Detailed Office 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 office action is in response to the communication dated 10/3/24.
Original claims 1-20 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. claim 20 does not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter.
For example, claim 20 recites computer readable storage medium which appears to cover both transitory and non-transitory embodiments. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is required to give claims their broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification during proceedings before the USPTO. See In re Zletz, 893 F.2d 319 (Fed. Cir. 1989) (during patent examination the pending claims must be interpreted as broadly as their terms reasonably allow). The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim drawn to a computer readable storage medium (also called machine readable medium and other such variations) typically covers forms of non-transitory tangible media and transitory propagating signals per se in view of the ordinary and customary meaning of computer readable media, particularly when the specification is silent. See MPEP 2111.01. When the broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim covers a signal per se, the claim must be rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as covering non-statutory subject matter. See In re Nuijten, 500 F.3d 1346, 1356-57 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (transitory embodiments are not directed to statutory subject matter) and Interim Examination Instructions for Evaluating Subject Matter Eligibility Under 35 U.S.C. § 101, Aug. 24, 2009; p. 2.
The examiner respectfully suggests the applicant amend the claimed term to: "non-transitory," "computer usable memory," "computer usable storage memory," "computer readable memory," or "computer readable device"—(i.e., any variations thereof, where "media" or "medium" is replaced by "device" or "memory")—or adding "wherein the medium is not a signal" in order to properly render the claim(s) in statutory form in view of their broadest reasonable interpretation in light of the originally filed specification.
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.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hwang et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20200187181 [hereinafter Hwang] in view of Wang et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0168801 [hereinafter Wang].
As per claim 1, 9, 17 and 20 Hwang discloses a wireless communication method, comprising:
receiving, by a wireless communication device from a wireless communication node, radio configuration information that includes: a second type bandwidth part (BWP) configuration(see par. 0006, 0142, 0189 UE receives, from the base station, a second BWP configuration , based on the configurations for the second BWP PDSCH scheduling related information); and
a correspondence between the second type BWP and a plurality of BWPs, wherein the second type BWP configuration includes one or more physical resource configurations(see par. 0186-0188, where the BWP consists of a first plurality of physical resource ). and
Hwang does not explicitly disclose configuring, by the wireless communication device, based on the one or more physical resource configurations, a plurality of physical resources on the plurality of BWPs.
Wang discloses configuring, by the wireless communication device, based on the one or more physical resource configurations, a plurality of physical resources on the plurality of BWPs(see par. 0198, 0200). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Wang into the system of Hwang , in this way, one or more BWPs may be configured for the terminal device in one cell or on one carrier, one BWP may be activated at one moment, and the terminal device may receive or send a signal on the activated BWP. In the embodiments of this application, a BWP including a segment of contiguous frequency domain resources may also be referred to as a segment of frequency domain resources, a first-type BWP, a legacy (existing) BWP, or the like.
As per claim 2, Wang discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication device receives a second type BWP configuration that includes a physical channel configuration and, the wireless communication device, based on the physical channel configuration, configures a plurality of physical channels on the plurality of BWPs(see pars. 0198-0199).
As per claim 3, Wang The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication device receives a second type BWP configuration that includes a physical reference signal configuration; and, the wireless communication device, based on the physical reference signal configuration, configures a plurality of physical reference signals on the plurality of BWPs(see par. 0198).
As per claim 4, Wang discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication device receives a second type BWP configuration that includes a physical channel configuration and a physical reference signal configuration; and, the wireless communication device, based on the physical channel configuration and the physical reference signal configuration, configures a plurality of physical channels and a plurality of physical reference signals on the plurality of BWPs(see par. 0198-0199)
As per claim 5, Wang discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of BWPs correspond to a plurality of carriers(see par. 0173).
As per claim 6, Wang discloses the method of claim 5, wherein a first portion of the second type BWP is mapped to a first one of the plurality of BWPs, and a second portion of the second type BWP is mapped to a second one of the plurality of BWPs(see par. 0198-0199).
As per claim 7, Wang discloses the method of claim 6, wherein a bandwidth of the second type BWP is a sum of respective bandwidths of the plurality of BWPs(see par. 0073).
As per claim 8, Wang discloses the method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of physical channels and the plurality of physical reference signals are configured on at least two of the plurality of BWPs(see par. 0198)
As per dependent claims 10-16 and 18-19, the claims are similar with dependent claims 2-8 and are rejected same rational as claims 2-8.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABDULLAHI ELMI SALAD whose telephone number is (571)272-4009. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30AM-6:PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Faruk Hamza can be reached at 571-272-7969. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABDULLAHI E SALAD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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