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 .
Drawings
The applicant’s drawings submitted are acceptable for examination purposes.
Information Disclosure Statement
As required by M.P.E.P. 609(C), the applicant’s submissions of the Information Disclosure Statements dated 04/03/2025, 12/31/2024 are acknowledged by the examiner and the cited references have been considered in the examination of the claims now pending. As required by M.P.E.P. 609 C(2), a copy of the PTOL-1449 initialed and dated by the examiner is attached to the instant office action.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 30, 31, 36, 37, 43, 44, 49, 50 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Independent Claims
Claim(s) 27, 34, 40, 47 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Karmoose (US-20220045789).
As to claim 27, 34, 40, 47: Karmoose teaches a method, comprising:
receiving first indication information from a network device, wherein the first indication information indicates to a terminal device to send a first transport block in a plurality of time units ([0150, 250] DCI); receiving second indication information from the network device, wherein the second indication information indicates to the terminal device to send uplink control information (UCI) in a first time unit, and wherein the first time unit is one of the plurality of time units (fig.8, [0004] info scheduling UCI); determining, based on a parameter G corresponding to the first time unit ([0208-209]), a location of a starting bit in bit selection in a first coded bit sequence, wherein the location is in a circular buffer ([0209] Pointer sj is set to sj=((sj−1)mod Lj)+1), wherein the first coded bit sequence is output through rate matching in a second time unit ([0205, 208] rate matching operation), wherein the parameter G represents a total quantity of coded bits available for transmission of the first transport block and the UCI ([0097]) in a respective time unit , wherein G is a positive integer ([0208-209] The total number of coded bits available is G=Σi Es i, and the ratio of each CB may be determined from G as G/P=G′. For each CB, a pointer is kept of which particular bit is to be allocated in the RM procedure. The pointers may be called sj for j=1, . . . , P.), and wherein the second time unit is a next time unit of the first time unit in the plurality of time units ([0209] f bi=Esi, then set i=i+1, set bi=1, and set sj to the RV index … for the part of CB number j in slot i+1); and sending the UCI and the first transport block to the network device in the plurality of time units ([0004]).
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.
Dependent Claims
Claim(s) 28, 41 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Karmoose (US-20220045789) in view Jung (US-20230123957).
As to claim 28, 41: Karmoose teaches the method according to claim 27.
Karmoose may not explicitly teach wherein sending the UCI and the first transport block to the network device in the plurality of time units comprises: sending the UCI to the network device in the first time unit; and sending the UCI and the first transport block to the network device in the plurality of time units. However, Jung teaches wherein sending the UCI and the first transport block to the network device in the plurality of time units comprises: sending the UCI to the network device in the first time unit; and sending the UCI and the first transport block to the network device in the plurality of time units ([0032] ACK, PUSCH, CSI).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement UCI, taught by Jung, into the communication system, taught by Karmoose, in order to implement a well-known feature of a pre-defined protocol and reduce signaling overhead and increase reliability. In addition, it would have been obvious to combine Karmoose and Jung in a known manner to obtain predictable results as the combination would not change the essence, quiddity, or functionality of the prior art references.
Claim(s) 29, 35, 42, 48 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Karmoose (US-20220045789) in view 3GPP TS 38.212, “Multiplexing and channel coding,” 28, September 2021.
As to claim 29, 35, 42, 48: Karmoose teaches the method according to claim 27.
Karmoose may not explicitly teach further comprising: determining the location of the starting bit based on at least one of: a starting bit index in bit selection in rate matching in the first time unit; a circular buffer length; or a quantity of filler bits in the circular buffer. However, 3GPP teaches further comprising: determining the location of the starting bit based on at least one of: a starting bit index in bit selection in rate matching in the first time unit (section 5.4.2.1; Table 5.4.2.1-2 Starting position k0 determines location); a circular buffer length; or a quantity of filler bits in the circular buffer.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement determining start location, taught by 3GPP, into the communication system, taught by Karmoose, in order to implement a well-known feature of a pre-defined protocol and improve coding efficiency. In addition, it would have been obvious to combine 3GPP and Karmoose in a known manner to obtain predictable results as the combination would not change the essence, quiddity, or functionality of the prior art references.
Claim(s) 32, 38, 45, 51 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Karmoose (US-20220045789) in view 3GPP TS 38.214, “Physical layer procedures for data,” 28, September 2021.
As to claim 32, 38, 45, 51: Karmoose teaches the method according to claim 27.
Karmoose may not explicitly teach wherein the first indication information indicating that the terminal device can send the first transport block in the plurality of time units comprises: when the first indication information is received and a quantity of time units indicated by the first indication information is greater than 1, the first indication information indicates sending the first transport block in the plurality of time units. However, 3GPP teaches wherein the first indication information indicating that the terminal device can send the first transport block in the plurality of time units comprises: when the first indication information is received and a quantity of time units indicated by the first indication information is greater than 1, the first indication information indicates sending the first transport block in the plurality of time units (6.1.2.1 For PUSCH repetition Type A, when transmitting PUSCH scheduled by DCI format 0_1 or 0_2 in PDCCH with CRC scrambled with C-RNTI, MCS-C-RNTI, or CS-RNTI with NDI=1, the number of repetitions K is determined as, if numberOfRepetitions is present in the resource allocation table, the number of repetitions K is equal to numberOfRepetitions; elseif the UE is configured with pusch-AggregationFactor, the number of repetitions K is equal to pusch-AggregationFactor; otherwise K=1; For both Type 1 and Type 2 PUSCH transmissions with a configured grant, when K > 1, the UE shall repeat the TB across the K consecutive slots applying the same symbol allocation in each slot).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement TB in a plurality of time units, taught by 3GPP, into the communication system, taught by Karmoose, in order to implement a well-known feature of a pre-defined protocol and improve reliability. In addition, it would have been obvious to combine Karmoose and 3GPP in a known manner to obtain predictable results as the combination would not change the essence, quiddity, or functionality of the prior art references.
As to claim 33, 39, 46, 52: Karmoose teaches the method according to claim 32.
Karmoose may not explicitly teach wherein a quantity of the plurality of time units comprises at least one of 1, 2, 4, or 8. However, 3GPP teaches wherein a quantity of the plurality of time units comprises at least one of 1, 2, 4, or 8 (6.1.2.1 For PUSCH repetition Type A, when transmitting PUSCH scheduled by DCI format 0_1 or 0_2 in PDCCH with CRC scrambled with C-RNTI, MCS-C-RNTI, or CS-RNTI with NDI=1, the number of repetitions K is determined as, if numberOfRepetitions is present in the resource allocation table, the number of repetitions K is equal to numberOfRepetitions; elseif the UE is configured with pusch-AggregationFactor, the number of repetitions K is equal to pusch-AggregationFactor; otherwise K=1; For both Type 1 and Type 2 PUSCH transmissions with a configured grant, when K > 1, the UE shall repeat the TB across the K consecutive slots applying the same symbol allocation in each slot).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement TB in a plurality of time units, taught by 3GPP, into the communication system, taught by Karmoose, in order to implement a well-known feature of a pre-defined protocol and improve reliability. In addition, it would have been obvious to combine Karmoose and 3GPP in a known manner to obtain predictable results as the combination would not change the essence, quiddity, or functionality of the prior art references.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW CHUNG SUK OH whose telephone number is (571)270-5273. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 12p-8p.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Faruk Hamza can be reached at 5712727969. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANDREW C OH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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