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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 5/22/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1, 6, 8, 13 & 29-34 are pending and presented for examination.
Response to Amendment
Claims 2-5, 7, 9-12 & 14-28 have been cancelled.
Claims 1, 6, 8, 13 & 29 have been amended.
Rejections to claims 1 & 8 under 35 USC 112(b) have been withdrawn based on amendments to these claims. Rejections to claims 4, 9 & 11 under 35 USC. 112(b) are moot because claims 4, 9 & 11 have been cancelled.
Rejections to claims 1, 6, 8, 13 & 29-34 under 35 USC 102 have been withdrawn, however new grounds of rejections under 35 USC 103 have been made to these claims based on new reference Mu et al. (US 2021/0250916)(herein after “Mu”).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see “Remarks”, filed 5/22/2026, with respect to rejections of claims 1 & 8 under 35 USC 112(b) have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections of claims 1 & 8 under 35 USC 112(b) have been withdrawn based on amendments to these claims. Rejections to claims 4, 9 & 11 under 35 USC 112(b) are moot since these claims have been cancelled.
Applicant's arguments filed 5/22/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Choi fails to disclose “mapping HARQ-ACK to a position of a first candidate symbol (a first symbol that does not bear the DMRS on the second PUSCH after a target symbol, the target symbol being the earliest one that bears the DMRS) while separately mapping CSI to a position of a second candidate symbol of the first PUSCH (a symbol on the first PUSCH that is available for bearing the DMRS)” because all UCI mapping rules in Choi treat HARQ-ACK and CSI as an entire combined UCI entity and Choi never addresses or defines any symbol-level starting position of CSI within an individual PUSCH. Examiner respectfully disagrees noting that mapping the entirety of the UCI, which includes HARQ-ACK and CSI, to a symbol immediately after a DMRS of second PUSCH rep #0, as disclosed by Choi in [0085] & [0255] means that the HARQ-ACK and the CSI have been mapped to a symbol immediately after a DMRS of second PUSCH rep #0. Thus, Choi does disclose of symbol-level starting position of CSI (i.e. the symbol immediately after a DMRS of second PUSCH rep #0) withing a PUSCH.
Based on the above discussion, examiner maintains that Choi discloses of “mapping HARQ-ACK to a position of a first candidate symbol (a first symbol that does not bear the DMRS on the second PUSCH after a target symbol, the target symbol being the earliest one that bears the DMRS) while separately mapping CSI to a position of a second candidate symbol of the first PUSCH (a symbol on the first PUSCH that is available for bearing the DMRS)”.
Applicant’s arguments, see “Remarks”, filed 5/22/2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 1, 6, 8, 13 & 29-34 under 35 USC 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, these rejections have been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new grounds of rejections to these claims are made under 35 USC 103 in view of new reference Mu et al. (US 2021/0250916)(herein after “Mu”).
Regarding claim 1, applicant submits that amendments to this claim traverse the rejection of this claim under 35 USC 102. Examiner agrees and withdraws rejection of claim 1 under 35 USC 102. However, after further consideration, examiner introduces a new ground of rejection of claim 1 under 35 USC 103 based on new reference Mu. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Regarding claims 8 & 29, applicant submits that these claims traverse the rejections of these claims under 35 USC 102 due to similar amendments and arguments as made for claim 1. Examiner agrees and withdraws rejections of claims 8 & 29 under 35 USC 102. However, for the same reasons as discussed above, examiner introduces new grounds of rejections of claims 8 & 29 under 35 USC 103 based on new reference Mu.
Regarding claims 6, 13 & 30-34, applicant submits that these claims traverse the rejections of these claims under 35 USC 102 due to amendments and arguments made for claims 1 & 8 and due to their dependency on claims 1 or 8. Examiner agrees and withdraws rejections of claims 6, 13 & 30-34 under 35 USC 102. However, for the same reasons as discussed above, examiner introduces new grounds of rejections of claims 6, 13 & 30-34 under 35 USC 103 based on new reference Mu.
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.
Claims 1, 6, 8, 13 & 29-34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. (US 2022/0104224)(herein after “Choi”) in view of Mu et al. (US 2021/0250916)(herein after “Mu”).
Regarding claims 1 & 29, Choi discloses a resource mapping method for uplink control information (UCI) comprising to (Fig 25 & [0253] disclose a resource mapping method for UCI.), and a communication device, comprising a processor and a memory, the memory having a computer program stored therein, the processor executing the computer program stored in the memory (Fig 11, [0022] & [0140]-[0142] discloses a UE (i.e. a communication device) that may include a processor 110 and a memory 130 configured to store a control program, wherein the processor may execute instructions or programs stored in the memory.) to cause the device to:
determine, by a terminal device, that a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) overlaps with a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and that no Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) is borne by a current first PUSCH (Fig 25 & [0253] disclose a UE determining, by being configured and indicated, that a PUSCH repetition (i.e. a first PUSCH), from which a DMRS is omitted, is to be transmitted on the same symbol (i.e. overlapping) with a PUCCH.);
perform, by the terminal device, resource mapping on the UCI according to the target resource mapping mode, wherein the target resource mapping mode is configured to map the UCI to a PUSCH resource (Fig 25 & [0253] discloses a target resource mapping mode where a UE performs resource mapping of a UCI to a first symbol of a PUSCH rep #1 (i.e. the first PUSCH).); and
send, by the terminal device, the UCI to a network device through the mapped resource (Fig 25 & [0253] disclose a UCI may be transmitted through the mapped resource starting from first symbol of PUSCH rep #1. [0010] discloses that the transmitting of PUSCH repetitions is from a terminal device (e.g. a UE) to a base station (e.g. a network device).),
wherein performing resource mapping on the UCI according to the target resource mapping mode, comprises, and wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine, by the terminal device, a second PUSCH that bears a DMRS, from PUSCHs of repeated transmissions adjacent to the first PUSCH (Fig 25 & [0253] disclose determining by the UE a repeated PUSCH rep #0 (i.e. a second PUSCH) adjacent to the first PUSCH rep #1, that includes a DMRS.);
map, by the terminal device, a Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest Acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) to a position of a first candidate symbol of the second PUSCH ([0085] discloses that the UCI that the UE transmits to a base station may include DL/UL HARQ-ACK/NACK. Fig 27 & [0255] disclose that the UCI (and thus HARQ-ACK) may be mapped, by the UE, to a symbol (i.e. a first candidate symbol) immediately after a DMRS of second PUSCH rep #0.),
wherein the first candidate symbol is a first symbol that does not bear the DMRS on the second PUSCH after a target symbol, the target symbol being the earliest one that bears the DMRS (Fig 27 and [0255] discloses the first candidate symbol for mapping the UCI is the symbol immediately following a first DMRS (i.e. a target symbol which is the earliest symbol that bears a DMRS) on the second PUSCH rep #0 and there is no second DMRS after the first DMRS in the target symbol.); and
map, by the terminal device, Channel State Information (CSI) to a position of a second candidate symbol of the first PUSCH ([0085] discloses that the UCI that the UE transmits to a base station may include CSI that includes CQI, PMI and RI. Fig 26 & [0254] disclose that the UCI (and thus CSI) may be mapped, by the UE, to a symbol (i.e. a second candidate symbol) immediately after the first symbol that would have been occupied by a DMRS if the DMRS was not omitted, of the first PUSCH rep #1.),
wherein the second candidate symbol is a symbol on the first PUSCH that is available for bearing the DMRS (Fig 25 & [0253] disclose that the second candidate symbol may be a designated symbol in the first PUSCH rep #1 from which the DMRS is omitted (i.e. a symbol that is available for bearing a DMRS but the DMRS is omitted.).).
Choi fails to disclose but Mu teaches wherein the terminal device is configured with a plurality of resource mapping modes ([0006]-[0014] disclose a base station sending control resource configuration information to an MTC device that includes a preset resource mapping mode consisting of a first mapping mode configured to map a target physical resource in a data region of an original LTE system, and a second mapping mode configured to map a target physical resource in a valid region of a subframe.); and
determining, by the terminal device, a target resource mapping mode to be used from the plurality of resource mapping modes based on an indication from a network device ([0026] discloses determining, by the MTC device, a target resource mapping mode of the target physical resource, and performing resource mapping, wherein the target resource mapping mode is determined from either the first mapping mode or the second mapping mode (i.e. from a plurality of resource mapping modes). The first and second mapping modes are based on the preset resource mapping mode indicated by the base station.);
Therefore it would have been obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a resource mapping method for uplink control information (UCI) comprising to, or a communication device caused to, determine, by a terminal device, that a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) overlaps with a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and that no Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) is borne by a current first PUSCH, as disclosed by Choi, wherein the terminal device is configured with a plurality of resource mapping modes; and determining, by the terminal device, a target resource mapping mode to be used from the plurality of resource mapping modes based on an indication from a network device, as taught by Mu. The motivation to do so would have been to have a terminal device that, or a method where a terminal device, receives configuration information from a base station for multiple resource mapping modes for mapping the UCI to the PUSCH, and the terminal device determines the best mode for mapping the UCI to the PUSCH based on configuration indications from the base station in order to perform the mapping of the UCI to the PUSCH consistent with how the base station has configured PUSCH channels.
Regarding claim 6, Choi in view of Mu disclose the method of claim 1.
Choi discloses wherein the second candidate symbol is a first symbol on the first PUSCH (Fig 25 & [0253] disclose that the second candidate symbol may be a designated symbol in the first symbol of the first PUSCH rep #1.).
Regarding Claim 8, Choi discloses a resource mapping method for uplink control information (UCI) (Fig 25 & [0253] disclose a resource mapping method for UCI.), comprising:
receiving, by the network device, the UCI sent on a mapped resource by the terminal device, wherein a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) overlaps with a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), no Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) is borne by a current first PUSCH (Fig 25 & [0253] disclose a UE may transmit a PUSCH rep #1 (i.e. a first PUSCH), from which a DMRS is omitted, on the same symbol (i.e. overlapping) with a PUCCH, and that a UCI may be mapped in the first symbol of PUSCH rep #1. [0011] discloses that a UE may transmit the first PUSCH to a base station (i.e. a network device receives the first PUSCH including UCI transmitted by the UE.), and the UCI is mapped to a PUSCH resource according to the target resource mapping mode (Fig 25 & [0253] disclose a target resource mapping mode where the UCI is mapped in the first symbol in PUSCH rep #1), wherein receiving the UCI comprises:
receiving, by the network device, a Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest Acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) at a position of a first candidate symbol of the second PUSCH ([0085] discloses that the UCI that the UE transmits to a base station may include DL/UL HARQ-ACK/NACK. Fig 27 & [0255] disclose that the UCI (and thus HARQ-ACK) may be mapped, by the UE, to a symbol (i.e. a first candidate symbol) immediately after a DMRS of second PUSCH rep #0. [0011] discloses that a UE may transmit the second PUSCH to a base station (i.e. a network device receives the second PUSCH including HARQ-ACK included in the UCI transmitted by the UE at the first candidate symbol position.),
wherein the second PUSCH, among PUSCHs of repeated transmissions, is adjacent to the first PUSCH and bears the DMRS (Fig 25 & [0253] disclose a UE may transmit a repeated PUSCH rep #0 (i.e. a second PUSCH) adjacent to the first PUSCH rep #1, that includes a DMRS.), and
the first candidate symbol is a first symbol that does not bear a DMRS after a target symbol on the second PUSCH, the target symbol being the earliest one that bears the DMRS (Fig 27 and [0255] discloses the first candidate symbol for mapping the UCI is the symbol immediately following a first DMRS (i.e. a target symbol which is the earliest symbol that bears a DMRS) on the second PUSCH rep #0 and there is no second DMRS after the first DMRS in the target symbol.); and
receiving, by the network device, Channel State Information (CSI) at a position of a second candidate symbol of the first PUSCH ([0085] discloses that the UCI that the UE transmits to a base station may include CSI that includes CQI, PMI and RI. Fig 26 & [0254] disclose that the UCI (and thus CSI) may be mapped, by the UE, to a symbol (i.e. a second candidate symbol) immediately after the first symbol that would have been occupied by a DMRS if the DMRS was not omitted, of the first PUSCH rep #1. [0011] discloses that a UE may transmit the first PUSCH to a base station (i.e. a network device receives the first PUSCH including CSI included in the UCI transmitted by the UE at the second candidate symbol position.),
wherein the second candidate symbol is a symbol on the first PUSCH that is available for bearing the DMRS (Fig 25 & [0253] disclose that the second candidate symbol may be a designated symbol in the first PUSCH rep #1 from which the DMRS is omitted (i.e. a symbol that is available for bearing a DMRS but the DMRS is omitted).).
Choi fails to disclose but Mu teaches sending, by a network device, an indication to a terminal device, wherein the terminal device is configured with a plurality of resource mapping modes, and the indication is used by the terminal device to determine a target resource mapping mode to be used from the plurality of resource mapping modes ([0006]-[0014] disclose a base station sending control resource configuration information to an MTC device that includes a preset resource mapping mode (i.e. an indication from the base station) consisting of a first mapping mode configured to map a target physical resource in a data region of an original LTE system, and a second mapping mode configured to map a target physical resource in a valid region of a subframe. [0026] discloses determining, by the MTC device, a target resource mapping mode of the target physical resource, and performing resource mapping, wherein the target resource mapping mode is determined from either the first mapping mode or the second mapping mode (i.e. from a plurality of resource mapping modes). The first and second mapping modes are based on the preset resource mapping mode indicated by the base station.);
Therefore it would have been obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a resource mapping method for uplink control information (UCI) comprising receiving, by the network device, the UCI sent on a mapped resource by the terminal device, wherein a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) overlaps with a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), no Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) is borne by a current first PUSCH, and the UCI is mapped to a PUSCH resource according to the target resource mapping mode, as disclosed by Choi, and sending, by a network device, an indication to a terminal device, wherein the terminal device is configured with a plurality of resource mapping modes, and the indication is used by the terminal device to determine a target resource mapping mode to be used from the plurality of resource mapping modes, as taught by Mu. The motivation to do so would have been to have a method where a base station sends configuration information to a terminal for multiple resource mapping modes for mapping the UCI to the PUSCH, and the terminal device determines the best mode for mapping the UCI to the PUSCH based on configuration indications from the base station in order to perform the mapping of the UCI to the PUSCH consistent with how the base station has configured PUSCH channels.
Regarding claim 13, Choi in view of Mu disclose the method of claim 8.
Choi discloses wherein the second candidate symbol is a first symbol on the first PUSCH (Fig 25 & [0253] disclose that the second candidate symbol may be a designated symbol in the first symbol of the first PUSCH rep #1.).
Regarding claim 30, Choi in view of Mu disclose the method of claim 8.
Choi discloses a communication device, comprising a processor and a memory, the memory having a computer program stored therein, the processor executing the computer program stored in the memory to cause the device to perform the method of claim 8 (Fig 11, [0022] & [0140]-[0142] discloses a UE (i.e. a communication device) that may include a processor 110 and a memory 130 configured to store a control program, wherein the processor may execute instructions or programs stored in the memory to perform embodiments of the disclosed inventions including fig 25 & [0253] that disclose the method of claim 8.).
Regarding Claim 31, Choi in view of Mu disclose the method of claim 1.
Choi discloses a communication device, comprising: a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is configured to receive code instructions and transmit the code instructions to the processor (Fig 11, [0022] & [0140]-[0142] disclose a UE (i.e. a communication device) that may include a processor 110 and a memory 130, including an interface circuit connecting processor 110 to memory 130. [0147] discloses that memory 130 stores prescribed programs (i.e. receives code instructions). [0142] discloses the processor may execute various instructions or programs (i.e. transmitted to the processor by the memory through the circuit interface shown in fig. 11.).); and
the processor is configured to run the code instructions to perform the method of claim 1 ([0142] discloses the processor may execute instructions or programs stored in the memory to perform embodiments of the disclosed inventions including fig 25 & [0253] that disclose the method of claim 1.).
Regarding claim 32, Choi in view of Mu disclose the method of claim 8.
Choi discloses a communication device, comprising: a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is configured to receive code instructions and transmit the code instructions to the processor (Fig 11, [0022] & [0140]-[0142] discloses a UE (i.e. a communication device) that may include a processor 110 and a memory 130, including an interface circuit connecting processor 110 to memory 130. [0147] discloses that memory 130 stores prescribed programs (i.e. receives code instructions). [0142] discloses the processor may execute various instructions or programs (i.e. transmitted to the processor by the memory through the circuit interface shown in fig. 11.).); and the processor is configured to run the code instructions to perform the method of claim 8 ([0142] discloses the processor may execute instructions or programs stored in the memory to perform embodiments of the disclosed inventions including fig 25 & [0253] that disclose the method of claim 8.).
Regarding Claim 33, Choi in view of Mu disclose the method of claim 1.
Choi discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium configured to store instructions which, when executed, cause the method of claim 1 to be implemented (Fig 11, [0022], [0140]-[0142] & [0147] disclose a memory 130 (i.e. a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium) configured to store a control program for which instructions can be executed by a processor to perform embodiments of the disclosed inventions including fig 25 & [0253] that disclose the method of claim 1.).
Regarding claim 34, Choi in view of Mu disclose the method of claim 8.
Choi discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium configured to store instructions which, when executed, cause the method of claim 8 to be implemented (Fig 11, [0022], [0140]-[0142] & [0147] disclose a memory 130 (i.e. a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium) configured to store a control program for which instructions can be executed by a processor to perform embodiments of the disclosed inventions including fig 25 & [0253] that disclose the method of claim 8.).
Conclusion
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Tang et al. (CN 105812106) discloses a Method and Device for Transmitting Uplink Data.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES P SEYMOUR whose telephone number is (571)272-7654. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5 EST.
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/JAMES P SEYMOUR/Examiner, Art Unit 2419 /Nishant Divecha/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2419
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