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
Claims 1-3, 7, 14, and 16-20 are presented for examination.
Claims 1, 2, 7, 14 and 16 are amended.
Claims 4-6, 8-13 and 15 are canceled.
Claims 16 and 17 are new.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
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, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 2/18/2022 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Regarding 35 U.S.C. 103 applicant’s arguments, see page 5 Section I-III, filed June 15, 2026, with respect to claims 1 and 14 have been fully considered and are not persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 and 14 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Hence a new ground of rejection is further made in view of Park (US Pub. No.:2023/0319895).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-3, 7, 14, and 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 recites in lines 3-5 , " ... identifying whether a medium access control (MAC) entity of the UE receives a MAC service data unit (SDU) associated with multicast broadcast service (MBS)”, and in lines 6-7, “in case that the MAC entity receives the MAC SDU associated with the MBS, starting or restarting a data inactivity timer, wherein the data inactivity timer is configured with a time period by radio resource control (RRC)”. Neither the claim nor the specification further describe, “… “in case that the MAC entity receives the MAC SDU associated with the MBS, starting or restarting a data inactivity timer, wherein the data inactivity timer is configured with a time period by radio resource control (RRC)”. Paragraph 0053 of instant application disclose, “ FIG. 3 is a flowchart 300 depicting a method for managing RRC states of the UE 101 using the Data-Inactivity timer based on transmission and/or reception of MBS data and unicast data, according to embodiments as disclosed herein. At step 301, the method includes detecting transmission and/or reception of MBS and transmission and/or reception of unicast. If any MAC entity associated with the UE 101 receives or transmits a MBS MAC SDU and/or unicast MAC SDU, the UE 101 can start or restart (if Data-Inactivity timer has been started and is running) the Data-Inactivity timer. The Data-Inactivity timer tracks reception of MBS MAC SDU pertaining to MTCH logical channel and MBS MAC SDU pertaining to DTCH logical channel. The Data-Inactivity timer tracks transmission of MBS MAC SDU pertaining to DTCH logical channel. The Data-Inactivity timer tracks transmission of unicast MAC SDU pertaining to DCCH logical channel and unicast MAC SDU pertaining to DTCH logical channel. The Data-Inactivity timer tracks reception of unicast MAC SDU pertaining to DCCH logical channel, unicast MAC SDU pertaining to DTCH logical channel, and unicast MAC SDU pertaining to CCCH logical channel.” The claims and the specification of the instant application does not describe the method/step, “... “in case that the MAC entity receives the MAC SDU associated with the MBS, starting or restarting a data inactivity timer, wherein the data inactivity timer is configured with a time period by radio resource control (RRC)”. Therefore claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement
The subject matter was not described in the specification (see paragraphs 0023, 0053, 0092, 0099, 0109) in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and /or use the invention.
Claim 14 is also rejected for the same reason as set forth above for claim 1.
Claims 2-3, 7, and 16-20 are also rejected since they are dependent on the respective independent claims 1, and 14, respectively as set forth above.
Claim 1 recites in lines 10-11 , " ... wherein hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers are flushed based on the transitioning, a HARQ buffer for MBS broadcast among the HARQ buffers being maintained”. Neither the claim nor the specification further describe, “… ... wherein hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers are flushed based on the transitioning, a HARQ buffer for MBS broadcast among the HARQ buffers being maintained”.
Paragraph 0031 of instant application disclose, “ The embodiments include managing Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) operation modes in the UE. If the UE detects that a Timing Alignment (TA) timer has expired, the UE can either maintain at least one HARQ buffer after the expiry of the TA timer, wherein HARQ feedback is disabled; or the UE can flush the at least one HARQ buffer after the expiry of the TA timer. The UE can perform MBS reception through at least one of the PTP bearer and the PTM bearer after expiry of the TA timer. In an embodiment, when HARQ feedback is supported on PTP before TA timer expiry, MBS reception is continued over PTP without HARQ feedback (or HARQ feedback is disabled) after TA timer expiry. In an embodiment, when HARQ feedback was not supported (or HARQ feedback is disabled) on PTP before TA timer expiry, MBS reception is continued over PTP after TA timer expiry. In an embodiment, the UE can perform the MBS reception through the PTM bearer after the expiry of the TA timer if the PTP bearer is not available after the expiry of the TA timer (or HARQ feedback cannot be supported for PTP). In an embodiment, the UE can prevent the expiry of the TA timer.” The claims and the specification of the instant application does not describe the method/step, “... “wherein hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers are flushed based on the transitioning, a HARQ buffer for MBS broadcast among the HARQ buffers being maintained”. Therefore claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement
The subject matter was not described in the specification (see paragraphs 0031, Claim 9 of instant application as filed) in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and /or use the invention.
Claim 14 is also rejected for the same reason as set forth above for claim 1.
Claims 2-3, 7, and 16-20 are also rejected since they are dependent on the respective independent claims 1, and 14, respectively as set forth above.
Claims 1-3, 7, 14, and 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recite in lines 5-7, “in case that the MAC entity receives the MAC SDU associated with the MBS, starting or restarting a data inactivity timer, wherein the data inactivity timer is configured with a time period by radio resource control (RRC)” . It is unclear the UE start or restart a data inactivity timer, since there are not steps in the claim on setting a “a data inactivity timer”. Thus the claim is indefinite.
Instant specification, paragraph 53 disclose, “At step 301, the method includes detecting transmission and/or reception of MBS and transmission and/or reception of unicast. If any MAC entity associated with the UE 101 receives or transmits a MBS MAC SDU and/or unicast MAC SDU, the UE 101 can start or restart (if Data-Inactivity timer has been started and is running) the Data-Inactivity timer.” Clearly per instant published specification, Data-Inactivity timer has been started and is running.
Claims 1 recite in lines 8-9, “in case that the data inactivity timer expires, transitioning from an RRC connected state to an RRC idle state”. It is unclear as to as to what is meant by “in case that the data inactivity timer expires, transitioning from an RRC connected state to an RRC idle state”.
There are not steps in the claim as to determine what/in case the data inactivity timer expires, else, the timer goes on forever…no transitioning….The claim is indefinite.
Claim 14 is also rejected for the same reason as set forth above for claim 1.
Claims 2-3, 7, and 16-20 are also rejected since they are dependent on the respective independent claims 1, and 14, respectively as set forth above.
For purpose of examination, the examiner interprets the limitation as best understood.
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.
Claims 1-3, 14, 16-17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ericsson954 (SA2 questions about RRC state transitions for multicast', R2-2009954, 3GPP TSG-RAN2 #112-e, 23 October 2020), in view Ericsson285 (Timer-based transition from Connected to Inactive', R2-1817285, 3GPP TSG-RAN2 #104, 02 November 2018) and further in view of Park (US Pub. No.:2023/0319895).
As per claim 1, Ericsson954 disclose A method performed by a User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
identifying whether a medium access control (MAC) entity of the UE receives a MAC service data unit (SDU) associated with multicast broadcast service (MBS) (see pages 1-2, Transition to CM_lDLE when there is no multicast data, when there is no multicast data for a short time duration, the RRC_CONNECTED mode DRX provides opportunity for the UE to save power when there is no DL data, and when there is no multicast data for a long time, it is assumed that the multicast session has stopped on the UE will be released to RRC_INACTIVE or RRC_IDLE, based on the normal unicast data inactivity timer); and
wherein a bearer configured for the MBS broadcast among established radio bearers is not released based on a transitioning. (see page 1 and 2, for download / upload FTP service, after the file transfer is completed, UE will request to enter idle state because there is no further data transmission demand / an RRC connection is released based on transitioning from the RRC connected state to the RRC idle state. But for IM service, due to the periodical keep alive message transmission with longer period, UE will request to enter Inactive state / the MBS broadcast among established radio bearers is not released).
Ericsson954 however does not explicitly disclose in case that the MAC entity receives the MAC SDU associated with the MBS, starting or restarting a data inactivity timer, wherein the data inactivity timer is configured with a time period by radio resource control (RRC); and in case that the data inactivity timer expires, transitioning from an RRC connected state to an RRC idle state.
Ericsson285 however disclose in case that the MAC entity receives the MAC SDU associated with the MBS, starting or restarting a data inactivity timer, wherein the data inactivity timer is configured with a time period by radio resource control (RRC) (see page 2, use data inactivity timer that when expired makes the UE notify the higher layer, which will trigger a NAS recovery; and use LTE solution for state mismatch due to the release procedure (i.e. based on Data Inactivity Timer (only running in RRC_CONNECTED) and upon on timer expiry transition to IDLE and NAS recovery and supporting an implicit state transition from RRC_CONNECTED to RRC_INACTIVE by using an inactivity timer (in UE and in gNB, based on a time period by radio resource control (RRC)), if data is not received/sent for certain period, the timer expires and the UE and gNB state transits from RRC_CONNECTED to RRC_INACTIVE); and in case that the data inactivity timer expires, transitioning from an RRC connected state to an RRC idle state (see page 1: supporting an implicit state transition from RRC_INACTIVE by using an inactivity timer in UE: if data is not received/sent for certain period, the timer expires and the UE and gNB state transits from RRC_CONNECTED to RRC_INACTIVE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of in case that the MAC entity receives the MAC SDU associated with the MBS, starting or restarting a data inactivity timer, wherein the data inactivity timer is configured with a time period by radio resource control (RRC); and in case that the data inactivity timer expires, transitioning from an RRC connected state to an RRC idle state, as taught by Ericsson285, in the system of Ericsson954, so as to transition the UE from RRC_INACTIVE by using an inactivity timer in UE, see Ericsson285, paragraphs 21-22.
The combination of Ericsson954 and Ericsson285 however does not explicitly wherein hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers are flushed based on the transitioning, a HARQ buffer for MBS broadcast among the HARQ buffers being maintained.
Park however disclose wherein hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers are flushed based on a transitioning, a HARQ buffer for MBS broadcast among the HARQ buffers being maintained (see para. 0410-0430, 0459, 0539-0553, flush all HARQ buffers when Time Alignment Timer expires and maintain a HARQ buffer for MBS broadcast, see also para. 0018, 0055-0060).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers are flushed based on a transitioning, a HARQ buffer for MBS broadcast among the HARQ buffers being maintained, as taught by Park, in the system of Ericsson954 and Ericsson285, so as efficiently transmit data stored in a message 3 (Msg3) buffer and flush the HARQ buffer, see Takeda, paragraphs 0002, 0553-0565.
As per claim 2, the combination of Ericsson954, Ericsson285 and Park disclose the method of claim 1.
Ericsson285 further disclose in case that the data inactivity timer expires, delivering, from an MAC layer of the UE to an RRC layer of the UE, an indication for an expiration of the data inactivity timer, wherein the RRC connected state is transitioned to the RRC idle state based on the indication (see page 2, use data inactivity timer that when expired makes the UE notify the higher layer, which will trigger a NAS recovery; and use LTE solution for state mismatch due to the release procedure (i.e. based on Data Inactivity Timer (only running in RRC_CONNECTED) and upon on timer expiry transition to IDLE and NAS recovery).
As per claim 3, the combination of Ericsson954, Ericsson285 and Park disclose the method of claim 1.
Ericsson285 further disclose in case that the MAC entity receives an MAC SDU for dedicated traffic channel (DTCH) or the MAC entity transmits the MAC SDU for DTCH, starting or restarting the data inactivity timer (see page 1: supporting an implicit state transition from RRC_INACTIVE by using an inactivity timer in UE: if data is not received/sent for certain period, the timer expires and the UE and gNB state transits from RRC_CONNECTED to RRC_INACTIVE).
As per claim 14, claim 14 is rejected the same way as claim 1.
As per claim 16, claim 16 is rejected the same way as claim 2.
As per claim 17, claim 17 is rejected the same way as claim 3.
As per claim 19, the combination of Ericsson954, Ericsson285 and Park disclose the method of claim 1.
Park further disclose wherein the MAC SDU associated with MBS includes a MAC SDU for a multicast MBS traffic channel (MTCH) (see para. 0060, MBS includes a MAC SDU for a multicast MBS traffic channel (MTCH), a point-to-multipoint downlink channel transmitting traffic data from the network to the UE).
As per claim 20, the combination of Ericsson954, Ericsson285 and Park disclose the UE of claim 15.
Park further disclose wherein the MAC SDU associated with MBS includes a MAC SDU for a multicast MBS traffic channel (MTCH) (see para. 0060, MBS includes a MAC SDU for a multicast MBS traffic channel (MTCH), a point-to-multipoint downlink channel transmitting traffic data from the network to the UE).
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Second Rejection:
Claims 1 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ericsson954 (SA2 questions about RRC state transitions for multicast', R2-2009954, 3GPP TSG-RAN2 #112-e, 23 October 2020), in view Ericsson285 (Timer-based transition from Connected to Inactive', R2-1817285, 3GPP TSG-RAN2 #104, 02 November 2018) and further in view of Dinan (US Pub. No.:2019/0246447).
As per claim 1, Ericsson954 disclose A method performed by a User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
identifying whether a medium access control (MAC) entity of the UE receives a MAC service data unit (SDU) associated with multicast broadcast service (MBS) (see pages 1-2, Transition to CM_lDLE when there is no multicast data, when there is no multicast data for a short time duration, the RRC_CONNECTED mode DRX provides opportunity for the UE to save power when there is no DL data, and when there is no multicast data for a long time, it is assumed that the multicast session has stopped on the UE will be released to RRC_INACTIVE or RRC_IDLE, based on the normal unicast data inactivity timer); and
wherein a bearer configured for the MBS broadcast among established radio bearers is not released based on a transitioning. (see page 1 and 2, for download / upload FTP service, after the file transfer is completed, UE will request to enter idle state because there is no further data transmission demand / an RRC connection is released based on transitioning from the RRC connected state to the RRC idle state. But for IM service, due to the periodical keep alive message transmission with longer period, UE will request to enter Inactive state / the MBS broadcast among established radio bearers is not released).
Ericsson954 however does not explicitly disclose in case that the MAC entity receives the MAC SDU associated with the MBS, starting or restarting a data inactivity timer, wherein the data inactivity timer is configured with a time period by radio resource control (RRC); and in case that the data inactivity timer expires, transitioning from an RRC connected state to an RRC idle state.
Ericsson285 however disclose in case that the MAC entity receives the MAC SDU associated with the MBS, starting or restarting a data inactivity timer, wherein the data inactivity timer is configured with a time period by radio resource control (RRC) (see page 2, use data inactivity timer that when expired makes the UE notify the higher layer, which will trigger a NAS recovery; and use LTE solution for state mismatch due to the release procedure (i.e. based on Data Inactivity Timer (only running in RRC_CONNECTED) and upon on timer expiry transition to IDLE and NAS recovery and supporting an implicit state transition from RRC_CONNECTED to RRC_INACTIVE by using an inactivity timer (in UE and in gNB, based on a time period by radio resource control (RRC)), if data is not received/sent for certain period, the timer expires and the UE and gNB state transits from RRC_CONNECTED to RRC_INACTIVE); and in case that the data inactivity timer expires, transitioning from an RRC connected state to an RRC idle state (see page 1: supporting an implicit state transition from RRC_INACTIVE by using an inactivity timer in UE: if data is not received/sent for certain period, the timer expires and the UE and gNB state transits from RRC_CONNECTED to RRC_INACTIVE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of in case that the MAC entity receives the MAC SDU associated with the MBS, starting or restarting a data inactivity timer, wherein the data inactivity timer is configured with a time period by radio resource control (RRC); and in case that the data inactivity timer expires, transitioning from an RRC connected state to an RRC idle state, as taught by Ericsson285, in the system of Ericsson954, so as to transition the UE from RRC_INACTIVE by using an inactivity timer in UE, see Ericsson285, paragraphs 21-22.
The combination of Ericsson954 and Ericsson285 however does not explicitly wherein hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers are flushed based on the transitioning, a HARQ buffer for MBS broadcast among the HARQ buffers being maintained.
Dinan however disclose wherein hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers are flushed based on a transitioning (see para. 0120m 0203-0205, flushing the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers based on the time alignment timer of the first TAG expires), a HARQ buffer for MBS broadcast among the HARQ buffers being maintained (see para. 0120, claim 1, a HARQ buffer for MBS broadcast among the HARQ buffers being maintained).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers are flushed based on a transitioning, a HARQ buffer for MBS broadcast among the HARQ buffers being maintained, as taught by Dinan, in the system of Ericsson954 and Ericsson285, so that when a TAT associated with a pTAG expires: all TATs may be considered as expired, the UE may flush HARQ buffers of serving cells, see Dinan, paragraphs 0119-0120.
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Third Rejection:
Claims 1 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ericsson954 (SA2 questions about RRC state transitions for multicast', R2-2009954, 3GPP TSG-RAN2 #112-e, 23 October 2020), in view Ericsson285 (Timer-based transition from Connected to Inactive', R2-1817285, 3GPP TSG-RAN2 #104, 02 November 2018) and further in view of Takeda (US Pub. No.:2021/0345071).
As per claim 1, Ericsson954 disclose A method performed by a User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
identifying whether a medium access control (MAC) entity of the UE receives a MAC service data unit (SDU) associated with multicast broadcast service (MBS) (see pages 1-2, Transition to CM_lDLE when there is no multicast data, when there is no multicast data for a short time duration, the RRC_CONNECTED mode DRX provides opportunity for the UE to save power when there is no DL data, and when there is no multicast data for a long time, it is assumed that the multicast session has stopped on the UE will be released to RRC_INACTIVE or RRC_IDLE, based on the normal unicast data inactivity timer); and
wherein a bearer configured for the MBS broadcast among established radio bearers is not released based on a transitioning. (see page 1 and 2, for download / upload FTP service, after the file transfer is completed, UE will request to enter idle state because there is no further data transmission demand / an RRC connection is released based on transitioning from the RRC connected state to the RRC idle state. But for IM service, due to the periodical keep alive message transmission with longer period, UE will request to enter Inactive state / the MBS broadcast among established radio bearers is not released).
Ericsson954 however does not explicitly disclose in case that the MAC entity receives the MAC SDU associated with the MBS, starting or restarting a data inactivity timer, wherein the data inactivity timer is configured with a time period by radio resource control (RRC); and in case that the data inactivity timer expires, transitioning from an RRC connected state to an RRC idle state.
Ericsson285 however disclose in case that the MAC entity receives the MAC SDU associated with the MBS, starting or restarting a data inactivity timer, wherein the data inactivity timer is configured with a time period by radio resource control (RRC) (see page 2, use data inactivity timer that when expired makes the UE notify the higher layer, which will trigger a NAS recovery; and use LTE solution for state mismatch due to the release procedure (i.e. based on Data Inactivity Timer (only running in RRC_CONNECTED) and upon on timer expiry transition to IDLE and NAS recovery and supporting an implicit state transition from RRC_CONNECTED to RRC_INACTIVE by using an inactivity timer (in UE and in gNB, based on a time period by radio resource control (RRC)), if data is not received/sent for certain period, the timer expires and the UE and gNB state transits from RRC_CONNECTED to RRC_INACTIVE); and in case that the data inactivity timer expires, transitioning from an RRC connected state to an RRC idle state (see page 1: supporting an implicit state transition from RRC_INACTIVE by using an inactivity timer in UE: if data is not received/sent for certain period, the timer expires and the UE and gNB state transits from RRC_CONNECTED to RRC_INACTIVE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of in case that the MAC entity receives the MAC SDU associated with the MBS, starting or restarting a data inactivity timer, wherein the data inactivity timer is configured with a time period by radio resource control (RRC); and in case that the data inactivity timer expires, transitioning from an RRC connected state to an RRC idle state, as taught by Ericsson285, in the system of Ericsson954, so as to transition the UE from RRC_INACTIVE by using an inactivity timer in UE, see Ericsson285, paragraphs 21-22.
The combination of Ericsson954 and Ericsson285 however does not explicitly wherein hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers are flushed based on the transitioning, a HARQ buffer for MBS broadcast among the HARQ buffers being maintained.
Takeda however disclose wherein hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers are flushed based on a transitioning (see Fig.3, Fig.10-12, para. 0111-0113, UE 115 receives control signaling 310 indicating multicast data 320, and multicast data 320 have the same HPID as the unicast data 315-b. In these cases, the UE 115 flush the soft bits of the unicast data 315-b from unicast buffer 325, and the UE 115 stores the multicast data 320 in the unicast buffer 325), a HARQ buffer for MBS broadcast among the HARQ buffers being maintained (see para. 0111-0113, the UE 115 store multicast data 320 in multicast buffer 330, a HARQ buffer for MBS broadcast is maintained, rather than flushing buffer 325 or determining not to store multicast data 320 in unicast buffer 325).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers are flushed based on a transitioning, a HARQ buffer for MBS broadcast among the HARQ buffers being maintained, as taught by Takeda, in the system of Ericsson954 and Ericsson285, so as to improve spectral efficiency, a UE implements a HARQ process for multicast transmissions, the HARQ process corresponds to demodulation, decoding, soft-combining data in a buffer (e.g., in cases of retransmission) and the process of transmitting ACK/NACK feedback, see Takeda, paragraphs 47-48.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7 and 18 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Lohmar et al (US Pub. No.:2020/0120452) – see para. 0016-0021, “MBMS operation on Demand, MooD, represents an operational concept for MBMS and associated technical architecture and functionalities which enable concurrent demand by multiple users for a service or content item for unicast delivery to be detected by a network operator, against a threshold based on operator policy. This detection can be used to dynamically trigger the establishment, at the Broadcast Multicast Service Center, BMSC, of an MBMS User Service to offload the unicast network for delivery of the same service or content to multiple users. Subsequently, the BMSC will initiate the typical processes for MBMS service announcement/discovery and delivery. When concurrent user demand for that same service/content drops below a configurable level (also set by operator policy), the delivery mode can be configured to transition back from broadcast to unicast”.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAKERAM JANGBAHADUR whose telephone number is (571)272-1335. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7 am - 4 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian Moore can be reached on 571-272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LAKERAM JANGBAHADUR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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