DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 5-6, filed 25 February 2026, in view of the amendments with respect to claims 1, 3, and 5 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 112(b) rejection of the claims has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 3, and 5 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3, and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hwang et al. US 2021/0211232 A1 (hereinafter referred to as “Hwang”) in view of 3GPP TS 38.213 V15.4.0 (hereinafter referred to as “3GPP”). NOTE: Hwang was cited by the applicant in the IDS received 16 January 2023.
As to claims 1 and 5, Hwang teaches a terminal apparatus (¶157; figure 6), comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the at least one processor and storing one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the terminal apparatus to (¶¶157-160; figure 6):
receive Downlink Control Information (DCI) that schedules a Transport Block (TB) on a first Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) (¶¶84 and 94: receive TB-based scheduling for PUSCH via DCI);
calculate a number of Resource Elements (REs) based on a first number of symbols indicated by a first field in the DCI, wherein the first number of symbols comprises a number of available symbols and a number of unavailable symbols (¶¶13, 76-77, 84-85, 88, and 91: wireless device calculates number of REs based on the number of symbols in a scheduling unit/slot as indicated by DCI signaling, the number of symbols being the total number of symbols including UL symbols, DL symbols, flexible symbols, etc. (i.e., scheduled/assigned/available symbols and symbols that are not scheduled/assigned/available));
determine a transport block size of the TB for the first PUSCH based on at least the number of REs (¶¶13, 84-85, 91, and 94: TBS selected/determined/calculated for scheduled PUSCH based on the determined number of REs); and
transmit the TB on the first PUSCH over the number of available symbols (¶¶76-77, 84, 89, 91, and 94: transmit TB on PUSCH according to selected TBS and/or MCS over the scheduled/assigned/available UL and flexible symbols).
Although Hwang teaches “A terminal…available symbols,” Hwang does not explicitly disclose “unavailable symbols…ssb-PositionsInBurst parameter”.
However, 3GPP teaches unavailable symbols in the number of unavailable symbols include first symbols indicated as downlink by a first higher layer parameter and second symbols indicated by a second higher layer parameter, the first higher layer parameter includes a TDD-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon parameter or a TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated parameter, and
the second higher layer parameter includes an ssb-PositionsInBurst parameter (page 83: symbols unavailable for PUSCH, PUCCH, PRACH, and SRS are downlink symbols indicated by TDD-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated and a set of symbols indicated by ssb-PositionsInBurst).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Hwang by including “unavailable symbols…ssb-PositionsInBurst parameter” as taught by 3GPP because it provides Hwang’s apparatus with the enhanced capability of avoiding collisions (3GPP, page 83).
As to claim 3, Hwang teaches a base station apparatus (¶157; figure 6), comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the at least one processor and storing one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the base station apparatus to (¶¶157-160; figure 6):
transmit Downlink Control Information (DCI) that schedules a Transport Block (TB) on a first Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) (¶¶84 and 94: transmit TB-based scheduling for PUSCH via DCI);
calculate a number of Resource Elements (REs) based on a first number of symbols indicated by a first field in the DCI, wherein the first number of symbols comprises a number of available symbols and a number of unavailable symbols (¶¶76-77, 84-85, 88, and 91: calculate number of REs based on the number of symbols in a scheduling unit/slot as indicated by DCI signaling, the number of symbols being the total number of symbols including UL symbols, DL symbols, flexible symbols, etc. (i.e., scheduled/assigned/available symbols and symbols that are not scheduled/assigned/available));
determine a transport block size of the TB for the first PUSCH based on at least the number of REs (¶¶84-85, 91, and 94: TBS selected/determined/calculated for scheduled PUSCH based on the determined number of REs); and
receive the TB on the first PUSCH over the number of available symbols (¶¶76-77, 84, 89, 91, and 94: receive TB on PUSCH according to selected TBS and/or MCS over the scheduled/assigned/available UL and flexible symbols).
Although Hwang teaches “A base station…available symbols,” Hwang does not explicitly disclose “unavailable symbols…ssb-PositionsInBurst parameter”.
However, 3GPP teaches unavailable symbols in the number of unavailable symbols include first symbols indicated as downlink by a first higher layer parameter and second symbols indicated by a second higher layer parameter, the first higher layer parameter includes a TDD-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon parameter or a TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated parameter, and
the second higher layer parameter includes an ssb-PositionsInBurst parameter (page 83: symbols unavailable for PUSCH, PUCCH, PRACH, and SRS are downlink symbols indicated by TDD-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated and a set of symbols indicated by ssb-PositionsInBurst).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Hwang by including “unavailable symbols…ssb-PositionsInBurst parameter” as taught by 3GPP because it provides Hwang’s apparatus with the enhanced capability of avoiding collisions (3GPP, page 83).
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN T VAN ROIE whose telephone number is (571)270-0308. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian N Moore can be reached at 571-272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JUSTIN T VAN ROIE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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