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 .
Priorities and Examiner Remarks
This application is a National Stage entry of PCT/CN2021/139733 (international filing date: 12/20/2021), which claims foreign priority to PCT/CN2020/142372 (filed
12/31/2020).
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 06/03/2026 has been entered.
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 79-81, and 84-98 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 79 line 11, "the first PUSCH" lacks antecedent basis. Is it supposed to be “the first PUSCH resource”? Similar problem appears in claim 98.
Claim 95 line 12, the phrase “a downlink symbol or slot” is unclear and ambiguous as to whether it is referred to the “downlink symbol or slot” in line 10. If indeed so, the phrase should be changed to “the downlink symbol or slot”.
Claims 80-81, and 84-97, these claims are rejected based on their dependency from the rejected base claim 79.
Claim 98, this claim is unclear and ambiguous as to whether it is claiming an apparatus, or a method. For example, the preamble states an apparatus, but the claim body is of a method. If applicant intention is for an apparatus, the terms “method” should be removed for avoiding ambiguity.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 79-81, 85, 87-94, and 96-98 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai et al. (US 20220210798 A1, hereinafter Tsai), in view of CHIN et al. (US 20220210860 A1, hereinafter CHIN).
Regarding claim 79,
Tsai teaches a method for configured grant (CG) based transmission at a user equipment, the method comprising (in general, see fig. 4 in view of fig. 5-6 and along with their corresponding paragraphs, including but not limited to, para. 105-149):
determining one or more synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel blocks (SSBs) (Tsai, see at least para. 108 along with para. 138, “...UE receives a CG configuration for SDT from a BS (step S410)..., note that “...a SSB set may be a SSB subset (e.g., configured by a SDT-SSB-subset configuration). The SSB set may be indicated by NW for SSB to CG PUSCH mapping within one CG configuration...”);
determining one or more physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources mapped to the determined one or more SSBs according to mapping information on mappings between a set of SSBs and a set of PUSCH resources, wherein the set of PUSCH resources includes at least a first PUSCH resource (Tsai, see at least para. 139 along with para. 147, “...a UE may be provided by a SSB set with a number of SS/PBCH block indexes to map to a number of valid CG/PUSCH occasions for PUSCH transmissions over an association period...”, note that para. 147 discloses “...an association period, starting from frame 0 and/or frame x, for mapping N SS/PBCH block indexes to PUSCH occasions may be the smallest value in the set determined by the PUSCH configuration period such that SS/PBCH block indexes may be mapped at least once to the PUSCH occasions within the association period,...”);
determining that the first PUSCH is not mapped to any SSBs; and invalidating the first PUSCH resource in response to determining that the first PUSCH resource is not mapped to any SSBs (Tsai, see at least para. 147, “...If after an integer number of SS/PBCH block indexes to PUSCH occasions mapping cycles within the association period there is a set of CG resource/occasions that are not mapped to N SS/PBCH block indexes, no SS/PBCH block indexes are mapped to the set of CG resource/occasion...”),
wherein
in the mappings between the set of SSBs and the set of PUSCH resources, an SSB in the set of SSBs is mapped to a PUSCH resource in the set of PUSCH resources according to demodulation reference signal (DMRS) configuration of PUSCH transmission (Tsai, see at least para. 124-126 along with at least para. 139, “...In some implementations, each consecutive number of N SSB indexes may be mapped to valid CG resource/occasions (e.g., a PUSCH occasion) and associated DM-RS resources...”, note that “...a UE may be provided by a SSB set with a number of SS/PBCH block indexes to map to a number of valid CG/PUSCH occasions for PUSCH transmissions over an association period. ... A CG/PUSCH occasion for a PUSCH transmission may be defined by a time resource and/or a frequency resource and/or may be associated with a DM-RS provided by cg-DMRS-Configuration for the configuration of PUSCH transmissions...”),
the set of PUSCH resources comprise DMRS resources configured for the CG based transmission (Tsai, see at least para. 124-126 along with at least para. 148, “...for mapping N SS/PBCH block indexes, from the number of SS/PBCH block indexes, to valid PUSCH occasions and/or the associated DM-RS resources may be the smallest value in the set determined by the PUSCH configuration period such that N SS/PBCH block indexes are mapped at least once to valid PUSCH occasions and associated DM-RS resources within the association period...”),
different SSBs in the set of SSBs are mapped to different DMRS resources (Tsai, see at least para. 124-126 along with at least para. 148, for one non-limiting example, “...N SS/PBCH block indexes are mapped at least once to valid PUSCH occasions and associated DM-RS resources within the association period...”),
and
the DMRS resources comprise one or more DMRS ports, and/or one or more DMRS sequences (Tsai, see at least para. 126, “...in increasing order of DM-RS resource indexes within a PUSCH occasion, where a DMRS resource index may be determined first in an ascending order of a DM-RS port index and second in an ascending order of a DM-RS sequence index...”).
Tsai does not explicitly teach transmitting to a network node data of the CG based transmission by utilizing the determined one or more PUSCH resources.
CHIN teaches transmitting to a network node data of the CG based transmission by utilizing the determined one or more PUSCH resources (CHIN, in general, see fig. 4 and corresponding paragraphs 181-188, in view of fig. 2 and its corresponding paragraphs; in particular, see at least para. 184 along with para. 153, “...Taking the association between the CG resource 411 and the SSB 421 in FIG. 4 as an example, when the network receives UL data on, for example, the CG resource 411, from the UE 400, the network may know that the DL response may be sent on the (DL) SSB 421 based on the association...”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate CHIN into the method of Tsai for improving resource allocations in various RRC states.
Regarding claim 80, Tsai in view of CHIN teaches receiving from a network node a message indicating the mapping information, wherein the message indicates a PUSCH resource associated with the SSB. (Tsai, see at least para. 108 along with para. 138, “...UE receives a CG configuration for SDT from a BS (step S410)..., note that “...a SSB set may be a SSB subset (e.g., configured by a SDT-SSB-subset configuration). The SSB set may be indicated by NW for SSB to CG PUSCH mapping within one CG configuration...”)
Regarding claim 81, Tsai in view of CHIN teaches obtaining configuration of a number of SSBs to be mapped to a PUSCH resource; obtaining configuration of a number of PUSCH resources available for the CG based transmission; and deriving one or more PUSCH resources associated with each SSB of the number of SSBs according to a predefined mapping rule. (Tsai, see at least para. 139 along with para. 147, “...a UE may be provided by a SSB set with a number of SS/PBCH block indexes to map to a number of valid CG/PUSCH occasions for PUSCH transmissions over an association period...”)
Regarding claim 85, Tsai in view of CHIN teaches at least one SSB in the set of SSBs is mapped to multiple DMRS ports. (Tsai, see at least para. 124-126, “...In some implementations, each consecutive number of N SSB indexes may be mapped to valid CG resource/occasions (e.g., a PUSCH occasion) and associated DM-RS resources. First, in increasing order of DM-RS resource indexes within a PUSCH occasion, where a DMRS resource index may be determined first in an ascending order of a DM-RS port index and second in an ascending order of a DM-RS sequence index...”)
Regarding claim 87, Tsai in view of CHIN teaches the set of PUSCH resources comprises multiple PUSCH occasions in a CG period, and one or more different SSBs in the set of SSBs is mapped to one or more different PUSCH occasions in the CG period. (Tsai, see at least para. 135 of fig. 6A along with para. 131, “... For example, SSB1 ma associated with/mapping to the combination of CG index 0, frequency index 0, and time index 0, SSB2 is associated with/mapping to the combination of CG index 1, frequency index 0, and time index 0, and so on...”, note that the indexes of CG resource/occasion may be indexes for CG period)
Regarding claim 88, Tsai in view of CHIN teaches multiple SSBs in the set of SSBs are mapped to the one or more different PUSCH occasions by associating the one or more different PUSCH occasions to the multiple SSBs in the set of SSBs in an order of consecutive PUSCH occasion indexes. (Tsai, see at least para. 135 of fig. 6A along with para. 131, “... For example, SSB1 ma associated with/mapping to the combination of CG index 0, frequency index 0, and time index 0, SSB2 is associated with/mapping to the combination of CG index 1, frequency index 0, and time index 0, and so on...”, note that the indexes of CG resource/occasion may be indexes for CG period)
Regarding claim 89, Tsai in view of CHIN teaches different groups of PUSCH occasions are taken from the multiple PUSCH occasions in at least one of the following orders: an order of frequency resource indexes of the different groups of PUSCH occasions, and an order of the different groups of PUSCH occasions in time domain. (Tsai, see at least para. 134 of fig. 5, “... a CG resource/occasion may include 2 CG indexes (e.g., CG index 0 and CG index 1). A Time resource/occasion (index) may include 4 CG resource/occasions on frequency domain (e.g., from frequency index 0 to frequency index 3 as an increasing order of frequency resource indexes)...”)
Regarding claim 90, Tsai in view of CHIN teaches more than one SSBs in the set of SSBs are mapped to one or more same PUSCH occasions in the CG period. (Tsai, see at least para. 135 of fig. 6A along with para. 131, for one non-limiting example, SSB1 and SSB3 associated with CG index 0)
Regarding claim 91, Tsai in view of CHIN teaches multiple SSBs in the set of SSBs are mapped to multiple DMRS resources by associating the multiple DMRS resources to the multiple SSB in the set of SSBs in an order of consecutive DMRS resource indexes. (Tsai, see at least para. 124-126, “...In some implementations, each consecutive number of N SSB indexes may be mapped to valid CG resource/occasions (e.g., a PUSCH occasion) and associated DM-RS resources. First, in increasing order of DM-RS resource indexes within a PUSCH occasion, where a DMRS resource index may be determined first in an ascending order of a DM-RS port index and second in an ascending order of a DM-RS sequence index...”)
Regarding claim 92, Tsai in view of CHIN teaches the order of consecutive DMRS resource indexes is determined according to DMRS resource indexes within a PUSCH occasion, frequency resource indexes of PUSCH occasions, and indexes of PUSCH occasions in time domain. (Tsai, see at least para. 124-126 along with para. 139 and fig. 5, note that “...a UE may be provided by a SSB set with a number of SS/PBCH block indexes to map to a number of valid CG/PUSCH occasions for PUSCH transmissions over an association period. ... A CG/PUSCH occasion for a PUSCH transmission may be defined by a time resource and/or a frequency resource and/or may be associated with a DM-RS provided by cg-DMRS-Configuration for the configuration of PUSCH transmissions...”)
Regarding claim 93, Tsai in view of CHIN teaches
the set of PUSCH resources comprise PUSCH resources in multiple HARQ processes, and the SSB in the set of SSBs is mapped to one or more HARQ processes of the multiple HARQ processes (Tsai, see at least para. 185-187 along with fig. 6B, for one non-limiting example, “...Based on the current HARQ process ID determination method, if the UE selects different beams/SSBs for a SDT via CG, the UE may derive different HARQ process IDs for transmission...”),
or
the set of PUSCH resources comprise multiple PUSCH resources in a HARQ process, and different SSBs in the set of SSBs are mapped to different PUSCH resources in the HARQ process.
Regarding claim 94, Tsai in view of CHIN teaches
the set of PUSCH resources comprises PUSCH resources configured by multiple CG configuration, and one or more different SSB indexes are mapped to PUSCH resources configured by different CG configuration,
the set of PUSCH resources comprises PUSCH resources configured by multiple CG configuration, and the set of SSBs are mapped to PUSCH resources configured by each CG configuration,
or
the set of PUSCH resources are configured by one CG configuration. (Tsai, see at least para. 108 along with para. 138, “...UE receives a CG configuration for SDT from a BS (step S410)..., note that “...a SSB set may be a SSB subset (e.g., configured by a SDT-SSB-subset configuration). The SSB set may be indicated by NW for SSB to CG PUSCH mapping within one CG configuration...”)
Regarding claim 96, Tsai in view of CHIN teaches multiple SSB indexes are mapped to one or more same PUSCH resources in the set of PUSCH resources. (Tsai, see at least para. 135 of fig. 6A, for one non-limiting example, SSB1 and SSB3 associated with CG index 0)
Regarding claim 97, Tsai in view of CHIN teaches the CG based transmission is a CG-based small data transmission. (Tsai, see at least para. 108 along with para. 138, “...UE receives a CG configuration for SDT from a BS (step S410)..., note that “...a SSB set may be a SSB subset (e.g., configured by a SDT-SSB-subset configuration). The SSB set may be indicated by NW for SSB to CG PUSCH mapping within one CG configuration...”)
Regarding claim 98, this claim is rejected for the same reasoning as claim 79 except this claim is in apparatus claim format.
To be more specific, Tsai also teaches a same or similar apparatus comprising processor, transceiver, and memory (Tsai, see at least fig. 13), which are well known in the art and commonly used for providing and enabling robust and reliable data communication hardware and software.
Claim 84 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai in view of CHIN, as applied to claim 79 above, and further in view of QIAN et al. (US 20200214044 A1, hereinafter QIAN)
Regarding claim 84,
Tsai in view of CHIN teaches
different SSBs in the set of SSBs are mapped to different PUSCH resources in the set of PUSCH resources according to DMRS configuration of transmission of a physical uplink channel (CHIN, see at least para.187 along with para. 218, “...The UE (e.g., 400) may perform (DL) SSB-based measurement in the RRC_INACTIVE state and select an (DL) SSB (e.g., 423) with RSRP above a threshold (e.g., threshold DL measurement) amongst the associated (DL) SSBs (e.g., 421, 422, 423, 424) when initiating a CG-based SDT procedure and/or before transmitting small data via a CG resource. The UE (e.g., 400) may transmit the UL data via a CG resource (e.g., 413) which is associated with the selected (DL) SSB (e.g., 423)...”),
and
the DMRS configuration comprises at least one of the following parameters: a DMRS sequence scrambling identifier (ID), a number of the DMRS sequence scrambling ID, or a DMRS port ID (Tsai, see at least para. 124-126, “...In some implementations, each consecutive number of N SSB indexes may be mapped to valid CG resource/occasions (e.g., a PUSCH occasion) and associated DM-RS resources. First, in increasing order of DM-RS resource indexes within a PUSCH occasion, where a DMRS resource index may be determined first in an ascending order of a DM-RS port index and second in an ascending order of a DM-RS sequence index...”)
Tsai in view of CHIN does not explicitly teach when transform precoding is disabled.
QIAN teaches when transform precoding is disabled (QIAN, see at least para. 165-166, “...The user equipment may determine the waveform applied or whether the transform precoding is enabled or not according to some measurement results of the channel. One possible way is that the user equipment may select a synchronization signal block according to the measurement result of the synchronization signal block. At the same time, the user equipment compares a reference signal received power (RSRP) obtained by measuring the synchronization signal block with a pre-configured or predefined first threshold. If the RSRP is greater than the first threshold, the second waveform such as OFDM will be applied, or the transform precoding will not be enabled...”, note that in other words, when transform precoding is disabled, RSRP is greater than a threshold).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate QIAN into the method of Tsai in view of CHIN to effective resource allocations based on measurements.
Claim 86 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai in view of CHIN, as applied to claim 79 above, and further in view of Zhou et al. (US 20200314860 A1, hereinafter Zhou)
Regarding claim 86,
Tsai in view of CHIN teaches the SSB in the set of SSBs is mapped to a PUSCH resource in the set of PUSCH resources (CHIN, see at least fig. 4).
Tsai in view of CHIN does not explicitly teach according to at least one of the following: an SRS resource index, precoding information, or information on a number of layers
Zhou teaches according to at least one of the following: an SRS resource index, precoding information, or information on a number of layers (Zhou, see at least para. 402, “...the wireless device may transmit an uplink transport block (TB) via the PUSCH resources with a spatial domain transmission filter based on an SRS indicated by the SRS resource indicator. In an example, if a reference signal resource index of the spatial relation information configuration of the SRS comprises an SSB index, the wireless device may transmit the uplink TB with a same spatial domain transmission filter used for reception of an SSB identified by the SSB index...”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Zhou into the method of Tsai in view of CHIN to improve transmission robustness, increase uplink spectrum efficiency, reduce uplink interference, etc..
Claim 95 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai in view of CHIN, as applied to claim 79 above, and further in view of NAGARAJA et al. (US 20190021017 A1, hereinafter NAGARAJA)
Regarding claim 95,
Tsai in view of CHIN teaches wherein the set of PUSCH resources further comprises a second PUSCH resource, and the method further comprises: determining that the second PUSCH collides with a measurement gap; and invalidating the second PUSCH resource in response to determining that the second PUSCH resource collides with a measurement gap. (Tsai, see at least para. 145, “...For example, the UE may not consider the CG/PUSCH occasion which is overlapped with the measurement gap and/or a PRACH occasion (in time domain) as an available/valid CG/PUSCH occasion...”)
Tsai in view of CHIN does not explicitly teach a downlink symbol or slot.
NAGARAJA teaches a downlink symbol or slot (Zhou, see at least para. 84, for one non-limiting example, “...the network may send a downlink control channel signal (e.g., PDCCH in CSS and/or USS) during a measurement gap to check if the UE has completed measurements...”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate NAGARAJA into the method of Tsai in view of CHIN for improving the wireless communication system's performance when measurement gaps are used to make measurements is desired (para. 6).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/06/2026 have been fully considered. Regarding independent claims 79 and 98, since applicant's amendment necessitated new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action, previous Office action's rejections are moot. Accordingly, corresponding dependent claims have also been rejected in this Office action.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YEE F LAM whose telephone number is (571)270-7577. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm. 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, Ayman Abaza can be reached on 571-270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/YEE F LAM/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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