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 .
This is responsive to Application 18617051 filed 03/26/2024 in which claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-3, 5, 8-10, 12 and 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Wang et al (US 2023/0413286 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Wang teaches a method for communication, comprising:
determining, by a terminal device, that a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is a group-common physical downlink control channel (GC-PDCCH) (Wang: Fig. 1; [0037], UE receiving PDCCH for group of UE, i.e. GC-PDCCH for multicast transmission on PDSCH using scrambling by G-RNTI); and
determining, by the terminal device, that data carried on a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by the first PDCCH is new multicast data initially transmitted (Wang: Fig. 1; [0053], [0066], [0100], determining whether a transmission is an initial/new transmission based on scrambling by G-RNTI).
Regarding claim 8, Wang teaches a terminal device, comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing a program, wherein the processor is configured to invoke the program in the memory to:
determine that a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is a group-common physical downlink control channel (GC-PDCCH) (Wang: Fig. 1; [0037], UE receiving PDCCH for group of UE, i.e. GC-PDCCH for multicast transmission on PDSCH using scrambling by G-RNTI); and
determine that data carried on a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by the first PDCCH is new multicast data initially transmitted (Wang: Fig. 1; [0053], [0066], [0100], determining whether a transmission is an initial/new transmission based on scrambling by G-RNTI).
Regarding claim 15, Wang teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to:
determine that a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is a group-common physical downlink control channel (GC-PDCCH) (Wang: Fig. 1; [0037], UE receiving PDCCH for group of UE, i.e. GC-PDCCH for multicast transmission on PDSCH using scrambling by G-RNTI); and
determine that data carried on a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by the first PDCCH is new multicast data initially transmitted (Wang: Fig. 1; [0051], [0053], [0066], [0100], determining whether a transmission is an initial/new transmission based on scrambling by G-RNTI).
Regarding claims 2, 9 and 16, Wang teaches wherein determining, by the terminal device, that the first PDCCH is the GC-PDCCH comprises: determining, by the terminal device based on first information, that the first PDCCH is the GC-PDCCH, wherein the first information comprises at least one of: a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the first PDCCH is scrambled with a group-common radio network temporary identifier (G-RNTI) (Wang: Fig. 1; [0037], UE receiving PDCCH for group of UE, i.e. GC-PDCCH for multicast transmission on PDSCH using scrambling by G-RNTI; [0051], [0053], [0066], [0100], determining whether a transmission is an initial/new transmission based on scrambling by G-RNTI); or an N-bit information field in the first PDCCH indicates that the first PDCCH is the GC-PDCCH, wherein N is a positive integer.
Regarding claims 3, 10 and 17, Wang teaches wherein determining, by the terminal device, that the data carried on the first PDSCH scheduled by the first PDCCH is the new multicast data initially transmitted comprises: determining, by the terminal device based on second information, that the data carried on the first PDSCH scheduled by the first PDCCH is the new multicast data initially transmitted, wherein the second information comprises at least one of: a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the first PDCCH is scrambled with a group-common radio network temporary identifier (G-RNTI) (Wang: Fig. 1; [0037], UE receiving PDCCH for group of UE, i.e. GC-PDCCH for multicast transmission on PDSCH using scrambling by G-RNTI; [0051], [0053], [0066], [0100], determining whether a transmission is an initial/new transmission based on scrambling by G-RNTI); a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier (HPID) carried on the first PDCCH; or a first new data indicator (NDI) carried on the first PDCCH.
Regarding claims 5, 12 and 18, Wang teaches after determining, by the terminal device, that the first PDCCH is the GC-PDCCH, comparing, by the terminal device, a first new data indicator (NDI) carried on the first PDCCH with an NDI of the terminal device; and in response to the first NDI being different from the NDI of the terminal device, toggling, by the terminal device, the NDI of the terminal device to make the NDI of the terminal device the same with the first NDI (Wang: [0047], [0107]-[0109], [0124]).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 4, 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al (US 2023/0413286 A1) in view of Baek et al (US 2022/0322293 A1).
Regarding claims 4 and 11, Wang does not explicitly disclose after determining, by the terminal device, that the first PDCCH is the GC-PDCCH, clearing, by the terminal device, data corresponding to a second hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier (HPID) stored in a cache to store, in the cache, at least one of the data carried on the first PDSCH or data retransmitted on the first PDSCH, wherein the second HPID is the same with a first HPID, a second PDCCH carries the second HPID, and the second PDCCH is received by the terminal device before the first PDCCH is received by the terminal device.
Baek teaches after determining, by the terminal device, that the first PDCCH is the GC-PDCCH, clearing, by the terminal device, data corresponding to a second hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier (HPID) stored in a cache to store, in the cache, at least one of the data carried on the first PDSCH or data retransmitted on the first PDSCH, wherein the second HPID is the same with a first HPID, a second PDCCH carries the second HPID, and the second PDCCH is received by the terminal device before the first PDCCH is received by the terminal device (Baek: Fig. 8; [0086]-[0088], flush the buffer with the same HPI).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of he claimed invention to modify the system of Wang wherein after determining, by the terminal device, that the first PDCCH is the GC-PDCCH, clearing, by the terminal device, data corresponding to a second hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier (HPID) stored in a cache to store, in the cache, at least one of the data carried on the first PDSCH or data retransmitted on the first PDSCH, wherein the second HPID is the same with a first HPID, a second PDCCH carries the second HPID, and the second PDCCH is received by the terminal device before the first PDCCH is received by the terminal device as disclosed by Baek to provide a system for resource allocation for MBS (Baek: Abstract).
Regarding claims 6, 13 and 19, Wang in view of Baek teaches after determining, by the terminal device, that the first PDCCH is the GC-PDCCH, receiving, by the terminal device, a third PDCCH, wherein the third PDCCH is a user equipment (UE)-specific PDCCH, and a third hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier (HPID) carried on the third PDCCH is the same with a first HPID; and determining, by the terminal device based on a third NDI carried on the third PDCCH and a first NDI, whether data carried on a third PDSCH scheduled by the third PDCCH is the multicast data retransmitted or new unicast data initially transmitted (Baek: Fig. 8; [0086]-[0088], flush the buffer with the same HPI).
Regarding claims 7, 14 and 20, Wang in view of Baek teaches wherein determining, by the terminal device based on the third NDI carried on the third PDCCH and the first NDI, whether the data carried on the third PDSCH scheduled by the third PDCCH is the multicast data retransmitted or the new unicast data initially transmitted comprises: in response to the third NDI being the same with the first NDI, determining, by the terminal device, that the data carried on the third PDSCH scheduled by the third PDCCH is the multicast data retransmitted; or in response to the third NDI being different from the first NDI, determining, by the terminal device, that the data carried on the third PDSCH scheduled by the third PDCCH is the new unicast data initially transmitted (Baek: Fig. 8; [0086]-[0088], flush the buffer with the same HPI).
Conclusion
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/KODZOVI ACOLATSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478