Detailed Action
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 09/17/2026 has been entered.
2. In this Office Action, claims 1, 2 and 4-30 are currently pending in this Office Action. Claim 3 is cancelled.
Response to Arguments
In Remarks, applicant presented on 08/14/2023 were mainly based on the amended claim limitations.
However, the amended claim limitations are considered obvious by the rationales found in the newly cited prior art as explained in the claim rejection section set forth below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
6. Claims 1, 2, 4 and 6-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yi et al. Pub. No.: US 2021/0203468 A1 in view of Liu et al. Pub. No.: US 2022/0116902 A1 and Zhang et al. Pub. No.: US 2020/0137602 A1.
Claim 1
Yi discloses a method (fig. 15 & 23-39 depicts for bandwidth switching for saving power) of wireless positioning performed by a user equipment (UE in fig. 1-39 and see UE of fig. 3), comprising:
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in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state (par. 0316, a wireless device may be in at least one of RRC states as depicted in fig. 15, let’s assume RRC inactive state);
monitoring, during a first time interval (slot n-1 or interval from n-1 to n in fig. 23), while the user equipment is in the RRC inactive state (UE is in inactive state for BWP 1-3), one or more first bandwidth parts having a first bandwidth to perform a first operation (BWP 0 as to a first bandwidth to receive RRC/MAC CE); and
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monitoring, during a second time interval (slot n or interval from n to m in fig. 23), while the user equipment is in the RRC inactive state (UE is in inactive state for BWP 0 and BWP 2-3), one or more second bandwidth parts having a second bandwidth (BWP 1 in fig. 23) to perform a second operation (BWP 1 to perform DCI monitoring after activating BWP 1), wherein the second bandwidth is different than the second bandwidth (in fig. 23, BWP 0 and BWP 1 are different).
Although Yi does not explicitly show: “entering into RRC inactive state and the RRC inactive state; and transmitting the one or more positioning measurements to a network entity while the user equipment is in the RRC inactive state”, claim limitations are considered obvious.
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Firstly, to address the obviousness of the claim limitation “entering into RRC inactive state and the RRC inactive state”, initially, it’s to note that claim does not specifically define what are involved in entering into RRC inactive state and what are required to be RRC inactive state. Indeed, in fig. 23 of Yi, a BWP switching is to activate an inactive BWP and deactivate an active BWP at a time (par. 0384), UE RRC inactive state in fig. 15 (par. 0316-0317), and RRC inactive state for DRX (fig. 26 and par. 0430, 0447 & 0461). To advance the prosecution, further evidence for performing operation while inactive state is provided herein. In particular, Liu teaches entering RRC inactive state (fig. 1 and par. 0065) and performing the operations such as measuring position reference signal while a terminal device is in an idle or inactive state (fig. 5-7) by LMU/BS (fig. 8). It’s to note that it has been held that making an old device portable or movable without producing any new and unexpected result involves only routine skill in the art. In re Lindberg, 93 USPQ 23 (CCPA 1952). One of ordinary skill in the art would have expected Liu’s performing measurement while in RRC inactive to apply in Yi’s fig. 26-39 in DRX operation to perform the operations or measurement in DRX cycle.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify power saving active bandwidth part BWP of Yi by providing uplink positioning for idle or inactive terminal device as taught in Liu. Such a modification would have provided a user equipment to perform uplink positioning signal measurement while UE is in idle or inactive state so that it could have prevented causing larger UE power consumption and positioning latency form the conventional RRC connected state as suggested in par. 0004 of Liu.
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Secondly, to consider the obviousness of the amended claim limitations “transmitting the one or more positioning measurements to a network entity while the user equipment is in the RRC inactive state”, recall that Liu discloses UE for performing positioning measurement while in inactive state (710 in fig. 7). In particular, Zhang teaches a wireless device for receiving resources for use in RRC inactive mode (502-504 of fig. 5), performing cell measurement using indicated reference signal resources while in RRC inactive mode (506 in fig. 5) and providing, i.e., transmitting, a cell measurement report to the cellular base station while in the RRC inactive mode (par. 0091).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify power saving active bandwidth part BWP of Yi in view of Liu by providing cell measurement while in RRC inactive mode as taught in Zhang to obtain the claimed invention as specified in the claim. Such a modification would have provided a user equipment resources to perform cell measurement while in RRC inactive mode so that UE could have maintained transmission and receiving capabilities while reducing power requirement as suggested in par. 0002-0005 of Zhang.
Claim 2
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 1, wherein:
the first operation comprises monitoring for downlink paging information (Yi, fig. 23-39, monitoring PDCCH in slot n or interval from n to m; Liu, receiving paging in 820 in fig. 8), and the second operation comprises obtaining one or more positioning measurements of one or more positioning reference signals (PRS) (Yi, PRS measurement in fig. 3-8; and thus, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 4
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 3, further comprising:
receiving a confirmation message from the network entity based on transmission of the one or more positioning measurements to the network entity (Yi, acknowledgement mode in par. 0211, Ack and NAck in par. 0244 and NR RLC acknowledgement mode in par. 0294; fig. 8 of Liu and fig. 5 of Zhang; accordingly, Ack and NACK from the combined prior art would have expected by one of ordinary skill in the art to perform equally well to the claim).
Claim 6
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 2, further comprising:
transitioning from RRC inactive state to an RRC active state (Yi, transitioning form RRC inactive 1520 to RRC connected 1530 in fig. 15; Liu, fig. 10 depicts duty cycle for RRC connected mode and RRC inactive mode; Zhang, transition back to RRC connected mode in par. 0091); and
transmitting the one or more positioning measurements to a network entity while the user equipment is in an RRC active state (Yi, fig. 23-39 for performing DRX operations; Liu, transmitting to positioning measurement in fig. 8; Zhang, cell measurement report to the cellular based station while in the RRC inactive mode in par. 0091; and thus, the combined prior art meets the claim requirement).
Claim 7
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 1, wherein:
the first bandwidth is a default bandwidth for small data transmission (SDT) (Yi, default BWP in fig. 23), and the second bandwidth is a positioning bandwidth for measuring PRS (Yi, BWP 1-3 in fig. 23-39; Liu, measuring PRS in fig. 5-8; for these reasons, the combined prior art reads on the claim).
Claim 8
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 1, wherein:
the first operation comprises receiving a downlink paging message indicating the second time interval (Yi, paging on PDCCH in fig. 23, and see par. 0322 & 0429 for paging occasion in DRX ON in fig. 26-39; Zhang, paging a wireless device in RRC inactive mode in par. 0071, 0077; and hence, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 9
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 8, wherein:
the second time interval is specified as an absolute time (Yi, fig. 25 for downlink allocation that dedicated time for HARQ RTT absolutely and see fig. 37; and thus, the combined prior art reads on the claim unless claim further recites what are required to be the absolute time or what it is used for).
Claim 10
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 8, wherein:
the second time interval is specified as a relative time relative to a time that the downlink paging message is received (Yi, DRX on and off in fig. 26 A-B and in DRX On, there is a relative time for monitoring PDCCHs including paging message; accordingly, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 11
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 1, wherein:
the first operation comprises receiving Downlink Control Information (DCI) instructing the user equipment to switch from the one or more first bandwidth parts to the one or more second bandwidth parts (Yi, DCI in fig. 22 and see fig. 30 for scheduling DCI and switching BWP in fig. 23; and hence, the combined prior art would have read on the claim).
Claim 12
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 11, wherein:
a field in the DCI indicates at least the one or more second bandwidth parts and the second time interval (Yi, par. 0283, DCI comprises a BWP indicator field for DL BWP and UL BWP and par. 0285-0286 for how UE detects BWP, see fig. 22 and par. 0264 for explaining DCI format including: transmission and reception time, uplink, downlink, power control for PUCCH or PUSCH or SRS, slot format indicator SFI; and thus, the combined prior art meets the claim requirement).
Claim 13
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 11, wherein:
monitoring the one or more first bandwidth parts comprises monitoring a search space and a control resource set (CORESET) for the DCI (Yi, CORESET in par. 0451, 0459, 0468, and for CORESET in DCI in par. 0475 and see fig. 28 and par. 0481), the DCI associated with an inactive Radio Network Temporary Identifier (I-RNTI) (Yi, par. 0264, C-RNTI, P-RNTI, SI-RNTI, TPC-SRS-RNTI and par. 0475, SFI-RNTI; accordingly, one of ordinary skill in the art would have expected the claim to perform equally well with the combined prior art).
Claim 14
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising:
switching from the one or more second bandwidth parts to the one or more first bandwidth parts in response to receiving Downlink Control Information (DCI) instructing the user equipment to switch from the one or more second bandwidth parts to the one or more first bandwidth parts (Yi, fig. 23 for switching BWP after receiving DCI and see fig. 30-31 for DCI scheduling from the cells that UE will receive DCI and see par. 0460; Liao, switch BWP of fig. 8 in fig. 8 based on configuration received; and thus, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 15
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising:
switching from the one or more second bandwidth parts to the one or more first bandwidth parts after a configured timer expires (Yi, default BWP takes over when the inactivity timer expires for BWP1 in slot s; and thus, the combined prior art meets the claim condition).
Claim 16
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving a first indication of at least the second time interval while the user equipment is in an RRC active state (Yi, receiving packet DCI for DL at BWP 1 in the slot m while BWP 1 is active, that is RRC active state for BWP 1); and
switching from the one or more first bandwidth parts to the one or more second bandwidth parts based on the first indication (Yi, in slot S, active BWP switches from BWP 1 to BWP 0, i.e., default BWP becomes active; and hence, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 17
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 16, further comprising:
receiving a second indication of at least the first time interval while the user equipment is in the RRC active state (Yi, in fig. 23, receiving message on PDCCH at slot n and DCI at slot m exactly, it could be said that during timer interval from n to m, first indication and the second indication are received); and
switching from the one or more second bandwidth parts to the one or more first bandwidth parts based on the second indication (Yi, active BWP switches form BWP 1 to BWP 0; for these reasons, one of ordinary skill in the art would have expected the combined prior art to perform equally well to the claim obvious).
Claim 18
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 1, wherein:
the second bandwidth is larger than the first bandwidth (Yi, BWP 1-3 should be larger than the default BWP 0; accordingly, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 19
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 1, wherein:
the first operation comprises monitoring for downlink paging signals (Yi, monitoring PDCCH in slot n in fig. 23), and the second operation comprises transmitting one or more uplink Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) (Yi, par. 0245, UE may transmit one or more Reference Signals RS, including SRS; Liu, 825 in fig. 8; and thus, the combined prior art meets the claim requirement).
Claim 20
Yi, in view of Liu and Zhang, discloses the method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the one or more first bandwidth parts comprises monitoring one or more downlink paging channels, one or more search spaces, or both (Yi, see par. 0243 for paging channel PCH in view of PDCCH in fig. 23 and see par 0264 for a group common search space and UE-specific search space and par. 0430 in search space; for these reasons, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 21
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Claim 21 is a UE claim corresponding to method claim 1. All of the limitations in claim 21 are found reciting for the structures of the same scopes of the respective limitations of claim 1. Accordingly, claim 21 can be considered obvious by the same rationales applied in the rejection of claim 1 set forth above.
Additionally, Yi teaches a user equipment (wireless device in fig. 3 and see fig. 15-39), comprising: a memory (non-transitory memory 315 in fig. 3); at least one transceiver (communication interface 310 in fig. 3); and at least one processor (processor 314 in fig. 3) communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver (the processor 314 would communicate with memory 315 and communication interface 310 to execute instructions 316 of fig. 3 to perform the steps in fig. 15-39 as explained in par. 0229-0231).
Claim 22-28
Claims 22-28 are UE claims corresponding to method claims 2, 7, 11, 14-15 and 18-19. Herein, claims 22-28 can be compared to claims 2, 7, 11, 14-15 and 18-19 such that: claim 22 to claim 2; claim 23 to claim 7; claim 24 to claim 11; claim 25 to claim 14; claims 26 to claim 15; claim 27 to claim 18; and claim 28 to claim 19. All of the limitations in claims 22-28 are found reciting for the structures of UE of the same scopes of the respective limitations of claims 2, 7, 11, 14-15 and 18-19. Accordingly, claims 22-28 can be considered obvious by the same rationales applied in the rejection of claims 2, 7, 11, 14-15 and 18-19 respectively set forth above.
Claim 29
Claim 29 is a UE claim corresponding to method claim 1. All of the limitations in claim 29 are found reciting for the structures of the same scopes of the respective limitations of claim 1. Accordingly, claim 29 can be considered obvious by the same rationales applied in the rejection of claim 1 set forth above.
Claim 30
Claim 30 is a computer product claim corresponding to method claim 1. All of the limitations in claim 30 are found reciting for the structures of the same scopes of the respective limitations of claim 1. Accordingly, claim 30 can be considered obvious by the same rationales applied in the rejection of claim 1 set forth above.
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claim 5 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.
8. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art of record fails to anticipate or renders the claim limitations as a whole, particular, “entering into a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state; monitoring, during a first time interval, while the user equipment is in the RRC inactive state, one or more first bandwidth parts having a first bandwidth to perform a first operation; and monitoring, during a second time interval, while the user equipment is in the RRC inactive state, one or more second bandwidth parts having a second bandwidth to perform a second operation, wherein the second bandwidth is different than the first bandwidth; and transmitting the one or more positioning measurements to a network entity while the user equipment is in the RRC inactive state; wherein: the first operation comprises monitoring for downlink paging information, and the second operation comprises obtaining one or more positioning measurements of one or more positioning reference signals (PRS); receiving a confirmation message from the network entity based on transmission of the one or more positioning measurements to the network entity; wherein the confirmation message from the network entity causes the user equipment to: enter into an RRC idle state, or remain in the RRC inactive state”, in light of fig. 1-12 of this instant application.
Contact Information
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAN HTUN whose telephone number is (571)270-3190. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7 AM - 5 PM.
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/SAN HTUN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643
