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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/31/2024 and 2/18/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 10-11, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hu et al. US 20230048959 (hereinafter “Hu”).
As to claim 1 and 13 (claim 13 is the method claim for the terminal device in claim 1):
Hu discloses:
A terminal device comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program codes; the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to: (“there is provided a terminal device, which may include a processor and a memory configured to store a computer program capable of running on the processor. The processor is configured to execute operations of the channel monitoring method executed by the abovementioned terminal device when running the computer program”, Hu [0010])
in accordance with a determination that a scheduling request is triggered or a scheduling request is transmitted, determine whether to monitor physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) from at least one serving cell based on a characteristic of the at least one serving cell associated with an uplink of the at least one serving cell. (“For a scenario where the first information includes the SR, if the terminal device transits the SR through the PDCCH in the PDCCH skipping duration, and the SR is in a pending state, then the terminal device monitors the PDCCH on all activated serving cells; or the terminal device determines to monitor the PDCCH on at least one activated serving cell according to a related parameter of a Logical Channel Prioritization (LCP) restriction of an uplink logical channel that triggers the SR”, Hu [0086])
As to claim 2:
Hu discloses:
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device to: monitor PDCCH from the at least one serving cell when the characteristic of the at least one serving cell corresponds to one of: a serving cell with a configured uplink, a serving cell with a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) configuration, a serving cell which provides an uplink grant over a monitored PDCCH,
or a serving cell with a PDCCH which is associated with another serving cell with a configured uplink or a PUSCH configuration. (“For a scenario where the first information includes the SR, if the terminal device transits the SR through the PDCCH in the PDCCH skipping duration, and the SR is in a pending state, then the terminal device monitors the PDCCH on all activated serving cells; or the terminal device determines to monitor the PDCCH on at least one activated serving cell according to a related parameter of a Logical Channel Prioritization (LCP) restriction of an uplink logical channel that triggers the SR”, Hu [0086])
As to claim 3:
Hu discloses:
The terminal device of claim 2, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device to: receive a PDCCH skipping configuration associated with the at least one serving cell, the PDCCH skipping configuration comprising a predetermined time duration; (“At S302, the terminal device receives the PDCCH skipping information sent by the network device corresponding to the serving cell.”, Hu [0102]) (“In some embodiments, the PDCCH skipping information indicates the terminal device to skip the PDCCH monitoring. The PDCCH monitoring may include a PDCCH skipping duration.”, Hu [0103])
and perform PDCCH skipping according to the PDCCH skipping configuration for the predetermined time duration. (“In some embodiments, the terminal device does not monitor to the PDCCH on the service cell during the subsequent PDCCH skipping duration from the completion of receiving a next symbol of the PDCCH after the terminal device receives the PDCCH skipping information.”, Hu [0104])
As to claim 10:
Claim 10 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1 from the perspective of the network node.
As to claim 11:
Claim 11 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 2 from the perspective of the network node.
Claim(s) 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Nam et al. US 20250212215 (hereinafter “Nam”).
As to claim 14:
Nam discloses:
A method comprising: in accordance with a reception of a scheduling request from a terminal device, (“After the data becomes available from the logical channel, the UE decides monitoring PDCCH from a selected cell when: [0229] i) reception of the data of the logical channel from the upper layer; or [0230] ii) triggering an SR due to the data from the logical channel; [0231] iii) transmission of the SR due to the data from the logical channel”, Nam [0228]) transmitting, from a network device and to the terminal device, an uplink grant over a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) on a serving cell by ignoring PDCCH skipping on the serving cell. (“Once the UE determines to ignore the PDCCH skipping, the UE ignores the PDCCH until the UE receives an uplink grant for the transmission of the data from the logical channel. Alternatively, the UE may be configured with a certain time duration for which the UE ignoring the PDCCH skipping. After the UE receives the uplink grant or the certain time duration is passed, the UE performs PDCCH skipping for the cell if the PDCCH skipping command is received to instruct PDCCH skipping for the cell”, Nam [0240]) (Examiner’s Note: “the UE ignores the PDCCH until the UE receives an uplink grant” which means the network device sends an uplink grant even if the UE is ignoring PDCCH which, in turn, forces the UE to monitor PDCCH)
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.
Claim(s) 4-5, 7-9, and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu et al. US 20230048959 (hereinafter “Hu”) in view of Nam et al. US 20250212215 (hereinafter “Nam”)
As to claim 4:
Hu as described above does not explicitly teach:
The terminal device of claim 3, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device to monitor PDCCH from the at least one serving cell by ignoring the PDCCH skipping on the at least one serving cell.
However, Nam further teaches ignoring PDCCH skipping which includes:
The terminal device of claim 3, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device to monitor PDCCH from the at least one serving cell by ignoring the PDCCH skipping on the at least one serving cell. (“Referring to FIG. 11, when new data transmission arrives on LCH1, UE triggers a SR transmission on SR1 resource of Cell 1. If UE receives PDCCH skipping command while SR is pending, UE will ignore PDCCH skipping on all the serving cells, which could cause unnecessary PDCCH monitoring on Cell 3 because the network does not schedule any data on Cell 3 for PDCCH skipping duration.”, Nam [0192])
Hu and Nam are analogous because they pertain to PDCCH skipping.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include ignoring PDCCH skipping as described in Nam into Hu. By modifying the method to include ignoring PDCCH skipping as taught by Nam, the benefits of reduced power consumption (Hu [0066] and Nam [0012]) are achieved.
As to claim 5:
Hu as described above does not explicitly teach:
The terminal device of claim 2, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device to: receive, from one serving cell of the at least one serving cell, an uplink grant over the monitored PDCCH for an uplink transmission.
However, Nam further teaches receiving uplink grant over monitored PDCCH which includes:
The terminal device of claim 2, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device to: receive, from one serving cell of the at least one serving cell, an uplink grant over the monitored PDCCH for an uplink transmission. (“A UE always monitors the PDCCH(s) in order to find possible grants for uplink transmission when its downlink reception is enabled (activity governed by discontinuous reception (DRX) when configured). In addition, with Configured Grants, the BS can allocate uplink resources for the initial HARQ transmissions to UEs. Two types of configured uplink grants are defined: Type 1 and Type 2. With Type 1, RRC directly provides the configured uplink grant (including the periodicity). With Type 2, RRC defines the periodicity of the configured uplink grant while PDCCH addressed to Configured Scheduling RNTI (CS-RNTI) can either signal and activate the configured uplink grant, or deactivate it; i.e. a PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI indicates that the uplink grant can be implicitly reused according to the periodicity defined by RRC, until deactivated.”, Nam [0120])
Hu and Nam are analogous because they pertain to PDCCH skipping.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include receiving uplink grant over monitored PDCCH as described in Nam into Hu. By modifying the method to include receiving uplink grant over monitored PDCCH as taught by Nam, the benefits of reduced power consumption (Hu [0066] and Nam [0012]) are achieved.
As to claim 7:
Hu as described above does not explicitly teach:
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device to: not monitor PDCCH from the at least one serving cell when the characteristic of the at least one serving cell does not correspond to any one of: a serving cell with a configured uplink, a serving cell with a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) configuration, a serving cell which provides an uplink grant over a monitored PDCCH, or a serving cell with a PDCCH which is associated with another serving cell with a configured uplink or a PUSCH configuration
However, Nam further teaches not monitoring PDCCH which includes:
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device to: not monitor PDCCH from the at least one serving cell when the characteristic of the at least one serving cell does not correspond to any one of: a serving cell with a configured uplink, a serving cell with a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) configuration, a serving cell which provides an uplink grant over a monitored PDCCH, or a serving cell with a PDCCH which is associated with another serving cell with a configured uplink or a PUSCH configuration.(“Referring to FIG. 13, if cross-carrier scheduling is configured between Cell 2 and Cell 3 (i.e., Cell 2 is scheduled via Cell 3), when new data transmission arrives on LCH1, UE triggers a SR transmission on SR1 resource of Cell 1 then the PUSCH grant of Cell 2 is scheduled from a PDCCH on Cell 3. In that case, if UE ignores PDCCH skipping on Cell 1 and Cell 2 according to LCH-to-cell mapping (i.e., keeping PDCCH skipping on Cell 3), UE cannot receive PUSCH grant on Cell 3 until PDCCH skipping duration expired, which could cause unnecessary scheduling delay”, Nam [0202])
Hu and Nam are analogous because they pertain to PDCCH skipping.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include not monitoring PDCCH as described in Nam into Hu. By modifying the method to include not monitoring PDCCH as taught by Nam, the benefits of reduced power consumption (Hu [0066] and Nam [0012]) are achieved.
As to claim 8:
Hu discloses:
The terminal device of claim 7, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device to: perform PDCCH skipping to not monitor PDCCH from the at least one serving cell. (“At S302, the terminal device receives the PDCCH skipping information sent by the network device corresponding to the serving cell.”, Hu [0102]) (“In some embodiments, the PDCCH skipping information indicates the terminal device to skip the PDCCH monitoring. The PDCCH monitoring may include a PDCCH skipping duration.”, Hu [0103])
As to claim 9:
Hu as described above does not explicitly teach:
The terminal device of claim 7, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device to: in accordance with a reception of the uplink grant from a serving cell other than the at least one serving cell or in accordance with an uplink transmission performed based on the uplink grant, monitor the PDCCH from the at least one serving cell.
However, Nam further teaches monitoring PDCCH which includes:
The terminal device of claim 7, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device to: in accordance with a reception of the uplink grant from a serving cell other than the at least one serving cell or in accordance with an uplink transmission performed based on the uplink grant, monitor the PDCCH from the at least one serving cell. (“Once the UE determines to ignore the PDCCH skipping, the UE ignores the PDCCH until the UE receives an uplink grant for the transmission of the data from the logical channel. Alternatively, the UE may be configured with a certain time duration for which the UE ignoring the PDCCH skipping. After the UE receives the uplink grant or the certain time duration is passed, the UE performs PDCCH skipping for the cell if the PDCCH skipping command is received to instruct PDCCH skipping for the cell.”, Nam [0240]) (Examiner’s Note: the UE ignores PDCCH until it receives an uplink grant – it will then transmit uplink data)
Hu and Nam are analogous because they pertain to PDCCH skipping.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include monitoring PDCCH as described in Nam into Hu. By modifying the method to include monitoring PDCCH as taught by Nam, the benefits of reduced power consumption (Hu [0066] and Nam [0012]) are achieved.
As to claim 12:
Hu as described above does not explicitly teach:
The network device of claim 10, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the network device to: receive, from the terminal device, an uplink transmission over the uplink grant.
However, Nam further teaches receiving uplink transmission over the uplink grant which includes:
The network device of claim 10, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the network device to: receive, from the terminal device, an uplink transmission over the uplink grant. (“Once the UE determines to ignore the PDCCH skipping, the UE ignores the PDCCH until the UE receives an uplink grant for the transmission of the data from the logical channel. Alternatively, the UE may be configured with a certain time duration for which the UE ignoring the PDCCH skipping. After the UE receives the uplink grant or the certain time duration is passed, the UE performs PDCCH skipping for the cell if the PDCCH skipping command is received to instruct PDCCH skipping for the cell.”, Nam [0240])
Hu and Nam are analogous because they pertain to PDCCH skipping.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include receiving uplink transmission over the uplink grant as described in Nam into Hu. By modifying the method to include receiving uplink transmission over the uplink grant as taught by Nam, the benefits of reduced power consumption (Hu [0066] and Nam [0012]) are achieved.
Claim(s) 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu et al. US 20230048959 (hereinafter “Hu”) in view of Jeon et al. US 20220322419 (hereinafter “Jeon”)
As to claim 6:
Hu as described above does not explicitly teach:
The terminal device of claim 2, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device to: in accordance with a reception of the uplink grant or in accordance with an uplink transmission performed based on the uplink grant, continue to monitor the PDCCH from the at least one serving cell.
However, Jeon further teaches continuing to monitoring PDCCH which includes:
The terminal device of claim 2, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, to cause the terminal device to: in accordance with a reception of the uplink grant or in accordance with an uplink transmission performed based on the uplink grant, continue to monitor the PDCCH from the at least one serving cell. (“The one or more DCI messages may comprise uplink grant(s) that schedule new uplink transmission(s). The one or more DCI messages may comprise uplink grant(s) that schedule uplink (re-)transmissions. The one or more DCI messages may comprise downlink grant(s) that schedule new downlink transmissions. The one or more DCI messages may comprise downlink grant(s) that schedule downlink (re-)transmissions. The wireless device 2208 may continue running the time window 2220 (e.g., not restart the time window 2220), independent of reception of the one or more DCI messages and/or independent of performing uplink and/or downlink new transmission(s) and/or (re-)transmissions. For example, the wireless device 2208 may not stop or may not (re-) start the time window 2220 based on/in response to receiving the one or more DCI messages and/or in response to performing uplink and/or downlink new transmission(s) and/or (re-) transmissions. The wireless device 2208 may continue to monitor (and/or keep monitoring) the PDCCH until the time window 2220 expires. The wireless device may stop to monitor the PDCCH, for example, based on/in response to an expiry of the time window 2220.”, Jeon [0311])
Hu and Jeon are analogous because they pertain to PDCCH monitoring.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include continuing to monitoring PDCCH as described in Jeon into Hu. By modifying the method to include continuing to monitoring PDCCH as taught by Jeon, the benefits of reduced power consumption (Hu [0066]) and preventing missed messages (Jeon [0311]) are achieved.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW C KIM whose telephone number is (703)756-5607. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM - 5PM (PST).
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/A.C.K./
Examiner
Art Unit 2471
/MOHAMMAD S ADHAMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
Prosecution Insights