Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 1/22/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1-2, 7-8, 13-14, and 17-18 have been amended; Claims 10 and 19-21 have been cancelled; Claims 22-24 have been added. Claims 1-9, 11-18, and 22-24 are subject to examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Regarding Claim 22, the claim recites the limitation “when the location of the first BWP ... exceeds the frequency band associated with the first BWP ... the first BWP is truncated to be confined in the associated frequency band” (emphasis added). This limitation renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the “the frequency band associated with the first BWP” recited in this limitation corresponds to the “first frequency band” or “the second frequency band” previously recited in claim 1.
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.
Claims 1-2, 5-8, 11-15, 17-18, and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao et al. (US 2023/0171763 A1, hereinafter “Gao”) in view of Jiang et al. (US 2020/0403762 A1, hereinafter “Jiang”).
Regarding Claim 1, Gao teaches a method of wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), comprising: being configured, by a base station, with a first frequency band and a second frequency band for a serving cell (Gao: a method performed by a wireless communication device comprises receiving, from a network node, a configuration of two Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource sets, a first and second SRS resource sets, each comprising one or more SRS resources. The method further comprises receiving, from the network node, downlink control information (DCI) that schedules a physical uplink channel transmission comprising a first part associated to a first SRS resource in the first SRS resource set and a second part associated to a second SRS resource in the second SRS resource set, see paragraph [0063]; in Multiple TRP (multi-TRP) operation, a serving cell can schedule UE from two TRPs, see paragraph [0110]); and
performing transmission and/or reception in the first frequency band and the second frequency band in a frequency division multiplexing manner, wherein the first frequency band is not overlapped with the second frequency band (Gao: A single frequency resource allocation may be signaled, and the frequency resource is then divided between the two TRPs. In one embodiment, if N RBs are allocated, the first N/2 RBs are allocated to the first TRP and the remaining RBs are allocated to the second TRP, see paragraph [0147]; The wireless communication device 312 transmits one or more PUSCHs ... to TRP1 and TRP2 ... on a same time domain resource but different frequency domain resources (step 808) ... The transmission includes a first part that is transmitted to TRP1 (step 808-1) and a second part that is simultaneously transmitted to TRP2 (step 808-2) ... the first part and the second part are the same PUSCH transmitted on the same time domain resource but different frequency domain resources (see, e.g., FIG. 6), see paragraph [0175] and Fig. 6).
Gao does not explicitly teach the UE is further configured with a first bandwidth part (BWP), the first BWP comprises a first BWP id, and the first BWP id is configured to be associated with the first frequency band and the second frequency band.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Jiang teaches the UE is further configured with a first bandwidth part (BWP), the first BWP comprises a first BWP id, and the first BWP id is configured to be associated with the first frequency band and the second frequency band (Jiang: The disclosure provides a method in a UE for wireless communication ... the above method includes: receiving a first-type information group. Herein, the first-type information group is used for configuring the first subband and a second subband, see paragraphs [0008], [0037]-[0039]; In one subembodiment, the first-type information group includes one BWP identifier only, and the BWP identifier is employed by both the first subband and the second subband, see paragraph [0288]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Gao to include the features as taught by Jiang above in order to make the system design more flexible and efficient (Jiang: see paragraph [0040]).
Regarding Claim 2, Gao-Jiang teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the first frequency band and the second frequency band are within a carrier bandwidth of the serving cell (Gao: In the frequency domain, a system bandwidth is divided into resource blocks (RBs), each corresponds to twelve contiguous subcarriers. The RBs are numbered starting with 0 from one end of the system bandwidth, see paragraph [0008]; A single frequency resource allocation may be signaled, and the frequency resource is then divided between the two TRPs. In one embodiment, if N RBs are allocated, the first N/2 RBs are allocated to the first TRP and the remaining RBs are allocated to the second TRP, see paragraph [0147]).
Regarding Claim 5, Gao-Jiang teaches the method of claim 1, wherein a location of the first frequency band comprises a starting location of the first frequency band and a bandwidth of the first frequency band (Gao: A single frequency resource allocation may be signaled, and the frequency resource is then divided between the two TRPs. In one embodiment, if N RBs are allocated, the first N/2 RBs are allocated to the first TRP and the remaining RBs are allocated to the second TRP, see paragraph [0147]).
Regarding Claim 6, Gao-Jiang teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the starting location of the first frequency band is determined by a first offset, or the starting location of the first frequency band is determined by a first bandwidth length (Gao: A single frequency resource allocation may be signaled, and the frequency resource is then divided between the two TRPs. In one embodiment, if N RBs are allocated, the first N/2 RBs are allocated to the first TRP and the remaining RBs are allocated to the second TRP, see paragraph [0147]).
Regarding Claim 7, Gao teaches a method of wireless communication by a base station, comprising: configuring, to a user equipment (UE), a first frequency band and a second frequency band for a serving cell (Gao: a method performed by a wireless communication device comprises receiving, from a network node, a configuration of two Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource sets, see paragraph [0063]; As used herein, a ... “radio network node” ... is any node in a Radio Access Network (RAN) of a cellular communications network that operates to wirelessly transmit and/or receive signals. Some examples of a radio access node include, but are not limited to, a base station, see paragraph [0105]; in Multiple TRP (multi-TRP) operation, a serving cell can schedule UE from two TRPs, see paragraph [0110]); and
performing transmission and/or reception in the first frequency band and the second frequency band in a frequency division multiplexing manner, wherein the first frequency band is not overlapped with the second frequency band (Gao: In some embodiments, a TRP may [be] a part of the gNB transmitting and receiving radio signals to/from UE, see paragraph [0110]; The wireless communication device 312 transmits one or more PUSCHs ... to TRP1 and TRP2 ... on a same time domain resource but different frequency domain resources (step 808) ... The transmission includes a first part that is transmitted to TRP1 (step 808-1) and a second part that is simultaneously transmitted to TRP2 (step 808-2) ... the first part and the second part are the same PUSCH transmitted on the same time domain resource but different frequency domain resources (see, e.g., FIG. 6), see paragraph [0175] and Fig. 6).
Gao does not explicitly teach the UE is further configured with a first bandwidth part (BWP), the first BWP comprises a first BWP id, and the first BWP id is configured to be associated with the first frequency band and the second frequency band.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Jiang teaches the UE is further configured with a first bandwidth part (BWP), the first BWP comprises a first BWP id, and the first BWP id is configured to be associated with the first frequency band and the second frequency band (Jiang: The disclosure provides a method in a UE for wireless communication ... the above method includes: receiving a first-type information group. Herein, the first-type information group is used for configuring the first subband and a second subband, see paragraphs [0008], [0037]-[0039]; In one subembodiment, the first-type information group includes one BWP identifier only, and the BWP identifier is employed by both the first subband and the second subband, see paragraph [0288]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Gao to include the features as taught by Jiang above in order to make the system design more flexible and efficient (Jiang: see paragraph [0040]).
Regarding Claim 8, Gao-Jiang teaches the method of claim 7, wherein the first frequency band and the second frequency band are within a carrier bandwidth of the serving cell, and the first frequency band and the second frequency band are separated in frequency domain (Gao: In the frequency domain, a system bandwidth is divided into resource blocks (RBs), each corresponds to twelve contiguous subcarriers. The RBs are numbered starting with 0 from one end of the system bandwidth, see paragraph [0008]; A single frequency resource allocation may be signaled, and the frequency resource is then divided between the two TRPs. In one embodiment, if N RBs are allocated, the first N/2 RBs are allocated to the first TRP and the remaining RBs are allocated to the second TRP, see paragraph [0147]).
Regarding Claim 11, Gao-Jiang teaches the method of claim 7, wherein a location of the second frequency band comprises the starting location of the second frequency band and the bandwidth of the second frequency band (Gao: A single frequency resource allocation may be signaled, and the frequency resource is then divided between the two TRPs. In one embodiment, if N RBs are allocated, the first N/2 RBs are allocated to the first TRP and the remaining RBs are allocated to the second TRP, see paragraph [0147]).
Regarding Claim 12, Gao-Jiang teaches the method of claim 11, wherein the starting location of the second frequency band is determined by a second offset, and the bandwidth of the second frequency band is determined by a second bandwidth length (Gao: A single frequency resource allocation may be signaled, and the frequency resource is then divided between the two TRPs. In one embodiment, if N RBs are allocated, the first N/2 RBs are allocated to the first TRP and the remaining RBs are allocated to the second TRP, see paragraph [0147]).
Regarding Claim 13, Gao teaches a user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory (Gao: the wireless communication device 1300 includes ... memory 1304, see paragraph [0196]);
a transceiver (Gao: one or more transceivers 1306, see paragraph [0196]); and
a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver (Gao: the wireless communication device 1300 includes one or more processors 1302 ... The transceiver(s) 1306 includes radio-front end circuitry connected to the antenna(s) 1312 that is configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna(s) 1312 and the processor(s) 1302 ... the functionality of the wireless communication device 1300 ... may be fully or partially implemented in software that is, e.g., stored in the memory 1304 and executed by the processor(s) 1302, see paragraph [0196]).
Regarding all other limitations of claim 13, the limitations are substantially the same as the limitations of claim 1, and are therefore rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding Claim 14, the limitations of claim 14 are substantially the same as the limitations of claim 2, and are therefore rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding Claim 15, Gao-Jiang teaches the UE of claim 13, wherein the first frequency band and the second frequency band are separated in frequency domain (Gao: In one embodiment, if N RBs are allocated, the first N/2 RBs are allocated to the first TRP and the remaining RBs are allocated to the second TRP, see paragraph [0147]; The wireless communication device 312 transmits one or more PUSCHs ... to TRP1 and TRP2 ... on a same time domain resource but different frequency domain resources (step 808), see paragraph [0175] and Fig. 6).
Regarding Claim 17, Gao teaches a base station comprising: a memory (Gao: the radio access node 1000 includes ... memory 1006, see paragraph [0190]);
a transceiver (Gao: one or more radio units 1010 that each includes one or more transmitters 1012 and one or more receivers 1014, see paragraph [0190]); and
a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver (Gao: a control system 1002 that includes one or more processors 1004 ... in some other embodiments, the radio unit(s) 1010 ... are integrated together with the control system 1002 ... In some embodiments, the function(s) are implemented in software that is stored, e.g., in the memory 1006 and executed by the one or more processors 1004, see paragraph [0190]).
Regarding all other limitations of claim 17, the limitations are substantially the same as the limitations of claim 7, and are therefore rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding Claim 18, Gao-Jiang teaches the base station of claim 17, wherein the first frequency band and the second frequency band are within a carrier bandwidth of the serving cell (Gao: In the frequency domain, a system bandwidth is divided into resource blocks (RBs), each corresponds to twelve contiguous subcarriers. The RBs are numbered starting with 0 from one end of the system bandwidth, see paragraph [0008]; A single frequency resource allocation may be signaled, and the frequency resource is then divided between the two TRPs. In one embodiment, if N RBs are allocated, the first N/2 RBs are allocated to the first TRP and the remaining RBs are allocated to the second TRP, see paragraph [0147]).
Regarding Claim 23, Gao-Jiang teaches the method of claim 1, wherein activation and/or deactivation of the first frequency band and the second frequency band are controlled by the base station using a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or a downlink control information (DCI) (Gao: In general, a list of uplink TCI states can be configured by higher layers (i.e., RRC) for a UE. A subset may be activated by a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE). One of the activated TCI states can be indicated in DCI for PUSCH, see paragraph [0059]; In one embodiment, each PUSCH is scheduled by a separate DCI, see paragraph [0128]).
Claims 3-4, 9, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao-Jiang in view of Harada et al. (US 2022/0304056 A1, hereinafter “Harada”).
Regarding Claim 3, Gao-Jiang teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the first frequency band and the second frequency band are separated in frequency domain (Gao; A single frequency resource allocation may be signaled, and the frequency resource is then divided between the two TRPs. In one embodiment, if N RBs are allocated, the first N/2 RBs are allocated to the first TRP and the remaining RBs are allocated to the second TRP, see paragraph [0147]).
Gao-Jiang does not explicitly teach the first frequency band comprises a first center frequency, and the second frequency band comprises a second center frequency.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Harada teaches the first frequency band comprises a first center frequency, and the second frequency band comprises a second center frequency (Harada: The base station 10 may explicitly transmit a notification of a plurality of center frequencies ... corresponding to a plurality of frequency resources, see paragraph [0076]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Gao-Jiang to include the features as taught by Harada above in order to appropriately configure a frequency resource for channel measurement (Harada: see paragraph [0122]).
Regarding Claim 4, Gao-Jiang-Harada teaches the method of claim 3.
Harada further teaches, wherein the first center frequency and/or the second center frequency are signaled by the base station to the UE (Harada: The base station 10 may explicitly transmit a notification of a plurality of center frequencies ... corresponding to a plurality of frequency resources, see paragraph [0076]).
The rationale and motivation for adding the teaching of Harada is the same as the rationale and motivation for Claim 3.
Regarding Claim 9, Gao-Jiang teaches the method of claim 7, but does not explicitly teach the first frequency band comprises a first center frequency, and the second frequency band comprises a second center frequency.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Harada teaches the first frequency band comprises a first center frequency, and the second frequency band comprises a second center frequency (Harada: The base station 10 may explicitly transmit a notification of a plurality of center frequencies ... corresponding to a plurality of frequency resources, see paragraph [0076]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Gao-Jiang to include the features as taught by Harada above in order to appropriately configure a frequency resource for channel measurement (Harada: see paragraph [0122]).
Regarding Claim 16, Gao-Jiang teaches the UE of claim 13, but does not explicitly teach the first frequency band comprises a first center frequency, and the second frequency band comprises a second center frequency, and the first center frequency and/or the second center frequency are signaled by the base station to the UE.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Harada teaches the first frequency band comprises a first center frequency, and the second frequency band comprises a second center frequency, and the first center frequency and/or the second center frequency are signaled by the base station to the UE (Harada: The base station 10 may explicitly transmit a notification of a plurality of center frequencies ... corresponding to a plurality of frequency resources, see paragraph [0076]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Gao-Jiang to include the features as taught by Harada above in order to appropriately configure a frequency resource for channel measurement (Harada: see paragraph [0122]).
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao-Jiang in view of Datta et al. (US 2021/0105764 A1 , hereinafter “Datta”).
Regarding Claim 22, Gao-Jiang teaches the method of claim 1, but does not explicitly teach, a location of the first BWP comprises a starting location of the first BWP and/or a BWP length, and when the location of the first BWP, determined by the BWP length, exceeds the frequency band associated with the first BWP by a number of RB or CRB, the first BWP is truncated to be confined in the associated frequency band.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Datta teaches a location of the first BWP comprises a starting location of the first BWP and/or a BWP length (Datta: FIG. 10A is a diagram 1000 illustrating an example bandwidth part 1002. The bandwidth part 1002 may be a wideband bandwidth part and may include some or all of an unlicensed wireless communication spectrum. In some aspects, the bandwidth part may be some or all of the 5 GHz band, see paragraph [0191]),
and when the location of the first BWP, determined by the BWP length, exceeds the frequency band associated with the first BWP by a number of RB or CRB, the first BWP is truncated to be confined in the associated frequency band (Datta: The bandwidth part 1002 may be divided into sub-bands 1006 and 1004 ... Some of the sub-bands are central bands 1004, located toward the center of the bandwidth part 1002, and some of the sub-bands are end bands 1006, located at the edges of the bandwidth part 1002 ... FIG. 10C is a diagram 1060 of an example end band 1006 ... the end bands 1006 may include left guard bands ... 1062, right guard bands ... 1064, and RBs ... As shown in FIG. 10C, the left guard band 1062 may overlap an RB, and that RB may therefore be excluded from the end band 1006, see paragraphs [0192]-[0195]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Gao-Jiang to include the features as taught by Datta above in order to conserve uplink resources (Datta: see paragraph [0124]).
Claim 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao-Jiang in view of Sun et al. (US 2019/0037508 A1, hereinafter “Sun”).
Regarding Claim 24, Gao-Jiang teaches the method of claim 1, but does not explicitly teach the first frequency band comprises a first set of SSBs and the second frequency band comprises a second set of SSBs, a location of the first set of SSBs corresponds to a first synchronization signal (SS) raster and a location of the second set of SSBs corresponds to a second synchronization signal (SS) raster,
wherein for a set of SSB indexes at a same SS raster, a quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship among the SSB indexes is indicated by the base station to indicate whether a ith SSB index and a jth SSB index are QCL'ed or not.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Sun teaches the first frequency band comprises a first set of SSBs and the second frequency band comprises a second set of SSBs, a location of the first set of SSBs corresponds to a first synchronization signal (SS) raster and a location of the second set of SSBs corresponds to a second synchronization signal (SS) raster (Sun: The method generally includes transmitting at least one first set of synchronization signal (SS) blocks in a first frequency band ... and transmitting at least one second set of SS blocks in a second frequency band, see paragraph [0008]; SS blocks for initial access may be transmitted on a different raster frequency, see paragraph [0093]; the measurement SS block is placed on a frequency different from a ... raster for initial access SS blocks, see paragraph [0101]),
wherein for a set of SSB indexes at a same SS raster, a quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship among the SSB indexes is indicated by the base station to indicate whether a ith SSB index and a jth SSB index are QCL'ed or not (Sun: various types of assistance information for initial access UEs may be carried in a PBCH payload of a measurement SS block, see paragraph [0093]; assistance information may include additional quasi co-location (QCL) information regarding the initial access SS burst set, see paragraph [0097]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Gao-Jiang to include the features as taught by Sun above in order to reduce initial access delay (Sun: see paragraph [0102]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Bhattad et al. (US 2019/0349055 A1) teaches a UE being configured with two separate frequency bands and communicating in a frequency division multiplexing manner (see paragraphs [0049]-[0053], [0081]-[0084]). Ouchi et al. (US 2022/0183079 A1) teaches that multiple subbands can be configured within one BWP corresponding to a single BWP ID (see paragraph [0538] and Fig. 14). Kim et al. (US 2022/0225372 A1) teaches a base station indicating the QCL relationship between different candidate SSB indices (see paragraph [0123]).
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/P.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416