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 .
Response to Amendment
This is in response to an amendment/response/communication filed 9/26/2024.
Claim(s) 2-16 has/have been cancelled.
No claims(s) has/have been added.
Claims(s) 1 is/are currently pending.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 9/26/2024. These drawings are accepted.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Examiner’s Comments Regarding Subject Matter Eligibility
The abstract idea of “determine, based on the one or more rules, whether to skip at least one scheduled transmission of the uplink control information” as noted in claim 1 is considered as directed to a technical improvement as noted on paragraph 0163 of the PGPub specification and the claims are therefore considered as eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Juan et al. WO 2024234125 in view of Lohr et al. WO 2024127378.
As to claim 1:
Juan et al. discloses:
An apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:
receive, from a radio access network node, a configuration indicating one or more rules for skipping a transmission of uplink control information,
(“As further shown in Fig. 5A, and by reference number 520, the UE 120 may determine whether to transmit using the CG PUSCH resources. For example, the UE 120 may determine whether to transmit a PUSCH communication or whether to skip transmitting the PUSCH communication. In some aspects, the UE 120 may determine whether to transmit the PUSCH communication based at least in part on a presence of UCI or data. For example, for a PUSCH occasion in a CG PUSCH XR deployment, the UE 120 may determine that there is UTO-UCI queued or generated for transmission, but that there is no other UCI or data that is queued or generated for transmission. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 120 may receive configuration information (e.g., via radio resource control (RRC) signaling or another type of message) indicating whether to associate UTO-UCI with a single CG PUSCH configuration or a plurality of CG PUSCH configurations, as described in more detail below.”; Juan et al.; 0082)
(“As shown in Fig. 5A, and by diagram 575, the UE 120 is configured with a PUSCH configuration with a particular periodicity. As shown, in some PUSCH occasions, data or other UCI is present, but in a particular PUSCH occasion, no data or other UCI is present. In this case, when there is only UTO-UCI for transmission in a PUSCH occasion, the UE 120 may determine to skip transmission of a PUSCH communication. For example, the UE 120 may be configured to skip transmission of the PUSCH communication, based at least in part on determining that there is only UTO-UCI for transmission, by a static rule (e.g., a rule in a specification or a rule configured by network node 110 for the UE 120) . Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 120 may be flexibly configured to determine whether to transmit the PUSCH communication when there is only UTO-UCI for multiplexing onto a PUSCH transmission. In this case, the UE 120 may determine whether to transmit a PUSCH communication with only UTO-UCI based at least in part on a quantity of other PUSCH occasions that have been skipped, a length of time from a last UTO-UCI transmission, a network capacity or utilization, or another factor. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 120 may be configured to determine whether to transmit a PUSCH communication based at least in part on whether there are (aperiodic) channel state information (CSI) reports requested, whether there are MAC service data units (SDUs) in a generated MAC protocol data unit (PDU) , or whether a MAC PDU includes only a buffer status report (and there is no data available for a logical channel group (LCG) ) or a padding buffer status report, among other examples. For example, the UE 120 may determine to skip a CG PUSCH transmission if there is only UTO-UCI to be transmitted, if the MAC entity of the UE 120 is configured with an RRC parameter of enhancedSkipUplinkTxConfigured with a value true and the grant indicated to the HARQ entity is a configured uplink grant, if there is no UCI or no UCI rather tha UTO-UCI to be multiplexed on the CG PUSCH transmission, if there is no aperiodic CSI requested for this PUSCH transmission, if the MAC PDU includes zero MAC SDUs, and/or if the MAC PDU includes only the periodic BSR and there is no data available for any LCG, or the MAC PDU includes only the padding BSR, among other examples. In this case, the UE 120 may not generate a MAC PDU for the HARQ entity.”; Juan et al.; 0083)
(where
“For example, the UE 120 may be configured to skip transmission of the PUSCH communication, based at least in part on determining that there is only UTO-UCI for transmission, by a static rule (e.g., a rule in a specification or a rule configured by network node 110 for the UE 120)”/” the UE 120 may receive configuration information (e.g., via radio resource control (RRC) signaling or another type of message) indicating whether to associate UTO-UCI with a single CG PUSCH configuration or a plurality of CG PUSCH configurations,” maps to “receive, from a radio access network node, a configuration indicating one or more rules for skipping a transmission of uplink control information”, where “configured by network node”/”configuration information (e.g. via radio resource control (RRC) signaling)” maps to ““receive, from a radio access network node, a configuration”, “rule”/”whether to associate” maps to “indicating one or more rules”, “skip transmission” maps to “for skipping”, “only UTO-UCI for transmission” maps to “uplink control information”
…
determine, based on the one or more rules, whether to skip at least one scheduled transmission of the uplink control information.
(“Some aspects described herein enable a UE to selectively transmit UTO-UCI. For example, a UE may determine whether UTO-UCI is scheduled in a CG PUSCH occasion for which there is other UCI (or other data) and may, based at least in part on there not being other UCI (or other data) to transmit in the CG PUSCH occasion, skip transmitting UTO-UCI, thereby enabling the UE to skip transmission in the CG PUSCH occasion. In other words, the UE may, when UTO-UCI is scheduled in a CG PUSCH occasion, determine that other UCI or other data is also scheduled in the CG PUSCH occasion. In this case, the UE may transmit the UTO-UCI multiplexed with the other UCI or other data. In contrast, when the UE determines that other UCI or data is not scheduled in the CG PUSCH occasion, the UE may skip transmitting the UTO-UCI in the CG PUSCH occasion. In this way, the UE is enabled to skip some transmissions (e.g., in CG PUSCH occasions of an XR deployment) , thereby reducing a consumption of power resources and/or a usage of network resources. Additionally, or alternatively, based on the UE skipping some transmissions, the network node can skip decoding some transmissions, which may reduce a consumption of power and/or processing resources. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE may perform one or more other actions relating to UTO-UCI and/or CG PUSCH transmission, as described in more detail herein.”; Yuan et al.; 0079)
(where
“a UE may determine whether UTO-UCI is scheduled in a CG PUSCH occasion for which there is other UCI (or other data) and may, based at least in part on there not being other UCI (or other data) to transmit in the CG PUSCH occasion, skip transmitting UTO-UCI, thereby enabling the UE to skip transmission in the CG PUSCH occasion”/”the UE 120 may determine to skip transmission of a PUSCH communication. For example, the UE 120 may be configured to skip transmission of the PUSCH communication, based at least in part on determining that there is only UTO-UCI for transmission, … or a rule configured by network node 110 for the UE 120” maps to “determine, based on the one or more rules, whether to skip at least one scheduled transmission of the uplink control information”, where “determine…skip”/”determine to skip…rule” maps to ““determine, based on the one or more rules, whether to skip”, “UTO-UCI is scheduled” maps to “one scheduled transmission of the uplink control information”
Juan et al. teaches a UE receiving configuration information for a rule associated with skipping transmission of scheduled UTO-UCI.
Juan et al. as described above does not explicitly teach:
wherein the one or more rules comprise at least a condition that an indication indicating one or more unused configured grant physical uplink shared channel transmission occasions has been transmitted; and
However, Lohr et al. further teaches a unused/rules/CG PUSCH capability which includes:
wherein the one or more rules comprise at least a condition that an indication indicating one or more unused configured grant physical uplink shared channel transmission occasions has been transmitted; and
(“In other aspects of the described techniques for unused transmission occasions usage, one or more rules for skipping CGPUSCH transmissions can be implemented. For example, CG is restricted for extended reality (XR) data traffic, where buffer status reporting (BSR) is related only to the XR data traffic, and XR BSR MAC CE indicates no data availability for any logical channel group (LCG) or for any XR LCG. A skipping rule for additional CG PUSCH resources can be different for a primary CG PUSCH resource. For example, the MAC CE should not be communicated on the CG PUSCH resource alone, but rather the transmission is skipped, since the additional PUSCH resources are meant to be used only for data (e.g., based new transmission skipping rules).”; Lohr et al.; 0022)
(“In one or more implementations, the UE indicates CG PUSCH resources as “unused resources” when a CGPUSCH transmission is skipped (e.g., due to exceeding the PSDB). According to an implementation, a new trigger and/or use case for indication of the “unused resources” is introduced in this disclosure. Typically, the usage of the unused resource indication is determined based on data availability in the UE (e.g., upon arrival of a video frame at the buffer of the UE), and the UE can determine an amount of the resources out of the configured resources within one CG period that is needed. The UE can also indicate the unused amount of the resources to a gNB so that the gNB can schedule other uplink transmissions (e.g., for the same UE or for a different UE) in at least some of the unused resources. The indication from the UE to the gNB can be via UCI or MAC CE, and can be transmitted in the first CG PUSCH occasion or in a subsequent CG PUSCH occasion (e.g., if the UE determined that certain CG PUSCH transmissions are skipped for cases where the corresponding transport block contains only outdated data or obsolete data. In an example, an indication from a UE to the gNB (e.g., UCI or MAC CE) within a CG period can overwrite an earlier indication sent from the UE to the gNB within the same CG period. According to this aspect of the disclosure, a new rule for indicating unused CG PUSCH resources within a CG period is defined (e.g.) based on the expiration of a discard timer and/or based on a packet loss).”; Lohr et al.; 0060)
(where
“skipping rules”/”In one or more implementations, the UE indicates CG PUSCH resources as “unused resources” when a CGPUSCH transmission is skipped …new rule for indicating unused CG PUSCH resources withing a CG period” maps to “wherein the one or more rules comprise at least a condition that an indication indicating one or more unused configured grant physical uplink shared channel transmission occasions has been transmitted;”, where “skipping rules”/”new rule” maps to “the one or more rules”, “UE indicates CG PUSCH resources as “unused resources” maps to “indication indicating one or more unused configured grant physical uplink shared channel transmission occasions has been transmitted”, where “unused resources” maps to “unused”, “CG” maps to “configured grant”, “PUSCH” maps to “physical uplink shared channel transmission”, “transmission” maps to “transmitted”
Lohr et al. teaches skipping rules associated with a UE indicating unused CG PUSCH resources.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the unused/rules/CG PUSCH capability of Lohr et al. into Juan et al. By modifying the processing/communications of Juan et al. to include the unused/rules/CG PUSCH capability as taught by the processing/communications of Lohr et al., the benefits of improved UTO-UCI (Juan et al.; Abstract) with improved uplink (Lohr et al.; Abstract) are achieved.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 20210105126 – teaches rules associated with dropping scheduled non-selected channels (see para. 0253).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL K PHILLIPS whose telephone number is (571)272-1037. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-10am, 1pm-5pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricky Ngo can be reached on 571-272-3139. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
MICHAEL K. PHILLIPS
Examiner
Art Unit 2464
/MICHAEL K PHILLIPS/Examiner, Art Unit 2464
Prosecution Insights