DETAILED ACTION
This office action response the amendment application on 11/05/2025.
Claims 1, 4-6, 12, 16, 18-20, 33, 36-38, 97, and 121-126 are presented for examination.
Notice of 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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (lDSs) submitted on November 20, 2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
This is in response to the amendments filed on 20 November, 2025. Claims 1, 33, and 97, have been amended. Claims 121-126 have been newly added. Claims 2-3, 7-11, 13-15, 17, 21-32, 34-35, 39-96, and 98-120 have been withdrawn from consideration. Claims 1, 4-6, 12, 16, 18-20, 33, 36-38, 97, and 121-126 are pending and have been considered below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 33, and 97 have been carefully considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection necessitated by Applicant’s amendments.
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, 4-6, 12, 16, 18-20, 33, 36-38, 97, and 121-126 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al (International Publication No. WO/2021/026930, corresponding US application (US 20220167449 A1), hereinafter "D1''), in view of WU et al. (International Publication No. WO2019042214A1) (see, machine translation mapping), (“D2”, hereinafter).
As per Claim 1, D1 discloses a wireless communication method, comprising:
sending, by a first node, first indication information to a terminal device ([see, [0006], international translation [0007], the first indication information is used to indicate the second access network node to send an SCG deactivation command or an SCG activation command to a terminal]), wherein the first indication information is used for instructing to deactivate a secondary cell group (SCG) ([see, [0023], international translation [0007], first indication information sent by a first access network node for a secondary cell group SCG deactivation command or an SCG activation command to a terminal]);
wherein the method further comprises:
acquiring, by the first node, a state of data of a secondary node (SN) ([see, [0102, 0121], international translation [0122], the terminal obtain the data transmission service, provided by a master node (MN) and a secondary node (SN), the data rate state (state of data) for dual connectivity communication of the MN and SN]);
wherein the state of the data of the SN comprises an active state and an inactive state ([see, [0128-0129], international translation [0129-0130], wherein the state of the data of the SCG, an active status and the deactivating of SCG data of the terminal disclosed]);
wherein the inactive state (deactivate state) comprises a bearer with service data arriving does not need to use a radio resource of the SCG ([see, [0046, 0129], international translation [0047, 0130], the deactivating the SCG includes at least one of the following operations: stopping data transmission on a secondary cell group radio link control bearer SCG RLC bearer]); and/or,
wherein the active state comprises a bearer with service data arriving needs to use a radio resource of the SCG ([see, 0126], international translation [0119, 0127], wherein the data plane radio bearer may be independently served by the MN or the SN, the activating (active state) state of the SCG is recovering the suspended SCG configuration]);
wherein the sending, by the first node, the first indication information to the terminal device ([see, [0023], international translation [0007], first indication information sent by a first access network node for a secondary cell group SCG deactivation command or an SCG activation command to a terminal]), comprises:
D1 doesn’t appear explicitly disclose: in response to that the state of data of the SN is the inactive state, sending, by the first node, the first indication information to the terminal device.
However, D2 discloses in response to that the state of data of the SN is the inactive state, sending, by the first node, the first indication information to the terminal device ([see, [0018-0019], When the AN node that triggers the terminal device to enter the RRC inactive state is the first AN node, the first AN node sends the first information to the second AN node by using the core network device, and the second AN node sends the first indication information to the terminal device]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D2, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D2. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide synchronization process between the access node and terminal device results improve communication efficiency and avoiding a process to initiate an unnecessary paging command to the terminal device so as to reduce signaling overhead (D2, [0007]]).
As per Claims 4, 36, D1 further disclose wherein the inactive state further comprises at least one of the following: no downlink data arrives at a secondary node (SN) terminated bearer; no downlink data arrives at the SN from a user plane function (UPF); for a master node (MN) terminated SCG bearer, no downlink data is transferred from the MN to the SN through an Xn interface and/or an X2 ([see, [0046, 0129], international translation [0047, 0130], the deactivating the SCG includes at least one of the following operations: stopping data transmission on a secondary cell group radio link control bearer SCG RLC bearer]).
As per Claims 5, 37, D1 further disclose wherein the active state refers to at least one of the following:
downlink data arrives at a secondary node (SN) terminated bearer,
downlink data arrives at the SN from a user plane function (UPF);
for a master node (MN) terminated SCG bearer,
downlink data is transferred from the MN to the SN through an Xn interface ([see, 0126], international translation [0119, 0127], wherein the data plane radio bearer may be independently served by the MN or the SN, the activating (active state) state of the SCG is recovering the suspended SCG configuration or a secondary node (SN) terminated bearer]).
As per Claims 6, 38, D1 further disclose wherein the radio resource of the SCG comprises at least one of the following: a physical layer resource; a radio link control (RLC) layer resource, a medium access control (MAC) layer resource and a physical layer resource; a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer resource, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer resource, an RLC layer resource, an MAC layer resource and a physical layer resource ([see, 0026], international translation [0106], perform functions of a radio link control RLC protocol stack, a media access control MAC protocol stack, and a physical layer PHY protocol stack disclosed]).
As per Claim 12, D1 and D2 disclose the method according to claim 1, and D1 further disclose wherein a state of a serving cell in the SCG is in at least one of the following: a deactivated state; an activated state or a deactivated state, and activated BWPs of all serving cells in the activated state in the SCG are dormant BWPs; an RRC connection between the terminal device and a secondary node is in the deactivated state, and an RRC connection between the terminal device and a master node is in a connected state ([see, [0128-0129], international translation [0129-0130], wherein the state of the data of the SCG, an active status and the deactivating of SCG data of the terminal disclosed]).
As per Claim 16, D1 and D2 disclose method according to claim 1, and D1 further disclose wherein the first indication information is carried in at least one of the following:
a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a medium access control- control element (MAC CE); a signaling radio bearer (SRB) 1 and a signaling radio bearer (SRB) 3 ([see, [0007, 0047], and international translation [0152-0155], wherein the first indication information is used to indicate the second access network node to send an SCG deactivation command or an SCG activation command to a terminal. Moreover, the terminal receives the deactivated SCG command or activates the SCG command, wherein the deactivating the SCG command or activating the SCG command may be carried in a MAC CE (Control Element, Control Element)]).
As per Claim 18, D1 and D2 disclose the method according to claim 1, and D1 further discloses wherein the method further comprises: sending, by the first node, configuration information for deactivating the SCG to the terminal device ([see, [0007, 0047], and international translation [0152-0155], wherein the first indication information is used to indicate the second access network node to send an SCG deactivation command or an SCG activation command to a terminal]).
As per Claim 19, D1 and D2 disclose the method according to claim 1, and D1 further discloses wherein the first node is a master node (MN) ([see, international translation [0037], the first base station is a master node]), and the method further comprises: sending, by the MN, first notification information to a secondary node (SN), wherein the first notification information is used for notifying that the MN has instructed or is about to instruct the terminal device to deactivate the SCG ([see, [0007, 0047], and international translation [0152-0155], wherein the first indication information is used to indicate the second access network node to send an SCG deactivation command or an SCG activation command to a terminal]).
As per Claim 20, D1 and D2 disclose the method according to claim 19, and D1 further discloses wherein the method further comprises: receiving, by the MN, information sent by the SN for determining a state of data of the SN ([see, [0023], international translation [0007], first indication information sent by a first access network node for a secondary cell group SCG deactivation command or an SCG activation command (state of data) to a terminal]).
As per Claim 33, D1 discloses a wireless communication method ([see, [0006], a communication method]), comprising:
sending, by a master node (MN), second indication information to a terminal device and a secondary node (SN) respectively([see, [0006], international translation [0007], the first indication information is used to indicate the second access network node to send an SCG deactivation command or an SCG activation command to a terminal]),
wherein the second indication information is used for instructing to activate a secondary cell group (SCG) ([see, [0023], international translation [0007], first indication information sent by a first access network node for a secondary cell group SCG deactivation command or an SCG activation command to a terminal]);
wherein the sending, by the master node (MN), the second indication information to the terminal device and the secondary node (SN) respectively, comprises:
receiving, by the MN, information sent by the secondary node (SN) for determining a state of data of the SN
([see, [0102, 0121], international translation [0122], the terminal obtain the data transmission service, provided by a master node (MN) and a secondary node (SN), the data rate state (state of data) for dual connectivity communication of the MN and SN]);
wherein the state of the data of the SN comprises an active state and an inactive state ([see, [0128-0129], international translation [0129-0130], wherein the state of the data of the SCG, an active status and the deactivating of SCG data of the terminal disclosed]);
wherein the inactive state comprises a bearer with service data arriving does not need to use a radio resource of the SCG ([see, [0046, 0129], international translation [0047, 0130], the deactivating the SCG includes at least one of the following operations: stopping data transmission on a secondary cell group radio link control bearer SCG RLC bearer]); and/or, wherein the active state comprises a bearer with service data arriving needs to use a radio resource of the SCG ([see, 0126], international translation [0119, 0127], wherein the data plane radio bearer may be independently served by the MN or the SN, the activating (active state) state of the SCG is recovering the suspended SCG configuration]);
D1 doesn’t appear explicitly disclose: in response to that the state of the data of the SN is in an active state, sending, by the MN, the second indication information to the terminal device.
However, D2 discloses in response to that the state of the data of the SN is in an active state, sending, by the MN, the second indication information to the terminal device ([see, [0018-0019], When the AN node that triggers the terminal device to enter the RRC inactive state is the first AN node, the first AN node sends the first information to the second AN node by using the core network device, and the second AN node sends the first indication information to the terminal device]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D2, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D2. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide synchronization process between the access node and terminal device results improve communication efficiency and avoiding a process to initiate an unnecessary paging command to the terminal device so as to reduce signaling overhead (D2, [0007]]).
As per Claim 97, D1 discloses a network node, comprising:
a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is configured to store a computer program ([see, [0050], apparatus includes a processor, and may further include a transceiver and a memory]), and
the processor is configured to invoke and run the computer program stored in the memory to cause the network node to:
send first indication information to a terminal device ([see, [0006], international translation [0007], the first indication information is used to indicate the second access network node to send an SCG deactivation command or an SCG activation command to a terminal]), wherein the first indication information is used for instructing to deactivate a secondary cell group (SCG) ([see, [0023], international translation [0007], first indication information sent by a first access network node for a secondary cell group SCG deactivation command or an SCG activation command to a terminal]);
wherein the processor is further configured to cause the network node to:
acquire a state of data of a secondary node (SN) ([see, [0102, 0121], international translation [0122], the terminal obtain the data transmission service, provided by a master node (MN) and a secondary node (SN), the data rate state (state of data) for dual connectivity communication of the MN and SN]);
wherein the state of the data of the SN comprises an active state and an inactive state ([see, [0128-0129], international translation [0129-0130], wherein the state of the data of the SCG, an active status and the deactivating of SCG data of the terminal disclosed]);
wherein the inactive state comprises a bearer with service data arriving does not need to use a radio resource of the SCG ([see, [0046, 0129], international translation [0047, 0130], the deactivating the SCG includes at least one of the following operations: stopping data transmission on a secondary cell group radio link control bearer SCG RLC bearer]); and/or,
wherein the active state comprises a bearer with service data arriving needs to use a radio resource of the SCG ([see, 0126], international translation [0119, 0127], wherein the data plane radio bearer may be independently served by the MN or the SN, the activating (active state) state of the SCG is recovering the suspended SCG configuration]);
wherein sending the first indication information to the terminal device ([see, [0023], international translation [0007], first indication information sent by a first access network node for a secondary cell group SCG deactivation command or an SCG activation command to a terminal]).
D1 doesn’t appear explicitly disclose: in response to that the state of data of the SN is the inactive state, send the first indication information to the terminal device.
However, D2 discloses in response to that the state of data of the SN is the inactive state, send the first indication information to the terminal device ([see, [0018-0019], When the AN node that triggers the terminal device to enter the RRC inactive state is the first AN node, the first AN node sends the first information to the second AN node by using the core network device, and the second AN node sends the first indication information to the terminal device]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D2, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D2. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide synchronization process between the access node and terminal device results improve communication efficiency and avoiding a process to initiate an unnecessary paging command to the terminal device so as to reduce signaling overhead (D2, [0007]]).
As per Claim 121, D1 and D2 disclose the method according to claim 1, and D1 further disclose wherein a bearer of the terminal device is in: for a SN terminated split bearer or a master node (MN) terminated split bearer, a branch of the SCG is deactivated and a branch of the MN is a main branch ([see, [0023], international translation [0007], first indication information sent by a first access network node for a secondary cell group SCG deactivation command or an SCG activation command to a terminal]).
As per Claim 122, D1 and D2 disclose the network node according to claim 97, and D1 further discloses wherein the inactive state further comprises at least one of the following: no downlink data arrives at a secondary node (SN) terminated bearer; no downlink data arrives at the SN from a user plane function (UPF); for a master node (MN) terminated SCG bearer, no downlink data is transferred from the MN to the SN through an Xn interface and/or an X2 interface([see, [0046, 0129], international translation [0047, 0130], the deactivating the SCG includes at least one of the following operations: stopping data transmission on a secondary cell group radio link control bearer SCG RLC bearer]).
As per Claim 123, D1 and D2 disclose the network node according to claim 97, and D1 further discloses wherein the active state further comprises at least one of the following: downlink data arrives at a secondary node (SN) terminated bearer; downlink data arrives at the SN from a user plane function (UPF); for a master node (MN) terminated SCG bearer, downlink data is transferred from the MN to the SN through an Xn interface and/or an X2 interface ([see, [0046, 0129], international translation [0047, 0130], the deactivating the SCG includes at least one of the following operations: stopping data transmission on a secondary cell group radio link control bearer SCG RLC bearer]).
As per Claim 124, D1 and D2 disclose the network node according to claim 97, and D1 further disclose wherein the radio resource of the SCG comprises at least one of the following: a physical layer resource; a radio link control (RLC) layer resource, a medium access control (MAC) layer resource and a physical layer resource; a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer resource, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer resource, an RLC layer resource, an MAC layer resource and a physical layer resource ([see, 0026], international translation [0106], perform functions of a radio link control RLC protocol stack, a media access control MAC protocol stack, and a physical layer PHY protocol stack disclosed]).
As per Claim 125, D1 and D2 disclose the network node according to claim 97, and D1 further disclose wherein a state of a serving cell in the SCG is in at least one of the following: a deactivated state; an activated state or a deactivated state, and activated BWPs of all serving cells in the activated state in the SCG are dormant BWPs; an RRC connection between the terminal device and a secondary node is in the deactivated state, and an RRC connection between the terminal device and a master node is in a connected state ([see, [0128-0129], international translation [0129-0130], wherein the state of the data of the SCG, an active status and the deactivating of SCG data of the terminal disclosed]).
As per Claim 126, D1 and D2 disclose the network node according to claim 97, and D1 further discloses wherein the first indication information is carried in at least one of the following: a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a medium access control control-element (MAC CE), a signaling radio bearer (SRB) 1 and a signaling radio bearer (SRB) 3 ([see, [0007, 0047], and international translation [0152-0155], wherein the first indication information is used to indicate the second access network node to send an SCG deactivation command or an SCG activation command to a terminal. Moreover, the terminal receives the deactivated SCG command or activates the SCG command, wherein the deactivating the SCG command or activating the SCG command may be carried in a MAC CE (Control Element, Control Element)]).
Conclusion
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 extension fee 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
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).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BERHANU D BELETE whose telephone number is (571)272-3478. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 7:30am-5pm, Alt. Friday, and EDT.
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/BERHANU D BELETE/Examiner, Art Unit 2468
/WUTCHUNG CHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2418