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 . Claims 8, 13-15, 20-22 are pending.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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, 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 8, 15, 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung et al. (US# 2022/0279538 hereinafter referred to as Jung) in view of Han et al. (US# 2021/0058922 hereinafter referred to as Han) and Zhang et al. (US# 2023/0156685 hereinafter referred to as Zhang).
RE Claim 8, Jung discloses a user equipment (UE) (See Jung FIG 1) comprising:
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions (See Jung FIGs 1, 5); and
at least one processor coupled to the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media and configured to execute the computer-executable instructions (See Jung FIGs 1, 5) to:
configure a Channel State Information (CSI) report for a first service type, the CSI report for the first service type being an ultra-reliable and low latency (URLLC)
CSI report (See Jung [0031], [0033] – PUCCH resource can be for CSI report on URLLC) with a high priority (See Jung [0039] – high priority CSI report for a first type);
Configure a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for the URLLC CSI report with the high priority (See Jung [0031] – high priority PUCCH with URLLC CSI);
configure a plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources (See Jung [0041] – configured with plurality of PUCCH resource set(s)) for Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request-Acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback for a second service type (See Jung [0039] – PUCCH for eMBB HARQ-ACK), the HARQ-ACK feedback being an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) low priority HARQ-ACK feedback (See Jung [0039] – low priority eMBB HARQ-ACK);
determine that the first PUCCH resource for the URLLC CSI report with the high priority overlaps a second PUCCH resource for the eMBB low priority HARQ-ACK feedback (See Jung [0039] – eMBB HARQ-ACK overlaps URLLC CSI);
multiplex the URLLC CSI report with the high priority and HARQ-ACK feedback with or without scheduling request (SR) on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources, if the HARQ-ACK for the second service type is a URLLC HARQ-ACK with a high priority and if the UE is configured with a simultaneous HARQ-ACK and CSI report (simultaneousHARQ-ACK-CSI) (See Jung [0021]-[0022], [0061], Table 2 – if URLLC CSI (high priority) overlaps with URLLC HARQ-ACK (and/or with SR), multiplexing onto PUCCH; situations where multiplexing the overlapping CSI/HARQ-ACK is when simultaneous transmission is configured [0022] (i.e. is not the case where UE is not provided simultaneousHARQ-ACK-CSI)).
Jung does not specifically disclose
multiplexing the URLLC CSI report with the high priority and the eMBB low priority HARQ-ACK feedback with or without a scheduling request (SR) on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources feedback in the case that:
the UE is configured with a simultaneous HARQ-ACK and CSI (HARQ-ACK-CSI).
However, Han teaches of
multiplexing the URLLC CSI report with the high priority (See Han [0005] – URLLC of high priority) and the eMBB low priority HARQ-ACK feedback (See Han [0109], [0160] – eMBB is low priority traffic) with or without a scheduling request (SR) on a single PUCCH resource (See Han [0148], [0160] – using PUCCH to send eMBB HARQ-ACK (with/without SR) and URLLC CSI simultaneously) in the case that:
the UE is configured with a simultaneous HARQ-ACK and CSI (HARQ-ACK-CSI) (See Han [0160] – simultaneous HARQ-ACK & CSI).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to implement the CSI & HARQ-ACK PUCCH transmission system, as disclosed in Jung, comprising multiplexing the URLLC CSI report with the high priority and the eMBB low priority HARQ-ACK feedback with or without a scheduling request (SR) on a single PUCCH resource if:
the UE is configured with a simultaneous HARQ-ACK and CSI (HARQ-ACK-CSI), as taught in Han. One is motivated as such in order to effectively handle multiplexing of two or more channels carrying signals of different priority levels (See Han Background; Summary).
Jung, modified by Han, does not specifically disclose multiplexing on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources (emphasis added).
However, Zhang teaches of multiplexing on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources (See Zhang [0086] – when a PUCCH (i.e. first PUCCH resource) with higher priority overlaps with multiple PUCCHs with lower priority (i.e. plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources), multiplexing UCIs on PUCCH (i.e. on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources) with lower priority).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to implement the CSI & HARQ-ACK PUCCH transmission system, as disclosed in Jung, modified by Han, comprising multiplexing on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources, as taught in Zhang. One is motivated as such in order to provide efficient resource utilization (See Zhang Solution to Problem).
RE Claim 15, Jung discloses a gNodeB base station (gNB) (See Jung FIG 1) comprising:
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions (See Jung FIGs 1, 5); and
at least one processor coupled to the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media and configured to execute the computer-executable instructions (See Jung FIGs 1, 5) to:
configure a Channel State Information (CSI) report for a first service type, the CSI report for the first service type being an ultra-reliable and low latency (URLLC)
CSI report (See Jung [0031], [0033] – PUCCH resource can be for CSI report on URLLC) with a high priority (See Jung [0039] – high priority CSI report for a first type);
Configure a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for the URLLC CSI report with the high priority (See Jung [0031] – high priority PUCCH with URLLC CSI);
configure with a plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources (See Jung [0041] – configured with plurality of PUCCH resource set(s)) for a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request-Acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback for a second service type (See Jung [0039] – PUCCH for eMBB HARQ-ACK), the HARQ-ACK feedback being an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) low priority HARQ-ACK feedback (See Jung [0039] – low priority eMBB HARQ-ACK);
determine that the first PUCCH resource for the URLLC CSI report with the high priority overlaps a second PUCCH resource (See Jung [0041] – configured with plurality of PUCCH resource set(s)) for the eMBB low priority HARQ-ACK feedback (See Jung [0039] – eMBB HARQ-ACK overlaps URLLC CSI);
multiplex the URLLC CSI report with the high priority and HARQ-ACK feedback with or without scheduling request (SR) on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources, if the HARQ-ACK for the second service type is a URLLC HARQ-ACK with a high priority and if the UE is configured with a simultaneous HARQ-ACK and CSI report (simultaneousHARQ-ACK-CSI) (See Jung [0021]-[0022], [0061], Table 2 – if URLLC CSI (high priority) overlaps with URLLC HARQ-ACK (and/or with SR), multiplexing onto PUCCH; situations where multiplexing the overlapping CSI/HARQ-ACK is when simultaneous transmission is configured [0022] (i.e. is not the case where UE is not provided simultaneousHARQ-ACK-CSI)).
Jung does not specifically disclose
multiplexing the URLLC CSI report with the high priority and the eMBB low priority HARQ-ACK feedback with or without a scheduling request (SR) on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources in a case that:
the UE is configured with a simultaneous HARQ-ACK and CSI (HARQ-ACK-CSI).
However, Han teaches of
multiplexing the URLLC CSI report with the high priority (See Han [0005] – URLLC of high priority) and the eMBB low priority HARQ-ACK feedback (See Han [0109], [0160] – eMBB is low priority traffic) with or without a scheduling request (SR) on a single PUCCH resource (See Han [0148], [0160] – using PUCCH to send eMBB HARQ-ACK (with/without SR) and URLLC CSI simultaneously) in the case that:
the UE is configured with a simultaneous HARQ-ACK and CSI (HARQ-ACK-CSI) (See Han [0160] – simultaneous HARQ-ACK & CSI).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to implement the CSI & HARQ-ACK PUCCH transmission system, as disclosed in Jung, comprising multiplexing the URLLC CSI report with the high priority and the eMBB low priority HARQ-ACK feedback with or without a scheduling request (SR) on a single PUCCH resource in the case that:
the UE is configured with a simultaneous HARQ-ACK and CSI (HARQ-ACK-CSI), as taught in Han. One is motivated as such in order to effectively handle multiplexing of two or more channels carrying signals of different priority levels (See Han Background; Summary).
Jung, modified by Han, does not specifically disclose multiplexing on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources (emphasis added).
However, Zhang teaches of multiplexing on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources (See Zhang [0086] – when a PUCCH (i.e. first PUCCH resource) with higher priority overlaps with multiple PUCCHs with lower priority (i.e. plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources), multiplexing UCIs on PUCCH (i.e. on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources) with lower priority).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to implement the CSI & HARQ-ACK PUCCH transmission system, as disclosed in Jung, modified by Han, comprising multiplexing on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources, as taught in Zhang. One is motivated as such in order to provide efficient resource utilization (See Zhang Solution to Problem).
RE Claim 22, Jung discloses a method performed by a user equipment (UE) (See Jung FIG 1), the method comprising:
configuring a Channel State Information (CSI) report for a first service type, the CSI report for the first service type being an ultra-reliable and low latency (URLLC)
CSI report (See Jung [0031], [0033] – PUCCH resource can be for CSI report on URLLC) with a high priority (See Jung [0039] – high priority CSI report for a first type);
Configuring a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for the URLLC CSI report with the high priority (See Jung [0031] – high priority PUCCH with URLLC CSI);
configuring a plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources (See Jung [0041] – configured with plurality of PUCCH resource set(s)) for a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request-Acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback for a second service type (See Jung [0039] – PUCCH for eMBB HARQ-ACK), the HARQ-ACK feedback being an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) low priority HARQ-ACK feedback (See Jung [0039] – low priority eMBB HARQ-ACK);
determining that the first PUCCH resource for the URLLC CSI report with the high priority overlaps a second PUCCH resource (See Jung [0041] – configured with plurality of PUCCH resource set(s)) for the eMBB low priority HARQ-ACK feedback (See Jung [0039] – eMBB HARQ-ACK overlaps URLLC CSI);
multiplexing the URLLC CSI report with the high priority and HARQ-ACK feedback with or without scheduling request (SR) on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources, if the HARQ-ACK for the second service type is a URLLC HARQ-ACK with a high priority and if the UE is configured with a simultaneous HARQ-ACK and CSI report (simultaneousHARQ-ACK-CSI) (See Jung [0021]-[0022], [0061], Table 2 – if URLLC CSI (high priority) overlaps with URLLC HARQ-ACK (and/or with SR), multiplexing onto PUCCH; situations where multiplexing the overlapping CSI/HARQ-ACK is when simultaneous transmission is configured [0022] (i.e. is not the case where UE is not provided simultaneousHARQ-ACK-CSI)).
Jung does not specifically disclose
multiplexing the URLLC CSI report with the high priority and the eMBB low priority HARQ-ACK feedback with or without a scheduling request (SR) on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources in the case that:
the UE is configured with a simultaneous HARQ-ACK and CSI (HARQ-ACK-CSI).
However, Han teaches of
multiplexing the URLLC CSI report with the high priority (See Han [0005] – URLLC of high priority) and the eMBB low priority HARQ-ACK feedback (See Han [0109], [0160] – eMBB is low priority traffic) with or without a scheduling request (SR) on a single PUCCH resource (See Han [0148], [0160] – using PUCCH to send eMBB HARQ-ACK (with/without SR) and URLLC CSI simultaneously) in the case that:
the UE is configured with a simultaneous HARQ-ACK and CSI (HARQ-ACK-CSI) (See Han [0160] – simultaneous HARQ-ACK & CSI).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to implement the CSI & HARQ-ACK PUCCH transmission system, as disclosed in Jung, comprising multiplexing the URLLC CSI report with the high priority and the eMBB low priority HARQ-ACK feedback with or without a scheduling request (SR) on a single PUCCH resource in the case that:
the UE is configured with a simultaneous HARQ-ACK and CSI (HARQ-ACK-CSI), as taught in Han. One is motivated as such in order to effectively handle multiplexing of two or more channels carrying signals of different priority levels (See Han Background; Summary).
Jung, modified by Han, does not specifically disclose multiplexing on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources (emphasis added).
However, Zhang teaches of multiplexing on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources (See Zhang [0086] – when a PUCCH (i.e. first PUCCH resource) with higher priority overlaps with multiple PUCCHs with lower priority (i.e. plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources), multiplexing UCIs on PUCCH (i.e. on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources) with lower priority).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to implement the CSI & HARQ-ACK PUCCH transmission system, as disclosed in Jung, modified by Han, comprising multiplexing on a single PUCCH resource in the plurality of sets of second PUCCH resources, as taught in Zhang. One is motivated as such in order to provide efficient resource utilization (See Zhang Solution to Problem).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13-14, 20-21 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 03/03/2026 have been fully considered, but are not persuasive.
Firstly, regarding Applicant's argument that “there is no independent embodiment that describes URLLC CSI alone being multiplexed with an eMBB HARQ-ACK” (emphasis added) and that claim 8 describes that “a URLLC CSI PUCCH overlaps with an eMBB HARQ-ACK PUCCH only” (emphasis added), the Examiner submits that the claim language does not require that URLLC CSI “alone” is multiplexed with an eMBB HARQ-ACK or that the URLLC CSI PUCCH overlaps with an eMBB HARQ-ACK PUCCH “only”. Han teaches of multiplexing URLLC CSI (URLLC is high priority relative to eMBB) and eMBB HARQ-ACK (eMBB is low priority relative to URLLC) when there an overlap of the two. Even if the URLLC CSI is not multiplexed “alone” with the eMBB HARQ-ACK, arguendo, the claim language does not specify that other overlapping communication cannot be included in the collision handling procedure.
Secondly, regarding Applicant's argument that the cited references do not teach “that the URLLC CSI is multiplexed with the eMBB HARQ-ACK on a low priority eMBB PUCCH resource”, the Examiner respectfully disagrees. The Applicant has argued that Han does not teach this feature, however, the Examiner submits that Zhang, not Han, is cited as teaching this claimed feature. The Applicant further argues that Zhang “describes a very broad concept, and it would be impossible for a person having ordinary skill in the art to apply that concept to a specific embodiment”. The Examiner disagrees and submits that Zhang teaches of a specific situation (not broad concept) where a PUCCH carrying UCI with higher priority overlaps with a PUCCH carrying UCI with lower priority, the collision handling comprises multiplexing the UCIs on the PUCCH with lower priority. This is directly applicable to the embodiments in Han where PUCCHs carrying UCI and having differing priority are overlapping resulting in multiplexing of UCIs on a PUCCH.
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 Steve R Young whose telephone number is (571)270-7518. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-5pm.
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/STEVE R YOUNG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477