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 .
This action is in response to the application filed on March 27, 2024
Claims 1-20 are under examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/28/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 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 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 1 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over BHAMRI et al (US 2020/0382157 A1) in view of Liu et al. (US 2017/0063503 A1).
As per Claim 1BHAMRI teaches a communication method, comprising:
receiving first indication information from a network device, wherein the first indication information indicates a first time interval (Paragraph 0005 receives, from the base station, a hopping pattern indicator specifying a hopping pattern, a hopping pattern being an order of the plurality of bandwidth parts by which the signal is to be received or transmitted in a plurality of transmission time intervals, TTIs. ), the first time interval is an interval between an end time point of a first signal and a start time point of a second signal, the first signal and the second signal are both sent in a bandwidth part (BWP) (Paragraph 0033, 0034 TTI (Transmission Time Interval) determines the timing granularity for scheduling assignment. One TTI is the time interval in which given signals is mapped to the physical layer. The TTI length can vary from 14-symbols (slot-based scheduling) to up to 2-symbols (non-slot based scheduling). Downlink and uplink transmissions are specified to be organized into frames (10 ms duration) consisting of 10 subframes (1 ms duration). The size of a BWP can vary from a minimum of 1 PRB to the maximum size of system bandwidth. Currently, up to four BWPs can be configured by higher layer parameters for each DL (downlink) and UL (uplink), with a single active downlink and uplink BWP in a given TTI (transmission time interval). ), the first signal corresponds to a first filter parameter, the second signal corresponds to a second filter parameter, the first filter parameter is different from the second filter parameter (Paragraph 0030, 0033, 0037, 0051 Currently, up to four BWPs can be configured by higher layer parameters for each DL (downlink) and UL (uplink), with a single active downlink and uplink BWP in a given TTI (transmission time interval). A DCI carries transmission parameters such as MCS, redundancy version or HARQ process number. A DCI consists of several field (e.g., bit fields/bitmaps) carrying different types of control information or control parameters. The location of a certain parameter, and the number of bits coding the respective parameter are known to the base station transmitting the DCI and the UE receiving the DCI. ), the first time interval is related to a switching duration of a terminal device, and the switching duration is a duration needed for a filter of the terminal device to switch from the first filter parameter to the second filter parameter(Paragraph 0028, 0030, 0034, It is proposed to use bandwidth part switching, e.g., for retransmission and repetition of data and control channels, to achieve frequency diversity gains and consequently improve reliability. Especially, when the BWP is narrow, the diversity gains within the BWP could be very limited. In such cases, it can be quite useful to increase the diversity gains by allowing hopping between BWPs. TTI (Transmission Time Interval) determines the timing granularity for scheduling assignment. One TTI is the time interval in which given signals is mapped to the physical layer. The TTI length can vary from 14-symbols (slot-based scheduling) to up to 2-symbols (non-slot based scheduling). Downlink and uplink transmissions are specified to be organized into frames (10 ms duration) consisting of 10 subframes (1 ms duration).)
However BHAMRI does not explicitly disclose and for the terminal device to adapt to the second filter parameter and receiving or sending the second signal at least after the first time interval elapses after the first signal.
Liu disclose and for the terminal device to adapt to the second filter parameter and (Paragraph 0038, 0041, 0053 The network may use reconfiguration signals to configure the UE to adapt the filter according to environment changes. A network component may often adapt its activity or go through transitions. UE actions may include resetting filter states for interference estimation, CSI measurements, and RSRQ measurements, and adjusting estimation and/or filtering parameters to adapt to an interference condition change. ) receiving or sending the second signal at least after the first time interval elapses after the first signal (Paragraph 0094, 0095, 0106 When the UE receives a first starting time trigger, the UE starts the measurement. When the UE receives a second starting time trigger, the UE understands that the first time interval is ending and the second time interval is starting, and the UE resets the measurement process accordingly. With either one or multiple time intervals, the UE generates one or more measurement reports according to the measurement process configuration and reporting configuration. The periodicity signaling may be sent at the starting time of the first time interval so that the UE can obtain both the periodicity and starting time from one signaling. In time division duplex (TDD) systems, probing may be used similarly, but the timing and/or latency may be different from frequency division duplex (FDD). The reporting may be periodic reporting, aperiodic reporting based on a probing trigger, subband reporting. Probing resources may be configured differently from different subbands to experiment with different configurations at the same time. ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify BHAMRI with the teachings of Liu in order to the make the system more efficient. Because when the UE receives a second starting time trigger, the UE understands that the first time interval is ending and the second time interval is starting.. (see Liu Paragraph 0095).
As per Claim 1BHAMRI-Liu teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the first time interval is greater than or equal to the switching duration; or the first time interval is greater than or equal to a sum T′ of the switching duration and first duration (Paragraph 0028 0037 The active bandwidth part for a user equipment (e.g., the bandwidth part to be used by a UE for transmission and reception of signals in a TTI), can be switched among the configured BWPs. For instance, depending on current needs, the active BWP may be switched to a larger BWP, or, in order to save battery power for the UE, to a smaller BWP. utilization of frequency/time diversity for retransmission/repetition of DL/UL data to improve the reliability in NR is considered. It is proposed to use bandwidth part switching, e.g., for retransmission and repetition of data and control channels, to achieve frequency diversity gains and consequently improve reliability. Especially, when the BWP is narrow, the diversity gains within the BWP could be very limited. In such cases, it can be quite useful to increase the diversity gains by allowing hopping between BWPs. ).
However BHAMRI does not explicitly disclose and for the terminal device to adapt to the second filter parameter and receiving or sending the second signal at least after the first time interval elapses after the first signal.
Liu disclose and for the terminal device to adapt to the second filter parameter and (Paragraph 0038, 0041, 0053 The network may use reconfiguration signals to configure the UE to adapt the filter according to environment changes. A network component may often adapt its activity or go through transitions. UE actions may include resetting filter states for interference estimation, CSI measurements, and RSRQ measurements, and adjusting estimation and/or filtering parameters to adapt to an interference condition change. ) receiving or sending the second signal at least after the first time interval elapses after the first signal (Paragraph 0094, 0095, 0106 When the UE receives a first starting time trigger, the UE starts the measurement. When the UE receives a second starting time trigger, the UE understands that the first time interval is ending and the second time interval is starting, and the UE resets the measurement process accordingly. With either one or multiple time intervals, the UE generates one or more measurement reports according to the measurement process configuration and reporting configuration. The periodicity signaling may be sent at the starting time of the first time interval so that the UE can obtain both the periodicity and starting time from one signaling. In time division duplex (TDD) systems, probing may be used similarly, but the timing and/or latency may be different from frequency division duplex (FDD). The reporting may be periodic reporting, aperiodic reporting based on a probing trigger, subband reporting. Probing resources may be configured differently from different subbands to experiment with different configurations at the same time. ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify BHAMRI with the teachings of Liu in order to the make the system more efficient. Because when the UE receives a second starting time trigger, the UE understands that the first time interval is ending and the second time interval is starting.. (see Liu Paragraph 0095).
As per Claim 3 BHAMRI-Liu teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: determining a first bandwidth of the filter, wherein the filter is configured to filter a signal on a first time-frequency resource, the first time-frequency resource belongs to a second time-frequency resource, a time domain resource corresponding to the first time-frequency resource is the same as a time domain resource corresponding to the second time-frequency resource, a frequency domain resource corresponding to the second time-frequency resource comprises at least two subbands, a frequency domain resource corresponding to the first time-frequency resource is a first subband in the at least two subbands, and transmission directions of the at least two subbands comprise an uplink transmission direction and a downlink transmission direction, wherein the first bandwidth is greater than or equal to a bandwidth occupied by the first subband in the bandwidth part (BWP), and is less than an active BWP of the terminal device or a component carrier (CC); and filtering the first time-frequency resource through the filter (Paragraph 0046, 0075, 0078 Moreover at least one of the BWPs to which TTIs are mapped in the second hopping pattern may be different from the bandwidth parts to which TTIs are mapped by the first hopping pattern, according to this disclosure, the TTIs of a BWP hopping pattern, e.g., the TTIs to which BWPs are mapped by the hopping pattern, need not be adjacent TTIs in the time domain. From a previous TTI to a next/subsequent TTI to which BWPs are assigned by the BWP hopping pattern, the active BWP is switched from the previous BWP to the next TTI. Subsequent TTIs in which the signal is transmitted according to the BWP hopping pattern need not be temporally consecutive, e.g., the TTIs of a BWP hopping pattern, e.g., the TTIs to which BWPs are mapped by the hopping pattern, need not be adjacent (e.g., consecutive) TTIs in the time domain. ).
However BHAMRI does not explicitly disclose and for the terminal device to adapt to the second filter parameter and receiving or sending the second signal at least after the first time interval elapses after the first signal.
Liu disclose and for the terminal device to adapt to the second filter parameter and (Paragraph 0038, 0041, 0053 The network may use reconfiguration signals to configure the UE to adapt the filter according to environment changes. A network component may often adapt its activity or go through transitions. UE actions may include resetting filter states for interference estimation, CSI measurements, and RSRQ measurements, and adjusting estimation and/or filtering parameters to adapt to an interference condition change. ) receiving or sending the second signal at least after the first time interval elapses after the first signal (Paragraph 0094, 0095, 0106 When the UE receives a first starting time trigger, the UE starts the measurement. When the UE receives a second starting time trigger, the UE understands that the first time interval is ending and the second time interval is starting, and the UE resets the measurement process accordingly. With either one or multiple time intervals, the UE generates one or more measurement reports according to the measurement process configuration and reporting configuration. The periodicity signaling may be sent at the starting time of the first time interval so that the UE can obtain both the periodicity and starting time from one signaling. In time division duplex (TDD) systems, probing may be used similarly, but the timing and/or latency may be different from frequency division duplex (FDD). The reporting may be periodic reporting, aperiodic reporting based on a probing trigger, subband reporting. Probing resources may be configured differently from different subbands to experiment with different configurations at the same time. ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify BHAMRI with the teachings of Liu in order to the make the system more efficient. Because when the UE receives a second starting time trigger, the UE understands that the first time interval is ending and the second time interval is starting.. (see Liu Paragraph 0095).
As per Claim 4 BHAMRI-Liu teaches the method according to claim 3, wherein the first bandwidth is a minimum filter bandwidth that is in a filter bandwidth supported by the terminal device and that is greater than or equal to the bandwidth occupied by the first subband in the BWP (Paragraph 0049, 0053, 0085 As shown in FIG. 5, there is a BWP hopping time (or BWP switching time) between two subsequent TTIs. Such a hopping time is not present in LTE systems. However, a hopping time is required for the recalibration of the communication device (e.g., the hardware such as filters and oscillators) to another BWP. For example, if the bandwidth is 100 MHz, and the BWP to or from which the communication device is switched. On the other hand the narrower BWPs may also be used for the more previous transmissions, in order to require a larger bandwidth for a process only in the case that several retransmissions or repetitions are needed., in order to exploit the frequency diversity, BWPs to be used in two subsequent TTIs should be spaced sufficiently apart from each other, e.g., they should have a sufficiently large bandwidth interval between each other.).
However BHAMRI does not explicitly disclose and for the terminal device to adapt to the second filter parameter and receiving or sending the second signal at least after the first time interval elapses after the first signal.
Liu disclose and for the terminal device to adapt to the second filter parameter and (Paragraph 0038, 0041, 0053 The network may use reconfiguration signals to configure the UE to adapt the filter according to environment changes. A network component may often adapt its activity or go through transitions. UE actions may include resetting filter states for interference estimation, CSI measurements, and RSRQ measurements, and adjusting estimation and/or filtering parameters to adapt to an interference condition change. ) receiving or sending the second signal at least after the first time interval elapses after the first signal (Paragraph 0094, 0095, 0106 When the UE receives a first starting time trigger, the UE starts the measurement. When the UE receives a second starting time trigger, the UE understands that the first time interval is ending and the second time interval is starting, and the UE resets the measurement process accordingly. With either one or multiple time intervals, the UE generates one or more measurement reports according to the measurement process configuration and reporting configuration. The periodicity signaling may be sent at the starting time of the first time interval so that the UE can obtain both the periodicity and starting time from one signaling. In time division duplex (TDD) systems, probing may be used similarly, but the timing and/or latency may be different from frequency division duplex (FDD). The reporting may be periodic reporting, aperiodic reporting based on a probing trigger, subband reporting. Probing resources may be configured differently from different subbands to experiment with different configurations at the same time. ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify BHAMRI with the teachings of Liu in order to the make the system more efficient. Because when the UE receives a second starting time trigger, the UE understands that the first time interval is ending and the second time interval is starting.. (see Liu Paragraph 0095).
As per Claim 5 BHAMRI-Liu teaches the method according to claim 3, wherein the method further comprises: receiving second indication information from the network device, wherein the second indication information indicates a first filtering mode in a plurality of filtering modes, and the first filtering mode is for triggering the terminal device to determine the first bandwidth; or using configuration information from the network device, wherein the configuration information comprises a time division duplexing configuration configured by the network device for the terminal device, the time division duplexing configuration corresponds to the first filtering mode, and the first filtering mode is for triggering the terminal device to determine the first bandwidth (Paragraph 0005, 0049, the techniques disclosed here feature a communication device for receiving or transmitting a signal from/to a base station in a wireless communication system in at least one of a plurality of bandwidth parts, a bandwidth part being formed by at least one physical resource block. The communication device comprises a transceiver which, in operation, receives, from the base station, a hopping pattern indicator specifying a hopping pattern, a hopping pattern being an order of the plurality of bandwidth parts by which the signal is to be received or transmitted in a plurality of transmission time intervals, TTIs. However, a hopping time is required for the recalibration of the communication device (e.g., the hardware such as filters and oscillators) to another BWP. For example, if the bandwidth is 100 MHz, and the BWP to or from which the communication device is switched, the hopping time or switching time may be one or a few hundred microseconds. Depending, for example, on the resolution of the filters, different communication devices/user equipments may allow for different hopping/switching times. Accordingly, a base station may define the hopping time in dependent on the communication devices which are currently registered in the cell which is served by the base station.).
However BHAMRI does not explicitly disclose and for the terminal device to adapt to the second filter parameter and receiving or sending the second signal at least after the first time interval elapses after the first signal.
Liu disclose and for the terminal device to adapt to the second filter parameter and (Paragraph 0038, 0041, 0053 The network may use reconfiguration signals to configure the UE to adapt the filter according to environment changes. A network component may often adapt its activity or go through transitions. UE actions may include resetting filter states for interference estimation, CSI measurements, and RSRQ measurements, and adjusting estimation and/or filtering parameters to adapt to an interference condition change.) receiving or sending the second signal at least after the first time interval elapses after the first signal (Paragraph 0094, 0095, 0106 When the UE receives a first starting time trigger, the UE starts the measurement. When the UE receives a second starting time trigger, the UE understands that the first time interval is ending and the second time interval is starting, and the UE resets the measurement process accordingly. With either one or multiple time intervals, the UE generates one or more measurement reports according to the measurement process configuration and reporting configuration. The periodicity signaling may be sent at the starting time of the first time interval so that the UE can obtain both the periodicity and starting time from one signaling. In time division duplex (TDD) systems, probing may be used similarly, but the timing and/or latency may be different from frequency division duplex (FDD). The reporting may be periodic reporting, aperiodic reporting based on a probing trigger, subband reporting. Probing resources may be configured differently from different subbands to experiment with different configurations at the same time. ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify BHAMRI with the teachings of Liu in order to the make the system more efficient. Because when the UE receives a second starting time trigger, the UE understands that the first time interval is ending and the second time interval is starting.. (see Liu Paragraph 0095).
Claims 6-20 are the methods and apparatus claims corresponding to the method claims 1-5 that have been rejected above. Applicant attention is directed to the rejection of claims 1-5. Claims 6-20 are rejected under the same rational as claims 1-5.
Examiner’s Note
Examiner is open for discussion if the applicant’s representative need further clarifications.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. (See form 892).
Conclusion
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/SYED ALI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463