DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
2. 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.
3. Claims 1-16 and 18-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Publication No.: US 2025/0081103 A1 to Zhou et al. (Zhou).
As to Claims 1 and 28, Zhou discloses a user equipment (UE), comprising:
one or more memories (Fig. 15, memory 1524’); and
one or more processors (Fig. 15, ‘processing system 1518’), coupled to the one or more memories (Fig. 15, ‘memory 1524 coupled to processing system 1518’), configured to:
receive, from a network node, cell wake-up signal (C-WUS) configuration information indicating a plurality of C-WUS formats, each C-WUS format of the plurality of C-WUS formats associated with respective information (Figs. 37-39, ‘the base station may transmit to a wireless device one or more RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of a first C-WUS and a first DTX duration for the PCell, a second C-WUS and a second DTX duration for the SCell. The configuration parameters of a C-WUS may be implemented based on example embodiments described above with respect to Fig. 37 and/or Fig. 39. In an example, the first C-WUS is associated with the first DTX duration and the SSBs of the PCell. The second C-WUS is associated with the second DTX duration and the SSBs of the SCell. A first C-WUS window for the first C-WUS configured on the PCell may be different from a second C-WUS window for the second C-WUS configured on the Scell’, ¶s 0418-0419); and
transmit, to the network node, a C-WUS associated with a C-WUS format of the plurality of C-WUS formats, the C-WUS including the respective information associated with the C-WUS format (‘in existing technologies, a wireless device may transmit a C-WUS, in a C-WUS time window, to wake up a base station for transmissions of periodical signals (e.g., SSBs/SIBx/CSI-RSs/TRSs), when the base station is in a sleep mode or a power/energy saving mode. The C-WUS may be close to SSB transmissions. In response to receiving the C-WUS in the C-WUS time window, the base station may transition from the sleep mode to an active mode during which the base station may resume transmission of periodical signals’, ¶ 0349).
As to Claims 2 and 29, Zhou further discloses communicating with the network node based at least in part on the respective information associated with the C-WUS format and included in the C-WUS (Figs. 37-39, ‘the base station may transmit to a wireless device one or more RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of a first C-WUS and a first DTX duration for the PCell, a second C-WUS and a second DTX duration for the SCell. The configuration parameters of a C-WUS may be implemented based on example embodiments described above with respect to Fig. 37 and/or Fig. 39. In an example, the first C-WUS is associated with the first DTX duration and the SSBs of the PCell. The second C-WUS is associated with the second DTX duration and the SSBs of the SCell. A first C-WUS window for the first C-WUS configured on the PCell may be different from a second C-WUS window for the second C-WUS configured on the Scell’, ¶s 0418-0419).
As to Claim 3, Zhou further discloses wherein the C-WUS configuration information indicates one or more C-WUS monitoring occasions, and wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the C-WUS, are configured to: transmit the C-WUS in a C-WUS monitoring occasion of the one or more C-WUS monitoring occasions (‘the base station may monitor the C-WUS, during the second time duration, via the one or more C-WUS monitoring occasions of the second time duration. Example embodiments may enable base stations having different capabilities to switch from a sleep mode to an active mode for periodical SSB transmissions in response to receiving a C-WUS. Example embodiments may enable the wireless device to have multiple transmission chances (occasions/opportunities) to wake up the base station on a cell. Example embodiments may enable the wireless devices with different capabilities to switch from a sleep mode to an active mode for periodical SSB reception/monitoring in response to transmitting a C-WUS’, ¶ 0358).
As to Claim 4, Zhou further discloses receive, from the network node, an indication of the C-WUS format of the plurality of C-WUS formats (‘the base station may transmit to a wireless device one or more RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of a first C-WUS and a first DTX duration for the PCell, a second C-WUS and a second DTX duration for the SCell. The configuration parameters of a C-WUS may be implemented based on example embodiments described above with respect to Fig. 37 and/or Fig. 39. In an example, the first C-WUS is associated with the first DTX duration and the SSBs of the PCell. The second C-WUS is associated with the second DTX duration and the SSBs of the SCell. A first C-WUS window for the first C-WUS configured on the PCell may be different from a second C-WUS window for the second C-WUS configured on the Scell’, ¶s 0418-0419).
As to Claim 5, Zhou further discloses transmit the C-WUS in multiple stages including a first stage C-WUS indicating first information of the respective information associated with the C-WUS format and a second stage C-WUS indicating second information of the respective information associated with the C-WUS format (‘in an example, the first C-WUS and the first DTX duration on the PCell may be separately and independently applied by the base station and/or the wireless device, from the second C-WUS and the second DTX duration on the SCell’, ¶ 0420).
As to Claim 6, Zhou further discloses transmit the first stage C-WUS in a first stage monitoring occasion of a C-WUS monitoring occasion (‘in an example embodiment, a base station may monitor a first C-WUS monitoring occasion of the one or more C-WUS monitoring occasions in the second time duration in response to a time gap between the first C-WUS monitoring occasion and the starting SSB of the SSBs, in the first time duration, being greater than a time threshold’, ¶ 0359); and
transmit the second stage C-WUS in a second stage monitoring occasion of the C-WUS monitoring occasion (In an example, the first C-WUS and the first DTX duration on the PCell may be separately and independently applied by the base station and/or the wireless device, from the second C-WUS and the second DTX duration on the Scell’, ¶ 0420).
As to Claim 7, Zhou further discloses transmit, in a first stage, an indication of the C-WUS format associated with the C-WUS (‘in an example embodiment, a base station may monitor a first C-WUS monitoring occasion of the one or more C-WUS monitoring occasions in the second time duration in response to a time gap between the first C-WUS monitoring occasion and the starting SSB of the SSBs, in the first time duration, being greater than a time threshold’, ¶ 0359); and
transmit, in one or more second stages, the C-WUS including the respective information associated with the C-WUS format (‘in an example, the first C-WUS and the first DTX duration on the PCell may be separately and independently applied by the base station and/or the wireless device, from the second C-WUS and the second DTX duration on the Scell’, ¶ 0420).
As to Claim 8, Zhou further discloses wherein the one or more processors, to transmit, in the first stage, the indication of the C-WUS format, are configured to transmit the indication of the C-WUS format in a first stage monitoring occasion of a C-WUS monitoring occasion, and wherein the one or more processors, to transmit, in the one or more second stages, the C-WUS including the respective information associated with the C-WUS format, are configured to transmit the C-WUS including the respective information associated with the C-WUS format in one or more second stage monitoring occasions of the C-WUS monitoring occasion (‘in an example, the first C-WUS and the first DTX duration on the PCell may be separately and independently applied by the base station and/or the wireless device, from the second C-WUS and the second DTX duration on the Scell’, ¶ 0420).
As to Claim 9, Zhou further discloses transmit, in the first stage, uplink control information (UCI) indicating the C-WUS format (‘in existing technologies, a wireless device may transmit a C-WUS, in a C-WUS time window, to wake up a base station for transmissions of periodical signals (e.g., SSBs/SIBx/CSI-RSs/TRSs), when the base station is in a sleep mode or a power/energy saving mode’, ¶ 0349).
As to Claim 10, Zhou further discloses select the C-WUS format associated with the C-WUS from the plurality of C-WUS formats (‘in an example, the first C-WUS and the first DTX duration on the PCell may be separately and independently applied by the base station and/or the wireless device, from the second C-WUS and the second DTX duration on the Scell’, ¶ 0420).
As to Claim 11, Zhou further discloses wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes at least one of: an uplink buffer status report (BSR), an uplink delay status report (DSR), an indication of whether a threshold associated with the uplink BSR is satisfied, or an indication of whether a threshold associated with the uplink DSR is satisfied (‘in an example, the MAC entity of the wireless device may transmit to the MAC entity of the base station one or more MAC CEs. FIG. 20 shows an example of the one or more MAC CEs. The one or more MAC CEs may comprise at least one of: a short buffer status report (BSR) MAC CE, a long BSR MAC CE, a C-RNTI MAC CE, a configured grant confirmation MAC CE, a single entry PHR MAC CE, a multiple entry PHR MAC CE, a short truncated BSR, and/or a long truncated BSR’, ¶ 0241).
As to Claim 12, Zhou further discloses wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes a request for a system information block type 1 (SIB1) and an indication of a minimum time offset between the C-WUS and the SIB1 (‘in an example, for a cell without any wireless device operating in connected state, a wireless device may transmit C-WUS in a C-WUS occasion to activate broadcast signal (e.g., SSB/SIBx) transmission when the wireless device needs transitioning to an active state. The base station may be active during C-WUS occasions to monitor C-WUS’, ¶ 0346).
As to Claim 13, Zhou further discloses wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes a positioning or sensing request and at least one of: an indication of a time offset between the C-WUS and a start of a positioning or sensing procedure associated with the positioning or sensing request, or an indication of at least one of a priority or latency associated with the positioning or sensing request (‘by implementing example embodiments, the base station may separately and/or independently perform network energy saving operation (e.g., cell on/off, DTX on/off based on a C-WUS). Example embodiments may improve power consumption of the base station and/or reduce data transmission latency for a wireless device’, ¶ 0423).
As to Claim 14, Zhou further discloses wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes at least one of: a channel state information (CSI) report for a Uu link, a CSI report for a sidelink, or power headroom report (PHR) (‘in existing technologies, a wireless device may transmit a C-WUS, in a C-WUS time window, to wake up a base station for transmissions of periodical signals (e.g., SSBs/SIBx/CSI-RSs/TRSs), when the base station is in a sleep mode or a power/energy saving mode’, ¶ 0349).
As to Claim 15, Zhou further discloses wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes at least one of: an indication of one or more traffic types associated with uplink or sidelink packets to be transmitted by the UE, an indication of one or more logical channel group (LCG) identifiers, an indication of a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) associated with a highest priority packet of the uplink or sidelink packets to be transmitted by the UE, an indication of a minimum remaining PDB across all of the uplink or sidelink packets to be transmitted by the UE, or an indication of a highest priority associated with the uplink or sidelink packets to be transmitted by the UE (‘in existing technologies, the time duration of the sleep mode is not well aligned with periodicity of SSBs. In an example, the base station may transmit SSBs with a periodicity range from, e.g., 5 ms to 160 ms. By implementing exiting technologies, the base station may wake up, for monitoring the C-WUS, every 5 ms if SSBs are transmitted with 5 ms periodicity. Waking up for C-WUS every 5 ms may waste power of the base station, e.g., if wireless devices in the cell have data traffic with arrival/transmission/delivery periodicity longer than 5 ms. Existing technologies may therefore unnecessarily consume power at a base station’, ¶ 0352).
As to Claim 16, Zhou further discloses wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes at least one of: a scheduling request for a sidelink communication, or an energy request associated with energy harvesting by the UE (‘in response to a DRX cycle being configured, the Active Time may comprise the time while a Scheduling Request is sent on PUCCH and is pending. In an example, in response to a DRX cycle being configured, the Active Time may comprise the time while an uplink grant for a pending HARQ retransmission can occur and there is data in the corresponding HARQ buffer for synchronous HARQ process’, ¶ 0294).
As to Claim 18, Zhou further discloses wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes at least one of: an indication of one or more preferred configured grant (CG) configurations, an indication of one or more preferred semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) configurations, an activation indication associated with one or more CG configurations, or an activation indication associated with one or more SPS configurations (‘in an example, the wireless device, after the base station transitions to the cell-on state starting from T4, may receive TBs via configured downlink resources (e.g., PDSCHs configured via SPS configuration) with a receiving beam/spatial domain filter determined based on a latest stored/activated TCI received before T0 where the base station transmits the energy saving indication’, ¶ 0388).
As to Claim 19, Zhou further discloses wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes an indication of at least one of a preferred discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration or a preferred discontinuous transmission (DTX) configuration (‘in an example, the uplink trigger signal may be referred to an uplink wake-up signal (WUS), or cell WUS (C-WUS) in this specification. The uplink WUS may be different from a downlink WUS used to wake up a wireless device before a DRX circle, as described above with respect to Fig. 31A and/or Fig. 31’, ¶ 0345).
As to Claim 20, Zhou further discloses wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes at least one of an indication of a preferred uplink reference signal configuration or an indication of a preferred downlink reference signal configuration (‘the UE may ramp up the uplink transmit power if the UE determines a reference signal (e.g., SSB and/or CSI-RS) that is the same as a previous preamble transmission. The UE may count a number of preamble transmissions and/or retransmissions (e.g., PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER)’, ¶ 0192).
As to Claim 21, Zhou further discloses wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes uplink jitter information (‘the base station may determine whether to wake up for the DTX duration, e.g., based on determining whether a received signal quality of the C-WUS being greater than a threshold (e.g., configured or predefined). In an example, if the received signal quality (e.g., RSRP, SINR, BLER, etc.) (Note: Underlined received signal quality is interpretated to be jitter) is greater than the threshold, the base station may determine to wake up for the DTX duration’, ¶ 0411).
As to Claim 22, Zhou further discloses wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes UE energy information including at least one of a current energy state of the UE or a next energy state of the UE (‘in existing technologies, a wireless device may transmit a C-WUS, in a C-WUS time window, to wake up a base station for transmissions of periodical signals (e.g., SSBs/SIBx/CSI-RSs/TRSs), when the base station is in a sleep mode or a power/energy saving mode’, ¶ 0349).
As to Claim 23, Zhou further discloses wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes at least one of: an indication of a requested uplink transport block size (TBS), an indication of a requested downlink TBS, or an indication of a maximum amount of downlink traffic supported by the UE in a time period (‘in an example, the wireless device, after the base station transitions to the cell-on state starting from T4, may transmit TBs via configured uplink grant with a transmission timing based on the stored NTA. The wireless device may transmit the TBs via the configured uplink grant with a transmission beam/spatial domain filter determined based on a latest stored/activated TCI (or SRI) received before T0 where the base station transmits the energy saving indication’, ¶ 0387).
As to Claim 24, Zhou further discloses wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes an indication of a synchronization signal block (SSB) index selected by the UE (‘in an example, after receiving the C-WUS, the base station may wake up at a time, which may be in the middle of periodical transmissions of a plurality SSBs (e.g., between slot 1 and slot 5, as shown in Fig. 33, wherein 8 SSBs are transmitted in 5 slots with periodicity of 20 ms)’, ¶ 0351).
As to Claim 25, Zhou further discloses wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes an indication of a capability of the UE (‘in response to the value of the first gap being per-BWP indicated, RRC message (e.g., the RRC message transmitted by the wireless device and comprising the wireless device capability information or assistance information, and/or the RRC message transmitted by the base station and comprising configuration parameters of the C-WUS) may comprise a plurality of values, each value being associated with a respective BWP of a plurality of BWPs (e.g., in ascending order of BWP indexes) of a cell (e.g., PCell or SCell)’, ¶ 0401).
As to Claims 26 and 30, Zhou discloses a network node, comprising:
one or more memories (Fig. 15, memory 1514’); and
one or more processors (Fig. 15, ‘processing system 1508’), coupled to the one or more memories (Fig. 15, ‘memory 1514 coupled to processing system 1508’), configured to:
transmit cell wake-up signal (C-WUS) configuration information indicating a plurality of C-WUS formats, each C-WUS format of the plurality of C-WUS formats associated with respective information (Figs. 37-39, ‘the base station may transmit to a wireless device one or more RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of a first C-WUS and a first DTX duration for the PCell, a second C-WUS and a second DTX duration for the SCell. The configuration parameters of a C-WUS may be implemented based on example embodiments described above with respect to Fig. 37 and/or Fig. 39. In an example, the first C-WUS is associated with the first DTX duration and the SSBs of the PCell. The second C-WUS is associated with the second DTX duration and the SSBs of the SCell. A first C-WUS window for the first C-WUS configured on the PCell may be different from a second C-WUS window for the second C-WUS configured on the Scell’, ¶s 0418-0419); and
receive, from a user equipment (UE), a C-WUS associated with a C-WUS format of the plurality of C-WUS formats, the C-WUS including the respective information associated with the C-WUS format (‘in existing technologies, a wireless device may transmit a C-WUS, in a C-WUS time window, to wake up a base station for transmissions of periodical signals (e.g., SSBs/SIBx/CSI-RSs/TRSs), when the base station is in a sleep mode or a power/energy saving mode. The C-WUS may be close to SSB transmissions. In response to receiving the C-WUS in the C-WUS time window, the base station may transition from the sleep mode to an active mode during which the base station may resume transmission of periodical signals’, ¶ 0349).
As to Claim 27, Zhou further discloses switch from a first network energy state to a second network energy state in connection with receiving the C-WUS; and communicate with the UE based at least in part on the respective information associated with the C-WUS format and included in the C-WUS (‘the base station may transition the plurality of cells from a non-ES state to the ES state. The base station may monitor, based on the transitioning, the plurality of C-WUSs via the plurality of cells. In response to not receiving a first C-WUS on the PCell, the base station may, maintain the PCell in the ES state for a time duration, during which the base station skips transmitting the SSBs on Pcell’, ¶ 0361).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou, in view of Publication No.: US 2024/0276380 A1 to Leng et al. (Leng).
As to Claim 17, Zhou does not expressly disclose wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes at least one of: an indication of a configuration of a low power wake-up signal (LP-WUS) associated with a wake-up radio (WUR) of the UE, an activation indication associated with the LP-WUS, a configuration of one or more low power synchronization signals (LP-SSs) associated with synchronization of the WUR of the UE, or an indication of whether the LP-WUS supports synchronization signal block (SSB) configuration for the UE.
However, Leng discloses wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes at least one of: an indication of a configuration of a low power wake-up signal (LP-WUS) associated with a wake-up radio (WUR) of the UE, an activation indication associated with the LP-WUS, a configuration of one or more low power synchronization signals (LP-SSs) associated with synchronization of the WUR of the UE, or an indication of whether the LP-WUS supports synchronization signal block (SSB) configuration for the UE (‘in an RRC_IDLE/INACTIVE state, a UE in a power-saving mode can switch an operation mode to a normal mode controlled by the NW due to different causes. In one embodiment, as illustrated in Fig. 8, the UE in a power-saving mode in an RRC_IDLE/INACTIVE state receives a lower layer signaling (e.g., LP WUS) from the serving cell carrying a wake-up indication with a wake-up cause, e.g., system information modification, public warning system (PWS) notification, paging. The UE then switches an operation mode to a normal mode in an RRC_ IDLE/ INACTIVE /CONNECTED state and performs downlink synchronization (e.g., by receiving SSBs of the serving cell) if necessary. The UE performs the corresponding operation indicated by the wake-up cause’, ¶ 0090).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide ‘wherein the respective information associated with the C-WUS format includes at least one of: an indication of a configuration of a low power wake-up signal (LP-WUS) associated with a wake-up radio (WUR) of the UE, an activation indication associated with the LP-WUS, a configuration of one or more low power synchronization signals (LP-SSs) associated with synchronization of the WUR of the UE, or an indication of whether the LP-WUS supports synchronization signal block (SSB) configuration for the UE’ as disclosed by Leng into Zhou so as to effectively switch mode of operation by User Equipment (UE) for power saving in wireless communication system, Leng ¶ 0004.
Conclusion
6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GBEMILEKE J ONAMUTI whose telephone number is (571)270-5619. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
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/GBEMILEKE J ONAMUTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463