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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 05/26/2026 has been entered.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Objections
Claim 31 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 31 claims a “TDAI” without defining the term in the claim language or the specification.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 31 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. The closest disclosure to t
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
The factual inquiries 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 1, 8, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ahn et al. (EP 2549820 B1), hereinafter Ahn in view of Seo et al (2015/0195072), hereinafter Seo.
Re. Claim 1, Ahn teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory (Fig. 17, 120) and configured to: receive, from a base station, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) reactivation downlink control information (DCl) (Fig. 6, & Pg. 8, Line 4 - a base station 110 transmits SPS PDCCH indicating SPS activation to a user equipment); receive, from the base station, a SPS reactivation DCI (Fig. 6, Pg. 4, Line 22 - Control information transmitted on PDCCH is called DCI (downlink control information) & Pg. 8, Line 4 - a base station 110 transmits SPS PDCCH indicating SPS activation to a user equipment); and transmit, to the base station, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback separately indicating reception of the first SPS reactivation DCI and reception of the second SPS reactivation DCI (Fig. 6, & Pg. 8, Line 11 - the user equipment 120 performs a retransmission via the resource reserved for the HARQ retransmission. Examiner interprets that the HARQ selection process can be replicated for subsequent SPS reactivation DCI), wherein the HARQ feedback comprises a first indication indicating reception of the first SPS reactivation DCI and a second indication indicating reception of the second SPS reactivation DCI, wherein the HARQ feedback further comprises a third indication indicating whether a first SPS physical data shared channel (PDSCH) associated with the first SPS reactivation DCI was received and a second set of symbols indicating whether a second SPS PDSCH associated with the second SPS reactivation DCI was received (Pg. 4, Paragraph 6 - Control information transmitted on PDCCH is called DCI (downlink control information). Pg. 7, Paragraph 5 - activation, reactivation and release of SPS are performed through PDCCH. The subframe information for SPS contains a subframe interval and a subframe offset. For clarity, PDCCH for indicating activation/reactivation/release of SPS is named SPS PDCCH… In case of receiving SPS PDCCH indicating SPS activation (or, SPS reactivation), a user equipment performs SPS Tx (e.g., PUSCH Tx) or SPS Rx (e.g., PDSCH reception) in a subframe assigned by RRC signaling), and wherein the first indication, the second indication, and the third indication are distinct from each other (Fig. 12, The DL SPS operation is performed with multiple SPS PDCCH, each unique to the individual control channel being used).
Yet, Ahn does not expressly teach a first semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) DCI and a second SPS DCI.
However, Seo does explicitly teach a first semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) DCI and a second SPS DCI (¶0195 - A plurality of SPSs may be permitted in the downlink data to be acknowledged/non-acknowledged).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Seo to the teaching of Ahn. The motivation for such would be as Seo provides a first and second SPS DCI that can be used simultaneously (¶0195, Seo). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 8, Ahn and Seo teach Claim 1.
However, Ahn does not expressly teach wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive a first SPS release for a first SPS prior to receiving the first SPS reactivation DCI and receive a second SPS release for a second SPS prior to receiving the first SPS reactivation DCI.
Yet, Seo explicitly teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive a first SPS release for a first SPS prior to receiving the first SPS reactivation DCI (¶0099 - although an SPS is allocated through RRC signaling, when SPS transmission/reception are not performed but the activation or release signal is received through the PDCCH, frequency resource (resource block) according to a resource block allocation designated in the PDCCH and modulation and a coding rate according to MCS information are applied so that SPS transmission/reception are performed in a subframe corresponding to a subframe period and an offset value allocated through RRC signaling); and receive a second SPS release for a second SPS prior to receiving the first SPS reactivation DCI (¶0099 - although an SPS is allocated through RRC signaling, when SPS transmission/reception are not performed but the activation or release signal is received through the PDCCH, frequency resource (resource block) according to a resource block allocation designated in the PDCCH and modulation and a coding rate according to MCS information are applied so that SPS transmission/reception are performed in a subframe corresponding to a subframe period and an offset value allocated through RRC signaling).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Seo to the teaching of Ahn. The motivation for such would be as Seo provides that the SPS release happens before receiving SPS reactivation DCI (¶0099, Seo). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 9, Ahn teaches an apparatus of wireless communication at a base station, comprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory (Fig. 17, 110) and configured to: transmit, to a UE, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) reactivation downlink control information (DCI) (Fig. 6, & Pg. 8, Line 4 - a base station 110 transmits SPS PDCCH indicating SPS activation to a user equipment); transmit, to the UE, a SPS reactivation DCI (Fig. 6, & Pg. 8, Line 4 - a base station 110 transmits SPS PDCCH indicating SPS activation to a user equipment); and receive, from the UE, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback separately indicating detection of the first SP S reactivation DCI and the second SPS reactivation DCI (Fig. 6 & Pg. 8, Line 11 - the user equipment 120 performs a retransmission via the resource reserved for the HARQ retransmission. Examiner interprets that the HARQ selection process can be replicated for subsequent SPS reactivation DCI), wherein the HARQ feedback comprises a first indication indicating reception of the first SPS reactivation DCI and a second indication indicating reception of the second SPS reactivation DCI, wherein the HARQ feedback further comprises a third indication indicating whether a first SPS physical data shared channel (PDSCH) associated with the first SPS reactivation DCI was received and a second set of symbols indicating whether a second SPS PDSCH associated with the second SPS reactivation DCI was received (Pg. 4, Paragraph 6 - Control information transmitted on PDCCH is called DCI (downlink control information). Pg. 7, Paragraph 5 - activation, reactivation and release of SPS are performed through PDCCH. The subframe information for SPS contains a subframe interval and a subframe offset. For clarity, PDCCH for indicating activation/reactivation/release of SPS is named SPS PDCCH… In case of receiving SPS PDCCH indicating SPS activation (or, SPS reactivation), a user equipment performs SPS Tx (e.g., PUSCH Tx) or SPS Rx (e.g., PDSCH reception) in a subframe assigned by RRC signaling), and wherein the first indication, the second indication, and the third indication are distinct from each other (Fig. 12, The DL SPS operation is performed with multiple SPS PDCCH, each unique to the individual control channel being used).
Yet, Ahn does not expressly teach a first semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) DCI and a second SPS DCI.
However, Seo does explicitly teach a first semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) DCI and a second SPS DCI (¶0195 - A plurality of SPSs may be permitted in the downlink data to be acknowledged/non-acknowledged).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Seo to the teaching of Ahn. The motivation for such would be as Seo provides a first and second SPS DCI that can be used simultaneously (¶0195, Seo). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Claims 2, 4-5, 11, and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ahn in view of Seo and Zhou et al. (2021/0352580), hereinafter Zhou.
Re. Claims 2 and 11, Ahn and Seo teach Claims 1 and 9.
Yet, Ahn and Seo do not expressly teach wherein the first SPS reactivation DCI or the second SPS reactivation DCI modifies one or more physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) parameters comprising a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI).
However, Zhou explicitly teaches wherein the first SPS reactivation DCI or the second SPS reactivation DCI modifies one or more physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) parameters comprising a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) (¶0221 - The UE may determine the PUCCH resource based on a PUCCH resource indicator in a DCI).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Zhou to the teaching of Ahn and Seo. The motivation for such would be as Zhou provides a means by which a PUCCH can be modified by a PRI provided in a DCI (¶0221, Zhou). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claims 4 and 14-15, Ahn, Seo, and Zhou teach Claims 1 and 9.
Yet, Ahn and Zhou do not expressly teach wherein a downlink assignment index (DAI) for one or more SPS physical data shared channels (PDSCHs) is also for the first SPS reactivation DCI and the second SPS reactivation DCI, and wherein the DAI is included in the first SPS reactivation DCI or the second SPS reactivation DCI.
However, Seo explicitly teaches wherein a downlink assignment index (DAI) for one or more SPS physical data shared channels (PDSCHs) is also for the first SPS reactivation DCI and the second SPS reactivation DCI (¶0159 - A downlink assignment index (DAI) is included in a DL grant on the PDCCH in order to resolve the error. The DAI indicates the number of accumulated PDCCHs that transmit the assigned PDSCH), and wherein the DAI is included in the first SPS reactivation DCI or the second SPS reactivation DCI (¶0159 - A downlink assignment index (DAI) is included in a DL grant on the PDCCH in order to resolve the error. The DAI indicates the number of accumulated PDCCHs that transmit the assigned PDSCH).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Seo to the teaching of Ahn, and Zhou. The motivation for such would be as Seo provides the DCI may contain a downlink assignment index (¶0159, Seo). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claims 5, Ahn, Seo, and Zhou teach Claim 4.
Yet, Ahn and Zhou do not expressly teach wherein the DAI comprises a number of bits corresponding to a number of SPS configuration.
However, Seo explicitly teaches wherein the DAI comprises a number of bits corresponding to a number of SPS configuration (¶0159 - A 2-bit DAI value sequentially increases from 1 to be applied with a modulo-4 calculation again from DAI=4. For example, when M=5 and five DL subframes are all scheduled, DAI=1, 2, 3, 4, and 1 may be included in PDCCHs corresponding thereto in the order thereof).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Seo to the teaching of Ahn, and Zhou. The motivation for such would be as Seo provides the DAI may contain a number of bits corresponding to SPS configurations (¶0159, Seo). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Claims 6 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ahn in view of Seo and You et al. (WO 2018/030766 A1), hereinafter You.
Re. Claims 6 and 16, Ahn and Seo teach Claims 1 and 9.
Yet, Ahn and Seo do not expressly teach wherein the first SPS reactivation DCI or the second SPS reactivation DCI includes a field of type SPS configuration index.
However, You explicitly teaches wherein the first SPS reactivation DCI or the second SPS reactivation DCI includes a field of type SPS configuration index (Pg. 27, Line 24 - A SPS configuration index or a narrowband index may be included in the DCI indicating SPS activation / deactivation to distinguish activation / deactivation for a plurality of SPS configurations).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of You to the teaching of Ahn, and Seo. The motivation for such would be as You provides a field of type SPS configuration index within the reactivation DCI (Pg. 27, Line 24, You). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ahn in view of Seo and Sun et al. (2019/0045337), hereinafter Sun.
Re. Claim 7, Ahn and Seo teach Claims 1 and 9.
Yet, Ahn and Seo do not expressly teach wherein a first set of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources is associated with a first SPS and a second set of PUCCH resources is associated with a second SPS.
However, Sun explicitly teaches wherein a first set of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources is associated with a first SPS and a second set of PUCCH resources is associated with a second SPS (¶0158-0159 - The first indication information, the second indication information, or the third indication information in the foregoing procedure may be carried in any one of the following information to be reported to the base station, so that the base station learns that an SPS activation procedure, an SPS reactivation procedure, or an SPS deactivation procedure can be triggered… [indication information including] physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) information).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Sun to the teaching of Ahn, and Seo. The motivation for such would be as Sun 1 provides a multiple sets of PUUCH resources associated with respective SPS’s (¶0158-0159, Sun). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 31 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Additionally, Claim 31 is currently rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(a) for lack of written basis in the specification, and as such, while allowable on the merit of the content of the claim, would need to overcome the 112(a) rejection before being allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/26/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant has provided new amendments from the previously discussed Advisory Action which states that the three indications claimed in the independent are distinct from one another. In response, Examiner has provided the same citations from reference Ahn as provided in the past office action, as Applicant did not argue against the citations provided, as well as Fig 12, which shows several distinct SPS PUCCH’s, one for each control channel. As Examiner has shown an example of the SPS PUCCH, which he had previously provided to show an indication showing reception of a reactivation DCI, being unique for each channel, Examiner interprets that he has provided that Ahn does disclose the claimed language and does not need to rely on Seo, as Applicant argues against on Page 10. As such, Examiner upholds the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103 for the independent claims 1 and 9, as well as all claims depending therein.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Bagheri et al. (2019/0320396) - ¶0052-0056, ¶0100-0110
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/N.J.S./Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/HASHIM S BHATTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2475
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