DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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 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.
Response to Remarks
2. This communication is considered fully responsive to the amendment filed on the 6th of July 2026.
(a). The objection(s) to Claims 12, 24, 28, 30 and 50 is/are withdrawn because the claims have been amended accordingly.
Response to Arguments
3. Applicant’s arguments (see pages 6-9) with respect to Claims 1, 9-13, 15, 17, 19, 24, 28, 30, 39, 47-51 and 53 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claims 1, 9, 19, 15, 17, 24, 28, 30, 39, 47, 48 and 53 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Publication No.: US 2022/0346014 A1 to Fei et al. (Fei), in view of Publication No.: US 2022/0279447 A1 to Zhou et al. (Zhou).
As to Claims 1 and 39, Fei discloses a terminal, comprising:
a processor (Fig. 8, ‘processor/processing unit 812’); and
a memory (Fig. 8, ‘memory/processing unit 812’) storing a computer program which, when executed by the processor, causes the terminal to:
determine a time-domain resource for a first signal and/or a frequency-domain resource for the first signal (‘in a possible design, that there is a correspondence between the first wake-up signal and the N ROs includes one or more of the following: There is a correspondence between a time domain resource of the first wake-up signal and the N ROs; there is a correspondence between a frequency domain resource of the first wake-up signal and the N Ros’, ¶ 0023), wherein the first signal is a wake-up signal (WUS) (‘the first wake-up signal is a wake-up signal whose received signal power is the highest in the K wake-up signals; the first wake-up signal is one of wake-up signals whose received signal power is greater than or equal to a first threshold in the K wake-up signals; the first wake-up signal is a wake-up signal whose received signal strength is the highest in the K wake-up signals’, ¶ 0027).
Fei does not expressly disclose wherein the time-domain resource for the first signal and/or the frequency-domain resource for the first signal is a wake-up occasion, and the wake-up occasion consists of a set of WUS monitoring occasions.
However, Zhou discloses wherein the time-domain resource for the first signal and/or the frequency-domain resource for the first signal is a wake-up occasion, and the wake-up occasion consists of a set of WUS monitoring occasions (‘when the monitoring occasion of the wake-up signal exists in the first time window, and the monitoring occasion of the wake-up signal partially or completely coincides with the time-domain resource to which the flexible symbol belongs, monitor a physical downlink control channel within an on duration time period of a discontinuous reception DRX state, where the first time window is a time window for monitoring the wake-up signal, the wake-up signal indicates the terminal device to monitor the physical downlink control channel within the on duration time period, and the first time window is prior to the on duration time period’, ¶ 0069; see also ¶s 0027, 0028 and 0071).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide ‘wherein the time-domain resource for the first signal and/or the frequency-domain resource for the first signal is a wake-up occasion, and the wake-up occasion consists of a set of WUS monitoring occasions’ as disclosed by Zhou into Fei so as to effectively reduced signaling overheads in wireless communication system, Zhou ¶ 0009.
As to Claims 9 and 47, Fei further discloses wherein a position of the frequency-domain resource for the first signal starts from a reference position (‘optionally, the network device may additionally indicate one or more of a quantity of ROs that are frequency division multiplexed in frequency domain, a frequency domain position of the 1st RO in frequency domain, an available random access preamble set, or the like. It should be noted that, in a periodicity, RO indexes may be sorted first in a frequency domain order and then in a time domain order’, ¶ 0144).
As to Claims 10 and 48, Fei further discloses wherein the reference position is configured by a higher-layer parameter (‘the terminal device may determine that the RO is the first RO. It may be understood that the correspondence between the first WUS and the N ROs may be predefined, or may be configured by the network device for the terminal device. For example, the network device may configure the correspondence for the terminal device by using radio resource control (RRC) signaling (i.e., high-layer parameter)’, ¶ 0125).
As to Claims 15 and 53, Fei further discloses wherein a position of the time- domain resource for the first signal comprises a duration (‘optionally, the network device may additionally indicate one or more of a quantity of ROs that are frequency division multiplexed in frequency domain, a frequency domain position of the 1st RO in frequency domain, an available random access preamble set, or the like. It should be noted that, in a periodicity, RO indexes may be sorted first in a frequency domain order and then in a time domain order’, ¶ 0144).
As to Claims 17, Fei further discloses wherein a position of the time-domain resource for the first signal comprises a position of a starting symbol in a slot (‘in a possible implementation, one of the K WUSs may occupy X time units in time domain, where a unit of the time unit may be a symbol, a slot, or the like; and may occupy Y frequency domain units in frequency domain, where a unit of the frequency domain unit may be a subcarrier, a resource block (RB), or the like. X and Y are integers greater than or equal to 1. The time units occupied by the WUS may be consecutive or inconsecutive in time domain’, ¶ 0116).
As to Claims 24, Fei further discloses wherein wake-up occasion is associated with one paging occasion (PO); or one wake-up occasion is associated with a plurality of POs; or a plurality of wake-up occasions are associated with one PO (‘the WUS is used to indicate the terminal device to receive, monitor, detect, or listen to (detect), on one or more paging occasions (POs), DCI for scheduling a paging message, namely, paging DCI. Alternatively, in other words, the WUS is used to indicate to monitor, on one or more POs, DCI used for paging. Alternatively, in other words, the WUS is used to indicate whether to monitor, on one or more POs, DCI used for paging. When the terminal device receives the WUS, it may be considered that the terminal is woken up by the WUS. The wake-up signal may also be referred to as an awakening signal, an activation signal, or the like’, ¶ 0081).
As to Claims 28, Fei further discloses wherein wake-up occasions are associated with POs in a sequential order of first frequency domain and then time domain; or wake-up occasions are associated with POs in a sequential order of first time domain and then frequency domain (‘in the schematic diagram, eight WUSs which are sequentially a WUS 0 to a WUS 7 are included. The eight WUSs may be time division multiplexed and frequency division multiplexed. Specifically, frequency multiplexing is used between the WUS 0 to the WUS 3, frequency division multiplexing is used between the WUS 4 to the WUS 7, and time division multiplexing is used between “the WUS 0 to the WUS 3” and “the WUS 4 to the WUS 7”, ¶ 0147).
As to Claims 30, Fei further discloses wherein the wake-up occasion is associated with a subgroup corresponding to a PO (‘if the terminal device detects the WUS, the terminal device receives, detects, monitors, or listens to, on one or more subsequent POs, DCI for scheduling a paging message, namely, paging DCI. The terminal may receive the paging message based on scheduling of the paging DCI. If the terminal device does not detect the WUS, the terminal device may continue to sleep and does not need to perform blind detection on one or more subsequent POs, to reduce power consumption. For example, as shown in Fig. 4, if the terminal device detects the WUS, the terminal device may listen to the paging DCI on N subsequent POs, and receive the paging message based on scheduling of the paging DCI; or if the terminal device does not detect the WUS, the terminal device does not need to listen to the paging DCI and continues to sleep on N subsequent Pos’, ¶ 0085).
6. Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fei, in view Zhou and further in view of Publication No.: US 2023/0345371 A1 to Xin et al. (Xin).
As to Claims 19, Fei in view Zhou do not expressly disclose wherein a position of the time-domain resource for the first signal comprises a cycle for the first signal, and the cycle for the first signal is less than or equal to a paging cycle.
However, Xin discloses wherein a position of the time-domain resource for the first signal comprises a cycle for the first signal, and the cycle for the first signal is less than or equal to a paging cycle (‘in this embodiment of this application, the first wake-up signal and the second wake-up signal may use different sequences, and/or may use different radio resources (time domain resources and/or frequency domain resources). Further, the first wake-up signal and the second wake-up signal may also have different cycles. For example, the cycle of the first wake-up signal is the same as the paging cycle, and the cycle of the second wake-up signal is N times the paging cycle, where N is greater than 1’, ¶ 0171).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide ‘wherein a position of the time-domain resource for the first signal comprises a cycle for the first signal, and the cycle for the first signal is less than or equal to a paging cycle’ as disclosed by Xin into Fei in view Zhou so as to effectively reduce power consumption of terminal devices in wireless communication system, Xin ¶ 0007.
7. Claims 11 and 49 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fei, in view Zhou and further in view of Publication No.: US 2024/0098635 A1 to Zhang et al. (Zhang).
As to Claims 11 and 49, Fei in view Zhou do not expressly disclose wherein a position of the frequency-domain resource for the first signal is determined by bitmap information, wherein a bit in the bitmap information indicates one or more first signals; or a bit in the bitmap information indicates one or more first signals plus one or more guard bands.
However, Zhang discloses wherein a position of the frequency-domain resource for the first signal is determined by bitmap information, wherein a bit in the bitmap information indicates one or more first signals; or a bit in the bitmap information indicates one or more first signals plus one or more guard bands (‘in a possible implementation, the second indication information indicates a frequency domain position of the second resource, and a time domain resource of the second resource is the same as that of the first reference signal resource. Specifically, the second indication information indicates the frequency domain position in the second resource by using a first bitmap. In Fig. 6, a first bit of the first bitmap corresponds to subcarriers {0, 1} in the first reference signal resource, a second bit of the first bitmap corresponds to subcarriers {2, 3}, a third bit of the first bitmap corresponds to subcarriers {4, 5}, and a fourth bit of the first bitmap corresponds to subcarriers {6, 7}. In the first bitmap, each bit corresponds to two subcarriers. A value 1 indicates that the second resource occupies two corresponding subcarriers, and a value 0 indicates that the second resource does not occupy two corresponding subcarriers’, ¶ 0126).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide ‘wherein a position of the frequency-domain resource for the first signal is determined by bitmap information, wherein a bit in the bitmap information indicates one or more first signals; or a bit in the bitmap information indicates one or more first signals plus one or more guard bands’ as disclosed by Zhang into Fei in view Zhou so as to effectively mitigate energy consumption in wireless communication system, Zhang ¶ 0004.
8. Claims 12 and 50 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fei in view Zhou, further in view of Zhang and Publication No.: US 2024/0113823 A1 to Manolakos et al. (Manolakos).
As to Claims 12 and 50, Fei in view Zhou and further in view of Zhang do not expressly disclose wherein a bandwidth of the guard band is X resource blocks (RBs) or X physical resource blocks (PRBs), wherein X is a positive integer.
However, Manolakos discloses wherein a bandwidth of the guard band is X resource blocks (RBs) or X physical resource blocks (PRBs), wherein X is a positive integer (‘other power conservation techniques for the UEs 115 include entering a power saving deep sleep mode when not engaging in active communications, operating over a limited bandwidth (e.g., according to narrowband communications), or a combination of these techniques. For example, some UEs 115 may be configured for operation using a narrowband protocol type that is associated with a defined portion or range (e.g., set of subcarriers or resource blocks (RBs)) within a carrier, within a guard-band of a carrier, or outside of a carrier’, ¶ 0118).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide ‘wherein a bandwidth of the guard band is X resource blocks (RBs) or X physical resource blocks (PRBs), wherein X is a positive integer’ as disclosed by Manolakos into Fei in view Zhou and further in view of Zhang so as to effectively assign resources in wireless communication system, Manolakos ¶ 0004.
9. Claims 13 and 51 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fei, in view Zhou and further in view of Publication No.: US 2024/0113823 A1 to Manolakos et al. (Manolakos).
As to Claims 13 and 51, Fei in view Zhou do not expressly disclose wherein a position of the time- domain resource for the first signal comprises a cycle and an offset.
However, Manolakos discloses wherein a position of the time- domain resource for the first signal comprises a cycle and an offset (‘the time-domain variation may be based on a pseudo-random sequence. For example, each UE 115 may be configured with a function to generate a pseudo-random sequence based on an input, and a UE 115 may select an offset from the pseudo-random sequence based on a UE identifier. For example, reference signal configuration 210 may include a pseudo-random index and a periodicity for the reference signal resource. For a first reference signal resource instance, UE 115-b may generate a first sequence based on the pseudo-random index to obtain a sequence. UE 115-b may then use a UE identifier for UE 115-b to obtain an offset from the sequence for the first instance of the reference signal resource’, ¶ 0164).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide ‘wherein a position of the time- domain resource for the first signal comprises a cycle and an offset’ as disclosed by Manolakos into Fei in view of Zhou so as to effectively assign resources in wireless communication system, Manolakos ¶ 0004.
Conclusion
10. 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 GBEMILEKE J ONAMUTI whose telephone number is (571)270-5619. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
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/GBEMILEKE J ONAMUTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
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