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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 03/30/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment to the claims filed on 03/30/2026 complies with the requirements of 37 CFR 1.121(c) and has been entered. Claims 1-2, 8-10 and 16 are amended. Claims 3, 6, 11 and 14 remain cancelled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s Arguments/Remarks filed 03/30/2026 (hereinafter Resp.) have been fully 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 7-10, 12-13, and 15-16, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over Teyeb et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2026/0101202, provisional Application # 63/059,512 filed July 31, 2020 (hereinafter Teyeb) further in view of Wallentin et al., U.S. patent Application Publication No. 2026/0156577, provisional Application # 63/054,808 filed July 22, 2020 (hereinafter Wallentin).
Regarding Amended Claim 1, Teyeb teaches a method for power management of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system supporting a multi-radio access technology (RAT) dual connectivity (MR-DC) state (“a method performed by a wireless terminal operating in Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC) and configured with a first cell group associated with a first network node and a second cell group associated with a second network” comprising “monitoring conditions and events for indicating that an operating mode of the second cell group should be modified” – See [¶0200] to avoid “inefficient usage of possibly available resources or unnecessary energy/power consumption at the UE and the network” – See [¶0198], whereby “[f]rom a UE point of view, there are three Data Radio Bearer (DRB) types in MR-DC. The three types are MCG, SCG and split DRB, which is characterized by which cell group that is used for transmission, as illustrated in FIG.2.” – See [¶0012] and “for MR-DC configurations with NR SCG, as it has been evaluated . . . that in some cases NR UE power consumption is 3 to 4 times higher than LTE” – See [¶0188] i.e., the NR branch must be kept in power saving mode longer), comprising:
identifying at least one of a first parameter or a second parameter, wherein each of the first parameter and the second parameter relates to an uplink data to be transmitted by the UE, in case that the UE is in the MR-DC state (“The conditions and events to be monitored can be one or more of the following:” – See [¶0273] “UL buffer status of radio bearers” whereby “UL buffer status may be interpreted as an UL data volume calculation” as further explained infra – See [¶0274] e.g., “data bulk consumption e.g. if second cell group is from a different RAT like NR, and the data bulk for NR is above a threshold” – See [¶0281]; “UL/DL throughput,” e.g., “throughput of bearers of a certain QoS profile” – See [¶0276]; “detection of incoming UL data;” – See [¶0454]; “UL/DL inactivity of radio bearers” – See [¶0277] e.g., “expiry of a timer that is started when the wireless terminal receives a command to enter the operating mode, and the timer is stopped when the wireless terminal receives a command to leave the operating mode;” – See [¶0459]);
wherein the first parameter includes a running average of volume of the uplink data (“the monitoring for indicating the operating mode should be modified in some embodiments includes determining that the UL buffer status (of radio bearers) remains below a first threshold (e.g., buffer_threshold_low) for a specific filtering duration ( e.g. buffer_time_to_trigger) . . . common for all radio bearers whose buffer levels are being monitored” – See [¶0291] and “the wireless terminal uses as input for the condition a filtered version of the calculated data volume (with a filter coefficient a, or parameters to derive it, being configurable), such as the following filtered version of the Data Volume e.g. to be compared with a data volume threshold:
Filtered Data Volume(n)=(a-1)*Filtered Data Volume(n-1)+a*Calculated Data Volume(n)” so that “the condition filters away peaks in the traffic demands . . . so that the condition is only considered as fulfilled if there is persistency in the increase of traffic demand before the condition is considered as fulfilled,” i.e., a moving average calculation– See [¶¶0413-14]) and
the second parameter includes a priority level of the uplink data (“the monitoring for indicating the operating mode should be modified includes . . . monitoring . . . the UL/DL throughput of a subset of radio bearers . . . determined based on . . . a service/application type or QoS profile of radio bearers that have a specific QoS profile (5QI or CQI configuration)” – See [¶0298] whereby “[t]he radio resource granted to the UE may be used to transmit data from one or more logical channel depending on the priorities of the logical channels” – See [¶0098] and Fig. 4, showing allocated to QoS flows1);
determining whether the uplink data of the UE meets the first parameter and/or the second parameter (“The monitoring for indicating the operating mode should be modified . . . includes determining that the UL buffer status . . . remains below a first threshold (e.g. buffer_threshold_ high) for a specific filtering duration (e.g. buffer_time_to_trigger)” – See [¶0291] and “[i]ndicating that an operating mode of the second cell group should be modified in some embodiments is when the parameters/thresholds associated with the conditions are met” – See [¶0310]; for the second parameter, the condition is “the MAC entity has new UL data available for a logical channel which belongs to an LCG” – See [¶0100] and “the new UL data belongs to a logical channel with higher priority than the priority of any logical channel containing available UL data which belong to any LCG” – See [¶0101])
wherein the UE is in the MR-DC state with the MCG and the SCG (“Operations of the wireless terminal . . . operating in Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity, MR-DC, and configured with a first cell group associated with a first network node and a second cell group associated with a second network node” are shown in Fig. 17 – See [¶0267] whereby either “the first cell group is a Master Cell Group, MCG, . . . associated with a Master Node, MN. The second cell group in these embodiments is a Secondary Cell Group, SCG, . . . associated with a Secondary Node, SN” – See [¶0268] or “the first cell group is a Secondary Cell Group, SCG” and “the second cell group is a Master Cell Group (MCG)” – See [¶0269] and there may be “radio bearers that are associated with both the first cell group and the second cell group (e.g. SN terminated split bearers, MN terminated split bearers)” – See [¶0298] and Figs. 2-3)
he wireless terminal . . . is configured by the first network node or the second network node to which conditions to monitor, along with associated criteria, thresholds and timers ( e.g. concerned radio bearers or radio bearer types, time to triggers, buffer/throughput thresholds, etc.)” – See [¶0318], i.e., the UE was configured in MR-DC and each MAC entity was configured with its own DRX-Config parameters2 – See Fig. 4, the UE “monitors conditions and events for indicating that an operating mode of the second cell group should be modified,” e.g., from one of “a normal operating mode ( e.g. the second cell group fully operational, no suspended radio bearers, etc.)” to “a reduced operating mode (such as in a power-saving mode)” by configuring the “second cell group in long DRX” – See [¶0270], e.g. “UL buffer threshold<x for threshold_time_to_trigger” means “conditions to operate the second cell group in power-saving mode are fulfilled”– See [¶0318] and “the wireless terminal transmits the indication to the network requesting the change of the operating mode of the second cell group” – See [¶0319] because “the conditions for operating the second cell group in power saving mode while the second cell group is currently operating in normal mode” are met, e.g., the CDRX cycle is too short and the first parameter, i.e., the calculated UL “Data Volume” supra, stays below a threshold for threshold_time_to_trigger – See [¶0321] using the procedure in Fig. 17 to indicate to the network to configure the UE with longer DRX in the second cell group e.g., “The UE Assistance Information procedure is used by the UE to inform the network of: its delay budget report carrying desired increment/ decrement in the connected mode DRX cycle length” – See [¶¶0031-32] and “its preference on DRX parameters for power saving” of each cell group – See [¶0035] then “receives a command from the network to change the operating mode of the second cell group” and “responsive to receiving the command, applies the command and start operating the second cell group in the indicated operating mode” – See [¶0272])
determining a preferred CDRX cycle configuration among the CDRX cycle configurations of the MCG and the SCG transmits an indication to a network requesting a modification for the operating mode of the second cell group responsive to the monitoring indicating the operating mode of the second cell group should be modified” – See [¶0271] e.g., “a new IE . . . is defined for the new field e.g. releasePreferenceSCG” whereby “if the UE indicates 'connected' it means the UE wants to remain with the active,” i.e., normal operating mode with no DRX cycle value change, and “preferredSCG-State-rl7 . . . longDRX” means change to power saving mode – See [¶0419])
transmitting the uplink data to a network entity over one of the MCG and SCG, based on the determined preferred CDRX cycle configuration (“responsive to receiving the command, applying (1707) the command and start operating the second cell group in the indicated operating mode” – See [¶0448], and upon “detection of incoming UL data” – See [¶0454] and when “[t]here is also a threshold ul-DataSplitThreshold specified under the more ThanOneRLC IE. If the UL buffer at the UE corresponding to that split bearer is below this threshold, the UE will only do the BSR reporting and/or UL scheduling request to the node hosting the primaryPath (e.g. if primaryPath is MCG, to MN, i.e. scheduling request/BSR sent via MCG MAC to the MN)” – See [¶0052] whereby “the PDCP Transmit Operation [is] from 3GPP 38.323” – See [¶¶0053-95]).
Teyeb does not explicitly teach:
comparing, a value of a connected mode discontinuous reception (CDRX) cycle configuration of a master cell group (MCG) with a value of CDRX cycle configuration for a secondary cell group (SCG) (e.g., based on whether the at least one of the first parameter or the second parameter being met); and
determining, the preferred CDRX cycle configuration corresponding to one of the MCG and SCG with a lower CDRX cycle value as a result of the comparison.
Wallentin, like Teyeb, teaches UE configured in MR-DC, e.g., as shown in Fig. 5, describing in detail “the 3GPP Architecture Options” – See [¶¶0080-100] and Fig. 4, indicating “3GPP RAN2 Rel-16 spec text 37.340” – See [¶0101] referencing 3GPP TS 37.340 V17.0.0 (2022-03), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and NR; Multi-connectivity; Stage 2 (Release 17)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 34.740) for procedures configuring the SN/SCG – See [¶0102], including for split bearers – See [¶0106] (stating: “For split bearers, MCG and SCG resources may be requested of such an amount, that the QoS for the respective QoS Flow is guaranteed by the exact sum of resources provided by the MCG and the SCG together, or even more”).
Like Teyeb, Wallentin teaches methods for “efficient SCG/SCell activation/deactivation . . . to improve the network energy efficiency and UE battery life for UEs in MR-DC” – See [¶0184] and Fig. 5.
Wallentin describes the UE DRX cycle configuration – See [¶¶0165-67], referencing “TS 36/38.321 and 36/38.300 illustrate what is known as a DRX cycle” with the UE in RRC_CONNECTED mode – See [¶0165] and Fig. 12; see also 3GPP TS 37.340, at page 17, providing that “[i]n MR-DC, separate DRX configurations are provided for MCG and SCG. A secondary DRX group can be configured in MR-DC for a cell group that includes cells in different Frequency Ranges as specified in TS 38.331 [4].” Wallentin further teaches that “[t]ransition from short DRX to long DRX” as taught in Teyeb, “is controlled . . . by the network by transmitting a Long DRX Command MAC CE to the UE” with “a Long DRX Command MAC CE [sent] to the UE on the DL-SCH transport channel in a cell of the corresponding cell group, as specified in 3GPP TS 36.321 and TS 38.321” – See [¶0174].
Wallentin teaches comparing, based on whether the at least one of the first parameter or the second parameter being met, a value of a connected mode discontinuous reception (CDRX) cycle configuration of a master cell group (MCG) with a value of CDRX cycle configuration for a secondary cell group (SCG), (“One alternative for reducing SCG power consumption is to configure a long DRX for the SCG, while keeping a short DRX cycle on MCG in order to improve responsiveness” – See [¶0185] because “one problem with long DRX is that it increases the delay involved when resuming transmission on the SCG,” e.g., “[d]epending on the DRX cycle configured for the UE for the SCG, this delay ranges between 0-640 ms for short DRX and 0-10s for long DRX” and even though “[f]or UL triggered traffic, the UE can at any time exit DRX by sending scheduling request on the SCG”– See [¶0186] “the problem of bringing the UE out of DRX can occur also in [any] direction” – See [¶0187]); and
determining, the preferred CDRX cycle configuration corresponding to one of the MCG and SCG with a lower CDRX cycle value as a result of the comparison (the “MCG could be configured with a longer inactivity timer and shorter DRX cycle, such that the UE enters SCG DRX more quickly compared to MCG and while in SCG DRX, the DRX cycle is longer compared to MCG” – See [¶0186], e.g., the SCG “DRX cycle is an integer multiple of the primary DRX, such that on durations of the primary and secondary DRX groups overlap” – See [¶0188], then when UL traffic accumulates in the buffer below the threshold taught in Teyeb, the UE will “wake-up” the most responsive branch, i.e., the branch with the lower/shorter DRX cycle thus “enabling the UE to minimize its operation with the SCG/SN depending on traffic demands” – See [¶0189]).
Thus, Teyeb and Wallentin each teaches a UE configured in MR-DC with a SCG/secondary cell group configured with long DRX for power savings. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have understood that the step of comparing, based on whether the amount of UL data for transmission in the UE buffer being under a low threshold (e.g., the configured ul-DataSplitThreshold), the DRX cycle length of the SCG branch (e.g., NR RAT/high power consumer) and MCG branch (e.g. LTE RAT/lower power consumption) to determine that the lower C-DRX cycle branch is preferred for UL transmission because it has lower delay in “waking up” from C-DRX state, as taught in Wallentin, could be combined with the monitoring for indicating whether the operating mode of the SCH should be modified, determining that the UL buffer status remains below a first threshold, and transmitting the UL data in the UE buffer over one of the MCG and SCG based on the determined preferred CDRX cycle as taught by Teyeb because both procedures target MR-DC enhancements to keep the SN/SCG in long DRX for power saving on the NR branch. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the combination through techniques known in the art. Finally, the combination achieves the predictable result of enabling the UE to minimize its operation with the SCG/SN depending on traffic demands when the demands is low while benefiting from increased responsiveness of the MCG/MN, as taught by Wallentin.
Therefore, Amended Claim 1 is obvious over Teyeb in view of Wallentin.
Regarding Amended Claim 2, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Teyeb further teaches the method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
transmitting a request to the network entity for modifying one of The UE Assistance Information procedure is used by the UE to inform the network of: its delay budget report carrying desired increment/decrement in the connected mode DRX cycle length” – See [¶¶0031-32] and “its preference on DRX parameters for power saving” – See [¶0035] e.g., “possible IEs that can be included in the UE Assistance information for requesting [change of operating mode/increase of DRX cycle] of the SCG” – See [¶0417] e.g., ReleasePreference-r17 may be set to “longDRX, connected” and “if the UE indicates 'connected' it means the UE wants to remain with the active” with the SCG but with longer DRX cycle configuration – See [¶0419] and Fig. 17 at step 1703).
Wallentin further teaches wherein the request corresponds to a modification of the CDRX cycle configuration other than the determined CDRX cycle configuration (because “reducing SCG power consumption is to configure a long DRX for the SCG, while keeping a short DRX cycle on MCG in order to improve responsiveness” – See [¶0185], the UE prefers the short DRX cycle of the MCG for low traffic volume and requests modification of the CDRX cycle configuration of the SCG to be longer, as taught in Teyeb supra).
Therefore, Amended Claim 2 is obvious over Teyeb in view of Wallentin.
Regarding Claim 4, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Teyeb further teaches the method as claimed in claim 1, wherein determining the at least one of the first parameter and the second parameter, comprises:
identifying that the volume of the uplink data is below a specified threshold value (“the fulfillment of a condition, that can be a comparison between the calculated data volume and a configured data volume threshold” – See [¶0412])
wherein the volume of the uplink is identified based on at least one of an uplink data pattern and a frequency of packet data convergence protocol service data unit (PDCP SDU) (“The conditions to be monitored comprise one or more of” – See [¶0372] an “indication associated to data bulk consumption e.g. if second cell group is from a different RAT like NR, and the data bulk for NR is renewed at the end of a time duration, like the end of the month where subscription bulk is renewed” – See [¶0381] i.e., an UL data pattern; in addition, the “UL data volume can be calculated at the PDCP layer at the wireless terminal,” e.g., “the calculated amount of data in the wireless terminal's UL data buffers (i.e. PDCP/RLC buffers) represented as a numerical value, such as number of octets” – See [¶0405] including “the PDCP SDUs or which no PDCP Data PDUs have been constructed” – See [¶0406] and “the PDCP SDUs to be retransmitted” – See [¶0409] whereby “a time to trigger (TTT) is introduced for the data volume (e.g. filtered version, nonfiltered version), e.g., dataVolume-TTT . . . to consider the condition as fulfilled when the data volume calculated (filtered or unfiltered) fulfills the condition ( e.g. data volume above a threshold or below a threshold) for a time duration of a TTT” – See [¶0415] and TTT could average the frequency of PDCP SDUs because “TTT avoids the wireless terminal to consider the condition as fulfilled due to short peaks in traffic demands and/or short drops” – See id.)
Therefore, Claim 4 is obvious over Teyeb in view of Wallentin.
Regarding Claim 5, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Teyeb further teaches identifying that the priority level of the uplink data is above a specified priority level (“In NR Buffer Status Reports (BSRs) are used for requesting UL-SCH resources when a UE needs to send new data” whereby the buffered UL data/traffic is allocated to logical channels “based on QoS profile of the channel” – See [¶0098]; the request is sent, e.g., when “the MAC entity has new UL data available for a logical channel” and “the new UL data belongs to a logical channel with higher priority than the priority of any logical channel containing available UL data which belong to any LCG” – See [¶0101]; furthermore, the request includes “the total amount of data available which is calculated as specified in 3GPP TS 38.322 and TS 38.323, across all logical channels of a logical channel group after the MAC PDU has been built i.e. after the logical channel prioritization procedure” – See [¶0106])
wherein the priority level of the uplink data is identified based on at least one of a QoS Class Identifier (QCI), and a guaranteed bit rate (GBR) value associated with the uplink data (“The UL buffer status of radio bearers comprises a total UL buffer status of all radio bearers, or UL buffer status of a subset of radio bearers . . . determined based on . . . a Cell group association comprising . . . a Service/Application type or QoS profile comprising at least one of radio bearers that have a specific QoS profile (5QI or CQI configuration) (e.g. bearers with a certain GBR, Guaranteed Bit Rate, URLLC bearers with strict latency requirements, etc.)” – See [¶¶0284-89]; see also Note 1, citing 3GPP 38.300, referenced by Wallentin:[¶0165], stating, at page 112 that “Standardized or pre-configured 5G QoS characteristics are derived from the 5QI value,” e.g., “Priority level”)
Therefore, Claim 5 is obvious over Teyeb in view of Wallentin.
Regarding Claim 7, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Teyeb further teaches the method as claimed in claim 1, wherein transmitting the uplink data, comprises:
determining whether one of an MCG stack and an SCG stack is in an awake state (“monitoring the conditions includes monitoring the conditions for operating the second cell group in power saving mode while the second cell group is currently operating in normal mode and monitoring the conditions for operating the second cell group in normal mode while the second cell group is currently operating in power saving mode” – See [¶0321], i.e., the UE determines in which operation mode operates the second cell group, be it the MCG or the SCG, whereby, e.g., “the operating mode of the SCG can be changed on a need basis considering the current internal conditions at a UE ( e.g. UL buffer status, arrival of UL data for a suspended bearer, UE battery level, mobility state, overheating level, etc.)” – See [¶0344]). However, Teyeb does not teach the UL transmission based on this determination.
Wallentin, like Teyeb, teaches changes in the operating mode based on the UE monitoring a condition/event (“The UE may transit from DRX operation to non-DRX operation based on an event, e.g. when it needs to transmit or receive data, when DRX is de-configured by the network or even based on UE implementation” – See [¶0167]).
Wallentin further teaches transmitting the uplink data over one of the MCG and SCG based on the determination (“the UE may be in DRX on the MCG, while traffic is still ongoing on the SCG. This may be the case for a configuration where traffic is offloaded to SCG, while there is no traffic on the MCG and the UE thus is in DRX on the MCG” – See [¶0187]).
Therefore, Claim 7 is obvious over Teyeb in view of Wallentin.
Regarding Amended Claim 8, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Teyeb further teaches the method as claimed in claim 1, wherein transmitting the uplink data, comprises:
determining if a grant value of uplink data in the determined CDRX cycle configuration is greater than the volume of the uplink data with the priority level above the specified priority level; and transmitting the uplink data with the priority level below the specified priority level over the determined CDRX cycle configuration (“The MAC entity determines the amount of UL data available for a logical channel according to the data volume calculation procedure in TSs 38.322 [3] and 38.323 [4]” – See [¶0117] and uses Buffer Status Reports (BSRs) “for requesting UL-SCH resources when a UE needs to send new data” and “[r]esponding to BSR, the network (gNB) may grant UL radio resources to the UE for transmitting the queued data” – See [¶0098] for “Buffer Size calculation (as specified in TS 38.3213 [4] and TS 36.321 [12])” – See [¶0085]; see also 3GPP TS 38.331, at page 600, specifying IE LogicalChannelConfig used to configure the logical channel parameters including priority and schedulingRequestID, whereby these parameters allow the UE’s MAC entity to perform prioritization and mapping of logical channel data to resources allocated in the received UL grant, e.g., from the branch with the preferred CDRX cycle configuration, as specified by § 5.4.3.1.3, 3GPP TS 38.321, at page 60, that is: “The MAC entity shall, when a new transmission is performed: 1>allocate resources to the logical channels as follows: 2>logical channels selected in clause 5.4.3.1.2 for the UL grant . . . are allocated resources in a decreasing priority order” and “if any resources remain, all the logical channels selected in clause 5.4.3.1.2 are served in a strict decreasing priority order . . . until either the data for that logical channel or the UL grant is exhausted, whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equal priority should be served equally”; therefore, here, when the UE determines to send UL data on the branch with the preferred CRDX cycle configuration, e.g., the lower CRDX cycle, would calculate the UL data volume and request an UL grant on radio resources of that cells group and determine if spare resources are still available after sending UL data from the highest priority logical channels associated with eth MAC entity of that branch – See, e.g., Fig. 4)
Therefore, Amended Claim 8 is obvious over Teyeb in view of Wallentin.
Regarding Amended Claim 9, Teyeb teaches in Fig. 14 a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system supporting a multi-radio access technology (RAT) dual connectivity (MR-DC) state – See Fig. 2, comprising:
a transceiver; one or more processors including processing circuitry: and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively (“wireless terminal 1400 may include an antenna 1407 (e.g., corresponding to antenna 4111 of FIG. 21), and transceiver circuitry 1401 (also referred to as a transceiver, e.g., corresponding to interface 4114 of FIG. 21) including a transmitter and a receiver configured to provide uplink and downlink radio communications with a base station( s) ( e.g., corresponding to network node 4160 of FIG. 21, also referred to as a RAN node) of a radio access network” and “may also include processing circuitry 1403 (also referred to as a processor, e.g., corresponding to processing circuitry 4120 of FIG. 21) coupled to the transceiver circuitry, and memory circuitry 1405 (also referred to as memory, e.g., corresponding to device readable medium 4130 of FIG. 21) coupled to the processing circuitry” whereby “memory circuitry 1405 may include computer readable program code that when executed by the processing circuitry 1403 causes the processing circuitry to perform operations according to embodiments disclosed” – See [¶0248]) cause the UE to: execute the steps recited in Amended Claim 1 using the same language and no new limitation. Because Amended Claim 1 is obvious over Teyeb in view of Wallentin, Amended Claim 9 is also obvious over Teyeb in view of Wallentin.
Therefore, Amended Claim 9 is obvious over Teyeb in view of Wallentin.
Regarding Claims 10, 12-13, and 15-16, as amended, each dependent from Amended Claim 9, each of the claims recites the same limitations as disclosed in Claims 2, 4-5, and 7-8, respectively, as amended, with no other limitations, only applied to the UE of Amended Claim 9. Because each of the Claims 2, 4-5, and 7-9, as amended, is obvious over Teyeb in view of Wallentin, each of the Claims 10-11, 12-13, and 15-16 is obvious over Teyeb in view of Wallentin.
In sum, claims 1-2, 4-5, 7-10, 12-13, and 15-16, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as obvious over Teyeb in view of Wallentin.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Zhang et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0261284 as applied in the previous Office action;
Tabet et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0059988 as applied in the previous Office action;
Vadapalli et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0418035 discloses enhanced CDRX operations and technique for signaling user equipment (UE) assistance information (UAI) indicating a preferred set of connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) parameters, a start offset, and/or a slot offset to a network entity;
Zhang et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0122107 discloses user equipment (UE) device may reside in a state of dual connectivity with a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG), wherein the radio access technologies of the MCG and the SCG are different; and traffic-rate based branch deactivation;
Gummadi et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0232326 provides techniques for a user equipment (UE) to transmit assistance information to request changes to discontinuous reception (DRX) parameters to improve performance of the UE and its connection to a wireless network;
Xie et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0377832 teaches CDRX configuration associated with two RAT technologies whereby the first ON occasion and lhe second ON occasion are separated by a time threshold;
Ranjan et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0269821 discloses UE assistance information request to update the CDRX cycle;
Vadapalli et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0418035 discloses signaling user equipment (UE) assistance information (UAI) indicating a preferred set of connected discontinuous reception (CDRX) parameters when operating in a dual connectivity mode involving a new radio (NR) and a long term evolution (LTE);
Shahid et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0217367 discloses dynamically adjusting Connected Mode Discontinuous Reception (CDRX) parameters;
Dalmiya et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0099977 provides techniques for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE) capable of establishing a split bearer involving at least primary and secondary radio link control (RLC) entities based on one or more conditions, whether to submit a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) protocol data unit (PDU) to the primary RLC entity or the secondary RLC entity according to one or more rules and submitting the PDCP PDU to at least one of the primary or secondary RLC entities in accordance with the decision;
Teyeb et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0308905 discloses a terminal operating in Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC) and methods to modify DRX parameters on conditions;
Da Silva et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0292194 discloses a device configured with Multi-Radio Access Technology Dual Connectivity (MR-DC) and reconfiguration procedures for DRX configuration in cell groups;
Dhanapal et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0345454 discloses using link quality in evaluation based on a data split at a protocol layer so that a network component of base station can utilize the data to configure a data flow over the links based on link quality metrics provided, including DRX;
Wang et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0053593 discloses techniques that enable fast discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle adjustment;
3GPP TS 37.340 V17.0.0 (2022-03), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and NR; Multi-connectivity; Stage 2 (Release 17)”;
3GPP TS 23.203 V17.2.0 (2021-12), “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Policy and charging control architecture (Release 17)”;
3GPP TS 38.300 V17.0.0 (2022-03), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; NR and NG-RAN Overall Description; Stage 2 (Release 17)”;
3GPP TS 38.331 V17.0.0 (2022-03), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 17)”;
3GPP TS 38.321 V17.0.0 (2022-03), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (Release 17)”;
3GPP TS 38.323 V17.0.0 (2022-03), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) specification (Release 17).”
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/L.G.G./Examiner, Art Unit 2478
/JOSEPH E AVELLINO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478
1 See, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.300 V17.0.0 (2022-03), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network;
NR; NR and NG-RAN Overall Description; Stage 2 (Release 17)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.300) specifying in §12, at page 110, the QoS flow, stating, at page 112 that “The 5QI is associated to QoS characteristics giving guidelines for setting node specific parameters for each QoS Flow” whereby “Standardized or pre-configured 5G QoS characteristics are derived from the 5QI value,” e.g., “Priority level” or “Packet Delay Budget” as specified by 3GPP TS 23.501.
2 In general, “[i]f a UE is configured with MR-DC, the radioBearerConfig will have two radio bearer configurations, one associated with the MCG (i.e. for MN terminated bearers) and one associated with the SCG (i.e. for SN terminated bearers)” and “an associated PDCP configuration” including configuration with moreThanOneRLC and ul-DataSplitThreshold governing the primaryPath and the link for transmitting data in the UL buffer – See [¶0052] and [¶¶0096-97] as specified in 3GPP TS 38.331 V17.0.0 (2022-03), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 17),” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.331) referenced at [¶0097], whereby 3GPP 38.331 specifies, at page 686, the PDCP-Config Information Element “used to set the configurable PDCP parameters for signalling, . . . and data radio bearers”, at page 771, the IE RadioBearerConfig “used to add, modify and release signalling, . . .and/or data radio bearers”, at page 578, DRX-Config “used to configure DRX related parameters” per MAC entity shown in Fig. 4, and at page 1011 the IE UE-MRDC-Capability “used to convey the UE Radio Access Capability Parameters for MR-DC, see TS 38.306.”
3 3GPP TS 38.321 V17.0.0 (2022-03), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (Release 17)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.321) provides in § 5.4.3.1.3, at page 61-62 the priority order of data/traffic buffered for different logical channels, including control/UL-CCCH data, BSR, and data from any Logical Channel, except data from UL-CCCH, and further provides, in § 5.4.3.1.1, at page 59-60, the Logical Channel Prioritization (LCP) procedure applied whenever a new transmission is performed whereby the “RRC controls the scheduling of uplink data by signalling for each logical channel per MAC entity: priority where an increasing priority value indicates a lower priority level” and in § 5.4.1, at page 52-53, that the MAC entity processes the received UL grants as follows: “For the MAC entity configured with lch-basedPrioritization, priority of an uplink grant is determined by the highest priority among priorities of the logical channels that are multiplexed (i.e. the MAC PDU to transmit is already stored in the HARQ buffer) or have data available that can be multiplexed . . . in the MAC PDU, according to the mapping restrictions as described in clause 5.4.3.1.2. The priority of an uplink grant for which no data for logical channels is multiplexed or can be multiplexed in the MAC PDU is lower than either the priority of an uplink grant for which data for any logical channels is multiplexed or can be multiplexed in the MAC PDU or the priority of the logical channel triggering an SR.”
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