Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed July 29, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s amended claim limitations in claim 1, “in a case where a 1st PUCCH resource for transmitting the BFR for the SCell and a 2nd PUCCH resource for transmitting a pending Scheduling Request (SR) overlap, prioritize transmission of the BFR on the first PUCCH resource over transmission of the pending SR on the second PUCCH resource by transmitting on the first PUCCH resource and refraining from transmitting on the second PUCCH resource” do not overcome the cited combination of Takeda and Zhou.
Takeda discloses in a case where a 1st PUCCH resource for transmitting the beam related information for the SCell and a 2nd PUCCH resource for transmitting a pending Scheduling Request (SR) overlap, prioritize transmission of the beam related information on the first PUCCH resource over transmission of the pending SR on the second PUCCH resource by transmitting on the first PUCCH resource and refraining from transmitting on the second PUCCH resource (Takeda, paragraph [0052], UCI may include a scheduling request (SR) and UCI may include beam related information; paragraph [0066], PCell may be associated with a certain PUCCH, e.g. long PUCCH, and SCell may be associated with another PUCCH, e.g. short PUCCH; paragraph [0075], when short PUCCH and long PUCCH collide, short PUCCH may be transmitted and the long PUCCH may be dropped; paragraph [0130], when different PUCCHs overlap, a PUCCH to be dropped may be selected based on the configured priority, CSI parts of a low priority are dropped).
Zhou discloses in a case where a 1st PUCCH resource for transmitting the BFR for the SCELL and a 2nd PUCCH resource for transmitting a pending Scheduling Request (SR), transmission of the BFR on the first PUCCH resource over transmission of the pending SR on the second PUCCH resource by transmitting on the first PUCCH resource and refraining from transmitting on the second PUCCH resource (Zhou, paragraph [0325], BFR-PUCCH for transmitting beam failure recovery request; paragraph [0360], when multiple PUCCH procedures overlapping in time, keeping a first PUCCH procedure and cancelling a second PUCCH; paragraph [0397], configuration parameters of a SCell; paragraph [0397]-[0399], trigger a first SR in response to BFR procedure and a second SR based on a configuration associated with a logical channel).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takeda et al. (US 2020/0288458) in view of Zhou et al. (US 2019/0306875).
Regarding claim 1, Takeda discloses a terminal apparatus comprising a processor (Takeda, Fig. 17; paragraph [0239], user terminal includes a processor) configured to:
receive a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling comprising first information related to a beam related information (Takeda, paragraph [0050], configuring a PUCCH used for specific UCI type; paragraph [0052], UCI may include beam related information such as Beam Index; paragraph [0059], configuration information indicating PUCCH resources is configured to the UE by RRC signaling; paragraph [0138], timing of the PUCCH can be configured by RRC or indicated by DCI) for a Secondary Cell (SCell) (Takeda, paragraph [0066], PCell may be associated with a certain PUCCH, e.g. long PUCCH, and SCell may be associated with another PUCCH, e.g. short PUCCH); and
in a case where a 1st PUCCH resource for transmitting the beam related information for the SCell and a 2nd PUCCH resource for transmitting a pending Scheduling Request (SR) overlap, prioritize transmission of the beam related information on the first PUCCH resource over transmission of the pending SR on the second PUCCH resource by transmitting on the first PUCCH resource and refraining from transmitting on the second PUCCH resource (Takeda, paragraph [0052], UCI may include a scheduling request (SR) and UCI may include beam related information; paragraph [0066], PCell may be associated with a certain PUCCH, e.g. long PUCCH, and SCell may be associated with another PUCCH, e.g. short PUCCH; paragraph [0075], when short PUCCH and long PUCCH collide, short PUCCH may be transmitted and the long PUCCH may be dropped; paragraph [0130], when different PUCCHs overlap, a PUCCH to be dropped may be selected based on the configured priority, CSI parts of a low priority are dropped).
Takeda does not explicitly disclose first information related to a beam failure recovery (BFR); and
in a case where a 1st PUCCH resource for transmitting the beam information BFR; transmission of the BFR on the first PUCCH resource.
Zhou discloses receive a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling comprising first information related to a beam failure recovery (BFR) (Zhou, Fig. 17; paragraph [0338], FIG. 17 shows example of the BFR procedure of a cell ( e.g., PCell or SCell). A wireless device may receive one or more RRC messages comprising BFR parameters 1701) for a Secondary Cell (SCell) (Zhou, paragraph [0397], configuration parameters of a SCell); and
in a case where a 1st PUCCH resource for transmitting the BFR for the SCELL and a 2nd PUCCH resource for transmitting a pending Scheduling Request (SR), transmission of the BFR on the first PUCCH resource over transmission of the pending SR on the second PUCCH resource by transmitting on the first PUCCH resource and refraining from transmitting on the second PUCCH resource (Zhou, paragraph [0325], BFR-PUCCH for transmitting beam failure recovery request; paragraph [0360], when multiple PUCCH procedures overlapping in time, keeping a first PUCCH procedure and cancelling a second PUCCH; paragraph [0397], configuration parameters of a SCell; paragraph [0397]-[0399], trigger a first SR in response to BFR procedure and a second SR based on a configuration associated with a logical channel).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Zhou into the system of Takeda in order to improve uplink and downlink performance when one or more beam failure procedures and SR procedures are overalpping (Zhou; [0360]).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Takeda and Zhou, particularly Takeda discloses the terminal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first PUCCH resource is shared by component carriers (Takeda, Fig. 5, PCell and SCell use same PUCCH resource for UCI; paragraph [0251], component carrier may be referred to as a cell ).
Claim 3 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 1.
Claim 4 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 2.
Regarding claim 5, Takeda discloses the terminal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first PUCCH resource is determined based on the first information related to the beam related information of the SCell (Takeda, paragraph [0050], configuring a PUCCH used for specific UCI type; paragraph [0052], UCI may include beam related information such as Beam Index; paragraph [0059], configuration information indicating PUCCH resources is configured to the UE by RRC signaling; paragraph [0066], PCell may be associated with a certain PUCCH, e.g. long PUCCH, and SCell may be associated with another PUCCH, e.g. short PUCCH; paragraph [0075], when short PUCCH and long PUCCH collide, short PUCCH may be transmitted and the long PUCCH may be dropped; paragraph [0130], when different PUCCHs overlap, a PUCCH to be dropped may be selected based on the configured priority, CSI parts of a low priority are dropped; paragraph [0138], timing of the PUCCH can be configured by RRC or indicated by DCI).
Takeda does not explicitly disclose first information related to a BFR.
Zhou discloses the first information related to the BFR of the SCell (Zhou, Fig. 17; paragraph [0338], FIG. 17 shows example of the BFR procedure of a cell ( e.g., PCell or SCell). A wireless device may receive one or more RRC messages comprising BFR parameters 1701; paragraph [0397], configuration parameters of a SCell).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Zhou into the system of Takeda in order to improve uplink and downlink performance when one or more beam failure procedures and SR procedures are overalpping (Zhou; [0360]).
Claim 6 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 5.
Regarding claim 7, Takeda discloses wherein the method comprises transmitting, based on the first information, the BFR for the Scell on the first PUCCH resource (Takeda, paragraph [0052], UCI may include a scheduling request (SR) and UCI may include beam related information; paragraph [0066], PCell may be associated with a certain PUCCH, e.g. long PUCCH, and SCell may be associated with another PUCCH, e.g. short PUCCH; paragraph [0075], when short PUCCH and long PUCCH collide, short PUCCH may be transmitted and the long PUCCH may be dropped; paragraph [0130], when different PUCCHs overlap, a PUCCH to be dropped may be selected based on the configured priority, CSI parts of a low priority are dropped).
Takeda does not explicitly disclose transmitting the BFR.
Zhou discloses transmitting the BFR for the Scell (Zhou, Fig. 17; paragraph [0396], transmit a BFR signal; paragraph [0397], configuration parameters of a SCell).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Zhou into the system of Takeda in order to improve uplink and downlink performance when one or more beam failure procedures and SR procedures are overalpping (Zhou; [0360]).
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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yi et al. (US 20190357264) discloses to allow dynamically select which UL transmission to adopt in each UL resource. To handle potential collision case, priority rule based on such as UCI type and CG may be necessary as full collision avoidance by the scheduling may not be easily feasible due to different processing time in each CG.
Mochizuki et al. (US 20200045725) discloses assigning priorities to beams via which the UEs communicate, using the priorities of the UEs will be disclosed. When the aforementioned timings conflict with each other, with the timings, the cell receives the PUCCH via a beam via which the UE with a higher priority communicates, and does not receive the PUCCH via a beam via which the UE with a lower priority communicates. The UE with a higher priority with the timings transmits the PUCCH to the cell. Although the UE with a lower priority with the timings transmits the PUCCH to the cell, the cell does not receive the PUCCH.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Un Cho can be reached at (571) 272-7919. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/A.L.L/Examiner, Art Unit 2413
/UN C CHO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2413
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