DETAILED ACTION
This Final Office Action is in response to application number 18/318,359 filed on May 16th 2023. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Applicant’s amendment filled on 10/15/2025 is acknowledged
Claims 1-4,9-14,17 and 19-20 have been amended
Claims 8 and 18 have been cancelled
Information Disclosure Statements
The Information Disclosure Statements (IDS), submitted on September, 2nd 2025, October 27th 2023 and May 16th 2023 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
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)(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.
Claims 1,3,5,6,7,9,11,15,16,17 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) as being anticipated by Hao et al. (WO 2021022439 – Translation used ID P202404290 A).
Regarding claims 1,7,11,15 and 17 Hao et al. disclose a method performed by a network controlled repeater (NCR) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising : receiving, from a base station, control information including information indicating both a cancellation and a retransmission of an uplink transmission of the NCR (ID P202404290 A Pages 3,6 Paragraphs 3,2 respectively discloses “In some embodiments, the wireless communication method includes determining, by the master station, that the first feedback information indicated to be transmitted on the first uplink UL resource is canceled, receiving, from the wireless communication device by the master station, combined feedback information that includes the first feedback information and the second feedback information. The combined feedback information is received at the second UL resource that was originally indicated for transmission of the second feedback information. The first feedback information provides feedback for the first DL data transmitted to the wireless communication device. The second feedback information provides feedback for the second DL data transmitted to the wireless communication device.”); identifying a first time duration for the cancellation of the uplink transmission based on the control information (ID P202404290 A Pages 7 Paragraphs 3 discloses “ In another example, the base station (101) may notify the first UE (102) that the UL resource (116) has been occupied by a high-priority service transmission by using a cancellation indication signaling. Thus, the first UE (102) cancels the transmission on the occupied UL resource (116). The cancellation indication signaling may be carried in physical DL control information (DCI) or a specific signal sequence on the DL control channel.”); in response to a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) of the NCR overlapping with at least one symbol of the first time duration, canceling a transmission of the PUCCH within the first time duration (ID P202404290 A Page 8 Paragraph 3 discloses “When a PUSCH or PUCCH is canceled as described herein, if the UCI is carried in the PUSCH or PUCCH (especially when the HARQ-ACK feedback information is carried in the PUSCH or PUCCH), a means of retransmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback information is described in the present invention.”); identifying a second time duration for a retransmission of the PUCCH which is canceled within the first time duration (ID P202404290 A Page 6 Paragraph 3 discloses “Therefore, by combining the canceled feedback information with other feedback information to generate and transmit the combined codebook feedback, the canceled feedback information can be retransmitted to the base station, thereby saving the excess of semi-static codebook feedback and reducing the impact on DL transmission resource inefficiency caused by the cancellation of feedback information.”); and performing the retransmission of the PUCCH based on the second time duration, wherein the retransmitted PUCCH only includes hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) information corresponding to the control information (ID P202404290 A Page 8 Paragraph 3 discloses “When a PUSCH or PUCCH is canceled as described herein, if the UCI is carried in the PUSCH or PUCCH (especially when the HARQ-ACK feedback information is carried in the PUSCH or PUCCH), a means of retransmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback information is described in the present invention.”).
Regarding claims 3,9 and 19. Hao et al. disclose the method of claim1, wherein the second time duration is a slot determined based on a slot in which the control information is received and a value configured by the control information, and wherein in case that PUCCH that is cancelled includes scheduling request and channel state information (CSI) report the retransmitted PUCCH excludes the scheduling request and the (CSI) report (ID P202404290 A Page 8 Paragraphs 1 discloses “A PUSCH resource (e.g., a UL (116) resource) can carry UCI information, examples of which include HARQ-ACK feedback information, SR information, channel state information (CSI), and so on. In a scenario where a PUCCH carrying a UCI overlaps with a PUSCH scheduled for the same UE in the time domain, the UCI information is carried within a portion of the PUSCH resource. At this time, the UCI is encoded independently of the PUSCH. The encoded UCIs mapped to a portion of the PUSCH resources specified according to pre-defined algorithms.”).
Regarding claim 5, Hao et al. disclose the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the base station, information on a dedicated time resource for the uplink transmission of the NCR, wherein the dedicated time resource is configured within flexible symbols for a terminal (ID P202404290 A Page 6 Paragraph 5 discloses “By granting UL (114), the base station(101) allocates UL resources (116) (e.g., PUSCH) for transmission of low priority UL services to the first UE (102), in response to the SR (112)”).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Hao et al. disclose the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the base station, information on a switching time between an uplink and a downlink (ID P202404290 A Page 23 Paragraph 2 discloses “A duplex switcher (not shown) may alternatively couple the RF transmitter or receiver to the antenna in a time-duplex manner.”).
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 may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 2,12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hao et al. (WO 2021022439 – Translation used ID P202404290 A) in view of Kim et al. (US 12519571 B2).
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Hao et al. disclose the method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying that a slot in which the retransmission of the PUCCH is to be performed overlaps with a time duration for a cancellation of the retransmission by at least one symbol (ID P202404290 A Page 12 Paragraph 3 discloses “The example shown in Figure 3 assumes that DL data is scheduled in DL slots n+1, n+2, n+3, and n+4, and the UE correctly receives the DL data in DL slots n+1, n+2, n+3, and n+4. In Figure 3,for example, the original book code feedback in UL slot n+7 is 1010, and the original book code feedback in UL slot n+8 is 1001. The feedback resource for UL slot n+7 is occupied in any appropriate way (denoted using X). Thus, the feedback information contained in UL slot n+7 is canceled.”);
Hao et al. fail to explicitly disclose Identifying whether a number of retransmissions of the PUCCH exceeds a maximum number of retransmissions configured by higher laver signaling: and dropping the retransmission of the PUCCH in case that the number of retransmissions of the PUCCH exceeds the maximum number of retransmissions;
However, in an analogous art Kim et al. teaches identifying whether a number of retransmissions of the PUCCH exceeds a maximum number of retransmissions configured by higher laver signaling: and dropping the retransmission of the PUCCH in case that the number of retransmissions of the PUCCH exceeds the maximum number of retransmissions (US 12519571 B2 Paragraph 529 discloses “Method 3.3-23: The base station may configure or indicate the maximum number of retransmittable PUCCH 1 (or HARQ codebook 1) to the terminal by RRC signaling”. Paragraph 546 discloses “When the number of transmissions of the HARQ codebook 1 (e.g., N1) is indicated to the terminal, the terminal may transmit the HARQ codebook 1 on the PUCCH 1 and PUCCH 2, and the number of transmissions of the PUCCH 1 may be smaller than N1 (e.g., the maximum number of times).”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Hao et al. to incorporate the teachings of Kim et al., to identifying whether a number of retransmissions of the PUCCH exceeds a maximum number of retransmissions configured by higher laver signaling: and dropping the retransmission of the PUCCH in case that the number of retransmissions of the PUCCH exceeds the maximum number of retransmissions, in order to terminate or exit unsuccessful transmission reception cycles of data after an optimal number of attempts, thereby utilizing system resources efficiently and effectively.
Regarding claim 13, Hao et al. disclose the NCR claim 11, wherein the second time duration is a slot determined based on a slot in which the control information is received and a value configured by the control information, and wherein in case that PUCCH that is cancelled includes scheduling request and channel state information (CSI) report the retransmitted PUCCH excludes the scheduling request and the (CSI) report (ID P202404290 A Page 8 Paragraphs 1 discloses “A PUSCH resource (e.g., a UL (116) resource) can carry UCI information, examples of which include HARQ-ACK feedback information, SR information, channel state information (CSI), and so on. In a scenario where a PUCCH carrying a UCI overlaps with a PUSCH scheduled for the same UE in the time domain, the UCI information is carried within a portion of the PUSCH resource. At this time, the UCI is encoded independently of the PUSCH. The encoded UCIs mapped to a portion of the PUSCH resources specified according to pre-defined algorithms.”).
Claims 4,10,14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hao et al. (WO 2021022439 – Translation used ID P202404290 A) in view of Liu et al. (US 20190123861 A1).
Regarding claim 4,10,14 and 20 Hao et al. disclose the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the base station, second control information including information indicating a cancellation and a retransmission of the retransmission indicated by the control information (ID P202404290 A Pages 3,6 Paragraphs 3,2 respectively discloses “In some embodiments, the wireless communication method includes determining, by the master station, that the first feedback information indicated to be transmitted on the first uplink UL resource is canceled, receiving, from the wireless communication device by the master station, combined feedback information that includes the first feedback information and the second feedback information. The combined feedback information is received at the second UL resource that was originally indicated for transmission of the second feedback information. The first feedback information provides feedback for the first DL data transmitted to the wireless communication device. The second feedback information provides feedback for the second DL data transmitted to the wireless communication device.”);
Hao et al. fail to explicitly disclose receiving, from a base station, information on a maximum deferring window which starts from a last symbol in which the control information is received. and identifying a third time duration for the cancellation of the retransmission based on the second control information, wherein in case that the second time duration overlaps with the third time duration within the maximum deferring window, the retransmission of the PUCCH is performed.
However, in an analogous art, Liu et al. teaches receiving, from a base station, information on a maximum deferring window which starts from a last symbol in which the control information is received (US 20190123861 A1 Paragraph 0113 discloses “…the UE reports the HARQ acknowledgment information within a predefined deferral window by using the uplink control channel resource. The predefined deferral window specifies a minimum delay and a maximum delay for report of HARQ acknowledgment information.” Whereby paragraph 0067 discloses that the deferral window is received from the base station.) and identifying a third time duration for the cancellation of the retransmission based on the second control information, wherein in case that the second time duration overlaps with the third time duration within the maximum deferring window, the retransmission of the uplink transmission is performed (US 20190123861 A1 Paragraphs 0128 and 0129 disclose retransmission of cancelled transmissions within the predefined deferral window).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Hao et al. to incorporate the teachings of Liu et al., to retransmit cancelled transmissions within a deferral window, in order to provide a controlled way for devices to retransmit and adapt to the dynamic and unpredictable nature of wireless environments.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1,7,11 and 17 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 Samuel Dilan Rutnam whose telephone number is 703-756-1374. The examiner can normally be reached between 8:30am-5:00pm Mon-Fri.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached on 571-272-8586.
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/Samuel Dilan Rutnam/
Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/SUJOY K KUNDU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471