DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 10/10/2025 has been entered.
Status of Claims
3. Claims 1-4, 13, 33-42, 45, 48-51 are pending wherein claims 1, 33, 34, and 50 are in independent form.
4. Claims 1-4, 13, and 33-34 have been amended.
5. Claims 5-12, 14-32, 43-44, and 46-47 have been canceled. Claims 48-51 have been added newly.
6. Duplicate claims warning has been withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
7. Applicant's arguments filed on 10/10/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The reasons set forth below.
8. On page 10 of the remarks, applicant argues, “Accordingly, Fu's description that a downlink LBT sub-band and an uplink LBT sub-band are “in the same frequency band" merely indicates that both sub-bands fall within the same overall frequency allocation of the BWP, not that they occupy the same frequencies, let alone share a same center frequency point. Fu does not mention any specific locations of the downlink LBT sub-band 1 or the uplink LBТ sub-band 1 within that "same frequency band," nor does Fu show or require that the downlink LBT sub-band 1 and the uplink LBT sub-band 1 share a same center frequency point.”
In response, examiner respectfully disagrees because:
Fu discloses to select an uplink LBT sub-band that is located in the same frequency band of the downlink LBT sub-band used to send PDCCH (Par 0077). Downlink LBT sub-band and uplink LBT sub-band located in the same frequency band clearly indicate that they occupy the same frequency position. Paragraph [0104] states, “If a downlink LBT sub-band and an uplink LBT sub-band arc in the same frequency band, that is, through time division multiplexing, as shown in FIG. 4, the downlink LBT sub-band 1 and the uplink LBT sub-band 1 are in the same frequency band”. Therefore, Fu clearly discloses that the downlink LBT sub-band and the uplink LBT sub-band occupy the same frequency location but occurs in different time domain position. Moreover, Fu discloses (in view of Fig. 2), “For example, the downlink LBT sub-band 1 and the uplink LBT sub-band 1 are in the same frequency band, and the downlink LBT sub-band 1 and the uplink LBT sub-band 2 are not in the same frequency band” (Par 0090, Par 0096). Therefore, the downlink LBT sub-band 1 and the uplink LBT sub-band 1 occupy the same frequency domain location, and downlink LBT sub-band 1 and the uplink LBT sub-band 2 do not occupy the same frequency domain location. Paragraph [0142] states “It is assumed that downlink LBT sub-band 1 and uplink LBT sub-band 1 belong to one pair, with the same frequency domain location, downlink LBT sub-band 2 and uplink LBT sub-band 2 belong to one pair, with the same frequency domain location, downlink LBT sub-band 3 and uplink LBT sub-band 3 belong to one pair, with the same frequency domain location, and downlink LBT sub-band 4 and uplink LBT sub-band 4 belong to one pair, with the same frequency domain location, that is to say, downlink LBT sub-band 1 corresponds to uplink LBT sub-band 1, downlink LBT sub-band 2 corresponds to uplink LBT sub-band 2, downlink LBT sub-band 3 corresponds to uplink LBT sub-band 3, and downlink LBT sub-band 4 corresponds to uplink LBT sub-band 4”. Therefore, the downlink LBT sub-band and the corresponding uplink LBT sub-band occupy the same frequency domain location. As the downlink LBT sub-band (i.e., Downlink LBT sub-band 1) and the corresponding uplink LBT sub-band (i.e., uplink LBT sub-band 1) occupy the same frequency range/bandwidth, the center frequency point is same in both the Downlink LBT sub-band and the corresponding uplink LBT sub-band.
9. On page 11 of the remarks, applicant argues, “Thus, Fu's generalized description of downlink and uplink sub-bands being "in the same frequency band" is not equivalent to, and cannot be relied upon to teach or suggest, the claimed feature of "wherein the RB set has a first central frequency point; selecting at least one RB set of a plurality of RB sets based at least in part on the at least one RB set having a second central frequency point equal to the first central frequency point."
In response, examiner respectfully disagrees because:
Fu discloses to select an uplink sub-band in the same frequency band/location of the downlink sub-band used to transmit the DCI/PDCCH (Par 0077, Par 0081, Par 0090, Par 0096, Par 0146-0148, Par 0154, Par 0169-0170)). Paragraph [0090] states, “LBT is preferentially performed on the PUCCH resources in the uplink LBT sub-band which are in the same frequency band as the downlink LBT sub-band where the PDCCH containing the PRI is located. For example, the downlink LBT sub-band 1 and the uplink LBT sub-band 1 are in the same frequency band, and the downlink LBT sub-band 1 and the uplink LBT sub-band 2 are not in the same frequency band. The PRI contained in the PDCCH in the downlink LBT sub-band 1 indicates two PUCCH resources, which arc PUCCH-1 and PUCCH-2, wherein PUCCH-1 is located in the uplink LBT sub-band 1, and PUCCH-2 is located in the uplink LBT sub-band 2. The UE preferentially performs LBT on the uplink LBT sub-band 1 containing PUCCH-1, and then performs LBT on the uplink LBT sub-band 2 containing PUCCH-2. Because the PDCCH is transmitted in the downlink LBT sub-band 1, the LBT result of the downlink LBT sub-band 1 is idle, and LBT is performed preferentially in the uplink LBT sub-band 1 in the same frequency band as the downlink LBT sub-band 1, the probability of the LBT result being idle is larger”. When the DCI is sent over the downlink LBT sub-band 1, the UE preferably selects the uplink LBT sub-band 1 located in the same frequency band as the downlink LBT sub-band 1. As the downlink LBT sub-band (i.e., Downlink LBT sub-band 1) and the corresponding uplink LBT sub-band (i.e., uplink LBT sub-band 1) occupy the same frequency range/bandwidth, the center frequency point is same in both the Downlink LBT sub-band and the corresponding uplink LBT sub-band.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
10. 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.
11. Claims 1-4, 13, 33-42, 45, 48-51 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fu et al (US 20220247543 A1, hereinafter referred to as FU) in view of Yang et al (US 20220287035, hereinafter referred to as Yang).
Re claim 1, Fu teaches a method performed by a user equipment (UE) (Fig. 1, Fig. 5, Fig. 11), comprising:
(i) receiving a downlink control information (DCI) (DCI scheduling PUCCH/PUSCH) in a resource block (RB) set (DL LBT sub-band used to send DCI) in a downlink bandwidth part (BWP) (DL LBT sub-bands are included in a BWP), the DCI scheduling an uplink transmission in an uplink BWP (uplink LBT sub-bands are included in a BWP), wherein the RB set has a first central frequency point (center frequency of the DL LBT sub-band 1/ DL LBT sub-band used to transmit PDCCH) (Fig. 1-8, Par 0071-0081, Par 0088-0096, Par 0102-0104, Par 0106-0115, Par 0123-0128, Par 0134-0142, Par 0146-0147, Par 0158-0165);
(ii) selecting at least one RB set of a plurality of RB sets (selecting an uplink LBT sub-band corresponding to the DL LBT sub-band used to send DCI/selecting plink LBT sub-band 1 corresponding to the DL LBT sub-band 1) based at least in part on the at least one RB set having a second central frequency point equal to the first central frequency point (As the downlink LBT sub-band (i.e., Downlink LBT sub-band 1) and the corresponding uplink LBT sub-band (i.e., uplink LBT sub-band 1) occupy the same frequency range/bandwidth, the center frequency point is same in both the Downlink LBT sub-band and the corresponding uplink LBT sub-band) (Fig. 2-8, Par 0075-0077, Par 0090-0092, Par 0096, Par 0104, Par 0126-0130, Par 0141-0142, Par 0145-0147, Par 0154, Par 0158-0161, Par 0169-0170),
(iii) transmitting the uplink transmission on the at least one resource block (RB) RB set (transmitting PUCCH/PUSCH using an idle UL LBT subband) of the plurality of RB sets (UL LBT sub-bands 1-3) in response to a channel access procedure being successful for the at least one RB set (determining an idle UL LBT subband), (Fig. 1-8, Par 0071-0081, Par 0088-0096, Par 0102-0104, Par 0106-0115, Par 0123-0128, Par 0134-0142, Par 0146-0147, Par 0158-0165),
Fu does not explicitly disclose that
(iv) each of the plurality of RB sets including a plurality of contiguous RBs in the uplink BWP,
(v) a guard band is configured between two adjacent RB sets of the plurality of RB sets.
Re components (iv)-(v), Yang teaches that
(iv) each of the plurality of RB sets (plurality of LBT-SB) including a plurality of contiguous RBs in the uplink BWP (each of the LBT-SB/SB-RB includes a plurality of contiguous RBs) (Fig. 8-18, Par 0078, Par 0086-0088, Par 0094-0100, Par 0105-0108, Par 0112, Par 0114-0116, Par 0129-0134, Par 0136-0140),
(v) a guard band is configured between two adjacent RB sets of the plurality of RB sets (guard band is provided between two consecutive/adjacent LBT-SB/SB-RB) (Fig. 8-18, Par 0078, Par 0086-0088, Par 0094-0100, Par 0105-0108, Par 0112, Par 0114-0116, Par 0129-0134, Par 0136-0140).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify Fu by including the steps that (iv) each of the plurality of RB sets including a plurality of contiguous RBs in the uplink BWP, (v) a guard band is configured between two adjacent RB sets of the plurality of RB sets as taught by Yang for the purpose of “efficiently performing a wireless signal transmission and reception process”, as taught by Yang (Par 0003).
Claim 33 recites a user equipment performing the steps recited in claim 1 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 1. Fu further teaches that the user equipment comprises at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory (Fig. 17-18, Par 0299-0304).
Re claims 2, 40, 51, Fu does not explicitly disclose that the DCI is DCI format 0_0.
Yang teaches that the DCI is DCI format 0_0 (Fig. 6, Par 0066-0067).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify Fu by including the steps that the DCI is DCI format 0_0 as taught by Yang for the purpose of “efficiently performing a wireless signal transmission and reception process”, as taught by Yang (Par 0003).
Re claims 3, 35, 41, Fu does not explicitly disclose that a number of RB sets in the plurality of RB sets is a greatest integer less than or equal to a result of dividing a bandwidth of the uplink BWP by a bandwidth of a subband.
Yang teaches that a number of RB sets (number of LBT-SB/SB-RB in a BWP) in the plurality of RB sets is a greatest integer less than or equal to a result of dividing a bandwidth of the uplink BWP a bandwidth of a subband (the uplink BWP is the sum of the bandwidth of each LBT-SB/SB-RB, Fig. 9-13, Fig. 15-16) (Par 0078, Par 0116, Par 0120-0130).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify Fu by including the steps that a number of RB sets in the plurality of RB sets is a greatest integer less than or equal to a result of dividing a bandwidth of the uplink BWP by a bandwidth of a subband as taught by Yang for the purpose of “efficiently performing a wireless signal transmission and reception process”, as taught by Yang (Par 0003).
Re claims 4, 42, Fu does not explicitly disclose that the DCI includes a frequency hopping flag having at least one bit, and the frequency hopping flag indicates at least one of the at least one RB set for the uplink transmission, one of two predefined RB sets in the plurality of RB sets, or a number of RB sets from the two predefined RB sets in the plurality of RB sets.
Yang teaches that DCI includes a frequency hopping flag having at least one bit (RB interlace index), and the frequency hopping flag indicates at least one of the at least one RB set for the uplink transmission (RB interlace index defined on an LBT-SB basis), one of two predefined RB sets in the plurality of RB sets (common RB interlace index in a plurality of LBT-SB), or a number of RB sets from the two predefined RB sets in the plurality of RB sets (RB interlace index in each of the plurality of LBT-SBs) (Fig. 10-13, Fig. 15-16, Par 0086-0092, Par 0094-0100, Par 0130-0140, Par 0144-0145).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify Fu by including the steps that the DCI includes a frequency hopping flag having at least one bit, and the frequency hopping flag indicates at least one of the at least one RB set for the uplink transmission, one of two predefined RB sets in the plurality of RB sets, or a number of RB sets from the two predefined RB sets in the plurality of RB sets as taught by Yang for the purpose of “efficiently performing a wireless signal transmission and reception process”, as taught by Yang (Par 0003).
Re claims 13, 45, Fu does not explicitly disclose that the at least one RB set of the plurality of RB sets has at least one of a lowest RB set index or a lowest central frequency point, or a highest RB set index or a highest central frequency point.
Yang teaches that the at least one RB set of the plurality of RB sets has at least one of a lowest RB set index or a lowest central frequency point, or a highest RB set index or a highest central frequency point (when DCI/resource allocation includes two LBT-SB/SB-RB and successful LBT process definitely includes the highest/lowest LBT-SB index. When LBT process is successful for SB #0, then the selected RB set is the lowest RB set/LBT-SB index. When LBT process is successful for SB #3, then the selected RB set is the highest RB set/LBT-SB index. Selecting lowest or highest RB index based on the successful LBT process) (Fig. 11-16, Par 0072, Par 0093-0100, Par 0105-0109, Par 0130-0140, Par 0144-0145).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify Fu by including the steps that the at least one RB set of the plurality of RB sets has at least one of a lowest RB set index or a lowest central frequency point, or a highest RB set index or a highest central frequency point, as taught by Yang for the purpose of “efficiently performing a wireless signal transmission and reception process”, as taught by Yang (Par 0003).
Re claim 34, Fu teaches a base station for wireless communication (Par 0010-0015, Par 0088, Par 0092), comprising:
(i) at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory (Fig. 24, Par 0307-0314) and operable to cause the base station to:
(ii) transmit a downlink control information (DCI) (DCI scheduling PUCCH/PUSCH) in a resource block (RB) set (DL LBT sub-band used to send DCI) in a downlink bandwidth part (BWP) (DL LBT sub-bands are included in a BWP), the DCI scheduling an uplink transmission in an uplink BWP (uplink LBT sub-bands are included in a BWP), wherein the RB set has a first central frequency point (center frequency of the DL LBT sub-band 1/ DL LBT sub-band used to transmit PDCCH) (Fig. 1-8, Par 0071-0081, Par 0088-0096, Par 0102-0104, Par 0106-0115, Par 0123-0128, Par 0134-0142, Par 0146-0147, Par 0158-0165);
(iii) select at least one RB set of a plurality of RB sets (selecting an uplink LBT sub-band corresponding to the DL LBT sub-band used to send DCI/selecting plink LBT sub-band 1 corresponding to the DL LBT sub-band 1) based at least in part on the at least one RB set having a second central frequency point equal to the first central frequency point (As the downlink LBT sub-band (i.e., Downlink LBT sub-band 1) and the corresponding uplink LBT sub-band (i.e., uplink LBT sub-band 1) occupy the same frequency range/bandwidth, the center frequency point is same in both the Downlink LBT sub-band and the corresponding uplink LBT sub-band) (Fig. 2-8, Par 0075-0077, Par 0090-0092, Par 0096, Par 0104, Par 0126-0130, Par 0141-0142, Par 0145-0147, Par 0154, Par 0158-0161, Par 0169-0170),
(iv) receive the uplink transmission on the at least one resource block (RB) RB set (transmitting PUCCH/PUSCH using an idle UL LBT subband) of the plurality of RB sets (UL LBT sub-bands 1-3) in response to a channel access procedure being successful for the at least one RB set (determining an idle UL LBT subband), (Fig. 1-8, Par 0071-0081, Par 0088-0096, Par 0102-0104, Par 0106-0115, Par 0123-0128, Par 0134-0142, Par 0146-0147, Par 0158-0165);
Fu does not explicitly disclose that
(v) each of the plurality of RB sets including a plurality of contiguous RBs in the uplink BWP,
(vi) a guard band is configured between two adjacent RB sets of the plurality of RB sets.
Re components (v)-(vi), Yang teaches that
(v) each of the plurality of RB sets (plurality of LBT-SB) including a plurality of contiguous RBs in the uplink BWP (each of the LBT-SB/SB-RB includes a plurality of contiguous RBs) (Fig. 8-18, Par 0078, Par 0086-0088, Par 0094-0100, Par 0105-0108, Par 0112, Par 0114-0116, Par 0129-0134, Par 0136-0140),
(vi) a guard band is configured between two adjacent RB sets of the plurality of RB sets (guard band is provided between two consecutive/adjacent LBT-SB/SB-RB) (Fig. 8-18, Par 0078, Par 0086-0088, Par 0094-0100, Par 0105-0108, Par 0112, Par 0114-0116, Par 0129-0134, Par 0136-0140).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify Fu by including the steps that (v) each of the plurality of RB sets including a plurality of contiguous RBs in the uplink BWP, (vi) a guard band is configured between two adjacent RB sets of the plurality of RB sets as taught by Yang for the purpose of “efficiently performing a wireless signal transmission and reception process”, as taught by Yang (Par 0003).
Claim 50 recites a method performing the functions recited in claim 34 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 34.
Re claim 36, Fu does not explicitly disclose that the DCI includes a frequency hopping flag having at least one bit, and the frequency hopping flag indicates the at least one RB set for the uplink transmission.
Yang teaches that DCI includes a frequency hopping flag having at least one bit (RB interlace index), and the frequency hopping flag indicates the at least one RB set for the uplink transmission (RB interlace index defined on an LBT-SB basis) (Fig. 10-13, Fig. 15-16, Par 0086-0092, Par 0094-0100, Par 0130-0140, Par 0144-0145).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify Fu by including the step that the DCI includes a frequency hopping flag having at least one bit, and the frequency hopping flag indicates the at least one RB set for the uplink transmission, as taught by Yang for the purpose of “efficiently performing a wireless signal transmission and reception process”, as taught by Yang (Par 0003).
Re claim 37, Fu does not explicitly disclose that the frequency hopping flag indicates one of two predefined RB sets in the plurality of RB sets.
Yang teaches that the frequency hopping flag indicates one of two predefined RB sets in the plurality of RB sets (RB interlace index defined on an LBT-SB basis) (Fig. 10-13, Fig. 15-16, Par 0086-0092, Par 0094-0100, Par 0130-0140, Par 0144-0145).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify Fu by including the step that the frequency hopping flag indicates one of two predefined RB sets in the plurality of RB sets, as taught by Yang for the purpose of “efficiently performing a wireless signal transmission and reception process”, as taught by Yang (Par 0003).
Re claim 38, Fu does not explicitly disclose that the frequency hopping flag indicates a number of RB sets from two predefined RB sets in the plurality of RB sets.
Yang teaches that the frequency hopping flag indicates a number of RB sets from two predefined RB sets in the plurality of RB sets (RB interlace index in each of the plurality of LBT-SBs) (Fig. 10-13, Fig. 15-16, Par 0086-0092, Par 0094-0100, Par 0130-0140, Par 0144-0145).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify Fu by including the step that the frequency hopping flag indicates a number of RB sets from two predefined RB sets in the plurality of RB sets, as taught by Yang for the purpose of “efficiently performing a wireless signal transmission and reception process”, as taught by Yang (Par 0003).
Re claim 39, Fu does not explicitly disclose that the frequency hopping flag indicates that the at least one RB set includes RB sets of the plurality of RB sets having odd RB set indices or even RB set indices.
Yang teaches that the frequency hopping flag indicates that the at least one RB set includes RB sets of the plurality of RB sets having odd RB set indices or even RB set indices (RB interlace index indicated for SB-#0 and SB#2) (Fig. 15, Par 0141-0142, Par 0144).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify Fu by including the step that the frequency hopping flag indicates that the at least one RB set includes RB sets of the plurality of RB sets having odd RB set indices or even RB set indices, as taught by Yang for the purpose of “efficiently performing a wireless signal transmission and reception process”, as taught by Yang (Par 0003).
Re claims 48, 49, Fu teaches that the RB set has a first RB set index (DL LBT sub-band 1); the at least one RB set has a second RB index (UL LBT sub-band 1); and the at least one RB set is selected based at least in part on the second RB set index being equal to the first RB set index (UL LBT sub-band 1 is selected based on the DL LBT sub-band 1 used to transmit DCI) (Par 0075-0077, Par 0090-0092, Par 0096, Par 0104, Par 0126-0130, Par 0141-0142, Par 0145-0147, Par 0154, Par 0158-0161, Par 0169-0170).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARUN UR R CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)270-3895. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang B Yao can be reached at 5712723182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HARUN CHOWDHURY/Examiner, Art Unit 2473