DETAILED ACTION
1. This action is a response to Preliminary Amendment for Application No. 18/293,284 filed on 1/29/2024 where claim(s) 10-11, 15-21, 24-25, 31-34, and 36-42 are cancelled, claim(s) 6-9, 23, and 26-30 are amended, and claim(s) 1-9, 12-14, 22-23, 26-30, and 35 are currently pending for examination.
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 .
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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Examiner has considered all the references provided in the Information Disclosure Statements provided on 01/29/2024.
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.
(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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4, 9, 12, 14, 22, 23, 30, and 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Li et al. (US 2021/0084683 A1), hereinafter “Li”. Li is provided in the IDS submitted on 01/29/2024.
Regarding claim 1, Li discloses a channel access method in an unlicensed spectrum for execution by a user equipment (UE) (see Li [Pg. 14, ¶0234], “… a method 2000 for uplink transmission in frame-based equipment NR unlicensed according to embodiments of the present disclosure, as may be performed by a user equipment …”), comprising:
Receiving a configured grant scheduling for multiple uplink (UL) transmissions over one or more fixed frame periods (FFPs) (see Li [Pg. 7, ¶0093], “… the LBT type for scheduled UL transmission in FBE NR-U can be explicitly indicated through the UL grant that schedules the UL transmissions”; also see Li [Pg. 9, ¶0120], “… if a UE has received the UL grant, the UE can start the scheduled UL transmission if the scheduled UL transmission is within a gNB-obtained COT, …”), wherein the UL transmissions are referred to as configured grant (CG) UL transmissions (see Li [Pg. 6, ¶0072], “… a DCI format scheduling PUSCH transmission from a UE is also referred to as UL DCI format or UL grant.”);
Deriving, for each configured grant UL transmission of the configured grant UL transmissions, a channel occupancy time (COT) initiator of the configured grant UL transmission (see Li [Pg. 12, ¶0191], “… the COT duration and/or FFP duration associated with an FBE NR-U UE can be implicitly configured or implicitly inferred from other existing higher layer parameter, and/or MAC CE, and/or DCI format and/or DCI field. For instance, the FFP duration can be the minimum of the periodicity of the configured grant type 1 or type 2, and the maximum FFP duration allowed by the regulation (e.g., 10 ms).”);
Determining one or more transmission symbols for each of the configured grant UL transmission according to derived COT initiator (see Li [Pg. 8, ¶0110], “… the configurations by DCI and/or higher layer parameter that can facilitate UE implicit derivation of LBT type can include the gNB COT structure, which configures the slot format for each slot within the gNB-initiated COT that contains the UL grant.”); and
Transmitting each of the configured grant UL transmissions in the one or more transmission symbols of the one or more FFPs (see Li [Pg. 9, ¶0122], “… the UL grant schedules an UL transmission in the next FFP (i.e., FFP1) that follows the COT/FFP FFP0) which contained the UL grant.”).
Regarding claim 2, Li discloses the channel access method of claim 1, wherein the UE derives the COT initiator for each configured grant UL transmission of the configured grant UL transmissions according to a rule used for configured grant (CG) based COT initiator determination (see Li [Pg. 8, ¶0110], “… the configurations by DCI and/or higher layer parameter that can facilitate UE implicit derivation of LBT type can include the gNB COT structure, which configures the slot format for each slot within the gNB-initiated COT that contains the UL grant.”).
Regarding claim 4, Li discloses the channel access method of claim 2, wherein the configured grant UL transmissions comprises multiple configured grant PUSCH transmissions (see Li [Pg. 7, ¶0087], “… the signaling and indication methods are provided to support PUSCH transmissions scheduled by UL grant for FBE NR-U”), each of the multiple configured grant PUSCH transmissions carries a transport block (see Li [Pg. 5, ¶0065], “A UE transmits data information (e.g., transport blocks) or UCI through respective physical UL shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical UL control channel (PUCCH). When a UE simultaneously transmits data information and UCI, the UE can multiplex both in a PUSCH or transmit them separately in respective PUSCH and PUCCH.”).
Regarding claim 9, Li discloses the channel access method of claim 4, wherein the derived COT initiator is the UE and if a configured grant PUSCH transmission overlaps with an idle period of a COT initiated by the UE, all of one or more symbols within the configured grant PUSCH transmission are not transmitted (see Li [Pg. 9, ¶0128-0129], “… this can be applied when an FBE NR-U UE can be the initiating device to initiate a COT, … if the scheduled UL transmission is not fully contained within the current COT that contains the UL grant (e.g., partially contained in the idle period), the scheduled PUSCH that falls outside the current COT can be punctured.”).
Regarding claim 12, Li discloses the channel access method of claim 2, wherein the same COT initiator determination rule is applied to one or more FFPs for each of the configured grant UL transmissions (see Li [Pg. 11, ¶0178-179], “… the FBE NR-U UE can be an initiating device for transmission only if the FBE NR-U UE has scheduled UL transmission configured to transmit within current FFP. … the FBE NR-U can be an initiating device if and only if the mentioned examples and/or embodiments are met.”).
Regarding claim 14, Li discloses the channel access method of claim 1, wherein the UE receives downlink control information (DCI) (see Li [Pg. 1, ¶0005], “The UE comprises a transceiver configured to receive, from a base station (BS) over a shared spectrum channel, a first downlink control information (DCI) including a channel occupancy time (COT) of the BS.”), and
the DCI includes a COT initiator indication for one or more of the configured grant UL transmissions (see Li [Pg. 11, ¶0174], “… an explicit L1 signaling (e.g., from DCI) can be utilized to dynamically enable/disable the FBE UE as an initiating device for transmission.”); and
wherein one or more COT initiators of the one or more of the configured grant UL transmissions are determined based on the COT initiator indication in the DCI (see Li [Pg. 11, ¶0180], “… the COT duration and/or the FFP duration associated with the FBE NR-U UE can be implicitly configured or implicitly inferred from other existing higher layer parameter, and/or MAC CE, and/or DCI format and/or DCI field.”).
Regarding claim 22, Li discloses a channel access method in an unlicensed spectrum for execution by a base station, comprising:
transmitting a configured grant scheduling for multiple uplink (UL) transmissions over one or more fixed frame periods (FFPs) (see Li [Pg. 7, ¶0093], “… the LBT type for scheduled UL transmission in FBE NR-U can be explicitly indicated through the UL grant that schedules the UL transmissions”; also see Li [Pg. 9, ¶0120], “… if a UE has received the UL grant, the UE can start the scheduled UL transmission if the scheduled UL transmission is within a gNB-obtained COT, …”), wherein the UL transmissions are referred to as configured grant (CG) UL transmissions (see Li [Pg. 6, ¶0072], “… a DCI format scheduling PUSCH transmission from a UE is also referred to as UL DCI format or UL grant.”); and
receiving each of the configured grant UL transmissions in one or more transmission symbols of the one or more FFPs (see Li [Pg. 9, ¶0122], “… the UL grant schedules an UL transmission in the next FFP (i.e., FFP1) that follows the COT/FFP FFP0) which contained the UL grant.”); wherein the one or more transmission symbols for each configured grant UL transmission of the configured grant UL transmissions are determined according to a channel occupancy time (COT) initiator for the configured grant UL transmission (see Li [Pg. 8, ¶0110], “… the configurations by DCI and/or higher layer parameter that can facilitate UE implicit derivation of LBT type can include the gNB COT structure, which configures the slot format for each slot within the gNB-initiated COT that contains the UL grant.”).
Regarding claim 23, Li discloses the channel access method of claim 22, wherein the COT initiator for each of the configured grant UL transmissions is determined according to a rule used for configured grant (CG) based COT initiator determination (see Li [Pg. 8, ¶0110], “… the configurations by DCI and/or higher layer parameter that can facilitate UE implicit derivation of LBT type can include the gNB COT structure, which configures the slot format for each slot within the gNB-initiated COT that contains the UL grant.”), the same COT initiator determination rule is applied to one or more FFPs for each of the configured grant UL transmissions (see Li [Pg. 11, ¶0178-179], “… the FBE NR-U UE can be an initiating device for transmission only if the FBE NR-U UE has scheduled UL transmission configured to transmit within current FFP. … the FBE NR-U can be an initiating device if and only if the mentioned examples and/or embodiments are met.”).
Regarding claim 30, Li discloses the channel access method of claim 23, wherein the configured grant UL transmissions comprises multiple configured grant PUSCH transmissions, the COT initiator is the UE and if a configured grant PUSCH transmission overlaps with an idle period of a COT initiated by user equipment (UE), all of one or more symbols within the configured grant PUSCH transmission are not received by the base station (see Li [Pg. 9, ¶0128-0129], “… this can be applied when an FBE NR-U UE can be the initiating device to initiate a COT, … if the scheduled UL transmission is not fully contained within the current COT that contains the UL grant (e.g., partially contained in the idle period), the scheduled PUSCH that falls outside the current COT can be punctured.”).
Regarding claim 35, Li discloses the channel access method of claim 22, wherein the base station transmits downlink control information (DCI) (see Li [Pg. 1, ¶0005], “The UE comprises a transceiver configured to receive, from a base station (BS) over a shared spectrum channel, a first downlink control information (DCI) including a channel occupancy time (COT) of the BS.”), and
the DCI includes a COT initiator indication for one or more of the configured grant UL transmissions (see Li [Pg. 11, ¶0174], “… an explicit L1 signaling (e.g., from DCI) can be utilized to dynamically enable/disable the FBE UE as an initiating device for transmission.”); and
wherein one or more COT initiators of the one or more of the configured grant UL transmissions are determined based on the COT initiator indication in the DCI (see Li [Pg. 11, ¶0180], “… the COT duration and/or the FFP duration associated with the FBE NR-U UE can be implicitly configured or implicitly inferred from other existing higher layer parameter, and/or MAC CE, and/or DCI format and/or DCI field.”).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 3, 5-8, 13, and 26-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (US 2021/0084683 A1), hereinafter “Li” in further view of Guo et al. (US 2023/0254896 A1), hereinafter “Guo”.
Regarding claim 3, Li discloses the channel access method of claim 2.
Li does not explicitly disclose wherein the configured grant UL transmissions comprises repetitions of a PUSCH transmission for a single transport block.
Guo discloses wherein the configured grant UL transmissions comprises repetitions of a PUSCH transmission for a single transport block (see Guo [Pg. 8-9, ¶0073], “… the UE may transmit different repetitions of a PUSCH communication (e.g., the same transport block) using multiple different PUSCH transmission occasions occurring within different slots, mini-slots, symbols, and/or the like.”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the repetition of a PUSCH transmissions for a single transport block as detailed by Guo, onto the system of Li, in order to improve overall access to the unlicensed spectrum (see Guo [Pg. 9, ¶0070], “… allowing the UE to initiate a channel occupancy time in FBE mode may improve access to the unlicensed channel, reduce uplink latency, conserve power, reduce interference, and/or the like.”; also see Guo [Pg. 8, ¶0073], “In this way, the UE reduce a likelihood that an interruption to an uplink transmission on a wireless link causes the uplink communication to be dropped …”).
Regarding claim 5, Li combined with Guo discloses the channel access method of claim 3, wherein the repetitions are one or more nominal repetitions of a PUSCH transmissions with repetition type B (see Guo [Pg. 9, ¶0073], “In general, repetitions of a PUSCH communication associated with a dynamic grant and/or a configured grant may have one of two types, which may be referred to herein as Type A and Type B.”).
Regarding claim 6, Li combined with Guo discloses the channel access method of claim 5, wherein if the derived COT initiator is the UE, and if a nominal repetition among the one or more nominal repetitions overlaps with an idle period of a COT initiated by the UE, the UE determines one or more symbols of the nominal repetition without overlapping with the idle period as the one or more transmission symbols and segments the nominal repetition into one or more actual repetitions (see Guo [Pg. 10, ¶0080], “In the case of a Type B repetition that at least partially overlaps with the idle period in the FFP, the UE may segment the nominal PUSCH repetition around the idle period and transmit only actual repetitions that do not overlap with the idle period.”; also see Guo [Fig. 9A], 910 Segment around UE idle period. Only segment not overlapping with idle period is transmitted.).
Regarding claim 7, Li combined with Guo discloses the channel access method of claim 5, wherein the derived COT initiator is a base station, and if a nominal repetition among the one or more nominal repetitions overlaps with an idle period of a COT initiated by the base station, the UE determines one or more symbols of the nominal repetition without overlapping with the idle period as the one or more transmission symbols and segments the nominal repetition into one or more actual repetitions (see Guo [Pg. 10, ¶0080], “In the case of a Type B repetition that at least partially overlaps with the idle period in the FFP, the UE may segment the nominal PUSCH repetition around the idle period and transmit only actual repetitions that do not overlap with the idle period.”; also see Guo [Fig. 9A], 912 Segment around BS idle period, only segment not overlapping with idle period is transmitted.).
Regarding claim 8, Li combined with Guo discloses the channel access method of claim 5, wherein the derived COT initiator is a base station and if a nominal repetition among the one or more nominal repetitions overlaps with an idle period of a COT initiated by the UE, all of one or more scheduled symbols within the nominal repetition are not transmitted (see Li [Pg. 9, ¶0118], “… if the scheduled UL transmission is not fully contained within the current COT that contains the UL grant (e.g., partially contained in the idle period), the scheduled PUSCH that falls outside the current COT can be punctured.”; also see Guo [Fig. 8A], 812 Dropped due to overlap with UE idle period.).
Regarding claim 13, Li discloses the channel access method of claim 2.
Li does not explicitly disclose wherein a priority level of each of the configured grant UL transmissions is configured based on a RRC signaling.
Guo discloses wherein a priority level of each of the configured grant UL transmissions is configured based on a RRC signaling (see Guo [Pg. 7, ¶0065], “In FBE mode, an FFP configuration may be indicated in a system information block (e.g., SIB-1) or signaled to a UE in UE-specific radio resource control (RRC) signaling (e.g., for an FBE secondary cell use case). … The same 2-bit field may be used in LBE mode and FBE mode to indicate an LBT type, a cyclic prefix extension, a channel access priority class indication, and/or the like.”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the priority level indication as detailed by Guo, onto the system of Li, in order to indicate fixed frame period configuration details in FBE mode.
Regarding claim 26, Li discloses the channel access method of claim 23.
Li does not explicitly disclose wherein the configured grant UL transmissions comprises repetitions of a PUSCH transmission for a single transport block, and the repetitions are one or more nominal repetitions of a PUSCH transmission with repetition type B.
Guo discloses wherein the configured grant UL transmissions comprises repetitions of a PUSCH transmission for a single transport block (see Guo [Pg. 8-9, ¶0073], “… the UE may transmit different repetitions of a PUSCH communication (e.g., the same transport block) using multiple different PUSCH transmission occasions occurring within different slots, mini-slots, symbols, and/or the like.”), and the repetitions are one or more nominal repetitions of a PUSCH transmission with repetition type B (see Guo [Pg. 9, ¶0073], “In general, repetitions of a PUSCH communication associated with a dynamic grant and/or a configured grant may have one of two types, which may be referred to herein as Type A and Type B.”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the repetitions of PUSCH transmissions of Type B as detailed by Guo, onto the system of Li, in order to improve overall access to the unlicensed spectrum (see Guo [Pg. 9, ¶0070], “… allowing the UE to initiate a channel occupancy time in FBE mode may improve access to the unlicensed channel, reduce uplink latency, conserve power, reduce interference, and/or the like.”; also see Guo [Pg. 8, ¶0073], “In this way, the UE reduce a likelihood that an interruption to an uplink transmission on a wireless link causes the uplink communication to be dropped …”).
Regarding claim 27, Li combined with Guo discloses the channel access method of claim 26, wherein the COT initiator is a user equipment (UE), and if a nominal repetition among the one or more nominal repetitions overlaps with an idle period of a COT initiated by the UE, one or more symbols of the nominal repetition without overlapping with the idle period constitute the one or more transmission symbols, and the nominal repetition is segmented into one or more actual repetitions (see Guo [Pg. 10, ¶0080], “In the case of a Type B repetition that at least partially overlaps with the idle period in the FFP, the UE may segment the nominal PUSCH repetition around the idle period and transmit only actual repetitions that do not overlap with the idle period.”; also see Guo [Fig. 9A], 910 Segment around UE idle period. Only segment not overlapping with idle period is transmitted.).
Regarding claim 28, Li combined with Guo discloses the channel access method of claim 26, wherein the COT initiator is the base station, and if a nominal repetition among the one or more nominal repetitions overlaps with an idle period of a COT initiated by the base station, one or more symbols of the nominal repetition without overlapping with the idle period constitute the one or more transmission symbols, and the nominal repetition is segmented into one or more actual repetitions (see Guo [Pg. 10, ¶0080], “In the case of a Type B repetition that at least partially overlaps with the idle period in the FFP, the UE may segment the nominal PUSCH repetition around the idle period and transmit only actual repetitions that do not overlap with the idle period.”; also see Guo [Fig. 9A], 912 Segment around BS idle period, only segment not overlapping with idle period is transmitted.).
Regarding claim 29, Li combined with Guo discloses the channel access method of claim 26, wherein the COT initiator is the base station and if a nominal repetition among the one or more nominal repetitions overlaps with an idle period of a COT initiated by a user equipment (UE), all of one or more scheduled symbols within the nominal repetition are not received by the base station (see Li [Pg. 9, ¶0118], “… if the scheduled UL transmission is not fully contained within the current COT that contains the UL grant (e.g., partially contained in the idle period), the scheduled PUSCH that falls outside the current COT can be punctured.”; also see Guo [Fig. 8A], 812 Dropped due to overlap with UE idle period.).
Conclusion
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/J.D./Examiner, Art Unit 2462 /YEMANE MESFIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2462