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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 8/7/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1, 2, 13-16, 18-20, 22, 28-37 are pending.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 13-16, 18-20, 22, 28, 29, 31-34, 36, and 37 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Damnjanovic et al. (US Pub. No. 2009/0196275) in view of Esswie et al. (US Pub. No. 2023/0239730).
Regarding claims 1 and 15, Damnjanovic discloses a communications device (figure 6), being a first communications device and comprising
a processor (figure 6 processor 606),
a memory (figure 6 memory 608), and
a program or an instruction stored in the memory (paragraphs 18 and 37) and executable on the processor, wherein the program or the instruction, when executed by the processor, causes the first communications device to perform:
a transmission processing method, comprising:
sending, by a first communications device, transmission assistance information of first data, the transmission assistance information being used for assisting a second communications device to execute transmission processing of the first data (see figures 4 and 5; paragraphs 20, 45, 46, 52-55, 65, and 66: terminal determines and sends lowest delay budget included in a MAC header’s bit to base station. The base station uses the delay budget to schedule/process uplink packets. Other assistance information includes data volume in buffer [0046], transmission arrival time [0046], transmission remaining time [0064]); wherein
the first data is grouped based on logical channels (paragraphs 59-61: a radio bearer is corresponding to a logical channel);
wherein the sending, by the first communications device, the transmission assistance information of the first data comprises:
sending, by the first communications device, statistical information of at least one group of data, wherein the statistical information comprises time statistical information (see figures 4 and 5; paragraphs 20, 45, 46, 52-55, 65, and 66: terminals determines and sends lowest delay budget (assistance information) included in a MAC header’s bit to base station. The assistance information include transmission arrival time [0046] and transmission remaining time [0064]).
Damnjanovic does not teach wherein the time statistical information comprises at least one of the following: an arrival period.
However, in the same field of assistance transmission of LCG, Esswie discloses wherein the time statistical information comprises at least one of the following: an arrival period (figure 5 UL timing information 1-5 with “Information age”; figure 6 step 609; paragraphs 54 and 73: “age information” refers to the time duration from the arrival time of the UL packet at the LCG buffer to the transmission time of the current UL grant).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Damnjanovic wherein the time statistical information comprises at least one of the following: an arrival period.
The motivation would have been to allow network entity to identify how long the currently transmitted UL packets per UE per LCG have been waiting in the buffer (paragraph 73).
Claims 13 and 18 are rejected similarly as claim 1 above. Damnjanovic’s figure 5 further teaches second device/base station’s perspective. Damnjanovic further teaches a communications device (figure 7), being a second communications device and comprising a processor (figure 7 processor 714), a memory (figure 7 memory 716), and a program or an instruction stored in the memory (paragraphs 23 and 37) and executable on the processor, wherein when the program or the instruction is executed by the processor.
Claim 19 is rejected similarly as claim 1 above. Damnjanovic further teaches non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing a program or an instruction, wherein when the program or the instruction is executed by a processor (paragraphs 18 and 37).
Claim 20 is rejected similarly as claim 13 above. Damnjanovic further teaches non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing a program or an instruction, wherein when the program or the instruction is executed by a processor (paragraphs 23 and 37).
Regarding claims 2, 16, 22, , all limitations of claims 1, 13, 15 are disclosed above. Damnjanovic further teaches the first data is grouped based on at least one of:
time threshold values (paragraphs 61 and 62); or
data packets (paragraph 49: set of data packets).
Regarding claim 14, all limitations of claim 13 are disclosed above. Damnjanovic further teaches the transmission processing comprises at least one of:
data scheduling (paragraphs 20 and figure 5 step 508).
Regarding claims 28, 33, all limitations of claims 1 and 15 are disclosed above. Damnjanovic further teaches the statistical information further comprises data volume statistical information (paragraph 46). Esswie’s figure 5 buffer size 0-4.
Regarding claims 29, 34, all limitations of claims 1 and 15 are disclosed above. Damnjanovic further teaches the time statistical information further comprises at least one of the following: statistical information of transmission waiting time (paragraphs 50-51, 62, 64); or statistical information of transmission remaining time (paragraph 64).
Regarding claims 31, 36, all limitations of claims 1 and 15 are disclosed above. Damnjanovic does not teach but Esswie discloses the sending, by the first communications device, the transmission assistance information of the first data comprises one of: sending, by the first communications device, the transmission assistance information based on a preset period (paragraph 40: periodic buffer report); after receiving, by the first communications device, a transmission indication sent by the second communications device, sending the transmission assistance information according to the transmission indication (paragraph 40: BSR configuration from NE); based on a preset rule, sending, by the first communications device, the transmission assistance information under a condition of meeting the preset rule (paragraph 40: trigger); or based on a trigger of a buffer status report (BSR), sending, by the first communications device, the transmission assistance information in a case of the trigger (paragraph 40).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Damnjanovic the sending, by the first communications device, the transmission assistance information of the first data comprises one of: sending, by the first communications device, the transmission assistance information based on a preset period; after receiving, by the first communications device, a transmission indication sent by the second communications device, sending the transmission assistance information according to the transmission indication; based on a preset rule, sending, by the first communications device, the transmission assistance information under a condition of meeting the preset rule; or based on a trigger of a buffer status report (BSR), sending, by the first communications device, the transmission assistance information in a case of the trigger.
The motivation would have been for preset rule/configuration.
Regarding claims 32, 37, all limitations of claims 31 and 36 are disclosed above. Damnjanovic does not teach but Esswie discloses wherein the based on the preset rule, sending, by the first communications device, the transmission assistance information under the condition of meeting the preset rule comprises:
in a case that the first communications device sends the statistical information of the at least one group of data, and the first communications device has reported statistical information of data groups for target logical channel, reporting, by the first communications device, the transmission assistance information for the target logical channel when it is detected by the first communications device that the statistical information has changed, wherein the first data is data corresponding to a first logical channel, and the target logical channel is one or more logical channels in the first logical channel (paragraph 40: buffer size and/or LCG quickly change trigger BSR reporting).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Damnjanovic in a case that the first communications device sends the statistical information of the at least one group of data, and the first communications device has reported statistical information of data groups for target logical channel, reporting, by the first communications device, the transmission assistance information for the target logical channel when it is detected by the first communications device that the statistical information has changed, wherein the first data is data corresponding to a first logical channel, and the target logical channel is one or more logical channels in the first logical channel.
The motivation is to update network entity of its buffer status.
Claim(s) 30 and 35 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Damnjanovic et al. (US Pub. No. 2009/0196275) in view of Esswie et al. (US Pub. No. 2023/0239730) in view of Fan et al. (US Pub. No. 2022/0224446).
Regarding claims 30 and 35, all limitations of claims 1 and 15 are disclosed above. Damnjanovic does not teach but Fan discloses wherein the arrival time jitter information comprises at least one of the following: whether jitter exists (paragraphs 201 and 139).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement in Damnjanovic wherein the arrival time jitter information comprises at least one of the following: whether jitter exists.
The motivation would have been for latency determination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 2, 13-16, 18-20, 22, 28-37 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.
Conclusion
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/TITO Q PHAM/Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/FARUK HAMZA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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