DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
2. 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.
3. Claims 1-7, 10-17 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Publication No.: US 2021/0410119 A1 to Takeda et al. (Takeda) as disclosed in the IDS.
As to Claims 1 and 11, Takeda discloses an apparatus, comprising:
a transceiver (Fig. 13, ‘transceiver 1320’) which, during operation, wirelessly communicates with a network node of a wireless network (Fig. 2, ‘UE 115-a may establish a connection with base station 105-a over at least a first component carrier and a second component carrier such as component carriers 210-a and 210-b via communication link 205, where communication link 205 may support downlink and uplink transmissions’, ¶ 0096); and
a processor (Fig. 13, ‘processor 1340’) communicatively coupled to the transceiver such that (‘the device 1305 may include components for bi-directional voice and data communications including components for transmitting and receiving communications, including a communications manager 1310, an I/O controller 1315, a transceiver 1320, an antenna 1325, memory 1330, and a processor 1340. These components may be in electronic communication via one or more buses (e.g., bus 1345)’, ¶ 0171), during operation, the processor performs operations comprising:
receiving, via the transceiver, a cell configuration from a network node of a wireless network, wherein the cell configuration comprises a plurality of component carrier (CC) configurations (‘in some cases, the UE and the base station may be configured to support scheduled unit grouping where a single DCI may schedule one or more groups of units. For example, a UE may communicate with a base station over a set of component carriers according to a carrier aggregation configuration. In some cases, the UE may receive a configuration message that indicates one or more groups of units, where each group may include one or more component carriers and/or one or more slots of each component carrier. The UE may receive, from the base station, based on connecting to the base station, DCI including one or more fields (e.g., DCI fields) that are common to a group of units where the group may include multiple (e.g., two or more) component carriers from the set of component carriers’, ¶ 0005; see also ¶s 0139 and 0141), each of which is corresponding to a respective one of a plurality of CCs associated with a cell (‘as described herein, a UE may communicate with a base station over a set of component carriers 305 according to a carrier aggregation configuration. For example, a UE may communicate with a base station over one or all of component carriers CC0 305-a, CC1 305-b, CC2 305-c, CC3 305-d, or CC4 305-e, where each component carrier 305 may be a DSS component carrier, a non-DSS component carrier, a PCell, or an Scell’, ¶ 0102);
performing, via the transceiver, a carrier aggregation within the cell based on the CC configurations (‘as described herein, a UE may communicate with a base station over a set of component carriers 305 according to a carrier aggregation configuration. For example, a UE may communicate with a base station over one or all of component carriers CC0 305-a, CC1 305-b, CC2 305-c, CC3 305-d, or CC4 305-e, where each component carrier 305 may be a DSS component carrier, a non-DSS component carrier, a PCell, or an Scell’, ¶ 0102; see also ¶s 0108 and 0136); and
communicating, via the transceiver, data signals with the wireless network based on the carrier aggregation (‘the UE may receive, from the base station, based on connecting to the base station, DCI including one or more fields (e.g., DCI fields) that are common to a group of units where the group may include multiple (e.g., two or more) component carriers from the set of component carriers. In some cases, the DCI may schedule a set of data transmissions over the one or more groups of units, where the data transmissions may be downlink data transmissions transmitted from the base station or uplink data transmissions transmitted from the UE. Subsequently, the UE may transmit or receive the set of data transmissions over the scheduled units based on receiving the DCI’, ¶ 0005).
As to Claims 2 and 12, Takeda further discloses wherein each of the CC configurations indicates a frequency location and a bandwidth size of a respective one of the CCs (‘the UEs 115 and the base stations 105 may wirelessly communicate with one another via one or more communication links 125 over one or more carriers. The term “carrier” may refer to a set of radio frequency spectrum resources having a defined physical layer structure for supporting the communication links 125. For example, a carrier used for a communication link 125 may include a portion of a radio frequency spectrum band (e.g., a bandwidth part (BWP)) that is operated according to one or more physical layer channels for a given radio access technology (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR). Each physical layer channel may carry acquisition signaling (e.g., synchronization signals, system information), control signaling that coordinates operation for the carrier, user data, or other signaling’, ¶ 0075).
As to Claims 3 and 13, Takeda further discloses wherein the cell configuration is received via a higher-layer signaling (‘the UEs 115 and the base stations 105 may wirelessly communicate with one another via one or more communication links 125 over one or more carriers. The term “carrier” may refer to a set of radio frequency spectrum resources having a defined physical layer structure for supporting the communication links 125. For example, a carrier used for a communication link 125 may include a portion of a radio frequency spectrum band (e.g., a bandwidth part (BWP)) that is operated according to one or more physical layer channels for a given radio access technology (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR). Each physical layer channel may carry acquisition signaling (e.g., synchronization signals, system information), control signaling that coordinates operation for the carrier, user data, or other signaling’, ¶ 0075).
As to Claims 4 and 14, Takeda further discloses wherein the higher-layer signaling comprises system information broadcast (‘the UEs 115 and the base stations 105 may wirelessly communicate with one another via one or more communication links 125 over one or more carriers. The term “carrier” may refer to a set of radio frequency spectrum resources having a defined physical layer structure for supporting the communication links 125. For example, a carrier used for a communication link 125 may include a portion of a radio frequency spectrum band (e.g., a bandwidth part (BWP)) that is operated according to one or more physical layer channels for a given radio access technology (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR). Each physical layer channel may carry acquisition signaling (e.g., synchronization signals, system information), control signaling that coordinates operation for the carrier, user data, or other signaling’, ¶ 0075).
As to Claims 5 and 15, Takeda further discloses wherein the higher-layer signaling comprises user equipment (UE)-specific radio resource control (RRC) signaling (‘in some cases, UE 15-b may receive a configuration message (e.g., via RRC signaling) indicating a set of parameters for each of the two or more component carriers or time intervals, where the set of parameters for each of the two or more component carriers are the same’, ¶ 0141; see also ¶s 0116 and 0121).
As to Claims 6 and 16, Takeda further discloses wherein the CCs are provided by a single network node or multiple network nodes (‘for example, the UE may communicate with a first base station (e.g., a primary cell (PCell), a first component carrier) and with a second base station (e.g., a secondary cell (SCell), a second component carrier) at the same time. Additionally or alternatively, a single base station may include multiple cells (e.g., both a PCell and an SCell, or multiple component carriers), where the UE communicates with two or more cells on the single base station at the same time’, ¶ 0004).
As to Claims 7 and 17, Takeda further discloses wherein the CCs are located in the same frequency band or across different frequency bands (‘the base station may also group time intervals 415 and component carriers 405 such that the base station may configure one or more time intervals 415 of multiple component carrier 405 as part of the same group. In some cases, the base station may group component carriers 405 based on component carriers being in the same frequency band. For example, communications between the base station and the UE may occur over two bands, where component carrier 405-a is associated with a first band, and component carrier 405-b is associated with a second band’, ¶ 0108; see also ¶ 0109).
As to Claims 10 and 20, Takeda further discloses wherein each of the CCs is configured with one of the following duplex modes: a frequency-division duplexing (FDD) mode, a time-division duplexing (TDD) mode, a flexible duplex mode, and a sub-band full duplex mode (‘the wireless communications system 100 may support communication with a UE 115 using carrier aggregation or multi-carrier operation. A UE 115 may be configured with multiple downlink component carriers and one or more uplink component carriers according to a carrier aggregation configuration. Carrier aggregation may be used with both frequency division duplexing (FDD) and time division duplexing (TDD) component carriers’, ¶ 0075).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claims 8, 9, 18 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takeda as disclosed in the IDS, in view of Publication No.: US 2020/0374904 A1 to Du et al. (Du).
As to Claims 8 and 18, Takeda does not expressly disclose receiving, via the transceiver, a cell-defining synchronization signal block (SSB) on a first CC of the CCs, wherein the cell-defining SSB comprises a first SSB and system information broadcast with cell information.
However, Du discloses receiving, via the transceiver, a cell-defining synchronization signal block (SSB) on a first CC of the CCs, wherein the cell-defining SSB comprises a first SSB and system information broadcast with cell information (‘specifically, in a process of initially accessing a network device, the terminal device first receives a synchronization signal block (SSB). The SSB includes a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a primary synchronization signal (PSS), and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS). Then, the terminal device obtains information such as a system bandwidth and a control channel configuration by using the PBCH, further receives the first system information block (SIB) and the second SIB, obtains, by using the first SIB, the location of the resource, on the first carrier, used for the initial access, and obtains, by using the second SIB, the location of the resource, on the second carrier, used for the initial access’, ¶ 0198).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide ‘receiving, via the transceiver, a cell-defining synchronization signal block (SSB) on a first CC of the CCs, wherein the cell-defining SSB comprises a first SSB and system information broadcast with cell information’ as disclosed by Du into Takeda so as to effectively improve reliability of scheduling free uplink data in wireless communication system, Du ¶ 0025.
As to Claims 9 and 19, Takeda does not expressly disclose receiving, via the transceiver, a non-cell-defining SSB on a second CC of the CCs, wherein the non-cell-defining SSB comprises a second SSB only.
However, Du discloses receiving, via the transceiver, a non-cell-defining SSB on a second CC of the CCs, wherein the non-cell-defining SSB comprises a second SSB only (‘receiving, by a terminal device, a first system information block and a second system information block, where the first system information block indicates a location of a resource to be used for initial access on a first carrier, the second system information block is used to indicate a location of a resource to be used for initial access on a second carrier, and a frequency of the first carrier is higher than a frequency of the second carrier’, ¶ 0040).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide ‘receiving, via the transceiver, a non-cell-defining SSB on a second CC of the CCs, wherein the non-cell-defining SSB comprises a second SSB only’ as disclosed by Du into Takeda so as to effectively improve reliability of scheduling free uplink data in wireless communication system, Du ¶ 0025.
Conclusion
6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GBEMILEKE J ONAMUTI whose telephone number is (571)270-5619. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
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/GBEMILEKE J ONAMUTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
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