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 with respect to claims 1-32 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 Objections
Claim 17 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 17 discloses “and” after the determine a piggybacking limitation. However, there is no additional claim limitation after the term “and”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Rastergardoost et al. (US 2022/0007399).
With regard to claim 1, Rastergardoost teaches: A method of wireless communication, comprising:
determining, by a first wireless communication device, a piggybacking opportunity for communicating downlink control information (DCI) in a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) configuration physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) resource ( (see figure 23: paragraph 456, the DL DCI-1 indicated PDSCH-1 and the timing information for SPS PDSCH occasion. The examiner views the SPS PDSCH occasion as piggybacking opportunity since the DL-DCI-1 is for PDSCH-1.
[0456] FIG. 23 shows an example of SPS PDSCH scheduling and the corresponding HARQ feedback transmission, according to some embodiments. The UE (wireless device) receives RRC signaling comprising DL SPS configuration and/or PUCCH configuration. The UE may receive a first DCI, e.g. SPS activation DCI, comprising scheduling information of SPS PDSCH and corresponding PUCCH resource. The SPS activation DCI may schedule the SPS PDSCH occasion, e.g. corresponding to an instance of a first period (e.g. any period) according to the DL SPS configuration. The SPS activation DCI may comprise a first PDSCH-to-HARQ-feedback timing, K1-SPS value (from the RRC-configured set of K1 values), indicating a numerical value as a time offset from the SPS PDSCH occasion to the corresponding PUCCH resource, e.g. PUCCH-SPS in FIG. 23. The SPS PDSCH occasion may overlap with a COT duration, e.g. the COT may be initiated by the base station. For example, the UE may receive a DCI indicating a remaining COT duration from the DCI reception. The COT duration may expire before the PUCCH-SPS. The UE may determine that the scheduled UL resource (e.g. PUCCH-SPS) for HARQ feedback transmission of the DL transmission (e.g. SPS PDSCH) is not available (e.g., within the same COT as the DL transmission). The UE receives a second DCI, e.g. DL DCI-1, scheduling a first PDSCH, e.g. PDSCH-1 in FIG. 23. The DL DCI-1 may indicate a second PDSCH-to-HARQ-feedback timing, K1-1 value (from the RRC-configured set of K1 values), indicating a second numerical value as a time offset from the PDSCH-1 to a second PUCCH resource, e.g. PUCCH-1 in FIG. 23. The dynamically scheduled PDSCH (e.g. PDSCH-1) and the corresponding PUCCH resource (e.g. PUCCH-1) may overlap/be within the same COT as the SPS PDSCH occasion. The UE may transmit first HARQ feedback information of PDSCH-1 via PUCCH-1. The UE may transmit second HARQ feedback information of the SPS PDSCH occasion via the second PUCCH resource (e.g. PUCCH-1) indicated by the second DCI, wherein the second PUCCH resource is available, e.g., is within the same COT as the SPS PDSCH occasion. The second PUCCH resource may be within a UE processing time from the SPS PDSCH occasion. For example, the PUCCH-1 may be at least a number of slots/symbols/milli-seconds after a last symbol of the SPS PDSCH occasion. The number of slots/symbols/milli-seconds may be pre-defined and/or pre-configured by RRC.
) ; and
communicating, by the first wireless communication device with a second wireless communication device, a first communication based on the determined piggybacking opportunity (paragraphs 456-457, see UE receiving both PDSCH-1 and SPS PDCCH occasion).
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With regard to claim17, Rastergardoost teaches: A first wireless communication device (see figure 15), comprising:
at least one processor (paragraphs 218-220); and
a transceiver in communication with the at least one processor (paragraphs 216-220), wherein the first wireless communication device is configured to (see figure 23 (or figure 26):
determine a piggybacking opportunity for communicating downlink control information (DCI) in a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) configuration physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) resource (see figure 23: paragraph 456, the DL DCI-1 indicated PDSCH-1 and the timing information for SPS PDSCH occasion. The examiner views the SPS PDSCH occasion as piggybacking opportunity since the DL-DCI-1 is for PDSCH-1. ); and
With regard to claims 2 and 18, Rastergardoost teaches: wherein the determined piggybacking opportunity is based on one of radio resource control (RRC) information, a media access control control element (MAC-CE), or SPS activation DCI (paragraph 456: RRC signaling or SPS activation message);
wherein the determined piggybacking opportunity is associated with one of a rate- matching PDSCH resource or a puncturing PDSCH resource (paragraphs 203, 215, 394); and wherein the determined piggybacking opportunity overrides a default configuration for communicating DCI (paragraphs 457: The UE may override the semi-persistent scheduling information, e.g. SPS HARQ feedback timing value, in response to determining the second PUCCH resource being within the first time interval. For example, the UE may ignore the SPS HARQ feedback timing value (e.g. K1-SPS in FIG. 23). ).
With regard to claims 3 and 19, Rastergardoost teaches: wherein the determined piggybacking opportunity is associated with a piggybacking modulation and coding scheme (MSC) (paragraphs 163, 201, 203 and 215); wherein the piggybacking MSC is associated with one of radio resource control (RRC) information, a media access control control element (MAC-CE), or SPS activation DCI (paragraphs 456-457, see figure 23); wherein the piggybacking opportunity is associated with a piggybacking opportunity timing span including one of only [[the]]an SPS configuration or the SPS configuration and each of one or more subsequent SPS configurations until a reactivation procedure (paragraphs 456-457: SPS configuration and activation messages); and wherein the piggybacking opportunity timing span is based on one of a piggybacking opportunity timing span information, a time-frequency resource location, a PDSCH puncturing configuration, or a PSDCH rate matching configuration (paragraphs 456-457).
With regard to claims 4 and 20, Rastergardoost teaches: wherein the determined piggybacking opportunity is associated with a piggybacking zero-power channel state information resource signal (CSI-RS) trigger for avoiding rate matching on a time-frequency resource carrying a CSI-RS (paragraphs 171-173 and 262:
[0262] In downlink, semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) may be supported. For a SPS configuration, a base station may provide a periodicity and/or an offset of the SPS occasions via RRC signaling and/or MAC CE signaling. The base station may transmit a SPS activation DCI via a PDCCH to activate the SPS. In an example, a first SPS activation DCI may comprise activations of one or more SPS configurations. The wireless device may use a first RNTI, e.g. CS-RNTI and/or C-RNTI for the SPS activation DCI. The SPS activation DCI may carry resource allocation information, e.g., time domain allocation, frequency domain allocation, BWP indicator, PRB bundling size indicator, CSI-RS trigger, MCS, NDI, DAI, and one or more first parameters for HARQ-ACK feedback, e.g., PDSCH-to-HARQ-feedback timing, CBGTI, and CBGFI, and one or more second parameters to support transmissions e.g., antenna ports, TCI, SRS request, power control, etc.
).
With regard to claims 5 and 21, Rastergardoost teaches: wherein the determined piggybacking opportunity is associated with a resource-block symbol matching pattern, wherein the resource-block symbol matching pattern is associated with one of rateMatchPattemGroup1 or rateMatchPatternGroup2 (paragraphs 391-394: PDSCH and SPS PDSCH may be associated with pre-defined group).
With regard to claims 6 and 22, Rastergardoost teaches: wherein the determined piggybacking opportunity is associated with a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) control information (CI); wherein the HARQ CI does not include a redundancy version (RV) indicator based on a pre-configured RV sequence; wherein the HARQ CI does not include a HARQ process identifier (ID) based on a default HARQ process ID; and wherein the HARQ CI includes a new data indicator (NDI) based on a retransmission (paragraphs 399-403: DCI contains information about one-shot feedback
[0399] The base station may transmit a DCI requesting/triggering HARQ feedback of a HARQ-ACK codebook containing one or more or all, DL HARQ processes (e.g. one-shot feedback request). The one-shot feedback request may be for one or more or all component carriers configured for the UE. One-shot feedback may be configured separately from a HARQ-ACK codebook configuration. For example, one-shot feedback may be applied to semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook and/or (non-enhanced) dynamic HARQ-ACK codebook and/or enhanced dynamic HARQ-ACK codebook.
[0400] The UE may transmit HARQ feedback of one or more PDSCHs in response to receiving a one-shot feedback request. A last/latest PDSCH for which an acknowledgment is reported in response to receiving the one-shot feedback request, may be determined as a last PDSCH within a UE processing time capability (e.g. baseline capability, N1). The UE may report HARQ-ACK feedback for one or more earlier PDSCHs scheduled with non-numerical K1 value. The one-shot feedback may be requested in a UE-specific DCI. The one-shot feedback may request HARQ feedbacks to be reported in a PUCCH. The HARQ feedback may be piggybacked (e.g. appended) on a PUSCH.
[0401] The UE may be configured to monitor feedback request for one-shot HARQ-ACK codebook feedback. The feedback may be requested in a DCI format (e.g. DCI format 1_1). The DCI format may or may not schedule DL transmission (e.g. PDSCH). The DCI format may comprise a first field (e.g. a frequency domain resource allocation field) indicating a first value. The UE may determine that the DCI format does not schedule a PDSCH in response to the first field indicating the first value. The UE may ignore/discard one or more second fields of the DCI format (e.g., a HARQ process number and/or NDI field) in response to the determining. The UE may be scheduled to report one-shot feedback and one or more other HARQ-ACK feedbacks in a same slot/subframe/resource, and the UE may report only the one-shot feedback.
[0402] In a one-shot codebook, one or more NDI bits may follow one or more HARQ-ACK information bits for each of one or more TBs. The HARQ-ACK information bits and the corresponding NDI may be ordered in the one-shot codebook as follows: first in an increasing order of CBG index, second in an increasing order of TB index, third in an increasing order of HARQ process ID, and fourth in an increasing order of serving cell index.
).
With regard to claims 7 and 23, Rastergardoost teaches: wherein the determined piggybacking opportunity is associated with a to-be-bounded piggybacking information for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) combining a PDSCH communication; wherein the PDSCH communication includes a retransmission based on one of a dynamic grant configuration or an SPS configuration; and wherein the determined piggybacking opportunity is not associated with a HARQ response.
With regard to claims 8 and 24, Rastergardoost teaches: wherein the determined piggybacking opportunity is associated with downlink assignment indices (DAIs) for a dynamic acknowledgement codebook (paragraph 240); wherein the DAIs are associated with one of only an SPS configuration or the SPS configuration and one or more dynamic grants (paragraphs 278-279); and wherein the SPS configuration is associated with a block acknowledgment configuration (paragraphs 278-279 and 456-457).
With regard to claims 9 and 25, Rastergardoost teaches: wherein the determined piggybacking opportunity is associated with a piggybacking trigger for a group acknowledgment; and wherein the method further comprises: communicating, by the first wireless communication device with a second wireless communication device, a second communication based on the piggybacking trigger; and wherein the second communication is associated with one of an acknowledgement or a negative acknowledgement (Paragraphs 414-416 and 447: see figure 21).
With regard to claims 10 and 26, Rastergardoost teaches: wherein the determined piggybacking opportunity is associated with a transmit power control (TPC) information; wherein the TPC information is associated with a second communication; wherein the second communication is associated with one of an acknowledgment associated with an SPS configuration or a sounding reference signal; and wherein the second communication is based on a time-frequency resource location (paragraphs 201-202:
[0202] Depending on the purpose and/or content of a DCI, the base station may transmit the DCIs with one or more DCI formats. For example, DCI format 0_0 may be used for scheduling of PUSCH in a cell. DCI format 0_0 may be a fallback DCI format (e.g., with compact DCI payloads). DCI format 0_1 may be used for scheduling of PUSCH in a cell (e.g., with more DCI payloads than DCI format 0_0). DCI format 1_0 may be used for scheduling of PDSCH in a cell. DCI format 1_0 may be a fallback DCI format (e.g., with compact DCI payloads). DCI format 1_1 may be used for scheduling of PDSCH in a cell (e.g., with more DCI payloads than DCI format 1_0). DCI format 2_0 may be used for providing a slot format indication to a group of UEs. DCI format 2_1 may be used for notifying a group of UEs of a physical resource block and/or OFDM symbol where the UE may assume no transmission is intended to the UE. DCI format 2_2 may be used for transmission of a transmit power control (TPC) command for PUCCH or PUSCH. DCI format 23 may be used for transmission of a group of TPC commands for SRS transmissions by one or more UEs. DCI format(s) for new functions may be defined in future releases. DCI formats may have different DCI sizes, or may share the same DCI size.
) .
With regard to claims 11 and 27, Rastergardoost teaches: wherein the determined piggybacking opportunity is associated with a piggybacking physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource indicator (PRI) (paragraph 434, 437, and 517).
With regard to claims 12 and 28, Rastergardoost teaches: wherein the determined piggybacking opportunity is associated with a piggybacking physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource indicator (PRI); and wherein the piggybacking PRI is associated with a block acknowledgement configuration for the SPS configuration (paragraphs 434, 437, and 456-457).
With regard to claims 13 and 29, Rastergardoost teaches: wherein the determined piggybacking opportunity is associated with a piggybacking radio resource allocation; and wherein the piggybacking radio resource allocation is associated with one of an SPS configuration or the SPS configuration and each subsequent SPS configuration (paragraphs 456-457).
With regard to claims 14 and 30, Rastergardoost teaches: wherein the determined piggybacking opportunity is associated with a media access control control element (MAC-CE) (paragraphs 262, 456 and 529).
With regard to claims 15 and 31, Rastergardoost teaches: wherein the communicating the first communication further comprises: receiving, by the first wireless communication device, the first communication on a physical downlink shared channel (paragraph 456 and 465).
With regard to claims 16 and 32, Rastergardoost teaches: wherein the communicating the first communication further comprises: transmitting, by the first wireless communication device, the first communication on a PDSCH associated with the determined piggybacking opportunity (paragraph 456 and 465).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yang et al. (US 2022/0209924), which discloses a wireless communication system exchanges a plurality PDSCH groups and SPS PDSCH messages (see figure 18).
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Zhou et al. (US 2022/0330312) which discloses a plurality PDSCH messages and piggybacked HARQ message based on DCI signal (see figure 13).
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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 MARCUS R SMITH whose telephone number is (571)270-1096. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 AM -5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Deborah J Reynolds can be reached at (571) 272-0734. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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1/10/2026
/MARCUS SMITH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2468