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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the application filed on 09/26/2024.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending.
Claims 1-20 are rejected.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-3, 5-17, 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Alphan Sahin et al (US 20220095228 A1) in view of Yonggang Fang et al (US 20170332327 A1).
For Claim 1, Sahin discloses a method (Sahin teaches, in ¶ 0004, lines 1-3, Systems, methods, and instrumentalities may be provided for a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) to receive a signal from a network while the WTRU is in a sleep state) comprising:
entering a wireless module of a wireless client into a power saving mode (Sahin teaches, in ¶ 0004, lines 1-3, that For example, the signal may indicate a first level of information, e.g., whether to wake up a WTRU from a sleep state or maintain sleep state);
detecting, by a wakeup radio, a radio frequency (RF) signal exhibiting a pattern comprising a sequence of values (Sahin teaches, in ¶ 0005, that The WTRU may detect a bit pattern in the signal. The WTRU may detect a bit pattern based on detecting a set of ON/OFF bits. For example, the WTRU may use energy detection to detect a set of ON/OFF bits); determining, by a processing device of the wakeup radio, that the pattern matches a wakeup word specified for the wireless client to cause the wireless module to wake from the power saving mode (Sahin teaches, in ¶ 0006, that The WTRU may determine whether the bit pattern matches a configured bit pattern … If the WTRU determines that the bit pattern matches the configured bit pattern, the WTRU may wake up from the sleep state).
Sahin fails to expressly discloses sending a signal to the wireless module to cause the wireless module to transition from the power saving mode to an active mode.
However, Fang, in the analogous art, discloses sending a signal to the wireless module to cause the wireless module to transition from the power saving mode to an active mode (Fang teaches, in ¶ 0068, that When the WUR ID of received WUS matches with the AID of the power saving STA, the STA sends the wake-up indication to the main wireless communication module in the sleep mode).
Fang also teaches, in FIG. 3A, that wireless device 302 which consists of: a main wireless communication module 308, such as 802.11 air interface component, and a low power wake-up receiver (WUR) module 310.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Sahin with the introduction of a separate low power wake-up receiver module taught in Fang. The motivation is to reduce power consumption for the device in systematic and network levels [Fang: ¶ 0035].
For Claim 2, Sahin discloses all of the claimed subject matter with the exception that entering the power saving mode comprises establishing a wakeup interval, wherein the wakeup word causes the wireless module to transition from the power saving mode to the active mode prior to a next scheduled wake time.
However, Fang, in the analogous art, discloses that entering the power saving mode comprises establishing a wakeup interval, wherein the wakeup word causes the wireless module to transition from the power saving mode to the active mode prior to a next scheduled wake time (Fang teaches, in ¶ 0070, that The WUS transmissions over the narrow band frequency channel could be sequentially in inter frame space, WUS-IFS, which is the idle time between two consecutive WUS signals. The WUR uses the WUS-IFS time to separate WUS signals, and determine the starting point of WUS). Examiner notes that using WUS-IFS time to separate WUS signals means that the wireless communication module remains in sleep mode until the subsequent WUS signal is received.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Sahin with the introduction of a separate low power wake-up receiver module taught in Fang. The motivation is to reduce power consumption for the device in systematic and network levels [Fang: ¶ 0035].
For Claim 3, Sahin discloses a method, wherein entering the power saving mode comprises entering an indefinite power saving mode, and wherein the wireless module stays in the power saving mode until the wakeup word is received (Sahin teaches, in ¶ 0006, that If the WTRU determines that the bit pattern matches the configured bit pattern, the WTRU may wake up from the sleep state. If the WTRU determines that the bit pattern does not match the configured bit pattern, the WTRU may maintain the sleep state).
For Claim 5, Sahin discloses a method, wherein entering the power saving mode comprises entering an indefinite power saving mode, and wherein the wireless module stays in the power saving mode until the wakeup word is received (Sahin teaches, in ¶ 0142, that If the detected sequence(s) matches with a stored/preconfigured sequence(s) for a WTRU in the group of WTRUs, the WTRU in the WTRU group may wake-up, e.g., from the sleep state). Sahin, further teaches, in ¶ 0142, that The non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device.
For Claim 6, Sahin discloses all of the claimed subject matter with the exception of establishing a new wakeup word after a time period has expired.
However, Fang, in the analogous art, discloses establishing a new wakeup word after a time period has expired (Fang teaches, in ¶ 0070, that The WUS transmissions over the narrow band frequency channel could be sequentially in inter frame space, WUS-IFS, which is the idle time between two consecutive WUS signals. The WUR uses the WUS-IFS time to separate WUS signals, and determine the starting point of WUS). Fang also teaches, in ¶ 0093, that After AP sends out the broadcast WUS 904, it could send 802.11 beacon, trigger frame or other broadcast messages 912 to power saving stations after wake-up window.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Sahin with the introduction of a separate low power wake-up receiver module taught in Fang. The motivation is to reduce power consumption for the device in systematic and network levels [Fang: ¶ 0035].
For Claim 7, Sahin discloses all of the claimed subject matter with the exception that the wakeup word is detected in a Wi-Fi beacon frame.
However, Fang, in the analogous art, discloses that the wakeup word is detected in a Wi-Fi beacon frame (Fang teaches, in ¶ 0072, that FIG. 5B shows another example of format 510 of WUS signal which is embedded within the 802.11 frame transmitted over wideband such as 20 Mhz channel bandwidth). Fang also teaches, in ¶ 0093, that After AP sends out the broadcast WUS 904, it could send 802.11 beacon, trigger frame or other broadcast messages 912 to power saving stations after wake-up window.
Fang also teaches, in FIG. 3A, that wireless device 302 which consists of: a main wireless communication module 308, such as 802.11 air interface component, and a low power wake-up receiver (WUR) module 310.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Sahin with the introduction of a separate low power wake-up receiver module taught in Fang. The motivation is to reduce power consumption for the device in systematic and network levels [Fang: ¶ 0035].
For Claim 8, Sahin discloses all of the claimed subject matter with the exception that the wakeup word is detected in a data packet addressed to a second wireless client.
However, Fang, in the analogous art, discloses that the wakeup word is detected in a data packet addressed to a second wireless client (Fang teaches, in ¶ 0010, that The method includes the mechanism that the wireless network can use the wake-up request signal with a broadcast address to wake-up all the power saving stations in the sleep mode in the BSS. Fang teaches, in ¶ 0011, that The wake-up request signal includes a preamble sequence which uniquely identifies the wake-up request signal as being for the wideband communication network, an identifier of the wireless device for whom the wake-up request signal is intended).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Sahin with the introduction of a separate low power wake-up receiver module taught in Fang. The motivation is to reduce power consumption for the device in systematic and network levels [Fang: ¶ 0035].
For Claim 9, Sahin discloses a method, wherein the wireless module operates according to a first communication protocol (Sahin teaches, in ¶ 0037, that In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.15 to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yet another embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may utilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR etc.) to establish a picocell or femtocell) and wherein the wakeup word is detected in a data packet generated in accordance with a second communication protocol (Sahin teaches, in ¶ 0006, that If the WTRU determines that the bit pattern matches the configured bit pattern, the WTRU may wake up from the sleep state. If the WTRU determines that the bit pattern does not match the configured bit pattern, the WTRU may maintain the sleep state).
For Claim 10, Sahin discloses an apparatus (Sahin teaches, in ¶ 0004, lines 1-3, Systems, methods, and instrumentalities may be provided for a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) to receive a signal from a network while the WTRU is in a sleep state) comprising:
a wireless module configured to transmit and receive wireless data in accordance with a wireless communication protocol (Sahin teaches, in ¶ 0062, lines 1-3, that When using the 802.11ac infrastructure mode of operation or a similar mode of operations, the AP may transmit a beacon on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel); and a wakeup radio comprising a receiver and a processing device, the processing device configured to: compare a radio frequency (RF) signal received by the receiver to a wakeup word; and if the RF signal matches the wakeup word (Sahin teaches, in ¶ 0006, that The WTRU may determine whether the bit pattern matches a configured bit pattern … If the WTRU determines that the bit pattern matches the configured bit pattern, the WTRU may wake up from the sleep state).
Sahin fails to expressly discloses to send a wake signal to the wireless module to cause the wireless module to transition from a power saving mode to an active mode.
However, Fang, in the analogous art, discloses to send a wake signal to the wireless module to cause the wireless module to transition from a power saving mode to an active mode (Fang teaches, in ¶ 0068, that When the WUR ID of received WUS matches with the AID of the power saving STA, the STA sends the wake-up indication to the main wireless communication module in the sleep mode. Fang also teaches, in ¶ 0093, that After AP sends out the broadcast WUS 904, it could send 802.11 beacon, trigger frame or other broadcast messages 912 to power saving stations after wake-up window).
Fang further teaches, in FIG. 3A, that wireless device 302 which consists of: a main wireless communication module 308, such as 802.11 air interface component, and a low power wake-up receiver (WUR) module 310.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Sahin with the introduction of a separate low power wake-up receiver module taught in Fang. The motivation is to reduce power consumption for the device in systematic and network levels [Fang: ¶ 0035].
For Claims 11-12, please refer to the rejection of Claims 2-3, above.
For Claim 13, Sahin discloses all of the claimed subject matter with the exception that the wireless module is configured to send one or more setup parameters to the wakeup radio, wherein the setup parameters comprise the wakeup word that the wakeup radio is configured to listen for.
However, Fang, in the analogous art, discloses that the wireless module is configured to send one or more setup parameters to the wakeup radio, wherein the setup parameters comprise the wakeup word that the wakeup radio is configured to listen for (Fang teaches, in ¶ 0067, that WUS-Preamble field 504: this field contains a unique sequence which is to identify the WUS signal … When the WUR monitors the WUS on narrow band frequency channel and detects the WUS preamble, it can start to receive the following field of the signal).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Sahin with the introduction of a separate low power wake-up receiver module taught in Fang. The motivation is to reduce power consumption for the device in systematic and network levels [Fang: ¶ 0035].
For Claim 14 please refer to the rejection of Claim 13, above.
For Claims 15-17, please refer to the rejection of Claims 6-8, above.
For Claim 19, Sahin discloses a method (Sahin teaches, in ¶ 0004, lines 1-3, Systems, methods, and instrumentalities may be provided for a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) to receive a signal from a network while the WTRU is in a sleep state) comprising:
receiving data to be wirelessly transmitted to a wireless client (Sahin teaches, in ¶ 0062, lines 1-3, that When using the 802.11ac infrastructure mode of operation or a similar mode of operations, the AP may transmit a beacon on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel); identifying a wakeup word associated with the wireless client (Sahin teaches, in ¶ 0005, that The WTRU may detect a bit pattern in the signal. The WTRU may detect a bit pattern based on detecting a set of ON/OFF bits. For example, the WTRU may use energy detection to detect a set of ON/OFF bits).
Sahin fails to expressly discloses sending a signal to the wireless module to cause the wireless module to transition from the power saving mode to an active mode.
However, Fang, in the analogous art, discloses transmitting a traffic indication message to the wireless client to inform the wireless client that the data is about to be delivered (Fang teaches, in ¶ 0077, that If the AP with WUT module has some buffered data for the power saving STA, it will send the wake-up request signal to the WUR over the WUS channel if the STA is in the sleep mode); and prior to transmitting the traffic indication message, broadcasting the wakeup word to cause the wireless client to wake from a power saving mode (Fang teaches, in ¶ 0010, that The method includes the mechanism that the wireless network can use the wake-up request signal with a broadcast address to wake-up all the power saving stations in the sleep mode in the BSS. Fang teaches, in ¶ 0011, that The wake-up request signal includes a preamble sequence which uniquely identifies the wake-up request signal as being for the wideband communication network, an identifier of the wireless device for whom the wake-up request signal is intended).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Sahin with the introduction of a separate low power wake-up receiver module taught in Fang. The motivation is to reduce power consumption for the device in systematic and network levels [Fang: ¶ 0035].
For Claim 20, please refer to the rejection of Claim 8, above.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Alphan Sahin et al (US 20220095228 A1) in view of Yonggang Fang et al (US 20170332327 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Weiwei Yang et al (US 20260270873 A1).
For Claim 4, Sahin teaches, in ¶ 0142, that If the detected sequence(s) matches with a stored/preconfigured sequence(s) for a WTRU in the group of WTRUs, the WTRU in the WTRU group may wake-up, e.g., from the sleep state.
Sahin & Fang fail to expressly disclose negotiating the wakeup word with a wireless access point.
However, Yang, in the analogous art, discloses negotiating the wakeup word with a wireless access point (Yang teaches, in ¶ 0042, that Optionally, a bit sequence adopted by the wake-up preamble may be defined in the standard; or, a bit sequence adopted by the wake-up preamble may also be determined by the base station; or, a bit sequence adopted by the wake-up preamble may also be determined by negotiation between the base station and the terminal).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Wang with the LP-WUS taught in Yang. The motivation is so that a specific structure of the wake-up signal in the LP-WUS mechanism exists [Yang: ¶ 0003].
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Alphan Sahin et al (US 20220095228 A1) in view of Yonggang Fang et al (US 20170332327 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Andreas Popel et al (US 20260054601 A1).
For Claim 18, Sahin & Fang disclose all of the claimed subject matter with the exception that the wakeup radio comprises a power harvester configured to power the wakeup radio using ambient energy.
However, Popel, in the analogous art, discloses that the wakeup radio comprises a power harvester configured to power the wakeup radio using ambient energy (Popel teaches, in ¶ 0219, that The present disclosure discusses the frequency of wakeup estimation based on the availability of renewable energy sources providing power to the energy source, the number of vehicles connected to the energy source for discharging, the time of the day, and price per unit charge quoted).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Wang with the adaptive wakeup cycle taught in Popel. The motivation is for conserving a battery power by avoiding unnecessary waking up by the vehicle to determine whether charge is required at the energy source or not [Popel: ¶ 0219].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Dinan (US 20130258959 A1) teaches a wireless device operable to go into a powered down mode and to be woken from the powered down mode when a wake-up data sequence for that device is received over a wireless LAN is provided. The wireless device further comprises a comparator for comparing an incoming wake-up data sequence signals with a signal stored in memory and a controller for restoring power to the wireless device if the incoming wake-up data sequence matches a signal stored in memory.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMED A KAMARA whose telephone number is (571)270-5629. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM-4PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, CHARLES JIANG can be reached on 5712707191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MOHAMED A KAMARA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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