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 15 December 2025 has been entered. Claims 1-4, 6, 9-14, and 16-20 remain pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks pages 10-15, filed 15 December 2025, with respect to the rejections of claims 1-4, 6, 9-14, and 16-20 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejections have been withdrawn.
Bae et al. (US 2023/0180245 A1) or Bae
Bae teaches receiving a downlink signal in a downlink channel, identifying the priority of the one or more uplink control information or UCI, transmitting a signal including UCI based on one or more uplink channels, including multiple physical uplink control channel or PUCCH. Teaching, Bae discloses transmitting multiple PUCCH based on the priority of one or more UCI with priority being positive scheduling request or SR, negative SR, channel state information or CSI with a first priority, and CSI with a second priority. Bae also teaches HARQ-ACK indicated by a DCI format and HARQ-ACK for semi-persistent scheduling or SPS physical downlink shared control channel or PDSCH with no indication by DCI.
However, Bae fails to explicitly teach a HARQ-ACK indicated by a downlink control information or DCI format possesses a higher priority than a HARQ-ACK not indicated by a DCI format. In addition to the priorities of HARQ-ACK, Bae fails to explicitly disclose an uplink control information or UCI refraining from being multiplexed with different UCI types in physical uplink control channel or PUCCH with repetitions and applying priority to each overlapping slot according to UCI type. If the a first PUCCH with UCI type HARQ-ACK and a second PUCCH with UCI type CSI overlap in each slot, Bae fails to explicitly show the a first PUCCH with UCI type HARQ-ACK being transmitting while a second PUCCH with UCI type CSI refraining from being transmitted.
Lin et al. (US 2020/0413425 A1) or Lin
Lin teaches the higher priority of a dynamically scheduled PDSCH over SPS PDSCH. In addition to the dynamically scheduled PDSCH possessing a higher priority than SPS PDSCH, Lin teaches transmitting UCI based on the priority of the UCI with a PUCCH or physical uplink shared channel or PUSCH. However, Lin fails to explicitly teach refraining from multiplexing different UCI types with multiple PUCCH with a first PUCCH with a UCI type of HARQ-ACK and a second PUCCH with a UCI type of CSI.
However, upon further consideration, new grounds of rejections for claims 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 13, 14, 17 and 18 are made in view of Bae et al. (US 2023/0180245 A1) or Bae in further view of Lin et al. (US 2020/0413425 A1) or Lin in further view of Su et al. (US 20230354340 A1) or Su.
However, upon further consideration, new grounds of rejections for claims 3 and 19 are made in view of Bae et al. (US 2023/0180245 A1) or Bae in further view of Lin et al. (US 2020/0413425 A1) or Lin in further view of Su et al. (US 20230354340 A1) or Su in further view of Xiong et al. (WO 2020/191274 A1) or Xiong.
However, upon further consideration, new grounds of rejections for claims 4, 12, and 20 are made in view of Bae et al. (US 2023/0180245 A1) or Bae in further view of Lin et al. (US 2020/0413425 A1) or Lin in further view of Su et al. (US 20230354340 A1) or Su in further view of Xiong et al. (WO 2020/191274 A1) or Xiong in further view of Iyer et al. (WO 2020/168223 A1) or Iyer.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 13, 14, 17, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bae et al. (US 2023/0180245 A1) or Bae in view of Lin et al. (US 2020/0413425 A1) or Lin in further view of Su et al. (US 20230354340 A1) or Su.
Claim 1
Bae teaches,
(Currently Amended) A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
receiving a downlink signal based on one or more downlink channels;
(See Bae paragraph 0177, Referring to FIG. 7, the UE may detect a PDCCH in a slot n.)
identifying a priority of one or more uplink control information (UCI); and
(See Bae paragraph 0230, Referring to FIG. 14, when a plurality of PUCCH/PUSCH channels (resources) with different priorities have overlapping transmission periods in the time domain, the UE may group UL channels with the same priority and resolve overlaps between UL channels in the same group.)
transmitting an uplink signal including the one or more UCI based on one or more uplink channels,
(See Bae paragraph 0253, The UE may transmit a prioritized PUCCH and/or PUSCH (S1805).)
wherein the one or more uplink channels include a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) with repetitions, and
(See Bae paragraph 0253, If the PUCCH and/or PUSCH transmissions are scheduled to overlap in time, the UE may perform inter-priority UL multiplexing according to some implementations of the present disclosure (S1803).)
the PUCCH with repetitions is transmitted based on the identified priority of the one or more UCI, and
(See Bae paragraph 0253, The UE may transmit a prioritized PUCCH and/or PUSCH (S1805).)
wherein the priority of the one or more UCI is identified as:
a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) indicated by a…
(See Bae paragraph 0140, If the UCI type is HARQ-ACK for a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH, the PUCCH resource to be used for UCI transmission in the PUCCH resource set may be configured for the UE through higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). On the other hand, if the UCI type is HARQ-ACK for a PDSCH scheduled by DCI, the PUCCH resource to be used for UCI transmission in the PUCCH resource set may be scheduled by the DCI.)
Shows HARQ-ACK indicated by a DCI format and HARQ-ACK for SPS PDSCH with no indication by DCI
….positive scheduling request (SR),
negative SR,
(See Bae paragraph 0344, For an SR, only the last SR among positive SRs may be included in the PUSCH or PUCCH.)
Shows the positive SR possess higher priority than negative SR
channel state information (CSI) with a first priority,
and CSI with a second priority,
(See Bae paragraph 0345, For CSI, only the last CSI may be included in the PUSCH or PUCCH.)
in an order from higher priority to lower priority,
(See Bae paragraph 0295, The UE may sequentially multiplex all or part of the LP UCIs with the HP UCIs according to the following LP UCI priorities: LP HARQ-ACK>LP SR>LP CSI)
Shows the UCI priorities of HARQ-ACK > SR > CSI
However, Bae fails to teach,
…downlink control information (DCI) format,
HARQ-ACK not indicated by the DCI format,…
Nevertheless, Lin, in the same field of endeavor, teaches,
…downlink control information (DCI) format,
HARQ-ACK not indicated by the DCI format,…
(See Lin paragraph 0078, In one implementation, the priority of UCI for a dynamically scheduled PDSCH (e.g., PDSCH) may always be regarded as higher than the priority of UCI for an SPS PDSCH since the priority between the PDSCH and SPS PDSCH has not been specified.)
Shows a higher priority of dynamically scheduled PDSCH, which may include HARQ, possesses higher priority than SPS PDSCH or non DCI
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the method for prioritizing and multiplexing physical uplink control channels or PUCCHs as taught by Bae with prioritizing a physical downlink shared channel or PDSCH indicated by a downlink control information or DCI over a non-DCI indicated PDSCH as taught by Lin to increase the efficiency of the system (i.e. to increase the accuracy of managing transmission of uplink control information or UCI types by transmitting necessary information).
Bae also fails to teach,
…wherein the one or more UCI is not multiplexed with different UCI types in the PUCCH with repetitions, and in case that transmissions of the PUCCH with repetitions overlap across one or more slots, the priority of the one or more UCI is applied to each slot and wherein in case that, in the PUCCH with repetitions, a first PUCCH with a first type of UCI for HARQ-ACK and a second PUCCH with a second type of UCI for CSI overlap in each slot, the first PUCCH is transmitted and the second PUCCH is not transmitted in each slot.
Nevertheless, Su, in the same field of endeavor, teaches,
…wherein the one or more UCI is not multiplexed with different UCI types in the PUCCH with repetitions, and in case that transmissions of the PUCCH with repetitions overlap across one or more slots, the priority of the one or more UCI is applied to each slot and
(See Su paragraph 0144, A UE does not multiplex UCIs of different UCI types in a PUCCH transmission with repetitions over a certain number (denoted as [00001] NPUCCHrepeat of slots.))
Shows the refraining of multiplexing UCI of different UCI types in a PUCCH transmission with repetitions
(See Su paragraph 0144, If a UE is to transmit two PUCCH signals with each in one or more slots and the transmissions of the two PUCCH signals overlap in some of the one or more slots, then the transmissions can be performed according to a number of the slots and a UCI type priority of UCI in corresponding PUCCH signals.)
Shows the priority of UCI type being applied to each slot if overlapping of PUCCH signals occurs
wherein in case that, in the PUCCH with repetitions, a first PUCCH with a first type of UCI for HARQ-ACK and a second PUCCH with a second type of UCI for CSI overlap in each slot, the first PUCCH is transmitted and the second PUCCH is not transmitted in each slot.
(See Su paragraph 0144, The UCI type priority is ranked from high to low as follows: HARQ-ACK, SR, CSI with a higher priority, CSI with a lower priority. A UE would transmit a PUCCH signal that includes UCI bits with a higher UCI type priority and would not transmit a PUCCH signal that includes UCI bits with a lower UCI type priority.)
Shows the UE transmitting a first PUCCH of UCI type HARQ-ACK and refraining from transmitting a second PUCCH of UCI type CSI
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the method for prioritizing and multiplexing physical uplink control channels or PUCCHs as taught by Bae with refraining to multiplex UCI types in PUCCH with repetitions, if the PUCCH with repetitions overlap in at least one slot, and transmit a first PUCCH UCI type of HARQ-ACK and refrain from transmitting a second PUCCH with UCI type of CSI as taught by Su to increase the efficiency of the system (i.e. to reduce the amount of energy required to transfer data from the user equipment to the base station).
Claim 2
Bae teaches,
(Previously Presented) The method of claim 1, wherein the first priority is higher than the second priority.
(See Bae paragraph 0345, For CSI, only the last CSI may be included in the PUSCH or PUCCH.)
Shows CSI contains a higher priority and a lower priority
The motivation to combine Bae, Lin, and Su in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1.
Claim 6
Bae teaches,
(Previously Presented) The method of claim 3, wherein the first predefined symbol
(See Bae paragraph 0232, Referring to FIG. 15, when a higher priority H-PUCCH scheduled (i.e., triggered) by a DCI format in PDCCH reception overlaps in time with a lower priority L-PUCCH, the UE may cancel transmission of the L-PUCCH before the first symbol overlapping with the H-PUCCH.)
or the second predefined symbol includes at least one of:
a downlink symbol configured by higher layer signaling;
(See Bae paragraph 0256, When considering a minimum required processing time, the UE may apply an additional time offset for reasons such as multiplexing UL channels with different priorities or checking whether multiplexing is allowed. The additional time offset may have a predetermined value or a value determined by the BS through L1 signaling (e.g., PDCCH) or higher layer signaling.)
a symbol of a synchronization signal block (SSB)/ and physical broadcast channel (PBCH);
a symbol of a control resource set for
(See Bae paragraph 0187, A master information block (MIB) on a PBCH provides parameters (e.g., CORESET #0 configuration) for monitoring a PDCCH for scheduling a PDSCH carrying system information block 1 (SIB1) to the UE. The PBCH may also indicate that there is no associated SIB1. In this case, the UE may be provided with not only a frequency range in which the UE may assume that there is no SSB associated with SSB1 but also other frequencies to search for an SSB associated with SIB1.)
The motivation to combine Bae and Lin in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1.
Claim 9
Bae teaches,
(Currently Amended) A user equipment (UE) comprising:
at least one transceiver;
at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one transceiver; and
(See Bae paragraph 0071, The transceiver(s) 106 may be connected to the processor(s) 102...)
at least one memory, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, storing instructions executable by the at least one processor individually or in any combination to cause the UE to
(See Bae paragraph 0011, The UE may include: at least one transceiver; at least one processor; and at least one computer memory operably connected to the at least one processor and configured to store instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to perform operations.)
receive a downlink signal based on one or more downlink channels,
(See Bae paragraph 0177, Referring to FIG. 7, the UE may detect a PDCCH in a slot n.)
identify a priority of one or more uplink control information (UCI), and
(See Bae paragraph 0230, Referring to FIG. 14, when a plurality of PUCCH/PUSCH channels (resources) with different priorities have overlapping transmission periods in the time domain, the UE may group UL channels with the same priority and resolve overlaps between UL channels in the same group.)
transmit an uplink signal including the one or more UCI based on one or more uplink channels,
wherein the one or more uplink channels include a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) with repetitions, and
(See Bae paragraph 0253, If the PUCCH and/or PUSCH transmissions are scheduled to overlap in time, the UE may perform inter-priority UL multiplexing according to some implementations of the present disclosure (S1803).)
the PUCCH with repetitions is transmitted based on the identified priority of the one or more UCI, and
(See Bae paragraph 0253, The UE may transmit a prioritized PUCCH and/or PUSCH (S1805).)
wherein the priority of the one or more UCI is identified as:
a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) indicated by a…
(See Bae paragraph 0140, If the UCI type is HARQ-ACK for a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH, the PUCCH resource to be used for UCI transmission in the PUCCH resource set may be configured for the UE through higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). On the other hand, if the UCI type is HARQ-ACK for a PDSCH scheduled by DCI, the PUCCH resource to be used for UCI transmission in the PUCCH resource set may be scheduled by the DCI.)
Shows HARQ-ACK indicated by a DCI format and HARQ-ACK for SPS PDSCH with no indication by DCI
… positive scheduling request (SR),
negative SR,
(See Bae paragraph 0344, For an SR, only the last SR among positive SRs may be included in the PUSCH or PUCCH.)
Shows the positive SR possess higher priority than negative SR
channel state information (CSI) with a first priority, and
CSI with a second priority,
(See Bae paragraph 0345, For CSI, only the last CSI may be included in the PUSCH or PUCCH.)
in an order from higher priority to lower priority
(See Bae paragraph 0295, The UE may sequentially multiplex all or part of the LP UCIs with the HP UCIs according to the following LP UCI priorities: LP HARQ-ACK>LP SR>LP CSI)
Shows the UCI priorities of HARQ-ACK > SR > CSI
However, Bae fails to teach,
…downlink control information (DCI) format,
HARQ-ACK not indicated by the DCI format,…
Nevertheless, Lin, in the same field of endeavor, teaches,
…downlink control information (DCI) format,
HARQ-ACK not indicated by the DCI format,…
(See Lin paragraph 0078, In one implementation, the priority of UCI for a dynamically scheduled PDSCH (e.g., PDSCH) may always be regarded as higher than the priority of UCI for an SPS PDSCH since the priority between the PDSCH and SPS PDSCH has not been specified.)
Shows a higher priority of dynamically scheduled PDSCH, which may include HARQ, possesses higher priority than SPS PDSCH or non DCI
The motivation to combine Bae and Lin in the independent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1.
Bae also fails to teach,
…wherein the one or more UCI is not multiplexed with different UCI types in the PUCCH with repetitions, and in case that transmissions of the PUCCH with repetitions overlap across one or more slots, the priority of the one or more UCI is applied to each slot and wherein in case that, in the PUCCH with repetitions, a first PUCCH with a first type of UCI for HARQ-ACK and a second PUCCH with a second type of UCI for CSI overlap in each slot, the first PUCCH is transmitted and the second PUCCH is not transmitted in each slot.
Nevertheless, Su, in the same field of endeavor, teaches,
…wherein the one or more UCI is not multiplexed with different UCI types in the PUCCH with repetitions, and in case that transmissions of the PUCCH with repetitions overlap across one or more slots, the priority of the one or more UCI is applied to each slot and
(See Su paragraph 0144, A UE does not multiplex UCIs of different UCI types in a PUCCH transmission with repetitions over a certain number (denoted as [00001] NPUCCHrepeat of slots.))
Shows the refraining of multiplexing UCI of different UCI types in a PUCCH transmission with repetitions
(See Su paragraph 0144, If a UE is to transmit two PUCCH signals with each in one or more slots and the transmissions of the two PUCCH signals overlap in some of the one or more slots, then the transmissions can be performed according to a number of the slots and a UCI type priority of UCI in corresponding PUCCH signals.)
Shows the priority of UCI type being applied to each slot if overlapping of PUCCH signals occurs
wherein in case that, in the PUCCH with repetitions, a first PUCCH with a first type of UCI for HARQ-ACK and a second PUCCH with a second type of UCI for CSI overlap in each slot, the first PUCCH is transmitted and the second PUCCH is not transmitted in each slot.
(See Su paragraph 0144, The UCI type priority is ranked from high to low as follows: HARQ-ACK, SR, CSI with a higher priority, CSI with a lower priority. A UE would transmit a PUCCH signal that includes UCI bits with a higher UCI type priority and would not transmit a PUCCH signal that includes UCI bits with a lower UCI type priority.)
Shows the UE transmitting a first PUCCH of UCI type HARQ-ACK and refraining from transmitting a second PUCCH of UCI type CSI
The motivation to combine Bae and Su in the independent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1.
Claim 10
Bae teaches limitations of claim 10 as stated in claim 2. The motivation to combine Bae, Lin, and Su in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1.
Claim 13
Bae teaches,
(Currently Amended) A method performed by a base station in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
transmitting a downlink signal based on one or more downlink channels; and
(See Bae paragraph 0177, Referring to FIG. 7, the UE may detect a PDCCH in a slot n.)
Shows the UE receiving the downlink signal from a base station transmission.
receiving an uplink signal including one or more uplink control information (UCI) based on one or more uplink channels,
(See Bae paragraph 0374, The BS may receive a PUCCH and/or PUSCH prioritized by the UE (S1905).)
wherein the one or more uplink channels include a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) with repetitions, and
(See Bae paragraph 0374, If the BS schedules the PUCCH and/or PUSCH transmissions to the UE such that the transmissions overlap in time, the BS may assume that the UE will perform inter-priority UL multiplexing according to some implementations of the present disclosure (S1903).)
the PUCCH with repetitions is received based on a priority of the one or more UCI,
(See Bae paragraph 0374, The UE may be scheduled with PUCCH and/or PUSCH transmissions with different priorities from the BS (S1901).
wherein the priority of the one or more UCI is:
a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK)…
(See Bae paragraph 0140, If the UCI type is HARQ-ACK for a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH, the PUCCH resource to be used for UCI transmission in the PUCCH resource set may be configured for the UE through higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). On the other hand, if the UCI type is HARQ-ACK for a PDSCH scheduled by DCI, the PUCCH resource to be used for UCI transmission in the PUCCH resource set may be scheduled by the DCI.)
Shows HARQ-ACK indicated by a DCI format and HARQ-ACK for SPS PDSCH with no indication by DCI
… positive scheduling request (SR), negative SR,
(See Bae paragraph 0344, For an SR, only the last SR among positive SRs may be included in the PUSCH or PUCCH.)
Shows the positive SR possess higher priority than negative SR
channel state information (CSI) with a first priority, and CSI with a second priority,
(See Bae paragraph 0345, For CSI, only the last CSI may be included in the PUSCH or PUCCH.)
in an order from higher priority to lower priority,…
(See Bae paragraph 0295, The UE may sequentially multiplex all or part of the LP UCIs with the HP UCIs according to the following LP UCI priorities: LP HARQ-ACK>LP SR>LP CSI)
Shows the UCI priorities of HARQ-ACK > SR > CSI
However, Bae fails to teach,
…indicated by a downlink control information (DCI) format,
HARQ-ACK not indicated by the DCI format,…
Nevertheless, Lin, in the same field of endeavor, teaches,
…indicated by a downlink control information (DCI) format,
HARQ-ACK not indicated by the DCI format,…
(See Lin paragraph 0078, In one implementation, the priority of UCI for a dynamically scheduled PDSCH (e.g., PDSCH) may always be regarded as higher than the priority of UCI for an SPS PDSCH since the priority between the PDSCH and SPS PDSCH has not been specified.)
Shows a higher priority of dynamically scheduled PDSCH, which may include HARQ, possesses higher priority than SPS PDSCH or non DCI
The motivation to combine Bae and Lin in the independent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1.
Bae also fails to teach,
…wherein the one or more UCI is not multiplexed with different UCI types in the PUCCH with repetitions, and in case that transmissions of the PUCCH with repetitions overlap across one or more slots, the priority of the one or more UCI is applied to each slot, and wherein in case that, in the PUCCH with repetitions, a first PUCCH with a first type of UCI for HARQ-ACK and a second PUCCH with a second type of UCI for CSI overlap in each slot, the first PUCCH is received and the second PUCCH is not received in each slot.
Nevertheless, Su, in the same field of endeavor, teaches,
…wherein the one or more UCI is not multiplexed with different UCI types in the PUCCH with repetitions, and in case that transmissions of the PUCCH with repetitions overlap across one or more slots, the priority of the one or more UCI is applied to each slot and
(See Su paragraph 0144, A UE does not multiplex UCIs of different UCI types in a PUCCH transmission with repetitions over a certain number (denoted as [00001] NPUCCHrepeat of slots.))
Shows the refraining of multiplexing UCI of different UCI types in a PUCCH transmission with repetitions
(See Su paragraph 0144, If a UE is to transmit two PUCCH signals with each in one or more slots and the transmissions of the two PUCCH signals overlap in some of the one or more slots, then the transmissions can be performed according to a number of the slots and a UCI type priority of UCI in corresponding PUCCH signals.)
Shows the priority of UCI type being applied to each slot if overlapping of PUCCH signals occurs
wherein in case that, in the PUCCH with repetitions, a first PUCCH with a first type of UCI for HARQ-ACK and a second PUCCH with a second type of UCI for CSI overlap in each slot, the first PUCCH is transmitted and the second PUCCH is not transmitted in each slot.
(See Su paragraph 0144, The UCI type priority is ranked from high to low as follows: HARQ-ACK, SR, CSI with a higher priority, CSI with a lower priority. A UE would transmit a PUCCH signal that includes UCI bits with a higher UCI type priority and would not transmit a PUCCH signal that includes UCI bits with a lower UCI type priority.)
Shows the UE transmitting a first PUCCH of UCI type HARQ-ACK and refraining from transmitting a second PUCCH of UCI type CSI
The motivation to combine Bae and Su in the independent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1.
Claim 14
Bae teaches limitations of claim 14 as stated in claim 2. The motivation to combine Bae, Lin, and Su in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1.
Claim 17
(Currently Amended) A base station comprising:
at least one transceiver;
at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one transceiver; and
(See Bae paragraph 0072, The transceiver(s) 206 may be connected to the processor(s) 202...)
at least one memory, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, storing instructions executable by the at least one processor individually or in any combination to cause the base station to:
(See Bae paragraph 0016, The BS may include: at least one transceiver; at least one processor; and at least one computer memory operably connected to the at least one processor and configured to store instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to perform operations.)
transmit a downlink signal based on one or more downlink channels, and
(See Bae paragraph 0177, Referring to FIG. 7, the UE may detect a PDCCH in a slot n.)
Shows the UE receiving the downlink signal from a base station transmission.
receive an uplink signal including one or more uplink control information (UCI) based on one or more uplink channels,
(See Bae paragraph 0374, The BS may receive a PUCCH and/or PUSCH prioritized by the UE (S1905).)
wherein the one or more uplink channels include a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) with repetitions, and
(See Bae paragraph 0374, If the BS schedules the PUCCH and/or PUSCH transmissions to the UE such that the transmissions overlap in time, the BS may assume that the UE will perform inter-priority UL multiplexing according to some implementations of the present disclosure (S1903).)
the PUCCH with repetitions is received based on a priority of the one or more UCI,
(See Bae paragraph 0374, The UE may be scheduled with PUCCH and/or PUSCH transmissions with different priorities from the BS (S1901).
wherein the priority of the one or more UCI is:
a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) indicated by a…
(See Bae paragraph 0140, If the UCI type is HARQ-ACK for a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH, the PUCCH resource to be used for UCI transmission in the PUCCH resource set may be configured for the UE through higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). On the other hand, if the UCI type is HARQ-ACK for a PDSCH scheduled by DCI, the PUCCH resource to be used for UCI transmission in the PUCCH resource set may be scheduled by the DCI.)
Shows HARQ-ACK indicated by a DCI format and HARQ-ACK for SPS PDSCH with no indication by DCI
…positive scheduling request (SR),
negative SR,
(See Bae paragraph 0344, For an SR, only the last SR among positive SRs may be included in the PUSCH or PUCCH.)
Shows the positive SR possess higher priority than negative SR
channel state information (CSI) with a first priority,
and CSI with a second priority,
(See Bae paragraph 0345, For CSI, only the last CSI may be included in the PUSCH or PUCCH.)
in an order from higher priority to lower priority
(See Bae paragraph 0295, The UE may sequentially multiplex all or part of the LP UCIs with the HP UCIs according to the following LP UCI priorities: LP HARQ-ACK>LP SR>LP CSI)
Shows the UCI priorities of HARQ-ACK > SR > CSI
However, Bae fails to teach,
…downlink control information (DCI) format,
HARQ-ACK not indicated by the DCI format,…
Nevertheless, Lin, in the same field of endeavor, teaches,
…downlink control information (DCI) format,
HARQ-ACK not indicated by the DCI format,…
(See Lin paragraph 0078, In one implementation, the priority of UCI for a dynamically scheduled PDSCH (e.g., PDSCH) may always be regarded as higher than the priority of UCI for an SPS PDSCH since the priority between the PDSCH and SPS PDSCH has not been specified.)
Shows a higher priority of dynamically scheduled PDSCH, which may include HARQ, possesses higher priority than SPS PDSCH or non DCI
The motivation to combine Bae and Lin in the independent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1.
Bae also fails to teach,
…wherein the one or more UCI is not multiplexed with different UCI types in the PUCCH with repetitions, and in case that transmissions of the PUCCH with repetitions overlap across one or more slots, the priority of the one or more UCI is applied to each slot and wherein in case that, in the PUCCH with repetitions, a first PUCCH with a first type of UCI for HARQ-ACK and a second PUCCH with a second type of UCI for CSI overlap in each slot, the first PUCCH is received and the second PUCCH is not received in each slot.
Nevertheless, Su, in the same field of endeavor, teaches,
…wherein the one or more UCI is not multiplexed with different UCI types in the PUCCH with repetitions, and in case that transmissions of the PUCCH with repetitions overlap across one or more slots, the priority of the one or more UCI is applied to each slot and
(See Su paragraph 0144, A UE does not multiplex UCIs of different UCI types in a PUCCH transmission with repetitions over a certain number (denoted as [00001] NPUCCHrepeat of slots.))
Shows the refraining of multiplexing UCI of different UCI types in a PUCCH transmission with repetitions
(See Su paragraph 0144, If a UE is to transmit two PUCCH signals with each in one or more slots and the transmissions of the two PUCCH signals overlap in some of the one or more slots, then the transmissions can be performed according to a number of the slots and a UCI type priority of UCI in corresponding PUCCH signals.)
Shows the priority of UCI type being applied to each slot if overlapping of PUCCH signals occurs
wherein in case that, in the PUCCH with repetitions, a first PUCCH with a first type of UCI for HARQ-ACK and a second PUCCH with a second type of UCI for CSI overlap in each slot, the first PUCCH is transmitted and the second PUCCH is not transmitted in each slot.
(See Su paragraph 0144, The UCI type priority is ranked from high to low as follows: HARQ-ACK, SR, CSI with a higher priority, CSI with a lower priority. A UE would transmit a PUCCH signal that includes UCI bits with a higher UCI type priority and would not transmit a PUCCH signal that includes UCI bits with a lower UCI type priority.)
Shows the UE transmitting a first PUCCH of UCI type HARQ-ACK and refraining from transmitting a second PUCCH of UCI type CSI
The motivation to combine Bae and Su in the independent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1.
Claim 18
Bae teaches limitations of claim 18 as stated in claim 2. The motivation to combine Bae, Lin, and Su in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1.
Claims 3 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bae et al. (US 2023/0180245 A1) or Bae in view of Lin et al. (US 2020/0413425 A1) or Lin in further view of Su et al. (US 20230354340 A1) or Su in further view of Xiong et al. (WO 2020/191274 A1) or Xiong.
Claim 3
Bae teaches,
(Previously Presented)) The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the uplink signal based on the one or more uplink channels
(See Bae paragraph 0253, The UE may transmit a prioritized PUCCH and/or PUSCH (S1805).)
includes at least one of:
resolving collision between PUCCHs with repetitions from the one or more uplink channels and a first predefined symbol,…
(See Bae paragraph 0232, Referring to FIG. 15, when a higher priority H-PUCCH scheduled (i.e., triggered) by a DCI format in PDCCH reception overlaps in time with a lower priority L-PUCCH, the UE may cancel transmission of the L-PUCCH before the first symbol overlapping with the H-PUCCH.)
…multiplexing and prioritizing the PUCCHs and the PUSCHs from the one or more uplink channels, or
(See Bae paragraph 0253, If the PUCCH and/or PUSCH transmissions are scheduled to overlap in time, the UE may perform inter-priority UL multiplexing according to some implementations of the present disclosure (S1803).)
resolving collision between the PUCCHs and the PUSCHs from the one or more uplink channels
(See Bae paragraph 0233, Referring to FIG. 16, when a higher priority H-PUCCH scheduled (i.e., triggered) by a DCI format in PDCCH reception overlaps in time with a lower priority L-PUSCH, the UE may cancel transmission of the L-PUSCH before the first symbol overlapping with the H-PUCCH. Depending on UE implementations, transmission of the entire L-PUSCH may be canceled, or transmission of a portion of the L-PUSCH overlapping with the H-PUCCH may be canceled. Consequently, transmission of at least the portion of the L-PUSCH overlapping with the H-PUCCH may be canceled.)
and a second predefined symbol.
(See Bae paragraph 0235, In FIGS. 15 to 17, the UE may expect that transmission of the H-PUCCH or H-PUSCH will not start before T_proc,2+d.sub.i from the last symbol of the PDCCH reception, where T_proc,2 is a PUSCH preparation time for a corresponding UE processing capability on the assumption of d.sub.2,1 based on u and N.sub.2, and d.sub.i is determined by a reported UE capability.)
However, Bae fails to teach,
…and resolving collision between physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs) from the one or more uplink channels and the first predefined symbol,…
Nevertheless, Xiong, in the same field of endeavor, teaches,
…and resolving collision between physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs) from the one or more uplink channels and
(See Xiong paragraph 00205, FIG. 14 illustrates an example of an overlapping Message A PUSCH transmission 1400 and a configured grant PUSCH transmission 1402. In the example, the configured grant PUSCH 1402 is dropped (as indicated by the “x”) while Message A PUSCH 1400 is transmitted (e.g., because the UE has been configured to assigned the configured grant PUSCH a lower priority than the Message A PUSCH).)
the first predefined symbol,…
(See Xiong paragraph 00221, The collision handling techniques described here may also be applied in situations where, for example, the Message A PUSCH and another PUSCH or PUCCH, or both, are scheduled for transmission in overlapping symbols or slots.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the method for prioritizing and multiplexing physical uplink control channels or PUCCHs as taught by Bae with resolving collisions between physical uplink control channels or PUSCHs as taught by Xiong to increase the efficiency of the system (i.e. to reduce the number of collisions between transmissions channels).
Claim 19
Bae teaches limitations of claim 19 as stated in claim 3. However, Bae fails to teach limitations of claim 19 as stated in claim 3. Nevertheless, Xiong, in the same field of endeavor, teaches limitations of claim 19 as stated in claim 3. The motivation to combine Bae, Lin, Su, and Xiong in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 3.
Claims 4, 12, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bae et al. (US 2023/0180245 A1) or Bae in view of Lin et al. (US 2020/0413425 A1) or Lin in further view of Su et al. (US 20230354340 A1) or Su in further view of Xiong et al. (WO 2020/191274 A1) or Xiong in further view of Iyer et al. (WO 2020/168223 A1) or Iyer.
Claim 4
Bae teaches,
(Previously Presented)) The method of claim 1,
wherein the transmitting of the uplink signal based on one or more uplink channels,
(See Bae paragraph 0253, The UE may transmit a prioritized PUCCH and/or PUSCH (S1805).)
wherein the receiving of the downlink signal based on the one or more downlink channels includes at least one of:
(See Bae paragraph 0177, Referring to FIG. 7, the UE may detect a PDCCH in a slot n.)
resolving collision between PUCCHs with repetitions from the one or more uplink channels and a first predefined symbol,…
(See Bae paragraph 0232, Referring to FIG. 15, when a higher priority H-PUCCH scheduled (i.e., triggered) by a DCI format in PDCCH reception overlaps in time with a lower priority L-PUCCH, the UE may cancel transmission of the L-PUCCH before the first symbol overlapping with the H-PUCCH.)
…multiplexing and prioritizing the PUCCHs and the PUSCHs from the one or more uplink channels,…
(See Bae paragraph 0253, If the PUCCH and/or PUSCH transmissions are scheduled to overlap in time, the UE may perform inter-priority UL multiplexing according to some implementations of the present disclosure (S1803).)
…resolving collision between the PUCCHs from the one or more uplink channels and a second predefined symbol, and…
(See Bae paragraph 0211, Case 2 shows that a MUX PUCCH resource determined to transmit the multiplexed UCI newly overlaps with another PUCCH resource. In this case, the process of FIG. 9 may be additionally performed in a state in which the MUX PUCCH resource (or the earliest PUCCH resource (e.g., a PUCCH resource having the earliest start symbol) among the other PUCCH resources including the MUX PUCCH resource) is regarded as the earliest PUCCH resource A.)
However, Bae, fails to teach,
…and resolving collision between PUSCHs from the one or more uplink channels and the first predefined symbol, and…
…resolving collision between the PUSCHs from the one or more uplink channels and the second predefined symbol, and…
Nevertheless, Xiong, in the same field of endeavor, teaches,
…and resolving collision between PUSCHs from the one or more uplink channels and
(See Xiong paragraph 00205, FIG. 14 illustrates an example of an overlapping Message A PUSCH transmission 1400 and a configured grant PUSCH transmission 1402. In the example, the configured grant PUSCH 1402 is dropped (as indicated by the “x”) while Message A PUSCH 1400 is transmitted (e.g., because the UE has been configured to assigned the configured grant PUSCH a lower priority than the Message A PUSCH).)
the first predefined symbol, and…
(See Xiong paragraph 00221, The collision handling techniques described here may also be applied in situations where, for example, the Message A PUSCH and another PUSCH or PUCCH, or both, are scheduled for transmission in overlapping symbols or slots.)
…resolving collision between the PUSCHs from the one or more uplink channels and
(See Xiong paragraph 00205, FIG. 14 illustrates an example of an overlapping Message A PUSCH transmission 1400 and a configured grant PUSCH transmission 1402. In the example, the configured grant PUSCH 1402 is dropped (as indicated by the “x”) while Message A PUSCH 1400 is transmitted (e.g., because the UE has been configured to assigned the configured grant PUSCH a lower priority than the Message A PUSCH).)
the second predefined symbol, and…
(See Xiong paragraph 00228, ...overlapping can include situations where the Message A PUSCH and the PUSCH in the CC may be transmitted simultaneously, in consecutive symbols or slots in a way that the UE is incapable of handling, or without sufficient gap between transmissions, among others.)
The motivation to combine Bae and Xiong in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 3.
Bae also fails to teach,
…resolving collision between physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) from the one or more downlink channels and a third predefined symbol,…
…resolving collision between dynamically scheduled PDSCHs from the one or more downlink channels and semi-persistently scheduling (SPS) PDSCHs from the one or more downlink channels,…
…wherein the third predefined symbol includes at least one of:
an uplink symbol configured by higher layer signaling;
Nevertheless, Lin, in the same field of endeavor, teaches,
…resolving collision between physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) from the one or more downlink channels and a third predefined symbol,…
(See Lin paragraph 0098, It should be noted that UCI collision may also occur between UCI for a first SPS PDSCH and UCI for a second SPS PDSCH when multiple activated SPS PDSCH configurations are supported by the UE. In one implementation, the RRC configuration received in action 102 in FIG. 2 may indicate a priority of the first UCI for the first SPS PDSCH and a priority of the second UCI for the second SPS PDSCH. The UE may transmit a prioritized UCI based on the priority of the first UCI and the priority of the second UCI when the first UCI for the first SPS PDSCH and the second UCI for the second SPS PDSCH partially or fully overlap in the time domain.)
…resolving collision between dynamically scheduled PDSCHs from the one or more downlink channels and semi-persistently scheduling (SPS) PDSCHs from the one or more downlink channels,…
(See Lin paragraph 0078, In one implementation, the priority of UCI for a dynamically scheduled PDSCH (e.g., PDSCH) may always be regarded as higher than the priority of UCI for an SPS PDSCH since the priority between the PDSCH and SPS PDSCH has not been specified. For example, when collision occurs between UCI for the PDSCH and UCI for the SPS PDSCH, the UCI for the PDSCH may be prioritized.)
…wherein the third predefined symbol includes at least one of:
an uplink symbol configured by higher layer signaling;
(See Lin paragraph 0098, It should be noted that UCI collision may also occur between UCI for a first SPS PDSCH and UCI for a second SPS PDSCH when multiple activated SPS PDSCH configurations are supported by the UE. In one implementation, the RRC configuration received in action 102 in FIG. 2 may indicate a priority of the first UCI for the first SPS PDSCH and a priority of the second UCI for the second SPS PDSCH. The UE may transmit a prioritized UCI based on the priority of the first UCI and the priority of the second UCI when the first UCI for the first SPS PDSCH and the second UCI for the second SPS PDSCH partially or fully overlap in the time domain.)
Shows time UCI configured by RRC higher layer signaling in time domain
The motivation to combine Bae and Lin in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1.
Bae also fails to teach,
…resolving collision between the PDSCHs from the one or more downlink channels and the PUCCHs and the PUSCHs from the one or more uplink channels, or…
Nevertheless, Iyer, in the same field of endeavor, teaches,
…resolving collision between the PDSCHs from the one or more downlink channels and the PUCCHs and the PUSCHs from the one or more uplink channels, or…
(See Iyer paragraph 00276, FIG. 36A is a diagram of Intra-UE DL and UL collision Low-priority PDSCH and high-priority PUSCH collision 3600. FIG. 36A shows slot #0 3607, slot #1 3608, slot #2 3609 comprising PDCCH 3601, other DL signals 3602, and gap 3606. In the example of FIG. 36A, one or more flexible symbols may be scheduled for a low-priority PDSCH through a grant (e.g., eMBB PDSCH 3603). A high priority UL grant may also be scheduled on one or more of same symbols (e.g., URLLC PUSCH 3605). In this case, the UE may suspend the PDSCH 3604 and may transmit the PUSCH.)
Shows a resolving a collision between PDSCH and PUSCH
(See Iyer paragraph 00277, FIG. 36B is a diagram of Intra-UE DL and UL collision Low-priority PDSCH and high priority PUCCH collision. FIG. 36B shows slot #0 3617, slot #1 3618, slot #2 3619 comprising PDCCH 3610, other DL signals 3611, and gap 3612. In the example of FIG. 36B, one or more flexible symbols may be scheduled for a low-priority PDSCH through a grant (e.g., eMBB PDSCH 3614). A high priority UL grant (e.g., URLLC UCI 3616 on the PUCCH 3615) may also be scheduled such that its PUCCH may be on one or more of the same flexible symbols. In this case, the UE may suspend the PDSCH 3620 and transmits the PUCCH 3615.)
Shows resolving a collision between PDSCH and PUCCH
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the method for prioritizing and multiplexing physical uplink control channels or PUCCHs as taught by Bae resolving of collisions between PUCCH and PDSCH and between PUSCH and PDSCH as taught by Iyer to increase the efficiency of the system (i.e. to reduce the probability of collisions between uplink and downlink channels).
The motivation to combine Bae, Lin, and Su in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1.
Claim 12
Bae teaches limitations of claim 12 as stated in claim 4. However, Bae fails to teach limitations of claim 12 as stated in claim 4. Nevertheless, Xiong, in the same field of endeavor, teaches limitations of claim 12 as stated in claim 4. The motivation to combine Bae and Xiong in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 3. Lin teaches limitations of claim 12 as stated in claim 4. The motivation to combine Bae and Lin in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1. Iyer teaches limitations of claim 12 as stated in claim 4. The motivation to combine Bae and Iyer in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 4.
The motivation to combine Bae, Lin, and Su in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1.
Claim 20
Bae teaches limitations of claim 12 as stated in claim 4. However, Bae fails to teach limitations of claim 12 as stated in claim 4. Nevertheless, Xiong, in the same field of endeavor, teaches limitations of claim 12 as stated in claim 4. The motivation to combine Bae and Xiong in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 3. Lin teaches limitations of claim 12 as stated in claim 4. The motivation to combine Bae and Lin in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1. Iyer teaches limitations of claim 12 as stated in claim 4. The motivation to combine Bae and Iyer in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 4.
The motivation to combine Bae, Lin, and Su in the dependent claim consists of the same motivation as stated in claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Xiong et al. (WO 2020041269 A1) teaches prioritizing UCI based upon UCI type in PUCCH transmissions.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new grounds 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 SAMUEL ROBERGE BETTENDORF whose telephone number is (571)272-4352. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri, 8:30a.m.-5:00p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Edan Orgad can be reached at 571-272-7884. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SAMUEL ROBERGE BETTENDORF/Examiner, Art Unit 2414
/EDAN ORGAD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2414
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