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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment made dated 3/2/2026 does not contain any new matter; however, it seems as though the claims are now drawn to a completely different invention and not the one originally claimed. Examiner respectfully urges the Applicant to keep amendments to the claims without changing the entirety of the claimed invention.
Claims 6, 12, and 18 are now canceled.
Election/Restriction
Newly amended claims 1-5, 7-11, 13-17, 19, and 20 are directed to an invention that is independent or distinct from the invention originally claimed for the following reasons:
All the claims have been amended substantially to the point where they are now claiming an entirely different invention than what was previously claimed. These newly sets of claims would have been restricted if presented together with the original sets of claims.
Since applicant has received an action on the merits for the originally presented invention, this invention has been constructively elected by original presentation for prosecution on the merits. Accordingly, the newly amended claims 1-5, 7-11, 13-17, 19, and 20 are withdrawn from consideration as being directed to a non-elected invention. See 37 CFR 1.142(b) and MPEP § 821.03.
To preserve a right to petition, the reply to this action must distinctly and specifically point out supposed errors in the restriction requirement. Otherwise, the election shall be treated as a final election without traverse. Traversal must be timely. Failure to timely traverse the requirement will result in the loss of right to petition under 37 CFR 1.144. If claims are subsequently added, applicant must indicate which of the subsequently added claims are readable upon the elected invention.
Should applicant traverse on the ground that the inventions are not patentably distinct, applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing the inventions to be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. In either instance, if the examiner finds one of the inventions unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other invention.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/2/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The claims are still rejected as originally presented and are shown below.
However, Examiner would also like to provide a prior art reference of Ibrahim et al. (US 2025/0142613) made of record; although not relied upon, it could be considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Allowable Subject Matter
Originally presented claims 5, 11, and 17 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.
Originally presented claims 5, 11, and 17 are allowable because Kim cannot singularly encompass all the features and limitations of said claims, nor can Kim be combined with any other references to render said features and limitations obvious in combination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7-10, 13-16, 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (US 2023/0007641; hereinafter Kim).
Regarding claims, 1, 7, 13, and 19, Kim discloses a terminal in a wireless communication system, the terminal comprising:
a transceiver (Fig. 1-2); and
a processor configured to control the transceiver (Fig. 1-2), wherein the processor is configured to:
receive first information indicating whether a first slot comprises a subband for uplink transmission ([0009]-[0018]: first and second sub-bands for DL and UL);
receive second information indicating whether a second slot comprises the subband for uplink transmission ([0009]-[0018]: first and second sub-bands for DL and UL); and
perform repetition transmission of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) on the first slot and the second slot, and wherein the first slot comprises the subband for uplink transmission, and the second slot does not comprise the subband for uplink transmission ([0071]: RRC signaling only indicates a time resource used for transmission in a first slot, for use in repetition PUSCH transmission).
Regarding claims 2, 8, 14 and 20. Kim discloses the terminal of claim 1, wherein, if first transmission power for the repetition transmission of the PUSCH transmitted on the first slot and second transmission power for the repetition transmission of the PUSCH transmitted on the second slot are differently configured from a base station, the repetition transmission of the PUSCH transmitted on the first slot and the repetition transmission of the PUSCH transmitted on the second slot are transmitted using common transmission power, and wherein the common transmission power is one of the first transmission power and the second transmission power ([0257]: transmission power increases when the number of slotted data increases).
Regarding claims 3, 9, and 15, Kim discloses wherein the first transmission power is less than the second transmission power ([0257]: transmission power increases when the number of slotted data increases).
Regarding claims 4, 10, and 16, Kim discloses wherein the common transmission power is the first transmission power ([0252]: PUSCH transmission power can be maintained to be identical in all the slotted data).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ibrahim et al. (US 2025/0142613) HANDLING AN UPLINK RESOURCE MUTING PATTERN THAT OVERLAPS WITH A PHASE TRACKING REFERENCE SIGNAL IN A SUBBAND FULL DUPLEX OPERATION
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUCK HUYNH whose telephone number is (571)272-7866. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10am - 6pm.
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, Kathy Wang-Hurst can be reached at 571-270-5371. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHUCK HUYNH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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