DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed December 30, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The newly added limitation is rejected as follow.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 7-10, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhou et al (US Publication 2022/0150884 A1).
Regarding to claims 1 and 8, Zhou discloses a wireless transmit receive unit WTRU 700 (fig. 7), the WTRU comprising: a processor 740 operatively coupled to a transceiver 715 (page 13 paragraph 0116), the processor and transceiver configured to receive configuration information indicating a plurality of physical uplink control channel PUCCH carriers (fig. 3 page 3 paragraph 0031); the processor and transceiver configured to receive downlink control information DCI capable of indicating a first PUCCH carrier and a second PUCCH carrier of the plurality of PUCCH carriers (page 9 paragraph 0077; noted there is subset of carriers) for sending a Uplink Control Information UCI transmission (fig. 8 page 14 paragraph 0125); and the processor and transceiver configured to transmit the UCI transmission on a second PUCCH carrier of the plurality of PUCCH carriers (page 14 paragraph 0126), wherein the second PUCCH carrier is selected based on an indication in the DCI (fig. 2 page 8 paragraph 0074-page 9 paragraph 0075; noted the carrier selection is based on DCIs received from base stations 210-220).
Regarding to claims 2 and 9, Zhou discloses the second PUCCH carrier is designated for a switching UCI transmission carrier (page 9 paragraph 0078).
Regarding to claims 3 and 10, Zhou discloses the second PUCCH carrier is designated as a secondary carrier and the first PUCCH carrier is designated as a primary carrier (page 8 paragraph 0071; noted the primary and secondary carrier can be determined based priority level of PUCCH).
Regarding to claims 7 and 14, Zhou discloses the second PUCCH carrier is further selected based on at least one of: an index of carriers (page 9 paragraph 0079), a priority of feedback (page 9 paragraph 0076), an indicated transmission time of the UCI on the first PUCCH carrier being associated with a downlink slot (page 9 paragraph 0080), or a payload feedback size (page 10 paragraph 0081).
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.
Claims 15 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou in view of Elshafie et al (US Publication 2022/0109534 A1).
Regarding to claims 15 and 16, Zhou discloses all the limitations with respect to claims 1 and 8, except for the UCI transmission is sent using a power determined by power information included in the DCI. However, Elshafie discloses a mobile station configured a UCI transmission using a power determined by power information included in a DCI (fig. 7 page 9 paragraph 0091). Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to arrange for the UCI transmission power as taught by Elshafie into Zhou’s system to increased priority level of certain UCIs.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6 and 11-13 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Duc T Duong whose telephone number is (571)272-3122. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri; 9am-6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hassan Phillips can be reached at (571)272-3940. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUC T DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467