DETAILED ACTION
1. Claims 1-20 are presented for examination. Claim 1-20 are amended.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 6/15/2026 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
4. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 6/22/2026 have been considered but are based on the new grounds of rejection necessitated by applicant’s amendments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
5. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
6. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
7. Claims 1 and 20 recite the conditional limitation “if.” The use of the conditional term “if” creates ambiguity regarding the scope of the claim. It is unclear whether the subsequent steps or structural features following the term “if” are mandatory limitations that must always be present, or if they are optional features that are only invoked under certain conditions. Claims 2-19 are rejected based upon their dependency of claim 1. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. Claim(s) 1-3, 16-17 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2021/0105856 A1 by RICO ALVARINO et al. (hereafter referred to as RICO ALVARINO), in view of US 2015/0282080 A1 by Maattanen et al. (provided by applicant, hereafter referred to as Maattanen).
Regarding claim 1, RICO ALVARINO teaches A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system (see at least Fig. 3), the method comprising:
receiving a first configuration of a discontinuous reception (DRX) (see at least Fig. 3 (310, 320)), the first configuration including at least one of a first starting position, a first cycle length and a first onDuration length (see at least ¶ [0057]; “For example, the UE-specific DRX cycle parameter set may identify a DRX cycle length (e.g., a value of T) to be used by the UE 120.”);
performing the DRX based on the first configuration (see at least Fig. 3 (330, 340)).
RICO ALVARINO does not appear to specifically teach determining a second configuration of the DRX if a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) and/or cell DRX is enabled, the second configuration including at least one of a second starting position, a second cycle length and a second onDuration length; and
performing the DRX based on the second starting position which is one of a plurality of preset positions within a onDuration of the cell DTX and/or cell DRX.
In the same field of endeavor, Maattanen teaches determining a second configuration of the DRX after a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) and/or cell DRX is enabled, the second configuration including at least one of a second starting position, a second cycle length and a second onDuration length (see ¶ [47], "At step S308, if the UE 106 determines that the at least one small cell if in the OFF state, then the UE 106 receives configuration parameters for the common DRX." along with 43, when the at least one small cell is the ON state, the small cell operates continuously. When in the OFF state, the at least one small cell operates according to the DTX cycle" and 48, "Common drxStartOffset' specifies a subframe where the common DRX cycle starts"); and
performing the DRX based on the second configuration (see at least ¶ [49], "At step S310, the UE activates the common DRX cycle.").
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify RICO ALVARINO with Maattanen in order to improve network energy savings.
Regarding claim 2, RICO ALVARINO in view of Maattanen teaches the method of claim 1. In the obvious combination, Maattanen further teaches wherein the first starting position and the second starting position are different, and/or, the first cycle length and the second cycle length are different, and/or, the first onDuration length and the second onDuration length are different (see at least Fig. 2B Common DRX ON Duration and ¶ [0048]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify RICO ALVARINO with Maattanen in order to improve network energy savings.
Regarding claim 3, RICO ALVARINO in view of Maattanen teaches the method of claim 2. In the obvious combination, Maattanen further teaches wherein determining the second starting position of the DRX includes at least one of the following: determining the starting position of the cell DTX and/or cell DTX as the second starting position of the DRX; and wherein neighboring preset positions within the onDuration of the cell DTX and/or cell DRX have an identical interval (see at least section 2 and figures 1-2; “UE DRX can be aligned to the cell DTX by UE itself. To this end, as one option, UE DRX configuration needs to be masked (= AND operation) with the Cell DTX configuration,” and “During the NW ON periods UE follows the legacy DRX procedure/behavior of its DRX configuration”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify RICO ALVARINO with Maattanen in order to improve network energy savings.
Regarding claim 16, RICO ALVARINO in view of Maattanen teaches the method of claim 2. In the obvious combination, Maattanen further teaches wherein the second configuration of the DRX is determined in at least one of the following cases: during at least one cycle of the DRX, a first starting position of the DRX is outside the onDuration length of the cell DTX and/or cell DRX; during at least one cycle of the DRX, a length of overlap of the first onDuration of the DRX with the onDuration of the cell DTX and/or cell DRX is less than a preset time length; or during at least one cycle of the DRX, the first onDuration of the DRX does not overlap with the onDuration of the cell DTX and/or cell DRX (see ¶ [47], "At step S308, if the UE 106 determines that the at least one small cell if in the OFF state, then the UE 106 receives configuration parameters for the common DRX." along with 43, when the at least one small cell is the ON state, the small cell operates continuously. When in the OFF state, the at least one small cell operates according to the DTX cycle" and 48, "Common drxStartOffset' specifies a subframe where the common DRX cycle starts").
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify RICO ALVARINO with Maattanen in order to improve network energy savings.
Regarding claim 17, RICO ALVARINO in view of Maattanen teaches the method of claim 16. In addition, RICO ALVARINO teaches wherein the second cycle length of the DRX is an integer multiple of the cycle length of the cell DTX and/or cell DRX, wherein the second starting position of the DRX is within the onDuration of the cell DTX and/or cell DRX, or wherein the second onDuration of the DRX is within the onDuration of the cell DTX and/or cell DRX (see at least ¶ [0054], [0055], [0103], and [0104]; “the second DRX cycle parameter set comprises a cell-specific DRX cycle length”).
Regarding claim 20, RICO ALVARINO teaches the A user equipment (UE) (see at least Figs. 1 and 2; UE), comprising:
At least one transceiver, at least one processor, communicatively coupled to the at least one transceiver and at least one memory, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor (see at least Figs. 1 and 2; UE), storing instructions executable by the at least one processor individually or in any combination to cause the UE to:
receive a first configuration of a discontinuous reception (DRX) (see at least Fig. 3 (310, 320)), the first configuration including at least one of a first starting position, a first cycle length and a first onDuration length (see at least ¶ [0057]; “For example, the UE-specific DRX cycle parameter set may identify a DRX cycle length (e.g., a value of T) to be used by the UE 120.”);
perform the DRX based on the first configuration (see at least Fig. 3 (330, 340)).
RICO ALVARINO does not appear to specifically teach determine a second configuration of the DRX if a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) and/or cell DRX is enabled, the second configuration including at least one of a second starting position, a second cycle length and a second onDuration length; and
perform the DRX based on the second starting position which is one of a plurality of preset positions within a onDuration of the cell DTX and/or cell DRX.
In the same field of endeavor, Maattanen teaches determine a second configuration of the DRX if a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) and/or cell DRX is enabled, the second configuration including at least one of a second starting position, a second cycle length and a second onDuration length; and
perform the DRX based on the second starting position which is one of a plurality of preset positions within a onDuration of the cell DTX and/or cell DRX (see at least section 2 and figures 1-2; “UE DRX can be aligned to the cell DTX by UE itself. To this end, as one option, UE DRX configuration needs to be masked (= AND operation) with the Cell DTX configuration,” and “During the NW ON periods UE follows the legacy DRX procedure/behavior of its DRX configuration”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify RICO ALVARINO with Maattanen in order to improve network energy savings.
12. Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RICO ALVARINO, in view of Maattanen as applied to claim 17 above, further in view of Lenovo, “Alignment to Cell DTX,” (previously cited, provided by applicant, hereinafter referred to as Lenovo).
Regarding claim 18, RICO ALVARINO in view of Maattanen teaches the method of claim 17.
RICO ALVARINO in view of Maattanen does not appear to specifically disclose wherein in case the UE has a plurality of serving cells, the cell DTX and/or cell DRX associates with at least one of: a primary cell among the plurality of serving cells, a primary secondary cell among the plurality of serving cells, a cell corresponding to a preset index among the plurality of serving cells, or a cell pre-configured by high-layer signaling among the plurality of serving cells.
In the same field of endeavor, Lenovo further teaches wherein in case the UE has a plurality of serving cells, the cell DTX and/or cell DRX associates with at least one of: a primary cell among the plurality of serving cells, a primary secondary cell among the plurality of serving cells, a cell corresponding to a preset index among the plurality of serving cells, or a cell pre-configured by high-layer signaling among the plurality of serving cells (see at least section 2; common L1/L2 signalling can be considered for activating/deactivating the cell DTX/DRX mode”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify RICO ALVARINO and Maattanen with Lenovo in order to improve network energy savings.
13. Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RICO ALVARINO, in view of Maattanen and Lenovo as applied to claim 18 above, further in view of US 2018/0027424 A1 by Chen et al. (hereafter referred to as Chen).
Regarding claim 19, RICO ALVARINO in view of Maattanen and Lenovo teaches the method of claim 18.
RICO ALVARINO in view of Maattanen and Lenovo does not appear to specifically teach wherein the plurality of serving cells associates with a same DRX configuration.
In the same field of endeavor, Chen teaches wherein the plurality of serving cells associates with a same DRX configuration (see at least ¶ [0150]; “In one example the same information about the DRX configuration status may also be applied by the UE for monitoring control channels from plurality of serving cells of the UE e.g. same DRX configuration is used on all serving cells or on subset of serving cells”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify RICO ALVARINO in view of Maattanen and Lenovo with Chen in order to mitigate inter-cell interference.
Allowable Subject Matter
14. Claims 4-15 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
15. THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
16. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATASHA W COSME whose telephone number is (571)270-7225. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-4.
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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/NATASHA W COSME/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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