Laravel save pagination filters in session

OverviewController.php

<?php

class OverviewController
{
    /**
     * Process the request and apply to a session.
     *
     * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request  $request
     * @param  string  $filter
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Request
     */
    protected function saveFiltersToSession(Request $request, string $filter): Request
    {
        $subjectRequest = $request->except(['page', 'search']);

        if (count($subjectRequest) === 0) {
            // Apply session filtering
            if (!$request->session()->has($filter)) {
                $request->session()->put($filter, $subjectRequest);
            }
            // New request params set, so set the new session
        } else {
            $request->session()->put($filter, $subjectRequest);
        }

        $request = $request->merge($request->session()->get($filter));

        return $request;
    } 
}