DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 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.
This action is in response to application 18569959 filed 12/13/23.
Claim(s) 7-9 is/are presented for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim(s) 7 & 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §101 because the claimed invention is directed to nonstatutory subject matter.
The "system” claim(s) 7 & 9 is/are not to a process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter. The claimed element’s “control section”, and “transmission section” are non-structure limitations, since the Specification is silent regarding the meaning of these terms. Thus, applying the broadest reasonable interpretation in light of the Specification and taking into account the meaning of the words in their original usage as they would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art (MPEP §2111.01), a machine must comprise (at least one) structure element/limitation that showing it is a tangible embodiment, providing evidence that the abstract idea has been applied (a practical application) and that it would not cover all substantial practical uses of the abstract idea (see MPEP §2106 II.(A)). Therefore, the claimed subject matter as a whole fails to fall within the definition of a machine/manufacturer patentable eligible category subject matter.
As such, the claim(s) 7 & 9 is/are not limited to statutory subject matter and is therefore nonstatutory. See MPEP 2106 section V.DETERMINE WHETHER THE CLAIMED INVENTION COMPLIES WITH 35 U.S.C. §101 under subsection 1. Nonstatutory subject matter.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 7-9 is/are unclear to the examiner; what does it mean by stating “a control section that determines a starting position of bit selection in a first bit sequence based on a redundancy version and determines a starting position of bit selection in an n-th bit sequence based on a last bit of an n-1-th bit sequence, the first bit sequence being transmitted in a first slot within N slots allocated for a transmission method of transmitting a transmission block over a plurality of slots, the n-th bit sequence being transmitted in an n-th slot except for the first slot within the N slots, the n-1-th bit sequence being transmitted in an n-1-th slot within the N slots, n being an integer of two or more and N or less”? The Examiner is not entirely sure what does it mean by “determines a starting position of bit selection in a first bit sequence based on a redundancy version”? What exactly a redundancy version related back to the starting position? What about n-th bit sequence being transmitted in an n-th slot except for the first slot? What is the claimed invention? Is the claimed invention about transmit the first bit sequence in the first slot or n-th bit sequence in the n-th slot? What does it have anything to do with “transmitted in an n-th slot except for the first slot”? Please clarify
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 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 of this title, 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.
Claim(s) 7-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 2020/0083912 A1 in view of Gao, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 2021/0160855 A1.
As to claim 9, Chen teaches a radio communication system, comprising:
a terminal including:
a control section that determines a starting position of bit selection in a first bit sequence based on a redundancy version and determines a starting position of bit selection in an n-th bit sequence based on a last bit of an n-1-th bit sequence, the first bit sequence being transmitted in a first slot within N slots allocated for a transmission method of the n-1-th bit sequence being transmitted in an n-1-th slot within the N slots, n being an integer of two or more and N or less (Chen, page 1, paragraph 3; page 2, paragraph 18-21 & 42-43; i.e., [0003] The check bits may be generated through parity check encoding, cyclic redundancy check encoding; [0018] A starting bit position of the bit sequence in the circular buffer is taken as the predefined starting position. [0020] A position of P0=N-M in the circular buffer is taken as the predefined starting position, where PO represents the position index of the bit sequence in the circular buffer, M is the length of the sequence to be transmitted, and N is a length of the initial bit sequence. [0021] An ending bit position of the bit sequence in the circular buffer is taken as the predefined starting position. [0042] In some embodiments, the bit sequence in the circular buffer is obtained by performing bit reversal order (BRO) interleaving on the initial bit sequence {S0 , S1 , ..., SN_1}, and a bit Sn with a bit position index n in the initial bit sequence is mapped onto a position with a position index).
But Chen failed to teach the claim limitation wherein transmitting a transmission block over a plurality of slots, the n-th bit sequence being transmitted in an n-th slot except for the first slot within the N slots; a transmission section that transmits the first bit sequence in the first slot and transmits the n-th bit sequence in the n-th slot; and a base station including a reception section, the reception section receiving the first bit sequence in the first slot and receiving the n-th bit sequence in the n-th slot.
However, Gao teaches the limitation wherein transmitting a transmission block over a plurality of slots, the n-th bit sequence being transmitted in an n-th slot except for the first slot within the N slots (Gao, page 8, paragraph 127 & 129; i.e., [0127] In slots n+4, n+5 and n+6, since there is only PUCCH, the UCI is transmitted on the PUCCH. The UCI is transmitted in accordance with the encoded bit sequence obtained from the UCI in slot n+3. That is, the UCI is not re-encoded for the current PUCCH resources; since the encoded UCI bit sequence in slot n+3 is obtained by encoding the UCI transmitted on the PUCCH, and the PUCCH transmission resources in slot n+3 and the subsequent slots are the same, the transmission of the encoded UCI bit sequence in slot n+3 on the PUCCH in the subsequent slots is the same as that in slot n+3); a transmission section that transmits the first bit sequence in the first slot and transmits the n-th bit sequence in the n-th slot (Gao, page 8, paragraph 127 & 129; i.e., [0127] In slots n+4, n+5 and n+6, since there is only PUCCH, the UCI is transmitted on the PUCCH. The UCI is transmitted in accordance with the encoded bit sequence obtained from the UCI in slot n+3. That is, the UCI is not re-encoded for the current PUCCH resources; since the encoded UCI bit sequence in slot n+3 is obtained by encoding the UCI transmitted on the PUCCH, and the PUCCH transmission resources in slot n+3 and the subsequent slots are the same, the transmission of the encoded UCI bit sequence in slot n+3 on the PUCCH in the subsequent slots is the same as that in slot n+3; [0129] When receiving the last repeated transmission of UCI and after merging the bit sequences of the encoded UCI in the last slot); and a base station including a reception section, the reception section receiving the first bit sequence in the first slot and receiving the n-th bit sequence in the n-th slot (Gao, page 8, paragraph 127 & 129; i.e., [0127] In slots n+4, n+5 and n+6, since there is only PUCCH, the UCI is transmitted on the PUCCH. The UCI is transmitted in accordance with the encoded bit sequence obtained from the UCI in slot n+3. That is, the UCI is not re-encoded for the current PUCCH resources; since the encoded UCI bit sequence in slot n+3 is obtained by encoding the UCI transmitted on the PUCCH, and the PUCCH transmission resources in slot n+3 and the subsequent slots are the same, the transmission of the encoded UCI bit sequence in slot n+3 on the PUCCH in the subsequent slots is the same as that in slot n+3; [0129] When receiving the last repeated transmission of UCI and after merging the bit sequences of the encoded UCI in the last slot).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Chen to substitute logical block diagram from Gao for transport block from Chen to ensure that the network-side device merges the repetition transmission of the UCI correctly and improve the UCI transmission performance (Gao, page 1, paragraph 10).
Claim(s) 7 & 8 is/are directed to a system and method claims and they do not teach or further define over the limitations recited in claim(s) 9. Therefore, claim(s) 7 & 8 is/are also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim(s) 9.
Listing of Relevant Arts
Ma, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 20200077429 A1 discloses first bit sequence and last bit of the consecutive bit.
Jeong, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 20180278370 A1 discloses start point of the bit sequence.
Contact Information
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
THUONG NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3864. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9:00-6:00.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Noel Beharry can be reached on 571-270-5630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THUONG NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416