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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign mentioned in the description: reference sign “130. 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. 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 § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-8, 11-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wu et al. (EP3681207 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Wu discloses a method of a terminal (Abstract), comprising: performing a first monitoring operation in a monitoring occasion to receive a low-power wake-up signal (Fig. 2; paragraph [0044]-[0049] illustrate transmitting a wake up signal that is used to wake up a UE); and in response to receipt of the low-power wake-up signal indicating wake-up of the terminal from a base station, performing a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring operation (Fig. 2; paragraph [0044]-[0049] describe in response to monitoring the wake up signal used to wake up the UE, start monitoring of a physical downlink control channel) after a first offset from a reception time of the low-power wake-up signal (Fig. 2; paragraph [0044]-[0049] illustrate a time gap between the time of receiving the wake up signal and starting the PDCCH monitoring operation).
Regarding claim 11, the claim includes features identical to the subject matter mentioned in the rejection to claim 1 above. The claim is a mere reformulation of claim 1 to define the corresponding terminal, and the rejection to claim 1 is applied hereto.
Regarding claim 2 and 12, Wu further discloses receiving configuration information for the first monitoring operation from the base station (paragraph [0040] illustrates receiving configuration information of the physical layer power saving signal transmitted by a base station), wherein the configuration information includes at least one of a cycle or an offset of the monitoring occasion (paragraph [0040]; [0143] describe the configuration information of the physical layer power saving signal includes at least one of a time domain resource position or a frequency domain resource position of the physical layer power saving signal).
Regarding claim 3 and 13, Wu further discloses each of the cycle or the offset of the monitoring occasion is set independently from a cycle or an offset of a discontinuous reception (DRX) configured for the terminal (Fig. 7; paragraph [0075] illustrate the wake up signal has no fixed association relationship with the position of the On-Duration, and the wake up signal cycle should be greater than the discontinuous reception cycle).
Regarding claim 4 and 14, Wu further discloses the performing of the PDCCH monitoring operation comprises: starting a first timer after the first offset from the reception time of the low-power wake-up signal; and performing the PDCCH monitoring operation in a time duration corresponding to the first timer (Fig. 2; paragraph [0045]-[0049] describe starting a drx-onDuration timer, after the time gap and the UE monitors the wake up signal, in correspondence to starting the monitoring of the PDCCH).
Regarding claim 5 and 15, Wu further discloses in response to that the low-power wake-up signal is not received from the base station or that the low-power wake-up signal received from the base station does not indicate wake-up of the terminal, performing the first monitoring operation for receiving the low-power wake-up signal in the monitoring occasion of a next cycle. (Fig. 2; paragraph [0044]-[0047] illustrate the UE monitors wake up signals periodically and determines whether to start monitoring the PDCCH).
Regarding claim 6 and 16, Wu further discloses the PDCCH monitoring operation is performed to receive a paging message from the base station (paragraph [0091] describes the PDCCH monitoring operation performed at a paging occasion to receive a paging message).
Regarding claim 7 and 17, Wu further discloses the first offset is configured to the terminal by signaling of the base station. (paragraph [0145] illustrates the time gap is configured by the base station).
Regarding claim 8 and 18, Wu further discloses the first monitoring operation is performed by a low-power receiver included in the terminal (Fig. 20; paragraph [0227] illustrate a monitoring module (2001) included in the UE (2000) configured to monitor a physical layer power saving signal), and the PDCCH monitoring operation is performed by a main radio included in the terminal (Fig. 20; paragraph [0227] describe an executing module (2002) included in the UE (2000) configured to start monitoring of a physical downlink control channel).
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.
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.
Claims 9 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu in view of Shrivastava et al. (US 2022/0217636 A1).
Regarding claim 9 and 19, Wu discloses a method of a terminal (Abstract), comprising: performing a first monitoring operation in a monitoring occasion to receive a low-power wake-up signal (Fig. 2; paragraph [0044]-[0049] illustrate transmitting a wake up signal that is used to wake up a UE); and in response to receipt of the low-power wake-up signal indicating wake-up of the terminal from a base station, performing a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring operation (Fig. 2; paragraph [0044]-[0049] describe in response to monitoring the wake up signal used to wake up the UE, start monitoring of a physical downlink control channel) after a first offset from a reception time of the low-power wake-up signal (Fig. 2; paragraph [0044]-[0049] illustrate a time gap between the time of receiving the wake up signal and starting the PDCCH monitoring operation).
Wu does not disclose when the terminal supports a carrier aggregation operation and the low-power wake-up signal is received from one serving cell, a wake-up indication according to the low-power wake-up signal is applied to all serving cells.
Shrivastava teaches when the terminal supports a carrier aggregation operation (paragraph [0073]-[0074]; [0151]-[0153] illustrate a UE in a carrier aggregation scenario, while operating in a WUS, wake up signal, operation mode) and the low-power wake-up signal is received from one serving cell, a wake-up indication according to the low-power wake-up signal is applied to all serving cells (paragraph [0073]-[0074]; [0151]-[0153] describe the UE receives the wake up signal on the SpCell including the carrier identification bit map from a base station and determines the SCells).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the terminal that supports a carrier aggregation operation as taught by Shrivastava into Wu in order to reduce the power consumption of the terminal.
Claims 10 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu in view of Shrivastava and Wallentin et al. (US 2023/0262600).
Regarding claim 10 and 20, Wu discloses a method of a terminal (Abstract), comprising: performing a first monitoring operation in a monitoring occasion to receive a low-power wake-up signal (Fig. 2; paragraph [0044]-[0049] illustrate transmitting a wake up signal that is used to wake up a UE); and in response to receipt of the low-power wake-up signal indicating wake-up of the terminal from a base station, performing a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring operation (Fig. 2; paragraph [0044]-[0049] describe in response to monitoring the wake up signal used to wake up the UE, start monitoring of a physical downlink control channel) after a first offset from a reception time of the low-power wake-up signal (Fig. 2; paragraph [0044]-[0049] illustrate a time gap between the time of receiving the wake up signal and starting the PDCCH monitoring operation).
Wu does not disclose when the terminal supports a dual connectivity operation and the low-power wake-up signal is received from one serving cell within a cell group, a wake-up indication according to the low-power wake-up signal is applied to all serving cells within the cell group.
Shrivastava teaches when the low-power wake-up signal is received from one serving cell within a cell group, a wake-up indication according to the low-power wake-up signal is applied to all serving cells within the cell group. (paragraph [0073]-[0074]; [0151]-[0153] describe the UE receives the wake up signal on the SpCell including the carrier identification bit map from a base station and determines the SCells).
However, Wu in view of Shrivastava does not disclose that the terminal supports a dual connectivity operation.
However, dual connectivity is well known in the art for enhancing reliability and improving communication bandwidth. For example, Wallentin teaches a terminal that supports a dual connectivity operation (paragraph [0290]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the terminal that supports dual connectivity as taught by Wallentin in the system of Wu in view of Shrivastava in order to enhance reliability and improve communication bandwidth.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hu et al. (US 2024/0323850 A1) teaches a terminal device that receives a low-power wake-up signal from a network device and performs a physical downlink control channel monitoring after a time offset, configured by the network device, starting from when the low-power wake-up signal is received. Hu further teaches, preforming PDCCH monitoring in a DRX active time which is during the drx-onDuration timer.
Li et al. in Radio Resource Management Measurement Relaxation on Reduced Capability New Radio Devices teaches a wake-up signal sent by a gNB to a UE before an onDuration to indicate whether the UE wakes up and monitors a PDCCH in the corresponding DRX cycle after an offset.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAWAD J NASSER whose telephone number is (571)272-0874. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. 5 p.m. ET..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Huy Vu can be reached at (571) 272-3155. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/J.J.N/Examiner, Art Unit 2461
/HUY D VU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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