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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 04, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on February 15, 2024. These drawings are acceptable.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1-23 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1- 23 of U.S. Patent No. 11,902,866. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because of the following reasons:
Regarding claim 1, claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 11,902,866 recites a first wireless device comprising:
receive, from a base station, configuration information associated with a packet duplication transmission between wireless devices, wherein the configuration information comprises information indicating a mapping between a logical channel group and a packet reliability parameter, wherein the packet reliability parameter is used to determine, by the first wireless device, activation of the packet duplication transmission between wireless devices and indicates a value selected from a plurality of configured values, and wherein the plurality of configured values comprises eight integer values each indicating a different reliability requirement (col. 32, lines 43-55);
determine a data packet to be transmitted to a second wireless device (col. 32, lines 56-57);
duplicate, based on the data packet associated with the packet reliability parameter, the data packet to a plurality of data duplicates (col. 32, lines 58-60);
map the plurality of data duplicates onto different logical channels in a media access control (MAC) layer (col. 32, lines 61-63); and
transmit, via a direct communication to the second wireless device, the plurality of data duplicates mapped onto the different logical channels (col. 32, lines 64-67).
Claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 11,902,866 recites a different statutory class, a method claim, instead of an apparatus claim as currently recited in the current application. In addition, claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 11,902,866 does not expressly disclose a first wireless device comprising a wireless transceiver; one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the first wireless device to perform the method of claim 1. However, it is obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art that the first wireless device includes these claimed features in order process the information.
Claims 2-13 correspond to claims 2-10, and 20-22 of U.S. Patent No. 11,902,866.
Regarding claim 14, claim 11 of U.S. Patent No. 11,902,866 recites first wireless device comprising:
receive, from a base station, configuration information associated with a packet duplication transmission between wireless devices, wherein the configuration information comprises information indicating a mapping between a logical channel group and a packet reliability parameter, wherein the packet reliability parameter is used to determine, by the first wireless device, activation of the packet duplication transmission between wireless devices and indicates a value selected from a plurality of configured values, and wherein the plurality of configured values comprises eight integer values each indicating a different reliability requirement (col. 33, lines 48-60);
receive, via a direct communication from a second wireless device, a plurality of data duplicates mapped onto different logical channels (col. 33, lines 61-63);
determine, based on the different logical channels, the plurality of data duplicates, wherein the plurality of data duplicates are associated with a same sequence number (col. 33, lines 64-67);
store, based on the same sequence number, one of the plurality of data duplicates (col. 34, lines 1-2); and
discard, after storing the one of the plurality of data duplicates, remaining data duplicates of the plurality of data duplicates (col. 34, lines 3-4).
Claim 11 of U.S. Patent No. 11,902,866 recites a different statutory class, a method claim, instead of an apparatus claim as currently recited in the current application. In addition, claim 11 of U.S. Patent No. 11,902,866 does not expressly disclose a first wireless device comprising a wireless transceiver; one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the first wireless device to perform the method of claim 11. However, it is obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art that the first wireless device includes these claimed features in order process the information.
Claims 15-23 correspond to claims 12-19, and 23 of U.S. Patent No. 11,902,866.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-23 are allowed pending the Applicant overcoming the above double patenting rejections.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding independent claims 1, and 14, Yu et al. as cited in IDS dated January 4, 2024 (US 2018/0324642) discloses techniques for operating procedures associated with packet duplication. Yu et al. also discloses the UE 610 receives an activation message from base station 605 as shown in Fig. 6A. This activation message indicates to the UE 610 that sets of copied packets are to be transmitted (see paragraph 0185). This teaching of Yu et al. reads on “receiving from a base station configuration information associated with a packet duplication transmission”. Yu et al., however, does not expressly disclose “wherein the configuration information comprises information indicating a mapping between a logical channel group and a packet reliability parameter, wherein the packet reliability parameter is used to determine, by the first wireless device, activation of the packet duplication transmission between wireless devices and indicates a value selected from a plurality of configured values, and wherein the plurality of configured values comprises eight integer values each indicating a different reliability requirement”.
Similarly, Babaei et al. as cited in IDS dated January 4, 2024 (US 2018/0368107) discloses logical channel mapping with packet duplication. Babaei et al. also discloses in paragraph 0262 that a MAC CE may indicate the first logical channel and the second logical channel. Babaei et al. further discloses that the one or more messages may indicate that the first logical channel is mapped to one or more first cells/carriers and the second logical channel is mapped to one or more second cells/carriers. This teaching of Babaei et al. reads on “mapping the plurality of data duplicates onto different logical channels in a MAC layer” of claim language. However, Babaei et al. does not expressly disclose “wherein the configuration information comprises information indicating a mapping between a logical channel group and a packet reliability parameter, wherein the packet reliability parameter is used to determine, by the first wireless device, activation of the packet duplication transmission between wireless devices and indicates a value selected from a plurality of configured values, and wherein the plurality of configured values comprises eight integer values each indicating a different reliability requirement”.
Therefore, the Examiner allows independent claims 1 and 14 at least for the above reasons, in combination with all other features recited within claims.
Claims 2-13, and 15-23 depend either directly or indirectly upon independent claims 1, and 14. Therefore, they are also allowed by virtue of their dependency.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WAYNE CAI whose telephone number is (571)272-7798. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday, 7:00 AM-5:00 PM.
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/Wayne H Cai/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644