DETAILED ACTION
The following is a final office action in response to applicant’s remarks/arguments 3/03/2026 for
response of the office action mailed on 12/04/2025. Claims 19-20, 23, 25-26, 29, 31-32, and 35 have been amended. Claims 19-21, 23-27, 29-33, and 35-36 remain pending in the application.
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 Amendment
Amendments filed on 3/03/2026 are entered for prosecution.
Response to Remarks/Arguments
Applicant’s remarks/arguments (page 6-8), filed on 3/03/2026, with respect to the claim 19 have been
fully considered but are not persuasive.
Regarding remarks in page 10 for independent claim 19, applicant remarks that Yang_2018 also discusses another type of DAIs: the count-DAIs/counter-DAIs/c-DAIs. But, Yang_2018's count-DAIs do not disclose the claimed DCI-level counter DAIs because Yang_2018 explicitly teaches that its counter-DAIs have different (incrementing) values, not the same values.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with the applicant. The specification of the application does not provide a definition of "DCI-level counter DAI". Therefore, the broadest reasonable interpretation of "DCI-level counter DAI” is interpreted as “counter DAI”. The DAI is described as “4 bits if one serving cell is configured in the DL, and the higher layer parameter pdsch-HARQ-ACKCodebook=dynamic, and the UE is not provided CORESETPoollndex or is provided CORESETPoollndex with value O for one or more first CORESETs and is provided CORESETPoollndex with value 1 for one or more second CORESETs, and is providedACKNACKFeedbackMode = JointFeedback, where the 2 MSB bits are the counter DAI and the 2 LSB bits are the total DAI” in the 3GPP TS 38.212 V16.1.0 (2020-03) Clause 7.3.1.2.2, page 119.
Yang et al. (US 2021/0211237 Al) discloses (include operations, features, means, or instructions for incrementing, for each first DCI, a first total DAI value associated with the first downlink transmissions, and incrementing, for each second DCI, a second total DAI value associated with the second downlink transmissions, where the concatenated codebook may be based on the first total DAI value and the second total DAI value. a second downlink transmission satisfies the scheduling constraint. the UE may determine, based on the first and second DCI formats, a second downlink transmission satisfies the scheduling constraint. Therefore, the UE may increment a total DAI value associated with the first downlink transmission and the second downlink transmission based on the first counter DAI indicated in the first DCI and a second counter DAI indicated in the second DCI, Yang: [0033], [0128]).
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 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 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that
are applied 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 19-21, 23-27, 29-33, and 35-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Yang et al. (US 2021/0211237 Al, hereinafter “Yang”) in view of YANG et al. (US 2018/0159665 Al, hereafter “Yang_2018”) and in further view of Liu et al. (US 2022/0294591 Al, hereinafter “Liu”).
Regarding claim 19, Yang discloses:
An apparatus comprising (An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, Yang: [0010]):
a processor (The apparatus may include a processor, memory coupled with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory, Yang: [0010]); and
a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program executable by the processor, the program comprising instructions to cause the apparatus to perform (A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a UE is described. The code may include instructions executable by a processor, Yang: [0012]):
receiving M repeated downlink control informations (DCIs) from a network device, each of the M repeated DCIs scheduling N transmissions of first data (receiving a set of one or more first DCI scheduling corresponding first downlink transmissions, each of the one or more first DCI having a unique first downlink assignment counter, receiving a set of one or more second DCI scheduling corresponding second downlink transmissions, Yang: [0029]),
the M repeated DCIs comprising respective downlink assignment index (DAI) fields (UE may receive first DCI(s), with each first DCI having the first DCI format (e.g., DCI formats 1_1/1_0) and a first DAI value based on a first modulo operator. UE may receive one or more second DCI, each second DCI including a second DCI format and a second DAI value based on a second modulo operator, Yang: [0008], [0256]-[0257]),
each of the respective DAI fields comprising a respective DCI-level counter DAI (UE may receive first DCI grant(s) scheduling corresponding first downlink transmission(s), with each first DCI grant having a unique DAI counter. UE may receive a set of one or more first DCI scheduling corresponding first downlink transmissions, each of the one or more first DCI having a unique first downlink assignment counter. The UE may receive a set of one or more second DCI scheduling corresponding second downlink transmissions, each of the one or more second DCI having a unique second downlink assignment counter, Yang: [0006], [0107]), and
values in the respective DAI fields being same such that values of respective DCI-level counter DAIs comprised in the respective DAI fields of the M repeated DCIs are same (include operations, features, means, or instructions for incrementing, for each first DCI, a first total DAI value associated with the first downlink transmissions, and incrementing, for each second DCI, a second total DAI value associated with the second downlink transmissions, where the concatenated codebook may be based on the first total DAI value and the second total DAI value. a second downlink transmission satisfies the scheduling constraint. the UE may determine, based on the first and second DCI formats, a second downlink transmission satisfies the scheduling constraint. Therefore, the UE may increment a total DAI value associated with the first downlink transmission and the second downlink transmission based on the first counter DAI indicated in the first DCI and a second counter DAI indicated in the second DCI, Yang: [0033], [0128]),
Yang does not explicitly disclose:
wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and N is a positive integer; and
However, in the same field of endeavor, Yang_2018 teaches:
wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and N is a positive integer (the number of DG DCIs may be greater than or equal to 2, and the first DAI has the same value in the two or more DG DCIs, Yang_2018: Claim 1-2, [0006]-[0007]); and
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang in view of Yang_2018 in order to further modify that M is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and N is a positive integer from the teachings of Yang_2018.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated through this operation, UL-SCH and/or UCI transmission performance on the PUSCH may be improved (Yang_2018: [0197]).
Yet, Yang and Yang_2018 do not explicitly disclose:
sending feedback information of the first data to the network device, wherein the feedback information is comprised in a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) codebook,
and a location of the feedback information in the HARQ-ACK codebook is based on a DAI field in first DCI of the M repeated DCIs.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Liu teaches:
sending feedback information of the first data to the network device, wherein the feedback information is comprised in a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) codebook (At step 1106, the transmitter 212 at the UE side transmits the determined HARQ-ACK feedback. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a joint semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook with DAIs according to one embodiment, Liu: Fig.8, Fig.11, [0021], [0113]),
and a location of the feedback information in the HARQ-ACK codebook is based on a DAI field in first DCI of the M repeated DCIs (FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a joint semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook with DAIs according to one embodiment. Downlink Assignment Index (DAI) included in the DCI and containing the downlink assignment for the UE to determine the HARQ codebook only when dynamic codebook is configured, Liu: Fig.8, [0021], [0071]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang and Yang_2018 in view of Liu in order to further modify sending feedback information of the first data to the network device, wherein the feedback information is comprised in a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) codebook and the location of the feedback information in the HARQ-ACK codebook based on a DAI field in first DCI from the teachings of Liu.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may reduce the size of the acknowledgment message compared with the semi-static codebook (Liu: [0070]).
Regarding claim 20, Yang-Yang_2018-Liu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 19 above.
Yang further discloses:
The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the first DCI is DCI that is received at an earliest time domain location among the M repeated DCIs (UE may receive DCI 415/420 grants during the monitoring occasions 410-a and 410-b of slot 405-a, during the monitoring occasion 410-d of slot 405-b, and during monitoring occasion 410-f of slot 405-c. Each monitoring occasion 410 may generally include a search space configuration identifying particular time and/or frequency resources within the slot 405 that the UE is to search for DCI 415/420 grants, Yang: Fig. 4, [0134]).
Regarding claim 21, Yang-Yang_2018-Liu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 19 above.
Yang further discloses:
The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein: a value of the respective DCI-level counter DAI indicates an accumulative count value of a quantity of times for which the apparatus is scheduled up to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring occasion and a cell for transmission of the first DCI (DAI may serve as a downlink assignment index and is contained in, at least for downlink transmissions, DCI formats 1_0, 1_1, and 1_2. At least two terms may be used in conjunction with references to the DAI. A counter DAI may refer to an accumulative number of {serving cell, a PDCCH monitoring occasion} pairs in which PDSCH reception/semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) release associated with a DCI 215 transmitted by a base station, up to the current serving cell and current PDCCH monitoring occasion, Yang: [0114]-[0115]).
Regarding claim 23, Yang-Yang_2018-Liu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 19 above.
Yang in view of Yang_2018 does not explicitly disclose:
The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein each of the respective DAI fields further comprises a second DAI, and values of second DAI comprised in the respective DAI fields of the M repeated DCIs are same, a value of the respective DCI level counter DAI indicating an accumulative count value of a quantity of times for which the apparatus is scheduled up to a PDCCH monitoring occasion and a cell for transmission of the first DCI, and a value of the second DAI indicating a total quantity of times for which the apparatus is scheduled up to the PDCCH monitoring occasion for the transmission of the first DCI.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Liu teaches:
wherein each of the respective DAI fields further comprises a second DAI, and values of second DAI comprised in the respective DAI fields of the M repeated DCIs are same, a value of the respective DCI level counter DAI indicating an accumulative count value of a quantity of times for which the apparatus is scheduled up to a PDCCH monitoring occasion and a cell for transmission of the first DCI, and a value of the second DAI indicating a total quantity of times for which the apparatus is scheduled up to the PDCCH monitoring occasion for the transmission of the first DCI (Downlink Assignment Index (DAI) included in the DCI and containing the downlink assignment for the UE to determine the HARQ codebook only when dynamic codebook is configured. The DAI field may have two parts, a counter DAI (cDAI) and, in the case of carrier aggregation, a total DAI (tDAI). A DAI value in the DCI denotes a cumulative number of {serving cell, PDCCH monitoring occasion}-pair(s), Liu: [0071], [0090]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang and Yang_2018 in view of Liu in order to further modify each of the respective DAI fields further comprises a second DAI, and values of second DAI comprised in the respective DAI fields of the M repeated DCIs are same, a value of the respective DCI level counter DAI indicating an accumulative count value of a quantity of times for which the apparatus is scheduled up to a PDCCH monitoring occasion and a cell for transmission of the first DCI, and a value of the second DAI indicating a total quantity of times for which the apparatus is scheduled up to the PDCCH monitoring occasion for the transmission of the first DCI from the teachings of Liu.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because DAI field is used to generate the corresponding HARQ information bits for dynamic HARQ codebook feedback (Liu: [0089]).
Regarding claim 24, Yang-Yang_2018-Liu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 23 above.
Yang in view of Yang_2018 does not explicitly disclose:
The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the second DAI is a total DAI.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Liu teaches:
wherein the second DAI is a total DAI (The DAI field may have two parts, a counter DAI (cDAI) and a total DAI (tDAI). total DAI indicates the total number of downlink transmissions across all carriers up to this point in time, that is, the highest cDAI at the current time point, Liu: [0071]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang and Yang_2018 in view of Liu in order to further modify the second DAI as a total DAI from the teachings of Liu.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because DAI field is used to generate the corresponding HARQ information bits for dynamic HARQ codebook feedback (Liu: [0089]).
Regarding claim 25, Yang discloses:
A method, performed by a network device, or performed by a component configured in the network device, wherein the method comprises (method of wireless communication at a base station, Yang: Fig.1, [0023]):
sending M repeated downlink control informations (DCIs) to a terminal device, each of the M pieces of DCI scheduling N transmissions of first data (receiving a set of one or more first DCI scheduling corresponding first downlink transmissions, each of the one or more first DCI having a unique first downlink assignment counter, receiving a set of one or more second DCI scheduling corresponding second downlink transmissions, Yang: [0029]),
the M repeated DCIs comprising respective downlink assignment index (DAI) fields (UE may receive first DCI(s), with each first DCI having the first DCI format (e.g., DCI formats 1_1/1_0) and a first DAI value based on a first modulo operator. UE may receive one or more second DCI, each second DCI including a second DCI format and a second DAI value based on a second modulo operator, Yang: [0008], [0256]-[0257]),
each of the respective DAI fields comprising a respective DCI-level counter DA (UE may receive first DCI grant(s) scheduling corresponding first downlink transmission(s), with each first DCI grant having a unique DAI counter. UE may receive a set of one or more first DCI scheduling corresponding first downlink transmissions, each of the one or more first DCI having a unique first downlink assignment counter. The UE may receive a set of one or more second DCI scheduling corresponding second downlink transmissions, each of the one or more second DCI having a unique second downlink assignment counter, Yang: [0006], [0107]), and
values in the respective DAI fields being same such that values of respective DCI-level counter DAIs comprised in the respective DAI fields of the M repeated DCIs are same (include operations, features, means, or instructions for incrementing, for each first DCI, a first total DAI value associated with the first downlink transmissions, and incrementing, for each second DCI, a second total DAI value associated with the second downlink transmissions, where the concatenated codebook may be based on the first total DAI value and the second total DAI value. a second downlink transmission satisfies the scheduling constraint. the UE may determine, based on the first and second DCI formats, a second downlink transmission satisfies the scheduling constraint. Therefore, the UE may increment a total DAI value associated with the first downlink transmission and the second downlink transmission based on the first counter DAI indicated in the first DCI and a second counter DAI indicated in the second DCI, Yang: [0033], [0128]),
Yang does not explicitly disclose:
wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and N is a positive integer; and
However, in the same field of endeavor, Yang_2018 teaches:
wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and N is a positive integer (the number of DG DCIs may be greater than or equal to 2, and the first DAI has the same value in the two or more DG DCIs, Yang_2018: Claim 1-2, [0006]-[0007]); and
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang in view of Yang_2018 in order to further modify that M is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and N is a positive integer from the teachings of Yang_2018.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated through this operation, UL-SCH and/or UCI transmission performance on the PUSCH may be improved (Yang_2018: [0197]).
Yet, Yang in view of Yang_2018 does not explicitly disclose:
receiving feedback information of the first data from the terminal device, wherein the feedback information is comprised in a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) codebook,
and a location of the feedback information in the HARQ-ACK codebook is based on a DAI field in first DCI of the M repeated DCIs.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Liu teaches:
receiving feedback information of the first data from the terminal device, wherein the feedback information is comprised in a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) codebook (At step 1204, the receiver 314 at the NE side that includes receiving components of the TRPs receives a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) Acknowledgement (ACK) feedback, FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a joint semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook with DAIs according to one embodiment, Liu: Fig.8, Fig.12, [0021], [0116]),
and a location of the feedback information in the HARQ-ACK codebook is based on a DAI field in first DCI of the M repeated DCIs (FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a joint semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook with DAIs according to one embodiment. Downlink Assignment Index (DAI) included in the DCI and containing the downlink assignment for the UE to determine the HARQ codebook only when dynamic codebook is configured, Liu: Fig.8, [0021], [0071]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang and Yang_2018 in view of Liu in order to further modify receiving feedback information of the first data from the terminal device, wherein the feedback information is comprised in a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) codebook and the location of the feedback information in the HARQ-ACK codebook based on a DAI field in first DCI from the teachings of Liu.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may reduce the size of the acknowledgment message compared with the semi-static codebook (Liu: [0070]).
Regarding claim 26, Yang-Yang_2018-Liu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 25 above.
Yang further discloses:
The method according to claim 25, wherein the first DCI is DCI that is sent at an earliest time domain location among the M repeated DCIs (UE may receive DCI 415/420 grants during the monitoring occasions 410-a and 410-b of slot 405-a, during the monitoring occasion 410-d of slot 405-b, and during monitoring occasion 410-f of slot 405-c. Each monitoring occasion 410 may generally include a search space configuration identifying particular time and/or frequency resources within the slot 405 that the UE is to search for DCI 415/420 grants, Yang: Fig. 4, [0134]).
Regarding claim 27, Yang-Yang_2018-Liu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 25 above.
Yang further discloses:
The method according to claim 25, wherein a value of the respective DCI-level counter DAI indicating an accumulative count value of a quantity of times for which the terminal device is scheduled up to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring occasion and a cell for transmission of the first DCI (DAI may serve as a downlink assignment index and is contained in, at least for downlink transmissions, DCI formats 1_0, 1_1, and 1_2. At least two terms may be used in conjunction with references to the DAI. A counter DAI may refer to an accumulative number of {serving cell, a PDCCH monitoring occasion} pairs in which PDSCH reception/semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) release associated with a DCI 215 transmitted by a base station, up to the current serving cell and current PDCCH monitoring occasion, Yang: [0114]-[0115]).
Regarding claim 29, Yang-Yang_2018-Liu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 25 above.
Yang in view of Yang_2018 does not explicitly disclose:
The method according to claim 25, wherein each of the respective DAI fields further comprises a second DAI, and values of second DAIs comprised in the respective DAI fields of the M repeated DCIs are same, a value of the respective DCI-level counter DAI indicating an accumulative count value of a quantity of times for which the terminal device is scheduled up to a PDCCH monitoring occasion and a cell for transmission of the first DCI, and a value of the second DAI indicating a total quantity of times for which the terminal device is scheduled up to the PDCCH monitoring occasion for the transmission of the first DCI.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Liu teaches:
wherein each of the respective DAI fields further comprises a second DAI, and values of second DAIs comprised in the respective DAI fields of the M repeated DCIs are same, a value of the respective DCI-level counter DAI indicating an accumulative count value of a quantity of times for which the terminal device is scheduled up to a PDCCH monitoring occasion and a cell for transmission of the first DCI, and a value of the second DAI indicating a total quantity of times for which the terminal device is scheduled up to the PDCCH monitoring occasion for the transmission of the first DCI (Downlink Assignment Index (DAI) included in the DCI and containing the downlink assignment for the UE to determine the HARQ codebook only when dynamic codebook is configured. The DAI field may have two parts, a counter DAI (cDAI) and, in the case of carrier aggregation, a total DAI (tDAI). A DAI value in the DCI denotes a cumulative number of {serving cell, PDCCH monitoring occasion}-pair(s), Liu: [0071], [0090]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang and Yang_2018 in view of Liu in order to further modify each of the respective DAI fields further comprises a second DAI, and values of second DAIs comprised in the respective DAI fields of the M repeated DCIs are same, a value of the respective DCI-level counter DAI indicating an accumulative count value of a quantity of times for which the terminal device is scheduled up to a PDCCH monitoring occasion and a cell for transmission of the first DCI, and a value of the second DAI indicating a total quantity of times for which the terminal device is scheduled up to the PDCCH monitoring occasion for the transmission of the first DCI from the teachings of Liu.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because DAI field is used to generate the corresponding HARQ information bits for dynamic HARQ codebook feedback (Liu: [0089]).
Regarding claim 30, Yang-Yang_2018-Liu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 29 above.
Yang in view of Yang_2018 does not explicitly disclose:
The method according to claim 29, wherein the second DAI is a total DAI.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Liu teaches:
wherein the second DAI is a total DAI (The DAI field may have two parts, a counter DAI (cDAI) and a total DAI (tDAI). total DAI indicates the total number of downlink transmissions across all carriers up to this point in time, that is, the highest cDAI at the current time point, Liu: [0071]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang and Yang_2018 in view of Liu in order to further modify the second DAI as a total DAI from the teachings of Liu.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because DAI field is used to generate the corresponding HARQ information bits for dynamic HARQ codebook feedback (Liu: [0089]).
Regarding claim 31, Yang discloses:
An apparatus comprising (An apparatus for wireless communication at a base station, Yang: [0280]):
a processor (comprising a processor, Yang: [0280]); and
a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program executable by the processor, the program comprising instructions to cause the apparatus to perform (memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor, Yang: [0280]):
sending M repeated downlink control informations (DCIs) to a terminal device, each of the M pieces of DCI scheduling N transmissions of first data (receiving a set of one or more first DCI scheduling corresponding first downlink transmissions, each of the one or more first DCI having a unique first downlink assignment counter, receiving a set of one or more second DCI scheduling corresponding second downlink transmissions, Yang: [0029]),
the M repeated DCIs comprising respective downlink assignment index (DAI) fields (UE may receive first DCI(s), with each first DCI having the first DCI format (e.g., DCI formats 1_1/1_0) and a first DAI value based on a first modulo operator. UE may receive one or more second DCI, each second DCI including a second DCI format and a second DAI value based on a second modulo operator, Yang: [0008], [0256]-[0257]),
each of the respective DAI fields comprising a respective DCI-level counter DAI (UE may receive first DCI grant(s) scheduling corresponding first downlink transmission(s), with each first DCI grant having a unique DAI counter. UE may receive a set of one or more first DCI scheduling corresponding first downlink transmissions, each of the one or more first DCI having a unique first downlink assignment counter. The UE may receive a set of one or more second DCI scheduling corresponding second downlink transmissions, each of the one or more second DCI having a unique second downlink assignment counter, Yang: [0006], [0107]), and
values in the respective DAI fields being same such that values of respective DCI-level counter DAIs comprised in the respective DAI fields of the M repeated DCIs are same (include operations, features, means, or instructions for incrementing, for each first DCI, a first total DAI value associated with the first downlink transmissions, and incrementing, for each second DCI, a second total DAI value associated with the second downlink transmissions, where the concatenated codebook may be based on the first total DAI value and the second total DAI value. a second downlink transmission satisfies the scheduling constraint. the UE may determine, based on the first and second DCI formats, a second downlink transmission satisfies the scheduling constraint. Therefore, the UE may increment a total DAI value associated with the first downlink transmission and the second downlink transmission based on the first counter DAI indicated in the first DCI and a second counter DAI indicated in the second DCI, Yang: [0033], [0128]),
Yang does not explicitly disclose:
wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and N is a positive integer; and
However, in the same field of endeavor, Yang_2018 teaches:
wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and N is a positive integer (the number of DG DCIs may be greater than or equal to 2, and the first DAI has the same value in the two or more DG DCIs, Yang_2018: Claim 1-2, [0006]-[0007]); and
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang in view of Yang_2018 in order to further modify that M is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and N is a positive integer from the teachings of Yang_2018.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated through this operation, UL-SCH and/or UCI transmission performance on the PUSCH may be improved (Yang_2018: [0197]).
Yet, Yang in view of Yang_2018 does not explicitly disclose:
receiving feedback information of the first data from the terminal device, wherein the feedback information is comprised in a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) codebook,
and a location of the feedback information in the HARQ-ACK codebook is based on a DAI field in first DCI of the M repeated DCIs.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Liu teaches:
receiving feedback information of the first data from the terminal device, wherein the feedback information is comprised in a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) codebook (At step 1204, the receiver 314 at the NE side that includes receiving components of the TRPs receives a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) Acknowledgement (ACK) feedback, FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a joint semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook with DAIs according to one embodiment, Liu: Fig.8, Fig.12, [0021], [0116]),
and a location of the feedback information in the HARQ-ACK codebook is based on a DAI field in first DCI of the M repeated DCIs (FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a joint semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook with DAIs according to one embodiment. Downlink Assignment Index (DAI) included in the DCI and containing the downlink assignment for the UE to determine the HARQ codebook only when dynamic codebook is configured, Liu: Fig.8, [0021], [0071]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang and Yang_2018 in view of Liu in order to further modify receiving feedback information of the first data from the terminal device, wherein the feedback information is comprised in a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) codebook and the location of the feedback information in the HARQ-ACK codebook based on a DAI field in first DCI from the teachings of Liu.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may reduce the size of the acknowledgment message compared with the semi-static codebook (Liu: [0070]).
Regarding claim 32, Yang-Yang_2018-Liu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 31 above.
Yang further discloses:
The apparatus according to claim 31, wherein the first DCI is DCI that is sent at an earliest time domain location among the M repeated DCIs (UE may receive DCI 415/420 grants during the monitoring occasions 410-a and 410-b of slot 405-a, during the monitoring occasion 410-d of slot 405-b, and during monitoring occasion 410-f of slot 405-c. Each monitoring occasion 410 may generally include a search space configuration identifying particular time and/or frequency resources within the slot 405 that the UE is to search for DCI 415/420 grants, Yang: Fig. 4, [0134]).
Regarding claim 33, Yang-Yang_2018-Liu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 31 above.
Yang further discloses:
The apparatus according to claim 31, wherein: a value of the respective DCI-level counter DAI indicates an accumulative count value of a quantity of times for which the terminal device is scheduled up to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring occasion and a cell for transmission of the first DCI (DAI may serve as a downlink assignment index and is contained in, at least for downlink transmissions, DCI formats 1_0, 1_1, and 1_2. At least two terms may be used in conjunction with references to the DAI. A counter DAI may refer to an accumulative number of {serving cell, a PDCCH monitoring occasion} pairs in which PDSCH reception/semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) release associated with a DCI 215 transmitted by a base station, up to the current serving cell and current PDCCH monitoring occasion, Yang: [0114]-[0115]).
Regarding claim 35, Yang-Yang_2018-Liu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 31 above.
Yang in view of Yang_2018 does not explicitly disclose:
The apparatus according to claim 31, wherein each of the respective DAI fields further comprises a second DAI, and values of second DAIs comprised in the respective DAI fields of the M repeated DCIs are same, a value of the respective DCI-level counter DAI indicating an accumulative count value of a quantity of times for which the terminal device is scheduled up to a PDCCH monitoring occasion and a cell for transmission of the first DCI.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Liu teaches:
wherein each of the respective DAI fields further comprises a second DAI, and values of second DAIs comprised in the respective DAI fields of the M repeated DCIs are same, a value of the respective DCI-level counter DAI indicating an accumulative count value of a quantity of times for which the terminal device is scheduled up to a PDCCH monitoring occasion and a cell for transmission of the first DCI (Downlink Assignment Index (DAI) included in the DCI and containing the downlink assignment for the UE to determine the HARQ codebook only when dynamic codebook is configured. The DAI field may have two parts, a counter DAI (cDAI) and, in the case of carrier aggregation, a total DAI (tDAI). A DAI value in the DCI denotes a cumulative number of {serving cell, PDCCH monitoring occasion}-pair(s), Liu: [0071], [0090]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang and Yang_2018 in view of Liu in order to further modify each of the respective DAI fields and values of respective DCI-level counter DAI, a value of the first DAI, and a value of the second DAI from the teachings of Liu.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because DAI field is used to generate the corresponding HARQ information bits for dynamic HARQ codebook feedback (Liu: [0089]).
Regarding claim 36, Yang-Yang_2018-Liu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 35 above.
Yang in view of Yang_2018 does not explicitly disclose:
The apparatus according to claim 35, wherein the second DAI is a total DAL
However, in the same field of endeavor, Liu teaches:
wherein the second DAI is a total DAI (The DAI field may have two parts, a counter DAI (cDAI) and a total DAI (tDAI). total DAI indicates the total number of downlink transmissions across all carriers up to this point in time, that is, the highest cDAI at the current time point, Liu: [0071]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang and Yang_2018 in view of Liu in order to further modify the second DAI as a total DAI from the teachings of Liu.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because DAI field is used to generate the corresponding HARQ information bits for dynamic HARQ codebook feedback (Liu: [0089]).
Conclusion
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/S.C.L./Examiner, Art Unit 2467
/Robert C Scheibel/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467 March 27, 2026