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 .
Response to Amendment
The following is a final office action in response to applicant’s amendment filed on 07/08/2026 for response of the office action mailed on 04/09/2026. Claims 1, 17, 23, 45 and 51 have been amended. Claims 2-13, 16, 18-22, 24-42, 46 and 48 are cancelled. Claims 1, 14-15, 17, 23, 43-45, 47 and 49-52 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 07/08/2026 with respect to Claims 1, 14-15, 17, 23, 43-45, 47 and 49-52 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive/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.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 14-15, 17, 23, 43-45, 47 and 49-52 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claims 1, 23 and 45 are objected to because the acronym “SDT” is recited without being defined in the claim. Applicant is required to amend the claim to define “SDT” upon the first use, so the terminology of the claim is clear and consistent. Please note Claims 14-15, 17, 43-44, 47 and 49-52 are also objected to for depending on objected Claims 1, 23 and 45. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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 non-obviousness.
Claims 1, 14-15, 17, 23, 43-45, 47, and 49-52 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tseng et al. (US 2024/0040626 A1), Tseng hereinafter, and further in view of Wang (US 2023/0225004 A1), Wang hereinafter.
Re. Claim 1, Tseng teaches a method performed by a wireless terminal in a wireless network, comprising: (¶0009 - a method for a user equipment for performing a small data transmission (SDT) procedure is provided);
receiving a first message from a wireless communication node in the wireless network comprising a random access channel (RACH) configuration parameter indicative of a RACH resource, (Fig. 3-4 & ¶0054 - For an SDT procedure, a serving cell may pre-configure an SDT configuration to the UE. For example, the serving cell may transmit SDT configuration(s) via a DL UE-specific control signaling (e.g., RRC(Connection)Release message) that instructs the UE to move to the RRC inactive state (e.g., the RRCRelease message includes ‘suspendConfig’ IE).¶0055 - Two types of radio resources for the SDT configuration include: Please also see ¶0056-¶0058);
the RACH resource being on a same BWP of a preconfigured resource allocated by configured grant (CG); (¶0061 - In other words, the UE may stay on the initial DL-BWP/UL-BWP before/during/after the SDT procedure (e.g., when the UL-CG configurations and RA resource configuration for SDT are configured on the initial UL-BWP). Please also see ¶0059);
when the wireless terminal is in an inactive state, (¶0007 - a method of performing a SDT procedure for a UE in a RRC inactive state is provided. ¶0054 - The previously mentioned SDT procedure enables a UE to get out of the NR/LTE RRC connected state (e.g., (LTE/NR) RRC inactive state, (LTE/NR) RRC idle state) to transmit small data …);
initiating an SDT session by sending an SDT initiation message to the wireless communication node on the preconfigured resource allocated by CG; (Fig. 1 & ¶0007 - …receiving, from a first serving cell, a SDT configuration, the SDT configuration including a plurality of uplink Configured Grant (UL-CG) configurations for the SDT procedure… selecting, by the UE, a first UL-CG configuration from the plurality of UL-CG configurations when the UE initiates a SDT procedure. ¶0066 - … a UE that is capable of performing the SDT procedure in non-RRC_CONNECTED state may apply an RRC-less mechanism for the SDT-CG procedure and apply an RRC-based mechanism for the SDT-RA procedure. In the RRC-based SDT procedure, an RRC signal (e.g., an RRCResumeRequest message that may include the I-RNTI and/or ResumeMAC-I (e.g., Message Authentication Code-Integrity) of the UE) may be encoded, cyphered, and/or multiplexed with the target small packet. Fig. 5A & ¶0140 - Based on the received SDT configuration, the UE 503 may initiate the 1.sup.st SDT procedure 513 (e.g., via the at least a first UL-CG configuration within the stored SDT configuration));
during the SDT session, detecting a timing alignment failure with the wireless communication node; (¶0071 - In some implementations, an SDT-CG Timing Advance Timer (e.g., CG-TAT) may be configured for the UE to identify a valid time period of an uplink configured grant configured for the SDT procedure (e.g., an SDT-CG configuration) … the UE may not be allowed to access the SDT-CG configuration by using the stored SDT-CG configuration directly when the CG-TAT expires/or is not running/or is stopped. That is, the UE may determine that the SDT-CG configuration is not available/valid. ¶0074 - In some implementations, the CG-TAT may be still counting/running when the UE performs the SDT procedure. However, the CG-TAT may be expired before or during the SDT-CG procedure (and/or the following subsequent DL/UL data/signaling exchange after the SDT procedure is triggered). Details about the CG-TAT expiry triggers an SDT failure event and/or fallback mechanisms are illustrated in Table 2 below. Please see Table 2);
in response to the timing alignment failure, initiating a random access procedure (RAP) using the RACH resource that is on the same BWP of the preconfigured resource allocated by CG; (¶0074 (Table 2) - In some implementations, the CG-TAT may be expired when the UE accesses the configured SDT-CG configuration for the SDT procedure, and the multiplexed packet is still pending in the UE. In this condition, the CG-TAT expiry may trigger the UE to fallback to access the SDT-RA configuration for transmitting the pending packets (e.g., fallback to the SDT-RA procedure). Please also see ¶0061);
Yet, Tseng does not explicitly teach during the SDT session, performing an integrity check and receiving an integrity check failure indication from a lower layer of the wireless terminal;
and in response to receiving the integrity check failure indication, releasing resources allocated to the SDT session and entering an idle state.
However, in the analogous art, Wang explicitly teaches during the SDT session, performing an integrity check and receiving an integrity check failure indication from a lower layer of the wireless terminal; and in response to receiving the integrity check failure indication, releasing resources allocated to the SDT session and entering an idle state (Fig. 4-5 & ¶0071 - The indication indicates a failure of the data transmission in the inactive state. Hereinafter, the indication is also referred to as a release cause. The failure of the data transmission is also referred to as SDT failure. ¶0072 - In some embodiments, if a timer T319 expires or upon receiving Integrity check failure indication from lower layers while the timer T319 is running, and if the RRC Resume procedure is initiated for SDT, the terminal device 120 performs the actions upon entering the idle state, with release cause which indicates “SDT failure”. ¶0091 - … the method 400 further comprises entering an idle state in response to at least one of the following: … receiving an integrity check failure indication from lower layers while the timer T319 is running … ¶0092 - In some embodiments, entering the idle state comprises releasing the resource configuration. Please also see Claim 23).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Wang to the teaching of Tseng. The motivation would be because RLF related handling for the terminal device performing SDT in the inactive state is proposed (¶0059, Wang).
Re. Claims 14, 43 and 49, Tseng and Wang teach Claims 1, 23 and 45.
Tseng further teaches the random-access procedure comprises a contention based random access procedure (Fig. 3 & ¶0116 - Based on the 3GPP technical specifications, two types of random-access procedures are supported: ¶0117 - …4-step contention-based random access (CBRA). ¶0130 - FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D are diagrams illustrating Contention-Based/Contention-Free (CB/CF) random access (RA) that include 2-step RA procedure and 4-step RA procedure…).
Re. Claims 15, 44 and 50, Tseng and Wang teach Claims 1, 43 and 49.
Tseng further teaches the random-access procedure comprises a Msg3 or a MsgA; the Msg3 comprise a C-RNTI MAC CE (cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier MAC control element); (Fig. 3 & ¶0133 - MSG3: a scheduled transmission of a message on an Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH) containing a Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) … submitted from an upper layer and associated with a UE contention resolution identity, as a part of the 4-step RA procedure illustrated in FIG. 3A), and the MsgA comprise a C-RNTI MAC CE.
Re. Claims 17 and 51, Tseng and Wang teach Claims 1 and 45.
Tseng further teaches releasing the resources allocated to the SDT session and entering the idle state comprises:/when the processor is configured to cause the device to release the resources allocated to the SDT session and enter the idle state, the processor is configured to cause the wireless terminal to: (Fig. 6 & ¶0147-¶0148, ¶0150-¶0154 – “processor”);
notifying by a MAC entity of the wireless terminal an RRC layer of the wireless terminal to release the resource dedicated to the SDT session;/notify by a MAC entity of the wireless terminal an RRC layer of the wireless terminal to release the resource dedicated to the SDT session; (¶0074 - 3. The UE may release (part of) the stored SDT-configuration (e.g., SDT-CG configuration and/or SDT-RA configuration). 4. In the MAC entity, the UE may release the buffered MAC PDUs if SDT failure event is declared in the UE… (e.g., the UE may indicate “SDT-Failure Report available” in a UL control signaling, such as RRC signal);
and transitioning to the idle state/and transition to the idle state (¶0074 – 1. The UE may move from the RRC inactive state to RRC idle state. 2. The UE may start an … RRC establishment procedure if the UE moves to the RRC idle state after the SDT failure event is declared).
Re. Claim 23, Tseng teaches a method performed by a wireless terminal in a wireless network, comprising: (¶0009 - a method for a user equipment for performing a small data transmission (SDT) procedure is provided);
when the wireless terminal is in inactive state, ¶0007 - a method of performing a SDT procedure for a UE in a RRC inactive state is provided. ¶0054 - The previously mentioned SDT procedure enables a UE to get out of the NR/LTE RRC connected state (e.g., (LTE/NR) RRC inactive state, (LTE/NR) RRC idle state) to transmit small data …);
initiating a Random Access Channel (RACH) based SDT session by sending an SDT initiation message to a wireless communication node in the wireless network on a RACH resource based on a random access procedure; (Fig. 1 & ¶0007 - …receiving, from a first serving cell, a SDT configuration, the SDT configuration including a plurality of uplink Configured Grant (UL-CG) configurations for the SDT procedure… selecting, by the UE, a first UL-CG configuration from the plurality of UL-CG configurations when the UE initiates a SDT procedure. ¶0066 - … a UE that is capable of performing the SDT procedure in non-RRC_CONNECTED state may apply an RRC-less mechanism for the SDT-CG procedure and apply an RRC-based mechanism for the SDT-RA procedure. In the RRC-based SDT procedure, an RRC signal (e.g., an RRCResumeRequest message that may include the I-RNTI and/or ResumeMAC-I (e.g., Message Authentication Code-Integrity) of the UE) may be encoded, cyphered, and/or multiplexed with the target small packet. Fig. 5A & ¶0140 - Based on the received SDT configuration, the UE 503 may initiate the 1.sup.st SDT procedure 513 (e.g., via the at least a first UL-CG configuration within the stored SDT configuration));
during the SDT session, detecting a timing alignment failure with the wireless communication node; (¶0071 - In some implementations, an SDT-CG Timing Advance Timer (e.g., CG-TAT) may be configured for the UE to identify a valid time period of an uplink configured grant configured for the SDT procedure (e.g., an SDT-CG configuration) … the UE may not be allowed to access the SDT-CG configuration by using the stored SDT-CG configuration directly when the CG-TAT expires/or is not running/or is stopped. That is, the UE may determine that the SDT-CG configuration is not available/valid. ¶0074 - In some implementations, the CG-TAT may be still counting/running when the UE performs the SDT procedure. However, the CG-TAT may be expired before or during the SDT-CG procedure (and/or the following subsequent DL/UL data/signaling exchange after the SDT procedure is triggered). Details about the CG-TAT expiry triggers an SDT failure event and/or fallback mechanisms are illustrated in Table 2 below. Please see Table 2);
in response to the SDT session failure condition, initiating a random access procedure (RAP); (¶0074 (Table 2) - In some implementations, the CG-TAT may be expired when the UE accesses the configured SDT-CG configuration for the SDT procedure, and the multiplexed packet is still pending in the UE. In this condition, the CG-TAT expiry may trigger the UE to fallback to access the SDT-RA configuration for transmitting the pending packets (e.g., fallback to the SDT-RA procedure). Please also see ¶0061);
Yet, Tseng does not explicitly teach during the RACH based SDT session, performing an integrity check and receiving an integrity check failure indication from a lower layer of the wireless terminal; and in response to receiving the integrity check failure indication, releasing resources allocated to the SDT session and entering an idle state.
However, in the analogous art, Wang explicitly teaches during the RACH based SDT session, performing an integrity check and receiving an integrity check failure indication from a lower layer of the wireless terminal; and in response to receiving the integrity check failure indication, releasing resources allocated to the SDT session and entering an idle state (Fig. 4-5 & ¶0071 - The indication indicates a failure of the data transmission in the inactive state. Hereinafter, the indication is also referred to as a release cause. The failure of the data transmission is also referred to as SDT failure. ¶0072 - In some embodiments, if a timer T319 expires or upon receiving Integrity check failure indication from lower layers while the timer T319 is running, and if the RRC Resume procedure is initiated for SDT, the terminal device 120 performs the actions upon entering the idle state, with release cause which indicates “SDT failure”. ¶0091 - … the method 400 further comprises entering an idle state in response to at least one of the following: … receiving an integrity check failure indication from lower layers while the timer T319 is running … ¶0092 - In some embodiments, entering the idle state comprises releasing the resource configuration. Please also see Claim 23).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Wang to the teaching of Tseng. The motivation would be because RLF related handling for the terminal device performing SDT in the inactive state is proposed (¶0059, Wang).
Re. Claim 45, Tseng teaches a wireless terminal comprising a memory for storing computer instructions and a processor in communication with the memory, wherein, when the processor executes the computer instructions, the processor is configured to cause the wireless terminal to: (Fig. 6 & ¶0147-¶0148, ¶0150-¶0154 – “processor”, “memory”);
receive a first message from a wireless communication node comprising a random access channel (RACH) configuration parameter indicative of a RACH resource, (Fig. 3-4 & ¶0054 - For an SDT procedure, a serving cell may pre-configure an SDT configuration to the UE. For example, the serving cell may transmit SDT configuration(s) via a DL UE-specific control signaling (e.g., RRC(Connection)Release message) that instructs the UE to move to the RRC inactive state (e.g., the RRCRelease message includes ‘suspendConfig’ IE).¶0055 - Two types of radio resources for the SDT configuration include: Please also see ¶0056-¶0058);
the RACH resource being on a same BWP of a preconfigured resource allocated by configured grant (CG); (¶0061 - In other words, the UE may stay on the initial DL-BWP/UL-BWP before/during/after the SDT procedure (e.g., when the UL-CG configurations and RA resource configuration for SDT are configured on the initial UL-BWP). Please also see ¶0059);
and when the wireless terminal is in an inactive state, (¶0007 - a method of performing a SDT procedure for a UE in a RRC inactive state is provided. ¶0054 - The previously mentioned SDT procedure enables a UE to get out of the NR/LTE RRC connected state (e.g., (LTE/NR) RRC inactive state, (LTE/NR) RRC idle state) to transmit small data …);
initiate an SDT session by sending an SDT initiation message to the wireless communication node on the preconfigured resource allocated by CG; (Fig. 1 & ¶0007 - …receiving, from a first serving cell, a SDT configuration, the SDT configuration including a plurality of uplink Configured Grant (UL-CG) configurations for the SDT procedure… selecting, by the UE, a first UL-CG configuration from the plurality of UL-CG configurations when the UE initiates a SDT procedure. ¶0066 - … a UE that is capable of performing the SDT procedure in non-RRC_CONNECTED state may apply an RRC-less mechanism for the SDT-CG procedure and apply an RRC-based mechanism for the SDT-RA procedure. In the RRC-based SDT procedure, an RRC signal (e.g., an RRCResumeRequest message that may include the I-RNTI and/or ResumeMAC-I (e.g., Message Authentication Code-Integrity) of the UE) may be encoded, cyphered, and/or multiplexed with the target small packet. Fig. 5A & ¶0140 - Based on the received SDT configuration, the UE 503 may initiate the 1.sup.st SDT procedure 513 (e.g., via the at least a first UL-CG configuration within the stored SDT configuration));
during the SDT session, detect a timing alignment failure with the wireless communication node; (¶0071 - In some implementations, an SDT-CG Timing Advance Timer (e.g., CG-TAT) may be configured for the UE to identify a valid time period of an uplink configured grant configured for the SDT procedure (e.g., an SDT-CG configuration) … the UE may not be allowed to access the SDT-CG configuration by using the stored SDT-CG configuration directly when the CG-TAT expires/or is not running/or is stopped. That is, the UE may determine that the SDT-CG configuration is not available/valid. ¶0074 - In some implementations, the CG-TAT may be still counting/running when the UE performs the SDT procedure. However, the CG-TAT may be expired before or during the SDT-CG procedure (and/or the following subsequent DL/UL data/signaling exchange after the SDT procedure is triggered). Details about the CG-TAT expiry triggers an SDT failure event and/or fallback mechanisms are illustrated in Table 2 below. Please see Table 2);
in response to the SDT session failure condition, initiate a random access procedure (RAP) using the RACH resource that is on the same BWP of the preconfigured resource allocated by CG; (¶0074 (Table 2) - In some implementations, the CG-TAT may be expired when the UE accesses the configured SDT-CG configuration for the SDT procedure, and the multiplexed packet is still pending in the UE. In this condition, the CG-TAT expiry may trigger the UE to fallback to access the SDT-RA configuration for transmitting the pending packets (e.g., fallback to the SDT-RA procedure). Please also see ¶0061);
Yet, Tseng does not explicitly teach during the SDT session, perform an integrity check and receive an integrity check failure indication from a lower layer of the wireless terminal; and in response to receiving the integrity check failure indication, release resources allocated to the SDT session and enter an idle state.
However, in the analogous art, Wang explicitly teaches during the SDT session, perform an integrity check and receive an integrity check failure indication from a lower layer of the wireless terminal; and in response to receiving the integrity check failure indication, release resources allocated to the SDT session and enter an idle state (Fig. 4-5 & ¶0071 - The indication indicates a failure of the data transmission in the inactive state. Hereinafter, the indication is also referred to as a release cause. The failure of the data transmission is also referred to as SDT failure. ¶0072 - In some embodiments, if a timer T319 expires or upon receiving Integrity check failure indication from lower layers while the timer T319 is running, and if the RRC Resume procedure is initiated for SDT, the terminal device 120 performs the actions upon entering the idle state, with release cause which indicates “SDT failure”. ¶0091 - … the method 400 further comprises entering an idle state in response to at least one of the following: … receiving an integrity check failure indication from lower layers while the timer T319 is running … ¶0092 - In some embodiments, entering the idle state comprises releasing the resource configuration. Please also see Claim 23).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Wang to the teaching of Tseng. The motivation would be because RLF related handling for the terminal device performing SDT in the inactive state is proposed (¶0059, Wang).
Re. Claim 47, Tseng and Wang teach Claim 45.
Tseng further teaches the SDT session failure condition comprises a timing alignment failure with the wireless communication node (¶0071 - In some implementations, an SDT-CG Timing Advance Timer (e.g., CG-TAT) may be configured for the UE to identify a valid time period of an uplink configured grant configured for the SDT procedure (e.g., an SDT-CG configuration). ¶0074 - Details about the CG-TAT expiry triggers an SDT failure event and/or fallback mechanisms are illustrated in Table 2 below. Table 2 - For example, the “SDT-Failure cause” may include the following parameters: … ‘Timing advance Timer Expire’ … ‘Out-of-sync event (e.g., T310' expires during the SDT procedure or T311 expires when the UE stays in the RRC inactive state)’).
Re. Claim 52, Tseng and Wang teach Claim 23.
Tseng further teaches a wireless terminal comprising a memory for storing computer instructions and a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the processor, when executing the computer instructions, is configured to implement a method of claim 23 (Fig. 6 & ¶0148 - The node 600 may be a UE… that performs various disclosed functions illustrated in FIG. 1 and examples in this disclosure. Please see ¶0147-¶0148, ¶0150-¶0154 – “processor”, “memory”).
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALYSSA WILLIAMS whose telephone number is (571)270-7673. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8-5pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayman Abaza can be reached on (571) 270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALYSSA WILLIAMS/Examiner, Art Unit 2465B
/CHRISTOPHER T WYLLIE/Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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