DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 1, line 1, a colon “:” should be added after the term “comprising”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2, 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 2, the claim is directed to an apparatus claim, however the body merely recites method steps. Such claim structure is considered as a hybrid claim because it is unclear whether the claim is an apparatus claim or a method claim. The requirement of an apparatus (machine) category is a concrete thing, consisting of parts, or of certain devices and combination of devices (see MPEP 2106, section I (The Four Categories of Statutory Subject Matter)). Similar problem exists in claim 3.
In addition, no transitional phrases, (for examples: “comprising”, “consisting of” or “including”) are found in claim 2. Thus, it is unclear about the scope of the claim with respect to what unrecited additional components or steps, if any, are excluded from the scope of the claims, or what limitations should be considered as the body/preamble of the claims. Similar problem exists in claim 3.
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 factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) 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.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-3 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Luo et al. (Pub No.: 2011/0038329) in view of Marinier et al. (Pub No.: 2013/0142068).
Regarding claim 1, Luo et al. discloses a mobile communication system (see communication system 400 in fig. 4) comprising a user equipment (see UE1 in fig. 4) and a plurality of base stations (see AP1-AP3 in fig. 4) that perform radio communication with the user equipment, wherein
a first base station (see serving AP1 in fig. 4) among the plurality of base stations (see AP2 and AP3 in fig. 4) notifies the user equipment of an uplink communication parameter (read as the uplink allocated resources in para. 0063) (Luo et al. see fig. 4, Access points AP1-AP3; fig. 7, uplink resource assignment module 710; para. 0049, 0050, 0063; The uplink resource assignment module 710 may allocate uplink resources to a UE.). The uplink resource assignment module 710 of the serving AP allocates/transmits uplink resources to the UE,
the first base station notifies a second base station (read as AP2 or AP3 in fig. 4) of the uplink communication parameter, the second base station being another base station among the plurality of base stations different from the first base station (see fig. 5, step 502; para. 0058; At 502, the serving AP transmits, to a non-serving AP of the CoMP set, information regarding uplink resources allocated to a UE for acknowledgement of a joint CoMP transmission sent from a plurality of APs in the CoMP set. The serving AP may assign the resources to the UE and communicate the assigned resources to the other APs through a backhaul network.). The serving AP transmits/notifies the non-serving AP of the CoMP set (e.g., a plurality of APs), information regarding uplink resources allocated of the UE,
the user equipment transmits an uplink signal (read as the uplink ACK/NACK in para. 0063) using the uplink communication parameter, and the first base station and the second base station receive the uplink signal transmitted from the user equipment (see fig. 7, Rx/Rx module 716 of serving AP and Rx/Rx module 726 of non-serving AP; para. 0063; The transmit/receive module 716 transmits data and control information to the UE and receives ACK/NACK messages from the UE.). The UE transmits, based on the uplink allocated resources, ACK/NACK messages to the serving AP and the non-serving AP.
However, Luo et al. does not explicitly disclose the feature wherein the first base station notifies the second base station identifier of the first base station.
Marinier et al. from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses the feature wherein the first base station notifies the second base station identifier of the first base station (Marinier et al. see para. 0020; An AP 102a-102c that is part of the CCG 108 for a given WDS channel periodically broadcasts, multicasts or unicasts a CCG indicator (CCGI) on the WDS channel. The CCGI is a unique identifier, (e.g., label, code, alpha-numeric designation, number, or the like). The CCGI may be included in an existing frame, (such as a beacon frame or a probe response frame), or a stand-alone (management) frame dedicated to the CCG functionality. The master AP 102a sets a master indicator, (e.g., a flag, a bit field or an identification string), associated to the CCGI to indicate that the AP 102a is the master of the CCG 108.). The master AP 102a broadcasts/unicasts, to the APs 102a-102b within the CCG, a master indicator (e.g., identification of the master AP 102a) associated to the CCGI to indicate that the AP 102 a is the master of the CCG 108.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the disclosure of Luo et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Marinier et al. wherein the AP transmits a master indicator (e.g., identification of the AP) indicating the AP is now the master, to other APs (e.g., second AP) in a CoMP set to provide network coordination.
The motivation would be to improve transmission efficiency.
Claim 2 is directed to the base station which is rejected similarly to claim 1.
Claim 3 is directed to the user equipment which is rejected similarly to claim 1.
Examiner's Note
The Applicant is welcome to request a telephonic interview if the Applicant has any questions or requires any additional information that would further or expedite the prosecution of the application.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Seo et al. (Pub No.: 2011/0310747) discloses the present invention provides a method for avoiding interference resulting from data transmission between an adjacent second base station and a second relay station placed within the coverage of the adjacent second base station. The method for avoiding interference comprises: receiving the radio resource scheduling information from the adjacent second base station; checking the radio resources used in the data transmission between the adjacent second base station and the second relay station based on the received radio resource scheduling information; and scheduling at least one radio resource among uplink radio resources and downlink radio resources for at least one first terminal and at least one first relay station which are connected to a first base station in order to avoid interference with the checked radio resource if the radio resource used in the data transmission from the second base station to the second relay station is checked as the uplink resource or if the radio resource used in the data transmission from the second relay station to the second base station is checked as the downlink resource.
Sampath et al. (Pub No.: 2010/0238888) discloses systems, apparatus, methods and computer program products are provided. In some embodiments, a method for facilitating interference management in an unplanned wireless communication system is provided. The method can include a non-serving base station synchronizing a non-serving base station downlink subframe to a serving base station downlink subframe, wherein the serving base station downlink subframe is transmitted from a serving base station to a user equipment served by the serving base station. The method can also include the non-serving base station decoding one or more control channel symbols of the serving base station downlink subframe; and determining information for performing interference management associated with the user equipment. The determined information can be based, at least, in part, on the decoded one or more control channel symbols of the serving base station downlink subframe.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAN YUEN whose telephone number is (571)270-1413. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 10:30am-7pm.
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/KAN YUEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464
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