DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rudolf et al. US 2024/0196241 (herein Rud), in view of CHOI et al. US 2026/0052543 (hereinafter CHOI).
Regarding claim 1, Rud teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) [Rud, Figs. 1 and 3, UE 116, ¶15, ¶59],
comprising:
one or more memories; and
[Rud, Fig. 3, UE 116 and Memory 360, ¶59 & ¶66]
one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories,
[Rud, Fig. 3, UE 116, Processor and Memory 360, ¶60, ¶64 & ¶66]
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configured to cause the UE to:
perform, in accordance with a sub-band full-duplex (SBFD) operation, physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) skipping based at least in part on a PDCCH monitoring adaptation field, and wherein the PDCCH monitoring adaptation field indicates for the UE to perform the PDCCH skipping for the duration on an active downlink bandwidth-part (BWP) of a serving cell;
([Rud, ¶236] The UE receives DCI-based signaling, such as a PDCCH monitoring adaption field in a DCI, to adjust the UE PDCCH reception behavior using PDCCH skipping. Thus, there is a separate field which indicates whether or not the UE shall monitor the PDCCH on SBFD symbols/slot. [Rud, ¶248] The PDCCH monitoring adaptation field indicates for the UE to perform PDCCH skipping for the duration, according to the parameter PDCCHSkippingDurationList as provided to the UE, on the active DL BWP of the serving cell.)
But it does not teach, wherein the PDCCH skipping includes skipping PDCCH monitoring for a duration that begins at a beginning of a first slot that is after a last symbol of a PDCCH reception.
However, CHOI teaches wherein the PDCCH skipping includes skipping PDCCH monitoring for a duration that begins at a beginning of a first slot that is after a last symbol of a PDCCH reception that provides a downlink control information (DCI) format with the PDCCH monitoring adaptation field
([CHOI, ¶52, Table 5 – continued (found on Page 6 of CHOI – shown below)] The PDCCH adaptation field indicates to the UE to skip PDCCH monitoring for a duration on the active DL BWP of the serving cell, where the UE starts skipping the PDCCH monitoring at the beginning of a first slot after the last symbol of the PDCCH reception providing the DCI format.)
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detect, within a resource that occurs during the duration, an overlap between a PDCCH monitoring occasion and an uplink transmission by the UE; and
([CHOI, ¶52, Table 5 – continued (found on Page 6 of CHOI – shown below)] CHOI teaches wherein the UE is configured to transmit a PUCCH during the duration of the skipped PDCCH monitoring duration of the active DL BWP. The UE during the process has detected scheduling of PUCCH resources in the UL to occur during same duration of the PDCCH monitoring occasion. This detected configuration of transmitting on UL PUCCH resources during a configured DL PDCCH monitoring duration is a detected overlap as claimed above.)
transmit the uplink transmission within the resource based at least in part on the overlap between the PDCCH monitoring occasion and the uplink transmission.
([CHOI, ¶52, Table 5 – continued (found on Page 6 of CHOI – shown below)] CHOI teaches wherein the UE is configured to transmit a PUCCH during the duration of the skipped PDCCH monitoring duration of the active DL BWP. Thus, the UE transmits within the resources based at least in part on the overlapping duration between PUCCH resources in the UL occurring during same duration of the skipped PDCCH monitoring occasion.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of Rud, indicating the ability to perform PDCCH skipping at the UE and based on a PDCCH monitoring adaptation field, with the teachings of CHOI, indicating that the UE may transmit on the UL based on the skipped PDCCH when there is an overlap in resources. The resulting benefit of the combination would have been the ability to promote UE power savings by suspending reception within the resource for a duration [CHOI, ¶72].
Regarding claim 20, Rud teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a network node, [Rud, Fig. 2, Base station 102 (shown below)]
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comprising:
one or more memories; and
[Rud, Fig. 2, Memory 230 (shown above)]
one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories,
[Rud, Fig. 2, Processor 225 (shown above), ¶57]
configured to cause the network node to:
transmit, in accordance with a sub-band full-duplex (SBFD) operation, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) skipping indication that is included within a PDCCH monitoring adaptation field, wherein the PDCCH monitoring adaptation field indicates for the UE to perform the PDCCH skipping for the duration on an active downlink bandwidth-part (BWP) of a serving cell;
([Rud, ¶236 and also see ¶141] The UE receives DCI-based signaling, such as a PDCCH monitoring adaption field in a DCI, which is transmitted by the base station to adjust the UE PDCCH reception behavior using PDCCH skipping. Thus, there is a separate field which indicates whether or not the UE shall monitor the PDCCH on SBFD symbols/slot. [Rud, ¶248] The PDCCH monitoring adaptation field indicates for the UE to perform PDCCH skipping for the duration, according to the parameter PDCCHSkippingDurationList as provided to the UE, on the active DL BWP of the serving cell.)
But it does not teach, wherein the PDCCH skipping indication indicates for a user equipment (UE) to skip PDCCH monitoring for a duration that begins at a beginning of a first slot that is after a last symbol of a PDCCH reception that provides a downlink control information (DCI) format with the PDCCH monitoring adaptation field;
However, CHOI teaches wherein the PDCCH skipping indication indicates for a user equipment (UE) to skip PDCCH monitoring for a duration that begins at a beginning of a first slot that is after a last symbol of a PDCCH reception that provides a downlink control information (DCI) format with the PDCCH monitoring adaptation field; ([CHOI, ¶52, Table 5 – continued (found on Page 6 of CHOI – shown below)] The PDCCH adaptation field indicates to the UE to skip PDCCH monitoring for a duration on the active DL BWP of the serving cell, where the UE starts skipping the PDCCH monitoring at the beginning of a first slot after the last symbol of the PDCCH reception providing the DCI format.)
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receive an uplink transmission within a resource that occurs during the duration based at least in part on an overlap between a PDCCH monitoring occasion and the uplink transmission.
([CHOI, ¶52, Table 5 – continued (found on Page 6 of CHOI – shown below)] CHOI teaches wherein the UE is configured to transmit a PUCCH which is received by the base station during the duration of the skipped PDCCH monitoring duration of the active DL BWP. Thus, the base station receives within the resources based at least in part on the overlapping duration between PUCCH resources in the UL occurring during same duration of the skipped PDCCH monitoring occasion.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of Rud, indicating the ability to perform PDCCH skipping at the UE and based on a PDCCH monitoring adaptation field transmitted to the UE by the base station, with the teachings of CHOI, indicating that the base station may receive UE UL transmissions based on the skipped PDCCH when there is an overlap in resources. The resulting benefit of the combination would have been the ability to promote UE power savings by suspending reception within the resource for a duration [CHOI, ¶72].
Claim(s) 2 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rud, in view of CHOI as applied to claims 1 and 20 respectively above, and further in view of ZHAO US 2023/0102738 (hereinafter ZHAO).
Regarding claim 2, Rud, in view of CHOI teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to perform uplink transmission when there is a detected overlap between resources for the uplink and resources for the downlink PDCCH.
[CHOI, ¶52, Table 5 – continued (found on Page 6 of CHOI – shown below)] CHOI teaches wherein the UE is configured to transmit a PUCCH during the duration of the skipped PDCCH monitoring duration of the active DL BWP. Thus, the UE transmits within the resources based at least in part on the overlapping duration between PUCCH resources in the UL occurring during same duration of the skipped PDCCH monitoring occasion.)
But it does not teach causing the UE to prioritize the uplink transmission over the PDCCH monitoring occasion based at least in part on detecting the overlap between the PDCCH monitoring occasion and the uplink transmission.
However, ZHAO teaches causing the UE to prioritize the uplink transmission over the PDCCH monitoring occasion based at least in part on detecting the overlap between the PDCCH monitoring occasion and the uplink transmission.
([ZHAO, ¶59] According to ZHAO the UE is to prioritize and transmit the uplink transmission if a collision occurs between the uplink transmission and the PDCCH monitoring operation wherein collision includes both the uplink transmission and the PDCCH monitoring operation being set to occur during the same duration.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of Rud, in view of CHOI indicating the ability to perform PDCCH skipping at the UE and based on a PDCCH monitoring adaptation field, with the teachings of ZHAO, indicating that the UE may prioritize transmission on the UL based on the skipped PDCCH when there is an overlap in resources. The resulting benefit of the combination would have been the ability to solve collisions between uplink transmissions and downlink transmissions to improve communication quality [ZHAO, ¶42].
Regarding claim 21, Rud, in view of CHOI teaches the apparatus of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to perform uplink transmission when there is a detected overlap between resources for the uplink and resources for the downlink PDCCH.
[CHOI, ¶52, Table 5 – continued (found on Page 6 of CHOI – shown below)] CHOI teaches wherein the UE is configured to transmit a PUCCH during the duration of the skipped PDCCH monitoring duration of the active DL BWP. Thus, the UE transmits within the resources based at least in part on the overlapping duration between PUCCH resources in the UL occurring during same duration of the skipped PDCCH monitoring occasion.)
But it does not teach causing the UE to prioritize the uplink transmission over the PDCCH monitoring occasion based at least in part on the overlap between the PDCCH monitoring occasion and the uplink transmission.
However, ZHAO teaches causing the UE to prioritize the uplink transmission over the PDCCH monitoring occasion based at least in part on the overlap between the PDCCH monitoring occasion and the uplink transmission. ([ZHAO, ¶59] According to ZHAO the UE is to prioritize and transmit the uplink transmission if a collision occurs between the uplink transmission and the PDCCH monitoring operation wherein collision includes both the uplink transmission and the PDCCH monitoring operation being set to occur during the same duration.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of Rud, in view of CHOI indicating the ability to perform PDCCH skipping at the UE and based on a PDCCH monitoring adaptation field, with the teachings of ZHAO, indicating that the UE may prioritize transmission on the UL based on the skipped PDCCH when there is an overlap in resources. The resulting benefit of the combination would have been the ability to solve collisions between uplink transmissions and downlink transmissions to improve communication quality [ZHAO, ¶42].
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rud, in view of CHOI as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of SEOK et al US 2025/0294538 (hereinafter SEOK).
Regarding claim 5, Rud, in view of CHOI teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to transmit the uplink transmission within the resource.
([Rud, Fig. 11, ¶125] UE transmits UL transmissions via the UL subbands in the full duplex slot for SBFD operations).
But it does not teach wherein the UE transmits SRS transmissions in one or more UL sub-bands of an SBFD.
However, SEOK teaches the UE to transmit the uplink transmission within the resource, are configured to cause the UE to perform a physical uplink control channel transmission, a physical uplink shared channel transmission, or a sounding reference signal transmission in one or more uplink sub-bands of an SBFD slot.
([SEOK, ¶351] The UE performs the operation of transmitting PUCCH, PUSCH or sounding reference signal (SRS) in the uplink subband of an SBFD slot.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of the combination of Rud, in view of CHOI, indicating that the uplink transmission will be transmitted by the UE in the resource via UL subbands, with the teachings of SEOK, indicating that the UE will transmit PUSCH, PUCCH or SRS, in the SBFD. The resulting benefit would have been the ability to address the problems of uplink coverage reduction and increased latency uplink resources may be allocated along with downlink resources within a specific time domain resource [SEOK, ¶135].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 4, 6-12 and 22-26 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.
Claims 13-19 and 27-30 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The Examiner has conducted a prior art search of the available Patent and Non-Patent Literature and was unable to find any prior art which teaches either solely or in combination with another reference the claim limitations of claims 3, 4 6, 9, 11, 22-26 for the underlined reasons expressed below:
Claim 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to disable one or more collision handling rules associated with collisions between PDCCH monitoring occasions and uplink transmissions based at least in part on detecting the overlap between the PDCCH monitoring occasion and the uplink transmission.
(None of the references disclose causing the UE to disable one or more collision handling rules associated with collisions between PDCCH monitoring)
Claim 22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the PDCCH skipping indication indicates for the UE to disable one or more collision handling rules associated with collisions between PDCCH monitoring occasions and uplink transmissions based at least in part on the overlap between the PDCCH monitoring occasion and the uplink transmission.
(Similar rationale applied to claim 3 is applied to the instant claim)
Claim 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:
detect, within another resource that occurs during the duration, another PDCCH monitoring occasion that does not overlap with any uplink transmission by the UE; and
prioritize the other PDCCH monitoring occasion within the other resource.([ZHAO, ¶34] The priority of the downlink transmission is higher than the uplink however there is no disclosure of an occurrence of detection of another PDCCH monitoring occasion that does not overlap with any uplink transmission be the UE, as it relates another of the SBFD resources)
Claim 23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the PDCCH skipping indication indicates for the UE to prioritize the uplink transmission over the PDCCH monitoring occasion based at least in part on the PDCCH monitoring occasion not overlapping with the uplink transmission.
(Similar rationale applied to claim 4 is applied to the instant claim)
Claim 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to obtain an indication that the UE is enabled to transmit the uplink transmission in accordance with a skipping indication that indicates for the UE to perform the PDCCH skipping being received in a symbol that is less than an offset from one or more starting symbols of the uplink transmission.
(LAI, US 2025/0008431 ¶79 the PUSCH is scheduled by a PDCCH until reaching a minimum scheduling offsets. This disclosure is unrelated to the UE to performing the PDCCH skipping being received in a symbol that is less than an offset from one or more starting symbols of the uplink transmission.
However, LAI does disclose in ¶163 and ¶248 the PDCCH monitoring may be an PDCCH a PDCCH skipping indication. Though this also fails to teach the UE performing the PDCCH skipping being received in a symbol that is less than an offset from one or more starting symbols of the uplink transmission.)
Claim 24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the PDCCH skipping indication indicates for the UE to perform the uplink transmission in accordance with receiving the PDCCH skipping indication in a symbol that is less than an offset from one or more starting symbols of the uplink transmission.
(Similar rationale applied to claim 6 is applied to the instant claim)
Claim 9. None of the applied prior art teaches the underlined claim features in combination with the other claim limitations recited in the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:
obtaining an indication to use a semi-static SBFD prioritization rule based at least in part on a current search space set group (SSSG) for performing SSSG switching (CHOI, Fig.4 and ¶113); and
apply, in accordance with an application delay that is at least a dedicated quantity of symbols after a last symbol of the PDCCH reception that provides the DCI format with the PDCCH monitoring adaptation field, a collision rule associated with an initial SSSG.
Claim 25. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the network node to transmit an indication for the UE to apply a collision rule associated with an initial search space set group (SSSG) based at least in part on an application delay that is at least a dedicated quantity of symbols after a last symbol of the PDCCH reception that provides the DCI format with the PDCCH monitoring adaptation field.
(Similar rationale applied to claim 9 is applied to the instant claim)
Claim 11, none of the applied prior art teaches the underlined claim features in combination with the other claim limitations as recited herein: The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: transmit, in accordance with performing the PDCCH skipping during the duration, a PUCCH transmission that includes at least one of a scheduling request (SR) or a negative acknowledgement (NACK); and identify, after transmitting the PUCCH transmission that includes the SR or the NACK, whether to transmit the uplink transmission within the duration based at least in part on the overlap between the PDCCH monitoring occasion and the uplink transmission.
Claim 26. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the network node to: receive, during the duration, a PUCCH transmission that includes at least one of a scheduling request (SR) or a negative acknowledgement (NACK); and receive, after receiving the PUCCH transmission that includes the SR or the NACK, the uplink transmission within the duration based at least in part on the overlap between the PDCCH monitoring occasion and the uplink transmission.
(Similar rationale applied to claim 11 is applied to the instant claim)
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The Examiner has conducted an updated search of the available Patent and Non-Patent Literature and was unable to find any prior art which teaches either solely or in combination with another reference the claim limitation of “transmit unused transmission occasion (UTO) uplink control information (UTO-UCI) indicating that the UE is to skip an uplink transmission occasion within the SBFD resource and assign a priority to a downlink communication within the SBFD resource that is a higher than a priority of an uplink transmission associated with the uplink transmission occasion based at least in part on the UTO-UCI” and “transmit a downlink communication within the SBFD resource based at least in part on the UTO-UCI” in combination with all the other claim limitations of claim 13 and claim 27 respectively.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
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/LONNIE V SWEET/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467