DETAILED ACTION
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 .
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.
Claims 1-2, 12-13, 20-21, 33-34, and 43-44 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WU et al. (US 2021/0119742 A1) in view of Nam et al. (US 2021/0068053 A1).
Regarding claim 1, WU discloses an information transmission method, executed by a network device (base station), comprising: determining resource information corresponding to a sending occasion of a wake-up signal (e.g. fig. 2; paragraph [0023]; [0031]; [0028]-[0029]; and so on, base station determining the time and frequency domain to send WUS period or occasion), wherein the resource information comprises one or more of time domain resource information, frequency domain resource information, and code domain resource information (paragraph [0028]-[0029]; [0032]; [0041]-[0042]; [0047]-[0049]; [0054]; [0058]-[0059], explaining the resource information are time and frequency domain); and sending the wake-up signal to a user equipment based on the resource information corresponding to the sending occasion (fig. 2; paragraph [0023]; [0029]-[0032]; and so on, describing the WUS is associated to occasions).
WU does not explicitly disclose wherein the sending occasion is periodic.
Nam teaches wherein the sending occasion is periodic (paragraph [0068]-[0070]; [0074]-[0077]; and so on).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use wherein the sending occasion is periodic as taught by Nam into WU in order to reduce interference.
Regarding claim 20 and 44, the claim includes features identical to the subject matter mentioned in the rejection to claim 1. The claims are mere reformulation of claim 1 in order to define a method at a receiving by a user equipment and the user equipment, and the rejection to claim 1 is applied hereto.
Regarding claim 43, the claim includes features identical to the subject matter mentioned in the rejection to claim 1. The claim is a mere reformulation of claim 1 in order to define the corresponding network device, and the rejection to claim 1 is applied hereto.
Regarding claim 2, WU discloses wherein the determining the resource information corresponding to the sending occasion of the wake-up signal comprises: determining, by the network device, configuration information, the configuration information indicating the resource information corresponding to the sending occasion of the wake-up signal (fig.2; paragraph [0023]; [0029]-[0032]; [0028]-[0029]; [0032]; [0041]-[0042]; [0047]-[0049]; [0054]; [0058]-[0059]; and so on); and the method further comprises: sending the configuration information to the user equipment (such as fig. 2; paragraph [0023]; [0029]-[0032]; and so on).
Regarding claim 12 and 33, WU discloses wherein the time domain resource information comprises time domain cycle information, and the time domain cycle information comprises a time domain cycle size and a cycle start position offset (paragraph [0029]; [0032]; [0041]; [0047]; [0049]; [0054]; [0058]-[0059]).
Regarding claim 13 and 34, WU discloses wherein the time domain resource information comprises time domain cycle information; and the sending the wake-up signal to the user equipment based on the resource information corresponding to the sending occasion comprises one of: sending the wake-up signal in N time slots within a time domain cycle, wherein N is a positive integer greater than 1; or sending the wake-up signal on M time domain symbols in each time slot of N time slots in a time domain period, wherein N and M are both positive integers greater than 1 (paragraph [0029]-[0031]).
Regarding claim 21, WU discloses wherein the determining resource information corresponding to the monitoring occasion of the wake-up signal comprises: receiving configuration information from the network device, the configuration information indicating the resource information corresponding to the monitoring occasion of the wake-up signal (such as fig. 2; paragraph [0023]; [0029]-[0032]; and so on); and determining the resource information corresponding to the monitoring occasion based on the configuration information (fig.2; paragraph [0023]; [0029]-[0032]; [0028]-[0029]; [0032]; [0041]-[0042]; [0047]-[0049]; [0054]; [0058]-[0059]; and so on).
Claims 3, 8, 22-23, and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WU in view of Nam, and further in view of Wang et al. (US 2022/0110090 A1).
Regarding claim 3 and 22, as applied above, the modified communication of WU discloses wherein determining the resource information corresponding to the sending occasion of the wake-up signal comprises: determining the resource information corresponding to the sending occasion. However, the modified communication of WU does not disclose the occasion is based on a communication protocol.
Wang teaches the occasion is based on a communication protocol (paragraph [0003]; [0155]; and so on).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the occasion is based on a communication protocol as taught by Wang into the modified communication of WU in order to reduce failure.
Regarding claim 8 and 23, WU discloses wherein the frequency domain resource information comprises frequency domain position information, and the frequency domain position information comprises at least one of: a bandwidth part (BWP) where the wake-up signal is located, a number of resource blocks occupied by the frequency domain position, and an index of the starting resource block in the resource blocks occupied by the frequency domain position; or wherein in response to the frequency domain resource information, the frequency domain resource information comprises frequency domain position information indicating that the frequency domain position of the wake-up signal is the same as a bandwidth position of an activated BWP of the user equipment; or in response to the frequency domain resource information being determined based on a communication protocol, the frequency domain resource information comprises frequency domain location information indicating that the wake-up signal is on a default BWP, wherein the default BWP is specified by the communication protocol (paragraph [0032]; [0041]; and so on).
Wu does not disclose the information being determined based on a communication protocol.
Wang teaches the information being determined based on a communication protocol (paragraph [0003]; [0155]; and so on).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the information being determined based on a communication protocol as taught by Wang into WU in order to reduce failure.
Regarding claim 29, WU discloses wherein the frequency domain resource information comprises frequency domain position information, and the frequency domain position information comprises at least one of: a bandwidth part (BWP) where the wake-up signal is located, a number of resource blocks occupied by the frequency domain position, and an index of the starting resource block in the resource blocks occupied by the frequency domain position; or wherein in response to the frequency domain resource information, the frequency domain resource information comprises frequency domain position information indicating that a frequency domain position of the wake-up signal is the same as a bandwidth position of an activated BWP of the user equipment; or in response to the frequency domain resource information being determined based on a communication protocol, the frequency domain resource information comprises frequency domain location information indicating that the wake-up signal is on a default BWP, wherein the default BWP is specified by the communication protocol (paragraph [0032]; [0041]; and so on).
WU does not disclose the information is being determined based on a communication protocol.
Wang teaches the information is being determined based on a communication protocol (paragraph [0003]; [0155]; and so on).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the information is being determined based on a communication protocol as taught by Wang into WU in order to reduce failure.
Claims 4, 18, and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WU in view of Nam, and further in view of Ben Hadj Fredi et al. (US 2024/0014870 A1).
Regarding claim 4 and 25, WU discloses wherein: the frequency domain resource information comprises frequency domain position information indicating that a frequency domain position for sending the wake-up signal is the same as a frequency domain position of a control resource set CORESET; the frequency domain resource information comprises frequency domain position information indicating that a center position of the frequency domain position for sending the wake-up signal is the same as a center position of the frequency domain position of CORESET 0; or the frequency domain resource information comprises frequency domain position information indicating at least one of: a number of resource blocks occupied by the frequency domain position, and an index of a starting resource block in the resource blocks occupied by the frequency domain position (paragraph [0030]-[0044]; [0054]; [0058]).
WU does not disclose the CORESET is CORESET 0.
Ben Hadj Fredj teaches the CORESET is CORESET 0 (paragraph [0078]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the CORESET is CORESET 0 as taught by Ben Hadj Fredj into WU in order to reduce loss of communication and collision.
Regarding claim 18, WU discloses wherein the sending the configuration information to the user equipment comprises one of: sending the configuration information to the user equipment through a system message, and sending the configuration information to the user equipment through a dedicated RRC signaling (paragraph [0052]).
WU does not disclose the user equipment is in an RRC idle state; or the user equipment is in an RRC connected state.
Ben Hadj Fredj teaches the user equipment is in an RRC idle state; or the user equipment is in an RRC connected state (paragraph [0026]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the user equipment is in an RRC idle state; or the user equipment is in an RRC connected state as taught by Ben Hadj Fredj into WU in order to improve communication efficiency and reliability.
Claims 14 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WU in view of Nam, and further in view of Rostami et al. (US 2021/0127335 A1).
Regarding claim 14 and 35, as applied above, WU discloses wherein the sending the wake-up signal to the user equipment based on the resource information corresponding to the sending occasion. However, WU does not further comprises one of: sending N sequences of the wake-up signal respectively on the N time slots; wherein the wake-up signal is carried in sequences, and the N sequences are different; or sending M sequences of the wake-up signal on the M time domain symbols respectively; wherein the wake-up signal is carried in sequences, and the M sequences are different.
Rostami teaches comprises one of: sending N sequences of the wake-up signal respectively on the N time slots; wherein the wake-up signal is carried in sequences, and the N sequences are different; or sending M sequences of the wake-up signal on the M time domain symbols respectively; wherein the wake-up signal is carried in sequences, and the M sequences are different (e.g. paragraph [0092]; [0113]; and etc.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the comprises one of: sending N sequences of the wake-up signal respectively on the N time slots; wherein the wake-up signal is carried in sequences, and the N sequences are different; or sending M sequences of the wake-up signal on the M time domain symbols respectively; wherein the wake-up signal is carried in sequences, and the M sequences are different as taught by Rostami into WU in order to reduce power consumption.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIBROM T HAILU whose telephone number is (571)270-1209. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM.
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/KIBROM T HAILU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461