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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 04/22/2026 has been entered.
Claim 59 is newly added. Claims 41-42, and 57-58 have been cancelled. Claims 37, 43-44, 48, 53 have been amended. Claims 37-40, 43-45, 48-50, 52-55, and 59 remain pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claim(s) – more specifically, the independent claims – have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
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) 37-40, 45, 48-50, 52-55, and 59 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong (US Patent Application Publication 2020/0084747; with effective filing date of September 6, 2018, and which supports the specification (a copy of a machine translation of the foreign document is added)) in view of Mysore et al. (US Patent Application Publication 2016/0014718; hereinafter Mysore).
Regarding claim 37 Hong discloses an apparatus (fig. 16), comprising:
at least one processor (controller 1610); and
a memory coupled to the at least one processor (paragraph 0245, memory 1610), the memory storing instructions therein, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the apparatus to:
transmit, to one or more terminal devices, configuration information for configuring paging occasions for paging message monitoring in a discontinuous reception cycle (paragraphs 0103, 0108, 0142; wherein a base station transmits configuration information to a UE including paging occasions (PO) in a DRX cycle);
generate an indication indicating whether the one or more terminal devices may stop monitoring paging messages for one or more paging occasions (paragraphs 0193-0200; generating an information for indicating a monitoring operation, which indicates to the UE whether it should stop PO monitoring); and
transmit the indication in downlink control information that schedules transmission of one or more paging messages (paragraphs 0193-0200; the indication is transferred to the UE).
Hong discloses a base station communicating with one or more UEs (paragraph 0186). Hong fails to explicitly disclose, but Mysore in the same field of endeavor related to paging transmission, discloses a base station communicating with groups of UEs and addressing downlink control information to the plurality of UEs in a group (paragraph 0029, 0032, 0091-0092, 0094; a base station communicates a quick sleep indication (QSI) to a group of UEs, the QSI can be included in a DCI addressed to the group of UEs). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Hong with the teachings of Mysore, in order to conserve energy (Mysore: paragraph 0002).
Regarding claim 38 Hong discloses the apparatus of claim 37, wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of: one or more parameters of the discontinuous reception cycle (paragraphs 0103-0108, DRX parameters for paging), a number of paging frames in the discontinuous reception cycle (paragraph 0108, PF), a number of paging occasions per paging frame, a number of paging occasions per terminal device (paragraph 0108, POs per frame), an offset to determine a paging frame, and a number of groups of terminal devices monitoring per paging occasion.
Regarding claim 39 Hong discloses the apparatus of claim 37, wherein generating the indication is performed according to a determination on whether a channel is available during the one or more paging occasions (paragraphs 0176, 0180-0181, 0199; LBT fail or success).
Regarding claim 40 Hong discloses the apparatus of claim 37, wherein the configuration information is transmitted in system information or via a radio resource control signaling (paragraphs 0106, 0119, 0177; RRC signaling).
Regarding claim 45 Hong discloses the apparatus of claim 37, wherein the indication is a 1-bit information element (paragraphs 0196-0198; the indication can be sent in any one bit of bits 3-8 in DCI format 1_0).
Regarding claim 48 Hong discloses an apparatus (fig. 15), comprising:
at least one processor (controller 1510); and
a memory coupled to the at least one processor (paragraph 0245, memory 1510), the memory storing instructions therein (paragraph 0361), the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the apparatus to:
receive, from a network device, configuration information for configuring paging occasions for paging message monitoring in a discontinuous reception cycle (paragraphs 0103, 0108, 0142; wherein a base station transmits configuration information to a UE including paging occasions (PO) in a DRX cycle);
monitor paging messages during the paging occasions (paragraphs 0108, 0142; POs are used by UEs to monitor paging from a base station); and
receive an indication indicating whether the apparatus may stop monitoring paging message for one or more paging occasions, wherein the indication is received in downlink control information that schedules transmission of one or more paging messages (paragraphs 0193-0200; receiving an information for indicating a monitoring operation, which indicates to the UE whether it should stop PO monitoring).
Hong discloses a base station communicating with one or more UEs (paragraph 0186). Hong fails to explicitly disclose, but Mysore in the same field of endeavor related to paging transmission, discloses a base station communicating with groups of UEs and addressing downlink control information to the plurality of UEs in a group (paragraph 0029, 0032, 0091-0092, 0094; a base station communicates a quick sleep indication (QSI) to a group of UEs, the QSI can be included in a DCI addressed to the group of UEs). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Hong with the teachings of Mysore, in order to conserve energy (Mysore: paragraph 0002).
Regarding claim 49 Hong discloses the apparatus of claim 48, wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of: one or more parameters of the discontinuous reception cycle (paragraphs 0103-0108, DRX parameters for paging), a number of paging frames in the discontinuous reception cycle (paragraph 0108, PF), a number of paging occasions per paging frame, a number of paging occasions per terminal device (paragraph 0108, POs per frame), an offset to determine a paging frame, and a number of groups of terminal devices monitoring per paging occasion.
Regarding claim 50 Hong discloses the apparatus of claim 48, wherein the configuration information is received in system information or via a radio resource control signaling (paragraphs 0106, 0119, 0177; RRC signaling).
Regarding claim 52 Hong discloses the apparatus of claim 48, wherein the indication is a 1-bit information element (paragraphs 0196-0198; the indication can be sent in any one bit of bits 3-8 in DCI format 1_0).
Regarding claim 53 Hong discloses a method (fig. 7), comprising:
receiving, from a network device, configuration information for configuring paging occasions for paging message monitoring in a discontinuous reception cycle (paragraphs 0103, 0108, 0142; wherein a base station transmits configuration information to a UE including paging occasions (PO) in a DRX cycle);
monitoring paging messages during the paging occasions (paragraphs 0108, 0142; POs are used by UEs to monitor paging from a base station); and
receiving an indication indicating whether the apparatus may stop monitoring paging message for one or more paging occasions, wherein the indication is received in downlink control information that schedules transmission of one or more paging messages (paragraphs 0193-0200; receiving an information for indicating a monitoring operation, which indicates to the UE whether it should stop PO monitoring).
Hong discloses a base station communicating with one or more UEs (paragraph 0186). Hong fails to explicitly disclose, but Mysore in the same field of endeavor related to paging transmission, discloses a base station communicating with groups of UEs and addressing downlink control information to the plurality of UEs in a group (paragraph 0029, 0032, 0091-0092, 0094; a base station communicates a quick sleep indication (QSI) to a group of UEs, the QSI can be included in a DCI addressed to the group of UEs). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Hong with the teachings of Mysore, in order to conserve energy (Mysore: paragraph 0002).
Regarding claim 54 Hong discloses the method of claim 53, wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of: one or more parameters of the discontinuous reception cycle (paragraphs 0103-0108, DRX parameters for paging), a number of paging frames in the discontinuous reception cycle (paragraph 0108, PF), a number of paging occasions per paging frame, a number of paging occasions per terminal device (paragraph 0108, POs per frame), an offset to determine a paging frame, and a number of groups of terminal devices monitoring per paging occasion.
Regarding claim 55 Hong discloses the method of claim 53, wherein the configuration information is received in system information or via a radio resource control signaling (paragraphs 0106, 0119, 0177; RRC signaling).
Regarding claim 59 the modified Hong discloses the method of claim 53, wherein the indication is a 1-bit information element (paragraphs 0196-0198; the indication can be sent in any one bit of bits 3-8 in DCI format 1_0).
Claim(s) 43-44 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong in view of Mysore and further in view of Murray et al. (US Patent Application Publication 2020/0404617; hereinafter Murray).
Regarding claim 43 the modified Hong discloses the apparatus of claim 37. Hong does not explicitly disclose, but Murray in the same field of endeavor related to paging transmission, discloses wherein the apparatus is caused to generate the indication by: comparing a number of paging recorders in the one or more paging messages with a threshold number (paragraph 0300; paging records compared to the limited number that can be included in a paging message); and in response to determining the number of paging recorders exceeds the threshold number, generating the indication that the plurality of terminal devices may stop monitoring paging messages for the one or more paging occasions (paragraphs 0292, 0300-0301, 0460-0464; wherein for the determined number of UEs that can read the paging message, the indicator is sent to either monitor or not). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Hong with the teachings of Murray, in order to increase paging efficiency in 5G (Murray: paragraph 0123).
Regarding claim 44 the modified Hong discloses the apparatus of claim 37. Hong does not explicitly disclose, but Murray in the same field of endeavor related to paging transmission, discloses wherein the apparatus is caused to generate the indication by: comparing a payload size of the one or more paging messages with a transport block size (TBS) of a downlink channel (paragraphs 0375-0377, 0407, 0495-0503; wherein a paging message size is compared to available resources for POs); and in response to determining the payload size of the one or more paging messages exceeds the TBS, generating the indication that the plurality of terminal devices may stop monitoring paging messages for the one or more paging occasions (paragraphs 0375-0377, 0407, 0495-0503; the paging indication informs the UE to monitor occasions within the slots/mini-slots accordingly). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Hong with the teachings of Murray, in order to increase paging efficiency in 5G (Murray: paragraph 0123).
Prior Art Made of Record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US PGPUB 2020/0092846 to Deng et al. – that discloses beamformed paging. A transmission/reception point (TRP) may transmit a paging inquiry signal using beam sweeping in a paging inquiry (PI) block with a different time, frequency resource set and/or sequence configuration associated with the same paging occasion (PO), for example, to randomize and/or distribute WTRUs into different monitoring groups. A WTRU may transmit an uplink paging inquiry response indicating a downlink beam for a paging data transmission and/or a WTRU ID.
USPN 11,818,686 to Zhou et al. – which teaches a UE that may receive configuration parameters indicating monitoring occasions of a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for receiving a first downlink control information (DCI). The first DCI may comprise: a paging early indication (PEI) indicating whether to monitor paging occasions for receiving a second DCI scheduling a paging message; and a tracking reference signal (TRS) availability indication indicating whether a TRS is available. In response to skipping monitoring the monitoring occasions for receiving the first DCI, the wireless device may: determine that the TRS is unavailable, and monitor the paging occasions. The wireless device may receive, via the paging occasions and using a synchronization signal block (SSB) based on the TRS being unavailable, the second DCI scheduling the paging message.
Conclusion
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/Aixa Guadalupe-Cruz/
Examiner
Art Unit 2466
/FARUK HAMZA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2466
Prosecution Insights