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
The amendment to the claims filed on 07/09/2026 complies with the requirements of 37 CFR 1.121(c) and has been entered. Claims 1-20 are cancelled. Claims 21-27 are new.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's Arguments/Remarks filed 07/09/2026 (hereinafter Resp.) have been fully considered hereinafter.
First, Applicant argues that Zhou et al., U.S. Patent Application No. 2022/0159417 (hereinafter Zhou) “in at least paragraph [0353] teaches CSI transmission during an MBS DRX active time, but either alone or as combined fails to teach or suggest the two stages and condition of determining the parameter and the multicast DRX state under unicast DRX non-Active Time, as directed to in the independent claims” hence, “either alone or as combined teaches the independent operations of MBS DRX and unicast DRX, respectively” – See Resp., p.6:¶6. Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant’s interpretation of the new Claim 21 requirement as being “two stages and condition of determining” between multicast and unicast configurations.
First, a method’s steps are independent of each other and are taken in any order unless specifically required through explicit claim language – See, e.g., MPEP §2111.01(I) (citing Altiris Inc. v. Symantec Corp., 318 F.3d 1363, 1371 (Fed. Cir. 2003) where the court held that it was improper to read a specific order of steps into method claims where, as a matter of logic or grammar, the language of the method claims did not impose a specific order on the performance of the method steps).
Second, the Specification defines “a configuration parameter [that] determines whether the configured allowCSI-SRS-Tx-MulticastDRX-Active parameter allows the UE to transmit the SRS and report the CSI during an multicast DRX” – See Spec., p.4:23-26, i.e., the parameter is interpreted by the UE independently of any unicast DRX configured to that UE. Therefore, even if Applicant’s above assertion regarding independent new claims’ requirement would be allowed by the MPEP, the requirement does not have support in the Specification.
Third, Zhou teaches CSI reporting at a UE configured for both multicast DRX and unicast DRX in a “two stages” interdependent scenario in Fig. 39 wherein no periodic CSI report is sent only when both unicast DRX and multicast DRX cycles are in inactive time/off.
In sum, this argument against Zhou fails to persuade.
Applicant further argues that in the new independent claim it is required that “’allowCSI-SRS-Tx-MulticastDRXActive’ is directed to all multicast DRXes corresponding to the DRX group” while “Zhou either alone or as combined teaches a CSI report configuration ID for a specific MBS session, unlike the claimed structure for collective control of the entire group.” Here, the argument is at least confusing: first, a DRX group, a term not defined in the Specification but defined in the art as “A group of Serving Cells that is configured by RRC and that have the same DRX Active Time” – See §3.1 Definitions in 3GPP TS 38.321 V16.7.0 (2021-12), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.321) and its updates before the effective filing date of the present application; therefore there is one and only one DRX Active Time (i.e., not multiple “multicast DRXes”) for all cells in one DRX group; second, a CSI report is sent for the quality of a cell signal whether the UE is in a unicast or multicast session over that cell, therefore Zhou cannot (and does not) teach “a CSI report configuration ID for a specific MBS session” but for a specific cell – See, e.g., Zhou:[¶0336] hence, whether that cell is in a DRX group or not is of no significance for the evaluation of the allowCSI-SRS-Tx-MulticastDRXActive parameter, a parameter related to multicast sessions not to DRX groups. Therefore, this argument also fails to persuade in its form and substance.
Finally, Applicant argues that “Zhou either in cited paragraphs [0352]-[0353] or anywhere in the reference fails to teach or suggest SRS transmission, leaving Zhou either alone or as combined deficient in teaching the claimed "CSI report and SRS"” – See Resp., p.7:¶2. Examiner respectfully disagrees because Zhou discloses SRS transmissions, even together with CSI report transmission, in multiple places – See, e.g., [¶0169] (“SRS may be transmitted by a UE to a base station for channel state estimation to support uplink channel dependent scheduling and/or link adaptation. SRS transmitted by the UE may allow a base station to estimate an uplink channel state at one or more frequencies” whereby “[t]he base station may semi-statically configure the UE with one or more SRS resource sets” and “[t]he UE may transmit SRS resources based on one or more trigger types, wherein the one or more trigger types may comprise higher layer signaling ( e.g., RRC),” e.g., the allowCSI-SRS-Tx-MulticastDRXActive parameter set to true) and [¶0236] (“a MAC entity of a base station may transmit one or more MAC CEs to a MAC entity of a wireless device,” e.g., “SP SRS Activation/Deactivation MAC CE, a SP CSI reporting on PUCCH Activation/Deactivation MAC CE”). Therefore, assuming that the Applicant argument was made for both “CSI report and SRS” being sent during a DRX Active Time (specifically a multicast DRX Active Time) it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skills in the art that if the UE is allowed to send CSI report in the uplink during DRX the UE is also allowed to send SRS because both CSI Report and SRS are uplink control information important for the base station to assess the quality of a channel with the UE. In addition, SRS is a signal much shorter than a CSI Report hence the overhead of allowing also the SRS would be insignificant compared with the benefit.
In sum, Applicant arguments have been fully considered but are unpersuasive, therefore the §103 rejection is maintained. In addition, the new claims are not different in terms of subject matter from the old claims hence this Action is made Final.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(a)
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.
New Claims 1, 23, 25 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) 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, at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding New Claim 1, the limitation “configuration information associated with a medium access control (MAC) cell group” is not defined in the Specification or known in the art. The Specification discloses “medium access control (MAC) parameters for a cell group” – See, e.g., p:40:24-25 which is understood by one of reasonable skills in the art as parameters received by a UE from a base station for the MAC layer of a UE not for the cell group – See id.:5-6 (emphasis added). Furthermore, a person of ordinary skills in the art would appreciate that the MAC layer, therefore commands to configure a MAC layer pertain (e.g., are addressed) to the UE not to the cell group – See, e.g., §4.2, 3GPP TS 38.321 V16.7.0 (2021-12), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.321) specifying, at page 11 that “[w]hen the UE is configured with SCG, two MAC entities are configured to the UE: one for the MCG and one for the SCG,” in accord with the Specification. Therefore, the term “medium access control (MAC) cell group” represents new matter not specifically disclosed in the present Specification. New Claims 23, 25, and 27 suffer the same deficiency.
Therefore, New Claims 1, 23, 25 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §112(a) for lack of sufficient description/new matter.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
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.
New Claims 1, 23, 25 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Section 2173.05(a) of the MPEP provides that “[t]he meaning of every term used in a claim should be apparent from the prior art or from the specification and drawings at the time the application is filed. Claim language may not be ‘ambiguous, vague, incoherent, opaque, or otherwise unclear in describing and defining the claimed invention’” quoting In re Packard, 751 F.3d 1307, 1311, 110 USPQ2d 1785, 1787 (Fed. Cir. 2014). It further provides that Applicants “are required to make clear and precise the terms that are used to define the invention whereby the metes and bounds of the claimed invention can be ascertained.”
Here, the term “a medium access control (MAC) cell group” is unclear because, on the one hand, a MAC layer belongs to a UE (or a base station or other network device) and the UE may be configured with one or more cell groups, and, on the other hand the Specification does not state the meaning that a term in the claim is intended to have. New Claim 27 suffer the same deficiency. For examination purposes, because the term must be given the broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the Specification, the term will be interpreted as “medium access control (MAC) parameters for a cell group” – See, e.g., Spec., p:40:24-25 which is understood by one of reasonable skills in the art as parameters received by a UE from a base station for the MAC layer of a UE.
Furthermore, “configuration information associated with a medium access control (MAC) cell group” may be independent from the “unicast DRX” group configuration because “the configuration” must be verified whether it contains a multicast DRX parameter– allowCSI-SRSTx-MulticastDRX-Active– but there is no requirement that the DRX group configuration, e.g., its Active Time, be part of “the configuration.” This assumption will be used during examination, in accord with the Specification stating “Each multicast service can have a dedicated DRX configuration referred to as multicast DRX” – See p.18:17-18, i.e., independent of any unicast DRX. This assumption is also consistent with the understanding of a person of ordinary skills in the art at the critical date for the present Application in light of discussions carried in 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #117 electronic, 21st Feb- 3rd Mar, 2022, on Agenda Item: 8.1.3.2 – See, e.g., Tdoc R2-2203311, Title: CSI and SRS reporting in MBS DRX, Source: ZTE, Sanechips, published 02/14/2022, analyzing in § 3 CSI and SRS reporting in legacy (unicast) DRX and restating in §4, at page 3 the agreement that “For multicast PTM transmission, Multicast DRX pattern is configured on a per G-RNTI basis (i.e. independent of legacy UE-specific DRX for unicast transmission)” concluding that a new parameter for Multicast DRX Active Time is necessary to override this behavior1.
Therefore, New Claims 21, 23, 25 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §112(b) as being indefinite.
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, 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.
New Claims 21-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al., U.S. Patent Application No. 2022/0159417 (hereinafter Zhou), and further in view of Tdocs under Agenda Item 8.1 published before 02/26/2022 and referenced in Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG2 meeting #117-e, R1-220441, Source: ETSI MCC (hereinafter 3GPP R2-220441-Report).
Regarding New Claim 21, Zhou teaches a method performed by a user equipment (UE) (the “term wireless device may be used throughout this disclosure to refer to and encompass any mobile device or fixed (non-mobile) device for which wireless communication is needed or usable” including “user equipment (UE), user terminal (UT), access terminal (AT), mobile station, handset, wireless transmit and receive unit (WTRU), and/or wireless communication device” – See [¶0059]) in a wireless communication system (“Embodiments may be applicable . . .the RANs of earlier 3G and 4G networks, and those of future networks yet to be specified (e.g., a 3GPP 6G network)” – See [¶0064]), the method comprising:
receiving, from a base station, a radio resource control (RRC) message including
configuration information associated with a medium access control (MAC) entity for a cell group (“Dual connectivity is a technique that allows a UE to connect to two cells or, more generally, two cell groups: a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG)” whereby the PDCP layer “may map/de-map the split radio bearer between RLC channels belonging to cell
groups” – See [¶0080] and Fig.3 wherein “[t]he MACs 212 and 222 may perform multiplexing/
demultiplexing of logical channels and/or mapping between logical channels and transport channels” and “may be configured to perform scheduling, scheduling information reporting” – See [¶0082], e.g., a “MAC entity may be configured by RRC with a DRX functionality that controls the UE's downlink control channel (e.g., PDCCH) monitoring activity for a plurality of RNTIs for the MAC entity” – See [¶0305], e.g., “a group dedicated RNTI (e.g., G-RNTI or SC-RNTI, or MBS-RNTI)” – See [¶0273], whereby “a base station may transmit to a wireless device one or more RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of a cell comprising a plurality of BWPs,” e.g., “configuring separate BWP(s) for MBS from unicast BWP(s) may improve system throughput and reduce scheduling limitation/ impact on the unicast PDSCH scheduling” – See [¶0278] whereby a person of ordinary skills in the art would appreciate that one or more cells may be used instead of BWP(s) without changing the purpose of the configuration; see also 3GPP TS 38.321 V16.7.0 (2021-12), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.321) specifying in §4.2 the MAC layer architecture and MAC entities at the UE, stating at page 11 that “[w]hen the UE is configured with SCG, two MAC entities are configured to the UE: one for the MCG and one for the SCG” therefore each MAC entity’s configuration parameters correspond to a cell group; Tdoc R2-2203341, Title: “Introduction of NR MBS into TS 38.331; CR 2949 Rel-17 38.331 v16.7.0,” Source: Huawei, HiSilicon, published 02/15/2022 (hereinafter 3GPP R2-2203341), referenced by 3GPP R2-220441-Report infra in § 8.1.1.3, at page 51, wherein §5.3.5.5.5, at page 56, specifies UE’s MAC entity configuration through the RRC Information Element (IE) mac-CellGroupConfig specified at page 443-444 as “used to configure MAC parameters for a cell group, including DRX” and comprising, beside the drx-Config setup IE, also the new parameters related to MBS transmissions, specifically drx-ConfigPTM “Used to configure DRX for PTM transmission as specified in TS 38.321” and the G-RNTI-Config-r17 IE comprising to G-RNTI values for MBS groups whereby the g-RNTI value is “Used to scramble the scheduling and transmission of PTM,” as taught in Zhou:[¶0319] (“The MBS dedicated RNTI may be used for scrambling of multicast (or group common) DCI scheduling an MBS TB via a multicast (or group common) PDSCH resource”); Zhou:[¶0273](“The base station may accordingly transmit to the wireless device MBS configuration parameters comprising a RNTI dedicated for receiving DCI scheduling the MBS TBs”))
identifying whether a discontinuous reception (DRX) group2 is not in an active time,
wherein the DRX group is associated with a unicast DRX (“A base station may configure DRX operation with a set of DRX parameters, e.g., using RRC configuration” – See [¶0301] whereby “RRC may control DRX operation by configuring a plurality of timers” – See [¶0306] as per specifications in §5.7, 3GPP TS 38.321 providing, at page 62 that:
“Serving Cells of a MAC entity may be configured by RRC in two DRX groups with separate DRX parameters. When RRC does not configure a secondary DRX group, there is only one DRX group and all Serving Cells belong to that one DRX group. When two DRX groups are configured, each Serving Cell is uniquely assigned to either of the two groups. The DRX parameters that are separately configured for each DRX group are: drx-onDurationTimer, drx-InactivityTimer. The DRX parameters that are common to the DRX groups are: drx-SlotOffset, drx-RetransmissionTimerDL, drx-RetransmissionTimerUL, drx-LongCycleStartOffset, drx-ShortCycle (optional), drx-ShortCycleTimer (optional), drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerDL, and drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerUL.
When DRX is configured, the Active Time for Serving Cells in a DRX group includes the time while:
- drx-onDurationTimer or drx-InactivityTimer configured for the DRX group is running;”
therefore, the UE may determine whether a unicast DRX group is not in an active time based on the configured timers provided by the 3GPP standard and further provided in updates, e.g., 3GPP R2-2203341, at page426-428, specifying DRX-Config and DRX-ConfigSecondaryGroup RRC IEs )
identifying whether an allowCSI-SRS-Tx-MulticastDRX-Active is not configured in the
configuration information, wherein the allowCSI-SRS-Tx-MulticastDRX-Active is used to allow or disallow a channel state information (CSI) reporting and a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission during a multicast and broadcast service (MBS) multicast DRX active time3 (“the base station may transmit to the wireless device configuration parameters of the MBS DRX
configuration” wherein “for the MBS DRX configuration, the Active Time of the MBS DRX may comprise a time during which the DRX on duration timer or the DRX inactivity timer of
the MBS DRX configuration is running” – See [¶0320]; see also 3GPP R2-220441-Report infra for specific MBS DRX parameters); and
in response to identifying that the DRX group is not in the active time and the allowCSISRS-Tx-MulticastDRX-Active is not configured in the configuration information, determining not to transmit a periodic CSI reporting and a periodic SRS to the base station (even though “[t]he base station may configure the UE with a CSI-RS resource set and CSI reports using RRC signaling” – See [¶0160] and “[t]he base station may semi-statically configure the UE with one or more SRS resource sets” whereby “[t]he UE may transmit SRS resources based on one or more trigger types, wherein the one or more trigger types may comprise higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC) and/or one or more DCI formats.” – See [¶0169] and “In response to a DRX cycle being configured, the Active Time may comprise the time while a Scheduling Request is sent on PUCCH and is pending” or a “time while an uplink grant for a pending HARQ retransmission can occur” – See [¶0309], i.e., uplink transmissions such as CSI-RS report and SRS occur during DRX Active Time, but a “wireless device may skip transmitting the . . . CSI report when the wireless device is not in active time of the unicast DRX configuration” – See [¶0380] and Fig, 39, showing no CSI report transmitted during the Inactive Time of the unicast DRX and “[w]ith DRX, during DRX OFF periods, the UE may not transmit periodic CSI and/or SRS” – See [¶0304] i.e., the UE will not send SRS when the DRX group is not in the active time).
Although Zhou teaches configuration of MBS DRX and how to enable/disable CSI reporting during MBS DRX Active Time – See [¶0343] (“a group common DCI” that “may comprise a CSI report enabling indication (e.g., a bit) indicating a request of CSI report for the dedicated CSI report configuration . . . to enable or disable CSI report by designating a CSI report configuration for the MBS session”), Zhou does not teach the parameter allowCSI-SRS-Tx-MulticastDRX-Active specifically as part of a RRC message including configuration information associated with a medium access control (MAC) entity for a cell group.
Examiner Note: Although Zhou does not specifically teach that the enable/disable MBS CSI report indication is named allowCSI-SRS-Tx-MulticastDRX-Active, a person of ordinary kills in the art would have known how to name such an indication as part of an RRC message instead of a group DCI using techniques known in the art4, e.g., ASN.1 identifier naming conventions disclosed in Annex A, 3GPP R2-2203341 supra (also introducing MBS updates to RRC procedures), at page 916, because both the indication in Zhou and the claimed allowCSI-SRS-Tx-MulticastDRX-Active indication have only two values, “enable” or “disable,” and both bear the same meaning for the UE, i.e., whether sending CSI reports during configured Multicast DRX Active Time is allowed or disallowed.
3GPP R2-220441-Report, although published after the effective filing date of the present application, references under Agenda Item 8.1 numerous companies’ contributions (Tdocs) published before 02/26/2022 disclosing proposals related to CSI reporting and SRS sending during the Active Time of a multicast DRX cycle configured to the UE.
For example, §8.1.3.1 indicates , at page 50-51, that Tdoc 3GPP R2-2202245, Title: “Introduction of NR MBS in 38.321; 38.321 CR1184 v.16.7.0,” Source: OPPO, published 02/14/2022 (hereinafter 3GPP R2-2202245) is the baseline for NR MBS in 3GPP TS 38.321, Tdoc 3GPP R2-2203341 supra is the baseline for NR MBS in 3GPP TS 38.331 v16.7.0 (2021-12), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.331). 3GPP R2-2202245 introduces in 3GPP TS 38.321 a new section. § 5.7b specifying DRX for Multicast MBS stating at page 17-18 that “[w]hen in RRC_CONNECTED, if multicast DRX is configured, the MAC entity is allowed to monitor the PDCCH for this G-RNTI or G-CS-RNTI discontinuously using the multicast DRX operation specified in this subclause; otherwise the MAC entity monitors the PDCCH for this G-RNTI or G-CS-RNTI as specified in TS 38.213 [6]. The multicast DRX operation specified in this subclause is performed independently for each G-RNTI or G-CS-RNTI and independently from the DRX operation specified in subclause 5.7,” i.e., unicast DRX, and lists the parameters by which the RRC controls multicast DRX operation per G-RNTI or per G-CS-RNTI, i.e., the configuration parameters, specifying that “[w]hen multicast DRX is configured for a G-RNTI or G-CS-RNTI, the Active Time includes the time while: drx-onDurationTimerPTM or drx-InactivityTimerPTM or drx-RetransmissionTimerDL-PTM for this G-RNTI or G-CS-RNTI is running.” 3GPP R2-2202245 does not disclose a allowCSISRS-Tx-MulticastDRX-Active as part of a RRC message including configuration information associated with a MAC entity at the UE.
3GPP R2-2203341 adds § 5.X MBS Broadcast to 3GPP TS 38.331 and specifies, at page 443-446 new parameters for the MAC-CellGroupConfig RRC IE, including G-RNTI-Config-r17 comprising g-RNTI-r17 and drx-ConfigPTM which is further specified at page 823-24 as including the drx-onDurationTimerPTM and drx-InactivityTimerPTM timers.
Neither 3GPP R2-2203341 nor 3GPP R2-2202245, nor any Tdoc published before the filing date of the present application, indicates a allowCSI-SRS-Tx-MulticastDRX-Active as part of a RRC message including configuration information associated with a MAC entity for a cell group5, therefore, at that time, a UE identifying whether an allowCSI-SRS-Tx-MulticastDRX-Active6 is not configured in the configuration information would determine that such parameter is not configured fulfilling the requirement in Claim 21.
Section 8.1.3.2, 3GPP R2-220441-Report indicates, at page 56-57, the User Pane open issues on which member companies were invited to comment. Among the contributions, Tdoc R2-2202799, Title: “On CSI-report and SRS transmission at DRX with MBS and unicast,” Source: Futurewei, published 02/14/2022 (hereinafter 3GPP R2-2202799) discloses at page 3, “Proposal 2: As long as there is a service [that] is not in DRX regardless it is unicast service or MBS, the UE sends CSI-report/SRS. The UE only stops CSI-report/SRS transmission when both unicast and MBS are in DRX” off time (emphasis added), except for aperiodic CSI reports and aperiodic SRSs. Therefore, 3GPP R2-2202799 teaches that no periodic CSI Report and/or SRS are sent when the unicast DRX group is not in active time and when there is no multicast session in DRX, while 3GPP R2-2203341, 3GPP R2-2202245, and other Tdoc of the 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #117- e published before the filing date of the present application teach there is no allowCSI-SRS-Tx-MulticastDRX-Active to be found in the multicast DRX configuration.
Thus, Zhou and the contributions to Action Item 8.1 of 3GPP R2-220441-Report teach a method performed by a UE for transmission of CSI reporting while the UE is configured with cell groups (e.g., in dual connectivity) and UE’s MAC entity(ies) receive(s) configuration information from base station configuring multicast (MBS) DRX and unicast DRX for a cell group. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have understood that the legacy behavior of transmitting (periodic) CSI reports and SRS only within the DRX Active Time applies to MBS DRX too, as taught by the Tdoc contributions referenced by 3GPP R2-220441-Report, and such behavior could be overwritten only by a Multicast DRX Active Time “allow/disallow” parameter as discussed in the cited portion of “[AT117-e][042][MBS] Invited tdocs open Issues UP (Samsung)” supra, otherwise, in response to no Multicast DRX Active Time “allow/disallow” parameter, the UE stops CSI-report/SRS transmission when both unicast and MBS are in DRX off time, as taught in 3GPP R2-2202799. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the improvement of Zhou through techniques known in the art. Finally, the improvement achieves the predictable result of protecting the UE periodic CSI reports transmission behavior when the MBS DRX Active Time falls during the unicast DRX non-Active Time without introducing significant changes to 3GPP RRC and MAC specifications, as agreed in 3GPP R2-117e Chairman Notes references.
Therefore, new Claim 21 is obvious over Zhou in view of 3GPP R2-220441-Report and the Tdocs referenced therein.
Regarding New Claim 22, dependent from New Claim 21, Zhou further teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving, from the base station, information for configuring a CSI mask (“CSI masking parameter (e.g., csi-Mask) may be set up (or configured) by a base station via RRC message comprising DRX configuration parameters” – See [¶0375] whereby “a CSI masking parameter configured for a unicast DRX configuration may be reused for an MBS DRX configuration” and “base station may transmit, to the wireless device, MAC configuration parameters of a cell group, the MAC configuration parameters comprising the CSI masking parameter” – See [¶0377])
wherein the periodic CSI report is not transmitted, in case that when the first CSI masking parameter is set up (e.g., csi-Mask being set to ‘true’) by the base station for the MBS DRX configuration, the wireless device may limit the first CSI report for the MBS transmission in a time period when a first DRX on duration timer, of the MBS DRX configuration, is running” – See [¶0379], i.e., the UE would not send the MBS CSI report when the onDuration timer in the MBS DRX configuration not running; accord § 5.7, 3GPP TS 38.321, disclosing, at page 65:
“if CSI masking (csi-Mask) is setup by upper layers:
3>in current symbol n, if drx-onDurationTimer of a DRX group would not be running considering grants/assignments scheduled on Serving Cell(s) in this DRX group and DRX Command MAC CE/Long DRX Command MAC CE received until 4 ms prior to symbol n when evaluating all DRX Active Time conditions as specified in this clause; and
4>not report CSI on PUCCH in this DRX group”;
see also 3GPP R2-2203341, at page 823, disclosing the new drx-onDurationTimerPTM-r17 timer for MBS sessions).
Therefore, New Claim 22 is obvious over Zhou in view of 3GPP R2-220441-Report and the Tdocs referenced therein.
Regarding New Claim 23, Zhou teaches a method performed by a base station in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a radio resource control (RRC) message including configuration information associated with a medium access control (MAC) entity for a cell group (“the base station may transmit to a wireless device one or more RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of a MBS session on the BWP (or the cell)” whereby “[t]he configuration parameters of the MBS session may further comprise a CSI report configuration indication (e.g., a CSI report configuration identifier) indicating that a first CSI report configuration, of the plurality of the CSI report configurations, is used for the MBS session” – See [¶0338] and Fig. 35; see also 3GPP R2-2203341 disclosing, at page 443-446, the updated MAC-CellGroupConfig IE “used to configure MAC parameters for a cell group, including DRX” including the G-RNTI-Config-17 field, pointing to the G-RNTI value used for MBS session, and drx-ConfigPTM-r17 IE),
wherein the same limitations to the periodic CSI reporting as in Claim 21 are required, using the same language, only from the perspective of the receiving base station.
Because New Claim 21 is obvious over Zhou in view of 3GPP R2-220441-Report and the Tdocs referenced therein, New Claim 23 is obvious over the same referenced prior art.
Regarding New Claim 24, dependent from New Claim 23, the claim merely recites the same limitations as Claim 22, only from the perspective of a base station. Because New Claims 22-23 are obvious over Zhou in view of 3GPP R2-220441-Report and the Tdocs referenced therein, New Claim 24 is obvious over the same referenced prior art.
Regarding New Claims 25-26, Zhou further teaches user equipment (UE) comprising: at least one transceiver, at least one processor communicatively coupled with the at least one transceiver; and at least one memory, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, storing instructions executable by the at least one processor individually or in any combination (the Wireless Device 1502 shown in Fig. 15 wherein “the transmission processing system 1520, the reception processing system 1512, and/or the reception processing system 1522 may be coupled to a memory (e.g., one or more non-transitory computer readable mediums) storing computer program instructions or code that may be executed to carry out one or more of their respective functionalities” and “memory 1524 (e.g., one or more non-transitory computer readable mediums) may store computer program instructions or code that may be executed by the processing system 1508 and/or the processing system 1518 to carry out one or more of the functionalities discussed in the present application” – See [¶0221]) to cause the UE to:
execute the steps disclosed in New Claim 21 with all the features and limitations recited in New Claim 22, respectively. Because New Claim 22, dependent from New Claim 21, is obvious over Zhou in view of 3GPP R2-220441-Report and the Tdocs referenced therein, New Claims 25-26 are also obvious over Zhou in view of 3GPP R2-220441-Report and the Tdocs referenced therein.
Regarding New Claims 27-28, Zhou also teaches a base station comprising: at least one transceiver, at least one processor communicatively coupled with the at least one transceiver; and at least one memory, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, storing instructions executable by the at least one processor individually or in any combination (the Base Station 1504 shown in Fig. 15 wherein “[t]he processing system 1508 . . . may be associated with a memory 1514 . . . (e.g., one or more non-transitory computer readable mediums) may store computer program instructions or code that may be executed by the processing system 1508 and/or the processing system 1518 to carry out one or more of the functionalities discussed in the present application. Although not shown in FIG. 15, the transmission processing system 1510, the transmission processing system 1520, the reception processing system 1512, and/or the reception processing system 1522 may be coupled to a memory (e.g., one or more non-transitory computer readable mediums) storing computer program instructions or code that may be executed to carry out one or more of their respective functionalities” – See [¶0221]) to cause the base station to:
execute the steps recited in New Claim 23 and further with the features and limitations recited in New Claim 24, respectively. Because New Claim 24, dependent from New Claim 23, is obvious over Zhou in view of 3GPP R2-220441-Report and the Tdocs referenced therein, New Claims 27-28 are also obvious over Zhou in view of 3GPP R2-220441-Report and the Tdocs referenced therein.
In sum, New Claims 21-28 are rejected under §103 as obvious over Zhou in view of 3GPP R2-220441-Report and the Tdocs referenced therein.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Zhou et al., U.S. Patent Application No. 2024/0179627 discloses discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration associated with unicast transmissions in a cell and DRX configuration associated with multicast and broadcast services (MBS) in the cell whereby the base station sends to the wireless device a power saving (PS) indication indicating not to start a DRX on duration timer and the wireless device skips monitoring, in a first DRX on duration of the first DRX configuration, first physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs) for the unicast transmissions based on receiving the PS indication;
Tseng, U.S. Patent Application No. 2023/0097118 discloses to a method and apparatus for handling Discontinuous Reception (DRX) timer for data reception of unicast and multicast in a wireless communication system based on LTE SC-PTM group DRX;
Liu et al., U.S. Patent Application No. 2024/0365431discloses communication method and a communication apparatus to implement CSI reporting of a terminal device when a unicast DRX and a multicast DRX coexist;
Li et al., U.S. Patent Application No. 2023/0262835 discloses apparatus and methods multicast or broadcast SL DRX;
Wang et al., U.S. Patent Application No. 2024/0414807 discloses a transceiving method for a discontinuous reception command for a multicast session;
He et al., U.S. Patent Application No. 2021/0136862 discloses devices, systems, and methods related to communicating CSI reports during a discontinuous reception (DRX);
Babaei, U.S. Patent Application No. 2025/0310815 discloses reference signal (CSI-RS) measurement and CSI report including for MBS;
Hong, U.S. Patent Application No. 2023/0380002 discloses MBS session state notification from a base station;
Wu et al., Chinese Patent Application CN 113950005, discloses method and apparatus whereby when the target frequency band is deactivated or in asleep state and the UE continues to receive the target MBS service on the target frequency band, the transmission of the feedback information of the target MBS service can also be maintained on the target frequency or another frequency;
3GPP TS 38.321 V16.7.0 (2021-12), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (Release 16)” ;
3GPP TS 38.331 V16.4.0 (2022-03), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 17)”;
3GPP TSG RAN2#117-e, R2-2xxxxx, Title: "R2_117-e Chair Notes 2022-02-25 0700 UTC.docx"; Source: RAN2 Chairman (MediaTek); published February 25, 2022; available at https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/TSG_RAN/WG2_RL2/TSGR2_117-e/Inbox/Chairs_Notes/R2_117-e%20Chair%20Notes%202022-02-25%200700%20UTC.docx;
Email thread “[AT117-e][042][MBS] Invited tdocs open Issues UP (Samsung)” available at https://list.etsi.org/scripts/wa.exe?A1=ind2203A&L=3GPP_TSG_RAN_WG2;
3GPP TSG RAN2#117-e, R2-2203761, Agenda Item 8.1.3.2, Title: “Report of Offline 042: Invited Tdocs Open Issues UP,” Source: Samsung (moderator), published February 25, 2022;
3GPP TSG RAN2#117-e, R2-2203341, Title: "Introduction of NR MBS into 38.331" (Running CR 2949 to V 16.7), published February 15, 2022;
3GPP TSG RAN2#117-e, R2-2204251, Title: “Introduction of NR MBS into 38.331” (Running CR 2949 to V 16.7), published March, 2022;
3GPP TSG RAN2#117-e, R2-2202245, Title: “Introduction of NR MBS in 38.321,” (Running CR 1184 to V 16.7), Source: OPPO, published February 14, 2022;
3GPP TSG RAN2#117-e, R2-2203818, Title: “Introduction of NR MBS in 38.321,” (Running CR 1184 to V 16.7), Source: OPPO, published March, 2022;
3GPP TSG RAN2#117-e, 3GPP R2-2203311, Title: “CSI and SRS reporting in MBS DRX,” Source: ZTE, Sanechips, published February 14, 2022;
3GPP TSG RAN2#117-e, R2-2202799, Title: “On CSI-report and SRS transmission at DRX with MBS and unicast,” Source: Futurewei, published 02/14/2022;
3GPP TSG RAN WG2 Meeting #117-e, R2-2203761, Title: “Report of Offline 042: Invited Tdocs Open Issues UP,” Source: Samsung, published 02/25/2022.
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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/L.G.G./ Examiner, Art Unit 2478
/JOSEPH E AVELLINO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478
1 Stating, at page 3, that “per UE CSI feedback is not transmitted during MBS DRX Active Time. This is unfavorable for MBS data reception, which is explained below through analysis” further proposing “Proposal 1: CSI/SRS report in MBS DRX Active Time might be enabled to assist network in the scheduling of the MBS transmission”
2 The present Specification does not specifically define “DRX group” but cites various snippets from 3GPP Technical Specifications (apparently from §5.7, 3GPP TS 38.321 – See Spec., p.32:3-4, although no pin cite is further provided) using the term. Therefore, the term “DRX group” will be given the plain meaning as understood by one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of the effective filing of the present Application, i.e., as defined in 3GPP TS 38.321 and its updates before the effective filing date of the present application.
3 See 3GPP TSG RAN2#117-e, R2-2204251, Title: “Introduction of NR MBS into 38.331” (Running CR 2949 to V 16.7), (hereinafter 3GPP R2-2204251), published March, 2022, after the effective filing date, used only as extrinsic evidence for Multicast DRX RRC parameters defining, at page 443, allowCSI-SRS-Tx-MulticastDRX-Active as “Used to control the CSI/SRS transmission during MBS multicast DRX active time, see TS 38.321 [3],” whereby 3GPP TSG RAN2#117-e, R2-2203818, Title: “Introduction of NR MBS in 38.321,” (Running CR 1184 to V 16.7), Source: OPPO, published March, 2022, states, at page 21, that “in current symbol n, if a DRX group would not be in Active Time considering grants/assignments scheduled on Serving Cell(s) in this DRX group and DRX Command MAC CE/Long DRX Command MAC CE received and Scheduling Request sent until 4 ms prior to symbol n when evaluating all DRX Active Time conditions as specified in this clause,” including the case “if allowCSI-SRS-Tx-MulticastDRX-Active is not configured,” then (1) the UE would “not transmit periodic SRS and semi-persistent SRS defined in TS 38.214 [7] in this DRX group;” and (2) the UE would “not report CSI on PUCCH and semi-persistent CSI configured on PUSCH in this DRX group.”
4 For obviousness see, e.g., “Re: [AT117-e][042][MBS] Invited tdocs open Issues UP (Samsung)” (Applicant stating, at page 3, “For CSI reporting, I understand ZTE thinks UE shall be mandated to report CSI during MBS DRX Active Time. But I do not think the configuration will make a big complexity compared to just allowing this. The legacy CSI reporting independent of MBS DRX is already implemented and what ZTE wants to have needs to be additionally implemented. Thus, there will not be much difference from the UE implementation perspective”) (emphasis added).
5 The named parameter does not appear in 3GPP technical documents, before March 3rd, 2022, when the parameter appears in the first draft for R2-2203818 published (“draft R2-2203818 Introduction of NR MBS in 38.321 v00-rapp.docx”) so Applicant could have acquired copyright right to the computer-readable name, provided an IPR declaration was made. However, the functionality of the parameter, as claimed, was known before the effective filing date, e.g., the email thread “Re: [AT117-e][042][MBS] Invited tdocs open Issues UP (Samsung)” discussing offline CSI reporting during multicast DRX, Applicant states, on March 1, 2022: “For CSI reporting, I understand ZTE thinks UE shall be mandated to report CSI during MBS DRX Active Time. But I do not think the configuration will make a big complexity compared to just allowing this. The legacy CSI reporting independent of MBS DRX is already implemented and what ZTE wants to have needs to be additionally implemented. Thus, there will not be much difference from the UE implementation perspective.” emphasis added (3GPP meetings offline discussions by email are available https://list.etsi.org/scripts/wa.exe?A1=ind2203A&L=3GPP_TSG_RAN_WG2 (the A1 index may be adjusted for the corresponding week). In addition, “[o]nce a functional relationship between the product and associated printed matter is found, the investigation shifts to the determination of whether the relationship is new and nonobvious” – See MPEP § 2111.05(II). Here, Zhou teaches both a computer-readable indication (e.g., “1 bit”) and the functionality of the indication, i.e., enable or disable UE CSI reporting during MBS DRX cycle.
Prosecution Insights