DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, anycorrection of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground ofrejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would bethe same under either status.
Response to Amendment
The proposed reply filed on February 3rd, 2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 4, 8, 10-13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24-26 and 29-30 have been amended. Claims 1-30 are pending in the application.
Claim Objections
Since the required amendments of the claims 8, 15 and 29 have been made, the claim objections are withdrawn.
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 non-obviousness.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 6-8 and 26-29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Esswie (US 2024/0064539 A1) in view of disclosed NPL, Qualcomm Incorporated (potential enhancements on dynamic/flexible TDD), 3GPP TSG RAN WG1, R1- 2209984 (Qualcomm’984 hereinafter).
Regarding claim 1, Esswie teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a first network node, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories and configured to cause the first network node to (Fig. 2, [0031, 0112, 0117], a RAN, or a component thereof, may be implemented by one or more computer components that may be described in reference to figs. 11-12. Computer 1102 including a processing unit 1104, a system memory 1106 and a system bus 1108. The system bus 1108 couples system components including, but not limited to, the system memory 1106 to the processing unit 1104. The processing unit 1104 can be any of various commercially available processors and may include a cache memory. Dual microprocessors and other multi-processor architectures can also be employed as the processing unit 1104. The drives and their associated computer-readable storage media provide nonvolatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions, and so forth. For the computer 1102, the drives and storage media accommodate the storage of any data in a suitable digital format. Runtime environments are consistent execution environments that allow applications 1132 to run on any operating system that includes the runtime environment. Similarly, operating system 1130 can support containers, and applications 1132 can be in the form of containers, which are lightweight, standalone, executable packages of software that include, e.g., code, runtime, system tools, system libraries and settings for an application),
Esswie teaches measure cross link interference (CLI) from a transmission of a second network node for a set of one or more candidate beam pairs, each candidate beam pair of the set of one or more candidate beam pairs that includes an uplink beam of the first network node and a downlink beam of the second network node (Fig. 2, [0004, 0008, 0073], transmitting, from a second node of a second radio access network (RAN) to a first node of a first RAN, a request indicating cross link interference measurement parameter information corresponding to the first RAN. The second node may comprise a victim RAN node and the first node may comprise an aggressor RAN node. The victim RAN may be experiencing CLI during an uplink timing resource at a frequency, or using a frequency range, while the aggressor RAN is transmitting a downlink traffic portion at the same frequency, or frequency range. The request may comprise a request for the aggressor RAN node to participate in a measurement procedure with the victim RAN node, and the cross link interference measurement parameter information indicated in the request may comprise information to be used by. The detecting, by the second node, of the cross link interference test signal transmitted by the first node in the first transmit beam may comprise detecting the cross link interference test signal in a first uplink beam and in a second uplink beam, wherein the cross link interference test signal is analyzed for the first uplink beam and for the second uplink beam. RAN 105A may use multiple downlink beams, shown as downlink beam 205A and downlink beam 205B, to deliver downlink traffic to a user equipment and RAN 105A may use multiple uplink beams 210A and 210B, shown as uplink beam 210A and uplink beam 210B. It will be appreciated that a downlink beam may be associated with not only geographical, or spatial, dispersion of downlink signal energy from a RAN, but signal energy in a downlink beam may also be transmitted according to an associated frequency resource. Furthermore, it will be appreciated that a downlink beam corresponding to RAN 105A may overlap partially, or completely, with an uplink beam, but the uplink and downlink beams corresponding to RAN 105A are shown in an alternating, or interleaved, fashion for clarity in fig. 2. Fig. 4 described elsewhere herein shows downlink beams and uplink beams that are not necessarily interleaved),
Esswie teaches and provide CLI information that indicates at least one of one or more preferred beam pairs or one or more non-preferred beam pairs based on a CLI measurement from the transmission (Fig. 2, [0082-0083, 0085], a beam pattern, which may comprise indications of transmit and receive beam pair setting that may be used for CLI measurement for a multi-beam transmission measurement scenario. The CLI measurement report may comprise information elements, or parameters, that relate to, or indicate: a measurement resource set or index measurement resource set index, a beam pair set or a set of grouped beam pairs, or a determined/detected CLI spatial coverage or spatial strength value, which spatial strength value may correspond to CLI spatial coverage of a given beam. Based on received CLI measurement reports, RANs, or cells, are able to determine adjacent cells with the most severe CLI contributions, and thus, facilitate additional resource and scheduling coordination among the aggressor and victim RANs. Thus, dynamic procedures are disclosed that facilitate beam-based CLI measurements to sufficiently determine CLI coverage and/or strength while reducing use of backhaul signaling overhead. CLI measurement may be geared towards estimating the CLI channel over each of the available beams instead of measuring every beam pair combination between two RANs. In scenarios of high spectrum use with a large number of antennas and a large number of beams, a CLI measurement cycle may consume a not insignificant amount of time and resources and may delay delivery of actual traffic payload packets (e.g., packets not associated with measurement/testing signals) if CLI measurement is performed for every pair combination of beams from the victim and aggressor RANs. Such measurement of every possible beam pair combination would likely degrade spectral efficiency in delivering the actual payload packets. Therefore, in an example embodiment, victim and aggressor RANS may coordinate with each other certain selected beam pairs, from all beams available for use by the respective RANs, to use to perform CLI measurement. By strategically selecting certain beams from an aggressor RAN and corresponding victim RAN to use for performing measurements instead of performing CLI measurement for every possible beam pair combination, resource consumption and corresponding potential delay of actual traffic delivery that may be occurring during a CLI measurement procedure may be reduced without significantly impacting the quality of the information contained in a CLI measurement report),
Esswie teaches wherein the CLI information further indicates at least a first Quality of Service (QoS) or a first priority level for uplink traffic of the first network node (Fig. 2, [0005, 0089, 0093], the cross-link interference measurement parameter information indicated in the CLI measurement request, may comprise at least one of: at least one measurement time resource, at least one measurement frequency resource, at least one priority level. CLI measure priority index and/or value: an aggressor RAN/cell may determine priority levels for one or more victim RANs/cells for a CLI measurement cycle/procedure. Prioritization may be useful if various adjacent cells have conflicting CLI measurements resources and/or beam adoption. Therefore, prioritization may facilitate the aggressor node determining whether to accept, and acknowledge in an acknowledgement, some, or all, proposed CLI measurement parameters of a CLI measurement request requesting CLI measurement parameter information. A victim cell may determine a corresponding cell-specific CLI measurement priority based on core network reconfigurations that may comprise a mapping list of a full duplex sub-band to be used for measurement. CLI measurement may be made based on past performance of receiving and decoding uplink traffic at a given frequency, or frequencies, and via a given uplink beam. Or beams).
Regarding claim 2, Esswie teaches further comprising one or more antennas coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the transmission includes a reference signal from the second network node (Fig. 3, [0084-0085] uplink RF resources 305 and downlink RF resources 310 associated with an uplink victim RAN 105B and a downlink aggressor RAN, respectively, with full duplex sub-band 315 and full duplex sub-band 320 being time unit and spectrum frequency resources associated with respective beam patterns that the victim cell RAN has identified as being impacted by severe BS-BS CLI. At act 330 Victim RAN 105B transmits a CLI measurement request towards adjacent aggressor RAN/cell 105A. The CLI measurement request may indicate a coordinated beam pattern pair of uplink-downlink beam patterns for which CLI measurement is desired by, or determined by, victim RAN 105B. In response to having received the CLI measurement request, aggressor cell 105B either accepts, rejects, or counteroffers, in an acknowledgement, CLI configuration parameters that were part of the CLI measurement request. In the example shown in FIG. 3, aggressor RAN 105A accepts parameters of the request transmitted at act 330. Upon acceptance, the RAN pair 105A-105B coordinate at act 340 regarding CLI measurement resources, transmit and receive beam pairs to be tested, and a type of CLI measurement reference signal transmission to be used for performing CLI measurement. Aggressor RAN 105A transmits at act 350 the coordinated reference signal at the frequency and time, and via the beam pattern pairs coordinated at act 340. Victim RAN determines or estimates inter-cell CLI channel measurement parameter information corresponding to each of one or more trained, or coordinated, full duplex sub-bands and for the coordinated beam pattern pairs. The victim cell compiles a CLI measurement report and transmits it towards aggressor RAN 105A via a backhaul interface over which RAN 105A and RAN 105B may communicate. Providing the CLI measurement report from victim RAN 105B to aggressor RAN 105A may facilitate RAN 105A using the measured information contained in the CLI measurement report if the roles of RAN 105A and RAN 105B are reversed and RAN 105A is a victim RAN with respect to RAN 105B being an aggressor RAN because the CLI channel is semi-static between each cell-beam-pattern-pair due to the fixed relative positions of the RANs, thus a single CLI measurement cycle for each cell beam pattern pair may be used by either RAN for tailoring downlink transmission during a time when the other RAN may have a scheduled uplink receiving opportunity, or occasion, during the same period. A downlink transmit beam adopted by a RAN and an uplink receive beam adopted by another RAN can significantly impact inter-cell interference. Therefore, in an embodiment CLI measurement may be geared towards estimating the CLI channel over each of the available beams instead of measuring every beam pair combination between two RANs. In scenarios of high spectrum use with a large number of antennas and a large number of beams, a CLI measurement cycle may consume a not insignificant amount of time and resources and may delay delivery of actual traffic payload packets (e.g., packets not associated with measurement/testing signals) if CLI measurement is performed for every pair combination of beams from the victim and aggressor RANs).
Regarding claim 6, Esswie teaches wherein to provide the CLI information, the one or more processors are configured to cause the first network node to provide the CLI information to the second network node in over-the-air signaling or in backhaul signaling (Fig. 3, [0084], aggressor RAN 105A transmits at act 350 the coordinated reference signal at the frequency and time, and via the beam pattern pairs coordinated at act 340. Victim RAN determines or estimates inter-cell CLI channel measurement parameter information corresponding to each of one or more trained, or coordinated, full duplex sub-bands and for the coordinated beam pattern pairs. The victim cell compiles a CLI measurement report and transmits it towards aggressor RAN 105A via a backhaul interface over which RAN 105A and RAN 105B may communicate).
Regarding claim 7, Esswie teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the first network node to: receive an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative acknowledgement (NACK) from the second network node in response to the CLI information; and schedule, based on reception of the NACK, the uplink traffic to avoid a first uplink beam impacted by the CLI (Fig. 3, [0071, 0084], the CLI measurement request may indicate a coordinated beam pattern pair of uplink-downlink beam patterns for which CLI measurement is desired by, or determined by, victim RAN 105B. In response to having received the CLI measurement request, aggressor cell 105B either accepts, rejects, or counteroffers, in an acknowledgement, CLI configuration parameters that were part of the CLI measurement request. In the example shown in the figure, aggressor RAN 105A accepts parameters of the request transmitted at act 330. Upon acceptance, the RAN pair 105A-105B coordinate at act 340 regarding CLI measurement resources, transmit and receive beam pairs to be tested, and a type of CLI measurement reference signal transmission to be used for performing CLI measurement. The UEs 115 and the base stations 105 may support retransmissions of data to increase the likelihood that data is received successfully. Hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback is one technique for increasing the likelihood that data is received correctly over a communication link 125. HARQ may include a combination of error detection (e.g., using a cyclic redundancy check (CRC)), forward error correction (FEC), and retransmission (e.g., automatic repeat request (ARQ)). HARQ may improve throughput at the MAC layer in poor radio conditions (e.g., low signal-to-noise conditions). In some examples, a device may support same-slot HARQ feedback, where the device may provide HARQ feedback in a specific slot for data received in a previous symbol in the slot. In other cases, the device may provide HARQ feedback in a subsequent slot, or according to some other time interval).
regarding claim 8, Esswie teaches wherein the NACK is comprised in F1 application protocol (F1AP} signaling, Xn signaling, or over-the-air signaling (Fig. 6, [0094] at act 610 victim RAN 105B may determine proposed CLI measurement parameters, such as a determined cell-specific CLI measurement priority, a request indication for coordinating with the victim RAN in performing Downlink-to-Uplink CLI measurement, CLI measurement frequency and timing resources, a CLI beam switching pattern, or a CLI measurement grouping pattern associated with each CLI measurement resource set (including the transmit downlink beam indices over each resource element, a type of CLI reference signal [e.g., CSI-RS, DMRS, PTRS], and one or more receive-uplink-beam indices over each resource element). At act 615 victim RAN node 105B may transmit toward neighboring nodes, over backhaul interfaces (e.g., Xn/F1 interfaces), the proposed CLI measurement parameter).
Esswie teaches of CLI measurement of candidate uplink and downlink beam pairs and providing information to node. Esswie, however, fails to expressly disclose preferred and non-preferred beam pairs, and CLI information indicates QoS or priority level for uplink. (Emphasis added).
Regarding claim 1, Qualcomm’984 teaches provide CLI information that indicates at least one of one or more preferred beam pairs or one or more non-preferred beam pairs based on a CLI measurement from the transmission (Figs. 6-2 and 6-5, [page 23, section 6.1.1.2, proposal 31, page 24, proposal 32, page 25, proposal 34, page 26, section 6.1.3, ], for CLI measurement, CLI-RS is sent from aggressor gNB to victim gNB to measure actual interference per candidate DL/UL beam pair. Based on measurement results, victim gNB (or central coordinator) signals the non-compatible or compatible DL beam(s) per aggressor gNB and potentially other operation parameters, e.g. applied time/frequency resource, power backoff, etc. As for the inter-gNB CLI report, it can be sent either via OTA or backhaul, and the report can be periodic or event triggered with possible contents as inter-gNB CLI metric per Tx/Rx beam pair, allowed/disallowed beams, etc. A 1st DU-cell reports to an entity about interference measured from a neighboring 2nd DU-cell and the DU may be configured by CU/OAM with a report configuration. The report may include beam information (e.g. Rx beam of DU 1 and Tx beam of DU 2)),
Qualcomm’984 teaches wherein the CLI information further indicates at least a first Quality of Service (QoS) or a first priority level for uplink traffic of the first network node (Fig. 6-2, [pages 27-28, section 6.2, proposal 42], victim cell can signal neighbor cells whether DL transmission is allowed on a pre-determined candidate UL resource of the victim cell, e.g. a set of RRC UL symbols for victim cell to protect its high priority UL transmission. For example, the determination can be based on whether the total inter-gNB CLI measured on that UL resource exceeds a certain threshold or not, and can be indicated via OTA or BH to neighbor cells. (Note: the signaling about whether or on a DL transmission is allowed on the pre- determined candidate UL resource of the victim cell is interpreted as a signaling of priority).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Esswie by incorporating the features as taught by Qualcomm’984 in order to provide a more effective and efficient system that is capable of providing CLI information that indicates at least one of one or more preferred beam pairs or one or more non-preferred beam pairs based on a CLI measurement from the transmission, and the CLI information further indicates at least a first Quality of Service (QoS) or a first priority level for uplink traffic of the first network node. The motivation is to support an improved method for potential enhancements to support duplex evolution for NR TDD in unpaired spectrum (see [page 1, section 1]).
Regarding claim 26, Esswie teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a first network node, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories and configured to cause the first network node to (Fig. 2, [0031, 0112, 0117], a RAN, or a component thereof, may be implemented by one or more computer components that may be described in reference to figs. 11-12. Computer 1102 including a processing unit 1104, a system memory 1106 and a system bus 1108. The system bus 1108 couples system components including, but not limited to, the system memory 1106 to the processing unit 1104. The processing unit 1104 can be any of various commercially available processors and may include a cache memory. Dual microprocessors and other multi-processor architectures can also be employed as the processing unit 1104. The drives and their associated computer-readable storage media provide nonvolatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions, and so forth. For the computer 1102, the drives and storage media accommodate the storage of any data in a suitable digital format. Runtime environments are consistent execution environments that allow applications 1132 to run on any operating system that includes the runtime environment. Similarly, operating system 1130 can support containers, and applications 1132 can be in the form of containers, which are lightweight, standalone, executable packages of software that include, e.g., code, runtime, system tools, system libraries and settings for an application),
Esswie teaches obtain an indication of a measurement metric for a cross link interference (CLI) measurement between the first network node and a second network node (Fig. 2, [0004, 0008, 0073], transmitting, from a second node of a second radio access network (RAN) to a first node of a first RAN, a request indicating cross link interference measurement parameter information corresponding to the first RAN. The second node may comprise a victim RAN node and the first node may comprise an aggressor RAN node. The victim RAN may be experiencing CLI during an uplink timing resource at a frequency, or using a frequency range, while the aggressor RAN is transmitting a downlink traffic portion at the same frequency, or frequency range. The request may comprise a request for the aggressor RAN node to participate in a measurement procedure with the victim RAN node, and the cross link interference measurement parameter information indicated in the request may comprise information to be used by. The detecting, by the second node, of the cross link interference test signal transmitted by the first node in the first transmit beam may comprise detecting the cross link interference test signal in a first uplink beam and in a second uplink beam, wherein the cross link interference test signal is analyzed for the first uplink beam and for the second uplink beam. RAN 105A may use multiple downlink beams, shown as downlink beam 205A and downlink beam 205B, to deliver downlink traffic to a user equipment and RAN 105A may use multiple uplink beams 210A and 210B, shown as uplink beam 210A and uplink beam 210B. It will be appreciated that a downlink beam may be associated with not only geographical, or spatial, dispersion of downlink signal energy from a RAN, but signal energy in a downlink beam may also be transmitted according to an associated frequency resource. Furthermore, it will be appreciated that a downlink beam corresponding to RAN 105A may overlap partially, or completely, with an uplink beam, but the uplink and downlink beams corresponding to RAN 105A are shown in an alternating, or interleaved, fashion for clarity in fig. 2. Fig. 4 described elsewhere herein shows downlink beams and uplink beams that are not necessarily interleaved),
Esswie teaches and provide CLI information that indicates at least one of one or more preferred beam pairs or one or more non-preferred beam pairs based on at least the measurement metric indicated for the CLI measurement (Fig. 2, [0082-0083, 0085], a beam pattern, which may comprise indications of transmit and receive beam pair setting that may be used for CLI measurement for a multi-beam transmission measurement scenario. The CLI measurement report may comprise information elements, or parameters, that relate to, or indicate: a measurement resource set or index measurement resource set index, a beam pair set or a set of grouped beam pairs, or a determined/detected CLI spatial coverage or spatial strength value, which spatial strength value may correspond to CLI spatial coverage of a given beam. Based on received CLI measurement reports, RANs, or cells, are able to determine adjacent cells with the most severe CLI contributions, and thus, facilitate additional resource and scheduling coordination among the aggressor and victim RANs. Thus, dynamic procedures are disclosed that facilitate beam-based CLI measurements to sufficiently determine CLI coverage and/or strength while reducing use of backhaul signaling overhead. CLI measurement may be geared towards estimating the CLI channel over each of the available beams instead of measuring every beam pair combination between two RANs. In scenarios of high spectrum use with a large number of antennas and a large number of beams, a CLI measurement cycle may consume a not insignificant amount of time and resources and may delay delivery of actual traffic payload packets (e.g., packets not associated with measurement/testing signals) if CLI measurement is performed for every pair combination of beams from the victim and aggressor RANs. Such measurement of every possible beam pair combination would likely degrade spectral efficiency in delivering the actual payload packets. Therefore, in an example embodiment, victim and aggressor RANS may coordinate with each other certain selected beam pairs, from all beams available for use by the respective RANs, to use to perform CLI measurement. By strategically selecting certain beams from an aggressor RAN and corresponding victim RAN to use for performing measurements instead of performing CLI measurement for every possible beam pair combination, resource consumption and corresponding potential delay of actual traffic delivery that may be occurring during a CLI measurement procedure may be reduced without significantly impacting the quality of the information contained in a CLI measurement report),
Regarding claim 27, Esswie teaches further comprising one or more antennas coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the measurement metric corresponds to at least one of a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a reference signal strength indicator (RSSI) (Fig. 6, 0094] victim RAN 105B may detect CLI reference signals from aggressor RAN 105A vi one or more transmit and receive beam patterns indicated in the proposed and accepted CLI measurement parameters. Victim RAN 105B compiles a CLI measurement report based on the CLI measuring that was performed according to the proposed and accepted CLI measurement parameters, and at act 635 transmits the CLI measurement report towards aggressor RAN 105A, which CLI measurement report may comprise an estimated CLI RSRP (quantized indication or explicit value), and/or an estimated CLI RSSI).
Regarding claim 28, Esswie teaches wherein the indication is from the second network node, a central unit (CU), a third party, a source distributed unit (DU), or a target DU (Fig. 3, illustrates an example embodiment of indications of wireless resources to be measured (Fig. 3, [0084-0085], uplink RF resources 305 and downlink RF resources 310 associated with an uplink victim RAN 105B and a downlink aggressor RAN, respectively, with full duplex sub-band 315 and full duplex sub-band 320 being time unit and spectrum frequency resources associated with respective beam patterns that the victim cell RAN has identified as being impacted by severe BS-BS CLI. At act 330 Victim RAN 105B transmits a CLI measurement request towards adjacent aggressor RAN/cell 105A. The CLI measurement request may indicate a coordinated beam pattern pair of uplink-downlink beam patterns for which CLI measurement is desired by, or determined by, victim RAN 105B. In response to having received the CLI measurement request, aggressor cell 105B either accepts, rejects, or counteroffers, in an acknowledgement, CLI configuration parameters that were part of the CLI measurement request. In the example shown in FIG. 3, aggressor RAN 105A accepts parameters of the request transmitted at act 330. Upon acceptance, the RAN pair 105A-105B coordinate at act 340 regarding CLI measurement resources, transmit and receive beam pairs to be tested, and a type of CLI measurement reference signal transmission to be used for performing CLI measurement. Aggressor RAN 105A transmits at act 350 the coordinated reference signal at the frequency and time, and via the beam pattern pairs coordinated at act 340. Victim RAN determines or estimates inter-cell CLI channel measurement parameter information corresponding to each of one or more trained, or coordinated, full duplex sub-bands and for the coordinated beam pattern pairs. The victim cell compiles a CLI measurement report and transmits it towards aggressor RAN 105A via a backhaul interface over which RAN 105A and RAN 105B may communicate. Providing the CLI measurement report from victim RAN 105B to aggressor RAN 105A may facilitate RAN 105A using the measured information contained in the CLI measurement report if the roles of RAN 105A and RAN 105B are reversed and RAN 105A is a victim RAN with respect to RAN 105B being an aggressor RAN because the CLI channel is semi-static between each cell-beam-pattern-pair due to the fixed relative positions of the RANs, thus a single CLI measurement cycle for each cell beam pattern pair may be used by either RAN for tailoring downlink transmission during a time when the other RAN may have a scheduled uplink receiving opportunity, or occasion, during the same period. A downlink transmit beam adopted by a RAN and an uplink receive beam adopted by another RAN can significantly impact inter-cell interference. Therefore, in an embodiment CLI measurement may be geared towards estimating the CLI channel over each of the available beams instead of measuring every beam pair combination between two RANs. In scenarios of high spectrum use with a large number of antennas and a large number of beams, a CLI measurement cycle may consume a not insignificant amount of time and resources and may delay delivery of actual traffic payload packets (e.g., packets not associated with measurement/testing signals) if CLI measurement is performed for every pair combination of beams from the victim and aggressor RANs).
Regarding claim 29, Esswie teaches wherein to provide the CLI measurement, the one or more processors are configured to cause the first network node to provide the CLI measurement in F1 application protocol (F1AP} signaling, Xn signaling, or over-the-air signaling (Fig. 6, [0094], at act 610 victim RAN 105B may determine proposed CLI measurement parameters, such as a determined cell-specific CLI measurement priority, a request indication for coordinating with the victim RAN in performing Downlink-to-Uplink CLI measurement, CLI measurement frequency and timing resources, a CLI beam switching pattern, or a CLI measurement grouping pattern associated with each CLI measurement resource set (including the transmit downlink beam indices over each resource element, a type of CLI reference signal [e.g., CSI-RS, DMRS, PTRS], and one or more receive-uplink-beam indices over each resource element). At act 615 victim RAN node 105B may transmit toward neighboring nodes, over backhaul interfaces (e.g., Xn/F1 interfaces), the proposed CLI measurement parameter).
Esswie teaches of CLI measurement of candidate uplink and downlink beam pairs and providing information to node. Esswie, however, fails to expressly disclose preferred and non-preferred beam pairs. (Emphasis added).
Regarding claim 26, Qualcomm’984 teaches and provide CLI information that indicates at least one of one or more preferred beam pairs or one or more non-preferred beam pairs based on at least the measurement metric indicated for the CLI measurement (Figs. 6-2 and 6-5, [page 23, section 6.1.1.2, proposal 31, page 24, proposal 32, page 25, proposal 34, page 26, section 6.1.3, ], for CLI measurement, CLI-RS is sent from aggressor gNB to victim gNB to measure actual interference per candidate DL/UL beam pair. Based on measurement results, victim gNB (or central coordinator) signals the non-compatible or compatible DL beam(s) per aggressor gNB and potentially other operation parameters, e.g. applied time/frequency resource, power backoff, etc. As for the inter-gNB CLI report, it can be sent either via OTA or backhaul, and the report can be periodic or event triggered with possible contents as inter-gNB CLI metric per Tx/Rx beam pair, allowed/disallowed beams, etc. A 1st DU-cell reports to an entity about interference measured from a neighboring 2nd DU-cell and the DU may be configured by CU/OAM with a report configuration. The report may include beam information (e.g. Rx beam of DU 1 and Tx beam of DU 2)).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Esswie by incorporating the features as taught by Qualcomm’984 in order to provide a more effective and efficient system that is capable of providing CLI information that indicates at least one of one or more preferred beam pairs or one or more non-preferred beam pairs based on a CLI measurement from the transmission. The motivation is to support an improved method for potential enhancements to support duplex evolution for NR TDD in unpaired spectrum (see [page 1, section 1]).
Claim(s) 3 and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Esswie (US 2024/0064539 A1) in view of disclosed NPL, Qualcomm Incorporated (potential enhancements on dynamic/flexible TDD), 3GPP TSG RAN WG1, R1- 2209984 (Qualcomm’984 hereinafter) as applied to claims 1 and 26 above, and further in view of Wang et al. (US 2020/0067614 A1).
Esswie and Qualcomm’984 disclose the claimed limitations as described in paragraph 7 above.
Regarding claim 30, Esswie teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the first network node to: measure the CLI measurement from a reference signal obtained from the second network node for each candidate beam pair of a set of one or more candidate beam pairs, wherein each candidate beam pair of the set of one or more candidate beam pairs includes an uplink beam of the first network node and a downlink beam of the second network node (Fig. 2, [0004, 0008, 0073], transmitting, from a second node of a second radio access network (RAN) to a first node of a first RAN, a request indicating cross link interference measurement parameter information corresponding to the first RAN. The second node may comprise a victim RAN node and the first node may comprise an aggressor RAN node. The victim RAN may be experiencing CLI during an uplink timing resource at a frequency, or using a frequency range, while the aggressor RAN is transmitting a downlink traffic portion at the same frequency, or frequency range. The request may comprise a request for the aggressor RAN node to participate in a measurement procedure with the victim RAN node, and the cross link interference measurement parameter information indicated in the request may comprise information to be used by. The detecting, by the second node, of the cross link interference test signal transmitted by the first node in the first transmit beam may comprise detecting the cross link interference test signal in a first uplink beam and in a second uplink beam, wherein the cross link interference test signal is analyzed for the first uplink beam and for the second uplink beam. RAN 105A may use multiple downlink beams, shown as downlink beam 205A and downlink beam 205B, to deliver downlink traffic to a user equipment and RAN 105A may use multiple uplink beams 210A and 210B, shown as uplink beam 210A and uplink beam 210B. It will be appreciated that a downlink beam may be associated with not only geographical, or spatial, dispersion of downlink signal energy from a RAN, but signal energy in a downlink beam may also be transmitted according to an associated frequency resource. Furthermore, it will be appreciated that a downlink beam corresponding to RAN 105A may overlap partially, or completely, with an uplink beam, but the uplink and downlink beams corresponding to RAN 105A are shown in an alternating, or interleaved, fashion for clarity in fig. 2. Fig. 4 described elsewhere herein shows downlink beams and uplink beams that are not necessarily interleaved).
Esswie and Qualcomm’984 do not expressly disclose the following features: regarding claim 3, wherein the reference signal includes at least a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a non-zero power channel state information reference signal (NZP CSI-RS); regarding claim 30, the reference signal includes at least a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a non-zero power channel state information reference signal (NZP CSI-RS).
Regarding claim 3, Wang et al. teach wherein the reference signal includes at least a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a non-zero power channel state information reference signal (NZP CSI-RS) (Fig. 1, [0036, 0040], NR communication system 100 comprises a transmission reception point (TRP) 102, a TRP 104 and a TRP 106. However, in other embodiments, the NR communication system 100 can comprise more or less TRPs than above and may also comprise one or more user equipment. A victim TRP comprises a TRP that receives interference and an interfering TRP comprises a TRP that causes interference. In this embodiment, the TRP 102 comprises a victim TRP that receives interference from the neighboring TRPs 104 and 106, and the TRP 104 and the TRP 106 comprises interfering TRPs that causes interference to the victim TRP 102. Therefore, the TRP 102 is referred to as a victim TRP 102 hereinafter for the ease of reference. The predefined interference signals (i.e., the first predefined interference signal 108 and the second predefined interference signal 110) comprises reference signals. For example, in some embodiments, the first predefined interference signal 108 and the second predefined interference signal 110 can comprise a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). In some embodiments, the CSI-RS comprises zero power CSI-RS (ZP CSI-RS) or non-zero power CSI-RS (NZP CSI-RS). However, in other embodiments, the predefined interference signals (i.e., the first predefined interference signal 108 and the second predefined interference signal 110) may comprise other signals, for example, other reference signals or any other predefined signal in NR communication systems).
Regarding claim 30, Wang et al. teach the reference signal includes at least a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a non-zero power channel state information reference signal (NZP CSI-RS) (Fig. 1, [0036, 0040], NR communication system 100 comprises a transmission reception point (TRP) 102, a TRP 104 and a TRP 106. However, in other embodiments, the NR communication system 100 can comprise more or less TRPs than above and may also comprise one or more user equipment. A victim TRP comprises a TRP that receives interference and an interfering TRP comprises a TRP that causes interference. In this embodiment, the TRP 102 comprises a victim TRP that receives interference from the neighboring TRPs 104 and 106, and the TRP 104 and the TRP 106 comprises interfering TRPs that causes interference to the victim TRP 102. Therefore, the TRP 102 is referred to as a victim TRP 102 hereinafter for the ease of reference. The predefined interference signals (i.e., the first predefined interference signal 108 and the second predefined interference signal 110) comprises reference signals. For example, in some embodiments, the first predefined interference signal 108 and the second predefined interference signal 110 can comprise a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). In some embodiments, the CSI-RS comprises zero power CSI-RS (ZP CSI-RS) or non-zero power CSI-RS (NZP CSI-RS). However, in other embodiments, the predefined interference signals (i.e., the first predefined interference signal 108 and the second predefined interference signal 110) may comprise other signals, for example, other reference signals or any other predefined signal in NR communication systems).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Esswie with Qualcomm’984 by incorporating the features as taught by Wang et al. in order to provide a more effective and efficient system that is capable of including in the reference signal at least a non-zero power channel state information reference signal (NZP CSI-RS). The motivation is to support an improved method for measuring interference in NR communication systems (see [0002]).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Esswie (US 2024/0064539 A1) in view of disclosed NPL, Qualcomm Incorporated (potential enhancements on dynamic/flexible TDD), 3GPP TSG RAN WG1, R1- 2209984 (Qualcomm’984 hereinafter) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Xu et al. (US 2020/0228212 A1).
Esswie and Qualcomm’984 disclose the claimed limitations as described in paragraph 7 above. Esswie and Qualcomm’984 do not expressly disclose the following features: regarding claim 4, wherein the CLI information indicates the one or more preferred beam pairs between the first network node and the second network node, wherein the one or more preferred beam pairs have a lower CLI than other candidate beam pairs of the set of one or more candidate beam pairs.
Regarding claim 4, Xu et al. teach wherein the CLI information indicates the one or more preferred beam pairs between the first network node and the second network node, the one or more preferred beam pairs having a lower CLI than other candidate beam pairs of the set of one or more candidate beam pairs (Fig. 2, [0094, 0115, 0132], wireless communications system 200 includes a base station 105-a and a base station 105-b. The base stations 105 may each be associated with a cell which provides wireless communications with the base station 105 within a coverage area 110. When uplink symbol transmissions are not available from any aggressor UE 115 for a victim UE 115 to measure, the victim UE 115 may be unable to measure the CLI from the aggressor UE 115 or the measurement may be compromised. As a result, the CLI measurement may be lower than normal and biased. To mitigate this bias, a predetermined threshold value for a signal strength according to the CLI measurement may be configured. Accordingly, if a physical layer measurement that corresponds to the CLI measurement (e.g., RSSI) is below the predetermined threshold value, the victim UE 115 may discard the measurement results. Alternatively, if the physical layer measurement is above the predetermined threshold value, the victim UE 115 may determine the measurement result is valid. For example, if different layer filtering (e.g., Layer-3 filtering) is enabled for the CLI measurement, the valid measurement results may be used for the layer filtering input. Additionally, the victim UE 115 may adapt a filter coefficient for the layer filtering such that time characteristics of the filter are preserved even if some of the physical layer measurements are discarded before filtering. By adapting the filter coefficient, the victim UE 115 may keep track of the variation of the signal strength for the CLI measurement (e.g., RSSI) over time. The base station 105 to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam or receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Esswie with Qualcomm’984 by incorporating the features as taught by Xu et al. in order to provide a more effective and efficient system that is capable of having preferred beam pair with a lower CLI than other candidate beam pairs of the set of one or more candidate beam pairs. The motivation is to support an improved method for cross-link interference measurement transmission (see [0002]).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Esswie (US 2024/0064539 A1) in view of disclosed NPL, Qualcomm Incorporated (potential enhancements on dynamic/flexible TDD), 3GPP TSG RAN WG1, R1- 2209984 (Qualcomm’984 hereinafter) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Fakoorian et al. (US 2024/0146425 A1).
Esswie and Qualcomm’984 disclose the claimed limitations as described in paragraph 7 above. Esswie do not expressly disclose the following features: regarding claim 5, wherein the CLI information further indicates at least one of: a periodic time resource based on the CLI measurement, a periodic frequency resource based on the CLI measurement, or a power reduction based on the CLI measurement.
Regarding claim 5, Fakoorian et al. teach wherein the CLI information further indicates at least one of: a periodic time resource based on the CLI measurement, a periodic frequency resource based on the CLI measurement, or a power reduction based on the CLI measurement (Fig. 1B, [0043, 0053], system 120 can includes network nodes 122 and 126, a victim electronic device 124, and an aggressor electronic device 126. The aggressor BS 122 can transmit on a DL 170 to the victim UE 124. The parameter(s) for the time domain configuration can indicate whether the CLI resources are periodic or aperiodic. If the CLI resources are periodic, then parameter(s) for the time domain configuration can indicate the periodicity of the CLI resources. For example, the parameter(s) for the time domain configuration can indicate whether a CLI resource can be associated to a specific duration (number of slots) or it can be repeated periodically once the CLI resource is activated (e.g., triggered). Additionally, or alternatively, the parameter(s) for the time domain configuration can indicate at which slots and which symbols within that slot the CLI measurement is expected).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Esswie with Qualcomm’984 by incorporating the features as taught by Fakoorian et al. in order to provide a more effective and efficient system that is capable of indicating a periodic time resource based on the CLI measurement. The motivation is to support an improved method for cross link interference (CLI) resource configuration and CLI measurement (see [0002]).
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Esswie (US 2024/0064539 A1) in view of disclosed NPL, Qualcomm Incorporated (potential enhancements on dynamic/flexible TDD), 3GPP TSG RAN WG1, R1- 2209984 (Qualcomm’984 hereinafter) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Li et al. (US 2020/0177341 A1).
Esswie and Qualcomm’984 disclose the claimed limitations as described in paragraph 7 above. Esswie and Qualcomm’984 do not expressly disclose the following features: regarding claim 9, wherein the NACK further indicates a second QoS or a second priority level for downlink traffic of the second network node.
Regarding claim 9, Li et al. teach wherein the NACK further indicates a second QoS or a second priority level for downlink traffic of the second network node (Fig. 3, is a structure block diagram of a data transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, see teachings in [0169, 0207, 0213] summarized as “transmission information is prioritized. For example, ACK/NACK, beam feedback and DCI related information have the highest priority, resources for SRS and CSI-RS related to a measurement reference signal have the second highest priority, and scheduled traffic data has the lowest priority. For NR dynamic TDD, when the attribute of the original slot of ACK/NACK feedback is changed so that the transmission fails, the ACK/NACK may be processed according to at least one of the solutions described below. the problem of cross-link interference can be effectively avoided through a combination of the semi-persistent configuration and the dynamic signaling. Particularly, for important control-type information, such as the PDCCH, uplink control information, ACK/NACK and other information, their positions and sending methods are indicated, so that dynamic uplink and downlink data transmission according to a traffic requirement is implemented).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Esswie with Qualcomm’984 by incorporating the features as taught by Li et al. in order to provide a more effective and efficient system that is capable of indicating a second priority level for downlink traffic of the second network node. The motivation is to support an improved method to solve the problem of cross-link interference (see [0007]).
Claim(s) 10, 13-15, 17 and 21-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Esswie (US 2024/0064539 A1) in view of disclosed NPL, Qualcomm Incorporated (potential enhancements on dynamic/flexible TDD), 3GPP TSG RAN WG1, R1- 2209984 (Qualcomm’984 hereinafter) and Liu et al. (US 2020/0389904 A1).
Regarding claim 10, Esswie teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a second network node, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories configured to cause the second network node to (Fig. 2, [0031, 0112, 0117], a RAN, or a component thereof, may be implemented by one or more computer components that may be described in reference to figs. 11-12. Computer 1102 including a processing unit 1104, a system memory 1106 and a system bus 1108. The system bus 1108 couples system components including, but not limited to, the system memory 1106 to the processing unit 1104. The processing unit 1104 can be any of various commercially available processors and may include a cache memory. Dual microprocessors and other multi-processor architectures can also be employed as the processing unit 1104. The drives and their associated computer-readable storage media provide nonvolatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions, and so forth. For the computer 1102, the drives and storage media accommodate the storage of any data in a suitable digital format. Runtime environments are consistent execution environments that allow applications 1132 to run on any operating system that includes the runtime environment. Similarly, operating system 1130 can support containers, and applications 1132 can be in the form of containers, which are lightweight, standalone, executable packages of software that include, e.g., code, runtime, system tools, system libraries and settings for an application),
Esswie teaches obtain cross link interference (CLI) information of a first network node (Fig. 2, [0004, 0008, 0073], transmitting, from a second node of a second radio access network (RAN) to a first node of a first RAN, a request indicating cross link interference measurement parameter information corresponding to the first RAN. The second node may comprise a victim RAN node and the first node may comprise an aggressor RAN node. The victim RAN may be experiencing CLI during an uplink timing resource at a frequency, or using a frequency range, while the aggressor RAN is transmitting a downlink traffic portion at the same frequency, or frequency range. The request may comprise a request for the aggressor RAN node to participate in a measurement procedure with the victim RAN node, and the cross link interference measurement parameter information indicated in the request may comprise information to be used by. The detecting, by the second node, of the cross link interference test signal transmitted by the first node in the first transmit beam may comprise detecting the cross link interference test signal in a first uplink beam and in a second uplink beam, wherein the cross link interference test signal is analyzed for the first uplink beam and for the second uplink beam. RAN 105A may use multiple downlink beams, shown as downlink beam 205A and downlink beam 205B, to deliver downlink traffic to a user equipment and RAN 105A may use multiple uplink beams 210A and 210B, shown as uplink beam 210A and uplink beam 210B. It will be appreciated that a downlink beam may be associated with not only geographical, or spatial, dispersion of downlink signal energy from a RAN, but signal energy in a downlink beam may also be transmitted according to an associated frequency resource. Furthermore, it will be appreciated that a downlink beam corresponding to RAN 105A may overlap partially, or completely, with an uplink beam, but the uplink and downlink beams corresponding to RAN 105A are shown in an alternating, or interleaved, fashion for clarity in fig. 2. Fig. 4 described elsewhere herein shows downlink beams and uplink beams that are not necessarily interleaved),
Esswie teaches wherein the CLI information indicates at least one of one or more preferred beam pairs or one or more non-preferred beam pairs (Fig. 2, [0082-0083, 0085], a beam pattern, which may comprise indications of transmit and receive beam pair setting that may be used for CLI measurement for a multi-beam transmission measurement scenario. The CLI measurement report may comprise information elements, or parameters, that relate to, or indicate: a measurement resource set or index measurement resource set index, a beam pair set or a set of grouped beam pairs, or a determined/detected CLI spatial coverage or spatial strength value, which spatial strength value may correspond to CLI spatial coverage of a given beam. Based on received CLI measurement reports, RANs, or cells, are able to determine adjacent cells with the most severe CLI contributions, and thus, facilitate additional resource and scheduling coordination among the aggressor and victim RANs. Thus, dynamic procedures are disclosed that facilitate beam-based CLI measurements to sufficiently determine CLI coverage and/or strength while reducing use of backhaul signaling overhead. CLI measurement may be geared towards estimating the CLI channel over each of the available beams instead of measuring every beam pair combination between two RANs. In scenarios of high spectrum use with a large number of antennas and a large number of beams, a CLI measurement cycle may consume a not insignificant amount of time and resources and may delay delivery of actual traffic payload packets (e.g., packets not associated with measurement/testing signals) if CLI measurement is performed for every pair combination of beams from the victim and aggressor RANs. Such measurement of every possible beam pair combination would likely degrade spectral efficiency in delivering the actual payload packets. Therefore, in an example embodiment, victim and aggressor RANS may coordinate with each other certain selected beam pairs, from all beams available for use by the respective RANs, to use to perform CLI measurement. By strategically selecting certain beams from an aggressor RAN and corresponding victim RAN to use for performing measurements instead of performing CLI measurement for every possible beam pair combination, resource consumption and corresponding potential delay of actual traffic delivery that may be occurring during a CLI measurement procedure may be reduced without significantly impacting the quality of the information contained in a CLI measurement report),
Esswie teaches and wherein the CLI information further indicates at least a first Quality of Service (QoS) or a first priority level for uplink traffic of the first network node (Fig. 2, [0005, 0089, 0093], the cross-link interference measurement parameter information indicated in the CLI measurement request, may comprise at least one of: at least one measurement time resource, at least one measurement frequency resource, at least one priority level. CLI measure priority index and/or value: an aggressor RAN/cell may determine priority levels for one or more victim RANs/cells for a CLI measurement cycle/procedure. Prioritization may be useful if various adjacent cells have conflicting CLI measurements resources and/or beam adoption. Therefore, prioritization may facilitate the aggressor node determining whether to accept, and acknowledge in an acknowledgement, some, or all, proposed CLI measurement parameters of a CLI measurement request requesting CLI measurement parameter information. A victim cell may determine a corresponding cell-specific CLI measurement priority based on core network reconfigurations that may comprise a mapping list of a full duplex sub-band to be used for measurement. CLI measurement may be made based on past performance of receiving and decoding uplink traffic at a given frequency, or frequencies, and via a given uplink beam. Or beams),
Esswie teaches and adjust downlink communication based on a CLI reduction mechanism in response to the first QoS or the first priority level of the uplink traffic of the first network node being higher than or equal to a second QoS or a second priority level of downlink traffic of the second network node, or provide a response to the first network node in response to the first QoS or the first priority level of the uplink traffic of the first network node being less than the second QoS or the second priority level of the downlink traffic of the second network node (Fig. 2, [0075, 0085, 0089, 0100], if downlink energy 225A is transmitted in downlink beam 205A by RAN 105A during a period and at a frequency that RAN 105B is also using for detecting uplink signal energy according to uplink beam 215, uplink signal energy 235B may be overpowered and thus not detected, due to downlink energy from a RAN typically being more powerful than uplink signal energy transmitted from user equipment and also due to cone 230A spatially overlapping with spatial receiver sensitivity corresponding to uplink beam 215. Such overpowering of uplink detecting of one RAN by downlink signals of another RAN may be referred to a cross link interference. Referring to RAN 105A as an ‘Aggressor’ RAN and reference to RAN 105B as a ‘Victim’ is not meant to assign a disparaging characterization to RAN 105A, but is merely meant to highlight that downlink signal energy transmitted from RAN 105A in beam 205A may cause interference during detecting of uplink signal energy in uplink spatial sensitivity corresponding to uplink beam 215 if the timing and frequency of the transmission of downlink energy 225A overlaps with a frequency and period that RAN 105B is simultaneously using to detect uplink traffic signal energy. Cell specific CLI measure priority index and/or value: an aggressor RAN/cell may determine priority levels for one or more victim RANs/cells for a CLI measurement cycle/procedure. Prioritization may be useful if various adjacent cells have conflicting CLI measurements resources and/or beam adoption. Therefore, prioritization may facilitate the aggressor node determining whether to accept, and acknowledge in an acknowledgement, some, or all, proposed CLI measurement parameters of a CLI measurement request requesting CLI measurement parameter information. A victim cell may determine a corresponding cell-specific CLI measurement priority based on core network reconfigurations that may comprise a mapping list of a full duplex sub-band to be used for measurement. By strategically selecting certain beams from an aggressor RAN and corresponding victim RAN to use for performing measurements instead of performing CLI measurement for every possible beam pair combination, resource consumption and corresponding potential delay of actual traffic delivery that may be occurring during a CLI measurement procedure may be reduced without significantly impacting the quality of the information contained in a CLI measurement report. The beam pair combinations used for measuring/testing may be selected based on past CLI interference measurement. The beam pair combinations may be selected based on grouping spatially adjacent uplink beams together and pairing the group with a given downlink beam corresponding to an aggressor RAN, which given downlink beam may be selected according to a configured plan, such as every other downlink beam instead of every downlink beam, or every third downlink beam, and so on. A potential need to perform multiple rounds of CLI measurement pre-training for the same victim and aggressor cell pair may be reduced, if not eliminated, due to the static relative locations and channels. Thereafter, aggressor RANs may adopt the determined corresponding timing advance/offsets when transmitting CLI measurement reference signals in cooperation with the victim RAN).
Regarding claim 13, Esswie teaches the one or more processors are configured to cause the first network node to provide a negative acknowledgement (NACK) from the second network node in response to the CLI information (Fig. 3, [0071, 0084], the CLI measurement request may indicate a coordinated beam pattern pair of uplink-downlink beam patterns for which CLI measurement is desired by, or determined by, victim RAN 105B. In response to having received the CLI measurement request, aggressor cell 105B either accepts, rejects, or counteroffers, in an acknowledgement, CLI configuration parameters that were part of the CLI measurement request. In the example shown in the figure, aggressor RAN 105A accepts parameters of the request transmitted at act 330. Upon acceptance, the RAN pair 105A-105B coordinate at act 340 regarding CLI measurement resources, transmit and receive beam pairs to be tested, and a type of CLI measurement reference signal transmission to be used for performing CLI measurement. The UEs 115 and the base stations 105 may support retransmissions of data to increase the likelihood that data is received successfully. Hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback is one technique for increasing the likelihood that data is received correctly over a communication link 125. HARQ may include a combination of error detection (e.g., using a cyclic redundancy check (CRC)), forward error correction (FEC), and retransmission (e.g., automatic repeat request (ARQ)). HARQ may improve throughput at the MAC layer in poor radio conditions (e.g., low signal-to-noise conditions). In some examples, a device may support same-slot HARQ feedback, where the device may provide HARQ feedback in a specific slot for data received in a previous symbol in the slot. In other cases, the device may provide HARQ feedback in a subsequent slot, or according to some other time interval),
Regarding claim 14, Esswie teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the second network node to: output the downlink communication on a downlink beam from the one or more non-preferred beam pairs (Fig. 2, [0073], RAN 105A may use multiple downlink beams, shown as downlink beam 205A and downlink beam 205B, to deliver downlink traffic to a user equipment and RAN 105A may use multiple uplink beams 210A and 210B, shown as uplink beam 210A and uplink beam 210B. It will be appreciated that a downlink beam may be associated with not only geographical, or spatial, dispersion of downlink signal energy from a RAN, but signal energy in a downlink beam may also be transmitted according to an associated frequency resource. For a given geographical/spatial dispersion pattern, a RAN may transmit multiple beams simultaneously if the RAN comprises multiple RF transmitter chains. Similarly, an uplink channel may be associated with a geographical/spatial sensitivity to uplink signal energy but may also be associated with a frequency at which an RF receiver circuit of the RAN is tuned to receive uplink traffic signal energy. Directional arrows inside of the beams shown in FIG. 2 correspond to traffic flowing in a downlink or uplink direction. Downlink beam 205A transmits signal energy 235A in a downlink direction; downlink signal energy is shown within beam cone 230A shown in broken lines to indicate that downlink signal energy may extend beyond a primary beam range of beam 205A indicated by beam lobe 232A, the outline of which is depicted as unbroken in the figure. Similarly, beam 205B transmits signal energy 235B in a downlink direction and downlink signal energy 235B may extend beyond beam lobe 232B).
Regarding claim 15, Esswie teaches wherein the NACK is comprised in F1 application protocol (F1AP) signaling, Xn signaling, or over-the-air signaling (Fig. 6, [0094], at act 610 victim RAN 105B may determine proposed CLI measurement parameters, such as a determined cell-specific CLI measurement priority, a request indication for coordinating with the victim RAN in performing Downlink-to-Uplink CLI measurement, CLI measurement frequency and timing resources, a CLI beam switching pattern, or a CLI measurement grouping pattern associated with each CLI measurement resource set (including the transmit downlink beam indices over each resource element, a type of CLI reference signal [e.g., CSI-RS, DMRS, PTRS], and one or more receive-uplink-beam indices over each resource element). At act 615 victim RAN node 105B may transmit toward neighboring nodes, over backhaul interfaces (e.g., Xn/F1 interfaces), the proposed CLI measurement parameter).
Regarding claim 17, Esswie teaches further comprising one or more antennas coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the second network node to: output a reference signal on one or more downlink beams, wherein the CLI information is based on the reference signal (Fig. 3, [0084-0085], uplink RF resources 305 and downlink RF resources 310 associated with an uplink victim RAN 105B and a downlink aggressor RAN, respectively, with full duplex sub-band 315 and full duplex sub-band 320 being time unit and spectrum frequency resources associated with respective beam patterns that the victim cell RAN has identified as being impacted by severe BS-BS CLI. At act 330 Victim RAN 105B transmits a CLI measurement request towards adjacent aggressor RAN/cell 105A. The CLI measurement request may indicate a coordinated beam pattern pair of uplink-downlink beam patterns for which CLI measurement is desired by, or determined by, victim RAN 105B. In response to having received the CLI measurement request, aggressor cell 105B either accepts, rejects, or counteroffers, in an acknowledgement, CLI configuration parameters that were part of the CLI measurement request. In the example shown in FIG. 3, aggressor RAN 105A accepts parameters of the request transmitted at act 330. Upon acceptance, the RAN pair 105A-105B coordinate at act 340 regarding CLI measurement resources, transmit and receive beam pairs to be tested, and a type of CLI measurement reference signal transmission to be used for performing CLI measurement. Aggressor RAN 105A transmits at act 350 the coordinated reference signal at the frequency and time, and via the beam pattern pairs coordinated at act 340. Victim RAN determines or estimates inter-cell CLI channel measurement parameter information corresponding to each of one or more trained, or coordinated, full duplex sub-bands and for the coordinated beam pattern pairs. The victim cell compiles a CLI measurement report and transmits it towards aggressor RAN 105A via a backhaul interface over which RAN 105A and RAN 105B may communicate. Providing the CLI measurement report from victim RAN 105B to aggressor RAN 105A may facilitate RAN 105A using the measured information contained in the CLI measurement report if the roles of RAN 105A and RAN 105B are reversed and RAN 105A is a victim RAN with respect to RAN 105B being an aggressor RAN because the CLI channel is semi-static between each cell-beam-pattern-pair due to the fixed relative positions of the RANs, thus a single CLI measurement cycle for each cell beam pattern pair may be used by either RAN for tailoring downlink transmission during a time when the other RAN may have a scheduled uplink receiving opportunity, or occasion, during the same period. A downlink transmit beam adopted by a RAN and an uplink receive beam adopted by another RAN can significantly impact inter-cell interference. Therefore, in an embodiment CLI measurement may be geared towards estimating the CLI channel over each of the available beams instead of measuring every beam pair combination between two RANs. In scenarios of high spectrum use with a large number of antennas and a large number of beams, a CLI measurement cycle may consume a not insignificant amount of time and resources and may delay delivery of actual traffic payload packets (e.g., packets not associated with measurement/testing signals) if CLI measurement is performed for every pair combination of beams from the victim and aggressor RANs).
Regarding claim 21, Esswie teaches wherein to obtain the CLI information, the one or more processors are configured to cause the second network node to obtain the CLI information in over-the-air signaling or in backhaul signaling (Fig. 3, [0084], aggressor RAN 105A transmits at act 350 the coordinated reference signal at the frequency and time, and via the beam pattern pairs coordinated at act 340. Victim RAN determines or estimates inter-cell CLI channel measurement parameter information corresponding to each of one or more trained, or coordinated, full duplex sub-bands and for the coordinated beam pattern pairs. The victim cell compiles a CLI measurement report and transmits it towards aggressor RAN 105A via a backhaul interface over which RAN 105A and RAN 105B may communicate).
Regarding claim 22, Esswie teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the second network node to: provide an indication of a measurement metric for a CLI measurement between the first network node and the second network node, wherein the CLI information is based on the measurement metric (Fig. 2, [0082], CLI channel may be dynamically measured by a RAN and a corresponding report may be exchanged across adjacent RANs, or cells. The phrase ‘measuring a CLI channel’ may refer to the gathering of signal parameter information corresponding to a signal, such as a test signal or reference signal, transmitted by a neighboring RAN during an agreed time, at an agreed frequency, and via an agreed downlink beam corresponding to the transmitting RAN and via an uplink beam corresponding to the measuring RAN. Neighboring RANs, or cells, may request CLI measurement from each other and may provide reports of measured CLI channel parameters with each other. A CLI measurement request may be sent among RANs via backhaul links and may include requests for information elements, or parameters, such as: resource set information that may comprise requests for information corresponding to timing and frequency resources to be used during measurement).
Regarding claim 23, Esswie teaches wherein the measurement metric corresponds to at least one of a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a reference signal strength indicator (RSSI) (Fig. 6, [0094], victim RAN 105B may detect CLI reference signals from aggressor RAN 105A vi one or more transmit and receive beam patterns indicated in the proposed and accepted CLI measurement parameters. Victim RAN 105B compiles a CLI measurement report based on the CLI measuring that was performed according to the proposed and accepted CLI measurement parameters, and at act 635 transmits the CLI measurement report towards aggressor RAN 105A, which CLI measurement report may comprise an estimated CLI RSRP (quantized indication or explicit value), and/or an estimated CLI RSSI).
Regarding claim 24, Esswie teaches wherein the CLI information is based on a measurement metric that corresponds to at least one of a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a reference signal strength indicator (RSSI) (Fig. 6, [0094], victim RAN 105B may detect CLI reference signals from aggressor RAN 105A vi one or more transmit and receive beam patterns indicated in the proposed and accepted CLI measurement parameters. Victim RAN 105B compiles a CLI measurement report based on the CLI measuring that was performed according to the proposed and accepted CLI measurement parameters, and at act 635 transmits the CLI measurement report towards aggressor RAN 105A, which CLI measurement report may comprise an estimated CLI RSRP (quantized indication or explicit value), and/or an estimated CLI RSSI).
Regarding claim 25, Esswie teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the second network node to: obtain an indication of a measurement metric for a CLI measurement between the first network node and the second network node, wherein the CLI information is based on the measurement metric, and wherein the measurement metric corresponds to at least one of a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a reference signal strength indicator (RSSI) (Fig. 6, [0082, 0094], CLI channel may be dynamically measured by a RAN and a corresponding report may be exchanged across adjacent RANs, or cells. The phrase ‘measuring a CLI channel’ may refer to the gathering of signal parameter information corresponding to a signal, such as a test signal or reference signal, transmitted by a neighboring RAN during an agreed time, at an agreed frequency, and via an agreed downlink beam corresponding to the transmitting RAN and via an uplink beam corresponding to the measuring RAN. Neighboring RANs, or cells, may request CLI measurement from each other and may provide reports of measured CLI channel parameters with each other. A CLI measurement request may be sent among RANs via backhaul links and may include requests for information elements, or parameters, such as: resource set information that may comprise requests for information corresponding to timing and frequency resources to be used during measurement. victim RAN 105B may detect CLI reference signals from aggressor RAN 105A vi one or more transmit and receive beam patterns indicated in the proposed and accepted CLI measurement parameters. Victim RAN 105B compiles a CLI measurement report based on the CLI measuring that was performed according to the proposed and accepted CLI measurement parameters, and at act 635 transmits the CLI measurement report towards aggressor RAN 105A, which CLI measurement report may comprise an estimated CLI RSRP (quantized indication or explicit value), and/or an estimated CLI RSSI (quantized indication or explicit value).
Esswie is teachings of measuring cross-link interference, between the nodes, indicating quality of service of the beam pairs. Esswie, however, fails to expressly teach the preferred and non-preferred beam pairs, and CLI information indicates QoS or priority level for uplink, and cross-link interference reduction mechanism based on QoS and priority. (Emphasis added).
Esswie does not expressly disclose the following features: regarding claim 13, wherein the first priority level of the uplink traffic of the first network node is less than the second QoS or the second priority level of the downlink traffic of the second network node.
Regarding claim 10, Qualcomm’984 teaches wherein the CLI information indicates at least one of one or more preferred beam pairs or one or more non-preferred beam pairs (Figs. 6-2 and 6-5, [page 23, section 6.1.1.2, proposal 31, page 24, proposal 32, page 25, proposal 34, page 26, section 6.1.3, ], for CLI measurement, CLI-RS is sent from aggressor gNB to victim gNB to measure actual interference per candidate DL/UL beam pair. Based on measurement results, victim gNB (or central coordinator) signals the non-compatible or compatible DL beam(s) per aggressor gNB and potentially other operation parameters, e.g. applied time/frequency resource, power backoff, etc. As for the inter-gNB CLI report, it can be sent either via OTA or backhaul, and the report can be periodic or event triggered with possible contents as inter-gNB CLI metric per Tx/Rx beam pair, allowed/disallowed beams, etc. A 1st DU-cell reports to an entity about interference measured from a neighboring 2nd DU-cell and the DU may be configured by CU/OAM with a report configuration. The report may include beam information (e.g. Rx beam of DU 1 and Tx beam of DU 2)),
Qualcomm’984 teaches and wherein the CLI information further indicates at least a first Quality of Service (QoS) or a first priority level for uplink traffic of the first network node (Fig. 6-2, [pages 27-28, section 6.2, proposal 42], victim cell can signal neighbor cells whether DL transmission is allowed on a pre-determined candidate UL resource of the victim cell, e.g. a set of RRC UL symbols for victim cell to protect its high priority UL transmission. For example, the determination can be based on whether the total inter-gNB CLI measured on that UL resource exceeds a certain threshold or not, and can be indicated via OTA or BH to neighbor cells. (Note: the signaling about whether or on a DL transmission is allowed on the pre- determined candidate UL resource of the victim cell is interpreted as a signaling of priority).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Esswie by incorporating the features as taught by Qualcomm’984 in order to provide a more effective and efficient system that is capable of indicating with CLI information one or more preferred beam pairs or one or more non-preferred beam pairs, and further indicates at least a first Quality of Service (QoS) or a first priority level for uplink traffic of the first network node. The motivation is to support an improved method for potential enhancements to support duplex evolution for NR TDD in unpaired spectrum (see [page 1, section 1]).
Esswie and Qualcomm’984 are teachings of measuring cross-link interference, between the nodes, indicating quality of service of the beam pairs. Esswie, however, fails to expressly teach cross-link interference reduction mechanism based on QoS and priority. (Emphasis added).
Regarding claim 10, Liu et al. teach adjust downlink communication based on a CLI reduction mechanism in response to the first QoS or the first priority level of the uplink traffic of the first network node being higher than or equal to a second QoS (Fig. 2, [0016, 0020, 0055, 0111-0112, 0114], a structural diagram of an information transmission processing device includes a determination module 22 and a processing module 24. The determination module 22 is configured to determine a first predefined pattern of a first network node. The first predefined pattern includes a link direction of a system resource of the first network node and a priority of the link direction. The priority of the link direction is determined according to a load size or a cache data size of a system and information transmitted on the system resource of the system where the first network node is located. Different information transmissions can be processed in link directions with different priorities, so as to reduce the influence of the cross-link interference. The degradation problem of the system uplink or downlink performance in the related art can be solved, so as to archive an improvement of the uplink or downlink performance. Through the device, the determination module 22 is configured to determine a first predefined pattern of a first network node, where the first predefined pattern includes a link direction of a system resource of the first network node and a priority of the link direction; the processing module 24 is configured to process information transmission according to the first predefined pattern. That is, the device processes the information transmission using the first predefined pattern including the priority of the link direction, so that different information transmissions can be processed in link directions with different priorities, and influence of the cross-link interference is further reduced. Therefore, the degradation problem of the system uplink or downlink performance in the related arts can be solved, so as to archive an improvement of the uplink or downlink performance. The link direction with the high priority information is transmitted in a same link direction, and an amount of the information in a system buffer is larger than a predetermined threshold, or specified information needs to be transmitted).
Regarding claim 13, Liu et al. teach wherein the first priority level of the uplink traffic of the first network node is higher than or equal to the second QoS or the second priority level of the downlink traffic of the second network node (Fig. 2, [0114, 0127, 0150] the priority of the link direction includes an uplink direction with a less high priority, a downlink direction with the high priority. where the first predefined pattern includes a link direction of a system resource of the first network node and a priority of the link direction. It should be noted that, the second network node may include one of: one or more nodes of all nodes in a network with a predetermined range except the first network node).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Esswie with Qualcomm’984 by incorporating the features as taught by Liu et al. in order to provide a more effective and efficient system that is capable of adjusting downlink communication based on a CLI reduction mechanism in response to the first priority level of the uplink traffic of the first network node being higher than or equal to a second QoS, and wherein the first priority level of the uplink traffic of the first network node being less than the second QoS or the second priority level of the downlink traffic of the second network. The motivation is to support an improved method for solving degradation problem of uplink or downlink performance of a system (see [0002]).
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Esswie (US 2024/0064539 A1) in view of disclosed NPL, Qualcomm Incorporated (potential enhancements on dynamic/flexible TDD), 3GPP TSG RAN WG1, R1- 2209984 (Qualcomm’984 hereinafter) and Liu et al. (US 2020/0389904 A1) as applied to claims 10 above, and further in view of Li et al. (US 2020/0177341 A1).
Esswie, Qualcomm’984 and Liu et al. disclose the claimed limitations as described in paragraph 12 above. Esswie, Qualcomm’984 and Liu et al. do not expressly disclose the following features: regarding claim 16, wherein the NACK further indicates the second QoS or the second priority level for the downlink traffic of the second network node.
Regarding claim 16, Li et al. teach wherein the NACK further indicates the second QoS or the second priority level for the downlink traffic of the second network node (Fig. 3, [0169, 0207, 0213], transmission information is prioritized. For example, ACK/NACK, beam feedback and DCI related information have the highest priority, resources for SRS and CSI-RS related to a measurement reference signal have the second highest priority, and scheduled traffic data has the lowest priority. For NR dynamic TDD, when the attribute of the original slot of ACK/NACK feedback is changed so that the transmission fails, the ACK/NACK may be processed according to at least one of the solutions described below. the problem of cross-link interference can be effectively avoided through a combination of the semi-persistent configuration and the dynamic signaling. Particularly, for important control-type information, such as the PDCCH, uplink control information, ACK/NACK and other information, their positions and sending methods are indicated, so that dynamic uplink and downlink data transmission according to a traffic requirement is implemented).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Esswie with Qualcomm’984 and Liu et al. by incorporating the features as taught by Li et al. in order to provide a more effective and efficient system that is capable of indicating a second priority level for downlink traffic of the second network node. The motivation is to support an improved method to solve the problem of cross-link interference (see [0007]).
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Esswie (US 2024/0064539 A1) in view of disclosed NPL, Qualcomm Incorporated (potential enhancements on dynamic/flexible TDD), 3GPP TSG RAN WG1, R1- 2209984 (Qualcomm’984 hereinafter) and Liu et al. (US 2020/0389904 A1) as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of Wang et al. (US 2020/0067614 A1).
Esswie, Qualcomm’984 and Liu et al. disclose the claimed limitations as described in paragraph 12 above. Esswie, Qualcomm’984 and Liu et al. do not expressly disclose the following features: regarding claim 18, wherein the reference signal includes at least a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a non-zero power channel state information reference signal (NZP CSI-RS).
Regarding claim 18, Wang et al. teach wherein the reference signal includes at least a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a non-zero power channel state information reference signal (NZP CSI-RS) (Fig. 1, [0036, 0040], NR communication system 100 comprises a transmission reception point (TRP) 102, a TRP 104 and a TRP 106. However, in other embodiments, the NR communication system 100 can comprise more or less TRPs than above and may also comprise one or more user equipment. A victim TRP comprises a TRP that receives interference and an interfering TRP comprises a TRP that causes interference. In this embodiment, the TRP 102 comprises a victim TRP that receives interference from the neighboring TRPs 104 and 106, and the TRP 104 and the TRP 106 comprises interfering TRPs that causes interference to the victim TRP 102. Therefore, the TRP 102 is referred to as a victim TRP 102 hereinafter for the ease of reference. The predefined interference signals (i.e., the first predefined interference signal 108 and the second predefined interference signal 110) comprises reference signals. For example, in some embodiments, the first predefined interference signal 108 and the second predefined interference signal 110 can comprise a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). In some embodiments, the CSI-RS comprises zero power CSI-RS (ZP CSI-RS) or non-zero power CSI-RS (NZP CSI-RS). However, in other embodiments, the predefined interference signals (i.e., the first predefined interference signal 108 and the second predefined interference signal 110) may comprise other signals, for example, other reference signals or any other predefined signal in NR communication systems).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Esswie with Qualcomm’984 and Liu et al. by incorporating the features as taught by Wang et al. in order to provide a more effective and efficient system that is capable of including in the reference signal at least a non-zero power channel state information reference signal (NZP CSI-RS). The motivation is to support an improved method for measuring interference in NR communication systems (see [0002]).
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Esswie (US 2024/0064539 A1) in view of disclosed NPL, Qualcomm Incorporated (potential enhancements on dynamic/flexible TDD), 3GPP TSG RAN WG1, R1- 2209984 (Qualcomm’984 hereinafter) and Liu et al. (US 2020/0389904 A1) as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of Xu et al. (US 2020/0228212 A1).
Esswie, Qualcomm’984 and Liu et al. disclose the claimed limitations as described in paragraph 12 above. Esswie, Qualcomm’984 and Liu et al. do not expressly disclose the following features: regarding claim 19, wherein the CLI information indicates the one or more preferred beam pairs between the first network node and the second network node, wherein the one or more preferred beam pairs have a lower CLI at the first network node than other candidate beam pairs in a set of one or more candidate beam pairs.
Regarding claim 19, Xu et al. teach wherein the CLI information indicates the one or more preferred beam pairs between the first network node and the second network node, wherein the one or more preferred beam pairs have a lower CLI at the first network node than other candidate beam pairs in a set of one or more candidate beam pairs (Fig. 2, [0094, 0115, 0132], wireless communications system 200 includes a base station 105-a and a base station 105-b. The base stations 105 may each be associated with a cell which provides wireless communications with the base station 105 within a coverage area 110. When uplink symbol transmissions are not available from any aggressor UE 115 for a victim UE 115 to measure, the victim UE 115 may be unable to measure the CLI from the aggressor UE 115 or the measurement may be compromised. As a result, the CLI measurement may be lower than normal and biased. To mitigate this bias, a predetermined threshold value for a signal strength according to the CLI measurement may be configured. Accordingly, if a physical layer measurement that corresponds to the CLI measurement (e.g., RSSI) is below the predetermined threshold value, the victim UE 115 may discard the measurement results. Alternatively, if the physical layer measurement is above the predetermined threshold value, the victim UE 115 may determine the measurement result is valid. For example, if different layer filtering (e.g., Layer-3 filtering) is enabled for the CLI measurement, the valid measurement results may be used for the layer filtering input. Additionally, the victim UE 115 may adapt a filter coefficient for the layer filtering such that time characteristics of the filter are preserved even if some of the physical layer measurements are discarded before filtering. By adapting the filter coefficient, the victim UE 115 may keep track of the variation of the signal strength for the CLI measurement (e.g., RSSI) over time. The base station 105 to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam or receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Esswie with Qualcomm’984 and Liu et al. by incorporating the features as taught by Xu et al. in order to provide a more effective and efficient system that is capable of having preferred beam pair with a lower CLI than other candidate beam pairs of the set of one or more candidate beam pairs. The motivation is to support an improved method for cross-link interference measurement transmission (see [0002]).
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Esswie (US 2024/0064539 A1) in view of disclosed NPL, Qualcomm Incorporated (potential enhancements on dynamic/flexible TDD), 3GPP TSG RAN WG1, R1- 2209984 (Qualcomm’984 hereinafter) and Liu et al. (US 2020/0389904 A1) as applied to claims 10 above, and further in view of Fakoorian et al. (US 2024/0146425 A1).
Esswie, Qualcomm’984 and Liu et al. disclose the claimed limitations as described in paragraph 12 above. Esswie, Qualcomm’984 and Liu et al. do not expressly disclose the following features: regarding claim 20, wherein the CLI information further indicates at least one of: a periodic time resource based on a CLI measurement, a periodic frequency resource based on the CLI measurement, or a power reduction based on the CLI measurement.
Regarding claim 20, Fakoorian et al. teach wherein the CLI information further indicates at least one of: a periodic time resource based on a CLI measurement, a periodic frequency resource based on the CLI measurement, or a power reduction based on the CLI measurement (Fig. 1B, [0043, 0053], system 120 can includes network nodes 122 and 126, a victim electronic device 124, and an aggressor electronic device 126. The aggressor BS 122 can transmit on a DL 170 to the victim UE 124. The parameter(s) for the time domain configuration can indicate whether the CLI resources are periodic or aperiodic. If the CLI resources are periodic, then parameter(s) for the time domain configuration can indicate the periodicity of the CLI resources. For example, the parameter(s) for the time domain configuration can indicate whether a CLI resource can be associated to a specific duration (number of slots) or it can be repeated periodically once the CLI resource is activated (e.g., triggered). Additionally, or alternatively, the parameter(s) for the time domain configuration can indicate at which slots and which symbols within that slot the CLI measurement is expected).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Esswie with Qualcomm’984 and Liu et al. by incorporating the features as taught by Fakoorian et al. in order to provide a more effective and efficient system that is capable of indicating a periodic time resource based on the CLI measurement. The motivation is to support an improved method for cross link interference (CLI) resource configuration and CLI measurement (see [0002]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-12 are 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-10 and 13-30 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.
Conclusion
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.
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/SYED M BOKHARI/Examiner, Art Unit 2473 3/11/2026
/KWANG B YAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2473