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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
1. 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.
2. 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 of this title, 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.
3. Claims 1, 3-5, 9, 11-13 and 19-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pre-Grant Publication US 2023/0119439 to Kim et al. (hereinafter Kim) in view of U.S. Pre-Grant Publication US 2021/0195559 to Khoshnevisan et al. (hereinafter Khoshnevisan)
As to claims 1, 9 and 20, Kim discloses a method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
receiving information from a network indicating a numerology for transmission, or reception, or both (Kim; [0313]; [0203]-[0204]; [0207] discloses the terminal device receiving configuration information that includes subcarrier spacing (i.e. 480 KHz SCS) corresponding to a numerology);
determining a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring restriction based on the numerology, wherein the PDCCH monitoring restriction configures a maximum number of PDCCH candidates to monitor, and wherein the maximum number of PDCCH candidates corresponds to a group of multiple slots in response to the numerology being above a predetermined threshold (Kim; [0313]; [0204]; [0207] discloses subcarrier spacing 480 KHz which is higher than 120 KHz. [0261]; [0271]; [0204]; [0207] discloses maximum number of PDCCH candidates monitored “per slot group” including 4 slots may be 20 when the subcarrier spacing is 480 KHz, wherein the 480 KHz subcarrier spacing is higher or larger than the 120 KHz or the existing NR SCS);
Kim discloses maximum number of PDCCH based on sub-carrier spacing (=numerology), but fails to disclose of determining maximum number of CCE based on sub-carrier spacing (=numerology). However, Khoshnevisan discloses
determining a search space configuration restriction based on the numerology, wherein the search space configuration restriction configures a maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) to monitor, and wherein the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs corresponds to the group of multiple slots in response to the numerology being above the predetermined threshold (Khoshnevisan;[0115]-[0119]; Table 1; Table 2 discloses the UE may be configured with a threshold number of monitored CCEs for one or more multiple BWPs. For example, the UE may be configured according to Table. 2, which provides a maximum number of nonoverlapped CCEs, for a subcarrier spacing configuration (μ) that the UE may monitor over a period (e.g., a PDCCH span, a slot).[0115]-[0119]also discloses the maximum number of monitored PDCCH candidates or the maximum number of nonoverlapped CCEs, or both may be defined across one or more multiple downlink serving cells with a same subcarrier spacing configuration (μ) based on the UE capability message. [0084] discloses each frame may include a variable number of slots, and the number of slots may depend on subcarrier spacing. From the table 1 and 2, it is clear when the subcarrier spacing is 2 which is greater than the subcarrier spacing 1, the maximum number of monitored PDCCH are 22 and the maximum number of monitored CCE are 48).
It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings in order to determine the maximum number of CCEs based on the subcarrier spacing (=numerology) and thus use the limited resources in an effective way.
As to claims 3, 11 and 19, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim- Khoshnevisan discloses wherein a number of slots of the multiple slots for the PDCCH monitoring restriction is associated with the numerology (Kim; [0261]; [0271]; [0204]; [0207] discloses maximum number of PDCCH candidates monitored “per slot group” including 4 slots may be 20 when the subcarrier spacing is 480 KHz, wherein the 480 KHz subcarrier spacing is higher or larger than the 120 KHz or the existing NR SCS)
As to claims 4 and 12, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim- Khoshnevisan discloses wherein a UE capability for PDCCH monitoring is defined across multiple slots Kim; [0261]; [0271]; [0204]; [0207] discloses maximum number of PDCCH candidates monitored “per slot group” including 4 slots may be 20 when the subcarrier spacing is 480 KHz, wherein the 480 KHz subcarrier spacing is higher or larger than the 120 KHz or the existing NR SCS)
As to claims 5, 13 and 21, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim- Khoshnevisan discloses wherein a downlink control information (DCI) format configuration restriction applies to one or more of monitor only a high priority DCI format, monitor only a DCI format that schedules multiple slots, or monitor only a DCI format that schedules both uplink and downlink transmission (Kim; Fig.10; [0009]; [0108]; [0299]-[0300] discloses DCI format that schedules multiple slots. Here Kim is applied for the 2nd alternative)
4. Claims 6 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pre-Grant Publication US 2023/0119439 to Kim et al. (hereinafter Kim) in view of U.S. Pre-Grant Publication US 2021/0195559 to Khoshnevisan et al. (hereinafter Khoshnevisan) in view of WIPO Publication WO 2019138510 to Takeda et al. (hereinafter Takeda)
As to claims 6 and 14, Kim- Khoshnevisan discloses DCI format, but fails to disclose configuring a threshold value for subcarrier spacing, and, in response to determining to use a subcarrier spacing value greater than or equal to the threshold value, monitoring only a high priority unified UE specific DCI format. However, Takeda discloses further comprising
configuring a threshold value for subcarrier spacing, and, in response to determining to use a subcarrier spacing value greater than or equal to the threshold value, monitoring only a high priority unified UE specific downlink control information (DCI) format (Takeda; Page 15 discloses control unit 401 may control to monitor a plurality of DCI formats for a search space set for a predetermined downlink control channel at each subcarrier interval. Alternatively, the control unit 401 may control to monitor a plurality of DCI formats for a search space set for a predetermined downlink control channel at a subcarrier interval which is equal to or less than a predetermined value corresponding to high priority UE specific search space).
It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings in order to determine the DCI format based on the subcarrier spacing.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-8 and 15-16 are objected, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims
Conclusion
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/FAISAL CHOUDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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