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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 06/03/2026 have been fully considered but are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that “Lei, Yuan and Song all fail to disclose the method 1 and method 2 as recited in amended claim 1” (see remarks pg. 23).
In response to applicant’s argument, the examiner respectfully disagrees because the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., method 1 and method 2) are not required in the rejected claim(s), the claim recites method 1 and method 2 as being an alternative/optional. Furthermore, applicant’s argument fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.111(b) because it amounts to a general allegation that the claims define a patentable invention without specifically pointing out how the language of the claim (i.e., method 1 and method 2) patentably distinguishes them from the references.
Applicant further argues that “While in method 2 of amended claim 1, an HARQ-ACK codebook corresponding to a specific carrier among the plurality of carriers is taken as the HARQ-ACK codebook corresponding to the plurality of carriers, while, one downlink transmission is transmitted on the plurality of carriers scheduled by DCI” and “Nowhere does this passage discloses that in the case that a plurality of carriers are used for PDSCH transmission, a HARQ-ACK codebook corresponding to one specific carrier among the plurality of carriers is taken as the HARQ- ACK codebook corresponding to the plurality of carriers” (see remarks pgs. 23-24).
In response to applicant’s argument, the examiner respectfully disagrees because the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., “while” and “in the case that”) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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, 3, 9-10, 14, 17, 19, 25-26, 30, 65, 67, 73, 78 and 81 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lei et al. (US 2022/0385411 A1, hereinafter “Lei”).
As to claim 1:
Lei discloses an information communication method (Abstract; Fig. 11), comprising:
determining one Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest, HARQ-ACK, codebook by taking a plurality of carriers as a group (“After receiving the DCI with the bitmap, the UE shall generate the HARQ-ACK codebook including HARQ-ACK information bits for the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th, 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers”; see Fig. 11; [0062] “there are 16 configured carriers in the same PUCCH group, which are divided into 4 groups, which respectively includes the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th carriers, 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th carriers, 9 th, 10 th, 11 th, 12 th carriers, and 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers. There are 4 bits in the bitmap, with each bit in the bitmap corresponding to one group of the 4 groups”; [0061]), wherein one downlink transmission is transmitted on the plurality of carriers scheduled by Downlink Control Information, DCI (“For example, in FIG. 6, if the gNB transmits PDSCH on the 5 th and 14 th carriers, then the gNB needs to request the HARQ-ACK feedback for the 5 th and 14 th carriers, the gNB then set the values of the 2nd bit and the 4th bit in the bitmap which corresponds to the carrier groups including the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th carriers, and 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, 16 th carriers to “1”. After receiving the DCI with the bitmap, the UE shall generate the HARQ-ACK codebook ”; [0062]);
sending the HARQ-ACK codebook (“the UE transmits a HARQ-ACK codebook”; see Fig. 11; [0089]; [0062]);
wherein determining the HARQ-ACK codebook (“the UE shall generate the HARQ-ACK codebook including HARQ-ACK information bits for the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th, 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers”; see Fig. 11; [0062];[0089]) comprises one of following methods:
method 1:
determining each first time unit with index n-K1i according to each value K1i in a feedback timing K1 set, and determining a quantity Mc-max of candidate downlink transmission opportunities of each first time unit with index n-K1i, when the HARQ-ACK codebook is transmitted in a first time unit with index n; cascading Mc-max candidate downlink transmission opportunities of each first time unit with index n-K1i together according to a fixed order of corresponding K1i values within the feedback timing K1 set, to form a set of candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers; determining the HARQ-ACK codebook according to the set of candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative);
method 2:
taking an HARQ-ACK codebook corresponding to a specific carrier among the plurality of carriers as the HARQ-ACK codebook corresponding to the plurality of carriers (“if the gNB transmits PDSCH on the 5 th and 14 th carriers, then the gNB needs to request the HARQ-ACK feedback for the 5 th and 14 th carriers, the gNB then set the values of the 2nd bit and the 4 th bit in the bitmap which corresponds to the carrier groups including the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th carriers, and 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, 16 th carriers to “1”. After receiving the DCI with the bitmap, the UE shall generate the HARQ-ACK codebook including HARQ-ACK information bits for the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th, 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers”; see Figs. 6 and 11; [0062];[0089] note: the HARQ-ACK codebook corresponding to the 5th carrier is used for the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th, 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers); or,
method 3:
taking candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to a specific carrier among the plurality of carriers as candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers, and generating the HARQ-ACK codebook based on the candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative).
As to claim 3:
Lei further discloses wherein at least one of the following cases is comprised: case 1: in the method 1, one or a combination of following items are comprised: item 1: the quantity Mc-max is determined in one of following manners: Manner 1-1: determining the quantity Mc-max as a maximum quantity of candidate downlink transmission opportunities in each second time unit for which an HARQ-ACK feedback is performed in the first time unit with index n on each of the plurality of carriers; Manner 1-2: determining the quantity Mc-max as a maximum quantity of candidate downlink transmission opportunities in a second time unit corresponding to the first time unit with index n-K1 on each of the plurality of carriers; or Manner 1-3: determining the quantity Mc-max as a quantity of candidate downlink transmission opportunities in a second time unit corresponding to the first time unit with index n-K1i on a specific carrier among the plurality of carriers; item 2: when a quantity Mc of candidate downlink transmission opportunities in the second time unit corresponding to the first time unit with index n-K1i on a carrier of the plurality of carriers is less than Mc-max, the Mc candidate downlink transmission opportunities on the carrier are determined to correspond to first Mc candidate downlink transmission opportunities or last Mc candidate downlink transmission opportunities among the Mc-max candidate downlink transmission opportunities; item 3: determining the HARQ-ACK codebook according to the set of candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers, comprises: determining a quantity of HARQ-ACK bits corresponding to the set of candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers in the HARQ-ACK codebook; mapping the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission to a corresponding HARQ-ACK position in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to a correspondence between the downlink transmission and a candidate downlink transmission opportunity in the set of candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers; or, item 4: at least one of following situations is comprised: the first time unit comprises: one of a predefined time period, subframe, slot, or subslot composed of A symbols, wherein A is a positive integer; or the second time unit comprises: one of a predefined time period, subframe, slot or subslot composed of B symbols, wherein B is a positive integer; definitions of the first time unit and the second time unit are same or different (for examination purposes, these limitation have not been selected by the examiner as they are optional/alternative); or
case 2: in methods 2 and 3, the specific carrier is a carrier with a smallest or largest index among the plurality of carriers, or a carrier with a smallest or largest Sub-Carrier Spacing, SCS, among the plurality of carriers, or a carrier pre-indicated by high-layer signaling among the plurality of carriers, or a carrier used as scheduling timing reference when the DCI schedules the plurality of carriers, or a carrier used as HARQ-ACK feedback timing reference when the DCI schedules the plurality of carriers (“if the gNB transmits PDSCH on the 5 th and 14 th carriers, then the gNB needs to request the HARQ-ACK feedback for the 5 th and 14 th carriers, the gNB then set the values of the 2nd bit and the 4 th bit in the bitmap which corresponds to the carrier groups including the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th carriers, and 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, 16 th carriers to “1”. After receiving the DCI with the bitmap, the UE shall generate the HARQ-ACK codebook including HARQ-ACK information bits for the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th, 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers”; see Figs. 6 and 11; [0062]; [0089]; Abstract; For examination purposes the examiner selected “a carrier pre-indicated by high-layer signaling among the plurality of carriers” from the group of options/alternatives).
As to claim 9:
The limitation of “wherein the mapping the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission to the corresponding HARQ-ACK position in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to the correspondence between the downlink transmission and the candidate downlink transmission opportunity in the set of candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers, comprises at least one of following: when the DCI schedules the downlink transmission on the plurality of carriers, determining the mapping position of the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to a specific carrier among the plurality of carriers; or when the DCI schedules the downlink transmission on one of the plurality of carriers, determining the mapping position of the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to a carrier on which the downlink transmission is performed” further defines/limits an option that was not elected by the examiner for examination purposes (see claim 3). As it further limits a non-elected option described in claim 3, this limitation is also optional/alternative.
As to claim 10:
The limitation of “wherein the determining the mapping position of the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to the specific carrier among the plurality of carriers, comprises: determining a candidate downlink transmission opportunity of the downlink transmission, among the Me-max candidate downlink transmission opportunities of the first time unit with index n-K1 corresponding to a second time unit where the downlink transmission is performed on the specific carrier, and mapping the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission to an HARQ-ACK position corresponding to the candidate downlink transmission opportunity of the downlink transmission in the HARQ-ACK codebook; determining the mapping position of the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to a carrier on which the downlink transmission is performed, comprises: determining a candidate downlink transmission opportunity of the downlink transmission, among the Me-max candidate downlink transmission opportunities of the first time unit with index n-K1 corresponding to a second time unit where the downlink transmission is performed on a carrier on which the downlink transmission is performed, and mapping the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission to an HARQ-ACK position corresponding to the candidate downlink transmission opportunity of the downlink transmission in the HARQ-ACK codebook” further defines/limits an option that was not elected by the examiner for examination purposes (see claims 3 and 9). As it further limits a non-elected option described in claims 3 and 9, these limitations are also optional/alternatives.
As to claim 14:
Lei further discloses wherein at least one of following situations is comprised: HARQ-ACKs for the downlink transmission scheduled by the DCI on the plurality of carriers and a downlink transmission scheduled by the DCI on one carrier are not transmitted in a same Physical Uplink Control Channel, PUCCH, or in a same first time unit (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative);
the HARQ-ACK codebook is generated in a semi-static manner (“semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook”; [0033]; [0037]; [0040]); or the downlink transmission comprises at least one of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel, PDSCH, or a PDCCH indicating downlink Semi-Persistent Scheduling, SPS, resource release (for examination purposes, these limitations have not been selected by the examiner as they are optional/alternatives).
As to claim 17:
Lei discloses an information communication method (Abstract; Fig. 12), comprising:
determining that: one Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest, HARQ-ACK, codebook is generated by taking a plurality of carriers as a group (“After receiving the DCI with the bitmap, the UE shall generate the HARQ-ACK codebook including HARQ-ACK information bits for the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th, 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers”; see Fig. 11; [0062]; [0090] “there are 16 configured carriers in the same PUCCH group, which are divided into 4 groups, which respectively includes the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th carriers, 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th carriers, 9 th, 10 th, 11 th, 12 th carriers, and 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers. There are 4 bits in the bitmap, with each bit in the bitmap corresponding to one group of the 4 groups”; [0061]; [0090]), wherein one downlink transmission is transmitted on the plurality of carriers scheduled by Downlink Control Information, DCI (“For example, in FIG. 6, if the gNB transmits PDSCH on the 5 th and 14 th carriers, then the gNB needs to request the HARQ-ACK feedback for the 5 th and 14 th carriers, the gNB then set the values of the 2nd bit and the 4th bit in the bitmap which corresponds to the carrier groups including the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th carriers, and 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, 16 th carriers to “1”. After receiving the DCI with the bitmap, the UE shall generate the HARQ-ACK codebook ”; [0062]);
receiving the HARQ-ACK codebook (“the UE transmits a HARQ-ACK codebook”; see Fig. 11; [0089]; [0062] “the BS receives from a UE, a HARQ-ACK codebook”; [0090]);
determining that the HARQ-ACK codebook is generated with the plurality of carriers as a group (“the UE shall generate the HARQ-ACK codebook including HARQ-ACK information bits for the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th, 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers”; see Fig. 11; [0062]; [0058]; [0089]-[0090]), comprises one of following methods:
method 1:
determining each first time unit with index n-K1 according to each value K1i in a feedback timing K1 set, and determining a quantity Mc-max of candidate downlink transmission opportunities of each first time unit with index n-K1i, when the HARQ-ACK codebook is received in a first time unit with index n; cascading Mc-max candidate downlink transmission opportunities of each first time unit with index n-K1i together according to a fixed order of corresponding K1i values within the feedback timing K1 set, to form a set of candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers; determining that the HARQ-ACK codebook is generated according to the set of candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative);
method 2:
determining that the HARQ-ACK codebook corresponding to the plurality of carriers is an HARQ-ACK codebook corresponding to a specific carrier among the plurality of carriers (“if the gNB transmits PDSCH on the 5 th and 14 th carriers, then the gNB needs to request the HARQ-ACK feedback for the 5 th and 14 th carriers, the gNB then set the values of the 2nd bit and the 4 th bit in the bitmap which corresponds to the carrier groups including the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th carriers, and 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, 16 th carriers to “1”. After receiving the DCI with the bitmap, the UE shall generate the HARQ-ACK codebook including HARQ-ACK information bits for the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th, 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers”; see Figs. 6 and 11; [0062];[0089]-[0090] note: the HARQ-ACK codebook corresponding to the 5th carrier is used for the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th, 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers);
method 3:
taking candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to a specific carrier among the plurality of carriers as candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers, and determining that the HARQ-ACK codebook is generated based on the candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative).
As to claim 19:
Lei further discloses wherein at least one of following cases is comprised: case 1: in the method 1, one of following items are comprised:
item 1: the quantity Mc-max is determined in one of following manners: Manner 1-1: determining the quantity Mc-max as a maximum quantity of candidate downlink transmission opportunities in each second time unit for which an HARQ-ACK feedback is performed in the first time unit with index n on each of the plurality of carriers; Manner 1-2: determining the quantity Mc-max as a maximum quantity of candidate downlink transmission opportunities in a second time unit corresponding to the first time unit with index n-Kl on each of the plurality of carriers; or Manner 1-3: determining the quantity Mc-max as a quantity of candidate downlink transmission opportunities in a second time unit corresponding to the first time unit with index n-Kl on a specific carrier among the plurality of carriers; item 2: when a quantity Me of candidate downlink transmission opportunities in the second time unit corresponding to the first time unit with index n-Kl on a carrier of the plurality of carriers is less than Mc-max, the Me candidate downlink transmission opportunities on the carrier are determined to correspond to first Me candidate downlink transmission opportunities or last Me candidate downlink transmission opportunities among the Mc-max candidate downlink transmission opportunities; item 3: determining that the HARQ-ACK codebook is generated according to the set of candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers, comprises: determining a quantity of HARQ-ACK bits corresponding to the set of candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers in the HARQ-ACK codebook; determining that the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission is mapped to a corresponding HARQ-ACK position in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to a correspondence between the downlink transmission and a candidate downlink transmission opportunity in the set of candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers; or, item 4: at least one of following situations is comprised: the first time unit comprises: one of a predefined time period, subframe, slot, or subslot composed of A symbols, wherein A is a positive integer; or the second time unit comprises: one of a predefined time period, subframe, slot or subslot composed of B symbols, wherein B is a positive integer; definitions of the first time unit and the second time unit are same or different (for examination purposes, these limitation have not been selected by the examiner as they are optional/alternative); or
case 2: in the methods 2 and 3, the specific carrier is a carrier with a smallest or largest index among the plurality of carriers, or a carrier with a smallest or largest Sub-Carrier Spacing, SCS, among the plurality of carriers, or a carrier pre-indicated by high-layer signaling among the plurality of carriers, or a carrier used as scheduling timing reference when the DCI schedules the plurality of carriers, or a carrier used as HARQ-ACK feedback timing reference when the DCI schedules the plurality of carriers (“if the gNB transmits PDSCH on the 5 th and 14 th carriers, then the gNB needs to request the HARQ-ACK feedback for the 5 th and 14 th carriers, the gNB then set the values of the 2nd bit and the 4 th bit in the bitmap which corresponds to the carrier groups including the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th carriers, and 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, 16 th carriers to “1”. After receiving the DCI with the bitmap, the UE shall generate the HARQ-ACK codebook including HARQ-ACK information bits for the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th, 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers”; see Figs. 6 and 11; [0062]; [0058]; [0089]; Abstract; For examination purposes the examiner selected “a carrier pre-indicated by high-layer signaling among the plurality of carriers” from the group of options/alternatives).
As to claim 25:
The limitation of “wherein determining that the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission is mapped to the corresponding HARQ-ACK position in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to the correspondence between the downlink transmission and the candidate downlink transmission opportunity in the set of candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers, comprises at least one of following: when the DCI schedules the downlink transmission on the plurality of carriers, determining the mapping position of the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to a specific carrier among the plurality of carriers; or when the DCI schedules the downlink transmission on one of the plurality of carriers, determining the mapping position of the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to a carrier on which the downlink transmission is performed” further defines/limits an option that was not elected by the examiner for examination purposes (see claim 19). As it further limits a non-elected option described in claim 19, this limitation is also optional/alternative.
As to claim 26:
The limitation of “wherein the determining the mapping position of the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to the specific carrier among the plurality of carriers, comprises: determining a candidate downlink transmission opportunity of the downlink transmission, among the Mc-max candidate downlink transmission opportunities of the first time unit with index n-Kl corresponding to a second time unit where the downlink transmission is performed on the specific carrier, and determining that the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission is mapped to an HARQ- ACK position corresponding to the candidate downlink transmission opportunity of the downlink transmission in the HARQ-ACK codebook; determining the mapping position of the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission in the HARQ- ACK codebook according to the carrier on which the downlink transmission is performed, comprises: determining a candidate downlink transmission opportunity of the downlink transmission, among the Mc-max candidate downlink transmission opportunities of the first time unit with index n-Kl corresponding to a second time unit where the downlink transmission is performed on a carrier on which the downlink transmission is performed, and determining that the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission is mapped to an HARQ-ACK position corresponding to the candidate downlink transmission opportunity of the downlink transmission in the HARQ-ACK codebook” further defines/limits an option that was not elected by the examiner for examination purposes (see claims 19 and 25). As it further limits a non-elected option described in claims 19 and 25, these limitations are also optional/alternatives.
As to claim 30:
Lei further discloses wherein at least one of following situations is comprised: HARQ-ACKs for the downlink transmission scheduled by the DCI on the plurality of carriers and a downlink transmission scheduled by the DCI on one carrier are not received in a same Physical Uplink Control Channel, PUCCH, or in a same first time unit (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative); the HARQ-ACK codebook is generated in a semi-static manner (“semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook”; [0033]; [0037]; [0040]); or the downlink transmission comprises at least one of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel, PDSCH, or a PDCCH indicating downlink Semi-Persistent Scheduling, SPS, resource release (for examination purposes, these limitations have not been selected by the examiner as they are optional/alternatives).
As to claim 65:
Lei discloses an information communication apparatus (“UE”; Fig. 13; [0103]), comprising: a memory configured to store program instructions (“a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions”; [0103]);
a processor configured to invoke the program instructions stored in the memory, and in accordance with an obtained program, perform the process of (“a processor coupled to the non-transitory computer-readable medium, the receiving circuitry and the transmitting circuitry. The computer executable instructions can be programmed to implement a method (e.g. the method in FIG. 11)”; [0103]):
determining one Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest, HARQ-ACK, codebook by taking a plurality of carriers as a group (“After receiving the DCI with the bitmap, the UE shall generate the HARQ-ACK codebook including HARQ-ACK information bits for the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th, 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers”; see Fig. 11; [0062] “there are 16 configured carriers in the same PUCCH group, which are divided into 4 groups, which respectively includes the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th carriers, 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th carriers, 9 th, 10 th, 11 th, 12 th carriers, and 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers. There are 4 bits in the bitmap, with each bit in the bitmap corresponding to one group of the 4 groups”; [0061]), wherein one downlink transmission is transmitted on the plurality of carriers scheduled by Downlink Control Information, DCI (“For example, in FIG. 6, if the gNB transmits PDSCH on the 5 th and 14 th carriers, then the gNB needs to request the HARQ-ACK feedback for the 5 th and 14 th carriers, the gNB then set the values of the 2nd bit and the 4th bit in the bitmap which corresponds to the carrier groups including the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th carriers, and 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, 16 th carriers to “1”. After receiving the DCI with the bitmap, the UE shall generate the HARQ-ACK codebook ”; [0062]);
sending the HARQ-ACK codebook (“the UE transmits a HARQ-ACK codebook”; see Fig. 11; [0089]; [0062]);
wherein determining the HARQ-ACK codebook (“the UE shall generate the HARQ-ACK codebook including HARQ-ACK information bits for the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th, 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers”; see Fig. 11; [0062];[0089]) comprises one of following methods:
method 1:determining each first time unit with index n-K1i according to each value K1i in a feedback timing K1 set, and determining a quantity Mc-max of candidate downlink transmission opportunities of each first time unit with index n-K1i, when the HARQ-ACK codebook is transmitted in a first time unit with index n; cascading Mc-max candidate downlink transmission opportunities of each first time unit with index n-K1i together according to a fixed order of corresponding K1 values within the feedback timing K1 set, to form a set of candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers; determining the HARQ-ACK codebook according to the set of candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative);
method 2:
taking an HARQ-ACK codebook corresponding to a specific carrier among the plurality of carriers as the HARQ-ACK codebook corresponding to the plurality of carriers (“if the gNB transmits PDSCH on the 5 th and 14 th carriers, then the gNB needs to request the HARQ-ACK feedback for the 5 th and 14 th carriers, the gNB then set the values of the 2nd bit and the 4 th bit in the bitmap which corresponds to the carrier groups including the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th carriers, and 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, 16 th carriers to “1”. After receiving the DCI with the bitmap, the UE shall generate the HARQ-ACK codebook including HARQ-ACK information bits for the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th, 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers”; see Figs. 6 and 11; [0062];[0089] note: the HARQ-ACK codebook corresponding to the 5th carrier is used for the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th, 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers); or,
method 3:
taking candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to a specific carrier among the plurality of carriers as candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers, and generating the HARQ-ACK codebook based on the candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative).
As to claim 67:
Lei further discloses wherein at least one of following cases is comprised: case 1: in the method 1, one or a combination of following items are comprised: item 1: the quantity Mc-max is determined in one of following manners: Manner 1-1: determining the quantity Mc-max as a maximum quantity of candidate downlink transmission opportunities in each second time unit for which an HARQ-ACK feedback is performed in the first time unit with index n on each of the plurality of carriers; Manner 1-2: determining the Mc-max as a maximum quantity of candidate downlink transmission opportunities in a second time unit corresponding to the first time unit with index n-K1 on each of the plurality of carriers; or Manner 1-3: determining the quantity Mc-max as a quantity of candidate downlink transmission opportunities in a second time unit corresponding to the first time unit with index n-Kl on a specific carrier among the plurality of carriers; item 2: when a quantity Mc of candidate downlink transmission opportunities in the second time unit corresponding to the first time unit with index n-K1i on a carrier of the plurality of carriers is less than Mc-max, the Mc candidate downlink transmission opportunities on the carrier are determined to correspond to first Mc candidate downlink transmission opportunities or last Me candidate downlink transmission opportunities among the Mc-max candidate downlink transmission opportunities; item 3: the processor is configured to perform: determining a quantity of HARQ-ACK bits corresponding to the set of candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers in the HARQ-ACK codebook; mapping the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission to a corresponding HARQ-ACK position in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to a correspondence between the downlink transmission and a candidate downlink transmission opportunity in the set of candidate downlink transmission opportunities corresponding to the plurality of carriers; or, item 4: at least one of following situations is comprised: the first time unit comprises: one of a predefined time period, subframe, slot, or subslot composed of A symbols, wherein A is a positive integer; or the second time unit comprises: one of a predefined time period, subframe, slot or subslot composed of B symbols, wherein B is a positive integer; definitions of the first time unit and the second time unit are same or different (for examination purposes, these limitation have not been selected by the examiner as they are optional/alternative); or case 2: in methods 2 and 3, the specific carrier is a carrier with a smallest or largest index among the plurality of carriers, or a carrier with a smallest or largest Sub-Carrier Spacing, SCS, among the plurality of carriers, or a carrier pre-indicated by high-layer signaling among the plurality of carriers, or a carrier used as scheduling timing reference when the DCI schedules the plurality of carriers, or a carrier used as HARQ-ACK feedback timing reference when the DCI schedules the plurality of carriers (“if the gNB transmits PDSCH on the 5 th and 14 th carriers, then the gNB needs to request the HARQ-ACK feedback for the 5 th and 14 th carriers, the gNB then set the values of the 2nd bit and the 4 th bit in the bitmap which corresponds to the carrier groups including the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th carriers, and 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, 16 th carriers to “1”. After receiving the DCI with the bitmap, the UE shall generate the HARQ-ACK codebook including HARQ-ACK information bits for the 5th, 6 th, 7 th, 8 th, 13 th, 14 th, 15 th, and 16 th carriers”; see Figs. 6 and 11; [0062]; [0058]; [0089]; Abstract; For examination purposes the examiner selected “a carrier pre-indicated by high-layer signaling among the plurality of carriers” from the group of options/alternatives).
As to claim 73:
The limitation of “wherein the processor is configured to perform at least one of following: when the DCI schedules the downlink transmission on the plurality of carriers, determining the mapping position of the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to a specific carrier among the plurality of carriers; or when the DCI schedules the downlink transmission on one of the plurality of carriers, determining the mapping position of the HARQ-ACK of the downlink transmission in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to a carrier on which the downlink transmission is performed” further defines/limits an option that was not elected by the examiner for examination purposes (see claim 67). As it further limits a non-elected option described in claim 67, this limitation is also optional/alternative.
As to claim 78:
Lei further discloses wherein at least one of following situations is comprised: HARQ-ACKs for the downlink transmission scheduled by the DCI on the plurality of carriers and a downlink transmission scheduled by the DCI on one carrier are not transmitted in a same Physical Uplink Control Channel, PUCCH, or in a same first time unit (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative); the HARQ-ACK codebook is generated in a semi-static manner (“semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook”; [0033]; [0037]; [0040]); or the downlink transmission comprises at least one of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel, PDSCH, or a PDCCH indicating downlink Semi-Persistent Scheduling, SPS, resource release (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative).
As to claim 81:
Lei further discloses an information communication apparatus (“BS”; Fig. 14; [0104]), comprising:
a memory configured to store program instructions (“a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions”; [0104]);
a processor configured to invoke the program instructions stored in the memory, and in accordance with an obtained program, perform the process of the method of according to claim 17 (“a processor coupled to the non-transitory computer-readable medium, the receiving circuitry and the transmitting circuitry. The computer executable instructions can be programmed to implement a method (e.g. the method in FIG. 12) with the receiving circuitry, the transmitting circuitry and the processor”; [0104] see claim 17).
Claims 4 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lei (US 2022/0385411 A1) in view of Song et al. (US 2022/0255706 A1, hereinafter “Song”).
As to claim 4:
Lei discloses the invention set forth above, but does not explicitly disclose candidate downlink transmission opportunities in a second time unit on a carrier are determined based on all Start and Length Indicator Values, SLIVs, in a Time Domain Resource Assignment, TDRA, table, and the TDRA table is a TDRA table configured for the DCI.
However, Song discloses candidate downlink transmission opportunities in a second time unit on a carrier are determined based on all Start and Length Indicator Values, SLIVs, in a Time Domain Resource Assignment, TDRA, table (“determining at least one candidate PDSCH reception occasion based on an SLIV of a TDRA includes: determining N SLIVs based on M SLIVs; and determining N candidate PDSCH reception occasions based on the N SLIVs, where M represents the largest quantity of times of repeating the PDSCH in a time domain repetition scheme of a PDSCH in one slot, and the M SLIVs are determined based on an SLIV of one TDRA, a quantity of interval symbols between PDSCH repetitions, and a value of M; the N SLIVs are some or all of the M SLIVs”; [0036]), and the TDRA table is a TDRA table configured for the DCI (“parameter of one item in a TDRA table scheduled by using the DCI”; [0076] For examination purpose, the remainder of the limitations have not been selected by the examiner as they are optional/alternative).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Song into Lei’s system/method as it would allow candidate downlink transmission opportunities in a second time unit on a carrier to be determined based on all Start and Length Indicator Values, SLIVs, in a Time Domain Resource Assignment, TDRA, table, and the TDRA table is a TDRA table configured for the DCI. Such combination would have been obvious as the references are from analogous art applying a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement would yield predictable results. Furthermore, such combination would have improved scenarios where HARQ-ACK codebook is not applicable (Song; [0004]). For examination purposes, the remainder of the limitations are optional/alternatives, which have not been selected by the examiner.
As to claim 20:
Lei discloses the invention set forth above, but does not explicitly disclose candidate downlink transmission opportunities in a second time unit on a carrier are determined based on all Start and Length Indicator Values, SLIVs, in a Time Domain Resource Assignment, TDRA, table, and the TDRA table is a TDRA table configured for the DCI.
However, Song discloses candidate downlink transmission opportunities in a second time unit on a carrier are determined based on all Start and Length Indicator Values, SLIVs, in a Time Domain Resource Assignment, TDRA, table (“determining at least one candidate PDSCH reception occasion based on an SLIV of a TDRA includes: determining N SLIVs based on M SLIVs; and determining N candidate PDSCH reception occasions based on the N SLIVs, where M represents the largest quantity of times of repeating the PDSCH in a time domain repetition scheme of a PDSCH in one slot, and the M SLIVs are determined based on an SLIV of one TDRA, a quantity of interval symbols between PDSCH repetitions, and a value of M; the N SLIVs are some or all of the M SLIVs”; [0036]), and the TDRA table is a TDRA table configured for the DCI (“parameter of one item in a TDRA table scheduled by using the DCI”; [0076] For examination purpose, the remainder of the limitations have not been selected by the examiner as they are optional/alternative).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Song into Lei’s system/method as it would allow candidate downlink transmission opportunities in a second time unit on a carrier to be determined based on all Start and Length Indicator Values, SLIVs, in a Time Domain Resource Assignment, TDRA, table, and the TDRA table is a TDRA table configured for the DCI. Such combination would have been obvious as the references are from analogous art applying a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement would yield predictable results. Furthermore, such combination would have improved scenarios where HARQ-ACK codebook is not applicable (Song; [0004]). For examination purposes the remainder of the limitations are optional/alternatives, which have not been selected by the examiner.
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record below is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure:
Yang et al. (US 2020/0052831 A1) discloses multiple PDSCH signals carrying the same data block can be transmitted in different component carriers to achieve frequency-diversity (see paragraph [0097]).
Song et al. (US 2018/0242286 A1) discloses the data transmission to the UE 10 may be scheduled on a set of carriers comprised in a group of carrier (see paragraph [0053]; [0137])
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 MARIELA VIDAL CARPIO whose telephone number is (571)272-1250. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00AM to 5:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayaz Sheikh can be reached at (571)272-3795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARIELA VIDAL CARPIO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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