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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Applicant cannot rely upon the certified copy of the foreign priority application to overcome this rejection because a translation of said application has not been made of record in accordance with 37 CFR 1.55. When an English language translation of a non-English language foreign application is required, the translation must be that of the certified copy (of the foreign application as filed) submitted together with a statement that the translation of the certified copy is accurate. See MPEP §§ 215 and 216.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on January 9, 2025, and July 10, 2025 were filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner. The international search report indicated in the IDS filed on January 9, 2025 was not considered because a translation was not provided.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because Figs. 1 and 4 contain reference characters (e.g., S101) that are not underlined or associated with a lead line in compliance with 37 CFR 1.84(q). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC §§ 112(b)
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.
Claims 4-5, 9, and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b). Claims 4-5, 9, and 16-17 recite a list of alternatives. As such, Claims 4-5, 9, and 16-17 are rejected on the basis that it contains an improper Markush grouping of alternatives. See In re Harnisch, 631 F.2d 716, 721-22 (CCPA 1980) and Ex parte Hozumi, 3 USPQ2d 1059, 1060 (Bd. Pat. App. & Int. 1984).
Claims that set forth a list of alternatives from which a selection is to be made are typically referred to as Markush claims, after the appellant in Ex parte Markush, 1925 Dec. Comm’r Pat. 126, 127 (1924). See MPEP § 2117.
Treatment of claims reciting alternatives is not governed by the particular format used (e.g., alternatives may be set forth as “a material selected from the group consisting of A, B, and C” or “wherein the material is A, B, or C”). See, e.g., the Supplementary Examination Guidelines for Determining Compliance with 35 U.S.C. 112 and for Treatment of Related Issues in Patent Applications (“Supplementary Guidelines”), 76 Fed. Reg. 7162, 7166 (February 9, 2011). MPEP § 2173.05(h)(I).
“If a Markush grouping requires a material selected from an open list of alternatives (e.g., selected from the group ‘comprising’ or ‘consisting essentially of’ the recited alternatives), the claim should generally be rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as indefinite because it is unclear what other alternatives are intended to be encompassed by the claim. See In re Kiely, 2022 USPQ2d 532 at 2* (Fed. Cir. 2022). MPEP § 2173.05(h)(I).
The Markush groupings of claims 4-5, 9, and 16-17 are improper because the alternatives defined by the Markush grouping are open ended for the following reasons:
Each claim recites an open-ended list of alternatives (e.g., claim 4 recites, “wherein the second signaling comprises a first field, wherein the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with a value of the first field being a first value, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with the value of the first field being a second value; the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with the second signaling including a first field, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with the second signaling not including the first field; the second signaling comprises a non-access stratum (NAS) container used to carry the information about the first terminal device, wherein the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with a quantity of NAS containers being 1, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with a quantity of NAS containers being greater than 1; or the information about the first terminal device is an identifier of the first terminal device, wherein the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with a quantity of terminal device identifiers comprised in the second signaling being 1, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with a quantity of terminal device identifiers comprised in the second signaling being greater than 1.”)
To overcome this rejection, Applicant may set forth each alternative (or grouping of patentably indistinct alternatives) within an improper Markush grouping in a series of independent or dependent claims and/or present convincing arguments that the group members recited in the alternative within a single claim in fact share a single structural similarity as well as a common use.
Further, rejections for the claims pertain to only one of the enumerated list of elements.
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, 3-7, 9-11, 13, and 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No. 2022/0124674 (hereinafter “Babaei”) in view of U.S. Publication No. 2024/0422737 (hereinafter “Zhao”).
Regarding claim 1, Babaei teaches: A paging method, comprising: sending first signaling used to page a first terminal device ([0137] The network may address multiple UEs within a Paging message by including one PagingRecord for each UE. [0139] In an example, upon receiving the paging message, if in RRC_INACTIVE, for each of the PagingRecord, if any, included in the Paging message: if the ue-Identity included in the PagingRecord matches the UE's stored fullI-RNTI: if the UE is configured by upper layers with Access Identity 1: the UE may initiate the RRC connection resumption procedure with resumeCause set to mps-PriorityAccess, [0146]), wherein the first signaling comprises information about the first terminal device ([0139] ue-Identity), and the first signaling is used to determine a first resource ([0139] if the UE is configured by upper layers with Access Identity 1: the UE may initiate the RRC connection resumption procedure with resumeCause set to mps-PriorityAccess.).
It is unclear whether Babaei explicitly teaches: receiving, on the first resource, uplink data from the first terminal device.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Zhao teaches: receiving, on the first resource, uplink data from the first terminal device ([0071], [0086-0089] “After receiving the paging message, a terminal device in an RRC idle state may initiate an RRC connection setup process to receive data or signalling.” [0081] In the RRC connected state, the RRC context may be established, [0081] When there is data to be transmitted, uplink synchronization may be established through random access. [0086] A demodulation reference signal (demodulatin reference signal, DMRS) may be used for demodulation of uplink and downlink data.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Babaei to include the feature of uplink data transmission and a combination of Babaei with Zhao renders the claim prima facie obvious within the described scope of the prior art and any indicated differences within the level of one of ordinary skill in the art (e.g., telecommunications engineer) according to a combination of known prior art elements with known methods to yield predictable results. MPEP 2143(I)(A) (e.g., providing uplink data transmission).
Regarding claim 3, Babaei teaches: receiving second signaling from a first core network device, wherein the second signaling is used to page the first terminal device, and the second signaling further indicates a quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than or equal to 1 ([0137] In an example, the paging procedure may be used to transmit paging information to a UE in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE. The network may initiate the paging procedure by transmitting the Paging message at the UE's paging occasion. The network may address multiple UEs within a Paging message by including one PagingRecord for each UE. [0186] The wireless may process/receive the downlink transport block, scheduled by the paging DCI, based on receiving the indication that the downlink transport block includes first paging information associated with the first paging group. The downlink transport block may comprise one or more paging records for one or more wireless devices in the first paging group.).
Regarding claim 4, Babaei teaches: wherein the second signaling comprises a first field, wherein the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with a value of the first field being a first value, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with the value of the first field being a second value ([0188] In an example, the wireless device may receive a paging transport block comprising a field and the value of the field may indicate the first value of the number of paging groups in the plurality of values of the number of paging groups.); the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with the second signaling including a first field, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with the second signaling not including the first field; the second signaling comprises a non-access stratum (NAS) container used to carry the information about the first terminal device, wherein the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with a quantity of NAS containers being 1, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with a quantity of NAS containers being greater than 1; or the information about the first terminal device is an identifier of the first terminal device, wherein the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with a quantity of terminal device identifiers comprised in the second signaling being 1, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with a quantity of terminal device identifiers comprised in the second signaling being greater than 1.
Regarding claim 5, Babaei teaches: wherein the first signaling comprises a second field, wherein the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with a value of the second field being a third value, the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with a value of the second field being a fourth value ([0238] In an example, the determination that the wireless device is associated with the first paging group/sub-group (e.g., associated with the first paging group/sub-group in the first paging occasion) may further be based on the second number and/or the third number indicated by the system information (e.g., by the second parameter and the third parameter of the system information, respectively).); the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with the first signaling including a second field, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with the first signaling not including a second field; the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with the first resource including one resource used for uplink data transmission, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with the first resource including a plurality of resources used for uplink data transmission; the first signaling comprises a non-access stratum (NAS) container used to carry the information about the first terminal device, wherein the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with a quantity of NAS containers being 1, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with a quantity of NAS containers being greater than 1; or the information about the first terminal device is an identifier of the first terminal device, wherein the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with a quantity of terminal device identifiers comprised in the first signaling being 1, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with a quantity of terminal device identifiers comprised in the first signaling being greater than 1.
Regarding claim 6, Babaei teaches: wherein in association with a quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling being greater than 1, the first signaling comprises a plurality pieces of information about terminal devices, the plurality pieces of information about the terminal devices are sorted in a first order in the first signaling, and the first order is used to determine a resource ([0100], [0124] A base station and a wireless device may perform beam management procedures to establish beam pairs (e.g., transmit and receive beams) that jointly provide good connectivity. For example, in the downlink direction, the UE may perform measurements for a beam pair and estimate channel quality for a transmit beam by the base station (or a transmission reception point (TRP) more generally) and the receive beam by the UE. The UE may transmit a report indicating beam pair quality parameters. The report may comprise one or more parameters indicating one or more beams (e.g., a beam index, an identifier of reference signal associated with a beam, etc.), one or more measurement parameters (e.g., RSRP), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a channel quality indicator (CQI), and/or a rank indicator (RI).).
Regarding claim 7, Babaei teaches: A paging method, comprising: receiving first signaling from a first device, wherein the first signaling is used to page a first terminal device ([0137] The network may address multiple UEs within a Paging message by including one PagingRecord for each UE. [0139] In an example, upon receiving the paging message, if in RRC_INACTIVE, for each of the PagingRecord, if any, included in the Paging message: if the ue-Identity included in the PagingRecord matches the UE's stored fullI-RNTI: if the UE is configured by upper layers with Access Identity 1: the UE may initiate the RRC connection resumption procedure with resumeCause set to mps-PriorityAccess, [0146]), the first signaling comprises information about the first terminal device ([0139] ue-Identity), and the first signaling is used to determine a first resource ([0139] if the UE is configured by upper layers with Access Identity 1: the UE may initiate the RRC connection resumption procedure with resumeCause set to mps-PriorityAccess.).
It is unclear whether Babaei explicitly teaches: sending, based on an indication of the first signaling, uplink data to the first device in a first slot belonging to the first resource.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Zhao teaches: sending, based on an indication of the first signaling, uplink data to the first device in a first slot belonging to the first resource. ([0071], [0086-0089] “After receiving the paging message, a terminal device in an RRC idle state may initiate an RRC connection setup process to receive data or signalling.” [0081] In the RRC connected state, the RRC context may be established, [0081] When there is data to be transmitted, uplink synchronization may be established through random access. [0086] A demodulation reference signal (demodulatin reference signal, DMRS) may be used for demodulation of uplink and downlink data. [0089-90] “a time resource location and/or a frequency resource location”, “S slots” [0061] a frequency resource or a spectrum resource).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Babaei to include the feature of uplink data transmission and a combination of Babaei with Zhao renders the claim prima facie obvious within the described scope of the prior art and any indicated differences within the level of one of ordinary skill in the art (e.g., telecommunications engineer) according to a combination of known prior art elements with known methods to yield predictable results. MPEP 2143(I)(A) (e.g., providing uplink data transmission).
Regarding claim 9, Babaei teaches: wherein the first signaling comprises a second field, wherein a quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling in association with a value of the second field being a third value, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with a value of the second field being a fourth value ([0188] In an example, the wireless device may receive a paging transport block comprising a field and the value of the field may indicate the first value of the number of paging groups in the plurality of values of the number of paging groups.); a quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with the first signaling including a second field, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with the first signaling not including a second field; a quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with the first resource including one resource used for uplink data transmission, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with the first resource including a plurality of resources used for uplink data transmission; the first signaling comprises a non-access stratum (NAS) container, and the NAS container is used to carry the information about the first terminal device, wherein a quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with a quantity of NAS containers being 1, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with a quantity of NAS containers comprised in the first signaling being greater than 1; or the information about the first terminal device is an identifier of the first terminal device, wherein a quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 in association with a quantity of terminal device identifiers comprised in the first signaling being 1, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 in association with a quantity of terminal device identifiers comprised in the first signaling being greater than 1.
Regarding claim 10, Babaei teaches: determining the first slot based on a location of the information about the first terminal device in the first signaling in a first order ([0143] In an example, upon receiving the paging message, if in RRC_INACTIVE, for each of the PagingRecord, if any, included in the Paging message: if the ue-Identity included in the PagingRecord matches the UE identity allocated by upper layers: forward the ue-Identity to upper layers and accessType (if present) to the upper layers; and the UE may perform the actions upon going to RRC_IDLE with release cause ‘other’.), wherein in association with the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling being greater than 1, the first signaling comprises information about a plurality of terminal devices, and the plurality pieces of information about the terminal devices is sorted in the first order in the first signaling ([0152] In an example, the UE may use Discontinuous Reception (DRX) in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE state in order to reduce power consumption. The UE may monitor one paging occasion (PO) per DRX cycle. A PO may be a set of PDCCH monitoring occasions and may consist of multiple time slots (e.g., subframe or OFDM symbol) where paging DCI may be sent. One Paging Frame (PF) may be one Radio Frame and may contain one or multiple PO(s) or starting point of a PO.).
Regarding claim 11, Babaei teaches: wherein the plurality pieces of information about the terminal devices sorted in the first order in the first signaling comprises: in association with one non-access stratum (NAS) container in NAS containers comprised in the first signaling is used to carry information about one terminal device ([0237 In an example, the wireless device identifier may be indicated to/provided to the wireless device by the Core Network (e.g., via a core network signaling such as NAS signaling). In an example, the determination of the first paging occasion by the wireless device may further be based on the DRX cycle and a paging frame offset.), the NAS containers are sorted in the first order in the first signaling; in association with a quantity of NAS containers comprised in the first signaling being 1, the plurality pieces of information about the terminal devices are sorted in the first order in the NAS container; or identifiers of the plurality of terminal devices are sorted in the first order in the first signaling ([0137]).
Regarding claim 13, Babaei teaches: A communication apparatus, comprising: processing circuitry including at least one processor, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: send first signaling used to page a first terminal device ([0137] The network may address multiple UEs within a Paging message by including one PagingRecord for each UE. [0139] In an example, upon receiving the paging message, if in RRC_INACTIVE, for each of the PagingRecord, if any, included in the Paging message: if the ue-Identity included in the PagingRecord matches the UE's stored fullI-RNTI: if the UE is configured by upper layers with Access Identity 1: the UE may initiate the RRC connection resumption procedure with resumeCause set to mps-PriorityAccess, [0146]), wherein the first signaling comprises information about the first terminal device, ([0139] ue-Identity), and the first signaling is used to determine a first resource ([0139] if the UE is configured by upper layers with Access Identity 1: the UE may initiate the RRC connection resumption procedure with resumeCause set to mps-PriorityAccess.).
It is unclear whether Babaei explicitly teaches: receive, on the first resource, uplink data from the first terminal device.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Zhao teaches: receive, on the first resource, uplink data from the first terminal device ([0071], [0086-0089] “After receiving the paging message, a terminal device in an RRC idle state may initiate an RRC connection setup process to receive data or signalling.” [0081] In the RRC connected state, the RRC context may be established, [0081] When there is data to be transmitted, uplink synchronization may be established through random access. [0086] A demodulation reference signal (demodulatin reference signal, DMRS) may be used for demodulation of uplink and downlink data.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Babaei to include the feature of uplink data transmission and a combination of Babaei with Zhao renders the claim prima facie obvious within the described scope of the prior art and any indicated differences within the level of one of ordinary skill in the art (e.g., telecommunications engineer) according to a combination of known prior art elements with known methods to yield predictable results. MPEP 2143(I)(A) (e.g., providing uplink data transmission).
Regarding claim 15, Babaei teaches: wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: receive second signaling from a first core network device, wherein the second signaling is used to page the first terminal device, and the second signaling further indicates a quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than or equal to 1 ([0137] In an example, the paging procedure may be used to transmit paging information to a UE in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE. The network may initiate the paging procedure by transmitting the Paging message at the UE's paging occasion. The network may address multiple UEs within a Paging message by including one PagingRecord for each UE. [0186] The wireless may process/receive the downlink transport block, scheduled by the paging DCI, based on receiving the indication that the downlink transport block includes first paging information associated with the first paging group. The downlink transport block may comprise one or more paging records for one or more wireless devices in the first paging group.).
Regarding claim 16, Babaei teaches: wherein the second signaling comprises a first field, wherein the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 when a value of the first field is a first value, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 when a value of the first field is a second value ([0188] In an example, the wireless device may receive a paging transport block comprising a field and the value of the field may indicate the first value of the number of paging groups in the plurality of values of the number of paging groups.); the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 when the second signaling comprises a first field, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 when the second signaling does not comprise a first field; the second signaling comprises a non-access stratum (NAS) container used to carry the information about the first terminal device, wherein the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 when a quantity of NAS containers is 1, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 when a quantity of NAS containers is greater than 1; or the information about the first terminal device is an identifier of the first terminal device, wherein the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 when a quantity of terminal device identifiers comprised in the second signaling is 1, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 when a quantity of terminal device identifiers comprised in the second signaling is greater than 1.
Regarding claim 17, Babaei teaches: wherein the first signaling comprises a second field, wherein the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 when a value of the second field is a third value, the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 when a value of the second field is a fourth value ([0238] In an example, the determination that the wireless device is associated with the first paging group/sub-group (e.g., associated with the first paging group/sub-group in the first paging occasion) may further be based on the second number and/or the third number indicated by the system information (e.g., by the second parameter and the third parameter of the system information, respectively).); the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 when the first signaling comprises a second field, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 when the first signaling does not comprise a second field; the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 when the first resource comprises one resource used for uplink data transmission, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 when the first resource comprises a plurality of resources used for uplink data transmission; the first signaling comprises a non-access stratum (NAS) container used to carry the information about the first terminal device, wherein the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 when a quantity of NAS containers is 1, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 when a quantity of NAS containers is greater than 1; or the information about the first terminal device is an identifier of the first terminal device, wherein the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is 1 when a quantity of terminal device identifiers comprised in the first signaling is 1, or the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1 when a quantity of terminal device identifiers comprised in the first signaling is greater than 1.
Regarding claim 18, Babaei teaches: wherein when a quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling is greater than 1, the first signaling comprises a plurality pieces of information about terminal devices, the plurality pieces of information about the terminal devices are sorted in a first order in the first signaling, and the first order is used to determine a resource ([0100], [0124] A base station and a wireless device may perform beam management procedures to establish beam pairs (e.g., transmit and receive beams) that jointly provide good connectivity. For example, in the downlink direction, the UE may perform measurements for a beam pair and estimate channel quality for a transmit beam by the base station (or a transmission reception point (TRP) more generally) and the receive beam by the UE. The UE may transmit a report indicating beam pair quality parameters. The report may comprise one or more parameters indicating one or more beams (e.g., a beam index, an identifier of reference signal associated with a beam, etc.), one or more measurement parameters (e.g., RSRP), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a channel quality indicator (CQI), and/or a rank indicator (RI).).
Claims 2, 8, 12, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Babaei in view of Zhao and further in view of Non-patent Literature entitled, “Secure Backscatter Communications in Multi-Cell NOMA Networks: Enabling Link Security for Massive IoT Networks.” (hereinafter “Khan”)
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Babaei and Zhao does not explicitly teach: wherein the first terminal device operates in a backscatter communication scenario.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Khan teaches: wherein the first terminal device operates in a backscatter communication scenario (Fig. 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Babaei and Zhao to include the feature of backscatter communications and a combination of Babaei and Zhao with Khan renders the claim prima facie obvious within the described scope of the prior art and any indicated differences within the level of one of ordinary skill in the art (e.g., telecommunications engineer) according to a combination of known prior art elements with known methods to yield predictable results. MPEP 2143(I)(A) (e.g., providing an incentive for reporting spoofing).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Babaei and Zhao does not explicitly teach: wherein the first terminal device operates in a backscatter communication scenario.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Khan teaches: wherein the first terminal device operates in a backscatter communication scenario (Fig. 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Babaei and Zhao to include the feature of backscatter communications and a combination of Babaei and Zhao with Khan renders the claim prima facie obvious within the described scope of the prior art and any indicated differences within the level of one of ordinary skill in the art (e.g., telecommunications engineer) according to a combination of known prior art elements with known methods to yield predictable results. MPEP 2143(I)(A) (e.g., providing an incentive for reporting spoofing).
Regarding claim 12, Babaei teaches: wherein in association with the quantity of terminal devices paged by the first signaling being greater than 1, the method further comprises: receiving third signaling used to trigger a next terminal device in the plurality of terminal devices paged by the first signaling to send uplink data ([0147] In an example, an RRCRelease message may be used to command the release of an RRC connection or the suspension of the RRC connection. In an example, the RRCRelease message may comprise a suspendConfig field. The suspendConfig may comprise a fullI-RNTI IE, a shortI-RNTI IE, a ran-PagingCycle IE, a ran-NotificationAreaInfo IE, a t380 IE, etc. The fullI-RNTI IE and the shortI-RNTI IE may UE identifiers associated with RRC Inactive State. The ran-PagingCycle may indicate the UE specific cycle for RAN-initiated paging. The ran-NotificationAreaInfo IE may be used by the network to ensure that the UE in RRC_INACTIVE always has a valid ran-NotificationAreaInfo. The t380 IE may indicate a timer that triggers the periodic RNAU (RAN notification area update) procedure in UE.) . . . in association with the third signaling being an Nth piece of signaling received by the first terminal device to trigger a next terminal device in the plurality of terminal devices paged by the first signaling to send uplink data, and N representing the location of the information about the first terminal device in the first order ([0137] The network may address multiple UEs within a Paging message by including one PagingRecord for each UE.).
The combination of Babaei and Zhao does not explicitly teach: wherein sending the uplink data to the first device in the first slot by using energy obtained by using the first signal comprises . . . sending the uplink data to the first device in the first slot by using the energy obtained by using the first signal, wherein the first slot is an Nth slot in the first resource, and N is a positive integer.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Khan teaches: wherein sending the uplink data to the first device in the first slot by using energy obtained by using the first signal comprises (p. 1, right column, Backscatter communication can harvest the energy from an incident radio frequency (RF) signal, modulate the data over it, and reflect with the same RF signal [8].) . . . sending the uplink data to the first device in the first slot by using the energy obtained by using the first signal, wherein the first slot is an Nth slot in the first resource, and N is a positive integer (p. 1, right column, Backscatter communication can harvest the energy from an incident radio frequency (RF) signal, modulate the data over it, and reflect with the same RF signal [8].).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Babaei and Zhao to include the feature of backscatter communications and a combination of Babaei and Zhao with Khan renders the claim prima facie obvious within the described scope of the prior art and any indicated differences within the level of one of ordinary skill in the art (e.g., telecommunications engineer) according to a combination of known prior art elements with known methods to yield predictable results. MPEP 2143(I)(A) (e.g., providing an incentive for reporting spoofing).
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Babaei and Zhao does not explicitly teach: wherein the first terminal device operates in a backscatter communication scenario.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Khan teaches: wherein the first terminal device operates in a backscatter communication scenario (Fig. 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Babaei and Zhao to include the feature of backscatter communications and a combination of Babaei and Zhao with Khan renders the claim prima facie obvious within the described scope of the prior art and any indicated differences within the level of one of ordinary skill in the art (e.g., telecommunications engineer) according to a combination of known prior art elements with known methods to yield predictable results. MPEP 2143(I)(A) (e.g., providing an incentive for reporting spoofing).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Publication No. 2022/0039056 (Manolakos) related to methods and apparatus for user equipment based prioritization and reporting of positioning technologies and methods
U.S. Publication No. 20240244582 (Li) related to a method and apparatus for determining paging group, and communication device, and storage medium
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN BARRY whose telephone number is (571)272-0201. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00am EST to 5:00pm EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jinsong HU can be reached at (571) 272-3965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JAB/ Examiner, Art Unit 2643
/JINSONG HU/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2643
Prosecution Insights