DETAILED ACTION
In response to communication filed on 9/10/2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claims 1-20 are rejected.
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
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 9/10/2024 and 1/27/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 11-19 of U.S. Patent No. 11,265,115. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because:
Current Application
U.S. Patent No. 11,265,115
1. A method of transmitting control information from a user equipment (UE) in a communication network, the method comprising:
11. A host computer operable in a communication system, the host computer comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a communication interface configured to initiate transmission of user data to a communication network for transmission to a user equipment, UE, wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and UE processing circuitry, the UE processing circuitry configured to: allow the UE to be configured with at least two configured collections of uplink, UL, resources to be used for transmitting control information to the communication network for various acknowledgement feedback modes of the communication network;
receiving (i) an assignment of radio resources to be used for receiving a downlink (DL) transmission from a base station and (ii) an acknowledgement resource indication (ARI) value that indicates which group of configured uplink (UL) resources from at least two groups of configured UL resources to be used by the UE for transmitting control information comprising acknowledgement information associated with the DL transmission;
receive an assignment of radio resources to be used for receiving a downlink, DL, transmission with the user data from a base station of the communication network; receive an acknowledgement resource indication, ARI, indicating one of the configured collections of UL resources to be used for transmitting control information associated with the DL transmission;
determining an operational mode of the communication network based on the ARI value; and
receive the user data from the host computer via the communication network by receiving the DL transmission; and
transmitting on a subset of the group of configured UL resources, to the base station, the control information comprising the acknowledgement feedback associated with the DL transmission.
transmit the control information to the base station on at least a subset of the indicated configured collection of UL resources, wherein the control information comprises acknowledgement information associated with the DL transmission, wherein the indicated configured collection of UL resources comprises a plurality of selectable UL resource sets, the plurality of selectable UL resource sets including a first UL resource set for use in a first acknowledgement feedback mode of the communication network and a second UL resource set for use in a second acknowledgement feedback mode of the communication network, wherein the control information is transmitted on one of the selectable UL resource sets which corresponds to a current acknowledgement feedback mode of the communication network, and wherein, in the indicated collection of UL resources, the first UL resource set comprises UL resources in addition to those of the second UL resource set.
Although the claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct because claim 6 of U.S. Patent No. 11,265,115 substantially limits the same inventive concept. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the claim limitations of claim 11 of U.S. Patent No. 11,265,115 to arrive at the claimed invention by omitting limitations to arrive at the claimed invention of using an ARI to determine radio resources and a mode of operation. One would be motivated to do so to broaden variation in scope that would yield predictable results.
Regarding claims 2-9 of the current application, claims 11-19 of U.S. Patent No. 11,265,115 substantially limits the same inventive concept. Although the claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct because they are of an obvious variation that would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. One would be motivated to do so to provide a broader variation in scope.
Regarding claim 10 of the current application, claim 11 of U.S. Patent No. 11,265,115 substantially limits the same inventive concept. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the claim limitations of claim 11 of U.S. Patent No. 11,265,115 to further limit feedback processes known in the art, such as hybrid automatic request (HARQ) as an obvious variation. One would be motivated to do so to provide the use of a known technique in the field of endeavor that would yield predictable results.
Regarding claims 11-19 of the current application, claims 11-19 of U.S. Patent No. 11,265,115 substantially limits the same inventive concept. Although the claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct because they are of an obvious variation that would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art as noted with regards to the rejection of claims 1-9 as noted above. One would be motivated to do so to provide a broader variation in scope.
Regarding claim 20 of the current application, claim 11 of U.S. Patent No. 11,265,115 substantially limits the same inventive concept. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the claim limitations of claim 11 of U.S. Patent No. 11,265,115 to further limit feedback processes known in the art, such as hybrid automatic request (HARQ) as an obvious variation. One would be motivated to do so to provide the use of a known technique in the field of endeavor that would yield predictable results.
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 6-10 and 15-18 of U.S. Patent No. 11,394,499. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because:
Current Application
U.S. Patent No. 11,394,499
1. A method of transmitting control information from a user equipment (UE) in a communication network, the method comprising:
6. A method of transmitting control information to a communication network, the method being implemented in a user equipment, UE, the method comprising:
receiving (i) an assignment of radio resources to be used for receiving a downlink (DL) transmission from a base station and (ii) an acknowledgement resource indication (ARI) value that indicates which group of configured uplink (UL) resources from at least two groups of configured UL resources to be used by the UE for transmitting control information comprising acknowledgement information associated with the DL transmission;
receiving, via radio resource control signaling, a configuration of at least two collections of uplink (UL) resources to be used for transmitting control information to the communication network; receiving an assignment of radio resources to be used for receiving a downlink (DL) transmission from a base station of the communication network; receiving an acknowledgement resource indication (ARI) indicating one of the configured collections of UL resources to be used for transmitting control information associated with the DL transmission; and
determining an operational mode of the communication network based on the ARI value; and
the plurality of selectable UL resource sets including a first UL resource set for use in a first acknowledgement feedback mode of the communication network and a second UL resource set for use in a second acknowledgement feedback mode of the communication network, and wherein the control information associated with the DL transmission is transmitted on the one of the selectable UL resource sets which corresponds to the current acknowledgement feedback mode of the communication network, and wherein, in the indicated collection of UL resources, the second UL resource set comprises the UL resources of the first UL resource set and UL resources in addition to those of the first UL resource set.
transmitting on a subset of the group of configured UL resources, to the base station, the control information comprising the acknowledgement feedback associated with the DL transmission.
transmitting the control information associated with the DL transmission to the base station on at least a subset of the indicated collection of UL resources, wherein the control information associated with the DL transmission comprises acknowledgement information associated with the DL transmission, wherein the indicated collection of UL resources comprises a plurality of selectable UL resource sets,
Although the claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct because claim 6 of U.S. Patent No. 11,394,499 substantially limits the same inventive concept. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the claim limitations of claim 6 of U.S. Patent No. 11,394,499 to arrive at the claimed invention by omitting limitations to arrive at the claimed invention of using an ARI to determine radio resources and a mode of operation. One would be motivated to do so to broaden variation in scope that would yield predictable results.
Regarding claims 2-9 of the current application, claims 6-10 of U.S. Patent No. 11,394,499 substantially limits the same inventive concept. Although the claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct because they are of an obvious variation that would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. One would be motivated to do so to provide a broader variation in scope.
Regarding claim 10 of the current application, claim 6 of U.S. Patent No. 11,394,499 substantially limits the same inventive concept. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the claim limitations of claim 6 of U.S. Patent No. 11,394,499 to further limit feedback processes known in the art, such as hybrid automatic request (HARQ) as an obvious variation. One would be motivated to do so to provide the use of a known technique in the field of endeavor that would yield predictable results.
Regarding claims 11-19 of the current application, claims 15-18 of U.S. Patent No. 11,394,499 substantially limits the same inventive concept, as noted above with regards to claims 1-9 of the current application in view of claims 6-10 of U.S. Patent No. 11,394,499. Although the claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct because they are of an obvious variation that would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. One would be motivated to do so to provide a broader variation in scope.
Regarding claim 20 of the current application, claim 15 of U.S. Patent No. 11,394,499 substantially limits the same inventive concept. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the claim limitations of claim 15 of U.S. Patent No. 11,394,499 to further limit feedback processes known in the art, such as hybrid automatic request (HARQ) as an obvious variation. One would be motivated to do so to provide the use of a known technique in the field of endeavor that would yield predictable results.
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-3 and 7-10 of U.S. Patent No. 11,711,173. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because:
Current Application
U.S. Patent No. 11,711,173
1. A method of transmitting control information from a user equipment (UE) in a communication network, the method comprising:
1. A method of transmitting control information to a communication network, the method being implemented in a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
receiving (i) an assignment of radio resources to be used for receiving a downlink (DL) transmission from a base station and (ii) an acknowledgement resource indication (ARI) value that indicates which group of configured uplink (UL) resources from at least two groups of configured UL resources to be used by the UE for transmitting control information comprising acknowledgement information associated with the DL transmission;
receiving, via radio resource control signaling, a configuration of at least two collections of uplink (UL) resources to be used for transmitting control information to the communication network; receiving an assignment of radio resources to be used for receiving a downlink (DL) transmission from a base station of the communication network; receiving an acknowledgement resource indication (ARI) indicating one of the configured collections of UL resources to be used for transmitting control information associated with the DL transmission; and
determining an operational mode of the communication network based on the ARI value; and
wherein the indicated collection of UL resources comprises a plurality of selectable UL resource sets, the plurality of selectable UL resource sets including a first UL resource set for use in a first acknowledgement feedback mode of the communication network and a second UL resource set for use in a second acknowledgement feedback mode of the communication network, and wherein the control information associated with the DL transmission is transmitted on the one of the selectable UL resource sets which corresponds to the current acknowledgement feedback mode of the communication network, wherein, in the indicated collection of UL resources, the second UL resource set comprises the UL resources of the first UL resource set and UL resources in addition to those of the first UL resource set.
transmitting on a subset of the group of configured UL resources, to the base station, the control information comprising the acknowledgement feedback associated with the DL transmission.
transmitting the control information associated with the DL transmission to the base station on at least a subset of the indicated collection of UL resources, wherein the control information associated with the DL transmission comprises acknowledgement information associated with the DL transmission, wherein the acknowledgement information is hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback,
Although the claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct because claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 11,711,173 substantially limits the same inventive concept. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the claim limitations of claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 11,711,173to arrive at the claimed invention by omitting limitations to arrive at the claimed invention of using an ARI to determine radio resources and a mode of operation. One would be motivated to do so to broaden variation in scope that would yield predictable results.
Regarding claims 2-10 of the current application, claims 1-3 of U.S. Patent No. 11,711,173 substantially limits the same inventive concept. Although the claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct because they are of an obvious variation that would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. One would be motivated to do so to provide a broader variation in scope.
Regarding claims 11-20 of the current application, claims 7-10 of U.S. Patent No. 11,711,173 substantially limits the same inventive concept, as noted above with regards to claims 1-10 of the current application in view of claims 1-3 of U.S. Patent No. 11,711,173. Although the claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct because they are of an obvious variation that would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. One would be motivated to do so to provide a broader variation in scope.
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,231,247. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because:
Current Application
U.S. Patent No. 12,231,247
1. A method of transmitting control information from a user equipment (UE) in a communication network, the method comprising:
1. A method implemented in a user equipment (UE) to transmit control information to a communication network, the method comprising:
receiving (i) an assignment of radio resources to be used for receiving a downlink (DL) transmission from a base station and (ii) an acknowledgement resource indication (ARI) value that indicates which group of configured uplink (UL) resources from at least two groups of configured UL resources to be used by the UE for transmitting control information comprising acknowledgement information associated with the DL transmission;
receiving, via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a configuration of uplink (UL) resources to be used for transmitting control information to the communication network; receiving a downlink control information (DCI) message, the DCI message comprising an assignment of radio resources to be used for receiving a downlink (DL) transmission from a base station of the communication network, wherein the DCI message further comprises an acknowledgement resource indication (ARI) value that indicates, together with an acknowledgement feedback mode of the communication network, which of the configured UL resources to be used for transmitting control information comprising hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback associated with the DL transmission, and
determining an operational mode of the communication network based on the ARI value; and
wherein, for the ARI value received in the DCI message, the configured UL resources comprise a first UL resource set for use in a first acknowledgement feedback mode of the communication network and a second UL resource set for use in a second acknowledgement feedback mode of the communication network; and
transmitting on a subset of the group of configured UL resources, to the base station, the control information comprising the acknowledgement feedback associated with the DL transmission.
transmitting the control information comprising the HARQ feedback associated with the DL transmission to the base station on at least a subset of the UL resources indicated by the ARI value together with a current acknowledgement feedback mode of the communication network, wherein the second UL resource set comprises the UL resources of the first UL resource set and UL resources in addition to those of the first UL resource set.
Although the claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct because claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 12,231,247 substantially limits the same inventive concept. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the claim limitations of claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 12,231,247 to arrive at the claimed invention by omitting limitations to arrive at the claimed invention of using an ARI to determine radio resources and a mode of operation. One would be motivated to do so to broaden variation in scope that would yield predictable results.
Regarding claims 2-10 of the current application, claims 1-3 of U.S. Patent No. 12,231,247 substantially limits the same inventive concept. Although the claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct because they are of an obvious variation that would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. One would be motivated to do so to provide a broader variation in scope.
Regarding claims 11-20 of the current application, claims 7-10 of U.S. Patent No. 12,231,247 substantially limits the same inventive concept, as noted above with regards to claims 1-10 of the current application in view of claims 1-3 of U.S. Patent No. 12,231,247. Although the claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct because they are of an obvious variation that would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. One would be motivated to do so to provide a broader variation in scope.
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 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)(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 1,6,7,10,11,16,17, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ye et al. (WO 2018/031066)(Y1 hereafter).
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Y1 teaches method of transmitting control information (i.e. DCI)[paragraph 0017] from a user equipment (UE)[refer Fig. 2; 212] in a communication network [refer Fig. 2], the method comprising:
receiving (i) an assignment of radio resources to be used for receiving a downlink (DL) transmission from a base station (resource allocations are provided in downlink control information, which can provide downlink assignment index (DAI))[paragraph 0017] and (ii) an acknowledgement resource indication (ARI) value that indicates which group of configured uplink (UL) resources (i.e. resources for shortened PUCCH (sPUCCH) or enhanced PUCCH (ePUCCH))[paragraph 0026] from at least two groups of configured UL resources (i.e. either sPUCCH or ePUCCH) to be used by the UE [paragraph 0025] for transmitting control information (i.e. UCI) comprising acknowledgement information associated with the DL transmission (i.e. HARQ-ACK feedback)[paragraph 0078];
determining an operational mode of the communication network based on the ARI value (the UE can use a set of sPUCCH / ePUCCH resources based on whether HARQ-ACK bundling is generated or supported, the UL transmission can be based on an acknowledgement resource indicator (ARI) in response to a HARQ-ACK bundling operation)[paragraph 0078]; and
transmitting on a subset of the group of configured UL resources (the UE can use a set of sPUCCH / ePUCCH resources based on whether HARQ-ACK bundling is generated or supported)[paragraph 0078], to the base station, the control information comprising the acknowledgement feedback associated with the DL transmission [paragraph 0078].
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Y1 teaches receiving the at least two groups of configured UL resources via radio resource control (RRC) signaling [paragraph 0067].
Regarding claims 7 and 17, Y1 teaches receiving the assignment of radio resources and the ARI value comprises receiving a downlink control information (DCI) message comprising the assignment of radio resources and the ARI value [paragraph 0026].
Regarding claims 10 and 20, Y1 teaches the acknowledgement feedback comprises at least one of automatic repeat request (ARQ) feedback and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback [paragraph 0018].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 2,3,8,9,12,13,18, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ye et al. (WO 2018/031066)(Y1 hereafter) in view of Ren et al. (US Pub. 2015/0043433)(R1 hereafter).
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Y1 fails to disclose the group of configured UL resources comprises at least a first set of configured UL resources and a second set of configured UL resources, and the second set of configured UL resources is a subset of the first set of configured UL resources.
R1 discloses that for HARQ feedback, eight resources are divided into four resource sets, each with two resources [paragraph 0019], a configuration can allow for different resource groups to share some of same resource sets, such as resource sets 1-4 being in resource group 1, and resource sets 3-6 being in resource group 2 (i.e. different size of resource sets) [paragraph 0029].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Y1 to incorporate the configuration of different resource groups with shared resource sets as taught by R1. One would be motivated to do so to provide improved resource allocation that minimizes the amount of PUCCH resources while maintaining low resource collision [refer R1; paragraph 0006].
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Y1 teaches the ARI value corresponds to at least the first set of configured UL resources for a first operational mode of the communication network and to the second set of configured UL resources for a second operational mode of the communication network (the UE can use a set of sPUCCH / ePUCCH resources based on whether HARQ-ACK bundling is generated or supported, the UL transmission can be based on an acknowledgement resource indicator (ARI) in response to a HARQ-ACK bundling operation)[paragraph 0078].
Regarding claims 8 and 18, Y1 teaches determining the operational mode of the communication network based on the ARI value comprises determining whether the first operational mode or the second operational mode applies to the DL transmission (i.e. whether HARQ-ACK bundling is supported)[paragraph 0078].
Regarding claims 9 and 19, Y1 teaches based on the operational mode, selecting configured UL resources to transmit the control information (the UE can use a set of sPUCCH / ePUCCH resources based on whether HARQ-ACK bundling is generated or supported, the UL transmission can be based on an acknowledgement resource indicator (ARI) in response to a HARQ-ACK bundling operation)[paragraph 0078].
However, Y1 fails to disclose the first set of configured UL resources and the second set of configured UL resources.
R1 discloses that for HARQ feedback, eight resources are divided into four resource sets, each with two resources [paragraph 0019], a configuration can allow for different resource groups to share some of same resource sets, such as resource sets 1-4 being in resource group 1, and resource sets 3-6 being in resource group 2 (i.e. different size of resource sets) [paragraph 0029].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Y1 to incorporate the configuration of different resource groups with shared resource sets as taught by R1. One would be motivated to do so to provide improved resource allocation that minimizes the amount of PUCCH resources while maintaining low resource collision [refer R1; paragraph 0006].
Claims 4,5,14, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Y1 in view of R1, as applied to claims 2 and 12, in further view of Chen et al. (US Pub. 2012/0236812)(C1 hereafter).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Y1 fails to disclose that the first operational mode and the second operational mode respectively represent a first acknowledgement feedback mode and a second acknowledgement feedback mode.
C1 discloses when the feedback mode of the ACK/NACK information is a bundling feedback mode, the common field is configured as the DAI command field; when the feedback mode of the ACK/NACK information is a multiplexing feedback mode, the common field is configured as the ARI command field [paragraph 0038].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Y1 to incorporate the indication of a feedback mode of ACK/NACK information using the ARI as taught by C1. One would be motivated to do so to provide a means feedback that is backwards compatible with other systems [refer C1; paragraph 0008].
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Y1 fails to disclose the at least two groups of configured UL resources comprises at least two sets of selectable UL resources.
R1 discloses that for HARQ feedback, eight resources are divided into four resource sets, each with two resources [paragraph 0019], a configuration can allow for different resource groups to share some of same resource sets, such as resource sets 1-4 being in resource group 1, and resource sets 3-6 being in resource group 2 (i.e. different size of resource sets) [paragraph 0029].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Y1 to incorporate the configuration of different resource groups with shared resource sets as taught by R1. One would be motivated to do so to provide improved resource allocation that minimizes the amount of PUCCH resources while maintaining low resource collision [refer R1; paragraph 0006].
However, Y1 in view of R1, fails to disclose selectable UL resources that respectively correspond to a first acknowledgement feedback mode and a second acknowledgement feedback mode.
C1 discloses when the feedback mode of the ACK/NACK information is a bundling feedback mode, the common field is configured as the DAI command field; when the feedback mode of the ACK/NACK information is a multiplexing feedback mode, the common field is configured as the ARI command field [paragraph 0038], ACK channel resources can be assigned to particular PDSCH transmission of sending a corresponding PDCCH, a base station can assign a group of uplink ACK channel resources [paragraph 0077].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Y1 to incorporate the indication of a feedback mode of ACK/NACK information using the ARI as taught by C1. One would be motivated to do so to provide a means feedback that is backwards compatible with other systems [refer C1; paragraph 0008].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RYAN C KAVLESKI whose telephone number is (571)270-3619. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30am-3pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles C Jiang can be reached on 571-270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Ryan Kavleski
/R. K./
Examiner, Art Unit 2412
/CHARLES C JIANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2412
Prosecution Insights