DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
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
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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, 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, 15, 21, 29 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shi et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0178950; hereinafter Shi) in view of Qin et al. (Pub. No.: US 2026/0032680; hereinafter Qin).
Regarding claim 1, Shi discloses an apparatus of wireless communication, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more processors individually or collectively configured (see Fig. 2, para. 0021, an apparatus (ex: UE) includes a microprocessor coupled to one or more memories) to: receive a physical downlink (DL) control channel (PDCCH) transmission based at least in part on an uplink (UL) carrier aggregation that uses two or more DL-UL cells that share a same DL carrier (see para. 0097, 0099, to receive physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), para. 0023, 0040, to configure the asymmetric carrier aggregation (CA) in a scenario where the number of UL carriers is larger than the number of DL carriers, para. 0143, claim 11, the first message is used to configure at least two of the plurality of cells that share a same downlink carrier or the second message is used to activate at least two of the plurality of cells that share a same downlink carrier); and transmit, based at least in part on a scheduling and the UL carrier aggregation, an UL transmission via one of the two or more DL-UL cells (see para. 0023, 0040, to configure the asymmetric carrier aggregation (CA) such as uplink carrier aggregation, Fig. 1, the uplink transmissions (131, 132, 133) from the UEs to the BS 120, Fig. 3, Fig. 4, a plurality of DL/UL cells for receiving and transmitting with the UEs).
Shi does not disclose the following claimed features: regarding claim 1, wherein the two or more DL-UL cells are based at least in part on a control channel element (CCE) index mapping.
Regarding claim 1, Qin discloses wherein the two or more DL-UL cells are based at least in part on a control channel element (CCE) index mapping (see para. 0061, determining the corresponding indexes of the CCEs based on the number of cells in the cell combination).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shi, and have the features, as taught by Qin, to introduce a mechanism for a single DCI format that schedules uplink and/or downlink channels for multiple cells in order to improve spectrum utilization, as discussed by Qin (para. 0039).
Regarding claim 15, Shi discloses wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to: perform a cell selection based at least in part on a cell select parameter (see para. 0034, if the Cell #1 is “DFUUUUUUUU” and Cell #2 is “DDDDDDFUUU” which is activated to a UL only cell); or perform a cell selection by measuring each DL-UL cell, of the two or more DL-UL cells, and connecting to a DL-UL cell of a highest quality of the two or more DL-UL cells.
Regarding claim 21, Shi discloses an apparatus of wireless communication, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more processors individually or collectively configured (see Fig. 2, para. 0021, an apparatus (ex: a base station) includes a microprocessor coupled to one or more memories) to: transmit a physical downlink (DL) control channel (PDCCH) transmission based at least in part on an uplink (UL) carrier aggregation that uses two or more DL-UL cells that share a same DL carrier (see para. 0097, 0099, to receive physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), para. 0023, 0040, to configure the asymmetric carrier aggregation (CA) in a scenario where the number of UL carriers is larger than the number of DL carriers, para. 0143, claim 11, the first message is used to configure at least two of the plurality of cells that share a same downlink carrier or the second message is used to activate at least two of the plurality of cells that share a same downlink carrier); and receive, based at least in part on a scheduling and the UL carrier aggregation, an UL transmission via one of the two or more DL-UL cells (see para. 0023, 0040, to configure the asymmetric carrier aggregation (CA) such as uplink carrier aggregation, Fig. 1, the uplink transmissions (131, 132, 133) from the UEs to the BS 120, Fig. 3, Fig. 4, a plurality of DL/UL cells for receiving and transmitting with the UEs).
Shi does not disclose the following claimed features: regarding claim 21, wherein the two or more DL-UL cells are based at least in part on a control channel element (CCE) index mapping.
Regarding claim 21, Qin discloses wherein the two or more DL-UL cells are based at least in part on a control channel element (CCE) index mapping (see para. 0061, determining the corresponding indexes of the CCEs based on the number of cells in the cell combination).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shi, and have the features, as taught by Qin, to introduce a mechanism for a single DCI format that schedules uplink and/or downlink channels for multiple cells in order to improve spectrum utilization, as discussed by Qin (para. 0039).
Regarding claim 29, Shi discloses a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving a physical downlink (DL) control channel (PDCCH) transmission based at least in part on an uplink (UL) carrier aggregation that uses two or more DL-UL cells that share a same DL carrier (see para. 0097, 0099, to receive physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), para. 0023, 0040, to configure the asymmetric carrier aggregation (CA) in a scenario where the number of UL carriers is larger than the number of DL carriers, para. 0143, claim 11, the first message is used to configure at least two of the plurality of cells that share a same downlink carrier or the second message is used to activate at least two of the plurality of cells that share a same downlink carrier); and transmitting, based at least in part on a scheduling and the UL carrier aggregation, an UL transmission via one of the two or more DL-UL cells (see para. 0023, 0040, to configure the asymmetric carrier aggregation (CA) such as uplink carrier aggregation, Fig. 1, the uplink transmissions (131, 132, 133) from the UEs to the BS 120, Fig. 3, Fig. 4, a plurality of DL/UL cells for receiving and transmitting with the UEs).
Shi does not disclose the following claimed features: regarding claim 29, wherein the two or more DL-UL cells are based at least in part on a control channel element (CCE) index mapping.
Regarding claim 29, Qin discloses wherein the two or more DL-UL cells are based at least in part on a control channel element (CCE) index mapping (see para. 0061, determining the corresponding indexes of the CCEs based on the number of cells in the cell combination).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shi, and have the features, as taught by Qin, to introduce a mechanism for a single DCI format that schedules uplink and/or downlink channels for multiple cells in order to improve spectrum utilization, as discussed by Qin (para. 0039).
Regarding claim 30, Shi discloses a method of wireless communication performed by a network node, comprising: transmitting a physical downlink (DL) control channel (PDCCH) transmission based at least in part on an uplink (UL) carrier aggregation that uses two or more DL-UL cells that share a same DL carrier (see para. 0097, 0099, to receive physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), para. 0023, 0040, to configure the asymmetric carrier aggregation (CA) in a scenario where the number of UL carriers is larger than the number of DL carriers, para. 0143, claim 11, the first message is used to configure at least two of the plurality of cells that share a same downlink carrier or the second message is used to activate at least two of the plurality of cells that share a same downlink carrier); and receiving, based at least in part on a scheduling and the UL carrier aggregation, an UL transmission via one of the two or more DL-UL cells (see para. 0023, 0040, to configure the asymmetric carrier aggregation (CA) such as uplink carrier aggregation, Fig. 1, the uplink transmissions (131, 132, 133) from the UEs to the BS 120, Fig. 3, Fig. 4, a plurality of DL/UL cells for receiving and transmitting with the UEs).
Shi does not disclose the following claimed features: regarding claim 30, wherein the two or more DL-UL cells are based at least in part on a control channel element (CCE) index mapping.
Regarding claim 30, Qin discloses wherein the two or more DL-UL cells are based at least in part on a control channel element (CCE) index mapping (see para. 0061, determining the corresponding indexes of the CCEs based on the number of cells in the cell combination).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shi, and have the features, as taught by Qin, to introduce a mechanism for a single DCI format that schedules uplink and/or downlink channels for multiple cells in order to improve spectrum utilization, as discussed by Qin (para. 0039).
Claims 3, 4, 6, 23 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shi et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0178950; hereinafter Shi) in view of Qin et al. (Pub. No.: US 2026/0032680; hereinafter Qin) and further in view of Liu et al. (Pub. No.: US 2023/0156700; hereinafter Liu).
Shi does not disclose the claimed features as recited in claims 3, 4, 6, 23 and 25.
Regarding claim 3, Qin discloses the scheduled DL-UL cell is associated with a cross-carrier scheduling or a self-carrier scheduling (see para. 0029, 0040, the cross-carrier scheduling scenarios).
Regarding claim 23, Qin discloses the scheduled DL-UL cell is associated with a cross-carrier scheduling or a self-carrier scheduling (see para. 0029, 0040, the cross-carrier scheduling scenarios).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shi, and have the features, as taught by Qin, to introduce a mechanism for a single DCI format that schedules uplink and/or downlink channels for multiple cells in order to improve spectrum utilization, as discussed by Qin (para. 0039).
Shi and Qin do not disclose the following features: regarding claim 3, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to: receive an indication of a scheduled DL-UL cell, of the two or more DL-UL cells, for an UL grant, wherein the UL transmission is based at least in part on the indication; regarding claim 4, wherein the indication is associated with a differentiation for determining the scheduled DL-UL cell, wherein the differentiation is based at least in part on a downlink control information (DCI) payload or payload size; regarding claim 6, wherein PDCCH candidates from different DL-UL cells map to different CCE indexing patterns in a control resource set (CORESET); regarding claim 23, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to: transmit an indication of a scheduled DL-UL cell, of the two or more DL-UL cells, for an UL grant, wherein the UL transmission is based at least in part on the indication; regarding claim 25, wherein PDCCH candidates from different DL-UL cells map to different CCE indexing patterns in a control resource set (CORESET).
Regarding claim 3, Liu discloses wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to: receive an indication of a scheduled DL-UL cell, of the two or more DL-UL cells, for an UL grant, wherein the UL transmission is based at least in part on the indication (see para. 0175, For cross-carrier scheduling, the RRC parameter A would indicate the carrier indicator is present in DCI formats. The value of the carrier indicator field (CIF value) indicating a DCI format (a UL grant or a DL assignment) for a scheduling cell is 0).
Regarding claim 4, Liu discloses wherein the indication is associated with a differentiation for determining the scheduled DL-UL cell, wherein the differentiation is based at least in part on a downlink control information (DCI) payload or payload size (see para. 0178, The RRC parameter B also provides an CIF value which is used in the scheduling cell to indicate a DCI format (an UL grant or a downlink assignment) applicable for the scheduled cell. If a DCI format (e.g. UL grant or DL assignment) is received in a scheduling cell, UE may determine the received DCI format is applicable for which serving cell according to the CIF value of the received DCI format).
Regarding claim 6, Liu discloses wherein PDCCH candidates from different DL-UL cells map to different CCE indexing patterns in a control resource set (CORESET) (see abstract, para. 0014, monitoring a first set of PDCCH candidates with a CCE aggregation level (AL) in a first set of CCEs in a CORESET…and monitoring a second set of PDCCH candidates with the CCE AL in a second set of CCEs in the CORESET).
Regarding claim 23, Liu discloses wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to: transmit an indication of a scheduled DL-UL cell, of the two or more DL-UL cells, for an UL grant, wherein the UL transmission is based at least in part on the indication (see para. 0175, For cross-carrier scheduling, the RRC parameter A would indicate the carrier indicator is present in DCI formats. The value of the carrier indicator field (CIF value) indicating a DCI format (a UL grant or a DL assignment) for a scheduling cell is 0).
Regarding claim 25, Liu discloses wherein PDCCH candidates from different DL-UL cells map to different CCE indexing patterns in a control resource set (CORESET) (see abstract, para. 0014, monitoring a first set of PDCCH candidates with a CCE aggregation level (AL) in a first set of CCEs in a CORESET…and monitoring a second set of PDCCH candidates with the CCE AL in a second set of CCEs in the CORESET).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shi and Qin, and have the features, as taught by Liu, to support DCI format(s) with multiple usages for search space sharing to may improve PDCCH blocking probability and save UE's power consumption for searching PDCCH candidates, and provide the communication flexibility and efficiency, as discussed by Liu (para. 0004).
Claims 13 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shi et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0178950; hereinafter Shi) in view of Qin et al. (Pub. No.: US 2026/0032680; hereinafter Qin) and further in view of Liang et al. (Pub. No.: US 2015/0117271; hereinafter Liang).
Shi and Qin do not disclose the claimed features as recited in claims 13 and 27.
Regarding claim 13, Liang discloses wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to: receive a configuration of a CCE indexes mapping to the two or more DL-UL cells, wherein CCE indexes are assigned to the two or more DL-UL cells in a dynamic manner (see para. 0028, corresponding to the primary serving cell are determined according to an implicit mapping relationship with the indexes of CCEs of the PDCCH, para. 0077, corresponding to the secondary serving cell are determined according to an implicit mapping relationship with indexes of Control Channel Elements (CCEs) of the PDCCH… dynamic indication signaling).
Regarding claim 27, Liang discloses wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to: transmit a configuration of a CCE indexes mapping to the two or more DL-UL cells, wherein CCE indexes are assigned to the two or more DL-UL cells in a dynamic manner (see para. 0028, corresponding to the primary serving cell are determined according to an implicit mapping relationship with the indexes of CCEs of the PDCCH, para. 0077, corresponding to the secondary serving cell are determined according to an implicit mapping relationship with indexes of Control Channel Elements (CCEs) of the PDCCH… dynamic indication signaling); or transmit an indication of cell ordering to indicate CCEs to be monitored, wherein the cell ordering is based at least in part on an absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN), or the cell ordering is based at least in part on a lowest frequency of a smallest resource block in an UL bandwidth part (BWP).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shi and Qin, and have the features, as taught by Liang, in order to incorporate a carrier aggregation technology which aggregates the bandwidth of the LTE system to obtain a larger bandwidth, as discussed by Liang (para. 0013).
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shi et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0178950; hereinafter Shi) in view of Qin et al. (Pub. No.: US 2026/0032680; hereinafter Qin) and further in view of Nory et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0372678; hereinafter Nory).
Shi and Qin do not disclose the claimed features as recited in claim 16.
Regarding claim 16, Nory discloses wherein a mapping of CCEs to PDCCH candidates scheduling a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission in different DL-UL cells is based at least in part on an aggregation level (see para. 0090 – 0091, 0110 – 0111, UE monitors m1_1, m1_2, . . . m1_16 PDCCH candidates (corresponding to PDCCH CCE aggregation levels L=1,2,4,8,16) on sSCell slots for DCI formats that can schedule PDSCH/PUSCH for the PCell).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shi and Qin, and have the features, as taught by Nory, to use an extra set of parameters in the linked SS set to allow configuration of number of PDCCH monitoring candidates more flexibility and efficiently, as discussed by Nory (para. 0010).
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shi et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0178950; hereinafter Shi) in view of Qin et al. (Pub. No.: US 2026/0032680; hereinafter Qin) and further in view of Wang et al. (Pub. No.: US 2022/0061082; hereinafter Wang).
Shi and Qin do not disclose the claimed features as recited in claim 20.
Regarding claim 20, Wang discloses wherein: different DL-UL cells serve different quality of service (QOS) requirements for different use cases and different aggregation levels (ALs) are assigned to the different DL-UL cells; a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) is configured to distinguish a particular DL-UL cell along a set of carrier aggregation configured DL-UL cells, wherein a slot number is useable as a differentiation factor for cell scheduling based at least in part on the RNTI; or a user equipment (UE)-specific search space (USS) set numbering is useable as a differentiation factor for cell scheduling (see para. 0117, The length of each scheduling indication information domain in the DCI carrying a scheduling information group of the terminal and transmitted in a common search space or a UE-specific space is determined based on the number of the scheduling information groups configured for the terminal by the network side device).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shi and Qin, and have the features, as taught by Wang , in order to relieve the problem in the prior art of the wasting of energy caused by a terminal monitoring, in each time slot, DCI, for scheduling data, in a PDCCH, as discussed by Wang (abstract).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 5, 7 – 12, 14, 17 – 19, 22, 24, 26, and 28 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 Anh Ngoc M Nguyen whose telephone number is (571) 270-5139. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday, from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm.
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/ANH NGOC M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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