DEATAILED 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 .
This communication is response to claims filed on 03/12/26.
Claims 1-13 & 15-21 are presented for examination.
Claims 1-2, 4, 7-9, 15, 18 & 21 are amended.
Claim 14 is canceled.
Drawing
The drawings filed on 11/07/23 are accepted by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
7. Applicant's amendment filed on 03/12/26, regarding a claim objection (2, 4, 8-9, 11 & 16-18) has been considered and is persuasive . Therefore, the claim objection is withdrawn.
8. Applicant's arguments and amendment filed on 03/12/26, regarding to a 102 & 103 rejection have been fully considered but they are moot with the new ground of rejection necessitated by applicant’s amendment.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
9. 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 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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
10. Claims 1-2 & 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seokjung et al. (hereinafter referred as Seokjung) International Publication No. WO 2020/166817 A1, in view of Kim et al. (hereinafter referred as Kim) US Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0083985 A1.
Regarding claims 1 & 15: Seokjung discloses an apparatus/a method, operating as a distributed unit (DU) of a distributed base station (See FIG. 7 & Para. 0231; a gNB may include a gNB-CU (hereinafter, gNB-CU may be simply referred to as CU) and at least one gNB-DU (hereinafter, gNB-DU may be simply referred to as DU)) and configured to manage small data transmission (SDT) from a user equipment (UE) (See Para. 0004; Early data transmission (EDT) when the UE is not in the RRC connection state), the apparatus comprising:
processing hardware (See Para. 0369; the DU 1310 includes a processor 1311) configured to:
receive, at the DU, an uplink message (corresponding to RRC resume request message or new message) from the UE, when a radio connection between the UE and the DU is not active (See FIG. 9a, Para. 0285 & 0287; when the UE is in RRC-INACTIVE state, the DU receives RRC resume request message or new message including from the UE);
determine, based on the uplink message, an identifier (corresponding to I-RNTI) for communicating data related to the UE between the DU and the CU (See FIG. 9a & Para. 0290; determine whether state transition is needed. In other words, on receiving the RRC resume request message including I-RNTI. When the last serving CU-CP is be able to identify the UE context by means of the I-RNTI, the CU-CP may decide whether the RRC state transition is needed or not, based on the expected UE behavior); and
communicate, at the DU with the CU, the data using the identifier (See FIG. 9a & Para. 0293; The DU forwards the UL data to the last serving CU using the determined identifier (i.e., I-RNTI)).
Seokjung does not explicitly disclose transmit, from the DU to a central unit (CU) of the distributed base station, a radio resource control message including an SDT indicator.
However, Kim from the same field of endeavor discloses transmit, from the DU to a central unit (CU) of the distributed base station, a radio resource control message including an SDT indicator (See FIG. 14A, Para. 0234, 0313 & 0443; the DU sends an INITIAL UL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER message containing RRC EDT request message to the CU-CP. The DU sends the CU-CP F1 SETUP REQUEST (SDT allowed indication)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include transmit, from the DU to a central unit (CU) of the distributed base station, a radio resource control message including an SDT indicator as taught by Kim in the system of Seokjung to provide fast small data transmission in a wireless communication system (See Para. 0001; line 1).
Regarding claim 2 & 16: The combination of Seokjung and Kim disclose the apparatus.
Furthermore, Kim discloses the apparatus wherein the processing hardware is further configured to:
maintain a context for the UE in a memory (See FIG. 9a & Para. 0285; store the UE context in a memory 1312 in FIG. 13), when the UE transitions from a connected state associated with a protocol for controlling radio resources to an inactive or idle state associated with the protocol (See FIG. 9a; S912 & Para. 0290; When the last serving CU-CP may be able to identify the UE context by means of the I-RNTI and store the UE context, the CU-CP may decide whether the RRC state transition is needed or not, based on the expected UE behavior, AS based Release Assistance Information by UE, and so on. When no further subsequent data are expected or there is only one acknowledgement for the UL data, the CU-CP may decide to keep the UE in RRC_INACTIVE state. If not, the CU-CP may decide to move the UE in RRC_CONNECTED state for potential subsequent UL or DL);
wherein the processing hardware configured to determine the identifier includes processing hardware configured to determine the identifier using the context (See Para. 0290; the last serving CU-CP identify the UE context by means of the I-RNTI).
11. Claims 8-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seokjung, in view of Kim, further in view of Andreas et al. (hereinafter referred as Andreas) International Publication No. WO 2022/058017 A1 (as disclosed in the IDS).
Regarding claim 8: Seokjung discloses a method, in a central unit (CU) of a distributed base station (See FIG. 7 & Para. 0231; a gNB may include a gNB-CU (hereinafter, gNB-CU may be simply referred to as CU) and at least one gNB-DU (hereinafter, gNB-DU may be simply referred to as DU)), for managing small data transmission (SDT) from a user equipment (UE) (See Para. 0004; Early data transmission (EDT) when the UE is not in the RRC connection state), the method comprising:
determining, based on the message, that the UE is performing EDT (See FIG. 9a & Para. 0289; The last serving CU-CP may send the UE context setup request message including the stored F1 UL TEIDs to create the UE context in the DU. The UE context setup request message may be replaced by a F1AP message. The UE context setup request message may contain the traffic profile and/or EDT indicator); and
transmitting, from the CU, a data packet to the DU using the at least one tunnel (See FIG. 11; Step 1118 & Para. 0255; the CU send a request for small data delivery request to the DU. To support packet duplication for intra-gNB-DU carrier aggregation (CA), one data radio bearer should be configured with two GPRS tunneling protocol (GTP)-U tunnels between gNB-CU and a gNB-DU).
Seokjung discloses support for packet duplication for intra-gNB-DU carrier aggregation (CA), one data radio bearer should be configured with two GPRS tunneling protocol (GTP)-U tunnels between gNB-CU and a gNB-DU (See FIG. 7 & Para. 0255), but does not explicitly disclose establishing at least one tunnel for communicating data between the UE and a core network via the DU and the CU.
However, Andreas from the same field of endeavor discloses establishing at least one tunnel for communicating data between the UE and a core network via the DU and the CU (See FIG. 5 & Para. 0076; the common tunnel 510 established from the DU 212 to the CU-UP 216, the DU 212 may send the received UE data (or EDT data) (e.g., data received by DU 212 at operation 3) of FIG. 5) to the CU-UP 216 along with the UE ID, the I-RNTI, or other UE identifier that identifies the UE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include establishing at least one tunnel for communicating data between the UE and a core network via the DU and the CU as taught by Andreas in the system of Seokjung to provide significant improvement in wireless performance (See Para. 0004; line 3).
The combination of Seokjung and Andreas do not explicitly discloses receiving, at the CU from a distributed unit (DU), a message from the UE, the message including an SDT indicator.
However, Kim from the same field of endeavor discloses receiving, at the CU from a distributed unit (DU), a message from the UE, the message including an SDT indicator (See FIG. 14A, Para. 0234, 0313 & 0443; the DU sends an INITIAL UL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER message containing RRC EDT request message to the CU-CP. The DU sends the CU-CP F1 SETUP REQUEST (SDT allowed indication)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include receiving, at the CU from a distributed unit (DU), a message from the UE, the message including an SDT indicator as taught by Kim in the combined system of Seokjung and Andreas to provide fast small data transmission in a wireless communication system (See Para. 0001; line 1).
Regarding claim 9: The combination of Seokjung and Andreas and Kim disclose a method.
Furthermore, Seokjung discloses a method, further comprising performing a bearer context modification procedure with the DU, to resume a use of the context for the UE (See Para. 0296; CU-CP may send the bearer context modification request message. The CU-CP may transmit an indication "Temporary resume", which indicates that the UE temporarily resumes from RRC_INACTIVE state for single UL with or without subsequent DL transmission).
Regarding claim 10: The combination of Seokjung and Andreas and Kim disclose a method.
Furthermore, Seokjung discloses a method, further comprising: performing a context setup procedure with the DU to generate a context for the UE and obtain at least one tunnel endpoint identifier (TEID) for the at least one tunnel (See Para. 0296-0270; the CU-CP also may include the F1 DL TEIDs received from the DU. The CU-CP may send the UE context setup request message including the stored F1 UL TEIDs to create the UE context in the DU).
Regarding claim 11: The combination of Seokjung and Andreas and Kim disclose a method.
Furthermore, Seokjung discloses a method, further comprising: receiving, from the DU, a temporary identifier for the UE; resolving the temporary identifier to identify a second base station that provided a most-recent prior serving cell to the UE; and retrieving the context for the UE from the second base station (See Para. 0283; the CU-CP may also indicate to the CU-UP that temporary resume for the bearer context is needed. Receiving UE context setup response from the DU).
Regarding claim 12: The combination of Seokjung and Andreas and Kim disclose a method.
Furthermore, Seokjung discloses a method, wherein communicating the data includes: receiving, from the DU, a plurality of uplink data packets (See FIG. 9a; Step 910; the UL data may be de-multiplexed with the RRC resume request message and the DU may send to the last serving CU-CP the initial UL RRC message transfer message including the RRC resume request message).
Regarding claim 13: The combination of Seokjung and Andreas and Kim disclose a method.
Furthermore, Seokjung discloses a method, wherein transmitting the data packet to the DU using the at least one tunnel includes: transmitting, from the central unit user plane (CU-UP) to the central unit control plane (CU-CP), the data packet (See FIG. 9a & Para. 0293; the DU may forward the UL data to the last serving CU-UP); and transmitting, from the CU-CP to the DU, the data along with a radio resource control (RRC) command in a CU-to-DU message (See FIG. 9b & Para. 0295; the DU may send the UE context release complete message to the CU-CP. If the indication "DL data transmission required" is included into the UE context release command message).
12. Claims 3, 7, 17 & 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seokjung, in view of Kim, further in view of Mingzeng et al. (hereinafter referred as Mingzeng) International Publication No. WO 2022/077338 A1 (as disclosed in the IDS).
Regarding claims 3 & 17: the combination of Seokjung and Kim disclose all the limitations of the claimed invention with an exception of wherein the processing hardware is further configured to: receive, at the DU from the UE, a logical channel identifier (LCID); and determine the identifier using the context and the LCID.
However, Mingzeng from the same field of endeavor discloses the processing hardware is further configured to: receive, at the DU from the UE, a logical channel identifier (LCID); and determine the identifier using the context and the LCID (See Para. 0010; when receiving a message including a small data from the UE by the at least one gNB-DU, identifying the UE context of SDT via the UE ID of SDT and identifying a logical channel identifier (LCID) of the small data via the UE context of SDT by the at least one gNB-DU).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include receive, at the DU from the UE, a logical channel identifier (LCID); and determine the identifier using the context and the LCID as taught by Mingzeng in the combined system of Seokjung and Kim to reduce power consumption and signaling overhead (See Para. 0002; lines 7-8).
Regarding claims 7 & 21: The combination of Seokjung, Kim and Mingzeng disclose an apparatus/a method.
Furthermore, Mingzeng discloses an apparatus/a method, wherein: the processing hardware configured to receive includes processing hardware configured to receive an uplink data packet and a logical channel identifier (LCID) associated with the uplink data packet (See Para. 0010; when receiving a message including a small data from the UE by the at least one gNB-DU, identifying the UE context of SDT via the UE ID of SDT and identifying a logical channel identifier (LCID) of the small data via the UE context of SDT by the at least one gNB-DU. ); and the processing hardware configured to communicate includes processing hardware configured to: in a first instance, in response to a determination that a tunnel corresponding to the LCID exists, transmit the uplink data packet to the CU via the tunnel (See FIG. 6 & Para. 0081; the gNB-DU 320 sends the small data 640 to the gNB-CU 330 (or the gNB-CU-UP of the gNB-CU 330) via a GTP-U tunnel based on a mapping between the LCID and the GTP-U TNL info (e.g., an internet protocol (IP) address, a tunnel end point identifier TEID, and etc. ), and in a second instance, in response to a determination that no tunnel corresponding to the LCID exists, either (i) transmit the uplink data packet and the LCID to the CU in a DU-to-CU message (See FIG. 6 & Para. 0081; the gNB-DU 320 sends the small data 640 to the gNB-CU 330 (or the gNB-CU-UP of the gNB-CU 330) via a GTP U tunnel based on a mapping between the LCID and the GTP-U TNL info (e.g., an internet protocol (IP) address, a tunnel end point identifier TEID, and etc. ).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include receive an uplink data packet and a logical channel identifier (LCID) associated with the uplink data packet and the processing hardware configured to communicate includes processing hardware configured to: in a first instance, in response to a determination that a tunnel corresponding to the LCID exists, transmit the uplink data packet to the CU via the tunnel and in a second instance, in response to a determination that no tunnel corresponding to the LCID exists, either (i) transmit the uplink data packet and the LCID to the CU in a DU-to-CU message as taught by Mingzeng in the combined system of Seokjung and Kim to reduce power consumption and signaling overhead (See Para. 0002; lines 7-8).
13. Claims 4 & 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seokjung, in view of Kim, further in view of ZTE et al. (hereinafter referred as ZTE) NPL Document, “Discussion on support of small data transmission in INACTIVE state” 25 Jan – 4 Feb 2021 (as disclosed in the IDS).
Regarding claims 4 & 18: The combination of Seokjung and Kim disclose all the limitations of the claimed invention with an exception of wherein the processing hardware is further configured to: discard a context for the UE when the UE transitions from a connected state associated with the protocol to an inactive or idle state associated with the protocol; and perform a context setup procedure with the CU to generate at least one tunnel endpoint identifier (TEID).
However, ZTE from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the processing hardware is further configured to: discard a context for the UE when the UE transitions from a connected state associated with the protocol to an inactive or idle state associated with the protocol; and perform a context setup procedure with the CU to generate at least one tunnel endpoint identifier (TEID) (See Section 2.2.3; if the resource is allocated by DU for SDT operation (i.e., CG based on SDT), then the DU should maintain the necessary L1/L2 resources/entities for the SDT operation, and maintain the necessary GTP tunnels. if the resource is not allocated by DU for SDT operation (i.e., RACH based SDT), then the DU should release all the L1/L2 resources/entities for the UE, and release the GTP tunnels accordingly).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the processing hardware is further configured to: discard a context for the UE when the UE transitions from a connected state associated with the protocol to an inactive or idle state associated with the protocol; and perform a context setup procedure with the CU to generate at least one tunnel endpoint identifier (TEID) as taught by ZTE in the combined system of Seokjung and Kim, would have yield predictable results of interoperability and compatibility between the telecommunication equipment vendors and service providers and resulted in the improve system (KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1742, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007)).
14. Claims 5-6 & 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seokjung, in view of Kim, further in view of ZTE et al. (hereinafter referred as ZTE) NPL Document, “Discussion on support of small data transmission in INACTIVE state” 25 Jan – 4 Feb 2021 (as disclosed in the IDS).
Regarding claims 5 & 19: The combination of Seokjung and Kim disclose all the limitations of the claimed invention with an exception of wherein the processing hardware configured to communicate the data includes processing hardware configured to: receive, from the UE, a plurality of uplink data segments in respective medium access control packet data units (MAC PDUs), subsequently to receiving the uplink message; and transmit a single data packet comprising the plurality of uplink data segments to the central unit user plane (CU-UP) or the central unit control plane (CU-CP).
However, Xipeng from the same field of endeavor discloses receive, from the UE, a plurality of uplink data segments in respective medium access control packet data units (MAC PDUs), subsequently to receiving the uplink message (See Para. 0108; The UE transmits the MAC PDU including the data packet for the identified data and the request to resume the active state for the wireless connection to DU 235); and transmit a single data packet comprising the plurality of uplink data segments to the central unit user plane (CU-UP) or the central unit control plane (CU-CP) (See Para. 0108; The DU forwards the RRC message to CU 215, which may forward the data to its counterpart CU-CP function within the anchor base station).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include receive, from the UE, a plurality of uplink data segments in respective medium access control packet data units (MAC PDUs), subsequently to receiving the uplink message; and transmit a single data packet comprising the plurality of uplink data segments to the central unit user plane (CU-UP) or the central unit control plane (CU-CP) as taught by Xipeng in the combined system of Seokjung and Kim to establish a wireless connection between the UE and a base station (See Para. abstract; lines 1-2).
Regarding claims 6 & 20: The combination of Seokjung, Kim and Xipeng disclose an apparatus/a method.
Furthermore, Xipeng discloses an apparatus/a method, wherein the processing hardware configured to communicate the data includes processing hardware configured to: receive, from the UE, a plurality of uplink data packets in respective MAC PDUs, subsequently to receiving the uplink message (See Para. 0108; The UE transmits the MAC PDU including the data packet for the identified data and the request to resume the active state for the wireless connection to DU 235); and transmit the plurality of uplink data packets to the central unit user plane (CU-UP) or the central unit control plane (CU-CP) (See Para. 0108; The DU forwards the RRC message to CU 215, which forwards the data to its counterpart CU-CP function within the anchor base station).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include receive, from the UE, a plurality of uplink data packets in respective MAC PDUs, subsequently to receiving the uplink message
and transmit the plurality of uplink data packets to the central unit user plane (CU-UP) or the central unit control plane (CU-CP) as taught by Xipeng in the system of Seokjung to establish a wireless connection between the UE and a base station (See Para. abstract; lines 1-2).
Conclusion
15. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
16. The prior art of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
A. Jeon et al. 2020/0351955 A1 (Title: Random access response reception for a two-step random access ) (See Abstract, Para. 0012 & 0037-0038).
B. Jeon et al. 2020/0107369 A1 (Title: RACH type switching) (See abstract, Para. 0006 & 00813-0016).
C. Babaei et al. 2019/0215870 A1 (Title: Random access and bandwidth part operation) (See FIG. 1, Para. 0046, 0050 & 0160).
17. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MEWALE A AMBAYE whose telephone number is (571)270-1076. The examiner can normally be reached on M.F 6a.m.-2p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian Moore can be reached on (571)272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MEWALE A AMBAYE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
Prosecution Insights