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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Applicant's communication filed on 01/10/2024. In virtue of this communication, claims 11 – 13, 16 have been canceled; claims 1 – 10, 14 have been amended; claims 17 – 24 have been newly added. Claims 1 – 10, 14 – 15, and 17 – 24 are currently pending in the instant application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
2. 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 of this title, 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.
3. Claims 1, 3, 5 – 9, 14, and 17 – 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gurumoorthy et al. (hereinafter “Gurumoorthy”) (Pub # US 2023/0015708 A1) in view of He et al. (hereinafter “He”) (Pub # US 2023/0007622 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 19, Gurumoorthy discloses a method / an apparatus operating as a user equipment (UE) (see UE 110 in Fig. 1, 2) in a cell (see gNB 120A in Fig. 1) of a radio access network (RAN) (see 5G NR RAN 120 and/or core network 130 in Fig. 1) and configured to manage paging subgrouping (see [0002] – [0005]), the apparatus comprising:
a transceiver (225 in Fig. 2); and processing hardware (205 in Fig. 2) configured to:
transmit, to the RAN, a registration message (see [0037] for the UE sends a registration request to the core network);
receive, from the RAN, a configuration for a paging subgroup (see [0002], [0003], [0038], [0039], [0041], [0042] for the UE receives paging configuration with a paging subgroup information in the registration accept message); and
monitor paging in the cell based at least on the configuration for the paging subgroup (see [0002], [0003], [0026], [0039], [0041], [0045] for the processor is configured to execute a paging monitoring engine to perform operations associated with monitoring for pages based on the paging configuration for the paging subgroup).
Gurumoorthy teaches that the UE advertises whether it supports paging subgroups to the network, and if the capability is not supported, the network broadcast a set of default paging occasions for the UE.
Gurumoorthy does not teach specifically that the UE transmits an indication of support for paging subgrouping.
In an analogous art, He discloses the UE transmits an indication of support for paging subgrouping (see He, 712 in FIG. 7, [0099], [0103] – [0105], [0127] for the UE transmits, to the network, an indication of UE capability indicating whether the UE supports the subgrouping assignment by the network, and the network determines the paging subgroup of the UE based on the indication of the UE capability).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made, to modify the invention of Gurumoorthy, and have the UE transmits an indication of support for paging subgrouping such that the network updates paging subgrouping of the UE based on the UE supports, i.e., UE paging assistance information (UPAI), thereby provides improvements in 5G NR technology, as discussed by He (see He, [0001], [0003]).
Regarding claims 3 and 21, Gurumoorthy in view of He disclose wherein receiving the configuration for the paging subgroup includes receiving the configuration for the paging subgroup in a registration accept message (see Gurumoorthy, [0038], [0039]).
Regarding claims 5 and 23, Gurumoorthy in view of He disclose receiving, at the UE from the RAN, a paging indication; and wherein monitoring the paging is further based on the paging indication (see Gurumoorthy, [0036], [0042], [0046] - [0048], [0053] for one or more bits indicating that there is a paging message for the UEs in the paging subgroup, then the UE wakeup during the paging occasion and monitor the paging occasion).
Regarding claims 6 and 24, Gurumoorthy in view of He disclose wherein transmitting the indication includes transmitting the indication in an uplink non-access stratum message (see Gurumoorthy, [0057], and see He, [0099], [0103], [0127] for the UE uses an NAS signaling to indicate the UE capability to the network). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made in order to provide improvements in 5G NR technology, as discussed by He (see He, [0001], [0003]).
Regarding claim 7, Gurumoorthy in view of He disclose transmitting the indication prior to transitioning from a connected state associated with a protocol for controlling radio resources (i.e., RRC) to an idle or inactive state associated with the protocol (see Gurumoorthy, Fig. 4, [0041] for the UE is in an RRC Connected state, and at a later time, the UE and the network will perform an RRC Connection Release procedure to transition the UE to the RRC Inactive (or Idle) state, see He, [0102] – [0109], FIG. 7 for indication of UE capability indicating sends before the change RRC connected to RRC idle/inactive). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made in order to provide improvements in 5G NR technology, as discussed by He (see He, [0001], [0003]).
Regarding claim 8, Gurumoorthy in view of He disclose transmitting the indication in response to at least one of: (i) determining that the UE is configured to support paging subgrouping for a public land mobile network (PLMN) with which the cell is associated, (ii) determining that the cell supports paging subgrouping, or (iii) selecting or reselecting the cell (see Gurumoorthy, [0036] for the network indicate whether the network supports paging subgroups to the UE, and see He, [0099], [0103] – [0105], [0127] for the UE transmits, to the network, an indication of UE capability indicating whether the UE supports the subgrouping assignment by the network). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made in order to provide improvements in 5G NR technology, as discussed by He (see He, [0001], [0003]).
Regarding claim 9, Gurumoorthy in view of He disclose wherein the monitoring comprises: monitoring paging in the cell in accordance with the configuration in at least one of: (i) an idle state associated with a protocol for controlling radio resources or (ii) an inactive state associated with a protocol for controlling radio resources (see Gurumoorthy, [0011], [0026], [0039], [0041] for the UE monitoring for paging while in the idle or inactive state based on the paging subgroup).
Regarding claim 14, Gurumoorthy discloses a method for managing paging subgrouping (see [0002] – [0005]) for a user equipment (UE) (see UE 110 in Fig. 1, 2), the method implemented in a core network (CN) (see core network 130 in Fig. 1) and comprising:
receiving, at the CN and from the UE, a registration message (see Fig. 3, [0037] for the UE sends a registration request to the core network);
transmitting, from the CN to the UE, a configuration for a paging subgroup (see [0004], [0013], [0039], [0042], [0045] for the network sending paging configuration for a paging subgroup to the UE in the registration accept message); and
transmitting, by the CN, a message to be paged to the UE according to the configuration for the paging subgroup (see [0045] - [0047] for the network sends paging messages to the UE according to the configuration information for the paging subgroup, i.e., time and/or frequency resources for each paging subgroup).
Gurumoorthy teaches that the UE advertises whether it supports paging subgroups to the network, and if the capability is not supported, the network broadcast a set of default paging occasions for the UE.
Gurumoorthy does not teach specifically that the UE transmits an indication of support for paging subgrouping.
In an analogous art, He discloses an indication of support for paging subgrouping for the UE (see He, 712 in FIG. 7, [0099], [0103] – [0105], [0127] for the network receives from the UE, an indication of UE capability indicating whether the UE supports the subgrouping assignment by the network, and the network determines the paging subgroup of the UE based on the indication of the UE capability).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made, to modify the invention of Gurumoorthy, and have network receives an indication of support for paging subgrouping such that the network updates paging subgrouping of the UE based on the UE supports, i.e., UE paging assistance information (UPAI), thereby provides improvements in 5G NR technology, as discussed by He (see He, [0001], [0003]).
Regarding claim 17, Gurumoorthy in view of He disclose wherein transmitting the message to be paged includes: transmitting, to a radio access network (RAN) node (see 5G NR RAN 120 and/or gNB 120 A in Fig. 1) associated with the CN, the message to be paged (see Gurumoorthy, [0021] – [0022], [0041] for the gNB exchange data and/or information with the cellular core network, and see He, abstract for the core network including an AMF, and see 734, 750 in FIG. 7, [0109], [0117] for the AMF transmit, to the base station, a message including an indication of an updated paging subgroup ID of the UE and paging notification associated with the paging subgroup ID). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made in order to provide improvements in 5G NR technology, as discussed by He (see He, [0001], [0003]).
Regarding claim 18, Gurumoorthy in view of He disclose determining whether a message addressed to a base station in a RAN associated with the CN (see gNB 120 A in a 5G NR RAN 120 in Fig. 1) and related to the UE should include the configuration based at least in part on whether the base station supports paging subgrouping (see Gurumoorthy, [0021] – [0022] for the gNB exchange data and/or information with the cellular core network, and see He, 734 in FIG. 7, [0109] for the AMF transmit, to the base station, a message including an indication of an updated paging subgroup ID of the UE, and see [0095], [0097] for the base stations that support or do not support the core network based paging subgroup assignment). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made in order to provide improvements in 5G NR technology, as discussed by He (see He, [0001], [0003]).
4. Claims 2, 4, 20, and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gurumoorthy et al. (hereinafter “Gurumoorthy”) (Pub # US 2023/0015708 A1) in view of He et al. (hereinafter “He”) (Pub # US 2023/0007622 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of He Meifang (WO2018/036455 A1).
Regarding claims 2 and 20, Gurumoorthy in view of He disclose receive, from the RAN, a message associated with a protocol for controlling radio resources (i.e., RRC), the message (i) indicating that the UE should transition to an idle or inactive state associated with the protocol (see Gurumoorthy, [0039] for the UE and the core network will perform an RRC Connection Release procedure that transitions the UE from the RRC Connected state to the RRC Idle (or Inactive) state) and (ii) including a list of cells that support paging subgrouping (see Gurumoorthy, [0021], [0036], [0042] for the network assigns the UE to a paging subgroup based on any number of criteria: the list of type of access (i.e., 3GPP or non 3GPP), thus cells or base stations, if this is question, using He Meifang as below).
In an analogous art, He Meifang discloses a list of cells that support paging subgrouping (see He Meifang, 4th paragraph in page 2, where He Meifang is discussing small cells is increasing and location update reporting is still based on the tracking range list, see claim 19 in page 21, where He Meifang is discussing that determine a paging area respectively corresponding to different speed levels of the terminal, wherein the higher the speed level, the corresponding the larger the range of paging areas, and see 4th paragraph in page 22 for the core network determines the number of the base stations to which the second-level paging area belongs, wherein the fourth paging message is sent in the second-level paging area when it is determined that the number of the base stations to which the sub-group belongs is greater than a preset threshold).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made, to modify the invention of Gurumoorthy/He, and have the number of the base stations (which the sub-group belongs) to which the second-level paging area belongs, thereby provides a paging procedure triggered by the RAN side to reduce the paging signaling load on the core network side, as discussed by He Meifang (see He Meifang, 1st paragraph in page 2).
Regarding claims 4 and 22, Gurumoorthy in view of He and He Meifang disclose specifically that subsequent to receiving the configuration, select or reselect a new cell; determine that the new cell supports paging subgrouping in response to determining that the cell and the new cell belong to a same RAN notification area (see steps 702, 704 in page 9 for the base station sends a different paging area to the terminal, the terminal selects a paging area selection according to the terminal status, i.e., the terminal selects a paging level at the cell level, that is, the terminal reselects to a new cell, indicating that a new paging range is entered, and see 4th paragraph in page 22 for the core network determines the number of the base stations to which the second-level paging area belongs, wherein the fourth paging message is sent in the second-level paging area when it is determined that the number of the base stations to which the sub-group belongs is greater than a preset threshold. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made in order to provide a paging procedure triggered by the RAN side to reduce the paging signaling load on the core network side, as discussed by He Meifang (see He Meifang, 1st paragraph in page 2).
5. Claims 10 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gurumoorthy et al. (hereinafter “Gurumoorthy”) (Pub # US 2023/0015708 A1) in view of He et al. (hereinafter “He”) (Pub # US 2023/0007622 A1) as applied to claims 1, 14 above, and further in view of Bakker (Patent # US 10,880,802 B1).
Regarding claim 10, Gurumoorthy in view of He disclose a method of claim 1 for using the configuration to monitor paging at the UE.
Gurumoorthy in view of He do not disclose specifically that determining, at the UE, to stop using the configuration to monitor paging in response to determining that the UE has established an emergency PDU session.
In an analogous art, Bakker discloses that determining, at the UE, to stop using the configuration to monitor paging in response to determining that the UE has established an emergency PDU session (see Bakker, col. 4 lines 43 – 56, col. 6 lines 21 – 41, where Bakker is discussing the UE determines that the one or more PDU sessions includes an emergency PDU session, the UE cannot use non-emergency services while it is so registered).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made, to modify the invention of Gurumoorthy/He, in which the UE using the configuration to monitor paging, and have determining, at the UE, to stop using service (i.e., using the configuration to monitor paging) in response to determining that the UE has established an emergency PDU session, thereby provides higher priority or higher Quality of Service for the emergency service, as discussed by Bakker (see Bakker, col. 1 lines 36 - 45).
Regarding claim 15, Gurumoorthy in view of He and Bakker disclose that wherein determining whether the message should include the configuration is further based on whether the UE does not have an emergency PDU session (see Gurumoorthy, [0036] for the network indicate whether the network supports paging subgroups to the UE, and see [0056] for the network configures the UE behavior, and see Baker, col. 4 lines 43 – 56, col. 6 lines 21 – 41, where Bakker is discussing the UE determines that the one or more PDU sessions includes an emergency PDU session, and the network not allow to use non-emergency services, thus it is obviously that the network should allow to use regular service (i.e., using the configuration to monitor paging as in claim 14) when the UE does not have an emergency PDU session. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made, to modify the invention of Gurumoorthy/He, in which the core network transmits a message to the UE according the configuration for paging subgroup according the mobility of the UE, and the UE does not have an emergency PDU session, thereby provides improvements mobility management in 5G access network, as discussed by Bakker (see Bakker, col. 2 lines 62 – 65, and col. 3 lines 5 - 10).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MONG-THUY THI TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-3199. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 9AM - 6PM (IFP).
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/MONG-THUY T TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645