DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This action is in response to the communication filed on 12/3/2024. Claims 1-15, 18-22 are pending.
Examiner Note
The examiner is here to serve, to assist, and to help applicant to the very best of his ability. The Primary Patent Examiner position is a position of serving and it is an honor to externally serve the applicant and attorney and to internally serve junior examiners and supervisors. The goal of the examiner is to work with and assist applicant to move cases along as efficiently as possible.
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Priority
This application claims priority of PCT/CN2022/122949, filed 9/29/2022. The assignee of record is ZTE Corporation. The listed inventor(s) is/are: LI, Wenting; LIU, Jing; HUANG, He.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 12/3/2024 & 7/11/2025 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
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.
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) 1-15 & 18-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP (TS 38.331 V17.1.0, Aug 2022; hereinafter TS38.331) in view of Wang (WO 2022104715 A1, published 5/27/2022; hereinafter Wan).
For Claim 1, TS38.331 teaches a method for wireless communication (TS38.331 5.7.4.2, 5.7.4.3), comprising: determining, by a user equipment (UE), a scheduling gap (SG)… in a network (TS38.331 5.7.4.3 UE determination of gap pattern and reporting preferred MUSIM gap information); and transmitting, by the UE, a message comprising the determined SG … to the network (TS38.331 5.7.4.3 transmission of the UEAssistanceInformation message is initiated to provide MUSIM assistance information according to 5.7.4.2 or 5.3.5.3).
TS38.331 does not explicitly teach a scheduling gap (SG) granularity.
However, Wan teaches a scheduling gap (SG) granularity (Wan ¶ 0060 the terminal device 120 may generate 310 information of a scheduling gap (also referred to as information related to an expected scheduling gap herein) of the first network device 110. Wan ¶ 0066 Upon generation of the information of the scheduling gap, the terminal device 120 transmits 320 the information of the scheduling gap to the first network device 110. Please also see Claims 6-8, ¶ 0063, 0089-0093).
Wan and TS38.331 are analogous art because they are both related to RRC signaling for scheduling gaps.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the scheduling gap techniques of Wan with the system of TS38.331 to avoid interruptions (Wan ¶ 0038).
For Claim 2, TS38.331-Wan teaches the method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the UE, reconfiguration information from the network (TS38.331 6.2.2, Wan Claim 4, ¶ 0068); and transmitting, by the UE, reconfiguration complete information to the network (TS38.331 5.3.5.3, Wan Claim 4, ¶ 0068).
For Claim 3, TS38.331-Wan teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein: the message comprises a UE assistance information (UAI) message with SG request (TS38.331 5.7.4.3, Wan ¶ 0067).
For Claim 4, TS38.331-Wan teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein: in response to the determined SG granularity being per UE gap, the message indicates per UE granularity information; or in response to the determined SG granularity being per frequency range (FR) gap, the message indicates one of a first FR (FR1) or a second FR (FR2); or in response to the determined SG granularity being per cell group (CG) gap, the message indicates one of a master cell group (MCG) or a secondary cell group (SCG); or in response to the determined SG granularity being per component carrier (CC) gap, the message indicates at least one CC index (TS38.331 5.7.4.3, 6.2.2, Wan ¶ 0036, 0038, 0063, 0067-0068, 0072-0075).
For Claim 5, TS38.331-Wan teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein: the message comprises a SG list; and the message comprises one of the following: a SG granularity for the SG list, or a SG granularity for each SG in the SG list (TS38.331 5.7.4.3, Wan ¶ 0061, 0063, 0067, 0081).
For Claim 6, TS38.331-Wan teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein: the network changes the determined SG granularity from the UE to obtain a modified SG granularity (TS38.331 5.3.5.3, Wan ¶ 0075); and reconfiguration information from the network comprises the modified SG granularity (TS38.331 5.3.5.3, Wan ¶ 0075).
For Claim 7, TS38.331-Wan teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein: in response to the determined SG granularity being reserved for a SCG, the UE transmits the message directly to a secondary node via a signal radio bearer (SRB) (TS38.331 5.7.4.3, 6.2.2, Wan ¶ 0074-0075).
For Claim 8, TS38.331 teaches a method for wireless communication (TS38.331 5.7.4.2), comprising: receiving, by a network, assistance information from a user equipment (UE) (TS38.331 5.7.4.3); configuring, by the network based on the assistance information, a scheduling gap (SG) (TS38.331 TS 5.7.4.3); transmitting, by the network, reconfiguration information to the UE, the reconfiguration information comprising the SG (TS38.331 6.2.2); and receiving, by the network, reconfiguration complete information from the UE (TS38.331 5.3.5.3). TS38.331 does not explicitly teach a scheduling gap (SG) granularity. However, Wan teaches a scheduling gap (SG) granularity (Wan ¶ 0060, ¶ 0066, Claims 6-8, ¶ 0063, 0089-0093). Wan and TS38.331 are analogous art because they are both related to RRC signaling for scheduling gaps. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the scheduling gap techniques of Wan with the system of TS38.331 to avoid interruptions (Wan ¶ 0038).
For Claim 9, TS38.331-Wan teaches the method according to claim 8, wherein: the assistance information comprises at least one of the following: band information, an affected center frequency, an affected bandwidth, FR information, PDSCH configuration information, a MIMO layer, a modulation order, allowed band combination information, affected band combination information, featureset combination information, or featureset entry information (TS38.331 6.2.2, Wan ¶ 0063, 0074-0075, 0090-0091).
For Claim 10, TS38.331-Wan teaches the method according to claim 9, wherein: the network comprises a master node and a secondary node; the master node sends a first message to the secondary node, the first message comprising SG information with the determined SG granularity; in response to determining that the SG information is acceptable, the secondary node sends a second message to the master node, the second message indicating an acceptance of the SG information with the determined SG granularity implicitly or explicitly; and the master node sends the reconfiguration information to the UE (TS38.331 11.2.1, Wan ¶ 0074).
For Claim 11, TS38.331-Wan teaches the method according to claim 10, wherein: the first message comprises CG configuration information; and the second message comprises CG configuration (Wan ¶ 0067, 0074).
For Claim 12, TS38.331-Wan teaches the method according to claim 9, wherein: in response to the determined SG granularity being per UE gap: a master node determines SG information and sends a first message comprising the SG information with the SG granularity to a secondary node, the secondary node sends a second message indicating an acceptance of the SG information to the master node implicitly or explicitly, and the master node configures the SG information with the SG granularity to the UE; or in response to the determined SG granularity being per FR gap and a SCG comprising a serving cell on a corresponding FR: the master node sends a first message comprising SG information with the SG granularity to the secondary node, the secondary node sends a second message indicating an acceptance of the SG information to the master node implicitly or explicitly, and the master node configures the SG information with the SG granularity to the UE; or in response to the determined SG granularity being per CG gap for an MCG gap: the master node configures the SG information with the SG granularity to the UE; or in response to the determined SG granularity being per CG gap for an SCG gap: the master node sends a first message comprising assistance information, SG information with the SG granularity to the secondary node, the secondary node determines the SG information and sends a second message indicating an acceptance of the SG information to the master node, and the master node configures the SG information with the SG granularity to the UE; or in response to the determined SG granularity being per CC gap and a SCG comprising a serving cell on a corresponding CC: the master node sends a first message comprising assistance information, SG information with the SG granularity, and one or more related CC index to the secondary node, the secondary node determines the SG information and sends a second message indicating an acceptance of the SG information to the master node, and the master node configures the SG information with the SG granularity to the UE (TS38.331 6.2.2, Wan ¶ 0067, 0071, 0074).
For Claim 13, TS38.331-Wan teaches the method according to claim 9, wherein: in response to the determined SG granularity being per CG gap for an SCG gap: a master node sends a first message comprising at least one of assistance information, or SG information with the SG granularity to a secondary node, the secondary node determines the SG information, and the secondary node transmits the SG information with the SG granularity to the UE directly via an SRB; or in response to the determined SG granularity being per CC gap and a SCG comprising a serving cell on a corresponding CC: the master node sends a first message comprising at least one of assistance information, SG information with the SG granularity, or one or more related CC index to the secondary node, the secondary node determines the SG information, and the secondary node transmits the SG information with the SG granularity to the UE directly via an SRB (TS38.331 4.2.2, 6.2.2, Wan ¶ 0066-0067).
For Claim 14, TS38.331-Wan teaches the method according to claim 9, wherein: the UE transmits UE capability information to the network, the UE capability information indicating one or more SG granularity that are supported by the UE, the one or more SG granularity comprising one or more of the following: per UE SG, per FR SG, per CG SG, and per CC SG (TS38.331 5.6.1.1-5.6.1.3, Wan ¶ 0063-0067).
For Claim 15, TS38.331-Wan teaches the method according to claim 9, wherein: the network indicates the UE to report SG granularity with at least one dedicated SG type, so that the UE is limited to determine the SG granularity with a SG type in the at least one dedicated SG type; or the network indicates the UE to report SG granularity without any dedicated SG type, so that the UE determines the SG granularity with any SG type (Wan ¶ 0063-0067).
For Claim(s) 18, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 1 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim(s) 19, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 2 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim(s) 20, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 3 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim(s) 21, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 8 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim(s) 22, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 9 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is listed below, thank you:
TS 38.300 V17.1.0 Aug 2022
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762
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TS 37.340 V17.0.0 May 2022
TS 36.311 V17.1.0 Aug 2022
TS 38.306 V17.1.0 Aug 2022
IEEE Communications Standards Magazine, Multi-SIM Support in 5G Evolution: Challenges and Opportunities, Olga Vikhrova, June 2022
Dynamic Multi-SIM Gap Creating Procedure, Jakob Buthler, 2016
Please see PTO-892 for additional listing of relevant prior art made of record but not relied upon, thank you.
Conclusion
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/MICHAEL A KELLER/
Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2418
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