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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 06/15/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-30 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection in view of Nilsson et al (US 2024/0259950 A1) in view of Zhou et al (US 20240357526 A1), does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
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 1-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nilsson et al (US 2024/0259950 A1), hereinafter, “Nilsson” in view of Zhou et al (US 2024/0357526 A1), hereinafter, “Zhou”.
Regarding claim 1, Nilsson discloses: An apparatus for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE) (Nilsson: fig 29, para [0213] and para [0215], where, the UE perform the method through one or functional units or modules or virtual apparatus), comprising: at least one processor (Nilsson: fig 23, para [0198], where, the UE 1012 includes the Processors 2302); and memory coupled with the at least one processor (Nilsson: fig 23, para [0198], where, the UE 1012 includes the Memory 2304);
the memory storing instructions executable by the at least one processor (Nilsson: fig 23, para [0198], where, the UE 1012 includes the Memory 2304, where, the wireless communication device 2300 , UE 1012 implement the function in the software, which is stored in the memory and executed by the processor 2302);
to cause the UE to: receive a first control message that indicates a mapping between a set of power states and a set of codepoints (Nilsson: fig 19, step 1900, para [0187], where, the UE 1012, receives a control information (equivalent to “first control message”) from the Base Station 1002 and the control message indicates associations (equivalent to “mapping”) between power control states and: (a) TCI states, (b) UL channels, (c) UL resources, (d) UL resource sets, and/or (e) UL resource groups (equivalent to “codepoints”) (step 1900)),
wherein each power state of the set of power states is mapped to a respective codepoint of the set of codepoints (Nilsson: fig 19, step 1900, para [0187], where, the UE 1012, receives a control information from the Base Station 1002 and the control message indicates associations (equivalent to “mapping”) between power control states and: (a) TCI states, (b) UL channels, (c) UL resources, (d) UL resource sets, and/or (e) UL resource groups (equivalent to “respective codepoints”) (step 1900)), each power state of the set of power states being for the UE or a network entity in communication with the UE and corresponding to a respective directional communication profile associated with the UE (Nilsson: fig 19, step 1900, para [0187], where, the UE 1012, receives a control information from the Base Station 1002 and the control message indicates associations (equivalent to “mapping”) between power control states and: (a) TCI states, (b) UL channels, (c) UL resources, (d) UL resource sets, and/or (e) UL resource groups (equivalent to “codepoints”) (step 1900), where, the UL and or DL resources are referred as directional components, further para [0188]-[0189]);
receive a second control message that includes a codepoint from the set of codepoints (Nilsson: fig 18, para [0173], where, the UE 1012, receives the RRC messaging (equivalent to “second control information”), indicating two groups of UL TCI states, but only one group of power control states. Each UL channel/UL resource set/UL resource/UL resource group is then configured with one “Power control state pointer” per UL TCI state group (equivalent to “se of codepoints”)), and transition to the power state in accordance with the second control message (Nilsson: fig 18, para [0176]-[0178], where, based on the received RRC messaging (equivalent to “second control information”), “apply power control is to use group based signaling with DCI format 2_2 and 2_3, where 2_2 is used to transmit TPC commands for PUCCH/PUSCH and 2_3 is used to transmit TPC commands for SRS”, para [0173]-[0175]);
the codepoint corresponding to a power state from the set of power states in accordance with the mapping (Nilsson: fig 18, para [0176]-[0177], where, based on the received RRC messaging (equivalent to “second control information”), indicating two groups of UL TCI states, and 8 relative power control stated are activated for each UL channel/UL resource set/UL resource/UL resource group is then configured with one “Power control state pointer” per UL TCI state group (equivalent to “set of codepoints”), para [0173]-[0175]), Nilsson does not explicitly teach: inclusion of the codepoint in the second control message indicative of activation of the power state at the UE;
Zhou teaches: inclusion of the codepoint in the second control message indicative of activation of the power state at the UE (Zhou: fig 4B, para [0094], where, “MAC CEs include: scheduling-related MAC CEs, such as buffer status reports and power headroom reports; activation/deactivation MAC CEs, such as those for activation/deactivation of PDCP duplication detection”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use “inclusion of the codepoint in the second control message indicative of activation of the power state at the UE” as taught by Zhou into Nilsson in order to facilitate detection of transmission errors (Zhou: para [0209]).
Regarding claim 13, the claim includes features identical to the subject matter mentioned in the rejection to claim 1 above. The claims are mere reformulation of claim 1 in order to define the corresponding wireless communication apparatus, and the rejection to claim 1 is applied hereto.
Regarding claims 24 and 28, the claim includes features identical to the subject matter mentioned in the rejection to claim 1 above. The claims are mere reformulation of claim 1 in order to define the corresponding wireless communication method, and the rejection to claim 1 is applied hereto.
Regarding claims 2 and 25, Nilsson discloses: wherein: the second control message (Nilsson: fig 18, para [0176]-[0177], where, based on the received RRC messaging (equivalent to “second control information”), indicating two groups of UL TCI states, and 8 relative power control stated are activated for each UL channel/UL resource set/UL resource/UL resource group is then configured with one “Power control state pointer” per UL TCI state group (equivalent to “set of codepoints”), para [0173]-[0175]),
wherein the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the UE (Nilsson: fig 23, para [0198], where, based on the received RRC messaging (equivalent to “second control information”), “the wireless communication device 2300 includes one or more processors 2302 (e.g., CPUs, ASICs, FPGAs, and/or the like), memory 2304, and one or more transceivers 2306 each including one or more transmitters 2308 and one or more receivers 2310 coupled to one or more antennas 2312”), to: receive an indication that the codepoint is associated with the power state instead of with a search space set group switching indication (Nilsson: para [0064], where, “the information further indicates associations between the two or more power states and the two or more TCI states for all UL channels, all UL resources, all UL resource sets, or all UL resource groups”); Nilsson does not explicitly teach: the second control message includes the codepoint within a field associated with a search space set group switching indication.
Zhou teaches: the second control message includes the codepoint within a field associated with a search space set group switching indication (Zhou: fig 30A, para [0292], where, “the DCI format may correspond to DCI format 2_0 and may comprise one or more search space set groups (or SSSGs) switching indications (or SSSG switching flags)”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use “the second control message includes the codepoint within a field associated with a search space set group switching indication” as taught by Zhou into Nilsson in order to facilitate detection of transmission errors (Zhou: para [0209]).
Regarding claims 3, 26 and 30, Nilsson modified by Zhou disclose: The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the UE (Nilsson: fig 23, para [0198], where, based on the received RRC messaging (equivalent to “second control information”), “the wireless communication device 2300 includes one or more processors 2302 (e.g., CPUs, ASICs, FPGAs, and/or the like), memory 2304, and one or more transceivers 2306 each including one or more transmitters 2308 and one or more receivers 2310 coupled to one or more antennas 2312”), to: receive an indication that changes an activation state of the mapping between the set of power states and the set of codepoints, wherein the activation state is one of an activated state or a deactivated state (fig 6 and 12A-B, para [0183], where, “a Tx beam sweep from a set of beams (shown, in the bottom rows of U1 and U3, as ovals rotated in a clockwise direction indicated by the dashed arrows). Beamforming (e.g., at the base station) may comprise one or more beam sweeps, for example, an Rx beam sweep from a set of beams (shown, in the top rows of U1 and U2, as ovals rotated in a counterclockwise direction indicated by the dashed arrows)”, where, RRC CONNECTED 602, RRC INACTIVE 604 and RRC IDLE 606 depicts the different power states).
(Zhou: fig 6 and 12A-B, para [0183], where, “an Rx beam sweep from a set of beams (shown, in the top rows of U1 and U2, as ovals rotated in a counter-clockwise direction indicated by the dashed arrow). Procedure U2 may be used to enable the base station to adjust its Rx beam when the UE uses a fixed Tx beam. The UE and/or the base station may perform procedure U2 using a smaller set of beams than is used in procedure P1, or using narrower beams than the beams used in procedure P1.).
Regarding claims 4, 16 and 27, Nilsson modified by Zhou disclose: The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the respective directional communication profile is associated with one or more of a BWP for a primary cell, one or more BWPs for one or more secondary cells, a dormant BWP for the primary cell (Zhou: fig 9, para [0141]-[0142], where, “A base station may configure a UE with a BWP inactivity timer value for a PCell. The UE may start or restart a BWP inactivity timer at any appropriate time. For example, the UE may start or restart the BWP inactivity timer (a) when the UE detects a DCI indicating an active downlink BWP other than a default downlink BWP for a paired spectra operation”), a dormant BWP for the one or more secondary cells, restricted reception of a data channel in the BWP for the primary cell, restricted reception of a control channel in the BWP for the primary cell, restricted reception of the data channel in the one or more BWPs for the one or more secondary cells, restricted reception of the control channel in the one or more BWPs for the one or more secondary cells, or a combination thereof (Zhou: fig 9, para [0137]-[0138], where, “for a downlink BWP in a set of configured downlink BWPs on a primary cell (PCell) or on a secondary cell (SCell). A search space may comprise a set of locations in the time and frequency domains where the wireless device may monitor/find/detect/identify control information”).
Regarding claims 5 and 17, Nilsson modified by Zhou disclose: wherein the set of power states comprises a modem-off power state, one or more uplink power states corresponding to different uplink communication rates, one or more downlink-only power states corresponding to different downlink communication rates, an uplink-and-downlink power state, or combinations thereof (Zhou: fig 42A-B, para [0431], where, “The wireless device may send/transmit the wireless device assistance information to the base station in a RRC message, a MAC CE and/or an UCI. The wireless device assistance information may comprise a data volume of data packets of the wireless device, a power state of the wireless device, a service type of the wireless device, etc”).
Regarding claims 6, Nilsson modified by Zhou disclose: The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the power state comprises a modem-off power state, and the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the UE (Zhou: fig 1A, fig 15, processing system 1518, “Wireless Device 106” equivalent to “an apparatus”, para [0063]-[0064]), to: pause, while operating in the power state, a monitoring of a downlink control channel and a downlink shared channel (Zhou: fig 28, para [0286], where, “receiving PDSCH on the active BWP of the SCell, and/or transmitting PUCCH/PUSCH/RACH/SRS on the active BWP (e.g., if the active BWP is an uplink BWP)”); and pause, while operating in the power state, transmission of an uplink control channel and an uplink shared channel (Zhou: para [0248], where, “suspend one or more configured uplink grants of a configured uplink grant Type 1 associated with the activated SCell; and/or flush HARQ buffers associated with the activated SCell”).
Regarding claims 7 and 19, Nilsson modified by Zhou disclose: wherein the power state comprises an uplink-only power state, and the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the UE (Zhou: fig 1A, fig 15, processing system 1518, “Wireless Device 106” equivalent to “an apparatus”, para [0063]-[0064]), to: pause, while operating in the power state, a monitoring of a downlink shared channel (Zhou: para [0258]-[0259], where, “clear any configured downlink assignment and configured uplink grant of configured grant Type 2; and/or suspend any configured uplink grant of configured Type 1”); monitor, while operating in the power state, a downlink control channel for an uplink configured grant indicating one or more sets of periodic uplink resources (Zhou: para [0487]-[0489], where, “parameters indicate a second power offset for transmissions of the periodic CSI-RSs. The base station transmits, in the non-energy-saving state, the periodic CSI-RSs with a third transmission power determined based on the second power offset and the first value of the EPRE of the SSS”); and transmit, while operating in the power state, an uplink message in accordance with the uplink configured grant (Zhou: para [0489]-[0490], where, “the wireless device may transmit uplink signals based on pathloss measurements of the second SSS, wherein the second SSS is transmitted by the base station with the second transmission power”).
Regarding claim 8, Nilsson modified by Zhou disclose: The apparatus of claim1, wherein the power state comprises a downlink-only power state, and the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the UE (Zhou: fig 1A, fig 15, processing system 1518, “Wireless Device 106” equivalent to “an apparatus”, para [0063]-[0064]), to: pause, while operating in the power state, transmission of at least one of an uplink control channel and an uplink shared channel (Zhou: fig 32B, para [0318], where, “the base station may schedule other uplink signals (e.g., for urgent data packets) by using the cancelled transmission on the uplink resources. By receiving the second group common DCI indicating the uplink cancellation for first uplink resources, a wireless device, which originally is allocated with second uplink resources comprising the first uplink resources before receiving the second group common DCI, may transmit uplink signals by using the rest resources of the second uplink resources except the cancelled first uplink resources”); monitor, while operating in the power state, a downlink control channel for a downlink configured grant indicating one or more downlink resources (Zhou: fig 32A, para [0312], where, “By receiving the first group common DCI indicating the downlink pre-emption for first downlink resources, a wireless device, which originally is allocated with second downlink resources comprising the first downlink resources before receiving the first group common DCI, may decode the data by using the rest resources of the second downlink resources except the pre-empted first downlink resources”); and monitor, while operating in the power state, a downlink shared channel for a downlink message in accordance with the downlink configured grant (Zhou: para [0489]-[0490], where, “the wireless device may transmit uplink signals based on pathloss measurements of the second SSS, wherein the second SSS is transmitted by the base station with the second transmission power”).
Regarding claim 9, Nilsson modified by Zhou disclose: The apparatus of claim1,wherein the power state comprises an uplink-and-downlink power state, and the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the UE (Zhou: fig 1A, fig 15, processing system 1518, “Wireless Device 106” equivalent to “an apparatus”, para [0063]-[0064]), to: monitor, while operating in the power state, a downlink control channel for at least one of a downlink configured grant and an uplink configured grant (Zhou: para [0489]-[0490], where, “the wireless device may transmit uplink signals based on pathloss measurements of the second SSS, wherein the second SSS is transmitted by the base station with the second transmission power”).
Regarding claim 10, Nilsson modified by Zhou disclose: The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mapping includes an additional codepoint that is mapped to a physical downlink control channel skipping operation (Zhou: fig 29A-B, para [0288], where, “the wireless device may skip monitoring PDCCHs in the DRX active time. In an example, if the wireless device receives an indication indicating skipping PDCCH monitoring during the wake-up duration (or the PSCH occasion), the wireless device may skip monitoring PDCCHs in the DRX active time”).
Regarding claim 11, Nilsson modified by Zhou disclose: The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first control message indicates a set of timers corresponding to the set of power states, and the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the UE (Zhou: fig 1A, fig 15, processing system 1518, “Wireless Device 106” equivalent to “an apparatus”, para [0063]-[0064]), to: transition from the power state to a second power state based at least in part on expiry of a timer associated with the power state (Zhou: para [0141], where, “A base station may configure a UE with a BWP inactivity timer value for a PCell. The UE may start or restart a BWP inactivity timer at any appropriate time. For example, the UE may start or restart the BWP inactivity timer (a) when the UE detects a DCI indicating an active downlink BWP other than a default downlink BWP for a paired spectra operation”).
Regarding claims 12, 14 and 29, Nilsson modified by Zhou disclose: The apparatus of claim 13, wherein: the second control message (Nilsson: fig 18, para [0173], where, the UE 1012, receives the RRC messaging (equivalent to “second control information”), indicating two groups of UL TCI states, but only one group of power control states. Each UL channel/UL resource set/UL resource/UL resource group is then configured with one “Power control state pointer” per UL TCI state group (equivalent to “se of codepoints”)), includes the codepoint within a field associated with a search space set group switching indication (Zhou: fig 30B, para [0292], where, “The SSS group switching flag may indicate, when setting to a second value, switching from the second SSS group to the first SSS group for each cell of the cell group”), wherein the instructions are executable by the at least one processor to cause the network entity (Nilsson: fig 23, para [0198], where, the UE 1012 includes the Memory 2304, where, the wireless communication device 2300 , UE 1012 implement the function in the software, which is stored in the memory and executed by the processor 2302) to: transmit an indication that the codepoint is associated with the power state instead of with a search space set group switching indication (Zhou: fig 30B, para [0292], where, “The SSS group switching flag may indicate, when setting to a second value, switching from the second SSS group to the first SSS group for each cell of the cell group”).
Regarding claim 15, Nilsson modified by Zhou disclose: The apparatus of claim l 3, wherein the instructions are executable by the at least one processor to cause the network entity (Zhou: fig 1A, fig 15, processing system 1518, “Wireless Device 106” equivalent to “an apparatus”, para [0063]-[0064]), to: transmit an indication that changes an activation state of the mapping between the set of power states (Zhou: fig 6, para [0119], where, “FIG. 6 is an example diagram showing RRC state transitions of a UE. The UE may be the same or similar to the wireless device 106 depicted in FIG. 1A, the UE 210 depicted in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, or any other wireless device described in the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 6, a UE may be in at least one of three RRC states: RRC connected 602 (e.g., RRC_CONNECTED), RRC idle 604 (e.g., RRC_IDLE), and RRC inactive 606 (e.g., RRC_INACTIVE)”) and the set of codepoints , wherein the activation state is one of an activated state or a deactivated state (Zhou: fig 6, para [0119], where, “a UE may be in at least one of three RRC states: RRC connected 602 (e.g., RRC_CONNECTED), RRC idle 604 (e.g., RRC_IDLE), and RRC inactive 606 (e.g., RRC_INACTIVE)”).
Regarding claim 18, Nilsson modified by Zhou disclose: The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the power state comprises a modem-off power state, and the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the network entity (Zhou: fig 1B, “gNB 160A, 160B” equivalent to “network entity”, para [0076]), to: pause a monitoring of an uplink control channel and an uplink shared channel (Zhou: fig 30B, para [0293]-[0294], where, “stop monitoring PDCCH on the first SSSG (or the search space sets with group index 0) for the serving cell”); and pause transmission of a downlink control channel and a downlink shared channel (Zhou: fig 30A-B, para [0297]-[0301], where, “the wireless device may start monitoring PDCCH according to search space sets with group index 0 and stop monitoring PDCCH according to search space sets with group index 1 for the serving cell”).
Regarding claim 20, Nilsson modified by Zhou disclose: The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the power state comprises a downlink-only power state, and the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the network entity (Nilsson: fig 23, para [0198], where, the UE 1012 includes the Processors), to: pause a monitoring of at least one of an uplink control channel and an uplink shared channel (Zhou: para [0247], where, “The wireless device may start or restart the first SCell timer in the slot when the SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE activating the SCell has been received. In an example, in response to the activating the SCell, the wireless device may (re-)initialize one or more suspended configured uplink grants of a configured grant Type 1 associated with the SCell according to a stored configuration”); transmit, via a downlink control channel, a downlink configured grant indicating one or more downlink resources (Zhou: para [0247], where, “The BWP switching may be controlled by a PDCCH transmission indicating a downlink assignment or an uplink grant”); and transmit, via a downlink shared channel, a downlink message in accordance with the downlink configured grant (Zhou: para [0247], where, “the wireless device may (re-)initialize one or more suspended configured uplink grants of a configured grant Type 1 associated with the SCell according to a stored configuration”).
Regarding claim 21, Nilsson modified by Zhou disclose: The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the power state comprises an uplink-and-downlink power state (Nilsson: fig 19, step 1900, para [0187], where, the UE 1012, receives a control information (equivalent to “first control message”) from the Base Station 1002 and the control message indicates associations (equivalent to “mapping”) between power control states and: (a) TCI states, (b) UL channels, (c) UL resources, (d) UL resource sets, and/or (e) UL resource groups (equivalent to “codepoints”) (step 1900)), and the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the network entity (Nilsson: fig 23, para [0198], where, the UE 1012 includes the Memory 2304, where, the wireless communication device 2300 , UE 1012 implement the function in the software, which is stored in the memory and executed by the processor 2302); to: transmit, via a downlink control channel, at least one of a downlink configured grant and an uplink configured grant (Nilsson: fig 18, para [0176]-[0178], where, based on the received RRC messaging (equivalent to “second control information”), “apply power control is to use group based signaling with DCI format 2_2 and 2_3, where 2_2 is used to transmit TPC commands for PUCCH/PUSCH and 2_3 is used to transmit TPC commands for SRS”, para [0173]-[0175]).
Regarding claim 22, Nilsson modified by Zhou disclose: The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the mapping includes an additional codepoint that is mapped to a physical downlink control channel skipping operation (Zhou: fig 31, para [0308], where, “the wireless device may receive a first DCI (e.g., 1.sup.st DCI) indicating skipping PDCCH with a time window”).
Regarding claim 23, Nilsson modified by Zhou disclose: The apparatus of claim l3, wherein the first control message indicates a set of timers corresponding to the set of power states (Zhou: para [0299], where, “searchSpaceSwitchTimer may be defined as a value in unit of slots for monitoring PDCCH in the active DL BWP of the serving cell before moving to a default search space group (e.g., search space group 0)”).
Conclusion
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/NIZAM U AHMED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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