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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 10/14/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed on 10/14/2025 has been entered. Independent claims 1 and 11 have been amended. Dependent claims 2-4, 6-7, 10, 12, 14, 16-17 and 20 have been amended. No new claims are new and have been entered. Claims, 5, 9, 15, and 19 have been cancelled. Claims 1-4, 6-8, 10-14, 16-18, and 20 are still pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 10/14/2025 on pages 7-9, with respect to the rejection of Claims 1-4, 6-8, 10-14, 16-18, and 20 under 35 USC § 103, have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection of Claims 1-4, 6-8, 10-14, 16-18, and 20 under 35 USC § 103 has been withdrawn.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6-8, 10-14, 16-18, and 20 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. The claims are not clearly written to define metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
Regarding Claim 1 and Claim 11
The claims recite “drx-hybrid automatic request (HARQ)-round trip time (RTT)-timerDL”. The claim is not clear as to the definition, and benefit of the drx operation. The term DRX can be for discontinuous reception, but also has two modes, Idle mode DRX and connected mode DRX.
The claims also recite “stopping a drx-RetransmissionTimerDL-PTM”. The claim is not clear as to when the timer was activated, if it was running continuously in the background, if there was a previously unknown activation, or if it wasn’t active before.
The claims also recite a “drx-RetransmissionTimerDL-PTM for a multicast for the HARQ process”. The claim is not clear as to what the element the HARQ process the timer is being used for, there is an unclear relationship between the multicast and unicast HARQ timers as to where they are directed, if the receptive equipment is aware of the unicast or multicast process. Claim 3 describe the timer as being relevant to the MBS process, but the independent claim by itself does not describe the element, and Claim 7 describe a PDCCH from an unknown entity in a wireless communication system but lacks the detail for what it is.
Claims 2-4, 6-8, 10, 12-14, 16-18, and 20 are rejected are rejected based upon claim dependency to claim 1 and claim 11.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN MICHAEL WHITAKER whose telephone number is (703)756-4763. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7:30am - 4:00pm.
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/JUSTIN MICHAEL WHITAKER/Examiner, Art Unit 2415
/Sudesh M. Patidar/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415