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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-3, 6, 8-9, 12-16, 19, 21-22, and 25-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao et al (2022/0399978) in view of Lin et al (2022/0264568).
Regarding claims 1 and 27, Gao discloses an apparatus and a method for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (see terminal in figure 10), comprising: receiving control signaling configuring periodic resources for receiving semi-persistent scheduled downlink transmissions (see a method for processing HARQ of SPS PDSCH is provided in paragraph 0010; RRC signaling configures the slot included in a period and a transmission direction of each symbol in the slot in a periodic manner, the symbol may be an uplink (DL) symbol, a downlink (UL) symbol and a flexible (FL) symbol in paragraph 0049); receiving a control message indicating a change to a transmission time interval format (see In addition, the terminal can also be configured to detect a DCI format 2-0 scrambled with SFI-RNTI, and the SFI information in the DCI can dynamically change a transmission direction of the semi-statically configured flexible symbols to uplink or downlink in paragraph 0049); identifying a conflict for a symbol period between uplink transmission of feedback for a first semi-persistent scheduled downlink transmission and downlink reception based at least in part on the change to the transmission time interval format (see PUCCH resources corresponding to the HARQ-ACK feedback of the SPS PDSCH conflict with downlink (DL) symbol in paragraph 0004); and transmitting an uplink message comprising the feedback based at least in part on the conflict (see the HARQ-ACK of SPS PDSCH is deferred into a target time unit for being transmitted, which may avoid discarding the HARQ-ACK of SPS PDSCH as much as possible in paragraph 0031). Gao discloses transmitting the feedback but doesn't specifically disclose transmitting the feedback by multiplexing the feedback with uplink data in an uplink shared channel resource. However, Lin discloses this feature (see a schematic diagram of multiplexing and transmitting feedback information on PUSCH in paragraph 0039 and PUSCH carrying feedback information in figure 6). The claim would have been obvious because a person of ordinary skill has good reason to pursue the known options within his or her technical grasp. If this leads to the anticipated success, it is likely the product not of innovation but of ordinary skill and common sense.
Regarding claims 2 and 28, Gao discloses receiving a grant indicating the uplink shared channel resource that occurs after an uplink control channel resource of the transmission time interval format (see the behavior scheduled by the DCI for downlink transmission includes the behavior of instructing the terminal to receive PDSCH or CSI-RS by DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, or DCI format 0_1 in paragraph 0154. Note that DCI format 0_1 is used for uplink resource allocation (scheduling grants) for PUSCH).
Regarding claims 3 and 29, Gao discloses receiving a respective semi-persistent scheduled downlink transmission of the semi-persistent scheduled downlink transmissions via the periodic resources based at least in part on the control signaling (see As shown in FIG. 1, the transmission period of the SPS PDSCH is 1 slot in paragraph 0052).
Regarding claim 6, Lin further discloses transmitting the uplink message in the uplink shared channel resource that occurs after an uplink control channel resource (see figure 6 where PUSCH resource occurs after PUCCH).
Regarding claim 8, Lin discloses receiving second control signaling indicating a configured grant resource; and transmitting the uplink message in the uplink shared channel resource within the configured grant resource (see For the frame structure of dynamic DCI configuration, it can be implemented by DCI format 2_0 indicating SFI, or by DCI format 0_0/0_1/1_0/1_1 scheduling uplink data transmission or downlink data transmission. The frame structure is not changed by the way of scheduling data, but the DCI scheduling uplink or downlink data transmission implicitly gives a transmission direction of the scheduled symbol in paragraph 0054. Note that DCI format 0_1 is used for uplink resource allocation (scheduling grants) for PUSCH).
Regarding claim 9, Gao discloses transmitting the uplink message comprising the uplink data that is multiplexed with the feedback, the uplink data comprising a scheduling request, channel state information, or both (see the channel state information (CSI) and scheduling request (SR) in paragraph 0104. Note that multiplexing is disclosed by Lin).
Regarding claim 12, Gao discloses the feedback comprises one or more bits (see 1 to 2 bits of SPS HARQ-ACK in paragraph 0058).
Regarding claim 13, Lin discloses the uplink shared channel resource comprises a scheduled uplink shared channel resource (see sub-slot2 for PUSCH in figure 6).
Regarding claims 14-16, 19, 21-22, 25-26, and 30, claims 14-16, 19, 21-22, 25-26, and 30 claimed a method and an apparatus that perform the method that is in communication with the apparatus and the corresponding method claimed in claims 1-3, 6, 8-9, 12-13, and 27-29. Claims 14-16, 19, 21-22, 25-26, and 30 are, therefore, subject to the same rejection.
Claims 4, 7, 11, 17, 20, and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao in view of Lin as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of Liu et al (2019/0123861).
Regarding claim 4, Gao discloses receiving a grant indicating the uplink shared channel resource that occurs after an uplink control channel resource of the transmission time interval format (see the rejection of claim 2 above) but doesn't specifically disclose a feedback deferral time window associated with providing the feedback for the first semi-persistent scheduled downlink transmission. However, Liu discloses this feature (see a feedback obtaining unit configured to obtain feedback of the HARQ acknowledgment information from the UE within a predefined deferral window, the predefined deferral window specifying a minimum delay and a maximum delay for report of the HARQ acknowledgment information in paragraph 0049). The claim would have been obvious because a person of ordinary skill has good reason to pursue the known options within his or her technical grasp. If this leads to the anticipated success, it is likely the product not of innovation but of ordinary skill and common sense.
Regarding claim 7, Gao doesn't specifically disclose receiving a grant indicating the uplink shared channel resource that occurs after an uplink control channel resource of the transmission time interval format and after a feedback deferral time window associated with providing a deferred feedback; and transmitting the deferred feedback in the uplink control channel resource. However, Liu discloses obtaining feedback of the HARQ acknowledgment information from the UE within a predefined deferral window, the predefined deferral window specifying a minimum delay and a maximum delay for report of the HARQ acknowledgment information in paragraph 0009. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person or ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to transmit the deferred feedback in the uplink control channel resource when a grant indicating the uplink shared channel resource that occurs after an uplink control channel resource of the transmission time interval format and after a feedback deferral time window associated with providing a deferred feedback because the feedback is not allowed to transmit outside of the deferral window.
Regarding claim 11, Gao doesn't specifically disclose dropping deferred feedback corresponding to a prior semi-persistent scheduled downlink transmission based at least in part on an allocated size of the uplink shared channel resource being insufficient to transport the deferred feedback in the uplink message. However, Liu discloses If pending HARQ acknowledgment information cannot be reported to the serving base station within the deferral window, then the UE drops the feedback of HARQ acknowledgment information in paragraph 0107. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to drop deferred feedback when no resource is available to transmit the feedback in order to meet the deferral window.
Regarding claims 17, 20, and 24, claims 17, 20, and 24 claimed a method and an apparatus that perform the method that is in communication with the apparatus and the corresponding method claimed in claims 4, 7, and 11. Claims 17, 20, and 24 are, therefore, subject to the same rejection.
Claims 5 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao in view of Lin as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of Xiong et al (2021/0211241).
Regarding claim 5, Gao in view of Lin doesn't specifically disclose transmitting the uplink message comprising the uplink data multiplexed with the feedback based at least in part on an allocated size of the uplink shared channel resource being sufficient to transport the uplink message. However, Xiong discloses this feature (see figures 1, 2, and 4 and resource 100a shows determined uplink resources prior to multiplexing of a first or second HARQ-ACK feedback with the second UCI, and resource 100B shows uplink resources updated after multiplexing of the first HARQ-ACK feedback with the second UCI according to one embodiment (updated uplink resources) in paragraph 0028 and resource 200a shows determined uplink resources prior to multiplexing of a first and second HARQ-ACK feedback with the second UCI, and resource 200b shows uplink resources updated after multiplexing of the first and second HARQ-ACK feedbacks with the second UCI according to one embodiment (updated uplink resources) in paragraph 0040 and resource 400b shows determined uplink resources prior to multiplexing of a first and second HARQ-ACK feedback with a PUSCH, and resource 100b shows uplink resources updated after multiplexing of the first and second HARQ-ACK feedbacks with the PUSCH according to one embodiment (updated uplink resources) in paragraph 0051 Note that in figure 1, the allocated resource for the uplink channel is not sufficient for multiplexing with element 110a). The claim would have been obvious because a person of ordinary skill has good reason to pursue the known options within his or her technical grasp. If this leads to the anticipated success, it is likely the product not of innovation but of ordinary skill and common sense.
Regarding claim 18, claim 18 claimed a method performed by an apparatus that is in communication with the apparatus and the corresponding method claimed in claim 5. Claim 18 is, therefore, subject to the same rejection.
Claims 10 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao in view of Lin as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of Lee et al (2023/0403734).
Regarding claim 10, Gao doesn't specifically disclose the feedback is associated with a most recent semi-persistent scheduled downlink transmission of the semi-persistent scheduled downlink transmissions that is prioritized relative to deferred feedback for an earlier semi-persistent scheduled downlink transmission of the semi-persistent scheduled downlink transmissions. However, Lee discloses prioritizing feedback (see when HARQ feedback transmission through PSFCH for a plurality of UEs of the UE overlaps, the UE may select a specific HARQ feedback transmission based on a prioritization rule. For example, the prioritization rule may be based on a minimum priority indication of the relevant PSCCH/PSSCH in paragraph 0108). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to assign a higher priority to the feedback associated with a most recent semi-persistent scheduled downlink transmission of the semi-persistent scheduled downlink transmissions than the priority for the deferred feedback for an earlier semi-persistent scheduled downlink transmission of the semi-persistent scheduled downlink transmissions because the recent feedback is more valuable than the old one.
Regarding claim 23, claim 23 claimed a method performed by an apparatus that is in communication with the apparatus and the corresponding method claimed in claim 10. Claim 23 is, therefore, subject to the same rejection.
Conclusion
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/BRIAN D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2475