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
Claims 1-20 received on 10/9/2023 have been examined, of which claims 1, 8 and 15 are independent.
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 7, 14, 20 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claims 7, 14 and 20 recite “for the configurations with index 10 to 11, the number of RBs for the CORESET #0 are punctured from 24 to 10, by puncturing highest 4 RBs, after applying the CCE-to-REG mapping”. Here, number of RBs between 24 and 10 are 14 RBs and not 4 RBs as claimed. It is unclear, how 14RBs are punctured by puncturing 4RBs. In the review of the specification, para 242, describes the truncate bandwidth to 20 RBs by truncating the highest 4 RBs. Thus, the claims appears to have incorrect number “10” instead of “20”.
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) 1, 8, 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated b 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 in which the wireless communication system operates (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), wherein:
subcarriers 0 to 47 and subcarriers 192 to 239 are punctured from 240 subcarriers of the SS/PBCH block bandwidth (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); 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
all 4 symbols of the SS/PBCH block are punctured (fig 6B shows symbol 0-3 (all 4 symbols) are punctured in 620 punctured edge RBs); 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).
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), wherein:
subcarriers 0 to 47 and subcarriers 192 to 239 are punctured from 240 subcarriers of the SS/PBCH block bandwidth (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); 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
all 4 symbols of the SS/PBCH block are punctured (fig 6B shows symbol 0-3 (all 4 symbols) are punctured in 620 punctured edge RBs); 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).
Regarding claim 15, Liu teaches a method (process 700, fig 7) of 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 in which the wireless communication system operates (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), 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 of the SS/PBCH block bandwidth (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
all 4 symbols of the SS/PBCH block are punctured (fig 6B shows symbol 0-3 (all 4 symbols) are punctured in 620 punctured edge RBs); 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).
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.
Claims 2-5, 9-12, 16-19 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, 9 and 16, 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 set of configurations for the CORESET #0 (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 9-15, para 107) are determined from:
a first table, 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 3 MHz or 5 MHz (table 13 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); or
a second table, 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 or larger (tables 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.
Regarding claim 3, 10 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. Liu fails to teach the CORESET.
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), the set of configurations for the CORESET #0 is determined (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) from:
the first table, when a frequency location of the SS/PBCH block is selected from a first set of synchronization raster entries (fig 20 showing first synchronization raster including set of frequencies from 5150 to 5160; para 120: in fig 20, if the UE receives an RB/RE level offset value from the PBCH payload corresponding to frequency #X, the UE may interpret the corresponding value as an offset value from a specific RE of an SS/PBCH block on the synchronization raster (e.g., the first RE on the minimum RB index) to a specific RE of CORESET #0 (e.g., the first RE on the minimum RB index) in order to identify the locations of frequency resources of CORESET #0 as in [Method #1]); or
the second table, when the frequency location of the SS/PBCH block is selected from a second set of synchronization raster entries (fig 20 showing second synchronization raster with Frequency X as center frequency including set of frequencies from 560-5170; para 120: If the UE receives an RB/RE level offset value from the PBCH payload corresponding to frequency #X, the UE may interpret the corresponding value as an offset value from the channel raster of a band to which frequency #X belongs to a specific frequency resource (e.g., center frequency) of CORESET #0 in order to identify the locations of frequency resources of CORESET #0 as in [Method #2]); and
the first set and the second set of synchronization raster entries do not overlap (as shown in fig 20, the first sync raster (frequency 5150-5160) do not overlap with second sync raster (frequency 5160-5170)). 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.
Regarding claim 4, 11 and 18, Lui in view of Kim teaches the limitations of the parent claim.
Liu further teaches the SS/PBCH block after puncturing, when the bandwidth of the SS/PBCH block is punctured to 144 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). Liu fails to teach CORESET configuration based on SS/PBCH block.
Liu fails to teach, but Kim further teaches wherein the set of configurations for the CORESET #0 (table 9-16; para 93: the position of CORESET #0 in the frequency domain is determined by a subcarrier offset and an RB offset with respect to the SSB) include:
a multiplexing pattern between the SS/PBCH block and the CORESET #0 (SS/PBCH block multiplexing pattern, table 9-16);
a number of resource blocks (RBs) for the CORESET #0 (number of RBs CORESET, table 9-16);
a number of symbols for the CORESET #0 (number of symbols CORESET, table 9-16); and
an offset in a unit of RB s (offset RBs, table 9-16), where the offset is from a smallest RB index of the CORESET #0 to a smallest RB index of a common RB overlapping with a first RB of the SS/PBCH block (para 92: offset RBs denotes an offset between the first RB of an SSB and the first RB of an RMSI CORESET). 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.
Regarding claim 5, 12 and 19, Liu fails to teach, but Kim teaches wherein the first table is given by (tables 9-16, which include): index, Multiplexing pattern between SS/PBCH block and the CORESET#0, Number of resource blocks (RBs) for CORESET#0, Number of symbols for the CORESET#0, Offset (RBs) (indexes 0-15 (11 plus indexes), number of resource blocks being 24 RBs, with either 2 or 3 number of symbols, 0-2 offset; here, the table in the claim is interpreted as parameters of the table with the value range as in the table). 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 6-7, 13-14 and 20 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 6 and 13, Liu in view of Kim teaches the limitations of the parent claim. 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 for the configurations with index 6 to 9, non-interleaved control channel element to resource element group (CCE-to-REG) mapping is applied (fig 4A, 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.
Regarding claim 7, 14 and 20, Liu in view of Kim fail to teach, but Liu-2 further teaches wherein for the configurations with index 2 to 9, the number of RBs for the CORESET #0 are punctured from 24 to 15, by puncturing highest 9 RBs, after applying a CCE-to-REG mapping (fig 10B shows CCE to REG mapping for CORESET is done and highest 9 RBs are punctured (# 15-23) after mapping); and
for the configurations with index 10 to 11, the number of RBs for the CORESET #0 are punctured from 24 to 10, by puncturing highest 4 RBs, after applying the CCE-to-REG mapping (fig 6c shows CCE to REG mapping for CORESET is done and highest 4 RBs are punctured (#0, 1, 22, 23) after mapping). 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.
Conclusion
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 3/27/2026
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