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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims [1, 2, 4-8, 10, 12, 18, 20-22, 24-25 and 27-30] are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Stoica (US 20250184049 A1).
In regards to claims 1, 21, 29 and 30 Stoica teaches a processor; memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the UE to: receive, via carrier aggregation, one or more downlink messages from a network entity in accordance with an outer coding transmission scheme; [0083] for XR and cloud gaming traffic in frequency range 2 (“FR2”) without carrier aggregation, the network and/or outer coding with HARQ disabled can result in both latency and power benefits compared to the HARQ enabled case with no added redundancy in certain cases; and/or 3) for XR and cloud gaming traffic in FR2 with carrier aggregation, the NC with HARQ disabled can result in both latency and power benefits compared to the HARQ enabled case with no added redundancy in all cases, deactivate a retransmission protocol associated with the one or more downlink messages based at least in part on application of the outer coding transmission scheme to the one or more downlink messages; [0089] In some embodiments, there may be: 1) a HARQ disablement which: a) does not provide low-latency mechanisms to adapt the redundancy levels of the NC and of the MCS and relies on delay-intensive higher level status reports (e.g., RLC status reports, NC sub-layer reports, PDCP status reports) or explicit CSI determination and/or reports by explicit sounding and/or reports procedures providing such information (e.g., CSI, CQI, link quality indicator (“LQI”), etc.), select, based at least in part on application of the outer coding transmission scheme [0091] In various embodiments, instead of recurring to prior art HARQ procedures (e.g., either full disablement or enablement without NC awareness), it is beneficial to provide a NC-aware HARQ procedure and associated feedback report to avoid certain disadvantages while providing the following gains to the one or more downlink messages, at least one of a first feedback mode associated with radio link control reporting and a first set of resources or a second feedback mode associated with hybrid-automatic request reporting and a second set of resources; [0094] In a first embodiment a UE: 1) is signaled with an NC configuration by a gNB serving a scheduled network-coded ADU; 2) determines, for each one or more scheduled TBs of the scheduled network-coded ADU, a threshold of necessary minimum number of correctly received CBs based on at least the NC configuration; 3) configuring one or more NC-aware HARQ processes with the determined threshold of necessary minimum number of correctly received CBs for each of the one or more TBs of the scheduled network-coded ADU; 4) determining for each NC-aware HARQ processes associated with each TB of the scheduled network-coded ADU an acknowledgement (“ACK”) if the number of CBs within a TB correctly decoded post FEC decoding is at least equal to the determined threshold of necessary minimum number of correctly received CBs of that TB, and a non-acknowledgement (“NACK”) otherwise, as a NC-aware HARQ ACK/NACK; and/or 5) feeding back the NC-aware HARQ ACK/NACK and the HARQ quality report information bits as an NC-aware HARQ feedback to the gNB, and transmit a feedback message corresponding to the one or more downlink messages [0094] feeding back the NC-aware HARQ ACK/NACK and the HARQ quality report information bits as an NC-aware HARQ feedback to the gNB, via the first set of resources or the second set of resources according to the selected feedback mode. [0173] In various embodiments, HARQ ACK/NACK reporting for DL transmissions may be multiplexed over UCI and transported over physical uplink control channel (“PUCCH”) or PUSCH. Network [FIG. 5]
In regards to claims 2 and 22 Stoica teaches receive, from the network entity, [0096] In an example, the gNB serving XR or CGM DL traffic to the UE indicates to the latter the configuration of the NC sub-layer by means of: 1) semi-static RRC signaling procedures; 2) dynamic signaling through DCI scheduling of PDSCH data traffic instances; and/or 3) dynamic signaling through DCI scheduling of group PDSCH data traffic instances, control signaling indicating one or more parameters for use of the first feedback mode, the second feedback mode, [0097] In some examples, the indication of the NC configuration may contain information detailing at least one of a NC codebook type (e.g., Reed-Solomon, Raptor RFC 5053, RaptorQ RFC 6330, Random Linear NC, etc.), a NC packet (or symbol) size, a NC information transmissions size, a NC information packets number, a network-coded repair packets number, a NC maximum transmission size, and/or an NC redundancy level or both, wherein selection of the at least one of the first feedback mode or the second feedback mode is based at least in part on the one or more parameters. [0098] In one example, based on the received NC configuration, the UE determines the NC redundancy level and error recovery characteristics. Using this determined information and the existing higher layers configured TB size (“TBS”), MCS, and DCI indicated scheduling.
In regards to claims 4 and 24 Stoica teaches select the at least one of the first feedback mode or the second feedback mode based at least in part on one or more conditions being satisfied, [0081] In some embodiments, placing network and/or outer coding sub-layer between PDCP and RLC layers allows one to: 1) take advantage of segmentation function of the RLC layer; 2) adapt network and/or outer coding parameters, such as the redundancy level, based on channel conditions; and/or 3) apply network/outer coding on specific radio bearers, wherein the one or more conditions are associated with a power status at the UE, a threshold latency corresponding to the one or more downlink messages, or a combination thereof. [0080] a) PHY retransmissions rely on hybrid ARQ (e.g., HARQ) mechanism with soft combining embedding FEC channel coding with ARQ retransmissions for a highly robust and adaptive retransmission scheme ensuring high reliability, b) PHY retransmissions are controlled by individual HARQ processes within a HARQ entity as part of the MAC and are scheduled accordingly by the latter given the HARQ feedback of a receiver indication non-acknowledgement (e.g., NACK) (or equivalently HARQ-NACK), c) PHY retransmission delays may vary between 2-10 ms based on the scheduling, SCS and MCS configurations.
In regards to claims 5 Stoica teaches select a combination of the first feedback mode and the second feedback mode, wherein the first feedback mode corresponds to a first periodicity [0178] In some embodiments, an RLC ARQ procedure is enabled only in AM operation and relies on retransmissions upon receival of RLC status reports indicating from a receiver side the failure to receive an RLC PDU based on the RLC sequence numbering, and the second feedback mode corresponds to a second periodicity, wherein the first periodicity is greater than the second periodicity. [0071] The RLC PDUs are then processed over the logical channels interfaces by the medium access control (“MAC”) layer which handles the logical channels multiplexing, hybrid automatic repeat request (“HARQ”), scheduling, and scheduling retransmission functions. Lastly, the MAC PDUs are combined over the transport channel into transport blocks (“TBs”) at the level of physical (“PHY”) layer.
In regards to claims 6 Stoica teaches activate a first resource of the second set of resources according to the second periodicity; [0138] When a transmission takes place for the HARQ process, one or two (in case of downlink spatial multiplexing) TBs and the associated HARQ information are received from the HARQ entity, and transmit, via the activated first resource of the second set of resources, a block error report, an indication of a missed message via a physical downlink control channel, or a combination thereof. [0173] In various embodiments, HARQ ACK/NACK reporting for DL transmissions may be multiplexed over UCI and transported over physical uplink control channel (“PUCCH”) or PUSCH.
In regards to claims 7 Stoica teaches alternate between transmission via respective resources associated with the first set of resources [0178] In some embodiments, an RLC ARQ procedure is enabled only in AM operation and relies on retransmissions upon receival of RLC status reports indicating from a receiver side the failure to receive an RLC PDU based on the RLC sequence numbering, and the second set of resources according to the first periodicity and the second periodicity. [0173] In various embodiments, HARQ ACK/NACK reporting for DL transmissions may be multiplexed over UCI and transported over physical uplink control channel (“PUCCH”) or PUSCH. The encoding of HARQ ACK/NACK may be organized in codebooks.
In regards to claims 8 and 25 Stoica teaches transmit a radio link control status report [0178] In some embodiments, an RLC ARQ procedure is enabled only in AM operation and relies on retransmissions upon receival of RLC status reports indicating from a receiver side the failure to receive an RLC PDU based on the RLC sequence numbering, via the first set of resources according to the first feedback mode based at least in part on detection of a missed radio link control packet data unit,[0178] The triggering of RLC status reports is determined by a transmitter by explicit polling or by a receiver by event-based detection of misreception, wherein a hybrid automatic repeat request protocol associated with the second feedback mode is deactivated [0176] 3) no HARQ-ACK feedback: UE does not send any feedback for received data, according to selection of the at least one of the first feedback mode or the second feedback mode. [0232] In various embodiments, the method further comprises dynamically enabling the NC-aware HARQ feedback report, disabling the NC-aware HARQ feedback report, or a combination thereof by: a semi-static RRC signaling; a dynamic indication by a DCI scheduling at least one PDSCH transmission.
In regards to claims 10 Stoica teaches include, in the radio link control status report, [0178] In some embodiments, an RLC ARQ procedure is enabled only in AM operation and relies on retransmissions upon receival of RLC status reports indicating from a receiver side the failure to receive an RLC PDU based on the RLC sequence numbering, an indication of a quantity of segments associated with the outer coding transmission scheme that have been successfully received by the UE. [0078] In various embodiments, NC may be used as outer coding for the XR DL unicast transmission link between the next generation node B (“gNB”) and a UE, whereby the network code applied at the RLC layer (e.g., on the PDCP PDU) spanning over an ADU, as shown in FIG. 6.
In regards to claims 12 and 27 Stoica teaches generate the feedback message according to a hybrid automatic repeat request codebook type, [0173] The encoding of HARQ ACK/NACK may be organized in codebooks, such as: 1) Type-1 HARQ-ACK codebook (e.g., Semi-static)-a semi-static codebook determined by the RRC configuration of HARQ timing offset, CBG-based HARQ, CCs or simultaneous TBs in transit and dynamic scheduling decisions—the number of bits to send in an ACK/NACK report is thus fixed and could be potentially large-if many component carriers are configured for instance but only a few are scheduled, this is inefficient; wherein transmission of the feedback message is based at least in part on generation of the feedback message. [0166] 2> instruct the physical layer to generate acknowledgement(s) of the data in this TB.
In regards to claims 18 Stoica teaches receive control signaling that triggers [0138] When a transmission takes place for the HARQ process, one or two (in case of downlink spatial multiplexing) TBs and the associated HARQ information are received from the HARQ entity, aperiodic feedback signaling via the first set of resources or the second set of resources, [0173] In various embodiments, HARQ ACK/NACK reporting for DL transmissions may be multiplexed over UCI and transported over physical uplink control channel (“PUCCH”) or PUSCH. The encoding of HARQ ACK/NACK may be organized in codebooks wherein transmission of the feedback message is based at least in part on reception of the control signaling [0217] configuring, for each TB of the at least one TB, a NC-aware HARQ process as a HARQ process with the CB threshold; using the CB threshold to determine a NC-aware HARQ feedback report; and feeding back the NC-aware HARQ feedback report to a transmitting device.
In regards to claims 20 Stoica teaches a packet data convergence protocol distribution outer coding scheme [0078] In various embodiments, NC may be used as outer coding for the XR DL unicast transmission link between the next generation node B (“gNB”) and a UE associated with a threshold link quality [0098] DCI indicated scheduling, the UE further determines the necessary minimum number of CBs to be received correctly out of a TB post FEC decoding required for correctly receiving the transmission at the higher NC sublayer post NC decoding.
In regards to claims 28 Stoica teaches refrain from transmission of one or more additional downlink messages based at least in part on receipt of the feedback message; [0110] if the total number of correct CBs is lower than the NC-aware minimum number of correctly received CBs threshold, then: a) the NC-aware HARQ process sorts in descending order the CBGs given the number of CB errors they each contain in the TB receive buffer and refrain from monitoring for one or more additional feedback messages during at least a portion of the first set of resources, the second set of resources, or both. [0110] if the total number of correct CBs is greater or equal than the NC-aware minimum number of correctly received CBs threshold, then: the HARQ process completes with all CBGs being acknowledged, otherwise, the process repeats steps 1.a-1.e; 2) otherwise: the HARQ process completes with all CBGs being acknowledged.
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 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.
Claim [3 and 23] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Stoica (US 20250184049 A1) in view of Tenny (US 20220104035 A1).
In regards to claims 3 and 23 Stoica teaches the limitations of the parent claims.
Stoica does not teach select the at least one of the first feedback mode or the second feedback mode based at least in part on one or more conditions being satisfied, wherein the one or more conditions are associated with a power status at the UE, a threshold latency corresponding to the one or more downlink messages, or a combination thereof.
However, Tenny teaches select the at least one of the first feedback mode or the second feedback mode [0043] According to an aspect of the disclosure, each of the directional radio links between mobile devices has respective radio link monitoring configuration. In the FIG. 1 example, RL1 is monitored according to a first RLM configuration, and RL2 is monitored according to a second RLM configuration. The first RLM configuration and the second RLM configuration can be the same or can be different based at least in part on one or more conditions being satisfied, [0045] the RLM configuration may depend on network configuration, pre-configuration at UE or control signaling between UEs. In some examples, UE1 160 is transmitting the traffic (periodically), and monitoring based on the feedback signals. Then, UE1 160 may indicate that RLM can be only performed at UE1 in the signaling (e.g., connection setup, or RLM configuration) to UE2 170, wherein the one or more conditions are associated with a power status at the UE, [0069] In some embodiments, UE1 160 may enter sidelink discontinuous transmission (DTX) mode. In the sidelink DTX mode, the UE1 160 can repetitively be transmission-active and transmission-inactive according to a cycle. Each cycle includes an active time duration and an inactive time duration. In the active time duration, the UE1 160 is transmission-active and can transmit data when data to share is available. In the inactive time duration, the UE1 160 is transmission-inactive (e.g., transmitting circuitry is in a low power mode) a threshold latency corresponding to the one or more downlink messages, or a combination thereof. [0090] At S660, UE1 560 expects a feedback signal, but does not receive one in response to the third data transmission, for example in a specific time duration.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Stoica and Tenny before him or her, to modify the method of Stoica to include feedback configuration as taught by Tenny.
The motivation to do so would be to the improved mobile communication. (0024 by Tenny).
Claim [11 and 26] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Stoica (US 20250184049 A1) in view of Berggren (US 20160205690 A1).
In regards to claims 11 and 26 Stoica teaches the limitations of the parent claims.
Stoica does not teach transmit a plurality of feedback messages via the first set of resources of a primary component carrier for a first cell group and via the second set of resources of the primary component carrier for the first cell group, the plurality of feedback messages comprising the feedback message.
However, Berggren teaches transmit a plurality of feedback messages [0015] four downlink subframes for each uplink subframe, the receiver has to provide HARQ feedback for all the four downlink subframes in one single uplink subframe, as illustrated in FIG. 1B. When doing so, the HARQ feedback may occupy a significant amount of the uplink communication resources, via the first set of resources of a primary component carrier for a first cell group [0025] PUCCH format 1b with channel selection assumes that a set of channels (i.e., sequences, or PUCCH resources) are reserved for the UE and as a way of encoding the HARQ message, it selects one of the channels, which is then modulated with a QPSK symbol, and via the second set of resources of the primary component carrier for the first cell group, [0025] With up to 4 channels reserved, at most 4 HARQ-ACK bits (i.e., 16 unique states of HARQ information) can be provided. The PUCCH resource reservation can be performed implicitly by a mapping from the time-frequency resources occupied by the PDCCH/EPDCCH to the PUCCH resources. Implicit resource reservation is used when the PDCCH/EPDCCH is located on the PCell the plurality of feedback messages comprising the feedback message [0015] Generally, one HARQ message is associated with each downlink subframe in TDD, since a data packet (e.g., transport block in LTE) is transmitted in one subframe. This implies that HARQ messages from multiple downlink subframes may need to be transmitted in a single uplink subframe, which requires allocation of multiple unique uplink resources for HARQ.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Stoica and Berggren before him or her, to modify the method of Stoica to include feedback configuration as taught by Berggren.
The motivation to do so would be to the improved wireless communication. (0031 by Berggren).
Claim [15] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Stoica (US 20250184049 A1) in view of Nimbalker (US 20220053529 A1).
In regards to claims 11 Stoica teaches the limitations of the parent claims.
Stoica does not teach transmit receive, from the network entity based at least in part on transmission of the feedback message, an indication that no additional downlink messages are pending, wherein the sleep mode is entered based at least in part on reception of the indication.
However, Nimbalker teaches receive, from the network entity based at least in part on transmission of the feedback message, an indication that no additional downlink messages are pending, [0051] According to one aspect of the disclosure, the DCI comprises a GTS signal that instructs the UE 30 to enter a sleep mode or low power mode. DCI-based or L1 based GTS signaling performs better in presence of confirmation from the UE 30. For example, the UE 30 can send an acknowledgement (ACK) to the base station 20 indicating that the downlink control message carrying the GTS signal has been received by the UE 30 ,wherein the sleep mode is entered based at least in part on reception of the indication [0051] Feedback is present if the GTS signal is contained in a downlink control message scheduling a DL transmission on the PDSCH. If the DCI comprises a GTS signal only, an ACK can still provide benefit in case of missed assignments (e.g., otherwise the UE 30 will stay awake until the inactivity timer expires) and the reliability requirements for GTS can be bit relaxed.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Stoica and Nimbalker before him or her, to modify the method of Stoica to include sleep mode as taught by Nimbalker.
The motivation to do so would be to the improved UE power consumption. (0186 by Nimbalker).
Claim [19] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Stoica (US 20250184049 A1) in view of Shi (US 20200366551 A1).
In regards to claims 11 Stoica teaches the limitations of the parent claims.
Stoica does not teach receive control signaling that indicates a carrier aggregation mode, an instruction to deactivate radio link control retransmissions, or a combination thereof.
However, Shi teaches receive control signaling that indicates a carrier aggregation mode, [0028] In the scenario of carrier aggregation, a PDCP entity can support a data replication function. That is, the data replication function of the PDCP is used, so that the replicated data is transmitted to two radio link control (Radio Link Control, RLC) entities an instruction to deactivate radio link control retransmissions, or a combination thereof. [0032] S110: In a case that data of a first radio bearer reaches a maximum number of retransmissions on a first radio link control RLC entity corresponding to the first radio bearer, a terminal device deactivates a replication data transmission function of the first radio bearer.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Stoica and Shi before him or her, to modify the method of Stoica to include RLC configurations as taught by Shi.
The motivation to do so would be to the improved data transmission. (0028 by Shi).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9,13,14,16 and 17 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base
claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
NPL “on the Capability of QoE improvement Based on the Adjustment of RLC Parameters” teaches timers expiring and timers associated with RLC status signaling, but does not teach that the expiring as a deliberate action being chosen, and does not teach based at least in part on selection of the first feedback mode. US 9042279 B2 teaches entering a sleep mode due to the feedback message, but fails to teach deactivating the carrier aggregation.
Response to Argument
Applicant’s arguments filed on 03/06/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The applicant essentially argues with respect to claim 1 on page 2 of the remark’s files on 03/06/2026 that “Stoica [0094] fails to teach “select, based at least in part on application of the outer coding transmission scheme to the one or more downlink messages, at least one of a first feedback mode associated with radio link control reporting and a first set of resources or a second feedback mode associated with hybrid-automatic request reporting and a second set of resources””.
However, the examiner respectfully disagrees.
In response to applicant’s argument, it is noted that the feature “select, based at least in part on application of the outer coding transmission scheme to the one or more downlink messages, at least one of a first feedback mode associated with radio link control reporting and a first set of resources or a second feedback mode associated with hybrid-automatic request reporting and a second set of resources;” is included in [0094] “In a first embodiment a UE: 1) is signaled with an NC configuration by a gNB serving a scheduled network-coded ADU; 2) determines, for each one or more scheduled TBs of the scheduled network-coded ADU, a threshold of necessary minimum number of correctly received CBs based on at least the NC configuration; 3) configuring one or more NC-aware HARQ processes with the determined threshold of necessary minimum number of correctly received CBs for each of the one or more TBs of the scheduled network-coded ADU;”. Here the outer coding scheme applied to the downlink ADU, determines how the HARQ feedback process is configured, NC configurations are directly mapped to outer coding further in explain in paragraph 0082. Stoica further teaches the two different feedback modes, that report errors back to the network (RLC status report paragraph 0080 and HARQ ACK/NACK paragraph 0173), that use PUCCH and PUSCH as radio resources used to carry the feedback, in regarding to “select, based at least in part on application of the outer coding transmission scheme”, Stoica describes that once NC outer coding is applied to the downlink transmission, the outer coding changes what kind of feedback is used, paragraph 0089 explain how when NC outer coding is active it effect the feedback selection.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHEHAB A ALAWDI whose telephone number is (571)270-3203. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/SHEHAB A ALAWDI/Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/JAY P PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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