DETAILED ACTION
This office action is responsive to communications filed on July 24, 2024. Claims 1-11, 13-19, 27, and 29 are pending in the application.
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 filed on 9/10/2024, 9/13/2024, and 6/8/2026 have been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(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 1-11, 13-19, 27, and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kuo et al. (US 2022/0174687).
Regarding Claim 1, Kuo teaches a method performed by a communication device configured for use in a communication network, the method comprising:
receiving, from a network node in the communication network, signaling indicating, on a transmission grant by transmission grant basis, which one or more prioritization criteria is to govern transmission scheduling by the communication device (“the predetermined policy may allow the terminal device 120 to determine the LCP setting that is directly instructed by the network device 110 via a per-grant setting indication” – See [0061]; “In some example embodiments, as mentioned above, instead of determining the LCP setting for use by the terminal device 120 itself, the network device 110 may directly instruct which one of the plurality of LCP settings can be used for the UL grant. In these example embodiments, the network device 110 may transmit 215 to the terminal device 120 a setting indication, as can be seen from FIG. 2. The setting indication may indicate to the terminal device 120 that one of the plurality of LCP settings is to be applied for the UL grant. In some example embodiments, the setting indication may be transmitted in a DL control information (DCI) format for a scheduling grant” – See [0093]; The UE receives signaling indicating, on a per-grant basis, one of a plurality of LCP settings (i.e., which one or more prioritization criteria is to govern transmission scheduling) to apply to the respective grant); and
performing transmission scheduling according to the signaling (“At block 530, the terminal device 120 generates, based on the selected logical channel prioritization setting, a packet data unit comprising at least one of the uplink control information or at least one part of the uplink data for transmission to the network device using the uplink resources” – See [0096]; The UE transmits uplink data in accordance with the signaling).
Regarding Claim 2, Kuo teaches the method of Claim 1. Kuo further teaches that the signaling is physical layer signaling (“In some example embodiments, the setting indication may be transmitted in a DL control information (DCI) format for a scheduling grant” – See [0093]; The signaling is DCI (physical layer signaling)).
Regarding Claim 3, Kuo teaches the method of Claim 1. Kuo further teaches that the signaling indicates, on a transmission grant by transmission grant basis, which one or more prioritization criteria is to govern transmission scheduling by the communication device by indicating, on a transmission grant by transmission grant basis one or both of: which one or more prioritization criteria is to govern selection of one or more logical channels to which to allocate transmission resources; and which one or more prioritization criteria is to govern allocation of resources across one or more selected logical channels (“a plurality of LCP settings may define the prioritization parameters for a subset of LCHs established at the terminal device 120, and a plurality of further LCP settings may define prioritization parameters for a further subset of LCHs established at the terminal device 120. According to the LCP setting, the terminal device 120 may allocate the UL resources for transmission of part or all of the UL data in the LCH(s) and/or the UL control information” – See [0049]; The prioritization criteria govern allocation of resources across one or more of the logical channels).
Regarding Claim 4, Kuo teaches the method of Claim 1. Kuo further teaches that multiple prioritization criteria are configurable to govern transmission scheduling by the communication device, wherein the signaling indicates, on a transmission grant by transmission grant basis, which one of the multiple prioritization criteria is to govern transmission scheduling by the communication device, and wherein the multiple prioritization criteria include logical channel priority and time budget remaining (“the predetermined policy may allow the terminal device 120 to determine the LCP setting that is directly instructed by the network device 110 via a per-grant setting indication” – See [0061]; “a plurality of LCP settings may define the prioritization parameters for a subset of LCHs established at the terminal device 120, and a plurality of further LCP settings may define prioritization parameters for a further subset of LCHs established at the terminal device 120. According to the LCP setting, the terminal device 120 may allocate the UL resources for transmission of part or all of the UL data in the LCH(s) and/or the UL control information” – See [0049]; “the LCP mapping restriction may indicate a maximum duration for a specific LCH. According to this LCP mapping restriction, UL data in this LCH can only be transmitted with an UL grant that results in a duration shorter than or equal to the indicated maximum duration” – See [0056]; The prioritization criteria govern transmission scheduling by the terminal. The signaling indicates, on a per-grant basis, which of the LCP settings (prioritization criteria) governs transmission scheduling, wherein the prioritization criteria include an LCP (logical channel priority). The prioritization criteria also include a maximum duration (remaining time budget) such that the data in an associated LCH can only be transmitted in a duration shorter than or equal to the duration/remaining time budget).
Regarding Claim 5, Kuo teaches the method of Claim 1. Kuo further teaches that the one or more prioritization criteria are respectively associated with one or more prioritization algorithms, wherein the signaling indicates, on a transmission grant by transmission grant basis, according to which one or more prioritization algorithms the communication device is to perform transmission scheduling (“the predetermined policy may allow the terminal device 120 to determine the LCP setting that is directly instructed by the network device 110 via a per-grant setting indication” – See [0061]; “a LCP setting may define relative prioritization between the UL control information and the UL data in the one or more LCHs as a prioritization parameter” – See [0052]; “The LCP setting may also define respective priority levels of the one or more LCHs as the prioritization parameters. As used herein, a priority level of a LCH indicates a priority of UL data from the LCH. The respective priority levels indicate the order of LCHs and the terminal device 120 may allocate the UL resources for transmission of UL data in the LCHs according to the order” – See [0053]; “The LCP setting may alternatively or in addition define respective prioritized bit rates (PBR) and/or respective bucket size durations (BSD) for the one or more LCHs as prioritization parameters” – See [0054]; The signaling indicates, on a per-grant basis, one or more prioritization algorithms for performing transmission scheduling. The algorithms include a relative prioritization between UL control information and UL data, an order of LCHs, prioritized bitrates, respective bucket size durations, and so on).
Regarding Claim 6, Kuo teaches the method of Claim 5. Kuo further teaches that the one or more prioritization algorithms include a logical channel prioritization algorithm and a delay-aware prioritization algorithm (“the predetermined policy may allow the terminal device 120 to determine the LCP setting that is directly instructed by the network device 110 via a per-grant setting indication” – See [0061]; “For example, if some UL data with a higher priority level (such as the UL data with a low latency requirement) is known to be transmitted on the colliding UL resources, for the current UL grant, the terminal device 120 may select the LCP setting with a higher priority level for a LCH without restrict latency requirement (such as enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) data) and a lower priority for a LCH with a low latency requirement (such as URLLC data). As such, it is possible to avoid or eliminate the probability that UL data of two LCHs with the low latency requirement delay each other due to resource collision” – See [0081]; The algorithms include a logical channel prioritization. Furthermore, a delay-aware prioritization algorithm is included which avoids delaying data with a low latency requirement).
Regarding Claim 7, Kuo teaches the method of Claim 1. Kuo further teaches receiving, from the network node, a grant for a transmission, wherein the signaling is specific to the grant and indicates which one or more prioritization criteria is to govern scheduling of the transmission for the grant, and wherein said performing comprises performing scheduling of the transmission according to the signaling (“At block 510, the terminal device 120 obtains an uplink grant from a network device, the uplink grant indicating uplink resources for transmission to the network device. At block 520, the terminal device 120 selects a logical channel prioritization setting from a plurality of logical channel prioritization settings based on a predetermined policy related to the uplink grant. The plurality of logical channel prioritization settings define different sets of prioritization parameters for uplink data in at least one logical channel and uplink control information in occupying the uplink resources” – See [0096]; “The setting indication may indicate to the terminal device 120 that one of the plurality of LCP settings is to be applied for the UL grant. In some example embodiments, the setting indication may be transmitted in a DL control information (DCI) format for a scheduling grant” – See [0093]; “the predetermined policy may allow the terminal device 120 to determine the LCP setting that is directly instructed by the network device 110 via a per-grant setting indication” – See [0061]; The terminal receives, from the network device, an uplink grant for transmission. The signaling is per-grant (i.e., specific to the grant) and indicates an LCP setting (one or more prioritization criteria) that applies to the respective grant. As shown above with respect to claim 1, the terminal performs transmission scheduling according to the prioritization criteria indicated in the signaling in step 530).
Regarding Claim 8, Kuo teaches the method of Claim 7. Kuo further teaches determining, for each logical channel or buffer, a prioritization criteria that is associated with that logical channel or buffer; and selecting one or more logical channels or buffers to which to allocate resources for the transmission by selecting one or more logical channels or buffers that are associated with one of the one or more prioritization criteria indicated by the signaling (“a plurality of LCP settings may define the prioritization parameters for a subset of LCHs established at the terminal device 120, and a plurality of further LCP settings may define prioritization parameters for a further subset of LCHs established at the terminal device 120. According to the LCP setting, the terminal device 120 may allocate the UL resources for transmission of part or all of the UL data in the LCH(s) and/or the UL control information” – See [0049]; For each logical channel, a prioritization criteria is determined, and the terminal selects one or more LCHs for allocation of UL resources based on the prioritization criteria indicated by the signaling).
Regarding Claim 9, Kuo teaches the method of Claim 8. Kuo further teaches receiving, from the network node, further signaling indicating, for each of one or more logical channels or buffers, one or more prioritization criteria associated with that logical channel or buffer, and wherein said determining is based on the further signaling (“the terminal device 120 may select the second LCP setting when its associated criterion is satisfied” – See [0066]; “In an example, if the criterion associated with the second LCP setting is not satisfied and there is no other preconfigured LCP setting than the first default one as shown in Table 1, the terminal device 120 may select the default LCP setting” – See [0067]; “In some example embodiments, as compared with the default LCP setting, the priority levels of some LCHs may be increased or even prioritize the UL control information in another LCP setting, such as the second LCP setting in the above Table 1” – See [0068]; The terminal receives, from the network device, a second LCP setting (further signaling) indicating priority levels associated with each of a plurality of logical channels, wherein the determining is further based on the second LCP setting).
Regarding Claim 10, Kuo teaches the method of Claim 1. Kuo further teaches that the signaling indicates, on a transmission grant by transmission grant basis, a priority ordering of the one or more prioritization criteria, wherein each logical channel or buffer is associated with one or more prioritization criteria, wherein the method further comprises: receiving, from the network node, a grant for a transmission; and allocating resources to one or more logical channels or buffers for the transmission, in descending priority order according to the priority ordering indicated by the signaling, wherein resources are allocated to any logical channel or buffer associated with a prioritization criteria that has a higher priority before resources are allocated to any logical channel or buffer associated with a prioritization criteria that has a lower priority (“the predetermined policy may allow the terminal device 120 to determine the LCP setting that is directly instructed by the network device 110 via a per-grant setting indication” – See [0061]; “In some example embodiments, as mentioned above, instead of determining the LCP setting for use by the terminal device 120 itself, the network device 110 may directly instruct which one of the plurality of LCP settings can be used for the UL grant. In these example embodiments, the network device 110 may transmit 215 to the terminal device 120 a setting indication, as can be seen from FIG. 2. The setting indication may indicate to the terminal device 120 that one of the plurality of LCP settings is to be applied for the UL grant. In some example embodiments, the setting indication may be transmitted in a DL control information (DCI) format for a scheduling grant” – See [0093]; “At block 510, the terminal device 120 obtains an uplink grant from a network device, the uplink grant indicating uplink resources for transmission to the network device” – See [0096]; “The LCP is required to make sure that the UE serves the LCHs in a certain sequence. As such, the LCHs with higher priorities can be served first in the case that the UL resources are not sufficient for UL data in all the active LCHs” – See [0043]; The signaling indicates, on a per-grant basis, a priority ordering for the LCHs. The UE receives a UL grant and allocates resources to LCHs with the highest priority first (i.e., descending order) such that resources are allocated to high priority data before resource are allocated to lower priority data).
Claims 11, 27, and 29 are rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 1.
Claim 13 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 3.
Claim 14 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 4.
Claim 15 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 5.
Claim 16 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 6.
Claim 17 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 7.
Claim 18 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 10.
Claim 19 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 9.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Scott M Sciacca whose telephone number is (571)270-1919. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday, 7:30 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. EST.
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/SCOTT M SCIACCA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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