DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 2-3, 5, 18, 20-23 and 25-27 have been cancelled.
Claims 28-29 have been added.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
2. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 03/10/2026 has been entered.
Status of Claims
3. This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 03/10/2026. Claims 1, 4, 6-17, 19, 24, and 28-29 are presently pending and are presented for examination.
4. 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 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
5. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 24 is drawn to a wireless communication device (Machine). Machine - a concrete thing, consisting of parts, or of certain devices and combination of devices. Burrv. Duryee, 68 U.S. (lWall.) 531, 570, 17 L. Ed. 650 (1863). This includes every mechanical device or combination of mechanical powers and devices to perform some function and produce a certain effect or result. Corning v. Burden, 56 U.S. 252, 267, 14 L. Ed. 683 (1854). [Emphasis added].[MPEP 2106.03].
In other words a machine must consist of more than one parts.
This rejection may be overcome by adding an additional structure to the machine as claimed to be consistent with the definition above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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, 4, 6-17, 19, 24, and 28-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 in view of Islam et al. (US 2022/0124622 A1) Provisional application No. 62/806, 637, filed on Feb. 15, 2019 and further in view of Guan (US 2021/0274438 A1).
For claim 1 D1 teaches a method of operating a wireless communication device, the method comprising:
- obtaining configuration information indicative of a timing and a frequency of an on-demand transmission of a reference signal for use in a disconnected mode of the wireless communication device (see section 2.3 “on-demand RS configured in a UE-specific manner to the UE in obtaining accurate Time/Frequency tracking for WUS PDCCH decoding (trigger WUS (event)), operating in DRX” and section 2.1 “wake-up trigger”); and
- when operating in the disconnected mode using a discontinuous reception cycle (see section 2.3 “DRX ON and DRX Off”, section 2.4.1 “Implicit Signaling: at the periodic location before DRX ON, (disconnected mode), UE monitors for WUS DCI in one or more PDCCH occasions”):
- based on a receive property of the reference signal, attempting to demodulate a further transmission from the communications network (see section 2.3 “wherein an on-demand RS is transmitted to assist the UE in the UE in obtaining accurate time/frequency for the WUS PDCCH to be transmitted and to be decoded. In wireless networks, including the standards cited by the application, demodulation is always implicitly disclosed in order to allow the invention to work, therefore in order to decode, demodulation (attempt(s)) is inherently present)”).
D1 does not explicitly teach determining whether one or more predefined criteria are met, wherein the one or more predefined criteria include whether a cycle duration of the discontinuous reception cycle is below a cycle duration threshold;
selectively monitoring for the reference signal of the on-demand transmission transmitted by a communications network depending on whether the one or more predefined criteria are met.
However, Islam teaches an additional on-demand RS can be configured to a UE and UE may only monitor and /process the RS if some conditions are satisfied, such as one or more of: WUS detection, explicit indication in the WUS signal or some rules/signaling configured by higher layer, implicit indication, where implicit indication can be obtained based one or more of: WUS detection, one or more of DRX configuration parameters such as DRX cycle etc. (see Islam: page 5 last paragraph).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to use the teachings of Islam in the on-demand RS method of D1 such that additional on-demand RS can be configured to a UE and UE may only monitor and /process the RS if some conditions are satisfied (see Islam: page 5 last paragraph).
D1 in view of Islam does not explicitly teach a cycle duration threshold.
However, Guan teaches this limitation Guan teaches UE sleep duration may be a DRX long cycle or a DRX short cycle and The sleep duration may be determined by the DRX cycle duration. For example, if the UE works in a short DRX cycle mode, it is considered that the sleep duration is short, and a single panel should be used. If the UE works in a long DRX cycle mode, it is considered that the sleep duration is long, and a plurality of panels should be used. Alternatively, if a DRX cycle is less than or equal to ( or less than) a preset DRX cycle duration threshold, it is considered that the sleep duration is short, and a single panel should be used. If a DRX cycle is greater than or equal to (or greater than) a preset DRX cycle duration threshold, it is considered that the sleep duration is long, and a plurality of panels should be used (see Quan: at least paragraphs 149-155). In addition, Guan teaches a reference signal and a reference signal resource are respectively a signal that may be used for channel measurement, channel estimation, or the like, and a resource that may be used to configure a transmission attribute of a reference signal, for example, a time-frequency resource location, a port mapping relationship, a power factor, and a scrambling code. A transmit end device may send a reference signal based on a reference signal resource, and a receive end device may receive a reference signal based on a reference signal resource (see Quan: at least paragraph 76).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to use the teachings of Quang in the combined on-demand RS method of Islam and D1 such that additional on-demand RS in order to adjust sleep duration according to DRX cycle duration and its power consumption (see Islam: page 5 last paragraph).
For claim 7 D1 in view of Islam teaches a method of operating an access node of a communications network (as discussed in claim 1), the method comprising:
- obtaining configuration information indicative of a timing and a frequency of an on-demand transmission of a reference signal for use in a disconnected mode of a wireless communication device, wherein the timing and the frequency are relative to a trigger event (see section 2.3 "on-demand RS configured in a UE-specific manner to the UE in obtaining accurate Time/Frequency tracking for WUS PDCCH decoding (trigger WUS (event), operating in DRX" and section 2. 1 "wake-up trigger"); and as discussed in claim 1);
when the wireless communication device operates in the disconnected mode in accordance with a discontinuous reception cycle (as discussed in claim 1):
transmitting the reference signal of the on-demand transmission in accordance with the trigger event (see 2.3 RS Enhancements: on-demand reference signal (RS) transmission consideration when WUS PDCCH is present to assist T/F tracking purpose”), wherein the trigger event includes at least a predetermined timepoint before or after a beginning of a paging occasion (see 2.3 RS Enhancements: “periodic TRS transmission cannot always assumed exactly before DRX ON duration for every UE…aperiodic TRS can only be triggered by an earlier scheduling DCI… it is essential to allow UE skipping one or more periodic TRS transmission occasion during DRX OFF-depends on design requirements considerations”),
wherein the wireless communication device selectively monitors for the on-demand transmission based on whether a cycle duration of the discontinuous reception cycle is below a cycle duration threshold (as discussed in claim 1); and
- upon transmitting the reference signal: providing a further transmission to the wireless communication device (as discussed in claim 1).
For claim 24 D1 in view of Islam and further in view of Guan teaches a wireless communication device comprising control circuitry (as discussed in claim 1) configured to:
- obtain configuration information indicative of a timing and a frequency of an on- demand transmission of a reference signal for use in a disconnected mode of the wireless communication device (as discussed in claim 1); and
- when operating in the disconnected mode using a discontinuous reception cycle (as discussed in claim 1):
- determining whether one or more predefined criteria are met, wherein the one or more predefined criteria include whether a cycle duration of the discontinuous reception cycle is below a cycle duration threshold (as discussed in claim 1);
-selectively monitor for the reference signal of the on-demand transmission transmitted by a communications network depending on whether the one or more predefined criteria are met (as discussed in claim 1); and
- based on a receive property of the reference signal, attempt to demodulate a further transmission from the communications network (as discussed in claim 1).
For claim 4 D1 in view of Islam and further in view of Guan teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the cycle duration threshold depends on a numerology of the further transmission (see Islam: page 5 last paragraph “one or more of DRX configuration parameters such as DRX cycle”).
For claim 6 D1 in view of Islam and further in view of Guan teaches the method, wherein the monitoring for the reference signal uses a receive operation that is based on a preceding transmission from the communications network (see Islam: page 5 last paragraph “monitoring RS based on explicit indication in the WUS signal or some rules/signaling configured by higher layer”).
For claim 8 D1 in view of Islam and further in view of Guan teaches the method, wherein the configuration information relatively defines at least one of the timing or the frequency of the on-demand transmission of the reference signal with respect to a further timing or further frequency of the further transmission, or with respect to an event triggering the on-demand transmission (as discussed in claims 1 and 7).
For claim 9 D1 in view of Islam and further in view of Guan teaches the method, wherein the configuration information implicitly defines at least one of the timing or the frequency of the on-demand transmission in accordance with a look-up table or a derivation rule (see Islam: page 5 last paragraph “monitoring RS based on explicit indication in the WUS signal or some rules/signaling configured by higher layer, implicit indication, where implicit indication can be obtained based one or more of: WUS detection, one or more of DRX configuration parameters such as DRX cycle etc.”).
For claim 10 D1 in view of Islam teaches the method, wherein the configuration information is at least partly obtained from a rule specified by a communications standard (see Islam: page 5 last paragraph “monitoring RS based on explicit indication in the WUS signal or some rules/signaling configured by higher layer”).
For claim 11 D1 in view of Islam and further in view of Guan teaches the method wherein the configuration information is at least partly obtained from a downlink signal communicated from the communications network to the wireless communication device (see Islam: page 3 paragraph 3 “higher layer signaling may include RRC signaling, MAC-CE signaling, etc. WUS can be transmitted, for example, on a PDCCH or by a sequence” and page 5 last paragraph “an additional on-demand RS can be configured to a UE and UE may only monitor and/process the RS if some conditions are satisfied”).
For claim 12 D1 in view of Islam and further in view of Guan teaches the method of claim 11, wherein the downlink signal is communicated when the wireless communication device operates in a connected mode, prior to a transition to the disconnected mode (see Islam: page 3 paragraph 2 “In order to prevent the UE to wake up and observe empty DRX ON (e.g., no downlink control information (DCI) transmitted on Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH)), wake-up signal (WUS) transmission can be considered before or at the beginning of DRX ON”).
For claim 13 D1 in view of Islam and further in view of Guan teaches the method of claim 11, wherein the downlink signal encodes a connection deactivation message triggering a transition to the disconnected mode (see Islam: page 33 paragraph 3 “transition off to an RRC_Idle state”).
For claim 14 D1 in view of Islam and further in view of Guan teaches the method of claim 13, wherein the downlink signal is a wake-up signal associated with a paging occasion (see Islam: page 2 paragraph 3 “WUS”) .
For claim 15 D1 in view of Islam and further in view of Guan teaches the method wherein the configuration information is indicative of at least one of time resources allocated to the on-demand transmission, frequency resources allocated to the on-demand transmission, or at least one event triggering the on-demand transmission (as discussed in claim 1).
For claim 16 D1 in view of Islam and further in view of Guan teaches the method wherein the on-demand transmission is triggered by at least one event, the at least one event comprising communication of a wake-up signal from the communications network to the wireless communication device (as discussed in claim 1).
For claim 17 D1 in view of Islam and further in view of Guan teaches the method of claim 16, wherein the wake-up signal is indicative of the on-demand transmission being triggered (as discussed in claim 1).
For claim 19 D1 in view of Islam and further in view of Guan teaches the method, wherein the further transmission comprises at least one of or a wake-up signal from the communications network (see Islam: section 2.3 “WUS ,RS, or on-demand RS”).
For claim 28 D1 teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising detecting a trigger event and monitoring for the reference signal is further in response to detecting the trigger event (see section 2.3 "the on-demand RS is only transmitted when WUS PDCCH is presence to assist TIF tracking purpose", section 2. 1 last pargraph "in case of BWP switching initiated by WUS, the CSI-AS may be selectively triggered at the start of DRX ON", section 2.4 ''UE can prepare for ramp up to DAX ON if WUS trigger is received"-this limitation is a design choice).
For claim 29 D1 teaches the method of claim 28, wherein the trigger event includes at least a predetermined timepoint before or after a paging occasion (section 2.3/proposal 2 "WUS trigger (trigger event) detection" and proposal 4 "If WUS trigger is detected").
Conclusion
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Eckert et al. (US 2007/0082606 A1) and Cox et al. (US 2020/0029302 A1).
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to David M OVEISSI whose telephone number is (571)270-3127. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8Am-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached on (571) 270-1215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MANSOUR OVEISSI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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