DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
This action is responsive to the Remark filed on 12/1/25.
Claims 1, 11, 17 & 19 are amended.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-11, 13-20 is/are presented for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1, 3-4, 11, 13-17 & 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ying, U.S. Pub/Patent No. 2018/0368117 A1 in view of Salem, US 2020/0404655 A1, and Bae, US 2020/0045722 A1.
As to claim 1, Ying teaches a method for wireless communication, comprising:
receiving, at a terminal configured to perform a number of transmission repetitions according to a rule, a first message from a network node, the first message including an indication to modify at least one transmission repetition of the number of transmission repetitions, the first message indicating a modification to the number of transmission repetitions to the network node (Ying, page 20, paragraph 191; page 21, paragraph 193; page 22, paragraph 196; i.e., [0191] PDCCH (the DCI, the UL grant) used for parameters modification may be scrambled by the C-RNTI 1. To indicate that the PDCCH (the DCI, the UL grant) is used for parameters modification. Also, to change (e.g., modify) some parameters ( e.g., a value(s) of a parameter(s )) for the PUSCH transmission (e.g., the UL transmission without the grant), the corresponding fields (these fields may use different names in specifications) in the DCI, such as the MCS, the repetition number (if there is), the hopping pattern (if there is), the index of PRB, etc., may be adjusted. value of HARQ process number (i.e., a value set to a field of the HARQ process number)); and
modifying, by the terminal, the at least one transmission repetition of the number of transmission repetitions identified in the first message (Ying, page 20, paragraph 191; page 21, paragraph 193; page 22, paragraph 196; i.e., [0191] PDCCH (the DCI, the UL grant) used for parameters modification may be scrambled by the C-RNTI 1. To indicate that the PDCCH (the DCI, the UL grant) is used for parameters modification. Also, to change (e.g., modify) some parameters ( e.g., a value(s) of a parameter(s )) for the PUSCH transmission (e.g., the UL transmission without the grant), the corresponding fields (these fields may use different names in specifications) in the DCI, such as the MCS, the repetition number), responsive to determining that the first message indicates the modification to the number of transmission repetitions to the network node (Ying, page 3, paragraph 56-57; i.e., [0056] For an UL transmission scheme with grant, K repetitions including initial transmission (K>= 1) for the same transport block may be supported. The repetition number K may be semi-statically (re-) configured or dynamically indicated by the UL grant).
But Ying failed to teach the claim limitation wherein the modification to the number of transmission repetitions to the network node including a number of remaining transmission repetitions to the network node, wherein the number of remaining transmission repetitions is different from the number of transmission repetitions; and wherein the method further comprises initializing a redundancy version (RV) sequence defining a cycle starting with a first RV value and proceeding to a second RV value responsive to determining that the first message indicates the modification to the number of transmission repetitions to the network node; and wherein the initializing of the RV sequence comprises restarting the cycle at the first RV value such that the first RV value is applied to a first remaining transmission repetition and the second RV value is applied to a subsequent remaining transmission repetition.
However, Bae teaches the limitation wherein the modification to the number of transmission repetitions to the network node including a number of remaining transmission repetitions to the network node, wherein the number of remaining transmission repetitions is different from the number of transmission repetitions (Bae, page 9, paragraph 121; i.e., [0121] the number of remaining repeated transmissions of the UCI is K and the number of remaining transmissions of grant-free repetition is less than or equal to K, i) the number of transmissions of the grant-free repetition may be increased such that the number of remaining transmissions of the grant-free repetition is K).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Ying to substitute orthogonal
frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system, from Bae for orthogonal cover code from Ying to method and device for transmitting/receiving, by a terminal, a signal such as uplink control information associated with a grant free
resource (Bae, page 1, paragraph 1).
However, Salem teaches the limitation wherein the method further comprises initializing a redundancy version (RV) sequence defining a cycle starting with a first RV value and proceeding to a second RV value responsive to determining that the first message indicates the modification to the number of transmission repetitions to the network node (Salem, page 9, paragraph 128; i.e., [0128] Depending on a Redundancy Version (RV) value, if the first transmission misses a first slot, a retransmission may not be able to start at a subsequent slot over which the remaining of K repetitions are configured. The existing Type 1 and Type 2 procedures involve configuring a start symbol and a length of a configured grant opportunity that is applied to every grant free slot); and wherein the initializing of the RV sequence comprises restarting the cycle at the first RV value such that the first RV value is applied to a first remaining transmission repetition and the second RV value is applied to a subsequent remaining transmission repetition (Salem, page 9, paragraph 128; i.e., [0128] Depending on a Redundancy Version (RV) value, if the first transmission misses a first slot, a retransmission may not be able to start at a subsequent slot over which the remaining of K repetitions are configured. The procedure may be too restrictive because any configuration that has a starting symbol other than a first orthogonal frequency domain multiplexed (OFDM) symbol (OS #0, when there are 14 OFDM symbols in a slot) and/or a PUSCH length that does not end at a last OFDM symbol (OS#13)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Ying to substitute reference symbol from Salem for reference signal from Ying to enable communications with an ED over an unlicensed spectrum band, or over different spectrum bands (Salem, page 1, paragraph 6).
As to claim 3, Ying-Salem-Bae teaches the method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first message indicates that the number of transmission repetitions equals 0, and wherein the first message is 1) included in a radio resource control (RRC) message configured for the terminal, a predefined set of transmission repetition numbers, or downlink control information (DCI) of the first message (Ying, figure 9), or 2) jointly coded in a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) table, wherein the first message indicates a row of the TDRA table with the number of transmission repetitions equaling 0.
As to claim 4, Ying-Salem-Bae teaches the method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first message includes 1) an acknowledgement (ACK) feedback message for the transmission repetition, wherein the first message includes explicit ACK signaling that comprises sequence-based signaling (Ying, page 19, paragraph 184-185; i.e., [0184] the UE may always assume (consider, interpret, treat) the UL grant as ACK and/or NACK for the PUSCH transmission (e.g., a previous transmission, a corresponding PUSCH transmission). indicating ACK for the PUSCH transmission (i.e., indicating the new transmission) and/or NACK for the PUSCH transmission (i.e., indicating the retransmission)), 2) DCI scheduling information that includes a new transport block (TB) with a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request Identifier (HARQ-ID) that is same as the transmission repetition, or 3) a first new data indicator (NDI) in the DCI scheduling information that is the same as a second NDI indicated in DCI scheduling in PUSCH transmission repetition.
As to claim 14, Ying-Salem-Bae teaches the method as recited in claim 11, wherein the number of transmission repetitions is jointly coded in 1) a bit field in DCI or RRC signaling, or 2) any of a downlink time domain resource allocation (TDRA) table and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) table (Ying, page 20, paragraph 191; page 21, paragraph 193; page 22, paragraph 196; i.e., [0191] to change (e.g., modify) some parameters ( e.g., a value(s) of a parameter(s )) for the PUSCH transmission (e.g., the UL transmission without the grant), the corresponding fields (these fields may use different names in specifications) in the DCI, such as the MCS, the repetition number (if there is), the hopping pattern (if there is), the index of PRB, etc., may be adjusted).
As to claim 16, Ying-Salem-Bae teaches the method as recited in claim 11, wherein the transmission repetition is a PUSCH transmission repetition that is defined by a data symbol, and the first message includes a mapping pattern of a resource element (RE) in a frequency domain assigned to the terminal (Ying, page 20, paragraph 191; page 21, paragraph 193; page 22, paragraph 196; i.e., [0193] For example, the UE may use the following procedure to modify the parameters for the PUSCH transmission (e.g., the UL transmission without the grant). Namely, the UE may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the DCI (e.g., the PDCCH) used for modifying the parameters; the TPC field in the DCI is set as all O and the cyclic shirt for DMRS field is set as all 0, the UE may modify the MCS and the frequency resource for the PUSCH transmission (e.g., the UL transmission without the grant)).
Claim(s) 2, 5, 7-10, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ying, U.S. Pub/Patent No. 2018/0368117 A1 in view of Salem, US 2020/0404655 A1, and Bae, US 2020/0045722 A1, and further in view of Liberg, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. 2022/0131602 A1.
As to claim 2, Ying-Salem-Bae teaches the method as recited in claim 1. But Ying-Salem-Bae failed to teach the claim limitation wherein said modifying the transmission repetition includes preventing transmission of the transmission repetition that occurs at 1) a symbol after a time period that begins at an end of the first message, or 2) a beginning of a repetition after a time period that begins at an end of the first message.
However, Liberg teaches the limitation wherein preventing transmission of the transmission repetition that occurs at 1) a symbol after a time period that begins at an end of the first message, or 2) a beginning of a repetition after a time period that begins at an end of the first message (Liberg, page 13, paragraph 159-162; i.e., [0159] To avoid transmitting PDSCH repetitions (when pdsch-AggregationFactor is configured) during the beam switch, a minimum time gap between the slot in which downlink control
information (DCI) is transmitted, the minimum time gap, Tncimin can be defined such that TncrTDCimin' where TDCI~in may include one or more of the following: [0162] Alternatively, transmission of PDSCH repetitions such a via radio interface 62 can be avoided during the beam switch by defining a minimum time gap between the start of the slot in which PDSCH transmission starts and the slot in which the beam switch takes place).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Ying-Salem-Bae to substitute time interval from Liberg for time slot from Ying-Salem-Bae to provide an ability to maintain a configured TCI state over time. This may deteriorate the beam selection in a NR based NTN network (Liberg, page 3, paragraph 57).
As to claim 5, Ying-Salem-Bae teaches the method as recited in claim 4. But Ying-Salem-Bae failed to teach the claim limitation wherein the terminal is configured to ignore at least one bit field of the first message other than at least one bit field from a HARQ process bit field, an NDI bit field, and a bit field indicating that the number of transmission repetitions is equal to 0.
However, Liberg teaches the limitation wherein the terminal is configured to ignore at least one bit field of the first message other than at least one bit field from a HARQ process bit field, an NDI bit field, and a bit field indicating that the number of transmission repetitions is equal to 0 (Liberg, page 13, paragraph 159-162; i.e., [0159] To avoid transmitting PDSCH repetitions (when pdsch-AggregationFactor is configured) during the beam switch, a minimum time gap between the slot in which downlink control information (DCI) is transmitted, the minimum time gap, Tncimin can be defined: [0162] Alternatively, transmission of PDSCH repetitions such a via radio interface 62 can be avoided during the beam switch by defining a minimum time gap between the start of the slot in which PDSCH transmission starts and the slot in which the beam switch takes place).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Ying-Salem-Bae to substitute time interval from Liberg for time slot from Ying-Salem-Bae to provide an ability to maintain a configured TCI state over time. This may deteriorate the beam selection in a NR based NTN network (Liberg, page 3, paragraph 57).
As to claim 7, Ying-Salem-Bae teaches the method as recited in claim 1. But Ying-Salem-Bae failed to teach the claim limitation wherein the first message includes a gap that is in a unit of symbols or slots, or absolute time to indicate a duration between transmission repetitions, the gap configured based on an RRC message dynamically indicated in DCI of the first message and, wherein the gap coded with one or more bit fields in the DCI of the RRC message.
However, Liberg teaches the limitation wherein the first message includes a gap that is in a unit of symbols or slots, or absolute time to indicate a duration between transmission repetitions, the gap configured based on an RRC message dynamically indicated in DCI of the first message and, wherein the gap coded with one or more bit fields in the DCI of the RRC message (Liberg, page 13, paragraph 159-162; i.e., [0159] To avoid transmitting PDSCH repetitions (when pdsch-AggregationFactor is configured) during the beam switch, a minimum time gap between the slot in which downlink control information (DCI) is transmitted, the minimum time gap, Tncimin can be defined: [0162] Alternatively, transmission of PDSCH repetitions such a via radio interface 62 can be avoided during the beam switch by defining a minimum time gap between the start of the slot in which PDSCH transmission starts and the slot in which the beam switch takes place).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Ying-Salem-Bae to substitute time interval from Liberg for time slot from Ying-Salem-Bae to provide an ability to maintain a configured TCI state over time. This may deteriorate the beam selection in a NR based NTN network (Liberg, page 3, paragraph 57).
As to claim 8, Ying-Salem-Bae teaches the method as recited in claim 1. But Ying-Salem-Bae failed to teach the claim limitation wherein the first message includes at least one of 1) a gap between groups of transmission repetitions that is RRC configured in the first message or dynamically indicated in DCI of the first message, or an 2) orthogonal code or an orthogonal code index to the terminal.
However, Liberg teaches the limitation wherein the first message includes at least one of 1) a gap between groups of transmission repetitions that is RRC configured in the first message or dynamically indicated in DCI of the first message, or an 2) orthogonal code or an orthogonal code index to the terminal (Liberg, page 13, paragraph 159-162; i.e., [0159] To avoid transmitting PDSCH repetitions (when pdsch-AggregationFactor is configured) during the beam switch, a minimum time gap between the slot in which downlink control information (DCI) is transmitted, the minimum time gap, Tncimin can be defined: [0162] Alternatively, transmission of PDSCH repetitions such a via radio interface 62 can be avoided during the beam switch by defining a minimum time gap between the start of the slot in which PDSCH transmission starts and the slot in which the beam switch takes place).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Ying-Salem-Bae to substitute time interval from Liberg for time slot from Ying-Salem-Bae to provide an ability to maintain a configured TCI state over time. This may deteriorate the beam selection in a NR based NTN network (Liberg, page 3, paragraph 57).
As to claim 9, Ying-Salem-Bae-Liberg teaches the method as recited in claim 8, wherein, for the first message including the orthogonal code or the orthogonal code index, 1) the orthogonal code includes a length of the orthogonal code and is configured in a RRC message, or the orthogonal code, or 2) the orthogonal code index coded in a TDRA table for any of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) (Ying, page 9, paragraph 95; i.e., [0095] the eMBB resource ( e.g., the second PUSCH) may be orthogonal to each other by configuration. information used for configuring the orthogonal (e.g., OCC (orthogonal cover code) for the PUSCH(s) (e.g., the fourth PUSCH and/or the second PUSCH)).).
As to claim 10, Ying-Salem-Bae-Liberg teaches the method as recited in claim 8, wherein transmitting, by the terminal, the transmission repetition to the network node at a time along a time domain according to the orthogonal code, and wherein a number of transmission repetitions are transmitted by the terminal to the network node according to a RV for each transmission repetition, wherein the RV is configured by a RRC message or dynamically indicated in DCI, and the RV is same for each repetitions using the same orthogonal code (Ying, page 4, paragraph 71; page 9, paragraph 95; i.e., [0071] Here, the RNTI(s) assigned to the UE may be used for transmission of DCI (transmission of DL control channel (s)). Specifically, CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) parity bits (also referred to simply as CRC), which are generated based on DCI ( or the DCI format, and/or the UL grant), are attached to DCI, and, after attachment, the CRC parity bits are scrambled by the RNTI(s). The UE may attempt to decode DCI to which the CRC parity bits scrambled by the RNTI(s) are attached, and detects a DL control channel (e.g., the PCCH (e.g., the PDCCH), the DCI, the DCI format). [0095] configuring the orthogonal (e.g., OCC (orthogonal cover code) for the PUSCH(s) (e.g., the fourth PUSCH and/or the second PUSCH)).).
Claim(s) 11, 17 & 19 is/are directed to a method and apparatus claims and they do not teach or further define over the limitations recited in claim(s) 1. Therefore, claim(s) 11, 17 & 19 is/are also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim(s) 1.
Claim(s) 13 & 15 is/are directed to a method claims and they do not teach or further define over the limitations recited in claim(s) 4 & 10. Therefore, claim(s) 13 & 15 is/are also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim(s) 4 & 10.
Claim(s) 18 & 20 is/are directed to the apparatus claims and they do not teach or further define over the limitations recited in claim(s) 2 & 10. Therefore, claim(s) 18 & 20 is/are also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim(s) 2 & 10.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-5, 7-11, 13-20 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Listing of Relevant Arts
Trainin, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 20160352644 A1 discloses number of remaining repetition of the transmission.
Chatterjee, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 20210307051 A1 discloses remaining number of repeated PDSCH transmissions of the number of repeated PDSCH transmission.
Contact Information
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
THUONG NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3864. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9:00-6:00.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Noel Beharry can be reached on 571-270-5630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THUONG NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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