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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claim(s) 7, 9, 11-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou [US 2020/0314860] in view of Zhu [US 2022/0210825].
As claims 7 and 13-15, Zhou [US 2020/0314860] discloses terminal comprising a receiver that receives a first higher layer parameter that configures a resource of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a resource group of the PUCCH [Par. 0395, 0414-0415, 0434, Fig 29, Ref 2910 discloses resource PUCCH], a second higher layer parameter that associates the resource of the PUCCH or the resource group of the PUCCH with an index of a transmission/reception point (TRP) [Par. 0407, 0414, 0439-0440 discloses resource PUCCH with panel ID], and a configuration information for using a plurality of timing advances (TAs) [Par. 0211-0212 discloses MAC-CE includes TA values], a processor that determines, based on the index of the TRP and the second higher layer parameter, a TA to be applied to a transmission of the PUCCH from among the plurality of Tas [Par. 0439-0440, 0478, 0481, 0484, 0489]. However, Zhou [US 2020/0314860] fails to disclose a processor that determines, based on the index of the TRP and the second higher layer parameter, a TA to be applied to a transmission of the PUCCH from among the plurality of TAs, and determines, based on the index of the TRP associated with a control resource set (CORESET), a TA to be applied to a transmission of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) from among the plurality of TAs; and a transmitter that performs the transmission of the PUCCH by applying the TA for the transmission of the PUCCH and performs the transmission ofthe PUSCH by applying the TA for the transmission of the PUSCH. In the same field of endeavor, Zhu [US 2022/0210825] discloses a configuration information for using a plurality of timing advances (TAs) [Par. 0005 includes TA values]; a processor that determines, based on the index of the TRP and the second higher layer parameter, a TA to be applied to a transmission of the PUCCH from among the plurality of Tas [Par. 0224-0225, 0255-257 discloses UE determines TA based on TRP index and received values], and determines, based on the index of the TRP associated with a control resource set (CORESET), a TA to be applied to a transmission of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) from among the plurality of Tas [Par. 0103-0111, 0224-0025 0255-257 discloses UE determines TA based on TRP index associated with coreset]; and a transmitter that performs the transmission of the PUCCH by applying the TA for the transmission of the PUCCH and performs the transmission of the PUSCH by applying the TA for the transmission of the PUSCH [Par 0255-257 discloses UE applies TAs on push and pucch].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system comprising determining the TA for transmitting PUCCH and PUSCH based on the information as disclosed by Zhu [US 2022/0210825] into the teaching of Zhou [US 2020/0314860]. The motivation would have been to reduce error.
As claim 9, Zhu [US 2022/0210825] discloses the transmission of the PUSCH is
a transmission of a PUSCH dynamically scheduled by downlink control information
(DCI) or a transmission of a type 2 configured grant PUSCH [Par. 0076 discloses
PUSCH via DCI].
As claim 11, Zhu [US 2022/0210825] discloses the uplink transmission is a transmission of a sounding reference signal (SRS) [Par. 0005-0006 discloses SRS],
the index of the TRP relates to a resource set of the SRS configured by a higher layer
parameter [Par. 0144, 0198-0197, 0244, 0252-0257 discloses resource of PUCCH
related with index of coreset of TRP is configured with higher layer].
As claim 12, Zhu [US 2022/0210825] discloses the transmitter transmits at least one of UE capability information regarding whether or not to support different TAs for a plurality of TRPs based on single downlink control information (DCI) and UE capability information regarding whether or not to support different TAs for the plurality of TRPs based on multiple DCI [Zhu at Par. 0191 and Zhou at Par. 0219, 0262, 0493 discloses UE report its capability].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Jang [US 2023/0087223] discloses user equipment (UE) performing repetitive transmission in a wireless communication system is configured to receive, from a base station, configuration information for repetitively transmitting a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) to a plurality of transmission reception points (TRPs), receive, from the base station, an indication with respect to repetitive transmission of a first PUCCH through the plurality of TRPs, based on the configuration information for repetitively transmitting the PUCCH, identify that the repetitive transmission of the first PUCCH overlaps other uplink transmission, based on at least one of a repetitive transmission unit, a number of times of repetitive transmission, a number of TRPs, a type of uplink control information (UCI), a scheduling time point, and a number of activated transmission beams of each of the repetitive transmission of the first PUCCH and the other uplink transmission, determine which transmission between the repetitive transmission of the first PUCCH and the other uplink transmission is to be performed, and according to a result of the determining, perform the determined transmission between the repetitive transmission of the first PUCCH and the other uplink transmission, to the base station.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN HIEU D NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3159. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5.
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/STEVEN HIEU D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414
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