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
a. A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 01/15/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1-24 in the present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, are being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
- claims 1-2, 6-7, 11-12, 18, and 23 are amended
- claims 14, 17, 19-22, and 24 are canceled
b. This is a first action on the merits based on Applicant’s claims submitted on 01/15/2026.
Response to Arguments
Regarding claims 1, 6, and 11 previously rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(a) and 112(b), claims 1, 6, and 11 have been amended according to the examiner's recommendation and thus the previous rejection has been withdrawn.
Regarding claims 1, 5-6, 10-11, 16, 18, and 21-24 previously rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103, Applicant's arguments, see “Applicant respectfully disagrees and asserts that the cited references, whether alone or in combination, are silent with respect to, and have not been shown to teach or to suggest, at least these elements of amended Claim 1.” on page 9, filed on 12/23/2025, with respect to U.S. Publication No. 20190215887 issued to Burbidge et al. (hereinafter "Burbidge") in view of U.S. Publication No. 20210195623 issued to Xu et al. (hereinafter "Xu"), U.S. Publication No. 20210298052 issued to Namba et al. (hereinafter "Namba"), U.S. Publication No. 20210258989 issued to Zhang et al. (hereinafter "Zhang"), and further in view of 3GPP TS 38.322 ("Radio Link Control (RLC) protocol specification", hereinafter "TS38.322"), have been fully considered but are moot, over the limitations of “when the scheduling request identifiers in the three information elements are consistent“. Said limitations are newly added to the amended Claims 1, 6, and 11 and have been addressed in instant office action, as shown in section 35 USC 103 rejection below, with newly identified prior art teachings from newly found references R2-1808961 “Connection control TP”, 3GPP, May 21-25, 2018 (hereinafter “R1-1808961”) and Paladugu et al. US Pub 2021/0037547, claiming provisional application 62880354 priority 2019-07-30 (hereinafter “Paladugu”), in combination with previously applied reference Burbidge, thus rendering said Applicant’s arguments moot.
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 of this title, 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.
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 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.
Claims 1, 5, 6, 10, 11, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Burbidge et al. US Pub 2019/0215887 (hereinafter “Burbidge”), in view of R2-1808961 “Connection control TP”, 3GPP, May 21-25, 2018 (hereinafter “R1-1808961”), and further in view of Paladugu et al. US Pub 2021/0037547, claiming provisional application 62880354 priority 2019-07-30 (hereinafter “Paladugu”).
Regarding claim 1 (Currently Amended)
Burbidge discloses a wireless communication method (“When the RRC connection is resumed, the network configures the UE according to the RRC connection resume procedure” [0056]), comprising:
receiving a radio resource control (RRC) resume message (“Similarly, in response to reception by the UE of the RRCResume message, the UE may, if the RRCResume message includes the fullConfig IE, perform the radio configuration procedure as specified in as specified in TS 38.331, section 5.3.5.11.” [0064]);
determining scheduling request configuration information (i.e. “fullConfig IE”) in response to the RRC resume message (“Similarly, in response to reception by the UE of the RRCResume message, the UE may, if the RRCResume message includes the fullConfig IE, perform the radio configuration procedure as specified in as specified in TS 38.331, section 5.3.5.11. Otherwise, the UE may restore the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) state, reset the COUNT value (an independent counter maintained for each direction and used as input for ciphering and integrity protection for each radio bearer) and re-establish PDCP entities for SRB2 and all DRBs.” [0064]),
Burbidge does not specifically teach wherein the scheduling request configuration information is used to obtain an uplink shared channel resource, wherein determining the scheduling request configuration information in response to the RRC resume message comprises restoring a master cell group, the restored master cell group comprises a first information element for scheduling request configuration, a second information element for logical channel configuration, and a third information element for scheduling request resource configuration, and wherein each of the three information elements comprises a scheduling request identifier; when the scheduling request identifiers in the three information elements are consistent, sending a scheduling request signal to request the uplink shared channel resource.
In an analogous art, R2-1808961 discloses wherein the scheduling request configuration information is used to obtain an uplink shared channel resource (scheduling requests are used to obtain PUSCH resources; see sections 5.3, 5.5, 5.3.13),
wherein determining the scheduling request configuration information in response to the RRC resume message comprises restoring a master cell group,
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the restored master cell group comprises a first information element for scheduling request configuration,
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a second information element for logical channel configuration,
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and a third information element for scheduling request resource configuration,
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and wherein each of the three information elements comprises a scheduling request identifier (i.e. annotated “schedulingRequestID” in above figures);
when the scheduling request identifiers in the three information elements are consistent (i.e. “schedulingRequestID” appear in all 3 listed IEs above), sending a scheduling request signal to request the uplink shared channel resource (since scheduling requests are used to obtain PUSCH resources, it is implicitly discloses that the three information elements listed above are used to obtain uplink shared channel resource; see sections 5.3, 5.5, 5.3.13); and
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Burbidge’s method of handling a RRC Resume message, to include R2-1808961’s method for processing a scheduling request, in order to facilitate a scheduling request upon receiving a RRC Resume Request signal (R2-1808961; section 5.3.13) .
Burbidge and R2-1808961 do not specifically teach sending a radio link control status report by using the uplink shared channel resource, wherein the radio link control status report is used to provide a positive acknowledgement of a radio link control service data unit.
In an analogous art, Paladugu discloses sending a radio link control (i.e. RLC) status report by using the uplink shared channel resource (i.e. PUSCH), wherein the radio link control status report is used to provide a positive acknowledgement of a radio link control service data unit (“the PUSCH communication may include a non-data communication, such as uplink control information (UCI), a channel state information (CSI) report, acknowledgement (ACK) or negative acknowledgement (NACK) feedback (collectively, ACK/NACK feedback), a radio link control (RLC) status report, and/or the like.” [0068]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Burbidge’s method of handling a RRC Resume message, as modified by R2-1808961, to include Paladugu’s method for RLC status reporting using PUSCH (Paladugu [0068]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Paladugu’s method for RLC status reporting using PUSCH into Burbidge’s method of handling a RRC Resume message since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 5
Burbidge, as modified by R2-1808961 and Paladugu, previously discloses the method according to claim 1,
R2-1808961 further discloses wherein the scheduling request configuration information comprises a scheduling request resource identifier (i.e. “SchedulingRequestID”).
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Regarding claim 6 (Currently Amended)
Burbidge discloses a wireless communication apparatus (i.e. “communication device 200” in Fig. 2; [0021]), comprising:
a receiver (“transmission medium 226 via the network interface device 220” [0024]);
a transmitter (“transmission medium 226 via the network interface device 220” [0024]);
at least one processor (“processor 202 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a GPU, a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof)” [0021]); and
one or more memories (“main memory 204 and a static memory 206” [0021]) coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions for execution by the at least one processor to:
receive, by the receiver, a radio resource control (RRC) resume message;
determine scheduling request configuration information in response to the RRC resume message, wherein the scheduling request configuration information is used to obtain an uplink shared channel resource, wherein determining the scheduling request configuration information in response to the RRC resume message comprises restoring a master cell group, the restored master cell group comprises a first information element for scheduling request configuration, a second information element for logical channel configuration, and a third information element for scheduling request resource configuration, and wherein each of the three information elements comprises a scheduling request identifier;
when the scheduling request identifiers in the three information elements are consistent, sending a scheduling request signal to request the uplink shared channel resource; and
send, by the transmitter, a radio link control status report by using the uplink shared channel resource, wherein the radio link control status report is used to provide a positive acknowledgement of a radio link control service data unit.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 6 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 1. Therefore apparatus claim 6 corresponds to method claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 1 rejection above.
Regarding claim 10
The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the scheduling request configuration information comprises a scheduling request resource identifier.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 10 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 5. Therefore apparatus claim 10 corresponds to method claim 5 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 5 rejection above.
Regarding claim 11 (Currently Amended)
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the non-transitory computer- readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, and when the computer- executable instructions are invoked by a computer, the computer is enabled to perform operations comprising:
receiving a radio resource control (RRC) resume message;
determining scheduling request configuration information in response to the RRC resume message, wherein the scheduling request configuration information is used to obtain an uplink shared channel resource, wherein determining the scheduling request configuration information in response to the RRC resume message comprises restoring a master cell group, the restored master cell group comprises a first information element for scheduling request configuration, a second information element for logical channel configuration, and a third information element for scheduling request resource configuration, and wherein each of the three information elements comprises a scheduling request identifier;
when the scheduling request identifiers in the three information elements are consistent, sending a scheduling request signal to request the uplink shared channel resource; and
sending a radio link control status report by using the uplink shared channel resource, wherein the radio link control status report is used to provide a positive acknowledgement of a radio link control service data unit.
The scope and subject matter of non-transitory computer readable medium claim 11 is drawn to the computer program product of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 1. Therefore computer program product claim 11 corresponds to method claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 1 rejection above.
Regarding claim 16
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the scheduling request configuration information comprises a scheduling request resource identifier.
The scope and subject matter of non-transitory computer readable medium claim 16 is drawn to the computer program product of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 5. Therefore computer program product claim 16 corresponds to method claim 5 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 5 rejection above.
Claims 2-3, 7-8, and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Burbidge, in view of R2-1808961 and Paladugu, and further in view of Mildh et al. US Pub 2020/0120491 (hereinafter “Mildh”).
Regarding claim 2 (Currently Amended)
Burbidge, as modified by R2-1808961 and Paladugu, previously discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the determining scheduling request configuration information in response to the RRC resume message comprises resuming an RRC connection in response to the RRC resume message, and wherein the resuming an RRC connection comprises:
Burbidge, R2-1808961, and Paladugu do not specifically teach restoring the master cell group from a stored user equipment inactive access stratum context; and determining the scheduling request configuration information based on the master cell group.
In an analogous art, Mildh discloses restoring the master cell group from a stored user equipment inactive access stratum context (“2> indicate to lower layers that stored UE AS context is used; 2> reset the header compression protocol context for the DRBs configured with the header compression protocol; 1> discard the stored UE AS context and resumeIdentity; 1> if the RRCResume includes the masterCellGroup: 2> perform the cell group configuration for the received masterCellGroup according to 5.3.5.5” [0100-0104]); and
determining the scheduling request configuration information based on the master cell group (“2> perform the cell group configuration for the received masterCellGroup according to 5.3.5.5” [0104]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Burbidge’s method of handling a RRC Resume message, as modified by R2-1808961 and Paladugu, to include Mildh’s method for using stored Access Stratum (AS) context, in order to reduce the signaling when the UE is becoming active again, by resuming the RRC connection instead of establishing the RRC connection from scratch (Mildh [0002]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Mildh’s method for using stored Access Stratum (AS) context into Burbidge’s method of handling a RRC Resume message since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 3
Burbidge, as modified by R2-1808961 and Paladugu, previously discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the determining scheduling request configuration information in response to the RRC resume message comprises:
Burbidge, R2-1808961, and Paladugu do not specifically teach determining the scheduling request configuration information based on the RRC resume message.
In an analogous art, Mildh discloses determining the scheduling request configuration information based on the master cell group (“2> indicate to lower layers that stored UE AS context is used; 2> reset the header compression protocol context for the DRBs configured with the header compression protocol; 1> discard the stored UE AS context and resumeIdentity; 1> if the RRCResume includes the masterCellGroup: 2> perform the cell group configuration for the received masterCellGroup according to 5.3.5.5” [0100-0104]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Burbidge’s method of handling a RRC Resume message, as modified by R2-1808961 and Paladugu, to include Mildh’s method for using stored Access Stratum (AS) context, in order to reduce the signaling when the UE is becoming active again, by resuming the RRC connection instead of establishing the RRC connection from scratch (Mildh [0002]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Mildh’s method for using stored Access Stratum (AS) context into Burbidge’s method of handling a RRC Resume message since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 7 (Currently Amended)
The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 6, wherein determining the scheduling request configuration information in response to the RRC resume message comprises resuming an RRC connection in response to the RRC resume message, and wherein the resuming an RRC connection comprises:
restoring the master cell group from a stored user equipment inactive access stratum context; and
determining the scheduling request configuration information based on the master cell group.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 7 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 2. Therefore apparatus claim 7 corresponds to method claim 2 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 2 rejection above.
Regarding claim 8
The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 6, wherein determining the scheduling request configuration information in response to the RRC resume message comprises:
determining the scheduling request configuration information based on the RRC resume message.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 8 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 3. Therefore apparatus claim 8 corresponds to method claim 3 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 3 rejection above.
Regarding claim 12 (Currently Amended)
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the determining scheduling request configuration information in response to the RRC resume message comprises resuming an RRC connection in response to the RRC resume message, and wherein the resuming an RRC connection comprises:
restoring the master cell group from a stored user equipment inactive access stratum context; and
determining the scheduling request configuration information based on the master cell group.
The scope and subject matter of non-transitory computer readable medium claim 12 is drawn to the computer program product of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 2. Therefore computer program product claim 12 corresponds to method claim 2 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 2 rejection above.
Regarding claim 13
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the determining scheduling request configuration information in response to the RRC resume message comprises:
determining the scheduling request configuration information based on the RRC resume message.
The scope and subject matter of non-transitory computer readable medium claim 13 is drawn to the computer program product of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 3. Therefore computer program product claim 13 corresponds to method claim 3 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 3 rejection above.
Claims 4, 9, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Burbidge, in view of R2-1808961 and Paladugu, and further in view of Lee US Pub 2020/0267762, claiming foreign priority 2019-02-14 (hereinafter “Lee”).
Regarding claim 4
Burbidge, as modified by R2-1808961 and Paladugu, previously discloses the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
Burbidge, R2-1808961, and Paladugu do not specifically teach sending an RRC resume complete message by using the uplink shared channel resource, wherein the RRC resume complete message is used to confirm successful completion of an RRC connection resumption.
In an analogous art, Lee discloses sending an RRC resume complete message by using the uplink shared channel resource, wherein the RRC resume complete message is used to confirm successful completion of an RRC connection resumption (“In step 1713, UE may transmit, to gNB, an RRC message, such as RRC Setup or Resume Complete message (for example, including an initial UE message) via PUSCH upon success of the LBT procedure in step 1712.” [0323]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Burbidge’s method of handling a RRC Resume message, as modified by R2-1808961 and Paladugu, to include Lee’s method for transmitting or receiving a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for random access in a wireless communication system, in order to facilitate RRC resume message transmission (Lee [0310]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate include Lee’s method for transmitting or receiving a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for random access in a wireless communication system into Burbidge’s method of handling a RRC Resume message since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 9
The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the programming instructions are for execution by the at least one processor to send, by the transmitter, an RRC resume complete message by using the uplink shared channel resource, wherein the RRC resume complete message is used to confirm successful completion of an RRC connection resumption.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 9 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 4. Therefore apparatus claim 9 corresponds to method claim 4 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 4 rejection above.
Regarding claim 15
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:
sending an RRC resume complete message by using the uplink shared channel resource, wherein the RRC resume complete message is used to confirm successful completion of an RRC connection resumption.
The scope and subject matter of non-transitory computer readable medium claim 15 is drawn to the computer program product of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 4. Therefore computer program product claim 15 corresponds to method claim 4 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 4 rejection above.
Claims 18 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Burbidge, in view of R2-1808961 and Paladugu, and further in view of Zhang et al. US Pub 2021/0258989 (hereinafter “Zhang”).
Regarding claim 18 (Currently Amended)
Burbidge, as modified by R2-1808961 and Paladugu, previously discloses the method according to claim 1, comprising:
Burbidge, R2-1808961, and Paladugu do not specifically teach when the scheduling request identifiers in the three information elements are inconsistent, initiating a random access procedure.
In an analogous art, Zhang discloses when the scheduling request identifiers in the three information elements are inconsistent, initiating a random access procedure (“If the BWP that the PUCCH resources or SchedulingRequestResourceConfig belong to is not active or in operation, then the UE may be considered to have no valid PUCCH resources for sending the scheduling request triggered by the sidelink BSR. The UE may select scheduling request configuration or PUCCH resources as disclosed in Implementation 4. The UE may also trigger a random access procedure, and preferably, cancel the pending SR.” [0100]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Burbidge’s method of handling a RRC Resume message, as modified by R2-1808961 and Paladugu, to include Zhang's control method for UE, in order to efficiently manage scheduling request resources (Zhang [0007]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Zhang's control method for UE into Burbidge’s method of handling a RRC Resume message since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 23 (Currently Amended)
The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 6, comprising:
when the scheduling request identifiers in the three information elements are inconsistent, initiating a random access procedure.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 23 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 18. Therefore apparatus claim 23 corresponds to method claim 18 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 18 rejection above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUONG M NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-8184. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00am - 6:30pm.
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/CHUONG M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411