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 .
Claims 1, 11 have been amended.
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) 1-7, 9-17, 19-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumura et al. (US20240172215) in view of Ko et al. (US20210092696).
Regarding claim 1, Matsumura teaches a method of a user equipment (UE) comprising: identifying a position of a first symbol ([0067] “The slot structure shown in FIG. 3A includes DL resources and UL resources in a certain time period. In the example shown in FIG. 3A, the DL resources and the UL resources may be configured to overlap in the same time domain (for example, symbol). In the example shown in FIG. 3A, the DL resources and the UL resources may be configured in the same CC (one CC). With such a structure, a plurality of CCs need not be used to allocate the DL resources and the UL resources”) in which a synchronization signal block (SSB) is transmitted through cell specific configuration information based on at least one of system information block (SIB) information or higher layer signaling ([0161] “Note that an SS, an SSB, and so on may be also referred to as a “reference signal.” [0131] “The capability may be defined as the number of channels/signals (reference signals) that can be transmitted/received simultaneously”, [0134] “The capability may be defined by whether to support a UL symbol/slot and a DL symbol/slot in a band (intra-band, intra-CC)/between bands (inter-band, inter-CC)”, [0135] “UE capability corresponding to at least one of the above to the NW and when the at least one UE capability above is configured for/activated for/indicated to the UE by higher layer signaling.);
determining whether a second symbol of an uplink channel configured based on at least one of the higher layer signaling or downlink control information overlaps with the first symbol of the SSB ([0067] “The slot structure shown in FIG. 3A includes DL resources and UL resources in a certain time period. In the example shown in FIG. 3A, the DL resources and the UL resources may be configured to overlap in the same time domain (for example, symbol). In the example shown in FIG. 3A, the DL resources and the UL resources may be configured in the same CC (one CC). With such a structure, a plurality of CCs need not be used to allocate the DL resources and the UL resources”);
determining whether information on priority of the SSB is received ([0082] “For example, when the UE is configured with resources in which reception of a DL signal/channel is possible, the UE may assume that transmission of a UL signal/channel is not performed in the resources (time domain, symbol, slot) in which reception of a DL signal/channel is possible”);
and receiving, from a base station, the SSB in response to determining that the second symbol of the uplink channel overlaps with the first symbol in of the SSB ([0082] “For example, when the UE is configured with resources in which reception of a DL signal/channel is possible, the UE may assume that transmission of a UL signal/channel is not performed in the resources (time domain, symbol, slot) in which reception of a DL signal/channel is possible”),
and that the information on priority of the SSB is received ([0080] “The configuration for the UE may be performed based on configuration information/indication information for which at least one of higher layer signaling and physical layer signaling is used”).
Matsumura does not teach wherein the information on priority of the SSB is additional 1-bit downlink control information indicating priority reception of the SSB.
Ko teaches wherein the information on priority of the SSB is additional 1-bit downlink control information indicating priority reception of the SSB ([0164] “1-bit information indicating the half-frame boundary may be transmitted using other signals or channels distinguished from the part related to PBCH channel coding such as the PBCH content, the CRC, the scrambling sequence, etc”, [0157] “Herein, a “high-order bit” or an “MSB” implies a left bit in an information bit stream in which a highest-digit number is placed at a rightmost position” (Examiner’s Note: Matsumura does not specify the specific information on priority just in [0080] generally refers to information/indication determining the configuration UE performs when overlap occurs which can BRI as priority. Ko specify a 1 bit information that clearly shows determine priority, using PBCH which is downlink reception for half frame ==overlap, Fig. 18”);
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the Matsumura to incorporate the teachings of Ko. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to increase the flexibility of the system.
Regarding claim 11, Matsumura teaches A user equipment (UE) comprising: a transceiver ([0184] “The control section 210 may control generation of signals, mapping, and so on. The control section 210 may control transmission/reception”); and a controller coupled with the transceiver ([0183] “The control section 210 controls the whole of the user terminal 20. The control section 210 can be constituted with a controller, a control circuit”) and configured to: identify a position of a first symbol ([0067] “The slot structure shown in FIG. 3A includes DL resources and UL resources in a certain time period. In the example shown in FIG. 3A, the DL resources and the UL resources may be configured to overlap in the same time domain (for example, symbol). In the example shown in FIG. 3A, the DL resources and the UL resources may be configured in the same CC (one CC). With such a structure, a plurality of CCs need not be used to allocate the DL resources and the UL resources”) in which a synchronization signal block (SSB) is transmitted through cell specific configuration information based on at least one of system information block (SIB) information or higher layer signaling ([0161] “Note that an SS, an SSB, and so on may be also referred to as a “reference signal.” [0131] “The capability may be defined as the number of channels/signals (reference signals) that can be transmitted/received simultaneously”, [0134] “The capability may be defined by whether to support a UL symbol/slot and a DL symbol/slot in a band (intra-band, intra-CC)/between bands (inter-band, inter-CC)”, [0135] “UE capability corresponding to at least one of the above to the NW and when the at least one UE capability above is configured for/activated for/indicated to the UE by higher layer signaling.),
determine whether a second symbol of an uplink channel configured based on at least one of the higher layer signaling or downlink control information overlaps with the first symbol of the SSB ([0067] “The slot structure shown in FIG. 3A includes DL resources and UL resources in a certain time period. In the example shown in FIG. 3A, the DL resources and the UL resources may be configured to overlap in the same time domain (for example, symbol). In the example shown in FIG. 3A, the DL resources and the UL resources may be configured in the same CC (one CC). With such a structure, a plurality of CCs need not be used to allocate the DL resources and the UL resources”),
determine whether information on priority of the SSB is received, ([0082] “For example, when the UE is configured with resources in which reception of a DL signal/channel is possible, the UE may assume that transmission of a UL signal/channel is not performed in the resources (time domain, symbol, slot) in which reception of a DL signal/channel is possible”), the SSB in response to determining that the second symbol of the uplink channel overlaps with the first symbol of the SSB ([0082] “For example, when the UE is configured with resources in which reception of a DL signal/channel is possible, the UE may assume that transmission of a UL signal/channel is not performed in the resources (time domain, symbol, slot) in which reception of a DL signal/channel is possible”), and that the information on priority of the SSB is received ([0080] “The configuration for the UE may be performed based on configuration information/indication information for which at least one of higher layer signaling and physical layer signaling is used”).
Matsumura does not teach wherein the information on priority of the SSB is additional 1-bit downlink control information indicating priority reception of the SSB.
Ko teaches wherein the information on priority of the SSB is additional 1-bit downlink control information indicating priority reception of the SSB ([0164] “1-bit information indicating the half-frame boundary may be transmitted using other signals or channels distinguished from the part related to PBCH channel coding such as the PBCH content, the CRC, the scrambling sequence, etc”, [0157] “Herein, a “high-order bit” or an “MSB” implies a left bit in an information bit stream in which a highest-digit number is placed at a rightmost position” (Examiner’s Note: Matsumura does not specify the specific information on priority just in [0080] generally refers to information/indication determining the configuration UE performs when overlap occurs which can BRI as priority. Ko specify a 1 bit information that clearly shows determine priority, using PBCH which is downlink reception for half frame ==overlap, Fig. 18”);
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the Matsumura to incorporate the teachings of Ko. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to increase the flexibility of the system.
Regarding claim 2, 12 Matumura teaches wherein the controller is further configured to: determine whether a cross division duplex (XDD) indicator for an XDD system is received in response to the determination that the second symbol of the uplink channel overlaps with the first symbol of the SSB, and determine whether to transmit an uplink signal over the uplink channel in response to the determination that the XDD indicator is received and the information on priority of the SSB is not received ([0096] “The configuration of XDD may mean configuring/notifying the above-described slot structure. The configuration of XDD may mean configuring which time resources (for example, symbols)/which frequency resources can be used for reception of a DL signal/channel and transmission of a UL signal/channel).
Regarding claim 3, 13 Matsumura teaches further comprising transmitting an uplink signal to a base station ([0204] “a base station, a user terminal, and so on according to one embodiment of the present disclosure may function as a computer that executes the processes of the radio communication method of the present disclosure”) based on a result of determining whether the XDD indicator is received ([0096] “Configuration of XDD may be notified by an information element different from the parameter related to a TDD UL and DL configuration (for example, TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon/TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated) defined in Rel. 16 or previous versions).
Regarding claim 4, 14, Matsumura teaches further comprising determining whether to schedule the uplink signal through the downlink control information ([0097] “For the indication of a slot structure, downlink control information (DCI) may be used. The DCI format of the DCI may be DCI format (for example, DCI format 0_0/0_1/1_0/1_1) for performing scheduling/triggering. The DCI format of the DCI may be group-common DCI format different from the DCI format for performing scheduling/triggering. The group-common DCI format may be DCI format (for Example, DCI format 2_0) including a field indicating a slot format”) in a case that if the XDD indicator is received ([0096] “Configuration of XDD may be notified by an information element different from the parameter related to a TDD UL and DL configuration (for example, TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon/TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated) defined in Rel. 16 or previous versions (Embodiment 2-3). The configuration of XDD may mean configuring/notifying the above-described slot structure. The configuration of XDD may mean configuring which time resources (for example, symbols)/which frequency resources can be used for reception of a DL signal/channel and transmission of a UL signal/channel”).
Regarding claim 5, 15, Matsumura teaches further comprising: determining whether to schedule the uplink signal based on a coverage-related information in case that the XDD indicator is received ([0096] “Configuration of XDD may be notified by an information element different from the parameter related to a TDD UL and DL configuration (for example, TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon/TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated) defined in Rel. 16 or previous versions (Embodiment 2-3). The configuration of XDD may mean configuring/notifying the above-described slot structure. The configuration of XDD may mean configuring which time resources (for example, symbols)/which frequency resources can be used for reception of a DL signal/channel and transmission of a UL signal/channel”, [0069] “For example, both edges of the allocated CC/BWP (frequency resources at the upper edge and lower edge of the CC/BWP) may be allocated to UL resources.);
and transmitting the scheduled uplink signal if it is determined that the uplink signal is scheduled based on the coverage related information ([0098] “ In Embodiment 2-4, for example, when transmission/reception of a specific signal/channel (for example, a configured grant PUSCH/SPS PDSCH/periodic (P) CSI-RS/semi-persistent (SP) CSI-RS) is configured for the corresponding one(s) of the symbols indicated as the DL and UL symbols in the field, the UE may preferentially perform the transmission/reception of the specific channel”).
Regarding claim 6, 16, Matsumura teaches wherein the uplink signal is not transmitted without scheduling the uplink signal based on the coverage related information ([0073] “when the UE is configured with resources in which reception of a DL signal/channel is possible, the UE may assume that transmission of a UL signal/channel is not performed in the resources (time domain, symbol, slot) in which reception of a DL signal/channel is possible”).
Regarding claim 7, 17, Matsumura teaches wherein the XDD indicator is configured using at least one of system information, the higher layer signaling, a medium access control control element (MAC CE), or the downlink control information. ([0096-97] “Configuration of XDD may be notified by an information element different from the parameter related to a TDD UL and DL configuration (for example, TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon/TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated) defined in Rel. 16 or previous versions (Embodiment 2-3). The configuration of XDD may mean configuring/notifying the above-described slot structure. The configuration of XDD may mean configuring which time resources (for example, symbols)/which frequency resources can be used for reception of a DL signal/channel and transmission of a UL signal/channe … For the indication of a slot structure, downlink control information (DCI)”).
Regarding claim 9, 19, Matsumura teaches wherein the controller is further configured to: in a case that the UE has received the information on priority of the SSB ([0080] “The configuration for the UE may be performed based on configuration information/indication information for which at least one of higher layer signaling and physical layer signaling is used”), receive the SSB ([0082] “For example, when the UE is configured with resources in which reception of a DL signal/channel is possible, the UE may assume that transmission of a UL signal/channel is not performed in the resources (time domain, symbol, slot) in which reception of a DL signal/channel is possible”) based on the SIB information or cell-specific configuration information through the higher layer signaling ([0080] “The configuration for the UE may be performed based on configuration information/indication information for which at least one of higher layer signaling and physical layer signaling is used”).
Regarding claim 10, 20, Matsumura teaches wherein the controller is further configured to: in a case that the UE has not received the information on priority of the SSB, determine whether uplink signals configured through the higher layer signaling or the downlink control information overlap in symbol ([0096] “The configuration of XDD may mean configuring/notifying the above-described slot structure. The configuration of XDD may mean configuring which time resources (for example, symbols)/which frequency resources can be used for reception of a DL signal/channel and transmission of a UL signal/channel).
Regarding claim 11, 21, Matsumura teaches further comprising: in case that the uplink signals do not overlap in the same symbol, determining whether to transmit an uplink data channel ([0038] “is a diagram to show an example of a TDD configuration defined in Rel. 16 or previous versions. In the example illustrated in FIG. 2A, TDD slot/symbol configuration is performed for the UE in the bandwidth of one component carrier (CC) (which may be referred to as a cell or a serving cell). In the example shown in FIG. 2A, the time ratio between DL slots and UL slots is 4:1”), an uplink control channel, a random access channel, or a sounding reference signal (SRS) based on the information on priority of the SSB.
Regarding claim 12, 22, Matsumura teaches further comprising: in case that the uplink signals overlap in the same symbol, determining that the uplink signals have a higher priority than the SSB based on the information on priority of the SSB ([0082] “For example, when the UE is configured with resources in which reception of a DL signal/channel is possible, the UE may assume that transmission of a UL signal/channel is not performed in the resources (time domain, symbol, slot) in which reception of a DL signal/channel is possible”, [0080] “The configuration for the UE may be performed based on configuration information/indication information for which at least one of higher layer signaling and physical layer signaling is used”).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 01/26/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s Argument
Applicant remarks Matsumura neither explicitly discloses nor implies a configuration corresponding to "wherein the information on priority of the SSB is additional 1-bit downlink control information indicating priority reception of the SSB," as recited in amended independent Claim 1.
Examiner’s Response
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Newly added reference Ko is used. The combination of Matsumura in view of Ko teaches "wherein the information on priority of the SSB is additional 1-bit downlink control information indicating priority reception of the SSB". See updated rejection.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Li et al. US20210136800 ([0014]“if the scheduled PSDCH overlaps with one of the SSBs having a candidate SSB index t in a slot and an SSB index mod(t, Q) is set to ‘1’ in the indicator”).
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