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 .
Claims 1-30 are pending.
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.
Claims 1-4, 12-15, 23-26 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Andgart et al, application no. 2022/0124787, hereinafter known as Andgart in view of Ma et al, application no. 2024/0089959, hereinafter known as Ma.
As to claim 1, Andgart discloses an apparatus for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE), comprising: a processor; memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to (Andgart, figure 10, [0176]-[0182] wireless device 1010 (UE) with memory, processor and instructions): transmit an uplink control message comprising an indicator corresponding to a plurality of behaviors associated with the uplink control message (Andgart, [0007], UE with periodic configured uplink grant for sending uplink control message; [0014], indicating configuration grant configuration change), wherein a first behavior of the plurality of behaviors comprises configured grant occasion skipping corresponding to skipping at least one configured grant occasion in at least one configured grant period, and a second behavior of the plurality of behaviors comprises configured grant switching corresponding to switching from a first configured grant to a second configured grant (Andgart, [0014]-[0022], figure 2, step 230; indicating change in configuration of uplink transmission that includes change in density or frequency which reads on skipping or switching); and transmit uplink signaling via one or more configured grant occasions in accordance with the indicator (Andgart, figure 2, step 260, [0074], transmitting uplink signaling according to indication of configured grant density or frequency). Andgart discloses uplink indication for changing of configured grant occasion however not disclose however Ma discloses comprises configured grant group switching corresponding to switching from a first configured grant group to a second configured grant group (Ma, [0058], switching of configuration grant group).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Andgart to include the limitations of comprises configured grant group switching corresponding to switching from a first configured grant group to a second configured grant group as taught by MA. Indication of changes to configuration grant per configuration grant group reduces the number of control signaling in the network.
As to claim 2, Andgart discloses wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receive radio resource control signaling enabling the configured grant occasion skipping, the configured grant group switching, or both, wherein the uplink control message comprising the indicator is transmitted based at least in part on receipt of the radio resource control signaling enabling the configured grant occasion skipping, the configured grant group switching, or both (Andgart, figure 2, step 260, indication from by UE form network enabling skipping or switching of configured grant as indicated or requested by UE; [0044], [0063], configuration indication sent by network to UE via radio resource control signaling).
As to claim 3, Andgart and Ma disclose the apparatus of claim 1. Andgart does not disclose however Ma discloses wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to transmit the uplink signaling by being executable to cause the processor to: transmit the uplink signaling via the one or more configured grant occasions of the second configured grant group, wherein the indicator corresponds to the second behavior (Ma, [0058], switching of configuration grant group control information provided to terminal to communicate accordingly with the network in the uplink).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Andgart to include the limitations of wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to transmit the uplink signaling by being executable to cause the processor to: transmit the uplink signaling via the one or more configured grant occasions of the second configured grant group, wherein the indicator corresponds to the second behavior as taught by MA. Control information is commonly provided to the terminal to communicate accordingly in a spectrally efficient manner or to use less energy resources.
As to claim 4, Andgart discloses wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to transmit the uplink signaling by being executable to cause the processor to: transmit the uplink signaling via the one or more configured grant occasions after skipping one or more previous configured grant occasions of the first configured grant group, wherein the indicator corresponds to the first behavior (Andgart, [0014]-[0022], figure 2, step 230; indicating change in configuration of uplink transmission that includes change in density or frequency which reads on skipping or switching; figure 2, step 260, [0074], transmitting uplink signaling according to indication of configured grant density or frequency; [0006], first behavior of skipping transmission opportunity).
As to claims 12-15, the claims are rejected as applied to claims 1-4 above respectively by Andgart in view of Ma.
As to claims 23-26, the claims are rejected as applied to claims 1-4 above respectively by Andgart in view of Ma.
As to claim 30, the claim is rejected as applied to claim 1 above by Andgart in view of Ma.
Claims 10,11 and 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Andgart in view of Ma and further in view of Li et al, application no. 2021/0315000, hereinafter known as Li.
As to claim 10, Andgart and Ma disclose the apparatus of claim 1. Andgart and Ma do not expressly disclose however Li disclose wherein the uplink control message comprises an uplink control information message (Li, [0005], uplink control message from terminal to network comprising uplink control information (UCI) message).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Andgart and Li to include the limitations of wherein the uplink control message comprises an uplink control information message as taught by Li. Use of uplink control information messages are well known in the art.
As to claim 11, Andgart and Ma disclose the apparatus of claim 1. Andgart and Ma do not expressly disclose however Li disclose wherein the uplink control message comprises a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) or uplink control information (UCI) (Li, [0005], uplink control message from terminal to network comprising uplink control information (UCI) message).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Andgart and Li to include the limitations of wherein the uplink control message comprises a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) or uplink control information (UCI) as taught by Li. Use of uplink control information messages are well known in the art.
As to claims 21 and 22, the claims are rejected as applied to claims 10 and 11 above respectively by Andgart in view of Ma further in view of Li.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-9, 16-20 and 27-29 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GAUTAM SHARMA whose telephone number is (571)270-7182. The examiner can normally be reached 11am-8pm.
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/GAUTAM SHARMA/ Examiner, Art Unit 2467
/HASSAN A PHILLIPS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2467
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