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 § 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 36-40 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.
Claim 36 recites “the UE comprising”, when the preamble begins with “A method performed by a base station …”. This would appear to be a typographical error.
Claims 37-40 are rejected as indefinite due to their dependence from indefinite parent claim 36.
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) 21-23,26-28,31-33,36-38 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication No. 2015/0257150 A1 to Yi et al., in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2023/0102264 A1 to Hu.
AS to claim 21, Yi discloses A user equipment (UE) configured to operate in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising: a processor; and a communication module, wherein the processor is configured to:
identify a configuration for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) cell switching, whereby a PUCCH-cell can be switched between a primary cell and a secondary cell (Fig. 17, 20-22, paragraph 10-13, 227-239,255-266, 273-276, 284-286, disclosing cell-switching between P-cell/primary cells and S-cell/secondary cells form PUCCH) and
perform a PUCCH transmission at a slot in either the primary cell or the secondary cell, wherein when the PUCCH transmission is a part of PUCCH repetitive transmissions, the PUCCH cell switching is not applied for the slot if the slot occurs after a starting slot for the PUCCH repetitive transmissions (Fig. 17, 20-22, paragraph 10-13, 227-239,255-266, 273-276, 284-286, disclosing cell-switching between P-cell/primary cells and S-cell/secondary cells form PUCCH, where [paragraph 284] if PUCCH is a “A/N SPS [semi-persistent scheduling, teaching “repetitive”] PUSCH/PUCCH” transmission, then it “may be skipped until the S-cell becomes reactivated after the S-cell is switched” where the data for such “A/N SPS PUSCH/PUCCH” may be dropped or delayed, teaching this limitation);
a first process wherein the PUCCH transmission is a non-repetitive transmission (Figs. 21-22, paragraphs 264-266, 273-276, disclosing transmitting a standalone PUCCH); a second process wherein the PUCCH transmission is performed at the slot in either the primary cell or the secondary cell based on the configuration for the PUCCH cell switching (Figs. 21-22, paragraphs 264-266, 273-276, disclosing transmitting a standalone PUCCH, e.g., PUCCH 2140, which can be transmitted “in a P-cell or an S-cell for transmission on the PUCCH 2140”, teaching a process of cell switching involving non-repetitive PUCCH).
Yi does not appear to disclose receive a configuration at a UE sent by the network; “wherein when the PUCCH transmission is a non-repetitive transmission, the PUCCH transmission is performed at the slot in either the primary cell or the secondary cell based on the configuration for the PUCCH cell switching.”
Hu discloses receive a configuration at a UE sent by the network (paragraph 52: UE receiving from the network side “first configuration information” and “second configuration information”);
wherein when the first process is to be performed, the second process is performed. (Fig. 2, paragraphs 49-61, in particular, paragraph 60, disclosing performing the second process, and then the first process)
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate or combine Hu’s teachings, with Yi’s disclosure/teaching to reject this claim. In particular, to a phosita, it would have been obvious that the configuration information disclosed in Hu’s teachings discussed above may be embodied by Yi’s “a configuration for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) cell switching, whereby a PUCCH-cell can be switched between a primary cell and a secondary cell”, and thus Hu’s disclosed process of receiving configuration information may be employed to convey Yi’s “configuration”, and thus render Hu’s teaching of “receive a configuration at a UE sent by the network” and Yi’s teaching of “identify a configuration for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) cell switching, whereby a PUCCH-cell can be switched between a primary cell and a secondary cell” combinable to reject “receive a configuration for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) cell switching, whereby a PUCCH-cell can be switched between a primary cell and a secondary cell”. Also, to a PHOSITA, Hu’s first and second processes may correspond to “a first process wherein the PUCCH transmission is a non-repetitive transmission; a second process wherein the PUCCH transmission is performed at the slot in either the primary cell or the secondary cell based on the configuration for the PUCCH cell switching”, respectively, as disclosed/taught in Yi, and thus, these respective teachings of Hu and Yi may be combined to reject “wherein when the PUCCH transmission is a non-repetitive transmission, the PUCCH transmission is performed at the slot in either the primary cell or the secondary cell based on the configuration for the PUCCH cell switching”, since both Yi and Hu feature cell/carrier switching (Hu, paragraph 49), and are in the same field of endeavor with regard to management of competing or conflicting processes of control resource allocation and utilization. The cited references are directed to control signaling for wireless communications. The suggestion/motivation would have been to improve resource allocation and signaling for cable content communications (Hu, paragraphs 1-13; Yi, paragraph 1-13). Furthermore, note that with regard to the claimed invention, especially the limitation above, all of the claimed elements have been shown to be known in the cited art, and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art as of and before the effective filing date.
AS to claim 22, Yi and Hu teach the (UE) as in the parent claim 21.
Yi further discloses wherein the PUCCH repetitive transmissions including the PUCCH transmission are all performed in a same cell. (Fig. 17, 20-22, paragraph 10-13, 227-239,255-266, 273-276, 284-286, disclosing cell-switching between P-cell/primary cells and S-cell/secondary cells form PUCCH, where [paragraph 284] if PUCCH is a “A/N SPS [semi-persistent scheduling, teaching “repetitive”] PUSCH/PUCCH” transmission, then it “may be skipped until the S-cell becomes reactivated after the S-cell is switched” where the data for such “A/N SPS PUSCH/PUCCH” may be dropped or delayed, teaching switching to the S-cell, i.e., the “same cell”)
AS to claim 23, Yi and Hu teach the (UE) as in the parent claim 22.
Yi further discloses wherein the same cell is a cell where one of the PUCCH repetitive transmissions is performed at the starting slot, based on the configuration for the PUCCH cell switching. (Fig. 17, 20-22, paragraph 10-13, 227-239,255-266, 273-276, 284-286, disclosing cell-switching between P-cell/primary cells and S-cell/secondary cells form PUCCH, where [paragraph 284] if PUCCH is a “A/N SPS [semi-persistent scheduling, teaching “repetitive”] PUSCH/PUCCH” transmission, then it “may be skipped until the S-cell becomes reactivated after the S-cell is switched” where the data for such “A/N SPS PUSCH/PUCCH” may be dropped or delayed, teaching switching to the S-cell, i.e., the “same cell”, teaching this limitation)
As to claims 26-28, see rejections for claims 21-23, above, in the same order.
As to claims 31-33, see rejections for claims 21-23, above, in the same order.
As to claims 36-38, see rejections for claims 21-23, above, in the same order.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 24-25,29-30,34-35,39-40 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 CHI TANG P CHENG whose telephone number is (571)272-9021. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 9:30AM - 6PM.
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, Asad M Nawaz can be reached at (571)272-3988. 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.
/CHI TANG P CHENG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
Prosecution Insights