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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgment is made of the information disclosure statements filed on June 20, 2024. U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, and non-patent literature documents have been considered.
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 1-3, 11-13, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being unpatentable by Hua et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2022/0046680), herein referred to as “Hua”. This reference is the U.S. based counterpart to the WIPO reference provided in the Information Disclosure Statement dated June 20, 2024.
Regarding Claim 1,
Hua discloses: A method for resource indication, comprising: receiving, by a terminal device, downlink control information (DCI) sent by a network device
[0102] An example in which the network device 30 shown in FIG. 2 interacts with any one of the terminal devices 40 is used. In this embodiment of this application, the network device 30 is configured to send DCI and configuration information to the terminal device 40.
wherein the DCI is used for scheduling P channels, the P channels are located on at most N serving cells and/or serving cell groups, P and N each are a positive integer, and N≤P, wherein the DCI comprises a resource assignment field, and the resource assignment field indicates resources for the P channels.
[0062] The frequency domain resource assignment information field is used to indicate a position of a frequency domain resource. The time domain resource assignment information field is used to indicate start symbols in time domain of the PDSCH, a quantity of consecutive symbols in time domain of the PDSCH, a mapping type of the PDSCH, and a position of a DMRS of the PDSCH. A terminal device may determine, based on frequency domain resource assignment information and time domain resource assignment information, a time-frequency resource block used to transmit the PDSCH and the DMRS of the PDSCH, and learn of the mapping type and the position of the DMRS that are of the PDSCH scheduled by the DCI. For related descriptions of the mapping type of the PDSCH, refer to content in the following embodiments. Details are not described herein again.
Note: The serving cell is being interpreted as the base station. The PDSCH scheduled by the DCI is the “P channel” (Applicant’s specification paragraph [0106]), and the resource assignment field is being interpreted as the frequency domain resource assignment and time domain resource assignment (Applicant’s specification paragraph [0040]).
Regarding Claim 2,
Hua discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein the resource assignment field comprises N sub-fields.
[0062] The frequency domain resource assignment information field is used to indicate a position of a frequency domain resource. The time domain resource assignment information field is used to indicate start symbols in time domain of the PDSCH, a quantity of consecutive symbols in time domain of the PDSCH, a mapping type of the PDSCH, and a position of a DMRS of the PDSCH. A terminal device may determine, based on frequency domain resource assignment information and time domain resource assignment information, a time-frequency resource block used to transmit the PDSCH and the DMRS of the PDSCH, and learn of the mapping type and the position of the DMRS that are of the PDSCH scheduled by the DCI. For related descriptions of the mapping type of the PDSCH, refer to content in the following embodiments. Details are not described herein again.
Note: The FDRA and TDRA “information fields” above are being interpreted as the “sub-fields”, to which N = 1 as it relates to the base station aforementioned in Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 3,
Hua discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein the resource assignment field is shared by the P channels.
[0062] The frequency domain resource assignment information field is used to indicate a position of a frequency domain resource. The time domain resource assignment information field is used to indicate start symbols in time domain of the PDSCH, a quantity of consecutive symbols in time domain of the PDSCH, a mapping type of the PDSCH, and a position of a DMRS of the PDSCH. A terminal device may determine, based on frequency domain resource assignment information and time domain resource assignment information, a time-frequency resource block used to transmit the PDSCH and the DMRS of the PDSCH, and learn of the mapping type and the position of the DMRS that are of the PDSCH scheduled by the DCI. For related descriptions of the mapping type of the PDSCH, refer to content in the following embodiments. Details are not described herein again.
Regarding Claim 11,
Hua discloses: A terminal device, comprising: a transceiver; a memory; and
a processor configured to execute one or more programs stored in the memory to:
cause the transceiver to receive downlink control information (DCI) sent by a network device
[0102] An example in which the network device 30 shown in FIG. 2 interacts with any one of the terminal devices 40 is used. In this embodiment of this application, the network device 30 is configured to send DCI and configuration information to the terminal device 40.
wherein the DCI is used for scheduling P channels, the P channels are located on at most N serving cells and/or serving cell groups, P and N each are a positive integer, and N≤P, wherein the DCI comprises a resource assignment field, and the resource assignment field indicates resources for the P channels.
[0062] The frequency domain resource assignment information field is used to indicate a position of a frequency domain resource. The time domain resource assignment information field is used to indicate start symbols in time domain of the PDSCH, a quantity of consecutive symbols in time domain of the PDSCH, a mapping type of the PDSCH, and a position of a DMRS of the PDSCH. A terminal device may determine, based on frequency domain resource assignment information and time domain resource assignment information, a time-frequency resource block used to transmit the PDSCH and the DMRS of the PDSCH, and learn of the mapping type and the position of the DMRS that are of the PDSCH scheduled by the DCI. For related descriptions of the mapping type of the PDSCH, refer to content in the following embodiments. Details are not described herein again.
Note: The serving cell is being interpreted as the base station. The PDSCH scheduled by the DCI is the “P channel” (Applicant’s specification paragraph [0106]), and the resource assignment field is being interpreted as the frequency domain resource assignment and time domain resource assignment (Applicant’s specification paragraph [0040]).
Regarding Claim 12,
Claim 12 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 2.
Regarding Claim 13,
Claim 13 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 3.
Regarding Claim 20,
Hua discloses: A network device, comprising: a transceiver; a memory; and
a processor configured to execute one or more computer programs stored in the memory to: cause the transceiver to send downlink control information (DCI) to a terminal device
[0102] An example in which the network device 30 shown in FIG. 2 interacts with any one of the terminal devices 40 is used. In this embodiment of this application, the network device 30 is configured to send DCI and configuration information to the terminal device 40.
wherein the DCI is used for scheduling P channels, the P channels are located on at most N serving cells and/or serving cell groups, P and N each are a positive integer, and N≤P, wherein the DCI comprises a resource assignment field, and the resource assignment field indicates resources for the P channels.
[0062] The frequency domain resource assignment information field is used to indicate a position of a frequency domain resource. The time domain resource assignment information field is used to indicate start symbols in time domain of the PDSCH, a quantity of consecutive symbols in time domain of the PDSCH, a mapping type of the PDSCH, and a position of a DMRS of the PDSCH. A terminal device may determine, based on frequency domain resource assignment information and time domain resource assignment information, a time-frequency resource block used to transmit the PDSCH and the DMRS of the PDSCH, and learn of the mapping type and the position of the DMRS that are of the PDSCH scheduled by the DCI. For related descriptions of the mapping type of the PDSCH, refer to content in the following embodiments. Details are not described herein again.
Note: The serving cell is being interpreted as the base station. The PDSCH scheduled by the DCI is the “P channel” (Applicant’s specification paragraph [0106]), and the resource assignment field is being interpreted as the frequency domain resource assignment and time domain resource assignment (Applicant’s specification paragraph [0040]).
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 4-9, and 14-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Hua in view of Papasakellariou and Lin (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2022/0086894), herein referred to as “Papasakellariou”
Regarding Claim 4,
Hua does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 4.
However, Papasakellariou discloses: The method of claim 3, further comprising:
obtaining a second resource allocation granularity according to at least one of a second number of bits, a third number of bits, or a first resource allocation granularity, wherein the number of bits required for resource allocation for each of the P channels is a first number of bits, the second number of bits is a sum of all the first number of bits, and the third number of bits is the number of bits in the resource assignment field.
[0111] A DCI format 1_3 can include same or similar fields as a DCI format 1_2. A possibility of additional field is separately considered. A configuration for a number of bits for each field can be independent per scheduled cell. A limitation of such an approach is that a total number of sizes for DCI format 1_3 can be large when a DCI format 1_3 can schedule PDSCH receptions on any combination of cells.
[0112] For example, if (i) DCI format 1_3 is restricted to schedule PDSCH receptions on two cells, (ii) a UE is configured four scheduled cells, indexed as {c.sub.0, c.sub.1, c.sub.2, c.sub.3}, for a scheduling cell, and (iii) a total size for fields in DCI format 1_3 corresponding to scheduling PDSCH receptions on each of the {c.sub.0, c.sub.1, c.sub.2, c.sub.3} cells is {s.sub.0, s.sub.1, s.sub.2, s.sub.3} respectively, then DCI format 1_3 can have a size that is any of the combinations that includes the sum of two values from {s.sub.0, s.sub.1, s.sub.2, s.sub.3} (excluding CRC bits). For the present example of four scheduled cells having four separate respective total sizes for fields in DCI format 1_3, a maximum number of different sizes for DCI format 1_3 is six.
[0128] A size of a FDRA field can be separately configured for each scheduled cell from the N.sub.cells.sup.DL,2 cells since an active DL BWP size can be different among scheduled cells. CA operation targets large data rates and therefore a bandwidth for a corresponding PDSCH reception on a scheduled cell is typically large. As the FDRA field usually requires the largest number of bits among all fields in a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH reception, it is beneficial to determine a number of bits for the FDRA field in DCI format 1_3 using a larger RB group (RBG) size than for determining a number of bits for the FDRA field in a DCI format scheduling a single PDSCH reception on one scheduled cell. For example, for an active DL BWP of 96 RBs, an RBG size can be 8 RBs for a DCI format scheduling a single PDSCH reception on a corresponding cell and therefore an FDRA field for a bitmap of RBGs includes 12 bits, while for a DCI format 1_3 an RBG size can be 16 RBs and therefore an FDRA field for a bitmap of RBGs includes 6 bits.
Note: The granularity is being interpreted as the resource block group (RBG), consistent with Applicant’s specification paragraph [0031]. The values s0, s1, etc. represent the bits, where the first number of bits can be any value of the total size (e.g. s0, s1, etc.), the second number of bits can be a sum of any of these values from that set as detailed in paragraph [0112] above, and the third number of bits is for the FDRA field (paragraph [0128] above).
Hua and Papasakellariou are considered to be analogous because they pertain to communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hua to include the concepts of different bit values and granularities as taught by Papasakellariou so as to aid in DCI size determination.
Regarding Claim 5,
Hua does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 5.
However, Papasakellariou discloses: The method of claim 2, wherein Q channels in the P channels are located on the same serving cell or serving cell group, wherein Q is a positive integer; and the method further comprises: obtaining a second resource allocation granularity for the Q channels according to at least one of a fifth number of bits, a sixth number of bits, or a first resource allocation granularity, wherein the number of bits required for resource allocation for each of the Q channels is a fourth number of bits, the fifth number of bits is a sum of all the fourth number of bits, and the sixth number of bits is the number of bits in a sub-field corresponding to the Q channels in the resource assignment field.
[0111] A DCI format 1_3 can include same or similar fields as a DCI format 1_2. A possibility of additional field is separately considered. A configuration for a number of bits for each field can be independent per scheduled cell. A limitation of such an approach is that a total number of sizes for DCI format 1_3 can be large when a DCI format 1_3 can schedule PDSCH receptions on any combination of cells.
[0112] For example, if (i) DCI format 1_3 is restricted to schedule PDSCH receptions on two cells, (ii) a UE is configured four scheduled cells, indexed as {c.sub.0, c.sub.1, c.sub.2, c.sub.3}, for a scheduling cell, and (iii) a total size for fields in DCI format 1_3 corresponding to scheduling PDSCH receptions on each of the {c.sub.0, c.sub.1, c.sub.2, c.sub.3} cells is {s.sub.0, s.sub.1, s.sub.2, s.sub.3} respectively, then DCI format 1_3 can have a size that is any of the combinations that includes the sum of two values from {s.sub.0, s.sub.1, s.sub.2, s.sub.3} (excluding CRC bits). For the present example of four scheduled cells having four separate respective total sizes for fields in DCI format 1_3, a maximum number of different sizes for DCI format 1_3 is six.
[0128] A size of a FDRA field can be separately configured for each scheduled cell from the N.sub.cells.sup.DL,2 cells since an active DL BWP size can be different among scheduled cells. CA operation targets large data rates and therefore a bandwidth for a corresponding PDSCH reception on a scheduled cell is typically large. As the FDRA field usually requires the largest number of bits among all fields in a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH reception, it is beneficial to determine a number of bits for the FDRA field in DCI format 1_3 using a larger RB group (RBG) size than for determining a number of bits for the FDRA field in a DCI format scheduling a single PDSCH reception on one scheduled cell. For example, for an active DL BWP of 96 RBs, an RBG size can be 8 RBs for a DCI format scheduling a single PDSCH reception on a corresponding cell and therefore an FDRA field for a bitmap of RBGs includes 12 bits, while for a DCI format 1_3 an RBG size can be 16 RBs and therefore an FDRA field for a bitmap of RBGs includes 6 bits.
Note: Since there are multiple PDSCH receptions (paragraph [0112]), the granularity is being interpreted as the resource block group (RBG), consistent with Applicant’s specification paragraph [0031]. The values s0, s1, etc. represent the bits, where, in this case with Q and P channels, the fourth number of bits can be any value of the total size (e.g. s0, s1, etc.), the fifth number of bits can be a sum of any of these values from that set as detailed in paragraph [0112] above, and the sixth number of bits is for the FDRA field (paragraph [0128] above).
Hua and Papasakellariou are considered to be analogous because they pertain to communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hua to include the concepts of different bit values and granularities as taught by Papasakellariou so as to aid in DCI size determination.
Regarding Claim 6,
Hua does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 6.
However, Papasakellariou discloses: The method of claim 4, wherein when the second number of bits is less than or equal to the third number of bits or the fifth number of bits is less than or equal to the sixth number of bits, the second resource allocation granularity is the same as the first resource allocation granularity; or
the second resource allocation granularity is determined according to the first resource allocation granularity and a first value; or the second resource allocation granularity is a first candidate value in a first candidate value set, wherein the first candidate value is a minimum value among candidate values in the first candidate value set that are greater than or equal to a second value.
[0112] For example, if (i) DCI format 1_3 is restricted to schedule PDSCH receptions on two cells, (ii) a UE is configured four scheduled cells, indexed as {c.sub.0, c.sub.1, c.sub.2, c.sub.3}, for a scheduling cell, and (iii) a total size for fields in DCI format 1_3 corresponding to scheduling PDSCH receptions on each of the {c.sub.0, c.sub.1, c.sub.2, c.sub.3} cells is {s.sub.0, s.sub.1, s.sub.2, s.sub.3} respectively, then DCI format 1_3 can have a size that is any of the combinations that includes the sum of two values from {s.sub.0, s.sub.1, s.sub.2, s.sub.3} (excluding CRC bits). For the present example of four scheduled cells having four separate respective total sizes for fields in DCI format 1_3, a maximum number of different sizes for DCI format 1_3 is six.
[0128] A size of a FDRA field can be separately configured for each scheduled cell from the N.sub.cells.sup.DL,2 cells since an active DL BWP size can be different among scheduled cells. CA operation targets large data rates and therefore a bandwidth for a corresponding PDSCH reception on a scheduled cell is typically large. As the FDRA field usually requires the largest number of bits among all fields in a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH reception, it is beneficial to determine a number of bits for the FDRA field in DCI format 1_3 using a larger RB group (RBG) size than for determining a number of bits for the FDRA field in a DCI format scheduling a single PDSCH reception on one scheduled cell. For example, for an active DL BWP of 96 RBs, an RBG size can be 8 RBs for a DCI format scheduling a single PDSCH reception on a corresponding cell and therefore an FDRA field for a bitmap of RBGs includes 12 bits, while for a DCI format 1_3 an RBG size can be 16 RBs and therefore an FDRA field for a bitmap of RBGs includes 6 bits.
[0129] In certain embodiments, the RBG size is be predetermined per range of DL BWP sizes. For example, the RBG size can be 8 RBs for a DL BWP size between 50 RB and 100 RBs, or the RBG size for an active DL BWP can be provided to a UE by UE-specific RRC signaling either separately per DCI format (at least for DCI formats scheduling on PDSCH reception or two PDSCH receptions) or jointly for all DCI formats. In the latter case, an RBG size for interpreting the FDRA field can be derived separately for DCI format 1_3 by scaling an indicated RBG size either by a predetermined factor, such as 2, or be a factor provided to the UE by UE-specific RRC signaling. The size (number of RBs) of RBGs indicated by the FDRA field in the DCI format can be for a reference cell such as the cell of the PDSCH reception that provides the DCI format.
Note: The set of bit values can be the same or greater as the third number of bits, as the FDRA field requires the largest amount of bits (paragraph [0128] above). Here, 8 RBs is the minimum value but has a greater amount of bits (12 bits) as compared to the 16 RB set (6 bits).
Hua and Papasakellariou are considered to be analogous because they pertain to communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hua to include the concepts of different bit values and granularities as taught by Papasakellariou so as to aid in DCI size determination.
Regarding Claim 7,
Claim 7 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 6.
Regarding Claim 8,
Hua does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 8.
However, Papasakellariou discloses: The method of claim 4, wherein when the second number of bits is greater than the third number of bits or the fifth number of bits is greater than the sixth number of bits, the second resource allocation granularity is determined according to the first resource allocation granularity and a first value; or the second resource allocation granularity is a second candidate value in a second candidate value set, wherein the second candidate value is a minimum value among candidate values in the second candidate value set that are greater than or equal to a second value.
[0112] For example, if (i) DCI format 1_3 is restricted to schedule PDSCH receptions on two cells, (ii) a UE is configured four scheduled cells, indexed as {c.sub.0, c.sub.1, c.sub.2, c.sub.3}, for a scheduling cell, and (iii) a total size for fields in DCI format 1_3 corresponding to scheduling PDSCH receptions on each of the {c.sub.0, c.sub.1, c.sub.2, c.sub.3} cells is {s.sub.0, s.sub.1, s.sub.2, s.sub.3} respectively, then DCI format 1_3 can have a size that is any of the combinations that includes the sum of two values from {s.sub.0, s.sub.1, s.sub.2, s.sub.3} (excluding CRC bits). For the present example of four scheduled cells having four separate respective total sizes for fields in DCI format 1_3, a maximum number of different sizes for DCI format 1_3 is six.
[0128] A size of a FDRA field can be separately configured for each scheduled cell from the N.sub.cells.sup.DL,2 cells since an active DL BWP size can be different among scheduled cells. CA operation targets large data rates and therefore a bandwidth for a corresponding PDSCH reception on a scheduled cell is typically large. As the FDRA field usually requires the largest number of bits among all fields in a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH reception, it is beneficial to determine a number of bits for the FDRA field in DCI format 1_3 using a larger RB group (RBG) size than for determining a number of bits for the FDRA field in a DCI format scheduling a single PDSCH reception on one scheduled cell. For example, for an active DL BWP of 96 RBs, an RBG size can be 8 RBs for a DCI format scheduling a single PDSCH reception on a corresponding cell and therefore an FDRA field for a bitmap of RBGs includes 12 bits, while for a DCI format 1_3 an RBG size can be 16 RBs and therefore an FDRA field for a bitmap of RBGs includes 6 bits.
[0129] In certain embodiments, the RBG size is be predetermined per range of DL BWP sizes. For example, the RBG size can be 8 RBs for a DL BWP size between 50 RB and 100 RBs, or the RBG size for an active DL BWP can be provided to a UE by UE-specific RRC signaling either separately per DCI format (at least for DCI formats scheduling on PDSCH reception or two PDSCH receptions) or jointly for all DCI formats. In the latter case, an RBG size for interpreting the FDRA field can be derived separately for DCI format 1_3 by scaling an indicated RBG size either by a predetermined factor, such as 2, or be a factor provided to the UE by UE-specific RRC signaling. The size (number of RBs) of RBGs indicated by the FDRA field in the DCI format can be for a reference cell such as the cell of the PDSCH reception that provides the DCI format.
Note: The set of bit values can be the same or greater as the third number of bits, as the FDRA field requires the largest amount of bits (paragraph [0128] above). Here, 8 RBs is the minimum value but has a greater amount of bits (12 bits) as compared to the 16 RB set (6 bits).
value but has a greater amount of bits (12 bits) as compared to the 16 RB set (6 bits).
Hua and Papasakellariou are considered to be analogous because they pertain to communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hua to include the concepts of different bit values and granularities as taught by Papasakellariou so as to aid in DCI size determination.
Regarding Claim 9,
Hua does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 9.
However, Papasakellariou discloses: The method of claim 6, wherein: the first value is determined according to the second number of bits and the third number of bits, or is determined according to the fifth number of bits and the sixth number of bits; the second value is determined according to the first resource allocation granularity and the first value.
[0112] For example, if (i) DCI format 1_3 is restricted to schedule PDSCH receptions on two cells, (ii) a UE is configured four scheduled cells, indexed as {c.sub.0, c.sub.1, c.sub.2, c.sub.3}, for a scheduling cell, and (iii) a total size for fields in DCI format 1_3 corresponding to scheduling PDSCH receptions on each of the {c.sub.0, c.sub.1, c.sub.2, c.sub.3} cells is {s.sub.0, s.sub.1, s.sub.2, s.sub.3} respectively, then DCI format 1_3 can have a size that is any of the combinations that includes the sum of two values from {s.sub.0, s.sub.1, s.sub.2, s.sub.3} (excluding CRC bits). For the present example of four scheduled cells having four separate respective total sizes for fields in DCI format 1_3, a maximum number of different sizes for DCI format 1_3 is six.
[0128] A size of a FDRA field can be separately configured for each scheduled cell from the N.sub.cells.sup.DL,2 cells since an active DL BWP size can be different among scheduled cells. CA operation targets large data rates and therefore a bandwidth for a corresponding PDSCH reception on a scheduled cell is typically large. As the FDRA field usually requires the largest number of bits among all fields in a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH reception, it is beneficial to determine a number of bits for the FDRA field in DCI format 1_3 using a larger RB group (RBG) size than for determining a number of bits for the FDRA field in a DCI format scheduling a single PDSCH reception on one scheduled cell. For example, for an active DL BWP of 96 RBs, an RBG size can be 8 RBs for a DCI format scheduling a single PDSCH reception on a corresponding cell and therefore an FDRA field for a bitmap of RBGs includes 12 bits, while for a DCI format 1_3 an RBG size can be 16 RBs and therefore an FDRA field for a bitmap of RBGs includes 6 bits.
[0129] In certain embodiments, the RBG size is be predetermined per range of DL BWP sizes. For example, the RBG size can be 8 RBs for a DL BWP size between 50 RB and 100 RBs, or the RBG size for an active DL BWP can be provided to a UE by UE-specific RRC signaling either separately per DCI format (at least for DCI formats scheduling on PDSCH reception or two PDSCH receptions) or jointly for all DCI formats. In the latter case, an RBG size for interpreting the FDRA field can be derived separately for DCI format 1_3 by scaling an indicated RBG size either by a predetermined factor, such as 2, or be a factor provided to the UE by UE-specific RRC signaling. The size (number of RBs) of RBGs indicated by the FDRA field in the DCI format can be for a reference cell such as the cell of the PDSCH reception that provides the DCI format.
Note: Since the second and third numbers of bits and granularity are disclosed in previous claim interpretations, first and second values can be determined.
Hua and Papasakellariou are considered to be analogous because they pertain to communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hua to include the concepts of different bit values and granularities as taught by Papasakellariou so as to aid in DCI size determination.
Regarding Claim 14,
Claim 14 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 4.
Regarding Claim 15,
Claim 15 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 5.
Regarding Claim 16,
Claim 16 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 6.
Regarding Claim 17,
Claim 17 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 7.
Regarding Claim 18,
Claim 18 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 8.
Claims 10 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Hua in view of Zhou et. al. (WO 2021208836 A1), herein referred to as “Zhou”. This reference is the WIPO-based counterpart to the Chinese reference provided in the Information Disclosure Statement dated June 20, 2024.
Regarding Claim 10,
Hua does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 10.
However, Zhou discloses: The method of claim 2, wherein channels on at least one serving cell and/or serving cell group in the N serving cells and/or serving cell groups correspond to the N sub-fields in at least one of the following orders: an order of serving cell index and/or serving cell group index; an order determined according to an indication of the DCI; or an order of the number of bits required for channel resource allocation for each serving cell and/or serving cell group.
(Pages 4-5, line 27-line 5)
The DCI format of the downlink scheduling PDSCH in TDRA and NR includes DCI format 1_0 and DCI format 1_1. All downlink control information (English: downlink control information, DCI for short) formats include a time domain resource assignment (time domain resource assignment) field, which is used to notify the UE of the PDSCH time domain resource location used by the UE. The time domain resource configuration table is configured by high-level signaling. The scheduling DCI indicates a certain index of the time domain resource allocation table, and the index is used to indicate a certain row in the time domain resource allocation table. Each row in the time domain resource allocation table contains the OFDM symbols used for PDSCH transmission, including the starting OFDM symbol and the length of the allocated OFDM symbol, the scheduling of DCI and the PDSCH transmission interval K0 (in units of time slots), and the mapping type of PDSCH Type A or Type B.
Hua and Zhou are considered to be analogous because they pertain to communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hua to include the concept an order determined by DCI as taught by Zhou so as to aid in DCI size determination.
Regarding Claim 19,
Claim 19 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 10.
Conclusion
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/JESSE P. SAMLUK/Examiner, Art Unit 2411
/JAMAAL HENSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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