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 .
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.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
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 of carrying out his invention.
Claim(s) 1-2, 5-12, 16-17, 20-24, and 45, 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
In particular the independent claims have been amended to recite, in part:
“select, as a target occasion, one or more one or more candidate occasions based on second information indicating that skipping monitoring is applicable to the physical downlink control channel with a downlink control information format for scheduling downlink assignment or uplink grant………..wherein the first device is configured with one or more wake up signaling occasions and the second information indicates that skipping monitoring does not apply to the one or more wake-up signaling occasions”
The second information previously indicated that skipping monitoring is applicable, and the amended claims now state that it also indicates that skipping monitoring does not apply to the one or more wake-up signaling occasions. The office notes that specification as filed does not appear to teach a second information which indicates skipping monitoring physical downlink control channel while also not applying skipping to the WUS occasions. It is noted that a WUS occasion occurs prior to the reception of PDCCH, wherein the WUS indicates whether or not PDCCH monitoring is appropriate. How then does the second information indicate that skipping PDCCH monitoring as well as monitoring WUS occasion, also, where in the specification is this explicit teaching?
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)(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) 1-2, 5-8, 10-11, 16-17, 20-24 and 45, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Islam et al. (US 2020/0037396 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 21, Islam discloses:
a first device (fig.1 depicts a first device) comprising:
at least one processor (fig.1 depicts a first device with processor); and
at least one memory (fig.1 depicts a first device. Par.[0025] discloses that the first device includes a memory) including computer program codes (par.[0221] describes the instructions are contained in a machine-readable medium. That is, the instructions are stored on a memory to be executed by a processor);
they at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor (the aforecited memory and processor, wherein the memory has instructions stored thereon), cause the first device to:
receive, at the first device from a second device (Fig.1 depicts a first device and a second device), first information indicating that one or more candidate occasions are may be skipped for monitoring physical downlink control channel (fig.6 wherein the Network e.g. the gNodeB forwards to the UE a RRC signaling comprising an indication of a plurality of candidate occasions for reception of PDCCH, e.g. the DRX configuration. Par.[0051]);
select as a target occasion, one of the one or more candidate occasions based on second information (par.[0218] describes the Downlink Control Information e.g. the DCI which is transmitted on the PDCCH) indicating that skipping monitoring is applicable to a physical downlink control channel (par.[0186] which recites, in part, “If the WUS is detected by the UE, UE shall enter the “network access mode” (NAM), e.g., MAC entity switching to “Active Time”, during the associated drx-onDuration period in which the PDCCH monitoring is carried out. Otherwise if no WUS is detected, the UE shall remain in power efficient/saving mode. e.g., MAC entity in “non-active time” during the associated drx-onDuration occasion so that no PDCCH monitoring is performed.”) with a downlink control information format for scheduling downlink assignment or uplink grant (par.[0024] describes scheduling DCI’s. par.[0162] which describes the different DCI formats that are used for indicating WUS or GTS. Wherein the DCI formats can be used for uplink grant or downlink assignment. The Office takes Official Notice that the formats discussed in par.[0162] are used for uplink and downlink scheduling) wherein the target occasion has a downlink control format for scheduling downlink assignment or uplink grant (the disclosure is generally related to DRX WUS/GTS and PDCCH monitoring, wherein the UE is configured to receive during an active state a PDCCH which provides a downlink or uplink grant. See e.g. par.[0217] which recites, in part, “wherein a DRX cycle includes an Active state during which the UE monitors for downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling data transmission from the gNB via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a non-Active state during which the UE is allowed to not monitor for DCI for scheduling data transmission in order to conserve battery power”. As discussed above, the UE may receive the WUS/GTS signal and determine if it should receive the PDCCH or skip reception of the PDCCH, where the PDCCH comprises an uplink grant or downlink grant) wherein the first device is configured with one or more wake-up signaling occasions (fig.10 depicts at least two occasions wherein WUS may be received, i.e. “the reception of the wake-up signaling prior to NGAP. Also, fig.7 On-time occasions wherein the UE may receive WUS, fig.11 depicts WUS or GTS signaling, par.[0010] describes the WUS/GTS being in coordination with a DRX configuration received from the network. A number of the other figures also depict a number of periods prior to the reception period/occasion for PDCCH reception wherein the UE is capable of receiving a WUS/GTS signal), and the second information indicates that the skipping monitoring does not apply to the one or more wake up signalling occasions (Par.[0186] as discussed above wherein the presence of WUS in the WUS occasion indicates WAKE-UP during DRX OnDuration in order to receive PDCCH, and wherein absence or otherwise an explicit indication to not WAKE-UP for the upcoming OnDuration in order to skip PDCCH monitoring until a next PDCCH occasion. See fig.11 wherein the UE does not receive WUS in a first ON-Time WUS occasion, and further skips the OnDuration where the UE would normally monitor for PDCCH, and then in the next PDCCH occasion receives a WUS. Par.[0059 - 0060] teaches that every WUS occasion is monitored, par. [0217] which recites, in part, “wherein the UE is to monitor for WUS at monitoring occasions that start at an offset before the Active state duration of the DRX cycle.” Wherein the UE can receive a WUS which indicates a WAKE-UP for next M DRX cycles, and if not received will skip next M DRX cycles “If UE does not detect the WUS signal in the monitoring window or occasion that indicates UE to perform DRX operations in the next M DRX cycles, the UE will skip the PDCCH monitoring in the next M DRX cycles”); and
skip monitoring the physical downlink control channel on the target occasion (par.[0186] which recites, in part, “If the WUS is detected by the UE, UE shall enter the “network access mode” (NAM), e.g., MAC entity switching to “Active Time”, during the associated drx-onDuration period in which the PDCCH monitoring is carried out. Otherwise if no WUS is detected, the UE shall remain in power efficient/saving mode. e.g., MAC entity in “non-active time” during the associated drx-onDuration occasion so that no PDCCH monitoring is performed.”).
Regarding claims 2 and 22, Islam discloses:
in response to the second information indicating a physical downlink control channel which is addressed to a cell radio network temporary identifier is applicable to skipping monitoring, determining, as the target occasion, one of the candidate occasions addressed to the cell radio network temporary identifier (par.[0053] which recites, in part, “For the first embodiment, a UE specific DCI may be used for updating the new DRX parameters where the CRC bits of the DCI may be scrambled by C-RNTI or other dedicated RNTI, which can be configured by higher layers via NR minimum system information (MSI). NR remaining minimum system information (RMSI), NR other system information (OSI) or radio resource control (RRC) signalling. The DCI may have one or more fields to indicate the GTS trigger and/or T_GTS_A and/or T_GTS_B. In one example, GTS trigger may not be needed if UE detects that the DCI format itself is solely for GTS.”. That is, the UE may receive a DCI which includes new DRX parameters, e.g. DCI with a C-RNTI addressed to the terminal comprises new DRX on/off. The DCI further includes GTS signalling, to be used on with new DRX, wherein the DRX comprise candidate PDCCH monitoring occasions, such that the UE may skip monitoring occasions in the new DRX).
Regarding claim 5, Islam discloses:
in response to the second information indicating all the physical downlink control channels are applicable to skipping monitoring, determining all the one or more candidate occasions to be the target occasion (par.[0057] which recites, in part, “DCI IE block 120 may comprise of one or two separate fields 130 and 140 to indicate the index of T_GTS_A and/or T_GTS_B values respectively that are configured by higher layers. More generally, block 120 can be used to indicate location of the start position of sleep duration and/or duration of sleep duration.”. That is, the WUS/GTS indicates a duration which may be every occasion or just one occasion such that the UE is configured to skip monitoring PDCCH at the offset and duration indicated by the information sent by the network).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Islam discloses:
receive the second information via at least one of radio resource control signaling or a medium access control MAC control element (par.[0159] which recites, in part, “Alternatively, MAC CE signaling can trigger the UE to go to sleep and the offset to start position of sleep duration and/or sleep duration can be indicated as part of MAC CE signaling or higher layer configured as property of the GTS trigger.”).
Regarding claims 7 and 17, Islam discloses:
wherein the second information is predefined (par.[0162] which recites, in part, “In one example, DCI format can be of same size as another existing DCI format, such as DCI 1_0 or other compact DCI or GC DCI such as 2_0. Other DCI formats such as 0_0, 0_1, 1_1, 2_x, x=1, 2, 3 etc. can also be considered for size matching.”. Wherein the DCI are predefined).
Regarding claim 8, Islam discloses:
receiving a skipping indication (par.[0159] the GTS trigger which is an indication for the UE skip PDCCH monitoring for an offset T_GTS_A and a length/duration t_GTS_b) as to whether the first device monitors at least one of the wake-up signaling (the aforecited WUS as discussed above, and in par.[0062]) or physical downlink control after the duration (par.[0052] which recites, in part, “T_GTS_B can be in symbols or slots, for a given numerology or in ms or sub-ms. FIGS. 2-3 show two examples, where in (a), T_GTS_B is set such that UE is put to sleep for the remainder of the configured ON duration, whereas in (b), T_GTS_B is a rather small value which only triggers a micro-sleep and after the elapsed time, UE wakes up to monitor PDCCH or other signaling for the remainder of the ON duration.”. wherein after the duration the UE is capable of monitoring PDCCH or other signaling for the remainder of the duration); and
monitor, based on the skipping indication, the at least one of the wake-up signalling the physical downlink control channel after the duration (as discussed above the UE may monitor the PDCCH after the duration, after the reception of the GTS signal).
Regarding claims 10 and 20, Islam discloses:
wherein the first device is a terminal (fig.1 depicts a User Equipment (UE) element 1055) and the second device is a network device (fig.1 depicts a base station (gNB) element 1300).
Regarding claim 11, Islam discloses:
a second device (fig.1 depicts a second device) comprising:
at least one processor (fig.1 depicts a second device with processor); and
at least one memory (fig.1 depicts a second device. Par.[0025] discloses that the first device includes a memory) including computer program codes (par.[0221] describes the instructions are contained in a machine-readable medium. That is, the instructions are stored on a memory to be executed by a processor);
they at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor (the aforecited memory and processor, wherein the memory has instructions stored thereon), cause the second device to:
transmit, to a first device (Fig.1 depicts a first device and a second device), first information indicating that one or more candidate occasions may be skipped for monitoring physical downlink control channel (fig.6 wherien the Network e.g. the gNodeB forwards to the UE a RRC signaling comprising an indication of a plurality of candidate occasions for reception of PDCCH, e.g. the DRX configuration active and inactive periods. Wherein the UE is configured to perform PDCCH monitoring in the active period of the DRX cycle. Par.[0051] “UE may potentially skip PDCCH monitoring for a period/duration following GTS trigger is detected.”);
determine a target duration within which to transmit a wake up signaling based on second information (par.[0218] describes the Downlink Control Information e.g. the DCI which is transmitted on the PDCCH, wherein the gNB will transmit the WUS/GTS based on whether or not the UE has uplink data to transmit or downlink data to receive. Par.[0027] which recites, in part, “[0027] PDCCH monitoring: Many times UE monitors for PDCCH at the configured PDCCH occasions which do not result in grant assigned.”. Par.[0052] teaches that the UE may receive the GTS signalling) indicating that skipping monitoring is applicable to a physical downlink control channel (par.[0052] which recites, in part, “The sleep duration here implies UE skips PDCCH monitoring during this duration.”) with a downlink control information format for scheduling downlink assignment or uplink grant (par.[0024] describes scheduling DCI’s. par.[0162] which describes the different DCI formats that are used for indicating WUS or GTS. Wherein the DCI formats can be used for uplink grant or downlink assignment.) wherein the second information indicates that skipping monitoring does not apply to a wake up signalling occasion (par.[0064] as discussed above, wherein the UE when receiving the WUS for M DRX cycles will not skip M DRX cycles);
and
transmit the wake up signaling within the target duration (par.[0052] which recites, in part, “FIG. 2, and the latter refers to the indicated sleep duration. In other words. T_GTS_A indicates offset to start position with respect to location where GTS signaling was received (e.g., offset can be counted from the next symbol after GTS was received and until the symbol after which the sleep duration starts) and T_GTS_B indicates sleep duration.”. That is, the UE receives the GTS and skips monitoring during the duration indicated by the GTS signal. Par.[0024] recites, in part, “ Following detection of GTS, UE may turn OFF after a period or immediately.”. That is, the UE may receive the GTS in the target occasion and turn off immediately or the UE may receive GTS in an occasion an offset from the target occasion and the skip monitoring for a duration).
Regarding claims 23, Islam discloses:
in response to the second information indicating a physical downlink control channel with a downlink control information format for scheduling downlink assignment or uplink grant is applicable to skipping monitoring, determining, as the target occasion, one of the candidate occasions with the downlink control information format for scheduling downlink assignment or uplink grant (the disclosure is generally related to DRX WUS/GTS and PDCCH monitoring, wherein the UE is configured to receive during an active state a PDCCH which provides a downlink or uplink grant. See e.g. par.[0217] which recites, in part, “wherein a DRX cycle includes an Active state during which the UE monitors for downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling data transmission from the gNB via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a non-Active state during which the UE is allowed to not monitor for DCI for scheduling data transmission in order to conserve battery power”. As discussed above, the UE may receive the WUS/GTS signal and determine if it should receive the PDCCH or skip reception of the PDCCH, where the PDCCH comprises an uplink grant or downlink grant).
Regarding claim 45, Islam discloses:
wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to:
in response to the target occasion overlapping with a duration for monitoring wake up signalling, skip monitoring the wake up signaling on the duration (as discussed above, the UE may receive a DCI with WUS or GTS. The GTS command can last for a one or more target durations, such that when the UE is to receive a WUS in an occasion for monitoring WUS, the UE would skip based on the GTS command. See e.g. par.[0052] as discussed above).
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 (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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 9 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Islam as applied to claims 1 and 11, in view of Jung et al. (US 2023/0262599 A1).
Regarding claim 9, the disclosure of Islam teaches PDCCH skipping but does not disclose:
Receive a skipping indication as to whether the first device monitors at least one of the wake-up signaling or the physical downlink control channel in the duration; and
Monitor, based on the skipping indication, the at least one of the wake-up signaling or the physical downlink control channel in the duration.
In an analogous art, the disclosure of Jung teaches:
Receive a skipping indication as to whether the first device monitors at least one of the wake-up signaling or the physical downlink control channel in the duration; and
Monitor, based on the skipping indication, the at least one of the wake-up signaling or the physical downlink control channel in the duration (par.[0259] wherein the UE is configured to skip monitoring occasions of a certain DCI format based on a first indication indicating the skipping. The DCI formats comprising DCI for WUS, par.[0125 - 0145] and scheduling DCI par.[0148 – 0188]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant application to combine the disclosure of Islam in view of Jung. The motivation/suggestion would have been to reduce the power consumption at the UE used for monitoring downlink channels.
Regarding claim 12, the disclosure of Islam teaches PDCCH skipping but does not disclose:
in response to the second information indicating the physical downlink control channel with the downlink control information format for scheduling downlink assignment or uplink grant is applicable to skipping monitoring, determining a duration which is non- overlapping with the one or more candidate occasions with the downlink control information format to be the target duration.
In an analogous art, Jung discloses:
in response to the second information indicating the physical downlink control channel with the downlink control information format for scheduling downlink assignment or uplink grant is applicable to skipping monitoring, determining a duration which is non- overlapping with the one or more candidate occasions with the downlink control information format to be the target duration (fig.7 element 715 describes skipping monitoring on PDCCH occasions which correspond to the DCI format and not for PDCCH occasions that do not correspond with the targeted DCI).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant application to combine the disclosure of Islam in view of Jung. The motivation/suggestion would have been to reduce the power consumption at the UE used for monitoring downlink channels.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 03/17/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The Applicant alleges that the disclosure of Islam (US 2020/0037396 A1) does not disclose:
“wherein the first device is configured with one or more wake-up signaling occasions and the second information indicates that skipping monitoring does not apply to the one or more wake-up signaling occasions” in claims 1.
The Office respectfully disagrees.
With regard to Islam, it describes a method for indicating to a UE whether or not it should, in a WUS occasion, wake up to receive a PDCCH, and can additionally indicate whether or not the UE should skip, or not, a one or more wake up signaling occasions. For example, fig.6 depicts configuration of a UE with a DRX configuration. As discussed above, the WUS occasions correspond with the DRX configuration. Fig.7 and par.[0010] describes the UE performing WUS monitoring in a one or more WUS occasions, characterized as On-Time WUS.
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As can be seen, fig.7 depicts a plurality of WUS occasions, which when present, a WUS would indicate to monitor a PDCCH. Additionally, the par.[0186] recites, in part, “If the WUS is detected by the UE, UE shall enter the “network access mode” (NAM), e.g., MAC entity switching to “Active Time”, during the associated drx-onDuration period in which the PDCCH monitoring is carried out. Otherwise if no WUS is detected, the UE shall remain in power efficient/saving mode. e.g., MAC entity in “non-active time” during the associated drx-onDuration occasion so that no PDCCH monitoring is performed.”. As can be seen the WUS is used to indicate that no PDCCH monitoring is or is not to be performed, and also indicates that the UE should enter remain in a low power state until the next WUS occasion.
Additionally, WUS may indicate to monitor and or skip a plurality of WUS occasions. For example, par.[0064] which recites, in part, “ If UE does not detect the WUS signal in the monitoring window or occasion that indicates UE to perform DRX operations in the next M DRX cycles, the UE will skip the PDCCH monitoring in the next M DRX cycles”. As the WUS occasions correspond with the DRX cycle, see par.[0064] “DRX cycle is assumed to start from the monitoring window for WUS, i.e., drx-onDurationTimer-WUS”. Thus, when WUS indicates monitoring M DRX cycles the UE will wake for M DRX cycles and not skip monitoring does not apply to the one or more wake-up signaling occasions.
Dependent claims 2-8, 10, 16-17, 20-24, and 45, are similarly rejected for their dependency on claims 1 and 11.
The Applicants raised no other substantive arguments, and it is believed that the response above is complete. The claims stand rejected in view of Islam.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Islam et al. (US 2022/0159574 A1) “Control Channel Signaling for User Equipment (UE) Power Saving”
Kim et al. (US 2019/0208540 A1) “Method of Transmitting Uplink Signal from User Equipment in a Wireless Communciation System Supporting Unlicensed Band and Apparatus Supporting the Same”
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMAAL HENSON whose telephone number is (571)272-5339. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thu: 7:30 am - 6:30 pm.
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JAMAAL HENSON
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2411
/JAMAAL HENSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
Prosecution Insights