DETAILED ACTION
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
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 3-5 are objected to because of the following informalities: the claims recite a parameter Y; the parameter Y need to be defined. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 1, 3-4, 8-9, 11, 13-14,17-18, and 20 are objected to because of the following informalities: the claims recite “and/or”, the claims should recite “and” or “or” in the claim but not both. Appropriate correction is required.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 is 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 and overcome the Objections.
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.
Claims 1-2, 7-12, and 16-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by 3GPP (3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #106-e, R1-2106746).
Regarding claim 1, the cited reference 3GPP discloses a response feedback method, comprising: determining, by a terminal, a feedback mode and/or feedback resource for response feedback based on first information in a case that the terminal is scheduled to feedback hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information of N downlink transmissions in one time unit, wherein N is a positive integer (section 2.3 discloses Options 1-3 for indicating ACK/NACK or NACK-only feedback mode; section 2.1.3: Proposal 6: "if HARQ-ACK PUCCH for unicast and HARQ-ACK PUCCH for multicast are determined to be in the same UL slot, then The overriding/multiplexing should be used for the two HARQ-ACK PUCCHs for the same priority (regardless of whether they overlap in the time domain). section 2.2.2 discloses Proposal 9, Proposal 10; section 2.2.3discloses Proposal 4.2.1; Proposal 11, Proposal 12); the first information comprises at least one of the following: the number N of downlink transmissions, the number of group radio network temporary identities, or whether a network-side device has configured a first parameter (section 2.1.3 discloses Proposal 6:; section 2.2.2: Proposals 9-10; section 2.2.3: Proposal 4.2.1; Proposals 11-12; section 2.3: Options 1-3 for indicating ACK/NACK or NACK-only feedback mode); the first parameter is used to indicate a feedback mode for response feedback and/or a mode for feedback resource selection (section 2.3 discloses Options 1-3 for indicating ACK/NACK or NACK-only mode); the feedback mode comprises a first feedback mode and a second feedback mode (section 2.1 discloses ACK/NACK feedback; section 2.3 discloses ACK/NACK or NACK-only feedback mode), wherein the first feedback mode is: a terminal feeds back an acknowledge response (ACK) in a case that the terminal successfully decodes a physical downlink shared channel and/or physical downlink control channel; and a terminal feeds back a negative acknowledge response (NACK) in a case that the terminal fails to successfully decode a physical downlink shared channel and/or physical downlink control channel; and the second feedback mode is: a terminal feeds back a negative acknowledge response only in a case that the terminal fails to successfully decode a physical downlink shared channel and/or physical downlink control channel (Section 2.2.1 discloses that For unicast codebook, UE reports ACK value(s) for HARQ-ACK information bit(s) only if UE correctly decodes a unicast PDSCH in this SLIV candidate; UE reports NACK value(s) for HARQ-ACK information bit(s) if UE failed to decode the unicast PDSCH. For multicast codebook, UE reports ACK value(s) for HARQ-ACK information bit(s) only if UE correctly decodes a multicast PDSCH in this SLIV candidate; UE reports NACK value(s) for HARQ-ACK information bit(s) if UE failed to decode the multicast PDSCH).
Regarding claim 2, the cited reference 3GPP discloses all limitations of claim 1. 3GPP further discloses wherein the first parameter indicates at least one of the following: in a case that a terminal has been configured with or has activated one group radio network temporary identity, the terminal feeds back HARQ information of multiple downlink transmissions in the second feedback mode in one time unit; in a case that a terminal has been configured with or has activated multiple group radio network temporary identities, the terminal feeds back HARQ information of at most one downlink transmission in the first feedback mode in one time unit; a terminal feeds back HARQ information of multiple downlink transmissions in the first feedback mode in one time unit; or a terminal feeds back HARQ information of multiple downlink transmissions in the second feedback mode in one time unit (Section 2.1.1 discloses that for multicast codebook, UE reports ACK value(s) for HARQ-ACK information bit(s) only if UE correctly decodes a multicast PDSCH where ACK/NACK feedback share the same PUCCH resource set).
Regarding claim 7, the cited reference 3GPP discloses all limitations of claim 2. 3GPP further discloses wherein after the determining the feedback mode for response feedback to be the first feedback mode, the method further comprises: determining a feedback resource for ACK or NACK feedback based on a second parameter configured by a network-side device or terminal-specific PUCCH configuration information or configuration information list (Section 2.3 proposal 13 discloses that both ACK/NACK PUCCH resources and NACK-only PUCCH resources for multicast are configured in the same PUCCH resource set. PRI in DCI is used to indicate the feedback mechanism and PUCCH resources from the PUCCH resource set).
Regarding claim 8, the cited reference 3GPP discloses all limitations of claim 7. 3GPP further discloses wherein the determining a feedback resource for ACK or NACK feedback based on PUCCH configuration information or configuration information list comprises: determining, based on the number of bits of ACK or NACK, a resource set to which a PUCCH belongs; and determining the feedback resource in the resource set according to a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) and/or control channel element (CCE) index in the latest downlink control information (Section 2.2.2 discloses multiplexing NACK-only based HARQ-ACK bits can be realized by two options. Option 1 is to transform NACK-only feedback states into ACK/NACK information bits. Option 2 is to configure a set of PUCCH resources, in which each PUCCH resource is in corresponding to one possible NACK-only codebook, UE transmits in the corresponding PUCCH resource according to the NACK-only codebook).
Regarding claim 9, the cited reference 3GPP discloses all limitations of claim 1. 3GPP further discloses wherein the downlink transmission comprises a physical downlink shared channel and/or a transport block (Section 2.1.1 discloses decodes multicast/unicast PDSCH).
Regarding claim 10, the cited reference 3GPP discloses all limitations of claim 1. 3GPP further discloses wherein the time unit comprises a slot and a sub-slot (Section 2.2.2 discloses slot and sub-slot).
Regarding claim 11, the claim is drawn to a terminal, comprising a processor and a
memory, wherein the memory stores a program or instructions capable of running on the processor, wherein the program or the instructions (Section 2.1. 1 discloses UE generates feedback, UE is a terminal comprising means for transmitting, receiving, and processing data), when executed by the processor, cause the terminal to perform substantially the same features of the method of claim 1. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 1.
Regarding claim 12, the claim is drawn to the terminal performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 2. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 2.
Regarding claim 16, the claim is drawn to the terminal performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 7. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 7.
Regarding claim 17, the claim is drawn to the terminal performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 8. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 8.
Regarding claim 18, the claim is drawn to a non-transitory readable storage medium, wherein the non-transitory readable storage medium stores a program or instructions, wherein the program or instructions (Section 2.1. 1 discloses UE generates feedback, UE is a terminal comprising means for transmitting, receiving, and processing data using firmware or programs), when executed by the processor, cause the terminal to perform substantially the same features of the method of claim 1. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 1.
Regarding claim 19, the claim is drawn to the non-transitory readable storage medium performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 2. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 2.
Claims 1-2, 11-12, 16, and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wu et al (US20200351032).
Regarding claim 1, the cited reference Wu discloses a response feedback method(Abstract discloses An HARQ feedback method and a UE performing the HARQ feedback method), comprising: determining, by a terminal, a feedback mode and/or feedback resource for response feedback based on first information in a case that the terminal is scheduled to feedback hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information of N downlink transmissions in one time unit, wherein N is a positive integer (¶0011 discloses acquiring indicationinformation of one of two HARQ feedback modes where ¶0010 discloses that performing HARQ feedback according to a decoding result of the PSCCH/PSSCH, ¶0028 discloses that HARQ feedback information carried by the PSFCH, and ¶0082 discloses that transmitting the plurality of PSFCHs in one slot); the first information comprises at least one of the following: the number N of downlink transmissions, the number of group radio network temporary identities, or whether a network-side device has configured a first parameter (¶0012 discloses that acquiring the HARQ feedback mode indicated by sidelink pre-configuration parameters, or, determining the HARQ feedback mode according to predefined rules); the first parameter is used to indicate a feedback mode for response feedback and/or a mode for feedback resource selection; the feedback mode comprises a first feedback mode and a second feedback mode (section 2.1 discloses ACK/NACK feedback; section 2.3 discloses ACK/NACK or NACK-only feedback mode), wherein the first feedback mode is: a terminal feeds back an acknowledge response (ACK) in a case that the terminal successfully decodes a physical downlink shared channel and/or physical downlink control channel; and a terminal feeds back a negative acknowledge response (NACK) in a case that the terminal fails to successfully decode a physical downlink shared channel and/or physical downlink control channel; and the second feedback mode is: a terminal feeds back a negative acknowledge response only in a case that the terminal fails to successfully decode a physical downlink shared channel and/or physical downlink control channel (¶0020 discloses that acquiring indication information of one of two HARQ feedback modes, wherein a first HARQ feedback mode is a mode in which the second UE only feeds back the NACK, and a second HARQ feedback mode is a mode in which the second UE feeds back the ACK. ¶0115 discloses that RX UE feeds back an ACK or an NACK, that is, the ACK is fed back when the RX UE successfully decodes the PSSCH, and NACK is fed back when the RX UE fails to decode the PSSCH).
Regarding claim 2, the cited reference Wu discloses all limitations of claim 1. Wu further discloses wherein the first parameter indicates at least one of the following: in a case that a terminal has been configured with or has activated one group radio network temporary identity, the terminal feeds back HARQ information of multiple downlink transmissions in the second feedback mode in one time unit; in a case that a terminal has been configured with or has activated multiple group radio network temporary identities, the terminal feeds back HARQ information of at most one downlink transmission in the first feedback mode in one time unit; a terminal feeds back HARQ information of multiple downlink transmissions in the first feedback mode in one time unit; or a terminal feeds back HARQ information of multiple downlink transmissions in the second feedback mode in one time unit (¶0088 discloses that RX UE can simultaneously transmit a plurality of PSFCHs in one slot where ¶0028 discloses that HARQ feedback information carried by the PSFCH).
Regarding claim 7, the cited reference Wu discloses all limitations of claim 2. Wu further discloses wherein after the determining the feedback mode for response feedback to be the first feedback mode, the method further comprises: determining a feedback resource for ACK or NACK feedback based on a second parameter configured by a network-side device or terminal-specific PUCCH configuration information or configuration information list (¶0121 discloses that the configuration information of the resource pool may include 1 bit for explicitly indicating which of the above two HARQ feedback modes is used for the groupcast transmission on the resource pool).
Regarding claim 11, the claim is drawn to a terminal, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores a program or instructions capable of running on the processor, wherein the program or the instructions (Fig. 12 and ¶0221 discloses that the UE includes a memory 121, a processor 122, and a computer program which is stored on the memory and operable on the processor 122), when executed by the processor, cause the terminal to perform substantially the same features of the method of claim 1. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 1.
Regarding claim 12, the claim is drawn to the terminal performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 2. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 2.
Regarding claim 16, the claim is drawn to the terminal performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 7. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 7.
Regarding claim 18, the claim is drawn to a non-transitory readable storage medium, wherein the non-transitory readable storage medium stores a program or instructions, wherein the program or instructions (¶0221 discloses a computer program which is stored on the memory and operable on the processor 122, wherein when the computer program is executed by a processor 122), when executed by the processor, cause the terminal to perform substantially the same features of the method of claim 1. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 1.
Regarding claim 19, the claim is drawn to the non-transitory readable storage medium
performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 2. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 2.
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 3, 13, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP (3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #106-e, R1-2106746), in view of Wu et al (US20200351032).
Regarding claim 3, the cited references Wu and 3GPP discloses all limitations of claim 1. The cited reference 3GPP discloses wherein the first information comprises the number of downlink transmissions and the number of group radio network temporary identities (Section 4 proposal 5 discloses Regarding Type-2 HARQ-ACK codebook construction for MBS: The DAI count is performed per MBS service. If the UE receives multiple MBS services, multiple sub-codebooks is generated separately for each MBS service, then UE concatenates these sub-codebooks based on the G-RNTI of each MBS service in ascending order to form a type-2 codebook for the multiple MBS services). Wu further discloses the determining, by the terminal, a feedback mode and/or feedback resource for feedback response based on first information comprises: in a case that the terminal has been configured with or has activated one group radio network temporary identity, if the number of downlink transmissions is less than or equal to Y, determining the feedback mode for feedback response to be the second feedback mode; and if the number of downlink transmissions is greater than Y, determining the feedback mode for response feedback to be the first feedback mode; and in a case that the terminal has been configured with or has activated multiple group radio network temporary identities, determining the feedback mode for response feedback to be the first feedback mode (¶0130 discloses that the TX UE determines the HARQ feedback mode according to the issued parameter that indicates the QoS, wherein when the value of the issued parameter exceeds a certain threshold, the second HARQ feedback mode is used, otherwise, the first HARQ feedback mode is used).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling
date of the claimed invention to incorporate the method of 3GPP and Wu to improve the resource
usage efficiency.
Regarding claim 13, the claim is drawn to the terminal performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 3. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 3.
Regarding claim 20, the claim is drawn to the non-transitory readable storage medium performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 3. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 3.
Claims 4 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al (US20200351032), in view of Zhou et al (US20230062724).
Regarding claim 4, the cited reference Wu discloses all limitations of claim 1. wherein the first information comprises the number of downlink transmissions and the first parameter configured by the network-side device, and the determining, by the terminal, a feedback mode and/or feedback resource for feedback response based on first information comprises: in a case that the network-side device has configured the first parameter, if the number of downlink transmissions is less than or equal to Y, determining the feedback mode for feedback response to be the second feedback mode; and if the number of downlink transmissions is greater than Y, determining the feedback mode for response feedback to be the first feedback mode (¶0130 discloses that the TX UE determines the HARQ feedback mode according to the issued parameter that indicates the QoS, wherein when the value of the issued parameter exceeds a certain threshold, the second HARQ feedback mode is used, otherwise, the first HARQ feedback mode is used, or any one of the two HARQ feedback modes described above is used). However, Wu does not explicitly teach in a case that the network-side device has not configured the first parameter, determining the feedback mode for feedback response to be the first feedback mode.
In an analogous art Zhou teaches in a case that the network-side device has not configured the first parameter, determining the feedback mode for feedback response to be the first feedback mode (¶0326 discloses that the wireless device may receive a DCI, wherein the DCI does not comprise a HARQ feedback type indication. The wireless device may apply the first HARQ feedback type).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the method of Zhou to reduce signaling overhead, the configuration of the one or more HARQ feedback types may be absent for an MBS session.
Regarding claim 14, the claim is drawn to the terminal performing substantially the same
features of the method of claim 4. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 4.
Claims 6 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP (3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #106-e, R1-2106746), in view of Fu et al (US20220182188).
Regarding claim 6, the cited reference 3GPP discloses all limitations of claim 2. However, 3GPP does not explicitly teach wherein the determining the feedback mode for response feedback to be the second feedback mode comprises: feeding back HARQ information of at most Y downlink transmissions using at most X orthogonal PUCCH resources, wherein X and Y are positive integers greater than 1.
In an analogous art Fu teaches wherein the determining the feedback mode for response feedback to be the second feedback mode comprises: feeding back HARQ information of at most Y downlink transmissions using at most X orthogonal PUCCH resources, wherein X and Y are positive integers greater than 1 (¶0138 discloses that for the HARQ-ACK information for each PDSCH of the multiple PDSCHs received by the UE, the UE uses independent PUCCH resources to transmit it separately…The HARQ-ACK information for different PDSCHs received by the UE may be simultaneously transmitted on different PUCCH resources).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the method of Zhou to reduce signaling overhead and improve communication efficiency.
Regarding claim 15, the claim is drawn to the terminal performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 6. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 6.
Claims 8 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al (US20200351032), in view of Zhang et al (US20230361927).
Regarding claim 8, the cited reference Wu discloses all limitations of claim 7. However, Wu does not explicitly teach wherein the determining a feedback resource for ACK or NACK feedback based on PUCCH configuration information or configuration information list comprises: determining, based on the number of bits of ACK or NACK, a resource set to which a PUCCH belongs; and determining the feedback resource in the resource set according to a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) and/or control channel element (CCE) index in the latest downlink control information.
In an analogous art Zhang teaches wherein the determining a feedback resource for ACK or NACK feedback based on PUCCH configuration information or configuration information list comprises: determining, based on the number of bits of ACK or NACK, a resource set to which aPUCCH belongs; and determining the feedback resource in the resource set according to a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) and/or control channel element (CCE) index in the latest downlink control information (¶0108-¶0109 discloses that the first G-RNTI may also be associated with a plurality of PUCCH resources. The terminal device may send, on the plurality of PUCCH resources associated with the first G-RNTI, NACK-included HARQ feedback information having a plurality of bits corresponding to the first G-RNTI…the terminal device may determine, within a slot for one or multiple PUCCH resources, M-bit HARQ feedback information corresponding to the first G-RNTI, where M≥1. Based on this, the terminal device may send, on one of the one or multiple PUCCH resources, NACK-included HARQ feedback information corresponding to the first G-RNTI in the M-bit HARQ feedback information).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the method of Zhang for accurate scheduling decisions. This reduces unnecessary retransmissions and avoids scheduling conflicts, leading to better resource utilization.
Regarding claim 17, the claim is drawn to the terminal performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 8. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 8.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABDELILLAH ELMEJJARMI whose telephone number is (571)270-1656. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri: 8AM-5PM EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yemane Mesfin can be reached on (571)272-3927. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
Respectfully submitted,
/ABDELILLAH ELMEJJARMI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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