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 .
This office action is in response to Applicant’s amendment filed on 01/08/2026.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 5-7, 13-15, 17, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by BALASUBRAMANIAN et al. (US 2022/0104198 A1; hereafter BALA).
With respect to claim 1, BALA discloses a method (Abstract; Title) by a base station (BS) (110a, 110c, 110c in FIG. 1), comprising:
configuring (paragraph [0152], when the base station is a scheduling entity and the user equipment is the subordinate entity) a user equipment (UE) (120, 120 , 120 in FIG. 1) with a legacy (paragraphs [0034] and [0149]) uplink (UL) (paragraph [0046]) bandwidth part (BWP) or legacy downlink (DL) (paragraph [0045]) BWP (paragraphs [0057] and [0058], see the sub-band full-duplex and SBFD);
and providing (paragraph [0152], when the base station is a scheduling entity and the user equipment is the subordinate entity), by the BS, the UE (120, 120 , 120 in FIG. 1) with a UL subband or a DL subband in a full duplex operation (paragraphs [0057] and [0058], see the sub-band full-duplex and SBFD).
With respect to claim 2, BALA further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein a frequency domain location of the UL subband or the DL subband provided by the BS (110a, 110c, 110c in FIG. 1) to the UE (120, 120 , 120 in FIG. 1) is defined in a frequency domain as a set of a contiguous (paragraphs [0050] and [0076]) number of resource blocks (RBs) semi-statically (paragraphs [0058] and [0077]) indicated by a radio resource control (RRC) signaling (paragraph [0081]).
With respect to claim 3, BALA further discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the frequency domain location of the UL subband or the DL subband (paragraphs [0057] and [0058], see the sub-band full-duplex and SBFD) provided by the BS to the UE (120, 120 , 120 in FIG. 1) is determined based on an offset (paragraphs [0057] and [0058], see frequency offset) from the associated legacy UL BWP or the associated legacy DL BWP, respectively, or from another reference point.
With respect to claim 5, BALA further discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the subband and the legacy BWP are associated either by assigning a same identifier (ID) for the subband and the legacy BWP or based on confinement where the subband is fully contained in the associated BWP (paragraph [0097]).
With respect to claim 6, BALA further discloses the method of claim 2, wherein parameters of the frequency domain are configured to be semi-statically or dynamically changed (paragraph [0077]), and
wherein the parameters include a starting point, an ending point (paragraph [0088]), or a length of the UL subband or the DL subband.
With respect to claim 7, BALA further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein a time domain location of the UL subband or the DL subband is provided by a legacy slot format indication and an indication of whether a region is the UL subband, the DL subband, no subband or is flexible (paragraph [0051]).
With respect to claim 13, BALA discloses a base station (BS) (110a, 110c, 110c in FIG. 1), comprising:
at least one processor (240 in FIG. 2); and at least one memory (242 in FIG. 2) operatively connected with the at least one processor (240 in FIG. 2), the at least one memory (242 in FIG. 2) storing instructions (paragraph [0047]), which when executed, instruct the at least one processor (240 in FIG. 2) to perform a method by:
configuring (paragraph [0152], when the base station is a scheduling entity and the user equipment is the subordinate entity) a user equipment (UE) (120, 120 , 120 in FIG. 1) with a legacy (paragraphs [0034] and [0149]) uplink (UL) bandwidth part (BWP) or legacy downlink (DL) BWP (paragraphs [0057] and [0058], see the sub-band full-duplex and SBFD);
and
providing (paragraph [0152], when the base station is a scheduling entity and the user equipment is the subordinate entity), by the BS, the UE (120, 120 , 120 in FIG. 1) with a UL subband (paragraph [0046]) or a DL subband (paragraph [0045]) in a full duplex operation (paragraphs [0057] and [0058], see the sub-band full-duplex and SBFD).
With respect to claim 14, BALA further discloses the BS of claim 13, wherein a frequency domain location of the UL subband or the DL subband provided by the BS to the UE (120, 120 , 120 in FIG. 1) is defined in a frequency domain as a set of a contiguous (paragraphs [0050] and [0076]) number of resource blocks (RBs) semi-statically (paragraphs [0058] and [0077]) indicated by a radio resource control (RRC) signaling (paragraph [0081]).
With respect to claim 15, BALA further discloses the BS of claim 14, wherein the frequency domain location of the UL subband or the DL subband provided by the BS to the UE (120, 120 , 120 in FIG. 1) is determined based on an offset (paragraphs [0057] and [0058], see frequency offset) from the associated legacy UL BWP or the associated legacy DL BWP, respectively, or from another reference point.
With respect to claim 17, BALA further discloses the BS of claim 14, wherein the contiguous number of RBs (paragraphs [0050] and [0076]) is indicated by a radio resource control (RRC) signaling (paragraph [0081]).
With respect to claim 19, BALA further discloses the BS of claim 14,
wherein parameters of the frequency domain are configured to be semi-statically (paragraphs [0058] and [0077]) or dynamically changed, and
wherein the parameters include a starting point, an ending point, and a length of the UL subband or the DL subband (paragraph [0088] and [0097).
With respect to claim 20, BALA further discloses the BS of claim 13, wherein a time domain location of the UL subband or the DL subband is provided by a legacy slot format indication and an indication of whether a region is the UL subband, the DL subband, or is flexible (paragraph [0051]).
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.
Claims 4 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over BALA in view of Hosseini et al. (US 2022/0159659 A1; hereafter HOSSEINI).
With respect to claim 4, BALA does not disclose wherein the offset is based on a numerology of the legacy UL BWP or the legacy DL BWP.
HOSSEINI discloses wherein the offset is based on a numerology of the legacy UL BWP or the legacy DL BWP (paragraphs [0075] and [0104]).
HOSSEINI teaches the benefit of increased efficiency by using dynamic time-slot configuration (paragraphs [0006] and [0008]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the dynamic offset as taught by HOSSEINI with the method and base station of BALA to produce an expected result.
With respect to claim 16, BALA does not disclose wherein the offset is based on a numerology of the legacy UL BWP or the legacy DL BWP.
HOSSEINI discloses wherein the offset is based on a numerology of the legacy UL BWP or the legacy DL BWP (paragraphs [0075] and [0104]).
HOSSEINI teaches the benefit of increased efficiency by using dynamic time-slot configuration (paragraphs [0006] and [0008]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the dynamic offset as taught by HOSSEINI with the method and base station of BALA to produce an expected result.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-12 and 18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed on 01/08/2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 1-20 under SU and BALASUBRAMANIAN have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of BALASUBRAMANIAN and HOSSEINI.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Brian T O'Connor whose telephone number is (571)270-1081. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri Flex 10am-6:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gary Mui can be reached at 571-270-1420. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRIAN T O CONNOR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465 January 20, 2026