DETAILED ACTION
In response to communication(s) filed 12/11/2025.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 6-11, 14 and 18-25 are pending for examination.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 12/11/2025 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 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 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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, 6-9, 14, 18-20 and 23-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US 2022/0361174 A1) in view of You et al. (US 2023/0108413 A1) hereinafter “Liu” and “You” respectively.
Regarding Claim 1, Liu teaches A method performed by an Integrated Access and Backhaul node (Liu: paragraphs 0059-0061 & Figs. 3-4, IAB node) configured to operate in a spectrum band (Liu: paragraph 0061 & Fig. 4, frequency domain), the method comprising:
receiving one or more configuration messages related to the spectrum band (Liu: paragraph 0062 & Fig. 4 step 401, receive frequency domain configuration information), the one or more configuration messages comprising information that defines two or more modes of operation (Liu: paragraph 0077 & Fig. 5, frequency domain resource for the DU set to a resource type (i.e. hard type, soft type, shared type or NA type)) of a distributed unit of the IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0059 & Fig. 3, said Distributed Unit of the IAB node) that are allowed for two or more subsets of a plurality of subcarriers within the spectrum band of the IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0062 & Fig. 4, configuration information of a frequency domain resource for said distributed unit (DU); see also paragraphs 0098-0099, configuration of the frequency domain resource for the DU includes a plurality of PRBs or a plurality of subcarriers), respectively, the two or more of the following modes of operation:
a first mode of operation in which DU transmission, DU reception, or either DU transmission or DU reception may be performed by the IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0079, resource may be set to hard resource type indicating frequency domain resource can only be used by the DU);
a second mode of operation in which DU transmission, DU reception, or either DU transmission or DU reception may be performed by the IAB node, subject to a condition (Liu: paragraph 0079, resource may be set to soft resource type indicating the DU can be used only when reception and transmission of the MT are not affected or the frequency domain resource is indicated as available);
a third mode of operation in which neither DU transmission nor DU reception may be performed by the IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0079, resource may be set to not-available resource type indicating frequency domain resource cannot be used).
based on a mode of operation of the IAB node and the information comprised in the configuration message(s) (Liu: paragraph 0077 & Fig. 5, said configuration information and resource type information), allocating at least one of the two or more subsets of the plurality of subcarriers within the spectrum band for performing an operation (Liu: paragraph 0068, configure the frequency domain resource for the DU based on the obtained frequency domain information to perform information transmission); and
performing the operation on the allocated at least one of the two or more subsets of the plurality of subcarriers (Liu: paragraph 0067 & Fig. 4 step 402, perform information transmission based on the frequency domain configuration information including the resource type).
Liu fails to explicitly teach the operation performed by the IAB node further depends on the configuration of a symbol as in the remaining limitation(s). However, You from an analogous art similarly teaches an IAB node receiving one or more configuration messages comprising information that defines a symbol configuration for a slot (You: paragraphs 0249-0256, parent node obtaining slot configuration) where the operation performed by the IAB node depends on the symbol configuration of a symbol in which the operation is to be performed within the slot (You: paragraph 0259, symbol in the slot may be set to a hard, soft, or unavailable type) and depends on the two or more modes of operation (You: paragraphs 0259-0264, transmit or receive operations on the corresponding symbols based on when a downlink, uplink or flexible symbol is configured as hard, soft or unavailable).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Liu to include slot configuration as taught by You so as to further manage the different combinations of transmission and reception of the IAB node.
Regarding Claim 2, Liu-You teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the two or more subsets of the plurality of subcarriers within the spectrum band of the IAB node are mutually exclusive (Liu: paragraphs 0062, 0122-0124 & Fig. 4, said configuration information indicating subcarrier or plurality of PRBs).
Regarding Claim 4, Liu-You teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the two or more modes of operation comprise the second mode of operation (Liu: paragraph 0079, soft resource type indicating the DU can be used only when reception and transmission of the MT are not affected or the frequency domain resource is indicated as available), and the condition depends on a combination of two or more of:
(a) whether the subset of the subcarriers configured for the second mode of operation are configured as unavailable for the DU of a parent IAB node or not used on a mobile termination, MT, side of the IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0079, soft resource type indicating the DU can be used only when reception and transmission of the MT are not affected);
(b) whether the IAB node has received a control message that indicates that the subset of the subcarriers configured for the second mode of operation are available for transmission or reception (Liu: paragraph 0079, said indication the frequency domain resource is available);
(c) whether operation on the MT side of the IAB is not impacted (Liu: paragraph 0079, said DU can be used only when reception and transmission of the MT are not affected).
Regarding Claim 6, Liu-You teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the symbol configuration is one of:
a configuration of the symbol as an uplink symbol in which case the operation is reception by the DU of the IAB node (Liu: paragraphs 0077-0079, hard resource indicating resources used by DU; see also paragraph 0089, DU receives while the MT transmits),
a configuration of the symbol as a downlink symbol in which case the operation is transmission by the DU of the IAB node (Liu: paragraphs 0077-0079, hard resource indicating resources used by DU; see also paragraph 0088, DU transmits while the MT receives), or
a configuration of the symbol as a flexible symbol in which case the operation is reception or transmission by the DU of the IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0079, shared resource type indicating simultaneously usable resource usable by the DU and the MT; see also paragraph 0086, the DU transmits while the MT transmits).
Regarding Claim 7, Liu-You teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the operation performed by the IAB node is:
transmitting by the DU of the IAB node, if the symbol in which the operation is to be performed is a downlink symbol and the mode of operation is either: (a) the first mode of operation or (b) the second mode of operation provided the condition is met (Liu: paragraph 0079, said hard resource type indicating frequency domain resource can only be used by the DU);
receiving by the DU of the IAB node, if the symbol in which the operation is to be performed is an uplink symbol and the mode of operation is either: (a) the first mode of operation or (b) the second mode of operation provided the condition is met (Liu: paragraph 0079, hard resource type indicating frequency domain resource can only be used by the DU);
transmitting or receiving by the DU of the IAB node, if the symbol in which the operation is to be performed is a flexible symbol and the mode of operation is either: (a) the first mode of operation or (b) the second mode of operation provided the condition is met (Liu: paragraph 0079, soft resource type indicating the DU can be used only when reception and transmission of the MT are not affected or the frequency domain resource is indicated as available); or
neither transmitting nor receiving by the DU of the IAB node, if the mode of operation is the third mode of operation (Liu: paragraph 0079, not-available resource type indicating frequency domain resource cannot be used).
Regarding Claim 8, Liu-You teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the operation performed by the IAB node further involves control signaling to schedule a User Equipment and/or a child IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0059 & Fig. 3, user equipment or child IAB node) to transmit or receive in a certain time-frequency resource according to the configurations of a symbol(s) in which the operation is to be performed by the IAB node and the allocated at least one of the two or more subsets of the plurality of subcarriers (Liu: paragraph 0146, the DU may send the configuration information to the fourth device (i.e. said UE or child IAB node) scheduled by the DU for downstream).
Regarding Claim 9, Liu-You teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches prior to receiving the one or more configuration messages, transmitting a capability message to a parent IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0059, report capability of the IAB node to the first device (i.e. parent node of the IAB node)).
Regarding Claim 14, Liu teaches An Integrated Access and Backhaul node (Liu: paragraphs 0059-0061 & Figs. 3-4, IAB node) configured to operate in a spectrum band (Liu: paragraph 0061 & Fig. 4, frequency domain), the IAB node comprising a radio unit (Liu: paragraph 0258 & Fig. 12, transceiver) and processing circuitry (Liu: paragraph 0258 & Fig. 12, processor) configured to cause the IAB node to:
receive one or more configuration messages related to the spectrum band (Liu: paragraph 0062 & Fig. 4 step 401, receive frequency domain configuration information), the one or more configuration messages comprising information that defines two or more modes of operation (Liu: paragraph 0077 & Fig. 5, frequency domain resource for the DU set to a resource type (i.e. hard type, soft type, shared type or NA type)) of a distributed unit of the IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0059 & Fig. 3, said Distributed Unit of the IAB node) that are allowed for two or more subsets of a plurality of subcarriers within the spectrum band of the IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0062 & Fig. 4, configuration information of a frequency domain resource for said distributed unit (DU); see also paragraphs 0098-0099, configuration of the frequency domain resource for the DU includes a plurality of PRBs or a plurality of subcarriers), respectively;
based on a mode of operation of the IAB node and the information comprised in the configuration message(s) (Liu: paragraph 0077 & Fig. 5, said configuration information and resource type information), allocate at least one of the two or more subsets of the plurality of subcarriers within the spectrum band for performing an operation (Liu: paragraph 0068, configure the frequency domain resource for the DU based on the obtained frequency domain information to perform information transmission); and
perform the operation on the allocated at least one of the two or more subsets of the plurality of subcarriers (Liu: paragraph 0067 & Fig. 4 step 402, perform information transmission based on the frequency domain configuration information including the resource type).
Liu fails to explicitly teach the operation performed by the IAB node further depends on the configuration of a symbol as in the remaining limitation(s). However, You from an analogous art similarly teaches an IAB node receiving one or more configuration messages comprising information that defines a symbol configuration for a slot (You: paragraphs 0249-0256, parent node obtaining slot configuration) where the operation performed by the IAB node depends on the symbol configuration of a symbol in which the operation is to be performed within the slot (You: paragraph 0259, symbol in the slot may be set to a hard, soft, or unavailable type) and depends on the two or more modes of operation (You: paragraphs 0259-0264, transmit or receive operations on the corresponding symbols based on when a downlink, uplink or flexible symbol is configured as hard, soft or unavailable).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Liu to include slot configuration as taught by You so as to further manage the different combinations of transmission and reception of the IAB node.
Regarding Claim 18, Liu-You teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the two or more modes of operation comprise two or more of the following modes of operation:
a first mode of operation in which DU transmission, DU reception, or either DU transmission or DU reception may be performed by the IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0079, hard resource type indicating frequency domain resource can only be used by the DU);
a second mode of operation in which DU transmission, DU reception, or either DU transmission or DU reception may be performed by the IAB node, subject to a condition (Liu: paragraph 0079, soft resource type indicating the DU can be used only when reception and transmission of the MT are not affected or the frequency domain resource is indicated as available);
a third mode of operation in which neither DU transmission nor DU reception may be performed by the IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0079, not-available resource type indicating frequency domain resource cannot be used).
Regarding Claim 19, Liu-You teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches, wherein the two or more modes of operation comprise the second mode of operation (Liu: paragraph 0079, soft resource type indicating the DU can be used only when reception and transmission of the MT are not affected or the frequency domain resource is indicated as available), and the condition depends on a combination of two or more of:
(a) whether the subset of the subcarriers configured for the second mode of operation are configured as unavailable for the DU of a parent IAB node or not used on a mobile termination, MT, side of the IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0079, soft resource type indicating the DU can be used only when reception and transmission of the MT are not affected);
(b) whether the IAB node has received a control message that indicates that the subset of the subcarriers configured for the second mode of operation are available for transmission or reception (Liu: paragraph 0079, said indication the frequency domain resource is available);
(c) whether operation on the MT side of the IAB is not impacted (Liu: paragraph 0079, said DU can be used only when reception and transmission of the MT are not affected).
Regarding Claim 20, Liu-You teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches prior to receiving the one or more configuration messages, transmitting a capability message to a parent IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0059, report capability of the IAB node to the first device (i.e. parent node of the IAB node)).
Regarding Claim 23, Liu teaches A non-transient computer-readable storage medium (Liu: paragraph 0285, computer readable storage medium), having instructions stored thereon that when executed, by processing circuitry (Liu: paragraph 0285, computer program executed by a processor) of an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node (Liu: paragraphs 0059-0061 & Figs. 3-4, IAB node) configured to operate in a spectrum band (Liu: paragraph 0061 & Fig. 4, frequency domain), cause the processing circuitry to perform operations comprising:
receive one or more configuration messages related to the spectrum band (Liu: paragraph 0062 & Fig. 4 step 401, receive frequency domain configuration information), the one or more configuration messages comprising information that defines two or more modes of operation (Liu: paragraph 0077 & Fig. 5, frequency domain resource for the DU set to a resource type (i.e. hard type, soft type, shared type or NA type)) of a distributed unit of the IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0059 & Fig. 3, said Distributed Unit of the IAB node) that are allowed for two or more subsets of a plurality of subcarriers within the spectrum band of the IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0062 & Fig. 4, configuration information of a frequency domain resource for said distributed unit (DU); see also paragraphs 0098-0099, configuration of the frequency domain resource for the DU includes a plurality of PRBs or a plurality of subcarriers), respectively;
based on a mode of operation of the IAB node and the information comprised in the configuration message(s) (Liu: paragraph 0077 & Fig. 5, said configuration information and resource type information), allocate at least one of the two or more subsets of the plurality of subcarriers within the spectrum band for performing an operation (Liu: paragraph 0068, configure the frequency domain resource for the DU based on the obtained frequency domain information to perform information transmission); and
perform the operation on the allocated at least one of the two or more subsets of the plurality of subcarriers (Liu: paragraph 0067 & Fig. 4 step 402, perform information transmission based on the frequency domain configuration information including the resource type).
Liu fails to explicitly teach the operation performed by the IAB node further depends on the configuration of a symbol as in the remaining limitation(s). However, You from an analogous art similarly teaches an IAB node receiving one or more configuration messages comprising information that defines a symbol configuration for a slot (You: paragraphs 0249-0256, parent node obtaining slot configuration) where the operation performed by the IAB node depends on the symbol configuration of a symbol in which the operation is to be performed within the slot (You: paragraph 0259, symbol in the slot may be set to a hard, soft, or unavailable type) and depends on the two or more modes of operation (You: paragraphs 0259-0264, transmit or receive operations on the corresponding symbols based on when a downlink, uplink or flexible symbol is configured as hard, soft or unavailable).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Liu to include slot configuration as taught by You so as to further manage the different combinations of transmission and reception of the IAB node.
Regarding Claim 24, Liu-You teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches prior to receiving the one or more configuration messages, transmitting a capability message to a parent IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0059, report capability of the IAB node to the first device (i.e. parent node of the IAB node)).
Regarding Claim 25, Liu-You teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the two or more modes of operation comprise a first mode of operation in which DU transmission, DU reception, or either DU transmission or DU reception may be performed by the IAB node, subject to a condition (Liu: paragraph 0079, soft resource type indicating the DU can be used only when reception and transmission of the MT are not affected), where wherein the condition depends on a combination of two or more of:
(a) whether the subset of the subcarriers configured for the second mode of operation are configured as unavailable for the DU of a parent IAB node or not used on a mobile termination (MT) side of the IAB node (Liu: paragraph 0079, soft resource type indicating the DU can be used only when reception and transmission of the MT are not affected);
(b) whether the IAB node has received a control message that indicates that the subset of the subcarriers configured for the second mode of operation are available for transmission or reception (Liu: paragraph 0079, said indication the frequency domain resource is available);
(c) whether operation on the MT side of the IAB is not impacted (Liu: paragraph 0079, said DU can be used only when reception and transmission of the MT are not affected).
Claims 10 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu-You in view of Tiirola et al. (US 2022/0287123 A1) hereinafter “Tiirola.”
Regarding Claim 10, Liu-You teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above however fails to explicitly teach wherein the capability message comprises information that indicates that the IAB node has digital beamforming capability for Spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM). However, Tiirola from an analogous art similarly teaches acquiring first link radio resource configuration (Tiirola: paragraphs 0149-0150 & Fig. 6) and further teaches determining whether the MT is capable of SDM based on the radio resource configuration acquired (Tiirola: paragraphs 0200-0202 & Fig. 11). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Liu-You to include spatial division multiplexing based on capability as taught by Tiirola so as further optimize transmission and reception of IAB operations based on capability of the node.
Regarding Claim 21, Liu-You teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above however fails to explicitly teach wherein the capability message comprises information that indicates that the IAB node has digital beamforming capability for Spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM). However, Tiirola from an analogous art similarly teaches acquiring first link radio resource configuration (Tiirola: paragraphs 0149-0150 & Fig. 6) and further teaches determining whether the MT is capable of SDM based on the radio resource configuration acquired (Tiirola: paragraphs 0200-0202 & Fig. 11). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Liu-You to include spatial division multiplexing based on capability as taught by Tiirola so as further optimize transmission and reception of IAB operations based on capability.
Claims 11 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu-You in view of Maya et al. (US 2023/0345553 A1) hereinafter “Maya.”
Regarding Claim 11, Liu-You teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above however fails to explicitly teach wherein the capability message comprises information that indicates that the IAB node has a capability to partition the frequency spectrum according to the two or more modes of operation. However, Maya from an analogous art similarly teaches configuring the transmission or reception of uplink, downlink, flexible and not available type of resources depends on the capability and configuration of the parent node (Maya: paragraphs 0054-0054 & 0203-0204). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Liu-You to include partitioning of resources as taught by Maya so as partition resources within the frequency spectrum based on capabilities of the node.
Regarding Claim 22, Liu-You teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above however fails to explicitly teach wherein the capability message comprises information that indicates that the IAB node has a capability to partition the frequency spectrum according to the two or more modes of operation. However, Maya from an analogous art similarly teaches configuring the transmission or reception of uplink, downlink, flexible and not available type of resources depends on the capability and configuration of the parent node (Maya: paragraphs 0054-0054 & 0203-0204). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Liu-You to include partitioning of resources as taught by Maya so as partition resources within the frequency spectrum based on capabilities of the node.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to amended claims 1, 14 and 23 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yokomakura et al. (US 2022/0217661 A1) teaches an IAB resource configuration controller informs an IAB node which resources/symbols of a slot may be regarded as “hard” resources and which may be regarded as “soft” resources (paragraphs 0174, 0222-0224).
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/NAJEEB ANSARI/Examiner, Art Unit 2463
/SYED ALI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463