Detailed Action
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This is a Non-final action for application number 18/564,056 in response to an original application filed on 11/24/2023.
Claims 1-73 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Claims 1, 22, 27, 36, 38, 59 and 64 are independent claims.
Claims 5-8, 11-13, 15-21, 24-26, 31-35, 37, 40-42, 44-55, 57-58, 62-63 and 65-73 have been cancelled.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS), submitted on 11/10/2023 and 11/27/2023 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 2-4, 9, 10, 14 are objected to because of the following informalities: [Please replace “A method” with “The method” since those claims depend on independent claim 1. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 23 is objected to because of the following informalities: [Please replace “A method” with “The method” since this claim depends on independent claim 22. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 28-30 are objected to because of the following informalities: [Please replace “A method” with “The method” since those claims depend on independent claim 27. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 39, 43 and 56 are objected to because of the following informalities: [Please replace “A method” with “The method” since those claims depend on independent claim 38. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 60 and 61 are objected to because of the following informalities: [Please replace “A method” with “The method” since those claims depend on independent claim 59. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-4, 9, 10,14, 22, 23, 27-30, 38, 39, 43, 59-61 and 64 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kusashima et al. (US 2021/0067992 A1) in view of AboTabl et al. (US 2021/0345374 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 38, a method in a base station that is to operate in a full duplex communication mode, [communication apparatus that is operated under a wireless communication environment to which a full duplex communication, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 7)], the method comprising:
sending respective device-to-device (D2D) announcement configurations to one or more first wireless devices that have data to transmit to the base station, wherein a D2D announcement configuration configures a first wireless device to perform a respective D2D announcement, [Figure 7, wherein gNB sends signals to different UEs 1 & 2, a process of measuring inter-terminal interference and performing terminal pairing on the basis of the measurement result so that IB FD communication is carried out by an appropriately selected pair of terminals, (Kusashima et al., Paragraphs 66-68)],
sending a D2D announcement monitoring configuration to one or more second wireless devices that the base station has data to transmit to, wherein a D2D announcement monitoring configuration configures a second wireless device to monitor for a D2D announcement transmitted by one or more first wireless devices, [Figure 7, wherein a DL UE which the base station has data to transmit to, the base station reports setting for measurement of inter-terminal interference to the UE 1 (DL UE) which is a terminal connected to the base station and is slated to be set as a transmission destination of a downlink signal (Kusashima et al., Paragraphs 67-68)],
determining information relating to receipt of D2D announcements by the one or more second wireless devices according to the D2D announcement monitoring configuration, [measuring inter-terminal interference and making a report to the base station is executed for each combination (including the link directions) of all or some of the terminals, wherein the base station determines a receipt of a report from the DL UE and UL UE, (Kusashima et al., Paragraphs 71-72)],
and identifying based on the determined information, an uplink (UL) wireless device from the one or more first wireless devices and a downlink (DL) wireless device from the one or more second wireless devices for a full duplex communication in which the UL wireless device is to transmit data to the base station and the base station is to transmit data to the DL wireless device, [Please see Figure 7, DL UE and UL UE paired together, When the level of the reported inter-terminal interference is low, the base station determines that the DL UE will suffer from no influence of interference from an uplink signal transmitted from the UL UE (or the influence will be small) upon receiving a downlink signal and then, determines the DL UE and the UL UE as a terminal pair, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 73)],
Kusashima et al. fails to explicitly teach that the announcement is D2D,
Abotabl et al. teaches that the RBs may be scheduled by a scheduling entity, such as a base station (e.g., gNB, eNB, etc.), or may be self-scheduled by a UE implementing D2D sidelink communication, (Abotabl et al., Paragraph 82),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify Kusashima by including that the announcement is D2D, (Abotabl et al., Paragraph 82), in order to in full duplex mode, downlink and uplink transmissions occur simultaneously, (Abotabl et al., Paragraph 6).
Regarding claims 2 and 39, a method wherein the method further comprises: receiving a respective transmission request from one or more wireless devices, wherein the transmission request indicates that the wireless device has data to transmit to the base station, [A terminal (hereinafter, also referred to as “UL UE”) that is slated to transmit an uplink signal transmits a reference signal for measuring inter-terminal interference, by using a predetermined timing and a predetermined radio resource, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 64)], and wherein the D2D announcement configuration is sent to wireless devices from which a respective transmission request has been received, [a process of measuring inter-terminal interference and performing terminal pairing on the basis of the measurement result so that IB FD communication is carried out by an appropriately selected pair of terminals, (Kusashima et al., Paragraphs 66-68)].
Regarding claim 3, a method as claimed in claim 1, wherein each D2D announcement configuration is specific to the first wireless device to which it is sent, [A base station gives an interference measurement instruction and designates a resource to be set as a measurement target, by transmitting PDCCH specific to a terminal that is desired to measure inter-terminal interference, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 133)].
Regarding claim 4, a method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the same D2D announcement monitoring configuration is sent to each of the one or more second wireless devices, [Figure 7, wherein the Base Station sends the signal to both UL UE and DL UE].
Regarding claim 9, a method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of identifying comprises:
(i) forming a first candidate pairing for full duplex communications comprising one of the first wireless devices and one of the second wireless devices, [the base station can select an appropriate pair of terminals by scheduling so that IB FD communication can be carried out, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 65)],
(ii) using the determined information for the second wireless device in the first candidate pairing to estimate co-channel interference (CCI) at the second wireless device in the first candidate pairing due transmissions by the first wireless device in the first candidate pairing to the base station, [The UEs each conduct inter-terminal interference measurement in accordance with instructions from the base station. That is, a test signal is transmitted from the UL UE to the DL UE (SEQ 702), and then, the DL UE measures inter-terminal interference with respect to the UL UE on the basis of the received test signal, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 70)],
(iii) repeating steps (i) and (ii) for one or more further candidate pairings of a first wireless device and a second wireless device, [the base station can select an appropriate pair of terminals by scheduling so that IB FD communication can be carried out, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 65)],
and (iv) selecting the wireless devices in one of the candidate pairings as the UL wireless device and the DL wireless device based on the estimated CCI, [a communication sequence including measuring in advance interference between terminals, selecting an appropriate terminal pair on the basis of the quantity of interference between the terminals, and carrying out IB FD communication, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 63)].
Regarding claim 10, a method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of identifying comprises:
selecting a first candidate from the one or more first wireless devices and the one or more second wireless devices, [Figure 7, wherein the Base Station sends the signal to both UL UE and DL UE],
determining a set of pairing candidates for the first candidate, wherein if the first candidate is a first wireless device, the set of pairing candidates are determined from the one or more second wireless devices based on receipt of the D2D announcement from the first candidate, and wherein if the first candidate is a second wireless device, the set of pairing candidates are determined from the one or more of the first wireless devices based on receipt of D2D announcements from the one or more first wireless devices, [in the case where the base station determines that the DL UE will suffer from the influence of interference from an uplink signal transmitted from the UL UE (or the influence will be large) upon receiving a downlink signal, the DL UE and the UL UE are not set as a terminal pair, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 73)],
and selecting the UL wireless device and the DL wireless device as the first candidate and one of the pairing candidates, [a communication sequence including measuring in advance interference between terminals, selecting an appropriate terminal pair on the basis of the quantity of interference between the terminals, and carrying out IB FD communication, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 63)].
Regarding claim 14, a method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:
sending a channel quality indicator (CQI) measurement request to the one or more second wireless devices, wherein the CQI measurement request requests the one or more second wireless devices measure a CQI of the DL from the base station, [upon receiving, through a downlink control channel from a base station, designation regarding a resource in which interference is to be measured, the control section conducts, in the designated resource, transmission of a test signal for interference measurement, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 16)],
and receiving, from one or more second wireless devices, respective CQI measurements of the DL from the base station, [Each terminal feeds back (reports) measured inter-terminal interference information such as RSRP, RSSI, SINR, and CQI to a base station to which the terminal is connected, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 92)].
Regarding claims 22 and 59, a method in a first wireless device, the method comprising:
sending an indication to a base station that the first wireless device has data to transmit to the base station, [Figure 7, Ref # SEQ702 and SEQ 703],
receiving a device-to-device (D2D) announcement configuration from the base station, wherein the D2D announcement configuration configures the first wireless device to perform a D2D announcement, [Figure 7, wherein gNB sends signals to different UEs 1 & 2, a process of measuring inter-terminal interference and performing terminal pairing on the basis of the measurement result so that IB FD communication is carried out by an appropriately selected pair of terminals, (Kusashima et al., Paragraphs 66-68)],
and transmitting one or more D2D announcements according to the received D2D announcement configuration, [Please see Figure 7, DL UE and UL UE paired together, When the level of the reported inter-terminal interference is low, the base station determines that the DL UE will suffer from no influence of interference from an uplink signal transmitted from the UL UE (or the influence will be small) upon receiving a downlink signal and then, determines the DL UE and the UL UE as a terminal pair, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 73)],
Kusashima et al. fails to explicitly teach that the announcement is D2D,
Abotabl et al. teaches that the RBs may be scheduled by a scheduling entity, such as a base station (e.g., gNB, eNB, etc.), or may be self-scheduled by a UE implementing D2D sidelink communication, (Abotabl et al., Paragraph 82),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify Kusashima by including that the announcement is D2D, (Abotabl et al., Paragraph 82), in order to in full duplex mode, downlink and uplink transmissions occur simultaneously, (Abotabl et al., Paragraph 6).
Regarding claims 23 and 60, a method wherein the D2D announcement configuration comprises one or more of: a transmission power to use for transmitting the D2D announcement, [transmission power of the test signal is reported to a terminal that measures interference, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 149)],
one or more frequencies to use for transmitting the D2D announcement, [the base station may semi-statically report, to the terminal, a resource for transmission of a test signal, (Kusashima et al. Paragraph 123)],
a flag indicating that the first wireless device receiving the D2D announcement configuration is to transmit a D2D announcement;
a wireless device identifier to be included in the D2D announcement that identifies the first wireless device transmitting the D2D announcement;
a timing indication indicating a time at which to start transmitting a D2D announcement;
a periodicity indication indicating how often the D2D announcement is to be transmitted by the first wireless device;
and a repetition indication indicating how many times the D2D announcement is to be transmitted by the first wireless device.
Regarding claims 27 and 64, a method in a second wireless device, the method comprising:
receiving a device-to-device (D2D) announcement monitoring configuration from a base station, wherein the D2D announcement monitoring configuration configures the second wireless device to monitor for a D2D announcement by one or more first wireless devices, [Figure 7, wherein gNB sends signals to different UEs 1 & 2, a process of measuring inter-terminal interference and performing terminal pairing on the basis of the measurement result so that IB FD communication is carried out by an appropriately selected pair of terminals, (Kusashima et al., Paragraphs 66-68)],
monitoring for a D2D announcement by the one or more first wireless devices according to the received D2D announcement monitoring configuration, [Figure 7, wherein a DL UE which the base station has data to transmit to, the base station reports setting for measurement of inter-terminal interference to the UE 1 (DL UE) which is a terminal connected to the base station and is slated to be set as a transmission destination of a downlink signal (Kusashima et al., Paragraphs 67-68)],
and providing information to the base station, wherein the information relates to receipt of D2D announcements by the second wireless device according to the received D2D announcement monitoring configuration, [Please see Figure 7, DL UE and UL UE paired together, When the level of the reported inter-terminal interference is low, the base station determines that the DL UE will suffer from no influence of interference from an uplink signal transmitted from the UL UE (or the influence will be small) upon receiving a downlink signal and then, determines the DL UE and the UL UE as a terminal pair, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 73)],
Kusashima et al. fails to explicitly teach that the announcement is D2D,
Abotabl et al. teaches that the RBs may be scheduled by a scheduling entity, such as a base station (e.g., gNB, eNB, etc.), or may be self-scheduled by a UE implementing D2D sidelink communication, (Abotabl et al., Paragraph 82),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify Kusashima by including that the announcement is D2D, (Abotabl et al., Paragraph 82), in order to in full duplex mode, downlink and uplink transmissions occur simultaneously, (Abotabl et al., Paragraph 6).
Regarding claim 28, a method as claimed in claim 27, wherein the information provided to the base station is a monitoring report comprising measurements of D2D announcements received by the second wireless device, [Figure 7, a process of measuring inter-terminal interference and performing terminal pairing on the basis of the measurement result so that IB FD communication is carried out by an appropriately selected pair of terminals, (Kusashima et al., Paragraphs 66-68)].
Regarding claim 29, a method as claimed in claim 28, wherein the monitoring report comprises signal quality measurements of the D2D announcements received by the second wireless device, [The UEs each conduct inter-terminal interference measurement in accordance with instructions from the base station, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 70)].
Regarding claim 30, a method as claimed in claim 28, wherein the monitoring report comprises signal quality measurements of D2D announcements received by the second wireless device where the signal quality is higher than a threshold value, [predetermined condition is satisfied is a case where an estimation SINR (or a value corresponding to SINR such as CQI) obtained by measurement is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 146)].
Regarding claim 43, a base station as claimed in claim 38, wherein the base station is operative to determine information by:
receiving a monitoring report from at least one of the second wireless devices, wherein a monitoring report received from a second wireless device comprises information relating to receipt of D2D announcements by the second wireless device according to the D2D announcement monitoring configuration, [a test signal is transmitted from the UL UE to the DL UE (SEQ 702), and then, the DL UE measures inter-terminal interference with respect to the UL UE on the basis of the received test signal (SEQ 703) and reports the measurement result to the base station, (Kusashima et al., Paragraph 70)].
Regarding claim 61, a first wireless device as claimed in claim 60, wherein the one or more frequencies to use for transmitting the D2D announcements are frequencies that are available for the first wireless device to use to transmit the data to the base station, [the base station may semi-statically report, to the terminal, a resource for transmission of a test signal, (Kusashima et al. Paragraph 123)].
Claims 36 and 56 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kusashima et al. (US 2021/0067992 A1) in view of Yeh et al. (US 2019/0349945 A1).
Regarding claim 36, a method in a base station for scheduling resources for a full duplex communication in which an uplink (UL) wireless device is to transmit data to the base station and the base station is to transmit data to a downlink (DL) wireless device, the method comprising:
determining one or both of: (i) respective channel quality indicator (CQI) for communications from the UL wireless device to the base station for a plurality of available resources; and (ii) CQI for communications from the base station to the DL wireless device for the plurality of available resources, [upon receiving, through a downlink control channel from a base station, designation regarding a resource in which interference is to be measured, the control section conducts, in the designated resource, transmission of a test signal for interference measurement, wherein the test signal includes measurement CQI, (Kusashima et al., Paragraphs 16 and 82)],
Kusashima et al. fails to explicitly teach scheduling the N resources with the highest channel quality for the full duplex communication according to the determined CQIs, wherein N is the number of resources required for the full duplex communication,
Yeh et al. teaches that a higher wideband CQI differential value per UL UE, DL UE pair may indicate that the DL UE is likely to experience a stronger interference from the paired UL UE. The pairing of the UL UE, DL UE for joint scheduling using the same resources may thus result in a degraded subband CQI for the DL UE. On the other hand, if the CQI differential value is low for the UL UE, DL UE pair, the subband CQI value of the DL UE may not be degraded for scheduling and rate adaption, (Yeh et al., Paragraph 83),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify Kusashima by including that scheduling the N resources with the highest channel quality for the full duplex communication according to the determined CQIs, wherein N is the number of resources required for the full duplex communication, (Yeh et al., Paragraph 83), in order to support the joint scheduler to pair a downlink UE with an uplink UE for simultaneous transmission in the same resource blocks such that UE-to-UE interference is mitigated and high spectrum efficiency achieved for full-duplex cellular systems, (Yeh et al., Paragraph 61).
Regarding claim 56, a base station as claimed in claim 38, wherein the base station is operative to schedule by:
ordering available resources for the full duplex communication according to respective channel quality indicator (CQI) for communications from the UL wireless device to the base station and respective CQI for communications from the base station to the DL wireless device, [upon receiving, through a downlink control channel from a base station, designation regarding a resource in which interference is to be measured, the control section conducts, in the designated resource, transmission of a test signal for interference measurement, wherein the test signal includes measurement CQI, (Kusashima et al., Paragraphs 16 and 82)],
and scheduling the N resources with the highest channel quality for the full duplex communication, wherein N is the number of resources required for the full duplex communication, [a higher wideband CQI differential value per UL UE, DL UE pair may indicate that the DL UE is likely to experience a stronger interference from the paired UL UE. The pairing of the UL UE, DL UE for joint scheduling using the same resources may thus result in a degraded subband CQI for the DL UE. On the other hand, if the CQI differential value is low for the UL UE, DL UE pair, the subband CQI value of the DL UE may not be degraded for scheduling and rate adaption, (Yeh et al., Paragraph 83)].
Conclusion
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/SHUKRI TAHA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478