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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 06/10/2026 has been entered.
The amendment filed on 06/10/2026 has been acknowledged.
Amendment Summary
Claims 1, 2, 11, 12, are amended.
Claims 3-5 and 13-15 are canceled.
Response to Arguments/Amendment
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims # 1, 2, 6-12 and 16-20 have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to the combination of the references being used for the current rejection of the above claim.
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(s) 1, 2, 6, 7, 11, 12, 16 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Maleki (US 2022/353809 A1) in view of He (US 2019/0223164 A1).
Regrading Claim 1, 11
Maleki disclose a method performed by a user equipment (UE) (Fig.6(UE)) for a power saving operation (See [Abstract]; The plurality of possible sleep modes correspond to varying degrees of reduced energy consumption by the wireless device reduced energy consumption),
the method comprising:
receiving a radio resource control (RRC) configuration (See [0020]; received RRC configuration) from a base station (BS) (See [0020]; configuration received from base station), the RRC configuration configuring a list comprising a plurality of time durations (See [0020]; the DRX parameters, i.e., the DRX cycle length, the onDuration, and the inactivity timer length, ... skip monitoring PDCCH for the next X slots are configured for the UE via Radio Resource Control (RRC)) in units of slots (See [0024]; [0027]; limits the number of consecutive PDCCH-subframe(s)/slots during which the UE remains "awake”) for skipping physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring (See [0027]; skip, of the PDCCH for certain subframes or slots, or during a certain time duration, might be done dynamically, where the network signals the UE that it may skip monitoring PDCCH for the next X slots),
beginning monitoring a PDCCH on a plurality of PDCCH monitoring occasions (See Fig.1; [0020];[0027]; monitor PDCCH on configured occasions);
skipping monitoring the PDCCH on one or more of the plurality of PDCCH monitoring occasions (See [0027]; PDCCH skipping refers to a technique whereby the network indicates to the UE that it may omit monitoring, i.e., skip, of the PDCCH for certain subframes or slots, or during a certain time duration) within the first time duration after receiving the indicator).
But Maleki fails to explicitly recite
wherein each of the plurality of candidate time durations corresponds to a respective duration,
during which the UE skips the PDCCH monitoring, and corresponds to a different number of the slots.
receiving, from the BS, an indicator on the PDCCH via downlink control information (DCI), the indicator comprising an identifier (ID) that identifies a first candidate time duration from the plurality of candidate time durations;
However in an analogous art,
He teaches about a DCI configuration for PDCCH monitoring for one or more time durations selected from the plurality of candidate time durations (See [0023-0025]; [0082-0083]; where monitoring implies decoding ( or attempting to decode) some or all PDCCH candidates in the PDCCH candidate set according to the monitored Downlink Control Information (DCI) formats or types),
indicate a PDCCH monitoring skip period in a slot or symbol level (See [0023-0025]; [0082-0083]; The UE can then be configured to skip monitoring the selected PDCCH candidate within each slot that have a lower priority relative to other PDCCH candidates of the slot according to the priority rule),
indicate an ID for a search space configuration through different field of DCI (See [0023-0025]; [0082-0083]; a processing device (e.g., UE or gNB) with a controller / processor for processing wireless communications can identify a particular number of PDCCH candidates).
Maleki and He are analogous art because they all pertain to UE configuration associate with PDCH monitoring. Maleki teaches about PDDCH monitoring after receiving RRC configuration from base station. He teaches about a DCI configuration for PDCCH monitoring for one or more time durations, indicate a PDCCH monitoring skip period in a slot or symbol level, indicate an ID for a search space configuration through different field of DCI. Maleki could use He features for specific PDDCH monitoring scheduling, identified through DCI configuration and PDDCH skipping for power saving features. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of the filing of the application to combine Maleki and He as to obtain an efficient power staving mode UE.
Regarding Claim 2, 12
Maleki and He teach all the features with respect to claim 1, 11 and Maleki further teaches
resuming monitoring the PDCCH on the plurality of PDCCH monitoring occasions after the first time duration is over (See [0027]; The skipping PDDCH monitoring is for specific duration such as UE may skip monitoring PDCCH for the next X slots, since the network does not expect to schedule the UE during that interval).
Regarding Claim 6, 16
Maleki and He teach all the features with respect to claim 1, 11 and He further teaches
wherein the plurality of PDCCH monitoring occasions are determined according to a search space configured by the BS (See [0023-0025]; [0082-0083]; search space is used to detect occasions).
Regarding Claim 7, 17
Maleki and He teach all the features with respect to claim 1, 11 and He further teaches
wherein the DCI comprises a DCI format 1_0 (See [0123-0124]).
Claim(s) 8-10 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Maleki (US 2022/353809 A1) in view of He (US 2019/0223164 A1) further in view of Lin (US 2020/0029315 A1).
Regarding Claim 8, 18
Maleki and He teach all the features with respect to claim 1, 11
But He and Maleki fail to explicitly
wherein the DCI further indicates a UE group.
However in analogous art,
Lin teaches about
a DCI that indicates a UE group (See [0257]).
Maleki, He and Lin are analogous art because they all pertain to UE configuration associate with PDCH monitoring. Maleki teaches about PDDCH monitoring after receiving RRC configuration from base station. He teaches about a DCI configuration for PDCCH monitoring for one or more time durations. Lin teaches about a DCI that indicates a UE group. Maleki and He could use Lin features for configuring group UE instead of specific UE . Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of the filing of the application to combine Maleki, Lin and He as to obtain an efficient power staving mode UE.
Regarding Claim 9, 19
Maleki, He and Lin teach all the features with respect to claim 8, 18 and Lin further teaches
wherein the UE group is formed based on at least one of a UE identifier (ID) (See [0085]; For a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH or a PUSCH to a single UE, the RNTI can be a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) and serves as a UE identifier) or UE assistance information.
Regarding Claim 10, 20
Maleki, He and Lin teach all the features with respect to claim 8, 18 and Lin further teaches
wherein the UE belongs to the UE group (See [0085]; the RNTI can be a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) and serves as a UE identifier for all UE receiving the DCI configuration).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GARY LAFONTANT whose telephone number is (571)272-3037. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00AM -6:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeanette Parker can be reached at 571-2703647. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GARY LAFONTANT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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