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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant’s submission filed on 24th April 2026 has been entered.
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Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 15 – 19 and 25 – 34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dai et al (US 2023/0284101 A1) in view of Kanamarlapudi et al (US 2021/0306914 A1).
Claim 15 (similarly Claim 25). Dai shows a wireless transmit-receive unit (WTRU) (figs. 6 – 9: UE), the WTRU comprising: a processor (fig. 9: processor; [0102]) configured to: receive a handover command ([0073]: the source BS sends a handover command to the UE); send a connection request to a target cell ([0073]: the target BS sends a handover request acknowledgement to the source BS, and then the source BS sends a handover command to the UE… a handover happens and a connection between the UE and the target BS is set up; [0076]: the UE sends the data receiving status report to the target BS); receive one or more packets from the target cell ([0078]: the target BS sends the missing data packets to the UE according to the data receiving status report via the unicast bearer or the dedicated bearer); and receive one or more packets from a source cell (fig. 6: data packets received in the first cell, e.g. packets from BS 620 to UE 610).Dai does not expressly describe features of: determining, based on at least one of the received one or more packets from the source cell or the received one or more packets from the target cell, that there are no missing packets; and sending, based at least on the determination that there are no missing packets, a release connection request to a resource associated with the source cell.Kanamarlapudi teaches features of: determining, based on at least one of received one or more packets from a source cell and the received one or more packets from a target cell, that there are no missing packets (fig. 9 and [0079]: the source cell 904 may transmit packets for SNs 0-4 to the UE 902 over the air (OTA)… the target cell 906 may also transmit new traffic (e.g. not originated form the source cell 904) such as packets for SNs 20-29); and sending, based at least on the determination that there are no missing packets, a release connection request to a resource associated with the source cell ([0075]: during the DAPS HO, after source cell sending DAPS HO command to UE, it is left to network implementation to use Initialization and Refresh (IR) mode for packets Initialization and Refresh (IR)… it may be possible that source cell may send IR packets after sending DAPS HO command to UE and Target cell send only IR packets to UE until source connection is released; [0079]: after successful RACH to target cell, the UE 902 may transmit a PDCP status report (also referred to as a PDCP status PDU) to the target cell 906 wherein the PDCP status report may indicate which packets were not received by the UE… the UE 902 may indicate that packets for SNs 5-9 were not received, and the target cell 906 may perform retransmission for those packets; [0085]: after successful RACH procedure on target cell, if there are any holes from the source cell before DAPS HO, the UE may report from the first missing packets to all the packets received on the source cell, even though some of the packets are received successfully… although PDCP SNs 5-9 are only missing and SN 10-19 are successfully received from the source cell 904, the UE may still request retransmission for PDCP SNs 5-19 from the target cell – when retransmission of all of SNs 5-19 is done, then there would be “no” packets missing; [0089]: the UE fills the bitmap indicating which SDUs are missing (unset bit—‘0’), i.e. whether an SDU has not been received or optionally has been received but has not been decompressed correctly, and which SDUs do not need retransmission (set bit—‘1’) i.e. whether an SDU has been received correctly and may or may not have been decompressed correctly – there is a case which, for example, none of the SDUs need to be retransmitted (all bits set to ‘1’), then “no” packet is missing).It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the “no packet missing before connection release” determination features as taught by Kanamarlapudi in the WTRU of Dai to avoid interference between wireless networks of different Radio Access Technologies.
Claim 16 (similarly claim 26). Dai, modified by Kanamarlapudi, shows the WTRU of claim 15, wherein the WTRU is configured for multicast broadcast service (MBS) ([0056]: a UE receives the data packets in PTP mode from the BS, an MBS unicast bearer is established for the data transmission), and wherein being configured for MBS comprises being configured with at least one active multicast radio bearer (MRB) ([0074]: the service ID could be a 5G MBS session ID, or a Temporary Mobile Group Identifier (TMGI), or a Multi Radio Bearer (MRB) ID or a unicast Data Radio Bearer (DRB) ID).
Claim 17 (similarly claim 27). Dai, modified by Kanamarlapudi, shows the WTRU of claim 15, wherein the one or more packets from the source cell are received from the source cell after the connection to the target cell (fig. 7 and [0088]: the BS 720 sends the missing data packets 760 to the UE 710).
Claim 18 (similarly claim 28). Dai, modified by Kanamarlapudi, shows the WTRU of claim 15, wherein being configured to receive the one or more packets from the source cell comprises being configured to use the resource associated with the source cell to receive the one or more packets from the source cell ([0092]: the MBS receiving status includes the 5G MBS bearer configuration (e.g. the mode type, RRC configuration) of the UE in the source BS).
Claim 19 (similarly claim 29). Dai, modified by Kanamarlapudi, shows the WTRU of claim 15, wherein being configured to determine that there are no missing packets comprises being configured to determine that there is not a sequence number gap ([0060]: the data receiving status report may include a maximum common SN of the receiving data packets in sequence, or a bit map of the receiving data packets status (a bitmap indicates which data packets are missing and which data packets are correctly received), or a common SN or count value of the first missing data packet, or a combined data receiving status for the PTP mode and the PTM mode), and wherein the sequence number gap is a gap between sequence numbers of received packets ([0060]: the data receiving status report may include at least a minimum common SN or count value of data packets received in the PTM mode).
Claim 20. Dai, modified by Kanamarlapudi, shows the WTRU of claim 15, wherein the resource associated with the source cell is a group-radio network temporary identifier (G-RNTI) associated with the source cell ([0106]: the multicast bearer is scrambled by a group radio network temporary identifier (G-RNTI) in at least one cell).
Claim 21. Dai, modified by Kanamarlapudi, shows the WTRU of claim 15, wherein, after the handover command is received, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) transmission is not sent to the source cell in response to the received one or more packets from the source cell (Dai has no mentioned of “HARQ”; Kanamarlapudi, fig. 7 and [0075]: during the DAPS HO, after source cell sending DAPS HO command to UE, it is left to network implementation to use Initialization and Refresh (IR) mode for packets Initialization and Refresh (IR), to support RoHC context – no HARQ after DAPS HO command in figure 7).
Claim 22. Dai, modified by Kanamarlapudi, shows the WTRU of claim 15, wherein the handover command includes at least one condition ([0029]: a UE may receive data from a BS in a PTP mode or in a PTM mode… due to radio link quality change, stricter Quality of Service (QoS) requirement or other conditions change, the network my decide to move the UE to the PTP mode or move the UE to the PTM mode for the MBS data transmission), wherein being configured to release the resource associated with the source cell is further based on the at least one condition being satisfied ([0032]: sending a data receiving status report to a BS during or after a handover from the first cell to a second cell and/or during or after a data transmission mode switching from the first mode to a second mode).
Claim 23 (similarly claim 31). Dai, modified by Kanamarlapudi, shows the WTRU of claim 22, wherein the at least one condition is one or more of a specified time duration ([0062]: the UE need at least to receive the data packets in the PTP mode until all the data packets before the data packet #4 are received, then the UE may stop the data reception in the PTP mode… a timer may be configured, if the timer expiry, the UE may stop receiving the data packets in the PTP mode even if not all the missing data packets before the data packet #4 are received), a specified signal level threshold associated with the source cell ([0056]: the radio quality increase, QoS requirement becomes looser, and other conditions change, the network may decide to switch the UE to be in PTM mode for data packets receiving), or a specified signal level threshold associated with the target cell ([0094]: the target BS sends a mode configuration for the second mode to the UE wherein the mode configuration may include a signaling for activating/adding the second mode).
Claim 30. Dai, modified by Kanamarlapudi, shows the method of claim 25, wherein the resource associated with the source cell is a group-radio network temporary identifier (G-RNTI) associated with the source cell ([0106]: the multicast bearer is scrambled by a group radio network temporary identifier (G-RNTI) in at least one cell), and wherein, after the handover command is received, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) transmission is not sent to the source cell in response to the received one or more packets from the source cell (Dai has no mentioned of “HARQ”; Kanamarlapudi, fig. 7 and [0075]: during the DAPS HO, after source cell sending DAPS HO command to UE, it is left to network implementation to use Initialization and Refresh (IR) mode for packets Initialization and Refresh (IR), to support RoHC context – no HARQ after DAPS HO command in figure 7).
Claim 24 (similarly claim 32). Dai, modified by Kanamarlapudi, shows the WTRU of claim 15, wherein being configured to determine that there are no missing packets comprises being configured to determine, based on at least one of the received one or more packets from the source cell or the received one or more packets from the target cell, that received packets satisfy a continuous sequence number condition (Kanamarlapudi, fig. 9 and [0079]: the source cell may also transmit packets for SNs 5-9… the packets for SNs 10-19 may be transmitted by the target cell to the UE – source cell sends SNs 5-9 and target cell sends SNs 10-19 wherein 5-9 then 10-19 are in continuous sequence).
Claim 33 (similarly claim 34). Dai, modified by Kanamarlapudi, shows the WTRU of claim 15, wherein the handover command is received using an RRC message (Dai, [0073]: the source BS sends a handover command to the UE; [0074]: during the handover procedure, the source BS sends a MBS receiving status to the target BS in the handover procedure… the MBS receiving status includes the 5G MBS bearer configuration (e.g. the mode type, RRC configuration) of the UE in the source BS – the handover command and procedure involve “RRC”).
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Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 24th April 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The examiner asserts that Dai teaches “send[ing] a connection request to a target cell” limitation – paragraph 0073 of Dai further discloses “A handover happens and a connection between the UE 810 and the target BS 830 is set up” which implies the request sent to the target cell involves a “connection setup” process.
The examiner also asserts that Kanamarlapudi teaches “sending, based at least on the determination that there are no missing packets, a release connection request to a resource associated with the source cell” limitation – paragraph 0085 discloses “the UE may still request retransmission for PDCP SNs 5-19 from the target cell” which means, eventually, when retransmission of all of SNs 5-19 is done, then there would be “no” packets missing; paragraph 0089 further discloses “the UE fills the bitmap indicating which SDUs are missing… which SDUs do not need retransmission (set bit—‘1’) i.e. whether an SDU has been received correctly and may or may not have been decompressed correctly” which means, there is a case which, for example, none of the SDUs need to be retransmitted (all bits set to ‘1’), then “no” packet is missing. In summary, the case of “no retransmission is needed” (“no” missing packets) is possible, prior to sending the release connection request.
New claims 33 and 34 are further addressed by Dai.
The applicant is welcome to contact the examiner to further discuss the case.
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Conclusion
The prior art made of record is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
1. Pasupuleti et al, US 2016/0338036 A1: a connected mode metrics may include any of various uplink, downlink, and/or common uplink and downlink metrics, wherein the uplink metrics may include any or all of effective bandwidth, maximum bandwidth, average queue size, minimum queue size, maximum queue size, minimum latency, average latency, maximum latency, a percentage of data lost, a metric (e.g. a percentage, or a level selected from multiple possible predefined levels such as high, medium, low, or none, among various possibilities) indicating how frequently packet retransmissions… an idle inactivity time parameter (e.g. indicating an amount of inactivity time remaining until the connection is released and the wireless link transitions to idle), a connection backoff time (e.g. indicating an amount of backoff time enforced before establishing a new connection), and/or any of various other possible common metrics ([0096]).
2. Bi et al, US 2013/0088979 A1: a check may be performed to determine if there are any missing packets… consider an ordered list of packets with PDCP sequence numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5… there are only five packets and they are in order per their PDCP sequence number, there are no missing packets and none of them are out of order or lost ([0127]).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Xavier Szewai Wong whose telephone number is 571.270.1780. The examiner can normally be reached on 11:30 am - 8:30 pm Mon to Fri.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached on 571.270.1215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/XAVIER S WONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415 11th June 2026
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