DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 .
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.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. In particular, this Application is the national stage application of an international application that claims a domestic benefit to a provisional application filed on 28 May 2020.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement, received on 24 Nov 2022, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the independent claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-6, 8, 9, 11-16, 18, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Wang (WO 2021/159466).
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Wang teaches a wireless communication method and a User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communication, the UE for providing uplink (UL) feedback in response to receiving data corresponding to a Multicast Broadcast Service (MBS), the UE comprising: at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the at least one processor and storing one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor (Wang, ¶24 and figure 1(b) – UE includes a processor and memory), cause the UE to:
receive the data corresponding to the MBS (Wang, ¶¶39, 41– multicast and/or broadcast service data is received by UE via multicast traffic channels, MTCHs); and
enable a transmission of the UL feedback, in response to receiving the data corresponding to the MBS, when at least one of a plurality of predetermined conditions is satisfied (Wang, ¶52 – MTCHinfolist informs UEs if HARQ feedback is disabled or enabled),
the plurality of predetermined conditions comprising: receiving an indication to enable the UL feedback, wherein the indication to enable the UL feedback is configured in accordance with a Group Radio Network Temporary Identifier (G-RNTI) associated with the MBS, and receiving an indication of a UL resource for transmitting the UL feedback. Wang, figure 5 and ¶55 (step 2 – UE receives MCCH configuration, which includes MTCHinfolist); Wang, 13:9, 13:20, 13:24,26 (MTCHinfolist includes “g-RNTI-r17,” “harqFeedbackEnabled-r17,” and “pucchResourceMulticast-r17” and/or “pucchResourceSetMulticast-r17”); Wang, ¶¶53 and 61-62 (PUCCH resource indicator for HARQ feedback).
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Wang also teaches disabling the transmission of the UL feedback when none of the plurality of predetermined conditions is satisfied. Wang, ¶¶52, 58 (when the harqFeedbackEnabled bit is not set to “1,” HARQ is disabled [i.e. the bit is set to “0” instead]).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Wang also teaches wherein the indication to enable the UL feedback is included in at least one of Downlink Control Information (DCI), a downlink (DL) Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE), a dedicated DL Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, and broadcast system information. Wang, ¶48 (MCCH Configuration message, which includes the MTCHinfolist, may be an RRC message).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Wang also teaches receiving the data corresponding to the MBS within a frequency range. Wang, ¶41 (BWP used to transmit multicast and broadcast service data).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Wang also teaches wherein the frequency range corresponds to a DL Bandwidth Part (BWP) or a frequency supported by a cell. Wang, ¶41.
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Wang also teaches transmitting the UL feedback after enabling the transmission of the UL feedback (Wang, ¶38 – second feedback option requires both ACK and NACK based HARQ),
wherein: transmitting the UL feedback includes:
transmitting a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) Acknowledgement (ACK) or a HARQ Negative ACK (NACK) that corresponds to a HARQ process of the data corresponding to the MBS on a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource (Wang, ¶¶53 and 61-62 - PUCCH resource indicator for HARQ feedback; Wang, ¶38 – transmit ACK or NACK transmitted by UE), or transmitting at least one of a UL Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) or a UL Radio Resource Control (RRC) message on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) resource,
the HARQ ACK indicates that the data corresponding to the MBS is successfully received and the HARQ NACK indicates that the data corresponding to the MBS is not successfully received (Wang, 2:6-8 – ACK or NACK is delivered based on the success or failure of the transport block), and the UL MAC CE or the UL RRC message includes at least one of a first value or a second value, the first value indicating that the data is successfully received, and the second value indicating that the data is not successfully received. Examiner’s interpretation – the UL MAC CE/RRC message is optional in the claimed invention and therefore need not be taught by Wang because it teaches the other option.
Regarding claims 8 and 18, Wang also teaches receiving Downlink Control Information (DCI) associated with the G-RNTI for the MBS, wherein the DCI indicates a downlink (DL) resource channel for receiving the data corresponding to the MBS. Wang, ¶46 (a specific DCI is received by the UE for the G-RNTI).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, Wang also teaches wherein the indication to enable the UL feedback is transmitted to a group of UEs that are receiving the data corresponding to the MBS with a same G-RNTI (Wang, ¶28 – one G-RNTI identifies one MTCH, where MTCHs are received by a plurality of UEs), and a field of the DCI indicates the UL resource for transmitting the UL feedback. Wang, ¶55 (MTCHinfolist includes fields “pucchResourceMulticast-r17” and/or “pucchResourceSetMulticast-r17”); Wang, ¶¶53 and 61-62 (PUCCH resource indicator for HARQ feedback).
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.
Claims 7, 10, 17, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang (of record) in view of Dinan (US 20220141853).
Regarding claims 7 and 17, Wang teaches the wireless communication method according to claim 1, UE of claim 11, and enabling the transmission of the UL feedback. Wang, ¶55 (MTCHinfolist includes “harqFeedbackEnabled-r17”). Wang does not explicitly teach “initiating a Random Access (RA) procedure when the UL resource for transmitting the UL feedback has not been indicated.” However, Dinan provides a UE via an uplink grant via a random access response from the base station. Dinan, ¶213; see also id., figure 9 and ¶133 for RAR from eNB. In one embodiment, the UL transmission that is granted based on the RACH procedure includes HARQ feedback. Id. at ¶225. At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to perform RACH, as taught by Dinan, in order to send HARQ feedback, as taught by Wang, in order to provide the UE with another means to access an uplink channel, even when the PDCCH does not include an uplink grant. Id. at ¶213.
Regarding claims 10 and 20, Wang teaches the wireless communication method according to claim 1, the UE of claim 11, wherein the data corresponding to the MBS is associated with a Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) or a Transport Block (TB). Wang, ¶46 (received MAC PDU is decoded by the UE); Wang, ¶7 (HARQ feedback provided based on the success or failure of the whole transport block being decoded). Wang does not explicitly teach the data being “for a corresponding Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process.” However, Dinan teaches defining data based on HARQ process IDs. Dinan, ¶¶224-225. At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to use HARQ process IDs, as taught by Dinan, when transmitting the MAC PDUs or TBs, taught by Wang, in order to enable the device to identify which HARQ process are associated with a given transmission. Dinan, ¶¶234, 243.
Conclusion
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 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 BENJAMIN S LAMONT whose telephone number is (571)270-7514 and email address is benjamin.lamont@uspto.gov (see MPEP 502.03 for using EFS or mail, but not email to authorize electronic communications). The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am to 3pm EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Huy Vu can be reached at 571-272-3155. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Benjamin Lamont/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
Prosecution Insights