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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/04/2026 has been entered.
Response to Remarks
This Office action is considered fully responsive to the amendments filed 02/04/2026.
The previous specification objection is withdrawn in light of Applicant’s amendments.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 02/04/2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 1, 4-6, 9-10, 16, 19-21, 26-27, 30-34 under U.S.C. 102(a)(1) have been fully considered and are persuasive. The U.S.C. 102(a)(1) rejections of claims 1, 4-6, 9-10, 16, 19-21, 26-27, 30-34 has been withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1, 4-6, 9-10, 16, 19-21, 26-27, 30-34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
The independent claims have been amended to include “the second time-frequency resource is a time-frequency resource of a candidate physical downlink control channel for a transmission mode of a physical downlink control channel based on a single TRP rather than the transmission mode of the physical downlink control channel based on the plurality of TRPs” which Applicant alleges is supported by para. 0067-0068 of the specification.
Examiner reviewed para. 0067-0068 and in general the entire instant specification but could not locate support for the amended limitations. Para. 0067-0068 (as Published, the instant specification’s paras. 0067-0068 refers to drawing descriptions) pertains to decoding modes, not transmission modes. Para. 0066 of the instant specification as Published mentions: “The first time-frequency resource of the PDCCH candidate is a time-frequency resource of the PDCCH candidate for a PDCCH transmission mode based on a plurality of TRPs, and the second time-frequency resource of the PDCCH candidate is a time-frequency resource of the PDCCH candidate for a PDCCH transmission mode based on a single TRP.”
However, the instant specification does not mention the transmission mode of the plurality of TRPs is different than the transmission mode of the single TRP, as the amended claim language dictates with the language “rather than the transmission mode of the physical downlink control channel based on the plurality of TRPs.”
Therefore, the independent claims and their corresponding dependent claims are rejected.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20190386771 A1 discloses at para. 0135: In a fourth aspect, the one or more DCI formats may comprise a first DCI format associated with the first transmission mode and a second DCI format associated with the second transmission mode. In certain other aspects, a first size of the first DCI format may be different than a second size of the second DCI format. In certain other aspects, a reduced number of PDCCH candidates or a reduced number of aggregation levels may be used for each of the first DCI format and the second DCI format. For example, referring to FIG. 5, a first DCI format of a first size may be used to indicate a first TM of the combination and a second DCI format of a second size may be used to indicate a second TM of the combination. The number of PDCCH candidates and/or aggregation levels associated with the first DCI format and the second DCI format may be reduced as compared to the number of PDCCH candidates seen in Table 3 above. For example, DCI format 2A may be used to indicate TM 3 and DCI format 2B may be used to indicate TM<b>8</b>, and the base station 502 may transmit the DCI format 2A size using three PDCCH candidates for TM<b>3</b> and transmit the DCI format 2B size using three PDCCH candidates for TM<b>8</b>. The base station 502 may transmit the reduced number of PDCCH candidates and/or aggregation levels seen above in Tables 4a and/or 4b.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMAR J GHOWRWAL whose telephone number is (571)270-5691. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00am-6:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ASAD NAWAZ can be reached at 571-272-3988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/OMAR J GHOWRWAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463