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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 17-18 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
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.
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.
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.
Claims 1 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al. US 20240372687 A1 (Domestic Priority August 5, 2021) in view of Jeon et al. US 20190132824 A1 (Domestic Priority October 27, 2017).
Regarding claim 1 (Currently Amended), Cirik discloses a user equipment (UE), comprising: a receiver, which in operation, receives, from a base station, a first control signal that is common to a radio cell or to a group of UEs (see, payload transmitted on the PDCCH may be referred to as DCI where the PDCCH may be a group common PDCCH (GC-PDCCH) that is common to a group of UEs, section 0184 Cirik), to which the UE belongs (see, UE may monitor a set of PDCCH candidates in one or more CORESETs for detecting one or more DCIs the UE may determine a DCI as valid for the UE, in response to CRC checking (e.g., scrambled bits for CRC parity bits of the DCI matching a RNTI value), section 0192 Cirik), wherein the first control signal indicates a target bandwidth part (BWP) for operation (see, one or more BWP indicator fields may be provided in Downlink Control Information (DCI), section 0114 Cirik), and the first control signal is addressed to an identifier associated with the group of UEs (see, payload transmitted on the PDCCH may be referred to as DCI where the PDCCH may be a group common PDCCH (GC-PDCCH) that is common to a group of UEs, section 0184 Cirik; noted, DCI format of DCI may be used for providing a slot format indication to a group of UEs, section 0187 Cirik) or to an identifier common to the radio cell, and processing circuitry, which in operation, operates according to the indicated target BWP.
Cirik discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: the first control signal is addressed to an identifier associated with the group of UEs or to an identifier common to the radio cell, and processing circuitry, which in operation, operates according to the indicated target BWP.
However Jeon ‘824 from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the first control signal is addressed to an identifier associated with the group of UEs or to an identifier common to the radio cell (see, a cell may be assigned a physical cell ID and a cell index and where a cell index may be determined using RRC messages, section 0156 Jeon; noted, one or more RRC messages comprising one or more parameters for indicating at least one of following: one or more bandwidth parts (BWPs) for the cell; an indicator indicating one of the one or more BWPs as a default BWP for the cell; an information element (IE) indicating a group-common downlink control information (DCI) size and/or format for the cell, section 0417 Jeon ‘824) (see, DCI may indicate one or more target resources of a target BWP, section 0304 Jeon ‘824), and processing circuitry, which in operation, operates according to the indicated target BWP(see, wireless device may identify a BWP identity from a DCI, which may simplify an indication process, section 0282 Jeon ‘824; noted, wireless device may receive the first DCI in a target CORESET within a target BWP, section 0300 Jeon ‘824; noted, wireless device may include at least one or more processors, section 0146 Jeon ‘824) (see, a wireless device may switch to the target BWP and start to receive or transmit (UL) in the target BWP according to the BWP indication field, section 0317 Jeon ‘824).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the user equipment of Cirik with the target bandwidth part as taught by Jeon ‘824. The motivation would have been to improve the transmission of downlink control information comprising one or more bandwidth part identifiers.
Regarding claim 17 (Currently Amended), Cirik discloses a method comprising the following steps performed by a user equipment (UE): receiving, from a base station, a first control signal that is common to a radio cell or to a group of UEs (see, payload transmitted on the PDCCH may be referred to as DCI where the PDCCH may be a group common PDCCH (GC-PDCCH) that is common to a group of UEs, section 0184 Cirik), to which the UE belongs (see, UE may monitor a set of PDCCH candidates in one or more CORESETs for detecting one or more DCIs the UE may determine a DCI as valid for the UE, in response to CRC checking (e.g., scrambled bits for CRC parity bits of the DCI matching a RNTI value), section 0192 Cirik), wherein the first control signal indicates a target bandwidth part (BWP) for operation (see, one or more BWP indicator fields may be provided in Downlink Control Information (DCI), section 0114 Cirik), and the first control signal is addressed to an identifier associated with the group of UEs (see, payload transmitted on the PDCCH may be referred to as DCI where the PDCCH may be a group common PDCCH (GC-PDCCH) that is common to a group of UEs, section 0184 Cirik; noted, DCI format of DCI may be used for providing a slot format indication to a group of UEs, section 0187 Cirik) or to an identifier common to the radio cell, and operating according to the indicated target BWP.
Cirik discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: the first control signal is addressed to an identifier associated with the group of UEs or to an identifier common to the radio cell, and operating according to the indicated target BWP.
However Jeon ‘824 from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the first control signal is addressed to an identifier associated with the group of UEs or to an identifier common to the radio cell (see, a cell may be assigned a physical cell ID and a cell index and where a cell index may be determined using RRC messages, section 0156 Jeon; noted, one or more RRC messages comprising one or more parameters for indicating at least one of following: one or more bandwidth parts (BWPs) for the cell; an indicator indicating one of the one or more BWPs as a default BWP for the cell; an information element (IE) indicating a group-common downlink control information (DCI) size and/or format for the cell, section 0417 Jeon ‘824) (see, DCI may indicate one or more target resources of a target BWP, section 0304 Jeon ‘824), and operating according to the indicated target BWP(see, wireless device may identify a BWP identity from a DCI, which may simplify an indication process, section 0282 Jeon ‘824; noted, wireless device may receive the first DCI in a target CORESET within a target BWP, section 0300 Jeon ‘824; noted, wireless device may include at least one or more processors, section 0146 Jeon ‘824) (see, a wireless device may switch to the target BWP and start to receive or transmit (UL) in the target BWP according to the BWP indication field, section 0317 Jeon ‘824).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the user equipment of Cirik with the target bandwidth part as taught by Jeon ‘824. The motivation would have been to improve the transmission of downlink control information comprising one or more bandwidth part identifiers.
Regarding claim 18 (Currently Amended), Cirik discloses a base station, comprising: a processing circuitry, which in operation, determines a target bandwidth part (BWP) for operation, and a transmitter, which in operation, transmits, to all UEs in the radio cell or to a group of UEs, a first control signal, wherein the first control signal is common to the radio cell or to the group of UEs (see, payload transmitted on the PDCCH may be referred to as DCI where the PDCCH may be a group common PDCCH (GC-PDCCH) that is common to a group of UEs, section 0184 Cirik) (see, UE may monitor a set of PDCCH candidates in one or more CORESETs for detecting one or more DCIs the UE may determine a DCI as valid for the UE, in response to CRC checking (e.g., scrambled bits for CRC parity bits of the DCI matching a RNTI value), section 0192 Cirik) and indicates the target BWP (see, one or more BWP indicator fields may be provided in Downlink Control Information (DCI), section 0114 Cirik), and the first control signal is addressed to an identifier associated with the group of UEs (see, payload transmitted on the PDCCH may be referred to as DCI where the PDCCH may be a group common PDCCH (GC-PDCCH) that is common to a group of UEs, section 0184 Cirik; noted, DCI format of DCI may be used for providing a slot format indication to a group of UEs, section 0187 Cirik) or to an identifier common to the radio cell, and wherein, the processing circuitry, in operation, operates according to the indicated target BWP.
Cirik discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: the first control signal is addressed to an identifier associated with the group of UEs or to an identifier common to the radio cell, and wherein, the processing circuitry, in operation, operates according to the indicated target BWP.
However Jeon ‘824 from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the first control signal is addressed to an identifier associated with the group of UEs or to an identifier common to the radio cell (see, a cell may be assigned a physical cell ID and a cell index and where a cell index may be determined using RRC messages, section 0156 Jeon; noted, one or more RRC messages comprising one or more parameters for indicating at least one of following: one or more bandwidth parts (BWPs) for the cell; an indicator indicating one of the one or more BWPs as a default BWP for the cell; an information element (IE) indicating a group-common downlink control information (DCI) size and/or format for the cell, section 0417 Jeon ‘824) (see, DCI may indicate one or more target resources of a target BWP, section 0304 Jeon ‘824), and wherein, the processing circuitry, in operation, operates according to the indicated target BWP(see, wireless device may identify a BWP identity from a DCI, which may simplify an indication process, section 0282 Jeon ‘824; noted, wireless device may receive the first DCI in a target CORESET within a target BWP, section 0300 Jeon ‘824; noted, wireless device may include at least one or more processors, section 0146 Jeon ‘824) (see, a wireless device may switch to the target BWP and start to receive or transmit (UL) in the target BWP according to the BWP indication field, section 0317 Jeon ‘824).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the user equipment of Cirik with the target bandwidth part as taught by Jeon ‘824. The motivation would have been to improve the transmission of downlink control information comprising one or more bandwidth part identifiers.
Claims 2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al. US 20240372687 A1 (Domestic Priority August 5, 2021) in view of Jeon et al. US 20190132824 A1 (Domestic Priority October 27, 2017), and in further view of Zhou et al. US 20190141742 A1 (Domestic Priority November 9, 2017).
The combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: Regarding claim 2 (Previously Presented), the UE according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry, when in operation, determines a currently-active BWP and switches from the determined currently-active BWP to the indicated target BWP, in case the determined currently-active BWP is different from the indicated target BWP, wherein the processing circuitry, when in operation, performs BWP-related functions based on the target BWP, wherein the BWP-related functions include one or more of a random access procedure, measurements, and monitoring of a downlink control channel.
However Zhou from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the UE according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry, when in operation, determines a currently-active BWP and switches from the determined currently-active BWP to the indicated target BWP (see, switching BWP may be triggered by a DCI or a timer such as when a UE receives a DCI indicating DL BWP switching from an active BWP to a new BWP, section 0283 Zhou), in case the determined currently-active BWP is different from the indicated target BWP (see, switching between different BWPs, section 0305 Zhou), wherein the processing circuitry, when in operation, performs BWP-related functions based on the target BWP (see, gNB scheduler making conservative scheduling decisions based on the DCI in a target CORESET in a target BWP, section 0366 Zhou; noted, DCI can have data to switch active DL BWP from the default BWP to another, section 0376 Zhou), wherein the BWP-related functions include one or more of a random access procedure (see, DCI indicating a random access procedure, section 0321 Zhou), measurements (see, DCI without scheduling for active BWP switching may be transmitted to measure the CSI before scheduling, section 0367 Zhou), and monitoring of a downlink control channel (see, downlink control channel may be monitored for a downlink control information, section 0547 Zhou).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 with the switching BWP as taught by Zhou. The motivation would have been to improve determination based on the bandwidth part configuration parameter and one or more of the random access channel parameters.
The combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: Regarding claim 4 (Currently Amended), the UE according to claim 1, wherein the first control signal indicating the target BWP for operation is one of: a downlink control information (DCI) message, including one of a DCI message for paging, a DCI message for notifying one or more of a slot format and search space set group switching, a DCI message for notifying power saving information, or a DCI message for notifying one or more of whether to start monitoring paging control signal and of whether a reference signal is available, a message of the Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol, or a control element of the Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol.
However Zhou from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the UE according to claim 1, wherein the first control signal indicating the target BWP for operation is one of: a downlink control information (DCI) message, including one of a DCI message for paging, a DCI message for notifying one or more of a slot format and search space set group switching (see, DCI format 2_0 notifying a group of UEs of slot format, section 0267 Zhou), a DCI message for notifying power saving information, or a DCI message for notifying one or more of whether to start monitoring paging control signal (see, one of configured DL bandwidth parts may comprise one CORESET with CSS type for RMSI, OSI, RACH response & paging control for system information update, section 0363 Zhou) and of whether a reference signal is available (see, wireless device may measure a quality of beam pair link(s) using one or more reference signals, section 0240 Zhou), a message of the Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol, or a control element of the Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol (see, wireless device may activate the first UL BWP in response to an RRC message, a MAC CE, and/or a first DCI, section 0320 Zhou).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 with the switching BWP as taught by Zhou. The motivation would have been to improve determination based on the bandwidth part configuration parameter and one or more of the random access channel parameters.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al. US 20240372687 A1 (Domestic Priority August 5, 2021) in view of Jeon et al. US 20190132824 A1 (Domestic Priority October 27, 2017), and in further view of Da Silva et al. US 20200344019 A1 (Domestic Priority November 16, 2017).
The combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: Regarding claim 3 (Previously Presented), the UE according to claim 1, wherein the target BWP is one of: a default BWP configured at the UE, an initial BWP configured at the UE, a dormant BWP configured at the UE, a first non-dormant BWP configured at the UE, or a common BWP configured at the UE, the common BWP being common to all UEs in the radio cell of the base station or common to the group of UEs, wherein the target BWP has a smaller, larger or the same frequency bandwidth than the currently-active BWP.
However Da Silva from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the UE according to claim 1, wherein the target BWP is one of: a default BWP configured at the UE, an initial BWP configured at the UE (see, UE must be configured with an initial BWP, section 0034 Da Silva), a dormant BWP configured at the UE (see, target BWP only being active when switched to, section 0150 Da Silva), a first non-dormant BWP configured at the UE, or a common BWP configured at the UE, the common BWP being common to all UEs in the radio cell of the base station or common to the group of UEs (see, network will allocate UEs to BWPs that do not coincide with the SSB frequency in order to balance the load and to maximize the system capacity, section 0040 Da Silva), wherein the target BWP has a smaller, larger or the same frequency bandwidth than the currently-active BWP (see, first bandwidth is less than or equal to the second bandwidth where the first BWP is active, section 0163 Da Silva).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 with the active BWP as taught by Da Silva. The motivation would have been to provide optimizations for reduced transmit power control frequency operation.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al. US 20240372687 A1 (Domestic Priority August 5, 2021) in view of Jeon et al. US 20190132824 A1 (Domestic Priority October 27, 2017), and in further view of Jeon et al. US 20210167930 A1 (Domestic Priority October 26, 2017).
The combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: Regarding claim 5 (Currently Amended), the UE according to claim 1, wherein the first control signal indicates the target BWP for operation, based on a target BWP indicator, that has one or more bits and identifies the target BWP out of a set of BWPs, wherein the receiver, when in operation, receives a BWP configuration signal for configuring the set of BWPs.
However Jeon ‘930 from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the UE according to claim 1, wherein the first control signal indicates the target BWP for operation (see, UE may receive a first indication via a first DCI to activate/deactivate BWP where the UE may receive the first DCI in a target CORESET in a target BWP, section 0324 Jeon ‘930), based on a target BWP indicator, that has one or more bits and identifies the target BWP out of a set of BWPs (see, BWP identity may depend on the number of bits that may be employed within the scheduling DCI or switching DCI, section 0299 Jeon ‘930), wherein the receiver, when in operation, receives a BWP configuration signal for configuring the set of BWPs (see, One or multiple bandwidth part configurations for each component carrier may be semi-statically signaled to a wireless device, section 0389 Jeon ‘930).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 with the bits as taught by Jeon ‘930. The motivation would have been to improve monitoring of an active bandwidth part during a discontinuous reception active time.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al. US 20240372687 A1 (Domestic Priority August 5, 2021) in view of Jeon et al. US 20190132824 A1 (Domestic Priority October 27, 2017), and in further view of Yi et al. US 20210360616 A1 (Domestic Priority May 18, 2020).
The combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: Regarding claim 6 (Currently Amended),
However Yi from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the UE according to claim 1, wherein the first control signal that is common to a group of UEs, includes a plurality of blocks of information, where the UE is associated with at least one of the plurality of blocks of information (see, wireless device may send/transmit repetitions of TBs, section 0284 Yi), and the processing circuitry (see, a base station and a wireless device may use one or more (e.g., a plurality of) DCI formats, section 0210 Yi; noted, wireless device may comprise one or more processors; and memory storing instructions where the wireless device may receive downlink control information (DCI) indicating uplink resources, section 0376 Yi; noted, uplink signal may comprise uplink control information or a transport block, section 0377 Yi), when in operation, determines that block of information that is associated with the UE, wherein the first control signal is a downlink control information message having a format of DCI format 2_6 of a 3GPP communication system (see, a DCI format (e.g., a DCI format 2_6) may be used to indicate a power saving state outside of DRX active time, section 0210 Yi), wherein each block of the plurality of blocks of information is associated with a group-associated identifier or a radio-cell common identifier (see, DCI may indicate a first resource of the first antenna/uplink panel and a second resource of the second antenna/uplink panel and may comprise a HARQ process indicator/identifier of a TB, sections 0278-0279 Yi) and includes a target BWP indication field indicating the target BWP (see, field of BWP index may indicate a bandwidth part indicator, section 0253 Yi; noted, one or more DCI fields may comprise one or more of a DL/UL indicator/identifier field for the DCI formats, section 0220 Yi).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 with the DCI format of 2_6 as taught by Yi. The motivation would have been to improve multiple carrier transmission.
Claims 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al. US 20240372687 A1 (Domestic Priority August 5, 2021) in view of Jeon et al. US 20190132824 A1 (Domestic Priority October 27, 2017), and in further view of Khan Beigi et al. US 20240195667 A1 (Domestic Priority April 5, 2021).
The combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: Regarding claim 7 (Previously Presented), the UE according to claim 1, wherein the receiver, when in operation, receives, from the base station, a second control signal that is common to the radio cell or to the group of UEs, to which the UE belongs, wherein the second control signal indicates a target synchronization signal block (SSB) pattern, comprising one or more SSBs out of a set of candidate SSBs, to be used by the UE, wherein the processing circuitry, when in operation, performs SSB-related functions based on the target SSB pattern indicated by the second control signal, wherein the SSB- related functions include one or more of serving cell measurements, time synchronization, and frequency synchronization.
However Khan Beigi from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the UE according to claim 1, wherein the receiver, when in operation, receives, from the base station, a second control signal that is common to the radio cell or to the group of UEs, to which the UE belongs, wherein the second control signal indicates a target synchronization signal block (SSB) pattern, comprising one or more SSBs out of a set of candidate SSBs (see, WTRU may determine patterns of the SS/PBCH block (“SS/PBCH block patterns”) within a DBTW based on an SCS of the SS/PBCH blocks based on the PDCCH, section 0175 Khan Beigi), to be used by the UE, wherein the processing circuitry, when in operation, performs SSB-related functions based on the target SSB pattern indicated by the second control signal (see, WTRU may determine multiplexing patterns of the SS/PBCH block (“SS/PBCH block patterns”) within a DBTW based on an SCS of the SS/PBCH blocks, section 0175 Khan Beigi), wherein the SSB- related functions include one or more of serving cell measurements (see, WTRU may assume that SS/PBCH blocks in a serving cell that are within a DBTW or across DBTWs are quasi co-located based on measurements, section 0186 Khan Beigi), time synchronization (see, the predetermined CORESET #0 and the predetermined Type0-PDCCH CSS may be configured to ensure that gaps between SS/PBCH blocks in a synchronization signal block burst are occupied with no gaps greater than 16 us, section 0271 Khan Beigi), and frequency synchronization (see, synchronization raster may indicate the frequency positions of a synchronization block (e.g., SS/PBCH block) that can be used by a WTRU for system acquisition, section 0120 Khan Beigi).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 with the SS blocks as taught by Khan Beigi. The motivation would have been to improve wireless communication into initial access of higher frequencies.
The combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: Regarding claim 8 (Previously Presented), the UE according to claim 7, wherein the second control signal includes an SSB pattern indication to indicate the target SSB pattern, wherein the SSB pattern indication is in the form of a bitmap, with each bit being associated with one candidate SSB out of the set of candidate SSBs and indicating whether the respective candidate SSB is transmitted or not, wherein each of the one or more candidate SSBs to be used by the UE is defined by one or more of the following parameters: a time-domain periodicity and offset of the candidate SSB, a sequence used for a synchronization signal of the candidate SSB, a beam index of the candidate SSB, a transmission power of the candidate SSB, a transmission power gap between the candidate SSB compared to a cell-defining SSB, radio resources of a Physical Random Access Channel associated with the candidate SSB, or a channel raster of the candidate SSB.
However Khan Beigi from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the UE according to claim 7, wherein the second control signal includes an SSB pattern indication to indicate the target SSB pattern, wherein the SSB pattern indication is in the form of a bitmap, with each bit being associated with one candidate SSB out of the set of candidate SSBs and indicating whether the respective candidate SSB is transmitted or not (see, bits used to indicate the candidate SSB indexes, section 0212 Khan Beigi), wherein each of the one or more candidate SSBs to be used by the UE is defined by one or more of the following parameters: a time-domain periodicity and offset of the candidate SSB (see, WTRU may be provided with a SSB based measurement timing configuration (SMTC) that identifies periodicity, duration, and offset information to accomplish measurements, section 0119 Khan Beigi), a sequence used for a synchronization signal of the candidate SSB (see, a scrambling sequence generator used to generate the sequence corresponding to PBCH DMRS may be initialized and/or configured based on a cell index and a candidate SSB index, section 0213 Khan Beigi), a beam index of the candidate SSB, a transmission power of the candidate SSB (see, WTRU may make various determinations based on the sync raster set in which the WTRU received, detected, or determined an SSB for initial access such as transmission power, section 0136 Khan Beigi), a transmission power gap between the candidate SSB compared to a cell-defining SSB (see, single-symbol gap may be considered between the transmission of the SS/PBCH block and the corresponding CORESET #0 within the duo SS/PBCH block set, section 0184 Khan Beigi), radio resources of a Physical Random Access Channel associated with the candidate SSB (see, WTRU may perform one or more operations based on the candidate SSB index, including determining PRACH resources, section 0110 Khan Beigi), or a channel raster of the candidate SSB (see, a WTRU may monitor for SSB on one or more synchronization raster frequencies in a frequency band where each of the one or more synchronization raster frequencies corresponds to a base frequency plus an integer multiple of a raster frequency plus a raster offset, section 0085 Khan Beigi).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 with the SS blocks as taught by Khan Beigi. The motivation would have been to improve wireless communication into initial access of higher frequencies.
Claims 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al. US 20240372687 A1 (Domestic Priority August 5, 2021) in view of Jeon et al. US 20190132824 A1 (Domestic Priority October 27, 2017), and in further view of Park et al. US 20180034525 A1 (Domestic Priority February 5, 2015).
The combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: Regarding claim 9 (Previously Presented), the UE according to claim 1, wherein the receiver, when in operation, receives, from the base station, a third control signal that is common to the radio cell or to the group of UEs, to which the UE belongs, wherein the third control signal indicates a target configuration of one or more reference signals to be used by the UE out of a set of reference signal configurations, wherein the reference signals are one or more of a channel state information (CSI) reference signal and a tracking reference signal (TRS), wherein the processing circuitry, when in operation, performs reference-signal-related functions based on the indicated target reference signal configuration, wherein the reference-signal-related functions include one or more of channel state measurements, interference measurements, beam management, time tracking, and frequency tracking.
However Park from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the UE according to claim 1, wherein the receiver, when in operation, receives, from the base station, a third control signal that is common to the radio cell or to the group of UEs, to which the UE belongs, wherein the third control signal indicates a target configuration of one or more reference signals to be used by the UE out of a set of reference signal configurations (see, CSI-RS is transmitted on the radio resource according to the configured CSI-RS configuration among multiple CSI-RS configurations, section 0217 Park), wherein the reference signals are one or more of a channel state information (CSI) reference signal and a tracking reference signal (TRS) (see, tracking of the CSI-RS may mean an operation for performing time and/or frequency synchronization on the CSI-RS so that the UE can measure the CSI-RS, section 0390 Park), wherein the processing circuitry, when in operation, performs reference-signal-related functions based on the indicated target reference signal configuration (see, CSI-RS configuration, sections 0208-0224; noted, CSI-RSs are configured/transmitted by configuring precoded CSI-RS ports using UE-dedicated beam coefficients optimized for a specific target UE, section 0376 Park), wherein the reference-signal-related functions include one or more of channel state measurements (see, CSI-RS configuration, sections 0208-0224 Park), interference measurements (see, UE setting of one or more Channel-State Information-Interference Measurement (CSI-IM) resource configuration, section 0249 Park), beam management (see, each antenna port index (i) may be mapped to each beam index (i). If beams are indexed so that the directions of an (i)-th beam and an (i+1)-th beam are adjacent, section 0341 Park), time tracking (see, UE maintains time/frequency synchronization/tracking with respect to partially activated CSI-RSs, section 0407 Park), and frequency tracking (see, UE maintains time/frequency synchronization/tracking with respect to partially activated CSI-RSs, section 0407 Park).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 with the CSI-RS as taught by Park. The motivation would have been to improve feeding back channel state information (CSI) in a wireless communication system.
The combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: Regarding claim 10 (Previously Presented), the UE according to claim 9, wherein the third control signal includes a reference signal configuration indication, wherein the target reference signal configuration indication is in the form of an index pointing to one reference signal configuration out of a plurality of reference signal configurations, wherein each set of reference signal configurations is defined by one or more of the following parameters: time radio resources, frequency radio resources, a sequence of the reference signal, a scrambling ID, Quasi Co Location (QCL) references, or a transmission power gap compared to a reference synchronization signal block.
However Park from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the UE according to claim 9, wherein the third control signal includes a reference signal configuration indication, wherein the target reference signal configuration indication is in the form of an index pointing to one reference signal configuration out of a plurality of reference signal configurations (see, indicating which CSI-RS index (and/or CSI-IM index) is to be measured, section 0386 Park), wherein each set of reference signal configurations is defined by one or more of the following parameters: time radio resources (see, time domain measurement resource restriction pattern that is configured for the measuring cell including the serving cell and the neighbor cell may indicate at least one subframe per radio frame for performing the RSRQ measurement, section 0273 Park), frequency radio resources (see, UE including a radio frequency (RF) unit sending or receiving a radio signal, section 0020 Park), a sequence of the reference signal, a scrambling ID (see, QCL scrambling identifier for assuming the Quasi Co-Located (QCL) UE, section 0235 Park), Quasi Co Location (QCL) references (see, UE may assume that the CSI-RS antenna port of the CSI-RS resource configuration has the QCL relation, section 0247 Park), or a transmission power gap compared to a reference synchronization signal block.
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 with the CSI-RS as taught by Park. The motivation would have been to improve feeding back channel state information (CSI) in a wireless communication system.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al. US 20240372687 A1 (Domestic Priority August 5, 2021) in view of Jeon et al. US 20190132824 A1 (Domestic Priority October 27, 2017), and in further view of Luo et al. US 20220085918 A1 (Domestic Priority September 11, 2020).
The combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: Regarding claim 11 (Currently Amended), the UE according to claim 1, wherein the receiver, when in operation, receives, from the base station, a fourth control signal that is common to a radio cell or to a group of UEs, to which the UE belongs, wherein the fourth control signal indicates one or more time periods during which the UE is allowed to skip one or more of receiving downlink communication from the base station and transmitting uplink communication to the base station, wherein the one or more time periods are defined in terms of time slots of a subframe, or in terms of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols of a time slot, or in terms of subframes of a frame, or in terms of frames, or in terms of a time duration.
However Luo from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the UE according to claim 1, wherein the receiver, when in operation, receives, from the base station, a fourth control signal that is common to a radio cell or to a group of UEs, to which the UE belongs, wherein the fourth control signal indicates one or more time periods during which the UE is allowed to skip one or more of receiving downlink communication from the base station (see, one or more potentially skipped resources being skipped by the node at a beginning of the set of UL or DL resources, section 0143 Luo) and transmitting uplink communication to the base station (see, node may transmit, to another node, a notification flag indicating one or more potentially skipped resources, 0143 Luo), wherein the one or more time periods are defined in terms of time slots of a subframe (see, subframe may include one or more time slots with symbols, section 0058 Luo; noted, forwarding entity may have to skip some of the beginning repetition units (in slots or mini-slots, section 0097 Luo), or in terms of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols of a time slot (see, symbols on DL may be OFDM symbols, section 0058 Luo), or in terms of subframes of a frame (see, various DL channels within a subframe of a frame associate with physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI, section 0061 Luo), or in terms of frames (see, various DL channels within a subframe of a frame associate with physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI, section 0061 Luo), or in terms of a time duration (see, subcarrier spacing and symbol length/duration are a function of the numerology, section 0058 Luo).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 with the subframes as taught by Luo. The motivation would have been to improve repetition transmissions in wireless communication systems.
Claims 12 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al. US 20240372687 A1 (Domestic Priority August 5, 2021) in view of Jeon et al. US 20190132824 A1 (Domestic Priority October 27, 2017), and in further view of Damji et al. US 20140098694 A1 (Domestic Priority October 9, 2012).
The combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: Regarding claim 12 (Previously Presented), the UE according to claim 11, wherein the fourth control signal indicates one time period and indicates a time duration of the one time period, wherein the one time period begins at a time after receiving the fourth control signal and stops after the time duration of the one time period ends, wherein the one time period is applied periodically with a time periodicity, or wherein the fourth control signal indicates a pattern of time periods out of a plurality of time period patterns, wherein the receiver, when in operation, receives a time period pattern configuration signal to configure the plurality of time period patterns.
However Damji from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the UE according to claim 11, wherein the fourth control signal indicates one time period and indicates a time duration of the one time period, wherein the one time period begins at a time after receiving the fourth control signal and stops after the time duration of the one time period ends (see, When the RRC inactivity timer expires, the eNodeB can release the RRC connection between the UE and the LTE wireless network, and the UE can enter an RRC idle state where a UE configured for DRX operation, the UE can periodically "wake" to monitor a signaling control channel, e.g., the PDCCH, for signaling messages providing an indication of data available for transfer from the eNodeB to the UE, section 0041 Damji), wherein the one time period is applied periodically with a time periodicity (see, timer elapses after a period of time, section 0041 Damji), or wherein the fourth control signal indicates a pattern of time periods out of a plurality of time period patterns (see, data activity during the data transfer time period can be characterized by data traffic patterns for the type of communication session, section 0041 Damji), wherein the receiver, when in operation, receives a time period pattern configuration signal to configure the plurality of time period patterns (see, wireless circuitry 310 can be configured for different operating modes based on traffic patterns associated with one or more applications that generate and/or consume data traffic from the wireless network, section 0036 Damji).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 with the timer as taught by Damji. The motivation would have been to improve managing connections between wireless communication devices and wireless networks.
The combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: Regarding claim 15 (Previously Presented), the UE according to claim 1, wherein any combination of two or more of the first to fifth control signals is transmitted by the base station in a same message to the UE.
However Damji from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the UE according to claim 1, wherein any combination of two or more of the first to fifth control signals is transmitted by the base station in a same message to the UE (see, the reception of signal conditions that permit the reception of control signaling messages, e.g., via the PDCCH, section 0041 Damji).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 with the timer as taught by Damji. The motivation would have been to improve managing connections between wireless communication devices and wireless networks.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al. US 20240372687 A1 (Domestic Priority August 5, 2021) in view of Jeon et al. US 20190132824 A1 (Domestic Priority October 27, 2017), and in further view of Xiong et al. US 20190045529 A1 (Domestic Priority September 11, 2017).
The combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: Regarding claim 13 (Currently Amended), the UE according to claim 11, wherein the fourth control signal includes a slot format indicator (SFI), and the processing circuitry, when in operation, determines the indicated one or more time periods based on a value of the included SFI and an association between different slot format definitions and different SFI values, wherein the slot format defines how each orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol of a slot is to be used, wherein the slot format defines each OFDM symbol of a slot as being a downlink, an uplink or a flexible OFDM symbol, and wherein the processing circuitry, when in operation, determines that some or each flexible OFDM symbol is one of the time periods, or the slot format defines each OFDM symbol of a slot as being a downlink, an uplink, a flexible or a OFDM symbol during which the UE is allowed to skip one or more of receiving downlink communication from the base station and transmitting uplink communication to the base station, and wherein the processing circuitry, when in operation, determines that each of said OFDM symbol during which the UE is allowed to skip one or more of receiving downlink communication from the base station and transmitting uplink communication to the base station is one of the time periods.
However Xiong from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the UE according to claim 11, wherein the fourth control signal includes a slot format indicator (SFI), and the processing circuitry, when in operation, determines the indicated one or more time periods based on a value of the included SFI (see, processing unit configured to prepare schedule request (SR) transmissions at periods according to the stored indicia, section 0122 Xiong; noted, SFI carries an index to a pre-configured UE-specific table configured through RRC to either dynamically through a DCI where UE assumes there is no conflict between dynamic SFI and DCI DL/UL assignments or static or semi-static through RRC, section 0036 Xiong) and an association between different slot format definitions and different SFI values (see, SR opportunities can be defined as described above using different combinations of slot-level periodicities and offsets 0060 Xiong), wherein the slot format defines how each orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol of a slot is to be used (see, SFI can indicate link direction over one or many slots, section 0036 Xiong), wherein the slot format defines each OFDM symbol of a slot as being a downlink, an uplink or a flexible OFDM symbol (see, Slot Format Indication (SFI) informs the UE whether an OFDM symbol is Downlink, Uplink or Flexible, section 0036 Xiong), and wherein the processing circuitry, when in operation, determines that some or each flexible OFDM symbol is one of the time periods (see, configured scheduling request (SR) resources having potentially both slot-level and symbol-level periodicities, section 0127 Xiong), or the slot format defines each OFDM symbol of a slot as being a downlink, an uplink, a flexible (see, Slot Format Indication (SFI) informs the UE whether an OFDM symbol is Downlink, Uplink or Flexible, section 0036 Xiong) or a OFDM symbol during which the UE is allowed to skip one or more of receiving downlink communication from the base station and transmitting uplink communication to the base station (see, when encountering DL and unknown symbols of one or more slots, UE would skip the SR transmission or defer the SR transmission to the next available and valid SR opportunity, section 0040 Xiong), and wherein the processing circuitry, when in operation, determines that each of said OFDM symbol during which the UE is allowed to skip one or more of receiving downlink communication from the base station and transmitting uplink communication to the base station is one of the time periods (see, when encountering DL and unknown symbols of one or more slots, UE would skip the SR transmission or defer the SR transmission to the next available and valid SR opportunity, section 0040 Xiong).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 with the OFDM symbol as taught by Xiong. The motivation would have been to improve managing OFDM symbol with the SR transmission.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al. US 20240372687 A1 (Domestic Priority August 5, 2021) in view of Jeon et al. US 20190132824 A1 (Domestic Priority October 27, 2017), and in further view of Bala et al. US 20240031931 A1 (Domestic Priority April 2, 2021).
The combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: Regarding claim 14 (Previously Presented), the UE according to claim 1, wherein the receiver, when in operation, receives, from the base station, a fifth control signal that is common to the radio cell or to the group of UEs, to which the UE belongs, wherein the fifth control signal indicates to the UE to perform one or both of: skip monitoring a downlink control channel for a period of time, and switch to a target search space set group, indicated in the fifth control signal, wherein the fifth control signal has a lower priority than another control signal that is specific to the UE and that indicates to perform one of skip monitoring the downlink control channel and of switch to a target search space set group.
However Bala from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the UE according to claim 1, wherein the receiver, when in operation, receives, from the base station, a fifth control signal that is common to the radio cell or to the group of UEs, to which the UE belongs, wherein the fifth control signal indicates to the UE to perform one or both of: skip monitoring a downlink control channel for a period of time (see, skip monitoring for a PDCCH transmission such as not monitoring a PDCCH transmission in one or more time instances according to a set of search spaces, section 0099 Bala), and switch to a target search space set group (see, switching between different search space groups, for example, based on traffic conditions, section 0099 Bala), indicated in the fifth control signal, wherein the fifth control signal has a lower priority than another control signal that is specific to the UE (see, in the case of lower priority SR and/or lower priority logical channel, the WTRU may monitor for a PDCCH transmission according to a SS group with a smaller ID to choose an SS from the SS group, section 0162 Bala) and that indicates to perform one of skip monitoring the downlink control channel (see, skip monitoring for a PDCCH transmission such as not monitoring a PDCCH transmission in one or more time instances according to a set of search spaces, section 0099 Bala) and of switch to a target search space set group (see, switching between different search space groups, for example, based on traffic conditions, section 0099 Bala).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 with the search space group as taught by Bala. The motivation would have been to improve managing wireless transmit-receive unit (WTRU) power saving in active time.
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al. US 20240372687 A1 (Domestic Priority August 5, 2021) in view of Jeon et al. US 20190132824 A1 (Domestic Priority October 27, 2017), and in further view of Freda et al. US 20180092017 A1 (Domestic Priority April 8, 2015).
The combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose: Regarding claim 16 (Previously Presented), the UE according to claim 1, wherein for any one or more of the first to fifth control signals is a high-layer signal of one out of a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message addressed to one or more UEs, and a system information broadcast message.
However Freda from a similar field of endeavor discloses: the UE according to claim 1, wherein for any one or more of the first to fifth control signals is a high-layer signal of one out of a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (see, lower layers such as medium access control (MAC) may report measurements taken on mobile relay transmission to higher layers, section 0095 Freda), a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message addressed to one or more UEs (see, WTRU may send the measurements over the interface to the eNB when receiving a measurement packet via a MAC CE or a RRC-like message, section 0119 Freda), and a system information broadcast message (see, a request by a remote WTRU to receive broadcast messages as determined by higher layers, section 0140 Freda).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claim invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art of which the claimed invention pertains to modify the combination of Cirik and Jeon ‘824 with the higher layers as taught by Freda. The motivation would have been to improve coverage of the network.
Conclusion
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.
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/PATRICK YIPAO PEI/Examiner, Art Unit 2473
/KWANG B YAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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