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 .
Claims 1, 6, 8-11, 15 and 17 have been amended.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments filed 02/09/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant adds new limitation “the feature list comprising an applicable list of UE features identified from feature-specific information elements (IEs) or configurations” and states that presented claim language overcomes the applied references.” Remarks, pages 7-8.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees and point out that the language “the feature list comprising an applicable list of UE features identified from feature-specific information elements (IEs) or configurations” is disclosed in the applied references as discussed below.
In addition, Applicant has not argued any narrower interpretation of the claim language, nor amended the claims significantly enough to cite a narrower meaning to the limitations. As the claims area allows multiple interpretations and meanings, which are broader than Applicant's disclosure, the Examiner is urged to interpret the claim limitations as broadly as reasonable in determining patentability of the disclosed invention.
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 (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.
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.
Claims 1-8 and 12-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagano (US 20240073863) in view of Reial et al (US 20240381307).
Regarding claim 1, Nagano discloses a method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (Figure 1, e.g., item 10, Figure 14 and [0028]: “smartphone”), comprising:
receiving a paging early indicator (PEI) downlink control information (DCI) message indicating a plurality of paging occasions for monitoring by UE subgroups ([0008], A terminal receives system information, … for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring of a downlink control information (DCI) format including a field indicative of a subgroup targeted for paging in a period for paging; [0064], where the subgrouping is performed, to indicate in advance, to the terminal 10, a subgroup targeted for paging in a paging period (hereinafter referred to as “paging early indication (PEI)”);
receiving each paging occasion indicated in the PEI DCI message ([0068], in FIG. 3A, one or more PEIs (here three PEIs) correspond to one PO, … the base station 20 may configure a time offset by an RRC parameter, and the terminal 10 may monitor PDCCH for a DCI format including PEI in a monitoring occasion determined based on the time offset thus configured); and
monitoring a paging occasion indicated in the PEI DCI message ([0068], and the terminal 10 may monitor PDCCH for a DCI format including PEI in a monitoring occasion determined based on the time offset thus configured) and in response to the UE belonging to a UE subgroup associated with the paging occasion ([0069], the terminal 10 may start monitoring of PDCCH for a DCI format including PEI at a symbol after 10 slots; [0079], Here, in the first operation and the second operation, to perform monitoring in a given paging period may include the meaning of monitoring of PDCCH for a DCI format (for example, DCI format 1_0 to which a CRC parity bit scrambled by P-RNTI is added) subjected to CRC scrambling by specific RNTI (for example, P-RNTI) in the given paging period).
Nagano does not expressly disclose a feature mapping DCI message including a mapping between a feature list, and in response to the UE supporting a feature mapped to the paging occasion and the feature list comprising an applicable list of UE features identified from feature-specific information elements (IEs) or configurations.
However, Reial, discloses feature mapping DCI message including a mapping between a feature list ([0088], information in conjunction with signaling of a Paging Early Indicator, PEI, to at least one of a plurality of wireless devices, WDs, included in a paging group, is provided, …, and [0087], the plurality of WDs are distributed randomly among the N paging subgroups. … the plurality of WDs are distributed among the N paging subgroups based at least in part on at least one of: type of WD, a WD radio resource control, RRC, state, and a respective paging probability associated with each WD. The method includes mapping multiple paging subgroups to different time/frequency locations, …), and in response to the UE supporting a feature mapped to the paging occasion ([0121], node 16 is configured to include a TRS unit 32 which is configured to generate a tracking reference signal, TRS, based at least in part on a minimization of a total number of TRS sequences and at least in part on an optimization of a paging early indicator, PEI, sequence detection, … device 22 is configured to include a paging unit 34 which is configured to determine a number of subgroups in a same paging occasion based at least in part on received resource mapping configurations), the feature list comprising an applicable list of UE features identified from feature-specific information elements (IEs) or configurations” (Reial further discloses “the WD 22 may be provided with the necessary configuration parameters related to one TRS, e.g., the list below being an example of such a list though the WD 22 may be configured with a subset of these or potentially additional parameters if needed: … “, see [0176-[0177]). The Examiner submits that given the broadest reasonable interpretation, the “WD 22 being provided with the necessary configuration parameters related to one TRS, e.g., the list below being an example of such a list though the WD 22 may be configured with a subset of these or potentially additional parameters if needed” can reasonable be interpreted as “the feature list comprising an applicable list of UE features identified from feature-specific information elements (IEs) or configurations.” Thus, cited portions read on the argued limitation.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Nagano with Reial’s mapping performance in order to minimize a duration of a PEI monitoring window and providing feature list comprising an applicable list of UE features identified from feature-specific information elements (IEs) or configurations for optimizing network resource distribution and ensuring uniform compatibility between the User Equipment and the base station.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Nagano with Reial in order to increase the wireless device’s power savings and enhance system performance.
Regarding claim 2, in the obvious combination, Nagano discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising skipping monitoring of the paging occasion in response to the UE not supporting the feature mapped to the paging occasion ([0097], the terminal 10 monitors paging DCI in PO #0 in which subgroup #1 is included in the paging targets, but the terminal 10 may skip monitoring of paging DCI in PO #1 and PO #2 in which subgroup #1 is not included in the paging targets).
Regarding claim 3, in the obvious combination, Nagano discloses the method of claim 1, in which the PEI DCI message and the feature mapping DCI message each have a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) code scrambled with a same PEI radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) ([0108], in a DCI format, for example, DCI format 1_0 subjected to CRC scrambling by P-RNTI).
Regarding claim 4, in the obvious combination, Reial discloses the method of claim 1, in which the PEI DCI message and the feature mapping DCI message each include a bit indicating whether a message payload corresponds to the PEI DCI message ([0153] Additional information (M bits) may refer to one-to-many PO mapping information where one PEI may indicate: a possible presence of paging in multiple different upcoming POs or in multiple paging periods for a given PO, TRS availability to idle mode WDs 22,) or the feature mapping DCI message).
Regarding claim 5, in the obvious combination, Nagano discloses the method of claim 1, in which receiving the PEI DCI message and receiving the feature mapping DCI message occur during a same PEI occasion in different physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring occasions per a synchronization signal block (SSB) ([0066], as illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B, a PDCCH monitoring occasion for PEI (hereinafter referred to as a “PEI monitoring occasion”) may be determined based on an SS burst, an SS burst set, and/or a time location of a PO. The terminal 10 may detect SSB in one or more SS bursts and perform time and frequency synchronization for the PO).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Nagano and Reial, does not expressly disclose in which the feature list includes an extra bit corresponding to non-featured UEs. However, the concept of non-featured is known in the art as to be handled via fallback DCI, which UE capabilities are managed in DCI. Therefore, it would have been obvious to the POSITA to modify Nagano in view of Rial to include this functionality, the rationale being to enable backward compatibility and to adjust the DCI payload size for optimized power saving and detection performance.
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Nagano and Reial, does not expressly disclose transmitting UE capability information that indicates support of paging occasion to feature list mapping. However, the concept of Transmitting UE capability information that indicates support of paging occasion to feature list mapping, per 3GPP release 16 and 17 +features, such as Early paging indication or enhanced power saving. Therefore, it would have been obvious to the POSITA to modify Nagano in view of Rial to include this functionality, the rationale being to inform the network that the UE is able to map specific paging occasion to actual configuration (feature), thus avoiding excessive complicated paging messages.
Regarding claim 8, Nagano discloses a method of wireless communication at a network device (Figure 1, base station 20), comprising:
transmitting a paging early indicator (PEI) downlink control information (DCI) message indicating a plurality of paging occasions for monitoring by user equipment (UE) subgroups ([0008], A terminal receives system information (from base station 20), … for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring of a downlink control information (DCI) format including a field indicative of a subgroup targeted for paging in a period for paging; [0064], where the subgrouping is performed, to indicate in advance, to the terminal 10, a subgroup targeted for paging in a paging period (hereinafter referred to as “paging early indication (PEI)”); paging occasion indicated in the PEI DCI message, after transmitting the PEI DCI message ([0068], in FIG. 3A, one or more PEIs (here three PEIs) correspond to one PO, … the base station 20 may configure a time offset by an RRC parameter, and the terminal 10 may monitor PDCCH for a DCI format including PEI in a monitoring occasion determined based on the time offset thus configured).
Nagano does not expressly disclose transmitting a feature mapping DCI message including a mapping feature list and the feature list comprising an applicable list of UE features identified from feature-specific information elements (IEs) or configurations.
However, Reial, discloses feature mapping DCI message including a mapping between a feature list ([0088], information in conjunction with signaling of a Paging Early Indicator, PEI, to at least one of a plurality of wireless devices, WDs, included in a paging group, is provided, …, and [0087], the plurality of WDs are distributed randomly among the N paging subgroups. … the plurality of WDs are distributed among the N paging subgroups based at least in part on at least one of: type of WD, a WD radio resource control, RRC, state, and a respective paging probability associated with each WD. The method includes mapping multiple paging subgroups to different time/frequency locations, … ; [0121], node 16 is configured to include a TRS unit 32 which is configured to generate a tracking reference signal, TRS, based at least in part on a minimization of a total number of TRS sequences and at least in part on an optimization of a paging early indicator, PEI, sequence detection, … device 22 is configured to include a paging unit 34 which is configured to determine a number of subgroups in a same paging occasion based at least in part on received resource mapping configurations), the feature list comprising an applicable list of UE features identified from feature-specific information elements (IEs) or configurations” (Reial further discloses “the WD 22 may be provided with the necessary configuration parameters related to one TRS, e.g., the list below being an example of such a list though the WD 22 may be configured with a subset of these or potentially additional parameters if needed: … “, see [0176-[0177]). The Examiner submits that given the broadest reasonable interpretation, the “WD 22 being provided with the necessary configuration parameters related to one TRS, e.g., the list below being an example of such a list though the WD 22 may be configured with a subset of these or potentially additional parameters if needed” can reasonable be interpreted as “the feature list comprising an applicable list of UE features identified from feature-specific information elements (IEs) or configurations.” Thus, cited portions read on the argued limitation.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Nagano with Reial’s mapping performance in order to minimize a duration of a PEI monitoring window and providing feature list comprising an applicable list of UE features identified from feature-specific information elements (IEs) or configurations for optimizing network resource distribution and ensuring uniform compatibility between the User Equipment and the base station.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Nagano with Reial in order to increase the wireless device’s power savings and enhance system performance.
Claim 12 contains subject matter similar to claim 3, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale. (Lake, “computer system includes a processor and memory 330 coupled to a computer”).
Claim 13 contains subject matter similar to claim 4, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale.
Claim 14 contains subject matter similar to claim 5, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale.
Claim 15 contains subject matter similar to claim 6, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale.
Claim 16 contains subject matter similar to claim 7, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale.
Claim 17 contains subject matter similar to claim 1, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale. (Nagano, Figure 14, items 10 (UE), 20 (base station), 30 (core network), to include processor 11 and storage device 12).
Claim 18 contains subject matter similar to claim 2, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale.
Claim 19 subject matter similar to claim 3, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale.
Claim 20 contains subject matter similar to claim 4, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-11 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claims 9-11 would be allowable because the closest prior art Nagano discloses
[0069], the terminal 10 may start monitoring of PDCCH for a DCI format including PEI at a symbol after 10 slots, and [0079], Here, in the first operation and the second operation, to perform monitoring in a given paging period may include the meaning of monitoring of PDCCH for a DCI format (for example, DCI format 1_0 to which a CRC parity bit scrambled by P-RNTI is added) subjected to CRC scrambling by specific RNTI (for example, P-RNTI) in the given paging period; and Reial discloses [0121], node 16 is configured to include a TRS unit 32 which is configured to generate a tracking reference signal, TRS, based at least in part on a minimization of a total number of TRS sequences and at least in part on an optimization of a paging early indicator, PEI, sequence detection, … device 22 is configured to include a paging unit 34 which is configured to determine a number of subgroups in a same paging occasion based at least in part on received resource mapping configurations, but the closest prior art either alone or in combination, fail to anticipate or render obvious a method or apparatus wherein
determining whether modifications in a paging message for a short message for system information modification are for feature specific information elements (IEs) or configurations; identifying an applicable list of features, based on the determining; and populating the applicable list of features into the mapping between the feature list and each paging occasion indicated in the PEI DCI message that carries the short message for system modification
(claim 9); storing a feature capability context of registered idle UEs for each subgroup and inactive UEs for each subgroup; generating a UE identity to feature capability map based on UE capability information from the idle UEs and the inactive UEs; and generating the mapping between the feature list and each paging occasion indicated in the PEI DCI message based on UE identities listed in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) paging message and the UE identity to feature list (claim 10); and determining whether modifications in a paging message for a short message for system information modification are for feature specific information elements (IEs) or configurations; identifying an applicable list of features, based on the determining; populating the applicable list of features into the mapping between the feature list and each paging occasion indicated in the PEI DCI message that carries the short message for system modification; storing a feature capability context of registered idle UEs for each subgroup and inactive UEs for each subgroup; generating a UE identity to feature capability map based on UE capability information from the idle UEs and the inactive UEs; and updating the mapping between the feature list and each paging occasion indicated in the PEI DCI message based on UE identities listed in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) paging message and the UE identity to feature list claim 10), as defined in the specification, in combination with all other limitations in the claim(s) as defined by applicant.
Conclusion
Applicants’ 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 JULIO R PEREZ whose telephone number is (571)272-7846. The examiner can normally be reached 10Am - 6PM EST M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kathy Wang-Hurst can be reached at 5712705371. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JULIO R PEREZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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