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 § 103
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, 8, 11, 12, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hosseini WO 2024026190 in view of Horn US 20220408440.
Regarding claims 1, 12, 19, Hosseini teaches a user equipment (UE), 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 UE to:
receive a first downlink reference signal in a first frequency band to determine one or more first channel conditions associated with the first frequency band (fig. 2, In accordance with various aspects discussed herein, a measurement downlink carrier 220 may be configured, that includes a measurement resource 235 for channel measurements associated with the SUL carrier 215, fig. 3, 310, 315, [0090, 0091]);
receive a second downlink reference signal in a second frequency band to determine one or more second channel conditions associated with the second frequency
band, the second downlink reference signal associated with uplink communications (fig. 3, In this example, a measurement downlink carrier 330 may be configured in the second frequency band 320, which may provide one or more reference resources for channel measurements associated with the SUL carrier 325 in accordance with techniques provided herein, [0091]); and
transmit one or more uplink signals in the second frequency band in accordance with one or more transmission parameters that are based at least in part on the one or more second channel conditions determined using the second downlink reference
signal (fig. 3, SUL carrier 325).
Although Hosseini teaches receive a first downlink reference signal in a first frequency band to determine one or more first channel conditions associated with the first frequency band, the reference is silent on the first downlink reference signal associated with downlink communications.
Horn teaches receive a first downlink reference signal in a first frequency band to determine one or more first channel conditions associated with the first frequency band, the first downlink reference signal associated with downlink communications (the indication to transmit the additional tone reservation signaling may be based at least in part on one or more downlink signals received from the base station (for example, to estimate a downlink channel with an assumption of uplink channel reciprocity), [0069]).
Therefore 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 system of Hosseini by receive a first downlink reference signal in a first frequency band to determine one or more first channel conditions associated with the first frequency band, the first downlink reference signal associated with downlink communications, as shown by Horn. This modification would benefit the system by enabling the network to communicate effectively with the UE on the downlink.
Regarding claim 8, (Hosseini: same serving cell, [0036]).
Regarding claim 11, given the second frequency is separated from the first frequency, by definition it is separated by at least a threshold frequency separation.
Claim(s) 2, 3, 13, 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Hosseini and Horn as applied to claims 1, 12 above, and further in view of Lee WO 2024025166.
Regarding claims 2, 13, Hosseini is silent on receive, during an access procedure to a serving cell, a system information block (SIB) message that indicates a first set of parameters for the first frequency band and a second set of parameters for the second frequency band.
Lee teaches on receive, during an access procedure to a serving cell, a system information block (SIB) message that indicates a first set of parameters for the first frequency band and a second set of parameters for the second frequency band (In each frequency information, the downlink carrier frequency may be indicated as an ARFCN (dl-CarrierFreq) value. When containing multiple bands, SIB 4 includes a band list (frequencyBandList), a parameter for measuring the signal strength of the average value of the signal strength of several SSBs (nrofSS-BlocksToaverage), and a threshold value of the SSB signal strength (absThreshSS- BlocksConsolidation), SMTC, SSB subcarrier spacing (ssbSubcarrierSpacing)).
Regarding claims 3, 14, the first set of parameters and the
second set of parameters comprise different subcarrier spacings, absolute radio frequency channel numbers (ARFCNs), cyclic prefixes, or any combination thereof (see Lee above).
Claim(s) 4, 15, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Hosseini and Horn as applied to claims 1, 12, 19 above, and further in view of GANESAN WO 2024028704.
Hosseini is silent on receive an indication of a first set of beam management resources associated with the first frequency band; and
receive an indication of a second set of beam management resources associated with the second frequency band, wherein the second set of beam management resources are different than the first set of beam management resources.
GANESAN teaches receive an indication of a first set of beam management resources associated with the first frequency band; and
receive an indication of a second set of beam management resources associated with the second frequency band, wherein the second set of beam management resources are different than the first set of beam management resources (processor 904 may be configured as or otherwise support to transmit, to a UE,configuration information identifying multiple PRS sub-bands and a frequency hopping pattern; and receive, from the UE, a wideband PRS measurement based on combining PRS signals on the multiple PRS sub-bands based on the frequency hopping pattern, [0141], Additionally or alternatively, the processor 904 may be configured to or otherwise support: where the frequency hopping pattern comprises an intra-slot frequency hopping pattern; where the frequency hopping pattern comprises both an inter-slot frequency hopping pattern and an intra-slot frequency hopping pattern; where the configuration information includes beam information identifying one or more beams; where the configuration information includes a muting pattern indicating to mute at least one of a PRS hopping occasion, PRS sub-bands within each PRS hopping occasion, and repetition of the PRS frequency hopping; where the processor is further configured to: transmit, to the UE after transmitting the configuration information, PRS signals on the multiple PRS sub-bands, [0142]).
Therefore 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 system of the combination by receive an indication of a first set of beam management resources associated with the first frequency band; and
receive an indication of a second set of beam management resources associated with the second frequency band, wherein the second set of beam management resources are different than the first set of beam management resources, as shown by GANESAN. This modification would benefit the system by facilitating beam management with respect to multiple frequency bands.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-7, 9, 10, 16-18 are 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RONALD B ABELSON whose telephone number is (571)272-3165. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:30.
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, Ayaz Sheikh can be reached at 571-272-3795. 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.
/RONALD B ABELSON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
