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 Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed October 22, 2025 with respect to claims 1-4 and 13 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that although Gao et al. describe various examples of an offset, the offset in each case is the spacing between a downlink communication and an uplink communication, and Gao et al. are therefore silent as to adjusting a first spacing such as a start of the data signaling in time domain relative to a reception time of the control information message with a second spacing such as an offset as recited in Applicant's claims.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Examiner argues that Applicant’s arguments are not commensurate with the scope of the claimed invention. The claimed invention does not distinguish itself from the offset being a spacing between downlink and uplink communication. The control information message may be interpreted as downlink communication, but the data signaling may be interpreted as either downlink communication or uplink communication based on the current claim language. Gao et al. disclose multiple offset spacings between communications going in the same direction (between PDCCH DCI and downlink reference signaling) and between communications going in different directions (between PDCCH DCI and PUSCH/PUCCH). Paragraph 53 of Gao et al. disclose that an offset may be the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI-RS and the start of A-CSI-RS transmission. This offset spacing is between a downlink communication (PDCCH carrying DCI that triggers A-CSI-RS) and a downlink communication (A-CSI-RS transmission [See paragraph 48 and figure 3C denoting A-CSI-RS 331 as DL communication and paragraph 38 disclosing aperiodic CSI-RS transmitted by the network device 110]). Gao et al. also discloses the offset as spacing between downlink communication (DCI) and uplink communication (PUSCH carrying uplink data or PUSCH/PUCCH carrying A-CSI reporting) in paragraph 53. Furthermore, adjustment of the first spacing is disclosed at paragraph 34, which discloses offset X [the offset between the DCI and the A-CSI-RS, paragraph 51] as being fixed to zero or being configurable on a per resource set basis, or offset Y [timing for transmitting CSI, paragraph 38] as being a set of preconfigured value from which one can be selected, or offset k2 [timing for PUSCH transmission, paragraph 38] as being a set of preconfigured value from which one can be selected. Therefore, Gao et al. disclose adjusting a first spacing such as a start of the data signaling in time domain relative to a reception time of the control information message with a second spacing such as an offset as recited in Applicant's claims.
Applicant's arguments filed October 22, 2025 with respect to claims 5-12 and 15-21 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. For reasons set forth above in section 2a, Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant’s arguments regarding Gao et al.
Accordingly, the claims remain rejected over Gao et al. as outlined in the non-final rejection with updates to reflect claim amendments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-8, 12, 13 and 15-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Gao et al. (US 2020/0374730).
Regarding claim 1, Gao et al. disclose a method of operating a communicating radio node in a wireless communication network (Figures 1 and 2, terminal device 120), the method comprising:
receiving a control information message comprising scheduling for data signaling, the scheduling comprising a start time indication corresponding to a start of the data signaling in time domain relative to a reception time of the control information message (Paragraph 53, an offset…may be at least one of the following: the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI with uplink scheduling information and the start of PUSCH carrying uplink data, the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI and the start of PUSCH/PUCCH carrying the A-CSI, the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI-RS and the start of A-CSI-RS transmission);
adjusting the start time of the data signaling based on a timing offset (Paragraph 34, which discloses offset X [the offset between the DCI and the A-CSI-RS, paragraph 51] as being fixed to zero or being configurable on a per resource set basis, or offset Y [timing for transmitting CSI, paragraph 38] as being a set of preconfigured value from which one can be selected, or offset k2 [timing for PUSCH transmission, paragraph 38] as being a set of preconfigured value from which one can be selected); and
communicating utilizing the data signaling (Paragraph 48 and figure 3C, A-CSI-RS 331 as DL communication and paragraph 38 disclosing aperiodic CSI-RS transmitted by the network device 110]; Paragraph 53, uplink communication (PUSCH carrying uplink data or PUSCH/PUCCH carrying A-CSI reporting)).
Regarding claim 2, Gao et al. disclose a communicating radio node for a wireless communication network (Figures 1 and 2, terminal device 120), the communicating radio node comprising processing circuitry (Inherent in terminal device 120) configured to:
receive a control information message comprising scheduling for data signaling, the scheduling comprising a start time indication corresponding to a start of the data signaling in time domain relative to a reception time of the control information message (Paragraph 53, an offset…may be at least one of the following: the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI with uplink scheduling information and the start of PUSCH carrying uplink data, the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI and the start of PUSCH/PUCCH carrying the A-CSI, the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI-RS and the start of A-CSI-RS transmission);
adjust the start time of the data signaling based on a timing offset (Paragraph 34, which discloses offset X [the offset between the DCI and the A-CSI-RS, paragraph 51] as being fixed to zero or being configurable on a per resource set basis, or offset Y [timing for transmitting CSI, paragraph 38] as being a set of preconfigured value from which one can be selected, or offset k2 [timing for PUSCH transmission, paragraph 38] as being a set of preconfigured value from which one can be selected); and
communicate utilizing the data signaling (Paragraph 48 and figure 3C, A-CSI-RS 331 as DL communication and paragraph 38 disclosing aperiodic CSI-RS transmitted by the network device 110]; Paragraph 53, uplink communication (PUSCH carrying uplink data or PUSCH/PUCCH carrying A-CSI reporting)).
Regarding claim 3, Gao et al. disclose a method of operating a signaling radio node in a wireless communication network (Figures 1 and 2, network device 110), the method comprising:
transmitting a control information message comprising scheduling for data signaling, the scheduling comprising a start time indicator corresponding to a start of the data signaling in time domain relative to a reception time of the control information message (Paragraph 53, an offset…may be at least one of the following: the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI with uplink scheduling information and the start of PUSCH carrying uplink data, the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI and the start of PUSCH/PUCCH carrying the A-CSI, the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI-RS and the start of A-CSI-RS transmission), the start time of the data signaling being adjusted based on a timing offset (Paragraph 34, which discloses offset X [the offset between the DCI and the A-CSI-RS, paragraph 51] as being fixed to zero or being configurable on a per resource set basis, or offset Y [timing for transmitting CSI, paragraph 38] as being a set of preconfigured value from which one can be selected, or offset k2 [timing for PUSCH transmission, paragraph 38] as being a set of preconfigured value from which one can be selected); and
communicating with a communicating radio node utilizing the data signaling (Paragraph 48 and figure 3C, A-CSI-RS 331 as DL communication and paragraph 38 disclosing aperiodic CSI-RS transmitted by the network device 110]; Paragraph 53, uplink communication (PUSCH carrying uplink data or PUSCH/PUCCH carrying A-CSI reporting)).
Regarding claim 4, Gao et al. disclose a signaling radio node for a wireless communication network (Figures 1 and 2, network device 110), the signaling node comprising processing circuitry (Figure 6, processor 610) configured to:
transmit a control information message comprising scheduling for data signaling, the scheduling comprising a start time indicator corresponding to a start of the data signaling in time domain relative to a reception time of the control information message (Paragraph 53, an offset…may be at least one of the following: the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI with uplink scheduling information and the start of PUSCH carrying uplink data, the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI and the start of PUSCH/PUCCH carrying the A-CSI, the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI-RS and the start of A-CSI-RS transmission), the start time of the data signaling being adjusted based on a timing offset (Paragraph 34, which discloses offset X [the offset between the DCI and the A-CSI-RS, paragraph 51] as being fixed to zero or being configurable on a per resource set basis, or offset Y [timing for transmitting CSI, paragraph 38] as being a set of preconfigured value from which one can be selected, or offset k2 [timing for PUSCH transmission, paragraph 38] as being a set of preconfigured value from which one can be selected); and
communicate with a communicating radio node utilizing the data signaling (Paragraph 48 and figure 3C, A-CSI-RS 331 as DL communication and paragraph 38 disclosing aperiodic CSI-RS transmitted by the network device 110]; Paragraph 53, uplink communication (PUSCH carrying uplink data or PUSCH/PUCCH carrying A-CSI reporting)).
Regarding claim 5, Gao et al. disclose wherein the control information message is one or both of a scheduling assignment and scheduling grant (Paragraph 53, PDCCH carrying the DCI with uplink scheduling information).
Regarding claim 6, Gao et al. disclose wherein the timing offset indicates the start of the data signaling being shifted relative to the reception time by a number N of symbol time intervals (Paragraph 53, an offset in each of the sets of offset values may be at least one of the following: the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI with uplink scheduling information and the start of PUSCH carrying uplink data, the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI and the start of PUSCH/PUCCH carrying the A-CSI, the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI-RS and the start of A-CSI-RS transmission, and the number of symbols or slots between the end of A-CSI-RS transmission and the start of PUSCH/PUCCH carrying A-CSI).
Regarding claim 7, Gao et al. disclose wherein the timing offset is configured to the communicating radio node (Paragraph 34, The time offset Y can be indicated by the trigger signaling. That is, DCI to be used for indicating the timing for PUSCH can be used to indicate the time offset Y. Specifically, a set of values for the time offset Y can be preconfigured via higher layer signaling; Paragraph 42, In some embodiments, the DCI may indicate a value of the time offset Y. The terminal device 120 may determine a starting position for the time offset Y and then determine the position for transmitting the CSI in time domain based on the starting position for the time offset Y and the value of the time offset Y).
Regarding claim 8, Gao et al. disclose wherein the control information message comprises an offset indicator one or both indicating the timing offset and triggering application of the timing offset (Paragraph 34, The time offset Y can be indicated by the trigger signaling. That is, DCI to be used for indicating the timing for PUSCH can be used to indicate the time offset Y. Specifically, a set of values for the time offset Y can be preconfigured via higher layer signaling; Paragraph 42, In some embodiments, the DCI may indicate a value of the time offset Y. The terminal device 120 may determine a starting position for the time offset Y and then determine the position for transmitting the CSI in time domain based on the starting position for the time offset Y and the value of the time offset Y).
Regarding claim 12, Gao et al. disclose wherein the reception time corresponds to one or both of an end in time domain of the control information message and an end in time domain of a search space or CORESET for reception of the control information message (Paragraph 53, an offset in each of the sets of offset values may be at least one of the following: the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI with uplink scheduling information and the start of PUSCH carrying uplink data, the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI and the start of PUSCH/PUCCH carrying the A-CSI, the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI-RS and the start of A-CSI-RS transmission, and the number of symbols or slots between the end of A-CSI-RS transmission and the start of PUSCH/PUCCH carrying A-CSI).
Regarding claim 13, Gao et al. disclose a non-transitory computer storage medium (Figure 6, memory 620) storing a computer program comprising instructions (Figure 6, prog 630) causing processing circuitry to one or both control and perform a method (Paragraph 99, The program 630 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by the associated processor 610, enable the device 600 to operate), the method comprising:
Receiving transmitting a control information message comprising scheduling for data signaling, the scheduling comprising a start time indicator corresponding to a start of the data signaling in time domain relative to a reception time of the control information message (Paragraph 53, an offset…may be at least one of the following: the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI with uplink scheduling information and the start of PUSCH carrying uplink data, the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI and the start of PUSCH/PUCCH carrying the A-CSI, the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI-RS and the start of A-CSI-RS transmission), the start time of the data signaling being adjusted based on a timing offset (Paragraph 34, which discloses offset X [the offset between the DCI and the A-CSI-RS, paragraph 51] as being fixed to zero or being configurable on a per resource set basis, or offset Y [timing for transmitting CSI, paragraph 38] as being a set of preconfigured value from which one can be selected, or offset k2 [timing for PUSCH transmission, paragraph 38] as being a set of preconfigured value from which one can be selected); and
communicating utilizing the data signaling (Paragraph 48 and figure 3C, A-CSI-RS 331 as DL communication and paragraph 38 disclosing aperiodic CSI-RS transmitted by the network device 110]; Paragraph 53, uplink communication (PUSCH carrying uplink data or PUSCH/PUCCH carrying A-CSI reporting)).
Regarding claim 15, Gao et al. disclose wherein the control information message is one or both of a scheduling assignment and scheduling grant (Paragraph 53, PDCCH carrying the DCI with uplink scheduling information).
Regarding claim 16, Gao et al. disclose wherein the timing offset indicates the start of the data signaling being shifted relative to the reception time by a number N of symbol time intervals (Paragraph 53, an offset in each of the sets of offset values may be at least one of the following: the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI with uplink scheduling information and the start of PUSCH carrying uplink data, the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI and the start of PUSCH/PUCCH carrying the A-CSI, the number of symbols or slots between the end of PDCCH carrying the DCI which triggers A-CSI-RS and the start of A-CSI-RS transmission, and the number of symbols or slots between the end of A-CSI-RS transmission and the start of PUSCH/PUCCH carrying A-CSI).
Regarding claim 17, Gao et al. disclose wherein the timing offset is configured to the communicating radio node (Paragraph 34, The time offset Y can be indicated by the trigger signaling. That is, DCI to be used for indicating the timing for PUSCH can be used to indicate the time offset Y. Specifically, a set of values for the time offset Y can be preconfigured via higher layer signaling; Paragraph 42, In some embodiments, the DCI may indicate a value of the time offset Y. The terminal device 120 may determine a starting position for the time offset Y and then determine the position for transmitting the CSI in time domain based on the starting position for the time offset Y and the value of the time offset Y).
Regarding claim 18, Gao et al. disclose wherein the control information message comprises an offset indicator one or both indicating the timing offset and triggering application of the timing offset (Paragraph 34, The time offset Y can be indicated by the trigger signaling. That is, DCI to be used for indicating the timing for PUSCH can be used to indicate the time offset Y. Specifically, a set of values for the time offset Y can be preconfigured via higher layer signaling; Paragraph 42, In some embodiments, the DCI may indicate a value of the time offset Y. The terminal device 120 may determine a starting position for the time offset Y and then determine the position for transmitting the CSI in time domain based on the starting position for the time offset Y and the value of the time offset Y).
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.
Claim(s) 9 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao et al. as applied to claims 1 and 3 above, and further in view of Bagheri et al. (US 2020/0351926).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, Gao et al. disclose the claimed invention above as well as wherein the timing offset represents a number of symbol time intervals (Gao et al., Paragraph 53) but do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Bagheri et al.: M x L symbol time intervals, wherein M is an integer value and L corresponds to the duration of one or both of a CORESET and control information message, wherein L in particular may be one of 2, 3 or 4 (Bagheri et al., Paragraph 74, a UE can determine a minimum value of a scheduling offset between scheduling DCI and corresponding PDSCH based on an indication of a first minimum value of a scheduling offset and the number of, the location of, and the duration of the CORESETs associated with different TCI states being monitored in the slot).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Gao et al. with the cited disclosure from Bagheri et al. in order to implement a minimum scheduling offset for power saving operation (Bagheri et al., Paragraph 62).
Claim(s) 10 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao et al. as applied to claims 1 and 3 above, and further in view of Liu et al. (US 2017/0026073).
Regarding claims 10 and 20, Gao et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Liu et al.: wherein different timing offset values are associated to different communicating radio nodes (Liu et al., Paragraph 111, the base station 101, for example, may configure the secondary transmission configuration for multiple user terminals by using the same configuration message or by using different offsets in the activation message (for example, different user terminals may correspond to different offsets), so as to implement fair scheduling for the user terminals as much as possible and alleviate a problem of interference between the user terminals).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention in order to implement fair scheduling for terminals and alleviate interference between terminals (Liu et al., Paragraph 111).
Claim(s) 11 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao et al. as applied to claims 1 and 3 above, and further in view of Yang et al. (US 11,713,930).
Regarding claims 11 and 21, Gao et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Yang et al.: wherein the start of the data signaling is further based on a start timing indicator in the control information message (Yang et al., Column 22 lines 7-25, DCI indicating signaling for a starting symbol for feedback).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Gao et al. with the cited disclosure from Yang et al. in order to allow for time domain resource allocation at the symbol level for service types to achieve increase reliability and lower latency (Yang et al., Column 18, lines 36-41).
Conclusion
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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/OTIS L THOMPSON, JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477 January 14, 2026