DETAILED ACTION
It is hereby acknowledged that the following papers have been received and placed of record in the file: Amendment date 06/18/2026.
Claims 1-2, 7-10, 12-20, 25-27, 29-30 and 33-36 are presented for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 1-2, 7-10, 12-20, 25-27, 29-30 and 33-36 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) 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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 7-10, 12-20, 25-27, 29-30 and 33-36 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yi et al.(US-2023/0074086 A1) in view of Choi et al. (US 2020/0295878 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Yi teaches a method for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving, from a base station (BS), a configuration for a plurality of carriers (wireless device receiving, from base station, a multi-carrier repetition scheduling config see Yi: Fig.19; ¶[0280]);
receiving, from the BS, control information comprising a single downlink control information (DCI) format indicating whether resources for a data channel are allocated in a concatenated pair of carriers of the plurality of carriers (receiving, from base station configurations indicating parameters may comprise/indicate a first uplink carrier (UL carrier #0) and a second uplink carrier (UL carrier #2); a multi-carrier DCI may represent a DCI based on the multi-carrier scheduling or the multi-carrier repetition scheduling see Yi: Fig.19; ¶[0280-0281]),
determining a size of each of the first TB portion and the second TB portion based on an amount of resources allocated for the data channel in the first carrier and the second carrier, respectively (determine transport block size (TBS) based on the first resource and second resource, where first and second resource from first and second carrier see Yi: ¶[0327]; ¶[0338]); and
communicating on the data channel with the BS based on the control information and based on the size of each of the first TB and the second TB (wireless device communicate with base station based on scheduling configuration and TBS on the first and second resource see Yi: Fig.19; ¶[0284]).
Yi does not explicitly teaches wherein the data channel comprises a first transport block (TB) spanning across the concatenated pair of carrier, the single TB comprising a first TB portion in a first carrier of the concatenated pair of carriers and a second TB portion in a second carrier of the concatenated pair of carriers.
However, Choi teaches the wherein the data channel comprises a single transport block (TB) spanning across the concatenated pair of carrier (multiple component carrier with same or different bandwidth see Choi: Fig.8; ¶[0117-0119]), the single TB comprising a first TB portion in a first carrier of the concatenated pair of carriers and a second TB portion in a second carrier of the concatenated pair of carriers (A TB includes multiple code block (CB) and form code block group (CBG) for the multiple component carriers, example: CBG#0 is corresponding to first TB portion and CBG#1 corresponding to second TB portion see Choi: Fig.11(a)-(b); ¶[0128-0131]) in order to advance mobile communication system for user’s resources/service demands (see Choi: ¶[0008]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to create the invention of modified Yi to include (or to use, etc.) the wherein the data channel comprises a first transport block (TB) spanning across the concatenated pair of carrier, the single TB comprising a first TB portion in a first carrier of the concatenated pair of carriers and a second TB portion in a second carrier of the concatenated pair of carriers as taught by Choi in order to advance mobile communication system for user’s resources/service demands (see Choi: ¶[0008]).
Regarding claim 2, the modified Yi taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Yi further teaches wherein the configuration identifies the concatenated pair of carriers in which the resources for the data channel are allocated (The DCI may indicate two uplink resources for two repetition of the TB via the first uplink carrier. The DCI may indicate one uplink resource for a repetition of the TB via the second uplink carrier as shown in FIG. 19 see Yi: Fig.19; ¶[0284]).
Regarding claim 7, the modified Yi taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Yi further teaches wherein a retransmission of the first TB portion is on the first carrier, and wherein a retransmission of the second TB portion is on the second carrier (Msg1 (multi-carrier schedule config) may include retransmission for both carriers #0 and #1 “The Msg 1 1311 may include one or more preamble transmissions (e.g., a preamble transmission and one or more preamble retransmissions” see Yi: ¶[0179]; Fig.19).
Regarding claim 8, the modified Yi taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Yi further comprising receiving other control information allocating: resources in the first carrier for a retransmission of one or more first code block groups (CBGs) of the first TB portion; and resources in the second carrier for a retransmission of one or more second CBGs of the second TB portion (A pusch-ServingCellConfig may comprise configuration parameters such as a codeBlockGroupTransmission (e.g., CBG transmission is enabled and/or configuration parameters related to CBG transmission) see Yi: ¶[0299]).
Regarding claim 9, the modified Yi taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Yi further teaches wherein communicating on the data channel comprises receiving at least one of the first TB portion or the second TB portion on one of the concatenated pair of carriers (The base station may transmit a first DCI comprising a resource assignment for a transport block, based on a HARQ process number, via an uplink carrier of a first cell. The base station may transmit a second DCI comprising a second resource assignment for the transport block, based on the HARQ process number, via a supplemental uplink carrier of the first cell see Yi: ¶[0305]).
Regarding claim 10, the modified Yi taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Yi further comprising communicating, with the BS, a HARQ message having a downlink assignment index (DAI), the DAI being incremented by one or two after each data channel transmission based on whether resources for the data channel transmission is allocated in one or both of the concatenated pair of carriers (DCI format have first and second DAI to indicate size of bit of first HARQ-ACK codebook group and/or configuration parameters indicating a plurality of HARQ-ACK codebook groups see Yi: ¶[0231]).
Regarding claim 12, the modified Yi taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Yi further comprising receiving other control information allocating resources for a retransmission of one or more code block groups (CBGs) of the at least one of the first TB portion or the second TB portion of the concatenated pair of carriers (Msg1 (multi-carrier schedule config) may include preamble retransmissions for both carriers #0 and #1 “The Msg 1 1311 may include one or more preamble transmissions (e.g., a preamble transmission and one or more preamble retransmissions” see Yi: ¶[0179]; Fig.19).
Regarding claim 13, the modified Yi taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Yi further comprising determining a size of the single TB based on an amount of resources allocated for the data channel in the concatenated pair of carriers, wherein the communication of the data channel is based on the size of at least one of the first TB portion or the second TB portion (determine transport block size (TBS) based on the first resource and second resource, where first and second resource from first and second carrier see Yi: ¶[0327]; ¶[0338]).
Regarding claim 14, the modified Yi taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Yi further comprising communicating a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) indication for at least one of the first TB portion or the second TB portion of the concatenated pair of carriers (a PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator (PDSCH-to-HARQ in FIG. 17 see Yi: ¶[0234]; Fig.17).
Regarding claim 15, the modified Yi taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Yi further comprising receiving other control information allocating resources for a retransmission of at least one of the first TB portion or the second TB portion on one or both of the concatenated pair of carriers (Msg1 (multi-carrier schedule config) may include preamble retransmissions for both carriers #0 and #1 “The Msg 1 1311 may include one or more preamble transmissions (e.g., a preamble transmission and one or more preamble retransmissions” see Yi: ¶[0179]; Fig.19).
Regarding claim 16, the modified Yi taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Yi further comprising determining a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for each of the concatenated pair of carriers, wherein the data channel is communicated in accordance with the determined MCSs (both transport blocks may include MCS “DCI format may also include MCS for second transport block in response to a max number of codewords scheduled by DCI may be configured as two” see Yi: ¶[0235]).
Regarding claim 17, the modified Yi taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Yi further comprising determining a common MCS for the concatenated pair of carriers, wherein the data channel is communicated in accordance with the determined MCSs (both transport blocks may configure same MCS “DCI format may also include MCS for second transport block in response to a max number of codewords scheduled by DCI may be configured as two” see Yi: ¶[0235]). .
Regarding claim 18, the modified Yi taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Yi further comprising performing interleaving operations for the data channel based on an interleaving configuration that is specific to each of the concatenated pair of carriers (the UE may determine a time-frequency resource for a CORESET based on RRC messages. The UE may determine a CCE-to-REG mapping (e.g., interleaved or non-interleaved, and/or mapping parameters) for the CORESET based on configuration parameters of the CORESET see Yi:¶[0202-0204]).
Regarding claim 19, Yi teaches a method for wireless communication by a base station (BS), comprising:
transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a configuration for a plurality of carriers (base station transmitting to wireless device, a multi-carrier repetition scheduling config see Yi: Fig.19; ¶[0280]);
transmitting, to the UE, control information comprising a single downlink control information (DCI) format indicating whether resources for a data channel are allocated in a concatenated pair of carriers of the plurality of carriers (receiving, from base station configurations indicating parameters may comprise/indicate a first uplink carrier (UL carrier #0) and a second uplink carrier (UL carrier #2); a multi-carrier DCI may represent a DCI based on the multi-carrier scheduling or the multi-carrier repetition scheduling see Yi: Fig.19; ¶[0280-0281]), wherein a size of each of the first TB and the second TB is based on an amount of resources allocated for the data channel in the first carrier and the second carrier (DCI indicate uplink resources in first carrier and second carrier, whether the wireless device transmits a first PUSCH (a first box via the UL Carrier #0) comprising the TB and a second PUSCH (a second box via the UL Carrier #0) comprising the TB via the first uplink carrier “The DCI may indicate two uplink resources for two repetition of the TB via the first uplink carrier. The DCI may indicate one uplink resource for a repetition of the TB via the second uplink carrier as shown in FIG. 19” see Yi: Fig.19; ¶[0284]), respectively; and
communicating on the data channel with the UE in accordance with the control information and based on the size of each of the first TB and the second TB (base station communicate with wireless device based on scheduling configuration and TBS on the first and second resource see Yi: Fig.19; ¶[0284]).
Yi does not explicitly teaches wherein the data channel comprises a first transport block (TB) spanning across the concatenated pair of carrier, the single TB comprising a first TB portion in a first carrier of the concatenated pair of carriers and a second TB portion in a second carrier of the concatenated pair of carriers.
However, Choi teaches the wherein the data channel comprises a single transport block (TB) spanning across the concatenated pair of carrier (multiple component carrier with same or different bandwidth see Choi: Fig.8; ¶[0117-0119]), the single TB comprising a first TB portion in a first carrier of the concatenated pair of carriers and a second TB portion in a second carrier of the concatenated pair of carriers (A TB includes multiple code block (CB) and form code block group (CBG) for the multiple component carriers, example: CBG#0 is corresponding to first TB portion and CBG#1 corresponding to second TB portion see Choi: Fig.11(a)-(b); ¶[0128-0131]) in order to advance mobile communication system for user’s resources/service demands (see Choi: ¶[0008]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to create the invention of modified Yi to include (or to use, etc.) the wherein the data channel comprises a first transport block (TB) spanning across the concatenated pair of carrier, the single TB comprising a first TB portion in a first carrier of the concatenated pair of carriers and a second TB portion in a second carrier of the concatenated pair of carriers as taught by Choi in order to advance mobile communication system for user’s resources/service demands (see Choi: ¶[0008]).
Regarding claim 20, claim 20 is rejected for the same reason as the method of claim 2 as set forth hereinabove.
Regarding claim 25, claim 25 is rejected for the same reason as the method of claim 8 as set forth hereinabove.
Regarding claim 26, claim 26 is rejected for the same reason as the method of claim 9 as set forth hereinabove.
Regarding claim 27, claim 27 is rejected for the same reason as the method of claim 10 as set forth hereinabove.
Regarding claim 29, claim 29 is rejected for the same reason as the method of claim 1 as set forth hereinabove. Claim 29 discloses an apparatus for wireless communication by a user equipment that perform the same functionalities as method of claim 1.
Regarding claim 30, claim 30 is rejected for the same reason as the method of claim 19 as set forth hereinabove. Claim 30 discloses an apparatus for wireless communication by a base station that perform the same functionalities as method of claim 19.
Regarding claim 31, claim 31 is rejected for the same reason as the method of claim 3 as set forth hereinabove.
Regarding claim 32, claim 32 is rejected for the same reason as the method of claim 3 as set forth hereinabove.
Regarding claim 33, the modified Yi taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Yi further teaches wherein: the size of the first TB portion is further determined based on a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) of the first carrier; the size of the second TB portion is further determined based on a MCS of the second carrier (both transport blocks may include MCS “DCI format may also include MCS for second transport block in response to a max number of codewords scheduled by DCI may be configured as two” see Yi: ¶[0235]); and the MCS of the first carrier is the same as the MCS of the second carrier (both transport blocks may configure different MCS or no MCS on the second transport block “DCI format may also include MCS for second transport block in response to a max number of codewords scheduled by DCI may be configured as two” see Yi: ¶[0235]).
Regarding claim 34, claim 34 is rejected for the same reason as the method of claim 33 as set forth hereinabove.
Regarding claim 35, claim 35 is rejected for the same reason as the method of claim 33 as set forth hereinabove.
Regarding claim 36, claim 36 is rejected for the same reason as the method of claim 33 as set forth hereinabove.
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 GUANG W LI whose telephone number is (571)270-1897. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7AM-5PMET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Avellino can be reached at (571) 272-3905. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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GUANG W. LI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2478
August 31, 2026
/GUANG W LI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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