DETAILED ACTION
Applicant's submission filed on 17 November 2025 has been entered. Claims 1, 14, 27, and 40 are currently amended; claims 2-13, 19, 28-39, 45, 51, and 52 are cancelled; claims 15-18, 20-26, 41-44, and 46-50 are previously presented; no claims have been added. Claims 1, 14-18, 20-27, 40-44, and 46-50 are pending and ready for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 8 and 9, filed 17 November 2025, with respect to “Section 102 and 103 Rejections” have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that Bagheri—Tsai combination fails to disclose, teach, or suggest “wherein a PUCCH resource indication field included in the downlink DCI is greater than 3 bits” as recited in amended independent claim 1 which is derived from now canceled dependent claim 19.
The examiner respectfully disagrees. While there is agreement that Bagheri does not teach the limitation, as the previous Office Action notes, Tsai’s teachings would have suggested this in paragraph [0048] to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of when the invention was effectively filed. Tsai, [0048], teaches “Each of the mapping indices in the mapping table can be explicitly indicated by the indicating index conveyed by the UCI, or can be derived based on the indicating index conveyed by the UCI (implicitly indicated). Tsai, then goes into a hypothetical example, to illustrate each, where Tsai chooses a resource list of smaller than or equal 8 which can be explicitly indicated by the indicating index of 3 bits – referred as the PUCCH resource indicator field length. Then Tsai chooses to illustrate in this example of utilizing implicitly indicating by stating that one could choose to derive the mapping index when the size is larger than 8, such as 30. One of ordinary skill in the art would be well-versed with the powers of two to realize that instead of using implicit indication which Tsai also teaches that allows one to keep the PUCCH resource indicator field size at 3 bits, they could choose to use explicit indicating of the mapping indices in the mapping table which would mean they would extend the PUCCH resource indicator field size to 5 bits which would cover a resource list up to 32 in order to address the larger resource list size.
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.
Claims 1, 14-18, 20, 21, 23, 26, 27, 40-44, 46, 47 and 49 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bagheri et al. (US 2020/0107319 A1), hereafter referred Bagheri in view of Tsai (US 2020/0221445 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Bagheri teaches a method implemented by a network node in a communication network, the method comprising:
triggering one or more aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) reports from a user equipment (UE) through downlink control information (DCI) (Bagheri, [0035]-[0037]; the UE can be expected to receive aperiodic CSI-RS transmitted in the slot before the OFDM symbols carrying a repeated PDCCH with a triggering DCI, such as the A-CSI report request, in the slot); and
providing to the UE information about a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for transmitting the triggered one or more A-CSI reports (Bagheri, [0033]-[0035]; the DL DCI triggers the A-CSI report for URLLC or the DL DCI triggers the CSI report to transmitted on the PUCCH resources allocated to URLLC operation).
Bagheri does not expressly teach wherein a PUCCH resource indication field included in the downlink DCI is greater than 3 bits.
However, Tsai teaches wherein a PUCCH resource indication field included in the downlink DCI is greater than 3 bits (Tsai, [0048]; a PUCCH resource indicator field (e.g. having a length of 3 bits) in the respective DCI can be used as the mapping index in the mapping table when the size of the resource list 511 is smaller than or equal to 8, however when the size of the resource list is larger than 8 (e.g. 30), this would equate to the PUCCH resource indicator field having a length larger than 3 bits, ie. a resource list size of 30 would require a resource indicator field of 5 bits if one chooses to explicitly indicate the mapping indices in the mapping table by the indicating index).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Bagheri to include the above recited limitations as taught by Tsai in order to provide multiple PUCCH resources for a UCI report (Tsai, [0009]).
Regarding claim 14, Ang teaches a network node in a communication network, comprising:
a processor; and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor and adapted to store instructions which, when executed by the processor, (Bagheri, Fig. 7, [0083]-[0085]; an apparatus, such as the UE 110, the network entity 120, can include a controller, a memory coupled to the controller and the memory may store the software that the controller runs) cause the network node to:
trigger one or more aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) reports from a user equipment (UE) through downlink control information (DCI) (Bagheri, [0035]-[0037]; the UE can be expected to receive aperiodic CSI-RS transmitted in the slot before the OFDM symbols carrying a repeated PDCCH with a triggering DCI, such as the A-CSI report request, in the slot); and
provide to the UE information about a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for transmitting the triggered one or more A-CSI reports (Bagheri, [0033]-[0035]; the DL DCI triggers the A-CSI report for URLLC or the DL DCI triggers the CSI report to transmitted on the PUCCH resources allocated to URLLC operation).
Bagheri does not expressly teach wherein a PUCCH resource indication field included in the downlink DCI is greater than 3 bits.
However, Tsai teaches wherein a PUCCH resource indication field included in the downlink DCI is greater than 3 bits (Tsai, [0048]; a PUCCH resource indicator field (e.g. having a length of 3 bits) in the respective DCI can be used as the mapping index in the mapping table when the size of the resource list 511 is smaller than or equal to 8, however when the size of the resource list is larger than 8 (e.g. 30), this would equate to the PUCCH resource indicator field having a length larger than 3 bits, ie. a resource list size of 30 would require a resource indicator field of 5 bits if one chooses to explicitly indicate the mapping indices in the mapping table by the indicating index).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Bagheri to include the above recited limitations as taught by Tsai in order to provide multiple PUCCH resources for a UCI report (Tsai, [0009]).
Regarding claim 27, Ang teaches a method implemented by a user equipment (UE) in a communication network, the method comprising:
receiving, from a network node, a triggering signal for sending one or more aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) reports to the network node (Bagheri, [0035]-[0037]; the UE can be expected to receive aperiodic CSI-RS transmitted in the slot before the OFDM symbols carrying a repeated PDCCH with a triggering DCI, such as the A-CSI report request, in the slot);
receiving, from a network node, information about a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for transmitting the one or more A-CSI reports to the network node (Bagheri, [0033]-[0035]; the DL DCI triggers the A-CSI report for URLLC or the DL DCI triggers the CSI report to transmitted on the PUCCH resources allocated to URLLC operation); and
transmitting the one or more triggered A-CSI reports to the network node over the received PUCCH resources (Bagheri, [0033]-[0035]; the DL DCI triggers the A-CSI report for URLLC or the DL DCI triggers the CSI report to transmitted on the PUCCH resources allocated to URLLC operation).
Bagheri does not expressly teach wherein a PUCCH resource indication field included in the downlink DCI is greater than 3 bits.
However, Tsai teaches wherein a PUCCH resource indication field included in the downlink DCI is greater than 3 bits (Tsai, [0048]; a PUCCH resource indicator field (e.g. having a length of 3 bits) in the respective DCI can be used as the mapping index in the mapping table when the size of the resource list 511 is smaller than or equal to 8, however when the size of the resource list is larger than 8 (e.g. 30), this would equate to the PUCCH resource indicator field having a length larger than 3 bits, ie. a resource list size of 30 would require a resource indicator field of 5 bits if one chooses to explicitly indicate the mapping indices in the mapping table by the indicating index).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Bagheri to include the above recited limitations as taught by Tsai in order to provide multiple PUCCH resources for a UCI report (Tsai, [0009]).
Regarding claim 40, Bagheri teaches a user equipment in a communication network, comprising:
a processor; and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor and adapted to store instructions which, when executed by the processor, (Bagheri, Fig. 7, [0083]-[0085]; an apparatus, such as the UE 110, the network entity 120, can include a controller, a memory coupled to the controller and the memory may store the software that the controller runs) cause the user equipment (UE) to:
receive, from a network node, a triggering signal for sending one or more aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) reports to the network node (Bagheri, [0035]-[0037]; the UE can be expected to receive aperiodic CSI-RS transmitted in the slot before the OFDM symbols carrying a repeated PDCCH with a triggering DCI, such as the A-CSI report request, in the slot);
receive, from a network node, information about a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for transmitting the one or more A-CSI reports to the network node (Bagheri, [0033]-[0035]; the DL DCI triggers the A-CSI report for URLLC or the DL DCI triggers the CSI report to transmitted on the PUCCH resources allocated to URLLC operation);
and transmit the one or more triggered A-CSI reports to the network node over the received PUCCH resources (Bagheri, [0033]-[0035]; the DL DCI triggers the A-CSI report for URLLC or the DL DCI triggers the CSI report to transmitted on the PUCCH resources allocated to URLLC operation).
Bagheri does not expressly teach wherein a PUCCH resource indication field included in the downlink DCI is greater than 3 bits.
However, Tsai teaches wherein a PUCCH resource indication field included in the downlink DCI is greater than 3 bits (Tsai, [0048]; a PUCCH resource indicator field (e.g. having a length of 3 bits) in the respective DCI can be used as the mapping index in the mapping table when the size of the resource list 511 is smaller than or equal to 8, however when the size of the resource list is larger than 8 (e.g. 30), this would equate to the PUCCH resource indicator field having a length larger than 3 bits, ie. a resource list size of 30 would require a resource indicator field of 5 bits if one chooses to explicitly indicate the mapping indices in the mapping table by the indicating index).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Bagheri to include the above recited limitations as taught by Tsai in order to provide multiple PUCCH resources for a UCI report (Tsai, [0009]).
Regarding claims 15 and 42, Bagheri in view of Tsai teaches the network node of claim 14 and the user equipment of claim 40 above. Further, Bagheri teaches wherein the PUCCH resource is provided independently of channel state information (CSI) report configurations for the one or more A-CSI reports (Bagheri, [0039]; the network can configure PUCCH resources by higher layer signaling and the UE upon reception of DL DCI can determine the PUCCH resource for transmitting the triggered CSI report, where the PUCCH resource can be different than PUCCH resources that can be used for HARQ-ACK transmission corresponding to the scheduled PDSCH via the DL DCI).
Regarding claims 16 and 43, Bagheri in view of Tsai teaches the network node of claim 14 and the user equipment of claim 40 above. Further, Ang teaches wherein the PUCCH resource is provided as part of CSI report configurations for the one or more A-CSI reports (Bagheri, [0018]-[0022]; A-CSI triggering can be done via DL assignment to save control resources in DL heavy traffic scenarios, where mechanisms to determine resources for CSI report computation and CSI report transmission including PUCCH resource determination).
Regarding claim 17, Bagheri in view of Tsai teaches the network node of claim 14 above. Further, Bagheri teaches wherein it is determined whether the triggered A-CSI is multiplexed with a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) based on a HARQ-ACK response and a CSI report in the downlink DCI prior to a mapping of the triggered A-CSI to the PUCCH resources (Bagheri, [0039]-[0040]; the PUCCH resource for transmitting the triggered CSI report can be the same as the PUCCH resources that can be used for HARQ-ACK transmission, such that the CSI and HARQ-ACK can be multiplexed such that the reliability of the corresponding UCI communications can be maintained. For example, separate coding for CSI and HARQ-ACK can be multiplexed on REs corresponding to the PUCCH resource).
Regarding claims 18 and 44, Bagheri in view of Tsai teaches the network node of claim 14 and the user equipment of claim 40 above. Bagheri does not expressly teach wherein a PUCCH resource set of a plurality of PUCH resource sets supports a maximum payload size of more than 2 bits.
However, Tsai teaches wherein a PUCCH resource set of a plurality of PUCH resource sets supports a maximum payload size of more than 2 bits (Tsai, Fig. 4, [0045]; a maximum UCI payload size (e.g. 2 bits, 10 bits, or 40 bits)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Bagheri to include the above recited limitations as taught by Tsai in order to provide multiple PUCCH resources for a UCI report (Tsai, [0009]).
Regarding claims 20 and 46, Bagheri in view of Tsai teaches the network node of claim 14 and the user equipment of claim 40 above. Further, Bagheri teaches wherein a PUCCH resource set provides PUCCH resources for both a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) and the A-CSI (Bagheri, [0039]-[0040]; the PUCCH resource for transmitting the triggered CSI report can be the same as the PUCCH resources that can be used for HARQ-ACK transmission, such that the CSI and HARQ-ACK can be multiplexed such that the reliability of the corresponding UCI communications can be maintained. For example, separate coding for CSI and HARQ-ACK can be multiplexed on REs corresponding to the PUCCH resource).
Regarding claims 21 and 47, Bagheri in view of Tsai teaches the network node of claim 14 and the user equipment of claim 40 above. Further, Bagheri teaches wherein a PUCCH resource set configuration separate from a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) resource set configuration is used for the A-CSI and wherein parameters in the separate PUCCH resource set configuration for the A-CSI have different values than those for the HARQ-ACK (Bagheri, [0038]-[0041]; the PUCCH resource for transmitting the triggered CSI report can be different than PUCCH resources that can be used for HARQ-ACK transmission corresponding to the scheduled PDSCH via the DL DCI).
Regarding claims 23 and 49, Bagheri in view of Tsai teaches the network node of claim 14 and the user equipment of claim 40 above. Bagheri does not expressly teach wherein a maximum number of PUCCH resource sets is greater than 4.
However, Tsai teaches wherein a maximum number of PUCCH resource sets is greater than 4 (Tsai, Fig. 4, [0045]; the PUCCH resource set configuration 400 can indicate a number of PUCCH resource sets, labeled with #1, #2, and so on).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Bagheri to include the above recited limitations as taught by Tsai in order to provide multiple PUCCH resources for a UCI report (Tsai, [0009]).
Regarding claim 26, Bagheri in view of Tsai teaches the network node of claim 14 above. Further, Bagheri teaches wherein the A-CSI triggered by the downlink DCI is configured to repeat across slots (Bagheri, [0036]-[0042]; the DL DCI can include an additional CSI-RS offset term that is applied to the CSI-RS offset, where the triggering offset can enable indication of the same slot containing the aperiodic CSI-RS in the repeated PDCCH in different slots).
Regarding claim 41, Bagheri in view of Tsai teaches the user equipment of claim 40 above. Further, Bagheri teaches wherein the receiving of the triggering signal and the receiving of the PUCCH resources are performed simultaneously (Bagheri, [0033]-[0035]; the DL DCI triggers the A-CSI report for URLLC or the DL DCI triggers the CSI report to transmitted on the PUCCH resources allocated to URLLC operation).
Claims 22, 24, 25, 48, and 50 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bagheri in view of Tsai as applied to claims 14 and 40 above, and further in view of Pelletier et al. (US 2017/0367058 A1), hereafter referred Pelletier.
Regarding claims 22 and 48, Bagheri in view of Tsai teaches the network node of claim 14 and the user equipment of claim 40 above. Bagheri in view of Tsai does not expressly teach wherein the parameters include a transmit power control (TPC) parameter.
However, Pelletier teaches wherein the parameters include a transmit power control (TPC) parameter (Pelletier, [0273]; the response may include power control information (e.g. TPC)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Bagheri in view of Tsai to include the above recited limitations as taught by Pelletier in order to reduce transmission latency (Pelletier, [0002]).
Regarding claims 24 and 50, Bagheri in view of Tsai teaches the network node of claim 14 and the user equipment of claim 40 above. Bagheri in view of Tsai does not expressly teach wherein a parameter indicating a slot offset of the PUCCH resources is configured.
However, Pelletier teaches wherein a parameter indicating a slot offset of the PUCCH resources is configured (Pelletier, [0216]-[0218]; the WTRU may transmit HARQ feedback on PUCCH using an offset determined from the received control signaling, where the timing is based on the location of the received DCI on the PDCCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Bagheri in view of Tsai to include the above recited limitations as taught by Pelletier in order to reduce transmission latency (Pelletier, [0002]).
Regarding claim 25, Bagheri in view of Tsai further in view of Pelletier teaches the network node of claim 24 above. Bagheri in view of Tsai does not expressly teach wherein the slot offset provides a slot for the transmission of the PUCCH relative to slot timing of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for the downlink DCI.
However, Pelletier teaches wherein the slot offset provides a slot for the transmission of the PUCCH relative to slot timing of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for the downlink DCI (Pelletier, [0216]-[0218]; the WTRU may transmit HARQ feedback on PUCCH using an offset determined from the received control signaling, where the timing is based on the location of the received DCI on the PDCCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Bagheri in view of Tsai to include the above recited limitations as taught by Pelletier in order to reduce transmission latency (Pelletier, [0002]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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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/R.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416