DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 June 16, 2026 has been entered.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA (or AIA ) first to invent provisions.
Response to Amendment
- Claims 1, 3-7 and 9-12 are pending.
- Claims 1, 3-7 and 9-12 are rejected.
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) 1, 5, 7 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Fakoorain et al. (Pub. No. US 2020/0413424 A1; hereinafter Fakoorain) view of Takeda et al. (WO 2020/026352 A1; hereinafter Takeda and, further in view of Wang et al. (WO2021/203310 A1; hereinafter Wang).
Regarding claims 1 and 7, Fakoorain discloses a user equipment (UE) configured comprising: at least one processor; and at least one computer memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, (See 0008, The one or more instructions, when executed by one or more processors of a UE, may cause the one or more processors to receive a single DCI message) cause the UE to perform operations comprising: based on an activation command for the uplink periodic resources being received, activating both the uplink periodic resources and the first downlink periodic resources related to the uplink resources (See 0042, the bit sequence may include a bitmap in which each individual bit corresponds to a particular set, which can be used to indicate multiple sets that are to be jointly activated; he bit sequence may include a codepoint that indicates an index associated with a particular CG configuration to be activated; different SPS and/or CG configurations associated with a UE may be divided or otherwise grouped into different sets, and a bit sequence in a single DCI message can be used to indicate multiple SPS and/or CG configurations that are to be jointly activate; interpreted that CG configurations are activated the UE determines the SPS and CG configurations are jointly activated; See 0038, 0040, a given UE may be associated with up to sixteen (16) different downlink SPS configurations and up to twelve (12) different Type 2 uplink CG configurations; its interpreted each configuration has resources has there is more than one configuration its periodic)
However, Fakoorain fails to disclose performing an initial uplink transmission on an uplink resource of the uplink periodic resources; based on at least one first downlink periodic resource of the first downlink periodic resources occurring before the uplink resource on which the initial uplink transmission is performed in a time domain, the at least one first downlink periodic resource is ignored.
Takeda discloses performing an initial uplink transmission on an uplink resource of the uplink periodic resources; ( Pge 7, activating UL resources are set in slots #7 to #10;Page 14,The control unit 301 controls reception of an uplink shared channel (for example, PUSCH, NPUSCH) in cooperation with at least one of the transmission / reception unit 103, the reception signal processing unit 302, and the measurement unit 305.) based on at least one first downlink periodic resource of the first downlink periodic resources occurring before the uplink resource on which the initial uplink transmission is performed in a time domain, the at least one first downlink periodic resource is ignored. (See Page 7, detecting the WUS, the UE may activate the UL transmission after skipping the monitoring of the PDCCH. This eliminates the need to monitor the PDCCH, thereby reducing the load of the UE on reception processing; Page 6, UL transmission based on configuration grant; information on the time domain of UL transmission based on the set grant; Page 14, The control unit 301 controls reception of an uplink shared channel (for example, PUSCH, NPUSCH) in cooperation with at least one of the transmission / reception unit 103, the reception signal processing unit 302, and the measurement unit 305. Further, the control unit 301 controls transmission of a downlink shared channel (for example, PDSCH, NPDSCH) in cooperation with at least one of the transmission signal generation unit 302, the mapping unit 303, and the transmission / reception unit 103. In the downlink shared channel, at least one of downlink data and higher layer control information may be transmitted.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the activation command to transmitted to the UE by Fakoorain to include the UE skips the reception then transmits a signal. The motivation to combine is this eliminates the need to monitor the PDCCH (or DCI), thereby reducing the load of the UE on reception processing (Page 7).
However, Fakoorain in view of Takeda fails to disclose receiving a periodic resource configuration that includes first information regarding uplink periodic resources and second information regarding first downlink periodic resources related to the uplink periodic resources; the uplink periodic resources are configured for uplink transmissions without dynamic scheduling and the first downlink periodic resources are configured for downlink receptions without dynamic scheduling
Wang disclose receiving a periodic resource configuration that includes first information regarding uplink periodic resources and second information regarding first downlink periodic resources related to the uplink periodic resources; (Page 6, In NR, it is supported to pre-configure uplink resources and downlink resources through RRC signaling, so that the terminal equipment can transmit data and receive data respectively. The pre-configured resource is a periodic configuration of transmission resources, which can avoid dynamic scheduling of transmission resources, achieve the purpose of reducing service data transmission delay, and reducing signaling overhead and network side load.)
the uplink periodic resources are configured for uplink transmissions without dynamic scheduling and the first downlink periodic resources are configured for downlink receptions without dynamic scheduling (Page 6, In NR, it is supported to pre-configure uplink resources and downlink resources through RRC signaling, so that the terminal equipment can transmit data and receive data respectively. The pre-configured resource is a periodic configuration of transmission resources, which can avoid dynamic scheduling of transmission resources, achieve the purpose of reducing service data transmission delay, and reducing signaling overhead and network side load.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify scheduling uplink and downlink resources to include the scheduled resources are scheduled avoiding dynamic scheduling. The motivation to combine is avoid dynamic scheduling of transmission resources, achieve the purpose of reducing service data transmission delay, and reducing signaling overhead and network side load.
Re. claims 5 and 11, Fakoorain teaches claims 1 and 7.
Fakoorain further teaches deactivating both the uplink periodic resources and the first downlink periodic resources based on receiving a deactivation command for the uplink periodic resources. (See 0042, he bit sequence may include a bitmap in which each individual bit corresponds to a particular set, which can be used to indicate multiple sets that are to be jointly released; different SPS and/or CG configurations associated with a UE may be divided or otherwise grouped into different sets, and a bit sequence in a single DCI message can be used to indicate multiple SPS and/or CG configurations that are to be jointly activated and/or released.)
Claims 3, 4, 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fakoorain, in view of Takeda, Wang and Sun et al. (2023/0413178), Sun hereinafter.
Re. claims 3 and 9, Fakoorain in view of Takeda and Wang teaches claims 1 and 7,
Yet, Fakoorain in view of Takeda and Wang does not expressly teach wherein the periodic resource configuration includes second downlink periodic resources related to the uplink periodic resources, wherein the activation command includes an indication indicating which one of the first and second downlink periodic resources is to be activated.
However, in the analogous art, Sun explicitly discloses wherein the periodic resource configuration includes second downlink periodic resources related to the uplink periodic resources, wherein the activation command includes an indication indicating which one of the first and second downlink periodic resources is to be activated. (Fig. 9-11 & ¶0114 - a UE configured for DRX and with a type-2 UL CG can be triggered to wake up a duration before a next subsequent resource of the UL CG (e.g., a PUSCH transmission opportunity, timeslot, etc.) to monitor for an activation (or reactivation) DCI associated with the next subsequent UL CG resource. In other words, the UE wakes up to monitor PDCCH for an activation DCI. This wake-up can be in between successive DRX on durations of the UE's configured DRX cycle. Fig. 9-11 & ¶0115 - UE wakes up (i.e., DRX on) for a duration that is between two successive periodic DRX on durations of the UE's periodic DRX cycle. During this intermediate duration, the UE receives a reactivation DCI for an UL CG resource that is K2 slots after the activation DCI. Fig. 9-11 & ¶0117 - The UE receives a wake-up command from the network during one of the periodic DRX on durations of the UE's periodic DRX cycle. The wake-up command indicates, either implicitly or explicitly, that the UE should wake up to monitor for an UL CG activation DCI at an offset Y after the wake-up command. Also, see 1250 & 1260 from Fig. 12; See ¶0027, the wake-up command can be received RRC message)
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Fakoorain in view of Takeda and Wang invention of a method for a user equipment to activate multiple periodic resources to include Sun’s invention of selectively configuring multiple downlink resources, because it reduces wireless device energy consumption for applications or services (e.g., extended reality (XR) and cloud gaming) needing guaranteed low latency in 5G media applications. (¶0002-¶0017, Sun).
Re. claims 4 and 10, Fakoorain in view of Takeda and Wang teaches claims 1 and 7,
Yet, Fakoorain in view Takeda and Wang does not expressly teach wherein the periodic resource configuration includes DRX configuration related to the uplink periodic resources.
However, in the analogous art, Sun explicitly discloses wherein the periodic resource configuration includes DRX configuration related to the uplink periodic resources. (¶0116 - the network can send the UE a command during one of the UE's periodic DRX on durations that precedes the next subsequent UL CG resource. This command (also referred to below as “wake-up command”) can be an RRC message, a MAC control element (CE), a DCI, etc. The command can instruct the UE to wake up the duration before the next subsequent UL CG resource... Fig. 9-11 & ¶0117 - The UE receives a wake-up command from the network during one of the periodic DRX on durations of the UE's periodic DRX cycle. The wake-up command indicates, either implicitly or explicitly, that the UE should wake up to monitor for an UL CG activation DCI at an offset Y after the wake-up command. Also, see 1250 & 1260 from Fig. 12)
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Fakoorain in view of Takeda invention of a method for a user equipment to activate multiple periodic resources to include Sun’s invention of selectively configuring multiple downlink resources, because it reduces wireless device energy consumption for applications or services (e.g., extended reality (XR) and cloud gaming) needing guaranteed low latency in 5G media applications. (¶0002-¶0017, Sun).
Claim(s) 6 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fakoorain, in view of Takeda, Wang and further in view of Niu et al. (2024/0206004), Niu hereinafter.
Re. claims 6 and 12, Fakoorain in view of Takeda and Wang teaches claims 1 and 7,
Yet, Fakoorain in view of Takeda and Wang does not teach configuring third downlink periodic resources which is not related to the uplink periodic resources, wherein the third downlink periodic resources are activated based on an activation command for the third downlink periodic resources being received.
However, in the analogous art, Niu teaches configuring third downlink periodic resources which is not related to the uplink periodic resources, (Fig. 6 & ¶0132 - At step S604, transmitting, based on the activation or deactivation of the SPS or CG configuration, a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) switching command to a user equipment (UE) for the UE to switch from a current first Connected Mode DRX (cDRX) configuration to a different second cDRX configuration… comprises a cDRX periodicity and a cDRX offset corresponding to a periodicity and an offset of the SPS or CG configuration, respectively.) wherein the third downlink periodic resources are activated based on an activation command for the third downlink periodic resources being received. (Fig. 6 & ¶0132 - At step S604, transmitting, based on the activation or deactivation of the SPS or CG configuration, a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) switching command to a user equipment (UE)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Fakoorain in view of Takeda and Wang invention of a method for a user equipment to activate multiple periodic resources to include Niu’s invention of multiple CDRX configurations and dynamic configuration switching for XR (Extended Reality) traffic in 5G radio network, because it enables power saving for a user device capable of carrying XR (Extended Reality) traffic by align cDRX with XR SPS traffic so that the wake-up and sleep pattern of the user device can be switched to align with SPS (Semi-Persistent Scheduling) or (Configured Grant) CG configuration in facilitating the power saving. of the user equipment by aligning downlink assignments with sleep cycles. (¶0037, Niu)
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 and 7 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Bhattad et al. (Pub. No. US 2024/0129094 A1)-See 0050, a UE may concurrently have an activated periodic resource grant for SPS resources and an activated periodic resource grant for CG resources. To enable a control message to indicate whether to deactivate the periodic resource grant for the SPS resources, the periodic resource grant for CG resources, or both, the control message may include a field (e.g., a 2-bit field) that indicates which periodic resource grant(s) to deactivate.
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/Tejis Daya/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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