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 § 102
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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4 and 19-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yoshioka et al. (U.S. PGPub 2023/0247554), hereinafter referred to as Yoshioka
Regarding claim 1, Yoshioka discloses a method for monitoring a wake-up signal, performed by a user equipment, comprising:
monitoring a wake-up signal on at least one wake-up signal monitoring occasion (the terminal 20 monitors a monitoring occasion for the WUS; See [0129]) within a wake-up signal cycle (The monitoring occasion may be configured or predetermined as a specific time cycle; See [0107]).
Regarding clam 2, Yoshioka further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the wake-up signal on the at least one wake-up signal monitoring occasion within the wake-up signal cycle comprises:
monitoring the wake-up signal on at least one wake-up signal monitoring occasion corresponding to the user equipment within the wake-up signal cycle (A monitoring occasion and a resource common to all the terminals 20 or common to the terminals 20 within a group may be configured, and the terminals 20 may try to receive the WUS by using only the monitoring occasion, wherein Examiner interprets the user equipment as one of the terminals; See [0107]).
Regarding claim 3, Yoshioka further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the wake-up signal cycle comprises at least one wake-up signal monitoring occasion corresponding to the user equipment (The monitoring occasion may be configured or predetermined as a specific time cycle; See [0107]), or N wake-up signal monitoring occasions, and N is an integer greater than 1.
Regarding claim 4, Yoshioka further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the wake-up signal cycle is configured by at least one of:
a broadcast signal sent by a base station (The base station 10 transmits a sidelink grant to the terminal 20A via an RRC (Radio Resource Control) configuration. The monitoring occasion may be configured or predetermined as a specific time cycle. The monitoring occasion and resource may be configured by using an RRC signaling via sidelink; See [0052], [0107] and [0117]);
a user equipment-specific signaling sent by a base station; or
a core network device.
Regarding claim 19, Yoshioka discloses a communication device (terminal; See Fig. 20, #20), comprising:
a processor (processor; See Fig. 20, #1001); and
a memory (memory; See Fig. 20, #1002), wherein
the processor is configured to:
monitor a wake-up signal on at least one wake-up signal monitoring occasion (the terminal 20 monitors a monitoring occasion for the WUS; See [0129]) within a wake-up signal cycle (The monitoring occasion may be configured or predetermined as a specific time cycle; See [0107]).
Regarding claim 20, Yoshioka discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (The memory 1002 is a computer readable storage medium; See [0153]) having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform:
monitoring a wake-up signal on at least one wake-up signal monitoring occasion (the terminal 20 monitors a monitoring occasion for the WUS; See [0129]) within a wake-up signal cycle (The monitoring occasion may be configured or predetermined as a specific time cycle; See [0107]).
Regarding claim 21, Yoshioka further discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the wake-up signal cycle comprises one wake-up signal monitoring occasion corresponding to the user equipment (The monitoring occasion may be configured or predetermined as a specific time cycle; See [0107]).
Regarding claim 22, Yoshioka further discloses the communication device of claim 19, wherein when monitoring the wake-up signal on the at least one wake-up signal monitoring occasion within the wake-up signal cycle, the processor is configured to:
monitor the wake-up signal on at least one wake-up signal monitoring occasion corresponding to the communication device within the wake-up signal cycle (The monitoring occasion may be configured or predetermined as a specific time cycle; See [0107]).
Regarding claim 23, Yoshioka further discloses the communication device of claim 19, wherein the wake-up signal cycle comprises at least one wake-up signal monitoring occasion corresponding to the communication device (The monitoring occasion may be configured or predetermined as a specific time cycle; See [0107]), or N wake-up signal monitoring occasions, and N is an integer greater than 1.
Regarding claim 24, Yoshioka further discloses the communication device of claim 19, wherein the wake-up signal cycle is configured by at least one of:
a broadcast signal sent by a base station (The base station 10 transmits a sidelink grant to the terminal 20A via an RRC (Radio Resource Control) configuration. The monitoring occasion may be configured or predetermined as a specific time cycle. The monitoring occasion and resource may be configured by using an RRC signaling via sidelink; See [0052], [0107] and [0117]),
a user equipment-specific signaling sent by a base station, or
a core network device.
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.
Claims 6 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshioka as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Ang et al. (U.S. PGPub 2024/0340792), hereinafter referred to as Ang.
Regarding claim 6, Yoshioka fails to teach the method of claim 3, wherein N is configured by at least one of: a protocol; a base station; or at least one parameter configured by a base station; or N is linearly related to a time domain length value corresponding to the wake-up signal cycle.
Ang teaches wherein N is configured by a base station (A duration of the WUS occasions is configured by the base station 110. A number of WUS occasions (e.g., over a given time period) is configured by the base station 110. The UE 120 may identify that a number of slots associated with the one or more WUS monitoring occasions configured by the base station 110 satisfies a second threshold (e.g., N); See [0083]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the method of Yoshioka to include wherein N is configured by a base station taught by Ang in order to avoid wasting energy on unnecessary wake-up-signal monitoring while still preserving efficient DRX operation.
Regarding claim 8, Yoshioka fails to teach the method of claim 3, wherein the N wake-up signal monitoring occasions comprised in the wake-up signal cycle are evenly distributed within the wake-up signal cycle; or time domain locations of the N wake-up signal monitoring occasions comprised in the wake-up signal cycle are configured by a base station.
Ang teaches time domain locations of the N wake-up signal monitoring occasions comprised in the wake-up signal cycle are configured by a base station (A number of WUS occasions (e.g., over a given time period) is configured by the base station 110. The UE 120 may identify that a number of slots associated with the one or more WUS monitoring occasions configured by the base station 110 satisfies a second threshold (e.g., N); See [0083]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the method of Yoshioka to include time domain locations of the N wake-up signal monitoring occasions comprised in the wake-up signal cycle are configured by a base station taught by Ang in order to avoid wasting energy on unnecessary wake-up-signal monitoring while still preserving efficient DRX operation.
Claims 10-12 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshioka as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Nam et al. (U.S. PGPub 20220/0267646), hereinafter referred to as Nam.
Regarding claim 10, Yoshioka further teaches the method of claim 3, wherein monitoring the wake-up signal on the at least one wake-up signal monitoring occasion within the wake-up signal cycle comprises:
monitoring the wake-up signal on a wake-up signal monitoring occasion corresponding to a first group to which the user equipment belongs within the wake-up signal cycle (the terminal 20 monitors a monitoring occasion for the WUS. A monitoring occasion and a resource common to all the terminals 20 or common to the terminals 20 within a group may be configured, and the terminals 20 may try to receive the WUS by using only the monitoring occasion, wherein Examiner interprets the user equipment as one of the terminals in the group; See [0107] and [0129]).
Yoshioka fails to teach the N wake-up signal monitoring occasions comprised in the wake-up signal cycle are in a one-to-one correspondence with N first groups, wherein different first groups correspond to different user equipments, and each of the first groups comprises at least one user equipment.
Nam teaches the N wake-up signal monitoring occasions comprised in the wake-up signal cycle are in a one-to-one correspondence with N first groups (the base station 105-a may determine, for a monitoring occasion, at least one resource of a set of wakeup signal resources associated with a group of the wakeup grouping sets that includes the UEs 115. That is, for a monitoring occasion, each group associated with a wakeup grouping set may be associated with at least one resource (e.g., time and frequency resource(s)). For example, a first group (e.g., Group 1) in the wakeup signal configuration table may be associated with a first resource, a second group (e.g., Group 2) in the wakeup signal configuration table may be associated with a second resource, and a third group (e.g., Group 3) in the wakeup signal configuration table may be associated with a third resource, etc; See [0108]), wherein different first groups correspond to different user equipments (a first group and a second group of the wakeup grouping set for one or more UEs; See [0170]), and each of the first groups comprises at least one user equipment (each UE 115 may have a dedicated wakeup signal, a wakeup signal monitoring occasion, or both. In other examples, the wakeup signal configuration may include a group of UEs 115 that share the same wakeup signal, wakeup signal monitoring occasion; See [0092]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the method of Yoshioka to include the N wake-up signal monitoring occasions comprised in the wake-up signal cycle are in a one-to-one correspondence with N first groups, wherein different first groups correspond to different user equipments, and each of the first groups comprises at least one user equipment taught by Nam in order to make wakeup signaling more flexible so the network can better match wakeups to the UEs that actually have traffic.
Regarding claim 11, Yoshioka further fails to teach the method of claim 10, wherein the wake-up signal monitoring occasions are in a one-to-one correspondence with the first groups based on a first relation, wherein the first relation is based on at least one of: identifications of the user equipments, a first rule configured by a core network device, or paging probabilities of the user equipments.
Nam teaches wherein the wake-up signal monitoring occasions are in a one-to-one correspondence with the first groups based on a first relation, wherein the first relation is based on at least one of: identifications of the user equipments (a first group and a second group of the wakeup grouping set for one or more UEs; See [0170]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the method of Yoshioka to include wherein the wake-up signal monitoring occasions are in a one-to-one correspondence with the first groups based on a first relation, wherein the first relation is based on at least one of: identifications of the user equipments, a first rule configured by a core network device, or paging probabilities of the user equipments taught by Nam in order to make wakeup signaling more flexible so the network can better match wakeups to the UEs that actually have traffic.
Regarding claim 12, Yoshioka further fails to teach the method of claim 10, wherein one wake-up signal monitoring occasion corresponds to at least one wake-up signal resource, and different wake-up signal resources correspond to different second groups; and monitoring the wake-up signal on the at least one wake-up signal monitoring occasion within the wake-up signal cycle comprises: monitoring the wake-up signal on a first wake-up signal resource on the at least one wake-up signal monitoring occasion within the wake-up signal cycle, wherein the first wake- up signal resource is a wake-up signal resource corresponding to a second group to which the user equipment belongs.
Nam teaches wherein one wake-up signal monitoring occasion corresponds to at least one wake-up signal resource (For example, a first group (e.g., Group 1) in the wakeup signal configuration table may be associated with a first resource; See [0108]), and different wake-up signal resources correspond to different second groups (a second group (e.g., Group 2) in the wakeup signal configuration table may be associated with a second resource, and a third group (e.g., Group 3) in the wakeup signal configuration table may be associated with a third resource, etc; See [0108]); and monitoring the wake-up signal on the at least one wake-up signal monitoring occasion within the wake-up signal cycle comprises: monitoring the wake-up signal on a first wake-up signal resource on the at least one wake-up signal monitoring occasion within the wake-up signal cycle (the UE may receive a wakeup signal during a monitoring occasion for wakeup signals; See [0183]), wherein the first wake-up signal resource is a wake-up signal resource corresponding to a second group to which the user equipment belongs (the UE may determine that the received wakeup signal indicates a group in a wakeup grouping set of the wakeup grouping sets, where the group includes the UE, wherein a second group (e.g., Group 2) in the wakeup signal configuration table may be associated with a second resource, and a third group (e.g., Group 3) in the wakeup signal configuration table may be associated with a third resource, etc; See [0108] and [0184]).
Regarding claim 14, Yoshioka fails to teach the method of claim 12, further comprising: determining a second group to which the user equipment belongs based on at least one of: an identification of the user equipment, a second rule configured by a core network device, or a paging probability of the user equipment.
Nam teaches determining a second group to which the user equipment belongs based on at least one of: an identification of the user equipment (a first group and a second group of the wakeup grouping set for one or more UEs; See [0170]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the method of Yoshioka to include wherein the wake-up signal monitoring occasions are in a one-to-one correspondence with the first groups based on a first relation, wherein the first relation is based on at least one of: identifications of the user equipments, a first rule configured by a core network device, or paging probabilities of the user equipments taught by Nam in order to make wakeup signaling more flexible so the network can better match wakeups to the UEs that actually have traffic.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13 and 15-17 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:
While Nam teaches having groups of with one or more user equipments, it fails to teach of having subsets of those groups corresponding to different user equipments.
Therefore claim 13 appears to be novel and inventive because prior art fails to show or teach the method of claim 12, wherein each second group is a subset of a first group having a one-to-one correspondence with the wake-up signal monitoring occasion, wherein different second groups correspond to different user equipments.
Therefore claims 15-16 appear to be novel and inventive because prior art fails to show or teach the method of claim 12, further comprising: one wake-up signal resource corresponds to at least one wake-up signal parameter, different wake-up signal parameters correspond to different third groups, and each third group is a subset of a second group having a one-to-one correspondence with the wake-up signal resource; wherein monitoring the wake-up signal on the at least one wake-up signal monitoring occasion within the wake-up signal cycle comprises: monitoring the wake-up signal on a first wake-up signal resource on the at least one wake-up signal monitoring occasion within the wake-up signal cycle using a first wake-up signal parameter, wherein the first wake-up signal resource is the wake-up signal resource corresponding to the second group to which the user equipment belongs, and the first wake- up signal parameter is a wake-up signal parameter corresponding to a third group to which the user equipment belongs.
Shi (U.S. PGPub 2022/0104134) teaches the terminal device may monitor the WUS in the first DRX cycle (See [0127]).
Koskela et al. (U.S. PGPub 2022/0386409) teaches the WUS is configured to be received and processed by the processor 320 of the UE 106, so that the UE 106 monitors the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), prior to a start of the on duration 402 (see FIG. 4) of the DRX cycle, to determine whether the WUS indicates that the UE 106 is to wake up for the next (or corresponding) on duration (See [0071]).
None of the cited prior art teaches reporting a recommended wake-up signal cycle to the base station.
Therefore claim 17 appears to be novel and inventive because prior art fails to show or teach the method of claim 1, further comprising: reporting at least one wake-up signal cycle recommended by the user equipment to a base station.
Conclusion
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/ASHLEY SHIVERS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477 7/31/2026
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