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 § 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1, 10-13,17-22,45,54-57,61-63 and 90 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 # 107-bis, eMeeting 1/17-1/25, 2021, Agenda Item: 8.7.12, Moderator (Samsung), Moderator Summary #3 on TRS/CSI-RS occasion for idle/inactive UEs, R1-2200726, hereinafter “D1”) in view of Yang (CN 105282794A, 01/27/2016).
Regarding claims 1, 45 and 90, D1 discloses a method for determining a reference signal (RS), comprising: determining that an RS valid indication (see section 2, L1 availability with a bitmap, TRS availability indication). D1 discloses all the subject matter but fails to mention an RS is valid according to a cell switch indication. However. Yang from a similar field of endeavor discloses an RS is valid according to a cell switch indication (see para. 0019, 0023, 0033 cell switch is determined based on reference signal strength; para. 0083-0084, broad interpretation of cell handover or switch indication with RS strength being valid if its strength is higher than threshold). Thus, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to include Yang switchover indication into D1 RS validity. The method can be implemented in a signal. The motivation of doing this is to select the best cell for handover.
Regarding claims 10, and 54, D1 discloses wherein determining that the RS is valid, comprises: determining that the RS is valid after a first delay (see section 2, paging PDCCH based L1 availability indication of TRS/CSI-RS at the configured occasions to the idle/inactive UEs, the L1 availability indication is valid for a time duration starting from a reference point, proposal 3 defining a time offset or application delay above the reference point for start of the validity duration indicated by TRS availability, proposal 4, introduce application delay of TRS availability indication [5] ms).
Regarding claims 11, and 55, D1 discloses wherein the first delay is cell switch time (see section 2, valid availability duration; proposal 3 defining a time offset or application delay above the reference point for start of the validity duration indicated by TRS availability, proposal 4, introduce application delay of TRS availability indication [5] ms)).
Regarding claims 12, and 56, D1 discloses wherein a value of the first delay is predefined or carried in an SIB (see proposal 1, if L11 TRS availability is not configured, the availability of TRS/CSI-RS can be implicitly indicated by the TRS/CSI-RS configuration present in SIB).
Regarding claims 13, and 57, D1 discloses wherein a value of the first delay is carried in one of: a wakeup signal (WUS), a paging early indication (PEI) physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a paging PDCCH, a paging message, a random access response (RAR) PDCCH, an RAR medium access control control element (MAC CE), an RAR message, and message 4 (see issue 1-2, availability indication from PEI and paging PDCCH).
Regarding claims 17, and 61, D1 discloses wherein the configuration of the RS is determined by a higher layer parameter (Potential solutions: Scheme b Confirming existing working assumptions (i.e. LI availability indication automatically enabled when SIB configures TRS resources); scheme 2: A 1-bit explicit switch indication can be configured in SIB-X for enabling/disabling U signaling of the TRS/CSI-RS availability indication, which configuration is commonly signaled with the TRS/CSI-RS resource configuration; scheme 3: If TRS resources are configured for SIB: tRS availability indication rest be included in paging DCI; when PEI is configured. the TRS availability indication must be included in the PEI DCE scheme 4: Introduce RRC parameter ‘AvalladDCIFormat’ for selection of DCI format carrying LI availability indication; scheme 5: Support of enabling/disabling PEl-based availability indication function through RRC signaling (above, it is disclosed that configuration of reference signal is determined by higher layer parameter). While in cell handover scenarios, the source cell command is also & common reliable signaling bearer).
Regarding claims 18, and 62, D1 discloses wherein the higher layer parameter is contained in signaling of a source cell (Potential solutions: Scheme b Confirming existing working assumptions (i.e. LI availability indication automatically enabled when SIB configures TRS resources); scheme 2: A 1-bit explicit switch indication can be configured in SIB-X for enabling/disabling U signaling of the TRS/CSI-RS availability indication, which configuration is commonly signaled with the TRS/CSI-RS resource configuration; scheme 3: If TRS resources are configured for SIB: tRS availability indication rest be included in paging DCI; when PEI is configured. the TRS availability indication must be included in the PEI DCE scheme 4: Introduce RRC parameter ‘AvalladDCIFormat’ for selection of DCI format carrying LI availability indication; scheme 5: Support of enabling/disabling PEl-based availability indication function through RRC signaling (above, it is disclosed that configuration of reference signal is determined by higher layer parameter). While in cell handover scenarios, the source cell command is also & common reliable signaling bearer).
Regarding claims 19, and 63, D1 discloses wherein the RS takes effect only once after indication (see section 2, paging PDCCH based TRP/CSI- RS LI availability indication on configured occasions for ide/inactive user equipment whose validity time is calculated starting from a reference point. The above discloses that the reference signal is determined to be valid according to the first indication).
Regarding claim 20, D1 discloses wherein the RS is valid within a period of time (see section 2, paging PDCCH based TRP/CSI- RS LI availability indication on configured occasions for ide/inactive user equipment whose validity time is calculated starting from a reference point. The above discloses that the reference signal is determined to be valid according to the first indication).
Regarding claim 21, D1 discloses wherein the RS comprises one of: a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB), a tracking reference signal (TRS), or a temporary reference signal (Temp-RS) (see section 1, tracking reference signal).
Claim(s) 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 in view of Yang as applied to claims 1 and 21 above, and further in view of LEE et al. (US 2023/0021160 ).
Regarding claim 22, D1 and Yang disclose wherein the SSB and a cell defining SSB (CD-SSB) have a same time-domain position. However, LEE from a similar field of endeavor discloses wherein the SSB and a cell defining SSB (CD-SSB) have a same time-domain position (see para. 0151, and 0186, SSB and CD-SSB in the same time resource).Thus, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to include LEE SSB scheme into D1 and Yang validity scheme. The method can be implemented in a signal. The motivation of doing this is to receive multi-SSBs and save resources.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMAD S ANWAR whose telephone number is (571)270-5641. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6-5 EST.
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MOHAMMAD S. ANWAR
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2463
/MOHAMMAD S ANWAR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
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