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 the 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office Action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 18 March 2026 has been entered.
Designations of the Particular Relevance of the Art
The Examiner has pointed out particular references contained in the prior art of record within the body of the Action for Applicant’s convenience. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages, paragraph and figures may apply. Applicant, in preparing the response, should consider fully the reference in totality as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or explained by the Examiner. MPEP § 707.05.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments—set forth at pp. 25-38—in the Remarks of Applicant’s submission, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In particular, Applicant argues at p. 27 of the Remarks that “in the claimed invention, the ‘retransmission indication information’ contained in the first PDCCH is used to associate the time-domain sequential relationship between the first UCI (which was originally intended to be transmitted but was not) and the second UCI (which is actually transmitted).” At pages 27-28, Applicant argues that the “claimed invention . . . uses the ‘retransmission indication information’ to determine the relationship between the first UCI and the second UCI (both of which refer to the control information itself).” In response, the Examiner finds that Applicant’s arguments are not commensurate with claim scope. That is, claim 1 does not recite a requirement to associate the time-domain sequential relationship between the first UCI and the second UCI and/or determining the relationship between the first UCI and the second UCI. Instead, claim 1 merely recites “the first UCI being UCI that needs to be transmitted originally in the first time unit, the second time unit being a time unit where uplink channel corresponding to the first PDCCH is transmitted.”
Applicant further argues:
LIANG does not involve "retransmission"; instead, it concerns the suspension or interruption of transmission due to an "overlap," followed by the continuation of the transmission in subsequent slots. In contrast, as clearly defined in the claimed invention, the technical solution of the claimed invention associates the time-domain sequential relationship between the first UCI (intended but not transmitted) and the second UCI (actually transmitted) via the "retransmission indication information" in the first PDCCH. Therefore, "retransmission" here, in the claimed invention, does not mean resuming an interrupted (or stopped) UCI transmission; rather, it refers to the first actual transmission within a second time unit of a UCI that was previously scheduled for transmission in a first time unit but was not actually transmitted.
Remarks, p. 28. In response, the Examiner finds that Applicant’s asserted interpretation is not required in view of Applicant’s specification, which instead states: “When there is a conflict between the uplink channel carrying the UCI and the other channel, the uplink channel carrying the UCI overlaps with a channel having a high priority level in the time domain, so an uplink channel carrying the UCI and having a low priority level is dropped.” The instant application further states:
When there is a conflict between the PUCCH carrying the UCI and a PUSCH in a time domain (e.g., the PUCCH and the PUSCH overlap each other in the time domain on a same carrier or different carriers) and a specific condition has been met (e.g., a time condition for multiplexing transmission), the UCI on the PUCCH is transmitted on the PUSCH, and the PUCCH is not transmitted any more . . . .
¶ 0105. Thus, under the broadest reasonable interpretation, the alleged distinction between the claimed “retransmission” and that described in LIANG is unpersuasive.
For at least these reasons, the rejection is maintained on the grounds specifically set forth below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. § 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in the 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.
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, 2, 4, 8, 11, 13, 18, 21, 25, 28, 30, 35, 38, 42, 45, 47, 52, 55, 59, 62, and 64 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being obvious over US 2021/0168842 (hereinafter, “LIANG”) in view of US 2020/0374920 (hereinafter, “TIE”).
Regarding claim 1, LIANG discloses:
An Uplink Control Information (UCI) transmission method, comprising: (method 1050)
receiving, by a terminal (radio station 1200/1205), . . . a[n] [interrupt] indication information; (¶ 0032: [R]eceiving ([1052]), at a communication device, an interrupt indication indicating an interruption to occur on a transmission resource)
determining, by the terminal, a first time unit in accordance with the [interrupt] indication information; and (¶¶ 0047-0048: [W]hen a UE received an uplink preemption indicator (UL PI), it should stop or cancel its PUSCH transmission. And if there is UCI multiplexed on the PUSCH, the UCI may be transmitted in a transmission resource different from the above mentioned PUSCH. The “different transmission resource” includes: different in time domain, or different in frequency domain, or both. Further, the “different transmission resource” may be a PUSCH or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH))
transmitting, by the terminal, first UCI in a second time unit, (¶ 0032: [T]ransmitting (1056), in case that the transmission included a control information, the control information, using a third transmission resource; ¶ 0061: UE1 retransmits (or actually transmits) the PUSCH in slot N+1 of the dropped PUSCH)
the first UCI being UCI that needs to be transmitted originally in the first time unit, (¶ 0054: [T]he interrupt transmission PUSCH is called “Dropped PUSCH” and is assumed to be in the time slot N. For uplink control information (such as HARQ-ACK) contained in dropped PUSCH, the UE can send it in [myriad] ways)
the second time unit being a time unit where uplink channel corresponding to the first PDCCH is transmitted, (¶ 0055: As shown in FIG. 2, there is a PUSCH to be transmitted in slot N+1, which is just following the dropped (pre-empted) PUSCH in slot N. In order to distinguish this PUSCH from the dropped PUSCH, the PUSCH in slot N+1 is called PUSCH-2. In this embodiment, the HARQ-ACK information that would have been sent on the dropped PUSCH is sent on the PUSCH-2)
wherein a value range of the retransmission indication information comprises a first indication state and a second indication state, the first indication state indicates that no UCI retransmission is to be performed, and the second indication state indicates that UCI retransmission is to be performed, (¶¶ 0029-0031: As for the candidate solutions for the uplink preemption or interruption indication (UL PI), two options are considered. Option 1: the UL PI indicates an reference uplink resource that the UE who receives this UL PI should not transmit on. Option 2: the UL PI indicates the UE to stop or cancel transmission; ¶ 0080: [I]f the interrupted transmission contains the HARQ-ACK information corresponding to the PDSCH, in order to reduce the impact on the PDSCH transmission as much as possible, the UE1 may use one of the following ways by which the dropped HARQ-ACK information is retransmitted; ¶ 0121: [E]mbodiments have been disclosed to allow for eventual actual transmission of certain messages that got pre-empted or interrupted. These messages may include HARQ-ACK or CSI messages [The implication that can reasonably de drawn from the disclosed actual transmission of “certain” messages which have been pre-empted/interrupted, and the further disclosure that dropped “HARQ-ACK information” is retransmitted, is that there are at least some non-HARQ-ACK and non-channel state information pre-empted/interrupted messages for which no UCI retransmission is to be performed]) wherein the determining, by the terminal, the first time unit in accordance with the retransmission indication information comprises determining the first time unit in the case that the retransmission indication information is in the second indication state; (¶ 0075: When the time-frequency resource indicated by the interrupt indication information (UL PI) conflicts with the PUSCH transmission of the UE1 in slot N, and also conflicts with the PUCCH originally used for carrying the HARQ-ACK in slot N, the UE1 cancels the PUSCH transmission and then transmit the HARQ-ACK on a predefined PUCCH)
or
wherein the [interrupt] indication information is used to indicate an offset value, and the terminal determines the first time unit in accordance with the offset value; (¶ 0062: As shown in FIG. 4, when the interrupt indication information (UL PI) is implicitly indicated by the new uplink grant information, that is, UE1 receives an uplink grant information for itself no earlier than t3, UE1 stops or interrupts the originally scheduled PUSCH transmission at time t2 (or no later than time t5, as illustrated in FIG. 1), then transmits the PUSCH in slot N+k as indicated in the new uplink grant information. Here, the PUSCH transmission contains the original HARQ-ACK information. Here, k is a positive integer k>=0. In various embodiments, k may be counted based slot or symbol)
or
wherein the retransmission indication information comprises K bits, each bit corresponds to a sub-time period in a predefined time period, the first time unit comprises one or more time units contained in a sub-time period corresponding to a bit having a first value in the K bits, K is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and one sub-time period comprises at least one time unit;
or
wherein the [interrupt] indication information comprises K bits, each bit corresponds to a time unit in a predefined time period, the first time unit comprises one or more time units corresponding to a bit having a first value in the K bits, and K is an integer greater than or equal to 1. (¶ 0035: [T]he third transmission resource corresponds to the resource of the retransmission of the interrupted transmission that is scheduled based on a new transmission grant.” . . . [T]he third transmission resource comprises a symbol K positions after a symbol comprising the interruption, wherein K is a positive integer)
It appears that LIANG does not explicitly disclose:
a first Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the first PDCCH comprising retransmission indication information
In the same field of endeavor, however, TIE teaches:
a first Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the first PDCCH comprising retransmission indication information (¶ 0291: [T]he base station sends retransmission indication information to the terminal device by using a PDCCH, to indicate the terminal device to re-send the message 3)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify LIANG’s control information transmission procedure to provide retransmission indication information as taught by LIE to determine whether an updated TBS indicated by the retransmission indication information is consistent with the target TBS such that when the updated TBS is consistent with the target TBS, the resource allocated by the base station to the terminal device is the resource corresponding to the target TBS, and the resource corresponding to the target TBS can be all used to retransmit the message 3, so that fewer resources are wasted in an uplink data transmission process. See TIE, at ¶ 0291.
Regarding claim 4, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the UCI transmission method of claim 1. LIANG further discloses:
wherein the determining, by the terminal, the first time unit in accordance with the offset value comprises:
determining one or more time units before the time unit where the uplink channel scheduled by the first PDCCH is transmitted as the first time unit in accordance with the offset value and the time unit where the uplink channel scheduled by the first PDCCH is transmitted;
or
determining one or more time units before a time unit where the first PDCCH is transmitted as the first time unit in accordance with the offset value and the time unit where the first PDCCH is transmitted;
or
determining one or more time units before a time unit where a downlink shared channel scheduled by the first PDCCH is transmitted as the first time unit in accordance with the offset value and the time unit where the downlink shared channel scheduled by the first PDCCH is transmitted,
and/or
wherein a unit of the offset value is determined with a definition of the first time unit as a reference; (¶ 0055: As shown in FIG. 2, there is a PUSCH to be transmitted in slot N+1, which is just following the dropped (pre-empted) PUSCH in slot N; ¶ 0062: [W]hen the interrupt indication information (UL PI) is implicitly indicated by the new uplink grant information, that is, UE1 receives an uplink grant information for itself no earlier than t3, UE1 stops or interrupts the originally scheduled PUSCH transmission at time t2 (or no later than time t5, as illustrated in FIG. 1), then transmits the PUSCH in slot N+k as indicated in the new uplink grant information)
or
the unit of the offset value is determined with a definition of the second time unit as a reference;
or
in the case that the definition of the first time unit is different from the definition of the second time unit, the unit of the offset value is determined with the definition of a time unit, with a larger time length between the first time unit and the second time unit, as a reference;
or
in the case that the definition of the first time unit is different from the definition of the second time unit, the unit of the offset value is determined with the definition of a time unit, with a smaller time length between the first time unit and the second time unit, as a reference;
or
the unit of the offset value is determined with the definition of the first time unit and the definition of the second time unit as a reference, or with the definition of any of the first time unit and the second time unit as a reference;
wherein the definition of the first time unit is the same as the definition of the second time unit through pre-definition or configuration,
and/or
wherein the predefined time period comprises one of:
a predefined time period containing the first PDCCH transmission,
a predefined time period before the first PDCCH transmission,
a predefined time period containing uplink channel transmission scheduled by the first PDCCH,
or
a predefined time period before the uplink channel transmission scheduled by the first PDCCH;
and/or
a unit of a time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit is determined in accordance with one of:
a unit of a time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit is determined with a definition of the first time unit as a reference;
or
a unit of the time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit, is determined with a definition of the second time unit as a reference;
or
in the case that the definition of the first time unit is different from the definition of the second time unit, a unit of the time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit, is determined with the definition of a time unit with a larger time length between the first time unit and the second time unit as a reference;
or
in the case that the definition of the first time unit is different from the definition of the second time unit, a unit of the time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit, is determined with a time unit with a smaller time length between the first time unit and the second time unit as a reference;
or
a unit of a time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit, is determined with the definition of the first time unit and the definition of the second time unit as a reference, or with the definition of any of the first time unit and the second time unit as a reference;
wherein the definition of the first time unit is the same as the definition of the second time unit through pre-definition or configuration.
Regarding claim 8, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the UCI transmission method of claim 1. LIANG further discloses:
wherein the definition of each of the first time unit and the second time unit comprises one of: at least one subframe, at least one slot, or at least one sub-slot; (¶ 0055: As shown in FIG. 2, there is a PUSCH to be transmitted in slot N+1, which is just following the dropped (pre-empted) PUSCH in slot N. In order to distinguish this PUSCH from the dropped PUSCH, the PUSCH in slot N+1 is called PUSCH-2. In this embodiment, the HARQ-ACK information that would have been sent on the dropped PUSCH is sent on the PUSCH-2)
wherein the definition of the first time unit is the same as or different from the definition of the second time unit, (¶ 0055: As shown in FIG. 2, there is a PUSCH to be transmitted in slot N+1, which is just following the dropped (pre-empted) PUSCH in slot N. In order to distinguish this PUSCH from the dropped PUSCH, the PUSCH in slot N+1 is called PUSCH-2. In this embodiment, the HARQ-ACK information that would have been sent on the dropped PUSCH is sent on the PUSCH-2)
and/or
wherein in the case that a plurality of first PDCCHs has been received by the terminal and one or more Hybrid Automatic Repeat request-ACKnowledgments (HARQ-ACKs) for one or more Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCHs) scheduled by the plurality of first PDCCHs and/or for a Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS) PDSCH release indicated by the plurality of first PDCCHs are transmitted in the second time unit, offset values indicated through retransmission indication information in the plurality of first PDCCHs are the same;
or
the offset values indicated through retransmission indication information in the plurality of first PDCCHs are different, and the first time unit is determined in accordance with a retransmission indication field in each first PDCCH in the plurality of first PDCCHs or a retransmission indication field in a last one of the plurality of first PDCCHs,
and/or
wherein in the case that the first PDCCH comprises a priority level indication field, a priority level of the first UCI is the same as or different from a priority level indicated in the priority level indication field, or the priority level of the first UCI is greater than or equal to the priority level indicated in the priority level indication field;
or
in the case that the first PDCCH does not comprise the priority level indication field, the priority level of the first UCI is the same as or different from a predefined priority level corresponding to DCI used by the first PDCCH, or the priority level of the first UCI is greater than or equal to the predefined priority level corresponding to the DCI used by the first PDCCH,
and/or
wherein the first UCI comprises at least one of an HARO-ACK, Channel State Information (CSI) or a Scheduling Request (SR);
and/or
the first UCI comprises all or parts of pieces of UCI dropped by the terminal in the first time unit,
and/or
wherein in the case that the terminal determines that the terminal supports or is configured with UCI retransmission, the first PDCCH comprises the retransmission indication information.
Regarding claim 11, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the UCI transmission method of claim 1. LIANG further discloses:
wherein the transmitting, by the terminal, the first UCI in the second time unit comprises
mode A, transmitting the first UCI in the second time unit in accordance with a size and bits of the first UCI in the first time unit, or
mode B, in the case that another UCI is not transmitted by the terminal in the second time unit, the transmitting, by the terminal, the first UCI in the second time unit comprises at least one of:
transmitting the first UCI on a PUCCH resource in the second time unit, the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the quantity of bits of the first UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index corresponding to the first UCI in the first time unit, or the PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling;
or
when a PUSCH is scheduled by the first PDCCH to be transmitted in the second time unit, transmitting the first UCI on a PUSCH resource in the second time unit,
or
mode C, in the case that second UCI is transmitted by the terminal in the second time unit, the transmitting, by the terminal, the first UCI in the second time unit comprises at least one of:
transmitting the first UCI and the second UCI in a multiplexing manner through a same PUCCH resource, the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the total quantity of bits of the first UCI and the second UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling; (¶ 0039: [W]hen there is another uplink control information to be transmitted on the third transmission resource, then these two uplink control information bits are combined (e.g., concatenated or multiplexed) before transmitting; ¶ 0083: Using concatenation the bit sequence of HARQ-ACK multiplexed in PUSCH-1 is “a0,a1,a2,a3”, and “b0,b1,b2,b3” in PUSCH-2 respectively. These two bit sequences may be concatenated to form a new bit sequence as “a0,a1,a2,a3,b0,b1,b2,b3”; ¶ 0038: [T]he predefined control channel comprises a dedicated control channel resource configured by a higher layer)
or
when HARQ-ACK is contained in both the first UCI and the second UCI, cascading the second UCI with the first UCI, and transmitting the first UCI and the second UCI through a same PUCCH resource, the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the total quantity of bits of the first UCI and the second UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling;
or
transmitting the first UCI through a first PUCCH resource and transmitting the second UCI through a second PUCCH resource,
wherein the first PUCCH resource does not overlap with the second PUCCH resource in a time domain, the first PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the quantity of bits of the first UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH,
or
the first PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index corresponding to the first UCI in the first time unit,
or
the first PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling,
or
determining a first PUCCH resource corresponding to the first UCI and a second PUCCH resource corresponding to the second UCI, transmitting the first UCI through the first PUCCH resource and transmitting the second UCI through the second PUCCH resource when the first PUCCH resource does not overlap with the second PUCCH resource in a time domain, and
transmitting the first UCI and the second UCI in a multiplexing manner through a same PUCCH resource when the first PUCCH resource overlaps with the second PUCCH resource in the time domain,
the first PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the quantity of bits of the first UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH,
or
the first PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index corresponding to the first UCI in the first time unit,
or
the first PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling.
Regarding claim 13, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the UCI transmission method of claim 11. LIANG further discloses:
wherein in accordance with mode B, in the case that the first time unit comprises a plurality of time units, the transmitting, by the terminal, the first UCI in the second time unit comprises at least one of:
cascading a plurality of pieces of first UCI dropped in the plurality of time units to each other in a predetermined cascading order, and
transmitting the cascaded first UCI on a PUCCH resource in the second time unit,
the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index in a target time unit in the plurality of time units corresponding to the first UCI in the target time unit,
the target time unit being a first one of the plurality of time units,
a last one of the plurality of time units or a time unit in the plurality of time units in which the PUCCH resource corresponding to the first UCI has a maximum capacity, or the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the quantity of bits of the cascaded first UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling;
wherein the predetermined cascading order comprising at least one of a chronological order of the time units or an order of UCI types;
or
independently transmitting the plurality of pieces of first UCI dropped in the plurality of time units on a plurality of PUCCH resources in the second time unit,
the plurality of PUCCH resources being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index corresponding to each of the plurality of pieces of first UCI in a corresponding time unit within the plurality of time units,
in accordance with mode C, a type of the first UCI is the same as or different from a type of the second UCI, and the second UCI comprises at least one of an HARQ-ACK of the first PDCCH, or an HARQ-ACK of a PDSCH scheduled by the first PDCCH. (¶ 0083: [C]ombining may refer to one of several different ways of including information together. For example, concatenation may be used for combining. Using concatenation the bit sequence of HARQ-ACK multiplexed in PUSCH-1 is “a0,a1,a2,a3”, and “b0,b1,b2,b3” in PUSCH-2 respectively. These two bit sequences may be concatenated to form a new bit sequence as “a0,a1,a2,a3,b0,b1,b2,b3”)
Regarding claim 18, LIANG discloses:
A UCI reception method, comprising: (method 1150)
transmitting, by a network device (base station BS 1302), . . . to a terminal (user device 1306), . . . [interruption] indication information; and (¶ 0041: [M]ethod 1150 includes scheduling (1152), from a network device, a first transmission to occur using a specified transmission resource on a shared channel, and transmitting (1154), from the network device, after the scheduling, an indication that the first transmission is to be interrupted by a second transmission)
receiving, by the network device, first UCI from the terminal in a second time unit, the first UCI being a UCI that needs to be transmitted originally in a first time unit, the first time unit being a time unit determined in accordance with the retransmission indication information, and (¶ 0054: the interrupt transmission PUSCH is called “Dropped PUSCH” and is assumed to be in the time slot N. For uplink control information (such as HARQ-ACK) contained in dropped PUSCH, the UE can send it; ¶ 0062: [W]hen the interrupt indication information (UL PI) is implicitly indicated by the new uplink grant information, that is, UE1 receives an uplink grant information for itself no earlier than t3, UE1 stops or interrupts the originally scheduled PUSCH transmission at time t2 (or no later than time t5, as illustrated in FIG. 1), then transmits the PUSCH in slot N+k as indicated in the new uplink grant information. Here, the PUSCH transmission contains the original HARQ-ACK information; ¶ 0121: [A]ctual transmission of certain messages that got pre-empted or interrupted. These messages may include HARQ-ACK or CSI messages that enable ongoing robust operation of a wireless communication link between a user equipment or terminal and the network [The terminal transmitting the PUSCH in response to an uplink grant, as well as the wireless communication link between the terminal and the network, implies that the network device receives the transmission.])
the second time unit being a time unit where uplink channel corresponding to the first PDCCH is transmitted (¶ 0068: [T]he PUCCH is determined based on combination of an index of the first CCE (control channel element) for the PDCCH carrying the interrupt indication (UL PI) and an index for the UE1 to find its corresponding interrupt indication (UL PI) in the DCI (Downlink Control Information))
wherein a value range of the retransmission indication information comprises a first indication state and a second indication state, the first indication state indicates that no UCI retransmission is to be performed, and the second indication state indicates that UCI retransmission is to be performed, (¶¶ 0029-0031: As for the candidate solutions for the uplink preemption or interruption indication (UL PI), two options are considered. Option 1: the UL PI indicates an reference uplink resource that the UE who receives this UL PI should not transmit on. Option 2: the UL PI indicates the UE to stop or cancel transmission; ¶ 0080: [I]f the interrupted transmission contains the HARQ-ACK information corresponding to the PDSCH, in order to reduce the impact on the PDSCH transmission as much as possible, the UE1 may use one of the following ways by which the dropped HARQ-ACK information is retransmitted; ¶ 0121: [E]mbodiments have been disclosed to allow for eventual actual transmission of certain messages that got pre-empted or interrupted. These messages may include HARQ-ACK or CSI messages [The implication that can reasonably de drawn from the disclosed actual transmission of “certain” messages which have been pre-empted/interrupted, and the further disclosure that dropped “HARQ-ACK information” is retransmitted, is that there are at least some non-HARQ-ACK and non-channel state information pre-empted/interrupted messages for which no UCI retransmission is to be performed]) wherein the first time unit is determined in the case that the retransmission indication information is in the second indication state; (¶ 0075: When the time-frequency resource indicated by the interrupt indication information (UL PI) conflicts with the PUSCH transmission of the UE1 in slot N, and also conflicts with the PUCCH originally used for carrying the HARQ-ACK in slot N, the UE1 cancels the PUSCH transmission and then transmit the HARQ-ACK on a predefined PUCCH)
or
wherein the retransmission indication information is used to indicate an offset value, and the terminal determines the first time unit in accordance with the offset value; (¶ 0062: As shown in FIG. 4, when the interrupt indication information (UL PI) is implicitly indicated by the new uplink grant information, that is, UE1 receives an uplink grant information for itself no earlier than t3, UE1 stops or interrupts the originally scheduled PUSCH transmission at time t2 (or no later than time t5, as illustrated in FIG. 1), then transmits the PUSCH in slot N+k as indicated in the new uplink grant information. Here, the PUSCH transmission contains the original HARQ-ACK information. Here, k is a positive integer k>=0. In various embodiments, k may be counted based slot or symbol)
or
wherein the retransmission indication information comprises K bits, each bit corresponds to a sub-time period in a predefined time period, the first time unit comprises one or more time units contained in a sub-time period corresponding to a bit having a first value in the K bits, K is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and one sub-time period comprises at least one time unit;
or
wherein the retransmission indication information comprises K bits, each bit corresponds to a time unit in a predefined time period, the first time unit comprises one or more time units corresponding to a bit having a first value in the K bits, and K is an integer greater than or equal to 1. (¶ 0035: [T]he third transmission resource corresponds to the resource of the retransmission of the interrupted transmission that is scheduled based on a new transmission grant.” . . . [T]he third transmission resource comprises a symbol K positions after a symbol comprising the interruption, wherein K is a positive integer)
It appears that LIANG does not explicitly disclose:
a first PDCCH . . . , the first PDCCH comprising retransmission indication information
In the same field of endeavor, however, TIE teaches:
a first Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the first PDCCH comprising retransmission indication information (¶ 0291: [T]he base station sends retransmission indication information to the terminal device by using a PDCCH, to indicate the terminal device to re-send the message 3)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify LIANG’s control information transmission procedure to provide retransmission indication information as taught by LIE to determine whether an updated TBS indicated by the retransmission indication information is consistent with the target TBS such that when the updated TBS is consistent with the target TBS, the resource allocated by the base station to the terminal device is the resource corresponding to the target TBS, and the resource corresponding to the target TBS can be all used to retransmit the message 3, so that fewer resources are wasted in an uplink data transmission process. See TIE, at ¶ 0291.
Regarding claim 21, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the UCI reception method of claim 18. LIANG further discloses:
wherein the determining the first time unit in accordance with the offset value comprises:
determining one or more time units before the time unit where the uplink channel scheduled by the first PDCCH is transmitted as the first time unit in accordance with the offset value and the time unit where the uplink channel scheduled by the first PDCCH is transmitted; or
determining one or more time units before a time unit where the first PDCCH is transmitted as the first time unit in accordance with the offset value and the time unit where the first PDCCH is transmitted; or
determining one or more time units before a time unit where a downlink shared channel scheduled by the first PDCCH is transmitted as the first time unit in accordance with the offset value and the time unit where the downlink shared channel scheduled by the first PDCCH is transmitted,
and/or
wherein a unit of the offset value is determined with a definition of the first time unit as a reference; or (¶ 0055: As shown in FIG. 2, there is a PUSCH to be transmitted in slot N+1, which is just following the dropped (pre-empted) PUSCH in slot N; ¶ 0062: [W]hen the interrupt indication information (UL PI) is implicitly indicated by the new uplink grant information, that is, UE1 receives an uplink grant information for itself no earlier than t3, UE1 stops or interrupts the originally scheduled PUSCH transmission at time t2 (or no later than time t5, as illustrated in FIG. 1), then transmits the PUSCH in slot N+k as indicated in the new uplink grant information)
the unit of the offset value is determined with a definition of the second time unit as a reference;
or
in the case that the definition of the first time unit is different from the definition of the second time unit, the unit of the offset value is determined with the definition of a time unit, with a larger time length between the first time unit and the second time unit, as a reference;
or
in the case that the definition of the first time unit is different from the definition of the second time unit, the unit of the offset value is determined with the definition of a time unit, with a smaller time length between the first time unit and the second time unit, as a reference;
or
the unit of the offset value is determined with the definition of the first time unit and the definition of the second time unit as a reference,
or
with the definition of any of the first time unit and the second time unit as a reference;
wherein the definition of the first time unit is the same as the definition of the second time unit through pre-definition or configuration, and/or wherein the predefined time period comprises one of:
a predefined time period containing the first PDCCH transmission, a predefined time period before the first PDCCH transmission, a predefined time period containing uplink channel transmission scheduled by the first PDCCH, or a predefined time period before the uplink channel transmission scheduled by the first PDCCH;
and/or
a unit of a time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit is determined in accordance with one of:
a unit of a time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit is determined with a definition of the first time unit as a reference;
or
a unit of the time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit, is determined with a definition of the second time unit as a reference;
or
in the case that the definition of the first time unit is different from the definition of the second time unit, a unit of the time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit, is determined with the definition of a time unit with a larger time length between the first time unit and the second time unit as a reference;
or
in the case that the definition of the first time unit is different from the definition of the second time unit, a unit of the time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit, is determined with a time unit with a smaller time length between the first time unit and the second time unit as a reference;
or
a unit of a time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit, is determined with the definition of the first time unit and the definition of the second time unit as a reference, or with the definition of any of the first time unit and the second time unit as a reference;
wherein the definition of the first time unit is the same as the definition of the second time unit through pre-definition or configuration.
Regarding claim 25, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the UCI reception method of claim 18. LIANG further discloses:
wherein the definition of each of the first time unit and the second time unit comprises one of:
at least one subframe, at least one slot, or at least one sub-slot; (¶ 0055: As shown in FIG. 2, there is a PUSCH to be transmitted in slot N+1, which is just following the dropped (pre-empted) PUSCH in slot N. In order to distinguish this PUSCH from the dropped PUSCH, the PUSCH in slot N+1 is called PUSCH-2. In this embodiment, the HARQ-ACK information that would have been sent on the dropped PUSCH is sent on the PUSCH-2)
wherein the definition of the first time unit is the same as or different from the definition of the second time unit, and/or (¶ 0055: As shown in FIG. 2, there is a PUSCH to be transmitted in slot N+1, which is just following the dropped (pre-empted) PUSCH in slot N. In order to distinguish this PUSCH from the dropped PUSCH, the PUSCH in slot N+1 is called PUSCH-2. In this embodiment, the HARQ-ACK information that would have been sent on the dropped PUSCH is sent on the PUSCH-2)
wherein in the case that a plurality of first PDCCHs has been transmitted by the network device and one or more HARQ-ACKs for one or more PDSCHs scheduled by the plurality of first PDCCHs and/or for a SPS PDSCH release indicated by the plurality of first PDCCHs are transmitted in the second time unit, offset values indicated through retransmission indication information in the plurality of first PDCCHs are the same;
or
the offset values indicated through retransmission indication information in the plurality of first PDCCHs are different, and the first time unit is determined in accordance with a retransmission indication field in each first PDCCH in the plurality of first PDCCHs or a retransmission indication field in a last one of the plurality of first PDCCHs,
and/or
wherein in the case that the first PDCCH comprises a priority level indication field, a priority level of the first UCI is the same as or different from a priority level indicated in the priority level indication field,
or
the priority level of the first UCI is greater than or equal to the priority level indicated in the priority level indication field;
or
in the case that the first PDCCH does not comprise the priority level indication field, the priority level of the first UCI is the same as or different from a predefined priority level corresponding to DCI used by the first PDCCH, or the priority level of the first UCI is greater than or equal to the predefined priority level corresponding to the DCI used by the first PDCCH, and/or wherein the first UCI comprises at least one of an HARQ-ACK, CSI or an SR;
and/or
the first UCI comprises all or parts of pieces of UCI dropped by the terminal in the first time unit,
and/or
wherein in the case that the network device determines that the terminal supports or is configured with UCI retransmission, the first PDCCH comprises the retransmission indication information.
Regarding claim 28, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the UCI reception method of claim 18. LIANG further discloses:
wherein the first UCI is transmitted in the second time unit in accordance with at least one of:
mode A, the first UCI is transmitted in the second time unit in accordance with a size and bits of the first UCI in the first time unit,
or
mode B, in the case that another UCI does not need to be received by the network device in the second time unit, the receiving, by the network device, the first UCI from the terminal in the second time unit comprises:
receiving the first UCI on a PUCCH resource in the second time unit, the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the quantity of bits of the first UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH,
or
the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index corresponding to the first UCI in the first time unit,
or
the PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling;
or
when a PUSCH is scheduled by the first PDCCH to be transmitted in the second time unit, receiving the first UCI on a PUSCH resource in the second time unit,
or
mode C, in the case that second UCI needs to be received by the network device in the second time unit, the receiving, by the network device, the first UCI from the terminal in the second time unit comprises:
receiving the first UCI and the second UCI transmitted in a multiplexing manner through a same PUCCH resource, the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the total quantity of bits of the first UCI and the second UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling; or (¶ 0039: [W]hen there is another uplink control information to be transmitted on the third transmission resource, then these two uplink control information bits are combined (e.g., concatenated or multiplexed) before transmitting; ¶ 0083: Using concatenation the bit sequence of HARQ-ACK multiplexed in PUSCH-1 is “a0,a1,a2,a3”, and “b0,b1,b2,b3” in PUSCH-2 respectively. These two bit sequences may be concatenated to form a new bit sequence as “a0,a1,a2,a3,b0,b1,b2,b3”; ¶ 0038: [T]he predefined control channel comprises a dedicated control channel resource configured by a higher layer)
when HARQ-ACK is contained in both the first UCI and the second UCI, determining that the second UCI is cascaded with the first UCI, and receiving the first UCI and the second UCI transmitted in a cascading manner through a same PUCCH resource, the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the total quantity of bits of the first UCI and the second UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling;
or
receiving the first UCI through a first PUCCH resource and receiving the second UCI through a second PUCCH resource,
wherein the first PUCCH resource does not overlap with the second PUCCH resource in a time domain, the first PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the quantity of bits of the first UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the first PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index corresponding to the first UCI in the first time unit, or the first PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling;
or
determining a first PUCCH resource corresponding to the first UCI and a second PUCCH resource corresponding to the second UCI,
receiving the first UCI through the first PUCCH resource and receiving the second UCI through the second PUCCH resource when the first PUCCH resource does not overlap with the second PUCCH resource in a time domain, and
receiving the first UCI and the second UCI through a same PUCCH resource simultaneously when the first PUCCH resource overlaps with the second PUCCH resource in the time domain,
the first PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the quantity of bits of the first UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the first PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index corresponding to the first UCI in the first time unit, or the first PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling.
Regarding claim 30, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the UCI reception method of claim 28. LIANG further discloses:
wherein in accordance with mode B, in the case that the first time unit comprises a plurality of time units, the receiving, by the network device, the first UCI in the second time unit comprises:
determining that a plurality of pieces of first UCI dropped in the plurality of time units is cascaded to each other in a predetermined cascading order, and receiving the cascaded first UCI on a PUCCH resource in the second time unit, the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index in a target time unit in the plurality of time units corresponding to the first UCI in the target time unit, the target time unit being a first one of the plurality of time units, a last one of the plurality of time units or a time unit in the plurality of time units in which the PUCCH resource corresponding to the first UCI has a maximum capacity, or the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the quantity of bits of the cascaded first UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling;
wherein the predetermined cascading order comprising at least one of a chronological order of the time units or an order of UCI types;
or
independently receiving the plurality of pieces of first UCI dropped in the plurality of time units on a plurality of PUCCH resources in the second time unit, the plurality of PUCCH resources being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index corresponding to each of the plurality of pieces of first UCI in a corresponding time unit within the plurality of time units,
wherein in accordance with mode C, a type of the first UCI is the same as or different from a type of the second UCI, and the second UCI comprises at least one of an HARQ-ACK of the first PDCCH, or an HARQ-ACK of a PDSCH scheduled by the first PDCCH. (¶ 0083: [C]ombining may refer to one of several different ways of including information together. For example, concatenation may be used for combining. Using concatenation the bit sequence of HARQ-ACK multiplexed in PUSCH-1 is “a0,a1,a2,a3”, and “b0,b1,b2,b3” in PUSCH-2 respectively. These two bit sequences may be concatenated to form a new bit sequence as “a0,a1,a2,a3,b0,b1,b2,b3”)
Regarding claim 35, LIANG discloses:
A terminal (radio station 1200/1205), comprising a memory (memory 1205), a transceiver (transceiver electronics 1215) and a processor (processor electronics 1210),
wherein the memory is configured to store therein a computer program, and the transceiver is configured to transmit and receive data under the control of the processor,
wherein the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory so as to:
receive . . . [interruption] indication information; (¶ 0032: [R]eceiving ([1052]), at a communication device, an interrupt indication indicating an interruption to occur on a transmission resource)
determine a first time unit in accordance with the retransmission indication information; and (¶¶ 0047-0048: [W]hen a UE received an uplink preemption indicator (UL PI), it should stop or cancel its PUSCH transmission. And if there is UCI multiplexed on the PUSCH, the UCI may be transmitted in a transmission resource different from the above mentioned PUSCH. The “different transmission resource” includes: different in time domain, or different in frequency domain, or both. Further, the “different transmission resource” may be a PUSCH or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH))
transmit first UCI in a second time unit, (¶ 0032: [T]ransmitting (1056), in case that the transmission included a control information, the control information, using a third transmission resource; ¶ 0061: UE1 retransmits (or actually transmits) the PUSCH in slot N+1 of the dropped PUSCH)
the first UCI being a UCI that needs to be transmitted in the first time unit, (¶ 0054: [T]he interrupt transmission PUSCH is called “Dropped PUSCH” and is assumed to be in the time slot N. For uplink control information (such as HARQ-ACK) contained in dropped PUSCH, the UE can send it in [a number of] ways)
the second time unit being a time unit where uplink channel corresponding to the first PDCCH is transmitted (¶ 0055: As shown in FIG. 2, there is a PUSCH to be transmitted in slot N+1, which is just following the dropped (pre-empted) PUSCH in slot N. In order to distinguish this PUSCH from the dropped PUSCH, the PUSCH in slot N+1 is called PUSCH-2. In this embodiment, the HARQ-ACK information that would have been sent on the dropped PUSCH is sent on the PUSCH-2)
wherein a value range of the retransmission indication information comprises a first indication state and a second indication state, the first indication state indicates that no UCI retransmission is to be performed, and the second indication state indicates that UCI retransmission is to be performed, (¶¶ 0029-0031: As for the candidate solutions for the uplink preemption or interruption indication (UL PI), two options are considered. Option 1: the UL PI indicates an reference uplink resource that the UE who receives this UL PI should not transmit on. Option 2: the UL PI indicates the UE to stop or cancel transmission; ¶ 0080: [I]f the interrupted transmission contains the HARQ-ACK information corresponding to the PDSCH, in order to reduce the impact on the PDSCH transmission as much as possible, the UE1 may use one of the following ways by which the dropped HARQ-ACK information is retransmitted; ¶ 0121: [E]mbodiments have been disclosed to allow for eventual actual transmission of certain messages that got pre-empted or interrupted. These messages may include HARQ-ACK or CSI messages [The implication that can reasonably de drawn from the disclosed actual transmission of “certain” messages which have been pre-empted/interrupted, and the further disclosure that dropped “HARQ-ACK information” is retransmitted, is that there are at least some non-HARQ-ACK and non-channel state information pre-empted/interrupted messages for which no UCI retransmission is to be performed]) wherein the determining, by the terminal, the first time unit in accordance with the retransmission indication information comprises determining the first time unit in the case that the retransmission indication information is in the second indication state; (¶ 0075: When the time-frequency resource indicated by the interrupt indication information (UL PI) conflicts with the PUSCH transmission of the UE1 in slot N, and also conflicts with the PUCCH originally used for carrying the HARQ-ACK in slot N, the UE1 cancels the PUSCH transmission and then transmit the HARQ-ACK on a predefined PUCCH)
or
wherein the retransmission indication information is used to indicate an offset value, and the terminal determines the first time unit in accordance with the offset value; (¶ 0062: As shown in FIG. 4, when the interrupt indication information (UL PI) is implicitly indicated by the new uplink grant information, that is, UE1 receives an uplink grant information for itself no earlier than t3, UE1 stops or interrupts the originally scheduled PUSCH transmission at time t2 (or no later than time t5, as illustrated in FIG. 1), then transmits the PUSCH in slot N+k as indicated in the new uplink grant information. Here, the PUSCH transmission contains the original HARQ-ACK information. Here, k is a positive integer k>=0. In various embodiments, k may be counted based slot or symbol)
or
wherein the retransmission indication information comprises K bits, each bit corresponds to a sub-time period in a predefined time period, the first time unit comprises one or more time units contained in a sub-time period corresponding to a bit having a first value in the K bits, K is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and one sub-time period comprises at least one time unit;
or
wherein the retransmission indication information comprises K bits, each bit corresponds to a time unit in a predefined time period, the first time unit comprises one or more time units corresponding to a bit having a first value in the K bits, and K is an integer greater than or equal to 1. (¶ 0035: [T]he third transmission resource corresponds to the resource of the retransmission of the interrupted transmission that is scheduled based on a new transmission grant.” . . . [T]he third transmission resource comprises a symbol K positions after a symbol comprising the interruption, wherein K is a positive integer)
It appears that LIANG does not explicitly disclose:
a first PDCCH, the first PDCCH comprising retransmission indication information
In the same field of endeavor, however, TIE teaches:
a first PDCCH, the first PDCCH comprising retransmission indication information (¶ 0291: [T]he base station sends retransmission indication information to the terminal device by using a PDCCH, to indicate the terminal device to re-send the message 3)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify LIANG’s control information transmission procedure to provide retransmission indication information as taught by LIE to determine whether an updated TBS indicated by the retransmission indication information is consistent with the target TBS such that when the updated TBS is consistent with the target TBS, the resource allocated by the base station to the terminal device is the resource corresponding to the target TBS, and the resource corresponding to the target TBS can be all used to retransmit the message 3, so that fewer resources are wasted in an uplink data transmission process. See TIE, at ¶ 0291.
Regarding claim 38, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the terminal of claim 35. LIANG further discloses:
wherein the determining the first time unit in accordance with the offset value comprises:
determining one or more time units before the time unit where the uplink channel scheduled by the first PDCCH is transmitted as the first time unit in accordance with the offset value and the time unit where the uplink channel scheduled by the first PDCCH is transmitted;
or
determining one or more time units before a time unit where the first PDCCH is transmitted as the first time unit in accordance with the offset value and the time unit where the first PDCCH is transmitted;
or
determining one or more time units before a time unit where a downlink shared channel scheduled by the first PDCCH is transmitted as the first time unit in accordance with the offset value and the time unit where the downlink shared channel scheduled by the first PDCCH is transmitted,
and/or
wherein a unit of the offset value is determined with a definition of the first time unit as a reference; or (¶ 0055: As shown in FIG. 2, there is a PUSCH to be transmitted in slot N+1, which is just following the dropped (pre-empted) PUSCH in slot N; ¶ 0062: [W]hen the interrupt indication information (UL PI) is implicitly indicated by the new uplink grant information, that is, UE1 receives an uplink grant information for itself no earlier than t3, UE1 stops or interrupts the originally scheduled PUSCH transmission at time t2 (or no later than time t5, as illustrated in FIG. 1), then transmits the PUSCH in slot N+k as indicated in the new uplink grant information)
the unit of the offset value is determined with a definition of the second time unit as a reference;
or
in the case that the definition of the first time unit is different from the definition of the second time unit, the unit of the offset value is determined with the definition of a time unit, with a larger time length between the first time unit and the second time unit, as a reference;
or
in the case that the definition of the first time unit is different from the definition of the second time unit, the unit of the offset value is determined with the definition of a time unit, with a smaller time length between the first time unit and the second time unit, as a reference;
or
the unit of the offset value is determined with the definition of the first time unit and the definition of the second time unit as a reference, or with the definition of any of the first time unit and the second time unit as a reference;
wherein the definition of the first time unit is the same as the definition of the second time unit through pre-definition or configuration, and/or wherein the predefined time period comprises one of:
a predefined time period containing the first PDCCH transmission,
a predefined time period before the first PDCCH transmission,
a predefined time period containing uplink channel transmission scheduled by the first PDCCH,
or
a predefined time period before the uplink channel transmission scheduled by the first PDCCH;
and/or
a unit of a time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit is determined in accordance with one of:
a unit of a time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit is determined with a definition of the first time unit as a reference;
or
a unit of the time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit, is determined with a definition of the second time unit as a reference;
or
in the case that the definition of the first time unit is different from the definition of the second time unit, a unit of the time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit, is determined with the definition of a time unit with a larger time length between the first time unit and the second time unit as a reference;
or
in the case that the definition of the first time unit is different from the definition of the second time unit, a unit of the time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit, is determined with a time unit with a smaller time length between the first time unit and the second time unit as a reference;
or
a unit of a time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit, is determined with the definition of the first time unit and the definition of the second time unit as a reference, or with the definition of any of the first time unit and the second time unit as a reference;
wherein the definition of the first time unit is the same as the definition of the second time unit through pre-definition or configuration.
Regarding claim 42, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the terminal of claim 35. LIANG further discloses:
wherein the definition of each of the first time unit and the second time unit comprises one of at least one subframe, at least one slot, or at least one sub-slot; (¶ 0055: As shown in FIG. 2, there is a PUSCH to be transmitted in slot N+1, which is just following the dropped (pre-empted) PUSCH in slot N. In order to distinguish this PUSCH from the dropped PUSCH, the PUSCH in slot N+1 is called PUSCH-2. In this embodiment, the HARQ-ACK information that would have been sent on the dropped PUSCH is sent on the PUSCH-2)
wherein the definition of the first time unit is the same as or different from the definition of the second time unit, and/or (¶ 0055: As shown in FIG. 2, there is a PUSCH to be transmitted in slot N+1, which is just following the dropped (pre-empted) PUSCH in slot N. In order to distinguish this PUSCH from the dropped PUSCH, the PUSCH in slot N+1 is called PUSCH-2. In this embodiment, the HARQ-ACK information that would have been sent on the dropped PUSCH is sent on the PUSCH-2)
wherein in the case that a plurality of first PDCCHs has been received by the terminal and one or more HARQ-ACKs for one or more PDSCHs scheduled by the plurality of first PDCCHs and/or for a SPS PDSCH release indicated by the plurality of first PDCCHs are transmitted in the second time unit, offset values indicated through retransmission indication information in the plurality of first PDCCHs are the same;
or
the offset values indicated through retransmission indication information in the plurality of first PDCCHs are different, and the first time unit is determined in accordance with a retransmission indication field in each first PDCCH in the plurality of first PDCCHs or a retransmission indication field in a last one of the plurality of first PDCCHs,
and/or
wherein in the case that the first PDCCH comprises a priority level indication field, a priority level of the first UCI is the same as or different from a priority level indicated in the priority level indication field, or the priority level of the first UCI is greater than or equal to the priority level indicated in the priority level indication field;
or
in the case that the first PDCCH does not comprise the priority level indication field, the priority level of the first UCI is the same as or different from a predefined priority level corresponding to DCI used by the first PDCCH, or the priority level of the first UCI is greater than or equal to the predefined priority level corresponding to the DCI used by the first PDCCH,
and/or
wherein the first UCI comprises at least one of an HARQ-ACK, CSI or an SR;
and/or
the first UCI comprises all or parts of pieces of UCI dropped by the terminal in the first time unit,
and/or
wherein in the case that the processor determines that the terminal supports or is configured with UCI retransmission, the first PDCCH comprises the retransmission indication information.
Regarding claim 45, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the terminal of claim 35. LIANG further discloses:
wherein the transmitting the first UCI in the second time unit comprises at least one of:
mode A, transmitting the first UCI in the second time unit in accordance with a size and bits of the first UCI in the first time unit,
or
mode B, in the case that another UCI is not transmitted by the terminal in the second time unit, the transmitting the first UCI in the second time unit comprises:
transmitting the first UCI on a PUCCH resource in the second time unit,
the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the quantity of bits of the first UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH,
or
the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index corresponding to the first UCI in the first time unit,
or
the PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling;
or
when a PUSCH is scheduled by the first PDCCH to be transmitted in the second time unit, transmitting the first UCI on a PUSCH resource in the second time unit,
or
mode C, in the case that second UCI is transmitted by the terminal in the second time unit, the transmitting the first UCI in the second time unit comprises:
transmitting the first UCI and the second UCI in a multiplexing manner through a same PUCCH resource, the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the total quantity of bits of the first UCI and the second UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling; or (¶ 0039: [W]hen there is another uplink control information to be transmitted on the third transmission resource, then these two uplink control information bits are combined (e.g., concatenated or multiplexed) before transmitting; ¶ 0083: Using concatenation the bit sequence of HARQ-ACK multiplexed in PUSCH-1 is “a0,a1,a2,a3”, and “b0,b1,b2,b3” in PUSCH-2 respectively. These two bit sequences may be concatenated to form a new bit sequence as “a0,a1,a2,a3,b0,b1,b2,b3”; ¶ 0038: [T]he predefined control channel comprises a dedicated control channel resource configured by a higher layer)
when HARQ-ACK is contained in both the first UCI and the second UCI, cascading the second UCI with the first UCI, and transmitting the first UCI and the second UCI through a same PUCCH resource, the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the total quantity of bits of the first UCI and the second UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling;
or
transmitting the first UCI through a first PUCCH resource and transmitting the second UCI through a second PUCCH resource,
wherein the first PUCCH resource does not overlap with the second PUCCH resource in a time domain, the first PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the quantity of bits of the first UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the first PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index corresponding to the first UCI in the first time unit, or the first PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling;
or
determining a first PUCCH resource corresponding to the first UCI and a second PUCCH resource corresponding to the second UCI, transmitting the first UCI through the first PUCCH resource and transmitting the second UCI through the second PUCCH resource when the first PUCCH resource does not overlap with the second PUCCH resource in a time domain, and transmitting the first UCI and the second UCI in a multiplexing manner through a same PUCCH resource when the first PUCCH resource overlaps with the second PUCCH resource in the time domain, the first PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the quantity of bits of the first UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH,
or
the first PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index corresponding to the first UCI in the first time unit,
or
the first PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling.
Regarding claim 47, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the terminal of claim 45. LIANG further discloses:
wherein in accordance with mode B, in the case that the first time unit comprises a plurality of time units, the processor is further configured to:
cascade a plurality of pieces of first UCI dropped in the plurality of time units to each other in a predetermined cascading order, and
transmit the cascaded first UCI on a PUCCH resource in the second time unit, the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index in a target time unit in the plurality of time units corresponding to the first UCI in the target time unit, the target time unit being a first one of the plurality of time units, a last one of the plurality of time units or a time unit in the plurality of time units in which the PUCCH resource corresponding to the first UCI has a maximum capacity, or the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the quantity of bits of the cascaded first UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling;
wherein the predetermined cascading order comprising at least one of a chronological order of the time units or an order of UCI types;
or
independently transmit the plurality of pieces of first UCI dropped in the plurality of time units on a plurality of PUCCH resources in the second time unit, the plurality of PUCCH resources being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index corresponding to each of the plurality of pieces of first UCI in a corresponding time unit within the plurality of time units,
wherein in accordance with mode C, a type of the first UCI is the same as or different from a type of the second UCI, and the second UCI comprises at least one of an HARQ-ACK of the first PDCCH, or an HARQ-ACK of a PDSCH scheduled by the first PDCCH. (¶ 0083: [C]ombining may refer to one of several different ways of including information together. For example, concatenation may be used for combining. Using concatenation the bit sequence of HARQ-ACK multiplexed in PUSCH-1 is “a0,a1,a2,a3”, and “b0,b1,b2,b3” in PUSCH-2 respectively. These two bit sequences may be concatenated to form a new bit sequence as “a0,a1,a2,a3,b0,b1,b2,b3”)
Regarding claim 52, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the UCI reception method of claim 18. LIANG further discloses:
A network device (radio station 1200/1205), comprising a memory (memory 1205), a transceiver (transceiver electronics 1215) and a processor, (processor electronics 1210)
wherein the memory is configured to store therein a computer program, and the transceiver is configured to transmit and receive data under the control of the processor,
wherein the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory, so as to realize the UCI reception method according to claim 18.
Regarding claim 55, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the network device of claim 52. LIANG further discloses:
wherein the determining the first time unit in accordance with the offset value comprises:
determining one or more time units before the time unit where the uplink channel scheduled by the first PDCCH is transmitted as the first time unit in accordance with the offset value and the time unit where the uplink channel scheduled by the first PDCCH is transmitted;
or
determining one or more time units before a time unit where the first PDCCH is transmitted as the first time unit in accordance with the offset value and the time unit where the first PDCCH is transmitted;
or
determining one or more time units before a time unit where a downlink shared channel scheduled by the first PDCCH is transmitted as the first time unit in accordance with the offset value and the time unit where the downlink shared channel scheduled by the first PDCCH is transmitted,
and/or
wherein a unit of the offset value is determined with a definition of the first time unit as a reference; or (¶ 0055: As shown in FIG. 2, there is a PUSCH to be transmitted in slot N+1, which is just following the dropped (pre-empted) PUSCH in slot N; ¶ 0062: [W]hen the interrupt indication information (UL PI) is implicitly indicated by the new uplink grant information, that is, UE1 receives an uplink grant information for itself no earlier than t3, UE1 stops or interrupts the originally scheduled PUSCH transmission at time t2 (or no later than time t5, as illustrated in FIG. 1), then transmits the PUSCH in slot N+k as indicated in the new uplink grant information)
the unit of the offset value is determined with a definition of the second time unit as a reference;
or
in the case that the definition of the first time unit is different from the definition of the second time unit, the unit of the offset value is determined with the definition of a time unit, with a larger time length between the first time unit and the second time unit, as a reference;
or
in the case that the definition of the first time unit is different from the definition of the second time unit, the unit of the offset value is determined with the definition of a time unit, with a smaller time length between the first time unit and the second time unit, as a reference;
or
the unit of the offset value is determined with the definition of the first time unit and the definition of the second time unit as a reference, or with the definition of any of the first time unit and the second time unit as a reference;
wherein the definition of the first time unit is the same as the definition of the second time unit through pre-definition or configuration,
and/or
wherein the predefined time period comprises one of: a predefined time period containing the first PDCCH transmission, a predefined time period before the first PDCCH transmission, a predefined time period containing uplink channel transmission scheduled by the first PDCCH, or a predefined time period before the uplink channel transmission scheduled by the first PDCCH:
and/or
a unit of a time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit is determined in accordance with one of: a unit of a time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit is determined with a definition of the first time unit as a reference;
or
a unit of the time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit, is determined with a definition of the second time unit as a reference;
or
in the case that the definition of the first time unit is different from the definition of the second time unit, a unit of the time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit, is determined with the definition of a time unit with a larger time length between the first time unit and the second time unit as a reference;
or
in the case that the definition of the first time unit is different from the definition of the second time unit, a unit of the time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit, is determined with a time unit with a smaller time length between the first time unit and the second time unit as a reference;
or
a unit of a time unit corresponding to each bit or a unit of a sub-time period corresponding to each bit, is determined with the definition of the first time unit and the definition of the second time unit as a reference, or with the definition of any of the first time unit and the second time unit as a reference;
wherein the definition of the first time unit is the same as the definition of the second time unit through pre-definition or configuration.
Regarding claim 59, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the network device of claim 52. LIANG further discloses:
wherein the definition of each of the first time unit and the second time unit comprises one of:
at least one subframe, at least one slot, or at least one sub-slot; (¶ 0055: As shown in FIG. 2, there is a PUSCH to be transmitted in slot N+1, which is just following the dropped (pre-empted) PUSCH in slot N. In order to distinguish this PUSCH from the dropped PUSCH, the PUSCH in slot N+1 is called PUSCH-2. In this embodiment, the HARQ-ACK information that would have been sent on the dropped PUSCH is sent on the PUSCH-2)
wherein the definition of the first time unit is the same as or different from the definition of the second time unit, and/or (¶ 0055: As shown in FIG. 2, there is a PUSCH to be transmitted in slot N+1, which is just following the dropped (pre-empted) PUSCH in slot N. In order to distinguish this PUSCH from the dropped PUSCH, the PUSCH in slot N+1 is called PUSCH-2. In this embodiment, the HARQ-ACK information that would have been sent on the dropped PUSCH is sent on the PUSCH-2)
wherein in the case that a plurality of first PDCCHs has been transmitted by the network device and one or more HARO-ACKs for one or more PDSCHs scheduled by the plurality of first PDCCHs and/or for a SPS PDSCH release indicated by the plurality of first PDCCHs are transmitted in the second time unit, offset values indicated through retransmission indication information in the plurality of first PDCCHs are the same;
or
the offset values indicated through retransmission indication information in the plurality of first PDCCHs are different, and the first time unit is determined in accordance with a retransmission indication field in each first PDCCH in the plurality of first PDCCHs or a retransmission indication field in a last one of the plurality of first PDCCHs,
and/or
wherein in the case that the first PDCCH comprises a priority level indication field, a priority level of the first UCI is the same as or different from a priority level indicated in the priority level indication field, or the priority level of the first UCI is greater than or equal to the priority level indicated in the priority level indication field;
or
in the case that the first PDCCH does not comprise the priority level indication field, the priority level of the first UCI is the same as or different from a predefined priority level corresponding to DCI used by the first PDCCH, or the priority level of the first UCI is greater than or equal to the predefined priority level corresponding to the DCI used by the first PDCCH,
and/or
wherein the first UCI comprises at least one of an HARQ-ACK, CSI or an SR;
and/or
the first UCI comprises all or parts of pieces of UCI dropped by the terminal in the first time unit, and/or wherein in the case that the processor determines that the terminal supports or is configured with UCI retransmission, the first PDCCH comprises the retransmission indication information.
Regarding claim 62, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the network device of claim 52. LIANG further discloses:
wherein the first UCI is transmitted in the second time unit in accordance with at least one of:
mode A, the first UCI is transmitted in the second time unit in accordance with a size and bits of the first UCI in the first time unit,
or
mode B, in the case that another UCI does not need to be received by the network device in the second time unit, the receiving, by the network device, the first UCI from the terminal in the second time unit comprises:
receiving the first UCI on a PUCCH resource in the second time unit, the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the quantity of bits of the first UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index corresponding to the first UCI in the first time unit, or the PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling, or when a PUSCH is scheduled by the first PDCCH to be transmitted in the second time unit, receiving the first UCI on a PUSCH resource in the second time unit,
or
mode C, in the case that second UCI needs to be received by the network device in the second time unit, the receiving the first UCI from the terminal in the second time unit comprises:
receiving the first UCI and the second UCI transmitted in a multiplexing manner through a same PUCCH resource, the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the total quantity of bits of the first UCI and the second UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling; or (¶ 0039: [W]hen there is another uplink control information to be transmitted on the third transmission resource, then these two uplink control information bits are combined (e.g., concatenated or multiplexed) before transmitting; ¶ 0083: Using concatenation the bit sequence of HARQ-ACK multiplexed in PUSCH-1 is “a0,a1,a2,a3”, and “b0,b1,b2,b3” in PUSCH-2 respectively. These two bit sequences may be concatenated to form a new bit sequence as “a0,a1,a2,a3,b0,b1,b2,b3”; ¶ 0038: [T]he predefined control channel comprises a dedicated control channel resource configured by a higher layer)
when HARQ-ACK is contained in both the first UCI and the second UCI, determining that the second UCI is cascaded with the first UCI, and receiving the first UCI and the second UCI transmitted in a cascading manner through a same PUCCH resource, the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the total quantity of bits of the first UCI and the second UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling;
or
receiving the first UCI through a first PUCCH resource and receiving the second UCI through a second PUCCH resource, wherein the first PUCCH resource does not overlap with the second PUCCH resource in a time domain, the first PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the quantity of bits of the first UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the first PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index corresponding to the first UCI in the first time unit, or the first PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling;
or
determining a first PUCCH resource corresponding to the first UCI and a second PUCCH resource corresponding to the second UCI,
receiving the first UCI through the first PUCCH resource and receiving the second UCI through the second PUCCH resource when the first PUCCH resource does not overlap with the second PUCCH resource in a time domain, and
receiving the first UCI and the second UCI through a same PUCCH resource simultaneously when the first PUCCH resource overlaps with the second PUCCH resource in the time domain, the first PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the quantity of bits of the first UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the first PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index corresponding to the first UCI in the first time unit, or the first PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling.
Regarding claim 64, LIANG, as applied above, anticipates the network device of claim 62. LIANG further discloses:
wherein in accordance with mode B, in the case that the first time unit comprises a plurality of time units, the processor is configured to read the computer program so as to:
determine that a plurality of pieces of first UCI dropped in the plurality of time units is cascaded to each other in a predetermined cascading order, and
receive the cascaded first UCI on a PUCCH resource in the second time unit,
the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index in a target time unit in the plurality of time units corresponding to the first UCI in the target time unit, the target time unit being a first one of the plurality of time units, a last one of the plurality of time units or a time unit in the plurality of time units in which the PUCCH resource corresponding to the first UCI has a maximum capacity, or the PUCCH resource being determined in accordance with the quantity of bits of the cascaded first UCI and a PUCCH resource indication field in the first PDCCH, or the PUCCH resource being a resource preconfigured through high-layer signaling;
wherein the predetermined cascading order comprising at least one of a chronological order of the time units or an order of UCI types; or
independently receive the plurality of pieces of first UCI dropped in the plurality of time units on a plurality of PUCCH resources in the second time unit, the plurality of PUCCH resources being determined in accordance with a PUCCH resource index corresponding to each of the plurality of pieces of first UCI in a corresponding time unit within the plurality of time units,
wherein in accordance with mode C, a type of the first UCI is the same as or different from a type of the second UCI, and the second UCI comprises at least one of an HARQ-ACK of the first PDCCH, or an HARQ-ACK of a PDSCH scheduled by the first PDCCH. (¶ 0083: [C]ombining may refer to one of several different ways of including information together. For example, concatenation may be used for combining. Using concatenation the bit sequence of HARQ-ACK multiplexed in PUSCH-1 is “a0,a1,a2,a3”, and “b0,b1,b2,b3” in PUSCH-2 respectively. These two bit sequences may be concatenated to form a new bit sequence as “a0,a1,a2,a3,b0,b1,b2,b3”)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to Garth D Richmond whose telephone number is (703)756-4559. The Examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. ET.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, Applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Kathy Wang-Hurst can be reached at 571-270-5371571-270-5371. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GARTH D RICHMOND/Examiner, Art Unit 2644
/KATHY W WANG-HURST/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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