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 § 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.
Claim 15 is 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.
Claim 15 has been amended to include features of the first network node, in particular “the first network node determines an unavailable resource, wherein the unavailable resource comprises the measurement resource and a frequency gap, wherein at least a portion of the frequency gap is between the measurement resource and a first downlink frequency resource of the first network node, and the measurement resource overlaps with at least a portion of a second downlink frequency resource; and wherein the first network node sends to a third network node information identifying the unavailable resource”. However, claim 15 is directed towards “a second network node” (see preamble of the claim), accordingly the features of the first network node do not further limit second network node, thus having no patentable weight. Furthermore, as the lengthy limitation of “the first network node determines an unavailable resource, wherein the unavailable resource comprises the measurement resource and a frequency gap, wherein at least a portion of the frequency gap is between the measurement resource and a first downlink frequency resource of the first network node, and the measurement resource overlaps with at least a portion of a second downlink frequency resource; and wherein the first network node sends to a third network node information identifying the unavailable resource” is directed towards a different device than the preamble, the examiner is unable to ascertain the scope of the claim, rendering the claim indefinite.
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 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xu et al. (WO 2018/126792 A1, hereinafter “Xu”, see English translation provided for mapping purposes).
As to claim 15:
Xu discloses a second network node (“second communication device”; Fig. 1), comprising:
at least one processor (processor; Fig. 5; [0202]) configured to:
determine measurement resource for sending Reference Signal (RS) (“In this embodiment, before sending the first reference signal, the second communication device will obtain the first transmission configuration information. In this way, the first communication device can obtain the first transmission configuration information in step S110. Based on the first transmission configuration information, the first communication device can know on which time-frequency resources the first reference signal is transmitted and on which time-frequency resources the first reference signal may be received. When both the first communication device and the second communication device are base stations, the first communication device can receive the first configuration information from the base station that sent the first reference signal.”; [0048]-[0053]); and
send, via a transmitter (transmitting unit 220; Fig. 5; [0201]) to a first network node (“first communication device”; Fig. 1), the Reference Signal (RS) in the measurement resource configured to receive the RS (“Measure the first reference signal according to the first transmission configuration information to form a first measurement result”; [0048]-[0057]),
wherein interference of operations of the second network node on operations of the first network node is determined based on the RS (“Step S120: Measure the first reference signal according to the first transmission configuration information to form a first measurement result.
In this embodiment, the first measurement result can be used for cross-link interference coordination”; [0049] “both the first communication device and the second communication device can be base stations. By executing the above steps S110 to S120, the mutual interference status between the base stations can be determined. For example, downlink transmission from base station A interferes with uplink transmission from base station B”; [0059]-[0062]; [0064]; [0068]), the first network node determines an unavailable resource, wherein the unavailable resource comprises the measurement resource and a frequency gap, wherein at least a portion of the frequency gap is between the measurement resource and a first downlink frequency resource of the first network node, and the measurement resource overlaps with at least a portion of a second downlink frequency resource; and wherein the first network node sends to a third network node information identifying the unavailable resource (this limitation does not further limit the structure of the second network node recited on the preamble, accordingly holds no patentable weight).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-4, 6-14, 16-18 and 20 are allowed in view of applicant’s amendments and remarks made on the response filed 09/10/2026.
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record below is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure:
Xu (US 2024/0089019 A1) teaches a user equipment (UE) may receive a resource configuration indicating cross link interference (CLI) measurement resources and the UE may measure at least one reference signal received power (RSRP) value respectively on at least one CLI measurement resource of the one or more CLI measurement resources (see at least abstract).
Haustein (US 2023/0189382 A1) teaches measuring the interference comprises receiving a reference signal such as a sounding reference signal or any other configured resource (see at least [0649]).
Huang (US 2023/0189027 A1) teaches the communications manager 715 may transmit, to a parent IAB node, a SRS measurement configuration for measuring, by the parent IAB node, cross-link interference on at least one reference signal resource set to be used by a downstream node in transmitting SRSs, the configuration also indicating, based at least in part on usage information for the at least one reference signal resource set, a number of spatial layers of CLI associated with the downstream node (see at least [0185]).
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 MARIELA VIDAL CARPIO whose telephone number is (571)272-1250. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00AM to 5:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayaz Sheikh can be reached at (571)272-3795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARIELA VIDAL CARPIO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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