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 .
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.
Claim 1-14 and 16-20 are 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.
With respect to Claim 1, the claim contains the following limitations:
A zero power communication system, comprising at least one of:
a zero power terminal, an access network node, a core network node, a data center node or a service control node, wherein
the zero power terminal is capable of communicating with the access network node;
the access network node is capable of communicating with at least one of the zero power terminal or the core network node;
the core network node is capable of communicating with at least one of the access network node, the data center node or the service control node;
the data center node is capable of communicating with at least one of the core network node or the service control node; and
the service control node is capable of communicating with at least one of the core network node or the data center node.,
wherein a user plane protocol stack exists between the zero power terminal and the access network node, and the user plane protocol stack comprises a media access control (MAC) layer and a physical (PHY) layer, and
wherein a control plane protocol stack exists between the zero power terminal and the core network node and the control plane protocol stack comprises a non-access stratum (NAS) layer.
Examiner submits that the scope of the claim is unclear due to the phrasing, each device is capable of communicating with specified other devices. There is no requirement in the claim that it actually does communicate with that device.
Additionally, the claim requires only one of the nodes, yet, also requires that a control plane stack and a user plane stack exists between devices that are not required. Therefore, the metes and bounds of the claim cannot be readily determined.
When the claims were previously examined, the original examination gave limited patentable weight to anything appearing before capable of. However, the changes made to the claims by amendment raise additional issues and are properly rejected under 35 USC 112(b).
Claims 2-14 and 16-20 are rejected as depending from Claim 1, and do not correct the issues of the independent claim.
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4, 9-14, 16, 19 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kittichokechai et al. (U.S. 2024/0406862), hereinafter Kittichokechai in view of Babaei et al. (U.S. 2020/0100170), hereinafter Babaei.
With respect to Claim 1, Kittichokechai teaches a teaches zero power communication system, comprising at least one of: a zero power terminal, an access network node, a core network node, a data center node or a service control node, wherein
the zero power terminal is capable of communicating with the access network node (¶ 0012, “as the name implies, a self-powered or a zero-power IoT device is usually not powered by a battery. Instead, it harvests energy from the ambient energy sources such as light, motion, RF signals, heat, etc.”)
the access network node is capable of communicating with at least one of the zero power terminal or the core network node (¶ 0038, “For example, the wireless device 200 may be configured to communicate over a radio link served by the network node 300, i.e. over the wireless connection 130 between the wireless device 200 and the network node 300”);
the core network node is capable of communicating with at least one of the access network node, the data center node or the service control node (¶ [0038], “As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless communication network 10 may comprise a Radio Access Network, RAN, 100 configured to communicate with a core network 150, e.g. over the communications links”);
the data center node is capable of communicating with at least one of the core network node or the service control node; and
the service control node is capable of communicating with at least one of the core network node or the data center node.
Kittichokechai fails to explicitly teach wherein wherein a user plane protocol stack exists between the zero power terminal and the access network node, and the user plane protocol stack comprises a media access control (MAC) layer and a physical (PHY) layer, and
a control plane protocol stack exists between the zero power terminal and the core network node and the control plane protocol stack comprises a non-access stratum (NAS) layer.
Babaei teaches wherein a control plane protocol stack exists between the zero power terminal and the core network node and the control plane protocol stack comprises a non-access stratum (NAS) layer (Figure 2b, control plane protocol stack)
wherein a user plane protocol stack exists between the zero power terminal and the access network node, and the user plane protocol stack comprises a media access control (MAC) layer and a physical (PHY) layer (figure 2a, user plane protocol stack), and
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Kittichokechai with the invention of Babei, as the system has a PDCP layer, it would be obvious to do all the functions of that layer as they would be expected in the system.
With respect to Claim 2, Kittichokechai in view of Babei teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the zero power terminal comprises a power harvesting circuit and a communication circuit, wherein
the power harvesting circuit is configured to harvest power from radio waves and provides the power to the communication circuit (¶ 0012 – 0013, “Instead, it harvests energy from the ambient energy sources such as light, motion, RF signals, heat, etc.”) and
the communication circuit is configured to perform signal transmission between the zero power terminal and the access network node (¶ 0038, “For example, the wireless device 200 may be configured to communicate over a radio link served by the network node 300, i.e. over the wireless connection 130 between the wireless device 200 and the network node 300”);.
With respect to Claim 4, Kittichokechai in view of Babei teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the access network node is configured to perform at least one of:
transmitting, to the zero power terminal, radio waves for powering the zero power terminal; or
providing, to the zero power terminal, a communication link for signal transmission between the zero power terminal and the access network node (¶ 0038, “For example, the wireless device 200 may be configured to communicate over a radio link served by the network node 300, i.e. over the wireless connection 130 between the wireless device 200 and the network node 300”), and
wherein the core network node is configured to perform at least one of:
receiving data from the zero power terminal (¶ 0038, “For example, the wireless device 200 may be configured to communicate over a radio link served by the network node 300, i.e. over the wireless connection 130 between the wireless device 200 and the network node 300”);
processing data from the zero power terminal;
controlling services of the zero power terminal; or
managing services of the zero power terminal.
With respect to Claim 9, Kittichokechai in view of Babei teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the zero power terminal comprises at least one of:
a first state corresponding to a normal state of the zero power terminal (¶ 0055, “In other words, the wireless device 200 may autonomously select a set of network configurations or switch to a set of network configurations based on a combination of the wireless device's 200 energy or power status and the reception of a message or a signal from a network node 300,” and ¶ 0094, “According to some embodiments, the operational information may comprise at least one of: energy levels of the wireless device 200, profiles of the wireless device 200, duty cycles of the wireless device 200, a charging status of the wireless device 200, and/or traffic profiles of the wireless device 200.”);
or a second state corresponding to a killed state of the zero power terminal (¶ 0055, “In other words, the wireless device 200 may autonomously select a set of network configurations or switch to a set of network configurations based on a combination of the wireless device's 200 energy or power status and the reception of a message or a signal from a network node 300,” and ¶ 0094, “According to some embodiments, the operational information may comprise at least one of: energy levels of the wireless device 200, profiles of the wireless device 200, duty cycles of the wireless device 200, a charging status of the wireless device 200, and/or traffic profiles of the wireless device 200.”),
wherein the zero power terminal is capable of transitioning from the first state to the second state (¶ 0055, “In other words, the wireless device 200 may autonomously select a set of network configurations or switch to a set of network configurations based on a combination of the wireless device's 200 energy or power status and the reception of a message or a signal from a network node 300,” and ¶ 0094, “According to some embodiments, the operational information may comprise at least one of: energy levels of the wireless device 200, profiles of the wireless device 200, duty cycles of the wireless device 200, a charging status of the wireless device 200, and/or traffic profiles of the wireless device 200.”),
in response to the zero power terminal being in the first state, the zero power terminal has at least one of the following characteristics:
configuration information of the zero power terminal being stored in the zero power terminal and the data center node; or
at least one of a power harvesting circuit or a communication circuit of the zero power terminal starting to work (¶ 0094, “According to some embodiments, the operational information may comprise at least one of: energy levels of the wireless device 200, profiles of the wireless device 200, duty cycles of the wireless device 200, a charging status of the wireless device 200, and/or traffic profiles of the wireless device 200.”) and
in response to the zero power terminal being in the second state, the zero power terminal has at least one of the following characteristics:
configuration information of the zero power terminal being deleted from the data center node;
a power harvesting circuit and a communication circuit of the zero power terminal stopping working (¶ 0094, “According to some embodiments, the operational information may comprise at least one of: energy levels of the wireless device 200, profiles of the wireless device 200, duty cycles of the wireless device 200, a charging status of the wireless device 200, and/or traffic profiles of the wireless device 200.”)
or a zero power terminal identity of the zero power terminal being reclaimed.
With respect to Claim 10, Kittichokechai in view of Babei teaches the system of claim 9, wherein the first state comprises at least one of: a dormant state, a charge state, or a working state, and the zero power terminal is capable of transitioning between any two of the dormant state, the charge state and the working state (¶ [0062], “Consider e.g. a case where the wireless device 200 autonomously selects an RRC configuration and the network node 300 has two set of network configurations, one for normal-power mode and another for low-power mode which correspond to separate time/frequency resources.”),
in response to the zero power terminal being in the dormant state, the zero power terminal has a characteristic comprising:
a power harvesting circuit of the zero power terminal being ready to be enabled to harvest power from radio waves, in response to the zero power terminal being in the charge state, the zero power terminal has a characteristic comprising:
a power harvesting circuit of the zero power terminal being enabled to harvest power from radio waves, in response to the zero power terminal being in the working state, the zero power terminal has a characteristic comprising: a communication circuit of the zero power terminal being enabled to perform signal transmission between the zero power terminal and the access network node.
With respect to Claim 11, Kittichokechai in view of Babei teaches the system of claim 9, wherein the zero power terminal transitions from the first state to the second state based on a command from a network side, and the command from the network side is a non-access stratum (NAS) signaling or a radio resource control (RRC) signaling (¶ 0020, “When the network wants to change some values of the parameters, either RRC re-configuration or switching of BWP by DCI transmitted in PDCCH is needed, requiring further data exchange between the network and devices.”)
With respect to Claim 12, Kittichokechai in view of Babei teaches the system of claim 1, wherein a control plane protocol stack exists between the zero power terminal and the access network node, and comprises a RRC layer, a MAC layer and a PHY layer;
wherein the RRC layer comprises at least one of the following functions:
transmission of RRC signaling for carrying at least one of downlink signaling or uplink signaling; or
segmentation of RRC signaling to be transmitted into segments, each segment corresponding to a respective segment number, the RRC signaling being associated with a serial number,
wherein the MAC layer comprises at least one of the following functions:
multiplexing of at least one of data or signaling;
demultiplexing of at least one of data or signaling;
submitting of a transport block (TB) to the PHY layer; or
segmentation of a TB, and
wherein the PHY layer comprises at least one of the following functions: data processing; or data transmission.
Babaei from the same or similar field of endeavor wherein a control plane protocol stack exists between the zero power terminal and the access network node, and comprises a RRC layer, a MAC layer and a PHY layer (Figure 2b, control plane protocol stack);
wherein the RRC layer comprises at least one of the following functions:
transmission of RRC signaling for carrying at least one of downlink signaling or uplink signaling (¶ 0191, “In an example, services and functions of RRC may comprise broadcast of system information related to AS and NAS, paging initiated by 5 GC or RAN, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE and RAN, security functions including key management, establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of Signaling Radio Bearers (SRBs) and Data Radio Bearers (DRBs), mobility functions, QoS management functions, UE measurement reporting and control of the reporting, detection of and recovery from radio link failure, and/or NAS message transfer to/from NAS from/to a UE.”); or
segmentation of RRC signaling to be transmitted into segments, each segment corresponding to a respective segment number, the RRC signaling being associated with a serial number,
wherein the MAC layer comprises at least one of the following functions:
multiplexing of at least one of data or signaling;
demultiplexing of at least one of data or signaling;
submitting of a transport block (TB) to the PHY layer; or
segmentation of a TB, and
wherein the PHY layer comprises at least one of the following functions: data processing; or data transmission.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Kittichokechai with the invention of Babei, as the system has a PDCP layer, it would be obvious to do all the functions of that layer as they would be expected in the system.
With respect to Claim 13, Kittichokechai in view of Babei teaches the system of claim 1, Kittichokecha teaches wherein a control plane protocol stack exists between the zero power terminal and the access network node, and comprises a RRC layer, PDCP layer, a media access control MAC layer and a physical (PHY) layer; and
and wherein the PDCP layer comprises at least one of the following functions: security protection, reordering, duplicate detection, or serial number (SN) maintenance.
Babaei teaches wherein a control plane protocol stack exists between the zero power terminal and the access network node, and comprises a RRC layer, PDCP layer, a MAC layer and a PHY layer (Figure 2b, control plane protocol stack); and
wherein the PDCP layer comprises at least one of the following functions: security protection, reordering, duplicate detection, or serial number (SN) maintenance (¶ 0190, “In an example, services and functions of the PDCP layer for the user plane may comprise sequence numbering, header compression and decompression, transfer of user data, reordering and duplicate detection, PDCP PDU routing (e.g. in case of split bearers), retransmission of PDCP SDUs, ciphering, deciphering and integrity protection, PDCP SDU discard, PDCP re-establishment and data recovery for RLC AM, and/or duplication of PDCP PDUs.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Kittichokechai with the invention of Babei, as the system has a PDCP layer, it would be obvious to do all the functions of that layer as they would be expected in the system.
With respect to Claim 14, Kittichokechai in view of Babei teaches the system of claim 1, wherein a control plane protocol stack exists between the zero power terminal and the access network node, and comprises a RRC layer and a PHY layer;
wherein the RRC layer comprises at least one of the following functions:
transmission of RRC signaling for carrying at least one of downlink signaling or uplink signaling; segmentation of RRC signaling to be transmitted into segments,
each segment corresponding to a respective segmentation number;
wherein the RRC signaling is associated with a serial number;
multiplexing of at least one of data or signaling;
demultiplexing of at least one of data or signaling;
submitting of a transport block (TB) to the PHY layer;
or segmentation of a TB.
Babaei teaches wherein a control plane protocol stack exists between the zero power terminal and the access network node, and comprises a RRC layer and a PHY layer (Figure 2b, control plane protocol stack);
wherein the RRC layer comprises at least one of the following functions:
transmission of RRC signaling for carrying at least one of downlink signaling or uplink signaling (¶ 0191, “In an example, services and functions of RRC may comprise broadcast of system information related to AS and NAS, paging initiated by 5 GC or RAN, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE and RAN, security functions including key management, establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of Signaling Radio Bearers (SRBs) and Data Radio Bearers (DRBs), mobility functions, QoS management functions, UE measurement reporting and control of the reporting, detection of and recovery from radio link failure, and/or NAS message transfer to/from NAS from/to a UE.”);
segmentation of RRC signaling to be transmitted into segments,
each segment corresponding to a respective segmentation number;
wherein the RRC signaling is associated with a serial number;
multiplexing of at least one of data or signaling;
demultiplexing of at least one of data or signaling;
submitting of a transport block (TB) to the PHY layer;
or segmentation of a TB.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Kittichokechai with the invention of Babei, as the system has a PDCP layer, it would be obvious to do all the functions of that layer as they would be expected in the system.
With respect to Claim 16, Kittichokechai in view of Babei teaches the system of claim 12, wherein the NAS layer is configured to transmit NAS signaling for performing at least one of:
carrying at least one of data or signaling;
information reporting from the zero power terminal to the core network node; or
information transmission from the core network node to the zero power terminal.
Babaei teaches wherein the NAS layer is configured to transmit NAS signaling for performing at least one of:
carrying at least one of data or signaling (¶ 0191, “In an example, NAS control protocol (e.g. 231 and 251) may be terminated in the wireless device and AMF (e.g. 130) on a network side and may perform functions such as authentication, mobility management between a UE and a AMF for 3GPP access and non-3GPP access, and session management between a UE and a SMF for 3GPP access and non-3GPP access.”);
information reporting from the zero power terminal to the core network node; or
information transmission from the core network node to the zero power terminal.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Kittichokechai with the invention of Babei, as the system has a PDCP layer, it would be obvious to do all the functions of that layer as they would be expected in the system.
With respect to Claim 19, the claim is the method corresponding to the system of claim 1, and are rejected accordingly.
With respect to Claim 20, the claim is the zero power terminal corresponding to the system of claim 1, and are rejected accordingly.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kittichokechai et al. (U.S. 2024/0406862), hereinafter Kittichokechai in view of Babaei et al. (U.S. 2020/0100170), hereinafter Babaei, in view of Yang (U.S. 2020/0358320).
With respect to Claim 3, Kittichokechai in view of Babei teaches the system of claim 2, wherein the power harvesting module is a radio frequency (RF) power harvesting module (¶ 0012 – 0013, “Instead, it harvests energy from the ambient energy sources such as light, motion, RF signals, heat, etc.”), and
Kittichokechai fails to explicitly teach the communication module is configured to perform the signal transmission between the zero power terminal and the access network node through back scattering communication.
Yang teaches the communication module is configured to perform the signal transmission between the zero power terminal and the access network node through back scattering communication (¶ 0020, reverse diffraction communication (backscatter), and ¶ 0016 “When the energy of a certain node is insufficient, passive transmission can be carried out with adjacent nodes, and when determining which nodes can be transmitted by reverse diffraction, assuming that ζ is threshold value of node reverse diffraction, the node can conduct reverse diffraction when incidence radio frequency energy is above the threshold value; assuming that p is active radio frequency transmission power, g is channel loss between two nodes, that is, when node k conducts an active transmission, incident energy of node i needs to satisfy the following formula to conduct reverse diffraction communication: pg.sub.ki≥ζ.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Yang which teaches the use of reverse diffraction communications as it reduces the necessary power for communication.
Claim(s) 5, 6, 17 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kittichokechai et al. (U.S. 2024/0406862), hereinafter Kittichokechai in view of Babaei et al. (U.S. 2020/0100170), hereinafter Babaei, in view of 3GPP TS 23.501 (2021-06), hereinafter 3GPP
With respect to Claim 5, Kittichokechai in view of Babei teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the data center node is configured to store at least one of:
subscription data of the zero power terminal , or a communication-related configuration of the zero power terminal, and
wherein the communication-related configuration comprises at least one of:
a bearer configuration,
a zero power terminal identity,
a security configuration, or
a service identity.
3GPP from the same or similar field of endeavor the data center node is configured to store at least one of:
subscription data of the zero power terminal (page 402, “The Unified Data Management (UDM) includes support for the following functionality… Subscription management.), or a communication-related configuration of the zero power terminal, and
wherein the communication-related configuration comprises at least one of:
a bearer configuration,
a zero power terminal identity,
a security configuration, or
a service identity.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Kittichokechai with the 3GPP standard as compliance with a standard greatly improves industrial applicability
With respect to Claim 6, Kittichokechai in view of Babei teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the service control node is configured to perform at least one of:
configuring a service-related configuration of the zero power terminal
managing a zero power terminal identity of the zero power terminal; or
managing services of the zero power terminal, and
wherein the managing the services of the zero power terminal comprises at least one of:
enabling at least one of the services of the zero power terminal; or
disabling at least one of the services of the zero power terminal.
3GPP from the same or similar field of endeavor teaches the service control node is configured to perform at least one of:
configuring a service-related configuration of the zero power terminal;
managing a zero power terminal identity of the zero power terminal (page 81, “An AMF associates multiple access-specific RM contexts for an UE with… a 5G-GUTI that is common to both 3GPP and Non-3GPP accesses. This 5G-GUTI is globally unique.”)
; or
managing services of the zero power terminal, and
wherein the managing the services of the zero power terminal comprises at least one of:
enabling at least one of the services of the zero power terminal; or
disabling at least one of the services of the zero power terminal.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Kittichokechai with the 3GPP standard as compliance with a standard greatly improves industrial applicability
With respect to Claim 17, Kittichokechai in view of Babei teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the zero power terminal corresponds to a data transmission mode including at least one of a first transmission mode or a second transmission mode, wherein the first transmission mode includes:
data transmission between the zero power terminal and the access network node through radio resource control (RRC) signaling; and
data transmission between the access network node and the core network node through next generation application protocol (NGAP) signaling, and
wherein the second transmission mode includes:
data transmission between the zero power terminal and the access network node through a data resource bearer (DRB); and
data transmission between the access network node and the core network node through a general packet radio service tunneling protocol (GTP) tunnel.
3GPP from the same or similar field of endeavor teaches data transmission between the access network node and the core network node through next generation application protocol (NGAP) signaling (page 458, section 8.2.1.1, “The connection of multiple different kinds of 5G-AN (e.g. 3GPP RAN, N3IWF for Un-trusted access to 5GC) to the 5GC via a unique Control Plane protocol: A single NGAP protocol is used for both the 3GPP access and non-3GPP access;”), and
wherein the second transmission mode includes:
data transmission between the zero power terminal and the access network node through a data resource bearer (DRB); and
data transmission between the access network node and the core network node through a general packet radio service tunneling protocol (GTP) tunnel.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Kittichokechai with the 3GPP standard as compliance with a standard greatly improves industrial applicability
With respect to Claim 18, Kittichokechai in view of Babei teaches the system of claim 17, wherein the core network node is configured to transmit data from the zero power terminal to the service control node or transmit data from at least one zero power terminal comprising the zero power terminal to the service control node, based on an address of the service control node.
3GPP teaches wherein the core network node is configured to transmit data from the zero power terminal to the service control node or transmit data from at least one zero power terminal comprising the zero power terminal to the service control node, based on an address of the service control node (page 399, section 6.2.6.2, “FQDN or IP address of NF.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Kittichokechai with the 3GPP standard as compliance with a standard greatly improves industrial applicability
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kittichokechai et al. (U.S. 2024/0406862), hereinafter Kittichokechai et al. (U.S. 2024/0406862), hereinafter Kittichokechai in view of Babaei et al. (U.S. 2020/0100170), hereinafter Babaei.
With respect to Claim 7, Kittichokechai in view of Babei teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the zero power terminal has a zero power terminal identity that comprises at least one of a zero power service identity, a terminal group identity, or a terminal identity, and
wherein the zero power service identity comprises at least one of:
a country code, a district code, a service category, a service group identity or a service identity.
Elkotby from the same or similar field of endeavor teaches 7, the zero power terminal has a zero power terminal identity that comprises at least one of a zero power service identity, a terminal group identity (¶ 0138, “LP-WUS configuration as any of sequence-based/DCI-based, group identifiers, and monitoring periodicity, e.g., duty-cycled or continuous.”), or a terminal identity, and
wherein the zero power service identity comprises at least one of:
a country code, a district code, a service category, a service group identity or a service identity
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of combine the invention of Elktoby which teaches optimizing signaling in order to increase performance in the system of Kittichokechai.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks, filed August 7, 2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 2, 4, 9-11, 19, 20 under 35 USC 102(a)(1) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Babaei (U.S. 2020/0100170)
In response to the argument, the effective filing date of the present application is July 30, 2021. In contrast, Elkotby has a provisional filing date of January 10, 2022, and a formal filing date of June 14, 2022. Since all potential dates of Elkotby chronologically post-date July 30, 2021, Elkotby fails to pre-date the present application and cannot qualify as prior art under 35 U.S.C. § 102 to establish an obviousness rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Examiner disagrees, Elkotby has multiple provisional applications:
63/210,224 which was filed on June 14, 2021.
63/297,890 which was filed on January 10, 2022.
Examiner submits that the provisional application of Elkotby predates the effective filing date, and is therefore valid prior art.
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.
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/ANGELA NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2479
