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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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, 4, 8, 10, 13-14, 17, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Wei et al. US 20230084494
Regarding claim 1, A method of a User Equipment (UE) (Figure 6, element 602), comprising: receiving, from a base station (element 604), a Downlink Control Information (DCI) indicating the UE to receive a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), wherein the DCI indicates a Resource Block Group (RBG) is allocated to the UE (the base station uses DCI signaling, element 606, to configure the UE to use frequency hopping for PDSCH, the base station transmits DCI in a PDCCH, the base station may configure the UE to use one or more companion bandwidth parts for PDSCH frequency hopping, para. 0067, a gNB or base station can configure one or more narrowbands (NB 502, NB 504, NB 506, and NB 508, Figure 5, each NB may be defined as a set of continuous subbands or resource block groups (RBGs) with a total frequency span no larger than a maximum bandwidth supported by the UE, each RBG is a set of consecutive resource blocks (RBs) with a configurable size dependent on the total number of PRBs in the bandwidth part, a subband is defined as contiguous PRBs with a configurable size dependent on the total number of PRBs in the bandwidth part, para. 0066), and wherein at least one or more first Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) of the RBG are within a Downlink (DL) subband and at least one or more second PRBs of the RBG are outside the DL subband; receiving PDSCH on the one or more first PRBs; and not receiving PDSCH on the one or more second PRBs (the PDSCH transmitted using frequency hopping between a first narrowband and a second narrowband, one or more resource blocks of the first narrowband that is not aligned with a subband, may be punctured with respect to the PDSCH, and the punctured resource blocks are located outside of a bandwidth part including narrowbands, para. 0087, Figure 8).
Regarding claim 4, The method of claim 1, wherein:the one or more second PRBs are within a guard band; or the one or more second PRBs are within an Uplink (UL) subband (a UE may be configured with one or more BWPs in the uplink and one or more BWPs in the downlink, para. 0064).
Regarding claim 8, The method of claim 1, further comprising performing channel estimation based on the one or more second PRBs (resource element within a resource block may he scheduled to carry one or more physical channels, including control channels, shared channels, data channels, etc. resource elements within the resource block may also carry pilots or reference signals for a receiving device to perform channel estimation of the corresponding channel, which may enable coherent demodulation/detection of the control and/or data channels within the RB, para. 0056).
Claims 10, 13-14, 17, 19 are rejected under the same rationale.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 2-3, 7, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wei et al. US 20230084494 in view of Abdelghaffar et al. US 20240064720.
Regarding claim 2, The method of claim 1, Wei does not disclose wherein the PDSCH is on a Subband Full Duplex (SBFD) symbol. Abdelghaffar discloses the UE receiving scheduling information that includes a configuration of SBFD frequency resources for one or more sub-bands in which the configuration is based on a size of the one or more sub-bands and a size of a BWP associated with the UE, and in which at least one of the SBFD frequency resources is not aligned with the one or more sub-bands, UE is communicating with a network via the SBFD frequency resources based on the scheduling information, para. 0006. Abdelghaffar discloses the at least two RBGs within each of the one or more sub-bands may include a first sub-band RBG and a last sub-band RBG, and wherein the RBG size of RBGs between the first sub-band RBG and the last sub-band RBG each have a different RBG size than the first sub-band RBG and the last sub-band RBG, the SBFD frequency resources are configured so that an RBG size of SBFD symbols is different than an RBG size of non-SBFD symbols, para. 0166. Before the filing of the invention it would have been obvious to modify Wei to include Abdelghaffar’s SBFD frequency resources. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for desirably facilitates the utilization of a frequency domain resource assignment (FDRA) bit width of finer granularity during SBFD operation, para. 0030.
Regarding claim 3, The method of claim 1, Wei does not disclose wherein the DL subband is for SBFD operation. Abdelghaffar discloses a first effective DL sub-band, Figure 9, element 920, is ascertained by the overlap of DL sub-band, element 910 and a corresponding DL BWP, element 900, and where a second effective DL sub-band, element 922 is ascertained by the overlap of DL sub-band, element 912 and the corresponding DL BWP 900, para. 0126. Before the filing of the invention it would have been obvious to modify Wei to include Abdelghaffar’s SBFD frequency resources. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for desirably facilitates the utilization of a frequency domain resource assignment (FDRA) bit width of finer granularity during SBFD operation, para. 0030.
Regarding claim 7, The method of claim 1, Wei does not disclose further comprising receiving a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) on the one or more second PRBs. Abdelghaffar discloses the base station may further allocate one or more resource elements to carry other DL signals, such as a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), para. 0085. Before the filing of the invention it would have been obvious to modify Wei to include Abdelghaffar’s frequency resources. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for demodulating data, para. 0098.
Regarding claim 9, Wei does not disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the RBG is a precoding RBG. Abdelghaffar discloses a gNB or base station schedules SBFD resources for a sub-band based on a size of the sub-band. In some examples, such scheduling desirably facilitates the utilization of partial resource block groups (RBGs) and partial precoding resource groups (PRGs) during SBFD operation, para. 0030. Before the filing of the invention it would have been obvious to modify Wei to include Abdelghaffar’s SBFD frequency resources. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for desirably facilitates the utilization of a frequency domain resource assignment (FDRA) bit width of finer granularity during SBFD operation, para. 0030.
Claims 11, 12, 15, 16, 20 are rejected under the same rationale.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6, 18-19 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MELANIE JAGANNATHAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3163. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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, Marcus Smith can be reached at 571-270-1096. 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.
/MELANIE JAGANNATHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468
Prosecution Insights