DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 .
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.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. In particular, this Application is the national stage application of an international application filed on 8 Apr 2021.
Information Disclosure Statements
The information disclosure statements, submitted on 9 Oct 2023, 19 Apr 2024, and 13 Aug 2025, are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
The amendments to the claims and disclosure overcome the indefiniteness rejections and specification objections provided in the Non-Final Rejection.
The arguments directed to the anticipation rejection are moot in light of the obviousness rejection based on Wu in view of Park.
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 1-6, 10, 11, 15-17, 20, 28, 30-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable by Wu (US 20210298080) in view of Park (US 20220046696).
Regarding claims 1 and 28, Wu teaches a method for data transmission, performed by a terminal, and a terminal comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing instructions executable by the processor; wherein the processor is configured to execute the method comprising:
determining one or more channel access types (Wu, ¶¶39-41 – a bit in the DCI indicates a channel access types 1 and 2 [e.g. ¶82 shows 4 bits for two channel access manners]) and a plurality of discontinuous time units (Wu, ¶33 and figures 3 and 4 – downlink and uplink channels have gaps between them, creating discontinuous channels in the time domain);
sensing a channel before a corresponding time unit based on one or more channel access types (Wu, ¶26 and figures 1 and 4 – different LBT types before the time units of the UL or DL data channels); and
performing an uplink data transmission on the corresponding time unit in response to sensing that the channel is idle. Wu, ¶¶47-38 and figure 4 (UE transmits a first PUSCH after successfully acquiring the channel via the specified LBT type).
Wu does not explicitly teach “wherein the plurality of discontinuous time units are scheduled by one downlink control information (DCI) and the plurality of discontinuous time units are configured to transmit a plurality of physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs).” However, Park teaches a DCI scheduling a PUSCH repetition over a series of slots. Park, ¶101 and figure 4; see also id., ¶¶105-106, 169 and figure 5. At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to enable a DCI to schedule a PUSCH repetition, as taught by Park, using the unlicensed spectrum, taught by Wu, in order to ensure demodulation/decoding performance by the base station despite the lower transmission power of the UE. Id. at ¶100.
Regarding claims 2, 16, and 31, the combination of Wu and Park also teaches wherein determining the one or more channel access types comprises:
determining the one or more channel access types based on first indication information (Wu, ¶¶66-67, 132 – DCI includes indication information that indicates the channel access manner required to be used for channel detection according to the size of the gap);
wherein the first indication information comprises a first indication field, the first indication field comprises one or more codepoints (Wu, ¶¶67 and 132, table 4 – first indication information is uses two or three bits to indicate one or more channel access manners), and
there is a corresponding relationship between codepoints and channel access types. Wu, ¶¶67 and 132, table 4 (e.g. “00” represents CAT-1 or “110” represents 25 µs CAT-2).
Regarding claims 3 and 32, Wu also teaches wherein the corresponding relationship between codepoints and channel access types is determined at least one of: based on a predefinition; or based on second indication information. Wu, ¶¶67, 132, table 4 (the relationship between the bits comprising indication information and channel access manners is predefined) or alternatively Wu, ¶67 (channel access manner according to size of a gap [i.e. second indication information]).
Regarding claim 4, Wu also teaches wherein a number of the one or more channel access types is one (Wu, ¶¶34-35 – Cat-1 LBT), and there is a one-to-one corresponding relationship between codepoint and the channel access type. Wu, ¶¶67 and 132 (each value of the first indication information has a correspondence to one or more channel access manners).
Regarding claims 5 and 33, Wu also teaches wherein a number of the one or more channel access types is one (Wu, ¶¶34-35 – Cat-1 LBT), and there is a one-to-one corresponding relationship between codepoints and first combinations comprising the channel access type (Wu, ¶¶67, 132 –one to one correspondence between a value of a first indication information and a channel access manner); and the first combination comprises at least one of: a combination between the channel access type and a cyclic prefix; a combination between the channel access type and a channel access priority class; or a combination among the channel access type, a cyclic prefix, and a channel access priority class. Wu, ¶¶41-42 (1 bit for channel access manner and 2 bits for CAPC).
Regarding claims 6 and 20, Wu also teaches wherein the plurality of discontinuous time units comprise a plurality of time unit groups, and each of the plurality of time unit groups comprises continuous time units. Wu, figures 1, 3, and 4 (each COT comprises one or more uplink and downlink transmissions that are separated by a gap and each transmission runs over consecutive units of time).
Regarding claim 7, Wu also teaches wherein channel access types corresponding to the plurality of time unit groups are a channel access type indicated by the first indication information. Wu, ¶67 (channel access manner indicated by first indication information, which is based on the gap between the transmissions).
Regarding claim 8, Wu also teaches wherein channel access types corresponding to a part of time unit groups in the plurality of time unit groups are a channel access type indicated by the first indication information, and channel access types corresponding to another part of time unit groups in the plurality of time unit groups are determined based on a rule and/or a parameter. Wu, figure 7 and ¶¶132-133 (indication information indicates multiple channel access manners); Wu, ¶¶105, 126 (UE executes channel access manners sequentially within a COT and, in the example of ¶126, each channel access manner has a different priority and the first channel access manner has a higher priority than the second channel access manner).
Regarding claim 9, Wu also teaches wherein the rule and/or the parameter comprises at least one of: whether a current time unit group is within a channel occupation time of a network device (Wu, ¶105 – if the second UL burst is in the COT, channel access manner B is performed; see also id. at ¶¶99-100 for bursts inside and outside of a COT); whether a current time unit group is within a channel occupation time of the terminal (Wu, ¶¶30-31 – COT may be UE initiated as well as gNB initiated); an interval between a current time unit group and a previous time unit group; or an interval between a current time unit group and receiving downlink data from a network device.
Regarding claim 10, Wu also teaches wherein a number of the one or more channel access types is more than one, there is a corresponding relationship between codepoints and channel access type combinations, and the channel access type combination comprises one or more channel access types. Wu, e.g. ¶132, table 4 (the relationship between the bits comprising indication information and a combination of up to three channel access manners); Wu, e.g. ¶82 (4 bits for a combination of two channel access manners).
Regarding claim 11, Wu also teaches wherein a number of the one or more channel access types is more than one, there is a corresponding relationship between codepoints and second combinations comprising channel access type combinations, and the channel access type combination comprises one or more channel access types (Wu, e.g. ¶132, table 4 - the relationship between the bits comprising indication information and a combination of up to three channel access manners; Wu, e.g. ¶82 - 4 bits for a combination of two channel access manners); and
the second combination comprises at least one of: a combination between a channel access type combination and a cyclic prefix; a combination between a channel access type combination and a channel access priority class; or a combination among a channel access type combination, a cyclic prefix, and a channel access priority class. Wu, ¶¶41-42 (1 bit for channel access manner and 2 bits for CAPC).
Regarding claims 15 and 30, Wu teaches method for data reception, performed by a network device, and a network device comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the process is configured to perform the method of :
transmitting first indication information for indicating one or more channel access types (Wu, figure 6 – in s201, a network device transmits first indication information, which indicates the channel access manner required for use by the UE according to the size of the gap);
wherein, the one or more channel access types are configured for a terminal to perform a channel sensing before performs an uplink data transmission on a plurality of discontinuous time units. Wu, ¶¶26, 103 and figure 4 – UE performs LBT type to sense the channel before transmitting a first PUSCH).
Wu does not explicitly teach “wherein the plurality of discontinuous time units are scheduled by one downlink control information (DCI) and the plurality of discontinuous time units are configured to transmit a plurality of physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs).” However, Park teaches a DCI scheduling a PUSCH repetition over a series of slots. Park, ¶101 and figure 4; see also id., ¶¶105-106, 169 and figure 5. At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to enable a DCI to schedule a PUSCH repetition, as taught by Park, using the unlicensed spectrum, taught by Wu, in order to ensure demodulation/decoding performance by the base station despite the lower transmission power of the UE. Id. at ¶100.
Regarding claim 17, Wu also teaches transmitting second indication information for indicating the corresponding relationship between codepoints and channel access types. Wu, ¶¶125 (third indication information provides channel access manner); Wu, e.g. ¶132 (table 4 provides a correspondence between bits in an indication information and one or more channel access manners [i.e. the third indication information of Wu indicates channel access manners in the same way as the first indication information of Wu]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure includes the following:
Jiang, ¶51 – first indicator field of DCI indicates channel access type;
Lin, figure 1; and
Xu, figure 17 and ¶¶429,434-436 – fields for two different channel access procedures with different sensing durations.
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 BENJAMIN S LAMONT whose telephone number is (571)270-7514 and email address is benjamin.lamont@uspto.gov (see MPEP 502.03 for using EFS or mail, but not email to authorize electronic communications). The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am to 3pm EST.
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/Benjamin Lamont/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461