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 § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. Although the claim(s) recite(s) “receiving… one or more SSBs comprised in the SSB set”, simply receiving one or more SSBs step is insignificant extra solution activity and does not transform the claimed abstract idea into a practical application. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because simply receiving without transforming the claimed abstract idea into practical application (see MPEP section 2106.05(g)). As result, the claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-3, 12, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Matsumura et al. (US 20250260538).
Regarding claims 1, 12, and 13, Matsumura teaches receiving, on a time domain resource corresponding to a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel SS/PBCH block SSB set (Fig.1A, 1B, 10B, and [0050] The PBCH reception includes detection of a system frame number (SFN) and radio frame timing (SSB index)), one or more SSBs comprised in the SSB set, wherein a maximum value of a quantity of SSBs in the SSB set is Lmax, Lmax>64 ([0060] More than 64 SSBs are used (the maximum number of SSBs exceeds 64)), and a time-frequency resource of the one or more SSBs is related to a system frame number SFN that carries the one or more SSBs ([0050] detection of a system frame number (SFN) and radio frame timing (SSB index) and [0051] An SSB is of a band of 20 RBs and time corresponding to four symbols. Transmission periodicity of the SSB can be configured to be one from among {5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160} ms.).
Regarding claim 2, Matsumura teaches wherein the time domain resource is in one or more earliest consecutive system frames in time domain in the SSB period (Fig.10B).
Regarding claim 3, Matsumura teaches wherein the system frame comprises a plurality of consecutive slots, and at least one of the plurality of slots is capable of supporting transmission of at least two SSBs (Fig.10B, [0287] A slot may be constituted of one or a plurality of symbols in the time domain and [0288] A slot may include a plurality of mini-slots. Each mini-slot may be constituted of one or a plurality of symbols in the time domain).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-11 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EUNSOOK CHOI whose telephone number is (571)270-1822. The examiner can normally be reached on 8am-4:30pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hassan Phillips can be reached on 5712723940. 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.
/EUNSOOK CHOI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467
Prosecution Insights