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 .
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 21, and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al (2018/0368167).
Regarding claims 1, 21, and 23, Kim discloses a terminal and a method for data transmission, performed by a terminal and comprising: receiving scheduling request (SR) configuration information transmitted by a base station (BS), the SR configuration information containing a maximum number of SR transmissions (see transmitting to a terminal a message including scheduling request (SR) configuration information in paragraph 0011; the terminal may receive configuration of a DRB from the base station, receive an SR resource for an uplink resource request and related configuration information, and transmit a corresponding identification message (2h-03). In the configuration message, the base station may configure a plurality of periodic SR resources to the terminal, and in this embodiment, it may map respective SR resources to a list of specific logical channels or LCGs in paragraph 0293 and figure 2H; the SR configuration information may further include information on a maximum number of times of transmission in paragraph 0317); adjusting the maximum number of SR transmissions according to a priority of data to-be-transmitted (see receiving a SR based on the SR configuration information, wherein, a buffer status report (BSR) triggering event is detected based on a BSR retransmission timer, a highest priority logical channel (LCH) having data available for transmission in response to the detected event is identified, and the SR configuration information corresponding to the highest priority LCH is identified by the terminal in paragraph 0011; the terminal 2g-01 may be configured the maximum number of times of transmission with respect to the SR and the corresponding count value can be increased even in case of transmitting different SRs and if the SR having a higher priority is configured, or if the SR having a higher priority is triggered in accordance with the BSR report contents later, the corresponding SR having the higher priority may be switched in paragraph 0289; determine SR configuration to be deactivated in accordance with the priority. For example, if a failure has occurred in a certain SR in a state where the priority is configured in the order of SR #1>SR #2>SR #3, the terminal 2g-01 may deactivate or disable only the SRs having the priorities lower than that of the corresponding SR in paragraph 0290; identify the SR mapped to the logical channels determined to have the high priority, and control the transceiver to transmit the identified SR to the base station in paragraph 0319; The controller 2i-40 may control the transceiver to transmit the SR based on priority information configured with respect to the identified logical channels if at least two SR transmissions overlap each other on a resource configured with respect to the logical channels in paragraph 0320. Note that adjusting is merely a changing of the maximum number of SR transmission); and transmitting an SR to request an uplink (UL) grant resource for transmission of the data to-be-transmitted, and initiating a random access request to re-request the UL grant resource in response to a number of SR transmissions reaching the maximum number of SR transmissions (see uplink resource grant in paragraph 0221; If one of two count values reaches the maximum number of times configured through the RRC message, the terminal may request the uplink resource from the base station by performing a random access procedure in paragraph 0238; If the SR is still pending although the SR has been transmitted as many as the maximum number of times of transmission, the terminal 2g-01 may trigger a random access in paragraph 0290).
Claims 1, 21, and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tang (2020/0163110).
Regarding claims 1, 21, and 23, Tang discloses a terminal and a method for data transmission, performed by a terminal and comprising: receiving scheduling request (SR) configuration information transmitted by a base station (BS), the SR configuration information containing a maximum number of SR transmissions (see receiving, by a terminal device, a plurality of Scheduling Request (SR) configuration information of a network device, wherein each SR configuration information includes a maximum number of transmissions of a corresponding SR in paragraph 0006; the maximum numbers of transmissions of the corresponding SRs included in individual SR configuration information may be the same, or may be different in paragraph 0009); adjusting the maximum number of SR transmissions according to a priority of data to-be-transmitted (see the third SR configuration information has a higher priority than the other SR configuration information and When the PUCCH resource corresponding to the other SR configuration information is released, the terminal device may use the PUCCH resource corresponding to the default SR configuration information, i.e., the third SR configuration information, to transmit the corresponding SR in paragraph 0097. Note that individual SR configuration information may be the same, or may be different (adjusting) as described in paragraph 0009); and transmitting an SR to request an uplink (UL) grant resource for transmission of the data to-be-transmitted (see the terminal device may use the PUCCH resource corresponding to the default SR configuration information, i.e., the third SR configuration information, to transmit the corresponding SR in paragraph 0097), and initiating a random access request to re-request the UL grant resource in response to a number of SR transmissions reaching the maximum number of SR transmissions (see when a number of transmissions of the third SR reaches the maximum number of transmissions of the third SR, releasing, by the terminal device, the PUCCH resource corresponding to each SR configuration information in paragraph 0026; initiating a random access procedure and cancelling sending each SR to be sent, by the terminal device in paragraph 0029).
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, 25, and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tang.
Regarding claims 2, 25, and 30, Tang discloses different priorities can have different the maximum number of SR transmissions (see the rejection of claim 1 above) but doesn't specifically disclose decreasing the maximum number of SR transmissions, in response to the priority of the data to-be-transmitted being higher than a preset level. However, it is obvious that decreasing or increasing the maximum number of SR transmissions for a higher priority is a matter of design choice. The claim would have been obvious because a person of ordinary skill has good reason to pursue the known options within his or her technical grasp. If this leads to the anticipated success, it is likely the product not of innovation but of ordinary skill and common sense.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 24, 26-29, 31-34 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
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/BRIAN D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472