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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
This office action is in response to the amendment filed on 05/16/2025. Claims 19-36 are pending in the instant application.
Claim Objections
Claims 20, 21, 27, 28, 32 and 33 are objected to because of the following informality:
Re claims 20, 21, 27, 28, 32 and 33, it is objected to for failing to further limit the subject matter of a previous claim. Applicant is required to cancel the claim(s), or amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, or rewrite the claim(s) in independent form.
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 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.
Claims 19-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rico Alvarino et al (US 2016/0374109, “Rico”) in view of Bang et al (US 2022/0104265, “Bang”) and further in view of Myung et al (US 2021/0218538, “Myung”).
Re claims 19 and 31, Rico discloses retrieving/receiving system information block information type #1 (SIB1) information that includes an indication of whether the a reduced capacity (RedCap) UE may camp on a cell (paragraph [0066]); but fails to disclose generating a signal that comprises a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission using a type-two base graph (BG2), based at least in part on the SIB1 information, or processing a signal that comprises a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission based at least in part on the SIB1 information. However, Bang discloses receiving or transmitting a PDSCH or a PUSCH when the UE intends to perform random access (paragraph [0126]) and Myung discloses performing coding on a PUSCH having two base graphs (paragraph [0693]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Rico with Bang and Myung for the benefit of performing random access procedure by utilizing PDSCH and PUSCH transmission encoded with BG2 based on TB size and code rate as defined in 3GPP 38.212 section 6.2.2 LDPC base graph selection. One skill in the art would have been motivated to choose from a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, with a reasonable expectation of success.
Re claim 25, Rico discloses determining SIB1 information that includes an indication of whether a RedCap UE may camp on a cell (figure 4, step 415), encoding a message for transmission to the RedCap UE that includes the SIB1 information (paragraph [0064]); but fails to disclose generating a signal that comprises PDSCH using BG2 to the RedCap UE or process a signal that comprises a PUSCH from the RedCap UE. However, Bang discloses receiving or transmitting a PDSCH or a PUSCH when the UE intends to perform random access (paragraph [0126]) and Myung discloses performing coding on a PDSCH having two base graphs (paragraph [0693]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Rico with Bang and Myung for the benefit of performing random access procedure by utilizing PDSCH and PUSCH transmission encoded with BG2 based on TB size and code rate as defined in 3GPP 38.212 section 6.2.2 LDPC base graph selection. One skill in the art would have been motivated to choose from a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, with a reasonable expectation of success.
Re claims 20 and 32, the modified system of Rico discloses generating the signal comprising the PUSCH transmission based on a type-two base graph (BG2) (paragraph [0693] of Myung).
Re claims 21 and 33, the modified system of Rico discloses generating the signal comprising the PDSCH transmission based on a type-two base graph (BG2) (paragraph [0693] of Myung).
Re claims 22, 29 and 34, the modified system of Rico discloses all of the limitations of the base claim, but fails to disclose BG2 has a mother code rate that is greater than 1/5. However, Myung discloses BG1 may be related to a mother code rate of 1/3, and BG2 may be related to a mother code rate of 1/5 (paragraph [0693]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the system of Rico with Myung for the benefit of utilizing one of these base graphs with mother code rate. One skill in the art would have been motivated to choose from a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, with a reasonable expectation of success.
Re claims 23, 30 and 35, the modified system of Rico discloses all of the limitations of the base claim, but fails to disclose BG2 has a mother code rate of 1/3. However, Myung discloses BG1 may be related to a mother code rate of 1/3, and BG2 may be related to a mother code rate of 1/5 (paragraph [0693]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the system of Rico with Myung for the benefit of utilizing one of these base graphs with mother code rate. One skill in the art would have been motivated to choose from a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, with a reasonable expectation of success.
Re claims 24, 26 and 36, the modified system of Rico discloses receiving configuration information that includes an indication of a fixed redundancy value (RV) for a chase combining (CC) based hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) transmission (paragraph [0058] of Bang) or retransmission of the PDSCH reception (paragraph [0060] of Bang) or the PUSCH transmission (paragraph [0100] of Bang). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Rico with Bang for the benefit of providing reliable data communication by utilizing DCI regarding RV of HARQ, PUSCH and PDSCH.
Re claim 27, the modified system of Rico discloses the PUSCH transmission from the RedCap UE is based on a type-two base graph (BG2) (paragraph [0693] of Myung).
Re claim 28, the modified system of Rico discloses the PDSCH transmission to the RedCap UE is based on a type-two base graph (BG2) (paragraph [0693] of Myung).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 05/16/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The applicant argues that Myung references BG1 and BG2 in the context of LDPC coding does not tie BG2 usage to RedCap UEs, nor to PUSCH or PDSCH generation based on SIB1-triggered behavior. In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986). In this case, it is the combined teaching of the Rico, Bang and Myung references that shows all the limitations of the claim. Therefore, the Examiner concludes that the rejection of claims is proper.
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 extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no, however, event 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 Hong Cho whose telephone number is 571-272-3087. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri during 8 am to 4 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Hassan Phillips can be reached on 571-272-3940. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HONG S CHO/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467
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