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
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 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)(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.
(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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 7 11-14 16, 17, 19-23, 27, 28 and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) or (a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang et al. (U.S. 2022/0225151), hereinafter Zhang.
With respect to Claim 1, Zhang teaches a user equipment (UE), comprising:
one or more memories storing processor-executable code (¶ 0477, “Moreover, this application may use a form of a computer program product that is implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to a disk memory, a CD-ROM, an optical memory, and the like) that include computer usable program code.”) and
one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code (¶ 0477, “Moreover, this application may use a form of a computer program product that is implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to a disk memory, a CD-ROM, an optical memory, and the like) that include computer usable program code.”) to cause the UE to:
receive a configuration for communicating with a network entity, wherein the configuration indicates a connected-mode discontinuous reception cycle, wherein each cycle includes a discontinuous reception active time period and a discontinuous reception inactive time period (¶ 0394, “The network device configures the cycle of the specific on-duration.”)
receive control information that configures a wake up signal (WUS) window for reception of a WUS, wherein reception of the WUS is in accordance with timing that is based on a WUS reference signal (¶ 0401, “The network device configures that if M consecutive WUS monitoring occasion sets all indicate non wake-up of the UE, an on-duration of a first DRX cycle after a DRX cycle in which the M consecutive WUS monitoring occasion sets indicate that the UE does not need to be woken up is the specific on-duration.”);
receive the WUS or the WUS reference signal during the WUS window (¶ 0405, “If the WUS indicates non wake-up of the UE in the specific on-duration, the UE assumes that a reference signal resource that is definitely transmitted is a configured periodic reference signal resource.”) ; and
transmit an uplink control signal prior to or at a beginning of a subsequent discontinuous reception active time period based at least in part on reception of the WUS or of the WUS reference signal (¶ 0051, “In a possible design, the apparatus further includes a transmission unit, which may be configured to: report a measurement result to a network side before the on-duration or in the on-duration, where the measurement result is obtained by measuring the reference signal;”)
With respect to Claim 2, Zhang teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive a signal enabling periodic reporting of channel information, wherein the channel information comprises a reference signal received power report or a channel state information report or both (¶ 0125, “The reference signal may be measured for a plurality of purposes, for example, for channel quality measurement, or for beam management, or for time-frequency tracking, or for mobility management (for example, radio resource management (RRM)). The UE may transmit a measurement result to the network device for some measurement purposes, for example, report channel state information (CSI).” and ¶ 0148, “Because periodicity of the first time period is designed, it can be ensured that even if the UE is in a long sleep state, the UE can still measure the reference signal periodically and obtain an accurate signal measurement result.”)
With respect to Claim 3, Zhang teaches the UE of claim 2, wherein, to receive the WUS or the WUS reference signal, the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive the WUS during the WUS window, the WUS indicating that the subsequent discontinuous reception active time period is scheduled to be empty, wherein transmitting the uplink control signal is based at least in part on the WUS and the signal enabling periodic reporting of the channel information (¶ 0181, “For example, a WUS monitoring occasion exists before an on-duration at intervals of one on-duration only, and the WUS indicates wake-up or non wake-up in both of two subsequent DRX cycles. The C-DRX cycle is a long DRX cycle.”)
With respect to Claim 7, Zhang teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein, to receive the WUS or the WUS reference signal, the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive the WUS during the WUS window, the WUS indicating that a data transmission is scheduled for the subsequent discontinuous reception active time period (¶ 0020, “or after determining that a WUS signal indicates wake-up of the UE in an on-duration corresponding to the WUS signal.”)
With respect to Claim 11, Zhang teaches the UE of claim 1, Zhang teaches wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive a radio resource control signal configuring a physical uplink control channel for transmitting the uplink control signal prior to or at the beginning of the subsequent discontinuous reception active time period (¶ 0074, “The reporting resource includes at least one of the following several resources: a periodic physical uplink control channel PUCCH resource configured or indicated by the network side, a semi-persistent PUCCH resource that has been activated and has not been deactivated, a semi-persistent physical uplink shared channel PUSCH resource that has been activated and has not been deactivated, and a PUCCH or PUSCH resource that has been configured by radio resource control RRC signaling and has not been released.”)
With respect to Claim 12, Zhang teaches the UE of claim 1, Zhang teaches wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UEto:receive a radio resource control signal configuring a physical uplink control channel for transmitting the uplink control signal during an offset period fromthe beginning of the WUJS window, wherein the offset period is great than a threshold (¶ 0329, “Optionally, the network device configures a time offset between the PUCCH/PUSCH resource and the start time of the on-duration.”)
With respect to Claim 13, Zhang teaches the UE of claim 1, Zhang teaches wherein transmitting the uplink control signal is based at least in part on one or more of a radio resource control signal, a medium access control layer control element, an indication in the WUS, or any combination thereof (¶ 0205, “After the semi-persistent CSI-RS resource is activated by MAC CE signaling, the UE assumes that the semi-persistent CSI-RS resource in the window is definitely transmitted.”)
With respect to claim 14. Zhang teaches a user equipment (UE), comprising:
one or more memories storing processor-executable code (¶ 0477, “Moreover, this application may use a form of a computer program product that is implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to a disk memory, a CD-ROM, an optical memory, and the like) that include computer usable program code.”); and
one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code (¶ 0477, “Moreover, this application may use a form of a computer program product that is implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to a disk memory, a CD-ROM, an optical memory, and the like) that include computer usable program code.”) to cause the UE to:
receive a configuration for communicating with a network entity, wherein the configuration indicates a connected-mode discontinuous reception cycle, wherein each cycle includes a discontinuous reception active time period and a discontinuous reception inactive time period (¶ 0394, “The network device configures the cycle of the specific on-duration.”)
and wherein the discontinuous reception active time period and the discontinuous reception inactive time period each comprises a quantity of channel state information reference signals (¶ 0200, “The configured reference signal resource includes: [0201] (1) a periodic CSI-RS; [0202] (2) a semi-persistent CSI-RS, where the UE can assume that the reference signal resource exists in the window only after a semi-persistent CSI-RS resource set is activated by MAC CE signaling, and the reference signal resource does not exist in the window if the semi-persistent CSI-RS resource is deactivated; or [0203] (3) both a periodic CSI-RS and a semi-persistent CSI-RS.”);
receive control information that configures a wake up signal (WUS) window for reception of a WUS (¶ 0401, “The network device configures that if M consecutive WUS monitoring occasion sets all indicate non wake-up of the UE, an on-duration of a first DRX cycle after a DRX cycle in which the M consecutive WUS monitoring occasion sets indicate that the UE does not need to be woken up is the specific on-duration.”);
receive the WUS during the WUS window (¶ 0405, “If the WUS indicates non wake-up of the UE in the specific on-duration, the UE assumes that a reference signal resource that is definitely transmitted is a configured periodic reference signal resource.”); and
transmit, during a subsequent discontinuous reception active time period and based at least in part on reception of the WUS, one or more channel state information reports corresponding to a subset of the quantity of channel state information reference signals (¶ 0051, “In a possible design, the apparatus further includes a transmission unit, which may be configured to: report a measurement result to a network side before the on-duration or in the on-duration, where the measurement result is obtained by measuring the reference signal;”).
With respect to Claim 16, Zhang teaches the UE of claim 14, wherein the one ormore processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:receive a signal enabling periodic reporting of channel information, wherein the channel information comprises a reference signal received power report or a channel state information report or both (¶ 0125, “The reference signal may be measured for a plurality of purposes, for example, for channel quality measurement, or for beam management, or for time-frequency tracking, or for mobility management (for example, radio resource management (RRM)). The UE may transmit a measurement result to the network device for some measurement purposes, for example, report channel state information (CSI).” and ¶ 0148, “Because periodicity of the first time period is designed, it can be ensured that even if the UE is in a long sleep state, the UE can still measure the reference signal periodically and obtain an accurate signal measurement result.”)
With respect to Claim 17, Zhang teaches the UE of claim 16, wherein: the WUS indicates that the discontinuous reception active time period is scheduled to be empty, and wherein transmitting the one or more channel state information reports is based at least in part on the WUS and the signal enabling periodic reporting of the channel information with a modified channel state information measurement configuration (¶ 0200, “The configured reference signal resource includes: [0201] (1) a periodic CSI-RS; [0202] (2) a semi-persistent CSI-RS, where the UE can assume that the reference signal resource exists in the window only after a semi-persistent CSI-RS resource set is activated by MAC CE signaling, and the reference signal resource does not exist in the window if the semi-persistent CSI-RS resource is deactivated; or [0203] (3) both a periodic CSI-RS and a semi-persistent CSI-RS.”)
With respect to Claim 19, Zhang teaches the UE of claim 14, wherein the one or more channel state information reports corresponds to a first channel state information reference signal included in the subsequent discontinuous reception active time period (¶ 0207, “The configured reference signal resource includes: [0201] (1) a periodic CSI-RS; [0202] (2) a semi-persistent CSI-RS, where the UE can assume that the reference signal resource exists in the window only after a semi-persistent CSI-RS resource set is activated by MAC CE signaling, and the reference signal resource does not exist in the window if the semi-persistent CSI-RS resource is deactivated; or [0203] (3) both a periodic CSI-RS and a semi-persistent CSI-RS.”)
With respect to Claim 20, Zhang teaches the UE of claim 14, wherein transmitting the one or more channel state information reports is based at least in part on one or more of a radio resource control signal, a medium access control layer control element, an indication in the WUS, or any combination thereof (¶ 0205, “After the semi-persistent CSI-RS resource is activated by MAC CE signaling, the UE assumes that the semi-persistent CSI-RS resource in the window is definitely transmitted.”)
With respect to Claims 21-23 and 27, the claim is the network entity that corresponds to the UE of Claims 1-3 and 7.
With respect to Claims 28 and 30, the claim is the network entity that corresponds to the UE of Claims 14 and 16.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 4, 8-10 and 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (U.S. 2022/0225151), hereinafter Zhang, in view of Hao et al. (US 2023/0247623), hereinafter Hao.
With respect to Claim 4, Zhang teaches the UE of claim 1, Zhang fails to teach wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: monitor for the WUS reference signal comprising a demodulation reference signal for link quality measurement; and measure one or more channel parameters based at least in part on the demodulation reference signal.
Hao teaches wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: monitor for the WUS reference signal comprising a demodulation reference signal for link quality measurement; and measure one or more channel parameters based at least in part on the demodulation reference signal. (¶ 0140, “The UE 104 may measure the PDSCH 520 and DMRS to determine the CSI including the CQI or a corresponding MCS.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Hao with the invention of Zhang in order to use the DMRS to make measurements in the system of Hao as the DM-RS are used for beamforming and it would be obvious to measure them and make decisions from them for the same purposes as CSI-RS as they are available in the 3GPP system.
With respect to Claim 8, Zhang teaches the the UE of claim 7, Zhang fails to teach wherein the uplink control signal is transmitted to report channel information based at least in part on a WUS demodulation reference signal, which is used to select a modulation and coding scheme of the data transmission in the subsequent discontinuous reception active time period.
Hao teaches the uplink control signal is transmitted to report channel information based at least in part on a WUS demodulation reference signal, which is used to select a modulation and coding scheme of the data transmission in the subsequent discontinuous reception active time period. (¶ 0198, “The scheduling component 122 may determine a MCS for the PDSCH/DMRS 520 based on the CQI, RI, and/or PMI.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Hao with the invention of Zhang in order to use the DMRS to make measurements in the system of Hao as the DM-RS are used for beamforming and it would be obvious to measure them and make decisions from them for the same purposes as CSI-RS as they are available in the 3GPP system.
With respect to Claim 9. The UE of claim 1, Zhang teaches wherein the WUS is not received in the WUS window (¶ 0122, “Based on different functions, power saving signals are classified into wake-up signals (WUS) and go-to-sleep (go-to-sleep, GTS) signals. (1) If a power saving signal indicates a wake-up (wake-up) function, it represents a wake-up signal (WUS), also referred to as a PDCCH-based wake-up signal (PDCCH-WUS), and the UE may determine, based on whether the WUS is detected, whether the UE is to be woken up in a corresponding on-duration to enter the active state. As shown in FIG. 3, if the WUS is detected, the UE starts the DRX-on duration timer, and is woken up in the on-duration of the DRX cycle, to enter the active state and monitor the PDCCH. If the WUS is not detected, the UE does not start the DRX-on duration timer, that is, the UE does not need to be woken up in the DRX cycle”)
Zhang fails to teach wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: monitor for the WUS reference signal comprising a demodulation reference signal during the WUS window,
Hao teaches the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: monitor for the WUS reference signal comprising a demodulation reference signal during the WUS window(¶ 0140, “The UE 104 may measure the PDSCH 520 and DMRS to determine the CSI including the CQI or a corresponding MCS.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Hao with the invention of Zhang in order to use the DMRS to make measurements in the system of Hao as the DM-RS are used for beamforming and it would be obvious to measure them and make decisions from them for the same purposes as CSI-RS as they are available in the 3GPP system.
With respect to Claim 10, Zhang in view of Hao teaches the UE of claim 9, Zhang in view of
Hao fails to explicitly teach wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: measure a link quality based at least in parton the demodulation reference signal, wherein transmitting the uplinkcontrol signal is based at least in part on the link quality satisfying a threshold.
Yang teaches the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: monitor for the WUS reference signal comprising a demodulation reference signal during the WUS window (¶ 0116, “In one aspect, method 800 further includes detecting, after skipping CSI reporting, that CSI measurements over multiple CSI report instances have changed more than the threshold amount.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Yang with the invention of Zhang to report the CSI based on the channel conditions in order to reduce reporting overhead.
With respect to Claim 24, the claim is the network entity that corresponds to the UE of Claim 4.
Claim(s) 5, 6, 25 and 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (U.S. 2022/0225151), hereinafter Zhang, in view of Hao et al. (US 2023/0247623), hereinafter Hao, in view of Yang et al. (U.S. 2023/0412232), hereinafter Yang
With respect to Claim 5, Zhang teaches the UE of claim 4, wherein transmitting the uplink control signal is based at least in part on the one or more channel parameters being greater than a threshold.
Yang teaches wherein transmitting the uplink control signal is based at least in part on the one or more channel parameters being greater than a threshold (¶ 0116, “In one aspect, method 800 further includes detecting, after skipping CSI reporting, that CSI measurements over multiple CSI report instances have changed more than the threshold amount.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Yang with the invention of Zhang to report the CSI based on the channel conditions in order to reduce reporting overhead.
With respect to Claim 6, Zhang teaches the UE of claim 4, wherein transmitting the uplink control signal is based at least in part on a difference in two subsequent measurements of the one or more channel parameters satisfying a threshold.
Yang teaches wherein transmitting the uplink control signal is based at least in part on a difference in two subsequent measurements of the one or more channel parameters satisfying a threshold (¶ 0116, “In one aspect, method 800 further includes detecting, after skipping CSI reporting, that CSI measurements over multiple CSI report instances have changed more than the threshold amount.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Yang with the invention of Zhang to report the CSI based on the channel conditions in order to reduce reporting overhead.
With respect to Claims 25 and 26, the claim is the network entity that corresponds to the UE of Claim 5 and 6.
.
Claim(s) 15 and 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (U.S. 2022/0225151), hereinafter Zhang, in view of Li et al. (U.S. 2023/0143590), hereinafter Li.
With respect to Claim 15, Zhang teaches the UE of claim 14, Zhang fails to explicitly teach wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive a modified channel state information measurement configuration for the discontinuous reception inactive time period based at least in part on a UE assistance information.
Li teaches wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive a modified channel state information measurement configuration for the discontinuous reception inactive time period based at least in part on a UE assistance information (¶ 0168-0172, “However, the UE 960 may for instance also report an assistance information including a suggestion for a TRS/CSI-RS density or a suggested RS density.t”
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Zhang with the invention of Li to allow the system of Zhang to adjust the amount of reference signals to reduce power consumption by the base station.
With respect to Claims 29, the claim is the network entity that corresponds to the UE of Claim 16.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang.
Zhang et al. (U.S. 2022/0225151), hereinafter Zhang, in view of Roy et al (U.S. 2020/0107373), hereinafter Roy.
With respect to Claim 18, Zhang teaches the UE of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: identify a channel state information measurement periodicity for the discontinuous reception active time period; and modify the channel state information measurement periodicity based at least in part on a scaling factor for the discontinuous reception inactive time period, wherein transmitting the one or more channel state information reports is in accordance with the modified channel state information measurement periodicity.
Roy teaches wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: identify a channel state information measurement periodicity for the discontinuous reception active time period; and modify the channel state information measurement periodicity based at least in part on a scaling factor for the discontinuous reception inactive time period, wherein transmitting the one or more channel state information reports is in accordance with the modified channel state information measurement periodicity (¶ 0355, “The eNB may decrease (e.g., may temporarily decrease) the monitoring paging cycle period by a factor of two with respect to the default paging cycle (e.g., for the next DRX cycle) for the WTRUs that may need to be paged during the PO. The WTRU may determine that there is interference on the channel, for example, because the WTRU did not receive reference signals from the eNB. The WTRU may decrease the monitoring paging cycle by a factor of two with respect to the default/configured paging cycle (e.g., for the next DRX cycle) and/or may go to sleep.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Zhang with the invention of Roy to scale the window of the paged based on the UE receiving the not receiving the CSI-RS or the WUS in order to improve performance of the UE in the system of Zhang
Conclusion
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/ANGELA NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2446