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 .
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)(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 1-3, 6-9, 12, 14-16 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (US Pub. 2022/0232605).
Regarding claims 1, 7 and 14, Kim teaches a communications method, comprising: sending, by a terminal device, recommendation information to a network device, wherein the recommendation information indicates a recommendation of the terminal device for performing uplink scheduling by the network device (“uplink scheduling information 215” in [0085]); and receiving, by the terminal device, a configuration parameter of the uplink scheduling from the network device (“Based on the uplink scheduling information, the base station 105-a may allocate uplink resources, which may be indicated to the UE 115-a in RRC message 220 (e.g., for a configured grant)” in [0085]), the configuration parameter being determined based on the recommendation information, wherein the sending the recommendation information includes sending the following for uplink grant-free scheduling (“configured grant” in [0085]): periodicity information or time domain offset information (“the UAI may indicate one or more of a periodicity of uplink traffic, an offset between uplink traffic and a packet arrival” in [0085]).
Regarding claims 6, 12 and 19, Kim teaches the sending the recommendation information further includes: sending, by the terminal device, a radio resource control (RRC) message to the network device, wherein the RRC message includes the recommendation information, and the RRC message is one of the following messages: an RRC connection resume complete message, an RRC connection setup complete message, an RRC connection reconfiguration complete message, and an RRC recommendation message (“sending the UAI to the serving base station (e.g., in uplink control information (UCI), in RRC signaling (e.g., in an information element for UAI)” in [0091]).
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 4, 5, 10, 11, 13, 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. in view of Lei et al. (US Pub. 2021/0337511).
Regarding claims 4, 10 and 17, Kim teaches the limitations in claims 1, 7 and 14 as shown above. Kim, however, does not teach the sending the recommendation information including sending the following for uplink transmission: a number of repetitions, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), or spectral efficiency of an MCS. Lei teaches the sending the recommendation information including sending the following for uplink transmission: a number of repetitions, a modulation and coding scheme MCS, or spectral efficiency of an MCS (“the enhanced UAI 512 may include an indication of the UE preferred bandwidth, modulation and coding scheme (MCS)” in [0086]). It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kim to have the sending the recommendation information including sending the following for uplink transmission: a number of repetitions, a modulation and coding scheme MCS, or spectral efficiency of an MCS as taught by Lei in order to satisfy latency requirements [0086].
Regarding claims 5, 11 and 18, Lei teaches the sending the recommendation information further includes sending: validity time information, probability information, target information, or reward feedback information (“the enhanced UAI indicating a BWP for the target cell” in [0111]).
Regarding claim 13, Lei teaches the determining the configuration parameter includes: determining, by the network device, the configuration parameter based on the recommendation information (“the enhanced UAI transmission indicates a preferred BWP” in [0107]) and a load status of the network device (“the BWPs may be configured for load balancing or for a reduced UE capability” in [0076]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 02/04/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. In pages 9-10, the applicant argues that Kim does not teach UAI in Grant-Free Scheduling. Kim teaches UAI in Grant-Free Scheduling (“Based on the uplink scheduling information, the base station 105-a may allocate uplink resources, which may be indicated to the UE 115-a in RRC message 220 (e.g., for a configured grant)” in [0085]).
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CLEMENCE S HAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3158. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-5PM EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Edan Orgad can be reached at (571)272-7884. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/CLEMENCE S HAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414
Prosecution Insights