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 § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 10-11, 22-23, 26, 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by LIN et al (US 2020/0389874)
Regarding claim 1, 26, 27, LIN et al (US 2020/0389874) discloses a method for channel monitoring, performed by a user equipment, and comprising:
receiving first downlink control information (DCI) (LIN: Fig. 22, ¶384, the adaptation request is received in the DCI); and
after bandwidth part (BWP) switching, performing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring based on one of a first monitoring mode, a second monitoring mode and a third monitoring mode (LIN: Fig. 22, ¶389, ¶394-395, ¶278-279, after the BWP switching, e.g. to an active BWP; an adaptation of monitoring PDCCH is carried out using at least one mode e.g. activating PDCCH candidates or search space sets; or deactivating PDCCH candidate);
wherein the first DCI comprises information indicating a PDCCH monitoring adaptation behavior, and is received by the user equipment before the BWP switching (LIN: ¶279, ¶384, ¶431, Fig. 24, the DCI format comprises the requested adaptation behavior; and the DIC is received before BWP switching to active BWP).
Regarding claim 2, LIN et al (US 2020/0389874) discloses method according to claim 1, wherein performing the PDCCH monitoring based on the first monitoring mode comprises:
ignoring the PDCCH monitoring adaptation behavior indicated by the first DCI (LIN: ¶248, DCI is ignored in at least one mode of monitoring by the UE).
Regarding claim 10, LIN et al (US 2020/0389874) discloses method according to claim 1, wherein performing the PDCCH monitoring based on the third monitoring mode comprises: performing the PDCCH monitoring adaptation behavior indicated by the first DCI on a BWP after the BWP switching (LIN: Fig. 14, ¶462, the BWP switching is performed and after BWP is switched to an active BWP, the monitoring adaptation is performed).
Regarding claim 11, LIN et al (US 2020/0389874) discloses method according to claim 10, wherein performing the PDCCH monitoring based on the third monitoring mode further comprises: continuing operation of at least one of a search space set group switching timer or a PDCCH skipping timer on the BWP after the BWP switching in response to presence of the at least one of the search space set group switching timer or the PDCCH skipping timer in operation (LIN: ¶282, the timer operation of the PDCCH monitoring deactivation (skipping) continues in response to the timer running).
Regarding claim 22, LIN et al (US 2020/0389874) discloses method according to claim 1, wherein performing the PDCCH monitoring based on one of the first monitoring mode, the second monitoring mode and the third monitoring mode comprises:
determining a PDCCH monitoring mode based on the PDCCH monitoring adaptation behavior indicated by the first DCI, and performing the PDCCH monitoring; wherein, the PDCCH monitoring mode is one of the first monitoring mode, the second monitoring mode and the third monitoring mode (LIN: Fig. 22, ¶389, ¶394-395, ¶278-279, after the BWP switching, e.g. to an active BWP; an adaptation of monitoring PDCCH is carried out using at least one mode e.g. activating PDCCH candidates or search space sets; or deactivating PDCCH candidate).
Regarding claim 23, LIN method according to claim 22, wherein determining the PDCCH monitoring mode based on the PDCCH monitoring adaptation behavior indicated by the first DCI comprises: determining the PDCCH monitoring mode as the third monitoring mode in response to the PDCCH monitoring adaptation behavior indicated by the first DCI being PDCCH skipping (LIN: Fig. 22, ¶389, ¶394-395, ¶278-279, after the BWP switching, e.g. to an active BWP; an adaptation of monitoring PDCCH is carried out using at least one mode e.g. activating PDCCH candidates or search space sets; or ¶459, deactivating PDCCH candidate (skipping) for an additional time period after a deactivated time period( equivalent to third monitoring mode)).
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.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LIN et al (US 2020/0389874) in view of LAI et al (US 2022/0338038)
Regarding claim 3, LIN et al (US 2020/0389874) discloses method according to claim 2, wherein performing the PDCCH monitoring based on the first monitoring mode further comprises:
stopping operation of at least one of a search space set group switching timer or a PDCCH skipping timer in response to presence of the at least one of the search space set group switching timer or the PDCCH skipping timer in operation and associated to a BWP (LIN: ¶282, ¶293, ¶316, stopping at expiration of the PDCCH skipping timer (the timer started by the UE); the PDCCH monitoring is started after skipping timer stops and it is associated with the BWP).
LIN remains silent regarding before the BWP switching.
However, LAI et al (US 2022/0338038) discloses stopping operation is before the BWP switching (LAI: ¶180, the UE does not monitor and stops an operation before the BWP switching).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LIN would have been motivated to use the teachings of LAI as it provides a non-conflicting technique that does not wastes resources while a critical switching of BWP operation is implemented. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LIN with teachings of LAI in order to minimize waste of processing/scanning resources.
Claim(s) 4, 12-13, 17, 21, 24, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LIN et al (US 2020/0389874) in view of ZHOU et al (US 2023/0328652)
Regarding claim 4, LIN et al (US 2020/0389874) discloses a method according to claim 1, as above.
LIN remains silent regarding, however, ZHOU et al (US 2023/0328652) discloses performing the PDCCH monitoring based on the first monitoring mode comprises:
in response to a BWP after the BWP switching being configured with a search space set group, monitoring a default search space set group, before receiving a second DCI; or in response to the BWP after the BWP switching being configured with no search space set group, monitoring a search space configured on the BWP after the BWP switching, before receiving the second DCI (ZHOU: ¶380, Fig. 30A, the monitoring is performed on the default search space i.e. 1st SSG and before the 2nd DCI is received);
wherein the second DCI comprises information indicating the PDCCH monitoring adaptation behavior, and is received by the user equipment after the BWP switching (ZHOU: Fig. 39, Fig. 30A, ¶378, the second DCI information includes PDCCH monitoring adaption indication and is received after the BWP is switched to active BWP).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LIN would have been motivated to use the teachings of ZHOU as it provides a way to improve battery conservation by skipping/adapting PDCCH monitoring (¶274). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LIN with teachings of ZHOU in order to minimize energy consumption.
Regarding claim 12, LIN discloses method according to claim 1, as above.
LIN remains silent regarding, however, ZHOU discloses, wherein performing the PDCCH monitoring based on one of the first monitoring mode, the second monitoring mode and the third monitoring mode comprises:
determining a PDCCH monitoring mode based on receiving time points or effective time points of the first DCI and a third DCI, and performing the PDCCH monitoring (ZHOU: Fig. 37, ¶296, ¶336-342, ¶357, a PS indication by first DCI, a PS indication by the second DCI and a PS indication by a third DCI is determined and implemented at the effective time points T1, T2, T3);
wherein, the PDCCH monitoring mode is one of the first monitoring mode, the second monitoring mode and the third monitoring mode (ZHOU: Fig. 37, ¶296, ¶357, a PS indication by first DCI, a PS indication by the second DCI and a PS indication by a third DCI is determined and implemented at the effective time points T1, T2, T3); the third DCI comprises information indicating the BWP switching (ZHOU: Fig. 37, ¶296, ¶357, the DCI includes BWP switching).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LIN would have been motivated to use the teachings of ZHOU as it provides a way to improve battery conservation by skipping/adapting PDCCH monitoring (¶274). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LIN with teachings of ZHOU in order to minimize energy consumption.
Regarding claim 13, LIN modified by ZHOU discloses method according to claim 12,
wherein determining the PDCCH monitoring mode based on the receiving time points of the first DCI and the third DCI comprises at least one of:
determining the PDCCH monitoring mode as the first monitoring mode or the second monitoring mode in response to the receiving time point of the first DCI preceding the receiving time point of the third DCI;
determining the PDCCH monitoring mode as one of the first monitoring mode, the second monitoring mode and the third monitoring mode in response to the receiving time point of the first DCI and the receiving time point of the third DCI being in a same PDCCH monitoring occasion, and the first DCI being different from the third DCI;
determining the PDCCH monitoring mode as the third monitoring mode in response to the receiving time point of the first DCI and the receiving time point of the third DCI being in a same PDCCH monitoring occasion, and the first DCI being same as the third DCI; or
determining the PDCCH monitoring mode as the first monitoring mode or the second monitoring mode in response to the receiving time point of the first DCI and the receiving time point of the third DCI being in a same PDCCH monitoring occasion, and the first DCI being same as the third DCI (ZHOU: ¶366, monitoring mode is stopping monitoring PDCCH on the 1st cell, based on the 1st DCI being preceding a 3rd DCI).
14.-16. (Canceled)
Regarding claim 17, LIN modified by ZHOU discloses method according to claim 12, wherein determining the PDCCH monitoring mode based on the effective time points of the first DCI and the third DCI comprises at least one of:
determining the PDCCH monitoring mode as the first monitoring mode or the second monitoring mode in response to the effective time point of the first DCI preceding the effective time point of the third DC determining the PDCCH monitoring mode as one of the first monitoring mode, the second monitoring mode and the third monitoring mode in response to the effective time point of the first DCI being same as the effective time point of the third DCI; or
determining the PDCCH monitoring mode as one of the first monitoring mode, the second monitoring mode and the third monitoring mode in response to the effective time point of the first DCI being after the effective time point of the third DCI (ZHOU: ¶366, monitoring mode is stopping monitoring PDCCH on the 1st cell, based on the 1st DCI (equal to third DCI) being preceding a 3rd DCI (first DCI)).
18. (Canceled)
19. (Canceled)
Regarding claim 21, LIN modified by ZHOU discloses method according to claim 12, wherein the effective time point of the first DCI is specified by a communication protocol or by a high-level configuration (ZHOU: Fig. 35 and Fig. 37, ¶366, ¶340, the effective time of the configuration is indicated in the PS configuration information which is an RRC level signaling (higher level configuration)).
Regarding claim 24, LIN discloses a method of claim 1, as above.
LIN remains silent, however, ZHOU discloses further comprising: stopping the PDCCH monitoring on a BWP after the BWP switching in response to the BWP after the BWP switching being a sleeping BWP (ZHOU: Fig. 39, ¶381, ¶386, stopping PDCCH monitoring after switching to the dormant BWP).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LIN would have been motivated to use the teachings of ZHOU as it provides a way to improve battery conservation by skipping/adapting PDCCH monitoring (¶274). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LIN with teachings of ZHOU in order to minimize energy consumption.
Claim(s) 6-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LIN et al (US 2020/0389874) in view of LIN (US 2023/0047156), hereinafter LIN2.
Regarding claim 6, LIN et al (US 2020/0389874) method according to claim 1. LIN remains silent regarding, however, LIN2 discloses that performing the PDCCH monitoring based on the second monitoring mode comprises:
in response to a number of PDCCH skipping durations configured by the BWP and a number of search space sets configured by the BWP before the BWP switching being same as a number of PDCCH skipping durations configured by the BWP after the BWP switching, and a number of search space sets configured by the BWP before the BWP switching being same as a number of search space sets configured by the BWP after the BWP switching, performing the PDCCH monitoring adaptation behavior indicated by the first DCI (LIN2: ¶47, when the DCI/network configured information triggering a PDCCH monitoring and, thereby, skipping is used to monitor PDCCH when both the new (after BWP switch) and the old BWO (before BWP switch) is the same).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LIN would have been motivated to use the teachings of LIN2 as it provides a way to improve a search space group indication, and further provide a method of search space group switching. (¶7). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LIN with teachings of LIN2 in order to improve search space group switching efficiency.
Regarding claim 7, LIN modified by LIN2 discloses method according to claim 6, wherein performing the PDCCH monitoring based on the second monitoring mode further comprises: continuing operation of at least one of a search space set group switching timer and/or or a PDCCH skipping timer on the BWP after the BWP switching in response to presence of the at least one of the search space set group switching timer and/or or the PDCCH skipping timer in operation and associated to a BWP before the BWP switching (LIN: ¶282, the timer operation of the PDCCH monitoring deactivation (skipping) continues in response to the timer running).
Regarding claim 8, LIN et al (US 2020/0389874) method discloses according to claim 1 LIN remains silent, however LIN2 discloses that performing the PDCCH monitoring based on the second monitoring mode comprises:
in response to at least one of a number of PDCCH skipping durations configured by the BWP before the BWP switching being different from a number of PDCCH skipping durations configured by the BWP after the BWP switching, or a number of search space sets configured by the BWP before the BWP switching being different from a number of search space sets configured by the BWP after the BWP switching, performing following actions:
ignoring the PDCCH monitoring adaptation behavior indicated by the first DCI;
in response to a BWP after the BWP switching being configured with a search space set group, monitoring a default search space set group, before receiving a second DCI; or in response to the BWP after the BWP switching being configured with no search space set group, monitoring a search space configured on the BWP after the BWP switching, before receiving the second DCI (LIN: ¶47-48, ¶49, default search space set for monitoring is used before receiving DCI format 1_1 and after receiving it, monitoring using BWP 2’s group 1 search space set);
wherein the second DCI comprises information indicating the PDCCH monitoring adaptation behavior, and is received by the user equipment after the BWP switching (LIN: ¶49-50, receiving DCI format 1_1 which triggers adaptation with the new BWP).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LIN would have been motivated to use the teachings of LIN2 as it provides a way to improve a search space group indication, and further provide a method of search space group switching. (¶7). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LIN with teachings of LIN2 in order to improve search space group switching efficiency.
Regarding claim 9, LIN modified by LIN2 discloses method according to claim 8, wherein performing the PDCCH monitoring based on the second monitoring mode further comprises: stopping operation of at least one of a search space set group switching timer and/or or a PDCCH skipping timer in response to presence of the at least one of the s arch space set group switching timer and/or or the PDCCH skipping timer in operation and associated to the BWP before the BWP switching (LIN: ¶282, the timer operation of the PDCCH monitoring deactivation (skipping) continues in response to the timer running).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 20, 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.
Regarding claim 20, prior art of record, either alone, or in combination, does not disclose a method according to claim 12, wherein the effective time point of the third DCI is a time point after a first offset following an end of a slot where the third DCI is located, or a time point after a second offset following an end of PDCCH symbols for transmitting the third DCI; wherein the first offset is greater than or equal to a BWP switching delay specified in a communication protocol, and the second offset is a sum of remaining symbols in the slot where the third DCI is located, after removing the PDCCH symbols for transmitting the third DCI, and the first offset.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
See PTO- 892
Document U discloses that Energy efficiency is one of the key performance indicators in 5G New Radio (NR) networks targeted to support diversified use cases including enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communications (mMTC) and ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC). Trade-offs have to be carefully considered between energy efficiency and other performance aspects such as latency, throughput, connection densities and reliability. Energy efficiency is important for both user equipment (UE) side and base station side. On UE side, UE battery life has great impact on user experience. It is challenging to improve UE experience in other performance aspects without affecting battery life of 5G handsets. On the base station side, efficient network implementation is critical in both environmental and operation cost standpoints. To adapt different requirements and trade-offs, the 5G NR standard is designed to have great flexibility on network operation modes. This paper provides an overview on power saving techniques supported by 5G NR standards according to the current 5G standardization progress. It provides the 5G evolution path of the power saving techniques from the first release of 5G standard to the future beyond-5G releases. In addition to the existing standardized techniques, some major development trends of green communication and the future potential enhancements expected in the beyond-5G standards are discussed.
Document V discloses that eXtended reality (XR) is one of the most promising services for the 5th generation (5G) new radio (NR) and beyond 5G. To save user equipment (UE) power consumption, the existing power saving technologies e.g., discontinuous reception (DRX), wake-up signal (WUS) standardized in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) specification, however, are not applicable to XR service due to its stringent quality of service (QoS) requirements. In this paper, a series of power saving schemes are proposed by considering the unique characteristics of XR to efficiently reduce power consumption with satisfying packet error rate (PER) requirement and packet delay budget (PDB). One of the proposed schemes is DRX start-offset adjustment aiming to deal with the mismatch between DRX cycle and the arrival interval of XR traffic. And dynamic physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring reduction is also put forward. Furthermore, some potential packets jitter solutions are discussed. Finally, performance evaluation and analysis are provided by adopting system-level simulation, which verifies the proposed power saving schemes can achieve significant power saving gain with negligible system capacity loss.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMER S MIAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7524. The examiner can normally be reached M,T,W,Th: 10a-7p, Fri, 9a-12p.
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OMER S. MIAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2461
/OMER S MIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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