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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 09/11/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment, filed on 09/11/2026, has been entered and carefully considered.
Claims 1, 10, 19 and 26 have been amended and Claims 1-7, 10-16, 19-21 and 26-28 are currently pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 09/11/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With respect to Claims 1, 10, 19 and 26, Applicant argues that Zhou does not explicitly disclose any repetition information (remarks, p. 15).
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. Zhou discloses that the scheduling information carried in the DCI includes scheduling information of each transport block, including the number of repetitions ([0254]). Any of this scheduling information may be specific to each transport block scheduled in the DCI ([0255]). Zhou further discloses that, for the DCI scheduling the multiple transport blocks, the resources of the scheduled PDSCH/PUSCH transmissions are arranged according to the number of PDSCH/PUSCH repetitions ([0271]). This confirms that the repetition information applies to the transport blocks scheduled by the same DCI. Those transport blocks include both downlink transport blocks via PDSCH and uplink transport blocks via PUSCH ([0272]-[0274]), Fig. 2a). To the extent the previous Office Characterization is clarified by the present action.
Applicant further argues that He’s Repetition numbers are configured by RRC signaling in TDRA tables and not carried in the DCI (Remarks, p 15).
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. First, the rejection relies on Zhou for the DCI comprising repetition information. Zhou expressly teaches the number of repetitions carried in the DCI as transport-block-specific scheduling information ([0254]-[0255]).
Second, even considering He alone, He discloses that the DCI includes a TDRA Field Index that selects a row of the TDRA table ([0017]-[0018]), where each row specifies a repetition number for each scheduled transmission (Fig. 3A, R.sub.0.sup.0=3, R.sub.0.sup.1=4). The field index carried in the DCI is thus information indicating that each scheduled communication is to be transmitted with this respective number of repetitions.
Applicant further argues that neither Zhou nor He teaches a single DCI that allocates per-communication repetition numbers across both PDSCH and PUSCH communications simultaneously. Applicant further argues that He’s repetition numbers are a) (RRC) configured and not in the DCI, and b) only for PDSCH or PUSCH, never both (Remarks p. 15-16).
The Examiner respectfully disagrees for the following reasons.
First, Zhou teaches a single DCI for scheduling multiple transport blocks ([0187]). The scheduled transport blocks include both downlink transport blocks include both downlink transport blocks received via PDSCH and uplink transport blocks transmitted via PUSCH ([0272]-[0274], Fig. 2a). The scheduled information carried in that DCI includes the number of repetitions ([0254]). This information may be specific to each transport block scheduled in the DCI ([0255]). For the DCI scheduling the multiple transport blocks, the resources of the scheduled PDSCH/PUSCH transmissions are arranged according to the number of PDSCH/PUSCH repetitions ([0271]). Zhou therefore teaches a single DCI that carries per communication repetition information for transport blocks over both PDSCH and PUSCH.
Second, the claims recite a DCI comprising repetition information that a first communication over the PDSCH is to be transmitted with the first number of repetitions and a second communication over the PUSCH is to be transmitted with the second number of repetitions. The claims do not recite that the repetition numbers are allocated, or the communications transmitted, “simultaneously.” Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims.
For the reasons stated above, the Examiner believes that the prior art still discloses the amended independent 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.
Claims 1-7, 10-16, 19-21, 26-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al (US 2021/0219329 A1) in view of He et al (US 2023/0156736 A1).
Regarding claim 1, 19, Zhou teaches a method/device performed by a User Equipment (UE) for communicating with a network node in a wireless communications network, the method comprising:
receiving a downlink control information(DCI) from the network node ([0187], “receiving DCI (Downlink Control Information) for scheduling multiple transport blocks”, also see Fig. 2a, “DCI”), the DCI comprising information for generating a first number of first communications over a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) ([0187], “receiving the multiple transport block based on scheduling information included in the DCI”, [0273], also see Fig. 2a, DL DATA A via PDSCH) and a second number of second communications over a physical uplink shared channel(PUSCH) ([0273], multiple UL data transmission are transmitted via PUSCH based on DCI; also see Fig. 2a) wherein a sum of the first and second numbers is greater than two (see Fig. 2a, UL/DL DATA A, UL/DL DATA B, UL/DL DATA C on PUSCH/PDSCH), a communication from any one out of the first number of the first communications and the second number of the second communications comprising a first number of repetitions and another communication from any one out of the first number of the first communications and the second number of the second communications comprising a second number of repetitions ([0254], the scheduling information carried in the DCI includes scheduling information of each transport block, including the number of repetitions; [0255], any of the scheduling information is specific to each transport block scheduled in the DCI; [0271], for the DCI scheduling the multiple transport blocks, the time-domain resources of the scheduled transport blocks are arranged according to the number of PDSCH/PUSCH repetitions); and
repetition information, the repetition information including information that a first communication over the PDSCH is to be transmitted with the first number of repetitions and a second communication over the PUSCH is to be transmitted with the second number of repetitions ([0254], the DCI carries the number of repetitions as scheduling information of each transport block; [0255], the number of repetitions may be specific to each transport block scheduled in the DCI; and Fig. 2a, the transport blocks scheduled by the DCI include downlink transport blocks via PDSCH and uplink transport blocks via PUSCH); and
using the information in the DCI to communicate with the network node in the wireless communications network ([0650], “the UE transmits the PUSCH according to the scheduling information carried in the DCI”, [0651]).
Zhou teaches that the number of repetitions carried in the DCI may be specific to each transport block scheduled by the DCI ([0254]-[0255]).However, Zhou does not explicitly illustrate different repetition numbers indicated for different scheduled transmissions.
In the same field of endeavor, He teaches a DCI including a field that indicates a respective number of repetitions for each of multiple scheduled shared-channel transmission ([0017], the DCI includes a DL TDRA Field index that selects one of the TDRA configuration options, and the UE determines the PDSCH resources from the selected configuration; [0018], the DCI includes a UL TDRA field Index for PUSCH; Fig. 3A, for TDRA Field Index = 0, a repetition number R.sub0.sub0 = 3, R.sub0.sub1 = 4; Fig. 3B, corresponding UL configurations with per-transmission repetition numbers).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Zhou’s DCI, which carries transport -block-specific repetition numbers for multiple scheduled PDSCH and PUSCH transmissions, so that the repetition information indicates a first number of repetitions for a first communication over the PDSCH and a second number of repetition for a second communication over the PUSCH, as taught by He’s indication of different repetition numbers for different scheduled transmission. The motivation would be to tailor the repetition of each scheduled transmission to its own reliability and coverage needs within a single scheduling DCI, without additional control signaling. The combination applies a known technique to a known multi-transmission scheduling method to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 10, 26, Zhou teaches a method/device performed by a network node for communicating with a User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communications network, the method comprising:
transmitting a downlink control information (DCI) to the UE, the DCI comprising information for generating a first number of first communications over a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and a second number of second communications over a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) ([0273], Fig. 2a, multiple UL/DL Data transmission scheduled by DCI), wherein a sum of the first and second numbers is greater than two (see Fig. 2a, UL/DL DATA A, UL/DL DATA B, UL/DL DATA C), a communication from any one out of the first number of the first communications and the second number of the second communications comprising a first number of repetitions and another communication from any one out of the first number of the first communications and the second number of the second communications comprising a second number of repetitions ([0254], the scheduling information carried in the DCI includes scheduling information of each transport block, including the number of repetitions; [0255], any of the scheduling information is specific to each transport block scheduled in the DCI; [0271], for the DCI scheduling the multiple transport blocks, the time-domain resources of the scheduled transport blocks are arranged according to the number of PDSCH/PUSCH repetitions); and
repetition information, the repetition information including information that a first communication over the PDSCH is to be transmitted with the first number of repetitions and a second communication over the PUSCH is to be transmitted with the second number of repetitions ([0254], the DCI carries the number of repetitions as scheduling information of each transport block; [0255], the number of repetitions may be specific to each transport block scheduled in the DCI; and Fig. 2a, the transport blocks scheduled by the DCI include downlink transport blocks via PDSCH and uplink transport blocks via PUSCH); and
using the information in the DCI to communicate with the network node in the wireless communications network ([0650], “the UE transmits the PUSCH according to the scheduling information carried in the DCI”, [0651]).
Zhou teaches that the number of repetitions carried in the DCI may be specific to each transport block scheduled by the DCI ([0254]-[0255]).However, Zhou does not explicitly illustrate different repetition numbers indicated for different scheduled transmissions.
In the same field of endeavor, He teaches a DCI including a field that indicates a respective number of repetitions for each of multiple scheduled shared-channel transmission ([0017], the DCI includes a DL TDRA Field index that selects one of the TDRA configuration options, and the UE determines the PDSCH resources from the selected configuration; [0018], the DCI includes a UL TDRA field Index for PUSCH; Fig. 3A, for TDRA Field Index = 0, a repetition number R.sub0.sub0 = 3, R.sub0.sub1 = 4; Fig. 3B, corresponding UL configurations with per-transmission repetition numbers).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Zhou’s DCI, which carries transport -block-specific repetition numbers for multiple scheduled PDSCH and PUSCH transmissions, so that the repetition information indicates a first number of repetitions for a first communication over the PDSCH and a second number of repetition for a second communication over the PUSCH, as taught by He’s indication of different repetition numbers for different scheduled transmission. The motivation would be to tailor the repetition of each scheduled transmission to its own reliability and coverage needs within a single scheduling DCI, without additional control signaling. The combination applies a known technique to a known multi-transmission scheduling method to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 2, 11, 20 and 27, Zhou in view of He further teaches that any one or more out of:
a first communication from the first number of the first communications comprises at least two repetitions (He, Fig. 3A, for TDRA Field Index=0, the repetition number for PDSCH(0) is R.sub.0.sup.0=3, and PDSCH(0) is transmitted three times; the repetition number for PDSCH(1) is R.sub.0.sup.1=4, and PDSCH(1) is transmitted four times; [0017]);
a second communication from the second number of the second communications comprises at least two repetitions (He, Fig. 3B ULTDRA configurations with per-transmission repetition numbers for PUSCH; [0018]).
Regarding claim 3, 12, 21 and 28, Zhou in view of He further teaches that the information in the DCI specifies that a time gap is included between any one or more out of:
different communications from the first number of the first communications; different communications from the second number of the second communications; at least one communication from the first number of the first communications and at least one communication from the second number of the second communications (Zhou, page 26, see Table 2, “Time Domain Resource/Scheduling Delay: Time Domain The time domain resources are indicated Resource/ by a scheduling delay field. Scheduling Delay Scheduling Field 1, indicating a scheduling delay/gap/time Delay interval between DCI and the first PDSCH/PUSCH Scheduling Delay Field 2, indicating a scheduling delay/gap/time interval between every two PDSCHs/PUSCHs Scheduling Delay Field 3, indicating a scheduling delay/gap/time interval between each PDSCH/PUSCH and corresponding HARQ- ACK feedback).
Regarding claim 4, 13, Zhou in view of He further teaches that the information in the DCI specifies that any one out of the first number of the first communications, the first number of repetitions of the first number of the first communications, the second number of the second communications, and the second number of repetitions of the second number of the second communications overlap in any one or more out of:
a time domain but not in a frequency domain;
the frequency domain but not in the time domain;
partly in the time domain and partly in the frequency domain (Zhou, [0067], “resources used by the full duplex UE for transmitting and/or receiving the multiple transport blocks are overlapped or partially overlapped or non-overlapped in the time domain in a frequency division duplex scenario”).
Regarding claim 5, 14, Zhou in view of He further teaches that the information in the DCI specifies different parameters for allocating the first number of the first communications over the PDSCH and the second number of the second communications over the PUSCH (Zhou, [0516], page 26, see Table 2).
Regarding claim 6, 15, Zhou in view of He further teaches that the information in the DCI specifies that a communication from any one out of the first number of the first communications and the second number of the second communications is allocated using any one or more out of:
a same Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) identifier (ID) (Zhou, page 26, see table 2, HARQ ID – “When the number of HARQ processes is N and N = 1, this field indicates an ID of this HARQ process”);
a same Modulation and Coding Scheme(MCS) (Zhou, see table 2, “Frequency Domain Reusing the indication method in the Resources/MCS/ existing mechanism, and all of the transport Repetitions blocks using the same frequency domain resource/MCS/repetition times”).
Regarding claim 7, 16, Zhou in view of He further teaches that the information in the DCI specifies any one or more out of:
a HARQ Acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) of a communication from the first number of the first communications is to be sent in a corresponding communication from the second number of the second communications; and a HARQ-ACK of a communication from the second number of the second communications is to be sent in a corresponding communication from the first number of the first communications (Zhou, [0099]-[0106], “the information indicated in the DCI dedicated to indicating the ACK/NACK feedback for the one or more UEs”, [0185], [0399], [0452]-[0453], [0406], [0407]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SIMING LIU whose telephone number is (571)270-3859. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 8:30am-5:00pm.
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, Derrick Ferris can be reached at 571-272-3123. 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.
/SIMING LIU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
Prosecution Insights