DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
RCE filed 1/9/2026 is acknowledged. Amendment filed 12/11/2025 is entered.
Claims 1, 2, 15, 16, and 20 have been amended.
Claims 1-20 remain pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 1-11 and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lincoln et al. (US20180234153A1; “Lincoln”) in view of Bergman et al. (US20150341855A1; “Bergman”).
Regarding claims 1, 15, and 20,
Lincoln discloses low-power channel-state-information reporting mode (Title) including an apparatus (Fig. 8, radio network equipment 1100; i.e. eNB/Base Station; paragraph 104-105) comprising at least one memory/non-transitory computer readable medium (Fig. 8, 1125; paragraph 108) configured to store computer program code/instructions and at least one processor (Fig. 8, 1120; paragraph 107, 111) configured to access said at least one memory/computer readable medium and operate as instructed by the computer program code/instructions, to execute a method (Fig. 5, 7, 9) performed by the at least one processor in a base station.
Lincoln discloses sending, in a first state (default/legacy mode; paragraph 73-79), a first set of one or more probing messages to a UE, the first set of the one or more probing messages including a set of reference signals and receiving, in response to the first one or more probing messages, a first channel state information (CSI) report from the UE that includes first CSI derived from measurements of the set of reference signals (Fig. 1-4; paragraphs 47-48, 53-54, 62-69; CSI-RS transmission/measurement of all antennas to select the “best” configuration among all possible configurations).
Lincoln further shows sending, in a second state (low power mode; paragraph 78-79), a second set of one or more probing messages to the UE, the second set of the one or more probing messages including a subset of the reference signals and receiving, in response to the second set of one or more probing messages, a second CSI report that includes second CSI derived from measurement of the subset of the reference signals (paragraphs 70-79, 82-84, 99; Fig. 5, steps 520-550; CSI-RS transmission/measurement of subset of antennas to select “good enough” beam configuration) without sending the remaining subset of reference signal included in the first set (Fig. 7, step 740; paragraphs 23-25, 73, 99-; “good enough” beam configuration allows further CSI-RS measurements to be discontinued/not performed once a good enough beam is selected, thereby avoiding the need to evaluate all CSI-RS symbols).
Lincoln fails to expressly disclose determining which UEs are to be configured with coverage enhancement during an energy saving state of the base station.
Bergman discloses analogous art (Title; Background) including determining which UEs are to be configured with coverage enhancement (paragraphs 5, 9-10, 44, 55; enhanced coverage to improve link budget) during an energy saving state of the base station (Fig. 4-5; paragraphs 8, 43-50; determining network selection for coverage enhancement where low power base stations are in sleep mode).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to modify Lincoln by determining which UEs are to be configured with coverage enhancement during an energy saving state of the base station, as shown by Bergman, thereby enabling optimal network selection by UEs for effective load balancing amongst co-existing networks.
Regarding claims 2 and 16,
The combination of Lincoln and Bergman discloses the first state is a normal state (i.e. default/legacy mode; paragraph 73) and the second state is an energy saving state (i.e. low power mode; paragraph 73).
Regarding claims 3 and 17,
The combination of Lincoln and Bergman discloses, in the energy saving state, one or more antennas are turned off (paragraph 79; low power mode involves UE only scanning a subset of the PMI/antennas including turning off one or more receive/transmit chains).
Regarding claims 4 and 18,
The combination of Lincoln and Bergman discloses the first set of the one or more probing messages include an indication of a window having a duration (i.e. interval) in which UE measures the subset of reference signals (paragraphs 100, 120; first/second reporting modes during respective time intervals).
Regarding claims 5 and 19,
The combination of Lincoln and Bergman discloses the window is configured with a periodic time interval (Fig. 1, 3, 4; paragraph 18; time repetition of CSI-RSs).
Regarding claim 6,
The combination of Lincoln and Bergman discloses the second CSI report is transmitted from the UE to the base station at a timing outside of the window (paragraph 100, 117-120; separate first/second time intervals for first/second reporting modes).
Regarding claim 7,
The combination of Lincoln and Bergman discloses transmitting, to the UE, a predetermined downlink signal that causes the UE to terminate measuring of the set of reference signals in the normal state and initiate measuring of the subset of reference signals in the energy saving state (Fig. 5, steps 520-540; paragraph 15-28; reporting configuration message directing operation in low-power reporting mode).
Regarding claim 8,
The combination of Lincoln and Bergman discloses the predetermined downlink signal is a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) signal (paragraph 15; CSI-RS measurements interdependence to other transmission including PDCCH).
Regarding claim 9,
The combination of Lincoln and Bergman discloses the measuring of the subset of reference signals is terminated after a predetermined time interval (paragraph 100, 117-120; separate first/second time intervals for first/second reporting modes).
Regarding claim 10,
The combination of Lincoln and Bergman discloses classifying, based on the one or more CSI reports, each UE in one or more UEs into one of a plurality of classification groups (Fig. 1; paragraph 16-18).
Regarding claim 11,
Lincoln does not expressly disclose the plurality of classification groups, as described in claim 11.
Bergman discloses analogous art (Title; Backgroung) including a plurality of classification groups include: (i) a first classification group in which each UE assigned to the first classification group does not utilize cell enhancement coverage when the base station is in the energy saving state (Fig. 2, legacy UEs; Fig. 3, 4, 8, 9; paragraphs 9, 10, 24, 41-49) and (ii) a second classification group in which each UE assigned to the second classification group utilizes cell enhancement coverage when the base station is in an energy saving state (Fig. 2, both legacy and deep coverage; Fig. 3, 4, 8, 9; paragraph paragraphs 9, 10, 24, 41-49; including when low power base station is in sleep mode). See motivation above.
Claims 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lincoln and Bergman in view of Su et al. (US20180227880A1), hereafter Su.
Regarding claim 12,
The combination of Lincoln (paragraph 18) and Bergman (paragraph 44) suggests but does not expressly disclose the cell enhancement coverage includes repetition of one or more downlink signals or repetition of one or more uplink signals.
Su discloses analogous art (Title: Efficient Paging and Idle Mode Wakeup for Wireless Devices Supporting Coverage Enhanced Mode) including a plurality of classification groups include: (i) a first classification group in which each UE assigned to the first classification group does not utilize cell enhancement coverage when the base station is in the energy saving state (Fig. 5, normal coverage; paragraphs 62-66, 75-76; Fig. 8; lowest/low-power sleep) and (ii) a second classification group in which each UE assigned to the second classification group utilizes cell enhancement coverage when the base station is in an energy saving state (Fig. 5, enhanced coverage; Fig. 8; lowest/low-power sleep; paragraph 98-106; DSDS UEs to make use of enchanced coverage in power-save mode) where the cell enhancement coverage includes repetition of one or more downlink signals or repetition of one or more uplink signals (Fig. 5, enhanced coverage; paragraph 98-102; mPDCCH/PDSCH; paragraph 103-106; DSDS-capable UEs make use of control channel/PUCCH repetition level provided when in enhanced coverage mode to save power consumption).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to modify Lincoln and Gao by including a plurality of classification groups include a first classification group in which each UE assigned to the first classification group does not utilize cell enhancement coverage when the base station is in the energy saving state and a second classification group in which each UE assigned to the second classification group utilizes cell enhancement coverage when the base station is in an energy saving state where the cell enhancement coverage includes repetition of one or more downlink signals or repetition of one or more uplink signals, as shown by Su, thereby providing efficient wakeup for devices supporting coverage enhanced mode in a wireless communication system.
Regarding claim 13,
The combination of Lincoln, Bergman, and Su discloses the one or more downlink signals include one of a PDCCH signal and PDSCH signal, and wherein the one or more uplink signals include one of a PUSCH and a PUCCH signal (Lincoln: paragraph 15; Bergman: paragraph 44-46; Su: paragraph 110). See motivation above.
Regarding claim 14,
Lincoln discloses transmitting to the UE an energy saving state indication of when the energy saving state is applied (Fig. 5, steps 510-520; Fig. 9, step 920; paragraph 100, 121; indication including reporting quality threshold for low power state) but fails to expressly disclose an indication of one or more bits specifying one or more time slots which the energy saving state is applied.
Su discloses analogous art (Title: Efficient Paging and Idle Mode Wakeup for Wireless Devices Supporting Coverage Enhanced Mode) including an indication of one or more bits specifying one or more time slots which the energy saving state is applied (Fig. 8; paragraphs 99-106; different low-power sleep durations applied for different scenarios specifying one or more time slots).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to modify Lincoln and Bergman by including an indication of one or more bits specifying one or more time slots which the energy saving state is applied, as shown by Su, thereby enabling sleep duration to be adapted based on performance and estimated channel conditions.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 1/9/2026 with respect to the pending claims, as amended, have been fully considered but they are moot because the new ground of rejection relies on newly-cited Bergman reference for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument regarding determination of which UEs are configured with coverage enhancement during an energy-saving state of the base station.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/GREGORY B SEFCHECK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
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