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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 03/26/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1-4, 8-11, 15-18, 20, 25-27, and 29-32 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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 1-4, 8-11, 15-18, 20, 25-27, and 29-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HU et al. (US 2021/0218539 A1, hereinafter “HU”), in view of YUAN et al. (US 2022/0046672 A1, hereinafter “YUAN”).
Regarding claim 1:
HU discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (Fig. 2, “Terminal device”), comprising: one or more processors, memory coupled with the one or more processors ([0070]); and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
receive one or more first downlink control messages from a first transmission reception point and one or more second downlink control message from a second transmission reception point ([0209], [0230]-[0232], first DCI and second DCI);
identify a first resource indication value included in a last downlink control information message in the one or more first downlink control messages received from the first transmission reception point and a second resource indication value included in a last downlink control information message in the one or more second downlink control messages received from the second transmission reception point, wherein the first resource indication value and the second resource indication value are physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource indicator (PRI) values ([0182]-[0184], the SLIV index in each DCI, [0220], PUCCH resource indicator in the third PDCCH/last PDCCH detected by the terminal device and is used to schedule a PDSCH);
determine, based at least in part on a size of a first uplink control message payload and the first resource indication value included in the last downlink control information message in the two or more first downlink control messages, first resources in a first set of orthogonal frequency division multiplex symbols in a first resource group in a slot; determine, based at least in part on a size of a second uplink control message payload and the second resource indication value included in the last downlink control information message in the two or more second downlink control messages, second resources in a second set of orthogonal frequency division multiplex symbols in a second resource group in the slot ([0182]-[0184], [0193], [0209]-[0211], identifying a group of time-frequency resources in the N groups of time-frequency resources based on the first parameter corresponding to a DCI,
[0147], the terminal device determines, in a PUCCH resource group configured via higher layer signaling, a corresponding PUCCH resource set based on the quantity of bits (payload size) of the first HARQ-ACK, and then determines, in the PUCCH resource set based on a PUCCH resource indicator in the first DCI,
[0220], The terminal device determines, in a first PUCCH resource group, a first PUCCH resource set corresponding to the quantity of bits of the third HARQ-ACK ... the terminal device may determine, in the first PUCCH resource set based on a resource indicator value of a third PUCCH, the third time-frequency resource that carries a third HARQ-ACK codebook. The resource indicator of the third PUCCH is a value of a PUCCH resource indicator on the third PDCCH, and the third PDCCH is the last PDCCH that is detected by the terminal device,
[0242] The terminal device may select one PUCCH resource from each of the third PUCCH resource group and the fourth PUCCH resource group based on quantities of bits of the HARQ-ACKs and a PUCCH resource indicator (or referred to as an ACK-NACK resource indicator, ARI) in the last DCI, to transmit two HARQ-ACK codebooks that are carried on two originally overlapping PUCCHs); and
transmit a first uplink control message to the first transmission reception point in the first resources of the slot and a second uplink control message to the second transmission reception point in the second resources of the slot ([0231], two different network devices may both be transport points (TRP), [0232], the first DCI and the second DCI are received from different network devices … feedback information HARQ-ACK#1 corresponding to a PDSCH#1 scheduled by the first DCI … feedback informationHARQ-ACK#2 corresponding to a PDSCH#1 scheduled by the second DCI are indicated to be sent in a slot n).
HU does not disclose receiving two or more first downlink control messages and two or more second downlink control messages; identifying the first resource indication value included in a last downlink control information transmission of the two or more first downlink control messages received from the first transmission reception point, and a second resource indication value included in a last downlink control information transmission of the two or more second downlink control messages received from the second transmission reception point.
YUAN teaches the UE receiving two or more downlink control information from each transmission reception point; and identifying the resource indication based on a last downlink control information (e.g., [0117], the final ARI (ACK/NACK Resource Indicator) is determined based on the last DCI received associated with each TRP; also see Claim 40).
It would have been obvious to o person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of HU in view of YUAN to include the features receiving two or more first downlink control message transmissions and two or more second downlink control message transmissions, identifying the first resource indication value included in a last downlink control information transmission of the two or more first downlink control message received from the first transmission reception point, and a second resource indication value included in a last downlink control information transmission of the two or more second downlink control message received from the second transmission reception point, in order to improve the performance of uplink transmission by a terminal when the terminal is scheduled for downlink transmission from two transmission reception points.
Regarding claim 2:
HU further discloses wherein the first uplink control message comprises a first hybrid automatic repeat request payload and the second uplink control message comprises a second hybrid automatic repeat request payload ([0209]-[0211], first HARQ-ACK and second HARQ-ACK).
Regarding claim 3:
HU further discloses wherein the instructions are operable to cause the apparatus to: determine the first resource group based at least in part on a bit included in the first resource indication value; and determine the second resource group based at least in part on a bit included in the second resource indication value ([0182]-[0184], identify a group of time-frequency resources based on the SLIV index).
Regarding claim 4:
HU further discloses wherein the instructions are operable to cause the apparatus to: determine a first set of time and frequency resources in the first resource group based at least in part on one or more additional bits included in the first resource indication value; and determine a second set of time and frequency resources in the second resource group based at least in part on one or more additional bits included in the second resource indication value ([0181]-[0184], mapping the SLIV index to a group of time-frequency resources).
Regarding claims 8-11, 15-18, and 20:
Claims 8-11, 15-18, and 20 recite features similar to claims 1-4. See corresponding features discussed in the rejections of claims 1-4.
Regarding claims 25-27:
HU does not disclose wherein the first and second resource indication values are indicated based at least in part on an order of the two or more first downlink control messages, the two or more second downlink control messages, or any combination thereof.
YUAN teaches the resource indication is determined based on a last downlink control information of the two or more downlink control information (e.g., [0117]).
It would have been obvious to o person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of HU in view of YUAN to include the features wherein the first and second resource indication values are indicated based at least in part on an order of the two or more first downlink control messages, the two or more second downlink control messages, or any combination thereof, in order to improve the performance of uplink transmission by a terminal when the terminal is scheduled for downlink transmission from two transmission reception points.
Regarding claims 29-31:
HU further discloses wherein the instructions are operable to cause the apparatus to: determine the first resource group based at least in part on the first downlink resources and the second resource group based at least in part on the second downlink resources (e.g., [0257]-[0260], the PDCCH carrying the DCI determines the corresponding PUCCH resource group).
HU does not disclose wherein the instructions are operable to cause the apparatus to determine that the one or more first downlink control messages are received from the first transmission reception point based at least in part on first downlink resources in which the one or more first downlink control messages are received; determine that the one or more second downlink control messages are received from the second transmission reception point based at least in part on second downlink resources in which the one or more second downlink control messages are receive.
YUAN teaches determining the two or more first downlink control messages are received from the first transmission reception point based at least in part on first downlink resources in which the two or more first downlink control messages are received; determine that the two or more second downlink control messages are received from the second transmission reception point based at least in part on second downlink resources in which the two or more second downlink control messages are received (e.g., [0116]-[0117], Fig. 9, each of the CORESETs is associated with one of the two TRPs).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of HU in view of YUAN to include the features wherein the instructions are operable to cause the apparatus to determine that the one or more first downlink control messages are received from the first transmission reception point based at least in part on first downlink resources in which the one or more first downlink control messages are received; determine that the one or more second downlink control messages are received from the second transmission reception point based at least in part on second downlink resources in which the one or more second downlink control messages are receive, in order to improve the performance of uplink transmission by a terminal when the terminal is scheduled for downlink transmission from two transmission reception points.
Regarding claim 32:
Hu discloses wherein determining the first resources in the first set of orthogonal frequency division multiplex symbols in the first resource group in the slot comprises: determining, based at least in part on the size of the first uplink control message payload, a first resource set from a first plurality of resource sets, wherein the first resource set includes the first resources; determining the first resources based at least in part on the first resource indication value included in the last downlink control information message in the two or more first downlink control messages, and wherein determining the second resources in the second set of orthogonal frequency division multiplex symbols in the second resource group in the slot comprises: determining, based at least in part on the size of the second uplink control message payload, a second resource set from a second plurality of resource sets, wherein the second resource set includes the second resources; and determining the second resources in the second set of orthogonal frequency division multiplex symbols in the second resource group in the slot based at least in part on the second resource indication value included in the last downlink control information message in the two or more second downlink control messages (e.g., [0147], [0220], [0232], [0242]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Alvin ZHU whose telephone number is (571)270-1086. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 6am-9am and 2pm-7pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gary Mui can be reached at 571-270-1420. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BO HUI A ZHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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