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 .
Priority
This application is a 371 of PCT/CN2022/090366 filed on 4/29/2022.
The present application does not claim for foreign priority.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) were submitted on 11/26/2024 and 12/16/2025. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 10, 16, and 21 are objected because of the following informalities:
In claims 1, 10, and 16, it is suggested to replace “are” with “is” to read, “determine that the first plurality of carriers [[are]]is included in a first cell group …” for grammatical correction.
In claim 21, it is suggested to amend the claim to read as follows for clarity and consistency in style with its similar claims 7 and 14.
21. (Currently Amended) The processor of claim 16, wherein the first reference slot is determined based on the first reference slot is one of:
a slot where a last PDSCH transmission in the first plurality of PDSCH transmissions is received[[,]];
a slot where an earliest PDSCH transmission in the first plurality of PDSCH transmissions is received[[,]]; or
a slot where the DCI format is received.
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 for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1- 12 and 14-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Khoshnevisan et al. (US 2021/0266943 A1, hereinafter Khoshnevisan).
Regarding claim 1:
Khoshnevisan teaches a user equipment (UE) (see, Khoshnevisan: Fig. 12, UE 1205; para. [0160]) for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory (see, Khoshnevisan: Fig. 12, Memory 1230; para. [0160]); and at least one processor (see, Khoshnevisan: Fig. 12, Processor 1240; para. [0160]) coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to:
receive a first plurality of physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmissions on a first plurality of carriers, wherein the first plurality of PDSCH transmissions is scheduled by a downlink control information (DCI) format (see, Khoshnevisa: para. [0087], “A base station 105 may transmit a DCI message in a PDCCH to a UE 115 to schedule multiple physical channels (e.g., multiple PDSCHs) between the base station 105 and the UE 115. In some examples, the base station 105 may schedule the multiple physical channels over multiple component carriers. For example, the base station 105 may schedule the multiple physical channels on multiple cells, where each cell is associated with a component carrier. Accordingly, the UE 115 may receive the DCI message and monitor the multiple component carriers for the multiple scheduled physical channels. In some examples, the UE 115 may transmit feedback information (e.g., HARQ feedback) to the base station 105 based on receiving and decoding each of the multiple physical channels.”);
determine that the first plurality of carriers are included in a first cell group and a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback for the first plurality of PDSCH transmissions is to be transmitted in a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) (see, Khoshnevisa: para. [0087], “In some implementations, the UE 115 may use resources associated with an uplink control channel (e.g., PUCCH resources) for the feedback transmissions and may determine which PUCCH resources to use for the feedback transmissions based on the DCI message received from the base station 105.”; para. [0094], “the UE 115 may communicate with a primary cell, a primary secondary cell (e.g., a primary cell in a secondary cell group), or a secondary cell using a component carrier 305-a or a component carrier 305-b, or both.”; para. [0095], “the PDCCH may be associated with a primary cell, a primary secondary cell, or a secondary cell and may schedule PDSCH or PUSCH on multiple cells (e.g., multiple component carriers 305) using a single DCI message. In some cases, a number of cells (e.g., a number of component carriers) may be preconfigured (e.g., two cells).”);
determine a first slot for transmitting the first PUCCH, wherein the first slot is determined based on at least one of a first reference subcarrier spacing, a first reference slot, or a first HARQ-ACK feedback timing offset between the first reference slot and the first slot (see, Khoshnevisa: para. [0094], “a UE 115 may communicate with a base station 105 over multiple component carriers 305. The component carriers 305 may correspond to a system bandwidth, which may correspond to time resources (e.g., a symbol, a minislot, a slot, a subframe, a frame), as well as frequency resources (e.g., subcarriers, carriers).”); and
transmit the first PUCCH in the first slot (see, Khoshnevisa: para. [0127], “among the multiple DCI messages 710 that have a value of a feedback indicator field indicating a same slot for the PUCCH 720, and for which the UE 115 transmits corresponding HARQ feedback in the PUCCH 720, ...”. Also, see Figs. 5-7; para. [0097] [0112] [0127]).
Regarding claim 2:
As discussed above, Khoshnevisan teaches all limitations in claim 1.
Khoshnevisan further teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the UE to: receive a second plurality of PDSCH transmissions on a second plurality of carriers, wherein both the first plurality of PDSCH transmissions and the second plurality of PDSCH transmissions are scheduled by the DCI format; determine that the second plurality of carriers are included in a second cell group and a HARQ-ACK feedback for the second plurality of PDSCH transmissions is to be transmitted in a second PUCCH; determine a second slot for transmitting the second PUCCH, wherein the second slot is determined based on at least one of a second reference subcarrier spacing, a second reference slot, or a second HARQ-ACK feedback timing offset between the second reference slot and the second slot (see, Khoshnevisa: para. [0099], “the base station 105-a may transmit, and the UE 115-a may receive, the DCI message 210. In some examples, the base station 105-a may transmit, and the UE 115-a may receive, multiple DCI messages including the DCI message 210. The DCI message 210 may schedule multiple PDSCH across multiple component carriers. In some examples, the UE 115-a may be configured to handle HARQ feedback for the multiple scheduled PDSCH. The UE 115-a may, for example, determine resources (also referred to as PUCCH resource) of a PUCCH for providing HARQ feedback for the multiple scheduled PDSCH based on one or more values provided in the DCI message 210. In some examples, the DCI message 210 may include one or more separate values (also referred to as fields or indicator fields) that convey information for providing HARQ feedback for the multiple scheduled PDSCH. For example, the DCI message 210 may include a feedback timing indicator field (e.g., a PDSCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator field (K.sub.1)), a resource indicator field (e.g., a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) field), a transmit power control (TPC) indicator field, or a downlink assignment index (DAI) field, among other examples. In some other examples, the DCI message 210 may include a composite value that conveys information for providing HARQ feedback for the multiple scheduled PDSCH (e.g., a pattern or bitmap, a value that maps to an RRC configuration for providing HARQ feedback for the multiple scheduled PDSCH, etc.).”; Also, see Figs. 5-7; para. [0093-0112] [0127].); and
transmit the second PUCCH in the second slot (see, Khoshnevisa: para. [0127], “among the multiple DCI messages 710 that have a value of a feedback indicator field indicating a same slot for the PUCCH 720, and for which the UE 115 transmits corresponding HARQ feedback in the PUCCH 720, ...”).
Regarding claim 3:
As discussed above, Khoshnevisan teaches all limitations in claim 2.
Khoshnevisan further teaches wherein the first cell group and the second cell group are determined based on at least one of: the first cell group and the second cell group are within different frequency ranges; one of the first cell group or the second cell group is on a shared spectrum for access and the other cell group is not on the shared spectrum for access; or the first plurality of carriers is configured within the first cell group and the second plurality of carriers is configured within the second cell group by radio resource control (RRC) signaling (see, Khoshnevisa: para. [0065] [0075-0077]; para. [009], “A component carrier may be associated with a carrier bandwidth of a radio frequency spectrum, and in some examples, the carrier bandwidth may be referred to as a system bandwidth of the carrier or the wireless communications system 200. For example, the carrier bandwidth may be one of a number of determined bandwidths for carriers of a particular radio access technology (e.g., 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40or 80 megahertz (MHz)). The base station 105-a and the UE 115-a may be configured to support the directional communications 205 over a carrier bandwidth or may be configured to support the directional communications 205 over one of multiple carrier bandwidths. In some examples, the base station 105-a or the UE 115-a may support simultaneous communications via carriers associated with multiple carrier bandwidths.”; para. [0094], “a UE 115 may communicate with a base station 105 over multiple component carriers 305. The component carriers 305 may correspond to a system bandwidth, which may correspond to time resources (e.g., a symbol, a minislot, a slot, a subframe, a frame), as well as frequency resources (e.g., subcarriers, carriers). In some examples, the UE 115 may communicate with a primary cell, a primary secondary cell (e.g., a primary cell in a secondary cell group), or a secondary cell using a component carrier 305-a or a component carrier 305-b, or both. Examples of a primary cell, a primary secondary cell, or a secondary cell may be examples of a base station 105, as described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.”; para. [0095], “In the example of FIG. 3, a UE 115 may receive, from a base station 105, a DCI message 310 on the component carrier 305-a. For example, the UE 115 may receive a PDCCH carrying the DCI message 310 on the component carrier 305-a. The PDCCH may, in some examples, be associated with a secondary cell scheduling PDSCH or PUSCH on a primary cell or a primary secondary cell. For example, the DCI message 310 may schedule both a PDSCH 315-a associated with the component carrier 305-a and a PDSCH 315-b associated with the component carrier 305-b. In some other examples, the PDCCH may be associated with a primary cell, a primary secondary cell, or a secondary cell and may schedule PDSCH or PUSCH on multiple cells (e.g., multiple component carriers 305) using a single DCI message. In some cases, a number of cells (e.g., a number of component carriers) may be preconfigured (e.g., two cells).”; para. [0130], “a UE 115 may communicate with a base station 105 over multiple component carriers 805. The component carriers 805 may correspond to a system bandwidth, which may correspond to time resources (e.g., a symbol, a minislot, a slot, a subframe, a frame), as well as frequency resources (e.g., subcarriers, carriers). In some examples, the UE 115 may communicate with a primary cell, a primary secondary cell, or a secondary cell using a component carrier 805-a, a component carrier 805-b, or a component carrier 805-c, or any combination thereof. Examples of a primary cell, a primary secondary cell, or a secondary cell may be examples of a base station 105, as described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.”).
Regarding claim 4:
As discussed above, Khoshnevisan teaches all limitations in claim 2.
Khoshnevisan further teaches wherein the first HARQ-ACK feedback timing offset and the second HARQ-ACK feedback timing offset are indicated by a single HARQ-ACK feedback timing indicator included in the DCI format (see, Khoshnevisan: para. [0099], “the base station 105-a may transmit, and the UE 115-a may receive, the DCI message 210. In some examples, the base station 105-a may transmit, and the UE 115-a may receive, multiple DCI messages including the DCI message 210. The DCI message 210 may schedule multiple PDSCH across multiple component carriers. In some examples, the UE 115-a may be configured to handle HARQ feedback for the multiple scheduled PDSCH. The UE 115-a may, for example, determine resources (also referred to as PUCCH resource) of a PUCCH for providing HARQ feedback for the multiple scheduled PDSCH based on one or more values provided in the DCI message 210. … In some other examples, the DCI message 210 may include a composite value that conveys information for providing HARQ feedback for the multiple scheduled PDSCH (e.g., a pattern or bitmap, a value that maps to an RRC configuration for providing HARQ feedback for the multiple scheduled PDSCH, etc.).”; Also, see para. [0100] [0123].).
Regarding claim 5:
As discussed above, Khoshnevisan teaches all limitations in claim 2.
Khoshnevisan further teaches wherein the first HARQ-ACK feedback timing offset and the second HARQ-ACK feedback timing offset are separately indicated by two HARQ-ACK feedback timing indicators included in the DCI format (see, Khoshnevisan: para. [0099], “the base station 105-a may transmit, and the UE 115-a may receive, the DCI message 210. In some examples, the base station 105-a may transmit, and the UE 115-a may receive, multiple DCI messages including the DCI message 210. The DCI message 210 may schedule multiple PDSCH across multiple component carriers. In some examples, the UE 115-a may be configured to handle HARQ feedback for the multiple scheduled PDSCH. The UE 115-a may, for example, determine resources (also referred to as PUCCH resource) of a PUCCH for providing HARQ feedback for the multiple scheduled PDSCH based on one or more values provided in the DCI message 210. In some examples, the DCI message 210 may include one or more separate values (also referred to as fields or indicator fields) that convey information for providing HARQ feedback for the multiple scheduled PDSCH.”; Also, see para. [0100] [0123].).
Regarding claim 6:
As discussed above, Khoshnevisan teaches all limitations in claim 1.
Khoshnevisan further teaches wherein the first reference subcarrier spacing is determined based on the first reference subcarrier spacing is at least one of: configured by an RRC signaling; a subcarrier spacing associated with a carrier where the first PUCCH is to be transmitted; a subcarrier spacing associated with a carrier where the DCI format is received; a largest subcarrier spacing among all subcarrier spacings of the first plurality of carriers; a smallest subcarrier spacing among all subcarrier spacings of the first plurality of carriers; a subcarrier spacing associated with a carrier where a last PDSCH transmission of the first plurality of PDSCH transmissions is received; a subcarrier spacing associated with a carrier where an earliest PDSCH transmission of the first plurality of PDSCH transmissions is received; a subcarrier spacing associated with a carrier with a smallest serving cell index among all carriers configured for the UE in the first cell group; a subcarrier spacing associated with a carrier with a smallest serving cell index among all carriers scheduled by the DCI format; a subcarrier spacing associated with a carrier with a smallest serving cell index among the first plurality of carriers; a subcarrier spacing associated with a carrier with a largest serving cell index among all carriers configured for the UE in the first cell group; a subcarrier spacing associated with a carrier with a largest serving cell index among all carriers scheduled by the DCI format; a subcarrier spacing associated with a carrier with a largest serving cell index among the first plurality of carriers; a subcarrier spacing associated with a first scheduled carrier among all carriers scheduled by the DCI format; a subcarrier spacing associated with a first scheduled carrier among the first plurality of carriers; a subcarrier spacing associated with a last scheduled carrier among all carriers scheduled by the DCI format; a subcarrier spacing associated with a last scheduled carrier among all the first plurality of carriers; or a subcarrier spacing associated with the first reference slot (see, Khoshnevisan: para. [0102], “a UE 115 may communicate with a base station 105 over multiple component carriers 405. The component carriers 405 may correspond to a system bandwidth, which may correspond to time resources (e.g., a symbol, a minislot, a slot, a subframe, a frame), as well as frequency resources (e.g., subcarriers, carriers). In some examples, the component carriers 405 may have a specific subcarrier spacing.”; para. [0107], “the UE 115 may be configured to interpret a value of a timing offset (e.g., K.sub.0) indicated in the DCI message 410 differently based on a subcarrier spacing of the component carriers 405 for each PDSCH 415. The PDSCH 415 may begin in a same symbol, minislot, slot, subframe, or frame, but depending on a beginning symbol (e.g., S) and an allocation length (e.g., L) associated with the PDSCH 415, the PDSCH 415 may end in different symbols, minislots, slots, subframes, or frames.”; Also, see para. [0105] [0107] [0115] [0133] [0152].).
Regarding claim 7:
As discussed above, Khoshnevisan teaches all limitations in claim 1.
Khoshnevisan further teaches wherein the first reference slot is determined based on the first reference slot is one of: a slot where a last PDSCH transmission in the first plurality of PDSCH transmissions is received; a slot where an earliest PDSCH transmission in the first plurality of PDSCH transmissions is received; or a slot where the DCI format is received (see, Khoshnevisan: Fig. 4 and para. [0100], “The UE 115-a may be configured to determine resources of a PUCCH for providing HARQ feedback for the multiple scheduled PDSCH based in part on the feedback timing indicator field. The feedback timing indicator field may be a timing value (also referred to as a timing offset) in resources (e.g., a symbol, a minislot, a slot, a subframe, a frame) between reception of a PDSCH (e.g., reception of a PDSCH transmission) and transmission of a corresponding PUCCH (e.g., transmission of HARQ feedback on the PUCCH). In some examples, the UE 115-a may interpret the feedback timing indicator field depending on one or more factors, for example, such as other values (e.g., other fields) in the DCI message 210. Examples of cross component carrier scheduling for multiple physical channels, and feedback timing interpretation is described with reference to FIG. 4.”; Fig. 6 and para. [0121], “a UE 115 may receive, from a base station 105, a DCI message scheduling both PDSCH 610 associated with the component carrier 605-a and PDSCH 615 associated with the component carrier 605-b. In some examples, the DCI message may include one or more separate values (also referred to as fields) that convey information for providing HARQ feedback for the multiple scheduled PDSCH. For example, the DCI may include a feedback timing indicator field (e.g., K.sub.1), a PRI field, a TPC indicator field, or a DAI field, among other indicator fields. In some examples, in addition to scheduling the PDSCH 610 associated with the component carrier 605-a and the PDSCH 615 associated with the component carrier 605-b, the DCI message may schedule a PUCCH 620.”.).
Regarding claim 8:
As discussed above, Khoshnevisan teaches all limitations in claim 1.
Khoshnevisan further teaches wherein HARQ-ACK information bits for the first plurality of PDSCH transmissions are generated per scheduled carrier among the first plurality of carriers (see, Khoshnevisan: para. [0110], “the base station 105-a may configure the UE 115-a to generate a codebook (e.g., a HARQ-ACK codebook) for providing a HARQ feedback for multiple scheduled PDSCH. … The UE 115-a may thus generate a codebook for multiple PDSCH on multiple component carriers, and transmit a HARQ feedback for the PDSCH based on the generated codebook. In some examples, a codebook may be arranged according to PDSCH occasion and cell (e.g., primary cell, secondary cell). The codebook may thus include a number of HARQ feedback bits to be reported for each PDSCH.”) and then concatenated based on an order of serving cell indices of corresponding scheduled carriers (see, Khoshvensisan: para. [0123], “among the multiple DCI messages including the DCI message 210 that have a value of a feedback indicator field (e.g., a PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator field) indicating a same slot for a PUCCH transmission, and for which the UE 115-a transmits corresponding HARQ feedback in a PUCCH, for the PUCCH resource determination, the UE 115-a may order the multiple DCI messages in an ascending order across serving cells indexes for a same PDCCH monitoring occasion and are then indexed in an ascending order across PDCCH monitoring occasion indexes.”; Also, see para. [0127] [0128] [0134].).
Regarding claim 9:
As discussed above, Khoshnevisan teaches all limitations in claim 8.
Khoshnevisan further teaches wherein a total number of the HARQ-ACK information bits for the first plurality of PDSCH transmissions is configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling (see, Khoshnevisan: para. [0111], “the base station 105-a may configure the UE 115-a, via an RRC configuration (e.g., pdsch-HARQ-ACK-Codebook=semi-static), to support a Type-1 codebook. ... In some examples, the UE 115-a may be configured to determine the number of PDSCH occasions per downlink serving cell.”; para. [0099], “the DCI message 210 may include a composite value that conveys information for providing HARQ feedback for the multiple scheduled PDSCH (e.g., a pattern or bitmap, a value that maps to an RRC configuration for providing HARQ feedback for the multiple scheduled PDSCH, etc.).”; Also, see para. [0098] [0099] [0110-0112] [0128] [0122].).
Regarding claim 10:
Claim 10 is directed towards a base station (BS) (see, Khoshnevisan: Fig. 16, UE 1605; para. [0189]) for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory (see, Khoshnevisan: Fig. 16, Memory 1630; para. [0189]); and at least one processor (see, Khoshnevisan: Fig. 16, Processor 1640; para. [0189]) coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the BS to: perform features to claim 1 from the perspective of the base station. Therefore, claim 10 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 11:
Claim 11 is directed towards the BS of claim 10 that is further limited to similar features to claim 2. Therefore, claim 11 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 2 above.
Regarding claim 12:
Claim 12 is directed towards the BS of claim 11 that is further limited to similar features to claim 3. Therefore, claim 12 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 3 above.
Regarding claim 14:
Claim 14 is directed towards the BS of claim 10 that is further limited to similar features to claim 7. Therefore, claim 14 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 7 above.
Regarding claim 15:
Claim 15 recites the method which corresponds to the UE of claim 1, and contains no additional limitations. Therefore, claim 15 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 16:
Claim 16 recites a processor (e.g. a processor in the UE of claim 1) (see, Khoshnevisan: Fig. 12, Processor 1240; para. [0160]) for wireless communication, comprising: at least one controller (see, Khoshnevisan: Fig. 12, UE Communications Manager 1210; para. [0160]) coupled with at least one memory (see, Khoshnevisan: Fig. 12, Memory 1230; para. [0160]) and configured to cause the processor to: perform the features of claim 1. Therefore, claim 16 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 17:
Claim 17 is directed towards the processor of claim 16 that is further limited to similar features to claim 2. Therefore, claim 17 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 2 above.
Regarding claim 18:
Claim 18 is directed towards the processor of claim 17 that is further limited to similar features to claim 3. Therefore, claim 18 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 3 above.
Regarding claim 19:
Claim 19 is directed towards the processor of claim 17 that is further limited to similar features to claim 4. Therefore, claim 19 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 4 above.
Regarding claim 20:
Claim 20 is directed towards the processor of claim 17 that is further limited to similar features to claim 5. Therefore, claim 20 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 5 above.
Regarding claim 21:
Claim 21 is directed towards the processor of claim 16 that is further limited to similar features to claim 7. Therefore, claim 21 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 7 above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JI-HAE YEA whose telephone number is (571) 270-3310. The examiner can normally be reached on MON-FRI, 7am-3pm, ET.
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/JI-HAE YEA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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