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 .
This Office action is in response to the application filed on 12/28/2023.
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 07/29/2025 and 12/28/2023 are compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are considered by the examiner.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant' s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been received on 02/07/2024.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6 and 13-15 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1, 3, 4, 6, 10, 12, 13, 15 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
i. Regarding claims 1, 4, 6, 10, 13, and 15, the phrase "some bits" in claims is vague and indefinite because it lacks a clear boundary or objective standard for determining the scope of the claims. One of ordinary skill in the art would not reasonably be able to determine the metes and bounds of “some”, thereby rendering the scope of the claim(s) unascertainable. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
ii. Regarding claims 3, 12, and 20, the phrase "some information" in claims is vague and indefinite because it lacks a clear boundary or objective standard for determining the scope of the claims. One of ordinary skill in the art would not reasonably be able to determine the metes and bounds of “some”, thereby rendering the scope of the claim(s) unascertainable. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by YEO et al. (US 2021/0400687 A1).
As to claim 19, YEO discloses a control channel reception method of a receiving node (Fig. 18), comprising:
receiving a control channel and channel-decoding the received control channel to generate channel-decoded control channel information (¶0022, “performed by a receiving UE, of sequentially decoding first control information and second control information and decoding a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) based on a result of the sequential decoding”; ¶0120, “after being attached with a CRC and then masked with a destination RNTI or a part of source RNTI, control information may undergo channel coding with polar codes and be transmitted. After decoding the control information using the polar codes, a receiving end may perform a CRC check…”; ¶0128, “3 bits of a destination RNTI may be added to a bit field of control information, a CRC may be added to the control information, masked with the remaining 21 bits of the destination RNTI, and then channel coding may be performed on the channel information by using polar codes for transmission. After decoding the control information using the polar codes, a receiving end may perform a CRC check…”);
removing masking (i.e., demasking, masking again) from the channel-decoded control channel information by using masking offsets possible at a position of cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits and a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) assigned to identify a receiving node (¶0120, “After decoding the control information using the polar codes, a receiving end may perform a CRC check by masking again the masked part of CRC added to the control information with the destination RNTI value and source RNTI value known or configured to the receiving end or performing an operation for demasking the masked part of CRC, and determine whether DCI has been detected”; ¶0128, “After decoding the control information using the polar codes, a receiving end may perform a CRC check by masking again the masked part of CRC added to the control information with a destination RNTI value known or configured to the receiving end or performing an operation for demasking the masked part of CRC and determine whether the control information has been correctly detected by checking the remaining 3 bits of the destination RNTI in a bit field”);
performing a CRC check on the channel-decoded control channel information from which the masking has been removed (¶0032, “receive, from a transmitting device, control information appended with CRC bits; and decode the control information, wherein some of the CRC bits are masked with at least one of an identifier of the receiving UE or an identifier of the transmitting device, and the control information includes DCI or SCI", ¶0109, "When RNTI is used to detect a control signal, it may be understood that when a CRC check is performed after decoding the control signal, the CRC check may be performed on a result of masking with an RNTI value again to determine whether it is successful”; ¶0112, “after decoding the received control information using the polar codes, a receiving end may perform a CRC check by masking again the masked part of CRC added to the DCI information bits with an RNTI value known or configured to the receiving end or performing an operation for demasking the masked part of CRC, and determine whether DCI has been detected”; ¶0120; ¶0128; ¶0167); and
in respond to no error as a result of the CRC check, determining a format of downlink control information (DCI) transmitted through the control channel based on a masking offset used for removing the masking (¶0109, “the UE knows a system information RNTI (SI-RNTI) value, and the SI-RNTI value may be used to detect a control signal for transmitting system information. When RNTI is used to detect a control signal, it may be understood that when a CRC check is performed after decoding the control signal, the CRC check may be performed on a result of masking with an RNTI value again to determine whether it is successful”; ¶0112, “after decoding the received control information using the polar codes, a receiving end may perform a CRC check by masking again the masked part of CRC added to the DCI information bits with an RNTI value known or configured to the receiving end or performing an operation for demasking the masked part of CRC, and determine whether DCI has been detected”; ¶0120, “configured to the receiving end or performing an operation for demasking the masked part of CRC, and determine whether DCI has been detected”; ¶0128, “After decoding the control information using the polar codes, a receiving end may perform a CRC check by masking again the masked part of CRC added to the control information with a destination RNTI value known or configured to the receiving end or performing an operation for demasking the masked part of CRC and determine whether the control information has been correctly detected by checking the remaining 3 bits of the destination RNTI in a bit field”; ¶0196, “A scheduling method may be distinguished by an indicator included in the DCI or by an RNTI or ID value used to scramble a CRC added to the DCI. Zero bits may be added to make a size of DCI equal to that of other DCI formats such as DCI for DL scheduling or UL scheduling”; ¶0167).
As to claim 20, YEO discloses the control channel reception method according to claim 19, wherein some information of the DCI is further obtained by using the masking offset used for removing the masking (¶0112, “after decoding the received control information using the polar codes, a receiving end may perform a CRC check by masking again the masked part of CRC added to the DCI information bits with an RNTI value known or configured to the receiving end or performing an operation for demasking the masked part of CRC, and determine whether DCI has been detected”; ¶0120, “configured to the receiving end or performing an operation for demasking the masked part of CRC, and determine whether DCI has been detected”).
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 1-3, 7, 10-12 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YEO et al. (US 2021/0400687 A1), in view of Han et al. (US 2014/0355531 A1).
As to claim 1, YEO discloses the invention as claimed, including a control channel transmission method of a transmitting node (Fig. 2, 200), comprising:
adding cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits based on downlink control information (DCI) to be transmitted to a first receiving node (Fig. 11, 11-01; Fig. 12, 12-03; ¶0006, “performed by a transmitting device, of transmitting control information includes: adding cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits to the control information…and transmitting the control information to the receiving UE, wherein the control information includes downlink control information (DCI)”; ¶0101, “cyclic redundancy check (CRC) generating and masking circuitry to generate a bit sequence that includes DCI and CRC bits”);
masking some bits of the CRC bits with a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI), the some bits being determined by a masking offset (i.e., fourth through eighth bits of the first 8 bits, some of the first 8 bits, masked with the first 21 bits, "parts", "bit fields"), and the RNTI being assigned to identify the first receiving node (Fig. 12, 12-03-12-09; Fig. 13, 13-03-13-09; ¶0006, “masking some of the CRC bits with at least one of an identifier of a receiving user equipment (UE) or an identifier of the transmitting device”; ¶0111, “The partial CRC 12-07 of the first 8-bits, which is added to the middle of the DCI information bits 12-01, between the added partial CRCs 12-07 and 12-09 may not be masked with a value such as RNTI. In this way, after a CRC is added to DCI information bits and a part of the CRC is masked with an RNTI”; ¶0116, “a partial CRC 13-09 corresponding to a part of the 24-bit CRC 13-03 may be masked with a 16-bit destination RNTI 13-05, and a partial CRC 13-07 corresponding to the remaining part of the 24-bit CRC 13-03 may be masked with a source RNTI or 5 bits 13-04 of the source RNTI”; ¶0118, “some of the first 8 bits of the 24-bit CRC 13-03 added to the DCI or SCI information bits 13-01, e.g., a total of 5 bits that are the fourth through eighth bits of the first 8 bits of the added 24-bit CRC 13-03, may be masked with a part of an ID of a transmitting end for transmitting a signal that a UE intends to receive or 5 bits of a source RNTI value configured for the UE together with the ID”; ¶0119-¶0120; ¶0126); and
transmitting a control channel to the first receiving node, the control channel including the DCI, the masked some bits (Fig. 12, “16 bits CRC with RNTI masking”), and not-masked CRC bits (Fig. 12, “CRC without RNTI masking, or "may not be masked with a value such as RNTI") (Fig. 12, 12-07-12-09; ¶0109, “an RNTI having a length of 16 bits is assigned to a UE, and a 16-bit CRC added to the control signal is masked with the assigned RNTI value for transmission of the control signal, thereby allowing the UE to identify its control signal”; ¶0111, “A 16-bit CRC, which corresponds to the partial CRC 12-09 between the added partial CRCs 12-07 and 12-09 and is added to the last part of the DCI information bits 12-01, may be masked with an RNTI value configured or known to a UE. Masking means performing an XOR operation on two bit values at the same position, which may be an operation that results in 0 when the two bit values are the same and results in 1 when the two bit values are different. The partial CRC 12-07 of the first 8-bits, which is added to the middle of the DCI information bits 12-01, between the added partial CRCs 12-07 and 12-09 may not be masked with a value such as RNTI. In this way, after a CRC is added to DCI information bits and a part of the CRC is masked with an RNTI, control information may undergo channel coding with polar codes and be transmitted”; ¶0119, “the first 3 bits of the 24-bit CRC 13-03 may not be masked with a value such as RNTI. When transmitting control information to a receiving end, a BS or transmitting UE may mask 5 bits of the CRC with a part of the source RNTI which is its own ID while masking the other 16 bits of the CRC with the destination RNTI value which is an ID of the receiving end”; ¶0132-¶0134; ¶0136).
Although YEO discloses generating cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits, and adding cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits based on downlink control information (DCI) to be transmitted to a first receiving node (Fig. 11, 11-01; Fig. 12, 12-03; ¶0006, “performed by a transmitting device, of transmitting control information includes: adding cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits to the control information…and transmitting the control information to the receiving UE, wherein the control information includes downlink control information (DCI)”; ¶0101, “cyclic redundancy check (CRC) generating and masking circuitry to generate a bit sequence that includes DCI and CRC bits”), YEO does not specifically disclose generating cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits based on downlink control information (DCI) to be transmitted to a first receiving node.
However, Han discloses generating cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits based on downlink control information (DCI) to be transmitted to a first receiving node (Fig. 2, 204) (Fig. 1; Fig. 2, 208; ¶0023, “The Tx circuitry 200 may include a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) generating and masking circuitry 220 that may receive bits, for example, downlink control information (DCI) bits, generate CRC bits and append the CRC bits to the DCI bits, and mask the DCI+CRC bit sequence”; ¶0036; ¶0101, “cyclic redundancy check (CRC) generating and masking circuitry to generate a bit sequence that includes DCI and CRC bits”). It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of YEO to include generating cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits based on downlink control information (DCI) to be transmitted to a first receiving node, as taught by Han because it would ensure the integrity and reliability of the control information by providing error detection and UE specific identification (Han, ¶0023; ¶0101).
As to claim 2, YEO discloses the control channel transmission method according to claim 1, wherein the masking offset indicates a DCI format of the DCI (Figs. 12-14; ¶0006, “masking some of the CRC bits with at least one of an identifier of a receiving user equipment (UE) or an identifier of the transmitting device”; ¶0111, “The partial CRC 12-07 of the first 8-bits, which is added to the middle of the DCI information bits 12-01, between the added partial CRCs 12-07 and 12-09 may not be masked with a value such as RNTI. In this way, after a CRC is added to DCI information bits and a part of the CRC is masked with an RNTI”; ¶0116, “a partial CRC 13-09 corresponding to a part of the 24-bit CRC 13-03 may be masked with a 16-bit destination RNTI 13-05, and a partial CRC 13-07 corresponding to the remaining part of the 24-bit CRC 13-03 may be masked with a source RNTI or 5 bits 13-04 of the source RNTI”; ¶0118, “some of the first 8 bits of the 24-bit CRC 13-03 added to the DCI or SCI information bits 13-01, e.g., a total of 5 bits that are the fourth through eighth bits of the first 8 bits of the added 24-bit CRC 13-03, may be masked with a part of an ID of a transmitting end for transmitting a signal that a UE intends to receive or 5 bits of a source RNTI value configured for the UE together with the ID”; ¶0119-¶0120; ¶0126).
As to claim 3, YEO discloses the control channel transmission method according to claim 2, wherein the masking offset further indicates some information of the DCI (Figs. 12-14; ¶0006, “masking some of the CRC bits with at least one of an identifier of a receiving user equipment (UE) or an identifier of the transmitting device”; ¶0111, “The partial CRC 12-07 of the first 8-bits, which is added to the middle of the DCI information bits 12-01, between the added partial CRCs 12-07 and 12-09 may not be masked with a value such as RNTI. In this way, after a CRC is added to DCI information bits and a part of the CRC is masked with an RNTI”; ¶0116, “a partial CRC 13-09 corresponding to a part of the 24-bit CRC 13-03 may be masked with a 16-bit destination RNTI 13-05, and a partial CRC 13-07 corresponding to the remaining part of the 24-bit CRC 13-03 may be masked with a source RNTI or 5 bits 13-04 of the source RNTI”; ¶0118, “some of the first 8 bits of the 24-bit CRC 13-03 added to the DCI or SCI information bits 13-01, e.g., a total of 5 bits that are the fourth through eighth bits of the first 8 bits of the added 24-bit CRC 13-03, may be masked with a part of an ID of a transmitting end for transmitting a signal that a UE intends to receive or 5 bits of a source RNTI value configured for the UE together with the ID”; ¶0119-¶0120; ¶0126).
As to claim 7, YEO discloses the control channel transmission method according to claim 1, wherein the masking offset indicates a start index of CRC bits not masked with the RNTI (Fig. 12, “CRC without RNTI masking, or "may not be masked with a value such as RNTI") (Fig. 12, 12-07-12-09; ¶0109; ¶0111, “The partial CRC 12-07 of the first 8-bits, which is added to the middle of the DCI information bits 12-01, between the added partial CRCs 12-07 and 12-09 may not be masked with a value such as RNTI. In this way, after a CRC is added to DCI information bits and a part of the CRC is masked with an RNTI, control information may undergo channel coding with polar codes and be transmitted”; ¶0119, “the first 3 bits of the 24-bit CRC 13-03 may not be masked with a value such as RNTI. When transmitting control information to a receiving end, a BS or transmitting UE may mask 5 bits of the CRC with a part of the source RNTI which is its own ID while masking the other 16 bits of the CRC with the destination RNTI value which is an ID of the receiving end”; ¶0132-¶0134; ¶0136).
As to claim 10, it is rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim 1 above. In addition, YEO discloses a transmitting node comprising a processor (Fig. 20, 20-01; Fig. 21, 21-01).
As to claims 11-12, they are rejected for the same reasons set forth in claims 2-3 above, respectively.
As to claim 16, it is rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim 7 above.
Claims 8-9 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YEO et al. (US 2021/0400687 A1), in view of Han et al. (US 2014/0355531 A1), NOH et al. (US 2013/0003639 A1).
As to claims 8-9 and 17-18, NOH discloses wherein different masking offsets are used for DCI formats having a same DCI size; wherein the masking offset is represented in form of a bitmap (¶0016, “The adding of start position information may include inserting a CRC value, which is obtained by applying a predefined mask value to CRC of the payload, into the payload according to the start position information”; ¶0017, “The adding of start position information may include inserting a result of performing a modulo operation using the predefined mask value, an ID of a terminal, and the CRC of the payload, into the payload according to the start position information”; ¶0024, “bitmap information into the bit field, the bitmap information indicating whether the at least one first data transmission apparatus includes MBSFN subframe information”; ¶0078, “mask is applied differently to cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the payload of the allocation information control channel according to start position information. Here, the number of predefined masks may vary according to a quantity of start position information...xkSS denotes a CRC mask based on start position information, and ck denotes a CRC mask result value”; ¶0081, “In Equation (1), a modulo operation is performed with the CRC mask (corresponding to the start position information) and the temporary ID of the terminal”; ¶0082, “allocate a temporary ID to a terminal such that a modulo operation result of a temporary ID allocated to a specific terminal and a CRC mask of arbitrary start position information differs from a modulo operation result of a temporary ID of another terminal and the CRC mask of the arbitrary start position information”). It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of YEO to include wherein different masking offsets are used for DCI formats having a same DCI size; wherein the masking offset is represented in form of a bitmap, as taught by NOH because it would guarantee that only the intended receiving node can successfully decode the message by using the specific offset to determine which CRC bits are masked (NOH, ¶0016-¶0017; ¶0078; ¶0081-¶0082).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
YANG et al. (US 2023/0337287 A1), PARK et al. (US 2017/0048026 A1), Xi et al. (US 2020/0228236 A1), Chen et al. (US 2020/0403728 A1), Zhang et al. (US 2020/0412482 A1) disclose method and apparatus for identifying a set of bit locations of a polar code for encoding an input vector based at least in part on a reliability order of the bit locations, where the input vector includes a set of payload bits.
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/JUNGWON CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454
January 8, 2026