DETAILED ACTION
This office action is a response to the application 17/995,683 filed on October 6th, 2022.
Claim Status
This office action is based upon claims received on 07/23/2025, which replace all prior or other submitted versions of the claims.
Claims 1 – 48 are pending.
Claims 1 – 48 are rejected.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/23/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments/Remarks
Claim Interpretation 112(f): Claims 13 – 24 were rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) because the claim limitations recited “means for”. The applicant’s response to the rejection in the Remarks (see page 11) filed 07/23/2025, is hereby acknowledged. The 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) claim rejection is hereby withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments, see pages 12 – 14 of the Remarks, filed 07/23/2025, with respect to the rejections of independent claims 1, 13, 25, and 37, and dependent claims 2 – 12, 14 – 24, 26 – 36, and 38 – 48, under applied prior art references of record in the office action dated 05/29/2025, have been fully considered and are not persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been revised as set forth below according to the amended claims. See office action below.
Applicant’s argument regarding the alleged difficulties in modifying Soong’s half-duplex VRB resource allocation scheme for SBFD operation, has been fully considered and is not persuasive. In response to applicant’s argument that there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to combine the references, the examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007). In this case, although the applicant alleges there will be difficulty in combining or modifying the prior art references to arrive at the invention as described in the claims, the applicant has not provided any evidence to show proof of such alleged difficulties as described by the applicant in the arguments. The applicant also states that the alleged problems that will arise as a result of the incorporation of the prior art references to arrive at the claimed invention, would require inventive effort to overcome. Thus, combining the references can result in the claimed invention, even if additional steps may or may not be needed to arrive at the intended solution.
Applicant also argues that the language of dependent claim 9 requires that a UL BWP segment is to be arranged between two disjoint DL BWP segments in frequency-domain, and that there is no UL PRB that is arranged between two disjoint DL PRBs in Soong Figure 4b.
Examiner respectfully disagrees because Soong teaches in paragraphs 40 and 41 that the allocation of the PRBs as DL or UL are mere possibilities. Soong does not teach that the presented allocation arrangements are the only possible order for the PRBs, either the DL PRBs or the UL PRBs. An example scenario could be wherein the first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a UL-VRB of VRB pair #1, while a first PRB (PRB #27 460) of the second slot may be allocated to an DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #39 462) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #1, coupled with assuming arguendo that the all the PRBs are shifted to slot-0. In this sample scenario, the intervening/interleaving PRB would carry UL data as claimed in this instant application. Soong further provides a motivation for this stating that “Since more than one VRB pair is allocated, multiple PRBs widely separated in frequency may be used, thereby allowing the exploitation of frequency diversity to improve communications system performance”.
All remaining arguments presented by Applicant not specifically addressed herein and directed to various dependent claims are found unpersuasive for the same reasons as stated herein, with regard to independent claims. The rejection has been revised and set forth below according to the amended claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
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, 3, 5-10, 12-13, 15, 17-22, 24-25, 27, 29-34, 36-37, 39, 41-46, and 48 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Soong et al. [US 20110249640 A1] hereinafter Soong, and further in view of JP2017535104 [JP 2017535104 A] hereinafter JP2017535104.
Regarding claim 1, Soong teaches a method of operating a wireless node (Soong: Fig. 1, ¶ 26 – 27; wherein a wireless node can be eNB 105, or RN 110, or UE 115), comprising:
an allocation of first and second virtual resource block (VRB) groups to physical resource blocks (PRBs) (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein two VRB pairs (pair #0 (i.e., a first VRB group) and pair #1 (i.e., a second VRB group)) are allocated to PRBs. A first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #1, while a first PRB (PRB #27 460) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #39 462) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #1) across first and second disjoint bandwidth part (BWP) segments (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the plurality of transmission resources are mapped to physical resource blocks that are non-contiguous (i.e., disjoint) in a frequency domain and since more than one VRB pair is allocated, multiple PRBs widely separated in frequency may be used, thereby allowing the exploitation of frequency diversity to improve communications system performance) based upon one or more VRB- to-PRB mapping rules (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the mapping is done using a distributed virtual resource mapping rule); and
communicating data over the first and second sets of PRBs in accordance with the allocation (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the control data of at least one relay node that has been combined into a control channel data stream with a plurality of transmission resources are mapped into a plurality of PRBs and then transmitted to the at least one relay node).
Soong does not explicitly disclose determining, within a sub-band full duplex (SBFD) slot.
Referring to the invention of JP2017535104, JP2017535104 teaches that frequency division duplex (FDD) operates on different subcarrier frequencies (JP2017535104 Page 3, Paragraph 2: “In FDD mode, different subcarrier frequencies are used for downlink and uplink, so all subframes are available for downlink transmission”) and the eNB is a full duplex FDD (JP2017535104: Page 3, Paragraph 3; “the eNB operates in full-duplex mode”). Therefore, the eNB operates on sub-band full duplex slots, wherein a particular subcarrier frequency would be a sub-band.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the FDD mode with different subcarrier frequencies (i.e., sub-band) full duplex slots teachings of JP2017535104 into the VRB to PRB teachings of Soong in order to establish effective communications using Machine Type Communication (MTC) (JP2017535104: Page 2, Paragraph 2 - 6).
Regarding claim 3, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise mapping the first VRB to a first disjoint BWP segment with interleaving, and mapping the second VRB to a second disjoint BWP segment with interleaving that is independent relative to the interleaving associated with the first disjoint BWP segment (Soong: Fig. 5b, ¶ 51 – 54; wherein the VRB numbers mapping to PRB numbers include interleaving and as shown in FIG. 5b, there are a total of 45 available DVRB pairs. As an example, DVRB 0 550 occupies PRB 0 555 on the first slot and PRB 12 556 on the second slot, DVRB 1 560 occupies PRB 27 560 on the first slot and PRB 39 561 on the second slot, and so on).
Regarding claim 5, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise merging the first and second VRB groups, and then mapping the merged VRB group to the first and second disjoint BWP parts with interleaving (Soong: Fig. 4B, Fig. 5B, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41, ¶ 54 ; wherein two VRB pairs (pair #0 (i.e., a first VRB group) and pair #1 (i.e., a second VRB group)) are merged and allocated to PRBs with interleaving).
Regarding claim 6, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise jointly interleaving the first and second VRBs across the first and second disjoint BWP segments (Soong: Fig. 4B, Fig. 5B, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41, ¶ 54 ; wherein there are a total of 45 available DVRB pairs. As an example, DVRB 0 550 occupies PRB 0 555 on the first slot and PRB 12 556 on the second slot, DVRB 1 560 occupies PRB 27 560 on the first slot and PRB 39 561 on the second slot, and so on).
Regarding claim 7, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the method of claim 6, wherein the allocation of the first and second PRBs is across the first and second disjoint BWP segments only such that an intervening BWP segment is bypassed (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 7, ¶ 37 – 41, ¶ 54 ; wherein the physical resource blocks are widely separated in frequency or are far apart enough in frequency or the PRBs are sufficiently separated in frequency, and the allocation of the first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 (i.e., a disjoint BWP segment) and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #1 (i.e., another disjoint BWP segment) and wherein the PRB #27 460 and PRB #39 462 (the UL-VRB pairs) intervening BWP segments are bypassed).
Regarding claim 8, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the method of claim 6, wherein the allocation of the first and second VRBs is across PRBs that overlap with an intervening BWP segment between the first and second disjoint BWP segments (Soong: Fig. 4B, Fig. 6, ¶ 56 – 57; wherein the adjacent VRB of different resource block groups (RBG) may be mapped to PRBs that are spaced out in frequency, thereby exploiting frequency diversity and the different allocations can coexist at the same time with minimal or no resource waste. Therefore, although the allocations (DL VRBs and UL VRBs) mapped to PRBs are spaced out in frequency, they overlap in time).
Regarding claim 9, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the method of claim 8,
wherein the first and second disjoint BWP segments comprise downlink (DL) data (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the PRB #0 455 (i.e., the first disjoint BWP segment) and the PRB #12 457 (i.e., the second disjoint BWP segment) comprise downlink (DL) data),
wherein the intervening BWP segment comprises a guard band (GB), uplink (UL) data, or a combination thereof (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the PRB #27 460 (i.e., an intervening BWP segment) and the PRB #39 462 (i.e., another intervening BWP segment) comprise uplink (UL) data).
Regarding claim 10, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the method of claim 9,
wherein DL data is omitted from the intervening BWP segment (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the PRB #27 460 (i.e., an intervening BWP segment) and the PRB #39 462 (i.e., another intervening BWP segment) comprise uplink (UL) data and not DL data), or
wherein a user equipment (UE) associated with the overlapping VRB performs rate-matching on respective PRBs of the intervening BWP segment or
wherein each VRB is associated with a priority, and DL data is assumed by the UE to be present only with respect to an overlapping VRB associated with a highest priority, or
wherein the overlap is interpreted as an error condition at the UE, or
wherein the overlap is interpreted as cycling repetition at the UE, or
any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 12, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the method of claim 1,
wherein the wireless node corresponds to a wireless network component, or
wherein the wireless node corresponds to a user equipment (UE) (Soong: Fig. 1, ¶ 26 – 27; wherein the wireless node corresponds to a base station when it transmits downlink data and receives uplink data, and the wireless node corresponds to a UE when it transmits uplink data and receives downlink data).
Regarding claim 13, Soong teaches a wireless node (Soong: Fig. 1, ¶ 26 – 27; wherein a wireless node can be eNB 105, or RN 110, or UE 115), comprising:
an allocation of first and second virtual resource block (VRB) groups to physical resource blocks (PRBs) (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein two VRB pairs (pair #0 (i.e., a first VRB group) and pair #1 (i.e., a second VRB group)) are allocated to PRBs. A first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #1, while a first PRB (PRB #27 460) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #39 462) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #1) across first and second disjoint bandwidth part (BWP) segments (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the plurality of transmission resources are mapped to physical resource blocks that are non-contiguous (i.e., disjoint) in a frequency domain and since more than one VRB pair is allocated, multiple PRBs widely separated in frequency may be used, thereby allowing the exploitation of frequency diversity to improve communications system performance) based upon one or more VRB- to-PRB mapping rules (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the mapping is done using a distributed virtual resource mapping rule); and
means for communicating data over the first and second sets of PRBs in accordance with the allocation (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the control data of at least one relay node that has been combined into a control channel data stream with a plurality of transmission resources are mapped into a plurality of PRBs and then transmitted to the at least one relay node).
Soong does not explicitly disclose means for determining, within a sub-band full duplex (SBFD) slot.
Referring to the invention of JP2017535104, JP2017535104 teaches that frequency division duplex (FDD) operates on different subcarrier frequencies (JP2017535104 Page 3, Paragraph 2: “In FDD mode, different subcarrier frequencies are used for downlink and uplink, so all subframes are available for downlink transmission”) and the eNB is a full duplex FDD (JP2017535104: Page 3, Paragraph 3; “the eNB operates in full-duplex mode”). Therefore, the eNB operates on sub-band full duplex slots, wherein a particular subcarrier frequency would be a sub-band.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the FDD mode with different subcarrier frequencies (i.e., sub-band) full duplex slots teachings of JP2017535104 into the VRB to PRB teachings of Soong in order to establish effective communications using Machine Type Communication (MTC) (JP2017535104: Page 2, Paragraph 2 – 6).
Regarding claim 15, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 13, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise mapping the first VRB to a first disjoint BWP segment with interleaving, and mapping the second VRB to a second disjoint BWP segment with interleaving that is independent relative to the interleaving associated with the first disjoint BWP segment (Soong: Fig. 5b, ¶ 51 – 54; wherein the VRB numbers mapping to PRB numbers include interleaving and as shown in FIG. 5b, there are a total of 45 available DVRB pairs. As an example, DVRB 0 550 occupies PRB 0 555 on the first slot and PRB 12 556 on the second slot, DVRB 1 560 occupies PRB 27 560 on the first slot and PRB 39 561 on the second slot, and so on).
Regarding claim 17, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 13, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise merging the first and second VRB groups, and then mapping the merged VRB group to the first and second disjoint BWP parts with interleaving (Soong: Fig. 4B, Fig. 5B, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41, ¶ 54 ; wherein two VRB pairs (pair #0 (i.e., a first VRB group) and pair #1 (i.e., a second VRB group)) are merged and allocated to PRBs with interleaving).
Regarding claim 18, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 13, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise jointly interleaving the first and second VRBs across the first and second disjoint BWP segments (Soong: Fig. 4B, Fig. 5B, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41, ¶ 54 ; wherein there are a total of 45 available DVRB pairs. As an example, DVRB 0 550 occupies PRB 0 555 on the first slot and PRB 12 556 on the second slot, DVRB 1 560 occupies PRB 27 560 on the first slot and PRB 39 561 on the second slot, and so on).
Regarding claim 19, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 18, wherein the allocation of the first and second PRBs is across the first and second disjoint BWP segments only such that an intervening BWP segment is bypassed (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 7, ¶ 37 – 41, ¶ 54 ; wherein the physical resource blocks are widely separated in frequency or are far apart enough in frequency or the PRBs are sufficiently separated in frequency, and the allocation of the first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 (i.e., a disjoint BWP segment) and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #1 (i.e., another disjoint BWP segment) and wherein the PRB #27 460 and PRB #39 462 (the UL-VRB pairs) intervening BWP segments are bypassed).
Regarding claim 20, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 18, wherein the allocation of the first and second VRBs is across PRBs that overlap with an intervening BWP segment between the first and second disjoint BWP segments (Soong: Fig. 4B, Fig. 6, ¶ 56 – 57; wherein the adjacent VRB of different resource block groups (RBG) may be mapped to PRBs that are spaced out in frequency, thereby exploiting frequency diversity and the different allocations can coexist at the same time with minimal or no resource waste. Therefore, although the allocations (DL VRBs and UL VRBs) mapped to PRBs are spaced out in frequency, they overlap in time).
Regarding claim 21, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 20,
wherein the first and second disjoint BWP segments comprise downlink (DL) data(Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the PRB #0 455 (i.e., the first disjoint BWP segment) and the PRB #12 457 (i.e., the second disjoint BWP segment) comprise downlink (DL) data),
wherein the intervening BWP segment comprises a guard band (GB), uplink (UL) data, or a combination thereof (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the PRB #27 460 (i.e., an intervening BWP segment) and the PRB #39 462 (i.e., another intervening BWP segment) comprise uplink (UL) data).
Regarding claim 22, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 21,
wherein DL data is omitted from the intervening BWP segment (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the PRB #27 460 (i.e., an intervening BWP segment) and the PRB #39 462 (i.e., another intervening BWP segment) comprise uplink (UL) data and not DL data), or
wherein a user equipment (UE) associated with the overlapping VRB performs rate-matching on respective PRBs of the intervening BWP segment, or
wherein each VRB is associated with a priority, and DL data is assumed by the UE to be present only with respect to an overlapping VRB associated with a highest priority, or
wherein the overlap is interpreted as an error condition at the UE, or
wherein the overlap is interpreted as cycling repetition at the UE, or
any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 24, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 13,
wherein the wireless node corresponds to a wireless network component, or
wherein the wireless node corresponds to a user equipment (UE) (Soong: Fig. 1, ¶ 26 – 27; wherein the wireless node corresponds to a base station when it transmits downlink data and receives uplink data, and the wireless node corresponds to a UE when it transmits uplink data and receives downlink data).
Regarding claim 25, Soong teaches a wireless node (Soong: Fig. 1, ¶ 26 – 27; wherein a wireless node can be eNB 105, or RN 110, or UE 115), comprising:
a memory (Soong: Fig. 7, ¶ 59; memory 745); and
at least one processor coupled to the memory (Soong: Fig. 7, ¶ 61; processor 715 coupled to the memory) and configured to:
an allocation of first and second virtual resource block (VRB) groups to physical resource blocks (PRBs) (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein two VRB pairs (pair #0 (i.e., a first VRB group) and pair #1 (i.e., a second VRB group)) are allocated to PRBs. A first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #1, while a first PRB (PRB #27 460) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #39 462) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #1) across first and second disjoint bandwidth part (BWP) segments (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the plurality of transmission resources are mapped to physical resource blocks that are non-contiguous (i.e., disjoint) in a frequency domain and since more than one VRB pair is allocated, multiple PRBs widely separated in frequency may be used, thereby allowing the exploitation of frequency diversity to improve communications system performance) based upon one or more VRB- to-PRB mapping rules (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the mapping is done using a distributed virtual resource mapping rule); and
communicate data over the first and second sets of PRBs in accordance with the allocation (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the control data of at least one relay node that has been combined into a control channel data stream with a plurality of transmission resources are mapped into a plurality of PRBs and then transmitted to the at least one relay node).
Soong does not explicitly disclose determine, within a sub-band full duplex (SBFD) slot.
Referring to the invention of JP2017535104, JP2017535104 teaches that frequency division duplex (FDD) operates on different subcarrier frequencies (JP2017535104 Page 3, Paragraph 2: “In FDD mode, different subcarrier frequencies are used for downlink and uplink, so all subframes are available for downlink transmission”) and the eNB is a full duplex FDD (JP2017535104: Page 3, Paragraph 3; “the eNB operates in full-duplex mode”). Therefore, the eNB operates on sub-band full duplex slots, wherein a particular subcarrier frequency would be a sub-band.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the FDD mode with different subcarrier frequencies (i.e., sub-band) full duplex slots teachings of JP2017535104 into the VRB to PRB teachings of Soong in order to establish effective communications using Machine Type Communication (MTC) (JP2017535104: Page 2, Paragraph 2 – 6).
Regarding claim 27, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 25, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise mapping the first VRB to a first disjoint BWP segment with interleaving, and mapping the second VRB to a second disjoint BWP segment with interleaving that is independent relative to the interleaving associated with the first disjoint BWP segment (Soong: Fig. 5b, ¶ 51 – 54; wherein the VRB numbers mapping to PRB numbers include interleaving and as shown in FIG. 5b, there are a total of 45 available DVRB pairs. As an example, DVRB 0 550 occupies PRB 0 555 on the first slot and PRB 12 556 on the second slot, DVRB 1 560 occupies PRB 27 560 on the first slot and PRB 39 561 on the second slot, and so on).
Regarding claim 29, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 25, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise merging the first and second VRB groups, and then mapping the merged VRB group to the first and second disjoint BWP parts with interleaving (Soong: Fig. 4B, Fig. 5B, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41, ¶ 54 ; wherein two VRB pairs (pair #0 (i.e., a first VRB group) and pair #1 (i.e., a second VRB group)) are merged and allocated to PRBs with interleaving).
Regarding claim 30, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 25, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise jointly interleaving the first and second VRBs across the first and second disjoint BWP segments (Soong: Fig. 4B, Fig. 5B, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41, ¶ 54 ; wherein there are a total of 45 available DVRB pairs. As an example, DVRB 0 550 occupies PRB 0 555 on the first slot and PRB 12 556 on the second slot, DVRB 1 560 occupies PRB 27 560 on the first slot and PRB 39 561 on the second slot, and so on).
Regarding claim 31, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 30, wherein the allocation of the first and second PRBs is across the first and second disjoint BWP segments only such that an intervening BWP segment is bypassed (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 7, ¶ 37 – 41, ¶ 54 ; wherein the physical resource blocks are widely separated in frequency or are far apart enough in frequency or the PRBs are sufficiently separated in frequency, and the allocation of the first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 (i.e., a disjoint BWP segment) and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #1 (i.e., another disjoint BWP segment) and wherein the PRB #27 460 and PRB #39 462 (the UL-VRB pairs) intervening BWP segments are bypassed).
Regarding claim 32, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 30, wherein the allocation of the first and second VRBs is across PRBs that overlap with an intervening BWP segment between the first and second disjoint BWP segments (Soong: Fig. 4B, Fig. 6, ¶ 56 – 57; wherein the adjacent VRB of different resource block groups (RBG) may be mapped to PRBs that are spaced out in frequency, thereby exploiting frequency diversity and the different allocations can coexist at the same time with minimal or no resource waste. Therefore, although the allocations (DL VRBs and UL VRBs) mapped to PRBs are spaced out in frequency, they overlap in time).
Regarding claim 33, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 32,
wherein the first and second disjoint BWP segments comprise downlink (DL) data(Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the PRB #0 455 (i.e., the first disjoint BWP segment) and the PRB #12 457 (i.e., the second disjoint BWP segment) comprise downlink (DL) data),
wherein the intervening BWP segment comprises a guard band (GB), uplink (UL) data, or a combination thereof (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the PRB #27 460 (i.e., an intervening BWP segment) and the PRB #39 462 (i.e., another intervening BWP segment) comprise uplink (UL) data).
Regarding claim 34, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 33,
wherein DL data is omitted from the intervening BWP segment (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the PRB #27 460 (i.e., an intervening BWP segment) and the PRB #39 462 (i.e., another intervening BWP segment) comprise uplink (UL) data and not DL data), or
wherein a user equipment (UE) associated with the overlapping VRB performs rate-matching on respective PRBs of the intervening BWP segment, or
wherein each VRB is associated with a priority, and DL data is assumed by the UE to be present only with respect to an overlapping VRB associated with a highest priority, or
wherein the overlap is interpreted as an error condition at the UE, or
wherein the overlap is interpreted as cycling repetition at the UE, or
any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 36, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 25,
wherein the wireless node corresponds to a wireless network component, or
wherein the wireless node corresponds to a user equipment (UE) (Soong: Fig. 1, ¶ 26 – 27; wherein the wireless node corresponds to a base station when it transmits downlink data and receives uplink data, and the wireless node corresponds to a UE when it transmits uplink data and receives downlink data).
Regarding claim 37, Soong teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium (Soong: Fig. 7, ¶ 59; memory 745) containing instructions stored thereon, for causing at least one processor (Soong: Fig. 7, ¶ 59; memory 715) in a wireless node (Soong: Fig. 1, ¶ 26 – 27; wherein a wireless node can be eNB 105, or RN 110, or UE 115) to :
an allocation of first and second virtual resource block (VRB) groups to physical resource blocks (PRBs) (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein two VRB pairs (pair #0 (i.e., a first VRB group) and pair #1 (i.e., a second VRB group)) are allocated to PRBs. A first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #1, while a first PRB (PRB #27 460) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #39 462) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #1) across first and second disjoint bandwidth part (BWP) segments (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the plurality of transmission resources are mapped to physical resource blocks that are non-contiguous (i.e., disjoint) in a frequency domain and since more than one VRB pair is allocated, multiple PRBs widely separated in frequency may be used, thereby allowing the exploitation of frequency diversity to improve communications system performance) based upon one or more VRB- to-PRB mapping rules (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the mapping is done using a distributed virtual resource mapping rule); and
communicate data over the first and second sets of PRBs in accordance with the allocation (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the control data of at least one relay node that has been combined into a control channel data stream with a plurality of transmission resources are mapped into a plurality of PRBs and then transmitted to the at least one relay node).
Soong does not explicitly disclose determine, within a sub-band full duplex (SBFD) slot.
Referring to the invention of JP2017535104, JP2017535104 teaches that frequency division duplex (FDD) operates on different subcarrier frequencies (JP2017535104 Page 3, Paragraph 2: “In FDD mode, different subcarrier frequencies are used for downlink and uplink, so all subframes are available for downlink transmission”) and the eNB is a full duplex FDD (JP2017535104: Page 3, Paragraph 3; “the eNB operates in full-duplex mode”). Therefore, the eNB operates on sub-band full duplex slots, wherein a particular subcarrier frequency would be a sub-band. JP2017535104 also teaches a non-transitory machine readable medium for storing instructions for execution on one or more processors (JP2017535104: Fig. 5, Page 4 Paragraph 4)
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the FDD mode with different subcarrier frequencies (i.e., sub-band) full duplex slots teachings of JP2017535104 into the VRB to PRB teachings of Soong in order to establish effective communications using Machine Type Communication (MTC) (JP2017535104: Page 2, Paragraph 2 – 6).
Regarding claim 39, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise mapping the first VRB to a first disjoint BWP segment with interleaving, and mapping the second VRB to a second disjoint BWP segment with interleaving that is independent relative to the interleaving associated with the first disjoint BWP segment (Soong: Fig. 5b, ¶ 51 – 54; wherein the VRB numbers mapping to PRB numbers include interleaving and as shown in FIG. 5b, there are a total of 45 available DVRB pairs. As an example, DVRB 0 550 occupies PRB 0 555 on the first slot and PRB 12 556 on the second slot, DVRB 1 560 occupies PRB 27 560 on the first slot and PRB 39 561 on the second slot, and so on).
Regarding claim 41, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise merging the first and second VRB groups, and then mapping the merged VRB group to the first and second disjoint BWP parts with interleaving (Soong: Fig. 4B, Fig. 5B, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41, ¶ 54 ; wherein two VRB pairs (pair #0 (i.e., a first VRB group) and pair #1 (i.e., a second VRB group)) are merged and allocated to PRBs with interleaving).
Regarding claim 42, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise jointly interleaving the first and second VRBs across the first and second disjoint BWP segments (Soong: Fig. 4B, Fig. 5B, ¶ 7, ¶ 40 – 41, ¶ 54 ; wherein there are a total of 45 available DVRB pairs. As an example, DVRB 0 550 occupies PRB 0 555 on the first slot and PRB 12 556 on the second slot, DVRB 1 560 occupies PRB 27 560 on the first slot and PRB 39 561 on the second slot, and so on).
Regarding claim 43, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 42, wherein the allocation of the first and second PRBs is across the first and second disjoint BWP segments only such that an intervening BWP segment is bypassed (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 7, ¶ 37 – 41, ¶ 54 ; wherein the physical resource blocks are widely separated in frequency or are far apart enough in frequency or the PRBs are sufficiently separated in frequency, and the allocation of the first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 (i.e., a disjoint BWP segment) and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #1 (i.e., another disjoint BWP segment) and wherein the PRB #27 460 and PRB #39 462 (the UL-VRB pairs) intervening BWP segments are bypassed).
Regarding claim 44, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 42, wherein the allocation of the first and second VRBs is across PRBs that overlap with an intervening BWP segment between the first and second disjoint BWP segments (Soong: Fig. 4B, Fig. 6, ¶ 56 – 57; wherein the adjacent VRB of different resource block groups (RBG) may be mapped to PRBs that are spaced out in frequency, thereby exploiting frequency diversity and the different allocations can coexist at the same time with minimal or no resource waste. Therefore, although the allocations (DL VRBs and UL VRBs) mapped to PRBs are spaced out in frequency, they overlap in time).
Regarding claim 45, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 44,
wherein the first and second disjoint BWP segments comprise downlink (DL) data(Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the PRB #0 455 (i.e., the first disjoint BWP segment) and the PRB #12 457 (i.e., the second disjoint BWP segment) comprise downlink (DL) data),
wherein the intervening BWP segment comprises a guard band (GB), uplink (UL) data, or a combination thereof (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the PRB #27 460 (i.e., an intervening BWP segment) and the PRB #39 462 (i.e., another intervening BWP segment) comprise uplink (UL) data).
Regarding claim 46, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 45,
wherein DL data is omitted from the intervening BWP segment (Soong: Fig. 4B, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein the PRB #27 460 (i.e., an intervening BWP segment) and the PRB #39 462 (i.e., another intervening BWP segment) comprise uplink (UL) data and not DL data), or
wherein a user equipment (UE) associated with the overlapping VRB performs rate-matching on respective PRBs of the intervening BWP segment, or
wherein each VRB is associated with a priority, and DL data is assumed by the UE to be present only with respect to an overlapping VRB associated with a highest priority, or
wherein the overlap is interpreted as an error condition at the UE, or
wherein the overlap is interpreted as cycling repetition at the UE, or
any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 48, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37,
wherein the wireless node corresponds to a wireless network component, or
wherein the wireless node corresponds to a user equipment (UE) (Soong: Fig. 1, ¶ 26 – 27; wherein the wireless node corresponds to a base station when it transmits downlink data and receives uplink data, and the wireless node corresponds to a UE when it transmits uplink data and receives downlink data).
Claims 2, 14, 26, and 38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Soong et al., and JP2017535104 et al., as applied to claims 1, 13, 25, and 37 above, and further in view of 3GPP TS 38.211 [3GPP TS 38.211 V15.4.0 (2018-12); Technical Specification; 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical channels and modulation (Release 15)] hereinafter TS 38.211.
Regarding claim 2, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise mapping the first VRB to a first disjoint BWP segment, or mapping the second VRB to a second disjoint BWP segment, or a combination thereof (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein a first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #1, while a first PRB (PRB #27 460) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #39 462) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #1).
Soong in view of JP2017535104 does not explicitly disclose that the mapping the first VRB to a first disjoint BWP segment is without interleaving, or mapping the second VRB to a second disjoint BWP segment is without interleaving, or a combination thereof.
Referring to the invention of TS 38.211, TS 38.211 teaches that “the UE shall assume the virtual resource blocks are mapped to physical resource blocks according to the indicated mapping scheme, non-interleaved or interleaved mapping. If no mapping scheme is indicated, the UE shall assume non-interleaved mapping” (TS 38.211: Page 84, Section 7.3.1.6).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the interleaving and non-interleaving teachings of TS 38.211 into the VRB to PRB mapping teachings of the combined Soong and JP2017535104 inventions in order to effectively map the VRB to PRBs based on the mapping scheme that is indicated or selected.
Regarding claim 14, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 13, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise mapping the first VRB to a first disjoint BWP segment without interleaving, or mapping the second VRB to a second disjoint BWP segment without interleaving, or a combination thereof (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein a first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #1, while a first PRB (PRB #27 460) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #39 462) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #1).
Soong in view of JP2017535104 does not explicitly disclose that the mapping the first VRB to a first disjoint BWP segment is without interleaving, or mapping the second VRB to a second disjoint BWP segment is without interleaving, or a combination thereof.
Referring to the invention of TS 38.211, TS 38.211 teaches that “the UE shall assume the virtual resource blocks are mapped to physical resource blocks according to the indicated mapping scheme, non-interleaved or interleaved mapping. If no mapping scheme is indicated, the UE shall assume non-interleaved mapping” (TS 38.211: Page 84, Section 7.3.1.6).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the interleaving and non-interleaving teachings of TS 38.211 into the VRB to PRB mapping teachings of the combined Soong and JP2017535104 inventions in order to effectively map the VRB to PRBs based on the mapping scheme that is indicated or selected.
Regarding claim 26, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 25, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise mapping the first VRB to a first disjoint BWP segment without interleaving, or mapping the second VRB to a second disjoint BWP segment without interleaving, or a combination thereof (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein a first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #1, while a first PRB (PRB #27 460) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #39 462) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #1).
Soong in view of JP2017535104 does not explicitly disclose that the mapping the first VRB to a first disjoint BWP segment is without interleaving, or mapping the second VRB to a second disjoint BWP segment is without interleaving, or a combination thereof.
Referring to the invention of TS 38.211, TS 38.211 teaches that “the UE shall assume the virtual resource blocks are mapped to physical resource blocks according to the indicated mapping scheme, non-interleaved or interleaved mapping. If no mapping scheme is indicated, the UE shall assume non-interleaved mapping” (TS 38.211: Page 84, Section 7.3.1.6).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the interleaving and non-interleaving teachings of TS 38.211 into the VRB to PRB mapping teachings of the combined Soong and JP2017535104 inventions in order to effectively map the VRB to PRBs based on the mapping scheme that is indicated or selected.
Regarding claim 38, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise mapping the first VRB to a first disjoint BWP segment without interleaving, or mapping the second VRB to a second disjoint BWP segment without interleaving, or a combination thereof (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein a first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #1, while a first PRB (PRB #27 460) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #39 462) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #1).
Soong in view of JP2017535104 does not explicitly disclose that the mapping the first VRB to a first disjoint BWP segment is without interleaving, or mapping the second VRB to a second disjoint BWP segment is without interleaving, or a combination thereof.
Referring to the invention of TS 38.211, TS 38.211 teaches that “the UE shall assume the virtual resource blocks are mapped to physical resource blocks according to the indicated mapping scheme, non-interleaved or interleaved mapping. If no mapping scheme is indicated, the UE shall assume non-interleaved mapping” (TS 38.211: Page 84, Section 7.3.1.6).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the interleaving and non-interleaving teachings of TS 38.211 into the VRB to PRB mapping teachings of the combined Soong and JP2017535104 inventions in order to effectively map the VRB to PRBs based on the mapping scheme that is indicated or selected.
Claims 4, 16, 28, and 40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Soong et al., and JP2017535104 et al., as applied to claims 1, 13, 25, and 37 above, and further in view of Yang et al. [US 20190215809 A1] hereinafter Yang.
Regarding claim 4, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise mapping a respective VRB to a respective disjoint BWP segment with interleaving (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein a first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #1, while a first PRB (PRB #27 460) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #39 462) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #1).
Soong in view of JP2017535104 does not explicitly disclose that the mapping of a respective VRB to a respective disjoint BWP segment is with interleaving if the respective disjoint BWP segment is above a size threshold and without interleaving if the respective disjoint BWP segment is not above the size threshold.
Referring to the invention of Yang, Yang teaches in example scenarios that a block interleaver can interleave VRB to PRB over a BWP having 24 PRBs with a bundle size of 2 and cannot interleave VRB to PRB when the BWP has 21 PRBs with a bundle size of 2 (Yang: Fig. 3, ¶ 85; wherein referring to part (A) of FIG. 3, in scenario 300A, current block interleaver as defined in TS 38.214 can properly handle VRB-PRB interleaving over a BWP having twenty-four PRBs with a PRB-VRB bundle size of two. Referring to part (B) of FIG. 3, in scenario 300B, current block interleaver as defined in TS 38.214 would not be able to handle interleaving (i.e., will not perform interleaving) when there are twenty-one PRBs in the BWP with a VRB-PRB bundles size of two. Therefore, the size threshold could be above 21 (e.g., 22 or 23) and the VRB to BWP mapping will be interleaved if above the size threshold, and not interleaved if below the size threshold).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the block interleaver as defined in TS 38.214 and as taught by Yang into the VRB to PRB mapping teachings of the combined invention of Soong and JP2017535104 in order to correctly handle VRB-PRB interleaving in the case where the PRB-VRB bundle size divides the number of PRBs in a BWP in the frequency domain (Yang: ¶ 84).
Regarding claim 16, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 13, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise mapping a respective VRB to a respective disjoint BWP segment with interleaving (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein a first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #1, while a first PRB (PRB #27 460) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #39 462) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #1).
Soong in view of JP2017535104 does not explicitly disclose that the mapping of a respective VRB to a respective disjoint BWP segment is with interleaving if the respective disjoint BWP segment is above a size threshold and without interleaving if the respective disjoint BWP segment is not above the size threshold.
Referring to the invention of Yang, Yang teaches in example scenarios that a block interleaver can interleave VRB to PRB over a BWP having 24 PRBs with a bundle size of 2 and cannot interleave VRB to PRB when the BWP has 21 PRBs with a bundle size of 2 (Yang: Fig. 3, ¶ 85; wherein referring to part (A) of FIG. 3, in scenario 300A, current block interleaver as defined in TS 38.214 can properly handle VRB-PRB interleaving over a BWP having twenty-four PRBs with a PRB-VRB bundle size of two. Referring to part (B) of FIG. 3, in scenario 300B, current block interleaver as defined in TS 38.214 would not be able to handle interleaving (i.e., will not perform interleaving) when there are twenty-one PRBs in the BWP with a VRB-PRB bundles size of two. Therefore, the size threshold could be above 21 (e.g., 22 or 23) and the VRB to BWP mapping will be interleaved if above the size threshold, and not interleaved if below the size threshold).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the block interleaver as defined in TS 38.214 and as taught by Yang into the VRB to PRB mapping teachings of the combined invention of Soong and JP2017535104 in order to correctly handle VRB-PRB interleaving in the case where the PRB-VRB bundle size divides the number of PRBs in a BWP in the frequency domain (Yang: ¶ 84).
Regarding claim 28, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 25, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise mapping a respective VRB to a respective disjoint BWP segment with interleaving (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein a first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #1, while a first PRB (PRB #27 460) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #39 462) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #1).
Soong in view of JP2017535104 does not explicitly disclose that the mapping of a respective VRB to a respective disjoint BWP segment is with interleaving if the respective disjoint BWP segment is above a size threshold and without interleaving if the respective disjoint BWP segment is not above the size threshold.
Referring to the invention of Yang, Yang teaches in example scenarios that a block interleaver can interleave VRB to PRB over a BWP having 24 PRBs with a bundle size of 2 and cannot interleave VRB to PRB when the BWP has 21 PRBs with a bundle size of 2 (Yang: Fig. 3, ¶ 85; wherein referring to part (A) of FIG. 3, in scenario 300A, current block interleaver as defined in TS 38.214 can properly handle VRB-PRB interleaving over a BWP having twenty-four PRBs with a PRB-VRB bundle size of two. Referring to part (B) of FIG. 3, in scenario 300B, current block interleaver as defined in TS 38.214 would not be able to handle interleaving (i.e., will not perform interleaving) when there are twenty-one PRBs in the BWP with a VRB-PRB bundles size of two. Therefore, the size threshold could be above 21 (e.g., 22 or 23) and the VRB to BWP mapping will be interleaved if above the size threshold, and not interleaved if below the size threshold).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the block interleaver as defined in TS 38.214 and as taught by Yang into the VRB to PRB mapping teachings of the combined invention of Soong and JP2017535104 in order to correctly handle VRB-PRB interleaving in the case where the PRB-VRB bundle size divides the number of PRBs in a BWP in the frequency domain (Yang: ¶ 84).
Regarding claim 40, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein the one or more VRB-to-PRB mapping rules comprise mapping a respective VRB to a respective disjoint BWP segment with interleaving (Soong: Fig. 4b, ¶ 40 – 41; wherein a first PRB (PRB #0 455) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #12 457) in the first slot may be allocated as a DL-VRB of VRB pair #1, while a first PRB (PRB #27 460) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #0 and a second PRB (PRB #39 462) of the second slot may be allocated to an UL-VRB of VRB pair #1).
Soong in view of JP2017535104 does not explicitly disclose that the mapping of a respective VRB to a respective disjoint BWP segment is with interleaving if the respective disjoint BWP segment is above a size threshold and without interleaving if the respective disjoint BWP segment is not above the size threshold.
Referring to the invention of Yang, Yang teaches in example scenarios that a block interleaver can interleave VRB to PRB over a BWP having 24 PRBs with a bundle size of 2 and cannot interleave VRB to PRB when the BWP has 21 PRBs with a bundle size of 2 (Yang: Fig. 3, ¶ 85; wherein referring to part (A) of FIG. 3, in scenario 300A, current block interleaver as defined in TS 38.214 can properly handle VRB-PRB interleaving over a BWP having twenty-four PRBs with a PRB-VRB bundle size of two. Referring to part (B) of FIG. 3, in scenario 300B, current block interleaver as defined in TS 38.214 would not be able to handle interleaving (i.e., will not perform interleaving) when there are twenty-one PRBs in the BWP with a VRB-PRB bundles size of two. Therefore, the size threshold could be above 21 (e.g., 22 or 23) and the VRB to BWP mapping will be interleaved if above the size threshold, and not interleaved if below the size threshold).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the block interleaver as defined in TS 38.214 and as taught by Yang into the VRB to PRB mapping teachings of the combined invention of Soong and JP2017535104 in order to correctly handle VRB-PRB interleaving in the case where the PRB-VRB bundle size divides the number of PRBs in a BWP in the frequency domain (Yang: ¶ 84).
Claims 11, 23, 35, and 47 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Soong et al., and JP2017535104 et al., as applied to claims 1, 13, 25, and 37 above, and further in view of Seo et al. [US 20130343363 A1] hereinafter Seo.
Regarding claim 11, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the method of claim 9.
Soong in view of JP2017535104 does not explicitly disclose wherein the DL data in the first and second disjoint BWP segments is scheduled via a single resource indicator value (RIV) with a startpoint and length indicator that encompasses the intervening BWP segment.
Referring to the invention of Seo, Seo teaches wherein the DL data in the first and second disjoint BWP segments is scheduled via a single resource indicator value (RIV) with a startpoint and length indicator that encompasses the intervening BWP segment (Seo: ¶ 25, ¶ 35, ¶ 39-40; wherein mapping consecutively allocated virtual resource blocks to the physical resource blocks, the method including: interleaving, using a block interleaver, indexes of the virtual resource blocks determined from a resource indication value (RIV) indicating a start index number of the virtual resource blocks and a length of the virtual resource blocks; and sequentially mapping the interleaved indexes to indexes of the physical resource blocks on a first slot of one subframe, the subframe including the first slot (i.e., the DL VRB pair slot 0 as shown in Fig. 4B of Soong) and a second slot (i.e., the UL VRB pair slot 1 as shown in Fig. 4B of Soong)).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the block RIV teachings as taught by Seo into the VRB to PRB mapping teachings of the combined invention of Soong and JP2017535104 in order to efficiently implement a scheduling information transfer method (Seo: ¶ 61).
Regarding claim 23, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 21.
Soong in view of JP2017535104 does not explicitly disclose wherein the DL data in the first and second disjoint BWP segments is scheduled via a single resource indicator value (RIV) with a startpoint and length indicator that encompasses the intervening BWP segment.
Referring to the invention of Seo, Seo teaches wherein the DL data in the first and second disjoint BWP segments is scheduled via a single resource indicator value (RIV) with a startpoint and length indicator that encompasses the intervening BWP segment (Seo: ¶ 25, ¶ 35, ¶ 39-40; wherein mapping consecutively allocated virtual resource blocks to the physical resource blocks, the method including: interleaving, using a block interleaver, indexes of the virtual resource blocks determined from a resource indication value (RIV) indicating a start index number of the virtual resource blocks and a length of the virtual resource blocks; and sequentially mapping the interleaved indexes to indexes of the physical resource blocks on a first slot of one subframe, the subframe including the first slot (i.e., the DL VRB pair slot 0 as shown in Fig. 4B of Soong) and a second slot (i.e., the UL VRB pair slot 1 as shown in Fig. 4B of Soong)).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the block RIV teachings as taught by Seo into the VRB to PRB mapping teachings of the combined invention of Soong and JP2017535104 in order to efficiently implement a scheduling information transfer method (Seo: ¶ 61).
Regarding claim 35, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the wireless node of claim 33.
Soong in view of JP2017535104 does not explicitly disclose wherein the DL data in the first and second disjoint BWP segments is scheduled via a single resource indicator value (RIV) with a startpoint and length indicator that encompasses the intervening BWP segment.
Referring to the invention of Seo, Seo teaches wherein the DL data in the first and second disjoint BWP segments is scheduled via a single resource indicator value (RIV) with a startpoint and length indicator that encompasses the intervening BWP segment (Seo: ¶ 25, ¶ 35, ¶ 39-40; wherein mapping consecutively allocated virtual resource blocks to the physical resource blocks, the method including: interleaving, using a block interleaver, indexes of the virtual resource blocks determined from a resource indication value (RIV) indicating a start index number of the virtual resource blocks and a length of the virtual resource blocks; and sequentially mapping the interleaved indexes to indexes of the physical resource blocks on a first slot of one subframe, the subframe including the first slot (i.e., the DL VRB pair slot 0 as shown in Fig. 4B of Soong) and a second slot (i.e., the UL VRB pair slot 1 as shown in Fig. 4B of Soong)).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the block RIV teachings as taught by Seo into the VRB to PRB mapping teachings of the combined invention of Soong and JP2017535104 in order to efficiently implement a scheduling information transfer method (Seo: ¶ 61).
Regarding claim 47, Soong in view of JP2017535104 teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 45.
Soong in view of JP2017535104 does not explicitly disclose wherein the DL data in the first and second disjoint BWP segments is scheduled via a single resource indicator value (RIV) with a startpoint and length indicator that encompasses the intervening BWP segment.
Referring to the invention of Seo, Seo teaches wherein the DL data in the first and second disjoint BWP segments is scheduled via a single resource indicator value (RIV) with a startpoint and length indicator that encompasses the intervening BWP segment (Seo: ¶ 25, ¶ 35, ¶ 39-40; wherein mapping consecutively allocated virtual resource blocks to the physical resource blocks, the method including: interleaving, using a block interleaver, indexes of the virtual resource blocks determined from a resource indication value (RIV) indicating a start index number of the virtual resource blocks and a length of the virtual resource blocks; and sequentially mapping the interleaved indexes to indexes of the physical resource blocks on a first slot of one subframe, the subframe including the first slot (i.e., the DL VRB pair slot 0 as shown in Fig. 4B of Soong) and a second slot (i.e., the UL VRB pair slot 1 as shown in Fig. 4B of Soong)).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the block RIV teachings as taught by Seo into the VRB to PRB mapping teachings of the combined invention of Soong and JP2017535104 in order to efficiently implement a scheduling information transfer method (Seo: ¶ 61).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Seo et al. [US 9185701 B2]: Method for Scheduling Distributed Virtual Resource Block.
Xing et al. [US 20200382249 A1]: Recourse Mapping Method and Apparatus and Device.
Blankenship et a. [US 20160072614 A1]: Resource Structure and Indication for Rel-13 MTC UE.
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/HD/Examiner, Art Unit 2414
/EDAN ORGAD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2414
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