DETAILED ACTION
In response to communication filed on 4/30/2026.
Claims 1-30 are pending.
Claims 1-30 are rejected.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 4/30/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendments
This communication is in response to Applicant’s reply filed under 3 CFR 1.111 on 4/30/2026. Claims 1,3-14,16-27, and 29 were amended and claims 1-30 remain pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation 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 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph:
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 4,11,17 and 24 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 pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Dependent claims 4, 11, 17 and 24 as amended introduced the following limitations: “wherein the inactive time for the first TRP is during an active time of the second TRP”. On one hand, the support for this amendment is meager in the original specification. Paragraph 123 of the specification as filed states: “During an inactive time 915a of the first TRP, and during an active time 910b of the second TRP (e.g., the first TRP is inactive but the second TRP is active), the UE may perform a transmission to the second TRP in transmission occasion 920e.” The original specification says “and during an active time”, whereas the current claims recite “is during an active time”. So the amended claim is not in the original specification verbatim.
The original claims 4, 11, 17 and 24 is supported in paragraph 131 of the original spec, stating: “with the one or more TRPs includes transferring a communication associated with a TRP, of the multiple TRPs, during an inactive time for the TRP, to another TRP, of the multiple TRPs, that is in an active time.” It appears the amendment here just cleans up the claim language and fixes grammatically issues.
Therefore, on the whole, these claims contain subject matter which was 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-6,8-19 and 21-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Moon et al. (US Pub. 2024/0267985)(M1 hereafter).
Regarding claims 1,14, 27 and 29, M1 teaches an apparatus for wireless communication [refer Fig. 2; 200][paragraph 0056] at a user equipment (UE) [paragraph 0060], comprising:
one or more memories storing processor-executable code [refer Fig. 2; 220][paragraph 0057]; and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories [refer Fig. 2; 210] and individually or collectively operable [paragraph 0057] to cause the UE to:
receive configuration information that indicates cell discontinuous reception (DRX) or discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycles [paragraph 0089] for multiple transmission reception points (TRPs)(cell DRX/DTX configuration information can be for one or more cells of a base station [paragraph 0098], multiple cell DTX or DRX operation modes be configured to a terminal by the same configuration [paragraph 0133], multiple TRPs may be TRPs belonging to the same serving cell or different serving cells [paragraph 0174]),
the cell DRX or DTX cycles indicate inactive times and active times [paragraph 0090] for the multiple TRPs [paragraph 0174], and the configuration information further indicates an association between each cell DRX or DTX cycle and a respective TRP of the multiple TRPs (the multiple TRPs can belong to the same serving cell)[paragraph 0174]; and
communicate (i.e. receive a PDSCH from multiple TRPs or transmit a PUSCH to multiple TRPs) with one or more TRPs, of the multiple TRPs, in accordance with the cell DRX or DTX cycles (i.e. operations)[paragraph 0174].
Regarding claims 2,15,28 and 30, M1 teaches a first inactive time for a first TRP, of the multiple TRPs, is non-aligned in time (i.e. not at the same time) with a second inactive time for a second TRP of the multiple TRPs (a cell DTX/DRX pattern of the serving cell may be the same as or different from a cell DTX/DRX pattern of the neighboring cell)[paragraph 0174].
Regarding claims 3 and 16, M1 teaches to communicate with the one or more TRPs, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to cause the UE to: drop a communication associated with a TRP, of the multiple TRPs, during an inactive time for the TRP (in a switching operation that comprises switching from an active operation or time to an inactive operation or time, a terminal drops a transmission that is being prepared)[paragraph 0190].
Regarding claims 4 and 17, M1 teaches to communicate with the one or more TRPs [paragraph 0174], the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to cause the UE to: transfer a communication associated with a first TRP, of the multiple TRPs, during an inactive time for the first TRP, to a second TRP, of the multiple TRPs, the inactive time for the first TRP is during an active time of the second TRP (terminal may switch its operation from the inactive operation to the active operation)[paragraph 0190].
Regarding claims 5 and 18, M1 teaches to communicate with the one or more TRPs [paragraph 0174], the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to cause the UE to: drop or transfer a communication associated with a TRP, of the multiple TRPs, during an inactive time for the TRP, based on a type of physical channel (i.e. PDSCH or PUSCH) associated with the communication [paragraph 0174](in a switching operation that comprises switching from an active operation or time to an inactive operation or time, a terminal drops a transmission that is being prepared, and the terminal may switch its operation from the inactive operation to the active operation)[paragraph 0190].
Regarding claims 6 and 19, M1 teaches the configuration information indicates the association between each cell DRX or DTX cycle and the respective TRP of the multiple TRPs using a respective TRP index (information may be expressed in at least one form of a cell DTX (or cell DRX) configuration index or a cell DTX (or cell DRX) operation mode (or a number and/or index corresponding to the cell DTX (or cell DRX) operation mode))[paragraph 0140].
Regarding claims 8 and 21, M1 teaches the configuration information indicates the association between each cell DRX or DTX cycle and the respective TRP of the multiple TRPs using a respective transmission configuration indicator state (i.e. TCI)(a PDSCH received by a first TCI corresponding to a first cell may belong to a cell DTX active time, and a PDSCH received by a second TCI corresponding to a second cell may belong to a cell DTX inactive time)[paragraph 0175].
Regarding claims 9 and 22, M1 the configuration information indicates a first cell DRX or DTX cycle that is for a first TRP, of the multiple TRPs, and a second cell DRX or DTX cycle for a second TRP, of the multiple TRPs, is an inverse of the first cell DRX or DTX cycle (i.e. inactive compared to active)(cell DTX/DRX operations and/or cell DTX/DRX activation/inactivation operations may be configured differently between the serving cell and the neighboring cell)[paragraph 0174].
Regarding claims 10 and 23, M1 teaches to communicate with the one or more TRPs [paragraph 0174, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to cause the UE to: drop an uplink communication associated with a TRP, of the multiple TRPs, during an inactive time for the TRP (in a switching operation that comprises switching from an active operation or time to an inactive operation or time, a terminal drops a transmission that is being prepared)[paragraph 0190].
Regarding claims 11 and 24, M1 teaches to communicate with the one or more TRPs [paragraph 0174], the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to cause the UE to: transmit an uplink communication associated with a first TRP, of the multiple TRPs, during an inactive time of the first TRP, to a second TRP, of the multiple TRPs, the inactive time for the first TRP is during an active time of the second TRP (cell DTX/DRX operations and/or cell DTX/DRX activation/inactivation operations may be configured differently between the serving cell and the neighboring cell, the multiple TRPs may be TRPs belonging to the same serving cell, or may be TRPs belonging to different serving cells)[paragraph 0174].
Regarding claims 12 and 25, M1 teaches to communicate with the one or more TRPs, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to cause the UE to: drop a sounding reference signal communication associated with a TRP, of the multiple TRPs, during an inactive time of the TRP in a switching operation that comprises switching from an active operation or time to an inactive operation or time, a terminal drops a transmission that is being prepared [paragraph 0190], the terminal may not expect to receive dynamic scheduling for an uplink resource in a cell DRX inactive time (e.g., period outside an active time) that may include a resource such as PUSCH, SRS, and PUCCH [paragraph 0123]).
Regarding claims 13 and 26, M1 teaches to communicate with the one or more TRPs [paragraph 0174], the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to cause the UE to: transmit a sounding reference signal communication associated with a TRP, of the multiple TRPs, to the TRP , during an inactive time of the TRP (resource in which the terminal receives the DCI or a resource scheduled through the DCI, such as a SRS resource (i.e. claimed sounding reference signal), may belong to the cell DTX inactive time or the cell DRX inactive time)[paragraph 0120].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 7 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon et al. (US Pub. 2024/0267985)(M1 hereafter) in view of Jeon et al. (US Pub. 2024/0267984)(J1 hereafter).
Regarding claims 7 and 20, M1 teaches the configuration information indicates the association between each cell DRX or DTX cycle and the respective TRP of the multiple TRPs [paragraph 0174].
However, M1 fails to disclose the configuration information indicates an association between each cell DRX or DTX cycle and respective TRP of the multiple TRPs using a respective control resource set pool index.
J1, in the field of configuring and activation of DTX and DRX [refer Abstract], discloses that a UE can be configured for PDSCH reception over multiple cells and multiple TRPs per cell via an indication of a coresetPoolIndex for control resource sets (CORESETs) [paragraph 0090].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of M1 to incorporate the use of a coreset pool index to identify configured resources for TRPs as taught by J1. One would be motivated to do so to provide explicit configuration of the appropriate resources for uplink and downlink communication resources with an appropriate TRP [refer J1; paragraph 0090].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 4/30/2026 with respect to claims 1-30 have been considered, however in light of the amendments and upon further review of the claim language, a new ground of rejection has been made to address 35 U.S.C. 112(a) issues and a new grounds of rejection in view of the prior art of record, notably Moon et al. (US Pub. 2024/0267985) and interpretations of the claim language.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RYAN C KAVLESKI whose telephone number is (571)270-3619. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30am-3pm.
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, Charles C Jiang can be reached on 571-270-7191. 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.
Ryan Kavleski
/R.C.K/Examiner, Art Unit 2412
/CHARLES C JIANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2412
Prosecution Insights