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 .
Claim Status
Claims 1-3, 5-13, 15-17 and 19-23 are pending, claims 4, 14 and 18 are canceled, and claims 22-23 are newly added.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1, 5, 8 – 12, 15 – 16 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lin et al. US 20210160879 A1, hereinafter Lin.
Regarding claim 1, Lin teaches a user equipment (UE), comprising: (Lin: Summary and Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 UE 116)
at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to: (Lin: Fig. 3 UE 116 para. [0035] UE 116 includes an antenna 305, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 310, TX processing circuitry 315, a microphone 320, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 325. The UE 116 also includes a speaker 330, a processor 340, an input/output (I/O) interface (IF) 345, a touchscreen 350. Para. [0050-0057 & 0054] processor 340 is also capable of executing other processes and programs resident in the memory 360, such as processes for beam management)
receive a signaling message indicating a payload size of a first downlink control information (DCI) format for scheduling a downlink (DL) transmission,
(Lin: para. [0284-0289] A UE can be provided by higher layers a configuration of the GC-DCI format. The configuration includes at least one of the following: a payload size of the GC-DCI format)
wherein the first DCI format and the DL transmission are common to a group of UEs including the UE; and
(Lin: para. [0267-0268 & 0179 & 0189 & 0194] scheduling of multiple PDSCH receptions to or PUSCH transmissions from a group of UEs is provided based on a UE-group common DCI (GC-DCI) format)
receive the first DCI format based on the indicated payload size; (Lin: para. [0289] Based on the size of the GC-DCI format, the UE can decode the GC-DCI format. It is also possible that the size of the GC-DCI format is predetermined, for example equal to a size of a UE-specific DCI format that schedules PDSCH receptions or PUSCH transmissions only from the UE, or equal to a size of a UE-specific DCI format that a UE monitors according to a CSS such as a DCI format 0_0 or 1_0)
determine the first DCI format based on configuration information for the DL transmission; and (Lin: para. [0289] Based on the size of the GC-DCI format, the UE can decode the GC-DCI format. It is also possible that the size of the GC-DCI format is predetermined, for example equal to a size of a UE-specific DCI format that schedules PDSCH receptions or PUSCH transmissions only from the UE, or equal to a size of a UE-specific DCI format that a UE monitors according to a CSS such as a DCI format 0_0 or 1_0)
align a size (size-aligned) of the determined first DCI format to the indicated payload size by adding one or more padding bits (Lin: para. [0210 & 0151 & 0217-0218] bit-widths are (expected to be) the same, e.g., all [M] activation commands are size-aligned, e.g., using zero-padding (corresponds to claim limitation “adding one or more padding bits”). Fig. 7 780 zero padding and Fig. 10 1050, 1038 and 1048 zero padding)
to the determined first DCI format until the size of the determined first DCI format is equal to the indicated payload size. (Lin: para. [0178 & 0221] a size of the new format is aligned with one of the existing DCI formats to ensure no increase in UE blind decoding attempts)
Regarding claim 5, Lin teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein the indicated payload size is:
a maximum size among all non-fallback DCI formats (Lin: para. [0092] the order and/or bit-width of the information fields (IEs) in a scheduling DCI format can be predetermined in system specifications and/or can be configurable (e.g., as in DCI format 0_2 or 1_2 for compact scheduling of ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) traffic)) for scheduling the DL transmission with cyclic redundancy checks (CRCs) scrambled by UE-specific radio network temporary identifiers (RNTIs) of the group of UEs and the determined first DCI format; (Lin: para. [0210] bit-widths are (expected to be) the same, e.g., all [M] activation commands are size-aligned, e.g., to the maximum bit-width among the activation command, using zero-padding if necessary)
the maximum size among all of the non-fallback DCI formats (Lin: para. [0092] he order and/or bit-width of the information fields (IEs) in a scheduling DCI format can be predetermined in system specifications and/or can be configurable (e.g., as in DCI format 0_2 or 1_2 for compact scheduling of ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) traffic)) for scheduling the DL transmission with the CRCs scrambled by the UE-specific RNTIs of the group of UEs; (Lin: para. [0210] bit-widths are (expected to be) the same, e.g., all [M] activation commands are size-aligned, e.g., to the maximum bit-width among the activation command, using zero-padding if necessary) or
the maximum size among all DCI format 2_X series (Lin: para. [0094 & 0112 & 0220 & 0223] DCI format 2_1 or based on an UL cancellation indication (CI) via DCI format 2_4. A dynamic, unicast PDSCH/PUSCH can receive power control TPC commands via DCI format 2_2, in addition to a TPC command received in a UE-specific/individual scheduling DCI format) with the CRCs scrambled by corresponding RNTIs of the group of UEs. (Lin: para. [0210] bit-widths are (expected to be) the same, e.g., all [M] activation commands are size-aligned, e.g., to the maximum bit-width among the activation command, using zero-padding if necessary)
Regarding claim 8, Lin teaches a user equipment (UE), (Lin: Summary and Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 UE 116) comprising:
at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to: (Lin: Fig. 3 UE 116 para. [0035] UE 116 includes an antenna 305, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 310, TX processing circuitry 315, a microphone 320, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 325. The UE 116 also includes a speaker 330, a processor 340, an input/output (I/O) interface (IF) 345, a touchscreen 350. Para. [0050-0057 & 0054] processor 340 is also capable of executing other processes and programs resident in the memory 360, such as processes for beam management)
receive configuration information related to fields of a first downlink control information (DCI) format scheduling a downlink (DL) transmission,
(Lin: para. [0284-0289] A UE can be provided by higher layers a configuration of the GC-DCI format. The configuration includes at least one of the following: a payload size of the GC-DCI format)
wherein the first DCI format and the DL transmission are common to a group of UEs including the UE; (Lin: para. [0267-0268 & 0179 & 0189 & 0194] scheduling of multiple PDSCH receptions to or PUSCH transmissions from a group of UEs is provided based on a UE-group common DCI (GC-DCI) format)
determine the first DCI format and a payload size of the first DCI format based on the configuration information; and receive the first DCI format based on the determined payload size. (Lin: para. [0289] Based on the size of the GC-DCI format, the UE can decode the GC-DCI format. It is also possible that the size of the GC-DCI format is predetermined, for example equal to a size of a UE-specific DCI format that schedules PDSCH receptions or PUSCH transmissions only from the UE, or equal to a size of a UE-specific DCI format that a UE monitors according to a CSS such as a DCI format 0_0 or 1_0)
Regarding claim 9, Lin teaches the UE of claim 8, wherein the configuration information indicates: whether a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback related field for the DL transmission is present or not in the first DCI format;
(Lin: Para. [0187 & 0156 & 0170 & 0179] HARQ retransmission can be (enabled or) disabled by an RRC parameter. if HARQ feedback and retransmission mechanism is supported, and HARQ retransmission is enabled or a HARQ disabling configuration is not provided, all UEs in a UE group that share a UE-group activation command for DL SPS/UL CG provide HARQ feedback for a PDSCH that carries the UE-group activation command, upon detection of a (group-common) DCI format that schedules the (groupcast/multicast) PDSCH according to a number of alternatives)
or
whether a combination of at least two HARQ-ACK feedback related fields for the DL transmission is present or not in the first DCI format.
(Lin: para. [0185] if active DL BWPs for UEs that share a UE-group activation command correspond to different numerologies, then a PDSCH-to-HARQ timing indicator field in the (group-common) DCI format corresponds to a default numerology (e.g., 15 kHz for FR1 and 60 kHz for FR2) or corresponds to a numerology for a configured/indicated reference numerology, and for UEs whose numerology is different from the default/configured/indicated reference numerology, appropriate scaling is applied to determine the PDSCH-to-HARQ timing value)
Regarding claim 10, Lin teaches the UE of claim 8, wherein the configuration information is received in a system information block (SIB), a multicast control channel (MCCH), or a UE-specific radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
(Lin: para. [0180] ll UEs that share a UE-group activation command for DL SPS/UL CG apply the indicated parameters in the (group-common) DCI format in a same/similar manner. In one example, PUCCH resource indices for all UEs sharing a UE-group activation command is (pre-)configured, RRC configured or SIB indicated)
Regarding claim 11, Lin teaches the UE of claim 8, wherein at least one hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) related field in the first DCI format is reused for a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) indication in the first DCI format based on a predefined order or a configured order.
(Lin: para. [0091] DCI format scheduling unicast PDSCH or PUSCH, such as a DCI format 1_0 or 1_1 or 1_2 and so on for PDSCH or a DCI format 0_0 or 0_1 or 0_2 and so on for PUSCH, indicate (basic) parameters related to resource allocation, power control, and scheduling and HARQ (if applicable), such as: time domain resource allocation (TDRA), frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA))
Regarding claim 12, Lin teaches the UE of claim 8, wherein the configuration information indicates a corresponding size for each field with a configurable size in the first DCI format. (Lin: para. [0092] The order and/or bit-width of the information fields (IEs) in a scheduling DCI format can be configurable (e.g., as in DCI format 0_2 or 1_2 for compact scheduling of ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) traffic))
Regarding claim 15, Lin teaches a processor for wireless communication, comprising: (Lin: Summary and Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 UE 116)
at least one controller coupled with at least one memory and configured to cause the processor to: (Lin: Fig. 3 UE 116 para. [0035] UE 116 includes an antenna 305, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 310, TX processing circuitry 315, a microphone 320, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 325. The UE 116 also includes a speaker 330, a processor 340, an input/output (I/O) interface (IF) 345, a touchscreen 350. Para. [0050-0057 & 0054] processor 340 is also capable of executing other processes and programs resident in the memory 360, such as processes for beam management)
receive a signaling message indicating a payload size of a first downlink control information (DCI) format for scheduling a downlink (DL) transmission,
(Lin: para. [0284-0289] A UE can be provided by higher layers a configuration of the GC-DCI format. The configuration includes at least one of the following: a payload size of the GC-DCI format)
wherein the first DCI format and the DL transmission are common to a group of UEs; (Lin: para. [0267-0268 & 0179 & 0189 & 0194] scheduling of multiple PDSCH receptions to or PUSCH transmissions from a group of UEs is provided based on a UE-group common DCI (GC-DCI) format)and
receive the first DCI format based on the indicated payload size. (Lin: para. [0289] Based on the size of the GC-DCI format, the UE can decode the GC-DCI format. It is also possible that the size of the GC-DCI format is predetermined, for example equal to a size of a UE-specific DCI format that schedules PDSCH receptions or PUSCH transmissions only from the UE, or equal to a size of a UE-specific DCI format that a UE monitors according to a CSS such as a DCI format 0_0 or 1_0)
Regarding claim 16, Lin teaches a base station (BS) for wireless communication, comprising: (Lin: Summary and Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 BS 102)
at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the BS to: (Lin: Fig. 2 BS 102 para. [0045 0040-0045] BS 102 includes controller/processor 225 is also capable of executing programs and other processes resident in the memory 230, such as an OS)
transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a signaling message indicating a payload size of a first downlink control information (DCI) format for scheduling a downlink (DL) transmission,
(Lin: para. [0284-0289] A UE can be provided by higher layers a configuration of the GC-DCI format. The configuration includes at least one of the following: a payload size of the GC-DCI format)
wherein the first DCI format and the DL transmission are common to a group of UEs including the UE; and (Lin: para. [0267-0268 & 0179 & 0189 & 0194] scheduling of multiple PDSCH receptions to or PUSCH transmissions from a group of UEs is provided based on a UE-group common DCI (GC-DCI) format)
transmit the first DCI format based on the indicated payload size. (Lin: para. [0289] Based on the size of the GC-DCI format, the UE can decode the GC-DCI format. It is also possible that the size of the GC-DCI format is predetermined, for example equal to a size of a UE-specific DCI format that schedules PDSCH receptions or PUSCH transmissions only from the UE, or equal to a size of a UE-specific DCI format that a UE monitors according to a CSS such as a DCI format 0_0 or 1_0)
Regarding claim 19, Lin teaches all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 5, and therefore apparatus claim 19 is rejected using the same rationales.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 2 – 3, 17 and 22 – 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin in view of Zhang et al. US 20230095598 A1 (Zhang: para. [0001] priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a) to Chinese Patent Application Nos. 202111131253.9 and 202210219501.3, filed in the Chinese Patent Office on Sep. 26, 2021), hereinafter Zhang.
Regarding claim 2, Lin teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback related fields in the first DCI format of the first DCI format. (Lin: para. [0185] if active DL BWPs for UEs that share a UE-group activation command correspond to different numerologies, then a PDSCH-to-HARQ timing indicator field in the (group-common) DCI format corresponds to a default numerology (e.g., 15 kHz for FR1 and 60 kHz for FR2) or corresponds to a numerology for a configured/indicated reference numerology, and for UEs whose numerology is different from the default/configured/indicated reference numerology, appropriate scaling is applied to determine the PDSCH-to-HARQ timing value)
It is noted that Lin does not explicitly disclose: (HARQ-ACK) feedback related fields in the first DCI format are arranged at an end of the first DCI format.
However, Zhang from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches the use of: (HARQ-ACK) feedback related fields in the first DCI format are arranged at an end of the first DCI format (Zhang: para. [0208 & 0171 & 0158] UE may be configured with a dynamic HARQ-ACK codebook. It may be specified by protocols and/or configured by higher layer signaling that a DAI (e.g., a total DAI) of HARQ-ACK triggered to be retransmitted may be indicated by a specific DAI field (e.g., a newly added DAI field) in a DCI format (the DCI format may be a downlink DCI format and/or a downlink DCI format)) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to dynamically configure HARQ-ACK by a specific DAI field at the end of DCI format of Zhang in the apparatus of Lin. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for can improve the reliability of HARQ-ACK codebook (Zhang: para. [0208]), and improve the scheduling flexibility when the number of indication bits is the same. For example, if the number of possible values of different offset1 and/or offset2 is K, the joint indication may be realized by ┌log2(K+1)┐ bits. The method can improve the scheduling flexibility (Zhang: para. [0171]).
Regarding claim 3, Lin and Zhang teach the UE of claim 2, wherein the HARQ-ACK feedback related fields in the first DCI format are arranged of the first DCI format in an order based on their usage frequencies among different HARQ-ACK feedback options. (Lin: para. [0185] if active DL BWPs for UEs that share a UE-group activation command correspond to different numerologies, then a PDSCH-to-HARQ timing indicator field in the (group-common) DCI format corresponds to a default numerology (e.g., 15 kHz for FR1 and 60 kHz for FR2) or corresponds to a numerology for a configured/indicated reference numerology, and for UEs whose numerology is different from the default/configured/indicated reference numerology, appropriate scaling is applied to determine the PDSCH-to-HARQ timing value)
It is noted that Lin does not explicitly disclose: HARQ-ACK feedback related fields in the first DCI format are arranged at the end of the first DCI format.
However, Zhang from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches the use of: HARQ-ACK feedback related fields in the first DCI format are arranged at the end of the first DCI format (Zhang: para. [0208 & 0171 & 0158] UE may be configured with a dynamic HARQ-ACK codebook. It may be specified by protocols and/or configured by higher layer signaling that a DAI (e.g., a total DAI) of HARQ-ACK triggered to be retransmitted may be indicated by a specific DAI field (e.g., a newly added DAI field) in a DCI format (the DCI format may be a downlink DCI format and/or a downlink DCI format)) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to dynamically configure HARQ-ACK by a specific DAI field at the end of DCI format of Zhang in the apparatus of Lin. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for can improve the reliability of HARQ-ACK codebook (Zhang: para. [0208]), and improve the scheduling flexibility when the number of indication bits is the same. For example, if the number of possible values of different offset1 and/or offset2 is K, the joint indication may be realized by ┌log2(K+1)┐ bits. The method can improve the scheduling flexibility (Zhang: para. [0171]).
Regarding claim 17, Lin and Zhang teach all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claims 2-3, and therefore apparatus claim 17 is rejected using the same rationales.
Regarding claims 22-23, Lin and Zhang teach all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claims 2-3, and therefore apparatus claims 22-23 are rejected using the same rationales.
Claim(s) 6 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin in view of Moon et al. US 20230254857 A1, hereinafter Moon.
Regarding claim 6, Lin teaches the UE of claim 4, Lin teaches wherein the signaling message further
uplink (UL) transmission with a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambled by a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) specific to the UE (Lin: para. [0346] UE validates, for scheduling activation or scheduling release, a configured UL grant Type 2 PDCCH if: the CRC of a corresponding CGS-DCI format is scrambled with a CGS-RNTI)
and
a DL transmission with the CRC scrambled by the RNTI specific to the UE (Lin: para. [0269] GC-DCI format can include a new RNTI that can be provided by higher layers for scrambling the CRC bits of the GC-DCI format. The new RNTI is referred as group scheduling radio network temporary identifier (GS-RNTI))
Lin does not explicitly teaches: wherein the signaling message further indicates the UE to perform a size alignment between a non-fallback DCI format for scheduling an uplink (UL) transmission and a non-fallback DCI format for scheduling a DL transmission with the CRC scrambled by the RNTI specific to the UE.
Moon from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches the use of: wherein the signaling message further indicates the UE to perform a size alignment (Moon: para. [0128-0129 & 0110] terminal may align the sizes of the non-fallback DCI formats (e.g., DCI formats 0_2 and 1_2) of a USS set with each other. The aligning the sizes of the uplink non-fallback DCI format (e.g., DCI format 0_2) and downlink non-fallback DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_2) with each other.) between a non-fallback DCI format for scheduling an uplink (UL) transmission and a non-fallback DCI format for scheduling a DL transmission with the CRC scrambled by the RNTI specific to the UE. (Moon: para. [0074] a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of a common DCI transmitted to the terminal may be scrambled with a system information-radio network temporary identifier (SI-RNTI), paging-RNTI (P-RNT), random access-RNTI (RA-RNTI), temporary cell-RNTI (TC-RNTI), or the like. A group-common DCI may correspond to DCI format 2_X (X=0, 1, 2, . . . ), and a CRC of the group-common DCI transmitted to the terminal may be scrambled with a slot format indicator-RNTI (SFI-RNTI), or the like. The CSS set may include Type 0, Type 0A, Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3 CSS sets). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Moon in the apparatus of Lin. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for downlink communication using aggregated carriers may be efficiently performed. Accordingly, the performance of the communication system may be improved (Moon: para. [0025]).
Regarding claim 20, Lin and Zhang teaches all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 6, and therefore apparatus claim 20 is rejected using the same rationales.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 13 and 21 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 06/24/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. With regard to applicant’s remark on claim 1, 8, 15 and 16, applicant submits:
“Specifically, Lin [0221] describes that a new format is used for GC-DCI, then a size of the new format is aligned with one of the existing DCI formats to ensure no increase in UE blind decoding attempts. However, Lin does not describe adding one or more padding bits. Thus, Lin does not disclose to "align a size of the determined first DCI format to the indicated payload size by adding one or more padding bits to the determined first DCI format until the size of the determined first DCI format is equal to the indicated payload size" as recited in amended claim 1.
Accordingly, Lin does not disclose to "determine the first DCI format based on configuration information for the DL transmission" and "align a size of the determined first DCI format to the indicated payload size by adding one or more padding bits to the determined first DCI format until the size of the determined first DCI format is equal to the indicated payload size" as recited in amended claim 1. The other cited references do not cure the deficiencies of Lin. Thus, Lin does not anticipate all of the features recited in amended claim 1, and Applicant requests that the § 102 rejection be withdrawn.”(pages 11-12)
As cited in the rejection, Lin in para. [0210 & 0151 & 0217-0218] bit-widths are (expected to be) the same, e.g., all [M] activation commands are size-aligned, e.g., using zero-padding (corresponds to claim limitation “adding one or more padding bits”). Fig. 7 780 zero padding and Fig. 10 1050, 1038 and 1048 zero padding). Lin, in the cited portion(s), teaches the use of zero padding to size alignment for size of the new format is aligned with one of the existing DCI formats to ensure no increase in UE blind decoding attempts (Lin: para. [0178 & 0221]). Therefore, the cited portion(s) of Lin teaches the claim limitation “align a size of the determined first DCI format to the indicated payload size by adding one or more padding bits to the determined first DCI format until the size of the determined first DCI format is equal to the indicated payload size”, and thus rejection is maintained.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please also see PTO-892.
Salah et al. US 11233601 B2 in claim11 teaches appending, by the processor according to a DCI size alignment rule, a zero padding bit to the first DCI format in an event that the first payload size of the first DCI format is equal to the second payload size of the second DCI format.
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/WUTCHUNG CHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2418
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