DETAILED ACTION
This office action is a response to the application filed 17 December 2024 as a national stage entry of PCT/KR2023/008389 filed 16 June 2023 and claiming foreign benefit of KR 10-2022-0074282 filed 17 June 2022, wherein claims 1-14 are pending and ready for examination.
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 .
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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 17 December 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed as KR 10-2022-0074282 on 17 June 2022. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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 § 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 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 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP; TSGRAN; NR; Physical layer procedures for control (Release 17), April 2022, hereafter referred 3GPP, in view of Islam et al. (US 2022/0150839 A1), hereafter referred Islam. 3GPP was cited by applicant’s IDS filed 17 December 2024.
Regarding claim 1, 3GPP teaches a method performed by a terminal in a communication system, the method comprising:
receiving a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) repetition transmission configuration including a first PUSCH and a second PUSCH from a base station (3GPP, p. 19 and 57; a UE can be provided in RACH-ConfigCommon a set of number of repetitions for a PUSCH transmission with PUSCH repetition TypeA that is scheduled by a RAR UL grant or DCI from the base station including a first PUSCH and a second PUSCH);
transmitting the first PUSCH to the base station (3GPP, p. 19; the transmission of the first PUSCH);
receiving downlink control information (DCI) including unified transmission configuration indication (TCI) configuration information from the base station after transmission of the first PUSCH (3GPP, p. 19; a UE is provided TCI-State_r17 indicating a unified TCI state after X symbols from a last symbol of a PDCCH reception with a DCI format scheduling a PUSCH transmission with a same HARQ process number as the transmission of the first PUSCH); and
determining a power control adjustment state parameter for transmit power control of the second PUSCH based on a closed loop index related to a TCI configured based on the DCI and a TPC command field included in the DCI (3GPP, p. 183-184; a mapping for the power control adjustment state by a corresponding {0,1} value of a closed loop index field that is appended to the TPC command field in DCI format 2_2).
3GPP does not expressly teach determining transmit power of the second PUSCH based on the power control adjustment state parameter; and transmitting the second PUSCH to the base station based on the transmit power of the second PUSCH.
However, Islam teaches determining transmit power of the second PUSCH based on the power control adjustment state parameter; and transmitting the second PUSCH to the base station based on the transmit power of the second PUSCH (Islam, [0192]-[0197]; a UE receives signaling regarding TPC accumulation and DCI messages corresponding to PUSCH occasions where the UE transmits the PUSCH with a transmit power based on a TPC command in the DCI of the second PUSCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of 3GPP to include the above recited limitations as taught by Islam in order to enable the UE to be dynamic in handling TPC accumulation (Islam, [0191]).
Regarding claim 7, 3GPP teaches a method performed by a base station in a communication system, the method comprising:
transmitting a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) repetition transmission configuration including a first PUSCH and a second PUSCH to a terminal (3GPP, p. 19 and 57; a UE can be provided in RACH-ConfigCommon a set of number of repetitions for a PUSCH transmission with PUSCH repetition TypeA that is scheduled by a RAR UL grant or DCI from the base station including a first PUSCH and a second PUSCH);
receiving the first PUSCH from the terminal (3GPP, p. 19; the transmission of the first PUSCH);
transmitting downlink control information (DCI) including unified transmission configuration indication (TCI) configuration information to the terminal after reception of the first PUSCH (3GPP, p. 19; a UE is provided TCI-State_r17 indicating a unified TCI state after X symbols from a last symbol of a PDCCH reception with a DCI format scheduling a PUSCH transmission with a same HARQ process number as the transmission of the first PUSCH); and
wherein a power control adjustment state parameter for transmit power control of the second PUSCH determined based on a closed loop index related to a TCI configured based on the DCI and a TPC command field included in the DCI (3GPP, p. 183-184; a mapping for the power control adjustment state by a corresponding {0,1} value of a closed loop index field that is appended to the TPC command field in DCI format 2_2).
3GPP does not expressly teach receiving the second PUSCH from the terminal, wherein transmit power of the second PUSCH is associated with the power control adjustment state parameter.
However, Islam teaches receiving the second PUSCH from the terminal, wherein transmit power of the second PUSCH is associated with the power control adjustment state parameter (Islam, [0192]-[0197]; a UE receives signaling regarding TPC accumulation and DCI messages corresponding to PUSCH occasions where the UE transmits the PUSCH with a transmit power based on a TPC command in the DCI of the second PUSCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of 3GPP to include the above recited limitations as taught by Islam in order to enable the UE to be dynamic in handling TPC accumulation (Islam, [0191]).
Regarding claim 13, 3GPP teaches a terminal in a communication system, comprising:
a transceiver and a controller, the controller configured to:
receive a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) repetition transmission configuration including a first PUSCH and a second PUSCH from a base station (3GPP, p. 19 and 57; a UE can be provided in RACH-ConfigCommon a set of number of repetitions for a PUSCH transmission with PUSCH repetition TypeA that is scheduled by a RAR UL grant or DCI from the base station including a first PUSCH and a second PUSCH),
transmit the first PUSCH to the base station (3GPP, p. 19; the transmission of the first PUSCH),
receive downlink control information (DCI) including unified transmission configuration indication (TCI) configuration information from the base station after transmission of the first PUSCH (3GPP, p. 19; a UE is provided TCI-State_r17 indicating a unified TCI state after X symbols from a last symbol of a PDCCH reception with a DCI format scheduling a PUSCH transmission with a same HARQ process number as the transmission of the first PUSCH),
determine a power control adjustment state parameter for transmit power control of the second PUSCH based on a closed loop index related to a TCI configured based on the DCI and a TPC command field included in the DCI (3GPP, p. 183-184; a mapping for the power control adjustment state by a corresponding {0,1} value of a closed loop index field that is appended to the TPC command field in DCI format 2_2).
3GPP does not expressly teach determine transmit power of the second PUSCH based on the power control adjustment state parameter; and transmit the second PUSCH to the base station based on the transmit power of the second PUSCH.
However, Islam teaches determine transmit power of the second PUSCH based on the power control adjustment state parameter; and transmit the second PUSCH to the base station based on the transmit power of the second PUSCH (Islam, [0192]-[0197]; a UE receives signaling regarding TPC accumulation and DCI messages corresponding to PUSCH occasions where the UE transmits the PUSCH with a transmit power based on a TPC command in the DCI of the second PUSCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of 3GPP to include the above recited limitations as taught by Islam in order to enable the UE to be dynamic in handling TPC accumulation (Islam, [0191]).
Regarding claim 14, 3GPP teaches a base station in a communication system, comprising:
a transceiver and a controller, the controller configured to:
transmit a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) repetition transmission configuration including a first PUSCH and a second PUSCH to a terminal (3GPP, p. 19 and 57; a UE can be provided in RACH-ConfigCommon a set of number of repetitions for a PUSCH transmission with PUSCH repetition TypeA that is scheduled by a RAR UL grant or DCI from the base station including a first PUSCH and a second PUSCH),
receive the first PUSCH from the terminal (3GPP, p. 19; the transmission of the first PUSCH),
transmit downlink control information (DCI) including unified transmission configuration indication (TCI) configuration information to the terminal after reception of the first PUSCH (3GPP, p. 19; a UE is provided TCI-State_r17 indicating a unified TCI state after X symbols from a last symbol of a PDCCH reception with a DCI format scheduling a PUSCH transmission with a same HARQ process number as the transmission of the first PUSCH), and
wherein a power control adjustment state parameter for transmit power control of the second PUSCH determined based on a closed loop index related to a TCI configured based on the DCI and a TPC command field included in the DCI (3GPP, p. 183-184; a mapping for the power control adjustment state by a corresponding {0,1} value of a closed loop index field that is appended to the TPC command field in DCI format 2_2).
3GPP does not expressly teach receive the second PUSCH from the terminal, wherein transmit power of the second PUSCH is associated with the power control adjustment state parameter.
However, Islam teaches receive the second PUSCH from the terminal, wherein transmit power of the second PUSCH is associated with the power control adjustment state parameter (Islam, [0192]-[0197]; a UE receives signaling regarding TPC accumulation and DCI messages corresponding to PUSCH occasions where the UE transmits the PUSCH with a transmit power based on a TPC command in the DCI of the second PUSCH).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of 3GPP to include the above recited limitations as taught by Islam in order to enable the UE to be dynamic in handling TPC accumulation (Islam, [0191]).
Regarding claims 2 and 8, 3GPP in view of Islam teaches the method of claim 1 and the method of claim 7 above. Further, 3GPP teaches wherein the power control adjustment state parameter for the transmit power control of the second PUSCH is determined based on a TPC command field of DCI included in a set Di of DCIs including the TPC command field for performing TPC command accumulation for the second PUSCH, and the set Dᵢ includes DCI received in a time duration defined based on a KPUSCH symbol (3GPP, p. 28 and 30; the DCI includes a TPC command value, the accumulation of the PUSCH power control adjustment state is set, and a set (Di) of TPC command values is defined on the basis of KPUSCH symbols).
Regarding claims 3 and 9, 3GPP in view of Islam teaches the method of claim 2 and the method of claim 8 above. Further, 3GPP teaches wherein the KPUSCH symbol corresponds to a symbol length from a last symbol of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) including DCI for scheduling the second PUSCH to a start symbol of the second PUSCH (3GPP, p. 30; wherein the KPUSCH symbols correspond to the number of symbols from the last symbol of a PDCCH to the first symbol of a PUSCH transmission).
Regarding claims 4 and 10, 3GPP in view of Islam teaches the method of claim 2 and the method of claim 8 above. Further, 3GPP teaches wherein the KPUSCH symbol corresponds to a symbol length configured through higher layer signaling (3GPP, p. 30; wherein the KPUSCH symbols are set through PUSCH-ConfigCommon).
Regarding claims 5 and 11, 3GPP in view of Islam teaches the method of claim 2 and the method of claim 8 above. Further, 3GPP teaches wherein the KPUSCH symbol corresponds to:
a symbol length from a last symbol of a PDCCH including the DCI including the unified TCI configuration information to a start symbol of the second PUSCH, or a symbol length from a first symbol of a slot to which unified TCI is applied based on the DCI including the unified TCI configuration information to the start symbol of the second PUSCH (3GPP, p. 30; wherein the KPUSCH symbols correspond to the number of symbols from the last symbol of a PDCCH to the first symbol of a PUSCH transmission).
Regarding claims 6 and 12, 3GPP in view of Islam teaches the method of claim 1 and the method of claim 7 above. Further, 3GPP teaches wherein in case that a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) including hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information for the DCI including the unified TCI configuration information overlaps with a PUSCH based on the PUSCH repetition transmission configuration, canceling the PUSCH and transmitting the PUCCH, or multiplexing and transmitting the PUCCH and the PUSCH (3GPP, p. 60; the UE determines an overlap of SL HARQ-ACK reports with a PUCCH transmission and excludes PUSCHs in order ot resolve the time overlap between a PUCCH and the PUSCHs).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
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/R.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416