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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claim Objections
Claim 1, line 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: the claim recites the term “HARQ-ACK” without spelling it out. Appropriate correction is required. Claims 16 and 20 are similarly objected to.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 10-17, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Karki et al, application no. 2020/0389878, hereinafter known as Karki in view of Yi et al, application no. 2021/0015650, hereinafter known as Yi.
As to claim 1, Karki discloses a method for determining a HARQ-ACK transmission resource, comprising: determining, by a terminal, a first HARQ-ACK transmission resource based on a first subcarrier spacing (SCS) and a first carrier (Karki, Figure 4, [0014], HARQ-ACK resources with exemplary subcarrier spacings for associated carrier); and in a case of determining that the first HARQ-ACK transmission resource is unavailable, determining, by the terminal, a second HARQ-ACK transmission resource after a first HARQ-ACK feedback time based on the first subcarrier spacing and the first carrier (Karki, [0039], dynamically choosing HARQ-ACK based on received DCI and when determined HARQ-ACK is not available, postponing the HARQ-ACK transmission), wherein the first HARQ-ACK feedback time is determined based on the first subcarrier spacing or based on the first subcarrier spacing and the first carrier (Karki, Figure 4, [0014], HARQ-ACK resources with possible subcarrier spacings for associated carriers). Karki does not expressly disclose however Yi dicloses or determining a third HARQ-ACK transmission resource after the first HARQ-ACK feedback time based on a second subcarrier spacing and a second carrier (Yi, figure 7, plural carrier configuration with associated subcarrier spacing as known in the art; figure 18, UE sending HARQ-ACK back to plural TRP and plural PCell and SCell at associated carriers; figure 9, [0125]-[0129], UE sending HARQ-ACK back at alternate carrier and SCS when first one is not available).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Karki to include the limitations of or determining a third HARQ-ACK transmission resource after the first HARQ-ACK feedback time based on a second subcarrier spacing and a second carrier as taught by Yi. Deferring sending HARQ-ACK for a message with a second HARQ-ACK resource, as opposed to not sending it when the first resource is not available, ensures the relevant feedback information is sent in a timely manner.
As to claim 2, Karki discloses wherein the determining a third HARQ-ACK transmission resource after the first HARQ-ACK feedback time based on a second subcarrier spacing and a second carrier comprises at least one of the following: determining a second HARQ-ACK feedback time after the first HARQ-ACK feedback time based on the second subcarrier spacing, determining the second carrier based on the second HARQ-ACK feedback time, and determining the third HARQ-ACK transmission resource based on the second HARQ-ACK feedback time and the second carrier(Karki, [0004], HARQ-ACK transmission according their timing and carrier in the art, [0023], location in time for HARQ-ACK); determining a third HARQ-ACK feedback time based on the second subcarrier spacing and the second carrier, and determining the third HARQ-ACK transmission resource based on the third HARQ-ACK feedback time and the second carrier; or determining a fourth HARQ-ACK feedback time after the first HARQ-ACK feedback time based on the first subcarrier spacing and the second subcarrier spacing, and determining the third HARQ-ACK transmission resource based on the fourth HARQ-ACK feedback time and the second carrier.
As to claim 4, Karki discloses wherein the third HARQ-ACK feedback time is after the first HARQ-ACK feedback time (Karki, [0039], dynamically choosing HARQ-ACK based on received DCI and when determining HARQ-ACK is not available, postponing the HARQ-ACK transmission; invariably second or subsequent feedback timing would be after the first when the first one is not available and there is postponement).
As to claim 10, Karki discloses wherein the determining, by a terminal, a first HARQ-ACK transmission resource based on a first subcarrier spacing and a first carrier comprises one of the following: determining, by the terminal, the first HARQ-ACK feedback time based on the first subcarrier spacing (Karki, [0004], HARQ-ACK transmission are according their timing and carrier in the art; Figure 4, subcarrier spacing for HARQ-ACK transmission in PUCCH); determining, by the terminal, the first carrier based on the first HARQ-ACK feedback time; and determining, by the terminal, the first HARQ-ACK transmission resource based on the first HARQ-ACK feedback time and the first carrier; and determining, by the terminal, the first HARQ-ACK feedback time based on the first subcarrier spacing and the first carrier; and determining, by the terminal, the first HARQ-ACK transmission resource based on the first HARQ-ACK feedback time and the first carrier.
As to claim 11, wherein the determining, by the terminal, the first HARQ-ACK feedback time based on the first subcarrier spacing comprises at least one of the following: determining the first HARQ-ACK feedback time based on a HARQ-ACK feedback time indication set corresponding to the first subcarrier spacing; or determining the first HARQ-ACK feedback time based on a HARQ-ACK feedback time indication set configured for a cell group (Karki, [0091-[0092], HARQ-ACK based on indication of same PDSCH group by the network).
As to claim 12, Karki discloses the first HARQ-ACK feedback time based on the first subcarrier spacing and the first carrier comprises: determining, by the terminal, the first HARQ-ACK feedback time based on a HARQ-ACK feedback time indication set corresponding to the first carrier (Karki, [0014], figure 4, HARQ-ACK feedback timing in PUCCH associated with a carrier and a subcarrier spacing).
As to claim 13, Karki discloses wherein the method further comprises: determining, by the terminal, the first carrier according to a network-side indication or a predefined rule (Karki, [0004], HARQ-ACK carrier information is provided to UE by the network in downlink control information within a Physical Downlink Control Channel).
As to claim 14, Karki discloses wherein the first carrier and/or the second carrier is determined based on one of the following: a carrier with a smallest number in carriers configured with a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource; a carrier with a largest number in carriers configured with a PUCCH resource; a carrier corresponding to a current location in a PUCCH cell timing pattern (Karki, figure 3 and figure 4, PUCCH locations for HARQ-ACK transmission; [0004], determining PUCCH location for sending HARQ-ACK based on received PDSCH); a carrier determined according to an order of numbers of multiple carriers in a case that the first carrier and/or the second carrier corresponds to the multiple carriers; a carrier of a semi-persistent scheduling SPS physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) received by the terminal; a carrier for uplink transmission indicated by downlink control information (DCI); a primary carrier, a primary cell (PCell), or a primary secondary cell (PScell); and a secondary cell (SCell).
As to claim 15, Karki discloses wherein the first subcarrier spacing and/or the second subcarrier spacing is determined based on one of the following: a reference subcarrier spacing configured by a network-side device (Karki, [0004], HARQ-ACK carrier information is provided to UE by the network in downlink control information within a Physical Downlink Control Channel); a subcarrier spacing uniformly configured by the network-side device for a cell group; a subcarrier spacing corresponding to a carrier with a smallest number in carriers configured with a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource; a subcarrier spacing corresponding to a carrier with a largest number in carriers configured with a PUCCH resource; a subcarrier spacing of a carrier corresponding to a current location in a PUCCH cell timing pattern; a subcarrier spacing of a carrier determined according to an order of numbers of multiple carriers in a case that the first carrier and/or the second carrier corresponds to the multiple carriers, or a subcarrier spacing determined according to an order of subcarrier spacings of the multiple carriers; a subcarrier spacing of a carrier of a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) received by the terminal; a subcarrier spacing of a carrier for uplink transmission indicated by downlink control information (DCI); a subcarrier spacing of a primary carrier, a primary cell (PCell), or a primary secondary cell (PScell); and a subcarrier spacing of a secondary cell (SCell).
As to claim 16, 17 and 19, the claim is rejected as applied to claim 1, 2 and10 respectively above by Karki in view of Yi.
As to claim 20, the claim is rejected as applied to claim 1 above by Karki in view of Yi.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5-9 and 18 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GAUTAM SHARMA whose telephone number is (571)270-7182. The examiner can normally be reached 11am-8pm.
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/GAUTAM SHARMA/ Examiner, Art Unit 2467
/HASSAN A PHILLIPS/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2467