DETAILED ACTION
This office action is a response to the Request for Continued Examination (RCE) filed on January 12, 2026.
Claims 1-14 and 16-21 are pending.
Claims 1-14 and 16-21 are rejected.
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on January 12, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments, see Page 10-13, filed January 12, 2025 with respect to the rejection of Claims 1-4 and 14 under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Akkarakaran have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues as follows:
The present claims are generally directed towards a method of operating a wireless device in a radio access network that comprises transmitting acknowledgement signaling and data signaling on resources allocated to data signaling with the acknowledgement signaling being one of punctured and rate-matched.
Applicant's arrangement is beneficial at least because its allows efficient managing rescheduling and/or retransmission of acknowledgement signaling, in particular in the context of listen-before-talk (LBT), which facilitates low overhead. (Applicant's Published Application: [0003]).
Independent Claim 1 has been amended to further recite:
the at least one rate matching condition being based at least in part on a
higher layer signaling configuration and on a timing requirement for transmission of the acknowledgement signaling, higher layer signaling being radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) signaling on the resources allocated to data signaling.
Independent Claims 2-4 and 14 have been amended to recite similar features, with Claims 1 and 3 being in method form.
In page 7, the Office Action acknowledges that Wang "fails to explicitly disclose the rate matching being based at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition, the at least one rate matching condition being based at least in part on a higher layer signaling configuration and on a timing requirement for transmission of the acknowledgement signaling, higher layer signaling being radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) signaling". Applicant agrees. Thus, Wang cannot teach or suggest that "higher layer signaling being radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) signaling on the resources allocated to data signaling" as used within the context of Applicant's claims. As such, Wang fails to disclose, teach or suggest the features recited in amended independent Claims 1-4 and 14. Akkarakaran does not cure the deficiencies of Wang.
In cited [0075], Akkarakaran describes a scheme where data rate-matches around uplink control information (UCI) and in cited [0095,96] that HARQ feedback is one technique of increasing the likelihood that data is received correctly over a communication link 125 that uses radio resource control (RRC). However, Akkarakaran never suggests "the at least one rate matching condition being based at least in part on a higher layer signaling configuration and on a timing requirement for transmission of the acknowledgement signaling" where the signaling is accomplished "on the resources allocated to data signaling" (emphasis added). Rather, Akkarakaran only suggests rate-matching based on uplink control information (UCI) and indications in feedback resources. Akkarakaran simply never discloses or suggests rate matching based on "a timing requirement for transmission of the acknowledgement signaling" on "resources allocated to data signaling." As a result, Akkarakaran fails to disclose, teach or suggest the features recited in amended independent Claims 1-4 and 14, or cure the noted deficiencies of Wang.
For at least these additional reasons, independent Claims 1-4 are allowable, and withdrawal of their rejections is respectfully requested.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Firstly, in response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., Applicant's arrangement is beneficial at least because its allows efficient managing rescheduling and/or retransmission of acknowledgement signaling, in particular in the context of listen-before-talk (LBT), which facilitates low overhead. (Applicant's Published Application: [0003]).) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Secondly, Examiner notes Applicants independent claim language includes various optional claim language and only requires acknowledgement signaling to be one of punctured and rate-matched. That is rate matching limitation is not necessary in the case of acknowledgement signaling being punctured.
Further Examiner notes Applicants claim language does not particularly define the timing requirement.
Prior art reference Akkarakaran is directed to a method, system and device for wireless communications that support control and data multiplexing in uplink transmissions. The described techniques provide for efficient communication of uplink control information (UCI) through rate-matching uplink data around uplink control information in uplink transmissions, including information on amounts or types of UCI to be transmitted by a UE, indications in downlink transmissions of allocated UCI resources and whether associated UCI is to be included in allocated UCI resources, formatting and multiplexing of multiple wireless services at the UE, or any combination thereof (Akkarakaran Abstract).
Prior art reference Akkarakaran discloses in Paragraph [0075] In some wireless communications networks, a base station may provide scheduling information to user equipments (UEs), which may include one or more downlink grants that indicate allocated downlink resources for downlink transmissions to a UE, and one or more uplink grants that indicate allocated uplink resources for uplink transmissions from the UE to a base station. Uplink resources may include physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources, which may be used to transmit certain control information from a UE to a base station, and physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources, which may be used to transmit data and/or control information from the UE to the base station. In some systems, uplink control information (UCI), such as hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledge-negative acknowledge (HARQ ACK/NACK) feedback information, may be transmitted by a UE to a base station using PUSCH resources. When using such PUSCH resources for UCI transmissions, a UE may puncture the PUSCH data with the UCI, in some systems (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A)).
Examiner notes the PUSCH is an uplink data channel and the base station allocates resources to the PUSCH uplink shared data channel where as taught by Akkarakaran uplink control information (UCI) such as hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledge-negative acknowledge (HARQ ACK/NACK) feedback information, may be transmitted by a UE to a base station using PUSCH resources. Even when rate matching around feedback information the feedback information in various examples are using resources allocated to data signaling.
That is prior art reference Akkarakaran clearly discloses transmitting acknowledgement signaling and data signaling on resources allocated to data signaling with the acknowledgement signaling being one or puncture or rate-matched.
Prior art reference Akkarakaran further discloses at least one rate matching condition being based at least in part on a higher layer signaling configuration and on a timing required for transmission of acknowledgment signaling, higher layer signaling being radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) signaling on the resources allocated to data signaling.
Paragraph [0020, 0075, 0095-0096 and 0111-0116] Detail combinations of explicit indications and timing may be used to determine whether UCI is rate-matched around or punctures PUSCH data. For example, a base station may provide explicit indications only on downlink grants received within a time threshold of the uplink grant. In some cases, the base station may provide explicit indications also for UCI that is to be transmitted using PUCCH resources. For example, a UE may transmit an ACK/NACK feedback for an unanticipated downlink transmission (e.g., an urgent URLLC transmission) along with anticipated ACK/NACK feedback in PUCCH resources, in which cases a base station may perform multiple hypotheses decoding to determine if those downlink grants are received or not received. In some cases, the base station may enable or disable such explicit indications (e.g., using RRC signaling); In some examples, such a determination may be made based on the timing of downlink grants 305 and an uplink grant 315. For example, UCI transmissions corresponding to a downlink grant 305-b received within a certain first time period 325 (e.g., a threshold number of time units) before the uplink grant 315, or within a certain second time period 330 after the uplink grant 315, may be assumed to be unanticipated. The time units may correspond to a slot, subframe, OFDM symbol, mini-slot, or absolute time (e.g., milliseconds), for example. Thus, in this example, UCI associated with downlink grants 305-b and 305-c, and associated downlink data transmissions 310-b and 310-c may be treated as unanticipated, and the UE may puncture PUSCH transmission with corresponding UCI data in uplink transmission 320, while UCI associated with downlink grant 305-a and associated downlink data transmission 310-a may be treated as anticipated and the UE may rate-match PUSCH data around the corresponding UCI. In other cases, combinations of explicit indications and timing may be used to determine whether UCI is rate-matched around or punctures PUSCH data
That is Akkarakaran taches rate matchings based on at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition being based at least in part on a using higher layer signaling configuration with a timing requirement for transmission of acknowledgement signaling.
Thus the prior art references do teach “transmitting acknowledgement signaling and data signaling on resources allocated to data signaling, the acknowledgement signaling being one of punctured and rate-matched, the rate matching being based at least in part on at least one rate- matching condition, the at least one rate matching condition being based at least in part on a higher layer signaling configuration and on a timing requirement for transmission of the acknowledgement signaling, higher layer signaling being radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) signaling on the resources allocated to data signaling.”
The rejection of Claims 1-4 and 14 under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Akkarakaran is maintained.
All remaining arguments presented by Applicant not specifically addressed herein and directed to various dependent claims are found unpersuasive for the same reasons as stated herein, supra, with regard to independent claims.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-3, 4 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2019/0174517, hereinafter Wang, in view of Akkarakaran et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2019/0069321, hereinafter Akkarakaran.
Regarding Claim 1, Wang discloses a method of operating a wireless device in a radio access network (Abstract; Figure 1-5 and 12; Claim 10-13), the method comprising:
transmitting acknowledgement signaling and data signaling on resources allocated to data signaling, the acknowledgement signaling being one of punctured and rate-matched based on at least one rate-matching condition (Paragraph [0108-0109] UE 120 transmits ACK (e.g., or UCI) on PUSCH, for 1 or 2 bits of ACK, the ACK bits puncture PUSCH. For ACK>2 bits, ACK bits are rate matched around by the PUSCH.; the number of ACK bits between the UE 120 and BS 110, e.g., to successfully decode the ACK bits and data on PUSCH, the BS 110 may include in the UL grant to the UE 120 downlink assignment index (DAI) bits (e.g., 2 or 3) to indicate the number of ACK bits the UE 120 should transmit on; Claims 10-13; Paragraph [0079-0082]; In one or more cases, slot-based scheduling for HARQ-ACK with more than two bits may include PUSCH that is rate-matched. In some cases, PUSCH may be punctured for slot-based scheduling for HARQ-ACK with up to two bits. In one or more cases, NR may provide a sufficiently reliable common understanding on HARQ-ACK bits between gNB and UE. In some cases, additional considerations may be taken into account regarding channel multiplexing of PUCCH and PUSCH. Considerations associated with UCI piggybacking on PUSCH may include how to decide the HARQ-ACK piggyback rule. For example, if PUSCH is punctured by ACK, in the case of a large ACK payload size, the impact to PUSCH decoding performance may be non-negligible).
Wang discloses higher layer signaling including RRC with different configurations and rules for determining how to rate match (Wang Paragraph [0080-0082]) but fails to explicitly disclose the rate matching being based at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition, the at least one rate matching condition being based at least in part on a higher layer signaling configuration and on a timing requirement for transmission of the acknowledgement signaling, higher layer signaling being radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) signaling on the resources allocated to data signaling.
However, Akkarakaran more specifically teaches the rate matching being based at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition, the at least one rate matching condition being based at least in part on a higher layer signaling configuration and on a timing requirement for transmission of the acknowledgement signaling, higher layer signaling being radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) signaling on the resources allocated to data signaling (Paragraph [0075, 0095-0096 and 0111-0116] Physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources, which may be used to transmit data and/or control information from the UE to the base station. In some systems, uplink control information (UCI), such as hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledge-negative acknowledge (HARQ ACK/NACK) feedback information, may be transmitted by a UE to a base station using PUSCH resources. When using such PUSCH resources for UCI transmissions, a UE may puncture the PUSCH data with the UCI, in some systems (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A)); Combinations of explicit indications and timing may be used to determine whether UCI is rate-matched around or punctures PUSCH data. For example, a base station may provide explicit indications only on downlink grants received within a time threshold of the uplink grant. In some cases, the base station may provide explicit indications also for UCI that is to be transmitted using PUCCH resources. For example, a UE may transmit an ACK/NACK feedback for an unanticipated downlink transmission (e.g., an urgent URLLC transmission) along with anticipated ACK/NACK feedback in PUCCH resources, in which cases a base station may perform multiple hypotheses decoding to determine if those downlink grants are received or not received. In some cases, the base station may enable or disable such explicit indications (e.g., using RRC signaling); That is Akkarakaran taches rate matchings based on at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition being based at least in part on a using higher layer signaling configuration with a timing requirement for transmission of acknowledgement signaling).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang with the teachings of Akkarakaran. Akkarakaran provides a solution which enables facilitating transmission of uplink control information (UCI) from a UE to a base station in an efficient manner which meets quality of service parameters of different services that can concurrently have UCI transmitted from the UE (Akkarakaran Abstract; Paragraph [0002-0008 and 0077]).
Regarding Claim 2, Wang discloses a wireless device for a radio access network, the wireless device (Abstract; Figure 1-5 and 12; Claim 10-13) configured to:
transmit acknowledgement signaling and data signaling on resources allocated to data signaling, the acknowledgement signaling being one of punctured and rate- matched based on a rate-matching condition (Paragraph [0108-0109] UE 120 transmits ACK (e.g., or UCI) on PUSCH, for 1 or 2 bits of ACK, the ACK bits puncture PUSCH. For ACK>2 bits, ACK bits are rate matched around by the PUSCH.; the number of ACK bits between the UE 120 and BS 110, e.g., to successfully decode the ACK bits and data on PUSCH, the BS 110 may include in the UL grant to the UE 120 downlink assignment index (DAI) bits (e.g., 2 or 3) to indicate the number of ACK bits the UE 120 should transmit on; Claims 10-13; Paragraph [0079-0082]; In one or more cases, slot-based scheduling for HARQ-ACK with more than two bits may include PUSCH that is rate-matched. In some cases, PUSCH may be punctured for slot-based scheduling for HARQ-ACK with up to two bits. In one or more cases, NR may provide a sufficiently reliable common understanding on HARQ-ACK bits between gNB and UE. In some cases, additional considerations may be taken into account regarding channel multiplexing of PUCCH and PUSCH. Considerations associated with UCI piggybacking on PUSCH may include how to decide the HARQ-ACK piggyback rule. For example, if PUSCH is punctured by ACK, in the case of a large ACK payload size, the impact to PUSCH decoding performance may be non-negligible).
Wang discloses higher layer signaling including RRC with different configurations and rules for determining how to rate match (Wang Paragraph [0080-0082]) but fails to explicitly disclose the rate matching being based at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition, the at least one rate matching condition being based at least in part on a higher layer signaling configuration and on a timing requirement for transmission of the acknowledgement signaling, higher layer signaling being radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) signaling on the resources allocated to data signaling.
However, Akkarakaran more specifically teaches the rate matching being based at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition, the at least one rate matching condition being based at least in part on a higher layer signaling configuration and on a timing requirement for transmission of the acknowledgement signaling, higher layer signaling being radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) signaling on the resources allocated to data signaling (Paragraph [0075, 0095-0096 and 0111-0116] Physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources, which may be used to transmit data and/or control information from the UE to the base station. In some systems, uplink control information (UCI), such as hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledge-negative acknowledge (HARQ ACK/NACK) feedback information, may be transmitted by a UE to a base station using PUSCH resources. When using such PUSCH resources for UCI transmissions, a UE may puncture the PUSCH data with the UCI, in some systems (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A)); Combinations of explicit indications and timing may be used to determine whether UCI is rate-matched around or punctures PUSCH data. For example, a base station may provide explicit indications only on downlink grants received within a time threshold of the uplink grant. In some cases, the base station may provide explicit indications also for UCI that is to be transmitted using PUCCH resources. For example, a UE may transmit an ACK/NACK feedback for an unanticipated downlink transmission (e.g., an urgent URLLC transmission) along with anticipated ACK/NACK feedback in PUCCH resources, in which cases a base station may perform multiple hypotheses decoding to determine if those downlink grants are received or not received. In some cases, the base station may enable or disable such explicit indications (e.g., using RRC signaling); That is Akkarakaran taches rate matchings based on at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition being based at least in part on a using higher layer signaling configuration with a timing requirement for transmission of acknowledgement signaling).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang with the teachings of Akkarakaran. Akkarakaran provides a solution which enables facilitating transmission of uplink control information (UCI) from a UE to a base station in an efficient manner which meets quality of service parameters of different services that can concurrently have UCI transmitted from the UE (Akkarakaran Abstract; Paragraph [0002-0008 and 0077]).
Regarding Claim 3, Wang discloses a method of operating a network node in a radio access network(Abstract; Figure 1-5 and 12; Claim 10-13), the method comprising:
receiving acknowledgement signaling and data signaling on resources allocated to data signaling, the acknowledgement signaling being one of punctured and rate- matched based on at least one rate matching condition (Paragraph [0108-0109] UE 120 transmits ACK (e.g., or UCI) on PUSCH, for 1 or 2 bits of ACK, the ACK bits puncture PUSCH. For ACK>2 bits, ACK bits are rate matched around by the PUSCH.; the number of ACK bits between the UE 120 and BS 110, e.g., to successfully decode the ACK bits and data on PUSCH, the BS 110 may include in the UL grant to the UE 120 downlink assignment index (DAI) bits (e.g., 2 or 3) to indicate the number of ACK bits the UE 120 should transmit on; Claims 10-13; Paragraph [0079-0082]; In one or more cases, slot-based scheduling for HARQ-ACK with more than two bits may include PUSCH that is rate-matched. In some cases, PUSCH may be punctured for slot-based scheduling for HARQ-ACK with up to two bits. In one or more cases, NR may provide a sufficiently reliable common understanding on HARQ-ACK bits between gNB and UE. In some cases, additional considerations may be taken into account regarding channel multiplexing of PUCCH and PUSCH. Considerations associated with UCI piggybacking on PUSCH may include how to decide the HARQ-ACK piggyback rule. For example, if PUSCH is punctured by ACK, in the case of a large ACK payload size, the impact to PUSCH decoding performance may be non-negligible).
Wang discloses higher layer signaling including RRC with different configurations and rules for determining how to rate match (Wang Paragraph [0080-0082]) but fails to explicitly disclose the rate matching being based at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition, the at least one rate matching condition being based at least in part on a higher layer signaling configuration and on a timing requirement for transmission of the acknowledgement signaling, higher layer signaling being radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) signaling on the resources allocated to data signaling.
However, Akkarakaran more specifically teaches the rate matching being based at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition, the at least one rate matching condition being based at least in part on a higher layer signaling configuration and on a timing requirement for transmission of the acknowledgement signaling, higher layer signaling being radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) signaling on the resources allocated to data signaling (Paragraph [0075, 0095-0096 and 0111-0116] Physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources, which may be used to transmit data and/or control information from the UE to the base station. In some systems, uplink control information (UCI), such as hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledge-negative acknowledge (HARQ ACK/NACK) feedback information, may be transmitted by a UE to a base station using PUSCH resources. When using such PUSCH resources for UCI transmissions, a UE may puncture the PUSCH data with the UCI, in some systems (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A)); Combinations of explicit indications and timing may be used to determine whether UCI is rate-matched around or punctures PUSCH data. For example, a base station may provide explicit indications only on downlink grants received within a time threshold of the uplink grant. In some cases, the base station may provide explicit indications also for UCI that is to be transmitted using PUCCH resources. For example, a UE may transmit an ACK/NACK feedback for an unanticipated downlink transmission (e.g., an urgent URLLC transmission) along with anticipated ACK/NACK feedback in PUCCH resources, in which cases a base station may perform multiple hypotheses decoding to determine if those downlink grants are received or not received. In some cases, the base station may enable or disable such explicit indications (e.g., using RRC signaling); That is Akkarakaran taches rate matchings based on at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition being based at least in part on a using higher layer signaling configuration with a timing requirement for transmission of acknowledgement signaling).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang with the teachings of Akkarakaran. Akkarakaran provides a solution which enables facilitating transmission of uplink control information (UCI) from a UE to a base station in an efficient manner which meets quality of service parameters of different services that can concurrently have UCI transmitted from the UE (Akkarakaran Abstract; Paragraph [0002-0008 and 0077]).
Regarding Claim 4, Wang discloses a network node for a radio access network, the network node (Abstract; Figure 1-5 and 12; Claim 10-13)configured to:
receive acknowledgement signaling and data signaling on resources allocated to data signaling, the acknowledgement signaling being one of punctured and rate- matched based on at least one rate-matching condition (Paragraph [0108-0109] UE 120 transmits ACK (e.g., or UCI) on PUSCH, for 1 or 2 bits of ACK, the ACK bits puncture PUSCH. For ACK>2 bits, ACK bits are rate matched around by the PUSCH.; the number of ACK bits between the UE 120 and BS 110, e.g., to successfully decode the ACK bits and data on PUSCH, the BS 110 may include in the UL grant to the UE 120 downlink assignment index (DAI) bits (e.g., 2 or 3) to indicate the number of ACK bits the UE 120 should transmit on; Claims 10-13; Paragraph [0079-0082]; In one or more cases, slot-based scheduling for HARQ-ACK with more than two bits may include PUSCH that is rate-matched. In some cases, PUSCH may be punctured for slot-based scheduling for HARQ-ACK with up to two bits. In one or more cases, NR may provide a sufficiently reliable common understanding on HARQ-ACK bits between gNB and UE. In some cases, additional considerations may be taken into account regarding channel multiplexing of PUCCH and PUSCH. Considerations associated with UCI piggybacking on PUSCH may include how to decide the HARQ-ACK piggyback rule. For example, if PUSCH is punctured by ACK, in the case of a large ACK payload size, the impact to PUSCH decoding performance may be non-negligible).
Wang discloses higher layer signaling including RRC with different configurations and rules for determining how to rate match (Wang Paragraph [0080-0082]) but fails to explicitly disclose the rate matching being based at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition, the at least one rate matching condition being based at least in part on a higher layer signaling configuration and on a timing requirement for transmission of the acknowledgement signaling, higher layer signaling being radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) signaling on the resources allocated to data signaling.
However, Akkarakaran more specifically teaches the rate matching being based at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition, the at least one rate matching condition being based at least in part on a higher layer signaling configuration and on a timing requirement for transmission of the acknowledgement signaling, higher layer signaling being radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) signaling on the resources allocated to data signaling (Paragraph [0075, 0095-0096 and 0111-0116] Physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources, which may be used to transmit data and/or control information from the UE to the base station. In some systems, uplink control information (UCI), such as hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledge-negative acknowledge (HARQ ACK/NACK) feedback information, may be transmitted by a UE to a base station using PUSCH resources. When using such PUSCH resources for UCI transmissions, a UE may puncture the PUSCH data with the UCI, in some systems (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A)); Combinations of explicit indications and timing may be used to determine whether UCI is rate-matched around or punctures PUSCH data. For example, a base station may provide explicit indications only on downlink grants received within a time threshold of the uplink grant. In some cases, the base station may provide explicit indications also for UCI that is to be transmitted using PUCCH resources. For example, a UE may transmit an ACK/NACK feedback for an unanticipated downlink transmission (e.g., an urgent URLLC transmission) along with anticipated ACK/NACK feedback in PUCCH resources, in which cases a base station may perform multiple hypotheses decoding to determine if those downlink grants are received or not received. In some cases, the base station may enable or disable such explicit indications (e.g., using RRC signaling); That is Akkarakaran taches rate matchings based on at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition being based at least in part on a using higher layer signaling configuration with a timing requirement for transmission of acknowledgement signaling).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang with the teachings of Akkarakaran. Akkarakaran provides a solution which enables facilitating transmission of uplink control information (UCI) from a UE to a base station in an efficient manner which meets quality of service parameters of different services that can concurrently have UCI transmitted from the UE (Akkarakaran Abstract; Paragraph [0002-0008 and 0077]).
Regarding Claim 12, Wang in view of Akkarakaran discloses the method according to Claim 1. Wang in view of Akkarakaran further disclose wherein the allocated resources are resources allocated for a Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH (Akkarakaran Paragraph [0075] uplink control information (UCI), such as hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledge-negative acknowledge (HARQ ACK/NACK) feedback information, may be transmitted by a UE to a base station using PUSCH resources).
Regarding Claim 14, Wang discloses a non-transitory computer storage medium storing a computer program having executable instructions configured to cause processing circuitry to at least one of control and perform a method(Abstract; Figure 1-5 and 12; Claim 10-13) comprising:
transmitting acknowledgement signaling and data signaling on resources allocated to data signaling, the acknowledgement signaling being one of punctured and rate-matched based at least one rate matching condition (Paragraph [0108-0109] UE 120 transmits ACK (e.g., or UCI) on PUSCH, for 1 or 2 bits of ACK, the ACK bits puncture PUSCH. For ACK>2 bits, ACK bits are rate matched around by the PUSCH.; the number of ACK bits between the UE 120 and BS 110, e.g., to successfully decode the ACK bits and data on PUSCH, the BS 110 may include in the UL grant to the UE 120 downlink assignment index (DAI) bits (e.g., 2 or 3) to indicate the number of ACK bits the UE 120 should transmit on; Claims 10-13; Paragraph [0079-0082]; In one or more cases, slot-based scheduling for HARQ-ACK with more than two bits may include PUSCH that is rate-matched. In some cases, PUSCH may be punctured for slot-based scheduling for HARQ-ACK with up to two bits. In one or more cases, NR may provide a sufficiently reliable common understanding on HARQ-ACK bits between gNB and UE. In some cases, additional considerations may be taken into account regarding channel multiplexing of PUCCH and PUSCH. Considerations associated with UCI piggybacking on PUSCH may include how to decide the HARQ-ACK piggyback rule. For example, if PUSCH is punctured by ACK, in the case of a large ACK payload size, the impact to PUSCH decoding performance may be non-negligible).
Wang discloses higher layer signaling including RRC with different configurations and rules for determining how to rate match (Wang Paragraph [0080-0082]) but fails to explicitly disclose the rate matching being based at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition, the at least one rate matching condition being based at least in part on a higher layer signaling configuration and on a timing requirement for transmission of the acknowledgement signaling, higher layer signaling being radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) signaling on the resources allocated to data signaling.
However, Akkarakaran more specifically teaches the rate matching being based at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition, the at least one rate matching condition being based at least in part on a higher layer signaling configuration and on a timing requirement for transmission of the acknowledgement signaling, higher layer signaling being radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) signaling on the resources allocated to data signaling (Paragraph [0075, 0095-0096 and 0111-0116] Physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources, which may be used to transmit data and/or control information from the UE to the base station. In some systems, uplink control information (UCI), such as hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledge-negative acknowledge (HARQ ACK/NACK) feedback information, may be transmitted by a UE to a base station using PUSCH resources. When using such PUSCH resources for UCI transmissions, a UE may puncture the PUSCH data with the UCI, in some systems (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A)); Combinations of explicit indications and timing may be used to determine whether UCI is rate-matched around or punctures PUSCH data. For example, a base station may provide explicit indications only on downlink grants received within a time threshold of the uplink grant. In some cases, the base station may provide explicit indications also for UCI that is to be transmitted using PUCCH resources. For example, a UE may transmit an ACK/NACK feedback for an unanticipated downlink transmission (e.g., an urgent URLLC transmission) along with anticipated ACK/NACK feedback in PUCCH resources, in which cases a base station may perform multiple hypotheses decoding to determine if those downlink grants are received or not received. In some cases, the base station may enable or disable such explicit indications (e.g., using RRC signaling); That is Akkarakaran taches rate matchings based on at least in part on at least one rate-matching condition being based at least in part on a using higher layer signaling configuration with a timing requirement for transmission of acknowledgement signaling).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang with the teachings of Akkarakaran. Akkarakaran provides a solution which enables facilitating transmission of uplink control information (UCI) from a UE to a base station in an efficient manner which meets quality of service parameters of different services that can concurrently have UCI transmitted from the UE (Akkarakaran Abstract; Paragraph [0002-0008 and 0077]).
Claims 6, 8- 10, 17 and 19-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Akkarakaran as applied to claim 1 and 3 above, and further in view of Babaei et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2019/0068317, hereinafter Babaei.
Regarding Claim 6, Wang in view of Akkarakaran disclose the method according to Claim 1. Wang in view of Akkarakaran disclose rate matching and encoding data but may not explicitly disclose wherein rate-matching represents encoding data signaling considering resource elements to be used for acknowledgement signaling.
However, Babaei more specifically teaches wherein rate-matching represents encoding data signaling considering resource elements to be used for acknowledgement signaling (Babaei Paragraph [0213] PUSCH may be rate-matched around resource elements carrying HARQ feedback. In an example, to avoid error cases if the UE misses some downlink assignments, the uplink grant DCI may indicate whether to multiplex and/or which UCI to multiplex in the PUSCH. In an example, a wireless device may multiplex HARQ feedback employing rate-matching in response to HARQ feedback comprising payload smaller than a first threshold and/or TB size being larger than a second threshold and/or HARQ feedback payload size in combination with the TB size satisfying a first condition).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang in view of Akkarakaran with the teachings of Babaei. Babaei provides a solution which enables implementing enhanced signaling mechanisms between a base station and a wireless device to improve uplink spectral efficiency and reduce decoding error rates when dynamic and configured grants are implemented. The method enables implementing legacy mechanism to reduce uplink signaling overhead (Babaei Abstract; Paragraph [0230 and 0265]).
Regarding Claim 8, Wang in view of Akkarakaran disclose the method according to Claim 1. Wang in view of Akkarakaran fail to explicitly disclose wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on at least one of a configuration and requirement for transmission of at least one of the acknowledgement signaling and data signaling.
However, Babaei teaches wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on at least one of a configuration and requirement for transmission of at least one of the acknowledgement signaling and data signaling (Babaei Paragraph [0210-0213 and 0234] the one or more criteria may comprise puncturing the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) or rate matching the first PUSCH around the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) based on a first service type and/or one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile indicated by the DCI/uplink grant. In an example embodiment, the one or more criteria may comprise puncturing the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) or rate matching the first PUSCH around the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) based on a first service type and/or one or more first logical channels that are mappable to the first profile and/or TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile. In an example, the wireless device may puncture the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) in response to the first service type and/or the one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile (and/or mappable to the TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile) being one of one or more service types and/or one or more logical channels. In an example, the wireless device may not puncture the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) (e.g., wireless device may rate match the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) around the first PUSCH) in response to the first service type and/or one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile (and/or mappable to the TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile) being one of one or more service types and/or one or more logical channels. In an example, the one or more service type may comprise URLLC).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang in view of Akkarakaran with the teachings of Babaei. Babaei provides a solution which enables implementing enhanced signaling mechanisms between a base station and a wireless device to improve uplink spectral efficiency and reduce decoding error rates when dynamic and configured grants are implemented. The method enables implementing legacy mechanism to reduce uplink signaling overhead (Babaei Abstract; Paragraph [0230 and 0265]).
Regarding Claim 9, Wang in view of Akkarakaran disclose the method according to Claim 1. Wang in view of Akkarakaran further disclose fails to disclose the at least one rate-matching condition is based on at least one of: at least one of: at least one of a type and a format of a scheduling grant; and a scheduling assignment; a type of allocation; a timing of at least one of acknowledgement signaling, scheduling grant and scheduling assignment; resources associated to one of a scheduling grant and scheduling assignment; and resources used for acknowledgement signaling.
However, Babaei teaches wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on at least one of: at least one of: at least one of a type and a format of a scheduling grant; and a scheduling assignment; a type of allocation; a timing of at least one of acknowledgement signaling, scheduling grant and scheduling assignment; resources associated to one of a scheduling grant and scheduling assignment; and resources used for acknowledgement signaling (Babaei Paragraph [0234-0236 and 0272-0274] The one or more criteria may comprise puncturing the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) or rate matching the first PUSCH around the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) based on a first service type and/or one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile indicated by the DCI/uplink grant. In an example embodiment, the one or more criteria may comprise puncturing the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) or rate matching the first PUSCH around the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) based on a first service type and/or one or more first logical channels that are mappable to the first profile and/or TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile. In an example, the wireless device may puncture the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) in response to the first service type and/or the one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile (and/or mappable to the TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile) being one of one or more service types and/or one or more logical channels. In an example, the wireless device may not puncture the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) (e.g., wireless device may rate match the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) around the first PUSCH) in response to the first service type and/or one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile (and/or mappable to the TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile) being one of one or more service types and/or one or more logical channels; hen deciding whether to puncture the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) or rate match the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) around the first PUSCH. In an example, the wireless device may consider both the size of the at least one TB and the size of the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) when deciding whether to multiplex the one or more UCI in the first PUSCH or not. The wireless device may consider both the size of the at least one TB and the size of the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) along with other restrictions/rules (e.g., the cell index of the cell where the first PUSCH is transmitted, whether the cell that the first PUSCH is transmitted is LAA or not and/or the type of the cell that the first PUSCH is transmitted, the profile/index indicated in the uplink grant, etc.). . In an example, the wireless device may rate match the PUSCH around the one or more UCI or puncture the PUSCH with the one or more UCI further based on a size of the at least one TB. In an example, the DCI may indicate the size of the at least one TB. In an example, one or more service types (e.g., URLL) may be mappable to the one or more configured/pre-configured TTIs/numerologies. In an example, the one or more UCI may comprise HARQ feedback).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang in view of Akkarakaran with the teachings of Babaei. Babaei provides a solution which enables implementing enhanced signaling mechanisms between a base station and a wireless device to improve uplink spectral efficiency and reduce decoding error rates when dynamic and configured grants are implemented. The method enables implementing legacy mechanism to reduce uplink signaling overhead (Babaei Abstract; Paragraph [0230 and 0265]).
Regarding Claim 10, Wang in view of Akkarakaran disclose the method according to Claim 1. Wang in view of Akkarakaran fail to disclose wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on at least one of: at least one of a quality of service requirement for the acknowledgement signaling and data signaling; and a service type for at least one of the acknowledgement signaling and data signaling.
However, Babaei teaches wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on at least one of: at least one of a quality of service requirement for the acknowledgement signaling and data signaling; and a service type for at least one of the acknowledgement signaling and data signaling (Babaei Paragraph [0210-0213 and 0234] the one or more criteria may comprise puncturing the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) or rate matching the first PUSCH around the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) based on a first service type and/or one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile indicated by the DCI/uplink grant. In an example embodiment, the one or more criteria may comprise puncturing the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) or rate matching the first PUSCH around the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) based on a first service type and/or one or more first logical channels that are mappable to the first profile and/or TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile. In an example, the wireless device may puncture the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) in response to the first service type and/or the one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile (and/or mappable to the TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile) being one of one or more service types and/or one or more logical channels. In an example, the wireless device may not puncture the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) (e.g., wireless device may rate match the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) around the first PUSCH) in response to the first service type and/or one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile (and/or mappable to the TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile) being one of one or more service types and/or one or more logical channels. In an example, the one or more service type may comprise URLLC).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang in view of Akkarakaran with the teachings of Babaei. Babaei provides a solution which enables implementing enhanced signaling mechanisms between a base station and a wireless device to improve uplink spectral efficiency and reduce decoding error rates when dynamic and configured grants are implemented. The method enables implementing legacy mechanism to reduce uplink signaling overhead (Babaei Abstract; Paragraph [0230 and 0265]).
Regarding Claim 17, Wang in view of Akkarakaran disclose the method according to Claim 3. Wang in view of Akkarakaran disclose rate matching of encoded data but may not explicitly disclose wherein rate-matching represents encoding data signaling considering resource elements to be used for acknowledgement signaling.
However, Babaei more specifically teaches wherein rate-matching represents encoding data signaling considering resource elements to be used for acknowledgement signaling (Babaei Paragraph [0213] PUSCH may be rate-matched around resource elements carrying HARQ feedback. In an example, to avoid error cases if the UE misses some downlink assignments, the uplink grant DCI may indicate whether to multiplex and/or which UCI to multiplex in the PUSCH. In an example, a wireless device may multiplex HARQ feedback employing rate-matching in response to HARQ feedback comprising payload smaller than a first threshold and/or TB size being larger than a second threshold and/or HARQ feedback payload size in combination with the TB size satisfying a first condition).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang in view of Akkarakaran with the teachings of Babaei. Babaei provides a solution which enables implementing enhanced signaling mechanisms between a base station and a wireless device to improve uplink spectral efficiency and reduce decoding error rates when dynamic and configured grants are implemented. The method enables implementing legacy mechanism to reduce uplink signaling overhead (Babaei Abstract; Paragraph [0230 and 0265]).
Regarding Claim 19, Wang in view of Akkarakaran disclose the method according to Claim 3. Wang in view of Akkarakaran fail to disclose wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on at least one of a configuration and requirement for transmission of at least one of the acknowledgement signaling and data signaling.
However, Babaei teaches wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on at least one of a configuration and requirement for transmission of at least one of the acknowledgement signaling and data signaling (Babaei Paragraph [0210-0213 and 0234] the one or more criteria may comprise puncturing the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) or rate matching the first PUSCH around the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) based on a first service type and/or one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile indicated by the DCI/uplink grant. In an example embodiment, the one or more criteria may comprise puncturing the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) or rate matching the first PUSCH around the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) based on a first service type and/or one or more first logical channels that are mappable to the first profile and/or TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile. In an example, the wireless device may puncture the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) in response to the first service type and/or the one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile (and/or mappable to the TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile) being one of one or more service types and/or one or more logical channels. In an example, the wireless device may not puncture the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) (e.g., wireless device may rate match the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) around the first PUSCH) in response to the first service type and/or one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile (and/or mappable to the TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile) being one of one or more service types and/or one or more logical channels. In an example, the one or more service type may comprise URLLC)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang in view of Akkarakaran with the teachings of Babaei. Babaei provides a solution which enables implementing enhanced signaling mechanisms between a base station and a wireless device to improve uplink spectral efficiency and reduce decoding error rates when dynamic and configured grants are implemented. The method enables implementing legacy mechanism to reduce uplink signaling overhead (Babaei Abstract; Paragraph [0230 and 0265]).
Regarding Claim 20, Wang in view of Akkarakaran disclose the method according to Claim 3. Wang in view of Akkarakaran fail to disclose wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on at least one of: at least one of: at least one of a type and a format of a scheduling grant; and a scheduling assignment; a type of allocation; a timing of at least one of acknowledgement signaling, scheduling grant and scheduling assignment; resources associated to one of a scheduling grant and scheduling assignment; and resources used for acknowledgement signaling.
However, Babaei teaches wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on at least one of: at least one of: at least one of a type and a format of a scheduling grant; and a scheduling assignment; a type of allocation; a timing of at least one of acknowledgement signaling, scheduling grant and scheduling assignment; resources associated to one of a scheduling grant and scheduling assignment; and resources used for acknowledgement signaling (Babaei Paragraph [0234-0236 and 0272-0274] The one or more criteria may comprise puncturing the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) or rate matching the first PUSCH around the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) based on a first service type and/or one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile indicated by the DCI/uplink grant. In an example embodiment, the one or more criteria may comprise puncturing the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) or rate matching the first PUSCH around the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) based on a first service type and/or one or more first logical channels that are mappable to the first profile and/or TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile. In an example, the wireless device may puncture the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) in response to the first service type and/or the one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile (and/or mappable to the TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile) being one of one or more service types and/or one or more logical channels. In an example, the wireless device may not puncture the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) (e.g., wireless device may rate match the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) around the first PUSCH) in response to the first service type and/or one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile (and/or mappable to the TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile) being one of one or more service types and/or one or more logical channels; hen deciding whether to puncture the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) or rate match the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) around the first PUSCH. In an example, the wireless device may consider both the size of the at least one TB and the size of the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) when deciding whether to multiplex the one or more UCI in the first PUSCH or not. The wireless device may consider both the size of the at least one TB and the size of the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) along with other restrictions/rules (e.g., the cell index of the cell where the first PUSCH is transmitted, whether the cell that the first PUSCH is transmitted is LAA or not and/or the type of the cell that the first PUSCH is transmitted, the profile/index indicated in the uplink grant, etc.). . In an example, the wireless device may rate match the PUSCH around the one or more UCI or puncture the PUSCH with the one or more UCI further based on a size of the at least one TB. In an example, the DCI may indicate the size of the at least one TB. In an example, one or more service types (e.g., URLL) may be mappable to the one or more configured/pre-configured TTIs/numerologies. In an example, the one or more UCI may comprise HARQ feedback).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang in view of Akkarakaran with the teachings of Babaei. Babaei provides a solution which enables implementing enhanced signaling mechanisms between a base station and a wireless device to improve uplink spectral efficiency and reduce decoding error rates when dynamic and configured grants are implemented. The method enables implementing legacy mechanism to reduce uplink signaling overhead (Babaei Abstract; Paragraph [0230 and 0265]).
Regarding Claim 21, Wang in view of Akkarakaran disclose the method according to Claim 3. Wang in view of Akkarakaran fail to disclose wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on at least one of: at least one of a quality of service requirement for the acknowledgement signaling and data signaling; and a service type for at least one of the acknowledgement signaling and data signaling.
However, Babaei teaches wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on at least one of: at least one of a quality of service requirement for the acknowledgement signaling and data signaling; and a service type for at least one of the acknowledgement signaling and data signaling (Babaei Paragraph [0210-0213 and 0234] the one or more criteria may comprise puncturing the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) or rate matching the first PUSCH around the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) based on a first service type and/or one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile indicated by the DCI/uplink grant. In an example embodiment, the one or more criteria may comprise puncturing the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) or rate matching the first PUSCH around the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) based on a first service type and/or one or more first logical channels that are mappable to the first profile and/or TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile. In an example, the wireless device may puncture the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) in response to the first service type and/or the one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile (and/or mappable to the TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile) being one of one or more service types and/or one or more logical channels. In an example, the wireless device may not puncture the first PUSCH by the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) (e.g., wireless device may rate match the one or more UCI (e.g., HARQ feedback) around the first PUSCH) in response to the first service type and/or one or more first logical channels indicated by the first profile (and/or mappable to the TTI/numerology indicated by the first profile) being one of one or more service types and/or one or more logical channels. In an example, the one or more service type may comprise URLLC).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang in view of Akkarakaran with the teachings of Babaei. Babaei provides a solution which enables implementing enhanced signaling mechanisms between a base station and a wireless device to improve uplink spectral efficiency and reduce decoding error rates when dynamic and configured grants are implemented. The method enables implementing legacy mechanism to reduce uplink signaling overhead (Babaei Abstract; Paragraph [0230 and 0265]).
Claims 5 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Akkarakaran as applied to claim 1 and 3 above, and further in view of Sun et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2020/0383119, hereinafter Sun.
Regarding Claim 5 and 16, Wang in view of Akkarakaran disclose the method according to Claim 1 and 3. Wang in view of Akkarakaran disclose puncturing encoded data but may not explicitly disclose wherein puncturing represents at least one of replacing, on resource elements of the allocated resources, encoded data signaling with acknowledgement signaling, and encoding data signaling to use all of the allocated resources.
However, Sun teaches wherein puncturing represents at least one of replacing, on resource elements of the allocated resources, encoded data signaling with acknowledgement signaling, and encoding data signaling to use all of the allocated resources (Paragraph [0056, 0140 and 0167] If ACK/NACK information needs to be transmitted at the same time, firstly mapping the ACK/NACK information to a Resource Element (RE) which is closest to a Reference Signal (RS), then and replacing a part of encoded and modulated uplink data channel data information with the CSI, for sequentially mapping to REs which are not occupied by the ACK/NACK information or the RS).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang in view of Akkarakaran with the teachings of Sun. Sun provides a solution in which reporting of channel state information can be efficiently enhanced and allocation of downlink resources for an IoT UE can be developed (Sun Abstract; Paragraph [0082]).
Claims 7 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Akkarakaran as applied to claim 1 and 3 above, and further in view of Papasakellariou U.S. Patent Application Publication 2018/0310257, hereinafter Papasakellariou.
Regarding Claim 7 and 18, Wang in view of Akkarakaran disclose the method according to Claim 1 and 3. Wang in view of Akkarakaran briefly disclose rate matching based on payload size and details on the number of encoded bits of acknowledgement signaling but may not explicitly disclose wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on at least one of the number of payload bits of the acknowledgment signaling and the number of encoded bits of the acknowledgement signaling.
However, Papasakellariou more specifically teaches wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on at least one of the number of payload bits of the acknowledgment signaling and the number of encoded bits of the acknowledgement signaling (Paragraph [0095] , information bits, such as DCI bits or data bits 610, are encoded by encoder 620, rate matched to assigned time/frequency resources by rate matcher; Paragraph [0297-0300 and 0343-0354] Rate matching between data information bits and HARQ-ACK information bits as the UE knows from the value of the DAI in the UL DCI format a number of resource elements to be used for multiplexing the encoded and modulated HARQ-ACK information bit).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang in view of Akkarakaran with the teachings of Papasakellariou. The method enables performing a rate matching process for transmission of uplink control information (UCI) and data information from a UE while avoiding additional processing latency for data encoding and rate matching in reliable manner (Papasakellariou Abstract; Paragraph [0002-0011]).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Akkarakaran as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Bae et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2021/0176758, hereinafter Bae.
Regarding Claim 11, Wang in view of Akkarakaran disclose the method according to Claim 1. Wang in view of Akkarakaran fail to explicitly disclose wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on an indication in at least one of a scheduling grant and scheduling assignment.
However, Bae more specifically teaches wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on an indication in at least one of a scheduling grant and scheduling assignment (Paragraph [0303-0332 and 0369] The UE may recognize the allocated R1 as a resource preempted for transmission of urgent data requiring low delay/high reliability by another UE, and may drop, puncture, rate match, or cancel grant resources of the second UL grant overlapping the allocated resource through the first UL grant. When the UE receives information related to the preemption of an already allocated resource by another UE from the BS through a specific signal, the UE may puncture/rate match or drop all of preempted resource or resource allocated for PUSCH transmission or perform rescheduling to move transmission to another PUSCH resource by receiving a new UL grant for the same TB before transmission completion for the PUSCH.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang in view of Akkarakaran with the teachings of Bae. Bae provides a solution in which a specific terminal may use a resource of another terminal which has already been allocated or being transmitted in order to transmit urgent data (or traffic). When a resource allocated to another terminal is preempted for transmission of urgent data, the other terminal is informed that the resource has been preempted to thereby prevent a collision. When data cannot be transmitted in an initially allocated resource due to resource preemption for transmission of urgent data, the untransmitted data may be retransmitted through a resource allocated thereafter (Bae Abstract; Paragraph [0004-0025]).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Akkarakaran as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Takeda et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2021/0219326, hereinafter Takeda.
Regarding Claim 13, Wang in view of Akkarakaran disclose the method according to Claim 1. Wang in view of Akkarakaran disclose timing and rate matching (Akkarakaran Paragraph [0075, 0095-0096 and 0111-0116] combinations of explicit indications and timing may be used to determine whether UCI is rate-matched around or punctures PUSCH data. For example, a base station may provide explicit indications only on downlink grants received within a time threshold of the uplink grant. In some cases, the base station may provide explicit indications also for UCI that is to be transmitted using PUCCH resources. For example, a UE may transmit an ACK/NACK feedback for an unanticipated downlink transmission (e.g., an urgent URLLC transmission) along with anticipated ACK/NACK feedback in PUCCH resources, in which cases a base station may perform multiple hypotheses decoding to determine if those downlink grants are received or not received. In some cases, the base station may enable or disable such explicit indications (e.g., using RRC signaling)) but may not explicitly disclose wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on a timing difference between subject signaling the acknowledgement information pertains to and the timing of the allocated resources.
However, Takeda more specifically teaches wherein the at least one rate-matching condition is based on a timing difference between subject signaling the acknowledgement information pertains to and the timing of the allocated resources (Paragraph [0063-0071] in a case where the time difference is equal to or larger than a certain threshold N2 (or larger than the certain threshold N2), the user terminal may transmit the HARQ-ACK corresponding to the DL assignment after the UL grant, by using the PUSCH scheduled by the UL grant. In this case, the user terminal may rate-match the UL data of the PUSCH and transmit the HARQ-ACK with the X bits).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Wang in view of Akkarakaran with the teachings of Takeda. Takeda provides a solution in which transmission of HARQ-ACK bits corresponding to a DL assignment received after a UL grant can be appropriately controlled (Takeda Abstract; Paragraph [0007-0014]).
Conclusion
All claims are identical to or patentably indistinct from, or have unity of invention with claims in the application prior to the entry of the submission under 37 CFR 1.114 (that is, restriction (including a lack of unity of invention) would not be proper) and all claims could have been finally rejected on the grounds and art of record in the next Office action if they had been entered in the application prior to entry under 37 CFR 1.114. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL even though it is a first action after the filing of a request for continued examination and the submission under 37 CFR 1.114. See MPEP § 706.07(b). 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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IVAN O. LATORRE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2409
/IVAN O LATORRE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409