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 .
Priority
Examiner acknowledges Applicant’s claim to priority benefits of CHINA filed March 30, 2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 02/27/2026 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding Claims 1 -20, the claims are unclear what is meant by the term “a related operation” claim does not specify what is “a related operation”. Without further defining what is a particular traffic is, the examiner construes associated or functions related to wireless communications .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by LEI et al (USP: 2025/0056548 A1).
As per Claim 1 LEI teaches a method for processing a physical layer operation, comprising: in a case that a first downlink bandwidth part (BWP) comprises a first synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel signal block (SSB), performing, by a terminal, a physical layer operation based on the first SSB, wherein the first SSB comprises a non-cell defining SSB (Paragraph 0069, 0073, 0089 a first downlink BWP, cell defining (CD) SSBs may be transmitted a physical layer cell identity group number and BWP (that contains non-cell-defining SSB) through RRC.. FIG. 7 summarizes some of the different features. For example, a conventional, non-RedCap initial downlink (DL) BWP may contain SSBs, RACH common search space (CSS) and CORESETO. As illustrated in FIG. 7, RedCap initial DL BWP may contain, for example, the RACH CSS, but may not contain SSBs, CORESETs (e.g., CORESETO, CORESET for paging), and/or system information blocks (SIB). );
wherein the physical layer operation comprises at least one of the following: determining a related operation for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate resource (Paragraph 0097, 0101 a unicast PDCCH in USS/CSS of the initial DL BWP. This PDCCH may be transmitted to UE after contention resolution is completed for CBRA or RA-based SDT. T he PDSCH may be scheduled by a group-common PDCCH in CSS of the initial DL BWP, or triggered by a MAC CE carried by a random access response (RAR), a contention resolution message of CBRA, RA-based SDT, or triggered by a bit field in the scheduling DCI of RAR, or a contention resolution message of CBRA or RA-based SDT. ); and scheduling a repetition through a random access response uplink grant (RAR UL grant) or first downlink control information (DCI), wherein the first DCI is DCI scrambled by a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TC-RNTI).
As per Claim 2 LEI teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the determining, by the terminal, the related operation for the PDCCH candidate resource based on the first SSB comprises: performing, by the terminal, a first operation in a case that a resource element corresponding to the PDCCH candidate resource overlaps with a resource element corresponding to the first SSB, wherein the first operation comprises: skipping monitoring the PDCCH candidate resource (Paragraph 0004, 0019 FIG. 11 depicts an example frequency resource allocation for bandwidth parts (BWPs) configured for a UE a common control resource set (CORESET) on a first downlink bandwidth part (BWP); receiving, from the network entity, a configuration for one or more common search space (CSS) sets within the common CORESET for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring; receiving, from the network entity on the first downlink BWP, a first set of system information (SI) scheduled by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in the one or more CSS sets ).
As per Claim 3 LEI teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the scheduling, by the terminal based on the first SSB, the repetition through the random access response uplink grant (RAR UL grant) or first downlink control information (DCI) comprises: performing, by the terminal, a third operation in a case that a resource corresponding to the N-th repetition overlaps with a resource corresponding to the first SSB, wherein N is a positive integer, and the third operation comprises: delaying the N-th repetition; wherein the repetition comprises a PUSCH repetition or a PUCCH repetition (Paragraph 0053, 0055, 0057 0090 Further, a RedCap UE functionality and/or capability may overlap with those of long term evolution (LTE) and/or fifth generation (5G) devices (e.g., premium 5G devices). For example, the functionality of relaxed IoT devices may overlap with that of URLLC devices, the functionality of smart wearable devices may overlap with that of low power wide area (LPWA) massive machine type communication (mMTC) devices, and/or the functionality of sensors/cameras may overlap with that of eMBB devices.. BS 102 may respond with a random access response (RAR) message (MSG2) which may include the identifier (ID) of the RACH preamble, a timing advance (TA), an uplink grant, cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), and a back off indicator. MSG2 may include a PDCCH communication including control information for a following communication on the PDSCH, as illustrated. ).
As per Claim 4 LEI teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the non-cell defining SSB comprises at least one of the following: SSB configured by terminal-specific signaling; SSB configured by BWP downlink dedicated signaling; and SSB configured by a radio resource control RRC parameter related to a non-cell defining SSB configuration (Paragraph 0073, 0094 the UE may also perform initial SI acquisition on CORESET #0. When UE needs to perform SDT or establish/resume RRC connection with the serving cell, the UE may switch to the separately configured initial DL/UL BWPs. A conventional RedCap UE is not be able to track SSBs from the time of an initial Msg1 transmission until the time the NW configures it with an active BWP (that contains non-cell-defining SSB) through RRC. ).
As per Claim 5 LEI teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the physical layer operation further comprises at least one of the following: determining energy per resource element (EPRE) of a downlink channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS); changing, by using a dynamic slot format indicator (SFI), a transmission direction corresponding to a flexible slot; determining a valid physical random access channel (PRACH) occasion or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasion; determining correspondences between hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process numbers and multiple scheduled PUSCH transmissions; determining a first condition for triggering a delayed semi-persistent scheduling hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (SPS HARQ-ACK) transmission in a first slot; determining a second condition for delaying an SPS HARQ-ACK transmission to a second slot; and evaluating radio link quality or link recovery quality in each indication period (Paragraph 0055, 0298 a PDCCH communication including control information for a following communication on the PDSCH, as illustrated. In response to MSG2, MSG3 is transmitted from the UE 104 to BS 102 on the PUSCH. MSG3 may include one or more of a RRC connection request HARQ ACK/NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), and/or UCI. ).
As per Claim 6 LEI teaches the method according to claim 5, wherein the determining, by the terminal, energy per resource element (EPRE) of the downlink CSI-RS based on a first SSB comprises: determining the EPRE based on a power offset parameter of the CSI-RS relative to a target first SSB and a synchronization signal-PBCH block power configured by a higher layer (Paragraph 0067, 0277, 0292 frequency offset and direction (e.g., specific to the selected SSB). FIG. 6 illustrates an example association (mapping) between SSBs and ROs. the RedCap UE would have to switch between the dedicated downlink BWP and a BWP used for signaling SI updates. This switching may result in increased latency and increased power consumption to acquire SI updates. FIG. 6 illustrates an example association of SSBs to RACH occasions (ROs). Transmit processor 220 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. Transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols, such as for the primary synchronization signal (PSS), secondary synchronization signal (SSS), PBCH DMRS, and channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). Channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The RS may also include beam measurement RS (BRS), beam refinement RS (BRRS), and phase tracking RS (PT-RS). ).
As per Claim 7 LEI teaches the method according to claim 5, wherein the changing, by the terminal based on the first SSB by using the dynamic slot format indicator (SFI), a transmission direction corresponding to the flexible slot comprises: in a case that second DCI with a first SFI index field value is detected, dropping, by the terminal, reception of the first SSB, or receiving the first SSB, or determining behavior of the terminal based on terminal implementation; or determining that the terminal does not expect to detect second DCI with a first SFI index field value; wherein the first SFI index field value indicates that a transmission direction corresponding to a first symbol is an uplink transmission direction, and the first symbol is at least one of a symbol corresponding to the first SSB (Paragraph 0287, 0293 FIG. 3B illustrates an example of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs), each CCE including nine RE groups (REGs), each REG including four consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol. UEs are configured with the slot format (dynamically through DL control information (DCI), or semi-statically/statically through RRC signaling) through a received slot format indicator (SFI). Note that the description below applies also to a 5G frame structure that is TDD.).
As per Claim 8 LEI teaches the method according to claim 5, wherein the determining, by the terminal based on the first SSB, the valid PRACH occasion or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasion comprises: determining, as a valid first occasion, a first occasion that is located after a third SSB and/or a fourth SSB and whose interval between the fourth SSB is greater than a first interval, wherein the first occasion comprises at least one of PRACH occasion and PUSCH occasion; wherein the third SSB is one first SSB in a slot in which a PRACH or PUSCH is located or a first SSB configured or specified by a network, and the fourth SSB is the first SSB or the fourth SSB is a first SSB configured or specified by a network; the third SSB is a second SSB in a slot in which a PRACH or PUSCH is located, and the fourth SSB is the first SSB or the fourth SSB is a first SSB configured or specified by a network; or the third SSB is one first SSB in a slot in which a PRACH or PUSCH is located or a first SSB configured or specified by a network, and the fourth SSB is a second SSB; and the second SSB is a cell defining SSB (Paragraph 0068, 0287, 0288, 0298 The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), and/or UCI Association is typically performed in the frequency domain first, then in the time domain within a RACH slot, then in the time domain across RACH slots (e.g., beginning with lower SSB indexes). An association period is typically defined as a minimum number of RACH configuration periods, such that all (configured) SSB beams are mapped into ROs. wireless communication technologies may have a different frame structure and/or different channels. A frame (10 ms) may be divided into 10 equally sized subframes (1 ms). Each subframe may include one or more time slots. Subframes may also include mini-slots, which may include 7, 4, or 2 symbols. In some examples, each slot may include 7 or 14 symbols, depending on the slot configuration ).
As per Claim 9 LEI teaches the method according to claim 5, wherein the determining, by the terminal based on the first SSB, correspondences between HARQ process numbers and multiple scheduled PUSCH transmissions comprises: in a case that the terminal is scheduled with the multiple PUSCH transmissions by third DCI, a HARQ process number indicated by the third DCI corresponding to the 1st PUSCH transmission that does not overlap with a second symbol, wherein the second symbol comprises at least one of the following: downlink symbol indicated by a time division duplexing uplink-downlink common configuration or a time division duplexing uplink-downlink dedicated configuration; and symbol corresponding to the first SSB (Paragraph 0038, 0053, 0277, 0280 Each of BSs 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110 which may overlap in some cases. For example, small cell 102′ (e.g., a low-power base station) may have a coverage area 110′ that overlaps the coverage area 110 of one or more macrocells (e.g., high-power base stations). Further, a RedCap UE functionality and/or capability may overlap with those of long term evolution (LTE) and/or fifth generation (5G) devices (e.g., premium 5G devices). For example, the functionality of relaxed IoT devices may overlap with that of URLLC devices, the functionality of smart wearable devices may overlap with that of low power wide area (LPWA) massive machine type communication (mMTC) devices, and HARQ ACK/NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), and/or UCI.).
As per Claim 10 LEI teaches the method according to claim 5, wherein the first condition comprises: a PUCCH transmitting an SPS HARQ-ACK in the first slot is indicated by a first parameter, and a symbol corresponding to the PUCCH overlaps with a symbol corresponding to the first SSB; wherein the first parameter comprises at least one of a PUCCH resource list for semi-persistent scheduling HARQ feedback and a PUCCH resource for semi-persistent scheduling HARQ feedback (Paragraph 0105, 0298 The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, a channel quality indicator (CQI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a rank indicator (RI), and HARQ ACK/NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), and/or UCI. The UE may send an implicit or explicit request for a paging message restriction or coverage enhancement for paging PDCCH. A RedCap UE functionality and/or capability may overlap with those of long term evolution (LTE) and/or fifth generation (5G) devices (e.g., premium 5G devices). For example, the functionality of relaxed IoT devices may overlap with that of URLLC devices, the functionality of smart wearable devices may overlap with that of low power wide area (LPWA) massive machine type communication (mMTC) devices, and/or the functionality of sensors/cameras may overlap with that of eMBB devices This request may be sent, for example, via a physical random access channel (PRACH), physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or uplink control information (UCI) multiplexed with PUSCH. ).
As per Claim 11 LEI teaches the method according to claim 5, wherein the second condition comprises: a symbol in the second slot that is indicated by a first parameter and that is corresponding to a PUCCH carrying a delayed SPS HARQ-ACK does not overlap with a symbol corresponding to the first SSB; wherein the first parameter comprises at least one of a PUCCH resource list for semi-persistent scheduling HARQ feedback and a PUCCH resource for semi-persistent scheduling HARQ feedback (Paragraph 0038, 0053, 0064, 0298 The For example, small cell 102′ (e.g., a low-power base station) may have a coverage area 110′ that overlaps the coverage area 110 of one or more macrocells (e.g., high-power base stations). PUCCH may be located as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, a channel quality indicator (CQI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a rank indicator (RI), and HARQ ACK/NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a RedCap UE functionality and/or capability may overlap with those of long term evolution (LTE) and/or fifth generation (5G) devices (e.g., premium 5G devices). For example, the functionality of relaxed IoT devices may overlap with that of URLLC devices, the functionality of smart wearable devices may overlap with that of low power wide area (LPWA) massive machine type communication (mMTC) devices, and/or the functionality of sensors/cameras may overlap with that of eMBB devices).
As per Claim 12 LEI teaches the method according to claim 5, wherein the indication period is a maximum value between a shortest period of the first SSB and a preset duration (Paragraph 0050, 0064 The subcarrier spacing and symbol length/duration are a function of the numerology. a RO associated with the detected SSB falls within a RedCap UE bandwidth, and the RedCap UE may utilize a separate initial UL BWP for RedCap (which is not expected to exceed the maximum RedCap UE bandwidth) which may include ROs for RedCap UEs. BWP wider than the maximum bandwidth of the initial BWP for the RedCap UE; however, a non-RedCap UE, which may share an initial UL BWP with the RedCap UE, is allowed to exceed the maximum bandwidth of the initial BWP. The RedCap UE may switch to a non-initial BWP by using the BWP switching mechanisms described in FIG. 8 below.).
Claims 13-20 are a terminal and non-transient readable storage medium claims corresponding to the methods claims 1-12 that have been rejected above. Applicant attention is directed to the rejection of claims 1-12. Claims 13-20 are rejected under the same rational as claims 1-12.
Examiner’s Note
Examiner is open for discussion if the applicant’s representative need further clarifications.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. (See form 892).
Conclusion
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/SYED ALI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
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