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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicants’ arguments filed on 19 July 2026 have been fully considered but they are not deemed to be persuasive.
By the amendment filed 19 July 2026, claims 21, 23, 26, 27, and 30 have been amended.
Claims 21-30 are now pending.
Claims 21-30 are rejected.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments concerning claims 21 and 30 have been considered but are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Wu discloses only conventional UE-specific DRX and does not disclose a cell-specific discontinuous PDCCH monitoring operation. The rejection, however, does not rely solely upon the background discussion in Wu paragraph [0161]. Wu expressly discloses adaptively activating PDCCH monitoring on one or more PDCCH search spaces for a specified duration based on a MAC CE, DCI, or activation signal, and expressly describes such monitoring with respect to “this serving cell” (Wu ¶¶[0255]–[0262]). Thus, Wu’s adaptively activated PDCCH monitoring constitutes a discontinuous PDCCH monitoring operation activated for a serving cell. Claim 21 does not require the operation to be denominated “DRX2” or to possess every implementation detail attributed to DRX2 in Applicant’s specification. Wu expressly discusses PDCCH monitoring on a serving-cell basis and even allows adaptively activated monitoring to continue during the non-active time of conventional DRX. (Google Patents)
Applicant further argues that Wu does not disclose a first timer defining the active period of the cell-specific discontinuous PDCCH monitoring operation. Wu discloses a first timer whose length defines a duration during which PDCCH monitoring is performed and after expiration of which the remaining PDCCH monitoring is skipped. Wu further discloses starting the timer at the beginning of each period of the applicable PDCCH search space and starting or restarting it upon receipt of scheduling DCI (Wu ¶¶[0263]–[0270]). Accordingly, while the timer is running, it defines the period during which the applicable PDCCH monitoring remains active; expiration of the timer causes the remaining monitoring to be skipped. The claimed “defines an active period” does not require the timer to bear the particular name drx2-onDurationTimer. (Google Patents)
Applicant also argues that Kim does not disclose simultaneously overlapping UE-specific and cell-specific DRX operations. This argument is not commensurate with the scope of claims 21 and 30. The claims require monitoring the second identifier during a non-active time of the UE-specific discontinuous reception operation while the first timer is running; they do not require expressly named “DRX1” and “DRX2” cycles or the particular combined-cycle architecture described in Applicant’s specification. Wu teaches that adaptively activated PDCCH monitoring may remain active and be performed during the non-active time of conventional DRX, while Kim teaches monitoring a PS-RNTI during DRX inactive time. The combined teachings therefore provide the claimed temporal relationship.
Applicant’s teaching-away argument is likewise unpersuasive. Although Wu describes one alternative in which PDCCH monitoring stops during DRX non-active time, Wu expressly describes another alternative in which adaptively activated PDCCH monitoring does not comply with the conventional DRX restriction and continues during DRX non-active time. Wu therefore does not criticize, discredit, or discourage the relied-upon arrangement; it expressly teaches it as an alternative embodiment. (Google Patents)
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate Kim’s monitoring of a power-saving identifier during UE-specific DRX non-active time into Wu’s adaptively activated serving-cell PDCCH monitoring operation so that the UE could receive power-saving control information while the serving-cell monitoring operation remains active, thereby supporting efficient wake-up control and reducing unnecessary PDCCH monitoring. The combination applies Kim’s known power-saving signaling according to its established function to Wu’s expressly disclosed monitoring during DRX non-active time and does not require bodily incorporation of either reference’s complete system.
Regarding claims 22 and 27, the arguments are moot in view of the new ground of rejection. Please see the pertinent rejections below.
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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 21, 23–26, and 28–30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (US 2025/0071769 A1) in view of Kim et al. (US 2020/0413412 A1).
Regarding claim 21, Wu discloses a method for performing discontinuous reception (DRX) by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: receiving, from a base station, downlink information. In particular, Wu discloses receiving MAC CE, DCI, RRC signaling, or an activation signal from a base station for controlling or adapting PDCCH monitoring. See Wu ¶¶258–259.
Wu further discloses activating a cell-specific discontinuous PDCCH monitoring operation for a serving cell based on the downlink information. Wu teaches that, based on the received MAC CE, DCI, or activation signal, the UE activates PDCCH monitoring on one or more PDCCH search spaces for a duration. Wu further explains that the operation concerns PDCCH monitoring on a serving cell and that other search spaces or search-space groups may remain unchanged. See Wu ¶¶255–258. Thus, Wu’s separately activated PDCCH-monitoring operation applies to selected search spaces of the serving cell and constitutes a cell-specific discontinuous PDCCH-monitoring operation under the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim.
Wu further discloses starting a first timer at a predetermined time point, wherein the first timer defines an active period of the cell-specific discontinuous PDCCH monitoring operation. Wu teaches starting a first timer at the start location of each period of a PDCCH search space. While the timer runs, the UE continues monitoring the PDCCH search space; when the timer expires, the UE skips the remaining PDCCH monitoring within that period. The timer therefore defines the active PDCCH-monitoring period. Wu additionally teaches starting or restarting the timer upon receiving scheduling DCI having a CRC scrambled by C-RNTI or CS-RNTI. See Wu ¶¶269–270.
To the extent Wu does not expressly describe using the timer of paragraphs 269–270 to define the activated duration of the PDCCH-monitoring operation of paragraphs 255–258, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to use Wu’s disclosed PDCCH-monitoring timer to measure that activated duration. Wu expressly teaches that the activated monitoring persists for a defined duration before the search space returns to a sleeping state and separately teaches a timer for determining when active PDCCH monitoring ends. Using the disclosed timer to implement the disclosed monitoring duration would have been a predictable use of Wu’s timer according to its established timing function, providing a definite beginning and ending for the activated monitoring period.
Wu also discloses conventional UE-specific DRX in which the UE alternates between active and non-active times under the control of DRX timers. See Wu ¶161. Wu further discloses that its separately activated PDCCH monitoring may continue during the non-active time of the conventional DRX operation, regardless of whether the conventional DRX state is active or inactive. See Wu ¶257. Accordingly, Wu teaches concurrent operation of conventional UE-specific DRX and a separately activated PDCCH-monitoring operation.
Wu further discloses that, while the first timer is running, monitoring a first identifier associated with scheduling information during an active time of a UE-specific discontinuous reception operation. Specifically, Wu teaches monitoring scheduling DCI having a CRC scrambled by C-RNTI or CS-RNTI and starting or restarting the first timer when such scheduling DCI is received. See Wu ¶¶269–270. C-RNTI and CS-RNTI are identifiers associated with scheduling information, and conventional PDCCH monitoring of such scheduling DCI occurs during the active time of the UE-specific DRX operation described in Wu ¶161.
Wu does not expressly disclose, in the same embodiment, monitoring a second identifier used for power saving during a non-active time of the UE-specific discontinuous reception operation, wherein the second identifier is different from the first identifier.
Kim, however, teaches that a terminal monitors a PDCCH during DRX inactive time in a search space configured for a DCI format scrambled by a PS-RNTI, where the PS-RNTI is an RNTI used for power saving. See Kim ¶193. Kim further discloses different search spaces for the different DRX intervals: a first search space monitored during DRX active time and a second search space configured to monitor DCI scrambled by PS-RNTI during DRX inactive time. See Kim ¶287. Kim’s PS-RNTI is different from Wu’s scheduling C-RNTI or CS-RNTI.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Wu’s UE to monitor Kim’s PS-RNTI during the non-active time of Wu’s UE-specific DRX operation while monitoring Wu’s scheduling C-RNTI or CS-RNTI during the active time. Wu expressly teaches that separately activated PDCCH monitoring may continue during conventional DRX inactive time, and Kim teaches a known identifier and search-space configuration specifically designed for monitoring power-saving information during that inactive time. The combination would predictably enable the UE to receive power-saving control information during UE-specific DRX inactive time while continuing to receive ordinary scheduling information during UE-specific DRX active time, thereby improving power management without preventing necessary control-channel monitoring.
Applicant’s contention that Wu teaches away from monitoring during DRX inactive time is not persuasive. Although Wu ¶256 describes an embodiment in which adaptively started PDCCH monitoring complies with conventional DRX and stops during DRX inactive time, Wu ¶257 expressly describes the alternative in which the separately activated PDCCH monitoring continues during the DRX inactive time. Wu therefore expressly contemplates, rather than discourages, the operation relied upon in the combination.
Accordingly, Wu in view of Kim teaches or suggests every limitation of claim 21.
Regarding claim 23, Wu further discloses wherein: the cell-specific discontinuous PDCCH monitoring operation comprises a periodic pattern having an active period and a non-active period; the first timer defines a duration of the active period; and the predetermined time point is determined based on a cycle and an offset of the periodic pattern (Wu ¶[0161], DRX includes periodic active and inactive time defined by DRX cycle and timers).
Regarding claim 24, Kim further discloses wherein: the first identifier is a Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) used for dynamic scheduling of uplink and downlink data transmission (Kim ¶[0195], monitoring DCI scrambled by C-RNTI for scheduling), and the second identifier is a Power Saving Radio Network Temporary Identifier (PS-RNTI) used for indicating whether to monitor a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) during a next on-duration of the UE-specific discontinuous reception operation (Kim ¶[0193], PS-RNTI used for power saving monitoring).
Regarding claim 25, Kim further discloses wherein: monitoring the first identifier comprises monitoring a PDCCH in a UE-specific search space; and monitoring the second identifier comprises monitoring the PDCCH in a common search space (Kim ¶[0195], UE-specific search space for C-RNTI; ¶[0193], search space for PS-RNTI).
Regarding claim 26, Wu further discloses wherein the active time of the UE-specific discontinuous reception operation includes a time during which at least one of the following timers is running: a second timer for an on-duration of the UE-specific discontinuous reception operation; or an inactivity timer for the UE-specific discontinuous reception operation (Wu ¶[0161], DRX timers including on-duration and inactivity timers define active time).
Regarding claim 28, Kim further discloses wherein monitoring the C-RNTI during the active time comprises: receiving scheduling information for downlink data transmission on a Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH); or receiving scheduling information for uplink data transmission on an Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH) (Kim ¶[0195], scheduling DCI corresponds to DL-SCH and UL-SCH transmission).
Regarding claim 29, Wu further discloses wherein, when the first timer is not running: the second identifier is monitored; and the first identifier is not monitored (Wu ¶[0161], UE ceases scheduling-related monitoring outside active time consistent with DRX operation), and Kim further discloses monitoring of a power-saving identifier during non-active time (Kim ¶[0193]).
Regarding claim 30, Wu discloses a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system comprising a transceiver configured to transmit and receive signals and a processor operably coupled to the transceiver (Wu ¶¶[0139]–[0159]). The processor of Wu is configured to perform the operations discussed above with respect to claim 21, including receiving downlink information from a base station; activating, based on the downlink information, a cell-specific discontinuous PDCCH monitoring operation for a serving cell; starting a first timer at a predetermined time point, wherein the first timer defines an active period of the cell-specific discontinuous PDCCH monitoring operation; and, while the first timer is running, monitoring a first identifier associated with scheduling information during an active time of a UE-specific discontinuous reception operation (Wu ¶¶[0255]–[0270]).
Wu does not expressly disclose, while the first timer is running, monitoring a second identifier used for power saving during a non-active time of the UE-specific discontinuous reception operation, wherein the second identifier is different from the first identifier.
Kim discloses monitoring, during a DRX inactive time, a PDCCH with respect to a search space configured for monitoring DCI scrambled by a power-saving RNTI, such as a PS-RNTI (Kim ¶[0193]). Kim further discloses monitoring DCI scrambled by different identifiers, including a C-RNTI associated with scheduling information and a PS-RNTI used for power-saving signaling (Kim ¶[0195]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to configure the processor of Wu to monitor the different power-saving identifier of Kim during the non-active time of the UE-specific discontinuous reception operation while Wu’s first timer is running, in order to provide power-saving control information and reduce unnecessary PDCCH monitoring while maintaining the adaptively activated serving-cell PDCCH monitoring operation.
Accordingly, claim 30 is unpatentable for the same reasons set forth above with respect to the corresponding method limitations of claim 21.
Claims 22 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (US 2025/0071769 A1) in view of Kim et al. (US 2020/0413412 A1), and further in view of He et al. (US 2022/0210866 A1).
Regarding claim 22, Wu in view of Kim discloses the method of claim 21 but does not expressly disclose that the cell-specific discontinuous PDCCH monitoring operation is controlled using a third identifier exclusively used for controlling the cell-specific discontinuous PDCCH monitoring operation, wherein the third identifier is monitored in a common search space configured for the cell-specific discontinuous PDCCH monitoring operation within a serving-cell configuration.
He et al. disclose a wake-up signal (WUS) that controls whether a UE monitors PDCCH during a subsequent DRX on-duration or remains asleep (¶¶172–175). He et al. further disclose that the WUS may be transmitted using a PDCCH DCI format having a new RNTI that does not schedule PUSCH or PDSCH, and that a search-space set for monitoring the WUS PDCCH is configured by higher layers (¶¶174–176). Thus, the new RNTI constitutes an identifier dedicated to controlling the discontinuous PDCCH monitoring operation rather than scheduling data. He et al. additionally disclose UE-group-common WUS/DCI signaling and the application of such signaling on a serving-cell basis, including serving-cell configuration using ServingCellConfig (¶¶222–225 and 234).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to configure the cell-specific discontinuous PDCCH monitoring operation of Wu, as modified by Kim, to monitor the dedicated WUS identifier of He et al. in a common search space configured on a serving-cell basis, in order to permit efficient group-common control of whether UEs monitor PDCCH during a cell-specific DRX active period, thereby reducing unnecessary PDCCH monitoring and associated power consumption.
Regarding claim 27, the combination of Wu, Kim, and He discloses or suggests all the limitations of claim 22 for the reasons discussed above.
He further discloses that the wake-up signal (WUS) may be transmitted using a PDCCH DCI format having a new Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI), wherein the new RNTI does not schedule PUSCH or PDSCH and instead identifies control signaling that determines whether the UE monitors PDCCH during the subsequent DRX on-duration (He ¶¶[0172]–[0177]). Thus, He’s new RNTI is a dedicated PDCCH-monitoring RNTI used to control discontinuous PDCCH monitoring.
Although He does not expressly denominate the new RNTI as a “cell discontinuous PDCCH monitoring Radio Network Temporary Identifier (D-RNTI),” the claimed designation does not impart a structural distinction beyond the recited function of the identifier. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to designate and configure He’s dedicated WUS RNTI as the D-RNTI for the cell-specific discontinuous PDCCH monitoring operation of Wu, as modified by Kim and He, because doing so would uniquely identify the control signaling that activates or governs PDCCH monitoring for the applicable serving cell, while distinguishing that signaling from data-scheduling signaling. Such use would predictably facilitate reliable identification of cell-specific power-saving control signaling and reduce unnecessary PDCCH monitoring.
Therefore, claim 27 is unpatentable over Wu in view of Kim and further in view of He.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure (see form 892).
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 LUAT T PHUNG whose telephone number is (571)270-3126. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9 AM - 6 PM.
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/Luat Phung/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468
