DETAILED ACTION
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 Amendment
The amendment filed on October 15, 2025 has been accepted and entered. Accordingly, claims 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, and 17-20 have been amended. Claims 6 and 12 have been canceled.
Applicant’s amendments to the claim 1 to address informalities overcome the claim objection and amendments to the claims 5 and 20 to address 112(b) rejections overcome the claim rejections previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action mailed July 16, 2025.
Claims 1-5, 7-11, and 13-20 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on October 15, 2025 regarding claims 1, 19, and 20 have been fully considered but the arguments are essentially directed towards the newly introduced limitations and they are addressed in this Office Action, below.
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.
Claims 1-4, 8-10, 13-18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US 20210345388 A1), hereinafter Huang, Khoshnevisan et al. (US 20200313803 A1, as provided by the IDS submitted on April 03, 2024), hereinafter Khoshnevisan and further in view of Frenne et al. (US 20220256573 A1), hereinafter Frenne.
Regarding Claim 1, Huang discloses An information feedback apparatus (Fig. 11, [0213] device 1105 (UE) includes receiver 1110, transmitter 1140 and feedback manager 1135), applicable to a terminal equipment (Fig. 11 [0213] device 1105 be a UE 115), the information feedback apparatus comprising:
a receiver configured to (Fig. 11, [0213] receiver 1110 for UE 115):
receive downlink control information (DCI) used for scheduling a plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs), (Fig. 2, [0144, 0146] a base station transmits a single DCI 210 that schedules multiple downlink shared channels, such as multiple PDSCHs 215 (215-a, 215-b) and received by UE 115-a)
the DCI comprising a first information field used for indicating time-domain resources scheduled PDSCHs, ([0164] FIG. 3 illustrates DCI 305 including scheduling information for multiple PDSCHs 310 (in time domain… see [0149] For example, the first offset (e.g., the K1 offset) may indicate a quantity of time-domain resources (e.g., a quantity of slots) after a first time-domain resource during which a first PDSCH 215 is scheduled). Fig. 3 illustrates M (=3) first PDSCHs) and
Huang does not explicitly disclose the received PDSCHs are not overlapped with UL symbol:
in the scheduled PDSCHs, receive PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter, and/or, not receive PDSCH(s) overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter; and
a transmitter configured to transmit a HARQ-ACK codebook comprising HARQ-ACK information of the PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by the higher layer parameter.
Khoshnevisan, however, discloses receiving PDSCH for HARQ-Ack codebook transmission:
in the scheduled PDSCHs, receive PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter, and/or, not receive PDSCH(s) overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter; (([0109] When operating in a semi-static mode, feedback codebook size may be determined by semi-static information, based on all possible or potential occasions where a PDSCH could occur (configured with DCI) (scheduled PDSCHs). [0120] FIG. 5B illustrates that ACK/NACKs, also referred to as real ACK/NACKs, are inserted into the feedback codebook 550 when a PDSCH is received (see [0122] disclosing non-overlapping PDSCH, indicates not overlapped, thus received) and that NACKs, also referred to as dummy NACKs, are inserted into the feedback codebook when a PDSCH is not received for a given slot (or mini-slot) for each cell. Therefore, Fig. 5B, illustrates the actual/real HARQ-Ack information corresponds to received PDSCH receptions)
a transmitter configured to transmit a HARQ-ACK codebook comprising HARQ-ACK information of the PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by the higher layer parameter. ([0109] When operating in a semi-static mode, feedback codebook size may be determined by semi-static information and based on all possible PDSCH occasions. [0110] A set of PDSCH Time domain resource allocation (TDRA) for the set of possible PDSCH occasions, may be configured in a PUCCH-Config message, indicates higher layer configuration. Fig. 5B, [0119] illustrates a corresponding feedback codebook 550 (first HARQ-Ack codebook) for acknowledging the PDSCH transmissions during the window in the PUCCH transmission at slot n, indicates the transmission of the HARQ-Ack codebook. [0124] At downlink control message 615 (DCI), base station 105 identifies delay value correspond to PDSCH slot-to-HARQ-ACK-delay to the UE 115 when, i.e., which slot after the PDSCH to transmit the acknowledgement feedback for the PDSCH. )
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang with the semi-static codebook as taught by Khoshnevisan for improving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgement (ACK) feedback codebooks for UE ACK transmission (Khoshnevisan [¶0002]).
Though Huang and Khosnevisan disclose ability to schedule multiple PDSCHs with a single DCI and generate HARQ Ack/Nack information for the received PDSCHs, Huang and Khosnevisan do not explicitly disclose receiving PDSCH that are not overlapped with UL symbol, otherwise not receiving by the UE if overlapped with UL symbol:
in the scheduled PDSCHs, receive PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter, and/or, not receive PDSCH(s) overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter;
a transmitter configured to transmit a HARQ-ACK codebook comprising HARQ-ACK information of the PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by the higher layer parameter.
Frenne, however, discloses:
in the scheduled PDSCHs, receive PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter, and/or, not receive PDSCH(s) overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter; (Frenne [0202] FIG. 13C, UE is configured with a K1 range from 1 to 5 and receives one or more PDSCHs in a slot from TRP(s) and a semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook is generated. [0220] Each of the TRP is associated with a (same or different) PDSCH time-domain resource allocation table. As in Rel-15, this table is pruned to remove overlapping entries and PDSCH allocations overlapping with UL symbol(s), indicates UE will not receive PDSCH(s) overlapping with the UL symbol)
a transmitter configured to transmit a HARQ-ACK codebook comprising HARQ-ACK information of the PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by the higher layer parameter. (Frenne [0202] FIG. 13C, TDRA table is pruned to remove overlapping entries and PDSCH allocations overlapping with UL symbol(s), indicates the HARQ-Ack codebook will be generated based on non-overlapped PDSCHs)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, and Khosnevisan with removing the PDSCH allocations overlapping with UL symbol(s) as taught by Frenne. Doing so allows the wireless connection improve the e.g., data rate, latency, power consumption, etc. (Frenne, [0244])
Regarding Claim 2, Huang, Khoshnevisan, and Frenne disclose the apparatus according to claim 1. Khoshnevisan further discloses:
wherein the HARQ- ACK codebook is a semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook, (Khoshnevisan [0109] When operating in a semi-static mode, feedback codebook size may be determined by semi-static information and based on PDSCH occasions, such as all possible or potential occasions where a PDSCH could occur. Fig. 5B, [0119] illustrates a semi-static feedback codebook 550 (first HARQ-Ack) for acknowledging PDSCH transmissions during the window in the PUCCH transmission)
the codebook comprising HARQ-ACK information bits to which a first number (A) of candidate PDSCH reception occasions correspond, ([0111] A HARQ-ACK feedback codebook may be arranged with acknowledgement feedback organized in a time-first (i.e., PDSCH occasion) and cell second manner. For example, ACK/NACK bits for slots that occur earlier in time are positioned before ACK/NACK bits for slots that occur later in time, indicating the feedback information bits. Fig. 5B, [0120] illustrates the first HARQ-Ack codebook 550 that includes the ACK/NACKs for Cell Zero in the codebook, that are inserted into the feedback codebook 550 where a candidate PDSCH reception occasion corresponds (as illustrated in Fig. 5A, [0119], illustrating PDSCH reception occasions in slot n-3, slot n-2 and slot n-1 corresponds to A=3),
the first number being a natural number. (Fig. 5B, 5A [0119, 0120] illustrates three candidate PDSCH reception occasions, indicates the first number (A) is 3)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, and Frenne with the semi-static codebook as taught by Khoshnevisan for improving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgement (ACK) feedback codebooks for UE ACK transmission (Khoshnevisan[¶0002]).
Regarding Claim 3, Huang, Khoshnevisan, and Frenne disclose the apparatus according to claim 2. Khoshnevisan further discloses:
wherein the first number (A) of candidate PDSCH reception occasions correspond to same serving cell. (Fig. 5A, [0119] indicates Cell Zero PDSCH reception occasions during slot n-3, slot n-2 and slot n-1, indicating the first number (A=3) is corresponding to same serving cell zero)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, and Frenne with the semi-static codebook as taught by Khoshnevisan for improving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgement (ACK) feedback codebooks for UE ACK transmission (Khoshnevisan [¶0002]).
Regarding Claim 4, Huang, Khoshnevisan, and Frenne disclose the apparatus according to claim 2. Khoshnevisan and Frenne further discloses:
wherein the HARQ-ACK information of the PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by the higher layer parameter corresponds to same candidate PDSCH reception occasion. (Khoshnevisan Fig. 5A, [0119] illustrates during the window, two PDSCHs are received at a UE during a first slot (n−3) of the window from the first cell (e.g., cell zero) and none received in a second slot (n−2) of the window from the first cell, and one PDSCH is received in a third slot (n−1) of the window from the first cell, indicates reception occasions in slots (n-3 and n-1) for Cell Zero where PDSCHs were received (i.e. not overlapping). Fig. 5B, [0120] illustrates the corresponding HARQ-ACK information (real ACK/NACKs) in the same slots (n-3 and n-1) where the PDSCHs were received. Frenne [0202] FIG. 13C discloses TRP PDSCH PDSCH time-domain resource allocation table to remove PDSCH allocations overlapping with UL symbol(s), this indicates received PDSCHs are not overlapped with UL symbols.)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, and Khosnevisan with removing the PDSCH allocations overlapping with UL symbol(s) as taught by Frenne. Doing so allows the wireless connection improve the e.g., data rate, latency, power consumption, etc. (Frenne, [0244])
Regarding Claim 8, Huang, Khoshnevisan, and Frenne disclose the apparatus according to claim 2. Khoshnevisan further discloses:
wherein numbers of feedback information bits to which at least two of the first number (A) of candidate PDSCH reception occasions respectively correspond are identical or different. ([0111] A HARQ-ACK feedback codebook may be arranged with acknowledgement feedback organized in a time-first (i.e., PDSCH occasion) and cell second manner. For example, ACK/NACK bits for slots that occur earlier in time are positioned before ACK/NACK bits for slots that occur later in time, indicating the feedback information bits. Fig. 5B, [0120] illustrates three candidate PDSCH reception occasions in slots n-3, n-2 and n-1, where each slot has two feedback information for two possible PDSCH ([0114] the feedback codebook includes possible PDSCH occasions instead of actual or scheduled PDSCH occasions))
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, and Frenne with the semi-static codebook as taught by Khoshnevisan for improving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgement (ACK) feedback codebooks for UE ACK transmission (Khoshnevisan [¶0002]).
Regarding Claim 9, Huang, Khoshnevisan, and Frenne disclose the apparatus according to claim 2. Khoshnevisan further discloses:
wherein the HARQ-ACK information of the PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by the higher layer parameter corresponds to different candidate PDSCH reception occasions. (Khoshnevisan [0120] FIG. 5B illustrates that ACK/NACKs, also referred to as real ACK/NACKs, are inserted into the feedback codebook 550 when a PDSCH is received (indicates not overlapped with UL symbol, thus received) and that NACKs, also referred to as dummy NACKs, are inserted into the feedback codebook when a PDSCH is not received for a given slot (or mini-slot) for each cell. Therefore, Fig. 5B, illustrates the HARQ-Ack information corresponds to different candidate PDSCH reception occasions in slot n-3 and slot n-1, when PDSCH is received in Cell Zero.)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, and Frenne with the semi-static codebook as taught by Khoshnevisan for improving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgement (ACK) feedback codebooks for UE ACK transmission (Khoshnevisan [¶0002]).
Regarding Claim 10, Huang and Khoshnevisan disclose the apparatus according to claim 2. Khoshnevisan further discloses:
wherein a third number (C) of candidate PDSCH reception occasions in the first number (A) of candidate PDSCH reception occasions correspond to same downlink timing unit, ([0121] FIG. 6A illustrates three PDSCH occasions, a first PDSCH occasion includes TDRA candidates 0-4, a second PDSCH occasion include TDRA candidates 5 and 6, and a third PDSCH occasion includes TDRA candidate 7 in the slot (slot n−K.sub.1,k), indicates an example of third number corresponding to same downlink unit. (refer to spec [0144] the third number is greater than 1 refers to that at least one downlink slot in the downlink slots having corresponding candidate PDSCH reception occasions corresponds to more than one candidate PDSCH reception occasions) and
the third number is greater than 1, and/or, the third number is correlated with a ninth number (I) corresponding to the downlink timing unit and/or an HARQ-ACK bundling relationship between PDSCHs. ([0121] FIG. 6A illustrates three PDSCH occasions in the slot (slot n−K.sub.1,k), indicates the third number is greater than 1.)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, and Frenne with the semi-static codebook as taught by Khoshnevisan for improving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgement (ACK) feedback codebooks for UE ACK transmission (Khoshnevisan [¶0002]).
Regarding Claim 13, Huang, Khoshnevisan, and Frenne disclose the apparatus according to claim 2. Khoshnevisan further discloses:
wherein the apparatus further comprises: a controller configured to determine the candidate PDSCH reception occasions according to a time-domain resource of one PDSCH in a fourth number (D) of PDSCHs to which a row in the first time-domain resource allocation table corresponds. (Fig. 5B, [0120] illustrates three candidate PDSCH reception occasions in slots n-3, n-2 and n-1 with each slots corresponds to two PDSCHs (second number) (indicating the number of fourth PDSCHs (candidate PDSCHs) for each occasions. (see application spec [0137], Fig. 6A/6B). The codebook accordingly determined the candidate reception occasion for one PDSCH of two PDSCHs in the time-domain resource for the codebook. [0073] discloses a Controllers/processors 240 that may direct the operation at the UE 115)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, and Frenne with the semi-static codebook as taught by Khoshnevisan for improving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgement (ACK) feedback codebooks for UE ACK transmission (Khoshnevisan [¶0002]).
Regarding Claim 14, Huang, Khoshnevisan, and Frenne disclose the apparatus according to claim 13. Huang further discloses:
wherein the one PDSCH is a last PDSCH in the fourth number (D) of PDSCHs. ([0182, 0183] Fig. 6, the UE 115 may transmit the feedback 615 K1 slots after the last symbol of the PDSCH 610-c, indicates the controller will use the last PDSCH in the fourth number of PDSCHs in a given occasion.)
Regarding Claim 15, Huang, Khoshnevisan, and Frenne disclose the apparatus according to claim 2. Khoshnevisan further discloses:
wherein the apparatus further comprises: a controller configured to determine the candidate PDSCH reception occasions according to time-domain resources of at least two (P) PDSCHs in a fourth number (D) of PDSCHs to which a row in the first time-domain resource allocation table corresponds. (Fig. 5B, [0120] illustrates three candidate PDSCH reception occasions in slots n-3, n-2 and n-1 with each slots corresponds to two PDSCHs (P) (indicating the number of fourth PDSCHs) for each occasions. (see application spec [0137], Fig. 6A/6B). [0110] A set of PDSCH Time domain resource allocation (TDRA) candidates (within a slot) denoted by R is used in the calculation of possible PDSCH occasions. [0121] FIG. 6A provides another example illustrating a second PDSCH occasion include TDRA candidates 5 and 6, out of three occasion for determining candidate PDSCH reception occasions from the row in the first time-domain resource allocation table. [0073] discloses a Controllers/processors 240 that may direct the operation at the UE 115)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, and Frenne with the semi-static codebook as taught by Khoshnevisan for improving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgement (ACK) feedback codebooks for UE ACK transmission (Khoshnevisan [¶0002]).
Regarding Claim 16, Huang, Khoshnevisan, and Frenne disclose the apparatus according to claim 15. Khoshnevisan further discloses:
wherein P is equal to the fourth number. (Fig. 5B, [0120] illustrates three candidate PDSCH reception occasions in slots n-3, n-2 and n-1 with each slot corresponds to two PDSCHs (P) (indicating the number of fourth PDSCHs) for each occasions, indicates the P as the fourth number.
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, and Frenne with the semi-static codebook as taught by Khoshnevisan for improving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgement (ACK) feedback codebooks for UE ACK transmission (Khoshnevisan [¶0002]).
Regarding Claim 17, Huang, Khoshnevisan, and Frenne disclose the apparatus according to claim 2. Khoshnevisan further discloses:
wherein the HARQ-ACK information bits to which the candidate PDSCH reception occasion corresponds are arranged in an order of the fourth PDSCHs to which the candidate PDSCH reception occasion corresponds, or, the HARQ-ACK information bits to which the candidate PDSCH reception occasion corresponds are arranged in an order of the PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by the higher layer parameter to which the candidate PDSCH reception occasion corresponds, or, the HARQ-ACK information bits to which the candidate PDSCH reception occasion corresponds are arranged in an order of the scheduled PDSCHs to which the candidate PDSCH reception occasion corresponds. ([0111] A HARQ-ACK feedback codebook may be arranged with acknowledgement feedback organized in a time-first (i.e., PDSCH occasion) and cell second manner. For example, ACK/NACK bits for slots that occur earlier in time are positioned before ACK/NACK bits for slots that occur later in time, indicating the feedback information bits are arranged according to the order of PDSCHs (for both first and second PDSCHs) to which the candidate PDSCH reception occasion corresponds. Fig. 5B, [0120] discloses three candidate PDSCH reception occasions in slots n-3, n-2 and n-1 and illustrates that ACK/NACKs, also referred to as real ACK/NACKs, are inserted into the feedback codebook 550 when a PDSCH is received (in the order) and that NACKs, also referred to as dummy NACKs, are inserted into the feedback codebook when a PDSCH is not received for a given slot (or mini-slot) (also in order).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, and Frenne with the semi-static codebook as taught by Khoshnevisan for improving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgement (ACK) feedback codebooks for UE ACK transmission (Khoshnevisan [¶0002]).
Regarding Claim 18, Huang, Khoshnevisan, and Frenne disclose the apparatus according to claim 1. Huang further discloses:
wherein the transmitter transmits the HARQ-ACK codebook in a slot with an index n+k (slot n+k) ([0184] Fig. 6 the UE 115 may transmit the feedback 615 in a single PUCCH slot and determine the time-domain resource (e.g., the slot) for communicating the feedback 615 based on a single indication of the offset 620 (e.g., the K1 offset), indicates the n+k slot),
wherein a slot with index n (slot n) is an ending slot of the scheduled PDSCHs or an ending slot of a last scheduled PDSCH in the scheduled PDSCHs. ([0182, 0183] Fig. 6, the UE 115 may transmit the feedback 615 K1 slots after the last symbol of the PDSCH 610-c, indicates the transmitter (of the apparatus UE 115) transmits the HARQ-Ack with offset 620 from the last PDSCH of the first PDSCHs.)
Regarding Claim 20, Huang discloses A communication system ([0143] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 200), comprising at least a terminal equipment ([0143] FIG. 2 UE 115-a) and a network device ([0143] FIG. 2 base station 105-a),
whereinFig. 11, [0213] receiver 1110 and transmitter 1140 for UE 115)
the receiver is configured to receive downlink control information (DCI) used for scheduling a plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs), (Fig. 2, [0144, 0146] a base station transmits a single DCI 210 that schedules multiple downlink shared channels, such as multiple PDSCHs 215 (215-a, 215-b) and received by UE 115-a)
the DCI comprising a first information field used for indicating time-domain resources of scheduled PDSCHs; ([0164] FIG. 3 illustrates DCI 305 including scheduling information for multiple PDSCHs 310 (in time domain… see [0149] For example, the first offset (e.g., the K1 offset) may indicate a quantity of time-domain resources (e.g., a quantity of slots) after a first time-domain resource during which a first PDSCH 215 is scheduled). Fig. 3 illustrates M (=3) first PDSCHs) and
Huang does not explicitly disclose the received PDSCHs are not overlapped with UL symbol:
in the scheduled PDSCHs, receive PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter, and/or, not receive PDSCH(s) overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter; and
the transmitter is configured to transmit a HARQ-ACK codebook comprising HARQ-ACK information of the PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by the higher layer parameter.
Khoshnevisan, however, discloses receiving PDSCH for HARQ-Ack codebook transmission:
in the scheduled PDSCHs, receive PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter, and/or, not receive PDSCH(s) overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter; (([0109] When operating in a semi-static mode, feedback codebook size may be determined by semi-static information, based on all possible or potential occasions where a PDSCH could occur (configured with DCI) (scheduled PDSCHs). [0120] FIG. 5B illustrates that ACK/NACKs, also referred to as real ACK/NACKs, are inserted into the feedback codebook 550 when a PDSCH is received (see [0122] disclosing non-overlapping PDSCH, indicates not overlapped, thus received) and that NACKs, also referred to as dummy NACKs, are inserted into the feedback codebook when a PDSCH is not received for a given slot (or mini-slot) for each cell. Therefore, Fig. 5B, illustrates the actual/real HARQ-Ack information corresponds to received PDSCH receptions) and
the transmitter is configured to transmit a HARQ-ACK codebook comprising HARQ-ACK information of the PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by the higher layer parameter. ([0109] When operating in a semi-static mode, feedback codebook size may be determined by semi-static information and based on all possible PDSCH occasions. [0110] A set of PDSCH Time domain resource allocation (TDRA) for the set of possible PDSCH occasions, may be configured in a PUCCH-Config message, indicates higher layer configuration. Fig. 5B, [0119] illustrates a corresponding feedback codebook 550 (first HARQ-Ack codebook) for acknowledging the PDSCH transmissions during the window in the PUCCH transmission at slot n, indicates the transmission of the HARQ-Ack codebook. [0124] At downlink control message 615 (DCI), base station 105 identifies delay value correspond to PDSCH slot-to-HARQ-ACK-delay to the UE 115 when, i.e., which slot after the PDSCH to transmit the acknowledgement feedback for the PDSCH. )
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the system of Huang with the semi-static codebook as taught by Khoshnevisan for improving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgement (ACK) feedback codebooks for UE ACK transmission (Khoshnevisan[¶0002]).
Though Huang and Khosnevisan disclose ability to schedule multiple PDSCHs with a single DCI and generate HARQ Ack/Nack information for the received PDSCHs, Huang and Khosnevisan do not explicitly disclose receiving PDSCH that are not overlapped with UL symbol, otherwise not receiving by the UE if overlapped with UL symbol:
in the scheduled PDSCHs, receive PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter, and/or, not receive PDSCH(s) overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter; and
the transmitter is configured to transmit a HARQ-ACK codebook comprising HARQ-ACK information of the PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by the higher layer parameter.
Frenne, however, discloses:
in the scheduled PDSCHs, receive PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter, and/or, not receive PDSCH(s) overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter; and (Frenne [0202] FIG. 13C, UE is configured with a K1 range from 1 to 5 and receives one or more PDSCHs in a slot from TRP(s) and a semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook is generated. [0220] Each of the TRP is associated with a (same or different) PDSCH time-domain resource allocation table. As in Rel-15, this table is pruned to remove overlapping entries and PDSCH allocations overlapping with UL symbol(s), indicates UE will not receive PDSCH(s) overlapping with the UL symbol)
the transmitter is configured to transmit a HARQ-ACK codebook comprising HARQ-ACK information of the PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by the higher layer parameter. (Frenne [0202] FIG. 13C, TDRA table is pruned to remove overlapping entries and PDSCH allocations overlapping with UL symbol(s), indicates the HARQ-Ack codebook will be generated based on non-overlapped PDSCHs)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, and Khosnevisan with removing the PDSCH allocations overlapping with UL symbol(s) as taught by Frenne. Doing so allows the wireless connection improve the e.g., data rate, latency, power consumption, etc. (Frenne, [0244])
Claims 5, 7, 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US 20210345388 A1), hereinafter Huang, Khoshnevisan et al. (US 20200313803 A1, as provided by the IDS submitted on April 03, 2024), hereinafter Khoshnevisan, in view of Frenne et al. (US 20220256573 A1), hereinafter Frenne and further in view of WANG et al. (US 20230216614 A1), hereinafter Wang.
Regarding Claim 5, Huang, Khoshnevisan, and Frenne disclose the apparatus according to claim 2. Khoshnevisan further discloses:
wherein the number of the HARQ-ACK information bits to which the candidate PDSCH reception occasion corresponds is correlated with a second number and/or (Fig. 5B, [0120] illustrates three candidate PDSCH reception occasions in slots n-3, n-2 and n-1 with each slots corresponds to two PDSCHs (indicating the second number) and two ACK/NACKs are illustrated in the feedback codebook 550 for both mini-slots of the slot, indicates the HARQ-ACK correlates with the second number. [0111] discloses HARQ-ACK feedback codebook may be arranged with acknowledgement feedback organized in a time-first (i.e., PDSCH occasion) and cell second manner. For example, ACK/NACK bits for slots that occur earlier in time are positioned before ACK/NACK bits for slots that occur later in time.)
the second number being a natural number which is equal to or greater than 1. (Fig. 5B, [0120] illustrates three candidate PDSCH reception occasions in slots n-3, n-2 and n-1 with each slots (occasion) corresponds to two PDSCHs (two feedbacks for each slots/occasion as illustrated in the codebook, indicating the second number). In this example, second number is 2 (i.e. >1))
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, and Frenne with the semi-static codebook as taught by Khoshnevisan for improving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgement (ACK) feedback codebooks for UE ACK transmission (Khoshnevisan [¶0002]).
Khoshnevisan illustrated the semi-static codebook with feedback for each PDSCH per occasion (Fig. 5B), Huang and Khoshnevisan do not explicitly disclose the feedback bunding relation:
an HARQ-ACK bundling relationship between PDSCHs,
Wang, however, discloses:
an HARQ-ACK bundling relationship between PDSCHs. ([0055] FIG. 3, the HARQ-ACK value for the first PDSCH 312 and the HARQ-ACK value for the second PDSCH 313 can be bundling to be a one-bit HARQ-ACK value (indicates bundling relationship) and reported in the PUCCH 314. For example, if ACK for the first PDSCH 312, NACK for the second PDSCH 313, then the one-bit HARQ-ACK value may be ACK(1)&NACK(0)=NACK(0))
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, Khoshnevisan, and Frenne with the HARQ-Ack bundling as taught by Wang in order to achieve the enhancement on HARQ-ACK feedback mechanism for terminal device in a case when multiple TBs/independent PDSCHs are scheduled by a single DCI. (Wang, Abstract).
Regarding Claim 7, Huang, Khoshnevisan, Frenne, and Wang disclose the apparatus according to claim 5. Khoshnevisan further discloses:
wherein the second number is the number of PDSCHs being able to be scheduled by one DCI to which the candidate PDSCH reception occasion corresponds. (Khoshnevisan ¶0107 discloses DCI Formats 1-0 and 1-1 (e.g., DCI formats for scheduling one or more PDSCHs), indicates one DCI can schedule multiple PDSCHs. Fig. 5B, [0120] illustrates three candidate PDSCH reception occasions in slots n-3, n-2 and n-1 with each slot corresponds to two PDSCHs (second number) (indicating the number of PDSCHs (candidate PDSCHs) for each occasions. (see application spec [0137], Fig. 6A/6B))
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, Frenne, and Wang with the semi-static codebook as taught by Khoshnevisan for improving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgement (ACK) feedback codebooks for UE ACK transmission (Khoshnevisan [¶0002]).
Regarding Claim 11, Huang, Khoshnevisan, and Frenne disclose the apparatus according to claim 1. Huang, Khoshnevisan, and Frenne do not specifically disclose:
wherein the receiver configured to receive configuration information used for configuring an HARQ-ACK bundling relationship between PDSCHs.
Wang, however, discloses:
wherein the receiver configured to receive configuration information used for configuring an HARQ-ACK bundling relationship between PDSCHs. (Wang [0044] discloses scheduling DCI provides PUCCH slot for HARQ-ACK codebook and codebook size and the HARQ-ACK information bits order can be determined based on parameters such as harq-ACK-SpatialBundlingPUCCH (as in the spec [0133] HARQ-ACK information bits to which a PDSCH corresponds may be determined according to a spatial bundling parameter)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, Khoshnevisan, and Frenne with the HARQ-Ack bundling as taught by Wang in order to achieve the enhancement on HARQ-ACK feedback mechanism for terminal device in a case when multiple TBs/independent PDSCHs are scheduled by a single DCI. (Wang, Abstract).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US 20210345388 A1), hereinafter Huang, and in view of Frenne et al. (US 20220256573 A1), hereinafter Frenne, and further in view of Khoshnevisan et al. (US 20200313803 A1, as provided by the IDS submitted on April 03, 2024), hereinafter Khoshnevisan.
Regarding Claim 19, Huang discloses An information reception apparatus, applicable to a network device, ([0248] FIG. 14 shows a block diagram 1400 of a device 1405 of a base station 105, that include a receiver 1410) the information reception apparatus comprising:
a transmitter configured to: ([0248] FIG. 14 transmitter 1420)
transmit downlink control information (DCI) used for scheduling a plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) to a terminal equipment, (Fig. 2, [0144, 0146] a base station transmits a single DCI 210 that schedules multiple downlink shared channels, such as multiple PDSCHs 215 (215-a, 215-b) and received by UE 115-a)
the DCI comprising a first information field used for indicating time-domain resources of scheduled PDSCHs, ([0164] FIG. 3 illustrates DCI 305 including scheduling information for multiple PDSCHs 310 (in time domain… see [0149] For example, the first offset (e.g., the K1 offset) may indicate a quantity of time-domain resources (e.g., a quantity of slots) after a first time-domain resource during which a first PDSCH 215 is scheduled). Fig. 3 illustrates M (=3) first PDSCHs) and
Huang does not explicitly disclose the transmitted PDSCHs that are not overlapped with UL symbol:
transmit PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter, and/or, not transmit PDSCH(s) overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter to the terminal equipment; and
Frenne, however, discloses:
transmit PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter, and/or, not transmit PDSCH(s) overlapping with an UL symbol configured by a higher layer parameter to the terminal equipment; and (Frenne [0202] FIG. 13C, UE is configured with a K1 range from 1 to 5 and receives one or more PDSCHs in a slot from TRP(s) and a semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook is generated. [0220] Each of the TRP is associated with a (same or different) PDSCH time-domain resource allocation table. As in Rel-15, this table is pruned to remove overlapping entries and PDSCH allocations overlapping with UL symbol(s), indicates the TRP will not transmit the PDSCH(s) overlapping with the UL symbol, transmit otherwise)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang with removing the PDSCH allocations overlapping with UL symbol(s) as taught by Frenne. Doing so allows the wireless connection improve the e.g., data rate, latency, power consumption, etc. (Frenne, [0244])
Though Huang and Frenne disclose ability to schedule multiple PDSCHs with a single DCI and transmit PDSCH that are not overlapped with UL symbol, otherwise remove from transmission, Huang and Frenne do not explicitly disclose:
a receiver configured to receive a HARQ-ACK codebook transmitted by the terminal equipment,
the HARQ-ACK codebook comprising HARQ-ACK information of the PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by the higher layer parameter.
Khoshnevisan, however, discloses:
a receiver (Fig. 2, receiver 258) configured to receive a HARQ-ACK codebook transmitted by the terminal equipment, (([0109] When operating in a semi-static mode, feedback codebook size may be determined by semi-static information, based on all possible or potential occasions where a PDSCH could occur (configured with DCI) (scheduled PDSCHs). [0120] FIG. 5B illustrates that ACK/NACKs, also referred to as real ACK/NACKs, are inserted into the feedback codebook 550 when a PDSCH is received (see [0122] disclosing non-overlapping PDSCH, indicates not overlapped, thus received) and that NACKs, also referred to as dummy NACKs, are inserted into the feedback codebook when a PDSCH is not received for a given slot (or mini-slot) for each cell. Therefore, Fig. 5B, illustrates the actual/real HARQ-Ack information corresponds to received PDSCH receptions.)
the HARQ-ACK codebook comprising HARQ-ACK information of the PDSCH(s) not overlapping with an UL symbol configured by the higher layer parameter. ([0109] When operating in a semi-static mode, feedback codebook size may be determined by semi-static information and based on all possible PDSCH occasions. [0110] A set of PDSCH Time domain resource allocation (TDRA) for the set of possible PDSCH occasions, may be configured in a PUCCH-Config message, indicates higher layer configuration. Fig. 5B, [0119] illustrates a corresponding feedback codebook 550 (first HARQ-Ack codebook) for acknowledging the PDSCH transmissions during the window in the PUCCH transmission at slot n, indicates the transmission of the HARQ-Ack codebook. [0120] FIG. 5B illustrates that ACK/NACKs, also referred to as real ACK/NACKs, are inserted into the feedback codebook 550 when a PDSCH is received (see [0122] disclosing non-overlapping PDSCH, indicates not overlapped, thus received) [0124] At downlink control message 615 (DCI), base station 105 identifies delay value correspond to PDSCH slot-to-HARQ-ACK-delay to the UE 115 when, i.e., which slot after the PDSCH to transmit the acknowledgement feedback for the PDSCH. )
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Huang, and Frenne with the semi-static codebook as taught by Khoshnevisan for improving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgement (ACK) feedback codebooks for UE ACK transmission (Khoshnevisan [¶0002]).
Conclusion
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 MOHAMMED NIAMUL HUDA KHAN whose telephone number is (703)756-1689. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8AM-5PM.
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, Rebecca Song can be reached at 571-270-3667. 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.
/M.N.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2417
/REBECCA E SONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2417