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
Should applicant desire to obtain the benefit of foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) prior to declaration of an interference, a certified English translation of the foreign application must be submitted in reply to this action. 37 CFR 41.154(b) and 41.202(e).
Failure to provide a certified translation may result in no benefit being accorded for the non-English application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 2, 19, 24, 43, 62 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 2 recites the limitation "the M second PUCCHs" in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 19 is rejected for claiming dependency from rejected claim 2
Claim 24 recites the limitation "the M second PUCCHs" in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 43 recites the limitation “a transceiver” on line 2 which makes the claim indefinite. It’s unclear if this limitation refers to “a transceiver” recited on line 1. Examiner will interpret as best understood
Claim 43 recites the limitation “a processor” on line 3 which makes the claim indefinite. It’s unclear if this limitation refers to “a processor” recited on line 1. Examiner will interpret as best understood
Claim 62 recites the limitation “a transceiver” on line 2 which makes the claim indefinite. It’s unclear if this limitation refers to “a transceiver” recited on line 1. Examiner will interpret as best understood
Claim 62 recites the limitation “a processor” on line 3 which makes the claim indefinite. It’s unclear if this limitation refers to “a processor” recited on line 1. Examiner will interpret as best understood
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 (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 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, 5, 15, 19, 20, 23, 27, 37, 43, 63 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) as being anticipated by Ling et al (WO2022061578A1).
Regarding claim 43, Ling discloses
a terminal comprising: a memory, a transceiver, and a processor: (memory, FIG. 7 #701, combined transmit/receive circuitry, FIG. 7 #702/704, processor, FIG. 7 #706 [0064-0069]
the memory is configured to store a computer program (memory storing instructions [0067]
a transceiver is configured to send and receive data under a control of the processor (combined transmit/receive circuitry operable to transmit and receive data under control of processor [0065-0067]
a processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory to perform (processor operable to execute instructions stored in memory to perform [0065-0067]
when physical uplink control channels (PUCCHs) are overlapped, determining a processing order for the PUCCHs according to priorities of uplink control channel (UCI) carried by the PUCCHs and/or start time of the PUCCHs (for each intra-slot repetition, when 2nd resource(s) overlap with first uplink resource, determine whether same UCI type priority; if different then resource with highest priority is picked; if same priority then resource with earlier start position is picked [0028-0030], FIGs. 2-4
performing a de-overlapping process for the PUCCHs according to the processing order (only third uplink resource transmitted and remaining uplink resource(s) will be dropped [0028-0030], FIGs. 2-4
Claim 1 is rejected based on similar ground(s) provided in rejection of claim 43.
Regarding claim 23, Ling discloses
a method for processing overlapping physical uplink control channels, comprising: (method for resolving overlapping PUCCHs [0023, 0026], FIG. 2
when a physical uplink control channels (PUCCHs) are overlapped, a network side device determining a processing order for the PUCCHs according to priorities of uplink control information (UCI) carried by the PUCCHs and/or start time of the PUCCHs (on network side, for each intra-slot repetition of the first uplink resource when there is at least one second uplink resource overlapped with the first uplink resource, determining a third uplink resource to be received, consistent with the remote side [0026, 0036], FIG. 2
performing a de-overlapping process for the PUCCHs according to the processing order (determining a third uplink resource to be received and only the third uplink resource is received [0036], FIG. 2
Regarding claim 62, Ling discloses
a network side device, comprising: a memory, a transceiver, and a processor, wherein (base station, FIG. 7, comprising memory, FIG. 7 #701, combined transmit/receive circuitry, FIG. 2 #702, 704, and processor, FIG. 7 #706 [0065, 0066]
the memory is configured to store a computer program (memory storing computer-executable instructions [0067, 0068]
a transceiver is configured to send and receive data under a control of the processor (combined transmit/receive operable to transmit/receive data [0065-0067]
a processor is configured to read the computer program the method for processing overlapping physical control channels according to claim 23 (processor executing instructions stored in memory to perform [0067]
Regarding claims 2, 24, Ling discloses “when repeatedly transmitted first PUCCH overlaps with the M second PUCCHs, determining a processing order for the M second PUCCHs according to priorities of UCI carried by the M second PUCCHs and/or start time of the M second PUCCHs” first uplink resource/first PUCCH resource configured with a number of intra-slot repetitions; at least one second uplink resource is a set of second PUCCH resource; determining priority/start time among the repeated first and second PUCCHs [0028, 0040-0042]
“when there are N repeatedly transmitted first PUCCHs, determining a processing order for the first PUCCHs according to priorities of UCI carried by the first PUCCHs and/or start time of the first PUCCHs” there may be two or more PUCCH resources with intra-slot repetition indicated in the configuration information, any PUCCH resource with intra-slot repetition can be regarded as the first PUCCH resource [0037, 0028-0030]
“M and N are both greater than or equal to 2” two or more [0037, 0044], FIG. 3
“wherein a part of the first PUCCHs among the N first PUCCHs have overlapped PUCCHs” both PUCCH resource 1 and PUCCH resource 2 (the two repeated first PUCCHs) have overlapped PUCCHs in every repetition [0044], FIG. 3
“at least one identical overlapped PUCCH exists between each of the N first PUCCHs” PUCCH resource 1’s second repetition overlaps PUCCH resource 3, and PUCCH resource 2’s second repetition also overlaps the same PUCCH resource 3 [0044]
Regarding claims 5, 27, Ling discloses “repeating the following steps until no repeatedly transmitted PUCCH overlaps with other PUCCHs in time slots or sub-time slots where the PUCCHs are located” determination performed for each intra-slot repetition of the first uplink resource; after PUCCH resource 3’s first repetition is excluded there’s no other overlapped PUCCH resource [0028, 0052], FIG. 4
when physical uplink control channels (PUCCHs) are overlapped, determining a processing order for the PUCCHs according to priorities of uplink control channel (UCI) carried by the PUCCHs and/or start time of the PUCCHs (for each intra-slot repetition, when 2nd resource(s) overlap with first uplink resource, determine whether same UCI type priority; if different then resource with highest priority is picked; if same priority then resource with earlier start position is picked [0028-0030], FIGs. 2-4
performing a de-overlapping process for the PUCCHs according to the processing order (only third uplink resource transmitted and remaining uplink resource(s) will be dropped [0028-0030], FIGs. 2-4
Regarding claims 15, 37, Ling discloses
“determining the processing order for the PUCCHs according to a descending order of priorities of the UCI carried by the PUCCHs” an uplink resource with the highest priority will be determined as the third uplink resource to be transmitted [0030]
“determining the processing order for the PUCCHs according to an order from the PUCCH with an early start time to the PUCCH with a late start time” an uplink resource starting at an earlier position will be determined as the third uplink resource [0030]
“determining a first processing order according to a descending order of priorities of the UCI carried by the PUCCHs; if at least two UCI carried by the PUCCHs have the same priority, determining a second processing order according to the order from the PUCCH with an early start time to the PUCCH with a late start time” same priority [Wingdings font/0xE0] earliest start time wins as tiebreak [0030]
Regarding claim 19, Ling discloses “wherein after the de-overlapping process for the PUCCHs, there is no first PUCCH overlapped with other PUCCHs in the remaining PUCCHs” after PUCCH resource 3’s overlapping repetition is excluded, there is no other overlapped PUCCH resource for the remaining repetitions of PUCCH resource 1, 2 [0052], FIG. 4
Regarding claim 20, Ling discloses “wherein the UCI comprises at least one of the following: HARQ-ACK, SR, CSI” HARQ-ACK, SR, CSI [0030]
“wherein the priorities of the UCI comprises: a priority of the HARQ-ACK is higher than a priority of the SR; a priority of the SR is higher than a priority of the CSI” HARQ-ACK > SR > CSI [0030]
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 8, 9, 12, 28, 30, 31, 34 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Li et al (USPN 20210120559) FIG. 2
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAI NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-7632. The examiner can normally be reached M-F campus 10:30-5pm, telework 6pm-8pm| Telework count days.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian N Moore can be reached at (571)272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THAI NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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