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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 1/23/2026 has been entered.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 13, 25, 27, 33, 34, 40, 42, 45, 46, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ang et al. “Ang” US 2019/0222404 in view of Wu et al. “Wu” CN 115087104 (see attached for English translation/citations).
Regarding claims 1 and 25, Ang teaches a method and an apparatus for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory comprising computer-executable instructions; and one or more processors (Figures 9-15) configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the apparatus to:
receive a bandwidth part (BWP) configuration indicating a frequency location and bandwidth of at least a first BWP (the base stations sends parameters of the BWP to a UE via DCI. These parameters include frequency location and bandwidth; Paragraph 174, see Figure 2);
receive signaling indicating one of multiple frequency shift configurations associated with the BWP configuration and at least one frequency shift to determine a second BWP from a frequency location of the first BWP (the DCI can further include shifted frequency information (850 and 855 of Figure 8, thus more than one configuration). There is an active and target BWP (thus first and second BWP); Paragraph 220); and
communicate on the second BWP after performing a BWP switch from the first BWP to the second BWP based on the at least one frequency shift (the UE can receive a BWP switching message based on the received DCI (step 515), change to the target BWP (i.e. switch from the first to a second BWP) and begin communications; 525, 530, 540 of Figure 5; Paragraph 198. See also paragraphs 228 and 236 (Figures 7a/b) which discloses the use of an offset from the active BWP to the target BWP and the UE/base station switching to a target BWP for communications as another example).
While Ang teaches the frequency shift is indicated in a DCI along with a time for performing BWP switching (The UE can receive a BWP switching message based on the received DCI (step 515), change to the target BWP (i.e. switch from the first to a second BWP) and begin communications; 525, 530, 540 of Figure 5; Paragraph 198. See also paragraphs 228 and 236 (Figures 7a/b) which discloses the use of an offset from the active BWP to the target BWP and the UE/base station switching to a target BWP for communications as another example. The parameters being communicated can be done via DCI, MAC CE, and RRC for example; Paragraph 174, Ang does not expressly disclose the information is in RRC along with a scheduled time for performing a BWP switch.
Wu teaches a base station in communication with a UE to figure out an appropriate BWP switching time such that the terminal can perform a BWP switch. The BWP switching is associated with a frequency shift value between the BWP; Page 15, last full paragraph starting with “As described above”. Wu further teaches that the signaling/indication information the terminal receives from the base station can be transmit via RRC signaling; Page 19 first paragraph. Thus one can see there is frequency shift information with respect to a BWP switching time which is carried in RRC.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Ang to include frequency shift information and scheduled time to switch between BWPs within the RRC as taught by Wu.
One would be motivated to make the modification such the system can reduce the processing time delay as taught by Wu; Page 15, last full paragraph starting with “As described above”.
Regarding claims 13 and 40, Ang teaches a method and an apparatus for wireless communication by a network entity, comprising: a memory comprising computer-executable instructions; and one or more processors (Figure 16) configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the apparatus to:
Send, to a UE, a bandwidth part (BWP) configuration indicating a frequency location and bandwidth of at least a first BWP (the base stations sends parameters of the BWP to a UE via DCI. These parameters include frequency location and bandwidth; Paragraph 174, see Figure 2);
Send the UE signaling indicating one of multiple frequency shift configurations associated with the BWP configuration and at least one frequency shift to determine a second BWP from a frequency location of the first BWP (the DCI can further include shifted frequency information (850 and 855 of Figure 8, thus more than one configuration). There is an active and target BWP (thus first and second BWP); Paragraph 220); and
communicate on the second BWP after performing a BWP switch from the first BWP to the second BWP based on the at least one frequency shift (the UE can receive a BWP switching message based on the received DCI (step 515), change to the target BWP (i.e. switch from the first to a second BWP) and begin communications; 525, 530, 540 of Figure 5; Paragraph 198. See also paragraphs 228 and 236 (Figures 7a/b) which discloses the use of an offset from the active BWP to the target BWP and the UE/base station switching to a target BWP for communications as another example).
While Ang teaches the frequency shift is indicated in a DCI along with a time for performing BWP switching (The UE can receive a BWP switching message based on the received DCI (step 515), change to the target BWP (i.e. switch from the first to a second BWP) and begin communications; 525, 530, 540 of Figure 5; Paragraph 198. See also paragraphs 228 and 236 (Figures 7a/b) which discloses the use of an offset from the active BWP to the target BWP and the UE/base station switching to a target BWP for communications as another example. The parameters being communicated can be done via DCI, MAC CE, and RRC for example; Paragraph 174, Ang does not expressly disclose the information is in RRC along with a scheduled time for performing a BWP switch.
Wu teaches a base station in communication with a UE to figure out an appropriate BWP switching time such that the terminal can perform a BWP switch. The BWP switching is associated with a frequency shift value between the BWP; Page 15, last full paragraph starting with “As described above”. Wu further teaches that the signaling/indication information the terminal receives from the base station can be transmit via RRC signaling; Page 19 first paragraph. Thus one can see there is frequency shift information with respect to a BWP switching time which is carried in RRC.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Ang to include frequency shift information and scheduled time to switch between BWPs within the RRC as taught by Wu.
One would be motivated to make the modification such the system can reduce the processing time delay as taught by Wu; Page 15, last full paragraph starting with “As described above”.
Regarding claim 27, Ang teaches the signaling indicating the frequency shift is DCI with one or more bits indicated the frequency shift (the DCI can further include shifted frequency information; Paragraph 220).
Regarding claim 42, Ang teaches the signaling indicating the frequency shift is DCI with one or more bits indicated the frequency shift (the DCI can further include shifted frequency information; Paragraph 220).
Regarding claims 33 and 45, Ang teaches the signaling includes at least one frequency shift configuration associated with a BWP and at least one frequency shift value (the DCI includes frequency shift information. There is a mapping of the active BWP to the shifted frequency of the target BWP; Paragraph 220. Thus one can see that the signaling information includes the information that is associated with a BWP and the shifted frequency as claimed).
Regarding claims 34 and 46, Ang teaches the configuration can be indicated with MAC CE (the parameters being communicated can be done via DCI, MAC CE, and RRC for example; Paragraph 174. Thus the signaling can be carried in MAC CE as claimed).
Claim(s) 26, 41 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ang in view of Wu and further in view of Ye US 2022/0150036.
Regarding claim 26, Ang discloses the use of a BWP identifier field, but Ang does not disclose the first and second BPW share a same BWP identifier. Ye teaches that a first and second BWP can have a same BWP identifier; Paragraphs 68, 70 and 93.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Ang to include first and second BWP identifiers are the same as taught by Ye.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that the UE can switch between carriers as taught by Ye; Paragraph 68.
Regarding claim 41, Ang discloses the use of a BWP identifier field, but Ang does not disclose the first and second BPW share a same BWP identifier. Ye teaches that a first and second BWP can have a same BWP identifier; Paragraphs 68, 70 and 93.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Ang to include first and second BWP identifiers are the same as taught by Ye.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that the UE can switch between carriers as taught by Ye; Paragraph 68.
Claim(s) 35, 47 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ang in view of Wu and further in view of Lin et al. “Lin” US 2023/0015550.
Regarding claims 35 and 47, Ang does not disclose the frequency shift is associated with a coefficient and determined by multiplying a frequency shift unit with the coefficient; however, Lin teaches a frequency offset is determined as a scaling factor multiplied by PRBs; Paragraph 98. The coefficient and frequency shift unit are not defined to be any particular value, thus the scaling factor and PRBs are equivalent to the claimed shift units and coefficient.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Ang to include determining the frequency shift value by multiplying a coefficient by a shift unit as taught by Lin.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that the frequency offset/shift can be determined for frequency hopping as taught by Lin; Paragraph 98.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 31, 32, 36, 38, 39, 43, 44, 48, 50, 51 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 13, 25-27, 31-36, 38-48, 50, 51 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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/BRANDON M RENNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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