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 .
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 2-7, 13 and 18-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo et al (US 2021/0212070, hereinafter Luo), in view of Abedini et al (US 2020/0305166, hereinafter Abedini) and in view of Luo et al (US 2020/0351929, hereinafter Luo2).
Regarding claim 2, Luo discloses a wireless node (IAB node, Fig. 5), comprising: at least one memory and at least one processor (memory and processor, Fig. 3) coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the wireless node to: receive scheduling information for a physical channel on a first set of resources of a first entity and receive information associated with a second set of resources of a second entity (IAB donor can allocate and schedule resources for the IAB children nodes, Para [0118], child IAB node can determine one set of resources associated with the DU function/entity and another set of resources associated with the MT function/entity, Para [0301], scheduling transmission on PDSCH or PUSCH, Para [0184]), wherein the second set of resources overlap with the first set of resources in a time domain (MT and DU resources may overlap in the time domain, Para [0132], resources for MT and DU may overlap, Para [0019]); determine an availability of a resource in the first set of resources based in part on the information associated with the second set of resources (resources can be available for use by the DU if it does not impact the scheduling of the MT on those resources, Para [0134], resources can be available or unavailable, Para [0135]); and in response to determining that the resource is available, perform a communication associated with the physical channel on the resource (resources are available, Para [0134], transmission on the PDSCH or PUSCH, Para [0184]); but does not explicitly disclose in response to determining that the resource is not available, transmit an indication indicating that the resource is not valid. Luo discloses resources may be explicitly indicated as unavailable, Para [0135]. Abedini discloses a BS can determine resources are unavailable and transmit an indication that a set of resources is unavailable, Para [0069, 71]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Abedini in the system of Luo in order to reduce power consumption of nodes by informing them about resource availability; nor explicitly discloses wherein the information associated with second set of resources comprises priority indication information and information indicating downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) communication. Luo2 discloses a child IAB node can receive a DCI grant with indication identifying resources with low latency indication, where MT function is given priority, over the DU function, to use those resources for low latency, and MT uses the resources for receiving the URLLC traffic on the DL, Para [0087]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Luo2 in the system of Luo in view of Abedini in order to prevent delays for handling low latency traffic with preconfigured resource types.
Regarding claims 3 and 19, Luo discloses the wireless node/processor of claim 2/18, wherein: the physical channel is a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a configured grant (CG) PUSCH, or a combination thereof (communication on the PUSCH, Para [0184]); the first entity is an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) distributed unit (DU) and the second entity is an IAB mobile terminal (MT) (IAB node with DU and MT functions, Para [0012]); and the at least one processor is configured to cause the wireless node to receive an uplink signal (transmission on the uplink, Para [0013]).
Regarding claims 4 and 20, Luo discloses the wireless node/processor of claim 2/18, wherein: the physical channel is a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a semi-persistent scheduled channel, or a combination thereof (communication on the PDSCH, Para [0184]); the first entity is an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) distributed unit (DU) and the second entity is an IAB mobile terminal (MT) (IAB node with DU and MT functions, Para [0012]); and the at least one processor is configured to cause the wireless node to transmit a downlink signal (transmission on the downlink, Para [0013]).
Regarding claims 5 and 21, Luo discloses the wireless node/processor of claim 2/18, wherein: the physical channel is a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a configured grant (CG) PUSCH, or a combination thereof (communication on the PUSCH, Para [0184]); the first entity is an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) mobile terminal (MT) and the second entity is an IAB distributed unit (DU) (IAB node with DU and MT functions, Para [0012]); and the at least one processor is configured to cause the wireless node to transmit an uplink signal (transmission on the uplink, Para [0013]).
Regarding claim 6, Luo discloses the wireless node of claim 2, wherein: the physical channel is a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a semi-persistent scheduled channel, or a combination thereof (communication on the PDSCH, Para [0184]); the first entity is an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) mobile terminal (MT) and the second entity is an IAB distributed unit (DU) (IAB node with DU and MT functions, Para [0012]); and the at least one processor is configured to cause the wireless node to receive a downlink signal (transmission on the downlink, Para [0013]).
Regarding claim 7, Luo discloses the wireless node of claim 2, wherein the information associated with the second set of resources comprises a slot format indication, and the slot format indication comprises information indicating at least one communication direction associated with at least one resource in the second set of resources. Luo discloses the slot format indicator indicating if slots are uplink or downlink slots, Para [0080]. Abedini discloses transmitting SFI that indicates the set of resources is unavailable, Para [0069].
Regarding claim 13, Luo discloses the wireless node of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the wireless node to receive an indication indicating that the resource of the physical channel is set to be always available (hard resources is available without considering the impact on the MT function, Para [0133], therefore always available, in view of references obvious to indicate the available resources).
Regarding claim 18, Luo discloses a processor (processor, Fig. 3) for wireless communication, comprising: at least one controller coupled with at least one memory (memory and processor, Fig. 3) and configured to cause the processor to: receive scheduling information for a physical channel on a first set of resources of a first entity and receive information associated with a second set of resources of a second entity (IAB donor can allocate and schedule resources for the IAB children nodes, Para [0118], child IAB node can determine one set of resources associated with the DU function/entity and another set of resources associated with the MT function/entity, Para [0301], scheduling transmission on PDSCH or PUSCH, Para [0184]), wherein the second set of resources overlap with the first set of resources in a time domain (MT and DU resources may overlap in the time domain, Para [0132], resources for MT and DU may overlap, Para [0019]); determine an availability of a resource in the first set of resources based in part on the information associated with the second set of resources (resources can be available for use by the DU if it does not impact the scheduling of the MT on those resources, Para [0134], resources can be available or unavailable, Para [0135]); and in response to determining that the resource is available, perform a communication associated with the physical channel on the resource (resources are available, Para [0134], transmission on the PDSCH or PUSCH, Para [0184]); but does not explicitly disclose in response to determining that the resource is not available, transmit an indication indicating that the resource is not valid. Luo discloses resources may be explicitly indicated as unavailable, Para [0135]. Abedini discloses a BS can determine resources are unavailable and transmit an indication that a set of resources is unavailable, Para [0069, 71]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Abedini in the system of Luo in order to reduce power consumption of nodes by informing them about resource availability; nor explicitly discloses wherein the information associated with second set of resources comprises priority indication information and information indicating downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) communication. Luo2 discloses a child IAB node can receive a DCI grant with indication identifying resources with low latency indication, where MT function is given priority, over the DU function, to use those resources for low latency, and MT uses the resources for receiving the URLLC traffic on the DL, Para [0087]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Luo2 in the system of Luo in view of Abedini in order to prevent delays for handling low latency traffic with preconfigured resource types.
Claim 8-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo, in view of Abedini, in view of Luo2 and in view of Kang (US 2023/0132757, hereinafter Kang).
Regarding claim 8, Luo discloses the wireless node of claim 2, but not wherein: the information associated with the second set of resources comprises information of a first spatial filter associated with at least one resource in the second set of resources; and the at least one processor is configured to cause the wireless node to determine whether the first spatial filter is compatible with a second spatial filter associated with the physical channel. Kang discloses the UE may transmit an UL beam while simultaneously receiving a signal with a reception beam, Para [0306], that is a TX and RX are paired for simultaneous transmission and reception, therefore compatible beams and beam pair indicated from the BS, Para [0011]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Kang in the system of Luo in view of Abedini and Luo2 in order to efficiently perform beam management and reduce self-interference.
Regarding claim 9, Luo discloses the wireless node of claim 2, but not wherein: the information associated with the second set of resources comprises information of a first timing alignment associated with at least one resource in the second set of resources; and the at least one processor is configured to cause the wireless node to determine whether the first timing alignment is compatible with a second timing alignment associated with the physical channel (obvious variation to one of ordinary skill in the art, determine timing alignment between the two sets of resources).
Regarding claim 10, Luo discloses the wireless node of claim 2, but not wherein: the information associated with the second set of resources comprises information of a first transmission power associated with at least one resource in the second set of resources; and the at least one processor is configured to cause the wireless node to determine whether the first transmission power is compatible with a second transmission associated with the physical channel according to at least one of a total power constraint and a power imbalance constraint (obvious variation to one of ordinary skill, where total power has to be below the maximum power constraint, for simultaneous transmission with DU and MT functions).
Regarding claim 11, Luo discloses the wireless node of claim 2, but not wherein: the information associated with the second set of resources comprises information of a first reception power associated with at least one resource in the second set of resources; and the at least one processor is configured to cause the wireless node to determine whether the first reception power is compatible with a second reception associated with the physical channel according to a power imbalance constraint. (obvious variation to one of ordinary skill, where total power has to be below the maximum power constraint, for simultaneous reception with DU and MT functions).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo, in view of Abedini, in view of Luo2 and in view of MA et al (US 2022/0264629, hereinafter Ma).
Regarding claim 12, Luo discloses the wireless node of claim 2, but not wherein the resource is determined as being available if downlink assignment information scheduling at least one symbol of the resource is not received earlier than a first duration before an earliest symbol of the resource, and the first duration is based on a preparation time associated with the physical channel. Ma discloses the UE needs a processing duration for sufficient time for PDSCH processing or PUSCH preparation, if not given enough time do the preparation time cannot send uplink information, Para [0134], therefore the resource would be available as the UE cannot process the DCI in time. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Ma in the system of Luo in view of Abedini and Luo2 in order to ensure the reliability of transmitting URLLC service and the UE has sufficient processing time.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo, in view of Abedini, in view of Luo2 and in view of You et al (US 2023/0309067, hereinafter You, claiming the priority date of provisional application 63/063,195).
Regarding claim 17, Luo discloses the wireless node of claim 2, but not wherein the second transmission is associated with a spatial division multiplexing (SDM) or a frequency division multiplexing (FDM). You discloses the IAB node can perform transmission with FDM or SDM, Para [0224]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by You in the system of Luo in view of Abedini and Luo2 in order to support simultaneous operation of the MT and DU.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2/10/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant amends the limitations in the claim and argues the references do not disclose the amended limitations. Applicant does not have much of an argument but merely asserts it. In response, arguments are moot in view of a new reference being used in the current office action.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN CUNNINGHAM whose telephone number is (571) 272-1765. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday 7:30-18:00 (EST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Huy Vu can be reached on (571) 272-3155. The fax number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KEVIN M CUNNINGHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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