DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 24 February 2026 has been entered. Claims 21-23 are currently amended; claim 1-20 are cancelled; no claims are previously presented; no claims have been added. Claims 21-23 are pending and ready for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US 2019/0342035 A1), hereafter referred Zhang, in view of Huang et al. (US 2020/0267597 A1), hereafter referred Huang.
Regarding claim 21, Zhang teaches a method for a terminal device, the method comprising:
receiving, from a network device, a plurality of Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) candidates in a monitoring occasion to detect a same value of downlink assignment index (DAI) (Zhang, Fig. 9, [0086]-[0091]; the base station may send to a UE information indicating PDCCH monitoring occasions for each of the plurality of TRPs, where the base station may send information indicating a DAI definition for interpreting DAIs transmitted by the plurality of TRPs in corresponding PDCCH transmissions and the DAI definition may be joint DAI, which has a total DAI value in a DCI which indicates the total number of grants up to the current monitoring occasion across all TRPs in all scheduled carriers, so in the joint DAI case, all TRPs have the same total DAI value);
transmitting, to the network device, hybrid automatic repeat request-Acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information that comprises one bit corresponding to the plurality of PDCCH candidates with the same value of DAI (Zhang, Fig. 9, [0089]-[0097]; send information indicating a DAI definition for interpreting DAIs transmitted by the plurality of TRPs, the definition indicating whether each of the DAIs transmitted by the plurality of TRPs is an independent DAI or a joint DAI with the information indicating rules for performing ACK/NACK feedback bundling for providing feedback to the plurality of TRPs).
Zhang does not expressly teach wherein the plurality of PDCCH candidates in a monitoring occasion is a union of PDCCH monitoring occasions for the plurality of PDCCH candidates.
However, Huang teaches wherein the plurality of PDCCH candidates in a monitoring occasion is a union of PDCCH monitoring occasions for the plurality of PDCCH candidates (Huang, [0130]; the set of PDCCH monitoring occasions for DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 for scheduling PDSCH receptions or SPS PDSCH release is defined as the union of PDCCH monitoring occasions across active DL BWPs).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Zhang to include the above recited limitations as taught by Huang in order to realize a new radio technology that can meet the demand for large amounts of data in mobile communications (Huang, [0003]-[0004]).
Regarding claim 22, Zhang teaches a terminal device comprising:
a receiver configured to receive, from a network device, a plurality of Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) candidates in a monitoring occasion to detect a same value of downlink assignment index (DAI) (Zhang, Fig. 9, [0086]-[0091]; the base station may send to a UE information indicating PDCCH monitoring occasions for each of the plurality of TRPs, where the base station may send information indicating a DAI definition for interpreting DAIs transmitted by the plurality of TRPs in corresponding PDCCH transmissions and the DAI definition may be joint DAI, which has a total DAI value in a DCI which indicates the total number of grants up to the current monitoring occasion across all TRPs in all scheduled carriers, so in the joint DAI case, all TRPs have the same total DAI value); and
a transmitter configured to transmit, to the network device, hybrid automatic repeat request-Acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information that comprises one bit according to the plurality of PDCCH candidates with the value of same DAI (Zhang, Fig. 9, [0089]-[0097]; send information indicating a DAI definition for interpreting DAIs transmitted by the plurality of TRPs, the definition indicating whether each of the DAIs transmitted by the plurality of TRPs is an independent DAI or a joint DAI with the information indicating rules for performing ACK/NACK feedback bundling for providing feedback to the plurality of TRPs).
Zhang does not expressly teach wherein the plurality of PDCCH candidates in a monitoring occasion is a union of PDCCH monitoring occasions for the plurality of PDCCH candidates.
However, Huang teaches wherein the plurality of PDCCH candidates in a monitoring occasion is a union of PDCCH monitoring occasions for the plurality of PDCCH candidates (Huang, [0130]; the set of PDCCH monitoring occasions for DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 for scheduling PDSCH receptions or SPS PDSCH release is defined as the union of PDCCH monitoring occasions across active DL BWPs).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Zhang to include the above recited limitations as taught by Huang in order to realize a new radio technology that can meet the demand for large amounts of data in mobile communications (Huang, [0003]-[0004]).
Regarding claim 23, Zhang teaches a method for a network device, comprising:
transmitting, to a terminal device, a plurality of Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) candidates in a monitoring occasion to detect a same value of downlink assignment index (DAI) (Zhang, Fig. 9, [0086]-[0091]; the base station may send to a UE information indicating PDCCH monitoring occasions for each of the plurality of TRPs, where the base station may send information indicating a DAI definition for interpreting DAIs transmitted by the plurality of TRPs in corresponding PDCCH transmissions and the DAI definition may be joint DAI, which has a total DAI value in a DCI which indicates the total number of grants up to the current monitoring occasion across all TRPs in all scheduled carriers, so in the joint DAI case, all TRPs have the same total DAI value); and
receiving, from the terminal device, hybrid automatic repeat request-Acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information that comprises bit according to the plurality of PDCCH candidates with the value of same DAI (Zhang, Fig. 9, [0089]-[0097]; send information indicating a DAI definition for interpreting DAIs transmitted by the plurality of TRPs, the definition indicating whether each of the DAIs transmitted by the plurality of TRPs is an independent DAI or a joint DAI with the information indicating rules for performing ACK/NACK feedback bundling for providing feedback to the plurality of TRPs).
Zhang does not expressly teach wherein the plurality of PDCCH candidates in a monitoring occasion is a union of PDCCH monitoring occasions for the plurality of PDCCH candidates.
However, Huang teaches wherein the plurality of PDCCH candidates in a monitoring occasion is a union of PDCCH monitoring occasions for the plurality of PDCCH candidates (Huang, [0130]; the set of PDCCH monitoring occasions for DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 for scheduling PDSCH receptions or SPS PDSCH release is defined as the union of PDCCH monitoring occasions across active DL BWPs).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Zhang to include the above recited limitations as taught by Huang in order to realize a new radio technology that can meet the demand for large amounts of data in mobile communications (Huang, [0003]-[0004]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
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/R.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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