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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 05/30/2025 and 03/13/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 8, 11, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jan (US 2026/0231031 A1; “Jan”) in view of Priyanto et al. (US 2023/0189139 A1; “Priyanto”).
Regarding claim 1, Jan teaches a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
receiving configuration information regarding a synchronization signal for the WUR or a wake-up signal (WUS) via master information block (MIB) or system information block (SIB) [Jan ¶ 0056: bandwidth configuration for LP-WUS to the UE is performed during an initial access through a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, or through a system information block x (SIBx), received from the network (see Fig. 9: gNB)], based on the capability information [Jan ¶ 0056: the dedicated downlink BWP for LP-WUS is configured to match LP-WUR UE bandwidth requirements (i.e. based on UE capability information)];
identifying a bandwidth part (BWP) indicated by the configuration information [Jan ¶ 0081: LP-WUR searches the specific bandwidth for LP-WUS detection (i.e. BWP is inherently identified in order to perform a search operation)]; and
receiving the synchronization signal for the WUR or the WUS on the identified BWP [Jan ¶ 0056: receiving, by the UE, a dedicated downlink BWP for LP-WUS and LP-SS with a maximum bandwidth not greater than a required bandwidth of the LP-WUS].
However, Jan does not explicitly disclose transmitting, to a base station, capability information indicating that a wake-up receiver (WUR) is supported at the UE.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Priyanto teaches transmitting, to a base station, capability information indicating that a wake-up receiver (WUR) is supported at the UE [Priyanto ¶¶ 0135-0137, Fig. 16: capability control message 4000 is transmitted by the UE 101 and received by the BS 112, wherein the capability control message includes UL control information generally related to WUS capabilities of the respective UE, e.g., a receive BW capability of the WURX 1352 or the low-power state of the MRX (see ¶ 0137 for further examples of capability information)].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of configuring a UE having low-power wake-up radio capabilities to receive low-power synchronization signals over a bandwidth part as taught by Jan, with the method of receiving a low-power signal configuration based on a transmitted capability information as taught by Priyanto. The motivation to combine these references would be to improve energy costs at a wireless user equipment [Priyanto ¶ 0007].
Regarding claim 8, Jan teaches a method performed by a base station (BS) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
transmitting configuration information regarding a synchronization signal for the WUR or a wake-up signal (WUS) via master information block (MIB) or system information block (SIB) [Jan ¶ 0056: bandwidth configuration for LP-WUS to the UE is performed during an initial access through a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, or through a system information block x (SIBx), received from the network (see Fig. 9: gNB)], based on the capability information [Jan ¶ 0056: the dedicated downlink BWP for LP-WUS is configured to match LP-WUR UE bandwidth requirements (i.e. based on UE capability information)]; and
transmitting the synchronization signal for the WUR or the WUS on a bandwidth part (BWP) indicated by the configuration information [Jan ¶ 0056: receiving, by the UE, a dedicated downlink BWP for LP-WUS and LP-SS with a maximum bandwidth not greater than a required bandwidth of the LP-WUS].
However, Jan does not explicitly disclose receiving, from a user equipment (UE), capability information indicating that a wake-up receiver (WUR) is supported at the UE.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Priyanto teaches receiving, from a user equipment (UE), capability information indicating that a wake-up receiver (WUR) is supported at the UE [Priyanto ¶¶ 0135-0137, Fig. 16: capability control message 4000 is transmitted by the UE 101 and received by the BS 112, wherein the capability control message includes UL control information generally related to WUS capabilities of the respective UE, e.g., a receive BW capability of the WURX 1352 or the low-power state of the MRX (see ¶ 0137 for further examples of capability information)].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of configuring a UE having low-power wake-up radio capabilities to receive low-power synchronization signals over a bandwidth part as taught by Jan, with the method of receiving a low-power signal configuration based on a transmitted capability information as taught by Priyanto. The motivation to combine these references would be to improve energy costs at a wireless user equipment [Priyanto ¶ 0007].
Regarding claim 11, Jan teaches a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising:
at least one transceiver including a wake-up receiver (WUR) and a main radio [Jan ¶ 0088, Fig. 15: UE 1700 includes an LP-WUR 1701 and a Main Radio 1702]; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one transceiver [Jan ¶ 0051, Fig. 4: UEs 10 may include a memory 12, a transceiver 13, and a processor 11 coupled to the memory 12 and the transceiver 13] and configured to:
receive configuration information regarding a synchronization signal for the WUR or a wake-up signal (WUS) via master information block (MIB) or system information block (SIB) [Jan ¶ 0056: bandwidth configuration for LP-WUS to the UE is performed during an initial access through a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, or through a system information block x (SIBx), received from the network (see Fig. 9: gNB)], based on the capability information [Jan ¶ 0056: the dedicated downlink BWP for LP-WUS is configured to match LP-WUR UE bandwidth requirements (i.e. based on UE capability information)], and
identify a bandwidth part (BWP) indicated by the configuration information [Jan ¶ 0081: LP-WUR searches the specific bandwidth for LP-WUS detection (i.e. BWP is inherently identified in order to perform a search operation)], and
receive the synchronization signal for the WUR or the WUS on the identified BWP [Jan ¶ 0056: receiving, by the UE, a dedicated downlink BWP for LP-WUS and LP-SS with a maximum bandwidth not greater than a required bandwidth of the LP-WUS].
However, Jan does not explicitly disclose transmit, to a base station, capability information indicating that a wake-up receiver (WUR) is supported at the UE.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Priyanto teaches transmitting, to a base station, capability information indicating that a wake-up receiver (WUR) is supported at the UE [Priyanto ¶¶ 0135-0137, Fig. 16: capability control message 4000 is transmitted by the UE 101 and received by the BS 112, wherein the capability control message includes UL control information generally related to WUS capabilities of the respective UE, e.g., a receive BW capability of the WURX 1352 or the low-power state of the MRX (see ¶ 0137 for further examples of capability information)].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of configuring a UE having low-power wake-up radio capabilities to receive low-power synchronization signals over a bandwidth part as taught by Jan, with the method of receiving a low-power signal configuration based on a transmitted capability information as taught by Priyanto. The motivation to combine these references would be to improve energy costs at a wireless user equipment [Priyanto ¶ 0007].
Regarding claim 18, Jan teaches a base station (BS) in a wireless communication system, the BS comprising:
a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled with the transceiver [Jan ¶ 0051, Fig. 4: network/gNB 20 may include a memory 22, a transceiver 23, and a processor 21 coupled to the memory 22 and the transceiver 23] and configured to:
transmit configuration information regarding a synchronization signal for the WUR or a wake-up signal (WUS) via master information block (MIB) or system information block (SIB) [Jan ¶ 0056: bandwidth configuration for LP-WUS to the UE is performed during an initial access through a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, or through a system information block x (SIBx), received from the network (see Fig. 9: gNB)], based on the capability information [Jan ¶ 0056: the dedicated downlink BWP for LP-WUS is configured to match LP-WUR UE bandwidth requirements (i.e. based on UE capability information)]; and
transmit the synchronization signal for the WUR or the WUS on a bandwidth part (BWP) indicated by the configuration information [Jan ¶ 0056: receiving, by the UE, a dedicated downlink BWP for LP-WUS and LP-SS with a maximum bandwidth not greater than a required bandwidth of the LP-WUS].
However, Jan does not explicitly disclose receive, from a user equipment (UE), capability information indicating that a wake-up receiver (WUR) is supported at the UE.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Priyanto teaches receiving, from a user equipment (UE), capability information indicating that a wake-up receiver (WUR) is supported at the UE [Priyanto ¶¶ 0135-0137, Fig. 16: capability control message 4000 is transmitted by the UE 101 and received by the BS 112, wherein the capability control message includes UL control information generally related to WUS capabilities of the respective UE, e.g., a receive BW capability of the WURX 1352 or the low-power state of the MRX (see ¶ 0137 for further examples of capability information)].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of configuring a UE having low-power wake-up radio capabilities to receive low-power synchronization signals over a bandwidth part as taught by Jan, with the method of receiving a low-power signal configuration based on a transmitted capability information as taught by Priyanto. The motivation to combine these references would be to improve energy costs at a wireless user equipment [Priyanto ¶ 0007].
Claim(s) 4-5, 9, 14-15, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jan in view of Priyanto in view of Frederiksen et al. (US 2022/0346017 A1; “Frederiksen”).
Regarding claim 4, Jan in view of Priyanto teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a downlink signal via a main radio of the UE, after receiving the WUS [Jan ¶ 0072, Fig. 9: the gNB can transmit data/signaling to the UE after the LP-WUS transmission; Fig. 9 shows main radio receiving DL data signal].
However, does not explicitly disclose further comprising: receiving a downlink signal on a common initial BWP after receiving the WUS.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Frederiksen teaches receiving a downlink signal on a common initial BWP after receiving the WUS [Frederiksen ¶ 0056: after moving from a first non-WUS BWP (i.e. common initial BWP) of the plurality of non-WUS BWPs to the WUS BWP, receiving a WUS indication on the WUS BWP and, at 170, switching back to the first non-WUS BWP for PDCCH monitoring during the next on-duration, wherein the WUS indication may include an implicit indication to the UE to wake up on the previously used BWP (here, after WUS detection on a WUS BWP, the device receives a DL signal/PDCCH on the initial non-WUS BWP)].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of configuring a UE having low-power wake-up radio capabilities to receive low-power synchronization signals over a bandwidth part as taught by Jan, with the method of temporarily operating in a reduced BWP for wake-up signal reception prior to returning to operation in a configured non-WUS BWP as taught by Frederiksen. The motivation to combine these references would be to reduce power consumption at a wireless device [Frederiksen ¶ 0040].
Regarding claim 5, Jan in view of Priyanto teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a downlink signal via a main radio of the UE [Jan ¶ 0072, Fig. 9: the gNB can transmit data/signaling to the UE after the LP-WUS transmission; Fig. 9 shows main radio receiving DL data signal].
However, Jan in view of Priyanto does not explicitly disclose further comprising: identifying a BWP indicated by the WUS; and receiving a downlink signal on the identified BWP.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Frederiksen teaches identifying a BWP indicated by the WUS; and receiving a downlink signal on the identified BWP [Frederiksen ¶ 0056: receiving a WUS indication on the WUS BWP, wherein the WUS indication may include an implicit indication to the UE to wake up on the previously used BWP, and switching back to the first non-WUS BWP for PDCCH monitoring during the next on-duration].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of configuring a UE having low-power wake-up radio capabilities to receive low-power synchronization signals over a bandwidth part as taught by Jan, with the method of temporarily operating in a reduced BWP for wake-up signal reception prior to returning to operation in a configured non-WUS BWP as taught by Frederiksen. The motivation to combine these references would be to reduce power consumption at a wireless device [Frederiksen ¶ 0040].
Claim(s) 7 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jan in view of Priyanto in view of Xue et al. (US 2022/0022137 A1; “Xue”).
Regarding claim 7, Jan in view of Priyanto teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a downlink signal via a main radio of the UE [Jan ¶ 0072, Fig. 9: the gNB can transmit data/signaling to the UE after the LP-WUS transmission; Fig. 9 shows main radio receiving DL data signal].
However, Jan in view of Priyanto does not explicitly disclose receiving information regarding one or more BWPs via a higher layer signaling; and receiving a downlink signal on a BWP with a pre-configured index, among the one or more BWPs.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Xue teaches receiving information regarding one or more BWPs via a higher layer signaling; and receiving a downlink signal on a BWP with a pre-configured index, among the one or more BWPs [Xue ¶¶ 0127-0128: switching information of the one or more DL/UL BWPs may be configured by the network device for the terminal device via an RRC message, wherein the DL/UL BWP switching information included in the first-type WUS is an index of one of the one or more DL/UL BWPs, and indicates switching to the DL/UL BWP indicated by the index].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of configuring a UE having low-power wake-up radio capabilities to receive low-power synchronization signals over a bandwidth part as taught by Jan, with the method of configuring a set of DL/UL BWP that may be indicated in a wake-up signal as taught by Xue. The motivation to combine these references would be to improve energy saving performance of a terminal device [Xue ¶ 0005].
Regarding claim 17, Jan in view of Priyanto teaches the UE of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive a downlink signal via a main radio of the UE [Jan ¶ 0072, Fig. 9: the gNB can transmit data/signaling to the UE after the LP-WUS transmission; Fig. 9 shows main radio receiving DL data signal].
However, Jan in view of Priyanto does not explicitly disclose receiving information regarding one or more BWPs via a higher layer signaling; and receiving a downlink signal on a BWP with a pre-configured index, among the one or more BWPs.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Xue teaches receiving information regarding one or more BWPs via a higher layer signaling; and receiving a downlink signal on a BWP with a pre-configured index, among the one or more BWPs [Xue ¶¶ 0127-0128: switching information of the one or more DL/UL BWPs may be configured by the network device for the terminal device via an RRC message, wherein the DL/UL BWP switching information included in the first-type WUS is an index of one of the one or more DL/UL BWPs, and indicates switching to the DL/UL BWP indicated by the index].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of configuring a UE having low-power wake-up radio capabilities to receive low-power synchronization signals over a bandwidth part as taught by Jan, with the method of configuring a set of DL/UL BWP that may be indicated in a wake-up signal as taught by Xue. The motivation to combine these references would be to improve energy saving performance of a terminal device [Xue ¶ 0005].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3, 6, 10, 12-13, 16, and 20 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN P COX whose telephone number is (571)272-2728. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00AM-4PM EST.
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/BRIAN P COX/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474
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