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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s submission filed on 07/28/2026 has been entered. Applicant’s submission overcomes prior claim objections to claim 1. Therefore, the corresponding objections are withdrawn. Applicant’s submission overcomes prior claim rejections under 35 USC § 112(d). Therefore, the corresponding rejections are withdrawn. Claims 1, 3-8, 10, and 12-17 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.
Claims 1, 3, 8, 10, 12, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wallén et al. (WO 2021/206624), hereinafter “Wallen”, in view of Wang et al. (US 2023/0370875), hereinafter "Wang", and further in view of Papasakellariou (US 2020/0304230), hereinafter “Papasakellariou”, and further in view of Chen et al. (US 2021/0050970), hereinafter “Chen”.
Regarding claims 1, 10, Wallen teaches:
A method of controlling a cellular communication system, or a system for controlling a cellular communication system where a first User Equipment (UE) and a second UE communicate with at least one cellular site associated with the cellular communication system, wherein the at least one cellular site comprises: a first cellular site and a second cellular site, and wherein the first UE is associated and communicating with the first cellular site and the second UE is associated and communicating with the second cellular site (see Wallen, Fig. 2, page 15, lines 27-28: The base stations 202 and the low power nodes 206 provide service to wireless communication devices 212-1 through 212-5 in the corresponding cells 204 and 208), the method comprising the steps of or the system comprising:
a first User Equipment (UE) and a second UE communicating with at least one cellular site associated with the cellular communication system, the at least one cellular site includes a first cellular site and a second cellular site, the first UE associated and communicating with the first cellular site and the second UE associated and communicating with the second cellular site (see Wallen, Fig. 2, page 15, lines 27-28: The base stations 202 and the low power nodes 206 provide service to wireless communication devices 212-1 through 212-5 in the corresponding cells 204 and 208);
providing a g NodeB (gNB) for allocating Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) Control Channel Elements (CCEs) (see Wallen, Fig. 8, page 28, lines 8-15: the network node sends, to the wireless communication device 212, a CORESET configuration (step 800). The CORESET configuration includes information that defines a bandwidth of the CORESET, which for this discussion is referred to as a first bandwidth. The network node selects a set of CCEs on which to transmit a PDCCH to the wireless communication device 212 from among a plurality of sets of CCEs that correspond to a plurality of PDCCH candidates (e.g., comprised in a search space) for the wireless communication device 212 within the CORESET (step 802); in this case, the network node selecting information on CCEs for PDCCH corresponds to allocating PDCCH CCEs);
allocating a first start CCE index from a first group based on physical cell identity of the first cellular site for a first Control Resource Set (CORESET-0) for the first UE (see Wallen, page 21, line 16-page 22, line 6: the start index offset (ΔCCE) is determined via higher layer signaling (e.g., via Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration). The configured value may be set using UE-specific configuration (e.g., UE-specific RRC configuration). The start index offset may be configured per UE, per CORESET, per search space, per bandwidth part, per carrier, or for any other appropriate entity. In one embodiment, the start index offset is determined from a function, or otherwise based on a parameter which is unique to the UE, CORESET, search space, bandwidth part, or similar. The determination may result in a constant start index offset value, or a varying value, for example between slots, and for example in a pseudo-random manner. Without limitation, the start index offset (ΔCCE) may be a function of one or more of: A UE identity, such as an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), a Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI) or 5G S-TMSI, or any other physical or higher layer UE-specific identity, A Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI), such as a C-RNTI, SI-RNTI, RA- RNTI, P-RNTI, etc. A search space identity, such as given by the searchSpaceld field comprised in an RRC configuration message, A CORESET identity, such as given by the control ResourceSetld field comprised in an RRC configuration message, A time index, such a slot number or a System Frame Number (SFN). Cell specific parameters, such as a Physical Cell Id, and see page 21, lines 5-8: a modified start index expression can instead be based on CCE2,L defined above with a CCE start index offset added. The start index offset may be a fixed constant value. In one embodiment, in order to avoid the CORESET partitioning being overlapping for different UEs, the offset is UE-specific; in this case, Wallen supports determining start CCE index based on physical cell identity per UE and per CORESET, corresponding to a first start CCE index based on PCI of the first cellular site for a first CORESET for the first UE);
allocating a second start CCE index from a second group based on physical cell identity for a second Control Resource Set (CORESET-1) for the second UE (see Wallen, page 21, line 16-page 22, line 6: the start index offset (ΔCCE) is determined via higher layer signaling (e.g., via Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration). The configured value may be set using UE-specific configuration (e.g., UE-specific RRC configuration). The start index offset may be configured per UE, per CORESET, per search space, per bandwidth part, per carrier, or for any other appropriate entity. In one embodiment, the start index offset is determined from a function, or otherwise based on a parameter which is unique to the UE, CORESET, search space, bandwidth part, or similar. The determination may result in a constant start index offset value, or a varying value, for example between slots, and for example in a pseudo-random manner. Without limitation, the start index offset (ΔCCE) may be a function of one or more of: A UE identity, such as an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), a Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI) or 5G S-TMSI, or any other physical or higher layer UE-specific identity, A Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI), such as a C-RNTI, SI-RNTI, RA- RNTI, P-RNTI, etc. A search space identity, such as given by the searchSpaceld field comprised in an RRC configuration message, A CORESET identity, such as given by the control ResourceSetld field comprised in an RRC configuration message, A time index, such a slot number or a System Frame Number (SFN). Cell specific parameters, such as a Physical Cell Id, and see page 21, lines 5-8: a modified start index expression can instead be based on CCE2,L defined above with a CCE start index offset added. The start index offset may be a fixed constant value. In one embodiment, in order to avoid the CORESET partitioning being overlapping for different UEs, the offset is UE-specific; in this case, Wallen supports determining start CCE index based on physical cell identity per UE and per CORESET, corresponding to a second start CCE index based on PCI of the second cellular site for a second CORESET for the second UE);
wherein the start CCE index for CORESET-0 is offset from the start CCE index for CORESET-1 such that PDCCH CCE collision minimized and PDCCH decoding is improved for the first UE and the second UE (see Wallen, page 6, lines 9-15: the plurality of PDCCH candidates are positioned relative to a lower end of the first bandwidth based on an offset. In one embodiment, the offset is wireless communication device specific. In one embodiment, the offset is preconfigured. In another embodiment, the offset is determined by a function or otherwise based on a parameter which is unique to the wireless communication device, or to the CORESET, or to a search space, or to bandwidth part in which the CORESET is located, and see page 6, lines 20-22: determining the position of the PDCCH candidate as a function the offset comprises determining an index of a CCE of the PDCCH candidate as a function of the offset; in this case, offsets are unique to the CORESET, corresponding to the start index being different for each CORESET (i.e. having an offset)) where the CCE indexes are based on aggregation levels in the CORESET configurations (see Wallen, page 22, lines 9-11: the start index offset (ΔCCE) is determined based on the location of the CCEs used for a PDCCH candidate using the maximum supported aggregation level Lmax, when placed in the full, unrestricted CORESET) and where the first and second start CCE indexes are separated in a frequency or a time domain across the first and second cellular sites (see Wallen, page 6, lines 9-15: the plurality of PDCCH candidates are positioned relative to a lower end of the first bandwidth based on an offset. In one embodiment, the offset is wireless communication device specific. In one embodiment, the offset is preconfigured. In another embodiment, the offset is determined by a function or otherwise based on a parameter which is unique to the wireless communication device, or to the CORESET, or to a search space, or to bandwidth part in which the CORESET is located, and see page 6, lines 20-22: determining the position of the PDCCH candidate as a function the offset comprises determining an index of a CCE of the PDCCH candidate as a function of the offset, and see Fig. 2, page 15, lines 27-28: The base stations 202 and the low power nodes 206 provide service to wireless communication devices 212-1 through 212-5 in the corresponding cells 204 and 208; in this case, offsets being determined based on bandwidth part in which the CORESET is located corresponds to unique CCE indexes which are separated in a frequency domain),
However, Wallen does not teach:
providing a g NodeB (gNB) including a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, the MAC layer responsible for allocating Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) Control Channel Elements (CCEs) for Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and control information transmission;
allocating start CCE indexes with the MAC layer
wherein orthogonality is maintained between CCEs for CORESET-0 and CORESET-1 across sectors for initial transmission, wherein CORESET-0 carries DCI for common control information including at least one of RACH, paging or system information messages, wherein CORESET-1 carries DCI for UE-specific control information for scheduling PDSCH transmission, and wherein CCEs allocated for CORESET-0 do not overlap with CCEs allocated for CORESET-1 in an adjacent sector.
Wang, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
providing a g NodeB (gNB) including a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, the MAC layer responsible for allocating Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) Control Channel Elements (CCEs) (see Wang, Fig. 3, par. [0062]: FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a base station 310 in communication with a UE 350 in an access network…The controller/processor 375 provides…MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization, and see Wang, Fig. 7, par. [0115]: At 708, the base station 704 may transmit, to the first UE 702, and the first UE 702 may receive, from the base station 704, an indication of a DCICI configuration via at least one of RRC signaling, a second DCI message, or a MAC-CE. The DCICI configuration may include an AL associated with a DCICI PDCCH and at least one of a PDCCH candidate ID associated with the DCICI PDCCH or a CCE index associated with the DCICI PDCCH; in this case, the base station may have a MAC module and may provide configuration associated with a CCE index for PDCCH through a MAC-CE (corresponding to a MAC module responsible for allocating PDCCH CCEs)) for Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and control information transmission (see Wang, Fig. 2B, par. [0059]: FIG. 2B illustrates an example of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame…The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH such as system information blocks (SIBs), and paging messages, and see Wang, Fig. 2D, par. [0061]: FIG. 2D illustrates an example of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame. The PUCCH may be located as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, a channel quality indicator (CQI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a rank indicator (RI), and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) (HARQ-ACK) feedback (i.e., one or more HARQ ACK bits indicating one or more ACK and/or negative ACK (NACK)). The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), and/or UCI; in this case, different frame structures may include communication for PDSCH, PUSCH, and control information);
allocating start CCE indexes with the MAC layer (see Wang, Fig. 7, par. [0115]: At 708, the base station 704 may transmit, to the first UE 702, and the first UE 702 may receive, from the base station 704, an indication of a DCICI configuration via at least one of RRC signaling, a second DCI message, or a MAC-CE. The DCICI configuration may include an AL associated with a DCICI PDCCH and at least one of a PDCCH candidate ID associated with the DCICI PDCCH or a CCE index associated with the DCICI PDCCH; in this case, the configuration may indicate a CCE index through a MAC-CE (i.e. with the MAC module))
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or system of Wallen with the MAC module of Wang with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing the number of blind decodes (see Wang, par. [0085]).
However, the combination of Wallen in view of Wang does not teach:
wherein orthogonality is maintained between CCEs for CORESET-0 and CORESET-1 across sectors for initial transmission, wherein CORESET-0 carries DCI for common control information including at least one of RACH, paging or system information messages, wherein CORESET-1 carries DCI for UE-specific control information for scheduling PDSCH transmission, and wherein CCEs allocated for CORESET-0 do not overlap with CCEs allocated for CORESET-1 in an adjacent sector.
Papasakellariou, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein orthogonality is maintained between CCEs for CORESET-0 and CORESET-1 across sectors for initial transmission (see Papasakellariou, par. [0080]: A UE has a predetermined capability, as a function of a sub-carrier spacing (SCS) used for PDCCH reception in a DL bandwidth part (DL BWP) of a cell, for a maximum number of PDCCH candidates and for a maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for PDCCH receptions in CORESETs per slot and per serving cell. For example, for 15 kHz SCS and for 120 kHz SCS, a UE capability for a maximum number of PDCCH candidates in CORESETs per slot is 44 and 20, respectively, and a UE capability for a maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for PDCCH receptions in CORESETs per slot is 56 and 32, respectively per serving cell, and see par. [0089]: CCEs for PDCCH candidates are non-overlapping if they correspond to different CORESET indexes or to different first symbols for the reception of the respective PDCCH candidates. CCEs with different indexes in a same CORESET are also non-overlapping; in this case, using non-overlapping CCEs for CORESETs and for each serving cell for PDCCH receptions corresponds to maintaining orthogonality between CCEs across sectors for initial transmission), and wherein CCEs allocated for CORESET-0 do not overlap with CCEs allocated for CORESET-1 in an adjacent sector (see Papasakellariou, par. [0080]: A UE has a predetermined capability, as a function of a sub-carrier spacing (SCS) used for PDCCH reception in a DL bandwidth part (DL BWP) of a cell, for a maximum number of PDCCH candidates and for a maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for PDCCH receptions in CORESETs per slot and per serving cell. For example, for 15 kHz SCS and for 120 kHz SCS, a UE capability for a maximum number of PDCCH candidates in CORESETs per slot is 44 and 20, respectively, and a UE capability for a maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for PDCCH receptions in CORESETs per slot is 56 and 32, respectively per serving cell, and see par. [0089]: CCEs for PDCCH candidates are non-overlapping if they correspond to different CORESET indexes or to different first symbols for the reception of the respective PDCCH candidates. CCEs with different indexes in a same CORESET are also non-overlapping; in this case, using non-overlapping CCEs for CORESETs and for each serving cell for PDCCH receptions corresponds to maintaining orthogonality between CCEs in adjacent sectors).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the CCE index allocation of the combination of Wallen in view of Wang with the CCEs being allocated such that they do not overlap of Papasakellariou with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of minimizing the number of required non-overlapping CCEs (see Papasakellariou, par. [0089]).
However, the combination of Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, does not teach:
wherein CORESET-0 carries DCI for common control information including at least one of RACH, paging or system information messages, wherein CORESET-1 carries DCI for UE-specific control information for scheduling PDSCH transmission,
Chen, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein CORESET-0 carries DCI for common control information including at least one of RACH, paging or system information messages (see Chen, par. [0092]: The initial BWP is used for system information transmission, random access, and paging. A CORESET transmitted in the initial BWP is referred to as a CORESET 0. A type of search space in the CORESET 0 is “CSS”. A CORESET transmitted in the active BWP of the UE is a CORESET 1, and types of search space in the CORESET 1 are “CSS” and “USS”. Therefore, in the active BWP, the terminal device needs to simultaneously receive DCI carried on PDCCHs transmitted by using the CORESETs in the active BWP and the initial BWP), wherein CORESET-1 carries DCI for UE-specific control information for scheduling PDSCH transmission (see Chen, par. [0095]: To reduce types of sizes of DCI blindly detected by the terminal device, a possible solution is that in this scenario, sizes of all DCI formats 0-0/1-0 transmitted in the active BWP are determined by the initial BWP. In this case, a size of the DCI format 0-0/1-0 transmitted in the CORESET 1 of the active BWP is determined by the initial BWP. For PDSCH transmission, a size of a frequency domain RA information field in the DCI format 1-0 is determined by a bandwidth of the initial BWP, and these PDSCHs scheduled by using the DCI may be transmitted in a frequency domain range of the active BWP; in this case, DCI includes information for PDSCH transmission, corresponding to UE-specific control information for scheduling PDSCH transmission),
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the CORESETs of the combination of Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, with the specific messaging of Chen with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improve flexibility of scheduling (see Chen, par. [0005]).
Regarding claims 3, 12, the combination of Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, and further in view of Chen, teaches the method or system. Wallen further teaches:
wherein the second start CCE index is offset for more than one CORESET configured in the system (see Wallen, page 6, lines 9-15: the plurality of PDCCH candidates are positioned relative to a lower end of the first bandwidth based on an offset. In one embodiment, the offset is wireless communication device specific. In one embodiment, the offset is preconfigured. In another embodiment, the offset is determined by a function or otherwise based on a parameter which is unique to the wireless communication device, or to the CORESET, or to a search space, or to bandwidth part in which the CORESET is located, and see page 6, lines 20-22: determining the position of the PDCCH candidate as a function the offset comprises determining an index of a CCE of the PDCCH candidate as a function of the offset, and see page 21, line 16-page 22, line 6: the start index offset (ΔCCE) is determined via higher layer signaling (e.g., via Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration). The configured value may be set using UE-specific configuration (e.g., UE-specific RRC configuration). The start index offset may be configured per UE, per CORESET, per search space, per bandwidth part, per carrier, or for any other appropriate entity. In one embodiment, the start index offset is determined from a function, or otherwise based on a parameter which is unique to the UE, CORESET, search space, bandwidth part, or similar. The determination may result in a constant start index offset value, or a varying value, for example between slots, and for example in a pseudo-random manner. Without limitation, the start index offset (ΔCCE) may be a function of one or more of: A UE identity, such as an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), a Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI) or 5G S-TMSI, or any other physical or higher layer UE-specific identity, A Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI), such as a C-RNTI, SI-RNTI, RA- RNTI, P-RNTI, etc. A search space identity, such as given by the searchSpaceld field comprised in an RRC configuration message, A CORESET identity, such as given by the control ResourceSetld field comprised in an RRC configuration message, A time index, such a slot number or a System Frame Number (SFN). Cell specific parameters, such as a Physical Cell Id; in this case, determining start CCE indices and offsets is performed per CORESET, corresponding to offsetting for more than one CORESET).
Regarding claims 8, 17, the combination of Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, and further in view of Chen, teaches the method or system.
The combination of Wallen in view of Wang does not teach, but Papasakellariou teaches:
wherein the second start CCE index is offset from the first start CCE index based on at least one of an aggregation level or a bandwidth configuration so that the CCEs allocated for CORESET-0 do not overlap with the CCEs allocated for CORESET-1 in the adjacent sector (see Papasakellariou, par. [0080]: A UE has a predetermined capability, as a function of a sub-carrier spacing (SCS) used for PDCCH reception in a DL bandwidth part (DL BWP) of a cell, for a maximum number of PDCCH candidates and for a maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for PDCCH receptions in CORESETs per slot and per serving cell. For example, for 15 kHz SCS and for 120 kHz SCS, a UE capability for a maximum number of PDCCH candidates in CORESETs per slot is 44 and 20, respectively, and a UE capability for a maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for PDCCH receptions in CORESETs per slot is 56 and 32, respectively per serving cell, and see par. [0089]: CCEs for PDCCH candidates are non-overlapping if they correspond to different CORESET indexes or to different first symbols for the reception of the respective PDCCH candidates. CCEs with different indexes in a same CORESET are also non-overlapping; in this case, using non-overlapping CCEs for CORESETs and for each serving cell for PDCCH receptions corresponds to offsetting CCE indices across sectors. The allocation changing based on SCS corresponds to based on a bandwidth configuration).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the CCE index allocation of the combination of Wallen in view of Wang with the CCEs being allocated such that they do not overlap of Papasakellariou with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of minimizing the number of required non-overlapping CCEs (see Papasakellariou, par. [0089]).
Claims 4 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, and further in view of Chen, as applied to claims 1, 3, 8, 10, 12, and 17 above, and further in view of Seo et al. (US 2021/0314114), hereinafter “Seo”.
Regarding claims 4, 13, the combination of Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, and further in view of Chen, teaches the method or system.
However, the combination of Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, and further in view of Chen, does not teach:
wherein the allocation of the first start CCE index and the second start CCE index comprises an interleaved based CCE allocation.
Seo, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the allocation of the first start CCE index and the second start CCE index comprises an interleaved based CCE allocation (see Seo, Fig. 5, Table 4, pars. [0082-0083]: FIG. 5 illustrates a result of applying interleaving according to an embodiment of the present disclosure to a CORESET overlapping situation as illustrated in FIG. 2. In FIG. 5, (b) illustrates a scheme using interleaving and comb-combining after CCE grouping and (a) illustrates the case in which only REG bundle level interleaving is applied to all REG bundles, and see Seo, par. [0112]: In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the network may configure a CCE offset to be applied to a hashing result. In this case, interleaving is performed based on the REG bundle set and a starting CCE index, which is a multiple of an AL, is derived by the hashing function. However, an actual CCE index is set to a value obtained by adding the CCE offset to the derived starting CCE index).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the allocation of CCE indices of the combination of Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, and further in view of Chen, with the interleaved based CCE allocation of Seo with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of minimizing blocking between CORESETs (see Seo, par. [0019]).
Claims 5, 6, 14, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, and further in view of Chen, as applied to claims 1, 3, 8, 10, 12, and 17 above, and further in view of Miao et al. (US 2020/0178099), hereinafter “Miao”.
Regarding claims 5, 14, the combination of Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, and further in view of Chen, teaches the method or system.
However, the combination of Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, and further in view of Chen, does not teach:
wherein PDCCH start CCE index determination depends on a number of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols allocated for PDCCH transmission and a number of Resource Blocks (RBs).
Miao, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein PDCCH start CCE index determination depends on a number of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols allocated for PDCCH transmission and a number of Resource Blocks (RBs) (see Miao, par. [0008]: The REG bundle indices are determined based on the REG indices and a pattern of REG bundle. The pattern of REG bundle indicates the number of REGs in frequency domain and the number of OFDM symbols in time domain. The CCE indices are determined based on the determined REG bundle indices and the number of CCEs in the control channel region, the CCE indices being continuous with respect to the REG bundle in frequency domain, and see Miao, par. [0005]: Each REG contains 4 consecutive REs (or 4 REs separated by a cell-specific Reference Signal (RS)) within the same OFDM symbol and the same resource block, and see Miao, par. [0004]: a PDCCH for a mobile user occupies the first 1 or 2 or 3 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols; in this case, CCE indices are determined based on REG indices, which are determined based on the number of OFDM symbols and each REG corresponds to a number of REs within the same resource block. This corresponds to the CCE indices being determined based on a number of OFDM symbols and a number of RBs).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the determination of PDCCH start CCE index of the combination of Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, and further in view of Chen, with the determination based on a number of OFDM symbols and a number of RBs of Miao with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of simplifying coding and REG to CCE mapping (see Miao, par. [0031]).
Regarding claims 6, 15, the combination of Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, and further in view of Chen, and further in view of Miao, teaches the method or system.
The combination of Wallen in view of Wang, does not teach, but Papasakellariou teaches:
wherein orthogonality is maintained between CCEs for CORESET-0 and CORESET-1 across sectors such that PDCCH decoding probability is improved for cell edge UEs (see Papasakellariou, par. [0080]: A UE has a predetermined capability, as a function of a sub-carrier spacing (SCS) used for PDCCH reception in a DL bandwidth part (DL BWP) of a cell, for a maximum number of PDCCH candidates and for a maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for PDCCH receptions in CORESETs per slot and per serving cell. For example, for 15 kHz SCS and for 120 kHz SCS, a UE capability for a maximum number of PDCCH candidates in CORESETs per slot is 44 and 20, respectively, and a UE capability for a maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for PDCCH receptions in CORESETs per slot is 56 and 32, respectively per serving cell, and see par. [0089]: CCEs for PDCCH candidates are non-overlapping if they correspond to different CORESET indexes or to different first symbols for the reception of the respective PDCCH candidates. CCEs with different indexes in a same CORESET are also non-overlapping; in this case, using non-overlapping CCEs for CORESETs and for each serving cell for PDCCH receptions corresponds to maintaining orthogonality between CCEs across sectors).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the CCE index allocation of the combination of Wallen in view of Wang with the CCEs being allocated such that they do not overlap of Papasakellariou with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of minimizing the number of required non-overlapping CCEs (see Papasakellariou, par. [0089]).
Claims 7 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, and further in view of Chen, as applied to claims 1, 3, 8, 10, 12, and 17 above, and further in view of Nory et al. (US 2018/0279354), hereinafter “Nory”.
Regarding claims 7, 16, the combination of Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, and further in view of Chen, teaches the method or system. Wallen further teaches:
wherein the total number of CCEs is eight (see Wallen, page 3, lines 15-16: The number of CCEs used for a PDCCH candidate is referred to as AL, which in NR can be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16)
However, the combination of Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, and further in view of Chen, does not teach:
each CCE comprises three Resource Blocks (RBs).
Nory, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
each CCE comprises three Resource Blocks (RBs) (see Nory, par. [0024]: The CCE size of three RBs and the aggregation level can be chosen such that the control channel transmission for user1 and user2 are aligned with RBG boundaries).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the CCE of the combination of Wallen in view of Wang, and further in view of Papasakellariou, and further in view of Chen, with the CCE including three RBs of Nory with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of providing efficient control channel structures (see Nory, par. [0009]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 10 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Jung et al. (US 2020/0213960) teaches a method for transmitting and receiving system information in a communication system.
Kim et al. (US 2023/0112271) teaches a method and a device for transmitting or receiving downlink control information in a wireless communication system.
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.
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/C.J.B./Examiner, Art Unit 2419
/Nishant Divecha/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2419
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