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 .
Response to Arguments
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 & 103
Applicant's arguments filed 09/29/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. With regard to claim 8, the applicant alleges that the disclosure of He (US 2019/0254118 A1) does not disclose:
“and wherein the configured relationship is preconfigured prior to the WUS.”
The office notes that the disclosure He does disclose the claimed feature. The office notes that BWP are configured prior to the use of a BWP as discussed in the rejection below, wherein generally the default BWP and any additionally BWP are configured via RRC signaling or system information prior to the use of the BWP, see fig.10 and par.[0130 – 0136].
With regard to claims 1 and 10, the Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) above 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.
Further the office notes that claims 1 and 10 were subject to separate 102 rejections in view of He as discussed above, and Reial (US 2021/0392584 A1). It appears that applicant have submitted arguments in view of He and generally alleges that He does not disclose the features and subsequently states that Reial also does not disclose the features without particularly pointing to the deficiencies of Reial. The applicants arguments are unpersuasive.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
In particular, claims 1 and 10, which are independent have been amended to recite, in part:
“wherein the first PDCCH transmission comprises a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) that is associated with WUSs”
The office notes that the disclosure as filed does not teach an RNTI that is associated with WUSs. That is, a single RNTI is not associated with a more than one WUS.
The applicants allege that the disclosure at par.[0094] and [0121] describe the above features.
Par.[0094] “FIG. 11 is a flow diagram 1100 illustrating an example in which the PDCCH functions as the WUS (e.g., a PDCCH-WUS). In the illustrated example, the PDCCH-WUS is received during a wake-up signal occasion. The PDCCH-WUS may be configured to facilitate a compact DCI, facilitate a special RNTI, facilitate a reduced search-space, facilitate blind-decoding, etc. In the illustrated example, after receiving the PDCCH-WUS, the UE may transition to the on-duration and an A-CSI may be triggered with a zero duration offset (e.g., the CSI-RS are communicated during the same slot). In the illustrated example, the UE provides the CSI reports in a k2 slot. The UE and the base station may then schedule PDSCH using any updated CQI provided in the CSI reports.”
At best the disclosure of par.[0094] describes the PDCCH-WUS as facilitating a special RNTI. At best the PDCCH-WUS may facilitate an special RNTI, however, the disclosure does not teach an first PDCCH with an RNTI that is associated with a plurality of WUSs as amended and suggested by the applicants remarks on pg(s). 7 and 8.
The other suggested par.[0121] does not describe an association between an RNTI and the PDCCH-WUS, and thus, the applicants disclosure does not teach, and/or reasonably suggest the amended claims. The claims are rejected.
Additionally, claims 2-9 and 11-20 are rejected for their dependency on claims 1 and 10, and for failing to cure the deficiencies therein.
Additionally, the applicant has amended claim 8 to recites, in part:
“wherein the configured relationship is preconfigured prior to the WUS”
The applicants disclosure does not disclose and/or reasonably suggest the amended claim feature. At best the disclosure, herein, PG PUB (US 2024/0414650 A1) teaches that a WUS may have a preconfigured BWP, see par.[0098]. Other paragraphs describe the bandwidth of the BWP used for detecting WUS, see par.[0088] which describes the WUS BWP as being narrower in bandwidth than the on-duration BWP. This allows for the UE to utilize a lower amount of power to detect the PDCCH-WUS. There is no indication anywhere in the specification that there is some configured relationship which is preconfigured anywhere in the applicants specification, and thus the claim is rejected.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention.
As discussed above, the applicants disclosure has been amended to recite, in part:
“wherein the first PDCCH transmission comprises a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) that is associated with WUSs”
The office notes that the disclosure as filed does not teach an RNTI that is associated with WUSs. That is, a single RNTI is not associated with a more than one WUS.
The applicants allege that the disclosure at par.[0094] and [0121] describe the above features, however, as discussed above, the subject matter is not found in the specification as filed and additionally the claims are not enabled for the reasons given below.
At the time of the invention and Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) is utilized as an ID for a UE and there is a group-RNTI which is used for a group of UEs, however, the specification does not disclose a group-RNTI, just a special RNTI. A question arises that if a single RNTI is used for multiple WUSs as claimed, how would the UE understand that it is supposed to be awoken? The specification does not detail how a special RNTI can be used for PDCCH-WUSs, or how different PDCCH-WUSs which would be sent to a one or more UEs would utilize a single RNTI to identify the different UEs.
As stated above, the RNTI is an identifier utilized for the UE identification. If one RNTI used for multiple WUSs how would the UEs receiving the WUS know which WUS is for which UE? Additionally there is no discussion of a group-RNTI or a group-RNTI being associated with multiple different WUSs. Thus, it is unclear how the single/special RNTI would be used for multiple PDCCH-WUSs, as claimed. Thus, the claims are not enabled by the originally filed specification.
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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He et al. (US 2019/0254110 A1) in view of Liao et al. (US 2020/0037247 A1).
Regarding claim(s) 1 and 10, He discloses:
an apparatus for wireless communication (fig.1 depicts a wireless communications network) at a User Equipment (UE) (fig.1 depicts a User Equipment (UE)), comprising:
memory (fig.1 depicts a UE, and fig.3 depicts a memory); and
at least one processor (fig.3 depicts a processor) coupled to the at least one memory (fig.3 depicts a memory and processor coupled via bus) and configured to cause the UE to:
receive a wake-up signal (WUS) (par.[0179] describes a WUS) in a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission (par.[0179] describes the WUS being a PDCCH) while performing discontinuous reception (DRX) (par.[0010] describes the signal (WUS) which is used to indicate whether a UE should wake for data in a DRX cycle or not), wherein the first PDCCH transmission comprises a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with the WUS (par.[0179] describes the WUS with C-RNTI);
receive a second PDCCH transmission after the WUS (par.[0179] describes the WUS using a PDCCH can schedule PDSCH or PUSCH outside of the current DRX cycle or within the current DRX cycle. Thus, the UE may receive a PDSCH during the current DRX cycle utilizing the WUS/PDCCH or receive a second PDCCH in another DRX cycle based on the WUS/PDCCH receive during the first DRX cycle, par.[0180]); and
receive a data transmission after the second PDCCH transmission (Par.[0179] which teaches the scheduling using the WUS/PDCCH along with par.[0180] in part, “When a serving gNB expects to schedule PDSCH/PUSCH for a UE in a following DRX cycle, the gNB can transmit a WUS to inform the UE to monitor PDCCH in the following DRX cycle.”).
While the disclosure of He teaches a WUS that is associated with an RNTI, it may not disclose:
an a RNTI associated with WUSs.
In an analogous art, the disclosure of Liao teaches:
an a RNTI associated with WUSs (par.[0072] which recites, in part, “The UEs 704-1, 704-2, . . . 704-G each detect UE-group-specific wake-up signals based on the group ID or the WUS-RNTI.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant application to combine the teachings of He for providing a PDCCH-WUS with the disclosure of Liao for using a single RNTI for a plurality of WUSs. The motivation/suggestion would have been to wake a group of UEs each receiving a WUS, wherein the RNTI corresponds to the group of UEs receiving the WUS.
Regarding claims 2, 11, and 18, He discloses:
wherein the WUS is on a first bandwidth part (BWP), and the second PDCCH transmission is on the first BWP (par.[0182] describes the BWP indicator field in the WUS which can indicate a separate BWP when needed, thus, absent an indication of BWP switching, the UE may utilize a single BWP for the first and second PDCCH, see, par.[0180] as discussed above).
Regarding claims 3 and 12, He discloses:
wherein the first BWP is a same BWP for active communication with a network device (par.[0179] describes the UE receiving a PDCCH/WUS in a default BWP or active BWP).
Regarding claims 4 and 13, He discloses:
communicate, in an active state, with the network device on the first BWP (par.[0179 – 0180] describes the reception of the PDCCH/WUS which is performed in for a DRX cycle, absent the WUS the UE may enter into a low-power mode of the DRX cycle).
Regarding claims 5, 14, and 19, He discloses:
wherein a bandwidth of the WUS is smaller than the first BWP (par.[0141] describes the WUS in a CORESET which is small set of resources which would not span the bandwidth of the BWP. CORESET and Search Spaces are utilized to increase decoding by providing smaller resource locations for the UE to search for a particular signaling).
Regarding claims 6, 15, and 20, He discloses:
wherein the WUS is received on a first bandwidth part (BWP), and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the UE to:
switch to a second BWP to receive the second PDCCH transmission (par.[0184] which describes the WUS causing the UE to switch from a default BWP to another active BWP).
Regarding claims 7 and 16, He discloses:
wherein the WUS triggers the UE to switch to the second BWP to receive the second PDCCH transmission (par.[0184] which describes the WUS causing the UE to switch from a default BWP to another active BWP).
Regarding claim 8, He discloses:
wherein the first BWP has a configured relationship to the second BWP (par.[0184] describes the WUS being used to reconfigure the UE from the first BWP to a second BWP, thus, the BWP have a configured relationship); and
wherein the configured relationship is preconfigured prior to the WUS (fig.10 and par.[0130 – 0136] describes the configuration of BWPs to the UE wherein the UE may use a first/default BWP which has a smaller BW, in order to perform low power activities such as PDCCH monitoring. Because in order to monitor for PDCCH_WUS requires the lower power BWP, the BWP and their relationship among each other are configured prior to the reception of the WUS).
Regarding claim 9, He discloses:
wherein the DRX includes a DRX cycle having on-durations and off-durations (fig.18 wherein the DRX-Cycle comprises OnDuration and OffDuration as shown), and wherein the WUS is received during a WUS occasion prior to an on-duration of the DRX cycle (par.[0177 – 0178] and fig.18 describes the WUS is received prior to the OnDuration).
Regarding claim(s) 17, He discloses:
an apparatus for wireless communication (fig.1 depicts a wireless communications network) at a Network Device (fig.1 depicts a wireless base station), comprising:
memory (fig.1 depicts a base station, and fig.2 depicts a memory); and
at least one processor (fig.2 depicts a processor) coupled to the at least one memory (fig.2 depicts a memory and processor coupled via bus) and configured to cause the UE to:
transmit a wake-up signal (WUS) (par.[0179] describes a WUS) in a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission (par.[0179] describes the WUS being a PDCCH) while performing discontinuous reception (DRX) (par.[0010] describes the signal (WUS) which is used to indicate whether a UE should wake for data in a DRX cycle or not), wherein the first PDCCH transmission comprises a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with the WUS (par.[0179] describes the WUS with C-RNTI);
transmit a second PDCCH transmission after the WUS (par.[0179] describes the WUS using a PDCCH can schedule PDSCH or PUSCH outside of the current DRX cycle or within the current DRX cycle. Thus, the UE may receive a PDSCH during the current DRX cycle utilizing the WUS/PDCCH or receive a second PDCCH in another DRX cycle based on the WUS/PDCCH receive during the first DRX cycle, par.[0180]); and
transmit a data transmission after the second PDCCH transmission (Par.[0179] which teaches the scheduling using the WUS/PDCCH along with par.[0180] in part, “When a serving gNB expects to schedule PDSCH/PUSCH for a UE in a following DRX cycle, the gNB can transmit a WUS to inform the UE to monitor PDCCH in the following DRX cycle.”).
While the disclosure of He teaches a WUS that is associated with an RNTI, it may not disclose:
an a RNTI associated with WUSs.
In an analogous art, the disclosure of Liao teaches:
an a RNTI associated with WUSs (par.[0072] which recites, in part, “The UEs 704-1, 704-2, . . . 704-G each detect UE-group-specific wake-up signals based on the group ID or the WUS-RNTI.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant application to combine the teachings of He for providing a PDCCH-WUS with the disclosure of Liao for using a single RNTI for a plurality of WUSs. The motivation/suggestion would have been to wake a group of UEs each receiving a WUS, wherein the RNTI corresponds to the group of UEs receiving the WUS.
Claim(s) 1, 10, and 17, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Reial et al. (US 2021/0392584 A1) in view of Liao et al. (US 2020/0037247 A1).
Regarding claim(s) 1 and 10, Reial discloses:
an apparatus for wireless communication (fig.3 depicts a wireless communications network) at a User Equipment (UE) (fig.3 depicts a User Equipment (UE)), comprising:
memory (fig.4 depicts a UE, and a memory element 72); and
at least one processor (fig.4 depicts a processor element 70) coupled to the at least one memory (fig.4 depicts a memory and processor coupled) and configured to cause the UE to:
receive a wake-up signal (WUS) (par.[0003] describes a WUS) in a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission (par.[0052] describes the WU-DCI, which is a WUS-PDCCH, or is transmitted on a first PDCCH) while performing discontinuous reception (DRX) (par.[0050] describes the DRX, wherein the UE wakes up to receive a PDCCH, par.[0133]), wherein the first PDCCH transmission comprises a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with the WUS (par.[0025] describes the DCI scrambled with a Radio Network Temporary Identifier, par.[0135]);
receive a second PDCCH transmission after the WUS (par.[0052] which describes the WUS-PDCCH preceding the scheduling PDCCH ); and
receive a data transmission after the second PDCCH transmission (par.[0052] describes reception of the scheduling PDCCH after the WUS-PDCCH).
While the disclosure of Reial teaches a WUS that is associated with an RNTI, it may not disclose:
an a RNTI associated with WUSs.
In an analogous art, the disclosure of Liao teaches:
an a RNTI associated with WUSs (par.[0072] which recites, in part, “The UEs 704-1, 704-2, . . . 704-G each detect UE-group-specific wake-up signals based on the group ID or the WUS-RNTI.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant application to combine the teachings of Reial for providing a PDCCH-WUS with the disclosure of Liao for using a single RNTI for a plurality of WUSs. The motivation/suggestion would have been to wake a group of UEs each receiving a WUS, wherein the RNTI corresponds to the group of UEs receiving the WUS.
Regarding claim(s) 17, Reial discloses:
an apparatus for wireless communication (fig.3 depicts a wireless communications network) at a Network Device (fig.3 depicts a plurality of network device), comprising:
memory (fig.4 depicts a UE, and a memory element 46); and
at least one processor (fig.4 depicts a processor element 84) coupled to the at least one memory (fig.4 depicts a memory and processor coupled) and configured to cause the UE to:
transmit a wake-up signal (WUS) (par.[0003] describes a WUS) in a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission (par.[0052] describes the WU-DCI, which is a WUS-PDCCH, or is transmitted on a first PDCCH) while performing discontinuous reception (DRX) (par.[0050] describes the DRX, wherein the UE wakes up to receive a PDCCH, par.[0133]), wherein the first PDCCH transmission comprises a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with the WUS (par.[0025] describes the DCI scrambled with a Radio Network Temporary Identifier, par.[0135]);
transmit a second PDCCH transmission after the WUS (par.[0052] which describes the WUS-PDCCH preceding the scheduling PDCCH ); and
transmit a data transmission after the second PDCCH transmission (par.[0052] describes reception of the scheduling PDCCH after the WUS-PDCCH).
While the disclosure of Reial teaches a WUS that is associated with an RNTI, it may not disclose:
an a RNTI associated with WUSs.
In an analogous art, the disclosure of Liao teaches:
an a RNTI associated with WUSs (par.[0072] which recites, in part, “The UEs 704-1, 704-2, . . . 704-G each detect UE-group-specific wake-up signals based on the group ID or the WUS-RNTI.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant application to combine the teachings of Reial for providing a PDCCH-WUS with the disclosure of Liao for using a single RNTI for a plurality of WUSs. The motivation/suggestion would have been to wake a group of UEs each receiving a WUS, wherein the RNTI corresponds to the group of UEs receiving the WUS.
Conclusion
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 JAMAAL HENSON whose telephone number is (571)272-5339. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thu: 7:30 am - 6:30 pm.
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JAMAAL HENSON
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2411
/JAMAAL HENSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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