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 .
Application, submitted on 08/21/2024, has been received, entered, and made of record. Currently, claims 1-20 remain pending in the application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/21/2024 and 03/13/2025 were filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner as indicated. However, Applicant has not provided an explanation of relevance of cited document(s).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 8-9 and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.102(a)(1) as being anticipated by HE (US 2022/0225237 A1).
Referring to claim 8, HE discloses a base station (BS) (fig.2, Base station 110) comprising:
a processor (fig.2, controller/processor 240); and
a transceiver operatively coupled to the processor ([0042]), the transceiver configured to:
transmit a configuration for a paging notification or an alert to a user equipment (UE) (fig.2, UE 120) camped on a cell of the base station (fig.4C, S430 and [0077]) (Note: the base station transmits, to the UE (camped on a cell of the base station), information configuring paging reception at the UE based at least in part on the UE indicating support for PEI (paging notification or an alert)); and
transmit the paging notification or alert to the UE (fig.4C, S434 and [0081]) (Note: the base station transmits a PEI (paging notification or alert) prior to a PO to the UE).
Referring to claim 9, HE discloses the BS of Claim 8, wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit a paging to the UE (fig.4C, S436 and [0082]) (Note: the base station transmits one or more paging messages associated with the PEI to the UE).
Referring to claim 12, HE discloses the BS of Claim 8, wherein the paging notification or alert indicates a specific cell or carrier to monitor for a paging ([0064] and [0082]) (Note: the PEI is a special signal that a base station transmits to a UE before the PO associated with the UE to indicate whether the UE should wake up to receive a paging message. In this way, the UE may monitor only a PDCCH (carrier) to determine whether the base station transmitted a PEI to indicate that the UE is to wake up to receive a paging message or when the PEI is transmitted to indicate that the UE should wake up to receive a paging message, the UE may fully wake up to receive the PDSCH (carrier) carrying the paging message).
Referring to claim 13, HE discloses the BS of Claim 12, wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit a paging to the UE on the specific cell or carrier ([0064]) (Note: when the PEI is transmitted to indicate that the UE should wake up to receive a paging message, the UE may fully wake up to receive the PDSCH (carrier) carrying the paging message).
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.
Claims 10 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HE in view of Bergström et al. (hereinafter referred to as Bergström, US 2025/0071729 A1).
Referring to claim 10, HE discloses the BS of Claim 8, except wherein: the transceiver is further configured to transmit, to the UE, a message indicating that the BS supports the paging notification or alert.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Bergström discloses a concept wherein: the transceiver is further configured to transmit, to the UE, a message indicating that the BS supports the paging notification or alert ([0185]) (Note: the gNB may signal whether the gNB supports PEI (paging notification or alert) to the UE. For example, the gNB may broadcast whether the gNB supports PEI in system information (SI)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention by the applicant to modify the Base station of HE with a concept wherein: the transceiver is further configured to transmit, to the UE, a message indicating that the BS supports the paging notification or alert as taught by Bergström. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to optimize the User Equipment (UE) battery life, and prevent unnecessary processing.
Referring to claim 11, HE in view of Bergström discloses the BS of Claim 10.
Bergström discloses wherein the message is one of a system information (SI) or radio resource control (RRC) message ([0185]) (Note: the gNB may broadcast whether the gNB supports PEI in system information (SI)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention by the applicant to modify the Base station of HE with a concept wherein the message is one of a system information (SI) as taught by Bergström. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to automatically notify devices of network configuration changes, maintaining smooth mobility and active service continuity.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-7 and 14-20 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Referring to claim 1, the searched prior arts individually or combined fail to disclose or make obvious the claimed subject matter. That is, Examiner did not find any reference that discloses or would have rendered obvious: “the processor configured to: determine whether a downlink signal quality of the camped cell is less than a threshold; and when the downlink signal quality of the camped cell is less than the threshold, monitor a downlink channel of the camped cell for receiving the paging notification or alert.”
Referring to claims 2-7, it follows that the claims are inherently allowed for being depend on base claim 1.
Referring to claim 14, the same reasons for allowance provided for claim 1 are applicable herein.
Referring to claims 15-20, it follows that the claims are inherently allowed for being depend on base claim 14.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
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/MOUSTAPHA DIABY/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683
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