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 .
This action is in response to the application filed on 16 August 2024.
Claims 1, 3-5, 7-11, 13-17, and 19-24 are under examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 16 August 2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived 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(a) 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, 3-5, 7-9, 13-17, and 19-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Martin et al. (US Publication 2025/0039728) in view of (“Joint Downlink/Uplink RF Wake-Up Solution for IoT Over Cellular Networks”, IEEE Vol. 17, Nour Kouzayha, March 2018, herein referred to as Kouzayha) further in view of Sethuraman et al. (US Publication 2020/0396625).
With respect to claims 1 and 13, Martin teaches A wireless device for handling a transmission, the wireless device being configured to operate in a wireless communications network, and the wireless device being further configured to:
monitoring, in sleep mode, using a first receiver to monitor first radio signals to wake-up the wireless device, whether or not a first radio signal is received from a node operating in the wireless communications network, (the WTRU is equipped with a WUR/WUS radio, paragraph 135. discovers that the WTRU is out of WUS coverage, paragraph 136) wherein the first radio signal indicates the wireless device is in coverage of the node, (If the WTRU in RRC_POWER_OFF state, and while trying to recover, discovers that the WTRU is out of WUS coverage, Paragraph 136) wherein the monitoring is performed with the proviso the wireless device has obtained information to be sent to the node, (For buffer status based, the WTRU may check how much data is buffered in the transmission buffer (e.g. at PDCP and/or RLC) and (e.g., and then) the WTRU may check the energy level (e.g., the battery level) to determine if the WTRU has enough energy to transmit the buffered data (e.g., all the buffered data) or enough energy to transmit certain amount of data (e.g., and the data amount is given by network when WTRU moves into the RRC_POWER_OFF state). If WTRU has enough energy to transit the data, then the WTRU may determine to wake up and send a power recovery notification, Paragraph 120) wherein the first receiver is a wake-up-receiver (WUR), and the first radio signal is any signal detectable by the WUR; (If the WTRU is equipped with a WUR/WUS radio, capable of uplink communication while the gNB is WUS capable, Paragraph 135) and
sending the obtained information to the node, wherein:
i) with the proviso the wireless device receives the first radio signal, the first radio signal wakes-up the wireless device from sleep mode by waking-up a second receiver to receive signals other than the first radio signals and the wireless device a) sends the information to the node while the wireless device is in coverage using the second receiver, b) goes back to sleep mode after the sending, ( If the WTRU leaves or returns from the power off state, it may go to a connected state. If the WTRU leaves or returns from the power off state, the WTRU may resume at least one of an UL transmission, a DL reception, or one or more functions that were paused or suspended in the power off state, paragraph 173) and
ii) with the proviso the wireless device fails to receive the first radio signal, the wireless device: a) stores the information (For maintaining the buffered data (e.g., all the buffered data) in RAN (e.g., CU and DU), if the state transitions into the RRC_POWER_OFF state or moves into an EH specific DRX/DTX cycle, the WTRU and network may maintain the buffered data (e.g., all the buffered data) (PDCP SDUs, PDCP PDUs, RLC PDUs) apart from MAC PDUs, paragraph 140) and b) stays in sleep mode, until the wireless device sends the information, using the second receiver, when the wireless device receives the first radio signal using the first receiver. (The WTRU may come back to the network at the next ON duration of the EH specific DRX/DTX cycle if the WTRU has harvested energy enough to recover data communication. If the WTRU misses the next ON duration, then the WTRU may come back at the ON duration after the next, paragraph 125)
Martin doesn’t teach the sending being based on whether or not the wireless device receives the first radio signal during the monitoring and refrains from performing the monitoring with the proviso the wireless device lacks further information to be sent.
Kouzayha teaches the sending being based on whether or not the wireless device receives the first radio signal during the monitoring (After wake up, the device initiates regular UL communication with its serving base station (BS). The device experiences a successful wake-up event when the total received power includes a wake-up signal transmitted from its serving BS, and the UL signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) is above a predefined threshold, Abstract, Page 1)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Martin with the sending being based on whether or not the wireless device receives the first radio signal during the monitoring as taught by Kouzayha. The motivation for combining Martin and Kouzayha is to be able to analyze the performance of an energy-efficient joint downlink/uplink (UL) radiofrequency (RF) wake-up solution for Internet of Things (IoT) devices over cellular networks.
Sethuraman teaches refrains from performing the monitoring with the proviso the wireless device lacks further information to be sent (To reduce power consumption, when there are no data to transmit, the IoT devices 101, 103, 105 may enter a power save mode, paragraph 20)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Martin in view of Kouzayha with refrains from performing the monitoring with the proviso the wireless device lacks further information to be sent as taught by Sethuraman. The motivation for combining Martin, Kouzayha and Sethuraman is to be able to avoid retransmissions increase power consumption of a transmitting device and are especially undesirable for low-power battery-operated devices like.
With respect to claims 3 and 15, Martin doesn’t teach further comprising: receiving the monitored first radio signal, and wherein the sending is based on the received first radio signal.
Kouzayha teaches further comprising: receiving the monitored first radio signal, and wherein the sending is based on the received first radio signal. (After wake up, the device initiates regular UL communication with its serving base station (BS). The device experiences a successful wake-up event when the total received power includes a wake-up signal transmitted from its serving BS, and the UL signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) is above a predefined threshold, Abstract, Page 1)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Martin with the sending being based on whether or not the wireless device receives the first radio signal during the monitoring as taught by Kouzayha. The motivation for combining Martin and Kouzayha is to be able to analyze the performance of an energy-efficient joint downlink/uplink (UL) radiofrequency (RF) wake-up solution for Internet of Things (IoT) devices over cellular networks.
With respect to claims 4 and 16, Martin doesn’t teach further comprising at least one of:
determining whether or not there is any information to be sent, and wherein the monitoring is performed with the proviso the wireless device determines that the information has been obtained, and determining an energy level of the wireless device, and wherein the monitoring is performed with the proviso the determined energy level exceeds a first threshold.
Sethuraman teaches further comprising at least one of:
determining whether or not there is any information to be sent, and wherein the monitoring is performed with the proviso the wireless device determines that the information has been obtained, (To reduce power consumption, when there are no data to transmit, the IoT devices 101, 103, 105 may enter a power save mode, paragraph 20) and
determining an energy level of the wireless device, and wherein the monitoring is performed with the proviso the determined energy level exceeds a first threshold.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Martin in view of Kouzayha with refrains from performing the monitoring with the proviso the wireless device lacks further information to be sent as taught by Sethuraman. The motivation for combining Martin, Kouzayha and Sethuraman is to be able to avoid retransmissions increase power consumption of a transmitting device and are especially undesirable for low-power battery-operated devices like.
With respect to claims 5 and 17, Martin teaches further comprising: obtaining an indication, the indication comprising a first configuration indicating how the wireless device is to perform the monitoring, and wherein the monitoring is performed based on the indicated first configuration. (The EH specific DRX/DTX cycle may give the WTRU some time to re-charge WTRU's battery via EH. The WTRU may come back to the network at the next ON duration of the EH specific DRX/DTX cycle if the WTRU has harvested energy enough to recover data communication. If the WTRU misses the next ON duration, then the WTRU may come back at the ON duration after the next. This applies for UL (DTX operation) and DL (DRX operation). For DTX operation, EH specific DTX configuration may be provided to the WTRU from the network and the configuration may provide the information of the DTX cycles, paragraph 125)
With respect to claims 7 and 19, Martin doesn’t teach the method further comprising: determining whether or not the wireless device is in coverage based on whether or not the wireless device receives the first radio signal from the node, and wherein the sending of the information is: i) performed only after the determination and ii) based on a result of the determination.
Kouzayha teaches the method further comprising: determining whether or not the wireless device is in coverage based on whether or not the wireless device receives the first radio signal from the node, and wherein the sending of the information is: i) performed only after the determination and ii) based on a result of the determination. (After wake up, the device initiates regular UL communication with its serving base station (BS). The device experiences a successful wake-up event when the total received power includes a wake-up signal transmitted from its serving BS, and the UL signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) is above a predefined threshold. On the other hand, the device experiences a false wake-up event when the wake up is due to received power from neighboring BSs excluding the serving BS. We derive lower and upper bounds for the success and false wake-up probabilities in addition to closed-form expression for the UL SINR coverage probability after successful wake up, Abstract, Page 1)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Martin with the sending being based on whether or not the wireless device receives the first radio signal during the monitoring as taught by Kouzayha. The motivation for combining Martin and Kouzayha is to be able to analyze the performance of an energy-efficient joint downlink/uplink (UL) radiofrequency (RF) wake-up solution for Internet of Things (IoT) devices over cellular networks.
With respect to claims 8 and 20, Martin doesn’t teach further comprising: determining whether or not the coverage of the node matches an uplink coverage, and wherein the sending of the information is performed with the proviso the match is determined.
Kouzayha teaches further comprising: determining whether or not the coverage of the node matches an uplink coverage, and wherein the sending of the information is performed with the proviso the match is determined. (After wake up, the device initiates regular UL communication with its serving base station (BS). The device experiences a successful wake-up event when the total received power includes a wake-up signal transmitted from its serving BS, and the UL signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) is above a predefined threshold. On the other hand, the device experiences a false wake-up event when the wake up is due to received power from neighboring BSs excluding the serving BS. We derive lower and upper bounds for the success and false wake-up probabilities in addition to closed-form expression for the UL SINR coverage probability after successful wake up, Abstract, Page 1)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Martin with the sending being based on whether or not the wireless device receives the first radio signal during the monitoring as taught by Kouzayha. The motivation for combining Martin and Kouzayha is to be able to analyze the performance of an energy-efficient joint downlink/uplink (UL) radiofrequency (RF) wake-up solution for Internet of Things (IoT) devices over cellular networks.
With respect to claims 9 and 21, Martin doesn’t teach wherein the second receiver remains in a power saving state during the monitoring.
Kouzayha teaches wherein the second receiver remains in a power saving state during the monitoring. (When the IoT device has nodata to transmit, it turns its main circuitry completely OFF and switches to a deep sleep mode, Abstract, Page 1)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Martin with the sending being based on whether or not the wireless device receives the first radio signal during the monitoring as taught by Kouzayha. The motivation for combining Martin and Kouzayha is to be able to analyze the performance of an energy-efficient joint downlink/uplink (UL) radiofrequency (RF) wake-up solution for Internet of Things (IoT) devices over cellular networks.
With respect to claim 14, Martin teaches wherein the sending of the information is configured to be performed in the absence of performing cell selection and/or cell reselection. (If the WTRU decides to recover, it may have to synchronize (e.g., synchronize again) with the network, which may imply performing at least one RRM measurement on the cell SSB. If the WTRU cannot identify the cell SSB of the previously camped cell, then the WTRU may drop the UL recovery indication and perform a cell search to find and camp on a new serving cell, Paragraph 134. Examiner note: cell search is skipped if the WTRU can identify the cell SSB)
Claims 10, 11, and 22-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Martin et al. (US Publication 2025/0039728) in view of (“Joint Downlink/Uplink RF Wake-Up Solution for IoT Over Cellular Networks”, IEEE Vol. 17, Nour Kouzayha, March 2018, herein referred to as Kouzayha).
With respect to claims 10 and 22, Martin teaches A method performed by a node, the method being for handling a transmission, the node operating in a wireless communications network, and the method comprising:
sending a first radio signal, wherein the first radio signal indicates a wireless device operating in the wireless communications network, is in coverage of the node, (the WTRU is equipped with a WUR/WUS radio, paragraph 135. discovers that the WTRU is out of WUS coverage, paragraph 136) wherein the first radio signal wakes up the wireless device from sleep mode when received by a first receiver used by the wireless device to monitor first radio signals to wake-up the wireless device, (a wake-up signal (WUS)/go-to-sleep signal (GOS) may be provided herein. A wake-up signal (WUS) and/or go-to-sleep signal (GOS) (WUS/GOS) may be used with a DRX operation, paragraph 87) wherein the first receiver is a wake-up-receiver, and wherein the first radio signal is any signal detectable by the WUR; (If the WTRU is equipped with a WUR/WUS radio, capable of uplink communication while the gNB is WUS capable, Paragraph 135)
Martin doesn’t teach receiving information, from the wireless device, wherein the receiving is based on the sent first radio signal, and wherein the receiving is from a second receiver to receive signals other than the first radio signals, woken-up at the wireless device by the sent first radio signal.
Kouzayha teaches receiving information, from the wireless device, wherein the receiving is based on the sent first radio signal, and wherein the receiving is from a second receiver to receive signals other than the first radio signals, woken-up at the wireless device by the sent first radio signal. (After wake up, the device initiates regular UL communication with its serving base station (BS). The device experiences a successful wake-up event when the total received power includes a wake-up signal transmitted from its serving BS, and the UL signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) is above a predefined threshold. On the other hand, the device experiences a false wake-up event when the wake up is due to received power from neighboring BSs excluding the serving BS. We derive lower and upper bounds for the success and false wake-up probabilities in addition to closed-form expression for the UL SINR coverage probability after successful wake up, Abstract, Page 1)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Martin with the sending being based on whether or not the wireless device receives the first radio signal during the monitoring as taught by Kouzayha. The motivation for combining Martin and Kouzayha is to be able to analyze the performance of an energy-efficient joint downlink/uplink (UL) radiofrequency (RF) wake-up solution for Internet of Things (IoT) devices over cellular networks.
With respect to claims 11 and 23, Martin teaches the method further comprising: sending an indication to the wireless device, the indication comprising a first configuration indicating how the wireless device is to monitor the first radio signal, and wherein the receiving is based on the indicated first configuration, and/or adapting a power of transmission of the first radio signal, and wherein the first radio signal is transmitted with the adapted power, and wherein the receiving is based on the adapted transmitted first radio signal. (The EH specific DRX/DTX cycle may give the WTRU some time to re-charge WTRU's battery via EH. The WTRU may come back to the network at the next ON duration of the EH specific DRX/DTX cycle if the WTRU has harvested energy enough to recover data communication. If the WTRU misses the next ON duration, then the WTRU may come back at the ON duration after the next. This applies for UL (DTX operation) and DL (DRX operation). For DTX operation, EH specific DTX configuration may be provided to the WTRU from the network and the configuration may provide the information of the DTX cycles, paragraph 125)
With respect to claims 24, Martin doesn’t teach wherein at least one of: the first radio signal is configured to wake up the wireless device from sleep mode and it is configured to be different than a second radio signal wherein the second radio signal is configured to wake up the wireless device for downlink reachability, the first radio signal is configured to be periodically sent, the first radio signal is configured to be one of: cell specific and network specific, the first radio signal is configured to be a WUR-Synchronisation Signal Block, SSB, the first radio signal is configured to be coordinated with paging occasions configured to be used with signals to wake-up the wireless device, and the first radio signal is configured to be one of the signals to wake-up the wireless device, the first radio signal is configured to be coordinated with paging occasions configured to be used with signals to wake-up the wireless device, and the first radio signal is configured to be different from and non-overlapping with the signals to wake-up the wireless device, the signals to wake-up the wireless device and the first radio signal are configured to be jointly encoded, at least one of a periodicity and a second configuration of the first radio signal is configured to change over time based on one or more conditions, the receiving of the information is configured to be performed in the absence of performing cell selection and/or cell reselection, and the periodicity of the first radio signal is configured to be linked to an operation mode of the WUR.
Kouzayha teaches wherein at least one of:
the first radio signal is configured to wake up the wireless device from sleep mode and it is configured to be different than a second radio signal wherein the second radio signal is configured to wake up the wireless device for downlink reachability,
the first radio signal is configured to be periodically sent, the first radio signal is configured to be one of: cell specific and network specific, (the power of a specific wake-up signal transmitted from the serving BS along with the ambient interference can be captured and used to activate the device and initiate uplink communication, section B page 2)
the first radio signal is configured to be a WUR-Synchronisation Signal Block, SSB, the first radio signal is configured to be coordinated with paging occasions configured to be used with signals to wake-up the wireless device, and the first radio signal is configured to be one of the signals to wake-up the wireless device, the first radio signal is configured to be coordinated with paging occasions configured to be used with signals to wake-up the wireless device, and the first radio signal is configured to be different from and non-overlapping with the signals to wake-up the wireless device, the signals to wake-up the wireless device and the first radio signal are configured to be jointly encoded, at least one of a periodicity and a second configuration of the first radio signal is configured to change over time based on one or more conditions, the receiving of the information is configured to be performed in the absence of performing cell selection and/or cell reselection, and the periodicity of the first radio signal is configured to be linked to an operation mode of the WUR.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Martin with the sending being based on whether or not the wireless device receives the first radio signal during the monitoring as taught by Kouzayha. The motivation for combining Martin and Kouzayha is to be able to analyze the performance of an energy-efficient joint downlink/uplink (UL) radiofrequency (RF) wake-up solution for Internet of Things (IoT) devices over cellular networks.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Awoniyi et al. (US Publication 2021/0227470) discloses suspending wake up signal (WUS) monitoring for a specified period of time, for a number of cycles, or until a message is received instructing resumption of monitoring. The method also includes resuming wake up signal monitoring after the specified period of time, the number of cycles, or after the message is received instructing resumption of monitoring.
Bao et al. (US Publication 2021/0410063) discloses operate in a discontinuous reception mode including time interleaved ON times of the discontinuous reception mode, in which the processor is in an active mode in which the processor monitors for a positioning signal measurement trigger signal, and OFF times of the discontinuous reception mode, in which the processor is in an inactive mode; receive a wake-up signal via the receiver; and determine whether to measure a positioning signal based on whether the wake-up signal indicates to implement the active mode during a scheduled discontinuous reception mode ON time or to skip the scheduled discontinuous reception mode ON time.
Any inquiry concerning this communication from the examiner should be directed to ABDULLAHI AHMED whose telephone number is (571) 270-3652. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00AM-4:30PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Khalid Kassim can be reached on 571-270-3370. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABDULLAHI AHMED/Examiner, Art Unit 2475
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