DETAILED ACTION
The following is a final office action in response to the Amendments filed on February 05, 2026.
Claims 47-50 have been added.
Claims 1, 6, 11, 15, 20, 25, and 29-46 are pending.
Response to Arguments
35 U.S.C. 103 Rejections
Applicant’s argument regarding the 103-rejection filed on February 05, 2026 have been fully considered but are not persuasive.
Applicant argued in substance that the cited references fail to teach monitoring based on one or more radio resource control (RRC) parameters a physical downlink channel (PDCCH) candidate of a first radio access technology (RAT) when at least one resource element (RE) of the PDCCH overlaps with at least one RE of a cell specific reference signal (CRS) of a second RAT.
Examiner response
Examiner respectfully disagree and would like to point out that Zhoe doesn’t explicitly teach monitoring based on one or more radio resource control (RRC) parameters a physical downlink channel (PDCCH) candidate of a first radio access technology (RAT) when at least one resource element (RE) of the PDCCH overlaps with at least one RE of a cell specific reference signal (CRS) of a second RAT. Cheng was Introduced because in paragraph [0040] teaches a non-monitored CORESET may contain a PDCCH that overlaps with at least one Resource Element (RE) corresponding to a Synchronization Signal (SS)/Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) block. In some other implementations, the non-monitored CORESET may be a CORESET configured for a UE that operates under a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) mode).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 47-50 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 6, 11, 15, 20, 25, and 29-46 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Zhou et al. (USPGPub 2021/0045147) in view of Cheng et al. (US PGPub 2020/0145982).
As per claim 1, Zhou teaches a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), (Zhou, see paragraph [0065], Mobile communication network 1… mobile communication network 150 includes a 5G core network (5G-CN) 152, an NG-RAN 154, and UEs 156A and 156B (collectively UEs) comprising:
monitoring, based on one or more radio resource control (RRC) parameters, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate of a first radio access technology (RAT) (Zhou, see paragraph [0209], UE, RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more CORESETs and one or more search space sets. A search space set may comprise a set of PDCCH candidates formed by CCEs at a given aggregation level. The configuration parameters may indicate: a number of PDCCH candidates to be monitored per aggregation level; a PDCCH monitoring periodicity and a PDCCH monitoring pattern).
Zhou doesn’t explicitly teach monitoring, based on one or more radio resource control (RRC) parameters, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate of a first radio access technology (RAT) when at least one resource element (RE) of the PDCCH candidate overlaps with at least one RE of a cell specific reference signal (CRS) of a second RAT.
In analogous art Cheng teaches monitoring, based on one or more radio resource control (RRC) parameters, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate of a first radio access technology (RAT) when at least one resource element (RE) of the PDCCH candidate overlaps with at least one RE of a cell specific reference signal (CRS) of a second RAT (Cheng, see paragraph [0040], …the non-monitored CORESET may contain a PDCCH that overlaps with at least one Resource Element (RE) corresponding to a Synchronization Signal (SS)/Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) block. In some other implementations, the non-monitored CORESET may be a CORESET configured for a UE that operates under a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) mode).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to take the teaching of Cheng and apply them on the teaching of Zhou as doing so would help in determining a default PDSCH beam when multiple search spaces are overlapped in the time domain (Cheng, see paragraph [0035]).
As per claim 6, Zhou-Cheng teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving the one or more RRC parameters configured for a serving cell and identifying a position of at least one RE of the at least one RE of the CRS of the second RAT based on the one or more RRC parameters (Zhou see paragraph [0210], the UE may determine a time-frequency resource for a CORESET based on RRC messages. The UE may determine a CCE-to-REG mapping (e.g., interleaved or non-interleaved, and/or mapping parameters) for the CORESET based on configuration parameters of the CORESET. The UE may determine a number (e.g., at most 10) of search space sets configured on the CORESET based on the RRC messages).
As per claim 11, Zhou-Cheng teaches the method of claim 1 further comprising receiving the one or more RRC parameters from a network entity (Zhoe, see paragraph [0209], The base station may transmit, to the UE, RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more CORESETs and one or more search space sets).
As per claim 15,
[Rejection rational for claim 1 is applicable].
As per claim 20,
[Rejection rational for claim 6 is applicable].
As per claim 25, Zhou-Cheng teaches the apparatus of claim 15 wherein the processing system is configured to receive the one or more RRC parameters from a network entity (Zhoe, see paragraph [0209], The base station may transmit, to the UE, RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more CORESETs and one or more search space sets).
As per claims 29 and 30,
[Rejection rational for claim 1 is applicable].
As per claim 31, Zhou-Cheng teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the first RAT is a long term evolution (LTE) RAT and the second RAT is a new radio (NR) RAT (Zhou, see paragraph [0059], NG-RAN implements 5G radio access technology known as New Radio (NR) and may be provisioned to implement 4G radio access technology or other radio access technologies).
As per claim 32, Zhou-Cheng teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more RRC parameters include lte-CRS-ToMatchAround. (Zhou, see paragraph [0173], (e.g., QCL-scramblingidentity, crs-portscount, mbsfn-subframeconfiglist, csi-rs-configZPid, qcl-csi-rs-configNZPid), and/or other radio resource parameters).
As per claim 33, Zhou-Cheng teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more RRC parameters include lte- CRS-ToMatchAround in ServingCellConfig. (Zhou, see paragraph [0271], (e.g., ServingCellConfig) used to configure (add or modify) the wireless device with a serving cell,).
As per claim 34, Zhou-Cheng teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more RRC parameters include lte- CRS-PatternListl. (Zhou, see paragraph [0173], (e.g., QCL-scramblingidentity, crs-portscount, mbsfn-subframeconfiglist, csi-rs-configZPid, qcl-csi-rs-configNZPid), and/or other radio resource parameters).
As per claim 35, Zhou-Cheng teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more RRC parameters include lte- CRS-PatternListl in ServingCellConfig. (Zhou, see paragraph [0271], (e.g., ServingCellConfig) used to configure (add or modify) the wireless device with a serving cell,).
As per claim 36, Zhou-Cheng teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more RRC parameters are configured for a serving cell, and wherein monitoring, based on the one or more RRC parameters, the PDCCH candidate comprises: monitoring, based on the one or more RRC parameters, the PDCCH candidate when the at least one RE of the PDCCH candidate on the serving cell overlaps with the at least one RE of the CRS of the second RAT. (Zhou, see paragraph [0209], UE, RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more CORESETs and one or more search space sets. A search space set may comprise a set of PDCCH candidates formed by CCEs at a given aggregation level. The configuration parameters may indicate: a number of PDCCH candidates to be monitored per aggregation level; a PDCCH monitoring periodicity and a PDCCH monitoring pattern).
As per claim 37, Zhou-Cheng teaches the method of claim 1, wherein monitoring, based on the one or more RRC parameters, the PDCCH candidate comprises: monitoring, based on the one or more RRC parameters, the PDCCH candidate when the at least one RE of the PDCCH candidate in a PDCCH monitoring occasion of the first RAT overlaps with the at least one RE of the CRS of the second RAT. (Zhou, see paragraph [0209], UE, RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more CORESETs and one or more search space sets. A search space set may comprise a set of PDCCH candidates formed by CCEs at a given aggregation level. The configuration parameters may indicate: a number of PDCCH candidates to be monitored per aggregation level; a PDCCH monitoring periodicity and a PDCCH monitoring pattern).
As per claim 38, Zhou-Cheng teaches the method of claim 37, wherein the PDCCH monitoring occasion spans over at least one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol at one or more predefined symbols in a slot. (Zhou, see paragraph [0122], may be mapped onto orthogonal frequency divisional multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. OFDM is a multicarrier communication scheme that transmits data over F orthogonal subcarriers (or tones)).
As per claim 39, Zhou-Cheng teaches the apparatus of claim 15, wherein the first RAT is a long term evolution (LTE) RAT and the second RAT is a new radio (NR) RAT. (Zhou, see paragraph [0059], NG-RAN implements 5G radio access technology known as New Radio (NR) and may be provisioned to implement 4G radio access technology or other radio access technologies).
As per claim 40, Zhou-Cheng teaches the apparatus of claim 15, wherein the one or more RRC parameters include lte- CRS-ToMatchAround. (Zhou, see paragraph [0173], (e.g., QCL-scramblingidentity, crs-portscount, mbsfn-subframeconfiglist, csi-rs-configZPid, qcl-csi-rs-configNZPid), and/or other radio resource parameters).
As per claim 41, Zhou-Cheng teaches the apparatus of claim 15, wherein the one or more RRC parameters include lte- CRS-ToMatchAround in ServingCellConfig. (Zhou, see paragraph [0129], A UE may be configured (e.g., via RRC layer) with one or more downlink BWPs and one or more uplink BWPs per serving cell (e.g., up to four downlink BWPs and up to four uplink BWPs per serving cell).).
As per claim 42, Zhou-Cheng teaches the apparatus of claim 15, wherein the one or more RRC parameters include lte- CRS-PatternListl. (Zhou, see paragraph [0173], (e.g., QCL-scramblingidentity, crs-portscount, mbsfn-subframeconfiglist, csi-rs-configZPid, qcl-csi-rs-configNZPid), and/or other radio resource parameters).
As per claim 43, Zhou-Cheng teaches the apparatus of claim 15, wherein the one or more RRC parameters include lte- CRS-PatternListl in ServingCellConfig. (Zhou, see paragraph [0173], (e.g., QCL-scramblingidentity, crs-portscount, mbsfn-subframeconfiglist, csi-rs-configZPid, qcl-csi-rs-configNZPid), and/or other radio resource parameters).
As per claim 44, Zhou-Cheng teaches the apparatus of claim 15, wherein the one or more RRC parameters are configured for a serving cell, and wherein, to monitor, based on the one or more RRC parameters, the PDCCH candidate, the processing system is configured to: monitor, based on the one or more RRC parameters, the PDCCH candidate when the at least one RE of the PDCCH candidate on the serving cell overlaps with the at least one RE of the CRS of the second RAT. (Zhou, see paragraph [0209], UE, RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more CORESETs and one or more search space sets. A search space set may comprise a set of PDCCH candidates formed by CCEs at a given aggregation level. The configuration parameters may indicate: a number of PDCCH candidates to be monitored per aggregation level; a PDCCH monitoring periodicity and a PDCCH monitoring pattern).
As per claim 45, Zhou-Cheng teaches the apparatus of claim 15, wherein, to monitor, based on the one or more RRC parameters, the PDCCH candidate, the processing system is configured to: monitor, based on the one or more RRC parameters, the PDCCH candidate when the at least one RE of the PDCCH candidate in a PDCCH monitoring occasion of the first RAT overlaps with the at least one RE of the CRS of the second RAT. (Zhou, see paragraph [0209], UE, RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more CORESETs and one or more search space sets. A search space set may comprise a set of PDCCH candidates formed by CCEs at a given aggregation level. The configuration parameters may indicate: a number of PDCCH candidates to be monitored per aggregation level; a PDCCH monitoring periodicity and a PDCCH monitoring pattern).
As per claim 46, Zhou-Cheng teaches the apparatus of claim 45, wherein the PDCCH monitoring occasion spans over at least one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol at one or more predefined symbols in a slot. (Zhou, see paragraph [0122], may be mapped onto orthogonal frequency divisional multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. OFDM is a multicarrier communication scheme that transmits data over F orthogonal subcarriers (or tones)).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/HERMON ASRES/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2449