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 .
Response to Arguments
2. Applicant arguments filed on 06/04/2026 regarding rejections of claims 9- 11 under 35 U.S.C. 103 are not persuasive.
The Applicant states in scanned page 2 regarding independent claim 9 “pending independent claim 9 recites, in part: "wherein the radio resource is indicated as hard or soft-available per set of resource blocks for symbols configured as downlink, uplink, or flexible in a slot."
The Examiner respectfully disagrees and turning to instant specification as filed in para [0024]Fig. 1, An IAB node has a Mobile Termination (IAB-MT), which is a function for connecting with an IAB donor, and a Distributed Unit (IAB-DU), which is a function for connecting with a child node (or UE 200). The child node also has an MT and a DU. The IAB donor has a Central Unit (CU) and a DU.
And [0025] The radio resources utilized by a DU include, from the DU perspective, downlink (DL), uplink (UL) and flexible time-resource (D/U/F), which are classified as either Hard, Soft or Not Available (H/S/NA) types. Also, within Soft (S), available or not available is specified.
The Examiner respectfully submits that prior art Miao [US 20220159517 A1] discloses in para [0038] resource availability configuration, e.g., hard, soft or non-available (H/S/NA), which define the resource as unconditionally available, conditionally available and not available to IAB-DU, respectively, can be configured and signaled on slot level granularity.
This can be realized by adding new parameters hardResourceSlotSet and softResourceSlotSet to TDD-UL-DL-Pattern information elements to be signaled from IAB-CU to IAB-DU via F1-AP signaling.
A description of the parameters is shown in Table 2.
TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2: TDD-UL-DL-Pattern field descriptions
DL-UL-Order: Defines the DL/UL/Flexible slots/symbols sequence order.
hardResourceSlotSet: a bitmap indicating the set of slots in the pattern to be the hard resource, e.g., unconditionally available to IAB-DU. The first (left-most) bit in the bitmap corresponds to the first slot in the pattern and so on. If the bit is set to 1, the respective slot is configured as hard resource.
softResourceSlotSet: a bitmap indicating the set of slots in the pattern to be the soft resource, e.g., conditionally available to IAB-DU. The first (left-most) bit in the bitmap corresponds to the first slot in the pattern and so on.
If the bit is set to 1, the respective slot is configured as soft resource.
maxNrSlotsInPattern: defines the maximum number of slots in the pattern, which can be set to a constant value, e.g., 640, or derived from dl-UL- TransmissionPeriodicity and referenceSubcarrierSpacing.
The slots which have not been set as either hard or soft resources in two bitmaps, e.g., hardResourceSlotSet and softResourceSlotSet, shall be defined as non-available slots set.
If the length of bitmaps signaling H/S slot set is fixed to a constant value, the valid length of the bitmaps is determined by the total slot number of the pattern which depends on dl-UL-TransmissionPeriodicity and referenceSubcarrierSpacing.
Therefore Miao discloses by adding new parameters hardResourceSlotSet and softResourceSlotSet to TDD-UL-DL-Pattern information elements to be signaled from IAB-CU to IAB-DU via F1-AP signaling. i.e., radio resources indicated
hardResourceSlotSet: a bitmap indicating the set of slots in the pattern to be the hard resource, e.g., unconditionally available to IAB-DU. The first (left-most) bit in the bitmap corresponds to the first slot in the pattern and so on. If the bit is set to 1, the respective slot is configured as hard resource. i.e., a bitmap indicating set of radio resources as hard resource
softResourceSlotSet: a bitmap indicating the set of slots in the pattern to be the soft resource, e.g., conditionally available to IAB-DU. The first (left-most) bit in the bitmap corresponds to the first slot in the pattern and so on. i.e., a bitmap indicating set of radio resources as soft resource.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US 20160164660 A1) hereinafter Kim and further in view of Miao (US 20220159517 A1)hereinafter Miao
As to claim 9 Kim teaches A radio communication node comprising:
a communication unit that controls([0049] Fig. 1, 0049] The processors 175 , the relay 150 direct (e.g. control, adjust, manage, etc.) operations of the relay 150)
a first communication using a first radio link with a lower node of the radio communication node and controls a second communication using a second radio link with an upper node of the radio communication node; ([0042]Fig. 1, receive antenna 170 of the relay 150 receives uplink signal from UE and downlink signal from base station)and
processor that controls([0049] Fig. 1, 0049] The processors 175 , the relay 150 direct (e.g. control, adjust, manage, etc.) operations of the relay 150)
simultaneous communication of the first communication and the second communication using in a frequency domain configured for the first communication by the upper node.([0128] in band relay simultaneously communicates with UE and backhaul uplink to the eNB are simultaneously performed in a predetermined frequency band)
Kim does not teach wherein the radio resource is indicated as hard or soft-available per set of resource blocks for symbols configured as downlink, uplink, or flexible in a slot.
Miao teaches wherein the radio resource is indicated as hard or soft-available per set of resource blocks for symbols configured as downlink, uplink, or flexible in a slot.([0038] [0039][0048]Table 2, Table 4, resource availability configuration, e.g., hard, soft or non-available; TDD-UL-DL-Pattern field descriptions DL-UL-Order: Defines the DL/UL/Flexible slots/symbols sequence order.
hardResourceSymbolSet: a bitmap indicating the set of symbols in the pattern to be the hard resource, e.g., unconditionally available to IAB-DU. If the bit is set to 1, the respective symbol is configured as hard resource; softResourceSymbolSet: a bitmap indicating the set of symbols in the pattern to be the soft resource, e.g., conditionally available to IAB-DU. The first (left-most) bit in the bitmap corresponds to the first symbol in the pattern and so on. If the bit is set to 1, the respective symbol is configured as soft resource e.g., DL-UL symbols in a slot indicated as hard , soft resource in a group of resources))
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine teachings of Liu with the teachings of Miao because Miao teaches that enhancements to the RRC signaling protocol would enable an IAB-CU to flexibly configure coordinated resource availabilities (e.g., H/S/NA) to children IAB-DUs in an IAB network and to communicate the configuration in a data efficient manner.(Miao [0033]
Claim 11 is/are interpreted and rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 9.
As to claim 10. The combination of Kim and Miao specifically Kim teaches , wherein the processor controls the simultaneous communication(processor that controls([0049][0128] Fig. 1, processors 175 , the relay 150 direct (e.g. control, adjust, manage, etc.) operations of the relay 150; in band relay simultaneously communicates with UE and backhaul uplink to the eNB)
based on the configuration by the upper node([0043 Fig. 1,The processor 175 of the relay 150 may demodulate and process the downlink/uplink signal received from the eNB 100 and/or the UE 180 and transmit the processed signal to the UE 180 and/or eNB 100 through the transmit antenna 170.
Conclusion
4. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
ABEDINI N et al. [US 20180049190 A1] Method for facilitating wireless communication between base station and e.g. smart phone, involves determining first set of resources, and determining second set of resources for establishing backhaul links with set of base stations
Luo; Jianghong et al. [US 11089622 B2] Supporting scheduling plan indications
LUO; Jianghong et al. [US 20210298064 A1] SUPPORTING ALLOCATION MODIFICATION DURING TRANSITION INSTANCE IN AN INTEGRATED ACCESS AND BACKHAUL NETWORK
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 ATIQUE AHMED whose telephone number is (571)272-6244. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30 - 7:30 PM M-F Eastern.
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/ATIQUE AHMED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413
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