DETAILED ACTION
1. The following Office Action is based on the application filed on September 2, 2023, having claims 1-20 and drawing figures 1-9.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. 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
3. The information disclosure statement filed September 2, 2023 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered.
The following Non-Patent Documents: (1) First Office Action in Chinese Patent Application and (2) Second Office Action in Chinese Patent Application were not considered because a Translated English Copy of the documents were not provided.
Specification
4. The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
The acronyms PDCP, SN, MRB, and RLC must be defined the first time each of them is recited in the abstract.
A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
5. 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 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.
Claims 1-3, 13-17, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Xu et al. (US 2022/0303730 A1).
For claims 1, 15, and 19, Xu discloses a terminal (Fig 3, UE 106 or Fig 5, wireless device), comprising: a memory (Fig 3, memory 306) storing computer-readable instructions; and a processor (Fig 3, processor 302) coupled to the memory and configured to execute the computer-readable instructions, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving reconfiguration information of a multicast service sent by a network side device (Fig 5, base station and [0098-0099] the network (BS) provides reconfiguration information comprising PDCP context information to the UE for switching delivery method for MBMS transmission), wherein the reconfiguration information comprises at least one of the following:
first indication information used to indicate whether a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) Serial Number (SN) of the multicast service or a target Multicast Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Radio Bearer (MRB) of the multicast service before reconfiguration is synchronized with that after the reconfiguration ([0099] the network provides next PDCP SN or PDCP DRB ID to facilitate synchronization after reconfiguration);
second indication information used to indicate a PDCP layer operation performed by the terminal ([0104] the network (base station) triggers the UE to report PCDP status to acquire PDCP context for PTM transmission); or
third indication information used to indicate a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer operation performed by the terminal, RLC layer configuration information, and PDCP layer configuration information ([0103] upon receipt of the triggering signal from the BS, the UE establishes PDCP #1, RLC #1, and MAC LCH#1 for PTP transmission); and
performing corresponding layer 2 processing according to the reconfiguration information ([0104] the UE establishes PDCP #1, RLC #1, and MAC LCH#1 for PTP transmission based on the indication information received from the triggering signal from the network (BS)).
For claims 2, 14, and 16, Xu discloses the second indication information comprises at least one of the following:
indication information indicating whether the terminal needs to perform PDCP layer re-establishment ([0099] the network provides next PDCP SN or PDCP DRB ID to facilitate synchronization after reconfiguration).
indication information indicating whether the terminal needs to perform data recovery on a PDCP layer;
indication information indicating whether the terminal performs an Acknowledgment Mode (AM) or a Unacknowledgment Mode (UM) operation on the PDCP layer;
indication information indicating whether the terminal needs to perform PDCP layer reset, release, or new establishment;
indication information indicating whether a receiving status variable of a PDCP SN of the terminal needs to be kept ([0102] UE setting PDCP#1 variable on the receiving side according to the PDCP context); or
indication information indicating whether the terminal needs to send a PDCP status report ([0104] the network (base station) triggers the UE to report PCDP status to acquire PDCP context for PTM transmission).
For claims 3 and 17, Xu discloses performing corresponding layer 2 processing according to the reconfiguration information comprises at least one of the following:
re-establishing a PDCP layer; performing data recovery on the PDCP layer; resetting, releasing, or newly establishing the PDCP layer;
performing an Acknowledgment Mode (AM) or Unacknowledgment Mode (UM) operation on the PDCP layer;
sorting data of the multicast service received before and after the reconfiguration according to PDCP SNs, and submitting the data to the upper layer according to ascending order of the PDCP SNs ([0099] the network provides next PDCP SN or PDCP DRB ID to facilitate synchronization after reconfiguration);
sorting the data of the multicast service received before the reconfiguration according to the PDCP SNs, submitting the data to the upper layer according to ascending order of the PDCP SNs, resetting a PDCP receiving status variable of the multicast service to an initial value, sorting, according to the PDCP SNs, the data of the multicast service received after the reconfiguration, and submitting the data to the upper layer according to ascending order of the PDCP SNs ([0102] UE setting PDCP#1 variable on the receiving side according to the PDCP context; [0105] sorting the data based on first received PDCP SN);
sending a PDCP status report on a target Point-To-Point (PTP) path of the multicast service ([0105] report PDCP status on the PTP path); or
resetting, releasing, or newly establishing the RLC layer.
For claims 13 and 20, Xu discloses a multicast service configuration method, executed by a network side device (Fig 5, base station), comprising:
sending reconfiguration information of a multicast service to a terminal (Fig 5, base station and [0098-0099] the network (BS) provides reconfiguration information comprising PDCP context information to the UE for switching delivery method for MBMS transmission), wherein the reconfiguration information comprises at least one of the following:
first indication information used to indicate whether a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) Serial Number (SN) of a multicast service or a target Multicast Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Radio Bearer (MRB) of the multicast service before reconfiguration is synchronized with that after the reconfiguration ([0099] the network provides next PDCP SN or PDCP DRB ID to facilitate synchronization after reconfiguration);
second indication information used to indicate a PDCP layer operation performed by the terminal ([0099] the network provides next PDCP SN or PDCP DRB ID to facilitate synchronization after reconfiguration);
third indication information used to indicate a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer operation performed by the terminal ([0103] upon receipt of the triggering signal from the BS, the UE establishes PDCP #1, RLC #1, and MAC LCH#1 for PTP transmission); RLC layer configuration information; or
PDCP layer configuration information ([0099] the network provides next PDCP SN or PDCP DRB ID to facilitate synchronization after reconfiguration).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
Claims 4 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. (US 2022/0303730 A1) in view of Kadiri et al. (US 2021/0126745 A1).
For claims 4 and 18, Xu does not expressly disclose performing the AM or the UM operation on the PDCP layer according to the indication information indicating that the terminal performs the AM or the UM operation on the PDCP layer in the reconfiguration information; or performing the AM or the UM operation on the PDCP layer according to the RLC layer configuration information in the reconfiguration information.
Kadiri, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches performing the AM or the UM operation on the PDCP layer according to the indication information indicating that the terminal performs the AM or the UM operation on the PDCP layer in the reconfiguration information; or performing the AM or the UM operation on the PDCP layer according to the RLC layer configuration information in the reconfiguration information ([0085] in a first operation, the base station transmits to the UE (re)configuration information for an MRB (MBMS radio bearer) for RLC AM transmission). Thus, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to perform RLC AM operation as taught by Kadiri in the PDCP layer of the communication network of Xu at the time of the invention to provide reliable transmission of multicast traffic using acknowledgment (Kadiri [0085]).
7. Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. (US 2022/0303730 A1) in view of Hsu (US 2011/0305184 A1).
For claim 9, Xu does not expressly disclose performing the corresponding layer 2 processing according to the reconfiguration information comprises: when the second indication information indicates that the terminal needs to reset, release, or newly establish the RLC layer, performing at least one of the following: resetting, releasing, or newly establishing the RLC layer; or for a RLC UM entity, setting a first received RLC SN plus 1 as an upper boundary of an RLC UM receiving window.
Hsu, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches performing the corresponding layer 2 processing according to the reconfiguration information comprises: when the second indication information indicates that the terminal needs to reset, release, or newly establish the RLC layer, resetting, releasing, or newly establishing the RLC layer ([0030] a UE that is subscribed to MBMS service receives cell (re)configuration information as it moves from a source cell to a target cell, wherein [0031] the reconfiguration information indicates to the UE to release MBMS bearers of the RLC layer in the target cell, meaning the RLC layer was newly established prior to being released by the UE). Thus, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to configure the UE in the communication network of Xu to release the RLC layer based on the received reconfiguration information based on the teachings of Hsu at the time of the invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claims 5-8 and 10-12 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
9. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892 form.
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Elisabeth B Magloire whose telephone number is (571)272-5601. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 AM-5 PM ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy K Kundu can be reached at 571-272-8586. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ELISABETH BENOIT MAGLOIRE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471