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 communication is response to claims filed on 08/08/24.
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement’s
4. The information disclosure statement(s) submitted on 01/21/25 & 01/31/25 have being considered by the examiner and made of record in the application file.
Priority
5. Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Drawing
6. The drawings filed on 08/08/24 are accepted by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. 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 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.
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.
8. Claims 1-4, 6, 8-12, 14 & 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (hereinafter referred as Kim) NPL Document, “On SBFD for NR duplex evolution”15 May 2023 (as disclosed in the IDS), in view of Attia et al. (hereinafter referred as Attia) International Publication No. WO 2021/253047 A1 (as disclosed in the IDS).
Regarding claims 1 & 17: Kim discloses a user equipment (UE) (See Page 31; a User Equipment (UE)) transmitting a sounding reference signal (SRS) in full-duplex communication (See page 31; SRS on SBFD), comprising:
receives at least one power control parameter set used to determine transmission power of the sounding reference signal from a base station (See Page 31; power control parameters of the UE are done by a base station (BS));
wherein the transmission power of the sounding reference signal is separately determined for a case where a symbol where the sounding reference signal is transmitted is a subband full duplex (SBFD) symbol and a case where the symbol is a non-SBFD symbol (See Proposal 24; For SBFD-aware UEs, support separate UL power control parameters and separate beam/spatial relation settings for PUSCH, PUCCH and SRS on SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols in different slots).
Kim does not explicitly disclose the UE comprising: a transmitter; a receiver; and
a controller controlling an operation of the transmitter and the receiver; transmits the sounding reference signal according to the determined transmission power; and determines the transmission power of the sounding reference signal based on the at least one power control parameter set.
However, Attia from the same field of endeavor discloses the UE (See FIG. 2 & Para. 0042; a UE 120) comprising:
a transmitter; a receiver (See FIG. 2 & Para. 0042; a UE 120 includes antennas 234); and
a controller controlling an operation of the transmitter and the receiver (See FIG. 2 & Para. 0042; a UE 120 includes Controller/Processor);
transmits the sounding reference signal according to the determined transmission power (See Para. 0221; uplink transmission comprises at least one of a PUSCH, a PUCCH, SRS); and
determines the transmission power of the sounding reference signal based on the at least one power control parameter set (See FIG. 6A & Para. 0077; the UE 120 may determine a set of power offset values and/or a set of power scaling values that the UE 120 is to use for the uplink communication) and
transmits the sounding reference signal according to the determined transmission power (the UE 120 may transmit, and the base station 110 (or another base station 110) may receive, the uplink communication at an uplink frequency in the uplink frequency band).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include UE comprising: a transmitter; a receiver; and a controller controlling an operation of the transmitter and the receiver; transmits the sounding reference signal according to the determined transmission power; and determines the transmission power of the sounding reference signal based on the at least one power control parameter set as taught by Attia in the system of Kim for uplink power control for full duplex communication (See Para. 0002; lines 1-2).
Regarding claims 2 & 18: The combination of Kim and Attia disclose the user equipment (UE)/method,
Furthermore, Kim discloses the UE, wherein the transmission power of the sounding reference signal is determined based on a maximum PUSCH transmission power parameter separately configured for the case where the symbol is the SBFD symbol and the case where the symbol is the non-SBFD symbol (See Page 32; Proposal 23; For SBFD-aware UEs, support separately configured maximum UE output power in SBFD and non-SBFD slots on the serving cell).
Regarding claims 3 & 19: The combination of Kim and Attia disclose the user equipment (UE)/method,
Furthermore, Kim discloses the UE, wherein the transmission power of the sounding reference signal is determined based on at least one open-loop power control parameter separately configured for the case where the symbol is the SBFD symbol and the case where the symbol is the non-SBFD symbol (See Pages 33-34; open loop power control parameters).
Regarding claims 4 & 20: The combination of Kim and Attia disclose the user equipment (UE),
Furthermore, Kim discloses the UE, wherein the transmission power of the sounding reference signal is determined based on a pathloss measurement value for a reference signal separately configured for the case where the symbol is the SBFD symbol and the case where the symbol is the non-SBFD symbol (See Pages 32-33; pathloss reference signal).
Regarding claim 6: The combination of Kim and Attia disclose a method,
Furthermore, Kim discloses the method, wherein the transmission power of the sounding reference signal is determined based on a closed-loop power control command separately indicated for the case where the symbol is the SBFD symbol and the case where the symbol is the non-SBFD symbol (See Pages 32-33; closed loop power control parameters).
Regarding claim 8: The combination of Kim and Attia disclose a method,
Furthermore, Attia discloses the method, wherein the transmission power of the sounding reference signal is determined based on a power offset value configured for the case where the symbol is the SBFD symbol (See Para. 0080; the set of power offset values is selected such that the sub-bands associated with the edge(s) of the uplink frequency band).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the transmission power of the sounding reference signal is determined based on a power offset value configured for the case where the symbol is the SBFD symbol as taught by Attia in the system of Kim for uplink power control for full duplex communication (See Para. 0002; lines 1-2).
Regarding claim 9: Kim discloses a method, performed by a base station (See page 32; base station (i.e., gNB)), of receiving a sounding reference signal (SRS) in full-duplex communication (See page 31; SRS on SBFD), the method comprising:
transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), at least one power control parameter set used to determine transmission power of the sounding reference signal (See Page 31; power control parameters of the UE are done by a base station (BS)); and
wherein the transmission power of the sounding reference signal is separately determined for a case where a symbol where the sounding reference signal is received is a subband full duplex (SBFD) symbol and a case where the symbol is a non-SBFD symbol (See Proposal 24; For SBFD-aware UEs, support separate UL power control parameters and separate beam/spatial relation settings for PUSCH, PUCCH and SRS on SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols in different slots).
Kim does not explicitly disclose receiving the sounding reference signal according to the transmission power of the sounding reference signal determined based on the at least one power control parameter set.
However, Attia from the same field of endeavor discloses receiving the sounding reference signal according to the transmission power of the sounding reference signal determined based on the at least one power control parameter set (See Para. 0221; uplink transmission comprises at least one of a PUSCH, a PUCCH, SRS).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include receiving the sounding reference signal according to the transmission power of the sounding reference signal determined based on the at least one power control parameter set as taught by Attia in the system of Kim for uplink power control for full duplex communication (See Para. 0002; lines 1-2).
Regarding claim 10: The combination of Kim and Attia disclose a method,
Furthermore, Kim discloses the method, wherein the transmission power of the sounding reference signal is determined based on a maximum SRS transmission power parameter separately configured for the case where the symbol is the SBFD symbol and the case where the symbol is the non-SBFD symbol (See Page 32; Proposal 23; For SBFD-aware UEs, support separately configured maximum UE output power in SBFD and non-SBFD slots on the serving cell).
Regarding claim 11: The combination of Kim and Attia disclose a method,
Furthermore, Kim discloses the method, wherein the transmission power of the sounding reference signal is determined based on at least one open-loop power control parameter separately configured for e the case where the symbol is the SBFD symbol and the case where the symbol is the non-SBFD symbol (See Pages 33-34; open loop power control parameters).
Regarding claim 12: The combination of Kim and Attia disclose a method,
Furthermore, Kim discloses the method, wherein the transmission power of the sounding reference signal is determined based on a pathloss measurement value for a reference signal separately configured for the case where the symbol is the SBFD symbol and the case where the symbol is the non-SBFD symbol (See Pages 32-33; pathloss reference signal).
Regarding claim 14: The combination of Kim and Attia disclose a method,
Furthermore, Kim discloses the method, wherein the transmission power of the sounding reference signal is determined based on a closed-loop power control command separately indicated for the case where the symbol is the SBFD symbol and the case where the symbol is the non-SBFD symbol (See Pages 32-33; closed loop power control parameters).
Regarding claim 16: The combination of Kim and Attia disclose a method,
Furthermore, Attia discloses the method, wherein the transmission power of the sounding reference signal is determined based on a power offset value configured for the case where the symbol is the SBFD symbol (See Para. 0080; the set of power offset values is selected such that the sub-bands associated with the edge(s) of the uplink frequency band).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the transmission power of the sounding reference signal is determined based on a power offset value configured for the case where the symbol is the SBFD symbol as taught by Attia in the system of Kim for uplink power control for full duplex communication (See Para. 0002; lines 1-2).
Allowable Subject Matter
9. Claims 5, 7, 13 & 15 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.
Conclusion
10. The prior art of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
A. Yoshimura et al. 2026/0095934 A1 (Title: Random access resource configuration for message 1….) (See Abstract, Para. 0012 & 0037-0038).
B. Zhang et al. 2026/0046862 A1 (Title: User equipment uplink resource muting) (See abstract, Para. 0006 & 00813-0016).
C. Kim et al. 2026/0046865 A1 (Title: Method and apparatus for subband full duplexing in mobile wireless communication..) (See FIG. 1, Para. 0046, 0050 & 0160).
11. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MEWALE A AMBAYE whose telephone number is (571)270-1076. The examiner can normally be reached on M.F 6a.m.-2p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian Moore can be reached on (571)272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MEWALE A AMBAYE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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