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 .
New Examiner
The present application has been transferred to examiner Marcos Torres. Please direct all future correspondence to the new examiner.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 10-24-2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection. Please see below the new grounds of rejection.
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, 7-9, 11-12, 16, 22-24 and 26 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. It is unclear what “scell” stands for. Please clarify. For examination purposes scell will be equated to a secondary cell. The rest of the claims they share the deficiency because includes the limitation or by virtue of dependency.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1, 7-9, 11-12, 16, 22-24 and 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as 6. being unpatentable over Islam et al. US 2020/0037396 in view of lyer et al. US 2022/0039009.
Claim 1, Islam discloses an energy-saving indication method, comprising: determining, by a base station, a terminal needing to wake up or to sleep in a terminal group ([0072] separate L1 signaling, e.g., DCI in a PDCCH may be provided to UE for WUS and GTS); and
sending, by the base station through a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), wake-up indication information ([0072] separate L1 signaling, e.g., DCI in a PDCCH may be provided to UE for WUS and GTS) and indication information of resource information configured for one or more terminals needing to wake up in the terminal group to the terminal needing to wake up in the terminal group on PDCCH monitor occasions configured for the terminal ([0073] few common fields can be used such as BWP indication. Note that BWP indication in WUS and GTS may be independent or correlated),
wherein the wake-up indication information instructs the terminal to wake up ([0060] unless WUS is detected which would require the UE to wake up); or
sending, by the base station through the PDCCH, Go-To-Sleep (GTS) indication information to the terminal needing to sleep ([0072] separate L1 signaling, e.g., DCI in a PDCCH may be provided to UE for WUS and GTS) in the terminal group on the PDCCH monitor occasions configured for the terminal group ([0048]) L1 signaling include sequence-based or DCI-based transmission, e.g., in a PDCCH or a combination of them, where both can be UE specific or group-common, wherein the GTS indication information instructs the terminal to sleep ([0072] UE may receive GTS signaling SO that UE can go to sleep early);
wherein the wake-up indication information and the indication information of resource information configured for one or more terminals needing to wake up are carried in first downlink control information (DCI) ([0073] The fields in the DCI format can be configurable in the sense that certain field may have different use depending on whether it is WUS or GTS signaling. For example, a field may be used to indicate sleep duration if it is GTS whereas same field maybe used to indicate ON duration if the DCI is for WUS. Furthermore, few common fields can be used such as BWP indication. Note that BWP indication in WUS and GTS may be independent or correlated).
But does not explicitly disclose wherein the resource information comprises scell activation/deactivation indication. However, in an analogous art, Pelletier discloses wherein the resource information comprises scell activation/deactivation indication ([0226, 0232] The CC associated to the secondary serving cell (e.g., the secondary CC) may be activated and deactivated).
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the Islam invention with Pelletier invention to include the claimed limitation(s) so as to allow the network to configure the UE(s) with different triggers wake-up and/or go-to-sleep signals in order for the UE(s) to conserve power according to the operation mode.
Claim 7, Islam as modified discloses the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
sending, by the base station, indication information of a quantity of discontinuous reception (DRX) cycles on the PDCCH monitor occasions configured for the terminal ([0079] If received during ON state while monitoring PDCCHs or scheduling DCI: the field may indicate sleep duration. [0080] The indicated sleep duration may span less or more than a DRX cycle).
Claim 8, see claim 1 for the rejection, Islam discloses an energy-saving indication method, comprising:
receiving, by a terminal through a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), wake-up indication information and indication information of resource information configured for the terminal needing to wake up sent by a base station on PDCCH monitor occasions configured for the terminal, or
receiving, by the terminal through the PDCCH, Go-To-Sleep (GTS) indication information sent by the base station on the PDCCH monitor occasions configured for the terminal;
wherein the wake-up indication information instructs the terminal to wake up, and the GTS indication information instructs the terminal to sleep; and
performing, by the terminal, PDCCH monitoring according to the wake-up indication information, or giving up, by the terminal, PDCCH monitoring in following one or more discontinuous reception (DRX} cycles according to the GTS indication information;
wherein the wake-up indication information and the indication information of resource information configured for the terminal needing to wake up are carried in first downlink control information (DCI). However, in an analogous art, Pelletier discloses wherein the resource information comprises scell activation/deactivation indication ([0226, 0232] The CC associated to the secondary serving cell (e.g., the secondary CC) may be activated and deactivated). Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the Islam invention with Pelletier invention to include the claimed limitation(s) so as to allow the network to configure the UE(s) with different triggers wake-up and/or go-to-sleep signals in order for the UE(s) to conserve power according to the operation mode.
Claim 9, Islam as modified discloses the method according to claim 8, further comprising:
giving up, by the terminal, PDCCH monitoring in following one or more DRX cycles if the terminal does not receive, through the PDCCH, the wake-up indication information and/or the GTS indication information sent by the base station on the PDCCH monitor occasions configured for the terminal ([0051] GTS signaling can put the UE to sleep before configured ON duration and/or drx-Inactivity Timer ends, cf. FIG. 2 (where GTS signal is received during configured ON duration drx-onDuration Timer), or can trigger a micro-sleep within the ON duration, as shown in FIG. 3. UE may potentially skip PDCCH monitoring for a period/duration following GTS trigger is detected. UE monitors PDCCH during ON duration and is not configured to receive WUS).
Claim 11, Islam as modified discloses the method according to claim 8,
wherein the terminal is a terminal in a terminal group ([0048] L1 signaling include sequence-based or DCI-based transmission, e.g., in a PDCCH or a combination of them, where both can be UE specific or group-common); and
the receiving, through the PDCCH, the wake-up indication information sent by the base station ([0072] separate L1 signaling, e.g., DCI in a PDCCH may be provided to UE for WUS and GTS) comprises:
obtaining, by the terminal according to its location ([0065] a UE specific DCI may be used where the DCI may be scrambled with CRC based on C-RNTI or other configured RNTI) in the terminal group to which the terminal belongs ([0048] L1 signaling include sequence-based or DCI-based transmission, e.g., in a PDCCH or a combination of them, where both can be UE specific or group-common), the wake-up indication information carried by a subfield in a first information field of the first DCI sent by the base station through the PDCCH ([0065] The DCI may have one or more fields to indicate the WUS trigger and/or start position of the configured ON duration for regular PDCCH monitoring); wherein the first DCI comprises the first information field (fig 5), the first information field comprises a plurality of subfields (fig 5), each of the plurality of subfields corresponds to one terminal in the terminal group ([0065] a UE specific DCI may be used where the DCI may be scrambled with CRC based on C-RNTI or other configured RNTI.), a value of a subfield to which a terminal needing to wake up corresponds is equal to a value of the wake-up indication information, and a value of a subfield to which a terminal needing to sleep corresponds is equal to a value of GTS indication information ([0052] 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).
Claim 12, Islam discloses the method according to claim 8, further comprising:
performing, by the terminal, configuration according to the indication information of the resource information ([0056] the UE may switch to the new BWP after the sleep duration indicated by the GTS signalling, [0062] WUS may potentially indicate BWP, e.g., UE wakes up and start monitoring for regular BWP in a different, possibly, larger BWP than used for WUS monitoring).
Claim 16, see claim 1 for the rejection, Islam discloses a communication apparatus, comprising;
a processor ([0213] an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors),
a memory ([0213] one or more non-transitory computer-readable media) and
a transceiver ([0213] to receive, by a UE), wherein the processor is configured to read a computer instruction in the memory so as to execute:
determining a terminal needing to wake up or to sleep in a terminal group; and
sending, through the transceiver and a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), wake-up indication information and indication information of resource information configured for one or more terminals needing to wake up in the terminal group to the terminal needing to wake up in the terminal group on PDCCH monitor occasions configured for the terminal,
wherein the wake-up indication information instructs the terminal to wake up; or send, through the transceiver and the PDCCH, Go-To-Sleep (GTS) indication information to the terminal needing to sleep in the terminal group on the PDCCH monitor occasions configured for the terminal group,
wherein the GTS indication information instructs the terminal to sleep; wherein the wake-up indication information and the indication information of resource information configured for one or more terminals needing to wake up are carried in first downlink control information (DCI).
However, in an analogous art, Pelletier discloses wherein the resource information comprises scell activation/deactivation indication ([0226, 0232] The CC associated to the secondary serving cell (e.g., the secondary CC) may be activated and deactivated). Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the Islam invention with Pelletier invention to include the claimed limitation(s) so as to allow the network to configure the UE(s) with different triggers wake-up and/or go-to-sleep signals in order for the UE(s) to conserve power according to the operation mode.
Claim 22, see claim 7 for the rejection, Islam as modified discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:
send, through the transceiver, indication information of a quantity of discontinuous reception (DRX) cycles on the PDCCH monitor occasions configured for the terminal.
Claim 23, see claim 1 for the rejection, Islam discloses communication apparatus, comprising:
a processor ([0213] an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors), a memory ([0213] one or more non-transitory computer- readable media) and a transceiver ([0213] to receive, by a UE), wherein the processor is configured to read a computer instruction in the memory so as to execute the method of claim 8.
Claim 24, see claim 9 for the rejection, Islam discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the processor is further configured to: give up PDCCH monitoring in following one or more DRX cycles if the communication apparatus does not receive, through the PDCCH, the wake-up indication information
and/or the GTS indication information sent by the base station on the PDCCH monitor occasions configured for the terminal.
Claim 26, Islam as modified discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the processor is specifically configured to:
obtain, according to a location of the terminal ([0065] a UE specific DCI may be used where the DCI may be scrambled with CRC based on C-RNTI or other configured RNTI) in a terminal group to which the terminal belongs, the wake-up indication information ([0048] L1 signaling include sequence-based or DCI-based transmission, e.g., in a PDCCH or a combination of them, where both can be UE specific or group- common) carried by a subfield in a first information field of the first DCI sent by the base station through the PDCCH ([0065] The DCI may have one or more fields to indicate the WUS trigger and/or start position of the configured ON duration for regular PDCCH monitoring);
wherein the first DCI comprises the first information field (fig 5), the first information field comprises a plurality of subfields (fig 5), each of the plurality of subfields corresponds to one terminal in the terminal group ([0065] a UE specific DCI may be used where the DCI may be scrambled with CRC based on C-RNTI or other configured RNTI.), a value of a subfield to which a terminal needing to wake up corresponds is equal to a value of the wake-up indication information ([0052] 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), and a value of a subfield to which a terminal needing to sleep corresponds is equal to a value of GTS indication information ([0052] Unit of offset to start position of sleep duration, e.g., T_GTS_A and sleep duration, e.g., T_GTS_B can be in symbols or slots, for a given numerology or in ms or sub-ms).
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 7. Islam et al. US 2020/0037396 and Pelletier in view of Wei et al. US 2019/0053159.
Claim 13, Islam as modified discloses the method according to claim 8, further comprising:
receiving, by the terminal through the PDCCH, indication information of a quantity of DRX cycles sent by the base station on the PDCCH monitor occasions configured for the terminal ([0079] If received during ON state while monitoring PDCCHs or scheduling DCI: the field may indicate sleep duration. [0080] The indicated sleep duration may span less or more than a DRX cycle); and
but Islam does not explicitly disclose, monitoring, by the terminal, the PDCCH in a corresponding quantity of the following DRX cycles according to the indication information of the quantity of the DRX cycles. However, as Wei discloses and monitoring, by the terminal, the PDCCH in a corresponding quantity of the following DRX cycles according to the indication information of the quantity of the DRX cycles ([0123] base station may indicate whether the UE needs to monitor: all GC-PDCCH and/or PDCCH occasions; only configured GC-PDCCH CORESET(s) and/or PDCCH CORESET(s) within one or more GC- PDCCHs and/or PDCCHs; or only specific GC-PDCCH and/or PDCCH occasion(s) during a DRX ON cycle, multiple DRX ON cycles).
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the Islam and lyer invention with Wei invention to include the claimed limitation(s) SO as to allow the network to configure the UE(s) with multiple DRX cycles in order for the UE(s) to monitor PDCCH occasions when the network has data to send to the UE(s).
Claim(s) 31-34 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 8. Islam and Pelletier in view of Vyas et al. US 2020/0045631.
Claim 31, Islam as modified discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein before the determining, by the base station, the terminal needing to wake up or to sleep in the terminal group, the method further comprises: but Islam invention does not explicitly disclose, informing, by the base station through high-level signaling, the terminal that the base station instructs the terminal to wake-up or to sleep in an explicit way or an implicit way.
However, as Vyas discloses informing, by the base station through high-level signaling, the terminal that the base station instructs the terminal to wake-up or to sleep in an explicit way or an implicit way ([0070] the access point may transmit an explicit instruction, to the one or more devices which have data addressed thereto, to stay awake, wake-up beacon or TIM information itself serves as an implicitly instruction from the AP to the one or more devices which do not have data addressed thereto to re-enter sleep mode).
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the Islam and lyer invention with Vyas invention to include the claimed limitation(s) SO as to allow the network to figure the UE(s) with explicit and implicit instructions to wake up and/or to enter sleep mode in order for the UE(s) to stay awake to receive data and/or to go to sleep if there is no data to receive.
Claim 32, see claim 31 for the rejection, Islam as modified discloses the method according to claim 8, before the receiving, by the terminal through the PDCCH wake-up indication information or GTS indication information, the method further comprises: receiving, by the terminal, high-level signaling sent by the base station for informing the base station to instruct the terminal to wake-up or to sleep in an explicit way or an implicit way.
Claim 33, see claim 31 for the rejection, Islam as modified discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to: inform the terminal that a base station instructs the terminal to wake-up or to sleep in an explicit way or an implicit way through high-level signaling before determining the terminal needing to wake up or to sleep in the terminal group.
Claim 34, see claim 31 for the rejection, Islam as modified discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the processor is further configured to: receive high-level signaling sent by the base station for informing the base station to instruct the terminal to wake-up or to sleep in an explicit way or an implicit way before receiving, through the PDCCH, the wake-up indication information or the GTS indication information.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 6, 19 and 21 are 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the sending, through the PDCCH, the GTS indication information to the terminal needing to sleep in the terminal group comprises:
sending, by the base station through the PDCCH, the first (DCI and the second DCI to the terminals in the terminal group;
wherein the first DCI comprises a first information field, the first information field comprises a plurality of subfields, each of the plurality of subfields corresponds to one or more terminals in the terminal group, a value of a subfield to which the terminal needing to wake up corresponds is equal to a value of the wake-up indication information, and a value of a subfield to which the terminal needing to sleep corresponds is equal to a value of the GTS indication information; and the second DCI comprises a second information field, the second information field comprises a plurality of subfields, a quantity of the plurality of subfields comprised in the second information field is smaller than or equal to a quantity of the terminal needing to wake up in the terminal group, each subfield in the second information field corresponds to one or more terminals needing to wake up in the terminal group, and the each subfield is configured to carry the indication information of resource information configured for the one or more terminals needing to wake up.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein:
the determining, by the base station, the terminal needing to wake up comprises:
determining, by the base station for at least one terminal group, all terminals in the at least one terminal group needing to wake up, or all terminals in the at least one terminal group needing to sleep; and
the sending, by the base station through the PDCCH, the wake-up indication information to the terminal needing to wake up comprises: sending, by the base station through the PDCCH, the first DCI to the terminals in the at least one terminal group;
wherein the first DCI comprises a first information field, the first information field comprises at least one subfield, one subfield corresponds to one terminal group in the at least one terminal group, at least two subfields in the first information field carry the wake-up indication information or the GTS indication information, the wake-up indication information carried by one subfield of the at least two subfields instructs all terminals in a terminal group corresponding to the one subfield to wake up, and the GTS indication information carried by another one subfield of the at least two subfields instructs all terminals in a terminal group corresponding to the another one subfield to sleep.
19. The communication apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:
send, through the transceiver and the PDCCH, the first DCI and the second DCI to the terminals in the terminal group;
wherein the first DCI comprises a first information field, the first information field comprises a plurality of subfields, each of the plurality of subfields corresponds to one terminal in the terminal group, a value of a subfield to which the terminal needing to wake up corresponds is equal to a value of the wake-up indication information, and a value of a subfield to which the terminal needing to sleep corresponds is equal to a value of the GTS indication information; and
the second DCI comprises a second information field, the second information field comprises a plurality of subfields, a quantity of the plurality of subfields comprised in the second information field is smaller than or equal to a quantity of terminal needing to wake up in the terminal group, each subfield in the second information field corresponds to one terminal needing to wake up in the terminal group, and the each subfield is configured to carry the indication information of resource information configured for the one or more terminals needing to wake up.
21. The communication apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to: determine, for at least one terminal group, all terminals in the at least one terminal group needing to wake up, or all terminals in the at least one terminal group needing to sleep; and send, through the transceiver and the PDCCH, the first DCI to the terminals in the at least one terminal group; wherein the first DCI comprises a first information field, the first information field comprises at least one subfield, one subfield corresponds to one terminal group in the at least one terminal group, at least two subfields in the first information field carry the wake-up indication information or the GTS indication information, the wake-up indication information carried by one subfield of the at least two subfields instructs all terminals in a terminal group corresponding to the one subfield to wake up, and the GTS indication information carried by another one subfield of the at least two subfields instructs all terminals in a terminal group corresponding to the another one subfield to sleep.
Have not been found nor have been fairly suggested in the prior art search.
Conclusion
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MARCOS L. TORRES
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2647
/MARCOS L TORRES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647