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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/02/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 15, 16, 18 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 15, 16 provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 21-23 of copending Application No. 18019480 in view of ISLAM et al. (provisional app. 63019059 filed on 05/01/2020 claimed priority by US 20210250134), GAO et al. (US 20220369347 with foreign app. CN 201910731339.1 filed on 08/08/2019), and GOU et al. (US 20250344208 with foreign app. CN 201910749260.1 filed on 08/14/2019, herein as GOU ‘208).
Regarding claims 15, 16, the copending Application No. 18019480 teaches
A user equipment (UE) (claim 21), comprising:
a processor configured to:
determine a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for multiplexing uplink control information (UCI) with different priorities on a PUCCH (claim 21), wherein the UCI with different priorities consists of first UCI with a high priority and second UCI with a low priority (claim 21),
encode the UCI with different priorities by separately encoding the first UCI and the second UCI based on a first maximum code rate for the first UCI and a second maximum code rate for the second UCI, respectively (claim 21), wherein the first maximum code rate and the second maximum code rate are separately configured (claim 21), and
multiplex the encoded UCI with different priorities (claim 21); and
transmitting circuitry configured to transmit the multiplexed UCI with different priorities on the PUCCH (claim 21).
However, the copending Application No. 18019480 does not explicitly teach wherein the PUCCH resource is determined based on a payload size of the first UCI and a payload size of the second UCI;
But, ISLAM in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches wherein the PUCCH resource is determined based on a payload size of the first UCI and a payload size of the second UCI (page 29, the third PUCCH resource is obtained based on a configuration of a codebook of the first and second codebook that can have a varying payload size of HARQ-ACK bits);
Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by ISLAM in the system of the copending Application No. 18019480 to multiplex HARQ-ACKs.
The motivation would have been to increase throughput, coverage, and robustness and reduce latency.
However, the copending Application No. 18019480 does not explicitly teach the first UCI is a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgements (HARQ-ACK) with a Scheduling Request (SR), and the second UCI is a HARQ-ACK without an SR.
But, GAO et al. (US 20220369347) in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches the first UCI is a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgements (HARQ-ACK) with a Scheduling Request (SR) (par. 57, 58, 60, the first UCIs include…HARQ-ACK+SR), and the second UCI is a HARQ-ACK without an SR (par. 57, 58, 60, The second UCI includes at least one of…HARQ-ACK; HARQ-ACK without an SR).
Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by GAO in the system of the copending Application No. 18019480 and ISLAM to multiplex HARQ-ACK with SR and HARQ-ACK without SR.
The motivation would have been to improve transmission delay and transmission performance.
However, the copending Application No. 18019480 does not teach determine a transmit power for transmitting the multiplexed UCI with different priorities on the PUCCH, wherein the transmit power is determined based on a first PUCCH-PowerControl parameter for a higher priority PUCCH rather than a second PUCCH-PowerControl parameter for a low priority PUCCH;
But, GOU et al. (US 20250344208) in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches determine a transmit power for transmitting the multiplexed UCI with different priorities on the PUCCH (abstract, par. 88, the multiplexed new PUCCH…the multiplexed UCI uses the power control parameter configured in the transmission of the high-priority uplink physical channel, that is, in this case, the UCI in the low-priority uplink physical channel, when being multiplexed), wherein the transmit power is determined based on a first PUCCH-PowerControl parameter for a higher priority PUCCH rather than a second PUCCH-PowerControl parameter for a low priority PUCCH (abstract, par. 88, for the power control parameters used in the process of transmission of the multiplexed new PUCCH, it may also adopt a processing mechanism similar to that of the code rate. The base station and the UE agree to configure a corresponding power control parameter for the transmission of a high-priority uplink physical channel and a corresponding power control parameter for the transmission of a low-priority uplink physical channel, respectively, and agree, when it is determined, according to the above conditions, that the multiplexing is allowed, the multiplexed UCI uses the power control parameter configured in the transmission of the high-priority uplink physical channel, that is, in this case, the UCI in the low-priority uplink physical channel, when being multiplexed, is transmitted by using the power control parameter corresponding to the high-priority uplink physical channel);
Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by GUO ‘208 in the system of the copending Application No. 18019480 and ISLAM, and GAO to control transmission power of the multiplexed UCIs.
The motivation would have been to improve reliability of wireless communication.
Claim 18 provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 21-23 of copending Application No. 18019480 in view of ISLAM et al. (provisional app. 63019059 filed on 05/01/2020 claimed priority by US 20210250134), GAO et al. (US 20220369347 with foreign app. CN 201910731339.1 filed on 08/08/2019), GOU et al. (US 20250344208 with foreign app. CN 201910749260.1 filed on 08/14/2019, herein as GOU ‘208), and GUO et al. (US 20170324519, herein as GUO ‘519).
Regarding claim 18, the copending Application No. 18019480 teaches the UE according to claim 15, wherein each of the first maximum code rate and the second maximum code rate (claim 21).
However, the copending Application No. 18019480 does not teach wherein the maximum code rate is configured to be at most 0.8.
But, GUO et al. (US 20170324519) in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches wherein the maximum code rate is configured to be at most 0.8 (par. 148, a predefined coding rate threshold of 0.8 may be set for decoding of redundancy version packet RV3 478 alone).
Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by GUO ‘519 in the system of the copending Application No. 18019480, ISLAM, GAO, and GUO ‘208 to define maximum coding rate.
The motivation would have been to encode with no or few residual block errors exist in the recovered information bits.
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection.
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 this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
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.
Claim(s) 15, 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GOU et al. (US 20230077055, herein as GOU ‘055) in view of ISLAM et al. (provisional app. 63019059 filed on 05/01/2020 claimed priority by US 20210250134) GAO et al. (US 20220369347 with foreign app. CN 201910731339.1 filed on 08/08/2019), and GOU et al. (US 20250344208 with foreign app. CN 201910749260.1 filed on 08/14/2019, herein as GOU ‘208).
Regarding claims 15, 16, GOU et al. (US 20230077055) teaches
A user equipment (UE) (par. 6, UE), comprising:
a processor (par. 6, UE) configured to:
determine a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for multiplexing uplink control information (UCI) with different priorities on a PUCCH (par. 57, If the two HARQ-ACK codebooks are multiplexed and transmitted in one PUCCH resource… then the two HARQ-ACK codebooks are encoded and modulated independently, and encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority is mapped into the PUCCH resource first and then encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is mapped into remaining resources in the PUCCH resource), wherein the UCI with different priorities consists of first UCI with a high priority and second UCI with a low priority (par. 57, If the two HARQ-ACK codebooks are multiplexed and transmitted in one PUCCH resource… then the two HARQ-ACK codebooks are encoded and modulated independently, and encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority is mapped into the PUCCH resource first and then encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is mapped into remaining resources in the PUCCH resource),
wherein the PUCCH resource is determined based on a payload size of one of the HARQ-ACKs (par. 47, 49, 57, 58, the two HARQ-ACK codebooks are encoded and modulated independently, and encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority is mapped into the PUCCH resource first and then encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is mapped into remaining resources in the PUCCH resource; the complete payload size of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority and the payload size of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is less or equal to the remain resource in the PUCCH resource), the first UCI is a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgements (HARQ-ACK) with a higher priority, and the second UCI is a HARQ-ACK with lower priority (par. 57, If the two HARQ-ACK codebooks are multiplexed and transmitted in one PUCCH resource… then the two HARQ-ACK codebooks are encoded and modulated independently, and encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority is mapped into the PUCCH resource first and then encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is mapped into remaining resources in the PUCCH resource),
encode the UCI with different priority by separately encoding the first UCI and the second UCI based on a first maximum code rate for the first UCI (par. 57, 58, then the two HARQ-ACK codebooks are encoded and modulated independently…if the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is encoded and modulated at a configured maximum bit rate r, and the encoded and modulated information requires more resources than the remaining resources, then HARQ-ACK codebook information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is discarded until the information encoded and modulated at the configured maximum bit rate r is exactly used all the remaining resources; the complete payload size of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority and the payload size of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is less or equal to the remain resource in the PUCCH resource; if all the information encoded and modulated at the configured bit rate r cannot be carried in the remaining resources, the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is encoded and modulated at a bit rate r1 and it is ensured that the encoded and modulated information exactly occupies all the remaining resources and implicitly indicating the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority is encoded and modulated at a bit rate that occupies resources with the payload size of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority), and
multiplex the encoded UCI with different priority (par. 57, If the two HARQ-ACK codebooks are multiplexed and transmitted in one PUCCH resource… then the two HARQ-ACK codebooks are encoded and modulated independently, and encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority is mapped into the PUCCH resource first and then encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is mapped into remaining resources in the PUCCH resource); and
transmitting circuitry configured to transmit the multiplexed UCI with different priority on the PUCCH (par. 28, 30, 57, 58, the pieces of information to be transmitted is multiplexed in one PUCCH resource for transmission).
However, GUO ‘055 does not explicitly teach the PUCCH resource is determined based on a payload size of the first UCI and a payload size of the second UCI,
separately encoding the first UCI and the second UCI based on a first maximum code rate for the first UCI and a second maximum code rate for the second UCI, respectively, wherein the first maximum code rate and the second maximum code rate are separately configured.
But, ISLAM in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches the PUCCH resource is determined based on a payload size of the first UCI and a payload size of the second UCI (page 29, the third PUCCH resource is obtained based on a configuration of a codebook of the first and second codebook that can have a varying payload size of HARQ-ACK bits),
encode the UCI with different priority by separately encoding the first UCI and the second UCI based on a first maximum code rate for the first UCI and a second maximum code rate for the second UCI, respectively (pages 8, 9, 10, Low and high priority HARQ-ACK bits are encoded separately and mapped to different resources in a PUCCH transmission….two maximum code rates can be configured for use in mapping low and high priority HARQ-ACK bits separately,), wherein the first maximum code rate and the second maximum code rate are separately configured (fig. 2, page 9, 10, two maximum code rates can be configured for use in mapping low and high priority HARQ-ACK bits separately,).
Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by ISLAM in the system of GUO ‘055 to multiplex HARQ-ACKs.
The motivation would have been to increase throughput, coverage, and robustness and reduce latency.
However, GUO ‘055 does not teach the first UCI is a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgements (HARQ-ACK) with a Scheduling Request (SR), and the second UCI is a HARQ-ACK without an SR.
But, GAO et al. (US 20220369347) in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches the first UCI is a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgements (HARQ-ACK) with a Scheduling Request (SR) (par. 57, 58, 60, the first UCIs include…HARQ-ACK+SR), and the second UCI is a HARQ-ACK without an SR (par. 57, 58, 60, The second UCI includes at least one of…HARQ-ACK; HARQ-ACK without an SR).
Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by GAO in the system of GUO ‘055 and ISLAM to multiplex HARQ-ACK with SR and HARQ-ACK without SR.
The motivation would have been to improve transmission delay and transmission performance.
However, GUO ‘055 does not teach determine a transmit power for transmitting the multiplexed UCI with different priorities on the PUCCH, wherein the transmit power is determined based on a first PUCCH-PowerControl parameter for a higher priority PUCCH rather than a second PUCCH-PowerControl parameter for a low priority PUCCH;
But, GOU et al. (US 20250344208) in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches determine a transmit power for transmitting the multiplexed UCI with different priorities on the PUCCH (abstract, par. 88, the multiplexed new PUCCH…the multiplexed UCI uses the power control parameter configured in the transmission of the high-priority uplink physical channel, that is, in this case, the UCI in the low-priority uplink physical channel, when being multiplexed), wherein the transmit power is determined based on a first PUCCH-PowerControl parameter for a higher priority PUCCH rather than a second PUCCH-PowerControl parameter for a low priority PUCCH (abstract, par. 88, for the power control parameters used in the process of transmission of the multiplexed new PUCCH, it may also adopt a processing mechanism similar to that of the code rate. The base station and the UE agree to configure a corresponding power control parameter for the transmission of a high-priority uplink physical channel and a corresponding power control parameter for the transmission of a low-priority uplink physical channel, respectively, and agree, when it is determined, according to the above conditions, that the multiplexing is allowed, the multiplexed UCI uses the power control parameter configured in the transmission of the high-priority uplink physical channel, that is, in this case, the UCI in the low-priority uplink physical channel, when being multiplexed, is transmitted by using the power control parameter corresponding to the high-priority uplink physical channel);
Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by GUO ‘208 in the system of GUO ‘055 and ISLAM, and GAO to control transmission power of the multiplexed UCIs.
The motivation would have been to improve reliability of wireless communication.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GOU et al. (US 20230077055, herein as GOU ‘055), ISLAM et al. (provisional app. 63019059 filed on 05/01/2020 claimed priority by US 20210250134) GAO et al. (US 20220369347 with foreign app. CN 201910731339.1 filed on 08/08/2019), and GOU et al. (US 20250344208 with foreign app. CN 201910749260.1 filed on 08/14/2019, herein as GOU ‘208) as applied to claim 15 above, and further in view of GUO et al. (US 20170324519, herein as GUO ‘519).
Regarding claim 18, ISLAM teaches the UE according to claim 15, wherein each of the first maximum code rate and the second maximum code rate is configured to be at most r (pages 8, 9, 10, Low and high priority HARQ-ACK bits are encoded separately and mapped to different resources in a PUCCH transmission….two maximum code rates can be configured for use in mapping low and high priority HARQ-ACK bits separately,).
However, GUO ‘055 does not teach wherein the maximum code rate is configured to be at most 0.8.
But, GUO et al. (US 20170324519) in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches wherein the maximum code rate is configured to be at most 0.8 (par. 148, a predefined coding rate threshold of 0.8 may be set for decoding of redundancy version packet RV3 478 alone).
Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by GUO ‘519 in the system of GUO ‘055 and ISLAM, GAO, and GUO ‘208 to define maximum coding rate.
The motivation would have been to encode with no or few residual block errors exist in the recovered information bits.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THINH D TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-3934. The examiner can normally be reached mon-fri 9-6.
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, FARUK HAMZA can be reached at 5712727969. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/THINH D TRAN/for /Thinh Tran/, Patent Examiner of Art Unit 2466 02/20/2026