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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
2. A request for continued examination (RCE) under 37 CFR 1.114, including the
fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after Advisory action. Since
this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, the previous
Final Rejection with the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR
1.114. Applicant's submission filed on June 14, 2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
3. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-18 and 20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for all teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
4. Applicant argues that the previously cited prior fail to teach all the limitations of the claims as they are currently presented.
5. Examiner agrees. In light of Applicant recent amendments, the previous 103 rejections have been withdrawn. In addition, an additional prior art search is required
based on the recent amendments. The results of the search are utilized in the rejection that follows.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. Claims 1, 4, 9, 10, 13, 18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being
unpatentable over AHN (USPGPUB 2013/0195013) in view of Zhu et al (US PGPUB 2020/0021405.)
Regarding claim 1, 10 and 20, AHN disclose a method for coexistence
interference reporting (see para: 0132, IDC/in device coexistence (coexistence
interference)), comprising:
reporting, by a terminal, a time division multiplexing (TDM) pattern according to
coexistence interference (see para: 0132, 0167, 0168, UE reports IDC indication to
ENB, where IDS info assist in applying TDM pattern), wherein the TDM pattern is
used to indicate at least one of the following:
AHN fail to teach at least one of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
(OFDM) symbol or a slot that is available for a communication module imposing
interference or subjected to the interference in the terminal, an OFDM symbol or a slot that is not available for the communication module imposing the interference or subjected to the interference in the terminal. However, in analogous art, Zhu disclose an OFDM symbol or a slot that is not available for the communication module imposing the interference or subjected to the interference in the terminal (see Fig. 4, para: 0062-0064, OFDM symbols and slots are not available to mobile/devices subject to interference.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the
time of the effective filing date to utilize an OFDM symbol or a slot that is not available for the communication module imposing the interference or subjected to the interference in the terminal as taught by Zhu with the teachings of AHN for the purpose of automatically sharing spectrum between interconnected systems as to minimize delay in a communication network.
Regarding claim 4 and 13, AHN disclose wherein, the TDM pattern is indicated
with at least one of the following:
the TDM pattern is indicated with a bitmap (see para: 0070, pattern given as
bitmap);
Regarding claim 9 and 18, AHN further disclose wherein: TDM patterns of
different cells are indicated separately (see Fig. 15, para: 0041, 0044); or, TDM
patterns of different frequency points are indicated separately.
8. Claims 2, 3, 5-8, 11, 12, 14-17 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over AHN (USPGPUB 2013/0195013) in view of Zhu et al (US PGPUB 2020/0021405) as applied to claim 1, 10 and 20 above, and further in view of Paladugu et al (US PGPUB 2020/0145888.)
Regarding claim 2, 11 and 21, as indicated above, AHN and Zhu fail to teach the method further comprising at least one of the following:
when the coexistence interference is that at least one of a long term evolution
(LTE) frequency band and a new radio (NR) frequency band is interfered, a
transmission direction of a corresponding slot is the uplink transmission;
when the coexistence interference is that a WIFI frequency band, a Bluetooth
frequency band or a global navigation satellite system frequency band is interfered, the
transmission direction of the corresponding slot is the downlink reception;
when the co-existence interference is that the at least one of the long term
evolution (LTE) frequency band and the new radio (NR) frequency band is interfered, a
transmission direction of a corresponding OFDM symbol is the uplink transmission;
In a similar endeavor, Paladugu et al disclose when the coexistence interference
is that at least one of a long term evolution (LTE) frequency band and a new radio (NR)
frequency band is interfered, a transmission direction of a corresponding slot is the
uplink transmission (see para: 0034, 0042, 0046, 0051-0052, LTE and NR exposed to
interference, and communication direction UL-DL.) Paladugu further disclose
processors connected to various elements to aid in the functioning of the designed
structure.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the
time of the effective filing date to utilize when the coexistence interference is that at
least one of a long term evolution (LTE) frequency band and a new radio (NR)
frequency band is interfered, a transmission direction of a corresponding slot is the
uplink transmission as taught by Paladugu with the combined teachings of AHN and
Zhu for the purpose of automatically sharing spectrum between inter-connected
systems as to minimize delay in accessing network resources in a communication
network.
Regarding claim 3 and 12, AHN and Zhu fail to disclose, wherein:
the TDM pattern is indicated with slot configuration information, wherein the slot
configuration information is used to indicate at least one of the following:
an OFDM symbol for the uplink transmission;
an OFDM symbol for the downlink reception,
a slot for the uplink transmission; and a slot for the downlink reception;
or, the TDM pattern is indicated with time division duplex (TDD) uplink -downlink
configuration information.
In a similar endeavor, Paladugu et al further disclose the TDM pattern is
indicated with time division duplex (TDD) uplink-downlink configuration information (see
para: 0107-0109.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the
time of the effective filing date to utilize the TDM pattern is indicated with time division
duplex (TDD) uplink-downlink configuration information as taught by Paladugu with the
combined teachings of AHN and Zhu for the purpose of automatically sharing
spectrum between inter-connected systems as to minimize delay in accessing network
resources in a communication network.
Regarding claim 5 and 14, Ahn and Zhu fail to teach wherein the method further comprises: indicating a reference subcarrier spacing of the OFDM symbol or a slot; however, in a similar endeavor, Paladugu disclose coordination of spatial subcarrier spacing of a OFDM slot (see para: 0043, 0045, 0046.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the
time of the effective filing date to utilize subcarrier spacing of the OFDM symbol or a slot
as taught by Paladugu with the combined teachings of AHN and Zhu for the
purpose of automatically sharing spectrum between inter-connected systems as to
minimize delay in accessing network resources in a communication network.
Regarding claim 6 and 15, AHN and Zhu fail to teach wherein the
indicating the reference subcarrier spacing of the OFDM symbol or the slot comprises:
indicating the reference subcarrier spacing of the OFDM symbol or the slot with a bit
length occupied by the TDM pattern; wherein different bit lengths correspond to different
reference subcarrier spacings, in analogous art, Paladugu disclose wherein the
indicating the reference subcarrier spacing of the OFDM symbol or the slot (see para:
0030-0031 & 0045-0046) comprises: indicating the reference subcarrier spacing of the
OFDM symbol or the slot with a bit length occupied by the TDM pattern (see para:
0147, 0148, bit length associated with TDM pattern), wherein different bit lengths
correspond to different reference subcarrier spacings (see para: 0137, 0152-0153,
0159, different bit lengths with different resources/subcarriers.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the
time of the effective filing date to utilize reference subcarrier spacing of the OFDM
symbol or the slot comprises: indicating the reference subcarrier spacing of the OFDM
symbol or the slot with a bit length occupied by the TDM pattern, wherein different bit
lengths correspond to different reference subcarrier spacings as taught by Paladugu
with the combined teachings of AHN and Zhu for the purpose of automatically
sharing spectrum between inter-connected systems as to minimize delay in accessing
network resources in a communication network.
Regarding claim 7 and 16, AHN and Zhu fail to teach wherein the
indicating the reference subcarrier spacing of the OFDM symbol or the slot comprises:
indicating an uplink reference subcarrier spacing and a downlink reference subcarrier
spacing when frequency division duplex (FDD) is used; however, Paladugu disclose
reference subcarrier spacing of the OFDM symbol or the slot comprises (See para:
0045, 0046, 0047): indicating an uplink reference subcarrier spacing and a downlink
reference subcarrier spacing when frequency division duplex (FDD) is used (see para:
0030, 0031, 0045, 0046.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the
time of the effective filing date to utilize wherein the indicating the reference subcarrier
spacing of the OFDM symbol or the slot comprises: indicating an uplink reference
subcarrier spacing and a downlink reference subcarrier spacing when frequency
division duplex (FDD) is used as taught by Paladugu with the combined teachings of
AHN and Zhu for the purpose of automatically sharing spectrum between inter-
connected systems as to minimize delay in accessing network resources in a
communication network.
Regarding claim 8 and 17, AHN further disclose, wherein the indicating the
reference subcarrier spacing of the OFDM symbol or the slot comprises: when there is a
supplement uplink carrier, indicating a reference subcarrier spacing of the supplement
uplink carrier and a reference subcarrier spacing of anon-supplement uplink carrier.
Conclusion
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the
examiner should be directed to Prenell P. Jones whose telephone number is 571 -272-
3180. The examiner can normally be reached on 9:00-5:30.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's
supervisor Hassan Phillips can be reached on 571 -272-3904. The fax phone number
for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 703-872-9306.
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Prenell P. Jones
/Prenell P Jones/
Examiner, Art Unit 2467
June 26, 2025
/MICHAEL J MOORE JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467
Prosecution Insights