DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments
1. Applicant's arguments filed March 23, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant states “Agiwal is not prior art for the claimed "DCI comprising subgrouping information for the paging occasion." (emphasis added) Claim 1. Applicant respectfully submits that the rejection is improper because Agiwal is not entitled to the benefit of priority for all the subject matter relied upon by the Office Action. Specifically, the recitation of subgrouping information included in a DCI for a paging occasion is not included in Agiwal before the priority date of the current application.
Agiwal claims priority to two U.S. provisional applications. Only one of Agiwal's provisional applications predates Applicant's priority date. The current application claims priority to application PCT/CN2020/121278 which has a filing date of 2020-10-15. Agiwal's earliest filing date was provisional application number 63027422 which has a filing date of 2020 05-20. However, this earlies Agiwal provisional does not disclose the concept of DCI comprising subgrouping information for the paging occasion.
In fact, the provisional application number 63027422 does not include any mention of subgrouping. Instead, the provisional filing only describes the use of paging group IDs. Subgrouping information, as recited in the claims may enable a finer-grain division of UEs sharing the same paging occasion. Accordingly, the provisional filing does not describe using DCI to indicate subgroup information for a paging occasion.”
However, it is the understanding of the Examiner that the provisional application 63/027,422 discloses using DCI to indicate subgroup information for a paging occasion. Pages 11-35 of provisional application 63/027,422 discloses a group of user equipment (UEs) are further grouped into ‘P’ paging groups based on different parameters (Methods 1-3). It is the understanding of the Examiner that the aforementioned ‘P’ paging groups are “subgroups”. As disclosed on pages 14-15, paging group IDs or a paging group bitmap is included in the DCI. It is the understanding of the Examiner that paging group IDs/bitmaps are subgroup information. Therefore, based on the above disclosure, it is the understanding of the Examiner that the provisional filing discloses using DCI to indicate subgroup information for a paging occasion.
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, 3, 4 7, 9, 10, 13, 15, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Agiwal et al. (previously cited in Office Action 11/26/2025).
Regarding claim 1, Agiwal et al. discloses a method of a user equipment (UE), for facilitating a paging indication in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
detecting (as disclosed in sections 0051, 0070, and 0463-0464) a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), for time and frequency tracking (as disclosed in section 0474);
searching for a downlink control information (DCI) corresponding to a paging occasion (by monitoring the paging occasion (PO) as disclosed in section 0070, see also sections 0103-0174) in a paging frame, the DCI comprising subgrouping information for the paging occasion (as disclosed in sections 0099-0101 and 0103-0174);
in response to detecting the DCI, checking the subgrouping information of the paging occasion (as disclosed in sections 0099-0101 and 0167-0174); and
in response to the subgrouping information of the paging occasion applying to the UE, monitoring a paging message (for decoding as disclosed in sections 099-0101 and 0167-0174) at the paging occasion (see in particular section 0174).
Regarding claim 3, Agiwal et al. discloses the DCI comprises parameters (such as modulation/coding and resource allocation as disclosed in section 0055) derived from configuration information.
Regarding claim 4, Agiwal et al discloses the parameters derived from the configuration information comprise a number of paging occasions (number paging occasions (PO) as disclosed in 0683-0689, in particular section 0689).
Regarding claim 7, Agiwal et al. discloses an apparatus (Fig. 19, sections 0814-0817) of a user equipment (UE), for facilitating a paging indication in a wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising:
a memory (block 1930) to store downlink control information (DCI) corresponding to a paging occasion in a paging frame;
one or more processors (block 1920) configured to cause the UE to:
detect (as disclosed in sections 0051, 0070, and 0463-0464) a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), for time and frequency tracking (as disclosed in section 0474);
search for a downlink control information (DCI) corresponding to a paging occasion (by monitoring the paging occasion (PO) as disclosed in section 0070, see also sections 0103-0174) in a paging frame, the DCI comprising subgrouping information for the paging occasion (as disclosed in sections 0099-0101 and 0103-0174);
in response to detecting the DCI, check the subgrouping information of the paging occasion (as disclosed in sections 0099-0101 and 0167-0174); and
in response to the subgrouping information of the paging occasion applying to the UE, monitoring a paging message (for decoding as disclosed in sections 099-0101 and 0167-0174) at the paging occasion (see in particular section 0174).
Regarding claim 9, Agiwal et al. discloses the DCI comprises parameters (such as modulation/coding and resource allocation as disclosed in section 0055) derived from configuration information.
Regarding claim 10, Agiwal et al discloses the parameters derived from the configuration information comprise a number of paging occasions (number paging occasions (PO) as disclosed in 0683-0689, in particular section 0689).
Regarding claim 13, Agiwal et al. discloses the method of claim 1 implemented using a non-transitory computer readable medium (see section 0041), the rejection of which is applicable hereto.
Regarding claim 15, Agiwal et al. discloses the DCI comprises parameters (such as modulation/coding and resource allocation as disclosed in section 0055) derived from configuration information.
Regarding claim 16, Agiwal et al discloses the parameters derived from the configuration information comprise a number of paging occasions (number paging occasions (PO) as disclosed in 0683-0689, in particular section 0689).
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. Claims 2, 8, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal et al. (previously cited in Office Action 11/26/2025) in view of Zhang et al. (previously cited in Office Action 11/26/2025).
Regarding claims 2, 8, and 14, Agiwal et al. does not specifically disclose a location of the DCI is signaled in configuration information. However, Zhang et al. also discloses transmitting and receiving DCI (see section 0125), wherein a location of the DCI is signaled in configuration information (see section 0133). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present invention to modify the method/apparatus of Agiwal et al. to indicate a location of DCI as taught by Zhang et al. since Zhang et al. discloses the indication reduces detection complexity and reduce power consumption (see section 0133).
6. Claims 5, 11, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal et al. (previously cited in Office Action 11/26/2025) in view of Li et al. (previously cited in Office Action 11/26/2025).
Regarding claims 5, 11, and 17, Agiwal et al. does not specifically disclose the DCI comprises a search space set with a configured offset. However, Li et al. also discloses receiving DCI (see section 0045), wherein the DCI indicates a search space and configured time offset (see sections 0063). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present invention to modify the method/apparatus of Agiwal et al. to indicate a search space in the DCI as taught by Li et al. since Li et al. discloses the indication allows a system to avoid transmission interference caused by a hidden node and ensure transmission performance (see section 0063).
7. Claims 6, 12, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal et al. (previously cited in Office Action 11/26/2025) in view of Zhou et al. (previously cited in Office Action 11/26/2025).
Regarding claims 6, 12, and 18, Agiwal et al. does not specifically disclose in response to the subgrouping information of the paging occasion applying to the UE, further refining the time and frequency tracking using a tracking reference signal (TRS).
However, Zhou et al. discloses in response to subgrouping information of a paging occasion applying to a target UE (see sections 0067-0069), obtaining a first reference signal, wherein the first reference signal includes a tracking reference signal (TRS) used for time and frequency tracking (synchronization) as disclosed in section 0103. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present invention to modify the method/apparatus of Agiwal et al. to include a tracking reference signal as taught by Zhou et al. since Zhou et al. states the TRS can be used for time-frequency synchronization without introducing additional signaling, thus saving system overhead (see section 0112).
Conclusion
8. THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CURTIS B ODOM whose telephone number is (571)272-3046. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5.
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/CURTIS B ODOM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631 April 2, 2026