DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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 § 112
2. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
3. Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites that the PUSCH is low priority PUSCH (LP PUSCH). Dependent claim 9 recites the PUSCH on which HP HARQ-ACK is multiplexed. It is not clear whether “the PUSCH” is a low priority PUSCH (LP PUSCH).
Moreover, claim 9 recites the limitation "the PUSCH" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
4. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(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.
5. Claims 1, 3, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Li (US 20230199761, hereinafter referred to as Li).
Re claim 1, Li teaches a user equipment (UE) (terminal, Fig. 7), comprising:
(i) a processor (Processor, 710) (Fig. 7, Par 0154); and
(ii) transmitting circuitry (Radio frequency unit 701) (Fig. 7, Par 0157) configured to:
(iii) if a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) for high priority (HP) scheduling request (SR) (HP SR PUCCH, Fig. 3-4, Par 0097, Par 0111) overlaps with a low priority (LP) PUSCH (LP PUSCH, Fig. 3-4, Par 0097, Par 0111), and if HP SR multiplexing on LP PUSCH is enabled (handling uplink channel overlapping according to a preset rule, Par 0046-0054, Abstract), use different SR multiplexing methods (multiplexing HP SR onto LP PUSCH using different manners as disclosed in Par 0099, Par 0102, Par 0105, Par 0108) based on whether HARQ-ACK is multiplexing (HARQ-ACK is multiplexed onto LP PUSCH) and a HARQ-ACK priority (High Priority (HP) HARQ-ACK, Low priority HARQ-ACK) (Fig. 3-4, Par 0097, Par 0101-0103, Par 0105, Par 0108, Par 0111-0114).
Re claim 3, Li teaches that if there is HARQ-ACK multiplexed on the LP PUSCH, report the HP SR jointly with a HARQ-ACK (HARQ-ACK and HP SR are multiplexed onto the LP PUSCH) (Fig. 3-4, Par 0102, Par 0105, Par 0108, Par 0113).
Re claim 9, Li teaches that if there is HP HARQ-ACK multiplexed on the PUSCH, report the HP SR jointly with an HP HARQ-ACK following HP HARQ-ACK multiplexing procedures (Fig. 3-4, Par 0102, Par 0105, Par 0108, Par 0113).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. Claims 2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of 3GPP (R1-2104310, On UL intra-UE multiplexing and prioritization enhancements, hereinafter referred to as 3GPP).
Re claim 2, Li does not explicitly disclose that if there is no HARQ-ACK multiplexed on the LP PUSCH, report the HP SR following HP HARQ-ACK multiplexing procedures using reserved REs for HP HARQ-ACK.
3GPP teaches that if there is no HARQ-ACK multiplexed on the LP PUSCH, report the HP SR following HP HARQ-ACK multiplexing procedures using reserved REs for HP HARQ-ACK (HP SR is reported using reserved REs for HARQ-ACK) (Sec 3.2.2- Low-priority PUSCH vs. high-priority SR).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li by including the step that if there is no HARQ-ACK multiplexed on the LP PUSCH, report the HP SR following HP HARQ-ACK multiplexing procedures using reserved REs for HP HARQ-ACK, as taught by 3GPP for the purpose of avoiding unnecessary retransmission, as taught by 3GPP (Sec. 3.2.2, Line 1-4).
Re claim 4, Li does not explicitly disclose that if there is no HARQ-ACK multiplexed on the LP PUSCH, and if a positive HP SR is reported, report the positive HP SR on reserved RE resources for up to 2 bits of HP HARQ-ACK.
3GPP teaches that if there is no HARQ-ACK multiplexed on the LP PUSCH, and if a positive HP SR is reported, report the positive HP SR on reserved RE resources for up to 2 bits of HP HARQ-ACK (positive HP SR is reported using reserved REs for HARQ-ACK) (Sec 3.2.2- Low-priority PUSCH vs. high-priority SR).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li by including the step that if there is no HARQ-ACK multiplexed on the LP PUSCH, and if a positive HP SR is reported, report the positive HP SR on reserved RE resources for up to 2 bits of HP HARQ-ACK, as taught by 3GPP for the purpose of avoiding unnecessary retransmission, as taught by 3GPP (Sec. 3.2.2, Line 1-4).
8. Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Li et al (US 20210329658, hereinafter referred to as Li ‘658).
Re claim 5, Li does not explicitly disclose that if there is no HARQ-ACK multiplexed on the LP PUSCH, and if a positive HP SR is not reported, do not report a negative SR.
Li ‘658 teaches that if there is no HARQ-ACK multiplexed on the LP PUSCH, and if a positive HP SR is not reported, do not report a negative SR (negative SR is dropped, Fig. 2B(a)) (Par 0062).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li by including the step that if there is no HARQ-ACK multiplexed on the LP PUSCH, and if a positive HP SR is not reported, do not report a negative SR, as taught by Li ‘658 for the purpose of allowing “the network node to adjust processing of the received information based on the priority mismatch indication”, as taught by Li ‘658 (Par 0045).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-8 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARUN UR R CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)270-3895. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang B Yao can be reached at 5712723182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HARUN CHOWDHURY/Examiner, Art Unit 2473