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
In response to the amendments received in the office on 06/02/2026, the office acknowledges the current status of the claims:
Claims 1-10, 11, and 13 have been amended.
Claims 16-18 have been added.
No new matter appears to be included.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to independent claim(s) 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.
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.
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) 1-2, 5, 8-13, 15, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Babaei et al. (EP 3716520 A1), IDS submitted on 03/08/2024, hereinafter referred to as Babaei, in view of Zhang Xiaoxia et al. ( US 2022/0046682 A1), hereinafter referred to as Xiaoxia.
Regarding claim 1, Babaei teaches: A user equipment ("UE") for wireless communication (see FIG. 3, Wireless Device 110), comprising: a transceiver (see FIG. 3, Wireless Device 110; ¶[0033], A transceiver may be a device that comprises both a transmitter and a receiver. Transceivers may be employed in devices such as wireless devices); and
at least one memory (FIG. 3; non-transitory memory 315); and
at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to (¶[0028], The wireless device 110 may comprise at least one communication interface 310 (e.g. a wireless modem, an antenna, and/or the like), at least one processor 314, and at least one set of program code instructions 316 stored in non-transitory memory 315 and executable by the at least one processor 314):
receive a downlink control information ("DCI") during a physical downlink control channel ("PDCCH") monitoring occasion ( see ¶[0282], The wireless device may … monitoring the control channel in response to the receiving the DCI ), wherein the DCI indicates a request for hybrid automatic repeat request ("HARQ") feedback ( see ¶[0282], a wireless device may receive a DCI indicating a trigger/request for transmission of HARQ feedback) and wherein the DCI does not allocate any physical downlink shared channel ("PDSCH") resources ( see ¶[0265], The DCI may indicate a trigger/request for transmitting the HARQ feedback for the first downlink HARQ process without scheduling/indicating a resource assignment for a transport block corresponding to the first downlink HARQ process … In response to the receiving the DCI and transmitting the HARQ feedback, the wireless device may start the HARQ RTT timer; ¶[0282] and ¶[0285]; It is noted that PDCCH corresponds to the DCI that is received in FIG. 30 and Fig. 31 and requests transmission of HARQ feedback for first downlink HARQ process without indicating a resource assignment for a transport block associated with the first downlink HARQ process, i.e., without allocating PDSCH resources);
start a first timer for a HARQ process in response to receiving the DCI ( see ¶[0265], The DCI may indicate a trigger/request for transmitting the HARQ feedback for the first downlink HARQ process without scheduling/indicating a resource assignment for a transport block corresponding to the first downlink HARQ process … The wireless device may transmit the HARQ feedback based on one or more parameters (e.g., HARQ feedback timing, etc.) indicated by the DCI. In response to the receiving the DCI and transmitting the HARQ feedback, the wireless device may start the HARQ RTT timer; see FIG. 30 and Fig. 31; ¶[0282], The wireless device may start the HARQ RTT timer in response to the receiving the DCI and transmitting the HARQ feedback ); and
immediately treat the first timer as expired in response to receiving the DCI regardless of a value of the first timer.
Although Babaei teaches (¶[0282], The wireless device may start the HARQ RTT timer in response to the receiving the DCI ; ¶[0253], The wireless device may start the DRX retransmission timer (e.g., the DRX retransmission timer corresponding to the first HARQ process) in response to the HARQ RTT timer (e.g., HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process) expiring), Babaei, however, fails to explicitly teach information related to immediately treat the first timer as expired in response to receiving the DCI regardless of a value of the first timer.
However, Xiaoxia, in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches: immediately treat the first timer as expired in response to receiving the DCI regardless of a value of the first timer ( see ¶[0102], the UE 115 may maintain a RTT UL timer and a retransmission UL timer for each HARQ process… the BS 105 may configure the UE 115 with a timer duration for the drx-HARQ-RTT-timerUL and/or a timer duration for the drx-RetransmissionTimerUL via an RRC configuration. In some instances, the UE 115 may also stop or deactivate the retransmission UL timer 640 after receiving the DCI message 610 (e.g., at the symbol immediate after the DCI message 610) (Examiner’s note: if you stop a timer one must start the timer. So maybe this excerpt is teaching starting and immediately stopping the timer 640 in a symbol immediate after DCI message 610.) and/or after receiving the DCI message 612 (e.g., at the symbol immediate after the DCI message 612). To expand on the later half of this excerpt, looking at figure 6 in view of ¶[0102], there is a timing sequence in which DCI 610 eventually trigger starting timer 640 and then immediately stop timer 640 at the symbol immediate after the DCI message 612 thus appears to show in response to receiving DCI 610, start timer 640 and then stop timer 640 at the immediate symbol right after DCI 612 is received in response to receiving DCI 610. This clearly shows it does not matter what value timer 640 is.
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Babaei's teachings with Xiaoxia's above teaching in order to improve communication reliability to provide a URLLC service.
Regarding claim 2, the combination teaches: The UE of claim 1, wherein, to immediately treat the first timer as expired, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: start a retransmission timer for the HARQ process ( see Babaei ¶[0253], The wireless device may start the DRX retransmission timer (e.g., the DRX retransmission timer corresponding to the first HARQ process) in response to the HARQ RTT timer (e.g., HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process) expiring; Zhang ¶[0046], Upon an expiry of the RTT UL timer, the UE may activate a retransmission timer specific to the UL HARQ process of the UL transmission. The UE may monitor the DL control channel while the retransmission timer is active or in progress ); and
monitor a PDCCH for a downlink allocation while the retransmission timer remains active ( see Babaei ¶[0253], The wireless device may be in a DRX Active time in response to the DRX retransmission timer running. The wireless device may monitor the control channel when the wireless device is in DRX Active time. The wireless device may receive a PDCCH for a new downlink assignment; Zhang ¶[0046], Upon an expiry of the RTT UL timer, the UE may activate a retransmission timer specific to the UL HARQ process of the UL transmission. The UE may monitor the DL control channel while the retransmission timer is active or in progress; ¶[0167] ).
Regarding claim 5, the combination teaches: The UE of claim 1, wherein, to immediately treat the first timer as expired, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to transition to a discontinuous reception ("DRX") active time ( see Babaei ¶[0253], The wireless device may start the DRX retransmission timer (e.g., the DRX retransmission timer corresponding to the first HARQ process) in response to the HARQ RTT timer (e.g., HARQ RTT timer corresponding to the first HARQ process) expiring. The wireless device may start the DRX retransmission timer with the second value indicated by the DRX configuration parameters. The wireless device may be in a DRX Active time in response to the DRX retransmission timer running; ¶[0253], The wireless device may be in a DRX Active time in response to the DRX retransmission timer running. The wireless device may monitor the control channel when the wireless device is in DRX Active time).
Regarding claim 8, the combination teaches: The UE of claim 1, wherein the first timer comprises a drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerDL timer ( see Babaei ¶[0242], The plurality of DRX timers may comprise a DRX retransmission timer, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) RTT timer; ¶[0282]- ¶[0284], HARQ RTT timer ; Zhang ¶[0146], The set of timers may include an activity timer, an RTT timer for DL HARQ, a retransmission timer for DL HARQ, an RTT timer for UL HARQ, and/or a retransmission timer for UL HARQ).
Regarding claim 9, the combination teaches: The UE of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the UE to maintain a plurality of HARQ processes, and wherein to start the first timer, the processor is configured to cause the UE to start a respective drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerDL timer for each HARQ process for which the respective drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerDL timer is not currently running (see Babaei, in response to receiving a second DCI without indicating resource assignment for downlink transport block associated with the first downlink HARQ process, i.e., without PDSCH resource allocation as disclosed in ¶[0285], the wireless device of FIG. 31 start HARQ RTT timer disclosed in ¶[0286], which occurs when the respective HART timer associated with the first DCI of FIG. 31 is not running; ¶[0290], The second DCI may indicate transmission of HARQ feedbacks for the first number of HARQ processes).
Claim 10 recites similar limitation(s) of claim 1 and is thus rejected under the similar rationale.
Claim 11 recites similar limitation(s) of claim 2 and is thus rejected under the similar rationale.
Regarding claim 12, the combination teaches: The method of claim 11, wherein the UE maintains a plurality of HARQ processes ( see Babaei, FIG.23, ¶[0259] discloses plurality of HARQ processes; ¶[0289]-¶[0290]), wherein starting the first timer comprises starting a respective drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerDL timer for each HARQ process for which a respective drx-Retransmission-TimerDL timer is not currently running or for which the respective drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerDL timer is not currently running (see Babaei, in response to receiving a second DCI without indicating resource assignment for downlink transport block associated with the first downlink HARQ process, i.e., without PDSCH resource allocation as disclosed in ¶[0285], the wireless device of FIG. 31 start HARQ RTT timer disclosed in ¶[0286], which occurs when the respective HART timer associated with the first DCI of FIG.31 is not running).
Claim 13 recites similar limitation(s) of claim 5 and is thus rejected under the similar rationale.
Claim 15 recites similar limitation(s) of claim 8 and is thus rejected under the similar rationale.
Claim 18 recites similar limitation(s) of claim 9 and is thus rejected under the similar rationale.
Claim(s) 6-7, 14, and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Babaei, in view of Xiaoxia, and further in view of Zhang Yushu et al. ( US 2023/0163922 A1), hereinafter referred to as Zhang.
Regarding claim 6, the combination teaches: The UE of claim 1, wherein, to indicate the request for HARQ feedback, the DCI comprises a request field indicating a request for a Type-3 HARQ acknowledgment (“HARQ-ACK”) feedback report (see Babaei, FIG. 19; ¶[0243], HARQ feedback; FIG. 23, ¶[0259], a DCI scheduling a DL transmission may indicate a PDSCH group. In an example, a DCI scheduling DL transmission may comprise a field, a value of the field indicating the PDSCH group. In an example, the wireless device may receive a plurality of DCIs with a same PDSCH group indication (e.g., PDSCH group i as shown in FIG. 23). In an example, the wireless device may receive a DCI indicating a trigger/request for transmission of HARQ feedback for the transport blocks of the PDSCH group i. ).
Although the combination teaches HARQ feedback (see Babaei, ¶[0243], ¶[0259]; various passages throughout the reference disclose HARQ feedback), the combination, however, fails to explicitly teach information related to the DCI comprises a request field indicating a request for a Type-3 HARQ acknowledgment (“HARQ-ACK”) feedback report.
However, Zhang, in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches: the DCI comprises a request field indicating a request for a Type-3 HARQ acknowledgment (“HARQ-ACK”) feedback report ( see Zhang, ¶[0037], the BS 104 is configured to provide a downlink control information (DCI) 106 to the UE 102. The DCI 106 is provided to the UE 102 as part of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). In some embodiments, the DCI 106 is configured to trigger a Type-3 hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) ACK feedback signal 108 from the UE 102. In such embodiments, the DCI 106 comprises an indication to trigger the Type-3 HARQ ACK feedback signal 108. Specifically, the DCI 106 comprises a one-shot HARQ-ACK frequent field, a value associated therewith providing an indication to the UE 102 to trigger the Type-3 HARQ-ACK feedback signal 108. For example, when the one-shot HARQ-ACK frequent field comprises a value of 1, the UE 102 is configured to trigger the Type-3 HARQ-ACK feedback signal 108.; ¶[0065], the DCI 508 comprises information of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)/physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources to be utilized by the UE 502 for the transmission of the HARQ-ACK feedback signal 510. In some embodiments, the HARQ-ACK feedback signal 510 comprises a Type-3 HARQ-ACK feedback… the DCI 508 may trigger the HARQ-ACK feedback signal 510, without scheduling the PDSCH to the UE 502. The UE 502 is configured to receive and process the DCI 508.).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Zhang's above teachings in order to control HARQ-ACK codebooks based on grouping HARQ processes to improve reliability, for example, to meet the reliability requirement of URLLC service types (see Zhang, ¶[0035] ). Known work in one field of endeavor ( Zhang prior art) may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or different one (Babaei prior art) based on design incentives ( to control HARQ-ACK codebooks based on grouping HARQ processes to improve reliability, for example, to meet the reliability requirement of URLLC service types) or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one or ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 7, Babaei, Xiaoxia, and Zhang combination teaches: The UE of claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the UE to:
maintain a plurality of HARQ processes ( see Babaei, FIG.23, ¶[0259] discloses plurality of HARQ processes; ¶[0289]- ¶[0290]; see Zhang, ¶[0065] )), and
transmit a One-shot HARQ-ACK feedback report comprising HARQ feedback information for each of the plurality of HARQ processes ( see Babaei, ¶[0264], The wireless device may, in response to validating the DCI as a HARQ feedback triggering DCI, transmit/retransmit HARQ feedbacks of one or more HARQ processes indicated by the DCI; see Zhang, ¶[0065], In some embodiments, the DCI 508 comprises information of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)/physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources to be utilized by the UE 502 for the transmission of the HARQ-ACK feedback signal 510. In some embodiments, the HARQ-ACK feedback signal 510 comprises a Type-3 HARQ-ACK feedback. In such embodiments, the DCI 508 comprises a one-shot HARQ-ACK frequent field, a value associated therewith providing an indication to the UE 502 to trigger a Type-3 HARQ-ACK feedback. Alternately, in other embodiments, the HARQ-ACK feedback signal 510 may comprise other types of HARQ-ACK signals, for example, Type-1 HARQ-ACK feedback signal. In some embodiments, the DCI 508 is configured to trigger the HARQ-ACK feedback signal 510 from the UE 502, in response to a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by the DCI 508. Alternately, in other embodiments, for example, in the case of Type-3 HARQ-ACK feedback, the DCI 508 may trigger the HARQ-ACK feedback signal 510, without scheduling the PDSCH to the UE 502. The UE 502 is configured to receive and process the DCI 508. In some embodiments, the UE 502 is further configured to generate the HARQ-ACK feedback signal 510, in response to processing the DCI 508. In some embodiments, the HARQ-ACK feedback signal 510 comprises a HARQ-ACK feedback information for one or more HARQ processes associated with the UE 502).
Claim 14 recites similar limitation(s) of claim 6 and is thus rejected under the similar rationale.
Claim 17 recites similar limitation(s) of claim 7 and is thus rejected under the similar rationale.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 3-4 and 16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wei et al. ( US 2019/0158229 A1) Discontinuous reception operations among multiple bandwidth parts
Lin et al. ( US 2020/0154295 A1) Method and apparatus for improving pdcch monitoring pattern in a wireless communication system
Zhang et al. ( US 2021/0058945 A1) Handling missed hybrid automatic repeat request (harq) opportunities, multiple harq opportunities, or both for discontinuous reception (drx)
Jin et al. ( US 2020/0260377 A1) Method and apparatus for applying dynamic scheduling to reduce power consumption in next generation 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MANG BOI THAWNG whose telephone number is (703)756-4751. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30 am - 5:00 pm.
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/MANG BOI THAWNG/Examiner, Art Unit 2476 /AYAZ R SHEIKH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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