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 .
The Office Action is responsive to the communication filed on 03/19/2024.
Claims 1-20 have been cancelled.
Claims 21-40 have been newly added and are pending in the application.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/07/2025 and 01/22/2025 in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 02/27/2024. These drawings are reviewed and accepted 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 (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.
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 21-23, 28, 30-34 and 39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al (US 20200068610) in view of Zhou et al (WO 2020159303).
Regarding claim 21, Li discloses a method applied to an access network device (Figure1, base station 100), comprising:
configuring a first frequency domain resource (first frequency domain resource to the second frequency domain resource, where the carrier identification information is configured by the network device for the communications device, [0016])for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) of a cell (The PDCCH is mainly used by the base station(e.g., “cell”) to: (1) send downlink resource scheduling information to the terminal, so that the terminal receives a physical downlink shared channel, i.e., PDSCH … , see [0145]), wherein the first frequency domain resource occupies a part of an available bandwidth of the access network device (… frequency domain resources belong to a same carrier, …, [0199]);
configuring a second frequency domain resource for the cell (scheduling information and second resource scheduling information to a communications device, … includes identification information of a second frequency domain resource and second resource allocation information, the second resource allocation information is used to indicate a second resource in the second frequency domain resource, [0006]), wherein the second frequency domain resource is a frequency domain resource available to the cell for transmitting downlink information (the second downlink frequency domain resource to communicate with the network device. … [0011] ), the second frequency domain resource occupies a part of the available bandwidth of the access network device (the bandwidth part may also be referred to as a frequency domain resource, a frequency resource part, some frequency resources, carrier bandwidth part, [0095]).
Li does not expressly disclose the second frequency domain resource at least partially overlaps the first frequency domain resource; and adjusting a bandwidth of the second frequency domain resource based on at least one of a physical resource block utilization of the cell or an amount of downlink data of a terminal device in the cell.
However, Zhou, discloses second frequency domain resource at least partially overlaps the first frequency domain resource (… and frequency domain resources used by the first system and the second system at least partially overlap with each other, see Zhou, page 2, para. [9]; and, Figure 3 with para. [45]: “… shown in FIG. 3, the transmission method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes step S310 of obtaining information about overlapped frequency domain resources”); and adjusting a bandwidth of the second frequency domain resource based on at least one of a physical resource block utilization of the cell or an amount of downlink data of a terminal device in the cell (The determining the configuration of the frequency domain position of the starting subcarrier of the RBs includes … whether to enable a feature of adjusting the frequency domain position of the starting subcarrier, … a range of RBs of which the frequency domain position of the starting subcarrier is adjusted, …, see Zhou, page 15, [72]; also, the adjusted RBs are all of the uplink and/or downlink RBs in the system bandwidth of the first system and/or the second system, …, see Zhou, page 16, [73]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Li with Zhou in order to enhance resource efficiency, minimize cell interference, and provide real-time monitoring.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Li with Zhou in order to ensure adjustment of network traffic to avoid packet loss and time delays caused by limited bandwidth.
Regarding claim 22, Li discloses the method according to claim 21, wherein the downlink information comprises one or more of the following: a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a tracking reference signal (TRS), or a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) (when the second resource scheduling information is used to schedule the second downlink frequency domain resource, [0013]; scheduling information and the second resource scheduling information to the terminal in a control information area (for example, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), [0173]).
Regarding claim 23, Li discloses the method according to claim 21, wherein the amount of the downlink data of the terminal device comprises: at least one of an amount of downlink data that has been sent by the access network device to the terminal device, or an amount of downlink data that is to be sent by the access network device to the terminal device (For example, in step S101, the base station may send the first resource scheduling information and the second resource scheduling information to the terminal in a control information area, [0173]).
Regarding claim 28, Li discloses the method according to claim 21, wherein the first frequency domain resource is a frequency domain resource determined by the access network device based on a physical cell identifier (PCI) corresponding to the cell (the second frequency domain resource, where the carrier identification information is configured by the network device for the communications device, [0026]; a cell-specific reference signal, [0162] ).
Regarding claim 30, Li discloses the method according to claim 21, wherein the first frequency domain resource is inconsecutive or the second frequency domain resource is inconsecutive (In a possible implementation, the second frequency domain resource includes a second uplink frequency domain resource and a second downlink frequency domain resource, a center frequency point of the second uplink frequency domain resource is consistent with a center frequency point of the second downlink frequency domain resource, [0011]).
Regarding claim 31, Li discloses the method according to claim 21, wherein the first frequency domain resource is consecutive or the second frequency domain resource is consecutive (may instruct the communications device to switch from the first frequency domain resource to both the second uplink frequency domain resource and the second downlink frequency domain resource, [0012]).
Claim 32 contains subject matter similar to claim 21, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale. (Li, Figure 15, communication device, with processor 220 and memory 240“computer system includes a processor and memory 330).
Claim 33 contains subject matter similar to claim 22, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale.
Claim 34 contains subject matter similar to claim 23, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale.
Claim 39 contains subject matter similar to claim 28, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 24-27, 29, 35-38 and 40 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claims 24-27 and 29 would be allowable because the closest prior art Zhou discloses
The determining the configuration of the frequency domain position of the starting subcarrier of the RBs includes … whether to enable a feature of adjusting the frequency domain position of the starting subcarrier, and, a range of RBs of which the frequency domain position of the starting subcarrier is adjusted and the adjusted RBs are all of the uplink and/or downlink RBs in the system bandwidth of the first system and/or the second system, but the closest prior art either alone or in combination, fail to anticipate or render obvious a method or apparatus wherein adjusting the bandwidth of the second frequency domain resource based on at least one of the physical resource block utilization of the cell or the amount of downlink data of the terminal device in the cell comprises: in response to the physical resource block utilization of the cell being less than a first physical resource block utilization threshold, decreasing the bandwidth of the second frequency domain resource (claim 24); wherein adjusting the bandwidth of the second frequency domain resource based on at least one of the physical resource block utilization of the cell or the amount of downlink data of the terminal device in the cell comprises: in response to the physical resource block utilization of the cell being greater than or equal to a second physical resource block utilization threshold, increasing the bandwidth of the second frequency domain resource (claim 25); wherein adjusting the bandwidth of the second frequency domain resource based on at least one of the physical resource block utilization of the cell or the amount of downlink data of the terminal device in the cell comprises: in response to the amount of the downlink data of the terminal device in the cell being less than a first data threshold, decreasing the bandwidth of the second frequency domain resource (claim 26); wherein adjusting the bandwidth of the second frequency domain resource based on at least one of the physical resource block utilization of the cell or the amount of downlink data of the terminal device in the cell comprises: in response to the amount of the downlink data of the terminal device in the cell being greater than or equal to a second data threshold, increasing the bandwidth of the second frequency domain resource (claim 27); and wherein the cell is a first cell, and the method further comprises: configuring a second frequency domain resource for a second cell, wherein the second frequency domain resource of the second cell is a frequency domain resource available to the second cell for transmitting the downlink information, the second frequency domain resource of the second cell occupies a part of the available bandwidth of the access network device, and the second frequency domain resource of the second cell does not overlap the second frequency domain resource of the first cell (Claim 29); claims 35-38 and 40 would be allowable for the same reasons as claims 24-27 and 29, as defined in the specification, in combination with all other limitations in the claim(s) as defined by applicant.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20120263117 to Love et al: Scheduling, a subframe is communicated between a user equipment and network equipment wherein the subframe has a first transmission bandwidth configuration.
WO 2021029442 to Nogami et al: A UE may comprise receiving circuitry configured to monitor a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) with a down link control (DCI) format. The UE may also comprise transmitting circuitry configured to transmit a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JULIO R PEREZ whose telephone number is (571)272-7846. The examiner can normally be reached 10Am - 6PM EST M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kathy Wang-Hurst can be reached at 5712705371. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JULIO R PEREZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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