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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 22-25 and 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 22-25 recite “receiving downlink control information (DCI), a dynamic part of the DCI including an index into the set of border symbols to select a first border symbol, the DCI indicating a starting position of data in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission relative to the first border symbol, the first border symbol being valid for a configurable duration of a plurality of transmission timing structures for semi-persistent scheduling when no DCI indication of a starting position is received.” The phrases “receiving downlink control information (DCI) including an index into the set of border symbols to select a first border symbol” and “when no DCI indication of a starting position is received” contradict with each other. Accordingly, a person of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The claim language should be amended to clarify that DCI is received in a first slot/transmission timing structure and is then valid in for second slot(s)/transmission timing structure(s) in/during which no DCI is received.
Applicant’s amendment does not resolve the contradiction, because the word “when no DCI …” does not clearly indicate that it refers only to particular slot(s)/transmission timing structure(s) that are not the same slot/timing structure as the slot/timing structure in/during which the DCI is received. In order to overcome the rejection, the claim should recite that the DCI is received during a first slot/timing structure, and then there is a second slot/timing structure in/during which no DCI is received.
Claim 31 recites “wherein a position of the starting symbol is hardcoded.” However, claim 31 depends from claim 23, which recites “configuring the UE, via downlink control information (DCI), with an index into the set of border symbols to select a first border symbol.” These limitations appear to contradict with each other. If the starting symbol is hardcoded, then it is not configurable by signaling to be selected based on an index. Accordingly, a person of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 7-9, 13, 18, 21-26, 28-29 and 31-32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #89 R1-1707729; Title: Multiplexing between PDCCH and PDSCH for various data durations; Agenda Item: 7.1.3.1.3; Source: AT&T; Document for: Discussion/Approval; Location and Date: Hangzhou, TR. China 15th - 19th May 2017, consisting of 6-pages (cited in Applicant’s IDS filed on May 13, 2020) (Hereafter, R1-1707729) in view of Pelletier (US 2018/0332605).
Regarding claim 7, R1-1707729 in view of Pelletier discloses the method according to claim 22, wherein the starting position of data is selected in relation to a predefined symbol configuration in the transmission timing structure (R1-1707729, Fig. 1; pages 3-4, Section 4, first symbol of mini-slot could be the first symbol of the MBSFN region of an MBSFN subframe; or PDCCH at the beginning of a slot could schedule several mini-slot PDSCHs later in the same slot).
Regarding claim 8, R1-1707729 in view of Pelletier discloses the method according to claim 7, wherein the transmission timing structure comprises a control region covering a configurable number of symbols (R1-1707729, Fig. 1; pages 1, Section 1,slot duration scales with numerology as the number of symbols per slot is fixed for constant CP overhead; page 5, Section 7, PDCCH monitoring occasions are RRC configured, in terms of symbols).
Regarding claim 9, R1-1707729 discloses in view of Pelletier the method according to claim 7, wherein the duration of a symbol of the transmission timing structure is dependent on a numerology, wherein the numerology is configurable (R1-1707729, page 5, Section 6, NR can adapt the TTI duration by changing the number of OFDM symbols in a mini-slot; transmission duration of a mini-slot based transmission can be signaled as an integer number of mini-slots; OFDM starting symbol of a mini-slot could be indicated by bits in the scheduling DCI).
Regarding claim 13, R1-1707729 in view of Pelletier discloses the method according to claim 7, wherein at least one of the predefined symbol configuration and an associated resource configuration is valid for a duration of a plurality of transmission timing structures (R1-1707729, page 5, Section 6, paragraph 1, aggregation of slots, transmission duration signaled as an integer number of slots and mini-slots).
Regarding claim 18, R1-1707729 in view of Pelletier discloses the method according to claim 24, wherein the starting position of data is selected in relation to a predefined symbol configuration in the transmission timing structure (R1-1707729, Fig. 1; pages 3-4, Section 4, first symbol of mini-slot could be the first symbol of the MBSFN region of an MBSFN subframe; or PDCCH at the beginning of a slot could schedule several mini-slot PDSCHs later in the same slot).
Regarding claim 21, R1-1707729 in view of Pelletier discloses the method according to claim 24, wherein the first border symbol is selected from one of the set of border symbols and an associated resource configuration that is valid for a duration of a plurality of transmission timing structures (R1-1707729, Fig. 1; page 1, section 1, Introduction, lines 1-3, DL-SCH/UL-SCH; boxed section, Data Channel (PDSCH, PUSCH) duration and starting position; page 2, section 2, mini-slot starts in the middle of a slot, mini-slot start on symbol {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}; page 3, proposal 4: mini-slot is scheduled from PDCCH transmitted at the beginning of a slot; page 5, Section 6, paragraph 1, aggregation of slots, transmission duration signaled as an integer number of slots and mini-slots; page 5, Section 6, flag in the DCI indicates whether the PUSCH is scheduled using slots and mini-slots, OFDM starting symbol of a mini-slot could be indicated by bits in the scheduling DCI [starting symbol of a mini-slot is selected from the set of symbols in the slot]).
Regarding claim 22, R1-1707729 discloses a method of operating a New Radio-compatible user equipment (R1-1707729, page 1, boxed section, line 2, UE; page 3, section 4, last 2 lines, LTE/NR coexistence use) in a radio access network (R1-1707729, page 1, Introduction, lines 1-2, LTE, New Radio (NR)), the user equipment configured to receive semi-persistently scheduling of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions (R1-1707729, page 1, Introduction, lines 1-3, DL-SCH/UL-SCH; boxed section, Data Channel (PDSCH, PUSCH) duration and starting position, semi-statically configured; page 4, section 4, mini-slot based UL transmissions cross-scheduled; page 5, Section 6, OFDM starting symbol of a mini-slot could be indicated by bits in the scheduling DCI), the method comprising:
receiving via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a symbol configuration indicating a set of border symbols (R1-1707729, Fig. 1; page 1, section 1, Introduction, lines 1-3, DL-SCH/UL-SCH; boxed section, Data Channel (PDSCH, PUSCH) duration and starting/ending position; page 2, section 2, mini-slot starts in the middle of a slot, mini-slot start on symbol {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}; page 3, proposal 4: mini-slot is scheduled from PDCCH transmitted at the beginning of a slot; page 5, Section 6, flag in the DCI indicates whether the PUSCH is scheduled using slots and mini-slots, OFDM starting symbol of a mini-slot could be indicated by bits in the scheduling DCI [starting symbol of a mini-slot is selected from the set of symbols in the slot]; page 5, Section 7, PDCCH monitoring occasions are RRC configured, in terms of symbols);
receiving downlink control information (DCI), a dynamic part of the DCI including an index into the set of border symbols to select a first border symbol, the first border symbol being valid for a configurable duration of a plurality of transmission timing structures for semi-persistent scheduling when no DCI indication of a starting position of data in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission relative to the first border symbol is received (R1-1707729, Fig. 1; page 1, section 1, Introduction, lines 1-3, DL-SCH/UL-SCH; boxed section, Data Channel (PDSCH, PUSCH) duration and starting position, semi-statically configured; page 1, section 1, duration can be semi-statically configured; page 2, section 2, mini-slot starts in the middle of a slot, mini-slot start on symbol {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}; page 3, proposal 4: mini-slot is scheduled from PDCCH transmitted at the beginning of a slot; page 5, Section 6, paragraph 1, aggregation of slots, transmission duration signaled as an integer number of slots and mini-slots; page 5, Section 6, flag in the DCI indicates whether the PUSCH is scheduled using slots and mini-slots, OFDM starting symbol of a mini-slot could be indicated by bits in the scheduling DCI [starting symbol of a mini-slot is selected from the set of symbols in the slot]);
determining a start time of the scheduled PUSCH transmission based at least in part on the starting position (R1-1707729, Fig. 1; page 1, section 1, Introduction, lines 1-3, DL-SCH/UL-SCH; boxed section, Data Channel (PDSCH, PUSCH) duration and starting position; page 2, section 2, mini-slot starts in the middle of a slot, mini-slot start on symbol {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}; page 3, proposal 4: mini-slot is scheduled from PDCCH transmitted at the beginning of a slot; page 5, Section 6, flag in the DCI indicates whether the PUSCH is scheduled using slots and mini-slots, OFDM starting symbol of a mini-slot could be indicated by bits in the scheduling DCI [starting symbol of a mini-slot is selected from the set of symbols in the slot]); and
transmitting the scheduled PUSCH transmission at the determined start time (R1-1707729, Fig. 1; , page 1, Introduction, lines 1-3, DL-SCH/UL-SCH; boxed section, Data Channel (PDSCH, PUSCH) duration and starting position; page 5, Section 6, last paragraph, indication of duration (symbols) of data transmission).
R1-1707729 does not explicitly disclose semi-persistent scheduling.
Pelletier discloses receiving timing information including a reference symbol of a semi-persistently scheduled transmission on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and an indication whether a starting position of data in the PUSCH transmission indicated by the reference symbol is relative to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) reception time or relative to a start time of a slot of the semi-persistently scheduled transmission (Pelletier, paragraph [0091], symbol duration may vary in time; paragraph [0098], multiple TTI durations may be concurrently configured and used; paragraph [0099], TTI durations based on semi-persistent grant or assignment; paragraph [0100], PUCCH, PUSCH; paragraph [0103], ShTTI offset in time or symbol for the start of a subframe used to indicate the start of an ShTTI);
receiving via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a symbol configuration indicating a set of border symbols (Pelletier, paragraph [0098], based on RRC reconfiguration, multiple TTI durations may be concurrently configured and used; paragraph [0099], TTI durations based on semi-persistent grant or assignment; paragraph [0103], ShTTI offset in time or symbol for the start of a subframe used to indicate the start of an ShTTI);
receiving downlink control information (DCI), a dynamic part of the DCI including an index into the set of border symbols to select a first border symbol, the first border symbol being valid for a configurable duration of a plurality of transmission timing structures for semi-persistent scheduling when no DCI indication of a starting position of data in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission relative to the first border symbol is received (Pelletier, Fig. 4, DCI received in a first slot is valid for a second slot in which no DCI is received; paragraph [0096], signaling of DCI for ShTTIs; paragraph [0098], for a specific period of time, based on RRC reconfigurations, multiple TTI durations may be fixed semi-statically and used during a given period; paragraph [0099], TTI durations based on semi-static allocation, e.g. configuration of a subset of frames/subframes dedicated to different TTI durations based on semi-persistent grant or assignment; paragraph [0100], PUCCH, PUSCH; paragraph [0103], ShTTI offset in time or symbol for the start of a subframe used to indicate the start of an ShTTI);
determining a start time of the scheduled PUSCH transmission based at least in part on the starting position (Pelletier, paragraph [0096], signaling of DCI for ShTTIs; paragraph [0098], for a specific period of time, based on RRC reconfigurations, multiple TTI durations may be fixed semi-statically and used during a given period; paragraph [0099], TTI durations based on semi-persistent grant or assignment; paragraph [0100], PUCCH, PUSCH; paragraph [0103], ShTTI offset in time or symbol for the start of a subframe used to indicate the start of an ShTTI); and
transmitting the scheduled PUSCH transmission at the determined start time (Pelletier, paragraph [0085], WTRU may transmit the PUSCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use semi-persistent grant, as in Pelletier in the invention of R1-1707729. The motivation to combine the references would have been to efficiently schedule communications.
Claims 23 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 22.
Regarding claim 24, R1-1707729 discloses a method of operating a network node (R1-1707729, page 1, boxed section, line 2, UE; page 3, section 4, last 2 lines, LTE/NR coexistence use) in a radio access network (R1-1707729, page 1, Introduction, lines 1-2, LTE, New Radio (NR)), the method comprising:
configuring a New Radio-compatible user equipment (UE), via receiving via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, with a symbol configuration indicating a set of border symbols;
configuring the UE, via downlink control information (DCI), with an index into the set of border symbols to select a first border symbol, the first border symbol being valid for a configurable duration of a plurality of transmission timing structures for semi-persistent scheduling when no DCI indication of a starting position of data in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission relative to the first border symbol is received (R1-1707729, Fig. 1; page 1, section 1, Introduction, lines 1-3, DL-SCH/UL-SCH; boxed section, Data Channel (PDSCH, PUSCH) duration and starting position, semi-statically configured; page 1, section 1, duration can be semi-statically configured; page 2, section 2, mini-slot starts in the middle of a slot, mini-slot start on symbol {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}; page 3, proposal 4: mini-slot is scheduled from PDCCH transmitted at the beginning of a slot; page 5, Section 6, paragraph 1, aggregation of slots, transmission duration signaled as an integer number of slots and mini-slots; page 5, Section 6, flag in the DCI indicates whether the PUSCH is scheduled using slots and mini-slots, OFDM starting symbol of a mini-slot could be indicated by bits in the scheduling DCI [starting symbol of a mini-slot is selected from the set of symbols in the slot]); and
receiving data in a PUSCH transmission based at least in part on the indicated starting position (R1-1707729, Fig. 1; , page 1, Introduction, lines 1-3, DL-SCH/UL-SCH; boxed section, Data Channel (PDSCH, PUSCH) duration and starting position; page 5, Section 6, last paragraph, indication of duration (symbols) of data transmission).
R1-1707729 does not explicitly disclose semi-persistent scheduling.
Pelletier discloses configuring a New Radio-compatible user equipment with timing information including a reference symbol of a semi-persistently scheduled transmission on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and an indication whether a starting position of data in the PUSCH transmission indicated by the reference symbol is relative to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) reception time or relative to a start time of a slot of the semi-persistently scheduled transmission (Pelletier, paragraph [0091], symbol duration may vary in time; paragraph [0098], multiple TTI durations may be concurrently configured and used; paragraph [0099], TTI durations based on semi-persistent grant or assignment; paragraph [0100], PUCCH, PUSCH; paragraph [0103], ShTTI offset in time or symbol for the start of a subframe used to indicate the start of an ShTTI);
configuring the UE, via downlink control information (DCI), with an index into the set of border symbols to select a first border symbol, the first border symbol being valid for a configurable duration of a plurality of transmission timing structures for semi-persistent scheduling when no DCI indication of a starting position of data in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission relative to the first border symbol is received (Pelletier, Fig. 4, DCI received in a first slot is valid for a second slot in which no DCI is received; paragraph [0096], signaling of DCI for ShTTIs; paragraph [0098], for a specific period of time, based on RRC reconfigurations, multiple TTI durations may be fixed semi-statically and used during a given period; paragraph [0099], TTI durations based on semi-static allocation, e.g. configuration of a subset of frames/subframes dedicated to different TTI durations based on semi-persistent grant or assignment; paragraph [0100], PUCCH, PUSCH; paragraph [0103], ShTTI offset in time or symbol for the start of a subframe used to indicate the start of an ShTTI);
receiving data in a PUSCH transmission based at least in part on the indicated starting position (Pelletier, paragraph [0085], WTRU may transmit the PUSCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use semi-persistent grant, as in Pelletier in the invention of R1-1707729. The motivation to combine the references would have been to efficiently schedule communications.
Claims 25 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 24.
Claims 26 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 22. Pelletier further discloses a non-transitory computer storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed, cause processing circuitry to at least one of control and perform a method (Pelletier, paragraph [0182]).
Regarding claim 28, R1-1707729 in view of Pelletier discloses the method of Claim 22, wherein a first time index in a first DCI message refers to a starting position of first data relative to a PDCCH reception time and a second index in a second DCI message refers to a starting position of second data relative to one of a slot interval and a transmission timing structure (R1-1707729, Fig. 1; page 1, section 1, Introduction, lines 1-3, DL-SCH/UL-SCH; boxed section, Data Channel (PDSCH, PUSCH) duration and starting position; page 2, section 2, mini-slot starts in the middle of a slot, mini-slot start on symbol {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}; page 3, proposal 4: mini-slot is scheduled from PDCCH transmitted at the beginning of a slot; page 5, Section 6, flag in the DCI indicates whether the PUSCH is scheduled using slots and mini-slots, OFDM starting symbol of a mini-slot could be indicated by bits in the scheduling DCI [starting symbol of a mini-slot is selected from the set of symbols in the slot]).
Regarding claim 29, R1-1707729 in view of Pelletier discloses the method of Claim 23, further comprising semi-persistently scheduling a downlink transmission that starts in a symbol that follows a configured control channel region (R1-1707729, Fig. 1)(Pelletier, Figs. 2, 3).
Regarding claim 31, R1-1707729 in view of Pelletier discloses the method of Claim 29, wherein a position of the starting symbol is hardcoded (R1-1707729, Fig. 1; page 1, section 1, Introduction, lines 1-3, TTI length is static in LTE, for DL-SCH/UL-SCH the TTI is fixed)(Pelletier, paragraph [0098], WTRU may operate according to only one TTI duration, which may be statically fixed).
Regarding claim 32, R1-1707729 in view of Pelletier discloses the method of Claim 29, wherein the control channel region is determined from a group control channel (R1-1707729, page 3, proposal 4: mini-slot is scheduled from PDCCH transmitted at the beginning of a slot) (Pelletier, paragraph [0029], broadcast; paragraph [0103], PDCCH).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed January 26, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant acknowledges that the cited references disclose that DCI may configure that a first border symbol may be selected from a set of border symbols, but Applicant asserts that the cited references do not disclose the first border symbol being valid for a configurable duration of a plurality of transmission timing structures for semi-persistent is configured to be valid when no DCI indication of a starting position is received. However, this is incorrect. Both references disclose that the configuration is valid for a configurable duration of a plurality of transmission timing structures for semi-persistent scheduling (R1-1707729, Fig. 1; page 1, section 1, boxed section, Data Channel (PDSCH, PUSCH) duration and starting position, semi-statically configured)(Pelletier, paragraph [0098], for a specific period of time, based on RRC reconfigurations, multiple TTI durations may be fixed semi-statically and used during a given period; paragraph [0099], TTI durations based on semi-static allocation, e.g. configuration of a subset of frames/subframes dedicated to different TTI durations based on semi-persistent grant or assignment). Pelletier further explicitly discloses the first border symbol being valid for a slot in which no DCI indication of a starting position is received (Pelletier, Fig. 4, DCI received in a first slot is valid for a second slot in which no DCI is received).
Applicant further asserts that treating DCI as valid for a subsequent slot in which no DCI is received is allegedly not the same as treating a symbol as valid as valid for a subsequent slot in which no DCI is received. However, when a symbol is configured as valid by a DCI configuration, and the DCI configuration is valid for a subsequent slot, then the details of the configuration, including the validity of the symbol, are valid for the subsequent slot.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Wang et al. (US 2018/0288744) discloses a method of operating a New Radio-compatible user equipment in a radio access network (Wang, paragraph [0016], mobile device of a wireless communication service; paragraph [0024], New Radio), the method comprising: selecting, based on a predefined symbol configuration (Wang, paragraph [0023], the information can be transmitted on the DCI), a starting symbol of a scheduled transmission (Wang, paragraph [0054], 5G PDSCH starting symbols and ending symbols in mini-slot embodiments in a signaling design scheme for configuring PDSCH RE mapping), the starting symbol being selected from a preconfigured set of starting symbols that are configured in memory (Wang, paragraphs [0044] and [0054], 5G PDSCH starting symbols and ending symbols in mini-slot embodiments in a signaling design scheme for configuring PDSCH RE mapping [starting symbol of a mini-slot is selected from the set of symbols in the slot]).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALAN LOUIS LINDENBAUM whose telephone number is (571)270-3858. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nishant Divecha can be reached on (571) 270-3125. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALAN L LINDENBAUM/Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/Nishant Divecha/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2419