DETAILED ACTION
RCE
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/23/2026 has been entered.
Response to Remark
This communication is considered fully responsive to the amendment filed on 01/29/26.
a. Independent claims have been amended.
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 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.
Claims 1, 3-5, 31, 63, and 65-78 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal et al. (US 2023/0144750, “Agiwal”; Provisional 63/027,422 of Agiwal, hereinafter “Prov’422”; Prov’422 shows the same Figs.1-9 of Agiwal) in view of Ma et al. (US 2022/0369283, “Ma”).
Regarding claim 1, Agiwal discloses a method, comprising:
- receiving paging grouping information associated with physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) (See 120 Fig.1, receiving information about mapping between paging arrival rates and paging groups by UE from gNB; See 150 Fig.1, receiving, by UE, PDCCH addressed to P-RNTI wherein the DCI includes scheduling information for paging message; See ¶.99, gNB indicates paging group/subgroup in DCI/short message of PDCCH addressed to P-RNTI), the paging grouping information providing paging grouping for mobile user equipment (UEs) and non-mobile UEs (See ¶.102 and ¶.175, grouping/sub grouping based on paging probability, i.e. non-mobile UEs; ¶.546, UE identify it's wake up signal monitoring paging group/sub group based on ‘X’ bits of its UE ID. The UE ID can be one of the following: ¶.66, the UE, monitors Short Messages transmitted with paging-radio network temporary identifier (P-RNTI) over DCI; See ¶.70, UE identity (i.e. S-TMSI for RRC_IDLE UE or I-RNTI for RRC_INACTIVE UE) is included in paging message to indicate paging for a specific UE, i.e. mobile UEs; See Prov’422,
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Examiner’s Note: Agiwal discloses a paging grouping by UE_ID, RNTI, TMSI, i.e. mobile UEs and by paging probability, i.e. non-mobile UEs. Ma further discloses the method of “categorizing based on UE_ID/RNIT and paging probability”) and indicating mapping a set of paging group IDs into a set of downlink control information (DCI) bits based on performing paging probability based grouping (See ¶.154, paging group/sub group bitmap is included in DCI; See 170 Fig.1, ‘paging group identity in DCI matches with UE’s paging group identity?; See ¶.102 and ¶.175, grouping/sub grouping based on paging probability) and user equipment (UE) ID based grouping and UE mobility based grouping (Agiwal, See Prov’422, pg.22, 2nd ¶., pg.26, 3rd ¶.; Agiwal, ¶.546, UE identify it's wake up signal monitoring paging group/sub group based on ‘X’ bits of its UE ID; ¶.66, the UE, monitors Short Messages transmitted with paging-radio network temporary identifier (P-RNTI) over DCI; ¶.230, each bit in the bitmap corresponds to different paging group/sub group. The mapping between bits in bitmap and paging groups/sub groups can be pre-defined. ¶.232, UE monitors for PDCCH addressed to pre-defined P-RNTI in its PO. [0233] UE monitors j+1th P-RNTI, where j=(UE_ID/N*Ns) mod R. For example, if R=2, if j equals zero, UE monitors PDCCH addressed to 1st P-RNTI, if j equals 1, UE monitors 2nd P-RNTI amongst the list of R P-RNTI. [0244] If UE receives PDCCH addressed to P-RNTI 1 and bit corresponding to UE's paging group/sub group is set (i.e. equals to 1) in bitmap in DCI/short message of PDCCH addressed to P-RNTI1; See Prov’422,
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Examiner’s Note: Ma further explicitly discloses the limitation “DCI bits based on performing paging probability based grouping and UE ID based grouping”);
- receiving paging group identity (ID) information indicated in the PDCCH (See 150 Fig.1 and ¶.117, gNB indicates paging group(s)/sub group(s) in DCI of PDCCH addressed to P-RNTI transmitted in PO; See 160 & 170 Fig.1, paging group identity in DCI); and
- determining whether to decode physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) based on the paging grouping information and the paging group ID information (See 165, 175, & 180 Fig.1, UE decodes the TB scheduled by received PDCCH or UE does not decode the TB scheduled by received PDCCH; See ¶.96, a PO can be monitored by several UEs. As a result, if there is paging message for a UE, several UEs will receive the PDCCH addressed to P-RNTI in the PO and they will receive and decode PDSCH; See ¶.101, UE checks if the DCI includes its paging group/sub-group. If the DCI includes its paging group/sub-group, UE receives and decodes the TB according to scheduling information. Otherwise not).
Ma further discloses the method of categorizing paging grouping for non-mobile UEs (Ma, See ¶.9, the wireless terminal is categorized into one of the plurality of wireless terminal groups based on at least one of a subset of an identification of the wireless terminal, a paging probability of the wireless terminal; See ¶.114, Mode 2: Grouping Based on Paging Probability and mobile UEs) and UE mobility based grouping (See ¶.106, grouping based on the UE ID; See ¶.33, the identification is one of a group identification, a user equipment identification, a subset of the user equipment identification, a subset of the temporary mobile subscription identifier (TMSI); See ¶.135, the UEs monitoring the same PO may be divided into the separate UE groups and the paging DCI (e.g. the DCI format 1_0 scrambled by the P-RNTI) may be used to indicate a paging operation of corresponding UEs, e.g. the UE groups).
Agiwal does not explicitly disclose what Ma discloses,
- a first subset of bits of the first set of DCI bits, each being associated with a paging group ID based on respective paging probability (See ¶.147, a subset of the reserved bits in the paging DCI is defined to indicate the paging operation of the corresponding UE(s); See ¶.114, Mode 2: Grouping Based on Paging Probability; See ¶.122, each of the UE groups is corresponding to a group ID. In an embodiment, the group ID may be a decimal number. The group ID may be a binary sequence with N bit(s), where N is a positive integer; See Fig.6 and ¶.245, FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram of the group common paging DCI according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In FIG. 6, the bit fields are in a sequence of a common bit field, a bit field for 1st UE group, a bit field for a 2nd UE group, and so on;
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See ¶.127, among the UEs whose paging probability is in the interval I1, the UEs whose last bit of the binary UE ID is “0” are grouped in one UE group and the UEs whose last bit of binary UE ID is “1” are grouped in another UE group) and a second subset of bits of the first set of DCI bits each being associated with a paging group ID for mobile UEs (See ¶.106-107, [0106] Mode 1: Grouping Based on the UE ID or the TMSI. In this embodiment, the UEs are categorized into separate UE groups based on the UE ID or the TMSI (e.g. 5G-S-TMSI) of each of the UEs. For example, the UEs monitoring the same PO are divided into separate UE groups based on a subset of the UE ID or a subset of the TMSI of each of the UEs. Note that each of the UE groups has a group ID; See ¶.108, the bit used for dividing the UEs into the UE groups may be the last bit of the binary UE ID. The UEs whose last bit of the UE ID is “0” are in one UE group and the UEs whose last bit of the binary UE ID is “1” are in another UE group. As an alternative, the bit used for dividing the UEs may be the first bit of the binary UE ID. The UEs whose first bit of the binary UE ID is “0” are in one UE group and the UEs whose first bit of the binary UE ID is “1” are in another UE group).”
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply the method of “a first subset of each bits of the first set of DCI bits each being associated with a paging group ID based on respective paging probability and a second subset of bits of the first set of DCI bits each being associated with a paging group ID for mobile UEs” of Ma into the system of Agiwal, so that it provides for the UEs to monitor the same paging occasion that are divided into the UE groups according to the combination of the UE ID and the paging probability of the UE. In addition, each of UE groups has a group ID (Ma, See ¶.126).
Regarding claim 3, Agiwal discloses “determining whether a paging group ID of a user equipment (UE) is indicated in the paging grouping information (See 160 Fig.1, ‘Is paging group ID included in DCI?’);
- in response to determining that the paging group ID is not indicated in the paging group ID information, determining not to decode the PDSCH (See 175 Fig.1, 275 Fig.2, and See ¶.201, if paging group/sub group ID in PDCCH belongs to UE's paging group/sub group or is the reserved paging group/sub group ID, UE receives and decodes the TB according to the scheduling information for paging message. Otherwise, UE does not decode receive and decode the TB according to the scheduling information for paging message); and
- in response to determining that the paging group ID is indicated in the paging group ID information, determining to decode the PDSCH (See 165 & 180 Fig.1, UE decodes the TB scheduled by received PDCCH; See ¶.96, A PO can be monitored by several UEs. As a result, if there is paging message for a UE, several UEs will receive the PDCCH addressed to P-RNTI in the PO and they will receive and decode PDSCH; See ¶.101, UE checks if the DCI includes its paging group/sub-group. If the DCI includes its paging group/sub-group, UE receives and decodes the TB according to scheduling information. Otherwise not; See further Fig.2, whether UE decodes or not based on paging group ID).”
Regarding claim 4, Agiwal discloses “the paging group ID information is indicated via the set of DCI bits in the PDCCH (See ¶.94, bits in DCI/short message; See Prov’422, the tables at page 10); and the paging grouping information indicates mapping a set of paging group IDs into the set of DCI bits (See 160 & 170 Fig.1, ‘Is paging group identity included in DCI?’; ‘Paging group identity is DCI matches with UE’s paging group identity?’) based on performing paging probability based grouping first (See ¶.175, paging probability can be used in operation) and then performing user equipment (UE) ID based grouping (See 170 Fig.1, ‘Paging group identity is DCI matches with UE’s paging group identity?’; See further ¶.124-128 for associating group by using group ID in DCI; See Fig.7-8 and ¶.22-23, an example flow of UE operation on paging grouping by itself based on some bits of UE ID in accordance with a method of this disclosure; See further ¶.96, ¶.322, ¶.323, and ¶.325, UE identify its paging group/sub group based on ‘X’ bits of its UE ID).”
Regarding claim 5, Agiwal discloses “mapping a set of paging group IDs into the set of DCI bits based on performing paging probability based grouping first and then UE ID based grouping comprises (See 170 Fig.1-2, ‘paging group ID in DCI matches with UE’s paging group identity?’; See ¶.164-165, If Paging group/sub group bitmap is present and bit corresponding to UE's paging group/sub group is not set (i.e. equal to 0) in bitmap, UE does not receive and decode the TB according to the scheduling information for paging message in the received DCI. [0165] In an embodiment, one bit in bitmap can be reserved to indicate paging for all paging groups/sub groups. If bit corresponding to UE's paging group/sub group or bit corresponding to paging for all paging groups/sub groups is set in bitmap, UE receives and decodes the TB according to the scheduling information for paging message in the received DCI. Otherwise, UE does not receive and decode the TB according to the scheduling information for paging message in the received DCI; See ¶.175, In an embodiment, instead of paging arrival rate, paging probability (or paging probability threshold) can be used in operations(s) of method 1 explained above. In the description, paging arrival rate can be replaced by paging probability (or paging probability threshold));
- dividing the set of DCI bits into at least one sub-set of DCI bits based on at least one paging probability threshold (See ¶.164-165, DCI bits; See ¶.331, where parameter M indicates the number of groups into which UEs are divided for wakeup signal or early paging indication monitoring; See ¶.175, instead of paging arrival rate, paging probability (or paging probability threshold) can be used in operations(s) of method 1 explained above. In the description, paging arrival rate can be replaced by paging probability (or paging probability threshold));
- associating each sub-set of DCI bits with a corresponding paging probability range determined based on the at least one paging probability threshold (See ¶.99, gNB indicates paging subgroup in DCI message of PDCCH addressed to P-RNTI; See ¶.175, instead of paging arrival rate, paging probability (or paging probability threshold) can be used in operations(s) of method 1 explained above. In the description, paging arrival rate can be replaced by paging probability (or paging probability threshold));
- dividing a plurality of UEs into at least one UE group associated with a corresponding paging probability range based on respective paging probability of the plurality of UEs (See ¶.106, Alternately, one paging group can be associated with a range of paging arrival rates; See ¶.175, instead of paging arrival rate, paging probability (or paging probability threshold) can be used in operations(s) of method 1 explained above. In the description, paging arrival rate can be replaced by paging probability (or paging probability threshold)); and
- dividing UE(s) within each UE group into at least one UE sub-group based on respective UE ID of the UE(s), wherein each UE sub-group corresponds to a paging group (See ¶.152, one paging sub group ID can be reserved to indicate paging for all paging sub groups. If UE belongs to one of the indicated paging sub group in the list or the list includes reserved paging sub group ID. UE receives and decodes the TB according to the scheduling information for paging message in the received DCI; See Fig.7-8 and ¶.22-23, an example flow of UE operation on paging grouping by itself based on some bits of UE ID in accordance with a method of this disclosure; See further ¶.96, ¶.322, ¶.323, and ¶.325, UE identify its paging group/sub group based on ‘X’ bits of its UE ID).”
Regarding claim 31, Agiwal discloses “receiving a DCI indicating at least one paging groups; in response to a paging group ID not being indicated in the RS, determining not to decode the PDSCH; and in response to a paging group ID not being indicated in the RS, determining to decode the PDSCH” as rejected in claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose the limitation “receiving a reference signal” for decoding paging scheduling information.
However, Ma discloses that paging indication information comprises at least one of downlink control information, a demodulation reference signal, a time domain resource of a physical downlink control channel carrying paging scheduling information or a frequency domain resource of the physical downlink control channel carrying the paging scheduling information (Ma, See ¶.14).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply the method of “receiving a reference signal as a paging indication information” as taught by Ma into the system of Agiwal, so that it provides a way of performing the paging operation based on the paging indication information (Ma, See 802 Fig.8).
Regarding claim 63, it is an UE claim corresponding to the method claim 1, except the limitation “at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium; at least one Tx/Rx circuitry; and at least one processor (See Fig.19, transceiver, controller, and memory; See ¶.814, the controller 1920 may refer to a circuitry, at least one processor)” and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Regarding claims 65-67, they are claims corresponding to claims 3-5, respectively and are therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claims.
Regarding claims 68 & 69, they are claims corresponding to claim 4 & 4, respectively and are therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claims.
Regarding claim 70, Agiwal discloses “the paging group ID information comprises first paging group ID information indicated via at least one paging radio network temporary identity (P-RNTI) value (See 140 Fig.1, monitoring PDCCH addressed P-RNTI; See ¶.94, table #1, bit field in DCI) and second paging group ID information indicated via at least one set of DCI bits scrambled by the P-RNTI in the PDCCH (See ¶.84-85, the PDCCH addressed to P-RNTI carries information according to DCI format 1_0. The following information is transmitted by means of the DCI format 1_0 with CRC scrambled by P-RNTI; See ¶.138-141, UE Id is scrambled by P-RNTI; See further ¶.169-170 for DCI bits associated with P-RNTI).”
Regarding claim 71, it is a UE claim corresponding to the method claim 31, and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Regarding claim 72, it is a base station claim at a network node corresponding to the claim 63 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Regarding claims 73-76, they are claims corresponding to claims 4, 4, 5, & 68, respectively and are therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claims.
Regarding claim 77, Agiwal discloses “determines a corresponding paging probability range associated with each bit of the set of DCI bits (See ¶.106, one paging group can be associated with a range of paging arrival rates; See ¶.175, instead of paging arrival rate, paging probability (or paging probability threshold) can be used in operations(s) of method 1 explained above. In the description, paging arrival rate can be replaced by paging probability (or paging probability threshold); See ¶.94, bit field in DCI); and divides a plurality of user equipment (UE)s into the at least one paging group based on respective paging probability of the plurality of UEs (See ¶.175, instead of paging arrival rate, paging probability (or paging probability threshold) can be used in operations(s) of method 1 explained above. In the description, paging arrival rate can be replaced by paging probability (or paging probability threshold); See ¶.106, Alternately, one paging group can be associated with a range of paging arrival rates).”
Regarding claim 78, it is a base station claim corresponding to the claim 70 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed have been considered. But, in view of the applicant’s amendment containing extensive revisions, examiner has clarified and totally remapped the rejection to the argued claim limitations, using the prior art of record in the current prosecution of the claims by Agiwal and Ma.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jung H Park whose telephone number is 571-272-8565. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 7:00 AM-3:00 PM.
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/JUNG H PARK/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411