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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 21 October 2024 was filed after the mailing date of the patent application on 21 October 2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings, received on 21 October 2024, are acceptable for examination.
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 Objections
Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informalities: Said claim recites “in a case where at least one of the first UL transmission and the second UL transmission corresponding to a PLMN ID different from the certain PLMN ID is supported to be scheduled to overlap the resource in a time domain”. Examiner reminds Applicant that "[the] broadest reasonable interpretation of a method (or process) claim having contingent limitations requires only those steps that must be performed and does not include steps that are not required to be performed because the condition(s) precedent are not met", See MPEP 2111.04 and See Ex Parte Schulhauser, Appeal No. 2015-007421 (Jan. 31, 2016). Here, the contingent limitation, (i.e. “in a case where at least one of the first UL transmission and the second UL transmission corresponding to a PLMN ID different from the certain PLMN ID is supported to be scheduled to overlap the resource in a time domain”) is not a condition that is required to occur, therefore the entire limitation is not required to occur. Given that the limitation is not required to occur, said limitation does not possess patentable weight. Examiner has, in the interest of compact prosecution, treated the limitation. Appropriate correction is required.
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 (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 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, 5, and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Su et al. (US 20240172287 A1; hereinafter referred to as “Su”) in view of Shih et al. (US 20190349837 A1; hereinafter referred to as “Shih”).
Regarding Claim 1, Su discloses a terminal comprising:
a control section (¶369-377 & Fig. 10, Su discloses a user equipment (UE) comprising a processor 1101) that controls at least one of a first UL transmission and a second UL transmission (¶238 & Fig. 2 (206 & 208), Su discloses controlling by determining whether to transmit a first uplink transmission, a second uplink transmission, or both the second uplink transmission and the first uplink transmission) based on at least one of inter-PLMN priorities, a priority of the first UL transmission (¶238 & Fig. 2 (206 & 208), Su discloses that determining whether to transmit a first uplink transmission, a second uplink transmission, or both the second uplink transmission and the first uplink transmission based on one or more collision handling rules where the one or more collision handling rules include a priority of a first transmission), and a priority of the second UL transmission (¶238 & Fig. 2 (206 & 208), Su discloses that determining whether to transmit a first uplink transmission, a second uplink transmission, or both the second uplink transmission and the first uplink transmission based on one or more collision handling rules where the one or more collision handling rules include a priority of a second transmission), in a case where at least one of the first UL transmission and the second UL transmission corresponding to a PLMN ID different from the certain PLMN ID is supported to be scheduled to overlap the resource in a time domain (¶377, Su discloses that UE is configured to communicate with a first network 1143a and a second network 1143b. ¶109, Su discloses that each network may be an operator network. Examiner correlates a PLMN to an operator network).
However, Su does not disclose a receiving section that receives information for a resource associated with a certain Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) ID.
Shih, a prior art reference in the same field of endeavor, teaches [the terminal further comprising:]
a receiving section (¶124-130 & Fig. 23, Shih discloses a node, such as a user equipment (UE) 102, comprising receiver 2324) that receives information for a resource (¶104 & Fig. 3 (310), Shih discloses receiving, by the UE, an uplink grant for an uplink resource) associated with a certain Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) ID (¶104, Shih discloses that the resource associated with the uplink grant is associated with Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) information. ¶80, Shih further discloses that the PLMN information includes a PLMN identity).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Su by requiring that the terminal further comprises a receiving section that receives information for a resource associated with a certain Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) ID as taught by Shih because transmission and reception of system information (SI) in a next generation wireless network is improved by providing a method for transmitting and receiving PLMN-specific system information in a shared network (Shih, ¶2-3).
Regarding Claim 5, Claim 5 is rejected on the same basis as Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 6, Su discloses a base station comprising:
a control section (¶369-377 & Fig. 10, Su discloses a base station (BS) comprising a processor 1101) that determines whether to receive at least one of a first UL transmission and a second UL transmission (¶238 & Fig. 2 (206 & 208), Su discloses determining whether to receive a first uplink transmission, a second uplink transmission, or both the second uplink transmission and the first uplink transmission) based on at least one of inter-PLMN priorities, a priority of the first UL transmission(¶238 & Fig. 2 (206 & 208), Su discloses that determining whether to transmit a first uplink transmission, a second uplink transmission, or both the second uplink transmission and the first uplink transmission based on one or more collision handling rules where the one or more collision handling rules include a priority of a first transmission), and a priority of the second UL transmission (¶238 & Fig. 2 (206 & 208), Su discloses that determining whether to transmit a first uplink transmission, a second uplink transmission, or both the second uplink transmission and the first uplink transmission based on one or more collision handling rules where the one or more collision handling rules include a priority of a second transmission), in a case where at least one of the first UL transmission and the second UL transmission corresponding to a PLMN ID different from the certain PLMN ID is supported to be scheduled to overlap the resource in a time domain (¶377, Su discloses that UE is configured to communicate with a first network 1143a and a second network 1143b. ¶109, Su discloses that each network may be an operator network. Examiner correlates a PLMN to an operator network).
However, Su does not disclose a transmitting section that transmits information for a resource associated with a certain Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) ID.
Shih, a prior art reference in the same field of endeavor, teaches a transmitting section (¶124-130 & Fig. 23, Shih discloses a node, such as a user equipment (UE) 102, comprising receiver 2324) that transmits information for a resource (¶104 & Fig. 3 (310), Shih discloses transmitting, to the UE, an uplink grant for an uplink resource) associated with a certain Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) ID (¶104, Shih discloses that the resource associated with the uplink grant is associated with Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) information. ¶80, Shih further discloses that the PLMN information includes a PLMN identity).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Su by requiring that the base station further comprises a transmitting section that transmits information for a resource associated with a certain Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) ID as taught by Shih because transmission and reception of system information (SI) in a next generation wireless network is improved by providing a method for transmitting and receiving PLMN-specific system information in a shared network (Shih, ¶2-3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4 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 ERIC NOWLIN whose telephone number is (313)446-6544. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 12:00PM-10:00PM.
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/ERIC NOWLIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2474
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