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 (IDS) submitted on 09/23/2024 was filed with the instant application for consideration. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
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.
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 1-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. (US 2020/0153672 A1, use the Foreign Application priority of the Application KR 10-2017-0036016: filed on March 22, 2016), hereinafter, “Choi” in view of Babaei; Alireza et al. (US 20180/270699 A1), hereinafter, “Babaei”.
Regarding claim 1, Choi discloses: A method (Choi: para [0015], a method of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system), comprising: receiving, by an apparatus, radio resource control (RRC) signaling carrying a configuration for an initial bandwidth part (BWP) (Choi: fig 36 and fig 37B, steps 3711, para [0484] and para [0493], where, “the partitioning configuration information may be semi-statically configured to the UE through higher-layer signaling, for example, RRC signaling and MAC CE signaling”, para [0483]);
the configuration indicating a numerology of the initial BWP (Choi: fig 3-4, para [0149]-[0153], steps 311-322, where, described in para [0149], “The system information and the higher configuration information may include configuration information indicating whether to use the slot or the mini-slot for data transmission and reception, the number of OFDM symbols of the slot or the mini-slot, and the numerology therefor), a starting frequency domain location of the initial BWP (Choi: fig 4, para [0169], where, “The first signal includes an OFDM symbol interval (or a start OFDM symbol and an end OFDM symbol) in the time region for transmission of the long PUCCH and PRBs in the frequency region, and the second signal includes an OFDM symbol interval (or a start OFDM symbol and an end OFDM symbol)”), and
a frequency domain length of the initial BWP (Choi: fig 4, para [0130], where, “one TTI may be defined as one slot and may consist of 14 OFDM symbols or 7 OFDM symbols in 5G. Accordingly, in the case of subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, one slot has a length of 1 ins or 0.5 ms”) for a grant-free uplink transmission (Choi: para [0200], “the first method may be applied to transmission of the uplink control channel configured to be transmitted by the UE “without a scheduling grant” (equivalent to “without a grant-free uplink transmission”)”); wherein the transmission parameters comprise the numerology, the starting frequency domain location, and the frequency domain length (Choi: para [0127], where, “the services may have different numerologies depending on the requirements. The numerology includes a cyclic prefix (CP) length, subcarrier spacing, an OFDM symbol length, and a transmission time interval (TTI) in an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) or an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)-based communication system”); and
the starting frequency domain location (Choi: para [0014], where, “a symbol at the location at which the data channel starts may differ according to whether there is a control region at the frequency location at which the data channel is transmitted or whether the control region is reused. Accordingly, the UE may receive an indication of a data start point to decode the data channel”, [0130]) and the frequency domain length (Choi: para [0127], where, “the services may have different numerologies depending on the requirements thereof. The numerology includes an OFDM symbol length”);
Choi does not explicitly teach: transmitting, by the apparatus in a power saving mode, data via the grant-free uplink transmission without dynamic grant according to transmission parameters configured on the initial BWP, and wherein the power saving mode comprises an Inactive state or an Idle state.
Babaei teaches: transmitting, by the apparatus in a power saving mode (Babaei: fig 8, para [0096], where, “a UE may change receive and/or transmit bandwidths, e.g., to shrink during period of low activity to save power (equivalent to “power save mode”)”, further see fig 14, para [0139]-[0140], where, “idle/connection inactivation mode” equivalent to “power save mode”) data via the grant-free uplink transmission without dynamic grant according to transmission parameters configured on the initial BWP (Babaei: fig 2 and fig 5, para [0091]-[0093], where, “a resource allocation may comprise parameters of resource block allocation; and/or slot allocation. In an example, a gNB may dynamically allocate resources to a wireless device via a Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) on one or more PDCCHs”), and wherein the power saving mode comprises an Inactive state or an Idle state (Babaei: fig 8, para [0096], where, “a UE may change receive and/or transmit bandwidths, e.g., to shrink during period of low activity to save power (equivalent to “power save mode”)”, further see fig 14, para [0139]-[0140], where, “idle/connection inactivation mode” equivalent to “power save mode”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use “transmitting, by the apparatus in a power saving mode, data via the grant-free uplink transmission without dynamic grant according to transmission parameters configured on the initial BWP, and wherein the power saving mode comprises an Inactive state or an Idle state” as taught by Babaei into Choi in order to receive a scheduling grant in uplink (Babaei: para [0164]).
Regarding claim 12, the claim includes features identical to the subject matter mentioned in the rejection to claim 1 above. The claims are mere reformulation of claim 1 in order to define the corresponding wireless communication method, and the rejection to claim 1 is applied hereto.
Regarding claim 23, the claim includes features identical to the subject matter mentioned in the rejection to claim 1 above. The claims are mere reformulation of claim 1 in order to define the corresponding wireless communication method, and the rejection to claim 1 is applied hereto. Additionally, the claim includes a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and a processor. However, Choi discloses the storage medium and the processor (para [0071]).
Regarding claim 24, the claim includes features identical to the subject matter mentioned in the rejection to claim 1 above. The claims are mere reformulation of claim 1 in order to define the corresponding wireless communication method by a Base Station, and the rejection to claim 1 is applied hereto. Additionally, the claim includes a Base Station with a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and a processor. However, Choi discloses the storage medium and the processor (para [0071]).
Regarding claims 2 and 13, Choi modified by Babaei teach: the configuration carried by the RRC signaling further indicating one or more of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) (para [0200], “the uplink control channel configured to be transmitted by the UE without a scheduling grant”), or a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for the grant-free uplink transmission.
Regarding claims 3 and 14, Choi modified by Babaei teach: wherein the initial BWP is associated with a BWP index (Babaei: fig 9, para [0101]-[0103], where, initial BWP is associated with one or more index of the DL BWP or UL BWP).
Regarding claims 4 and 15, Choi modified by Babaei teach: wherein the apparatus transmits data using grant-free transmissions without transitioning to an RRC connected mode (Babaei: fig 14, RRC connected 1430, para [0139]).
Regarding claims 5 and 16, Choi modified by Babaei teach: wherein grant-free resources for the grant-free uplink transmission in the power saving mode is configured by at least one of broadcast signaling or multicast signaling, and wherein the broadcast signaling or the multicast signaling indicates a BWP or a BWP frequency location (Choi: fig 3-4, para [0149]-[0153] and para [0157]-[0162], where, reference numerals 408 (equivalent to “first frequency domain length”) indicated by starting frequency 404).
Regarding claims 6 and 17, Choi modified by Babaei teach: wherein the broadcast signaling or the multicast signaling comprises a system information block (SIB) (Choi: para [0107], where, “(fig 3-4, para [0149]-[0153] and para [0157]-[0162], where, reference numerals 408 (equivalent to “first frequency domain length”) indicated by starting frequency 404)”).
Regarding claims 7 and 18, Choi modified by Babaei teach: the grant-free uplink transmission being activated by physical layer (L1) signaling or downlink control information (DCI) signaling (Choi: fig 38, para [0511], “Information on whether a dynamic indicator for a data start point is supported in a specific bandwidth part may be transmitted to the UE through higher-layer signaling, for example, RRC signaling or MAC CE signaling”).
Regarding claims 8 and 19, Choi modified by Babaei teach: wherein the DCI signaling indicates at least parameters of an MCS or a DMRS (Choi: para [0200], “the uplink control channel configured to be transmitted by the UE without a scheduling grant”).
Regarding claims 9 and 20, Choi modified by Babaei teach: the configuration further indicating a starting symbol position (Choi: para [0443]-[0444], where, “PDSCH #1 3311 may be transmitted starting at a first OFDM system”) and a duration for the grant-free uplink transmission over a data channel in the initial BWP, the data channel being associated with the transmission parameters (Babaei: para [0165], where, “gNB may provide suitable grant size on the preferred numerology/TTI duration/transmission duration to the UE. In an example, to avoid the delay caused by BSR grant allocation, grant-free transmission of BSR without sending an SR may be supported”).
Regarding claims 10 and 21, Choi modified by Babaei teach: wherein the starting symbol position and the duration are within a single slot (Choi: (fig 4, para [0153], fig 19, para [0297] and fig 38, para [0511]).
Regarding claims 11 and 22, Choi modified by Babaei teach: the configuration further indicating a number of repetitions of the grant-free uplink transmission (Babaei: para [0166]-[0169], where, “grant-free transmission mechanisms may be used for delay critical use cases such as URLLC. In an example, UE-specific resource allocation may be used for BSR transmission”), the method further comprising: performing, by the apparatus, the repetitions of the grant-free uplink transmission without the dynamic grant (Choi: para [0170], “The first method is suitable for uplink control channel transmission, such as periodic channel information transmission configured to the UE for period transmission without a scheduling grant”, further, para [0200]).
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Conclusion
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/NIZAM U AHMED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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