Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 16, 19, 20, 23, 24, 27, 28, and 31 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 16, 20, 24, and 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Xu et al. (US 2022/0361233) (“Xu”).
For claims 16, 20, 24, and 28; Xu discloses: receiving radio resource control (RRC) signaling including first information and second information (paragraph 133, 150: The network device configures the configured grant by using the RRC signaling, that is, the first configured grant is semi-persistently scheduled … the second indication information may be included in RRC signaling used to configure a HARQ), the first information being related to whether a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for a HARQ process is disabled (paragraph 149-150: The terminal device receives second information from the network device, where the second information is used to indicate that a HARQ function of a first HARQ process is enabled and/or that a HARQ function of a second HARQ process is disabled) and the second information being related to whether the HARQ feedback for a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) is enabled (paragraph 132-134: The first information is used to indicate that a HARQ function of a HARQ process associated with a first configured grant is enabled or disabled, and the first configured grant is configured by using radio resource control RRC signaling); receiving the SPS PDSCH corresponding to the HARQ process; and if the first information indicates that the HARQ feedback for the HARQ process is disabled and the second information indicates that the HARQ feedback for the SPS PDSCH is enabled, transmitting HARQ-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information for the SPS PDSCH corresponding to the HARQ process (paragraph 151-159: the terminal device may determine the HARQ function state of the first configured grant in the following two manners: Manner a and Manner b…Manner a: The second information is applicable only to a dynamically scheduled resource. A HARQ function state of a configured grant (for example, the first configured grant) is determined based on the first information, and a HARQ function state of a dynamic grant may be determined based on the second information…it is determined, based on the first information, that a HARQ function state of the HARQ process used at each transmission opportunity corresponding to the configured grant is enabled or disabled), wherein if the second information indicates that the HARQ feedback for the SPS PDSCH is enabled. whether the HARQ feedback for the HARQ process corresponding to the SPS PDSCH is enabled or disabled is not applied to the SPS PDSCH. (paragraph 159: the terminal device and the network device ignore an indication of the second information when performing data transmission by using the first configured grant, and perform a corresponding HARQ operation based on the HARQ function state indicated by the first information).
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) 19, 23, 27, and 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu in view of Dai et al. (US 2023/0269778) (“Dai”).
For claims 19, 23, 27, and 31; Xu discloses the subject matter in claim 16 as described above in the office action.
Xu does not expressly disclose, but Dai from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the PDSCH includes a slot aggregated PDSCH (paragraph 95: repeated transmission of PDSCH over successive slots (also referred to as slot-repetition/-aggregation, or multi-slot PDSCH), as illustrated in FIG. 11, is supported to increase the transmission reliability). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the signaling as described by Dai in the HARQ configuration as described by Xu. The motivation is to improve transmission reliability.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Jung et al. (US 2020/0145167); Jung discloses transmitting the HARQ-ACK information can be determined from the group of PUCCH resources. The HARQ-ACK information can be transmitted based on the second PUCCH resource.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN D BLANTON whose telephone number is (571)270-3933. The examiner can normally be reached 7am-6pm EST, Mon-Thu.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Faruk Hamza can be reached at 571-272-7969. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOHN D BLANTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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