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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copies have been filed within this Application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/25/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because the abstract does not reflect the subject matter of newly added claims 16-35. The abstract only reflects subject matter of the original claims, claims 1-15. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
A patent abstract is a concise statement of the technical disclosure of the patent and should include that which is new in the art to which the invention pertains. The abstract should not refer to purported merits or speculative applications of the invention and should not compare the invention with the prior art.
If the patent is of a basic nature, the entire technical disclosure may be new in the art, and the abstract should be directed to the entire disclosure. If the patent is in the nature of an improvement in an old apparatus, process, product, or composition, the abstract should include the technical disclosure of the improvement. The abstract should also mention by way of example any preferred modifications or alternatives.
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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.
Claim 16-35 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.
The original claims 1-15 have been canceled. Claims 16-35 were newly added.
The original disclosure, filed 09/25/2024, does not support the newly added claims. As an example, independent claims 16, 21, 26, and 31 state:
“cell DRX configuration information for a non-active period of a serving cell” and “wherein, in case that the cell DRX operation is activated for the serving cell”.
The instant disclosure does state “It should be noted that, the downlink channel satisfying the predefined condition 2 may also be received and/or the uplink channel satisfying the predefined condition 4 may be transmitted based on discontinuous reception (DRX). For example, in an active state, the UE may receive and/or transmit channels, and in an inactive state, the UE does not receive and/or transmit channels” [Specification; paragraph 240]. That is the only citation of the “discontinuous reception (DRX)”. The instant specification does describe configuration information but not specifically “cell DRX” configuration information. Also, the instant specification does not describe a conditional clause for the “cell DRX operation is activated for the serving cell” as shown in the new claims. The originally filed claims, claims 1-15, did not disclose DRX or any condition dealing with a DRX operation during active/non-active period. Applicants have not pointed out where the new claims are supported, nor does there appear to be a written description, of the above claim limitations, in the application as filed. It appears the newly added claims introduce new matter that was not within the original disclosure. Therefore, independent claims 16, 21, 26, and 31 are rejected under 35 USC 112(a) for lack of written support.
Dependent claims 17-20, 22-25, 27-30, and 32-35 inherit the deficiencies of the independent claims 16, 21, 26, and 31, respectively, and are rejected for the same reasons.
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.
Claims 16-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. (“XU”) [PGPUB 2022/0346008] in view of Yi et al. (“Yi”) [PGPUB 2024/0057108].
Regarding claim 16, the Xu reference discloses a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: transmitting, to a base station (BS), UE capability information indicating the UE supports a cell discontinuous reception (DRX) operation [Xu; figure 10; paragraph 0091 and 0113-0114];
receiving, from the BS, cell DRX configuration information for a non-active period of a serving cell [ie. “separate DRX configurations could include different inactivity timers”; Xu; para 0113-0114].
The Xu reference disclose monitoring a plurality of transmissions and HARQ requests [Xu; para 0094 and 0116-0119] but does not specifically disclose “resolving an overlapping of a plurality of transmissions” and “wherein, in case that the cell DRX operation is activated for the serving cell, one of the plurality of transmissions overlaps with the non-active period of the serving cell, and the one of the plurality of transmissions is not multiplexed with hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) information, the one of the plurality of transmissions is not transmitted”
However, in the same field of endeavor, the Yi reference discloses resolving an overlapping of a plurality of transmissions and wherein, in case that the cell DRX operation is activated for the serving cell, one of the plurality of transmissions overlaps with the non-active period of the serving cell, and the one of the plurality of transmissions is not multiplexed with hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) information, the one of the plurality of transmissions is not transmitted [ie. if overlap, transmission based on priority; Yi; para 0100, 0138, 0204, 0269, and 0272]. The Xu and Yi references are analogous art, since they have similar problem solving area of managing multiple transmissions. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of overlapping and priority of transmissions, taught by Yi, into the system, taught by Xu. The motivation for doing so would have been to have self-scheduling transmission by the UE [Yi; para 0138].
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Xu-Yi further discloses the plurality of transmissions include at least one of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and wherein the PUSCH is not associated with a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) [Xu; para 0105 and 0121-0122] [ie. multiple PDCCH that one may not be associated with a specific PUSCH; Yi; para 0138 and 0203-0204].
Regarding claim 18, the combination of Xu-Yi further discloses the cell DRX configuration information includes information on downlink control information (DCI) for the cell DRX operation [Xu; para 0121-0122] [Yi; para 0232].
Regarding claim 19, the combination of Xu-Yi further discloses one of a PUCCH with a scheduling request (SR), a PUSCH related to a configured uplink grant, and a PUCCH with channel state information (CSI) is not transmitted in the non-active period of the serving cell [Xi; para 0105] [Yi; para 0192-0193].
Regarding claim 20, the combination of Xu-Yi further discloses the one of the plurality of transmissions is transmitted, in case that the one of the plurality of transmissions is multiplexed with the HARQ ACK information [Xu; para 0091-0094] [ Yi; fig 3; para 0105 and 0275-0276].
Regarding claim 21, the Xu reference discloses a method performed by a base station (BS) m a wireless communication system, the method comprising: receiving, from a user equipment (UE), UE capability information indicating the UE supports a cell discontinuous reception (DRX) operation [Xu; figure 10; paragraph 0091 and 0113-0114]; and transmitting, to the UE, cell DRX configuration information for a non-active period of a serving cell [ie. “separate DRX configurations could include different inactivity timers”; Xu; para 0113-0114].
The Xu reference disclose monitoring a plurality of transmissions and HARQ requests [Xu; para 0094 and 0116-0119] but does not specifically disclose “wherein, in case that the cell DRX operation is activated for the serving cell, one of a plurality of uplink transmissions overlaps with the non-active period of the serving cell, and the one of the plurality of uplink transmissions is not multiplexed with hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) information, the one of the plurality of uplink transmissions is not received”.
However, in the same field of endeavor, the Yi reference discloses wherein, in case that the cell DRX operation is activated for the serving cell, one of a plurality of uplink transmissions overlaps with the non-active period of the serving cell, and the one of the plurality of uplink transmissions is not multiplexed with hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) information, the one of the plurality of uplink transmissions is not received [ie. if overlap, transmission based on priority; Yi; para 0100, 0138, 0204, 0269, and 0272]. The Xu and Yi references are analogous art, since they have similar problem solving area of managing multiple transmissions. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of priority of transmissions, taught by Yi, into the system, taught by Xu. The motivation for doing so would have been to have self-scheduling transmission by the UE [Yi; para 0138].
Regarding claim 22, the combination of Xu-Yi further discloses the plurality of uplink transmissions include at least one of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and wherein the PUSCH is not associated with a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) [Xu; para 0105 and 0121-0122] [ie. multiple PDCCH that one may not be associated with a specific PUSCH; Yi; para 0138 and 0203-0204].
Regarding claim 23, the combination of Xu-Yi further discloses the cell DRX configuration information includes information on downlink control information (DCI) for the cell DRX operation [Xu; para 0121-0122] [Yi; para 0232].
Regarding claim 24, the combination of Xu-Yi further discloses one of a PUCCH with a scheduling request (SR), a PUSCH related to a configured uplink grant, and a PUCCH with channel state information (CSI) is not received in the non-active period of the serving cell [Xi; para 0105] [Yi; para 0192-0193].
Regarding claim 25, the combination of Xu-Yi further discloses the one of the plurality of uplink transmissions is received, in case that the one of the plurality of uplink transmissions is multiplexed with the HARQ ACK information [Xu; para 0091-0094] [ Yi; fig 3; para 0105 and 0275-0276].
Regarding claims 26-30, the apparatus of claims 26-30 perform the similar steps as the method of claims 16-20. The combination of Xu-Yi teaches the method of claims 16-20, as referenced above. The additional limitations of "user equipment (UE)”, “transceiver”, and “controller" are rejected with the citation of figure 3 and paragraphs 0059-0062 within the Xu reference. Therefore, claims 26-30 are rejected using the same art and rationale set forth above in the rejection of claims 16-20, by the teachings of Xu-Yi.
Regarding claims 31-35, the apparatus of claims 31-35 perform the similar steps as the method of claims 21-25. The combination of Xu-Yi teaches the method of claims 21-25, as referenced above. The additional limitations of "base station (BS)”, “transceiver”, and “controller" are rejected with the citation of figure 4 and paragraphs 0069-0073 within the Xu reference. Therefore, claims 31-35 are rejected using the same art and rationale set forth above in the rejection of claims 21-25, by the teachings of Xu-Yi.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Cheng et al. [PGPUB 2023/0328840] describes UE capabilities for DRX for sidelink communications.
Vyas et al. [PGPUB 2022/0322164] describes collision/overlap resolution.
Jo et al. [PGPUB 2021/0153189] describes DRX configuration for UE.
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/JASON D CARDONE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2458
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