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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 6, 12 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 6 recites limitation “the at least one type of wake-up information”. It’s not clear whether it refers to “the at least one piece of wake-up information” recited in claim 5.
Claim 12 and 18 are rejected for the same reason stated above.
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)(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 1-3, 7-9, 13-15 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lopez et al (US 2019/0357145 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 13, Lopez teaches a device wake-up method, comprising:
determining, by a first device, wake-up information for waking up, or for not waking up, a second device (Fig. 12, [0092], the transmitting node determines whether a WUS is to be sent so that the receiver’s wake-up radio (WUR) wakes the main receiver; absence of the WUS indicates no wake-up);
determining, by the first device, a wake-up sequence based on the wake-up information, wherein the wake-up sequence is a binary bit sequence (Figs. 2, 4, the WUS is carried as a sequence of binary values; presence of signal representing a logical “1” and absence representing a logical “0”, also see [0073]); and
sending, by the first device, the wake-up sequence to the second device on a wake-up signal receiving occasion of the second device (Figs 10, 11; the node transmits the WUS; the WUR monitors for and receives the WUS), wherein each bit of the wake-up sequence is modulated into one or more low power wake-up (LP-WU) symbols through on-off keying (OOK), the wake-up signal receiving occasion comprises a wake-up signal receiving occasion frequency domain resource (Fig. 4, it disclose a particular frequency domain for WUS signal; the WUS is modulated using OOK, each OFDM symbols allocated to the WUS representing a “1” (signal present) or “0” (signal absent); also see [0091], “OOK”; Fig. 10-11), and
the wake-up signal receiving occasion frequency domain resource is adjacent to an edge of a transmission bandwidth of the first device in frequency domain (Fig. 2, [0071], “WUS is transmitted using OOK in IEEE802.11n guardbands 200, associated with the IEEE802.11n edge of band subcarriers 240”).
Regarding claim 2, Lopez further teaches that wherein duration of one LP-WU symbol of the one or more LP-WU symbols is T1, and duration of a symbol that is of a primary communication link of the first device and that overlaps the one LP-WU symbol in time domain is N*T1, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1 (Fig. 4, Lopez teaches the case when N = 1; the wake-up signal and the primary -link transmission are concurrent on a shared symbol grid; Each OOK/LP-WU symbol is one OFDM symbol, so duration of one LP-WU symbol = T1).
Regarding claim 3, Lopez further teaches the wake-up signal receiving occasion frequency domain resource is located in a system bandwidth of the first device; and there is no guard band between the wake-up signal receiving occasion frequency domain resource and the edge of the transmission bandwidth of the first device (Fig. 2, guardband 200, edge-of-band subcarriers 240; The guardband subcarriers occupied by Lopez’s wake-up signal lie within the channel bandwidth of the first device – i.e., within the system bandwidth – while lying outside of the set of occupied data subcarriers that constitutes the transmission bandwidth. The wake-up signal resource thus resides in the system bandwidth of the first device on the outer side of the edge of the transmission bandwidth. Further, because Lopez’s wake-up signal occupies the guardband subcarriers immediately associated with the edge-of-band subcarriers, the wake-up resource abuts the edge of the transmission bandwidth with no intervening unoccupied guard interval; there is accordingly no guard band between the wake-up signal receiving occasion frequency domain resource and the edge of the transmission bandwidth).
Regarding claim 20, Lopez further teaches that the wake-up signal receiving occasion frequency domain resource is located outside the transmission bandwidth of the apparatus, and there is no guard band between the wake-up signal receiving occasion frequency domain resource and the edge of the transmission bandwidth of the apparatus (Fig. 2, guardband 200, edge-of-band subcarriers 240; The guardband subcarriers occupied by Lopez’s wake-up signal lie within the channel bandwidth of the first device – i.e., within the system bandwidth – while lying outside of the set of occupied data subcarriers that constitutes the transmission bandwidth. The wake-up signal resource thus resides in the system bandwidth of the first device on the outer side of the edge of the transmission bandwidth. Further, because Lopez’s wake-up signal occupies the guardband subcarriers immediately associated with the edge-of-band subcarriers, the wake-up resource abuts the edge of the transmission bandwidth with no intervening unoccupied guard interval; there is accordingly no guard band between the wake-up signal receiving occasion frequency domain resource and the edge of the transmission bandwidth).
Regarding claim 7, Lopez teaches that a device wake-up method, comprising:
receiving, by a second device, a wake-up sequence from a first device on a wake-up signal receiving occasion (Fig. 10, 11; also see [0089]), wherein the wake-up sequence is a binary bit sequence, each bit of the wake-up sequence is modulated into one or more low power wake-up (LP-WU) symbols through on-off keying (OOK) ((Fig. 4, it disclose a particular frequency domain for WUS signal; the WUS is modulated using OOK, each OFDM symbols allocated to the WUS representing a “1” (signal present) or “0” (signal absent); also see [0091], “OOK”; Fig. 10-11), the wake-up signal receiving occasion comprises a wake-up signal receiving occasion frequency domain resource, and the wake-up signal receiving occasion frequency domain resource is adjacent to an edge of a transmission bandwidth of the first device in frequency domain (Fig. 2, [0071], “WUS is transmitted using OOK in IEEE802.11n guardbands 200, associated with the IEEE802.11n edge of band subcarriers 240”);
determining, by the second device, wake-up information based on the wake-up sequence (Fig. 4, [0073], “The WUS 400 comprises a number of OFDM symbols and is preceded by a packet preamble. Each OFDM symbol for the WUS represents either a “1” (implemented as presence of a signal) or a “0” (implemented as absence of any signal)”); and
in response to the wake-up information, waking up or not waking up, by the second device, a primary communication device ([0089], “when the wake-up radio unit detects a relevant WUS it wakes up the corresponding transceiver and causes the switch 1002 to shift position so that the antenna signal is conveyed to the main transceiver instead of the wake-up radio unit”).
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 4, 10 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lopez et al (US 2019/0357145 A1) in view of Ng et al (US 2021/0144566 A1), further in view of Astrom et al (US 11,950,185 B2).
Regarding claim 4, 10 and 16, Lopez discloses the method of claim 1, including a wake-up signal receiving occasion comprising a time domain resource (the WUS occupies defined OFDM symbols; Lopez, FIG. 4) and a frequency domain resource located on the outer side of the edge of the transmission bandwidth, in the guardband subcarriers abutting the edge-of-band subcarriers (Lopez, FIG. 2). Lopez does not expressly disclose first and second non-overlapping time domain resources whose respective frequency domain resources are located on the two sides of the edge.
Ng discloses the complementary inner-side placement: a narrowband resource located as the outermost resource block within the transmission bandwidth configuration at the edge, not within the guard band (Ng, Abstract; FIGs. 2–4). Lopez and Ng together establish that the outer-side and inner-side positions immediately adjacent to the edge of a transmission bandwidth were the two recognized alternative locations for a narrowband signal at that edge.
Astrom discloses transmitting wake-up signals at a plurality of configured frequency locations, a first WUS at a first frequency location and a second WUS at a second frequency location determined relative to the first, across wake-up occasions occupying distinct times (Astrom, Abstract; Fig. 3). Astrom thus teaches providing the wake-up signal at first and second frequency domain resources in respective non-overlapping time resources.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to configure Lopez’s wake-up signal receiving occasion with first and second non-overlapping time domain resources per Astrom, and to locate the two associated frequency domain resources at the two recognized edge-adjacent positions — Lopez’s outer-side guardband position and Ng’s inner-side outermost in-band position — respectively on the two sides of the edge of the transmission bandwidth. The skilled artisan would have been motivated to alternate between the two known positions to obtain frequency diversity across wake-up occasions while keeping every occasion at the band edge where the low-power receiver’s narrowband filter is referenced, and to balance in-band resource consumption against guard-band emission margin across occasions. The combination merely uses each known placement for its established purpose and alternates between a finite set of two identified alternatives, yielding predictable results.
Claims 5-6, 11-12, 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lopez et al (US 2019/0357145 A1) in view of COX et al (WO 2018175760 A1).
Regarding claim 5, 11, 17, Lopez teaches all of the limitations except that the determining the wake-up sequence comprises: determining, by the first device, a correspondence between at least one wake-up sequence and at least one piece of wake-up information; and determining, by the first device, the wake-up sequence based on the wake-up information, and the correspondence between the at least one wake-up sequence and the at least one piece of wake-up information.
Cox teaches determining, by the first device, a correspondence between at least one wake-up sequence and at least one piece of wake-up information; and determining, by the first device, the wake-up sequence based on the wake-up information, and the correspondence between the at least one wake-up sequence and the at least one piece of wake-up information ([00118]-[00119], “a predefined mapping can be used to associate the UE-group to the sequence used for the WUS. For example, the number of sequences that can be used for the WUS may be denoted by N. The sequence to be associated to a particular UE (if a UE-specific WUS is introduced) or a particular UE group (if a UE-group specific WUS is introduced) can be determined by mod(UE/UE-group ID, N), e.g. the UE ID can be the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) and the UE-group ID can be indicated by higher layer signaling”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the teaching of Cox in the system disclosed by Lopez in order to convey addressing/group information via the WUS and reduces false wake-ups, with a reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claim 6, 12, 18, the aforementioned references further teach that the correspondence between the at least one wake-up sequence and the at least one type of wake-up information is related to an identity of a cell in which the first device is located (Cox, [00118], ” the set of sequences may be common to all cells, cell-specific (e.g. depending on cell ID), UE-group specific, or UE- specific sequence. If the WUS is common to all cells, a default cell ID can be used (e.g. ID 0) to generate the sequence when the sequence generation depends on cell ID in LTE/Rel-13 NB-IoT/eMTC systems. For example, if the WUS sequence is based on any one of the following signals - PSS, SSS, NSSS, CRS, NRS, PRS or NPRS - a default cell ID can be used to generate the sequence. On the other hand, if the WU S is cell-specific, the sequence can be defined as a function of the cell ID”).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lopez et al (US 2019/0357145 A1) in view of Ng et al (US 2021/0144566 A1).
Regarding claim 19, Regarding claim 19, Lopez discloses the method of claim 13, including a wake-up signal receiving occasion comprising a time domain resource (the WUS occupies defined OFDM symbols; Lopez, FIG. 4) and a frequency domain resource located on the outer side of the edge of the transmission bandwidth, in the guardband subcarriers abutting the edge-of-band subcarriers (Lopez, FIG. 2). Lopez does not expressly disclose receiving occasion frequency domain resource is located inside the transmission bandwidth of the apparatus, and includes the edge of the transmission bandwidth of the apparatus.
Ng discloses receiving occasion frequency domain resource is located inside the transmission bandwidth of the apparatus, and includes the edge of the transmission bandwidth of the apparatus (Ng, Abstract; FIGs. 2–4).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the teaching of Ng in the system disclosed by Lopez, such that the wake-up signal receiving occasion frequency domain resource is located inside the transmission bandwidth of the apparatus and includes the edge of transmission bandwidth. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to reuse in-band resource blocks for the narrowband wake-up signal rather than consume guard-band spectrum, thereby preserving the guard band for its function of protecting against emission into adjacent channels, and to keep the wake-up signal within the operating band to which the transmit and receive filters of the apparatus are referenced.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SIMING LIU whose telephone number is (571)270-3859. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 8:30am-5:00pm.
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/SIMING LIU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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