DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present U.S. non-provisional application is being examined under the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA . The present U.S. non-provisional application, filed on November 25, 2024, is a continuation of a prior U.S. non-provisional application, filed on February 10, 2021, which is the U.S. national stage of an international PCT application, filed on August 12, 2019, and claims priority to a foreign application, filed on August 10, 2018.
Response to Amendment
This Office action is responsive to the amendment and arguments on August 6, 2026. Claims 1, 4, 7 and 10 were amended. Claims 1-12 are pending for re-consideration in the present U.S. non-provisional application.
Response to Arguments
The arguments (page 5) directed to the non-statutory double patenting rejections have been considered. The arguments are directed to the terminal disclaimer, and considered as sufficient to overcome the rejections. Accordingly, the non-statutory double patenting rejections are withdrawn.
The arguments (pages 5-7) directed to the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been considered. The arguments are directed to the amendment, and considered as not sufficient to overcome the rejections. The arguments indicate that Islam does not suggest the state indication information further indicates whether additional information is to be received by the user device because Islam at paragraphs [0104] and [0105] describes DCI fields for a DRX configuration index and a sleep period, allegedly none of which functions as an indication of whether additional information is to be received by the user device. However, Islam at Id. provides sufficient prior art disclosure and suggestions for the state indication information via description of the DRX configuration and sleep duration (i.e. indicates whether additional information is to be received) because DRX defines a discontinuous reception cycle where additional information is to be received, and sleep duration defines a sleep period where additional information is not to be received. Accordingly, the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 are maintained.
The arguments (page 7) directed to the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 are considered as moot in view of a more specifically worded motivation to combine the references. The arguments indicate that a motivation to combine the references for reasons of conserving battery power is impermissibly generic and represents an improper hindsight reconstruction of the claimed invention. The arguments are considered as not persuasive. However, a more specifically worded motivation is now provided that specifies reasons of implementing DRX states to conserve battery power. Accordingly, the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 are maintained.
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 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LG et al. (WO 2018/066923 A1) in view of Islam et al. (US 2020/0037396 A1).
1. A method of wireless communications (LG, FIG. 10), comprising:
transmitting, by a base station, a state indication information to a user device (LG, paras. [65], [67], “…Alternatively, the UE may move out of the power saving state switch to the bandwidth that the UE monitors/uses for transmission via explicit switching mechanism/indication. For example, scheduling DCI may indicate different DWP to be active from default BWP…”),
wherein the user device is configured to detect the state indication information on a DCI format (LG, paras. [65], [67], “…Alternatively, the UE may move out of the power saving state switch to the bandwidth that the UE monitors/uses for transmission via explicit switching mechanism/indication. For example, scheduling DCI may indicate different DWP to be active from default BWP…” Id.),
wherein the state indication information comprises a state identifier and a frequency-domain resource information (LG, paras. [65], [67], “…Alternatively, the UE may move out of the power saving state switch to the bandwidth that the UE monitors/uses for transmission via explicit switching mechanism/indication. For example, scheduling DCI may indicate different DWP to be active from default BWP…” Id.),
wherein the state identifier indicates whether a target state is a first state or a second state, wherein power consumption in the second state is greater than power consumption in the first state (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], “In FIG. 12, it is assumed that UE receives the GTS and/or activation in bandwidth part B1, and the L1 signaling may optionally indicate bandwidth part to the UE so that UE is in a different bandwidth part B1 during the active/ON state in the DRX mode. Smaller bandwidth part B2 compared to B1 may provide power saving gain. [ ] For the above embodiment, a UE specific DCI, e.g., in a PDCCH, may be used. For the above embodiment, a UE specific DCI, e.g., in a PDCCH, may be used for activating DRX mode and/or indicating GTS where the DCI may be scrambled with CRC based on C-RNTI or other higher layer configured RNTI. The DCI may also indicate the offset to the start position of sleep duration and/or sleep duration.…”),
wherein the state indication information further indicates whether additional information is to be received by the user device (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], “In FIG. 12, it is assumed that UE receives the GTS and/or activation in bandwidth part B1, and the L1 signaling may optionally indicate bandwidth part to the UE so that UE is in a different bandwidth part B1 during the active/ON state in the DRX mode. Smaller bandwidth part B2 compared to B1 may provide power saving gain. [ ] For the above embodiment, a UE specific DCI, e.g., in a PDCCH, may be used. For the above embodiment, a UE specific DCI, e.g., in a PDCCH, may be used for activating DRX mode and/or indicating GTS where the DCI may be scrambled with CRC based on C-RNTI or other higher layer configured RNTI. The DCI may also indicate the offset to the start position of sleep duration and/or sleep duration.…” Id. It is noted [A] that a DCI indication for activating DRX mode corresponds to indicating whether additional information is to be received by the user device, because DRX defines a discontinuous reception cycle for additional information to be received by the user device. It is also noted [B] that the DCI indicating the sleep offset and sleep duration corresponds to indicating whether additional information is to be received by the user device, because the sleep duration defines a sleep period where additional information is not to be received by the user device.)
LG et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Islam et al. provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as wherein the state identifier indicates whether a target state is a first state or a second state, wherein power consumption in the second state is greater than power consumption in the first state (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], Id.), wherein the state indication information further indicates whether additional information is to be received by the user device (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Islam et al. are for reasons of implementing DRX states to conserve battery power (Islam, Abstract, “Described herein are methods and apparatus for implementing discontinuous reception (DRX) states in user equipments (UE) in order to conserve battery power. In particular, methods and apparatus for signaling the UE to transition between different DRX states using L1 signaling such as over the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) are described.”) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of implementing DRX states to conserve battery power.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the state indication information is carried in a state transition channel (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], Id. It is noted that PDCCH is considered as a state transition channel because it is a channel that carries state transition information.)
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency-domain resource information corresponds to a frequency-domain resource index that includes at least one of a bandwidth part, BWP, index or a carrier index (LG, paras. [65], [67], Id. It is noted that a BWP indication is considered as a BWP or carrier index because it indicates one of a plurality of BWPs or carriers.)
4. A method of wireless communication (LG, FIG. 10, Id.), comprising:
receiving, by a user device, a state indication information from a base station, comprising 1) a state identifier (LG, paras. [65], [67], Id.) indicating whether a target state is a first state or a second state in which power consumption is greater than power consumption in the first state (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], Id.) and 2) a frequency-domain resource information (LG, paras. [65], [67], Id.),
wherein the receiving of the state indication information comprises:
detecting the state indication information on a detection opportunity corresponding to a DCI format (LG, paras. [65], [67], Id.),
wherein the state indication information further indicates whether additional information is to be received by the user device (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], cf. Claim 1).
LG et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Islam et al. provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as indicating whether a target state is a first state or a second state in which power consumption is greater than power consumption in the first state (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], Id.), wherein the state indication information further indicates whether additional information is to be received by the user device (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Islam et al. are for reasons of implementing DRX states to conserve battery power (Islam, Abstract, Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of implementing DRX states to conserve battery power.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the state indication information is carried in a state transition channel (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], Id. cf. Claim 2).
6. The method of claim 4, wherein the frequency-domain resource information corresponds to a frequency-domain resource index that includes at least one of a bandwidth part, BWP, index or a carrier index (LG, paras. [65], [67], Id. cf. Claim 3).
7. An apparatus of wireless communications, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the processor is (LG, FIG. 10, Id.) configured to:
transmit a state indication information to a user device (LG, paras. [65], [67], Id.),
wherein the user device is configured to detect the state indication information on a DCI format (LG, paras. [65], [67], Id.),
wherein the state indication information comprises a state identifier and a frequency-domain resource information (LG, paras. [65], [67], Id.),
wherein the state identifier indicates whether a target state is a first state or a second state, wherein power consumption in the second state is greater than power consumption in the first state (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], Id.),
wherein the state indication information further indicates whether additional information is to be received by the user device (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], cf. Claim 1).
LG et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Islam et al. provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as wherein the state identifier indicates whether a target state is a first state or a second state, wherein power consumption in the second state is greater than power consumption in the first state (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], Id.), wherein the state indication information further indicates whether additional information is to be received by the user device (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Islam et al. are for reasons of implementing DRX states to conserve battery power (Islam, Abstract, Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of implementing DRX states to conserve battery power.
8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the state indication information is carried in a state transition channel (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], Id. cf. Claim 2).
9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the frequency-domain resource information corresponds to a frequency-domain resource index that includes at least one of a bandwidth part, BWP, index or a carrier index (LG, paras. [65], [67], Id. cf. Claim 3).
10. An apparatus of wireless communications, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the processor is (LG, FIG. 10, Id.) configured to:
receive a state indication information from a base station, comprising 1) a state identifier (LG, paras. [65], [67], Id.) indicating whether a target state is a first state or a second state in which power consumption is greater than power consumption in the first state (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], Id.) and 2) a frequency-domain resource information (LG, paras. [65], [67], Id.),
wherein the receiving of the state indication information comprises:
detecting the state indication information on a detection opportunity corresponding to a DCI format (LG, paras. [65], [67], Id.),
wherein the state indication information further indicates whether additional information is to be received by the user device (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], cf. Claim 1).
LG et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Islam et al. provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as indicating whether a target state is a first state or a second state in which power consumption is greater than power consumption in the first state (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], Id.), wherein the state indication information further indicates whether additional information is to be received by the user device (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Islam et al. are for reasons of implementing DRX states to conserve battery power (Islam, Abstract, Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of implementing DRX states to conserve battery power.
11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the state indication information is carried in a state transition channel (Islam, paras. [0104], [0105], Id. cf. Claim 2).
12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the frequency-domain resource information corresponds to a frequency-domain resource index that includes at least one of a bandwidth part, BWP, index or a carrier index (LG, paras. [65], [67], Id. cf. Claim 3).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record (PTO-1449, PTO-892) and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the subject matter of the present U.S. non-provisional application.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 Timothy J. Weidner whose telephone number is (571) 270-1825. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time.
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/TIMOTHY J WEIDNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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