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
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 14, 19 and 28 as amended 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 § 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-6, 10, -12, 14, 15 and 18-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Awadin et al. (US 2024/0283603) in view of Chung et al. (US 2012/0250558).
Regarding claims 1 and 14, Awadin et al. disclose an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (Paragraphs 118, 121, UE; Figure 10 and paragraphs 184-185, UE 1005), comprising:
at least one memory (Paragraph 186, memory/computer-readable storage device); and
at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory (Figure 10, processing circuit 1020) and, based at least in part on information stored in the at least one memory, the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to (Paragraphs 186, computer program encoded on computer-storage medium for execution by processing apparatus):
transmit, to a network entity, a UE capability indicating support for at least wideband precoding resource group (PRG) with non-contiguous frequency resources across a plurality of downlink subbands (Paragraph 118, If a UE indicates support of a processing capability 2 or is configured to apply it in a particular CC, the UE may default to processing capability 1 when a PDSCH spans non-contiguous DL subbands and a PRG is configured as wideband. Otherwise, the PDSCH is fully confined in one of the DL subband, and processing capability 2 is applied; Paragraph 121, The UE may indicate, to the gNB, via its capability signaling, e.g., how it will handle this situation. The UE inform the gNB whether it will consider a non-contiguous PDSCH with a wideband PRG as if the PRG is of size 2 or 4, any other size, or if the UE will apply wideband processing over each portion, over particular portion of the non-contiguous PDSCH (e.g., the one with more RBs), or both portions); and
communicate with the network entity based on the wideband PRG (Paragraph 121, UE consider non-contiguous PDSCH with a wideband PRG as if the PRG is of size 2 or 4, any other size, or if the UE will apply wideband processing over each portion, over particular portion of the non-contiguous PDSCH (e.g., the one with more RBs), or both portions).
Awadin et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Chung et al: wherein the UE capability indicates the support for at least one of: different precoding across the plurality of downlink subbands (Chung et al., Paragraph 229, a preferred precoding matrix for each subband may be selected from a codebook subset…a use of a selected precoding matrix corresponding in each subband. The user equipment may be able to report a PMI selected for each subband), or a same precoding across the plurality of downlink subbands (Chung et al., Paragraph 235, The user equipment may be able to report one CQI value per codeword by… reflecting that the same selected single precoding matrix is used on each of M subbands. The user equipment may be able to report an indicator of the selected single precoding matrix selected for the M subbands… The user equipment may be able to report an indicator of the single precoding matrix selected for all subbands).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Awadin et al. with the cite disclosure from Chung et al. in order to allow for selection of an optimal precoding matrix (Chung et al., Paragraph 115).
Regarding claim 2, Awadin et al. disclose further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor (Figure 10, Radio 1015 with processing circuit 1020; Paragraph 185, he processing circuit 1020 may receive, via the radio 1015, transmissions from the network node (gNB) 1010, and the processing circuit 1020 may transmit, via the radio 1015, signals to the gNB 1010), the transceiver being configured to: transmit, to the network entity, the UE capability indicating the support for the wideband PRG with the non-contiguous frequency resources across the plurality of downlink subbands (Paragraph 118, If a UE indicates support of a processing capability 2 or is configured to apply it in a particular CC, the UE may default to processing capability 1 when a PDSCH spans non-contiguous DL subbands and a PRG is configured as wideband. Otherwise, the PDSCH is fully confined in one of the DL subband, and processing capability 2 is applied; Paragraph 121, The UE may indicate, to the gNB, via its capability signaling, e.g., how it will handle this situation. The UE inform the gNB whether it will consider a non-contiguous PDSCH with a wideband PRG as if the PRG is of size 2 or 4, any other size, or if the UE will apply wideband processing over each portion, over particular portion of the non-contiguous PDSCH (e.g., the one with more RBs), or both portions); and communicate with the network entity based on the wideband PRG (Paragraph 121, UE consider non-contiguous PDSCH with a wideband PRG as if the PRG is of size 2 or 4, any other size, or if the UE will apply wideband processing over each portion, over particular portion of the non-contiguous PDSCH (e.g., the one with more RBs), or both portions).
Regarding claim 3, Awadin et al. disclose wherein the UE comprises a subband full duplex aware UE (Claims 1 and 13, …terminal comprising…subband in a full-duplex operation…).
Regarding claim 4, Awadin et al. disclose wherein the subband full duplex aware UE supports knowledge of subband full duplex operation of the network entity using the plurality of downlink subbands that overlap in time one or more uplink subbands (Claims 1 and 13, …terminal comprising…physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) overlapping with an uplink subband in a subband full-duplex operation and becoming non-contiguous in a frequency domain…).
Regarding claim 5, Awadin et al. disclose wherein the UE capability indicates the support for wideband PRG with the non-contiguous frequency resources across the plurality of downlink subbands (Paragraph 118, If a UE indicates support of a processing capability 2 or is configured to apply it in a particular CC, the UE may default to processing capability 1 when a PDSCH spans non-contiguous DL subbands and a PRG is configured as wideband. Otherwise, the PDSCH is fully confined in one of the DL subband, and processing capability 2 is applied; Paragraph 121, The UE may indicate, to the gNB, via its capability signaling, e.g., how it will handle this situation. The UE inform the gNB whether it will consider a non-contiguous PDSCH with a wideband PRG as if the PRG is of size 2 or 4, any other size, or if the UE will apply wideband processing over each portion, over particular portion of the non-contiguous PDSCH (e.g., the one with more RBs), or both portions) and contiguous frequency resources with each of the plurality of downlink subbands (Paragraph 116, UE may indicate the value d3 to a gNB via capability signaling; Paragraph 117, When a PDSCH is scheduled/configured over contiguous RBs in any of the DL subbands, not spanning both DL subbands, or in non-SBFD symbols/slots, then d3=0).
Regarding claims 6 and 15, Chung et al. disclose wherein the UE capability indicates the support for the different precoding across the plurality of downlink subbands (Chung et al., Paragraph 229, a preferred precoding matrix for each subband may be selected from a codebook subset…a use of a selected precoding matrix corresponding in each subband. The user equipment may be able to report a PMI selected for each subband).
Regarding claim 10, Chung et al. disclose wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to: receive, from the network entity, a precoding indication indicating the same precoding or the different precoding across the plurality of downlink subbands (Paragraph 177, In case of an open-loop transmission, a transmitter may be able to select a precoding matrix by a predetermined rule… Alternatively, the transmitter may have this fact contained in a scheduling assignment information of a data transmission to the receiver as 1-bit indicator…Precoding matrix information used by the transmitter for the data transmission to the receiver may be explicitly contained in the scheduling assignment information).
Regarding claim 11, Chung et al. disclose wherein the precoding indication is comprised within a scheduling downlink control information (DCI), wherein the scheduling DCI comprises a field corresponding to the precoding indication (Paragraph 177, precoding matrix information may be explicitly contained in the scheduling assignment information; Paragraph 65, The DCI may include UL or DL scheduling information).
Regarding claim 12, Chung et al. disclose wherein the precoding indication is comprised within a radio resource configuration (RRC) signaling for all scheduled physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) (Paragraph 225, According to the above-mentioned combination, it may be able to transmit CQI, PMI and RI. And, these informations may be transmitted to each user equipment by RRC signaling of a higher layer. A base station may be able to transmit information appropriate for each user equipment in consideration of a channel status of each user equipment and a user equipment distributed situation within the base station).
Regarding claim 18, Chung et al. disclose receiving, from the network entity, a precoding indication indicating the same precoding or the different precoding across the plurality of downlink subbands (Paragraph 177, In case of an open-loop transmission, a transmitter may be able to select a precoding matrix by a predetermined rule… Alternatively, the transmitter may have this fact contained in a scheduling assignment information of a data transmission to the receiver as 1-bit indicator…Precoding matrix information used by the transmitter for the data transmission to the receiver may be explicitly contained in the scheduling assignment information).
Regarding claims 19 and 28, Awadin et al. disclose an apparatus for wireless communication at a network entity (Paragraph 121, gNB; Figure 10 and paragraphs 184-185, UE 1010), comprising:
at least one memory (Paragraph 186, memory/computer-readable storage device); and
at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory (Inherent in gNB 1010) and, based at least in part on information stored in the at least one memory, the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to (Paragraphs 186, computer program encoded on computer-storage medium for execution by processing apparatus):
obtain, from a user equipment (UE), a UE capability indicating support for at least wideband precoding resource group (PRG) with non-contiguous frequency resources across a plurality of downlink subbands (Paragraph 118, If a UE indicates support of a processing capability 2 or is configured to apply it in a particular CC, the UE may default to processing capability 1 when a PDSCH spans non-contiguous DL subbands and a PRG is configured as wideband. Otherwise, the PDSCH is fully confined in one of the DL subband, and processing capability 2 is applied; Paragraph 121, The UE may indicate, to the gNB, via its capability signaling, e.g., how it will handle this situation. The UE inform the gNB whether it will consider a non-contiguous PDSCH with a wideband PRG as if the PRG is of size 2 or 4, any other size, or if the UE will apply wideband processing over each portion, over particular portion of the non-contiguous PDSCH (e.g., the one with more RBs), or both portions); and
communicate with the UE based on the wideband PRG (Paragraph 121, UE consider non-contiguous PDSCH with a wideband PRG as if the PRG is of size 2 or 4, any other size, or if the UE will apply wideband processing over each portion, over particular portion of the non-contiguous PDSCH (e.g., the one with more RBs), or both portions).
Awadin et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Chung et al: wherein the UE capability indicates the support for at least one of: different precoding across the plurality of downlink subbands (Chung et al., Paragraph 229, a preferred precoding matrix for each subband may be selected from a codebook subset…a use of a selected precoding matrix corresponding in each subband. The user equipment may be able to report a PMI selected for each subband), or a same precoding across the plurality of downlink subbands (Chung et al., Paragraph 235, The user equipment may be able to report one CQI value per codeword by… reflecting that the same selected single precoding matrix is used on each of M subbands. The user equipment may be able to report an indicator of the selected single precoding matrix selected for the M subbands… The user equipment may be able to report an indicator of the single precoding matrix selected for all subbands).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Awadin et al. with the cite disclosure from Chung et al. in order to allow for selection of an optimal precoding matrix (Chung et al., Paragraph 115).
Regarding claim 20, Awadin et al. disclose further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor (Figure 10, radio is inherent in the gNB), the transceiver being configured to: obtain, from the UE, the UE capability indicating the support for the at least wideband PRG with the non-contiguous frequency resources across the plurality of downlink subbands (Paragraph 118, If a UE indicates support of a processing capability 2 or is configured to apply it in a particular CC, the UE may default to processing capability 1 when a PDSCH spans non-contiguous DL subbands and a PRG is configured as wideband. Otherwise, the PDSCH is fully confined in one of the DL subband, and processing capability 2 is applied; Paragraph 121, The UE may indicate, to the gNB, via its capability signaling, e.g., how it will handle this situation. The UE inform the gNB whether it will consider a non-contiguous PDSCH with a wideband PRG as if the PRG is of size 2 or 4, any other size, or if the UE will apply wideband processing over each portion, over particular portion of the non-contiguous PDSCH (e.g., the one with more RBs), or both portions); and communicate with the UE based on the wideband PRG (Paragraph 121, UE consider non-contiguous PDSCH with a wideband PRG as if the PRG is of size 2 or 4, any other size, or if the UE will apply wideband processing over each portion, over particular portion of the non-contiguous PDSCH (e.g., the one with more RBs), or both portions).
Regarding claim 21, Awadin et al. disclose wherein the UE comprises a subband full duplex aware UE (Claims 1 and 13, …terminal comprising…subband in a full-duplex operation…).
Regarding claim 22, Awadin et al. disclose wherein the subband full duplex aware UE supports knowledge of subband full duplex operation of the network entity using the plurality of downlink subbands that overlap in time one or more uplink subbands (Claims 1 and 13, …terminal comprising…physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) overlapping with an uplink subband in a subband full-duplex operation and becoming non-contiguous in a frequency domain…).
Regarding claim 23, Awadin et al. disclose wherein the UE capability indicates the support for wideband PRG with the non-contiguous frequency resources across the plurality of downlink subbands (Paragraph 118, If a UE indicates support of a processing capability 2 or is configured to apply it in a particular CC, the UE may default to processing capability 1 when a PDSCH spans non-contiguous DL subbands and a PRG is configured as wideband. Otherwise, the PDSCH is fully confined in one of the DL subband, and processing capability 2 is applied; Paragraph 121, The UE may indicate, to the gNB, via its capability signaling, e.g., how it will handle this situation. The UE inform the gNB whether it will consider a non-contiguous PDSCH with a wideband PRG as if the PRG is of size 2 or 4, any other size, or if the UE will apply wideband processing over each portion, over particular portion of the non-contiguous PDSCH (e.g., the one with more RBs), or both portions) and contiguous frequency resources with each of the plurality of downlink subbands (Paragraph 116, UE may indicate the value d3 to a gNB via capability signaling; Paragraph 117, When a PDSCH is scheduled/configured over contiguous RBs in any of the DL subbands, not spanning both DL subbands, or in non-SBFD symbols/slots, then d3=0).
Regarding claims 24 and 29, Chung et al. disclose wherein the UE capability indicates the support for the different precoding across the plurality of downlink subbands (Chung et al., Paragraph 229, a preferred precoding matrix for each subband may be selected from a codebook subset…a use of a selected precoding matrix corresponding in each subband. The user equipment may be able to report a PMI selected for each subband).
Regarding claim 25, Chung et al. disclose wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to: provide, to the UE, a precoding indication indicating the same precoding or the different precoding across the plurality of downlink subbands (Paragraph 177, In case of an open-loop transmission, a transmitter may be able to select a precoding matrix by a predetermined rule… Alternatively, the transmitter may have this fact contained in a scheduling assignment information of a data transmission to the receiver as 1-bit indicator…Precoding matrix information used by the transmitter for the data transmission to the receiver may be explicitly contained in the scheduling assignment information).
Regarding claim 26, Chung et al. disclose wherein the precoding indication is comprised within a scheduling downlink control information (DCI), wherein the scheduling DCI comprises a field corresponding to the precoding indication (Paragraph 177, precoding matrix information may be explicitly contained in the scheduling assignment information; Paragraph 65, The DCI may include UL or DL scheduling information).
Regarding claim 27, Chung et al. disclose wherein the precoding indication is comprised within a radio resource configuration (RRC) signaling for all scheduled physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) (Paragraph 225, According to the above-mentioned combination, it may be able to transmit CQI, PMI and RI. And, these informations may be transmitted to each user equipment by RRC signaling of a higher layer. A base station may be able to transmit information appropriate for each user equipment in consideration of a channel status of each user equipment and a user equipment distributed situation within the base station).
Regarding claim 30, Chung et al. disclose providing, to the UE, a precoding indication indicating the same precoding or the different precoding across the plurality of downlink subbands (Paragraph 177, In case of an open-loop transmission, a transmitter may be able to select a precoding matrix by a predetermined rule… Alternatively, the transmitter may have this fact contained in a scheduling assignment information of a data transmission to the receiver as 1-bit indicator…Precoding matrix information used by the transmitter for the data transmission to the receiver may be explicitly contained in the scheduling assignment information).
Claim(s) 7, 8, 16 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Awadin et al. in view of Chung et al. as applied to claims 1, 6, 14 and 15 above, and further in view of Liu et al. (US 2019/0020389).
Regarding claims 7 and 16, Awadin et al. in view of Chung et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Liu et al.: wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to: process each downlink subband separately without joint decoding in response to the UE capability indicating the support for the different precoding across the plurality of downlink subbands (Liu et al., Paragraph 74, the second network device may receive signals on different channels, and perform independent [separately without join decoding] or joint decoding according to a precoding rule; Paragraph 65, The first network device in the embodiments of the present disclosure is a part or all of a base station…The second network device in the embodiments of the present disclosure is user equipment; Paragraphs 75-76 and figure 2, second network device sends precoding matrix index to first network device in step 102).
Therefore, 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 system of Awadin et al. and Chung et al. with the cited disclosure from Liu et al. in order to improve transmission reliability and increase channel capacity (Liu et al., Paragraph 74).
Regarding claims 8 and 17, Awadin et al. in view of Chung et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Liu et al.: wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to: process each downlink subband with joint decoding in response to the UE capability indicating the support for the different precoding across the plurality of downlink subbands (Liu et al., Paragraph 74, the second network device may receive signals on different channels, and perform independent or joint decoding [with joint decoding] according to a precoding rule; Paragraph 65, The first network device in the embodiments of the present disclosure is a part or all of a base station…The second network device in the embodiments of the present disclosure is user equipment; Paragraphs 75-76 and figure 2, second network device sends precoding matrix index to first network device in step 102).
Therefore, 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 system of Awadin et al. and Chung et al. with the cited disclosure from Liu et al. in order to improve transmission reliability and increase channel capacity (Liu et al., Paragraph 74).
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Awadin et al. in view of Chung et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Pan et al. (US 2008/0233902).
Regarding claim 13, Awadin et al. in view of Chung et al. disclose the claimed invention above the same precoding or the different precoding across the plurality of downlink subbands (Chung et al., Paragraphs 229-235) but do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Pan et al.: wherein a default precoding is set such that the same precoding or the different precoding across the plurality of downlink subbands (Pan et al., Paragraph 58, The value of M can be predetermined (default) or signaled. Which precoding matrix is used for which sub-band can be predetermined (default)).
Therefore, 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 system of Awadin et al. and Chung et al. with the cited disclosure from Pan et al. in order to implement precoding rules while reducing signaling overhead, reducing detection complexity for PMI validation and improving PMI performance (Pan et al., Paragraph 6).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: regarding claim 9, the prior art does not disclose that UE capability is associated with spacing between downlink subbands, the spacing not exceeding a threshold.
Conclusion
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/OTIS L THOMPSON, JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
December 16, 2025