DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to the Applicant's arguments and amendments filed on 10 November 2023 in which claims 1-3, 6-7, 12-13, 37, 39, 41-51 are currently pending and claims 4-5, 8-11, 14-36, 38, 40.
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The references listed in the Information Disclosure Statement, filed on 10 November 2023, 09 January 2026, have been considered by the examiner (see attached PTO-1449 form or PTO/SB/08A and 08B forms).
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)(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.
Claims 1-3, 6-7, 12-13, 37, 39, 41-51 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chen et al. (PG Pub US 2022/0312380 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 37, 39, Chen discloses a method, a terminal, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (figs. 1, 2, 14).
monitor a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in M control resource sets (CORESETs), in response to existence of the M CORESETs in overlapping PDCCH monitoring occasions on an active downlink (DL) bandwidth part (BWP) (“the UE 115-a monitors PDCCH candidates 210 in overlapping PDCCH monitoring occasions in multiple CORESETs .. on one or more active downlink BWPs” [0110]) and existence of repeated PDCCHs in PDCCH candidates associated with the M CORESETs, M being an integer greater than or equal to 1 (“the linked PDCCH candidates carry repeats of the same control information” [0079], “the BS 105-a may repeat a same set of coded bits in each of the PDCCH candidate 210-a and the PDCCH candidate 210-b .. link PDCCH candidates 210 in different SS sets (which may be associated with corresponding control resource sets (CORESETs)) for repetition” [0085]).
Regarding claims 2, 41, 47, Chen discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Chen discloses all of the M CORESETs have a same quasi co-location type D (QCL-typeD) property; or there is a CORESET having a different QCL-typeD property among the M CORESETs; or there are CORESETs having a same QCL-typeD property among the M CORESETs (“PDCCH candidates 210 in overlapping PDCCH monitoring occasions in multiple CORESETs that have a same or different QCL-TypeD properties” [0110]).
Regarding claims 3, 42, 48, Chen discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Chen discloses monitor the PDCCH in a first reference CORESET and/or in a CORESET having a same QCL-typeD property as the first reference CORESET, wherein the first reference CORESET is one CORESET among the M CORESETs; or monitor the PDCCH in a second reference CORESET and/or in a CORESET having a same QCL-typeD property as the second reference CORESET, and monitoring, by the terminal, the PDCCH in a third reference CORESET and/or in a CORESET having a same QCL-typeD property as the third reference CORESET, wherein the second reference CORESET is one CORESET among the M CORESETs, the third reference CORESET is one CORESET among the M CORESETs, and the second reference CORESET has a different QCL-typeD property from the third reference CORESET (“the UE 115-a may select a CORESET in accordance with a priority rule and the UE 115-a may monitor for PDCCH candidates 210 in the CORESET and in any CORESET that has the same QCL-TypeD properties as the selected CORESET” [0111], “the UE 115-a may monitor PDCCH candidates 210 in a first CORESET, and any other CORESET from the multiple CORESETs having same QCL-TypeD properties as the first CORESET” [0110]).
Regarding claims 6, 43, 49, Chen discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Chen discloses in response to existence of a cell having a CORESET associated with a CSS in a first cell set in the overlapping PDCCH monitoring occasions on the active DL BWP, the second reference CORESET is: a CORESET that belongs to a cell with a lowest index among the cell having the CORESET associated with a CSS in the first cell set, and is associated with a CSS with a lowest index, wherein the first cell set comprises: cells corresponding to the M CORESETs (“the first CORESET may correspond to a CSS set with a lowest index in the cell with the lowest index containing CSS” [0111]).
Regarding claims 7, 44, 50, Chen discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Chen discloses in response to absence of a cell having a CORESET associated with a CSS in a first cell set in the overlapping PDCCH monitoring occasions on the active DL BWP, the second reference CORESET is: a CORESET that belongs to a cell with a lowest index among a cell having a CORESET associated with a USS in the first cell set, and is associated with a USS with a lowest index (“the first CORESET may correspond to a USS set with a lowest index in the cell with a lowest index .. Such a priority rule may be with respect to, firstly, whether the CORESET corresponds to a CSS set (associated with a relatively higher priority) or a USS set (associated with a relatively lower priority) and, secondly, to component carrier or serving cell index (in which a lowest index has a highest priority) and, thirdly, to SS set index (in which a lowest index has a highest priority)” [0111]).
Regarding claims 12, 45, 51, Chen discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Chen discloses in response to existence of the CORESET having the same QCL-typeD property as the second reference CORESET in a CORESET associated with PDCCH repetitions among the M CORESETs, and in response to existence of the CORESET associated with a CSS in a fourth CORESET, the third reference CORESET is: a CORESET that belongs to a cell with a lowest index among a cell to which the CORESET associated with a CSS in the fourth CORESET belongs, and belongs to the fourth CORESET and is associated with a CSS with a lowest index, wherein the fourth CORESET comprises: a CORESET having a different QCL-typeD property from the second reference CORESET in a CORESET associated with the CORESET having the same QCL-typeD property as the second reference CORESET among the M CORESETs; or the fourth CORESET comprises: a CORESET having a different QCL-typeD property from the second reference CORESET in the CORESET associated with PDCCH repetitions among the M CORESETs (“the UE 115-a monitors PDCCH candidates 210 in overlapping PDCCH monitoring occasions in multiple CORESETs that have a same or different QCL-TypeD properties on one or more active downlink BWPs of one or more cells, the UE 115-a may monitor PDCCH candidates 210 in a first CORESET, and any other CORESET from the multiple CORESETs having same QCL-TypeD properties as the first CORESET, on the active downlink BWP of a cell from the one or more cells” [0110]).
Regarding claims 13, 46, Chen discloses everything claimed as applied above. in response to existence of the CORESET having the same QCL-typeD property as the second reference CORESET in a CORESET associated with PDCCH repetitions among the M CORESETs, and in response to absence of the CORESET associated with a CSS in a fourth CORESET, the third reference CORESET is: a CORESET that belongs to a cell with a lowest index among a cell to which a CORESET associated with a USS in the fourth CORESET belongs, and belongs to the fourth CORESET and is associated with a USS with a lowest index (“the first CORESET may correspond to a USS set with a lowest index in the cell with a lowest index .. Such a priority rule may be with respect to, firstly, whether the CORESET corresponds to a CSS set (associated with a relatively higher priority) or a USS set (associated with a relatively lower priority) and, secondly, to component carrier or serving cell index (in which a lowest index has a highest priority) and, thirdly, to SS set index (in which a lowest index has a highest priority)” [0111]).
Conclusion
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/CHRISTINE T DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462 01/22/2026