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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-16, 18, 20-22 received on 10/22/2024 have been examined, of which claims 1, 8 and 22 are independent.
Claim Objections
Claims 2, 7, 9-11, 13-16, 18, 20-22 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 2 and 7 recite “a first antenna panel of the plurality” and/or “first UL resources of the plurality”. For the proper antecedent basis in the claim for “the plurality”, the examiner suggests to amend limitations as “a first antenna panel of the plurality of antenna panels” and/or “first UL resources of the plurality of UL resources”.
Claims 9-11, 13-16, 18, 20 recite “wherein performing”, which is preceded by “causing transmission of the two transmissions”. Thus, the “wherein performing the two transmissions” does not have proper antecedent basis in the claim.
Claim 21 (depends on 18, 12 and 8) recites “the signaling”, which has lack of antecedent basis in the claim.
Claim 22 recites receiving and selecting limitation without separating them with semicolon.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 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.
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.
Claims 1-5, 7-12, 14-16, 18, 20 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiong et al. (US 20190364561) in view of Yuan et al. (WO 2021155502)
Regarding claim 1, Xiong teaches one or more processors (CPU 604E, fig 6) configured to perform operations comprising:
receiving scheduling information that configures a user equipment (UE) to perform a plurality of transmissions on a plurality of uplink (UL) resources (fig 2, para 144: at 205, receiving a configuration message that includes panel index information to indicate an antenna port group of the UE for transmitting a message, wherein the message is a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) message or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) message; para 28: a UE is configured or indicated to transmit PUSCH or PUCCH using multiple panels or beams);
on a per-panel basis, resolving a time-domain overlap for at least two of the plurality of transmissions such that no more than one transmission is transmitted by each panel at a given time via a same component carrier (fig 4c-4h; para 40-45 describe the examples of multiplexing PUCCHs with multi-TRP and multi-panel, including (fig 4c) when PUCCHs carrying a first UCI type using more than beams or panels (HARQ using panel A and B) overlap with PUCCH carrying a second UCI type using one beam or panel (beam A or panel A) in a slot (CSI using panel A), if the timeline requirement is satisfied, the first and second UCI type are multiplexed on PUCCH using beam A or panel A and the first UCI type is carried by PUCCH using other beams or panels (Panel A transmits multiplexed HARQ and CSI (single transmission), and Panel B transmits HARQ – at non-overlapping times).
Xiong teaches the multiplexing of plurality of uplink transmission using multiple panels and resolving the time domain overlap for at least two transmissions. The reference shows the configuration with port index and the fig 4c-4e show the plurality of uplink transmissions mapped to plurality of antenna panels, but reference is silent regarding selecting the panels for the transmissions. Yuan is also directed to UCI multiplexing on PUSCH for multi-panel uplink transmissions.
Yuan further teaches selecting, based on a mapping of the plurality of UL resources to antenna panels, a plurality of antenna panels for the plurality of transmissions (fig 6; para 68: the base station 110 may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, DCI that includes a resource allocation 610 for a UL communication, The UE 120 may determine that a resource allocation, for a PUCCH transmission occasion 615 (shown as PUCCH 1), indicates time domain resources that overlap time domain resources of a first resource allocation for a first PUSCH transmission occasion 620 (shown as PUSCH 1) and a second resource allocation for a second PUSCH transmission occasion 625 (shown as PUSCH 2), the PUCCH transmission occasion 615 may correspond to a first antenna panel 635 and the other PUCCH transmission occasion 630 may correspond to a second antenna panel 640). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine multiplexing of multiple overlapping uplink transmissions with multiple panels as taught by Xiong with selecting the multiple antenna panels for multiple uplink transmissions as taught by Yuan for the benefit of enabling more efficient use of time and frequency resources as taught by Yuan in para 45.
Regarding claim 8, Xiong teaches one or more processors (CPU 604E, fig 6) configured to perform operations comprising:
receiving scheduling information that configures a user equipment (UE) to perform a plurality of transmissions on a plurality of uplink (UL) resources (fig 2, para 144: at 205, receiving a configuration message that includes panel index information to indicate an antenna port group of the UE for transmitting a message, wherein the message is a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) message or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) message; para 28: a UE is configured or indicated to transmit PUSCH or PUCCH using multiple panels or beams);
wherein the plurality of transmissions comprise two transmissions and the plurality of antenna panels comprise two antenna panels (fig 4c-4h; HARQ and CSI on panel A and HARQ on panel B), and wherein each of the two antenna panels corresponds to one of the two transmissions (fig 4c-4h; HARQ and CSI on panel A and HARQ on panel B); and causing transmission of the two transmissions over the two antenna panels (fig 4c-4h; para 40-45 describe the examples of multiplexing PUCCHs with multi-TRP and multi-panel, including (fig 4c) when PUCCHs carrying a first UCI type using more than beams or panels (HARQ using panel A and B) overlap with PUCCH carrying a second UCI type using one beam or panel (beam A or panel A) in a slot (CSI using panel A), if the timeline requirement is satisfied, the first and second UCI type are multiplexed on PUCCH using beam A or panel A and the first UCI type is carried by PUCCH using other beams or panels (Panel A transmits multiplexed HARQ and CSI (single transmission), and Panel B transmits HARQ – at non-overlapping times).
Xiong teaches the multiplexing of plurality of uplink transmission using multiple panels and resolving the time domain overlap for at least two transmissions. The reference shows the configuration with port index and the fig 4c-4e show the plurality of uplink transmissions mapped to plurality of antenna panels, but reference is silent regarding selecting the panels for the transmissions. Yuan is also directed to UCI multiplexing on PUSCH for multi-panel uplink transmissions.
Yuan further teaches selecting, based on a mapping of the plurality of UL resources to antenna panels, a plurality of antenna panels for the plurality of transmissions (fig 6; para 68: the base station 110 may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, DCI that includes a resource allocation 610 for a UL communication, The UE 120 may determine that a resource allocation, for a PUCCH transmission occasion 615 (shown as PUCCH 1), indicates time domain resources that overlap time domain resources of a first resource allocation for a first PUSCH transmission occasion 620 (shown as PUSCH 1) and a second resource allocation for a second PUSCH transmission occasion 625 (shown as PUSCH 2), the PUCCH transmission occasion 615 may correspond to a first antenna panel 635 and the other PUCCH transmission occasion 630 may correspond to a second antenna panel 640). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine multiplexing of multiple overlapping uplink transmissions with multiple panels as taught by Xiong with selecting the multiple antenna panels for multiple uplink transmissions as taught by Yuan for the benefit of enabling more efficient use of time and frequency resources as taught by Yuan in para 45.
Regarding claim 22, Xiong teaches a method (fig 2, 4c-4e; abstract: method for uplink transmission for multi-panel operation) comprising:
receiving scheduling information that configures a user equipment (UE) to perform a plurality of transmissions on a plurality of uplink (UL) resources (fig 2, para 144: at 205, receiving a configuration message that includes panel index information to indicate an antenna port group of the UE for transmitting a message, wherein the message is a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) message or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) message; para 28: a UE is configured or indicated to transmit PUSCH or PUCCH using multiple panels or beams); and
resolving, on a per-panel basis, a time-domain overlap for at least two of the plurality of transmissions such that no more than one transmission is transmitted by each panel at a given time via a same component carrier (fig 4c-4h; para 40-45 describe the examples of multiplexing PUCCHs with multi-TRP and multi-panel, including (fig 4c) when PUCCHs carrying a first UCI type using more than beams or panels (HARQ using panel A and B) overlap with PUCCH carrying a second UCI type using one beam or panel (beam A or panel A) in a slot (CSI using panel A), if the timeline requirement is satisfied, the first and second UCI type are multiplexed on PUCCH using beam A or panel A and the first UCI type is carried by PUCCH using other beams or panels (Panel A transmits multiplexed HARQ and CSI (single transmission), and Panel B transmits HARQ – at non-overlapping times).
Xiong teaches the multiplexing of plurality of uplink transmission using multiple panels and resolving the time domain overlap for at least two transmissions. The reference shows the configuration with port index and the fig 4c-4e show the plurality of uplink transmissions mapped to plurality of antenna panels, but reference is silent regarding selecting the panels for the transmissions. Yuan is also directed to UCI multiplexing on PUSCH for multi-panel uplink transmissions.
Yuan further teaches selecting, based on a mapping of the plurality of UL resources to antenna panels, a plurality of antenna panels for the plurality of transmissions (fig 6; para 68: the base station 110 may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, DCI that includes a resource allocation 610 for a UL communication, The UE 120 may determine that a resource allocation, for a PUCCH transmission occasion 615 (shown as PUCCH 1), indicates time domain resources that overlap time domain resources of a first resource allocation for a first PUSCH transmission occasion 620 (shown as PUSCH 1) and a second resource allocation for a second PUSCH transmission occasion 625 (shown as PUSCH 2), the PUCCH transmission occasion 615 may correspond to a first antenna panel 635 and the other PUCCH transmission occasion 630 may correspond to a second antenna panel 640). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine multiplexing of multiple overlapping uplink transmissions with multiple panels as taught by Xiong with selecting the multiple antenna panels for multiple uplink transmissions as taught by Yuan for the benefit of enabling more efficient use of time and frequency resources as taught by Yuan in para 45.
Regarding claim 2, Xiong further teaches wherein resolving the time-domain overlap for the at least two transmissions on the per-panel basis (fig 4c-4h) comprises:
determining that the at least two transmissions are scheduled on a first antenna panel of the plurality (fig 4c, left side timing diagram showing CSI using panel A and HARQ-ACK using panel A overlapping in time domain); and
multiplexing the at least two transmissions such that the at least two transmissions are transmitted by the first antenna panel using first UL resources of the plurality (para 41: based on the multiplexing rule as mentioned above, HARQ-ACK and CSI report are multiplexed in a PUCCH using panel A or beam A and HARQ-ACK).
Regarding claim 3, Xiong further teaches wherein resolving the time-domain overlap for the at least two transmissions on the per-panel basis (fig 4c-4h) comprises: dropping at least a portion of one of the at least two transmissions (fig 4E, on the right side, showing dropping of the CSI of panel A and only transmitting HARQ on panel A and HARQ on panel B).
Regarding claim 4, Xiong fails to teach, but Yuan further teaches wherein resolving the time-domain overlap for the at least two transmissions (uplink transmissions 660 and 665 on antenna panel 635 and 640, fig 6) is based on signaling received from a network serving the UE (para 68: as shown by reference number 605, the base station 110 may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, DCI that includes a resource allocation 610 for a UL communication), and wherein the signaling indicates on the per-panel basis which of the at least two of the plurality of transmissions to transmit (para 68: the UE 120 may determine that a resource allocation, for a PUCCH transmission occasion 615 (shown as PUCCH 1) , indicates time domain resources that overlap time domain resources of a first resource allocation for a first PUSCH transmission occasion 620 (shown as PUSCH 1) and a second resource allocation for a second PUSCH transmission occasion 625 (shown as PUSCH 2), the PUCCH transmission occasion 615 may correspond to a first antenna panel 635 and the other PUCCH transmission occasion 630 may correspond to a second antenna panel 640; here, the resource allocation indicates which transmission to transmit on each panel). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine multiplexing of multiple overlapping uplink transmissions with multiple panels as taught by Xiong with selecting the multiple antenna panels for multiple uplink transmissions as taught by Yuan for the benefit of enabling more efficient use of time and frequency resources as taught by Yuan in para 45.
Regarding claim 5, Xiong fails to teach, but Yuan further teaches wherein the signaling is received via a downlink control information (DCI) signal (para 68: as shown by reference number 605, the base station 110 may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, DCI that includes a resource allocation 610 for a UL communication). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine multiplexing of multiple overlapping uplink transmissions with multiple panels as taught by Xiong with selecting the multiple antenna panels for multiple uplink transmissions as taught by Yuan for the benefit of enabling more efficient use of time and frequency resources as taught by Yuan in para 45.
Regarding claim 7, Xiong further teaches wherein resolving the time-domain overlap for the at least two transmissions on the per-panel basis (fig 4c-4h) comprises:
determining that the at least two transmissions comprise a repeated physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission (HARQ on panel A and HARQ on panel B, fig 4c-4h) and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission scheduled during a first time on a first antenna panel of the plurality (fig 4f-4h shows the multiplexing of PUCCH and PUSCH with multi-TRP and multi panel); and
dropping the PUSCH transmission over the first antenna panel during the first time (para 53: when UE is configured or indicated to transmit PUSCHs using one or more than one Tx beams or panels, and when PUSCHs overlap with PUCCH carrying UCI using one or more than one Tx beams or panels in a slot, if the timeline requirement is satisfied, one of the PUSCHs or PUCCHs is dropped).
Regarding claim 9, Xiong further teaches wherein performing the two transmissions (fig 4c-4h; HARQ and CSI on panel A and HARQ on panel B) comprises: performing the two transmissions based on whether the two transmissions overlap in a time domain (para 40-41: when PUCCHs carrying a first UCI type using more than beams or panels overlap with PUCCH carrying a second UCI type using one beam or panel (beam A or panel A) in a slot, based on the multiplexing rule as mentioned above, HARQ-ACK and CSI report are multiplexed in a PUCCH using panel A or beam A).
Regarding claim 10, Xiong further teaches wherein performing the two transmissions comprises: performing the two transmissions based on whether the two transmissions overlap in a frequency domain (fig 4h; para 52: based on the multiplexing rule as mentioned above, UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH using panel B which has lower frequency resource than the PUSCH using panel A; here, as shown in fig 4h and described in para 52, the PUSCH of panel A and PUSCH of panel B do not overlap in frequency domain).
Regarding claim 11, Xiong further teaches wherein performing the two transmissions comprises: performing the two transmissions based on a radio resource control (RRC) parameter (para 33-34: a UE with multiple panels may transmit PUCCH from one panel, a subset of the multiple panels, or all panels, for a PUCCH resource, the UE panel can be indicated by RRC; step 205, fig 2).
Regarding claim 12, Xiong further teaches wherein the two transmissions (fig 4c-4h) comprise: two physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions (fig 4f-4h, PUSCH using panel A and PUSCH using panel B); two physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmissions (fig 4c-4e, CSI and HARQ using panel A and HARQ using panel B); or a PUSCH transmission and a PUCCH transmission (fig 4f-4h, PUCCH using panel A and PUSCH using panel B).
Regarding claim 14, Xiong further teaches wherein performing the two transmissions comprises: performing one of the two transmissions that starts earlier in time or in frequency (para 30: when single-slot physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) overlaps with single-slot PUCCH or single-slot physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in slot n for a PUCCH group, the UE multiplex all UCIs on either one PUCCH or one PUSCH; as shown in fig 4B, the PUSCH transmission starts earlier in time than PUCCH carrying HARQ); and dropping another one of the two transmissions (fig 4b, para 32: PUCCH carrying HARQ-ACK feedback is dropped and HARQ-ACK feedback is piggybacked on PUSCH).
Regarding claim 15, Xiong further teaches wherein performing the two transmissions comprises: performing one of the two transmissions that corresponds to a preferred panel (fig 4h; para 52: based on the multiplexing rule as mentioned above, UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH using panel B which has lower frequency resource than the PUSCH using panel A).
Regarding claim 16, Xiong further teaches wherein the two transmissions comprise two PUSCHs (fig 4g, PUSCH on panel A and PUSCH on panel B), and wherein performing the two transmissions comprises: performing one of the two transmissions that contains uplink control information (UCI) (para 50: based on the multiplexing rule as mentioned above, UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH using panel A, e.g., the same panel configured for PUCCH transmission).
Regarding claim 18, Xiong further teaches wherein the two transmissions comprise two PUSCH transmissions (fig 4g, PUSCH on panel A and PUSCH on panel B), and wherein performing the two transmissions comprises: performing one of the two PUSCH transmissions with a greater size of transport block (TB) (para 50: based on the multiplexing rule as mentioned above, UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH using panel A, e.g., the same panel configured for PUCCH transmission; here, the PUSCH on panel A has greater size of transport block than the PUCCH on the same panel, thus the PUSCH with greater transport block size is transmitted on the panel A).
Regarding claim 20, Xiong further teaches wherein the two transmissions comprise a PUSCH transmission and a PUCCH transmission (fig 4f-4h, PUSCH transmission on panel B and PUCCH transmission on panel A).
Xiong fails to teach, but Yuan further teaches wherein performing the two transmissions (uplink transmissions 660 and 665 on antenna panel 635 and 640, fig 6) is based on signaling received from a network serving the UE (para 68: as shown by reference number 605, the base station 110 may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, DCI that includes a resource allocation 610 for a UL communication), and wherein the signaling indicates which of the two transmissions to transmit (para 68: the UE 120 may determine that a resource allocation, for a PUCCH transmission occasion 615 (shown as PUCCH 1) , indicates time domain resources that overlap time domain resources of a first resource allocation for a first PUSCH transmission occasion 620 (shown as PUSCH 1) and a second resource allocation for a second PUSCH transmission occasion 625 (shown as PUSCH 2), the PUCCH transmission occasion 615 may correspond to a first antenna panel 635 and the other PUCCH transmission occasion 630 may correspond to a second antenna panel 640; here, the resource allocation indicates which transmission to transmit on each panel). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine multiplexing of multiple overlapping uplink transmissions with multiple panels as taught by Xiong with selecting the multiple antenna panels for multiple uplink transmissions as taught by Yuan for the benefit of enabling more efficient use of time and frequency resources as taught by Yuan in para 45.
Claims 6, 13, 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiong et al. (US 20190364561) in view of Yuan et al. (WO 2021155502) in further view of Lin et al. (US 20240089062)
Regarding claim 6, Xiong in view of Yuan teaches the limitations of the parent claim including multi-TRP multi-panel based uplink transmission. The references do not teach priority for multi-TRP or single-TRP. Lin is directed to handling radio resource collision in the uplink transmission.
Lin teaches wherein the signaling indicates that a first transmission associated with multiple transmission/reception points (m-TRPs) is prioritized over an overlapping second transmission associated with a single TRP (s-TRP) (para 269: a multi-TRP-based PUCCH repetition may have higher priority than a single-TRP-based PUCCH repetition; para 262-263: prioritization or multiplexing between the PUCCHs and the PUSCHs for different TRPs may then be performed; para 206: a UE may determine whether to handle the overlapping UL resources corresponding to different beams applying the different panels; para 165: to form two beams simultaneously, two panels are needed). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine multiplexing of multiple overlapping uplink transmissions with multiple panels as taught by Xiong and Yuan with prioritizing uplink transmissions as taught by Lin for the benefit of enhancing radio resource utilization as taught by Lin in para 302.
Regarding claim 13, Xiong in view of Yuan fail to teach, but Lin teaches wherein performing the two transmissions comprises: performing one of the two transmissions that is associated with a higher priority (para 222: the PUCCH and the PUSCH may be configured with different priorities, at least one of the PUCCH and PUSCH may be configured with a respective priority, the PUCCH/PUSCH with the higher priority may be transmitted). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine multiplexing of multiple overlapping uplink transmissions with multiple panels as taught by Xiong and Yuan with prioritizing uplink transmissions as taught by Lin for the benefit of enhancing radio resource utilization as taught by Lin in para 302.
Regarding claim 21, Xiong in view of Yuan fail to teach, but Lin teaches wherein the signaling indicates that a first of the two transmissions associated with multiple transmission/reception points (m-TRPs) is prioritized over a second of the two transmissions associated with a single TRP (s-TRP) (para 269: a multi-TRP-based PUCCH repetition may have higher priority than a single-TRP-based PUCCH repetition; para 262-263: prioritization or multiplexing between the PUCCHs and the PUSCHs for different TRPs may then be performed; para 206: a UE may determine whether to handle the overlapping UL resources corresponding to different beams applying the different panels; para 165: to form two beams simultaneously, two panels are needed). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine multiplexing of multiple overlapping uplink transmissions with multiple panels as taught by Xiong and Yuan with prioritizing uplink transmissions as taught by Lin for the benefit of enhancing radio resource utilization as taught by Lin in para 302.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RINA C PANCHOLI whose telephone number is (571)272-2679. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30am-4pm.
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/RINA C PANCHOLI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477 8/8/2026
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