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 claim(s) 1-20 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
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) 1-5, 8-12, and 15-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seo et al. (US 2024/0306162) (“Seo”) in view of Xu et al. (US 2022/0060985) (“Xu”).
For claims 1, 8, and 15; Seo discloses: receiving, by a wireless device, first configuration parameters of a first search space and second configuration parameters of a second search space (paragraph 82, 130: The UE monitors a set of PDCCH candidates in one or more CORESETs (to be described below) on an active DL BWP of each activated serving cell in which PDCCH monitoring is configured, according to a corresponding search space set); receiving a downlink control information (DCI) (paragraph 198: PS-PDCCH used for GTS and an operation of a UE according thereto. Referring to FIG. 15, the UE may receive/detect a PS-PDCCH for GTS while monitoring search space (SS) sets configured in the DRX on-duration. For example, the PS-PDCCH may indicate monitoring off for search space #2 among search spaces #1 and 2); and indicating skipping control channel monitoring (paragraph 199: the UE may skip monitoring for search space #2 after the PS-PDCCH) for a time duration (paragraph 201: a duration to be skipped may be predefined or may be indicated by a network); and in response to receiving the DCI: skipping control channel monitoring for the first search space during the time duration (paragraph 199: the UE may skip monitoring for search space #2 after the PS-PDCCH); and monitoring a control channel for the second search space during the time duration (paragraph 201: a duration to be skipped may be predefined or may be indicated by a network).
Seo discloses “receiving a downlink control information (DCI) indicating skipping control channel monitoring” and “skipping for a time duration” (p198-201), but does not expressly disclose, but Xu from similar fields of endeavor teaches: receiving a downlink control information (DCI): comprising scheduling information for an uplink transmission or a downlink transmission; and indicating skipping control channel monitoring for a time duration (paragraph 58: a UE detects a PDCCH transmitted by a network, where the PDCCH includes PDSCH scheduling information and indication information for PDCCH skipping, after receiving a PDSCH scheduled by the PDCCH, the UE attempts to decode the PDSCH, if the PDSCH is decoded correctly, then the UE performs PDCCH skipping indicated by the network, that is to say, detection of PDCCHs is not performed within the time indicated by the indication information for the PDCCH skipping, after the PDCCH skipping is performed within the specified time, the terminal device then continues to detect the PDCCH). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the signaling as described by Xu in the power saving PDCCH monitoring as described by Seo. The motivation is to improve misdetection issues from DRX operation.
For claims 2, 9, and 16; Seo discloses: determining first monitoring occasions associated with the first search space based on the first configuration parameters; and determining second monitoring occasions associated with the second search space based on the second configuration parameters (paragraph 82, 130-131: The UE monitors a set of PDCCH candidates in one or more CORESETs (to be described below) on an active DL BWP of each activated serving cell in which PDCCH monitoring is configured, according to a corresponding search space set).
For claims 3, 10, and 17; Seo discloses the subject matter in claim 1 as described above in the office action.
Seo discloses does not expressly disclose, but Xu from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the skipping control channel monitoring for the first search space and monitoring the control for the second search space are based on a first type of the first search space and a second type of the second search space (paragraph 55: the search space to which the PDCCH being targeted by the PDCCH skipping belongs is a dedicated search space. That is to say, the time unit of the PDCCH being targeted by the PDCCH skipping may be applicable to all UE-specific search spaces monitored by the terminal device. Alternatively, the search space to which the PDCCH being targeted by the skipping operation belongs is a search space configured with a specific radio network temporary identifier (Radio Network Temporary identifier, RNTI). That is to say, the time unit of the PDCCH being targeted by the PDCCH skipping is applicable to a set of search spaces configured with specific RNTIs monitored by the terminal device). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the signaling as described by Xu in the power saving PDCCH monitoring as described by Seo. The motivation is to improve power saving discretion.
For claims 4, 11, and 18; Seo discloses the subject matter in claim 3 as described above in the office action.
Seo discloses does not expressly disclose, but Xu from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the first type of the first search space is a wireless device specific search space (paragraph 55: the search space to which the PDCCH being targeted by the PDCCH skipping belongs is a dedicated search space. That is to say, the time unit of the PDCCH being targeted by the PDCCH skipping may be applicable to all UE-specific search spaces monitored by the terminal device). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the signaling as described by Xu in the power saving PDCCH monitoring as described by Seo. The motivation is to improve power saving discretion.
For claims 5, 12, 19; Seo discloses: wherein the second type of the second search space is a common search space (paragraph 91: The CORESET may include a UE-specific CORESET for transmitting UE-specific control information and a common CORESET for transmitting control information common to all UEs).
Claim(s) 6, 7, 13, 14, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seo in view of Xu as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Ma et al. (US 2022/0369231) (“Ma”).
For claims 6, 13, and 20; Seo discloses the subject matter in claim 5 as described above in the office action.
Seo discloses does not expressly disclose, but Ma from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the second search space is a paging search space (paragraph 114-115: If a DCI or a cases is used for more than one UE …mobile station 102 may not be able to perform a PDCCH monitoring skipping in at least one of the following situations: … Monitoring a DCI with CRC scrambled by P-RNTI). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the signaling as described by Ma in the power saving PDCCH monitoring as described by Seo. The motivation is to allow the WUS via paging power savings to operate.
For claims 7 and 14; Seo discloses the subject matter in claim 5 as described above in the office action.
Seo discloses does not expressly disclose, but Xu from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the second search space is for receiving downlink control information associated with a paging radio network temporary identifier (paragraph 114-115: If a DCI or a cases is used for more than one UE …mobile station 102 may not be able to perform a PDCCH monitoring skipping in at least one of the following situations: … Monitoring a DCI with CRC scrambled by P-RNTI). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the signaling as described by Xu in the power saving PDCCH monitoring as described by Seo. The motivation is to allow the WUS via paging power savings to operate.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Guo et al. (US 2022/0201516); Guo discloses power saving techniques that can combine skipping PDCCH monitoring behavior and PDCCH periodicity monitoring behavior by switching PDCCH monitoring parameters. Simulation results show that the exemplary power saving techniques can reduce the UE power consumption compared with the PDCCH monitoring method in NR Rel-15.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN D BLANTON whose telephone number is (571)270-3933. The examiner can normally be reached 7am-6pm EST, Mon-Thu.
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/JOHN D BLANTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466