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 .
The claims filed on 09/06/2024 are entered and acknowledge. Claims 1-15 have been amended. Claims 16-20 have been added. Claims 1-20 are currently pending in the instant application.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 09/06/2024 have been considered. The drawings are objected to because:
In the drawings, Figures 1-3 and 6-9 do not comply with 37 CFR 1.84(l) because the LINES, NUMBERS, and LETTERS do not have satisfactory reproduction characteristics and/or do not permit adequate reproduction, are not durable, clean, black, sufficiently dense and dark, and uniformly thick and well-defined.
In the drawings, Figures 3 and 6-9 do not comply with 37 CFR 1.84(m) because the shading does not aid in understanding the invention and does reduce legibility.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 09/06/2024 and 12/03/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objection
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 9 recites in part “The UE of claim 1, wherein, When the control signal…”. It appears “When” should be a lower case “w”. Appropriate action is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention
Claims 1-2, 11-12 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hofstrom et al Pub. No.: (US 2021/0391952 A1) (hereinafter “Hofstrom”)
With respect to claim 1: Hofstrom discloses a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:
at least one memory (user equipment includes a memory [0171], [Fig. 11 item 1104]); and
at least one processor coupled with the at least one processor and configured to cause the UE to (User equipment includes one or more processors [0171], [Fig. 11 item 1102]):
receive a control signal scheduling transport blocks (the UE receiving PDSCH scheduled by PDCCH transmission and transmission of a TB within a bundle of downlink or uplink assignment, wherein the bundling relies on HARQ entity for invoking the same HARQ process for each transmission that is part of the same bundle [0111], [0165], scheduling done by dynamically signaling of a DCI message [0072-0073]), wherein each of the transport blocks is associated with a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process with HARQ feedback enabling or is associated with a HARQ process with HARQ feedback disabling according to a HARQ indication (HARQ ID=2 has its HARQ feedback disabled, and when the HARQ process is used for transmission of a TB, it is bundles and the receiver knows how to receive and process these TB;s within he bundle [0125]. Additionally, transport blocks is enabled for a specific HARQ process identified by a specific HARQ ID [0124]. The indication to enable or can be provided to the UE in any suitable manner such as in the received DCI using bit indication [0068], [0072] [0130]); and
receive the transport blocks based on the control signal (the UE and the base station performs DL/UL data transmission/reception associated with the indicated HARQ process with bundling enabled [0131]).
With respect to claim 2: Hofstrom discloses the UE of claim 1 as set forth above.
Hofstrom discloses wherein, the HARQ indication is configured by a higher layer parameter or indicated by the control signal (the HARQ indication is provided to the UE by the DCI using a bit indication [0130], [0136]).
With respect to claim 12: Hofstrom discloses a base unit, comprising:
at least one memory (bases station including memory [Fig. 8], [0165]);
at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the base unit to (bases station including processor [Fig. 8], [0165]);
transmit a control signal scheduling transport blocks (the UE receiving from a base station PDSCH scheduled by PDCCH transmission and transmission of a TB within a bundle of downlink or uplink assignment, wherein the bundling relies on HARQ entity for invoking the same HARQ process for each transmission that is part of the same bundle [0111], [0165], [0064], scheduling done by dynamically signaling of a DCI message [0072-0073]), wherein each transport block is associated with a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process with HARQ feedback enabling or is associated with a HARQ process with HARQ feedback disabling according to a HARQ indication (HARQ ID=2 has its HARQ feedback disabled, and when the HARQ process is used for transmission of a TB, it is bundles and the receiver knows how to receive and process these TB;s within he bundle [0125]. Additionally, transport blocks is enabled for a specific HARQ process identified by a specific HARQ ID [0124]. The indication to enable or can be provided to the UE in any suitable manner such as in the received DCI using bit indication [0068], [0072] [0130]);
transmit the transport blocks based on the control signal (the UE and the base station performs DL/UL data transmission/reception associated with the indicated HARQ process with bundling enabled [0131]).
With respect to claim 11, they do not teach or further define over the limitations in claim 1, respectively. Therefore claim 11 is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 1.
With respect to claims 16-17, they do not teach or further define over the limitations in claims 1-2, respectively. Therefore claims 16-17 is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claims 1-2.
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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 3-5, 13-14, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hofstrom et al Pub. No.: (US 2021/0391952 A1) (hereinafter “Hofstrom”) as applied to claims 1-2, 11-12 and 16-17 above, further in view of Talarico et al Pub. No.: (US 2022/0046677 A1) (hereinafter "Talarico”).
With respect to claim 3: Hofstrom discloses the UE of claim 1 as set forth above, wherein, the at least one processor is further configured to cause the UE to:
Hofstrom discloses wherein, each of the first number of time slots provides a transport block associated with an HARQ process with HARQ feedback enabling (HARQ feedback for transmission of TBs in respective timeslots [0111], [0133]);
transmit the HARQ bit in a first time slot, wherein, the first time slot is the HARQ feedback time slot for the transport block in each of the first number of time slot (In a HARQ procedure as disclosed, a feedback (HARQ bit) is transmitted after a processing/slot delay (first time slot), in response to the received packet [0056-0061]. A HARQ respond requires a bit, indicating a ACK or NACK. Hofstrom does not specifically indicate if the HARQ is an ACK or NACK);
However, Hofstrom does not explicitly disclose generate a HARQ-ACK bit by performing a logical AND operation of HARQ-ACKs across a first number of time slot;
transmitting the HARQ-ACK bit in a first time slot, wherein, the first time slot is the HARQ-ACK feedback time slot for the transport block in each of the first number of time slots;
Talarico discloses generate a HARQ-ACK bit by performing a logical AND operation of HARQ-ACKs across a first number of time slots (the HARQ-ACK bits generated by the different candidates are bundled/compressed into one HARD-ACK bit by logical OR or by logical AND [0076], [0070]-0072);
transmitting the HARQ-ACK bit in a first time slot, wherein, the first time slot is the HARQ-ACK feedback time slot for the transport block in each of the first number of time slots (transmitting the compressed HARQ-ACK bits in a given timeslot, the feedback for the PDSCH are grouped into a HARQ-ACK bit [0070-0076], [Fig.2, Fig. 3, Fig.4]. In a given PUCCH occasions all HARQ feedback bit is associated with a PDSCH occasions [0070]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hofstrom in view of Talarico in order to generate a HARQ-ACK bit by performing a logical AND operation of HARQ-ACKs across a first number of time slots and modifying the HARQ of Hofstrom to a HARQ-ACK bit as disclosed in Talarico;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would reduce uplink control overhead and have a better utilization of the maximum channel occupancy time [Talarico: 0114].
With respect to claim 4: Hofstrom discloses the UE of claim 1 as set forth above, wherein, the at least one processor is further configured to cause the UE to:
Hofstrom discloses receive a second number of transport blocks before a second time slot (the UE may expect that the received TB is repeated within each symbol allocation among each of the PDSCH consecutive slots [0111], [0133], wherein the bundling is configured with a period of X slots, and the allocation is applied every X-th slot [0135], [0140]. Therefore, the TB is received before the next allocated slot);
However, Hofstrom does not explicitly disclose transmit feedback for the second number of transport blocks no earlier than the second time slot, and not expect to receive a new transport block in the second time slot;
Talarico discloses transmitting feedback for the second number of transport blocks no earlier than the second time slot, and not expect to receive a new transport block in the second time slot (transmitting feedback for the PDSCH/ split PDSCH as a group PUCCH, wherein the HARQ-ACK feedback are transmitted after a second time slot, and wherein the second time slot (block slots) does not show any indication of receiving a new transport block in the second time slot as in the cited figures [0070-0076], [Fig.2, Fig. 3, Fig.4]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hofstrom in view of Talarico in order to transmit feedback for the second number of transport blocks no earlier than the second time slot, and not expect to receive a new transport block in the second time slot;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would reduce uplink control overhead and have a better utilization of the maximum channel occupancy time [Talarico: 0114].
With respect to claim 5: Hofstrom-Talarico discloses the UE of claim 4 as set forth above.
Hofstrom discloses wherein, the second number is determined by the number of HARQ processes with HARQ feedback enabling (Determining the number of repetition to use for a HARQ process and the number of HARQ process is determined by a calculation of formula (2Tp+T1+T2)/Ts [0061], [0069] feedback enabling of HARQ process [0124]. Therefore, the number of transport block is in correlation with the number of repetition to use for bundling for the specific HARQ process and/or the number of HARQ processes).
With respect to claim 13: Hofstrom discloses the base unit of claim 12 as set forth above, wherein, the at least one processor is further configured to cause the base unit to:
Hofstrom discloses wherein, each of the first number of time slots provides a transport block associated with a HARQ process with HARQ feedback enabling (HARQ feedback for transmission of TBs in respective timeslots [0111], [0133]);
receive a HARQ bit in a first time slot and the first time slot is the HARQ feedback time slot for the transport block in each of the first number of time slots (In a HARQ procedure as disclosed, a feedback (HARQ bit) is received at the transmitter after a processing/slot delay (first time slot), in response to the transmitted packet [0056-0061]. A HARQ respond requires a bit, indicating a ACK or NACK. Hofstrom does not specifically indicate if the HARQ is an ACK or NACK);
However, Hofstrom does not explicitly disclose wherein the HARQ-ACK bit is generated by performing a logical AND operation of HARQ-ACKs across a first number of time slots;
receive a HARQ-ACK bit in a first time slot and the first time slot is the HARQ-ACK feedback time slot for the transport block in each of the first number of time slots;
Talarico discloses wherein the HARQ-ACK bit is generated by performing a logical AND operation of HARQ-ACKs across a first number of time slots (the HARQ-ACK bits generated by the different candidates are bundles/compressed into one HARD-ACK bit by logical OR or by logical AND [0076], [0070]-0072);
receive a HARQ-ACK bit in a first time slot and the first time slot is the HARQ-ACK feedback time slot for the transport block in each of the first number of time slots (transmitting the compressed HARQ-ACK bits in a given timeslot, the feedback for the PDSCH are grouped into a HARQ-ACK bit [0070-0076], [Fig.2, Fig. 3, Fig.4]. In a given PUCCH occasions all HARQ feedback bit is associated with a PDSCH occasions [0070]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hofstrom in view of Talarico in order to generate a HARQ-ACK bit by performing a logical AND operation of HARQ-ACKs across a first number of time slots and modifying the HARQ of Hofstrom to a HARQ-ACK bit as disclosed in Talarico;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would reduce uplink control overhead and have a better utilization of the maximum channel occupancy time [Talarico: 0114].
With respect to claim 14: Hofstrom discloses the base unit of claim 12 as set forth above, wherein, the at least one processor is further configured to cause the base unit to:
Hofstrom discloses transmit a second number of transport blocks before a second time slot (the UE may expect that the received TB from the base station is repeated within each symbol allocation among each of the PDSCH consecutive slots [0111], [0133], wherein the bundling is configured with a period of X slots, and the allocation is applied every X-th slot [0135], [0140]. Therefore, the TB is received before the next allocated slot);
However, Hofstrom does not explicitly disclose receive feedback for the second number of transport blocks no earlier than the second time slot;
Talarico discloses receive feedback for the second number of transport blocks no earlier than the second time slot (transmitting feedback to the base station for the PDCCH/PDSCH after a delayed time slot [Fig. 6], [0096-0106]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hofstrom in view of Talarico in order to transmit feedback for the second number of transport blocks no earlier than the second time slot;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would reduce uplink control overhead and have a better utilization of the maximum channel occupancy time [Talarico: 0114].
With respect to claims 18-20, they do not teach or further define over the limitations in claims 3-5, respectively. Therefore claims 18-20 is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claims 3-5
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hofstrom et al Pub. No.: (US 2021/0391952 A1) (hereinafter “Hofstrom”) in view of Talarico et al Pub. No.: (US 2022/0046677 A1) (hereinafter "Talarico”) as applied to claims 3-5, 13-14, and 18-20 above, further in view of Takeda et al Pub. No.: (US 2022/0201732 A1) (hereinafter "Takeda”).
With respect to claim 6: Hofstrom-Talarico discloses the UE of claim 4 as set forth above.
Hofstrom discloses the second number is determined by the number of HARQ processes with HARQ feedback enabling (Determining the number of repetition to use for a HARQ process and the number of HARQ process is determined by a calculation of formula (2Tp+T1+T2)/Ts [0061], [0069] feedback enabling of HARQ process [0124]. Therefore, the number of transport block is in correlation with the number of repetition to use for bundling for the specific HARQ process and/or the number of HARQ processes);
However, Hofstrom-Talarico does not explicitly disclose wherein, the second number is determined by a minimal value of the number of HARQ processes indicated by a fixed value;
Takeda discloses wherein, the second number is determined by a minimal value of the number of HARQ processes indicated by a fixed value ( determining that the HARQ process number for the 1+nth TB among the plurality of TB’s is a minimum value of the HARQ process number field [Claim 11];
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hofstrom-Talarico in view of Takeda in order to have the second number determined by a minimal value of the number of HARQ processes;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would increase high speed data rates and providing lower latency [Takeda: 0002].
Claims 7 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hofstrom et al Pub. No.: (US 2021/0391952 A1) (hereinafter “Hofstrom”) as applied to claims 1-2, 11-12 and 16-17 above, further in view of Talarico et al Pub. No.: (US 2022/0046677 A1) (hereinafter "Talarico”) and Bae et al Pub. No.: (US 2023/0224100 A1) (hereinafter "Bae”).
With respect to claim 7: Hofstrom discloses the UE of claim 1 as set forth above, wherein, the at least one processor is further configured to cause the UE to:
Hofstrom discloses receive transport blocks before a third time slot (the UE may expect that the received TB is repeated within each symbol allocation among each of the PDSCH consecutive slots [0111], [0133], wherein the bundling is configured with a period of X slots, and the allocation is applied every X-th slot [0135], [0140]. Therefore, the TB is received before the next X-th allocated slot);
transmit feedback for the received transport blocks within a time slot set (in the HARQ procedure, the packet reaches the receiver after a propagation delay and the receiver sends a feedback after a T1 slot delay [0056]);
However, Hofstrom does not explicitly disclose wherein, the time slot set includes a third number of time slots determined by at least one of the number of HARQ processes with HARQ feedback enabling and a maximal bundle size, and each time slot in the time slot set is not earlier than the third time slot, and not expect to receive a new transport block in the third time slot, wherein the feedback is in a time slot not within the time slot set;
Talarico discloses each time slot in the time slot set is not earlier than the third time slot, and not expect to receive a new transport block in the third time slot, wherein the feedback is in a time slot not within the time slot set (transmitting feedback for the PDSCH/ split PDSCH as a group PUCCH, wherein the HARQ-ACK feedbacks are transmitted after a third time slot, and wherein the third time slot (blank slots) does not show any indication of receiving a new transport block in the third time slot as in the cited figures [0070-0076], [Fig.2, Fig. 3, Fig.4]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hofstrom in view of Talarico in order to transmit feedback for the second number of transport blocks no earlier than the second time slot, and not expect to receive a new transport block in the second time slot;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would reduce uplink control overhead and have a better utilization of the maximum channel occupancy time [Talarico: 0114];
However, Hofstrom-Talarico does not explicitly disclose wherein, the time slot set includes a third number of time slots determined by at least one of the number of HARQ processes with HARQ feedback enabling and a maximal bundle size;
Bae discloses wherein, the time slot set includes a third number of time slots determined by at least one of the number of HARQ processes with HARQ feedback enabling and a maximal bundle size (The number of slots, subframes and the number of symbols in a frame may variously change [0092]. Fig. 4 shows a plurality (3rd) number of time slots [0093], the configured value K may be an absolute maximum or minimum value of the slot indication of a HARQ-ACK operation [0307-0327], wherein HARQ feedback enabled [0333], [0340], [0298]. The claim limitation states “at least one of”, therefore, only 1 of the two option is needed to satisfy the claim limitation. In this case, the number of HARQ processes with HARQ feedback enabling is satisfied by Bae);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hofstrom-Talarico in view of Bae in order to have a third number of time slots determined by the number of HARQ processes with HARQ feedback enabling;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would improve the reliability of uplink transmission delivering HARQ-ACK [Bae: 0228].
With respect to claim 15: Hofstrom discloses the base unit of claim 12 as set forth above, wherein, the at least one processor is further configured to cause the base unit to:
Hofstrom discloses transmit transport blocks before a third time slot (the UE may expect that the received TB from the base station is repeated within each symbol allocation among each of the PDSCH consecutive slots [0111], [0133], wherein the bundling is configured with a period of X slots, and the allocation is applied every X-th slot [0135], [0140]. Therefore, the TB is received before the next X-th allocated slot);
receive feedback for the received transport blocks within a time slot set (in the HARQ procedure, the packet reaches the receiver after a propagation delay and the receiver sends a feedback after a T1 slot delay [0056]);
However, Hofstrom does not explicitly disclose wherein, the time slot set includes a third number of time slots determined by at least one of the number of HARQ processes with HARQ feedback enabling and a maximal bundle size, and each time slot in the time slot set is not earlier than the third time slot;
Talarico discloses each time slot in the time slot set is not earlier than the third time slot (transmitting feedback to the PDCCH/PDSCH after a delayed time slot, wherein the delayed timeslot has no DL/UL [Fig. 6], [0096-0106]. Plurality of time slots [Fig. 3 and 4]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hofstrom in view of Talarico in order to transmit feedback for the second number of transport blocks no earlier than the second time slot, and not expect to receive a new transport block in the second time slot;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would reduce uplink control overhead and have a better utilization of the maximum channel occupancy time [Talarico: 0114];
However, Hofstrom-Talarico does not explicitly disclose wherein, the time slot set includes a third number of time slots determined by at least one of the number of HARQ processes with HARQ feedback enabling and a maximal bundle size;
Bae discloses wherein, the time slot set includes a third number of time slots determined by at least one of the number of HARQ processes with HARQ feedback enabling and a maximal bundle size (The number of slots, subframes and the number of symbols in a frame may variously change [0092]. Fig. 4 shows a plurality (3rd) number of time slots [0093], the configured value K may be an absolute maximum or minimum value of the slot indication of a HARQ-ACK operation [0307-0327], wherein HARQ feedback enabled [0333], [0340], [0298]. The claim limitation states “at least one of”, therefore, only 1 of the two option is needed to satisfy the claim limitation. In this case, the number of HARQ processes with HARQ feedback enabling is satisfied by Bae);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hofstrom-Talarico in view of Bae in order to have a third number of time slots determined by the number of HARQ processes with HARQ feedback enabling;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would improve the reliability of uplink transmission delivering HARQ-ACK [Bae: 0228].
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hofstrom et al Pub. No.: (US 2021/0391952 A1) (hereinafter “Hofstrom”) in view of Talarico et al Pub. No.: (US 2022/0046677 A1) (hereinafter "Talarico”) and Bae et al Pub. No.: (US 2023/0224100 A1) (hereinafter "Bae”) as applied to claims 7 and 15 above, further in view of Hwang et al Pub. No.: (US 2022/0210802 A1) (hereinafter "Hwang”).
With respect to claim 8: Hofstrom-Talarico-Bae discloses the UE of claim 7 as set forth above.
However, Hofstrom-Talarico does not explicitly disclose wherein, the third number determines a scheduling delay between the control signal and the transmission of the transport block;
Bae discloses the third number determines a scheduling delay (delay scheduling of the PDSCH [0226], [0228]. Slots T, Slot X, Slot Y [Fig. 15]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hofstrom-Talarico in view of Bae in order to have the third number determines a scheduling delay;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would improve the reliability of uplink transmission delivering HARQ-ACK [Bae: 0228].
However, Hofstrom-Talarico-Bae does not explicitly disclose determining a third number determines scheduling delay between the control signal and the transmission of the transport block;
Hwang discloses wherein, the number determines a scheduling delay between the control signal and the transmission of the transport block (D1 denotes a scheduling delay between a PDCCH carrying the DCI and a PDSCH carrying the TB [0189]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hofstrom-Talarico-Bae in view of Hwang in order to have the third number determines a scheduling delay between the control signal and the transmission of the transport block;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would improve resource efficiency from the perspective of the network and reducing unnecessary power consumption of the UE [Hwang: 0200].
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hofstrom et al Pub. No.: (US 2021/0391952 A1) (hereinafter “Hofstrom”) as applied to claims 1-2, 11-12 and 16-17 above, further in view of Abedini et al Pub. No.: (US 2022/0045745 A1) (hereinafter "Abedini”).
With respect to claim 9: Hofstrom discloses the UE of claim 1 as set forth above, wherein,
Hofstrom discloses when the control signal schedules multiple transport blocks (DCI scheduling a transmission for a HARQ process [0129]),
multiple transport blocks and a first set of transport blocks with a fourth number of transport blocks (base station transmitting an indication of a number of repetitions to use for bundling the HARQ process [0064], [0147]. Therefore, multiple repetitions can include X number of transport blocks, such as a fourth number);
and each transport block of the first set is associated with HARQ process number with HARQ feedback enabling (subsets of HARQ process for bundling includes a number for the blocks [0111], [0130], feedback enabling for specific HARQ process [0073]);
the at least one processor is further configured to cause the UE to (User equipment includes one or more processors [0171], [Fig. 11 item 1102]):
However. Hofstrom does not explicitly disclose extract, from the multiple transport blocks, a first set of transport blocks;
Abedini discloses extract, from the multiple transport blocks, a first set of transport blocks (extracting a transport block or blocks from a set of RE’s [0100]-[0101]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hofstrom in view of Abedini in order to extract a first set of transport blocks with a fourth number of transport blocks;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would improve network performance and increase reliability [Abedini: 0050].
Claims 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hofstrom et al Pub. No.: (US 2021/0391952 A1) (hereinafter “Hofstrom”) in view of Abedini et al Pub. No.: (US 2022/0045745 A1) (hereinafter "Abedini”) as applied to claim 9 above, further in view of Talarico et al Pub. No.: (US 2022/0046677 A1) (hereinafter "Talarico”) and Zeng et al Pub. No.: (US 2024/0357592 A1) (hereinafter "Zeng”)
With respect to claim 10: Hofstrom-Abedini discloses the UE of claim 7 as set forth above.
Hofstrom discloses wherein, the at least one processor is further configured to cause the UE to (User equipment includes one or more processors [0171], [Fig. 11 item 1102]):
However, Hofstrom-Abedini does not explicitly disclose divide the first set of transport blocks into TB (transport block) bundles according to the control signal and the fourth number;
generate a HARQ-ACK bit for each TB bundle by performing a logical AND operation of HARQ-ACKs of TBs included in each TB bundle; and
transmit the generated HARQ-ACK bits for the first set of transport blocks;
Talarico discloses generate a HARQ-ACK bit for each TB bundle by performing a logical AND operation of HARQ-ACKs of TBs included in each TB bundle (the HARQ-ACK bits generated by the different candidates are bundled/compressed into one HARD-ACK bit by logical OR or by logical AND [0076], [0070]-0072);
transmit the generated HARQ-ACK bits for the first set of transport blocks (feedbacks associated with the PDSCH are compressed into one HARD-ACK bit by logical OR or by logical AND [0070]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hofstrom-Abedini in view of Talarico in order to generate a HARQ-ACK bit by performing a logical AND operation of HARQ-ACKs of TBs;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would reduce uplink control overhead and have a better utilization of the maximum channel occupancy time [Talarico: 0114];
However, Hofstrom-Abedini-Talarico does not explicitly disclose divide the first set of transport blocks into TB (transport block) bundles according to the control signal and the fourth number;
Zeng discloses divide the first set of transport blocks into TB (transport block) bundles according to the control signal and the fourth number (bundling groups are divided for each TB based on a PDSCH corresponding to a configured SLIV and/or valid SLIV according to the downlink control information from the DCI [0118-0119], [0184], [0206-0207);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hofstrom-Abedini-Talarico in view of Zeng in order to divide the first set of transport blocks into TB (transport block) bundles according to the control signal and the fourth number;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would allow better match an actual application scenario, configuration flexibility can be improved, and PDSCH retransmission performance can be improved [Zeng: 0316].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Lee et al. Pub. No.: (US 2022/0132545 A1). The subject matter disclosed therein is pertinent to that of claims 1-20 (e.g., Method and apparatus for transmitting/receiving wireless signal in wireless communication system).
Cheng et al. Pub. No.: (US 2023/0163887 A1). The subject matter disclosed therein is pertinent to that of claims 1-20 (e.g., User equipment and method for handling HARQ-ACK feedback).
Ying et al. Pub. No.: (US 2025/0015958 A1). The subject matter disclosed therein is pertinent to that of claims 1-20 (e.g., Joint operation of deferred SPS HARQ-ACK and cell switching).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAO DUC DUONG whose telephone number is (571)272-2350. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9-5.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Moo Jeong can be reached on (571)272-9617. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/T. D./
Examiner, Art Unit 2418
/Moo Jeong/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2418
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