DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-16 are pending in Instant Application.
Priority
Examiner acknowledges Applicant’s claim to priority: This application is a CON of 17/487,585 filed 09/28/2021 now PAT 12101191, 17/487,585 is a CON of PCT/CN2020/080905 filed 03/24/2020.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 9/23/2024, 12/10/2024, 3/4/2025, 4/15/2025, 12/9/2025, 12/11/2025, 1/6/2026, 3/12/2026, 6/30/2026 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered if signed and initialed by the Examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: Information transmission and parameter acquisition to reduce signaling overhead and interference.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 of instant filed application (Claims filed 09/23/2024) recite, " ... wherein the downlink control channel resource group is a control channel resource set (CORESET) group and there are multiple downlink control channel resource groups in one bandwidth part (BWP)”. Neither the claim nor the specification further describe, “…wherein the downlink control channel resource group is a control channel resource set (CORESET) group and there are multiple downlink control channel resource groups in one bandwidth part (BWP)”. Paragraph 63 of instant published application disclose, “A downlink control channel resource includes one of: a control channel resource set (CORESET) (namely, a frequency domain resource and a spatial domain resource of the downlink control channel resource), a search space set (namely, a time domain resource and a frequency domain resource of the downlink control channel resource), a search space corresponding to one aggregation degree (namely, a time domain resource and a frequency domain resource of the downlink control channel resource), and one time domain occasion of one search space set (namely, a time domain resource and a frequency domain resource of the downlink control channel resource), one frequency domain resource set of one CORESET (namely, a frequency domain resource of the downlink control channel resource), one control channel demodulation reference signal port group (namely, a spatial domain resource of the downlink control channel resource), a control channel resource corresponding to one quasi co-location reference signal set (namely, a spatial domain resource of the downlink control channel resource), or a control channel resource (namely, a time domain resource, a frequency domain resource and a spatial domain resource of the downlink control channel resource) included in configuration information of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)”. The claims and the specification of the instant application does not describe the method/step, " ... wherein the downlink control channel resource group is a control channel resource set (CORESET) group and there are multiple downlink control channel resource groups in one bandwidth part (BWP)” Therefore claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement
The subject matter was not described in the specification (see paragraph 0063, 0077, 0082, 0083) in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and /or use the invention.
Claim 9 is also rejected for the same reason as set forth above for claim 1.
Claims 2-8 and 10-16 are also rejected since they are dependent on the rejected dependent claims 1 and 9, respectfully, as set forth above.
Examiner Note: In view of the above, the Independent claims filed in instant application are of different scope, that the original filed claims, hence, a priority date of 9/23/2024 is established.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zheng et al. (US Pub. No.:2020/0404699), and further in view of Seo (US Pub. No.: 2020/0092855).
As per claim 1, Zheng disclose An information determination method (see Fig.4a, Fig.5, determining procedure, information determination), comprising:
determining downlink control channel resource group information (see Fig.4a, Fig.5, para. 0081-0085, 0099-0113, 0117,0214-0218, 0225-0230, determining control channel resource group / downlink control channel resource group information); and
determining an information according to the downlink control channel resource group information, wherein the information includes at least one of a monitoring of a downlink control channel, or a maximum number of different quasi co-location reference signals associated with spatial receive parameters of B signals, wherein each of B is an integer greater than 1 (see Fig.4a, Fig.5, para. 0081-0085, 0099-0113, 0117, 0211-0218, 0225-0230, 0240, determining information, the terminal device receives, by using the control channel resource set in the control channel resource group included in the first unlicensed band set/, the downlink control information sent by the network device, the terminal device receives downlink data by using a downlink data resource notified in the downlink control information, or sends uplink data on an uplink data resource notified in the downlink control information, see para. 0211, S410: the terminal device determines the C first unlicensed bands in the available unlicensed band set, where the first unlicensed band includes a control channel. To be specific, the first unlicensed band carries at least one of the D control channel resource groups),
wherein an intersection among time domain resources occupied by the B signals is non-empty (see Fig.4a, Fig.5, para. 0211-0218, 0126-0129, when a time-frequency resource (alternatively referred to as a data resource) that carries data of the terminal device 111 conflicts with the first control channel resource set (e.g., at least a part of a time-frequency resource occupied by the first control channel resource set overlaps a part of the time-frequency resource that carries the data of the terminal device 111 / an intersection among time domain resources), the network device does not transmit the data of the terminal device 111 on the conflicting time-frequency resource / the B signals is non-empty, see also para. 0240, resources of the plurality of control channel resource groups conflict (or resources of control channel resource sets included in the plurality of control channel resource groups conflict). In this case, some or all of the plurality of conflicting control channel resource groups are considered as unavailable (or the plurality of conflicting control channel resource sets are considered as unavailable) / the B signals is non-empty),
wherein the downlink control channel resource group is a control channel resource set (CORESET) group and there are multiple downlink control channel resource groups in one bandwidth part (BWP).
Zheng however does not explicitly disclose wherein the downlink control channel resource group is a control channel resource set (CORESET) group and there are multiple downlink control channel resource groups in one bandwidth part (BWP).
Seo however disclose wherein a downlink control channel resource group is a control channel resource set (CORESET) group (para. 0008-0011, 0048-0054, a downlink control channel resource group is a CORESET group, receiving a first control resource set (CORESET) configuration including information regarding a frequency resource of a first CORESET and information regarding a CORESET time duration of the first CORESET; and receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) signal in one or more resource element group (REG) bundles on the first CORESET, wherein each REG bundle on the first CORESET consists of 2, 3 or 6 REGs of the first CORESET based on an REG bundle size of 2, 3, or 6) and there are multiple downlink control channel resource groups in one bandwidth part (BWP) (see Table 1, Table 2, para. 0039-0044, 0059-0060, 0065-0068, multiple downlink control channel resource groups in one bandwidth part (BWP), see also Fig.6, para. 0115-0120, 0140).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein the downlink control channel resource group is a control channel resource set (CORESET) group and there are multiple downlink control channel resource groups in one bandwidth part (BWP), as taught by Seo, in the system of Zheng, so that channel estimation of the PDCCH signal is more accurately and effectively performed and, since a frequency resource of a CORESET is allocated through a bitmap in units of 6-RBs, a residual resource according to REG bundling is not generated and, thus, a wireless resource of a CORESET is more effectively used, see Seo, paragraphs 15-21.
As per claim 9, claim 9 is rejected the same way as claim 1. Zheng also disclose An information determination device (see Fig.1, Fig.2, a wireless apparatus 900, see para. 0060, see also Fig.6, para. 0273-0277, wireless apparatus 700 ), comprising a processor (see Fig.2, a processor 910, Fig.6, a processor 710) and a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores an instruction, and the instruction, when executed by the processor, implements an information determination method (Fig.6, para. 0273-0277, the memory 720 is configured to store computer-executable program code or a computer-executable instruction, the processor 710 reads and executes the program code or the instruction in the memory 720. When the program code or the instruction in the memory 720 is executed by the processor 610, the processor 710 controls the wireless apparatus 700 to implement the functions of the terminal device in the foregoing methods).
Claims 2-3 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zheng et al. (US Pub. No.:2020/0404699), in view of Seo (US Pub. No.: 2020/0092855) and further in view of Akoum (US Pub. No.: 2021/0068892).
As per claim 2, the combination of Zheng and Seo disclose the method of claim 1.
The combination of Zheng and Seo however does not explicitly disclose wherein the determining the information according to the downlink control channel resource group information comprises: determining a total number of downlink control channels monitored in one time unit according to a number of groups comprised in the downlink control channel resource group information.
Akoum however disclose wherein determining information according to downlink control channel resource group information comprises: determining a total number of downlink control channels monitored in one time unit according to a number of groups comprised in the downlink control channel resource group information (see Fig. 1, Fig.2, para. 0023. 0039, 0076, the UE 102 is configured to monitor the downlink radio link quality of the radio link established between the UE 102 and the network node 104 based on downlink transmissions received from the network node 104. In this regard, the UE is configured to determine, (either regularly, continuously, at defined time points, based on reception of particular downlink transmissions or groups of downlink transmissions, based on defined trigger events, etc.), radio link quality measurements representative of the UEs estimate of the downlink radio link quality based on one or more of the downlink transmissions, the downlink transmissions monitored includes reference signals transmitted by the network node 104 and the UE is configured to determine the radio link quality measurements based on one or more of the reference signals, the downlink signals monitored/evaluated by the UE to determine the downlink radio quality link measurements can include other types of signals (e.g., actual physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmissions) transmitted to the UE by the network node 104, see also para. 0048, 0062, 0079).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein determining information according to downlink control channel resource group information comprises: determining a total number of downlink control channels monitored in one time unit according to a number of groups comprised in the downlink control channel resource group information, as taught by Akoum, in the system of Zheng and Seo, so that a UE is configured to monitor the downlink radio link quality of the serving cell when in RRC connected mode to determine whether the UE is in-sync or out-of-sync with respect to its serving cell and to further determine when to declare RLF, the UE's evaluation of the monitored downlink radio link quality is tailored based on the quality of service requirement of the current usage scenario, see Akoum, paragraphs 18-20.
As per claim 3, the combination of Zheng and Seo disclose the method of claim 1.
The combination of Zheng and Seo however does not explicitly disclose wherein the determining the information according to the downlink control channel resource group information comprises: determining an allocation of monitored downlink control channels according to the downlink control channel resource group information.
Akoum however disclose wherein determining information according to a downlink control channel resource group information comprises: determining an allocation of monitored downlink control channels according to the downlink control channel resource group information (see para. 0028, 0029, 0039, 0048, 0062-0063, an allocation of monitored downlink control channels according to the downlink control channel resource group information).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein determining information according to a downlink control channel resource group information comprises: determining an allocation of monitored downlink control channels according to the downlink control channel resource group information, as taught by Akoum, in the system of Zheng and Seo, so that a UE is configured to monitor the downlink radio link quality of the serving cell when in RRC connected mode to determine whether the UE is in-sync or out-of-sync with respect to its serving cell and to further determine when to declare RLF, the UE's evaluation of the monitored downlink radio link quality is tailored based on the quality of service requirement of the current usage scenario, see Akoum, paragraphs 18-20.
As per claim 10, claim 10 is rejected the same way as claim 2.
As per claim 11, claim 11 is rejected the same way as claim 3.
Claims 4 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zheng et al. (US Pub. No.:2020/0404699), in view of Seo (US Pub. No.: 2020/0092855) and further in view of Wang (US Pub. No.: 2019/0103943).
As per claim 4, the combination of Zheng and Seo disclose the method of claim 1.
The combination of Zheng and Seo however does not explicitly disclose wherein the determining the information according to the downlink control channel resource group information comprises: determining a total number of downlink control channels monitored in one time unit to be in direct proportion to a number of groups comprised in the downlink control channel resource group information.
Wang however disclose wherein the determining the information according to the downlink control channel resource group information comprises: determining a total number of downlink control channels monitored in one time unit to be in direct proportion to a number of groups comprised in the downlink control channel resource group information (see Fig.8, para. 0136, a total number of downlink control channels monitored in one time unit to be in direct proportion to a number of groups comprised in the downlink control channel resource group information).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein the determining the information according to the downlink control channel resource group information comprises: determining a total number of downlink control channels monitored in one time unit to be in direct proportion to a number of groups comprised in the downlink control channel resource group information, as taught by Wang, in the system of Zheng and Seo, so as to enable a method for an uplink transmission of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes receiving, from a base station (BS), control signaling; grouping physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) based on the control signaling, determining a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK/NACK) codebook for each grouping of the PDSCHs; and, transmitting HARQ-ACK/NACK information corresponding to the HARQ-ACK/NACK codebook and the HARQ-ACK delay is variable, see Wang, paragraphs 8-9, 22-24.
As per claim 12, claim 12 is rejected the same way as claim 4.
Claims 5-6 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zheng et al. (US Pub. No.:2020/0404699), in view of Seo (US Pub. No.: 2020/0092855) and further in view of Hao (US Pub. No.: 2021/0297214).
As per claim 5, the combination of Zheng and Seo disclose the method of claim 1.
The combination of Zheng and Seo however does not explicitly disclose wherein the determining the information according to the downlink control channel resource group information comprises: determining a number of groups comprised in the group information to be in direct proportion to the maximum number of different quasi co-location reference signals.
Hao however disclose wherein the determining the information according to the downlink control channel resource group information comprises: determining a number of groups comprised in the group information to be in direct proportion to the maximum number of different quasi co-location reference signals (see para. 0083-0088, a number of groups comprised in the group information is in direct proportion to the maximum number of different quasi co-location reference signals, if the maximum number of supported DM-RS port groups is set to 1, and one QCL assumption is provided in the TCI state(s), then the UE applies the QCL configuration to the sole DM-RS port group configured and if the maximum number of supported DM-RS port groups is set to 2, only one DM-RS port group is configured, and one QCL assumption is provided in the TCI state(s), then the UE applies the QCL assumption to the configured DM-RS port group).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein the determining the information according to the downlink control channel resource group information comprises: determining a total number of downlink control channels monitored in one time unit to be in direct proportion to a number of groups comprised in the downlink control channel resource group information, as taught by Hao, in the system of Zheng and Seo, so as to improve spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using OFDMA with a cyclic prefix (CP) on the downlink (DL) and on the uplink (UL), see Hao, paragraphs 5-10.
As per claim 6, the combination of Zheng and Seo disclose the method of claim 1.
The combination of Zheng and Seo however does not explicitly disclose wherein the determining the information according to the downlink control channel resource group information comprises: determining a number of downlink control channel resource groups comprised in the group information to be greater than or equal to the maximum number of different quasi co-location reference signals.
Hao however disclose wherein the determining the information according to the downlink control channel resource group information comprises: determining a number of downlink control channel resource groups comprised in the group information to be greater than or equal to the maximum number of different quasi co-location reference signals (see para. 0083-0088, a number of downlink control channel resource groups comprised in the group information is greater than or equal to the maximum number of different quasi co-location reference signals).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein the determining the information according to the downlink control channel resource group information comprises: determining a total number of downlink control channels monitored in one time unit to be in direct proportion to a number of groups comprised in the downlink control channel resource group information, as taught by Hao, in the system of Zheng and Seo, so as to improve spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using OFDMA with a cyclic prefix (CP) on the downlink (DL) and on the uplink (UL), see Hao, paragraphs 5-10.
As per claim 13, claim 13 is rejected the same way as claim 5.
As per claim 14, claim 14 is rejected the same way as claim 6.
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Second Rejection (In view of Section 6, using a priority date of 9/23/2024 and IDS filed 06/30/2026).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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.
Claim(s) 1 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhang (WO 2020/164640A1).
As per claim 1, Zhang disclose An information determination method, comprising:
determining downlink control channel resource group information (see para. 0450, the configuration information of the SRS resource indication information of the DCI can also carry the downlink control channel resource group index, which is used to determine the mapping relationship between the bit indication value of the SRS resource indication field of the DC! in the downlink control channel resource group and the indicated SRS resource); and
determining an information according to the downlink control channel resource group information (see para. 0054-0056, obtain the other type of information based on one of the second and third types of information ....The second type of information includes at least one of the following: downlink control channel resource group ), wherein the information includes at least one of a monitoring of a downlink control channel, or a maximum number of different quasi co-location reference signals associated with spatial receive parameters of B signals, wherein each of B is an integer greater than 1 (see para. 0145-0146, a downlink control channel resource group may include one or more downlink control channel resources, or each downlink control channel resource group may include only one downlink control channel resource. In this case, the downlink control channel resource group may also be referred lo as o downlink control channel resource. Furthermore, different downlink control channel resource groups correspond to different transmission parameters of channels and/or signals, that is, the transmission parameters of PDSCHIPUSCHIPUCCHICS!-RSISRS, etc, corresponding to different downlink control channel resources are different, and the multiple downlink control channel resource groups belong to one BWP),
wherein an intersection among time domain resources occupied by the B signals is non-empty (see para. 0145-0146, an intersection among time domain resources occupied by the B signals is non-empty),
wherein the downlink control channel resource group is a control channel resource set (CORESET) group (see para, 0144, the downlink control channel resources may include one of the
following: a control channel resource set (CORESET)..:, Para [0146], 'the multiple downlink control channel resource groups belong to one BWP') and there are multiple downlink control channel resource groups in one bandwidth part (BWP) (see para. 0146, 'the multiple downlink control channel resource groups belong to one BWP).
As per claim 9, claim 9 is rejected the same way as claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-8 and 15-16 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.
Cirik (US Pub. No.:2022/0272743) – see para. 0472-0478, “… the one or more coresets may be associated (e.g., one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one) with one or more groups. In an example, each coreset of the one or more coresets may be associated with a group of the one or more groups. In an example, the first coreset may be associated with a first group (e.g., the first TCI state group, the first antenna port group, the first HARQ process group, the first coreset group, the second TCI state group, the second antenna port group, the second HARQ process group, the second coreset group). In an example, the second coreset may be associated with a second group (e.g., the first TCI state group, the first antenna port group, the first HARQ process group, the first coreset group). In an example, the third coreset may be associated with a third group (e.g., the second TCI state group, the second antenna port group, the second HARQ process group, the second coreset group). In an example, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate the association between the one or more coresets and the one or more groups (e.g., TCI state group-specific index, HARQ process group-specific index, antenna panel group-specific index, coreset group-specific index, and the like), see also claim 1”.
Aiba (2019/0074929) – see para. 0072, “… cyclic redundancy check (CRC) parity bits may be attached to the DCI format C (i.e., DCI), and, after attachment, the CRC parity bits may be scrambled by the PI C-RNTI. Namely, the UE 102 may decode (detect, monitor) the DCI format C to which the CRC parity bits scrambled by the PI C-RNTI are attached (i.e., the DCI format C with the PI C-RNTI). Different RNTI(s) may be defined for transmission(s) (i.e., reception(s), detection(s), the scrambling(s) of CRC parity bits) for the scheduling DCI and the DCI format C. Here, the UE 102 may decode the DCI format C with the C-RNTI. Also, the UE 102 may detect the DCI format C only in the CSS (i.e., the CORESET of the CSS). Namely, the DCI format C may be a group common DCI format (i.e., a common DCI format for a plurality of UEs 102). Here, the UE 102 may detect the DCI format 1C in the USS (i.e., the CORESET of the USS) and/or the CSS (i.e., the CORESET of the CSS)”.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAKERAM JANGBAHADUR whose telephone number is (571)272-1335. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7 am - 4 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian Moore can be reached on 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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/LAKERAM JANGBAHADUR/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
Prosecution Insights