DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
1. 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.
2. Claims 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, and 16 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 Huang et al. (US 2022/0232478).
Regarding claim 1, 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);
wherein the DCI comprises parameters (such as modulation/coding and resource allocation as disclosed in section 0055, see also sections 0084-0093) derived from configuration information;
wherein the parameters derived from the configuration information comprise a search space set (search space configuration as disclosed in section 0056) with a configured offset (PDCCH monitoring offset as disclosed in section 0056, see also sections 0461 and 0472-0473); 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 0099-0101 and 0167-0174) at the paging occasion (see in particular section 0174).
Agiwal et al. does not specifically disclose that one of the parameters of the DCI indicates an offset of a monitoring occasion of the paging occasion. However, Huang et al. also discloses detecting DCI (see section 0074) corresponding to a paging occasion (as disclosed in section 0120), wherein one of the parameters of the DCI indicates an offset (time unit offset as disclosed in section 0162) of a monitoring occasion of the paging occasion (see also section 0193). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to modify the method/apparatus of Agiwal et al. to include offset information in the DCI as taught by Huang et al. since Huang et al. discloses the payload of the DCI can be used to reduce signaling overheads (see section 0168).
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);
wherein the DCI comprises parameters (such as modulation/coding and resource allocation as disclosed in section 0055, see also sections 0084-0093) derived from configuration information;
wherein the parameters derived from the configuration information comprise a search space set (search space configuration as disclosed in section 0056) with a configured offset (PDCCH monitoring offset as disclosed in section 0056, see also sections 0461 and 0472-0473); 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).
Agiwal et al. does not specifically disclose that one of the parameters of the DCI indicates an offset of a monitoring occasion of the paging occasion. However, Huang et al. also discloses detecting DCI (see section 0074) corresponding to a paging occasion (as disclosed in section 0120), wherein one of the parameters of the DCI indicates an offset (time unit offset as disclosed in section 0162) of a monitoring occasion of the paging occasion (see also section 0193). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to modify the method/apparatus of Agiwal et al. to include offset information in the DCI as taught by Huang et al. since Huang et al. discloses the payload of the DCI can be used to reduce signaling overheads (see section 0168).
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 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).
3. 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 Huang et al. (US 2022/0232478), and in further view of Zhang et al. (previously cited in Office Action 11/26/2025).
Regarding claims 2, 8, and 14, Agiwal et al. and Huang et al. do 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. and Huang 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).
4. 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 Huang et al. (US 2022/0232478), and in further view Zhou et al. (previously cited in Office Action 11/26/2025).
Regarding claims 6, 12, and 18, Agiwal et al. and Huang et al. do 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. and Huang 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
5. 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.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hannah S Wang can be reached at (571)-272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/CURTIS B ODOM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631 July 10, 2026
Prosecution Insights