DETAILED ACTION
Applicant's submission filed on 25 July 2025 has been entered. Claims 1, 11, and 22 are currently amended; claims 10, 20, and 21 are cancelled; claims 2-9, 12-19, and 23 are previously presented; no claims have been added. Claims 1-9, 11-19, 22, and 23 are pending and ready for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
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 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.
Claims 1-5, 11-15, 22, and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Frenne et al. (US 2022/0256573 A1), hereafter referred Frenne, in view of Liu et al. (US 2025/0105983 A1), hereafter referred Liu.
Regarding claim 1, Frenne teaches a method comprising:
receiving, by a wireless device, one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages (Frenne, [0025]-[0034]; a UE can be configured with up to 3 CORESETs per bandwidth and for each CORESET, a UE is configured by RRC signaling with CORESET IE) indicating:
a first index indicating a first control resource set (coreset) group comprising one or more first coresets (Frenne, [0111]-[0117]; receiving the indication comprises a configuration of two CORESET groups each with a different group identifier value per CORESET for HARQ-ACK reporting);
a second index indicating a second coreset group comprising one or more second coresets (Frenne, [0111]-[0117]; receiving the indication comprises a configuration of two CORESET groups each with a different group identifier value per CORESET for HARQ-ACK reporting);
receiving, via a cell and via the one or more first coresets, one or more first downlink control information (DCIs) scheduling one or more first transport blocks (Frenne, [0111]-[0118] and [0177]; wherein the first and the second TB are scheduled with two DCIs, one for each TB, where the wireless device receives in a serving cell and the first and second TB are determined based on a CORESET over which the corresponding DCI scheduling the TB is received); and
receiving, via the cell and via the one or more second coresets, one or more second DCIs scheduling one or more second transport blocks (Frenne, [0111]-[0118] and [0177]; wherein the first and the second TB are scheduled with two DCIs, one for each TB, where the wireless device receives in a serving cell and the first and second TB are determined based on a CORESET over which the corresponding DCI scheduling the TB is received).
Frenne does not expressly teach transmitting, via a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) cell associated with the first index indicating the first coreset group, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback of the one or more first transport blocks; and
transmitting, via a second PUCCH cell associated with the second index indicating the second coreset group, HARQ feedback of the one or more transport blocks.
However, Liu teaches transmitting, via a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) cell associated with the first index indicating the first coreset group, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback of the one or more first transport blocks (Liu, [0074]; if a first index value is configured for some CORESETs and a second index value is configured for some other CORESETs which is different from the first index value, the UE may perform separate HARQ feedback, where the HARQ information for the TBs carried on PDSCHs scheduled by the received DCIs at the UE are transmitted on the time frequency resource identified by the CORESETs corresponding to the same index value are transmitted by one PUCCH); and
transmitting, via a second PUCCH cell associated with the second index indicating the second coreset group, HARQ feedback of the one or more transport blocks (Liu, [0074]; if a first index value is configured for some CORESETs and a second index value is configured for some other CORESETs which is different from the first index value, the UE may perform separate HARQ feedback, where the HARQ information for the TBs carried on PDSCHs scheduled by the received DCIs at the UE are transmitted on the time frequency resource identified by the CORESETs corresponding to the same index value are transmitted by one PUCCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Frenne to include the above recited limitations as taught by Liu in order to support HARQ feedback for multiple PDCCH based multiple TRP transmission (Liu, [0002]).
Regarding claim 11, Frenne teaches a wireless device comprising:
one or more processors (Frenne, [0127]; a wireless device includes one or more processors and memory, where the memory stores instructions executable by the one or more processors); and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the wireless device (Frenne, [0127]; a wireless device includes one or more processors and memory, where the memory stores instructions executable by the one or more processors) to:
receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages (Frenne, [0025]-[0034]; a UE can be configured with up to 3 CORESETs per bandwidth and for each CORESET, a UE is configured by RRC signaling with CORESET IE) indicating:
a first index indicating a first control resource set (coreset) group comprising one or more first coresets (Frenne, [0111]-[0117]; receiving the indication comprises a configuration of two CORESET groups each with a different group identifier value per CORESET for HARQ-ACK reporting);
a second index indicating a second coreset group comprising one or more second coresets (Frenne, [0111]-[0117]; receiving the indication comprises a configuration of two CORESET groups each with a different group identifier value per CORESET for HARQ-ACK reporting);
receive, via a cell and via the one or more first coresets, one or more first downlink control information (DCIs) scheduling one or more first transport blocks (Frenne, [0111]-[0118] and [0177]; wherein the first and the second TB are scheduled with two DCIs, one for each TB, where the wireless device receives in a serving cell and the first and second TB are determined based on a CORESET over which the corresponding DCI scheduling the TB is received); and
receive, via the cell and via the one or more second coresets, one or more second DCIs scheduling one or more second transport blocks (Frenne, [0111]-[0118] and [0177]; wherein the first and the second TB are scheduled with two DCIs, one for each TB, where the wireless device receives in a serving cell and the first and second TB are determined based on a CORESET over which the corresponding DCI scheduling the TB is received).
Frenne does not expressly teach transmit, via a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) cell associated with the first index indicating the first coreset group, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback of the one or more first transport blocks; and
transmit, via a second PUCCH cell associated with the second index indicating the second coreset group, HARQ feedback of the one or more transport blocks.
However, Liu teaches transmit, via a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) cell associated with the first index indicating the first coreset group, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback of the one or more first transport blocks (Liu, [0074]; if a first index value is configured for some CORESETs and a second index value is configured for some other CORESETs which is different from the first index value, the UE may perform separate HARQ feedback, where the HARQ information for the TBs carried on PDSCHs scheduled by the received DCIs at the UE are transmitted on the time frequency resource identified by the CORESETs corresponding to the same index value are transmitted by one PUCCH); and
transmit, via a second PUCCH cell associated with the second index indicating the second coreset group, HARQ feedback of the one or more transport blocks (Liu, [0074]; if a first index value is configured for some CORESETs and a second index value is configured for some other CORESETs which is different from the first index value, the UE may perform separate HARQ feedback, where the HARQ information for the TBs carried on PDSCHs scheduled by the received DCIs at the UE are transmitted on the time frequency resource identified by the CORESETs corresponding to the same index value are transmitted by one PUCCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Frenne to include the above recited limitations as taught by Liu in order to support HARQ feedback for multiple PDCCH based multiple TRP transmission (Liu, [0002]).
Regarding claim 22, Frenne teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a wireless device (Frenne, [0127]; a wireless device includes one or more processors and memory, where the memory stores instructions executable by the one or more processors), cause the wireless device to:
receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages (Frenne, [0025]-[0034]; a UE can be configured with up to 3 CORESETs per bandwidth and for each CORESET, a UE is configured by RRC signaling with CORESET IE) indicating:
a first index indicating a first control resource set (coreset) group comprising one or more first coresets (Frenne, [0111]-[0117]; receiving the indication comprises a configuration of two CORESET groups each with a different group identifier value per CORESET for HARQ-ACK reporting); and
a second index indicating a second coreset group comprising one or more second coresets (Frenne, [0111]-[0117]; receiving the indication comprises a configuration of two CORESET groups each with a different group identifier value per CORESET for HARQ-ACK reporting);
receive, via a cell and via the one or more first coresets, one or more first downlink control information (DCIs) scheduling one or more first transport blocks (Frenne, [0111]-[0118] and [0177]; wherein the first and the second TB are scheduled with two DCIs, one for each TB, where the wireless device receives in a serving cell and the first and second TB are determined based on a CORESET over which the corresponding DCI scheduling the TB is received);
receive, via the cell and via the one or more second coresets, one or more second DCIs scheduli8ng one or more second transport blocks (Frenne, [0111]-[0118] and [0177]; wherein the first and the second TB are scheduled with two DCIs, one for each TB, where the wireless device receives in a serving cell and the first and second TB are determined based on a CORESET over which the corresponding DCI scheduling the TB is received).
Frenne does not expressly teach transmit, via a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) cell associated with the first index indicating the first coreset group, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback of the one or more first transport blocks; and
transmit, via a second PUCCH cell associated with the second index indicating the second coreset group, HARQ feedback of the one or more transport blocks.
However, Liu teaches transmit, via a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) cell associated with the first index indicating the first coreset group, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback of the one or more first transport blocks (Liu, [0074]; if a first index value is configured for some CORESETs and a second index value is configured for some other CORESETs which is different from the first index value, the UE may perform separate HARQ feedback, where the HARQ information for the TBs carried on PDSCHs scheduled by the received DCIs at the UE are transmitted on the time frequency resource identified by the CORESETs corresponding to the same index value are transmitted by one PUCCH); and
transmit, via a second PUCCH cell associated with the second index indicating the second coreset group, HARQ feedback of the one or more transport blocks (Liu, [0074]; if a first index value is configured for some CORESETs and a second index value is configured for some other CORESETs which is different from the first index value, the UE may perform separate HARQ feedback, where the HARQ information for the TBs carried on PDSCHs scheduled by the received DCIs at the UE are transmitted on the time frequency resource identified by the CORESETs corresponding to the same index value are transmitted by one PUCCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Frenne to include the above recited limitations as taught by Liu in order to support HARQ feedback for multiple PDCCH based multiple TRP transmission (Liu, [0002]).
Regarding claims 2, 12, and 23, Frenne in view of Liu teaches the method of claim 1, the wireless device of claim 11, and the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22 above. Further, Frenne teaches wherein the one or more RRC messages comprise configuration parameters for a plurality of cells (Frenne, [0025]-[0034]; a UE can be configured with up to 3 CORESETs per bandwidth and for each CORESET, a UE is configured by RRC signaling with CORESET IE), wherein the configuration parameters indicate:
the first index (Frenne, [0111]-[0117]; receiving the indication comprises a configuration of two CORESET groups each with a different group identifier value per CORESET for HARQ-ACK reporting); and
the second index (Frenne, [0111]-[0117]; receiving the indication comprises a configuration of two CORESET groups each with a different group identifier value per CORESET for HARQ-ACK reporting).
Frenne does not expressly teach the first PUCCH cell is associated with the first index; and the second PUCCH cell is associated with the second index.
However, Liu teaches the first PUCCH cell is associated with the first index; and the second PUCCH cell is associated with the second index (Liu, [0074]; if a first index value is configured for some CORESETs and a second index value is configured for some other CORESETs which is different from the first index value, the UE may perform separate HARQ feedback, where the HARQ information for the TBs carried on PDSCHs scheduled by the received DCIs at the UE are transmitted on the time frequency resource identified by the CORESETs corresponding to the same index value are transmitted by one PUCCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Frenne to include the above recited limitations as taught by Liu in order to support HARQ feedback for multiple PDCCH based multiple TRP transmission (Liu, [0002]).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Frenne in view of Liu teaches the method of claim 1 and the wireless device of claim 11 above. Further, Frenne teaches wherein the one or more RRC messages comprise configuration parameters (Frenne, [0025]-[0034]; a UE can be configured with up to 3 CORESETs per bandwidth and for each CORESET, a UE is configured by RRC signaling with CORESET IE).
Frenne does not expressly teach the configuration parameters include at least one of:
the first PUCCH cell associated with the first index; or the second PUCCH cell associated with the second index.
However, Liu teaches the configuration parameters include at least one of:
the first PUCCH cell is associated with the first index; or the second PUCCH cell is associated with the second index (Liu, [0074]; if a first index value is configured for some CORESETs and a second index value is configured for some other CORESETs which is different from the first index value, the UE may perform separate HARQ feedback, where the HARQ information for the TBs carried on PDSCHs scheduled by the received DCIs at the UE are transmitted on the time frequency resource identified by the CORESETs corresponding to the same index value are transmitted by one PUCCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Frenne to include the above recited limitations as taught by Liu in order to support HARQ feedback for multiple PDCCH based multiple TRP transmission (Liu, [0002]).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Frenne in view of Liu teaches the method of claim 1 and the wireless device of claim 11 above. Further, Frenne teaches wherein the one or more RRC messages comprise configuration parameters (Frenne, [0025]-[0034]; a UE can be configured with up to 3 CORESETs per bandwidth and for each CORESET, a UE is configured by RRC signaling with CORESET IE).
Frenne does not expressly teach the configuration parameters of:
the first PUCCH cell associated with the first index; and the second PUCCH cell associated with the second index.
However, Liu teaches the configuration parameters of:
the first PUCCH cell is associated with the first index; and the second PUCCH cell is associated with the second index (Liu, [0074]; if a first index value is configured for some CORESETs and a second index value is configured for some other CORESETs which is different from the first index value, the UE may perform separate HARQ feedback, where the HARQ information for the TBs carried on PDSCHs scheduled by the received DCIs at the UE are transmitted on the time frequency resource identified by the CORESETs corresponding to the same index value are transmitted by one PUCCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Frenne to include the above recited limitations as taught by Liu in order to support HARQ feedback for multiple PDCCH based multiple TRP transmission (Liu, [0002]).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Frenne in view of Liu teaches the method of claim 4 and the wireless device of claim 14 above. Frenne does not expressly teach wherein the first PUCCH cell is different from the second PUCCH cell.
However, Liu teaches wherein the first PUCCH cell is different from the second PUCCH cell (Liu, [0074]; if a first index value is configured for some CORESETs and a second index value is configured for some other CORESETs which is different from the first index value, the UE may perform separate HARQ feedback, where the HARQ information for the TBs carried on PDSCHs scheduled by the received DCIs at the UE are transmitted on the time frequency resource identified by the CORESETs corresponding to the same index value are transmitted by one PUCCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Frenne to include the above recited limitations as taught by Liu in order to support HARQ feedback for multiple PDCCH based multiple TRP transmission (Liu, [0002]).
Claims 6, 7, 16, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Frenne in view of Liu as applied to claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Futaki (US 2018/0098266 A1).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Frenne in view of Liu teaches the method of claim 1 and the wireless device of claim 11 above. Frenne in view of Liu does not expressly teach wherein the one or more RRC messages comprise configuration parameters indicating an index of PUCCH secondary cell (SCell), a list of cells associated with the PUCCH SCell, and a list of group identification for the list of cells.
However, Futaki teaches wherein the one or more RRC messages comprise configuration parameters indicating an index of PUCCH secondary cell (SCell) (Futaki, [0125]; RRC message has SCellIndex is an identifier to be used to identify the SCell), a list of cells associated with the PUCCH SCell (Futaki, Fig. 17, [0129]; information element for generating the list of cells included in each PUCCH Cell Group), and a list of group identification for the list of cells (Futaki, [0125]; PUCCH Cell Group index used to identify the PUCCH cell group).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Frenne in view of Liu to include the above recited limitations as taught by Futaki in order to configure in a first SCell a PUCCH to be used for transmission of uplink control information for the SCells (Futaki, [0028]).
Regarding claims 7 and 17, Frenne in view of Liu further in view of Futaki teaches the method of claim 6 and the wireless device of claim 16 above. Frenne in view of Liu does not expressly teach further comprising determining a first PUCCH group and a second PUCCH group based on the index of PUCCH SCell, the list of cells and the list of group identification.
However, Futaki teaches further comprising determining a first PUCCH group and a second PUCCH group based on the index of PUCCH SCell, the list of cells and the list of group identification (Futaki, Fig. 16, [0125]-[0129]; the SCellIndex and CellGroupIndex give the PUCCH Cell Group Index to identify the PUCCH cell group).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Frenne in view of Liu to include the above recited limitations as taught by Futaki in order to configure in a first SCell a PUCCH to be used for transmission of uplink control information for the SCells (Futaki, [0028]).
Claims 8, 9, 18, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Frenne in view of Liu further in view of Futaki as applied to claim 7 above, and further in view of Yin et al. (US 2013/0308550 A1), hereafter referred Yin.
Regarding claims 8 and 18, Frenne in view of Liu further in view of Futaki teaches the method of claim 7 and the wireless device of claim 17 above. Frenne does not expressly teach wherein the first PUCCH cell of the one or more first coresets of the first coreset group of a cell and the list of group identification not comprising the first index corresponding to the cell.
However, Liu teaches wherein the first PUCCH cell of the one or more first coresets of the first coreset group of a cell (Liu, [0074]; if a first index value is configured for some CORESETs and a second index value is configured for some other CORESETs which is different from the first index value, the UE may perform separate HARQ feedback, where the HARQ information for the TBs carried on PDSCHs scheduled by the received DCIs at the UE are transmitted on the time frequency resource identified by the CORESETs corresponding to the same index value are transmitted by one PUCCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Frenne to include the above recited limitations as taught by Liu in order to support HARQ feedback for multiple PDCCH based multiple TRP transmission (Liu, [0002]).
Frenne in view of Liu further in view of Futaki does not expressly teach wherein the first PUCCH cell is a primary cell for one or more first transport blocks being scheduled via one or more DCIs received via the one or more first coresets of the first coreset group of a cell.
However, Yin teaches wherein the first PUCCH cell is a primary cell for one or more first transport blocks being scheduled via one or more DCIs received via the one or more first coresets of the first coreset group of a cell (Yin, Fig. 6, [0146]-[0147]; the PUCCH resources associated with the PCell may be allocated in the same way as described in 3GPP TS 36.213 assuming two transport blocks on the serving cell).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Frenne in view of Liu further in view of Futaki to include the above recited limitations as taught by Yin in order to improve communication flexibility and efficiency (Yin, [0004]).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, Frenne in view of Liu further in view of Futaki teaches the method of claim 7 and the wireless device of claim 17 above. Frenne does not expressly teach wherein the first PUCCH cell of the one or more second coresets of the second coreset group of a cell and the list of group identification comprising the second coreset group corresponding to the cell.
However, Liu teaches wherein the first PUCCH cell of the one or more second coresets of the second coreset group of a cell and the list of group identification comprising the second coreset group corresponding to the cell (Liu, [0074]; if a first index value is configured for some CORESETs and a second index value is configured for some other CORESETs which is different from the first index value, the UE may perform separate HARQ feedback, where the HARQ information for the TBs carried on PDSCHs scheduled by the received DCIs at the UE are transmitted on the time frequency resource identified by the CORESETs corresponding to the same index value are transmitted by one PUCCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Frenne to include the above recited limitations as taught by Liu in order to support HARQ feedback for multiple PDCCH based multiple TRP transmission (Liu, [0002]).
Frenne in view of Liu further in view of Futaki does not expressly teach wherein the first PUCCH cell is the PUCCH SCell for one or more second transport blocks being scheduled via the one or more DCIs received via one or more second coresets of the second coreset group of a cell.
However, Yin teaches wherein the first PUCCH cell is the PUCCH SCell for one or more second transport blocks being scheduled via the one or more DCIs received via one or more second coresets of the second coreset group of a cell (Yin, Fig. 6, [0146]-[0147]; the PUCCH resources associated with the SCell may be allocated in the same way as described in 3GPP TS 36.213 assuming two transport blocks on the serving cell).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Frenne in view of Liu further in view of Futaki to include the above recited limitations as taught by Yin in order to improve communication flexibility and efficiency (Yin, [0004]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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/R.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416