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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 12/1/2025 has been entered.
Claims 1-30 are pending.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 15, 29, and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vilaipornsawai et al. (US Pub. No. 2020/0015246) in view of Ma et al. (US Pub. No. 2023/0345370) in view of Harada et al. (US Pub. No. 2016/0183325).
Regarding claims 1 and 29, Vilaipornsawai discloses a method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE) (figure 2) an apparatus, comprising:
a memory (figure 2 memory 208) comprising executable instructions (paragraphs 28 and 29); and
one or more processors (figure 2 processing unit 200) configured to execute the executable instructions and cause the apparatus to:
receive signaling (paragraphs 18, 145, 148 in view of paragraph 112: compact DCI associated with URLLC traffic or other indication via signaling for traffic priority. Paragraph 112 states “traffic prioritizing described herein could involve configuring UEs to operate in a new way, to perform traffic handling at times when such traffic handling normally cannot be performed by UE such as during MGs”), from a network entity (figure 1 base station), configuring a user equipment (UE) to prioritize data traffic processing over at least one measurement procedure (figure 5; paragraphs 7, 94, 95, 102, 152: uplink/downlink transmission of URLLC has priority over measurement gap. The DCI associated with URLLC traffic causes/configures the UE to prioritize URLLC traffic over measurement gap procedure); and
process data traffic to or from the network entity in accordance with the signaling (figure 5; paragraphs 7, 94, 95, 102, 112, 152: UE performs URLLC transmission over measurement gap).
Vilaipornsawai does not teach wherein the signaling dynamically adjusts a connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) start offset.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Ma discloses wherein the signaling dynamically adjusts a connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) start offset (figure 5 and paragraph 93: UE receives DCI/RRC signaling for changing/adjusting drx-startoffset value from base station).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai wherein the signaling dynamically adjusts a connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) start offset.
The motivation would have been to satisfy a condition (paragraph 93).
Vilaipornsawai and Ma does not teach DRX start offset according to measurement gaps.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Harrada discloses DRX start offset according to measurement gaps (figure 4 and paragraph 38: figure 4 shows a relationship between DRX start offset and measurement gap, wherein the end of the offset period/start of DRX is the beginning of a measurement gap which represents a time of an ON duration. The DRX parameters are configured to UE via RRC signaling).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai and Ma DRX start offset according to measurement gaps.
The motivation would have been to follow DRX configuration.
Regarding claims 15 and 30, Vilaipornsawai discloses a method an apparatus (figure 1 base station 170), comprising:
a memory (figure 2 memory 258) comprising executable instructions (paragraphs 28 and 29); and
one or more processors (figure 2 processing unit 250) configured to execute the executable instructions and cause the apparatus to:
transmit, to a user equipment (UE), signaling configuring the UE to prioritize data traffic processing over at least one measurement procedure (paragraphs 18, 145, 148 in view of paragraph 112: compact DCI associated with URLLC traffic or other indication via signaling for traffic priority. The DCI associated with URLLC traffic causes/configures the UE to prioritize URLLC traffic over measurement gap procedure); and
process data traffic to or from the UE in accordance with the signaling (figure 5; paragraphs 7, 94, 95, 102, 112, 152: base station transmits URLLC traffic to UE).
Vilaipornsawai does not teach wherein the signaling dynamically adjusts a connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) start offset.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Ma discloses wherein the signaling dynamically adjusts a connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) start offset (figure 5 and paragraph 93: UE receives DCI/RRC signaling for changing/adjusting drx-startoffset value from base station).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai wherein the signaling dynamically adjusts a connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) start offset.
The motivation would have been to satisfy a condition (paragraph 93).
Vilaipornsawai and Ma does not teach DRX start offset according to measurement gaps.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Harrada discloses DRX start offset according to measurement gaps (figure 4 and paragraph 38: figure 4 shows a relationship between DRX start offset and measurement gap, wherein the end of the offset period/start of DRX is the beginning of a measurement gap which represents a time of an ON duration. The DRX parameters are configured to UE via RRC signaling).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai and Ma DRX start offset according to measurement gaps.
The motivation would have been to follow DRX configuration.
Claim(s) 2-7, 9, 16-21, and 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vilaipornsawai et al. (US Pub. No. 2020/0015246) in view of Ma et al. (US Pub. No. 2023/0345370) in view of Harada et al. (US Pub. No. 2016/0183325) in view of Yang et al. (US Pub. No. 2017/0019852).
Regarding claims 2 and 16, all limitations of claims 1 and 15 are disclosed above. Vilaipornsawai further teaches configure a priority between the data traffic processing and performing the measurement procedure during configured measurement gaps, and wherein the RRC IE indicates the UE 1s to prioritize the data traffic processing over performing the measurement procedure during the configured measurement gaps (figure 5; paragraphs 7, 94, 95, 102, 152).
Vilaipornsawai does not explicitly teach RRC signaling. However, Vilaipornsawai further teaches RRC signaling for configuration (paragraph 122). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to substitute a known element (RRC signaling) for another (DCI or other signaling) in Vilaipornsawai with predictable result of control signaling configuration.
Vilaipornsawai does not teach measurement gaps within connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) active cycles.
In the same field of endeavor, Yang discloses measurement gaps within connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) (figure 13, paragraph 83) active cycles (paragraph 98: measurement using communication gap).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai measurement gaps within connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) active cycles.
The motivation would have been to a IRAT measurement technique selection.
Regarding claims 3 and 17, all limitations of claims 2 and 16 are disclosed above. Vilaipornsawai does not teach but Yang discloses the UE is configured to perform the measurement procedure during measurement gaps that fit within CDRX inactive cycles, and the method further comprises: determining whether a measurement gap fits within one of the CDRX inactive cycles based on a subsequent CDRX active cycle, when entering a CDRX inactive state (paragraphs 88 and 97: IRAT measurement technique based on the length of C-DRX off period, if it is long enough to perform measurement).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai determining whether a measurement gap fits within one of the CDRX inactive cycles based on a subsequent CDRX active cycle, when entering a CDRX inactive state.
The motivation would have been for adaptive measurement technique.
Regarding claims 4 and 18, all limitations of claims 2 and 16 are disclosed above. Vilaipornsawai further teaches assuming a previous measurement result, when the UE skips performing the measurement procedure in a measurement gap that overlaps with a CDRX active cycle (paragraph 109: measurement is not performed when overlapped with URLCC traffic).
Regarding claims 5 and 19, all limitations of claims 1 and 15 are disclosed above. Vilaipornsawai does not teach but Yang discloses the signaling configuring the UE to prioritize the data traffic processing over a measurement gap procedure is based on a quality of service (QoS) Identifier (QI) value (paragraph 97).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai the signaling configuring the UE to prioritize the data traffic processing over a measurement gap procedure is based on a quality of service (QoS) Identifier (QI) value.
The motivation would have been for latency requirement of URLCC.
Regarding claims 6 and 20, all limitations of claims 1 and 15 are disclosed above. Vilaipornsawai does not teach but Yang discloses receiving additional signaling reconfiguring the UE to prioritize a measurement gap procedure over the data traffic processing (paragraph 98: using communication gap for measurement).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai receiving additional signaling reconfiguring the UE to prioritize a measurement gap procedure over the data traffic processing.
The motivation would have been based on communication condition.
Vilaipornsawai does not explicitly disclose the additional signaling comprises at least one of downlink control information (DCI).
However, Vilaipornsawai discloses DCI as configuration signaling (paragraph 18).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai the additional signaling comprises at least one of downlink control information (DCI).
The motivation would have been for using a known control signaling for configuration.
Regarding claims 7 and 21, all limitations of claims 6 and 20 are disclosed above. Vilaipornsawai does not teach but Yang discloses determining whether a measurement gap fits within a connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) inactive cycle based on a subsequent CDRX active cycle, when entering a CDRX inactive state (paragraph 98: using CDRX off period for IRAT measurement; thus, fits within the off period based on subsequent active period per CDRX cycle).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai determining whether a measurement gap fits within a connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) inactive cycle based on a subsequent CDRX active cycle, when entering a CDRX inactive state.
The motivation would have been for conflict avoidance in the next active period.
Regarding claim 9, all limitations of claim 1 are disclosed above. Vilaipornsawai does not teach but Yang performing cell measurement in a measurement gap that occurs while the UE is in a connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) active state (paragraph 98); and taking one or more actions to resume the CDRX active state after the measurement gap, wherein the one or more actions comprise at least one of: pausing at least a CDRX inactivity timer (paragraph 87).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai performing cell measurement in a measurement gap that occurs while the UE is in a connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) active state and taking one or more actions to resume the CDRX active state after the measurement gap, wherein the one or more actions comprise at least one of: pausing at least a CDRX inactivity timer.
The motivation would have been to extend the active period.
Regarding claim 23, all limitations of claim 15 are disclosed above. Vilaipornsawai further teaches receiving, from the UE, a scheduling request (SR) to transition the UE from an inactive state to an active state and receive data traffic (paragraph 95). Vilaipornsawai does not teach but Yang discloses the UE enters the inactive state during a measurement gap (paragraph 97).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai discloses the UE enters the inactive state during a measurement gap.
The motivation would have been to conflict avoidance.
Claim(s) 8 and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vilaipornsawai et al. (US Pub. No. 2020/0015246) in view of Ma et al. (US Pub. No. 2023/0345370) in view of Harada et al. (US Pub. No. 2016/0183325) in view of Yang et al. (US Pub. No. 2017/0019852) in view of Maleki et al. (Us Pub. No. 2022/0086761).
Regarding claims 8 and 22, all limitations of claims 6 and 20 are disclosed above. Vilaipornsawai and Yang do not teach but Maleki discloses MAC CE comprises a command for the UE to enter a connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) inactive state before a subsequent measurement gap (paragraphs 73 and 175: MAC command to put wireless device to sleep after transmission).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai and Yang MAC CE comprises a command for the UE to enter a connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) inactive state before a subsequent measurement gap.
The motivation would have been to save battery.
Claim(s) 11 and 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vilaipornsawai et al. (US Pub. No. 2020/0015246) in view of Ma et al. (US Pub. No. 2023/0345370) in view of Harada et al. (US Pub. No. 2016/0183325).
Regarding claims 11 and 25, all limitations of claims 1 and 15 are disclosed above. Vilaipornsawai’s cited paragraphs do not teach the signaling comprises signaling that adjusts at least one of periodic measurement gaps, semi-persistent measurement gaps, or aperiodic measurement gaps.
However, Vilaipornsawai’s paragraphs 116 and 122 teach the signaling comprises signaling that adjusts aperiodic measurement gaps.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai the signaling comprises signaling that adjusts aperiodic measurement gaps.
The motivation would have been to have shorter measurement time.
Claim(s) 12, 13, 26, 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vilaipornsawai et al. (US Pub. No. 2020/0015246) in view of Ma et al. (US Pub. No. 2023/0345370) in view of Harada et al. (US Pub. No. 2016/0183325) in view of Li et al. (Us Pub. No. 2023/0345447).
Regarding claims 12 and 26, all limitations of claims 11 and 15 are disclosed above. Vilaipornsawai does not teach but Li discloses signaling comprises a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) that semi-persistently activates or deactivates measurement gaps or a downlink control information (DCI) that semi-persistently activates or deactivates the measurement gaps (paragraphs 99 and 100).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai signaling comprises a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) that semi-persistently activates or deactivates measurement gaps or a downlink control information (DCI) that semi-persistently activates or deactivates the measurement gaps.
The motivation would have been for measurement time and reporting.
Regarding claims 13 and 27, all limitations of claims 11 and 25 are disclosed above. Vilaipornsawai further teaches a measurement gap configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling (paragraph 122). Vilaipornsawai does not teach but Li discloses the signaling comprises at least one of a downlink control information (DCI) that aperiodically indicates timing of measurement gaps; when the signaling comprises the DCI, the DCI triggers a subsequent measurement procedure (paragraphs 99 and 100).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai the signaling comprises at least one of a downlink control information (DCI) that aperiodically indicates timing of measurement gaps; when the signaling comprises the DCI, the DCI triggers a subsequent measurement procedure.
The motivation would have been to activate measurement procedure.
Claim(s) 14 and 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vilaipornsawai et al. (US Pub. No. 2020/0015246) in view of Ma et al. (US Pub. No. 2023/0345370) in view of Harada et al. (US Pub. No. 2016/0183325) in view of Zhu et al. (US Pub. No. 2020/0351690).
Regarding claims 14 and 28, all limitations of claims 1 and 15 are disclosed above. Vilaipornsawai does not teach but Zhu discloses the measurement procedure comprises a cross link interference (CLI) measurement procedure (paragraphs 5, 10, 26, 50, 88).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai the measurement procedure comprises a cross link interference (CLI) measurement procedure.
The motivation would have been to measure uplink signal in intra-frequency neighboring cells.
Claim(s) 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vilaipornsawai et al. (US Pub. No. 2020/0015246) in view of Ma et al. (US Pub. No. 2023/0345370) in view of Harada et al. (US Pub. No. 2016/0183325) in view of Manepalli et al. (US Pub. No. 2017/0064771).
Regarding claim 24, all limitations of claim 15 are disclosed above. Vilaipornsawai further teaches the signaling comprises at least one of downlink control information (DCI) (paragraph 18). Vilaipornsawai does not teach but Manepalli discloses signaling that dynamically adjusts a connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) start offset according to measurement gaps (paragraph 143).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Vilaipornsawai signaling that dynamically adjusts a connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) start offset according to measurement gaps.
The motivation would have been for mobility.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Vilaipornsawai discloses a concept of signaling an indication of prioritizing traffic transmission over measurement during measurement gap. Yang discloses a concept of a measurement gap during active or inactive duration of connected DRX. Elements of claim 10 including signaling to dynamically adjust a connected DRX start offset and transmitting a scheduling request to transition to an active state when UE enters the inactive state during a measurement gap is not found in the art, or if they are found, it would not be obvious to combine with the main references.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-30 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
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/TITO Q PHAM/Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/FARUK HAMZA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2466