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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claim(s) 1, 4-7, 9, 12-15, 17, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LUTCHOOMUN et al (US 2025/0159674) in view of XU et al (US 2025/0386240)
Regarding claim 1, 17, A method of wireless communication of a user equipment (UE), comprising:
establishing a connection supporting an extended reality (XR) application service with a base station (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶116, Fig. 2, the XR application service connection is established between a UE and a base station);
reporting, to the base station, a delay status report (DSR) report to indicate a buffer size for data to be transmitted to the base station, wherein the DSR includes timing information (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶224-227, ¶231-232, an information message including a delay budget report in terms of a report including a timing/delay information, and amount of buffer (indication of buffer size) is sent to the base station from the UE);
receiving a configuration instruction from the base station (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶159-160, ¶225, receiving configuration information from the base station); and
configuring resources on the UE according to the configuration instruction to transmit the data to the base station (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶159-162, ¶225, receiving the configuration information and implementing the information to allocate resources for at least the UE).
LUTCHOOMUN remains silent, however, XU et al (US 2025/0386240) discloses that the timing information includes a remaining time calculated based on a packet convergence protocol (PDCP) discard timer value (XU: ¶8, ¶17, ¶92, ¶112, a remaining time determined/calculated before the PDCP discard timer expiration and included in the report provided from a UE to a base station).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LUTCHOOMUN would have been motivated to use the teachings of XU as it provides a way to improve user experience of XR service (¶2, ¶67). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LUTCHOOMUN with teachings of XU in order to improve experience and reduce wastage of resources by avoid packets that are not useful and extensively delayed (¶2, ¶67).
Regarding claim 4, LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU discloses method of claim 1, wherein the timing information indicates an arrival time of a new data packet or information related to future BSR (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶140, arrival time of a new PDU).
Regarding claim 5, LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU discloses method of claim 4, wherein the timing information (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶140, arrival time of a new PDU).
LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU remains silent regarding the timing information being an absolute timing information.
However, LUTHCOOMUN in some embodiments discloses that “time” information is absolute timing information. (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶280, absolute time information).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU would have been motivated to use the teachings of LUTHCOOMUN in another embodiment of the time being an absolute time as it provides the most accurate information regarding time without requiring any specific reference other than a global time. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU with teachings of LUTHCOOMUN in another embodiment of the time being an absolute time in order to improve time synchronization with a universal time.
Regarding claim 6, LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU discloses method of claim 4, wherein timing information (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶140, arrival time of a new PDU).
LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU remains silent regarding timing information being relative timing information.
However, LUTHCOOMUN in some embodiments discloses that “time” information is absolute timing information. (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶280, absolute time information).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU would have been motivated to use the teachings of LUTHCOOMUN in another embodiment of the time being a relative time as it requires minimal timing information to be transmitted minimizing the overhead signaling. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU with teachings of LUTHCOOMUN in another embodiment of the time being relative time in order to minimize timing information being transmitted in overhead signaling resources.
Regarding claim 7, LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU discloses method of claim 1, wherein the timing information indicates remaining packet delay budget (PDB) information (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶136, ¶120, allowed delay budget violation report).
Regarding claim 9, LUTCHOOMUN discloses method of wireless communication of a base station, comprising:
entering a connection supporting an extended reality (XR) application service with a user equipment (UE) (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶116, Fig. 2, the XR application service connection is established between a UE and a base station);
receiving, from the UE, a delay status report (DSR) to indicate a buffer size of the UE for data to be received from the UE, wherein the DSR includes timing information (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶224-227, ¶231-232, an information message including a delay budget report in terms of a report including a timing/delay information, and amount of buffer (indication of buffer size) is sent to the base station from the UE);
generating a configuration instruction for configuring resources on the UE according to the DSR and the timing information (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶159-160, ¶170, ¶174, ¶224, receiving configuration information from the base station); and
sending the configuration instruction to the UE (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶159-162, ¶170, ¶174, ¶224, receiving the configuration information and implementing the information to allocate resources for at least the UE).
LUTCHOOMUN remains silent, however, XU et al (US 2025/0386240) discloses that the timing information includes a remaining time calculated based on a packet convergence protocol (PDCP) discard timer value (XU: ¶8, ¶17, ¶92, a remaining time determined/calculated before the PDCP discard timer expiration and included in the report provided from a UE to a base station).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LUTCHOOMUN would have been motivated to use the teachings of XU as it provides a way to improve user experience of XR service (¶2, ¶67). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LUTCHOOMUN with teachings of XU in order to improve experience and reduce wastage of resources by avoid packets that are not useful and extensively delayed (¶2, ¶67).
Regarding claim 12, LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU discloses method of claim 9, wherein the timing information indicates an arrival time of a new data packet to the UE or information related to future BSR (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶140, arrival time of a new PDU).
Regarding claim 13, LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU discloses method of claim 12, comprising the timing information (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶140, arrival time of a new PDU).
LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU remains silent regarding the timing information being an absolute timing information.
However, LUTHCOOMUN in some embodiments discloses that “time” information is absolute timing information. (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶280, absolute time information).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU would have been motivated to use the teachings of LUTHCOOMUN in another embodiment of the time being an absolute time as it provides the most accurate information regarding time without requiring any specific reference other than a global time. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU with teachings of LUTHCOOMUN in another embodiment of the time being an absolute time in order to improve time synchronization with a universal time.
Regarding claim 14, LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU discloses method of claim 12, wherein timing information (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶140, arrival time of a new PDU).
LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU remains silent regarding, however, in another embodiment LUTCHOOMUN discloses timing information being relative timing information (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶280, relative time information).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU would have been motivated to use the teachings of LUTHCOOMUN in another embodiment of the time being a relative time as it requires minimal timing information to be transmitted minimizing the overhead signaling. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU with teachings of LUTHCOOMUN in another embodiment of the time being relative time in order to minimize timing information being transmitted in overhead signaling resources.
Regarding claim 15, LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU discloses method of claim 9, wherein the timing information indicates remaining packet delay budget (PDB) information (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶118, ¶120, ¶150, delay budget report including timing information is sent to the base station from the UE).
Claim(s) 2, 10, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU as applied to claims above, further in view of OHTA et al (US 2020/0022134)
Regarding claim 2, 18, LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the DSR includes a buffer status report (BSR) (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶150, BSR is sent).
LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU remains silent regarding the BSR including a BSR index indicating a corresponding buffer size range in a BSR table.
However, OHTA et al (US 2020/0022134) discloses the BSR including a BSR index indicating a corresponding buffer size range in a BSR table (OHTA: ¶47, BSR includes a BSR index corresponding to a Buffer Size in a BSR Table).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU would have been motivated to use the teachings of OHTA as it improves transmission efficiency of the BSR (¶5). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU with teachings of OHTA in order to enhance transmission efficiency.
Regarding claim 10, LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU discloses method of claim 9, wherein the DSR includes a buffer status report (BSR) (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶150, BSR is sent).
LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU remains silent regarding the BSR including a BSR index indicating a corresponding buffer size range in a BSR table.
However, OHTA et al (US 2020/0022134) discloses the BSR including a BSR index indicating a corresponding buffer size range in a BSR table (OHTA: ¶47, BSR includes a BSR index corresponding to a Buffer Size in a BSR Table).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU would have been motivated to use the teachings of OHTA as it improves transmission efficiency of the BSR (¶5). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU with teachings of OHTA in order to enhance transmission efficiency.
Claim(s) 3, 11, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU as applied to claims above, further in view of OHTA et al (US 2020/0022134) still further in view pf PARADAS et al (US 2025/0071606)
Regarding claim 3, 19, LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU discloses method of claim 1, wherein the DSR includes a BSR (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶150, BSR is sent).
LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU remains silent regarding the BSR including a BSR index indicating a corresponding buffer size range in a BSR table.
However, OHTA et al (US 2020/0022134) discloses the BSR including a BSR index indicating a corresponding buffer size range in a BSR table (OHTA: ¶47, BSR includes a BSR index corresponding to a Buffer Size in a BSR Table).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU would have been motivated to use the teachings of OHTA as it improves transmission efficiency of the BSR (¶5). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU with teachings of OHTA in order to enhance transmission efficiency.
LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU modified by OHTA remains silent regarding a table index selecting a corresponding BSR table from a plurality of BSR tables.
However, PRADAS et al discloses a table index selecting a corresponding BSR table from a plurality of BSR tables. (PRADAS: ¶84, ¶108, BSR Tables having different indexes).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU modified by OHTA would have been motivated to use the teachings of PRADAS as it provides flexibility for different variety of set of ranges of buffer sizes for different XR services (¶108). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU modified by OHTA with teachings of PRADAS in order to enhance granularity of buffer size ranges.
Regarding claim 11, LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU discloses method of claim 9, wherein the DSR includes a BSR (LUTCHOOMUN: ¶150, BSR is sent).
LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU remains silent regarding the BSR including a BSR index indicating a corresponding buffer size range in a BSR table.
However, OHTA et al (US 2020/0022134) discloses the BSR including a BSR index indicating a corresponding buffer size range in a BSR table (OHTA: ¶47, BSR includes a BSR index corresponding to a Buffer Size in a BSR Table).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU would have been motivated to use the teachings of OHTA as it improves transmission efficiency of the BSR (¶5). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LUTCHOOMUN with teachings of OHTA in order to enhance transmission efficiency.
LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU modified by OHTA remains silent regarding a table index selecting a corresponding BSR table from a plurality of BSR tables.
However, PRADAS et al discloses a table index selecting a corresponding BSR table from a plurality of BSR tables. (PRADAS: ¶84, ¶108, BSR Tables having different indexes).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU modified by OHTA would have been motivated to use the teachings of PRADAS as it provides flexibility for different variety of set of ranges of buffer sizes for different XR services (¶108). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU modified by OHTA with teachings of PRADAS in order to enhance granularity of buffer size ranges.
Claim(s) 8, 16, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU as applied to claim 7/15/ above, further in view of ELSHAFIE et al (US 2024/0107543)
Regarding claim 8, LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU discloses method of claim 7, wherein the remaining PDB information is sent.
LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU remains silent regarding, however, ELSHAFIE et al (US 2024/0107543) discloses a PDB index indicating a corresponding PDB range in a PDB table (ELSHAFIE: ¶82, TABLE 2, Flow index, the flow index corresponding to a specific PDB being equivalent to the PDB index).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU would have been motivated to use the teachings of ELSHAFIE as it improves transmission efficiency of the PDB by using lower overhead resources. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU with teachings of ELSHAFIE in order to enhance transmission efficiency of control resource utilization.
Regarding claim 16, LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU discloses method of claim 15, wherein the remaining PDB information is sent.
LUTCHOOMUN remains silent regarding, however, ELSHAFIE et al (US 2024/0107543) discloses a PDB index indicating a corresponding PDB range in a PDB table (ELSHAFIE: ¶82, TABLE 2, Flow index, the flow index corresponding to a specific PDB being equivalent to the PDB index).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU would have been motivated to use the teachings of ELSHAFIE as it improves transmission efficiency of the PDB by using lower overhead resources. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LUTCHOOMUN modified by XU with teachings of ELSHAFIE in order to enhance transmission efficiency of control resource utilization.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/16/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicants argue,
“
PNG
media_image1.png
592
978
media_image1.png
Greyscale
…
PNG
media_image2.png
710
986
media_image2.png
Greyscale
…
PNG
media_image3.png
1082
982
media_image3.png
Greyscale
”
Examiner respectfully disagrees with the above argument. Applicants argue that the delay information of LUTCHOOMUN is not the same as timing information indicating remaining time calculated based on a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) discard timer.
Examiner submits that LUTCHOOMUN expressly discloses that a delay information indicating a buffer size is transmitted to the base station.
[0224] In certain representative embodiments, certain characteristics of the buffer status of the one or more UEs in the collaborative UE group may result in a CSI report being provided to the NE/gNB and/or the anchor UE, which, for example may be based on: (1) a size of buffered data (e.g., a size of the buffer status for example may use an absolute size, a time average size, a peak size, and/or a size relation to some threshold value, among others) and/or (2) relative priorities of UL data (for example, the number of LCGs).
…
The information which may be known by the anchor UE on a per-UE and/or per-flow basis may include a combination of any one or more of the following: data types (e.g., I-frame or P/B-frame, haptics data, video data, etc.), priority/importance and/or relative priority/importance of data types (e.g., I-frame v/s P-frame), payload sizes of the PDUs (e.g., average, min, max), number of PDUs per ADU/PDU set, number of data flows per-UE, QoS of data (e.g., PDB or PDU set delay bound, PER or PDU error rate), timing information (e.g., offset time slot with respect to a reference time slot, remaining time), and/or Uu link measurements of member UEs (e.g., RSRP measurements of BWP, carriers, resource set configured in member UE).
LUTCHOOMUN remains silent regarding that the timing information includes a remaining time calculated based on a packet convergence protocol (PDCP) discard timer value
However, newly cited reference, XU et al (US 2025/0386240) discloses that the timing information includes a remaining time calculated based on a packet convergence protocol (PDCP) discard timer value (XU: ¶8, ¶17, ¶92, ¶112 a remaining time determined/calculated before the PDCP discard timer expiration and included in the report provided from a UE to a base station).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of LUTCHOOMUN would have been motivated to use the teachings of XU as it provides a way to improve user experience of XR service (¶2, ¶67). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of LUTCHOOMUN with teachings of XU in order to improve experience and reduce wastage of resources by avoid packets that are not useful and extensively delayed (¶2, ¶67).
All arguments are based on the arguments addressed above, and are fully responded to as above.
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 OMER S MIAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7524. The examiner can normally be reached M,T,W,Th: 10a-7p, Fri, 9a-12p.
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, Huy D Vu can be reached at 571-272-3155. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
OMER S. MIAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2461
/OMER S MIAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
Prosecution Insights