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 .
DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 04/21/2026 has been entered. Claims 1 and 9 have been amended. No claims have been added; Claims 2, 4, 10, and 12 were previously cancelled. Claims 1, 3, 5-9, 11, and 13-16 are subject to examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
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.
Claim 1, 5-9, and 13-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LAI et al. (LAI hereinafter) (US 20240073816 A1) in view of Hu et al. (Hu hereinafter) (US 20230131188 A1).
Regarding Claim 1 and claim 9, LAI teaches, A method performed by a terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
receiving, from a base station, an indication for indicating a skipping of monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) during a PDCCH skipping duration (LAI; if/when a UE receives/decodes/detects a PDCCH with a control information in a first active DL BWP of a first serving cell, Par. 0183; The control information may be related to stop monitoring (or be related to not monitor or be related to skip monitoring) a first number of PDCCH occasion(s), Par. 0187; The PDCCH skipping mechanism may be used to indicate a duration that the UE may need to stop monitoring the PDCCH, Par. 0091);
transmitting, to the base station, a random access preamble (LAI; the UE is performing the RA procedure, Par. 0183; The UE is performing the RA ... procedure ... The UE is transmitted the RA (e.g., a preamble, Par. 0271-0274); and
skipping monitoring, on a secondary cell (SCell), information on the PDCCH during the PDCCH skipping duration, while monitoring, on a primary secondary cell (PSCell) (LAI; For a Dual Connectivity operation, the term Special Cell refers to ... the PSCell of the SCG ... A Special Cell supports PUCCH transmission and contention-based Random Access, Par. 0060), information on the PDCCH in a duration for receiving a random access response corresponding to the random access preamble without skipping of monitoring the PDCCH during the PDCCH skipping duration (LAI; the UE may stop monitoring (or may not monitor or may skip monitoring) a first number of PDCCH occasion(s) ... in one or some second BWPs of some (and/or one, and/or all, and/or some, and/or all but except the serving cell where ... where the UE is performing the RA procedure)) of serving cell(s) in one or some second serving cells, Par. 0183 [Note that when RA procedure is on PSCell, other serving cells are SCell, see Par. 0047]),
wherein the duration for receiving the random access response corresponding to the random access preamble (LAI; the UE is performing a RA procedure and/or if a RA preamble is transmitted, the UE may need to monitor the PDCCH ... while a RAR window is running, Par. 0177).
Although LAI teaches RAR window, but failed to explicitly teach,
the duration comprises a message B response window (msgB- ResponseWindow) for 2-step random access procedure.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Hu teaches,
the duration comprises a message B response window (msgB- ResponseWindow) for 2-step random access procedure (Hu; for the contention-based two-step random access, the UE can start MSGB-ResponseWindow at the first occasion to monitor PDCCH after transmitting the MsgA, Par. 0106).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of LAI to include the use of two-step random access as taught by Hu in order to define response window (Hu; Par. 0106).
Specially for claim 9, LAI teaches, A terminal in a wireless communication system, the terminal comprising: a transceiver; and a controller coupled with the transceiver and configured to (LAI; a UE, Par. 0183).
Regarding claim 5 and claim 13, LAI-Hu teaches, The method of claim 1 and The terminal of claim 9 respectively, further comprising:
monitoring, on a special cell (SpCell), the PDCCH in a duration associated with a random access contention resolution timer (ra-ContentionResolutionTimer) without skipping of monitoring the PDCCH during the PDCCH skipping duration (LAI; the UE is performing a RA procedure and/or if a Msg3 is transmitted by the UE, the UE may need to monitor the PDCCH while the RA contention resolution timer is running, Par. 0179).
Regarding claim 6 and claim 14, LAI-Hu teaches, The method of claim 5 and The terminal of claim 13 respectively, further comprising: receiving, from the base station, the random access response in the duration for receiving the random access response corresponding to the random access preamble; transmitting, to the base station, a message 3 as a response to the random access response; and starting the random access contention resolution timer (LAI; the UE is performing a RA procedure and/or if a Msg3 is transmitted by the UE, the UE may need to monitor the PDCCH while the RA contention resolution timer is running, Par. 0179 & Hu; when the RAR from the network device is received, a Msg3 may be transmitted to the network device, and a random access contention resolution timer (ra-ContentionResolutionTimer) is started, Par. 0201).
Regarding claim 7 and claim 15, LAI-Hu teaches, The method of claim 1 and The terminal of claim 9 respectively, wherein the indication is received in downlink control information (LAI; if/when a UE receives/decodes/detects a PDCCH with a control information in a first active DL BWP of a first serving cell, Par. 0183; The control information may be a DCI, Par. 0201).
Regarding claim 8 and claim 16, LAI-Hu teaches, The method of claim 1 and The terminal of claim 9 respectively, further comprising:
receiving, from the base station, information on the PDCCH skipping duration (LAI; The PDCCH skipping mechanism may be used to indicate a duration that the UE may need to stop monitoring the PDCCH … The NW may preconfigure one or more durations via a higher layer parameter ( e.g., via an RRC configuration), Par. 0091).
Claim 3 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LAI-Hu and in further view of GUO et al. (GUO hereinafter) (US 20240121798 A1).
Regarding claim 3 and claim 11, LAI-Hu teaches, The method of claim 1 and The terminal of claim 9 respectively.
LAI-Hu fail to explicitly teach,
wherein the indication for indicating the skipping of monitoring the PDCCH during the PDCCH skipping duration is received from the base station for the PSCell.
However, in the same field of endeavor, GUO teaches,
wherein the indication for indicating the skipping of monitoring the PDCCH during the PDCCH skipping duration is received from the base station for the PSCell (GUO; if the PDCCH skipping bundled for a cell group is configured, the wireless communication device 104 or 204 may stop monitoring PDCCH during a skipping period in each cell of the cell group after the wireless communication device 104 or 204 detects a DCI indicating a PDCCH skipping in one of the cells configured in the cell group. The one of the cells configured in the cell group may be a primary cell (PCell), primary secondary cell (PSCell) and/or a special cell (SpCell), Par. 0189).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of LAI-Hu to include the use of cell group as taught by GUO in order to bundled PDCCH skipping for the cell group (GUO; Par. 0190).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Prior art MURRAY et al. (US 20220191793 A1) teaches in Par. 0199 that “Depending on the state of certain MAC procedures reception of a PDCCH skipping command may be ignored. For example, the network may not be aware of an initiated MAC procedure (e.g. SR, RA, HARQ . . . ) and choose to transmit a PDCCH skipping command. In these cases, the UE may ignore the PDCCH skipping command”. Prior art LI et al. (US 20230199648 A1) teaches in Par. 0113 that “The UE monitors or stops monitoring the target downlink control channel according to the first information in a case that the UE initiates the competition-based random access process and receives a random access message scheduled by a downlink control channel scrambled by using a specific RNTI”.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHARMIN CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)272-6419. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Noel Beharry can be reached at 5712705630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SHARMIN CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416
Prosecution Insights