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 .
DETAILED ACTION
a. Claims 1-20 in the present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA :
- claims 2, 9, and 16 are canceled
b. This is a second non final action on the merits based on Applicant’s claims submitted on 01/21/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/02/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Regarding claims 1, 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, and 19 previously rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103, Applicant's arguments, see “Claim 1 recites that the PDCCH is received in USS when the PDCCH provides the first DCI format or in a CSS when the PDCCH provides the second DCI format. While Aiba uses similar terms to claim 1, such as DCI, PDCCH, CSS, and USS, Aiba merely discloses that various DCI formats are used to monitor the PDCCH in CSS and USS search space set scenarios. Aiba does not disclose or suggest when the PDCCH provides the first DCI format, that the PDCCH is received in USS. The mere disclosure of one of various types of DCI format to monitor for a PDCCH does not teach that the PDCCH is received in USS when the PDCCH provides the first DCI format. Similarly, disclosure that one of various types of DCI format are used monitor for a PDCCH does not teach that the PDCCH is received in CSS when the PDCCH provides the second DCI format.” on pages 11-12, filed on 10/08/2025, with respect to Papasakellariou et al. US Pub 2016/0100422 (hereinafter “Papasakellariou”), in view of Goto et al. US Pub 2021/0160917 (hereinafter “Goto”), and further in view of Aiba et al. US Pub 2019/0349147 (hereinafter “Aiba”), have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the previous rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of Ko et al. US Pub 2017/0303251 (hereinafter “Ko”), in combination with previously applied references Papasakellariou and Goto. See section Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 below for complete details.
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 of this title, 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 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, 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Papasakellariou et al. US Pub 2016/0100422 (hereinafter “Papasakellariou”), and in view of Goto et al. US Pub 2021/0160917 (hereinafter “Goto”), and further in view of Ko et al. US Pub 2017/0303251 (hereinafter “Ko”).
Regarding claim 1 (Currently Amended)
Papasakellariou discloses a method for a user equipment (UE) to transmit a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) (“UE 114 transmits data information or UCI through a respective physical UL shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical UL control channel (PUCCH).” [0070]), the method comprising:
receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) (“A DCI format in a respective PDCCH includes IEs and is typically used for scheduling a PDSCH (DL DCI format) or a PUSCH (UL DCI format) transmission.” [0074]) that provides either the first DCI format scheduling the PUSCH or a second DCI format scheduling the PUSCH (“A DCI format providing UE-group scheduling/activation can have a same size for activation of PDSCH transmissions to UEs and for activation of PUSCH transmissions from UEs in order to avoid increasing an associated number of PDCCH decoding operations that a UE needs to perform. To differentiate between UE-group scheduling for PDSCH transmissions and UE-group scheduling for PUSCH transmissions, the DCI format with CRC scrambled with GC-RNTI can also include a 1-bit flag where, for example, a binary ‘0’ value indicates UE-group scheduling for PDSCH and a binary ‘1’ value indicates UE-group scheduling for PUSCH.” [0169]) ,
the second DCI format including a field with a predetermined number of bits (i.e. “3-bit IE or a 4-bit IE”) that indicates the parameter, wherein the number of bits for the field in the first DCI format is not larger than the predetermined number of bits for the field in the second DCI format (“A size of an information element (IE) in the second DCI format is smaller than a size of the IE in the first DCI format.” [0006] and furthermore “For example, for indicating a narrow-band from a set of 8 or 16 narrow-bands, a 3-bit IE or a 4-bit IE can be respectively included in the DCI formats. When the size of one DCI format, such as the third DCI format, is larger than the size of the other format, such as the fourth DCI format, the range of some IEs in the third DCI format can be reduced. For example, instead of using 3 bits to enumerate an assigned RB within a set of 6 RBs, 2 bits can be used and an assigned RB can be indicated relative to a reference RB that is configured by higher layer signaling to a UE from the eNB, such as for example the first RB or the fourth RB in the set of 6 RBs. For example, instead of using 4 bits to represent the MCS and RV IE for the third DCI format, 3 bits can be used and 2 of the first 10 entries in Table 3 that are associated with QPSK modulation can be precluded.” [0219]); and
all fields in the second DCI format have respective predetermined numbers of bits (“Alternatively, the GC-RNTI can have a 16-bit size and a respective DCI format can include additional bits having predetermined values in order for a UE to perform additional validation of a DCI format it considers as detected based on a positive check of a CRC scrambled with a GC-RNTI.” [0171] and also [0219]);
transmitting the PUSCH (“the UE transmits the PUSCH 1230.” [0176]; Fig. 12A).
Papasakellariou does not specifically teach receiving higher layer signaling including a size in number of bits for a field that indicates a parameter in a first downlink control information (DCI) format; receiving higher layer signaling providing a first search space set associated with the first DCI format; receiving higher layer signaling providing a second search space set associated with a second DCI format;
In an analogous art, Goto discloses receiving higher layer signaling (i.e. “RRC signaling”) including a size in number of bits for a field (“the number of bits of some fields thereof are added in accordance with the configuration by the higher layer (e.g., RRC signaling)” [0054]) that indicates a parameter (“The downlink assignment in DCI format 1_0 includes the following fields. For example, the relevant fields include a DCI format identifier, a frequency domain resource assignment (resource block allocation for the PDSCH, resource allocation), a time domain resource assignment, VRB to PRB mapping, a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) for the PDSCH (information indicating a modulation order and a coding rate), a NEW Data Indicator (NDI) indicating an initial transmission or retransmission, information for indicating the HARQ process number in the downlink, a Redundancy version (RV) indicating information on redundant bits added to the codeword during error correction coding, Downlink Assignment Index (DAI), a Transmission Power Control (TPC) command for the PUCCH, a resource indicator for the PUCCH, an indicator for HARQ feedback timing from the PDSCH, and the like.” [0054]) in a first downlink control information (DCI) format (e.g. “downlink assignment in DCI format 1_0” [0054]; [0139]);
receiving higher layer signaling (i.e. “RRC signaling”) providing a first search space set associated with the first DCI format (“where the configuration of a portion of the search space for detecting the DCI format is set up through RRC, and the DCI format is detected under the configured conditions.” [0157]);
receiving higher layer signaling (i.e. “RRC signaling”) providing a second search space set associated with a second DCI format (“The terminal apparatus performs blind decoding of the predetermined search space in the PDCCH to detect the DCI format. In a case that the blind decoding is set up for one or both of DCI format 0_c (i.e. first DCI format) that is the compact DCI and DCI format 1_c (i.e. second DCI format) by way of higher layer control information (RRC signaling), the terminal apparatus performs the blind decoding of DCI format 0_0/0_1 and DCI format 0_c for uplink configuration, and the blind decoding of DCI format 1_0/1_1 and DCI format 1_c for downlink configuration.” [0139]);
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Papasakellariou’s method for improving spectral efficiency and coverage for communication of a base station with user equipments, to include Goto’s receiver configured to detect first and second DCI formats, in order to ensure high reliability and low latency of URLLC (Goto [Abstract]).
Papasakellariou and Goto do not specifically teach wherein: each of the first and second DCI formats include a plurality of fields that include the field; and receiving the PDCCH further comprises: receiving the PDCCH in a user equipment search space (USS) when the PDCCH provides the first DCI format; or receiving the PDCCH in a common search space (CSS) when the PDCCH provides the second DCI format.
In an analogous art, Ko discloses wherein: each of the first (“The DCI formats 0, 1, 1 A, 2, 2A, and 2B may be CRC scrambled by an SPS C-RNTI, and may be transmitted in the USSs. The DCI formats 0 and 1A may be also transmitted in the CSSs.” [0096]) and second DCI formats (“The DCI formats 0, 1, and 1A may be CRC scrambled by a temporary C-RNTI. In this case, the DCI format 0 may be transmitted in the CSSs and the DCI format 1 may be transmitted in the USSs, and the DCI format 1A may be transmitted in both the CSSs and the USSs” [0097]) include a plurality of fields that include the field (“Among the PDCCH candidates originating from the USS, a PDCCH candidate with a given DCI format size may be transmitted from any USS corresponding to any value of the possible CIF values for the given DCI format size.” [0018]; and
receiving the PDCCH further comprises: receiving the PDCCH in a user equipment search space (USS) when the PDCCH provides the first DCI format (“Among the PDCCH candidates originating from the USSs, a PDCCH candidate with a given DCI format size may be transmitted from any USS corresponding to any value of the possible CIF values for the given DCI format size.” [0068] and furthermore “That is, when the eNB 410 transmits DCI, and when the starting CCE corresponds to one of the possible starting CCEs of the CSS PDCCH candidates, for example, CCE 0, CCE 4, CCE 8, and CCE 12 in the overlapping area of the CSS and the USS. the eNB 410 may transmit only USS DCI. In this case, the UE 400 may consider only the USS DCI is transmitted in the overlapping area between the CSS and the USS in detecting and interpreting a PDCCH.” [0150]); or
receiving the PDCCH in a common search space (CSS) when the PDCCH provides the second DCI format (“when two PDCCH candidates originating from a CSS and a USS, respectively, have cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambled by the same Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) and have a common payload size and the same first control channel element (CCE) index, the UE may interpret that only the PDCCH originating from the CSS is transmitted, thereby solving ambiguity of downlink control information (DCI) detection.” [Abstract]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Papasakellariou’s method for improving spectral efficiency and coverage for communication of a base station with user equipments, as modified by Goto, to include Ko’s method for configuring control channels in a wireless communication system using a plurality of carriers, in order to efficiently configure PDCCH monitoring in search space set (Ko [Abstract]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Ko’s method for configuring control channels in a wireless communication system using a plurality of carriers into Papasakellariou’s method for improving spectral efficiency and coverage for communication of a base station with user equipments since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 4
Papasakellariou, as modified by Goto and Ko, previously discloses the method of Claim 1,
Goto further discloses further comprising receiving a configuration for a number of bits of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number field in the first DCI format (“The DCI format for downlink data transmission includes DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, and the like… For example, the relevant fields include a DCI format identifier, a frequency domain resource assignment (resource block allocation for the PDSCH, resource allocation), a time domain resource assignment, VRB to PRB mapping, a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) for the PDSCH (information indicating a modulation order and a coding rate), a NEW Data Indicator (NDI) indicating an initial transmission or retransmission, information for indicating the HARQ process number in the downlink, a Redundancy version (RV) indicating information on redundant bits added to the codeword during error correction coding, Downlink Assignment Index (DAI), a Transmission Power Control (TPC) command for the PUCCH, a resource indicator for the PUCCH, an indicator for HARQ feedback timing from the PDSCH, and the like.” [0054-0055], wherein: the second DCI format includes the HARQ process number field, and the number of bits of the HARQ process number field in the first DCI format is smaller than a number of bits of the HARQ process number field in the second DCI format (“DCI format 1_0 is for fallback downlink data transmission, and includes bits the number of which is fewer than DCI format 1_1 supporting MIMO and the like.” [0054] and furthermore “In DCI format 0_c and DCI format 1_c, the specified HARQ process number may be limited to reduce the number of bits.” [0135])
Regarding claim 6
Papasakellariou, as modified by Goto and Ko, previously discloses the method of Claim 1, further comprising:
Papasakellariou further discloses receiving a configuration for a number of bits for a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) field in the first DCI format (see also annotated Table 2 below)
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receiving a configuration for a mapping of MCS field values to MCS values (“UE 114 shall use the MCS index, I.sub.MCS, in a DCI Format 0 according to Table 3 to map to a modulation order, a TBS index, and a RV.” [0077] and furthermore “When QAM64 modulation is not supported, the MCS and RV IE can include 4 bits that can be mapped to a subset of 16 indexes from the first 21 MCS indexes in Table 3. When IR is supported for HARQ retransmissions, 8 of the first 21 MCS indexes in Table 3 are not supported (the first 13 are used to indicate MCS for RV0 and the last 3 are used to indicate a RV different than RV0 for a respective retransmission).” [0179])
Regarding claim 8 (Currently Amended)
Papasakellariou discloses a user equipment (UE) (“UE 114” in Fig. 2; [0047]) comprising:
a transceiver (i.e. “receive (RX) processing circuitry 225” and “transmit (TX) processing circuitry 215” in Fig. 2; [0047]) configured to:
receive higher layer signaling including a size in number of bits for a field that indicates a parameter in a first downlink control information (DCI) format;
receive higher layer signaling providing a first search space set associated with the first DCI format;
receive higher layer signaling providing a second search space set associated with a second DCI format;
receive a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) that provides either the first DCI format scheduling a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or the second DCI format scheduling the PUSCH, the second DCI format including a field with a predetermined number of bits that indicates the parameter, wherein:
the number of bits for the field in the first DCI format is not larger than the predetermined number of bits for the field in the second DCI format, and
all fields in the second DCI format have respective predetermined numbers of bits; and
transmit the PUSCH,
wherein:
each of the first and second DCI formats include a plurality of fields that include the field; and
the transceiver is further configured to:
receive the PDCCH in a user equipment search space (USS) when the PDCCH provides the first DCI format; or
receive the PDCCH in a common search space (CSS) when the PDCCH provides the second DCI format.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 8 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 1. Therefore apparatus claim 8 corresponds to method claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 1 rejection above.
Regarding claim 11
The UE of Claim 8, wherein:
the transceiver is further configured to receive a configuration for a number of bits of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number field in the first DCI format, and the second DCI format includes the HARQ process number field, and the number of bits of the HARQ process number field in the first DCI format is smaller than a number of bits of the HARQ process number field in the second DCI format.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 11 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 4. Therefore apparatus claim 11 corresponds to method claim 4 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 4 rejection above.
Regarding claim 13
The UE of Claim 8, wherein the transceiver is further configured to:
receive a configuration for a number of bits for a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) field in the first DCI format; and
receive a configuration for a mapping of MCS field values to MCS values.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 13 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 6. Therefore apparatus claim 13 corresponds to method claim 6 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 6 rejection above.
Regarding claim 15 (Currently Amended)
Papasakellariou discloses a base station (e.g. “eNB 102” in Fig. 3; [0058]) comprising:
a transceiver (i.e. “transmit (TX) processing circuitry 315” and “receive (RX) processing circuitry 320” in Fig. 3; [0058]) configured to:
transmit higher layer signaling including a number of bits for a field that indicates a parameter in a first downlink control information (DCI) format (“In a second embodiment, a base station includes an encoder and a transmitter. The encoder is configured to encode a first downlink control information (DCI) format or a second DCI format. The transmitter configured to transmit information configuring a user equipment (UE) to receive either the first DCI format or the second DCI format and to transmit the first DCI format or the second DCI format.” [0006]); and
transmit higher layer signaling providing a first search space set associated with the first DCI format;
transmit higher layer signaling providing a second search space set associated with a second DCI format;
transmit a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) that provides either the first DCI format scheduling a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or the second DCI format scheduling the PUSCH, the second DCI format including a field with a predetermined number of bits that indicates the parameter, wherein:
the number of bits for the field in the first DCI format is not larger than the predetermined number of bits for the field in the second DCI format, and all fields in the second DCI format have respective predetermined numbers of bits; and
receive the PUSCH,
wherein:
each of the first and second DCI formats include a plurality of fields that include the field; and
the transceiver is further configured to:
transmit the PDCCH in a user equipment search space (USS) when the PDCCH provides the first DCI format; or
transmit the PDCCH in a common search space (CSS) when the PDCCH provides the second DCI format.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 15 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 1. Therefore apparatus claim 15 corresponds to method claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 1 rejection above.
Regarding claim 19
The base station of Claim 15, wherein the transceiver is further configured to: transmit a configuration for a number of bits for a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) field in the first DCI format; and
transmit a configuration for a mapping of MCS field values to MCS values.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 19 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 6. Therefore apparatus claim 19 corresponds to method claim 6 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 6 rejection above.
Claims 5, 7, 12, 14, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Papasakellariou, in view of Goto and Ko, and further in view of Seo et al. US Pub 2015/0063231 (hereinafter “Seo”).
Regarding claim 5
Papasakellariou, as modified by Goto and Ko, previously discloses the method of Claim 1, further comprising
Papasakellariou mentions receiving a configuration indicating an absence of a redundancy version (RV) field in a DCI format (“RV IE: The RV can be removed and one of the following alternatives can apply” [0140]), wherein the RV field is present in another DCI format (see annotated Table 2 below)
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In another embodiment, in an analogous art, Seo discloses receiving a configuration indicating an absence of a redundancy version (RV) field (i.e. deleted field) in the first DCI format (“only MCS, RV, and/or NDI fields for one of two codewords are used in a specific condition (e.g. a poor channel state, determination of the eNB, etc.) and MCS, RV, and/or NDI fields for the other codeword are deleted or set to a predetermined value (e.g. all corresponding bits are set to 0), or CRC or an error detection/correction code corresponding to CRC is inserted into the MCS, RV, and/or NDI fields for the other codeword.” [0107]), wherein the RV field is present (i.e. set to a predetermined value) in the second DCI format (“in order to solve a problem of deterioration in DCI reception performance of a UE when strength of a channel formed between the eNB and the UE is lowered to a specific value or less, the present invention proposes that the amount of information in some fields (e.g. a CIF field, an RA field, an MCS & RV field, an NDI field, etc.) of a DCI format be reduced, and bit(s) secured according to reduction of the amount of the information be deleted or set to a predetermined value or as many redundancy bits as the secured bit(s) be inserted.” [0096])
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Papasakellariou’s method for improving spectral efficiency and coverage for communication of a base station with user equipments, as modified by Goto and Ko, to include Seo’s method for configuring DCI format, in order to minimize overhead and improve efficiency (Seo [Abstract]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Seo’s method for configuring DCI format into Papasakellariou’s method for improving spectral efficiency and coverage for communication of a base station with user equipments since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 7
Papasakellariou, as modified by Goto and Ko, previously discloses the method of Claim 1,
Papasakellariou further discloses further comprising transmitting information that indicates a capability for scheduling with a subset of DCI formats (e.g. “first DCI format’, “second DCI format”), from a predetermined set of DCI formats, that includes the first DCI format and the second DCI format (“The transmitter configured to transmit information configuring a user equipment (UE) to receive either the first DCI format or the second DCI format and to transmit the first DCI format or the second DCI format. Both the first DCI format and the second DCI format schedule either data transmission to the UE or data transmission from the UE and correspond to a same data transmission mode. A size of an information element (IE) in the second DCI format is smaller than a size of the IE in the first DCI format (i.e. predetermined set of DCI formats).” [0006]).
In another embodiment, in an analogous art, Seo discloses further comprising transmitting information that indicates a capability for scheduling with a subset of DCI formats ([0091-0093]), from a predetermined set of DCI formats, that includes the first DCI format and the second DCI format (“FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 illustrate downlink control information (DCI) formats. Specifically, FIG. 11 illustrates the structures of DCI format 0 and DCI format 4, used for UL scheduling, among DCI formats. FIG. 12 illustrates the structure of DCI format 1A for compact scheduling of one PDSCH codeword in one cell and the structure of DCI format 2 for resource allocation for a PDSCH for a closed-loop MIMO mode, among DCI formats.” [0089]; Figs. 11 and 12).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Papasakellariou’s method for improving spectral efficiency and coverage for communication of a base station with user equipments, as modified by Goto and Ko, to include Seo’s method for configuring DCI format, in order to minimize overhead and improve efficiency (Seo [Abstract]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Seo’s method for configuring DCI format into Papasakellariou’s method for improving spectral efficiency and coverage for communication of a base station with user equipments since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 12
The UE of Claim 8, wherein:
the transceiver is further configured to receive a configuration indicating an absence of a redundancy version (RV) field in the first DCI format, and the RV field is present in the second DCI format.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 12 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 5. Therefore apparatus claim 12 corresponds to method claim 5 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 5 rejection above.
Regarding claim 14
The UE of Claim 8, wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit information that indicates a capability for scheduling with a subset of DCI formats, from a predetermined set of DCI formats, that includes the first DCI format and the second DCI format.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 14 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 7. Therefore apparatus claim 14 corresponds to method claim 7 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 7 rejection above.
Regarding claim 18
The base station of Claim 15, wherein:
the transceiver is further configured to transmit a configuration indicating an absence of a redundancy version (RV) field in the first DCI format, and the RV field is present in the second DCI format.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 18 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 5. Therefore apparatus claim 18 corresponds to method claim 5 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 5 rejection above.
Regarding claim 20
The base station of Claim 15, wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive information that indicates a capability for scheduling with a subset of DCI formats, from a predetermined set of DCI formats, that includes the first DCI format and the second DCI format.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 20 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 7. Therefore apparatus claim 20 corresponds to method claim 7 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 7 rejection above.
Claims 3, 10, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Papasakellariou, in view of Goto and Ko, and further in view of Xing et al. US Pub 2020/0267698, with foreign application priority of Sept 30, 2017 (hereinafter “Xing”).
Regarding claim 3
Papasakellariou, as modified by Goto and Ko, previously discloses the method of Claim 1,
Goto further discloses the first DCI format includes a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) field, the second DCI format includes the FDRA field (“the relevant fields include a DCI format identifier, a frequency domain resource assignment (resource block allocation for the PDSCH, resource allocation)…” [0054-0055]), a value of the FDRA field indicates a number of RBGs (“In a case that the number of resource blocks included in the frequency domain resource allocation is equal to or less than a prescribed value, the uplink grant may be prioritized.” [0158]).
Papasakellariou, Goto, and Ko do not specifically teach a number of bits of the FDRA field in the first DCI format is determined from a number of RBs in an active bandwidth part (BWP) and the number of RBs in the RBG, and a number of bits of the FDRA field in the second DCI format is determined only from the number of RBs in the active BWP.
In an analogous art, Xing discloses further comprising receiving a configuration for a number of resource blocks (RBs) in a resource block group (RBG), wherein:
the first DCI format includes a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) field (“the resource allocation for the data channel in the BWP where the data channel is located based on the information about the resource allocation indication field in the DCI” [0010]), the second DCI format includes the FDRA field (“the resource allocation indication field in the DCI” [0010]), a value of the FDRA field indicates a number of RBGs (“the resource allocation indication field in the DCI includes: determining the quantity L of RBGs in the BWP where the data channel is located; when N is not smaller than L, determining the resource allocation of L RBGs for the data channel in the BWP where the data channel is located based on the information about the resource allocation indication field in the DCI; and when N is smaller than L, determining the resource allocation of N RBGs for the data channel in the BWP where the data channel is located based on the information about the resource allocation indication field in the DCI.” [0010]), a number of bits of the FDRA field in the first DCI format is determined from a number of RBs in an active bandwidth part (BWP) and the number of RBs in the RBG (“the quantity of bits of the bitmap is determined based on the quantity of RBGs, the quantity of the RBGs is associated with a size of the BWP and the size of the RBG, and the size of the RBG is determined based on the size of the BWP or notified by a network device. In the RIV-based resource allocation mode, initial RB serial numbers and the quantity of the RBs are encoded jointly so as to allocate the RBs, and the quantity of bits in the DCI for the resource allocation is associated with the size of the BWP and a resource allocation granularity.” [0004]), and a number of bits of the FDRA field in the second DCI format is determined only from the number of RBs in the active BWP (“In the RBG-based frequency-domain resource allocation mode, the N bits in the DCI may be used to indicate the resource allocation of the N RBGs in the form of a bitmap. The UE may determine the quantity N of the bits for the RBG resource allocation in the DCI based on the BWP where the PDCCH carrying the DCI is located. To be specific, in the DCI transmitted at the BWP 1, the quantity of bits for the RBG resource allocation may be L1, and in the DCI transmitted at the BWP 2, the quantity of bits for the RBG resource allocation may be L2.” [0070-0074]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Papasakellariou’s method for improving spectral efficiency and coverage for communication of a base station with user equipments, as modified by Goto and Ko, to include Xing’s resource allocation method in order to improve wireless transmission efficiency (Xing [Abstract]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Xing’s resource allocation method into Papasakellariou’s method for improving spectral efficiency and coverage for communication of a base station with user equipments since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 10 (Currently Amended)
The UE of Claim 8, wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive a configuration for a number of resource blocks (RBs) in a resource block group (RBG), wherein:
the first DCI format includes a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) field,
the second DCI format includes the FDRA field,
a value of the FDRA field indicates a number of RBGs,
a number of bits of the FDRA field in the first DCI format is determined from a number of RBs in an active bandwidth part (BWP) and the number of RBs in the RBG, and
a number of bits of the FDRA field in the second DCI format is determined only from the number of RBs in the active BWP.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 10 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 3. Therefore apparatus claim 10 corresponds to method claim 3 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 3 rejection above.
Regarding claim 17
The base station of Claim 15, wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit a configuration for a number of resource blocks (RBs) in a resource block group (RBG), wherein:
the first DCI format includes a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) field,
the second DCI format includes the FDRA field,
a value of the FDRA field indicates a number of RBGs,
a number of bits of the FDRA field in the first DCI format is determined from a number of RBs in an active bandwidth part (BWP) and the number of RBs in the RBG, and
a number of bits of the FDRA field in the second DCI format is determined only from the number of RBs in the active BWP.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 17 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 3. Therefore apparatus claim 17 corresponds to method claim 3 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 3 rejection above.
Conclusion
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/CHUONG M NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411