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 .
Claim Status
Claims 1-9, 19-20, and 22-28 are pending for examination.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
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 1-7, 9, 19-20, 22, and 24-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (US-20200059991-A1), hereinafter Wu.
Claims 1, 19, and 20:
Regarding claim 1, Wu teaches, a state switching method, comprising:
Starting or restarting a data inactivity timer in response to receiving data transmitted by a connected-state Multicast Traffic Channel (MTCH) (Wu: Clm.1 “detecting a first communication of data on at least one of the first MAC entity or the second MAC entity; starting or restarting a dual-data inactivity timer responsive to the detecting of the first communication”), wherein the connected-state MTCH is an MTCH that a terminal can receive merely in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected state (implied by disclosure in Clm.1 “operating in a connected mode at a radio resource control (RRC) layer; detecting a first communication of data on at least one of the first MAC entity or the second MAC entity”); and
switching from the RRC connected state to an RRC idle state in response to expiration of the data inactivity timer (Clm.1 “responsive to the dual-data inactivity timer expiring: releasing the connections to both the MN and the SN; and transitioning from the connected mode at the RRC layer to an idle mode at the RRC layer.”).
Though the disclosures above by Wu show activities regarding RRC connected state and inactivity timer, it does not expressly teach data transmitted by a connected-state Multicast Traffic Channel (MTCH), it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to come up with the claim based on the disclosure by Wu, “[0064] The UE 110 is configured to start or restart the dual-data inactivity timer whenever at least one of the first MAC entity 332 or the second MAC entity 334 transmits a MAC Service Data Unit (SDU) for a logical channel (LCH)”; and “[0067] As used herein, the LCH may be … Multicast Traffic Channel (MTCH), or a single cell MTCH (SC-MTCH).
A person would be motivated to include the multicast channel scenario in order to support an MBS service in a next-generation mobile communication system, a structure or setting method of a multicast bearer or a unicast bearer supporting an MBS service.
Claims 19 and 20 are change in category with respect to claim 1. Claim elements are discussed above in claim 1.
Claims 2, 5, and 25:
Regarding claim 2, Wu teaches the method according to claim 1 (discussed above), wherein said receiving data transmitted by a connected-state MTCH comprises:
a Medium Access Control (MAC) entity corresponding to the connected-state MTCH receiving a MAC Service Data Unit (SDU) transmitted by the connected-state MTCH (Wu: Clm.2 “detecting of the first communication of data or the detecting of the at least one second communication of data comprises at least one of: determining a reception of a first MAC Service Data Unit (SDU) for a logical channel (LCH) by the first MAC entity or the second MAC entity”).
Claim elements for 5 and 25 are discussed above in claim 2.
Claims 3 and 26:
Regarding claim 3, Wu teaches the method according to claim 1 (discussed above), wherein said switching from the RRC connected state to an RRC idle state comprises: releasing an RRC connection (Wu: Clm. 1 “responsive to the dual-data inactivity timer expiring: releasing the connections to both the MN and the SN”).
Claim elements for claim 25 are discussed above in claim 3.
Claims 7 and 22:
Regarding claim 7, Wu teaches the method according to claim 1 (discussed above), wherein the MTCH is configured to bear a Multicast and/or Broadcast Services (MBS) traffic (Discussed when referring to [0067] of disclosing multicast).
Claim elements for claim 25 are discussed above in claim 7.
Claims 9 and 24:
Regarding claim 9, Wu teaches the method according to claim 1 (discussed above), further comprising:
receiving indication information which indicates whether a configured MTCH is the connected-state MTCH; and/or
determining whether the configured MTCH is the connected-state MTCH based on reception configuration information of the configured MTCH (implied by disclosure in [0082], “The master node 402 may transmit the MN timer configuration message 615 using a signaling radio bearer (SRB) (e.g., SRB1) between the UE 110 and the master node 402. The master node 402 may transmit the MN timer configuration message 615 using master node radio resources or secondary node radio resources.”; receiving configuration information implies state of connectedness of MTCH).
Claim elements for claim 24 are discussed above in claim 9.
Claims 4, 27, and 28:
Regarding claim 4, Wu teaches a state switching method (discussed above in claim 1), comprising:
switching from a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected state to an RRC idle
state in response to expiration of a data inactivity timer (discussed above in claim 1), and
based on that there is no reception demand for data transmitted by a connected-state Multicast Traffic Channel (MTCH) (implied based on the state switching to idle state), wherein the connected-state MTCH is an MTCH that a terminal can receive merely in an RRC connected state (discussed above in claim 1).
Claim elements for claims 27 and 28 are discussed above in claim 4.
Claims 8 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of R2-072574, source Ericsson, hereinafter “Ericsson”.
Claims 8 and 23:
Regarding claim 8, Wu teaches the method according to claim 1 (discussed above).
Wu however fails to teach but in the same field of endeavor Ericsson teaches, wherein the connected-state MTCH at least comprises an MTCH configured with indication of supporting Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) or configured with HARQ configuration information (implied by disclosures in Ericsson, At the last RAN2 meeting it was agreed to suppo11 single cell MEMS transmission using a point-to-multipoint scheme with UE feedback. (§1); and “There are a number of advantages with instead using RRC_CONNECTED state (CN LTE_ACTIVE) for single cell MBMS transmission with feedback regardless if the UE is receiving/sending "unicast" data:” (§2)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine disclosure by Ericsson with that of Wu to have the benefits as discussed in items a-d in §2 of Ericsson.
Claim elements for claim 23 are discussed above in claim 8.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 9,307,569 B2 teaches adjusting connection states of a mobile wireless device based on a period of inactivity
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/INTEKHAAB A SIDDIQUEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462