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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 4 March 2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment, filed 4 March 2026, has been entered and carefully considered.
Claims 1-52 are cancelled.
Claims 53, 62 and 71 are amended.
Claims 54, 58, 59, 63, 67 and 68 are canceled.
Claims 53, 55-57, 60-62, 64-66 and 69-71 are currently pending.
The outstanding rejection of Claims 53, 55-57, 60-62, 64-66 and 69-71 under 35 U.S.C. 103 is withdrawn in light of Applicant’s amendment to Claims 53, 62 and 71.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 53, 62 and 71 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 53, 55, 56, 61, 62, 64, 65, 70 and 71 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun et al (United States Pre-Grant Publication 2022/0272732), hereinafter Sun, in view of Nam et al (United States Pre-Grant Publication 2023/0141557), hereinafter Nam, and He (United States Pre-Grant Publication 2023/0097949).
Regarding Claim 62, Sun discloses an apparatus (Figure 24 and paragraph 0413 – entity 2400 may be a UE), comprising:
at least one processor (Figure 24, processor 2401); and
at least one memory comprising computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor to cause the apparatus at least to (Figure 24, memory 2402 stores program 2403 executed by processor 2401 – refer to paragraph 0415):
determine that a search space relates to a subcarrier spacing and to multi-slot physical downlink control channel monitoring (Figure 5 and paragraph 0169 – the base station configures search spaces for the UE, with each search space comprising multiple slots whose symbols can be PDCCH monitoring occasions);
receive a configuration for a number of X slots in a slot group and a number of Y slots with monitoring occasions, and a location of Y slots within a slot group of X slots (Figure 6 and paragraphs 0172-0173 – resource allocation information is received; Figure 5 and paragraph 0169 – the base station configures search spaces for the UE comprising a number of slots and PDCCH monitoring occasions);
receive a first configuration for a given physical downlink control channel search space, wherein the first configuration comprises indicated values of a search space monitoring periodicity and values of an offset (Figure 5 and paragraph 0169 – the base station configures search spaces for the UE comprising period values (e.g., 40 or 80 slots) and offset (e.g., 0 or 10));
monitor a physical downlink control channel corresponding to the search space based on values of X and Y (paragraph 0017 – PDCCH monitoring may be performed; Figure 5 and paragraph 0169 – the base station configures PDCCH monitoring occasions for the UE as part of the search space configuration (which includes number of slots and monitoring occasions),
wherein X corresponds to a slot group size of 4 slots for a subcarrier spacing of 480 kHz, and 8 slots for a subcarrier spacing of 960 kHz (paragraph 0264 at Table 2 – 4 slots for 480kHz subcarrier spacing and 8 slots for 960kHz subcarrier spacing).
However, Sun does not disclose determining, in response to the configuration, valid physical downlink control channel candidates based on a capability of the apparatus. In an analogous art, Nam discloses this. Specifically, Nam discloses the UE determining a total number of slots for PDCCH monitoring based on a search space set configuration (paragraphs 0078-0079). Further, the UE may reduce the number of monitored PDCCH candidates in order to match the UE capability (paragraph 0081). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Sun and Nam. One would have been motivated to do so in order to improve reliability of communications to the UE and allow for predictable UE behavior (refer to paragraphs 0021-0022 of Nam).
While Sun discloses determining a slot offset of the search space monitoring (Figure 5 and paragraph 0169 – the base station configures search spaces for the UE comprising offset values (e.g., 0 or 10)), the aforementioned references do not disclose the slot offset is restricted to an upper limit value corresponding to a maximum slot offset in case of subcarrier spacing of 120 KHz, and wherein the maximum slot offset has a value of 2560. In an analogous art, He discloses this. Specifically, He discloses a PDCCH search space set where the subcarrier spacing can be configured to be 120kHz (paragraph 0044 and Table 1) and the cycle of monitor slots and offset within the cycle has a maximum value of 2560 slots (paragraphs 0051 and 0054). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Sun / Nam and He. One would have been motivated to do so in order to save power in a UE (see paragraph 0003 and 0040 of He).
Claim 53 is a method claim comprising the same steps performed by the apparatus of Claim 62. Therefore, Claim 53 is rejected for the same reasons as presented above for Claim 62.
Claim 71 is directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions stored thereon, which when executed by at least one processor, cause an apparatus at least to perform the same steps as the apparatus of Claim 62. Noting that Sun discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium (Figure 24, memory 2402 stores program 2403 executed by processor 2401 – refer to paragraph 0415), Claim 71 is rejected for the same reasons presented above for Claim 62.
Regarding Claims 55 and 64, Sun discloses the indicated values of search space monitoring periodicity comprise values in a second configuration, wherein the values in the second configuration are divisible by an integer multiple of X (paragraph 0169 – search spaces are configured with period values of 40 or 80, which are divisible by integer multiples of a configured number of slots (e.g., 4 or 8 as disclosed in paragraph 0264 at Table 2)).
Regarding Claims 56 and 65, Sun discloses the indicated values of search space monitoring periodicity comprise values that are integer multiples of values of a second configuration, wherein the integer multiple is X (paragraph 0169 – search spaces are configured with period values of 40 or 80, which are integer multiples of a configured number of slots (e.g., 4 or 8 as disclosed in paragraph 0264 at Table 2)).
Regarding Claims 61 and 70, Sun discloses monitoring occasions outside of the Y slots are classified as invalid monitoring occasions, and monitoring occasions within the Y slots are classified as valid monitoring occasions (Figure 5 and paragraph 0169 – the base station configures PDCCH monitoring occasions for the UE as part of the search space configuration, where symbols within the slots are either classified as SS regions or PDCCH monitoring occasions, where SS regions cannot be crossed such that a PDCCH in a first search space (valid monitoring occasion) crosses into a second search space (invalid monitoring occasion)).
Claims 57, 60, 66, and 69 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun in view of Nam and He, as applied to Claims 53 and 62 above, and further in view of Intel (R1-2111484 – “Discussion on PDCCH monitoring enhancements for extending NR up to 71 GHz”). This reference is already of record, having been provided by Applicant with the IDS filed 6 December 2023.
Regarding Claims 57 and 66, the combination of Sun, Nam and He discloses the limitations of Claims 53 and 62, as described above. However, the aforementioned references do not disclose excluding values of periodicity that are not divisible by an integer multiple of X, and values of periodicity that are not integer multiples of the values in a second configuration. In an analogous art, Intel discloses this. Specifically, Intel discloses configuring monitoringSlotPeriodicityandOffset as a multiple of X slots (page 9, Section 4, proposal 12), thereby excluding periodicity values that are not integer multiples. Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Sun/Nam/He and Intel. One would have been motivated to do so in order to avoid slot misalignment in search spaces (refer to introductory paragraph in Section 4 of Intel).
Regarding Claims 60 and 69, the combination of Sun, Nam and He discloses the limitations of discloses the limitations of Claims 53 and 62, as described above. However, the aforementioned references do not disclose the slot offset is restricted to values that are an integer multiple of X. Specifically, Intel discloses configuring monitoringSlotPeriodicityandOffset as a multiple of X slots (page 9, Section 4, proposal 12), thereby restricting slot offset values to integer multiples. Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Sun/Nam/He and Intel. One would have been motivated to do so in order to avoid slot misalignment in search spaces (refer to introductory paragraph in Section 4 of Intel).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
MolavianJazi et al (United States Pre-Grant Publication 20230057605) discloses a UE counting a number of PDCCH candidates associated with the search space set separately per DCI format size, determining a UE capability and determining a scaled number of PDCCH candidates for a search space (paragraph 0182).
Braun et al (5G NR Physical Downlink Control Channel: Design, Performance and Enhancements) discloses PDCCH processing capabilities of the UE are limited depending on subcarrier spacing (page 3).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW W. CHRISS whose telephone number is (571)272-1774. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8am-4pm ET.
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, Kevin Bates can be reached at (571) 272-3980. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ANDREW W CHRISS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472
Prosecution Insights