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 .
This Office Action is in response to claim amendment filed on January 12, 2026 and wherein claims 1,4,6,9,10,12,13,15,16,20,23,26 and 27 being currently amended, claims 2,3,5,17-19,21 and 22 being cancelled, and claims 28-33 being new added.
In virtue of this communication, claims 1, 4, 6-16,20 and 23-33 are currently pending in this Office Action.
The Office appreciates the explanation of the amendment and analyses of the prior arts, and however, although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993) and MPEP 2145.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 16, 27 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 16, 27, 32, 33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xiong et al. (US 20230224880 A1, hereinafter Xiong).
Claim 1: Xiong teaches an apparatus for wireless communication (abstract), comprising: at least one transceiver (Fig.7, element 718, 720,726,722,724, [0279]), one or more memories (Fig. 7, element 712, 714, Fig.8, element 820, [0286], “The memory/storage devices 820 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof”), individually or in combination, having instructions (Fig. 8, element 850, [0288], “ Instructions 850 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 810 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein”); and one or more processors (Fig.8, elements 810 ,812, 814, [0285], “The processors 810 may include, for example, a processor 812 and a processor 814”), individually or in combination, configured to execute the instructions and to cause the apparatus to:
receive, via the at least one transceiver (Fig.7, element 718, 720,726,722,724, [0279]), signaling configuring the apparatus to communicate via one or more bandwidth parts (BWPs) ([0019], “the reduced BW of RedCap UE limits the configuration of initial DL or UL BWP and/or the active DL or UL BWP”,[0252], “the UE 602 can be configured with multiple BWPs where each BWP configuration has a different SCS”, Fig. 4, [0098], “For a serving cell with NOSB-FD operation, a symbol can be used to map both DL and UL physical channels or signals… a “sub-band” corresponds to a set of physical resources within a carrier that are contiguous in frequency, e.g., a number of consecutive Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) on the Common Resource Block (CRB) grid… the sub-band configuration can be provided to the UE via UE-specific Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling” , [0088], “ if the NCD-SSB is not included within the bandwidth of the separate initial DL BWP, then the UE may expect to be switched to the RRC-configured DL BWP upon RRC connection setup”), wherein at least one of a cell defining synchronization signal block (CD-SSB) or a non-cell defining synchronization signal block (NCD-SSB) can be received via each of the one or more BWPs (Fig. 1, [0019], “a separate initial DL BWP of a RedCap UE may not include a cell-defining SSB (CD-SSB). This is for the case that the initial DL BWP is configured for random access but not for paging. On the other hand, an active DL BWP for a RedCap UE in connected mode, if it does not include a CD-SSB, a non-cell defining SSB (NCD-SSB) can be configured in the DL BWP”, [0029], “A separate initial DL BWP configured for RedCap UE may include the CD-SSB … a separate initial DL BWP in connected mode, if it does not include CD-SSB and the entire CORESET #0 and if it is configured for paging, a RedCap UE supporting mandatory feature group (FG) 6-1 (but not optional FG 6-1a) expects it to contain NCD-SSB”, [0030], “an RRC-configured active DL BWP in connected mode may include the CD-SSB … if it does not include CD-SSB and the entire CORESET #0, a RedCap UE supporting mandatory FG 6-1 (but not optional FG 6-1a) expects it to contain NCD-SSB”);
receive, via the at least one transceiver, an indication of a first set of time-domain resources (Fig. 2, [0058], “Given that the allocated resource for PUSCH transmission overlaps with the symbols for CD-SSB and NCD-SSB in slot n+1 and slot n+2, these two slots are not considered as available slots for PUSCH repetition type A and TBoMS”, [0057], “at least one of the symbols indicated by the indexed row of the used resource allocation table in the slot overlaps with a DL symbol indicated by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated if provided, or a symbol of an SS/PBCH block for NCD-SSB and/or CD-SSB”, [0040], “ for a set of symbols of a slot indicated to a UE for reception of CD-SSBs and/or NCD-SSBs, the UE does not transmit PUSCH, PUCCH, PRACH in the slot if a transmission would overlap”) for receiving a CD-SSB within each of the one or more BWPs ([0029], “A separate initial DL BWP configured for RedCap UE may include the CD-SSB”, [0030], “an RRC-configured active DL BWP in connected mode may include the CD-SSB”, [0027], “The presence of CD-SSB is configured by the ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or in ServingCellConfigCommon. The presence of NCD-SSB can be configured by high layer. In one option, NCD-SSB may be configured with same periodicity and same time location in a period as CD-SSB … The presence of NCD-SSB may share the configuration of ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or in ServingCellConfigCommon”); and
receive, via the at least one transceiver and via a BWP of the one or more BWPs, an NCD-SSB within the first set of time-domain resources or within a subset of the time- domain resources of the first set (Fig. 2, [0057], “at least one of the symbols indicated by the indexed row of the used resource allocation table in the slot overlaps with a DL symbol indicated by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated if provided, or a symbol of an SS/PBCH block for NCD-SSB and/or CD-SSB” , [0040], “ for a set of symbols of a slot indicated to a UE for reception of CD-SSBs and/or NCD-SSBs, the UE does not transmit PUSCH, PUCCH, PRACH in the slot if a transmission would overlap” [0029], “a separate initial DL BWP in connected mode, if it does not include CD-SSB and the entire CORESET #0 and if it is configured for paging, a RedCap UE supporting mandatory feature group (FG) 6-1 (but not optional FG 6-1a) expects it to contain NCD-SSB”, [0030], “an RRC-configured active DL BWP in connected mode … if it does not include CD-SSB and the entire CORESET #0, a RedCap UE supporting mandatory FG 6-1 (but not optional FG 6-1a) expects it to contain NCD-SSB”, [0027], “The presence of CD-SSB is configured by the ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or in ServingCellConfigCommon … NCD-SSB may be configured with same periodicity and same time location in a period as CD-SSB … NCD-SSB may be configured with same periodicity as CD-SSB but with an offset to the time location of CD-SSB … The presence of NCD-SSB may share the configuration of ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or in ServingCellConfigCommon”).
Claim 16 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 1 and Lim further teaches an apparatus for wireless communication (Fig. 7, element 704), comprising: at least one transceiver (Fig. 7, element 738, 740, 744, 742,746), one or more memories (Fig. 7, element 732, 734, 736,Fig.8, element 820, [0286], “The memory/storage devices 820 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof”), individually or in combination, having instructions (Fig. 8, element 850, [0288], “ Instructions 850 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 810 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein”); and one or more processors, individually or in combination, configured to execute the instructions (Fig.8, elements 810 ,812, 814, [0285], “The processors 810 may include, for example, a processor 812 and a processor 814”).
Claim 27 is a method of claim 1, and is analyzed and rejected according to claim 1.
Claim 32: Xiong teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to operate as a user equipment (UE) (Fig. 7, element 702, Fig.6, element 602, [0026], “While the embodiments are described herein with reference to a RedCap UE, aspects of various embodiments may be used for non-RedCap (e.g., normal) UEs”).
Claim 33: Xiong teaches the apparatus of claim 16, wherein the apparatus is configured to operate as a network entity (Fig. 7, element 704, Fig. 6, element 608, [0243], “The AN 608 be referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng-eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc.”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claims 4, 6-10, 20, 23-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiong et al. (US 20230224880 A1, hereinafter Xiong) in view of Liao et al. (US 20250274236 A1, hereinafter Liao)
Claim 4: Xiong teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to cause the apparatus to:
communicate, via the at least one transceiver, with a plurality of cells using half-duplex inter-band time-division duplex (TDD) ([0061], “when NCD-SSB is present in an RRC-configured active DL BWP … This can apply for the RedCap UEs or non-RedCap UEs in TDD or HD-FDD systems”, [0065], “when NCD-SSB is present in an RRC-configured active DL BWP, the symbols indicated for NCD-SSB and/or CD-SSB are considered as invalid symbols for PUSCH repetition Type B transmission. Note that this may apply for the RedCap UEs or non-RedCap UEs in TDD or HD-FDD systems”) carrier aggregation (CA) via a plurality of component carriers (CCs) ([0245], “the UE 602 and RAN 604 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 602 to connect with a plurality of component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell”, Fig. 4).
However, Xiong does not explicitly teach inter-band time-division duplex TDD,
wherein at least one of: the CD-SSB is received via a first CC of the plurality of CCs within the first set of time-domain resources; and the NCD-SSB is received via a second CC of the plurality of CCs within the first set of time-domain resources or within the subset of the time-domain resources of the first set.
Liao, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches inter-band time-division duplex TDD ([0031], “The CCs are either intra-band (i.e., located in the same frequency band) or inter-band (i.e., across different frequency bands) … such as frequency-division duplexing (FDD) mode, TDD mode, flexible duplex mode, and sub-band full duplex mode, across CCs within a discrete cell are supported”),
wherein at least one of: the CD-SSB is received via a first CC of the plurality of CCs within the first set of time-domain resources; and the NCD-SSB is received via a second CC of the plurality of CCs within the first set of time-domain resources or within the subset of the time-domain resources of the first set ([0031], “ a cell-defining synchronization signal block (SSB) (e.g., including an SSB and system information broadcast with cell information) is transmitted/received on an anchor CC only, while no or sparse non-cell-defining
SSB (e.g., including an SSB only) is transmitted/received on other CCs. Note that different duplex modes, such as frequency-division duplexing (FDD) mode, TDD mode, flexible duplex mode, and sub-band full duplex mode, across CCs within a discrete cell are supported”, Fig. 6, [0042], disclose one TDD configuration may be associated with one or CCs, [0062-0064], disclose CD-SSB and NCD-SSB on different CC, and each of CCs support TDD and FDD mode.).
Xiong and Liao are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the system of Xiong and the features of receiving CD-SSB and NCD-SSB via different CC as taught by Liao, for the benefit for allowing UE to perform carrier aggregation within the cell based on the CC configuration, and communicate data signals with the wireless network based on CC configuration (paragraph [0032]).
Claim 20 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 16 and claim 4.
Claim 6: Xiong teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to cause the apparatus to:
communicate, via the at least one transceiver, with a plurality of cells using half-duplex inter-band time-division duplex (TDD) ([0061], “when NCD-SSB is present in an RRC-configured active DL BWP … This can apply for the RedCap UEs or non-RedCap UEs in TDD or HD-FDD systems”, [0065], “when NCD-SSB is present in an RRC-configured active DL BWP, the symbols indicated for NCD-SSB and/or CD-SSB are considered as invalid symbols for PUSCH repetition Type B transmission. Note that this may apply for the RedCap UEs or non-RedCap UEs in TDD or HD-FDD systems”) carrier aggregation (CA) via a plurality of component carriers (CCs) including a first CC and a second CC, wherein the plurality of cells comprises a reference cell and another cell, wherein the first CC is associated with the reference cell or the other cell ([0245], “the UE 602 and RAN 604 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 602 to connect with a plurality of component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell”).
However, Xiong does not explicitly teach inter-band time-division duplex (TDD), and wherein the NCD-SSB is received via a first one or more symbols of the first CC.
Liao, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches inter-band time-division duplex (TDD) ([0031], “The CCs are either intra-band (i.e., located in the same frequency band) or inter-band (i.e., across different frequency bands) … such as frequency-division duplexing (FDD) mode, TDD mode, flexible duplex mode, and sub-band full duplex mode, across CCs within a discrete cell are supported”), and wherein the NCD-SSB is received via a first one or more symbols of the first CC ([0031], “ a cell-defining synchronization signal block (SSB) (e.g., including an SSB and system information broadcast with cell information) is transmitted/received on an anchor CC only, while no or sparse non-cell-defining SSB (e.g., including an SSB only) is transmitted/received on other CCs … for example … CC#2 is configure with TDD mode”, Fig. 6, [0042], disclose one TDD configuration may be associated with one or more CCs, [0062-0064], disclose CD-SSB and NCD-SSB on different CC, and each of CCs support TDD and FDD mode. [0040], “each TDD configuration is associated with a respective radio resource clusters of the DL/UL BWP and indicates which slot or orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols of a slot in a radio frame is or are configured for DL or UL”).
The motivation for combining Xiong and Liao regarding to the claim 4 is also applied to claim 6.
Claim 23 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 16 and claim 6.
Claim 7: The combination of Xiong and Liao teaches the apparatus of claim 6, Liao additionally teaches wherein the first CC is associated with the reference cell (abstract, “ The cell configuration may include a plurality of component carrier (CC) configurations, each of which is corresponding to a respective one of a plurality of CCs associated with a cell”), and wherein the first one or more symbols are configured as at least one of semi-static downlink symbols (alternative) or radio resource configuration (RRC) downlink symbols ([0032], “The CC configurations may be included in a cell configuration that is received via a higher-layer signaling carried in the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) … The higher-layer signaling may include system information broadcast … or UE-specific radio resource control (RRC) signaling”).
The motivation for combining Xiong and Liao regarding to the claim 4 is also applied to claim 7.
Claim 24 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 23 and claim 7.
Claim 8: The combination of Xiong and Liao teaches the apparatus of claim 6, Liao additionally wherein the first CC is associated with the other cell and the second CC is associated with the reference cell ([0031], “ a cell-defining synchronization signal block (SSB) (e.g., including an SSB and system information broadcast with cell information) is transmitted/received on an anchor CC only, while no or sparse non-cell-defining
SSB (e.g., including an SSB only) is transmitted/received on other CCs … for example … CC#2 is configure with TDD mode”, Fig. 6, [0042], disclose one TDD configuration may be associated with one or more CCs, [0062-0064], disclose CD-SSB and NCD-SSB on different CC, and each of CCs support TDD and FDD mode), and wherein the first one or more symbols of the second CC are configured as at least one of semi-static downlink symbols or radio resource configuration (RRC) downlink symbols ([0040], “each TDD configuration is associated with a respective radio resource clusters of the DL/UL BWP and indicates which slot or orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols of a slot in a radio frame is or are configured for DL or UL”).
The motivation for combining Xiong and Liao regarding to the claim 4 is also applied to claim 8.
Claim 25 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 23 and claim 8.
Claim 9: Xiong teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to cause the apparatus to:
communicate, via the at least one transceiver using half-duplex inter-band time- division duplex (TDD) (Fig. 2, [0061], “when NCD-SSB is present in an RRC-configured active DL BWP … This can apply for the RedCap UEs or non-RedCap UEs in TDD or HD-FDD systems”, [0065], “when NCD-SSB is present in an RRC-configured active DL BWP, the symbols indicated for NCD-SSB and/or CD-SSB are considered as invalid symbols for PUSCH repetition Type B transmission. Note that this may apply for the RedCap UEs or non-RedCap UEs in TDD or HD-FDD systems”) carrier aggregation (CA) via a plurality of component carriers (CCs), with a plurality of cells including a reference cell and another cell ([0245], “the UE 602 and RAN 604 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 602 to connect with a plurality of component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell”),
and drop at least a first symbol of the one or more symbols of the second CC based on at least one of: the NCD-SSB occupying the one or more symbols ([0040], “for a set of symbols of a slot indicated to a UE for reception of CD-SSBs and/or NCD-SSBs, the UE does not transmit PUSCH, PUCCH, PRACH in the slot if a transmission would overlap with any symbol from the set of symbols and the UE does not transmit SRS in the set of symbols of the slot”, [0033-0038], disclose the several scenario that UE drop PUSCH or PUCCH when this slot is occupied by CD-SSB or NCD-SSB, [0296], “wherein if a semi-statically configured or dynamically scheduled UL transmission is collided with a NCD-SSB and/or CD-SSB, the NCD-SSB and/or CD-SSB is prioritized and the UL transmission is canceled”), or at least the first symbol being an uplink symbol ([0311], “receiving configuration information for a non-cell defining (NCD)-synchronization signal block (SSB); receiving a message to schedule an uplink transmission; identifying that the uplink transmission collides with the NCD-SSB; and determining whether or not to transmit the uplink transmission based on the collision”, [0191], “UE may drop
SS/PBCH configured by UE-specific higher layer signaling, if the SS/PBCH overlaps with UL sub-band”, [0301], “when NCD-SSB is present in an RRC-configured active DL BWP, for PUSCH repetition type A with counting based on available slot … a slot is not counted … if at least one of the symbols indicated by the indexed row of the used resource allocation table in the slot overlaps with a symbol of an SS/PBCH block for NCD-SSB and/or CD-SSB”).
However, Xiong does not explicitly teach inter-band time- division duplex (TDD), wherein the plurality of CCs include a first CC associated with the reference cell and a second CC associated with the other cell, wherein the NCD-SSB is received via a first one or more symbols of the first CC.
Liao, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches inter-band time- division duplex (TDD) ([0031], “The CCs are either intra-band (i.e., located in the same frequency band) or inter-band (i.e., across different frequency bands) … such as frequency-division duplexing (FDD) mode, TDD mode, flexible duplex mode, and sub-band full duplex mode, across CCs within a discrete cell are supported”), wherein the plurality of CCs include a first CC associated with the reference cell and a second CC associated with the other cell, wherein the NCD-SSB is received via a first one or more symbols of the first CC ([0031], “ a cell-defining synchronization signal block (SSB) (e.g., including an SSB and system information broadcast with cell information) is transmitted/received on an anchor CC only, while no or sparse non-cell-defining SB (e.g., including an SSB only) is transmitted/received on other CCs … for example … CC#2 is configure with TDD mode”, Fig. 6, [0042], disclose one TDD configuration may be associated with one or more CCs, [0062-0064], disclose CD-SSB and NCD-SSB on different CC, and each of CCs support TDD and FDD mode, [0040], “each TDD configuration is associated with a respective radio resource clusters of the DL/UL BWP and indicates which slot or orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols of a slot in a radio frame is or are configured for DL or UL”, wherein one TDD include CD-SSB CC, NCD-SSB CC, UL CC, DL CC and etc.).
The motivation for combining Xiong and Liao regarding to the claim 4 is also applied to claim 9.
Claim 10: Xiong teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to cause the apparatus to:
communicate, via the at least one transceiver using half-duplex inter-band time- division duplex (TDD) ([0061], “when NCD-SSB is present in an RRC-configured active DL BWP … This can apply for the RedCap UEs or non-RedCap UEs in TDD or HD-FDD systems”, [0065], “when NCD-SSB is present in an RRC-configured active DL BWP, the symbols indicated for NCD-SSB and/or CD-SSB are considered as invalid symbols for PUSCH repetition Type B transmission. Note that this may apply for the RedCap UEs or non-RedCap UEs in TDD or HD-FDD systems”) carrier aggregation (CA) via a plurality of component carriers (CCs) including a first CC and a second CC, with a plurality of cells including a reference cell and another cell, wherein the first CC is associated with the other cell and the second CC is associated with the reference cell ([0245], “the UE 602 and RAN 604 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 602 to connect with a plurality of component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell”); and drop the NCD-SSB ([0191], “UE may drop SS/PBCH configured by UE-specific higher layer signaling, if the SS/PBCH overlaps with UL sub-band”, [0041], “when NCD-SSB is present in an RRC-configured active DL BWP, if a valid RO or valid MsgA PUSCH triggered by higher layers is collided with an NCD-SSB, it is up to UE implementation whether to receive NCD-SSB or transmit PRACH”, [0084], “if the PDSCH resource allocation overlaps with PRBs containing SS/PBCH block transmission resources, the UE shall assume that the PRBs containing SS/PBCH block transmission resources are not available for PDSCH in the OFDM symbols where SS/PBCH block is transmitted for NCD-SSB and/or CD-SSB”) occupying one or more symbols of the first CC, wherein the NCD-SSB is dropped based on the one or more symbols of the second CC being configured as semi-static uplink or as radio resource control (RRC) uplink.
However, Xiong does not explicitly teach inter-band time- division duplex (TDD), NCD-SSB occupying one or more symbols of the first CC, wherein the NCD-SSB is dropped based on the one or more symbols of the second CC.
Liao, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches inter-band time- division duplex (TDD) ([0031], “The CCs are either intra-band (i.e., located in the same frequency band) or inter-band (i.e., across different frequency bands) … such as frequency-division duplexing (FDD) mode, TDD mode, flexible duplex mode, and sub-band full duplex mode, across CCs within a discrete cell are supported”), NCD-SSB occupying one or more symbols of the first CC, wherein the NCD-SSB is dropped based on the one or more symbols of the second CC (([0031], “ a cell-defining synchronization signal block (SSB) (e.g., including an SSB and system information broadcast with cell information) is transmitted/received on an anchor CC only, while no or sparse non-cell-defining
SSB (e.g., including an SSB only) is transmitted/received on other CCs … for example … CC#2 is configure with TDD mode”, Fig. 6, [0042], disclose one TDD configuration may be associated with one or more CCs, [0062-0064], disclose CD-SSB and NCD-SSB on different CC, and each of CCs support TDD and FDD mode, [0040], “each TDD configuration is associated with a respective radio resource clusters of the DL/UL BWP and indicates which slot or orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols of a slot in a radio frame is or are configured for DL or UL”, wherein one TDD include CD-SSB CC, NCD-SSB CC, UL CC, DL CC and etc.).
The motivation for combining Xiong and Liao regarding to the claim 4 is also applied to claim 10.
Claims 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiong et al. (US 20230224880 A1, hereinafter Xiong) in view of Liao et al. (US 20250274236 A1, hereinafter Liao), and further in view of Lim et al. (US 20230208607 A1, hereinafter Lim)
Claim 12: Xiong teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to cause the apparatus to:
communicate, via the at least one transceiver, with a plurality of cells using half-duplex inter-band time-division duplex (TDD) (Fig. 2, [0061], “when NCD-SSB is present in an RRC-configured active DL BWP … This can apply for the RedCap UEs or non-RedCap UEs in TDD or HD-FDD systems”, [0065], “when NCD-SSB is present in an RRC-configured active DL BWP, the symbols indicated for NCD-SSB and/or CD-SSB are considered as invalid symbols for PUSCH repetition Type B transmission. Note that this may apply for the RedCap UEs or non-RedCap UEs in TDD or HD-FDD systems”) carrier aggregation (CA) ([0245], “the UE 602 and RAN 604 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 602 to connect with a plurality of component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell”) via a plurality of component carriers (CCs).
However, Xiong does not explicitly teach inter-band time-division duplex (TDD) , via a plurality of component carriers (CCs), transmit in response to a command configured to enable collision handling by the apparatus, an indication that the apparatus is configured for a non-legacy BWP switching delay.
Liao, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches inter-band time-division duplex (TDD) ([0031], “The CCs are either intra-band (i.e., located in the same frequency band) or inter-band (i.e., across different frequency bands) … such as frequency-division duplexing (FDD) mode, TDD mode, flexible duplex mode, and sub-band full duplex mode, across CCs within a discrete cell are supported”),
via a plurality of component carriers (CCs) (Fig. 3, [0034], disclose each CC may include one or multiple BWP clusters. Fig. 6, [0042], disclose TDD configuration associated with CCs, DL, UL and BWP, [0052], “Each of the one or more BWP
configuration indicates a BWP including one or more radio resource clusters, each of which includes a set of physically contiguous radio resources within one of the CCs. Also, processor 1012 may perform, via transceiver 1016, a carrier aggregation within the cell based on the CC configurations and the one or more BWP configurations”).
The motivation for combining Xiong and Liao regarding to the claim 4 is also applied to claim 12.
Lim, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches transmit, in response to a command configured to enable collision handling by the apparatus ([0011], “in case that a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission on the first carrier and a physical channel transmission on a second carrier of the second serving cell collide and directionalCollisionHandling is configured as ‘enabled’ for the set of serving cells, applying a priority rule for the SRS transmission between the first carrier and the second carrier and then applying a procedure for directional collision handling”, [0559], “when a physical channel on a second carrier including a PDSCH and a PUSCH configured only with CQI collides with aperiodic SRS transmission on the first carrier, the UE may drop first the PUSCH configured only with CQI based on a priority rule for the SRS transmission, and then may drop the aperiodic SRS transmission based on directional collision handling”), an indication that the apparatus is configured for a non-legacy BWP switching delay ([0099], “the requirements for the BWP change delay time may support type 1 or type 2 according to a UE capability. The UE may report a supportable BWP delay time type to the BS”, [0100], “when the UE receives the DCI including a BWP change indicator in slot n according to the requirements for the BWP change delay time, the UE may complete a change to a new BWP indicated by the BWP change indicator at a time point that is not later than slot n+TBWP and transmit and receive a data channel scheduled by the corresponding DCI in the changed new BWP … when scheduling the data channel in the new BWP, the BS may schedule the corresponding data channel after the BWP change delay time using a method of determining the time domain resource allocation for the data channel … the UE may not expect that the DCI indicating the BWP change indicates a slot offset (K0 or K2) smaller than the BWP change delay time”, [0101], “If the UE receives the DCI indicating the BWP change … when the UE receives the DCI indicating the BWP change in slot n and a slot offset value indicated by the corresponding DCI is K, the UE may perform no transmission or reception from the third symbol of slot n to a symbol before slot n+K (that is, the last symbol of slot n+K-1)”).
Xiong and Lim are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the system of Xiong and the features of UE performing collision handling based on Collison enable/disable command, reporting a supportable BWP delay time type to the BS as taught by Lim, for the benefit for allowing BS control UE how and when to handle collision, and allowing BS scheduling the corresponding data channel after corresponding BWP change delay time to avoid resources collision during BWP switching (paragraph [0100]).
Claim 13: The combination of Xiong, Liao and Lim teach teaches the apparatus of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to cause the apparatus to: monitor a first bandwidth-part (BWP) BWP of one or more of the plurality of CCs; and switch from the first BWP to a second BWP (Liao, Fig. 5, [0041], “the active DL/UL BWP may be dynamically switched from one BWP to another BWP to better adapt to traffic load variation and to reduce power consumption”, [0053], “processor
1012 may switch the first active UL/DL BWP from a first UL/DL BWP to a second UL/DL BWP based on the indication of the first active UL/DL BWP”) within the non-legacy BWP switching delay (Lim, [0098-0099], TABLE 3, disclose BWP switch delay for Type 1 and Type 2 based on UE capability, wherein Type 2 is reading as non-legacy BWP switching, and Type 1 is reading as non-legacy BWP switching [0100], “when the UE receives the DCI including a BWP change indicator in slot n according to the requirements for the BWP change delay time, the UE may complete a change to a new BWP indicated by the BWP change indicator at a time point that is not later than slot n+TBWP and transmit and receive a data channel scheduled by the corresponding DCI in the changed new BWP … when scheduling the data channel in the new BWP, the BS may schedule the corresponding data channel after the BWP change delay time using a method of determining the time domain resource allocation for the data channel … the UE may not expect that the DCI indicating the BWP change indicates a slot offset (K0 or K2) smaller than the BWP change delay time”).
Claim 14: The combination of Xiong, Liao and Lim teaches the apparatus of claim 12, Lim additionally teaches wherein the non-legacy BWP switching delay has a longer duration relative to a legacy switching delay ([0098-0099], TABLE 3, disclose BWP switch delay for Type 1 and Type 2 based on UE capability, wherein Type 2 delay time is longer than Type1, Type 2 is reading as non-legacy BWP switching, and Type 1 is reading as non-legacy BWP switching ).
The motivation for combining Xiong and Lim regarding to the claim 12 is also applied to claim 14.
Claims 15, 26, 28- 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiong et al. (US 20230224880 A1, hereinafter Xiong) in view of Lim et al. (US 20230208607 A1, hereinafter Lim)
Claim 15: Xiong does not explicitly teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to cause the apparatus to: transmit, via the at least one transceiver, an indication of whether the apparatus is capable of supporting half-duplex communications via time-division duplex (TDD) carrier aggregation (CA);
and receive, via the at least one transceiver, a command configured to enable collision handling by the apparatus.
Lim, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches transmit, via the at least one transceiver, an indication of whether the apparatus is capable of supporting half-duplex communications via time-division duplex (TDD) carrier aggregation (CA) (Fig. 32, element S3210, [0551-0552], wherein the UE may identify whether it has a capability to support half-DuplexTDD-CA-SameSCS and report the capability information to the base station.);
and receive, via the at least one transceiver, a command configured to enable collision handling by the apparatus (Fig. 32, element S3220, [0553-0555], wherein BS send configuration to UE, and the configuration information identify that the directionalCollisionHandling parameter is set to ‘enabled’ for a set of serving cells among the plurality of serving cells, UE reception and transmission configuration on the first serving cell and the second serving cell).
Xiong and Lim are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the system of Xiong and the features of UE reporting TDD, CA capability to the BS, BS configure UE with collision handling enable/disable, as taught by Lim, for the benefit of providing flexible, configurable collision handling between BS and UE.
Claim 26 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 16 and claim 15.
Claim 28: The combination of Xiong and Lim teaches the apparatus of claim 15, Lim additionally teaches wherein the capability for half-duplex communications is associated with inter-band TDD CA ([0540], “if the UE can simultaneously transmit the uplink signal and the SRS by using different RF transceivers in the inter-band CA environment, both are uplink transmissions and thus the UE may be assumed to support the uplink transmission even in a half-duplex TDD CA environment”).
The motivation for combining Xiong and Lim regarding to the claim 15 is also applied to claim 28.
Claim 29: The combination of Xiong and Lim teaches the apparatus of claim 26, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to cause the apparatus to: refrain, based on the command enabling collision handling at the UE, from configuring the UE for dynamic active bandwidth-part (BWP) switching without restriction ([0015], “obtaining information scheduling a signal or a channel from a base station; identifying an overlapped symbol based on information regarding the scheduled signal or channel and determining a reference cell based on the identified overlapped symbol; and applying a priority rule to determine whether to perform SRS carrier switching and a directional collision handling procedure”, [0425], “ If PUSCH or PUCCH … in the source CC overlap with the SRS transmission in the target CC, the UE may be configured not to perform the SRS transmission of the target CC. That is, the UE may transmit a scheduled uplink signal on the source CC without performing SRS carrier switching”, [0559], “when a physical channel on a second carrier including a PDSCH and a PUSCH configured only with CQI collides with aperiodic SRS transmission on the first carrier, the UE may drop first the PUSCH configured only with CQI based on a priority rule for the SRS transmission, and then may drop the aperiodic SRS transmission based on directional collision handling”).
The motivation for combining Xiong and Lim regarding to the claim 15 is also applied to claim 29.
Claim 30: The combination of Xiong and Lim teaches the apparatus of claim 26, The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the NCD-SSB is within the first set of time- domain resources or within the subset of the time-domain resources of the first set (Xiong, Fig. 2, [0058], “for PUSCH transmission overlaps with the symbols for CD-SSB and NCD-SSB in slot n+1 and slot n+2, these two slots are not considered as available slots for PUSCH repetition type A and TBoMS”) based on the command enabling collision handling at the UE (Lim, [0559], “when a physical channel on a second carrier including a PDSCH and a PUSCH configured only with CQI collides with aperiodic SRS transmission on the first carrier, the UE may drop first the PUSCH configured only with CQI based on a priority rule for the SRS transmission, and then may drop the aperiodic SRS transmission based on directional collision handling”, [0013], “identify that the terminal indicates support of half-DuplexTDD-CA-SameSCS capability, identify that directionalCollisionHandling is configured as ‘enabled’ for a set of serving cells among multiple serving cells including a first serving cell and a second serving cell…identify a first carrier of the first serving cell not configured for a PUCCH or a PUSCH transmission”).
The motivation for combining Xiong and Lim regarding to the claim 15 is also applied to claim 30.
Claim 31: The combination of Xiong and Lim teaches The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to cause the apparatus to: refrain, based on the command enabling collision handling at the UE (Lim, [0559], “when a physical channel on a second carrier including a PDSCH and a PUSCH configured only with CQI collides with aperiodic SRS transmission on the first carrier, the UE may drop first the PUSCH configured only with CQI based on a priority rule for the SRS transmission, and then may drop the aperiodic SRS transmission based on directional collision handling”, [0013], “identify that the terminal indicates support of half-DuplexTDD-CA-SameSCS capability, identify that directionalCollisionHandling is configured as ‘enabled’ for a set of serving cells among multiple serving cells including a first serving cell and a second serving cell” ), from configuring transmission of a non-cell defining synchronization signal block (NCD-SSB) outside of time- domain resources associated with a cell-defining synchronization signal block (CD-SSB) (Xiong, Fig. 2, [0058], “Given that the allocated resource for PUSCH transmission overlaps with the symbols for CD-SSB and NCD-SSB in slot n+1 and slot n+2, these two slots are not considered as available slots for PUSCH repetition type A and TBoMS. In this case, slot n and slot n+3 are considered as available slots and UE may transmit PUSCH repetitions or TBoMS in these two slots”, [0033], “when NCD-SSB is present in an RRC-configured active DL BWP, if a semi-statically configured or dynamically scheduled UL transmission is collided with a NCD-SSB, the NCD-SSB is prioritized and the UL transmission is canceled”, [0027], “The presence of CD-SSB is configured by the ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or in ServingCellConfigCommon. The presence of NCD-SSB can be configured by high layer. In one option, NCD-SSB may be configured with same periodicity and same time location in a period as CD-SSB … The presence of NCD-SSB may share the configuration of ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or in ServingCellConfigCommon”).
The motivation for combining Xiong and Lim regarding to the claim 15 is also applied to claim 31.
Claims 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiong et al. (US 20230224880 A1, hereinafter Xiong) in view of Liao et al. (US 20250274236 A1, hereinafter Liao), and further in view of Lee et al. (US 20240333442 A1, hereinafter Lee)
Claim 11: Xiong does not explicitly teach the apparatus of claim 10, wherein the NCD-SSB is dropped based further on the second CC being associated with the reference cell and the reference cell having priority over the other cell.
Liao teaches NCD-SSB and CD-SSB are located into different CC ([0031], “ a cell-defining synchronization signal block (SSB) (e.g., including an SSB and system information broadcast with cell information) is transmitted/received on an anchor
CC only, while no or sparse non-cell-defining SSB (e.g., including an SSB only) is transmitted/received on other CCs. Note that different duplex modes, such as frequency-division duplexing (FDD) mode, TDD mode, flexible duplex mode, and sub-band full duplex mode, across CCs within a discrete cell are supported”),
Lee, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches the apparatus of claim 10, wherein the NCD-SSB is dropped based further on the second CC being associated with the reference cell and the reference cell having priority over the other cell (Fig. 16, [0178], “At the time n2, candidate resources may be located in two CCs (e.g. CC #1 and CC #2), and at the time n3, candidate resources may be located in two CCs (e.g. CC #0 and CC #2).If a priority of data to be transmitted in CC #0 is higher than a priority of data to be transmitted in CC #1, the terminal may select candidate resources located at the time n3. When multiple priorities exist, the terminal may compare the highest priorities at each time point, and if the highest priorities are the same, the terminal may compare the next priorities in order. The terminal may perform a resource selection operation based on a result of comparing the priorities”).
Xiong and Lee are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the system of Xiong and the features of dropping NCD-SSB based on the second CC being associated with the reference cell and the reference cell having priority over the other cell as taught by Lee, for the benefit for allowing UE to solve resource conflict based on priority.
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.
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/Y.Z./Examiner, Art Unit 2472
/NICHOLAS A JENSEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2472