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 .
Terminal Disclaimer
The terminal disclaimer filed on 7/28/2026 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of USP 12022467 has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6-12 and 14-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiong [US 2019/0306922] in view of Shaheen [US 2018/0279331] and Yuan [US 2021/0022129].
As claim 1, 9 and 17, Xiong [US 2019/0306922] discloses an integrated circuit, comprising: reception circuitry, which, in operation, controls a reception of a first slot set used for a first uplink control information [Fig 13-16 discloses UCI such as HARQ-ACK or CSI, Par. 0082, 0087, 0098] and of a second slot set used for a second uplink control information [Fig 13-16 discloses UCI such as HARQ-ACK or CSI, Par. 0082, 0087, 0098], the first slot set being different from the slot second set [Fig 13 discloses the first/second slot set such as HARQ-ACK and CSI are not the same, Par. 0098]. and transmission circuitry, which, in operation, controls a transmission of at least one of the first uplink control information or the second uplink control information to a base station in a slot [Par. 0129 discloses slot for transmitting to the base station by multiplexing the UCI of PUCCHs], wherein, both of the first slot set and the second slot set include information relating to more than one slot [Fig 13-16 discloses the first and second set have multi-slots], and the slot being determined based on [Par 0129 discloses a slot is selected from to multi-slot HARQ-ACK or multi-slot CSI for transmitting based on priority]. However, Xiong [US 2018/0279331] fails to disclose reception circuitry, which, in operation, controls a reception of a first slot set used for a . In the same field of endeavor, Yuan [US 2021/0022129] discloses reception circuitry, which, in operation, controls a reception of [Par. 00039-0041, 0045 disclose resources for transmitting ACK with higher and CSI with lower priority, Fig 8 disclose Ref 820 for ACK and 810 for CSI] and of [Par. 00039-0041, 0045 disclose resources for transmitting ACK with higher and CSI with lower priority, Fig 8 disclose Ref 820 for ACK and 810 for CSI]. However, Xiong and Yuan do not disclose the slot being determined based on a first information Shaheen [US 2018/0279331] discloses the slot being determined based on a first information and on a second information which is transmitted from the base station, the first information indicating the first priority requirement or the second priority requirement, and the second information indicating a slot selected from the more than one slot of the first set or the second set [Par. 0152-0154 discloses transmission timing “slot of PUCCH” and priority used to select a slot for transmitting HARQ-ACK].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system for selecting a slot for transmitting uplink control information based on received transmitting timing and priority from the base station as disclosed by Shaheen into the teaching of Yuan disclose Xiong. The motivation would have been to reduce latency.
As claims 2 and 10, Xiong and Shaheen fail to disclose what Yuan [US 2021/0022129] discloses the first uplink control information with the first priority requirement is transmitted in a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource selected from a first PUCCH resource set [Par. 0037-0038 discloses UCI with priority is transmitted in resource selected from resource set], and the second uplink control information with the second priority requirement is transmitted in a second PUCCH resource selected from a second PUCCH resource set [[Par. 0037-0038 discloses UCI with priority is transmitted in resource selected from resource set].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system for selecting a slot for transmitting uplink control information based on received transmitting timing and priority from the base station as disclosed by Yuan into the teaching of Xiong and Shaheen. The motivation would have been to reduce latency.
As claims 3 and 11, Yuan [US 2021/0022129] discloses the first PUCCH resource set and the second PUCCH resource set are indicated by a higher layer signaling [Par. 0037, 0068-0069 discloses UE receives PUCCH resource set from base station].
As claims 4 and 12, Yuan [US 2021/0022129] discloses the first PUCCH resource is determined, from the first PUCCH resource set, by downlink control information (DCI) [Par. 0045, 0080, 0115 discloses DCI for conveying PUCCH resource set].
As claims 6 and 14, Xiong/Yuan discloses the second uplink control information is dropped in a case where the first uplink control information with the first priority requirement and the second uplink control information with the second priority requirement are overlapped, and wherein the first priority requirement is larger than the second priority requirement [Xiong at Fig 13, CSI with low priority is dropped when it is overlapped with higher priority such as HARQ-ACK and Yuan at Par. 0041 discloses CSI is dropped when HARQ-NACK is overlapped with CSI].
As claims 7 and 15, Shaheen discloses the first information indicating the first priority requirement or the second priority requirement is indicated by downlink control information (DCI) [Par. 0154 discloses DCI is correspond to priority].
As claims 8 and 16, Xiong discloses the first uplink control information and the second uplink control information includes a response signal and channel state information (CSI) [Fig 13 discloses ACK and CSI].
Claim(s) 5 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiong, Yuan and Shaheen as applied to claims 2 and 10 above, and further in view of Matsumura [US 2020/0404653].
As claims 5 and 13, Xiong, Yuan and Shaheen fail to fully disclose what Matsumura discloses the first PUCCH resource is selected from the first PUCCH resource set based on a total number of bits of the first uplink control information with the first priority requirement [Par. 0032, 0052, 0053 discloses PUCCH resource correspond UCI payload size]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system for selecting PUCCH resource based on size of UCI with priority as disclosed by Matsumura into the teaching of Xiong, Yuan and Shaheen. The motivation would have been to improve the processing time at the receiver.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/28/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to pages 6-9, the applicant states that Xiong does not teaches first slot set is different from a second slot set because that examiner which interprets resource/resource set with a slot/slot set, is overly broad. In reply, the examiner disagrees with applicant because Xiong at Par. 0082, 0098, 0107, 0110-0114 and Figs 11-16 discloses transmission of the first PUCCH over more than one slots and transmission of the second PUCCH over one or more slots which read on the claimed language “first slot set is different from a second slot set” because each multi-slot PUCCH is configured/transmitted as a slot set. So, the interpret of examiner is not overly broad because it is the ordinary meaning in the multi slot PUCCH context of Xiong because the resources are multiple slots. Xiong teaches when those multi slots transmission overlap, the UE which selects UCI that overlapped another UCI based on priority types which read on priority driven determination of transmission slot within multi-slot set. Furthermore, applicant states that Shaheen fails to disclose what Xiong fails to disclose in the claimed language because Shaheen fails to disclose slot. In reply, the examiner disagree with applicant because Xiong discloses the multi-slot configurations “second information” and the priority base selection and Shaheen discloses a network signaling of priority “first information” that used to determine resource/timing selection as following: RRC configures multiple PUCCH resource with priority, different priorities map to different PUCCH resources in time domain such as slot, mini slot at Par. 0124-0134, 0151 and DCI fields are associated with priority in order to allow UE to select the corresponding PUCCH resource and transmitting timing based on priority at Par. 0152-0154 and Fig 5-6. So, Xiong and Shaheen discloses wherein, both of the first slot set and the second slot set include information relating to more than one slot, and the slot being determined based on a first information and on a second information which are transmitted from the base station, the first information indicating the first priority requirement or the second priority requirement, and the second information indicating a slot selected from the more than one slot of the first slot set or the second slot set. Yuan discloses the network supplies data for using to select resource when UCIs are overlapping. Therefore, the prior arts disclose the claimed language.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN HIEU D NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3159. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5.
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/STEVEN HIEU D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414
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