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 Amendment/Remarks
This communication is considered fully responsive to the amendment filed on 09/22/2025.
Claims 1-30 are pending and are examined in this office action.
No claim has been amended.
No new claim has been added and no claim have been canceled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 09/22/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s Argument:
Applicant argues in substance “Myung in view of Kundu, and further in view of Wang fails to teach or suggest each and every element of the claims. I. Myung in view of Kundu, further in view of Wang fails to teach or suggest "determining a lowest RB index for the PUCCH transmission based, at least in part, on the PUCCH resource index, a physical resource block (PRB) offset for the PUCCH transmission, and the number of RBs parameter" as recited in independent claim 1.”
“Applicant respectfully submits that the relied upon teachings of Wang are not prior art because they are not described in the underlying foreign patent application of Wang.
"For prior art determinations ... the provisional or other earlier application(s) to which the reference patent document claims a right of priority or benefit must 'describe[] the subject matter' relied upon in the reference patent document as prior art."7"AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(d) requires that a prior-filed application to which a priority or benefit claim is made must describe the subject matter from the U.S. patent document relied upon in a rejection." g
The pending application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application 63/242,444 filed on September 9, 2021, to U.S. Provisional Application 63/192,498 filed on May 24, 2021, and to U.S. Provisional Application 63/250,974 filed on September 30, 2021.
Wang published April 8, 2025, and was filed January 14, 2022, after the priority of the pending application. Thus, the Office relies on the foreign application priority of Wang to predate the priority of the pending application. Wang claims priority to CN Application No. 202110051042.8 filed on January 14,2021. ”
“The CN Application No. 202110051042.8 does not describe any of the material relied upon in FIG. 6, Column 21, lines 20-25, and claims 1 and 9 of Wang. For example, the CN Application No. 202110051042.8 is completely silent regarding the NRB parameter, much less determining a lowest RB index for the PUCCH transmission based, at least in part, on the PUCCH resource index, a physical resource block (PRB) offset for the PUCCH transmission, and the number of RBs parameter as recited in claim 1. Accordingly, because the CN Application No. 202110051042.8 does not support the relied upon teachings of Wang, Wang cannot be relied upon as prior to the pending claims.”: : (See REMARKS).
Examiner’s Response:
The examiner respectfully disagrees. WANG et al. (US 12273890 B2, hereinafter “WANG”) has “foreign Application Priority Date as “CN 202110051042.8 Application File 2021-01-14”. The examiner attached a English copy of this document “CN 202110051042 A
FILED ON 14-Jan-2021” which has publication Number as “Publication Number: CN 114765867 A PUBLISHED ON 19-Jul-2022”.
Per CN CN114765867A (attached, hereinafter, “WANG5867”) of WANG, Fig. 6 (which is also cited in the original rejection ), “Fig. 6 shows a flowchart of a transmission method of a PUCCH according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The
method comprises the following steps: In step 301: the UE determines a PUCCH resource set of a serving cell”; ” in step 302: the UE determines a PUCCH resource according to the PUCCH resource index indicated by the base station and the PUCCH resource set of the serving cell;
in step 303: the UE transmits the PUCCH on the determined PUCCH resource.” (Page 22);
Aforesaid “UE determines the PUCCH resource set of the cell based on the PUCCH resource set and a row index of the PUCCH resource set indicated in the system information (e.g., the row index in table 2 is indicated by PUCCH-resource common), including determining a PUCCH format of the PUCCH resource, a position of a first symbol (a symbol index of a starting symbol), the number of symbols, a frequency domain starting Physical
Resource Block (PRB) offset, an initial Cyclic Shift (CS) index set. The set of PUCCH resources for the cell is common to the cell. UE indexes r through PUCCH resources PUCCH(e.g., through PDCCH or PUCCH resource index, PRI indicated by Msg 2 PDSCH), one
PUCCH resource that can be used by itself is determined from the PUCCH resource set of the cell. In the present application, PUCCH resource set and PUCCH resource set tables may be used interchangeably.” (Page 22)
Thus claim limitation as written, clearly is taught by cited prior art WANG (US Patent 12273890 B2) and it’s priority document WANG5867 teaches the claim features .
Regarding all dependent claims: the applicant alleges that all dependent claims are allowable since they depend from all the independent claims above. The examiner respectfully disagrees in view of the above explanation of independent claims. Thus the rejection is deemed proper.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-9, 12-20, 24 , are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening 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.
Claims 1-6, 10-11, 21-23, 25-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MYUNG et al. (US 20230319827 A1; hereinafter as “MYUNG ”, which is foreign priority dated June 15, 2021) in view of KUNDU et al. (US 20210029731 A1; hereinafter as “KUNDU”; provided in IDS) and further in view of Wang et al. (US Patent 12273890 B2; hereinafter as “Wang”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to MYUNG unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 1, MYUNG teaches, A method for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE) (fig. 12: UE) (see fig. 10, fig. 12: Method), comprising:
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receiving information indicating a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource set and a number of resource blocks (RBs) parameter (see fig. 10, fig. 12 ; UE receives from BS PUCCH resource set and number of RBs parameters: “ UE may receive information related to the number of RBs for a PUCCH (S1001) ”: [0166]; “Referring to FIG. 12, the BS may transmit information related to the number of RBs for a PUCCH to the UE (S1201). Details on the type of the information and/or content included in the information may be based on at least one of [Proposed Method #1] to [Proposed Method #4], or [Proposed Method #6]. ”: [0173]; “ [Proposed Method #1]”; ; “A method of configuring/indicating N.sub.RB, which is the number of RBs to be used for PUCCH format 0/1 transmission of an initial PUCCH resource, will now be described in consideration of regulatory requirements, such as a PSD limit and a maximum output power limit, the number of available RBs in a BWP, the number of resources constituting an initial PUCCH resource set, UE multiplexing, and multiplexing between other adjacent cells through a PRB offset. ”: [0176]-[0178]; “In order to transmit UCI through a PUCCH, the UE may receive a dedicated PUCCH resource configuration. This dedicated PUCCH resource configuration may include information about a PUCCH resource set. The information about the PUCCH resource set may include, for example, N PUCCH resources, a PUCCH format for each of the N PUCCH resources, a starting symbol, a PUCCH resource duration, a physical resource block (PRB) offset, and a cyclic shift (CS) ”: [0142]-[0146]);
receiving downlink control information (DCI) in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the DCI containing a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) (“Upon receiving downlink control information (DCI) scheduling a PDSCH and transmitting HARQ-ACK through the PUCCH as a response to the DCI, the UE may determine any one of 16 PUCCH resources included in the PUCCH resource set to transmit HARQ-ACK through the determined PUCCH resource ”: [0146]; “For example, the UE determines an index of a PUCCH resource, based on the number of control channel elements (CCEs) in a control resource set (CORESET) of a PDCCH including the DCI scheduling the PDSCH, an index of the first CCE of the PDCCH, and a value of a PUCCH resource indicator field (==PRI value in claim ) included in the DCI….. Then, the UE may transmit HARQ-ACK through a PUCCH resource corresponding to the determined index. ”: [0147]-148]);
determining a PUCCH resource from the PUCCH resource set for a PUCCH transmission (“UE may determine any one of 16 PUCCH resources included in the PUCCH resource set to transmit HARQ-ACK through the determined PUCCH resource…. .. aforesaid “UE may transmit HARQ-ACK through a PUCCH resource corresponding to the determined index. ”: [0146]; “ The UE may determine an index of a physical resource block (PRB) for PUCCH transmission, based on a PRB offset of the PUCCH resource set corresponding to the acquired index of the PUCCH resource set, the index of the PUCCH resource set, the number of initial CS indexes included in a set of initial CS indexes, and a BWP size. ”: [0143], [0147]-[0149]),
transmitting the PUCCH transmission using the PUCCH resource (see fig. 10: element S1005 “ ” The UE may determine a PUCCH resource based on the number of RBs and a PRB offset (S1003). A detailed method of determining the PUCCH resource by the UE may be based on at least one of [Proposed Method #2] or [Proposed Method #5].
[0168] The UE may transmit the PUCCH through the determined PUCCH resource (S1005)”: [0167]-[0168]; “UE may determine a PUCCH resource based on the number of RBs and a PRB offset (S1203). A detailed method of determining the PUCCH resource by the UE may be based on at least one of [Proposed Method #2] or [Proposed Method #5].
[0175] The UE may transmit the PUCCH to the BS through the determined PUCCH resource (S1205).”: [0174]-[0175]).
While MYUNG teaches “determining a PUCCH resource from the PUCCH resource set for a PUCCH transmission”,
MYUNG does not expressively teach:
wherein the determining includes: determining a PUCCH resource index based, at least in part, on the PRI;
determining a lowest RB index for the PUCCH transmission based, at least in part, on the PUCCH resource index, a physical resource bloc (PRB) offset for the PUCCH transmission and the number of RBs parameter;
and determining an initial cyclic shift (CS) for the PUCCH transmission based, at least in part, on the PUCCH resource index and the number of RBs parameter.
KUNDU, in the same field of endeavor, discloses:
wherein the determining includes: determining a PUCCH resource index based, at least in part, on the PRI (see fig. 5: UE 502; determines PUCCH resource Index based on PRI value: “PRI is a value of the PUCCH resource indicator field in the DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1, which may be 3 bits). The 3 bit PUCCH resource indicator in the DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1) and starting CCE index (for 1-bit) is used to derive PUCCH resource index ”: [0031]; “ UE 502 determines a PUCCH resource with index r.sub.PUCCH, 0≤r.sub.PUCCH≤15, as
[00001]𝑟PUCCH=.Math.2.Math.𝑛CCE,0𝑁CCE.Math.+2.Math.𝛥𝑃.Math.𝑅.Math.𝐼
where N.sub.CCE Sa number of CCEs in a control resource set (CORESET) of a PDCCH reception with the DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 11), as described in Subclause 10.1 of [TS38213]; n.sub.CCE,0 is the index of a first Control Channel Element (CCE) for the PDCCH reception, and/or n.sub.CCE,0 is a starting CCE ndex for the detected PDCCH in CORESET 0; and Δ.sub.PRI is a value of the PUCCH resource indicator field in the DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1, which may be 3 bits). ..”: [0031]-[0034]; TABLE 1; See table 1 WHERE lowest RB Index for PUCCH transmission: [0057]-[0060]);
and determining an initial cyclic shift (CS) for the PUCCH transmission based, at least in part, on the PUCCH resource index and the number of RBs parameter (“The PUCCH resource set includes sixteen resources, each corresponding to a PUCCH format, a first symbol, a duration, a PRB offset RB.sub.BWP.sup.offset, and a cyclic shift index set for a PUCCH transmission. ”: [0028]; “ In some embodiments, PRB indices, hopping direction and initial CS index are determined from PUCCH resource index r.sub.PUCCH. PRB indices (in 1.sup.st and 2.sup.nd frequency hops) are functions of PRB offset (RB.sub.BWP.sup.offset), total number of cyclic shift indices in the cyclic shift index set (N.sub.CS) and PUCCH resource index r.sub.PUCCH. Initial cyclic shift index in the set of initial cyclic shift indexes is a function of r.sub.PUCCH and N.sub.CS. ”: [0035]; “ UE 502 determines the initial cyclic shift index in the set of initial cyclic shift indexes as r.sub.PUCCH modN.sub.CS”: [0037]-[0044]; [0263]).
Therefore, 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 teaching of MYUNG to include the above recited limitations as taught by KUNDU. The suggestion/motivation would be to allow cellular network operators to offload some of their data traffic by accessing the unlicensed frequency band used by IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) networks and allow to enable cellular network operators to offer higher speeds to end-users through the aggregation of unlicensed spectrum with licensed spectrum. Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) adheres to requirements of the listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. (KUNDU; [0003]).
The combination of MYUNG and KUNDU does not expressively disclose:
determining a lowest RB index for the PUCCH transmission based, at least in part, on the PUCCH resource index, a physical resource bloc (PRB) offset for the PUCCH transmission and the number of RBs parameter.
Wang, in the same field of endeavor, discloses:
determining a lowest RB index for the PUCCH transmission based, at least in part, on the PUCCH resource index, a physical resource bloc (PRB) offset for the PUCCH transmission and the number of RBs parameter (see fig. 6 element S601; where UE determines PUCCH resource set of the serving cell; “ UE determines the resource set of the serving cell.”: Col. 21 lines 20-25; “… wherein a lowest physical resource block (PRB) for the PUCCH is determined based on RB.sub.BWP.sup.offset and └r.sub.PUCCH/N.sub.CS┘.Math.N.sub.RB, where: RB.sub.BWP.sup.offset is a PRB offset associated with a bandwidth part (BWP), r.sub.PUCCH is an index associated with a PUCCH resource, N.sub.CS is a total number of initial cyclic shift indexes in a set of initial cyclic shift indexes, and N.sub.RB is the number of RBs “(==the number of RBs parameters).claim 1; claim 9).
Therefore, 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 teaching of MYUNG in view of KUNDU to include the above recited limitations as taught by Wang. The suggestion/motivation would be to convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology. (Wang; [Col. 2 lines 5-15]).
Regarding claim 2, MYUNG in view of KUNDU, Wang teaches the invention of claim 1 as set forth above. Further, MYUNG teaches, the method of claim 1, wherein receiving the information comprises receiving a broadcast system information block (SIB) type 1 message containing: the PUCCH resource index indicating a common resource set from a plurality of common resource sets; and the number of RBs parameter ( “ The PUCCH may be based on PUCCH format 0 or PUCCH format 1.The information may be received through a system information block (SIB).”: [0007]-[0008]; “he BS may indicate/configure N.sub.RB of PUCCH Format 0/1 (PF0/1) transmitted through the initial PUCCH resource to/for the UE through a higher layer signal such as an RACH configuration parameter in SIB1 (or RMSI). ”: [0246]).
Regarding claim 3, MYUNG in view of KUNDU, Wang, teaches the invention of claim 2 as set forth above. Further, KUNDU teaches, The method of claim 2, wherein the PUCCH resource index points to a row in a table mapping to a PUCCH format for the PUCCH transmission, a first symbol for the PUCCH transmission, a number of symbols for the PUCCH transmission, the PRB offset for the PUCCH transmission, and a set of initial CS indexes for the PUCCH transmission ([0082]-[0084] , [0100]-[0107] TABLE 1).
Therefore, 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 teaching of MYUNG , WANG to include the above recited limitations as taught by KUNDU. The suggestion/motivation would be to allow cellular network operators to offload some of their data traffic by accessing the unlicensed frequency band used by IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) networks and allow to enable cellular network operators to offer higher speeds to end-users through the aggregation of unlicensed spectrum with licensed spectrum. Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) adheres to requirements of the listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. (KUNDU; [0003]).
Regarding claim 4, MYUNG in view of KUNDU, WANG teaches the invention of claim 3 as set forth above. Further, KUNDU teaches, The method of claim 3, wherein determining the PUCCH resource index control channel element (CCE) of the PDCCH, NccEois a number of CCEs in a control resource set (CORESET) in which the PDCCH is detected, and APRI is a value of the PRI in the DCI (see the equation in paragraph [0034]) .
Therefore, 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 teaching of MYUNG, WANG to include the above recited limitations as taught by KUNDU. The suggestion/motivation would be to allow cellular network operators to offload some of their data traffic by accessing the unlicensed frequency band used by IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) networks and allow to enable cellular network operators to offer higher speeds to end-users through the aggregation of unlicensed spectrum with licensed spectrum. Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) adheres to requirements of the listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. (KUNDU; [0003]).
Regarding claim 5, MYUNG in view of KUNDU, WANG teaches the invention of claim 3 as set forth above. Further, KUNDU teaches, The method of claim 3, wherein the number of RBs parameter indicates a number of RBs for a multiple RB PUCCH format 0 transmission or a multiple RB PUCCH format 1 transmission (“Embodiment 1-1: Using PUCCH Formats 0 and 1. “ In embodiments, PUCCH resource set before RRC connection set up can be configured using existing PUCCH formats used in NR-licensed operation, e.g., PUCCH formats 0 and 1 which are inherently single-PRB (each PRB consisting of 12 sub-carriers) PUCCH formats. Both these single-PRB PUCCH formats can be enhanced to multiple PRBs (e.g., n PRBs) so that OCB requirement is met. Further, these n PRBs can be allocated contiguously in frequency, where: n≥[{OCB/(12*SCS)}].”: [0077]-[0078]).
Therefore, 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 teaching of MYUNG, WANG to include the above recited limitations as taught by KUNDU. The suggestion/motivation would be to allow cellular network operators to offload some of their data traffic by accessing the unlicensed frequency band used by IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) networks and allow to enable cellular network operators to offer higher speeds to end-users through the aggregation of unlicensed spectrum with licensed spectrum. Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) adheres to requirements of the listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. (KUNDU; [0003]).
Regarding claim 6, MYUNG in view of KUNDU, WANG teaches the invention of claim 5 as set forth above. Further, KUNDU teaches, the method of claim 5, wherein determining the lowest RB index is based on the PUCCH resource index, the PRB offset, a number of CSs in the set of initial CSs, and the number of RBs for the multiple RB PUCCH transmission ([0033]-[0034] TABLE 1).
Therefore, 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 teaching of MYUNG , WANG to include the above recited limitations as taught by KUNDU. The suggestion/motivation would be to allow cellular network operators to offload some of their data traffic by accessing the unlicensed frequency band used by IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) networks and allow to enable cellular network operators to offer higher speeds to end-users through the aggregation of unlicensed spectrum with licensed spectrum. Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) adheres to requirements of the listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. (KUNDU; [0003]).
Regarding claim 10, MYUNG in view of KUNDU, WANG teaches the invention of claim 5 as set forth above. Further, MYUNG teaches, the method of claim 2, further comprising determining one or more invalid PUCCH resources in the PUCCH resource set (invalid PUCCH resource due to overlap of resources : [0221]-[0022]).
Regarding claim 11, MYUNG in view of KUNDU, WANG teaches the invention of claim 10 as set forth above. Further, MYUNG teaches, the method of claim 10, wherein determining the one or more invalid PUCCH resources comprises: for a PUCCH resource index smaller than eight, determining PUCCH resources as invalid that occupy a RB with an index larger than the index of a center RB of a system bandwidth; and for a PUCCH resource index equal to or larger than eight, determining PUCCH resources as invalid that occupy a RB with an index smaller than the index of the center RB of the system bandwidth (“Accordingly, as in Embodiment #2-2, the PRB offset may be configured to support coexistence between intercells in the form of partial FDM rather than full FDM. For example, in the case of indexes 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, and 14 of [Table 8], if the PRB offset is configured in the form of not 2*N.sub.RB or 4*N.sub.RB, but 1*N.sub.RB or 2*N.sub.RB (i.e., k=0.5), the BS may preferentially use only non-overlapped resources although there are some overlapped resources are present between intercells. For invalid PUCCH resources due to overlap of resources, the BS may add a starting symbol or further consider an OCC index, thereby securing resources. In this case, invalid resources may be present due to overlapped resources between intercells. ”: [0221]).
Regarding claim 21, MYUNG in view of KUNDU, WANG teaches the invention of claim 2 as set forth above. Further, KUNDU teaches, The method of claim 2, wherein the PUCCH resource is a common PUCCH resource is used for PUCCH transmission before dedicated radio resource control (RRC) configuration ( “In the above context, the present disclosure discusses potential enhancements of resource allocation to NR PUCCH during initial access, for example, before RRC connection setup to meet the regulatory requirements in unlicensed spectrum. ”: [0015]; [0025]-[0027], “ PUCCH resource set before RRC connection set up can be configured using existing PUCCH formats used in NR-licensed operation, ”: [0078], [0103]).
Therefore, 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 teaching of MYUNG , WANG to include the above recited limitations as taught by KUNDU. The suggestion/motivation would be to allow cellular network operators to offload some of their data traffic by accessing the unlicensed frequency band used by IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) networks and allow to enable cellular network operators to offer higher speeds to end-users through the aggregation of unlicensed spectrum with licensed spectrum. Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) adheres to requirements of the listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. (KUNDU; [0003]).
Regarding claim 22, MYUNG in view of KUNDU, WANG teaches the invention of claim 1 as set forth above. Further, MYUNG teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein:
the PUCCH resource set is a dedicated PUCCH resource set; each PUCCH resource of the dedicated PUCCH resource set includes at least a PUCCH format, a first symbol, a number of symbols, a starting physical RB (PRB), and a default initial CS; the number of RBs parameter is provided for each PUCCH resource of the dedicated PUCCH resource set; and
at least some of the PUCCH resources are provided with a different value of the number of RBs parameter ( “A table for an initial PUCCH resource set of NR is as listed in [Table 8]. ”: [0192]-[0194]; [0219], TABLE 1, TABLE 8).
Regarding claim 23, MYUNG in view of KUNDU, WANG teaches the invention of claim 22 as set forth above. Further, KUNDU teaches, The method of claim 22, wherein determining the initial CS comprises determining the initial CS as the default initial CS scaled by NRB (“An orthogonal cover code with index 0 is used for a PUCCH resource with PUCCH format 1 in Table 1. The index to a row of Table 1 may be a 4-bit remaining minimum system information (RMSI) index, and each row in the table configures a set of 16 cell-specific PUCCH resources. As shown by Table 1, a PUCCH resource includes or is indicated by 5 parameters: a PUCCH format, a starting symbol, a duration, a PRB offset RB.sub.BWP.sup.offset, and a set of initial cyclic shift (CS) indices (or a CS index set for a PUCCH transmission). ”: [0031]).
Therefore, 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 teaching of MYUNG, WANG to include the above recited limitations as taught by KUNDU. The suggestion/motivation would be to allow cellular network operators to offload some of their data traffic by accessing the unlicensed frequency band used by IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) networks and allow to enable cellular network operators to offer higher speeds to end-users through the aggregation of unlicensed spectrum with licensed spectrum. Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) adheres to requirements of the listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. (KUNDU; [0003]).
Regarding claim 25, MYUNG teaches A method for wireless communication (see fig. 10, fig. 12: Method), comprising:
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outputting information indicating a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource set and a number of resource blocks (RBs) parameter (see fig. 10, fig. 12 ; UE receives from BS PUCCH resource set and number of RBs parameters: “ UE may receive information related to the number of RBs for a PUCCH (S1001) ”: [0166]; “Referring to FIG. 12, the BS may transmit information related to the number of RBs for a PUCCH to the UE (S1201). Details on the type of the information and/or content included in the information may be based on at least one of [Proposed Method #1] to [Proposed Method #4], or [Proposed Method #6]. ”: [0173]; “ [Proposed Method #1]”; ; “A method of configuring/indicating N.sub.RB, which is the number of RBs to be used for PUCCH format 0/1 transmission of an initial PUCCH resource, will now be described in consideration of regulatory requirements, such as a PSD limit and a maximum output power limit, the number of available RBs in a BWP, the number of resources constituting an initial PUCCH resource set, UE multiplexing, and multiplexing between other adjacent cells through a PRB offset. ”: [0176]-[0178]; “In order to transmit UCI through a PUCCH, the UE may receive a dedicated PUCCH resource configuration. This dedicated PUCCH resource configuration may include information about a PUCCH resource set. The information about the PUCCH resource set may include, for example, N PUCCH resources, a PUCCH format for each of the N PUCCH resources, a starting symbol, a PUCCH resource duration, a physical resource block (PRB) offset, and a cyclic shift (CS) ”: [0142]-[0146]);;
outputting downlink control information (DCI) containing a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) (“Upon receiving downlink control information (DCI) scheduling a PDSCH and transmitting HARQ-ACK through the PUCCH as a response to the DCI, the UE may determine any one of 16 PUCCH resources included in the PUCCH resource set to transmit HARQ-ACK through the determined PUCCH resource ”: [0146]; “For example, the UE determines an index of a PUCCH resource, based on the number of control channel elements (CCEs) in a control resource set (CORESET) of a PDCCH including the DCI scheduling the PDSCH, an index of the first CCE of the PDCCH, and a value of a PUCCH resource indicator field (==PRI value in claim ) included in the DCI….. Then, the UE may transmit HARQ-ACK through a PUCCH resource corresponding to the determined index. ”: [0147]-148]);
determining a PUCCH resource from the PUCCH resource set for a PUCCH transmission (“UE may determine any one of 16 PUCCH resources included in the PUCCH resource set to transmit HARQ-ACK through the determined PUCCH resource…. .. aforesaid “UE may transmit HARQ-ACK through a PUCCH resource corresponding to the determined index. ”: [0146]; “ The UE may determine an index of a physical resource block (PRB) for PUCCH transmission, based on a PRB offset of the PUCCH resource set corresponding to the acquired index of the PUCCH resource set, the index of the PUCCH resource set, the number of initial CS indexes included in a set of initial CS indexes, and a BWP size. ”: [0143], [0147]-[0149]),
monitoring for the PUCCH transmission using the PUCCH resource (see fig. 10: element S1005 “ ” The UE may determine a PUCCH resource based on the number of RBs and a PRB offset (S1003). A detailed method of determining the PUCCH resource by the UE may be based on at least one of [Proposed Method #2] or [Proposed Method #5].
[0168] The UE may transmit the PUCCH through the determined PUCCH resource (S1005)”: [0167]-[0168]; “UE may determine a PUCCH resource based on the number of RBs and a PRB offset (S1203). A detailed method of determining the PUCCH resource by the UE may be based on at least one of [Proposed Method #2] or [Proposed Method #5].
[0175] The UE may transmit the PUCCH to the BS through the determined PUCCH resource (S1205).”: [0174]-[0175]).
While MYUNG teaches “determining a PUCCH resource from the PUCCH resource set for a PUCCH transmission”,
MYUNG does not expressively teach:
wherein the determining includes:
determining a PUCCH resource index based, at least in part, on the PRI;
determining a lowest RB index for the PUCCH transmission based, at least in part, on the PUCCH resource index, a physical resource bloc (PRB) offset for the PUCCH transmission and the number of RBs parameter;
and determining an initial cyclic shift (CS) for the PUCCH transmission based, at least in part, on the PUCCH resource index and the number of RBs parameter.
KUNDU, in the same field of endeavor, discloses:
wherein the determining includes:
determining a PUCCH resource index based, at least in part, on the PRI; (see fig. 5: UE 502; determines PUCCH resource Index based on PRI value: “PRI is a value of the PUCCH resource indicator field in the DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1, which may be 3 bits). The 3 bit PUCCH resource indicator in the DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1) and starting CCE index (for 1-bit) is used to derive PUCCH resource index ”: [0031]; “ UE 502 determines a PUCCH resource with index r.sub.PUCCH, 0≤r.sub.PUCCH≤15, as
[00001]𝑟PUCCH=.Math.2.Math.𝑛CCE,0𝑁CCE.Math.+2.Math.𝛥𝑃.Math.𝑅.Math.𝐼
where N.sub.CCE Sa number of CCEs in a control resource set (CORESET) of a PDCCH reception with the DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 11), as described in Subclause 10.1 of [TS38213]; n.sub.CCE,0 is the index of a first Control Channel Element (CCE) for the PDCCH reception, and/or n.sub.CCE,0 is a starting CCE ndex for the detected PDCCH in CORESET 0; and Δ.sub.PRI is a value of the PUCCH resource indicator field in the DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1, which may be 3 bits). ..”: [0031]-[0034]; TABLE 1; See table 1 WHERE lowest RB Index for PUCCH transmission: [0057]-[0060]);
and determining an initial cyclic shift (CS) for the PUCCH transmission based, at least in part, on the PUCCH resource index and the number of RBs parameter (“The PUCCH resource set includes sixteen resources, each corresponding to a PUCCH format, a first symbol, a duration, a PRB offset RB.sub.BWP.sup.offset, and a cyclic shift index set for a PUCCH transmission. ”: [0028]; “ In some embodiments, PRB indices, hopping direction and initial CS index are determined from PUCCH resource index r.sub.PUCCH. PRB indices (in 1.sup.st and 2.sup.nd frequency hops) are functions of PRB offset (RB.sub.BWP.sup.offset), total number of cyclic shift indices in the cyclic shift index set (N.sub.CS) and PUCCH resource index r.sub.PUCCH. Initial cyclic shift index in the set of initial cyclic shift indexes is a function of r.sub.PUCCH and N.sub.CS. ”: [0035]; “ UE 502 determines the initial cyclic shift index in the set of initial cyclic shift indexes as r.sub.PUCCH modN.sub.CS”: [0037]-[0044]; [0263]).
Therefore, 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 teaching of MYUNG to include the above recited limitations as taught by KUNDU. The suggestion/motivation would be to allow cellular network operators to offload some of their data traffic by accessing the unlicensed frequency band used by IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) networks and allow to enable cellular network operators to offer higher speeds to end-users through the aggregation of unlicensed spectrum with licensed spectrum. Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) adheres to requirements of the listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. (KUNDU; [0003]).
The combination of MYUNG and KUNDU does not expressively disclose:
determining a lowest RB index for the PUCCH transmission based, at least in part, on the PUCCH resource index, a physical resource bloc (PRB) offset for the PUCCH transmission and the number of RBs parameter.
Wang, in the same field of endeavor, discloses:
determining a lowest RB index for the PUCCH transmission based, at least in part, on the PUCCH resource index, a physical resource bloc (PRB) offset for the PUCCH transmission and the number of RBs parameter (see fig. 6 element S601; where UE determines PUCCH resource set of the serving cell; “ UE determines the resource set of the serving cell.”: Col. 21 lines 20-25; “… wherein a lowest physical resource block (PRB) for the PUCCH is determined based on RB.sub.BWP.sup.offset and └r.sub.PUCCH/N.sub.CS┘.Math.N.sub.RB, where: RB.sub.BWP.sup.offset is a PRB offset associated with a bandwidth part (BWP), r.sub.PUCCH is an index associated with a PUCCH resource, N.sub.CS is a total number of initial cyclic shift indexes in a set of initial cyclic shift indexes, and N.sub.RB is the number of RBs “(==the number of RBs parameters).claim 1; claim 9).
Therefore, 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 teaching of MYUNG in view of KUNDU to include the above recited limitations as taught by Wang. The suggestion/motivation would be to convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology. (Wang; [Col. 2 lines 5-15]).
Regarding claim 26, MYUNG in view of KUNDU, Wang teaches the invention of claim 25 as set forth above. Further, KUNDU teaches, The method of claim 25, wherein the PUCCH resource index points to a row in a table mapping to a PUCCH format for the PUCCH transmission, a first symbol for the PUCCH transmission, a number of symbols for the PUCCH transmission, the PRB offset for the PUCCH transmission, and a set of initial CS indexes for the PUCCH transmission ([0082]-[0084] , [0100]-[0107] TABLE 1).
Therefore, 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 teaching of MYUNG, Wang to include the above recited limitations as taught by KUNDU. The suggestion/motivation would be to allow cellular network operators to offload some of their data traffic by accessing the unlicensed frequency band used by IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) networks and allow to enable cellular network operators to offer higher speeds to end-users through the aggregation of unlicensed spectrum with licensed spectrum. Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) adheres to requirements of the listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. (KUNDU; [0003]).
Regarding claim 27, MYUNG in view of KUNDU, Wang teaches the invention of claim 26 as set forth above. Further, KUNDU teaches, the method of claim 26, wherein the number of RBs parameter indicates a number of RBs for a multiple RB PUCCH format 0 transmission or a multiple RB PUCCH format 1 transmission (“Embodiment 1-1: Using PUCCH Formats 0 and 1. “ In embodiments, PUCCH resource set before RRC connection set up can be configured using existing PUCCH formats used in NR-licensed operation, e.g., PUCCH formats 0 and 1 which are inherently single-PRB (each PRB consisting of 12 sub-carriers) PUCCH formats. Both these single-PRB PUCCH formats can be enhanced to multiple PRBs (e.g., n PRBs) so that OCB requirement is met. Further, these n PRBs can be allocated contiguously in frequency, where: n≥[{OCB/(12*SCS)}].”: [0077]-[0078]).
Therefore, 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 teaching of MYUNG, Wang to include the above recited limitations as taught by KUNDU. The suggestion/motivation would be to allow cellular network operators to offload some of their data traffic by accessing the unlicensed frequency band used by IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) networks and allow to enable cellular network operators to offer higher speeds to end-users through the aggregation of unlicensed spectrum with licensed spectrum. Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) adheres to requirements of the listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. (KUNDU; [0003]).
Regarding claim 28, MYUNG in view of KUNDU, Wang teaches the invention of claim 27 as set forth above. Further, KUNDU teaches, The method of claim 27, wherein determining the lowest RB index is based on the PUCCH resource index, the PRB offset, a number of CSs in the set of initial CSs, and the number of RBs for the multiple RB PUCCH transmission ([0033]-[0034] TABLE 1).
Therefore, 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 teaching of MYUNG, Wang to include the above recited limitations as taught by KUNDU. The suggestion/motivation would be to allow cellular network operators to offload some of their data traffic by accessing the unlicensed frequency band used by IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) networks and allow to enable cellular network operators to offer higher speeds to end-users through the aggregation of unlicensed spectrum with licensed spectrum. Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) adheres to requirements of the listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. (KUNDU; [0003]).
Regarding claim 29, MYUNG teaches, An apparatus (fig. 12: UE) for wireless communication, comprising: at least one processor; and
a memory coupled to the at least one processor (see fig. 14: Processor), the memory comprising code executable by the at least one processor (see fig. 14: processor is connected to memory: [0344]-[0350]) to cause the apparatus to:
receive information indicating a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource set and a number of resource blocks (RBs) parameter;
receive downlink control information (DCI) in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the DCI containing a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI);
determine a PUCCH resource from the PUCCH resource set for a PUCCH transmission, including code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to:
determine a PUCCH resource index based, at least in part, on the PRI;
determining a lowest RB index for the PUCCH transmission based, at least in part, on the PUCCH resource index, a physical resource bloc (PRB) offset for the PUCCH transmission and the number of RBs parameter; and
determine an initial cyclic shift (CS) for the PUCCH transmission based, at least in part, on the PUCCH resource index and the number of RBs parameter; and
transmit the PUCCH transmission using the PUCCH resource ( Regarding rest of claim 29, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 1).
Regarding claim 30, MYUNG teaches , An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: at least one processor; and a memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory comprising code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: output information indicating a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource set and a number of resource blocks (RBs) parameter; output downlink control information (DCI) containing a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI); determine a PUCCH resource from the PUCCH resource set for a PUCCH transmission, including code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to:
determine a PUCCH resource index based, at least in part, on the PRI;
determining a lowest RB index for the PUCCH transmission based, at least in part, on the PUCCH resource index, a physical resource bloc (PRB) offset for the PUCCH transmission and the number of RBs parameter; and
determine an initial cyclic shift (CS) for the PUCCH transmission based, at least in part, on the PUCCH resource index and the number of RBs parameter; and monitor the PUCCH transmission using the PUCCH resource ( Regarding claim 30, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 25).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
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/M Mostazir Rahman/Examiner, Art Unit 2411
/DERRICK W FERRIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2411