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 .
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.
Claims 1- 9, 11-13, 15-19, 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abdelghaffar et al (US 20230198725 A1) in view of Abdelghaffar et al (US 20210391963 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Abdelghaffar et al discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), configured to communicate with a network node using subband full duplex, SBFD, communications (the UE may receive, from a base station, a full duplex downlink channel, the FD downlink channel being duplexed with a second FD channel ; paragraph 0005-0006), the method comprising, for a symbol in a time slot (a duplex status indication for a slot; a report indication for a slot; paragraph 0008-0009): receiving (receive, from the base station, a channel state information reference signal on resources of the first portion of the FD downlink channel having a first symbol and on resources of the second portion of the FD downlink channel having the first symbol ; paragraph 0005), from the network node a resource block, RB, configuration (transmit, to the base station, a channel state information report based on the CSI-RS received on the first portion and the second portion; note that the AMF 192 is the control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 and the core network 19; in addition, a resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure, where each time slot includes a resource block that extends 12 consecutive subcarriers
; paragraph 0005, 0075); and allocating RBs (a first set of frequency resources may be allocated to the downlink, and a second set of frequency resources may be allocated to the uplink; paragraph 0092) as reference signal resources according to the received RB configuration (receive, from the base station, a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) on resources of the first portion of the FD downlink channel having a first symbol and on resources of the second portion of the FD downlink channel having the first symbol ; paragraph 0020), the received RB configuration including one of: a first set of at least one uplink RB separating two sets (first set of resources 1151, and a second set of bits 1163) of at least one downlink RB in the frequency domain (the MIB provides a number of RBs in the system bandwidth and a system frame number; the UE may have resources allocated for a noncontiguous downlink channel including a first portion 1034 and a second portion 1036, and for an uplink channel 1035 between the first portion 1034 and the second portion 1036 of the downlink channel; paragraph 0077, 0115), the two sets of at least one downlink RB being configured as a channel state information reference signal (a first set of bits 1161 may correspond to the first set of resources 1151, a second set of bits 1163 may correspond to the second set of resources 1153, and a third set of bits 1162 may correspond to the third set of resources 1152; paragraph 0117-0118), CSI-RS, resource (the base station may transmit the CSI resource configuration in a RRC message; the CSI resource configuration may include a start resource block (RB) index and a number of RBs associated with the CSI reference resource 1142 which may define the resources of the CSI reference resource 1142 ; the CSI resource configuration may include a CSI resource configuration bitmap 1160, where each bit in the bit map may correspond to a set of resources of the CSI reference resource 1142; paragraph 0118); and a second set of at least one downlink RB separating two sets of at least one uplink RB (the base station may transmit the CSI-RS on a first set of resources 1151 and a second set of resources 1153 in the downlink channel, but may not transit the CSI-RS in a third set of resources 1152 allocated to the uplink data channel or to guard bands separating the uplink data channel from the downlink channel ; furthermore, a CSI reference resource configuration bitmap may apply to all CSI reference resources in a bandwidth part, where a separate CST resource configuration bitmap may be configured for different bandwidth parts, and the CSI resource configuration bitmap for a bandwidth part may be applied to all CSI reference resources whenever that bandwidth part is the active bandwidth part ;paragraph 0117-0118;paragraph 0119-0122).
However, Abdelghaffar et al, does not specifically disclose the features of a second set of at least one downlink RB separating two sets of at least one uplink RB, the two sets of at least one uplink RB being configured as a sounding reference signal, SRS, resource.
On the other hand, Abdelghaffar et al, from the same field of endeavor, discloses the features of a second set of at least one downlink RB separating two sets of at least one uplink RB (UL resources may be allocated to a first frequency resource and a second frequency resource, and DL resources may be allocated to a third frequency resource separating the first frequency resource from the second frequency resource; in addition, the first frequency resource and the third frequency resource may be separated by a first guard band, and the second frequency resource and the third frequency resource may be separated by a second guard band ; the DL resources and the UL resources may be allocated to different communications at different times during the corresponding time period (set of symbols); paragraph 0117-0118), the two sets of at least one uplink RB being configured as a sounding reference signal, SRS, resource (an SRS resource may be allocated to multiple disjoint frequency resources of one or more resource BWs, such as one or more resource BWs within a BWP; furthermore, the SRS resource may only overlap a portion of the corresponding UL frequency resources; additionally or alternatively, the SRS resource may frequency hop across the UL frequency resources or resource BW; fig. 7A; paragraph 0119-0120). Note that the sub-band full duplex operations may include in-band full duplex the sub-band full duplex operations may include in-band full duplex or sub-band frequency division duplex (FDD) (operations in which the DL resources and the UL resources overlap in time but not in frequency, also referred to herein as “flexible duplex “). The SRS may be allocated based on the allocation of frequency resources to the UL to support SRS transmission by a UE configured for sub-band full duplex operations (paragraph 0047, 0115-0116). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to apply the technique of Abdelghaffar et al to the communication system of Abdelghaffar in order to provide a method of wireless communication for the purpose of advancing and enhancing the user experience with mobile communications.
Regarding claim 2, Abdelghaffar et al as modified discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), wherein the CSI-RS resource includes a plurality of RB sets that are linked and associated with a same resource identification, ID (the bits of the CSI resource configuration bitmaps may correspond to RBGs, where a RBG may be a set of RBs; a first RBG configuration may apply for a first set of CSI reference resources, and a second RBG configuration may apply for a second set of CSI reference resources ; the CSI resource configuration may include a bitmap identifying resources associated with the single CSI reference resource; paragraph 0031-0032, 0078).
Regarding claim 3, Abdelghaffar et al as modified discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), wherein the CSI-RS resource includes a plurality of non-contiguous RB sets (the downlink channel 912 may be noncontiguous; receiving CSI-RS on the CSI reference resource, the UE may determine which resources contain the CSI-RS for the downlink; the UE may receive the CSI-RS for both of the noncontiguous portions of the downlink without having two separately defined CSI reference resources; paragraph 0109-0111).
Regarding claim 4, Abdelghaffar et al as modified discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), wherein the two sets of at least one downlink RB are linked to and associated with the CSI-RS resource (a primary synchronization signal may be within symbol 2 of particular subframes of a frame; the PSS is used by a UE 104 to determine subframe/symbol timing and a physical layer identity; a secondary synchronization signal may be within symbol 4 of subframes of a frame ;the SSS is used by a UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine a physical cell identifier; paragraph 0077-0078).
Regarding claim 5, Abdelghaffar et al as modified discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), wherein the two sets of at least one uplink RB are linked to and associated with the SRS resource (a first RBG configuration may apply for a first set of CSI reference resources, and a second RBG configuration may apply for a second set of CSI reference resources ; the same RBG configuration may apply for all CSI reference resources associated with a CSI report; the UE may transmit sounding reference signals ; the SRS may be transmitted in the last symbol of a subframe; the SRS may have a comb structure, and a UE may transmit SRS on one of the combs; the SRS may be used by a base station for channel quality estimation to enable frequency-dependent scheduling on the UL; paragraph 0078, 0122).
Regarding claim 6, Abdelghaffar et al as modified discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), wherein each set of at least one downlink RB for the CSI-RS resource (a UE may receive CSI-RS on a CSI reference resource configured for a non-full duplex slot on a slot that is configured as sub-band full duplex; paragraph 0126) and each set of at least one uplink RB for the SRS resource includes a plurality of contiguous RBs (a first RBG configuration may apply for a first set of CSI reference resources, and a second RBG configuration may apply for a second set of CSI reference resources ; paragraph 0121-0122).
Regarding claim 7, Abdelghaffar et al as modified discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), wherein the two sets of at least one downlink RB are linked by a first and second identifier of two separate CSI-RS resources allocated to the two sets of at least one downlink RB (a first set of bits 1161 may correspond to the first set of resources 1151, a second set of bits 1163 may correspond to the second set of resources 1153, and a third set of bits 1162 may correspond to the third set of resources 1152; paragraph 0117-0118), respectively (a primary synchronization signal may be within symbol 2 of particular subframes of a frame; the PSS is used by a UE 104 to determine subframe/symbol timing and a physical layer identity; a secondary synchronization signal may be within symbol 4 of subframes of a frame ; the SSS is used by a UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing; based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine a physical cell identifier; paragraph ;paragraph 0117-0118; paragraph 0119).
Regarding claim 8, Abdelghaffar et al as modified discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), wherein a third identifier is associated with the CSI-RS resource and is associated with the first and second identifiers (the PSS is used by a UE 104 to determine subframe/symbol timing and a physical layer identity; a secondary synchronization signal may be within symbol 4 of subframes of a frame, where the SSS is used by a UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing; based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine a physical cell identifier; furthermore, the CSI resource configuration may include a start resource block index and a number of RBs associated with the CSI reference resource 1142 which may define the resources of the CSI reference resource 1142 ; the CSI resource configuration may include a CSI resource configuration bitmap 1160, where each bit in the bit map may correspond to a set of resources of the CSI reference resource 1142; for example, each bit may correspond to one resource block or each bit may correspond to one resource block group ; paragraph 0077 ; paragraph 0118-0120).
Regarding claim 9, Abdelghaffar et al as modified discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), wherein the value of the third identifier intersects the set of values of the first and second identifiers (the UE may have a maximum number of disjoint allocations that can be associated with the single CSI reference resource ; the CSI resource configuration bitmap 1160 may include three segments a first segment corresponding to the first set of bits 1161, a second segment corresponding to the second set of bits 1163, and a third segment corresponding to the third set of bits 1162, where each segment may correspond to a portion of a non-contiguous channel, or a space between portions of a non-contiguous channel; for example, the maximum number of segments may be three; inter-cell interference coordination; paragraph 0035, 0121-0123).
Regarding claim 11, Abdelghaffar et al as modified discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), wherein the two sets of at least one uplink RB are linked by an identifier of two separate SRS resources (a first set of bits 1161 may correspond to the first set of resources 1151, a second set of bits 1163 may correspond to the second set of resources 1153, and a third set of bits 1162 may correspond to the third set of resources 1152; paragraph 0117-0118), allocated to the two sets of at least one uplink RB, respectively (a primary synchronization signal may be within symbol 2 of particular subframes of a frame; the PSS is used by a UE 104 to determine subframe/symbol timing and a physical layer identity; a secondary synchronization signal may be within symbol 4 of subframes of a frame ; the SSS is used by a UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing; based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine a physical cell identifier; paragraph ;paragraph 0117-0118; paragraph 0119).
Regarding claim 12, Abdelghaffar et al as modified discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), wherein a third identifier is associated with the SRS resource and is associated with the first and second identifiers (the PSS is used by a UE 104 to determine subframe/symbol timing and a physical layer identity; a secondary synchronization signal may be within symbol 4 of subframes of a frame, where the SSS is used by a UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing; based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine a physical cell identifier; furthermore, the CSI resource configuration may include a start resource block index and a number of RBs associated with the CSI reference resource 1142 which may define the resources of the CSI reference resource 1142 ; the CSI resource configuration may include a CSI resource configuration bitmap 1160, where each bit in the bit map may correspond to a set of resources of the CSI reference resource 1142; for example, each bit may correspond to one resource block or each bit may correspond to one resource block group ; paragraph 0077 ; paragraph 0118-0120).
Regarding claim 13, Abdelghaffar et al as modified discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), wherein the value of the third identifier intersects the set of values of the first and second identifiers (the UE may have a maximum number of disjoint allocations that can be associated with the single CSI reference resource ; note that the CSI resource configuration bitmap 1160 may include three segments a first segment corresponding to the first set of bits 1161, a second segment corresponding to the second set of bits 1163, and a third segment corresponding to the third set of bits 1162, where each segment may correspond to a portion of a non-contiguous channel, or a space between portions of a non contiguous channel; for example, the maximum number of segments may be three; inter-cell interference coordination; paragraph 0035, 0121-0123).
Regarding claim 15, Abdelghaffar et al as modified discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), wherein allocating the RBs is performed according to a non-contiguous frequency domain resource allocation, FDR (resource bandwidths may be noncontiguous; for example, the third resource bandwidth 536 identifies a first set of resources 541 and a second set of resources 542; in addition, the downlink channel 912 may be noncontiguous; receiving CSI-RS on the CSI reference resource, the UE may determine which resources contain the CSI-RS for the downlink; the UE may receive the CSI-RS for both of the noncontiguous portions of the downlink without having two separately defined CSI reference resources ; paragraph 0097; paragraph 0109-0111).
Regarding claim 16, Abdelghaffar et al as modified discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), wherein the FDRA includes a first parameter to indicate a first starting RB of the received RB configuration within a first one of the two sets of at least one downlink RB or uplink RB (the CSI resource configuration may include a start resource block index and a number of RBs associated with the CSI reference resource 1142 which may define the resources of the CSI reference resource 1142 ; the CSI resource configuration may include a CSI resource configuration bitmap 1160, where each bit in the bit map may correspond to a set of resources of the CSI reference resource 1142; for example, each bit may correspond to one resource block or each bit may correspond to one resource block group ; paragraph 0077 ; paragraph 0118-0120).
Regarding claim 17, Abdelghaffar et al as modified discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), wherein the FDRA further includes a frequency offset from the first starting RB to indicate a second starting RB of the received RB configuration within a second one of the two sets of at least one downlink RB or uplink RB (the CSI resource configuration may include a start resource block index and a number of RBs associated with the CSI reference resource 1142 which may define the resources of the CSI reference resource 1142 ; the CSI resource configuration may include a CSI resource configuration bitmap 1160, where each bit in the bit map may correspond to a set of resources of the CSI reference resource 1142; for example, each bit may correspond to one resource block or each bit may correspond to one resource block group ; paragraph 0077 ; paragraph 0118-0120).
Regarding claim 18, Abdelghaffar et al as modified discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), wherein the FDRA further includes a single number of contiguous RBs (the CSI resource configuration may include a bitmap identifying resources associated with the single CSI reference resource ; paragraph 0031-0032, 0097) that are allocated starting from the first starting RB or from both the first starting RB and the second starting RB (the CSI resource configuration may include a start resource block index and a number of RBs associated with the CSI reference resource 1142 which may define the resources of the CSI reference resource 1142 ; the CSI resource configuration may include a CSI resource configuration bitmap 1160, where each bit in the bit map may correspond to a set of resources of the CSI reference resource 1142 ; paragraph 0118).
Regarding claim 19, Abdelghaffar et al as modified discloses a method performed by a wireless device (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005), wherein the FDRA further includes a first number of contiguous RBs (the CSI resource configuration may include a bitmap identifying resources associated with the single CSI reference resource ; paragraph 0031-0032, 0097) that are allocated starting from the first starting RB and a second number of contiguous RBs that are allocated from the second starting RB (the CSI resource configuration may include a start resource block index and a number of RBs associated with the CSI reference resource 1142 which may define the resources of the CSI reference resource 1142 ; the CSI resource configuration may include a CSI resource configuration bitmap 1160, where each bit in the bit map may correspond to a set of resources of the CSI reference resource 1142 ; paragraph 0118).
Regarding claim 31, Abdelghaffar et al discloses a wireless device (UE 412: the UE may be configured to operate in full duplex mode and downlink channels), WD, configured
to communicate with a network node using subband full duplex, SBFD, communications (figs. 12-13; paragraph 0005),the WD comprising: a radio interface (the UE may receive, from a base station, a full duplex downlink channel, the FD downlink channel being duplexed with a second FD channel ; paragraph 0005-0006) configured to receive from the network node a resource block, RB, configuration (a duplex status indication for a slot; a report indication for a slot; paragraph 0008-0009); and processing circuitry in communication with the radio interface and configured to, for each symbol in a time slot allocate resource blocks (receive, from the base station, a channel state information reference signal on resources of the first portion of the FD downlink channel having a first symbol and on resources of the second portion of the FD downlink channel having the first symbol ; paragraph 0005), RBs, according to the received RB configuration (transmit, to the base station, a channel state information report based on the CSI-RS received on the first portion and the second portion; note that the AMF 192 is the control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 and the core network 19; in addition, a resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure, where each time slot includes a resource block that extends 12 consecutive subcarriers
; paragraph 0005, 0075), the received RB configuration including one of: a first set of at least one uplink RB (receive, from the base station, a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) on resources of the first portion of the FD downlink channel having a first symbol and on resources of the second portion of the FD downlink channel having the first symbol ; paragraph 0020) separating two sets of at least one downlink RB in the frequency domain (the MIB provides a number of RBs in the system bandwidth and a system frame number; the UE may have resources allocated for a noncontiguous downlink channel including a first portion 1034 and a second portion 1036, and for an uplink channel 1035 between the first portion 1034 and the second portion 1036 of the downlink channel; paragraph 0077, 0115), the two sets of at least one downlink RB being configured as a channel state information reference signal (a first set of bits 1161 may correspond to the first set of resources 1151, a second set of bits 1163 may correspond to the second set of resources 1153, and a third set of bits 1162 may correspond to the third set of resources 1152; paragraph 0117-0118), CSI-RS, resource; and a second set of at least one downlink RB separating two sets of at least one uplink RB(the base station may transmit the CSI-RS on a first set of resources 1151 and a second set of resources 1153 in the downlink channel, but may not transit the CSI-RS in a third set of resources 1152 allocated to the uplink data channel or to guard bands separating the uplink data channel from the downlink channel ; furthermore, a CSI reference resource configuration bitmap may apply to all CSI reference resources in a bandwidth part, where a separate CST resource configuration bitmap may be configured for different bandwidth parts, and the CSI resource configuration bitmap for a bandwidth part may be applied to all CSI reference resources whenever that bandwidth part is the active bandwidth part ; paragraph 0117-0118; paragraph 0119-0122).
However, Abdelghaffar et al, does not specifically disclose the features of a second set of at least one downlink RB separating two sets of at least one uplink RB, the two sets of at least one uplink RB being configured as a sounding reference signal, SRS, resource.
On the other hand, Abdelghaffar et al, from the same field of endeavor, discloses the features of a second set of at least one downlink RB separating two sets of at least one uplink RB (UL resources may be allocated to a first frequency resource and a second frequency resource, and DL resources may be allocated to a third frequency resource separating the first frequency resource from the second frequency resource; in addition, the first frequency resource and the third frequency resource may be separated by a first guard band, and the second frequency resource and the third frequency resource may be separated by a second guard band ; the DL resources and the UL resources may be allocated to different communications at different times during the corresponding time period (set of symbols); paragraph 0117-0118), the two sets of at least one uplink RB being configured as a sounding reference signal, SRS, resource (an SRS resource may be allocated to multiple disjoint frequency resources of one or more resource BWs, such as one or more resource BWs within a BWP; furthermore, the SRS resource may only overlap a portion of the corresponding UL frequency resources; additionally or alternatively, the SRS resource may frequency hop across the UL frequency resources or resource BW; fig. 7A; paragraph 0119-0120). Note that the sub-band full duplex operations may include in-band full duplex the sub-band full duplex operations may include in-band full duplex or sub-band frequency division duplex (FDD) (operations in which the DL resources and the UL resources overlap in time but not in frequency, also referred to herein as “flexible duplex “). The SRS may be allocated based on the allocation of frequency resources to the UL to support SRS transmission by a UE configured for sub-band full duplex operations (paragraph 0047, 0115-0116). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to apply the technique of Abdelghaffar et al to the communication system of Abdelghaffar in order to provide a method of wireless communication for the purpose of advancing and enhancing the user experience with mobile communications.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10 and 14 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
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MARCEAU MILORD
Examiner
Art Unit 2641
/MARCEAU MILORD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641
