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 .
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.
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to Application No. 18/730,772 filed on 21 July 2024. This application claims 371 priority to PCT/CN2022/073211 filed on 21 January 2022. The response filed 21 July 2024 amends claims 1-6, 9, 10, 12, and 13, cancels claims 14 and 15, and adds claims 16-22. Claims 1-13 and 16-22 are presented for examination.
Claim Interpretation
Claims 16-19 are directed to a “processor for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE).” As per paragraph 00152 of Applicant’s specification, “may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two.” Further, FIG. 8 of Applicant’s specification discloses an apparatus 800 comprising processor 806 and transceiver 802 circuitry. For the purpose of the examination, Examiner interprets the processor of Claims 16-19 to be a hardware processor.
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)(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, 16, 20, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US PGPUB 2025/0097929 A1 to Lee et al.
Regarding Claim 1, Lee discloses a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, the UE comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor; a transceiver coupled to the processor wherein the processor is configured to cause the UE (FIG. 11 and 0330 provides for operation of the UE) to: receive, via the transceiver, a first plurality of downlink control information (DCI) formats scheduling a first plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) on a first set of carriers (FIG. 11 and 0338-0342 provides for UE receives a second DCI for C-RNTI), wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of each of the first plurality of DCI formats is scrambled by a first radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) specific to the UE (0338-0342 provides for wherein CRC scrambled by a UE-dedicated PDSCH); receive, via the transceiver, a second plurality of DCI formats scheduling a second plurality of PDSCHs on a second set of carriers (FIG. 11 and 0331-0335 provides for UE receives a first DCI for G-RNTI), wherein a CRC of each of the second plurality of DCI formats is scrambled by a second RNTI common to a first group of UEs including the UE (0331-0335 provides for wherein CRC scrambled by a group); and transmit, via the transceiver, a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) codebook comprising HARQ-ACK information bits for the first plurality of PDSCHs and the second plurality of PDSCHs (0307 provides for generating a type 1 HARQ-ACK codebook for a group PDSCH and a UE specific PDSCH).
Regarding Claim 16, similar rejection where the user equipment of claim 1 teaches the processor of claim 16.
Regarding Claim 20, similar rejection where the user equipment of claim 1 teaches the method of claim 20.
Regarding Claim 21, Lee discloses a base station (BS), comprising: a memory; a transceiver; and a processor coupled to the memory and to the transceiver, the processor configured to cause the base station (FIG. 12 and 0346 provides for operation of the network device) to: transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a first plurality of downlink control information (DCI) formats scheduling a first plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) on a first set of carriers (FIG. 12 and 0354-0358 provides for network device transmits a second DCI for C-RNTI), wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of each of the first plurality of DCI formats is scrambled by a first radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) specific to the UE (0338-0342 provides for wherein CRC scrambled by a UE-dedicated PDSCH); transmit, to a first group of UEs including the UE, a second plurality of DCI formats scheduling a second plurality of PDSCHs on a second set of carriers (FIG. 12 and 0349-0353 provides for network device transmits a first DCI for G-RNTI), wherein a CRC of each of the second plurality of DCI formats is scrambled by a second RNTI common to the first group of UEs (0331-0335 provides for wherein CRC scrambled by a group); and receive, from the UE, a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) codebook comprising HARQ-ACK information bits for the first plurality of PDSCHs and the second plurality of PDSCHs (0307 provides for generating a type 1 HARQ-ACK codebook for a group PDSCH and a UE specific PDSCH).
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.
Claims 2-13, 17-19, and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US PGPUB 2026/0012293 A1 to Zhang et al.
Regarding Claim 2, Lee discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein: each of the first plurality of DCI formats comprises a first downlink assignment index (DAI), and the first DAI in each of the first plurality of DCI formats indicates an accumulative number of transmitted DCI formats among the first plurality of DCI formats (0118 provides for DAI as information related to a HARQ in the DCI formats). Lee doesn’t explicitly disclose each of the second plurality of DCI formats comprises a first DAI, and the first DAI in each of the second plurality of DCI formats indicates an accumulative number of transmitted DCI formats among the second plurality of DCI formats. Zhang, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses each of the second plurality of DCI formats comprises a first DAI, and the first DAI in each of the second plurality of DCI formats indicates an accumulative number of transmitted DCI formats among the second plurality of DCI formats (0127-0131 provides for a first C-DAI and a second DAI as the Total DAI). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filed date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Zhang for a second DAI in the DCI format. The DCI format of Zhang, when implemented with the UE-dedicated PDSCH of the Lee system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to count the total DAI in order to communicate DAI information. Therefore, the examiner concludes it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to utilize the DCI format of Zhang with the UE-dedicated PDSCH of the Lee system for the desirable purpose of accumulating traits for DCI transmissions.
Regarding Claim 3, the Lee/Zhang system discloses the UE of claim 2, wherein: the value of the first DAI in each of the first plurality of DCI formats is firstly updated in a predefined order of serving cell indexes among the first set of carriers and then updated in a predefined order of physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring occasions; and the value of the first DAI in each of the second plurality of DCI formats is firstly updated in a predefined order of serving cell indexes among the second set of carriers and then updated in a predefined order of PDCCH monitoring occasions (Zhang, Table 1 and 0133 provides for the value of the T-DAI in DCI received in a PDCCH monitoring occasion is dependent on a serving cell). Same motivation as claim 2.
Regarding Claim 4, Lee discloses the UE of claim 1. Lee doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein in the case that the number of carriers in the first set of carriers is greater than 1, each of the first plurality of DCI formats comprises a second downlink assignment index (DAI) that indicates a total number of transmitted DCI formats among the first plurality of DCI formats. Zhang, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses wherein in the case that the number of carriers in the first set of carriers is greater than 1, each of the first plurality of DCI formats comprises a second downlink assignment index (DAI) that indicates a total number of transmitted DCI formats among the first plurality of DCI formats (0127-0131 provides for a first C-DAI and a second DAI as the Total DAI). Same motivation as claim 2.
Regarding Claim 5, Lee discloses the UE of claim 1. Lee doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein in the case that the number of carriers in the second set of carriers is greater than 1, each of the second plurality of DCI formats comprises a second downlink assignment index (DAI) that indicates a total number of transmitted DCI formats among the second plurality of DCI formats. Zhang, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses wherein in the case that the number of carriers in the second set of carriers is greater than 1, each of the second plurality of DCI formats comprises a second downlink assignment index (DAI) that indicates a total number of transmitted DCI formats among the second plurality of DCI formats (0127-0131 provides for a first C-DAI and a second DAI as the Total DAI). Same motivation as claim 2.
Regarding Claim 6, Lee discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein: the HARQ-ACK codebook includes a first sub-codebook including the HARQ-ACK information bits for the first plurality of PDSCHs and a second sub-codebook including the HARQ-ACK information bits for the second plurality of PDSCHs (Table 8 provides for generating sub-codebook#2 and sub-codebook#1). Lee doesn’t explicitly disclose HARQ-ACK information bits in the first sub-codebook are arranged according to downlink assignment indexes (DAIs) of the first plurality of DCI formats, and HARQ-ACK information bits in the second sub-codebook are arranged according to DAIs of the second plurality of DCI formats. Zhang, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses HARQ-ACK information bits in the first sub-codebook are arranged according to downlink assignment indexes (DAIs) of the first plurality of DCI formats, and HARQ-ACK information bits in the second sub-codebook are arranged according to DAIs of the second plurality of DCI formats (0127-0131 provides for a first C-DAI and a second DAI as the Total DAI). Same motivation as claim 2.
Regarding Claim 7, the Lee/Zhang system discloses the UE of claim 6, wherein the first sub-codebook and the second sub-codebook are arranged in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to the serving cell indexes of the first set of carriers and the second set of carriers (Zhang, Table 8 provides for generating sub-codebook#2 and sub-codebook#1). Same motivation as claim 2.
Regarding Claim 8, the Lee/Zhang system discloses the UE of claim 6, wherein the first sub-codebook is placed at a predefined location in the HARQ-ACK codebook (Zhang, Table 8 provides for generating sub-codebook#2 and sub-codebook#1). Same motivation as claim 2.
Regarding Claim 9, the Lee/Zhang system discloses the UE of claim 8, wherein: the processor is further configured cause the UE to receive, via the transceiver, a third plurality of DCI formats scheduling a third plurality of PDSCHs on a third set of carriers, and a CRC of each of the third plurality of DCI formats is scrambled by a third RNTI common to a second group of UEs including the UE (Zhang, 0122 and 0173-0178 provides for a third group for G-CS-RNTI); the HARQ-ACK codebook further includes a third sub-codebook including HARQ-ACK information bits for the third plurality of PDSCHs (Zhang, 0122-0127 and 0173-0178 provides for HARQ-ACK codebook); and the second sub-codebook and the third sub-codebook are arranged in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to the second RNTI, the third RNTI, the serving cell indexes of the second set of carriers and the third set of carriers, or any combination thereof (Zhang, 0129-0130 and 0141 provides for accumulative number of a serving cell). Same motivation as claim 2.
Regarding Claim 10, the Lee/Zhang system discloses the UE of claim 9, wherein the first sub-codebook and the second sub-codebook are configured with different HARQ-ACK codebook types (Zhang, 0125 provides for Type-1 HARQ-ACK codebook and Type-2 HARQ-ACK codebook). Same motivation as claim 2.
Regarding Claim 11, the Lee/Zhang system discloses the UE of claim 9, wherein the second sub-codebook and the third sub-codebook are configured with different HARQ-ACK codebook types (Zhang, 0125 provides for Type-1 HARQ-ACK codebook and Type-2 HARQ-ACK codebook). Same motivation as claim 2.
Regarding Claim 12, Lee discloses the UE of claim 1. Lee doesn’t explicitly disclose the processor is further configured cause the UE to receive, via the transceiver, a third plurality of DCI formats scheduling a third plurality of PDSCHs on a third set of carriers, and a CRC of each of the third plurality of DCI formats is scrambled by a third RNTI common to a second group of UEs including the UE; and each of the first plurality of DCI formats, the second plurality of DCI formats, and the third plurality of DCI formats comprises a first downlink assignment index (DAI), and the first DAIs of the first plurality of DCI formats are updated only among the first plurality of DCI formats and separately from the first DAIs of the second plurality of DCI formats and the third plurality of DCI formats which are updated among the second plurality of DCI formats and the third plurality of DCI formats. Zhang, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses the processor is further configured cause the UE to receive, via the transceiver, a third plurality of DCI formats scheduling a third plurality of PDSCHs on a third set of carriers, and a CRC of each of the third plurality of DCI formats is scrambled by a third RNTI common to a second group of UEs including the UE (Zhang, 0122 and 0173-0178 provides for a third group for G-CS-RNTI); and each of the first plurality of DCI formats, the second plurality of DCI formats, and the third plurality of DCI formats comprises a first downlink assignment index (DAI), and the first DAIs of the first plurality of DCI formats are updated only among the first plurality of DCI formats and separately from the first DAIs of the second plurality of DCI formats and the third plurality of DCI formats which are updated among the second plurality of DCI formats and the third plurality of DCI formats (Zhang, 0129-0130 and 0141 provides for accumulative number of a serving cell). Same motivation as claim 2.
Regarding Claim 13, Lee discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein: each of the first plurality of DCI formats and the second plurality of DCI formats comprises a first downlink assignment index (DAI), and the first DAI indicates an accumulative number of transmitted DCI formats among the first plurality of DCI formats and the second plurality of DCI formats (0118 provides for DAI as information related to a HARQ in the DCI formats). Lee doesn’t explicitly disclose HARQ-ACK information bits for the first plurality of PDSCHs and the second plurality of PDSCHs are arranged in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to the first DAI. Zhang, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses HARQ-ACK information bits for the first plurality of PDSCHs and the second plurality of PDSCHs are arranged in the HARQ-ACK codebook according to the first DAI (0129 provides for first DAI may indicate an accumulative number of at least one of DCI scheduling PDSCHs). Same motivation as claim 2.
Regarding Claim 17, similar rejection where the user equipment of claim 2 teaches the processor of claim 17.
Regarding Claim 18, similar rejection where the user equipment of claim 3 teaches the processor of claim 18.
Regarding Claim 19, similar rejection where the user equipment of claim 12 teaches the processor of claim 19.
Regarding Claim 22, similar rejection where the user equipment of claim 12 teaches the base station of claim 22.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US PGPUB 2025/0212221 A1 to Zhang et al discloses wireless communication system for group scrambling.
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/SCHQUITA D GOODWIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2459
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