DETAILED ACTION
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/8/2025 has been entered.
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 status
Claims 1, 2, 13, 14, 17, 18, 20, 29-30, 32-33, and 35-38 are amended.
Claims 3, 5, 15, 19, 21, 27, 31, and 34 are canceled.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 6-14, 16-18, 20, 22-26, 28-30, 32, 33, and 35-38 are pending for examination.
Response to arguments
Re: 35 U.S.C. § 112(a) rejection
In view of claim amendments, 35 U.S.C. § 112(a) rejection is withdrawn.
Re: 35 U.S.C. §103 rejection
Applicant’s response has been fully considered but is moot in view of claim amendments and new grounds of rejection.
35 U.S.C. §103 rejection is not withdrawn.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2, 4, 6-14, 16-18, 20, 22-26, 28-30, 32-33, and 35-38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Uchiyama et. al (US20160249302A1), hereinafter “Ychiyama” in view of Uchiyama et al. (US20160198475A1), hereinafter “Yama2”, and Chung et al. (US-20160006498-A1), hereinafter “Chung”.
As to claims 1, 17, 32, and 33, Uchiyama teaches ‘a method of wireless communication performed by an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node’ ([0089] “FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of flow of communication control processing executed in the communication control system 1 according to the present embodiment.”).
Though Ychiyama does not expressly teach, in the same field of endeavor Yama2 teaches, ‘transmitting, to a parent node of the IAB node, full-duplex (FD) information based at least in part on a transmit power value for an FD mode’ (implied by the following disclosures in Yama2:
[0155] When the FD mode is selected, the control node 50 adjusts the ratio of the power of the transmission signal to the power of the reception signal in the radio communication apparatus 20 by further executing the power ratio adjusting process described with reference to FIG. 13 (step S140); and
[0196] in the radio communication apparatus that is connected to a base station via the radio backhaul link and is connected to one or more terminals via the access link, the communication in the full duplex (FD) mode is performed.),
‘wherein the transmit power value is: a transmit power restriction value associated with a maximum transmit power for communication based at least in part on a first self-interference strength from the at least one of the downlink backhaul link or the downlink access link , or a transmit power reduction value associated with a reduction of a transmit power in the FD mode based at least in part on a second self-interference strength from the at least one of the uplink backhaul link or the uplink access link’ (Yama2: [0197] “in the radio communication apparatus that is connected to a base station via the radio backhaul link and is connected to one or more terminals via the access link, the communication in the full duplex (FD) mode is performed. In this regard, the threshold may correspond to the upper limit value of the power ratio that can remove the self-interference to the extent in which the reception signal in the master device for relaying the traffic in the FD mode can be appropriately demodulated”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine disclosure by Yama2 with that of Ychiyama and come up with the claimed invention motivated by reliably removing the self-interference, as disclosed by Yama2, “Thus, by adjusting the power ratio by using a threshold that matches the interference resistance performance such as SIC capability of the master device, it is possible to support the master device so that the self-interference is reliably removed” ([0197]).
Uchiyama however does not explicitly teach:
‘receiving an FD resource allocation for the IAB node, wherein the FD resource allocation identifies a resource to be used for the first communication link and the second communication link, in the FD mode, and wherein the FD resource allocation is based at least in part on the FD information; and
communicating on the first communication link and the second communication link in accordance with the FD resource allocation’.
However Yama2 teaches ‘receiving an FD resource allocation for the IAB node, wherein the FD resource allocation identifies a resource to be used for a first communication link with the parent node and a second communication link in the FD mode, and wherein the FD resource allocation is based at least in part on the FD information’ ([0133] First, the communication control apparatus 10 collects the master device information and the small cell information from the radio communication apparatus 20 (step S110). [0134] Then, the communication control apparatus 10 determines whether the radio communication apparatus 20 is to operate in the FD mode by executing the FD determination process (step S120). [0135] Then, the communication control apparatus 10 distributes radio resources to the radio backhaul link and access link of the downlink and the radio backhaul link and access link of the uplink based on a result obtained by the FD determination process (step S130); disclosure regarding resource allocation for access link teaches the claim citing resource for communication link with a child node of the JAB node, or with an access link); and
‘communicating on the first communication link and the second communication link in accordance with the FD resource allocation’ ([0138] For example, when the FD mode is indicated from the communication control apparatus 10, the transmission/reception of a signal between the small-cell terminal 30 and the radio communication apparatus 20 on the access link is executed simultaneously on the same frequency channel as the reception/transmission of a signal between the radio communication apparatus 20 and the macro-cell base station 10 on the radio backhaul link (steps S180 and S185).)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication method of Uchiyama with the resource allocation of Yama2 in order to prevent interference when transmitting via FD mode using backhaul and access links
The claim, wherein the FD information includes: channel state information for the FD mode based at least in part on a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) that is transmitted by the parent node to the IAB node when a first communication link, with the parent node, is a downlink backhaul link and a second communication link, with a child node of the IAB node or an access link, is at least one of the downlink backhaul link or a downlink access link, is implied by disclosure in Uchiyama in [0043], radio communication unit 110 broadcasts … a reference signal in downlink …The reference signal is used to measure communication quality“.
As to claims 2 and 18, combination of Uchiyama, Yama2 and Chung teaches the method of claim 1, ‘wherein the transmit power value is the transmit power restriction value’ ([0102] In step S208, the control entity 40 determines transmission power values of the communication control apparatus 10 and the radio communication apparatus 20. For details, the control entity 40 determines the transmission power of the communication control apparatus 10 and the transmission power value of the radio communication apparatus 20 based on the magnitude relationship set in the above-described step S206 and the channel states of the radio backhaul link 22 and the access link 23.), and
‘the FD information indicates the channel state information for the FD mode’ ([0090] Further, the control entity 40 collects information indicating channel states of the radio backhaul link 22 and the access link 23 as information for selecting the small cell terminal 30 with which the radio communication apparatus 20 is to perform radio communication in the FD mode and information for transmission power control. A possible index indicating the channel states includes, for example, reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or the like.).
As to claims 4 and 20, combination of Uchiyama, Yama2 and Chung teaches the method of claim 1, ‘wherein the transmit power value is the transmit power reduction value’ ([0102] In step S208, the control entity 40 determines transmission power values of the communication control apparatus 10 and the radio communication apparatus 20. For details, the control entity 40 determines the transmission power of the communication control apparatus 10 and the transmission power value of the radio communication apparatus 20 based on the magnitude relationship set in the above-described step S206 and the channel states of the radio backhaul link 22 and the access link 23. At this time, the control entity 40 determines the respective transmission power values so that the small cell terminal 30 can cancel interference using the interference cancellation technique based on the received power difference, that is, the received power difference becomes equal to or greater than a threshold.).
As to claims 6 and 22, combination of Uchiyama, Yama2 and Chung teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: ‘transmitting non-FD information to the parent node’(Uchiyama [0090] As illustrated in FIG. 8, first, in step S102, the control entity 40 collects macro cell information from the communication control apparatus 10, master device information from the radio communication apparatus 20 and slave device information from the small cell terminal 30. For example, the control entity 40 collects load information such as a traffic amount, the number of terminals and a resource usage rate as information for determining whether the radio communication apparatus 20 should execute radio communication in the FD mode.); and
‘receiving a non-FD resource allocation from the parent node, wherein the non-FD resource allocation is based at least in part on the non-FD information’ (Yama2 ([0133] First, the communication control apparatus 10 collects the master device information and the small cell information from the radio communication apparatus 20 (step S110). [0134] Then, the communication control apparatus 10 determines whether the radio communication apparatus 20 is to operate in the FD mode by executing the FD determination process (step S120). [0135] Then, the communication control apparatus 10 distributes radio resources to the radio backhaul link and access link of the downlink and the radio backhaul link and access link of the uplink based on a result obtained by the FD determination process (step S130).)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication method of Uchiyama with the resource allocation of Yama2 in order to prevent interference when transmitting via FD mode using backhaul and access links.
As to claims 7 and 23, combination of Uchiyama, Yama2 and Chung teaches the method of claim 6, ‘wherein the non-FD information includes channel state information for a non-FD mode on the first communication link’ ([0090] Further, the control entity 40 collects information indicating channel states of the radio backhaul link 22 and the access link 23 as information for selecting the small cell terminal 30 with which the radio communication apparatus 20 is to perform radio communication in the FD mode and information for transmission power control. A possible index indicating the channel states includes, for example, reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or the like.) [0091] when the load information indicates load falling below the threshold, the control entity 40 determines that the radio communication apparatus 20 should execute radio communication in the non-FD mode.).
As to claims 8 and 24, combination of Uchiyama, Yama2 and Chung teaches the method of claim 6, ‘wherein the FD resource allocation and the non-FD resource allocation include respective values indicating that the FD resource allocation is associated with the FD mode and that the non-FD resource allocation is associated with a non- FD mode’ (Yama2 [0135] Then, the communication control apparatus 10 distributes radio resources to the radio backhaul link and access link of the downlink and the radio backhaul link and access link of the uplink based on a result obtained by the FD determination process (step S130). When the FD mode is selected in the FD determination process, the distribution of resources, for example as described with reference to FIG. 4 or 5, may be performed. When the non-FD mode is selected in the FD determination process, the distribution of resources, for example as described with reference to FIG. 7 or 8, may be performed.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication method of Uchiyama with the resource allocation of Yama2 in order to prevent interference when transmitting via FD mode using backhaul and access links.
As to claims 9 and 25, combination of Uchiyama, Yama2 and Chung teaches the method of claim 6, ‘wherein the FD resource allocation and the non-FD resource allocation comprise at least one of: respective time resources, respective frequency resources, or respective time-frequency resources’ (Yama2 [0102] FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrated to describe an example of the detailed distribution of radio resources in a subframe in which radio communication is performed in the FD mode. The time-frequency resource allocated to the radio backhaul link 22 and the time-frequency resource allocated to the access link 23 may overlap each other. In the example of FIG. 6, 4 resource blocks are allocated to both the radio backhaul link 22 and the access link 23. [0106] Thus, when the cooperative control unit 144 operates the radio communication apparatus 20 in the non-FD mode (e.g. when the amount of traffic to be processed by the radio communication apparatus 20 is not large), the cooperative control unit 144 may cause the radio communication apparatus 20 to execute the interference avoidance in the time division scheme. In this case, different time resources are allocated to the radio backhaul link 22 and the access link 23.).
As to claim 10, combination of Uchiyama, Yama2 and Chung teaches the method of claim 6, further comprising: ‘communicating on the first communication link and the second communication link using the non-FD resource allocation and the FD resource allocation’ (Yama2 [0105] When the radio communication apparatus 20 is operated in the non-FD mode, the reception and transmission of the radio signal in the radio communication apparatus 20 are not performed simultaneously on the same channel, and thus the self-interference does not occur. [0107] FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrated to describe a first example of the interference control of the downlink in the non-FD mode. [0138] For example, when the FD mode is indicated from the communication control apparatus 10, the transmission/reception of a signal between the small-cell terminal 30 and the radio communication apparatus 20 on the access link is executed simultaneously on the same frequency channel as the reception/transmission of a signal between the radio communication apparatus 20 and the macro-cell base station 10 on the radio backhaul link (steps S180 and S185).).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication method of Uchiyama with the resource allocation of Yama2 in order to prevent interference when transmitting via FD mode using backhaul and access links
As to claims 11 and 26, combination of Uchiyama, Yama2 and Chung teaches the method of claim 6, ‘wherein the non-FD resource allocation is associated with a different modulation and coding scheme than the FD resource allocation’ (Yama2 [0102] FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrated to describe an example of the detailed distribution of radio resources in a subframe in which radio communication is performed in the FD mode. A relatively high order modulation scheme (e.g. 64QAM, 16QAM, or QPSK) may be used for the resource block of the access link 23, and meanwhile, a relatively low order modulation scheme (e.g. 16QAM, QPSK, or BPSK) may be used for the resource block of the radio backhaul link 22. This allows the control power ratio R.sub.CTRL to be prevented from failing to satisfy the conditional expression (2) by suppressing the control power ratio R.sub.CTRL while maintaining the balance of the overall throughput [0105] When the radio communication apparatus 20 is operated in the non-FD mode, the reception and transmission of the radio signal in the radio communication apparatus 20 are not performed simultaneously on the same channel, and thus the self-interference does not occur. However, for example referring to FIG. 2A, in the small-cell terminal 30, the downlink signal R01 from the macro-cell base station 10 may give interference to the downlink signal T01 from the radio communication apparatus 20. In addition, referring to FIG. 2B, in the macro-cell base station 10, the uplink signal R02 from the small-cell terminal 30 may give interference to the uplink signal T02 from the radio communication apparatus 20. Given the difference described above between the cell radii of the macro cell 11 and the small cell 21, of these two cases, particularly the interference in the small-cell terminal 30 on the downlink is likely to reach a nonnegligible level.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have different MCS for the FD mode and Non-FD mode because non-FD mode does not suffer from self-interference and therefore the power control of [0105] does not need to be used.
As to claims 12 and 28, combination of Uchiyama, Yama2 and Chung teaches the method of claim 1, ‘wherein the FD resource allocation includes a modulation and coding scheme for the FD mode’ (Yama2 [0093] The cooperative control unit 144 performs signaling of resource allocation information, adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) information, and transmission power information determined by the adjustment of the control power ratio R.sub.CTRL to the radio communication apparatus 20 on the radio backhaul link 22. [0102] FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrated to describe an example of the detailed distribution of radio resources in a subframe in which radio communication is performed in the FD mode. In addition, 24 resource blocks are allocated to the radio backhaul link 22. A relatively high order modulation scheme (e.g. 64QAM, 16QAM, or QPSK) may be used for the resource block of the access link 23, and meanwhile, a relatively low order modulation scheme (e.g. 16QAM, QPSK, or BPSK) may be used for the resource block of the radio backhaul link 22.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have different MCS for the FD mode and Non-FD mode because non-FD mode does not suffer from self-interference and therefore the power control of [0105] does not need to be used.
As to claims 13 and 29, combination of Uchiyama, Yama2 and Chung teaches the method of claim 1, ‘wherein the first self-interference strength is an allowable self-interference strength at a receiver of the at least one of the downlink backhaul link or the downlink access link’ (implied by disclosure in Yama2 [0197] discussed above in claim 1. The threshold discussed in that paragraph implies the allowable self-interference)
As to claims 14 and 30, combination of Uchiyama, Yama2 and Chung teaches the method of claim 1, ‘wherein the second self-interference strength is an allowable self-interference strength at a receiver of the at least one of the uplink backhaul link or the uphill access link (Second self-interference strength is related to the uplink backhaul link or the uplink access link; The same discussion above in claim 13 shall be applicable).
As to claim 16, combination of Uchiyama, Yama2 and Chung teaches the method of claim 1, ‘wherein communicating on the first communication link and the second communication link in accordance with the FD resource allocation further comprises: communicating on multiple second communication links with multiple receivers or transmitters in accordance with the FD resource allocation’ ([0040] That is, the macro cell base station 10 or the radio communication apparatus 20 may perform multiplexing after controlling transmission power so that there is a predetermined received power difference between transmission signals to the plurality of terminals in the same frequency resource at the same time. [0065] The radio communication unit 210 establishes the access link 23 with one or more small cell terminals (slave devices) within the small cell 21 and communicates with the small cell terminals on the access link 23.).
As to claim 35, combination of Uchiyama, Yama2 and Chung teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the transmit power value is based at least in part on a self-interference strength between the second communication link and the first communication link (discussed above in claim 13).
As to claim 36, combination of Uchiyama, Yama2 and Chung teaches the method of claim 1, ‘wherein the transmit power value is based at least in part on a self-interference cancellation value at a receiver on the second communication link’ (discussed above in claim 13).
As to claim 37, combination of Uchiyama, Yama2 and Chung teaches the method of claim 32, ‘wherein the transmit power value is the transmit power restriction value and the FD information indicates channel state information for the first communication link’ (discussed above in claim 32).
As to claim 38, combination of Uchiyama, Yama2 and Chung teaches the method of claim 33, ‘wherein the transmit power value is the transmit power restriction value and the FD information indicates channel state information for the first communication link’ (discussed above in claim 33).
Conclusion
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/INTEKHAAB A SIDDIQUEE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462