DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1 – 2, 6, 9, 17 – 18, 22 and 35 have been amended.
Claims 12 – 16, 25 – 34 and 36 are canceled.
Claims 1 – 11, 17 – 24 and 35 have been examined and are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/13/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 1 – 11, 17 – 24 and 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0303941 to Xu et al. (hereinafter Xu) and US Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0292326 to Jung et al. (hereinafter Jung).
Claim 1, Xu discloses (¶2) method performed by a user equipment (UE) operating in a paging discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle, wherein the DRX cycle includes a paging occasion (PO), which further includes:
method for determining a resource location, comprising (Xu (Fig. 4) discloses a method for a wireless communication device to process a wake-up signal (WUS) and paging reception (¶46) where the UE 110 determines a WUS occasion location in time, ¶48)
obtaining configuration information (Xu discloses (¶41-¶45) the UE 110 is configured to monitor for a WUS, and UE receives, via system information or RRC signaling, parameters indicating the WUS search space and monitoring window. The WUS includes configuration (i.e. indication ¶17, ¶54) which provides the basis of how the UE 110 operates)
and determining a first resource location according to the configuration information (Xu discloses the UE determines the resource location (¶48 -¶50) of the WUS based on a paging frame or paging occasion offset and the configured WUS parameters. The UE 110 determines a WUS occasion location in time and a (paging occasion) PO location in time based on information from the network or from preconfigured information)
wherein the first resource location is used for a terminal in a first state to monitor a first wake-up signal (WUS) (Xu discloses (¶48-¶56) the UE in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE monitors the WUS in the determined monitoring window. The UE 110 receives a WUS at the WUS occasion)
and the first WUS is used for triggering transition of the terminal to a second state from the first state (Xu discloses (¶50 - ¶60) upon detecting the contents of the WUS at 425, the UE transitions from idle/inactive to connected state to receive paging. In conclusion, Xu discloses obtaining configuration information (explicit/implicit signaling or preconfigured offset), determining a WUS monitoring location, monitoring WUS in an idle state, and transitioning to active mode based on WUS detection.)
Xu does not explicitly disclose wherein the configuration information comprises first offset information, and the first offset information is used for configuring an offset from a paging frame (PF) to a starting position of the first resource location.
However, in an analogous art, Jung teaches:
wherein the configuration information (Jung teaches (¶124) UE 205 receiving PDCCH monitoring configuration provided by a network entity 210 is based on a Paging Frame) comprises first offset information (Jung teaches (¶124) a time offset value), and the first offset information is used for configuring an offset from a paging frame (PF) to a starting position of the first resource location (Jung teaches (¶124) UE 205 may receive a time offset value with respect to the start of the Paging Frame of the UE 205. Jung teaches (Figs. 4a-4b, ¶149) the indication within the PPS-PDCCH configuration parameter informs the UE 205 whether the UE 205 has to wake-up for paging DCI monitoring in a following number of paging/DRX cycles before the next PPS-PDCCH monitoring occasion.)
It would have been obvious as of the effective filing date to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine method for determining a resource location, comprising, obtaining configuration information, and determining a first resource location according to the configuration information, wherein the first resource location is used for a terminal in a first state to monitor a first wake-up signal (WUS), and the first WUS is used for triggering transition of the terminal to a second state from the first state, as disclosed by Xu, and wherein the configuration information comprises first offset information, and the first offset information is used for configuring an offset from a paging frame (PF) to a starting position of the first resource location, as taught by Jung, for the purpose of dynamically (¶116) using the first DCI to indicate to the UE 205 whether to monitor the paging DCI on an upcoming paging occasion(s) of a paging/DRX cycle(s) or during an upcoming system information modification period(s) may be used to reduce power consumption of the UE 205, thereby allowing the UE 205 to avoid an unnecessary wake-up for the measurements on a suitable SSB and for blind decoding of the paging DCI.
Claim 2, Xu in view of Jung discloses all the elements of claim 1. Further, it discloses:
wherein the configuration information further comprises at least one of: paging configuration parameter information, monitoring window length parameter information, or wake-up configuration parameter information (Xu discloses (¶45 - ¶50) the WUS resource is determined according to configuration parameters including the paging configuration (PF/PO), the duration of the monitoring window, and an offset from the PO; WUS configuration information is provided by RRC)
wherein the paging configuration parameter information is used for configuring a PF or a paging occasion (PO) (Xu discloses (¶56,58) the UE determines the PO based on the paging configuration and its UE ID, as defined in the RRC signaling)
the monitoring window length parameter information is used for configuring a length of a monitoring window for the first WUS (Xu discloses fig. 3, (¶48) the monitoring duration for the WUS is indicated in configuration, defining the length of the WUS monitoring window)
the wake-up configuration parameter information is used for configuring the first resource location (Xu discloses (¶50) an offset value relative to the PO determines the starting position of the WUS monitoring resource. Xu discloses (¶52) WUS configuration information received from the network specifies the exact monitoring resource to be used by the UE.)
The motivation to combine the references is similar to the reasons in Claim 1.
Claim 3, Xu in view of Jung discloses all the elements of claim 2. Further, it discloses:
wherein in response to the configuration information comprising the paging configuration parameter information (Xu discloses (¶48) the UE 110 determines a WUS occasion location in time and a PO location in time based on information from the network or from preconfigured information) determining the first resource location according to the configuration information comprises (Xu discloses (¶48) once the PO is known the WUS occasion may be derived)
determining a first PF or a first PO according to the paging configuration parameter information and device identity (ID) information of the terminal (Xu discloses (¶48) the UE determines the PO based on the paging configuration and its UE identity, as in legacy paging mechanisms) and taking the first PF or the first PO as the first resource location (Xu discloses (¶48) the WUS occasion may be derived at a predetermined offset from the PO, or the PO itself may be used as the reference occasion).
The motivation to combine the references is similar to the reasons in Claim 1.
Claim 4, Xu in view of Jung discloses all the elements of claim 2. Further, it discloses:
wherein in response to the configuration information comprising the paging configuration parameter information and the monitoring window length parameter information (Xu discloses (¶49) the WUS monitoring duration (window length) is configured, such that the UE monitors WUS within the defined monitoring window associated with the PO) determining the first resource location according to the configuration information comprises (Xu discloses (¶48) discloses the UE 110 determines a WUS occasion location in time and a PO location in time)
determining a second PF or a second PO according to the paging configuration parameter information and device ID information of the terminal (Xu discloses (¶48) the UE determines the PO based on the paging configuration and its UE identity, as in legacy paging mechanisms)
determining the starting position of the first resource location according to the second PF or the second PO (Xu discloses (¶48) the WUS may be located at a predetermined offset from the PO and thus, once the PO is known the WUS occasion may be derived) and
determining the first resource location according to the starting position of the first resource location and the monitoring window length parameter information (Xu discloses (¶49) the WUS monitoring duration (window length) is configured, such that the UE monitors WUS within the defined monitoring window associated with the PO).
The motivation to combine the references is similar to the reasons in Claim 1.
Claim 5, Xu in view of Jung discloses all the elements of claim 4. Further, it discloses:
wherein the starting position of the first resource location is one of: a 1st physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring occasion in the second PO (Xu discloses (¶42,48) the WUS may be transmitted in a particular search space, such as a PDCCH monitoring occasion aligned with the PO) a 1st time slot in the second PO (Xu discloses (¶48) the WUS may be located at a predetermined offset such as the first slot of the PO) a 1st orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol in the second PO (Xu discloses (¶42,48) the WUS may be mapped to a specific OFDM symbol within the paging occasion) a subframe in which the second PO is located (Xu discloses (¶48) the PO subframe provides the reference for WUS placement), or a system frame in which the second PF is located (Xu discloses (¶48) the PO or PF frame number serves as the anchor to determine WUS occurrence.)
The motivation to combine the references is similar to the reasons in Claim 1.
Claim 6, Xu in view of Jung discloses all the elements of claim 2. Further, it discloses:
wherein in response to the configuration information comprising the paging configuration parameter information, the monitoring window length parameter information, and the first offset information, determining the first resource location according to the configuration information comprises (Xu discloses (¶45 - ¶52) discloses the WUS may be located at a predetermined offset from the PO and thus, once the PO is known the WUS occasion may be derived. The WUS monitoring duration (window length) is configured, such that the UE monitors WUS within the defined monitoring window associated with the PO)
determining the first resource location according to the starting position of the first resource location and the monitoring window length parameter information (Xu discloses (¶49) the WUS monitoring duration (window length) is configured.)
Xu does not explicitly disclose determining a third PF according to the paging configuration parameter information and device ID information of the terminal, determining the starting position of the first resource location according to the first offset information and the third PF.
However, in an analogous art, Jung teaches:
determining a third PF (Jung ¶105-110 teaches parameters for the calculation of PF) according to the paging configuration parameter information (Jung teaches ¶105-110 configuration parameters to determine and calculate the PF, for e.g. the DRX cycle of the UE, N: number of total paging frames, Ns: number of paging occasions, PF offset: offset used for PF determination) and device ID information of the terminal (Jung teaches ¶105-110, UE_ID: SG-S-TMSI mod 1024)
determining the starting position (Jung teaches ¶123-¶124 before a start of a corresponding paging cycle a UE 205 identifies the at least one PDCCH monitoring occasion of the DCI format intended for the UE 205 based on the Paging Frame (PF) of the UE 205 and additionally based on a cell-specifically configured timing offset value or on a UE-specifically configured timing offset value) of the first resource location according to the first offset information and the third PF (Jung teaches (¶124-¶125) UE 205 receive a time offset value with respect to the start of the Paging Frame of the UE 205. Jung teaches (Figs. 4a-4b, ¶149) the indication within the PPS-PDCCH configuration parameter informs the UE 205 whether the UE 205 has to wake-up for paging DCI monitoring in a following number of paging/DRX cycles before the next PPS-PDCCH monitoring occasion.)
The motivation to combine the references is similar to the reasons in Claim 1.
Claim 7, Xu in view of Jung discloses all the elements of claim 2. Further, it discloses:
wherein the wake-up configuration parameter information comprises at least one of: a first configuration parameter, a second configuration parameter, or a third configuration parameter (Xu discloses (¶49) the WUS configuration includes parameters that define the WUS start, duration, and periodicity) wherein the first configuration parameter is used for configuring the starting position of the first resource location (Xu discloses (¶48) an offset relative to the PO provides the starting position of the WUS) the second configuration parameter is used for configuring the length of the monitoring window for the first WUS (Xu discloses (¶49) the WUS monitoring duration (window length) is configured) the third configuration parameter is used for configuring a period of the monitoring window for the first WUS (Xu discloses (¶49) the configuration may also define how frequently the WUS monitoring window repeats relative to the PO.)
The motivation to combine the references is similar to the reasons in Claim 1.
Claim 8, Xu in view of Jung discloses all the elements of claim 2. Further, it discloses:
wherein in response to the configuration information comprising the wake-up configuration parameter information, determining the first resource location according to the configuration information comprises (Xu discloses (¶49) the WUS monitoring resource is determined according to the configuration provided by the network) determining, by the terminal, the first resource location according to the wake-up configuration parameter information (Xu discloses (¶44 - ¶52) at 405, the UE determines a WUS occasion location… based on configuration (offset, window length, periodicity.)
The motivation to combine the references is similar to the reasons in Claim 1.
Claim 9, Xu in view of Jung discloses all the elements of claim 1. Further, it discloses:
wherein the first state comprises a deep sleep state, a power-off state, or a flight mode state (Xu discloses (¶49) the UE operates in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE prior to WUS reception); and the second state comprises a radio resource control (RRC) idle state, an RRC inactive state, or an RRC connected state (Xu discloses (¶49) upon receiving a WUS, the UE transitions to connected mode to receive paging.)
The motivation to combine the references is similar to the reasons in Claim 1.
Claim 10, Xu in view of Jung discloses all the elements of claim 1. Further, it discloses:
wherein power consumption of the terminal in the first state is lower than power consumption of the terminal in the second state (Xu discloses (¶5, ¶49) the WUS design reduces UE power consumption by allowing the device to remain in sleep until paging is expected, consuming less power in the idle state compared to the connected state).
The motivation to combine the references is similar to the reasons in Claim 1.
Claim 11, Xu in view of Jung discloses all the elements of claim 1. Further, it discloses:
wherein the configuration information is carried in a system message, or the configuration information is configured by an RRC layer or an upper layer (Xu discloses (¶48) the WUS monitoring resource is indicated by the network using explicit or implicit signaling such as RRC signaling or system information broadcast.)
The motivation to combine the references is similar to the reasons in Claim 1.
Claim 17, do not teach or further define over the limitations in Claim 1. Therefore, claim 17 is rejected for the same rationale of rejection as set forth in Claim 1.
Claim 18, do not teach or further define over the limitations in Claim 2. Therefore, claim 18 is rejected for the same rationale of rejection as set forth in Claim 2.
Claim 19, do not teach or further define over the limitations in Claim 3. Therefore, claim 19 is rejected for the same rationale of rejection as set forth in Claim 3.
Claim 20, do not teach or further define over the limitations in Claim 4. Therefore, claim 20 is rejected for the same rationale of rejection as set forth in Claim 4.
Claim 21, do not teach or further define over the limitations in Claim 5. Therefore, claim 21 is rejected for the same rationale of rejection as set forth in Claim 5.
Claim 22, do not teach or further define over the limitations in Claim 6. Therefore, claim 22 is rejected for the same rationale of rejection as set forth in Claim 6.
Claim 23, do not teach or further define over the limitations in Claim 3. Therefore, claim 23 is rejected for the same rationale of rejection as set forth in Claim 7.
Claim 24, do not teach or further define over the limitations in Claim 8. Therefore, claim 24 is rejected for the same rationale of rejection as set forth in Claim 8.
Claim 35, do not teach or further define over the limitations in Claim 1. Therefore, claim 35 is rejected for the same rationale of rejection as set forth in Claim 1.
Response to Arguments
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
Applicant’s arguments and amendments, filed on 12/10/2025 with respect to the Claims 1 – 11, 17 – 24 and 35 have been fully considered and they are persuasive. Hence, the 35 USC § 102 rejection is withdrawn. However, based on the claim amendments and the newly introduced limitations, the search is updated and a new reference (US Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0292326 to Jung et al.) is being introduced for the 35 USC § 103 rejection.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HASSAN ABDUR-RAHMAN KHAN whose telephone number is (313)446-6574. The examiner can normally be reached TEAPP - (M-Sa) 9/30/17-9/30/18, 6am-10pm IFP.
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/H. A. K./
Examiner, Art Unit 2451
/Chris Parry/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2451
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