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 .
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 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.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-62 filed on July 31, 2024 are pending, claims 40-62 are new and claims 1-39 are canceled.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) and certified copy of paper required by 37 CFR 1.55 is received.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on July 31, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner and an initialed and dated copy of the Applicant’s IDS form 1449 is attached to the instant Office Action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 62 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention that does not fall within at least one statutory category. Claim 62 recites a computer readable medium. None of the claim, specification or record disclose that the claimed “computer readable medium” is a non-transitory medium. The Examiner asserts that the claimed 'computer readable medium' can be a transitory signal, which is non-statutory. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim drawn to a computer readable medium (also called machine readable medium and other such variations) typically covers forms of non-transitory tangible media and transitory propagating signals per se in view of the ordinary and customary meaning of computer readable media, particularly when the specification is silent. See MPEP 2111.01.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 40-62 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. Claims 40 and 51 recites the limitation "when a first" in line 7-8. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The phrase the bandwidth of the first downlink BWP and the bandwidth of the second downlink BWP of the claims 40 and 51 lacks proper antecedent basis. Appropriate correction and clarification is required. Claims 41-50 and 52-62 are similarly rejected based upon claim dependency to claims 40 and 51.
Claim 53 recites "transmitting an uplink signal" depends on claims 50 recites "method performed by a network node". A network node does not transmit an uplink signal unless network node refers to a user equipment.
Claim Objections
Claims 45 and 54 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claims 45 and 54 recited abbreviation "Redcap uplink BWP" without spelling it out when the first time mention it in the claim. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 40-43, 45-46, 48-55 and 57-62 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abotabl et al. (US 2023/0125508 A1, hereinafter "Abotabl") in view of Zhang et al. (US 11,569,949 B2, hereinafter "Zhang").
Regarding claim 40, Abotabl discloses a method performed by a terminal device, comprising:
determining whether a first downlink bandwidth part, BWP, and a second downlink BWP are similar to each other in terms of radio configurations (Abotabl, [0088, 98] the UE 1102 may determine the slot format for the second BWP to be a slot format of a band including the first BWP and the second BWP; a band 802 including flexible BWPs 804 including BWP1 and BWP2); and
performing one or more uplink and/or downlink operational tasks based on a result of the determination (Abotabl, [0088] the UE may communicate with the base station according to the current DL/UL symbol of the band slot format), but does not explicitly disclose wherein the first downlink BWP and the second downlink BWP are determined to be similar to each other when a first RS is transmitted within the bandwidth of the first downlink BWP and a second RS is transmitted within the bandwidth of the second downlink BWP.
Zhang from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the first downlink BWP and the second downlink BWP are determined to be similar to each other when a first RS is transmitted within the bandwidth of the first downlink BWP and a second RS is transmitted within the bandwidth of the second downlink BWP (Zhang, Col. 52 line 36-55 if there is the association relationship between the first BWP and the second BWP; first BWP in a frequency domain resource on which the first BWP and the second BWP overlap; where a reference signal indicated by using the third QCL information is located in the second BWP; where a reference signal indicated by using the fourth QCL information is located in the first BWP).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified bandwidth parts disclosed by Abotabl and bandwidth parts disclosed by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve receiving accuracy of the terminal (Zhang, Col. 33).
Regarding claim 41, Abotabl discloses wherein the one or more uplink operational tasks are performed within a bandwidth of a second uplink BWP associated with the second downlink BWP, or a first uplink BWP associated with the first downlink BWP, based on the result of the determination (Abotabl, [0077] a band 602 including flexible BWPs 604, where each flexible BWP is associated with a bandwidth 606 (e.g., a location and number of contiguous PRBs) and a slot format 608 (e.g., a pattern of DL, UL, and in some cases flexible symbols). In this example, BWP1 may be configured with one slot format including a repeating pattern of symbols 610 DL/DL/DL/UL, and BWP2 may be configured with another slot format including a repeating pattern of symbols 610 DL/UL/UL/UL).
Regarding claim 42, Abotabl discloses wherein a first set of uplink operational
tasks are performed when determining that the first downlink BWP and the second downlink BWP are similar to each other, wherein the first set of uplink operational tasks comprise at least one of:
transmitting an uplink signal or performing a first predetermined procedure containing the transmission of the uplink signal, within the bandwidth of the second uplink BWP within a first time period, wherein the first time period is shorter than a second time period within which the same uplink signal is transmitted or the same first predetermined procedure is performed in a case where the first downlink BWP and the second downlink BWP are not similar to each other (Abotabl, Fig. 8 [0086-0087] if the base station indicates in DCI or the RRC reconfiguration to switch the slot format 808 of BWP1 rather than maintain the slot format 808, and if BWP2 is not associated with its own dedicated slot format, the UE may switch from slot format 808 to band slot format 812 for BWP2 (i.e. shorter) (as well as from bandwidth 806 to bandwidth 810 of BWP2) in response to the DCI or following reconfiguration or activation of a cell); and
performing a component of a second predetermined procedure within a third time period, wherein the third time period is shorter than a fourth time period within which the same component of the same second predetermined procedure is performed in a case where the first downlink BWP and the second downlink BWP are not similar to each other (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Regarding claim 43, Abotabl discloses wherein a second set of uplink
operational tasks are performed when determining that the first downlink BWP and the second downlink BWP are not similar to each other, wherein the second set of uplink operational tasks comprise at least one of:
transmitting an uplink signal within the bandwidth of the second uplink BWP after
measuring a second RS contained in a bandwidth of the second downlink BWP or a first RS contained in a bandwidth of the first downlink BWP (not given patentable weight due to not selected option); and
transmitting an uplink signal or performing a first predetermined procedure containing the transmission of the uplink signal, within the bandwidth of the second uplink BWP within a second time period, wherein the second time period is longer than a first time period within which the same uplink signal is transmitted or the same first predetermined procedure is performed in a case where the first downlink BWP and the second downlink BWP are similar to each other (Abotabl, Fig. 8 [0086-0087] if the base station indicates in DCI or the RRC reconfiguration to switch the slot format 808 of BWP1 rather than maintain the slot format 808, and if BWP2 is not associated with its own dedicated slot format, the UE may switch from slot format 808 to band slot format 812 for BWP2 (i.e. longer) (as well as from bandwidth 806 to bandwidth 810 of BWP2) in response to the DCI or following reconfiguration or activation of a cell).
Regarding claim 45, Abotabl discloses wherein the first uplink BWP is an initial
uplink BWP, and the second uplink BWP is a non-initial uplink BWP (Abotabl, [0069] the RRC configuration may indicate an initial downlink BWP for initial downlink transmissions (e.g., a control resource set (CORESET) #0), an initial uplink BWP for initial uplink transmissions (e.g., following reconfiguration or activation of a cell); a first active downlink BWP for downlink transmissions (e.g., following reconfiguration or activation of a cell), and a first active uplink BWP for uplink transmission (e.g., following reconfiguration or activation of a cell) ); or wherein the first uplink BWP is an initial uplink BWP, and the second uplink BWP is a Redcap uplink BWP (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Regarding claim 46, Abotabl does not explicitly discloses wherein a bandwidth of the first downlink BWP contains a first reference signal, RS, and a bandwidth of the second downlink BWP contains a second RS; or
wherein the bandwidth of the first downlink BWP contains the first RS, and the bandwidth of the second downlink BWP contains no RS (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Zhang from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein a bandwidth of the first downlink BWP contains a first reference signal, RS, and a bandwidth of the second downlink BWP contains a second RS (Zhang, Col. 3 line 7-9 a reference signal configured for the first BWP and a reference signal configured for the second BWP satisfy a QCL relationship).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified bandwidth parts disclosed by Abotabl and bandwidth parts disclosed by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve receiving accuracy of the terminal (Zhang, Col. 33).
Regarding claim 48, Abotabl discloses wherein the first downlink BWP and the
second downlink BWP are determined to be similar to each other when at least one of following conditions is satisfied:
a bandwidth of the first downlink BWP and a bandwidth of the second downlink BWP at least partially overlap with each other in frequency domain;
the bandwidth of the first downlink BWP and the bandwidth of the second downlink BWP are close to each other in frequency domain (Abotabl, [0077] band 602 including flexible BWPs 604, where each flexible BWP is associated with a bandwidth 606 ( e.g., a location and number of contiguous PRBs) and a slot format 608 (e.g., a pattern of DL, UL, and in some cases flexible symbols));
a difference between transmission powers of the first RS and the second RS is within a predetermined threshold power (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
the difference between transmission powers of the first RS and the second RS is known to the terminal device (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a transmission periodicity of the first RS and a transmission periodicity of the second RS are the same; and a difference between the transmission periodicities of the first RS and the second RS is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold time (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Regarding claim 49, Abotabl discloses wherein the bandwidth of the first downlink BWP and the bandwidth of the second downlink BWP are close to each other in frequency domain, when at least one of following conditions is satisfied:
a difference in frequency between the first downlink BWP and the second downlink BWP is within a first predetermined threshold (Abotabl, [0077] band 602 including flexible BWPs 604, where each flexible BWP is associated with a bandwidth 606 ( e.g., a location and number of contiguous PRBs) and a slot format 608 (e.g., a pattern of DL, UL, and in some cases flexible symbols));
the difference in frequency between the first downlink BWP and the second downlink BWP is not larger than a second predetermined threshold (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a difference between a frequency related to the first downlink BWP and a frequency related to the second downlink BWP is less than or equal to a third predetermined threshold (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a distance in frequency between the first RS and the second RS is within a fourth predetermined threshold (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
the distance in frequency between the first RS and the second RS is not larger than a fifth predetermined threshold (not given patentable weight due to not selected option); and
a difference between a frequency related to the first RS and a frequency related to the second RS is less than or equal to a sixth predetermined threshold (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Regarding claim 50, Abotal discloses wherein the first downlink BWP is an initial downlink BWP, and the second downlink BWP is a non-initial downlink BWP (Abotabl, [0069] the RRC configuration may indicate an initial downlink BWP for initial downlink transmissions (e.g., a control resource set (CORESET) #0), an initial uplink BWP for initial uplink transmissions (e.g., following reconfiguration or activation of a cell); a first active downlink BWP for downlink transmissions (e.g., following reconfiguration or activation of a cell), and a first active uplink BWP for uplink transmission (e.g., following reconfiguration or activation of a cell) ); or
wherein the first downlink BWP is an initial downlink BWP, and the second downlink BWP is a reduced capability, Redcap, downlink BWP (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Regarding claim 51, Abotabl discloses a method performed by a network node, comprising:
transmitting, to a terminal device, first information indicating at least one condition under which a first downlink bandwidth part, BWP, and a second downlink BWP are similar to each other in terms of radio configurations (Abotabl, [0094, 88] The base station 1104 may provide a configuration 1110 to the UE 1102. such as an RRC reconfiguration, to UE which configures flexible BWPs 604, 704, 804, 904, 1004; a band 802 including flexible BWPs 804 including BWP1 and BWP2), and/or second information indicating one or more uplink and/or downlink operational tasks to be performed by the terminal device based on whether the first downlink BWP and the second BWP are similar to each other (Abotabl, [0088] the UE may communicate with the base station according to the current DL/UL symbol of the band slot format), but does not explicitly disclose wherein the at least one condition comprises that a first RS is transmitted within the bandwidth of the first downlink BWP and a second RS is transmitted within the bandwidth of the second downlink BWP.
Zhang from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the at least one condition comprises that a first RS is transmitted within the bandwidth of the first downlink BWP and a second RS is transmitted within the bandwidth of the second downlink BWP (Zhang, Col. 52 line 36-55 if there is the association relationship between the first BWP and the second BWP; first BWP in a frequency domain resource on which the first BWP and the second BWP overlap; where a reference signal indicated by using the third QCL information is located in the second BWP; where a reference signal indicated by using the fourth QCL information is located in the first BWP).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified bandwidth parts disclosed by Abotabl and bandwidth parts disclosed by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve receiving accuracy of the terminal (Zhang, Col. 33).
Regarding claim 52, Abotabl discloses wherein the one or more uplink
operational tasks are to be performed within a bandwidth of a second uplink BWP associated with the second downlink BWP, or a first uplink BWP associated with the first downlink BWP (Abotabl, [0077] a band 602 including flexible BWPs 604, where each flexible BWP is associated with a bandwidth 606 (e.g., a location and number of contiguous PRBs) and a slot format 608 (e.g., a pattern of DL, UL, and in some cases flexible symbols). In this example, BWP1 may be configured with one slot format including a repeating pattern of symbols 610 DL/DL/DL/UL, and BWP2 may be configured with another slot format including a repeating pattern of symbols 610 DL/UL/UL/UL).
Regarding claim 53, Abotabl discloses wherein the one or more uplink operational tasks to be performed when the first downlink BWP and the second downlink BWP are similar to each other, comprise at least one of:
transmitting an uplink signal within the bandwidth of the second uplink BWP without measuring a second RS contained in a bandwidth of the second downlink BWP(not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
transmitting an uplink signal or performing a first predetermined procedure containing the transmission of the uplink signal, within the bandwidth of the second uplink BWP within a first time period, wherein the first time period is shorter than a second time period within which the same uplink signal is transmitted or the same first predetermined procedure is performed in a case where the first downlink BWP and the second downlink BWP are not similar to each other (Abotabl, Fig. 8 [0086-0087] if the base station indicates in DCI or the RRC reconfiguration to switch the slot format 808 ofBWPl rather than maintain the slot format 808, and ifBWP2 is not associated with its own dedicated slot format, the UE may switch from slot format 808 to band slot format 812 for BWP2 (i.e. shorter) (as well as from bandwidth 806 to bandwidth 810 of BWP2) in response to the DCI or following reconfiguration or activation of a cell);
performing a component of a second predetermined procedure within a third time period, wherein the third time period is shorter than a fourth time period within which the same component of the same second predetermined procedure is performed in a case where the first downlink BWP and the second downlink BWP are not similar to each other (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
using one of the first RS and the second RS for acquiring timing for transmitting an uplink signal within the bandwidth of the second uplink BWP (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
using the first RS for acquire timing for transmitting an uplink signal within the bandwidth of the second uplink BWP if the second downlink BWP does not contain the second RS (not given patentable weight due to not selected option); and
transmitting an uplink signal within the bandwidth of the second uplink BWP even if the second downlink BWP does not contain the second RS (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Regarding claim 54, Abotabl discloses wherein the first uplink BWP is an initial uplink BWP, and the second uplink BWP is a non-initial uplink BWP (Abotabl, [0069] the RRC configuration may indicate an initial downlink BWP for initial downlink transmissions (e.g., a control resource set (CORESET) #0), an initial uplink BWP for initial uplink transmissions (e.g., following reconfiguration or activation of a cell); a first active downlink BWP for downlink transmissions (e.g., following reconfiguration or activation of a cell), and a first active uplink BWP for uplink transmission (e.g., following reconfiguration or activation of a cell) ); or wherein the first uplink BWP is an initial uplink BWP, and the second uplink BWP is a Redcap uplink BWP (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Regarding claim 55, Abotabl does not explicitly discloses wherein a bandwidth of the first downlink BWP contains a first reference signal, RS, and a bandwidth of the second downlink BWP contains a second RS; or
wherein the bandwidth of the first downlink BWP contains the first RS, and the bandwidth of the second downlink BWP contains no RS (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Zhang from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein a bandwidth of the first downlink BWP contains a first reference signal, RS, and a bandwidth of the second downlink BWP contains a second RS (Zhang, Col. 3 line 7-9 a reference signal configured for the first BWP and a reference signal configured for the second BWP satisfy a QCL relationship).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified bandwidth parts disclosed by Abotabl and bandwidth parts disclosed by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve receiving accuracy of the terminal (Zhang, Col. 33).
Regarding claim 57, Abotabl discloses wherein the first downlink BWP and the second downlink BWP are determined to be similar to each other when at least one of following conditions is satisfied:
a bandwidth of the first downlink BWP and a bandwidth of the second downlink BWP at least partially overlap with each other in frequency domain ;
the bandwidth of the first downlink BWP and the bandwidth of the second downlink BWP are close to each other in frequency domain (Abotabl, [0077] band 602 including flexible BWPs 604, where each flexible BWP is associated with a bandwidth 606 ( e.g., a location and number of contiguous PRBs) and a slot format 608 (e.g., a pattern of DL, UL, and in some cases flexible symbols));
a difference between transmission powers of the first RS and the second RS is within a predetermined threshold power (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
the difference between transmission powers of the first RS and the second RS is known to the terminal device (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a transmission periodicity of the first RS and a transmission periodicity of the second RS are the same; and a difference between the transmission periodicities of the first RS and the second RS is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold time (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Regarding claim 58, Abotabl discloses wherein the bandwidth of the first downlink BWP and the bandwidth of the second downlink BWP are close to each other in frequency domain, when at least one of following conditions is satisfied:
a difference in frequency between the first downlink BWP and the second downlink BWP is within a first predetermined threshold (Abotabl, [0077] band 602 (i.e. first predetermined threshold) including flexible BWPs 604, where each flexible BWP is associated with a bandwidth 606 ( e.g., a location and number of contiguous PRBs) and a slot format 608 (e.g., a pattern of DL, UL, and in some cases flexible symbols));
the difference in frequency between the first downlink BWP and the second downlink BWP is not larger than a second predetermined threshold (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a difference between a frequency related to the first downlink BWP and a frequency related to the second downlink BWP is less than or equal to a third predetermined threshold (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a distance in frequency between the first RS and the second RS is within a fourth predetermined threshold (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
the distance in frequency between the first RS and the second RS is not larger than a fifth predetermined threshold (not given patentable weight due to not selected option); and
a difference between a frequency related to the first RS and a frequency related to the second RS is less than or equal to a sixth predetermined threshold (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Regarding claim 59, Abotal discloses wherein the first downlink BWP is an initial downlink BWP, and the second downlink BWP is a non-initial downlink BWP (Abotabl, [0069] the RRC configuration may indicate an initial downlink BWP for initial downlink transmissions (e.g., a control resource set (CORESET) #0), an initial uplink BWP for initial uplink transmissions (e.g., following reconfiguration or activation of a cell); a first active downlink BWP for downlink transmissions (e.g., following reconfiguration or activation of a cell), and a first active uplink BWP for uplink transmission (e.g., following reconfiguration or activation of a cell) ); or
wherein the first downlink BWP is an initial downlink BWP, and the second downlink BWP is a reduced capability, Redcap, downlink BWP (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Regarding claims 60-62, these claims recite "a terminal device", "a network node" and "a computer readable storage medium" that disclose similar steps as recited by the method of claims 40 and 51, thus are rejected with the same rationale applied against claims 40 and 51 as presented above.
Claim(s) 44 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abotabl et al. (US 2023/0125508 A1, hereinafter "Abotabl") in view of Zhang et al. (US 11,569,949 B2, hereinafter "Zhang") as applied to claim above, and further in view of Cao et al. (US 2024/0215013 A1, hereinafter "Cao").
Regarding claim 44, Abotabl in view of Zhang does not explicitly disclose wherein a first set of uplink operational tasks are performed when determining that the first downlink BWP and the second downlink BWP are similar to each other, wherein the first set of uplink operational tasks comprise at least one of:
transmitting an uplink signal within the bandwidth of the second uplink BWP without measuring a second RS contained in a bandwidth of the second downlink BWP;
using one of the first RS and the second RS for acquiring timing for transmitting an uplink signal within the bandwidth of the second uplink BWP;
using the first RS for acquire timing for transmitting an uplink signal within the bandwidth of the second uplink BWP if the second downlink BWP does not contain the second RS (not given patentable weight due to not selected option); and
transmitting an uplink signal within the bandwidth of the second uplink BWP even if the second downlink BWP does not contain the second RS (not given patentable weight due to not selected option) .
Cao from the same field of endeavor discloses transmitting an uplink signal within the bandwidth of the second uplink BWP without measuring a second RS contained in a bandwidth of the second downlink BWP;
using one of the first RS and the second RS for acquiring timing for transmitting an uplink signal within the bandwidth of the second uplink BWP (Cao, [0150] 3, wherein the first indication includes an inter-frequency measurement indication that indicates a capability of the UE for performing inter-frequency synchronization signal block (SSB) based measurements without measurement gaps for SSBs within an active bandwidth part (BWP), and wherein the inter-frequency measurement indication further indicates the capability of the UE for downlink reception in the plurality of frequency spectrum bands using the first radio frequency receive chain).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Cao’s system for within BWP process into Abotabl’s BWP process as modified by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve spetral efficiency (Cao, [0004]).
Claim(s) 47 and 56 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abotabl et al. (US 2023/0125508 A1, hereinafter "Abotabl") in view of Zhang et al. (US 11,569,949 B2, hereinafter "Zhang") as applied to claim above, and further in view of Lei et al. (US 2023/0224878 A1, provisional application No. 63/297,691 filed on Jan, 7 2022, hereinafter "Lei").
Regarding claims 47 and 56, Abotabl in view of Zhang does not explicitly disclose wherein each of the first RS and the second RS is a synchronization signal block, SSB; or wherein the first RS is a cell-defining SSB, CD-SSB, and the second RS is a non-cell defining SSB, NCD-SSB; or
wherein the first RS is a channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS, and the second RS is an NCD-SSB (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Lei from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein each of the first RS and the second RS is a synchronization signal block, SSB; or
wherein the first RS is a cell-defining SSB, CD-SSB, and the second RS is a non-cell defining SSB, NCD-SSB (Lei, [0058, 0060] receiving, by the UE in the first operating mode, a CD-SSB; an NCD-SSB from the network entity via the second set of control resources within the second downlink BWP).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Lei’s system for multiple BWP process into Abotabl’s BWP process as modified by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve the efficiency of downlink monitoring procedures at an idle or inactive user equipment (Lei, [0005]).
Conclusion
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/LUNA WEISSBERGER/Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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