DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to Application No. 18/221,916 filed on 7/14/2023. The amendment presented on 2/6/2026, which amends claims 1-2, 14-15, and 20, is hereby acknowledged. Claims 1-20 have been examined.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 2/6/2026 has been entered.
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
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 4-6, 12-14, 17, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hosseini et al. (hereinafter Hosseini)(US 2021/0067950) in view of Ly et al. (hereinafter Ly)(US 2021/0194556).
Regarding claims 1, 14, and 20, Hosseini teaches as follows:
A terminal (interpreted as the user equipment (UE) 905 in figure 9), comprising:
a memory (see, 930 in figure 9) storing computer-readable instructions (the memory 930 may include RAM and ROM. The memory 930 may store computer-readable, computer-executable code or software including instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform various functions described herein, see, ¶ [0176]); and
a processor (see, 940 in figure 9) coupled to the memory and configured to execute the computer-readable instructions, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor (the processor 940 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory to cause the device 905 to perform various functions, see, ¶ [0177]), cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
determining a first duration according to first information (the UE may determine a starting symbol and a transmission duration (equivalent to applicant’s first duration) that spans a number of uplink symbols within the slot, see, ¶ [0130]); and
performing multiple first uplink transmissions on a first serving cell based on the first duration (the starting symbol and transmission duration may indicate a configuration for performing uplink transmission over one or more data repetitions that span a slot or, in some cases, over one or more data repetitions that span consecutive slots, see, ¶ [0130]), wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following:
a number of time units (interpreted as number of symbols based on applicant’s published specification ¶ [0037]) indicated by a network side device (interpreted as the base station)(the UE may determine a starting symbol and a transmission duration that spans a contiguous set of uplink symbols within a slot or within consecutive slots (e.g., the transmission duration may correspond to a total number of symbols used for one or more repetitions of the transmission)(The starting symbol and a transmission duration for the one or more data repetitions may be indicated in the form of a start and length indicator value (SLIV) from a base station, see, ¶ [0129]);
configured uplink or downlink resource configuration (The time domain resource determination may include determining a starting symbol and transmission duration associated with a PUSCH repetition configuration, see, ¶ [0128]);
a time domain resource length of a nominal transmission of a specified channel, wherein the specified channel comprises a Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH) or a Physical Uplink Control CHannel (PUCCH)(the starting symbol and a transmission duration for the one or more data repetitions may be indicated in the form of a start and length indicator value (SLIV) from a base station, see, ¶ [0129]) and [0128]); or
terminal capability information (UE 115-b may transmit an uplink data repetition capability report to a base station. In some examples, the uplink data repetition capability report may include indication of a number of PUSCHs supported per slot (e.g., the uplink data repetition capability report may indicate a number of PUSCH supported per slot, such that base station 105-b may schedule PUSCH repetitions and/or non-repeated PUSCH in a slot according to the number of total PUSCH supported per slot), see, ¶ [0146]).
Hosseini does not teach the predetermined requirement of phase continuity.
Ly teaches as follows:
The UE 115 may be configured to support PUSCH DMRS bundling operations for each hop of a time domain hopping pattern or a frequency domain hopping pattern related to a PUSCH repetition or a PUSCH (re)transmission. As a result, the UE 115 may bundle PUSCH DMRs of a PUSCH that belong to a same hop. As described the term bundling (also referred to as coherently transmitting) may be defined as coherent transmission of PUSCH over multiple PUSCH transmissions. In order to have such coherent transmission, the phase continuity has to be maintained over the multiple PUSCH transmission (see, ¶ [0175] and figure 2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hosseini with Ly to include maintaining phase continuity over multiple PUSCH transmission as taught by Ly in order for coherent transmission.
Regarding claims 4 and 17, Ly teaches the multiple uplink transmission in a frequency domain resource as follows:
The UE 115 may be configured to support PUSCH DMRS bundling operations for each hop of a time domain hopping pattern or a frequency domain hopping pattern related to a PUSCH repetition or a PUSCH (re)transmission (see, ¶ [0175] and figure 2); and
the PUSCH DMRS bundle 1010 and the PUSCH DMRS bundle 1020 may correspond to time resources (for example, a symbol duration, a minislot duration, a slot duration, a subframe duration, a frame duration), as well as frequency resources (for example, subcarriers, carriers (see, ¶ [0180] and figure 10).
Therefore, they are rejected for similar reason as presented above.
Regarding claims 5 and 6, Hosseini teaches as follows:
The starting symbol and a transmission duration for the one or more data repetitions may be indicated in the form of a start and length indicator value (SLIV) from a base station (see, ¶ [0129]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hosseini in view of Ly to include providing a maximum or minimum value for the duration in order to efficiently set a threshold value for the duration.
Regarding claim 12, Hosseini teaches as follows:
At 1615, the UE may transmit the uplink data repetition capability report to a base station, where the uplink data repetition capability report includes at least an indication of a number of data repetitions supported per transport block and a number of transport blocks supported per slot (see, ¶ [0217]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hosseini in view of Ly to include setting a predetermined requirement for UE capability in order to efficiently determine eligibility of the UE.
Regarding claim 13, Hosseini teaches as follows:
Wherein a first uplink transmission of the multiple first uplink transmissions comprises at least one of a PUCCH, a PUSCH, a Physical Random Access CHannel (PRACH), or a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS)(an uplink transmission may include one or more of a PUSCH or a PUCCH. In some examples, an uplink transmission may include a PUSCH repetition, which may include a number of repeating PUSCH transmissions over a period (for example, a slot), see, ¶ [0112]).
Claims 2, 7-9, 15, and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hosseini et al. (hereinafter Hosseini)(US 2021/0067950) in view of Ly et al. (hereinafter Ly)(US 2021/0194556), and further in view of John Wilson et al. (hereinafter Wilson)(US 2020/0205092).
Regarding claims 2 and 15, Hosseini in view of Ly teaches all limitations as presented above except for the predetermined requirement as following.
Wilson teaches as follows:
A difference between transmit powers corresponding to the multiple first uplink transmissions is smaller than a first threshold (the UE may, in some cases, adjust transmit powers for the concurrent uplink transmissions, or drop one or more of the uplink transmissions, based on one or more parameters. In some cases, a UE may identify that a combined transmission power for concurrent uplink transmissions exceeds a power threshold of the UE, and may adjust a power for one or more of the concurrent uplink transmissions, or drop one or more of the uplink transmissions, based on such an identification. In some cases, if a difference in transmit powers of the concurrent uplink transmissions exceeds a power difference threshold, the UE may drop one or more lower priority transmissions, see, ¶ [0043]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hosseini in view of Ly with Wilson to include setting a transmission power threshold as taught by Wilson in order to efficiently handle multiple concurrent uplink transmissions.
Regarding claims 7 and 18-19, Hosseini teaches as follows:
The UE may determine a starting symbol and a transmission duration (equivalent to applicant’s first duration) that spans a number of uplink symbols within the slot (see, ¶ [0130]); and
the starting symbol and a transmission duration for the one or more data repetitions may be indicated in the form of a start and length indicator value (SLIV) from a base station (see, ¶ [0129]).
Hosseini in view of Ly does not teach the transmission parameter of a transmit power.
Wilson teaches as follows:
The UE 115 may, in some cases, adjust transmit powers for the concurrent uplink transmissions, or drop one or more of the uplink transmissions, based on one or more parameters (see, ¶ [0081]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hosseini in view of Ly with Wilson to include transmit powers parameter as taught by Wilson in order to efficiently handle multiple concurrent uplink transmissions.
Regarding claim 8, Wilson teaches as follows:
The UE may, in some cases, adjust transmit powers for the concurrent uplink transmissions, or drop one or more of the uplink transmissions, based on one or more parameters (see, ¶ [0043]).
Therefore, it is rejected for similar reason as presented above.
Regarding claim 9, Wilson teaches as follows:
Wherein when the terminal is scheduled or configured with an uplink transmission with a specified priority on the first serving cell, the multiple first uplink transmissions are not required to meet the predetermined requirement (The UE may adjust a transmit power of one or more of the concurrent uplink transmissions based on a channel priority associated with each uplink transmission, with higher priority channels having lower or no power adjustments compared to lower priority channels, see, ¶ [0043]).
Therefore, it is rejected for similar reason as presented above.
Claims 3 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hosseini et al. (hereinafter Hosseini)(US 2021/0067950) in view of Ly et al. (hereinafter Ly)(US 2021/0194556), and further in view of Yi et al. (hereinafter Yi)(US 2020/0314816).
Regarding claims 3 and 16, Hosseini teaches as follows:
The gap may be determined based on a configured subcarrier spacing, one or more processing capabilities of the UE, or some combination thereof. Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may further include operations, features, means, or instructions for identifying a first configured service type, where the gap may be determined based on the first configured service type (see, ¶ [0016]).
Hosseini in view of Ly does not teach the requirements related to the gap time on a time domain.
Yi teaches as follows:
The scheduling offset of the time-domain resource allocation may indicate a gap in terms of a number of slots between a DCI and data scheduled by the DCI. The base station may enable the power saving technique of micro-sleep by ensuring a minimum scheduling gap/offset between a DCI and data scheduled by the DCI that is greater than or equal to a certain threshold value. The wireless device may perform micro-sleep between the time in which the wireless device monitors for the DCI and when the data scheduled by the DCI is scheduled to be received, if scheduling gap/offset is larger than the threshold value or the minimum scheduling gap/offset (see, ¶ [0430]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hosseini in view of Ly with Yi to include setting a threshold value for gap/offset of the time-domain resource allocation as taught by Yi in order to efficiently determine whether the time units are continuous or not.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hosseini et al. (hereinafter Hosseini)(US 2021/0067950) in view of Ly et al. (hereinafter Ly)(US 2021/0194556), and further in view of Shi et al. (hereinafter Shi)(US 2020/0260456).
Regarding claim 10, Hosseini in view of Ly teaches all limitations as presented above except for determining frequency-domain locations.
Shi teaches as follows:
For any two neighboring transmission resource chunks of the plurality of transmission resource chunks configured by the network device, after a frequency domain location of a previous transmission resource chunk is fixed, a frequency domain location of a next transmission resource chunk may be determined according to a frequency hopping function (see, ¶ [0123]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hosseini in view of Ly with Shi to include the frequency hopping function as taught by Shi in order to efficiently determine a frequency domain location.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hosseini et al. (hereinafter Hosseini)(US 2021/0067950) in view of Ly et al. (hereinafter Ly)(US 2021/0194556), and further in view of Patel et al. (hereinafter Patel)(US 2018/0131490)
Regarding claim 11, Hosseini in view of Ly teaches all limitations as presented above except for performing transmission based on the DMRS transmission pattern.
Patel teaches as follows:
The base station 105-b may transmit DCI 730 to the UE 115-b. The DCI 730 may include, for example, a sPDCCH uplink grant that indicates allocated uplink resources for a particular shortened transmission time intervals (sTTIs)(equivalent to applicant’s length of the first duration) and the demodulation reference signal (DMRS) configuration for the sTTI (see, ¶ [0076] and figure 7);
UE 115-b may then transmit uplink transmission(s) 745 to the base station 105-b, which may perform received signal processing at block 750. Such processing may include demodulating the uplink transmissions 745 using a transmitted DMRS from a sTTI or from one or more previously received sTTIs (see, ¶ [0079] and figure 7); and
various configurations may be identified and one of the configurations selected for an sTTI based on various factors, that may allow DMRS sharing across multiple sTTIs and/or multiple UEs 115. DMRS sharing may be beneficial to help reduce overhead for uplink transmissions, as of one symbol of each two-symbol sTTI being reserved for DMRS may incur an overhead that is relatively high (see, ¶ [0058]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hosseini in view of Ly with Patel to include DMRS sharing as taught by Patel in order to efficiently reduce overhead for multiple uplink transmissions.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jeong S Park whose telephone number is (571)270-1597. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 8:00-4:30 ET.
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/JEONG S PARK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454
February 27, 2026