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 .
Response to Amendment
The following is a final office action in response to applicant’s amendment filed on 08/10/2026 for response of the office action mailed on 06/30/2026. Claims 1, 3-4, 8, 14 and 16-17 have been amended. Claims 2, 5-7, 9-12, 15 and 18 are cancelled. Claims 1, 3-4, 8, 13-14, 16-17, 19 and 20 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments with respect to Claims 1, 3-4, 8, 13-14, 16-17, 19 and 20 have been considered but are not persuasive/ 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.
Argument I on Pages 8-9: Dinan Fails to Teach or Suggest the Claimed "UL Grant Not Comprising an RV Indication Field”
Response: Examiner has considered the applicant’s arguments and respectfully disagrees. The argument is not persuasive because Dinan distinguishes between a DCI having a combined MCS/RV field and a DCI having a separate RV field. In ¶0238, the first DCI is described as comprising a single “first field” that may indidcate an MCS or retranmission RV value, while describing the second DCI as comprising both “an MCS field and an RV field.” Thus, although the combined first field may be used to determine an RV value, the first DCI does not comprise the separate RV indication field expressly present in the second DCI. Applicant’s interpretation eliminates Dinan’s express distinction between a combined field and a separate RV field.
Argument II on Pages 9-11: Dinan Fails to Teach or Suggest the Claimed “Identical First Bit Field”
Response: Examiner has considered the applicant’s arguments and respectfully disagrees. Applicant’s argument is not persuasive because Dinan expressly teaches that the corresponding MCS-related fields have the same size and substantially the same encoding and interpretation. For further context, in ¶0236, Dinan teaches that the MCS field in the second DCI is encoded similarly to the i_MCS field used in the first DCI and is interpreted in the same manner to determine the MCS level. Further, ¶0249 teaches that the first field and the MCS field are each encoded by five bits, and that the same table is employed to determine the first MCS from the first field and the second MCS from the MSC field. Thus, Dinan’s labeling of “first field” and “MCS field” do not establish a structural distinction, Dinan teaches the same five-bit MCS encoding and the same decoding mechanism in both grant formats.
Argument III on Pages 11-12: Dinan Fails to Teach or Suggest the Alternative Length Limitation (M Bits Smaller)
Response: Examiner has considered the applicant’s arguments and respectfully disagrees. Applicant’s arguments regarding the M bits smaller limitation is not persuasive because the claim recites the two length relationships as alternatives with an “or” statement. The rejection relies on the first alternative, namely that the corresponding first bit fields have the same length. Dinan ¶0249 expressly teaches that the first field is encoded by five bits and the MCS field is likewise encoded by five bits. Accordingly, Dinan satisfies the same-length alternative, and Dinan was not relied upon for the additional alternative disclosing the M bits smaller relationship.
Argument IV on Page 12: Dinan Fails to Disclose or Teach non-MCS Items In The First Bit Field
Response: Examiner has considered the applicant’s arguments and respectfully disagrees. Applicant’s argument that Dinan fails to disclose non-MCS fields is not persuasive. While Dinan discloses the relevant UL-grant structure, the Office does not solely rely on Dinan for this feature and instead introduces ETSI TS 138 213 V16.2.0 (2020-07), Section 8.2, Table 8.2-1, which identifies the standardized RAR UL-grant fields as including a frequency hopping flag, PUSCH frequency resource allocation, PUSCH time resource allocation, TPC command for PUSCH, CSI request and ChannelAccess-CPext. Therefore, ETSI expressly teaches the types of fields recited in amended independent claims 1, 8 and 14, where it would have been obvious to a POSITA to implement Dinan’s UL-grant signaling using these standardized UL-grant fields provided by 3GPP.
Argument V on Pages 12-13: Dinan Teaches Away from the Claimed Features
Response: Examiner has considered the applicant’s arguments and respectfully disagrees. Applicant’s argument that Dinan teaches away from the claimed features is not persuasive because Dinan does not discredit or discourage maintaining corresponding fields across the two grant formats. Dinan teaches both architectures and identifies advantages associated with both formats. For example, ¶0237 teaches that combining MCS and RV information reduces DCI size and downlink overhead, whereas separating the MCS and RV fields provides flexibility for retransmissions. ¶0236 and ¶0249 teach maintaining the same five-bit MCS encoding and the same MCS decoding table notwithstanding the addition of the separate RV field.
Furthermore, "the prior art’s mere disclosure of more than one alternative does not constitute a teaching away from any of these alternatives because such disclosure does not criticize, discredit, or otherwise discourage the solution claimed…." In re Fulton, 391 F.3d 1195, 1201, 73 USPQ2d 1141, 1146 (Fed. Cir. 2004). See also UCB, Inc. v. Actavis Labs, UT, Inc., 65 F.4th 679, 692, 2023 USPQ2d 448 (Fed. Cir. 2023) ("a reference does not teach away if it merely expresses a general preference for an alternative invention but does not criticize, discredit or otherwise discourage investigation into the invention claimed.") (internal quotations omitted) (quoting DePuy Spine, Inc. v. Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Inc., 567 F.3d 1314, 1327 (Fed. Cir. 2009)); and Schwendimann v. Neenah, Inc., 82 F.4th 1371, 1381, 2023 USPQ2d 1173 (Fed. Cir. 2023).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 4 and 17 recite that “the first bit field further comprises a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) field.” However, independent claim 1 already recites that the same “first bit field comprises at least one of “….”. It is therefore unclear whether the claimed “first bit field” is intended to be one of these individual fields or instead is a larger field or structure containing one or more of these fields. In other words, it is unclear how a single “first bit field” identified in claims 1/8/14 by reference to one of the recited UL-grant fields, can “further comprise” a separately defined field identified in claim 4/17, or the applicant instead intends the first bit field to represent a collection of multiple fields !!!!
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
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 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 non-obviousness.
Claims 1, 3-4, 8, 13-14, 16-17, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (US 2022/0345271 A1), Wu hereinafter and Dinan (US 2022/0094461 A1), Dinan hereinafter, and further in view of ETSI TS 138 213 V16.2.0 (2020-07), Section 8.2, Table 8.2-1 (“Random Access Response Grant Content field size), ETSI hereinafter.
Re. Claim 1, Wu teaches a transmission method for repetition of a Message 3, comprising: (Fig. 1-5 & ¶0006 - The terminal device includes: a transmission module, configured to repeatedly transmit MSG3 on multiple PUSCH resources);
receiving, by a terminal device, a Random Access Response (RAR), wherein the RAR carries an Uplink grant (UL grant) for repetition of a Message 3 (Msg3) in a random access procedure; (¶0028 - In an example, if the terminal device successfully receives the RAR in an RAR monitoring window, the terminal device may repeatedly sending the MSG3 on multiple PUSCH resources scheduled by the UL grant. In this example, the multiple PUSCH resources mentioned in S102 are scheduled by the uplink grant UL grant in the RAR);
determining, by the terminal device, a redundancy version (RV) used for the repetition of the Msg3; (Fig. 3 & ¶0075 - In the implementations of the above two examples, the network device may further configure RV version information for multiple repeated transmissions of the MSG3 through system information. ¶0103 - As shown in FIG. 3, a terminal device 300 includes: a transmission module 302, which may be configured to repeatedly transmit MSG3 on multiple PUSCH resources. ¶0108 - the transmission module 302 may further be configured to receive configuration information, where the configuration information is used for configuring the MSG3 repetition for at least one of: the number of times the MSG3 is to be repeatedly transmitted or a maximum number of times the MSG3 is to be repeatedly transmitted; … RV information; or an MCS table configuration);
and performing, by the terminal device, repetition of the Msg3 based on the RAR by use of the RV, (Fig. 1 & ¶0028 - In an example, if the terminal device successfully receives the RAR in an RAR monitoring window, the terminal device may repeatedly sending the MSG3 on multiple PUSCH resources scheduled by the UL grant. In this example, the multiple PUSCH resources mentioned in S102 are scheduled by the uplink grant UL grant in the RAR. ¶0041 - In this way, before S102 in each of the foregoing embodiments, the terminal device may further receive configuration information, and perform configuration according to the configuration information. The configuration information is used for configuring the MSG3 repetition for at least one of: ¶0044 - 3) redundancy version (RV) information, ¶0075 - In the implementations of the above two examples, the network device may further configure RV version information for multiple repeated transmissions of the MSG3 through system information);
wherein determining, by the terminal device, the RV used for the repetition of the Msg3 comprises: acquiring, by the terminal device, RV indication information carried by the UL grant; (¶0075 - the network device may further configure RV version information for multiple repeated transmissions of the MSG3 through system information. For example, the MSG3 needs to be transmitted for a total of four times, and the system information may indicate RV version information of each transmission of the MSG3, e.g., {0, 3, 0, 3}, {0, 0, 0, 0}, {0, 3, 2, 1} etc. ¶0076 - the network device may further indicate a starting RV version number of the multiple transmissions of the MSG3 through … the UL grant in the RAR);
and determining, by the terminal device, the RV used for the repetition of the Msg3 based on the RV indication information, (¶0072 - In this example, after receiving the indication information, the terminal device repeatedly transmits the MSG3 for a corresponding number of times according to a manner configured in the system information … ¶0075 - the network device may further configure RV version information for multiple repeated transmissions of the MSG3 through system information);
Yet, Wu does not explicitly teach wherein both the UL grant comprising an RV indication field and the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field are provided with at least one identical first bit field, wherein the first bit field in the UL grant comprising the RV indication field has a same length as the first bit field in the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field, or, wherein a length of the first bit field in the UL grant comprising the RV indication field is M bits smaller than a length of the first bit field in the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field, wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to N, and N is a length of the RV indication field.
However, in the analogous art, Dinan explicitly teaches wherein both the UL grant comprising an RV indication field and the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field (Fig. 14-17 & ¶0238 - The first DCI may comprise a first field indicating one of: an MCS for an initial transmission with a RV value of zero; or a re-transmission RV value (e.g. 1, 2, 3) … The second DCI may comprise an MCS field and an RV field);
are provided with at least one identical first bit field, (Abstract - The first downlink control information comprises a first field having a first number of bits indicating: a first modulation and coding scheme (MCS); … The second downlink control information comprises: an MCS field having the first number of bits indicating a second MCS. Please also see ¶0236);
wherein the first bit field in the UL grant comprising the RV indication field has a same length as the first bit field in the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field, (¶0249 - According to an embodiment, the first field may be encoded by five bits, the MCS field may be encoded by five bits, a table may be employed to determine the first MCS using the first field, and the table may be employed to determine the second MCS using the second MCS field. ¶0250 - The first DCI may comprise a first field indicating one of: a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for an initial transmission… The second DCI may comprise an MCS field and an RV field).
or, wherein a length of the first bit field in the UL grant comprising the RV indication field is M bits smaller than a length of the first bit field in the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field, wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to N, and N is a length of the RV indication field,
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Dinan to the teaching of Wu. The motivation would be because physical radio transmission may be enhanced by dynamically or semi-dynamically changing the modulation and coding scheme depending on transmission requirements and radio conditions (¶0098, Dinan).
Yet, Wu and Dinan do not explicitly teach wherein the first bit field comprises at least one of following items: a frequency hopping flag field; a Physical Uplink Share Channel (PUSCH) frequency resource allocation field; a PUSCH time resource allocation field; a Transmission Power Control Command (TPC) field for PUSCH: a Channel State Information (CSI) request field; or a Channel Access-Cyclic Prefix Extension (Channel Access-CPext) field.
However, in the analogous art, ETSI explicitly teaches wherein the first bit field comprises at least one of following items: a frequency hopping flag field; a Physical Uplink Share Channel (PUSCH) frequency resource allocation field; a PUSCH time resource allocation field; a Transmission Power Control Command (TPC) field for PUSCH: a Channel State Information (CSI) request field; or a Channel Access-Cyclic Prefix Extension (Channel Access-CPext) field (Page 46, Section 8.2, ¶2 - The contents of the RAR UL grant, starting with the MSB and ending with the LSB, are given in Table 8.2-1. Please see Table 8.2-1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of ETSI to the teachings of Wu and Dinan. The motivation would be because ETSI provides the standardized structure and contents of an RAR UL grant defined by 3GPP.
Re. Claims 3 and 16, Wu and Dinan and ETSI teach Claims 1 and 14.
Yet, Wu does not explicitly teach for the UL grant comprises the RV indication field, the RV indication information is carried in the RV indication field.
However, in the analogous art, Dinan explicitly teaches for the UL grant comprises the RV indication field, the RV indication information is carried in the RV indication field (Fig. 14-17 & ¶0235 - The eNB may transmit to a UE an uplink DCI grant indicating uplink resources for an LAA cell. The DCI may comprise an MCS field (e.g. 5 bits) and at least one RV field (e.g. 2 bits). ¶0249 - The RV field may, for example, have one of the following values: zero, one, two, or three).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Dinan to the teachings of Wu and ETSI. The motivation would be because physical radio transmission may be enhanced by dynamically or semi-dynamically changing the modulation and coding scheme depending on transmission requirements and radio conditions (¶0098, Dinan).
Re. Claims 4 and 17, Wu and Dinan and ETSI teach Claims 3 and 16.
Yet, Wu does not explicitly teach the first bit field further comprises a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) field.
However, in the analogous art, Dinan explicitly teaches the first bit field further comprises a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) field; (Fig. 14-17 & Abstract - A wireless device receives a first downlink control information. The first downlink control information comprises a first field having a first number of bits indicating: … a first modulation and coding scheme (MCS)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Dinan to the teachings of Wu and ETSI. The motivation would be because physical radio transmission may be enhanced by dynamically or semi-dynamically changing the modulation and coding scheme depending on transmission requirements and radio conditions (¶0098, Dinan).
Re. Claim 8, Wu teaches a terminal device, comprising: a transceiver, (Fig. 3, 5);
configured to receive a Random Access Response (RAR), wherein the RAR carries an Uplink grant (UL grant) for repetition of a Message 3 (Msg3) in a random access procedure; (Fig. 1-2 & ¶0028 - In an example, if the terminal device successfully receives the RAR in an RAR monitoring window, the terminal device may repeatedly sending the MSG3 on multiple PUSCH resources scheduled by the UL grant. In this example, the multiple PUSCH resources mentioned in S102 are scheduled by the uplink grant UL grant in the RAR);
and a processor, connected to the transceiver and configured to determine a redundancy version (RV) used for the repetition of the Msg3; (Fig. 3 & ¶0075 - In the implementations of the above two examples, the network device may further configure RV version information for multiple repeated transmissions of the MSG3 through system information. ¶0103 - As shown in FIG. 3, a terminal device 300 includes: a transmission module 302, which may be configured to repeatedly transmit MSG3 on multiple PUSCH resources. ¶0108 - the transmission module 302 may further be configured to receive configuration information, where the configuration information is used for configuring the MSG3 repetition for at least one of: the number of times the MSG3 is to be repeatedly transmitted or a maximum number of times the MSG3 is to be repeatedly transmitted; … RV information; or an MCS table configuration);
wherein the transceiver is further configured to perform, based on the RAR, repetition of the Msg3 by use of the RV, (Fig. 1 & ¶0028 - In an example, if the terminal device successfully receives the RAR in an RAR monitoring window, the terminal device may repeatedly sending the MSG3 on multiple PUSCH resources scheduled by the UL grant. In this example, the multiple PUSCH resources mentioned in S102 are scheduled by the uplink grant UL grant in the RAR. ¶0041 - In this way, before S102 in each of the foregoing embodiments, the terminal device may further receive configuration information, and perform configuration according to the configuration information. The configuration information is used for configuring the MSG3 repetition for at least one of: ¶0044 - 3) redundancy version (RV) information, ¶0075 - In the implementations of the above two examples, the network device may further configure RV version information for multiple repeated transmissions of the MSG3 through system information);
wherein the processor is further configured to: acquire RV indication information carried by the UL grant; (¶0075 - the network device may further configure RV version information for multiple repeated transmissions of the MSG3 through system information. For example, the MSG3 needs to be transmitted for a total of four times, and the system information may indicate RV version information of each transmission of the MSG3, e.g., {0, 3, 0, 3}, {0, 0, 0, 0}, {0, 3, 2, 1} etc. ¶0076 - the network device may further indicate a starting RV version number of the multiple transmissions of the MSG3 through … the UL grant in the RAR);
and determine the RV used for the repetition of the Msg3 based on the RV indication information (¶0072 - In this example, after receiving the indication information, the terminal device repeatedly transmits the MSG3 for a corresponding number of times according to a manner configured in the system information … ¶0075 - the network device may further configure RV version information for multiple repeated transmissions of the MSG3 through system information);
Yet, Wu does not explicitly teach wherein both the UL grant comprising an RV indication field and the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field are provided with at least one identical first bit field, wherein the first bit field in the UL grant comprising the RV indication field has a same length as the first bit field in the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field, or, wherein a length of the first bit field in the UL grant comprising the RV indication field is M bits smaller than a length of the first bit field in the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field, wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to N, and N is a length of the RV indication field.
However, in the analogous art, Dinan explicitly teaches wherein both the UL grant comprising an RV indication field and the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field (Fig. 14-17 & ¶0238 - The first DCI may comprise a first field indicating one of: an MCS for an initial transmission with a RV value of zero; or a re-transmission RV value (e.g. 1, 2, 3) … The second DCI may comprise an MCS field and an RV field);
are provided with at least one identical first bit field, (Abstract - The first downlink control information comprises a first field having a first number of bits indicating: a first modulation and coding scheme (MCS); … The second downlink control information comprises: an MCS field having the first number of bits indicating a second MCS. Please also see ¶0236);
wherein the first bit field in the UL grant comprising the RV indication field has a same length as the first bit field in the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field, (¶0249 - According to an embodiment, the first field may be encoded by five bits, the MCS field may be encoded by five bits, a table may be employed to determine the first MCS using the first field, and the table may be employed to determine the second MCS using the second MCS field. ¶0250 - The first DCI may comprise a first field indicating one of: a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for an initial transmission… The second DCI may comprise an MCS field and an RV field).
or, wherein a length of the first bit field in the UL grant comprising the RV indication field is M bits smaller than a length of the first bit field in the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field, wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to N, and N is a length of the RV indication field,
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Dinan to the teaching of Wu. The motivation would be because physical radio transmission may be enhanced by dynamically or semi-dynamically changing the modulation and coding scheme depending on transmission requirements and radio conditions (¶0098, Dinan).
Yet, Wu and Dinan do not explicitly teach wherein the first bit field comprises at least one of following items: a frequency hopping flag field; a Physical Uplink Share Channel (PUSCH) frequency resource allocation field; a PUSCH time resource allocation field; a Transmission Power Control Command (TPC) field for PUSCH: a Channel State Information (CSI) request field; or a Channel Access-Cyclic Prefix Extension (Channel Access-CPext) field.
However, in the analogous art, ETSI explicitly teaches wherein the first bit field comprises at least one of following items: a frequency hopping flag field; a Physical Uplink Share Channel (PUSCH) frequency resource allocation field; a PUSCH time resource allocation field; a Transmission Power Control Command (TPC) field for PUSCH: a Channel State Information (CSI) request field; or a Channel Access-Cyclic Prefix Extension (Channel Access-CPext) field (Page 46, Section 8.2, ¶2 - The contents of the RAR UL grant, starting with the MSB and ending with the LSB, are given in Table 8.2-1. Please see Table 8.2-1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of ETSI to the teachings of Wu and Dinan. The motivation would be because ETSI provides the standardized structure and contents of an RAR UL grant defined by 3GPP.
Re. Claims 13 and 20, Wu and Dinan and ETSI teach Claims 8 and 14.
Wu further teaches the RV indication information indicates the RV used for at least one time of repetition of the Msg3; (Fig. 1-5 & ¶0075 - For example, the MSG3 needs to be transmitted for a total of four times, and the system information may indicate RV version information of each transmission of the MSG3, e.g., {0, 3, 0, 3}, {0, 0, 0, 0}, {0, 3, 2, 1} etc. ¶0076 - For example, if the MSG3 needs to be transmitted for a total of four times, and the starting version number is 0, RV version numbers of the subsequent three transmissions are 3, 2, and 1, respectively).
or the RV indication information indicates the RV used for the repetition of the Msg3 with n mod 4=0, wherein n is a serial number of the repetition.
Re. Claim 14, Wu teaches a network device, comprising: a transceiver, (Fig. 4, 6);
configured to send a Random Access Response (RAR) to a terminal device; (Fig. 1-2 & ¶0027 - If the network device successfully detects the preamble, the network device sends a random access response (RAR) corresponding to the preamble. The RAR may include an identifier of the preamble, a timing advance (TA), an uplink grant (UL grant) …);
and a processor, connected to the transceiver and configured to control the transceiver to communicate with other devices, wherein the RAR carries an Uplink grant (UL grant) for repetition of a Message (Msg3), (Fig. 4, 6 & ¶0028 - In an example, if the terminal device successfully receives the RAR in an RAR monitoring window, the terminal device may repeatedly sending the MSG3 on multiple PUSCH resources scheduled by the UL grant. In this example, the multiple PUSCH resources mentioned in S102 are scheduled by the uplink grant UL grant in the RAR);
the RAR is configured to determine a redundancy version (RV) used for the repetition of the Msg3 at the terminal device, (Fig. 3 & ¶0075 - In the implementations of the above two examples, the network device may further configure RV version information for multiple repeated transmissions of the MSG3 through system information. ¶0103 - As shown in FIG. 3, a terminal device 300 includes: a transmission module 302, which may be configured to repeatedly transmit MSG3 on multiple PUSCH resources. ¶0108 - the transmission module 302 may further be configured to receive configuration information, where the configuration information is used for configuring the MSG3 repetition for at least one of: the number of times the MSG3 is to be repeatedly transmitted or a maximum number of times the MSG3 is to be repeatedly transmitted; … RV information; or an MCS table configuration);
and the RV is used to perform repetition of the Msg3, wherein RV indication information is carried by the UL grant, (¶0075 - the network device may further configure RV version information for multiple repeated transmissions of the MSG3 through system information. For example, the MSG3 needs to be transmitted for a total of four times, and the system information may indicate RV version information of each transmission of the MSG3, e.g., {0, 3, 0, 3}, {0, 0, 0, 0}, {0, 3, 2, 1} etc. ¶0076 - the network device may further indicate a starting RV version number of the multiple transmissions of the MSG3 through … the UL grant in the RAR);
and the RV indication information is configured to determine the RV used for the repetition of the Msg3 at the terminal device, (¶0072 - In this example, after receiving the indication information, the terminal device repeatedly transmits the MSG3 for a corresponding number of times according to a manner configured in the system information … ¶0075 - the network device may further configure RV version information for multiple repeated transmissions of the MSG3 through system information);
Yet, Wu does not explicitly teach wherein both the UL grant comprising an RV indication field and the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field are provided with at least one identical first bit field, wherein the first bit field in the UL grant comprising the RV indication field has a same length as the first bit field in the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field, or, wherein a length of the first bit field in the UL grant comprising the RV indication field is M bits smaller than a length of the first bit field in the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field, wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to N, and N is a length of the RV indication field.
However, in the analogous art, Dinan explicitly teaches wherein both the UL grant comprising an RV indication field and the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field (Fig. 14-17 & ¶0238 - The first DCI may comprise a first field indicating one of: an MCS for an initial transmission with a RV value of zero; or a re-transmission RV value (e.g. 1, 2, 3) … The second DCI may comprise an MCS field and an RV field);
are provided with at least one identical first bit field, (Abstract - The first downlink control information comprises a first field having a first number of bits indicating: a first modulation and coding scheme (MCS); … The second downlink control information comprises: an MCS field having the first number of bits indicating a second MCS. Please also see ¶0236);
wherein the first bit field in the UL grant comprising the RV indication field has a same length as the first bit field in the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field, (¶0249 - According to an embodiment, the first field may be encoded by five bits, the MCS field may be encoded by five bits, a table may be employed to determine the first MCS using the first field, and the table may be employed to determine the second MCS using the second MCS field. ¶0250 - The first DCI may comprise a first field indicating one of: a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for an initial transmission… The second DCI may comprise an MCS field and an RV field).
or, wherein a length of the first bit field in the UL grant comprising the RV indication field is M bits smaller than a length of the first bit field in the UL grant not comprising the RV indication field, wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to N, and N is a length of the RV indication field,
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Dinan to the teaching of Wu. The motivation would be because physical radio transmission may be enhanced by dynamically or semi-dynamically changing the modulation and coding scheme depending on transmission requirements and radio conditions (¶0098, Dinan).
Yet, Wu and Dinan do not explicitly teach wherein the first bit field comprises at least one of following items: a frequency hopping flag field; a Physical Uplink Share Channel (PUSCH) frequency resource allocation field; a PUSCH time resource allocation field; a Transmission Power Control Command (TPC) field for PUSCH: a Channel State Information (CSI) request field; or a Channel Access-Cyclic Prefix Extension (Channel Access-CPext) field.
However, in the analogous art, ETSI explicitly teaches wherein the first bit field comprises at least one of following items: a frequency hopping flag field; a Physical Uplink Share Channel (PUSCH) frequency resource allocation field; a PUSCH time resource allocation field; a Transmission Power Control Command (TPC) field for PUSCH: a Channel State Information (CSI) request field; or a Channel Access-Cyclic Prefix Extension (Channel Access-CPext) field (Page 46, Section 8.2, ¶2 - The contents of the RAR UL grant, starting with the MSB and ending with the LSB, are given in Table 8.2-1. Please see Table 8.2-1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of ETSI to the teachings of Wu and Dinan. The motivation would be because ETSI provides the standardized structure and contents of an RAR UL grant defined by 3GPP.
Re. Claim 19, Wu and Dinan and ETSI teach Claim 16.
Yet, Wu does not explicitly teach the RV indication field is configured to indicate the RV used for the repetition of the Msg3; or the RV indication field is configured to indicate RV information used by a Physical Downlink Share Channel (PDSCH).
However, in the analogous art, Dinan explicitly teaches the RV indication field is configured to indicate the RV used for the repetition of the Msg3; (Fig. 14-17 & ¶0249 - The RV field may, for example, have one of the following values: zero, one, two, or three).
or the RV indication field is configured to indicate RV information used by a Physical Downlink Share Channel (PDSCH).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Dinan to the teachings of Wu and ETSI. The motivation would be because physical radio transmission may be enhanced by dynamically or semi-dynamically changing the modulation and coding scheme depending on transmission requirements and radio conditions (¶0098, Dinan).
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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/ALYSSA WILLIAMS/Examiner, Art Unit 2429 /AYMAN A ABAZA/SPE, Art Unit 2429
