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 12/19/25 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The applicant argues “…Lin mentions a "field [that] may be used to provide the
PUCCH resources for each MBS-interested UE to report some information after receiving the MBS data" (par. 139), Lin does not disclose or suggest providing PUCCH resources in a configuration for receiving MBS data on SPS radio resources. The field Lin mentions at par. 139 appears to belong to a DCI (see par. 106), which does not include a configuration for receiving MBS data on SPS radio resources. Thus, no valid combination of Zhou and Lin can include "unicasting, by the base station to a user equipment (UE), a configuration for receiving MBS data on SPS radio resources, the configuration including a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource indicator."” See page 7 of applicant’s remarks. The examiner respectfully disagrees.
Zhou discloses unicasting, by the base station to a user equipment (UE), a configuration for receiving MBS data on SPS radio resources (i.e., the BS may transmit, and the UE may receive, information identifying an SPS configuration for a broadcast/multicast communication. For example, the information identifying the SPS configuration may be transmitted to the UE using unicast signaling; see paragraph [0047]). However, Zhou does not disclose the configuration including a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource indicator.
Lin discloses PUCCH resources… In some implementations, a set of PUCCH resources (or the corresponding PUCCH configuration) may be associated with a specific MBS (or its related session, or its related TMGI). In some implementations, a set of PUCCH resources (or the corresponding PUCCH configuration) may be associated with an MBS BWP or included in an MBS BWP configuration. See paragraph [0139]. Lin discloses PUCCH resources indicating PUCCH configuration associated with MBS data. Lin further discloses when the UE switches to another BWP to receive its desired MBS data without higher layer signaling, the UE may explicitly inform the gNB that the UE switches to another BWP. For example, in an explicit way, the UE may send a BWP ID or an index of a BWP ID provided in its BWP ID list to the gNB in the pre-configured PUCCH/PUSCH resources. See paragraph [0085]. In other words, Lin discloses providing PUCCH resources in a configuration for receiving MBS data.
The combination of Zhou and Lin disclose "unicasting, by the base station to a user equipment (UE), a configuration for receiving MBS data on SPS radio resources, the configuration including a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource indicator.”
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1, 3-19 and 21-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al. (Zhou), U.S. Publication No. 2020/0322921 in view of Lin et al. (Lin), U.S. Publication No. 2023/0093727.
Regarding Claims 1, 12 and 13, Zhou discloses a method implemented in a
base station for managing transmission of multicast and/or broadcast services (MBS) using semi-persistent scheduling (SPS), the method comprising:
unicasting, by the base station to a user equipment (UE), a configuration for receiving MBS data on SPS radio resources (i.e., the BS may transmit, and the UE may receive, information identifying an SPS configuration for a broadcast/multicast communication. For example, the information identifying the SPS configuration may be transmitted to the UE using unicast signaling; see paragraph [0047]);
providing, to the UE, an indication to activate receiving the MBS data in accordance with the configuration (for example, the information identifying the SPS configuration may be transmitted to the UE using cell-specific signaling… the information identifying the SPS configuration may identify a resource allocation; see paragraphs [0048]-[0050]); and
transmitting, to the UE, the MBS data in accordance with the configuration (i.e., the BS may transmit, and the UE may receive, the SPS communication. For example, the UE may receive the SPS communication in accordance with the SPS configuration.; see paragraph [0052]).
Zhou fails to disclose the configuration including a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource indicator.
Lin discloses the configuration including a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource indicator (see paragraphs [0085] and [0139]) Also, see examiner’s response above.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Lin’s invention with Zhou’s invention for improving data rate, latency, reliability, and mobility (see paragraph [0003] of Lin).
Regarding Claims 3, 15 and 21, Zhou and Lin disclose the method and base
station as described above. Zhou further discloses wherein providing the indication includes: transmitting a command (for example, medical device; see paragraph [0031]) to activate receiving the MBS data in accordance with the configuration (see paragraphs [0048]-[0050]).
Regarding Claims 4 and 22, Zhou and Lin disclose the method and base
station as described above. Zhou further discloses wherein the command is a first command, the method further comprising: transmitting, to the UE after transmitting the first command and before transmitting the MBS data (step 310; see paragraph [0047]), a second command to activate receiving the MBS data in accordance with the configuration (step 320; see paragraph [0052]).
Regarding Claim 5, Zhou and Lin disclose the method as described above.
Zhou further discloses wherein the command is a first command, the method further comprising: transmitting, to the UE, a plurality of commands at different respective periods of the SPS radio resources to activate receiving the MBS data in accordance with the configuration (see figure 3).
Regarding Claim 6, Zhou and Lin disclose the method as described above.
Zhou fails to disclose wherein: the base station transmits the command at a first time slot, and the command includes a time offset corresponding to a number of slots after the first time slot at which the UE should receive the MBS data. Lin discloses wherein: the base station transmits the command at a first time slot, and the command includes a time offset corresponding to a number of slots after the first time slot at which the UE should receive the MBS data (see paragraphs [0137]-[0141]). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Lin’s invention with Zhou’s invention for improving data rate, latency, reliability, and mobility (see paragraph [0003] of Lin).
Regarding Claim 7, Zhou and Lin disclose the method as described above.
Zhou further discloses wherein transmitting the configuration includes: including, in the configuration, an identifier to a resource on which the UE should transmit an acknowledgement to the command (see paragraph [0050]).
Regarding Claims 8 and 17, Zhou and Lin disclose the method as described
above. Zhou further discloses wherein transmitting the configuration includes:
including, in the configuration, an identifier for downlink control information (DCI) formats (see paragraph [0049]).
Regarding Claims 9 and 18, Zhou and Lin disclose the method as described
above. Zhou further discloses wherein transmitting the command includes: including, in the command, at least one of a frequency domain resource assignment field, a time domain resource assignment field, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) (see paragraph [0050]), a new data indicator, a redundancy version, a virtual resource block (VRB)-to-physical resource block (PRB) mapping, or a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)-to-hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback timing indicator.
Regarding Claim 10, Zhou and Lin disclose the method as described above.
Zhou further discloses wherein the UE is a first UE and the configuration is a first SPS configuration, the method further comprising: unicasting, to a second UE, a second SPS configuration for receiving MBS data on the SPS radio resources, wherein the second SPS configuration is different from the first SPS configuration (see figure 1 of Zhou).
Regarding Claims 11 and 19, Zhou and Lin disclose the method as described
above. Zhou further discloses wherein the configuration is a first SPS configuration and the SPS radio resources are first SPS radio resources, the method further comprising: transmitting, to the UE, a second SPS configuration for receiving unicast data on second SPS radio resources (see paragraphs [0054]-[0055]).
Regarding Claim 14, Zhou and Lin disclose the method as described above.
Zhou further discloses wherein: the receiving of the configuration includes: receiving a message including the configuration, the message formatted in accordance with a protocol for controlling radio resources (see paragraph [0034]).
Regarding Claim 16, Zhou and Lin disclose the method as described above.
Zhou further discloses wherein the configuration includes an identifier to a resource on which the UE should transmit an acknowledgement to the command, the method further comprising: in response to receiving the command, transmitting, to the base station on the resource, a positive acknowledgement to the command (see paragraph [0050]).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 SHANTELL LAKETA HEIBER whose telephone number is (571)272-0886. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F from 9am to 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony Addy, can be reached at telephone number (571)272-0886. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHANTELL L HEIBER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645
February 10, 2026