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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 February 24, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Examiner acknowledges receipt of Applicant’s amendment filled 02/24/2026.
In the amendment, Applicant amended claims 1, 8, 11, 13, 16, and 19.
Claims 7, 12, 17, and 20 are cancelled.
Claims 1-6, 8-11, 13-16 and 18-19 are currently pending.
Response to Arguments
Examiner has fully considered Applicant's arguments, see pages 8-11, filed 02/24/2026, with respect to the rejection of the claim 7 (now cancelled) under 35 U.S.C. 103, and is part of amended claim 1, 8 and 13 and they are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Hu (US 20230049911 A1), “… an accumulative quantity of pieces of sent DCI for scheduling transmission of a PDSCH and sent DCI for indicating a semi-persistent scheduling SPS PDSCH release. A counting rule of the C-DAI is first counting based on a serving cell dimension (for example, in ascending order of serving cell indexes), and then counting based on a time dimension (for example, in ascending order of PDCCH monitoring occasions).” [¶0010], and “…accumulative counting is separately performed on the first C-DAI and the second C-DAI, so that C-DAI values can be correctly and appropriately set for unicast and multicast services…[¶0035]. Here it is very clear on the counting rules on DAI.
Examiner has fully considered Applicant's arguments, see pages 11-12, filed 02/24/2026, with respect to the rejections of the amended claims 1, 8 and 13 under 35 U.S.C. 103 but they are moot because the new ground of rejection relies on the newly-cited reference 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.
Claims 1-5, 8-9, 13-15, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu et al. (US 20230049911 A1), hereinafter, Hu) in view of Matsumura et al. (US 20230124015 A1, hereinafter, Matsumura) further in view of RICO ALVARINO et al. (US 20210029513 A1, hereinafter, Rico).
Regarding Claim 1 and Claim 13, Hu discloses, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback method (“Existing 5G new radio (New Radio, NR) supports unicast service transmission with an automatic repeat request (hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ) mechanism. In a process of the unicast service transmission that supports the HARQ mechanism, a network device (gNB) sends a physical downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel, PDCCH) to user equipment (User Equipment, UE), to schedule transmission of a physical downlink data channel (physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH)...” [¶0006], see also ("An example, the HARQ-ACK feedback information is sent on the PUCCH. Before sending the HARQ-ACK feedback information, the UE further needs to determine a PUCCH resource carrying the HARQ-ACK..."[¶0007])), performed by a terminal device (“...As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile communication system includes a core network device 210, a radio access network device 220, and at least one terminal device (for example, a terminal device 230 and a terminal device 240 in FIG. 2)...”[¶0049]), comprising: a memory (“It may be understood that the memory in embodiments of this application may be a volatile memory or a nonvolatile memory, or may include a volatile memory and a nonvolatile memory...”[¶0247]), a processor (Fig. 7, see also "...the processing module 1110 may be a processor, for example, a baseband processor, where the baseband processor may include one or more central processing units (central processing units, CPUs)..." [¶0189]), and an instruction stored ("...The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, and includes several instructions for instructing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to perform all or some of the steps of the methods described in embodiments of this application..."[¶0256]) in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein when the instruction is executed by the processor, steps of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback method are implemented (“As shown in FIG. 1a, the following uses a simple example for description. The gNB schedules, by using DCI #1 in a slot #1, transmission of a PDSCH #1, and a HARQ feedback timing indicator K1_1 in the DCI #1 indicates that HARQ-ACK feedback is performed in a slot that is offset from the slot #1 by four slots...” [¶0008]), the steps comprises:
determining a target physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource, wherein the target PUCCH resource is a UE-specific PUCCH resource configured by a network device for the terminal device (“...The UE receives a PDSCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator (PDSCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator, K1), which may be carried in downlink control information (DCI) or configured by using a higher layer parameter. The indication information indicates a time unit offset between a PDSCH and a HARQ. For example, a time unit may be a slot. After determining a time unit carrying HARQ transmission, the UE selects a PUCCH resource set based on a payload size of the HARQ-ACK in the time unit. The payload size is a quantity of pieces of HARQ-ACK feedback information that need to be fed back in the time unit.” [¶0007], see also, “...For example, each of the plurality of PUCCH resource sets includes a plurality of PUCCH resources. The plurality of PUCCH resource sets may be preconfigured or fixedly configured in the terminal device according to a protocol, or may be configured by the access network device for the terminal device by using signaling.” [¶0101]); and
performing, on the target PUCCH resource, an HARQ feedback procedure for a multicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) (“In manner 2, one piece of DCI for multicast transmission is sent to a group of UEs, and the group of UEs determine a PUCCH resource based on a same PUCCH PRI. If a PUCCH resource is determined based on a PRI in the last multicast DCI, a plurality of UEs simultaneously send the PUCCH carrying a HARQ at a same moment...” [¶0135]). Here, "The PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) carries the multicast data, and the DCI (Downlink Control Information) within the PDSCH indicates the HARQ process to be used.”
Hu also teaches, wherein the multicast DCI for scheduling the multicast PDSCHs comprises a downlink assignment index (DAI) field, a value of the DAI field corresponds to physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs) with a same G-RNTI, and the value of the DAI field is an accumulated value of PDCCHs with the same G-RNTI (“In the dynamic codebook mechanism, downlink scheduling information includes a downlink assignment index (Downlink assignment index, DAI). The DAI field includes two parts: a counter DAI (counter DAI, C-DAI) and a total DAI (total DAI, T-DAI). The C-DAI indicates, up to a current serving cell and a current PDCCH monitoring occasion, an accumulative quantity of pieces of sent DCI for scheduling transmission of a PDSCH and sent DCI for indicating a semi-persistent scheduling SPS PDSCH release. A counting rule of the C-DAI is first counting based on a serving cell dimension (for example, in ascending order of serving cell indexes), and then counting based on a time dimension (for example, in ascending order of PDCCH monitoring occasions).” [¶0010], see also, “In embodiments of the present disclosure, accumulative counting is separately performed on the first C-DAI and the second C-DAI, so that C-DAI values can be correctly and appropriately set for unicast and multicast services, and a data receive end can generate HARQ-ACK feedback information for the unicast and multicast services based on the first C-DAI and the second C-DAI, to ensure reliability of HARQ-ACK feedback information corresponding to multicast downlink data channels.” [¶0035]. Although, Hu does not explicitly mention about G-RNTI, It is well known to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that, G-RNTI (Group Radio Network Temporary Identifier) is a 16-bit identifier used in 5G NR (Release 17+) to enable multicast and broadcast services. It allows the network to group multiple UEs (User Equipment) and transmit the same content, such as multimedia, to them using a single control message, which reduces control channel overhead.
Hu doesn’t explicitly disclose, wherein multicast downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling the multicast PDSCHs is corresponding to a plurality of different group radio network temporary identifiers (G- RNTIs),
wherein the performing, on the target PUCCH resource, an HARQ feedback procedure for multicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) comprises:
concatenating, based on an order of values of the plurality of different G-RNTIs, HARQ feedback codebooks of the multicast PDSCHs, and
transmitting the concatenated HARQ feedback codebooks on the target PUCCH resource.
Matsumura in related art discloses, wherein multicast downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling the multicast PDSCHs is corresponding to a plurality of different group radio network temporary identifiers (G- RNTIs) ("Furthermore, when the multicast PDSCH is scheduled by DCI format 1_0, and the reception of the multicast PDSCH is configured by the higher layer signaling and the DCI is CRC scrambled with the RNTI dedicated to multicast/broadcast scheduling, the UE may control the receiving process of the multicast PDSCH by interpreting the field value included in DCI format 1_0 as the multicast parameter without changing the size of DCI format 1_0. In this case, the UE may use DCI format 1_0 that is not CRC scrambled with the RNTI dedicated to multicast/broadcast scheduling for applications other than the scheduling of the multicast PDSCH." [¶0108]),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Hu with the Matsumura’s idea of using HARQ feedback procedure for multicast PDSCHs scheduled with DCI corresponding to a plurality of different G-RNTIs involves a UE for specific multicast sessions. The rationale for using this procedure which enables efficient feedback for multicast services, allowing a single UE to manage HARQ for multiple data streams using shared and dedicated resources.
Rico in analogous art discloses, wherein the performing, on the target PUCCH resource, an HARQ feedback procedure for multicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) comprises: concatenating, based on an order of values of the plurality of different G-RNTIs, HARQ feedback codebooks of the multicast PDSCHs ("...That is, a base station may transmit a downlink control information (DCI) on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) having a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambled with the G-RNTI. Each device (e.g., user equipment (UE)) in the group of devices may monitor a search space on the PDCCH to receive the DCI and decode the DCI using the G-RNTI. The UEs may then each receive a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission scheduled by the DCI that carries the data for the multicast transmission." [¶0044], see also, Fig. 4, see also, " When the base station 102 has a packet for the multicast transmission, the base station 102 may transmit one or more PDCCH 420 to schedule a multicast transmission 422 on the PDSCH. For example, the base station 102 may transmit a single PDCCH 420 in a common search space (CSS) that all of the UEs 104 receive. Alternatively, the base station 102 may transmit a PDCCH 420 in a UE-specific search space (USS) for a specific UE. Each PDCCH 420 may carry a DCI scrambled with the G-RNTI. Accordingly, a UE 104 receiving the PDCCH 420 may determine that the DCI is scheduling a multicast transmission based on the G-RNTI. As discussed in further detail below, each UE 104 may determine the same transmission properties (e.g., MCS, TBS, and rate matching pattern) based on the G-RNTI. The multicast transmission 422 may include a multicast control channel (MCCH) and one or more multicast transport channels (MTCH). The MCCH may include a configuration for receiving the MTCH. In some implementations, the G-RNTI may be for decoding the MCCH. In some implementations, the MCCH may include a second G-RNTI for decoding the MTCH. The MCCH may include additional configuration information associated with the second G-RNTI such as the MCS, TBS, and rate matching pattern for the MTCH. Each UE 104 may use the second G-RNTI and associated configuration information to decode the MTCH. Accordingly, each UE 104 may receive the same multicast transmission 422."[¶0080], see also, "...In some implementations, some of the information about the one or more G-RNTIs may be included within a portion of the multicast transmission." [¶0079], see also, "At block 760, the method 700 may optionally include receiving a MAC-CE using the G-RNTI with a HARQ process identifier indicating that a semi-persistent ZP-CSI-RS is activated." [¶0103]), and
transmitting the concatenated HARQ feedback codebooks on the target PUCCH resource ("...For example, the DCI may include an identifier of the DCI format, a frequency domain resource assignment, a random access preamble index, an uplink/supplemental uplink indicator, a SS/PBCH index, a PRACH mask index, a time domain resource assignment, a VRB-to-PRB mapping, a MCS, a new data indicator (NDI), a redundancy version, a HARQ process number, a downlink assignment index, a TPC command for scheduled PUCCH, a PUCCH resource indicator, a PDCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator...[¶0086]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Hu with the Matsumura’s idea with the idea of performing HARQ feedback for multiple multicast PDSCHs on a target PUCCH resource involves concatenating the individual HARQ feedback as disclosed by Rico. The rationale for doing this is to ensures the base station (gNB) and UE share the same understanding of the codebook structure to correctly map the ACK/NACK information to the appropriate PDSCH receptions.
Regarding Claim 2, combination of Hu, Matsumura and Rico disclose the method according to claim 1.
Hu also discloses, wherein the determining a target physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource comprises at least one of the following determining modes:
determining, based on a size of an HARQ payload corresponding to the multicast PDSCHs, the target PUCCH resource from a plurality of UE-specific PUCCH resources configured by the network device for the terminal device ("For example, a time unit may be a slot. After determining a time unit carrying HARQ transmission, the UE selects a PUCCH resource set based on a payload size of the HARQ-ACK in the time unit. The payload size is a quantity of pieces of HARQ-ACK feedback information that need to be fed back in the time unit." [¶0007], also see, “...The terminal device determines a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource set from a plurality of PUCCH resource sets based on a payload size of the codebook, where each of the plurality of PUCCH
resource sets includes at least one PUCCH resource.” [¶0100]);
determining the target PUCCH resource based on a control channel element (CCE) index corresponding to the multicast DCI for scheduling the multicast PDSCHs; or
determining the target PUCCH resource based on resource indication information.
Regarding Claim 3, combination of Hu, Matsumura and Rico disclose the method according to claim 2.
Hu also disclose, wherein determining mode of the target PUCCH resource is related to an indication field comprised in the multicast DCI (“In manner 2, one piece of DCI for multicast transmission is sent to a group of UEs, and the group of UEs determine a PUCCH resource based on a same PUCCH PRI. If a PUCCH resource is determined based on a PRI in the last multicast DCI, a plurality of UEs simultaneously send the PUCCH carrying a HARQ at a same moment…” [¶0135]).
Regarding Claim 4, combination of Hu, Matsumura and Rico disclose the method according to claim 3.
Hu does not explicitly disclose, wherein in a case that the multicast DCI for scheduling the multicast PDSCHs does not comprise a PUCCH resource indication (PRI) field, the determining a target physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource comprises:
determining, based on the size of the HARQ payload corresponding to the multicast PDSCHs, the target PUCCH resource from the plurality of UE-specific PUCCH resources configured by the network device for the terminal device, wherein the size of the HARQ payload corresponding to the multicast PDSCHs is within a size range of payloads carried by the target PUCCH resource; or,
determining the target PUCCH resource based on the CCE index corresponding to the multicast DCI for scheduling the multicast PDSCHs.
Matsumura, in analogous art teaches, wherein in a case that the multicast DCI for scheduling the multicast PDSCHs does not comprise a PUCCH resource indication (PRI) field, the determining a target physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource comprises ("When the multicast PDSCH is scheduled by DCI format 1_0, the UE may not use a specific field of at least one of the value of the TPC command for the scheduled PUCCH, the value of the PRI field, and the value of the HARQ feedback timing indicator field among the fields included in DCI format 1_0."[¶0113]):
determining, based on the size of the HARQ payload corresponding to the multicast PDSCHs, the target PUCCH resource from the plurality of UE-specific PUCCH resources configured by the network device for the terminal device, wherein the size of the HARQ payload corresponding to the multicast PDSCHs is within a size range of payloads carried by the target PUCCH resource; or,
determining the target PUCCH resource based on the CCE index corresponding to the multicast DCI for scheduling the multicast PDSCHs (“In this case, a certain UE determines the PUCCH resource to use based on the bit field of the DCI, and another UE determines the PUCCH resource to use based on both the bit field of the DCI and the CCE index, so that even when a common DCI (DCI bit field) is notified to each UE, the HARQ-ACK can be transmitted using the PUCCH resource that is different for each UE.” [¶0136]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Hu with the Matsumura’s idea that if the DCI does not contain a PRI field, the UE uses the CCE index of that DCI to determine the target PUCCH resource. The rationale for doing this is to ensures that the UE “can utilize the field not used in the DCI for scheduling the multicast PDSCH in other applications (e.g., increasing bit fields of the TDRA/FDRA field” [¶0118].
Regarding Claim 5, combination of Hu, Matsumura and Rico disclose the method according to claim 3.
Hu also discloses, wherein in a case that the multicast DCI for scheduling the multicast PDSCHs comprises a PRI field, the determining a target physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource comprises:
determining the target PUCCH resource based on resource indication information carried in the PRI field (“generating the m1.sup.th piece of DCI, where the m1.sup.th piece of DCI includes the first PUCCH resource indication information PRI, and the PRI is for determining the first PUCCH resource." [¶0165]; or,
determining the target PUCCH resource based on resource indication information carried in the PRI field and a specific PUCCH resource offset configured by the network device for the terminal device, the resource indication information being used to indicate a first PUCCH resource.
Regarding Claim 8, Hu discloses a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback method, performed by a network device, and the method comprises:
receiving an HARQ feedback codebook that is transmitted by a terminal device on a target physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for a multicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) (“In manner 2, one piece of DCI for multicast transmission is sent to a group of UEs, and the group of UEs determine a PUCCH resource based on a same PUCCH PRI. If a PUCCH resource is determined based on a PRI in the last multicast DCI, a plurality of UEs simultaneously send the PUCCH carrying a HARQ at a same moment...” [¶0135]). Here, "plurality of UEs simultaneously send the PUCCH carrying a HARQ.” is being received by the network device.
wherein the target PUCCH resource is a UE-specific PUCCH resource configured by the network device for the terminal device (“...The UE receives a PDSCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator (PDSCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator, K1), which may be carried in downlink control information (DCI) or configured by using a higher layer parameter. The indication information indicates a time unit offset between a PDSCH and a HARQ. For example, a time unit may be a slot. After determining a time unit carrying HARQ transmission, the UE selects a PUCCH resource set based on a payload size of the HARQ-ACK in the time unit. The payload size is a quantity of pieces of HARQ-ACK feedback information that need to be fed back in the time unit.” [¶0007], see also, “...For example, each of the plurality of PUCCH resource sets includes a plurality of PUCCH resources. The plurality of PUCCH resource sets may be preconfigured or fixedly configured in the terminal device according to a protocol, or may be configured by the access network device for the terminal device by using signaling.” [¶0101]).
Hu also teaches, wherein the multicast DCI for scheduling the multicast PDSCHs comprises a downlink assignment index (DAI) field, a value of the DAI field corresponds to physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs) with a same G-RNTI, and the value of the DAI field is an accumulated value of PDCCHs with the same G-RNTI. (“In the dynamic codebook mechanism, downlink scheduling information includes a downlink assignment index (Downlink assignment index, DAI). The DAI field includes two parts: a counter DAI (counter DAI, C-DAI) and a total DAI (total DAI, T-DAI). The C-DAI indicates, up to a current serving cell and a current PDCCH monitoring occasion, an accumulative quantity of pieces of sent DCI for scheduling transmission of a PDSCH and sent DCI for indicating a semi-persistent scheduling SPS PDSCH release. A counting rule of the C-DAI is first counting based on a serving cell dimension (for example, in ascending order of serving cell indexes), and then counting based on a time dimension (for example, in ascending order of PDCCH monitoring occasions).” [¶0010], see also, “In embodiments of the present disclosure, accumulative counting is separately performed on the first C-DAI and the second C-DAI, so that C-DAI values can be correctly and appropriately set for unicast and multicast services, and a data receive end can generate HARQ-ACK feedback information for the unicast and multicast services based on the first C-DAI and the second C-DAI, to ensure reliability of HARQ-ACK feedback information corresponding to multicast downlink data channels.” [¶0035]. Although, Hu does not explicitly mention about G-RNTI, It is well known to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that, G-RNTI (Group Radio Network Temporary Identifier) is a 16-bit identifier used in 5G NR (Release 17+) to enable multicast and broadcast services. It allows the network to group multiple UEs (User Equipment) and transmit the same content, such as multimedia, to them using a single control message, which reduces control channel overhead.
Hu doesn’t explicitly disclose, wherein multicast downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling the multicast PDSCHs is corresponding to a plurality of different group radio network temporary identifiers (G- RNTIs), wherein the receiving an HARQ feedback codebook that is transmitted by a terminal device on a target physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for multicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) comprises:
receiving, on the target PUCCH resource, concatenated HARQ feedback codebooks that are obtained by concatenating, based on an order of values of the plurality of different G-RNTIs, HARQ feedback codebooks of the multicast PDSCHs.
Matsumura in related art discloses, wherein multicast downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling the multicast PDSCHs is corresponding to a plurality of different group radio network temporary identifiers (G- RNTIs) ("Furthermore, when the multicast PDSCH is scheduled by DCI format 1_0, and the reception of the multicast PDSCH is configured by the higher layer signaling and the DCI is CRC scrambled with the RNTI dedicated to multicast/broadcast scheduling, the UE may control the receiving process of the multicast PDSCH by interpreting the field value included in DCI format 1_0 as the multicast parameter without changing the size of DCI format 1_0. In this case, the UE may use DCI format 1_0 that is not CRC scrambled with the RNTI dedicated to multicast/broadcast scheduling for applications other than the scheduling of the multicast PDSCH." [¶0108]),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Hu with the Matsumura’s idea of using HARQ feedback procedure for multicast PDSCHs scheduled with DCI corresponding to a plurality of different G-RNTIs involves a UE for specific multicast sessions. The rationale for using this procedure which enables efficient feedback for multicast services, allowing a single UE to manage HARQ for multiple data streams using shared and dedicated resources.
Rico in analogous art discloses, wherein the receiving an HARQ feedback codebook that is transmitted by a terminal device on a target physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for multicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) comprises: receiving, on the target PUCCH resource, concatenated HARQ feedback codebooks that are obtained by concatenating, based on an order of values of the plurality of different G-RNTIs, HARQ feedback codebooks of the multicast PDSCHs ("...That is, a base station may transmit a downlink control information (DCI) on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) having a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambled with the G-RNTI. Each device (e.g., user equipment (UE)) in the group of devices may monitor a search space on the PDCCH to receive the DCI and decode the DCI using the G-RNTI. The UEs may then each receive a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission scheduled by the DCI that carries the data for the multicast transmission." [¶0044], see also, Fig. 4, see also, " When the base station 102 has a packet for the multicast transmission, the base station 102 may transmit one or more PDCCH 420 to schedule a multicast transmission 422 on the PDSCH. For example, the base station 102 may transmit a single PDCCH 420 in a common search space (CSS) that all of the UEs 104 receive. Alternatively, the base station 102 may transmit a PDCCH 420 in a UE-specific search space (USS) for a specific UE. Each PDCCH 420 may carry a DCI scrambled with the G-RNTI. Accordingly, a UE 104 receiving the PDCCH 420 may determine that the DCI is scheduling a multicast transmission based on the G-RNTI. As discussed in further detail below, each UE 104 may determine the same transmission properties (e.g., MCS, TBS, and rate matching pattern) based on the G-RNTI. The multicast transmission 422 may include a multicast control channel (MCCH) and one or more multicast transport channels (MTCH). The MCCH may include a configuration for receiving the MTCH. In some implementations, the G-RNTI may be for decoding the MCCH. In some implementations, the MCCH may include a second G-RNTI for decoding the MTCH. The MCCH may include additional configuration information associated with the second G-RNTI such as the MCS, TBS, and rate matching pattern for the MTCH. Each UE 104 may use the second G-RNTI and associated configuration information to decode the MTCH. Accordingly, each UE 104 may receive the same multicast transmission 422."[¶0080], see also, "...In some implementations, some of the information about the one or more G-RNTIs may be included within a portion of the multicast transmission." [¶0079], see also, "At block 760, the method 700 may optionally include receiving a MAC-CE using the G-RNTI with a HARQ process identifier indicating that a semi-persistent ZP-CSI-RS is activated." [¶0103].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Hu and Matsumura’s idea of receiving (HARQ) feedback codebook for multicast PDSCHs involves a specific concatenation rule to manage feedback efficiency as disclosed by Rico. The rationale for using this procedure is to enables efficient and compact feedback for multicast services, where a single PDSCH transmission may be intended for a group of users identified by a common G-RNTI.
Regarding Claim 9, combination of Hu, Matsumura and Rico disclose the method according to claim 8.
Hu does not explicitly disclose, wherein the multicast DCI for scheduling the multicast PDSCHs does not comprise a PUCCH resource indication (PRI) field,
wherein before the receiving an HARQ feedback codebook that is transmitted by a terminal device on a target physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for a-multicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs), the method further comprises:
configuring a plurality of UE-specific PUCCH resources for the terminal device through higher layer signaling, wherein the plurality of UE-specific PUCCH resources are used for the terminal device to determine the target PUCCH resource based on a size of an HARQ payload corresponding to the multicast PDSCHs; or
configuring a specific PUCCH resource offset for the terminal device through higher layer signaling, wherein the specific PUCCH resource offset is used for the terminal device to determine the target PUCCH resource based on a control channel element (CCE) index corresponding to the multicast DCI.
Matsumura in analogous art disclose, wherein the multicast DCI for scheduling the multicast PDSCHs does not comprise a PUCCH resource indication (PRI) field ("When the multicast PDSCH is scheduled by DCI format 1_0, the UE may not use a specific field of at least one of the value of the TPC command for the scheduled PUCCH, the value of the PRI field, and the value of the HARQ feedback timing indicator field among the fields included in DCI format 1_0."[¶0113]),
wherein before the receiving an HARQ feedback codebook that is transmitted by a terminal device on a target physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for a-multicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs), the method further comprises:
configuring a plurality of UE-specific PUCCH resources for the terminal device through higher layer signaling, wherein the plurality of UE-specific PUCCH resources are used for the terminal device to determine the target PUCCH resource based on a size of an HARQ payload corresponding to the multicast PDSCHs; or
configuring a specific PUCCH resource offset for the terminal device through higher layer signaling, wherein the specific PUCCH resource offset is used for the terminal device to determine the target PUCCH resource based on a control channel element (CCE) index corresponding to the multicast DCI ("Note that the conversion equation may convert the resource/value using at least the UE-dedicated index/ID (e.g., C-RNTI). The conversion equation may convert the resource/value using an offset value notified to the UE-dedicated by the higher layer signaling. In this case, for example, offsets such as offset =+p with respect to the PRB index, offset =+q (p, q are arbitrary values) with respect to the initial CS index and the like are notified to the UE, and the UE may determine the resource/value to use (e.g., PRB index, initial CS index, and so on) by adding (or subtracting) the offset value with respect to the index of the PUCCH resource instructed by the PRI/CCE index" [¶0117]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Hu and Rico with the Matsumura’s idea that if the DCI does not contain a PRI field, UE could determine PUCCH resource based on CCE index corresponding to multicast DCI. The rationale for doing this is to ensures that the UE “can utilize the field not used in the DCI for scheduling the multicast PDSCH in other applications (e.g., increasing bit fields of the TDRA/FDRA field” [¶0118].
Regarding Claim 14, it is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 2 that has been rejected above. Applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection of claim 2. Claim 14 is rejected under the same rational as claim 2.
Regarding Claim 15, it is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 3 that has been rejected above. Applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection of claim 3. Claim 15 is rejected under the same rational as claim 3.
Regarding Claim 18, it is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 8 that has been rejected above. Applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection of claim 8. Claim 18 is rejected under the same rational as claim 8.
Claims 6, 11, 16 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu, Matsumura and Rico in view of Wang Xuelong (WO 2021164682 A1, hereinafter, Wang).
Regarding Claim 6, combination of Hu, Matsumura and Rico disclose the method according to claim 1.
Combination of Hu, Matsumura and Rico don’t explicitly teach, wherein the performing, on the target PUCCH resource, an HARQ feedback procedure on multicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) further comprises: determining an HARQ feedback codebook for multicast PDSCHs corresponding to the same G-RNTI.
Wang in related art discloses, wherein the performing, on the target PUCCH resource, an HARQ feedback procedure on multicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) further comprises:
determining an HARQ feedback codebook for multicast PDSCHs corresponding to the same G-RNTI ("…From UE perspective, HARQ ACK/NACK feedback for multiple physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) PDSCH in time can be transmitted in one UL data/control region. The timing between the PDSCH reception and corresponding ACK/NACK is specified in DCI (e.g. in DCI 1_0, DCI 1_1). CBG (Code Block Group) -based transmission with single/multi-bit HARQ-ACK feedback is also supported. It only allows CBG based (re) -transmission for the same TB of a HARQ process. A CBG can include all CBs of a TB regardless of the TBS (TB Size). A TB is made up of only one CBG. The UE reports single HARQ ACK bit for the TB. A CBG can have only one CB. CBG granularity is configurable by higher layer. The HARQ-ACK codebook is used for the NR network. There is the CBG-based HARQ-ACK codebook determination…" [¶0019], see also, "…A feedback resource module 191 receives an uplink feedback resource configuration with physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) feedback resources configured for one or more physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) multicast transmissions from the NR network, wherein the uplink feedback resource configuration assigns a unique resource index to each configured PUCCH feedback resource and includes an uplink feedback type indicator. A multicast receiver 192 receives one or more PDSCH multicast transmissions in the NR network. An identification module 193 identifies one or more UE feedback resources allocated for the UE based on the uplink feedback resource configuration. An uplink feedback module 194 sends uplink feedbacks for the received one or more multicast transmissions using the identified one or more corresponding UE feedback resources." [¶0026], see also, "…MCCH provides the list of all NR multicast services with ongoing sessions transmitted on MTCH (s), including each NR multicast service ID (expressed by NR multicast group ID or NR multicast session ID), associated G-RNTI, scheduling information, etc. The MCCH is transmitted by RRC message for every MCCH repetition period The MCCH uses a modification period…" [¶0028]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Hu, Rico, and Matsumura’s idea with the idea when UE needs to provide HARQ-ACK feedback for multicast PDSCHs, it must first determine a "codebook" so that UE could uses this codebook to generate the feedback signal for transmission on the target PUCCH resource as disclosed by Wang. The rationale for using this codebook is that it is a pre-defined structure that compactly represents the ACK/NACK feedback for multiple downlink transmissions, making the feedback transmission more efficient.
Regarding Claim 11, it is the method claim corresponding to the method claim 6 that has been rejected above. Applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection of claim 6. Claim 11 is rejected under the same rational as claim 6.
Regarding Claim 16, it is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 6 that has been rejected above. Applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection of claim 6. Claim 16 is rejected under the same rational as claim 6.
Regarding Claim 19, it is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 6 that has been rejected above. Applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection of claim 6. Claim 19 is rejected under the same rational as claim 6.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu, Matsumura and Rico in view of Khoshnevisan et al. (US 20210111835 A1, hereinafter, Khoshnevisan).
Regarding Claim 10, combination of Hu, Matsumura and Rico disclose the method according to claim 8.
Hu does not explicitly teach, wherein the multicast DCI for scheduling the multicast PDSCHs comprises a PRI field; wherein, resource indication information carried in the PRI field is used to indicate a PUCCH resource used for performing an HARQ feedback procedure for the multicast PDSCHs in each of a group of terminal devices; or the resource indication information carried in the PRI field is used to indicate a first PUCCH resource, wherein the first PUCCH resource is used for the terminal device to determine the target PUCCH resource based on a specific PUCCH resource offset configured by the network device.
Khoshnevisan, in analogous art discloses, wherein the multicast DCI for scheduling the multicast PDSCHs comprises a PRI field; wherein, resource indication information carried in the PRI field is used to indicate a PUCCH resource used for performing an HARQ feedback procedure for the multicast PDSCHs in each of a group of terminal devices (“The enabling of ACK/NACK multicast feedback may be configured through the transmission of downlink control information (DCI) by the base station 105-a. The DCI may be transmitted to UE 115-a and UE 115-b in unicast or multicast messaging. The DCI may include a number of fields related to feedback information or timing, such as a PDSCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator (kl) field, a downlink assignment index (DAI) field, and a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) field, among other fields. The kl field may indicate a length of slot delay between reception of a data message from the base station 105-a and the transmission of the ACK/NACK feedback for the data message by the UE 115. The DAI field in the DCI may indicate indexing for different messages, allowing a UE 115 to identify missed DCI (for example, based on missing sequential DAI values). The PRI field in the DCI may include information for the allocation of PUCCH resources for feedback...” [¶0090]); or
the resource indication information carried in the PRI field is used to indicate a first PUCCH resource, wherein the first PUCCH resource is used for the terminal device to determine the target PUCCH resource based on a specific PUCCH resource offset configured by the network device.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Hu, Matsumura and Rico with the Khoshnevisan’s idea of utilizing resource indication information carried in the PRI field to indicate a PUCCH resource used for an HARQ feedback of a multicast PDSCH. The rationale for using PRI field to indicate a PUCCH resource is that, PRI field enables a more efficient and flexible method for managing HARQ feedback in a multicast scenario, allowing each terminal device to use its allocated PUCCH resource for sending feedback to the eNB.
Conclusion
References cited but not used: Yao et al. (US-20230044542-A1 can be used for independent claims 1, 8, and 13 in addition to the one used.
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/MUHAMMAD AINUL HUDA/Examiner, Art Unit 4126
/HASSAN A PHILLIPS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2467