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 .
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.
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to Application No. 18/420,899 filed on 24 January 2024. The response filed 17 June 2026 amends claims 1 and 17, cancels claims 4, 5, and 20, and presents arguments is acknowledged. Claims 1-3 and 6-19 are presented for examination.
Response to Arguments
Independent Claims 1 and 17
On page 6 of the response filed 17 June 2026, Applicant addresses the 35 U.S.C. 102 rejection made on the 17 March 2026 Non-Final Rejection. Applicant’s arguments, regarding the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102, have been fully considered.
On page 6, Applicant argues that the Li system fails to teach or suggest “transit the first radio entity to a non-power-saving state based on the indication.” Applicant argues that the independent claims have been amended to include the pertinent recitations of allowable claim 4. Examiner respectfully disagrees and finds this argument unpersuasive. Li, in paragraph 0089, states “When a wake-up signal is received from the WUR interface, the main radio interface is activated.” Further, paragraph 0112 states “the active state may be represented by an on state.” Therefore, Li discloses the amended limitation. Therefore, Examiner finds this argument unpersuasive.
Dependent Claims 2, 3, 6-16, 18, and 19
On page 6 of the response filed 17 June 2026, Applicant addresses the 35 U.S.C. 102 rejection made on the 17 March 2026 Non-Final Rejection. Applicant submits that these claims are allowable at least as depending from an allowable independent claim, and further in view of the amendments to the independent claims, and the comments provided above. As per the comments above, Examiner found the arguments unpersuasive.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-3, 6-14, and 16-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PGPUB 2021/0400590 A1 to Li et al and further in view of US PGPUB 2022/0159567 A1 to Yi et al.
Regarding Claim 1, Li discloses a terminal device (FIG. 2, UE 1), comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory comprising a computer program code; wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device (FIG. 2, UE 1) to: obtain, via a first radio entity in the terminal device, a configuration for a wake-up signal from a wireless network node (FIG. 2 and 0088 provides for UE obtains, via a main radio interface, a synchronization frame used to instruct user equipment to wake up from a base station/wireless network node); monitor, via a second radio entity in the terminal device, the wake-up signal from the wireless network node based at least on the configuration (FIG. 2 and 0089 provides for UE monitors, via WUR interface, for wake-up signals), wherein the first and second radio entities are different (FIG. 2 provides for the Main radio interface is different from the WUR interface); and activate the first radio entity based on an indication from the second radio entity (FIG. 2 and 0089 provides for UE activates the main radio interface after receiving the wake-up signal at the WUR interface). Li doesn’t explicitly disclose transit the first radio entity to a non-power-saving state based on the indication. Yi, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses transit the first radio entity to a non-power-saving state based on the indication (0403 and 0447 provides for a wireless device transitioning to a non-powering-saving state based on a response). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filed date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Yi for transitioning to a non-powering-saving state. The ON state transition of Yi, when implemented with the signal updates of the Li system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to configure an extended delay in order to extend the lifetime of a batter of the UE. Therefore, the examiner concludes it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to utilize the ON state transition of Yi with the signal updates of the Li system for the desirable purpose of improving the battery performance of a wireless device.
Regarding Claim 2, the Li/Yi system discloses the terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the first radio entity is a main radio of the terminal device for communicating with the wireless network node and the second radio entity is a radio receiver for receiving the wake-up signal from the wireless network node (Li, FIG. 2 and 0088-0089 provides for the main radio interface and the WUR interface).
Regarding Claim 3, the Li/Yi system discloses the terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processing core, cause the terminal device at least to: monitor, by the first radio entity, a downlink control channel from the wireless network node based on the indication (Li, 0124 provides for monitoring for descrambling the physical downlink control channel).
Regarding Claim 6, the Li/Yi system discloses the terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processing core, cause the terminal device at least to: acquire, by the first radio entity, the indication from the second radio entity (Li, FIG. 2 and 0088-0089 provides for UE activates the main radio interface after receiving the wake-up signal at the WUR interface).
Regarding Claim 7, the Li/Yi system discloses the terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the indication is based on the wake-up signal monitored at the second radio entity (Li, FIG. 2 and 0088-0089 provides for UE activates the main radio interface after receiving the wake-up signal at the WUR interface).
Regarding Claim 8, the Li/Yi system discloses the terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processing core, cause the terminal device at least to: provide, by the first radio entity to the second radio entity, information indicating when the second radio entity is to inform the first radio entity about the wake-up signal received at the second radio entity (Li, FIG. 2 and 0088-0089 provides for UE activates the main radio interface after receiving the wake-up signal at the WUR interface).
Regarding Claim 9, the Li/Yi system discloses the apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the information indicates when the wake-up signal is addressing the terminal device (Li, FIG. 2 and 0088-0089 and 0097 provides for UE activates the main radio interface after receiving the wake-up signal at the WUR interface corresponding to a wake-up window).
Regarding Claim 10, the Li/Yi system discloses the terminal device according to claim 8, wherein the information comprises an identification of the terminal device or an identification of a group which the terminal device is associated with (Li, 0113 provides for system information of a UE is updated).
Regarding Claim 11, the Li/Yi system discloses the terminal device according to claim 8, wherein the information comprises information about an occasion indicating the wake-up signal to be received at the second radio entity (Li, FIG. 2 and 0088-0089 and 0097 provides for UE activates the main radio interface after receiving the wake-up signal at the WUR interface corresponding to a wake-up window).
Regarding Claim 12, the Li/Yi system discloses the terminal device according to claim 8, wherein the occasion is preceded or associated with a paging occasion of the terminal device (Li, 0004 provides for a paging window).
Regarding Claim 13, the Li/Yi system discloses the terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processing core, cause the terminal device at least to: activate the first radio entity when the terminal device determines at least one of: a signal strength or quality of the wake-up signal is below a threshold; a rate of wake-up signal reception is below a threshold; the wake-up signal is not received after a certain number of occasions; the wake-up signal is not received for a certain amount of time (Li, 0097 provides for “the wake-up signal is only received within a time period corresponding to a wake-up window”); the terminal device performs handover; or the terminal device receives an indication indicating that the network does not support wake-up signalling.
Regarding Claim 14, the Li/Yi system discloses the terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processing core, cause the terminal device at least to: communicate, between the first radio entity and the second radio entity, via at least one of physical, medium access control or radio resource control layer of the terminal device or of the first radio entity (Li, 0088 provides for “a wake-up signal is a wake-up frame or a synchronization frame, and is used to instruct user equipment to wake up a main radio interface of the user equipment and instruct a main radio interface of the user equipment to receive updated system information”).
Regarding Claim 16, the Li/Yi system discloses the terminal device of according to claim 1, wherein communication between the first radio entity and the second radio entity is performed when the terminal device is in one of IDLE mode, INACTIVE mode (Li, 0089 provides for “The main radio interface is typically in an inactive state”), or CONNECTED mode.
Regarding Claim 17, similar rejection where the terminal device of claim 1 teaches the method of claim 17.
Regarding Claim 18, similar rejection where the terminal device of claim 2 teaches the method of claim 18.
Regarding Claim 19, similar rejection where the terminal device of claim 3 teaches the method of claim 19.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the Li/Yi system as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US PGPUB 2024/0064818 A1 to Demir et al.
Regarding Claim 15, the Li/Yi system discloses the terminal device according to claim 1. The Li/Yi system doesn’t explicitly disclose communicate, between the first radio entity and the second radio entity, via at least one of physical, medium access control or radio resource control layer of the first radio entity without specifying layer information on the second radio entity. Demir, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses communicate, between the first radio entity and the second radio entity, via at least one of physical, medium access control or radio resource control layer of the first radio entity without specifying layer information on the second radio entity (0189 provides for the information includes a range). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filed date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Demir for information contained in activation requests. The range of Demir, when implemented with the signal updates of the Li/Yi system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to not specify layer information in order to trigger a change in the UE. Therefore, the examiner concludes it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to utilize the range of Demir with the signal updates of the Li/Yi system for the desirable purpose of optimizing wake-up signals and updates in a network.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US Patent 12,556,348 B2 to Yi et al discloses transitioning to the dormant state.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SCHQUITA GOODWIN whose telephone number is (571)272-5477. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am - 5pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tonia Dollinger can be reached on (571) 272-4170. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SCHQUITA D GOODWIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2459
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