DETAILED ACTION
Brief Summary
On July 23, 2025 a Non-Final Office Action (NFOA) was mailed in which among other findings, claims 1-16 and 25-28 (all pending claims) were rejected as being anticipated by Boroujeni.
On October 23, 2025, the Applicant filed their response to the NFOA which included claim amendments and remarks toward the applied prior art.
On November 21, 2025 a Final Office Action (FOA) was mailed in which the pending claims were rejected as being anticipated by Boroujeni.
On January 19, 2025, the Applicant filed a response to the FOA.
Response to Arguments
The Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims as amended and the prior art reference of Boroujeni are persuasive and the 102 rejections are withdrawn. However, the Examiner has updated the prior art search and now relies on a new reference cited below. The finality of the prior action is withdrawn.
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.
Claims 1-3,5-11,13-16, and 25-28 are 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.
The independent claims appear to be missing language in certain limitations which makes the claims unclear. For example, line 16 of claim 1 recites in part, “wherein quantity of PDSCHs in the second candidate set…” it appears there should be a word or phrase before “quantity”. For example it is unclear if the claims is attempting to recites “wherein (if/when/that the) quantity of PDSCHs…” The same issue appears again at lines 18-19 of the claim. Additionally it is unclear what the other option is alternative to the “…or performing step 2 in case that there is an overlapped PDSCH…”.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3,5-11,13-16, and 25-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Boroujeni et al. (WO 2020/069165 hereinafter “Boroujeni”) in view of Bergman et al. (WO 2015/065261 hereinafter “Bergman”).
Referring to independent claims 1, 9, and 25, Boroujeni teaches a method for receiving PDSCH (see figure 6) an apparatus for receiving PDSCH, the apparatus comprising a transceiver, a memory, a processor, wherein the processor implements the method (See figure 1B); and a processor-readable medium, on which a program is stored, wherein when the computer program is executed by a processor, steps of a method for receiving PDSCH (see item 130 in figure 1B), the method comprising:
determining, by a terminal, a receiving PDSCH set according to a priority of a candidate physical downlink shared channel PDSCH scheduled by a base station, wherein a quantity of PDSCHs to be received in the receiving PDSCH set meets receiving capability of the terminal (See ¶¶ 3, 82-85);
receiving, by the terminal, data on the PDSCH to be received in the receiving PDSCH set (See ¶¶ 82-85);
wherein determining, by the terminal, the receiving PDSCH set according to the priority of the candidate PDSCH scheduled by the base station comprises:
excluding PDSCH with a lowest priority in the candidate PDSCH set, and determining the candidate PDSCH set subjected to the exclusion process as the receiving PDSCH set, wherein the quantity of PDSCHs to be received in the receiving PDSCH set meets the receiving capability of the terminal (See ¶¶ 84-85).
Boroujeni teaches determining a candidate PDSCH set subjected to the exclusion process as the receiving set comprises determining, in a case that there is no overlapped PDSCH set as the receiving PDSCH set or that there is an overlapped PDSCH in the set (see ¶ 86), however Boroujeni fails to explicitly disclose wherein the excluding the PDSCH with the lowest priority in the candidate PDSCH set, comprises: step 1: deleting a second PDSCH with a lowest priority in the candidate PDSCH set to obtain a second candidate set, wherein quantity of PDSCHs in the second candidate set meets the receiving capability of the terminal, wherein the quantity of PDSCHs in the second candidate set does not meet the receiving capability of the terminal, or performing step 2;
step 2: using the second candidate set as the candidate PDSCH set, and repeating the step 1.
Bergman teaches, in an analogous system excluding the PDSCH with the lowest priority in the candidate PDSCH set, comprises: step 1: deleting a second PDSCH with a lowest priority in the candidate PDSCH set to obtain a second candidate set, wherein quantity of PDSCHs in the second candidate set meets the receiving capability of the terminal, wherein the quantity of PDSCHs in the second candidate set does not meet the receiving capability of the terminal, or performing step 2 (see figure 4 and lines 22-32 of page 10);
step 2: using the second candidate set as the candidate PDSCH set, and repeating the step 1 (see figure 4 and lines 22-32 of page 10).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the Applicant’s invention to modify the teachings of Boroujeni with the above teachings of Bergman. Such a modification would be merely substituting one known PDSCH exclusion process (for example the one taught by Boroujeni) with another known PDSCH exclusion process (the one taught by Bergman) with predictable results being the exclusion of a PDSCH.
Referring to claims 2 and 10, Boroujeni teaches the method and apparatus according to claims 1 and 9 (as shown above), and Boroujeni further teaches determining, by the terminal, the receiving PDSCH set according to the priority of the candidate PDSCH scheduled by the base station comprises:
determining the receiving PDSCH set according to PDSCH with a highest priority in the candidate PDSCH set, wherein the quantity of PDSCHs to be received in the receiving PDSCH set meets the receiving capability of the terminal (See ¶¶ 84-85).
Referring to claims 3 and 11, Boroujeni teaches the method and apparatus according to claims 2 and 10 (as shown above), wherein the determining the receiving PDSCH set according to the PDSCH with the highest priority in the candidate PDSCH set, comprises:
step 1: determining a first PDSCH with the highest priority in the candidate PDSCH set as the PDSCH to be received in the receiving PDSCH set (See ¶¶ 84-85);
determining, in a case that total quantity of PDSCHs to be received in the receiving PDSCH set reaches maximum receiving capability of the terminal, the receiving PDSCH set comprising the first PDSCH as the receiving PDSCH set (See ¶¶ 84-85); and
performing step 2 in a case that total quantity of PDSCHs to be received in the receiving PDSCH set does not reach the maximum receiving capability of the terminal (See ¶¶ 84-85);
step 2: deleting the first PDSCH from the candidate PDSCH set, and deleting a second PDSCH in the candidate PDSCH set, and using a candidate PDSCH set after deleting the first PDSCH and the second PDSCH as a first candidate set, wherein the second PDSCH is a PDSCH that overlaps with all PDSCHs in the receiving PDSCH set (See ¶¶ 85-86);
using, in a case that the first candidate set is not an empty set, the first candidate set as the candidate PDSCH set, and repeating the step 1, determining, in a case that the first candidate set is an empty set, the receiving PDSCH set comprising the first PDSCH as the receiving PDSCH set (See ¶¶ 84-85).
Referring to claims 5 and 13, Boroujeni teaches the method and apparatus according to claims 3 and 11 (as shown above), and Boroujeni further teaches comprising determining, in a case that two PDSCHs meet a first condition, that the two PDSCHs do not overlap in a time domain, wherein the first condition is: a start time of one of the two PDSCHs is later than an end time of the other PDSCH (See ¶ 86).
Referring to claim 6 and 14, Boroujeni teaches the method and apparatus according to claims 3 and 11(as shown above), and Boroujeni further teaches determining, in a case that the two PDSCHs meet a second condition, that the two PDSCHs do not overlap in a frequency domain, wherein the second condition is: a start resource block RB index number of one of the two PDSCHs is greater than an end RB index number of the other PDSCH (See ¶ 86).
Referring to claims 7 and 15, Boroujeni teaches the method and apparatus according to claims 1 and 9 (as shown above), and Boroujeni further teaches wherein a candidate PDSCH is a PDSCH scheduled by the base station before receiving a target time threshold of a time slot (See ¶ 107).
Referring to claims 8 and 16, Boroujeni teaches the method and apparatus of claims 7 and 15 (as shown above), and Boroijeni further teaches receiving, in a case that the quantity of PDSCHs to be received does not meet maximum receiving capability of the terminal, data on PDSCH that do not overlap in the time domain or frequency domain, according to a time sequence of PDSCH scheduled by the base station after the target time threshold (See ¶¶ 108-109).
Referring to claim 26, Boroujeni teaches the method and apparatus according to claim 4 (as shown above), and Boroujeni further teaches comprising determining, in a case that two PDSCHs meet a first condition, that the two PDSCHs do not overlap in a time domain, wherein the first condition is: a start time of one of the two PDSCHs is later than an end time of the other PDSCH (See ¶ 86).
Referring to claim 27, Boroujeni teaches the method and apparatus according to claim 4 (as shown above), and Boroujeni further teaches determining, in a case that the two PDSCHs meet a second condition, that the two PDSCHs do not overlap in a frequency domain, wherein the second condition is: a start resource block RB index number of one of the two PDSCHs is greater than an end RB index number of the other PDSCH (See ¶ 86).
Referring to claim 28, Boroujeni teaches the method and apparatus according to claims 12 (as shown above), and Boroujeni further teaches comprising determining, in a case that two PDSCHs meet a first condition, that the two PDSCHs do not overlap in a time domain, wherein the first condition is: a start time of one of the two PDSCHs is later than an end time of the other PDSCH (See ¶ 86).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERON J SORRELL whose telephone number is (571)272-4160. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM-6PM EST.
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Signed:
/ERON J SORRELL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992