DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present U.S. non-provisional application is being examined under the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA . The present U.S. non-provisional application, filed on November 3, 2023, is the U.S. national stage of an international PCT application, filed on May 7, 2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on November 3, 2023 and April 3, 2025 were filed before the mailing date of a first Office action in the present U.S. non-provisional application, in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
This Office action is responsive to the election on November 26, 2025. The election of invention group III without traverse is acknowledged. Claims 1, 2, 4, 11, 13, 14, 17, 21-26 and 49-52 are withdrawn from consideration. Claims 27-29 are pending for consideration in the present U.S. non-provisional application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 102 that forms the basis for all anticipation rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 27-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Gao et al. (US 2023/0396373 A1).
27. A transmitter, configured to communicate in a communication system, the transmitter (Gao, FIG. 24) comprising:
one or more interfaces configured to communicate with multiple transmission-reception points (multi-TRPs) within the communication system (Gao, FIG. 24, Id.); and
a circuitry (Gao, FIG. 24, Id.) configured to:
receive or transmit an indication to indicate, by a parameter of configured grant configuration, a redundancy version (RV) offset and a configured RV sequence for multi-TRP based configured grant (CG) physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) repetition, wherein the configured RV sequence is configured to determine a first RV sequence applied to transmission occasions associated to a first TRP, and the RV offset is configured to determine a second RV sequence applied to transmission occasions associated to a second TRP (Gao, paras. [0044], [0045], “…The method includes receiving, from a network node, information that configures the wireless communication device for a Configured Grant (CG) based Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) transmission with PUSCH repetitions towards a first and a second transmissions/reception points (TRPs) […] In some embodiments, the information that configures the wireless communication device further includes a single Redundancy Version (RV) sequence configured for both of the two TRPs, wherein the RV sequence consists of four RV values comprising RV1, RV2, RV3, and RV4 and an RV offset to be applied to the second TRP, wherein the RV offset includes one of 0, 1, 2, or 3. The RV sequence is to be applied to PUSCH repetitions towards the first TRP starting with RV1 in the RV sequence to the first PUSCH transmission occasion to the first TRP, and the RV sequence is to be applied to PUSCH repetitions towards the second TRP starting with a RV in the RV sequence indicated by the RV offset to the first PUSCH transmission occasion to the second TRP.”)
28. The transmitter according to claim 27, wherein the RV offset is an offset from the configured RV sequence (Gao, paras. [0044], [0045], Id.)
29. The transmitter according to claim 27, wherein the first RV sequence applied to the transmission occasions associated to the first TRP is configured by the configured RV sequence in the configured grant configuration, and the second RV sequence applied to the transmission occasions associated to the second TRP is determined by the RV offset from the first RV sequence (Gao, paras. [0044], [0045], Id.)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record (PTO-1449, PTO-892) and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the subject matter of the present U.S. non-provisional application.
MolavianJazi et al. (US 2021/0184812 A1) provides prior art disclosure considered as relevant to the subject matter of the claimed invention (MolavianJazi, paras. [0137], [0173], “…If a configured grant configuration is configured with Configuredgrantconfig-StartingfromRV0 set to “off,” the initial transmission of a transport block may only start at the first transmission occasion of the K repetitions. […] In one example, a UE can increase a CG PUSCH reception reliability and coverage by communicating with multiple TRPs. For example, based on UE mobility and orientation, the UE can communicate with one TRP in some transmission occasions, communicate with another TRP in other transmission occasions…”)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Timothy J. Weidner whose telephone number is (571) 270-1825. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time.
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/TIMOTHY J WEIDNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476