DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-10 and 14-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claims do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claims are directed to abstract idea. The claims are simply monitoring physical downlink control channels and determining whether the resources in a search space is monitored or not; and determining link relationship between first and second search space set. There is not useful step being done in the claims and claims are only monitoring the physical downlink control channels and making various determinations. As a result, the claims are directed to an abstract idea. Only mathematical steps are being done in the claimed steps. Further claims 14 and 15 do not amount to significantly more than abstract idea since the terminal and non-transitory medium are well known in the art and the claimed steps do not improve the functionality of the terminal in a specific way. The claimed steps are not particularly tied or limited to improving the functionality of a terminal.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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, 14 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lee et al. (USPN 11,271,701).
Regarding claim 1, a method for monitoring a physical downlink control channel, performed by a terminal, comprising: determining, in response to the terminal being configured with a first search space set and a second search space set and determining that a plurality of physical downlink control channel candidate resources exist at a time domain overlapping with monitor occasion of a second physical downlink control channel candidate resource of the second search space set, whether or not a first physical downlink control channel candidate resource of the first search space set is monitored, wherein the first search space set has a link relationship with the second search space set, and the first physical downlink control channel candidate resource has a link relationship with the second physical downlink control channel candidate resource [Abstract and Col. 5, lines 33-58, first search space set and second search space set have overlapping resources, Fig. 3 and Col. 10, line 55 – Col. 11, line 10, first and second search space have a relationship and the first and second PDCCH candidate have relationship as shown in Fig. 3, 322a – 322d]; and monitoring the second physical downlink control channel candidate resource based on a monitoring priority of the second physical downlink control channel candidate resource among the plurality of physical downlink control channel candidate resources [Col. 10, line 55 – Col. 11, line 10, PDCCH candidate resources are monitored based on periodicity of the resources and based on PDCCH search space sets].
Regarding claim 14, Lee teaches a terminal, comprising: a processor [Fig. 4, 402]; and a memory for storing processor executable instructions [Fig. 4, 404]; wherein the processor is configured to: determine, in response to the terminal being configured with a first search space set and a second search space set and determining that a plurality of physical downlink control channel candidate resources exist at a time domain overlapping with monitor occasion of a second physical downlink control channel candidate resource of the second search space set, whether or not a first physical downlink control channel candidate resource of the first search space set is monitored, wherein the first search space set has a link relationship with the second search space set, and the first physical downlink control channel candidate resource has a link relationship with the second physical downlink control channel candidate resource [Abstract and Col. 5, lines 33-58, first search space set and second search space set have overlapping resources, Fig. 3 and Col. 10, line 55 – Col. 11, line 10, first and second search space have a relationship and the first and second PDCCH candidate have relationship as shown in Fig. 3, 322a – 322d]; and monitor the second physical downlink control channel candidate resource based on a monitoring priority of the second physical downlink control channel candidate resource among the plurality of physical downlink control channel candidate resources [Col. 10, line 55 – Col. 11, line 10, PDCCH candidate resources are monitored based on periodicity of the resources and based on PDCCH search space sets].
Regarding claim 15, Lee teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions that, when executed by a processor of a terminal, cause the terminal to perform a method for monitoring a physical downlink control channel, the method comprising: determining, in response to the terminal being configured with a first search space set and a second search space set and determining that a plurality of physical downlink control channel candidate resources exist at a time domain overlapping with monitor occasion of a second physical downlink control channel candidate resource of the second search space set, whether or not a first physical downlink control channel candidate resource of the first search space set is monitored, wherein the first search space set has a link relationship with the second search space set, and the first physical downlink control channel candidate resource has a link relationship with the second physical downlink control channel candidate resource [Abstract and Col. 5, lines 33-58, first search space set and second search space set have overlapping resources, Fig. 3 and Col. 10, line 55 – Col. 11, line 10, first and second search space have a relationship and the first and second PDCCH candidate have relationship as shown in Fig. 3, 322a – 322d]; and monitoring the second physical downlink control channel candidate resource based on a monitoring priority of the second physical downlink control channel candidate resource among the plurality of physical downlink control channel candidate resources [Col. 10, line 55 – Col. 11, line 10, PDCCH candidate resources are monitored based on periodicity of the resources and based on PDCCH search space sets].
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.
Claims 2, 7, 16 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (USPN 11,271,701) in view of Moon et al. (USPN 12,069,653).
Regarding claims 2 and 16, Lee teaches a method and a terminal as discussed in rejection of claims 1 and 14.
However, Lee does not teach monitoring the second physical downlink control channel candidate resource based on a quasi-colocation (QCL) type D of a control resource set corresponding to the second search space set.
Moon teaches monitoring the second physical downlink control channel candidate resource based on a quasi-colocation (QCL) type D of a control resource set corresponding to the second search space set [Col. 17, lines 16-31, second QCL is QCL type D].
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use QCL type D CORESET so that spatial QCL can be used.
Regarding claims 7 and 21, Lee teaches a method and a terminal as discussed in rejection of claims 1 and 14.
However, Lee does not teach at least one of a monitoring priority of the first search space set or a monitoring priority of the second search space set is determined based on attribute information of the search space set.
Moon teaches at least one of a monitoring priority of the first search space set or a monitoring priority of the second search space set is determined based on attribute information of the search space set [Col. 17, lines 32-41, priority is determined based on RF capability of the terminal].
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention determine priority of a search space based on attribute information so that determination regarding which CORESET to give priority to can be determined when there is overlap in time.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6, 8-10, 17-20, 22 and 23 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.
Chen et al. (USPN 12,356,372) teaches outputting indication of a first set of linked physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates comprising a first PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCH candidate. A processing system selects the first PDCCH candidate as a result of a resource that is fixed between the first PDCCH candidate and a third PDCCH candidate. A first reference or a second reference is connected with the first PDCCH candidate to monitor.
Lin et al. (USPN 12,089,080) teaches information for a number of search space sets, where the information includes an index, a periodicity, and an indication that the sets are linked for receptions of physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs). The PDCCHs provide identical information, and the processor determines number of reception occasions in M slots within a period according to the periodicity. The Nth reception occasion from the N-PDCCH reception occasions is according to a nth search space set from the sets.
Xu et al. (USPN 10,966,231) teaches receiving, from a base station, a first search space set; identifying, based at least in part on the first search space set, physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) schedule information included in a first PDCCH received from the base station; identifying, based at least in part on the PDSCH schedule information, a second search space set included in a PDSCH received from the base station, where the second search space set includes information identifying an aggregation level and at least one PDCCH candidate locations that are associated with the aggregation level; and configuring, based at least in part on the aggregation level and the PDCCH candidate locations, the user equipment to identify a second PDCCH transmitted from the base station.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHANDRAHAS PATEL whose telephone number is (571)270-1211. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7:30 - 17:30.
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, Ricky Ngo can be reached at 571-272-3139. 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.
/Chandrahas B Patel/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464