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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
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.
Claims 1,4-7, 9, 18, 20-23, 25, 34, and 36-38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Sun et al. US 20200154477.
As per claim 1, Sun et al. teach an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, (¶¶ [0066]-[0067], [0069]-[0071], [0087]-[0093], Sun et al.’s disclosure describes a UE receiving an SFI and a COT range indication, and separately describes NR-U behavior where an RRC-configured uplink transmission includes LBT-type configuration tied to COT/SFI awareness), configured to: receive an indication associated with performing listen-before-talk relative to a channel occupancy time (COT), wherein the indication is included in a radio resource control (RRC) message and includes an RRC parameter (¶¶ [0087]-[0093] Sun et al. teach expressly discusses RRC-configured uplink transmissions and RRC uplink configuration, including configuration of an LBT type pe for use with the transmission), and wherein the RRC parameter indicates whether the UE is to upgrade a listen-before-talk procedure associated with the COT (¶¶ [0088]-[0093] Sun et al. teach selecting or relaxing/upgrading the LBT procedure based on shared-channel availability and COT indication, e.g., Cat 4 LBT may be relaxed to Cat 2 LBT within COT 900), and transmit an uplink communication, wherein the uplink communication is transmitted using the listen-before-talk procedure based at least in part on the indication (¶¶ [0089]-[0093] Sun et al. teach expressly teaches UE uplink transmissions conditioned on the SFI/COT context, with Cat 2 or Cat 4 LBT depending on whether the symbol is within the COT and on the configuration).
As per claim 4, Sun et al. teach wherein the uplink communication is associated with a dynamic grant (¶¶ [0087]-[0093], the RRC-configured uplink and granted/scheduled uplink transmissions separately).
As per claim 5, Sun et al. wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive an indication of the COT, wherein the listen-before-talk procedure is based at least in part on the indication of the COT ( ¶¶ [0067], [0069]-[0071], [0073]-[0078], [0084]-[0086] disclosure expressly teaches receiving a COT range indication that identifies the current COT structure, and using that information with SFI to control communication).
As per claim 6, Sun et al. wherein the listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure is a category 1 (Catl) LBT procedure based at least in part on the indication of the COT(¶¶ [0088]-[0093] .
As per claim 7, wherein the listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure is a category 2 (Cat2) LBT procedure based at least in part on the indication of the COT (¶¶ [0088]-[0093], Sun et Al. expressly teaches Cat 2 LBT when the channel is indicated as available within the COT).
As per claim 9, Sun et al. teach wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive downlink control information (DCI) that indicates a listen-before-talk type, wherein the listen-before-talk procedure is based at least in part on the DCI (¶¶ [0087]-[0093], where expressly states that granted or scheduled uplink transmissions already have an LBT type control in the corresponding DCI, and the RRC uplink configuration identifies whether to perform Cat 4 or Cat 2 LBT).
As per claim 18, Sun et al. teach apparatus for wireless communication at a network node, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, configured to transmit an indication associated with performing listen-before-talk relative to a channel occupancy time (COT) (¶¶ [0084]-[0086], [0087]-[0093] Sun et al. disclosure describes a neighboring base station detecting or transmitting COT range indication / segment-level state information, and the serving base station configuring uplink LBT behavior through RRC/indicator signaling) , wherein the indication is included in a radio resource control (RRC) message and includes an RRC parameter (¶¶ [0087]-[0093] Sun et al. disclosure expressly teach configuration changes / fallback / relaxation of LBT behavior based on the COT and additional broadcast control), and wherein the RRC parameter indicates whether a listen-before-talk procedure associated with the COT is to be updated (¶¶ [0091]-[0093] Sun et al. disclosure expressly teach configuration changes / fallback / relaxation of LBT behavior based on the COT and additional broadcast control); and receive an uplink communication, wherein the uplink communication was transmitted using the listen-before-talk procedure based at least in part on the indication (¶¶ [0090]-[0093], Sun et al. UE’s uplink transmissions are performed based on the configured LBT type and SFI/COT context).
As per claim 20, Sun et al. teach wherein the uplink communication is associated with a dynamic grant (¶¶ [0087]-[0093], Sun et al. teach RRC-configured uplink and granted/scheduled uplink transmissions separately).
As per claim 21, Sun et al teach wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit an indication of the COT, wherein the listen-before-talk procedure is based at least in part on the indication of the COT. (¶¶ [0084]-[0086], [0087]-[0093], COT-related signaling and base-station coordination based on segment-level state information).
As per claim 22, Sun et al teach wherein the listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure is a category 1 (Catl) LBT procedure based at least in part on the indication of the COT (¶¶ [0088]-[0093]).
As per claim 23, Sun et al. teach wherein the listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure is a category 2 (Cat2) LBT procedure based at least in part on the indication of the COT (¶¶ [0088]-[0093] the disclosure expressly describes Cat 2 LBT being used when the shared channel is indicated as available within the COT).
As per claim 25, Sun et al. teach wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit downlink control information (DCI) that indicates a listen-before-talk type, wherein the listen-before-talk procedure is based at least in part on the DCI (¶¶ [0087]-[0093], the disclosure expressly states that granted/scheduled uplink transmissions have LBT type control in the corresponding DCI).
As per claim 34, Sun et al. teach method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving an indication associated with performing listen-before-talk relative to a channel occupancy time (COT) (¶¶ [0087]-[0093], Sun et al. UE-side disclosure expressly describes RRC uplink configurations tied to LBT type and COT/SFI context) , wherein the indication is included in a radio resource control (RRC) message and includes an RRC parameter (¶¶ [0087]-[0093] the disclosure describes RRC uplink transmission configuration including an LBT type parameter), and wherein the RRC parameter indicates whether the UE is to upgrade a listen-before-talk procedure associated with the COT (¶¶ [0091]-[0093] the disclosure expressly discusses relaxing/upgrading the LBT procedure depending on whether the symbol is within the COT and whether additional broadcast control allows it); and transmitting an uplink communication, wherein the uplink communication is transmitted using the listen-before-talk procedure based at least in part on the indication (¶¶ [0090]-[0093] Sun et al teach the UE transmits uplink communications based on COT/SFI and the configured LBT type).
As per claim 36, Sun et al. further comprising receiving an indication of the COT, wherein the listen-before-talk procedure is based at least in part on the indication of the COT (¶¶ [0069]-[0071], [0073]-[0078], [0087]-[0093], Sun et al. expressly teaches receipt of a COT range indication and use of that indication to guide communication).
As per claim 37, wherein the uplink communication is associated with a dynamic grant (¶¶ [0087]-[0093]).
As per claim 38, further comprising: receiving downlink control information (DCI) that indicates a listen-before-talk type, wherein the listen-before-talk procedure is based at least in part on the DCI. ¶¶ [0087]-[0093] Sun et al. expressly teaches DCI carrying an LBT type for scheduled/granted uplink transmissions).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8,14-15 and 24 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 AYAZ R SHEIKH whose telephone number is (571)272-3795. The examiner can normally be reached M-F from 8 AM -5 PM.
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/AYAZ R SHEIKH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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