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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Allowable Subject Matter
1. Claim 3-5, 8-10, 13-15 and 18-20 are objected to as dependent upon rejected claims, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
2. 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.
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 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.
2a. Claims 1-2, 6-7, 11-12 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Datta (US 20210105764 A1) in view of Blankenship (US 2023/0397213 A1)
2b. Summary of the Cited Prior Art
Datta discloses a method for physical uplink control channel resource selections.
Blankenship discloses a method for PUCCH resource allocations.
2c. Claim Analysis
Regarding Claim 1, Datta discloses:
A communication method, comprising (Fig 4, 9 and 13):
receiving (Fig 9, Resource Set Index 922) first indication information (Fig 4, PUCCH Resource Sets) from a network device (Fig 9, Base Station 904);
wherein the first indication information (Fig 4, PUCCH Resource Sets) is used to determine a frequency-domain position to which a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource is mapped;
determining frequency-domain positions (Fig 2D, PUCCH frequence-time resource allocation) to which the PUCCH resource is mapped (see: the first values of the PUCCH resource index may map to the possible configurable resource sets, in [0189]) in at least two consecutive time units (see; Fig 2D, PUCCH is allocated time slots 3-10 consecutively in a duration) in first duration (Fig 9, Step 932; The UE may determine which PUCCH resource set to use based on the PUCCH resource set index, in [0187]; Examiner’s Note: different resource index determines different durations);
wherein the frequency-domain positions (Fig 2D, PUCCH frequence-time resource allocation) to which the PUCCH resource is mapped (see: the first values of the PUCCH resource index may map to the possible configurable resource sets, in [0189]) in the at least two consecutive time units (see; Fig 2D, PUCCH is allocated time slots 3-10 consecutively in a duration) in the first duration are different (Fig 9, Step 932; The UE may determine which PUCCH resource set to use based on the PUCCH resource set index, in [0187]; Examiner’s Note: different resource index determines different durations) and
sending information (Fig 9, PUCCH Transmission 942; see: the UE 902 may transmit a PUCCH transmission 942 based on the determined PUCCH resource set, in [0190]) to the network device (Fig 9, Base Station 904) in the first duration by using the PUCCH resource (Fig 9, Step 932; The UE may determine which PUCCH resource set to use based on the PUCCH resource set index, in [0187]; Examiner’s Note: different resource index determines different durations)
Datta does not elaborate about duration.
However, Blankenship discloses:
determining frequency-domain positions to which the PUCCH resource is mapped (Figs 4-7, PUCCH mapping) in at least two consecutive time units (Figs 4-7, PUCCH mapping consecutively in several time units) in first duration (see: The PUCCH resource set includes sixteen resources, each corresponding to a PUCCH format, a first symbol, a duration, a PRB offset RB.BWP.sup.offset, and a cyclic shift index set for a PUCCH transmission in [0044]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to integrate Datta’s method for physical uplink control channel resource selections with Blankenship’s method for PUCCH resource allocations with the motivation being to improve network scheduling flexibility (Blankenship, [0071]).
Regarding Claim 2, Datta does not disclose this claim.
However, Blankenship discloses:
wherein if the network device does not configure (see: If a UE does not have dedicated PUCCH resource configuration provided by PUCCH-ResourceSet in PUCCH-Config, in [0043]), for the terminal device (Fig 14), a frequency-domain position to which a dedicated PUCCH resource is mapped (Figs 4-7, PUCCH mapping);
the frequency-domain position to which the PUCCH resource is mapped (Figs 4-7, PUCCH mapping) is determined based on a physical resource block (PRB) offset and a set of initial cyclic shift indexes (see: The PUCCH resource set includes sixteen resources, each corresponding to a PUCCH format, a first symbol, a duration, a PRB offset RB.BWP.sup.offset, and a cyclic shift index set for a PUCCH transmission in [0044]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to integrate Datta’s method for physical uplink control channel resource selections with Blankenship’s method for PUCCH resource allocations with the motivation being to improve network scheduling flexibility (Blankenship, [0071]).
Regarding Claims 6-7, the transmitter claims disclose similar features as of Claims 1-2, and are rejected accordingly. Further, claims 6-7 discloses the same operations of claims 1-2, but are performed by a transmitter.
Regarding Claims 11-12, the receiver claims disclose similar features as of Claims 1-2, and are rejected accordingly.
Regarding Claims 16-17, the transmitter claims disclose similar features as of Claims 1-2, and are rejected accordingly. Further, claims 16-17 discloses the same operations of claims 1-2, but are performed by a transmitter.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jung-Jen Liu whose telephone number is 571-270-7643. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang B. Yao can be reached on 5712723182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JUNG LIU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473