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 .
Responsive to amendments filed 11/05/2025.
Claims 1-8, 10-17 and 19-22 remain pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendments and remarks have been fully considered.
With regards to the prior art rejections, Applicant’s remarks have been considered and they are persuasive. Thus, the 103 rejections are withdrawn and the claims are deemed allowable over the prior art. However, some 35 USC 112 issues are addressed below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1, 10, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. The independent claims are directed to transport block size (TBS) determination by a “communication apparatus”. The apparatus determines TBS for two separate transport blocks (TBs). On the one hand, it is unclear if the apparatus refers to a network side apparatus or a user equipment (UE) side apparatus. In either case, (i.e. whether the apparatus is a base station or a UE) there is not enough language linking the two TBs so that it is clear in the claims that the two TBs are either sent by two different network side devices to a single UE, or are being sent by different UEs to a single network device. Specifically, if the apparatus is a UE, are these two TBs being received from the same or different network side device(s)? If the apparatus is a base station (i.e. network side device), are the two TBs being received from one UE or multiple UEs?
It is best understood by the Examiner, in light of the specification, that the communication apparatus in the claims refers to a UE. With that interpretation, the claims could be amended to recite a limitation that states “receiving, by a communication apparatus (or UE), a first transport block sent from a first network side device (or base station, or TRP, or any other term used in the specification), and a second transport block sent from a second network device”, so as to establish a clear link between the two TBs and further clarify the inventive concept in the claims.
All dependent claims, 2-8, 11-17, and 21-22, stand rejected as being dependent upon rejected base claims.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 10, and 19 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 1-8, 10-17, and 19-22 are allowed over the prior art. Applicant’s remarks have been fully considered and they are persuasive. Claims are deemed allowable over the prior art.
Prior Art Made of Record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US Patent Application Publication 2020/0195372 to Rico Alvariño et al. – that discloses a UE may identify a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) associated with the broadcast or multicast transmission and may determine a transport block size (TBS) based on the MCS and at least one of the numerology or the RS pattern. For instance, a UE may determine TBS for numerologies associated with a single symbol that spans multiple subframes differently from that of other numerologies. Additionally, or alternatively, a UE may determine TBS for sparse RS patterns differently from that of other RS patterns.
US Patent Application Publication 2019/0320420 to Zhang et al. – which discloses a user equipment (UE) receives a configuration message configuring the UE to receive a joint transport block (TB) transmission of data from a plurality of transmission points (TRPs). The UE determines a transport block size (TBS) for receiving the joint TB transmission, receives transport blocks corresponding to the joint TB transmission, each transport block from a respective one of the plurality of TRPs, combines the transport blocks when a size of each of the transport blocks is the determined TBS, and recovers the data based on the combined transport blocks.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 Aixa A Guadalupe-Cruz whose telephone number is (571)270-7523. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 6AM - 4:00PM.
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/FARUK HAMZA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/Aixa Guadalupe-Cruz/
Examiner
Art Unit 2466