DETAILED ACTION
RCE
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 09/17/2025 has been entered.
Response to Remark
This communication is considered fully responsive to the amendment filed on 05/12/25.
Independent claims have been amended.
New claims 39 and 40 have been added.
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.
Claims 21-38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (US 2019/0349960, “Li”; Provisional 62/443,497, hereinafter “Prov Li’497”) in view of Choi et al. (US 2018/0145818, “Choi”; Provisional 62/455,400, hereinafter “Prov Choi’400”) and further in view of Lee et al. (US 2013/0163544, “Lee”).
Regarding claim 21, Li discloses a network entity comprising: a processor configured to (See Fig.47B, a processor):
- send a first transmission to a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) (Li, See ¶.11 and ¶.138, an eMBB UE performs reception from eNB without knowledge of URLLC preemption; Prov Li’497; See Fig.9, resource slots for DL Control & RS; See ¶.58, dynamically via the DL control channel within the subframe or slot of reference with DCIs of reference numerology control channel or mini-DCls of mini slot containing either mini-slot configuration; See ¶.71-73, turning now to indicating preempted resources explicitly to eMBB UE, in one embodiment, indication is through PPIC (Physical Preemption Indication channel) in NR. For example, a PPIC may be designated to indicate the URLLC transmission and its resources to the eMBB UE. The PPIC is transmitted when there is a URLLC transmission over eMBB. In some cases, the PPIC will not be transmitted if there is no URLLC transmission. This way, no resources are wasted if there is no URLLC transmission. [0072] In an example, resources for the PPIC may be allocated in REs configured for the eMBB through the spec or semi-statically through RRC or dynamically through its DCI making the DL eMBB grant. The location may correspond to N number of resources distributed through the eMBB’s DL grant. [0073] The PPIC resources may occur in one or more symbols per slot and each PPIC information may extend over one or more symbols. Each PPIC information may provide indication of one or more preemptive URLLC transmissions; See Fig.13, PRB for DL control; See Fig.20, resources carrying DCI for eMBB DL grant); and
- send an indication associated with the first transmission, the indication comprising a preemption indication and a reference signal (RS) reuse indication (Prov Li’497, See ¶.71-73 and Fig.16, sending Physical Preemption Indication Channel (PPIC) by using resources for PPIC; See Fig.21, mini-slot resources for URLLC data shared channel and reference signals; eMBB shared channel and reference signals; Examiner’s Note: Choi discloses “RS reuse indication”),
- wherein the preemption indication indicates that a portion of the first transmission is preempted (Prov Li’497, See ¶.71, turning now to indicating preempted resources explicitly to eMBB UE, in one embodiment, indication is through PPIC (Physical Preemption Indication channel) in NR. For example, a PPIC may be designated to indicate the URLLC transmission and its resources to the eMBB UE. The PPIC is transmitted when there is a URLLC transmission over eMBB).
Li does not explicitly disclose what Choi discloses,
- the RS reuse indication indicates whether a RS in the preempted portion of the first transmission can be reused (Choi, See 5420 Fig.54, generate DCI for downlink data channel including RS reuse possible indicator; See ¶.476, the RS used for the downlink control channel may be reused to decode all or part of the downlink data channel, such that the RS overhead may be reduced; See ¶.520, the DCI may include the RS reuse possible indicator and the simplified resource allocation (RB assignment) indicator); See Fig.48, DMRS reusable region; See ¶.484, the DMRS 4740 of the NR-PDCCH 4730 transmitted in the sub-band 4705 may be reused (DMRS reuse possible area 4750 of FIG. 47) to decode the NR-PDSCH; See ¶.490, there is a possibility that the DMRS 4840 may be reused (DMRS reuse possible area 4845 of FIG. 48) regardless of the configuration of the NR-PDCCH; See fig.49 and ¶.496, the DMRS may be reused for the area in which the NR-PDSCH is scheduled and transmitted to the same RB as the NR-PDCCH, that is, area #1 regardless of the configuration (e.g., localized or distributed scheme) of the NR-PDCCH; See ¶.504, the base station may transmit the additional indicator for the reuse of the DMRS 5140 to the DMRS reuse possible area 5160; Prov Choi’400; See pg.28, A mini-slot contains DMRS at position(s) relative to the start of the mini-slot; See pg.29 for mini-slot operation for URLLC; See pg.29, an RS for decoding each of PDCCH/PDSCH is required; See pg.30 for DMRS reuse shown in the following:
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392
486
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).
Choi discloses “RS reuse indication indicating whether a RS in the preempted portion of the first transmission can be reused” as rejected in the above section, but Li and Choi do not explicitly disclose the newly added limitation “multiple levels of reuse of RSs, wherein at least one level of the multiple levels of reuse indicates.”
However, Lee discloses “multiple levels of reuse of RSs, wherein at least one level of the multiple levels of reuse indicates” (Lee, See ¶.41, in order for the mobile station to accurately estimate the channel feedback values, it is necessary for the base station to signal a value G, indicating a CSI-RS resource reuse level, to the mobile station).”
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply “the RS reuse indication indicating whether a RS in the preempted portion of the first transmission can be reused” as taught by Choi and “multiple levels of reuse of RSs, wherein at least one level of the multiple levels of reuse indicates” as taught by Lee into the system of Li, so that it provides a way for the downlink control channel to be reused to decode all or part of the downlink data channel, such that the RS overhead may be reduced (Choi, See ¶.476) and to be capable of more precisely checking the state of the data channel to which no resource reuse is applied, and thus, more precisely feeding back the data modulation and coding level calculated (Lee, See ¶.41).
Regarding claim 22, Li discloses “the preemption indication indicates that the portion of the first transmission is preempted by a second transmission (Prov Li’497, See ¶.71, turning now to indicating preempted resources explicitly to eMBB UE, in one embodiment, indication is through PPIC (Physical Preemption Indication channel) in NR. For example, a PPIC may be designated to indicate the URLLC transmission and its resources to the eMBB UE. The PPIC is transmitted when there is a URLLC transmission over eMBB).”
Regarding claim 23, Li discloses “the second transmission is superposed in the first transmission using a same numerology (Prov Li’497, See ¶.13, Fig. 13 depicts example a numerology for URLLC transmission (A) Same as eMBB and (B) different from eMBB).”
Regarding claim 24, Li and Choi disclose “the RS reuse indication is based on a comparison of a first precoder associated with the first transmission and a second precoder associated with the second transmission (Prov Li’497, See ¶.62, the reference signaling for URLLC UE to decode the URLLC transmission may be shared with the eMBB transmission (e.g., especially if eMBB and URLLC transmission use the same precoder) or separate resources may be allocated for the URLLC transmission (e.g., especially if the precoders are different from those of eMBB; Examiner’s Note: Prov Choi’400 discloses RS reuse indication as rejected in claim 21).” Therefore, this claim is rejected with the similar reasons and motivation set forth in the rejection of claim 21.
Regarding claim 25, Li does not explicitly disclose what Choi discloses “the RS reuse indication is associated with a channel estimation function set (Choi, See ¶.476, The reuse of the RS of the downlink control channel not only reduces the RS overhead but also uses the estimated channel information for decoding the downlink control channel in the downlink data channel decoding, such that the processing time may be reduced; See ¶.485, the base station operated according to the 3-1-th embodiment of the present disclosure illustrated in FIG. 47 may schedule the NR-PDSCH 4735 of any terminal with the sub-band 4705 configured in the control channel resource set 4725 of the corresponding terminal and may additionally transmit an indicator for the reuse of the DMRS 4740 of the NR-PDCCH 4730 to the corresponding terminal. When acquiring the reuse indicator for the DMRS 4740, the corresponding terminal may use the estimated channel information using the DMRS 4740 of the NR-PDCCH 4730 in decoding the NR-PDSCH 4735; See further ¶.496-497 and ¶.504 for RS reuse possible area; See Prov Choi’400, pg.29-30, channel estimation for NR-PDCCH for URLLC and DMRS reuse).” Therefore, this claim is rejected with the similar reasons and motivation set forth in the rejection of claim 21.
Regarding claim 26, Li discloses “the first transmission is sent in a first slot and the indication is sent in a second slot (See fig.28, ‘Indication of URLLC transmission in a different mini-slot).”
Regarding claim 27, Li discloses “the second slot is a next slot after the first slot (See fig.28, slot formats).”
Regarding claim 28, Li discloses “the indication is sent in a downlink control information (DCI) associated with the second slot (See ¶.171, An mDCI in the mini-slot may indicate to the eMBB UE the resources for the URLLC transmission; See ¶.180, a DCI indicating the URLLC transmission. Such a DCI may commonly indicate the resources for one or more URLLC transmissions. The eMBB UE will check to see if the indicated resources fall within in DL grant. If it finds URLLC resources within its grant, the eMBB UE may account for puncturing).”
Regarding claim 29, Li discloses ‘the first transmission comprises an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) transmission and the second transmission comprises an ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) Transmission (Prov Li’497, See ¶.60, transmitting over scheduled eMBB resources in the DL. When URLLC resources take precedence over scheduled eMBB; See ¶.71-73, turning now to indicating preempted resources explicitly to eMBB UE, in one embodiment, indication is through PPIC (Physical Preemption Indication channel) in NR. For example, a PPIC may be designated to indicate the URLLC transmission and its resources to the eMBB UE. The PPIC is transmitted when there is a URLLC transmission over eMBB).”
Regarding claim 30, it is a method claim corresponding to the network entity claim 21 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Regarding claims 31-37, they are claims corresponding to claims 22-28, respectively and are therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claims.
Regarding claim 38, it is a claim corresponding to the claim 29 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Allowable Subject Matters
Claims 39 and 40 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed have been considered. But, in view of the applicant’s amendment to the claims, examiner has clarified and remapped the rejection to the argued claim limitations, using the prior art of record in the current prosecution of the claims. A new prior art by Lee discloses and/or suggests the newly added limitations “multiple levels of reuse of RSs, wherein at least one level of the multiple levels of reuse indicates” as rejected in claim 21 above.
In pages 6-8, with respect to claims 21 and 30, applicant argues that any combination of Li and Choi fail to disclose the limitations “wherein the preemption indication indicates that a portion of the first transmission is preempted and the RS reuse indication indicates multiple levels of reuse of RSs in the preempted portion, wherein at least one level of the multiple levels of reuse indicates whether an RS in the preempted portion of the first transmission can be reused” by asserting that,
“Nowhere does Choi disclose or suggest reuse of RS in preempted portions of an eMBB transmission, let alone that an RS reuse indication indicates multiple levels of reuse of RSs in the preempted portion, wherein at least one level of the multiple levels of reuse indicates whether an RS in the preempted portion of the first transmission can be reused, as recited in independent claims 21 and 30.”
In reply, as rejected in claim 21, Choi discloses “RS reuse indication indicating whether a RS in the preempted portion of the first transmission can be reused,” but Choi does not explicitly disclose the newly added limitation “multiple levels of reuse of RSs, wherein at least one level of the multiple levels of reuse indicates.”
However, a newly found prior art by Lee discloses the limitation “multiple levels of reuse of RSs, wherein at least one level of the multiple levels of reuse indicates.”
Therefore, ordinary skill in the art applies “the RS reuse indication indicating whether a RS in the preempted portion of the first transmission can be reused” as taught by Choi and “multiple levels of reuse of RSs, wherein at least one level of the multiple levels of reuse indicates” as taught by Lee into the system of Li in order for the downlink control channel to be reused to decode all or part of the downlink data channel, such that the RS overhead may be reduced and to be capable of more precisely checking the state of the data channel to which no resource reuse is applied, and thus, more precisely feeding back the data modulation and coding level calculated. Therefore, the examiner respectfully disagrees.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jung H Park whose telephone number is 571-272-8565. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 7:00 AM-3:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Derrick Ferris can be reached on 571-272-3123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JUNG H PARK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411