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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s submission filed on 01/27/2026 has been entered. Applicant’s submission overcomes prior claim objections to claims 1 and 16 and prior claim rejections to claims 1-20 under 35 USC § 112(b). Therefore, the corresponding objections and rejections are withdrawn. Claims 1-20 are pending and rejected.
Priority
The applicant’s claim for priority to PCT/CN2021/103207, filed 06/29/2021, and
to PCT/CN2020/098904, filed 06/29/2020, is acknowledged.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an
application filed in China on 06/29/2021. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed
a certified copy of the PCT/CN2021/103207 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an
application filed in China on 06/29/2020. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed
a certified copy of the PCT/CN2020/098904 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 11-12, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US 2022/0132627), hereinafter "Huang", in view of Xu et al. (US 2022/0217506), hereinafter "Xu", and further in view of Jin et al. (CN 102075865), published 25 May, 2011, hereinafter “Jin” (see “CN102075865_Translation.pdf” for citations).
Regarding claims 1, 16, Huang teaches:
A method or a user equipment (UE) (see Huang, Fig. 23, item 230, par. [0341], line 1: FIG. 23 shows user equipment 230) comprising:
a transceiver that transmits and receives radio frequency (RF) signal in a wireless network (see Huang, Fig. 23, items 2306 and 2308, par. [0343], lines 1-2: The transmitter 2306 may be configured to transmit a signal output by the processor 2304, and see Huang, par. [0344], lines 1-3: The receiver 2308 may be configured to receive a mobile communications signal received by the antenna 2314);
a memory (see Huang, Fig. 23, par. [0341]: the user equipment 230 may include input/output modules (including an audio input/output module 2318, a key input module 2316, a display 2320, and the like), a user interface 2302, one or more processors 2304, a transmitter 2306, a receiver 2308, a coupler 2310, an antenna 2314, and a memory 2312), and
a processor coupled to the memory (see Huang, Fig. 23, par. [0341]: the user equipment 230 may include input/output modules (including an audio input/output module 2318, a key input module 2316, a display 2320, and the like), a user interface 2302, one or more processors 2304, a transmitter 2306, a receiver 2308, a coupler 2310, an antenna 2314, and a memory 2312), the processor configured (see Huang, Fig. 23, par. [0350]: The processor 2304 may be configured to read and execute a computer-readable instruction. Specifically, the processor 2304 may be configured to: invoke a program stored in the memory 2312, and execute an instruction included in the program, to implement the method in subsequent embodiments) to
configure, by a user equipment (UE), a multicast and broadcast service (MBS) with a network entity in a wireless network, wherein the MBS is configured with a point-to- multipoint (PTM) radio bearer (RB) and an associated point- to-point (PTP) RB (see Huang, pars. [0113-0116]: In an optional implementation, the user equipment further includes:
a configuration receiving unit, configured to receive configuration information sent by the access network device, where the configuration information is used to receive the multicast service data.
In an optional implementation, the configuration information includes:
at least one of configuration information of a multicast bearer, multicast session information corresponding to the multicast bearer, logical channel information of the multicast bearer, multicast scheduling identifier information, information about a transmission channel for sending the multicast service data in the multicast manner, information about a transmission channel for sending the multicast service data in the unicast manner, multicast logical channel information, measurement configuration information of the transmission channel of the multicast service data, and multicast-associated unicast configuration information; in this case, a UE receives configuration of a multicast bearer (corresponding to a PTM RB) and a channel for sending in the unicast manner (corresponding to a PTP RB). Both are related to multicast service data, corresponding to the bearers being associated); and
provide uplink feedback for MBS data reception status, wherein the uplink feedback is transmitted in an uplink transmission scheduled for the UE using a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) assigned to the UE (see Huang, par. [0212], lines 3-11: the access network device may configure the user equipment to receive the multicast service data in the unicast manner. In this case, the user equipment may receive scheduling information of the base station for a specific identity (ID) of the user equipment, and perform corresponding data receiving and feedback. The specific ID may be a cell radio network temporary identity (C-RNTI), a medium access control (MAC) address, or another ID that can uniquely identify the user equipment, and see pars. [0045-0046]: a multicast service retransmission method is further provided. The method further includes: receiving, by the access network device, receiving status information sent by the user equipment, where the receiving status information is used to indicate a receiving status of the data packet in the multicast service data, and see par. [0048]: the receiving status information is information used to indicate the receiving status of the data packet, and the access network device is enabled to learn of the data packet that needs to be retransmitted to the user equipment. Therefore, the receiving status information has various representation forms. For example: 1. a sequence number of the data packet that needs to be retransmitted is directly notified; and 2. feedback information is sent, where the feedback information includes information about whether all data packets have been received; in this case, the user equipment receives scheduling information for a C-RNTI uniquely identifying the UE (i.e. assigned to the UE) and performs feedback corresponding to the scheduling information (corresponding to a feedback transmission scheduled for the UE using a C-RNTI). Feedback is sent from the UE to an access network device in the form of receiving status information indicating receiving status in the multicast service data, corresponding to providing uplink feedback for MBS data reception status using an uplink transmission), and wherein the MBS data reception status indicates data packets reception status for the MBS (see Huang, pars. [0046-0048]: receiving, by the access network device, receiving status information sent by the user equipment, where the receiving status information is used to indicate a receiving status of the data packet in the multicast service data; and sending, by the access network device, an unsuccessfully received data packet in the multicast service data to the user equipment in the unicast manner based on the receiving status information. In this embodiment, the receiving status information is information used to indicate the receiving status of the data packet, and the access network device is enabled to learn of the data packet that needs to be retransmitted to the user equipment. Therefore, the receiving status information has various representation forms. For example: 1. a sequence number of the data packet that needs to be retransmitted is directly notified; and 2. feedback information is sent, where the feedback information includes information about whether all data packets have been receive).
However, Huang does not teach:
establish a single UE protocol stack with one UE radio link control (RLC) entity and one UE packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity to receive data packets from both the PTM RB and the associated PTP RB;
assemble data packets from the PTM RB and the PTP RB at the single UE protocol stack;
provide uplink feedback for MBS data reception status through the PTP RB,
Xu, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
establish a single UE protocol stack with one UE radio link control (RLC) entity and one UE packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity to receive data packets from both the PTM RB and the associated PTP RB (see Xu, Fig. 14, par. [0170], lines 1-6: in FIG. 14, a multicast radio bearer used by the terminal side device to receive the multicast service sent in the unicast manner and a multicast radio bearer used to receive the multicast service sent in the multicast manner are the same. The multicast radio bearer includes one RLC entity of the terminal side device, and see Xu, par. [0173], lines 1-3: the RLC entity of the terminal side device is connected to one PDCP entity of the terminal side device; in this case, a radio bearer to receive multicast service (corresponding to data packets) is used for both unicast (corresponding to PTP) and multicast (corresponding to PTM));
assemble data packets from the PTM RB and the PTP RB at the single UE protocol stack (see Xu, par. [0170], lines 9-12: a channel corresponding to the unicast manner and a channel corresponding to the multicast manner are multiplexed on a path in which the same RLC entity is located);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of Huang with the single protocol stack of Xu with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving reliability of multicast service (see Xu, par. [0174], lines 1-5).
However, the combination of Huang in view of Xu does not teach:
provide uplink feedback for MBS data reception status through the PTP RB,
Jin, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
provide uplink feedback for MBS data reception status through the PTP RB (see Jin, Fig. 2, par. [0059]: The feedback process can be different for the UEs in different RRC states. Specifically, referring to Figure 2, if the UE is in the RRC_CONNECTED state, it directly feeds back MBMS service feedback information to the eNB through the established unicast RRC connection, and see par. [0084]: User-initiated MBMS service feedback information may include, but is not limited to, information such as the MBMS service/session identifier being received, channel quality, and the terminal's current location; in this case, sending feedback through a unicast connection corresponds to through the PTP RB),
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the uplink feedback of the combination of Huang in view of Xu with the uplink feedback through the PTP RB of Jin with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of saving radio resources and improving the utilization rate of cell radio resources (see Jin, par. [0024]).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, teaches the method. Huang further teaches:
wherein the UE is configured with one logic channel (LCH) for the MBS (see Huang, Fig. 6, item 601, par. [0216], lines 1-8: In step 601, the user equipment 1 is configured to receive multicast service data in the unicast manner. A configuration message may carry configuration information sent by the access network device to the user equipment. The configuration information may usually include one of the following content: a configuration of a multicast bearer, multicast session information corresponding to the multicast bearer, logical channel information of the multicast bearer), and wherein the UE monitors a multicast LCH through a group RNTI(G-RNTI) (see Huang, par. [0229], lines 10-13: If the user equipment receives the multicast service data in the multicast manner, the user equipment monitors and receives, based on a multicast identifier (such as a G-RNTI), scheduling signaling sent by a physical layer, and see Huang, par. [0219], lines 7-9: the RLC configuration may be mapped to a unicast logical channel or a multicast logical channel) and a unicast LCH through a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) for downlink data reception (see Huang, par. [0229], lines 6-10: If the user equipment receives the multicast service data in the unicast manner, the user equipment monitors and receives, based on an identifier (such as a C-RNTI) of the user equipment, scheduling signaling sent by a physical layer, and see Huang, par. [0219], lines 7-9: the RLC configuration may be mapped to a unicast logical channel or a multicast logical channel).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, teaches the method. Huang further teaches:
wherein the UE is configured with a multicast LCH corresponding to the PTM RB and a unicast LCH corresponding to the associated PTP RB, and wherein the multicast LCH and the unicast LCH are independent (see Huang, par. [0219], lines 7-15: the RLC configuration may be mapped to a unicast logical channel or a multicast logical channel, or may be mapped to both a unicast logical channel and a multicast logical channel. The RLC configuration may further include an AM or UM sending manner, and information about a logical channel to which the RLC configuration is mapped, for example, information indicating that the logical channel is a multicast logical channel or a unicast logical channel, or a logical channel ID; in this case, there are independent channels for unicast (corresponding to PTP) and multicast (corresponding to PTM) configurations).
Claims 2 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, as applied to claims 1, 11-12, and 16 above, and further in view of Kim et al. (US 2023/0232189), hereinafter “Kim”, and further in view of Chun et al. (US 2013/0128767), hereinafter “Chun”.
Regarding claims 2, 17, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, teaches the method or UE.
However, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, does not teach:
wherein the uplink feedback for MBS data reception is sent upon receiving a polling request from the network entity, and wherein the polling request is received on the PTP RB.
Kim, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the uplink feedback for MBS data reception is sent upon receiving a polling request from the network entity (see Kim, Fig. 1O, par. [0437]: the UE may transmit the feedback or indication information when requested by the network (1o-03). As described above, the information transmitted by the UE to the base station for the MBS service may include some or a plurality of pieces of information among the following information, and see par. [0443]: An indicator indicating that the reception quality of the MBS service is good or bad from the point of view of the UE),
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the uplink feedback of the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, with the uplink feedback being sent upon receiving a request from the network entity of Kim with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of more efficiently managing resources for the MBS service by utilizing feedback (see Kim, par. [0446]).
However, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Kim, does not teach:
wherein the polling request is received on the PTP RB.
Chun, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the polling request is received on the PTP RB (see Chun, pars. [0080-0082]: The uplink control channel may be allocated through downlink control information transmitted through downlink from the BS. The downlink control information may be broadcast to every MS, or may be transmitted to each MS through a unicast service. The foregoing P-SFH or S-SFH is a broadcast downlink control signal, and a plurality of A-MAP IE (Advanced-MAP Information Element) may be defined as a basic element of unicast service controlling. Hereinafter, a feedback method of the MS in a system supporting the multi-carrier mode will now be described. The uplink control channel may include 1. An uplink control channel according to a request from the BS, and see par. [0085]: when the MS receives the feedback polling A-MAP IE, the MS transmits AAI_SingleBS_MIMO_FBK message, AAI_MultiBS_MIMO_FBK message, MIMO feedback header, a CMFH (correlation matrix feedback header), or the like, according to the number of transmission antennas of the BS and requested feedback content; in this case, Chun teaches support for receiving a request for feedback through unicast. Taken in combination, the references teach the limitation).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the polling request of the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Kim, with the polling request being received on a PTP RB of Chun with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of identifying relevant feedback information correctly (see Chun, par. [0024]).
Claims 3-4, 6-9, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, as applied to claims 1, 11-12, and 16 above, and further in view of Grilli et al. (US 8,804,761), hereinafter “Grilli”.
Regarding claims 3, 19, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, teaches the method or UE.
However, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, does not teach:
wherein RLC sequence number (SN) of data packets received from the PTM RB and the PTP RB are both assigned by an RLC TX-only entity at the network entity, and wherein the RLC SN for data packets received from the PTM RB and PTP RB are aligned.
Grilli, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein RLC sequence number (SN) of data packets received from the PTM RB and the PTP RB are both assigned by an RLC TX-only entity at the network entity (see Grilli, Fig. 11, items 410 and 422, col. 24, lines 52-60: Different base stations (or different modes of transmission PTP, Point-to-Multipoint (PTM)) transmit the same content stream, but the streams can be misaligned. However, if the Encoder Packet (EP) format of the data streams is the same, then the information on each stream is exactly the same. Adding a sequence number to each outer block allows the User Equipment (UE) to combine the two streams since the User Equipment (UE) will know the relationship between the two streams, and see Grilli, col. 25, lines 35-36: It is desirable for the FEC layer 400 to be able to inter-operate with all Radio Link Control (RLC) modes; in this case, the transmitting FEC entity 410 (corresponding to an RLC TX-only entity) assigns SN for different streams, including PTM and PTP, which are then transmitted to and received by the UE), and wherein the RLC SN for data packets received from the PTM RB and PTP RB are aligned (see Grilli, col. 19, lines 21-23: the sequence numbers are common in both Point-to-Point (PTP) transmission and Point-to-Multipoint (PTM) transmission).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or UE of the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, with the sequence numbers of Grilli with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing the amount of padding utilized (see Grilli, col. 13, lines 28-31).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Grilli, teaches the method.
Huang further teaches:
wherein the uplink feedback for MBS data reception is an RLC status provided by the UE RLC entity (see Huang, par. [0283], lines 9-13: When the user equipment is in a hybrid mode and receiving in the multicast manner fails, an ARQ entity of the user equipment initiates an RLC status report, to request a multicast RLC entity of an access network device to retransmit PDU data corresponding to a missing RLC SN identifier).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, teaches the method.
However, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, does not teach:
wherein PDCP SN of data packets received from the PTM RB and the PTP RB are both assigned by a PDCP entity at the network entity.
Grilli, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein PDCP SN of data packets received from the PTM RB and the PTP RB are both assigned by a PDCP entity at the network entity (see Grilli, Fig. 11, items 410 and 422, col. 24, lines 52-60: Different base stations (or different modes of transmission PTP, Point-to-Multipoint (PTM)) transmit the same content stream, but the streams can be misaligned. However, if the Encoder Packet (EP) format of the data streams is the same, then the information on each stream is exactly the same. Adding a sequence number to each outer block allows the User Equipment (UE) to combine the two streams since the User Equipment (UE) will know the relationship between the two streams, and see Grilli, Fig. 7A, col. 20, lines 44-46: Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer 156 may be used on top of Forward Error Correction (FEC) layer 157; in this case, the transmitting FEC entity 410 (corresponding to a PDCP entity) assigns SN for different streams, including PTM and PTP, which are then transmitted to and received by the UE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, with the sequence numbers of Grilli with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing the amount of padding utilized (see Grilli, col. 13, lines 28-31).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Grilli, teaches the method.
Huang does not teach, but Xu teaches:
wherein the UE RLC entity separates data packets from the PTM RB from the PTP RB before delivering to the UE PDCP entity (see Xu, Fig. 14, par. [0172], lines 6-16: The data packet sent in the unicast manner and the data packet sent in the multicast manner are the same, and RLC SNs are set for the same data packets. The RLC entity of the access network side device sends the same data packets by using an identifier corresponding to the unicast manner and an identifier corresponding to the multicast manner. For the multicast radio bearer, the RLC entity of the terminal side device performs repetition detection on the received data packets based on the RLC SNs, and discards a repeated data packet with the same RLC SN, and see Xu, par. [0173], lines 1-3: the RLC entity of the terminal side device is connected to one PDCP entity of the terminal side device; in this case, the RLC entity identifies and discards repeated packets between multicast and unicast (corresponding to separating PTM and PTP data packets)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of Huang with the separation of data packets of Xu with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving reliability of multicast service (see Xu, par. [0174], lines 1-5).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Grilli, teaches the method. Huang further teaches:
and wherein the uplink feedback for MBS data reception is a PDCP status provided by the UE PDCP entity (see Huang, par. [0277], lines 1-11: The user equipment specifies, by using a fixed relationship between feedback information and a retransmitted data packet, for example, a manner of sending a NACK by using a physical layer feedback channel, that the access network device retransmits, in the unicast manner, a data packet sent in an (n−k)th subframe, where n is a subframe for sending the NACK. Alternatively, the user equipment may explicitly indicate, by using an explicit data packet number, for example, an RLC or PDCP status report, that one or more data packets whose sequence numbers are (sequence number x, SNx) needs to be retransmitted).
Huang does not teach, but Xu teaches:
wherein a PDCP entity at the network entity performs data retransmission for MBS data packets (see Xu, par. [0165], lines 34-44: If the terminal side device fails to receive the multicast service in the multicast manner, the terminal side device sends a notification to the access network side device, so as to indicate which multicast service received on the RLC entity corresponding to the multicast manner fails. Optionally, the notification indicates a specific data packet or specific data packets in the multicast service that fail to be received. The access network side device retransmits, in the unicast manner by using a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, a MAC layer, or a physical layer, the data packet that fails to be received),
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of Huang with the retransmission of data packets of Xu with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving reliability of multicast service (see Xu, par. [0174], lines 1-5).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Grilli, teaches the method. Huang further teaches:
and wherein the uplink feedback for MBS data reception is an RLC status provided by the UE RLC entity (see Huang, par. [0277], lines 1-11: The user equipment specifies, by using a fixed relationship between feedback information and a retransmitted data packet, for example, a manner of sending a NACK by using a physical layer feedback channel, that the access network device retransmits, in the unicast manner, a data packet sent in an (n−k)th subframe, where n is a subframe for sending the NACK. Alternatively, the user equipment may explicitly indicate, by using an explicit data packet number, for example, an RLC or PDCP status report, that one or more data packets whose sequence numbers are (sequence number x, SNx) needs to be retransmitted).
Huang does not teach, but Xu teaches:
wherein an RLC entity at the network entity performs data retransmission for MBS data packets (see Xu, par. [0165], lines 34-44: If the terminal side device fails to receive the multicast service in the multicast manner, the terminal side device sends a notification to the access network side device, so as to indicate which multicast service received on the RLC entity corresponding to the multicast manner fails. Optionally, the notification indicates a specific data packet or specific data packets in the multicast service that fail to be received. The access network side device retransmits, in the unicast manner by using a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, a MAC layer, or a physical layer, the data packet that fails to be received),
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of Huang with the retransmission of data packets of Xu with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving reliability of multicast service (see Xu, par. [0174], lines 1-5).
Regarding claim 18, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin teaches the UE. Huang further teaches:
wherein the UE RLC entity provides RLC status report to the network (see Huang, par. [0283], lines 9-13: When the user equipment is in a hybrid mode and receiving in the multicast manner fails, an ARQ entity of the user equipment initiates an RLC status report, to request a multicast RLC entity of an access network device to retransmit PDU data corresponding to a missing RLC SN identifier) and the UE PDCP entity provides PDCP status report to the network (see Huang, par. [0277], lines 1-11: The user equipment specifies, by using a fixed relationship between feedback information and a retransmitted data packet, for example, a manner of sending a NACK by using a physical layer feedback channel, that the access network device retransmits, in the unicast manner, a data packet sent in an (n−k)th subframe, where n is a subframe for sending the NACK. Alternatively, the user equipment may explicitly indicate, by using an explicit data packet number, for example, an RLC or PDCP status report, that one or more data packets whose sequence numbers are (sequence number x, SNx) needs to be retransmitted)
However, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, does not teach:
when RLC SN from the PTM RB and the PTP RB are both assigned an RLC entity at the network entity
when PDCP SN from the PTM RB and the PTP RB are both assigned by a PDCP entity at the network entity.
Grilli, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
when RLC SN from the PTM RB and the PTP RB are both assigned an RLC entity at the network entity (see Grilli, Fig. 11, items 410 and 422, col. 24, lines 52-60: Different base stations (or different modes of transmission PTP, Point-to-Multipoint (PTM)) transmit the same content stream, but the streams can be misaligned. However, if the Encoder Packet (EP) format of the data streams is the same, then the information on each stream is exactly the same. Adding a sequence number to each outer block allows the User Equipment (UE) to combine the two streams since the User Equipment (UE) will know the relationship between the two streams, and see Grilli, col. 25, lines 35-36: It is desirable for the FEC layer 400 to be able to inter-operate with all Radio Link Control (RLC) modes; in this case, the transmitting FEC entity 410 (corresponding to an RLC TX-only entity) assigns SN for different streams, including PTM and PTP, which are then transmitted to and received by the UE)
when PDCP SN from the PTM RB and the PTP RB are both assigned by a PDCP entity at the network entity (see Grilli, Fig. 11, items 410 and 422, col. 24, lines 52-60: Different base stations (or different modes of transmission PTP, Point-to-Multipoint (PTM)) transmit the same content stream, but the streams can be misaligned. However, if the Encoder Packet (EP) format of the data streams is the same, then the information on each stream is exactly the same. Adding a sequence number to each outer block allows the User Equipment (UE) to combine the two streams since the User Equipment (UE) will know the relationship between the two streams, and see Grilli, Fig. 7A, col. 20, lines 44-46: Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer 156 may be used on top of Forward Error Correction (FEC) layer 157; in this case, the transmitting FEC entity 410 (corresponding to a PDCP entity) assigns SN for different streams, including PTM and PTP, which are then transmitted to and received by the UE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the system of the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, with the sequence numbers of Grilli with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing the amount of padding utilized (see Grilli, col. 13, lines 28-31).
Regarding claim 20, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, teaches the UE.
Huang does not teach, but Xu teaches:
and wherein the UE RLC entity separates data packets from the PTM RB from the PTP RB before delivering to the UE PDCP entity (see Xu, Fig. 14, par. [0172], lines 6-16: The data packet sent in the unicast manner and the data packet sent in the multicast manner are the same, and RLC SNs are set for the same data packets. The RLC entity of the access network side device sends the same data packets by using an identifier corresponding to the unicast manner and an identifier corresponding to the multicast manner. For the multicast radio bearer, the RLC entity of the terminal side device performs repetition detection on the received data packets based on the RLC SNs, and discards a repeated data packet with the same RLC SN, and see Xu, par. [0173], lines 1-3: the RLC entity of the terminal side device is connected to one PDCP entity of the terminal side device; in this case, the RLC entity identifies and discards repeated packets between multicast and unicast (corresponding to separating PTM and PTP data packets)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of Huang with the separation of data packets of Xu with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving reliability of multicast service (see Xu, par. [0174], lines 1-5).
However, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, does not teach:
PDCP SN of data packets received from the PTM RB and the PTP RB are both assigned by a PDCP entity at the network entity,
Grilli, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
PDCP SN of data packets received from the PTM RB and the PTP RB are both assigned by a PDCP entity at the network entity (see Grilli, Fig. 11, items 410 and 422, col. 24, lines 52-60: Different base stations (or different modes of transmission PTP, Point-to-Multipoint (PTM)) transmit the same content stream, but the streams can be misaligned. However, if the Encoder Packet (EP) format of the data streams is the same, then the information on each stream is exactly the same. Adding a sequence number to each outer block allows the User Equipment (UE) to combine the two streams since the User Equipment (UE) will know the relationship between the two streams, and see Grilli, Fig. 7A, col. 20, lines 44-46: Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer 156 may be used on top of Forward Error Correction (FEC) layer 157; in this case, the transmitting FEC entity 410 (corresponding to a PDCP entity) assigns SN for different streams, including PTM and PTP, which are then transmitted to and received by the UE),
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the system of the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, with the sequence numbers of Grilli with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing the amount of padding utilized (see Grilli, col. 13, lines 28-31).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Grilli, as applied to claims 3-4, 6-9, and 18-20 above, and further in view of Agiwal et al. (US 2016/0338092), hereinafter “Agiwal”, and further in view of Qi et al. (US 2023/0023919), hereinafter “Qi”.
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Grilli, teaches the method. Huang further teaches:
further comprising:
switching from a multicast mode to a unicast mode for the MBS (see Huang, par. [0257], lines 1-5: the access network device may instruct, by using signaling, the user equipment C to switch from receiving the multicast service data in the multicast manner to receiving the multicast service data in the unicast manner),
Huang does not teach, but Xu teaches:
and wherein the RLC SN is restarted (see Xu, par. [0187], lines 1-5: In a case of switching from the only multicast manner to the unicast-to-multicast manner, the terminal side device may trigger re-establishment of an RLC entity on the channel corresponding to the unicast manner, for example, set an RLC sequence number to 0; in this case, an RLC SN is set to 0 (corresponding to restarted) when the MBS operation is switched);
resetting the UE RLC entity (see Xu, par. [0187], lines 1-5: In a case of switching from the only multicast manner to the unicast-to-multicast manner, the terminal side device may trigger re-establishment of an RLC entity on the channel corresponding to the unicast manner, for example, set an RLC sequence number to 0; in this case, an RLC entity is re-established (corresponding to resetting) when the MBS operation is switched);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of Huang with the resetting of the RLC SN and entity of Xu with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving reliability of multicast service (see Xu, par. [0174], lines 1-5).
However, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Grilli, does not teach:
wherein the RLC TX-only entity of the network entity is removed,
and stopping monitoring the PTM RB for MBS data reception.
Agiwal, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the RLC TX-only entity of the network entity is removed (see Agiwal, par. [0192], lines 1-4: The created/established radio bearer (i.e. the PDCP layer entity and the RLC layer entity) is removed if the upper layer entity stops the data transmission corresponding to the destination associated with that radio bearer),
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Grilli, with the removal of the RLC entity of Agiwal with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of enabling operation of a user plane protocol stack (see Agiwal, par. [0455], lines 1-3).
However, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Grilli, and further in view of Agiwal, does not teach:
and stopping monitoring the PTM RB for MBS data reception.
Qi, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
and stopping monitoring the PTM RB for MBS data reception (see Qi, par. [0152], lines 4-7: The UE-side MAC entity may no longer monitor the G-RNTI of the multicast/broadcast service. The UE-side MAC entity may stop receiving the PTM mode of the service on the air interface).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Grilli, and further in view of Agiwal, with the stopping monitoring PTP of Qi with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of supporting flexible switching between PTP and PTM (see Qi, par. [0066], lines 10-13).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Grilli, as applied to claims 3-4, 6-9, and 18-20 above, and further in view of Hong (US 2022/0338291), hereinafter “Hong”, and further in view of Qi.
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Grilli, teaches the method. Huang further teaches:
further comprising:
switching from a multicast mode to a unicast mode for the MBS (see Huang, par. [0257], lines 1-5: the access network device may instruct, by using signaling, the user equipment C to switch from receiving the multicast service data in the multicast manner to receiving the multicast service data in the unicast manner),
Huang does not teach, but Xu teaches:
wherein the PDCP SN is restarted (see Xu, par. [0186], lines 1-6: When the receiving manner to be switched to is only the unicast manner or the unicast-multicast manner, the access network side device may indicate an RLC SN or a corresponding PDCP SN of a start data packet on a channel (for example, a logical channel) corresponding to the unicast manner; in this case, when the MBS mode is switched, a starting SN is indicated (corresponding to restarting the SN));
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of Huang with the resetting of the PDCP SN of Xu with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving reliability of multicast service (see Xu, par. [0174], lines 1-5).
However, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Grilli, does not teach:
resetting the UE PDCP entity; and
stopping monitoring the PTM RB for MBS data reception
Hong, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
resetting the UE PDCP entity (see Hong, par. [0164], lines 1-6: when the first transmission type is the multicast or broadcast transmission type, the UE may use the first transmission type to configure or reconfigure the PDCP entity associated with the radio bearer for processing the MBS data through the multicast or broadcast transmission type before receiving the MBS data, and see Hong, par. [0149], lines 21-25: the base station may change from the unicast transmission scheme to the multicast transmission scheme or change from the multicast transmission scheme to the unicast transmission scheme for the corresponding service in a specific cell; in this case, in a switching case, the UE may reconfigure the PDCP entity (corresponding to resetting the PDCP entity));
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Grilli, with the resetting the PDCP entity of Hong with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving system efficiency when changing transmission type (see Hong, par. [0010], lines 1-3).
However, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Grilli, and further in view of Hong does not teach:
and stopping monitoring the PTM RB for MBS data reception
Qi, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
and stopping monitoring the PTM RB for MBS data reception (see Qi, par. [0152], lines 4-7: The UE-side MAC entity may no longer monitor the G-RNTI of the multicast/broadcast service. The UE-side MAC entity may stop receiving the PTM mode of the service on the air interface).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Grilli, and further in view of Hong, with the stopping monitoring PTP of Qi with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of supporting flexible switching between PTP and PTM (see Qi, par. [0066], lines 10-13).
Claims 13 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, as applied to claims 1, 11-12, and 16 above, and further in view of Kim.
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, teaches the method.
However, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, does not teach:
wherein the UE is further configured with multiple MBSs, each configured with a multicast RB with corresponding G-RNTI.
Kim, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the UE is further configured with multiple MBSs, each configured with a multicast RB with corresponding G-RNTI (see Kim, Fig. 1P, item 1p-05, par. [0471], lines 11-24: The UEs receiving each MBS service included in the request message may respond to the request by configuring whether the UEs are interested or receiving the MBS service in the response message. When configuring the response message as described above, because each MBS service may have a mapping relationship with a first identifier or a second identifier, a logical channel identifier, an RNTI identifier, or a bearer identifier for the MBS service in a list of MBS services configured by the system information, the RRC message, or the MBS control message, the UE may configure the identifiers corresponding to the MBS services that the UE is interested in or intends to receive in a list; in this case, a UE is configured with multiple MBS services, each having a relationship with a bearer identifier for the MBS service (corresponding to a multicast RB) and an RNTI identifier (corresponding to G-RNTI)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, with the configuration of multiple MBSs of Kim with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing overhead in the MBS service delivery (see Kim, par. [0465], lines 10-16).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Kim, teaches the method. Huang further teaches:
wherein the UE is configured with one associated unicast PTP RLC channel for all multicast RBs (see Huang, par. [0115], lines 1-2: the configuration information includes, and see Huang, par. [0116], lines 6-8: information about a transmission channel for sending the multicast service data in the unicast manner, and see Huang, par. [0044], lines 1-3: After the multicast service data sent in the unicast manner is completely sent, the multicast manner may be switched to for sending the service data, and see Huang, par. [0051], lines 3-5: the multicast service data is allocated to the unicast RLC at the PDCP layer, so that the multicast service data is sent in the unicast manner, and see Huang, par. [0280], lines 1-2: The access network device establishes multicast bearers for different multicast sessions; in this case, configuration information includes information about a unicast transmission channel, multiple multicast bearers are established. There is also support for establishing multiple multicast RBs, and the multicast and unicast types are associated via switching).
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Kim, as applied to claims 13 and 15 above, and further in view of Grilli.
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Kim, teaches the method.
However, the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Kim, does not teach:
wherein the UE is configured with multiple associated unicast PTP RLC channels for each multicast RB.
Grilli, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the UE is configured with multiple associated unicast PTP RLC channels for each multicast RB (see Grilli, Fig. 5C, col. 17, lines 20-25: In FIG. 5C, extra logical channels (DCCH/DTCH) are indicated by dash lines which illustrate that one RLC entity can be configured to send the control PDUs and data PDUs using different logical channels. The receive side 530 of the AM entity receives RLC AM PDUs through one of the logical channels from the MAC layer, and see Grilli, col. 16, lines 27-30: The length of the Protocol Data Unit is a semi-static value decided in the radio bearer set up, and can be changed through the RRC radio bearer reconfiguration procedure; in this case, PDUs are configured based on radio bearers (i.e. for each multicast RBs) and received on several RLC channels at the UE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method of the combination of Huang in view of Xu, and further in view of Jin, and further in view of Kim, with the multiple RLC channels of Grilli with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing the amount of padding utilized (see Grilli, col. 13, lines 28-31).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 01/27/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues “[t]here is no teaching ‘the uplink feedback is transmitted in an uplink transmission scheduled for the UE using a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) assigned to the UE’ “.
Examiner respectfully disagrees and points to Huang in par. [0212] which teaches “the access network device may configure the user equipment to receive the multicast service data in the unicast manner. In this case, the user equipment may receive scheduling information of the base station for a specific identity (ID) of the user equipment, and perform corresponding data receiving and feedback. The specific ID may be a cell radio network temporary identity (C-RNTI), a medium access control (MAC) address, or another ID that can uniquely identify the user equipment”, pars. [0045-0046] which teach “a multicast service retransmission method is further provided. The method further includes: receiving, by the access network device, receiving status information sent by the user equipment, where the receiving status information is used to indicate a receiving status of the data packet in the multicast service data”, and par. [0048] which teaches “the receiving status information is information used to indicate the receiving status of the data packet, and the access network device is enabled to learn of the data packet that needs to be retransmitted to the user equipment. Therefore, the receiving status information has various representation forms. For example: 1. a sequence number of the data packet that needs to be retransmitted is directly notified; and 2. feedback information is sent, where the feedback information includes information about whether all data packets have been received”.
These sections teach the user equipment receives scheduling information for a C-RNTI uniquely identifying the UE (i.e. assigned to the UE) and performs feedback corresponding to the scheduling information (corresponding to a feedback transmission scheduled for the UE using a C-RNTI). Feedback is sent from the UE to an access network device in the form of receiving status information indicating receiving status in the multicast service data, corresponding to providing uplink feedback for MBS data reception status using an uplink transmission.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Chin et al. (US 2023/0209313) teaches a wireless communication method performed by a User Equipment (UE) for providing uplink (UL) feedback in response to receiving data corresponding to a Multicast Broadcast Service (MBS).
Lee (US 2010/0058133) teaches a mobile device includes interface to receive multicast and broadcast service (MBS) signals and to transmit uplink signals, The mobile device also includes logic to detect errors in the transmission of the received MBS signals and provide negative acknowledge (NACK) signals indicating at least some of the errors in a contention-based MBS feedback channel in at least some of the uplink signals.
Rey et al. (US 2007/0281726) teaches a method for controlling the transmission of feedback of mobile terminals receiving via an air interface of a mobile communication system a multicast or broadcast service transmitted or forwarded by a feedback control entity and to a mobile terminal.
Zhang et al. (US 2008/0045228) teaches method and system for sending and reducing uplink feedback signaling by a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) related to transmission of multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) data over a high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) channel.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/C.J.B./Examiner, Art Unit 2419
/Nishant Divecha/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2419