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
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) 1-3, 6, 8, 10-13, 16, 18 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102[a2] as being anticipated by Deogun [WO 2024203709].
As claims 1, 11 and 20, Deogun [WO 2024203709] discloses a radio unit (RU) [Fig 17, Ref 5a], comprising: one or more memories storing processor-executable code; and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the RU to: receive, at a start of a frame and from a distributed unit (DU), an indication of a time division duplexing (TDD) pattern for a quantity of slots, the TDD pattern comprising the quantity of slots, a pattern period, a quantity of downlink slots, a quantity of uplink slots, a quantity of uplink symbols, and a quantity of downlink symbols [Fig 17, Ref S1712, Par. 0170-0171 and Par. 0104, 0107 disclose period, number of downlink slots, number of uplink slots, number of downlink symbols and number of uplink symbols and quantity of slots which is uplink and downlink slots for TDD pattern which receives at RU from DU at start of frame]; and communicate one or more downlink messages, one or more uplink messages, or both during one or more slots of the frame in accordance with the TDD pattern [Fig 5 discloses RU and DU exchanging message via TDD pattern configuration].
As claims 2 and 12, Deogun [WO 2024203709] discloses transmit a capability message indicative of a capability of the RU to receive the indication of the TDD pattern [Fig 17, Ref S1710], wherein receiving the indication of the TDD pattern is in accordance with transmitting the capability message [Fig 17, Ref S1712].
As claims 3 and 13, Deogun [WO 2024203709] discloses the quantity of slots comprises a non-zero integer quantity of slots for which the TDD pattern is applicable [Par. 0104].
As claims 6 and 16, Deogun [WO 2024203709] discloses the pattern period is indicative of a second quantity of slots associated with a periodicity of the TDD pattern, and the TDD pattern is repeated after the second quantity of slots [Par. 0104 discloses period is periodicity for TDD pattern].
As claims 8 and 18, Deogun [WO 2024203709] discloses the quantity of downlink symbols comprises a quantity of consecutive downlink symbols in one or more special slots of the TDD pattern, and the quantity of uplink symbols comprises a quantity of consecutive uplink symbols in the one or more special slots of the TDD pattern [Par. 0107 discloses specific slot includes a quantity of consecutive uplink/downlink symbols].
As claim 10, Deogun [WO 2024203709] discloses determine one or more guard symbols using the quantity of downlink symbols and the quantity of uplink symbols, wherein: the one or more guard symbols are after the quantity of downlink symbols and before the quantity of uplink symbols in time; and the communicating is in accordance with the one or more guard symbols [Par. 0171, 0199 discloses guard symbol between uplink and downlink symbol].
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.
Claim(s) 7, 9, 17 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Deogun [WO 2024203709] in view of Wei [US 2022/0109998].
As claims 7 and 17, Deogun [WO 2024203709] fails to disclose what Wei [US 2022/0109998] discloses the quantity of downlink slots comprises a quantity of consecutive downlink slots, and the quantity of uplink slots comprises a quantity of consecutive uplink slots [Par. 0080 discloses a quantity of consecutive downlink slots and a quantity of consecutive uplink slots].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system comprising pattern with a quantity of consecutive uplink/downlink slots as disclosed by Wei into the teaching of Deogun The motivation would have been to processing time.
As claims 9 and 19, Deogun [WO 2024203709] fails to disclose what Wei [US 2022/0109998] discloses determine one or more special slots using the quantity of downlink slots and the quantity of uplink slots, wherein: the one or more special slots are after the quantity of downlink slots and before the quantity of uplink slots in time [Par. 0081 discloses specific slot are between UL and DL slots]; and the communicating is in accordance with the one or more special slots [Par. 0081 discloses specific slot are between UL and DL slots].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system comprising determine one or more special slots using the quantity of downlink slots and the quantity of uplink slots, wherein: the one or more special slots are after the quantity of downlink slots and before the quantity of uplink slots in time as disclosed by Wei into the teaching of Deogun The motivation would have been to processing time.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5 and 14-15 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.
As claims 4 and 14, the prior arts fail to discloses the quantity of slots is zero, and the RU communicates in accordance with the TDD pattern until an updated TDD pattern is received.
Conclusion
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/STEVEN HIEU D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414
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