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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 04/09/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 3-9, 11-13, and 15-20 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 § 102
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 3-9, 11-13, and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being clearly anticipated by Wang et al. (US PG Pub. 20200213046 A1) hereinafter Wang.
Regarding claims 1, and corresponding 9 and 13, Wang discloses: A wireless communication method, comprising: transmitting, by a first device, a first Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest Acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) codebook to a second device over a first feedback resource, ([0007], [0075-0076], [0117] a UE transmitting HARQ-ACK of the PDSCH on PUCCH resources, a first feedback resource based on a determined HARQ-ACK codebook)
the first HARQ-ACK codebook being determined according to a first control information format, ([0090], [0112-0113], [0120] HARQ-ACK codebook is determined according to scheduling information in DCI, control information format, including PDCCH format indicating K1, PRI, TDRA)
wherein the first control information format is a control information format configured for the first device, and a maximum number of physical channels allowable to be scheduled or activated by the first control information format is M, or a maximum number of time slots occupied by physical channels allowable to be scheduled or activated by the first control information format is M, where M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2; ([0065], [0067], [0119-0120], [0127] a base station may transmit multiple PDSCHs in one slot and that DCI format/TDRA configuration defines the set of possible PDSCH time resources (set T) a maximum number of schedulable physical channels, DCI format allows scheduling of resources per TDRA table row)
wherein the method further comprises: receiving, by the first device, first control information transmitted by the second device, the first control information corresponding to the first control information format, and the first control information being used to schedule or activate transmission of S physical channels, where S is greater than or equal to 1 and smaller than or equal to M, ([0090], [0112], [0067]UE receives PDCCH (DCI) that schedules PDSCH; one DCI may schedule one PDSCH, and multiple DCIs may schedule multiple PDSCHs within the configured maximum)
and the first HARQ-ACK codebook comprises HARQ-ACK information corresponding to at least one of the S physical channels, ([0076], [0126], [0158-0159] HARQ-ACK codebook includes ACK/NACK information for scheduled PDSCHs)
wherein the first feedback resource is a feedback resource in a feedback time slot, and the feedback time slot is determined according to a time slot corresponding to the last one of the S physical channels, ([0064], [0009-0011], [0075], [0114-0115] K1 defines latency between PDSCH and HARQ-ACK; the feedback time slot is determined based on the slot of the PDSCH, last symbol of scheduled PDSCH, plus K1; timing relative to a slot of the DL BWP where the PDSCH resides)
or the feedback time slot is determined according to a time slot corresponding to the first one of the S physical channels, wherein when S is greater than or equal to 2, different ones of the S physical channels are used to transmit different Transport Blocks (TBs). ([0067], [0119] PDSCHs in one slot carry data ,each PDSCH carries its own TB; HARQ-ACK information of all the PDSCHs needs to be fed back)
2. (Cancelled)
Regarding claims 3, and corresponding 11 and 15, Wang discloses: The method according to claim 1, wherein the first HARQ-ACK codebook has a size determined according to M. ([0126-0127], [0167-0169] semi-static codebook size determined by maximum number of schedulable PDSCH occasions, MC = max non-overlapping PDSCH resources from set T)
Regarding claims 4, and corresponding 12 and 16, Wang discloses: The method according to claim 1, wherein the first HARQ-ACK codebook corresponds to a first candidate physical channel reception opportunity group, and the first candidate physical channel reception opportunity group corresponds to at least one target time slot, wherein the first HARQ-ACK codebook corresponds to a first candidate physical channel reception opportunity group, and the first candidate physical channel reception opportunity group is determined according to M and/or S; and/or a target time slot corresponding to the first candidate physical channel reception opportunity group is determined according to K1 in a HARQ feedback timing set and/or M. (0076], [0130-0132], [0147-0148] slot set KD (target time slots) determined according to K1 set and slot relationships (involving M when DL/UL BWPs differ), candidate PDSCH reception opportunities are determined per slot in KD.)
Regarding claims 5, and corresponding 17, Wang discloses: The method according to claim 4, wherein the target time slots corresponding to the first candidate physical channel reception opportunity group comprise a union of target time slots determined according to K1 and M. ([0132], [0138], [0148] KD is determined as the union of downlink slots computed for all K1 values in set K)
Regarding claims 6, and corresponding 18, Wang discloses: The method according to claim 4, wherein a number of candidate physical channel reception opportunities corresponding to one target time slot is 1; or the number of candidate physical channel reception opportunities corresponding to one target time slot is determined according to a Start and Length Indicator Value (SLIV) in a Time Domain Resource Assignment (TDRA) table. ([0065-0067], [0127], [0161-0163] PDSCH occasions per slot determined by set T (TDRA-derived); each TDRA row indicates start symbol (S) and length (L), determining the number of non-overlapping PDSCHs per slot)
Regarding claims 7, and corresponding 19, Wang discloses: The method according to claim 6, wherein a number of candidate physical channel reception opportunities corresponding to one target time slot is determined according to a SLIV in a Time Domain Resource Assignment (TDRA) table, and the SLIV is an SLIV corresponding to valid scheduling; ([0127], [0163]-[0168] T is reduced to schedulable elements satisfying conditions; elements that conflict with UL/DL configuration are removed before determining HARQ-ACK locations)
when all SLIVs in an i-th row in the TDRA table correspond to invalid scheduling, the i-th row is not used to determine any candidate physical channel reception opportunity, where i is a positive integer; ([0163-0165], [0168] schedulable element must satisfy the first condition, no OFDM symbol indicated as UL in semi-static slot pattern, the second condition (PDCCH can be transmitted in slot kd−K0), or the third condition (appropriate K1 exists); if an element (TDRA row) does not satisfy these conditions, it is not schedulable and is excluded entirely) or when at least one SLIV in a j-th row in the TDRA table corresponds to invalid scheduling, the j-th row is not used to determine any candidate physical channel reception opportunity, where j is a positive integer. ([0127], [0163-0168] conditions for schedulability can be applied per element. If a row contains entries where at least one element is invalid, when K0 of one element leads to no PDCCH monitoring occasion, or a symbol conflicts with UL, the entire row may be excluded)
Regarding claims 8, and corresponding 20, Wang discloses: The method according to claim 1, wherein the first HARQ-ACK codebook comprises HARQ-ACK information corresponding to a first candidate physical channel reception opportunity group, ([0076], [0126], [0157-0162] HARQ-ACK codebook comprises HARQ-ACK locations corresponding to candidate PDSCH receptions in the determined slot set KD, the candidate physical channel reception opportunity group; HARQ-ACK locations are determined and cascaded for various slots of set KD.)
and a position of HARQ-ACK information corresponding to at least one of S physical channels in the first HARQ-ACK codebook corresponds to a position of the at least one of the S physical channels in the first candidate physical channel reception opportunity group. ([0158-0159], [0169-0176] FIG. 15-16, position location of HARQ-ACK information for each actually scheduled PDSCH in the codebook corresponds to the position/mapping of that PDSCH within the candidate PDSCH reception opportunity group; if PDSCH D2 maps to HARQ-ACK location h=0 in the candidate group, its ACK/NACK appears at position 0 in the codebook. The operations 1-4 in [0169-0173] define how each schedulable element maps to a specific HARQ-ACK location h, and the actually scheduled PDSCH occupies the corresponding position X for ACK/NACK vs. N for placeholder)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Khoshnevisan, US 2020/0313803 - semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook enhancements for NR-U operations, including methods for reducing feedback codebook size by excluding PDSCH occasions outside channel occupancy times and using explicit indicators (e.g., a multiple PDSCH indicator field in DCI) to signal whether multiple PDSCHs are actually scheduled per slot within a feedback window.
Hwang, US 2020/0162207 - transmitting and receiving HARQ-ACK signals during bandwidth part (BWP) switching, where the HARQ-ACK codebook excludes feedback for PDSCHs received in a prior BWP and determines codebook size based on candidate PDSCH reception occasions in the new BWP after switching, using semi-static or dynamic codebook schemes.
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NICHOLAS JENSEN
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2472
/NICHOLAS A JENSEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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