DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to Application No. 18/839,344 filed on 8/16/2024. The preliminary amendment presented on 8/16/2024, which amends claims 1, 3-6, 8-9, and 11-15 and adds new claims 16-20, is hereby acknowledged. Claims 1-20 have been examined.
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 statement (IDS) submitted on 11/17/2024 and 12/26/2025 is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 3-7, 13-18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (hereinafter Wang)(US 2023/0216614) in view of Xu et al. (hereinafter Xu)(US 2024/0267161).
Regarding claims 1 and 15-16, Wang teaches as follows:
A user equipment (UE)(interpreted as the terminal device 110 in figure 1 and 900 in figure 9) for wireless communication, comprising:
at least one memory (920 in figure 9); and
at least one processor (910 in figure 9) coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to (the device 900 may be provided to implement the communication device, for example the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 900 includes one or more processors 910, one or more memories 940 coupled to the processor 910, and one or more transmitters and/or receivers (TX/RX) 940 coupled to the processor 910, see, ¶ [0111]):
receive a plurality of physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmissions (a PDCCH 311 may be transmitted on the slot 301, from which the DCI can be received. The DCI may schedule a first PDSCH 312 transmitted on the slot 302 and a second PDSCH 313 transmitted on the slot 303, see, ¶ [0051] and figure 3);
determine a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement (ACK) feedback combination including HARQ-ACK information bits for the plurality of PDSCH transmissions, wherein each HARQ-ACK information bit is associated with one of the plurality of PDSCH transmissions (the terminal device 110 may also separately generates HARQ-ACK bit for each PDSCH among the multiple PDSCHs and reports these HARQ-ACK bits in a PUCCH. That is, the terminal device 110 may determine respective HARQ feedback values for the plurality of TBs on the different PDSCHs and report these HARQ feedback values in the PUCCH, see, ¶ [0056]);
determine a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource based on the HARQ-ACK feedback combination (the terminal device 120 may first determine 220 a control channel, i.e. PUCCH for transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback information. The terminal device 110 may determines the slot/sub-slot for the PUCCH transmission based on HARQ-ACK timing value K1,k indicated by the scheduling DCI. K1,k is the time from the slot/sub-slot of the last PDSCH reception in time domain among multiple PDSCHs to the slot/sub-slot of the transmission of the UL acknowledgment, see, ¶ [0049]); and
perform a PUCCH transmission with the PUCCH resource (the HARQ-ACK value for the first PDSCH 312 and the HARQ-ACK value for the second PDSCH 313 can be bundling to be a one-bit HARQ-ACK value and reported in the PUCCH 314, see, ¶ [0055] and figure 3).
Wang does not explicitly teach determining whether at least one PDSCH transmission of the plurality of PDSCH transmissions being incorrectly decoded.
Xu teaches as follows:
The UE 704 may determine a MUP ACK/NACK feedback 826 based on decoding the multi-user PDSCH communication 712 and/or comparing the group DAI counter 720 indicated by the DCI 710 in FIG. 7A and the group DAI counter 822 that is maintained by the UE 704. In some aspects, the UE 704 may determine whether the group DAI counter 720 indicated by the DCI 710 in FIG. 7A matches the group DAI counter 822 in FIG. 8A and/or a result of decoding the multi-user PDSCH communication 712 (e.g., successful or unsuccessful), see, ¶ [0100] and figure 8A)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang with Xu to include determining the PDSCH decoding result as taught by Xu in order to efficiently enable the network node to determine whether a PDSCH retransmission is needed.
Regarding claims 3 and 17, Wang teaches as follows:
Wherein each PDSCH transmission of the plurality of PDSCH transmissions is associated with a counter downlink assignment indicator (DAI) value which is updated across one or more multicast services associated with the plurality of PDSCH transmissions and the HARQ-ACK information bits included in the HARQ-ACK feedback combination are ordered based on the associated counter DAI values of respective PDSCH transmissions (the Type-2 HARQ-ACK codebook is determined based on counter DAI and total DAI in the scheduling DCI, where the HARQ-ACKs for PDSCHs scheduled by DCI pointing to the same slot for PUCCH transmission are mapped into the same HARQ-ACK codebook, see, ¶ [0044]).
Regarding claims 4 and 18, Xu teaches as follows:
The DCI 1140 may indicate a set of DAI fields including a composite DAI counter 1124 and a composite DAI total 1124. The set of DAI fields including the composite DAI counter 1124 and the composite DAI total 1124 is maintained and updated for multi-user PDSCH communications and all UEs being served in the group-RNTI 1118 (see, ¶ [0167] and figure 11A).
Therefore, they are rejected for similar reason as presented above.
Regarding claim 5, Wang teaches as follows:
The Type-2 HARQ-ACK codebook is determined based on counter DAI and total DAI in the scheduling DCI, where the HARQ-ACKs for PDSCHs scheduled by DCI pointing to the same slot for PUCCH transmission are mapped into the same HARQ-ACK codebook, see, ¶ [0044]).
Xu teaches the G-RNTI as follows:
The DCI 1140 may indicate a set of DAI fields including a composite DAI counter 1124 and a composite DAI total 1124. The set of DAI fields including the composite DAI counter 1124 and the composite DAI total 1124 is maintained and updated for multi-user PDSCH communications and all UEs being served in the group-RNTI 1118 (see, ¶ [0167] and figure 11A).
Therefore, it is rejected for similar reason as presented above.
Regarding claim 6, Xu teaches as follows:
Wherein the total DAI value is updated in order of the one or more G-RNTI values associated with the one or more multicast services and in a time order for a same multicast service (the set of DAI fields including the composite DAI counter 1124 and the composite DAI total 1124 is maintained and updated for multi-user PDSCH communications and all UEs being served in the group-RNTI 1118, see, ¶ [0167]).
Therefore, it is rejected for similar reason as presented above.
Regarding claim 7, Wang teaches as follows:
Wherein a size of the HARQ-ACK feedback combination is determined based on a last total DAI value among total DAI values associated with the plurality of PDSCH transmissions (the codebook size and the HARQ-ACK information bits order can be determined based on parameters such as the counter DAI in DL DCI format, the total DAI in DCI format 1_1/DCI format 1_2, see, ¶ [0044]).
Regarding claims 13 and 20, Wang teaches as follows:
Wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to perform spatial bundling to generate a single HARQ-ACK information bit for a PDSCH transmission of the plurality of PDSCH transmissions in response to two code words being carried on the PDSCH transmission (the codebook size and the HARQ-ACK information bits order can be determined based on parameters such as the counter DAI in DL DCI format, the total DAI in DCI format 1_1/DCI format 1_2, maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI, harq-ACK-SpatialBundlingPUCCH and PDSCH-CodeBlockGroupTransmission, see, ¶ [0044])(the terminal device 110 may only generate one HARQ-ACK bit for the multiple independent PDSCHs by bundling the HARQ-ACK value for the multiple PDSCHs. The terminal device 110 may determine respective HARQ feedback values for the plurality of TBs on the different PDSCHs and generate a bundling HARQ feedback value by performing a logical operation, such as AND-operation, to the respective HARQ feedback values, see, ¶ [0054]).
Regarding claim 14, Wang in view of Xu teaches similar limitations as presented above in the rejection for claim 1. Wang further teaches as follows:
A base station (BS)(interpreted as the network device 120 in figure 1 and 900 in figure 9) for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory (920 in figure 9); and at least one processor (910 in figure 9) coupled with the at least one memory (the device 900 may be provided to implement the communication device, for example the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 900 includes one or more processors 910, one or more memories 940 coupled to the processor 910, and one or more transmitters and/or receivers (TX/RX) 940 coupled to the processor 910, see, ¶ [0111]).
Therefore, it is rejected for similar reason as presented above.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (hereinafter Wang)(US 2023/0216614) in view of Xu et al. (hereinafter Xu)(US 2024/0267161), and further in view of Huang et al. (hereinafter Huang)(US 2022/0247541).
Regarding claim 2, Wang in view of Xu teach all limitations as presented above except for the HARQ process number (HPN).
Huang teaches as follows:
The UE 115-a may monitor for the downlink transmissions 220, attempt to decode each of the transmissions, and determine HARQ feedback associated with each of the downlink transmissions 220. In some cases, each of the downlink transmissions may be associated with a HARQ process ID, and the UE 115-a may generate a HARQ-ACK codebook that includes an ACK/NACK for each HARQ process ID that is based on whether decoding of the associated PDSCH transmission succeeded or failed (see, ¶ [0072] and figure 2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang in view of Xu with Huang to include the HARQ process ID as taught by Huang in order to efficiently identify each HARQ process among multiple HARQ processes.
Claims 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (hereinafter Wang)(US 2023/0216614) in view of Xu et al. (hereinafter Xu)(US 2024/0267161), and further in view of Lee et al. (hereinafter Lee)(US 2022/0329364).
Regarding claims 8-9, Wang teaches as follows:
The codebook size and the HARQ-ACK information bits order can be determined based on parameters such as the counter DAI in DL DCI format, the total DAI in DCI format 1_1/DCI format 1_2, maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI, harq-ACK-SpatialBundlingPUCCH and PDSCH-CodeBlockGroupTransmission (see, ¶ [0044]); and
the terminal device 110 may only generate one HARQ-ACK bit for the multiple independent PDSCHs by bundling the HARQ-ACK value for the multiple PDSCHs. The terminal device 110 may determine respective HARQ feedback values for the plurality of TBs on the different PDSCHs and generate a bundling HARQ feedback value by performing a logical operation, such as AND-operation, to the respective HARQ feedback values (see, ¶ [0054]).
Xu teaches the well-known group-common radio network temporary identifiers (G-RNTIs) associated with one or more multicast services associated with the plurality of PDSCH transmissions as presented above.
Wang in view of Xu does not explicitly teach the number of group-common radio network temporary identifiers (G-RNTIs).
Lee teaches as follows:
BS updates M G-RNTI list or the number of HARQ-ACK information bits for a particular UE based on interest indication by UE specific DCI or MAC CE or RRC message. Upon receiving the update from BS or upon sending ACK to the update to BS, UE determines the number of HARQ-ACK information bits based on the update (see, ¶ [0311]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang in view of Xu with Lee to include the number of G-RNTI in the HARQ-ACK information in order to efficiently determine a number of HARQ-ACK information bits.
Claims 10-12 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (hereinafter Wang)(US 2023/0216614) in view of Xu et al. (hereinafter Xu)(US 2024/0267161), and further in view of Yin et al. (hereinafter Yin)(US 2024/0146466).
Regarding claims 10 and 19, Wang in view of Xu teaches all limitations as presented above except for the mapping table including a relation between the HARQ-ACK feedback combination and a PUCCH resource index.
Yin teaches as follows:
Table 3 illustrates an example of mapping of values for one HARQ-ACK information bit to sequences for PUCCH format 0. Table-4 illustrates an example of mapping of values for two HARQ-ACK information bits to sequences for PUCCH format 0 (see, ¶ [0094]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang in view of Xu with Yin to include the table mapping between the HARQ-ACK feedback information and PUCCH sequences as taught by Yin in order to efficiently allocate PUCCH resources.
Regarding claim 11, Yin teaches the sequence cyclic shift index as follows:
The UE may determine a value of mO and mCS for computing a value of cyclic shift α where mO is provided by initialcyclicshift of PUCCH format 0, and mCS is determined from the value of one HARQ-ACK information bit or from the values of two HARQ-ACK information bits as in Table 1 and Table 2, respectively (see, ¶ [0094]).
The value of cyclic shift indicates the total number of PUCCH resources.
Therefore, it is rejected for similar reason as presented above.
Regarding claim 12, Yin teaches as follows:
Wherein the PUCCH resource includes a PUCCH sequence if the PUCCH transmission is performed with a first PUCCH format , or one or two bits are transmitted on the PUCCH resource if the PUCCH transmission is performed with a second PUCCH format (HARQ-ACK may be reported on a PUCCH resource with PUCCH format 1. In this case, if the PUCCH resource with a positive SR is configured with PUCCH format 1, the HARQ-ACK bits may be reported on the PUCCH format 1 resource for the positive SR. The HARQ-ACK is reported on the HARQ-ACK PUCCH resource in case of a negative SR or no SR to be reported. In another example, if the PUCCH resource with a positive SR is configured with PUCCH format 0, only the HARQ-ACK is reported on the HARQ-ACK PUCCH resource, and the positive SR is dropped, see, ¶ [0095]).
Therefore, it is rejected for similar reason as presented above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jeong S Park whose telephone number is (571)270-1597. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 8:00-4:30 ET.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Rebecca E Song can be reached at 571-270-3667. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JEONG S PARK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2417
September 3, 2026
Prosecution Insights