DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on January 7, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicant's amendments have uncovered new art. The allowance of the last Office action is of the previous action is withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-12 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Kishiyama (CA 2,789,366, hereinafter Kishiyama in view of Gao et al. (US 2023/0132212 A1, hereinafter Gao).
Regarding claim1, Kishiyama discloses a method implemented by a wireless transmit receive unit WTRU), the method comprising:
receiving a radio resource control (RRC) configuration information, wherein the
a first group of downlink carriers (¶[0018], wherein the OFDMA includes the downlink carriers,¶[0012], wherein the UCI Is multiplexed, figure 9B) and a second group of downlink carriers, wherein the first transmission and the
second transmission are different transmissions (¶[0019], wherein the PDSCH and PDCCH include the control for the UCI and the first and second transmissions, figure 9B). Kishiyama does not disclose RRC configuration information indicates use of a first transmission for uplink control
information (UCI) or use of a second transmission for UCI for a second group of downlink carriers.
Gao discloses RRC configuration information indicates use of a first transmission for uplink control
information (UCI) (¶[0210], wherein the RRC is configuring UCI) an d use of a second transmission for UCI for a second group of downlink carriers
(¶[0210], wherein the second HARQ ACK/NACK includes the second UCI included in the RRC) . Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to make the proposed modification of the UCI and RRC configuration as disclosed by Gao along with the system of Kishiyama. The UCI and RRC may be implemented through software to provide control and transmission of multiple UCIs on a downlink carrier (¶[0052]).
Regarding claim 2, Kishiyama discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of receiving, in a second downlink control channel, a second control signal to indicate
a second time unit of the radio frame for transmitting a second UCI for a carrier
corresponding to the second group of downlink carriers; and transmitting the second transmission comprising at least the second UCI for the carrier corresponding to the second group of downlink carriers at the second time unit. Gao discloses receiving, in a second downlink control channel, a second control signal to indicate
a second time unit of the radio frame for transmitting a second UCI for a carrier
corresponding to the second group of downlink carriers; and transmitting the second transmission comprising at least the second UCI for the carrier wherein corresponding to the second group of downlink carriers at the second time unit(¶[0210], the second HARQ ACK/NACK includes the second UCI included in the RRC) . Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to make the proposed modification of the UCI and RRC configuration as disclosed by Gao along with the system of Kishiyama. The UCI and RRC may be implemented through software to provide control and transmission of multiple UCIs on a downlink carrier (¶[0052]).
Regarding claim 3, Kishiyama discloses wherein the first transmission and the second transmission are physical uplink
control channel (PUCCH) transmissions (abstract,¶[0034]).
Regarding claim 4, Kishiyama discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of receiving wherein the first downlink cont0rol channel or the second downlink control
channel comprise a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission including a
PUCCH resource index, wherein at least one of the first transmission or the second
transmission is transmitted using resources based on the PUCCH resource index. Gao discloses receiving wherein the first downlink cont0rol channel or the second downlink control channel comprise a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission (¶[0059]) including a PUCCH resource index ¶[0060]), wherein at least one of the first transmission or the second transmission is transmitted using resources based on the PUCCH resource index (¶[0060]).
Regarding claim 5, Kishiyama discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the first UCI comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) or non- acknowledgement (NACK) of a data transmission associated with the
carrier corresponding to the first group of downlink carriers further comprising
transmitting a first UCI at the exclusion of a second UCI based on a priority rule
determined from the RRC configuration information. Gao discloses wherein the first UCI comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) or non- acknowledgement (NACK) of a data transmission associated with the
carrier corresponding to the first group of downlink carriers (¶[0162]-¶[0163]) further comprising
transmitting a first UCI at the exclusion of a second UCI based on a priority rule
determined from the RRC configuration information (¶[0160], wherein the PRI field is ignored by the UE). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to make the proposed modification of the priority as disclosed by Gao along with the system of Kishiyama. The priority may be implemented through software to provide the system with communication management (¶[0160], Gao).
Regarding claim 6, Kishiyama discloses all subject matter of the claimed with the exception of wherein the second UCI comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)
acknowledgment (ACK) or non-acknowledgement (NACK) of a data transmission associated
with the carriers. Gao discloses wherein the second UCI comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)
acknowledgment (ACK) or nonacknowledgement (NACK) of a data transmission associated
with the carriers (¶[0162]-¶[0163]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to make the proposed modification of the HARQ ACK and NACK as disclosed by Gao through software to provide the system with communication management (¶[0162], Gao).
Regarding claim 7, Kishiyama discloses wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU), the WTRU comprising:
a transceiver coupled to a processor, the transceiver and processor configured to
receive a radio resource control (RRC) configuration information, (¶[0018], wherein the OFDMA includes the downlink carriers,¶[0012], wherein the UCI Is multiplexed, figure 9B) and a second group of downlink carriers, wherein the first transmission and the
second transmission are different transmissions (¶[0019], wherein the PDSCH and PDCCH include the control for the UCI and the first and second transmissions, figure 9B). Kishiyama does not disclose RRC configuration information indicates use of a first transmission for uplink control
information (UCI) or use of a second transmission for UCI for a second group of downlink carriers.
Gao discloses RRC configuration information indicates use of a first transmission for uplink control
information (UCI) (¶[0210], whe,rein the RRC is configuring UCI) and use of a second transmission for UCI for a second group of downlink carriers
(¶[0210], wherein the second HARQ ACK/NACK includes the second UCI included in the RRC) . Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to make the proposed modification of the UCI and RRC configuration as disclosed by Gao along with the system of Kishiyama. The UCI and RRC may be implemented through software to provide control and transmission of multiple UCIs on a downlink carrier (¶[0052]).
Regarding claim 8, Kishiyama discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the transceiver and the
processor are further configured to: receive, in a second downlink control channel, a
second control signal to indicate a second time unit of the radio frame for transmitting a second UCI for a carrier corresponding to the second group of downlink carriers; and
transmit the second transmission comprising at least the second UCI for the carrier
corresponding to the second group of downlink carriers at the second time unit
according to the received second control signal wherein the first transmission and the
second transmission are in difference subframes. Gao discloses wherein the transceiver and the
processor are further configured to: receive, in a second downlink control channel, a
second control signal to indicate a second time unit of the radio frame for transmitting a second UCI for a carrier corresponding to the second group of downlink carriers; and
transmit the second transmission comprising at least the second UCI for the carrier
corresponding to the second group of downlink carriers at the second time unit
according to the received second control signal wherein the first transmission and the
second transmission are in difference subframes (¶[0210], wherein the second HARQ ACK/NACK includes the second UCI). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to make the proposed modification of the UCI and RRC configuration as disclosed by Gao along with the system of Kishiyama. The UCI and RRC may be implemented through software to provide control and transmission of multiple UCIs on a downlink carrier (¶[0052]).
Regarding claim 9, Kishiyama discloses wherein the first transmission and the second transmission are physical uplink
control channel (PUCCH) transmissions (¶[0020]).
Regarding claim 10, Kishiyama discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the transceiver and processor are configured to receive first downlink control channel and the second
downlink control channel comprises a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)
transmission including a PUCCH resource index, wherein at least one of the first
transmission or the second transmission is transmitted using resources based on the
PUCCH resource index. Gao discloses wherein the transceiver and processor are configured to receive first downlink control
channel and the second downlink control channel comprises a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission including a PUCCH resource index (¶[0060]), wherein at least one of
the first transmission or the second transmission is transmitted using resources based on the PUCCH resource index (¶[0060]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to make the proposed modification of the UCI and RRC configuration as disclosed by Gao along with the system of Kishiyama. The UCI and RRC may be implemented through software to provide control and transmission of multiple UCIs on a downlink carrier (¶[0052]).
Regarding claim 11, Kishiyama does not disclose wherein the first UCI comprises a
hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) or non-
acknowledgement (NACK) of a data transmission associated with the carrier
corresponding to the first group of downlink carriers wherein the transceiver and
processor are configured to transmit a first UCI at the exclusion of a second UCI based on a priority rule determined form the RRC configuration information. Gao discloses wherein the first UCI comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) or non- acknowledgement (NACK) of a data transmission associated with the carrier corresponding to the first group of downlink carriers (¶[0162]-¶[0163]) wherein the transceiver and processor are configured to transmit a first UCI at the exclusion of a second UCI
based on a priority rule determined form the RRC configuration information (¶[0160], wherein the PRI field is ignored by the UE). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to make the proposed modification of the priority as disclosed by Gao along with the system of Kishiyama. The priority may be implemented through software to provide the system with communication management (¶[0160], Gao).
.
Regarding claim 12, Kishiyama discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the second UCI comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) or non- acknowledgement (NACK) of a data transmission associated with the carrier corresponding to the second group of downlink carriers . Gao discloses wherein the second UCI comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)
acknowledgment (ACK) or non- acknowledgement (NACK) of a data transmission associated
with the carrier (¶[0162]-¶[0163]) corresponding to the second group of downlink carriers (¶[0060]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to make the proposed modification of the UCI and RRC configuration as disclosed by Gao along with the system of Kishiyama. The UCI and RRC may be implemented through software to provide control and transmission of multiple UCIs on a downlink carrier (¶[0052]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANGEL T BROCKMAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5664. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6:00 AM-4:30 PM.
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/ANGEL T BROCKMAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2412