DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The instant application No. 18912167 has claims 1-8 are pending.
2 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
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cai et al. (Pub. No. US 2010/0110942 A1; hereinafter Cai) in view of Smee et al. (Pub. No. US 2015/0372801 A1; hereinafter Smee)
Regarding claims 1 and 5, Cai discloses a reception apparatus for receiving a plurality of signals from a plurality of communication apparatuses, the reception apparatus comprising: a receiver (See 0028, the RN 210 may comprise one transmitter and one receiver, or one transceiver, to operate in the full-duplex TD mode.) which, in operation, receives a first reception signal from a first communication apparatus in a first time period over a first frequency band and receives a second reception signal from a second communication apparatus in a second time period that is different from the first time period over a frequency band; (20100110942 -Figure 3,relay 310 receives t1 signal from UE and t2 signal from base station 330; SEE 0028, The communication mode may be a full-duplex TD mode, where the RN 210 may transmit and receive the UE's 320 signals via the access link at about T1, and the ENB's 330 signals via the relay link at about T2, where Ti and T2 are alternating TTIs) and a transmitter (See 0028, the RN 210 may comprise one transmitter and one receiver, or one transceiver, to operate in the full-duplex TD mode.) which, in operation, transmits a first transmission signal to the first communication apparatus in a third time period over the first frequency band and transmits a second transmission signal to the second communication apparatus in a fourth time period that is different from the third time period over the frequency band (Figure 3, relay 310 transmits t1 to the UE and transmits T2 to base station 330; See 0028, The communication mode may be a full-duplex TD mode, where the RN 210 may transmit and receive the UE's 320 signals via the access link at about T1, and the ENB's 330 signals via the relay link at about T2, where Ti and T2 are alternating TTIs)
However, Cai fails to disclose a frequency band overlapping with the first frequency band
Smee discloses a frequency band overlapping with the first frequency band (20150372801-Figure 6, See 0027, In time-division duplex (TDD), the device generally transmits and receives in the same spectrum, frequency, or band at different times; a full duplex operation may be achieved using the same frequency for both directions (e.g., transmit and receive). For example, a device may utilize transmit and receive frequency bands that are identical or fully overlapping (e.g., frequency 302 of FIG. 3), partially overlapping (e.g., frequency bands 302 and 304 of FIG. 3); interpreted that transmitting frequencies overlap because they are the same frequency and the receiving frequencies overlap because they are the same frequency)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify discloses relay transmitting and receiving signals to the base station and UE to include overlapping frequencies based on full duplex transmission. The motivation to combine is FD relays further reduce the number of spectrum resources needed, lowering infrastructure costs and enabling denser coverage with fewer nodes.
Claim(s) 2 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cai in view of Smee and, further in view of Liang et al. (Pub. No. US 2018/0013483 A1; hereinafter Liang).
Regarding claims 2 and 6, Cai in view of Smee fails to disclose the first transmission signal and the second transmission signal are transmitted using transmission beams different from each other.
Liang disclose the first transmission signal and the second transmission signal are transmitted using transmission beams different from each other. (20180013483-See 0024, antenna 1 56 is a directional or beam antenna that faces a BS and antenna 2 57 is a directional or beam antenna that faces one or more UEs or other relay(s))
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 method and system disclosed by Cai in view of Smee to include transmitting different signals with different beams. The motivation to combine is realize the channel reciprocity in UL/DL channels, and consequently enable the efficient channel estimation at the BS using UL pilots for DL beamforming to multi-users (See 0008).
Claim(s) 3 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cai in view of Smee and, further in view of Zheng (Pub. No. US 2011/0103269 A1; hereinafter Zhang).
Regarding claims 3 and 7, Cai in view of Smee fails to disclose the receiver, in operation, receives a third reception signal from a third communication apparatus in the first time period or in the second time period over a second frequency band different from the first frequency band; and the transmitter, in operation, transmits a third transmission signal to the second communication apparatus in the third time period or in the fourth time period over the second frequency band.
Zhang discloses receiver, in operation, receives a third reception signal from a third communication apparatus in the first time period or in the second time period over a second frequency band different from the first frequency band; and the transmitter, in operation, transmits a third transmission signal to the second communication apparatus in the third time period or in the fourth time period over the second frequency band. (20110103269-Figure 8a and Figure 8b, item 802 is transmitting on f2 and f1 which are different frequencies at different time slots)
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 method and system disclosed by Cai in view of Smee to include different bands can be utilize to transmit signals to the UE and base station from the relay. The motivation to combine is transition gaps between uplinks and downlinks of relaying process are reduced, and less number of carriers are used, so that utilization efficiency of radio resources can be improved (See 0069).
Claim(s) 4 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cai in view of Smee, Zheng and Qin et al. (Pub. No. US 2020/0119821 A1; hereinafter Qin).
Regarding claims 4 and 8, Cai in view of Smee and Zheng fails to disclose the second transmission signal and the third transmission signal are transmitted using a same transmission beam.
Qin discloses the second transmission signal and the third transmission signal are transmitted using a same transmission beam. (20200119821-See 0114, the backhaul link and the access link of the relay 2 (or the relay 1) may share a same set of transceiver apparatus. It may be understood that, because the backhaul link and the access link of the relay 2 (or the relay 1) share the same set of transceiver apparatus, transmit (or receive) beams for the backhaul link and the access link are the same, to be specific, the relay 2 (or the relay 1) has the multi-link beam correspondence capability.)
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 method and system disclosed by Cai in view of Smee and Zheng to include using the same beam to transmit a signal to the UE and base station. The motivation to combine is multi‑link beam access ensures that both the access and backhaul links benefit from high‑gain, directional transmission.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Horiuchi et al. (Pub. No. US 2010/0172284 A1)-See 0035, in frame 2, the mobile stations do not transmit uplink signals using F1. This is because, if the mobile stations transmit uplink signals using F1, the base station has difficulty separating transmission of downlink signals from reception of uplink signals in F1 of frame 2. That is, in frame 2, communication is performed only between the base station and the relay station. Here, the mobile stations can receive signals using F2 even in frame 2. Also, with the present embodiment, upon performing the above frequency band exchanging, the base station transmits a frequency band exchange command signal indicating a exchange of frequency bands, to the relay station. That is, in frame 1, the base station transmits a frequency band exchange command signal to the relay station using F2.
Bhattad et al. (Pub. No. US 2012/0113816 A1)-See 0030, Relay 120 may operate in-band or out-of-band with respect to its usage of frequency spectrum. For in-band operation, the backhaul link and the access link share the same spectrum. For out-of-band operation, the backhaul link and the access link occupy different spectrum. Relay 120 may also operate in a half-duplex mode or a full-duplex mode. In the half-duplex mode, relay 120 can either transmit or receive (but not both) on a given spectrum in a given subframe. In the full-duplex mode, relay 120 can both transmit and receive in the same subframe.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TEJIS DAYA whose telephone number is (571)270-7817. The examiner can normally be reached 6:30-4:30.
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, Nicholas Jensen can be reached at 571-270-5443. 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.
/Tejis Daya/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472
Prosecution Insights