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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/7/25 and 9/29/25 is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 10-14, 18, and 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chen et al. (US 2017/0013480).
Regarding claim 1, Chen teaches a network access method for an access node, comprising:
monitoring (detecting), by a first access node (wireless access node), a reference signal from at least one second access node (adjacent access node) (see “…the wireless access node 200 can further include an assisting communication device 100 to acquire the assistance of the assisting communication device 100” [par 48] and “The assisting communication device performs detecting according to the configuration information, and reports the acquired working parameters of the adjacent access nodes to the wireless access node 200” [par 48] and “For example, similar to the first embodiment, the detecting type includes at least one of the wireless resource detecting, reference signal detecting and synchronization signal detecting, to indicate the assisting communication device to perform corresponding detecting” [par 50] which suggests the wireless access node comprises an assisting communication device that performs detecting of at least a reference signal from an adjacent access node);
obtaining, by the first access node, first access configuration information (reference signal configuration) of the first access node based on the node configuration information and/or the service requirement information of the at least one second access node (see “When the correlation degree between the reference signal of an adjacent access node and the reference signal of the wireless access node 200 is higher than a certain degree, the working parameter configuration unit 202 determines that the use of this reference signal will cause a reference signal conflict, and thus changes the reference signal of the wireless access node 200 for example by the manner of changing the reference sequence, the transmitting tune and the like” [par 61] which suggests wireless access node obtains a reference signal configuration, or a “first access configuration”, since it changes its reference signal based on the detected reference signal configuration of the adjacent access node received in par 50); and
accessing a network or updating an accessed network, by the first access node, based on the first access configuration information (see citation above wherein the wireless access node performs “accessing a network or updating an access network” when it changes its reference signal which updates an access parameter of the network (see also the wireless access node changes synchronization signal [par 51] and time-frequency resources [par 63] which are also updated access parameters of the network)).
Regarding claim 2, Chen teaches the network access method according to claim 1, wherein the node configuration information comprises at least one of the following: resource information (wireless resources configuration) (see “, bandwidth configuration, a transmission power, service information, a modulation mode, a coding mode, a multiple access mode, a resource multiplexing mode, a communication mode or a type of reference signal (reference signal configuration), of the second access node (see “The indication about the detecting object includes at least one of the following: identification information, synchronization signal configuration, reference signal configuration and wireless resources configuration of the adjacent wireless nodes to be detected” [par 50]);
wherein the service requirement information comprises at least one of the following: a type of a service, a quality of service (QOS) identifier of the service, a data rate requirement of the service, a spectral efficiency requirement, a latency requirement, a coverage requirement, a reliability requirement, a size of data cache or a resource requirement of the service;
wherein the first access configuration information comprises at least one of the following: resource information (see “The working parameter configuration unit 202 configures the time-frequency resources to be occupied by the wireless access node based on the reported information, for example, to keep away from the time frequency resource blocks to be occupied by the adjacent access node to avoid conflict” [par 63]), a transmission power, service information, a modulation mode, a coding mode, a multiple access mode, a resource multiplexing mode, a communication mode or a type of reference signal (see “When the correlation degree between the reference signal of an adjacent access node and the reference signal of the wireless access node 200 is higher than a certain degree, the working parameter configuration unit 202 determines that the use of this reference signal will cause a reference signal conflict, and thus changes the reference signal of the wireless access node 200 for example by the manner of changing the reference sequence, the transmitting tune and the like” [par 61]), for the first access node.
Regarding claim 3, Chen teaches the network access method according to claim 1, wherein the reference signal comprises: a reference signal based on a sequence, and/or, a reference signal based on signaling (see “In another example, the detecting type can include reference signal detecting, and the assisting communication device 100 detects, in response to a reference signal detecting indication of the wireless access node, the reference signals emitted by the adjacent access nodes, the reference signal including at least one of a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS) and a discovery reference signal (DRS)” [par 32]).
Regarding claim 4, Chen teaches the network access method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining the first access configuration information of the first access node comprises: determining, by the first access node, the first access configuration information of the first access node based on at least one of the node configuration information (identification information, synchronization signal configuration, reference signal configuration, wireless resources configuration) or the service requirement information of the at least one second access node (see “The indication about the detecting object includes at least one of the following: identification information, synchronization signal
configuration, reference signal configuration and wireless resources configuration of the adjacent wireless nodes to be detected” [par 50]).
Regarding claim 10, Chen teaches the network access method according to claim 1, wherein, after the accessing the network or the updating the accessed network, the network access method further comprises: performing, by the first access node, information transmission (reference/synchronization signal) based on the first access configuration information (network node transmits changed reference signal [par 61] or synchronization signal [par 55]).
Claims 11-12, 18, and 27 recite subject matter similar to claim 1 and are therefore rejected on the same basis.
Claim 13 recites subject matter similar to claim 3 and is therefore rejected on the same basis.
Claim 14 recites subject matter similar to claim 4 and is therefore rejected on the same basis.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(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.
Claim(s) 15-17 and 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (US 2016/0255514).
Regarding claim 15, Kim teaches a network access method for an access node, comprising:
receiving, by a centralized control node (SON server), configuration request information from at least one first access node (New BS) (see “The newly deployed BS 810 requests to the SON server 830 for initial configuration data” [par 72; Figure 8, “1) INTIAL CONFIGURATION INFORMATION REQUEST”]);
determining, by the centralized control node, first access configuration information of the at least one first access node based on the configuration request information from the at least one first access node (see “The BS acquires the initial configuration data from the SON server…” [par 72] which suggests the SON server determines the initial configuration data based on the initial information configuration request); and
transmitting, by the centralized control node, to the at least one first access node, indication information carrying the first access configuration information (see see “The BS acquires the initial configuration data from the SON server…” [par 72; Fig. 8, “2) INITIAL CONFIGURATION DATA ACQUISTION”].
Regarding claim 16, Kim teaches the network access method according to claim 15, wherein the configuration request information comprises at least one of the following: a node identifier of the first access node; node configuration information of at least one second access node monitored by the first access node; service requirement information of the at least one second access node monitored by the first access node; a parameter to be configured at the request of the first access node; or, device capability information of the first access node (see “The BS 2210 may request to the SON server 2230 for BS-specific configuration information concerning itself at step S2203” [par 123] which suggests at least the claimed “a node identifier of the first access node” and “a parameter to be configured at the request of the first access node”).
Regarding claim 17, Kim teaches the network access method according to claim 15, wherein the receiving, by the centralized control node, the configuration request information from the at least one first access node comprising: obtaining, by the centralized control node, the configuration request information from a reference signal (wireless backhaul) transmitted by the at least one first access node (see “…the BS which does not have a wired backhaul may establish a wireless backhaul with the BS having the wired backhaul at step S630. Since the wireless backhaul can be established according to various technologies disclosed in the prior arts, detailed description thereof is omitted herein” [par 63] which suggests that the reception of the initial configuration information request by the SON server via a reference signal is within the scope of Kim).
Claim 31 recites subject matter similar to claim 15 and is therefore rejected on the same basis.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-9 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Nam T Huynh whose telephone number is (571)272-5970. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm.
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/NAM T HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
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