DETAILED OFFICE 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 .
This action is responsive to the communication received March 9th, 2026. Claims 1-24 have been withdrawn. Claims 25-30 have been entered and are presented for examination.
Application 18/464,980 has US Provisional Application 63/382,239 11/03/2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 26th, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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)(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) 25-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Li et al. (US 2025/0227718).
Regarding claims 25, 28, Li et al. discloses a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring configuration (paragraph 0190 [generating a downlink control information (DCI) configuration message to the UE to configure the UE to monitor, on the scheduling cell, for the DCI format for multi-cell scheduling]),
the PDCCH monitoring configuration being associated with a set of downlink control information (DCI) formats for monitoring on a set of component carriers (see Figure 5 and paragraphs 0085-0086, 0141, 0189 [a DCI is used to schedule PDSCH or PUSCH transmissions in more than one cell or component carrier (CC), where each PDSCH or PUSCH is scheduled in one cell or CC; DCI sizes configured to monitor; wherein the DCI format for multi-cell scheduling corresponds to one of format 0_3 or 1_3]);
and monitoring, on the set of component carriers, for a set of DCIs (paragraph 0091 [the DCIs for multi-cell scheduling may be transmitted in one or more scheduling cells])
wherein a first payload of a first DCI format, of the set of DCI formats, for a set of cells for multi-cell downlink scheduling is aligned with a second payload of a second DCI format, of the set of DCI formats, for the set of cells, wherein the first payload is aligned with the second payload in association with a quantity of sizes in the PDCCH monitoring configuration exceeding a threshold (paragraphs 0137, 0143, 0145 [the DCI format for multi-cell scheduling is DCI format 0_3 or 1_3. If the number of sizes of DCI format for a cell exceeds the maximum numbers (M, N) of the cell, DCI size alignment is performed until the resulting number of DCI sizes do not exceed (M, N); if the number of DCI sizes still exceeds the maximum numbers (M, N) of a cell after doing the DCI size alignment in Section 7.3.1.0 of TS 38.212 and the size alignment of DCI format 0_3 and 1_3, the sizes of DCI format 0_1, 1_1, 0_3 & 1_3 are adjusted for alignment; a number of zero padding bits are generated for the DCI format 0_3 until the payload size equals that of the DCI format 1_3]).
Regarding claims 26, 29, Li et al. discloses all the recited subject matter in claims 25,28 and further discloses wherein first DCI format is DCI format 13 and the second DCI format is DCI format 03 (paragraph 0145 [the size alignment of DCI format 0_3 and 1_3, the sizes of DCI format 0_1, 1_1, 0_3 & 1_3 are adjusted for alignment]).
Regarding claims 27, 30, Li et al. discloses all the recited subject matter in claims 25,28 and further discloses aligning sizes of the first DCI format and the second DCI format to align the first payload with the second payload (paragraph 0141 [If the number of information bits in the DCI format 0_3 prior to padding is less than the payload size of the DCI format 1_3 for scheduling the same serving cell, a number of zero padding bits are generated for the DCI format 0_3 until the payload size equals that of the DCI format 1_3]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER T WYLLIE whose telephone number is (571)270-3937. The examiner can normally be reached 4pm-11:30pm. 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, Ayman Abaza can be reached at (571)270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER T WYLLIE/Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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