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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Status
Claims 1 – 9, 11 and 14-23 are pending, and claims 10 and 12-13 are canceled according to preliminary claim amendment filed 07/11/2023.
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.
Claim(s) 1 – 2, 11, 14 – 16 and 20 – 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhou et al. WO2020146499A1 (listed in applicant submitted IDS and listed as D1 in EPO search report), hereinafter Zhou.
Regarding claim 1, Zhou teaches a method performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: (Zhou: Summary and para. [0082] ireless device 110 may comprise at least one communication interface 310 (e.g. a wireless modem, an antenna, and/or the like), at least one processor 314, and at least one set of program code instructions 316 stored in non- transitory memory 315 and executable by the at least one processor 314)
receiving configuration information from a serving cell, wherein the configuration information indicates to the UE an activated state or a deactivated state of a secondary node (SN) of the UE; and
(Zhou: para. [00194 & 0068 & 00148] When configured with CA, a base station and/or a wireless device may employ an activation/deactivation mechanism of an SCell to improve battery or power consumption of the wireless device. When a wireless device is configured with one or more SCells, a gNB may activate or deactivate at least one of the one or more SCells. Upon configuration of an SCell, the SCell may be deactivated unless an SCell state associated with the SCell is set to “activated” or “dormant”)
in response to receiving the configuration information indicating the activated state of the SN of the UE, receiving a deactivation indication or determining an expiry of a timer associated with deactivating the SN of the UE.
(Zhou: para. [0195 & 0216 & 0068] In an example, a wireless device may activate/deactivate an SCell in response to receiving an SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE. [00196] In an example, a gNB may transmit, to a wireless device, one or more messages comprising an SCell timer (e.g., sCellDeactivationTimer). In an example, a wireless device may deactivate an SCell in response to an expiry of the SCell timer)
Regarding claim 2, Zhou teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the serving cell belongs to the SN or a master node (MN) in a multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC) scenario.
(Zhou; para. [00144-00148] When multi connectivity is configured for a wireless device 110, the wireless device 110, which may support multiple reception/transmission functions in an RRC connected state, may be configured to utilize radio resources provided by multiple schedulers of a multiple base stations. Multiple base stations may be inter-connected via a non- ideal or ideal backhaul (e.g. Xn interface, X2 interface, and/or the like). A base station (corresponds to claim limitation “serving cell”) involved in multi connectivity for a certain wireless device may perform at least one of two different roles: a base station may either act as a master base station or as a secondary base station. In multi connectivity (corresponds to claim limitation “multi-radio connectivity”), a wireless device may be connected to one master base station and one or more secondary base stations. In an example, a master base station (e.g. the MN 1130) may provide a master cell group (MCG) comprising a primary cell and/or one or more secondary cells for a wireless device (e.g. the wireless device 110). A secondary base station (e.g. the SN 1150) may provide a secondary cell group (SCG) comprising a primary secondary cell (PSCell) and/or one or more secondary cells for a wireless device (e.g. the wireless device 110). [00143 ] PIG. 11 A and PIG. 1 IB show packet flows employing a multi connectivity (e.g. dual connectivity (corresponds to claim limitation “MR-DC”), multi connectivity, tight interworking, and/or the like))
Regarding claim 11, Zhou teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving a deactivation indication from the SN or a master node (MN), wherein the deactivation indication is carried in at least one of: a radio resource control (RRC) message, a deactivation medium access control (MAC) control elements (CE), or a dormancy MAC CE; or receiving an activation indication from the SN or the MN, wherein the activation indication is carried in at least one of the RRC message or an activation MAC CE. (Zhou: para. [0068 & 00194-00198] base station may transmit a MAC CE comprising one or more fields, the values of the fields indicating activation and/or deactivation of PDCP duplication for the one or more radio bearers. In an example, the one or more processes may comprise Channel State Information (CSI) transmission of on one or more cells. The base station may transmit one or more MAC CEs indicating activation and/or deactivation of the CSI transmission on the one or more cells. In an example, the one or more processes may comprise activation or deactivation of one or more secondary cells. In an example, the base station may transmit a MA CE indicating activation or deactivation of one or more secondary cells)
Regarding claim 14, Zhou teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to the SN being in the deactivated state, performing at least one of:
suspending or disabling a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) duplication; (Zhou: para. [0068] deactivation of PDCP duplication for the one or more radio bearers)
suspending or disabling a split radio bearer (RB); (Zhou: para. [00199] in response to the deactivating the activated SCell, the wireless device may: suspend one or more configured uplink grants of a configured uplink grant Type 1 associated with the activated SCell; and/or flush HARQ buffers associated with the activated SCell)
or setting a threshold associated with data split as infinity.
Regarding claims 15 – 16, 20 and 21, Zhou teaches an apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled with the processor, the processor configured to cause the apparatus to: (Zhou: Summary Fig. 3, and para. [0082] wireless device 110 may comprise at least one communication interface 310 (e.g. a wireless modem, an antenna, and/or the like), at least one processor 314, and at least one set of program code instructions 316 stored in non- transitory memory 315 and executable by the at least one processor 314) and Zhou teaches all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claims 1 – 2, 11 and 14, and therefore apparatus claims 15 – 16, 20 and 21 are rejected using the same rationales.
Regarding claim 22, Zhou teaches an apparatus, comprising: a processor; and
a memory coupled with the processor, the processor configured to cause the apparatus to:
(Zhou: Fig. 3 and para. [0069] base stations (base station 1, 120A, and base station 2, 120B) and base station 1, 120A, may comprise at least one communication interface 320 A (e.g. a wireless modem, an antenna, a wired modem, and/or the like), at least one processor 321 A, and at least one set of program code instructions 323 A stored in non-transitory memory 322A and executable by the at least one processor 321A. The base station 2, 120B, may comprise at least one communication interface 320B, at least one processor 321B, and at least one set of program code instructions 323B stored in non- transitory memory 322B and executable by the at least one processor 321B)
transmit a deactivation indication to a user equipment (UE) in response to a secondary node (SN) deactivation procedure being initiated, (Zhou: para. [0195 & 0216 & 0068] In an example, a wireless device may activate/deactivate an SCell in response to receiving an SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE. [00196] In an example, a gNB may transmit, to a wireless device, one or more messages comprising an SCell timer (e.g., sCellDeactivationTimer). In an example, a wireless device may deactivate an SCell in response to an expiry of the SCell timer)
the deactivation indication transmitted with at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) message, (Zhou: para. [00207] When configured with one or more SCells, a gNB may activate, hibernate, or deactivate at least one of the one or more SCells. In an example, a gNB may transmit one or more RRC messages comprising parameters indicating at least one SCell being set to an active state, a dormant state, or an inactive state, to a wireless device)
a deactivation medium access control (MAC) control elements (CE), (Zhou: para. [0068 & 00194-00198] base station may transmit a MAC CE comprising one or more fields, the values of the fields indicating activation and/or deactivation of PDCP duplication for the one or more radio bearers. In an example, the one or more processes may comprise Channel State Information (CSI) transmission of on one or more cells. The base station may transmit one or more MAC CEs indicating activation and/or deactivation of the CSI transmission on the one or more cells. In an example, the one or more processes may comprise activation or deactivation of one or more secondary cells. In an example, the base station may transmit a MA CE indicating activation or deactivation of one or more secondary cells) or a dormancy MAC CE; and
transmit an activation indication to the UE in response to a SN activation procedure being initiated, (Zhou: para. [00194-00199] base station and/or a wireless device may employ an activation/deactivation mechanism of an SCell to improve battery or power consumption of the wireless device. When a wireless device is configured with one or more SCells, a gNB may activate or deactivate at least one of the one or more SCells)
the activation indication transmitted in at least one of the RRC message or the activation MAC CE. (Zhou: para. [00197] When a wireless device receives an SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE activating an SCell, the wireless device may activate the SCell. In response to the activating the SCell, the wireless device may perform operations comprising: SRS transmissions on the SCell; CQI/PMI/RI/CRI reporting for the SCell; PDCCH monitoring on the SCell; PDCCH monitoring for the SCell; and/or PUCCH transmissions on the SCell)
Regarding claim 23, Zhou teaches the apparatus of claim 22, wherein the processor is configured to cause the apparatus to transmit a first request message to a master node (MN) in a multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC) scenario, (Zhou; para. [00144-00148] When multi connectivity is configured for a wireless device 110, the wireless device 110, which may support multiple reception/transmission functions in an RRC connected state, may be configured to utilize radio resources provided by multiple schedulers of a multiple base stations. Multiple base stations may be inter-connected via a non- ideal or ideal backhaul (e.g. Xn interface, X2 interface, and/or the like). A base station (corresponds to claim limitation “serving cell”) involved in multi connectivity for a certain wireless device may perform at least one of two different roles: a base station may either act as a master base station or as a secondary base station. In multi connectivity (corresponds to claim limitation “multi-radio connectivity”), a wireless device may be connected to one master base station and one or more secondary base stations. In an example, a master base station (e.g. the MN 1130) may provide a master cell group (MCG) comprising a primary cell and/or one or more secondary cells for a wireless device (e.g. the wireless device 110). A secondary base station (e.g. the SN 1150) may provide a secondary cell group (SCG) comprising a primary secondary cell (PSCell) and/or one or more secondary cells for a wireless device (e.g. the wireless device 110). [00143 ] PIG. 11 A and PIG. 1 IB show packet flows employing a multi connectivity (e.g. dual connectivity (corresponds to claim limitation “MR-DC”), multi connectivity, tight interworking, and/or the like)) the first request message transmitted for deactivating the SN or activating the SN. (Zhou: para. [0195 & 0216 & 0068] In an example, a wireless device may activate/deactivate an SCell in response to receiving an SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE. para. [00194-00199] base station and/or a wireless device may employ an activation/deactivation mechanism of an SCell to improve battery or power consumption of the wireless device. When a wireless device is configured with one or more SCells, a gNB may activate or deactivate at least one of the one or more SCells)
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.
Claim(s) 3, 6, 8 – 9, 17 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou in view of Yilmaz et al. WO2020167170A1 (listed in applicant submitted IDS and listed as D2 in EPO search report), hereinafter Yilmaz.
Regarding claim 3, Zhou teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising:
configuring a SN state in the UE as the deactivated state; (Zhou: para. [00194 & 0068 & 00148] When configured with CA, a base station and/or a wireless device may employ an activation/deactivation mechanism of an SCell to improve battery or power consumption of the wireless device. When a wireless device is configured with one or more SCells, a gNB may activate or deactivate at least one of the one or more SCells. Upon configuration of an SCell, the SCell may be deactivated unless an SCell state associated with the SCell is set to “activated” or“dormant”) and
transmitting, to a master node (MN), an indication (Zhou: para. [00148] master base station may be informed by a wireless device of a SCG failure type, for split bearer, a DL data transfer over a master base station may be maintained)
It is noted that Zhou does not explicitly disclose: indication of data associated with deactivating the SN of the UE.
However, Yilmaz from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches the use of: indication of data associated with deactivating the SN of the UE.
(Yilmaz: page 39 lines 33-35 UE 120 is in an RRC_CONNECTED state, send an indication of whether or not the SCG should be suspended, i.e. deactivated, released or resumed, i.e. activated if previously suspended, i.e. deactivated). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Yilmaz in the method of Zhou. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for the handling of the SCG operations, e.g. the handling of resume or suspend operations, is made independent from the handling of the MCG operations. By handling the SCG independently from the handling of the MCG, the SCG does not for example have to be resumed just because the MCG is to be resumed. Thereby, a more efficient usage of the connection between the UE and the communications network is provided. This results in an improved performance of the communications network (Yilmaz: page 24 lines 18-28).
Regarding claim 6, Zhou teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising:
transmitting, to a master node (MN), (Zhou: para. [00148] master base station may be informed by a wireless device of a SCG failure type, for split bearer, a DL data transfer over a master base station may be maintained)
Zhou does not explicitly teaches: information indicating that data associated with a data radio bearer (DRB) is available for transmission when the SN of the UE is in the deactivated state.
Yilmaz from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: information indicating that data associated with a data radio bearer (DRB) is available for transmission when the SN of the UE is in the deactivated state. (Yilmaz: The indication from the UE 120 to resume the SCG, in RRC_CONNECTED, may be related to the sending of the data volume, e.g. a Buffer Status Report (BSR), to the MN 110 with an indication that the BSR is related to the SN 111) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Yilmaz in the method of Zhou. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for the handling of the SCG operations, e.g. the handling of resume or suspend operations, is made independent from the handling of the MCG operations. By handling the SCG independently from the handling of the MCG, the SCG does not for example have to be resumed just because the MCG is to be resumed. Thereby, a more efficient usage of the connection between the UE and the communications network is provided. This results in an improved performance of the communications network (Yilmaz: page 24 lines 18-28).
Regarding claim 8, Zhou teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising:
in response to arrival of uplink data when the SN of the UE is in the deactivated state,
(Zhou: para. [00194] When configured with CA, a base station and/or a wireless device may employ an activation/deactivation mechanism of an SCell to improve battery or power consumption of the wireless device. When a wireless device is configured with one or more SCells, a gNB may activate or deactivate at least one of the one or more SCells. Upon configuration of an SCell, the SCell may be deactivated unless an SCell state associated with the SCell is set to “activated” or“dormant”)
Zhou does not explicitly teaches: triggering a buffer status report (BSR).
Yilmaz from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: triggering a buffer status report (BSR). (Yilmaz: page 48 lines 1-14 indication from the UE 120 to resume the SCG, in RRC_CONNECTED, may be related to the sending of the data volume, e.g. a Buffer Status Report (BSR), to the MN 110 with an indication that the BSR is related to the SN 111. When SCG was suspended page 47 lines 20-35) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Yilmaz in the method of Zhou. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for the handling of the SCG operations, e.g. the handling of resume or suspend operations, is made independent from the handling of the MCG operations. By handling the SCG independently from the handling of the MCG, the SCG does not for example have to be resumed just because the MCG is to be resumed. Thereby, a more efficient usage of the connection between the UE and the communications network is provided. This results in an improved performance of the communications network (Yilmaz: page 24 lines 18-28).
Regarding claim 9, Zhou and Yilmaz teach the method of claim 8, wherein, in response to the BSR being triggered, the method further comprising at least one of:
restarting the timer associated with deactivating the SN of the UE; (Zhou: para. [00198 & 00196-00197 & 00223] the wireless device may start or restart a first SCell timer (e.g., sCellDeactivationTimer) associated with the SCell. The wireless device may start or restart the first SCell timer in the slot when the SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE activating the SCell has been received. In an example, in response to the activating the SCell, the wireless device may (re-)initialize one or more suspended configured uplink grants of a configured grant Type 1 associated with the SCell according to a stored configuration)
or
Zhou does not explicitly teach: triggering a random access (RA) procedure to transmit information to the SN, and transmitting the BSR during the RA procedure.
Yilmaz from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: triggering a random access (RA) procedure to transmit information to the SN, and transmitting the BSR during the RA procedure (Yilmaz: page 42 lines 17-26 Action 3, the MN 110 transmits an RRCReconfiguration Request to the UE 120, and in Action 4, the UE 120 may then transmit the RRCResumeComplete message to the MN 110, which in turn forwards it to the SN 111 by S-NODE RECONFIGURATION COMPLETE message, and performs a Random Access to the SN 111) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Yilmaz in the method of Zhou. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for the handling of the SCG operations, e.g. the handling of resume or suspend operations, is made independent from the handling of the MCG operations. By handling the SCG independently from the handling of the MCG, the SCG does not for example have to be resumed just because the MCG is to be resumed. Thereby, a more efficient usage of the connection between the UE and the communications network is provided. This results in an improved performance of the communications network (Yilmaz: page 24 lines 18-28).
Regarding claims 17 and 19, Zhou and Yilmaz teach all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claims 3 and 6, and therefore apparatus claims 17 and 19 are rejected using the same rationales.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou and Yilmaz as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Uemura et al. US20160165627A1 (listed in applicant submitted IDS and listed as D1 in PCT search report), hereinafter Uemura.
Regarding claim 4, Zhou and Yilmaz teach the method of claim 3, further comprising transmitting, to the MN, (Zhou: para. [00148] master base station may be informed by a wireless device of a SCG failure type, for split bearer, a DL data transfer over a master base station may be maintained)
Zhou and Yilmaz do not explicitly teaches: at least one of: an identity (ID) of a bearer; or additional information regarding the expiry of the timer associated with deactivating the SN of the UE.
Uemura from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: at least one of: an identity (ID) of a bearer; or additional information regarding the expiry of the timer associated with deactivating the SN of the UE (Yilmaz: para. [0068] state of the cell (secondary cell), a change of the state may be explicitly designated (notified, instructed) from the base station apparatus, or the state may be changed based on timer information (secondary cell deactivation timer; deactivation timer) counting the time by the terminal apparatus for each component carrier (secondary cell) in some cases). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Uemura in the method of Zhou and Yilmaz. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for terminal apparatus 1 is able to have means for appropriately controlling states of activation and deactivation of the cell by using a conventional control method, thus making it possible to control states of the cells efficiently. (Uemura: para. [0152]).
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou and Yilmaz as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Teyeb et al. US20210195444A1, hereinafter Teyeb.
Regarding claim 7, Zhou and Yilmaz teach the method of claim 6, further comprising:
receiving, from the MN, additional information regarding reconfiguring a secondary cell group (SCG) DRB (Zhou: para. [00161] wireless device may be configured to operate in a multi connectivity mode. A wireless device in RRC_CONNECTED with multiple RX/TX may be configured to utilize radio resources provided by multiple schedulers located in a plurality of base stations. The plurality of base stations may be connected via a non-ideal or ideal backhaul over the Xn interface. In an example, a base station in a plurality of base stations may act as a master base station or as a secondary base station. A wireless device may be connected to one master base station and one or more secondary base stations. A wireless device may be configured with multiple MAC entities, e.g. one MAC entity for master base station, and one or more other MAC entities for secondary base station(s). In an example, a configured set of serving cells for a wireless device may comprise two subsets: an MCG comprising serving cells of a master base station, and one or more SCGs comprising serving cells of a secondary base station(s))
Zhou does not explicitly teaches: reconfiguring a secondary cell group (SCG) DRB as a master cell group (MCG) DRB.
Teyeb from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: reconfiguring a secondary cell group (SCG) DRB as a master cell group (MCG) DRB. (Teyeb: para. [0014 & 0167] and FIG. 2 SCG split bearer 23 is present in the SN 22, in addition to the split bearer in the MN 21, which is referred to as an MCG split bearer 24). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Teyeb in the method of Zhou and Yilmaz. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for improve the handling of failures in a wireless communications network using carrier aggregation (Teyeb: para. [0034-0035]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 18 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please also see PTO-892
Dai et al. US 20210084130 A1 in para. [0185] teaches information related to integrity protected data rate of the UE exchanged by the MN and SN can be at least one or more of the following: (1) PDU session IDs, or the DRB IDs, or the QoS flow IDs that are IP activated but with no data transferred or scheduled (or the transferring begin again or the transferring status change).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WUTCHUNG CHU whose telephone number is (571)272-4064. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Moo R Jeong can be reached at (571) 272-9617. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WUTCHUNG CHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2418