DETAILED ACTION
This Non-Final Office Action is in response to application number 17/649,656 filed on February 1st 2022. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Applicant’s amendment filed on 11/13/2025 is acknowledged
Claims 1,2,17,18,29 and 30 have been amended.
Information Disclosure Statements
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS), submitted on August 29th 2022, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 November 13th, 2025 has been entered.
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 may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1,2,6,17,18,20,29 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Su et al. (US 20240215015 A1) in view of Andersson et al. (WO 2021071414 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Su et al. discloses a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more processors individually or collectively configured to: transmitting a capability report that indicates a capability of the UE to support transmission of a set of repetitions of an uplink transmission, comprising a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, in multi- slot transmission occasions (US20240215015 A1 Paragraph 51 discloses “ In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the method may further comprise transmitting a physical random access channel, PRACH, message to the network node, wherein the PRACH message indicates a capability of PUSCH repetition of the terminal device.” Paragraph 0209 discloses “In some embodiments, multiple Msg3 repetitions can be in contiguous or non-contiguous slots, within a radio frame or across frame border.”); Receive an indication, based at least in part on the capability report, of one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for a multi-slot transmission occasion that spans multiple slots (US20240215015 A1 FIG.5 and Paragraph 0256 disclose “At step 2a, the gNB can configure the number of Msg3 repetitions according to UE's capability of Msg3 repetition.”). transmit the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission in the multi-slot transmission occasion based at least in part on the capability report (US20240215015 A1 FIG.5 and Paragraph 0256 disclose “At step 3a, if a specific number of Msg3 repetitions is signaled or predetermined after step 2a, the UE transmits Msg3 accordingly, and the process goes to step 4a. ”).
Su et al. fail to explicitly disclose receiving an indication of a time gap between consecutive multi-slot transmission occasions to be used for repetitions of the uplink transmission.
However, in an analogous art, Andersson et al. teaches receiving an indication of a time gap between consecutive multi-slot transmission occasions to be used for repetitions of the uplink transmission (Page 23, Paragraph 4 discloses DCI signaling used to indicate time between repetitions of uplink transmissions);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Su et al. to incorporate the teachings of Andersson et al., to implement receiving an indication of a time gap between consecutive multi-slot transmission occasions to be used for repetitions of the uplink transmission, in order to leverage information from multiple transmissions and ensure success in a fast fading environment where channel conditions fluctuate rapidly between transmissions.
Regarding claim 2, Su et al. disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the (PUSCH) transmission that includes a single transport block, and wherein the multi-slot transmission occasion is a multi-slot PUSCH transmission occasion (US20240215015 A1 Paragraph 0158 discloses single slot or mutl-slot repetition through “Slot aggregation for PUSCH is supported in Release 15 and renamed to PUSCH repetition Type A in Release 16. The name PUSCH repetition Type A is used even if there is only a single repetition, i.e., no slot aggregation. ” Paragraph 0166 discloses “For UE configured with K repetitions for a transport block (TB) transmission with/without grant, the UE can continue repetitions…”).
Regarding claim 6, Su et al. disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive an indication of a number of repetitions of the uplink transmission to be transmitted by the UE (US20240215015 A1 Paragraph 027 discloses “In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the configuration of repetition of PUSCH transmission may be received in the RAR or DCI. In an embodiment, determining a number of repetitions to be used for the PUSCH transmission may comprise, when the configuration of repetition of PUSCH transmission comprises the specific number of repetitions, determining the number of repetitions to be the specific number of repetitions, and/or when the configuration of repetition of PUSCH transmission comprises the maximum number of repetitions, determining the number of repetitions to be a number not more than the maximum number of repetitions.”); and transmit the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission based at least in part on the indication of the number of repetitions discloses the , wherein each repetition of the set of repetitions of the uplink transmissions is transmitted in a different multi-slot transmission occasion (US20240215015 A1 Paragraph 0038 discloses “In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, transmitting the PUSCH may comprise determining one or more slots among K slots from a first slot for the repetitions to be used for repetitions of PUSCH transmission, wherein K represents the determined number of repetitions;”).
Regarding claim 17, a network entity for wireless communication, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more processors individually or collectively configured to: receive a capability report that indicates a capability of a user equipment (UE) to support transmission of a set of repetitions of an uplink transmission, comprising a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, in multi-slot transmission occasions ;transmit, to the UE, an indication, based at least in part on the capability report, of one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for a multi-slot transmission occasion that spans multiple slots; transmit an indication of a time gap between consecutive multi-slot transmission occasions to be used for repetitions of an uplink transmission; and receive the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission from the UE in the multi-slot transmission occasion based at least in part on the capability report. (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as that of claim 1).
Regarding claim 18, the network entity of claim 17, wherein: the (PUSCH) transmission includes a single transport block, and wherein the multi-slot transmission occasion is a multi- slot PUSCH transmission occasion; or different sets of contiguous time domain resources are non-contiguous with one another (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as that of claim 2).
Regarding claim 20, the network entity of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: transmit an indication of a number of repetitions of the uplink transmission to be transmitted by the UE; and receive the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission based at least in part on the indication of the number of repetitions, wherein each repetition of the set of repetitions of the uplink is received in a different multi-slot transmission occasion (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as that of claim 6).
Regarding claim 29, a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: transmitting a capability report that indicates a capability of the UE to support transmission of a set of repetitions of an uplink transmission, comprising a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, in multi-slot transmission occasions; receiving an indication, based at least in part on the capability report, of one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for a multi-slot transmission occasion that spans multiple slots; receiving an indication of a time gap between consecutive multi-slot transmission occasions to be used for repetitions of an uplink transmission; and transmitting the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission in the multi-slot transmission occasion based at least in part on the capability report. (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as that of claim 1).
Regarding claim 30, A method of wireless communication performed by a network entity, comprising: receiving a capability report that indicates a capability of a user equipment (UE) to support transmission of a set of repetitions of an uplink transmission, comprising a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, in multi-slot transmission occasions; transmitting, to the UE, an indication, based at least in part on the capability report, of one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for a multi-slot transmission occasion that spans multiple slots; transmitting an indication of a time gap between consecutive multi-slot transmission occasions to be used for repetitions of an uplink transmission; and receiving [[a]] the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission from the UE in the multi- slot transmission occasion based at least in part on the capability report. (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as that of claim 1).
Claims 3-5,7-16,19,21-25, and 26-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Su et al. (US 20240215015 A1) in view of Andersson et al. (WO 2021071414 A1) further in view of Vivo (R1-2007680).
Regarding claim 3,Su et al. discloses the UE of claim 1.
Su et al. fail to explicitly disclose wherein different sets of contiguous time domain resources that are non-contiguous with one another.
However, in an analogous art, Vivo teaches wherein different sets of contiguous time domain resources that are non-contiguous with one another (Section 2.3 Paragraph 2 and FIG. 4A disclose contiguous and non-contiguous time domain resources. PUSCH time domain resources within slot #1 are contiguous and PUSCH time domain resources within slot #2 are also contiguous. However, PUSCH time domain resources between Slot #1 and Slot#2 and not-contiguous with one another).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Su et al. to incorporate the teachings of Vivo, to implement different sets of contiguous time domain resources that are non-contiguous with one another, in order to allow for greater flexibility and better utilization of the available radio spectrum.
Regarding claim 4,Su et al. discloses the UE of claim 1.
Su et al. fail to explicitly disclose wherein the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion consists of a single set of contiguous time domain resources that span one or more contiguous slots.
However, in an analogous art, Vivo teaches wherein the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion consists of a single set of contiguous time domain resources that span one or more contiguous slots (Section 2.3 Paragraph 2 and FIG. 4b discloses a single set of contiguous time domain resources that span 2 contiguous slots).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Su et al. to incorporate the teachings of Vivo, to implement one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion that consists of a single set of contiguous time domain resources that span one or more contiguous slots, in order to improve efficiency, reliability and data throughput through aggregation.
Regarding claim 5, Su et al. discloses the UE of claim 1,
Su et al. fail to disclose wherein the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion comprises multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources, wherein each set of contiguous time domain resources spans one or more contiguous slots, and wherein different sets of contiguous time domain resources are not contiguous with one another.
However, in an analogous art, Vivo teaches wherein the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion comprises multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources, wherein each set of contiguous time domain resources spans one or more contiguous slots, and wherein different sets of contiguous time domain resources are not contiguous with one another (Section 2.3 Paragraph 2 and FIG. 4a disclose two sets of contiguous time domain resources whereby each set of contiguous time domain resources spans one slot and wherein different set of contiguous time domain resources are not contiguous).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Su et al. to incorporate the teachings of Vivo, to implement one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion comprises multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources, wherein each set of contiguous time domain resources spans one or more contiguous slots, and wherein different sets of contiguous time domain resources are not contiguous with one another, in order to improve efficiency, reliability and data throughput through aggregation and allow for greater flexibility and better utilization of the available radio spectrum.
Regarding claim 7, Su et al. discloses the UE of claim 1.
Su et al. fail to disclose wherein the indication of the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion includes a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) for the multi-slot transmission occasion.
However, in an analogous art, Vivo teaches wherein the indication of the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion includes a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) for the multi-slot transmission occasion (Section 2.3 Paragraph 2 discloses TDRA in multi-slot PUSCH whereby the additional field to indicate time domain resources of multi slot PUSCH can be limited).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Su et al. to incorporate the teachings of Vivo, to implement the indication of the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion includes a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) for the multi-slot transmission occasion, in order to enable the network to allocate resources optimally and reliably.
Regarding claim 8, Su et al. discloses the UE of claim 7.
Su et al. fail to disclose wherein the TDRA is indicated using a first value that indicates a starting slot of the multi- slot transmission occasion, a second value that indicates a length of the multi-slot transmission occasion and a third value that indicates a quantity of slots associated with the multi-slot transmission occasion.
However, in an analogous art, Vivo teaches wherein the TDRA is indicated using a first value that indicates a starting slot of the multi- slot transmission occasion (Section 2.3 Paragraph 1 discloses the starting symbol) a second value that indicates a length of the multi-slot transmission occasion (Section 2.3 Paragraph 1 discloses the length of the PUSCH) and a third value that indicates a quantity of slots associated with the multi-slot transmission occasion (Section 2.3 Paragraph 1 discloses TDRA over 2 slots ).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Su et al. to incorporate the teachings of Vivo, to implement wherein the TDRA is indicated using a first value that indicates a starting slot of the multi- slot transmission occasion, a second value that indicates a length of the multi-slot transmission occasion and a third value that indicates a quantity of slots associated with the multi-slot transmission occasion, in order to enable the network to allocate resources optimally and reliably.
Regarding claim 9, Su et al. discloses the UE of claim 8.
Su et al. fail to disclose wherein the first value that indicates the starting slot includes a slot index relative to a reference slot, and wherein the reference slot is a slot in which an uplink grant for the uplink transmission is received or the reference slot is a slot indicated in an uplink grant as a starting slot of the multi-slot transmission occasion.
However, in an analogous art, Vivo teaches wherein the first value that indicates the starting slot includes a slot index relative to a reference slot, and wherein the reference slot is a slot in which an uplink grant for the uplink transmission is received or the reference slot is a slot indicated in an uplink grant as a starting slot of the multi-slot transmission occasion (Section 2.3 Paragraph 2 discloses that the UE determines the UL resources over multiple slots based on indicated starting symbol. This shows that the starting symbol is indicated in the grant).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Su et al. to incorporate the teachings of Vivo, to implement wherein the first value that indicates the starting slot includes a slot index relative to a reference slot, and wherein the reference slot is a slot in which an uplink grant for the uplink transmission is received or the reference slot is a slot indicated in an uplink grant as a starting slot of the multi-slot transmission occasion, in order to enable the network to allocate resources optimally and reliably.
Regarding claim 10, Su et al. disclose the UE of claim 1.
Su et al. fail to disclose wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: transmit the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission based at least in part on the indication of the time gap, wherein each repetition of the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission is transmitted in a different multi-slot transmission occasion.
However, in an analogous art, Vivo teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: transmit the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission based at least in part on the indication of the time gap, wherein each repetition of the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission is transmitted in a different multi-slot transmission occasion (Section 2.3 and Figure 4(a) discloses the transmission of a repetition set with S=0 and L=10, whereby each repetition set is transmitted in a different slot, slot #1 for the first repetition and slot #2 for the second repetition).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Su et al. to incorporate the teachings of Vivo, to implement wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: transmit the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission based at least in part on the indication of the time gap, wherein each repetition of the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission is transmitted in a different multi-slot transmission occasion, in order to improve the network reliability and the network performance.
Regarding claim 11, sue et al. disclose the UE of claim 10.
Su et al. fail to disclose wherein: the time gap is indicated using a periodicity or an offset; the time gap is indicated as a number of symbols or a number of slots; the time gap indicates a gap between an end of one multi-slot transmission occasion and a beginning of a next consecutive multi-slot transmission occasion; or the time gap indicates a gap between a beginning of one multi-slot transmission occasion and a beginning of a next consecutive multi-slot transmission occasion.
However, in an analogous art, Andersson et al. teaches wherein: the time gap is indicated using a periodicity or an offset; the time gap is indicated as a number of symbols or a number of slots (Page 21 Paragraph 8 discloses that the time gap can be indicated as slots or symbols); the time gap indicates a gap between an end of one multi-slot transmission occasion and a beginning of a next consecutive multi-slot transmission occasion (Page 21, Paragraph 8 discloses the time gap as the time between repetitions, this is the equivalent of the time between one multi-slot transmission and the beginning of the next multi-slot transmission); or the time gap indicates a gap between a beginning of one multi-slot transmission occasion and a beginning of a next consecutive multi-slot transmission occasion.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Su et al. to incorporate the teachings of Andersson et al., to implement wherein: the time gap is indicated using a periodicity or an offset; the time gap is indicated as a number of symbols or a number of slots; the time gap indicates a gap between an end of one multi-slot transmission occasion and a beginning of a next consecutive multi-slot transmission occasion, in order to leverage information from multiple transmissions and ensure success in a fast fading environment where channel conditions fluctuate rapidly between transmissions.
Regarding claim 12, Su et al. discloses the UE of claim 1.
Su et al. fail to disclose wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission, wherein each repetition of the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission is transmitted in a different multi-slot transmission occasion.
However, in an analogous art, Vivo teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission, wherein each repetition of the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission is transmitted in a different multi-slot transmission occasion (Section 2.1 Paragraph 1 discloses PUSCH repetition type A, where scheduling is based on the slot and each slot corresponds to a different repetition. This is evident as it is proposed to increase the number repetitions, in order achieve actual number of repetitions to equal to the configured number of repetitions thus illustrating the relationship between repetitions and distinct slots).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Su et al. to incorporate the teachings of Vivo, to implement wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission, wherein each repetition of the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission is transmitted in a different multi-slot transmission occasion, in order to achieve time diversity and manage resources more effectively.
Regarding claim 13, Su et al. disclose the UE of claim 12.
Su et al. fail to disclose wherein: a single redundancy version index is used for the multi-slot transmission occasion, and wherein different redundancy version indexes are used for different multi-slot transmission occasions; or a single redundancy version index is used for all symbols in a single slot included in the multiple slots of the multi-slot transmission occasion, and wherein different redundancy version indexes are used for different slots included in the multiple slots of the multi-slot transmission occasion
However, in an analogous art, Vivo teaches wherein: a single redundancy version index is used for the multi-slot transmission occasion, and wherein different redundancy version indexes are used for different multi-slot transmission occasions; or a single redundancy version index is used for all symbols in a single slot included in the multiple slots of the multi-slot transmission occasion, and wherein different redundancy version indexes are used for different slots included in the multiple slots of the multi-slot transmission occasion (Section 2.2 Paragraph 2 and FIG. 1. disclose and depict the latter portion of the above limitation. Here RV cycling is used with type B multi-slot transmission, where the first slot is allocated a value RV=0, the second slot is allocated a value RV=2 and consecutive slots are allocated values of RV=3 and RV=1 respectively. Here a single redundancy version value is used for all symbols in a single slot of the multi-slot transmission occasion, here it is also evident that different RV values are assigned to different slots of the multi-slot transmission).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Su et al. to incorporate the teachings of Vivo, to implement wherein: a single redundancy version index is used for the multi-slot transmission occasion, and wherein different redundancy version indexes are used for different multi-slot transmission occasions; or a single redundancy version index is used for all symbols in a single slot included in the multiple slots of the multi-slot transmission occasion, and wherein different redundancy version indexes are used for different slots included in the multiple slots of the multi-slot transmission occasion, in order to optimize efficiency and reliability of data retransmissions.
Regarding claim 14, Su et al discloses the UE of claim 12.
Su et al. fail to disclose wherein the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion comprises multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources, and wherein a single redundancy version index is used for a set of contiguous time domain resources of the multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources, and wherein different redundancy version indexes are used for different sets of contiguous time domain resources included in the multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources.
However, in an analogous art, Vivo teaches wherein the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion comprises multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources (Section 2.3 FIG. 4a discloses the contiguous time domain resources for multi-slot transmission), and wherein a single redundancy version index is used for a set of contiguous time domain resources of the multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources, and wherein different redundancy version indexes are used for different sets of contiguous time domain resources included in the multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources ( The latter portion of this claim is rejected on the same grounds of rejection as that of claim 13. Here again the same RV value is allocated to a set of contiguous time domain resources of the multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources and different RV values are allocated to different sets of contiguous time domain resources included in the multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Su et al. to incorporate the teachings of Vivo, to implement wherein the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion comprises multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources, and wherein a single redundancy version index is used for a set of contiguous time domain resources of the multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources, and wherein different redundancy version indexes are used for different sets of contiguous time domain resources included in the multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources, in order to optimize efficiency and reliability of data retransmissions.
Regarding claim 15, Su et al. discloses the UE of claim 1.
Su et al. fail to disclose wherein: a same redundancy version (RV) cycling pattern is applied for inter-transmission occasion RV cycling and for intra-transmission occasion RV cycling, wherein inter- transmission occasion RV cycling comprises cycling an RV index across multi-slot transmission occasions, and intra- transmission occasion RV cycling comprises cycling an RV index within a single multi-slot transmission occasion; or a first redundancy version (RV) cycling pattern is applied to inter-transmission occasion RV cycling and a second RV cycling pattern is applied to intra-transmission occasion RV cycling, wherein the first RV cycling pattern is different from the second RV cycling pattern, wherein inter-transmission occasion RV cycling comprises cycling an RV index across multi- slot transmission occasions, and intra- transmission occasion RV cycling comprises cycling an RV index within a single multi-slot transmission occasion.
However, in an analogous art, Vivo teaches wherein: a same redundancy version (RV) cycling pattern is applied for inter-transmission occasion RV cycling and for intra-transmission occasion RV cycling, wherein inter- transmission occasion RV cycling comprises cycling an RV index across multi-slot transmission occasions, and intra- transmission occasion RV cycling comprises cycling an RV index within a single multi-slot transmission occasion; or a first redundancy version (RV) cycling pattern is applied to inter-transmission occasion RV cycling and a second RV cycling pattern is applied to intra-transmission occasion RV cycling, wherein the first RV cycling pattern is different from the second RV cycling pattern, wherein inter-transmission occasion RV cycling comprises cycling an RV index across multi- slot transmission occasions, and intra- transmission occasion RV cycling comprises cycling an RV index within a single multi-slot transmission occasion (With regards to the latter limitation in relation to inter-transmission occasion, Section 2.2 Paragraph 2 discloses that different RV values are assigned to different slots of the multi-slot transmission. With regards to the latter limitation in relation to intra-transmission occasion, Section 2.2 Paragraph 9 through proposal 2 indicates that enhanced RV solutions require new rules of determining RV for each repetition).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Su et al. to incorporate the teachings of Vivo, to implement a first redundancy version (RV) cycling pattern is applied to inter-transmission occasion RV cycling and a second RV cycling pattern is applied to intra-transmission occasion RV cycling, wherein the first RV cycling pattern is different from the second RV cycling pattern, in order to optimize efficiency and reliability of data retransmissions.
Regarding claim 16, Su et al. disclose the UE of claim 1.
Su et al. fail to disclose wherein: the indication of the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion is included in downlink control information or an uplink grant for the uplink transmission; or the indication of the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion is included in a radio resource control (RRC) configuration message.
However, in an analogous art, Vivo teaches wherein: the indication of the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion is included in downlink control information or an uplink grant for the uplink transmission; (Section 2.3 Paragraph 2 and FIG. 4 discloses the additional field to indicate time domain resources of multi-slot PUSCH. Additionally depicted is the allocation of contiguous time domain resources over multiple slots); or the indication of the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion is included in a radio resource control (RRC) configuration message.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Su et al. to incorporate the teachings of Vivo, to implement the indication of the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion is included in downlink control information or an uplink grant for the uplink transmission; in order to optimize resource utilization.
Regarding claim 19, the network entity of claim 17, wherein: the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion consists of a single set of contiguous time domain resources that span one or more contiguous slots; or the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion comprises multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources, wherein each set of contiguous time domain resources spans one or more contiguous slots, and wherein different sets of contiguous time domain resources are not contiguous with one another (The latter limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as that of claim 5).
Regarding claim 21, the network entity of claim 17, wherein the indication of the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion includes a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) for the multi-slot transmission occasion (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as that of claim 7).
Regarding claim 22, the network entity of claim 21, wherein: the TDRA is indicated using a first value that indicates a starting slot of the multi- slot transmission occasion, a second value that indicates a length of the multi-slot transmission occasion, and a third value that indicates a quantity of slots associated with the multi-slot transmission occasion (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as that of claim 8).
Regarding claim 23, the network entity of claim 22, wherein the first value that indicates the starting slot includes a slot index relative to a reference slot, and wherein the reference slot is a slot in which an uplink grant for the uplink transmission is received or the reference slot is a slot indicated in an uplink grant as a starting slot of the multi-slot transmission occasion (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as that of claim 9).
Regarding claim 24, the network entity of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission based at least in part on the indication of the time gap, wherein each repetition of the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission is received in a different multi-slot transmission occasion (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as that of claim 10).
Regarding claim 25, the network entity of claim 24, wherein: the time gap is indicated using a periodicity or an offset; the time gap is indicated as a number of symbols or a number of slots; the time gap indicates a gap between an end of one multi-slot transmission occasion and a beginning of a next consecutive multi-slot transmission occasion; or the time gap indicates a gap between a beginning of one multi-slot transmission occasion and a beginning of a next consecutive multi-slot transmission occasion (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as that of claim 11).
Regarding claim 26, the network entity of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive a set of repetitions of the uplink transmission, wherein each repetition of the set of repetitions of the uplink transmission is received in a different multi-slot transmission occasion, wherein: a single redundancy version index is used for the multi-slot transmission occasion, and wherein different redundancy version indexes are used for different multi-slot transmission occasions; or a single redundancy version index is used for all symbols in a single slot included in the multiple slots of the multi-slot transmission occasion, and wherein different redundancy version indexes are used for different slots included in the multiple slots of the multi-slot transmission occasion (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as that of claim 12).
Regarding claim 27, the network entity of claim 26, wherein the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion comprises multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources, and wherein a single redundancy version index is used for a set of contiguous time domain resources of the multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources, and wherein different redundancy version indexes are used for different sets of contiguous time domain resources included in the multiple sets of contiguous time domain resources (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as that of claim 14).
Regarding claim 28, the network entity of claim 17, wherein: a same redundancy version (RV) cycling pattern is applied for inter-transmission occasion RV cycling and for intra-transmission occasion RV cycling, wherein inter- transmission occasion RV cycling comprises cycling an RV index across multi-slot transmission occasions, and intra- transmission occasion RV cycling comprises cycling an RV index within a single multi-slot transmission occasion; a first RV cycling pattern is applied to inter-transmission occasion RV cycling and a second RV cycling pattern is applied to intra-transmission occasion RV cycling, wherein the first RV cycling pattern is different from the second RV cycling pattern, wherein inter- transmission occasion RV cycling comprises cycling an RV index across multi-slot transmission occasions, and intra- transmission occasion RV cycling comprises cycling an RV index within a single multi-slot transmission occasion; the indication of the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion is included in downlink control information or an uplink grant for the uplink transmission; or the indication of the one or more sets of contiguous time domain resources for the multi-slot transmission occasion is included in a radio resource control (RRC) configuration message (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as that of claim 15 and 16).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Samuel Dilan Rutnam whose telephone number is 703-756-1374. The examiner can normally be reached between 8:30am-5:00pm Mon-Fri.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached on 571-272-8586.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR.
Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/Samuel Dilan Rutnam/
Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/MOHAMMAD S ADHAMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471