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 .
DETAILED ACTION
a. Claims 1-31 in the present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA :
- claims 1-9, 11, 14-15, 17-19, 21-24, and 27-30 are amended
- claim 10 is canceled
- claim 31 is new
b. This is a final action on the merits based on Applicant’s claims submitted on 07/22/2026.
Response to Arguments
Regarding claims 1 and 23-29 previously rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(2), Applicant's arguments, see “Applicant further submits that XIONG does not disclose the claimed feature, "determine a quantity of occupied channel state information (CSI) processing units based at least in part on a quantity of measurement resources configured for the UE, wherein the resource that is non- contiguous in frequency is counted as one measurement resource of the quantity of measurement resources," as recited in amended claims 1, 27, and 28. XIONG is directed to configuring and identifying CLI measurement resources at a base station and signaling them to a user equipment; XIONG does not address a quantity of occupied CSI processing units, much less a rule for counting a resource that is non-contiguous in frequency as a single measurement resource for purposes of determining that quantity. For at least these additional reasons, XIONG fails to disclose each and every element of amended claims 1, 27, and 28.” on page 13, filed on 07/22/2026, with respect to Xiong (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2025/0226899), have been fully considered but are moot, over the limitations of “determine a quantity of occupied channel state information (CSI) processing units based at least in part on a quantity of measurement resources configured for the UE, wherein the resource that is non-contiguous in frequency is counted as one measurement resource of the quantity of measurement resources”. Said limitations are newly added to the amended Claims 1 and 27-29, and have been addressed in instant office action, as shown in section 35 USC 103 rejection below, with newly identified disclosures in previously applied reference Qualcomm, in combination with previously applied reference Xiong, thus rendering said Applicant’s arguments moot.
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 of this title, 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.
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.
Claims 1-4, 6-9, and 12-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiong et al. US Pub 2025/0226899(hereinafter “Xiong”), and in view of Qualcomm NPL “Feasibility and techniques for subband non-overlapping full duplex”, 3GPP R1- 2303589, April 17th – 26th, 2023 (hereinafter “Qualcomm”).
Regarding claim 1 (Currently Amended)
Xiong discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (“UE 211” in Fig. 2; [0067]), comprising:
one or more memories (“memory 203” in Fig. 2; [0067]); and
one or more processors (“processor 213” in Fig. 2; [0067]), coupled to the one or more memories, configured to:
receive a first configuration (i.e. “SRS configuration”) for a resource associated with cross-link interference (CLI) (“the base station 101 identifies CLI in a SBFD communication, the base station 101 may generate an SRS configuration and send it to UE-1 to schedule a periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic SRS transmission by UE-1 in a UL subband of the SBFD and generate a CLI resource measurement and report configuration for SBFD operation” [0061]), wherein the resource (i.e. “RB”) is associated with subband full duplex (SBFD) (“For SBFD operations, the CLI measurement and report configuration may include identification of multiple communication resources (RBs) for measurement” [0103]) and is non- contiguous in frequency (“FIG. 5C illustrates one example of CLI measurement resource configuration with non-contiguous frequency resources” [0110]);
receive a second configuration for a report associated with the resource (“FIG. 3C depicts an embodiment of a cross-link interference (CLI) measurement report for sounding reference signal-resource signal received power (SRS-RSRP) and/or CLI-received signal strength indicator (RSSI) in a channel state information (CSI) report by a user equipment to a base station such as the user equipment and base stations shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B, 2, and 3A-3B” [0010] and furthermore “different technical problems associated with cross-link interference such as measuring CLI, communicating with neighboring base stations, transmitting or sharing a CLI resource and measurement report configuration, transmitting or sharing a CLI measurement and report configuration, scheduling a SRS for measurement, identifying a layer 1 measurement report for a measurement, determining parameters associated with measurement, determining a communication configuration for measurement, synching a SBFD communication for measurement, muting neighboring base stations during measurement, determining a configuration or definition for a CLI measurement report, sharing or transmitting a report of measurement, and/or the like.” [0044]);
Xiong does not specifically teach determine one or more uplink resource blocks to be excluded from the resource as an uplink subband associated with an SBFD configuration; determine a quantity of occupied channel state information (CSI) processing units based at least in part on a quantity of measurement resources configured for the UE, wherein the resource that is non-contiguous in frequency is counted as one measurement resource of the quantity of measurement resources; perform a measurement, based on determining the one or more uplink resource blocks to be excluded from the resource, using the resource associated with CLI; and transmit, in accordance with the second configuration, the report associated with the resource on which the measurement is performed.
In an analogous art, Qualcomm discloses determine one or more uplink resource blocks to be excluded from the resource (“the UE can implicitly determine the frequency resources for CLI measurement bandwidth within each subband by excluding the UL subband and any guardband.” on page 38, section 3.4.2) as an uplink subband associated with an SBFD configuration (“Proposal 18: UL-subband and guardband are considered as non-available resources for DL reception” on page 20, section 3.1.2);
determine a quantity of occupied channel state information (CSI) processing units based at least in part on a quantity of measurement resources configured for the UE (“different CSI-RS resource configurations for SBFD and non-SBFDs associated with different CSI report configurations” on page 33, section 3.2.11), wherein the resource that is non-contiguous in frequency is counted as one measurement resource of the quantity of measurement resources (“To get accurate CSI across the two DL subbands, two design options could be considered as agreed by RAN1 in last meeting. The first one is to configure two CSI-RS resources (each has contiguous frequency resources per each DL subband) and the two resources are linked to the same CSI report such that single rank is conditioned on CSI of both subbands. The other option is to define a non-contiguous CSI-RS by excluding the frequency resources of the UL subband and guardband (if configured). The two options are explained in Figure 3 3. Observation 2830: Single CSI-RS in SBFD with non-contiguous frequency resources is preferred as it reduces the number of CSI-RS resources. Comparing both options, non-contiguous CSI-RS is preferred as option 1 requires extra CSI-RS configurations and this may limit UE capability of maximum number of configured CSI-RS resources.” on pages 20-21, section 3.1.3);
perform a measurement, based on determining the one or more uplink resource blocks to be excluded from the resource, using the resource associated with CLI (“Proposal 42: For method 1 where victim UE measures CLI within DL subband, UE implicitly determines the non-contiguous frequency resources for CLI-RSSI measurement in the DL subband(s).” on page 38, section 3.4.2); and
transmit, in accordance with the second configuration, the report associated with the resource on which the measurement is performed (“The reporting CLI metric depends on the CLI resource configuration, and which RS is configured. For example, Rel-16 CLI measurement framework could be reused for CLI resources configured in the UL-subband (i.e., Method 2 or 3) where UE measures the direct CLI in the UL subband and reports CLI-SRS-RSPR or CLI-RSSI.” and furthermore “Proposal 41: For UL subband, RAN1 to further discuss CLI measurements reporting based on CLI-SRS-RSRP, and CLI-RSSI for UL-subband configured CLI resources and CLI-SINR and CLI-RSSI for CLI resources configured at the DL subband.” On page 38, section 3.4.1).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Xiong’s method for performing cross-link interference (CLI) measurement and reporting, to include Qualcomm’s SBFD scheme, in order to enable subband non-overlapping full duplex (Qualcomm, [Introduction]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Qualcomm’s SBFD scheme into Xiong’s method for performing cross-link interference (CLI) measurement and reporting since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 2 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1,
Xiong does not specifically teach wherein the first configuration for the resource indicates a starting resource block (RB) for the resource, a quantity of RBs for the resource, and one or more uplink RBs to be excluded from the resource.
In an analogous art, Qualcomm discloses wherein the first configuration for the resource indicates a starting resource block (RB) for the resource, a quantity of RBs for the resource (“using a RIV indicator for the start RB and number of RBs of the UL subband” on page 9, section 2.6), and one or more uplink RBs to be excluded from the resource (“Proposal 18: UL-subband and guardband are considered as non-available resources for DL reception” on page 20, section 3.1.2).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Xiong’s method for performing cross-link interference (CLI) measurement and reporting, to include Qualcomm’s SBFD scheme, in order to enable subband non-overlapping full duplex (Qualcomm, [Introduction]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Qualcomm’s SBFD scheme into Xiong’s method for performing cross-link interference (CLI) measurement and reporting since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 3 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 2,
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the first configuration for the resource indicates the one or more uplink RBs to be excluded with a starting RB for exclusion and a quantity of RBs for exclusion (“In current specification the CSI-RS resource frequency resources is configured with a minimum of 24RBs and granularity of 4 RBs In SBFD symbols, the non-contiguous resources of the CSI-RS could be either configured explicitly by the gNB as described by Option 2-1, e.g. by a bitmap indicating where CSI-RS are present or could be implicitly determined by the UE e.g. excluding or dropping the CSI-RS outside the DL subband and assuming CSI-RS are punctured at these resources, as described by Option 2-2.
Observation 30: A CSI-RS in SBFD symbols with non-contiguous frequency resources can be achieved by explicit configuration (e.g., bitmap) or implicitly by excluding RBs outside the DL subbands.” On page , section 3.1.3).
Regarding claim 4 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 2,
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the first configuration for the resource indicates the one or more uplink RBs to be excluded with a bitmap (“Observation 30: A CSI-RS in SBFD symbols with non-contiguous frequency resources can be achieved by explicit configuration (e.g., bitmap) or implicitly by excluding RBs outside the DL subbands.” On page , section 3.1.3).
Regarding claim 6 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1,
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the first configuration for the resource indicates the resource with a bitmap (“Observation 30: A CSI-RS in SBFD symbols with non-contiguous frequency resources can be achieved by explicit configuration (e.g., bitmap) or implicitly by excluding RBs outside the DL subbands.” On page 21, section 3.1.3 and furthermore “Alternatively, the configuration of the CSI-RS frequency resources may be enhanced by finer granularity of RBs (e.g., 1 or 2RBs). Also, gNB may explicitly configure a bitmap to indicate to the UE the PRBs of the non-contiguous frequency resources in SBFD symbols as discussed in section 3.2.11.” on page 21, section 3.1.3).
Regarding claim 7 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1,
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the first configuration for the resource indicates resource blocks (RBs) included in the resource with a first bitmap (“gNB may explicitly configure a bitmap to indicate to the UE the PRBs of the non-contiguous frequency resources in SBFD symbols as discussed in section 3.2.11.” on page 21, section 3.1.3) associated with a first granularity and indicates RBs excluded from the resource with a second bitmap associated with a second granularity (“Other CORESETs are very flexibly configured using bitmaps of 6RB granularity which can be contiguous or non-contiguous RBs” on page , section ; see also Fig. 3-4 and “Observation 32: When a CSI-RS resource and DL subband are misaligned relative to 4RB grid of the CSI-RS, the edge RBs of CSI-RS resource outside the DL subbands are dropped. Alternatively, the frequency resources of the CSI-RS can be enhanced (e.g. bitmap or finer granularity of PRBs allocation))” on page 22, section 3.1.3).
Regarding claim 8 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1,
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the first configuration for the resource indicates a starting resource block (RB) for a first portion of the resource (i.e. “partial RBGs”), a quantity of RBs for the first portion of the resource, a starting RB for a second portion of the resource (see Fig. 3-1), and a quantity of RBs for the second portion of the resource (“In current specification, the first and last RBG within the UE DL BWP could be partial, depending on starting RB of the BWP, BWP size and CRB grid, while the rest of the RBGs have the same size is given by parameter P, the nominal RBG size as defined 5.1.2.2.1 of TS 38.214.” and “One solution is to extend the current NR designs of partial RBG at the BWP boundaries to enable partial RBGs at the DL subband boundaries as well.” On page 18, section 3.1.1).
Regarding claim 9 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1,
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the first configuration for the resource indicates a starting resource block (RB) for a first portion of the resource (i.e. “partial RBGs”), an ending RB for the first portion of the resource (see Fig. 3-1), a starting RB for a second portion of the resource, and an ending RB for the second portion of the resource (“In current specification, the first and last RBG within the UE DL BWP could be partial, depending on starting RB of the BWP, BWP size and CRB grid, while the rest of the RBGs have the same size is given by parameter P, the nominal RBG size as defined 5.1.2.2.1 of TS 38.214.” and “One solution is to extend the current NR designs of partial RBG at the BWP boundaries to enable partial RBGs at the DL subband boundaries as well.” On page 18, section 3.1.1).
Regarding claim 12
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein, to perform the measurement, the one or more processors are configured to:
Qualcomm further discloses perform the measurement, on the resource, within a non-SBFD slot (“Similarly, gNB can configure a dedicated SPS for PDSCH receptions in SBFD symbols as the DL reception at the UE in SBFD symbols is different than non-SBFD symbols due to inter-UE CLI and the different number of transmit antennas or panels at the gNB across SBFD slots and non-SBFD slots” on page , section 3.2.4).
Regarding claim 13
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein, to perform the measurement, the one or more processors are configured to:
Qualcomm further discloses perform the measurement, on the resource and on one or more additional resource blocks (RBs) (“The victim UE is scheduled with PDSCH reception with rank 4 on both DL subbands, with 108 RB on each subband (RBs: 1-108, 165-272) and the aggressor UE is configured with UL transmission in the middle UL subband with different UL RB allocations of {113-158, 118-153, 123-148, 128-143, 133-138} which corresponds to GB between UL and DL of size {5 RBs, 10 RBs, 15 RBs, 20 RBs, 25 RBs}, respectively” on page 7, section 2.5), within a non-SBFD slot (“Similarly, gNB can configure a dedicated SPS for PDSCH receptions in SBFD symbols as the DL reception at the UE in SBFD symbols is different than non-SBFD symbols due to inter-UE CLI and the different number of transmit antennas or panels at the gNB across SBFD slots and non-SBFD slots” on page , section 3.2.4).
Regarding claim 14 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 13,
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the first configuration for the resource indicates a starting RB, with a quantity of RBs (“using a RIV indicator for the start RB and number of RBs of the UL subband” on page 9, section 2.6) or with an ending RB, for the one or more additional RBs (“The victim UE is scheduled with PDSCH reception with rank 4 on both DL subbands, with 108 RB on each subband (RBs: 1-108, 165-272) and the aggressor UE is configured with UL transmission in the middle UL subband with different UL RB allocations of {113-158, 118-153, 123-148, 128-143, 133-138} which corresponds to GB between UL and DL of size {5 RBs, 10 RBs, 15 RBs, 20 RBs, 25 RBs}, respectively” on page 7, section 2.5).
Regarding claim 15 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 13,
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the first configuration for the resource includes a bitmap indicating the one or more additional RBs (“Other CORESETs are very flexibly configured using bitmaps of 6RB granularity which can be contiguous or non-contiguous RBs” on page , section ; see also Fig. 3-4 and “Observation 32: When a CSI-RS resource and DL subband are misaligned relative to 4RB grid of the CSI-RS, the edge RBs of CSI-RS resource outside the DL subbands are dropped. Alternatively, the frequency resources of the CSI-RS can be enhanced (e.g. bitmap or finer granularity of PRBs allocation))” on page 22, section 3.1.3).
Regarding claim 16
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
Qualcomm further discloses determine the one or more additional RBs based at least in part on a bandwidth associated with the resource (“For 80 MHz system bandwidth, the 60 MHz DL subband is allocated with 161 RBs (starting from first RBs at band edge) and the 20 MHz UL subband is allocated with 51 RBs. A guard band of 5RBs in between UL and DL subband.” On page 43, section 4.1.2).
Regarding claim 17 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
Qualcomm further discloses determine the one or more additional RBs based at least in part on a bitmap included in the configuration for the resource “Other CORESETs are very flexibly configured using bitmaps of 6RB granularity which can be contiguous or non-contiguous RBs” on page , section ; see also Fig. 3-4 and “Observation 32: When a CSI-RS resource and DL subband are misaligned relative to 4RB grid of the CSI-RS, the edge RBs of CSI-RS resource outside the DL subbands are dropped. Alternatively, the frequency resources of the CSI-RS can be enhanced (e.g. bitmap or finer granularity of PRBs allocation))” on page 22, section 3.1.3).
Regarding claim 18 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
Qualcomm further discloses determine the one or more additional RBs based at least in part on a starting RB and a quantity of RBs indicated in the configuration for the resource (“using a RIV indicator for the start RB and number of RBs of the UL subband” on page 9, section 2.6).
Regarding claim 19 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
Qualcomm further discloses determine the one or more additional RBs based at least in part on a starting RB and an ending RB indicated in the first configuration for the resource (“The victim UE is scheduled with PDSCH reception with rank 4 on both DL subbands, with 108 RB on each subband (RBs: 1-108, 165-272) and the aggressor UE is configured with UL transmission in the middle UL subband with different UL RB allocations of {113-158, 118-153, 123-148, 128-143, 133-138} which corresponds to GB between UL and DL of size {5 RBs, 10 RBs, 15 RBs, 20 RBs, 25 RBs}, respectively” on page 7, section 2.5).
Regarding claim 20
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
Qualcomm further discloses refrain from performing the measurement within a non-SBFD slot (“Option 1: The transmissions/receptions are restricted to SBFD symbols only or non-SBFD symbols only” on page 23, section 3.2).
Regarding claim 21 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1,
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the first configuration for the resource includes a first configuration for a first portion of the resource (i.e. first of “two DL subbands”), a second configuration for a second portion of the resource (i.e. second of “two DL subbands”), and a data structure (i.e. “CORESET”) linking the first configuration to the second configuration (“the frequency resources of the CORESET can be either confined within one of the DL subband or non-contiguous across the two DL subbands.” On page 31, section 3.2.8).
Regarding claim 22 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1,
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the first configuration for the resource indicates a resource set (i.e. “CORESET”) including a first portion of the resource and a second portion of the resource (“the frequency resources of the CORESET can be either confined within one of the DL subband or non-contiguous across the two DL subbands.” On page 31, section 3.2.8).
Regarding claim 23 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1,
Xiong further discloses wherein the first configuration for the resource includes a third configuration for a first portion of the resource (e.g. “DL subband 532” in Fig. 5D) and a fourth configuration for a second portion of the resource (e.g. “DL subband 536” in Fig. 5D), and the second configuration (e.g. “CLI resource measurement(s)” in Fig. 5D) links the third configuration and the fourth configuration (“two CLI measurement resources (CLI resource measurement 0 and 1) can be configured within each of the two DL subbands 532 and 536. Further, CLI measurement resources for CLI resource measurement 0 and CLI resource measurement 1 span across two DL subbands, respectively, and are non-contiguous in frequency. In other words, a single measurement resource, CLI resource measurement 0, is a measurement of non-contiguous subbands of DL subband 532 and DL subband 536 so the CLI measurement report 0 is based on the two non-contiguous in frequency ranges of the carrier bandwidth.” [0111]).
Regarding claim 24 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1,
Xiong further discloses wherein the second configuration for the report includes a radio resource control message (“RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of point to point Radio Bearers, security functions including key management, inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting.” [0153]).
Regarding claim 25
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
Xiong further discloses receive a medium access control (MAC) control element associated with the resource (“a Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) comprising the CLI measurement report” [0235]).
Regarding claim 26
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
Xiong further discloses receive downlink control information (i.e. DCI) associated with the resource (“The CLI measurement and report configuration in the DCI may inform the victim UE of communication resources of the SRS and/or measurement resources” [0036]).
Regarding claim 27 (Currently Amended)
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for wireless communication, the set of instructions comprising:
one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to:
receive a first configuration for a resource associated with cross-link interference (CLI), wherein the resource is associated with subband full duplex (SBFD) and is non-contiguous in frequency;
receive a second configuration for a report associated with the resource;
determine one or more uplink resource blocks to be excluded from the resource as an uplink subband associated with an SBFD configuration;
determine a quantity of occupied channel state information (CSI) processing units based at least in part on a quantity of measurement resources configured for the UE, wherein the resource that is non-contiguous in frequency is counted as one measurement resource of the quantity of measurement resources;
perform a measurement, based on determining the one or more uplink resource blocks to be excluded from the resource, using the resource associated with CLI; and
transmit, in accordance with the second configuration, the report associated with the resource on which the measurement is performed.
The scope and subject matter of non-transitory computer readable medium claim27 is drawn to the computer program product of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claim 1. Therefore computer program product claim corresponds to apparatus claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used in claim 1 rejection above.
Regarding claim 28 (Currently Amended)
A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving a first configuration for a resource associated with cross-link interference (CLI), wherein the resource is associated with subband full duplex (SBFD) and is non- contiguous in frequency;
receiving a second configuration for a report associated with the resource;
determining one or more uplink resource blocks to be excluded from the resource as an uplink subband associated with an SBFD configuration;
determining a quantity of occupied channel state information (CSI) processing units based at least in part on a quantity of measurement resources configured for the UE, wherein the resource that is non-contiguous in frequency is counted as one measurement resource of the quantity of measurement resources;
performing a measurement, based on determining the one or more uplink resource blocks to be excluded from the resource, using the resource associated with CLI; and
transmitting, in accordance with the second configuration, the report associated with the resource on which the measurement is performed.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 28 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claim 1. Therefore method claim 28 corresponds to apparatus claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used in claim 1 rejection above.
Regarding claim 29 (Currently Amended)
Xiong discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a network node (“base station 201” in Fig. 2; [0066]), comprising:
one or more memories (“memory 202” in Fig. 2; [0066]); and
one or more processors (“processor 203” in Fig. 2; [0066]), coupled to the one or more memories, configured to:
transmit a first configuration for a resource associated with cross-link interference (CLI), wherein the resource is associated with subband full duplex (SBFD), wherein the resource that is non-contiguous in frequency is configured to be counted as one measurement resource of a quantity of measurement resources for determining a quantity of occupied channel state information (CSI) processing units, and wherein one or more uplink resource blocks to be excluded from the resource correspond to an uplink subband associated with an SBFD configuration;
transmit a second configuration for a report associated with the resource; and
receive, in accordance with the second configuration, the report associated with a measurement on the resource associated with CLI.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 29 are reciprocal to the scope and subject matter as claimed in method claim 28. Therefore method claim 29 corresponds to method claim 28 and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used in claim 28 rejection above.
Regarding claim 30 (Currently Amended)
The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the first configuration for the resource includes a third configuration for a first portion of the resource, a fourth configuration for a second portion of the resource, and a data structure linking the third configuration to the fourth configuration.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 30 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in apparatus claim 21. Therefore method claim 30 corresponds to method claim 21 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 21 rejection above.
Regarding claim 31 (New)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1,
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the one or more processors are configured to utilize the quantity of occupied channel state information (CSI) processing units (“Proposal 19: Support option-2, single CSI-RS with non-contiguous frequency resources configuration of the CSI-RS
• RAN1 to further study relaxed UE CSI processing and reporting timeline.
In current specification the CSI-RS resource frequency resources is configured with a minimum of 24RBs and granularity of 4 RBs In SBFD symbols, the non-contiguous resources of the CSI-RS could be either configured explicitly by the gNB as described by Option 2-1, e.g. by a bitmap indicating where CSI-RS are present or could be implicitly determined by the UE e.g. excluding or dropping the CSI-RS outside the DL subband and assuming CSI-RS are punctured at these resources, as described by Option 2-2. “ on page 21, section 3.1.3) to determine whether to update one or more CSI reports (“different CSI-RS resource configurations for SBFD and non-SBFDs associated with different CSI report configurations” on page 33, section 3.2.11).
Claims 5 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiong, in view of Qualcomm, and further in view of Rudolf et al. US Pub 2024/0155583, claiming provisional application 63422207 priority 2022-11-03 (hereinafter “Rudolf”).
Regarding claim 5 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 2,
Xiong and Qualcomm do not specifically teach wherein the first configuration for the resource includes a bit associated with exclusion of uplink resources, and the one or more processors are configured to: determine the one or more uplink RBs to be excluded, in response to the bit, as an uplink subband associated with an SBFD configuration.
In an analogous art, Rudolf discloses wherein the first configuration for the resource includes a bit associated with exclusion of uplink resources (“Based on the SBFD UL subband configuration and based on the SBFD guard band configuration, the UE determines a possible SBFD DL subband to include the RBs from N.sub.START=0 to L.sub.2_START−1=95 and a possible SBFD DL subband to include RBs from L.sub.1_END+1=155 to N.sub.END=272 by excluding RBs indicated or configured as SBFD UL subband and SBFD guard band from the NR carrier BW.” [0189]), and the one or more processors are configured to: determine the one or more uplink RBs to be excluded, in response to the bit, as an uplink subband associated with an SBFD configuration (“The time-domain locations of the first SBFD UL subband may be provided by means of providing a list of symbols or slots, using a start, or an end or a run length of slots, or a bitmap associating a bit with one or multiple symbols or slots. The UE is provided with time-domain locations of a second SBFD UL subband by means of a list of symbols or slots, using a start, or an end or a run length of slots or a bitmap associating a bit with one or multiple symbols or slots.” [0214]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Xiong’s method for performing cross-link interference (CLI) measurement and reporting, as modified by Qualcomm, to include Rudolf’s method for configuring subband full-duplex (SBFD), in order to enable subband non-overlapping full duplex (Rudolf [0005]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Rudolf’s method for configuring subband full-duplex (SBFD) into Xiong’s method for performing cross-link interference (CLI) measurement and reporting since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 11 (Currently Amended)
Xiong, as modified by Qualcomm, previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first configuration for the resource includes a bit associated with SBFD, and the one or more processors are configured to:
Xiong does not specifically teach determine one or more uplink resource blocks to be excluded from the resource, in response to the bit, as an uplink subband associated with an SBFD configuration.
In an analogous art, Qualcomm discloses determine one or more uplink resource blocks to be excluded from the resource (“the UE can implicitly determine the frequency resources for CLI measurement bandwidth within each subband by excluding the UL subband and any guardband.” On page , section 3.4.2), as an uplink subband associated with an SBFD configuration (“Proposal 18: UL-subband and guardband are considered as non-available resources for DL reception” on page 20, section 3.1.2).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Xiong’s method for performing cross-link interference (CLI) measurement and reporting, to include Qualcomm’s SBFD scheme, in order to enable subband non-overlapping full duplex (Qualcomm, [Introduction]).
Xiong and Qualcomm do not specifically teach determine the one or more uplink RBs to be excluded, in response to the bit (associated with a bitmap).
In an analogous art, Rudolf discloses determine the one or more uplink RBs to be excluded, in response to the bit (“The time-domain locations of the first SBFD UL subband may be provided by means of providing a list of symbols or slots, using a start, or an end or a run length of slots, or a bitmap associating a bit with one or multiple symbols or slots. The UE is provided with time-domain locations of a second SBFD UL subband by means of a list of symbols or slots, using a start, or an end or a run length of slots or a bitmap associating a bit with one or multiple symbols or slots.” [0214]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Xiong’s method for performing cross-link interference (CLI) measurement and reporting, as modified by Qualcomm, to include Rudolf’s method for configuring subband full-duplex (SBFD), in order to enable subband non-overlapping full duplex (Rudolf [0005]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Rudolf’s method for configuring subband full-duplex (SBFD) into Xiong’s method for performing cross-link interference (CLI) measurement and reporting since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
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 CHUONG M NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-8184. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00am - 6:30pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Derrick Ferris can be reached at 571-272-3123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/CHUONG M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
Prosecution Insights