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 .
Claims 1-7 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 9/22/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-7 under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Zeng and in view of Sirtokin and in view of Shi.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zeng (US 2016/0044536, hereinafter Zeng).
Re Claim 1, Zeng discloses a base station device that transmits data to a terminal using an adjacent base station, the base station device comprising:
a receiver configured to receive from the adjacent base station a status report indicating a status of a data transmission from the adjacent base station to the terminal ([0197]-[0202], primary base station sends a first request message to the secondary base station to report a sequence number of a last PDU send to the terminal.);
a storage configured to store the status report received by the receiver ([0200]-[0202], primary base station receives the report of the sequence number of the last PDU means it has to be stored at least temporarily) ; and
a processor configured to control a data transmission to the adjacent base station based on the status report stored in the storage at each processing timing provided at a specified cycle ([0307]-[0309], processor 142 in the primary base station is configured to adjust, according to the offloading information, offloading data that is allocated to the secondary base station.), wherein
when an amount of the status report stored in the storage exceeds a specified threshold at a first processing timing ([0199]-[0208], after enabling a timer according to the report period, it is determined a received sequence number of a PDU falls out of the reordering window ), the processor controls ([0307]-[0309], processor 142) the data transmission to the adjacent base station based on a part of the status report stored in the storage ([0248]-[0252], adjust the offloading data to the secondary base station, so that the difference between the sequence number of the first PDU that is waiting to be reordered and the upper boundary of the reordering window is not greater than the preset value.) , and controls the data transmission to the adjacent base station based on a remaining status report at a second processing timing that is later than the first processing timing ( ([0216]-[0217], [0307]-[0309], processor 142 in the primary base station is configured to adjust, according to the offloading information, offloading data that is allocated to the secondary base station.).
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.
Claims 2-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zeng and in view of Sirtokin (US 2020/0359356).
Re Claim 2, Zeng discloses a base station device that transmits data to a terminal using an adjacent base station, the base station device comprising:
a processor (fig. 15, base station processor) configured
to transmit, to the adjacent base station at a specified cycle, a report request that requests a status report indicating a status of a data transmission from the adjacent base station to the terminal ([0195]-[0201], Primary base stations sends a first request to the secondar base station to report a sequence number of a last PDU send to the terminal. Primary base station also seconds a second request message which carries a report period and is used to request the secondary base station to report according to the report period), and
control a data transmission to the adjacent base station based on the status report received from the adjacent base station ([0216]-[0217], the primary base station is configured to adjust, according to the offloading information, offloading data that is allocated to the secondary base station.),.
Zeng does not disclose, however, Sirtokin discloses wherein the processor changes the cycle of transmitting the report request to the adjacent base station based on a change in the status indicated by the status report ([0071]-[0074], one option for reporting is by involving the PDCP sequence number and determining the highest sequence number processed by RLC and discover an average additional metric of “Time offset” to indicate to the master node the PDCP SN was processed. It allows an option for queueing delay for the report in the DL Data Delivery Status).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have modified the teachings of Zeng’s report request with Sirtokin’s report request to include time offsets delays. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings with one another to create a more efficient system by allowing the system to put a delay in the request to accommodate proper report status.
Re claim 3, Zeng discloses wherein a sequence number is provided to a packet transmitted from the base station device to the adjacent base station ([0200]-[0202], primary base station receives the report of the sequence number of the last PDU),
the status report indicates the sequence number of a packet that has been forwarded to the terminal when the adjacent base station receives the report request ([0197]-[0202], primary base station sends a first request message to the secondary base station to report a sequence number of a last PDU send to the terminal.).
One of ordinary level of skill in the art would have been compelled to make the proposed modification to Zeng for the same reasons identified in the rejection of claim 2. In addition, Sirtokin discloses the processor transmits the report request at a first cycle and calculates a difference between the sequence numbers indicated by two consecutive status reports received from the adjacent base station ([0071]-[0074], the PDCP sequence number and determining the highest sequence number processed by RLC and discover an average additional metric of “Time offset” to indicate to the master node the PDCP SN was processed. The average that is calculated is done over a period of time), and
when a change in the difference of the sequence numbers is less than a specified threshold, the processor transmits the report request at a second cycle that is longer than the first cycle ([0071]-[0074], one option for reporting is by involving the PDCP sequence number and determining the highest sequence number processed by RLC and discover an average additional metric of “Time offset” to indicate to the master node the PDCP SN was processed. It allows an option for queueing delay for the report in the DL Data Delivery Status.
Re claim 4, one of ordinary level of skill in the art would have been compelled to make the proposed modification to Zeng for the same reasons identified in the rejection of claim 2. In addition, Sirtokin discloses when the processor transmits the report request at a first cycle and a change in a transmission rate between the adjacent base station and the terminal estimated based on the status report is less than a specified threshold, the processor transmits the report request at a second cycle that is longer than the first cycle ([0071]-[0074], one option for reporting is by involving the PDCP sequence number and determining the highest sequence number processed by RLC and discover an average additional metric of “Time offset” to indicate to the master node the PDCP SN was processed. It allows an option for queueing delay for the report in the DL Data Delivery Status.
Claims 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zeng and in view of Shi (US 2014/0211652).
Re Claim 5, Zeng discloses a radio communication system in which a first base station and a second base station are connected to a terminal, wherein
the first base station includes a first processor configured to
transmit, to the second base station at a specified cycle, a report request that requests a status report indicating a status of a data transmission from the second base station to the terminal ([0195]-[0201], Primary base stations sends a first request to the secondar base station to report a sequence number of a last PDU send to the terminal. Primary base station also seconds a second request message which carries a report period and is used to request the secondary base station to report according to the report period.) and
control a data transmission to the second base station based on the status report received from the second base station ([0248]-[0252], adjust the offloading data to the secondary base station, so that the difference between the sequence number of the first PDU that is waiting to be reordered and the upper boundary of the reordering window is not greater than the preset value.).
Zeng does not disclose, however, Shi discloses the second base station includes:
a data storage configured to store data received from the first base station ([0087], Node B stores the amount of bytes in the buffer); and
a second processor configured to
forward the data stored in the data storage to the terminal (fig. 1, Node B is connected to UE, Nod e B generates report which comprises information regarding the downlink performance associated with a data queue for transmission.) , and
transmit the status report to the first base station when receiving the report request Shi 2014/0211652 ([0054]-[0056], Node B sends the status report requested from RNC.),
when the second base station transmits to the first base station a status report indicating that an amount of data stored in the data storage exceeds a specified threshold, the first processor stops transmission of a report request to the second base station ([0087]-[0099], SRNC requests the Node B (secondary node) to stop reporting priority queue status when certain threshold value in the priority queue has been reached).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have modified the teachings of Zeng’s report request with Shi’s report request to include pause/start/stop the status requests. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings with one another to create a more efficient system by allowing the system to determine what status requests should be sent according to the availability of the base station.
Re claim 6, one of ordinary level of skill in the art would have been compelled to make the proposed modification to Zeng for the same reasons identified in the rejection of claim 5. In addition, Shi discloses when the second base station transmits to the first base station the status report indicating that an amount of data stored in the data storage exceeds the specified threshold, the first processor stops data transmission to the second base station ([0087]-[0099], SRNC requests the Node B (secondary node) to stop reporting priority queue status when certain threshold value in the priority queue has been reached).
Re claim 7, one of ordinary level of skill in the art would have been compelled to make the proposed modification to Zeng for the same reasons identified in the rejection of claim 5. In addition, Shi discloses when the second base station transmits to the first base station a status report indicating that an amount of data stored in the data storage is equal to or less than the threshold, the first processor resumes transmission of the report request to the second base station ([0087]-[0099], SRNC can enable to request a Node B to stop reporting Queue status. A new control plane message can start/stop Node B Priority Queue. The indication to start the reporting is introduced as new measurement type, it can be stopped by a new measurement type in measurement stop).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HO T SHIU whose telephone number is (571)270-3810. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri (9:00am - 5:00pm).
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/HO T SHIU/Examiner, Art Unit 2443
HO T. SHIU
Examiner
Art Unit 2443
/CHRISTOPHER B ROBINSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443