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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
1. 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.
2. Claims 1-2 and 4-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tsai et al. (US 2023/0318695).
Regarding claim 1, Tsai teaches a method by a device in (Fig. 1, 3). Tsai teaches that configuring a control link for receiving control information from a base station, BS, and a forwarding link for forwarding a signal received from a user equipment, UE (Fig. 3, 8 and pages 2, paragraphs 20 – 26, where teaches the repeater may provide communication coverage for a geographic coverage area in which communications with the UE, and a control link shown in the 5G NR network may be established between the repeater and the gNB, an amplify-and-forward (AF) link shown in the 5G NR network may be established between the UE and the gNB via the repeater, and the control link may be used for transmitting network parameters associated with the AF link to control the AF link, the AF link may include UL transmissions from the UE to the gNB (e.g., on the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) or Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)) or DL transmissions from the gNB to the UE (e.g., on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) or Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)). Also, the control link may be utilized for transmitting capability reports of the control link and the AF link to the gNB 131), determining a power amplifying gain for the forwarding link (Fig. 1, 8, pages 2, paragraphs 20 – 26, and pages 3, paragraphs 45 – pages 4, paragraphs 53, where teaches the control link may be utilized for transmitting capability reports of the control link and the AF link to the gNB, and the capability report of the AF link may be related to DL/UL multi-input multi-output (MIMO), DL/UL carrier aggregation (CA) and maximum DL/UL power gain, and DL/UL beam indication related to the control link and the AF link, scheduling downlink control information (DCI) for Llayer2/Llayer3 messages related to the control link, UL power control command for Layer2/Layer3 messages related to the control link), and forwarding the signal received from the UE to the BS through the forwarding link based on the power amplifying gain (Fig. 1, 8, pages 2, paragraphs 20 – 26, and pages 3, paragraphs 45 – pages 4, paragraphs 53, where teaches the control link 101 may be related to Layer1/Layer2/Layer3 control information of receiver/transmitter, applied DL/UL power gain for the AF link, and measurements to maintain the control link may be related to radio resource measurement (RRM), radio link monitoring (RLM), channel state information (CSI), and sounding reference signal (SRS)), wherein the power amplifying gain is determined based on power control information configured for the control link (Fig. 1, 8, pages 2, paragraphs 20 – 26, and pages 3, paragraphs 45 – pages 4, paragraphs 53, where teaches the control link may be utilized for transmitting capability reports of the control link and the AF link to the gNB, and the capability report of the AF link may be related to DL/UL multi-input multi-output (MIMO), DL/UL carrier aggregation (CA) and maximum DL/UL power gain, and the control link may be related to Layer1/Layer2/Layer3 control information of receiver/transmitter, applied DL/UL power gain for the AF link, and measurements to maintain the control link may be related to radio resource measurement (RRM), radio link monitoring (RLM), channel state information (CSI), and sounding reference signal (SRS)).
Regarding claim 2, Tsai teaches that the power amplifying gain is determined based on one of a plurality of power parameters included in the power control information (Fig. 1, 8, pages 2, paragraphs 20 – 26, and pages 3, paragraphs 45 – pages 4, paragraphs 53).
Regarding claim 4, Tsai teaches that the power amplifying gain is determined based on a resource index of a downlink reference signal included in the power control information (Fig. 1, 8, pages 2, paragraphs 20 – 26, and pages 3, paragraphs 45 – pages 4, paragraphs 53).
Regarding claim 5, Tsai teaches that the power amplifying gain is determined based on the power control information related to a sounding reference signal (SRS) for the control link (Fig. 1, 8, pages 2, paragraphs 20 – 26, and pages 3, paragraphs 45 – pages 4, paragraphs 53).
Regarding claim 6, Tsai teaches that the power amplifying gain is determined based on the power control information related to a physical random access channel (PRACH) for the control link (Fig. 1, 8, pages 2, paragraphs 20 – 26, and pages 3, paragraphs 45 – pages 4, paragraphs 53).
Regarding claim 7, Tsai teaches that the power amplifying gain is determined by applying at least one of a predetermined weight or an offset to a first transmission power of an uplink signal for the control link, calculated based on the power control information (Fig. 1, 8, pages 2, paragraphs 20 – 26, and pages 3, paragraphs 45 – pages 4, paragraphs 53).
Regarding claim 8, Tsai teaches that the predetermined weight and the offset are indicated by the BS through radio resource control (RRC) signaling or downlink control information (DCI) (Fig. 1, 8, pages 2, paragraphs 20 – 26, and pages 3, paragraphs 45 – pages 4, paragraphs 53).
Regarding claim 9, Tsai teaches that reporting information about the power amplifying gain compared to a maximum power amplifying gain to the BS (Fig. 1, 8, pages 2, paragraphs 20 – 26, and pages 3, paragraphs 45 – pages 4, paragraphs 53).
Regarding claim 10, Tsai teaches that the device is a network-controlled repeater (NCR) (Fig. 1, 8, pages 2, paragraphs 20 – 30, and pages 3, paragraphs 45 – pages 4, paragraphs 53).
Regarding claim 11, Tsai teaches that computer-readable recording medium in which a program for executing the method is recorded (Fig. 1, 8, pages 2, paragraphs 20 – 30, and pages 3, paragraphs 45 – pages 4, paragraphs 53).
Regarding claim 12, Tsai teaches all the limitations as discussed in claim 1. Furthermore, Tsai further teaches device for performing communication in a wireless communication system, a memory configured to store instructions; and a processor configured to perform operations by executing the instructions (Fig. 1, 2 and page 1, paragraphs 19 – pages 2, paragraphs 27).
Regarding claim 13, Tsai teaches all the limitations as discussed in claims 1 and 2.
Regarding claim 14, Tsai teaches all the limitations as discussed in claims 1 and 3.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
4. Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai in view of TEKGUL et al. (US 2023/0261733).
Regarding claim 3, Tsai does not specifically teach the limitation “one power parameter is preconfigured as a power parameter related to path loss among the plurality of power parameters”. However, TEKGUL teaches the limitation “one power parameter is preconfigured as a power parameter related to path loss among the plurality of power parameters” (Fig. 1 and pages 3, paragraphs 34 – 37, where teaches utilizing beamforming with the UE to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teaching of the Tsai’s power control performance as taught by TEKGUL, providing the motivation to achieve improving relay communication performance between user equipment and network repeater.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Abedini et al. (US 11,463,156) discloses Repeater Communication System with Power Measurement Capability.
Information regarding...Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system... at 866-217-9197 (toll-free)."
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN J LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-7880. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri (8:00am-5:00pm).
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, Yuwen Pan can be reached on 571-272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO
Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
J.L
September 10, 2026
John J Lee
/JOHN J LEE/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649
Prosecution Insights