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 .
Priorities and Examiner Remarks
This application does not claim any priority to/from any domestic or foreign applications.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) (1) as being anticipated by XU et al. (US 20240292340 A1, hereinafter XU).
Regarding claim 16, XU teaches a user equipment (UE), comprising (in general, see fig. 6 and its paragraphs 92-119; see also fig. 4 and its paragraphs 72-76 for relevant background information):
receiving circuitry configured to receive a configuration for a configured grant (CG) with multiple physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission occasions (TOs) in a period (XU, see at least para. 100, 103, and 104, “...In a second operation 610, the network node 110 may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, configuration information...”, and “...the configuration information may include a CG configuration or another configuration of periodic and/or semi-static communications associated with the MCG....” and “...the CG configuration may identify resource allocations for a PUSCH in the MCG...”),
with unused transmission PUSCH occasion uplink control information (UTO-UCI) to be included in a CG-PUSCH (XU, see at least para. 105, “...The CG configuration (for example, a configuredGrantConfig of a CG-PUSCH configuration) may indicate that the UE 120 is configured to transmit an indication of unused uplink occasions. For example, the CG configuration may include a parameter (for example, an nrof_UTO_UCI parameter) indicating a quantity of bits to be included in a UTO-UCI for CG PUSCH transmissions for the CG PUSCH configuration...”);
transmitting circuitry configured to transmit the UTO-UCI on the CG-PUSCH (XU, see at least para. 109-111, “...For example, in the fifth operation 625, the UE 120 may transmit, and the network node 110 may receive, a UTO-UCI communication indicating the unused uplink occasion. The UTO-UCI communication may be multiplexed in a CG transmission. The UTO-UCI communication may include a bitmap having a quantity of bits...”);
wherein a bit in the UTO-UCI indicates whether a CG PUSCH TO is unused (XU, see at least para. 111, “...The UTO-UCI communication may include a bitmap having a quantity of bits. The bits may have a one-to-one mapping to CG PUSCH occasions in ascending order of start time...”),
wherein the bit of "1" indicates that the UE does not transmit CG-PUSCH in the indicated CG PUSCH TO, and the bit of "0" indicates that the UE transmits CG-PUSCH in the indicated CG PUSCH TO (XU, see at least para. 111, “...A bit value of “0” may indicate that the UE 120 may transmit using a corresponding uplink occasion (for example, a CG-PUSCH occasion), and a bit value of “1” may indicate that the UE 120 will not transmit using a corresponding uplink occasion (for example, a CG-PUSCH occasion). For example, to indicate the unused uplink occasion, the UE 120 may transmit a UTO-UCI that includes a bit (corresponding to the uplink occasion) having a bit value of “1.”...”).
Regarding claim 17, this claim is rejected for the same reasoning as claim 16. To be more specific, although reciting subject matters slightly different, one skilled in the art would have known claim 17 performs reverse (or corresponding) procedures of claim 16. For example, it would be a base station device of claim 17 that performs the reverse (or corresponding) receiving from and transmitting to the UE of claim 16. Hence, examiner applies the same rejection reasoning as set forth in claim 16.
Regarding claim 18, this claim is rejected for the same reasoning as claim 16 except this claim is in method claim format.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 10/20/2025 have been fully considered. Regarding previous claims 1-15 being canceled and claims 16-18 are newly added, applicant's amendment necessitated new ground(s) of rejection presented in the current Office action. Hence, previous Office action's rejections are moot. Newly added claims 16-18 are examined and pending.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YEE F LAM whose telephone number is (571)270-7577. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayman Abaza can be reached on 571-270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YEE F LAM/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465