Office Action Predictor
Application No. 18/478,037

REFERENCE SIGNAL TRANSMISSION IN SUBBAND FULL-DUPLEX AND NON-SUBBAND FULL-DUPLEX SLOTS

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Sep 29, 2023
Examiner
ROSE, DERRICK V
Art Unit
2462
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
84%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 10m
To Grant
82%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

84%
Career Allow Rate
450 granted / 539 resolved
Without
With
+-1.3%
Interview Lift
avg trend
2y 10m
Avg Prosecution
19 pending
558
Total Applications
career history

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.9%
-35.1% vs TC avg
§103
68.3%
+28.3% vs TC avg
§102
10.9%
-29.1% vs TC avg
§112
5.2%
-34.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data

Office Action

§103
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 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. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention. Claim(s) 1-8, 14-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al (WO 2024071886) in view of Kurita et al (WO 2024209632). As to claim 1 Kim discloses A user equipment (UE) (Kim Fig.1 and 2 ¶0060), comprising: one or more memories storing processor-executable code (Kim 210 and 220 of Fig.2,¶0055-¶0057); and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to (Kim ¶0055-¶0057): for receiving resources for performing sounding reference signal transmissions during a slot comprising at least one subband full-duplex symbol and at least one non-subband full-duplex symbol (Kim ¶0025- The UL transmission may be an SRS transmission, and the effectiveness of the SRS resource on which the SRS transmission is performed may be determined in units of symbols, symbol subsets, or port subsets at the boundary between the SBFD symbol and the non-SBFD symbol Kim ¶0086- The base station can allocate SD symbols. The arrangement order of symbols in a slot may be DL symbol-SD symbol-UL symbol); and perform multi-symbol sounding reference signal transmissions during the slot according to a transmission scheme associated with the resource parameters, the transmission scheme defining a transmit or drop rule based on a first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions being scheduled in the at least one subband full-duplex symbol of the slot and a second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions being scheduled in the at least one non-subband full-duplex symbol of the slot (Kim¶0106- The base station can dynamically indicate the pattern of the SD symbol and/or the location of the UL subband to the terminal. … The pattern of the SD symbol and/or the location of the UL subband may be indicated in a group common DCI format. Alternatively, the pattern of the SD symbol and/or the location of the UL subband may be implicitly derived based on the scheduling DCI; Kim ¶0172- The UE may determine the validity of the SRS resource in units of subsets of SRS symbols and may drop SRS transmission in a subset determined to be invalid (e.g., a subset of SRS symbols). Kim however is silent in receiving an indication of resource parameters for performing the sounding reference signal transmissions during the slot. However, in an analogous art Kurita remedies this deficiency: (Kurita Fig.5-mixture of SBFD and non-SBFD symbols in a SBFD slot; Kurita ¶0031- The time unit to which SBFD is applied and the time unit to which non-SBFD is applied may follow a format detailed in the operation example. The format may be, … an indication format of the downlink control information (DCI); Kurita ¶0072-¶0075- FIG. 8, when a slot containing a mixture of SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols is scheduled by gNB100, UE200 may select one of the following options regarding whether or not to allow such a slot…..It is not assumed that slots containing a mixture of SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols will be set/indicated….. Slots containing a mixture of SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols are permitted). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Kim with that of Kurita for the purpose of identifying resources and the associated parameters to perform the multi-symbol based transmissions during the mixed SBFD and non-SBFD symbols slot (Kurita ¶0032). As to claim 2 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein a frequency resource for the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions is within an uplink subband during the at least one subband full-duplex symbol and during the at least one non-subband full-duplex symbol, the transmission scheme is based on the frequency resource (Kim ¶0114- FIG. 7, the terminal can transmit a UL signal/channel based on frequency hopping. The first frequency hop of the UL signal/channel may be transmitted in symbols including SD symbols. The first frequency hop of the UL signal/channel may be scheduled with frequency resource(s) belonging to the UL subband of the SD symbol. The second frequency hop of the UL signal/channel may not belong to the UL subband of the SD symbol. In other words, the second frequency hop of the UL signal/channel may belong to the UL subband of the non-SD symbol ). As to clam 3 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the UE of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: drop the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions according to the transmission scheme. (Kim ¶0185-¶0186- Two or more SRS resource sets can be considered in one slot. Since the SRS resource set may include independent SRS resources, considering SD symbols and non-SD symbols, SRS transmission may be performed on invalid frequency resources outside the UL subband. In other words, the SRS resource may be invalid. In the proposed method, SRS transmission may be dropped on invalid time resources and/or frequency resources). As to claim 4 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose The UE of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: drop the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and performing the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions according to the transmission scheme (Kim ¶0172- The UE may determine the validity of the SRS resource in units of subsets of SRS symbols and may drop SRS transmission in a subset determined to be invalid (e.g., a subset of SRS symbols). Kim ¶0185-¶0186). As to claim 5 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose UE of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: drop the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and performing the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions according to the transmission scheme(Kim ¶0172- The UE may determine the validity of the SRS resource in units of subsets of SRS symbols and may drop SRS transmission in a subset determined to be invalid (e.g., a subset of SRS symbols). Kim ¶0185-¶0186). As to claim 6 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the UE of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: perform the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions according to the transmission scheme (Kim ¶0185-¶0186- Two or more SRS resource sets can be considered in one slot. Since the SRS resource set may include independent SRS resources, considering SD symbols and non-SD symbols, SRS transmission may be performed on invalid frequency resources outside the UL subband. In other words, the SRS resource may be invalid. In the proposed method, SRS transmission may be dropped on invalid time resources and/or frequency resources). As to claim 7 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the UE of claim 6, wherein the transmission scheme is based on a phase continuity being maintained, a same set of transmission parameters being applied, a presence or an absence of a guard period, or a combination thereof, between the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions ( Kim ¶0098- when a UL signal/channel is transmitted in time resources including SD symbols and non-SD symbols, the UE can maintain power consistency and phase continuity). As to claim 8 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the UE of claim 2, wherein the transmission scheme is based on a presence or an absence of a guard period between the at least one subband full-duplex symbol and the at least one non-subband full-duplex symbol (Kim ¶0077- ¶0078- The terminal can receive configuration information of SD symbols and/or non-SD symbols from the base station. DL communication or UL communication can be performed in non-SD symbols. Because DL communication and UL communication are performed in one SD symbol (e.g., the same time resource), a guard band can be introduced. As to claim 14 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the multi-symbol sounding reference signal transmissions comprise frequency hopping with a first hop of the frequency hopping comprising the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions during the at least one subband full-duplex symbol and a second hop of the frequency hopping comprising the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions during the at least one non-subband full-duplex symbol, the transmission scheme is based on the frequency hopping (Kim ¶0114- FIG. 7- The first frequency hop of the UL signal/channel may be scheduled with frequency resource(s) belonging to the UL subband of the SD symbol. The second frequency hop of the UL signal/channel may not belong to the UL subband of the SD symbol. In other words, the second frequency hop of the UL signal/channel may belong to the UL subband of the non-SD symbol ). . As to claim 15 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the UE of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: perform the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions according to the transmission scheme. Kim ¶0172- The UE may determine the validity of the SRS resource in units of subsets of SRS symbols and may drop SRS transmission in a subset determined to be invalid (e.g., a subset of SRS symbols). As to claim 16 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the UE of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: perform or drop one or more instances of the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions according to a presence or an absence of a guard period scheduled between the at least one subband full-duplex symbol and the at least one non- subband full-duplex symbol; Kim ¶0172- The UE may determine the validity of the SRS resource in units of subsets of SRS symbols and may drop SRS transmission in a subset determined to be invalid (e.g., a subset of SRS symbols. Kim ¶0078- If little coupling occurs between DL and UL communications, a guard band may be unnecessary or a small bandwidth may be required for the guard band. In this case, the guard band may not be separately allocated. Alternatively, a small number of PRBs may be allocated for the guard band.). As to claim 17 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the multi-symbol sounding reference signal transmissions comprise frequency hopping with a first hop of the frequency hopping comprising the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions during the at least one subband full-duplex symbol and a second hop of the frequency hopping comprising a first instance of the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions during the at least one subband full-duplex symbol and a second instance of the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions during the at least one non-subband full-duplex symbol, the transmission scheme is based on the frequency hopping (Kim ¶0114- FIG. 7, the terminal can transmit a UL signal/channel based on frequency hopping. The first frequency hop of the UL signal/channel may be transmitted in symbols including SD symbols. The first frequency hop of the UL signal/channel may be scheduled with frequency resource(s) belonging to the UL subband of the SD symbol. The second frequency hop of the UL signal/channel may not belong to the UL subband of the SD symbol. In other words, the second frequency hop of the UL signal/channel may belong to the UL subband of the non-SD symbol. Therefore, the frequency hops of the UL signal/channel can be transmitted on the available UL resource(s) of the symbol). As to claim 18 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the UE of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: perform the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions according to the transmission scheme; Kim ¶0172- The UE may determine the validity of the SRS resource in units of subsets of SRS symbols and may drop SRS transmission in a subset determined to be invalid (e.g., a subset of SRS symbols). As to claim 19 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the UE of claim 18, wherein the transmission scheme is based on a phase continuity being maintained, a same set of transmission parameters being applied, a presence or an absence of a guard period, or a combination thereof, between the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions (Kim ¶0098- when a UL signal/channel is transmitted in time resources including SD symbols and non-SD symbols, the UE can maintain power consistency and phase continuity). As to claim 20 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the UE of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: perform the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and drop the first instance, the second instance, or both, of the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions according to the transmission scheme (Kim ¶0172- The UE may determine the validity of the SRS resource in units of subsets of SRS symbols and may drop SRS transmission in a subset determined to be invalid (e.g., a subset of SRS symbols). As to claim 21 Kim discloses a user equipment (UE), comprising (Kim Fig.1 and 2 ¶0060): one or more memories storing processor-executable code (Kim 210 and 220 of Fig.2, ¶0055); and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to (Kim ¶0055): receiving resources for performing sounding reference signal transmissions during a slot comprising at least one subband full-duplex symbol (Kim ¶0025- The UL transmission may be an SRS transmission, and the effectiveness of the SRS resource on which the SRS transmission is performed may be determined in units of symbols, symbol subsets, or port subsets at the boundary between the SBFD symbol and the non-SBFD symbol; Kim ¶0086- The base station can allocate SD symbols. The arrangement order of symbols in a slot may be DL symbol-SD symbol-UL symbol), at least one non-subband full-duplex symbol and a gap period between the at least one subband full-duplex symbol and the at least one non-subband full-duplex symbol (Kim ¶0024- One or more symbols before the boundary between the SBFD symbol and the non-SBFD symbol or one or more symbols after the boundary may be set as one or more gap symbols); and perform multi-symbol sounding reference signal transmissions during the slot according to a transmission scheme associated with the resource parameters, the transmission scheme defining a transmit or drop rule based on a first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions being scheduled in the at least one subband full-duplex symbol of the slot and a second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions being scheduled in the at least one subband full- duplex symbol, in the at least one non-subband full-duplex symbol, or both, of the slot(Kim¶0106- The base station can dynamically indicate the pattern of the SD symbol and/or the location of the UL subband to the terminal. … The pattern of the SD symbol and/or the location of the UL subband may be indicated in a group common DCI format. Alternatively, the pattern of the SD symbol and/or the location of the UL subband may be implicitly derived based on the scheduling DCI; Kim ¶0172- The UE may determine the validity of the SRS resource in units of subsets of SRS symbols and may drop SRS transmission in a subset determined to be invalid (e.g., a subset of SRS symbols); and a location of a sounding reference signal guard period relative to a transition between the at least one subband full-duplex symbol and the at least one non-subband full-duplex symbol. Kim ¶0078- If little coupling occurs between DL and UL communications, a guard band may be unnecessary or a small bandwidth may be required for the guard band. In this case, the guard band may not be separately allocated. Alternatively, a small number of PRBs may be allocated for the guard band.). Kim however is silent in receiving an indication of resource parameters for performing the sounding reference signal transmissions during the slot. However, in an analogous art Kurita remedies this deficiency: (Kurita Fig.5-mixture of SBFD and non-SBFD symbols in a SBFD slot; Kurita ¶0031- The time unit to which SBFD is applied and the time unit to which non-SBFD is applied may follow a format detailed in the operation example. The format may be, … an indication format of the downlink control information (DCI); Kurita ¶0072-¶0075- FIG. 8, when a slot containing a mixture of SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols is scheduled by gNB100, UE200 may select one of the following options regarding whether or not to allow such a slot…..It is not assumed that slots containing a mixture of SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols will be set/indicated….. Slots containing a mixture of SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols are permitted) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Kim with that of Kurita with that of Kim for the purpose of identifying resources and the associated parameters to perform the multi-symbol based transmissions during the mixed SBFD and non-SBFD symbols slot (Kurita ¶0032). As to claim 22 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the UE of claim 21, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: perform the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and drop a sounding reference signal transmission scheduled during the gap period according to the transmission scheme (Kim ¶0146- Figure 9, some of the SD symbol(s) may be considered gap symbols. Since data is mapped to the last symbol(s) of the preceding UL signal/channel, if some of the SD symbol(s) are considered gap symbols, application of puncturing operations, drop operations). As to claim 23 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose The UE of claim 21, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: perform the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and drop the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions according to the transmission scheme ¶0172- The UE may determine the validity of the SRS resource in units of subsets of SRS symbols and may drop SRS transmission in a subset determined to be invalid (e.g., a subset of SRS symbols). As to claim 24 Kim discloses a network entity (Kim Fig.1 and 2 ¶0060), comprising: one or more memories storing processor-executable code(Kim 210 and 220 of Fig.2,¶0057)); and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to (Kim ¶0057): transmit, to a user equipment (UE), resources for the UE to perform sounding reference signal transmissions during a slot comprising at least one subband full-duplex symbol and at least one non- subband full-duplex symbol(Kim ¶0025- The UL transmission may be an SRS transmission, and the effectiveness of the SRS resource on which the SRS transmission is performed may be determined in units of symbols, symbol subsets, or port subsets at the boundary between the SBFD symbol and the non-SBFD symbol; Kim ¶0086- The base station can allocate SD symbols. The arrangement order of symbols in a slot may be DL symbol-SD symbol-UL symbol); and receiving multi-symbol sounding reference signal transmissions during the slot according to a transmission scheme associated with the resource parameters, the transmission scheme defining a transmit or drop rule based on a first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions being scheduled in the at least one subband full-duplex symbol of the slot and a second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions being scheduled in the at least one non-subband full-duplex symbol of the slot (Kim¶0106- The base station can dynamically indicate the pattern of the SD symbol and/or the location of the UL subband to the terminal. … The pattern of the SD symbol and/or the location of the UL subband may be indicated in a group common DCI format. Alternatively, the pattern of the SD symbol and/or the location of the UL subband may be implicitly derived based on the scheduling DCI; Kim ¶0172- The UE may determine the validity of the SRS resource in units of subsets of SRS symbols and may drop SRS transmission in a subset determined to be invalid (e.g., a subset of SRS symbols). Kim however is silent in transmitting, to the UE an indication of resource parameters for the UE to perform the sounding reference signal transmissions during a slot. However, in an analogous art Kurita remedies this deficiency: (Kurita Fig.5-mixture of SBFD and non-SBFD symbols in a SBFD slot; Kurita ¶0031- The time unit to which SBFD is applied and the time unit to which non-SBFD is applied may follow a format detailed in the operation example. The format may be, … an indication format of the downlink control information (DCI); Kurita ¶0072-¶0075- FIG. 8, when a slot containing a mixture of SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols is scheduled by gNB100, UE200 may select one of the following options regarding whether or not to allow such a slot…..It is not assumed that slots containing a mixture of SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols will be set/indicated….. Slots containing a mixture of SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols are permitted) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Kim with that of Kurita with that of Kim for the purpose of identifying resources and the associated parameters to perform the multi-symbol based transmissions during the mixed SBFD and non-SBFD symbols slot (Kurita ¶0032). As to claim 25 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the network entity of claim 24, wherein a frequency resource for the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions is within an uplink subband during the at least one subband full-duplex symbol and during the at least one non-subband full-duplex symbol, the transmission scheme is based on the frequency resource(Kim ¶0114- FIG. 7, the terminal can transmit a UL signal/channel based on frequency hopping. The first frequency hop of the UL signal/channel may be transmitted in symbols including SD symbols. The first frequency hop of the UL signal/channel may be scheduled with frequency resource(s) belonging to the UL subband of the SD symbol. The second frequency hop of the UL signal/channel may not belong to the UL subband of the SD symbol. In other words, the second frequency hop of the UL signal/channel may belong to the UL subband of the non-SD symbol ). As to claim 26 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the network entity of claim 25, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to: drop reception of the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions according to the transmission scheme(Kim ¶0185-¶0186- Two or more SRS resource sets can be considered in one slot. Since the SRS resource set may include independent SRS resources, considering SD symbols and non-SD symbols, SRS transmission may be performed on invalid frequency resources outside the UL subband. In other words, the SRS resource may be invalid. In the proposed method, SRS transmission may be dropped on invalid time resources and/or frequency resources). As to claim 27 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the network entity of claim 25, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to: drop reception of the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and receiving the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions according to the transmission scheme(Kim ¶0172- The UE may determine the validity of the SRS resource in units of subsets of SRS symbols and may drop SRS transmission in a subset determined to be invalid (e.g., a subset of SRS symbols). Kim ¶0185-¶0186). As to claim 28 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose the network entity of claim 25, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to: drop reception of the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and receiving the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions according to the transmission scheme(Kim ¶0172- The UE may determine the validity of the SRS resource in units of subsets of SRS symbols and may drop SRS transmission in a subset determined to be invalid (e.g., a subset of SRS symbols). Kim ¶0185-¶0186). As to claim 29 the combined teachings of Kim and Kurita disclose network entity of claim 25, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to: receive the first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions and the second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions according to the transmission scheme(Kim ¶0185-¶0186- Two or more SRS resource sets can be considered in one slot. Since the SRS resource set may include independent SRS resources, considering SD symbols and non-SD symbols, SRS transmission may be performed on invalid frequency resources outside the UL subband. In other words, the SRS resource may be invalid. In the proposed method, SRS transmission may be dropped on invalid time resources and/or frequency resources). As to claim 30 Kim discloses a network entity (Kim Fig.1 and 2 ¶0060), comprising: one or more memories storing processor-executable code; (Kim 210 and 220 of Fig.2, ¶0055) and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to (Kim ¶0055): transmit, to a user equipment (UE), resources for performing sounding reference signal transmissions during a slot comprising at least one subband full-duplex symbol(Kim ¶0025- The UL transmission may be an SRS transmission, and the effectiveness of the SRS resource on which the SRS transmission is performed may be determined in units of symbols, symbol subsets, or port subsets at the boundary between the SBFD symbol and the non-SBFD symbol Kim ¶0086- The base station can allocate SD symbols. The arrangement order of symbols in a slot may be DL symbol-SD symbol-UL symbol),, at least one non-subband full-duplex symbol, and a gap period between the at least one subband full- duplex symbol and the at least one non-subband full-duplex symbol(Kim ¶0024- One or more symbols before the boundary between the SBFD symbol and the non-SBFD symbol or one or more symbols after the boundary may be set as one or more gap symbols) and receiving multi-symbol sounding reference signal transmissions during the slot according to a transmission scheme associated with the resource parameters, the transmission scheme defining a transmit or drop rule based on a first subset of sounding reference signal transmissions being scheduled in the at least one subband full-duplex symbol of the slot and a second subset of sounding reference signal transmissions being scheduled in the at least one subband full- duplex symbol, in the at least one non-subband full-duplex symbol, or both, of the slot (Kim¶0106- The base station can dynamically indicate the pattern of the SD symbol and/or the location of the UL subband to the terminal. … The pattern of the SD symbol and/or the location of the UL subband may be indicated in a group common DCI format. Alternatively, the pattern of the SD symbol and/or the location of the UL subband may be implicitly derived based on the scheduling DCI; Kim ¶0172- The UE may determine the validity of the SRS resource in units of subsets of SRS symbols and may drop SRS transmission in a subset determined to be invalid (e.g., a subset of SRS symbols ) and a location of a sounding reference signal guard period relative to a transition between the at least one subband full-duplex symbol and the at least one non-subband full-duplex symbol (Kim ¶0078- If little coupling occurs between DL and UL communications, a guard band may be unnecessary or a small bandwidth may be required for the guard band. In this case, the guard band may not be separately allocated. Alternatively, a small number of PRBs may be allocated for the guard band.). Kim however is silent transmitting a transmitting, to the UE, an indication of resource parameters for performing the sounding reference signal transmissions … However in an analogous art Kurita remedies this deficiency: (Kurita Fig.5-mixture of SBFD and non-SBFD symbols in a SBFD slot Fig.6, Kurita ¶0036 The control signal/reference signal processing unit 240 performs processing related to reference signals transmitted and received between the gNB100, such as … Sounding Reference Signal (SRS); Kurita ¶0072-¶0075- FIG. 8; Kurita ¶0031- The time unit to which SBFD is applied and the time unit to which non-SBFD is applied may follow a format detailed in the operation example. The format may be, … an indication format of the downlink control information (DCI).) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Kim with that of Kurita with that of Kim for the purpose of identifying resources and the associated parameters to perform the multi-symbol based transmissions during the mixed SBFD and non-SBFD symbols slot (Kurita ¶0032). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 9-13 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. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DERRICK V ROSE whose telephone number is (571)270-7460. The examiner can normally be reached 9am- 6pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, YEMANE MESFIN can be reached at 571-272-3927. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /DERRICK V ROSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Sep 29, 2023
Application Filed
Dec 19, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Mar 27, 2026
Response Filed

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
84%
Grant Probability
82%
With Interview (-1.3%)
2y 10m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 539 resolved cases by this examiner