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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-7, and 9-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by “R1-2205046 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #109e, May 9-20, 2022, Source: Qualcomm Incorporated, Title: Network energy saving techniques” (cited in Applicant’s 03/01/2024 IDS) (hereinafter “Qualcomm”).
As to claim 1 Qualcomm discloses a method comprising:
receiving, by a wireless device and from a base station, one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages (p. 12-13, section 6.1 – Pcell/Scell configuration is performed via RRC messages) indicating:
a first cell for use as a primary cell by the wireless device in a first power state (p. 12; Fig. 17 – CC2 works as Pcell for UE2 in a first power state); and
a second cell for use as the primary cell by the wireless device in a second power state, wherein the second power state is a reduced power state (p. 12; Fig. 17 – CC1 is Pcell for UE2 in a network power savings state, i.e. a reduced power state);
communicating, in the first power state, with the base station via the first cell as the primary cell (p. 12 – communications with the gNB are performed via the first cell in the first power state);
receiving an indication to switch from the first power state to the second power state (p. 12 – an indication is received to perform Pcell switch); and
communicating, based on the indication and in the second power state, with the base station via the second cell as the primary cell (p. 12 – communications with the gNB are performed via the second cell in the second power state).
As to claim 2 Qualcomm discloses that the second cell is configured for use as a common primary cell for a plurality of wireless devices, comprising the wireless device, associated with the base station (p. 12, section 6.1).
As to claim 4 Qualcomm discloses that the second cell is configured for use as a secondary cell by the wireless device in the first power state (p. 12, section 6.1).
As to claim 5 Qualcomm discloses that the one or more RRC messages indicate to configure the second cell as a secondary cell in the first power state and to configure the second cell as the primary cell in the second power state (p. 12-13, section 6.1).
As to claim 6 Qualcomm discloses that the one or more RRC messages indicate: the first cell as the primary cell in the first power state, the second cell as the primary cell in the second power state, and at least one secondary cell different from the second cell (p. 12, section 6.1 – the first cell, which if “different from the second cell,” is secondary cell in the second power state).
As to claim 7 Qualcomm discloses causing the second cell to switch from an inactive state to an active state based on the receiving the indication (p. 12-13, section 6.1, Fig. 18 – dormant second cell will switch to active).
As to claim 9 Qualcomm discloses that the second cell comprises a plurality of BWPs comprising a first BWP and a second BWP, and wherein the method further comprises: activating the first BWP, based on the second cell being configured as a secondary cell, in the first power state; or activating the second BWP, based on the second cell being configured as the primary cell, in the second power state (section 3.1 and 3.2 – dynamic BWP switching is performed. The POSITA would understand that the scope of this disclosure includes that this is performed responsive to the Pcell/Scell switching disclosed in section 6.1).
As to claim 10 Qualcomm discloses that the first cell and the second cell are in a same cell group (p. 12, section 6.1, Fig. 17).
As to claim 11 Qualcomm discloses switching, based on the indication, from communicating with the base station via the first cell as the primary cell communicating with the base station via the second cell as the primary cell (p. 12, section 6.1).
As to claim 12 Qualcomm discloses a method comprising:
receiving, by a wireless device from a base station, one or more messages indicating to configure (p. 12-13, section 6.1 – Pcell/Scell configuration is performed via messages received at the UE):
a first cell as a primary cell for communicating with the base station in a first power state (p. 12; Fig. 17 – CC2 works as Pcell for UE2 in a first power state), and
a second cell as a secondary cell in the first power state or as a primary cell for communicating with the base station in a second power state (p. 12; Fig. 17 – CC1 is Pcell for UE2 in a network power savings state, i.e. a reduced power state)
receiving an indication of a switch from the first power state to the second power state (p. 12 – an indication is received to perform Pcell switch); and
switching, based on the indication of the switch from the first power state to the second power state, the second cell from being configured as a secondary cell to being configured as a primary cell (p. 12, section 6.1 – the second cell CC1 is switched from Scell to Pcell).
As to claim 13 Qualcomm discloses communicating with the base station via the first cell as the primary cell in the first power state; and communicating with the base station via the second cell as the primary cell in the second power state (p. 12 – communications with the gNB are performed via the first cell in the first power state and via the second cell in the second power state).
As to claim 14 Qualcomm discloses that the one or messages comprise one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages (p. 12-13, section 6.1 – Pcell/Scell configuration is performed via RRC messages).
As to claim 15 Qualcomm discloses deactivating, based on the receiving the indication, the first cell as the primary cell (p. 12 and Fig. 17).
As to claim 16 Qualcomm discloses that the indication is received as physical link information (p. 13).
As to claim 17 Qualcomm discloses a method comprising:
sending, by a base station to a plurality of wireless devices, a plurality of radio resource control (RRC) messages (p. 12-13, section 6.1 – Pcell/Scell configuration is performed via the gNB sending RRC messages to UEs) indicating:
a plurality of first cells for use as primary cells by the plurality of wireless devices in a first power state (p. 12; Fig. 17 – CC1 and CC2 are Pcell for UE1 and UE2 in a first power state); and
a second cell for use as a common primary cell by the plurality of wireless devices in a second power state, wherein the second power state is a reduced power state (p. 12; Fig. 17 – CC1 is a common Pcell for UE1 and UE2 in a network power savings state, i.e. a reduced power state);
communicating, in the first power state, with the plurality of wireless devices via the plurality of first cells (p. 12 – gNB communications with the UEs are performed via the first cells in the first power state);
sending, to the plurality of wireless devices, an indication to switch from the first power state to the second power state (p. 12 – an indication is sent to perform Pcell switch); and
communicating, in the second power state, with the plurality of wireless devices via the second cell as the common primary cell (p. 12 – communications with the gNB are performed via the second cell in the second power state).
As to claim 18 Qualcomm discloses deactivating, based on the sending the indication, one or more cells other than the second cell (p. 12, section 6.1, and Fig. 17).
As to claim 19 Qualcomm discloses that the indication comprises group common downlink control information addressed to the plurality of wireless devices (p. 13 – group-common indication is downlink control information that is addressed to the UEs).
As to claim 20 Qualcomm discloses, before the sending the indication, activating the second cell for one or more of the wireless devices (implicit in the disclosure in p. 12-13 that the second cell is activated prior to the switching).
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.
Claims 3 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qualcomm.
As to claim 3 Qualcomm fails to disclose that the indication comprises at least one of: a medium access control control element (MAC CE); or downlink control information. However, official notice is taken that these were well known in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Therefore it would have been obvious to the skilled artisan to modify Qualcomm to utilize these types of indication, the rationale being to utilize and well known and widely used messaging format, thereby simplifying implementation.
As to claim 8 Qualcomm fails to disclose that the indication comprises a bit field set to a first value indicating the switch from the first power state to the second power state. However, official notice is taken that signaling in this manner was well known in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Therefore it would have been obvious to the skilled artisan to modify Qualcomm to communicate the indication to switch between power states using the claimed bit field, the rationale being to reduce signaling overhead.
Conclusion
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/ROBERT J HANCE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992