DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 3/19/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The proposed amendment filed 3/19/2026 have been accepted and entered. Accordingly, claims 1-4, 6-7, 9-13, 15, and 19 have been amended.
Claims 1-20 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
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.
Claims 1-17, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cai et al. (US 2010/0153804 A1), hereinafter “Cai”, in view of R2-2000977 (3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #109-e, Agenda Item: 7.1.5, Source: Ericsson, Title: Scheduling enhancements for LTE-M and NB-IoT, Date: 24 Feb – 6 Mar 2020), further in view of Tang et al. (US 2019/0260518 A1), hereinafter “Tang”, and further in view of Li et al. (US 2011/0268003 A1), hereinafter “Li”.
Re. Claim 1, Cai teaches:
A wireless communication method, (¶0028 FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a method 300 for detecting a HARQ message in the case of the ACK/NACK repetition. & ¶0018 FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless communication system 100)
comprising: determining, by a first device, (¶0028 At block 310, the UE 110 [i.e. first device] may set the HARQ RTT timer 140)
a duration of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer corresponding to a first HARQ process according to a first RTT, (Fig. 2 (First ACK/NACK – 210 [i.e. a first RTT, duration of timer is based on this First ACK/NACK and its RTT as shown in fig. 2]) & Abstract: A method is provided for detecting a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) message. The method comprising setting a round trip time (RTT) based on a time delay associated with acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) repetitions, and receiving a retransmitted HARQ message when the RTT expires. [i.e. a HARQ process involving setting the duration of a timer set according to a time delay associated with an ACK/NACK repetition] & ¶0025 The UE 110 may wake up using the HARQ RTT timer 140 [i.e. duration of a HARQ RTT timer])
wherein the first HARQ process is an HARQ process used by a first data channel, (¶0020-¶0021 The UE 110 and the access device 120 may wirelessly communicate via at least one downlink (DL) channel, at least one uplink (UL) channel, or both. The downlink and uplink channels may be physical channels. the downlink and uplink channels may comprise at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) [i.e. a data channel], at least one physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), at least one physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) [i.e. another data channel], at least one physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or combinations thereof… In an embodiment, the access device 120 may transmit a plurality of HARQ messages to the UE 110 over the downlink in a periodic manner at about a fixed RTT or about equal time intervals.)
the first RTT is determined according to a signal transmission delay between a terminal device and a network device, (¶0020 The UE 110 and the access device 120 may wirelessly communicate via at least one downlink (DL) channel, at least one uplink (UL) channel, or both [i.e. communication between terminal and network device]. & ¶0024-¶0025 The extended RTT 200 includes the time delay to receive the HARQ message [i.e. involves delay time of HARQ message between a terminal and network device], which takes into account the first ACK/NACK sub-frame 210 …The UE 110 may wake up using the HARQ RTT timer 140, which may be set to expire after about the extended RTT 200 [i.e. first RTT].)
the first device is the terminal device or (¶0028 At block 310, the UE 110 [i.e. first device is a terminal device] may set the HARQ RTT timer 140) (Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “Or”)
and the first device is a sending end or a receiving end of the first data channel. (¶0028 At block 310, the UE 110 [i.e. first device] may set the HARQ RTT timer 140 according to the ACK/NACK repetition setting after receiving a HARQ message [i.e. first device is on receiving end of data channel].)) (Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “Or”)
wherein in response to (¶0021 the access device 120 may transmit a plurality of HARQ messages to the UE 110 over the downlink)
the step of determining, by the first device, the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first RTT (Abstract: A method is provided for detecting a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) message. The method comprising setting a round trip time (RTT) based on a time delay associated with acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) repetitions, and receiving a retransmitted HARQ message when the RTT expires. [i.e. a HARQ process using a timer set according to a first RTT] & ¶0024-¶0025 ¶0024 the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply [i.e. first information] …The UE 110 may wake up using the HARQ RTT timer 140, which may be set to expire after about the extended RTT 200 [i.e. duration of HARQ RTT timer] & ¶0028 At block 310, the UE 110 [i.e. first device] may set the HARQ RTT timer 140 [i.e. determining duration of HARQ RTT timer])
comprises: determining the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first RTT, (¶0017 “the UE may wake up after an extended RTT, which may be equal to the sum of the RTT for a single ACK/NACK reply and the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames [i.e. HARQ RTT timer corresponds to first RTT and first information])
and a parameter of the number of times of repeated transmissions of a HARQ-ACK information feedback corresponding to the at least one TB. (¶0017 “the UE may wake up after an extended RTT, which may be equal to the sum of the RTT for a single ACK/NACK reply and the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames [i.e. first information includes a parameter of the number of HARQ-ACK feedback] & ¶0022 the UE 110 may receive an updated request to change the ACK/NACK repetition setting, for example from the access device 120. Accordingly, the access device 120 knows the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames to expect from the UE 110.)
Although Cai describes a downlink HARQ process, it does not explicitly teach: and the first data channel is used for carrying a first transmission block (TB) in at least one TB scheduled by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), and that the at least one TB is a downlink TB.
However, in the analogous art, R2-2000977 teaches such limitations:
and the first data channel is used for carrying a first transmission block (TB) in at least one TB scheduled by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), (Pg. 1 Section 2.1 Ln. 1-2: When multi-TB scheduling is configured and used, the timing relations between PDCCH, PDSCH, PUSCH and PUCCH [i.e. PDSCH or PUSCH, a first data channel used for carrying transmission blocks] can be different compared to the legacy scheduling scenario. & Pg. 2 Ln 12-13: the DCI [i.e. downlink control information is implicitly transmitted on PDCCH] scheduling the TBs includes information about the number of TBs scheduled.)
wherein in response to that the at least one TB is a downlink TB (Pg. 1 Ln. 2-4 Introduction- Scheduling enhancement: scheduling multiple DL/UL transport blocks with single DCI for SC-PTM and unicast [i.e. at least one TB is a DL or UL transport block])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include R2-2000977’s teaching of carrying a number of TB blocks on a data channel scheduled by a physical downlink control channel, because it would allow multi-TB scheduling to be configured and used in order to benefit from using different timing relationships for each communication channel. (see R2-2000977 Pg. 1 Section 2.1)
Yet, the combined references do not explicitly teach: determining the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first RTT, a HARQ-ACK feedback delay of the at least one TB, a processing delay after the terminal device completes the HARQ-ACK feedback, and a parameter of the number of times of repeated transmissions of a HARQ-ACK information feedback corresponding to the at least one TB.
However, in the analogous art, Tang teaches:
determining the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first RTT, a HARQ-ACK feedback delay of the at least one TB, a processing delay after the terminal device completes the HARQ-ACK feedback, and a parameter of the number of times of repeated transmissions of a HARQ-ACK information feedback corresponding to the at least one TB. (¶0055-¶0056 the capability information includes at least one of the following information items: a minimum processing delay between receiving downlink data [i.e. downlink data is a downlink transport block (TB)] by the terminal device and sending feedback information for the downlink data by the terminal device; [i.e. processing delay of feedback for downlink data (HARQ-ACK feedback) is considered HARQ-ACK feedback delay. The delay being similarly described in applicant’s specification at ¶0130 as a delay between a time when the terminal device completes downlink transmission and a time when the terminal device starts to perform HARQ-ACK feedback on the downlink transmission.] the configuration information is instruction information, the terminal device determines the time length of the HARQ RTT timer from preconfigured time length information based on the instruction information and the capability information of the terminal device, and the preconfigured time length information is specified in a protocol.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai and R2-2000977’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include Tang’s teaching of a HARQ-ACK feedback delay of at least one TB being used in determining a HARQ RTT timer, because it would reduce power consumption by allowing the terminal to enter dormancy through use of a variable timer configuration. (see Tang ¶0003-¶0004)
Yet, the combined references do not explicitly teach: determining the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first RTT, a HARQ-ACK feedback delay of the at least one TB, a processing delay after the terminal device completes the HARQ-ACK feedback, and a parameter of the number of times of repeated transmissions of a HARQ-ACK information feedback corresponding to the at least one TB.
However, in the analogous art, Li teaches:
determining the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first RTT, a HARQ-ACK feedback delay of the at least one TB, a processing delay after the terminal device completes the HARQ-ACK feedback, and a parameter of the number of times of repeated transmissions of a HARQ-ACK information feedback corresponding to the at least one TB. (¶0046 the timing of the HARQ RTT Timer is the sum of downlink data transmission time, the delay of data processing of UE, the feedback transmission time of UE and the delay of data processing of eNB. [i.e. the delay of data processing of eNB occurs after the terminal completes HARQ-ACK feedback, and this delay information is used to determine the timing (duration) of the HARQ RTT timer])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, R2-2000977, and Tang’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include Li’s teaching of processing delay after the terminal completes the HARQ-ACK feedback being used to determine a duration of a HARQ RTT timer, because it would allow variable configuration of HARQ RTT timer based on delay values in order to decrease power consumption of the UE. (see Li ¶0011-¶0012)
Re. Claim 2, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 1.
Cai further teaches:
wherein the duration of the HARQ RTT timer is determined further according to first information comprising at least one of the following:
Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “Or”)
a time taken to send the one HARQ feedback information at a time; (¶0024 the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message [i.e. first information] including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply [i.e. single ACK/NACK reply being interpreted as HARQ feedback information])
Re. Claim 3, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 1.
Cai further teaches:
wherein the step of determining the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process (The UE 110 may wake up using the HARQ RTT timer 140, which may be set to expire after about the extended RTT 200 [i.e. determining duration of HARQ RTT timer])
comprises: determining a first duration according to the first RTT, (Abstract: A method is provided for detecting a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) message. The method comprising setting a round trip time (RTT) based on a time delay associated with acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) repetitions, and receiving a retransmitted HARQ message when the RTT expires. [i.e. a HARQ process using a timer set according to a first RTT] & ¶0024-¶0025 the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply [i.e. first information]. The UE 110 may wake up using the HARQ RTT timer 140, which may be set to expire after about the extended RTT 200 [i.e. determining duration of HARQ RTT timer according to first RTT and first information])
and the parameter of the number of times of repeated transmissions of the HARQ-ACK information feedback corresponding to the at least one TB; (¶0017 “the UE may wake up after an extended RTT, which may be equal to the sum of the RTT for a single ACK/NACK reply and the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames [i.e. first information includes a parameter of the number of HARQ-ACK feedback] & ¶0022 the UE 110 may receive an updated request to change the ACK/NACK repetition setting, for example from the access device 120. Accordingly, the access device 120 knows the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames to expect from the UE 110.)
determining the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first duration. (¶0025 The UE 110 may wake up using the HARQ RTT timer 140, which may be set to expire after about the extended RTT 200 [i.e. determining duration of HARQ RTT timer corresponding to first HARQ process utilizing the first duration (extended RTT 200)])
Tang further teaches:
determining a first duration according to the first RTT, the HARQ-ACK feedback delay of the at least one TB, the processing delay after the terminal device completes the HARQ-ACK feedback, and the parameter of the number of times of repeated transmissions of the HARQ-ACK information feedback corresponding to the at least one TB; (¶0055-¶0056 the capability information includes at least one of the following information items: a minimum processing delay between receiving downlink data [i.e. downlink data is a downlink transport block (TB)] by the terminal device and sending feedback information for the downlink data by the terminal device; [i.e. processing delay of feedback for downlink data (HARQ-ACK feedback) is considered HARQ-ACK feedback delay. The delay being similarly described in applicant’s specification at ¶0130 as a delay between a time when the terminal device completes downlink transmission and a time when the terminal device starts to perform HARQ-ACK feedback on the downlink transmission.] the configuration information is instruction information, the terminal device determines the time length of the HARQ RTT timer from preconfigured time length information based on the instruction information and the capability information of the terminal device, and the preconfigured time length information is specified in a protocol.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, R2-2000977, and Li’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include Tang’s teaching of a HARQ-ACK feedback delay of at least one TB being used in determining a HARQ RTT timer, because it would reduce power consumption by allowing the terminal to enter dormancy through use of a variable timer configuration. (see Tang ¶0003-¶0004)
Li further teaches:
determining a first duration according to the first RTT, the HARQ-ACK feedback delay of the at least one TB, the processing delay after the terminal device completes the HARQ-ACK feedback, and the parameter of the number of times of repeated transmissions of the HARQ-ACK information feedback corresponding to the at least one TB; (¶0046 the timing of the HARQ RTT Timer is the sum of downlink data transmission time, the delay of data processing of UE, the feedback transmission time of UE and the delay of data processing of eNB. [i.e. the delay of data processing of eNB occurs after the terminal completes HARQ-ACK feedback, and this delay information is used to determine the timing (duration) of the HARQ RTT timer])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, R2-2000977, and Tang’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include Li’s teaching of processing delay after the terminal completes the HARQ-ACK feedback being used to determine a duration of a HARQ RTT timer, because it would allow variable configuration of HARQ RTT timer based on delay values in order to decrease power consumption of the UE. (see Li ¶0011-¶0012)
Re. Claim 4, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 3.
Cai further teaches:
wherein the step of determining the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first duration comprises: (Abstract: A method is provided for detecting a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) message. The method comprising setting a round trip time (RTT) based on a time delay associated with acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) repetitions, and receiving a retransmitted HARQ message when the RTT expires. [i.e. a HARQ process of setting timer duration according to a first duration] & ¶0021 the access device 120 may transmit a plurality of HARQ messages to the UE 110 over the downlink in a periodic manner at about a fixed RTT …to save battery power, the UE 110 may switch to sleep mode when no HARQ message is expected and may wake up about every RTT or at the expiration of a HARQ RTT timer 140 [i.e. a first HARQ process where duration of HARQ RTT timer is determined])
determining a larger value among the first duration and a first preset duration as the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process; (¶0017 The UE may wake up after the RTT for a single ACK/NACK reply [i.e. the preset duration for RTT timer] in addition to the time delay to account for the additional ACK/NACK sub-frames. Accordingly, the UE may wake up after an extended RTT [i.e. determining a larger value for duration of the HARQ RTT timer (extended RTT) when additional ACK/NACK need accounted for, as opposed to the preset duration being used (as cited below)], which may be equal to the sum of the RTT for a single ACK/NACK reply and the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames minus one. As used herein, discussion of modifying the RTT time based on the ACK/NACK repetitions is intended to include extending the RTT time based on the delay time associated with the additional ACK/NACK sub-frames. The HARQ RTT timer that signals the UE to wake-up may be set to expire after the extended RTT. As such, the UE does not miss receiving the HARQ message and at least some of the UE's battery power is saved by not waking up early. & ¶0021 the access device 120 may transmit a plurality of HARQ messages to the UE 110 over the downlink in a periodic manner at about a fixed RTT [i.e. a first HARQ process where RTT is fixed (preset)] to save battery power, the UE 110 may switch to sleep mode when no HARQ message is expected and may wake up about every RTT or at the expiration of a HARQ RTT timer 140 [i.e. using a first preset duration of the HARQ RTT timer (HARQ RTT timer 140, which is the RTT that has not been extended), of which corresponds to the first HARQ process])
Li further teaches:
wherein the first preset duration is determined according to a feedback delay of the at least one TB (¶0046 the timing of the HARQ RTT Timer [i.e. preset duration] is the sum of downlink data transmission time, the delay of data processing of UE, the feedback transmission time of UE [i.e. feedback delay] and the delay of data processing of eNB.)
and the processing delay after the terminal device completes the HARQ-ACK feedback. (¶0046 the timing of the HARQ RTT Timer is the sum of downlink data transmission time, the delay of data processing of UE, the feedback transmission time of UE [i.e. feedback delay] and the delay of data processing of eNB. [i.e. the delay of data processing of eNB occurs after the terminal completes HARQ-ACK feedback, and this delay information is used to determine the timing (duration) of the HARQ RTT timer])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, R2-2000977, and Tang’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include Li’s teaching of processing delay after the terminal completes the HARQ-ACK feedback being used to determine a duration of a HARQ RTT timer, because it would allow variable configuration of HARQ RTT timer based on delay values in order to decrease power consumption of the UE. (see Li ¶0011-¶0012)
Re. Claim 5, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 3.
R2-2000977 further teaches:
wherein the at least one TB only comprises a first TB, (Pg. 3 Fig. 1 – Example of LTE-M drx-InactivityTimer for single- and multi-TB scheduling. In the topmost alternative one TB is scheduled)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, Tang, and Li’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include R2-2000977’s teaching of carrying only a first TB block on a data channel scheduled by a physical downlink control channel, because it enables a legacy scheduling scenario as opposed to a multi-TB configuration. Allowing a more dynamic approach to setting a HARQ RTT timer. (see R2-2000977 Pg. 1 Section 2.1)
Cai further teaches:
wherein the feedback delay of the at least one TB comprises a first time interval, (¶0023-¶0024 the access device 120 waits for receiving the repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames before transmitting the next HARQ message, the RTT or the time intervals between the retransmitted HARQ messages are increased relative to the number of ACK/NACK sub-frames being transmitted. the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply (as well as the processing delay, transmission delay, etc.))
and the first time interval represents a time interval between a last transmission of the first TB and a first transmission of a HARQ feedback information corresponding to the first TB; (¶0024 the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply (as well as the processing delay, transmission delay, etc.) [i.e. processing delay here is being interpreted as being between a first TB and its corresponding HARQ feedback])
the parameter of the number of times of the repeated transmission of the feedback of the HARQ-ACK information corresponding to the at least one TB comprises (¶0017 “the UE may wake up after an extended RTT, which may be equal to the sum of the RTT for a single ACK/NACK reply and the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames [i.e. first information includes a parameter of the number of HARQ-ACK feedback] & ¶0022 the UE 110 may receive an updated request to change the ACK/NACK repetition setting, for example from the access device 120. Accordingly, the access device 120 knows the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames to expect from the UE 110.)
examiner notes that this limitation relies upon earlier limitations written in the alternative and which were not examined as part of the rejection, therefore is not given patentable weight and has not been examined)
and the second parameter is used to indicate a PUCCH repetition factor. (¶0021-¶0022 the UE 110 may detect each HARQ message periodically at about the RTT and reply with a single ACK/NACK message over the uplink [i.e. ACK/NACK messages are sent over the uplink (PUCCH)]. & ¶0022 The ACK/NACK repetition may be set equal to about two, about four, about six, or more. [i.e. a repetition factor for the ACK/NACK (PUCCH)] For instance, the number of ACK/NACK repetition may be set to about one for good radio conditions and increased to about four, about six, or more, as radio conditions get worse. In some embodiments, the UE 110 may receive an updated request to change the ACK/NACK repetition setting, for example from the access device 120. Accordingly, the access device 120 knows the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames to expect from the UE 110.)
Re. Claim 6, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 5.
Cai further teaches:
wherein the step of determining the first duration (¶0024-¶0025 the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply The UE 110 may wake up using the HARQ RTT timer 140, which may be set to expire after about the extended RTT 200 [i.e. determining duration of HARQ RTT timer])
comprises: determining the first duration according to the first RTT, the first time interval, and the parameter of the number of times of the repeated transmission of the feedback, (¶0017 ¶0017 “the UE may wake up after an extended RTT, which may be equal to the sum of the RTT for a single ACK/NACK reply [i.e. first RTT] and the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames [i.e. duration partly determined according to parameter of the number of HARQ-ACK feedback] & ¶0024 the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply (as well as the processing delay, transmission delay, etc.) [i.e. duration also determined according to processing delay (first time interval), which here is being seen as being between a first TB and its corresponding HARQ feedback])
wherein and the first RTT; (¶0017 ¶0017 “the UE may wake up after an extended RTT, which may be equal to the sum of the RTT for a single ACK/NACK reply [i.e. first RTT] and the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames [i.e. duration partly determined according to parameter of the number of HARQ-ACK feedback] & ¶0022 The ACK/NACK repetition may be set equal to about two, about four, about six, or more. [i.e. a repetition factor for the ACK/NACK (PUCCH)] For instance, the number of ACK/NACK repetition may be set to about one for good radio conditions and increased to about four, about six, or more, as radio conditions get worse. In some embodiments, the UE 110 may receive an updated request to change the ACK/NACK repetition setting, for example from the access device 120. Accordingly, the access device 120 knows the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames to expect from the UE 110 & ¶0024 the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply (as well as the processing delay, transmission delay, etc.) [i.e. duration also determined according to processing delay (first time interval), which here is being interpreted as being between a first TB and its corresponding HARQ feedback])
the first preset duration is equal to the feedback delay of the first TB (¶0017 The UE may wake up after the RTT for a single ACK/NACK reply in addition to the time delay to account for the additional ACK/NACK sub-frames. & ¶0024 the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply (as well as the processing delay, transmission delay, etc.) [i.e. the RTT takes into account the transmission delay (feedback delay), and processing delay])
Li further teaches:
and the processing delay after the terminal device completes the HARQ-ACK feedback. (¶0046 the timing of the HARQ RTT Timer is the sum of downlink data transmission time, the delay of data processing of UE, the feedback transmission time of UE and the delay of data processing of eNB. [i.e. the delay of data processing of eNB occurs after the terminal completes HARQ-ACK feedback, and this delay information is used to determine the timing (duration) of the HARQ RTT timer])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, R2-2000977, and Tang’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include Li’s teaching of processing delay after the terminal completes the HARQ-ACK feedback being used to determine a duration of a HARQ RTT timer, because it would allow variable configuration of HARQ RTT timer based on delay values in order to decrease power consumption of the UE. (see Li ¶0011-¶0012)
Re. Claim 7, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 3.
R2-2000977 further teaches:
wherein the at least one TB comprises a plurality of TBs, (Pg. 3 Fig. 1 – Multiple TB scheduling & bottom of page: Example of LTE-M drx-InactivityTimer for single- and multi-TB scheduling.)
the plurality of TBs comprises the first TB, (Pg. 3 Fig. 1 – Multiple TB scheduling (PDSCH_1) [i.e. figure 1, middle alternative includes PDSCH_1 as a first TB])
and the terminal device is not configured with the HARQ-ACK bundling, (Pg. 3 Fig. 1 – Multiple TB scheduling & bottom of page: Example of LTE-M drx-InactivityTimer for single- and multi-TB scheduling. The middle alternative shows configuration without ACK bundling with back-to-back ACKs.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, Tang, and Li’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include R2-2000977’s teaching of carrying a plurality of TB blocks on a data channel scheduled by a physical downlink control channel, a multi-TB configuration as opposed to a legacy configuration. Allowing a more dynamic approach to setting a HARQ RTT timer. (see R2-2000977 Pg. 1 Section 2.1)
Cai further teaches:
wherein the feedback delay of the at least one TB comprises a second time interval, (¶0023-¶0024 the access device 120 waits for receiving the repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames before transmitting the next HARQ message, the RTT or the time intervals between the retransmitted HARQ messages are increased relative to the number of ACK/NACK sub-frames being transmitted. the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply (as well as the processing delay, transmission delay, etc.) [i.e. a second time interval])
the second time interval represents a time interval between a last transmission of a last TB in the plurality of TBs and a first transmission of the HARQ feedback information corresponding to the plurality of TBs; (¶0024 the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply (as well as the processing delay, transmission delay, etc.) [i.e. processing delay here is being interpreted as being between a first TB and its corresponding HARQ feedback])
the parameter of the number of times of the repeated transmission of the feedback of the HARQ-ACK information corresponding to the at least one TB comprises a , (¶0017 “the UE may wake up after an extended RTT, which may be equal to the sum of the RTT for a single ACK/NACK reply and the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames [i.e. first information includes a parameter of the number of HARQ-ACK feedback] & ¶0022 the UE 110 may receive an updated request to change the ACK/NACK repetition setting, for example from the access device 120. Accordingly, the access device 120 knows the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames to expect from the UE 110.)
xaminer notes that this limitation relies upon earlier limitations written in the alternative and which were not examined as part of the rejection, therefore is not given patentable weight and has not been examined)
and the second parameter is used to indicate a PUCCH repetition factor, (¶0021-¶0022 the UE 110 may detect each HARQ message periodically at about the RTT and reply with a single ACK/NACK message over the uplink [i.e. ACK/NACK messages are sent over the uplink (PUCCH)]. & ¶0022 The ACK/NACK repetition may be set equal to about two, about four, about six, or more. [i.e. a repetition factor for the ACK/NACK (PUCCH)] For instance, the number of ACK/NACK repetition may be set to about one for good radio conditions and increased to about four, about six, or more, as radio conditions get worse. In some embodiments, the UE 110 may receive an updated request to change the ACK/NACK repetition setting, for example from the access device 120. Accordingly, the access device 120 knows the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames to expect from the UE 110.)
examiner notes that this limitation relies upon earlier limitations written in the alternative and which were not examined as part of the rejection, therefore is not given patentable weight and has not been examined)
Re. Claim 8, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 3.
R2-2000977 further teaches:
wherein the at least one TB comprises a plurality of TBs, (Pg. 3 Fig. 1 – Multiple TB scheduling w/ACK bundling & bottom of page: Example of LTE-M drx-InactivityTimer for single- and multi-TB scheduling [i.e. a plurality of TBs].)
the plurality of TBs comprises the first TB, (Pg. 3 Fig. 1 – Multiple TB scheduling w/ ACK bundling (PDSCH_1) [i.e. figure 1, middle alternative includes PDSCH_1 as a first TB])
and the terminal device is configured with the HARQ-ACK bundling, (Pg. 3 Fig. 1 – Multiple TB scheduling w/ ACK bundling & bottom of page: Example of LTE-M drx-InactivityTimer for single- and multi-TB scheduling. & Pg. 4 Ln. 1-2: The bottom alternative shows bundled-ACK configuration [i.e. configured with HARQ-ACK bundling].)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, Tang, and Li’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include R2-2000977’s teaching of carrying a plurality of TB blocks on a data channel scheduled by a physical downlink control channel, a multi-TB configuration as opposed to a legacy configuration. Allowing a more dynamic approach to setting a HARQ RTT timer. (see R2-2000977 Pg. 1 Section 2.1)
Cai further teaches:
wherein the feedback delay of the at least one TB comprises a third time interval, (¶0023-¶0024 the access device 120 waits for receiving the repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames before transmitting the next HARQ message, the RTT or the time intervals between the retransmitted HARQ messages are increased relative to the number of ACK/NACK sub-frames being transmitted. the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply (as well as the processing delay, transmission delay, etc.) [i.e. a third time interval])
and the third time interval represents a time interval between a last transmission of a last TB in the plurality of TBs and a first transmission of a HARQ feedback information corresponding to the plurality of TBs; (¶0024 the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply (as well as the processing delay, transmission delay, etc.) [i.e. processing delay here is being interpreted as being between a first TB and its corresponding HARQ feedback])
the parameter of the number of times of the repeated transmission of the feedback of the HARQ-ACK information corresponding to the at least one TB comprises a (¶0017 “the UE may wake up after an extended RTT, which may be equal to the sum of the RTT for a single ACK/NACK reply and the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames [i.e. first information includes a parameter of the number of HARQ-ACK feedback] & ¶0022 the UE 110 may receive an updated request to change the ACK/NACK repetition setting, for example from the access device 120. Accordingly, the access device 120 knows the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames to expect from the UE 110.)
examiner notes that this limitation relies upon earlier limitations written in the alternative and which were not examined as part of the rejection, therefore is not given patentable weight and has not been examined)
and the second parameter is used to indicate a PUCCH repetition factor. (¶0021-¶0022 the UE 110 may detect each HARQ message periodically at about the RTT and reply with a single ACK/NACK message over the uplink [i.e. ACK/NACK messages are sent over the uplink (PUCCH)]. & ¶0022 The ACK/NACK repetition may be set equal to about two, about four, about six, or more. [i.e. a repetition factor for the ACK/NACK (PUCCH)] For instance, the number of ACK/NACK repetition may be set to about one for good radio conditions and increased to about four, about six, or more, as radio conditions get worse. In some embodiments, the UE 110 may receive an updated request to change the ACK/NACK repetition setting, for example from the access device 120. Accordingly, the access device 120 knows the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames to expect from the UE 110.)
Re. Claim 9, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 8.
Cai further teaches:
examiner notes that this limitation relies upon earlier limitations written in the alternative and which were not examined as part of the rejection, therefore is not given patentable weight and has not been examined)
Re. Claim 10, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 3.
R2-2000977 further teaches:
wherein the at least one TB only comprises the first TB, (Pg. 3 Fig. 1 – Example of LTE-M drx-InactivityTimer for single- and multi-TB scheduling. In the topmost alternative one TB is scheduled)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, Tang, and Li’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include R2-2000977’s teaching of carrying only a first TB block on a data channel scheduled by a physical downlink control channel, because it enables a legacy scheduling scenario as opposed to a multi-TB configuration. Allowing a more dynamic approach to setting a HARQ RTT timer. (see R2-2000977 Pg. 1 Section 2.1)
Cai further teaches:
examiner notes that this limitation relies upon earlier limitations written in the alternative and which were not examined as part of the rejection, therefore is not given patentable weight and has not been examined)
Re. Claim 11, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 3.
R2-2000977 further teaches:
wherein the at least one TB comprises a plurality of TBs, (Pg. 3 Fig. 1 – Multiple TB scheduling w/ACK bundling & bottom of page: Example of LTE-M drx-InactivityTimer for single- and multi-TB scheduling [i.e. a plurality of TBs].)
the plurality of TBs comprises the first TB, (Pg. 3 Fig. 1 – Multiple TB scheduling w/ ACK bundling (PDSCH_1) [i.e. figure 1, middle alternative includes PDSCH_1 as a first TB])
the terminal device is configured with the HARQ-ACK bundling, (Pg. 3 Fig. 1 – Multiple TB scheduling w/ ACK bundling & bottom of page: Example of LTE-M drx-InactivityTimer for single- and multi-TB scheduling. & Pg. 4 Ln. 1-2: The bottom alternative shows bundled-ACK configuration [i.e. configured with HARQ-ACK bundling].)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, Tang, and Li’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include R2-2000977’s teaching of carrying a plurality of TB blocks on a data channel scheduled by a physical downlink control channel, a multi-TB configuration as opposed to a legacy configuration. Allowing a more dynamic approach to setting a HARQ RTT timer. (see R2-2000977 Pg. 1 Section 2.1)
Cai further teaches:
examiner notes that this limitation relies upon earlier limitations written in the alternative and which were not examined as part of the rejection, therefore is not given patentable weight and has not been examined)
Re. Claim 12, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 3.
R2-2000977 further teaches:
wherein the at least one TB comprises a plurality of TBs, (Pg. 3 Fig. 1 – Multiple TB scheduling & bottom of page: Example of LTE-M drx-InactivityTimer for single- and multi-TB scheduling.)
the plurality of TBs comprises the first TB, (Pg. 3 Fig. 1 – Multiple TB scheduling (PDSCH_1) [i.e. figure 1, middle alternative includes PDSCH_1 as a first TB])
the terminal device is not configured with the HARQ-ACK bundling, (Pg. 3 Fig. 1 – Multiple TB scheduling & bottom of page: Example of LTE-M drx-InactivityTimer for single- and multi-TB scheduling. The middle alternative shows configuration without ACK bundling with back-to-back ACKs.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, Tang, and Li’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include R2-2000977’s teaching of carrying a plurality of TB blocks on a data channel scheduled by a physical downlink control channel, a multi-TB configuration as opposed to a legacy configuration. Allowing a more dynamic approach to setting a HARQ RTT timer. (see R2-2000977 Pg. 1 Section 2.1)
Cai further teaches:
examiner notes that this limitation relies upon earlier limitations written in the alternative and which were not examined as part of the rejection, therefore is not given patentable weight and has not been examined)
Re. Claim 13, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 1.
R2-2000977 further teaches:
wherein in response to that the at least one TB is an uplink TB, (Pg. 1 Ln. 2-4 Introduction- Scheduling enhancement: scheduling multiple DL/UL transport blocks with single DCI for SC-PTM and unicast [i.e. at least one TB is a DL or UL transport block])
and the first HARQ process is an uplink HARQ process, (Pg. 1 Ln. 2-4 Introduction- Scheduling enhancement: scheduling multiple DL/UL transport blocks with single DCI for SC-PTM and unicast [i.e. implies that if transport block are UL, that the HARQ process is an uplink HARQ process])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include R2-2000977’s teaching of carrying a number of uplink TB blocks on a data channel scheduled by a physical downlink control channel, because it would allow multi-TB scheduling to be configured and used in order to benefit from using different timing relationships for each communication channel. (see R2-2000977 Pg. 1 Section 2.1)
Cai further teaches:
the step of determining the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first RTT comprises: determining the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first RTT and a second information; (Abstract: A method is provided for detecting a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) message. The method comprising setting a round trip time (RTT) based on a time delay associated with acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) repetitions, and receiving a retransmitted HARQ message when the RTT expires. [i.e. a HARQ process using a timer set according to a first RTT] & ¶0024-¶0025 ¶0024 the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply [i.e. second information] …The UE 110 may wake up using the HARQ RTT timer 140, which may be set to expire after about the extended RTT 200 [i.e. duration of HARQ RTT timer] & ¶0028 At block 310, the UE 110 [i.e. first device] may set the HARQ RTT timer 140 [i.e. determining duration of HARQ RTT timer])
wherein the second information comprises at least one of the following:
Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “At least one of”)
a fourth PDCCH interval, representing a time interval from a fourth timing to the first PDCCH opportunity after the fourth timing, the fourth timing is after a completion of the transmission of the data channel corresponding to the at least one TB, and is spaced apart from the completion by the processing delay (Abstract: setting a round trip time (RTT) based on a time delay associated with acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) repetitions & ¶0024 the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply (as well as the processing delay, transmission delay, etc.) [i.e. fourth interval represents the processing delay] and the time associated with the additional ACK/NACK sub-frames.)
Li further teaches:
a fourth PDCCH interval, representing a time interval from a fourth timing to the first PDCCH opportunity after the fourth timing, the fourth timing is after a completion of the transmission of the data channel corresponding to the at least one TB, and is spaced apart from the completion by the processing delay after the terminal device completes the HARQ-ACK feedback. (¶0046 the timing of the HARQ RTT Timer is the sum of downlink data transmission time, the delay of data processing of UE, the feedback transmission time of UE and the delay of data processing of eNB. [i.e. the delay of data processing of eNB occurs after the terminal completes HARQ-ACK feedback, and this delay information is used to determine the timing (duration) of the HARQ RTT timer])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, R2-2000977, and Tang’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include Li’s teaching of processing delay after the terminal completes the HARQ-ACK feedback being used to determine a duration of a HARQ RTT timer, because it would allow variable configuration of HARQ RTT timer based on delay values in order to decrease power consumption of the UE. (see Li ¶0011-¶0012)
Re. Claim 14, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 13.
Cai further teaches:
wherein the step of determining the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first RTT and the second information comprises: determining a second duration according to the first RTT and the second information; (Abstract: A method is provided for detecting a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) message. The method comprising setting a round trip time (RTT) based on a time delay associated with acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) repetitions, and receiving a retransmitted HARQ message when the RTT expires. [i.e. a HARQ process using a timer set according to a first RTT] & ¶0024-¶0025 ¶0024 the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply [i.e. second information] The UE 110 may wake up using the HARQ RTT timer 140, which may be set to expire after about the extended RTT 200 [i.e. determining duration of HARQ RTT timer according to first RTT and first information])
determining the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the second duration. (¶0025 The UE 110 may wake up using the HARQ RTT timer 140, which may be set to expire after about the extended RTT 200 [i.e. determining duration of HARQ RTT timer corresponding to first HARQ process utilizing the second duration (extended RTT 200)])
Re. Claim 15, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 14.
Cai further teaches:
wherein the step of determining the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the second duration comprises: determining the second duration as the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process; setting a round trip time (RTT) based on a time delay associated with acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) repetitions, and receiving a retransmitted HARQ message when the RTT expires. [i.e. a HARQ process using a timer set according to a first RTT] & ¶0024-¶0025 ¶0024 the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply [i.e. second information] The UE 110 may wake up using the HARQ RTT timer 140, which may be set to expire after about the extended RTT 200 [i.e. determining duration of HARQ RTT timer as second duration according to first RTT and second information]) (Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “Or”)
Re. Claim 16, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 14.
R2-2000977 further teaches:
wherein the at least one TB only comprises the first TB, (Pg. 3 Fig. 1 – Example of LTE-M drx-InactivityTimer for single- and multi-TB scheduling. In the topmost alternative one TB is scheduled)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, Tang, and Li’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include R2-2000977’s teaching of carrying only a first TB block on a data channel scheduled by a physical downlink control channel, because it enables a legacy scheduling scenario as opposed to a multi-TB configuration. Allowing a more dynamic approach to setting a HARQ RTT timer. (see R2-2000977 Pg. 1 Section 2.1)
Cai further teaches:
and the second duration is equal to a sum of the first RTT and the third PDCCH interval; (¶0024 the extended RTT 200 [i.e. a second duration] may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply (as well as the processing delay, transmission delay, etc.) [i.e. second duration includes sum of first RTT and a PDCCH interval, here represented as a delay time for processing or transmission])
examiner notes that this limitation relies upon earlier limitations written in the alternative and which were not examined as part of the rejection, therefore is not given patentable weight and has not been examined)
Re. Claim 17, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 14.
R2-2000977 further teaches:
wherein the at least one TB comprises a plurality of TBs, (Pg. 3 Fig. 1 – Multiple TB scheduling w/ACK bundling & bottom of page: Example of LTE-M drx-InactivityTimer for single- and multi-TB scheduling [i.e. a plurality of TBs].)
examiner notes that this limitation relies upon earlier limitations written in the alternative and which were not examined as part of the rejection, therefore is not given patentable weight and has not been examined)
examiner notes that this limitation relies upon earlier limitations written in the alternative and which were not examined as part of the rejection, therefore is not given patentable weight and has not been examined)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, Tang, and Li’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include R2-2000977’s teaching of carrying a plurality of TB blocks on a data channel scheduled by a physical downlink control channel, a multi-TB configuration as opposed to a legacy configuration. Allowing a more dynamic approach to setting a HARQ RTT timer. (see R2-2000977 Pg. 1 Section 2.1)
Re. Claim 19, Cai teaches:
A wireless communication device, (Fig. 1 (110) & ¶0018 The wireless communication system 100 may comprise at least one UE 110 [i.e. a wireless communication device] and an access device 120.)
comprising: a processing unit, (¶0030 FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a system 600 that includes a processing component 610 suitable for implementing one or more embodiments disclosed herein.)
which determines a duration of a HARQ RTT timer corresponding to a first HARQ process according to a first RTT, (Fig. 2 (First ACK/NACK – 210 [i.e. a first RTT, duration of timer is based on this First ACK/NACK and its RTT as shown in fig. 2]) & Abstract: A method is provided for detecting a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) message. The method comprising setting a round trip time (RTT) based on a time delay associated with acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) repetitions, and receiving a retransmitted HARQ message when the RTT expires. [i.e. a HARQ process involving setting the duration of a timer set according to a time delay associated with an ACK/NACK repetition] & ¶0025 The UE 110 may wake up using the HARQ RTT timer 140 [i.e. duration of a HARQ RTT timer])
wherein the first HARQ process is a HARQ process used by a first data channel, (¶0020-¶0021 The UE 110 and the access device 120 may wirelessly communicate via at least one downlink (DL) channel, at least one uplink (UL) channel, or both. The downlink and uplink channels may be physical channels… the downlink and uplink channels may comprise at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) [i.e. a data channel], at least one physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), at least one physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) [i.e. another data channel], at least one physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or combinations thereof… In an embodiment, the access device 120 may transmit a plurality of HARQ messages to the UE 110 over the downlink in a periodic manner at about a fixed RTT or about equal time intervals.)
and the first RTT is determined according to a signal transmission delay between a terminal device and a network device, (¶0020 The UE 110 and the access device 120 may wirelessly communicate via at least one downlink (DL) channel, at least one uplink (UL) channel, or both [i.e. communication between terminal and network device]. & ¶0024-¶0025 The extended RTT 200 includes the time delay to receive the HARQ message [i.e. involves delay time of HARQ message between a terminal and network device], which takes into account the first ACK/NACK sub-frame 210 …The UE 110 may wake up using the HARQ RTT timer 140, which may be set to expire after about the extended RTT 200 [i.e. first RTT].)
the device is the terminal device or (¶0028 At block 310, the UE 110 [i.e. first device is a terminal device] may set the HARQ RTT timer 140)
and the device is a sending end or a receiving end of the first data channel. (¶0028 At block 310, the UE 110 [i.e. first device] may set the HARQ RTT timer 140 according to the ACK/NACK repetition setting after receiving a HARQ message [i.e. first device is on receiving end of data channel].))
wherein in response to and the first HARQ process is a downlink HARQ process, (¶0021 the access device 120 may transmit a plurality of HARQ messages to the UE 110 over the downlink…)
the processing unit determines the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first RTT, (¶0017 “the UE may wake up after an extended RTT, which may be equal to the sum of the RTT for a single ACK/NACK reply and the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames [i.e. HARQ RTT timer corresponds to first RTT and first information])
and a parameter of the number of times of repeated transmissions of a HARQ-ACK information feedback corresponding to the at least one TB. (¶0017 “the UE may wake up after an extended RTT, which may be equal to the sum of the RTT for a single ACK/NACK reply and the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames [i.e. first information includes a parameter of the number of HARQ-ACK feedback] & ¶0022 the UE 110 may receive an updated request to change the ACK/NACK repetition setting, for example from the access device 120. Accordingly, the access device 120 knows the number of repeated ACK/NACK sub-frames to expect from the UE 110.)
Although Cai describes a downlink HARQ process, it does not explicitly teach: and the first data channel is used to carry a first TB in at least one TB scheduled by a PDCCH, and that the at least one TB is a downlink TB.
However, in the analogous art, R2-2000977 teaches such a limitation:
and the first data channel is used to carry a first TB in at least one TB scheduled by a PDCCH, (Pg. 1 Section 2.1 Ln. 1-2: When multi-TB scheduling is configured and used, the timing relations between PDCCH, PDSCH, PUSCH and PUCCH [i.e. PDSCH or PUSCH, a first data channel used for carrying transmission blocks] can be different compared to the legacy scheduling scenario. & Pg. 2 Ln 12-13: the DCI [i.e. downlink control information is implicitly transmitted on PDCCH] scheduling the TBs includes information about the number of TBs scheduled.)
wherein in response to that the at least one TB is a downlink TB (Pg. 1 Ln. 2-4 Introduction- Scheduling enhancement: scheduling multiple DL/UL transport blocks with single DCI for SC-PTM and unicast [i.e. at least one TB is a DL or UL transport block])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, Tang, and Li’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include R2-2000977’s teaching of carrying a number of TB blocks on a data channel scheduled by a physical downlink control channel, because it would allow multi-TB scheduling to be configured and used in order to benefit from using different timing relationships for each communication channel. (see R2-2000977 Pg. 1 Section 2.1)
Yet, the combined references do not explicitly teach: the processing unit determines the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first RTT, a HARQ-ACK feedback delay of the at least one TB, a processing delay after the terminal device completes the HARQ-ACK feedback, and a parameter of the number of times of repeated transmissions of a HARQ-ACK information feedback corresponding to the at least one TB.
However, in the analogous art, Tang teaches:
the processing unit determines the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first RTT, a HARQ-ACK feedback delay of the at least one TB, a processing delay after the terminal device completes the HARQ-ACK feedback, and a parameter of the number of times of repeated transmissions of a HARQ-ACK information feedback corresponding to the at least one TB. (¶0055-¶0056 the capability information includes at least one of the following information items: a minimum processing delay between receiving downlink data [i.e. downlink data is a downlink transport block (TB)] by the terminal device and sending feedback information for the downlink data by the terminal device; [i.e. processing delay of feedback for downlink data (HARQ-ACK feedback) is considered HARQ-ACK feedback delay. The delay being similarly described in applicant’s specification at ¶0130 as a delay between a time when the terminal device completes downlink transmission and a time when the terminal device starts to perform HARQ-ACK feedback on the downlink transmission.] the configuration information is instruction information, the terminal device determines the time length of the HARQ RTT timer from preconfigured time length information based on the instruction information and the capability information of the terminal device, and the preconfigured time length information is specified in a protocol.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai and R2-2000977’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include Tang’s teaching of a HARQ-ACK feedback delay of at least one TB being used in determining a HARQ RTT timer, because it would reduce power consumption by allowing the terminal to enter dormancy through use of a variable timer configuration. (see Tang ¶0003-¶0004)
Yet, the combined references do not explicitly teach: the processing unit determines the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first RTT, a HARQ-ACK feedback delay of the at least one TB, a processing delay after the terminal device completes the HARQ-ACK feedback, and a parameter of the number of times of repeated transmissions of a HARQ-ACK information feedback corresponding to the at least one TB.
However, in the analogous art, Li teaches:
the processing unit determines the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first RTT, a HARQ-ACK feedback delay of the at least one TB, a processing delay after the terminal device completes the HARQ-ACK feedback, and a parameter of the number of times of repeated transmissions of a HARQ-ACK information feedback corresponding to the at least one TB. (¶0046 the timing of the HARQ RTT Timer is the sum of downlink data transmission time, the delay of data processing of UE, the feedback transmission time of UE and the delay of data processing of eNB. [i.e. the delay of data processing of eNB occurs after the terminal completes HARQ-ACK feedback, and this delay information is used to determine the timing (duration) of the HARQ RTT timer])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, R2-2000977, and Tang’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include Li’s teaching of processing delay after the terminal completes the HARQ-ACK feedback being used to determine a duration of a HARQ RTT timer, because it would allow variable configuration of HARQ RTT timer based on delay values in order to decrease power consumption of the UE. (see Li ¶0011-¶0012)
Re. Claim 20, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 1.
Cai further teaches:
A wireless communication device, (Fig. 1 (110) & ¶0018 The wireless communication system 100 may comprise at least one UE 110 [i.e. a wireless communication device] and an access device 120.)
comprising: a processor and a memory, (¶0030 The UE 110 and other components described above might include a processing component that is capable of executing instructions related to the actions described above. In addition to the processor 610 (which may be referred to as a central processor unit or CPU), the system 600 might include network connectivity devices 620, random access memory (RAM) 630, read only memory (ROM) 640, secondary storage 650, and input/output (I/O) devices 660)
wherein the memory is configured to store a computer program, (¶0033 Secondary storage 650 may be used to store programs [i.e. memory storing computer program] that are loaded into RAM 630 when such programs are selected for execution.)
and the processor is configured to invoke and run the computer program stored in the memory to execute the method as claimed in claim 1. (¶0031 The processor 610 executes instructions, codes, computer programs, or scripts that it might access from the network connectivity devices 620, RAM 630, ROM 640, or secondary storage 650 (which might include various disk-based systems such as hard disk, floppy disk, or optical disk).)
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, Li, and further in view of Shrestha et al. (US 2022/0038243 A1), hereinafter referred to as Shrestha.
Re. Claim 18, Cai combined with R2-2000977, Tang, and Li teaches claim 1.
Cai further teaches:
wherein the step of determining, by the first device, the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first RTT (Abstract: A method is provided for detecting a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) message. The method comprising setting a round trip time (RTT) based on a time delay associated with acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) repetitions, and receiving a retransmitted HARQ message when the RTT expires. [i.e. a HARQ process using a timer set according to a first RTT] & ¶0024-¶0025 ¶0024 the extended RTT 200 may comprise the RTT for receiving the HARQ message including the time associated with a single ACK/NACK reply [i.e. first information] The UE 110 may wake up using the HARQ RTT timer 140, which may be set to expire after about the extended RTT 200 [i.e. duration of HARQ RTT timer] & ¶0028 At block 310, the UE 110 [i.e. first device] may set the HARQ RTT timer 140 [i.e. determining duration of HARQ RTT timer])
comprises: in a case where a state of a HARQ feedback function corresponding to the first HARQ process is enabled, (Abstract: setting a round trip time (RTT) based on a time delay associated with acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) repetitions, and receiving a retransmitted HARQ message when the RTT expires. [i.e. a HARQ feedback function is implied as enabled in this scenario])
determining the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process according to the first RTT; (¶0025 The UE 110 may wake up using the HARQ RTT timer 140, which may be set to expire after about the extended RTT 200 [i.e. determining duration of HARQ RTT timer corresponding to first HARQ process utilizing the first duration (extended RTT 200)])
Yet, the combined references do not teach: in a case where the state of the HARQ feedback function corresponding to the first HARQ process is disabled the first device determines the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process as a preset value.
in a case where the state of the HARQ feedback function corresponding to the first HARQ process is disabled, (¶0169 if the HARQ feedback is disabled) the first device determines the duration of the HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process as a preset value. (¶0169 the HARQ process with the HARQ retransmission is performed without a HARQ RTT timer or with a zero length HARQ RTT timer if the HARQ feedback is disabled, [i.e. duration of HARQ RTT timer determined as a preset value (zero) if HARQ feedback function is disabled])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cai, R2-2000977, Tang, and Li’s invention of hybrid automatic repeat request round trip time and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement repetition in discontinuous reception to include Shrestha’s teaching of setting duration of a HARQ RTT timer to a preset value of zero when the HARQ feedback function is disabled, because it would allow for the scenario where there may be no retransmissions, and therefore the HARQ process may not be used to avoid stalling of HARQ processes, such as in scenarios in which there are no retransmissions. (see Shrestha ¶0030 & ¶0075)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GARY A MILLER whose telephone number is (571)272-4423. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8 to 5.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Rebecca Song can be reached at 571-270-3667. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/G.A.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2417
/REBECCA E SONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2417
Prosecution Insights