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
2. Claims 1, 3, 32-35 and 40 are amended. Claims 7-8 and 38-39 are cancelled. Claim 41-43 are added. Claims 1-6, 32-37 and 40-43 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed on 2/5/2026 with respect to claims 1-6, 32-37 and 40, have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
5. Claims 1, 3, 32, 34, 40-41 and 43 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (US. Pub. No. 2020/0177336 A1) in view of Bergstrom et al. (US. Pub. No. 2023/0179335 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Wu discloses a wireless communication method (See Abstract), comprising:
receiving, by a first device from a second device, a first control information that schedules a first transmission on a first cell with the first device (See Par. [74]-[76], [93] and Fig. 4; 402 of Wu for a reference to a first device [User Equipment] receives first control information from a second device [Base station]. The first control information schedules at least one physical channel transmission on a first cell), wherein the first device comprises a user equipment and the second device comprises a base station (See Par. [88] of Wu for a reference to the first device is a terminal (UE), the second device is a network device (BS)),
wherein the first control information indicates a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity associated with the first transmission (See Par. [45]-[49], [74], [93] of Wu for a reference to the first control information schedules at least one physical channel transmission that corresponds to a HARQ-ACK codebook); and
communicating, by the first device, performing an operation to process the first transmission (See Par. [80]-[84], [299] and Fig. 4 of Wu for a reference to the first device [UE] performs the HARQ feedback process and transmits the HARQ-Ack codebook, to the BS, on the first feedback resource, according to the first control information).
Wu does not explicitly disclose wherein the first control information includes a field with at least one bit that indicates a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity, among more than one HARQ entities, associated with the first transmission.
However, Bergstrom discloses wherein the first control information includes a field with at least one bit that indicates a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity, among more than one HARQ entities, associated with the first transmission (See Par. [87]-[90], [95]-[100] and Fig. 6-7 of Bergstrom for a reference to receiving from the wireless communication network, in a first transmission-time interval, a request for hybrid automatic repeat-request (HARQ) feedback, the request indicating one or more HARQ processes. The request for HARQ feedback comprises a bitmap [Field], such that each bit in the bitmap corresponds to a particular one of a plurality of HARQ processes and indicates whether feedback is requested for the corresponding HARQ process).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Bergstrom to Wu. The motivation for combination would be to improve network’s performance, by enabling the network to know, with much higher reliability, which HARQ processes really require a retransmission [By allowing the network to explicitly request HARQ feedback for specific HARQ processes], thus reducing wasteful retransmissions on other HARQ processes due to incomplete HARQ information. (Bergstrom; Par. [50])
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Wu and Bergstrom, specifically Wu discloses wherein the first control information includes a first HARQ process associated with the first transmission (See Par. [45]-[49], [74], [93] of Wu for a reference to the first control information schedules at least one physical channel transmission that corresponds to a HARQ-ACK codebook), wherein the method includes:
receiving, by the first device from the second device, a second control information that schedules a second transmission on a second cell with the first device prior to the first transmission (See Par. [74]-[76], [93] and Fig. 4; 402 of Wu for a reference to a first device [User Equipment] receives second control information from a second device [Base station]. The second control information schedules at least one physical channel transmission on a second cell), wherein the second control information indicates the first HARQ entity and the first HARQ process that are associated with the second transmission (See Par. [129], [215]-[216], [380] of Wu for a reference to the first feedback resource includes a PSSCH resource, and the first feedback resource is scheduled by the second control info, which includes a first uplink DAI field [that determines the number of feedback bits included in the first HARQ codebook], and a second uplink DAI field [that determines the number of feedback bits included in the second HARQ codebook]); and
determining, by the first device, that the second transmission is previous transmission of the first transmission in time domain based on the first control information and the second control information (See Par. [64], [112]-[113], [117] of Wu for a reference to the first UE, and based on the NDI [Control info] of the second transmission, and based on comparing the second NDI to the NDI previously received and stored, determines that the second transmission is a retransmission (Previous transmission of a first transmission in time)).
Regarding claim 32, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth
in claim 1, including an apparatus (See Fig. 11; Communication Device) comprising (See Fig. 11; Processor 1101).
Regarding claim 34, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth
in claim 3.
Regarding claim 40, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth
in claim 1, including a non-transitory computer readable program storage medium having code stored thereon (See Par. [502]-[503] of Wu for a reference to a computer-readable storage medium in which a computer program is stored and is used to be executed by a processor).
Regarding claim 41, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth
in claim 1.
Regarding claim 43, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth
in claim 3.
6. Claims 2, 4-6, 33, 35-37 and 42 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu in view of Bergstrom et al. and further in view of Park et al. (US. Pub. No. 2015/0230269 A1).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Wu and Bergstrom does not explicitly disclose a method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the first device from the second device, a radio resource control (RRC) signaling that indicates the first HARQ entity associated with a configured grant transmission or a semi-persistent transmission.
However, Park discloses receiving, by the first device from the second device, a radio resource control (RRC) signaling that indicates the first HARQ entity associated with a configured grant transmission or a semi-persistent transmission (See Par. [17], [80] and Fig. 6 of Park for a reference to the UE receives UL grant/Scheduling info, in accordance with the HARQ process, from the BS via a radio resource control (RRC) message. The UL scheduling info includes UE identifier [C-RNTI or Semi-persistent scheduling C-RNTI]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Park to the combination of Wu and Bergstrom. The motivation for combination would be to improve network’s performance, by efficiently processing NDI received during a random access procedure and NDI received after the random access procedure in accordance with the HARQ scheme. (Park; Par. [33])
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Wu and Bergstrom does not explicitly disclose determining whether the first transmission is a new transmission or a retransmission by comparing a first new data indicator (NDI) value in the first control information to a second NDI value in the second control information.
However, Park discloses determining whether the first transmission is a new transmission or a retransmission by comparing a first new data indicator (NDI) value in the first control information to a second NDI value in the second control information (See Par. [30], [86], [117] of Park for a reference to comparing, by the UE, the first new data indicator (NDI) to a second NDI. Based on the result of comparison, determining whether data is a new data or a retransmission).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Park to the combination of Wu and Bergstrom. The motivation for combination would be to improve network’s performance, by efficiently processing NDI received during a random access procedure and NDI received after the random access procedure in accordance with the HARQ scheme. (Park; Par. [33])
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Wu and Bergstrom does not explicitly disclose wherein the first transmission is determined to be a new transmission in response to the first NDI value being different than the second NDI value.
However, Park discloses wherein the first transmission is determined to be a new transmission in response to the first NDI value being different than the second NDI value (See Par. [117] of Park for a reference to that if the NDI field value received through DL assignment is different from that previously stored, corresponding to the HARQ process, the UE regards the received data as a new data).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Park to the combination of Wu and Bergstrom. The motivation for combination would be to improve network’s performance, by efficiently processing NDI received during a random access procedure and NDI received after the random access procedure in accordance with the HARQ scheme. (Park; Par. [33])
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Wu and Bergstrom does not explicitly disclose wherein the first transmission is determined to be a retransmission in response to the first NDI value being same as the second NDI value.
However, Park discloses wherein the first transmission is determined to be a retransmission in response to the first NDI value being same as the second NDI value (See Par. [117] of Park for a reference to that if the NDI field value received through DL assignment is the same as that previously stored, corresponding to the HARQ process, the UE regards the received data as a retransmission).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Park to the combination of Wu and Bergstrom. The motivation for combination would be to improve network’s performance, by efficiently processing NDI received during a random access procedure and NDI received after the random access procedure in accordance with the HARQ scheme. (Park; Par. [33])
Regarding claim 33, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth
in claim 2.
Regarding claim 35, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth
in claim 4.
Regarding claim 36, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth
in claim 5.
Regarding claim 37, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth
in claim 6.
Regarding claim 42, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth
in claim 2.
Conclusion
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wu (US. Pub. No. 2023/0371020 A1) discloses techniques for enhancing the scheme of scheduling PDSCH for a high-frequency system to improve system performance.
Zhou et al. (US. Pub. No. 2022/0104187 A1) discloses a method for enabling operations on multiple TRPs and/or multiple panels of a wireless device and/or a base station.
Lin (US. Pub. No. 2021/0194637 A1) discloses a method for determining a HARQ-ACK codebook, a terminal device and a network device.
8. 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication from the examiner should be directed to RASHA FAYED whose telephone number is (571) 270-3804. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00AM-4:30PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the supervisory Examiner, Un Cho can be reached on (571)272-7919. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/R.K.F/Examiner, Art Unit 2413
/UN C CHO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2413
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