DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to communications filed 22 December 2025.
Claims 1-20 are subject to examination.
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 on 12 September 2025 and 22 December 2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
The objections to the claims have been withdrawn in view of amendments.
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
However, Applicant argues in substance:
Fan fails to cure the deficiencies of Qiao and Pan, wherein Fan does not appear to describe an SDAP header, nor the identifier of the DRB of the configuration message being included in an SDAP header.
In response to Applicant’s arguments (a), the Examiner respectfully disagrees. The limitation of “wherein the SDAP header further includes a context ID to indicate establishment of the ad-hoc radio bearer in accordance with preconfigured DRB settings corresponding to the context id”, under broadest reasonable interpretation, denote an SDAP header with information to indicate establishment of a DRB according to settings, therefor Qiao at least discloses and/or teaches an SDAP header indicating establishment of a DRB in accordance with preconfigured settings, see [0277] “set one or more configurable SDAP parameters for the data radio bearer …” such that Qiao denotes usage of SDAP configuration information and a SDAP header for indicating mapping of a DRB. Qiao does not explicitly disclose a context ID to indicate establishment of the ad-hoc radio bearer in accordance with preconfigured settings corresponding to the context ID, therefore Hori was brought in to at least disclose and/or teach [0086] “SDAP header … mapping to DRBs to be configured …” [0097] “DRB identities and list information of QoS flow identifiers corresponding (mapping) to DRB identities are included …” such that Hori denotes usage of SDAP header to map DRBs to be configured and map identities with identifiers. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao in view of Hori to have the SDAP header indicate an establishment of the ad-hoc radio bearer in accordance with preconfigured DRB settings. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to have an SDAP header present in SDAP PDUs that indicate mapping rules between the QoS flows and DRBs corresponding toe SDAP PDUs (Hori, [0086] [0100]). Qiao-Hori do not explicitly disclose a context ID for indicating, therefore, Fan was brought in to at least disclose and/or teach [0012] “configuration message for establishing the DRB includes an identifier of the DRB …” [0066] “… may be an index of the DRB … configuration information of SDAP may include a mapping relationship from a QoS flow to the DRB …” such that establishment of the DRB includes an identifier that can be an index, equated to as a context ID. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao-Hori in view of Fan to have included a context ID to indicate establishment of the ad-hoc radio bearer according to the context ID in the SDAP header. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to include an identifier of the DRB such as an index of the DRB in the configuration message for establishing the DRB (Fan, [0012] [0066]).
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 5 and 16-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao et al. (US-20230276391-A1) hereinafter Qiao in view of Hori et al. (US-20200396789-A1) hereinafter Hori.
Regarding claim 1, Qiao discloses:
A method comprising:
Identifying an uplink (UL) packet to be transmitted to a base station is to utilize an ad-hoc radio bearer ([0123] wireless device … apply resource mapping rules 818 to the QoS flows … air interface between wireless device 801 and/or the AN 802 may be associated with resources 820 … e.g. mapped to resource 820A … resources 820 may comprise radio bearers (i.e. determining UL packet to utilize a radio bearer, e.g. determining to be mapped to), see [0609] ad hoc networks); and
generating a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) header that includes a reflective quality of service flow to data radio bearer mapping indication (RDI) to indicate whether a quality of service (QoS) flow to data radio bearer (DRB) rule is to be updated and ([0277] set one or more configurable SDAP parameters for the data radio bearer (i.e. generating configurable parameters) … SDAP header information … QFI value of a remapped QoS flow may be included in a mappedQoS-FlowsToAdd in sdap-Config (i.e. RDI that indicates a rule is to be updated, e.g. new DRB corresponding to an old DRB) … indicate whether a SDAP header is present for uplink data and/or downlink data on the DRB); and
Qiao does not explicitly disclose:
generate a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) header that includes a reflective quality of service flow indicator (RQI) to indicate whether downlink (DL) packets are to be mapped to quality of service flow identifiers (QFIs) based on the UL packet, the SDAP header to be transmitted with the UL packet to the base station;
However, Hori discloses:
generate a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) header that includes a reflective quality of service flow indicator (RQI) to indicate whether downlink (DL) packets are to be mapped to quality of service flow identifiers (QFIs) based on the UL packet ([0086-0087] SDAP header for uplink is present in SDAP PDUs … information represented by reflective may be information indicating that DRBs to be configured correspond (mapping) to reflective QoS flows (i.e. DL packets mapped to QFIs) [0100] SDAP header for uplink (i.e. example, e.g. as generated) … RQI field (e.g., as above)), the SDAP header to be transmitted with the UL packet to the base station ([0101-0102] SDAP header for uplink …. RQI field … set ‘0’ to the RQI field … submits the SDAP PDU to a lower layer according to mapping rules between QoS flows and DRBs stored in storage unit, see [0069] SDAP … performs mapping of QoS flows and DRBs of DL … via a base station apparatus … mapping of QoS information flows and DRBs of UL … via a base station apparatus, see also [FIG. 3] e.g. SDAP between UE and gNB (i.e. base station));
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao in view of Hori to generate a SDAP header including a RQI to indicate whether DL packets are to be mapped to QFIs based on the UL packet and transmitted with the UL packet to the base station. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to indicate that DRBs are to be configured to reflective QoS flows and mapping in the uplink direction. (Hori, [0087] [0138] [0140]).
Regarding claim 2, Qiao-Hori disclose:
The method claim 1, set forth above, further comprising:
Qiao discloses:
generating a packet filter to map the UL packet to a different quality of service flow identifier (QFI) ([0277] QFI value of a remapped QoS flow may be included in a mappedQoS-FlowsToAdd in sdap-Config corresponding to a new DRB (i.e. filter to map UL packet to a different QFI));
configuring the ad-hoc radio bearer ([0277] radio bearer configuration information (i.e. to configure the radio bearer with configuration information, see [0609] ad hoc networks); and
mapping the QFI to the ad-hoc radio bearer ([0277] indicate a list of QFIs of QoS flows of a PDU session to be released from an existing QoS flow to a DRB mapping of the DRB (i.e. mapping to the radio bearer), see [0609] ad hoc networks).
Regarding claim 5, Qiao-Hori disclose:
The method of claim 1, set forth above,
Qiao discloses:
wherein the SDAP header further includes a quality of service flow identifier (QFI) corresponding to the ad-hoc radio bearer ([0277] set one or more configurable SDAP parameters for the data radio bearer (i.e. generating configurable parameters) … SDAP header information … QFI value of a remapped QoS flow may be included in a mappedQoS-FlowsToAdd in sdap-Config (i.e. RDI that indicates a rule is to be updated, e.g. new DRB corresponding to an old DRB) … indicate whether a SDAP header is present for uplink data and/or downlink data on the DRB, see [0609] ad hoc networks).
Regarding claim 16, Qiao discloses
An apparatus ([0181] wireless device … processing system … memory … store instructions), comprising:
processing circuitry ([0181] wireless device … processing system … memory … store instructions) to:
identify quality of service (QoS) mapping updates to be applied to downlink (DL) packets to be received from a base station ([0277] set one or more configurable SDAP parameters for the data radio bearer (i.e. generating configurable parameters by determining them) … SDAP header information … QFI value of a remapped QoS flow may be included in a mappedQoS-FlowsToAdd in sdap-Config (i.e. RDI that indicates a rule is to be updated, e.g. new DRB corresponding to an old DRB) … indicate whether a SDAP header is present for uplink data and/or downlink data on the DRB); and
generate a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) header that indicates the QoS mapping updates for the DL packets ([0277] set one or more configurable SDAP parameters for the data radio bearer (i.e. generating configurable parameters) … SDAP header information … QFI value of a remapped QoS flow may be included in a mappedQoS-FlowsToAdd in sdap-Config (i.e. RDI that indicates a rule is to be updated, e.g. new DRB corresponding to an old DRB) … indicate whether a SDAP header is present for uplink data and/or downlink data on the DRB (i.e. to be present requires the header to be generated));
Qiao does not explicitly disclose:
for transmission to the base station, the SDAP header to be transmitted with an uplink (UL) packet to indicate the QoS mapping updates to be applied; and
interface circuitry coupled to the processing circuitry, the interface circuitry to transmit the SDAP header with the UL packet.
However, Hori discloses:
for transmission to the base station, the SDAP header to be transmitted with an uplink (UL) packet to indicate the QoS mapping updates to be applied ([0101-0102] SDAP header for uplink …. RQI field … set ‘0’ to the RQI field … submits the SDAP PDU to a lower layer according to mapping rules between QoS flows and DRBs stored in storage unit, see [0069] SDAP … performs mapping of QoS flows and DRBs of DL … via a base station apparatus … mapping of QoS information flows and DRBs of UL … via a base station apparatus, see also [FIG. 3] e.g. SDAP between UE and gNB (i.e. base station)); and
interface circuitry coupled to the processing circuitry, the interface circuitry to transmit the SDAP header with the UL packet ([0101-0102] SDAP header for uplink …. RQI field … set ‘0’ to the RQI field … submits the SDAP PDU to a lower layer according to mapping rules between QoS flows and DRBs stored in storage unit, see [0069] SDAP … performs mapping of QoS flows and DRBs of DL … via a base station apparatus … mapping of QoS information flows and DRBs of UL … via a base station apparatus, see also [FIG. 3] e.g. SDAP between UE and gNB (i.e. from UE to gNB requires an interface to transmit)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao in view of Hori to generate a SDAP header including a RQI to indicate whether DL packets are to be mapped to QFIs based on the UL packet and transmitted with the UL packet to the base station. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to indicate that DRBs are to be configured to reflective QoS flows and mapping in the uplink direction. (Hori, [0087] [0138] [0140]).
Regarding claim 17, Qiao-Hori disclose:
The apparatus of claim 16, set forth above,
Qiao discloses:
wherein the QoS mapping updates include an update to be made to a QoS flow to data radio bearer (DRB) rule ([0277] set one or more configurable SDAP parameters for the data radio bearer (i.e. generating configurable parameters) … SDAP header information … QFI value of a remapped QoS flow may be included in a mappedQoS-FlowsToAdd in sdap-Config (i.e. RDI that indicates a rule is to be updated, e.g. new DRB corresponding to an old DRB) … indicate whether a SDAP header is present for uplink data and/or downlink data on the DRB), and wherein the SDAP header includes a reflective quality of service flow to data radio bearer mapping indication (RDI) that indicates that the QoS flow to DRB rule is to be updated ([0277] set one or more configurable SDAP parameters for the data radio bearer (i.e. generating configurable parameters) … SDAP header information … QFI value of a remapped QoS flow may be included in a mappedQoS-FlowsToAdd in sdap-Config (i.e. RDI that indicates a rule is to be updated, e.g. new DRB corresponding to an old DRB) … indicate whether a SDAP header is present for uplink data and/or downlink data on the DRB).
Regarding claim 18, Qiao-Hori disclose:
The apparatus of claim 16, set forth above,
Qiao does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the QoS mapping updates include an update to be made to DL packets mapping to QoS flow identifiers (QFIs), and wherein the SDAP header includes a reflective quality of service flow indicator (RQI) that indicates that the DL packets mapping to QFIs is to be updated.
However, Hori discloses:
wherein the QoS mapping updates include an update to be made to DL packets mapping to QoS flow identifiers (QFIs) ([0101-0102] SDAP header for uplink …. RQI field … set ‘0’ to the RQI field … submits the SDAP PDU to a lower layer according to mapping rules between QoS flows and DRBs stored in storage unit, see [0069] SDAP … performs mapping of QoS flows and DRBs of DL … via a base station apparatus … mapping of QoS information flows and DRBs of UL … via a base station apparatus), and wherein the SDAP header includes a reflective quality of service flow indicator (RQI) that indicates that the DL packets mapping to QFIs is to be updated ([0086-0087] SDAP header for uplink is present in SDAP PDUs … information represented by reflective may be information indicating that DRBs to be configured correspond (mapping) to reflective QoS flows (i.e. DL packets mapped to QFIs) [0100] SDAP header for uplink (i.e. example, e.g. as generated) … RQI field (e.g., as above)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao in view of Hori to generate a SDAP header including a RQI to indicate whether DL packets are to be mapped to QFIs are to be updated. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to indicate that DRBs are to be configured to reflective QoS flows and mapping in the uplink direction. (Hori, [0087] [0138] [0140]).
Regarding claim 19, Qiao-Hori disclose:
The apparatus of claim 16, set forth above,
Qiao discloses:
wherein the SDAP header includes a QoS flow identifier (QFI) to indicate a QoS flow for the UL packet ([0277] set one or more configurable SDAP parameters for the data radio bearer (i.e. generating configurable parameters) … SDAP header information … QFI value of a remapped QoS flow may be included in a mappedQoS-FlowsToAdd in sdap-Config (i.e. RDI that indicates a rule is to be updated, e.g. new DRB corresponding to an old DRB) … indicate whether a SDAP header is present for uplink data and/or downlink data on the DRB).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao et al. (US-20230276391-A1) hereinafter Qiao in view of Hori et al. (US-20200396789-A1) hereinafter Hori further in view of Fan et al. (US-20230098258-A1) hereinafter Fan.
Regarding claim 3, Qiao-Hori disclose:
The method of claim 1, set forth above,
Qiao does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the SDAP header further includes a context identifier (ID) to indicate an establishment of the ad-hoc radio bearer in accordance with preconfigured DRB settings corresponding to the context ID.
However, Hori discloses:
wherein the SDAP header indicate an establishment of the ad-hoc radio bearer in accordance with preconfigured DRB settings ([0086] SDAP header for uplink is present in SDAP PDUs in the uplink direction corresponding (mapping) to DRBs to be configured (i.e. established) [0097] DRB identities and list information of QoS flow identifiers corresponding (mapping) to DRB identities are included in the RRC reconfiguration message).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao in view of Hori to have the SDAP header indicate an establishment of the ad-hoc radio bearer in accordance with preconfigured DRB settings. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to have an SDAP header present in SDAP PDUs that indicate mapping rules between the QoS flows and DRBs corresponding toe SDAP PDUs (Hori, [0086] [0100]).
Qiao-Hori do not explicitly disclose:
wherein the SDAP header further includes a context identifier (ID) with preconfigured DRB settings corresponding to the context ID.
However, Fan discloses:
wherein a context identifier (ID) with preconfigured DRB settings corresponding to the context ID ([0012] relay device receives a configuration message that is for establishing a DRB and that is sent by the first terminal, and forwards, to the second terminal, the configuration message for establishing the DRB … includes an identifier of the DRB (i.e. context ID), configuration information of a service data adaptation protocol SDAP layer, see [0066] configuration information of SDAP may include a mapping relationship from a QoS flow to the DRB, see also [0094] includes the second parameter set (i.e. additional context ID within parameter set) corresponding to the relay RLC bearer).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao-Hori in view of Fan to have the SDAP header include an extension flag to indicate whether the SDAP header includes a context ID to indicate establishment of the ad-hoc radio bearer in accordance with preconfigured DRB settings corresponding to the context ID. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so establish, based on the second configuration parameter set, the unidirectional RLC bearer corresponding to the second link, so that the relay device can transfer, to the second terminal, data sent by the first terminal (Fan, [0101]).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao et al. (US-20230276391-A1) hereinafter Qiao in view of Hori et al. (US-20200396789-A1) hereinafter Hori further in view of Fan et al. (US-20230098258-A1) hereinafter Fan further in view of Basu Mallick et al. (US-20160212661-A1) hereinafter Mallick.
Regarding claim 4, Qiao-Hori-Fan disclose:
The method of claim 3, set forth above,
Qiao discloses:
wherein the preconfigured DRB settings are first preconfigured DRB settings ([0277] radio bearer configuration information (i.e. preconfigured) may comprise one or more parameters of a SDAP configuration information … SDAP header information … mappedQoS-FlowsToAdd in sdap-Config corresponding to a new DRB (i.e. context identifier as the mappedQoS-FlowsToAdd) indicate whether a SDAP header is present for uplink data and/or downlink data on the DRB),
Qiao does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the SDAP header further includes an extension flag to indicate whether the SDAP header includes an additional context ID to indicate second preconfigured DRB settings for configuration of an additional ad-hoc radio bearer.
However, Mallick discloses:
wherein the SDAP header further includes an extension flag to indicate whether the SDAP header includes an additional context ID to indicate second preconfigured DRB settings for configuration of an additional ad-hoc radio bearer ([0202] extension flag after each set of information, comprised of reception status and radio bearer identifier ... to be remapped away from the source secondary base station to the target, see [0256] remapped to a eNB).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao in view of Mallick to have the SDAP header further include an extension flag to indicate whether the SDAP header includes an additional context ID to indicate second preconfigured DRB settings for configuration of an additional ad-hoc radio bearer. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to indicate that the reception status information and radio bearer identifier relating to another data radio bearer are included in the status report (Mallick, [0202]).
Claim(s) 6-7, 9-11, 13-15 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao et al. (US-20230276391-A1) hereinafter Qiao in view of Hori et al. (US-20200396789-A1) hereinafter Hori further in view of Teyeb et al. (US-11516829-B2) hereinafter Teyeb.
Regarding claim 6, Qiao-Hori disclose:
The method of claim 1, set forth above, further comprising:
Qiao discloses:
performing QFI labelling and inline signaling at an SDAP layer ([0130] wireless device may exchange data with a network … parameters necessary for exchange of data may be established … bearer configuration information … SDAP layer configuration information [0277] set one or more configurable SDAP parameters for the data radio bearer (i.e. generating configurable parameters) … SDAP header information … QFI value of a remapped QoS flow may be included in a mappedQoS-FlowsToAdd in sdap-Config (i.e. RDI that indicates a rule is to be updated, e.g. new DRB corresponding to an old DRB) … indicate whether a SDAP header is present for uplink data and/or downlink data on the DRB, see [0609] ad hoc networks).
Qiao does not explicitly disclose:
an SDAP layer located between a medium access control (MAC) layer and a radio link control (RLC) layer.
However, Teyeb discloses:
an SDAP layer located between a medium access control (MAC) layer and a radio link control (RLC) layer ([12:1-22] above, the MAC layer but below the RLC layer … for one-to-one mapping of UE-bearers to backhaul RLC-channel, the adaptation layer should be … placed above the MAC layer).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao in view of Teyeb to have an SDAP layer located between a MAC layer and a RLC layer. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to support both hop-by-hop and end-to-end ARQ (Teyeb, [12:43-58]).
Regarding claim 7, Qiao-Hori disclose:
The method of claim 1, set forth above,
Qiao discloses:
wherein the SDAP header is applied to the UL packet via an SDAP layer ([0130] wireless device may exchange data with a network … parameters necessary for exchange of data may be established … bearer configuration information … SDAP layer configuration information [0277] set one or more configurable SDAP parameters for the data radio bearer (i.e. generating configurable parameters) … SDAP header information … QFI value of a remapped QoS flow may be included in a mappedQoS-FlowsToAdd in sdap-Config (i.e. RDI that indicates a rule is to be updated, e.g. new DRB corresponding to an old DRB) … indicate whether a SDAP header is present for uplink data and/or downlink data on the DRB, see [0609] ad hoc networks).
Qiao does not explicitly disclose:
an SDAP layer located between a medium access control (MAC) layer and a radio link control (RLC) layer.
However, Teyeb discloses:
an SDAP layer located between a medium access control (MAC) layer and a radio link control (RLC) layer ([12:1-22] above, the MAC layer but below the RLC layer … for one-to-one mapping of UE-bearers to backhaul RLC-channel, the adaptation layer should be … placed above the MAC layer).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao in view of Teyeb to have an SDAP layer located between a MAC layer and a RLC layer. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to support both hop-by-hop and end-to-end ARQ (Teyeb, [12:43-58]).
Regarding claim 9, Qiao discloses:
A method ([0048] “base station” … any element of the AN 102 that facilitates communication between wireless device 101 and the AN 102), comprising:
identifying a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) header ([0111] base station 702 may implement a … SDAP layer [0114] QoS flows and the data radio bearers may be determined in the SDAP 772 by the base station 702 (i.e. identified via SDAP) [0123] wireless device … apply resource mapping rules 818 to the QoS flows … air interface between wireless device 801 and/or the AN 802 may be associated with resources 820 … e.g. mapped to resource 820A … resources 820 may comprise radio bearers (i.e. determining UL packet to utilize a radio bearer, e.g. determining to be mapped to), see [0277] set one or more configurable SDAP parameters for the data radio bearer … SDAP header is present for uplink data and/or downlink data on the DRB [0609] ad hoc networks);
identifying a configuration for an ad-hoc radio bearer of the UL packet based on the SDAP header ([0277] set one or more configurable SDAP parameters for the data radio bearer (i.e. generating configurable parameters) … SDAP header information … QFI value of a remapped QoS flow may be included in a mappedQoS-FlowsToAdd in sdap-Config (i.e. RDI that indicates a rule is to be updated, e.g. new DRB corresponding to an old DRB) … indicate whether a SDAP header is present for uplink data and/or downlink data on the DRB);
demultiplexing and mapping the UL packet according to the ad-hoc radio bearer at an SDAP layer ([0114] perform mapping and/or demapping between the one or more QoS flows of the PDU session and one or more radio bearers [0277] set one or more configurable SDAP parameters for the data radio bearer (i.e. generating configurable parameters) … SDAP header information … QFI value of a remapped QoS flow may be included in a mappedQoS-FlowsToAdd in sdap-Config (i.e. RDI that indicates a rule is to be updated, e.g. new DRB corresponding to an old DRB) … indicate whether a SDAP header is present for uplink data and/or downlink data on the DRB); and
decoding the UL packet based on the configuration for the ad-hoc radio bearer ([0114] mapping and/or demapping between the one or more QoS flows of the PDU session and one or more radio bearers … determined in the SDAP 772 of the base station 220 [0121] wireless device … mark the uplink packets with a QFI … QFI may indicate how the packet should be handled in accordance with the QoS model [0248] based on an indication from the base station that the … QoS flow … and/or radio bearer be applied and/or used for the end-to-end latency measurement (i.e. based on the QFIs marked requires to decode the SDAP UL to determine its contents)).
Qiao does not explicitly disclose:
identifying a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) header received with an uplink (UL) packet from a user equipment (UE);
an SDAP layer located between a medium access control (MAC) layer and a radio link control (RLC) layer;
However, Hori discloses:
identifying a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) header received with an uplink (UL) packet from a user equipment (UE) ([0101-0102] SDAP header for uplink …. RQI field … set ‘0’ to the RQI field … submits the SDAP PDU to a lower layer according to mapping rules between QoS flows and DRBs stored in storage unit, see [0069] SDAP … performs mapping of QoS flows and DRBs of DL … via a base station apparatus … mapping of QoS information flows and DRBs of UL … via a base station apparatus, see also [FIG. 3] e.g. SDAP between UE and gNB (i.e. base station));
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao in view of Hori to generate a SDAP header including a RQI to indicate whether DL packets are to be mapped to QFIs based on the UL packet and transmitted with the UL packet to the base station. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to indicate that DRBs are to be configured to reflective QoS flows and mapping in the uplink direction. (Hori, [0087] [0138] [0140]).
Qiao-Hori do not explicitly disclose:
an SDAP layer located between a medium access control (MAC) layer and a radio link control (RLC) layer;
However, Teyeb discloses:
an SDAP layer located between a medium access control (MAC) layer and a radio link control (RLC) layer ([12:1-22] above, the MAC layer but below the RLC layer … for one-to-one mapping of UE-bearers to backhaul RLC-channel, the adaptation layer should be … placed above the MAC layer).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao-Hori in view of Teyeb to have an SDAP layer located between a MAC layer and a RLC layer. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to support both hop-by-hop and end-to-end ARQ (Teyeb, [12:43-58]).
Regarding claim 10, Qiao-Hori-Teyeb disclose:
The method of claim 9, set forth above,
Qiao discloses:
wherein the SDAP header includes a reflective quality of service flow to data radio bearer mapping indication (RDI) ([0277] set one or more configurable SDAP parameters for the data radio bearer (i.e. generating configurable parameters) … SDAP header information … QFI value of a remapped QoS flow may be included in a mappedQoS-FlowsToAdd in sdap-Config (i.e. RDI that indicates a rule is to be updated, e.g. new DRB corresponding to an old DRB) … indicate whether a SDAP header is present for uplink data and/or downlink data on the DRB), wherein demultiplexing and mapping the UL packet includes mapping the UL packet based on the RDI ([0114] perform mapping and/or demapping between the one or more QoS flows of the PDU session and one or more radio bearers).
Regarding claim 11, Qiao-Hori-Teyeb disclose:
The method of claim 9, set forth above,
Qiao does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the SDAP header includes a reflective quality of service flow indicator (RQI), wherein the method further comprises:
mapping the UL packet to a quality of service (QoS) flow based on the RQI.
However, Hori discloses:
wherein the SDAP header includes a reflective quality of service flow indicator (RQI) ([0086-0087] SDAP header for uplink is present in SDAP PDUs … information represented by reflective may be information indicating that DRBs to be configured correspond (mapping) to reflective QoS flows (i.e. DL packets mapped to QFIs) [0100] SDAP header for uplink (i.e. example, e.g. as generated) … RQI field (e.g., as above)), wherein the method further comprises:
mapping the UL packet to a quality of service (QoS) flow based on the RQI ([0086-0087] SDAP header for uplink is present in SDAP PDUs … information represented by reflective may be information indicating that DRBs to be configured correspond (mapping) to reflective QoS flows (i.e. DL packets mapped to QFIs) [0100] SDAP header for uplink (i.e. example, e.g. as generated) … RQI field (e.g., as above) [0101-0102] SDAP header for uplink …. RQI field … set ‘0’ to the RQI field … submits the SDAP PDU to a lower layer according to mapping rules between QoS flows and DRBs stored in storage unit, see [0069] SDAP … performs mapping of QoS flows and DRBs of DL … via a base station apparatus … mapping of QoS information flows and DRBs of UL … via a base station apparatus).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao in view of Hori to generate a SDAP header including a RQI to map the UL packet. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to indicate that DRBs are to be configured to reflective QoS flows and mapping in the uplink direction. (Hori, [0087] [0138] [0140]).
Regarding claim 13, Qiao-Hori-Teyeb disclose:
The method of claim 9, set forth above, further comprising:
Qiao does not explicitly disclose:
identifying a QoS flow to DRB mapping rule for DL packets based on a mapping defined by the UL packet; and
utilizing the QoS flow to DRB mapping rule for mapping of one or more DL packets.
However Hori discloses:
identifying a QoS flow to DRB mapping rule for DL packets based on a mapping defined by the UL packet ([0101-0102] SDAP header for uplink …. RQI field … set ‘0’ to the RQI field … submits the SDAP PDU to a lower layer according to mapping rules between QoS flows and DRBs stored in storage unit, see [0069] SDAP … performs mapping of QoS flows and DRBs of DL … via a base station apparatus … mapping of QoS information flows and DRBs of UL … via a base station apparatus, see also [FIG. 3] e.g. SDAP between UE and gNB (i.e. base station)); and
utilizing the QoS flow to DRB mapping rule for mapping of one or more DL packets ([0086-0087] SDAP header for uplink is present in SDAP PDUs … information represented by reflective may be information indicating that DRBs to be configured correspond (mapping) to reflective QoS flows (i.e. DL packets mapped to QFIs) [0100] SDAP header for uplink (i.e. example, e.g. as generated) … RQI field (e.g., as above)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao in view of Hori to identify a QoS flow to DRB mapping rule defined by the UL packet to map one or more DL packets. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to indicate that DRBs are to be configured to reflective QoS flows and mapping in the uplink direction. (Hori, [0087] [0138] [0140]).
Regarding claim 14, Qiao-Hori-Teyeb disclose:
The method of claim 9, further comprising:
Qiao does not explicitly disclose:
identifying characteristics of the UL packet; and
mapping one or more DL packets to QFIs based on the characteristics of the UL packet.
However, Hori discloses:
identifying characteristics of the UL packet ([0101-0102] SDAP header for uplink …. RQI field … set ‘0’ to the RQI field … submits the SDAP PDU to a lower layer according to mapping rules between QoS flows and DRBs stored in storage unit, see [0069] SDAP … performs mapping of QoS flows and DRBs of DL … via a base station apparatus … mapping of QoS information flows and DRBs of UL … via a base station apparatus, see also [FIG. 3] e.g. SDAP between UE and gNB (i.e. base station)); and
mapping one or more DL packets to QFIs based on the characteristics of the UL packet ([0086-0087] SDAP header for uplink is present in SDAP PDUs … information represented by reflective may be information indicating that DRBs to be configured correspond (mapping) to reflective QoS flows (i.e. DL packets mapped to QFIs) [0100] SDAP header for uplink (i.e. example, e.g. as generated) … RQI field (e.g., as above)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao in view of Hori to identify UL packet characteristics to map one or more DL packets thereto. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to indicate that DRBs are to be configured to reflective QoS flows and mapping in the uplink direction. (Hori, [0087] [0138] [0140]).
Regarding claim 15, Qiao-Hori-Teyeb disclose:
The method of claim 9, set forth above,
Qiao discloses:
wherein the SDAP header and the UL packet are received in a transport block ([0277] SDAP header information may indicate whether a SDAP header is present for uplink data (i.e. transport data, e.g. block of data)).
Regarding claim 20, Qiao-Hori disclose:
The apparatus of claim 16, set forth above,
Qiao discloses:
wherein the SDAP header is applied to the UL packet in an SDAP layer ([0277] set one or more configurable SDAP parameters for the data radio bearer (i.e. generating configurable parameters) … SDAP header information … QFI value of a remapped QoS flow may be included in a mappedQoS-FlowsToAdd in sdap-Config (i.e. RDI that indicates a rule is to be updated, e.g. new DRB corresponding to an old DRB) … indicate whether a SDAP header is present for uplink data and/or downlink data on the DRB).
Qiao does not explicitly disclose:
an SDAP layer located between a medium access control (MAC) layer and a radio link control (RLC) layer.
However, Teyeb discloses:
an SDAP layer located between a medium access control (MAC) layer and a radio link control (RLC) layer ([12:1-22] above, the MAC layer but below the RLC layer … for one-to-one mapping of UE-bearers to backhaul RLC-channel, the adaptation layer should be … placed above the MAC layer).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao in view of Teyeb to have an SDAP layer located between a MAC layer and a RLC layer. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to support both hop-by-hop and end-to-end ARQ (Teyeb, [12:43-58]).
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao et al. (US-20230276391-A1) hereinafter Qiao in view of Hori et al. (US-20200396789-A1) hereinafter Hori further in view of ETSI (NPL, TS 137 324 V16.2.0 (2020-11)).
Regarding claim 8, Qiao-Hori disclose:
The method of claim 1, set forth above,
Qiao-Hori do not explicitly disclose:
wherein the SDAP header further includes a data/control field that indicates whether the UL packet is to be transmitted in a data transmission or a control transmission, and wherein the UL packet is transmitted in the data transmission or the control transmission in accordance with the data/control field.
However, ETSI discloses:
wherein the SDAP header further includes a data/control field that indicates whether the UL packet is to be transmitted in a data transmission or a control transmission ([6.3.3 D/C] D/C bit indicates whether the SDAP PDU is in a SDAP Data PDU or an SDAP Control PDU), and wherein to transmit the UL packet comprises to transmit the UL packet is transmitted in the data transmission or the control transmission in accordance with the data/control field ([6.3.3 D/C] D/C bit indicates whether the SDAP PDU is in a SDAP Data PDU or an SDAP Control PDU, see also [5.2.1 Uplink] the transmitting SDAP entity … UL SDAP data PDU (i.e. data PDU would require SDAP Data PDU as indicated)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao-Hori in view of ETSI to have the SDAP header further include a data/control field that indicates whether the UL packet is to be transmitted in a data transmission or a control transmission to transmit the UL packet in accordance with the field. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to convey user plane data or indicate by the SDAP entity at UE that it stops the mapping of SDAP SDU (ETSI, [6.1 Protocol data units]).
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao et al. (US-20230276391-A1) hereinafter Qiao in view of Hori et al. (US-20200396789-A1) hereinafter Hori further in view Teyeb et al. (US-11516829-B2) hereinafter Teyeb further in view of Fan et al. (US-20230098258-A1) hereinafter Fan.
Regarding claim 12, Qiao-Hori-Teyeb disclose:
The method of claim 9, set forth above,
Qiao does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the SDAP header includes a context identifier (ID), wherein identifying the configuration for the ad-hoc radio bearer includes identifying preconfigured data radio bearer (DRB) settings corresponding to the context ID.
However, Hori discloses:
wherein the SDAP header identifying the configuration for the ad-hoc radio bearer includes identifying preconfigured data radio bearer (DRB) settings ([0086] SDAP header for uplink is present in SDAP PDUs in the uplink direction corresponding (mapping) to DRBs to be configured (i.e. established) [0097] DRB identities and list information of QoS flow identifiers corresponding (mapping) to DRB identities are included in the RRC reconfiguration message).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao in view of Hori to have the SDAP header indicate an establishment of the ad-hoc radio bearer in accordance with preconfigured DRB settings. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to have an SDAP header present in SDAP PDUs that indicate mapping rules between the QoS flows and DRBs corresponding toe SDAP PDUs (Hori, [0086] [0100]).
Qiao-Hori do not explicitly disclose:
wherein the SDAP header further includes a context identifier (ID) identifying preconfigured data radio bearer (DRB) settings corresponding to the context ID.
However, Fan discloses:
wherein a context identifier (ID) identifying preconfigured data radio bearer (DRB) settings corresponding to the context ID ([0012] relay device receives a configuration message that is for establishing a DRB and that is sent by the first terminal, and forwards, to the second terminal, the configuration message for establishing the DRB … includes an identifier of the DRB (i.e. context ID), configuration information of a service data adaptation protocol SDAP layer, see [0094] includes the second parameter set (i.e. additional context ID within parameter set) corresponding to the relay RLC bearer).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Qiao-Hori in view of Fan to have the SDAP header include an extension flag to indicate whether the SDAP header includes a context ID to indicate establishment of the ad-hoc radio bearer in accordance with preconfigured DRB settings corresponding to the context ID. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so establish, based on the second configuration parameter set, the unidirectional RLC bearer corresponding to the second link, so that the relay device can transfer, to the second terminal, data sent by the first terminal (Fan, [0101]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Turtinen et al. (US-20200068427-A1) QUALITY OF SERVICE FLOW RELOCATION;
Jheng et al. (US-20180324631-A1) USING SDAP HEADERS FOR HANDLING OF AS/NAS REFLECTIVE QOS AND TO ENSURE IN-SEQUENCE PACKET DELIVERY DURING REMAPPING IN 5G COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS;
Kainulainen et al. (US-20210037425-A1) METHODS PROVIDING QFI HARMONIZATION BETWEEN RAN AND 5GC AND RELATED WIRELESS TERMINALS, BASE STATIONS, AND CORE NETOWORK NODES;
Jin et al. (US-20200245184-A1) METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CLASSIFYING AND PROCESSING SDAP CONTROL PDU IN NEXT GENERATION MOBILE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM;
Han et al. (US-11265755-B2) COMMUNICATION METHODS, APPARATUSES, AND SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING QUALITY OF SERVICE FLOWS;
Liu et al. (US-20220338050-A1) TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVING REFLECTIVE QUALITY OF SERVICE;
Fu et al. (US-20240056874-A1) METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR REFLECTIVE QUALITY OF SERVICE (QOS).
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.
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/Alex Tran/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2453