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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 01/21/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-13 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of claims has been withdrawn and the claims are indicated as allowable (see below).
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 14-16 and 19-20 have been considered but are moot due to the introduction of new references necessitated by amendments to the claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 14-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon et al. (US 2020/0221428 A1; “Moon”) in view of Bendlin et al. (US 2019/0215124 A1; “Bendlin”) in view of Lee et al. (US 2023/0006798 A1; “Lee (‘798)”).
Regarding claim 14, Moon teaches a communication method, comprising:
transmitting, to a terminal device [Moon Figs. 4A & 4B showing downlink/uplink communication between terminal and base station; ¶ 0049 BS controlling first/second TRP], a plurality of pieces of downlink control information for scheduling a plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) [Moon ¶ 0151: a number of DCIs are transmitted to terminal; ¶ 0069: DCI may be a DCI including scheduling information of a PDSCH; see also Fig. 8: shows plurality of DCI scheduling associated plurality of PDSCH], wherein
each of the plurality of PDSCHs has a different hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identification number [Moon ¶ 0145: a plurality of search spaces are configured to the terminal for multi-beam-based transmission to the terminal, the base station may inform the terminal of the number of DCIs transmitted through the plurality of search spaces, wherein the plurality of downlink scheduling DCIs may be DCIs for different TBs or TBs belonging to different HARQ processes], and
the plurality of pieces of downlink control information are allocated in a Control Resource Set (CORESET) in a slot [Moon ¶ 0161: methods may be applied to a plurality of search spaces in the same CORESET, wherein, the same QCL is applied to a plurality of search spaces in the same CORESET, the above-described methods may be used for the multiple TRP scenario (i.e. multiple DCI in different search space within a same CORESET); ¶ 0151: number of DCIs by Method M230 may also mean the number of DCIs transmitted within the time window, e.g., one slot (i.e. the multiple search spaces including respective multiple DCI are in a single CORESET in a single slot)],
the slot schedules a PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs [Moon ¶ 0151: a number of DCIs are transmitted to terminal (see ¶ 0151: the DCI being in a slot); ¶ 0069: DCI may be a DCI including scheduling information of a PDSCH; see also Fig. 8: shows plurality of DCI scheduling associated plurality of PDSCH]; and
receiving, from the terminal device, a plurality of HARQ acknowledgements (ACKs) corresponding to the plurality of PDSCHs scheduled by the plurality of pieces of downlink control information [Moon ¶ 0109: the terminal may apply an HARQ-ACK timing configured for each PDSCH for transmission of the HARQ-ACK].
However, Moon does not explicitly disclose the CORESET comprises at least 4 symbols.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Bendlin teaches the CORESET comprises at least 4 symbols [Bendlin ¶ 0060, Fig. 8: the CORESET can span 4 OFDM symbols (e.g., the four symbols of PDCCH 810) thereby allowing to schedule up to four PDSCH transmissions carrying RMSI 812 wherein the DMRS 808 can be included in the RMSI 812 (as shown in Fig. 8 the DMRS associated with PDCCH may be located in the symbol immediately following CORESET, i.e. specific symbol); ¶ 0061: the DMRS 808 position is informed to the UE (i.e. predetermined) as part of the downlink control information (DCI) carried on the PDCCH 810 that schedules the PDSCH carrying the RMSI 812].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of scheduling information associated with respective PDSCH having associated different HARQ process identifiers through multiple DCI signaling as taught by Moon with the method of transmitting a DMRS in a symbol immediately following a four symbol CORESET as taught by Bendlin. The motivation to combine these references would be to reduce signaling overhead in a 5G communication system [Bendlin ¶¶ 0002 & 0017].
However, Moon in view of Bendlin does not explicitly disclose the slot indicates one of a PDSCH mapping type A or a PDSCH mapping type B, the PDSCH mapping type A comprises a position of a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) associated with a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in a specific symbol after the at least four symbols of the CORESET,and the PDSCH mapping type B comprises the PDSCH allocated in the slot of the CORESET.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Lee (‘798) teaches the slot indicates one of a PDSCH mapping type A or a PDSCH mapping type B [Lee (‘798) ¶ 0170: In PDSCH time domain resource configurations, each indexed row defines a DL assignment-to-PDSCH slot offset K0, a start and length indicator value SLIV (or directly, a start position (e.g., start symbol index S) and an allocation length (e.g., the number of symbols, L) of the PDSCH in a slot), and a PDSCH mapping type, e.g., PDSCH mapping type A or PDSCH mapping type B],
the PDSCH mapping type A comprises a position of a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) associated with a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in a specific symbol for DMRS after the symbols of the CORESET [Lee(‘798) ¶ 0170: in PDSCH/PUSCH mapping Type A, a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) is located in the third symbol (symbol #2) or fourth symbol (symbol #3) in a slot (i.e. specific symbols after the CORESET)], and
the PDSCH mapping type B comprises the PDSCH allocated in the slot of the CORESET [Lee(‘798) ¶ 0170: in PDSCH/PUSCH mapping Type B, the DMRS is located in the first symbol allocated for the PDSCH/PUSCH].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of scheduling information associated with respective PDSCH having associated different HARQ process identifiers through multiple DCI signaling as taught by Moon, with the method of indicating a PDSCH-mapping type for a scheduled slot as taught by Lee (‘798). The motivation to do so would be to improve efficiency and throughput in a wireless communication system [Lee(‘798) ¶ 0021].
Regarding claim 15, Moon teaches a communication method, comprising:
receiving, from a base station device [Moon Figs. 4A & 4B showing downlink/uplink communication between terminal and base station; ¶ 0049 BS controlling first/second TRP], a plurality of pieces of downlink control information for scheduling a plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) [Moon ¶ 0151: a number of DCIs are transmitted to terminal; ¶ 0069: DCI may be a DCI including scheduling information of a PDSCH; see also Fig. 8: shows plurality of DCI scheduling associated plurality of PDSCH], wherein
each of the plurality of PDSCHs has a different hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identification information [Moon ¶ 0145: a plurality of search spaces are configured to the terminal for multi-beam-based transmission to the terminal, the base station may inform the terminal of the number of DCIs transmitted through the plurality of search spaces, wherein the plurality of downlink scheduling DCIs may be DCIs for different TBs or TBs belonging to different HARQ processes], and
the plurality of pieces of downlink control information are allocated in one Control Resource Set (CORESET) in one first slot [Moon ¶ 0161: methods may be applied to a plurality of search spaces in the same CORESET, wherein, the same QCL is applied to a plurality of search spaces in the same CORESET, the above-described methods may be used for the multiple TRP scenario (i.e. multiple DCI in different search space within a same CORESET); ¶ 0151: number of DCIs by Method M230 may also mean the number of DCIs transmitted within the time window, e.g., one slot (i.e. the multiple search spaces including respective multiple DCI are in a single CORESET in a single slot)]; and
feeding back, to the base station device, a plurality of HARQ Acknowledgements (ACKs) corresponding to the plurality of PDSCHs scheduled by the plurality of pieces of downlink control information [Moon ¶ 0109: the terminal may apply an HARQ-ACK timing configured for each PDSCH for transmission of the HARQ-ACK].
However, Moon does not explicitly disclose the CORESET comprises at least 4 symbols.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Bendlin teaches the CORESET comprises at least 4 symbols [Bendlin ¶ 0060, Fig. 8: the CORESET can span 4 OFDM symbols (e.g., the four symbols of PDCCH 810) thereby allowing to schedule up to four PDSCH transmissions carrying RMSI 812 wherein the DMRS 808 can be included in the RMSI 812 (as shown in Fig. 8 the DMRS associated with PDCCH may be located in the symbol immediately following CORESET, i.e. specific symbol); ¶ 0061: the DMRS 808 position is informed to the UE (i.e. predetermined) as part of the downlink control information (DCI) carried on the PDCCH 810 that schedules the PDSCH carrying the RMSI 812].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of scheduling information associated with respective PDSCH having associated different HARQ process identifiers through multiple DCI signaling as taught by Moon with the method of transmitting a DMRS in a symbol immediately following a four symbol CORESET as taught by Bendlin. The motivation to combine these references would be to reduce signaling overhead in a 5G communication system [Bendlin ¶¶ 0002 & 0017].
However, Moon in view of Bendlin does not explicitly disclose the slot indicates one of a PDSCH mapping type A or a PDSCH mapping type B, the PDSCH mapping type A comprises a position of a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) associated with a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in a specific symbol after the at least four symbols of the CORESET,and the PDSCH mapping type B comprises the PDSCH allocated in the slot of the CORESET.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Lee (‘798) teaches the slot indicates one of a PDSCH mapping type A or a PDSCH mapping type B [Lee (‘798) ¶ 0170: In PDSCH time domain resource configurations, each indexed row defines a DL assignment-to-PDSCH slot offset K0, a start and length indicator value SLIV (or directly, a start position (e.g., start symbol index S) and an allocation length (e.g., the number of symbols, L) of the PDSCH in a slot), and a PDSCH mapping type, e.g., PDSCH mapping type A or PDSCH mapping type B],
the PDSCH mapping type A comprises a position of a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) associated with a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in a specific symbol for DMRS after the symbols of the CORESET [Lee (‘798) ¶ 0170: in PDSCH/PUSCH mapping Type A, a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) is located in the third symbol (symbol #2) or fourth symbol (symbol #3) in a slot (i.e. specific symbols after the CORESET)], and
the PDSCH mapping type B comprises the PDSCH allocated in the slot of the CORESET [Lee (‘798) ¶ 0170: in PDSCH/PUSCH mapping Type B, the DMRS is located in the first symbol allocated for the PDSCH/PUSCH].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of scheduling information associated with respective PDSCH having associated different HARQ process identifiers through multiple DCI signaling as taught by Moon, with the method of indicating a PDSCH-mapping type for a scheduled slot as taught by Lee (‘798). The motivation to do so would be to improve efficiency and throughput in a wireless communication system [Lee (‘798) ¶ 0021].
Regarding claim 16, Moon in view of Bendlin in view of Lee (‘798) teaches the communication method according to claim 14, however, Moon does not explicitly disclose the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is in a symbol immediately after the CORESET.
However, Bendlin teaches the position of the demodulation reference signal (DMRS) associated with a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is in a symbol immediately after the CORESET [Bendlin ¶ 0060, Fig. 8: the CORESET can span 4 OFDM symbols (e.g., the four symbols of PDCCH 810) thereby allowing to schedule up to four PDSCH transmissions carrying RMSI 812 wherein the DMRS 808 can be included in the RMSI 812 (as shown in Fig. 8 the DMRS associated with PDCCH may be located in the symbol immediately following CORESET)].
The motivation to combine these references is illustrated in the rejection of claim 14 above.
Claim(s) 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon in view of Bendlin in view of Lee (‘798) in view of Lee et al. (US 2021/0321446 A1; “Lee (‘446)”).
Regarding claim 19, Moon in view of Bendlin in view of Lee (‘798) teaches the communication method according to claim 14, however, does not explicitly disclose wherein cross-slot scheduling of the plurality of PDSCHs in slots different from the slot in which the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is transmitted, is implemented by the PDCCH of the plurality of PDSCHs, and slot offset information of the plurality of PDSCHs, and the PDCCH and the slot offset information are based on independent Radio Resource Control (RRC) parameters for one of the CORESET or a search space.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Lee (‘446) teaches wherein cross-slot scheduling of the plurality of PDSCHs in slots different from the slot in which the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is transmitted, is implemented by the PDCCH of the plurality of PDSCHs [Lee (‘446) ¶ 0144: time domain relations between PDCCH and PDSCH that may be indicated by DCI, including, for example, a number of slots (k0) between PDCCH and PDSCH (e.g., cross-slot scheduling offset) or a radio performance state may include an offset k0off of the number of slots k0 between PDCCH and PDSCH] and slot offset information of the plurality of PDSCHs, and the PDCCH and the slot offset information are based on independent Radio Resource Control (RRC) parameters for one of the CORESET or a search space [Lee (‘446) ¶ 0144: value of k0off for the radio performance state may signaled by RRC or MAC CE, wherein offset value k0off may depend or may be applicable only if the PDCCH is decoded in certain time symbols of the slot or of the CORESET (i.e. K0off is associated with a CORESET)].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of scheduling information associated with respective PDSCH having associated different HARQ process identifiers through multiple DCI signaling as taught by Moon with the method of providing a CORESET specific cross-slot offset for PDSCH transmission/reception in slots different that PDCCH as taught by Lee (‘446). The motivation to combine these references would be enforce QoS and latency requirements in a URLLC communication system [Lee (‘446) ¶¶ 0002 & 0147].
Regarding claim 20, Moon in view of Bendlin in view of Lee (‘798) teaches the communication method according to claim 14, however, does not explicitly disclose wherein cross-slot scheduling of the plurality of PDSCHs in slots different from the slot, in which the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is transmitted, is implemented by the PDCCH of the plurality of PDSCHs and slot offset information of the plurality of PDSCHs, and the slot offset information is set based on a start symbol of the CORESET.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Lee (‘446) teaches wherein cross-slot scheduling of the plurality of PDSCHs in slots different from the slot, in which the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is transmitted, is implemented by the PDCCH of the plurality of PDSCHs and slot offset information of the plurality of PDSCHs [Lee (‘446) ¶ 0144: time domain relations between PDCCH and PDSCH that may be indicated by DCI, including, for example, a number of slots (k0) between PDCCH and PDSCH (e.g., cross-slot scheduling offset) or a radio performance state may include an offset k0off of the number of slots k0 between PDCCH and PDSCH], and
the slot offset information is set based on a start symbol of the CORESET [Lee (‘446) ¶ 0144: value of k0off for the radio performance state may signaled by RRC or MAC CE, wherein offset value k0off may depend or may be applicable only if the PDCCH is decoded in certain time symbols of the slot or of the CORESET (i.e. K0off is associated with a CORESET), e.g., the value may depend on whether PDCCH is decoded in the first 4 symbols (here, the K0off is dependent on whether PDCCH is decoded in first 4 symbols which includes a first/start symbol of the CORESET)].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of scheduling information associated with respective PDSCH having associated different HARQ process identifiers through multiple DCI signaling as taught by Moon with the method of providing a CORESET specific cross-slot offset for PDSCH transmission/reception in slots different that PDCCH in consideration of a starting symbol of a CORESET as taught by Lee (‘446). The motivation to combine these references would be enforce QoS and latency requirements in a URLLC communication system [Lee (‘446) ¶¶ 0002 & 0147].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-13 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: With respect to claim 1, the limitations “the first feedback timings are based on corresponding HARQ-ACKs, of the plurality of HARQ-ACKs, for which preparation of the corresponding HARQ- ACKs completes prior to a processing time for preparation for a HARQ-ACK transmission” and “the second feedback timing is based on a corresponding HARQ-ACK, of the plurality of HARQ-ACKs, for which preparation of the corresponding HARQ- ACK completes subsequent to the processing time for the preparation for the HARQ-ACK transmission” in combination with the remaining limitations of the claim are not found in the prior art, therefore, claim 1 is allowed. Claim 2 recites similar limitations as those of claim 1, therefore, claim 2 is allowed for similar reasons as stated above. Claims 3-13 depend from an allowed claim, therefore, claims 3-13 are allowed.
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Conclusion
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/BRIAN P COX/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474