Patent Application 18173397 - Cell State Switching Method and Apparatus - Rejection

Patent Application 18173397 - Cell State Switching Method and Apparatus

Title: Cell State Switching Method and Apparatus

Application Information

• Invention Title: Cell State Switching Method and Apparatus
• Application Number: 18173397
• Submission Date: 2025-05-15T00:00:00.000Z
• Effective Filing Date: 2023-02-23T00:00:00.000Z
• Filing Date: 2023-02-23T00:00:00.000Z
• National Class: 370
• National Sub-Class: 329000
• Examiner Employee Number: 83583
• Art Unit: 2478
• Tech Center: 2400

Rejection Summary

• 102 Rejections: 0
• 103 Rejections: 1

Cited Patents

The following patents were cited in the rejection:

• US 0045685🔗
• US 0375627🔗

Office Action Text

    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 .
This is a Non-final action for application number 18/013,739 in response to an original application filed on 02/23/2023.
 Claims 1-42 are currently pending and have been considered below. 
Claims 21, 26, 30 and 38 are independent claims.
Claims 1-20 have been cancelled
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS), submitted 06/13/2023 and 01/25/2024, are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.

Claim Objections
Claim 21, 26, 30 and 38  are objected to because of the following informalities: The terms "configurable, activable, transmittable and switchable" lack a positive statements of operation or functionalities that relate to future acts that may never occur]. Appropriate correction is required.



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.

Claims 21, 24, 26, 30, 33, 38, and 42  are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rico Alvarino et al. (US 2020/0045685 A1) in view of Suzuki et al. (US 2018/0375627 A1). 

Regarding claims 21, 26, 30 and 38 a method, comprising:
obtaining, by a terminal device, downlink capability information of the terminal device, [UE 120 may include means for determining one or more antenna switching capabilities and one or more carrier switching capabilities for the UE, wherein the UE is associated with a baseline carrier combination, (Rico Alvarino et al., Paragraph 42)], wherein the downlink capability information of the terminal device comprises at least two of the following information:
a simultaneously configurable downlink band combination of the terminal device, [The UE may signal antenna switching capabilities for different band combinations. For example, a band combination of Band 1, Band 2, Band 3, and Band 4 may be denoted as B1U/B2/B3U/B4, wherein B1 and B3 are associated with uplinks (indicated by the U associated with B1 and B3). For example, the UE may signal different antenna switching capabilities for B1U/B2/B3U/B4, B1U/B2/B5U/B4, and B1U/B2/B3/B4, (Rico Alvarino et al., Paragraph 47)], 
a simultaneously configurable downlink component carrier (CC) combination of the terminal device;
a simultaneously configurable downlink serving cell combination of the terminal device;
a simultaneously activatable downlink band combination of the terminal device;
a simultaneously activatable downlink CC combination of the terminal device;
a simultaneously activatable downlink serving cell combination of the terminal device;
a simultaneously transmittable downlink band combination of the terminal device, wherein the simultaneously transmittable downlink band combination is usable by the terminal device to receive at least one of the following: downlink data, downlink control information, a downlink pilot signal, or a downlink synchronization signal;
a simultaneously transmittable downlink CC combination of the terminal device, wherein the simultaneously transmittable downlink CC combination is usable by the terminal device to receive at least one of the following: downlink data, downlink control information, a downlink pilot signal, or a downlink synchronization signal;
a simultaneously transmittable downlink serving cell combination of the terminal device, wherein the simultaneously transmittable downlink serving cell combination is usable by the terminal device to receive at least one of the following: downlink data, downlink control information, a downlink pilot signal, or a downlink synchronization signal;
a switchable downlink band combination of the terminal device, wherein the switchable downlink band combination is usable by the terminal device to receive at least one of the following: downlink data, downlink control information, a downlink pilot signal, or a downlink synchronization signal;
a switchable downlink CC combination of the terminal device, wherein the switchable CC combination is usable by the terminal device to receive at least one of the following: downlink data, downlink control information, a downlink pilot signal, or a downlink synchronization signal; or
a switchable downlink serving cell combination of the terminal device, wherein the switchable the downlink serving cell combination is usable by the terminal device to receive at least one of the following: downlink data, downlink control information, a downlink pilot signal, or a downlink synchronization signal; and
reporting, by the terminal device, the downlink capability information of the terminal device to a network device, [base station 110 may include means for receiving information identifying one or more antenna switching capabilities and one or more carrier switching capabilities for a user equipment (UE) , (Rico Alvarino et al., Paragraph 43)],
Rico Alvarino et al. fails to explicitly teach downlink component carrier (CC) combination of the terminal device,
Suzuki et al. teaches he reception unit receives capability information including first information and second information. The transmission unit transmits third information indicating a first maximum number of the layers. The first information indicates the first bandwidth class corresponding to the number of downlink component carriers supported by the terminal device. The second information is applied to at least one downlink component carrier corresponding to the first bandwidth class and indicates a second maximum number of the layers supported by the terminal device in a downlink, (Suzuki et al., Paragraph 15),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include that the downlink component carrier (CC) combination of the terminal device, (Suzuki et al., Paragraph 15), in order for the base station device and the terminal device can efficiently communicate with each other, (Suzuki et al., Paragraph 15).

Regarding claims 24 and 33, the method further comprising:
switching, by the terminal device, a channel used during communication on a first downlink carrier to a second downlink carrier, wherein the first downlink carrier is a downlink carrier currently used by the terminal device for downlink communication, and the first downlink carrier and the second downlink carrier belong to a same switchable downlink band combination, downlink CC combination, or downlink serving cell combination, [the UE may switch an uplink of one or more bands (e.g., to transmit a physical channel or signal such as an SRS) in accordance with a carrier switching capability. This may be considered as transitioning from a baseline carrier combination to a target carrier combination, (Rico Alvarino et al., Paragraph 49)]. 

Regarding claim 42, the communication apparatus according to claim 38, wherein the communication apparatus is the terminal device, [Rico Alvarino et al., Figure 4, Ref # 120 and 110]. 

Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 22, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 34, 35 and 36, 37, 39, 40 and 41 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 Shukri Taha whose telephone number is 571-270-1921. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:30am-5pm Mon-Fri.
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/SHUKRI TAHA/             Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478