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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 1-2 in the Remarks, filed march 2, 2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claims 1, 8, 15, and 18 under 35 U.S.C 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Zhang et al (US Publication 2023/0361927 A1).
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.
Claim(s) 1, 8, 15, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu et al (US Publication 2023/0049911 A1) in view of Zhang et al (US Publication 2023/0361927 A1).
Regarding to claims 1 and 15, Hu discloses an apparatus 1100 (fig. 7) for wireless communication comprising a processor 1110 (page 12 paragraph 0189), configured to implement a method (fig. 3), the processor configured to: receive 301/302, by a communication device 32, a control information that indicates that a set of information (multiple DCIs) is to be received by the communication device using a multicast service (page 5 paragraph 0063); and transmit 303, by the communication device, hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ acknowledgement ACK information in a shared channel (page 7 paragraphs 0087-0088), wherein the HARQ-ACK information indicates whether the set of information is received or correctly decoded by the communication device (page 8 paragraph 0094; a value of ACK is 1 when the DCIs are received/decoded correctly), wherein the HARQ-ACK information is generated using assignment indexes (DAIs) included in the control information received by the communication device (page 7 paragraph 0088), wherein each of the assignment indexes indicates a size of the HARQ-ACK information to be transmitted by the communication device (page 8 paragraphs 0091-0092), and wherein the assignment indexes are associated with the multicast service and a unicast service (page 6 paragraph 0075).
Hu fails to teach for receiving, by a communication device, a radio resource control RRC signal that configures one or more group radio network temporary identifier G-RNTI groups, each G-RNTI group including a unique set of one or more group radio temporary identifiers G-RNTIs.
However, Zhang discloses a communication device 400 (fig. 12) for receiving a radio resource control RRC signal that configures one or more group radio network temporary identifier G-RNTI groups, each G-RNTI group including a unique set of one or more group radio temporary identifiers G-RNTIs (page 6 paragraph 0092).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to arrange for the G-RNTI as taught by Zhang into Hu’s system to increase multicast or broadcast services reliability in New Radio NR network via HARQ feedback.
Regarding to claims 8 and 18, Hu discloses an apparatus 2100 (fig. 8) for wireless communication comprising a processor 2110 (page 14 paragraph 0214), configured to implement a method (fig. 3), the processor configured to: transmit 301/302, by a network device 31, a control information that indicates that a set of information (multiple DCIs) is to be transmitted to a communication device 32 using a multicast service (page 5 paragraph 0063); and receive 303, by the network device, hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ acknowledgement ACK information in a shared channel (page 7 paragraphs 0087-0088), wherein the HARQ-ACK information indicates whether the set of information is received or correctly decoded by the communication device (page 8 paragraph 0094; a value of ACK is 1 when the DCIs are received/decoded correctly), wherein the HARQ-ACK information is generated using assignment indexes (DAIs) included in the control information received by the communication device (page 7 paragraph 0088), wherein each of the assignment indexes indicates a size of the HARQ-ACK information to be transmitted by the communication device (page 8 paragraphs 0091-0092), and wherein the assignment indexes are associated with the multicast service and a unicast service (page 6 paragraph 0075).
Hu fails to teach for receiving a radio resource control RRC signal that configures one or more group radio network temporary identifier G-RNTI groups, each G-RNTI group including a unique set of one or more group radio temporary identifiers G-RNTIs.
However, Zhang discloses a communication device 400 (fig. 12) for receiving a radio resource control RRC signal that configures one or more group radio network temporary identifier G-RNTI groups, each G-RNTI group including a unique set of one or more group radio temporary identifiers G-RNTIs (page 6 paragraph 0092).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to arrange for the G-RNTI as taught by Zhang into Hu’s system to increase multicast or broadcast services reliability in New Radio NR network via HARQ feedback.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 3, 5-7, 9, 10, 12-14, 16, 17, 19, and 20 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
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 Duc T Duong whose telephone number is (571)272-3122. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri; 9am-6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hassan Phillips can be reached at (571)272-3940. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUC T DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467
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