DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to Applicant's amendment and request for
reconsideration filed on June 08, 2026.
Claims 1, 6, 7, 9, 11-13, 18-19, and 27-28 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed June 08, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With respect to Applicant’s argument (see pp. 7-9) that Yang does not teach the limitation: “…determining, from a plurality of slots used for each transmission of the TB and corresponding to the first RV, at least one slot of the plurality of slots as at least one start transmission position of the TB, based on a number of slots occupied by each transmission of the TB”, the Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Yang, teaches “…determining, from a plurality of slots (i.e., “slots 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28”) used for each transmission of the TB and corresponding to the first RV” (see ¶0095), “at least one slot of the plurality of slots as at least one start transmission position of the TB” (see ¶0095, i.e., “slots 0, 4, 8, 12… and not from slots 16, 20, 24, 28”); “based on a number of slots occupied by each transmission of the TB” (see ¶0095, where the RV or “transmission of the TB” occupies at least one slot, i.e., a number of slots).
Claim Objections
Claim 18 is objected to because of the following informalities: There is a typographical error in the claim. For the purpose of this office action the Examiner is interpreting the claim to read:
“…determining at least one slot used as the at least one start transmission position and corresponding to the first RV based on the [[a]] number of slots occupied by each transmission...”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 –
(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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 6, 11-13, 18, 27, and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yang et al. (US 2022/0312442)(“Yang”).
As per claim 1, Yang teaches a method for determining a start transmission position of a transport block (TB), performed by a terminal device (i.e., UE, see for example ¶0004), comprising:
determining a redundancy version (RV) sequence of more than one slot (i.e., set of slots) for transmitting a same TB within a configured grant (CG) period (i.e., “the UE may determine a set of slots that are available for uplink transmissions in the uplink grant period. Based on the set of slots, the UE may determine a corresponding RV for repetitions of the uplink communication associated with each slot”, see abstract, which implies repetitions of the same TB within the grant period, also see ¶0100, i.e., “K repetitions of a TB” and/or “a same TB may be transmitted with repetitions that span from one period of uplink grant period resources 400…”, which provides further support for the uplink communication being associated with a same TB); and
determining a first RV in the RV sequence (i.e., RV0, see ¶0095); and
determining, from a plurality of slots used for each transmission of the TB and corresponding to the first RV (see ¶0095, i.e., “slots 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28”), at least one slot of the plurality of slots as at least one start transmission position of the TB (see ¶0095, i.e., “slots 0, 4, 8, 12… and not from slots 16, 20, 24, 28”) based on a number of slots occupied by each transmission of the TB (see ¶0095, i.e., each RV occupying a number of slots, i.e., at least one slot); and
repeatedly transmitting the TB within the CG period based on the at least one start transmission position (i.e., “Based on the set of slots, the UE may determine a corresponding RV for repetitions of the uplink communication associated with each slot”, see abstract, which implies repetitions of the same TB within the grant period, also see ¶0100, i.e., “K repetitions of a TB” and/or “a same TB may be transmitted with repetitions that span from one period of uplink grant period resources 400…”).
As per claim 6, Yang further teaches:
determining at least one slot used as the at least one start transmission position and corresponding to the first RV based on at least one of a number of slots occupied by each transmission of the TB (see Fig. 16, ref. 1625, also see ¶0093, i.e., “the initial transmission of a transport block (TB) may only be started in the first occasion of the K repetitions”) and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) parameter (see also ¶0092).
As per claim 11, Yang further teaches:
obtaining an enable signaling (see ¶0095, i.e., “the base station may configure the UE to start configured grant repetitions from a subset of slots…”, also see ¶0096-0097, i.e., base station may provide one or more configured grants to a UE … the uplink grand period resources 400 may include a set of slots…”); and
determining a number of slots used as the at least one starting transmission position in the first RV based on the enable signaling. Id.
As per claim 12, Yang further teaches:
determining encoded data of data (i.e., uplink communication) to be transmitted on each slot in the first RV (see abstract, i.e., “the UE may determine a corresponding RV for repetitions of the uplink communication associated with each slot”); and
sending remaining encoded data to a network device starting from encoded data corresponding to a slot where the start transmission position is located (see ¶0095, e.g., “slots 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28”).
Claims 13, 18, 27, and 28 are rejected under the same rationale as claims 1-6 and 11-12 since they recite substantially identical subject matter. Any differences between the claims do not result in patentably distinct claims and all of the limitations are taught by the above cited art.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 9, and 19 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
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 Brendan Higa whose telephone number is (571)272-5823. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM.
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, James Hwang can be reached at 571-272-4036. 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.
/BRENDAN Y HIGA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2441
Prosecution Insights