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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 04/01/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filled on 04/01/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1,2,13 are amended.
Response to Arguments
Applicant arguments filed on 04/01/2026 have been fully considered and but are moot in view of the new ground of rejection.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-5, 8-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiong to (US20240163894 A1) in view of Ramamurthy to (US 9642159 B1)
Regarding claims 1, Xiong teaches an electronic device,(fig.10) comprising processing circuitry configured to: generate first downlink control information (DCI) comprising scheduling information for a plurality of data channels;( [0188] decoding, by a user equipment (UE), a downlink control information (DCI) from physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); [0189] decoding, by the UE, one or more physical downlink shared channels (PDSCH) which are scheduled by the DCI; and [0190] transmitting, by the UE, one or more physical uplink shared channels (PUSCH) which are scheduled by the DCI. [0191] Example 2 may include the method of example 1, wherein in the DCI for scheduling multiple PDSCHs and/or PUSCHs with different TBs, each PDSCH and/or PUSCH may be scheduled within a slot. [0192] Example 3 may include the method of example 1, wherein some fields in the DCI may be common for the scheduling of multiple PDSCHs and/or PUSCHs, while other fields may be independent for the scheduling of multiple PDSCHs and/or PUSCHs) and carry a plurality of the first DCIs using a data channel([0188] decoding, by a user equipment (UE), a downlink control information (DCI) from physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)) , Xiong does not explicitly teaches DCI is carried over PDSCH
However, Ramamurthy teaches DCIs is/are carried over PDSCH( COL.9, lines. 23-35 discloses the payload portion of each DCI message that schedules allocation of PDSCH resources to a WCD may carry a DCI format value that indicates the DCI message is a type that carries PDSCH resource allocation, and the message may then carry a specification of the PDSCH resource allocation. A DCI message that schedules PDSCH resources without carrier aggregation may simply specify the allocated PDSCH resources by denoting the PDSCH resource blocks as numbered resource blocks or ranges of resource blocks) generate second DCI including information used to decode the plurality of first DCIs; and carry the second DCI using a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)( COL.9, lines. 23-55 the payload portion of each DCI message that schedules allocation of PDSCH resources to a WCD may carry a DCI format value that indicates the DCI message is a type that carries PDSCH resource allocation, and the message may then carry a specification of the PDSCH resource allocation. A DCI message that schedules PDSCH resources without carrier aggregation may simply specify the allocated PDSCH resources by denoting the PDSCH resource blocks as numbered resource blocks or ranges of resource blocks. Whereas, a DCI message that schedules PDSCH resources with carrier aggregation may specify for each allocation of resource blocks both the applicable carrier and the resource blocks being allocated on that carrier.(22) In accordance with the present method, the base station may include the indicator 126 in a particular field or place within the DCI message, and the WCD may be configured to read the indicator from that place in the DCI message, and to thereby determine from the indicator that there is at least one other DCI message for the WCD on the PDCCH of the sub-frame. Thus, the base station may include in the PDCCH of a sub-frame two or more DCI messages that schedule downlink communication of bearer data to the WCD, including such an indicator in at least one of those DCI messages, and the WCD may read and use at least that indicator as a basis to help ensure that the WCD receives all of the DCI messages)
Therefore; it would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to enable the system of Xiong include carrying DCIs is/are carried over PDSCH, generate second DCI including information used to decode the plurality of first DCIs; and carry the second DCI using a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), as suggested by Ramamurthy. This modification would benefit the system to reduce network resource waste.
Regarding claims 2, Xiong teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: generate second DCI comprising information related to decoding the plurality of first DCIs;(claim 21, a generated second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook that is related to a plurality of downlink physical channel transmissions scheduled by a second DCI) carry the second DCI using a control channel; (claim 21, a generated second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook that is related to a plurality of downlink physical channel transmissions scheduled by a second DCI) and generate other control information than the first DCI and the second DCI, the other control information comprising a time-frequency position of each of the plurality of first DCIs([0217] …the DCI is to schedule four PDSCHs with different TBs. [0218] …wherein the DCI is to schedule three PUSCHs with different TBs)
Regarding claims 3, Xiong teaches wherein the second DCI comprises indication information of a time-frequency position of each of the plurality of first DCIs([0205] …one field in the DCI may be used to explicitly indicate one value from the set of number of scheduled PDSCHs and/or PUSCHs with different TBs. [0206] Example 17 may include the method of example 1, wherein time/frequency resource for DMRS for the multiple scheduled PDSCHs and/or PUSCHs could be designed separately or jointly).
Regarding claims 4, Xiong teaches The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the second DCI comprises a time-frequency position of one of the plurality of first DCIs;(claim 21, a generated second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook that is related to a plurality of downlink physical channel transmissions scheduled by a second DCI) , and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to generate other control information than the first DCI and the second DCI, ([0217] …the DCI is to schedule four PDSCHs with different TBs. [0218] …wherein the DCI is to schedule three PUSCHs with different TBs) the other control information comprising the number of the plurality of first DCIs and a relationship between the time-frequency positions of the plurality of first DCIs([0049] .. for time domain resource assignment for PDSCH, k0 is used to indicate the slot offset between PDCCH and the first scheduled PDSCH. Similarly, for time domain resource assignment for PDSCH, k2 is used to indicate the slot offset between PDCCH and the first scheduled PUSCH. [0050] … the same starting and length indicator value (SLIV) and mapping type as part of time domain resource assignment are applied for each scheduled PDSCHs and/or PUSCHs).
Regarding claims 5, Xiong teaches The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the second DCI comprises a time-frequency position of one of the plurality of first DCIs;(claim 21, a generated second HARQ-ACK sub-codebook that is related to a plurality of downlink physical channel transmissions scheduled by a second DCI) , and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to generate other control information than the first DCI and the second DCI, ([0217] …the DCI is to schedule four PDSCHs with different TBs. [0218] …wherein the DCI is to schedule three PUSCHs with different TBs) the other control information comprising the number of the plurality of first DCIs and a time-frequency position of each first DCI other than the one first DCI([0049] .. for time domain resource assignment for PDSCH, k0 is used to indicate the slot offset between PDCCH and the first scheduled PDSCH. Similarly, for time domain resource assignment for PDSCH, k2 is used to indicate the slot offset between PDCCH and the first scheduled PUSCH. [0050] … the same starting and length indicator value (SLIV) and mapping type as part of time domain resource assignment are applied for each scheduled PDSCHs and/or PUSCHs).
Regarding claims 8, Xiong teaches wherein the scheduling information for the plurality of data channels comprises position information related to a time-frequency position of each of the plurality of data channels([0060] … the time/frequency resource for DMRS for the multiple scheduled PDSCHs and/or PUSCHs could be designed separately or jointly.[0061] … the time/frequency resource for DMRS is determined per each scheduled PDSCH or PUSCH separately. For example, a first symbol of the scheduled PDSCH or PUSCH carries DMRS. The number and positions of additional symbols for DMRS could depend on the length of the scheduled PDSCH or PUSCH, which could be predefined for configured by high layer).
Regarding claim 9,Xiong teaches wherein the position information comprises a time slot where each data channel is located, a time-domain position of each data channel in a time slot, and a frequency-domain position of each data channel([0049] .. for time domain resource assignment for PDSCH, k0 is used to indicate the slot offset between PDCCH and the first scheduled PDSCH. Similarly, for time domain resource assignment for PDSCH, k2 is used to indicate the slot offset between PDCCH and the first scheduled PUSCH. [0050] … the same starting and length indicator value (SLIV) and mapping type as part of time domain resource assignment are applied for each scheduled PDSCHs and/or PUSCHs).
Regarding claim 10, Xiong teaches wherein the position information comprises a time slot where each data channel is located, a time-domain position of one of the plurality of data channels in a time slot, and a frequency-domain position of the one data channel([0049] .. for time domain resource assignment for PDSCH, k0 is used to indicate the slot offset between PDCCH and the first scheduled PDSCH. Similarly, for time domain resource assignment for PDSCH, k2 is used to indicate the slot offset between PDCCH and the first scheduled PUSCH.[0064] .. for multi-TTI scheduling for PDSCHs with different TBs, a single PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) may be used to indicate one or more PUCCH resources for carrying HARQ-ACK response of one or more scheduled PDSCHs).
Regarding claim 11, Xiong teaches wherein the scheduling information of the plurality of data channels further comprises uplink-downlink indication information that indicates whether each of the plurality of data channels is an uplink data channel or a downlink data channel([0241] ..determine downlink control information (DCI) that is to schedule one or more shared channels with different transport blocks (TBs) in different slots, wherein the one or more shared channels include a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); and encode a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) message that includes the DCI for transmission to a user equipment (UE)).
Regarding claim 12, Xiong teaches wherein each of the plurality of data channels is an uplink data channel or a downlink data channel, and the plurality of data channels are consecutive or inconsecutive in time domain([0229] PDSCH transmissions scheduled by a DCI scheduling a single TTI. [0230] ..wherein the second sub-codebook includes HARQ-ACK bits for CBG-based PDSCH transmissions and PDSCH transmissions scheduled by a DCI scheduling multiple TTIs… [0194] … wherein new data indicator (NDI) may be independent for each scheduled PDSCH and/or PUSCH with different TBs; wherein redundancy version (RV) may be independent for each scheduled PDSCH and/or PUSCH with different TBs. [0195] Example 6 may include the method of example 1, wherein the DCI could schedule NM PDSCHs and/or PUSCHs where N TBs are scheduled by the DCI with each TB mapped to M consecutive PDSCHs and/or PUSCHs. NDI could be indicated for each TB separately).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13,15-23 are allowed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZEWDU A BEYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-7157. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-6:00.
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/ZEWDU A BEYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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