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 amendment filed on May 6, 2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 9-10, 14-15 and 19 have been amended. No claims are canceled. No claims have been added. Claims 1-20 are still pending in this application, with claims 1, 14 and 19 being independent.
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, 4, 13-14, 16 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (U.S. PGPub 2022/0046634), hereinafter referred to as Huang in view of Qu et al. (U.S. PGPub 2020/0077370), hereinafter referred to as Qu.
Regarding claim 1, Huang teaches a user equipment (UE) (UE; See Fig. 2, #120) for wireless communication, comprising:
one or more antennas (antenna; See Fig. 2, #252a); and
a processing system that includes one or more processors (processor; See Fig. 2, #280), one or more memories (memory; See Fig. 2, #282) that store code for the one or more processors, the processing system configured to cause the UE to:
apply a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) orthogonal cover code (OCC) (A DFT vector with DFT index n may be applied to DMRS symbols as an orthogonal cover code; See [0048]) to a first virtual hop that is associated with a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission (The UE maps the first orthogonal sequence to a first set of virtual resources and the second orthogonal sequence to a second set of virtual resources. To generate orthogonal sequences in a virtual hop domain, a pool of orthogonal sequences may be generated based on the Kronecker product of a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and a cyclic shift (CS) (e.g., as DFT(n)*S(CS.sub.m)). If N is even, an identical sequence pool may be used to generate the first and second orthogonal sequences in the first and second virtual hops; See [0054] and [0071]); and
apply the DFT OCC to a second virtual hop that is associated with the PUCCH transmission (The UE maps the first orthogonal sequence to a first set of virtual resources and the second orthogonal sequence to a second set of virtual resources. To generate orthogonal sequences in a virtual hop domain, a pool of orthogonal sequences may be generated based on the Kronecker product of a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and a cyclic shift (CS) (e.g., as DFT(n)*S(CS.sub.m)). If N is even, an identical sequence pool may be used to generate the first and second orthogonal sequences in the first and second virtual hops; See [0054] and [0071]), wherein the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop are associated with equal quantities of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols (If N is even, an identical sequence pool may be used to generate the first and second orthogonal sequences in the first and second virtual hops; See [0071]), wherein a size of the DFT OCC is based at least in part on the quantities of OFDM symbols (The size of the DFT may be one-half of the total number of OFDM symbols N used to transmit the PUCCH; See [0071]).
Huang fails to explicitly teach the processing system configured to cause the UE to transmit the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop over a same frequency.
Qu teaches a UE (terminal device; See Fig. 8, #800) comprising a processing system (processor; See Fig. 8, #801) configured to cause the UE to transmit the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop over a same frequency (transmitting using the PUCCH without frequency hopping. The virtual resources are mapped to physical resources including frequency; See [0220] and [0222]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Huang to include the processing system configured to cause the UE to transmit the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop over a same frequency taught by Qu in order to improve channel estimation performance.
Regarding claim 4, Huang further teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein the first virtual hop is associated with a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence and the second virtual hop is associated with the DMRS sequence (A DFT vector with DFT index n may be applied to DMRS symbols as an orthogonal cover code. PUCCH may transmit a specific sequence on DMRS symbols, implying the same DMRS sequence. The UE maps the first orthogonal sequence to a first set of virtual resources and the second orthogonal sequence to a second set of virtual resources; See [0048]-[0049] and [0054]).
Regarding claim 13, Huang further teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein the PUCCH transmission is a PUCCH format 1 transmission (a legacy PUCCH format. The legacy format may be an NR Release 15 format 1 PUCCH; See [0048]).
Regarding claim 14, Huang teaches a network node (BS; See Fig. 2, #110) for wireless communication, comprising:
one or more antennas (antenna; See Fig. 2, #234a); and
a processing system that includes one or more processors (processor; See Fig. 2, #240), and one or more memories (memory; See Fig. 2, #242) that store code for the one or more processors, the processing system configured to cause the network node to:
obtain a first virtual hop that is associated with a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission, wherein a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) orthogonal cover code (OCC) (A DFT vector with DFT index n may be applied to DMRS symbols as an orthogonal cover code; See [0048]) is applied to the first virtual hop (The UE maps the first orthogonal sequence to a first set of virtual resources and the second orthogonal sequence to a second set of virtual resources. To generate orthogonal sequences in a virtual hop domain, a pool of orthogonal sequences may be generated based on the Kronecker product of a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and a cyclic shift (CS) (e.g., as DFT(n)*S(CS.sub.m)). If N is even, an identical sequence pool may be used to generate the first and second orthogonal sequences in the first and second virtual hops; See [0054] and [0071]); and
obtain a second virtual hop that is associated with the PUCCH transmission, wherein the DFT OCC is applied to the second virtual hop (The UE maps the first orthogonal sequence to a first set of virtual resources and the second orthogonal sequence to a second set of virtual resources. To generate orthogonal sequences in a virtual hop domain, a pool of orthogonal sequences may be generated based on the Kronecker product of a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and a cyclic shift (CS) (e.g., as DFT(n)*S(CS.sub.m)). If N is even, an identical sequence pool may be used to generate the first and second orthogonal sequences in the first and second virtual hops; See [0054] and [0071]), the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop are associated with equal quantities of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols (If N is even, an identical sequence pool may be used to generate the first and second orthogonal sequences in the first and second virtual hops; See [0071]), a size of the DFT OCC is based at least in part on the quantities of OFDM symbols (The size of the DFT may be one-half of the total number of OFDM symbols N used to transmit the PUCCH; See [0071]).
Huang fails to teach the processing system configured to cause the network node to receive the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop over a same frequency.
Qu teaches a network node (network device; See Fig. 9, #900) comprising a processing system (processor; See Fig. 8, #902) configured to cause the network node to receive the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop over a same frequency (transmitting using the PUCCH without frequency hopping. The virtual resources are mapped to physical resources including frequency; See [0220] and [0222]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Huang to include the processing system configured to cause the network node to receive the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop over a same frequency taught by Qu in order to improve channel estimation performance.
Regarding claim 16, Huang further teaches the network node of claim 14, wherein the first virtual hop is associated with a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence and the second virtual hop is associated with the DMRS sequence (A DFT vector with DFT index n may be applied to DMRS symbols as an orthogonal cover code. PUCCH may transmit a specific sequence on DMRS symbols, implying the same DMRS sequence. The UE maps the first orthogonal sequence to a first set of virtual resources and the second orthogonal sequence to a second set of virtual resources; See [0048]-[0049] and [0054]).
Regarding claim 19, Huang teaches a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
applying a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) orthogonal cover code (OCC) (A DFT vector with DFT index n may be applied to DMRS symbols as an orthogonal cover code; See [0048]) to a first virtual hop that is associated with a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission (The UE maps the first orthogonal sequence to a first set of virtual resources and the second orthogonal sequence to a second set of virtual resources. To generate orthogonal sequences in a virtual hop domain, a pool of orthogonal sequences may be generated based on the Kronecker product of a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and a cyclic shift (CS) (e.g., as DFT(n)*S(CS.sub.m)). If N is even, an identical sequence pool may be used to generate the first and second orthogonal sequences in the first and second virtual hops; See [0054] and [0071]); and
applying the DFT OCC to a second virtual hop that is associated with the PUCCH transmission (The UE maps the first orthogonal sequence to a first set of virtual resources and the second orthogonal sequence to a second set of virtual resources. To generate orthogonal sequences in a virtual hop domain, a pool of orthogonal sequences may be generated based on the Kronecker product of a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and a cyclic shift (CS) (e.g., as DFT(n)*S(CS.sub.m)). If N is even, an identical sequence pool may be used to generate the first and second orthogonal sequences in the first and second virtual hops; See [0054] and [0071]), wherein the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop are associated with equal quantities of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols (If N is even, an identical sequence pool may be used to generate the first and second orthogonal sequences in the first and second virtual hops; See [0071]), wherein a size of the DFT OCC is based at least in part on the quantities of OFDM symbols (The size of the DFT may be one-half of the total number of OFDM symbols N used to transmit the PUCCH; See [0071]).
Huang fails to explicitly teach the processing system configured to cause the UE to transmit the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop over a same frequency.
Qu teaches a UE (terminal device; See Fig. 8, #800) comprising a processing system (processor; See Fig. 8, #801) configured to cause the UE to transmit the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop over a same frequency (transmitting using the PUCCH without frequency hopping. The virtual resources are mapped to physical resources including frequency; See [0220] and [0222]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Huang to include the processing system configured to cause the UE to transmit the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop over a same frequency taught by Qu in order to improve channel estimation performance.
Claims 2-3, 8, 15,18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of Qu as applied to claims 1 and 19 above, and further in view of He et al. (U.S. PGPub 2024/0224322), hereinafter referred to as He.
Regarding claim 2, Huang in view of Qu fails to teach the UE of claim 1, wherein the PUCCH transmission is a first PUCCH transmission, wherein the DFT OCC is a first DFT OCC, wherein a hop, of a second PUCCH transmission, that is multiplexed with the first virtual hop or the second virtual hop on a resource block (RB) is associated with a second DFT OCC, and wherein a size of the second DFT OCC is the size of the first DFT OCC.
He teaches wherein the PUCCH transmission is a first PUCCH transmission (wherein redcap and non-redcap transmissions are interpreted as the first and second PUCCH), wherein the DFT OCC is a first DFT OCC, wherein a hop, of a second PUCCH transmission, that is multiplexed with the first virtual hop or the second virtual hop on a resource block (RB) is associated with a second DFT OCC (the redcap PUCCH transmission may be generated using a non-zero index for OCC. The index value of the OCC used may be based on the number of OFDM symbols used for the redcap PUCCH transmission. This may provide some orthogonality with respect to the non-redcap PUCCH transmission, which will use a zero index for OCC; See [0111]), and wherein a size of the second DFT OCC is the size of the first DFT OCC (The index value of the OCC used may be based on the number of OFDM symbols used for the redcap PUCCH transmission; See [0111]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Huang in view of Qu to include wherein the PUCCH transmission is a first PUCCH transmission, wherein the DFT OCC is a first DFT OCC, wherein a hop, of a second PUCCH transmission, that is multiplexed with the first virtual hop or the second virtual hop on a resource block (RB) is associated with a second DFT OCC, and wherein a size of the second DFT OCC is the size of the first DFT OCC taught by He in order to optimize communication.
Regarding claim 3, Huang in view of Qu fails to teach the UE of claim 2, wherein the hop of the second PUCCH transmission is associated with physical frequency hopping.
He teaches wherein the hop of the second PUCCH transmission is associated with physical frequency hopping (non-redcap PUCCH with frequency hopping; See [0033]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Huang in view of Qu to include wherein the hop of the second PUCCH transmission is associated with physical frequency hopping taught by He in order to optimize communication.
Regarding claim 8, Huang in view of Qu fails to teach the UE of claim 1, wherein a block-level OCC is applied to the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop.
He teaches wherein a block-level OCC is applied to the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop (the redcap PUCCH transmission may be generated using a non-zero index for OCC, wherein the redcap transmissions are interpreted as the first and second virtual hops of the first PUCCH; See [0111]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Huang in view of Qu to include wherein a block-level OCC is applied to the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop taught by He in order to optimize communication.
Regarding claim 15, Huang in view of Qu fails to teach the network node of claim 14, wherein the PUCCH transmission is a first PUCCH transmission, wherein the DFT OCC is a first DFT OCC, and wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the network node to: obtain a hop, of a second PUCCH transmission, that is multiplexed with the first virtual hop or the second virtual hop on a resource block (RB), wherein the hop of the second PUCCH transmission is associated with a second DFT OCC, and wherein a size of the second DFT OCC is the size of the first DFT OCC.
He teaches wherein the PUCCH transmission is a first PUCCH transmission (wherein redcap and non-redcap transmissions are interpreted as the first and second PUCCH), and wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the network node to: obtain a hop, of a second PUCCH transmission, that is multiplexed with the first virtual hop or the second virtual hop on a resource block (RB), wherein the hop of the second PUCCH transmission is associated with a second DFT OCC (the redcap PUCCH transmission may be generated using a non-zero index for OCC. The index value of the OCC used may be based on the number of OFDM symbols used for the redcap PUCCH transmission. This may provide some orthogonality with respect to the non-redcap PUCCH transmission, which will use a zero index for OCC; See [0111]), and wherein a size of the second DFT OCC is the size of the first DFT OCC (The index value of the OCC used may be based on the number of OFDM symbols used for the redcap PUCCH transmission; See [0111]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Huang in view of Qu to include wherein the PUCCH transmission is a first PUCCH transmission, wherein the DFT OCC is a first DFT OCC, and wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the network node to: obtain a hop, of a second PUCCH transmission, that is multiplexed with the first virtual hop or the second virtual hop on a resource block (RB), wherein the hop of the second PUCCH transmission is associated with a second DFT OCC, and wherein a size of the second DFT OCC is the size of the first DFT OCC taught by He in order to optimize communication.
Regarding claim 18, Huang in view of Qu fails to teach the network node of claim 14, wherein a block-level OCC is applied to the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop.
He teaches wherein a block-level OCC is applied to the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop (the redcap PUCCH transmission may be generated using a non-zero index for OCC, wherein the redcap transmissions are interpreted as the first and second virtual hops of the first PUCCH; See [0111]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Huang in view of Qu to include wherein a block-level OCC is applied to the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop taught by He in order to optimize communication.
Regarding claim 20, Huang in view of Qu fails to teach the method of claim 19, wherein the PUCCH transmission is a first PUCCH transmission, wherein the DFT OCC is a first DFT OCC, wherein a hop, of a second PUCCH transmission, that is multiplexed with the first virtual hop or the second virtual hop on a resource block (RB) is associated with a second DFT OCC, and wherein a size of the second DFT OCC is the size of the first DFT OCC.
He teaches wherein the PUCCH transmission is a first PUCCH transmission (wherein redcap and non-redcap transmissions are interpreted as the first and second PUCCH), wherein the DFT OCC is a first DFT OCC, wherein a hop, of a second PUCCH transmission, that is multiplexed with the first virtual hop or the second virtual hop on a resource block (RB) is associated with a second DFT OCC (the redcap PUCCH transmission may be generated using a non-zero index for OCC. The index value of the OCC used may be based on the number of OFDM symbols used for the redcap PUCCH transmission. This may provide some orthogonality with respect to the non-redcap PUCCH transmission, which will use a zero index for OCC; See [0111]), and wherein a size of the second DFT OCC is the size of the first DFT OCC (The index value of the OCC used may be based on the number of OFDM symbols used for the redcap PUCCH transmission; See [0111]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the method of Huang in view of Qu to include wherein the PUCCH transmission is a first PUCCH transmission, wherein the DFT OCC is a first DFT OCC, wherein a hop, of a second PUCCH transmission, that is multiplexed with the first virtual hop or the second virtual hop on a resource block (RB) is associated with a second DFT OCC, and wherein a size of the second DFT OCC is the size of the first DFT OCC taught by He in order to optimize communication.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of Qu as applied to claim 4 above, and further in view of Hwang et al. (U.S. PGPub 2017/0366380), hereinafter referred to as Hwang.
Regarding claim 5, Huang in view of Qu fails to teach the UE of claim 4, wherein the PUCCH transmission is a first PUCCH transmission, and wherein a hop, of a second PUCCH transmission, that is multiplexed with the first virtual hop or the second virtual hop on a resource block (RB) is associated with the DMRS sequence.
Hwang teaches wherein the PUCCH transmission is a first PUCCH transmission, and wherein a hop, of a second PUCCH transmission, that is multiplexed with the first virtual hop or the second virtual hop on a resource block (RB) is associated with the DMRS sequence (multiple PUCCHs for a single or multiple UEs may be permitted to be multiplexed by using the OCC with respect to an area other than the DMRS. However, even in the case of the DMRS, the CDM needs to be enabled for each of the multiple PUCCH resources like the data region. Based on the existing LTE 11 system, in PUCCH format 3, the multiple PUCCHs are permitted to be multiplexed in the same RB (pair) through the OCC of which the length is 5 (when the shortened PUCCH format is not used) with respect to the area other than the DMRS and in the case of the DMRS, the multiple PUCCH resources are permitted to be multiplexed within the same RB (pair) by changing a cyclic shift value for the DMRS based on the parameter defined by the corresponding OCC index in the case of the DMRS. An equation given below is an equation used at the time of applying the cyclic shift for the DMRS in PUCCH format 3; See [0254]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the method of Huang in view of Qu to include wherein the PUCCH transmission is a first PUCCH transmission, and wherein a hop, of a second PUCCH transmission, that is multiplexed with the first virtual hop or the second virtual hop on a resource block (RB) is associated with the DMRS sequence taught by Hwang in order to optimize carrier aggregation.
Claims 6 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of Qu as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of Yang et al. (U.S. PGPub 2022/0240288), hereinafter referred to as Yang.
Regarding claim 6, Huang in view of Qu fails to teach the UE of claim 1, wherein the first virtual hop is associated with a first demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence and the second virtual hop is associated with a second DMRS sequence that is different from the first DMRS sequence.
Yang teaches wherein the first virtual hop is associated with a first demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence and the second virtual hop is associated with a second DMRS sequence that is different from the first DMRS sequence (A plurality (e.g., 2 or a multiple of 2) of DMRS transmission OFDM symbols may be configured in the single PUCCH resource, and T-domain (e.g., length-2) OCC may be applied to the corresponding DMRS symbols; See [0187]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Huang in view of Qu to include wherein the first virtual hop is associated with a first demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence and the second virtual hop is associated with a second DMRS sequence that is different from the first DMRS sequence taught by Yang in order to optimize efficiency.
Regarding claim 17, Huang in view of Qu fails to teach the network node of claim 14, wherein the first virtual hop is associated with a first demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence and the second virtual hop is associated with a second DMRS sequence that is different from the first DMRS sequence.
Yang teaches wherein the first virtual hop is associated with a first demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence and the second virtual hop is associated with a second DMRS sequence that is different from the first DMRS sequence (A plurality (e.g., 2 or a multiple of 2) of DMRS transmission OFDM symbols may be configured in the single PUCCH resource, and T-domain (e.g., length-2) OCC may be applied to the corresponding DMRS symbols; See [0187]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Huang in view of Qu to include wherein the first virtual hop is associated with a first demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence and the second virtual hop is associated with a second DMRS sequence that is different from the first DMRS sequence taught by Yang in order to optimize efficiency.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of Qu and Yang as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Hwang.
Regarding claim 7, Huang in view of Qu and Yang fails to teach the UE of claim 6, wherein the PUCCH transmission is a first PUCCH transmission, and wherein a hop, of a second PUCCH transmission, is multiplexed with the first virtual hop on a resource block (RB) and is associated with the first DMRS sequence, or the hop is multiplexed with the second virtual hop on the RB and is associated with the second DMRS sequence.
Hwang teaches wherein the PUCCH transmission is a first PUCCH transmission, and wherein a hop, of a second PUCCH transmission, is multiplexed with the first virtual hop on a resource block (RB) and is associated with the first DMRS sequence, or the hop is multiplexed with the second virtual hop on the RB and is associated with the second DMRS sequence (multiple PUCCHs for a single or multiple UEs may be permitted to be multiplexed by using the OCC with respect to an area other than the DMRS. However, even in the case of the DMRS, the CDM needs to be enabled for each of the multiple PUCCH resources like the data region. Based on the existing LTE 11 system, in PUCCH format 3, the multiple PUCCHs are permitted to be multiplexed in the same RB (pair) through the OCC of which the length is 5 (when the shortened PUCCH format is not used) with respect to the area other than the DMRS and in the case of the DMRS, the multiple PUCCH resources are permitted to be multiplexed within the same RB (pair) by changing a cyclic shift value for the DMRS based on the parameter defined by the corresponding OCC index in the case of the DMRS. An equation given below is an equation used at the time of applying the cyclic shift for the DMRS in PUCCH format 3; See [0254]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the method of Huang in view of Qu and Yang to include wherein the PUCCH transmission is a first PUCCH transmission, and wherein a hop, of a second PUCCH transmission, is multiplexed with the first virtual hop on a resource block (RB) and is associated with the first DMRS sequence, or the hop is multiplexed with the second virtual hop on the RB and is associated with the second DMRS sequence taught by Hwang in order to optimize carrier aggregation.
Claims 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of Qu and He as applied to claim 8 above, and further in view of Matsumura et al. (U.S. PGPub 2020/0389260), hereinafter referred to as Matsumura.
Regarding claim 9, Huang in view of Qu and He fails to teach the UE of claim 8, wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the UE to: receive an indication of a first index associated with the block-level OCC and a second index associated with the DFT OCC.
Matsumura teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: receive an indication of a first index associated with the block-level OCC and a second index associated with the DFT OCC (the index of the orthogonal spreading code (for example, OCC (Orthogonal Cover Code)) in the time domain, and the length of the OCC (also referred to as “OCC length,” “spreading factor,” etc.) for use for block-wise spreading before the discrete Fourier transform (DFT); and The index of the OCC for use in block-wise spreading after the DFT; See [0044]-[0045]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Huang in view of Qu and He to include wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the UE to: receive an indication of a first index associated with the block-level OCC and a second index associated with the DFT OCC taught by Matsumura in order to properly determine resources for the control channel prior to RRC connection setup.
Regarding claim 10, Huang in view of Qu and He fails to teach the UE of claim 8, wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the UE to: receive an indication of an index associated with the block-level OCC and the DFT OCC.
Matsumura teaches wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the UE to: receive an indication of an index associated with the block-level OCC and the DFT OCC (the index of the orthogonal spreading code (for example, OCC (Orthogonal Cover Code)) in the time domain, and the length of the OCC (also referred to as “OCC length,” “spreading factor,” etc.) for use for block-wise spreading before the discrete Fourier transform (DFT); and The index of the OCC for use in block-wise spreading after the DFT; See [0044]-[0045]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Huang in view of Qu and He to include wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the UE to: receive an indication of an index associated with the block-level OCC and the DFT OCC taught by Matsumura in order to properly determine resources for the control channel prior to RRC connection setup.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of Qu, He and Matsumura as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of Yang et al. (U.S. PGPub 2017/0164352), hereinafter referred to as Yang_2.
Regarding claim 11, Huang in view of Qu and He fails to teach the UE of claim 10, wherein the index indicates a row or column in a matrix constructed based at least in part on a DFT matrix and the block-level OCC, and wherein the row or column contains the DFT OCC.
Matsumura teaches the index indicating the block-level OCC (the index of the orthogonal spreading code (for example, OCC (Orthogonal Cover Code)) in the time domain, and the length of the OCC (also referred to as “OCC length,” “spreading factor,” etc.) for use for block-wise spreading before the discrete Fourier transform (DFT); and The index of the OCC for use in block-wise spreading after the DFT; See [0044]-[0045]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Huang in view of Qu and He to include the index indicating the block-level OCC taught by Matsumura in order to properly determine resources for the control channel prior to RRC connection setup.
Huang in view of Qu, He and Matsumura still fails to teach wherein the index indicates a row or column in a matrix constructed based at least in part on a DFT matrix, and wherein the row or column contains the DFT OCC.
Yang_2 teaches wherein the index indicates a row or column in a matrix constructed based at least in part on a DFT matrix, and wherein the row or column contains the DFT OCC (the OCC sequences can for example be based on a Hadamard matrix with +1, −1 as in FIG. 6 or based on the columns/rows of an orthogonal matrix such as the DFT matrix; See [0098]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Huang in view of Qu, He and Matsumura to include wherein the index indicates a row or column in a matrix constructed based at least in part on a DFT matrix, and wherein the row or column contains the DFT OCC taught by Yang_2 in order to optimize resources.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of Qu as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yang_2.
Regarding claim 12, Huang in view of Qu fails to teach the UE of claim 1, wherein the DFT OCC is OFDM symbol-level OCC.
Yang_2 teaches wherein the DFT OCC is OFDM symbol-level OCC (the OCC sequences can for example be based on a Hadamard matrix with +1, −1 as in FIG. 6 or based on the columns/rows of an orthogonal matrix such as the DFT matrix; See [0098]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Huang in view of Qu to include wherein the DFT OCC is OFDM symbol-level OCC taught by Yang_2 in order to optimize resources.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 14 and 19 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.
On page 9 of the Applicants’ Response, Applicants state that Huang et al. (U.S. PGPub 2022/0046634) fails to teach transmitting the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop over a same frequency.
Examiner agrees and has introduced Qu et al. (U.S. PGPub 2020/0077370) which teaches the UE to transmit the first virtual hop and the second virtual hop over a same frequency (transmitting using the PUCCH without frequency hopping. The virtual resources are mapped to physical resources including frequency; See [0220] and [0222]).
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.
Conclusion
Any response to this action should be mailed to:
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/ASHLEY SHIVERS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477 7/10/2026
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