Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/878,441

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING OF ON-OFF SIGNALING OF NETWORK-CONTROLLED REPEATER FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Dec 23, 2024
Priority
Jun 24, 2022 — RE 10-2022-0077639 +1 more
Examiner
SIXTO, NANCY
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
77%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
11m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 77% — above average
77%
Career Allowance Rate
10 granted / 13 resolved
+16.9% vs TC avg
Strong +38% interview lift
Without
With
+37.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 8m
Avg Prosecution
25 currently pending
Career history
52
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.9%
-39.1% vs TC avg
§103
67.7%
+27.7% vs TC avg
§102
25.4%
-14.6% vs TC avg
§112
4.3%
-35.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 13 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
DETAILED ACTION Claims 1 and 16-28 are presented for examination Claims 2-15 are cancelled. 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 July 1, 2025, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. 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 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, 17, 18, 22, 24, and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by You (US 20250330830 A1). Regarding claim 1, You teaches a method performed by a network-controlled repeater (NCR) (Fig. 14; NCR) including an NCR mobile termination (NCR-MT) (Fig. 14; NCR-MT) and an NCR forwarding (NCR-Fwd) (Fig. 14; NCR-Fwd) in a communication system, the method comprising: receiving, by the NCR-MT via higher layer signaling, a list of time resources for the NCR-Fwd ([0215] Depending on the embodiment, RRC signaling (higher layer signaling) may be used for periodic beam indication for the access link. The above RRC signal may include a list including X (1≤X≤X.sub.max) forwarding resources (list of time resources for the NCR-Fwd) capable of performing forwarding operations of the MT. Here, each forwarding resource can be defined as {beam index, time resource}.); receiving, by the NCR-MT via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), control information including at least one time resource indication of at least one time resource in the list of time resources ([0300] For aperiodic beam indication (dynamic beam indication) for access links, beam index and time resource can be indicated via DCI. The beam index may be indicated by the beam index field, and the time resource may be indicated by the time resource field. The beam index field indicates one of the beams used for the access link, and the time resource field can indicate a specific time resource from a list of time resources predefined by RRC signaling.); and performing communication by the NCR-Fwd based on the at least one time resource after a slot offset from a particular slot ([0289] NCR performs a forwarding operation through the NCR-Fwd based on a control message. For example, at least one of a first forwarding operation of amplifying a first signal received from a UE and forwarding it to a base station and a second forwarding operation of amplifying a second signal received from a base station and forwarding it to the UE is performed through the NCR-Fwd. At this time, the control message includes a list of forwarding resources for the forwarding operation (e.g., at least one of the first forwarding operation and the second forwarding operation), and each forwarding resource included in the list is defined by a beam index and a time resource (S183). [0290] For example, the time resource may be defined by i) a starting slot defined by a slot offset, ii) a starting symbol defined by a symbol offset within a slot, and iii) a duration defined by a number of symbols. [0270] A time resource can be configured with slot position and SLIV information. Here, SLIV means information about the starting symbol position and symbol length within a slot. In this case, the consecutive symbols during the symbol length from the starting symbol position indicated by SLIV within the slot indicated by the slot position can be determined as the symbol resource indicated by the time resource. In this case, the slot position of the time resource can be as follows. [0272] For aperiodic time resources, the indication may mean a relative slot position (slot offset) value from the slot position in which the indicated PDCCH is transmitted (particular slot).), wherein the slot offset is indicated by an offset configuration received by the NCR-MT via the higher layer signaling ([0215] Depending on the embodiment, RRC signaling may be used for periodic beam indication for the access link. The above RRC signal may include a list including X (1≤X≤X.sub.max) forwarding resources capable of performing forwarding operations of the MT. Here, each forwarding resource can be defined as {beam index, time resource}. [0216] The time resource may be defined (by a dedicated field) as, for example, {a starting slot defined by a slot offset (within one period), a starting symbol defined by a symbol offset within a slot, and a duration defined by a number of symbols}.). Regarding claim 17, You teaches the method of claim 1, wherein each time resource in the list of time resources corresponds to a number of symbols indicated by a duration configuration received by the NCR-MT via the higher layer signaling ([0214] Depending on the embodiment, the MT may receive from the base station a value of K corresponding to a starting position to which the side control information is applied and a value of D corresponding to a duration. In this case, the MT may determine that the side control information is applied during D slots starting from the time point K slots after the time point at which the side control information is received. [0215] Depending on the embodiment, RRC signaling may be used for periodic beam indication for the access link. The above RRC signal may include a list including X (1≤X≤X.sub.max) forwarding resources capable of performing forwarding operations of the MT. Here, each forwarding resource can be defined as {beam index, time resource}. [0216] The time resource may be defined (by a dedicated field) as, for example, {a starting slot defined by a slot offset (within one period), a starting symbol defined by a symbol offset within a slot, and a duration defined by a number of symbols}.). Regarding claim 18, You teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the particular slot corresponds to a slot on which the PDCCH is mapped ([0256] In this case, each offset value may represent a relative symbol position from the time when the transmission of the side control information ends. The point at which the transmission of the side control information ends may mean the last symbol position of the time resource at which the PDCCH or PDSCH at which the side control information is transmitted is transmitted. [0272] For aperiodic time resources, the indication may mean a relative slot position (slot offset) value from the slot position in which the indicated PDCCH is transmitted (particular slot).). Regarding claim 22, You teaches a network-controlled repeater (NCR) (Fig. 14; NCR) in a communication system, the NCR comprising: an NCR mobile termination (NCR-MT) (Fig. 14; NCR-MT) and an NCR forwarding (NCR-Fwd) (Fig. 14; NCR-Fwd), wherein the NCR is configured to: receive, by the NCR-MT via higher layer signaling, a list of time resources for the NCR- Fwd ([0215] Depending on the embodiment, RRC signaling (higher layer signaling) may be used for periodic beam indication for the access link. The above RRC signal may include a list including X (1≤X≤X.sub.max) forwarding resources (list of time resources for the NCR-Fwd) capable of performing forwarding operations of the MT. Here, each forwarding resource can be defined as {beam index, time resource}.); receive, by the NCR-MT via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), control information including at least one time resource indication of at least one time resource in the list of time resources ([0300] For aperiodic beam indication (dynamic beam indication) for access links, beam index and time resource can be indicated via DCI. The beam index may be indicated by the beam index field, and the time resource may be indicated by the time resource field. The beam index field indicates one of the beams used for the access link, and the time resource field can indicate a specific time resource from a list of time resources predefined by RRC signaling.); and perform communication by the NCR-Fwd based on the at least one time resource after a slot offset from a particular slot ([0289] NCR performs a forwarding operation through the NCR-Fwd based on a control message. For example, at least one of a first forwarding operation of amplifying a first signal received from a UE and forwarding it to a base station and a second forwarding operation of amplifying a second signal received from a base station and forwarding it to the UE is performed through the NCR-Fwd. At this time, the control message includes a list of forwarding resources for the forwarding operation (e.g., at least one of the first forwarding operation and the second forwarding operation), and each forwarding resource included in the list is defined by a beam index and a time resource (S183). [0290] For example, the time resource may be defined by i) a starting slot defined by a slot offset, ii) a starting symbol defined by a symbol offset within a slot, and iii) a duration defined by a number of symbols. [0270] A time resource can be configured with slot position and SLIV information. Here, SLIV means information about the starting symbol position and symbol length within a slot. In this case, the consecutive symbols during the symbol length from the starting symbol position indicated by SLIV within the slot indicated by the slot position can be determined as the symbol resource indicated by the time resource. In this case, the slot position of the time resource can be as follows. [0272] For aperiodic time resources, the indication may mean a relative slot position (slot offset) value from the slot position in which the indicated PDCCH is transmitted (particular slot).), wherein the slot offset is indicated by an offset configuration received by the NCR-MT via the higher layer signaling ([0215] Depending on the embodiment, RRC signaling may be used for periodic beam indication for the access link. The above RRC signal may include a list including X (1≤X≤X.sub.max) forwarding resources capable of performing forwarding operations of the MT. Here, each forwarding resource can be defined as {beam index, time resource}. [0216] The time resource may be defined (by a dedicated field) as, for example, {a starting slot defined by a slot offset (within one period), a starting symbol defined by a symbol offset within a slot, and a duration defined by a number of symbols}.). Regarding claim 24, You teaches the NCR of claim 22, wherein each time resource in the list of time resources corresponds to a number of symbols indicated by a duration configuration received by the NCR-MT via the higher layer signaling ([0214] Depending on the embodiment, the MT may receive from the base station a value of K corresponding to a starting position to which the side control information is applied and a value of D corresponding to a duration. In this case, the MT may determine that the side control information is applied during D slots starting from the time point K slots after the time point at which the side control information is received. [0215] Depending on the embodiment, RRC signaling may be used for periodic beam indication for the access link. The above RRC signal may include a list including X (1≤X≤X.sub.max) forwarding resources capable of performing forwarding operations of the MT. Here, each forwarding resource can be defined as {beam index, time resource}. [0216] The time resource may be defined (by a dedicated field) as, for example, {a starting slot defined by a slot offset (within one period), a starting symbol defined by a symbol offset within a slot, and a duration defined by a number of symbols}.). Regarding claim 25, You teaches the NCR of claim 22, wherein the particular slot corresponds to a slot on which the PDCCH is mapped ([0256] In this case, each offset value may represent a relative symbol position from the time when the transmission of the side control information ends. The point at which the transmission of the side control information ends may mean the last symbol position of the time resource at which the PDCCH or PDSCH at which the side control information is transmitted is transmitted. [0272] For aperiodic time resources, the indication may mean a relative slot position (slot offset) value from the slot position in which the indicated PDCCH is transmitted (particular slot).). 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. 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. Claim(s) 16, 19-2, 23, 26-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over You (US 20250330830 A1) in view of You (US 20250253928 A1); hereinafter You2. Regarding claim 16, You teaches the method of claim 1, and the examples given are for Indicating Time Domain Resources to which Access Link Beam Indications are Applied. You teaches that [0190] Side control information may include, for example, all or part of the following information. [0194] 4) ON-OFF information for efficient interference management and improved energy efficiency. This may mean information about the ON-OFF operation of the RU. [0233] The following describes a method for determining the time resource to which the beam information is applied when an access link beam indication is given. However, the following may be equally applicable to determining the time resource to which other side control information, such as ON-OFF indications, power control indications, etc. are applied in addition to access link beam indications. You does not explicitly teach wherein the control information includes at least one indication where each of the at least one indication is associated with the NCR-Fwd being ON over a corresponding time resource in the at least one time resource. You2 in the same field of endeavor of wireless communications teaches wherein the control information includes at least one indication where each of the at least one indication is associated with the NCR-Fwd being ON over a corresponding time resource in the at least one time resource ([0236] Referring to FIG. 15, NCR includes NCR-MT and NCR-Fwd. NCR-MT can receive beam indication from a base station at time t1 within time resource #n-k, for example. The beam indication is information informing (beam index, time resource) and can be provided via RRC signal/message, DCI. NCR-Fwd can be OFF in time resource #n-k. [0237] For periodic beam indication for access link, RRC signaling can be used. The RRC signal may include a list including X (1≤X≤X.sub.max) forwarding resources capable of performing forwarding operation of NCR-MT. Here, each forwarding resource can be defined as {beam index, time resource}. [0238] For example, suppose that at time t1, the NCR-MT receives a list comprising three forwarding resources for periodic beam indication for the access link, where each forwarding resource in the list is (beam index #m, time resource #n), (beam index #m+1, time resource #n+2), and (beam index #m+2, time resource #n+4).). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the configurations of You to include the specific ON/OFF state of You2. The motivation to do so would have been for efficient interference management and energy efficiency improvement (You2; [0166]). Regarding claim 19, You teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the list of time resources is associated with a dynamic configuration operation for the NCR-Fwd, and the method comprises: receiving, by the NCR-MT via higher layer signaling, sets of time resources associated with semi-static configuration operation for the NCR-Fwd ([0233] The following describes a method for determining the time resource to which the beam information is applied when an access link beam indication is given. However, the following may be equally applicable to determining the time resource to which other side control information, such as ON-OFF indications, power control indications, etc. are applied in addition to access link beam indications.); receiving, by the NCR-MT via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a medium access control control element (MAC CE) of activation associated with a set of time resources of the sets of time resources ([0297] For semi-persistent beam indication, MAC-CE can activate/de-activate one of the Y lists, in which case all Z.sub.y forwarding resources in that list are selected. MAC-CE can provide updates to the Z.sub.y beam indices. [0298] That is, the NCR receives a MAC-CE (medium access control-control element), and the MAC-CE can activate/deactivate one of the multiple lists set by the RRC signal.; transmitting, by the NCR-MT via a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information associated with the PDSCH ([0269] For aperiodic time resources, the indication may mean a relative symbol position (symbol offset) value from the last symbol among the symbols constituting the transmission of the PUCCH (or PUSCH) that transmitted an ACK for the indicated PDCCH. [0273] For aperiodic time resources, the indication may mean a relative slot position (slot offset) value from the slot position where ACK information for the indicated PDCCH is transmitted.); and performing communication by the NCR-Fwd based on the set of time resources after transmission of the HARQ-ACK information ([0289] NCR performs a forwarding operation through the NCR-Fwd based on a control message. (If the indication for the time resource is based on an offset from the transmission of the PUCCH, then it follows that transmission will occur only after the transmission of the HARQ-ACK.)). You does not explicitly teach configurations where each of the configurations is associated with the NCR-Fwd being ON over a corresponding time resource in the sets of time resources. You2 in the same field of endeavor of wireless communications teaches configurations where each of the configurations is associated with the NCR-Fwd being ON over a corresponding time resource in the sets of time resources ([0236] Referring to FIG. 15, NCR includes NCR-MT and NCR-Fwd. NCR-MT can receive beam indication from a base station at time t1 within time resource #n-k, for example. The beam indication is information informing (beam index, time resource) and can be provided via RRC signal/message, DCI. NCR-Fwd can be OFF in time resource #n-k. [0237] For periodic beam indication for access link, RRC signaling can be used. The RRC signal may include a list including X (1≤X≤X.sub.max) forwarding resources capable of performing forwarding operation of NCR-MT. Here, each forwarding resource can be defined as {beam index, time resource}. [0238] For example, suppose that at time t1, the NCR-MT receives a list comprising three forwarding resources for periodic beam indication for the access link, where each forwarding resource in the list is (beam index #m, time resource #n), (beam index #m+1, time resource #n+2), and (beam index #m+2, time resource #n+4).). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the configurations of You to include the specific ON/OFF state of You2. The motivation to do so would have been for efficient interference management and energy efficiency improvement (You2; [0166]). Regarding claim 20, You teaches the method of claim 19, wherein the communication based on the set of time resources is performed after 3ms from a slot on which the HARQ-ACK information is transmitted ([0273] For aperiodic time resources, the indication may mean a relative slot position (slot offset) value from the slot position where ACK information for the indicated PDCCH is transmitted. It would be obvious to set the offset value to 3ms or any other value.). Regarding claim 21, You teaches the method of claim 19, wherein each time resource of the sets of time resources corresponds to a duration indicated by a duration configuration received by the NCR-MT via the higher layer signaling ([0214] Depending on the embodiment, the MT may receive from the base station a value of K corresponding to a starting position to which the side control information is applied and a value of D corresponding to a duration. In this case, the MT may determine that the side control information is applied during D slots starting from the time point K slots after the time point at which the side control information is received. [0215] Depending on the embodiment, RRC signaling may be used for periodic beam indication for the access link. [0216] The time resource may be defined (by a dedicated field) as, for example, {a starting slot defined by a slot offset (within one period), a starting symbol defined by a symbol offset within a slot, and a duration defined by a number of symbols}. [0238] FIG. 16 illustrates semi-persistent access link beam configuration. [0240] For example, one or more sets of {starting symbol position, symbol length} information may be set to indicate the location of the time resource to which each beam index applies. Each {starting symbol position, symbol length} information means a continuous symbol duration as the symbol length from the starting symbol position. In this case, it may mean that the beam index is applied to time resources configured with {starting symbol position, symbol length} information of multiple sets.), and wherein each time resource of the sets of time resources is configured with a period indicated by a period configuration received by the NCR-MT via the higher layer signaling (Fig. 16; [0217] For periodic beam indication, the RRC signal can also set a periodicity. The same periodicity can be assumed for all time resources within one periodic beam indication. The periodicity and reference SCS may be set for each list by the RRC signal. [0230] When these indications are applied periodically, P units of time resources (e.g., P slots) may be applied in periods. The value of the period P may be fixed in a standard specification or may be set by the base station.). Regarding claim 23, You teaches the NCR of claim 22, and the examples given are for Indicating Time Domain Resources to which Access Link Beam Indications are Applied. You teaches that [0190] Side control information may include, for example, all or part of the following information. [0194] 4) ON-OFF information for efficient interference management and improved energy efficiency. This may mean information about the ON-OFF operation of the RU. [0233] The following describes a method for determining the time resource to which the beam information is applied when an access link beam indication is given. However, the following may be equally applicable to determining the time resource to which other side control information, such as ON-OFF indications, power control indications, etc. are applied in addition to access link beam indications. You does not explicitly teach wherein the control information includes at least one indication where each of the at least one indication is associated with the NCR-Fwd being ON over a corresponding time resource in the at least one time resource. You2 in the same field of endeavor of wireless communications teaches wherein the control information includes at least one indication where each of the at least one indication is associated with the NCR-Fwd being ON over a corresponding time resource in the at least one time resource ([0236] Referring to FIG. 15, NCR includes NCR-MT and NCR-Fwd. NCR-MT can receive beam indication from a base station at time t1 within time resource #n-k, for example. The beam indication is information informing (beam index, time resource) and can be provided via RRC signal/message, DCI. NCR-Fwd can be OFF in time resource #n-k. [0237] For periodic beam indication for access link, RRC signaling can be used. The RRC signal may include a list including X (1≤X≤X.sub.max) forwarding resources capable of performing forwarding operation of NCR-MT. Here, each forwarding resource can be defined as {beam index, time resource}. [0238] For example, suppose that at time t1, the NCR-MT receives a list comprising three forwarding resources for periodic beam indication for the access link, where each forwarding resource in the list is (beam index #m, time resource #n), (beam index #m+1, time resource #n+2), and (beam index #m+2, time resource #n+4).). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the configurations of You to include the specific ON/OFF state of You2. The motivation to do so would have been for efficient interference management and energy efficiency improvement (You2; [0166]). Regarding claim 26, You teaches the NCR of claim 22, wherein the list of time resources is associated with a dynamic configuration operation for the NCR-Fwd, and the NCR is configured to: receive, by the NCR-MT via higher layer signaling, sets of time resources associated with semi-static configuration operation for the NCR-Fwd ([0233] The following describes a method for determining the time resource to which the beam information is applied when an access link beam indication is given. However, the following may be equally applicable to determining the time resource to which other side control information, such as ON-OFF indications, power control indications, etc. are applied in addition to access link beam indications.); receive, by the NCR-MT via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a medium access control control element (MAC CE) of activation associated with a set of time resources of the sets of time resources ([0297] For semi-persistent beam indication, MAC-CE can activate/de-activate one of the Y lists, in which case all Z.sub.y forwarding resources in that list are selected. MAC-CE can provide updates to the Z.sub.y beam indices. [0298] That is, the NCR receives a MAC-CE (medium access control-control element), and the MAC-CE can activate/deactivate one of the multiple lists set by the RRC signal.; transmit, by the NCR-MT via a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information associated with the PDSCH ([0269] For aperiodic time resources, the indication may mean a relative symbol position (symbol offset) value from the last symbol among the symbols constituting the transmission of the PUCCH (or PUSCH) that transmitted an ACK for the indicated PDCCH. [0273] For aperiodic time resources, the indication may mean a relative slot position (slot offset) value from the slot position where ACK information for the indicated PDCCH is transmitted.); and perform communication by the NCR-Fwd based on the set of time resources after transmission of the HARQ-ACK information ([0289] NCR performs a forwarding operation through the NCR-Fwd based on a control message. (If the indication for the time resource is based on an offset from the transmission of the PUCCH, then it follows that transmission will occur only after the transmission of the HARQ-ACK.)). You does not explicitly teach configurations where each of the configurations is associated with the NCR-Fwd being ON over a corresponding time resource in the sets of time resources. You2 in the same field of endeavor of wireless communications teaches configurations where each of the configurations is associated with the NCR-Fwd being ON over a corresponding time resource in the sets of time resources ([0236] Referring to FIG. 15, NCR includes NCR-MT and NCR-Fwd. NCR-MT can receive beam indication from a base station at time t1 within time resource #n-k, for example. The beam indication is information informing (beam index, time resource) and can be provided via RRC signal/message, DCI. NCR-Fwd can be OFF in time resource #n-k. [0237] For periodic beam indication for access link, RRC signaling can be used. The RRC signal may include a list including X (1≤X≤X.sub.max) forwarding resources capable of performing forwarding operation of NCR-MT. Here, each forwarding resource can be defined as {beam index, time resource}. [0238] For example, suppose that at time t1, the NCR-MT receives a list comprising three forwarding resources for periodic beam indication for the access link, where each forwarding resource in the list is (beam index #m, time resource #n), (beam index #m+1, time resource #n+2), and (beam index #m+2, time resource #n+4).). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the configurations of You to include the specific ON/OFF state of You2. The motivation to do so would have been for efficient interference management and energy efficiency improvement (You2; [0166]). Regarding claim 27, You teaches the NCR of claim 26, wherein the communication based on the set of time resources is performed after 3ms from a slot on which the HARQ-ACK information is transmitted ([0273] For aperiodic time resources, the indication may mean a relative slot position (slot offset) value from the slot position where ACK information for the indicated PDCCH is transmitted. It would be obvious to set the offset value to 3ms or any other value.). Regarding claim 28, You teaches the NCR of claim 26, wherein each time resource of the sets of time resources corresponds to a duration indicated by a duration configuration received by the NCR-MT via the higher layer signaling ([0214] Depending on the embodiment, the MT may receive from the base station a value of K corresponding to a starting position to which the side control information is applied and a value of D corresponding to a duration. In this case, the MT may determine that the side control information is applied during D slots starting from the time point K slots after the time point at which the side control information is received. [0215] Depending on the embodiment, RRC signaling may be used for periodic beam indication for the access link. [0216] The time resource may be defined (by a dedicated field) as, for example, {a starting slot defined by a slot offset (within one period), a starting symbol defined by a symbol offset within a slot, and a duration defined by a number of symbols}. [0238] FIG. 16 illustrates semi-persistent access link beam configuration. [0240] For example, one or more sets of {starting symbol position, symbol length} information may be set to indicate the location of the time resource to which each beam index applies. Each {starting symbol position, symbol length} information means a continuous symbol duration as the symbol length from the starting symbol position. In this case, it may mean that the beam index is applied to time resources configured with {starting symbol position, symbol length} information of multiple sets.), and wherein each time resource of the sets of time resources is configured with a period indicated by a period configuration received by the NCR-MT via the higher layer signaling (Fig. 16; [0217] For periodic beam indication, the RRC signal can also set a periodicity. The same periodicity can be assumed for all time resources within one periodic beam indication. The periodicity and reference SCS may be set for each list by the RRC signal. [0230] When these indications are applied periodically, P units of time resources (e.g., P slots) may be applied in periods. The value of the period P may be fixed in a standard specification or may be set by the base station.). Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Li (US 20240292238 A1) discloses systems and methods for on/off status control of network controlled repeaters. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NANCY SIXTO whose telephone number is (571)272-3295. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Friday 9AM-5PM EST. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gary Mui can be reached at 571-270-1420. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /NANCY SIXTO/Examiner, Art Unit 2465 /GARY MUI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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Prosecution Timeline

Dec 23, 2024
Application Filed
Sep 01, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
77%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+37.5%)
2y 8m (~11m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
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