG. 8, Id.) the method of claim 11.
22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein when the instructions are called and executed on a computer, the computer is caused to perform (Larsson, FIG. 8, Id.) the 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.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable over Larsson et al. (US 2012/0087257 A1) in view of Fushiki et al. (US 2023/0309165 A1).
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a first downlink reference signal sent by the first network device and a second downlink reference signal sent by a second network device, wherein the first network device and the second network device are mutually non-collocated devices (Fushiki, paras. [0100], [0127], “More specifically, the transmission unit 12 transmits the support information for the required conditions when the plurality of TPs are not co-located (i.e., the non-co-located scenario). The support information may be included in the aforementioned capability information. The support information for the required conditions for the non-co-located scenario may indicate support or lack thereof for the non-co-located scenario, or may indicate support or lack thereof for the required conditions for the non-co-located scenario. […] In step S105, the user terminal 10 deduces whether TP #1 and TP #2 are co-located or not. For example, the user terminal 10 deduces whether TP #1 and TP #2 are co-located or not, on the basis of the received electric power difference and/or the reception timing difference of the downlink signal (such as the downlink reference signal or the synchronization signal) from TP #1 and TP #2.”) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Fushiki et al. are for reasons of indicating support or lack thereof for required conditions for non-co-located scenarios (Fushiki, paras. [0100], [0127], Id.) 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 indicating support or lack thereof for required conditions for non-co-located scenarios.
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.
Tujkovic et al. (US 2013/0242784 A1) provides prior art disclosure considered as relevant to the subject matter of the claimed invention (Tujkovic, Abstract, “In a communications network with carrier aggregation (CA), embodiments enable the network to advertise to a supported wireless device not only whether or not aggregated component carriers allocated to the wireless are intra-band adjacent but farther whether or not the allocated component carriers are collocated. Embodiments further enable the wireless to advertise its CA capabilities including the support of adjacent collocated CA and/or non-adjacent collocated CA. Embodiments thus provide systems/methods for the exploitation of special conditions provided by adjacent collocated component carriers to reduce processing complexity and power consumption for certain types of wireless device transmitter/receiver architectures and to support intra-band adjacent CA for other types of UE transmitter/receiver architectures.”)
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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