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 1, 6, 11, 16 have been amended.
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 23, 24, 28, 29, 32, 33, 36 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 23 recites the limitation "the value of N for a first frequency range" and “the value of N for a second frequency range” in lines 1-3.
Claims 24, 28, 29, 32, 33, 36 are have similar issues. The value of N is about sub carrier spacing and not frequency range.
There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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, 6, 11, 16, 21, 23- 26, 30, 34 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vivo “UE-to UE CLI” R1-1901690 (herein after Vivo) in view of Li et al. (US20220159662) further in view of Xu et al. (US20200229009).
Regarding claim 1, Vivo teaches A communication method, comprising:
wherein the first reference signal is used by the terminal device to perform a measurement in the measurement process (page 3 lines 32-35 “Thus from UE perspective, at least it is supported that the offset between SRS receiving timing and regular serving cell DL receiving timing can be accommodated by a timing offset of up to one OFDM symbol … UE uses its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement);
and receiving, only the first reference signal within a first time domain range (page 3 lines 32-39 “Thus from UE perspective, at least it is supported that the offset between SRS receiving timing and regular serving cell DL receiving timing can be accommodated by a timing offset of up to one OFDM symbol … UE uses its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement … UE uses a different DL timing than its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement, where the timing difference is a constant value with no larger than one OFDM symbol”, (Examiner’s Note: offset is equivalent to “a first time domain range”)
wherein the first time domain range comprises a first time domain symbol and one or more second time domain symbols (page 3 lines 32-39 “Thus from UE perspective, at least it is supported that the offset between SRS receiving timing and regular serving cell DL receiving timing can be accommodated by a timing offset of up to one OFDM symbol … UE uses its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement … UE uses a different DL timing than its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement, where the timing difference is a constant value with no larger than one OFDM symbol”, (Examiner’s Note: offset is equivalent to “a first time domain range”, own serving cell DL timing is equivalent to “first time domain symbol”, and SRS receiving timing is equivalent to “a second time domain symbol”),
wherein the first time domain symbol includes one or more time domain symbols configured by a network device to perform measurement (page 3 lines 32-39 “UE uses its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement, (Examiner’s Note): serving cell is equivalent to “a network device”),
wherein the one or more second time domain symbols comprise N time domain symbols before the first time domain symbol, and wherein N is a positive integer (page 3 lines 35-39 “Thus from UE perspective, at least it is supported that the offset between SRS receiving timing and regular serving cell DL receiving timing can be accommodated by a timing offset of up to one OFDM symbol”),
Vivo does not explicitly teach determining, at least one of sending or receiving of a signal other than a first reference signal in a measurement process is not supported by a terminal device, wherein the signal other than a first reference signal comprises at least one of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and skipping receiving or sending of the signal other than the first reference signal during the first time domain range, wherein a value of N is determined based on a subcarrier spacing of a serving cell of the terminal device, wherein the value of N is 1 or 2, and the measurement process is a cross link interference (CLI) measurement process.
Li teaches determining, at least one of sending or receiving of a signal other than a first reference signal in a measurement process is not supported by a terminal device ([0186] “if a UE is not able to support multiple SCS simultaneously, it may not be able to support simultaneous reception of CLI measurement and PDSCH/PDCCH with different Subcarrier Spacing (SCS). UE may prioritize one of them, e.g., CLI measurement is given priority”, [0175-176] “In some implementations, this determination can be performed by receiving and analyzing control signaling from a gNB that indicates a CLI measurement should be performed …At 1110, the UE can determine a quantity of activated TCI states associated with a target UE. The UE can determine the number of activated TCI states there are for the target UE for a given channel transmission. In some implementations, the target UE may be configured with, for example, multiple activated TCI states for PDSCH transmission depending on UE capability.”, [0179] “if there is only one activated TCI state, when performing a CLI measurement, UE can assume that the signal to be measured has the same TCI state with the activated TCI state for PDCCH for the target UE”),
wherein the signal other than a first reference signal comprises at least one of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) ([0186] “when simultaneous reception of CLI measurement and a downlink channel, e.g., PDSCH or PDCCH, is not possible, a UE may prioritize one of them”), or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH),
and skipping receiving or sending of the signal other than the first reference signal during the first time domain range ([0186] “UE may not be able to support simultaneous downlink reception with multiple SCS. In this situation, UE treats downlink reception (PDSCH/PDCCH) and CLI measurement with different priority. For example, UE may be allowed to drop the PDSCH/PDCCH reception”, (Examiner’s Note: Drop is equivalent to skipping),
and the measurement process is a cross link interference (CLI) measurement process ([0171] “A UE can perform various signal measurements such as Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality, (RSRQ), and Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI). In a UE-to-UE measurement, a UE can measure the RSRP of a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) from another UE (e.g., CLI-SRS-RSRP) or can measure the RSSI on the channel (e.g., CLI-RSSI). The UE can report the measurement to its serving cell such that the serving cell is able to be aware of the interference situation of the victim UE … while the aggressor UE may transmit the SRS on its UL slot”).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have Vivo to incorporate the teachings of Li. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize cross-link interferences.
Li does not teach wherein a value of N is determined based on a subcarrier spacing of a serving cell of the terminal device, wherein the value of N is 1 or 2.
Xu teaches wherein a value of N is determined based on a subcarrier spacing of a serving cell of the terminal device, wherein the value of N is 1 or 2 ([0150] “For every OFDM symbol configured to be transmitted by the aggressor UE 115, N OFDM symbols may be configured to be measured by the receiving, victim UE 115, where N is based on a ratio … These two OFDM symbols may correspond to OFDM symbol region 335-b and OFDM symbol region 335-c”,[0148] “For instance, in the present example, the reference signals may be transmitted once every 2 subcarriers … In this example, the receiver comb factor may be equal to 1, so the configured transmitter comb factor may be 2, where N*1=2”).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the combination of Vivo, Li to incorporate the teachings of Xu. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order increase efficiency of resource use.
Regarding claim 6, Vivo teaches A communication method, comprising: page 3 lines 32-35 “Thus from UE perspective, at least it is supported that the offset between SRS receiving timing and regular serving cell DL receiving timing can be accommodated by a timing offset of up to one OFDM symbol … UE uses its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement) ,
wherein the first time domain range comprises a first time domain symbol and one or more second time domain symbols (page 3 lines 32-39 “Thus from UE perspective, at least it is supported that the offset between SRS receiving timing and regular serving cell DL receiving timing can be accommodated by a timing offset of up to one OFDM symbol … UE uses its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement … UE uses a different DL timing than its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement, where the timing difference is a constant value with no larger than one OFDM symbol”, (Examiner’s Note: offset is equivalent to “a first time domain range”, own serving cell DL timing is equivalent to “first time domain symbol”, and SRS receiving timing is equivalent to “a second time domain symbol”),
wherein the first time domain symbol includes one or more time domain symbols configured by a network device to perform measurement, (page 3 lines 32-39 “UE uses its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement, (Examiner’s Note): serving cell is equivalent to “a network device”)
wherein the one or more second time domain symbols comprise N time domain symbols before the first time domain symbol, and wherein N is a positive integer (page 3 lines 35-39 “Thus from UE perspective, at least it is supported that the offset between SRS receiving timing and regular serving cell DL receiving timing can be accommodated by a timing offset of up to one OFDM symbol”),
Vivo does not explicitly teach skipping sending a signal other than a first reference signal in response to that a terminal device does not support at least one of sending or receiving of a signal other than the first reference signal in a measurement process, wherein the first reference signal is used by the terminal device to perform measurement in the measurement process, wherein the signal other than a first reference signal comprises at least one of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), wherein a value of N is determined based on a subcarrier spacing of a serving cell of the terminal device, wherein the value of N is 1 or 2, wherein the measurement process is a cross link interference (CLI) measurement process.
Li teaches skipping sending a signal other than a first reference signal in response to that a terminal device does not support at least one of sending or receiving of a signal other than the first reference signal in a measurement process, wherein the first reference signal is used by the terminal device to perform measurement in the measurement process ([0186] “UE may not be able to support simultaneous downlink reception with multiple SCS. In this situation, UE treats downlink reception (PDSCH/PDCCH) and CLI measurement with different priority. For example, UE may be allowed to drop the PDSCH/PDCCH reception”, (Examiner’s Note: Drop is equivalent to skipping”), [0175-176] “In some implementations, this determination can be performed by receiving and analyzing control signaling from a gNB that indicates a CLI measurement should be performed …At 1110, the UE can determine a quantity of activated TCI states associated with a target UE. The UE can determine the number of activated TCI states there are for the target UE for a given channel transmission. In some implementations, the target UE may be configured with, for example, multiple activated TCI states for PDSCH transmission depending on UE capability.”, [0179] “if there is only one activated TCI state, when performing a CLI measurement, UE can assume that the signal to be measured has the same TCI state with the activated TCI state for PDCCH for the target UE”),
wherein the signal other than a first reference signal comprises at least one of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), or a physical downlink sharedchannel (PDSCH) ([0186] “when simultaneous reception of CLI measurement and a downlink channel, e.g., PDSCH or PDCCH, is not possible, a UE may prioritize one of them”), or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH),
wherein the measurement process is a cross link interference (CLI) measurement process ([0171] “A UE can perform various signal measurements such as Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality, (RSRQ), and Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI). In a UE-to-UE measurement, a UE can measure the RSRP of a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) from another UE (e.g., CLI-SRS-RSRP) or can measure the RSSI on the channel (e.g., CLI-RSSI). The UE can report the measurement to its serving cell such that the serving cell is able to be aware of the interference situation of the victim UE … while the aggressor UE may transmit the SRS on its UL slot”).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have Vivo to incorporate the teachings of Li. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize cross-link interferences.
Li does not teach wherein a value of N is determined based on a subcarrier spacing of a serving cell of the terminal device, wherein the value of N is 1 or 2.
Xu teaches wherein a value of N is determined based on a subcarrier spacing of a serving cell of the terminal device, wherein the value of N is 1 or 2 ([0150] “For every OFDM symbol configured to be transmitted by the aggressor UE 115, N OFDM symbols may be configured to be measured by the receiving, victim UE 115, where N is based on a ratio … These two OFDM symbols may correspond to OFDM symbol region 335-b and OFDM symbol region 335-c”,[0148] “For instance, in the present example, the reference signals may be transmitted once every 2 subcarriers … In this example, the receiver comb factor may be equal to 1, so the configured transmitter comb factor may be 2, where N*1=2”).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the combination of Vivo, Li to incorporate the teachings of Xu. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order increase efficiency of resource use.
.
Regarding claim 11, Vivo teaches A communications apparatus, wherein the first reference signal is used to perform measurement in the measurement process (page 3 lines 32-35 “Thus from UE perspective, at least it is supported that the offset between SRS receiving timing and regular serving cell DL receiving timing can be accommodated by a timing offset of up to one OFDM symbol … UE uses its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement);
and receive only the first reference signal within a first time domain range(page 3 lines 32-39 “Thus from UE perspective, at least it is supported that the offset between SRS receiving timing and regular serving cell DL receiving timing can be accommodated by a timing offset of up to one OFDM symbol … UE uses its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement … UE uses a different DL timing than its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement, where the timing difference is a constant value with no larger than one OFDM symbol”, (Examiner’s Note: offset is equivalent to “a first time domain range”) wherein the first time domain range comprises a first time domain symbol and one or more second time domain symbols (page 3 lines 32-39 “Thus from UE perspective, at least it is supported that the offset between SRS receiving timing and regular serving cell DL receiving timing can be accommodated by a timing offset of up to one OFDM symbol … UE uses its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement … UE uses a different DL timing than its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement, where the timing difference is a constant value with no larger than one OFDM symbol”, (Examiner’s Note: offset is equivalent to “a first time domain range”, own serving cell DL timing is equivalent to “first time domain symbol”, and SRS receiving timing is equivalent to “a second time domain symbol”),
the first time domain symbol includes one or more time domain symbols configured by a network device to perform measurement (page 3 lines 32-39 “UE uses its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement, (Examiner’s Note): serving cell is equivalent to “a network device”),
the one or more second time domain symbols comprise N time domain symbols before the first time domain symbol, and N is a positive integer (page 3 lines 35-39 “Thus from UE perspective, at least it is supported that the offset between SRS receiving timing and regular serving cell DL receiving timing can be accommodated by a timing offset of up to one OFDM symbol”),
Vivo does not teach comprising one or more processors, and a memory configure to store program instructions; wherein, when executed by the one or more processors, the instructions cause the communications apparatus to: determine that supporting at least one of sending or receiving of a signal other than a first reference signal in a measurement process is not supported by a terminal device, wherein the signal other than a first reference signal comprises at least one of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); and skip receiving or sending of the signal other than the first reference signal during the first time domain range, wherein a value of N is determined based on a subcarrier spacing of a serving cell of the terminal device, wherein the value of N is 1 or 2, wherein the measurement process is a cross link interference (CLI) measurement process.
Li teaches comprising one or more processors, and a memory configure to store program instructions; wherein, when executed by the one or more processors ([0140] “The modem 710 may include hardware and software components for time division multiplexing UL data (e.g., for NSA NR operations), as well as the various other techniques described herein. The processors 712 may include one or more processing elements configured to implement various features described herein, such as by executing program instructions stored on the memory 716 (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium)”), the instructions cause the communications apparatus to:
determine that supporting at least one of sending or receiving of a signal other than a first reference signal in a measurement process is not supported by a terminal device ([0186] “when simultaneous reception of CLI measurement and a downlink channel, e.g., PDSCH or PDCCH, is not possible, a UE may prioritize one of them”, [0175-176] “In some implementations, this determination can be performed by receiving and analyzing control signaling from a gNB that indicates a CLI measurement should be performed …At 1110, the UE can determine a quantity of activated TCI states associated with a target UE. The UE can determine the number of activated TCI states there are for the target UE for a given channel transmission. In some implementations, the target UE may be configured with, for example, multiple activated TCI states for PDSCH transmission depending on UE capability.”, [0179] “if there is only one activated TCI state, when performing a CLI measurement, UE can assume that the signal to be measured has the same TCI state with the activated TCI state for PDCCH for the target UE”),
wherein the signal other than a first reference signal comprises at least one of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) ([0186] “when simultaneous reception of CLI measurement and a downlink channel, e.g., PDSCH or PDCCH, is not possible, a UE may prioritize one of them”), or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH);
and skip receiving or sending of the signal other than the first reference signal during the first time domain range ([0186] “UE may not be able to support simultaneous downlink reception with multiple SCS. In this situation, UE treats downlink reception (PDSCH/PDCCH) and CLI measurement with different priority. For example, UE may be allowed to drop the PDSCH/PDCCH reception”, (Examiner’s Note: Drop is equivalent to skipping),
wherein the measurement process is a cross link interference (CLI) measurement process ([0171] “A UE can perform various signal measurements such as Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality, (RSRQ), and Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI). In a UE-to-UE measurement, a UE can measure the RSRP of a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) from another UE (e.g., CLI-SRS-RSRP) or can measure the RSSI on the channel (e.g., CLI-RSSI). The UE can report the measurement to its serving cell such that the serving cell is able to be aware of the interference situation of the victim UE … while the aggressor UE may transmit the SRS on its UL slot”).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have Vivo to incorporate the teachings of Li. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize cross-link interferences.
Li does not teach wherein a value of N is determined based on a subcarrier spacing of a serving cell of the terminal device, wherein the value of N is 1 or 2.
Xu teaches wherein a value of N is determined based on a subcarrier spacing of a serving cell of the terminal device, wherein the value of N is 1 or 2 ([0150] “For every OFDM symbol configured to be transmitted by the aggressor UE 115, N OFDM symbols may be configured to be measured by the receiving, victim UE 115, where N is based on a ratio … These two OFDM symbols may correspond to OFDM symbol region 335-b and OFDM symbol region 335-c”,[0148] “For instance, in the present example, the reference signals may be transmitted once every 2 subcarriers … In this example, the receiver comb factor may be equal to 1, so the configured transmitter comb factor may be 2, where N*1=2”).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the combination of Vivo, Li to incorporate the teachings of Xu. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order increase efficiency of resource use.
Regarding claim 16, Vivo teaches a communications apparatus,
wherein the first reference signal is used by the terminal device to perform measurement in the measurement process(page 3 lines 32-35 “Thus from UE perspective, at least it is supported that the offset between SRS receiving timing and regular serving cell DL receiving timing can be accommodated by a timing offset of up to one OFDM symbol … UE uses its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement),
wherein the first time domain range comprises a first time domain symbol and one or more second time domain symbols (page 3 lines 32-39 “Thus from UE perspective, at least it is supported that the offset between SRS receiving timing and regular serving cell DL receiving timing can be accommodated by a timing offset of up to one OFDM symbol … UE uses its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement … UE uses a different DL timing than its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement, where the timing difference is a constant value with no larger than one OFDM symbol”, (Examiner’s Note: offset is equivalent to “a first time domain range”, own serving cell DL timing is equivalent to “first time domain symbol”, and SRS receiving timing is equivalent to “a second time domain symbol”),
the first time domain symbol includes one or more time domain symbols configured by the communications apparatus to perform measurement (page 3 lines 32-39 “UE uses its own serving cell DL timing to perform SRS-RSRP measurement, (Examiner’s Note): serving cell is equivalent to “a network device”),
the one or more second time domain symbols comprise N time domain symbols before the first time domain symbol, and N is a positive integer (page 3 lines 35-39 “Thus from UE perspective, at least it is supported that the offset between SRS receiving timing and regular serving cell DL receiving timing can be accommodated by a timing offset of up to one OFDM symbol”),
Vivo does not explicitly teach comprising one or more processors, and a memory configure to store program instructions; wherein, when executed by the one or more processors, the instructions cause the communications apparatus to: skip sendinga first reference signal to a terminal device within a first time domain range in response to that a terminal device does not support at least one of sending or receiving of a signal other than the first reference signal in a measurement process, wherein the signal other than a first reference signal comprises at least one of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), wherein a value of N is determined based on a subcarrier spacing of a serving cell of the terminal device wherein the value of N is 1 or 2, and the measurement process is a cross link interference (CLI) measurement process.
Li teaches comprising one or more processors, and a memory configure to store program instructions; wherein, when executed by the one or more processors ([0140] “The modem 710 may include hardware and software components for time division multiplexing UL data (e.g., for NSA NR operations), as well as the various other techniques described herein. The processors 712 may include one or more processing elements configured to implement various features described herein, such as by executing program instructions stored on the memory 716 (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium)”), the instructions cause the communications apparatus to:
skip sending([0186] “when simultaneous reception of CLI measurement and a downlink channel, e.g., PDSCH or PDCCH, is not possible, a UE may prioritize one of them”, [0175-176] “In some implementations, this determination can be performed by receiving and analyzing control signaling from a gNB that indicates a CLI measurement should be performed …At 1110, the UE can determine a quantity of activated TCI states associated with a target UE. The UE can determine the number of activated TCI states there are for the target UE for a given channel transmission. In some implementations, the target UE may be configured with, for example, multiple activated TCI states for PDSCH transmission depending on UE capability.”, [0179] “if there is only one activated TCI state, when performing a CLI measurement, UE can assume that the signal to be measured has the same TCI state with the activated TCI state for PDCCH for the target UE”),
wherein the signal other than a first reference signal comprises at least one of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) ([0186] “when simultaneous reception of CLI measurement and a downlink channel, e.g., PDSCH or PDCCH, is not possible, a UE may prioritize one of them”), or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH),
wherein the measurement process is a cross link interference (CLI) measurement process ([0171] “A UE can perform various signal measurements such as Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality, (RSRQ), and Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI). In a UE-to-UE measurement, a UE can measure the RSRP of a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) from another UE (e.g., CLI-SRS-RSRP) or can measure the RSSI on the channel (e.g., CLI-RSSI). The UE can report the measurement to its serving cell such that the serving cell is able to be aware of the interference situation of the victim UE … while the aggressor UE may transmit the SRS on its UL slot”).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have Vivo to incorporate the teachings of Li. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize cross-link interferences.
Li does not teach wherein a value of N is determined based on a subcarrier spacing of a serving cell of the terminal device, wherein the value of N is 1 or 2.
Xu teaches wherein a value of N is determined based on a subcarrier spacing of a serving cell of the terminal device, wherein the value of N is 1 or 2 ([0150] “For every OFDM symbol configured to be transmitted by the aggressor UE 115, N OFDM symbols may be configured to be measured by the receiving, victim UE 115, where N is based on a ratio … These two OFDM symbols may correspond to OFDM symbol region 335-b and OFDM symbol region 335-c”,[0148] “For instance, in the present example, the reference signals may be transmitted once every 2 subcarriers … In this example, the receiver comb factor may be equal to 1, so the configured transmitter comb factor may be 2, where N*1=2”).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the combination of Vivo, Li to incorporate the teachings of Xu. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order increase efficiency of resource use.
Regarding claim 21, 26, Vivo teaches wherein the first reference signal is sounding reference signal (SRS) (page 1 lines 5-10 “The following CLI measurements are supported: SRS-RSRP”) .
Regarding claim 23, Vivo teaches wherein the value of N for a first frequency range is smaller than the value of N for a second frequency range, wherein the first frequency range is higher than the second frequency range (page 3 lines 1-6 “ Requirements for FR 1… Requirements for FR2”).
Regarding claim 24, Vivo teaches wherein the value of N for a first frequency range is 1, the value of N for a second frequency range is 2 (page 3 lines 1-6 “ Requirements for FR 1… Requirements for FR2”).
Regarding claim 25, Vivo does not teaches determining whether the terminal device supports at least one of sending or receiving of the signal other than the first reference signal in the measurement process
Li teaches determining whether the terminal device supports at least one of sending or receiving of the signal other than the first reference signal in the measurement process ([0186] "UE may treat them with different ratios, e.g., on CLI measurement occasions UE uses ⅔ for CLI measurement and uses ⅓ for PDSCH/PDCCH reception. The ratios ⅔ and ⅓ here are used only as examples, and thus other ratio values are possible”).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have Vivo to incorporate the teachings of Li. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize cross-link interferences.
Regarding claims 30, 34, Vivo teaches the first reference signal is sounding reference signal (SRS) (page 1 lines 5-10 “The following CLI measurements are supported: SRS-RSRP”).
Claim(s) 28, 29, 32, 33, 36is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vivo in view of Li further in view of Xu further in view of Kim et al.( US20220159596).
Regarding claim 28, Vivo teaches wherein the value of N for a first frequency range is smaller than the value of N for a second frequency range (page 3 lines 1-6 “ Requirements for FR 1… Requirements for FR2”).
Vivo, Li, Xu does not teach wherein the first frequency range is higher than the second frequency range.
Kim teaches wherein the first frequency range is higher than the second frequency range ([0098] “An NR frequency band defines two types of frequency ranges FR1 and FR2. FR1 may represent a sub-6 GHz range, and FR2 may represent an above-6 GHz range as a millimeter wave (mmW) “).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the combination of Vivo, Li, Xu to incorporate the teachings of Kim. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to increase the effectiveness of the timing of the system.
Regarding claim 29, Vivo teaches wherein the value of N for a first frequency range is 1, the value of N for a second frequency range is 2 (page 3 lines 1-6 “ Requirements for FR 1… Requirements for FR2”).
Vivo, Li, Xu does not teach wherein the first frequency range is higher than the second frequency range.
Kim teaches wherein the first frequency range is higher than the second frequency range ([0098] “An NR frequency band defines two types of frequency ranges FR1 and FR2. FR1 may represent a sub-6 GHz range, and FR2 may represent an above-6 GHz range as a millimeter wave (mmW) “).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the combination of Vivo, Li, Xu to incorporate the teachings of Kim. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to increase the effectiveness of the timing of the system.
Regarding claim 32, 36, Vivo teaches wherein the value of N for a first frequency range is smaller than the value of N for a second frequency range (page 3 lines 1-6 “ Requirements for FR 1… Requirements for FR2”).
Vivo, Li, Xu don’t teach wherein the first frequency range is higher than the second frequency range.
Kim teaches wherein the first frequency range is higher than the second frequency range ([0098] “An NR frequency band defines two types of frequency ranges FR1 and FR2. FR1 may represent a sub-6 GHz range, and FR2 may represent an above-6 GHz range as a millimeter wave (mmW)”, (Examiner’s Note: Kim’s FR1 is equivalent to Vivo FR2)).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the combination of Vivo, Li, Xu to incorporate the teachings of Kim. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to increase the effectiveness of the timing of the system.
Regarding claim 33, Vivo teaches wherein the value of N for a first frequency range is 1, the value of N for a second frequency range is 2 (page 3 lines 1-6 “ Requirements for FR 1… Requirements for FR2”).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 03/18/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s Argument 1
Applicant remarks It is respectfully submitted that Vivo and Huawei do not disclose the above emphasized claim limitations.
For example, the Office Action alleges that page 3 lines 32-39 of Vivo discloses the features "a value of N is determined based on a subcarrier spacing of a serving cell of the terminal device".
Examiner’s Response 1
Examiner respectfully disagrees. See updated rejection. Newly added reference Xu is used.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEITH TRAN-DANH FOLLANSBEE whose telephone number is (571)272-3071. The examiner can normally be reached 10am -6 pm M-Th.
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, Derrick Ferris can be reached on 571-272-3123. 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.
/K.T.F./Examiner, Art Unit 2411
/DERRICK W FERRIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2411
Prosecution Insights