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 .
This action is response to the application filed on 07/18/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending and herein considered.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 07/08/2024. These drawings are reviewed and accepted by the Examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS), submitted on 10/15/2024 and 04/09/2025, are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CRR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 of this title, 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 1, 4-9, 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. (U.S 2020/0204312) in view of Tseng et al. (WO-2023125470-A1).
For claim 1:
Xu discloses a method; comprising: receiving a random access response message, wherein the random access response message indicates a first uplink grant (see Xu, at least paragraph [0314]-[0316]; UE may perform transmissions in response to a successful reception of random access response ( e.g., for a contention based random access procedure) and adjust an uplink transmission timing indicated by a random access response and based on an uplink grant indicated by a random access response);
Xu does not explicitly disclose determining a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ} state, wherein the first HARQ state is a HARQ state of a first HARQ process, and the first HARQ process is a HARQ process used to send data on the first uplink grant; determining a second HARQ state, wherein the second HARQ state is a HARQ state allowed to be used when data on a first logical channel is sent; and when the first HARQ state is different from the second HARQ state, sending the data on the first logical channel on the first uplink grant based on the first HARQ state in the first HARQ process.
Tseng, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, discloses what Xu fails: Per-HARQ-process designs for HARQ feedback configuration and/or HARQ state configuration and the UE may be configured with one bit string (e.g., with a length of 32 bits or 16 bits) to define the HARQ feedback configuration associated one specific HARQ process. In some implementations, each bit of the bit string may be (uniquely) associated with one HARQ process and the UE may configure the HARQ feedback configuration of the concerned HARQ process by referring to the associated bit (while the HARQ process is activated or configured by the UE). In some implementations, the UE may be configured with one sequence of indicators or numerators and each indicator/numerator is associated with one target MAC entity or HARQ entity for the HARQ feedback configuration and/or the HARQ state configuration (see Tseng, at least paragraph [0069]-[0074], and see [0077]; the UE may receive one general or common configuration (e.g., a bitmap, a bit string, or a set of indicators/enumerators via a DL DE-specific RRC signaling) of the HARQ states of each HARQ process and the UE may apply the general or common HARQ state configuration (e.g., received via an
RRCReconfiguration message) on each concerned HARQ entity or HARQ process), also see [0080]-[0088]). Also, one logical channel may be further associated with one 'allowedHARQstate' as 'HARQ state or 'HARQ state B', and one HARQ state may be (pre-)defined as one default HARQ state (e.g., HARQ state='enabled') for the UE to determine whether to multiplex one pending data of a specific logical channel in one MAC PDU (associated with one HARQ process).
Therefore, it would have been obvious statement before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a system comprises a method as taught by Tseng. The motivation for doing this is to provide a system networks can support the HARQ feedback configuration and/or the HARQ state configuration.
For claims 4 and 12:
In addition to rejection in claims 4 and 12, Xu-Tseng further discloses wherein determining the first HARQ state further comprises: receiving first indication information, wherein the first indication information indicates the first HARQ state ; and determining the first HARQ state based on the first indication information (see Tseng, at least paragraph [0065]; the UE may be configured with one sequence of indicators or numerators and each indicator/numerator is associated with one target MAC entity or HARQ entity for the HARQ feedback configuration and/or the HARQ state configuration). The motivation for doing this is to provide a system networks can support the HARQ feedback configuration and/or the HARQ state configuration.
For claims 5 and 13:
In addition to rejection in claims 5 and 13, Xu-Tseng further discloses wherein determining the second HARQ state further comprises: receiving second indication information, wherein the second indication information indicates the second HARQ state; and determining the second HARQ state based on the second indication information (see Tseng, at least paragraph [0062]; a UE may be configured with the HARQ feedback configuration which is set to 'enabled' or 'disabled', via a DE-specific configuration (e.g., via a DL control signaling, such as an RRCReconfiguration message) and [0065]; the UE may be configured with one sequence of indicators or numerators and each indicator/numerator is associated with one target MAC entity or HARQ entity for the HARQ feedback configuration and/or the HARQ state configuration). The motivation for doing this is to provide a system networks can support the HARQ feedback configuration and/or the HARQ state configuration.
For claim 6:
For claim 6, claim 6 is directed to a method, which has similar scope as claim 1. Therefore, claim 6 remains un-patentable for the same reasons.
For claim 7:
In addition to rejection in claim 7, Xu-Tseng further discloses sending first indication information, wherein the first indication information indicates the first HARQ state (see Tseng, at least paragraph [0065]; the UE may be configured with one sequence of indicators or numerators and each indicator/numerator is associated with one target MAC entity or HARQ entity for the HARQ feedback configuration and/or the HARQ state configuration). The motivation for doing this is to provide a system networks can support the HARQ feedback configuration and/or the HARQ state configuration.
For claim 8:
In addition to rejection in claim 8, Xu-Tseng further discloses sending second indication information, wherein the second indication information indicates the second HARQ state (see Tseng, at least paragraph [0065]; the UE may be configured with one sequence of indicators or numerators and each indicator/numerator is associated with one target MAC entity or HARQ entity for the HARQ feedback configuration and/or the HARQ state configuration). The motivation for doing this is to provide a system networks can support the HARQ feedback configuration and/or the HARQ state configuration.
For claim 9:
For claim 9, claim 9 is directed to a apparatus, which has similar scope as claim 1. Therefore, claim 9 remains un-patentable for the same reasons.
Claims 2 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. (U.S 2020/0204312) in view of Tseng et al. (WO-2023125470-A1) further in view of Fu et al. (U.S 2024/0267158).
(Note: For citation purposes, hereinafter, Fu et al. (U.S 2024/0267158) which PCT/CN2021/125891 filed on 10-22.2021, which qualifies as prior art date).
For claims 2 and 10:
In addition to rejection in claims 2 and 10, Xu-Tseng does not explicitly disclose determining that a radio bearer corresponding to the first logical channel is a first radio bearer, wherein data on a logical channel corresponding to the first radio bearer is sent in the first HARQ process.
Fu, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, discloses what Xu-Tseng fails: selecting, among the plurality of preferential HARQ processes, an HARQ process corresponding to a user Data Radio Bearer (DRB) configured with a Survival Time (ST) as the target HARQ process and among the plurality of preferential HARQ processes, an HARQ process comprising Logical Channel (LCH) data as the target HARQ process; or selecting, among the plurality of preferential HARQ processes (see Fu, at least claim 3, paragraph [0302]-[0304]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious statement before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a system comprises a method as taught by Fu. The motivation for doing this is to provide a system networks can support to determine the priorities of the multiple HARQ processes according to a priority order of LCPs or a priority order of the MAC CEs.
Claims 15, 16 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. (U.S 2020/0204312) in view of Tseng et al. (WO-2023125470-A1) further in view of NPL-INTERDIGITAL (Summary Rapporteur), "[101][NTN] Summary on Remaining Aspects of Timers, HARQ, and LCP Including CG/SPS Aspect in AI 8.10.2.2", 3GPP RAN WG2 Meeting #116e, R2-2111331, XP052073269, November 1-12, 2021, 18 pages; hereinafter “Interdigital- R2-2111331”.
For claims 15, 16 and 17:
In addition to rejection in claim 8, Xu-Tseng does not explicitly disclose wherein the second indication information further comprises a channel identifier.
Interdigital- R2-2111331, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, discloses what Xu-Tseng fails: Signaling of HARO mode for dynamic grant (i.e. per HARO process) also applies to configured grant and configured grant is mapped to the HARO processes with the same HARO mode. This can be realized if we allow that the calculated HARO process IDs can be different from the HARQ process IDs actually used (see Interdigital- R2-2111331, at least section 4, 4.1, issue 2, option 3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious statement before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a system comprises a method as taught by Interdigital- R2-2111331. The motivation for doing this is to provide a system networks can support in order to support SPS in NTN.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 11, 14, 18-19 and 20 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, set forth in this Office action.
Conclusion
The prior arts made or record and not relied upon are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosures. Guo et al. (U.S 2024/0297737), discloses receiving, from a base station (BS), a multi-transport block (TB) repetition configuration indicating a first number of repetitions and a second number of repetitions; receiving, from the BS, downlink control information (DCI) indicating a beam pattern including a plurality of beam directions.
Bae et al. (U.S 2022/0329391), discloses a method for determining a HARQ-ACK feedback timing value K for the PDSCH reception among a set of HARQ ACK
feedback timing values configured for the primary cell.
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/Lan-Huong Truong/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit: 2464
07/28/2026
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