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 with respect to the claim(s) 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 § 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.
Claim 21 is 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.
Claim 21 recites "the second transmission failure condition indicates a situation where the transmission channel is determined to have a low priority for transmission according to the priority information." Claim 21 earlier recites "a second transmission failure situation." There is insufficient antecedent basis for "the second transmission failure condition" in the claim. It is unclear whether "the second transmission failure condition" refers to the previously recited "a second transmission failure situation" or to wholly new failure condition/situation. Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1-3, 5-10, 12-14 and 17-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2019/0173620 A1 herein Oh in view of US 2021/0105096 A1 herein Chin '096.
Claim 1, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 8.
Oh discloses a method for determining data retransmission, performed by a base station (0194, FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a second UL transmission method of a BS).
Claim 2, Oh in view of Chin '096 discloses the method of claim 1.
Oh discloses wherein the first CG configuration type is a CG configuration type in which the terminal is configured to select a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number and/or a redundancy version (RV) according to the number of available HARQ processes indicated by the CG configuration information, and the second CG configuration type is a CG configuration type in which the terminal is configured to calculate the HARQ process number and/or the RV according to a resource allocation time position and the number of available HARO processes indicated by the CG configuration information (0149, The HARQ process ID may be calculated for the scheduled resources as shown in Equation (3); 0150, X denotes the first symbol of the initial transmission, and NumHARQproc denotes a number of HARQ processes configured for the UL transmission, NumHARQproc being received from the BS via higher layer signaling).
Oh may not explicitly disclose the preset data retransmission information comprises at least one of: adopting a first data retransmission method, wherein the CG configuration type is a first CG configuration type and the transmission failure situation is a first transmission failure situation or a second transmission failure situation; adopting the first data retransmission method, wherein the CG configuration type is the first CG configuration type and no feedback is received before an uplink grant retransmission timer expires in a case where the first transmission failure situation and the second transmission failure situation do not occur; or adopting a second data retransmission method, wherein the CG configuration type is a second CG configuration type and the transmission failure situation is the first transmission failure situation; wherein the first transmission failure situation indicates a situation where a frequency channel access fails, and the second transmission failure situation indicates a situation where the transmission channel is determined to have a low priority for transmission according to the priority information; and wherein in the first data retransmission method, a CG resource used for retransmission and a CG resource that fails to transmit have the same accommodated data size and the same HARO process number, and in the second data retransmission method, the CG resource used for retransmission and the CG resource that fails to transmit are indicated by the same CG configuration information and have the same HARO process number.
Chin '096 discloses adopting a second data retransmission method (0089, the UE may perform (re)transmission of the TB1 on configured uplink grant resource 2), and wherein in the second data retransmission method, the CG resource used for retransmission and the CG resource that fails to transmit are indicated by the same CG configuration information and have the same HARO process number (0102, If the configured uplink grant resource 2 and configured uplink grant resource 1 belong to the same configured grant configuration; 0094, If configured uplink grant resource 1 corresponds to the same HARQ process ID as configured uplink grant resource 2). 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 Oh to include determining whether a subsequent configured uplink grant resource may be used to retransmit a failed transmission due to a listen before talk (LBT) failure or deprioritization, as taught by Chin '096, so as to allow retransmission on a configured uplink grant resource even if the configured grant timer for the corresponding HARQ process is not running (0082).
Claim 3, Oh in view of Chin '096 discloses the method of claim 2.
Chin '096 discloses wherein the first transmission failure situation happens (0084, the UE attempts to transmit the TB1 on the CG PUSCH1, but fails due to an LBT failure), and the transmission channel is determined to have a high priority for transmission according to the priority information (0093, If configured uplink grant resource 2 is prioritized over other UL resources that it overlaps with in the time domain, as a result of intra-UE prioritization).
Claim 5, Oh in view of Chin '096 discloses the method of claim 1.
Oh discloses wherein the preset data retransmission information comprises at least one of a threshold of a number of retransmissions or a retransmission duration threshold, and at least one of the threshold of the number of retransmissions or the retransmission duration threshold is related to the number of retransmissions (0147, K denotes a number of repetitive transmissions including the initial transmission and may be set to one of predetermined values including 1 (e.g., K=1, 2, 4, or 8) for the UE via higher layer signaling).
Claim 6, Oh in view of Chin '096 discloses the method of claim 1.
Oh discloses wherein the transmission channel comprises at least one of:
an uplink data channel (0117, transmit UL information to the BS through a UL data channel (e.g., PUSCH); 0090, it may be possible to perform UL data channel transmission and UL control channel transmission);
an uplink control channel; or
an uplink sounding signal channel.
Claim 7, Oh in view of Chin '096 discloses the method of claim 1.
Oh discloses sending the preset data retransmission information to the terminal (0136, the BS transmits, to the UE, the UL retransmission-related configuration information, UL scheduling configuration information, or UL grant through a DL control channel).
Claim 8, Oh discloses a method for determining data retransmission, performed by a terminal (Title, Apparatus), the method comprising:
receiving configured grant (CG) configuration information for uplink (0200, in step 810, the UE receives configuration information from the BS, which includes at least UL transmission scheme for UL transmission; 0140, The UE may receive period information (P) of the second UL transmission resources and an offset value from the BS via higher layer signaling), and priority information of a transmission channel (0191, the UE may receive priority order information for use in prioritizing the resources for the second UL transmission from the BS), wherein the CG configuration information comprises a CG configuration type (0183, Method B: The UE may determine a second UL transmission type and resources according to the configured second UL transmission scheme type; 0184, the UE may prefer the second UL transmission scheme of a type activating the second UL transmission and resources using a DL control channel); and
determining a priority of the transmission channel according to the priority information (0191, the UE may determine the resources to be used preferentially for the second UL transmission based on a quality of service (QoS) of the data or priority of logical channel of the transmission), and a data retransmission method to be adopted according to preset data retransmission information, the CG configuration information and a transmission failure situation (0131, the BS may make one of three UL signal reception result determinations: successful reception, reception failure, and detection failure; 0135, the BS notifies the UE of the UL signal reception result and requests the UE for retransmission of the UL signal at least when detecting the UL signal transmitted by the UE but failing to decode the UL signal; 0136, the UE may retransmit the UL signal according to the second UL transmission scheme in the first UL transmission scheme; 0137, a method is provided for determining whether the UL scheduling configuration information received from the BS is configured for retransmission of the UL signal transmitted in the second UL transmission scheme or for transmitting a new UL signal in the first UL transmission scheme), and the priority of the transmission channel is determined based on a priority of a logical channel corresponding to the transmission channel (0191, the UE may determine the resources to be used preferentially based on priority of logical channel of the transmission).
Oh may not explicitly disclose wherein the preset data retransmission information indicates a correspondence relationship among the data retransmission method, the transmission failure situation and the CG configuration type.
Chin '096 discloses wherein the preset data retransmission information indicates a correspondence relationship among the data retransmission method, the transmission failure situation and the CG configuration type (0089, the UE may perform (re)transmission of the TB1 on configured uplink grant resource 2, if it has at least one of the following characteristics; 0102, If the configured uplink grant resource 2 and configured uplink grant resource 1 belong to the same configured grant configuration; 0113, 0114, the CG PUSCH1 and the CG PUSCH2 may belong to a configured grant Type 1 configuration or a configured grant Type 2 configuration in which retransmissions on the corresponding configured uplink grant resources are allowed, thus a correspondence among the data retransmission method, the transmission failure situation and the CG configuration type). 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 Oh to include determining whether a subsequent configured uplink grant resource may be used to transmit a MAC POU whose transmission failed due to an LBT failure or deprioritization, as taught by Chin '096, so as to allow retransmission on a configured uplink grant resource even if the configured grant timer for the corresponding HARQ process is not running (0082).
Claim 9, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 2.
Claim 10, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 3.
Claim 12, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 5.
Claim 13, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 6.
Claim 14, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 7.
Oh discloses receiving and storing the preset data retransmission information (0136, Upon receiving the UL scheduling configuration information, the UE may retransmit the UL signal based on the UL transmission configuration information; 0119, the UE may transmit UL information according to UL transmission configuration information preconfigured by the UE, thus storage is implied because the information is preset in the UE).
Claim 17, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 8.
Oh discloses a base station, comprising: a transceiver (0208, the BS includes a receiver 910, a transmitter 920, and a processor 930, the receiver and the transmitter may be collectively referred to as a transceiver); a memory (0030, These computer program instructions may also be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner); and a processor connected to the transceiver and the memory, and configured to perform the method according to claim 1 (0209, The processor 930 may control overall operations of the BS).
Claim 18, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 8.
Oh discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method of claim 1 (0030, These computer program instructions may also be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable memory, such that the instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable memory produce articles of manufacture embedding instructions that implement the function/act specified in the flowcharts).
Claim 19, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 8.
Oh discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method of claim 8 (0030, These computer program instructions may also be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable memory, such that the instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable memory produce articles of manufacture embedding instructions that implement the function/act specified in the flowcharts).
Claim 20, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 8.
Oh discloses a terminal, comprising: a transceiver (0212, the UE includes a receiver 1010, a transmitter 1020, and a processor 1030, the receiver and the transmitter may be collectively referred to as a transceiver); a memory (0030, These computer program instructions may also be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner); and a processor connected to the transceiver and the memory (0213, The processor 1030 may control overall operations of the UE).
Claim 21, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 2.
Claim 22, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 14.
Oh discloses wherein the processor is further configured to receive and store the preset data retransmission information (0213, The processor 1030 may control overall operations of the UE).
Claim(s) 4 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oh in view of Chin '096 and further in view of US 2021/0219322 A1 herein Chin '322.
Claim 4, Oh in view of Chin '096 discloses the method of claim 1.
Oh in view of Chin '096 may not explicitly disclose wherein a distance between a time position of a CG resource used for retransmission and a time position of a CG resource that fails to transmit is greater than or equal to a data channel processing duration.
Chin '322 discloses wherein a distance between a time position of a CG resource used for retransmission and a time position of a CG resource that fails to transmit is greater than or equal to a data channel processing duration (0120, if a UE fails to perform transmission of a TB, namely TB1, on an UL resource scheduled by a UL grant (e.g., UL resource 1) due to detection of an LBT failure, the UE may perform (re)transmission of TB1 on another UL resource (e.g., UL resource 2); 0158, (the starting symbol/the ending symbol of) UL resource 2 occurs at least a specific period after (the starting symbol/the ending symbol of) UL resource 1; 0160, the specific period may consider the timeline requirements which essentially require a minimum duration between DCI scheduling a PUSCH and the PUSCH transmission, this value may be derived by the formula provided in TS 38.214, which considers the UE processing capability). 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 Oh to include requiring the uplink resource used for retransmission to occur at least a specific period, derived from the UE processing capability, after the uplink resource on which transmission failed, as taught by Chin '322, so as to account for the processing complexity internally at the UE (0119).
Claim 11, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 4.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20210105812 A1 - A wireless device receives configuration parameters of periodic radio resources of a configured uplink grant. The periodic radio resources comprise: one or more first resource elements of a first sub-band; and one or more second resource elements of a second sub-band. The wireless device multiplexes: a first configured grant uplink control information (CG-UCI) via the one or more first resource elements; and a second CG-UCI via the one or more second resource elements. The second CG-UCI is be based on a repetition of the first CG-UCI. At least one of the first CG-UCI and the second CG-UCI is transmitted via the periodic radio resources and based on one or more listen-before-talk (LBT) procedures performed on the first sub-band and the second sub-band.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mehmood B. Khan whose telephone number is (571)272-9277. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 am-6:30 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Asad Nawaz can be reached at (571) 272-3988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Mehmood B. Khan/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
MEHMOOD B. KHAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2463
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