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 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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 11, 16, 18, 22, 23, 26, 28, 29, and 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jazi US 20230057605 in view of Gong US 20230125414.
Regarding claims 1, 16, 22, and 28, Jazi teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:
one or more memories; and
one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, that, individually or collectively, are configured to:
receive an indication of an association between first-stage downlink control information (DCI) and second-stage DCI (The first-stage DCI format can also indicate a location for a PDCCH providing the second-stage DCI format, such as a PDCCH candidate for a corresponding CCE aggregation level, so that the UE can interpret the contents of the second-stage DCI format or reduce a number of PDCCH receptions, [0293]),
recover the first-stage DCI based at least in part on a first DCI format (UE can be provided information for multi-cell scheduling of multiple PDSCHs/PDCCHs on multiple respective cells using a multi-stage DCI method, such as a 2-stage DCI wherein a first-stage DCI format includes a set of cell-common fields, and a second-stage DCI format includes cell-specific fields, [0293]: note based on the first-stage DCI format, the UE can interpret the cell-common fields of the first-stage DCI); and
recover the second-stage DCI using a second DCI format that is based at least in part on of the association (The first-stage DCI format can also indicate a location for a PDCCH providing the second-stage DCI format, such as a PDCCH candidate for a corresponding CCE aggregation level, so that the UE can interpret the contents of the second-stage DCI format or reduce a number of PDCCH receptions, UE can be provided information for multi-cell scheduling of multiple PDSCHs/PDCCHs on multiple respective cells using a multi-stage DCI method, such as a 2-stage DCI wherein a first-stage DCI format includes a set of cell-common fields, and a second-stage DCI format includes cell-specific fields, [0293]: note based on the second-stage DCI format, the UE can interpret the cell-specific fields of the second-stage DCI).
Jazi is silent on the indication of the association comprising configuration information specifying a same identifier for the first-stage DCI and the
second-stage DCI.
Gong teaches the indication of the association comprising configuration information specifying a same identifier for the first DCI and the second DCI (configuration parameters, the first DCI and the second DCI are associated with a same UE identifier (ID), claim 1).
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 the system of Jazi by the indication of the association comprising configuration information specifying a same identifier for the first-stage DCI and the second-stage DCI, as shown by Gong. This modification would benefit the system by facilitating the association of the first and second stage DCIs.
Regarding claim 2, 18, 23, 29, comprises at least one of: first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) configuration information that is associated with the first-stage DCI, or second PDCCH configuration information that is associated with the second-stage DCI, and
wherein the one or more processors are further configured to
receive the PDCCH configuration information; or
receive the second PDCCH configuration information (Gong: claim 1).
Regarding claims 11, 26, wherein the association includes a DCI format association ([0293]).
Regarding claim 31, the association comprises the first-stage DCI being based at least in part on a first DCI format and the second-stage DCI being based at least in part on a second DCI format, wherein the DCI format of the first-stage DCI indicates the DCI format of the second-stage DCI (The first-stage DCI format can also indicate a location for a PDCCH providing the second-stage DCI format, such as a PDCCH candidate for a corresponding CCE aggregation level, so that the UE can interpret the contents of the second-stage DCI format or reduce a number of PDCCH receptions, UE can be provided information for multi-cell scheduling of multiple PDSCHs/PDCCHs on multiple respective cells using a multi-stage DCI method, such as a 2-stage DCI wherein a first-stage DCI format includes a set of cell-common fields, and a second-stage DCI format includes cell-specific fields, [0293]).
Claim(s) 9, 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Jazi and Gong as applied to claims 1, 22 above, and further in view of Takeda US 20200359407.
Regarding claim 9, 25, the combination is silent on receive the first-stage DCI in a first carrier; and receive the second-stage DCI in a second carrier.
Takeda teaches receive the first-stage DCI in a first carrier; and receive the second-stage DCI in a second carrier ([0055]).
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 the system of the combination by receive the first-stage DCI in a first carrier; and receive the second-stage DCI in a second carrier, as shown by Takeda. This modification would benefit the system by given the system the flexibility to transmit the two stages on different carriers.
Claim(s) 6, 12, 21, 24, 27, and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination Jazi and Gong as applied to claims 1, 22 above, and further in view of Xu US 20220104245.
Regarding claim 6, 24, the combination is silent on the second-stage DCI is one of multiple second-stage DCIs, and wherein the indication of the association indicates that the first-stage DCI is associated with each second-stage DCI of the multiple second-stage DCIs
Xu teaches the second-stage DCI is one of multiple second-stage DCIs, and wherein the indication of the association indicates that the first-stage DCI is associated with each second-stage DCI of the multiple second-stage DCIs ([0070], First-stage DCI 405 may include resource information or indications for multiple second- stage DCIs, [0134]).
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 the system of the combination by the second-stage DCI is one of multiple second-stage DCIs, and wherein the indication of the association indicates that the first-stage DCI is associated with each second-stage DCI of the multiple second-stage DCIs, as shown by Xu. This modification would benefit the system by enabling the UE to associate the two stages.
Regarding claim 12, 21, 27, 30, receive the first-stage DCI, wherein the first-stage DCI indicates a monitoring occasion
/ “location information” associated with receiving the second- stage DCI; and
receive the second-stage DCI based at least in part on the monitoring occasion (Xu: UE 115 may receive and decode first- stage DCI 405 and may identify, based on the included DCI information, a location for receiving and decoding the second- stage DCIs, [0134]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 7, 8, 10, 13-15, 19, and 20 are 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the amended independent claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RONALD B ABELSON whose telephone number is (571)272-3165. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:30.
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/RONALD B ABELSON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476