DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to application filed on 09 January 2024. Claims 1-15 are now pending in the present application. This office action is made Non-Final.
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 information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on
09 January 2024
are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal et al. (hereinafter Agiwal) (US 2021/0013949 A1) in view of further support by Apple (hereinafter Apple-3GPP) (“Views of Rel-17 DSS SCell scheduling PCell”; R1-2103126).
Regarding claims 1, 6, 10, and 14, Agiwal discloses a method performed by a terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
receiving, from a base station (e.g., gNB), configuration information on a special cell (SpCell) { (see pg. 3, [0016-0017]; Fig. 4), where the system provides configuration information (see pg. 4, [0030]; pg. 3, [0015]) };
transmitting, to the SpCell, a random access preamble { (see pg. 7, [0085]; pg. 8, [0088]; Fig. 4 ‘ref. 410’), where the system a provides a preamble };
receiving, from the SpCell, a random access response (e.g., RAR) as a response to the random access preamble { (see pg. 7, [0086]; pg. 8, [0088]; Fig. 4 ‘ref. 420’), where the system a provides a RAR };
transmitting, to the SpCell, a message 3 (Msg3) based on the random access response { (see pg. 8, [0088]; Fig. 4 ‘ref. 420 & 430’) }. Agiwal does not specifically disclose having the feature(s) in case that the configuration information comprises information indicating that scheduling information for the SpCell is transmitted on a secondary cell (SCell), receiving, from the SCell, a PDCCH for the SpCell as a response to the Msg3. However, the examiner maintains that the feature(s) in case that the configuration information comprises information indicating that scheduling information for the SpCell is transmitted on a secondary cell (SCell), receiving, from the SCell, a PDCCH for the SpCell as a response to the Msg3 was well known in the art, as taught by Apple-3GPP.
In the same field of endeavor, Apple-3GPP discloses the feature(s) in case that the configuration information comprises information indicating that scheduling information for the SpCell is transmitted on a secondary cell (SCell), receiving, from the SCell, a PDCCH for the SpCell as a response to the Msg3 { (see pp. 1-2, section 1; pp. 5-6, section 3), where the system provides SCell to schedule the SpCell }.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Agiwal as further supported by Apple-3GPP to have the feature(s) in case that the configuration information comprises information indicating that scheduling information for the SpCell is transmitted on a secondary cell (SCell), receiving, from the SCell, a PDCCH for the SpCell as a response to the Msg3, in order to reduce the unnecessary impact on the UE implementation, as taught by Apple-3GPP (see pg. 5, section 3).
Regarding claims 2 and 7, the combination of Agiwal and Apple-3GPP discloses every limitation claimed, as applied above (see claim 1), in addition Agiwal further discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: in case that the configuration information does not comprise the information indicating that scheduling information for the SpCell is transmitted on the SCell, receiving, from the SpCell, a PDCCH for the SpCell as a response to the Msg3 { (see pg. 4, [0030]; pg. 3, [0016-0017]; pg. 7, [0085]; pg. 8, [0088]; Fig. 4) }.
Regarding claims 3 and 12, the combination of Agiwal and Apple-3GPP discloses every limitation claimed, as applied above (see claim 1), in addition Agiwal further discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: starting a contention resolution timer in case that the Msg3 is transmitted, and wherein the PDCCH is received during the contention resolution timer is running { (see pg. 3, [0016-0017]; pg. 7, [0085]; pg. 8, [0088]; Fig. 4) }.
Regarding claims 4 and 8, the combination of Agiwal and Apple-3GPP discloses every limitation claimed, as applied above (see claim 1), in addition Agiwal further discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: in case that the random access preamble is for 2 step random access procedure and the configuration information comprises the information indicating that scheduling information for the SpCell is transmitted on the SCell, receiving, from the SCell, a PDCCH for the SpCell, as a response to the random access preamble { (see pg. 3, [0016-0017]; pg. 7, [0085]; pg. 8, [0088]; Fig. 4) }.
Regarding claims 5, 9, and 13, the combination of Agiwal and Apple-3GPP discloses every limitation claimed, as applied above (see claim 1), in addition Agiwal further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the information indicating that scheduling information for the SpCell is transmitted on the SCell comprises at least one of indication indicating whether the scheduling information for the SpCell is transmitted on the SCell, or identifier of the SCell { (see pg. 4, [0030]; pg. 3, [0016-0017]; pg. 7, [0085]; pg. 8, [0088]; Fig. 4) }.
Regarding claim 11, the claim as applied to claim ?? is rejected for the same reasons as set forth above in the rejections of claims 2 and 4.
Regarding claim 15, the claim as applied to claim ?? is rejected for the same reasons as set forth above in the rejections of claims 2, 4, and 5.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Shih et al. (US 2019/0182870 A1) discloses method and apparatus of handling BWP inactivity timer during random access procedure in a wireless communication system.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIE J DANIEL JR whose telephone number is (571)272-7907. The examiner can normally be reached on 9 - 6.
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/WILLIE J DANIEL JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
WJD,Jr
19 December 2025