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 .
Introduction
The claims 1-20 are pending in this application. This is a non-final office action in response to Application Number 18/956,191 filed on 22 November 2024 with a preliminary amendment filed on 17 December 2024 in which the abstract is amended, the specification is amended, and claims 1-20 are amended and no claims are canceled or added.
The instant application is a CON of PCT/CN2023/095859 filed on 23 May 2023 and also claims priority to Chinese Application 202210576571.4 filed on 25 May2022.
The applicant of record is Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. in Shenzhen, China. The application papers have been signed by a U.S.-registered patent practitioner. The inventors of record are Lei Dong, Hao Tang, and Liqing Zhang.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claim 10 is objected to because of the following informalities: claim 10 recites “in operataion” in the second limitation. This appears to be a typographical error. Appropriate correction is required.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 19 August 2025 was filed after the filing date of the instant application on 22 November 2024 and before the mailing date of the first office action on the merits. 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 Interpretation
The claims have been considered according to the latest Patent Eligibility Guidelines and are considered eligible.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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)(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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Singh et al. (U.S. Patent Publication 2021/0376951).
Regarding claim 1, Singh disclosed a method applicable to a terminal side apparatus, the method comprising:
determining first information (see Singh [0004]: IoT, M2M, MTC applications related to sensor data; [0005]: applying 5G communication systems to IoT networks | [0125]: “UE based MCS selection for PUSCH transmission”; [0127]: “UE Behavior: 1) The MCS used for the PUSCH transmission will be decided by the UE (100) based on the latest CQI measurement…”); and
sending the first information (see Singh Fig. 1: PUSCH transmission from UE to NB | [0125]: “UE based MCS selection for PUSCH transmission”; [0126]: base station configures a default MCS; [0127]: “UE Behavior: 1) The MCS used for the PUSCH transmission will be decided by the UE (100) based on the latest CQI measurement…”) and second information to a network side apparatus (see Singh Fig. 1 PUSCH Transmission sent from UE to NB and includes an appended UCI that indicates the determined MCS; the appended UCI is sent with a default MCS), wherein the second information is used to determine at least one of: a modulation scheme of the first information (see Singh Fig. 1 NB receives appended UCI with default MCS; the NB decodes MCS information from UCI using default MCS in order to decode the received PUSCH transmission), or a code rate of the first information.
Regarding claim 2, Singh disclosed the method according to claim 1, wherein the first information comprises one or more of: artificial intelligence (AI) information or sensing information (see Singh [0133]: UE shares data about predicting channel conditions with base station | [0004]: IoT, M2M, MTC applications related to sensor data; [0005]: applying 5G communication systems to IoT networks | examiner notes that sensor networks share sensing information).
Regarding claim 3, Singh disclosed the method according to claim 1, wherein the second information comprises a first index corresponding to at least one of: a type of the first information, the modulation scheme of the first information (see Singh [0129]: base station provides UE with a list of MCS from which the UE selects an appropriate MCS based on channel conditions; the selected MCS is for use by UE for PUSCH transmission | [0131]: base station also configures fallback/advance MCS values such that if the UE finds the channel conditions to be insufficient for selecting from the list of MCS in the UL grant, then the UE selects an appropriate MCS from the list of fallback/advance MCS values for PUSCH transmission), the code rate of the first information, or a transport block size of the first information.
Regarding claim 4, Singh disclosed the method according to claim 3, further comprising:
receiving first configuration information from the network side apparatus, wherein the first configuration information comprises a first mapping relationship between the first index and at least one of: the type of the first information, the modulation scheme of the first information (see Singh [0129]: base station provides UE with a list of MCS from which the UE selects an appropriate MCS based on channel conditions; the selected MCS is for use by UE for PUSCH transmission | [0131]: base station also configures fallback/advance MCS values such that if the UE finds the channel conditions to be insufficient for selecting from the list of MCS in the UL grant, then the UE selects an appropriate MCS from the list of fallback/advance MCS values for PUSCH transmission), the code rate of the first information, or the transport block size of the first information.
Regarding claim 5, Singh disclosed the method according to claim 3, wherein the modulation scheme of the first information and/or the code rate of the first information are/is associated with at least one of: quality of service (QoS) of the first information or channel state information for information transmission between the terminal side apparatus and the network side apparatus (see Singh [0129]: base station provides UE with a list of MCS from which the UE selects an appropriate MCS based on channel conditions; the selected MCS is for use by UE for PUSCH transmission | [0134]: UE decides the MCS for an uplink transmission based on the predicted channel conditions).
Regarding claim 6, Singh disclosed the method according to claim 1, wherein the second information comprises at least one of: a type of the first information, a transport block size of the first information, the modulation scheme of the first information (see Singh Fig. 1 PUSCH Transmission sent from UE to NB and includes an appended UCI that indicates the determined MCS; the appended UCI is sent with a default MCS), or the code rate of the first information.
Regarding claim 7, Singh disclosed the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
receiving second configuration information from the network side apparatus, wherein the second configuration information indicates a resource for sending the first information by the terminal side apparatus, and the resource comprises at least one of: a time domain resource, a frequency domain resource, a code domain resource, and a space domain resource (see Singh Fig. 1: PUSCH transmission is preceded by UL grant; examiner notes that resource information is included in UL grant | [0129]: base station sends UL grant and provides UE with a list of MCS from which the UE selects an appropriate MCS based on channel conditions; the selected MCS is for use by UE for PUSCH transmission | [0187]: base station allocates time-frequency resources), and
sending the first information and the second information to the network side apparatus comprises: sending the first information and the second information to the network side apparatus on the resource (see Singh Fig. 1: PUSCH transmission from UE to NB includes PUSCH transmission as well as an appended UCI that indicates the determined MCS; the appended UCI is sent with a default MCS | [0125]: “UE based MCS selection for PUSCH transmission”; [0126]: base station configures a default MCS; [0127]: “UE Behavior: 1) The MCS used for the PUSCH transmission will be decided by the UE (100) based on the latest CQI measurement…” | [0187]: base station allocates time-frequency resources).
Regarding claim 8, Singh disclosed the method according to claim 1, wherein sending the first information and second information to the network side apparatus comprises:
sending third information and fourth information to the network side apparatus (see Singh Fig. 1: PUSCH transmission from UE to NB includes PUSCH transmission as well as an appended UCI that indicates the determined MCS; the appended UCI is sent with a default MCS),
wherein the third information comprises N pieces of first information, the N pieces of first information correspond to M1 modulation schemes and/or M₂ code rates (examiner notes that N may be interpreted as “1” and when assuming that N=1, then third information is functionally equivalent to “first information” and also that there is a corresponding MCS and/or code rate. Examiner also notes that “third” and “fourth” information may be interpreted as additional uplink transmissions and that multiple schemes and/or rates are well-known to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Examiner respectfully recommends amending the claims to clarify the desired scope | see Singh [0004]: IoT, M2M, MTC applications related to sensor data; [0005]: applying 5G communication systems to IoT networks | [0125]: “UE based MCS selection for PUSCH transmission”; [0127]: “UE Behavior: 1) The MCS used for the PUSCH transmission will be decided by the UE (100) based on the latest CQI measurement…” | Fig. 1: PUSCH transmission from UE to NB | [0125]: “UE based MCS selection for PUSCH transmission”; [0126]: base station configures a default MCS; [0127]: “UE Behavior: 1) The MCS used for the PUSCH transmission will be decided by the UE (100) based on the latest CQI measurement…”),
the fourth information is used to determine a modulation scheme of the third information (see Singh Fig. 1 NB receives appended UCI with default MCS; the NB decodes MCS information from UCI using default MCS in order to decode the received PUSCH transmission) and/or a code rate of the third information, M₁ is less than or equal to N, M₂ is less than or equal to N, and M₁, M₂, and N are positive integers (Examiner notes that M1, M2, and N may all be 1 and as explained above, assuming N=1, then third information is functionally equivalent to first information. Additionally, if N is greater than 1, then it can be interpreted such that there are multiple PUSCH transmissions that may or may not use the same (or different) MCS).
Regarding claim 9, Singh disclosed the method according to claim 8, wherein the N pieces of first information are sent in a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) mode, a time division multiplexing (TDM) mode, or a predefined mode (see Singh [0187]: allocating time-frequency resources | [0129]: flexible MCS for PUSCH transmission; examiner notes that data is multiplexed in PUSCH).
Regarding claim 10, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 1 above. Examiner notes that claim 1 is directed towards a method whereas claim 10 is directed towards an apparatus that performs a method. Singh disclosed, as recited in claim 10: An apparatus, comprising:
an input/output interface configured to receive or output information (see Sing Fig. 13 #120 UE communicator; #220 BS communicator); and
a logic circuit operatively coupled to the input/output interface (see Singh Fig. 13 #110 UE processor; #210 BS processor), wherein the logic circuit, in operation, is configured to cause the apparatus to:
determine first information (see Singh [0004]: IoT, M2M, MTC applications related to sensor data; [0005]: applying 5G communication systems to IoT networks | [0125]: “UE based MCS selection for PUSCH transmission”; [0127]: “UE Behavior: 1) The MCS used for the PUSCH transmission will be decided by the UE (100) based on the latest CQI measurement…”); and
send the first information (see Singh Fig. 1: PUSCH transmission from UE to NB | [0125]: “UE based MCS selection for PUSCH transmission”; [0126]: base station configures a default MCS; [0127]: “UE Behavior: 1) The MCS used for the PUSCH transmission will be decided by the UE (100) based on the latest CQI measurement…”) and second information to a network side apparatus (see Singh Fig. 1 PUSCH Transmission sent from UE to NB and includes an appended UCI that indicates the determined MCS; the appended UCI is sent with a default MCS), wherein the second information is used to determine at least one of a modulation scheme of the first information (see Singh Fig. 1 NB receives appended UCI with default MCS; the NB decodes MCS information from UCI using default MCS in order to decode the received PUSCH transmission) or a code rate of the first information.
Regarding claim 11, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 2 above. Singh disclosed, as recited in claim 11: The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the first information comprises one or more of artificial intelligence (AI) information or sensing information (see Singh [0133]: UE shares data about predicting channel conditions with base station | [0004]: IoT, M2M, MTC applications related to sensor data; [0005]: applying 5G communication systems to IoT networks | examiner notes that sensor networks share sensing information).
Regarding claim 12, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 3 above. Singh disclosed, as recited in claim 12: The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the second information comprises a first index corresponding to at least one of a type of the first information, the modulation scheme of the first information (see Singh [0129]: base station provides UE with a list of MCS from which the UE selects an appropriate MCS based on channel conditions; the selected MCS is for use by UE for PUSCH transmission | [0131]: base station also configures fallback/advance MCS values such that if the UE finds the channel conditions to be insufficient for selecting from the list of MCS in the UL grant, then the UE selects an appropriate MCS from the list of fallback/advance MCS values for PUSCH transmission), the code rate of the first information, or a transport block size of the first information.
Regarding claim 13, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 4 above. Singh disclosed, as recited in claim 13: The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
receiving first configuration information from the network side apparatus, wherein the first configuration information comprises a first mapping relationship between the first index and at least one of: the type of the first information, the modulation scheme of the first information (see Singh [0129]: base station provides UE with a list of MCS from which the UE selects an appropriate MCS based on channel conditions; the selected MCS is for use by UE for PUSCH transmission | [0131]: base station also configures fallback/advance MCS values such that if the UE finds the channel conditions to be insufficient for selecting from the list of MCS in the UL grant, then the UE selects an appropriate MCS from the list of fallback/advance MCS values for PUSCH transmission), the code rate of the first information, or the transport block size of the first information.
Regarding claim 14, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 5 above. Singh disclosed, as recited in claim 14: The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the modulation scheme of the first information and/or the code rate of the first information are/is associated with at least one of: quality of service (QoS) of the first information or channel state information for information transmission between the terminal side apparatus and the network side apparatus (see Singh [0129]: base station provides UE with a list of MCS from which the UE selects an appropriate MCS based on channel conditions; the selected MCS is for use by UE for PUSCH transmission | [0134]: UE decides the MCS for an uplink transmission based on the predicted channel conditions).
Regarding claim 15, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 6 above. Singh disclosed, as recited in claim 15: The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the second information comprises at least one of: a type of the first information, a transport block size of the first information, the modulation scheme of the first information (see Singh Fig. 1 PUSCH Transmission sent from UE to NB and includes an appended UCI that indicates the determined MCS; the appended UCI is sent with a default MCS), or the code rate of the first information.
Regarding claim 16, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 7 above. Singh disclosed, as recited in claim 16: The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
receive second configuration information from the network side apparatus, wherein the second configuration information indicates a resource for sending the first information by the terminal side apparatus, and the resource comprises at least one of: a time domain resource, a frequency domain resource, a code domain resource, and a space domain resource (see Singh Fig. 1: PUSCH transmission is preceded by UL grant; examiner notes that resource information is included in UL grant | [0129]: base station sends UL grant and provides UE with a list of MCS from which the UE selects an appropriate MCS based on channel conditions; the selected MCS is for use by UE for PUSCH transmission | [0187]: base station allocates time-frequency resources), and
sending the first information and second information to the network side apparatus comprises: send the first information and the second information to the network side apparatus on the resource (see Singh Fig. 1: PUSCH transmission from UE to NB includes PUSCH transmission as well as an appended UCI that indicates the determined MCS; the appended UCI is sent with a default MCS | [0125]: “UE based MCS selection for PUSCH transmission”; [0126]: base station configures a default MCS; [0127]: “UE Behavior: 1) The MCS used for the PUSCH transmission will be decided by the UE (100) based on the latest CQI measurement…” | [0187]: base station allocates time-frequency resources).
Regarding claim 17, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 8 above. Singh disclosed, as recited in claim 17: The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein sending the first information and second information to the network side apparatus comprises:
sending third information and fourth information to the network side apparatus (see Singh Fig. 1: PUSCH transmission from UE to NB includes PUSCH transmission as well as an appended UCI that indicates the determined MCS; the appended UCI is sent with a default MCS), wherein the third information comprises N pieces of first information, the N pieces of first information correspond to M₁ modulation schemes and/or M₂ code rates (examiner notes that N may be interpreted as “1” and when assuming that N=1, then third information is functionally equivalent to “first information” and also that there is a corresponding MCS and/or code rate. Examiner also notes that “third” and “fourth” information may be interpreted as additional uplink transmissions and that multiple schemes and/or rates are well-known to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Examiner respectfully recommends amending the claims to clarify the desired scope | see Singh [0004]: IoT, M2M, MTC applications related to sensor data; [0005]: applying 5G communication systems to IoT networks | [0125]: “UE based MCS selection for PUSCH transmission”; [0127]: “UE Behavior: 1) The MCS used for the PUSCH transmission will be decided by the UE (100) based on the latest CQI measurement…” | Fig. 1: PUSCH transmission from UE to NB | [0125]: “UE based MCS selection for PUSCH transmission”; [0126]: base station configures a default MCS; [0127]: “UE Behavior: 1) The MCS used for the PUSCH transmission will be decided by the UE (100) based on the latest CQI measurement…”), the fourth information is used to determine a modulation scheme of the third information (see Singh Fig. 1 NB receives appended UCI with default MCS; the NB decodes MCS information from UCI using default MCS in order to decode the received PUSCH transmission) and/or a code rate of the third information, M₁ is less than or equal to N, M₂ is less than or equal to N, and M1, M₂, and N are positive integers (Examiner notes that M1, M2, and N may all be 1 and as explained above, assuming N=1, then third information is functionally equivalent to first information. Additionally, if N is greater than 1, then it can be interpreted such that there are multiple PUSCH transmissions that may or may not use the same (or different) MCS).
Regarding claim 18, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 9 above. Singh disclosed, as recited in claim 18: The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the N pieces of first information are sent in a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) mode, a time division multiplexing (TDM) mode, or a predefined mode (see Singh [0187]: allocating time-frequency resources | [0129]: flexible MCS for PUSCH transmission; examiner notes that data is multiplexed in PUSCH).
Regarding claim 19, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 1 above. Examiner notes that claim 1 is directed towards a method whereas claim 19 is directed towards a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Singh disclosed, as recited in claim 19: A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (see Singh Fig. 13 #130 UE memory; #230 BS memory) storing a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the computer to provide execution comprising:
determining first information (see Singh [0004]: IoT, M2M, MTC applications related to sensor data; [0005]: applying 5G communication systems to IoT networks | [0125]: “UE based MCS selection for PUSCH transmission”; [0127]: “UE Behavior: 1) The MCS used for the PUSCH transmission will be decided by the UE (100) based on the latest CQI measurement…”); and
sending the first information (see Singh Fig. 1: PUSCH transmission from UE to NB | [0125]: “UE based MCS selection for PUSCH transmission”; [0126]: base station configures a default MCS; [0127]: “UE Behavior: 1) The MCS used for the PUSCH transmission will be decided by the UE (100) based on the latest CQI measurement…”) and second information to a network side apparatus (see Singh Fig. 1 PUSCH Transmission sent from UE to NB and includes an appended UCI that indicates the determined MCS; the appended UCI is sent with a default MCS), wherein the second information is used to determine at least one of a modulation scheme of the first information (see Singh Fig. 1 NB receives appended UCI with default MCS; the NB decodes MCS information from UCI using default MCS in order to decode the received PUSCH transmission) or a code rate of the first information.
Regarding claim 20, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 2 above. Singh disclosed, as recited in claim 20: The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 19, wherein the first information comprises one or more of: artificial intelligence (AI) information or sensing information (see Singh [0133]: UE shares data about predicting channel conditions with base station | [0004]: IoT, M2M, MTC applications related to sensor data; [0005]: applying 5G communication systems to IoT networks | examiner notes that sensor networks share sensing information).
Conclusion
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/ANGELA WIDHALM DE RODRIGUEZ/Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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