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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. CN202110357971.1, filed on April 01, 2021, has been filed in Application No. 18/373,641, filed on September 27, 2023. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
It is also noted that the present application is a 371 National Phase Patent Application of PCT/CN2022/084431, for which the 371(c) filing date is March 31, 2022.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 13, Claim Objections, filed 03/02/2026, with respect to claims 15, and 16 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objection of claims 15, and 16 has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed 03/02/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant Argues (page 16, 03/02/2026):
First, as we can see, Chen discloses that the UE may receive the paging message, where the paging message includes the first list. The UE may determine whether a paging cause corresponding to the UE identity indicated by the second list of the paging message after determining that the UE identity included in the first list. Each entry of the second list may record/indicate the corresponding paging cause, and the second list may or may not be included in the paging message. That is, Chen only discloses that the UE may receive the paging cause. It can be seen that when the network device sends the paging cause to the UE, it does not consider whether the terminal needs or supports receiving paging cause information. However, the present application considers whether the terminal requires or supports receiving the paging cause. Specifically, the paging cause indicator contained in the paging message received by the terminal is used to indicate the paging cause corresponding to the paged terminal that requires or supports the reception of the paging cause. Obviously, the solution in Chen is different from the solution in the amended claim 1.
Examiner Respectfully Disagrees:
In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
Examiner relied on Hong to teach the said limitation of the terminal devices needing the paging cause (Hong, paragraph 37-38, Fig.1). Applicant admits Hong teaches the said limitation in applicant argument filed on 03/02/26, page 17, last paragraph. Thus, in combination teach the said limitation.
Applicant Further Argues (page 16, 03/02/2026):
Secondly, Chen also discloses that if the paging cause is not present (or absent) in an entry of the second list, the paging cause is related to the service not associated with a voice service (e.g., an IMS voice service). But Chen does not disclose how to determine the paging cause if the paging cause in the second list is not carried. Specifically, if the paging cause indication information corresponding to the N-th or the last N-th entry in the second list is not carried, the terminal can determine the paging cause of the terminal based on the protocol agreement; and the terminal can determine that the paging cause indication information corresponding to the terminal is the same as paging cause indication information corresponding to a previous entry that carries paging cause indication information.
Examiner Answer:
Applicant argument is moot because the amended claim 1, state “performing, if the paging cause indication information corresponding to the Nth or the last N-th entry in the second list is not carried, one of following:” and therefore the limitation “and determining that the paging cause indication information corresponding to the terminal is the same as paging cause indication information corresponding to a previous entry that carries paging cause indication information;” was given no patentable weight.
Applicant Further Argues (page 17, 03/02/2026):
Thirdly, Chen discloses that if the paging cause is not carried in an entry of the second list, the paging cause is not related to the IMS voice service. However, in the amended claim 1, the terminal can determine determining that the paging cause of the terminal is triggered by a non-voice service if the paging cause in the second list is not carried. Therefore, Chen does not disclose the limitations "determining, by the terminal, the paging cause of the terminal based on the protocol agreement comprises: determining that the paging cause of the terminal is triggered by a non-voice service".
Examiner Respectfully Disagrees:
It is unclear how the applicant amended claim 1 said limitation is different compared to the teaching of Chen. When looking at paragraph 18 and paragraph 111 of Chen, it can be seen that there is a protocol agreement when the paging cause is missing, the terminal device determines the paging is related to a service not related to voice (Chen, paragraph [0018], "wherein the at least one processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions further to: determine the paging cause is associated with a service other than the voice service in response to the paging cause of the entry being not present." and paragraph [0111], Fig.3, "In some implementations, each entry of the second list may record/indicate a corresponding paging cause…In some implementations, if a paging cause is not present (or absent) in an entry of the second list, the paging cause is related to a service not associated with a voice service (e.g., a IMS voice service)."). In all, the terminal device checks the first list and if the terminal device see itself present, the terminal device would check the second list, and since the paging cause is absent, the terminal device determines the paging is related to a service other than the voice service.
Applicant Further Argues (page 18, 03/02/2026):
Independent claims 12 and 19 recite features similar to those discussed above for independent claim 1. Thus, for at least the same reasons set forth earlier with respect to claim 1, Chen and Hong fail to teach all of the limitations of independent claims 12 and 19 and their respective dependent claims and thus cannot anticipate these claims.
Examiner Respectfully Disagrees:
Amended Claim 19 is similar in scope to amended claim 1, and thus similarly rejected. However, amended claim 12 remains rejected because the combination of Chen and Hong discloses all the said limitation of claim 12. Adding “wherein that the paging message carrier or does not carry paging cause indication information comprises: the paging message carriers a first list and a second list” does not overcome the claim rejection as Chen disclose a first list and the second list in paragraph 54, Fig.3. Examiner notes, applicant moving the “first list and second list” from claim 13 to claim 12 does change the scope of claim 12.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
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.
Claim 3 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 3 recites the limitation determining, by the terminal if the total number of entries comprised in the second list is less than N, that a network side device does not support sending of a paging cause, renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear why the terminal is determining the base station does not support sending paging cause when the entries on the second list is less than N. For example, if N is 10 which is the number of entries in the first list, and if the total number of entries in the second list is less than N, but not zero then the UE determines the base station does not support paging cause, however, it’s unclear because the second list contains paging cause thus indicating the base station supports sending paging cause. This scenario only works when N is 1 as disclosed earlier in claim 3 but not when N is greater than 2 and the second list contains at least 1 paging cause.
Dependent claim 5 is further rejected under 112(b) as they do not remedy the vague and indefiniteness in the parent claims.
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 (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 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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4, 6-8, 11-15, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US-20220217675-A1) in view of Hong (US-20230300793-A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Chen discloses a paging method, comprising: receiving, by a terminal, a paging message (paragraph [0111], Fig.3, "In step S301, receiving a paging message, wherein the paging message comprises a first list." (i.e., UE receiving a paging message.)),
wherein the paging message carries or does not carry paging cause indication information (paragraph [0111], Fig.3, "In some implementations, each entry of the second list may record/indicate a corresponding paging cause…In some implementations, if a paging cause is not present (or absent) in an entry of the second list, the paging cause is related to a service not associated with a voice service (e.g., a IMS voice service)." and paragraph [0058], "Accordingly, the UE may determine whether a paging cause corresponding to the UE identity indicated by (or included in) the second list of paging cause, wherein the second list may or may not be included in the paging message." (i.e., The second list refers to a paging cause indication information and that may or may not be in the paging message as described in Fig.3.),
wherein the paging cause indication information indicates a paging cause corresponding to a paged terminal that (paragraph [0063], “there may be two separate UE records (or two separate UE lists, wherein the two separated UE lists may refer to the first list and the second list respectively). One of the two separate UE records (or one of the two separate UE lists) may be used for the normal UE paging purpose (e.g., for those UE(s) that are not operating in multi-SIM operation or for legacy UE(s) that are not supporting receiving a paging cause). One of the two separate UE records (or one of the two separate UE lists) may be used for the paging with paging cause (e.g., for those UE(s) that are operating in multi-SIM operation or for advanced UE(s) that are supporting receiving a paging cause). Note that for those UE(s) that are not operating in multi-SIM operation or for legacy UE(s) that are not supporting receiving a paging cause may ignore paging cause(s) and/or the UE record (or the UE list) which is used for a paging with a paging cause.”);
and performing, by the terminal, a first operation based on the paging message (paragraph [0111], Fig.3, "In step S305, determining whether a paging cause corresponding to the UE identity indicated by a second list of the paging message after determining that the UE identity included in the first list." (i.e., UE is checking if its ID matches in the second list.)):
wherein that the paging message carries or does not carry paging cause indication information comprises: the paging message carries a first list and a second list (paragraph [0054], Fig.3, "In some implementations, a base station or an associated network (e.g., network A or network B) may include a list of one or more UE identities (also referred to as “first list”) and a list of one or more paging causes (also referred to as “second list”)." (i.e., as described in par.111 and par.54 the paging message can comprise of first list or first list and second list.)); and
the performing, by the terminal, the first operation based on the paging message comprises: determining, by the terminal based on the first list, whether the terminal is paged (paragraph [0111], Fig.3, "In step S303, determining whether a UE identity of the UE included in the first list." (i.e., the UE checks in the first list if the paging message is intended for the UE.));
and determining, by the terminal if the terminal is paged, the paging cause of the terminal based on the second list (paragraph [0111], Fig.3, "In step S305, determining whether a paging cause corresponding to the UE identity indicated by a second list" (i.e., The UE subsequently checks the second list for a paging cause.)),
wherein the determining, by the terminal, the paging cause of the terminal based on the second list comprises: obtaining, by the terminal, paging cause indication information corresponding to an N-th or a last N-th entry in the second list, to determine the paging cause of the terminal (paragraph [0111], Fig.3, "In step S305, determining whether a paging cause corresponding to the UE identity indicated by a second list of the paging message after determining that the UE identity included in the first list." (i.e., the second list is attached with paging message and the UE corresponds the UE identity found in first list with the paging cause in the second list.));
wherein the obtaining, by the terminal, paging cause indication information corresponding to the N- th or the last N-th entry in the second list, to determine the paging cause of the terminal comprises: performing, if the paging cause indication information corresponding to the N-th or the last N-th entry in the second list is not carried, one of following: determining, by the terminal, the paging cause of the terminal based on a protocol agreement; (paragraph [0018], "wherein the at least one processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions further to: determine the paging cause is associated with a service other than the voice service in response to the paging cause of the entry being not present." and paragraph [0111], Fig.3, "In some implementations, each entry of the second list may record/indicate a corresponding paging cause…In some implementations, if a paging cause is not present (or absent) in an entry of the second list, the paging cause is related to a service not associated with a voice service (e.g., a IMS voice service)." (i.e., If the paging cause is absent on the second list, the paging is to be determined to a service other than the voice service. The examiner reading the other "one of following" limitation as optional and was not given patentable weight.)).
However, Chen does not disclose wherein the paging cause indication information indicates a paging cause corresponding to a paged terminal that needs
Hong discloses wherein the paging cause indication information indicates a paging cause corresponding to a paged terminal that needs (paragraph [0037], Fig.1, "At step S102, a paging cause of the paging message is sent to the terminal in response to receiving request information sent by the terminal." and paragraph [0038], Fig.1, "The request information requests the network side device to send the paging cause of the paging message to the terminal." (i.e., Hong describes wherein the UE is asking for a paging cause because the network device didn’t send.)).
Chen and Hong are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Chen of receiving paging cause only when asked or needs by the terminal in order to reduce signaling consumption of the network device (Hong, paragraph [0041], “After receiving the request information sent by the terminal, the network side device sends the paging cause of the paging message to the terminal. Accordingly, each time the network side device sends the paging message, it is not necessary to send the paging cause together with the paging message, which may help reduce signaling consumption of the network side device.”).
Regarding Claim 2, Chen in view of Hong discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
Chen further discloses wherein that the paging message carries paging cause indication information further comprises: the paging message carries [[a]]the first list (paragraph [0111], Fig.3, "In step S301, receiving a paging message, wherein the paging message comprises a first list." (i.e., UE receives a paging message that carries a first list.)),
wherein each entry in the first list comprises a first paging ID of a paged terminal (paragraph [0054], Fig.3, "…Each entry of the first list may record a corresponding UE identity" (i.e., as disclosed in par.111 and Fig.3 the UE is checking for its own user ID in order to then check for a paging cause in the second list.));
each entry in the second list comprises paging cause indication information of a paged terminal (paragraph [0054], Fig.3, "and each entry of the second list may record a corresponding paging cause." (i.e., second list comprises paging cause.)); and
a sequence of paging cause indication information of paged terminals in the second list corresponds to a sequence of first paging IDs of first M or last M paged terminals in the first list (paragraph [0054], "The first list may have a one-to-one relationship with the second list. That is, the UE identities in the first list may correspond to the paging causes in the second list respectively while the number of entries of the first list is equal to the number of entries of the second list and the entries of the first list and the entries of the second list are listed in the same order." and paragraph [0067], ““first list (of UE identity)”), wherein each of the UE record may include a UE identity. For example, assuming there are UE identities UE #1, UE #2, and UE #3 in the UE records (or UE list) of the paging message received by the UE.” (i.e., the first list corresponds to the second list.)),
wherein M is a total number of entries comprised in the second list (paragraph [0054], "…while the number of entries of the first list is equal to the number of entries of the second list and the entries of the first list and the entries of the second list are listed in the same order." (i.e., the two list comprises a certain amount of number of UEs that are being paged.)).
Regarding Claim 4, Chen in view of Hong discloses all the limitation of claim [[3]]1.
Chen further discloses wherein the obtaining, by the terminal, paging cause indication information corresponding to an N-th or a last N-th entry in the second list, to determine the paging cause of the terminal, comprises at least one of following: determining, if the paging cause indication information corresponding to the N-th or the last N-th entry in the second list is carried, the paging cause of the terminal based on the paging cause indication information (paragraph [0111], Fig.3, "In some implementations, if a paging cause is present in an entry of the second list, the paging cause is related to a voice service (e.g., a IMS voice service)." and paragraph [0066], "For example, as shown in Table 2, if two bits in a short message (e.g., a first bit in a short message and a second bit in the same short message) are used, “00” may indicate paging cause A, “01” may indicate paging cause B, “10” may indicate paging C, and “11” may indicate paging cause D." (i.e., The UE determines the paging cause by the paging cause indication information such as the bit values that is provided in the second list.)).
Regarding Claim 6, Chen in view of Hong discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
Chen further discloses wherein that the paging message carries or does not carry paging cause indication information comprises:
the paging message carries at least one of a third list (paragraph [0063], “there may be two separate UE records (or two separate UE lists, wherein the two separated UE lists may refer to the first list and the second list respectively). One of the two separate UE records (or one of the two separate UE lists) may be used for the normal UE paging purpose (e.g., for those UE(s) that are not operating in multi-SIM operation or for legacy UE(s) that are not supporting receiving a paging cause). One of the two separate UE records (or one of the two separate UE lists) may be used for the paging with paging cause (e.g., for those UE(s) that are operating in multi-SIM operation or for advanced UE(s) that are supporting receiving a paging cause).” and paragraph [0111], Fig.3, "In step S301, receiving a paging message, wherein the paging message comprises a first list." (i.e., third list being first list of Chen in paragraph 63.))
or a fourth list (paragraph [0063], "In some implementations, there may be two separate UE records (or two separate UE lists, wherein the two separated UE lists may refer to the first list and the second list respectively)." (i.e., fourth list being second list of Chen.)),
wherein each entry in the third list comprises a first paging ID of a paged terminal (paragraph [0054], Fig.3, "…Each entry of the first list may record a corresponding UE identity" (i.e., the first list comprises a list of UE identity.)); and
each entry in the fourth list comprises a first paging ID of a paged terminal (paragraph [0111], Fig.3, "In step S305, determining whether a paging cause corresponding to the UE identity indicated by a second list of the paging message" and paragraph [0063], "In some implementations, there may be two separate UE records (or two separate UE lists, wherein the two separated UE lists may refer to the first list and the second list respectively)…One of the two separate UE records (or one of the two separate UE lists) may be used for the paging with paging cause (e.g., for those UE(s) that are operating in multi-SIM operation or for advanced UE(s) that are supporting receiving a paging cause)." (i.e., Paragraph 111 is referring to after UE determines that its located its ID in the first list but paragraph 111 is also to show that there is user ID in the second list.)) and
paging cause indication information corresponding to the first paging ID (paragraph [0063], "One of the two separate UE records (or one of the two separate UE lists) may be used for the paging with paging cause (e.g., for those UE(s) that are operating in multi-SIM operation or for advanced UE(s) that are supporting receiving a paging cause)." (i.e., the second list comprises UE ID and paging cause.)),
wherein a first paging ID of a same paged terminal does not exist in both the third list and the fourth list (paragraph [0063], "In some implementations, there may be two separate UE records (or two separate UE lists, wherein the two separated UE lists may refer to the first list and the second list respectively). One of the two separate UE records (or one of the two separate UE lists) may be used for the normal UE paging purpose (e.g., for those UE(s) that are not operating in multi-SIM operation or for legacy UE(s) that are not supporting receiving a paging cause). One of the two separate UE records (or one of the two separate UE lists) may be used for the paging with paging cause (e.g., for those UE(s) that are operating in multi-SIM operation or for advanced UE(s) that are supporting receiving a paging cause)." (i.e., Par.63 states there are two separate UE list, one for UE that don't support paging causes and the other one does, therefor, the UE in first list not being identifiable in the second list.)).
Regarding Claim 7, Chen in view of Hong discloses all the limitation of claim 6.
Chen further discloses wherein the performing, by the terminal, a first operation based on the paging message comprises at least one of following: determining, if the first paging ID of the terminal fails to match a first paging ID comprised in any entry in the third list (par.63, first list) and the fourth list (par.63, second list), that the terminal is not paged (paragraph [0111], Fig.3, "In step S303, determining whether a UE identity of the UE included in the first list. In some implementations, each entry of the first list may record at least a corresponding UE identity." and paragraph [0058], "…the UE may determine whether a UE identity of the UE included in the first list of UE identity (e.g., determining if the UE identity included in any entry of the first list). If the UE identity of the UE included in the first list, the UE may determine that the paging message is for the UE." and paragraph [0063], "In some implementations, there may be two separate UE records (or two separate UE lists, wherein the two separated UE lists may refer to the first list and the second list respectively). (i.e., as established in par.63 the UE will either receive third or fourth list and if the UE does not find its own UE identity in the list it would not continue focusing on the paging message.)).
Regarding Claim 8, the case scenario directed wherein the obtaining paging cause indication information comprised in the P-th entry in the fourth list, to determine a paging cause of the terminal was given no patentable wight in the claims upon which they depend, hence, the limitation’s further defining the optional case scenario are given no patentable weight.
Regarding Claim 11, Chen in view of Hong discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
Chen further discloses wherein that the paging message carries or does not carry paging cause indication information comprises at least one of following: the paging message is scheduled by a PDCCH scrambled by using an RNTI corresponding to a paging cause (paragraph [0052], "A core network (e.g., EPC or 5GC), a base station, or an associated network (e.g., network A or network B) may transmit a paging (e.g., a paging DCI with Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) scrambled by paging radio network temporary identifier (P-RNTI)/other RNTI(s), a short message in a paging DCI, or a paging message) to a UE." and paragraph [0066], "Note that short messages can be transmitted on PDCCH using P-RNTI with or without an associated paging message using Short Message field in DCI format 1_0 (which is introduced in 3GPP specification TS 38.212 v16.3.0)." (i.e., Transmitting the paging message by a PDCCH scrambled by RNTI. Par.68 has P-RNTI or other RNTI.)),
wherein RNTs corresponding to different paging causes are explicitly indicated by a network side device (paragraph [0053], Fig., "In some implementations, the base station or the associated network (e.g., network A or network B) may include a paging cause in a paging (e.g., a paging DCI with CRC scrambled by P-RNTI/other RNTI(s), a short message in a paging DCI, or a paging message), wherein the paging cause and/or the UE ID (e.g., 5G-S-TMSI) corresponding to the paging cause may be provided/instructed by the core network (e.g., EPC or 5GC) corresponding to the base station or the associated network." and paragraph [0065], "The second bit may indicate that the paging cause is related to other paging causes. In another example, if two bits in a field are used, “00” may indicate paging cause A, “01” may indicate paging cause B, “10” may indicate paging C, and “11” may indicate paging cause D. Note that some value(s) of the bits may be reserved and not associated with any paging cause." (i.e., Par.53 and Par.65 to show the bit field is provided by the base stations or the associated network.)).
Regarding Claim 12, Chen discloses A paging method, comprising: sending, by a network side device, a paging message to a terminal (paragraph [0111], Fig.3, "In step S301, receiving a paging message, wherein the paging message comprises a first list." (i.e., UE receiving a paging message.)),
wherein the paging message carries or does not carry paging cause indication information (paragraph [0111], Fig.3, "In some implementations, each entry of the second list may record/indicate a corresponding paging cause…In some implementations, if a paging cause is not present (or absent) in an entry of the second list, the paging cause is related to a service not associated with a voice service (e.g., a IMS voice service)." and paragraph [0058], "Accordingly, the UE may determine whether a paging cause corresponding to the UE identity indicated by (or included in) the second list of paging cause, wherein the second list may or may not be included in the paging message." (i.e., The second list refers to a paging cause indication information and that may or may not be in the paging message as described in Fig.3.)),
wherein the paging cause indication information indicates a paging cause corresponding to a paged terminal that (paragraph [0063], “there may be two separate UE records (or two separate UE lists, wherein the two separated UE lists may refer to the first list and the second list respectively). One of the two separate UE records (or one of the two separate UE lists) may be used for the normal UE paging purpose (e.g., for those UE(s) that are not operating in multi-SIM operation or for legacy UE(s) that are not supporting receiving a paging cause). One of the two separate UE records (or one of the two separate UE lists) may be used for the paging with paging cause (e.g., for those UE(s) that are operating in multi-SIM operation or for advanced UE(s) that are supporting receiving a paging cause). Note that for those UE(s) that are not operating in multi-SIM operation or for legacy UE(s) that are not supporting receiving a paging cause may ignore paging cause(s) and/or the UE record (or the UE list) which is used for a paging with a paging cause.”);
wherein that the paging message carries or does not carry paging cause indication information comprises: the paging message carries a first list and a second list (paragraph [0054], Fig.3, "In some implementations, a base station or an associated network (e.g., network A or network B) may include a list of one or more UE identities (also referred to as “first list”) and a list of one or more paging causes (also referred to as “second list”)." (i.e., as described in par.111 and par.54 the paging message can comprise first list and second list.)).
However, Ched does not disclose wherein the paging cause indication information indicates a paging cause corresponding to a paged terminal that needs
Hong discloses wherein the paging cause indication information indicates a paging cause corresponding to a paged terminal that needs (paragraph [0037], Fig.1, "At step S102, a paging cause of the paging message is sent to the terminal in response to receiving request information sent by the terminal." and paragraph [0038], Fig.1, "The request information requests the network side device to send the paging cause of the paging message to the terminal." (i.e., Hong describes wherein the UE is asking for a paging cause because the network device didn’t send.));
Chen and Hong are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Chen of receiving paging cause only when asked or needs by the terminal in order to reduce signaling consumption of the network device (Hong, paragraph [0041], “After receiving the request information sent by the terminal, the network side device sends the paging cause of the paging message to the terminal. Accordingly, each time the network side device sends the paging message, it is not necessary to send the paging cause together with the paging message, which may help reduce signaling consumption of the network side device.”).
Regarding Claim 13, which is similar in scope to claim 2, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 14, which is similar in scope to claim 6, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 15, Chen in view of Hong discloses all the limitation of claim 14.
Chen further discloses wherein
An Entry field (paragraph [0054], "Each entry of the first list may record a corresponding UE identity and each entry of the second list may record a corresponding paging cause." (i.e., the second list comprises an entry field.)),
wherein the Entry field carries or does not carry the paging cause indication information of the terminal (paragraph [0059], "In some implementations, the presence of a paging cause in a paging (e.g., paging message) may indicate whether the paging is related to a specific service. For example, the presence of a paging cause in a paging (or in second list of paging cause) may indicate that the paging is related to a specific service. For example, the presence of a paging cause of an entry of a second list may indicate that the cause of the paging is related to a specific service… On the other hand, the UE may determine that a paging cause for the UE is not associated with a voice service (e.g., IMS voice service) or high priority service in response to a paging cause of the corresponding entry being not present in the second list of paging cause, wherein the entry corresponds to the paging cause for the UE (or UE identity)." (i.e., the second list may or may not carry paging cause.)),
wherein when the paging cause indication information is carried, it is indicated that the terminal is paged due to a carried paging cause (paragraph [0065], "In some implementations, if a paging cause is included in a paging DCI, one or more fields in the paging DCI may be used to indicate paging cause(s). For example, if two fields are used, the first field may indicate that the paging cause is related to voice service (e.g., VoLTE, VoNR, or IMS voice service) or high priority service(s). The second field may indicate that the paging cause is related to other paging causes (i.e., paging causes other than voice service or high priority service)…if two bits in a field are used, “00” may indicate paging cause A, “01” may indicate paging cause B, “10” may indicate paging C, and “11” may indicate paging cause D." (i.e., The entry field are used for paging cause.));
that the paging cause indication information is not carried indicates one of following:
the paging cause of the terminal is a paging cause agreed on in a protocol (paragraph [0060], "In some implementations, a paging without paging cause from a BS that supports multi-SIM operations may indicate/imply that a paging is related to a service which is neither related to voice service(s) (e.g., VoLTE, VoNR, or IMS voice) nor high priority service(s)." (i.e., Agreed on protocol on when not receiving a paging cause a BS that supports multi-SIM operation then the paging message is not related to voice service(s).)).
Regarding Claim 18, Chen in view of Hong discloses all the limitation of claim 12.
Chen further discloses sending, by the network side device, downlink signaling to the terminal, wherein the downlink signaling carries or does not carry(paragraph [0060], " In some implementations, a BS may broadcast whether itself supports multi-SIM operations (or supports providing a paging cause in a paging)…" (i.e., BS broadcasting to UE that carries information.)),
and the first indication information indicates that the paging message supports carrying of a paging cause (paragraph [0060], " Note that a paging without paging cause may be delivered/transmitted by a base station (BS) supporting multi-SIM operations (e.g., a BS that can include a paging cause within a paging) or by a BS not supporting multi-SIM operations (e.g., a BS that cannot include a paging cause). In some implementations, a BS may broadcast whether itself supports multi-SIM operations (or supports providing a paging cause in a paging)." (i.e., The information being support of providing a paging cause in a paging.)),
wherein the downlink signaling comprises one of following: system information (paragraph [0060], " In some implementations, a BS may broadcast whether itself supports multi-SIM operations " (i.e., BS broadcasting information on the support for providing paging cause.)).
Regarding Claim 19, which is similar in scope to claim 1, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 20, which is similar in scope to claim 12 and in similar scope to claim 1, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Claim(s) 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US-20220217675-A1) in view of Hong (US-20230300793-A1) in further view of Kumar’202 (US-20220330202-A1).
Regarding Claim 3, Chen in view of Hong discloses all the limitation of claim [[2]]1.
Chen further discloses wherein the determining whether the terminal is paged comprises at least one of following: determining, if a first paging ID of the terminal successfully matches a first paging ID comprised in an N-th or a last N-th entry in the first list, that the terminal is paged (paragraph [0111], Fig.3, "In step S305, determining whether a paging cause corresponding to the UE identity indicated by a second list of the paging message after determining that the UE identity included in the first list." (i.e., As stated, before the UE checks the first list if the paging message meant for the UE.)),
wherein N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to a total number of entries comprised in the first list (paragraph [0054], "In some implementations, a base station or an associated network (e.g., network A or network B) may include a list of one or more UE identities (also referred to as “first list”) and a list of one or more paging causes (also referred to as “second list”)." (i.e., The first list comprises a list of one or more UE identities.)),
However, Chen in view of Hong do not disclose wherein the determining, by the terminal, a paging cause of the terminal based on the second list further comprises at least one following: determining, by the terminal if the total number of entries comprised in the second list is less than N, that a network side device does not support sending of a paging cause.
Kumar’202 discloses wherein the determining, by the terminal, a paging cause of the terminal based on the second list further comprises at least one following: determining, by the terminal if the total number of entries comprised in the second list is less than N, that a network side device does not support sending of a paging cause (paragraph [0072], “the network nodes always provide the paging cause to the MUSIM UE 100 (optionally on the UE request) even when the paging for services other than standard services, i.e. for nonstandard services like the internet data etc. can have the paging cause like “other services” or “other data” “default” or “other” etc. The set of standard services which are uniquely identified by the paging cause like voice, SMS, CP signalling, IMS signalling. With this dedicated paging cause for the nonstandard services the MUSIM UE 100 can identify that current serving network nodes supports the paging cause and if the paging cause is not included in the paging message then the MUSIM UE 100 can identify that the paging cause is not supported by the network nodes.” (i.e., when the paging cause is missing then the UE determines the paging cause is not supported by the network nodes. For example, N is 1 and if the paging cause is missing then the UE determines the network node does not support paging cause.)).
Chen in view of Hong and Kumar’202 are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Chen of Kumar’202 because there is a need for UE to identify if the current wireless communication network supports the paging cause (Kumar’202, paragraph [0070], “Hence the MUSIM UE 100 cannot identifies whether the incoming paging message which does not include the paging cause is for the “Voice” or the “internet data”. Thus, the MUSIM UE 100 cannot makes a decision whether to respond to the paging or not respond to the paging message because the MUSIM UE 100 is not able to identify the incoming traffic i.e. downlink service. Hence there is a need to define a mechanism in which the MUSIM UE 100 will be able to identify if the current wireless communication network supports the paging cause. Following methods are proposed to identify if the current wireless communication network supports the paging cause (or in general MUSIM feature).”).
Claim(s) 9 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US-20220217675-A1) in view of Hong (US-20230300793-A1) in further view of Ozturk (US- 20210092706-A1).
Regarding Claim 9, Chen in view of Hong discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
However, Chen in view of Hong do not disclose wherein the paging cause indication information is generated based on an encryption input parameter, wherein the encryption input parameter comprises at least one of following: a key shared by a network side device and the paged terminal; or a paging cause or paging cause indication information of the paged terminal before encryption, wherein the performing, by the terminal, a first operation based on the paging message comprises: obtaining, by the terminal, paging cause indication information corresponding to the terminal; and decrypting the paging cause indication information, to obtain a paging cause of the terminal.
Ozturk discloses wherein the paging cause indication information is generated based on an encryption input parameter (paragraph [0091], Fig.5, "When the UE 502 is in an idle mode and a paging cause is triggered (for example, the UE is receiving a IMS voice call), the core network 506 may page the UE 502 during CN-based paging. To provide confidentiality, the core network 506 may encrypt the paging information (532) before sending the paging message 534." (i.e., Ozturk discloses the network encrypts the paging message thus generating a paging cause indication information based on an encryption.)),
wherein the encryption input parameter comprises at least one of following:
a key shared by a network side device and the paged terminal (paragraph [0093], Fig.5, " Therefore, when encrypting the paging information (532, 538) which triggered the paging message based on a fixed mapping 402, the core network 506 or BS 504 may scramble the index associated with the paging information based on a shared key with the UE 502 to provide increased security for the UE 502. For example, if CN-based paging is triggered, the core network 506 may scramble the index using the NAS key 512, and the encrypted paging information 536 may include this scrambled index. " (i.e., A key can be shared between network device and the UE.)); or
a paging cause or paging cause indication information of the paged terminal before encryption (paragraph [0091], Fig.5, "As an example, the core network 506 may include an index (such as the index 406) associated with the paging information (such as the paging information 404) which is based on the mapping 514, 526. For instance, the core network 506 may include the index 1 in the paging message 534 to indicate an “A” priority IMS voice call to the UE 502. The mapping 514, 526 may be updated or scrambled for different UEs as described above, and therefore the index may indicate different paging information for different UEs at the same time, or different paging information for the same UE at different times. After encrypting the paging information (532), the core network may send the paging message 534 including the encrypted paging information 536 to the BS 504 to be forwarded to the UE 502." (i.e., Encrypting based on the paging cause.)),
wherein the performing, by the terminal, a first operation based on the paging message comprises: obtaining, by the terminal, paging cause indication information corresponding to the terminal (paragraph [0092], Fig.5:532,540, " For instance, the BS 504 may include the index 1 in the paging message 540 to indicate an “A” priority IMS voice call to the UE 502. The mapping 514, 526 may be updated or scrambled for different UEs as described above…After encrypting the paging information (538), the BS may send the paging message 540 including the encrypted paging information 542 to the UE 502. For instance, the BS 504 may send the paging message 540 directly to the UE 502, or to another BS (such as BS 544) for transmission to the UE 502. " (i.e., the UE receiving a paging message with a paging cause indication information.));
and decrypting the paging cause indication information, to obtain a paging cause of the terminal (paragraph [0098], Fig.:558, " The paging message 534, 540 includes the encrypted paging information 536, 542 and the UE 502 may decrypt the encrypted paging information (558) to identify the paging information which triggered the message. In one example, if dynamic mapping is used for the encryption, the encrypted paging information may include an index (such as the index 406 in FIG. 4) associated with a corresponding paging information (such as the paging information 404 in FIG. 4), and the UE 502 may identify the paging information based on the mapping 514, 526 received from the BS 504." and paragraph [0103], “After the UE 502 decrypts the encrypted paging information (558), the UE 502 determines whether to communicate with the BS 504 based on the paging information (560).” (i.e., Decrypting the paging message and depending on the information to communicate with the base station or the core network.)).
Chen in view of Hong and Ozturk are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Chen of implementing the method of Ozturk to encrypting the paging message for secure communication between the core network and a the base station or core network (Ozturk, paragraph [0050], “Such problems that may result from interception by malicious observers can be avoided by allowing a BS and UE to respectively encrypt and decrypt the paging information.”).
Regarding Claim 16, which is similar in scope to claim 9, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Claim(s) 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US-20220217675-A1) in view of Hong (US-20230300793-A1) in view of Kumar’202 (US-20220330202-A1) in view of Gurumoorthy (US-20220361132-A1).
Regarding Claim 5, Chen in view of Hong in further view of Kumar’202 discloses all the limitation of claim 3.
Chen further discloses second list (paragraph [0058], “…wherein the second list may or may not be included in the paging message. If the second list is included in the paging message and the paging cause corresponding to the UE identity is indicated by (or included in) the second list,”).
Kumar’202 further discloses and the determining, by the terminal, a paging cause of the terminal based on the second list further comprises: determining, by the terminal if the downlink signaling carries the first indication information, and the paging message does not carry the second list, that the network side device does not supports sending of a paging cause (paragraph [0073], " In another embodiment, the gNB can broadcast whether the paging cause is supported by the network nodes. Thus, each time when the paging message is received without the paging cause, the MUSIM UE 100 can check the broadcasted information to identify if the paging cause is supported or not supported by the network nodes. The broadcasted information can be on demand system information too, which can be requested on demand by the MUSIM UE 100." (i.e., Chen discloses receiving a paging message that has a first list and can also optionally send second lists as disclosed in paragraph 58, and Kumar’202 describes if there is no paging cause or no second list then the UE will check the broadcasted information to identify if the network nodes support or not support paging cause.)).
However, Chen in view of Hong in further view of Kumar’202 do not explicitly disclose wherein the method further comprises: receiving downlink signaling, wherein the downlink signaling carries or does not carry first indication information, and the first indication information indicates that the paging message supports carrying of a paging cause; and determining, by the terminal if the downlink signaling carries the first indication information, that a current cell supports sending of a paging cause, wherein the downlink signaling comprises one of following: system information.
Gurumoorthy wherein the method further comprises: receiving downlink signaling (paragraph [0132], "the NW may specify whether it supports transmitting the paging cause indicator. This support indication may be transmitted as part of a registration accept or radio network area (RNA) update message (e.g., in a 5G NR network) or as part of an attach accept or tracking area update (TAU) message (e.g., in an LTE network)." (i.e., the network specifying the support for paging cause indicator.)),
wherein the downlink signaling carries (paragraph [0131], "the NW may specify whether it supports transmitting the paging cause indicator. This support indication may be transmitted as part of a registration accept or radio network area (RNA) update message" (i.e., carries information to specify of transmitting paging cause indicator.)),
and the first indication information indicates that the paging message supports carrying of a paging cause (paragraph [0132], "For example, the NW may specify whether it supports transmitting the paging cause indicator in the registration accept message 910 or the attach accept message 1010 shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, respectively." (i.e., the first indication information is to notify of transmitting the paging cause indicator.)); and
determining, by the terminal if the downlink signaling carries the first indication information, that a current cell supports sending of a paging cause (paragraph [0131], "the NW may specify whether it supports transmitting the paging cause indicator. This support indication may be transmitted as part of a registration accept or radio network area (RNA) update message" (i.e., No direct quote but the paragraph is about UE receiving if the network (NW) supports providing a paging cause indicator and the UE will perform action based on determining if there is an indication from the NW.)),
wherein the downlink signaling comprises one of following: system information (paragraph [0132], Fig.9,10 "This support indication may be transmitted as part of a registration accept or radio network area (RNA) update message (e.g., in a 5G NR network) or as part of an attach accept or tracking area update (TAU) message (e.g., in an LTE network). For example, the NW may specify whether it supports transmitting the paging cause indicator in the registration accept message 910 or the attach accept message 1010 shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, respectively." (i.e., See Fig.9::910 wherein the NR gNB is sending nw-musim-capablility as system information.)).
Chen in view of Hong in further view of Kumar’202 and Gurumoorthy are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Chen of Gurumoorthy to send paging cause support indicator in the registration accept message to reduce signaling consumption and enable the UE to distinguish between the three cases as described in Gurumoorthy paragraph 133 (Gurumoorthy, paragraph [0133], “Advantageously, the combination of the paging cause support indicator within the connection accept message and the paging cause indicator in the paging message enables the UE to distinguish between the three cases of 1) the NW sending a page for a voice call, 2) the NW sending a page that is not for a voice call, and 3) the NW sending a page where it is unknown whether it is for a voice call or not.”).
Claim(s) 10 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US-20220217675-A1) in view of Hong (US-20230300793-A1) in view of Ozturk (US- 20210092706-A1) in further view of Kumar’824 (US-20220191824-A1).
Regarding Claim 10, Chen in view of Hong in further view of Ozturk discloses all the limitation of claim 9.
However, Chen in view of Hong in further view of Ozturk do not disclose wherein after the performing a first operation, the method further comprises at least one of following: reporting, by the terminal, first information to the network side device if the terminal detects that the paging cause indication information or the paging cause is an unexpected value; wherein the first information indicates at least one of following: that an unexpected paging cause or unexpected paging cause indication information is received.
Kumar’824 discloses wherein after the performing a first operation, the method further comprises at least one of following:
reporting, by the terminal, first information to the network side device if the terminal detects that the paging cause indication information or the paging cause is an unexpected value (paragraph [0190], Fig.14, " In the proposed method, the UE (100) sends the paging rejects for the unwanted services, when the UE (100) receives the paging with cause value (service type) then at step 3, the UE (100) checks the ongoing service in the first SIM and based on one of: the USIM configuration and the user preferences or both, if the UE (100) decides that the current paging is not a priority compared to the service on the first SIM, then the UE (100) sends the paging reject message to the network (step 4). In the paging reject (AS or NAS message) message the UE (100) includes the reject cause value, a timer value and list of services for which the UE (100) wants to receive the paging and the list of paging cause/services for which the UE (100) does not want to receive the paging. " (i.e., The UE checks the paging information and is unexpected because the first SIM has an ongoing service and the second SIM is receiving an unexpected message with an unexpected paging cause.));
the first information indicates at least one of following: that an (paragraph [0190], Fig.14, " when the UE (100) receives the paging with cause value (service type) " (i.e., the first information is unexpected paging cause indication information.)).
Chen in view of Hong in further view of Ozturk and Kumar’824 are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Chen of implementing the method of Kumar’824 to send rejection message of unwanted paging in order for the network device to stop sending message in order to reduce unnecessary signaling when the UE is already in in communication with another network as shown in Kumar’824 Fig.14.
Regarding Claim 17, which is similar in scope to claim 10, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Erkin S. Abdullaev whose telephone number is (571)272-4135. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday - 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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ERKIN S. ABDULLAEV
Examiner
Art Unit 2648
/ERKIN ABDULLAEV/Examiner, Art Unit 2648
/WESLEY L KIM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2648