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 § 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)(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 1-5, 13-17, 25-26, and 28-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Wu et al. (U.S. Publication US 2024/0040589 A1).
With respect to claims 1 and 25, Wu et al. discloses an apparatus for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE), comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory coupled with the at least one processor, with instructions stored in the at least one memory, the instructions being executable by the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, to cause the apparatus to perform a method (See paragraph 24, paragraph 160, and Figure 1 of Wu et al. for reference to a terminal that may be a UE comprising a processor coupled to a memory storing a computer program that when executed by the processor performs a communication method of the UE). Wu et al. also discloses receiving control signaling indicating a control resource set during a full duplex slot, the control resource set comprising a plurality of control channel candidates associated with a downlink control channel, wherein the control resource set at least partially overlaps in frequency with an uplink subband of a full duplex slot (See paragraph 3, paragraphs 27-29, paragraphs 34-35, paragraphs 40-45, ands Figure 2 and 3a-b of Wu et al. for reference to determining a target monitoring resource that is a number of CORESETs comprising Search Spaces (SS), which are candidates, based on configuration information received from a network side apparatus, wherein the CORSET is configured during full-duplex operation and is overlapped with an uplink subband or a flexible subband of a full duplex slot, as illustrated in Figure 3b). Wu et al. further discloses selecting, for monitoring by the UE during the full duplex slot, a quantity of control channel candidates from the plurality of control channel candidates of the control resource set that at least partially overlaps in frequency with the uplink subband (See paragraphs 40-52 and Figures 3a-b of Wu et al. for reference to selecting to monitor a number of N CORESETs within M indicated CORESETs based on the CORESETs being overlapped with the uplink subband or flexible subband).
With respect to claims 13 and 28, Wu et al. discloses An apparatus for wireless communications at a network entity, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory coupled with the at least one processor, with instructions stored in the at least one memory, the instructions being executable by the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, to cause the apparatus to perform a method (See paragraph 24, paragraph 160, and Figure 1 of Wu et al. for reference to a network side apparatus comprising a processor coupled to a memory storing a computer program that when executed by the processor performs a communication method of the UE). Wu et al. also discloses transmitting control signaling indicating a control resource set during a full duplex slot, the control resource set comprising a plurality of control channel candidates associated with a downlink control channel, wherein the control resource set at least partially overlaps in frequency with an uplink subband of a full duplex slot (See paragraph 3, paragraphs 27-29, paragraphs 34-35, paragraphs 40-45, ands Figure 2 and 3a-b of Wu et al. for reference to transmitting information regarding a target monitoring resource that is a number of CORESETs comprising Search Spaces (SS), which are candidates, based on configuration information transmitted from the network side apparatus to a terminal, wherein the CORSET is configured during full-duplex operation and is overlapped with an uplink subband or a flexible subband of a full duplex slot, as illustrated in Figure 3b). Wu et al. further discloses selecting, for monitoring by a user equipment (UE) during the full duplex slot, a quantity of control channel candidates from the plurality of control channel candidates of the control resource set that at least partially overlaps in frequency with the uplink subband (See paragraphs 40-52 and Figures 3a-b of Wu et al. for reference to selecting to monitor by the terminal, which may be a UE, a number of N CORESETs within M indicated CORESETs based on the CORESETs being overlapped with the uplink subband or flexible subband).
With respect to claims 2, 14, 26, and 29, Wu et al. discloses receiving one or more downlink control information messages via the selected quantity of control channel candidates based at least in part on monitoring one or more search spaces of the selected quantity of control channel candidates, wherein the selected quantity of control channel candidates are located in a downlink subband of the full duplex slot, wherein the selecting comprises excluding a second quantity of control channel candidates from the plurality of control channel candidates that are located in the uplink subband (See paragraphs 40-52 and Figures 3a-b of Wu et al. for reference to monitoring based on the selected N CORESETs to receive PDCCH control information messages, wherein the selected N CORESETs are located in a downlink subband of the full duplex slot and exclude CORESETs overlapped with the uplink subband).
With respect to claims 3 and 15, Wu et al. discloses wherein the selected quantity of control channel candidates satisfies a threshold quantity of control channel candidates associated with a quantity of frequency resources corresponding to the downlink subband, and the selecting is based at least in part on the quantity of control channel candidates satisfying the threshold quantity of control channel candidates (See paragraphs 51-60 of Wu et al. for reference to the selected CORESETs satisfying a threshold number of N CORESETs that are selected from the configured M CORESETs).
With respect to claims 4 and 16, Wu et al. discloses mapping the plurality of control channel candidates to a plurality of consecutive control channel elements based at least in part on the control signaling, wherein a first subset of the plurality of consecutive control channel elements corresponding to the selected quantity of control channel candidates is located in the downlink subband and a second subset of the plurality of consecutive control channel elements is located in the uplink subband, wherein the receiving is based least in part on the mapping (See paragraphs 40-52, paragraph 92, and Figures 3a-b of Wu et al. for reference to an embodiment wherein the target monitoring resources are mapped to a number of consecutive resource blocks, which comprise a corresponding number of consecutive subbands, located in the uplink and downlink subbands).
With respect to claims 5 and 17, Wu et al. discloses map the plurality of control channel candidates to a plurality of interleaved control channel elements based at least in part on the control signaling, wherein a first subset of the plurality of interleaved control channel elements corresponding to the selected quantity of control channel candidates is located in the downlink subband and a second subset of the plurality of interleaved control channel elements is located in the uplink subband, wherein the receiving is based at least in part on the mapping, and wherein the first subset of the plurality of interleaved control channel elements corresponds to the selected quantity of control channel candidates (See paragraphs 34-35, paragraphs 40-52, Figures 3a-b of Wu et al. for reference to embodiments wherein the CORESETs include have an interleaving type indicated by configuration from the network side apparatus, and wherein the CORESETs include CORESETS overlapped with downlink subbands and overlapped with uplink subbands as illustrated in Figure 3b).
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 6 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. in view of Papasakellariou (U.S. Publication US 2017/0367046 A1).
With respect to claims 6 and 18, although Wu et al. does disclose the configuration of the CORESETs may include an interleaving type, Wu et al. does not specifically disclose receive, via the control signaling, an indication of a first interleaving pattern associated with a first set of frequency resources associated with the control resource set and a second interleaving pattern associated with a subset of the first set of frequency resources that is associated with a portion of the control resource set that overlaps with downlink subband; and map the selected quantity of control channel candidates to a plurality of interleaved control channel elements in the full duplex slot based at least in part on the second interleaving pattern, wherein the plurality of interleaved control channel elements are located in the downlink subband, and wherein receiving the one or more downlink control information messages is based at least in part on the mapping. However, Papasakellariou, in the field of communications, discloses the use of both UL and DL DCI formats (See paragraph 241 and Figure 20 of Papasakellariou), wherein the control resource sets may use interleaved RBs. The use of interleaving provides for greater frequency diversity of data transmission. Thus, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing, when presented with the work of Papasakellariou, to combine using interleaving of CORESETs, as suggested by Papasakellariou, within the system and method of Wu et al., with the motivation being to provide for greater frequency diversity of data transmission within the interleaved CORESETs.
Claims 7-12, 19-24, 27, and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. in view of Awadin et al. (U.S. Publication US 2024/0039676 A1).
With respect to claims 7, 19, 27, and 30, Wu et al. does not specifically disclose receive one or more downlink control information messages via the selected quantity of control channel candidates based at least in part on monitoring one or more search spaces of the selected quantity of control channel candidates, wherein a first portion of the selected quantity of control channel candidates is located in a downlink subband of the full duplex slot and a second portion of the selected quantity of control channel candidates is located in the uplink subband. However, Awadin et al., in the field of communications, discloses embodiments wherein when a CORESET overlaps with at least one RE configured or indicated for an UL subband, the UE may still be required to monitor the PDCCH candidate depending on the type of PDCCH candidate (See paragraphs 172-174 of Awadin et al.). Monitoring a CORESET candidate that overlaps for an UL subband depending on the type of PDCCH candidate has the advantage of ensuring that specific types of CORESET candidates are always monitored regardless of the overlap. Thus it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing, when presented with the work of Awadin et al., to combine monitoring a CORESET candidate that overlaps for an UL subband depending on the type of PDCCH candidate, as suggested by Awadin et al., within the system and method of Wu et al., with the motivation being to ensure that specific types of CORESET candidates are always monitored regardless of the overlap.
With respect to claims 8 and 20, as shown above in the rejections of claims 7 and 19, Awadin et al. renders obvious monitoring a CORESET candidate that overlaps for an UL subband depending on the type of PDCCH candidate (See paragraphs 172-174 of Awadin et al.). Thus, in these overlapped candidates that are monitored, the subband resources are used as downlink subband resources during the monitoring. Therefore, claims 8 and 20 are rendered obvious in view of the teachings of Awadin et al. for the same reasons as applied above to claims 7 and 19.
With respect to claims 9 and 21, as shown above in the rejections of claims 7 and 19, Awadin et al. renders obvious monitoring a CORESET candidate that overlaps for an UL subband depending on an indicated type of PDCCH candidate (See paragraphs 172-174 of Awadin et al.). Therefore, claims 9 and 21 are rendered obvious in view of the teachings of Awadin et al. for the same reasons as applied above to claims 7 and 19.
With respect to claims 10 and 22, as shown above in the rejections of claims 7 and 19, Awadin et al. renders obvious monitoring indicated CORESET candidates that overlap for an UL subband depending on the indicated type of PDCCH candidate (See paragraphs 172-174 of Awadin et al.). Therefore, claims 10 and 22 are rendered obvious in view of the teachings of Awadin et al. for the same reasons as applied above to claims 7 and 19.
With respect to claims 11 and 23, as shown above in the rejections of claims 7 and 19, Awadin et al. renders obvious monitoring a CORESET candidate that overlaps for an UL subband depending on the type of PDCCH candidate (See paragraphs 172-174 of Awadin et al.). Awadin et al. also discloses that the full duplex slot may be in a subband full-duplex mode (See paragraph 102 of Awadin et al.). Therefore, claims 11 and 23 are rendered obvious in view of the teachings of Awadin et al. for the same reasons as applied above to claims 7 and 19.
With respect to claims 12 and 24, Wu et al. discloses wherein the control resource set at least partially overlaps in frequency with a guard band of the full duplex slot (See paragraph 12 and paragraph 46 of Wu et al. for reference to the CORESET overlapping with a guardband).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Seok et al. (U.S. Publication US 2025/0071755 A1), Jung et al. (U.S. Publication US 2024/0172199 A1), and Ibrahim et al. (U.S. Publication US 2021/0400654 A1) each disclose further relevant systems and methods of monitoring CORESETs in full-duplex slots.
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/JASON E MATTIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461