DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to Amendment filed on 4/21/2026. Claims 1, 11, and 14 have been
amended. Claim 13 has been canceled. Claims 21-25 have been added. Claims 1-2, 5-11, 14-16, and 18-25 remain pending in the application.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 4/21/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed on 4/03/2026 has been entered.
Applicant’s amendments to the Claims have overcome each and every objection previously set forth in
the Final Rejection mailed on 12/1/2025.
Response to Remarks/Arguments
Applicant’s remarks/arguments (page 8-11), filed on 4/21/2026, with respect to the 102(a)(2) rejections
of claim 1 have been fully considered but are moot based on new ground of rejections using a newly introduced reference (Agiwal) are applied in the current rejection.
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 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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that
are applied 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.
Claims 1-2, 5-8, 11, 14-16, and 18-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HE
et al. (US 2023/0007622 Al, hereinafter “He”) in view of AGIWAL (US 2025/0142529 Al, hereinafter “Agiwal”).
Regarding claim 1, He discloses:
A method of wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), comprising (a method of wireless communication. The communication diagram may include a UE, He: [0072]):
transmitting a UE capability message, the UE capability message including paging subgroup assignment capability information and paging subgrouping assistance information (PSAI) (paging subgroup of the UE may be determined based on UE Paging Assistance Information (UPAI). The UPAI of the UE may include information relevant to the determination of the paging subgroup of the UE, such as expected paging probability, mobility status, power status, etc. That is, the UPAI may include attributes such as the paging probability of the UE which may indicate the probability of the UE receiving a paging message, the mobility status and/or profile of the UE which may indicate whether the UE is stationary or mobile, the power status and/or profile of the UE which may indicate whether the UE is power sensitive or insensitive. The UPAI of the UE may include information relevant to the determination of the paging subgroup of the UE. UE may include UPAI in the registration request message transmitted to the AMF of the core network including the AMF, He: [0074]-[0076], [0128]),
receiving paging subgroup assignment information based at least in part on the UE capability message, the paging subgroup assignment information including an assignment of the UE to a paging subgroup (UE may receive the subgroup ID of the UE in the registration accept message received from the AMF of the core network including the AMF, He: [0090]); and
monitoring for a paging occasion associated with the paging subgroup assigned to the UE, in a 5G mobility management (5GMM) IDLE mode or a 5GMM_CONNECTED mode with radio resource control (RRC)_INACTIVE indication (UEs in RRC idle/inactive mode may periodically (or aperiodically) wake up to receive paging messages from the base station, and the base station may transmit the paging messages to the UEs in the RRC idle/inactive mode. UE may then monitor for the paging message from the base station in response to the associated paging indication received in the PO, He: [0068]-[0069]); wherein:
He does not explicitly disclose:
the PSAI including an information element having eight bits.
the eight bits include, three most significant bits having a first value that indicates the information element pertains to paging probability information; and
five least significant bits having a second value that indicates a paging probability group within a set of predefined paging probability groups.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Agiwal teaches:
the PSAI including an information element having eight bits (Short Messages-8 bits according to Table 2. If only the scheduling information for Paging is carried, this bit field is reserved. AGIWAL: [0056]).
the eight bits include, three most significant bits having a first value that indicates the information element pertains to paging probability information (Cell can support both CN assigned and UE ID based paging subgroups in order to support UEs with different capabilities. early paging indication (or paging DCI) includes separate bitmap for the CN assigned paging subgroups and the UE ID based paging subgroups. The bitmap for the CN assigned paging subgroups can be referred as CN-SubgroupingBitmap. The bitmap for the UE ID based paging subgroups can be referred as UEIDSubgroupingBitmap. Each bitmap can be of same or different length (i.e. number of bits in the bitmap). The length depends on the number of paging subgroups. If the maximum number of the CN assigned paging subgroups is ‘x’, the size of CNSubgroupingBitmap is ‘x’ bits. early paging indication (or paging DCI) includes a bitmap for paging subgroups. The length of bitmap depends on number of paging subgroups. If the maximum number of paging subgroups is 'x', the size of bitmap is 'x' bits. Each bit in bitmap corresponds to a paging subgroup identity. kth bit (from least significant bit or from most significant bit) in bitmap corresponds to paging subgroup with identity k. AGIWAL: [0071]-[0072], [0150]); and
five least significant bits having a second value that indicates a paging probability group within a set of predefined paging probability groups (If the maximum number of the UE ID based paging subgroups is ‘y’, the size of UEIDSubgroupingBitmap is ‘y’ bits. kth bit (from least significant bit or from most significant bit) in UEIDSubgroupingBitmap corresponds to UE ID based paging subgroup with identity k. AGIWAL: [0072], [0076]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify He in view of Agiwal in order to further modify the eight bits which include three most significant bits having a first value that indicates the information element pertains to paging probability information and five least significant bits having a second value that indicates a paging probability group within a set of predefined paging probability groups from the teachings of Agiwal.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because if UE to be paged does not have paging subgrouping identity assigned by CN (or UE does not support CN assigned paging subgrouping) and the UE supports UE ID based paging subgrouping and gNB supports UE ID based paging subgroups (Agiwal: [0107]).
Regarding claim 2, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
He further discloses:
wherein the paging subgroup assignment capability information comprises at least one of (UE supports the subgrouping assignment by the network, He: [0103]):
a first indication of support for paging subgrouping assistance information (PSAI) (the paging subgroup of the UE may be determined based on UE Paging Assistance Information (UPAI), He: [0074]);
a second indication of support for core network (CN)-assigned paging subgrouping (CNSG) allocated by an access and mobility management function (AMF) (core network including the AMF may configure a set of candidate subgroups associated with the UE, He: [0006]-[0009]); or
a third indication of support for user equipment identity (UEID)-based paging subgrouping (UEIDSG) based on a temporary identifier for the UE within a next-generation radio access network (NG-RAN) (UE may initiate an update of the paging subgroup identifier (ID) assigned to the UE by transmitting paging assistance information to the AMF, He: [0005]).
Regarding claim 5, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 3 above.
He further discloses:
wherein the PSAI comprises a power profile of the UE, the power profile including at least one of: a type of the UE, an expected battery duration of the UE, or an available power budget of the UE (The paging assistance information may include at least one of a paging probability, a mobility profile, or a power profile of the UE. the paging subgroup of the UE may be determined based on UE Paging Assistance Information (UPAI). The UPAI of the UE may include information relevant to the determination of the paging subgroup of theUE, such as expected paging probability, mobility status, power status, etc. UPAI may include attributes such as the paging probability of the UE which may indicate whether the UE is power sensitive or insensitive, He: [0005], [0074]).
Regarding claim 6, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
He further discloses:
the UE capability message is transmitted as part of a REGISTRATION REQUEST message, the REGISTRATION REQUEST message transmitted during an initial registration of the UE to an access and mobility management function (AMF) or during a mobility and periodic registration update (MRU) (UE 402 may initiate a registration process to request the core network including the AMF of the paging subgroup of the UE, and the paging subgroup of the UE may initially be assigned by the AMF during registration procedure. UE may transmit a registration request message to the AMF and through the registration process, the AMF may assign the paging subgroup of the UE. UE may perform a registration update procedure with the AMF to submit the new UPAI, He: [0073], [0077]); and
the paging subgroup assignment information is received in a REGISTRATION ACCEPT message (AMF may transmit, to the UE, the registration accept message including the updated paging subgroup, and the UE may receive, from the AMF, the registration accept message including the updated paging subgroup, He: [0078]).
Regarding claim 7, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
He further discloses:
receiving a radio access network (RAN) capability message indicating a support for paging subgroup assignments (UE may receive the subgroup ID of the UE in the registration accept message received from the AMF of the core network including the AMF, He: [0090]); wherein,
the paging subgroup assignment capability information is included in the UE capability message in response to receiving, in the RAN capability message, an indication of support for paging subgroup assignments (communication manager includes a paging subgroup managing component that is configured to perform an initial paging subgroup assignment of the UE with the base station and the AMF, transmit an indication of UE capability indicating whether the UE supports the subgrouping assignment by the network, transmit a paging assistance information, He: [0183]).
Regarding claim 8, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
He further discloses:
wherein, in the 5GMM_IDLE mode or the 5GMM_CONNECTED mode with RRC_INACTIVE indication, the paging occasion occurs comparatively less frequently for the UE, as a member of the paging subgroup, than a second paging occasion occurs for a second UE with no paging subgroup assignment (UE in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state may be monitoring the paging occasions associated with the paging subgroup of the UE to receive paging messages from the AMF of the core network via the base station. UE may monitor paging channel using the paging subgroup ID based on the UE receiving an assignment of the paging subgroup ID and the paging subgroup ID being less than the number of the subgroups indicated in the system information, He: [0081], [0121]).
Regarding claim 11, He discloses:
An apparatus, comprising memory coupled to a processor, the processor configured to (hardware implementation for an example apparatus. controller/processor can be associated with a memory, He: Fig. 3, [0028], [0062):
transmit a UE capability message via the transceiver, the UE capability message including paging subgroup assignment capability information and paging subgrouping assistance information (PSAI) (paging subgroup of the UE may be determined based on UE Paging Assistance Information (UPAI). The UPAI of the UE may include information relevant to the determination of the paging subgroup of the UE, such as expected paging probability, mobility status, power status, etc. That is, the UPAI may include attributes such as the paging probability of the UE which may indicate the probability of the UE receiving a paging message, the mobility status and/or profile of the UE which may indicate whether the UE is stationary or mobile, the power status and/or profile of the UE which may indicate whether the UE is power sensitive or insensitive. The UPAI of the UE may include information relevant to the determination of the paging subgroup of the UE. UE may include UPAI in the registration request message transmitted to the AMF of the core network including the AMF, He: [0074]-[0076], [0128]),
receive paging subgroup assignment information based at least in part on the UE capability message, the paging subgroup assignment information including an assignment of the UE to a paging subgroup (UE may receive the subgroup ID of the UE in the registration accept message received from the AMF of the core network including the AMF, He: [0090]); and
monitor for a paging occasion associated with the paging subgroup assigned to the UE, in a 5G mobility management (5GMM) IDLE mode or a 5GMM_CONNECTED mode with radio resource control (RRC)_INACTIVE indication (UEs in RRC idle/inactive mode may periodically (or aperiodically) wake up to receive paging messages from the base station, and the base station may transmit the paging messages to the UEs in the RRC idle/inactive mode. UE may then monitor for the paging message from the base station in response to the associated paging indication received in the PO, He: [0068]-[0069]); wherein:
He does not explicitly disclose:
the PSAI including an information element having eight bits.
the eight bits include, three most significant bits having a first value that indicates the information element pertains to paging probability information; and
five least significant bits having a second value that indicates a paging probability group within a set of predefined paging probability groups.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Agiwal teaches:
the PSAI including an information element having eight bits (Short Messages-8 bits according to Table 2. If only the scheduling information for Paging is carried, this bit field is reserved. AGIWAL: [0056]).
the eight bits include, three most significant bits having a first value that indicates the information element pertains to paging probability information (Cell can support both CN assigned and UE ID based paging subgroups in order to support UEs with different capabilities. early paging indication (or paging DCI) includes separate bitmap for the CN assigned paging subgroups and the UE ID based paging subgroups. The bitmap for the CN assigned paging subgroups can be referred as CN-SubgroupingBitmap. The bitmap for the UE ID based paging subgroups can be referred as UEIDSubgroupingBitmap. Each bitmap can be of same or different length (i.e. number of bits in the bitmap). The length depends on the number of paging subgroups. If the maximum number of the CN assigned paging subgroups is ‘x’, the size of CNSubgroupingBitmap is ‘x’ bits. early paging indication (or paging DCI) includes a bitmap for paging subgroups. The length of bitmap depends on number of paging subgroups. If the maximum number of paging subgroups is 'x', the size of bitmap is 'x' bits. Each bit in bitmap corresponds to a paging subgroup identity. kth bit (from least significant bit or from most significant bit) in bitmap corresponds to paging subgroup with identity k. AGIWAL: [0071]-[0072], [0150]); and
five least significant bits having a second value that indicates a paging probability group within a set of predefined paging probability groups (If the maximum number of the UE ID based paging subgroups is ‘y’, the size of UEIDSubgroupingBitmap is ‘y’ bits. kth bit (from least significant bit or from most significant bit) in UEIDSubgroupingBitmap corresponds to UE ID based paging subgroup with identity k. AGIWAL: [0072], [0076]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify He in view of Agiwal in order to further modify the eight bits which include three most significant bits having a first value that indicates the information element pertains to paging probability information and five least significant bits having a second value that indicates a paging probability group within a set of predefined paging probability groups from the teachings of Agiwal.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because if UE to be paged does not have paging subgrouping identity assigned by CN (or UE does not support CN assigned paging subgrouping) and the UE supports UE ID based paging subgrouping and gNB supports UE ID based paging subgroups (Agiwal: [0107]).
Regarding claim 14, He discloses:
A method of communication by a core network (CN), comprising (core network including an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), He: [0005]):
receiving, from a user equipment (UE) as part of a REGISTRATION REQUEST message, a UE capability message, the UE capability message including paging subgroup assignment capability information (AMF may receive the registration request message from the UE. AMF may perform an initial paging subgroup assignment of the UE. UE may transmit, to the network, an indication of UE capability indicating whether the UE supports the subgrouping assignment by the network, He: [0090], [0102]-[0103]) and
paging subgrouping assistance information (PSAI) (paging subgroup of the UE may be determined based on UE Paging Assistance Information (UPAI). The UPAI of the UE may include information relevant to the determination of the paging subgroup of the UE, such as expected paging probability, mobility status, power status, etc. That is, the UPAI may include attributes such as the paging probability of the UE which may indicate the probability of the UE receiving a paging message, the mobility status and/or profile of the UE which may indicate whether the UE is stationary or mobile, the power status and/or profile of the UE which may indicate whether the UE is power sensitive or insensitive. The UPAI of the UE may include information relevant to the determination of the paging subgroup of the UE. UE may include UPAI in the registration request message transmitted to the AMF of the core network including the AMF, He: [0074]-[0075], [0128]),
assigning the UE to a paging subgroup, based at least in part on the UE capability message (UE may receive the subgroup ID of the UE in the registration accept message received from the AMF of the core network including the AMF, He: [0090]);
storing paging subgroup assignment information for the UE in UE context at the CN, the paging subgroup assignment information including the assignment of the UE to the paging subgroup (AMF of the core network may include a paging subgroup managing component configured to receive paging assistance information for a first UE, transmit a subgroup ID to the UE determined based on the paging assistance information, and transmit, to a base station, a message including a subgroup ID of the first UE. core network including the AMF may determine to transmit a paging message to the UE associated with the updated paging subgroup, He: [0050], [0087]-[0089]); and
transmitting to the UE, as part of a REGISTRATION ACCEPT message, the paging subgroup assignment information (AMF may return, to the base station, the UE's subgroup ID in a registration accept message transmitted in response to the registration request message, He: [0090]-[0091]); wherein
He does not explicitly disclose:
the PSAI including an information element having eight bits;
the eight bits include, three most significant bits having a first value that indicates the information element pertains to paging probability information; and
five least significant bits having a second value that indicates a paging probability group within a set of predefined paging probability groups.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Agiwal teaches:
the PSAI including an information element having eight bits (Short Messages-8 bits according to Table 2. If only the scheduling information for Paging is carried, this bit field is reserved. AGIWAL: [0056]);
the eight bits include, three most significant bits having a first value that indicates the information element pertains to paging probability information (Cell can support both CN assigned and UE ID based paging subgroups in order to support UEs with different capabilities. early paging indication (or paging DCI) includes separate bitmap for the CN assigned paging subgroups and the UE ID based paging subgroups. The bitmap for the CN assigned paging subgroups can be referred as CN-SubgroupingBitmap. The bitmap for the UE ID based paging subgroups can be referred as UEIDSubgroupingBitmap. Each bitmap can be of same or different length (i.e. number of bits in the bitmap). The length depends on the number of paging subgroups. If the maximum number of the CN assigned paging subgroups is ‘x’, the size of CNSubgroupingBitmap is ‘x’ bits. early paging indication (or paging DCI) includes a bitmap for paging subgroups. The length of bitmap depends on number of paging subgroups. If the maximum number of paging subgroups is 'x', the size of bitmap is 'x' bits. Each bit in bitmap corresponds to a paging subgroup identity. kth bit (from least significant bit or from most significant bit) in bitmap corresponds to paging subgroup with identity k. AGIWAL: [0071]-[0072], [0150]); and
five least significant bits having a second value that indicates a paging probability group within a set of predefined paging probability groups (If the maximum number of the UE ID based paging subgroups is ‘y’, the size of UEIDSubgroupingBitmap is ‘y’ bits. kth bit (from least significant bit or from most significant bit) in UEIDSubgroupingBitmap corresponds to UE ID based paging subgroup with identity k. AGIWAL: [0072], [0076]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify He in view of Agiwal in order to further modify the eight bits which include three most significant bits having a first value that indicates the information element pertains to paging probability information and five least significant bits having a second value that indicates a paging probability group within a set of predefined paging probability groups from the teachings of Agiwal.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because if UE to be paged does not have paging subgrouping identity assigned by CN (or UE does not support CN assigned paging subgrouping) and the UE supports UE ID based paging subgrouping and gNB supports UE ID based paging subgroups (Agiwal: [0107]).
Regarding claim 15, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 14 above.
He further discloses:
wherein the paging subgroup assignment capability information comprises at least one of (UE supports the subgrouping assignment by the network, He: [0103]):
a first indication of support for paging subgrouping assistance information (PSAI)) (the paging subgroup of the UE may be determined based on UE Paging Assistance Information (UPAI), He: [0074]);
a second indication of support for core network (CN)-assigned paging subgrouping (CNSG) (core network including the AMF may configure a set of candidate subgroups associated with the UE, He: [0006]-[0009]); or
a third indication of support for user equipment identity (UEID)-based paging subgrouping (UEIDSG) (UE may initiate an update of the paging subgroup identifier (ID) assigned to the UE by transmitting paging assistance information to the AMF, He: [0005]).
Regarding claim 16, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 14 above.
He further discloses:
transmitting, to a base station in communication with the UE, a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST message including the assignment of the UE to the paging subgroup (AMF may transmit, to a base station, a UE context setup message including the updated paging subgroup ID of the UE based on the RRC state change for the UE. In one aspect, the UE context modification message may include a set of candidate subgroups associated with the RRC state change, He: [0169], [0175]).
Regarding claim 18, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 14 above.
He further discloses:
wherein the PSAI comprises a power profile of the UE, the power profile including at least one of: a type of the UE, an expected battery duration of the UE, or an available power budget of the UE (The paging assistance information may include at least one of a paging probability, a mobility profile, or a power profile of the UE. the paging subgroup of the UE may be determined based on UE Paging Assistance Information (UPAI). The UPAI of the UE may include information relevant to the determination of the paging subgroup of theUE, such as expected paging probability, mobility status, power status, etc. UPAI may include attributes such as the paging probability of the UE which may indicate whether the UE is power sensitive or insensitive, He: [0005], [0074]).
Regarding claim 19, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 14 above.
He further discloses:
determining the UE has not acknowledged receipt of the paging subgroup assignment information (base station may determine to release the UE into RRC inactive state. When the base station is about to release the UE into the RRC inactive state and determine that the current paging subgroup of the UE may no longer be optimal for the new RRC state. Here, the releasing of the RRC connection with the UE to the RRC inactive state is not notified to the AMF until receiving an RRC inactive transition report from the base station, He: Fig. 11, [0163]); and
transmitting to the UE, in response to determining the UE has not acknowledged receipt of the paging subgroup assignment information, new paging subgroup assignment information (base station may update the paging subgroup of the UE based on releasing the RRC connection between the UE and the base station to the RRC inactive state, He: Fig. 12, [0164]-[0177]).
Regarding claim 20, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 14 above.
He further discloses:
determining the UE has not acknowledged receipt of the paging subgroup assignment information (base station may determine to release the UE into RRC inactive state. When the base station is about to release the UE into the RRC inactive state and determine that the current paging subgroup of the UE may no longer be optimal for the new RRC state. Here, the releasing of the RRC connection with the UE to the RRC inactive state is not notified to the AMF until receiving an RRC inactive transition report from the base station, He: Fig. 11, [0163]); and
transmitting to the UE, in response to determining the UE has not acknowledged receipt of the paging subgroup assignment information, a request for the UE to initiate a registration procedure (AMF may perform an initial paging subgroup assignment of the UE with the UE and the base station. The UE may transmit the registration request message to the AMF, and the AMF may receive the registration request message from the UE, He: Fig. 12, [0164]-[0177]).
Regarding claim 21, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 11 above.
He further discloses:
wherein the paging subgroup assignment capability information comprises at least one of (UE supports the subgrouping assignment by the network, He: [0103]):
a first indication of support for paging subgrouping assistance information (PSAI) (the paging subgroup of the UE may be determined based on UE Paging Assistance Information (UPAI), He: [0074]);
a second indication of support for core network (CN)-assigned paging subgrouping (CNSG) allocated by an access and mobility management function (AMF) (core network including the AMF may configure a set of candidate subgroups associated with the UE, He: [0006]-[0009]); or
a third indication of support for user equipment identity (UEID)-based paging subgrouping (UEIDSG) based on a temporary identifier for the UE within a next-generation radio access network (NG-RAN) (UE may initiate an update of the paging subgroup identifier (ID) assigned to the UE by transmitting paging assistance information to the AMF, He: [0005]).
Regarding claim 22, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 11 above.
He further discloses:
wherein the PSAI comprises a power profile of the UE, the power profile including at least one of: a type of the UE, an expected battery duration of the UE, or an available power budget of the UE (The paging assistance information may include at least one of a paging probability, a mobility profile, or a power profile of the UE. the paging subgroup of the UE may be determined based on UE Paging Assistance Information (UPAI). The UPAI of the UE may include information relevant to the determination of the paging subgroup of the UE, such as expected paging probability, mobility status, power status, etc. UPAI may include attributes such as the paging probability of the UE which may indicate whether the UE is power sensitive or insensitive, He: [0005], [0074]).
Regarding claim 23, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 11 above.
He further discloses:
wherein: the UE capability message is transmitted as part of a REGISTRATION REQUEST message, the REGISTRATION REQUEST message transmitted during an initial registration of the UE to an access and mobility management function (AMF) or during a mobility and periodic registration update (MRU) (UE 402 may initiate a registration process to request the core network including the AMF of the paging subgroup of the UE, and the paging subgroup of the UE may initially be assigned by the AMF during registration procedure. UE may transmit a registration request message to the AMF and through the registration process, the AMF may assign the paging subgroup of the UE. UE may perform a registration update procedure with the AMF to submit the new UPAI, He: [0073], [0077]); and
the paging subgroup assignment information is received in a REGISTRATION ACCEPT message (AMF may transmit, to the UE, the registration accept message including the updated paging subgroup, and the UE may receive, from the AMF, the registration accept message including the updated paging subgroup, He: [0078]).
Regarding claim 24, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 11 above.
He further discloses:
the processor is further configured to receive a radio access network (RAN) capability message indicating a support for paging subgroup assignments (UE may receive the subgroup ID of the UE in the registration accept message received from the AMF of the core network including the AMF, He: [0090]); wherein,
the paging subgroup assignment capability information is included in the UE capability message in response to receiving, in the RAN capability message, an indication of support for paging subgroup assignments (communication manager includes a paging subgroup managing component that is configured to perform an initial paging subgroup assignment of the UE with the base station and the AMF, transmit an indication of UE capability indicating whether the UE supports the subgrouping assignment by the network, transmit a paging assistance information, He: [0183]).
Regarding claim 25, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 21 above.
He further discloses:
wherein, in the SGMM_IDLE mode or the SGMM_CONNECTED mode with RRC_INACTIVE indication, the paging occasion occurs comparatively less frequently for the UE, as a member of the paging subgroup, than a second paging occasion occurs for a second UE with no paging subgroup assignment (UE in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state may be monitoring the paging occasions associated with the paging subgroup of the UE to receive paging messages from the AMF of the core network via the base station. UE may monitor paging channel using the paging subgroup ID based on the UE receiving an assignment of the paging subgroup ID and the paging subgroup ID being less than the number of the subgroups indicated in the system information, He: [0081], [0121]).
Claims 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He in view of Agiwal and in
further view of Youn et al. (US 2020/0145953 Al, hereinafter “Youn”).
Regarding claim 9, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
He further discloses:
after receiving the paging subgroup assignment information (UE may receive the subgroup ID of the UE in the registration accept message received from the AMF of the core network including the AMF, He: [0090]),
receiving, from an access and mobility management function (AMF), base station may receive, from the core network including AMF, the UE context modification message including the indication of at least one subgroup ID for the UE based on the RRC state change for the UE. core network including the AMF may determine to transmit a paging message to the UE associated with the updated paging subgroup, He: [0152]-[0157]);
configuring the UE, responsive to the CONFIGURATION UPDATE COMMAND message, to monitor the paging occasion (UE may determine whether to monitor the PO to receive the paging message based on the paging subgroup indication received in at least one of thePEI or the paging DCI from the network, He: [0069]); and
He in view of Agiwal does not explicitly disclose:
receiving
transmitting, to the AMF, a CONFIGURATION UPDATE COMPLETE message.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Youn teaches:
receivingThe AMF may transmit, to the UE, a UE configuration update command including a UE parameter(s). After the UE receives the UE configuration update command, the update of a specific parameter may trigger a registration update procedure by the UE, Youn: [0472], [0499])
transmitting, to the AMF, a CONFIGURATION UPDATE COMPLETE message (UE transmits a UE configuration update complete message to the AMF, Youn: [0498]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify He and Agiwal in view of Youn in order to further modify receiving a CONFIGURATION UPDATE COMMAND message and transmitting a CONFIGURATION UPDATE COMPLETE message from the teachings of Youn.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it can provide much more improved data transmission capability, and so on (Youn: [0027]).
Regarding claim 10, He in view of Agiwal teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
He further discloses:
receiving, from an access and mobility management function (AMF) of a core network (CN), AMF may perform an initial paging subgroup assignment of the UE with the UE and the base station. The UE may transmit the registration request message to the AMF, and the AMF may receive the registration request message from the UE, He: Fig. 12, [0164]-[0177]);
He in view of Agiwal does not explicitly disclose:
receiving,
However, in the same field of endeavor, Youn teaches:
receiving, The AMF may transmit, to the UE, a UE configuration update command including a UE parameter(s). After the UE receives the UE configuration update command, the update of a specific parameter may trigger a registration update procedure by the UE, Youn: [0472], [0499])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify He and Agiwal in view of Youn in order to further modify receiving a CONFIGURATION UPDATE COMMAND message from the teachings of Youn.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it can provide much more improved data transmission capability, and so on (Youn: [0027]).
Conclusion
In the case of amendments, applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the
specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and support, for ascertaining the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
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/S.C.L./Examiner, Art Unit 2467
/MOHAMMED S CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467
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