DETAILED ACTION
This office action is a response to the application 18/261,343 filed on July 13th, 2023.
Claim Status
This office action is based upon claims received on 01/20/2026, which replace all prior or other submitted versions of the claims.
Claims 1 – 4, 6 – 7, 11, 13, and 15 – 26 are pending.
Claims 1 – 4, 6 – 7, 11, 13, and 15 – 26 are rejected.
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/Remarks
Specification Objection: Specification was objected to because the abstract of the instant application had more than the maximum range of 150 words in length. The appropriate corrections have been made and acknowledged. The specification objection is hereby withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments, see pages 13 – 15 of the Remarks, filed 01/20/2026, with respect to the rejections of independent claims 1, 15, 23, and 24, and dependent claims 2 – 4, 6 – 7, 11, 13, 16 – 22, and 25 – 26, under applied prior art references of record in the office action dated 10/17/2025, particularly as regards the amended limitations, have been fully considered and are persuasive. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Karaki et al. [US 20220045805 A1]. Therefore, the rejection has been revised as set forth below according to the amended claims. See office action below.
It should be noted that the scope of the previous claim 1 has been changed with the current amendment. The previous claim limitation recited “ transmitting the HARQ-ACK codebook including the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook and the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook” however, the amended claim limitation recites “transmitting the HARQ-ACK codebook as a single codebook including the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook concatenated with the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook”. Adding concatenation of the sub-codebooks as a single codebook further qualifies the HARQ-ACK codebook and makes it more specific than was previously claimed. Therefore, this amendment changes the scope of the limitation as recited in amended claim 1, and it necessitates a new ground(s) of rejection.
All remaining arguments presented by Applicant not specifically addressed herein and directed to various dependent claims are found unpersuasive for the same reasons as stated herein, with regard to independent claims. The rejection has been revised and set forth below according to the amended claims.
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.
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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, 13, 15, 22 – 24, and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. [US 20220201725 A1] hereinafter Liu, and further in view of GE et al. [WO 2020048364 A1] hereinafter GE, and Karaki et al. [US 20220045805 A1] hereinafter Karaki.
Regarding claim 1, Liu teaches a method for wireless communications performed by a user equipment (UE) (Liu: Fig. 1, ¶ 7, ¶ 31; Terminal Apparatus 1), comprising:
receiving a first plurality of downlink control information (DCI) formats (Liu: ¶ 52,¶ 176, ¶ 188 – 194, ¶ 265, ¶ 269; wherein the terminal apparatus 1 includes a radio transmission and/or reception unit and a higher layer processing unit, the radio transmission and/or reception unit includes a function of receiving downlink control information (DCI) (i.e., DCI A) on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) wherein each PDCCH includes multiple DCI formats, and wherein one or multiple pieces of DCI (which may be referred to as DCI formats) are defined for transmission of the downlink control information) for scheduling a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) (Liu: ¶ 67-69, ¶ 187 – 194; wherein DCI formats are used to schedule PDSCH, and DCI A may be DCI for scheduling the PDSCH transmitting eMBB data (i.e., PDSCH A), (wherein eMBB data is an example of a type of data the PDSCH transmits)) and a second plurality of DCI formats (Liu: ¶ 52, ¶ 176, ¶ 188 – 194, ¶ 265, ¶ 269; in view of DCI B) for scheduling a second PDSCH (Liu: ¶ 67-69, ¶ 187 – 194; wherein DCI formats are used to schedule PDSCH, and DCI B may be DCI for scheduling the PDSCH transmitting URLLC data (i.e., PDSCH B), (wherein URLLC data is an example of a type of data the PDSCH transmits)),
wherein a respective cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of each of the first plurality of DCI formats is scrambled by a first radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) (Liu: ¶ 189, ¶ 292; wherein a value of an RNTI (i.e., a first RNTI) for scrambling a CRC added to the DCI A is in a first range) and a respective CRC of each of the second plurality of DCI formats is scrambled by a second RNTI different from the first RNTI (Liu: ¶ 189, ¶ 292; wherein a value of an RNTI (i.e., a second RNTI) for scrambling a CRC added to the DCI B is in a second range different from the first range), and
wherein hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback for the first PDSCH and HARQ-ACK feedback for the second PDSCH are to be transmitted in a same HARQ-ACK codebook (Liu: ¶ 255; wherein the may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH (i.e., two different PDSCHs) release on the same PUCCH in the slot n, (and for example, in a case that the terminal apparatus 1 receives the PDSCH in the slot n scheduled using the DCI format, the terminal apparatus 1 may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH on the PUCCH of slot n+k. Note that, for transmission of the second HARQ-ACK code, the terminal apparatus 1 may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH on the PUCCH of a PUCCH sub-slot n+k). Therefore, the terminal is capable of transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback of two different PDSCHs in a same HARQ-ACK codebook);
generating a first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook for the first PDSCH and a second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook for the second PDSCH (Liu: ¶ 283; wherein the terminal apparatus 1 is configured to generate a HARQ-ACK codebook, and transmit the generated HARQ-ACK codebook on a PUCCH, wherein in a case that a first parameter is configured, a first HARQ-ACK codebook and a second HARQ-ACK codebook are generated, the first HARQ-ACK codebook is used to transmit a HARQ-ACK bit corresponding to a PDSCH A, and the second HARQ-ACK codebook is used to transmit a HARQ-ACK bit corresponding to a PDSCH B. Therefore the terminal apparatus 1 is capable of generating two different HARQ-ACK codebooks (HARQ-ACK sub-codebooks) for the first PDSCH (PDSCH A) and the second PDSCH (PDSCH B)); and
transmitting the HARQ-ACK codebook including the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook with the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook (Liu: ¶ 255, ¶ 283; wherein the terminal apparatus 1 is configured to generate a HARQ-ACK codebook, and transmit the generated HARQ-ACK codebook on a PUCCH, wherein the terminal apparatus 1 may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH (i.e., two different PDSCHs) release on the same PUCCH in the slot n).
Liu does not explicitly teach that the PDSCH are a first group of PDSCHs and a second group of PDSCHs.
Referring to the invention of GE, GE teaches a first group of PDSCHs and a second group of PDSCHs, each being scheduled by a plurality of DCI formats (GE: Page 4, paragraph 6 – 7, and page 6, paragraph 2; wherein multiple PDSCHs are scheduled by multiple PDCCHs, and the multiple PDCCHs belong to at least two PDCCH groups, and each PDCCH group can be used to schedule one PDSCH group. In other words, DCIs in multiple PDCCHs belong to at least two DCI groups, and each DCI group can be used to schedule one PDSCH group. Each PDSCH group corresponds to one HARQ-ACK message).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the groups of PDSCH teachings of GE into the invention of Liu in order to provide an effective multi-site scheduling based on multiple DCI scheme which supports two or more network devices to schedule their respective PDSCHs for terminal devices through their respective DCIs for data transmission (GE: Page 2, paragraph 6).
Liu in view of GE does not explicitly disclose transmitting the HARQ-ACK codebook as a single codebook including the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook concatenated with the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook.
Referring to the invention of Karaki, Karaki teaches that the HARQ-ACK codebook can be a combination of two sub-codebooks that are transmitted together (Karaki: ¶ 83; wherein the UE may prepare two codebooks. One codebook may include HARQ feedbacks for PDSCHs scheduled by fallback DCI. A second codebook may include HARQ feedbacks for PDSCHs scheduled by multi-PDSCH scheduling DCI. The two codebooks may be transmitted together, e.g. as sub-codebooks of a combined codebook).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the concatenated or combined sub-codebooks transmitted together in one HARQ-ACK codebook teachings of Karaki into the HARQ-ACK codebook teachings of Liu in order to achieve efficient resource utilization, reduced control signaling overhead, support for dynamic and semi-static codebook types, and improved throughput and latency.
Regarding claim 13, Liu in view of GE and Karaki teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the HARQ-ACK codebook includes the HARQ-ACK feedback for a DCI format indicating a release of a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH for a multicast transmission (Liu: ¶ 82, ¶ 203; wherein the DCI format used for activation or deactivation of semi-persistent scheduling may include a first field indicating information indicating the HARQ-ACK codebook. The terminal apparatus 1 may associate the HARQ-ACK for the SPS PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH release scheduled using the DCI format with the HARQ-ACK codebook indicated in the first field, and wherein in the PDSCH, the RRC signaling transmitted from the base station apparatus may be signaling common to multiple terminal apparatuses in a cell (i.e., a multicast transmission)).
Regarding claim 15, Liu teaches a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication (Liu: Fig. 1, ¶ 294; in view of terminal apparatus 1), comprising:
at least one memory (Liu: ¶ 295; in view of “Programs or the information handled by the programs are temporarily stored in a volatile memory such as a Random Access Memory (RAM), a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory, a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), or any other storage device system”); and
at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to (Liu: ¶ 295, ¶ 297; in view of “a program that controls a Central Processing Unit (CPU) and the like to cause a computer to function in such a manner as to realize the functions of the embodiment according to the aspect of the present invention” wherein the programs are stored in the memory (i.e., the processor is coupled with the memory)):
receive a first plurality of downlink control information (DCI) formats (Liu: ¶ 52,¶ 176, ¶ 188 – 194, ¶ 265, ¶ 269; wherein the terminal apparatus 1 includes a radio transmission and/or reception unit and a higher layer processing unit, the radio transmission and/or reception unit includes a function of receiving downlink control information (DCI) (i.e., DCI A) on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) wherein each PDCCH includes multiple DCI formats, and wherein one or multiple pieces of DCI (which may be referred to as DCI formats) are defined for transmission of the downlink control information) for scheduling a first physical downlink shared channels (PDSCH) (Liu: ¶ 67-69, ¶ 187 – 194; wherein DCI formats are used to schedule PDSCH, and DCI A may be DCI for scheduling the PDSCH transmitting eMBB data (i.e., PDSCH A), (wherein eMBB data is an example of a type of data the PDSCH transmits)) and a second plurality of DCI formats (Liu: ¶ 52, ¶ 176, ¶ 188 – 194, ¶ 265, ¶ 269; in view of DCI B) for scheduling a second PDSCH (Liu: ¶ 67-69, ¶ 187 – 194; wherein DCI formats are used to schedule PDSCH, and DCI B may be DCI for scheduling the PDSCH transmitting URLLC data (i.e., PDSCH B), (wherein URLLC data is an example of a type of data the PDSCH transmits)), wherein a respective cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of each of the first plurality of DCI formats is scrambled by a first radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) (Liu: ¶ 189, ¶ 292; wherein a value of an RNTI (i.e., a first RNTI) for scrambling a CRC added to the DCI A is in a first range) and a respective CRC of each of the second plurality of DCI formats is scrambled by a second RNTI different from the first RNTI (Liu: ¶ 189, ¶ 292; wherein a value of an RNTI (i.e., a second RNTI) for scrambling a CRC added to the DCI B is in a second range different from the first range), and wherein hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback for the first PDSCH and HARQ-ACK feedback for the second PDSCH are to be transmitted in a same HARQ-ACK codebook (Liu: ¶ 255; wherein the terminal apparatus 1 may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH (i.e., two different PDSCHs) release on the same PUCCH in the slot n, (and for example, in a case that the terminal apparatus 1 receives the PDSCH in the slot n scheduled using the DCI format, the terminal apparatus 1 may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH on the PUCCH of slot n+k. Note that, for transmission of the second HARQ-ACK code, the terminal apparatus 1 may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH on the PUCCH of a PUCCH sub-slot n+k). Therefore, the terminal is capable of transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback of two different PDSCHs in a same HARQ-ACK codebook);
generate a first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook for the first PDSCH and a second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook for the second PDSCH (Liu: ¶ 283; wherein the terminal apparatus 1 is configured to generate a HARQ-ACK codebook, and transmit the generated HARQ-ACK codebook on a PUCCH, wherein in a case that a first parameter is configured, a first HARQ-ACK codebook and a second HARQ-ACK codebook are generated, the first HARQ-ACK codebook is used to transmit a HARQ-ACK bit corresponding to a PDSCH A, and the second HARQ-ACK codebook is used to transmit a HARQ-ACK bit corresponding to a PDSCH B. Therefore the terminal apparatus 1 is capable of generating two different HARQ-ACK codebooks (HARQ-ACK sub-codebooks) for the first PDSCH (PDSCH A) and the second PDSCH (PDSCH B)); and
transmit the HARQ-ACK codebook including the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook with the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook (Liu: ¶ 255, ¶ 283; wherein the terminal apparatus 1 is configured to generate a HARQ-ACK codebook, and transmit the generated HARQ-ACK codebook on a PUCCH, wherein the terminal apparatus 1 may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH (i.e., two different PDSCHs) release on the same PUCCH in the slot n).
Liu does not explicitly teach that the PDSCH are a first group of PDSCHs and a second group of PDSCHs.
Referring to the invention of GE, GE teaches a first group of PDSCHs and a second group of PDSCHs, each being scheduled by a plurality of DCI formats (GE: Page 4, paragraph 6 – 7, and page 6, paragraph 2; wherein multiple PDSCHs are scheduled by multiple PDCCHs, and the multiple PDCCHs belong to at least two PDCCH groups, and each PDCCH group can be used to schedule one PDSCH group. In other words, DCIs in multiple PDCCHs belong to at least two DCI groups, and each DCI group can be used to schedule one PDSCH group. Each PDSCH group corresponds to one HARQ-ACK message).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the groups of PDSCH teachings of GE into the invention of Liu in order to provide an effective multi-site scheduling based on multiple DCI scheme which supports two or more network devices to schedule their respective PDSCHs for terminal devices through their respective DCIs for data transmission (GE: Page 2, paragraph 6).
Liu in view of GE does not explicitly disclose transmitting the HARQ-ACK codebook as a single codebook including the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook concatenated with the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook.
Referring to the invention of Karaki, Karaki teaches that the HARQ-ACK codebook can be a combination of two sub-codebooks that are transmitted together (Karaki: ¶ 83; wherein the UE may prepare two codebooks. One codebook may include HARQ feedbacks for PDSCHs scheduled by fallback DCI. A second codebook may include HARQ feedbacks for PDSCHs scheduled by multi-PDSCH scheduling DCI. The two codebooks may be transmitted together, e.g. as sub-codebooks of a combined codebook).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the concatenated or combined sub-codebooks transmitted together in one HARQ-ACK codebook teachings of Karaki into the HARQ-ACK codebook teachings of Liu in order to achieve efficient resource utilization, reduced control signaling overhead, support for dynamic and semi-static codebook types, and improved throughput and latency.
Regarding claim 22, Liu in view of GE and Karaki teaches the UE of claim 15, wherein the HARQ-ACK codebook includes the HARQ-ACK feedback for a DCI format indicating a release of a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH for a multicast transmission (Liu: ¶ 82, ¶ 203; wherein the DCI format used for activation or deactivation of semi-persistent scheduling may include a first field indicating information indicating the HARQ-ACK codebook. The terminal apparatus 1 may associate the HARQ-ACK for the SPS PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH release scheduled using the DCI format with the HARQ-ACK codebook indicated in the first field, and wherein in the PDSCH, the RRC signaling transmitted from the base station apparatus may be signaling common to multiple terminal apparatuses in a cell (i.e., a multicast transmission)).
Regarding claim 23, Liu teaches a processor for wireless communication, comprising:
at least one controller coupled with at least one memory and configured to cause the processor to (Liu: ¶ 295, ¶ 297; in view of “a program that controls a Central Processing Unit (CPU) and the like to cause a computer to function in such a manner as to realize the functions of the embodiment according to the aspect of the present invention” wherein the programs are stored in the memory (i.e., the processor is coupled with the memory)):
receive a first plurality of downlink control information (DCI) formats (Liu: ¶ 52,¶ 176, ¶ 188 – 194, ¶ 265, ¶ 269; wherein the terminal apparatus 1 includes a radio transmission and/or reception unit and a higher layer processing unit, the radio transmission and/or reception unit includes a function of receiving downlink control information (DCI) (i.e., DCI A) on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) wherein each PDCCH includes multiple DCI formats, and wherein one or multiple pieces of DCI (which may be referred to as DCI formats) are defined for transmission of the downlink control information) for scheduling a first physical downlink shared channels (PDSCH) (Liu: ¶ 67-69, ¶ 187 – 194; wherein DCI formats are used to schedule PDSCH, and DCI A may be DCI for scheduling the PDSCH transmitting eMBB data (i.e., PDSCH A), (wherein eMBB data is an example of a type of data the PDSCH transmits)) and a second plurality of DCI formats (Liu: ¶ 52, ¶ 176, ¶ 188 – 194, ¶ 265, ¶ 269; in view of DCI B) for scheduling a second PDSCH (Liu: ¶ 67-69, ¶ 187 – 194; wherein DCI formats are used to schedule PDSCH, and DCI B may be DCI for scheduling the PDSCH transmitting URLLC data (i.e., PDSCH B), (wherein URLLC data is an example of a type of data the PDSCH transmits)), wherein a respective a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of each of the first plurality of DCI formats is scrambled by a first radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) (Liu: ¶ 189, ¶ 292; wherein a value of an RNTI (i.e., a first RNTI) for scrambling a CRC added to the DCI A is in a first range) and a respective CRC of each of the second plurality of DCI formats is scrambled by a second RNTI different from the first RNTI (Liu: ¶ 189, ¶ 292; wherein a value of an RNTI (i.e., a second RNTI) for scrambling a CRC added to the DCI B is in a second range different from the first range), and wherein hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback for the first PDSCH and HARQ-ACK feedback for the second PDSCH are to be transmitted in a same HARQ-ACK codebook (Liu: ¶ 255; wherein the terminal apparatus 1 may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH (i.e., two different PDSCHs) release on the same PUCCH in the slot n, (and for example, in a case that the terminal apparatus 1 receives the PDSCH in the slot n scheduled using the DCI format, the terminal apparatus 1 may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH on the PUCCH of slot n+k. Note that, for transmission of the second HARQ-ACK code, the terminal apparatus 1 may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH on the PUCCH of a PUCCH sub-slot n+k). Therefore, the terminal is capable of transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback of two different PDSCHs in a same HARQ-ACK codebook);
generate a first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook for the first PDSCH and a second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook for the second PDSCH (Liu: ¶ 283; wherein the terminal apparatus 1 is configured to generate a HARQ-ACK codebook, and transmit the generated HARQ-ACK codebook on a PUCCH, wherein in a case that a first parameter is configured, a first HARQ-ACK codebook and a second HARQ-ACK codebook are generated, the first HARQ-ACK codebook is used to transmit a HARQ-ACK bit corresponding to a PDSCH A, and the second HARQ-ACK codebook is used to transmit a HARQ-ACK bit corresponding to a PDSCH B. Therefore the terminal apparatus 1 is capable of generating two different HARQ-ACK codebooks (HARQ-ACK sub-codebooks) for the first PDSCH (PDSCH A) and the second PDSCH (PDSCH B)); and
transmit the HARQ-ACK codebook including the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook with the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook (Liu: ¶ 255, ¶ 283; wherein the terminal apparatus 1 is configured to generate a HARQ-ACK codebook, and transmit the generated HARQ-ACK codebook on a PUCCH, wherein the terminal apparatus 1 may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH (i.e., two different PDSCHs) release on the same PUCCH in the slot n).
Liu does not explicitly teach that the PDSCH are a first group of PDSCHs and a second group of PDSCHs.
Referring to the invention of GE, GE teaches a first group of PDSCHs and a second group of PDSCHs, each being scheduled by a plurality of DCI formats (GE: Page 4, paragraph 6 – 7, and page 6, paragraph 2; wherein multiple PDSCHs are scheduled by multiple PDCCHs, and the multiple PDCCHs belong to at least two PDCCH groups, and each PDCCH group can be used to schedule one PDSCH group. In other words, DCIs in multiple PDCCHs belong to at least two DCI groups, and each DCI group can be used to schedule one PDSCH group. Each PDSCH group corresponds to one HARQ-ACK message).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the groups of PDSCH teachings of GE into the invention of Liu in order to provide an effective multi-site scheduling based on multiple DCI scheme which supports two or more network devices to schedule their respective PDSCHs for terminal devices through their respective DCIs for data transmission (GE: Page 2, paragraph 6).
Liu in view of GE does not explicitly disclose transmitting the HARQ-ACK codebook as a single codebook including the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook concatenated with the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook.
Referring to the invention of Karaki, Karaki teaches that the HARQ-ACK codebook can be a combination of two sub-codebooks that are transmitted together (Karaki: ¶ 83; wherein the UE may prepare two codebooks. One codebook may include HARQ feedbacks for PDSCHs scheduled by fallback DCI. A second codebook may include HARQ feedbacks for PDSCHs scheduled by multi-PDSCH scheduling DCI. The two codebooks may be transmitted together, e.g. as sub-codebooks of a combined codebook).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the concatenated or combined sub-codebooks transmitted together in one HARQ-ACK codebook teachings of Karaki into the HARQ-ACK codebook teachings of Liu in order to achieve efficient resource utilization, reduced control signaling overhead, support for dynamic and semi-static codebook types, and improved throughput and latency.
Regarding claim 24, Liu teaches a base station for wireless communication (Liu: Fig. 1, ¶ ), comprising:
at least one memory (Liu: ¶ 295; in view of “Programs or the information handled by the programs are temporarily stored in a volatile memory such as a Random Access Memory (RAM), a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory, a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), or any other storage device system”); and
at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the base station to (Liu: ¶ 295, ¶ 297; in view of “a program that controls a Central Processing Unit (CPU) and the like to cause a computer to function in such a manner as to realize the functions of the embodiment according to the aspect of the present invention” wherein the programs are stored in the memory (i.e., the processor is coupled with the memory)):
transmit, to a group of user equipments (UEs) including a first UE (Liu: Fig. 1, ¶ 7, ¶ 31; Terminal Apparatus 1, wherein terminal apparatus 1 comprises multiple terminal apparatuses), a first plurality of downlink control information (DCI) formats (Liu: ¶ 52,¶ 176, ¶ 188 – 194, ¶ 265, ¶ 269; wherein the terminal apparatus 1 includes a radio transmission and/or reception unit and a higher layer processing unit, the radio transmission and/or reception unit includes a function of receiving downlink control information (DCI) (i.e., DCI A) on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) wherein each PDCCH includes multiple DCI formats, and wherein one or multiple pieces of DCI (which may be referred to as DCI formats) are defined for transmission of the downlink control information (i.e., a transmission form the base station to the terminal apparatus)) for scheduling a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) (Liu: ¶ 67-69, ¶ 187 – 194; wherein DCI formats are used to schedule PDSCH, and DCI A may be DCI for scheduling the PDSCH transmitting eMBB data (i.e., PDSCH A), (wherein eMBB data is an example of a type of data the PDSCH transmits)), a respective cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of each of the first plurality of DCI formats being scrambled by a first radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) (Liu: ¶ 189, ¶ 292; wherein a value of an RNTI (i.e., a first RNTI) for scrambling a CRC added to the DCI A is in a first range);
transmit, to the first UE (Liu: Fig. 1, ¶ 7, ¶ 31; Terminal Apparatus 1, wherein the first UE is one of the UEs in terminal apparatus), a second plurality of DCI formats (Liu: ¶ 52, ¶ 176, ¶ 188 – 194, ¶ 265, ¶ 269; in view of DCI B) for scheduling a second PDSCH (Liu: ¶ 67-69, ¶ 187 – 194; wherein DCI formats are used to schedule PDSCH, and DCI B may be DCI for scheduling the PDSCH transmitting URLLC data (i.e., PDSCH B), (wherein URLLC data is an example of a type of data the PDSCH transmits)), a respective CRC of each of the second plurality of DCI formats being scrambled by a second RNTI different from the first RNTI (Liu: ¶ 189, ¶ 292; wherein a value of an RNTI (i.e., a second RNTI) for scrambling a CRC added to the DCI B is in a second range different from the first range), wherein hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback for the first PDSCH and HARQ-ACK feedback for the second PDSCH are to be transmitted in a same HARQ-ACK codebook (Liu: ¶ 255; wherein the may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH (i.e., two different PDSCHs) release on the same PUCCH in the slot n, (and for example, in a case that the terminal apparatus 1 receives the PDSCH in the slot n scheduled using the DCI format, the terminal apparatus 1 may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH on the PUCCH of slot n+k. Note that, for transmission of the second HARQ-ACK code, the terminal apparatus 1 may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH on the PUCCH of a PUCCH sub-slot n+k). Therefore, the terminal is capable of transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback of two different PDSCHs in a same HARQ-ACK codebook); and
receive, from the first UE, a HARQ-ACK codebook including a first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook for the first PDSCH and a second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook for the second PDSCH (Liu: ¶ 255, ¶ 283; wherein the terminal apparatus 1 is configured to generate a HARQ-ACK codebook, and transmit the generated HARQ-ACK codebook on a PUCCH, wherein the terminal apparatus 1 may transmit the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH (i.e., two different PDSCHs) release on the same PUCCH in the slot n).
Liu does not explicitly teach that the PDSCH are a first group of PDSCHs and a second group of PDSCHs.
Referring to the invention of GE, GE teaches a first group of PDSCHs and a second group of PDSCHs, each being scheduled by a plurality of DCI formats (GE: Page 4, paragraph 6 – 7, and page 6, paragraph 2; wherein multiple PDSCHs are scheduled by multiple PDCCHs, and the multiple PDCCHs belong to at least two PDCCH groups, and each PDCCH group can be used to schedule one PDSCH group. In other words, DCIs in multiple PDCCHs belong to at least two DCI groups, and each DCI group can be used to schedule one PDSCH group. Each PDSCH group corresponds to one HARQ-ACK message).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the groups of PDSCH teachings of GE into the invention of Liu in order to provide an effective multi-site scheduling based on multiple DCI scheme which supports two or more network devices to schedule their respective PDSCHs for terminal devices through their respective DCIs for data transmission (GE: Page 2, paragraph 6).
Liu in view of GE does not explicitly disclose receive, from the first UE, a HARQ-ACK codebook as a single codebook including a first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook for the first group of PDSCHs concatenated with the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook for the second group of PDSCHs.
Referring to the invention of Karaki, Karaki teaches that the HARQ-ACK codebook can be a combination of two sub-codebooks that are transmitted together (Karaki: ¶ 83; wherein the UE may prepare two codebooks. One codebook may include HARQ feedbacks for PDSCHs scheduled by fallback DCI. A second codebook may include HARQ feedbacks for PDSCHs scheduled by multi-PDSCH scheduling DCI. The two codebooks may be transmitted together, e.g. as sub-codebooks of a combined codebook).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the concatenated or combined sub-codebooks transmitted together in one HARQ-ACK codebook teachings of Karaki into the HARQ-ACK codebook teachings of Liu in order to achieve efficient resource utilization, reduced control signaling overhead, support for dynamic and semi-static codebook types, and improved throughput and latency.
Regarding claim 26, Liu in view of GE and Karaki teaches the base station of claim 24, wherein the HARQ-ACK codebook includes the HARQ-ACK feedback for a DCI format indicating a release of a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH for a multicast transmission (Liu: ¶ 82, ¶ 203; wherein the DCI format used for activation or deactivation of semi-persistent scheduling may include a first field indicating information indicating the HARQ-ACK codebook. The terminal apparatus 1 may associate the HARQ-ACK for the SPS PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH release scheduled using the DCI format with the HARQ-ACK codebook indicated in the first field, and wherein in the PDSCH, the RRC signaling transmitted from the base station apparatus may be signaling common to multiple terminal apparatuses in a cell (i.e., a multicast transmission)).
Claims 2 – 4, 16 – 18, and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al., GE et al., and Karaki et al., as applied to claims 1, 15, and 24 above, and further in view of Yoshioka et al. [US 20240313927 A1] hereinafter Yoshioka.
Regarding claim 2, Liu in view of GE and Karaki teaches the method of claim 1.
Liu in view of GE and Karaki does not explicitly disclose wherein the first RNTI is configured for a group of UEs including the UE and the second RNTI is configured specifically for the UE.
Referring to thew invention of Yoshioka, Yoshioka teaches that a first RNTI is configured for a group of UEs including the UE and a second RNTI is configured specifically for the UE (Yoshioka: Fig. 2, ¶ 64 – 65; wherein PTM transmission scheme 2 uses a UE-specific PDCCH for a plurality of RRC connected UEs in the same MBS group in order to schedule a group-common PDSCH and that the UE-specific PDCCH has a CRC scrambled by a UE-specific RNTI (for example, C-RNTI) (i.e., the UE-specific PDCCH/PDSCH can be identified by a target UE, but another UE in the same MBS group fails to identify the UE-specific PDCCH/PDSCH), and the group-common PDSCH is scrambled by using the group-common RNTI (FIG. 2) (i.e., the group-common PDCCH/PDSCH are transmitted in the same time/frequency resource, and can be identified by all UEs in the same MBS group). Therefore, Yoshioka teaches that wherein the first RNTI (Yoshioka: ¶ 64;group-common RNTI) is configured for a group of UEs including the UE and the second RNTI (Yoshioka: ¶ 64; C-RNTI) is configured specifically for the UE).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the RNTI teachings of Yoshioka into the combined invention of Liu, GE, and Karaki, in order to effectively and appropriately perform processing of HARQ-ACK for multicast downlink data (Yoshioka: ¶ 10).
Regarding claim 3, Liu in view of GE, Karaki and Yoshioka teaches the method of claim 2, wherein at least one DCI format of the second plurality of DCI formats includes an indication of:
a number of PDSCH groups with corresponding HARQ-ACK feedback to be multiplexed in the HARQ-ACK codebook (Liu: ¶ 203; wherein the DCI format used for activation or deactivation of semi-persistent scheduling may include a first field indicating information indicating the HARQ-ACK codebook. The terminal apparatus 1 may associate the HARQ-ACK for the SPS PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH release scheduled using the DCI format with the HARQ-ACK codebook indicated in the first field. In a case that the field indicates the second HARQ-ACK codebook, the HARQ-ACK for the SPS PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH release may be associated with the second HARQ-ACK codebook by using the DCI format. In other words, the SPS PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH release may correspond to the PDSCH B);
a number of HARQ-ACK sub-codebooks in the HARQ-ACK codebook (Liu: ¶ 283; wherein the terminal apparatus 1 is configured to generate a HARQ-ACK codebook, and transmit the generated HARQ-ACK codebook on a PUCCH, wherein in a case that a first parameter is configured, a first HARQ-ACK codebook and a second HARQ-ACK codebook are generated, the first HARQ-ACK codebook is used to transmit a HARQ-ACK bit corresponding to a PDSCH A, and the second HARQ-ACK codebook is used to transmit a HARQ-ACK bit corresponding to a PDSCH B. Therefore the terminal apparatus 1 is capable of generating two different HARQ-ACK codebooks (HARQ-ACK sub-codebooks) for the first PDSCH (PDSCH A) and the second PDSCH (PDSCH B) to be transmitted together in the HARQ-ACK codebook); or
whether the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is to be transmitted with the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook in the same HARQ-ACK codebook.
Regarding claim 4, Liu in view of GE, Karaki and Yoshioka teaches the method of claim 2, wherein:
at least one DCI format of the second plurality of DCI formats includes an indication of a downlink assignment indicator (DAI) indicated in a last received DCI format among the first plurality of DCI formats (GE: Page 4, paragraph 11, and page 5, paragraphs 1 – 3; wherein the DCI's DAI field in the PDCCH can be used to indicate which PDSCH is scheduled, and the terminal device can use the DAI field in the last received DCI to determine the total number of scheduled PDSCHs, and then determine the length of the HARQ-ACK information. Thus, the terminal device determines the position of the scheduled PDSCH feedback information in the corresponding HARQ-ACK information according to the DAI field in the DCI carried by each PDCCH. The DAI may be a counter DAI); and
the DAI is a counter DAI for a single carrier for multicast transmission, or a total DAI for multiple carriers for the multicast transmission (Liu: ¶ 257-258; wherein the counter DAI may be included in the DCI A or the DCI B. For example, the value of the counter DAI indicated in the DCI format detected in the PDCCH monitoring occasion 804 may indicate the cumulative number of the DCI formats ({serving cell, PDCCH monitoring occasion} pairs) detected before the PDCCH monitoring occasion m=2 in the serving cell c2. And, the value of a Total DAI may indicate a total number of {serving cell, PDCCH monitoring occasion} pairs in the current PDCCH monitoring occasion m).
Regarding claim 16, Liu in view of GE and Karaki teaches the UE of claim 15.
Liu in view of GE and Karaki does not explicitly disclose wherein the first RNTI is configured for a group of UEs including the UE and the second RNTI is configured specifically for the UE.
Referring to thew invention of Yoshioka, Yoshioka teaches that a first RNTI is configured for a group of UEs including the UE and a second RNTI is configured specifically for the UE (Yoshioka: Fig. 2, ¶ 64 – 65; wherein PTM transmission scheme 2 uses a UE-specific PDCCH for a plurality of RRC connected UEs in the same MBS group in order to schedule a group-common PDSCH and that the UE-specific PDCCH has a CRC scrambled by a UE-specific RNTI (for example, C-RNTI) (i.e., the UE-specific PDCCH/PDSCH can be identified by a target UE, but another UE in the same MBS group fails to identify the UE-specific PDCCH/PDSCH), and the group-common PDSCH is scrambled by using the group-common RNTI (FIG. 2) (i.e., the group-common PDCCH/PDSCH are transmitted in the same time/frequency resource, and can be identified by all UEs in the same MBS group). Therefore, Yoshioka teaches that wherein the first RNTI (Yoshioka: ¶ 64;group-common RNTI) is configured for a group of UEs including the UE and the second RNTI (Yoshioka: ¶ 64; C-RNTI) is configured specifically for the UE).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the RNTI teachings of Yoshioka into the combined invention of Liu, GE, and Karaki, in order to effectively and appropriately perform processing of HARQ-ACK for multicast downlink data (Yoshioka: ¶ 10).
Regarding claim 17, Liu in view of GE, Karaki, and Yoshioka teaches the UE of claim 16, wherein at least one DCI format of the second plurality of DCI formats includes an indication of:
a number of PDSCH groups with corresponding HARQ-ACK feedback to be multiplexed in the HARQ-ACK codebook (Liu: ¶ 203; wherein the DCI format used for activation or deactivation of semi-persistent scheduling may include a first field indicating information indicating the HARQ-ACK codebook. The terminal apparatus 1 may associate the HARQ-ACK for the SPS PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH release scheduled using the DCI format with the HARQ-ACK codebook indicated in the first field. In a case that the field indicates the second HARQ-ACK codebook, the HARQ-ACK for the SPS PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH release may be associated with the second HARQ-ACK codebook by using the DCI format. In other words, the SPS PDSCH or the SPS PDSCH release may correspond to the PDSCH B);
a number of HARQ-ACK sub-codebooks in the HARQ-ACK codebook (Liu: ¶ 283; wherein the terminal apparatus 1 is configured to generate a HARQ-ACK codebook, and transmit the generated HARQ-ACK codebook on a PUCCH, wherein in a case that a first parameter is configured, a first HARQ-ACK codebook and a second HARQ-ACK codebook are generated, the first HARQ-ACK codebook is used to transmit a HARQ-ACK bit corresponding to a PDSCH A, and the second HARQ-ACK codebook is used to transmit a HARQ-ACK bit corresponding to a PDSCH B. Therefore the terminal apparatus 1 is capable of generating two different HARQ-ACK codebooks (HARQ-ACK sub-codebooks) for the first PDSCH (PDSCH A) and the second PDSCH (PDSCH B) to be transmitted together in the HARQ-ACK codebook); or
whether the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is to be transmitted with the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook in the same HARQ-ACK codebook.
Regarding claim 18, Liu in view of GE, Karaki, and Yoshioka teaches the UE of claim 16, wherein:
at least one DCI format of the second plurality of DCI formats includes an indication of a downlink assignment indicator (DAI) indicated in a last received DCI format among the first plurality of DCI formats (Liu: ¶ 257; wherein the counter DAI may be included in the DCI A or the DCI B. For example, the value of the counter DAI indicated in the DCI format detected in the PDCCH monitoring occasion 804 may indicate the cumulative number of the DCI formats ({serving cell, PDCCH monitoring occasion} pairs) detected before the PDCCH monitoring occasion m=2 in the serving cell c2); and
the DAI is a counter DAI for a single carrier for multicast transmission, or a total DAI for multiple carriers for the multicast transmission (Liu: ¶ 257-258; wherein the counter DAI may be included in the DCI A or the DCI B. For example, the value of the counter DAI indicated in the DCI format detected in the PDCCH monitoring occasion 804 may indicate the cumulative number of the DCI formats ({serving cell, PDCCH monitoring occasion} pairs) detected before the PDCCH monitoring occasion m=2 in the serving cell c2. And the value of a Total DAI may indicate a total number of {serving cell, PDCCH monitoring occasion} pairs in the current PDCCH monitoring occasion m).
Regarding claim 25, Liu in view of GE and Karaki teaches the base station of claim 24.
Liu in view of GE and Karaki does not explicitly disclose wherein the first RNTI is configured for a group of UEs including the UE and the second RNTI is configured specifically for the UE.
Referring to thew invention of Yoshioka, Yoshioka teaches that a first RNTI is configured for a group of UEs including the UE and a second RNTI is configured specifically for the UE (Yoshioka: Fig. 2, ¶ 64 – 65; wherein PTM transmission scheme 2 uses a UE-specific PDCCH for a plurality of RRC connected UEs in the same MBS group in order to schedule a group-common PDSCH and that the UE-specific PDCCH has a CRC scrambled by a UE-specific RNTI (for example, C-RNTI) (i.e., the UE-specific PDCCH/PDSCH can be identified by a target UE, but another UE in the same MBS group fails to identify the UE-specific PDCCH/PDSCH), and the group-common PDSCH is scrambled by using the group-common RNTI (FIG. 2) (i.e., the group-common PDCCH/PDSCH are transmitted in the same time/frequency resource, and can be identified by all UEs in the same MBS group). Therefore, Yoshioka teaches that wherein the first RNTI (Yoshioka: ¶ 64;group-common RNTI) is configured for a group of UEs including the UE and the second RNTI (Yoshioka: ¶ 64; C-RNTI) is configured specifically for the UE).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the RNTI teachings of Yoshioka into the combined invention of Liu, GE, and Karaki, in order to effectively and appropriately perform processing of HARQ-ACK for multicast downlink data (Yoshioka: ¶ 10).
Claims 6 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al., GE et al., and Karaki et al., as applied to claims 1 and 15 above, and further in view of Li et al. [US 20220416951 A1] hereinafter Li, and Zhang et al. [US 20220248436 A1] hereinafter Zhang.
Regarding claim 6, Liu in view of GE and Karaki teaches the method of claim 1.
Liu in view of GE and Karaki does not explicitly disclose wherein: the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is placed at a beginning of the HARQ- ACK codebook, followed by the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook; and
a size of the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling, or indicated by at least one DCI format of the first plurality of DCI formats or the second plurality of DCI formats.
Referring to the invention of Li, Li teaches the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is placed at a beginning of the HARQ- ACK codebook, followed by the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook (Li: Fig. 5, ¶ 80; wherein one HARQ-ACK codebook includes two sub-codebooks, and the two sub-codebooks are the first sub-codebook and the second sub-codebook respectively).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the order of HARQ-ACK sub-codebook teachings of Li into the combined HARQ-ACK teachings of Liu, GE, and Karaki, in order to improve transmission success rate for HARQ-ACK information (Li: ¶ 187).
Referring to the invention of Zhang, Zhang teaches a size of the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling, or indicated by at least one DCI format of the first plurality of DCI formats or the second plurality of DCI formats (Zhang: ¶ 714; wherein a total DAI (downlink assignment index) field may be introduced into the downlink DCI formats, such as DCI format 1_1, and/or DCI format 1_2, and the UE may determine the size of the HARQ-ACK codebook according to a value indicated by a T-DAI field in the DCI format received in the last PDCCH monitoring occasion).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the configuration of size of the of HARQ-ACK sub-codebook teachings of Zhang into the combined HARQ-ACK teachings of Liu, GE, Karaki, and Li, in order to improve transmission success rate for HARQ-ACK information and to support more flexible scheduling (Zhang: ¶ 4).
Regarding claim 19, Liu in view of GE and Karaki teaches the UE of claim 15.
Liu in view of GE and Karaki does not explicitly disclose wherein: the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is placed at a beginning of the HARQ-ACK codebook, followed by the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook; and
a size of the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling, or indicated by at least one DCI format of the first plurality of DCI formats or the second plurality of DCI formats.
Referring to the invention of Li, Li teaches the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is placed at a beginning of the HARQ- ACK codebook, followed by the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook (Li: Fig. 5, ¶ 80; wherein one HARQ-ACK codebook includes two sub-codebooks, and the two sub-codebooks are the first sub-codebook and the second sub-codebook respectively).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the order of HARQ-ACK sub-codebook teachings of Li into the combined HARQ-ACK teachings of Liu, GE, and Karaki, in order to improve transmission success rate for HARQ-ACK information (Li: ¶ 187).
Referring to the invention of Zhang, Zhang teaches a size of the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling, or indicated by at least one DCI format of the first plurality of DCI formats or the second plurality of DCI formats (Zhang: ¶ 714; wherein a total DAI (downlink assignment index) field may be introduced into the downlink DCI formats, such as DCI format 1_1, and/or DCI format 1_2, and the UE may determine the size of the HARQ-ACK codebook according to a value indicated by a T-DAI field in the DCI format received in the last PDCCH monitoring occasion).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the configuration of size of the of HARQ-ACK sub-codebook teachings of Zhang into the combined HARQ-ACK teachings of Liu, GE, Karaki, and Li, in order to improve transmission success rate for HARQ-ACK information and to support more flexible scheduling (Zhang: ¶ 4).
Claims 7, 11, and 20 – 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al., GE et al., and Karaki et al., as applied to claims 1 and 15 above, and further in view of Li et al. [US 20220416951 A1] hereinafter Li.
Regarding claim 7, Liu in view of GE and Karaki teaches the method of claim 1.
Liu in view of GE and Karaki does not explicitly teach wherein the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is arranged at a first set of bit positions in the HARQ-ACK codebook; and the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is arranged at a second set of bit positions in the HARQ-ACK codebook.
Referring to the invention of Li, Li teaches wherein the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is arranged at a first set of bit positions in the HARQ-ACK codebook; and the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is arranged at a second set of bit positions in the HARQ-ACK codebook (Li: Fig. 5, ¶ 74; wherein the bits in the HARQ-ACK codebook occupied by the first sub-codebook are the high-order bits in the HARQ-ACK code occupied by the second sub-codebook. For example, a 16-bit HARQ-ACK codebook with N=2 currently carries a bit value of “0000000011110000”, where “00000000” is the high-order bit as compared with “11110000”. “00000000” and “11110000” respectively correspond to the two sub-codebooks in the HARQ-ACK codebook. Besides, “00000000” is carried by the first sub-codebook, and “11110000” is carried by the second sub-codebook).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the order of HARQ-ACK sub-codebook teachings of Li into the combined HARQ-ACK teachings of Liu, GE, and Karaki, in order to improve transmission success rate for HARQ-ACK information (Li: ¶ 187).
Regarding claim 11, Liu in view of GE and Karaki teaches the method of claim 1, wherein:
the HARQ-ACK codebook further includes a downlink assignment indicator (DAI) field having a value corresponding to a DAI value in a last received DCI format among the first plurality of DCI formats (GE: Page 4, paragraph 11, and page 5, paragraphs 1 – 3; wherein the DCI's DAI field in the PDCCH can be used to indicate which PDSCH is scheduled, and the terminal device can use the DAI field (i.e., wherein a DAI field will have a corresponding DAI value) in the last received DCI to determine the total number of scheduled PDSCHs, and then determine the length of the HARQ-ACK information. Thus, the terminal device determines the position of the scheduled PDSCH feedback information in the corresponding HARQ-ACK information according to the DAI field in the DCI carried by each PDCCH. The DAI may be a counter DAI).
Liu in view of GE and Karaki does not explicitly disclose the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is placed at a beginning of the HARQ- ACK codebook, followed by the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook.
Referring to the invention of Li, Li teaches the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is placed at a beginning of the HARQ- ACK codebook, followed by the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook (Li: Fig. 5, ¶ 74; wherein the bits in the HARQ-ACK codebook occupied by the first sub-codebook are the high-order bits in the HARQ-ACK code occupied by the second sub-codebook. For example, a 16-bit HARQ-ACK codebook with N=2 currently carries a bit value of “0000000011110000”, where “00000000” is the high-order bit as compared with “11110000”. “00000000” and “11110000” respectively correspond to the two sub-codebooks in the HARQ-ACK codebook. Besides, “00000000” is carried by the first sub-codebook, and “11110000” is carried by the second sub-codebook. Therefore, the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is placed in front of the HARQ-ACK codebook, and it is followed by the second HARQ-ACK codebook).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the order of HARQ-ACK sub-codebook teachings of Li into the combined HARQ-ACK teachings of Liu, GE, and Karaki, in order to improve transmission success rate for HARQ-ACK information (Li: ¶ 187).
Regarding claim 20, Liu in view of GE and Karaki teaches the UE of claim 15.
Liu in view of GE and Karaki does not explicitly teach wherein the first HARQ-ACK sub- codebook is arranged at a first set of bit positions in the HARQ-ACK codebook; and the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is arranged at a second set of bit positions in the HARQ-ACK codebook.
Referring to the invention of Li, Li teaches wherein the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is arranged at a first set of bit positions in the HARQ-ACK codebook; and the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is arranged at a second set of bit positions in the HARQ-ACK codebook (Li: Fig. 5, ¶ 74; wherein the bits in the HARQ-ACK codebook occupied by the first sub-codebook are the high-order bits in the HARQ-ACK code occupied by the second sub-codebook. For example, a 16-bit HARQ-ACK codebook with N=2 currently carries a bit value of “0000000011110000”, where “00000000” is the high-order bit as compared with “11110000”. “00000000” and “11110000” respectively correspond to the two sub-codebooks in the HARQ-ACK codebook. Besides, “00000000” is carried by the first sub-codebook, and “11110000” is carried by the second sub-codebook).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the order of HARQ-ACK sub-codebook teachings of Li into the combined HARQ-ACK teachings of Liu, GE, and Karaki, in order to improve transmission success rate for HARQ-ACK information (Li: ¶ 187).
Regarding claim 21, Liu in view of GE teaches the UE of claim 15, wherein:
the HARQ-ACK codebook further includes a downlink assignment indicator (DAI) field having a value corresponding to a DAI value in a last received DCI format among the first plurality of DCI formats (GE: Page 4, paragraph 11, and page 5, paragraphs 1 – 3; wherein the DCI's DAI field in the PDCCH can be used to indicate which PDSCH is scheduled, and the terminal device can use the DAI field (i.e., wherein a DAI field will have a corresponding DAI value) in the last received DCI to determine the total number of scheduled PDSCHs, and then determine the length of the HARQ-ACK information. Thus, the terminal device determines the position of the scheduled PDSCH feedback information in the corresponding HARQ-ACK information according to the DAI field in the DCI carried by each PDCCH. The DAI may be a counter DAI).
Liu in view of GE and Karaki does not explicitly disclose the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is placed in a front of the HARQ- ACK codebook, followed by the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook.
Referring to the invention of Li, Li teaches the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is placed in a front of the HARQ- ACK codebook, followed by the second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook (Li: Fig. 5, ¶ 74; wherein the bits in the HARQ-ACK codebook occupied by the first sub-codebook are the high-order bits in the HARQ-ACK code occupied by the second sub-codebook. For example, a 16-bit HARQ-ACK codebook with N=2 currently carries a bit value of “0000000011110000”, where “00000000” is the high-order bit as compared with “11110000”. “00000000” and “11110000” respectively correspond to the two sub-codebooks in the HARQ-ACK codebook. Besides, “00000000” is carried by the first sub-codebook, and “11110000” is carried by the second sub-codebook. Therefore, the first HARQ-ACK sub-codebook is placed in front of the HARQ-ACK codebook, and it is followed by the second HARQ-ACK codebook).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the order of HARQ-ACK sub-codebook teachings of Li into the combined HARQ-ACK teachings of Liu, GE, and Karaki, in order to improve transmission success rate for HARQ-ACK information (Li: ¶ 187).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wang et al. [US 12621087 B2]: Method, Device, and Computer Storage Medium of Communication; Wang discloses determining a HARQ-ACK codebook by concatenating a first sub-codebook to a second sub-codebook.
Cruz et al. [US 20220201757 A1]: Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) Transmissions for New Radio (NR); Cruz discloses forming a sub-codebook for each set of PDSCHs and the sub-codebook of each set is concatenated to form the final codebook reported on the PUCCH.
Xiong et al. [US 20210092759 A1]: Multi-Transmission Time Interval (TTI) Scheduling for Data Transmission; Xiong discloses a dynamic HARQ-ACK codebook comprising two concatenated sub-codebooks, and wherein a first sub-codebook is to carry HARQ-ACK for TB-based PDSCH scheduling, and a second sub-codebook is for code block group (CBG) based PDSCH scheduling.
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.
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/HD/Examiner, Art Unit 2414
/EDAN ORGAD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2414
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