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 .
This action is in response to the amendment filed on 4/27/2026 along with an RCE. Claims 1-2, 4-10, 12-16, 19-22 are pending and have been considered below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) filed 4/27 have been considered but they are moot because in view of new ground of rejection as set forth below in this office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 9, 19-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Li et al. (WO 2021/175032; see attached English translation).
Regarding claim 1:
Li discloses a system and method for sending a paging early indication (PEI), performed by a network device (abstract; figures), comprising:
determining a target monitoring occasion for PEI based on a first target time, wherein the first target time is before a start time of a paging occasion of a user equipment group, and an interval between the first target time and the start time is an offset duration (para 130 [monitoring timing]; see para 131, partially reproduced herein with emphasis {PEI corresponds to S consecutive PDCCH monitoring occasions, then the nth PEI of the M PEIs sent by the network device The corresponding PDCCH monitoring opportunity is: the (Mn)*S+1th PDCCH monitoring opportunity to the (M-n+1)*Sth PDCCH forward from the minimum time offset before the paging occasion as the starting position Monitoring timing}; fig 7-10; para 153-154,212); and
sending, on a time-frequency resource of the target monitoring occasion for PEI, a PEI corresponding to the user equipment group (para 130-131 [PEIs are sent]; para 87,103; figs 2-6; para 134 [send PEI]; para 137; figs 7-9);
wherein determining the target monitoring occasion for PEI based on the first target time comprises at least one of:
determining a monitoring occasion for PEI closest to the first target time as the target monitoring occasion for PEI (para 130-131 {minimum time offset before the paging occasion}[minimum time is equivalent to the closest]; see para 154,185), [Note: optional claim language requires only one or the other element]; or
determining a target radio frame for PEI based on the first target time, and determining a monitoring occasion for PEI in the target radio frame for PEI as the target monitoring occasion for PEI (figures; and see throughout the disclosure).
Regarding claim 19:
Li discloses all of the subject matter as described above in claim 1, and further discloses a base station device (figs), comprising: a processor (701 in fig 13); and a memory (702 in fig 13; para 228) for storing instructions when executed by the processor, the base station device is caused to perform the method as in claim 1 above (para 231-235; figures; and see throughout the disclosure).
Regarding claims 9, and 20:
Li discloses a system and method for a user equipment (abstract; see figures), comprising:
a processor (figs 11-13; processor 701 in fig 13); and a memory for storing instructions executable by the processor (fig 13 [memory 702]); wherein when the executable instructions in the memory are executed by the processor (para 224,231), the user equipment is configured to:
determine a target monitoring occasion for Paging Early Indication (PEI) based on a second target time, wherein the second target time is before a start time of a paging occasion of the user equipment and an interval between the second target time and the start time is an offset duration (para 130 [monitoring timing]; see figures 2-6; para 131 {PEI corresponds to S consecutive PDCCH monitoring occasions, then the nth PEI of the M PEIs sent by the network device The corresponding PDCCH monitoring opportunity is: the … forward from the minimum time offset before the paging occasion as the starting position Monitoring timing}; fig 7-10; para 153-154, 212); and
receive, on a time-frequency resource of the target monitoring occasion for PEI, a PEI corresponding to the user equipment (para 130-131 [PEIs are sent]; para 87,103; figs 2-6; para 134 [send PEI]; para 137; figs 7-9);
wherein the user equipment is further configured to perform at least one of:
determining a monitoring occasion for PEI closest to the second target time as the target monitoring occasion for PEI (para 130-131 {minimum time offset before the paging occasion}[minimum time is equivalent to the closest]; see para 154,185), [Note: optional claim language requires only one or the other element]; or
determining a target radio frame for PEI based on the second target time, and determining a monitoring occasion for PEI in the target radio frame for PEI as the target monitoring occasion for PEI (figures; and see throughout the disclosure).
Regarding claim 21:
Li discloses all of the subject matter as described above in claim 1, and further discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (Para 234; figs 11-13), having executable instructions stored thereon, wherein when the executable instructions are executed by a processor, the method of claim 1 is performed (see Li figs, throughout the disclosure).
Regarding claim 22:
Li discloses all of the subject matter as described above in claim 9, and further discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (para 228; para 234; figs 11-13), having executable instructions stored thereon, wherein when the executable instructions are executed by a processor, the method of claim 9 is performed (see Li figs, throughout the disclosure).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4-8,10, 12-16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HIRDEPAL SINGH whose telephone number is (571)270-1688. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00-5:00 M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hannah S Wang can be reached on (571) 272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HIRDEPAL SINGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631
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