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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement submitted on 09/23/2024 has been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application file.
Remarks
For the purpose of compact prosecution, Examiner reached out to Applicant’s representative, Mr. Alexander Taousakis (Reg. No. 75,257) on 10/05/2026, informing of Terminal Disclaimer requirement to overcome Double Patenting rejection. On 10/08/2026 Applicant’s representative requested to proceed with the Office Action.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper time wise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Long, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Onium, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Torrington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP §§ 706.02(l)(1) - 706.02(l)(3) for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based terminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An terminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about terminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Claim 1 is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory anticipation double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 19 of US patent 12,101,783. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the limitations of claim 1 is anticipated by claim 19 of the US patent 12,101,783. Claim 1 of the instant application is broader than claim 19 of the US patent 12,101,783, and thus the claims are anticipated (see the table below as an example):
Claim 1 of the Instant Application 18/892,749
Independent claim 1 of US Patent 12,101,783
1. Circuitry for a communications device for use in a wireless communications network, the wireless communications network comprising an infrastructure equipment providing a wireless access interface, the circuitry comprising
transmitter circuitry configured to transmit data via the wireless access interface,
receiver circuitry configured to receive signals, and
controller circuitry configured to control the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry so that the communications device is operable:
to receive a downlink control message transmitted in first downlink communications resources of the wireless access interface, the downlink control information providing an indication of second downlink communications resources from which the communications device can receive downlink data,
to decode the downlink control message to identify the second downlink communications resources for receiving the downlink data, and
to receive the downlink data from the second downlink communications resources, wherein the first and the second downlink communications resources are within a time period of the wireless access interface which ends at a pre-configured end time, the pre-configured end time being before the downlink control message is decoded.
19. A communications device for use in a wireless communications network, the wireless communications network comprising an infrastructure equipment providing a wireless access interface, the communications device comprising
a transmitter configured to transmit uplink data via the wireless access interface,
a receiver configured to receive signals, and
circuitry configured to: control the transmitter and the receiver so that the communications device is operable:
receive a downlink control message transmitted in first downlink communications resources of the wireless access interface, the downlink control information providing an indication of second downlink communications resources from which the communications device can receive downlink data,
decode the downlink control message to identify the second downlink communications resources for receiving the downlink data, and
receive the downlink data from the second downlink communications resources, wherein the first and the second downlink communications resources overlap and are within a time period of the wireless access interface which ends at a pre-configured end time, the pre-configured end time being before the downlink control message is decoded.
Claim 19 of the parent Patent No. US 12,101,783 B2 discloses all the limitations of claims 1 of the instant application as shown by the underlines. Therefore, claim 1 of the instant application is rejected under nonstatutory anticipated double patenting rejection.
This is a non-statutory anticipated double patenting rejection.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3 are allowed.
Claims 1-3 are not rejected over the prior art references, and would be allowed if the above-described rejection of the claims based on non-statutory anticipated double patenting is overcome. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 1, the prior arts of the record fail to suggest, disclose or teach in combination to render obvious all the limitations of the claim.
In particular, Kim et al. (US 2014/0105158 A1, hereinafter Kim) discloses, a method of smoothly transmitting/receiving data between a base station and a user equipment in a wireless access system, wherein a base station transmits UL resource allocation information (UL grant) to schedule PUSCH via PDSCH instead of PDCCH. To this end, the base station transmits DL resource allocation information (DL assignment) via PDCCH to schedule PDSCH carrying the UL grant. In particular, the base station transmits the UL grant in the PDSCH according to the DL assignment included in the PDCCH. In this case, the PDCCH includes a plurality of DL assignments transmitted to a corresponding UE and a part of the DL assignments can schedule the PDSCH carrying the UL grant. (please see Kim, para. [0201]). if second downlink resource allocation information is received from the base station via the PDCCH together with the first downlink resource allocation information, downlink data according to the second downlink resource allocation information is received via the PDSCH together with the uplink resource allocation information (please see Kim, para. [0012]). The user equipment may receive a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a physical downlink shared control channel (PDSCH) according to the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and may be then able to obtain a detailed system information. Meanwhile, the user equipment may be able to perform a random access procedure to complete the access to the base station and transmit a specific sequence as a preamble via a physical random access channel (PRACH) and may be then able to receive a response message via PDCCH and a corresponding PDSCH in response to the random access. In case of a contention based random access, it may be able to perform a contention resolution procedure such as a transmission of an additional physical random access channel and a channel reception of a physical downlink control channel and a corresponding physical downlink shared channel (please see Kim, paras. [0053-0054]). Further Kim discloses, A self-scheduling means that PDCCH (DL grant) and PDSCH are carried on the same DL CC or that PUSCH transmitted in accordance with PDCCH (UL grant) carried on DL CC is transmitted on UL CC linked with the DL CC having carried the UL grant (please see Kim, para. [0124])
YU et al. (US 2015/0009968 A1, hereinafter Yu) discloses a method for transmitting and receiving data, taking into account a latency with which a mobile station decodes a scheduling assignment channel in a communication system using beamforming, wherein MS can receive, from a BS, information about the length of a time period during which the MS does not need to change an Rx beam, following a PDCCH region, that is, information about the length of a time interval TL. The MS can monitor a PDCCH signal using a first Rx beam determined for PDCCH reception in the PDCCH region from the start of a subframe. The first Rx beam can be selected from among a plurality of Rx beams of the MS in consideration of a first Tx beam and/or a first MIMO transmission mode that the BS uses for PDCCH transmission. The MS can receive a data signal using the first Rx beam during the time interval T.sub.L shortly after the PDCCH region and can interpret the data signal based on the same transmission scheme as used for the PDCCH. The MS can receive a data signal based on a Tx beam and/or a MIMO transmission mode indicated by a PDCCH associated with data in a data region following the time interval T.sub.L. (please see Yu, paras. [0080-0081]).
Lee et al. (US 2018/0098337 A1, hereinafter Lee) discloses, a method for transmitting uplink/downlink data of a terminal more quickly by defining a new physical frame structure, when an UL resource allocation procedure for actual data in case that the UL radio resources for the buffer status reporting (BSR) are not allocated to a UE. That is, for a UE that switches a state of active mode in the DRX mode, since there is no data resource allocated beforehand, the resource for UL data should be requested starting from the SR transmission through the PUCCH (please see Lee, para. [0164]). The UE transmits a scheduling request (SR) to an eNB first in order to be allocated with the PUSCH resources . The scheduling request (SR) is used to request in order for the UE to be allocated with the PUSCH resource for UL transmission in case that the reporting event is occurred but the radio resource is not scheduled on the PUSCH in current TTI. That is, the UE transmits the SR on the PUCCH when the regular BSR is triggered but does not have the UL radio resource for transmitting the BSR to the eNB. The UE transmits the SR through the PUCCH or starts the random access procedure according to whether the PUCCH resources for the SR are configured. In particular, the PUCCH resources in which the SR can be transmitted may be determined as a combination of the PRB through which the SR is transmitted, the cyclic shift (CS) applied to a basic sequence (e.g., ZC sequence) for spread in frequency domain of the SR and an orthogonal code (OC) for spread in time domain of the SR. Additionally, the SR periodicity and the SR subframe offset information may be included. The PUCCH resources through which the SR can be transmitted may be configured by a higher layer (e.g., the RRC layer) in UE-specific manner (please see Lee, paras. [00165-0166]). When a UE receives the UL grant for the PUSCH resources for BSR transmission from an eNB, the UE transmits the triggered BSR through the PUSCH resources which are allocated by the UL grant. The eNB verifies the quality of data that the UE actually transmit to the UL through the BSR, and transmits the UL grant for the PUSCH resources for actual data transmission to the UE. The UE that receives the UL grant for actual data transmission transmits the actual UL data to the eNB through the PUSCH resources (please see Lee, paras. [0167-0168]).
However, Kim, Yu and Lee combined fails to explicitly disclose, “…the downlink control information providing an indication of second downlink communications resources from which the communications device can receive downlink data,
to decode the downlink control message to identify the second downlink communications resources for receiving the downlink data, and
to receive the downlink data from the second downlink communications resources, wherein the first and the second downlink communications resources are within a time period of the wireless access interface which ends at a pre-configured end time, the pre-configured end time being before the downlink control message is decoded.”, in combination with the other limitations of the claim 1.
Regarding claim 2, the prior arts of the record fail to suggest, disclose or teach in combination to render obvious all the limitations of the claim.
In particular, Kim et al. (US 2014/0105158 A1, hereinafter Kim) discloses, a method of smoothly transmitting/receiving data between a base station and a user equipment in a wireless access system, wherein a base station transmits UL resource allocation information (UL grant) to schedule PUSCH via PDSCH instead of PDCCH. To this end, the base station transmits DL resource allocation information (DL assignment) via PDCCH to schedule PDSCH carrying the UL grant. In particular, the base station transmits the UL grant in the PDSCH according to the DL assignment included in the PDCCH. In this case, the PDCCH includes a plurality of DL assignments transmitted to a corresponding UE and a part of the DL assignments can schedule the PDSCH carrying the UL grant. (please see Kim, para. [0201]). if second downlink resource allocation information is received from the base station via the PDCCH together with the first downlink resource allocation information, downlink data according to the second downlink resource allocation information is received via the PDSCH together with the uplink resource allocation information (please see Kim, para. [0012]). The user equipment may receive a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a physical downlink shared control channel (PDSCH) according to the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and may be then able to obtain a detailed system information. Meanwhile, the user equipment may be able to perform a random access procedure to complete the access to the base station and transmit a specific sequence as a preamble via a physical random access channel (PRACH) and may be then able to receive a response message via PDCCH and a corresponding PDSCH in response to the random access. In case of a contention based random access, it may be able to perform a contention resolution procedure such as a transmission of an additional physical random access channel and a channel reception of a physical downlink control channel and a corresponding physical downlink shared channel (please see Kim, paras. [0053-0054]). Further Kim discloses, A self-scheduling means that PDCCH (DL grant) and PDSCH are carried on the same DL CC or that PUSCH transmitted in accordance with PDCCH (UL grant) carried on DL CC is transmitted on UL CC linked with the DL CC having carried the UL grant (please see Kim, para. [0124])
YU et al. (US 2015/0009968 A1, hereinafter Yu) discloses a method for transmitting and receiving data, taking into account a latency with which a mobile station decodes a scheduling assignment channel in a communication system using beamforming, wherein MS can receive, from a BS, information about the length of a time period during which the MS does not need to change an Rx beam, following a PDCCH region, that is, information about the length of a time interval TL. The MS can monitor a PDCCH signal using a first Rx beam determined for PDCCH reception in the PDCCH region from the start of a subframe. The first Rx beam can be selected from among a plurality of Rx beams of the MS in consideration of a first Tx beam and/or a first MIMO transmission mode that the BS uses for PDCCH transmission. The MS can receive a data signal using the first Rx beam during the time interval T.sub.L shortly after the PDCCH region and can interpret the data signal based on the same transmission scheme as used for the PDCCH. The MS can receive a data signal based on a Tx beam and/or a MIMO transmission mode indicated by a PDCCH associated with data in a data region following the time interval T.sub.L. (please see Yu, paras. [0080-0081]).
Lee et al. (US 2018/0098337 A1, hereinafter Lee) discloses, a method for transmitting uplink/downlink data of a terminal more quickly by defining a new physical frame structure, when an UL resource allocation procedure for actual data in case that the UL radio resources for the buffer status reporting (BSR) are not allocated to a UE. That is, for a UE that switches a state of active mode in the DRX mode, since there is no data resource allocated beforehand, the resource for UL data should be requested starting from the SR transmission through the PUCCH (please see Lee, para. [0164]). The UE transmits a scheduling request (SR) to an eNB first in order to be allocated with the PUSCH resources . The scheduling request (SR) is used to request in order for the UE to be allocated with the PUSCH resource for UL transmission in case that the reporting event is occurred but the radio resource is not scheduled on the PUSCH in current TTI. That is, the UE transmits the SR on the PUCCH when the regular BSR is triggered but does not have the UL radio resource for transmitting the BSR to the eNB. The UE transmits the SR through the PUCCH or starts the random access procedure according to whether the PUCCH resources for the SR are configured. In particular, the PUCCH resources in which the SR can be transmitted may be determined as a combination of the PRB through which the SR is transmitted, the cyclic shift (CS) applied to a basic sequence (e.g., ZC sequence) for spread in frequency domain of the SR and an orthogonal code (OC) for spread in time domain of the SR. Additionally, the SR periodicity and the SR subframe offset information may be included. The PUCCH resources through which the SR can be transmitted may be configured by a higher layer (e.g., the RRC layer) in UE-specific manner (please see Lee, paras. [00165-0166]). When a UE receives the UL grant for the PUSCH resources for BSR transmission from an eNB, the UE transmits the triggered BSR through the PUSCH resources which are allocated by the UL grant. The eNB verifies the quality of data that the UE actually transmit to the UL through the BSR, and transmits the UL grant for the PUSCH resources for actual data transmission to the UE. The UE that receives the UL grant for actual data transmission transmits the actual UL data to the eNB through the PUSCH resources (please see Lee, paras. [0167-0168]).
However, Kim, Yu and Lee combined fails to explicitly disclose, “…the downlink control information providing an indication of second downlink communications resources from which the communications device can receive downlink data, and
to transmit the downlink data using the second downlink communications resources, wherein the first and the second downlink communications resources are within a time period of the wireless access interface which ends at a pre-configured end time, the pre-configured end time being before the downlink control message is decoded by the communications device.”, in combination with the other limitations of the claim 2.
Regarding claim 3, the prior arts of the record fail to suggest, disclose or teach in combination to render obvious all the limitations of the claim.
In particular, Kim et al. (US 2014/0105158 A1, hereinafter Kim) discloses, a method of smoothly transmitting/receiving data between a base station and a user equipment in a wireless access system, wherein a base station transmits UL resource allocation information (UL grant) to schedule PUSCH via PDSCH instead of PDCCH. To this end, the base station transmits DL resource allocation information (DL assignment) via PDCCH to schedule PDSCH carrying the UL grant. In particular, the base station transmits the UL grant in the PDSCH according to the DL assignment included in the PDCCH. In this case, the PDCCH includes a plurality of DL assignments transmitted to a corresponding UE and a part of the DL assignments can schedule the PDSCH carrying the UL grant. (please see Kim, para. [0201]). if second downlink resource allocation information is received from the base station via the PDCCH together with the first downlink resource allocation information, downlink data according to the second downlink resource allocation information is received via the PDSCH together with the uplink resource allocation information (please see Kim, para. [0012]). The user equipment may receive a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a physical downlink shared control channel (PDSCH) according to the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and may be then able to obtain a detailed system information. Meanwhile, the user equipment may be able to perform a random access procedure to complete the access to the base station and transmit a specific sequence as a preamble via a physical random access channel (PRACH) and may be then able to receive a response message via PDCCH and a corresponding PDSCH in response to the random access. In case of a contention based random access, it may be able to perform a contention resolution procedure such as a transmission of an additional physical random access channel and a channel reception of a physical downlink control channel and a corresponding physical downlink shared channel (please see Kim, paras. [0053-0054]). Further Kim discloses, A self-scheduling means that PDCCH (DL grant) and PDSCH are carried on the same DL CC or that PUSCH transmitted in accordance with PDCCH (UL grant) carried on DL CC is transmitted on UL CC linked with the DL CC having carried the UL grant (please see Kim, para. [0124])
YU et al. (US 2015/0009968 A1, hereinafter Yu) discloses a method for transmitting and receiving data, taking into account a latency with which a mobile station decodes a scheduling assignment channel in a communication system using beamforming, wherein MS can receive, from a BS, information about the length of a time period during which the MS does not need to change an Rx beam, following a PDCCH region, that is, information about the length of a time interval TL. The MS can monitor a PDCCH signal using a first Rx beam determined for PDCCH reception in the PDCCH region from the start of a subframe. The first Rx beam can be selected from among a plurality of Rx beams of the MS in consideration of a first Tx beam and/or a first MIMO transmission mode that the BS uses for PDCCH transmission. The MS can receive a data signal using the first Rx beam during the time interval T.sub.L shortly after the PDCCH region and can interpret the data signal based on the same transmission scheme as used for the PDCCH. The MS can receive a data signal based on a Tx beam and/or a MIMO transmission mode indicated by a PDCCH associated with data in a data region following the time interval T.sub.L. (please see Yu, paras. [0080-0081]).
Lee et al. (US 2018/0098337 A1, hereinafter Lee) discloses, a method for transmitting uplink/downlink data of a terminal more quickly by defining a new physical frame structure, when an UL resource allocation procedure for actual data in case that the UL radio resources for the buffer status reporting (BSR) are not allocated to a UE. That is, for a UE that switches a state of active mode in the DRX mode, since there is no data resource allocated beforehand, the resource for UL data should be requested starting from the SR transmission through the PUCCH (please see Lee, para. [0164]). The UE transmits a scheduling request (SR) to an eNB first in order to be allocated with the PUSCH resources . The scheduling request (SR) is used to request in order for the UE to be allocated with the PUSCH resource for UL transmission in case that the reporting event is occurred but the radio resource is not scheduled on the PUSCH in current TTI. That is, the UE transmits the SR on the PUCCH when the regular BSR is triggered but does not have the UL radio resource for transmitting the BSR to the eNB. The UE transmits the SR through the PUCCH or starts the random access procedure according to whether the PUCCH resources for the SR are configured. In particular, the PUCCH resources in which the SR can be transmitted may be determined as a combination of the PRB through which the SR is transmitted, the cyclic shift (CS) applied to a basic sequence (e.g., ZC sequence) for spread in frequency domain of the SR and an orthogonal code (OC) for spread in time domain of the SR. Additionally, the SR periodicity and the SR subframe offset information may be included. The PUCCH resources through which the SR can be transmitted may be configured by a higher layer (e.g., the RRC layer) in UE-specific manner (please see Lee, paras. [00165-0166]). When a UE receives the UL grant for the PUSCH resources for BSR transmission from an eNB, the UE transmits the triggered BSR through the PUSCH resources which are allocated by the UL grant. The eNB verifies the quality of data that the UE actually transmit to the UL through the BSR, and transmits the UL grant for the PUSCH resources for actual data transmission to the UE. The UE that receives the UL grant for actual data transmission transmits the actual UL data to the eNB through the PUSCH resources (please see Lee, paras. [0167-0168]).
However, Kim, Yu and Lee combined fails to explicitly disclose, “…the downlink control information providing an indication of second downlink communications resources from which the communications device can receive downlink data, and
to transmit the downlink data using the second downlink communications resources, wherein the second downlink communications resources are within a time period of the wireless access interface which ends at a pre-configured start time, the pre-configured start time being before the downlink control data is decoded and after the first downlink communications resources.”, in combination with the other limitations of the claim 3.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure.
CHENG (US 2019/0313429 Al) discloses METHODS AND RELATED DEVICES FOR PERFORMING CROSS-CARRIER SCHEDULING WITH BEAM OPERATIONS.
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/FARID SEYEDVOSOGHI/Examiner, Art Unit 2645
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