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 .
Applicant’s arguments/remarks filed on 11/13/2025 is acknowledged.
No claims are amended.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 10/27/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
Amendments filed on 11/13/2025 are entered for prosecution. Claims 1, 4-11, 13-17, and 19 remain pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to independent claims 1, 11, 17, and 19 (pages 9-13) in a reply filed 11/13/2025 have been fully considered but are not persuasive.
Regarding claims 1, 11, 17, and 19:
Applicant contends, in page 9, that “Applicant respectfully submits that the position put forth in the Office Action appears to be based on a misinterpretation of NEC.” and in page 12, that “As is apparent from the above, NEC does not teach or suggest that the bits of this bitmap are used to start or not start the drx-onDurationTimer for the secondary DRX group. The Office Action has confused and mixed-up BWP (Bandwidth Part) switching with timer control. Therefore, the combination of He and NEC fails to disclose the limitation of claim 1: "a unified wake-up indication field (N=N1+N2 bits) where a portion (N2 bits) is explicitly for indicating starting or not starting a timer associated with a DRX-On duration for the secondary DRX group."”.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. NEC describes UE’s behavior upon reception of Wake-up indication bit, wherein the UE configured with DRX mode operation can be provided with a detection of a DCI format 2_6 in a PDCCH reception on the PCell or on the SpCell (see, pages 2-3 of NEC). NEC describes a location of a Wake-up indication bit (equivalent to N1 of the instant application) in DCI format 2_6 as well as a location of a bitmap (equivalent to N2 of the instant application), which is immediate after the Wake-up indication bit location and hence unified as claimed in the instant application, wherein the size of the bitmap is equal to the number of groups of configured SCell where each bit of the bitmap corresponds to a group of configured SCells from the number of groups of configured SCells. In addition to an active DL BWP switching using a bitmap, NEC also describes a unified Wake-up indication bit for the next long DRX cycle if the UE is provided search space sets to monitor PDCCH for detection of DCI format 2_6 in the active DL BWP of the PCell or of the SpCell, wherein a ‘0’ value for the Wake-up indication bit indicates not start the drx-onDurationTimer for the next long DRX cycle and a ‘1’ value for the Wake-up indication bit indicates to start the drx-onDurationTimer for the next long DRX cycle. (see, page 4 of NEC). This teaching is further evidently described page 7 of NEC wherein the DCI format 2_6 is described for the power saving information and wherein the Wake-up indication bit is 1 bit for the primary DRX group and 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 bits bitmap for the secondary DRX group, where each bit corresponds to one of the SCell group(s) configured by higher layers parameter Scell-groups-for-dormancy-outside-active-time, with MSB to LSB of the bitmap corresponding to the first to the last configured SCell group.
Therefore, the disclosure of He in view of NEC reads on the limitations as claimed.
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 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.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 1, 3, 11, 12, 17, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He et al. (US 2020/0045768 A1, hereinafter He) in view of NEC (“TP on DRX adaptation for alignment”, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG1 #102-e, R1-2005957, August 17-28, 2020, hereinafter NEC).
Regarding claim 1:
He teaches a method for use in a user equipment (UE) (see, He: Fig. 3, UE 350) wherein a Medium Access Control (MAC) entity of the UE, comprises a primary discontinuous reception (DRX) group and a secondary DRX group (see, He: para. [0076], “The network may be configured to transmit a signal in one of a first set of serving cells to the UE. The signal provides an indication for the UE to change a power off-state of serving cells in a particular DRX group to a power on-state. The signal may comprise an index of the DRX group to be activated. The signal may be transmitted to the UE via DCI. … the signal may comprise a MAC-CE. ... In some aspects, the signal sent by the network to activate the DRX group A may be a cross carrier DCI. In some aspects, the signal sent by the network to activate the DRX group A may be a MAC-CE.”; para. [0077], “a UE is configured for DRX with different DRX configurations for two DRX groups, DRX group A 702 and DRX group B 704.”, wherein DRX group A is equivalent to the primary DRX group and DRX group B is equivalent to the secondary DRX group of the instant application, respectively.), the method comprising:
monitoring a control channel for receiving a downlink control information (DCI) (see, He: Fig. 8 and para. [0007], “A UE may be configured to use a DRX cycle that enables the UE to monitor for downlink control information, e.g., a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), discontinuously in order to reduce battery use at the UE.”), wherein the DCI is a first DCI (e.g., DCI format 2_6) received outside an active time (e.g., a DRX On Duration) of at least one of the primary DRX group or the secondary DRX group, wherein the first DCI comprises a wake-up indication (e.g., wakeup signal (WUS)) on physical downlink control channel monitoring occasions prior to a next DRX cycle (see, He: Fig. 7 and para. [0077], “the network may be configured to transmit a WUS to the UE such that the WUS provides an indication for the serving cells in a desired DRX group to enter a power active state. The network may transmit the WUS before a DRX On Duration of any of the plurality of DRX groups.”), and
receiving the first DCI on a first cell of the primary DRX group (see, He: para. [0076], “The network may be configured to transmit a signal in one of a first set of serving cells to the UE. The signal provides an indication for the UE to change a power off-state of serving cells in a particular DRX group to a power on-state. The signal may comprise an index of the DRX group to be activated. The signal may be transmitted to the UE via DCI.”), wherein the first DCI indicates whether at least one serving cell in the primary DRX group and at least one serving cell in the secondary DRX group follow the wake-up indication of the first DCI based on C bits, where C≥1, in the first DCI (see, He: para. [0100], “The UE may be configured with the first DRX configuration on RRC signaling or by MAC-CE.”; para. [0104], “the UE may be configured to receive a WUS. … The WUS, in some aspects, may be from the first serving cell, for the second DRX group. In some examples, the UE may receive the WUS before a DRX on duration of any of a plurality of DRX groups. The WUS may provide an indication for the serving cells in a desired DRX group to enter a power active state. In some examples, each of the plurality of DRX groups may be associated with a unique WUS. In some examples, a single WUS sequence may be configured for the UE. In such examples, the WUS may comprise a bitmap to indicate which DRX group is to be activated. However, the WUS may be configured in other manners and the disclosure is not intended to be limited to a sequence based WUS.”, wherein the bitmap is at least equal to or greater than 1 bit.).
He further teaches wherein the wake-up indication comprises N=N1+N2 bits, where N≥1 (see, He: para. [0104], “a single WUS sequence may be configured for the UE. In such examples, the WUS may comprise a bitmap to indicate which DRX group is to be activated.”, wherein the bitmap is greater than 1 bit.; para. [0077], “In some aspects, a single WUS may be configured for the UE. Thus, the WUS may correspond to multiple DRX groups for which the UE is configured. In this example, the WUS may comprise a bitmap that indicates the DRX group to be activated. Upon receipt of the WUS by the UE, the UE changes serving cells into the DRX group associated with the received WUS to enter a power on-state.”, wherein the bitmap is greater than 1 bit.).
He does not explicitly teach wherein N1 is a number of bit(s) indicating starting or not starting a timer associated with a DRX-On duration for the primary DRX group, and N2 is a number of bit(s) indicating starting or not starting a timer associated with a DRX-On duration for the secondary DRX group.
In the same field of endeavor, NEC teaches wherein N1 is a number of bit(s) indicating starting or not starting a timer associated with a DRX-On duration for the primary DRX group (see, NEC: Section 10.3, “… a location in DCI format 2_6 of a Wake-up indication bit …”, which is the Wake-up indication bit of the primary DRX group), and N2 is a number of bit(s) indicating starting or not starting a timer associated with a DRX-On duration for the secondary DRX group (see, NEC: Section 10.3, “… a bitmap, when the UE is provided a number of groups of configured SCells, …, where – the bitmap location is immediately after the Wake-up indication bit location – the bitmap size is equal to the number of groups of configured SCells where each bit of the bitmap corresponds to a group of configured SCells from the number of groups of configured SCells …”, wherein the bitmap size 1 corresponds to the Wake-up indication bit of the secondary DRX group and wherein “- a '0' value for the Wake-up indication bit, when reported to higher layers, indicates to not start the drx-onDurationTimer for the next long DRX cycle [11, TS 38.321] - a '1' value for the Wake-up indication bit, when reported to higher layers, indicates to start the drx-onDurationTimer for the next long DRX cycle [11, TS 38.321]”. As discussed above, NEC describes UE’s behavior upon reception of Wake-up indication bit, wherein the UE configured with DRX mode operation can be provided with a detection of a DCI format 2_5 in a PDCCH reception on the PCell or on the SpCell (see, pages 2-3 of NEC). NEC describes a location of a Wake-up indication bit (equivalent to N1 of the instant application) in DCI format 2_6 as well as a location of a bitmap (equivalent to N2 of the instant application), which is immediate after the Wake-up indication bit location and hence unified as claimed in the instant application, wherein the size of the bitmap is equal to the number of groups of configured SCell where each bit of the bitmap corresponds to a group of configured SCells from the number of groups of configured SCells. In addition to an active DL BWP switching using a bitmap, NEC also describes a unified Wake-up indication bit for the next long DRX cycle if the UE is provided search space sets to monitor PDCCH for detection of DCI format 2_6 in the active DL BWP of the PCell or of the SpCell, wherein a ‘0’ value for the Wake-up indication bit indicates not start the drx-onDurationTimer for the next long DRX cycle and a ‘1’ value for the Wake-up indication bit indicates to start the drx-onDurationTimer for the next long DRX cycle. (see, page 4 of NEC). This teaching is further evidently described page 7 of NEC wherein the DCI format 2_6 is described for the power saving information and wherein the Wake-up indication bit is 1 bit for the primary DRX group and 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 bits bitmap for the secondary DRX group, where each bit corresponds to one of the SCell group(s) configured by higher layers parameter Scell-groups-for-dormancy-outside-active-time, with MSB to LSB of the bitmap corresponding to the first to the last configured SCell group.).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of He in combination of the teachings of NEC in order to indicate dormancy/non-dormancy behavior for SCells when monitoring PDCCH by a UE configured with DRX mode operation for detection of a DCI format 2_6 in a PDCCH reception on the PCell or on the SpCell (see, NEC: Section 10.3.).
Regarding claim 11:
Claim 11 recites the method from the perspective of a base station (see, He: Fig. 3, Base Station 310) which corresponds to the method of claim 1. Therefore, claim 11 is rejected by applying the similar rational used to reject claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 12:
Claim 12 is directed towards the method of claim 11 that is further limited to perform the features of claim 3. Therefore, claim 12 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 3 above.
Regarding claim 17:
Claim 17 is directed towards a user equipment (UE) (see, He: Fig. 3, UE 350) comprising a processor (see, He: Fig. 3, Controller/Processor 359) configured to perform the method of claim 1. Therefore, claim 17 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 19:
Claim 19 is directed towards a base station (see, He: Fig. 3, Base Station 310), comprising: a processor (see, He: Fig. 3, Controller/Processor 375); and a communication unit (see, He: Fig. 3, TX processor 316 and RX processor 370) configured to perform the method of claim 11. Therefore, claim 19 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 11 above.
Claims 4-9 and 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He in view of NEC further in view of vivo (“Discussion on 2nd DRX group”, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG1 Meeting #100bis, R1-2001693, April 20-30, 2020, hereinafter vivo).
Regarding claim 4:
As discussed above, He in view of NEC teaches all limitations in claim 1.
He in view of NEC does not explicitly teach wherein the DCI is a second DCI comprising a dormancy indication, wherein the second DCI is received outside an active time of at least one of the primary DRX group or the secondary DRX group, and wherein the dormancy indication indicates a dormancy behavior of at least one serving cell in at least one of the primary DRX group or the secondary DRX group, further comprising: receiving the second DCI on a first cell of the primary DRX group, wherein at least one serving cell in the primary DRX group and at least one serving cell in the secondary DRX group follow the dormancy indication; and wherein at least one serving cell in the secondary DRX group follows the dormancy indication of the second DCI based on N bits, where N≥1, in the second DCI.
In the same field of endeavor, vivo teaches wherein the DCI is a second DCI (e.g., WUS (DCI scrambled by PS-RNTI, i.e. DCI format 2_6) comprising a dormancy indication, wherein the second DCI is received outside an active time of at least one of the primary DRX group or the secondary DRX group, and wherein the dormancy indication indicates a dormancy behavior of at least one serving cell in at least one of the primary DRX group or the secondary DRX group (see, vivo: Section 2.2, “In DC/CA and power saving WID, dormancy indication is introduced to skip PDCCH monitoring on the indicated SCells. Meanwhile, this indication can be also included in the WUS for power saving outside DRX active time. The motivation of secondary DRX group is to allow individual active/sleep pattern for two DRX groups.”), further comprising: receiving the second DCI on a first cell of the primary DRX group (see, vivo: Section 2.1, Option 1: “UE monitors WUS only on Pcell (i.e. primary DRX group); Section 2.2, “the dormancy indication on PCell indicates the SCell”), wherein at least one serving cell in the primary DRX group and at least one serving cell in the secondary DRX group follow the dormancy indication (see, vivo: Section 2.2, “In DC/CA and power saving WID, dormancy indication is … to skip PDCCH monitoring on the indicated SCells”, wherein the indicated SCells follow the dormancy indication and skip PDCCH monitoring.); and wherein at least one serving cell in the secondary DRX group follows the dormancy indication of the second DCI based on N bits, where N≥1, in the second DCI (see, vivo: Section 2.2, “this indication can be also included in the WUS for power saving outside DRX active time.”; Section 2.1, “In power saving WID, WUS (DCI scrambled by PS-RNTI, i.e. DCI format 2_6) was introduced to control the onDurationTimer for DRX.”, wherein the dormancy indication (i.e., WUS) is based on a higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling.) and the indication bit is at least equal to or greater than 1 bit.).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of He in view of NEC in combination of the teachings of vivo in order to allow a WUS monitored on primary DRX group control the PDCCH monitoring on secondary DRX group (see, vivo: Section 2.2.).
Regarding claim 5:
As discussed above, He in view of NEC and vivo teaches all limitations in claim 4.
vivo further teaches wherein the monitoring the control channel for receiving the second DCI in the primary DRX group comprises: monitoring the control channel for the second DCI (e.g., WUS (DCI scrambled by PS-RNTI, i.e. DCI format 2_6) based on a DRX status of the primary DRX group (see, vivo: Section 2.1, Option 1: “UE monitors WUS only on Pcell (i.e., primary DRX group)”); monitoring the control channel for the second DCI based on a DRX status of the secondary DRX group; or monitoring the control channel for the second DCI based on the DRX statuses of the primary DRX group and secondary DRX group (see, vivo: Section 2.1, Option 2: “UE monitors WUS on both primary and secondary DRX groups”).
Regarding claim 6:
As discussed above, He in view of NEC teaches all limitations in claim 1.
He in view of NEC does not explicitly teach wherein the DCI is a third DCI comprising a dormancy indication, wherein the third DCI is received within an active time of at least one of the primary DRX group or the secondary DRX group, and wherein the dormancy indication indicates a dormancy behavior of at least one serving cell in at least one of the primary DRX group or the secondary DRX group, further comprising: receiving the third DCI on a first cell of the primary DRX group.
In the same field of endeavor, vivo teaches wherein the DCI is a third DCI (e.g., WUS (DCI scrambled by PS-RNTI, i.e. DCI format 2_6) comprising a dormancy indication, wherein the third DCI is received within an active time of at least one of the primary DRX group or the secondary DRX group, and wherein the dormancy indication indicates a dormancy behavior of at least one serving cell in at least one of the primary DRX group or the secondary DRX group (see, vivo: Section 2.2, “In DC/CA and power saving WID, dormancy indication is introduced to skip PDCCH monitoring on the indicated SCells.”; Section 2.1, Option 1: “UE monitors WUS only on Pcell (i.e., primary DRX group)”; Section 2.2, “SCell may not in active time due to short DRX timer, while PCell is still in the active time.”), further comprising:
receiving the third DCI on a first cell of the primary DRX group (see, vivo: Section 2.1, Option 1: “UE monitors WUS only on Pcell (i.e. primary DRX group); Section 2.2, “the dormancy indication on PCell indicates the SCell”).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of He in view of NEC in combination of the teachings of vivo in order to allow a WUS monitored on primary DRX group control the PDCCH monitoring on secondary DRX group (see, vivo: Section 2.1.).
Regarding claim 7:
As discussed above, He in view of NEC and vivo teaches all limitations in claim 6.
vivo further teaches wherein the third DCI comprises N bits, where N≥1, indicating whether the dormancy indication is enabled for at least one serving cell in the primary DRX group and at least one serving cell in the secondary DRX group (see, vivo: Section 2.1, “In power saving WID, WUS (DCI scrambled by PS-RNTI, i.e. DCI format 2_6) was introduced to control the onDurationTimer for DRX.”, wherein the indication bit in the DCI format 2_6 is at least equal to or greater than 1 bit.; Section 2.2, “In DC/CA and power saving WID, dormancy indication is … to skip PDCCH monitoring on the indicated SCells”), wherein: the dormancy indication received in one of the primary DRX group and the secondary DRX group indicates the dormancy behavior of at least one serving cell in the DRX group in which the dormancy indication is received; or the dormancy indication received in one of the primary DRX group and the secondary DRX group indicates the dormancy behavior of at least one serving cell in the primary DRX group and at least one serving cell in the secondary DRX group (see, vivo: Section 2.1, Option 2: “UE monitors WUS on both primary and secondary DRX groups, and WUS detected on each DRX group controls the drx-onDurationTimer for the DRX group.”).
Regarding claim 8:
As discussed above, He in view of NEC teaches all limitations in claim 1.
He in view of NEC does not explicitly teach wherein the DCI is a fourth DCI received outside an active time of at least one of the primary DRX group or the secondary DRX group, wherein the fourth DCI comprises a wake-up indication and a dormancy indication, comprising, on physical downlink control channel monitoring occasions prior to a next DRX cycle: receiving the fourth DCI on a first cell of the primary DRX group; and wherein: the fourth DCI indicates starting or not starting a timer associated with a DRX-On duration and dormancy behavior related operations in one of the primary DRX group and the secondary DRX group; and wherein the fourth DCI indicates the UE to start or not a timer associated with a DRX-On duration and dormancy behavior related operations in the primary DRX group and the secondary DRX group.
In the same field of endeavor, vivo teaches wherein the DCI is a fourth DCI (e.g., WUS (DCI scrambled by PS-RNTI, i.e. DCI format 2_6) received outside an active time of at least one of the primary DRX group or the secondary DRX group, wherein the fourth DCI comprises a wake-up indication and a dormancy indication (see, vivo: Section 2.2, “In DC/CA and power saving WID, dormancy indication is introduced to skip PDCCH monitoring on the indicated SCells. Meanwhile, this indication can be also included in the WUS for power saving outside DRX active time.”), comprising, on physical downlink control channel monitoring occasions prior to a next DRX cycle: receiving the fourth DCI on a first cell of the primary DRX group (see, vivo: Section 2.1, Option 1: “UE monitors WUS only on Pcell (i.e. primary DRX group)”); and wherein: the fourth DCI indicates starting or not starting a timer associated with a DRX-On duration and dormancy behavior related operations in one of the primary DRX group and the secondary DRX group (see, vivo: Section 2.1, Option 1-1: “The WUS monitored on Pcell controls the drx-onDurationTimer only for the primary DRX group”; Section 2.2, “In DC/CA and power saving WID, dormancy indication is … to skip PDCCH monitoring on the indicated SCells”, wherein the indicated SCells follow the dormancy indication and skip PDCCH monitoring.); and wherein the fourth DCI indicates the UE to start or not a timer associated with a DRX-On duration and dormancy behavior related operations in the primary DRX group and the secondary DRX group (see, vivo: Section 2.1, Option 1-2: “The WUS monitored on Pcell controls the drx-onDurationTimer for both DRX groups”; Section 2.2, “In DC/CA and power saving WID, dormancy indication is … to skip PDCCH monitoring on the indicated SCells”, wherein the indicated SCells follow the dormancy indication and skip PDCCH monitoring.).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of He in view of NEC in combination of the teachings of vivo in order to allow a WUS monitored on primary DRX group control the drx-onDurationTimer and the PDCCH monitoring on each DRX group (see, vivo: Section 2.).
Regarding claim 9:
As discussed above, He in view of NEC and vivo teaches all limitations in claim 8.
vivo further teaches wherein the monitoring the control channel for receiving the fourth DCI in the at least one serving cell in the primary DRX group (see, vivo: Section 2.1, Option 1: “UE monitors WUS only on Pcell (i.e. primary DRX group)”) comprises:
monitoring the control channel for receiving the fourth DCI on a first cell of the primary DRX group based on a DRX status of the primary DRX group, and further comprising: not monitoring the control channel for receiving the fourth DCI prior to the next long DRX cycle within the active time of one of the primary DRX group and secondary DRX group, and starting a timer associated with a DRX-On duration in the next DRX cycle when not monitoring the control channel for receiving the fourth DCI prior to the next long DRX cycle, wherein: at least one secondary cell in the primary DRX group and at least one secondary cell in the secondary DRX group follow at least one of the wake-up indication or the dormancy indication (see, vivo: Section 2.1, Option 1-1: “The WUS monitored on Pcell controls the drx-onDurationTimer only for the primary DRX group”; Section 2.2, “In DC/CA and power saving WID, dormancy indication is … to skip PDCCH monitoring on the indicated SCells”, wherein the indicated SCells follow the dormancy indication and skip PDCCH monitoring.); and
wherein the dormancy indication is applied to at least one serving cell of the secondary DRX group (see, vivo: Section 2.2, “SCell dormancy in DC/CA”… “a separate drx-InactivityTimer and drx-onDurationTimer can be configured for the secondary DRX group compared to the primary.”, wherein the indicated SCells follow the dormancy indication and skip PDCCH monitoring.) based on at least one of predefined information, a higher layer signaling, or N bits, where N≥1, in the fourth DCI, wherein the higher layer signaling comprises at least one of a radio resource control parameter or an MAC control entity (see, vivo: Section 2.1, “In power saving WID, WUS (DCI scrambled by PS-RNTI, i.e. DCI format 2_6) was introduced to control the onDurationTimer for DRX.”, wherein the dormancy indication (i.e., WUS) is based on a higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling.) and the indication bit is at least equal to or greater than 1 bit.).
Regarding claim 13:
Claim 13 is directed towards the method of claim 11 that is further limited to similar features to claim 4 from the perspective of the base station. Therefore, claim 13 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 4 above.
Regarding claim 14:
Claim 14 is directed towards the method of claim 11 that is further limited to similar features to claim 6 from the perspective of the base station. Therefore, claim 14 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 6 above.
Regarding claim 15:
Claim 15 is directed towards the method of claim 11 that is further limited to similar features to claim 8 and claim 9 from the perspective of the base station. Therefore, claim 15 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 8 and claim 9 above.
Claims 10 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He in view of NEC further in view of Qualcomm (“Potential extension(s) to Rel-16 DCI based power saving adaptation during DRX Active Time”, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG1 #102-e, R1-2006817, August 17-28, 2020, hereinafter Qualcomm).
Regarding claim 10:
As discussed above, He in view of NEC teaches all limitations in claim 1.
He in view of NEC does not explicitly teach wherein receiving the DCI in one of the primary DRX group and the secondary DRX group, wherein the DCI includes at least one of a first indication indicating a search space set group switching or a second indication indicating a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) skipping, wherein at least one serving cell in the one of the primary DRX group and the secondary DRX group in which the DCI is received follows at least one of the first indication or the second indication; and wherein when the DCI is received within an active time of at least one of the primary DRX group or the secondary DRX group and the method comprises following at least one of the first indication or the second indication.
In the same field of endeavor, Qualcomm teaches wherein receiving the DCI in one of the primary DRX group and the secondary DRX group, wherein the DCI includes at least one of a first indication indicating a search space set group switching (e.g., UE-specific field for search space set switching) (see, Qualcomm: Section 2.2.1, “a new UE-specific signaling mechanism can be considered to enhance the existing Rel-16 search space set switching mechanism. Based on the same principle as Rel-16 power saving schemes, such as the cross-slot scheduling and SCell dormancy adaptation, UE-specific signaling by a scheduling DCI or DCI format 2_6 may be a good candidate. That is, either a new field may be added to the DCI or any existing fields may be repurposed.”, wherein either a new field may be added to the DCI or any existing fields may be repurposed to indicate search space set switching.) or a second indication indicating a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) skipping (e.g., SCell dormancy) (see, Qualcomm: Section 2.2.2, “along with a scheduling grant, a scheduling DCI can also indicate the UE to skip PDCCH monitoring for a certain duration of time”), wherein at least one serving cell in the one of the primary DRX group and the secondary DRX group in which the DCI is received follows at least one of the first indication or the second indication; and wherein when the DCI is received within an active time of at least one of the primary DRX group or the secondary DRX group and the method comprises following at least one of the first indication or the second indication (see, Qualcomm: Section 2.2.1 and 2.2.2).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of He in view of NEC in combination of the teachings of Qualcomm in order to achieve power saving gains by search space set switching and PDCCH monitoring periodicity adaptation (see, Qualcomm: Section 2.2.).
Regarding claim 16:
Claim 16 is directed towards the method of claim 11 that is further limited to similar features to claim 10 from the perspective of the base station. Therefore, claim 16 is rejected by applying the similar rationale used to reject claim 10 above.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JI-HAE YEA whose telephone number is (571) 270-3310. The examiner can normally be reached on MON-FRI, 7am-3pm, ET.
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/JI-HAE YEA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471