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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55, wherein the certified copies of papers are in English language.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed on 11/19/2025, with respect to the claim objections of claims 2 and 4 have been fully considered and are persuasive in view of the amendment filed on 11/19/2025. The claim objections of claims 2 and 4 have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed on 11/19/2025, with respect to the 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection of claim 14 have been fully considered and are persuasive in view of the amendment filed on 11/19/2025. The 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection of claim 14 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) rejections of claims 1-8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16-19 and 21, and 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections of claims 9, 12, and 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.
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 1-8, 10-11, 13, 14 , 16-19 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2018/0092089 A1 to Yin et al. (hereafter refers as Yin) in view of US 2021/0282178 A1 to Taherzadeh Boroujeni et al. (hereafter refers as Taherzadeh Boroujeni).
Regarding claims 1, 2 and 14, Yin teaches a method of operating a communication device in a wireless communication network (a method performed by a UE in a wireless communication network, Fig. 1-3, 11), a communication device for a wireless communication network (the UE in a wireless communication network for performing the method, Fig. 1-3, 11), and a non-transitory computer storage medium storing a computer program comprising instructions causing processing circuitry to one or both control and/or and perform a method (the UE comprises a memory for storing instructions therein, which when executed by a processor, cause the UE to perform the method, Fig. 11 and paragraphs [181-183]), the method comprising:
triggering first communication signaling based on a first communication timing (the UE communicates a first uplink data/HARQ feedback on a first communication timing, i.e. an uplink part of an earliest self-contained subframe, paragraphs [87, 94-95, 122-126, 154-156, 158, 165] and Fig. 2, 7-8, and/or based on timing of DCI, i.e. short DCI or long DCI, paragraphs [48, 72-73]), the first communication timing being based on a signaling format of first control signaling received by the communication device (wherein the first communication timing, i.e. uplink part of an earliest self-contained subframe, is based on a DCI format of a first uplink grant received by the UE, i.e. short DCI format, paragraphs [87, 94-95, 122-126, 154-156, 158, 165, 169] and Fig. 2, 7-8, and/or the timing of DCI is based on the short DCI format or long DCI format, paragraphs [48, 72-73, 87]), the first control signaling scheduling the first communication signaling (wherein the DCI/uplink grant is to schedule the uplink data/HARQ feedback, paragraphs [71-74, 88, 124-126, 160, 168-169]); and
the signaling format being one of a set of formats comprising at least a first signaling format and a second signaling format (wherein the short DCI format is one of a set of formats comprising at least a long DCI format and the short DCI format, paragraphs [87, 94-95, 122-126, 154-156, 158, 165, 169]).
However, Yin does not explicitly teach that the first signaling format associated to the first communication timing “being shorter in one or more bits or bits fields and duration in time domain, than that of the second signaling format associated to a second communication timing”.
Taherzadeh Boroujeni teaches a first signaling format associated to the first communication timing being shorter in one or more bits or bits fields and duration in time domain, than that of the second signaling format associated to a second communication timing (a compact DCI format associated with a short communication timing includes fewer bits and has shorter transmission time than that of a long/normal DCI, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [6-8, 65-66, 124, 131, 139], provisional 62/986,475, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [5-6, 85, 92-96]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of the first signaling format associated to the first communication timing being shorter in one or more bits or bits fields and duration in time domain, than that of the second signaling format associated to a second communication timing as taught by Taherzadeh Boroujeni, with the teachings of the first signaling format and the second signaling format as taught by Yin, for a purpose of reducing the number of bits being transmitted, thus improving the transmission speed of the first signaling format (See Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [6-8, 65-66, 124, 131, 139], provisional 62/986,475, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [5-6, 85, 92-96]).
Regarding claims 3 and 4, Yin teaches a method of operating a signaling radio node in a wireless communication network (a method performed by a base station in a wireless communication network, Fig. 1-3, 12) and a signaling radio node for a wireless communication network (the base station/BS in a wireless communication network for performing the method, Fig. 1-3, 12), the signaling radio node comprising processing circuitry configured to:
communicate with a communicate device to trigger, with a communication device, first communication signaling based on a first communication timing (the base station triggers a user equipment/UE, to transmit an uplink data/HARQ feedback on a first communication timing, i.e. an uplink part of an earliest self-contained subframe, paragraphs [87, 100-103, 117, 122-126, 130-133, 154-156, 158, 165] and Fig. 3, 7-8, and/or based on timing of DCI, i.e. short DCI or long DCI, paragraphs [48, 72-73]), the first communication timing being based on a signaling format of first control signaling transmitted by the signaling radio node (wherein the first communication timing, i.e. uplink part of an earliest self-contained subframe, is based on a DCI format of an uplink grant transmitted by the Base station/BS, i.e. short DCI format, paragraphs [87, 100-103, 117, 122-126, 130-133, 154-156, 158, 165] and Fig. 3, 7-8, and/or the timing of DCI is based on the short DCI format or long DCI format, paragraphs [48, 72-73, 87]), the first control signaling scheduling the first communication signaling (wherein the uplink grant is to schedule the uplink data/HARQ feedback, paragraphs [71-74, 88, 124-126, 160, 168-169]); and
the signaling format being one of a set of formats comprising at least a first signaling format and a second signaling format (wherein the short DCI format is one of a set of formats comprising at least a long DCI format and the short DCI format, paragraphs [87, 94-95, 122-126, 154-156, 158, 165, 169]).
However, Yin does not explicitly teach that the first signaling format associated to the first communication timing “being shorter in one or more bits or bits fields and duration in time domain, than that of the second signaling format associated to a second communication timing”.
Taherzadeh Boroujeni teaches a first signaling format associated to the first communication timing being shorter in one or more bits or bits fields and duration in time domain, than that of the second signaling format associated to a second communication timing (a compact DCI format associated with a short communication timing includes fewer bits and has shorter transmission time than that of a long/normal DCI, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [6-8, 65-66, 124, 131, 139], provisional 62/986,475, Fig. and paragraphs [5-6, 85, 92-96]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of the first signaling format associated to the first communication timing being shorter in one or more bits or bits fields and duration in time domain, than that of the second signaling format associated to a second communication timing as taught by Taherzadeh Boroujeni, with the teachings of the first signaling format and the second signaling format as taught by Yin, for a purpose of reducing the number of bits being transmitted, thus improving the transmission speed of the first signaling format (See Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [6-8, 65-66, 124, 131, 139], provisional 62/986,475, Fig. and paragraphs [5-6, 85, 92-96]).
Regarding claims 5 and 16, the combination of Yin and Taherzadeh Boroujeni further teaches wherein to each signaling format, there is associated a communication timing (for a short DCI format, the communication timing is the uplink part of an earliest self-contained subframe, and for a long DCI format, the communication timing is the uplink subframe indicated in the long DCI or an uplink part of a self-contained subframe, paragraphs [25, 87, 88, 110, 111, 165, 169-171] and Fig. 7-10, further, the short/compact DCI format has a shorter communication timing and the long/normal DCI format has a longer communication timing, see Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [6-8, 65-66, 124, 131, 139], provisional 62/986,475, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [5-6, 85, 92-96]).
Regarding claims 6 and 17, the combination of Yin and Taherzadeh Boroujeni further teaches wherein a shorter communication timing is associated to the first signaling format than to the second signaling format (wherein the short DCI format has a short communication timing and/or associated with shorter communication timing between the grant/DCI and the uplink data/response/feedback, i.e. earliest self-contained subframe, paragraphs [25, 26, 48, 169] and Fig. 7-10, furthermore, the short/compact DCI format has a shorter communication timing and the long/normal DCI format has a longer communication timing, see Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [6-8, 65-66, 124, 131, 139], provisional 62/986,475, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [5-6, 85, 92-96]).
Regarding claims 7 and 18, the combination of Yin and Taherzadeh Boroujeni further teaches further teaches wherein different communication timings are represented by different time units associated to different signaling formats (different DCI format associated with different subframe/slots, see Yin, Fig. 7-10 and paragraphs [25, 87, 88, 110, 111, 165, 169-171], see Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [6-8, 65-66, 124, 131, 139], provisional 62/986,475, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [5-6, 85, 92-96]).
Regarding claims 8 and 19, the combination of Yin and Taherzadeh Boroujeni further teaches further teaches wherein the first signaling format has a shorter signaling timing than the second signaling format (wherein the short DCI format has a short communication timing, paragraphs [25, 26, 48, 169] and Fig. 7-10, see Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [6-8, 65-66, 124, 131, 139], provisional 62/986,475, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [5-6, 85, 92-96]).
Regarding claims 10 and 21, Yin further teaches wherein the second signaling format pertains to a message having one or more bit fields (wherein the long DCI format has one or more bits, paragraphs [162, 163], and associated with HARQ-ACK message with bits, paragraph [156]).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Yin and Taherzadeh Boroujeni further teaches further teaches wherein one of both:
the first control signaling is associated to a first resource (wherein the first uplink grant, i.e. short DCI format, is associated with the first communication timing, i.e. an uplink part of an earliest self-contained subframe, see Yin, paragraphs [87, 94-95, 122-126, 154-156, 158, 165] and Fig. 7-8); and
a second control signaling having a different signaling format than the first control signaling is associated to a second resource (wherein a second uplink grant, i.e. long DCI format, is associated with a second communication timing, i.e. an uplink subframe indicated in the long DCI or an uplink part of a self-contained subframe, see Yin, paragraphs [87, 94-95, 122-126, 154-156, 158, 165] and Fig. 9-10).
Regarding claim 13, Yin further teaches wherein the first control signaling indicates one or more transmission parameters of the first communication signaling (wherein the short DCI indicates default HARQ-ACK timing and/or to transmit uplink in an earliest uplink subframe, paragraphs [48-49, 87, 169, 172]).
Claims 9 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2018/0092089 A1 to Yin et al. (hereafter refers as Yin) in view of US 2021/0282178 A1 to Taherzadeh Boroujeni et al. (hereafter refers as Taherzadeh Boroujeni) as applied to claims above, and further in view of US 2022/0061090 A1 to Fehrenbach et al. (hereafter refers as Fehrenbach).
Regarding claims 9 and 20, the combination of Yin and Taherzadeh Boroujeni does not explicitly teach “wherein the first signaling format is represented by a signaling sequence, wherein the signaling sequence may be is one of a set of signaling sequences”.
Fehrenbach teaches a first signaling format is represented by a signaling sequence (wherein the short PDCCH format is presented by a sequence encoding, i.e. PUCCH format 0, paragraph [203]), wherein the signaling sequence may be is one of a set of signaling sequences (wherein sequence encoding, i.e. PUCCH format 0, is one of a plurality of sequences, paragraph [383]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of wherein the first signaling format is represented by a signaling sequence, wherein the signaling sequence may be is one of a set of signaling sequences as taught by Fehrenbach, with the teachings of the first signaling format as taught by combination of Yin and Taherzadeh Boroujeni, for a purpose of provide as much information as possible, such as a signaling state, since each of the signaling state is associated with particular sequence (See Fehrenbach, paragraph [383]).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over US 2018/0092089 A1 to Yin et al. (hereafter refers as Yin) in view of US 2021/0282178 A1 to Taherzadeh Boroujeni et al. (hereafter refers as Taherzadeh Boroujeni) as applied to claims above, in view of US 2023/0362945 A1 to Parkvall et al. (hereafter refers as Parkvall).
The applied reference has a common assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Yin and Taherzadeh Boroujeni does not explicitly teach “wherein second control signaling is located between the first control signaling and first communication signaling”.
Parkvall teaches wherein second control signaling is located between the first control signaling and first communication signaling (a regular PDCCH is located between the quick PDCCH and the data, Fig. 3 and paragraph [51]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of second control signaling is located between the first control signaling and first communication signaling as taught by Parkvall, with the teachings of the first signaling format as taught by combination of Yin and Taherzadeh Boroujeni, for a purpose of increase efficiency in communication by allowing the UE to receive the first controlling signaling, i.e. shorter/quicker PDCCH, first, while also receive the regular PDCCH, prior to transmit the data, thus allowing the UE to receive both PDCCHs during a PDCCH monitoring/searching (See Parkvall, Fig. 3 and paragraphs [27, 67]).
This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C.102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B); or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement. See generally MPEP § 717.02.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2018/0092089 A1 to Yin et al. (hereafter refers as Yin) in view of US 2021/0282178 A1 to Taherzadeh Boroujeni et al. (hereafter refers as Taherzadeh Boroujeni) as applied to claims above, and further in view of US 2019/0306865 A1 to Medles et al. (hereafter refers as Medles).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Yin and Taherzadeh Boroujeni does not explicitly teach “wherein second control signaling is located between the first control signaling and first communication signaling”.
Medles teaches wherein second control signaling is located between the first control signaling and first communication signaling (a second DCI with a second DCI format, for indicating a resource for PUCCH transmission, is located between a first DCI with a first DCI format and an PUCCH transmission associated with the first DCI format, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [26-28]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of second control signaling is located between the first control signaling and first communication signaling as taught by Medles, with the teachings of the first signaling format as taught by combination of Yin and Taherzadeh Boroujeni, for a purpose of increase efficiency in communication by allowing the UE to receive both DCIs with different format, prior to transmit the PUCCH data, thus allowing the UE to response to both DCIs (See Medles, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [27-28]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2022/0086862 A1 discloses transmitting multiple DCI with different formats prior to receive an uplink transmission (see Fig. 4B-4C and paragraph [59]).
US 2022/0272745 A1 discloses a terminal device determines at least one time domain resource set based on a DCI format, wherein each of the time domain resource set is associated with particular DCI format (paragraphs [121-123, 145-147]), transmits uplink data to a network on resource in the determined time domain resource set (paragraphs [145-149]), wherein the DCI format includes compact DCI format (paragraphs [100-101, 114, 146]).
US 2021/0352656 A1 discloses a length of a compact DCI is configured to be less than a length of a fall DCI by 16 bits (paragraphs [326, 331-334]).
US 2019/0313385 A1 discloses a compact DCI is smaller than a normal DCI by 10-12 bits (paragraphs [72, 85, 91]).
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUNG B. HUYNH whose telephone number is (571)270-7642. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
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/DUNG B HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469 February 11, 2026