DETAILED ACTION
It is hereby acknowledged that the following papers have been received and placed of record in the file: Amendment date 08/29/2025.
Claims 1, 3, 5-8, 10-12, 14, 24-32 and 35 are presented for examination.
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 1-6, 9-16 and 19-20 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
(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) 1, 3, 5, 8, 14, 24-28, 30-32 and 35 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Nunome et al. (US 2023/0074018 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Nunome teaches a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
generating configured grant uplink control information (CG-UCI) in response to a determination by the UE that a network node has not configured a configured grant (CG) retransmission timer for the UE (UE generate CG-UCI at ST 105 in response to control information inputted from transmission control 204, where the control information based on the basis of parameter; a case where retransmission parameters such as NDI and RV are not included in the CG-UCI in the reduced mode and retransmission timer is not configured in a case where CG-UCI is not included in the uplink control information see Nunome: Fig.5; ¶0079]; ¶0071]; ¶[0106-0108]; Claim 17; ¶[0112]); and
transmitting the CG-UCI on a physical uplink channel to the network node (Terminal 200 transmits CG-UCI to base station 100 see Nunome: Fig.5 ST106; ¶[0079]).
Regarding claim 3, Nunome taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Nunome further teaches wherein the CG-UCI includes one or more of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier, a redundancy version (RV) identifier, or a new data indicator (HARQ process number, new data indicator see Nunome: ¶[0039]).
Regarding claim 5, Nunome taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Nunome further teaches wherein the CG-UCI includes channel occupancy time (COT) sharing information that indicates whether the network node is to share a COT of the UE (different HARQ process to be used in a single COT see Nunome: ¶[0099-0100]).
Regarding claim 8, Nunome taught the method of claim 5 as described hereinabove. Nunome further teaches wherein the COT sharing information indicates a restriction on downlink transmission power (COT length based on the number of HARQ processes, if number of processes less than threshold applied determination method 1 see Nunome: ¶[0101]).
Regarding claim 14, Nunome taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Nunome further teaches wherein the CG-UCI is configured based at least in part on configuration information received in a radio resource control message (CG-UCI at ST105 is configured based on control information at ST102 see Nunome: Fig.5).
Regarding claim 24. Nunome teaches a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving a configuration indicating that retransmission on a configured grant (CG) resource is enabled, in response to a determination by the UE that a network node has not configured a CG retransmission timer for the UE (terminal 200 receiving control information, in response to control information inputted from transmission control 204, where the control information based on the basis of parameter; a case where retransmission parameters such as NDI and RV are not included in the CG-UCI in the reduced mode and retransmission timer is not configured in a case where CG-UCI is not included in the uplink control information see Nunome: Fig.5; ¶0079]; ¶0071]; ¶[0106-0108]; Claim 17; ¶[0112]);
receiving a message that includes hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for one or more CG communications (the gNB may indicate (i.e., feed hack) HARQ-ACK feedback information for all HARQ processes see Nunome: ¶[0043]); and
transmitting a retransmission on the CG resource based at least in part on receiving the message (Terminal 200 transmits CG-UCI to base station 100 see Nunome: Fig.5 ST106; ¶[0079]).
Regarding claim 25, Nunome taught the method of claim 24 as described hereinabove. Nunome further teaches wherein the message includes a negative acknowledgment for an uplink transmission (the gNB may indicate (i.e., feed hack) HARQ-ACK feedback information for all HARQ processes, which includes negative ACK see Nunome: ¶[0042-0043]).
Regarding claim 26, Nunome taught the method of claim 24 as described hereinabove. Nunome further teaches wherein the message includes downlink feedback information that is associated with a plurality of HARQ process identifiers (the gNB may indicate (i.e., feed hack) HARQ-ACK feedback information for all HARQ processes, feedback for all HARQ processes see Nunome: ¶[0042-0043]).
Regarding claim 27, Nunome taught the method of claim 24 as described hereinabove. Nunome further comprising transmitting one or more of a HARQ process identifier or a redundancy version (RV) identifier in CG uplink control information (CG-UCI) based at least in part on a determination that a HARQ process identifier or an RV identifier is to be included in the CG-UCI (HARQ process number, new data indicator see Nunome: ¶[0039]).
Regarding claim 28, Nunome taught the method of claim 24 as described hereinabove. Nunome further teaches wherein transmitting the retransmission includes transmitting the retransmission for a HARQ process on the CG resource after receiving downlink feedback information associated with the HARQ process, and wherein the CG resource is a stored CG resource (Scheduler 105 also indicates generation of HARQ-ACK feedback information to data/control information generator 107 when performing retransmission control by explicit HARQ-ACK information based on the data decoding result inputted from data demodulator/decoder 104 see Nunome: ¶[0060]).
Regarding claim 30, Nunome taught the method of claim 24 as described hereinabove. Nunome further comprising refraining from transmitting one or more of a HARQ process identifier or a redundancy version (RV) identifier in CG uplink control information (CG-UCI) based at least in part on a determination that a HARQ process identifier or an RV identifier is not to be included in the CG-UCI (parameters indicated in the uplink control information by CG-UCI “some of parameters (e.g., parameters on retransmission control) used for decoding a PUSCH, such as a HARQ process number, new data indicator (NDI), and RV, may be indicated from a terminal to a base station by uplink control information for the configured grant transmission (referred to as, for example, configured grant uplink control information (CG-UCI))” see Nunome: ¶[0039]).
Regarding claim 31, Nunome taught the method of claim 30 as described hereinabove. Nunome further teaches wherein transmitting the retransmission includes transmitting the retransmission for a HARQ process on a stored CG resource that is associated with a determined HARQ process identifier after receiving downlink feedback information associated with the HARQ process (Scheduler 105 also indicates generation of HARQ-ACK feedback information to data/control information generator 107 when performing retransmission control by explicit HARQ-ACK information based on the data decoding result inputted from data demodulator/decoder 104 see Nunome: ¶[0060]).
Regarding claim 32, Nunome taught the method of claim 24 as described hereinabove. Nunome further comprising transmitting CG uplink control information (CG-UCI) with a new data indicator based at least in part on whether the CG-UCI is for a retransmission or a new uplink communication (information indicating the state of initial transmission or retransmission (e.g., new data indicator (NDI)) and the RV applied to the PUSCH at the time of retransmission, for example, may be transmitted by the CG-UCI see Nunome: ¶[0042]).
Regarding claim 35, claim 35 is rejected for the same reason as method of claim 1 as set forth hereinabove. Claim 35 teaches an apparatus that perform the same functionalities of method of claim 1 as described hereinabove.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 6-7 and 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nunome et al. (US 2023/0074018 A1) in view of Alfarhan et al. (US 2022/0210823 A1).
Regarding claim 6, Nunome taught the method of claim 5 as described hereinabove. Nunome does not explicitly comprising determining that the COT sharing information indicates that the base station is to share the COT based at least in part on a determination that energy detected in a channel satisfies one or more energy detection thresholds.
However, Alfarhan teaches the determining that the COT sharing information indicates that the base station is to share the COT based at least in part on a determination that energy detected in a channel satisfies one or more energy detection thresholds (The gNB 180 may indicate to the WTRU 102 that the gNB 180 is sharing the COT (e.g., acquired before the start of the PUSCH for a CG resource (or any UL resource)) see Alfarhan: ¶[0172]) in order to enhance uplink data transmission on configured grants (see Alfarhan: ¶[0002]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to create the invention of Nunome to include (or to use, etc.) the comprising determining that the COT sharing information indicates that the base station is to share the COT based at least in part on a determination that energy detected in a channel satisfies one or more energy detection thresholds as taught by Alfarhan in order to enhance uplink data transmission on configured grants (see Alfarhan: ¶[0002]).
Regarding claim 7, the modified Nunome taught the method of claim 6 as describe hereinabove. Alfarhan further teaches wherein the one or more energy detection thresholds include an energy detection threshold that corresponds to a transmission power of the base station and an energy detection threshold that corresponds to a transmission power of the UE (an LBT type or parameters used for the carrier such that for example the WTRU 102 may determine a weighted share of the power allocation for a PUSCH depending on the LBT type or parameters used to access the carrier of the transmission (for example, depending on a parameter of the LBT (e.g., an Energy Detection (ED) threshold see Alfarhan: ¶[0161]; ¶[0081]) in order to enhance uplink data transmission on configured grants (see Alfarhan: ¶[0002]).
Regarding claim 29, Nunome taught the method of claim 24 as described hereinabove. Nunome does not explicitly teaches wherein transmitting the retransmission includes transmitting the retransmission for a HARQ process on any CG resource having a same transport block size as indicated in the configuration.
However, Alfarhan teaches the wherein transmitting the retransmission includes transmitting the retransmission for a HARQ process on any CG resource having a same transport block size as indicated in the configuration (For a CG transmission, the WTRU 102 may include CG-UCI. The CG-UCI may enable a gNB and/or Access Point, for example to properly decode the CG. For example, the CG-UCI may include any of: (1) a WTRU-ID; (2) a Transport Block Size (TBS) see Alfarhan: ¶[0190]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to create the invention of Nunome to include (or to use, etc.) the wherein transmitting the retransmission includes transmitting the retransmission for a HARQ process on any CG resource having a same transport block size as indicated in the configuration as taught by Alfarhan in order to enhance uplink data transmission on configured grants (see Alfarhan: ¶[0002]).
Claims 10-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nunome et al. (US 2023/0074018 A1) in view of Wang et al. (US 2022/0393794 A1).
Regarding claim 10, Nunome taught the method of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Nunome does not explicitly teaches wherein the CG-UCI includes a buffer status report (BSR).
However, Wang teaches the wherein the CG-UCI includes a buffer status report (BSR) (grant based on SR/BSR procedure see Wang: ¶[0015]) in order to support autonomous retransmission using a configured grant (see Wang: ¶[0029]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to create the invention of Wang to include (or to use, etc.) the wherein the CG-UCI includes a buffer status report (BSR) as taught by Wang in order to support autonomous retransmission using a configured grant (see Wang: ¶[0029]).
Regarding claim 11, the modified Nunome taught the method of claim 10 as described hereinabove. Wang further teaches wherein the BSR indicates a type of BSR (different type of configured schedule schemes: type 1 and type 2 see Wang: ¶[0015]) in order to support autonomous retransmission using a configured grant (see Wang: ¶[0029]).
Claim 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nunome et al. (US 2023/0074018 A1) in view of Wang et al. (US 2022/0393794 A1) and further in view of Alfarhan et al. (US 2022/0210823 A1).
Regarding claim 12, the modified Nunome taught the method of claim 10 as described hereinabove. The modified Nunome does not explicitly teaches wherein the BSR indicates a buffer size via one or more of logical channel identifier bits or buffer size bits, or via a quantity of buffer size bits and via logical channel identifier bits, wherein the quantity of buffer size bits is based at least in part on a quantity of entries in a table.
However, Alfarhan teaches the wherein the BSR indicates a buffer size via one or more of logical channel identifier bits or buffer size bits, or via a quantity of buffer size bits and via logical channel identifier bits, wherein the quantity of buffer size bits is based at least in part on a quantity of entries in a table (transport block size of the CG see Alfarhan: ¶[0120]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to create the invention of the modified Nunome to include (or to use, etc.) the wherein the BSR indicates a buffer size via one or more of logical channel identifier bits or buffer size bits, or via a quantity of buffer size bits and via logical channel identifier bits, wherein the quantity of buffer size bits is based at least in part on a quantity of entries in a table as taught by Alfarhan in order to enhance uplink data transmission on configured grants (see Alfarhan: ¶[0002]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GUANG W LI whose telephone number is (571)270-1897. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7AM-5PMET.
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GUANG W. LI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2478
March 7, 2026
/GUANG W LI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478