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 Office Action is in response to preliminary amendments filed 08/16/2024. Claims 1-4, 6-11,13-15, 25, 27, 32, 33, and 36-38 are pending.
Priority
The applicant’s claim for priority as a national stage filing under 35 USC § 371 of International Patent No. PCT/CN2023/094339, filed May 15, 2023, which claims priority to Chinese patent application No. 202210675048.7, filed June 15, 2022, is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 08/07/2024 and 03/13/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-4, 6-11,13-15, 32, 33, 36, and 37 are objected to because of the following informalities:
each of claims 1, 4, and 8 recite the limitation “the encoding processing” which should read “the encoding” as established in claim 1 as an “encoding” step of the method.
claims 2, 3, 6, 7, 9-11, and 13-15 depend either directly or indirectly from claim 1 and include all of the limitations of independent claim 1. Therefore, claims 2, 3, 6, 7, 9-11, and 13-15 are objected to for the same reasons as independent claim 1.
Regarding claim 32, it is interpreted as a separate independent claim which falls under the four statutory categories as a device claim and incorporates the steps of the method of independent claim 1. For clarity, the examiner requests that the steps that the device of claim 32 performs be written out as part of claim 32. For the purposes of examination, the claim will be interpreted as such.
Regarding claim 33, it is interpreted as a separate independent claim which falls under the four statutory categories as a device claim and incorporates the steps of the method of independent claim 1. For clarity, the examiner requests that the steps that the device of claim 33 performs be written out as part of claim 33. For the purposes of examination, the claim will be interpreted as such.
Regarding claim 36, it is interpreted as a separate independent claim which falls under the four statutory categories as a device claim and incorporates the steps of the method of independent claim 25. For clarity, the examiner requests that the steps that the device of claim 36 performs be written out as part of claim 36. For the purposes of examination, the claim will be interpreted as such.
Regarding claim 37, it is interpreted as a separate independent claim which falls under the four statutory categories as a device claim and incorporates the steps of the method of independent claim 25. For clarity, the examiner requests that the steps that the device of claim 37 performs be written out as part of claim 37. For the purposes of examination, the claim will be interpreted as such.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of pre-AIA 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, 25, 27, 32, 33, 36, and 37 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bhattad et al. (US 2019/0074952), hereinafter “Bhattad”.
Regarding claims 1, 32, 33, Bhattad teaches:
An information transmission method, or a base station, comprising: a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable by the processor, wherein the computer program, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform the information transmission method (see Bhattad, Fig. 16, par. [0202]: Processor 1620 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory to perform various functions), or a user equipment, comprising: a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable by the processor, wherein the computer program, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform the information transmission method (see Bhattad, Fig. 12, par. [0174]: Processor 1220 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory to perform various functions), comprising:
receiving a transport block (TB) sent by at least one second node, wherein the TB forms a TB set (see Bhattad, par. [0104]: a device of the wireless communications system 100 (e.g., a UE 115 or a base station 105) may support receiving a set of TBs, and see par. [0104]: a device of the wireless communications system 100 (e.g., a base station 105 or a UE 115) may support transmitting a set of TBs, each of the TBs comprising one or more CBGs);
obtaining information about a set of correct TBs according to the TB set (see Bhattad, par. [0211]: At block 1710 the UE 115 may generate a bit sequence providing CBG-level feedback on a first subset of TBs in the set of TBs and TB-level feedback on at least a second subset of TBs in the set of TBs, the first subset differing from the second subset, and see par. [0122]: the bit sequence 410 may include a TB-level ACK/NACK set 440 (e.g., a subsequence), which may be a fixed resource (e.g., eight bits) that provides TB-level feedback for each of the TBs associated with a data transmission 210 (e.g., the eight TBs, associated with eight unique HARQ IDs); in this case, determining a bit sequence corresponds to obtaining information about a set of correct TBs);
encoding the information about the set of correct TBs to obtain feedback information, wherein the feedback information is used to represent a reception condition of the TB sent by the at least one second node, and the encoding processing comprises performing binary representation on the information about the set of correct TBs (see Bhattad, par. [0211]: At block 1710 the UE 115 may generate a bit sequence providing CBG-level feedback on a first subset of TBs in the set of TBs and TB-level feedback on at least a second subset of TBs in the set of TBs, the first subset differing from the second subset, and see par. [0122]: the bit sequence 410 may include a TB-level ACK/NACK set 440 (e.g., a subsequence), which may be a fixed resource (e.g., eight bits) that provides TB-level feedback for each of the TBs associated with a data transmission 210 (e.g., the eight TBs, associated with eight unique HARQ IDs), and see par. [0061]: a value of “1” in a portion of the bit sequence (e.g., a subsequence) may indicate an ACK for a particular TB or CBG, and a value of “0” in the portion of the bit sequence may indicate a NACK for a particular TB or CBG; in this case, the feedback information including which portions of the data transmission were successfully received corresponds to a reception condition of the TB); and
sending the feedback information to the at least one second node (see Bhattad, par. [0106]: A first device (e.g., base station 105-a) may transmit data transmission 210 to a second device (e.g., UE 115-a), which may indicate a number of HARQ IDs (e.g., particular TBs, HARQ IDs associated with particular TBs) included in the data transmission 210. In response, the second device may provide feedback transmission 220 to the first device indicating which portions of the data transmission 210 were successfully received. For example, the UE 115-a may provide feedback transmission 220 that includes multiplexed CBG-level feedback and TB-level feedback in response to the data transmission 210, which may be in the form of a bit sequence).
Regarding claim 2, Bhattad teaches the method. Bhattad further teaches:
wherein the TB is indicated by a TB identifier, and the TB identifier comprises at least one of:
a user equipment (UE) identifier (optional limitation), an index value of a UE identifier (optional limitation), or a signature index (see Bhattad, par. [0124]: the bit sequence 410 may include an index that identifies the TBs for which CBG-level feedback is provided, or an index indicating the HARQ ID of the TBs for which CBG-level feedback is provided, and in some examples the index may have a fixed bit width).
Regarding claims 25, 36, 37, Bhattad teaches:
An information transmission method, which is applied to a second node, the method, or a base station, comprising: a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable by the processor, wherein the computer program, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform the information transmission method (see Bhattad, Fig. 16, par. [0202]: Processor 1620 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory to perform various functions), or a user equipment, comprising: a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable by the processor, wherein the computer program, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform the information transmission method (see Bhattad, Fig. 12, par. [0174]: Processor 1220 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory to perform various functions), comprising:
sending a transport block (TB) to a first node (see Bhattad, par. [0104]: a device of the wireless communications system 100 (e.g., a UE 115 or a base station 105) may support receiving a set of TBs, and see par. [0104]: a device of the wireless communications system 100 (e.g., a base station 105 or a UE 115) may support transmitting a set of TBs, each of the TBs comprising one or more CBGs); and
receiving feedback information sent by the first node, wherein the feedback information is used to represent a reception condition of the TB (see Bhattad, par. [0106]: A first device (e.g., base station 105-a) may transmit data transmission 210 to a second device (e.g., UE 115-a), which may indicate a number of HARQ IDs (e.g., particular TBs, HARQ IDs associated with particular TBs) included in the data transmission 210. In response, the second device may provide feedback transmission 220 to the first device indicating which portions of the data transmission 210 were successfully received. For example, the UE 115-a may provide feedback transmission 220 that includes multiplexed CBG-level feedback and TB-level feedback in response to the data transmission 210, which may be in the form of a bit sequence; in this case, the feedback information including which portions of the data transmission were successfully received corresponds to a reception condition of the TB).
Regarding claim 27, Bhattad teaches the method. Bhattad further teaches:
further comprising:
decoding a feedback signal corresponding to the feedback information to obtain a decoding result (see Bhattad, par. [0197]: subsequence processor 1535 may process the bit sequence to identify a first subsequence that provides the TB-level feedback on each TB in the set of TBs and an index in the bit sequence that identifies the first subset of TBs. In some examples, subsequence processor 1535 may process based on the bit map, a subsequence in the bit sequence to identify the CBG-level feedback for the first subset of TBs and the TB-level feedback for the second subset of TBs; in this case, processing the bit sequence to identify subsequences corresponds to decoding a feedback signal to obtain a decoding result); and
determining, according to the decoding result, the reception condition of the TB sent by the second node (see Bhattad, par. [0198]: subsequence processor 1535 may process a value for each 2 bits in a first subsequence of the bit sequence identifying whether a respective TB in the set of TBs was successfully received, or whether a control channel was successfully received, or whether CBG-level feedback is being provided for the respective TB; in this case, the subsequence is used to identify whether TBs were successfully received, corresponding to determining the reception condition of the TB), wherein:
in response to a failure of the decoding, determining that acknowledgment of the TB sent by the second node is negative acknowledgment NACK (see Bhattad, par. [0198]: subsequence processor 1535 may process a value for each 2 bits in a first subsequence of the bit sequence identifying whether a respective TB in the set of TBs was successfully received, or whether a control channel was successfully received, or whether CBG-level feedback is being provided for the respective TB, and see par. [0211]: At block 1710 the UE 115 may generate a bit sequence providing CBG-level feedback on a first subset of TBs in the set of TBs and TB-level feedback on at least a second subset of TBs in the set of TBs, the first subset differing from the second subset, and see par. [0122]: the bit sequence 410 may include a TB-level ACK/NACK set 440 (e.g., a subsequence), which may be a fixed resource (e.g., eight bits) that provides TB-level feedback for each of the TBs associated with a data transmission 210 (e.g., the eight TBs, associated with eight unique HARQ IDs), and see par. [0061]: a value of “1” in a portion of the bit sequence (e.g., a subsequence) may indicate an ACK for a particular TB or CBG, and a value of “0” in the portion of the bit sequence may indicate a NACK for a particular TB or CBG, and see par. [0127]: the bitmap 550 may include a bit (e.g., one bit, a single bit) corresponding to each of the TBs associated with a TB-level NACK 525, which may correspond to TBs or HARQ IDs that were not successfully received or decoded; in this case, NACK is included for TBs that were not successfully received or decoded); or
in response to a success of the decoding, determining, according to a number of bits of a binary representation of information about a set of correct TBs, whether the decoding result comprises a bit sequence corresponding to the TB identifier of the TB sent by the second node (optional limitation).
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, 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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bhattad in view of Axelsson et al. (US 2013/0262951), hereinafter “Axelsson”, and further in view of Marinier et al. (US 2021/0297225), hereinafter “Marinier”.
Regarding claim 3, Bhattad teaches the method.
However, Bhattad does not teach:
wherein:
the set of correct TBs is an empty set; and
the encoding the information about the set of correct TBs to obtain feedback information comprises:
determining that the feedback information is an empty sequence;
wherein a feedback signal comprising the feedback information is a zero power signal.
Axelsson, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein:
the set of correct TBs is an empty set (see Axelsson, Fig. 10, par. [0046]: FIG. 10 illustrates a solution to this problem. For data blocks that are not correctly received, a 0 is placed in the corresponding bit field for that data block. See, e.g., the fields for SSN+1 and SSN+3. However, for data blocks that are tentatively correctly received, such as SSN+2 and SSN+4, there is no information set to indicate that a data block is correctly received. Instead, a "1" in those bit fields means "void"--no ACK/NACK information for this data block. So the PAN message generator in the receiving node inserts "1's" for data blocks corresponding to the SSN+5-SSN+12, indicating that there is no ACK/NACK information for those blocks; in this case, void bit fields indicating no ACK/NACK information corresponds to an empty set); and
the encoding the information about the set of correct TBs to obtain feedback information comprises:
determining that the feedback information is an empty sequence (see Axelsson, Fig. 10, par. [0046]: FIG. 10 illustrates a solution to this problem. For data blocks that are not correctly received, a 0 is placed in the corresponding bit field for that data block. See, e.g., the fields for SSN+1 and SSN+3. However, for data blocks that are tentatively correctly received, such as SSN+2 and SSN+4, there is no information set to indicate that a data block is correctly received. Instead, a "1" in those bit fields means "void"--no ACK/NACK information for this data block. So the PAN message generator in the receiving node inserts "1's" for data blocks corresponding to the SSN+5-SSN+12, indicating that there is no ACK/NACK information for those blocks; in this case, void bit fields indicating no ACK/NACK information corresponds to an empty sequence);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the set of correct TBs and feedback information of Bhattad with the empty set and empty sequence of Axelsson with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of decreasing delay and more efficiently using spectrum resources (see Axelsson, par. [0033]).
However, the combination of Bhattad in view of Axelsson does not teach:
wherein a feedback signal comprising the feedback information is a zero power signal.
Marinier, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein a feedback signal comprising the feedback information is a zero power signal (see Marinier, par. [0253]: fixed mapping of a feedback group to a sub-resource with possible zero-power transmission may be used, and see par. [0254]: In case no transmission needs to take place for a feedback group, the WTRU may transmit with zero power (i.e., may not transmit) on the corresponding sub-resource. In some solutions, the WTRU may transmit on a sub-resource even if no transmission needs to take place for the corresponding feedback group to ensure that the signal transmitted by the WTRU spans contiguous RBs. The WTRU may perform such transmission, for instance, if the sub-resource is over a RB and non-zero-power transmission takes place on both adjacent RBs).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the feedback signal of the combination of Bhattad in view of Axelsson with the zero power signal of Marinier with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of efficiently using resources (see Marinier, par. [0068]).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bhattad in view of Kwon et al. (US 2012/0008585), hereinafter “Kwon”.
Regarding claim 4, Bhattad teaches the method. Bhattad further teaches:
wherein:
the encoding processing comprises performing binary representation on the information about the set of correct TBs (see Bhattad, par. [0211]: At block 1710 the UE 115 may generate a bit sequence providing CBG-level feedback on a first subset of TBs in the set of TBs and TB-level feedback on at least a second subset of TBs in the set of TBs, the first subset differing from the second subset, and see par. [0122]: the bit sequence 410 may include a TB-level ACK/NACK set 440 (e.g., a subsequence), which may be a fixed resource (e.g., eight bits) that provides TB-level feedback for each of the TBs associated with a data transmission 210 (e.g., the eight TBs, associated with eight unique HARQ IDs), and see par. [0061]: a value of “1” in a portion of the bit sequence (e.g., a subsequence) may indicate an ACK for a particular TB or CBG, and a value of “0” in the portion of the bit sequence may indicate a NACK for a particular TB or CBG), and the information about the set of correct TBs comprises a set of identifiers of correct TBs (see Bhattad, par. [0124]: the bit sequence 410 may include an index that identifies the TBs for which CBG-level feedback is provided, or an index indicating the HARQ ID of the TBs for which CBG-level feedback is provided, and in some examples the index may have a fixed bit width); and
the encoding the information about the set of correct TBs to obtain feedback information comprises:
obtaining a number of bits of a binary representation of the feedback information according to a quantity of elements in an ordered set of TB identifiers, wherein the ordered set of TB identifiers is an ordered set of all TB identifiers (see Bhattad, par. [0110]: A bitmap or size of an index may be based on a number of TB-level NACKs corresponding to the feedback transmission 220, in which case the bit map or size of index of the feedback transmission 220 may be variable. In some examples a bit map or size of index may be based on the number of TBs in the data transmission 210, in which case the bit map or size of index of the feedback transmission 220 may be fixed (e.g., according to a semi-static configuration), and see par. [0124]: the bit sequence 410 may include an index that identifies the TBs for which CBG-level feedback is provided, or an index indicating the HARQ ID of the TBs for which CBG-level feedback is provided, and in some examples the index may have a fixed bit width; in this case, the bitmap is based on number of TBs which have indexes (i.e. TB identifiers));
obtaining, according to the number of bits of the binary representation of the feedback information, a binary representation corresponding to each element in the set of identifiers of correct TBs (see Bhattad, par. [0211]: At block 1710 the UE 115 may generate a bit sequence providing CBG-level feedback on a first subset of TBs in the set of TBs and TB-level feedback on at least a second subset of TBs in the set of TBs, the first subset differing from the second subset, and see par. [0122]: the bit sequence 410 may include a TB-level ACK/NACK set 440 (e.g., a subsequence), which may be a fixed resource (e.g., eight bits) that provides TB-level feedback for each of the TBs associated with a data transmission 210 (e.g., the eight TBs, associated with eight unique HARQ IDs), and see par. [0061]: a value of “1” in a portion of the bit sequence (e.g., a subsequence) may indicate an ACK for a particular TB or CBG, and a value of “0” in the portion of the bit sequence may indicate a NACK for a particular TB or CBG, and see par. [0110]: A bitmap or size of an index may be based on a number of TB-level NACKs corresponding to the feedback transmission 220, in which case the bit map or size of index of the feedback transmission 220 may be variable. In some examples a bit map or size of index may be based on the number of TBs in the data transmission 210, in which case the bit map or size of index of the feedback transmission 220 may be fixed (e.g., according to a semi-static configuration)); or
the encoding processing comprises performing binary representation on the information about the set of correct TBs (see Bhattad, par. [0211]: At block 1710 the UE 115 may generate a bit sequence providing CBG-level feedback on a first subset of TBs in the set of TBs and TB-level feedback on at least a second subset of TBs in the set of TBs, the first subset differing from the second subset, and see par. [0122]: the bit sequence 410 may include a TB-level ACK/NACK set 440 (e.g., a subsequence), which may be a fixed resource (e.g., eight bits) that provides TB-level feedback for each of the TBs associated with a data transmission 210 (e.g., the eight TBs, associated with eight unique HARQ IDs), and see par. [0061]: a value of “1” in a portion of the bit sequence (e.g., a subsequence) may indicate an ACK for a particular TB or CBG, and a value of “0” in the portion of the bit sequence may indicate a NACK for a particular TB or CBG), and the information about the set of correct TBs comprises a set of identifiers of correct TBs (see Bhattad, par. [0124]: the bit sequence 410 may include an index that identifies the TBs for which CBG-level feedback is provided, or an index indicating the HARQ ID of the TBs for which CBG-level feedback is provided, and in some examples the index may have a fixed bit width); and
the encoding the information about the set of correct TBs to obtain feedback information comprises:
obtaining a number of bits of a binary representation of the feedback information according to a quantity of elements in an ordered set of TB identifiers, wherein the ordered set of TB identifiers is an ordered set of all TB identifiers (see Bhattad, par. [0110]: A bitmap or size of an index may be based on a number of TB-level NACKs corresponding to the feedback transmission 220, in which case the bit map or size of index of the feedback transmission 220 may be variable. In some examples a bit map or size of index may be based on the number of TBs in the data transmission 210, in which case the bit map or size of index of the feedback transmission 220 may be fixed (e.g., according to a semi-static configuration), and see par. [0124]: the bit sequence 410 may include an index that identifies the TBs for which CBG-level feedback is provided, or an index indicating the HARQ ID of the TBs for which CBG-level feedback is provided, and in some examples the index may have a fixed bit width; in this case, the bitmap is based on number of TBs which have indexes (i.e. TB identifiers));
obtaining, according to the number of bits of the binary representation of the feedback information, a binary representation corresponding to each element in the set of identifiers of correct TBs (see Bhattad, par. [0211]: At block 1710 the UE 115 may generate a bit sequence providing CBG-level feedback on a first subset of TBs in the set of TBs and TB-level feedback on at least a second subset of TBs in the set of TBs, the first subset differing from the second subset, and see par. [0122]: the bit sequence 410 may include a TB-level ACK/NACK set 440 (e.g., a subsequence), which may be a fixed resource (e.g., eight bits) that provides TB-level feedback for each of the TBs associated with a data transmission 210 (e.g., the eight TBs, associated with eight unique HARQ IDs), and see par. [0061]: a value of “1” in a portion of the bit sequence (e.g., a subsequence) may indicate an ACK for a particular TB or CBG, and a value of “0” in the portion of the bit sequence may indicate a NACK for a particular TB or CBG, and see par. [0110]: A bitmap or size of an index may be based on a number of TB-level NACKs corresponding to the feedback transmission 220, in which case the bit map or size of index of the feedback transmission 220 may be variable. In some examples a bit map or size of index may be based on the number of TBs in the data transmission 210, in which case the bit map or size of index of the feedback transmission 220 may be fixed (e.g., according to a semi-static configuration));
However, Bhattad does not teach:
concatenating the binary representations corresponding to all elements in the set of identifiers of correct TBs and an all-zero sequence to obtain the feedback information; or
concatenating the binary representations corresponding to all elements in the set of identifiers of correct TBs to obtain the feedback information.
Kwon, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
concatenating the binary representations corresponding to all elements in the set of identifiers of correct TBs and an all-zero sequence to obtain the feedback information (optional limitation); or
concatenating the binary representations corresponding to all elements in the set of identifiers of correct TBs to obtain the feedback information (see Kwon, Fig. 12, par. [0095]: the user equipment generates containers for transmitting the plurality of ACK/NACK information in due order depending on downlink component carrier index when generating payload using PUCCH format 2. In this case, if a plurality of transport blocks are received through at least one downlink component carrier among the plurality of downlink component carriers, containers for containing ACK/NACK information are generated in due order depending on the order of transport blocks received through the at least one downlink component carrier, and see claim 19: generating the ACK/NACK information by concatenating ACK/NACK bits corresponding to the plurality of transport blocks in accordance with an index order of the downlink carriers and an index order of the transport blocks).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of Bhattad with the concatenation of binary representations of Kwon with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of efficient transmission of ACK/NACK signals (see Kwon, par. [0021]).
Claims 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bhattad in view of Gholmieh et al. (US 2008/0056229), hereinafter “Gholmieh”.
Regarding claim 6, Bhattad teaches the method.
However, Bhattad does not teach:
further comprising:
obtaining, according to the UE identifier, a signature index corresponding to the TB, wherein the UE identifier has a mapping relationship with the signature index.
Gholmieh, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
further comprising:
obtaining, according to the UE identifier, a signature index corresponding to the TB, wherein the UE identifier has a mapping relationship with the signature index (see Gholmieh, par. [0106]: a CRC generator 810 generates a CRC for a transport block. A scrambler 812 may scramble the transport block, the CRC, or both the transport block and CRC based on a UE identifier (UE ID) for the recipient UE. This UE ID may be a MAC ID or some other type of ID that can uniquely identify the recipient UE, and see par. [0107]: An encoder 814 encodes the scrambled block based on a coding scheme and provides a coded block having a selected transport block size. Controller 240 may select the transport block size based on the CQI received from the UE, the transport block sizes assigned to the UE, etc. An HARQ unit 816 partitions the coded block into multiple redundancy versions. For each transmission, HARQ unit 816 determines which redundancy version to send based on an HARQ control from controller 240 and provides the selected redundancy version. A channel interleaver 818 interleaves (or reorders) the code bits in the selected redundancy version, and see par. [0079]: The redundancy versions for the transport block for each retransmission may be sent in a specific order that is known a priori by the Node B and UE. For example, a first redundancy version may be sent in a first retransmission for the transport block, a second redundancy version may be sent in a second retransmission, a third redundancy version may be sent in a third retransmission; in this case, determining redundancy version for a scrambled block corresponds to obtaining a signature index which is based on scrambling done based on a UE ID (i.e. there is a mapping relationship)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of Bhattad with the obtaining a signature index of Gholmieh with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of avoiding unnecessary signaling to prevent decoding errors (see Gholmieh, par. [0080]).
Regarding claim 7, Bhattad teaches the method.
However, Bhattad does not teach:
further comprising:
using the UE identifier as a part or all of a random number seed of a pseudorandom number generator to generate a pseudo-random signature index; and
determining the pseudo-random signature index as a signature index corresponding to the TB.
Gholmieh, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
further comprising:
using the UE identifier as a part or all of a random number seed of a pseudorandom number generator to generate a pseudo-random signature index (see Gholmieh, par. [0106]: a CRC generator 810 generates a CRC for a transport block. A scrambler 812 may scramble the transport block, the CRC, or both the transport block and CRC based on a UE identifier (UE ID) for the recipient UE. This UE ID may be a MAC ID or some other type of ID that can uniquely identify the recipient UE, and see par. [0107]: An encoder 814 encodes the scrambled block based on a coding scheme and provides a coded block having a selected transport block size. Controller 240 may select the transport block size based on the CQI received from the UE, the transport block sizes assigned to the UE, etc. An HARQ unit 816 partitions the coded block into multiple redundancy versions. For each transmission, HARQ unit 816 determines which redundancy version to send based on an HARQ control from controller 240 and provides the selected redundancy version. A channel interleaver 818 interleaves (or reorders) the code bits in the selected redundancy version, and see par. [0079]: The redundancy versions for the transport block for each retransmission may be sent in a specific order that is known a priori by the Node B and UE. For example, a first redundancy version may be sent in a first retransmission for the transport block, a second redundancy version may be sent in a second retransmission, a third redundancy version may be sent in a third retransmission; in this case, using the UE ID to scramble the transport block corresponds to generating a pseudo-random signature index); and
determining the pseudo-random signature index as a signature index corresponding to the TB (see Gholmieh, par. [0106]: a CRC generator 810 generates a CRC for a transport block. A scrambler 812 may scramble the transport block, the CRC, or both the transport block and CRC based on a UE identifier (UE ID) for the recipient UE. This UE ID may be a MAC ID or some other type of ID that can uniquely identify the recipient UE, and see par. [0107]: An encoder 814 encodes the scrambled block based on a coding scheme and provides a coded block having a selected transport block size. Controller 240 may select the transport block size based on the CQI received from the UE, the transport block sizes assigned to the UE, etc. An HARQ unit 816 partitions the coded block into multiple redundancy versions. For each transmission, HARQ unit 816 determines which redundancy version to send based on an HARQ control from controller 240 and provides the selected redundancy version. A channel interleaver 818 interleaves (or reorders) the code bits in the selected redundancy version, and see par. [0079]: The redundancy versions for the transport block for each retransmission may be sent in a specific order that is known a priori by the Node B and UE. For example, a first redundancy version may be sent in a first retransmission for the transport block, a second redundancy version may be sent in a second retransmission, a third redundancy version may be sent in a third retransmission).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of Bhattad with the obtaining a signature index of Gholmieh with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of avoiding unnecessary signaling to prevent decoding errors (see Gholmieh, par. [0080]).
Claims 8-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bhattad in view of Lou et al. (US 2024/0031064), hereinafter “Lou”.
Regarding claim 8, Bhattad teaches the method.
However, Bhattad does not teach:
wherein the encoding processing further comprises performing compression coding on the information about the set of correct TBs.
Lou, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the encoding processing further comprises performing compression coding on the information about the set of correct TBs (see Lou, par. [0189]: a WTRU mahy compress (e.g., generate, prepare) HARQ-ACK feedback for multiple TBs and may transmit the HARQ-ACK feedback. According to embodiments, the compressed HARQ-ACK feedback may be used to determine CBGs that are not correctly decoded).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the encoding of Bhattad with the compression coding of Lou with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing signaling overhead while maintaining transmission reliability (see Lou, par. [0156]).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Bhattad in view of Lou teaches the method.
Bhattad does not teach, but Lou teaches:
wherein the encoding the information about the set of correct TBs to obtain feedback information comprises:
obtaining a compressed codeword according to the information about the set of correct TBs (see Lou, par. [0163]: a WTRU may receive a DL data transmission with one or more code words (CWs). According to embodiments, each CW may have any of the following control information: (1) a HARQ-ACK group index, for example, this index may indicate which HARQ-ACK group the TB or CW belongs to, and see Fig. 6, par. [0160]: FIG. 6 shows a HARQ-ACK codebook design based on an encoding procedure of the second option discussed above. According to embodiments, a device (e.g., a receiver, a WTRU, a transmitter, a gNB) may transmit (e.g., feedback) HARQ-ACK information for 4 TBs in one UCI or DCI, wherein maximum number of CBGs per TB may be 8. The table of FIG. 6 illustrates the decoding results for each CBG of a TB. According to embodiments, a shaded part of the table may be recorded directly based on the decoding results. According to embodiments, a value of 1 may indicate that the CBGi in TBj is correctly decoded or may indicate that nothing is transmitted on that CBG, while a value of 0 may indicate that the CBGi in TBj is not correctly decoded).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the encoding of Bhattad with the compressed codeword of Lou with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing signaling overhead while maintaining transmission reliability (see Lou, par. [0156]).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Bhattad in view of Lou teaches the method.
Bhattad does not teach, but Lou teaches:
wherein the encoding the information about the set of correct TBs to obtain feedback information comprises:
obtaining a TB error pattern according to the information about the set of correct TBs (see Lou, Fig. 6, par. [0160]: The table of FIG. 6 illustrates the decoding results for each CBG of a TB. According to embodiments, a shaded part of the table may be recorded directly based on the decoding results. According to embodiments, a value of 1 may indicate that the CBGi in TBj is correctly decoded or may indicate that nothing is transmitted on that CBG, while a value of 0 may indicate that the CBGi in TBj is not correctly decoded. Here we have i∈{0, 1, . . . , 7} and j∈{0, . . . , 3}, which may indicate that CBG 5 in TB 1 and CBG 3 in TB 3 have errors. According to embodiments, based on such information, the device may derive any of: (1) TB HARQ-ACK: if all of the CBGs in the TB (row wise in the table) are correctly decoded and TB CRC is passed, the TB HARQ-ACK bit may be set to 1, otherwise it may be set to 0); and
obtaining a compressed codeword according to the TB error pattern (see Lou, par. [0180]: a retransmission method may include a compressed HARQ-ACK codebook. According to embodiments, the three vectors C1, C2, and C3 may be received, for example, by a WTRU. According to embodiments, a set of TBs with TB={TBm|C1m=1} may be saved (e.g., stored, written to memory) and the TBs may be considered as correctly received, and see par. [0163]: a WTRU may receive a DL data transmission with one or more code words (CWs). According to embodiments, each CW may have any of the following control information: (1) a HARQ-ACK group index, for example, this index may indicate which HARQ-ACK group the TB or CW belongs to, and see Fig. 6, par. [0160]: The table of FIG. 6 illustrates the decoding results for each CBG of a TB. According to embodiments, a shaded part of the table may be recorded directly based on the decoding results. According to embodiments, a value of 1 may indicate that the CBGi in TBj is correctly decoded or may indicate that nothing is transmitted on that CBG, while a value of 0 may indicate that the CBGi in TBj is not correctly decoded. Here we have i∈{0, 1, . . . , 7} and j∈{0, . . . , 3}, which may indicate that CBG 5 in TB 1 and CBG 3 in TB 3 have errors. According to embodiments, based on such information, the device may derive any of: (1) TB HARQ-ACK: if all of the CBGs in the TB (row wise in the table) are correctly decoded and TB CRC is passed, the TB HARQ-ACK bit may be set to 1, otherwise it may be set to 0).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the encoding of Bhattad with the error pattern and compressed codeword of Lou with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing signaling overhead while maintaining transmission reliability (see Lou, par. [0156]).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Bhattad in view of Lou teaches the method. Bhattad further teaches:
wherein:
the information about the set of correct TBs comprises a set of identifiers of correct TBs, and an ordered set of TB identifiers (see Bhattad, par. [0110]: A bitmap or size of an index may be based on a number of TB-level NACKs corresponding to the feedback transmission 220, in which case the bit map or size of index of the feedback transmission 220 may be variable. In some examples a bit map or size of index may be based on the number of TBs in the data transmission 210, in which case the bit map or size of index of the feedback transmission 220 may be fixed (e.g., according to a semi-static configuration), and see par. [0124]: the bit sequence 410 may include an index that identifies the TBs for which CBG-level feedback is provided, or an index indicating the HARQ ID of the TBs for which CBG-level feedback is provided, and in some examples the index may have a fixed bit width; in this case, the bitmap is based on number of TBs which have indexes (i.e. TB identifiers)); or
the information about the set of correct TBs comprises a set of identifiers of correct TBs (see Bhattad, par. [0110]: A bitmap or size of an index may be based on a number of TB-level NACKs corresponding to the feedback transmission 220, in which case the bit map or size of index of the feedback transmission 220 may be variable. In some examples a bit map or size of index may be based on the number of TBs in the data transmission 210, in which case the bit map or size of index of the feedback transmission 220 may be fixed (e.g., according to a semi-static configuration));
Bhattad does not teach, but Lou teaches:
the obtaining a TB error pattern according to the information about the set of correct TBs comprises:
determining whether each element in the ordered set of TB identifiers belongs to the set of identifiers of correct TBs (see Lou, Fig. 6, par. [0160]: The table of FIG. 6 illustrates the decoding results for each CBG of a TB. According to embodiments, a shaded part of the table may be recorded directly based on the decoding results. According to embodiments, a value of 1 may indicate that the CBGi in TBj is correctly decoded or may indicate that nothing is transmitted on that CBG, while a value of 0 may indicate that the CBGi in TBj is not correctly decoded. Here we have i∈{0, 1, . . . , 7} and j∈{0, . . . , 3}, which may indicate that CBG 5 in TB 1 and CBG 3 in TB 3 have errors. According to embodiments, based on such information, the device may derive any of: (1) TB HARQ-ACK: if all of the CBGs in the TB (row wise in the table) are correctly decoded and TB CRC is passed, the TB HARQ-ACK bit may be set to 1, otherwise it may be set to 0); and
forming the TB error pattern according to a determination result (see Lou, Fig. 6, par. [0160]: The table of FIG. 6 illustrates the decoding results for each CBG of a TB. According to embodiments, a shaded part of the table may be recorded directly based on the decoding results. According to embodiments, a value of 1 may indicate that the CBGi in TBj is correctly decoded or may indicate that nothing is transmitted on that CBG, while a value of 0 may indicate that the CBGi in TBj is not correctly decoded. Here we have i∈{0, 1, . . . , 7} and j∈{0, . . . , 3}, which may indicate that CBG 5 in TB 1 and CBG 3 in TB 3 have errors. According to embodiments, based on such information, the device may derive any of: (1) TB HARQ-ACK: if all of the CBGs in the TB (row wise in the table) are correctly decoded and TB CRC is passed, the TB HARQ-ACK bit may be set to 1, otherwise it may be set to 0); or
the obtaining a TB error pattern according to the information about the set of correct TBs comprises:
according to a preset length of the TB error pattern, obtaining an initial pattern, of the TB error pattern, corresponding to the preset length, wherein each element in the initial pattern of the TB error pattern corresponds to a negative acknowledgment bit (optional limitation);
setting, in the initial pattern of the TB error pattern according to the set of correct TBs, a bit with a sequence number equal to an element in the set of correct TBs as a positive acknowledgment bit, to obtain an updated initial pattern of the TB error pattern (optional limitation); and
determining the updated initial pattern of the TB error pattern as the TB error pattern (optional limitation).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the encoding of Bhattad with the error pattern of Lou with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing signaling overhead while maintaining transmission reliability (see Lou, par. [0156]).
Claims 13 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bhattad in view of Lou, as applied to claims 8-11 above, and further in view of Salem et al. (US 2020/0260439), hereinafter “Salem”.
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Bhattad in view of Lou teaches the method.
However, the combination of Bhattad in view of Lou does not teach:
wherein determining a length of the compressed codeword according to a size of an ordered set of TB identifiers and a quantity of correct TBs.
Salem, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein determining a length of the compressed codeword according to a size of an ordered set of TB identifiers and a quantity of correct TBs (see Salem, par. [0121]: the number of PHICH groups used to send an ACK/NACK codeword for a UE can vary dynamically based on the number of TBs being ACK/NACK'd in the subframe. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 13, UE 1 has 3 different TBs being ACK/NACK'd for an uplink subframe, which is why the ACK/NACK codeword has 3 bits. Three PHICH groups are used to send the ACK/NACK codeword. If for a next uplink subframe UE 1 only had one TB being ACK/NACK'd, then the ACK/NACK codeword would only be one bit long and only one PHICH group would be needed, and see par. [0085]: Whenever the UE has a new TB to send to the base station, the UE may determine a new HARQ process ID for that TB from an idle HARQ list, e.g. using the following formula to obtain the new HARQ process ID: IDi+1=(ID, +1)mod NHARQ, where IDi+1 is the HARQ process ID picked for the new TB, IDi is the HARQ process ID chosen for the previous TB, and NHARQ is the total number of HARQ process IDs available, and see par. [0139]: When multiple HARQ processes are supported for a UE, the mapping of HARQ process IDs to PHICH groups may be pre-configured. For example, a UE may use the same reference signal for different HARQ processes IDs, which are transmitted over non-overlapping resources. Different HARQ processes of a UE may map to different PHICH groups, which may result in simpler detection if the same orthogonal sequence is used per UE. A rule can be used as f( ) of PHICH group index and UE HARQ process ID (e.g. modulo operation on inputs) to let the UE know where to find the ACK/NACK for the corresponding HARQ process ID; in this case, depending on number of TBs which have associated IDs, and TBs being ACK’d, the length of the codeword changes).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of the combination of Bhattad in view of Lou with the determining a codeword length of Salem with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing control signaling overhead (see Salem, par. [0116]).
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Bhattad in view of Lou teaches the method.
However, the combination of Bhattad in view of Lou does not teach:
further comprising:
determining a length of the compressed codeword according to a length of the TB error pattern and a quantity of correct TBs.
Salem, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
further comprising:
determining a length of the compressed codeword according to a length of the TB error pattern and a quantity of correct TBs (see Salem, par. [0121]: the number of PHICH groups used to send an ACK/NACK codeword for a UE can vary dynamically based on the number of TBs being ACK/NACK'd in the subframe. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 13, UE 1 has 3 different TBs being ACK/NACK'd for an uplink subframe, which is why the ACK/NACK codeword has 3 bits. Three PHICH groups are used to send the ACK/NACK codeword. If for a next uplink subframe UE 1 only had one TB being ACK/NACK'd, then the ACK/NACK codeword would only be one bit long and only one PHICH group would be needed; in this case, depending TBs being ACK’d and NACK’d (i.e. the TB error pattern and quantity of correct TBs), the length of the codeword changes).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of the combination of Bhattad in view of Lou with the determining a codeword length of Salem with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing control signaling overhead (see Salem, par. [0116]).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bhattad in view of Lou as applied to claims 8-11 above, and further in view of Lin (US 2021/0360638), hereinafter “Lin”.
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Bhattad in view of Lou teaches the method.
However, the combination of Bhattad in view of Lou does not teach:
wherein the encoding the information about the set of correct TBs to obtain feedback information comprises:
obtaining a number of bits of a binary representation of a quantity of correct TBs according to a maximum quantity of correct TBs; performing binary representation on the quantity of correct TBs according to the number of bits of the binary representation of the quantity of correct TBs, to obtain a bit sequence of the quantity of correct TBs; and concatenating the bit sequence of the quantity of correct TBs, the compressed codeword, and an all-zero sequence to obtain the feedback information; or
concatenating the compressed codeword and an all-zero sequence to obtain the feedback information; or
determining the compressed codeword as the feedback information.
Lin, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the encoding the information about the set of correct TBs to obtain feedback information comprises:
obtaining a number of bits of a binary representation of a quantity of correct TBs according to a maximum quantity of correct TBs; performing binary representation on the quantity of correct TBs according to the number of bits of the binary representation of the quantity of correct TBs, to obtain a bit sequence of the quantity of correct TBs; and concatenating the bit sequence of the quantity of correct TBs, the compressed codeword, and an all-zero sequence to obtain the feedback information (optional limitation); or
concatenating the compressed codeword and an all-zero sequence to obtain the feedback information (optional limitation); or
determining the compressed codeword as the feedback information (see Lin, par. [0212]: in S3, the terminal compresses CBG-level ACK/NACK information corresponding to the SCC 2 to make two TBs of each codeword in two codewords in the SCC 2 correspond to 1 bit feedback response information, namely two TBs belonging to the same codeword correspond to 1 bit feedback response information).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the encoding of the combination of Bhattad in view of Lou with the determining the compressed codeword as the feedback information of Lin with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving transmission efficiency (see Lin, par. [0147]).
Claim 38 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bhattad in view of Marinier.
Regarding claim 38, Bhattad teaches the method.
However, Bhattad does not teach:
further comprising: performing channel coding on the feedback information to obtain a first coding sequence.
Marinier, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
further comprising: performing channel coding on the feedback information to obtain a first coding sequence (see Marinier, Fig. 5, par. [0247]: The WTRU may compare the number of HARQ-ACK feedback bits, which may be represented by n, to a threshold, such as threshold B 530. In an example, if the number of feedback bits is less than or equal to the threshold and therefore n≤B, then Reed-Muller coding may be used 540. The set of encoded feedback bits 545 may result from the Reed-Muller coding. Further, if the number of feedback bits is greater than the threshold and therefore n>B, then the WTRU may insert or append CRC 550. Also, if the number of feedback bits is greater than the threshold and therefore n>B, then the WTRU may use convolutional coding 560. The set of encoded feedback bits 565 may result from the convolutional coding).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the feedback signal of Bhattad with the channel coding of Marinier with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of efficiently using resources (see Marinier, par. [0068]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Cheng et al. (US 2023/0188277) teaches a method, system and apparatus are disclosed for a network node to communicate with a wireless device (WD) including transport block determination for TB transmission over multiple slots.
Yan et al. (US 2023/0396392) teaches a data transmission method and apparatus, to increase a coding gain including determining a transport block size according to a first parameter.
F. Berggren and J. Liu, ("Channel Selection HARQ Feedback in LTE-Advanced") teaches a signal design for mapping ACK/NACK information to the channels and modulation symbols, in order to minimize and equalize the ACK-to-NACK and NACK-to-ACK error probabilities.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CALEB J BALLOWE whose telephone number is (571)270-0410. The examiner can normally be reached MON-FRI 7:30-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nishant B. Divecha can be reached at (571) 270-3125. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/C.J.B./Examiner, Art Unit 2419
/PAO SINKANTARAKORN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409
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