DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 4-5, 13-15, 18-19 and 28-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Cozzo (US Pub. 2024/0049250).
Regarding claim 1, Cozzo discloses an apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:
a memory comprising instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the instructions (par.048, 052, 055) and cause the apparatus to:
obtain radio resource control (RRC) signaling configuring the apparatus with at least one physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource (par.094 “receptions by the serving gNB in one or more of time/frequency/spatial/power domains…….by UE-specific RRC signaling”); obtain additional signaling indicating an update to the PUCCH resource (par.094 “The UE can also be provide resources for PUCCH transmission providing STR information……additionally provide information…..relate to latency requirements”); and output, for transmission, uplink control information (UCI) using the updated PUCCH resource (par.0100 “a UE can provide STR information together with other UCI…..in a PUCCH…..thereby introducing STR information as a new UCI type”, par.0131 “The UE transmits a second PUCCH providing STR information in a next TO using a second PUCCH resource”).
Regarding claims 4 and 18, Cozzo discloses the additional signaling comprises at least one of: a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (par.0102 “provide to a UE……enable use of a MAC CE”), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) (par.0111 “indexes of the set of NW operation states……..a NW operation state is valid, the UE monitors PDCCH according to a search space set”) or the MAC CE indicates a set of options for updating the PUCCH resource; and the PDCCH indicates one of the set of options (consideration is optional).
Regarding claims 5 and 19, Cozzo discloses the one or more processors are further configured to execute the instructions and cause the apparatus to obtain signaling configuring the apparatus with PUCCH occasions (par.103-104 “PUCCH transmission occasions”), wherein the additional signaling indicates the update to the PUCCH resource as an indication of valid occasions for PUCCH transmission among configured PUCCH occasions (par.0103, par.0111 “a NW operation state is valid, the UE monitors PDCCH according to a search space set”).
Regarding claim 13, Cozzo discloses the UCI comprises a scheduling request (SR) (par.0100 “other UCI, such as ….a SR”); and the additional signaling indicates an update to the PUCCH resource according to an SR configuration (par.0100 “SR, in a PUCCH”).
Regarding claim 14, Cozzo discloses further comprising at least one transceiver (par.005) configured to receive the RRC signaling, receive the additional signaling, and transmit the UCI, wherein the apparatus is configured as a user equipment (UE) (par.094, 0100).
Regarding claim 15, Cozzo discloses everything as claim 1 above. More specifically, Cozzo discloses a memory comprising instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the instructions (par.051-052).
Regarding claim 28, Cozzo discloses at least one transceiver (par.006 “The BS includes a transceiver”) configured to transmit the RRC signaling, transmit the additional signaling, and receive the UCI, wherein the apparatus is configured as a network entity (par.094 “a serving gNB”).
Regarding claim 29, Cozzo discloses everything as claim 1 above. More specifically, Cozzo discloses a network node (par.094 “a serving gNB…..to a configuration for transmission and receptions by the serving gNB”).
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 10 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cozzo (US Pub. 2024/0049250) in view of Zhou (US Pub. 2023/0328652).
Regarding claims 10 and 24, Cozzo discloses channel state information (CSI) (par.0100 “such as a CSI report”). However, Cozzo fails to teach the UCI comprises hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) feedback.
Zhou discloses the UCI comprises at a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) feedback (par.0102 “a physical uplink for carrying UCI, which may include HARQ acknowledgments……scheduling requests SR”) the additional signaling further indicates at least one of: at least one other PUCCH resource associated with a CSI report configuration (par.0211 “CSI report….via a physical uplink control channel PUCCH”, par.0213 “the plurality of PUCCH resource sets”), an update to a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource (ID) associated with a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) configuration for the HARQ ACK feedback; activation or deactivation of at least one other PUCCH resource configured in an SPS PUCCH HARQ ACK feedback list; activation or deactivation of one or more other PUCCH resources configured in a multiple CSI PUCCH resource list (consideration is optional). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of Cozzo with the above teaching of Zhou in order to provide a physical uplink for carrying UCI, which may include HARQ acknowledgments.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3, 6-9, 11-12, 16-17, 20-23, 25-27 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 Examiner Tu Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)272-7883. The examiner can normally be reached on 8AM-5PM Eastern Time.
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P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
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/TU X NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2642
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