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 .
Claims 1-6, 21-34 are pending.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6, 21-26, 28-32, 34 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chin et al. US 20220338241 in view of Xiao et al. US 20220353899.
Regarding claim 1, A method comprising: processing a configuration ( a user equipment receives a configuration message to configure a Configured Grant (CG) configuration and a set of HARQ process IDs that is available for the CG configuration, the set of HARQ process IDs including a first HARQ process ID for retransmission and a second HARQ process ID for initial transmission, para. 0012) to enable a determination of whether to deliver an uplink grant to a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity (MAC entity is configured with logical channel prioritization, priority of an uplink grant is determined by the highest priority among priorities of the logical channels and the MAC entity determines whether to deliver uplink grant to HARQ entity, para. 0088, 0093, Table 2).
Chin does not expressly disclose processing a configured grant (CG) associated with a HARQ process identifier (HARQ PID), determining that a CG timer associated with the HARQ PID is running; based on a condition of delay information of a data unit, determining whether the condition of the delay information of the data unit is met; and determining, based on said determining whether the condition of the delay information of the data unit is met, whether to deliver the CG to the HARQ entity.
Xiao discloses when a configuration condition is satisfied, setting a HARQ process ID to a HARQ process ID corresponding to PUSCH duration of this configured uplink grant and if the configured grant timer corresponding to the HARQ process is running, deliver the configured uplink grant and HARQ information associated therewith to the HARQ entity, para. 0079-0080. Xiao discloses a configuration condition satisfied is the configured grant timer of the corresponding HARQ process is running but the priority of the configured grant is higher compared with the priority of the MAC PDU in the buffer, para. 0086. Before the filing of the invention it would have been obvious to modify Chin with Xiao’s uplink grant processing. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so to consider priority processing and/or multiplexing when uplink/downlink data channel and control channel conflicts occur in the user equipment, para. 0002.
Regarding claim 2, The method of claim 1, Chin does not expressly disclose wherein said determining whether the condition of the delay information of the data unit is met comprises determining the condition of the delay information of the data unit is met and the method further comprises: delivering the CG to the HARQ entity for transmission.
Xiao discloses when a configuration condition is satisfied, setting a HARQ process ID to a HARQ process ID corresponding to PUSCH duration of this configured uplink grant and if the configured grant timer corresponding to the HARQ process is running, deliver the configured uplink grant and HARQ information associated therewith to the HARQ entity, para. 0079-0080. Xiao discloses a configuration condition satisfied is the configured grant timer of the corresponding HARQ process is running but the priority of the configured grant is higher compared with the priority of the MAC PDU in the buffer, para. 0086. Before the filing of the invention it would have been obvious to modify Chin with Xiao’s uplink grant processing. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so to consider priority processing and/or multiplexing when uplink/downlink data channel and control channel conflicts occur in the user equipment, para. 0002.
Regarding claim 3, The method of claim 1, Chin does not expressly disclose wherein the condition of the delay information of the data unit comprises: an amount of data from a logical channel associated with the CG being larger than a volume threshold; a buffer delay of data from a logical channel associated with the CG being larger than a delay threshold; a remaining time until a delivery deadline of data from a logical channel associated with the CG being smaller than a time threshold; data, from a logical channel associated with the CG, being urgent data; data, from a logical channel associated with the CG, being associated with a packet data unit (PDU) set with an importance level larger than an importance threshold; priority of a logical channel associated with the CG being larger than a priority threshold; or a delivery deadline of data, from a logical channel associated with the CG, being expired.
Xiao discloses when a configuration condition is satisfied, setting a HARQ process ID to a HARQ process ID corresponding to PUSCH duration of this configured uplink grant and if the configured grant timer corresponding to the HARQ process is running, deliver the configured uplink grant and HARQ information associated therewith to the HARQ entity, para. 0079-0080. Xiao discloses a configuration condition satisfied if the configured grant timer of the corresponding HARQ process is running but the priority of the configured grant is higher compared with the priority of the MAC PDU in the buffer, para. 0086. Before the filing of the invention it would have been obvious to modify Chin with Xiao’s uplink grant processing. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so to consider priority processing and/or multiplexing when uplink/downlink data channel and control channel conflicts occur in the user equipment, para. 0002.
Regarding claim 4, The method of claim 3, Chin does not expressly disclose wherein the data unit is a first data unit from the logical channel (LCH) or a second data unit associated with the LCH and stored in a buffer of the HARQ entity. Xiao discloses a configuration condition satisfied if the configured grant timer of the corresponding HARQ process is running but the priority of the configured grant is higher compared with the priority of the MAC PDU in the buffer, para. 0086. Before the filing of the invention it would have been obvious to modify Chin with Xiao’s uplink grant processing. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so to consider priority processing and/or multiplexing when uplink/downlink data channel and control channel conflicts occur in the user equipment, para. 0002.
Regarding claim 6, The method of claim 1, Chin does not expressly disclose wherein the configuration is included in a radio resource control (RRC) message. Xiao discloses the priority of a configured grant may be configured by a base station through RRC signaling/message, para. 0093. Before the filing of the invention it would have been obvious to modify Chin with Xiao’s uplink grant processing. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so to consider priority processing and/or multiplexing when uplink/downlink data channel and control channel conflicts occur in the user equipment, para. 0002.
Regarding claim 21, The method of claim 2, Chin does expressly disclose wherein the CG is transmitted prior to expiration of the CG timer.
Xiao discloses when a configuration condition is satisfied, setting a HARQ process ID to a HARQ process ID corresponding to PUSCH duration of this configured uplink grant and if the configured grant timer corresponding to the HARQ process is running, deliver the configured uplink grant and HARQ information associated therewith to the HARQ entity, para. 0079-0080. Xiao discloses a configuration condition satisfied if the configured grant timer of the corresponding HARQ process is running but the priority of the configured grant is higher compared with the priority of the MAC PDU in the buffer, para. 0086. Before the filing of the invention it would have been obvious to modify Chin with Xiao’s uplink grant processing. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so to consider priority processing and/or multiplexing when uplink/downlink data channel and control channel conflicts occur in the user equipment, para. 0002.
Regarding claim 22, The method of claim 1, Chin does not expressly disclose wherein the configuration is to indicate the condition of the delay information of the data unit. Xiao discloses when a configuration condition is satisfied, setting a HARQ process ID to a HARQ process ID corresponding to PUSCH duration of this configured uplink grant and if the configured grant timer corresponding to the HARQ process is running, deliver the configured uplink grant and HARQ information associated therewith to the HARQ entity, para. 0079-0080. Xiao discloses a configuration condition satisfied if the configured grant timer of the corresponding HARQ process is running but the priority of the configured grant is higher compared with the priority of the MAC PDU in the buffer, para. 0086. Before the filing of the invention it would have been obvious to modify Chin with Xiao’s uplink grant processing. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so to consider priority processing and/or multiplexing when uplink/downlink data channel and control channel conflicts occur in the user equipment, para. 0002.
Regarding claim 23, An apparatus (user equipment, Figure 8) comprising: processor circuitry and interface circuitry, coupled to the processor circuitry and rejected under the same rationale as claim 1.
Claims 24-26, 28-32, 34 are rejected under the same rationale.
Claim(s) 5, 27 and 33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chin in view of Xiao in view of Lee et al. US 20210105802.
Regarding claim 5, The method of claim 1, further comprising: Chin and Xiao do not expressly disclose generating uplink control information (UCI) to indicate that a HARQ process associated with the HARQ PID is overridden. Lee discloses the UE includes a HARQ entity, which maintains a number of HARQ processes configured according to the CG configuration and a HARQ process is configured for a configured uplink grant according to the CG configuration, the network determines a HARQ Process ID of the HARQ process, para. 0205. Lee discloses for a new transmission, if the UE has a MAC PDU to be transmitted on a CG resource and the CG resource does not overlap with the uplink resource associated with the dynamic grant, the UE performs a HARQ operation for the new transmission and when the UE performs the HARQ operation, the UE sets a HARQ PID associated with the CG resource, para. 0208, 0209. Lee discloses the UE performs the uplink transmission of the new MAC PDU and the PID of the selected HARQ process generated using the UL resource associated with the dynamic grant, the PID of the selected HARQ process, along with the MAC PDU can be included in the uplink channel indicator (UCI), para. 0216. Before the filing of the invention it would have been obvious to modify Chin and Xiao to include Lee’s HARQ operation. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so to overcome delay or latency in applications whose performance critically depends on delay/latency, para. 0003.
Claims 27 and 33 are rejected under the same rationale.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Froberg Olsson et al. US 20260247387 discloses a user equipment receiving, from the wireless communication network, a configured grant that configures the UE with the set of transmission occasions for performing uplink transmission, identifying a subset of transmission occasions, within the set of transmission occasions, to be used.
Fu et al. US 20250300773 discloses performing wireless transmission-related processing based on a selection or usage rule for a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process or based on a transmission or processing mode for a first resource, wherein the first HARQ process is an HARQ process satisfying a collision condition, and the first resource is a resource corresponding to the first HARQ process.
Tsai et al. US 20230040421 discloses performing an initial transmission of the CG-SDT via a first configured Uplink grant associated with a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request process, determining whether a feedback from the BS has been received for the first configured UL grant associated with the HARQ process and performing a retransmission for the initial transmission of the CG-SDT via a second configured UL grant if the feedback has not been received.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MELANIE JAGANNATHAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3163. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/MELANIE JAGANNATHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468
