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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The references listed in the Information Disclosure Statement, filed on 02 October 2024, 16 October 2024, 16 June 2025, have been considered by the examiner (see attached PTO-1449 form or PTO/SB/08A and 08B forms).
Claim Objections
Claims 16, 24 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 16, there is no antecedent basis for the claimed limitation “the first feedback” in line 11.
Regarding claim 24, there is no antecedent basis for the claimed limitation “the first feedback” in line 9.
Appropriate correction is required.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1-6, 10-20, 24 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-5, 5-17 respectively of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325.
Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the claims in the instant application are fully covered by the patent claims.
For claim 1, claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches a method.
transmitting first downlink control information, wherein the first downlink control information comprises information indicating first downlink data, information indicating a first uplink resource, and a first identifier, wherein the first downlink data comprises one or more pieces of data, wherein the one or more pieces of data correspond to one or more pieces of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information, respectively, and wherein each of the one or more pieces of data corresponds to the first identifier as in the application corresponds to the limitation “receiving a first downlink … first identifier” (claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 3-12); and
receiving first feedback information on the first uplink resource, wherein the first feedback information comprises the one or more pieces of HARQ information, and the first feedback information indicates a reception status of the first downlink data as in the application corresponds to the limitation “sending the first feedback … first downlink data” (claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 18-22).
For claim 2, claim 2 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches the first feedback information comprises HARQ information corresponding to a plurality of pieces of data of the first downlink data corresponding to a plurality of pieces of the first downlink control information, wherein each piece of data in the plurality pieces of data of the first downlink control information comprises the first identifier (claim 2 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 1-7).
For claim 3, claim 3 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches the first downlink control information comprises a first downlink assignment indicator (DAI), and a correspondence exists between the first DAI and the first identifier (claim 3 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 1-4).
For claim 4, claim 4 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches the one or more pieces of HARQ information comprised in the first feedback information are associated with the first DAI (claim 4 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 1-3).
For claim 5, claim 5 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches the first downlink control information comprises a new feedback indicator (NFI) (claim 5 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 1-3).
For claim 6, claim 5 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches the NFI corresponds to the first identifier (claim 5 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 3-4).
For claim 10, claim 6 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches receiving second feedback information on a second uplink resource, wherein the second feedback information indicates a reception status of second downlink data (claim 6 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 2-5).
For claim 11, claim 7 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches the second downlink data comprises one or more pieces of second data, wherein the one or more pieces of second data correspond to one or more pieces of second HARQ information, respectively, and wherein each of the one or more pieces of second data corresponds to a second identifier (claim 7 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 1-6).
For claim 12, claim 8 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches transmitting trigger information, wherein the trigger information indicates whether the second feedback information and the first feedback information should be combined (claim 8 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 2-5).
For claim 13, claim 9 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches a field corresponding to the trigger information is set to 1, indicating that the second feedback information and the first feedback information should be combined (claim 9 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 1-4).
For claim 14, claim 10 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches receiving a combined feedback information, wherein the combined feedback information is associated with the first feedback information and the second feedback information (claim 10 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 2-6).
For claim 15, claim 11 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches ACKs/NACKs in the combined feedback information are sorted in a sequence of feedback processes corresponding to the ACKs/NACKs, or are sorted in a sequence of HARQ processes, or are sorted in a sequence in which feedback information that needs to be retransmitted is first sorted and other feedback information is then sorted (claim 11 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 2-7).
For claim 16, claim 12 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches an apparatus.
a memory configured to store instructions; and one or more processors coupled with the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the instructions to cause the apparatus to: transmit first downlink control information, wherein the first downlink control information comprises information indicating first downlink data, information indicating a first uplink resource, and a first identifier, wherein the first downlink data comprises one or more pieces of data, wherein the one or more pieces of data correspond to one or more pieces of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information, respectively, and wherein each of the one or more pieces of data corresponds to the first identifier as in the application corresponds to the limitation “a memory configured .. the first identifier” (claim 12 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 2-15); and
receive the first feedback information on the first uplink resource, wherein the first feedback information comprises the one or more pieces of HARQ information, and wherein the first feedback information is used to indicate a reception status of the first downlink data as in the application corresponds to the limitation “send the first feedback .. first downlink data” (claim 12 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 21-26).
For claim 17, claim 13 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches the first feedback information comprises HARQ information corresponding to a plurality of pieces of data of the first downlink data corresponding to a plurality of pieces of the first downlink control information, wherein each piece of data in the plurality pieces of data of the first downlink control information comprises the first identifier (claim 13 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 1-7).
For claim 18, claim 14 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches the first downlink control information comprises a first downlink assignment indicator (DAI), and a correspondence exists between the first DAI and the first identifier (claim 14 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 1-4).
For claim 19, claim 15 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches the one or more pieces of HARQ information comprised in the first feedback information are associated with the first DAI (claim 15 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 2-3).
For claim 20, claim 16 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches the first downlink control information comprises a first new feedback indicator (NFI) (claim 16 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 1-3).
For claim 24, claim 17 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program.
transmit first downlink control information, wherein the first downlink control information comprises information indicating first downlink data, information indicating a first uplink resource, and a first identifier, wherein the first downlink data comprises one or more pieces of data, wherein the one or more pieces of data correspond to one or more pieces of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information, respectively, and wherein each of the one or more pieces of data corresponds to the first identifier as in the application corresponds to the limitation “receive first downlink .. the first identifier” (claim 17 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 4-13); and
receive the first feedback information on the first uplink resource, wherein the first feedback information comprises the one or more pieces of HARQ information, and wherein the first feedback information is used to indicate a reception status of the first downlink data as in the application corresponds to the limitation “send the first feedback .. the first downlink data” (claim 17 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,325 lines 19-23).
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)(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 1-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liang et al. (PG pub US 2021/03769693 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 16, 24, Liang discloses a method, an apparatus, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.
a memory configured to store instructions; and one or more processors coupled with the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the instructions to cause the apparatus to (memory 1312, processor 1311, fig. 13):
transmit first downlink control information (“a DCI” [0087]), the first downlink control information comprises information indicating first downlink data, information indicating a first uplink resource, and a first identifier, wherein the first downlink data comprises one or more pieces of data, wherein the one or more pieces of data correspond to one or more pieces of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information, respectively, and wherein each of the one or more pieces of data corresponds to the first identifier (“the network device 101 transmits a scheduling message to a terminal device .. may comprise, e.g., a DCI. In addition, the scheduling message includes information on HARQ feedback. The information on HARQ feedback indicates a processing ID for HARQ feedback (e.g., HARQ PUCCH processing ID) and/or the accumulated number of scheduling messages that have been transmitted for the terminal device or the processing identification” [0087], “the scheduling message, e.g., the DCI, may further include one or more of: an indication of the total number of scheduling messages that have been transmitted in a predetermined transmission set (e.g., a PDSCH set) associated with a same HARQ feedback time slot (e.g., in a form of the counter DAI shown in FIG. 2), an indication of the total number of scheduling messages to be transmitted in the predetermined transmission set (e.g., the PDSCH set) associated with a same HARQ feedback time slot (e.g., in a form of the total DAI), and an indication for providing a new HARQ feedback” [0089], “a combination of one or more of a cycled DAI, a HARQ PUCCH ID and a NFI may be transmitted in the scheduling message to the terminal device 102 at block 710 to facilitate the HARQ feedback” [0091]; and
receive the first feedback information on the first uplink resource (“HARQ feedback” [0093]), the first feedback information comprises the one or more pieces of HARQ information, and wherein the first feedback information is used to indicate a reception status of the first downlink data (“the network device 101 receives a HARQ feedback from the terminal device 102 .. if a NACK is received for a data transmission .. If an ACK is received for a data transmission, the network device 101 may prevent retransmitting the data” [0093], “the information on HARQ feedback may comprise a cyclic DAI indicating the accumulated number of scheduling messages (e.g., DCIs) that have been transmitted (possibly across a plurality of PDSCH sets) for the terminal device or the processing identification” [0110]).
Regarding claims 2, 17, Liang discloses everything claimed as applied above.
In addition, Liang discloses the first feedback information comprises HARQ information corresponding to a plurality of pieces of data of the first downlink data corresponding to a plurality of pieces of the first downlink control information, wherein each piece of data in the plurality pieces of data of the first downlink control information comprises the first identifier (“A resource set group may comprise one or more resource sets, and a resource set may comprise one or more feedback resources (e.g., PUCCH resources)” [0072], “The resource identification comprises an identifier for a resource set group associated with the resource. A resource set group comprises one or more resource sets, and a resource set comprises one or more resources” [0097]).
Regarding claims 3, 18, Liang discloses everything claimed as applied above.
In addition, Liang discloses the first downlink control information comprises a first downlink assignment indicator (DAI), and a correspondence exists between the first DAI and the first identifier (“a counter DAI or a total DAI together with a cyclic DAI may be included in each DCI, where the counter DAI in a DCI indicates the total number of DCIs that have been transmitted in a PDSCH set (i.e., a set of PDSCH associated with same PUCCH feedback occasion) till current time instance, the total DAI in the DCI indicates the total number of DCIs to be transmitted in a PDSCH set when carrier aggregation is adopted” [0062]).
Regarding claims 4, 19, Liang discloses everything claimed as applied above.
In addition, Liang discloses the one or more pieces of HARQ information comprised in the first feedback information are associated with the first DAI (“The processing ID for HARQ feedback and/or the cyclic DAI facilitate the terminal device 102 to determine PDSCH(s) for which ACK/NACK feedback is required” [0088]).
Regarding claims 5, 20, Liang discloses everything claimed as applied above.
In addition, Liang discloses the first downlink control information comprises a new feedback indicator (NFI) (“a new feedback indicator (NFI) .. the NFI in a DCI” [0090]).
Regarding claim 6, Liang discloses everything claimed as applied above.
In addition, Liang discloses the NFI corresponds to the first identifier (“a combination of one or more of a cycled DAI, a HARQ PUCCH ID and a NFI may be transmitted in the scheduling message to the terminal device 102 at block 710 to facilitate the HARQ feedback” [0091]).
Regarding claims 7, 21, Liang discloses everything claimed as applied above.
In addition, Liang discloses transmitting second downlink control information (“the information on HARQ feedback may comprise a cyclic DAI indicating the accumulated number of scheduling messages (e.g., DCIs) that have been transmitted” [0110]).
Regarding claim 8, 22, Liang discloses everything claimed as applied above.
In addition, Liang discloses the first downlink control information further comprises a first new feedback indicator (NFI), the second downlink control information comprises the first identifier and a second NFI (“a combination of one or more of a cycled DAI, a HARQ PUCCH ID and a NFI may be transmitted in the scheduling message to the terminal device 102 at block 710 to facilitate the HARQ feedback” [0091]).
Regarding claim 9, Liang discloses everything claimed as applied above.
In addition, Liang discloses the first NFI is different from the second NFI (“a combination of one or more of a cycled DAI, a HARQ PUCCH ID and a NFI may be transmitted in the scheduling message to the terminal device 102 at block 710 to facilitate the HARQ feedback” [0091], “indicating different PUCCH resources in each transmitted DCI” [0058]).
Regarding claim 10, Liang discloses everything claimed as applied above.
In addition, Liang discloses receiving second feedback information on a second uplink resource, wherein the second feedback information indicates a reception status of second downlink data (“5 ACK/NACK bits for slots 601 to 605 will be transmitted, but only the ACK/NACK bit for slot 603 is set to its real value while other bits are set to NACK according to type A encoding. Likewise, if HARQ feedback for a PDSCH set in slots 602 to 605 may be transmitted in slot 607 according to a predetermined timing/association, but only DCI for PDSCH in slot 605 indicates that an ACK/NACK is to be fed back in slot 607, and then in slot 607, 4 ACK/NACK bits for slots 602 to 605 will be transmitted” [0083]).
Regarding claim 11, Liang discloses everything claimed as applied above.
In addition, Liang discloses the second downlink data comprises one or more pieces of second data, wherein the one or more pieces of second data correspond to one or more pieces of second HARQ information, respectively, and wherein each of the one or more pieces of second data corresponds to a second identifier (“5 ACK/NACK bits for slots 601 to 605 will be transmitted, but only the ACK/NACK bit for slot 603 is set to its real value while other bits are set to NACK according to type A encoding. Likewise, if HARQ feedback for a PDSCH set in slots 602 to 605 may be transmitted in slot 607 according to a predetermined timing/association, but only DCI for PDSCH in slot 605 indicates that an ACK/NACK is to be fed back in slot 607, and then in slot 607, 4 ACK/NACK bits for slots 602 to 605 will be transmitted” [0083], “The information on HARQ feedback indicates a processing ID for HARQ feedback (e.g., HARQ PUCCH processing ID)” [0087]).
Regarding claim 12, Liang discloses everything claimed as applied above.
In addition, Liang discloses transmitting trigger information, wherein the trigger information indicates whether the second feedback information and the first feedback information should be combined (“the PUCCH retransmission may be performed by combining the blocked ACK/NACK bits with new ACK/NACK bits and transmitting the combined bits in a resource for the new ACK/ANCK bits. That is, the blocked ACK/NACK bits may be transmitted together with new ACK/NACK bits using a resource for the new ACK/ANCK bits” [0067], “based on a DCI trigger” [0059], “For HARQ feedback with multiple occasions multiplexing (i.e., feedback for multiple PDSCH transmissions)” [0047], “the total DAI in the DCI indicates the total number of DCIs to be transmitted in a PDSCH set when carrier aggregation is adopted” [0062]).
Regarding claim 13, Liang discloses everything claimed as applied above.
In addition, Liang discloses a field corresponding to the trigger information is set to 1, indicating that the second feedback information and the first feedback information should be combined (“based on a DCI trigger” [0059], “for HARQ feedback based on static codebook, gNB may trigger transmission or retransmission of a HARQ feedback by indicating, in a DCI” [0085], “add an additional field in a DCI to indicate whether previous PUCCH is detected, thereby assisting the UE in determining whether to perform PUCCH retransmission” [0068], “the cyclic DAI will be set to a value of 1” [0065]).
Regarding claim 14, Liang discloses everything claimed as applied above.
In addition, Liang discloses receiving a combined feedback information, wherein the combined feedback information is associated with the first feedback information and the second feedback information (“the PUCCH retransmission may be performed by combining the blocked ACK/NACK bits with new ACK/NACK bits and transmitting the combined bits in a resource for the new ACK/ANCK bits. That is, the blocked ACK/NACK bits may be transmitted together with new ACK/NACK bits using a resource for the new ACK/ANCK bits” [0067], “UE may select a PUCCH resource set for the combined transmission based on a total length of the combined ACK/NACK bits” [0074]).
Regarding claims 15, 23, Liang discloses everything claimed as applied above.
In addition, Liang discloses ACKs/NACKs in the combined feedback information are sorted in a sequence of feedback processes corresponding to the ACKs/NACKs, or are sorted in a sequence of HARQ processes, or are sorted in a sequence in which feedback information that needs to be retransmitted is first sorted and other feedback information is then sorted (“if ACK/NACK for PDSCH in slot n is to be transmitted in slot n+2, a resource 0 in group 1 will be selected, since this is the first transmission of the ACK/NACK. If ACK/NACK for PDSCH in slot n+1 is also to be transmitted in slot n+2, it will be multiplexed with the ACK/NACK for PDSCH in slot n, and then a resource 1 in group 1 will be selected, since this is the first transmission and the payload size is 2. If the ACK/NACK for PDSCH in slot n is to be transmitted in slot n+5, a resource 2 in group 2 will be selected, since this is the second retransmission. If ACK/NACK for PDSCH in slot n+1 is also to be transmitted in slot n+5, it will be multiplexed with the ACK/ANCK for PDSCH in slot n, and then a resource 3 in group 1 will be selected, since this is the second transmission and the payload size is 2. Resource for ACK/NACK associated with PDSCH in slots n+3 and n+4 may be derived likewise” [0076]).
Conclusion
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CHRISTINE DUONG FUQUA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2462
/CHRISTINE T DUONG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462 09/01/2026
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