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 Arguments
Applicant’s amendments with respect to claim 6, 13 and 16 have been fully considered. The rejection of claims 6, 13-18 under 35 U.S.C. 112 (b) has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 13 and 19 have been fully considered, a new ground for rejection has been made in view of amendment. Claims 1, 13 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 (See 103 rejection of claims 13 and 19 below).
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 4 and 15 have been fully considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection and new reference applied.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 11 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 4, 13, 15 and 19 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 1, line 4, “greater than or equal to an amount of the data” should read “greater than or equal to an amount of data”.
In claim 4, line 1, “a capacity of the first UL resource” should read “the capacity of the first UL resource”.
In claim 13, line 8, “a capacity of a first UL resource” should read “a capacity of the first UL resource”.
In claim 13, line 9, “greater than or equal to an amount of the data” should read “greater than or equal to an amount of data”.
In claim 13, line 10, “a first UL data” should read “the first UL data”.
In claim 15, lines 1-2, “a capacity of the first UL resource” should read “the capacity
of the first UL resource”.
In claim 19, line 6, “greater than or equal to an amount of the data” should read “greater than or equal to an amount of data”.
In claim 19, lines 9-10, “a first UL resource is used for transmitting a first UL data” should read “the first UL resource is used for transmitting the first UL data”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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, 7-10, 13 and 17-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20210211994 A1 (hereinafter Shih), in view of “Report of UP SDT open issues”, R2-2104395, 3GPP TSG-RAN2 #113bis-e Electronic meeting, April 12 – April 20, 2021 (hereinafter R2-2104395).
Regarding claim 19, Shih teaches A terminal device, comprising (Shih Fig. 1, access terminal
116. [0034] An access terminal (AT) may also be called user equipment (UE), a wireless communication device, terminal, access terminal or some other terminology.):
a memory configured to store computer-executable instructions (Shih Fig. 3, memory 310;
[0045] the communication device 300 in a wireless communication system can be utilized for realizing the UEs (or ATs) 116. The communication device 300 may include a memory 310, a program code 312, … program code 312 in the memory 310.); and
a processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory
to cause the terminal device to (Shih Fig. 3, CPU 308; [0045] The control circuit 306 executes the program code 312 in the memory 310 through the CPU 308, thereby controlling an operation of the communications device 300.):
trigger a power headroom reporting (PHR) during small data transmission (SDT) (Shih [0411] the
triggered PHR may be a PHR that is triggered when the UE is in RRC_INACTIVE state. additionally, the triggered PHR may be a PHR that is triggered during a small data transmission procedure.); and
when a capacity of a first UL resource is greater than or equal to an amount of the data
to be transmitted, a first UL data does not contain the PHR, and the terminal device cancels all triggered PHRs (Shih [0405] The UE may determine whether or not to cancel a triggered PHR based upon whether or not the first UL resource can accommodate the first pending data available for transmission.
[0406] The UE may cancel a triggered PHR if the first UL resource can accommodate the first pending data available for transmission.
[0161] the PHR information may be reported only when it is beneficial at the network side for its scheduling decision, and may be omitted otherwise such as, for example, when it would be unnecessary.
Note: cancelling the PHR implies that the PHR is not necessary, i.e. PHR is not included.),
wherein a first UL resource is used for transmitting a first UL data, wherein a transmission of the first UL data is a subsequent transmission (Shih [0492] In one embodiment, the UL resource is for a second UL transmission (in the small data transmission procedure, for example) subsequent to a first UL transmission in the small data transmission procedure. For example, the UL resource may be configured and/or used for the second UL transmission.);
Shih does not explicitly teach wherein the first UL resource comprises an UL resource configured
by a network device through dynamic scheduling.
R2-2104395 in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches wherein the first UL resource comprises an UL resource configured by a network device through dynamic scheduling (R2-2104395, page 9, The data available can be transmitted using multiple TBs during SDT procedure (subsequent UL transmission based on dynamic grant.)).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Shih with R2-2104395’s above teachings. The motivation is supporting SDT (R2-2104395 page 9).
Claim 1 recites similar limitations of claim 19, is thus rejected under similar rational.
Regarding claim 13, Shih teaches communication network device, comprising (Shih Fig. 1, An
access network 100 (AN); [0034] An access network (AN) may be a base station used for communicating with the terminals and may also be referred to as an eNodeB (eNB).):
a memory configured to store computer-executable instructions (Shih Fig. 3, memory 310; [0045] the communication device 300 in a wireless communication system can be utilized for realizing the the base station (or AN) 100. The communication device 300 may include a memory 310, a program code 312… program code 312 in the memory 310.); and
a processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the
memory to cause the network device to (Shih Fig. 3, CPU 308; [0045] The control circuit 306 executes the program code 312 in the memory 310 through the CPU 308, thereby controlling an operation of the communications device 300.):
receiving first uplink (UL) data transmitted on a first UL resource during small data transmission
(SDT) (Shih Fig. 19, step 1910; [0378] the UE performs a first UL data transmission 1910, such as in response to arrival of UL data 1908. [0528] the UE performs a transmission, via the UL resource, during a small data transmission procedure.),
wherein when a capacity of a first UL resource is greater than or equal to an amount of the data to be transmitted, all triggered PHRs are canceled and a first UL data does not contain the PHR (Shih [0405] The UE may determine whether or not to cancel a triggered PHR based upon whether or not the first UL resource can accommodate the first pending data available for transmission.
[0406] The UE may cancel a triggered PHR if the first UL resource can accommodate the first pending data available for transmission.
[0161] the PHR information may be reported only when it is beneficial at the network side for its scheduling decision, and may be omitted otherwise such as, for example, when it would be unnecessary.
Note: cancelling the PHR implies that the PHR is not necessary, i.e. PHR is not included.),
wherein the first UL resource is used for transmitting the first UL data, wherein a transmission of the first UL data is a subsequent transmission (Shih [0492] In one embodiment, the UL resource is for a second UL transmission (in the small data transmission procedure, for example) subsequent to a first UL transmission in the small data transmission procedure. For example, the UL resource may be configured and/or used for the second UL transmission.); and
Shih does not explicitly teach configure an UL resource comprised in the first UL resource through dynamic scheduling.
R2-2104395 in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches configure an UL resource comprised in the first UL resource through dynamic scheduling (R2-2104395, page 9, The data available can be transmitted using multiple TBs during SDT procedure (subsequent UL transmission based on dynamic grant.)).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Shih with R2-2104395’s above teachings. The motivation is supporting SDT (R2-2104395 page 9).
Regarding claim 7, Shih in view of R2-2104395 teaches The method of claim 1.
Shih teaches wherein the first UL data further comprises a MAC packet data unit (PDU)
established based on SDT, and the MAC PDU contains the data to be transmitted (Shih [0391] For small data transmission in RRC_INACTIVE state, the UE may include (e.g., may always include) a first MAC control element in the MAC PDU to be transmitted in a Msg3 and/or MsgA or to be transmitted using one or more pre-configured PUSCH resources.).
Regarding claim 8, Shih in view of R2-2104395 teaches The method of claim 1.
Shih teaches wherein SDT comprises random access (RA)-SDT or configured grant (CG)-SDT (Shih
[0375] small data transmission in RRC_INACTIVE state may be introduced (such as discussed in RP-193252). An objective of small data transmission is to enable the UE to transmit data in RRC_INACTIVE state without, or before, entering RRC_CONNECTED state. Possible techniques for enabling such transmission may be based upon 2-step and/or 4-step Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure, and/or pre-configured PUSCH resources (e.g., Type-1 configured grant in NR). ).
Claims 17 and 18 recite similar limitations of claims 7 and 8 respectively, are thus rejected under
similar rational.
Regarding claim 9, Shih in view of R2-2104395 teaches The method of claim 1.
Shih teaches wherein a condition for triggering the PHR comprises at least one of:
a reporting prohibit timer expires and a pathloss changes by more than a threshold compared
with a most recent PHR transmission; a reporting periodic timer expires; a PHR functionality is configured or reconfigured by an upper layer and does not indicate to disable a PHR function (Shih [0307] A Power Headroom Report (PHR) shall be triggered if any of the following events occur:
[0308] phr-ProhibitTimer expires or has expired and the path loss has changed more than phr-Tx-PowerFactorChange dB for at least one activated Serving Cell of any MAC entity which is used as a pathloss reference since the last transmission of a PHR in this MAC entity when the MAC entity has UL resources for new transmission;
[0310] phr-Periodic Timer expires;
[0311] upon configuration or reconfiguration of the power headroom reporting functionality by upper layers, which is not used to disable the function;).
Regarding claim 10, Shih in view of R2-2104395 teaches The method of claim 1.
Shih teaches wherein the first UL resource comprises at least one of:
an UL grant scheduled via a random access response (RAR), a physical uplink shared channel
(PUSCH) resource for transmitting a two-step random access payload, or a semi-static resource pre-configured (Shih [0361] enables small data transmission in RRC_INACTIVE state.
[0363] UL small data transmissions for RACH-based schemes (i.e. 2-step and 4-step RACH).
[0364] enable UP data transmission for small data packets from INACTIVE state (e.g. using MSGA or MSG3).
[0367] Transmission of UL data on pre-configured PUSCH resources (i.e. reusing the configured grant type 1).
[0376] The small data may be transmitted by an uplink (UL) resource (e.g., at least one of a pre-configured PUSCH resource, an UL resource for Msg3, an UL resource for MsgA, etc.).
[0530] the UL resource is a resource for transmission of a Msg3 message (of a 4-step Random Access procedure, for example), a resource for transmission of a MsgA message (of a 2-step Random Access procedure, for example), or a pre-configured PUSCH resource.).
Claim(s) 4-6, 15-16 and 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shih in view of R2-2104395 as applied to claims 1,13 and 19 above, and further in view of US 20220361277 A1 (hereinafter Tsai).
Regarding claim 4, Shih in view of R2-2104395 teaches The method of claim 1.
R2-2104395 teaches wherein when a capacity of the first UL resource is less than the amount of
the data to be transmitted, a PHR is needed (R2-2104395 Section 3.7 PHR, page 11, PHR is only needed if there is subsequent transmission. If there is no subsequent transmission, PHR can be cancelled.
Note: when a capacity of the first UL resource is less than the amount of the data to be transmitted, there will be subsequent transmission.)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Shih with R2-2104395’s above teachings. The motivation is supporting SDT (R2-2104395 page 9).
Shih in view of R2-2104395 does not explicitly teach wherein when the capacity of the first UL resource is greater than or equal to a sum of a media access control-control element (MAC CE) for the PHR (PHR MAC CE) and a subheader for the MAC CE, the first UL data contains the PHR.
Tsai in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches wherein when the capacity of the first UL resource is greater than or equal to a sum of a media access control-control element (MAC CE) for the PHR (PHR MAC CE) and a subheader for the MAC CE, the first UL data contains the PHR (Tsai [0240] If the UE/MAC entity of the UE has UL resources allocated for a new transmission, the UE/MAC entity may determine whether the allocated UL resources can accommodate the PHR MAC CE (which the UE/MAC entity is configured to transmit), and its subheader. If the allocated UL resources can accommodate the PHR MAC CE and the subheader, the UE/MAC entity of the UE may perform one or more, but not limited to, the following actions:
[0244] generate and transmit the (Single Entry) PHR MAC CE based on the values reported by the physical layer.).
By modifying Shih with R2-2104395’s teachings of wherein when a capacity of the first UL resource is less than the amount of the data to be transmitted, a PHR is needed and with Tsai’s teachings of wherein when the capacity of the first UL resource is greater than or equal to a sum of a media access control-control element (MAC CE) for the PHR (PHR MAC CE) and a subheader for the MAC CE, the first UL data contains the PHR, the modification results in wherein when a capacity of the first UL resource is less than the amount of the data to be transmitted and the capacity of the first UL resource is greater than or equal to a sum of a media access control-control element (MAC CE) for the PHR (PHR MAC CE) and a subheader for the MAC CE, the first UL data contains the PHR.
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Shih as modified by R2-2104395 with Tsai’s above teachings. The motivation is reducing signaling overhead (Tsai [0046]).
Regarding claim 5, Shih in view of R2-2104395 and Tsai teaches The method of claim 4.
Tsai teaches further comprising: generating and transmitting, by the terminal device, the PHR
MAC CE (Tsai [0244] generate and transmit the (Single Entry) PHR MAC CE.).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Shih as modified by R2-2104395 with Tsai’s above teachings. The motivation is reducing signaling overhead (Tsai [0046]).
Regarding claim 6, Shih in view of R2-2104395 and Tsai teaches The method of claim 4.
Tsai teaches wherein the PHR MAC CE is a single entry MAC CE, or a multiple entry MAC CE (Tsai
[0239] Two types of PHR MAC CE (e.g., Single Entry PHR MAC CE and Multiple Entry PHR MAC CE) may be used.).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Shih as modified by R2-2104395 with Tsai’s above teachings. The motivation is reducing signaling overhead (Tsai [0046]).
Claims 15 and 16 recite similar limitations of claims 4 and 6 respectively, are thus rejected under
similar rational.
Claim 24 recites similar limitations of claim 4, is thus rejected under similar rational.
Claim(s) 11 and 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shih in view of R2-2104395 as applied to claims 1 and 19 above, and further in view of “PHR report for the UE do not support dynamic power sharing”, 3GPP TSG RAN WG2 MEETING#101bis, R2-1804406, Sanya, China, 16th April– 20th April 2018 (hereinafter R2).
Regarding claim 11, Shih in view of R2-2104395 teaches The method of claim 1.
Shih in view of R2-2104395 does not explicitly teach wherein on condition that the terminal
device is configured with dual connectivity (DC) or carrier aggregation (CA), the terminal device is not restricted by or does not perform dynamic power sharing configuration when calculating the PHR.
R2 in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches wherein on condition that the terminal
device is configured with dual connectivity (DC) or carrier aggregation (CA), the terminal device is not restricted by or does not perform dynamic power sharing configuration when calculating the PHR (R2 page 2, If the dynamic power sharing is not supported in MR-DC for the UE, then it does not necessary to report the power headroom information for the serving cell of one RAT to the MAC entity of the other RAT.
Proposal 1: For the UE which can not support dynamic power sharing between LTE and NR, whenever the PHR MAC CE is generated in one MAC entity, only the power headroom information for the serving cells within the MAC entity should be included.
Proposal 2: For the UE which can not support dynamic power sharing between LTE and NR, for the triggering of PHR in one MAC entity, only the event occurred in the MAC entity should be taken into account (i.e. the event occurred in the other RAT should not be taken into account).).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Shih as modified by R2-2104395 with R2’s above teachings. The motivation is avoiding the unnecessary PHR report (R2 page 2).
Claim 25 recites similar limitations of claim 11, is thus rejected under similar rational.
Claim(s) 21-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shih in view of R2-2104395 as applied to claims 1, 13 and 19 above, and further in view of “5G; NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification”, 3GPP TS 38.321 version 16.4.0 (hereinafter 38.321).
Regarding claim 21, Shih in view of R2-2104395 teaches The method of claim 1.
Although Shih teaches wherein a condition for triggering the PHR comprises:
a capacity of a current UL resource is less than the amount of the data to be transmitted (Shih [0397] the UE may trigger PHR if a first UL resource cannot accommodate first pending data available for transmission.), Shih does not explicitly teach there is currently no triggered PHR when the trigger condition of a capacity of a current UL resource is less than the amount of the data to be transmitted occurs.
38.321 teaches various PHR triggering conditions and cancelling all triggered PHRs after PHR MAC message was sent for previous triggered PHR, i.e. after cancelling all triggered PHRs, there is currently no triggered PHR until next triggering condition occurs (38.321, Section 5.4.6 Power Headroom Reporting, page 57-59, A Power Headroom Report (PHR) shall be triggered if any of the following events occur:
phr-ProhibitTimer expires or has expired and the path loss has changed more than phr-Tx PowerFactorChange dB …
phr-PeriodicTimer expires;
upon configuration or reconfiguration of the power headroom reporting functionality by upper layers, which is not used to disable the function;
...
If the MAC entity has UL resources allocated for a new transmission the MAC entity shall:
1> if the allocated UL resources can accommodate the MAC CE for PHR which the MAC entity is configured to transmit, plus its subheader, as a result of LCP as defined in clause 5.4.3.1:
2> else (i.e. Single Entry PHR format is used):
3> instruct the Multiplexing and Assembly procedure to generate and transmit the Single Entry PHR MAC CE as defined in clause 6.1.3.8 based on the values reported by the physical layer.
2> start or restart phr-PeriodicTimer;
2> start or restart phr-ProhibitTimer;
2> cancel all triggered PHR(s).)
By modifying Shih’s teachings of wherein a condition for triggering the PHR comprises:
a capacity of a current UL resource is less than the amount of the data to be transmitted with 38.321’s teachings of there is currently no triggered PHR until next triggering condition occurs, the modification results in wherein a condition for triggering the PHR comprises: there is currently no triggered PHR and a capacity of a current UL resource is less than the amount of the data to be transmitted.
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Shih as modified by R2-2104395 with 38.321’s above teachings. The motivation is to support efficient power headroom report (38.321 Section 5.4.6).
Claims 22 and 23 recite similar limitations of claim 21 respectively, are thus rejected under similar rational.
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 David Z Sun whose telephone number is (571)270-0750. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 0800am-0500pm.
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/D.Z.S./Examiner, Art Unit 2418
/Moo Jeong/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2418
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