DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to communications filed February 2nd, 2026.
Claims 1-3, 18-22, 24-31, 33-34, and 51 are currently pending. Claims 1, 18-20, 26-29, and 51 are currently amendment. And claim 23 is currently canceled.
The present application is a 371 National Stage entry of International Application no. PCT/CN2021/094456, filed on May 18th, 2021.
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, 18-22, 24-31, 33-34, and 51, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication no. 2020/0295878, hereinafter Choi) in view of Han et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication no. 2023/0292334, hereinafter Han).
With respect to claim 1, Choi discloses an apparatus (paragraph [0074], user equipment), comprising:
one or more processors (paragraph [0074], user equipment); and
memory storing instructions and data (paragraph [0011]) that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
determine mapping information of one or more hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmission schemes to be utilized by a user equipment (UE) (paragraph [0136], lines 1-10, retransmission scheme based on the CBG-based HARDQ-ACK), wherein the mapping information comprises an identifier of a logical channel and a corresponding HARQ retransmission scheme (paragraph [0088], lines 9-18, user equipment may transmit control information such as HARQ-ACK and CSI described above through the PUSCH and/or PUCCH; paragraph [0099], lines 1-6); and
But Choi does not discloses indicate the one or more HARQ retransmission schemes to the UE.
However Han discloses indicate the mapping information of the one or more HARQ retransmission schemes to the UE (paragraph [0078], a feedback-based uplink retransmission scheme, a non-feedback-based uplink retransmission scheme, a blind uplink retransmission scheme, a bundling uplink retransmission scheme, or other retransmission schemes, etc).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the system for transmitting or receiving data channel and control channel in wireless communication systems of Choi with the method of multiplexing MAC CEs of Han. The motivation to combine being to improve the efficiency of retransmission schemes of wireless networks. The efficiency of retransmission schemes of wireless network being improved by selecting MAC CEs according to a first retransmission scheme (abstract: Han).
With respect to claim 2, the combination of Han and Choi discloses the apparatus as recited in claim 1, Han further discloses wherein the one or more HARQ retransmission schemes are determined using a scheduling, wherein the scheduling is one of a dynamic scheduling or a configured grant (paragraphs [0031]-[0033]).
With respect to claim 3, the combination of Han and Choi discloses the apparatus as recited in claim 1, Han further discloses wherein the one or more HARQ retransmission schemes are each one of without HARQ retransmissions, blind retransmissions, or HARQ retransmissions utilizing an uplink (UL) decoding result (paragraph [0078]).
With respect to claim 18, Choi discloses an apparatus (paragraph [0074], user equipment), comprising:
one or more processors (paragraph [0074], user equipment); and
memory storing instructions and data (paragraph [0074], user equipment) that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
receive one or more hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmission schemes (paragraph [0136], lines 1-10, retransmission scheme based on the CBG-based HARDQ-ACK) from a non-terrestrial network (NTN) node paragraph [0005], lines 14-15); and
But Choi does not discloses perform a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure with the one or more HARQ retransmission schemes.
However Han discloses perform a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure with the one or more HARQ retransmission schemes (paragraph [0080], lines 1-8, retransmission scheme when the associated logical channel priority level associated).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the system for transmitting or receiving data channel and control channel in wireless communication systems of Choi with the method of multiplexing MAC CEs of Han. The motivation to combine being to improve the efficiency of retransmission schemes of wireless networks. The efficiency of retransmission schemes of wireless network being improved by selecting MAC CEs according to a first retransmission scheme (abstract: Han).
With respect to claim 19, the combination of Han and Choi discloses the apparatus as recited in claim 18, Choi further discloses wherein the mapping information corresponding to the one or more HARQ retransmission schemes for one kind of service or one kind of logical channel (LCH) (paragraph [0081], lines 8-17) are received using at least one of a system information block or a radio resource control (RRC) signaling (paragraph [0081], lines 1-7).
With respect to claim 20, the combination of Han and Choi discloses the apparatus as recited in claim 18, Choi further discloses wherein the mapping information corresponding to the one or more HARQ retransmission schemes are received utilizing a HARQ retransmission scheme in a downlink control information (DCI) (paragraph [0088], lines 5-18).
With respect to claim 21, the combination of Han and Choi discloses the apparatus as recited in claim 20, Choi further discloses wherein, when multiplexing, the LCP procedure utilizes an LCH from one or more LCHs (paragraph [0181], lines 1-8), where transmission data from the LCH utilizes a HARQ retransmission scheme that is the same as the HARQ retransmission scheme indicated in the DCI (paragraph [0088], lines 5-18).
With respect to claim 22, the combination of Han and Choi discloses the apparatus as recited in claim 20, Choi further discloses wherein the LCP procedure utilizes data from an LCH of one or more LCHs where a HARQ retransmission scheme of the LCH is different than a HARQ retransmission scheme derived from the DCI when space remains in an uplink (UL) transport block size (TBS) (paragraph [0138], lines 10-17, reducing overhead of the uplink control channel).
With respect to claim 24, the combination of Han and Choi discloses the apparatus as recited in claim 18, Choi further discloses wherein Log2M bits in a DCI indicates an index M HARQ retransmission scheme of the one or more HARQ retransmission schemes (paragraph [00286]).
With respect to claim 25, the combination of Han and Choi discloses the apparatus as recited in claim 24, Choi further discloses wherein the Log2M bits is represented by two bits in the DCI (paragraph [0286]).
With respect to claim 26, the combination of Han and Choi discloses the apparatus as recited in claim 18, Choi further discloses wherein the mapping information corresponding to the one or more HARQ retransmission schemes for a logical channel group (LCG) are received utilizing a RRC signaling or a system information block, where one or more LCHs are part of the LCG (paragraph [0136], lines 1-10, configured through an RRC signal).
With respect to claim 27, the combination of Han and Choi discloses the apparatus as recited in claim 26, Choi further discloses wherein the mapping information corresponding to the one or more HARQ retransmission schemes are received utilizing a mapping of IDs of one or more LCGs to a HARQ retransmission in a DCI, where one or more of the one or more LCHs are part of the one or more LCGs (paragraph [00286]).
With respect to claim 28, the combination of Han and Choi discloses the apparatus as recited in claim 26, Choi further discloses wherein, when multiplexing, the LCP procedure utilizes a logical channel group (LCG) from the one or more LCHs, where data from the LCG utilizes a HARQ retransmission scheme that is the same as the HARQ retransmission scheme indicated in the DCI (paragraph [0281], lines 10-25).
With respect to claim 29, the combination of Han and Choi discloses the apparatus as recited in claim 26, Choi further discloses wherein the LCP procedure utilizes data from an LCG of the one or more LCHs where a HARQ retransmission scheme of the LCG is different than a HARQ retransmission scheme derived from the DCI when space remains in an uplink (UL) transport block size (TBS) (paragraph [0138], lines 10-17, reducing overhead of the uplink control channel).
With respect to claim 30, the combination of Han and Choi discloses the apparatus as recited in claim 18, Han further discloses wherein HARQ processes are grouped into one of a first HARQ group or a second HARQ group (paragraph [0144], lines 1-6, N CBGs), where the first HARQ group utilizes a first HARQ retransmission scheme and the second HARQ group utilizes a set of HARQ retransmission schemes (paragraph [0144], lines 10-17, reducing overhead of the uplink control channel), the set of HARQ retransmission schemes includes at least two HARQ retransmission schemes, and the first HARQ retransmission scheme and the set of HARQ retransmission schemes are part of the one or more HARQ retransmission schemes (paragraph [0145], lines 10-19, base station may retransmit the second CBG).
With respect to claim 31, the combination of Han and Choi discloses the apparatus as recited in claim 30, Choi further discloses wherein the one or more HARQ retransmission schemes for the first HARQ group and the second HARQ group are received utilizing a system information block or a RRC signaling (paragraph [0145], lines 10-19, base station may retransmit the second CBG).
With respect to claim 33, the combination of Han and Choi discloses the apparatus as recited in claim 30, Choi further discloses wherein the first HARQ retransmission scheme utilizes a first HARQ process ID to indicate a first HARQ retransmission scheme (paragraph [0147], lines 1-12, indicator through the HARQ-ACK resource), and the set of HARQ retransmission schemes utilizes a second HARQ process ID and one or more bits in a DCI signal to indicate a second HARQ retransmission scheme in the set of HARQ retransmission schemes (paragraph [0147], lines 1-12; paragraph [0125]).
With respect to claim 34, the combination of Han and Choi discloses the apparatus as recited in claim 30, Choi further discloses wherein the set of HARQ retransmission schemes includes a HARQ retransmission based on UL decoding result and a blind retransmission (paragraph [0097], lines 19-29), and the set of HARQ retransmission schemes utilizes a second HARQ process ID and one bit in a DCI signal to indicate one of the HARQ retransmission based on UL decoding result or the blind retransmission (paragraph [0147], lines 1-12, indicator through the HARQ-ACK resource).
With respect to claim 51, Choi discloses a method, comprising:
receiving one or more hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmission schemes (paragraph [0136], lines 1-10, retransmission scheme based on the CBG-based HARDQ-ACK) from a non-terrestrial network (NTN) node (paragraph [0005], lines 14-15); and
But Choi does not discloses performing a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure with the one or more HARQ retransmission schemes.
However Han discloses performing a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure with the one or more HARQ retransmission schemes (paragraph [0080], lines 1-8, retransmission scheme when the associated logical channel priority level associated).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the system for transmitting or receiving data channel and control channel in wireless communication systems of Choi with the method of multiplexing MAC CEs of Han. The motivation to combine being to improve the efficiency of retransmission schemes of wireless networks. The efficiency of retransmission schemes of wireless network being improved by selecting MAC CEs according to a first retransmission scheme (abstract: Han).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed February 2nd, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With respect to claim 1, the applicant argues that the combination of Choi and Han fails to disclose determine mapping information of one or more hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmission schemes to be utilized by a user equipment (UE), wherein the mapping information comprises an identifier of a logical channel and a corresponding HARQ retransmission schemes; and indicate the mapping information of the one or more HARQ retransmission schemes to the UE.
The examiner respectfully disagrees. Choi discloses user equipment utilizing retransmission schemes for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) in paragraph [0136], lines 1-10, where the retransmission scheme is based on the code block group (CBG) based HARK-ACK, which is necessarily for indicating the scheme to the user equipment by the base station in order for the user equipment to implement and effectuate the retransmission scheme. Paragraph [0136], lines 1-10 further details that the CBG-based HARQ-ACK can be transmitted through the logical channel PUCCH. Therefor, the examiner maintains that the combination of Choi and Han properly renders the claims obvious as currently presented.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wang Pat. Pub. 2022/0393794
Wen Pat. Pub. 2022/0338240
Ouchi Pat. Pub. 2013/0265962
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
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3/3/25
/BLAKE J RUBIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2457