DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 07/07/2026 has been entered.
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 .
Claims 6-11 are pending in this office action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the amendment filed 07/07/2026 have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection.
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 6-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over El Hamss et al (US 2022/0078768 A1) in view of Nayeb Nazar et al (US 2011/0243066 A1).
Regarding claim 6, El Hamss teaches a terminal comprising:
a processor that multiplexes two or more uplink control information having different priorities on an uplink shared channel (El Hamss: [0249]-[0250], multiplexing UCIs with different priorities on PUSCH); and
a transmitter that transmits an uplink signal using the uplink shared channel on which the two or more uplink control information is multiplexed (El Hamss: [0249]-[0250], transmission data on PUSCH).
El Hamss does not explicitly disclose wherein, for each of the two or more uplink control information, the processor determines a resource for the uplink control information by performing rate matching on the uplink control information, the rate matching including specifying a coefficient to be multiplied by a number of bits of the uplink control information based on a priority of the uplink control information.
Nayeb Nazar teaches wherein for each of the two or more uplink control information, the processor determines a resource for the uplink control information by performing rate matching on the uplink control information, the rate matching including specifying a coefficient to be multiplied by a number of bits of the uplink control information based on a priority of the uplink control information (Nayeb Nazar: [0288]-[0289], HARQ ACK/NACK/ uplink control information prioritized over CSI/uplink control information and number of bits of HARQ ACK/NACK multiplied by a factor; [0280]-[0282] discloses rate matching).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of El Hamss wherein for each of the two or more uplink control information, the processor determines a resource for the uplink control information by performing rate matching on the uplink control information, the rate matching including specifying a coefficient to be multiplied by a number of bits of the uplink control information based on a priority of the uplink control information as disclosed by Nayeb Nazar to provide a system for multiplexing UCIs (Nayeb Nazar: Abstract).
Regarding claim 7, El Hamss in view of Nayeb Nazar teaches wherein when a first Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) having a first priority and a second HARQ-ACK having a second priority lower than the first priority are multiplexed on the uplink shared channel, the control unit specifies, based on the first priority in rate matching of the first HARQ-ACK, a first coefficient to be multiplied to a number of bits of the first HARQ-ACK, and specifies, based on the second priority in rate matching of the second HARQ-ACK, a second coefficient to be multiplied to a number of bits of the second HARQ-ACK (Nayeb Nazar: [0288]-[0289], HARQ ACK/NACK/ uplink control information prioritized over CSI/uplink control information and number of bits of HARQ ACK/NACK multiplied by a factor; [0280]-[0282] discloses rate matching).
Regarding claim 8, El Hamss teaches a base station comprising:
a processor that assumes that two or more uplink control information having different priorities is multiplexed on an uplink shared channel (El Hamss: [0249]-[0250], multiplexing UCIs with different priorities on PUSCH); and
a receiver that receives an uplink signal using the uplink shared channel on which the two or more uplink control information is multiplexed (El Hamss: [0249]-[0250], transmission data on PUSCH).
El Hamss does not explicitly disclose wherein, for each of the two or more uplink control information, the processor determines a resource for the uplink control information by performing rate matching on the uplink control information, the rate matching including specifying a coefficient to be multiplied by a number of bits of the uplink control information based on a priority of the uplink control information.
Nayeb Nazar teaches wherein for each of the two or more uplink control information, the processor determines a resource for the uplink control information by performing rate matching on the uplink control information, the rate matching including specifying a coefficient to be multiplied by a number of bits of the uplink control information based on a priority of the uplink control information (Nayeb Nazar: [0288]-[0289], HARQ ACK/NACK/ uplink control information prioritized over CSI/uplink control information and number of bits of HARQ ACK/NACK multiplied by a factor; [0280]-[0282] discloses rate matching).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of El Hamss wherein for each of the two or more uplink control information, the processor determines a resource for the uplink control information by performing rate matching on the uplink control information, the rate matching including specifying a coefficient to be multiplied by a number of bits of the uplink control information based on a priority of the uplink control information as disclosed by Nayeb Nazar to provide a system for multiplexing UCIs (Nayeb Nazar: Abstract).
Regarding claim 9, El Hamss teaches a radio communication system comprising: a
terminal; and a base station, wherein the terminal comprises a processor that multiplexes two or more uplink control information having different priorities on an uplink shared channel (El Hamss: [0249]-[0250], multiplexing UCIs with different priorities on PUSCH); and a transmitter that transmits an uplink signal to the base station, using the uplink shared channel on which the two or more uplink control information is multiplexed (El Hamss: [0249]-[0250], transmission data on PUSCH).
El Hamss does not explicitly disclose wherein, for each of the two or more uplink control information, the processor determines a resource for the uplink control information by performing rate matching on the uplink control information, the rate matching including specifying a coefficient to be multiplied by a number of bits of the uplink control information based on a priority of the uplink control information.
Nayeb Nazar teaches wherein for each of the two or more uplink control information, the processor determines a resource for the uplink control information by performing rate matching on the uplink control information, the rate matching including specifying a coefficient to be multiplied by a number of bits of the uplink control information based on a priority of the uplink control information (Nayeb Nazar: [0288]-[0289], HARQ ACK/NACK/ uplink control information prioritized over CSI/uplink control information and number of bits of HARQ ACK/NACK multiplied by a factor; [0280]-[0282] discloses rate matching).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of El Hamss wherein for each of the two or more uplink control information, the processor determines a resource for the uplink control information by performing rate matching on the uplink control information, the rate matching including specifying a coefficient to be multiplied by a number of bits of the uplink control information based on a priority of the uplink control information as disclosed by Nayeb Nazar to provide a system for multiplexing UCIs (Nayeb Nazar: Abstract).
Regarding claim 10, E Hamss teaches a radio communication method comprising: a step of multiplexing, by a terminal, two or more uplink control information having different priorities on an uplink shared channel (El Hamss: [0249]-[0250], multiplexing UCIs with different priorities on PUSCH); and
a step of transmitting, by the terminal, an uplink signal using the uplink shared channel on which the two or more uplink control information is multiplexed (El Hamss: [0249]-[0250], transmission data on PUSCH).
El Hamss does not explicitly disclose wherein, for each of the two or more uplink control information, the processor determines a resource for the uplink control information by performing rate matching on the uplink control information, the rate matching including specifying a coefficient to be multiplied by a number of bits of the uplink control information based on a priority of the uplink control information.
Nayeb Nazar teaches wherein for each of the two or more uplink control information, the processor determines a resource for the uplink control information by performing rate matching on the uplink control information, the rate matching including specifying a coefficient to be multiplied by a number of bits of the uplink control information based on a priority of the uplink control information (Nayeb Nazar: [0288]-[0289], HARQ ACK/NACK/ uplink control information prioritized over CSI/uplink control information and number of bits of HARQ ACK/NACK multiplied by a factor; [0280]-[0282] discloses rate matching).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of El Hamss wherein for each of the two or more uplink control information, the processor determines a resource for the uplink control information by performing rate matching on the uplink control information, the rate matching including specifying a coefficient to be multiplied by a number of bits of the uplink control information based on a priority of the uplink control information as disclosed by Nayeb Nazar to provide a system for multiplexing UCIs (Nayeb Nazar: Abstract).
Regarding claim 11, El Hamss in view of Nayeb Nazar teaches wherein when determining the resources, the processor applies a scaling factor that limits the resources usable for the uplink control information (Nayeb Nazar: [0288]-[0289]).
Conclusion
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/KODZOVI ACOLATSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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