DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Amendment filed 1/21/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 1, 9, and 17 have been amended. The previous objection to claims 1 and 9 is withdrawn in light of the present amendments.
Claims 21-25 have been previously cancelled.
Claims 1-20 remain pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 1/21/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claims 3, 5, 11, 13, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends.
The limitations of dependent claims 3, 5, 11, 13, and 19 have been included in independent claims 1, 9, and 17, respectively, in the present amendment. As such, the repeating of those limitations in dependent claims 3, 5, 11, 13, and 19 fails to further limit their respective independent claims.
Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yi et al. (US20240057108A1), hereafter Yi.
Regarding claims 1, 9, and 17,
Yi discloses an apparatus of a user equipment device (UE) device (Fig. 15, wireless device 1502) for uplink transmissions (to base station 1504) comprising processing circuitry (processing system 1518) coupled to storage/non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (memory 1524) comprising instructions (paragraph 214) to cause to perform a method to identify a first and second physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmissions received from a Generation node B (gNB) device at a first and second time (paragraph 98, 125, 203, 207, 272-274; first and second PDCCH carrying DCIs including uplink scheduling), and determine, based on the first and second PDCCH transmissions, that the UE device is to transmit first and second physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmissions or first and second physical uplink shared control channel (PUSCH) transmissions to the gNB device (paragraph 99, 125, 272-274; uplink scheduling for PUCCH/PUSCH corresponding to received PDCCHs).
Yi further discloses to determine, based on the second PDCCH transmission, that the UE device is to transmit a second PUCCH transmission or a second PUSCH transmission to the gNB device at a third time overlapping the first PUCCH transmission or the first PUSCH transmission (paragraph 233, 269-276; first and second PDCCHs/DCIs indicate overlap of first and second PUCCHs/PUSCHs) and set a time period after the second PDCCH transmission and during which the UE device is to refrain from transmitting the second PUCCH transmission or the second PUSCH transmission to the gNB device (paragraph 272; PUCCH does not start before Tproc + d1 after the last symbol of PDCCH reception).
Yi discloses to set the time period further comprises to: determine a value indicative of a capability of the UE device (paragraph 248, 281; timing offset; paragraph 193; timing advance; paragraph 272; Tproc is a processing delay and d1 is a processing offset) and set the time period based on a sum of the preparation time and the value (paragraph 272; time period = Tproc + d1 processing offset), wherein the time period is longer than the preparation time (inherent for d1 > 0).
Yi further discloses to set the time period further comprises to: identify a smallest subcarrier spacing associated with at least one of the first PDCCH transmission, the second PDCCH transmission, the first PUCCH transmission, the second PUCCH transmission, the first PUSCH transmission, or the second PUSCH transmission; and set time period based on the subcarrier spacing (paragraph 117, 118, 125, 223, 274, 323; Tproc based on a numerology of a smaller subcarrier spacing between numerology of first PDCCH, second PDCCH, first PUCCH/PUSCH or second PUCCH/PUSCH).
Yi then shows to cause an antenna of the UE device to transmit the second PUCCH transmission or the second PUSCH transmission to the gNB device after expiration of the time period (Fig. 15, antennas/air interface 1506; paragraph 211-213; multi-antenna mapping for transmission of PUCCH/PUSCH).
Regarding claims 2, 10, and 18,
Yi discloses determine that a first priority of the first PUCCH transmission or the first PUSCH transmission is less than a second priority of the second PUCCH transmission or the second PUSCH transmission, wherein the UE device transmits the second PUCCH transmission or the second PUSCH transmission to the gNB device and refrains from transmitting at least a portion of the first PUCCH transmission or the first PUSCH transmission based on the first priority and the second priority (paragraph 272; first and second priority of overlapping PUSCH/PUCCH determines prioritization based on a rule to cancel/refrain from transmitting either the PUSCH or PUCCH before a first symbol overlapping with the first PUCCH).
Regarding claims 3, 4, 11, 12, 19, and 20,
Yi discloses to set the time period further comprises to: determine a value indicative of a capability of the UE device (paragraph 248, 281; timing offset; paragraph 193; timing advance; paragraph 272; processing offset) and set the time period based on a sum of the preparation time and the value (paragraph 272; time period = Tproc + d1 processing offset), wherein the time period is longer than the preparation time (inherent for d1 > 0).
Regarding claims 5 and 13,
Yi discloses to set the time period further comprises to: identify a smallest subcarrier spacing associated with at least one of the first PDCCH transmission, the second PDCCH transmission, the first PUCCH transmission, the second PUCCH transmission, the first PUSCH transmission, or the second PUSCH transmission; and set time period based on the subcarrier spacing (paragraph 117, 118, 125, 223, 274, 323; Tproc based on a numerology of a smaller subcarrier spacing between numerology of first/second PDCCH or first/second PUCCH/PUSCH).
Regarding claims 6 and 14,
Yi discloses the time period is set based on the time slot offset (i.e. K2) in PDCCH transmission comprises an indication of a time slot offset associated with transmitting the second PUCCH transmission or the second PUSCH transmission (paragraph 300; K2 scheduling offset between a scheduling DCI/PDCCH and the starting slot index of the PUSCH).
Regarding claims 7, 8, 15, and 16,
Yi discloses the processing circuitry is further configured to stop/refrain (i.e. cancel) from transmitting the first PUCCH transmission or the first PUSCH transmission prior to transmitting the second PUCCH transmission or the second PUSCH transmission (paragraph 272; cancel a transmission of PUCCH before a first symbol overlapping with a transmission of PUSCH).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 1/21/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In the Remarks on pg. 9-10 of the Amendment, Applicant contends Yi utilizes the smallest subcarrier spacing for identifying a cell for DAI or cell prioritization, but does not teach or suggest utilizing the smallest subcarrier spacing to set the time period, as claimed.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. As now shown in the rejection, additionally cited paragraphs 117-118, 125, 223 and (particularly) 274 of Yi shows setting the time period (i.e. Tproc) based on a numerology of a smaller subcarrier spacing between numerology of first PDCCH, second PDCCH, first PUCCH/PUSCH or second PUCCH/PUSCH. Therefore, the rejections based on Yi are properly maintained.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 GREGORY B SEFCHECK whose telephone number is (571)272-3098. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 6AM-4PM.
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/GREGORY B SEFCHECK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477