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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s submission filed on 09/10/2025 has been entered. Claims 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8 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, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hooli et al. (US 2018/0324786 A1) hereinafter “Hooli”, in view of Matsumura et al. (US 2020/0288456 A1) hereinafter “Matsumura”.
Regarding claim 1:
Hooli discloses a method performed by a user equipment (UE) (Fig. 1, User Device), the method comprising:
receiving, from a base station (Fig. 1, Base Station), remaining minimum system information (RMSI) including first information ([0057], “… the system information may include resource set indexes for all of the predetermined uplink control channel resource sets (e.g., all four of the resource sets). Or, for example, the system information may indicate a PUCCH resource set index of a first PUCCH resource set, and a number of PUCCH resource sets (e.g., allowing the UE to determine all resource set indexes based on this information) indicating a set of: a set of a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) format, a first symbol, a number of symbols ([0049], “… uplink control information may be transmitted via OFDM symbols 420 and 422, and may be used to support a two symbol short PUCCH. FIG. 4 illustrates different ways to generate resource sets in a short PUCCH scenario with one or two OFDM symbols allocated to short PUCCH (Uplink control)”, [0053], “… PUCCH format (e.g., either long or short, some PUCCH resource sets contain long PUCCH resources, and other PUCCH resource sets contain short PUCCH resources), PUCCH duration in symbols (e.g., long PUCCH can have variable length, e.g., 4-14 symbols, and short PUCCH can be 1-2 symbols); number of PRBs allocated (per frequency hop or frequency cluster), space between the frequency clusters or frequency hops, location of PUCCH region relative to, e.g., synchronization channel, carrier edge, etc.”), and Cyclic Shift (CS) index related information ([0059], “… a resource or resource index within the selected resource set,” [0060], “these indexes may determine or indicate one or more parameters, such as, e.g., possible cyclic shift”);
receiving, from the base station, downlink control information (DCI) using at least one control channel element (CCE) ([0062], “the UE may derive the actual PUCCH resource type based on determined/indicated slot type (derived from downlink control information or higher layer configuration,)” (using at least one control channel element (CCE) is inherent in transmitting downlink control information)).
Hooli does not disclose the UE determining, based on the CS index related information an index of a first CCE of the at least one CCE, a physical resource block (PRB) index.
Matsumura teaches a UE determining, based on CS index related information an index of a first CCE, a physical resource block (PRB) index (e.g., [0067], “The UE determines an actual PRB index from the virtual PRB index using a given calculation formula. The calculation formula may use at least one of parameters such as a cell ID, a PRB index, a slot index, a symbol index, a sequence index, a CS index, a CS candidate set index, a Control Channel Element (CCE) index of a PDCCH,” [0068]-[0069], [0075]-[0076])
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the systems of Hooli and Matsumura, in order to improve system latency for uplink control information transmission.
Regarding claim 2:
Hooli further discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the receiving the RMSI is performed before the UE is configured with a dedicated PUCCH resource ([0041], [0070]).
Regarding claims 4-5:
Claims 4-5 are directed to a method performed by a base station including features similar to the features recited by claims 1-2. The same reference and rationales set forth with respect to claims 1-2 also apply.
Regarding claim 7:
Hooli discloses a user equipment (UE) comprising: at least one memory (Fig. 6, 1006) storing instructions; and at least one processor (Fig. 6, 1004) configured to process the instructions to: receive, from a base station, remaining minimum system information (RMSI) including first information indicating a set of: a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) format, a first symbol, a number of symbols, and Cyclic Shift (CS) index related information; receive, from the base station, downlink control information (DCI) using at least one control channel element (CCE) (see similar features in rejection of claim 1).
Hooli does not disclose the UE determining, based on the CS index related information an index of a first CCE of the at least one CCE, a physical resource block (PRB) index.
Matsumura teaches a UE determining, based on CS index related information an index of a first CCE, a physical resource block (PRB) index (e.g., [0067], “The UE determines an actual PRB index from the virtual PRB index using a given calculation formula. The calculation formula may use at least one of parameters such as a cell ID, a PRB index, a slot index, a symbol index, a sequence index, a CS index, a CS candidate set index, a Control Channel Element (CCE) index of a PDCCH,” [0068]-[0069], [0075]-[0076])
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the systems of Hooli and Matsumura, in order to improve system latency for uplink control information transmission.
Regarding claim 8:
Hooli discloses a base station comprising: at least one memory (Fig. 6, 1006) storing instructions; and at least one processor (Fig. 6, 1004) configured to process the instructions to: transmit, to a user equipment (UE), remaining minimum system information (RMSI) including first information indicating a set of: a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) format, a first symbol, a number of symbols, and Cyclic Shift (CS) index related information; and transmit, to the UE, downlink control information (DCI) using at least one control channel element (CCE) (see similar features rejected with respect to claim 1).
Hooli does not disclose wherein the CS index related information an index of a first CCE of the at least one CCE is used by the UE to determine a physical resource block (PRB) index.
Matsumura teaches a UE determining, based on CS index related information an index of a first CCE, a physical resource block (PRB) index (e.g., [0067], “The UE determines an actual PRB index from the virtual PRB index using a given calculation formula. The calculation formula may use at least one of parameters such as a cell ID, a PRB index, a slot index, a symbol index, a sequence index, a CS index, a CS candidate set index, a Control Channel Element (CCE) index of a PDCCH,” [0068]-[0069], [0075]-[0076])
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the systems of Hooli and Matsumura, in order to improve system latency for uplink control information transmission.
Response to Arguments
Rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102 over Hooli
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8 as amended have been considered but are moot in view of a new ground of rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 based on Hooli and Matsumura.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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/BO HUI A ZHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465