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 02/06/2026, 09/30/2025, 08/12/2025, 09/27/2024, 12/12/2024, 12/12/2024, 06/10/2025 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
This office action is in response to the Preliminary amendment filed 07/11/2025.
Claims 1-10, 11-20 are pending.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “ synchronize to a downlink carrier via synchronization signals associated with a first channel bandwidth; receive a reconfiguration message comprising configuration information associated with one or more additional channel bandwidths associated with the downlink carrier; receive downlink control information via a second channel bandwidth of the one or more additional channel bandwidths, wherein the downlink control information comprises a first downlink allocation in the second channel bandwidth, an indication of a start time and duration of the first downlink allocation, and an indication of a start time for an uplink allocation for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for the downlink allocation; receive a downlink transmission in accordance with the downlink control information; and transmit the HARQ feedback in accordance with the downlink control information” in claim 1; “ synchronizing to a downlink carrier via synchronization signals associated with a first channel bandwidth; receiving a reconfiguration message comprising configuration information associated with one or more additional channel bandwidths associated with the downlink carrier; receiving downlink control information via a second channel bandwidth of the one or more additional channel bandwidths, wherein the downlink control information comprises a first downlink allocation in the second channel bandwidth, an indication of a start time and duration of the first downlink allocation, and an indication of a start time for an uplink allocation for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for the downlink allocation; receiving a downlink transmission in accordance with the downlink control information; and transmitting the HARQ feedback in accordance with the downlink control information”
must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1, 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention.
For claim 1, applicant has not pointed out where the new ( or amended ) claim is supported, nor does there appear to be a written description of the limitation “ synchronize to a downlink carrier via synchronization signals associated with a first channel bandwidth; receive a reconfiguration message comprising configuration information associated with one or more additional channel bandwidths associated with the downlink carrier; receive downlink control information via a second channel bandwidth of the one or more additional channel bandwidths, wherein the downlink control information comprises a first downlink allocation in the second channel bandwidth, an indication of a start time and duration of the first downlink allocation, and an indication of a start time for an uplink allocation for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for the downlink allocation; receive a downlink transmission in accordance with the downlink control information; and transmit the HARQ feedback in accordance with the downlink control information”. In the application as filed.
For claim 11, applicant has not pointed out where the new ( or amended ) claim is supported, nor does there appear to be a written description of the limitation “ synchronizing to a downlink carrier via synchronization signals associated with a first channel bandwidth; receiving a reconfiguration message comprising configuration information associated with one or more additional channel bandwidths associated with the downlink carrier; receiving downlink control information via a second channel bandwidth of the one or more additional channel bandwidths, wherein the downlink control information comprises a first downlink allocation in the second channel bandwidth, an indication of a start time and duration of the first downlink allocation, and an indication of a start time for an uplink allocation for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for the downlink allocation; receiving a downlink transmission in accordance with the downlink control information; and transmitting the HARQ feedback in accordance with the downlink control information” in the application as filed.
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) 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over BERTRAND et al. ( US 20160219584, hereinafter, BERTRAND’s 584 ) in view of Kodali et al. ( US 20150163041, hereinafter, Kodali’s 041 ).
Regarding to the claim 1, BERTRAND’s 584 teaches a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) comprising a processor and memory configured to:
synchronize (time and frequency synchronization ) [see Paragraph 0085 and Claim 20 ] to a downlink carrier via synchronization signals associated with a first channel bandwidth (10, 15, 20MHz Primary CC ) [see Figure 12, Paragraph 0086] ;
receive a radio resource control (RRC) [see Paragraph 0061] message comprising information associated with one or more additional channel bandwidths ( 5MHz Primary CC ) associated with the downlink carrier [see Paragraph 0086 and Figure 12 ];
receive downlink control information (DCI) [see Paragraph 0097 & 0098 ] via a second channel bandwidth (Secondary CC ) [see Figure 12 ] of the one or more additional channel bandwidths;
wherein the downlink control information comprises a first downlink allocation in the second channel bandwidth, an indication of a start time and duration of the first downlink allocation [see Paragraph 0097 & 0006]
(the base station and wireless terminal or user equipment (UE) operate respectively as a master-slave pair, wherein downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) transmission is configured or scheduled by the base station. For the LTE system, a TTI is 1 ms long and has the duration of a subframe. FIG. 1 shows the LTE TDD UL/DL subframe configurations with different UL and DL allocations to support a diverse mix of UL and DL traffic ratios or to enable coexistence between different TDD wireless systems. For example, configuration 0 may provide 8 UL subframes (U) including special subframes (S). Configuration 5 may provide 9 DL subframes (D) including the special subframe (S))
( [0097] Referring to FIG. 14, there is a block diagram illustrating Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) generation for an exemplary wireless system with two transmit antennas. PDCCH generation is functionally similar to the previously described PDSCH generation, so only the different blocks are discussed below. The PDCCH is used for transmitting the Downlink Control Information (DCI). The PDCCH is per link based, so each dynamic slot resource has its own PDCCH DCI and each RU has to look for PHY information in the PDCCH DCI it has been allocated by the PBCH to properly decode its downlink PHY channels and properly transmit uplink PHY channels. In particular, the PDCCH in each DL slot carries the PHY control information (MCS and MIMO configuration) for the RU dynamically scheduled in that slot. The PDCCH also carries PHY control information (MCS and MIMO configuration) for the RUs dynamically scheduled in one or more future UL slots. Finally, the PDCCH indicates potential allocation preemptions by HARQ retransmissions for both dynamic and SPS allocations);
an indication of a start time for an uplink allocation for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for the downlink allocation (HARQ feedback) [see Paragraphs 0097 & 0086 & 0081] ;
receive a downlink transmission in accordance with the downlink control information [see Paragraph 0097 ;
transmit the HARQ feedback in accordance with the downlink control information [see Paragraph 0097 ] .
However, BERTRAND’s 584 does not explicitly teach receive a radio resource control (RRC) message comprising configuration information.
Kodali’s 041, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, teaches receive a radio resource control (RRC) message comprising configuration information associated with one or more additional channel bandwidths associated with the downlink carrier [see Paragraph 0046] [also see the paragraphs 0062 & 0066 & 0068 ].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the system of BERTRAND’s 584 in view of Kodali’s 041 because Kodali’s 041 suggests that it would be beneficial to improve the likelihood of communicating control-plane data in a timely manner within LTE-A networks employing carrier aggregation.
Regarding to the claim 2, BERTRAND’s 584 further teaches wherein each of the first channel bandwidth and the one or more additional channel bandwidths is associated with a respective subcarrier spacing [see Paragraphs 0076 & 0080 ].
Regarding to the claim 4, BERTRAND’s 584 further teaches wherein each of the first channel bandwidth and the one or more additional channel bandwidths is associated with a respective search space configuration [see Paragraphs 0076 & 0080 ].
Regarding to the claim 6, BERTRAND’s 584 further teaches wherein the start time of the first downlink allocation and the start time of the uplink allocation for HARQ feedback are determined relative to a time associated with reception of the downlink control information [see Paragraphs 0081 & 0086].
Regarding to the claim 8, BERTRAND’s 584 further teaches wherein the first downlink allocation corresponds to a first frequency assignment in the second channel bandwidth [see Paragraphs 0081 & 0086].
Regarding to the claim 9, BERTRAND’s 584 further teaches wherein the downlink control information comprises an indication of a frequency allocation for the uplink transmission for the HARQ feedback [see Paragraphs 0081 & 0086].
Regarding to the claim 10, BERTRAND’s 584 further teaches wherein the second channel bandwidth does not include any synchronization signals [see Paragraphs 0081 & 0086].
Regarding to the claim 11, Xu’s 621 teaches a method implemented by a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), the method comprising:
synchronizing (time and frequency synchronization ) [see Paragraph 0085 and Claim 20 ] to a downlink carrier via synchronization signals associated with a first channel bandwidth (10, 15, 20MHz Primary CC ) [see Figure 12, Paragraph 0086] ;
receive a radio resource control (RRC) [see Paragraph 0061] message comprising information associated with one or more additional channel bandwidths ( 5MHz Primary CC ) associated with the downlink carrier [see Paragraph 0086 and Figure 12 ];
receiving downlink control information (DCI) [see Paragraph 0097 & 0098 ] via a second channel bandwidth (Secondary CC ) [see Figure 12 ] of the one or more additional channel bandwidths;
wherein the downlink control information comprises a first downlink allocation in the second channel bandwidth, an indication of a start time and duration of the first downlink allocation [see Paragraph 0097 & 0006]
(the base station and wireless terminal or user equipment (UE) operate respectively as a master-slave pair, wherein downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) transmission is configured or scheduled by the base station. For the LTE system, a TTI is 1 ms long and has the duration of a subframe. FIG. 1 shows the LTE TDD UL/DL subframe configurations with different UL and DL allocations to support a diverse mix of UL and DL traffic ratios or to enable coexistence between different TDD wireless systems. For example, configuration 0 may provide 8 UL subframes (U) including special subframes (S). Configuration 5 may provide 9 DL subframes (D) including the special subframe (S))
( [0097] Referring to FIG. 14, there is a block diagram illustrating Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) generation for an exemplary wireless system with two transmit antennas. PDCCH generation is functionally similar to the previously described PDSCH generation, so only the different blocks are discussed below. The PDCCH is used for transmitting the Downlink Control Information (DCI). The PDCCH is per link based, so each dynamic slot resource has its own PDCCH DCI and each RU has to look for PHY information in the PDCCH DCI it has been allocated by the PBCH to properly decode its downlink PHY channels and properly transmit uplink PHY channels. In particular, the PDCCH in each DL slot carries the PHY control information (MCS and MIMO configuration) for the RU dynamically scheduled in that slot. The PDCCH also carries PHY control information (MCS and MIMO configuration) for the RUs dynamically scheduled in one or more future UL slots. Finally, the PDCCH indicates potential allocation preemptions by HARQ retransmissions for both dynamic and SPS allocations);
an indication of a start time for an uplink allocation for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for the downlink allocation (HARQ feedback) [see Paragraphs 0097 & 0086 & 0081] ;
receiving a downlink transmission in accordance with the downlink control information [see Paragraph 0097 ] ;
transmitting the HARQ feedback in accordance with the downlink control information [see Paragraph 0097 ] .
However, BERTRAND’s 584 does not explicitly teach receive a radio resource control (RRC) message comprising configuration information.
Kodali’s 041, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, teaches receive a radio resource control (RRC) message comprising configuration information associated with one or more additional channel bandwidths associated with the downlink carrier [see Paragraph 0046] [also see the paragraphs 0062 & 0066 & 0068 ].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the system of BERTRAND’s 584 in view of Kodali’s 041 because Kodali’s 041 suggests that it would be beneficial to improve the likelihood of communicating control-plane data in a timely manner within LTE-A networks employing carrier aggregation.
Regarding to the claim 12, claim 12 is rejected in the same ground, or for the same reasons as claim 2, because both claims have the same limitations.
Regarding to the claim 14, claim 14 is rejected in the same ground, or for the same reasons as claim 4, because both claims have the same limitations.
Regarding to the claim 16, claim 16 is rejected in the same ground, or for the same reasons as claim 6, because both claims have the same limitations.
Regarding to the claim 18, claim 18 is rejected in the same ground, or for the same reasons as claim 8, because both claims have the same limitations.
Regarding to the claim 19, claim 19 is rejected in the same ground, or for the same reasons as claim 9, because both claims have the same limitations.
Regarding to the claim 20, claim 20 is rejected in the same ground, or for the same reasons as claim 10, because both claims have the same limitations.
Claim(s) 3, 5, 7, 13, 15, 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over BERTRAND et al. ( US 20160219584, hereinafter, BERTRAND’s 584 ) in view of Kodali et al. ( US 20150163041, hereinafter, Kodali’s 041 ), and further in view of BELGHOUL et al. ( US 20160233989, Provisional Application No. 62113306 ).
Regarding to the claim 3, BERTRAND’s 584 and Kodali’s 041 teach the limitations of the claim 1 above.
However, BERTRAND’s 584 does not explicitly teach wherein each of the one or more additional channels is associated with a respective downlink physical channel configuration.
( US 20160233989, Provisional Application No. 62113306 ), from the same or similar fields of endeavor, teaches wherein each of the one or more additional channels is associated with a respective downlink physical channel configuration [see Figure 3K and Figure 3L and Paragraphs 0060 & 0063].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the combined system (BERTRAND’s 584 and Kodali’s 041), and further in view of US 20160233989 because US 20160233989 suggests that the described embodiments generally relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to procedures for effectively communicating control-plane data between a network entity and a mobile device within different carrier aggregation scenarios.
Regarding to the claim 5, BERTRAND’s 584 and Kodali’s 041 teach the limitations of the claim 1 above.
However, BERTRAND’s 584 does not explicitly teach send an opportunistic transmission using uplink resources, wherein the WTRU is configured to autonomously determine to send the opportunistic transmission without receiving dynamic scheduling information from a network.
( US 20160233989, Provisional Application No. 62113306 ), from the same or similar fields of endeavor, teaches send an opportunistic transmission using uplink resources, wherein the WTRU is configured to autonomously determine to send the opportunistic transmission without receiving dynamic scheduling information from a network [see the Abstract and Paragraphs 0037 & 0070].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the combined system (BERTRAND’s 584 and Kodali’s 041), and further in view of US 20160233989 because US 20160233989 suggests that the described embodiments generally relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to procedures for effectively communicating control-plane data between a network entity and a mobile device within different carrier aggregation scenarios.
Regarding to the claim 7, BERTRAND’s 584 and Kodali’s 041 teach the limitations of the claim 1 above.
However, BERTRAND’s 584 does not explicitly teach wherein the downlink control information comprises a second downlink allocation and an indication of a start time and duration of the second downlink allocation.
( US 20160233989, Provisional Application No. 62113306 ), from the same or similar fields of endeavor, teaches wherein the downlink control information comprises a second downlink allocation and an indication of a start time and duration of the second downlink allocation (The downlink subframe can include downlink control information (DCI) on the PDCCH physical channel, the DCI indicating a schedule for uplink resources assigned to the UE 396 (for UL transmission from the UE 396 to the eNodeB 395 during an uplink subframe) and downlink resources assigned for DL transmission from the eNodeB 395 to the UE 396 during a downlink subframe. The DL data can be transmitted from the eNodeB 395 to the UE 396 on the PDSCH physical channel.) [see Paragraph 0060].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the combined system (BERTRAND’s 584 and Kodali’s 041), and further in view of US 20160233989 because US 20160233989 suggests that the described embodiments generally relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to procedures for effectively communicating control-plane data between a network entity and a mobile device within different carrier aggregation scenarios.
Regarding to the claim 13, claim 13 is rejected in the same ground, or for the same reasons as claim 3 , because both claims have the same limitations.
Regarding to the claim 15, claim 15 is rejected in the same ground, or for the same reasons as claim 5, because both claims have the same limitations.
Regarding to the claim 17, claim 17 is rejected in the same ground, or for the same reasons as claim 7, because both claims have the same limitations.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUONG T HO whose telephone number is (571)272-3133. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30-4:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles C Jiang can be reached at 571-270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHUONG T HO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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