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 § 102
2. 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
3. Claims 1-4, 8, 10, 12-15, 17-18, and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Soriaga et al (US 20200154267 A1, hereinafter referred to as Soriaga).
Re claim 1, Soriaga teaches an apparatus for a user equipment (non-legacy/legacy UE 115, Fig. 2-3), the apparatus comprising:
(i) one or more processors (740, Fig. 7), and memory storing instructions (730, Fig. 7) that, when executed by the one or more processors (Fig. 7, Par 0170, Par 0175-0177), cause the apparatus to perform:
(ii) providing, to a network entity (base station, 105-b, Fig. 3), a first message (UE capability information (Fig. 3) indicating the maximum number of layers/streams the UE is capable processing, Par 0065-0068, Par 0117), comprising an indication of whether the user equipment supports processing a plurality of streams in downlink data transmissions in parallel (capability information (305-a, 305-b) indicating the maximum number layers/streams the UE is capable processing in parallel, Par 0007-0008, Par 0065, Par 0067, Par 0073, Par 0117-0118, Par 0126, Par 0129-0130); and
(iii) processing one or more streams of a received downlink data transmission (processing downlink signals received according to the UE capability report) that has been configured by the network entity according to the indication (base station configuring the maximum number of layers/streams (315-a, 315-b, Fig. 3) in downlink data transmission according to the capability information received from the UE, Par 0133-0135) provided by the user equipment (Fig. 2-3, Fig. 12, Par 0007-0008, Par 0065, Par 0071, Par 0073, Par 0117-0119, Par 0123, Par 0138-0139, Par 0141, Par 0150).
Claim 24 recites a method performing the functions recited in claim 1 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 1.
Re claims 2, 14, Soriaga teaches that the indication comprises a first threshold value (capability report including modulation scheme 64 QAM), the user equipment having support for processing a plurality of streams in parallel when a data rate is below the first threshold value (for the modulation scheme 64 QAM, UE is capable of processing four layers/streams in downlink transmission, and the modulation scheme is associated with a data transmission rate, Par 0107 ), and the user equipment lacking support for processing a plurality of streams in parallel when the data rate is above the first threshold value (for higher data rate/modulation scheme (higher than 64 QAM such as 256 QAM), UE does not support processing of four layers/streams in downlink transmission) (Fig. 3, Par 0004, Par 0065, Par 0067, Par 0117-0118, Par 0128).
Re claims 3, 15, Soriaga teaches that the indication comprises a number of streams that can be processed in downlink data transmissions in parallel by the user equipment (four layers when modulation scheme is 64 QAM and two layers when modulation scheme is 256 QAM) (Fig. 3, Par 0004, Par 0065, Par 0067, Par 0117-0118, Par 0128).
Re claims 4, 17, Soriaga teaches that the indication comprises one of more second threshold values (modulation scheme 256 QAM and the modulation scheme is associated with a data transmission rate, Par 0107), each of the one or more second threshold values associated with a number of different streams that can be processed in downlink data transmissions in parallel by the user equipment (for modulation scheme 256 QAM (and associated data rate), UE supports two layers/streams in downlink transmission), such that when a data rate is below a respective threshold value of the one or more second threshold values, the user equipment will support the number of different streams that can be processed in downlink data transmissions in parallel by the user equipment associated with the respective threshold value (for modulation scheme 256 QAM (and associated data rate) UE supports two layers/streams in downlink transmission) (Fig. 3, Par 0004, Par 0065, Par 0067, Par 0117-0118, Par 0128).
Re claim 8, Soriaga teaches that the first message is a UECapabilityInformation message (Capability report 305-a, 305-b, Fig. 3) (Par 0117-0118, Par 0126-0130).
Re claim 10, Soriaga teaches that the downlink data transmission is a 5G data transmission (NR (New Radio), 5G) (Par 0003, Par 0077, Par 0080, Par 0112, Par 0237).
Re claim 12, Soriaga teaches an apparatus for a network entity (base station, Fig. 11), the apparatus comprising:
(i) one or more processors (1140, Fig. 11), and memory storing instructions (1130, Fig. 11) that, when executed by the one or more processors (Fig. 11, Par 0203, Par 00208-0210), cause the apparatus to perform:
(ii) receiving, from a user equipment (non-legacy/legacy UE 115, Fig. 2-3), a first message (UE capability information (Fig. 3) indicating the maximum number of layers/streams the UE is capable processing, Par 0065-0068, Par 0117), comprising an indication of whether the user equipment supports processing a plurality of streams in downlink data transmissions in parallel (capability information (305-a, 305-b) indicating the maximum number layers/streams the UE is capable processing in parallel, Par 0007-0008, Par 0065, Par 0067, Par 0073, Par 0117-0118, Par 0126, Par 0129-0130);
(iii) configuring one or more streams for a downlink data transmission to the user equipment according to the received indication (configuring the maximum layer for downlink transmission in an RRC message, 315-a, 315-b, Fig. 3) (Fig. 2-3, Par 0005, Par 0065, Par 0119-0123, Par 0133-0138); and
(iv) providing, to the user equipment, the downlink data transmission (transmitting downlink signals to the UE) (Par 0065, Par 0071, Par 0093, Par 0117, Par 0141, Par 0150).
Re claim 13, Soriaga teaches mapping one or more data units onto the one or more streams according to the received indication (transmitting downlink signals to the UE according to the UE capability) (Par 0065, Par 0071, Par 0093, Par 0117, Par 0141, Par 0150).
Re claim 18, Soriaga teaches to receive, from the network entity, a second message comprising an updated indication of the number of different streams that can be processed in downlink data transmissions in parallel by the user equipment (configuring the maximum layer for downlink transmission in an RRC message, 315-a, 315-b, Fig. 3) (Fig. 2-3, Par 0005, Par 0065, Par 0119-0123, Par 0133-0138).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claims 5-6 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Soriaga as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Santhanam et al (US 20220217042, hereinafter referred to as Santhanam).
Re claim 5, Soriaga does not explicitly disclose to determine a change in the support for processing a plurality of streams in parallel, by the user equipment.
Santhanam teaches to determine a change in the support for processing a plurality of streams in parallel, by the user equipment (determining to adjust/modify the number of downlink transmission layers) (Fig. 2, Fig. 7, Par 0046-0049, Par 0084, Par 0097-0102, Par 0122-0123).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Soriaga by including the step to determine a change in the support for processing a plurality of streams in parallel, by the user equipment, as taught by Santhanam for the purpose of modifying/updating one or more communication parameters by providing assistance information to a base station, as taught by Santhanam (Par 0046-0047).
Re claim 6, Soriaga does not explicitly disclose that in response to determining a change in the support, providing, to the network entity, a second message comprising an updated indication of the number of different streams that can be processed in downlink data transmissions in parallel by the user equipment.
Santhanam teaches that in response to determining a change in the support, providing, to the network entity, a second message comprising an updated indication of the number of different streams that can be processed in downlink data transmissions in parallel by the user equipment (transmitting assistance information in response to satisfying a triggering condition) (Fig. 2, Fig. 7, Par 0046-0049, Par 0084, Par 0097-0102, Par 0122-0123).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Soriaga by including that in response to determining a change in the support, providing, to the network entity, a second message comprising an updated indication of the number of different streams that can be processed in downlink data transmissions in parallel by the user equipment, as taught by Santhanam for the purpose of modifying/updating one or more communication parameters by providing assistance information to a base station, as taught by Santhanam (Par 0046-0047).
Re claim 9, Soriaga does not explicitly disclose that the second message is a UEAssistanceInformation message of radio resource control signalling.
Santhanam teaches that the second message is a UEAssistanceInformation message of radio resource control signalling (UEAssistanceInformation) (Par 0102, Par 0110-0111, Par 0123, Par 0162-0163, Par 0171, Par 0173).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Soriaga by including that the second message is a UEAssistanceInformation message of radio resource control signalling, as taught by Santhanam for the purpose of modifying/updating one or more communication parameters by providing assistance information to a base station, as taught by Santhanam (Par 0046-0047).
6. Claims 7 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Soriaga as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Marco (WO2018171407, hereinafter referred to as Marco).
Re claims 7, 19, Soriaga does not explicitly disclose that the support for processing a plurality of streams in downlink data transmissions in parallel comprises a support for processing non-continuous packet data convergence protocol sequence numbers within a transport block.
Marco teaches that the support for processing a plurality of streams in downlink data transmissions in parallel comprises a support for processing non-continuous packet data convergence protocol sequence numbers within a transport block (reordering out of order (OOD)/non-consecutive PDCP sequence numbers PDUs included in a transport block) (Fig. 6, Par 6, Par 16, Par 35-41, Par 44-48, Par 51).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Soriaga by including that the support for processing a plurality of streams in downlink data transmissions in parallel comprises a support for processing non-continuous packet data convergence protocol sequence numbers within a transport block, as taught by Marco for the purpose of efficiently reordering PDCP PDUs to reduce reordering delay and improve reliability, as taught by Marco (Par 6-7).
7. Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Soriaga as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Ma et al (US 20200213066, hereinafter referred to as Ma).
Re claim 11, Soriaga does not explicitly disclose that the plurality of streams comprises at least one of: a plurality of transport blocks, and a plurality of component carriers.
Ma teaches that the plurality of streams comprises at least one of: a plurality of transport blocks, and a plurality of component carriers (different carriers/carrier aggregation) (Par 0032, Par 0050, Par 0073, Par 0130).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Soriaga by including the plurality of streams comprises at least one of: a plurality of transport blocks, and a plurality of component carriers, as taught by Ma for the purpose of efficiently allocating one or more bandwidth parts (BWPs) to a UE based on the BWP capability of the UE, as taught by Ma (Par 0004-0005, Par 0009).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 16 is 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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/HARUN CHOWDHURY/Examiner, Art Unit 2473