DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed on 3/13/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-15 and 17-31 remain pending in the application. Applicant’s amendments to Claims have overcome 112(b) rejection previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action mailed on 12/29/2025.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments on pages 17-18 with respect to claims 1, 17, 29 and 30 have been considered but are moot upon a further consideration and a new ground of rejection made under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vivo (Discussion on subband non-overlapping full duplex, 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #113, Incheon, Korea, May 22nd – May 26th, 2023) in view of Kurita (WO 2024/181417 A1).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1, 17, 29 and 30 recite the limitations "a sub-band full duplex (SBFD) symbol”, “a non-SBFD symbol”, “the SBFD signal” and “the non-SBFD signal”. The first two SBFD and non-SBFD are indicated as a ‘symbol’, but the latter two SBFD and non-SBFD are indicated as a ‘signal’. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-15 and 17-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vivo (Discussion on subband non-overlapping full duplex, 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #113, Incheon, Korea, May 22nd – May 26th, 2023) in view of Kurita (WO 2024/181417 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 17, 29 and 30, Vivo teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (Vivo, see page 14, Study whether the transmission/reception occasion of a physical channel/signal can be mapped to SBFD and non-SBFD symbols within a slot for a UE), comprising:
one or more memories; and
one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories (Vivo, see page 14, a UE), configured to cause the UE to:
receive a resource allocation for a reference signal that includes a sounding reference signal (SRS) (Vivo, see page 8, dynamic SBFD operation, resource allocation for PDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH/PUCCH/CSI-RS/SRS, transmissions and receptions across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols),
wherein the resource allocation for the reference signal comprises a sub-band full duplex (SBFD) symbol and a non-SBFD symbol that are within a single slot (Vivo, see page 14, for dynamically scheduled transmission/reception occasions, they can be allowed to be mapped to both SBFD symbol(s) and non-SBFD symbol(s) in the same slot); and
communicate with a network node in accordance with the resource allocation (Vivo, see page 14, the UE perform corresponding transmissions/receptions accordingly).
Vivo teaches the above yet fails to teach wherein the UE does not transmit the SRS via resources indicated in the resource allocation in response to the resource allocation including the SBFD signal and the non-SBFD signal.
Then Kurita teaches wherein the UE does not transmit the SRS via resources indicated in the resource allocation in response to the resource allocation including the SBFD signal and the non-SBFD signal (Kurita, see pages 70-71, example 2-10: When a UE is configured with periodic/semi-persistent SRS resources (set) (with or without repetition “ON”) (for single TRP and/or multiple TRPs) and has SRS resources between SBFD and non-SBFD symbols in the same slot, it does not transmit periodic/semi-persistent SRS (repetition) in a slot).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Vivo with terminal, base station, and wireless communication method of Kurita, because doing so would make Vivo more efficient in providing a terminal, a base station, and a wireless communication method that improves the efficiency of resource utilization (Kurita, see page 2).
Regarding claims 2, 18 and 31, Vivo in view of Kurita teaches wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to communicate with the network node, are configured to cause the UE to:
refrain from monitoring the SBFD symbol or the non-SBFD symbol for the reference signal in response to the resource allocation for the reference signal comprising the SBFD symbol and the non-SBFD symbol (Vivo, see page 15, If consistent configuration (in terms of frequency domain resources, antenna/RF settings, power configurations, etc.) across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols are guaranteed, the UE transmits/receives in the occasion; Otherwise, the UE drops/postpones the occasion).
Regarding claims 3 and 19, Vivo in view of Kurita teaches wherein:
the resource allocation for the reference signal indicates that the reference signal is mapped to a first number of first ports in the SBFD symbol and is mapped to a second number of second ports in the non-SBFD symbol (Vivo, see page 15, A dynamically scheduled transmission/reception occasion is allowed to be mapped to both SBFD symbol(s) and non-SBFD symbol(s) in the same slot); and
the refraining from monitoring is further in response to the first number of the first ports in the SBFD symbol being the same as the second number of the second ports in the non-SBFD symbol (Vivo, see page 15, If consistent configuration (in terms of frequency domain resources, antenna/RF settings, power configurations, etc.) across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols are guaranteed, the UE transmits/receives in the occasion; Otherwise, the UE drops/postpones the occasion).
Regarding claims 4 and 20, Vivo in view of Kurita teaches wherein:
the resource allocation for the reference signal indicates that the reference signal is mapped to a first number of first ports in the SBFD symbol and is mapped to a second number of second ports in the non-SBFD symbol (Vivo, see page 15, A dynamically scheduled transmission/reception occasion is allowed to be mapped to both SBFD symbol(s) and non-SBFD symbol(s) in the same slot); and
the refraining from monitoring is further in response to the first number of the first ports in the SBFD symbol being different from the second number of the second ports in the non-SBFD symbol (Vivo, see page 15, If consistent configuration (in terms of frequency domain resources, antenna/RF settings, power configurations, etc.) across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols are guaranteed, the UE transmits/receives in the occasion; Otherwise, the UE drops/postpones the occasion).
Regarding claims 5 and 21, Vivo in view of Kurita teaches wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to communicate with the network node, are configured to cause the UE to:
monitor at least one of:
the SBFD symbol for one or more first code-division multiplexing groups associated with the reference signal, or
the non-SBFD symbol for one or more second code-division multiplexing groups associated with the reference signal (Vivo, see page 25, The monitoring periodicity of a search space is such that different monitoring occasions in different slots occur in SBFD and non-SBFD symbols, respectively, and, The associated CORESET overlaps the boundary of a DL subband in SBFD symbols); and
transmit, to the network node, a channel state information report corresponding to at least one of a first channel estimation associated with SBFD communications or a second channel estimation associated with non-SBFD communications (Vivo, see page 8, dynamic SBFD operation, resource allocation for PDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH/PUCCH/CSI-RS/SRS, transmissions and receptions across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols), wherein:
the first channel estimation corresponds to receiving the one or more first code-division multiplexing groups (Vivo, see pages 2-3, For implementation complexity at gNB side, it has been argued that a slot consisting of both SBFD and non-SBFD symbols may not be feasible due to potentially required guard period between them. However, if the gNB does not need to retune the filter(s) or change the connections between Tx/Rx chains and panel groups when switching between full-DL/UL symbols and SBFD symbols, or if configured parameters for SBFD symbols and that for non-SBFD symbols are the same, no guard period is required for the gNB), and
the second channel estimation corresponds to receiving the one or more second code-division multiplexing groups (Vivo, see pages 2-3, For implementation complexity at gNB side, it has been argued that a slot consisting of both SBFD and non-SBFD symbols may not be feasible due to potentially required guard period between them. However, if the gNB does not need to retune the filter(s) or change the connections between Tx/Rx chains and panel groups when switching between full-DL/UL symbols and SBFD symbols, or if configured parameters for SBFD symbols and that for non-SBFD symbols are the same, no guard period is required for the gNB).
Regarding claims 6 and 22, Vivo in view of Kurita teaches wherein:
the monitoring comprises monitoring the SBFD symbol and the non-SBFD symbol (Vivo, see page 25, The monitoring periodicity of a search space is such that different monitoring occasions in different slots occur in SBFD and non-SBFD symbols, respectively, and, The associated CORESET overlaps the boundary of a DL subband in SBFD symbols); and
transmitting the channel state information report comprises transmitting the channel state information report corresponding to the first channel estimation associated with the SBFD communications and the second channel estimation associated with the non-SBFD communications (Vivo, see page 8, dynamic SBFD operation, resource allocation for PDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH/PUCCH/CSI-RS/SRS, transmissions and receptions across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols).
Regarding claims 7 and 23, Vivo in view of Kurita teaches wherein:
the monitoring comprises monitoring the SBFD symbol or the non-SBFD symbol (Vivo, see page 25, The monitoring periodicity of a search space is such that different monitoring occasions in different slots occur in SBFD and non-SBFD symbols, respectively, and, The associated CORESET overlaps the boundary of a DL subband in SBFD symbols); and
transmitting the channel state information report comprises transmitting the channel state information report corresponding to the first channel estimation associated with the SBFD communications or the second channel estimation associated with the non-SBFD communications (Vivo, see page 8, dynamic SBFD operation, resource allocation for PDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH/PUCCH/CSI-RS/SRS, transmissions and receptions across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols).
Regarding claims 8 and 24, Vivo in view of Kurita teaches wherein:
the resource allocation for the reference signal indicates that the reference signal is mapped to a first number of first ports in the SBFD symbol and is mapped to a second number of second ports in the non-SBFD symbol (Vivo, see page 8, dynamic SBFD operation, resource allocation for PDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH/PUCCH/CSI-RS/SRS, transmissions and receptions across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols); and
transmitting the channel state information report corresponding to at least one of the first channel estimation associated with the SBFD communications or the second channel estimation associated with the non-SBFD communications is in response to the first number of the first ports in the SBFD symbol being the same as the second number of the second ports in the non-SBFD symbol (Vivo, see page 15, If consistent configuration (in terms of frequency domain resources, antenna/RF settings, power configurations, etc.) across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols are guaranteed, the UE transmits/receives in the occasion; Otherwise, the UE drops/postpones the occasion).
Regarding claims 9 and 25, Vivo in view of Kurita teaches wherein:
the resource allocation for the reference signal indicates that the reference signal does not overlap in a time domain with a gap symbol that extends, in the time domain, between an SBFD symbol in the single slot and a non-SBFD symbol in the single slot (Vivo, see page 8, dynamic SBFD operation, resource allocation for PDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH/PUCCH/CSI-RS/SRS, transmissions and receptions across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols); and
transmitting the channel state information report corresponding to at least one of the first channel estimation associated with the SBFD communications or the second channel estimation associated with the non-SBFD communications is in response to the reference signal not overlapping in the time domain with the gap symbol (Vivo, see page 15, If consistent configuration (in terms of frequency domain resources, antenna/RF settings, power configurations, etc.) across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols are guaranteed, the UE transmits/receives in the occasion; Otherwise, the UE drops/postpones the occasion).
Regarding claims 10 and 26, Vivo in view of Kurita teaches wherein:
the resource allocation for the reference signal indicates that each code-division multiplexing group associated with the reference signal is contained in either the SBFD symbol or in the non-SBFD symbol (Vivo, see page 8, dynamic SBFD operation, resource allocation for PDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH/PUCCH/CSI-RS/SRS, transmissions and receptions across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols); and
transmitting the channel state information report corresponding to at least one of the first channel estimation associated with the SBFD communications or the second channel estimation associated with the non-SBFD communications is in response to each code-division multiplexing group associated with the reference signal being contained in either the SBFD symbol or in the non-SBFD symbol (Vivo, see page 15, If consistent configuration (in terms of frequency domain resources, antenna/RF settings, power configurations, etc.) across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols are guaranteed, the UE transmits/receives in the occasion; Otherwise, the UE drops/postpones the occasion).
Regarding claims 11 and 27, Vivo in view of Kurita teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:
receive, from the network node, configuration information associated with the channel state information report that indicates that a time restriction for channel measurements associated with the channel state information report is not configured, wherein transmitting the signaling indicating at least one of the first channel estimation associated with the SBFD communications or the second channel estimation associated with the non-SBFD communications is in response to the time restriction for the channel measurements associated with the channel state information report not being configured (Vivo, see page 8, dynamic SBFD operation, resource allocation for PDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH/PUCCH/CSI-RS/SRS, transmissions and receptions across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols).
Regarding claims 12 and 28, Vivo in view of Kurita teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:
monitor a first set of resource elements in the SBFD symbol and a second set of resource elements in the non-SBFD symbol to receive at least a portion of the reference signal (Vivo, see page 25, The monitoring periodicity of a search space is such that different monitoring occasions in different slots occur in SBFD and non-SBFD symbols, respectively, and, The associated CORESET overlaps the boundary of a DL subband in SBFD symbols),
wherein the first set of resource elements and the second set of resource elements span a same set of frequency resources and are configured for downlink communications (Vivo, see page 8, dynamic SBFD operation, resource allocation for PDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH/PUCCH/CSI-RS/SRS, transmissions and receptions across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols);
refrain from monitoring a third set of resource elements in the SBFD and a fourth set of resource elements in the non-SBFD (Vivo, see page 15, If consistent configuration (in terms of frequency domain resources, antenna/RF settings, power configurations, etc.) across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols are guaranteed, the UE transmits/receives in the occasion; Otherwise, the UE drops/postpones the occasion),
wherein the third set of resource elements and the fourth set of resource elements span a same set of frequency resources (Vivo, see page 8, dynamic SBFD operation, resource allocation for PDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH/PUCCH/CSI-RS/SRS, transmissions and receptions across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols), and
wherein at least a portion of the third set of resource elements are configured for uplink communications (Vivo, see page 8, dynamic SBFD operation, resource allocation for PDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH/PUCCH/CSI-RS/SRS, transmissions and receptions across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols); and
transmit, to the network node and in response to receiving at least the portion of the reference signal, a channel state information report associated with channel estimations that correspond to the first set of resource elements and the second set of resource elements (Vivo, see page 15, If consistent configuration (in terms of frequency domain resources, antenna/RF settings, power configurations, etc.) across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols are guaranteed, the UE transmits/receives in the occasion; Otherwise, the UE drops/postpones the occasion).
Regarding claim 13, Vivo in view of Kurita teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:
receive, from the network node, an indication that one or more first transmission parameters associated with a transmission of the reference signal in the SBFD symbol are the same as one or more second transmission parameters associated with a transmission of the reference signal in the non-SBFD symbol (Vivo, see page 8, dynamic SBFD operation, resource allocation for PDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH/PUCCH/CSI-RS/SRS, transmissions and receptions across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols), wherein communicating with the network node comprises:
transmit, to the network node and in response to the one or more first transmission parameters being the same as the one or more second transmission parameters, a channel state information report associated with a first channel estimation associated with SBFD communications and a second channel estimation associated with non-SBFD communications (Vivo, see page 8, dynamic SBFD operation, resource allocation for PDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH/PUCCH/CSI-RS/SRS, transmissions and receptions across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols).
Regarding claim 14, Vivo in view of Kurita teaches wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to communicate with the network node, are configured to cause the UE to:
refrain from transmitting the reference signal in the SBFD symbol and the non-SBFD symbol in response to the resource allocation for the reference signal comprising the SBFD symbol and the non-SBFD symbol (Vivo, see page 15, If consistent configuration (in terms of frequency domain resources, antenna/RF settings, power configurations, etc.) across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols are guaranteed, the UE transmits/receives in the occasion; Otherwise, the UE drops/postpones the occasion).
Regarding claim 15, Vivo in view of Kurita teaches wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to communicate with the network node, are configured to cause the UE to:
transmit a first portion of the reference signal in a first symbol that comprises either the SBFD symbol or the non-SBFD symbol (Vivo, see page 8, dynamic SBFD operation, resource allocation for PDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH/PUCCH/CSI-RS/SRS, transmissions and receptions across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols); and
refrain from transmitting a second portion of the reference signal in a second symbol that comprises either the non-SBFD symbol or the SBFD symbol, wherein the first symbol is different from the second symbol (Vivo, see page 15, If consistent configuration (in terms of frequency domain resources, antenna/RF settings, power configurations, etc.) across SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols are guaranteed, the UE transmits/receives in the occasion; Otherwise, the UE drops/postpones the occasion).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHONG G KIM whose telephone number is (571)270-0619. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri @ 9am - 5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicholas R. Taylor can be reached at 571-272-3889. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHONG G KIM/Examiner, Art Unit 2443
/CHRISTOPHER B ROBINSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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