CTNF 18/643,909 CTNF 95789 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 § 112 07-30-02 AIA The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b): (b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph: The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention. 07-34-01 Claims 1-25 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 1 is unclear because “wherein one or more logical boundaries of the plurality of transport blocks do not coincide with a physical boundary” states that the logical boundary and physical boundary do not coincide. However, in applicant’s specification in [0091] a physical boundary is for example a slot or mini slot and a logical boundary is defined as a time with amount of symbols. The examiner is confused because slots and mini slots are defined by size using symbols, in addition applicant did not define how many symbols are in slots or mini slots. So is applicant stating that the physical boundary and logical boundary will never overlap, take up the same space or position or is applicant stating that physical boundaries and logical boundaries are established using different ways. Furthermore, more clarification on what a physical boundary is needed because the only clarification on a physical boundary is for example a mini slot or slot, which are generally logical concepts that vary. Claims 14 have similar issues. Claims 2-8, 15-20 are rejected for being dependent on claims 1, 9, 14, and 21. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 07-15-aia AIA Claim(s) 1, 2, 9-11, 13- 15, 21-23, 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Hosseini et al. (US20210067950 herein after Hoss) . Regarding claim 1, 14 Hoss teaches A user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more memories storing processor-executable code; and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE ([0177] “the processor 940 may be configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. In other cases, a memory controller may be integrated into the processor 940 . The processor 940 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., the memory 930 ) to cause the device 905 to perform various functions ”) to: receive a downlink control message that includes a start and length indicator value associated with a grant for a resource allocation, wherein the resource allocation spans a plurality of slots (Fig. 3 “305-a”, [0132] “a UE may receive signaling (e.g., DCI) that includes an uplink grant and a time domain resource assignment for transmitting one or more data repetitions of uplink data. In some cases, the DCI signaling may indicate a starting symbol and a transmission duration for one or more uplink data repetitions. In some examples, the time domain resource assignment may include an index value for a table configured according to RRC signaling. In some cases, the index value may correspond to a SLIV that includes a starting symbol and a transmission duration for the one or more data repetitions. The UE may identify directions for a plurality of symbols spanning the transmission duration, including symbols within a first slot and symbols within a second slot. The directions may include uplink symbols, flexible symbols, and downlink symbols associated with a slot format”) ; determine respective logical boundaries for a plurality of transport blocks in the resource allocation based at least in part on a threshold quantity of symbols for a transport block ([0133] “PUSCH repetitions may be configured via an indicated starting symbol and transmission duration 305 - a scheduling PUSCH repetitions within a single slot, according to UE uplink data repetition capability reporting). For example, a mini-slot duration may be determined to be two or three symbols, and data repetition 310 - a may include two repetitions of two or three symbols each… the mini-slot duration may depend on the number of symbols between the starting symbol and a last symbol in the first slot N, a transport block size of data to be transmitted in the data repetitions 310, [0136] “ UE may transmit an uplink data repetition capability report to a base station, where the uplink data repetition capability report may include an indication of a number of data repetitions supported per transport block (e.g., a number of PUSCH supported per PUSCH repetition bundle 410”), (Examiner’s Note: threshold quantity of symbols for a transport block ==number of data repetitions supported per transport block, since data repetition is defined as 2 or 3 symbols , wherein one or more logical boundaries of the plurality of transport blocks do not coincide with a physical boundary (“Fig. 3 “310-b”, “310-a”, [0133] “Additionally, the UE may schedule a second data repetition 310 - b for the uplink data payload over a contiguous set of uplink symbols for slot N+1”, (Examiner’s Note: 310-b boundaries does not overlap slot N or N+1 boundaries”, 310-b boundaries ==logical, slot boundaries ==physical boundaries) ; and communicate the plurality of transport blocks via the resource allocation based at least in part on the respective logical boundaries for the plurality of transport blocks ([0148] “At 520 , UE 115 - b may transmit, to base station 105 - b , the one or more data repetitions (e.g., PUSCH repetitions) according to the uplink grant”) . Regarding claim 9, 21 Hoss teaches A user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more memories storing processor-executable code; and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE ([0177] “the processor 940 may be configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. In other cases, a memory controller may be integrated into the processor 940 . The processor 940 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., the memory 930 ) to cause the device 905 to perform various functions ”) to: transmit a message indicating a capability associated with a threshold quantity of resources for a transport block [0136] “ UE may transmit an uplink data repetition capability report to a base station, where the uplink data repetition capability report may include an indication of a number of data repetitions supported per transport block (e.g., a number of PUSCH supported per PUSCH repetition bundle 410”) ; receive a downlink control message that includes a start and length indicator value associated with a grant for a resource allocation, wherein the resource allocation spans a plurality of slots (Fig. 3 “305-a”, [0132] “a UE may receive signaling (e.g., DCI) that includes an uplink grant and a time domain resource assignment for transmitting one or more data repetitions of uplink data. In some cases, the DCI signaling may indicate a starting symbol and a transmission duration for one or more uplink data repetitions. In some examples, the time domain resource assignment may include an index value for a table configured according to RRC signaling. In some cases, the index value may correspond to a SLIV that includes a starting symbol and a transmission duration for the one or more data repetitions. The UE may identify directions for a plurality of symbols spanning the transmission duration, including symbols within a first slot and symbols within a second slot. The directions may include uplink symbols, flexible symbols, and downlink symbols associated with a slot format”) ; determine a quantity of transport blocks associated with the resource allocation based at least in part on the capability associated with the threshold quantity of resources for the transport block (Fig. 3 “310 -a”, “310-b” [0133] “PUSCH repetitions may be configured via an indicated starting symbol and transmission duration 305 - a scheduling PUSCH repetitions within a single slot, according to UE uplink data repetition capability reporting). For example, a mini-slot duration may be determined to be two or three symbols, and data repetition 310 - a may include two repetitions of two or three symbols each… the mini-slot duration may depend on the number of symbols between the starting symbol and a last symbol in the first slot N, a transport block size of data to be transmitted in the data repetitions 310, [0136] “ an indication of a number of data repetitions supported per transport block (e.g., a number of PUSCH supported per PUSCH repetition bundle 410”), “) ; and communicate one or more transport blocks via the resource allocation based at least in part on a quantity of transport blocks associated with the resource allocation ([0133] “For example, a mini-slot duration may be determined to be two or three symbols, and data repetition 310 - a may include two repetitions of two or three symbols each… the mini-slot duration may depend on the number of symbols between the starting symbol and a last symbol in the first slot N, a transport block size of data to be transmitted in the data repetitions 310, [0136] “ an indication of a number of data repetitions supported per transport block (e.g., a number of PUSCH supported per PUSCH repetition bundle 410”)”, [0148] “At 520 , UE 115 - b may transmit, to base station 105 - b , the one or more data repetitions (e.g., PUSCH repetitions) according to the uplink grant”) ”. Regarding claim 2, 15 Moss teaches wherein each transport block of the plurality of transport blocks is associated with a respective hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process ([0096] “UEs 115 and base stations 105 may support retransmissions of data to increase the likelihood that data is received successfully. HARQ feedback is one technique of increasing the likelihood that data is received correctly over a communication link 125 ”, [0136] “ UE may transmit an uplink data repetition capability report to a base station, where the uplink data repetition capability report may include an indication of a number of data repetitions supported per transport block (e.g., a number of PUSCH supported per PUSCH repetition bundle 410”) . Regarding claim 10, 22 Moss teaches wherein, to communicate the one or more transport blocks, the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: communicating a single transport block based at least in part on the capability being associated with an absence of a size limit for the transport block ([0133] “the mini-slot duration may depend on the number of symbols between the starting symbol and a last symbol in the first slot N, a transport block size of data to be transmitted in the data repetitions 310, [0136] “ an indication of a number of data repetitions supported per transport block (e.g., a number of PUSCH supported per PUSCH repetition bundle 410”)”, [0148] “At 520 , UE 115 - b may transmit, to base station 105 - b , the one or more data repetitions (e.g., PUSCH repetitions) according to the uplink grant”)”) . Regarding claim 11, 23, Moss teaches wherein, to communicate the one or more transport blocks, the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: communicating a plurality of transport blocks based at least in part on a quantity of resources of the resource allocation exceeding the threshold quantity of resources for the transport block ([0071] “The uplink data repetition capability report may further indicate a maximum number of PUSCH transmissions per slot for all TBs, a maximum number of supported repetitions per TB”, [0126] “an indication of a maximum number of supported repetitions per TB, and a number of TBs supported per slot), but the repetition capability parameters may be indicated across eMBB and URLLC jointly. For example, UE 115 - a may report, in a given BoBC, that it does support repetition for eMBB, that it supports repetition for URLLC, and that it supports a maximum of 3 repetitions per window. In this case, the UE may support 2 TB for eMBB and 2 TB for URLLC. As such, overall, the UE 115 - a may not need to perform more than eight TBs worth of processing per slot”) . Regarding claim 13, 25, Moss teaches wherein the threshold quantity of resources corresponds to a threshold quantity of symbol periods or a threshold quantity of resource elements ([0133] “PUSCH repetitions may be configured via an indicated starting symbol and transmission duration 305 - a scheduling PUSCH repetitions within a single slot, according to UE uplink data repetition capability reporting). For example, a mini-slot duration may be determined to be two or three symbols, and data repetition 310 - a may include two repetitions of two or three symbols each… the mini-slot duration may depend on the number of symbols between the starting symbol and a last symbol in the first slot N, a transport block size of data to be transmitted in the data repetitions 310, [0136] “ UE may transmit an uplink data repetition capability report to a base station, where the uplink data repetition capability report may include an indication of a number of data repetitions supported per transport block (e.g., a number of PUSCH supported per PUSCH repetition bundle 410”), (Examiner’s Note: threshold quantity of symbols for a transport block ==number of data repetitions supported per transport block, since data repetition is defined as 2 or 3 symbols) . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-23-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 3, 4, 16, 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moss in view of Hwang et al. (US20220210802) . Regarding claims 3, 16, Moss does not teach wherein the downlink control message indicates a HARQ identifier for each respective HARQ process Hwang teaches wherein the downlink control message indicates a HARQ identifier for each respective HARQ process ([0250] “In the multi-TB scheduling DCI structure, a plurality of HARQ process IDs may be scheduled by a single DCI. Thus, when the UE decodes the single DCI, the UE may recognize all of the plurality of scheduled HARQ process IDs”) . It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Moss to incorporate the teachings of Hwang . One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to increase the efficiency of the system. Regarding claim 4, 17, Moss teaches wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: transport block of the plurality of transport blocks based at least in part on the threshold quantity of symbols and the resource allocation ([0133] “PUSCH repetitions may be configured via an indicated starting symbol and transmission duration 305 - a scheduling PUSCH repetitions within a single slot, according to UE uplink data repetition capability reporting). For example, a mini-slot duration may be determined to be two or three symbols, and data repetition 310 - a may include two repetitions of two or three symbols each… the mini-slot duration may depend on the number of symbols between the starting symbol and a last symbol in the first slot N, a transport block size of data to be transmitted in the data repetitions 310, [0136] “ UE may transmit an uplink data repetition capability report to a base station, where the uplink data repetition capability report may include an indication of a number of data repetitions supported per transport block (e.g., a number of PUSCH supported per PUSCH repetition bundle 410”)”) . Moss does not teach determine the respective HARQ process for each transport block of the plurality of transport blocks, wherein the downlink control message indicates a first HARQ identifier for a first transport block of the plurality of transport blocks. Hwang teaches determine the respective HARQ process for each transport block of the plurality of transport ([0202] “the TB is a term for describing a unit in which transmission is performed, and the TB may be substituted with a proper transmission unit (e.g., CB, CBG, subframe, slot, symbol, RE, RB, HARQ process, etc.)”) wherein the downlink control message indicates a first HARQ identifier for a first transport block of the plurality of transport blocks ([0250] “In the multi-TB scheduling DCI structure, a plurality of HARQ process IDs may be scheduled by a single DCI. Thus, when the UE decodes the single DCI, the UE may recognize all of the plurality of scheduled HARQ process IDs”) . It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Moss to incorporate the teachings of Hwang . One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to increase the efficiency of the system . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 5, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moss in view of Lyu et al. (US20250343638) . Regarding claim 5, 18, Moss does not teach wherein the plurality of transport blocks are associated with a single hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process. Lyu teaches wherein the plurality of transport blocks are associated with a single hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process ([0090] “the plurality of transport blocks may correspond to a single HARQ process”) . It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Moss to incorporate the teachings of Lyu . One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to increase the reliability of the system. Regarding claim 6, 19, Moss does not teach wherein the downlink control message indicates a HARQ identifier for the single HARQ process. Lyu teaches wherein the downlink control message indicates a HARQ identifier for the single HARQ process ([0250] “n the multi-TB scheduling DCI structure, a plurality of HARQ process IDs may be scheduled by a single DCI. Thus, when the UE decodes the single DCI, the UE may recognize all of the plurality of scheduled HARQ process IDs”) . It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Moss to incorporate the teachings of Lyu . One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to increase the reliability of the system . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 7, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moss in view of Terry et al. (US20180375635) . Regarding claims 7, 20, Moss does not teach wherein each transport block of the plurality of transport blocks includes a respective cyclic redundancy check. Terry teaches wherein each transport block of the plurality of transport blocks includes a respective cyclic redundancy check ([0005] “H-ARQ process and one cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is attached to one transport block”, [0007] “transmitting multiple TBs in a TTI simultaneously with multiple H-ARQ processes in a wireless communication system”) . It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Moss to incorporate the teachings of Terry. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to increase the reliability of the system . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moss in view of Kim et al. (US20240155670) . Regarding claim 8, Moss does not teach wherein: each transport block of the plurality of transport blocks is segmented into one or more code blocks. Kim teaches wherein: each transport block of the plurality of transport blocks is segmented into one or more code blocks ([0188] “Each coded block is decoded with the selected LDPC base graph into a CRC-attached code block or CRC-attached transport block. If code block segmentation was performed on a CRC-attached transport block at the transmitting side, a CRC sequence is removed from each of CRC-attach”) . It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Moss to incorporate the teachings of Kim. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve latency . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 12, 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moss in view of Ding et al. (US20240107361) . Regarding claims 12, 24, Moss does not teach with the threshold quantity of resources for the transport block is based at least in part on a size of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffer of the UE or a log likelihood ratio (LLR) buffer of the UE. Ding teaches with the threshold quantity of resources for the transport block is based at least in part on a size of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffer of the UE ([0217] “S 420 : The terminal device sends first information to the network device”, [0193] “A baseband capability of an AR or VR terminal device is related to a baseband processing delay such as a data packet size, an uplink and downlink L2 buffer size, and a HARQ soft buffer size. A hardware capability is related to a parameter such as a frequency band combination, bandwidth, a maximum modulation order, a maximum quantity of layers, a maximum bit rate”) or a log likelihood ratio (LLR) buffer of the UE. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Moss to incorporate the teachings of Ding . One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to reduce cost. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEITH TRAN-DANH FOLLANSBEE whose telephone number is (571)272-3071. The examiner can normally be reached 10am -6 pm M-Th. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Derrick Ferris can be reached at 571-272-3123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /K.T.F./Examiner, Art Unit 2411 /DERRICK W FERRIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2411 Application/Control Number: 18/643,909 Page 2 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 18/643,909 Page 3 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 18/643,909 Page 4 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 18/643,909 Page 5 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 18/643,909 Page 6 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 18/643,909 Page 7 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 18/643,909 Page 8 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 18/643,909 Page 9 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 18/643,909 Page 10 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 18/643,909 Page 11 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 18/643,909 Page 12 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 18/643,909 Page 13 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 18/643,909 Page 15 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 18/643,909 Page 16 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 18/643,909 Page 17 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 18/643,909 Page 18 Art Unit: 2411
