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 .
Response to Amendment
This communication is considered fully responsive to the amendment filed on 02/12/2026.
Claims 1, 5, 9, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 21, and 22 have been amended.
Claims 10, 11, 14, and 18 have been canceled.
Claims 4, 8, and 20 were previously canceled.
Claims 23-26 are newly added.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 2, 5-7, 9, 16, 17, and 19 filed on 02/12/2026 have been considered but are moot because the arguments related solely to newly added limitations addressed in the instant Office Action with newly identified prior arts, thus rendering applicant’s arguments moot.
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) 1-3, 5-6, 9, 12, 13, 15-17, 19, and 21-26 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over REIAL et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20230063026, hereinafter “REIAL`026”) in view of Berggren et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20200367194, hereinafter “Berggren”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to REIAL`026 unless otherwise mentioned.
With respect to independent claims:
Regarding claim 1, REIAL`026 teaches A user equipment (UE) (Fig. 2, Wireless Device 22) for wireless communication (Fig. 2, Communication system 10), comprising:
a memory (Fig. 2, Memory 88); and
one or more processors (Fig. 2, Processor 86), coupled to the memory, configured to:
receive a wake-up signal (WUS) indicating that the UE is to perform a wake-up from a sleep mode (para [0119]: In some embodiments, monitoring further includes the WD 22 monitoring, such as via monitoring unit 34, processing circuitry 84, processor 86 and/or radio interface 82, for the WUS in idle mode discontinuous reception (DRX).), wherein a payload of the WUS (para [0119]: the WUS includes a payload and/or group information.) indicates an index value corresponding to a reference sequence to be used in association with performing a synchronization after the wake-up (para [0013]: transmitting a wake-up signal, WUS, in idle mode the WUS indicating a presence of a paging physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, in at least one paging occasion, PO, and the WUS being at least one of a physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, signal, a reference signal, RS, a sequence-based signal, a synchronization signal, a secondary synchronization signal, SSS, a primary synchronization signal, PSS, a channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS, and a tracking reference signal, TRS; and transmitting the paging PDCCH and/or a physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH, scheduled by the paging PDCCH.) (para [0018]: According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a wireless device, WD, configured to communicate with a network node is provided. The WD comprises processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to cause the WD to monitor for a wake-up signal, WUS, in idle mode, the WUS indicating a presence of a paging physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, in at least one paging occasion, PO , and the WUS being at least one of a physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, signal, a reference signal, RS, a sequence-based signal, a synchronization signal, a secondary synchronization signal, SSS, a primary synchronization signal, PSS, a channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS, and a tracking reference signal, TRS; and when the WUS is detected, monitor the at least one PO for the indicated paging PDCCH.) (para [0128]: the WUS comprises at least one of: a 0-bit payload; a non-zero size payload; a predetermined downlink control information, DCI, format; a DCI format 2-6; an encoding by a predetermined radio network temporary identifier, RNTI; and WUS group information. In some embodiments, the idle mode is at least one of a radio resource control, RRC, idle state and a RRC inactive state. … the WUS comprises a sequence, the sequence indicating to the WD to monitor the at least one PO for the indicated paging PDCCH regardless of the group that the WD belongs to.),
(Examiner’s note: the missing/crossed out limitations will be discussed in view of Berggren)
receive the reference sequence based at least in part on the set of parameters (para [0018]: … when the WUS is detected, monitor the at least one PO for the indicated paging PDCCH.).
As noted above, REIAL`026 fails to explicitly teach the “wherein the index value indicates a set of parameters for the reference sequence, and wherein the set of parameters comprises: a time offset of the reference sequence relative to a set of resources allocated for detection of the WUS, a frequency offset of the reference sequence relative to the set of resources allocated for the detection of the WUS, and a reference sequence configuration for the reference sequence from a set of reference sequence configurations;” of claim 1.
In analogous art, Berggren teaches:
wherein the index value indicates a set of parameters for the reference sequence (para [0146] of Berggren: FIG. 17 illustrates aspects with respect to an example implementation of a WUS 702. The WUS 702 is associated with a plurality of POs. The WUS 702 is indicative of the plurality of POs. Specifically, the WUS 702 indicates, for each one of the plurality of POs, whether a paging signal will be transmitted at the respective PO. Respective indicators may be included in the WUS 702. The WUS 702 may address one or more UEs. As illustrated in FIG. 17, there is a 1-to-N mapping between recipient(s) of the WUS 702 and POs.) (para [0151] of Berggren: For example, such a multi-bit indicator could be encoded as a bit sequence. Here, different entries of a corresponding bitmap may relate to different POs (interpreted as “index value indicates a set of parameters for the reference sequence”) or, alternatively, to different UEs. The length of each entry of the bitmap may vary; entry delimitations may be used. This has the effect that the mapping is versatile. As such, the multi-bit indicator may be included in a payload section.) (para [0152] of Berggren: each candidate bit sequence may be predefined and pre-associated with a certain mapping.) (para [0153] of Berggren: From Table 1, it can be seen, e.g., that: If the WUS is non-UE specific, the WUS includes index 0; (interpreted as “index value”).), and wherein the set of parameters comprises (para [0099] of Berggren: At 3001, a control message 4001 (interpreted as “a set of parameters”) is communicated.) (para [0100] of Berggren: For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of a fixed mapping between POs and UEs; e.g., relatively defined with respect to any WUS transmission. For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of fixed time-frequency position; e.g., relatively defined with respect to any WUS transmission. By implementing the control message 4001 to be indicative of the sequence design configuration of the WUS 4003, it is possible to dynamically adjust the sequence design configuration of the WUS 4003.):
a time offset of the reference sequence relative to a set of resources allocated for detection of the WUS (para [0100] of Berggren: For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of fixed time-frequency position; e.g., relatively defined with respect to any WUS transmission (interpreted as “a time offset of the reference sequence relative to a set of resources allocated for detection of the WUS”). ...),
a frequency offset of the reference sequence relative to the set of resources allocated for the detection of the WUS (para [0100] of Berggren: For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of fixed time-frequency position; e.g., relatively defined with respect to any WUS transmission (interpreted as “a frequency offset of the reference sequence relative to the set of resources allocated for the detection of the WUS”). ...), and
a reference sequence configuration for the reference sequence from a set of reference sequence configurations (para [0100] of Berggren: For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of a length of a base sequence of the WU. For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of a fixed mapping between POs and UEs; e.g., relatively defined with respect to any WUS transmission. For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of fixed time-frequency position; e.g., relatively defined with respect to any WUS transmission. By implementing the control message 4001 to be indicative of the sequence design configuration (interpreted as “a reference sequence configuration for the reference sequence from a set of reference sequence configurations”) of the WUS 4003, it is possible to dynamically adjust the sequence design configuration of the WUS 4003.) (para [0152] of Berggren: In alternative examples, it would also be possible to use predefined base sequences—or generally any other bit sequence to be included in the WUS—that define the multi-bit indicator (cf. FIGS. 7 and 8). As such, there may be a plurality of candidate bit sequences available to select from; each candidate bit sequence may be predefined and pre-associated with a certain mapping. This is illustrated by the following table) ;
determine the set of parameters based at least in part on the at least one parameter index value indicated in the payload of the WUS (para [0146] of Berggren: FIG. 17 illustrates aspects with respect to an example implementation of a WUS 702. The WUS 702 is associated with a plurality of POs. The WUS 702 is indicative of the plurality of POs. Specifically, the WUS 702 indicates, for each one of the plurality of POs, whether a paging signal will be transmitted at the respective PO.) (para [0151] of Berggren: For example, such a multi-bit indicator could be encoded as a bit sequence (interpreted as “at least one parameter index value”). Here, different entries of a corresponding bitmap may relate to different POs or, alternatively, to different UEs. The length of each entry of the bitmap may vary; entry delimitations may be used. This has the effect that the mapping is versatile. As such, the multi-bit indicator may be included in a payload section.)
REIAL`026 and Berggren are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of communicating wake-up signals. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified REIAL`026 to incorporate the teachings of Berggren and provide index value indicating a set of parameters for the reference sequence. A PHOSITA seeking to optimize the signaling efficiency of REIAL`026’s post-wake-up synchronization scheme would be strongly motivated to apply the relative offset positioning and look-up table index mechanism of Berggren to REIAL`026’s TRS/CSI-RS configuration space (see para [0155] of Berggren: the control signaling overhead is low, because the WUS 701 is short.). The structural integration of these references yields the entirely predictable result of allowing the network node to bundle the relative time offsets, relative frequency offsets, and structural sequence configurations into a single, highly compressed index value within the WUS payload. Upon parsing this index, the UE’s processing circuitry extracts (determines) the full parameter set and drives its main receiver to receive the synchronization sequence at the designated relative block boundaries.
Regarding claim 16, it is a network node (Fig. 2; Network Node 16)(para [0013]: transmitting a wake-up signal, WUS, in idle mode the WUS indicating a presence of a paging physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, in at least one paging occasion, PO,) for wireless communication corresponding to the claim 1 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 19, it is a method of wireless communication performed by an apparatus of a user equipment (UE) corresponding to the claim 1 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
With respect to dependent claims:
Regarding claim 2, REIAL`026 and Berggren teach The UE of claim 1, REIAL`026 teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform the synchronization based at least in part on the reference sequence (para [0018]: The processing circuitry is configured to cause the WD to monitor for a wake-up signal, WUS, in idle mode, the WUS indicating a presence of a paging physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, in at least one paging occasion, PO, and the WUS being at least one of a physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, signal, a reference signal, RS, a sequence-based signal, a synchronization signal, a secondary synchronization signal, SSS, a primary synchronization signal, PSS, a channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS, and a tracking reference signal, TRS; and when the WUS is detected, monitor the at least one PO for the indicated paging PDCCH.).
Regarding claim 3, REIAL`026 and Berggren teach The UE of claim 1, REIAL`026 teaches wherein the WUS is a low power WUS (paragraphs 0137-0146: LPR-Oriented WUS ….)
Regarding claim 5, REIAL`026 and Berggren teach The UE of claim 1, Berggren further teaches
wherein the set of parameters indicate an allocated boundary of the reference sequence, a starting symbol of the reference sequence, a starting resource block of the reference sequence, (para [0087] of Berggren: In the various examples described herein, time-domain and/or frequency-domain processing is employed to identify the WUS 4003. Sometimes, respective processing may be with respect to a symbol sequence.) (para [0100] of Berggren: For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of a length of a base sequence of the WU. For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of a fixed mapping between POs and UEs; e.g., relatively defined with respect to any WUS transmission. For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of fixed time-frequency position; e.g., relatively defined with respect to any WUS transmission. By implementing the control message 4001 to be indicative of the sequence design configuration of the WUS 4003, it is possible to dynamically adjust the sequence design configuration of the WUS 4003.).
Regarding claim 6, REIAL`026 and Berggren teach The UE of claim 1, Berggren further teaches wherein the set of parameters includes one or more sequence generation parameters associated with the reference sequence (para [0100] of Berggren: For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of a length of a base sequence of the WU. For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of a fixed mapping between POs and UEs; e.g., relatively defined with respect to any WUS transmission. For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of fixed time-frequency position; e.g., relatively defined with respect to any WUS transmission. By implementing the control message 4001 to be indicative of the sequence design configuration of the WUS 4003, it is possible to dynamically adjust the sequence design configuration of the WUS 4003.)
Regarding claim 9, REIAL`026 and Berggren teach The UE of claim 1, Berggren further teaches wherein the WUS indicates all parameters in the set of parameters (para [0146] of Berggren: FIG. 17 illustrates aspects with respect to an example implementation of a WUS 702. The WUS 702 is associated with a plurality of POs. The WUS 702 is indicative of the plurality of POs. Specifically, the WUS 702 indicates, for each one of the plurality of POs, whether a paging signal will be transmitted at the respective PO. Respective indicators may be included in the WUS 702. The WUS 702 may address one or more UEs. As illustrated in FIG. 17, there is a 1-to-N mapping between recipient(s) of the WUS 702 and POs.) (para [0100] of Berggren: For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of a length of a base sequence of the WU. For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of a fixed mapping between POs and UEs; e.g., relatively defined with respect to any WUS transmission. For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of fixed time-frequency position; e.g., relatively defined with respect to any WUS transmission. By implementing the control message 4001 to be indicative of the sequence design configuration of the WUS 4003, it is possible to dynamically adjust the sequence design configuration of the WUS 4003.).
Regarding claim 12, REIAL`026 and Berggren teach The UE of claim 1, Berggren further teaches wherein the set of parameters are determined based at least in part on mapping the index value to the reference sequence configuration configured on the UE (para [0146] of Berggren: FIG. 17 illustrates aspects with respect to an example implementation of a WUS 702. The WUS 702 is associated with a plurality of POs. The WUS 702 is indicative of the plurality of POs. Specifically, the WUS 702 indicates, for each one of the plurality of POs, whether a paging signal will be transmitted at the respective PO. Respective indicators may be included in the WUS 702. The WUS 702 may address one or more UEs. As illustrated in FIG. 17, there is a 1-to-N mapping between recipient(s) of the WUS 702 and POs.) (para [0151] of Berggren: For example, such a multi-bit indicator could be encoded as a bit sequence. Here, different entries of a corresponding bitmap may relate to different POs or, alternatively, to different UEs. The length of each entry of the bitmap may vary; entry delimitations may be used. This has the effect that the mapping is versatile. As such, the multi-bit indicator may be included in a payload section.) (para [0152] of Berggren: each candidate bit sequence may be predefined and pre-associated with a certain mapping.) (para [0153] of Berggren: From Table 1, it can be seen, e.g., that: If the WUS is non-UE specific, the WUS includes index 0; (interpreted as “index value”).).
Regarding claim 13, REIAL`026 and Berggren teach The UE of claim 1, Berggren further teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive the set of reference sequence configuration prior to the UE entering the sleep mode (para [0099] of Berggren: At 3001, a control message 4001 (interpreted as “the set of reference sequence configuration”) is communicated. For example, the control message may be communicated on the control channel 262, e.g., PDCCH. For example, the control message may be a Layer 2 or Layer 3 control message. The control message may be relate to RRC/higher-layer signaling (interpreted as “receive the set of reference sequence configuration prior to the UE entering the sleep mode”). For example, the control message 4001 may be broadcasted, e.g., in a system information block associated with a cell.)
Regarding claim 15, REIAL`026 and Berggren teach The UE of claim 1,
Berggren further teaches wherein at least one parameter of the set of parameters is determined based at least in part on being indicated to the UE prior to entering the sleep mode (para [0099] of Berggren: At 3001, a control message 4001 (interpreted as “at least one parameter of the set of parameters”) is communicated. For example, the control message may be communicated on the control channel 262, e.g., PDCCH. For example, the control message may be a Layer 2 or Layer 3 control message. The control message may be relate to RRC/higher-layer signaling. For example, the control message 4001 may be broadcasted, e.g., in a system information block associated with a cell (interpreted as “determined based at least in part on being indicated to the UE prior to entering the sleep mode”).).
Regarding claim 17, REIAL`026 and Berggren teach The network node of claim 16, Berggren further teaches wherein the set of parameters includes one or more parameters indicating one or more sequence generation parameters associated with the reference sequence (para [0100] of Berggren: The control message 4001—which may be used in the various examples described herein—may be indicative of certain properties associated with the wake-up technology implemented by the UE 102. For example, the control message may configure a level of robustness of at least one part of the WUS. For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of a modulation and/or coding scheme (MCS) employed for the WUS. For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of a length of a base sequence of the WU. For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of the sequence design configuration of the WUS 4003. (interpreted as “one or more parameters indicating one or more sequence generation parameters associated with the reference sequence”) For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of a fixed mapping between POs and UEs; e.g., relatively defined with respect to any WUS transmission. For example, the control message 4001 may be indicative of fixed time-frequency position; e.g., relatively defined with respect to any WUS transmission. By implementing the control message 4001 to be indicative of the sequence design configuration of the WUS 4003, it is possible to dynamically adjust the sequence design configuration of the WUS 4003.)
Regarding claim 21, REIAL`026 and Berggren teach The network node of claim 16,
Berggren further teaches wherein at least one parameter of the set of parameters is indicated to the UE prior to entering the sleep mode (para [0099] of Berggren: At 3001, a control message 4001 (interpreted as “at least one parameter of the set of parameters”) is communicated. For example, the control message may be communicated on the control channel 262, e.g., PDCCH. For example, the control message may be a Layer 2 or Layer 3 control message. The control message may be relate to RRC/higher-layer signaling (interpreted as “indicated to the UE prior to entering the sleep mode”). For example, the control message 4001 may be broadcasted, e.g., in a system information block associated with a cell.)
Regarding claim 22, Claim 22, has similar limitation as of Claim(s) 15, therefore it is rejected under the same reasons as Claim(s) 15.
Regarding claim 23, Claim 23, has similar limitation as of Claim(s) 3, therefore it is rejected under the same reasons as Claim(s) 3.
Regarding claim 24, Claim 24, has similar limitation as of Claim(s) 9, therefore it is rejected under the same reasons as Claim(s) 9.
Regarding claim 25, Claim 25, has similar limitation as of Claim(s) 13, therefore it is rejected under the same reasons as Claim(s) 13.
Regarding claim 26, Claim 26, has similar limitation as of Claim(s) 21, therefore it is rejected under the same reasons as Claim(s) 21.
Claim(s) 7 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over REIAL`026, in view of Berggren, and further in view of Jung et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20200053670, hereinafter “Jung”).
Regarding claim 7, REIAL`026 and Berggren teach The UE of claim 6, REIAL`026 and Berggren teach wherein the one or more sequence generation parameters include a pseudo random initial state associated with the reference sequence, a sequence length, or any combination thereof.
In analogous art, Jung teaches wherein the one or more sequence generation parameters include a pseudo random initial state associated with the reference sequence, a sequence length, or any combination thereof (para [0083] of Jung: In one embodiment, for a PDSCH DMRS sequence of a PDSCH carrying SIB1, initialization of a pseudo-random sequence generator for the PDSCH DMRS sequence may be based on a slot number within a frame for a reference SSB location of an SSB associated with the PDSCH carrying SIB1. In certain embodiments, initialization of a pseudo-random sequence generator for a PDSCH DMRS sequence of PDSCH carrying SIB1 may not be based on a slot number within a frame but instead be based on an associated SSB index. For example, ns,f μ for Cinit may be one of the following: 1) a slot number within a frame for a reference SSB time location of an associated SSB; 2) a SSB index of the associated SSB; and/or 3) set to zero.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify the combination of REIAL`026 and Berggren by using the pseudo-random sequence generator of Jung in order to provide a pseudo random initial state. The combination yields the predictable result of ensuring that the device can accurately regenerate the local replica of the sequence to execute successful synchronization refinement.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Nory et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20140302856) discloses in wake-up signaling environments, a specific transmission profile (including sequence and resource assignments) is dynamically identified from a pre-defined set of configuration by mapping an identifier or index to a “predefined mapping table” (see para [0072] of Nory).
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 WON JUN CHOI whose telephone number is (703)756-1695. The examiner can normally be reached MON-FRI 08:00 - 17:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Derrick W Ferris can be reached at 571-272-3123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/WON JUN CHOI/Examiner, Art Unit 2411
/DERRICK W FERRIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2411
Prosecution Insights