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 .
DETAILED ACTION
RESPONSE TO AMENDMENT
Status of Application/Amendments/claims
Applicant’s amendment filed 7/6/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 4-7, 9-14 and 18-20 are cancelled. Claims 1-3, 8, 15-17 are amended. Claims 21-33 are newly added.
Claims 1-3, 8, 15-17 and 21-33 are pending and have been examined, of which claims 1, 8 and 15 are independent.
Claim rejections maintained and
New Grounds of Rejection Necessitated by the Amendment
The following rejections are new grounds of rejections necessitated by the amendment filed. For the prior art or rejection maintained, reason is described in the response to argument section.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2-3, 16-17, 22-24, 26-28, 30-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 2, 16 and 30 recite “the configuration information”, which has lack of antecedent basis in the claim. Dependent claims are rejected for same reasons.
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.
Claim(s) 15, 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liu et al. (US 2024/0015678).
Regarding claim 15, Liu teaches a method (process 700, fig 7) performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system (UE 120 in wireless network 100, fig 1, 2), the method comprising:
determining a channel bandwidth for a frequency band (step 710, fig 7; para 83: receiving, from a base station, an SSB associated with an SSB configuration for an operating band having a maximum bandwidth that is narrower than a minimum SSB bandwidth for an access link (block 710); para 67: the maximum bandwidth of the operating band is 3 MHz);
when the channel bandwidth is 3 megahertz (MHz) (para 67: the maximum bandwidth of the operating band is 3 MHz), determining a punctured bandwidth of a synchronization signals and physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block as 144 subcarriers (fig 5, 6a-6d; para 70: fig 6B, the base station may puncture one or more edges of a legacy SSB (e.g., an SSB configured as shown in fig 5) and only transmit a set of RBs in a frequency region that is within the maximum bandwidth of the operating band; para 72: the UE may determine the punctured edge(s) of the SSB based on the predefined SSB configuration for the operating band and/or the blind decoding), wherein subcarriers 0 to 47 and subcarriers 192 to 239 are punctured from 240 subcarriers (fig 5 shows the SSB with total of 240 subcarriers, with first 48 (considered as subcarriers 0 to 47, and 4-RBs), and last 48 (considered as subcarriers 192-239 and 4-RBs; remaining 144 subcarrier; fig 6B shows that the punctured edge RBs are RB 0-1 and 18-19, which are within the subcarriers 0-47 and 192-239); and
receiving the SS/PBCH block based on the punctured bandwidth of the SS/PBCH block (para 72: in FIG. 6A, and by reference number 614, the UE may receive and decode the SSB based at least in part on the SSB configuration for the operating band, the UE may determine the punctured edge(s) of the SSB based on the predefined SSB configuration for the operating band and/or the blind decoding).
Regarding claim 21, Liu further teaches wherein: the SS/PBCH block comprises 4 symbols (symbol 0- 3 in fig 6b); and 4 symbols of the SS/PBCH block are punctured (620, puncture edge RBs shows all 4 symbols of SSB are punctured).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
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, 25, 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US 2024/0015678)
Regarding claim 1, Liu teaches a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system (UE 120 in wireless network 100, fig 1, 2), the UE (UE 120, fig 1, 2) comprising:
a processor (processor 280, fig 2) configured (process 700, fig 7) to:
determine a channel bandwidth for a frequency band (step 710, fig 7; para 83: receiving, from a base station, an SSB associated with an SSB configuration for an operating band having a maximum bandwidth that is narrower than a minimum SSB bandwidth for an access link (block 710); para 67: the maximum bandwidth of the operating band is 3 MHz), and
when the channel bandwidth is 3 megahertz (MHz) (para 67: the maximum bandwidth of the operating band is 3 MHz), determine a punctured bandwidth of a synchronization signals and physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block as 144 subcarriers (fig 5, 6a-6d; para 70: fig 6B, the base station may puncture one or more edges of a legacy SSB (e.g., an SSB configured as shown in fig 5) and only transmit a set of RBs in a frequency region that is within the maximum bandwidth of the operating band; para 72: the UE may determine the punctured edge(s) of the SSB based on the predefined SSB configuration for the operating band and/or the blind decoding); and
a transceiver (para 45: the UE 120 includes a transceiver) operably coupled to the processor (para 45: the transceiver may be used by a processor (e.g., controller/processor 280) and memory 282 to perform aspects of any of the methods described herein, for example, as described with reference to FIGS. 6A-6E), the transceiver configured to receive the SS/PBCH block based on the punctured bandwidth of the SS/PBCH block (para 72: in FIG. 6A, and by reference number 614, the UE may receive and decode the SSB based at least in part on the SSB configuration for the operating band, the UE may determine the punctured edge(s) of the SSB based on the predefined SSB configuration for the operating band and/or the blind decoding).
The reference teaches puncturing of the edges of the SSB blocks when the maximum bandwidth of the operating band is narrower than the 3.6Mhz, which includes 3Mhz band (para 66). The reference further teaches in fig 6b-6d, different RBs for puncturing including RB indexes 0-1, 18-19 (4 RBs, each RB has 12 subcarriers, so 48 total subcarriers of 240), 0-3, 16-19. However, further in para 74, the reference considers that if the maximum bandwidth of the operating band is below 2.88 MHz, the base station may puncture five or more RBs (e.g., two RBs in one edge and three RBs in another edge) and transmit RBs in a frequency region spanning a number RBs that is within the maximum bandwidth of the operating band. Thus, the reference covers puncturing more than five RBs based on maximum bandwidth. It would be obvious variation to puncture 4RBs (48 subcarriers) on each edge to determine 144 subcarriers in the center of bandwidth, teaching wherein the 144 subcarriers are determined by puncturing subcarriers 0 to 47 and subcarriers 192 to 239 are punctured from 240 subcarriers. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine determination of SS/PSCH block when the minimum channel bandwidth of the frequency band is 3 MHz as taught by Liu with determination of punctured subcarriers based on maximum bandwidth as taught by Liu for the benefit of improving PBCH detection performance as taught by Liu in Para 75.
Regarding claim 8, Liu teaches a base station (BS) in a wireless communication system (base station 110 in wireless network 100, fig 1-2), the BS (base station 110, fig 1-2)comprising:
a processor (processor 240, fig 2) configured (process 800, fig 8) to:
determine a channel bandwidth for a frequency band in which the wireless communication system operates (step 810, fig 8; para 99: determining an SSB configuration for an operating band associated with the base station, wherein the operating band has a maximum bandwidth that is narrower than a minimum SSB bandwidth for an access link (block 810); para 67: the maximum bandwidth of the operating band is 3 MHz), and
when the channel bandwidth is 3 megahertz (MHz) (para 67: the maximum bandwidth of the operating band is 3 MHz), determine a punctured bandwidth of a synchronization signals and physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block as 144 subcarriers (fig 5, 6a-6d; para 70: fig 6B, the base station may puncture one or more edges of a legacy SSB (e.g., an SSB configured as shown in fig 5) and only transmit a set of RBs in a frequency region that is within the maximum bandwidth of the operating band; para 72: the UE may determine the punctured edge(s) of the SSB based on the predefined SSB configuration for the operating band and/or the blind decoding); and
a transceiver (para 46: the base station 110 includes a transceiver) operably coupled to the processor (para 46: the transceiver may be used by a processor (e.g., controller/processor 240) and memory 242 to perform aspects of any of the methods described herein, for example, as described with reference to FIGS. 6A-6E), the transceiver configured to transmit the SS/PBCH block based on the punctured bandwidth of the SS/PBCH block (para 71: in FIG. 6A, and by reference number 612, the base station may transmit SSBs based on the SSB configuration for the operating band; para 70: with reference to FIG. 6B, the base station may puncture one or more edges of a legacy SSB (e.g., an SSB configured as shown in FIG. 5) and only transmit a set of RBs in a frequency region that is within the maximum bandwidth of the operating band).
The reference teaches puncturing of the edges of the SSB blocks when the maximum bandwidth of the operating band is narrower than the 3.6Mhz, which includes 3Mhz band (para 66). The reference further teaches in fig 6b-6d, different RBs for puncturing including RB indexes 0-1, 18-19 (4 RBs, each RB has 12 subcarriers, so 48 total subcarriers of 240), 0-3, 16-19. However, further in para 74, the reference considers that if the maximum bandwidth of the operating band is below 2.88 MHz, the base station may puncture five or more RBs (e.g., two RBs in one edge and three RBs in another edge) and transmit RBs in a frequency region spanning a number RBs that is within the maximum bandwidth of the operating band. Thus, the reference covers puncturing more than five RBs based on maximum bandwidth. It would be obvious variation to puncture 4RBs (48 subcarriers) on each edge to determine 144 subcarriers in the center of bandwidth, teaching wherein the 144 subcarriers are determined by puncturing subcarriers 0 to 47 and subcarriers 192 to 239 are punctured from 240 subcarriers. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine determination of SS/PSCH block when the minimum channel bandwidth of the frequency band is 3 MHz as taught by Liu with determination of punctured subcarriers based on maximum bandwidth as taught by Liu for the benefit of improving PBCH detection performance as taught by Liu in Para 75.
Regarding claim 25 and 29, Liu further teaches wherein: the SS/PBCH block comprises 4 symbols (symbol 0- 3 in fig 6b); and 4 symbols of the SS/PBCH block are punctured (620, puncture edge RBs shows all 4 symbols of SSB are punctured).
Claims 2, 16, 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US 2024/0015678) in view of Kim et al. (US 20220225372)
Regarding claim 2, 16 and 30, Liu teaches the limitations of the parent claim. Liu teaches the SS/PBCH block subcarrier spacing (SCS) being 15 kHz, and determining SS/PSCH block when the minimum channel bandwidth of the frequency band is 3 MHz . The reference fails to teach the determination of CORESET based on the above values. Kim is directed to SSB correspondence to CORESET (abstract).
Kim further teaches to determine a set of configurations for a control resource set #0 (CORESET #0) (fig 11; para 91-92: after SSB detection, the UE may determine: (i) a plurality of contiguous RBs and one or more contiguous symbols included in a CORESET (e.g., CORESET #0); table 9) based on a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the SS/PBCH block, a SCS of the CORESET #0, a minimum channel bandwidth of the frequency band, and the channel bandwidth (para 100: table 10 shows sets of RBs and slot symbols of CORESET when SCS is 30 kHz for frequency bands with minimum channel bandwidth of 5 or 10 MHz); and
the configuration information for the CORESET #0 comprises a multiplexing pattern between the SS/PBCH block and the CORESET#0, a number of resource blocks (RBs) for the CORESET#0, a number of symbols for the CORESET#0, and an offset in a unit of the RBs (table 9 shows information indicated by the four MSB of pdcch-ConfigSIB1 including SS/PBCH block and CORESET multiplexing pattern, number of RBs, number of symbols and offset in RBs). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine determination of SS/PSCH block when the minimum channel bandwidth of the frequency band is 3 MHz as taught by Liu with determination of CORESET based on SS/PBCH block and SCS as taught by Kim for the benefit of efficiently transmitting and receiving a wireless signal as taught by Kim in Para 4.
Claims 3, 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US 2024/0015678) in view of Kim et al. (US 20220225372) in further view of Liu et al. (US 20220240249, hereinafter referred as Liu-2)
Regarding claim 3 and 17, Liu in view of Kim teaches the limitations of the parent claim.
Liu further teaches the SS/PBCH block subcarrier spacing (SCS) being 15 kHz and the minimum channel bandwidth of the frequency band is 3 MHz .
Kim further teaches wherein: when the SCS of the SS/PBCH block is 15 kHz, the SCS of the CORESET #0 is 15 kHz, and the channel bandwidth is 5 MHz (tables 13-15 in combination of SSB SCS relationship table in para 107; para 106: Tables 13 to 15 show the configurations of CORESET #0 when the SS/PBCH block is based on the 15 kHz SCS; para 100: table 10 shows sets of RBs and slot symbols of CORESET when SCS is 30 kHz for frequency bands with minimum channel bandwidth of 5 or 10 MHz; para 107 shows the relationship for RBs for SCS 30 kHz and SCS 15 kHz). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine determination of SS/PSCH block when the minimum channel bandwidth of the frequency band is 3 MHz as taught by Liu with determination of CORESET based on SS/PBCH block and SCS as taught by Kim for the benefit of efficiently transmitting and receiving a wireless signal as taught by Kim in Para 4.
Liu in view of Kim fail to teach the CCE to REG mapping for the configuration. Liu-2 is directed to COREET configuration for narrowband NR.
Liu-2 further teaches wherein when the channel bandwidth is 3Mhz or 5Mhz (para 47: for a narrower channel bandwidth, such as 3 MHz, both the NR SSB and the NR CORESET may not fit within the channel bandwidth), non-interleaved control channel element to resource element group (CCE-to-REG) mapping is applied for CORESET#0 configuration comprising 24 RBs (fig 4A, CORESET 42 comprises 24 RBs, RB index 6-9 are mapped to same CCE1 (thus, considered non-interleaved) and aggregation level (AL)=1; para 79-80: the CORESET 402 includes four CCEs 401, each CCE 401 include six resource element groups (REGs), where a REG is defined as one physical RB in one symbol). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine determination of SS/PSCH block when the minimum channel bandwidth of the frequency band is 3 MHz and CORESET determination as taught by Liu and Kim with CORESET CCE mapping as taught by Liu-2 for the benefit of reusing a current CCE mapping for the CORESET for narrowband communication as taught by Liu-2 in para 52.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 22-24, 26-28, 31-33, would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed with respect to Liu not teaching the amended claim limitation have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The applicant argues that the reference does not teach determination. It is noted that in view of amended claim limitation of claim 1, the claim is rejected under 103 as being unpatentable over Liu. Liu describes the legacy SSB with 3.6Mhz bandwidth. However, further in para 66, indicates the adjustment to SSB by puncturing the edges RBs when the bandwidth is narrower than 3.6Mhz, which includes 3Mhz. The reference shows in fig 6b-6d, to puncture 2 RBs on each edge, which would be 48 subcarriers. However, further in para 74, the reference considers to adjust RBs to be punctured to five or more when the maximum operating band is narrower. Thus, the 4 RBs on each edge, eight RBs total is more than five when the maximum operating band is narrower, which is considered obvious variation to the teaching of Liu in para 74. Thus, Liu appears to teach the argued limitation.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RINA C PANCHOLI whose telephone number is (571)272-2679. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30am-4pm.
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/RINA C PANCHOLI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477 9/2/2026
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