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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 09/30/2024, 08/28/2025, 04/29/2026 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered if signed and initialed by the Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-12 and 15-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang et al (USP: 2019/0191381 A1).
As per Claim 1 Zhang teaches a method for determining transmission direction, executed by an access network device and comprising:
sending configuration information of at least one sub-band to a terminal (Paragraph 0218, 0233, 0259 sends configuration information on the specific carrier to the UE by using RRC signaling, broadcast signaling, or physical layer L1 signaling. For example, the target cell is a cell 1 in FIG. 3, and neighboring cells are a cell 2 and a cell 3 in the figure, the following uses a corresponding application scenario as an example for detailed description. In the following description, for example, the flexible time-frequency resource is specifically a flexible frequency band, a flexible subframe, or a flexible subband);
wherein the configuration information is for the terminal to determine one or more transmission directions in which data is transmitted on the at least one sub-band in one or more target transmission units (Paragraph 0015, 0058, 0159, 0262 a subframe whose transmission direction is uplink in the target cell and whose transmission direction is not uniformly uplink in the at least one neighboring cell to a first subframe set, and a subframe whose transmission direction is uniformly uplink in the target cell and the at least one neighboring cell to a second subframe set, where the target subframe sets include the first subframe set and the second subframe set. If a whole UL frequency band in a frequency band is set to a DL frequency band, or a whole PRB in some subbands in a specific frequency band is set to a DL frequency band).
As per Claim 2 Zhang teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more target transmission units comprise at least one of: a symbol, a slot, a subframe, or a radio frame (Paragraph 0153, 0156 The radio frame includes two 5 ms half-frames. Each half-frame includes special subframes and normal subframes, five subframes in total, and duration of each subframe is 1 ms. A special subframe includes a downlink pilot timeslot (Downlink Pilot Slot, DwPTS) used for downlink transmission, an uplink-downlink guard period (Guard Period, GP), and an uplink pilot timeslot (Uplink Pilot Slot, UpPTS) used for uplink transmission. ).
As per Claim 3 Zhang teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information comprises one of: first configuration information, for indicating that one or more transmission directions in which data is transmitted on a target sub-band in one or more target transmission units are one or more downlink transmission directions; second configuration information, for indicating that one or more transmission directions in which data is transmitted on a target sub-band in one or more target transmission units are one or more uplink transmission directions; or third configuration information, for indicating that one or more transmission directions in which data is transmitted on a target sub-band in one or more target transmission units are one or more uncertain transmission directions (Paragraph 0078 the flexible time-frequency resource includes at least one of the following resources: a flexible frequency band, a flexible subband, a flexible subframe, a flexible frame, and a flexible superframe. ).
As per Claim 4 Zhang teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information comprises one or more of: direction indication information, for indicating the transmission direction; or sub-band configuration information, for indicating at least one of: a number of the at least one sub-band, or a frequency of the at least one sub-band (Paragraph 0159, 0160, 0163 a whole UL frequency band in a frequency band is set to a DL frequency band, or a whole PRB in some subbands in a specific frequency band is set to a DL frequency band, whatever granularity (such as subframes, radio frames, or superframes) is used in the time domain, flexible full duplex may be further used from a perspective of a frequency band or a subband. ).
As per Claim 5 Zhang teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the sending configuration information of at least one sub-band to a terminal comprises: sending the configuration information of the at least one sub-band to the terminal with a system message (Paragraph 0003 0218 the network-side device determines the specific carrier from the plurality of carriers, and then sends configuration information on the specific carrier to the UE by using RRC signaling, broadcast signaling, or physical layer L1 signaling. For example, the target cell is a cell 1 in FIG. 3,).
As per Claim 6 Zhang teaches the method of claim 5, wherein the configuration information comprises available time information for indicating at least one of: an effective duration of the configuration information, or an effective time of the configuration information (Paragraph 0153 FIG. 2. Duration of a radio frame is 10 ms. The radio frame includes two 5 ms half-frames. Each half-frame includes special subframes and normal subframes, five subframes in total, and duration of each subframe is 1 ms. A special subframe includes a downlink pilot timeslot (Downlink Pilot Slot, DwPTS) used for downlink transmission, an uplink-downlink guard period (Guard Period, GP), and an uplink pilot timeslot (Uplink Pilot Slot, UpPTS) used for uplink transmission. ).
Claims 7-12 and 15-22 are a methods and a device claims corresponding to a methods claims 1-6 that have been rejected above. Applicant attention is directed to the rejection of claims 1-6. Claims 7-12 and 15-22 are rejected under the same rational as claims 1-6.
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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SYED ALI whose telephone number is (571)270-3681. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10am to 2pm.
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, ASAD NAWAZ can be reached on (571) 272-3988. 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.
/SYED ALI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
Prosecution Insights