DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in responsive to Application 18/774479 filed on 7/16/2024. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims:
Claims 1-19 are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) comply with 37 CFR 1.97 provisions. Accordingly, the Examiner has considered the IDS.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 15 is not clear in view of claim 15 because claim 11 states that PDSCH is transmitted based on resource mapping in which the SSB is punctured. However, claim 15 states that the PDSCH is transmitted independent of the resource mapping of the SSB.
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.
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 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Patrick Merias et al. “Summary #2 of discussion on enhancements to operate NR on dedicated spectrum less than 5MHZ,” 3GPP; R1-2312398, XP052548282 (entry 2 under NPL section in IDS filed 7/30/2025; hereinafter NPL) in view of Kim et al. (hereinafter Kim) US 2023/0199727 A1.
Regarding Claim 1, NPL teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:
one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories (page 5, see sections 5.1.4 and 5.1.6.2), individually or collectively configured to cause the UE to:
identify a channel bandwidth to be less than 5 megahertz (MHz) based at least in part on a synchronization raster point ("For a UE supporting Rel18 NR dedicated spectrum less than 5MHz, the UE expects the SSB of serving cell and neighbor cells is transmitted on the sync raster pointsonly", page 8, comment by Ericsson);
and receive a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) based at least in part on a resource mapping in which the SSB is punctured ("if the PDSCH resource allocation overlaps with PRBs containing SS/PBCH block transmission resources, or SS/ PBCH block transmission resource after puncturing if applicable, the UE shall assume that the PRBs containing SS/PBCH block transmission resources, or SS/PBCH block transmission resource after puncturing if applicable, are not available for PDSCH in the OFDM symbols where SS/ PBCH block is transmitted", page 5, see sections 5.1.4 and 5.1.6.2).
NPL does not expressly teach receive a synchronization signal block (SSB). However, this limitation is suggested from NPL’s teachings in page 5, see sections 5.1.4 and 5.1.6.2.
Kim teaches receive a synchronization signal block (SSB) (claim 1; receiving SSB).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed limitation to incorporate the teachings of Kim in to the system of NPL in order to allow user devices to rapidly discover nearby cells, synchronize time and frequency, find the best antenna beam, and decode essential broadcast information (common knowledge).
Regarding Claim 2, NPL in view of Kim teaches the apparatus of claim 1, NPL further teaches wherein the channel bandwidth is 3 MHz (page 2, first text box, "For 3 MHz channel BW")
Regarding Claim 3, NPL in view of Kim teaches the apparatus of claim 1, NPL further teaches wherein a transmission bandwidth for the PDSCH is up to 12 physical resource blocks (PRBs), and wherein PRBs containing the SSB after the puncturing are not available for the PDSCH in symbols where the SSB is transmitted (page 2, first text box, "UE supports 12 PRB BWP" and page 5, first text box, "if the PDSCH resource allocation overlaps with PRBs containing SS/PBCH block transmission resources, or SS/PBCH block transmission resource after puncturing if applicable, the UE shall assume that the PRBs containing SS/PBCH block transmission resources, or SS/PBCH block transmission resource after puncturing if applicable, are not available for PDSCH in the OFDM symbols where SS/PBCH block is transmitted")
Regarding Claim 4, NPL in view of Kim teaches the apparatus of claim 1, NPL further teaches wherein a transmission bandwidth for the PDSCH is up to 15 physical resource blocks (PRBs), and wherein PRBs containing the SSB before the puncturing are not available for the PDSCH in symbols where the SSB is transmitted (page 5, first text box, "if the PDSCH resource allocation overlaps with PRBs containing SS/PBCH block transmission resources, or SS/PBCH block transmission resource after puncturing if applicable, the UE shall assume that the PRBs containing SS/PBCH block
transmission resources, or SS/PBCH block transmission resource after
puncturing if applicable, are not available for PDSCH in the OFDM symbols
where SS/PBCH block is transmitted").
Regarding Claim 5, NPL in view of Kim teaches the apparatus of claim 1, NPL further teaches wherein to receive the PDSCH and the DMRS, the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to cause the UE to receive the PDSCH and the DMRS without performing blind detection (page 5, first text box, "if the PDSCH resource allocation overlaps with PRBs containing SS/PBCH block transmission resources, or SS/PBCH block transmission resource after puncturing if
applicable, the UE shall assume that the PRBs containing SS/PBCH block
transmission resources, or SS/PBCH block transmission resource after
puncturing if applicable, are not available for PDSCH in the OFDM symbols
where SS/PBCH block is transmitted").
Regarding Claim 6, NPL in view of Kim teaches the apparatus of claim 1, NPL further teaches wherein a transmission bandwidth for the PDSCH is up to 15 physical resource blocks (PRBs), and wherein PRBs containing the SSB after the puncturing are not available for the PDSCH in symbols where the SSB is transmitted (page 2, first text box, "UE supports 15 PRB BWP" and page 5, first text box, "if the PDSCH resource allocation overlaps with PRBs containing SS/PBCH block transmission resources, or SS/PBCH block transmission resource after puncturing if applicable, the UE shall assume that the PRBs containing SS/PBCH block transmission resources, or SS/PBCH block transmission resource after puncturing if applicable, are not available for PDSCH in the OFDM symbols where SS/PBCH block is transmitted").
Regarding Claim 7, NPL in view of Kim teaches the apparatus of claim 6, NPL further teaches wherein PRBs not containing the SSB after puncturing are available for the PDSCH (obvious from page 2, first text box, "UE supports 15 PRB BWP" and page 5, first text box, "if the PDSCH resource allocation overlaps with PRBs containing SS/PBCH block transmission resources, or SS/PBCH block transmission resource after puncturing if applicable, the UE shall assume that the PRBs containing SS/PBCH block transmission resources, or SS/PBCH block transmission resource after puncturing if applicable, are not available for PDSCH in the OFDM symbols where SS/PBCH block is transmitted").
Regarding Claim 8, NPL in view of Kim teaches the apparatus of claim 6, NPL further teaches wherein the PRBs are available based at least in part on a capability of the UE (obvious from page 2, first text box, "UE supports 15 PRB BWP" and page 5, first text box, "if the PDSCH resource allocation overlaps with PRBs containing SS/PBCH block transmission resources, or SS/PBCH block transmission resource after puncturing if applicable, the UE shall assume that the PRBs containing SS/PBCH block transmission resources, or SS/PBCH block transmission resource after puncturing if applicable, are not available for PDSCH in the OFDM symbols where SS/PBCH block is transmitted").
Regarding Claim 9, NPL in view of Kim teaches the apparatus of claim 6, Kim further teaches wherein the PDSCH is at least for unicast in a radio resource control connected mode (this limitation is well-known in the art where each PDCCH and PDSCH are both capable of broadcast and unicast, see Kim in ¶0125).
Regarding Claim 10, NPL in view of Kim teaches the apparatus of claim 1, NPL further teaches wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to cause the UE to receive an indication of whether PRBs containing the SSB after the puncturing are to be not available for PDSCH in symbols where the SSB is transmitted (obvious from page 2, first text box, "UE supports 15 PRB BWP" and page 5, first text box, "if the PDSCH resource allocation overlaps with PRBs containing SS/PBCH block transmission resources, or SS/PBCH block transmission resource after puncturing if applicable, the UE shall assume that the PRBs containing SS/PBCH block transmission resources, or SS/PBCH block transmission resource after puncturing if applicable, are not available for PDSCH in the OFDM symbols where SS/PBCH block is transmitted").
Claims 11-19 are substantially similar to the above limitations, thus the same rationale applies.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MAHRAN ABU ROUMI whose telephone number is (469)295-9170. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6AM-5PM.
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MAHRAN ABU ROUMI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2455
/MAHRAN Y ABU ROUMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2455
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