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 .
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 of this title, 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 1-9, 17-24, 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Menon et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0267585) in view of Garot (US Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0294694).
Regarding claim 1, Menon teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (Figs. 3, 5), comprising:
a memory (memory 930); and
at least one processor coupled to the memory (processor 940) and configured to:
receive an indication to monitor at least one carrier from a flexible cell for a paging message (UE 115 is indicated to monitor carriers for paging into another cell [Paragraphs 103-105]), the flexible cell comprising an anchor carrier ([Paragraphs 7, 9, 40]) and one or more non-anchor carriers ([Paragraphs 40, 96]); and
monitor a first carrier from the flexible cell for the paging message based on the indication (the carrier is then monitored for the paging[Paragraphs 75-107]), [.
However, Menon does not explicitly mention: the paging message associated with a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) that schedules a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).
Garot teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
the paging message associated with a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) that schedules a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) (for the disclosed system, Figs. 3, 6, a paging message is associated with PDCCH that schedules PDSCH on anchor and non-anchor carriers [Paragraphs 53-55, 60, 70, 72]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Menon) by paging a message with PDCCH and PDSCH (as taught by Garot) for the purpose of properly switching between carriers (Garot – Paragraph 13).
Regarding claim 2, Menon further teaches the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor ([Paragraph 109]).
Regarding claim 3, Menon in view of Garot further teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication comprises at least one of a system information (SI) (Garot: Paragraph 52), a master information block (MIB) ([Paragraph 52]), a paging early indication (PEI) (Menon: Paragraph 6), or a paging tracking reference signal (TRS) availability indication (Garot: Paragraph 65).
Regarding claim 4, Garot further teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication schedules the first carrier from the flexible cell for reception of the PDCCH and the PDSCH ([Paragraph 6]).
Regarding claim 5, Garot further teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the PDCCH schedules reception of the PDSCH on a second carrier of the flexible cell (as in Fig. 3, both PDCCH and PDSCH being scheduled on second carrier).
Regarding claim 6, Garot further teaches apparatus of claim 5, wherein the first carrier and the second carrier of the flexible cell are non-anchor carriers ([Paragraph 102]).
Regarding claim 7, Garot further teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first carrier is monitored for the PDCCH and the PDSCH if the indication does not indicate the at least one carrier from the flexible cell to monitor for the paging message ([Paragraphs 71, 84, 128]).
Regarding claim 8, Garot further teaches the apparatus of claim 7, wherein a synchronization signal block (SSB) ([Paragraph 51]) or a system information block type 1 (SIB1) ([Paragraph 26]) is received via the first carrier ([Paragraph 28]).
Regarding claim 9, Garot further teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the PDCCH comprises a field that indicates the at least one carrier from the flexible cell to monitor for the PDSCH ([Paragraph 103]).
Regarding claim 17, this claim is rejected as applied to claim 1.
Regarding claims 18-24, these claims are rejected as applied to claims 1-6, 9.
Regarding claim 30, this claim is rejected as applied to claim 1.
Claims 10-16 and 25-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Menon et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0267585) in view of Garot (US Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0294694) and further in view of Kwak et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0388089).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Menon and Garot teaches all the limitations recited in claim 1.
However, the combination of Menon and Garot does not explicitly mention: receive, from the flexible cell, a downlink bandwidth part (BWP) configuration for the anchor carrier and the one or more non-anchor carriers.
Kwak teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
receive, from the flexible cell, a downlink bandwidth part (BWP) configuration for the anchor carrier and the one or more non-anchor carriers (for the disclosed system, a paging message is associated with PDCCH that schedules PDSCH on anchor and non-anchor carriers [Paragraphs 207, 210-213]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Menon) by paging a message with PDCCH and PDSCH (as taught by Garot) by receiving BWP (as taught by Kwak) for the purpose of service specific sectors of the cell (Kwak – Paragraph 33).
Regarding claim 11, Menon further teaches the apparatus of claim 10, wherein paging messages are monitored in the anchor carrier ([Paragraphs 7-10]).
Regarding claim 12, Kwak further teaches the apparatus of claim 10, wherein each carrier of the flexible cell comprises a respective downlink BWP ([Paragraphs 211, 218]).
Regarding claim 13, Kwak further teaches the apparatus of claim 12, wherein each downlink BWP is separated by a frequency offset ([Paragraphs 89-90]).
Regarding claim 14, Kwak further teaches the apparatus of claim 13, wherein a unit of the frequency offset is based on a sub-carrier spacing (SCS) of the downlink BWP for the anchor carrier ([Paragraphs 84, 218]).
Regarding claim 15, Kwak further teaches the apparatus of claim 13, wherein a unit of the frequency offset is predetermined ([Paragraph 568]).
Regarding claim 16, Kwak further teaches the apparatus of claim 13, wherein a unit of the frequency offset is based on a sub-carrier spacing (SCS) of the downlink BWP for the one or more non-anchor carriers ([Paragraphs 225, 230]).
Regarding claims 25-28, these claims are rejected as applied to claims 10, 12-16.
Regarding claim 29, Menon further teaches the apparatus of claim 25, wherein paging messages are transmitted in the anchor carrier ([Paragraphs 7-10]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FABRICIO R MURILLO GARCIA whose telephone number is (571)270-5708. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5pm.
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July 29, 2026
/FABRICIO R MURILLO GARCIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633
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