DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1a. 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
1b. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/23/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
2. Amendments filed on 01/23/2026 are entered for prosecution. Accordingly, claims 1-2 and 4-7 are now pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
3. Applicant's arguments filed 01/23/2026 have been fully considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to the references being used in the current rejection.
Claim Interpretation
4. Regarding claims 1-2 and 4-7:
The broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) of “PDCP variable” recited in claim 1, 4 and 5 includes RX_NEXT, RX_DELIV, RX_REORD, hyper frame number (HFN), sequence number, and COUNT according specification “[0094] A PDCP variable used for the reception window control may be RX_NEXT and/or RX_DELIV. RX_NEXT includes a sequence number of a PDCP SDU expected to be received next; [0095] A PDCP variable used for the packet Reordering may be RX_REORD. RX_REORD; [0109] UE 100 also manages a hyper frame number (HFN) as a PDCP variable; [0149] the gNB 200 updates the PDCP variable (e.g., COUNT)”. Therefore, the state variable indicating a COUNT, HFN, RX_NEXT, RX_DELIV, and sequence number of HORI ([0273] set an initial value of the HFN part of the state variable indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU), KIM ([0178] the reception PDCP layer may use a PDCP sequence number), and JO ([0240] that the state variable (for example, the state variable referred to as RX_NEXT) indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next is larger than the state variable(for example, the state variable referred to as RX_DELIV)), are all considered “PDCP variable”.
Specification
5a. 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
5b. Claims 1 and 4-5 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 “the RRC message in response to reception of the second RRC message” should read “the RRC message in response to reception of a second RRC message”
Claims 4-5 have similar similarities, therefore the same objections are applied.
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.
6. Claims 1-2 and 4-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HORI et al. (US 20230396367 A1, hereafter HORI) in view of JO et al. (US 20190053098 A1, hereafter JO) and in further view of KIM (US 20200100142 A1).
Regarding claim 1, HORI discloses:
A communication control method performed by a user equipment in a mobile communication system for providing a multicast broadcast service (MBS) from a base station to the user equipment ([0015] a method of a terminal apparatus for communicating with a base station apparatus. The method includes receiving data from the base station apparatus, maintaining a first state variable in a receiving PDCP entity of the terminal apparatus, and performing processing of, in the maintaining, setting, based on a fact that the data to be received from the base station apparatus is data of an MBS; [0050] the UE 122 is also simply referred to as a terminal apparatus or a UE), the communication control method comprising:
receiving, from the base station, a RRC message (Fig. 4 – Element S402; [0217] in order to broadcast information necessary for acquisition of control information related to the MBS transmission, the processing unit 602 of the gNB 108 may create a first System Information Block (SIB) being a type of RRC message, and transmit the SIB from the transmitter 600 to the UE 122; [0219] the processing unit of the gNB 108 may create an RRC message to be transmitted on the MCCH, and transmit the RRC message from the transmitter 600. The receiver 500 of the UE 122 may receive the RRC message transmitted on the MCCH, based on the configuration of the first SIB… The MBS control information, and/or the MBS configuration information, and/or the MBS information for one or multiple MTCH logical channels may be included in the first SIB… Step S1202) including an initial value of a PDCP variable for a multicast service ([0013] The base station… configured to transmit data to the terminal apparatus; and a processing unit. The processing unit maintains, in a receiving PDCP entity of the terminal apparatus, a first state variable (PDCP variable), based on the data to be transmitted to the terminal apparatus, and performs processing of, in the maintaining, setting… an initial value of a sequence number part of the first state variable as a first value, and setting, based on a fact that the data to be transmitted to the terminal apparatus is at least not the data of the MBS, the initial value of the first state variable to 0. The first state variable is a state variable indicating a COUNT value of a PDCP SDU expected to be received by the terminal apparatus next; [0236] In Step S1204, in a case that the processing unit 502 of the UE 122 determines that the parameter related to COUNT is included in the received MBS configuration information message (MBS configuration information is included in the SIB) for the MBS session of interest, the RRC of the UE 122 may acquire the COUNT value in accordance with the parameter related to COUNT and notify the PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122. The RRC of the UE 122 may perform processing so that the PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122 can acquire the COUNT value in accordance with the parameter related to COUNT (UE can acquire the COUNT value from the MBS configuration information included in the SIB) … The PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122 may use the COUNT value notified from an upper layer or acquired by receiving the PDCP control PDU, or a value obtained by incrementing the acquired COUNT value by 1 (integer value of 1) as an initial value of the COUNT value of the receiving PDCP entity; [0238] In Step S1204, the PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122 may use the COUNT value notified from an upper layer, the COUNT value acquired by receiving the PDCP control PDU, or the value obtained by incrementing the acquired COUNT value by 1 (integer value of 1) as an initial value of the state variable (UE uses the COUNT value as an initial value of the PDCP variable) indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next on a receiving side of the PDCP entity; Fig. 12).
and setting the initial value of the PDCP variable included in the RRC message ([0238] In Step S1204, the PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122 may use the COUNT value… or the value obtained by incrementing the acquired COUNT value by 1 (integer value of 1) as an initial value of the state variable (UE sets the COUNT value as an initial value of the PDCP variable) indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next on a receiving side of the PDCP entity; Fig. 12), wherein the PDCP variable is a variable that indicates a count value of a PDCP SDU awaiting being received and not yet provided to an upper layer ([0238] the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next on a receiving side of the PDCP entity; [0272] the processing unit 502 of the UE 122 may maintain the state variable indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next in the receiving PDCP entity… the processing unit 502 of the UE 122 may perform processing including a part or all of the following processing of (A) to (C) ; [0273] (A) based on that it is reception of the MBS data, set an initial value of the sequence number part of the state variable indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next as a first value), and
the count value is comprised of a PDCP sequence number and a hyper frame number ([0239] the COUNT value may be separated into the HFN (hyper frame number) part and the Sequence Number (SN) part to be used as the initial value; [0273] based on that it is reception of the MBS data, set an initial value of the sequence number part of the state variable indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next as a first value; [0274] based on that it is reception of the MBS data, set an initial value of the HFN part of the state variable indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next as the value of the HFN acquired in Step S1204 or a certain integer value), and
the setting includes setting the initial value of the PDCP variable included in the RRC message (Fig. 4 – S400; Fig. 12; [0238] In Step S1204, the PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122 may use the COUNT value… or the value obtained by incrementing the acquired COUNT value by 1 (integer value of 1) as an initial value of the state variable (UE sets the COUNT value as an initial value of the PDCP variable) indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next on a receiving side of the PDCP entity) in response to reception of the second RRC message (Fig. 4 – S400; [0164] The creation of the RRC message in the base station apparatus may be performed for a response to an RRC message (the second RRC message) transmitted from the terminal apparatus. The response to the RRC message transmitted from the terminal apparatus may include, for example, a response to an RRC setup request, a response to an RRC reconnection request, a response to an RRC resume request, and the like. The RRC message includes parameters for various information notifications and configurations).
HORI does not explicitly disclose the receiving includes receiving, the RRC message including an initialization instruction instructing initialization of the PDCP variable, and
the initialization instruction is an instruction for re-establishing a PDCP entity.
However, JO discloses receiving, a RRC message (Fig. 7 - RRC reconfiguration message involving a PDCP re-establishment; (RRC reconfiguration message is sent after an e.g., SIB1, an RRC setup message is sent); [0063] When the UE receives RRC reconfiguration message…if reestablishPDCP is set, the UE re-establishes the PDCP) including an initialization instruction instructing initialization of a PDCP variable ([0070] When upper layers request a PDCP entity re-establishment, the receiving PDCP entity i) discards all stored PDCP SDUs and PDCP PDUs for SRBs, ii) resets the header compression protocol for downlink and start with NC state in U-mode if drb-ContinueROHC is not configured for UM DRB, iii) sets RX_NEXT and RX_DELIV to the initial value for UM DRBs and SRBs, iv) applies the ciphering algorithm and key provided by upper layers during the PDCP entity re-establishment procedure, and v) applies the integrity protection algorithm and key provided by upper layers during the PDCP entity re-establishment procedure (Steps i-v are instructions for re-establishing a PDCP entity); [0071] Here, ‘RX_NEXT” is a state variable (PDCP variable) indicating the COUNT value of the next PDCP SDU expected to be received. The initial value is 0; [0072] As mentioned above, the state variables and COUNT values are reset (state variables and count values are being initialized to 0) when the PDCP re-establishment is performed implies that the reordering function performed in the PDCP entity is also changed; [0081] It is invented that to the receiving PDCP entity delivers all stored PDCP SDUs to upper layers when performing the PDCP re-establishment procedure; Fig. 8), and
the initialization instruction is an instruction for re-establishing a PDCP entity ([0070] (Steps i-v are instructions for re-establishing a PDCP entity); [0081] It is invented that to the receiving PDCP entity delivers all stored PDCP SDUs to upper layers when performing the PDCP re-establishment procedure; Fig. 8).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was filed to modify receiving, the RRC message of HORI to include receiving, the initialization instruction instructing initialization of the PDCP variable, and the initialization instruction is the instruction for re-establishing a PDCP entity message as taught by JO in order to deliver all the stored PDCP SDUs to the upper layers to be utilized rather than discarding the PDCP SDUs before performing the remaining steps of the PDCP re-establishment (JO - [0081] When a PDCP entity performs PDCP re-establishment, delivering the stored SDUs to the upper layer rather than discarding it is slightly better in that the delivered PDCP SDUs may be utilized by upper layer; [0099] After delivering the stored PDCP SDUs to the upper layer, the receiving PDCP entity performs remaining steps of re-establishment (S807); Fig. 8).
HORI and JO do not explicitly disclose the PDCP variable is a variable used for reception window control.
However, KIM discloses the PDCP variable is a variable used for reception window control ([0178] the reception PDCP layer may use a PDCP sequence number (Sequence Number is part of the PDCP variable) length (for example, 12 bits or 18 bits) set by a base station in RRC, identify a PDCP sequence number of received data (for example, PDCP PDU), and drive a receive window… the reception PDCP layer may determine data received from out of the receive window as invalid data and discard the data. A case in which the data is received from out of the receive window may include a case in which data is received very late due to retransmission of an RLC layer from a lower layer or HARQ retransmission of a MAC layer. Also, the reception PDCP layer may drive a PDCP t-reordering timer together with the receive window).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was filed to modify the PDCP variable of HORI and JO to be used as the variable for reception window control as taught by KIM in order to prevent unnecessary decoding procedures by only decoding when the received data is valid (KIM - [0238] because data filtering is first performed via a PDCP receive window on data received in a lower layer to discard data out of a window, and a decoding procedure is performed only on valid data received from inside the window, an unnecessary decoding procedure may be prevented).
Regarding claim 2, HORI further discloses:
The communication control method further comprising receiving, from the base station, the hyper frame number (Fig. 12; [0232] The parameter related to the HFN may be a parameter related to the HFN that the gNB 108 is to use or is using for MBS session transmission; [0233] In Step S1204, in a case that the processing unit 502 of the UE 122 determines that the parameter related to the HFN is included in the received MBS configuration information message for the MBS session of interest (UE determines that HFN is included in the received MBS configuration from the base station)… the UE 122 may use the acquired value of the HFN as an initial value of the HFN part of the state variable indicating the COUNT value).
Regarding claim 4, HORI discloses:
A user equipment in a mobile communication system for providing a multicast broadcast service (MBS) from a base station to the user equipment ([0015] the terminal apparatus, and performing processing of, in the maintaining, setting, based on a fact that the data to be received from the base station apparatus is data of an MBS; [0050] the UE 122 is also simply referred to as a terminal apparatus or a UE), the user equipment (Fig. 5) comprising a transceiver circuitry (Fig. 5 – 500, 504) and a processing circuitry (Fig. 5 – 502; [0316] each functional block or various characteristics of the apparatuses used in the above-described embodiments may be implemented or performed with an electric circuit, that is, typically an integrated circuit or multiple integrated circuits. An electric circuit designed to perform the functions described in the present specification may include a general-purpose processor) operatively associated with the transceiver circuitry and configured to execute processing of ([0194] The UE 122 illustrated in FIG. 5 includes a receiver 500 that receives an RRC message and the like from the base station apparatus, a processing unit 502 that performs processing in accordance with parameters included in a received message, and a transmitter 504 that transmits an RRC message and the like to the base station apparatus):
receiving, from the base station, a RRC message (Fig. 4 – Element S402; [0217] in order to broadcast information necessary for acquisition of control information related to the MBS transmission, the processing unit 602 of the gNB 108 may create a first System Information Block (SIB) being a type of RRC message, and transmit the SIB from the transmitter 600 to the UE 122; [0219] the processing unit of the gNB 108 may create an RRC message to be transmitted on the MCCH, and transmit the RRC message from the transmitter 600. The receiver 500 of the UE 122 may receive the RRC message transmitted on the MCCH, based on the configuration of the first SIB… The MBS control information, and/or the MBS configuration information, and/or the MBS information for one or multiple MTCH logical channels may be included in the first SIB… Step S1202) including an initial value of a PDCP variable for a multicast service ([0013] The base station… configured to transmit data to the terminal apparatus; and a processing unit. The processing unit maintains, in a receiving PDCP entity of the terminal apparatus, a first state variable (PDCP variable), based on the data to be transmitted to the terminal apparatus, and performs processing of, in the maintaining, setting… an initial value of a sequence number part of the first state variable as a first value, and setting, based on a fact that the data to be transmitted to the terminal apparatus is at least not the data of the MBS, the initial value of the first state variable to 0. The first state variable is a state variable indicating a COUNT value of a PDCP SDU expected to be received by the terminal apparatus next; [0236] In Step S1204, in a case that the processing unit 502 of the UE 122 determines that the parameter related to COUNT is included in the received MBS configuration information message (MBS configuration information is included in the SIB) for the MBS session of interest, the RRC of the UE 122 may acquire the COUNT value in accordance with the parameter related to COUNT and notify the PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122. The RRC of the UE 122 may perform processing so that the PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122 can acquire the COUNT value in accordance with the parameter related to COUNT (UE can acquire the COUNT value from the MBS configuration information included in the SIB) … The PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122 may use the COUNT value notified from an upper layer or acquired by receiving the PDCP control PDU, or a value obtained by incrementing the acquired COUNT value by 1 (integer value of 1) as an initial value of the COUNT value of the receiving PDCP entity; [0238] In Step S1204, the PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122 may use the COUNT value notified from an upper layer, the COUNT value acquired by receiving the PDCP control PDU, or the value obtained by incrementing the acquired COUNT value by 1 (integer value of 1) as an initial value of the state variable (UE uses the COUNT value as an initial value of the PDCP variable) indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next on a receiving side of the PDCP entity; Fig. 12); and
setting the initial value of the PDCP variable included in the RRC message ([0238] In Step S1204, the PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122 may use the COUNT value… or the value obtained by incrementing the acquired COUNT value by 1 (integer value of 1) as an initial value of the state variable (UE sets the COUNT value as an initial value of the PDCP variable) indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next on a receiving side of the PDCP entity; Fig. 12), wherein the PDCP variable is a variable that indicates a count value of a PDCP SDU awaiting being received and not yet provided to an upper layer ([0238] the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next on a receiving side of the PDCP entity; [0272] the processing unit 502 of the UE 122 may maintain the state variable indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next in the receiving PDCP entity… the processing unit 502 of the UE 122 may perform processing including a part or all of the following processing of (A) to (C) ; [0272] the processing unit 502 of the UE 122 may maintain the state variable indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next in the receiving PDCP entity… the processing unit 502 of the UE 122 may perform processing including a part or all of the following processing of (A) to (C) ; [0273] (A) based on that it is reception of the MBS data, set an initial value of the sequence number part of the state variable indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next as a first value), and
the count value is comprised of a PDCP sequence number and a hyper frame number ([0239] the COUNT value may be separated into the HFN (hyper frame number) part and the Sequence Number (SN) part to be used as the initial value; [0273] based on that it is reception of the MBS data, set an initial value of the sequence number part of the state variable indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next as a first value; [0274] based on that it is reception of the MBS data, set an initial value of the HFN part of the state variable indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next as the value of the HFN acquired in Step S1204 or a certain integer value), and
the setting includes setting the initial value of the PDCP variable included in the RRC message (Fig. 4 – S400; Fig. 12; [0238] In Step S1204, the PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122 may use the COUNT value… or the value obtained by incrementing the acquired COUNT value by 1 (integer value of 1) as an initial value of the state variable (UE sets the COUNT value as an initial value of the PDCP variable) indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next on a receiving side of the PDCP entity) in response to reception of the second RRC message (Fig. 4 – S400; [0164] The creation of the RRC message in the base station apparatus may be performed for a response to an RRC message (the second RRC message) transmitted from the terminal apparatus. The response to the RRC message transmitted from the terminal apparatus may include, for example, a response to an RRC setup request, a response to an RRC reconnection request, a response to an RRC resume request, and the like. The RRC message includes parameters for various information notifications and configurations).
HORI does not explicitly disclose receiving, the RRC message including an initialization instruction instructing initialization of the PDCP variable, and
the initialization instruction is an instruction for re-establishing a PDCP entity.
However, JO discloses receiving, a RRC message (Fig. 7 - RRC reconfiguration message involving a PDCP re-establishment; (RRC reconfiguration message is sent after e.g., SIB1, an RRC setup message is sent); [0063] When the UE receives RRC reconfiguration message…if reestablish PDCP is set, the UE re-establishes the PDCP) including the initial value of the PDCP variable and an initialization instruction instructing initialization of the PDCP variable ([0070] When upper layers request a PDCP entity re-establishment, the receiving PDCP entity i) discards all stored PDCP SDUs and PDCP PDUs for SRBs, ii) resets the header compression protocol for downlink and start with NC state in U-mode if drb-ContinueROHC is not configured for UM DRB, iii) sets RX_NEXT and RX_DELIV to the initial value for UM DRBs and SRBs, iv) applies the ciphering algorithm and key provided by upper layers during the PDCP entity re-establishment procedure, and v) applies the integrity protection algorithm and key provided by upper layers during the PDCP entity re-establishment procedure (Steps i-v are instructions for re-establishing a PDCP entity); [0071] Here, ‘RX_NEXT” is a state variable (PDCP variable) indicating the COUNT value of the next PDCP SDU expected to be received. The initial value is 0; [0072] As mentioned above, the state variables and COUNT values are reset (state variables and count values are being initialized to 0) when the PDCP re-establishment is performed implies that the reordering function performed in the PDCP entity is also changed; [0081] It is invented that to the receiving PDCP entity delivers all stored PDCP SDUs to upper layers when performing the PDCP re-establishment procedure; Fig. 8), and
the initialization instruction is an instruction for re-establishing a PDCP entity ([0070] (Steps i-v are instructions for re-establishing a PDCP entity); [0081] It is invented that to the receiving PDCP entity delivers all stored PDCP SDUs to upper layers when performing the PDCP re-establishment procedure; Fig. 8).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was filed to the RRC message of HORI to include receiving, the initialization instruction instructing initialization of the PDCP variable, and the initialization instruction is the instruction for re-establishing a PDCP entity message as taught by JO in order to deliver all the stored PDCP SDUs to the upper layers to be utilized rather than discarding the PDCP SDUs before performing the remaining steps of the PDCP re-establishment (JO - [0081] When a PDCP entity performs PDCP re-establishment, delivering the stored SDUs to the upper layer rather than discarding it is slightly better in that the delivered PDCP SDUs may be utilized by upper layer; [0099] After delivering the stored PDCP SDUs to the upper layer, the receiving PDCP entity performs remaining steps of re-establishment (S807); Fig. 8).
HORI and JO do not explicitly disclose the PDCP variable is a variable used for reception window control.
However, KIM discloses the PDCP variable is a variable used for reception window control ([0178] the reception PDCP layer may use a PDCP sequence number (Sequence Number is part of the PDCP variable) length (for example, 12 bits or 18 bits) set by a base station in RRC, identify a PDCP sequence number of received data (for example, PDCP PDU), and drive a receive window… the reception PDCP layer may determine data received from out of the receive window as invalid data and discard the data. A case in which the data is received from out of the receive window may include a case in which data is received very late due to retransmission of an RLC layer from a lower layer or HARQ retransmission of a MAC layer. Also, the reception PDCP layer may drive a PDCP t-reordering timer together with the receive window).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was filed to modify the PDCP variable of HORI and JO to be used as the variable for reception window control as taught by KIM in order to prevent unnecessary decoding procedures by only decoding when the received data is valid (KIM - [0238] because data filtering is first performed via a PDCP receive window on data received in a lower layer to discard data out of a window, and a decoding procedure is performed only on valid data received from inside the window, an unnecessary decoding procedure may be prevented).
Regarding claim 5, HORI discloses:
A mobile communication system (Fig. 1) for providing a multicast broadcast service (MBS), the mobile communication system comprising ([0015] a method of a terminal apparatus for communicating with a base station apparatus. The method includes receiving data from the base station apparatus, maintaining a first state variable in a receiving PDCP entity of the terminal apparatus, and performing processing of, in the maintaining, setting, based on a fact that the data to be received from the base station apparatus is data of an MBS):
a user equipment ([0050] the UE 122 is also simply referred to as a terminal apparatus or a UE); and
a base station to the user equipment ([0015] a method of a terminal apparatus for communicating with a base station apparatus),
wherein the user equipment is configured to receive, from the base station, a RRC message (Fig. 4 – Element S402; [0217] in order to broadcast information necessary for acquisition of control information related to the MBS transmission, the processing unit 602 of the gNB 108 may create a first System Information Block (SIB) being a type of RRC message, and transmit the SIB from the transmitter 600 to the UE 122; [0219] the processing unit of the gNB 108 may create an RRC message to be transmitted on the MCCH, and transmit the RRC message from the transmitter 600. The receiver 500 of the UE 122 may receive the RRC message transmitted on the MCCH, based on the configuration of the first SIB… The MBS control information, and/or the MBS configuration information, and/or the MBS information for one or multiple MTCH logical channels may be included in the first SIB… Step S1202) including an initial value of a PDCP variable for a multicast service ([0013] The base station… configured to transmit data to the terminal apparatus; and a processing unit. The processing unit maintains, in a receiving PDCP entity of the terminal apparatus, a first state variable (PDCP variable), based on the data to be transmitted to the terminal apparatus, and performs processing of, in the maintaining, setting… an initial value of a sequence number part of the first state variable as a first value, and setting, based on a fact that the data to be transmitted to the terminal apparatus is at least not the data of the MBS, the initial value of the first state variable to 0. The first state variable is a state variable indicating a COUNT value of a PDCP SDU expected to be received by the terminal apparatus next; [0236] In Step S1204, in a case that the processing unit 502 of the UE 122 determines that the parameter related to COUNT is included in the received MBS configuration information message (MBS configuration information is included in the SIB) for the MBS session of interest, the RRC of the UE 122 may acquire the COUNT value in accordance with the parameter related to COUNT and notify the PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122. The RRC of the UE 122 may perform processing so that the PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122 can acquire the COUNT value in accordance with the parameter related to COUNT (UE can acquire the COUNT value from the MBS configuration information included in the SIB) … The PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122 may use the COUNT value notified from an upper layer or acquired by receiving the PDCP control PDU, or a value obtained by incrementing the acquired COUNT value by 1 (integer value of 1) as an initial value of the COUNT value of the receiving PDCP entity; [0238] In Step S1204, the PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122 may use the COUNT value notified from an upper layer, the COUNT value acquired by receiving the PDCP control PDU, or the value obtained by incrementing the acquired COUNT value by 1 (integer value of 1) as an initial value of the state variable (UE uses the COUNT value as an initial value of the PDCP variable) indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next on a receiving side of the PDCP entity; Fig. 12);
the user equipment is configured to set the initial value of the PDCP variable included in the RRC message ([0272] the processing unit 502 of the UE 122 may maintain the state variable indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next in the receiving PDCP entity… the processing unit 502 of the UE 122 may perform processing including a part or all of the following processing of (A) to (C) ; [0273] (A) based on that it is reception of the MBS data, set an initial value of the sequence number part of the state variable indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next as a first value),
the PDCP variable is a variable that indicates a count value of a PDCP SDU awaiting being received and not yet provided to an upper layer ([0272]; [0273] (A) based on that it is reception of the MBS data, set an initial value of the sequence number part of the state variable indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next as a first value),
the count value is comprised of a PDCP sequence number and a hyper frame number ([0239] the COUNT value may be separated into the HFN (hyper frame number) part and the Sequence Number (SN) part to be used as the initial value), and
the user equipment is configured to set the initial value of the PDCP variable included in the RRC message (Fig. 4 – S400; Fig. 12; [0238] In Step S1204, the PDCP entity of the MRB of the UE 122 may use the COUNT value… or the value obtained by incrementing the acquired COUNT value by 1 (integer value of 1) as an initial value of the state variable (UE sets the COUNT value as an initial value of the PDCP variable) indicating the COUNT value of the PDCP SDU expected to be received next on a receiving side of the PDCP entity) in response to reception of the RRC message (Fig. 4 – S400; [0164] The creation of the RRC message in the base station apparatus may be performed for a response to an RRC message (the second RRC message) transmitted from the terminal apparatus. The response to the RRC message transmitted from the terminal apparatus may include, for example, a response to an RRC setup request, a response to an RRC reconnection request, a response to an RRC resume request, and the like. The RRC message includes parameters for various information notifications and configurations).
HORI does not explicitly disclose receiving, the RRC message including an initialization instruction instructing initialization of the PDCP variable, and
the initialization instruction is an instruction for re-establishing a PDCP entity.
However, JO discloses receiving, a RRC message (Fig. 7 - RRC reconfiguration message involving a PDCP re-establishment; (RRC reconfiguration message is sent after e.g., SIB1, an RRC setup message is sent); [0063] When the UE receives RRC reconfiguration message…if reestablish PDCP is set, the UE re-establishes the PDCP) including the initial value of the PDCP variable and an initialization instruction instructing initialization of the PDCP variable ([0070] When upper layers request a PDCP entity re-establishment, the receiving PDCP entity i) discards all stored PDCP SDUs and PDCP PDUs for SRBs, ii) resets the header compression protocol for downlink and start with NC state in U-mode if drb-ContinueROHC is not configured for UM DRB, iii) sets RX_NEXT and RX_DELIV to the initial value for UM DRBs and SRBs, iv) applies the ciphering algorithm and key provided by upper layers during the PDCP entity re-establishment procedure, and v) applies the integrity protection algorithm and key provided by upper layers during the PDCP entity re-establishment procedure (Steps i-v are instructions for re-establishing a PDCP entity); [0071] Here, ‘RX_NEXT” is a state variable (PDCP variable) indicating the COUNT value of the next PDCP SDU expected to be received. The initial value is 0; [0072] As mentioned above, the state variables and COUNT values are reset (state variables and count values are being initialized to 0) when the PDCP re-establishment is performed implies that the reordering function performed in the PDCP entity is also changed; [0081] It is invented that to the receiving PDCP entity delivers all stored PDCP SDUs to upper layers when performing the PDCP re-establishment procedure; Fig. 8), and
the initialization instruction is an instruction for re-establishing a PDCP entity ([0070] (Steps i-v are instructions for re-establishing a PDCP entity); [0081] It is invented that to the receiving PDCP entity delivers all stored PDCP SDUs to upper layers when performing the PDCP re-establishment procedure; Fig. 8).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was filed to modify receiving, the first RRC message of HORI to include receiving, the initialization instruction instructing initialization of the PDCP variable, and the initialization instruction is the instruction for re-establishing a PDCP entity message as taught by JO in order to deliver all the stored PDCP SDUs to the upper layers to be utilized rather than discarding the PDCP SDUs before performing the remaining steps of the PDCP re-establishment (JO - [0081] When a PDCP entity performs PDCP re-establishment, delivering the stored SDUs to the upper layer rather than discarding it is slightly better in that the delivered PDCP SDUs may be utilized by upper layer; [0099] After delivering the stored PDCP SDUs to the upper layer, the receiving PDCP entity performs remaining steps of re-establishment (S807); Fig. 8).
HORI and JO do not explicitly disclose the PDCP variable is a variable used for reception window control.
However, KIM discloses the PDCP variable is a variable used for reception window control ([0178] the reception PDCP layer may use a PDCP sequence number (Sequence Number is part of the PDCP variable) length (for example, 12 bits or 18 bits) set by a base station in RRC, identify a PDCP sequence number of received data (for example, PDCP PDU), and drive a receive window… the reception PDCP layer may determine data received from out of the receive window as invalid data and discard the data. A case in which the data is received from out of the receive window may include a case in which data is received very late due to retransmission of an RLC layer from a lower layer or HARQ retransmission of a MAC layer. Also, the reception PDCP layer may drive a PDCP t-reordering timer together with the receive window).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was filed to modify the PDCP variable of HORI and JO to be used as the variable for reception window control as taught by KIM in order to prevent unnecessary decoding procedures by only decoding when the received data is valid (KIM - [0238] because data filtering is first performed via a PDCP receive window on data received in a lower layer to discard data out of a window, and a decoding procedure is performed only on valid data received from inside the window, an unnecessary decoding procedure may be prevented).
Regarding claim 6, HORI further discloses:
A chipset for a user equipment (Fig. 5; [0313] A program running on an apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention may serve as a program that controls a Central Processing Unit (CPU) and the like to cause a computer to operate in such a manner as to implement the functions of the above-described embodiments according to the aspect of the present invention. Programs or the information handled by the programs are temporarily loaded into a volatile memory such as a Random Access Memory (RAM) while being processed, or stored in a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory, or a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), and then read, modified, and written by the CPU, as necessary; [0316] Furthermore, each functional block or various characteristics of the apparatuses used in the above-described embodiments may be implemented or performed with an electric circuit, that is, typically an integrated circuit or multiple integrated circuits. An electric circuit designed to perform the functions described in the present specification may include a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gates or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or a combination thereof) in a mobile communication system for providing a multicast broadcast service (MBS) from a base station to the user equipment ([0015];), the chipset carrying out the method of claim 1 ([0313];).
Regarding claim 7, HORI further discloses:
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to carry out the method of claim 1 ([0313] A program running on an apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention may serve as a program that controls a Central Processing Unit (CPU) and the like to cause a computer to operate in such a manner as to implement the functions of the above-described embodiments according to the aspect of the present invention. Programs or the information handled by the programs are temporarily loaded into a volatile memory such as a Random Access Memory (RAM) while being processed, or stored in a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory, or a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), and then read, modified, and written by the CPU, as necessary).
Conclusion
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. PTO-892 form.
BAEK et al. (US-20230111248-A1) teaches a method and apparatus for security multicast and broadcast service (MBS) communication in a wireless communication system wherein the configuration information is for configuring an initial value of a state variable corresponding to the MBS data.
PRADAS et al. (WO-2018127842-A1) teaches a method for use in a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) transmitting entity comprises: performing handover from a first cell to a second cell where a PDCP sequence number (SN) for the second cell is smaller than the first cell; resetting PDCP state variables.
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/THERESA NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2418
/Moo Jeong/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2418