DETAILED ACTION
Response filed on 6/30/2026 has been entered and made of record.
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 status
Claims 2, 3, and 12 were previously canceled.
Claims 1, 4-7, 9-11, 13, 15-18, 20-21, and 23 are amended.
Claims 1, 4-11, and 13-23 are pending for examination.
Response to arguments
Re: 35 U.S.C. § 103 rejection
Applicant’s response has been fully considered but is not persuasive.
Applicant argues: “Huang is directed to dormant status and switching into a dormant BWP, and does not explicitly disclose that, when a cell is deactivated, the UE determines that the cell does not
include a PDCCH for scheduling another cell. A dormant status, as disclosed in Huang, is not the
same as deactivation of the first cell as now claimed. Therefore, Huang fails to disclose "when
the first cell is deactivated, determining that the first cell does not include a physical downlink
control channel (PDCCH) for scheduling the second cell," as recited in amended independent
claims 1, 11, and 20”.
Examiner’s response: Huang not only directed to a dormant status but also a deactivated BWP, as disclosed in [0248] – [0257] as shown below:
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Examiner also disagrees with applicant’s comment, Huang fails to disclose, "when the first cell is deactivated, determining that the first cell does not include a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for scheduling the second cell”, as shown in the office action in the next section, disclosures by Huang in [0218]. [0223] and [224].
35 U.S.C. § 103 rejection is not withdrawn.
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.
Claims 1, 4-11, and 13-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chun-Wei Huang (US 2021/0329677 A1), hereinafter “Huang” .
Claims 1, 11, and 20:
Regarding claim 1, Huang teaches, a method for dormancy indication, performed by a terminal ([Abstract], “The UE receives a Downlink Control Information (DCI) indicative of dormancy information associated with the one or more cells.”), comprising:
receiving target control information on a target cell, wherein the target control information carries indication information, and the target cell comprises a first cell or a second cell, wherein the second cell is schedulable by the first cell, or the second cell is schedulable by itself or by the first cell ([0456] “In some examples, a size and/or a number of bits of the one or more bit-fields used for indicating dormancy information may be based on whether the first cell schedules the second cell or the second cell schedules the first cell.”; [0462] In some examples, self-scheduling may imply and/ or mean that scheduling control information and/or a control channel is in a same cell and/or a same carrier as scheduled data ( e.g., scheduled data scheduled for the same cell and/or the same carrier via the scheduling control information and/or the control channel).).
Regarding the claim, determining a scheduling state of the first cell based on the indication information, though does not expressly teach it, it would have been obvious to a person of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to come up with the invention, based on the disclosures by Huang, “If the DCI indicates dormant status of the second cell, in response to the DCI indicating the dormant status of the second cell, the UE switches a scheduling cell of the first cell from the second cell to the first cell, and the UE monitors one or more second UE-specific PDCCHs on the first cell”; and “in response to the DCI indicating the non-dormant status of the second cell, the UE monitors the one or more first UE-specific PDCCHs on the second cell.” ([0007]), motivated by making decision regarding remaining in a current cell or switching to different cell so that PDCCH monitoring may continue where PDCCH is to be transmitted.
Huang teaches the claim, when the first cell is deactivated, determining that the first cell does not include a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for scheduling the second cell (Huang: [0218] l> if the SCell is deactivated: [0223] 2> not monitor the PDCCH on the SCell; [0224] 2> not monitor the PDCCH for the SCell).
Claim 11 is for a method by a networking device, complimentary to method of the terminal in claim 1. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 1.
Claim 20 is for a terminal implementing method of claim 1. The claim is a change in category with respect to claim 1. Presence of computer program, processor and memory is implied. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 4, Huang teaches the method according to claim 1 (discussed above), wherein (implied by Huang based on discussion above in claim 1 and disclosure in [0604] “if a scheduled cell is associated with a scheduling cell (where the scheduling cell schedules, such as cross-cell schedules and/or cross-carrier schedules, the scheduled cell, for example) and if the scheduling cell is associated with the first bit position and/or the first bit (where the first bit position and/or the first bit indicate non-dormant status of the scheduling cell, for example), the UE may monitor PDCCH ( e.g., UE-specific PDCCH) on the scheduling cell for scheduling the scheduled cell and/or the UE may not monitor PDCCH ( e.g., UE-specific PDCCH) on the scheduled cell for scheduling the scheduled cell. In some examples, the scheduling cell is a SCell and/ or the scheduled cell is a PCell or a PSCell ( or other cell).”; implication of the disclosure is that a cell may schedule only if it is in a non-dormant status.”).
Regarding claim 5, Huang teaches the method according to claim 1 (discussed above), wherein when the indication information indicates that the first cell is dormant, the method further comprises any one of the following:
switching to a dormant bandwidth part (BWP) of the first cell; or
skipping switching to the dormant BWP of the first cell, or switching to a BWP of the first cell that cannot be used to schedule the second cell, is implied by the following disclosures:
[0361] At least for case of dormancy indication within active time
[0362] If '0' is indicated by DCI field
[0363] If 'UE is in non-dormant BWP, UE switches to dormant BWP
[0364] If 'UE is in dormant BWP, UE continues with dormant BWP
[0365] If' 1' is indicated by DCI field
[0366] If 'UE is in non-dormant BWP, UE continues with the same non-dormant BWP
[0367] If UE is in dormant BWP, switch to a specific non-dormant BWP explicitly configured
by RRC.
Claims 6 and 13:
Regarding claim 6, Huang teaches the method according to claim 1 (discussed above), wherein after receiving the target control information on the target cell, further comprising:
determining, when the indication information indicates that the first cell is non-dormant, that the first cell schedules the second cell; or
switching to a first target BWP of the first cell when the indication information indicates that the first cell is non-dormant, wherein the first target BWP is a non-dormant BWP (implied by disclosures in claim 1, and [0366] and [0367] as discussed above in claim 5).
Claim 13 is for a method by a networking device, complimentary to method of the terminal in claim 6. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 6.
Claims 7 and 15:
Regarding claim 7, Huang teaches the method according to claim 1 (discussed above), wherein when the indication information indicates that the first cell is dormant, the method further comprises at least one of the following:
determining that the second cell only schedules itself;
determining, when the target control information is on the first cell, that control information on the second cell carries the indication information; or
determining, when the target control information is on the second cell, that only the control information on the second cell carries the indication information (discussed above in claim regarding dormancy/non-dormancy indication and the UE action when the indication is received).
Claim 15 is for a method by a networking device, complimentary to method of the terminal in claim 7. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 7.
Regarding claim 8, Huang teaches the method according to claim 1 (discussed above), wherein: the target control information on the first cell is downlink control information (DCI), and a format of the target control information comprises at least one of the following:
a DCI format 1-1;
a DCI format 0-1, or
a DCI format 2-6;
wherein the target control information on the second cell is downlink control information (DCI), and a format of the target control information comprises at least one of the following:
a DCI format 0-0;
a DCI format 1-1;
a DCI format 0-1; or
a DCI format 2-6.
(Huang: [0399] SCell dormancy information may be indicated using Layer 1 (L1) signaling ( e.g., Downlink Control Information (DCI)). For example, the L1 signaling (e.g., a DCI) may be used to indicate, to a UE, SCell dormancy information for a cell (e.g., a SCell). In some examples, the L1 signaling may comprise a DCI format 2_6, a DCI format 1_1 and/or a DCI format 0_1.).
Claims 9 and 16:
Regarding claim 9, Huang teaches the method according to claim 1 (discussed above), wherein when the target control information is transmitted on the first cell and the indication information comprises indication information corresponding to the second cell or the second cell group, the control information transmitted on the second cell does not carry the indication information, wherein the second cell group is a cell group to which the second cell belongs (implied by the following disclosures in Huang:
[0319] For the L1 based Scell dormancy indication sent on primary cell within active time
[0320] UE is configured with at least two BWPs for an Scell
[0321] The explicit information field in DCI indicates switching to/from dormant BWP configured for the Scell
[0322] FFS definition of dormant BWP
[0323] FFS whether or not to the same BWP switching delay to the non-dormant to dormant
transition delay).
Claim 16 is for a method by a networking device, complimentary to method of the terminal in claim 9. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 9.
Claims 10 and 18:
Regarding claim 10, Huang teaches the method according to claim 1 (discussed above), further comprising:
determining, when the indication information carried in the target control information indicates that the second cell is dormant, the second cell cannot schedule itself,
or the second cell cannot schedule any cell (implied by discussion above in claim 4 and disclosure in [0602] “[0602] In Embodiment 3 of the present disclosure, a field (e.g., a field of a DCI) may indicate dormancy status for a scheduling SCell that schedules a PCell or a PSCell, where if the field indicates non-dormant status for the scheduling SCell, the PCell or the PSCell may switch to self-cell scheduling.”).
Claim 18 is for a method by a networking device, complimentary to method of the terminal in claim 10. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 10.
Regarding claim 14, Huang teaches the method according to claim 11 (discussed above), wherein the first target BWP is a BWP that is usable to schedule the second cell (implied based on discussion in claim 5 and [0366], and “[0498] In Embodiment 2 of the present disclosure, a field ( e.g., a field of a DCI) may indicate dormancy status for a scheduling SCell that schedules a PCell or a PSCell, where a network may set the field to indicate non-dormant status for the scheduling SCell.” ([0498]).
Regarding claim 17, Huang teaches the method according to claim 11 (discussed above).
The claim, wherein after transmitting the target control information, the method further comprises: determining, when the target control information is transmitted on the second cell and the indication information comprises indication information corresponding to the second cell or a second cell group, that the control information transmitted on the second cell does not carry the indication information or the control information transmitted on the first cell carries the indication information within a seventh predetermined time or after an eighth predetermined time after transmitting the target control information, wherein the second cell belongs to the second cell group, is implied based dormancy status information as discussed above in claim 1, and disclosure in [0406], “The DCI format 2_6 may indicate (and/or instruct), to the UE and/or the group of UEs, one or more SCell dormancy statuses of one or more SCells that is applicable to an active time ( e.g., a next active time, such as an upcoming active time of a current DRX cycle and/or an active time of a next DRX cycle following the current DRX cycle; predetermined time of the claim may be related to active cycle discussion in Huang.).” .
Regarding claim 19, Huang teaches the method according to claim 11 (discussed above).
The claim, further comprising: indicating a target configuration of the terminal through configuration information or target information, wherein the target configuration comprises at least one of the following: receiving the target control information on the first cell; receiving the target control information on the second cell; or receiving the target control information on the first cell and the second cell, wherein: the target information comprises at least one of the following: whether the target control information is configured; a format of the target control information; a type of the target control information; an indication manner of the target control information; or cell information of the target control information, is implied based on discussion above in claim 1, and disclosure in e.g., [0399] SCell dormancy information may be indicated using Layer 1 (L1) signaling ( e.g., Downlink Control Information (DCI)). For example, the L1 signaling (e.g., a DCI) may be used to indicate, to a UE, SCell dormancy information for a cell (e.g., a SCell). In some examples, the L1 signaling may comprise a DCI format 2_6, a DCI format 1_1 and/or a DCI format 0_1.”.
Claims 21 and 23:
Regarding claim 21, Huang teaches the method according to claim 1 (discussed above), wherein when the first cell is deactivated, the first cell cannot schedule the second cell (implied by disclosure in Huang as discussed with reference to Fig.11, step 1110. When a cell is dormant the scheduling cell is moved form that cell to the other cell).
Claim 23 is rejected based on rejection of claim 21.
Regarding claim 22, Huang teaches the method according to claim 1 (discussed above), wherein the first cell is a secondary cell. and the second cell is a primary cell (implied by disclosure in Huang, [0342], “At least for the case when PDCCH schedules data for primary cell and also indicates dormancy for Scell(s)”.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US-20210105722-A1 teaches power saving operations of a user equipment.
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/INTEKHAAB A SIDDIQUEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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