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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Claims 1, 4, 5, 8, 11, 12, 15, 18, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xu et al US 20220400433 (hereinafter Xu).
Regarding claim 1, Xu discloses a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system (UE 110, see figs. 1 and 2, [0025]), the UE comprising: a transceiver (225, see fig. 2) configured to receive a first configuration for a discontinuous reception (DRX) of a low power signal (5G NR-RAN schedules always-on OnDurations in DRX cycle for UE, to receive a WUS (~low power), see fig. 3, [0005], [0032], [0037]-[0039], [0042]-[0043], [0045]); and a processor operably coupled to the transceiver (205, see fig. 2, [0030]), the processor configured to determine, based on the first configuration for the DRX: a duration of an ON period associated with the DRX (OnDuration 315, 325, 335, 345, see fig. 3, [0037]-[0039]); a cycle period within which the ON period periodically occurs in time (N, see fig. 3, [0037]-[0038], [0041]-[0042]); and a number of monitoring occasions for the low power signal within the ON period (5G NR-RAN configures and schedules always-on OnDurations in DRX cycle for the UE to receive a WUS (~low power), see fig. 3, [0005], [0032], [0037]-[0039], [0042]-[0043], [0045]); wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive the low power signal based on the monitoring occasions for the low power signal (UE receives the WUS at regularly, scheduled always-on OnDurations, which is at every N cycles, see fig. 3, [0039]-[0042]).
Regarding claims 4, 11, and 18 as applied to claims 1, 8, and 15, Xu further discloses wherein: the transceiver is further configured to receive a second configuration for power domain information of the low power signal, and the power domain information includes a power offset for the low power signal with respect to a reference signal (see [0036], 310, 320, 330, 340).
Regarding claims 5, 12, and 19 as applied to claims 1, 8, and 15, Xu further discloses wherein the processor is further configured to determine a predefined number of resource blocks (RBs) as a bandwidth for the low power signal and a guard band of the bandwidth (see timing fig. 3).
Regarding claim 8, Xu discloses a base station (BS) in a wireless communication system (gNB, see fig. 1, [0027]-[0028]), the BS comprising:
a processor (inherent feature in a gNB, see fig. 1, [0027]-[0028]) configured to determine a first configuration for a discontinuous reception (DRX) of a low power signal (5G NR-RAN schedules always-on OnDurations in DRX cycle for UE, to receive a WUS (~low power), see fig. 3, [0005], [0032], [0037]-[0039], [0042]-[0043], [0045]), wherein the first configuration includes:
a duration of an ON period associated with the DRX (OnDuration 315, 325, 335, 345, see fig. 3, [0037]-[0039]);
a cycle period within which the ON period periodically occurs in time (N, see fig. 3, [0037]-[0038], [0041]-[0042]); and
a number of monitoring occasions for the low power signal within the ON period; and a transceiver operably coupled to the processor (transmitting a schedule and WUS to the UE, indicating transmitter; bi-directional arrow in fig. 1, indicates transmitting and receiving by the gNB, see claim 13, fig. 1, [0027]-[0028], [0036], [0039]), the transceiver configured to:
transmit the first configuration for the DRX of the low power signal (5G NR-RAN schedules always-on OnDurations in DRX cycle for UE, to receive a WUS (~low power), see fig. 3, [0005], [0032], [0037]-[0039], [0042]-[0043], [0045]); and
transmit the low power signal based on the first configuration (UE receives the WUS at regularly, scheduled always-on OnDurations, which is at every N cycles, see fig. 3, [0039]-[0042]).
Regarding claim 15, Xu discloses a method of a user equipment (UE) (UE 110, see figs. 1 and 2, [0025]) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
receiving a first configuration for a discontinuous reception (DRX) of a low power signal (5G NR-RAN schedules always-on OnDurations in DRX cycle for UE, to receive a WUS (~low power), see fig. 3, [0005], [0032], [0037]-[0039], [0042]-[0043], [0045]);
determining, based on the first configuration for the DRX:
a duration of an ON period associated with the DRX (OnDuration 315, 325, 335, 345, see fig. 3, [0037]-[0039]);
a cycle period within which the ON period periodically occurs in time (N, see fig. 3, [0037]-[0038], [0041]-[0042]); and
a number of monitoring occasions for the low power signal within the ON period (transmitting a schedule and WUS to the UE, indicating transmitter; bi-directional arrow in fig. 1, indicates transmitting and receiving by the gNB, see claim 13, fig. 1, [0027]-[0028], [0036], [0039]); and
receiving the low power signal based on the monitoring occasions for the low power signal (UE receives the WUS at regularly, scheduled always-on OnDurations, which is at every N cycles, see fig. 3, [0039]-[0042]).
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Claims 2, 9, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al US 20220400433 (hereinafter Xu) in view of Manolakos et al US 20250393097 (hereinafter Manolakos).
Regarding claims 2, 9, and 16 as applied to claims 1, 8, and 15, Xu discloses the claimed invention except wherein the first configuration for the DRX of the low power signal are included in at least one of a system information block and a dedicated radio resource control (RRC) parameter. In the same field of endeavor, Manolakos discloses a configuration for the DRX of the low power signal included in at least one of a system information block and a dedicated radio resource control (RRC) parameter (see [0099]).
It would therefore have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Manolakos with Xu, with a reasonable expectation of success, by transmitting a DRX configuration to a UE via a dedicated RRC, for the benefit of providing inactivity periods for a UE to go into a sleep state and thus save power.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 6, 7, 10, 13, 14, 17, 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hu et al US 20260013001 discloses methods and apparatuses for positioning for a user equipment (UE) configured with discontinuous reception (DRX)
Xiang et al US 20250220770 discloses a base station sends a default DRX configuration of a network to the UE by using a system information block type 1 (SIB1).
Li et al US 20220070965 discloses sidelink DRX for quality of service and power saving.
Ang et al US 20200221384 discloses a UE includes receiving a WUS from a base station while performing a DRX cycle, the WUS indicating data for transmission to the UE.
Lin et al US 10,652,826 discloses UE comprises a transceiver configured to receive, from a serving cell, a set of configurations and receive, from the serving cell, a power saving signal (PoSS) over a first downlink channel based on the received set of configurations.
Ohara US 12,414,191 discloses A terminal comprising: a receiver configured to receive a parameter related to a DRX (Discontinuous reception) from a base station; and a processor configured to control an operation of the DRX for each of a plurality of component carriers, based on the parameter and a subcarrier spacing applied to the component carrier.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLUMIDE T AJIBADE AKONAI whose telephone number is (571)272-6496. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-4PM.
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/OLUMIDE AJIBADE AKONAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3648