DETAILED ACTION
Claims 10 and 12-14 are presented for examination.
Claims 10 and 12-14 are amended.
Claim 11 is cancelled.
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 claims 10 and 12-14 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 § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 10 and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Islam (US 20210250134 A1) in view of Gou (US 20230077055 A1).
Regarding claim 10, Islam teaches a terminal (Fig. 4 communication device 400) comprising:
a processor (Fig. 4 processing circuitry 406) that, when a first Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) overlaps in a time domain with a second PUCCH having a higher priority than the first PUCCH, controls to encode bits of a first Hybrid Automatic Repeat request ACKnowledgement (HARQ- ACK) corresponding to the first PUCCH and bits of a second HARQ-ACK corresponding to the second PUCCH separately ([0013] In some embodiments, when the PUCCH resource for the first HARQ-ACK codebook overlaps with the PUCCH resource for the second HARQ-ACK codebook, the UE may separately encode the first priority HARQ-ACK bits and the second priority HARQ-ACK bits…); and
a transmitter (Fig. 4 transceiver 410) that transmits the first HARQ-ACK and the second HARQ-ACK using the second PUCCH ([0013] …for multiplexing in the PUCCH resource for the second priority HARQ-ACK bits when the second priority is a higher priority than the first priority. [“for multiplexing” implies for transmitting]), and
determines a PUCCH resource used for transmission of the second PUCCH based on a total bit value of the bits of the first HARQ-ACK and the bits of the second HARQ-ACK ([0075] In another embodiment, for a PUCCH with the multiplexed HARQ-ACK information comprising two codebooks, a UE determines a PUCCH resource after determining a set of PUCCH resources for the total number of multiplexed HARQ-ACK information bits, based on the PUCCH configuration associated with the codebook with priority index 1 (e.g., high priority).
Islam does not teach wherein the processor controls to encode the first HARQ-ACK by a first code rate and encode the second HARQ-ACK by a second code rate lower than the first code rate.
Gou in the same field of endeavor of wireless communications teaches wherein the processor controls to encode the first HARQ-ACK by a first code rate and encode the second HARQ-ACK by a second code rate lower than the first code rate ([0057] encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority (second HARQ-ACK) is mapped into the PUCCH resource first and then encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority (first HARQ-ACK) is mapped into remaining resources in the PUCCH resource. If the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority (first HARQ-ACK) is encoded and modulated at a configured maximum bit rate r (related to second code rate, used to encode the second HARQ-ACK), and the encoded and modulated information requires more resources than the remaining resources (i.e. too many encoded bits), the HARQ-ACK codebook information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority can be discarded. [0058] Optionally, when the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority (first HARQ-ACK) is carried in the remaining resources, if all the information encoded and modulated at the configured bit rate r (related to second code rate, used to encode the second HARQ-ACK) cannot be carried in the remaining resources, the 1 HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is encoded and modulated at a bit rate r1 (related to first code rate, higher than the second code rate) and it is ensured that the encoded and modulated information exactly occupies all the remaining resources. The bit rate r1 is determined according to a number of the remaining resources and a number of bits of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority. That is, after the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is encoded and modulated according to the bit rate r1, all the bits are transmitted in the remaining resources without discarding part of the bits. Since less resources are available for the low priority HARQ-ACK codebook, there needs to be less encoded bits. Less encoded bits translates to higher code rate, since the code rate is determined by the number of information bits divided by the number of bits after encoding.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE configured for multiplexing HARQ-ACK bits of different priorities in a PUCCH transmission of Islam to include the methods of Gou. The motivation to do so would have been to not degrade the performance of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority by the multiplexing of the higher priority and lower priority HARQ-ACK codebooks in one PUCCH resource, since the encoding and modulating, mapping, and the used resource are essentially independent for the higher priority HARQ-ACK (Gou; [0059]).
Regarding claim 12, Islam teaches a radio communication method for a terminal, comprising:
when a first Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) overlaps in a time domain with a second PUCCH having a higher priority than the first PUCCH, controlling to encode bits of a first Hybrid Automatic Repeat request ACKnowledgement (HARQ-ACK) corresponding to the first PUCCH and bits of a second HARQ-ACK corresponding to the second PUCCH separately ([0013] In some embodiments, when the PUCCH resource for the first HARQ-ACK codebook overlaps with the PUCCH resource for the second HARQ-ACK codebook, the UE may separately encode the first priority HARQ-ACK bits and the second priority HARQ-ACK bits…); and
transmitting the first HARQ-ACK and the second HARQ-ACK using the second PUCCH ([0013] …for multiplexing in the PUCCH resource for the second priority HARQ-ACK bits when the second priority is a higher priority than the first priority. [“for multiplexing” implies for transmitting]).
determining a PUCCH resource used for transmission of the second PUCCH based on a total bit value of the bits of the first HARQ-ACK and the bits of the second HARQ-ACK ([0075] In another embodiment, for a PUCCH with the multiplexed HARQ-ACK information comprising two codebooks, a UE determines a PUCCH resource after determining a set of PUCCH resources for the total number of multiplexed HARQ-ACK information bits, based on the PUCCH configuration associated with the codebook with priority index 1 (e.g., high priority).
Islam does not teach controlling to encode the first HARQ-ACK by a first code rate and encode the second HARQ-ACK by a second code rate lower than the first code rate.
Gou in the same field of endeavor of wireless communications teaches controlling to encode the first HARQ-ACK by a first code rate and encode the second HARQ-ACK by a second code rate lower than the first code rate ([0057] encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority (second HARQ-ACK) is mapped into the PUCCH resource first and then encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority (first HARQ-ACK) is mapped into remaining resources in the PUCCH resource. If the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority (first HARQ-ACK) is encoded and modulated at a configured maximum bit rate r (related to second code rate, used to encode the second HARQ-ACK), and the encoded and modulated information requires more resources than the remaining resources (i.e. too many encoded bits), the HARQ-ACK codebook information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority can be discarded. [0058] Optionally, when the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority (first HARQ-ACK) is carried in the remaining resources, if all the information encoded and modulated at the configured bit rate r (related to second code rate, used to encode the second HARQ-ACK) cannot be carried in the remaining resources, the 1 HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is encoded and modulated at a bit rate r1 (related to first code rate, higher than the second code rate) and it is ensured that the encoded and modulated information exactly occupies all the remaining resources. The bit rate r1 is determined according to a number of the remaining resources and a number of bits of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority. That is, after the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is encoded and modulated according to the bit rate r1, all the bits are transmitted in the remaining resources without discarding part of the bits. Since less resources are available for the low priority HARQ-ACK codebook, there needs to be less encoded bits. Less encoded bits translates to higher code rate, since the code rate is determined by the number of information bits divided by the number of bits after encoding.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE configured for multiplexing HARQ-ACK bits of different priorities in a PUCCH transmission of Islam to include the methods of Gou. The motivation to do so would have been to not degrade the performance of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority by the multiplexing of the higher priority and lower priority HARQ-ACK codebooks in one PUCCH resource, since the encoding and modulating, mapping, and the used resource are essentially independent for the higher priority HARQ-ACK (Gou; [0059]).
Regarding claim 13, Islam teaches a base station (Fig. 4 communication device 400) comprising:
a processor (Fig. 4 processing circuitry 406) that, when a first Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) overlaps in a time domain with a second PUCCH having a higher priority than the first PUCCH, determines that bits of a first Hybrid Automatic Repeat request ACKnowledgement (HARQ-ACK) corresponding to the first PUCCH and bits of a second HARQ-ACK corresponding to the second PUCCH are encoded separately ([0027] In these embodiments, the gNB may decode a PUCCH transmission from the UE that includes the first priority HARQ-ACK bits multiplexed with the second priority HARQ-ACK bits when the PUCCH resources for the first and the second HARQ-ACK codebooks overlap); and
a receiver (Fig. 4 transceiver 410) that receives the first HARQ-ACK and the second HARQ-ACK using the second PUCCH ([0027] In these embodiments, the PUCCH transmission may be received on the PUCCH resource for the second HARQ-ACK codebook when the second priority is a higher priority than the first priority), and
determines a PUCCH resource used for transmission of the second PUCCH based on a total bit value of the bits of the first HARQ-ACK and the bits of the second HARQ-ACK ([0075] In another embodiment, for a PUCCH with the multiplexed HARQ-ACK information comprising two codebooks, a UE determines a PUCCH resource after determining a set of PUCCH resources for the total number of multiplexed HARQ-ACK information bits, based on the PUCCH configuration associated with the codebook with priority index 1 (e.g., high priority).
Islam does not teach wherein the processor controls to encode the first HARQ-ACK by a first code rate and encode the second HARQ-ACK by a second code rate lower than the first code rate.
Gou in the same field of endeavor of wireless communications teaches wherein the processor controls to encode the first HARQ-ACK by a first code rate and encode the second HARQ-ACK by a second code rate lower than the first code rate ([0057] encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority (second HARQ-ACK) is mapped into the PUCCH resource first and then encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority (first HARQ-ACK) is mapped into remaining resources in the PUCCH resource. If the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority (first HARQ-ACK) is encoded and modulated at a configured maximum bit rate r (related to second code rate, used to encode the second HARQ-ACK), and the encoded and modulated information requires more resources than the remaining resources (i.e. too many encoded bits), the HARQ-ACK codebook information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority can be discarded. [0058] Optionally, when the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority (first HARQ-ACK) is carried in the remaining resources, if all the information encoded and modulated at the configured bit rate r (related to second code rate, used to encode the second HARQ-ACK) cannot be carried in the remaining resources, the 1 HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is encoded and modulated at a bit rate r1 (related to first code rate, higher than the second code rate) and it is ensured that the encoded and modulated information exactly occupies all the remaining resources. The bit rate r1 is determined according to a number of the remaining resources and a number of bits of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority. That is, after the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is encoded and modulated according to the bit rate r1, all the bits are transmitted in the remaining resources without discarding part of the bits. Since less resources are available for the low priority HARQ-ACK codebook, there needs to be less encoded bits. Less encoded bits translates to higher code rate, since the code rate is determined by the number of information bits divided by the number of bits after encoding.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE configured for multiplexing HARQ-ACK bits of different priorities in a PUCCH transmission of Islam to include the methods of Gou. The motivation to do so would have been to not degrade the performance of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority by the multiplexing of the higher priority and lower priority HARQ-ACK codebooks in one PUCCH resource, since the encoding and modulating, mapping, and the used resource are essentially independent for the higher priority HARQ-ACK (Gou; [0059]).
Regarding claim 14, Islam teaches a system (see Figs. 1A, 1B, 1C) comprising:
a terminal (UE 101); and a base station (RAN 110), wherein the terminal comprises:
a processor (Fig. 4 processing circuitry 406) that, when a first Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) overlaps in a time domain with a second PUCCH having a higher priority than the first PUCCH, controls to encode bits of a first Hybrid Automatic Repeat request ACKnowledgement (HARQ-ACK) corresponding to the first PUCCH and bits of a second HARQ-ACK corresponding to the second PUCCH separately ([0013] In some embodiments, when the PUCCH resource for the first HARQ-ACK codebook overlaps with the PUCCH resource for the second HARQ-ACK codebook, the UE may separately encode the first priority HARQ-ACK bits and the second priority HARQ-ACK bits…); and
a transmitter (Fig. 4 transceiver 410) that transmits the first HARQ-ACK and the second HARQ-ACK using the second PUCCH ([0013] …for multiplexing in the PUCCH resource for the second priority HARQ-ACK bits when the second priority is a higher priority than the first priority. [“for multiplexing” implies for transmitting]), and
the base station (Fig. 4 communication device 400) comprises:
a receiver (Fig. 4 transceiver 410) that receives the first HARQ-ACK and the second HARQ-ACK using the second PUCCH ([0027] In these embodiments, the PUCCH transmission may be received on the PUCCH resource for the second HARQ-ACK codebook when the second priority is a higher priority than the first priority), and
determines a PUCCH resource used for transmission of the second PUCCH based on a total bit value of the bits of the first HARQ-ACK and the bits of the second HARQ-ACK ([0075] In another embodiment, for a PUCCH with the multiplexed HARQ-ACK information comprising two codebooks, a UE determines a PUCCH resource after determining a set of PUCCH resources for the total number of multiplexed HARQ-ACK information bits, based on the PUCCH configuration associated with the codebook with priority index 1 (e.g., high priority).
Islam does not teach wherein the processor controls to encode the first HARQ-ACK by a first code rate and encode the second HARQ-ACK by a second code rate lower than the first code rate.
Gou in the same field of endeavor of wireless communications teaches wherein the processor controls to encode the first HARQ-ACK by a first code rate and encode the second HARQ-ACK by a second code rate lower than the first code rate ([0057] encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority (second HARQ-ACK) is mapped into the PUCCH resource first and then encoded and modulated information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority (first HARQ-ACK) is mapped into remaining resources in the PUCCH resource. If the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority (first HARQ-ACK) is encoded and modulated at a configured maximum bit rate r (related to second code rate, used to encode the second HARQ-ACK), and the encoded and modulated information requires more resources than the remaining resources (i.e. too many encoded bits), the HARQ-ACK codebook information of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority can be discarded. [0058] Optionally, when the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority (first HARQ-ACK) is carried in the remaining resources, if all the information encoded and modulated at the configured bit rate r (related to second code rate, used to encode the second HARQ-ACK) cannot be carried in the remaining resources, the 1 HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is encoded and modulated at a bit rate r1 (related to first code rate, higher than the second code rate) and it is ensured that the encoded and modulated information exactly occupies all the remaining resources. The bit rate r1 is determined according to a number of the remaining resources and a number of bits of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority. That is, after the HARQ-ACK codebook having the lower priority is encoded and modulated according to the bit rate r1, all the bits are transmitted in the remaining resources without discarding part of the bits. Since less resources are available for the low priority HARQ-ACK codebook, there needs to be less encoded bits. Less encoded bits translates to higher code rate, since the code rate is determined by the number of information bits divided by the number of bits after encoding.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE configured for multiplexing HARQ-ACK bits of different priorities in a PUCCH transmission of Islam to include the methods of Gou. The motivation to do so would have been to not degrade the performance of the HARQ-ACK codebook having the higher priority by the multiplexing of the higher priority and lower priority HARQ-ACK codebooks in one PUCCH resource, since the encoding and modulating, mapping, and the used resource are essentially independent for the higher priority HARQ-ACK (Gou; [0059]).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 NANCY SIXTO whose telephone number is (571)272-3295. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Friday 9AM-5PM EST.
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/NANCY SIXTO/Examiner, Art Unit 2465
/GARY MUI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2465